Vol. 36:4

Argues that Ecclesiastes is misread as nihilism, since its key term hevel echoes the name of Abel and carries the sense of vapor or transience rather than futility; on this reading Kohelet is a humanist confronting how quickly life passes while still affirming joy, work, and wisdom in the material world.

Sets the wisdom hymn of Proverbs 8 beside that of Job 28, arguing that the first presents an accessible Wisdom who is God's first creation and rewards all who seek her, while the second insists that true wisdom lies beyond every human search, so that both poems reach the same reverence for God by opposite routes: confidence in reward and punishment, and resignation.

Proposes that the pharaoh who knew Joseph learned of God's prophecy to Abraham in Genesis 15, calculated its deadline using ancient Near Eastern generation-years, and adopted a deliberate policy of privilege plus confinement to prevent the oppression that would trigger Israel's redemption, so that the covenant was fulfilled only much later through free human choices and the fourth generation that entered Canaan.

Reads Rebekah's deception of the blind Isaac as the decisive instance of women acting as initiators in Genesis, examining the dependent marriage and lopsided parental attachments that set it up, questioning why she never simply told her husband about the oracle, and arguing that the painful consequences visited on both mother and son show the narrative refusing to endorse the idea that ends justify means.

Contends that the commands to remember Amalek in Exodus and Deuteronomy respond to two distinct clashes rather than a single one, since Deuteronomy omits Rephidim, Joshua, and the divine oath while describing an attack on the exhausted, which better matches the crushing Israelite defeat recorded in Numbers and explains the delayed timetable for settling accounts.

Argues that the Book of Ruth should be read not merely as the account of one convert's celebrated loyalty but as a systematic presentation of hesed across roughly two dozen scenes, illustrating verbal, social, vocational, reputational, and judicial forms of kindness that each rest on established halakhic requirements yet rarely receive attention in conventional treatments of charity.

Asks whether the ancient practice of avenging a slain kinsman can be squared with the Sixth Commandment's ban on murder, noting that Scripture already permits killing in war, in self-defense, and by judicial sentence, and arguing that the Torah both acknowledges the blood redeemer and constrains him through cities of refuge and mandatory trial.

Suggests that Jacob's method of altering his flock's coloring in Genesis 30 becomes intelligible through epigenetics rather than Mendelian genetics, since compounds drawn from the peeled branches into the drinking water could have supplied nutrients that influence coat-color gene expression in the developing offspring, an approach the author also applies to a talmudic account of how the red heifer came about.

Reports on the international Bible contest that brought sixty-one young competitors from thirty-six countries to Israel for written and public rounds, names the Israeli and Diaspora winners, describes the meetings with the president and prime minister, and explains how regional and national qualifying contests in the United States select the students who eventually travel to Jerusalem.

A reader questions the common identification of Ramses II as the pharaoh of the Exodus, noting that so powerful a ruler would hardly have tolerated Moses' effrontery, wondering where the departing Hebrews acquired weapons and military training, and observing that Egypt shows no sign of the upheaval that the destruction at the Sea of Reeds should have produced.

Offers contributors a compact template for building a persuasive scholarly essay, picturing it as a diamond that opens with a thesis and a preview of the argument, widens into developmental paragraphs each anchored by a claim to be proved and joined by deliberate transitions, and narrows again to a conclusion that summarizes, concedes further study, or draws a homiletic point.