Open Search form

Tanach

Apply for a Blog

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Aug 17, 2026, 7:07 PM

The role of the roof

In Parshat Ki Tetze (Dvarim 22:8) we learn about the importance of fencing in the roof of a building: “When you build a new home, you are to make a fence for your roof…” What were roofs like in Biblical...

Silas Anastacio

Aug 16, 2026, 10:45 AM

Luiz Sayão: The aesthetics of terror and the light of the Lord

Luiz Sayão — one of Brazil’s foremost theologians, Hebraists, and linguists — leads us into a profound reflection on how evil ideologies transform aesthetics into terror, and on how the light of the Eternal, revealed through sacred art, renews...

Aug 13, 2026, 8:21 PM

Why Should Jews Care About the Vulnerable?

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1635. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In studying Abraham Heschel's The Prophets, I am reminded that many people are heartened by the prophets' call to care for the poor, widows, orphans, and other vulnerable people. But I worry that the prophets' message is sometimes incorrectly...

Aug 12, 2026, 2:24 PM

Why Did the Kessim Laugh at Elijah’s Chair?

At the most recent session of Ono Academic College’s Beit Midrash of Bete Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Rabbis and Kessim (traditional Bete Israel spiritual leaders), one of the Kessim looked around with a half-smile and asked: “What is this thing...

Aug 5, 2026, 6:28 AM

Does a Heavenly Temple Replace the Earthly Avodah?

The claim moves quietly through communities that love the Hebrew Scriptures. The earthly Temple, they hear, was only a shadow. The real altar stands in Heaven. The real high priest serves there. The real and final cleansing happens above....

Aug 2, 2026, 9:43 AM

Babel in the Nine Days

The Sanhedrin's written ruling is dated 6 Menachem Av. Hold that date for a moment before anything else. Three days before Tisha B'Av. Inside the nine days when we do not build, do not celebrate, do not so much as...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jul 23, 2026, 10:28 PM

Bringing good news to Jerusalem

In the Haftara for Shabbat Nachamu (Yishayahu 40:1-26) we find four voices of comfort. The fourth voice, the voice of Mevaseret Zion, the female bearer of good tidings, is found in verses 9-11: Ascend the high mountain, you who bear...

Jul 21, 2026, 6:56 AM

The Courtyard Stands Open: Why Jews Must Teach the Nations Now

In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a vast Court of the Gentiles welcomed those drawn from the nations. This outer courtyard formed part of Hashem's design. Sincere seekers could bring offerings to any Israelite citizen standing...

Jul 19, 2026, 6:38 PM

The Second Question

Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (1830). Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_Liberty_Leading_the_People.jpeg

The Times of Israel recently interviewed Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for a congressional district in New York City. Much of the coverage focused on her attendance at a pro-Palestinian rally on October 8, 2023, one day after...

Jul 16, 2026, 3:27 PM

The Destruction of the Temple and Israel’s Government of Destruction

The opening words of this week’s haftarah are among the most shocking in the Bible: “Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; give ear to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah.” Isaiah is not addressing Sodom and Gomorrah....

Load more