What Does God Want from Humanity? A New Perspective on the Creation Chapters
Yakov Nagen examines the opening chapters of Genesis to explore what God wanted from people for matan Torah.
Why Do We Deserve God’s Favor?
Ezra Sivan probes the Sabbath and the Torah's call to love God.
From Kayin to Korah: The Fellow Founders of Foment
Shlomo Zuckier wonders why the earth opened its mouth for both Korah and Kayin.
Review of After Adam
Laurance Wieder's After Adam was named the Book of the Year in 2019 by First Thing's John Wilson, but has been largely overlooked in the Jewish community. The Jewish Review of Book's Michal Leibowitz seeks to remedy this in her review of Wieder's lyrical retelling of the Bible.
The Directional Shaking of the Lulav: Bible, Mysticism, and Religious Polemics
Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.
Revelation Deferred but not Denied: the Golden Calf as a Rabbinic Origin Story
Amitai Bin-Nun provides a fresh and intriguing perspective on the story of the Golden Calf by reading it in light of the Talmudic passage in Menahot detailing an encounter between Moses and R. Akiba on Mt. Sinai where God is tying crowns to the letters of the Torah scroll.
A Biblical Defense of Cities
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.
Korach
A poem on parshat Korach by Zohar Atkins
Was God Angry at Sarah?
Ben Greenfield
God isn’t angry with Sarah, when she laughs at the idea of birthing a child in her old age (Gen. 18:12-15). God is...
Should Jacob have conquered Canaan?
David Curwin explores the evidence that Jacob may have made a fatal mistake in not conquering Canaan upon returning.