The Akeidah and Our Commitment to Halakha

The Akeidah and Our Commitment to Halakha 
by Aryeh Klapper
“Do not send your hand forth against the lad; Do not do him any harm”. 
Every year at this time we tremble in suspense as Avraham raises the knife, then sigh in relief when the angel calls out in time to save Yitzchak.  We rejoice both at our [...]

“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 כל משפחת האדמה:
(ד) וילך אברם [...]

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 as to [...]

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

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 with the [...]

“So Long” vs “Thanks for All the Fish”: A New Reading of Sefer Yonah and Its Implications for Modern Orthodoxy

“So long” vs. “Thanks for all the fish”[1]:
A New Reading of Sefer Yonah and Its Implications for Modern Orthodoxy
By Aryeh Klapper
             Imagine a man coming into Times Square looking and smelling like he’s spent considerable time inside a fish.  The man climbs onto a soapbox and declaims: “The end is nigh!”  How many people [...]

Land and Sea, Natural and Supernatural in the Book of Jonah

Land and Sea, Natural and Supernatural in the Book of Jonah
by Daniel Reifman 
Like many texts that have been incorporated into the liturgy, the book of Jonah seems inseparable from the time it is read in the synagogue: the afternoon of Yom Kippur. As the day draws to a close, our thoughts turn to the final [...]

Books of Interest – Recent Works of Rabbi Mordechai Breuer

Mordechai Breuer, Pirqe Miqraot, Tvunot Press – Herzog College, Alon Shvut, 2009.  362 pages.  [Hebrew]
The ‘Aspects Theory’ of Rav Mordechai Breuer:  Articles and Responses ed. Yosef Ofer, Tvunot Press – Herzog College, Alon Shvut, 2005.  369 pages. [Hebrew]
Megadim 50 (Tamuz 5769), 268 pages. [Hebrew]
In 1999, Tradition (33:3) published an essay by Rabbi Meir Eckstein about the [...]

« Previous Page