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Articles on Hebrew Bible

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Figuring out what to do with the ‘Song of Songs’ has preoccupied people reading the Bible for centuries. 'Song of Songs' illustrated by Florence Kingsford/Southern Methodist University/Wikimedia Commons

Why is a love poem full of sex in the Bible? Readers have been struggling with the Song of Songs for 2,000 years

The famous biblical book alludes to God only once. Historically, though, most interpreters have argued the poem’s about love between the divine and his people.
Activist Jason Hershey reads from a Bible as he protests in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with the anti-abortion group Bound for Life in 2005 in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee via Getty Images

What the Bible actually says about abortion may surprise you

Faith can inform opinions about abortion on both sides of the political debate, but the Bible itself says nothing directly about the topic, a biblical scholar explains.
Sara Hurwitz, Amy Eilberg, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Sally J. Priesand, each of whom was the first female rabbi in her branch of Judaism. Courtesy of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

The ordination of the first female rabbi 50 years ago has brought many changes – and some challenges

Rabbi Sally J. Priesand’s ordination by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion opened the doors to hundreds of women becoming rabbis.
A Jewish woman lights a candle for the festival of Hanukkah at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem. Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images

This Hanukkah, learn about the holiday’s forgotten heroes: Women

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which in 2022 begins on the evening of Dec. 18, focuses on the story of the male Maccabees. But women are also heroes in histories from that era, including Judith and Hannah.
A condolence message and candles for the victims of a stampede during a Jewish ultra-Orthodox mass pilgrimage to Mount Meron, projected on a wall of Jerusalem’s Old City. Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images

Lag BaOmer pilgrimage brings Orthodox Jews closer to eternity – I experienced this spiritual bonding in years before the tragedy

The Lag BaOmer pilgrimage, in which 45 people died recently, takes place each year to what is believed to be the gravesite of the second-century Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Israel Antiquities Authority conservator Tanya Bitler shows newly discovered Dead Sea Scroll fragments at the Dead Sea Scrolls conservation lab in Jerusalem. AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

Cave of Horror: fresh fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls echo dramatic human stories

What’s fascinating about the latest Dead Sea Scrolls discovery is how it reflects the stories of those who wrote the ancient texts, those who kept them safe and the archaeologists who found them.
Vice President Kamala Harris swears in Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Television via AP

Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle

In choosing a Hebrew Bible belonging to a civil rights leader, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Sen. Jon Ossoff appeared to be sending out a message on the strong historic ties between Black people and Jews.
Many people believe in the idea of a soulmate - one person who will make us whole and happy. fizkes

What’s behind the belief in a soulmate?

Many of us go through life in the hope of finding the ideal soulmate – our missing half. The reason may be deeply embedded in religious beliefs.
The abyss of hell. Sandro Botticelli.

What is hell?

The meaning of hell might have changed over the centuries, but for devout Christians it remains a core part of their faith.

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