Latest Essays

A medieval non-traditional interpretation of arami oved avi and the push-back against it. 

A Comparative Analysis

The Torah first describes a world that is created to be vegetarian. It is only after the Flood that humans were allowed to eat meat. Leviticus restricts meat consumption to the sacrificial offerings only, whereas Deuteronomy permits even non-consecrated meat. How do we understand the tension between these approaches?

A yeshiva student asks: Is it permissible to believe that parts of the Torah were written after the time of Moses?

Exodus Versus Deuteronomy 

And Ibn Ezra's Secret

The approaches in Lamentations

A Historical Approach

Deuteronomy presents Moses’ account as a retelling of the story narrated in Exodus and Numbers. And yet, so many details contradict the earlier narrative. Here are ten examples.

Dathan and Abiram’s civic rebellion against Moses and Aaron was independent of the Levites’ challenge to their religious demotion in relation to the Aaronides. The composite narrative underscores, more emphatically than either story could do alone, the principle that divinely-appointed leaders are to be accepted by the nation of Israel.

Reflections on teaching biblical criticism in the classroom; a talk given at the Edah conference (2005).

The Critical and Traditional Approaches

Four Answers to One Question