Humash

Sam Glauber examines Abraham's place in his society.

For Parshat Naso, Lehrhaus editor Yosef Lindell compares three twentieth-century rereadings of the Sotah ritual that make the passage more palatable to modern audiences.

Mark Glass explores the implications of a little-known interpretation in which Lot's wife never turned to salt.

Elli Fischer reads one of Rashi's most famous comments against the grain.

At the height of the cholera epidemic in 1831, Hatam Sofer delivered a timely sermon on a perplexing midrash to Parshat Ki Tavo. The take-home, suggests Elli Fischer, is all-too familiar in the COVID era.

Yehuda Goldberg explains how the Bible's depictions of the Tower of Babel and of Jerusalem teaches us about the risk and potential of cities.

The tokhahah in Leviticus 26 is frequently read as a tragedy, warning of the dire consequences of sin and national failure. Ahead of Yom Kippur 5786, Milton Torres-Ceron offers a new reading, informed by the traditional "pardes" method, that frames Leviticus 26 as an affirmation on unwavering divine companionship with Israel.

In this essay, Aviva Lauer analyzes the Biblical prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in wartime, and connects it to messages about human dignity.

Yisroel Ben-Porat analyzes a Midrash offering non-misogynistic takes on the original sin.

The significant linkages between the Garden of Eden narrative and the commandment concerning cutting down trees in time of war suggest a profound message about how we should live in an imperfect world.