Latest Essays

A look at traditional attempts to make sense of a scribal error; does the LXX have the original version?

The Hidden Message of the Opening Verses of Kedoshim

The dietary laws in Leviticus are not expressed in terms of kosher (כשר) or not kosher but in the terms of the Priestly purity laws: purity (טהרה), pollution (טומאה), and disgust (שקץ).

Ezekiel challenges the divine (in)justice of intergenerational punishment, even though it appears in the Decalogue.

The Seder as a Night of Hermeneutic Freedom: Introducing the Four Readers of the Haggadah‍

...יָכוֹל מֵראשׁ חֹדֶשׁ? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא

Three philosophical approaches to the historicity of the Exodus.

Demonstrating God’s control of the world

The exodus story, which is presented as the basis for many of the Torah’s rituals, is a secondary insertion in many of these contexts.

Shemurah matzah, “guarded matzah,” has two meanings: The matzah is guarded so that it does not become chametz, and the matzah is made with the express intent that it be used to fulfill the mitzvah. This latter idea, however, does not appear in any of the early (Tannaitic or Amoraic) layers of the Talmud, but only in the editorial (Stammaitic) layer. This article demonstrates how this notion entered rabbinic literature.^[1]

Exodus as cultural memory of the demise of Egypt’s 400-year rule over Canaan.

Impurity is transferred through physical contact. Theologically speaking, could the same be true for holiness?

The Torah implores us to remember and teach the exodus, yet surprisingly, some biblical passages seem unaware of this event and describe an alternative tradition: God found Israel in the wilderness.

Is the book of Leviticus primitive? I believe so, though an analysis of the meaning of the word kipper suggests that these sacrificial laws may be more relevant than we often realize.

Y los Orígenes de la Semana de Siete días

In Leviticus and Numbers, ma’aser (tithing) refers to a Temple tax; in Deuteronomy, however, it refers either to what must be brought and consumed on a pilgrimage festival or to charity. This dichotomy led the rabbis to design the cumbersome system of the first and second tithes (maaser rishon and maaser sheni).