S. David Sperling

S. David Sperling is a professor of Bible at HUC-JIR in New York.

Were the Jews Slaves in Egypt?

S. David Sperling
The Torah devotes more than four books to the proposition that the Israelites came to Canaan after having been subjugated in Egypt for generations, and yet there is no archaeological evidence to support that they were ever in Egypt.

Why Sacrifice?

D'Var Torah By: S. David Sperling

September 21, 2012
Parashat Vayikra opens the Book of Leviticus, arguably the book of the Torah strangest to modern readers. Vayikra devotes five entire chapters to the sacrificial slaughter of animals. Especially strange is the notion expressed in chapters four and five that specific sins require the sacrifice of specific animals. What sense...