Taking it in light of the commandments for peace, mercy, and justice Read straight through, the Torah seems to speak in two voices. On one page there are battle lines, bans, bloodguilt, and capital crimes; on the next there is a call to love the stranger, to leave the corners…
Sinat chinam (שנאת חינם)—often translated “baseless hatred” or “gratuitous hatred”—is one of Judaism’s starkest warning lights. The Talmud remembers it as the moral rot that helped bring down the Second Temple; our history remembers it as the crack through which entire communities can fall. For Netzarim Jews who center Torah’s…
Modern life places two goods in real tension. On one side stands the Torah’s unsparing ban on avodah zarah—idolatry—as it thunders from Sinai and echoes through Deuteronomy. “You shall have no other gods before Me,” says Exodus, and the prohibition is not merely about loyalty but also about form: no…
How Netzarim Jews Think About “Who Wrote What, When, and Why” Modern readers quickly discover that the Hebrew Bible did not drop from heaven as a single, uniform document written at one time by one hand. Its pages carry different voices and styles—law beside poetry, prophecy beside wisdom, narratives that…
Dvar Torah — Parashat Re’eh (Deut. 11:26–16:17) “See (Re’eh), I set before you today a blessing and a curse…” With one word the Torah shifts us from hearing to seeing. We’ve spent much of Devarim listening to Moshe’s voice; now we are asked to look—clearly, personally, and presently. The verb…
Abstract Genesis 2:24—“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”—is frequently cited as a proof-text for a monogamy-only ethic. A close reading of the Hebrew text, however, situated within the canonical context of Torah law and Hebrew…
As Netzarim Jews—those seeking to walk in the ancient paths of Torah without the distortions of Rabbinic tradition—we find ourselves constantly questioning inherited norms and returning to Scripture as our guide. Polyamory, or the practice of engaging in multiple loving relationships with the knowledge and consent of all involved, is…
As we begin the final book of the Torah—Devarim, or Deuteronomy—we enter a profoundly different kind of narrative. This is not merely a continuation of historical events or a collection of new laws. Rather, it is a reflective monologue, a farewell address by Moses, who knows his death is near…
“And YHWH saw that the evil of humanity was great on the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And YHWH regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.”— Genesis 6:5–6 The passage above is…
The place of women in Biblical law has long stirred deep discussion and debate, drawing attention to questions of equity, justice, and divine intent. Among the most striking examples in this discourse are the Torah passages in Numbers 27:1–11 and Numbers 36:1–12, which recount the legal appeal of the daughters…