The Heroes of the Bible Were Flawed—And That’s Nothing to Be Ashamed of

The Hebrew Bible is replete with major figures who sin. Rabbi Yitzchak Blau outlines two competing rabbinic approaches to this issue: to “avoid attributing basic human emotions to our patriarchs and matriarchs, forbid criticizing them, and depict their sins as the minutest of transgressions,” or to recognize biblical heroes as humans who have emotions and make mistakes. Blau argues that the latter view is more firmly grounded in tradition and makes for a richer understanding of the biblical text: