Eastern Christianity includes prayer and a festival honoring the martyrdom of a woman and her seven sons who, in the time of Antiochus IV, refused to eat pork. The Talmud reimagines their story, depicting the woman and her sons as refusing to worship an idol in Roman times. This change reflects the rabbis’ tendency to downplay martyrdom in favor of a piety model centered on “dying” through exhaustive Torah study.
Dr.
Malka Z. Simkovich
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A male priest recites and inscribes a curse that the sotah is compelled to orally ingest and disclose the “truth” without listening to her words. Set in the wilderness period, and framed as a narrative passed down from mother to daughter, the short story of Iʿezer and Shifra by David Frischmann (a 20th century Hebrew fiction writer) highlights how, when she is accused of being a sotah, Shifra’s ignorance of Torah dooms her.
Prof. Rabbi
Wendy Zierler
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The first time I opened a Talmud was with Rabbi Dovid. Even years before his encounter with academic Bible, he always made space for me to argue points that I disagreed with. I became hooked on Torah study.
Bill Friedlieb
Wishing David a happy birthday. We first connected in February 2010 when he was working as a kiruv (outreach) rabbi with Aish HaTorah.
Kevin Wolf
On seven years of TheTorah.com
Dr. Rabbi
Norman Solomon