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Sarah: Beauty According to the Torah
One of the first episodes in the Torah regarding Sarah, the wife of Avraham, introduces us to her in a very interesting way. Avraham is forced by a famine to leave his home and travel to Egypt. Concerned that the Egyptians, taken by her beauty, will want Sarah for their own, Avraham takes serious precautions…
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Hagar: The Consequences of False Judgements
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne to him, and she had an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar.” Rashi explains that Hagar is Pharaoh’s daughter, that he sent her with Avraham after the whole wife/sister fiasco because he saw the miracles that happened to Avraham and Sarai and said: “It is better that my daughter be…
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Lilith: A Demon, Not to Be Defended nor Glorified
In college, I analyzed the history of vampires in a creative writing class. Interestingly, from each culture researched, the earliest dated origins of vampires came from the Old Testament. No, this is not a comprehensive report on the link between vampires and the various blood-libels against Jews throughout Milena (although, what an interesting topic that…
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Yael: A Woman of Courage and Bravery
There is much that can be learned from the heroic actions of Yael…
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Serach: A Link to the Past
In the present, we relive the past and anticipate the future…
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Queen of Sheba: Pursuing Wisdom for Its Own Sake
The Queen of Sheba, mentioned at the beginning of Melachim and again in Divrei Hayamim, is a historical figure who has been made the center of multiple mythical tales. In Ethiopian tradition, she is known as Makeda; in the Koran, she is referred to as Bilqis. Each tradition assigns her a unique set of characteristics…
