Tanakh

Benjamin Barer traces the word Hevel through Jewish texts, showing how the use of the same word can teach us both about the wisdom of Kohelet we read this past Shabbat and the character of Hevel who we will read about in this week's Parashah.

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...

Lazarre Simckes analyses Joseph’s dreams through the lens of trauma psychology.

Eliyahu Freedman compares hospital chaplains to the Kohanim.

Ben Greenfield explains that the attributes commonly associated with our forefathers are not attributes at which they excelled, but rather attributes with which they struggled.

Sarah Golubtchik suggests that the numerous parallels between the puzzling episode of Yehuda and Tamar and the story of Yaakov, Rivkah, and the Berakhot are the key to unlocking this mysterious episode.

Jon Kelsen uncovers a deeper rabbinic meaning to the blood needed to "passover" the Israelites.

Batya Hefter traces Joseph's character development through the eyes of the Ishbitz-Radzyn masters.

Ezra Zuckerman Sivan examines the significance of the six barleys that Boaz gives Ruth in light of the story of Rachel, Leah, and the duda'im.

Thanks in part to several new publications, portions of the Orthodox world have been engaging with modern biblical scholarship in a more significant way than ever before. Gil Perl provides a four-step framework for how Jewish days schools might profitably teach many aspects of biblical criticism that do not conflict with our mesorah.