Op-ed
The First Source-Critical Bar Mitzvah Speech?
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.
Project TABS Editors
Academic Study of the Torah Is Essential, Not Just for Academics
On seven years of TheTorah.com
Dr. Rabbi
Norman Solomon
Coronavirus: What We Can Learn from the Bible and the ANE
An expert in ancient Near Eastern contagious diseases reflects on living through a modern one.
Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
S. R. Driver “Taught the Faithful Criticism, and the Critics Faith”
A reflection on the 106th yahrzeit of Samuel Rolles Driver
Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
A Campus Rabbi Comes to Terms with Biblical Criticism
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.
Rabbi
Daniel Levine
When a Teacher Believes Biblical Criticism Is Worse Than Pornography
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.
Confessions of an Interloper: Bible Criticism from the Sidelines
“Bible criticism can ruin only a faith that has already been weakened.” – Emmanuel Levinas, “The Spinoza case”
Prof. Rabbi
Shaul Magid
Biblical Studies: No More Corrupt Than Any Other Discipline
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.
Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
The First Source-Critical Bar Mitzvah Speech?
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.
Project TABS Editors
Facing Our Past
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.
Dan Sofer
The 71st Face of the Torah
The need for rational-critical approaches to Scripture, in the popular Israeli discussions of the weekly parasha
Prof.
Yair Hoffman
What will the Newly Found Tefillin Scrolls Reveal?
Who was Right—Rashi or Rabbeinu Tam?
Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
Ending the Battle Against Academic Biblical Studies
A Dati Israeli Blogger’s Perspective
Avi Dentelski
