(This article is adapted from my 2021 book Thinking About Good and Evil.) Traditionally, the Book of Ecclesiastes is read publicly in the synagogue on the intermediate Shabbat of Sukkot. In years when there is no intermediate Shabbat, the reading is scheduled for...
Accoding to the Torah (Leviticus 23:40), the rituals of Sukkot include “taking” the fruit of a beautiful tree. What, exactly, fits this terse description is subject to dispute. Tradition maintains that the fruit in question is the citron, what the rabbis call...
Stylistically, biblical Hebrew frequently includes phrases that are parallels, especially in the poetic portions. And this is the simple and likely explanation for the verse (Deuteronomy 32:7): “Ask your father, he will inform you; your elders, they will tell you.”...
Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel Les Miserables serves as the story for one of the most successful theatrical musicals of all time, both on Broadway and London’s West End. But it also serves as a platform for considering a philosophical question about categorization. Jean...
As Moses nears his death, he continues to lecture the people on God’s expectations. It is what biblical scholar Professor Jeffrey H. Tigay calls “the summons to the covenant.” He assures the people that the content of the Torah is neither unintelligible nor...
The peroration that dominates chapter 28 in the book of Deuteronomy is followed by a passage at the beginning of chapter 29 that features a mysterious verse. Given the central focus of the consequences of loyalty and disloyalty to God that is chapter 28, chapter 29...
The sages assert (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 25a and parallels) that “the Torah was not given to ministering angels.” The implication is that human beings, unlike the angels, are creatures with desires which can sometimes motivate bad behavior. Given this condition,...
Historians and anthropologists do not dispute the antiquity of monarchal government, but there is neither consensus nor evidence for how kingships were first established. In his defence of the monarchy of his day, philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) argues...
A. J. Jacobs followed up his 2004 best-seller The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World with his 2007 book A Year of Living Biblically which was - rightfully - less well-received. Jacob’s first book chronicled his effort to...
Legal scholars distinguish between chattel and fixtures. Chattel refers to movable property like clothing and books; anything that can be removed without doing damage to physical property. Fixtures, on the other hand, are annexed to the realty, that is, permanently...