Articles

When Moses Fought the Angel of Death Moses negotiated the terms of his own death, fought off the Angel of Death, and died by a kiss from God instead. Prof. Avigdor Shinan on Midrash Petirat Moshe, and why one of Judaism’s strangest texts still has something to say about how we face mortality By Alex Stein

The Woman who Planted Bubble Gum Seeds She’s written songs Israelis grew up singing, brought Dr. Seuss into Hebrew, and helped shape Israeli children’s culture for generations. The story of Leah Naor is a journey through words, music and memory By BAC Staff

Parashat Vayelech: Be Strong and Resolute “Be strong and resolute,” God commands Joshua before war. But writer S. Yizhar asks: is this a blessing or a curse, encouraging the people of Israel to overcome their own humanity and commit terrible deeds? A provocative meditation on strength, power and morality By Lior Tal Sadeh

Parashat Ki Tavo: You Have Become a People Is there really a “Jewish people”? The Torah says yes: “Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.” A people requires shared culture and consciousness. Rabbi Hirsch teaches the Torah is our unlosable bond. Whether we survive as a people depends on us By Lior Tal Sadeh

A Legend of Connection The story of Yona Wallach and Zelda is usually told as a story of opposites. Noa Sorek shows that reality is far more complex By Noa Sorek

A Portrait of a Myth Through the lens of Aliza Auerbach, the Rehavia Gymnasium is revealed not merely as a school, but as a place where generations of leaders and intellectuals were shaped By Noa Sorek

The Language of the Expulsion from Spain If you thought Ladino was simply a frozen relic of medieval Spain, think again. According to Professor Eliezer Papo, Ladino was actually born after the Expulsion from Spain – and went on to become the cornerstone of Sephardic Jewish culture By Noa Sorek

Jewish Time Jewish ritual keeps reinventing itself in times of crisis. Rabbi Prof. Dalia Marx finds the same pattern in an ancient debate over the shofar and in the prayers written since October 7 By Alex Stein

When Words Falter, Poetry Speaks Maya Tevet Dayan has won Israel’s First Lady’s Prize for Hebrew Poetry for “The Wandering Jewess,” written after October 7. At the President’s Residence, four contemporary Hebrew poets were honored for poetry that carries what prose cannot By Noa Sorek

For Man is a Tree of the Field A rhetorical question, stripped of its question mark over centuries, became one of Judaism’s most quoted lines. Dr. Itay Marienberg-Milikowsky on reading the Talmud in an age of climate crisis – and what its ancient laws get right, and wrong By Alex Stein

Reading Spinoza in XXI-Century Israel Excommunicated for heresy in 1656, Baruch Spinoza went on to lay the philosophical groundwork for liberal democracy – and is widely regarded as the first secular Jew. Prof. Pini Ifergan on why Spinoza’s ideas still matter today By Gilad Halpern

The Dark Ghosts, demons, and fallen angels don’t usually come to mind alongside Talmudic law – but for the rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash, the dark side of the supernatural was never far from the sacred. Dr. Chen Marx explores why these stories were told, and why we still need them By Alex Stein

Parashat Eikev: When peace comes at the expense of justice The golden calf was one of the gravest sins ever committed by the Israelites. Although instrumental in it, Aaron – Moses’ brother and second-in-command – was spared God’s wrath, as opposed to many others. What was it about Aaron’s leadership that saved him? By Lior Tal Sadeh

Parashat Vaetchanan: Merciful and Jealous God is described as both merciful and jealous, a paradox that defies Aristotelian logic. Yet paradoxical thinking shows how opposites can coexist. On Tisha B’Av, we learn that loving God means practicing lovingkindness in the world By Lior Tal Sadeh

Parashat Devarim: Law or Justice? A man named Elmer Palmer murdered his grandfather to inherit his estate. Legally, he was entitled. Morally, he wasn’t. Exploring Moses’ command to “judge righteously” and the judge’s duty to transcend the letter of the law when justice demands By Lior Tal Sadeh