“Where are the Torah graphic novels?”
For many people, the texts of Torah learning are themselves the biggest obstacles. They...
Tag Archives: Torah
“…the concept of the ben sorer umoreh raises essential questions for parents who strive to build loving relationships with their children”
The law, as defined by the Talmud, ensures that it is virtually impossible for...
“…the reconciliation of the Torah’s discussion of homosexuality represents the single most formidable religious challenge for our young people today”
This may surprise many adults, but the reconciliation of the Torah’s discussion of homosexuality...
“The moment that a person’s interpretation of Torah would evoke the deep disgust of the average civilized person is the moment when the Torah’s intended story about itself has been lost”
The story the Torah tells us about itself is that the way of life...
“In the era of Big Torah, all of the arguments are on the table, and there are legitimate leaders who are charting the course to anywhere we want to go”
If scientists and engineers now live in the world of Big Data, then we...
“…the architecture of the Holy of Holies…suggest a type of theological equality”
…the architecture of the Holy of Holies expressed something else, as well, because, if...
“The Rabbis who inherited the biblical story [of Numbers 31] as sacred writ…adopted the strategy of finding meaning in its details…”
The Rabbis who inherited the biblical story as sacred writ (and...
“…it’s vital to the definition of a Torah community that we think that knowing more Torah, in some way, privileges you in a values conversation…”
I think, in a Torah community, it’s vital to the definition of a Torah...
“Sarah’s story becomes a cautionary tale for us — a tale about the vital need every human being has to feel a sense of weight and gravitas…”
It is not coincidental that while Sarah is the direct object of several verbs...
Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman says the Torah spoke in the language that would be accessible to those departing from Egypt
Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman says the text spoke in the language – דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם – but specifically in the language that would be accessible to that first generation of western Semitic people called the Hebrews, who heard the Torah. It uses a very specific type of imagery and language. It’s not going to talk about evolution, and it’s not going to talk about E=MC2; it’s going to talk in the language that’s common to them.
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, “What is פשוטו של מקרא?” YCT Yom Iyun (New York City: 13 January 2014).