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Tzvi Novick

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Mar 29, 2026, 7:07 AM

The Claustrophobia of the Passover Seder

Imagine that you are shut up inside your room. The forces of death rage outside, as you huddle together with your family and friends. Today this imaginative exercise requires no imagination at all. But I am not thinking right...

Jan 25, 2026, 7:55 AM

Speaking Lies to Power: On the Exodus and Social Justice

I attempt here to make sense of a fundamental yet often overlooked dimension of the exodus story: that it is premised on a ruse. In Ex 3:16-17, God tells Moses to convey to the Israelite elders that God has...

Oct 24, 2025, 12:50 AM

Creation out of Hovering

How does a new thing begin? By what means does order emerge from the void? To read the beginning of the book of Genesis, it seems a matter of divine will, God’s decision to speak and say, “let light...

Jun 11, 2025, 9:38 AM

A New Prayer for Israel

Every Sabbath, Zionist synagogues in America pray for the flourishing of the state of Israel and for the safety and health of its soldiers. Since October 7, 2023, they have offered these prayers more fervently, and added other ones,...

Jun 16, 2024, 10:06 AM

Revenge in Judaism

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_The_Blinding_of_Samson_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Is revenge a Jewish value? It is well known that the Torah prohibits “taking vengeance against one’s countryman” (Leviticus 19:18). This prohibition governs interpersonal relationships among Israelites. Its point is: Don’t try to get back at your fellow Israelite...

Oct 29, 2023, 5:54 PM

No Contextualization Without Explanation

Everywhere you look, you find people seeking to provide “context” for the massacre of Israelis by Hamas of October 7 (“Black Saturday”) and the ensuing Israeli declaration of war on Hamas. The contextualization occurs, almost inevitably, as a pivot...

Sep 28, 2023, 9:26 AM

Jonah’s Terrible Sukkah

The book of Jonah is read as the haftarah on the afternoon of Yom Kippur because of the central role of repentance therein, but the book also seems to points us forward to Sukkot, for Jonah builds a sukkah. ...

Jun 28, 2023, 8:56 PM

On Balaam and the Varieties of Prophecy

The connection between parashat Balak and its haftarah, from Micah 5-6, is immediately obvious: The prophet Micah adduces the story of Balak and Balaam as evidence of God’s care for Israel (6:5). But the haftarah continues past this reference...

Dec 25, 2022, 10:25 PM

Politics, Prophets, and Polarization

On Shabbat Hanukkah we read in the synagogue Zechariah’s famous vision of the menorah. “What do those things mean?” says the prophet. What does the menorah signify? The angel’s answer: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:...

Dec 19, 2022, 5:29 PM

Hanukkah and the human condition

When you're not sure you believe in God, how do you accept a miracle? Or, for that matter, the notion that people have the freedom to choose how they will live?

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About Me

Tzvi Novick is the Abrams Jewish Thought and Culture Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on law and ethics in early rabbinic literature, and on pre-medieval liturgical poetry.