Three women sat for an exam administered by Israel’s Rabbinate, the latest sign of growing recognition for women’s religious leadership within Orthodox Judaism.
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Zionists draw on the military imagery of Hanukkah, while others look to the synagogue prayers that focus on the miracle of divine light.
A court decision allowing Israeli women to take the Chief Rabbinate’s exams is the latest sign of growing recognition for women’s religious learning within Orthodox Judaism.
The shofar is used on many different occasions in the Bible. But today, for many Jews, it is most associated with the High Holidays: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
These three key religious texts all offer justifications for defensive wars. But they also stress the importance of peace.
People sometimes assume religious traditions’ ideas about gender have always been conservative and unchanging.
In the beginning of the Bible, the tree of life represents what sets humans apart from divinity – but other texts use the symbol to depict mankind’s relationship with God.
Simchat Torah is about more than beginning to read the Torah all over again. It’s about the need to reexamine what we think we know, over and over again.
The Jewish festival of Shavuot dates back to biblical times, but its significance has changed over the centuries.
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand’s ordination by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion opened the doors to hundreds of women becoming rabbis.
A scholar of Jewish history explains why the annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage to Mount Meron in Israel has such power and meaning.
The Lag BaOmer pilgrimage, in which 45 people died recently, takes place each year to what is believed to be the gravesite of the second-century Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
In choosing a Hebrew Bible belonging to a civil rights leader, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Sen. Jon Ossoff appeared to be sending out a message on the strong historic ties between Black people and Jews.
Persecution is central to Jewish collective memory. So when armed police entered ultra-Orthodox areas of Jerusalem to close synagogues due to COVID-19, some residents reacted with fear and suspicion.
The Jewish coming-of-age ritual of bar mitzvah evolved to its current form during the time of Enlightenment, when Jewish families feared losing their traditions.
In early Christian texts, God gives birth to Israel and is described as a woman in labor and a mother comforting her children.
Top contributors
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Emanuel Ringelblum Professor in Jewish History, University of California, Davis
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Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University
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Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
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University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University
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Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver
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Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies, College of the Holy Cross
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Visiting Assistant Professor, Albertus Magnus College
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Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University
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Associate Professor, New Testament, & Inaugural Director of The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy, University of Divinity
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Professor Emerita in Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies, University of Sydney
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Professor of Islamic Studies, Head of School, The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt University
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Professor, Department of Global Studies, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
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Professor Emerita of Jewish History, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion