Tanakh

What does Shakespeare have to say about the Exodus, Moses, and the power of storytelling? Shaina Trapedo explores how the Bard's work can speak to us during this unprecedented Pesach season.

Tzvi Sinensky argues compellingly for a new way to understand the relationship between Shir HaShirim and Pesach in times of quarantine.

How was the original Seder experienced, and how do we constitute a Jewish collective? Joel Levy and Leon Wiener-Dow argue that the collective must begin with the independent-minded individual.

What led the Rabbis of the Seder to present Laban as a more diabolical enemy of the Jews than Pharaoh? Erica Brown shows how Laban took advantage of Jacob's insecurities as he arrived empty-handed at Laban's home.

"Who Knows" seems to have become a recurring question for so many of us. Erica Brown shares personal and biblical reflections on the meaning of this phrase for the age of coronavirus.

Dr. Eddie Reichman, an ER doctor on the front lines of fighting Coronavirus, and an expert in the history of halakhah and medicine, shares a unique perspective on history of combatting plagues in the Jewish tradition.

Mitchell First reviews Yehuda Landy's Purim and the Persian Empire.

In a fascinating analysis, Gavriel Lakser places the Megillah in the context of the overarching struggle between the Jewish people and Amalek.

How did Esther shape the way Puritans saw the ideal role of the contemporary woman? Cotton Mather, a major player in the Salem Witch Trials, had much to say in his Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion. Stuart Halpern of Yeshiva University explains, wishing us all a Puritan Purim.

In Part II of his series on trop, William Gewirtz explains the principle of recursion and how it helps us interpret texts.