Latest Essays

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

The works of medieval exegetes such as Maimonides, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra demonstrate that Judaism has a long-standing tradition of studying the Torah critically.

Inaugurating TheTorah.com

The nativity stories in Matthew and Luke are deeply rooted in Jewish Scripture and Second Temple Judaism. Nevertheless, over the centuries they have accumulated interpretations that portray Jews as cruel, greedy, impure, or spiritually blind. A closer look at familiar claims—from Mary’s supposed threat of being stoned to the caricature of shepherds as social outcasts—shows how antisemitism often enters the Christmas story not through the Gospels themselves, but through their interpretation.

It wasn’t until the late Second Temple period—shaped by Greek and Roman legal culture—that Torah law started to function as actual law.

With a miracle of an overflowing jar of oil, Elisha saves a widow’s sons from debt-slavery. He then grants the Shunammite woman a child and later resurrects that child from an untimely death. Both stories craft a portrait of a prophet exercising powers usually reserved for God. Is this prophetic hagiography or criticism of his encroachment on God’s domain?