In recent weeks, in synagogue we have read the stories of the birth of Ishmael—a son of Abraham– who becomes the father of the Muslim people—and that of Isaac, another son of Abraham, who becomes one ...

A Montana resident recently donated a rare papyrus fragment from the First Temple era (1200-586 BCE) to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Judean Desert Scroll Department's Conservation Laboratory ...

Sarah, seeing that her stepson Ishmael was a menace to the spiritual health of her only son Isaac, tells Abraham to drive him out of their house, together with his mother Hagar. God tells Abraham to ...

MOBY-DICK is not only a very big book; it is also a peculiarly full and rich one, and from the very opening it conveys a sense of abundance, of high creative power, that exhilarates and enlarges the ...

Since God had prevented our Matriarch Sarah from giving birth, she graciously decided to give her worthy maid servant to Abraham. This was both an act of kindness towards Abraham, who would merit ...

This piece was originally delivered as a sermon titled “The Cries of Isaac and Ishmael” at Central Synagogue on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 2025. I have been a rabbi for 25 years, 20 of them at ...

Why Isaac, not Ishmael? Why Jacob, not Esau? These are among the most searing questions in the whole of Judaism. It is impossible to read Genesis 21, with its description of how Hagar and her son were ...