Tanakh

Torah scroll for the Temple Mount entrusted to Karlin yeshiva

A Torah scroll that was written and dedicated to a synagogue that will be built on the Temple Mount was brought for safekeeping at the Karlin Yeshiva in the haredi city of Modi'in Illit.

Torah Mitzion:

Path of Menashe

Menashe's synthesizing role—balancing Joseph's universalism with Judah's particularism.

Torah dedicated in memory of soldier killed in Oct. 7 massacre

Yeshiva staff and students, as well as Ashdod's mayor, attend Torah scroll dedication honoring Major Chen Bouchris, who fell in battle on the morning of October 7 while defending southern Israel from the invading Hamas terrorists.

Torah Mitzion:

The secret of Hanukkah in the promise to Aharon HaKohen

Rashi explains the juxtaposition of the section on the menorah to the section on the offerings of the princes, but what does it mean for our time?

Torah Mitzion:

The ancient source of Jewish resilience

Jewish resilience is incomparable, but when we understand who our ancestors were and the values they inculcated into us, we begin to understand where it comes from.

Decline of the West in the Book of Ovadia

Yes, Esav rises high up to the top of the ladder, but eventually Hashem orchestrates his fall. It was prophesied then and it is happening before our eyes.

Torah Mitzion: Vayishlach

The alienating capitalist

The polite rejection of any gift has a caveat. By rejecting the gift, we also reject the expected interaction expressed by the giving party.

Torah Mitzion:

The ladder

Why did Hashem send Yaakov the angels on the ladder vision now?

Torah scroll dedicated for fallen soldier

A new Torah scroll was introduced in memory of Major Kfir Franco, an Armored Corps officer killed in action.

Torah Mitzion on Vayera

The great moral showdown

Sodom and Amorrah are societies where the people mask their immorality behind the disguise of the values of charity and law.

Torah Mitzion:

Noah's Ark: An educational Journey to global responsibility

The same Noah who before the flood did not see fit to plead for his generation, now stands, according to the midrash, and demands a promise that there will be no more destruction.

Torah Mitzion:

A matter of time

Could the High Priest enter the Holy of Holies at will, or only on Yom Kippur? A seeming contradition and its solution.

Torah Mitzion on Nitsavim:

Standing before Hashem

Reading the first verses in this Parsha always gives me a feeling of awe, perhaps even fear...

Torah Mitzion:

May the year and Its blessings begin

Already since the days of the Rishonim, it was noted that the custom is not to attach the reading of the Parashat Ki Tavo with the curses to Rosh Hashanah. Why?

Torah Mitzion: Ki Tetse

A satirical lesson in responsibility

Can parents abrogate the connection with their child? The Torah has an unusual way of answering that question.

Torah Mitzion:

Shoftim: Preparation for battle

The combatant's willingness to sacrifice by possibly paying a personal ultimate price is soothed by realizing that his actions are linked to the fate of his nation and are an act of worship of the Creator.

Torah Mitzion:

Shabbat Nachamu: The seven haftorahs of consolation

it is so difficult to speak of comfort when the wound is still fresh and painful, when the captives and the missing have not yet returned. We ask Hashem to show us obvious miracles soon

Torah Mitzion:

Matot-Masei: Wherever I go, I go to Israel

The conclusion of Bamidbar ends the chapter of the trials of the desert generation, and now they enter a land flowing with milk and honey. Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek.

Torah Mitzion:

17th of Tammuz - The dilemma of two Jews on a desert island

Unity or division - which will it be?

Personal growth series, part I:

The significance of our actions

Humans are the only ones who believe that their lives are supposed to matter and, thus, the only ones who become depressed when they feel they are not impactful.

Torah Mitzion:

Behavior and consequences

A close look at this parasha shows the importance of behaving well.

Torah Mitzion:

Nothing is worth more than the opportunity to serve Hashem.

Today again there is a call to serve Hashem, a call that entails sacrifice on many levels.

Watch:

Torah scroll brought through fence terrorists entered on 10/7

Netzach Yehuda soldiers who left Gaza carried a Torah scroll across the border from Gaza to the battalion synagogue at the Erez base.

Torah Mitzion:

Vision / Double Vision / Triple Vision

Viewing is not the same as seeing.

Torah Mitzion:

The key to winning a war

While the army must fight the enemy, it is ultimately Hashem who provides the victory if the Jewish people deserve it by prayer and good deeds.

Torah Mitzion:

Fulfilling one’s mission in life

In the army, there are soldiers who are assigned to places where they do not want to serve. Sometimes these soldiers are disgruntled, and when students in a particular yeshiva asked the head of the yeshiva what they should do about the unwanted assignment, he quoted them the words of Maimonides regarding the Levites.

Torah scroll dedicated in honor of Dee family

Tens of thousands of students helped to raise the money to commemorate Lucy Dee and her daughters Maia and Rina, who were killed in a shooting attack in 2023.

The wonderful rewards for toiling in Torah

"What is the meaning of:’if you follow My statutes’? It means that you toil in the study of Torah..".

Torah Mitzion:

The connection between Shemita and the Galut

Both teach us the same crucial values.

Torah Mitzion:

Emor: Kohanim and wings

In the “Kel malei” prayer recited for a deceased person, we ask the Almighty, “provide a proper resting place beneath the wings of the Shechinah.”

Beyond memory: The living legacy of the Seder

The experiences and the commitments of thousands of years are etched into our psyche today and are as relevant and binding as they were as the time that they originally happened.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy, Pres. Herzog, complete Torah scroll together

Torah scroll written for the Jewish communities of Israel and Ukraine is completed; Ukraine's President Zelenskyy wrote the first letter, and Israel's President Herzog wrote the last.

Parashat Parah: Between understanding and commitment

There are two conflicting messages that the red heifer teaches us.

Wait until G-d calls you

Torah Mitzion for Shabbat Zachor and Purim.

Transparency & Gratitude

The whole process of building the tabernacle is only a stage in reaching the real thing, building the Temple.

To cherish and to honor

Subtle shifts in the order of commandments let us glean a profound lesson.

Ki Tisa: A joint effort

This Parashah represents a climax - Am Yisrael was extracted from Egypt, Moshe is about to conclude receiving the Torah, and then comes the crash - Bnei Yisrael slide back to idol worship. What went wrong?

The connecting Altar

The Zohar explains the Ketoret, Incense, comes from the idea of tying, creating a bond between us and Hashem.

The blueprint for a just society

The goal is not to sit at Har Sinai, eat Mannah and bask in the light of Hashem but rather to create a real, down to earth just society.

We see what we want to see

We can characterize four parshiyot named after people by dividing them into two groups and contrasting the members of each group with one another.

Songs of war

Israeli poets, cognizant of Tanakh, Midrash, and the new chapter of Jewish history being written today but not so different from the past, connect the Song of the Sea, Egypt and today's war.

Torah scroll dedicated to hostage's speedy release

Family of hostage Avinatan Or dedicates Torah scroll in town of Shiloh, praying for his immediate release from Hamas captivity.

E Pluribus Unum—the Israeli way

What is the Tanach’s vision of optimal government for the Israelite Polity? Opinion.

Standing in the same spot

In Israel, we can walk in the footsteps of the Prophets, on the same roads as Rabbi Akiva and retrace the Ramban' trip Jerusalem. Op-ed.

Global Tanach Study Conference Goes Hybrid

Herzog College to offer live & virtual lectures to global audience.

Op-ed:

Jewish illiteracy in academia – view from the trenches

The erosion of Jewish literacy among today’s secular & non-Orthodox Jews, establishment organizations, academics, and intellectuals.

Bennett:

'The Tanakh is the foundation of our existence'

Bennett hosts Tanakh Circle at Ben-Gurion House, dealing with tribalism vs. the unity of the Jewish people.

Shmini: Why the awe this time?

Why did Am Yisrael fall on their faces now, when Aharon acted, but not before?

Burning but never consumed: The Hebrew Bible in turbulent times

The burning bush is an apt analogy for the disrespect shown the Bible today. A new book clears up common fallacies about its content.Op-ed.

"What do you see?"

The question “What do you see?” occurs only seven times throughout the Tanakh, and is addressed to only three men, all of them prophets.

Haredi rabbi: 'There is no vacation from Torah study'

Yeshiva students ask for words of wisdom ahead of vacation - only to be told there is no vacation.

Rabbi saves Torah from fire: 'I was fulfilling a higher purpose'

After wildfire engulfs Cape Town University, campus rabbi jumps into action to save Torah and pairs of tefillin left behind.

Lakewood: Torah scroll destroyed in yeshiva fire

Yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey completely destroyed in predawn fire.

Civil Administration destroys yeshiva in Homesh

Two weeks after yeshiva beit midrash was demolished, forces arrive to continue demolition. Rabbis and students arrested.

Rabbi Moshe Taragin on the role of gardens in the Song of Songs

Watch Live: Rabbi Moshe Taragin discusses the Song of Songs in the latest edition of Herzog College's Bible Studies series.

Balak - Who and what is the real antidote to Bilaam?

Bilaam represented a poisoned personality with intellectual skills.

Shavuot: 7 tips for success in Torah Study

Israel's first Cheif Rabbi, Torah luminary and iconic leader of Religious Zionism, on the mitzva that is equal to all the others.

Rabbi Akiva's legacy of love and respect

“Love” and “respect” may not always overlap.

Netanyahu's letter in the 'Torah Scroll of the People of Israel'

Prime Minister writes his name in Torah scroll project in which more than 100,000 Jews worldwide have taken part so far.

Hoshana Rabbah around the globe

Thousands of young Jews around the globe, affiliated with the World Bnei Akiva movement, participated in World Study Night.