Study
Stop the Machine! — The Sabbatical Year Principle
The biblical shemitah represents an alternative to the consumer society.
Visiting the Sick in Judaism
Aware as we may be of the importance of visiting and assisting people who are ill, we still have to overcome our fears and hesitations in order to perform this mitzvah.
Humans as Co-creators: Co-owners as Well?
A Talmudic legal parable illustrates that, although they may have improved the natural world, humans do not own it. We may transcend nature, but we are also part of it.
Nature and Holiness in the Writings of Priests and Prophets
To the Israelite prophets, humans are central to the relationship of God and the created world...
Jewish Printing
The social and intellectual changes brought about by the advent of the printing press.
In the Theocentric Universe, Human Beings Are Not Masters
Powerful passages in the Book of Job teach that the world, and the animals in particular, must not be abused or exploited by human beings.
The Genesis Creation Story: Permission to Despoil?
A Bible scholar takes issue with those who blame the Book of Genesis for Western culture's exploitative disregard for nature.
The Natural World and our Need for Wonder
When we perceive, at rare moments, that behind the natural world is a realm of the unknown and inexplicable, we attain awareness of holiness
The Anthropological Implications of Suffering
The rabbis of the talmudic era were more interested in the human response to suffering than in finding theological justifications for its existence.
Rahel the Poetess
Rahel's poetry expounded on the beauty of the land of Israel--but it was a tragedy in space that gave one of her poems renewed attention.