(Why do people make declarations over wine? February 2021)
Author: Jon
Fine Linen on Simchat Torah—A Symbol of Social Change
Why does it matter that Rachav hid Joshua’s spies under piles of flax? August 2020
Wormwood and Self-Examination
Self justification can lead us down the road from chet to zadon, from carelessness to willful defiance, from rosh to la’anah.
Jonah and the Castor Bean
Jonah’s shade plant provides a graphic metaphor for the message of this Biblical book.
Achashverosh–Bumbling King or Agricultural Pest Insect?
(The king of Persia in the book of Esther, the legend of The Wandering Jew, and entomology; February 2010)
Botany, Prophecy, and Theology
(Botany determines Jeremiah’s theology; August 2009)
Charoset for health
(Possible health benefits of cinnamon; August 2007)
The US Postal Service and a Jerusalem impostor
(The sunflower and the Jerusalem artichoke; August 2007)
How was your olive day? Tales and confusion of the white squill
(Identity and symbolism of ‘chatzav’; August 2007)
Rav Kook plants a tree
(On the religious significance of planting trees in Israel; March 2007)