Does God Change his Mind?

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  1. Learning How to Daven From Nineveh

    Chazal's Preambles to Megillat Esther: Part 8

    Rabbi Moshe Taragin | 17 minutes

    This shiur highlights the significance of Tefilla in the Megilla. The strength of prayer, exemplified by the gathering and fasting of the Jews, is such that prayer can affect Divine will—and therefore choices are crucial. The megilla helps repair the lack of focus on Tefilla in pre-exilic times, and paves the way for a greater centrality of Tefilla in Jewish life.

  2. Did God Regret Creating Humanity?

    Rabbi David Silverberg

  3. The Letter Lamed and Akeidat Yitzhak

    Dr. Avigail Rock

  4. Rabbi Yona ibn Janach

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    Although R. Yona ibn Janach (Ribag) did not author even one full volume dedicated to biblical commentary, his contributions to parshanut have proven momentous.  For Ribag, biblical exegesis represented both the most fundamental basis and the ultimate application of the study of Hebrew language and grammar. His grammatical innovations lay the foundation for biblical exegetes who came after him, thus he should be viewed as an important exegete who influenced parshanut both in his time and in the following generations. He wrote Sefer Harikma and Sefer Hashorashim.

    Ribag had three distinct impetuses for writing Sefer Harikma:

    • Basic understanding of the Hebrew language is an urgent concern.
    • Understanding language is the basis of all knowledge.
    • One cannot understand the Torah without understanding its language.

     

    Some of the grammatical topics that Ribag discusses include:

    • The Lamed of Substitution
    • Derekh Ketzara – various abbreviations used in biblical Hebrew
    • Synecdoche – a type of metonymy in which a general term is used in place of the specific one
    • Syntactic Inversion
    • Roots of Hebrew Words

  5. Rashi

    Part 7 - Rashi and Christianity (II)

    Dr. Avigail Rock

    In the Torah itself, we find the following pro-Israel and anti-Christian trends in Rashi's commentary that appear to be a response to Christianity:

    • The Eternal Selection of Jewish Nation
    • The Jewish Nation as a Moral People
    • The demonization of Esav as a symbol of Christianity
    • The defense of Yaakov and his entitlement to the birthrite and the blessings

    These interpretations of Rashi cannot be seen only as encouraging the Jewish community at a time of persecution; it appears that Rashi’s aim is to teach his generation how to answer theological challenges.

  6. Korach: Can We Change God's Mind?

    Rabbi David Fohrman |

    In this week's parsha video, Rabbi Fohrman points to two fascinating stories which seem to have contradictory lessons about the way we interact with God. These stories force us to ask a theological question: what impact, if any, can we have on God? Is it possible for us to influence God?

     

     
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