A&E
If eating from the tree of good and evil brought death, what was the punishment for Adam and Eve? We know that they went on to have children, so death does not seem to have doomed them immediately. And nowhere …
A&E II
Couldn’t someone believe that prior to the creation of the world (that is, while the blueprints were still in the conception stages), God needed Adam and Eve to fail in order for his final plan come to fruition? Certainly this …
Other Ancient Books like the Bible?
I am wondering what other ancient writings are extant that could be contemporary to our Torah. Not only that, but do they resemble it in terms of various interactions between people such as Cain and Abel, Noah and his sons, …
Hermann Gunkel
In chapter 3 of your book How to Read the Bible you mention the German biblical scholar Hermann Gunkel, but I can find no reference in your book to his idea of the text’s “Sitz im Leben” (the role of …
O. Henry, “The Gift of the Magi”
I expect you’re well aware of this: [Prof. X.] has argued that Hebrew “tzela” in Gen. 2:21-22 (usually translated as Adam’s “rib”) might better be translated as “limb” or “appendage.” He adduces various architectural uses of this term throughout the …
Damned Chiasmus
My name is [xxx]. I learn in the Mir Yeshiva, and am one of the few who reads your book without throwing it (or my black hat) across the room. However, as one living within the Yeshiva system, I lack …
Sloshing Around
Why does Jacob say Reuben is “wanton as water” for lying with Bilhah [Gen 49:4]? You say [that this is difficult because] water is a primarily beneficial force, but even in the Torah itself water is not always beneficial. In …
Old King Sol
I’ve read your book and think about it a lot. Is there any record that the Jews fought among themselves over what should be included and excluded or evidence that more than one school formed and more than one version …