A New Approach to the Story of Abaye, Rava and the Dream Interpreter Bar Hedya (b. Berakhot 55b-56a).

During the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur two concluding blessing formulas are switched to refer to God as a judge What is the meaning of this change? What can talmudic manuscripts teach us about this liturgical practice?

In late Second Temple times, a person would take an oath by verbally invoking the Torah. Over time, with the emergence of the Torah as a sacred object for Jews and Christians alike, Torah scrolls began to be used in court-administered oaths.