This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled ...

In Vayishlach, this week’s Torah portion, the third patriarch’s name gets changed during a famous encounter. Or does it?

The first word in our portion re’eh is one of the most powerful terms found in the Torah. In fact, God is described as a ro’eh on three different levels. The first time the word is found in the Torah, ...

One of the core teachings in Torah portion Massei (the second of our double-portion) is the concept of the “cities of refuge” that will be established in the land (Numbers 35:9-34). The Cities of ...

Throughout her discussion of this week’s Torah portion, Va-eira (“I appeared”) in her The Particulars of Rapture, Avivah Zornberg draws fascinating parallels among three main protagonists – Moses, ...