Israel History Maps By Ilan and Amir Reiner I bought this splendid and very informative book because I felt it would help clarify the history of Israel. I was right. It did so, and did it in a clear and understandable, and even thought-provoking manner. I saw how viewers of these fifty maps [...]
Did the Generations of Post-Moses Israelites Know about the Torah? Scholars reject the traditional teaching and suggest that the ancient Israelites knew nothing about the Torah until the time of King Josiah (649–609 BCE).[1] Among much else, it is significant that none of the biblical books before this time mention Moses’s [...]
Was Samuel fit for his job? People tend to accept what they consider the traditional interpretation of the Bible and they ignore the plain sense of the biblical words. They read the Bible in an unmindful manner, not seeking the meaning, even as they piously read prayers. They ignore the fact that [...]
Biblical prophecy does not predict what will be Most people read the Bible literally without much thought. When the Bible has a prophet say that something will occur, they understand this as a vision from God of what will occur. However, the rabbis, or at least some of them, examined the Bible [...]
Yehuda Amichai, Israel’s best-known and greatest poet of the past generation died at age 76 in 2000. The noted critic Irving Howe wrote about him: “At his best, he is the best.” Amichai writes in a simple, natural, style poems whose contents a frequently sharp, witty, sensuous, ironic, sometimes brutal, and yet pleasing. The [...]
Is the Notion of a Shekhinah Rational? Many concepts have crept into mainstream Judaism through the persistent teachings of mysticism. While average Jews do not always understand the concept they are accepting, mystics repeat new notions in a manner that causes non-mystical Jews to believe that the concepts must have been ancient tradition. [...]
Maimonides and modern scientists on the miraculous parting of waters Maimonides was convinced that God does not perform miracle. In his Guide of the Perplexed 2:48, he wrote that whenever the Bible reports that God caused a phenomenon to happen, it should be understood that the event was a natural occurrence. He explains [...]
“Tell Me the Truth, Moses, What Really Happened at the Red Sea?” After years of devastating slavery, God aided Moses in leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Several days after the Exodus, the erstwhile slaves reached the banks of the Red Sea, also called the Sea of Reeds. They felt trapped and [...]
The Sages Character, Context & Creativity Volume 4: From the Mishna to the Talmud Translated by Ilana Kurshan By Rabbi Binyamin Lau Maggid Books, 2015, 319 pages One of the best series of books that I enjoy reading is the very well-written, comprehensive, informative, and engrossing four volumes by Binyamin Lau, a highly [...]
The Oral Torah was not revealed at Sinai One of the fundamental principles of Orthodox Judaism is the belief that there is both a Written and an Oral Torah, both of which were revealed by God to Moses. Quite a few Orthodox rabbis declare that if a Jew does not accept this teaching, [...]
There are not 613 Biblical Commands There is a concept that there are 613 biblical commands. However, a careful examination reveals that there is no biblical teaching that there are 613 commands, and there are far less than 613 biblical commands. Rabbi Simlai’s Sermon The first report that the Torah [...]
Must a Jew Comply with a Rabbinical Decision He Knows to Be Wrong? Rabbi Solomon Yitzchaqi (1040–1105), better known as Rashi, the acronym of his name, makes a rather remarkable and, in the mind of many, counterintuitive statement in his commentary to Deuteronomy 17:11. In the commentary, he states that a Jew is not [...]
Hasdai Crescas: Jewish Philosophy Unintentionally Including Christian Beliefs One of the most tragic occurrences in Judaism’s long history is the frequent absorption of alien, often heathen and Christian notions.[1] This occurred not only amongst the uneducated masses; rabbis fell prey to this phenomenon as well, simply because they did not know Jewish history [...]
The non-biblical notion of holiness The concept of “holiness,” meaning that something or someone is sacred does not exist in the Bible. The biblical Hebrew word kedushah, which is usually translated today as “holiness” means “separate.” When the Bible asserts that God is holy it signifies that God is totally separate [...]
The Origin of Sin There is no concept of “sin” in the Hebrew Bible as a distorting stain upon the soul that requires a kind of supernatural atonement or cleansing process, as the concept is understood today. To the contrary, wrong behavior is seen in scripture in a rational, natural way. [...]
The Rejection of Maimonides’ “Jewish Beliefs” by Recognized Jewish Scholars and Rabbis Studying Maimonidean thought means coming into contact with rational ideas that are not considered mainstream in Jewish philosophy. In his The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised, Marc B. Shapiro examines the thirteen principles that Moses Maimonides [...]
A Free Book Would any of you like to receive a copy of my latest published book, “Unusual Bible Interpretations: Judges” on the condition that you write a review and place the review on Amazon? If you live in the US or Canada and want a hard copy (the book itself), give me [...]
What does Maimonides teach? The great philosopher Maimonides is misunderstood by many people, most of whom need to see him saying what he never said. Maimonides’ God Maimonides’ God is transcendental, meaning God is not involved in the daily activities of the world. God either created the world out of [...]
Is the Bible Really the Source of Philosophy? One of the fundamental questions posed by Jewish philosophers has always been, ironically, whether Judaism has a philosophy at all and where that philosophy stems from. Many people consider Philo the first Jewish philosopher, claiming that he introduced Greek ideas into Jewish thought. Yet he [...]
The Mystery Founder of Rabbinical Judaism Most people, including many rabbis do not realize that Rabbi Akiva revolutionized Judaism and that many people consider his methodology non-rational. Judaism until the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE, was temple oriented. Several major sects existed during the final centuries of the temple: [...]
A Joke A young man knocks on the door of a great Talmudic scholar. "Rabbi, I wish to study Talmud." "Do you know Aramaic?" "No." "Hebrew?" "No." "Have you ever studied Torah?" "No, Rabbi, but I graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in philosophy, and received a PhD from Yale. I'd like [...]
Maimonides’ Great Secret: A New Understanding of the Bible One of the most overlooked revelations of Maimonides, one that profoundly affects how the Bible should be interpreted, is the clarification that he gives in his Guide of the Perplexed 2:48. This important insight is contained in the last chapter of the second of his [...]
Is Rashi’s Bible Commentary Rational? Certainly Rabbi SolomonYitzchaqi (or Shlomo ben Isaac, 1040–1105), known by the acronym Rashi because of the initials of his name, is the most beloved and most popular of all Bible commentators. The Encyclopedia Judaica calls him “the leading commentator on the Bible and Talmud.” Virtually every Jewish child, [...]
Mezuzot is arguably not biblically required In my prior essay I offered the idea that it is likely that the command to wear Tefillin is not biblical but was started by Jews who copied the Greek practice to wear amulets. Instead of placing the names of idols in their amulets, the Jews [...]
Tefillin are arguably not biblical requirements Rabbis have taught that the command to wear Tefillin is contained in four passages Exodus 13:9, 13:16, and Deuteronomy 6:8-9, and 11:18, and these passages were placed in the Tefillin boxes. The passages do not mention Tefillin but say, quoting Exodus 13:9, “And it shall [...]
The Thrice-Told Tale of the Likeable and Loathsome Lilith Aside from the few astonishing legends about regal amazons who retained control over their spouses and men in general, world history has unfortunately continually assigned a submissive and subservient role to women in the home and in society. Since Judaism is not monolithic, [...]
Maimonides’ Concealed True Teachings: Prophecy and Angels Even in his youth, philosophy was an integral part of Maimonides’ life (1138-1204). He wrote a volume on logic when he was still quite young – scholars are uncertain of the exact date, but suppose that he composed his first works in his early twenties. He [...]
Demons and Sympathetic Magic in the Passover Seder We saw in the prior articles that the belief in demons, the power of sympathetic magic to conjure the appearance of the messiah, the use of an intercessor to obtain God’s attention, and the belief in the effectiveness of magic numbers to help accomplish [...]
Gay Marriages This following is something to think about when considering whether American society should allow gay marriages. The principle argument against gay marriages is that it is opposed by the Hebrew Bible. Actually, the Bible does not mention marriages. No marital ceremony is mentioned or even implied. In fact, the [...]
The Mysterious Origin of the Monthly “Sanctification of the Moon” When a person examines the history of a religious practice, or any practice for that matter, he or she must be careful not to insist that the original motivation of the ritual is the same as the reason for the observance’s continued practice [...]
