Greek lessons that are good for all people
The wisdom of Epictetus The truth is the truth no matter what its source. And Epictetus taught much truth worthy [...]
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08, 2016
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08, 2016
A Late Divorce by Yehoshua
A Late Divorce By A. B. Yehoshua A. B. Yehoshua is considered by many to be one of the top three Israeli novelists. His books are not easy to read. They require the reader to think during the reading, to consider the character’s motivation, his and her psychology, and the effect of the [...]
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08, 2016
My latest book about Ruth
In my latest book, “Ruth, Esther, and Judith, I explain the two biblical books Ruth and Esther as well as the apocryphal book Judith, and compared them. Readers will find that a close reading of the three books shows that what they thought the books contain is not so. The following are a [...]
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08, 2016
Extraordinary finds in Jerusalem
My friend Chaim Parchi sent me the following. It is a fascinating very informative narration for some 45 minutes of extraordinary finds in Jerusalem that prove the truthfulness of elements in the Torah. Http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/archaeological-findings-in-jerusalem-prove-the-bible-is-true/
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08, 2016
Esther in my new book
"Ruth, Esther, and Judith” I just published two books “Ruth, Esther, and Judith” and “Jonah and Amos.” Both offer [...]
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08, 2016
Descendants awarded for an ancestor’s deed
Descendants awarded for an ancestor’s deed Many Jews accept as true the somewhat mystical notion that the rewards for a person’s good deeds, if they [...]
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08, 2016
The Book of Beliefs and Opinions
Saadiah Gaon's The Book of Beliefs and Opinions Samuel Rosenblatt, who translated Saadiah Gaon's (882-942) philosophical classic The Book of Beliefs and Opinions into English [...]
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08, 2016
Biblical chronology
I happened to pick up a volume of ArtScroll on a book of the Bible and saw that the authors relied on the chronologies of Jewish events contained in an ancient book called Seder Olam. While many Jews, including rabbis, consider the chronologies in Seder Olam as sacrosanct, as if they are true ancient rabbinic [...]
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08, 2016
Some facts about fast days’ connection to seven
Some facts about fast days’ connection to seven The numbers seven and three occur well over a hundred times in Judaism, as do their combination [...]
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08, 2016
A very moving play by a Nobel Prize winner
Zalman, or the Madness of God By Elie Wiesel The Nobel Prize winning author Elie Wiesel experienced the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. Then in 1965 he visited Russia and saw the persecution of Jews, their utter despair, the anguish of the rabbi of the community that he visited, and realized that the world [...]
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07, 2016
Another tragic story
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07, 2016
The Woman in Gold
I recommend this film. It is a marvelous very moving portrayal of a heinous Nazi act that was perpetuated by the Austrian nation decades after World War II, of a persistent elderly woman, and a lawyer who gave up his livelihood to do what is just, an inspirational lawyer. The famed artist Gustav Klimt painted [...]
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07, 2016
A very good Israeli novel
I think you will enjoy reading Israeli novels. The Lover by By A. B. Yehoshua is a good example. A. B. Yehoshua is one of Israel's top writers of fiction. For many he is somewhere among the top three. The Lover is his first novel originally published in Hebrew in 1977. [...]
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07, 2016
Why wasn’t Miriam Kissed?
Why wasn’t Miriam Kissed? While much in Judaism has been changed and improved, the way the Bible intended, [...]
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07, 2016
A nice homiletical story
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07, 2016
Information we need to know
The following is from my friend, the scholar Rabbi Dr. Marc Angel. Shalom uvrakha, We all should be deeply distressed by the ongoing oppression of halakhic converts by Israel's Chief Rabbinate and its rabbinic courts. Already in 2006, the Chief Rabbinate began a process of undermining the status of Orthodox rabbis in the diaspora and [...]
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07, 2016
Free books on Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg is named after the famed Johannes [...]
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07, 2016
What is the origin of the name “Jew”?
I received an email asking what is the origin of the name Jew. Here is my response. Shalom, When the Israelites broke into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom was called Israel, after the ancestor Jacob, who was also called Israel because he wrestled with men and even with God. He was not afraid to question [...]
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07, 2016
A cute laugh or at least a giggle.
A cute laugh or at least a giggle. I received this from a son-in-law and want to share it. During a visit to my doctor, I asked him, "How do you determine whether or not an older person should be put in an old age home?" "Well," he said, "we fill up a bathtub, then [...]
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07, 2016
A riveting suspenseful film
Remember This is a riveting suspenseful film with one of the greatest almost mesmeric acting job that I ever saw. Christopher Plummer should win the academy award for his performance of a 90-year-old man suffering from dementia, who sometimes realizes who he is, where he is, and why he is where he is. He [...]
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06, 2016
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06, 2016
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06, 2016
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06, 2016
Rabbi Soloveitchik’s misunderstanding of Maimonides (?)
Maimonides Between Philosophy and Halakhah Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed Edited with an introduction by Lawrence J. Kaplan Forward by Dove Schwartz Ktav Publishing and Urim Publications, 2016, 256 pages This book is interesting because it shows the basic ideas of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s thinking, but readers should not [...]
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06, 2016
The truth about Rashi, by a scholar
The following is information about Rashi contained in a book by a very good scholar: Rashi, By Avraham Grossman, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2012, 327 pages Very little is known about the personal life of the great beloved Bible and Talmud commentator Rashi. What is known is only a few minor facts, his writings, and [...]
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06, 2016
A questionable sermon
A questionable sermon Ever since the time of the sage Nachmanides (1194 – 1270), who introduced the notion that [...]
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06, 2016
Reading the Bible as one reads good literature
Ancient Israel By Robert Alter W. Norton & Company, 2013 As with his other splendid books on the Hebrew Bible, Robert Alter offers readers in this volume called “Ancient Israel,” a vibrant translation in clear modern English of the early books of the second section of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, the books [...]
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06, 2016
The current Shavuot holiday is not biblical
Shavuot: [...]
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05, 2016
Interpretations of the book of Ruth
From my commentary on Ruth I completed my commentary of Ruth and it will be published within a couple of months. I [...]
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05, 2016
The truth about the Counting of the Omer
The truth about the Counting of the Omer The ancient religious Jewish group Pharisees, who existed from about 320 BCE until 70 CE, and the rabbis who followed them changed [...]
