The purpose of this article is to point to variations in the name of the 54 parshiyot. In the past few centuries, the names have

ארוסין: This word has its origin in Tanach, where it is always spelled with a “sin.” E.g., ארשׂ (Deuteronomy 20:7). Many words were spelled with

In my youth, I went to SAR and Ramaz. I was always taught that Hebrew had a 22 letter alphabet. I did not go to

There is a widespread erroneous belief that Esther and Mordechai were uncle and niece. Where does this belief come from? Before we discuss the earliest

I recently came across three such lists. I am going to choose my top 10 from the various lists, in no particular order: 1. Opium

First, I will provide a general overview of the widely occurring root ענה. It has four different meanings: 1) respond, 2) sing, 3) afflict, and

The word עונן seems to describe a type of divination. Sometimes, the individual practicing it is called an עונן and other times a מעונן. I

A widespread understanding of the word חוק in traditional sources is that it is a law that we do not know the reason for, even

Megillat Taanit is a work from the first century CE which lists festive days when Jews were not allowed to fast. On some of them—the

This zemer, song, was authored by Yisrael ben Moshe Najara (c. 1555- 1625, biography is below). His name ישראל is spelled by the first letter

I once read a book by someone very familiar with rabbinic Hebrew and modern Hebrew who ended up studying the King James Bible and writing

The Tanach has several words for sticks: shevet, mateh, mishenet and makel. What is the difference between them? Let us analyze the easiest one first,