Sarah’s Death and The Nature of Prophecy by Gidon Rothstein

One of the earliest divrei Torah I remember finding attractive and interesting came in the week of Parashat Hayye Sarah, and resonates with me today for the remarkable claims it makes about the nature of prophecy.  My elementary school principal, a wonderful mechanech named R. Abraham Kahana, gave mishmar in the Yeshivah of Flatbush Elementary [...]

From Our Archives: Parshat Chaya Sarah

Halakhah as Psychology: Explicating the Laws of Mourning by Moshe Halevy Spero (17:1, Fall 1977)  As our parsha opens with Avraham’s mourning over Sarah, we have brought the following article in which Moshe Halevy discusses the interplay between halacha and psychology in the laws of mourning. The Test of Rebecca by Andrew Schein (31:4, Summer [...]

Parshat Chaye Sarah: Avraham, Father of Multitudes by Yaakov Bieler

What is the significance of Avraham’s second and final family?                     The Tora provides a strange coda for the symphony of Avraham’s life. Just a few verses before we read of the death of the patriarch (Beraishit 25:7 ff.), we learn how Avraham marries a woman named Ketura (25:1 ff.) and fathers six children, who [...]

Parshat Vayera: Avraham the Gadfly by Yaakov Bieler

Pirkei Avot contains not only portrait of the central character traits of Avraham, but also a subtle assumption regarding how we might also develop such qualities: Avot 5:19 Whoever possesses these three qualities is one of the students of Avraham Avinu…A generous eye, a humble spirit and a self-disciplined soul…[1] In contrast to those who [...]

From Our Archives: Parashat Lech Lecha

Abraham’s Ordeals Revisited by Aryeh Spero (24:1, Fall 1988) Abraham’s Nephew Lot:  A Biblical Portrait by Raymond Harari (25:1, Fall 1989) The Use of Anesthesia in Circumcision:  A Re-Evaluation of the Halakhic Sources by Edward Reichman & Fred Rosner (34:3, 2000). – Shlomo Brody

Parashat Lech Lecha: The Blessing that Signals the Beginning of the Jewish People by Yaakov Bieler

                At the beginning of Parshat Lech Lecha (Beraishit 12:2-3), in order to provide a Divine inducement for Avraham to abruptly leave his homeland and most of his family members, HaShem blesses him in seven different ways. Personal Blessings                 Yehuda Kihl[1] explains the contents of these blessings in the following manner:                  (1) “VeE’escha [...]

Procreation, Women, and Birth Control: Reflections on the Meshech Chochmah by Aryeh Klapper

 Genesis 1:27-28 G-d created the human in His image In His image He created him Male and female He created them G-d blessed them G-d said to them: Be fruitful and multiply; fill the land and subdue it; dominate the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens, and every wild thing that [...]

From Our Archives: Parashat Noach

A Note on the Flood Story in the Language of Man by Joel Wolowelsky Be Fruitful and Multiply by David S. Shapiro The Universal Nature of Pru Urva and an Analysis of its Implications by David Neustadter Making the Bible Come to Life:  Biblical Archaeology and the Teaching of Tanakh in Jewish Schools by Lawrence [...]

Parashat Noach: Stealth Tora Teachers – The Yeshiva of Shem and Ever by Yaakov Bieler

                The Yeshiva and/or Beit Midrash has been the institution in which Tora has been formally transmitted from teacher to student, from generation to generation, as well as the context in which students of Tora have conducted their religious studies for time immemorial.  While it is both plausible and understandable to find historical and literary [...]