Equality & Egalitarianism

Democracy and human rights are cornerstones of our moral vision in the modern era. Where do we Jews fit--historically and ideologically--into this picture?

Does a "moral" society imply absolute equality among its members?

Building the Tabernacle, G-d’s terrestrial residence, must have been a most sought-after contract. What was it about Bezalel and Oholiab that caused them to land this coveted assignment?

The idea of inequality is distasteful to us. So we reject everything about it, everything it ostensibly resembles, everything it reminds us of. Including the most beautiful, gratifying and enlightening thing we have: our relationships with each other

In describing the rebellion of Korach, the Talmud says Korach created discord—even though he claimed to champion equality.

On the plane of the soul there can be no criterion by which to determine who is higher and who is lower. As a result, it can truly be said that “all the people in the community are holy.”

In the Jewish tradition study and knowledge has always been seen as open to all, regardless of socioeconomic status or lineage. But where is the line between intellectual openness and anarchy, between interpretive licence and relativism?

Of all the laws in the Parshah—and there are many—why begin with the “regressive” topic of slavery?

There are words that change the world, none more so than two sentences that appear in the first chapter of the Torah.