by Dvir Cahana
Posted on October 27, 2022
(The following is a constructed midrash of the final days on the ark) It was a brisk afternoon in late October. Noah looked out from his Teiva and noticed how the tips of the mountains had begun exposing their nibs through the ocean foam.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 7, 2021
The classic metaphor for America used to be that of the melting pot. People came from all different countries, cultures, backgrounds, and languages. They would come to America, and they would get homogenized and Americanized into one indistinguishable whole. Now a different metaphor has gained preeminence, and that is the metaphor of the salad bowl.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 2, 2016
God creates a perfect, self-sustaining planet, teaming with life. God places human beings in it and gives them seemingly divine powers: rule over all living things, and the ability to build, create, transform, and take mastery over the entire planet (Breishit 1:28-29).…
by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff
Posted on November 2, 2016
There is significant tension in the Torah literature regarding the death penalty. On one hand, the written Torah clearly supports the use of the death penalty although it is not so clear why. On the other hand, the Rabbis seem to be uncomfortable with it, apparently out of concerns for judicial error and perhaps also because of their discomfort with direct retaliation.…
by Dr. Shalom Holtz
Posted on November 1, 2016
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by Rabbi Nachman Levine
Posted on October 26, 2016
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by Dr. Deena Grant
Posted on October 26, 2016
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by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 14, 2015
“And from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the entire Earth” (Breishit, 11:8). What was the sin of the Tower of Babel, and why was it necessary to scatter them and create many languages? Are not geographical distance and the differences of language and culture the primary bases of misunderstanding and fear of the other?…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 19, 2012
What was the sin of the Generation of the Flood? The verses repeat that they had “corrupted their way”, which the Rabbis tell us refers to idolatry and sexual sin. And yet this is not what had sealed their fate, for the verse states: “The end of all flesh has come before Me, because the land is filled with hamas – understood by the Rabbis as “robbery” – through them.”(6:13).…