Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

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Canaanite

After the Golden Calf, Is the Covenant Renewed with a Ritual Decalogue?

YHWH instructs Moses to carve a second set of tablets and come up the mountain (Exodus 34). YHWH then presents a set of laws, including: Don’t intermarry with the Canaanites; don’t make idols; and do observe Matzot, Shabbat, Shavuot, Ingathering, and Passover. What is the nature of this collection of laws?

Dr.

Tina M. Sherman

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Biblical Cookware and Crockery

The Bible contains numerous references to ceramic pots, bowls, jugs, and other types of dishes. What do we know about these vessels?

Dr.

Nava Panitz-Cohen

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Can We Pass Moral Judgment on Torah?

I don’t defend the Torah’s ostensibly immoral laws, but I do try to understand what motivated them.

Dr. Rabbi

Eliezer Finkelman

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Sheger, Ashtoret and Ashtor – The Patron Gods of Transjordanian Shepherds

Deuteronomy uses unusual parallel terms “the shegar of your herd and the ashtorot of your flock” to describe the offspring of livestock. These are names of the ancient West Semitic fertility goddess known as Ashtoret or by her less familiar bi-name Sheger. Her consort is (sometimes) the god Ashtor. What do we know about these deities and what do they have to do with livestock?

Prof.

Aaron Demsky

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Nehushtan, the Copper Serpent: Its Origins and Fate

The Torah describes Moses building a copper serpent to heal the Israelites. According to Kings, Hezekiah destroys it because it was being worshiped. Archaeology and history clarify the religious and political meaning of this image.

Dr.

Richard Lederman

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better – Joshua as Moses

...but who inspired whom?

Prof.

Carl S. Ehrlich

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Who Was Living in the Land When Abraham Arrived?

Prof.

Yigal Levin

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