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Torah portion

It Ain’t Necessarily So |

These Orthodox Jews Are Challenging Commonly Held Beliefs About the Torah

Torah Portion of the Week |

The Biblical Ban on Eating Animal Blood, Explained

Torah Portion of the Week |

Why Are Some Foods Kosher, While Others Are Not?

Torah Portion of the Week: God’s Will, God’s Rituals

Torah Portion of the Week: The Power of Confession

The erection of the Tabernacle and sacred vessels, from 'Figures de la Bible' (1728).

Torah Portion of the Week: Where Is God?

'The Golden Calf' by James Tissot.

Torah Portion of the Week: Does God Change His Mind?

The erection of the Tabernacle and sacred vessels, from 'Figures de la Bible' (1728).

Torah Portion of the Week: Nothing Personal

'The Tabernacle in the Wilderness,' illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible.

Torah Portion of the Week: A Multi-purpose Tabernacle

'Moses Breaks the Tablets of the Law,' by Gustav Doré (from 'Doré's English Bible,' 1866).

Torah Portion of the Week: Mixed Signals

A woodcut by Schnorr von Carolsfeld, for 'Die Bibel in Bildern,' 1860.

Torah Portion of the Week: Mountain and Messenger

Shabbat eve table. (illustrative)

Torah Portion of the Week: Shabbat, a Sanctuary in Time

'The Fifth Plague of Egypt' by J.M.W. Turner (1800).

Torah Portion of the Week: Of Plagues and Politics

"Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh" by François II de Dinteville (1537).

Torah Portion of the Week: God’s Spokesman

Bourdon, Sébastien - "Burning bush"

Torah Portion of the Week: What’s in God’s Name?

“Jacob Blessing Ephraim and Manasseh” by Rembrandt van Rijn (1656).

Torah Portion: When, Where and Why Was Genesis Written? Torah Portion of the Week: When, Where and Why Was Genesis Written?

'Joseph Forgives His Brothers,' an illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by the Providence Lithograph Company.

Torah Portion of the Week: Dead Man Walking

'Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream,' a fresco by Peter von Cornelius, circa 1816–1817.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Tales Behind the Tears

'Joseph Kisses Jacob,' an illustration from the 1897 book 'Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us.'

Torah Portion of the Week: A Matter of Interpretation

Simeon and Levi slay Hamor and Shechem, an illustration from the Phillip Medhurst Picture Torah.

Torah Portion of the Week: An Invisible Protagonist

'Jacob’s Dream,' by Jusepe de Ribera (1639).

Torah Portion of the Week: A Name, a Place, a God

Jacob and Esau as depicted in The Mess of Pottage, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

Torah Portion of the Week: An Esau We Didn’t Know

Israeli soldiers secure the area as ultra-Orthodox Jews walk toward the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine holy to Jews and Muslims, in Hebron, Oct. 9 2006.

Torah Portion of the Week: Important, but Not Holy

The painting "Sacrifice of Isaac" by the Italian master Caravaggio (c. 1598-1603). Dershowitz admits to only this one exception to Abraham’s 'protecting the innocent': the "binding" of his son.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Ultimate Sacrifice

'Abraham and the Angels' by Aert de Gelder (1680-85).

Portion of the Week: What Makes Abraham Go? Torah Portion of the Week: What Makes Abraham Go?

'Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat,' by Simon de Myle.

Torah Portion of the Week: Intertwined Threads

The 'Blessing of the Seventh Day,' a mosaic in Basilica di San Marco.

Torah Portion of the Week: Beginning Again

'The Judgment of Solomon,' by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1617).

Torah Portion of the Week: 'Drink Your Wine in Joy'

'Job And His Friends,' by Ilya Repin (1869).

Portion of the Week: ‘All His Ways Are Justice’

The Ten Commandments, an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907.

Portion of the Week: God Is a Party to the Pact

'Joshua Leading the Israelites Across the Jordan on 10th of Nisan,' unknown artist, circa 1500.

Portion of the Week: A Tale of Two Covenants

'Ruth in Boaz's Field,' by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1828.

Portion of the Week: Who Can Join the Club? Portion of the Week: Who Can Join the Jewish Club?

'The Shade of Samuel Invoked by Saul,' by Nikiforovich Dmitry Martynov, 1857.

Torah Portion of the Week: Forbidden Channels

Josiah hearing the reading of Deuteronomy. Illustration by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Torah Portion of the Week: Even Timeless Works Have a Context

Reenacting ancient history: Celebrating, then reviling and burning, the "golden calf," Ein Hod, 2005.

Portion of the Week: The Ultimate Sin

Lithograph of Moses addressing the people of Israel

Portion of the Week: Living to Tell the Tale

'Moses Views the Land of Israel,' a woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 'Bible in Pictures.'

Portion of the Week |

Torah Portion of the Week: Not an Imitation, Not a Duplication

“Encampment of Israelites, Mount Sinai” after Joseph Mallord William Turner (1836).

Torah Portion of the Week: Of Blood and Vengeance

'Moses Ordering the Slaughter of the Midianites,' by Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert.

Torah Portion of the Week: Promises, Promises

'Moses Views the Land of Israel,' a woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 'Bible in Pictures.'

Torah Portion of the Week: God as Jealous Husband

'Moses Striking the Rock,' Tintoretto, 1563.

Torah Portion of the Week: What Was Moses’ Crime?

The Punishment of Korah (detail from the fresco Punishment of the Rebels by Sandro Botticelli (1480–1482) in the Sistine Chapel.

Torah Portion of the Week: Quelling Rebellions

'Moses and the Messengers from Canaan,' Giovanni Lanfranco, 1621-1624.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Bible’s Lone Pardon

'Moses elects the Council of Seventy Elders' by Jacob de Wit, 1737.

Torah Portion of the Week: Sharing the Spirit

'Shavuot' (Pentecost), by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, 1880.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Mysterious Gift of Torah

An illustration of a tabernacle from the 1897 book 'Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us.'

Portion of the Week: Levites as Second Fiddle

'Despair of the Defenders of Jerusalem,' from the 1890 Holman Bible.

Unconditional Loyalty Torah Portion of the Week: Unconditional Loyalty

'The Year of Jubilee,' by Henry Le Jeune.

God’s Little Acres Torah Portion of the Week: God’s Little Acres

'The Red Vineyard' by Vincent van Gogh.

Torah Portion of the Week: Don’t Bottle It Up

'Crossing of the Red Sea' by Cosimo Rosselli, between 1481 and 1482.

Portion of the Week: Echoes of an Earlier Age Torah Portion of the Week: Echoes of an Earlier Age

The Birds' Head Haggadah, on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Exodus From Egypt

'Miriam Shut Out from the Camp,' watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot.

The Bible’s View of Leprosy Torah Portion of the Week: The Bible’s View of Leprosy

"Mother Berthe Holding Her Baby," Mary Cassatt, 1900.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Dynamics of Impurity

'The Two Priests are Destroyed,' by James Tissot (c. 1896-1902).

Torah Portion of the Week: Deadly Deviation From Protocol

“The Supposed Form and Arrangement of the Tabernacle,” unknown, 19th century.

Torah Portion of the Week: The Sacred and the Profane