Bible

Reading The Prohibition Against Homosexuality In Context

The sexual relationships forbidden by the Torah are intended to prohibit non-Israelite religious practices and abuses of power.

The Shunamite Woman: A Model of Radical Empathy

Because she had a special relationship with the prophet Elisha, her child was miraculously conceived and miraculously resurrected.

The Book of Ruth and the Power of Names

The story of Ruth, read on the holiday of Shavuot, teaches that respect for others begins with recognizing their names.

The Book of Exodus

The book of Exodus tells the tale of Israel's liberation and birth, and of the beginning of God's covenanted nation.

Did Moses Write the Torah?

Although modern traditionalist Judaism uniformly affirms the divinity of the Torah, classical sources disagree on what role Moses had in its production.

Vashti: The Forgotten Queen of Persia

The rabbis imagined the Bible's Vashti as both evil villain and tragic heroine.

Job

A book that challenges the rest of the Bible by asking how a good God can permit so much suffering.

Deborah

A warrior and prophetess, she's the only woman in the Hebrew Bible with hard political power who is portrayed positively.

Rebecca the Superheroine

Isaac's wife and Jacob's mother, the second matriarch survived a difficult pregnancy and engineered the future of the Jewish people.

Jonah

A story about prophecy and repentance—but not in the way you think.

Samson

He could kill a lion or topple a temple with his bare hands, but succumbed to the love of a treacherous woman. Many wild traditions circulated about the first Jewish superhero.

How Jacob Healed His Family

Israel’s third patriarch was born into great dysfunction, but found ways to create the first cohesive family in the Bible.