Parshat Shoftim ends with an unusual mitzvah. If a slain man is found in an open area in Israel, and the murderer is unknown, the

There is a root in Biblical Hebrew גדד. It often appears in the “hitpael” form and means “cut,” i.e., “cut oneself” (self-mutilation). The “hitpael” form

The Urim and the Tumim are first mentioned at Ex. 28:30. Unfortunately, there is no description of what they look like or how they were

In this column, I am going to summarize an article from Hakirah, vol. 25 (2018) by Meir Loewenberg. (The article is online at hakirah. org.)

The name of this Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem comes from Isaiah 56:5. Here is the first part of this verse: “Ve-natati lahem be-veiti u-ve-chomotai

The precise meaning of this word is very relevant to us daily. In the prayer “Vayivarech David” we assign to God “ha-gedulah, ve-ha-gevurah, ve-ha-tiferet, ve-ha-neitzach,

What is the meaning of this root שׁתם that is used to describe Bilam? It only appears at Numbers 24:3 and 24:15. There is a

As we all know, Rashi generally took his answers from the midrash instead of offering suggestions of his own. In the view of Nehama Leibowitz,

Part I The scholar Avraham Grossman, who was a professor of Jewish history at Hebrew University for many years, came out with an important book

We are all used to this word as the fifth plague. But it only appears one time in that plague. It has a life of

Part II I am continuing the story I started last week about how the initial Dead Sea Scrolls came to light. I am basing this

I was always perplexed by references to Yigael Yadin. He had so many roles in the history of Israel but I never knew how to