King Solomon’s mighty deeds in Midrashim
The following is a chapter from a book I am working on called "The Authentic King Solomon." King Solomon’s mighty deeds in [...]
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05, 2017
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04, 2017
Nachmanides’ strange understandings of demons, hell, souls, women’s period, rape, and other subjects
The following is a draft of a chapter from my forthcoming book "Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker," which should be published sometime this year The prior chapter examined Nachmanides’ mystical view of God. This chapter looks at his approach to other subjects. Did Nachmanides insist that midrashic tales are not parables, but true facts? Did [...]
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04, 2017
Some thoughts about Nachmanides
Among the many things that I do each week are the reviews that I write for amazon and which I place on amazon. (Since I was a child, I have been unable to do just one thing at a time. For example, I went to Talmudical Academy in Baltimore since kindergarten, including high school, but [...]
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04, 2017
Nachmanides’ ideas are not what people think they are
My next book, "Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker," will be published in a few months. It is my most controversial book. Most people have no idea what this great sage actually believed, that he was influenced by mysticism. Most people read what he says but only see what they want to see, or need to see [...]
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04, 2017
Two tales by the master writer Agnon
The Nobel Prize Winner S. Y. Agnon is Israel's most famous writer. Like the Bible, his works can be read and enjoyed on many levels. Two Tales Betrothed & Edo and Enam By Shmuel Yosef Agnon Shmuel Yosef Agnon (July 17, 1888 – February 17, 1970) is considered one of Israel’s greatest writers. Agnon [...]
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04, 2017
A revelation by Amos Oz
I enjoy reading books by writers from other cultures such as ancient Greek tales by Homer and Hesiod and even the earlier one called Gilgamesh, the latter making me think more deeply about the biblical Noah; novels from Spanish writers filled with magical realism, which helps me understand prophecy; books by a French Jewish Nobel [...]
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04, 2017
Counting the Omer is not a biblical practice
The following is chapter 8 in my book "Mysteries of Judaism." My followup book "Mysteries of Judaism II: Why the rabbis and others changed Judaism" is arriving in the US within days. If you want either book and agree to write a review and post it on amazon, even if the review is short, I [...]
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04, 2017
Why Was The First Passover Different From All Other Passovers?
The following is from my book "Mysteries of Judaism." The book contains many articles such as this one. Why Was The First Passover Different From All Other Passovers? The Israelites’ first Passover, celebrated [...]
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04, 2017
The current holiday of Passover is not a biblical holiday
The following essay is from my book "Mysteries of Judaism." [...]
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04, 2017
Was King Solomon really wise?
I am working on a book analyzing King Solomon. You may be interested in this draft of my tenth chapter [...]
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03, 2017
The Black Box
This 1993 book is excellent. It is written by Amos Oz, one of Israel's greatest writers. It is not only a well-told attention-holding story told by means of letters that one writes to another and the answers, it is a work of art, surely to be considered a classic in the future. The title is [...]
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03, 2017
The Lubavitcher Rebbe and me
I met the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1986 and I did what he asked me to do. Since that time, the Lubavitch movement has published the story several times and even made a video. Last month they wanted the story again for another publication. Here is what I wrote. [...]
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03, 2017
More disclosures on Hannah Arendt
I posted my review of last week's posting about the film on Hannah Arendt on Amazon and received the following response from JSA which I think is very revealing. In her book on the Eichmann trial, Deborah Lipstadt writes that Eichmann's own memoir "reveals the degree to which Arendt was wrong about Eichmann. It [...]
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03, 2017
The banality of the “Banality of evil”
Hannah Arendt DVD I admit that I was very disappointed with the 113 minute 2013 film about the unusual very controversial ideas of Hannah Arendt about Adolf Eichmann and the 1961 trial that found him guilty of his involvement in the mass murder of some six million Jews and others. Hannah Arendt’s reaction was [...]
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03, 2017
Why Are Ancient Rabbinic Decisions Binding?
This essay is chapter 3 from my book "Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind." [...]
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03, 2017
Why Do Jews Prefer the Shulchan Arukh to Maimonides’ Code of Law?
The following is from my third book on Maimonides. Why Do Jews Prefer the Shulchan Arukh to Maimonides’ Code of Law? Maimonides’ fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah was the first, most comprehensive, most readable, and best-organized code of Jewish law. It is [...]
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03, 2017
What are the five megillot?
Textual Tapestries Explorations of the Five Megillot By Gabriel H. Cohn Maggid Press, 2017 Textual Tapestries is the seventh excellent and informative addition to Maggid’s Tanakh Companions series. As its subtitle states, it is about the five biblical books that Jews call Megillot, “scrolls,” – Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther – and [...]
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03, 2017
Who was Judith?
Most people do not know who Judith was and, therefore, are [...]
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03, 2017
Esther in Legends
For the last few days, because of the approach of Purim, I have been posting chapters from my recent book “Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, and Judith,” in which among a lot of other things, I showed that Judith, in the apocrypha, the book Jewish ancestors decided not to include in the Bible, was more [...]
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03, 2017
Purim is not observed as mandated in the Bible
I am reposting this essay since Purim is coming shortly. My book “Ruth, Esther, and Judith,” tells, among much else, what the biblical book Esther really states, not what people want it to state. It is remarkable how a reading of the biblical text itself without any preconceived notions reveals many things that is [...]
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02, 2017
What does the Bible really say about Esther?
Since the holiday of Purim occurs soon, I thought you might be interested in reading the introduction I wrote to my analysis of the book of Esther in my book "Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, and Judith." [...]
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02, 2017
Jokes
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02, 2017
Was Solomon really wise?
It is generally not a good idea to share drafts which will be change, hopefully improved in time. I published 33 books, and my 34th will be in book stores in April. I finished three others which will be published soon. I am working on my 38th book which is about King Solomon, a study [...]
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02, 2017
Why Do Women Light the Sabbath Candles Long before the Sabbath Begins?
I placed the following essay in my book "Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets," a book that also explains many seeming biblical miracles in rational manner, as Maimonides saw them. I am very proud of this essay. It is my own original [...]
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02, 2017
One of the most important books ever writen
When I studied philosophy in graduate school many years ago, we had a distinguished visiting Jewish professor from Harvard University who taught about Maimonides. He taught us that Ibn Tufayl’s book made a profound effect upon Maimonides and caused him to write his books for two audiences; intellectuals would find profound truths in the books [...]
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02, 2017
More on the truth about Solomon
The following are chapters 27 and 28 from my book “Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets,” which show again that what we think is true is not what the Bible actually says. Why Would God Punish Future [...]
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02, 2017
A terrific review of my book
Alan Gerber posted a terrific review of my book in the newspaper The Jewish Star. http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/The-irony-of-the-Purim-shpiel,12916?
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02, 2017
Solomon was not as smart as we like to think
The following is from chapters 25 and 26 from my book "Maimonides and the Biblical [...]
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02, 2017
Were the Ten Plagues Miracles?
The following essay is chapter 24 in my third book on Maimonides: Maimonides, Reason Above All. [...]
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02, 2017
Maimonides’ son defends his father
The following is chapter 5 from my book Maimonides: Reason Above All [...]
