Latest Essays

And what they reveal about his identity

Popular legend tells us that Rabbenu Gershom (d. ca 1028) was the first to prohibit polygyny. The Damascus Covenant’s understanding of the law in Leviticus 18:18, however, suggests that polygyny may have been prohibited more than a thousand years earlier by the Priestly authors.

The oldest layer of the exodus story has the Egyptian people, panicked by the plague of darkness, force the Israelites out under the king of Egypt’s nose. The story is later revised to credit the exodus to God's smiting the firstborn sons, and then drowning Pharaoh and his army in the sea. The final, Priestly editor added his signature theological innovation: God forces Pharaoh to give chase by hardening his heart.

The hidden polemic in the Torah’s note that “Israel did not escape by way of the Philistine coastal route”

Countering flaunting love with a call for intimacy.

It seems unethical for God to deny Pharaoh free will and then punish him for his actions. Rashi, Nahmanides, and Maimonides all struggle with this problem, and each assumes that even Pharaoh deserves to be treated fairly.

The Bible already expresses ambivalence about Hebrew slavery, the rabbis expand upon it and Maimonides takes the next step, applying the negative evaluation of slavery even to non-Israelites.

Before the Israelites leave Egypt, they borrow clothing from the Egyptians. What kind of clothes did the Egyptians wear?

When a Temple of Yahu Stood Near a Temple of Khnum

New Kingdom Egypt (1550-1070 BCE)

The change in usage over time and what this tells us about the biblical text.

Biblical tradition often depicts difficult father and son relationships. Accordingly, the concluding verses of Malachi—the final book of the Prophets—imagines ultimate redemption through a metaphor of father-son reconciliation, in which the fire and brimstone prophet Elijah is its unlikely harbinger. Leave it to the poet Yehuda Amichai to step in and offer a counter-model to rescue the metaphor.

Leviticus 15:24 does not declare sex with a menstruating woman to be forbidden, only that it results in temporary impurity. Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18, however, strictly prohibit it. What accounts for these two different approaches?

A pediatric neurologist searches for the soul through the lens of current neuroscience.

After the shocking death of Nadav and Avihu, Moses says to Aaron that this is what God meant when he said, “through those near to me I will sanctify Myself.”  Rashi, Rashbam, and Nahmanides struggle to understand the meaning of Moses’ message.