Behind Every Article: What It Takes to Sustain TheTorah.com

Dear Friends,

When I agreed to co-found this project with David 13 years ago, I never imagined we would reach tens of thousands of readers every month and feature such a broad range of scholarship from over 600 academics. Its success is the result of an immense, ongoing effort, and to continue sustaining TheTorah.com — we are facing a budget shortfall this year — it is important to share what goes into creating and maintaining such a platform.

For each article, we begin by inviting a scholar, months or even years in advance, to contribute their expertise. While we offer a modest honorarium, it never comes close to matching the effort they put in. Scholars participate because they believe in making their work accessible to everyone.

Every draft submitted to TheTorah.com goes through multiple rounds of editing by our full- and part-time academic editors, taking at least 2-3 full days of work from start to finish. Our editors help shape the narrative, clarify the argument, check references, incorporate primary sources in Hebrew and English, and ensure the piece is rigorous, engaging, and accessible to readers of all backgrounds. Finally, we make sure that it is presented in an attractive format.

We have kept TheTorah.com open-access — no paywalls, no subscriptions — so that the scholarship is available to everyone. We believe that knowledge is a human right, and a historically-grounded understanding of the Bible is a public good that helps create a more nuanced, informed society. To sustain this work, we have relied on a relatively small number of generous supporters — but to keep TheTorah.com thriving, we need to broaden that support.

If TheTorah.com has enriched your learning, please consider contributing to our year-end campaign to help cover a $75,000 shortfall. By supporting TheTorah.com, you join a community committed to making rigorous, accessible biblical scholarship available to everyone — now and for the future.

With gratitude,
Marc Brettler

P.S. Relative to our very modest budget, TheTorah.com has a remarkable reach and impact. We would like to expand to offer classes, courses, retreats, and other educational opportunities, but we cannot do so with our current resources. To date, we have yet to receive funding from foundations or grants, so if you serve on such a board or have connections to one, please reach out to us. Thank you!