Learning Tanach Daily Through 929: Opportunities, Challenges, and Dangers, with Rabbi Benny Lau (261)

September 1, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

Rabbi Benny Lau, the founder of 929, started the project after a defining moment in a Tel Aviv high school over a decade ago. He was invited to give a guest lecture to about 200 secular 17-year-olds. Holding a Tanakh he had brought, he joked that someone had left a book behind. The students laughed, and a girl in the front row said four words that changed his career: “Rabbi, Rabbi, zeh lo shelanu” — “It’s not ours.” The class erupted, each student denying ownership of the book. For Lau, that moment revealed a desert: the new generation of secular Israelis had no connection to Tanakh at all. Their grandparents, the generation of Ben-Gurion, knew the Bible by heart as a core of Zionist identity. But the grandchildren knew nothing. Lau left his work teaching Gemara and Halakha to return the book to the people who had lost it.

The gap 929 was built to fill

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What you'll learn

1 (06:26) **The Vision Behind 929** - Rabbi Benny Lau explains why he founded the daily Tanakh learning project and what problem it was meant to solve
2 (14:19) **Evidence of Success Among Secular Israelis** - Measuring the impact of 929 on non-religious Jews after eleven years
3 (18:03) **Why Religious Jews Need Tanakh Too** - Making the case for systematic Tanakh study beyond the standard yeshiva curriculum
4 (22:01) **The Challenge of Chapter-by-Chapter Reading** - How 929 handles the problem of reading Tanakh in isolation from its historical context
5 (26:04) **The Danger of Reading Tanakh Without Mediating Tradition** - A frank discussion of the ethical risks of treating Tanakh as a direct guidebook
6 (28:28) **Positive Political Lessons from Tanakh** - What the Bible teaches about governance, minority rights, and limited power
7 (32:28) **The Hardest Passages: Midian and Moral Development** - How to approach troubling texts like the massacre of Midian

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Show Notes

As one 929 cycle ends and the next begins, Scott talks with Rabbi Benny Lau—founder of 929—about why the project started, what it hopes to change in Jewish life, and what a shared, chapter-a-day cadence can build across communities. They also tackle the harder questions: the risks of using Tanach as a direct guidebook without the mediating lens of the Oral Tradition, how to engage ethically with challenging passages, and where pluralism meets red lines. Practical takeaways included: how beginners can start this week, and what to do when you fall behind. Whether you're all-in on 929 or cautious about it, this episode is about reading Tanach deeply—and responsibly.

Check out the wonderful new podcast, Women Talking Mitzvot, co-produced by Deracheha.org and Beit Midrash Migdal Oz, with Rabbanit Shayna Goldberg and Rabbanit Dr. Yosefa Fogel Wruble. To listen, click here (Apple) or here (Spotify).

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