Latest Essays

The Torah describes a practice of declaring people cherem, which means that the person, and—in some cases—his family, would be annihilated, and his possessions donated to the Temple. The rabbis were unhappy with this law and used their homiletical approach to “obliterate” it.

An attempt to control the disparity between the rich and the poor and create a righteous society

Rashbam’s New Peshat

Already in the time of the Rabbis, Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot was considered to be esoteric knowledge. Although most Jewish exegetes interpret it as a metaphorical teaching about God, Maimonides interpreted it to be about science and astronomy. So why must it be kept a secret? Because Ezekiel was wrong and his science mistaken.

The current scholarship about the identity of the Philistines, who they were, when they came to the Levant, and why.

Reading the Torah portion Acharei Mot, “After the Death,” as an opportunity for infusing life into the biblical text.

Ancient Israel had two separate customs relating to vineyards and wine that took place during the time of vintage: a fertility rite (חילול) that marked the first use of a vineyard’s produce, and an annual vintage celebration (הילולים) in which the winegrowers praised God for their harvest. As the rites seem to have been wild, the law of ‘orla and the fourth year produce (רבעי) in Lev. 19:23-25 attempts to restrict them.

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.