“The Canaanites Were Then in the Land”: Ibn Ezra, Post-Mosaic Editorial Insertions, and the Canaanite Exile from the Land

“The Canaanites Were Then in the Land”:  Ibn Ezra,  Post-Mosaic Editorial Insertions, and the Canaanite Exile from the Land  by Aryeh Klapper  Genesis 12:1-7: בראשית פרק יב (א) ויאמר יקוק אל אברם לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך: (ב) ואעשך לגוי גדול ואברכך ואגדלה שמך והיה ברכה: (ג) ואברכה מברכיך ומקללך אאר ונברכו בך [...]

From Our Archives: Prof. Michael Wyschogrod

First Things recently published a very positive review by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of the theology of Professor Michael Wyschogrod.  Prof. Wyschogrod currently teaches at Yeshiva University and is a longtime member of Tradition‘s editorial board.  Rabbi Soloveichik’s essay largely reflects on Wyschogrod’s most important book, The Body of Faith.   A different book by Wyschogrod, Abraham’s Promise:  Judaism and [...]

On the Role of Intuition in Shaping One’s Service of God: The Change at Sinai and the Difference Between Avraham and Noach

On the Role of Intuition in Shaping One’s Service of God: The Change at Sinai and the Difference Between Avraham and Noach By Gidon Rothstein What’s So Bad About Noach? Rashi, following the tenor of Hazal, beats up on Noach, seemingly anxious to point out his failings. For just one example, Rashi records a dispute [...]

Misreading the Torah: The Curse of Ham and Racism

Misreading the Torah:  The Curse of Ham and Racism  Guest Post   By Alan Yuter  The curse of Ham has wrongly been cited to wrongly justify the wrongful treatment of human beings without power by human beings with power.  In this essay, we first define the problem, outline the facts recorded in the Hebrew Bible, summarize [...]

Final Exam in Jewish Philosophy of Dr. Joseph Soloveitchik, 1936

by Nathaniel Helfgot An interesting detail of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l’s biography, not widely known or discussed (for example, it is not mentioned in the important biographical essay on the Rav that opens Rabbi Aaron Rakaffet’s two volume  The Rav: The World of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik nor in the important work of my [...]

The Importance of Engaging in Personal Inventories

The Importance of Engaging in Personal Inventories by Yaakov Bieler              It is self-apparent that a central component of Judaism is Teshuva (repentance.)[1] Since man is a conflicted, dualistic creature[2] and therefore aspirations to totally achieve spiritual, moral and religious perfection are by definition impossible to realize, the individual striving for higher levels of holiness [...]

From Our Archives: The Biblical Stories of Creation, Garden of Eden and the Flood: Story or Metaphor?

The title of Shubert Spero’s article speaks for itself – click here to read the article. Also check out  the communications section of latest issue of Tradition (42:2) in which Prof. Spero and Prof. David Shatz debate whether the article represents a case of Biblical concordism.  – Shlomo Brody

Can Something Be Too Much for G-d to Ask?

by Aryeh Klapper Can Something Be Too Much for G-d to Ask? Are there limits to what G-d can require of human beings? At first glance the answers seem obvious – we are told to love G-d with all our “nefesh”, and normative Halakhah understands this as imposing an obligation on all Jews to surrender [...]

Guest Post – Creation and the Flood in Ancient Myth and in the Torah: Ma’aseh Bereshit as Social Theory by Joshua Berman

Creation and the Flood in Ancient Myth and in the Torah: Ma’aseh Bereshit as Social Theory by Joshua Berman It might seem obvious that the Torah should begin at the beginning, with the creation of the world and of mankind.  Yet, the midrsah, made famous by Rashi, wasn’t at all sure that the Torah should begin [...]

Books of Interest: New Writings on the Torah

Joshua A. Berman, Created Equal:  How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought, Oxford University Press, 2008. 222 pages + bibliography & indeces. Yitzchak B. Gottlieb, Order in the Bible (Yesh Seder La-Mikra): The Arrangement of the Torah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish Commentary,  Bar Ilan University Press & Magnes Press, 2009.  423 pages + biblioraphy [...]

Next Page »