Echoing the Iranian story of Yima, the biblical Enoch morphed into the theologically problematic angel Metatron, and ends up being flogged.
Dr. Yishai Kiel Continue reading Enoch’s Walk with God Ends Badly in Babylonia
Evidence suggests that hoarding second tithe money held special, religious significance among late antique Jews. How did this curious religious observance develop? What might it have meant to the Jews who practiced it?
Amit Gvaryahu Continue reading Hoarding Consecrated “Second Tithe” Coins
In the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem, rabbinic literature’s presentation of mothers donating their children’s weight in gold to the Temple – following the rabbinic interpretation of ‘Arakhin – comes to exemplify both piety and tragedy. Continue reading Memorializing the Temple through the Maternal Practice of ‘Arakhin
A Talmudic story (b. Sanhderin 19a-b) explores the separation of sovereign and judicial powers and the escalation that results when a judge seeks to exert his own authority Continue reading The Story of Shimon B. Shetah’s Attempt to Judge King Yannai
Prof. Rabbi Marty Lockshin Continue reading Does Halakha Uproot Scripture?
The Dead Sea Scrolls Tefillin and the Making of an Urban Legend
Dr. Yehudah Cohn Continue reading The Real Origins of the Rashi, Rabbenu Tam Tefillin Dispute
