The Latest From Mark
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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’
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The Coming Jewish Schism Over Zionism
Until recently most Jewish congregations viewed a commitment to Zionism as an essential aspect of “authentic Judaism.” To be clear, I am using “Zionism” in its most abstract sense, to mean simply that the Jewish people are entitled to a state in their ancestral homeland, not tied to any particular borders, governance, economic structures, etc.