Often the difference between great writing and good writing is word choice. Using just the right word can make the ordinary extraordinary. Harold Evans, in his latest book, Do I Make Myself Clear? describes how Franklin Delano Roosevelt agonized over each and every...
When the ten brothers return to Canaan from Egypt they drop a bombshell. For Jacob who had long thought that Joseph was dead, ravaged by a wild animal, the news was shocking: “Joseph is yet alive and he rules over the Land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:26). Jacob was...
A very cunning Joseph devises a plan that will result in bringing his younger brother and his aging father to Egypt. The first part of his plan is to plant a valuable object in the saddlebags of one of the brothers and then charge them with being thieves. Though the...
Joseph is perplexed. His father, Jacob, sent him on an assignment to check on the whereabouts of his brothers and the status of the flocks they tend. But the brothers are not where Joseph expected to find them. One of the locals sees how perturbed Joseph is and asks:...
Names are identifiers. Concealing a name gains a measure of security. Revealing a name is a measure of pride. Two stories illustrate this point: one from Greek mythology and one from the Torah. In need of resupply for their continuing voyage, Odysseus convinces...
Meir Weiss has built a career on understanding the Bible as literature. His breakthrough book entitled The Bible From Within shows how the structure of the narrative helps advance our appreciation of the text. Toldot is a fine example that illustrates his method....
As much as Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin of Volozhin (1816-1893) was ensconced in what today would be called the Orthodox movement in Judaism, he was no obscurantist. In fact, his popular commentaries feature the application of scientific study to Jewish texts,...
Politicians are big talkers, making many grandiose promises often with neither the intent nor the ability to fulfill them. Though politicians are the most egregious examples of “big talkers,” they are surely not the only ones. Athletes speak about the victories they...
In the same verse that God promises Abram that he will be made into a great nation God also commands Abraham to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2). The grammar of the verse is ambiguous, however. It need not be read as a command to “Be a blessing!” (After all, how can such...
The earliest chapters of the book of Genesis are devoted to origins: the origin of the universe, the origins of life, the origins of civilization, and the origins of the nations of the world. It is this last type of origin that is the special subject of the biblical...