Jewish Texts
Parashat Lech-Lecha: Summary
Abram and Sarai follow God's call to journey to Canaan, where the covenant between God and Abraham is affirmed.
Don’t Be Quarrelsome On The Way
Joseph's warning to his brothers not to quarrel on their way instructs us as well in our relationships with our families and the larger Jewish community.
Kindness In Disguise
By judging others favorably and responding to them with kindness, we add holiness to the world.
Two Kinds Of Intelligence
To be fully educated and human we must study a range of disciplines--humanities and sciences, secular and Judaic.
Interpreting From The Outside
Joseph's status as an outsider, and the outsider status of the Jewish people, allow for critical insight into the deeper truths of the surrounding people.
God Was In This Place And I Did Not Know
Jacob's response to his dream provides us with two models of discovering God's presence.
Educating Against Egypt
Through his experiences with his nephew Lot, Abraham learns valuable parenting skills.
Maimonides on the Six Orders of the Mishnah
The sequence of the six orders follows the precedent of Scripture
Talmud is Not a Code of Law
In working out the ideas behind the statements of the rabbis, the Talmud serves not as a law code but as a work of Jewish legal theory.