Op-ed

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.

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.

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

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.

This is an actual bar mitzvah speech delivered last year by a Modern Orthodox boy at his bar Mitzvah. The source division comes from the source sheets passed out at that event. We have not edited it, though we did make some light adjustments and added subtitles to ease the flow of the piece for the readers. We are not certain that this is the first source critical speech of this sort. If you know of other such bar mitzvah speeches please leave a comment or email the editors@thetorah.

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.

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

Who was Right—Rashi or Rabbeinu Tam?

A Dati Israeli Blogger’s Perspective

Archaeology Review September / October 2013