Op-ed

A Shavuot tribute to TheTorah.com on its 8th anniversary (and my 88th birthday).

Many hundreds of rabbis and clergy use TheTorah.com as a resource. I am committed to help support it. Will you join me?

On seven years of TheTorah.com

An expert in ancient Near Eastern contagious diseases reflects on living through a modern one.

A reflection on the yahrzeit of Samuel Rolles Driver

After years of yeshiva education and even Orthodox semicha, encountering biblical criticism was a shock to my system. However, my initial fear and disorientation gave way to a new bottom-line understanding of Torah, and it has become part of the message that I use to inspire my students on campus.

Who was Right—Rashi or Rabbeinu Tam?

Biblical scholarship as archaeo-psychology sheds light on the development of moral and religious awareness. We can either run from it or learn from it.

This is an actual bar mitzvah speech delivered by a Modern Orthodox boy at his bar Mitzvah.

Archaeology Review September / October 2013

“Bible criticism can ruin only a faith that has already been weakened.” – Emmanuel Levinas, “The Spinoza case”

A Dati Israeli Blogger’s Perspective

The need for rational-critical approaches to Scripture, in the popular Israeli discussions of the weekly parasha.

A response to Joshua Berman’s critique of academic biblical scholarship, “The Corruption of Biblical Studies.” This reply is self-standing, but you are encouraged to read his piece before reading this response.

In a Modern Orthodox school in the Tri-State Area, a Jewish day school sophomore is publicly rebuked and shamed by his rabbi for reading academic biblical scholarship.