Latest Essays

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.

The book of Esther is a study in antisemitism. It is the only biblical book that portrays antisemitism, and itself has been the subject of criticism with antisemitic overtones. 

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.

One of the main themes in the Book of Esther is the death of Haman, the descendent of Agag, last king of Amalek, at the hands of Mordecai and Esther, Benjaminites from the family of King Saul. Is this just a coincidence?

King Jehoiachin surrenders to Nebuchadrezzar in 597 B.C.E., on the 2nd of Adar. Decades later, he is released in the twelfth month (i.e., Adar), providing a historical precedent for the Purim story, where Adar is a month of changing fortunes. The fate of Jehoiachin is given dramatically different depictions by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Three different sources in the Torah express the Israelites’ separation from their neighbors as a core ideal.

The designation ivri in the legal corpora of the Pentateuch is found only in the laws of slavery. So who is this ivri slave and why was he sold?

The religiosity of civil law and the obligation to use only Jewish courts: Rashi’s fourfold homily on Exodus 21:1.

“Hebrew” in the Bible is often assumed to be another word for “Israelite” – but what does the biblical evidence say and where do the ancient Near East Ḥabiru fit in?

19th century Anglo-Jewish translators defended the Israelites’ behavior against the King James translation’s perceived accusation that the Jews “borrowed” the Egyptians belongings and never returned them.

The word שור in Hebrew can refer to an ox or a bull, but which animal is the protagonist of the celebrated law of שור נגח, “the goring bovine”? 

In the list of people who must not work on Shabbat, the גֵּר “sojourner” or “(resident) alien” appears last, even after the Israelite’s work animals. Is the sojourner’s standing in the Bible lower than livestock?

Linked by words and acts of chesed (lovingkindness), Jethro and Rahab are rabbinic exemplars of true converts.

Deuteronomy 20:19 forbids the chopping down of fruit trees during war-time, and offers the cryptic explanation כי האדם עץ השדה (ki ha-adam etz hasadeh), but what does this mean?^[1]

The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) is often seen as an ancient text, perhaps one of the oldest in the Tanach, but analysis of its language and contents suggests that it is a later Deuteronomistic composition.

The Song of the Sea begins with defeat of the Egyptians and ends with YHWH’s enthronement in His temple. Comparison with the Epic of Baal and Enuma Elish clarify the genre and purpose of such hymns, and a striking parallel with Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8 offers a clue to the original context of this ancient song.

The nazir must abstain from shekhar (שֵׁכָר), and it must be poured on the altar as a libation – but what is it? Understanding the ecology of ancient Israel can help answer the question.

To counter Christian exegetes who saw the paschal lamb as symbolizing Jesus, medieval rabbinic commentators offered new rationales for the details of this ritual.

The Torah describes the Levites as a landless Israelite tribe who inherited their position by responding to Moses’ call to take vengeance against sinning Israelites. This account masks a more complicated historical process.

Moses Mendelssohn’s Be’ur (1780-83) was the first Jewish translation of the Torah into standard German. Motivated by religious and cultural needs, Mendelssohn took advantage of the translation revolution already underway in eighteenth-century Germany—and also included many striking innovations.

Animal, vegetable or mineral? Assyriology and archaeology provide an answer to an ancient question.

Morally problematic halachot remain on the books despite rabbinic attempts to transform or reinterpret them. How do we relate to these texts as Torah from Sinai, coming from God?

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

The meaning of God’s names, especially YHWH, is central to Jewish theology. Two approaches have dominated: the philosophical, focusing on God’s essence (“being”) and the kabbalistic, focusing on God’s evolving relationship with Israel (“becoming”). Some modern thinkers such as Malbim and Heschel have looked for new syntheses or formulations.

The Torah informs us that when Jacob blessed Joseph's two sons, “he placed Ephraim before Manasseh” (Genesis 48:20b). Surprisingly, the late 12^th century sage, R. Judah HeḤasid, asserts that this refers to Moses putting the tribe of Ephraim before that of Manasseh in the tribal listings (Numbers 2:18-21), leading R. Judah to conclude that the phrase must have been added later, and not by Moses.