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 unprecedented pogrom of November 9-10, 1938 in Germany has passed into history as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). Violent attacks on Jews and Judaism throughout the Reich and in the recently annexed Sudetenland began on November 8 and continued until November 11 in Hannover and the free city of Danzig, which had not then been incorporated into the Reich.
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.
Hayyei Sarah:
Abraham’s Servant and the Art of Biblical Retelling
The Bible has a singular vision for Jews and humanity. Beginning with the unprecedented declaration in the first chapter of Genesis that all people are created in God’s Image (Genesis 1:26–27), the Torah and prophets present a program for Israel and humanity that can bring about a redeemed, harmonious, religious-ethical world.