The Latest From Mark
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A Shocking Talmudic Story: the Sages Overrule God!
One of the most famous and frequently discussed stories in the Talmud is known as the “Oven of Akhnai.” This narrative is set in the first or second century of the common era at the great yeshiva in Yavneh (now northern Israel), established to preserve Judaism following the fall of the Second Temple. While the
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God Only Listens to Rachel’s Plea
There is an astonishing narrative in Midrash Rabbah Lamentations (a classic Jewish source)1 regarding God’s decision to allow the Jewish people to return from Babylonian exile and rebuild the holy Temple in Jerusalem. This midrash, probably written in the fifth century CE, illustrates the transcendent value that Jewish theology places on moral autonomy. It builds
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The Torah as Feminist Text
In Chapter 6 (“The Fractious Canon”) of my Come Now, Let Us Reason Together I examine the Torah’s treatment of gender roles. While noting that this text’s cultural setting in the late Bronze Age requires men to hold leadership roles, I describe numerous instances in which women justifiably act contrary to their husbands or leaders’