Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use

Psychology

Israel Was Instructed to Ascend Sinai, but Were Afraid of Revelation

“When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall go up on the mountain” (Exodus 19:13). The original intention was for all Israelites to be like priests, and experience YHWH’s revelation on the mountain top. But when YHWH descends and the horn sounds, the people recoil and remain below.

Hila Hershkoviz

,

,

The Psychological Mechanisms that Protect Unreasonable Faith Claims

Prof.

Solomon Schimmel

,

,

The Animal Laws Before Kashrut: A System of Purity

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).

Dr.

Eve Levavi Feinstein

,

,

Naomi’s Bitter Poem

A look at Naomi’s theology, as expressed in her poem, and how it carries her through her grief and back into productive engagement.

Prof. Rabbi

Jonathan Magonet

,

,

Cathartic Cursing

A Therapeutic Outlet for Terrible Pain

Dr. Rabbi

Jeremy Rosen

,

,

Capturing Pain in Poetry

A Taunt So Cruel It Will Freeze an Enemy’s Blood

Dr. Rabbi

Eliezer Finkelman

,

,

Israel’s Development as a Nation: Form, Storm, Norm, Perform

The Torah often uses the repetition of certain terms and wordplay to underline important themes. Numbers uses the terms נשא (nas’a: “to carry”) and נסע (nas‘a; “to travel”) to highlight the development of Israel from independent clans to a nation in a way that fits well with the model of group formation first suggested by psychologist Bruce Tuckman.

Dr.

Shani Tzoref

,

,

Using the Enemy as a Proxy

The unutterable events that happened to our infants

Rabbi

Yehudah Gilad

,

,

No items found.