Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber

Kosher Torah Text? Three Generations of Maimonides—Strict to Lenient

Rabbi Maimon, Moses Maimonides’ father, believed that the Torah’s exact wording and layout had been divinely dictated to Moses down to the smallest detail—including paragraph divisions (open vs. closed), spelling (defective vs. plene), and even the decorative taggin atop certain letters. Maimonides, despite his rationalist philosophy, largely maintained this stringent view, though he would not invalidate a Torah scroll due to missing taggin. His son, R. Abraham, further relaxed the requirements as the realities of medieval manuscripts made the older standards untenable.

Behind the Mockery: Jewish Responses to Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection

The products of a period in which Judaism was considered to have been superseded by Christianity and Jews were treated as inferiors, the Talmud and Toledot Yeshu literature developed a biting, farcical retelling of Jesus’ story, which, at the same time, reveals the Jewish struggle to explain his massive impact on world religion. Yet, medieval rabbis also responded to Jesus’ death in a serious way, noting that ultimately, things turned out for the best: Jesus always planned to be crucified, and Jesus asked God to forgive everyone involved.

Moses Always Knew He Was a Hebrew—and So Did Everyone Else

Moses, an Egyptian prince who discovers he is a Hebrew, makes for a compelling movie. But is that the peshat, the straightforward meaning of the biblical story?

Sotah: A Purification Ritual for an Adulteress Revised into an Ordeal

In the original Priestly account of the sotah ritual, an adulterous woman herself brings a grain offering, and the priest publicly humiliates and curses her as part of a purification process for her sin. Later, the Holiness School editors reworked the narrative: the focus shifts to a jealous husband who suspects his wife of infidelity and brings her before the priests to undergo the ordeal of bitter waters—a divine test that determines her guilt or innocence.

Black or Yellow Hair: A Scribe Miscopied the Laws of Tzaraat

When the priest looks at a skin infection in a person’s hair or beard, “and there is no black hair in it” (MT), or “there is no yellow hair in it” (LXX), the priest puts the person in quarantine for seven days. Which biblical version is right?

Persia’s Achaemenid Dynasty—If You Read the Bible Without History

Ezra-Nehemiah mentions only four of the twelve kings who ruled the Persian empire: Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. The book of Daniel also speaks of four Persian kings, and adds a fictional Darius the Mede as their precursor. Historically, the Achaemenid period lasted 220 years, but using only the kings mentioned in the Bible, rabbinic texts reconstruct a 52-year Persian period.

Dovid Steinberg’s Ultra-Orthodox Agenda

TheTorah.com engages the Documentary and Supplementary Hypotheses, source, redaction, and textual criticism, and even offers moral critiques of Torah laws and narratives, but what is Steinberg really trying to accomplish?

At 33, You Will Discover Azazel’s Secret

On Yom Kippur, one goat is sacrificed to YHWH and another is sent to Azazel in the wilderness. Who is Azazel? The 12th-century commentator Abraham ibn Ezra hints that the answer lies in reaching 33.

“America Scroll” Unearthed Beneath the Lincoln Memorial

An archaeological find of biblical proportions is calling into question key aspects of U.S. history.

Chanukah: Not Judah Maccabee’s Holiday

In 164 B.C.E., Judah Maccabee defeats the Seleucid army and purifies the Temple. The fighting continues, and Judah is killed in 160 B.C.E. Only in 142 B.C.E. do the Seleucids finally make peace with Simon, Judah’s last surviving brother, who founds the Hasmonean dynasty of high priests that rule Judea for a century. Who established Chanukah as a holiday?

How Many Trumpet Blasts to Travel? MT+SP=LXX

YHWH instructs Moses to sound a teruah blast to get the eastern camp to travel, and a second for the southern camp. What about the western and northern camps? The answer can be found by comparing the Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint: It was a parablepsis.

What Is Better than Wine?

Song of Songs opens with: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for דֹּדֶיךָ (MT “your loving”) or mastoi sou (LXX “your breasts”) are better than wine.” Why does the LXX translate this way and which version is correct?

Lot’s Absence in Abraham’s Plea for Sodom and Gomorrah

When YHWH tells Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed, Abraham pleads for their lives without mentioning Lot. Why? The answer is in the sources describing Lot’s accompanying of Abram to Canaan and their eventual separation.

Can the Torah Be a Moral Authority in Modern Times?

The Torah is often used to highlight various ethical values while its many ethically problematic commandments are ignored or explained away. Is there a way to treat the Torah as a moral authority while honestly confronting the ethical issues it raises?

Marrying a Beautiful Captive Woman

If an Israelite wishes to marry a woman taken captive in war, she becomes part of the Israelite community and is protected from future re-enslavement. Uncomfortable with the Torah’s permission of this marriage, the rabbis declare it to be a concession to man’s “evil impulse,” an idea reminiscent of Jesus’ assertion that the Torah allows divorce as a concession to humanity’s “hard heart.”

Postpartum Impurity: Why Is the Duration Double for a Girl?

After giving birth to a male, the mother is impure for 7 days, followed by 33 days of purification. However, with a female, the mother is impure for 14 days, followed by 66 days of purification.

The Original Reason for Spilling Wine: Protection from the Plagues

R. Eleazar of Worms in the 12th century, defended the practice of spilling wine when reciting the plagues against detractors who disparaged it, by offering a mystical, numerological rationale. This, however, was a post-facto attempt to explain a folk custom, whose origins lie in the human fear of being struck by these very plagues.

Pre-Biblical Aaron, Miriam, and Moses

In the Torah, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses are siblings; Aaron is the biological ancestor of all priests, Moses is the redeemer of Israel from Egypt, and Miriam, their sister, leads the Israelite women in song. But what can we reconstruct about who these ancient figures may have been?

Edomite Kings List: Is It Post-Mosaic?

Genesis 36:31 introduces a list of kings who ruled “before a king ruled in Israel,” ostensibly a reference to Saul. Traditional commentators, committed to the Mosaic authorship of the Torah, have long struggled to reinterpret this phrase against its plain meaning, though some accepted its implications.

“Torah Is from Heaven!” What Do We Really Mean?

Statements that express our feelings are often confused with factual assertions.

The Four Sons: How the Midrash Developed

In four passages, the Torah has a father explaining different commandments to a son by referencing the exodus from Egypt. Comparing the wording in these biblical passages, the rabbis reinterpreted—and even revised—them to reflect a father explaining Pesach to four different sons: wise, stupid, wicked, and one who doesn’t ask.

Exodus Through Deception: Asking for a Three-Day Festival

From God’s first command to Moses, through the story of Israel’s escape, the demand for a three-day festival in the wilderness plays a prominent role in the exodus narrative. Part of this ruse was Israel’s request to “borrow” Egyptian finery for the festival. Why does God want the Israelites to use deception?

Does YHWH Remit Punishment?

As part of the selichot prayer service, the rabbis cut the biblical phrase וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה “[YHWH] does not remit punishment” to read only וְנַקֵּה, which yields the opposite meaning, “[YHWH] remits punishment.” Although this edit is surprising, the rabbis are responding to a serious tension in the biblical text: Is YHWH a merciful God who pardons, or a vengeful God who will never remit punishment?

Tisha B’Av: On What Day Were the Jerusalem Temples Destroyed?

The First Temple was destroyed either on the 10th of Av (Jeremiah 52:12) or the 7th (2 Kings 25:8). The Second Temple, according to Josephus, was destroyed on the 10th. How did Rabbinic Jews come to commemorate the destruction of both Temples on the 9th of Av?

When Does Counting the Omer Begin?

The omer or “sheaf” offering takes place ממחרת השבת, “after the Shabbat” (Leviticus 23:15). Jewish interpreters have debated the exact meaning of this phrase for two millennia, resulting in four different dates being adopted by one Jewish sect or another.

How Eating Matzot Became Part of the Exodus Story

Originally the Festival of Matzot was an agricultural holiday but through its association with the Pesach sacrifice, it became historicized and connected to the exodus story. This shift prompted the redaction of several biblical passages and the question “how indeed does eating matzah commemorate the exodus?”

Traditional Torah Study versus Scientific Analysis

How do they differ? What are their respective goals? And why the two should not be confused.

How Is It Possible that Jacob Mistakes Leah for Rachel?

“When morning came, there was Leah!” (Genesis 29:25). Could Jacob not tell the difference between Rachel, his beloved of seven years, and her sister Leah—for a whole night? Commentators have long tried to make sense of the story by adding extra details, but perhaps we need to rethink the nature of Jacob and Rachel’s relationship during those years.

Rebecca Ran to Her Mother’s Household - Where Was Her Father?

Betuel, Rebecca’s father, mysteriously appears and disappears in the negotiations over Rebecca’s marriage.

Who Was Rebecca’s Father?

At the well, the servant asks Rebecca who her father is, and she answers, “I am the daughter of Betuel the son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor” (Genesis 24:24). Why the unusual genealogical description?

The Origins of Sukkot

The connection between the Israelite festival of Sukkot in the temple and the Ugaritic new year festival and its dwellings of branches for the gods.

Elazar Speaks Once in the Torah: Why Does He Interrupt Moses?

Moses tells the soldiers returning from the Midianite war that they must purify themselves from corpse impurity. Elazar then jumps in with a unique law in Moses’ name about the need to purify metal in fire. Critical and traditional scholars alike—including the scribes of the Samaritan Pentateuch—were troubled by why Elazar and not Moses teaches this law.

The Parturient’s Days of Purity: From Torah to Halacha

In reference to the parturient, the Torah speaks of a 33 or 66 day period of דמי טהרה “blood of her purity” as distinguished from a 7 or 14 day period “like menstruation.” What is the difference between these two periods according to Leviticus and how did later groups such as rabbinic Jews, Karaites, Samaritans, and Beta Israel understand it?

“This Is the Torah” for the Priests Performing the Offerings

Expanding upon R. David Zvi Hoffmann’s insight that Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6-7) was originally connected directly with the laws of the ordination/miluim sacrifice in Exodus 29, with a second sacrificial unit (Leviticus 1-5) spliced in the middle.

The 220-Year History of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

An overview of Persian history starting from Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Media (549 B.C.E.) until Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia (334-329 B.C.E.), including related biblical references and Jewish texts.

Ahasuerus and Vashti: The Story Megillat Esther Does Not Tell You

Why the rabbis came to imagine Ahasuerus as a usurper who halted the rebuilding of the Temple and his wife Vashti as a wicked and grotesque Babylonian princess, who lived as a libertine and persecuted Jews.

How Does God Answer the Question: What Is Your Name?

God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites two different names, Ehyeh and YHWH.

If the Sun Is Created on Day 4, What Is the Light on Day 1?

Commentators have struggled with this question for centuries, but ancient cosmology offers a compelling solution.

Haazinu: The Song’s Enigmatic Climax

The final phrase of Haazinu (Deut 32:1-43) in the MT, וכפר אדמתו עמו, “and he will atone for his land, his people,” is difficult to parse. The textual variants from Qumran, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint offer a clearer, if more dismal, understanding of the phrase.

Unspoken Hemorrhoids: Making the Torah Reading Polite

Two places in the Bible describe God striking people with hemorrhoids (ophalim): the curses in Deuteronomy 28 and the story of the Philistines’ capture of the ark in 1 Samuel 5-6. In the latter, the Philistines make golden statues of their afflicted buttocks to propitiate the Israelite deity. Traditional readings replace these crass references with the less offensive term techorim (abscesses).

Does the Torah Really Want Us to Appoint a King?

Throughout the Torah, Israel is warned not to imitate the surrounding nations. Yet Deuteronomy speaks of the people appointing a king if they want to be “like all the nations” around them. Is YHWH commanding Israel to appoint a king or just reluctantly permitting it?

The Song of the Well, Psalm 136, Was Removed from the Torah

The Song of the Well, as recorded in Numbers 21:16-18, is only a brief excerpt. While many commentators assume that the song was naturally short, R. Yehudah HeChasid presents a radical suggestion that the song was actually cut from the Torah and placed in the book of Psalms by none other than King David.

Kiryat-Arba Is Hebron…. But Is It?

The conflation of two cities over time

Kiryat-Arba: The Father of Giants and the City of Four

How the conflation of Kiryat-arba and Hebron created a new mythic character, Arba, father of the giants.

What Was Caleb the Kenizzite’s Connection to Hebron?

Did Caleb receive the Negev or Hebron? Is he a Judahite, a Calebite or a Kenizzite? The redacted account of Caleb in the Bible reflects the developing realities of southern Judah in the First and Second Temple periods.

The Israelite Conquest of Jerusalem in the Bible: When and Who?

Jerusalem in the 14th century B.C.E. was a Canaanite city; by the 10th/9th century B.C.E. it was Israelite. The Bible records several different accounts of how it was conquered. What are we to make of these different traditions?

Shepherds and Eating with Hebrews: An Abomination to the Egyptians?

Sacrificing a Lamb in Egypt

When a Temple of Yahu Stood Near a Temple of Khnum

Why Does Mordechai Not Report the Assassination Plot Directly to Ahasuerus?

The protocols of ancient Near Eastern courts shed light on the danger Mordechai faces in reporting a conspiracy. A case in point: An Assyrian official, who tried to save Sennacherib from being assassinated by his son Arda-Mullisi, ends up being killed by the assassins himself.

Unraveling Megillat Esther: How the Story was Developed

A close literary reading reveals the seams of two independent stories: the Harem Intrigue (Esther) and the Court Intrigue (Mordechai) and how they were connected to the festival of Purim.[1]

The Other Ohel Moed

Traditional and critical scholars agree that the Ohel Moed “Tent of Meeting” Moses erects in Exodus 33 is not the same as the Ohel Moed Tabernacle referenced in other biblical texts. But what is it?

The Missing Speeches in the Plague Narrative and the Samaritan Pentateuch

Before several plagues, God commands Moses to warn Pharaoh. Moses delivers this warning, but his actual words are not recorded. In the plague of locusts, the opposite occurs, and God’s wording is not recorded while Moses’ warning is. The SP fills in these lacunae by recording each instance.

Jacob the Conqueror of Shechem

Jacob tells Joseph that he seized Shechem “with my sword and bow” (Genesis 48:22). Is this a metaphor, or does it preserve a separate tradition in which Jacob is not just a peaceful patriarch but a conquering warrior?

Joseph in Custody: Enslaved or Imprisoned

Joseph, sold by two different groups (Midianites and Ishmaelites), seems to have been bought by two different men (Potiphar, captain of the guard, and an unnamed Egyptian man), leading to two discrete storylines, each of which place Joseph in a different position when he meets the cupbearer and the baker.

Noah’s Original Identity: The First Winemaker

Before Noah became the protagonist of the Israelite flood story, his original place in Israelite historiography was as the ancient farmer who discovered wine, bringing the world relief from the toil of work caused by God’s cursing the soil.

Noah’s Nakedness: How the Canaan-Ham Curse Conundrum Came to Be

Noah awakens from his drunken slumber, and realizes what his youngest son, Ham, did to him. Why, then, does Noah curse his grandson Canaan? Originally, Canaan was the perpetrator and was actually Noah’s youngest son.

ניסוך המים: A Sukkot Rain Making Ritual

The Rabbis describe the ritual of “water libation,” ניסוך המים, performed during Sukkot in the Temple, as a major point of contention between the Pharisees and Sadducees. Why was this seemingly obscure ritual so contentious, and what was really at stake in performing it?

Why Jews Fast

Fasting in contemporary Judaism is tied to specific days in the calendar. In the Bible and Second Temple texts, however, fasting—communal and individual—was primarily a response to current events.

The Mitzvah of Covering the Blood of Wild Animals

Leviticus (17:13) requires covering the blood of undomesticated animals; Deuteronomy (12:15) requires pouring out the blood of slaughtered domesticated animals onto the ground. How do these laws reconcile with each other? The sectarians in Qumran have one answer, the rabbis another, the academics a third.

Joshua Is Appointed Leader Three Times: But Is He in Charge?

Before Moses dies, he asks God for a leader who will “come and go” before the people. God’s response is unequivocal: appoint Joshua. Nevertheless, as the narrative continues, God places Joshua under Elazar the priest, a clear sign of later redaction. When was this change made and why?

Moses’ Father-in-Law: Kenite or Midianite?

In the ancient world, genealogy was not about family relations but about political alliances.

In What Way Is Shavuot Zman Matan Torateinu?

No biblical text states that the Torah was given on Shavuot. What does it mean then that Shavuot is the “time of the giving of our Torah”?

Relegating Redemption of the Firstborn to a One-time Event in the Wilderness

The Priestly Torah has two different conceptions of why/how the firstborn Israelites are exempt from serving as priests. Is a questionable firstborn census an effort to weigh in on this dispute?

Bald Spots on Clothing: A(n Un)Missable, Ancient Scribal Error

A look at traditional attempts to make sense of a scribal error; does the LXX have the original version?

Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents

Ezekiel challenges the divine (in)justice of intergenerational punishment, even though it appears in the Decalogue.

Making Ma’aser Work for the Times

In Leviticus and Numbers, ma’aser (tithing) refers to a Temple tax; in Deuteronomy, however, it refers either to what must be brought and consumed on a pilgrimage festival or to charity. This dichotomy led the rabbis to design the cumbersome system of the first and second tithes (maaser rishon and maaser sheni).

The Torah’s Exodus

Weighing the historicity of the exodus story entails more than addressing the lack of archaeological evidence.

The Hebrew Slave: Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy

A classic example of source criticism applied to Torah legislation.

Jacob’s Multiple Death Scenes

Bringing Parashat Vayechi to Life

Laban and Jacob’s Covenant at Gal-ed

How ancient scribes dealt with a confusing story — a textual critical analysis

Is Sarah Old or Young When Kidnapped by Abimelech?

Set in between two stories that describe Sarah as old and withered is the episode of Abimelech taking Sarah. Why does he desire her?

Who Said All Is Futile?

Kohelet begins and ends with the phrase הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים “all is futile” (1:2, 12:8). Rashbam argues that these aren’t the author’s words but an editorial framing, which includes the famous ending that the sum of the matter is to fear God and keep His commandments (12:13). If we remove this framing, the book ends on a very different note.

Rosh Hashanah Between Tanach and Mishna

The missing links

Marrying Your Daughter to Her Rapist

Are the Torah’s laws perfect or do they reflect biblical times and can adapt as society develops? The punishment of a rapist is a good test case for thinking about morally problematic biblical laws.

Can Orthodox Education Survive Biblical Criticism?

The Significance of Ibn Ezra’s Position that Verses Were Added to the Torah

“And this is the Torah that Moses Placed Before the Children of Israel” —Numbers 9:23

Why Was Joshua Singled Out by Moses?

The story of the scouts introduces Hoshea bin Nun for the first time, following which Moses renames (only) him Joshua before sending him off to scout the land. And yet, Joshua has already featured in several stories as Moses’ protégé.

The Prohibition of Shaving in the Torah and Halacha

The Torah prohibits a mourning ritual called tonsuring, i.e., the pulling out or cutting of hair to express sorrow. Rabbinic interpretation understood these verses as a prohibition for men to shave their beards or temples with a razor. Ibn Ezra, however, uncharacteristically rejects the rabbinic interpretation of these verses, and Shadal, who accepts ibn Ezra's reading, goes as far as to say that he himself shaves with a razor.

The Purification of a Niddah: The Torah Requirement

Jewish law requires a menstruant woman to purify herself by immersing in water. A schematic look at Leviticus 15 actually implies this is not a Torah requirement.

The Ancient Judean Holiday: Yom Nicanor - 13th of Adar

The historical events surrounding the holiday, Yom Nicanor, and why we should consider marking the day in our generation.

The Cancellation of Megillat Ta'anit

The Cherubim: Their Role on the Ark in the Holy of Holies

Babies, birds, angels, even Torah scholars, tradition has interpreted cherubs in various ways, but what was their function on the ark?

Bring the Man to the Carcass or the Carcass to the Man?

A 2000-year-old question on how to read a single word in the Torah has generated different opinions on how a custodian for someone’s animal should go about proving that the animal was killed by a beast and not stolen.

Prohibition of Meat and Milk: Its Origins in the Text

The Torah states “do not cook a kid in its mother's milk.” What does this phrase mean, and how did it develop into the prohibition of mixing meat and milk?

Documentary Hypothesis: The Revelation of YHWH’s Name Continues to Enlighten

When God reveals the name YHWH to Moses in Exodus, he says that not even the patriarchs knew this name, yet they all use it in Genesis. Critical scholarship’s solution to this problem led to one of the most important academic innovations in biblical studies in the last three hundred years: the Documentary Hypothesis.

The Resumptive Repetition (Wiederaufnahme)

A literary strategy used by pre-modern editors and authors that works in a similar way to the classic cinematographic catch-phrase, “Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch.” (With an addendum by Prof. Marc Brettler)

Maternal Impressions: From Sheep to Humans

Jacob’s ancient scientific trick.

Our Stepmother, Keturah

After Sarah dies, Abraham marries Keturah. Who is she?

Can the Torah Contradict Halacha?

At stake is Ibn Ezra’s curse: “May your tongue stick to your palate… may your arm dry up and your right eye go blind.”

The Mystical Ritual of Hoshana Rabbah: Summoning God

Hoshana Rabbah, the final day of the High Holiday cycle, has a fascinating ritual service, the hoshanot, which includes the making of seven circuits around a Torah scroll and ends with the beating of willow sprigs against the ground. What is the significance of this ritual?

Torah from Heaven: A Guide to the Four Questions

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