Articles

God foretold to Abram that there will always be cursers and haters who seek to diminish your achievements, undermine your teachings, and seek to destroy you. The cursers will indeed be cursed: their lives will be poisoned by hatred and envy, lies and self-destruction. While the cursers stew in their jealousy and malice, the blessers will enjoy loving, generous lives. God’s promises to Abram were true then. They are true today.

Religion demands both proper conduct and proper sentiment--adherence to the demands of justice and a grand religious vision characterized by love of God and humanity. God expected Noah—and us—to be not only righteous but to be whole-hearted, pure, loving, visionary. Are we up to it?

The Tower of Babel occupies only nine verses in the Torah, yet it is the only narrative between the Flood and the introduction of Abraham’s family. Its prominent placement suggests that it marks a critical turning point in human history. However, the Torah never explicitly identifies the sin of the builders. What exactly did they do wrong, and why did God intervene so dramatically?

We are thrilled to announce that Rabbi Hayyim Angel has published the second volume of his new commentary series, The Heart of Tanakh. The Heart of Joshua joins the Heart of the Five Megillot. 

On the way over the next several months: Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings (and then more to follow after that!). 

The road ahead, both in Israel and in the diaspora, is full of hurdles due to the threats from external enemies on the one hand, and the stubbornness of established institutions and religious extremists on the other. Yet it is precisely within these tensions that the next chapter of Jewish history is being written—not in the margins of other nations, but at the center of our own.

For nearly two thousand years, Christian theology has presented itself as the fulfillment
of the Hebrew Bible. Incarnation, divine sonship, vicarious atonement, and Trinitarian theology
are all claimed to be latent within Tanakh—awaiting recognition.

Jewish responses have typically taken one of two paths.

If someone asked Enoch if he was religious, he would have answered: “I am striving to be.” When someone asks us: are you religious?  The answer should be, like Enoch’s: “I am striving to be.”

Abraham our father taught us “to keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.” Generations later, Moses our rabbi taught us the Torah, expanding on the foundations set by Abraham. We are blessed to be heirs of spiritual greatness of the highest order.