Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

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Interest

Suftaja and the Laws of Interest in a Post-Biblical Economy

The Torah’s prohibition against loaning money with interest addresses a culture of subsistence farmers. Later Jews devised halakhic loopholes to enable them to make use of credit instruments such as the suftaja and to participate in market economies.

Prof. Rabbi

Phil Lieberman

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What Is Wrong with Charging Interest?

The Torah prohibits lending to poor people with interest. Why did Jewish law include business loans and how did this effect the law’s original purpose?

Prof.

Michael L. Satlow

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Shakespeare Plays on the Questionable Source of Jacob's Wealth

The Torah offers two explanations for how Jacob obtained great wealth at his father-in-law’s expense. Quite surprisingly, Shakespeare picked up on this narrative tension and made use of it to create the (in)famous biblically based dialogue between Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice.

Prof. Rabbi

Herbert Basser

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