December 2017
Targums are more than a pure translation of the Hebrew Torah text into Aramaic – once a common language among Jews. In addition to a plethora of Talmudic and Aggadic wisdom that illuminates the Biblical accounts, “these seemingly objective Torah translations can actually reveal important historical information, such as the muffled cries of oppressed Jews living under the rule of Islam,” notes Dr. Leeor Gottlieb of Bar-Ilan University’s Zalman Shamir Bible Department.
“This is doubly important in light of statements expressed by some people that in contrast to the Jews of Christian Europe, the Jews in Islamic lands lived under benevolent rulers.”
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November 2017
Ever since Ezra the Scribe introduced the regular, public practice of Torah reading (5th century BCE), Kriat haTorah has been a key component of communal Jewish worship. Following a set procedure dating back some 2000 years to the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Torah has been read in synagogues around the globe thrice weekly and on Jewish holidays.
In a newly published book, BIU’s Rabbi Dr. Haim Talbi sheds light on Torah-reading customs in Jewish communities in Germany, France, Italy, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, India, and other places.
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December 2016
Unlike heroic leadership stories in other cultures, the Book of Judges presents the leaders of Israel following Joshua’s conquest of Canaan (ca. 1150 – 1025 BCE), with all their strengths and weaknesses. “We learn about their greatness, and of their major downfalls — often resulting from excessive of pride,” notes BIU Bible Prof. Elie Assis, Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies.
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October 2016
What is the significance of the Fast of Gedaliah, which we mark on the day following Rosh Hashana? How is this fast different from the others? Sharing her insights is Dr. Tova Ganzel, Director of the Midrasha at the Jesselson Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, which empowers women to play an influential role in the evolving Jewish world.
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June 2016
Do miracles require a supernatural tour de force or are they often a matter of Divine “timing”? Chemistry Prof. Aryeh Frimer explores the phenomenon from a Torah and science perspective.
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April 2016
Where did the universe come from? Physics Prof. Nathan Aviezer explores how creation ex nihilo is now accepted as scientific fact.
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September 2015
Rabbi Natan Slifkin began his life-long passion for animals when he was a small child. His keen interest has never diminished. In fact, at age 40 it has intensified. Today, he is known as the “zoo rabbi.”
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November 2012
Never one to shy away from taking on challenging issues within Orthodox Jewry, world-renowned Talmud scholar at Bar-Ilan University Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber spoke to an overflow crowd on October 18th at The Jewish Center in New York City about “Why Modern Orthodoxy is True Orthodoxy.”
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August 2012
Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Yeshiva University (YU) bring together academics and rabbis to discuss the impact of the thoughts of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, a major proponent of Torah Umadda, combining the best of Torah scholarship with the best of secular wisdom.
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July 2012
Prof. Menachem Cohen has no doubt that all Hebrew Bibles sitting on bookshelves in Jewish homes around the world contain errors. Sometimes scores, sometimes hundreds. For the most part these are not dramatic mistakes: the absence of the letter yod, an incorrect diacritical mark or cantillation note.
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