Tanakh

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.

Yakov Nagen examines the opening chapters of Genesis to explore what God wanted from people for matan Torah.

Building on ideas from Jacques Lacan and Rabbeinu Bahya ibn Pakuda, Zach Truboff offers an innovative psychological reading of the Cain and Abel story.

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

Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.

In unpacking the meaning of a tricky verse from Eikhah that we say as part of the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah, Mitchell First introduces us to the literary principle called hendiadys, which can help us understand various phrases throughout Tanakh.

In its opening verses, Parshat Shoftim describes a judicial system that enshrines pursuing Tzedek, or justice, as a core value. Benjamin Barer unpacks a Gemara in Sanhedrin that provides three distinct conceptions of the obligation to pursue justice, suggesting how we might build a more sacred society.

Gavriel Lakser explains how the change from Zakhor to Shamor is one of the earliest examples of Oral Torah.

In time for Tisha Be-Av, Marc Eichenbaum offers a meaningful new reading of Eikha using modern psychological concepts like grief, trauma, and narrative construction.

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.