High Holidays without God “The Days Between” by Dr. Marcia Falk is thought provoking even if one disagrees with what the author writes. She presents an inward, contemplative approach to the High Holiday services. Her versions of the principle traditional holiday prayers omit all references to God, and offer a non-patriarchal [...]
The Cherubim and Guide 3:32 Last week I wrote about the Ark of the Covenant that had two angle-like figures on its top and two poles protruding at its bottom. I showed that the ark, its top, and bottom remarkably resembled the ark used by the Egyptians before the Torah was revealed. [...]
UNUSUAL BIBLE INTERPRETATIONS: JOSHUA By Israel Drazin Gefen Publishing, 2015 Review by Kenneth Lasson Israel Drazin is a man of many parts. He is highly educated (two master’s degrees, one in psychology, another in theology, a Ph.D. in Aramaic Literature, a law degree), an ordained rabbi, he practiced law for 23 years. He [...]
The Cherubim was copied from the Egyptians One of the most perplexing ancient Jewish articles is the Ark of the Covenant that tradition states contained both the shattered and whole Decalogue (Ten Commandments). The Ark had two poles that were never removed from the box. No reason is given for this practice. [...]
The true in depth story about Joshua Joshua By Michael Hattin Maggid Books, 2014, 271 pages This is the third of four volumes in Maggid Books Studies in Tanakh series. The three other books are on Ruth, I Kings, and Jeremiah. Each book is excellent. They are scholarly, yet easy to read, and [...]
Ruth By Yael Ziegler Maggid Books, 2015, 487 pages This is the fourth volume in Maggid Books Studies in Tanakh series. The prior three books are on Joshua, I Kings, and Jeremiah. Each book is excellent. They are scholarly, yet easy to read, and each is filled with thought-provoking and illuminating information, not only [...]
One of the Oldest Law Codes in the World Hammurabi, king of Babylon is the author of one of the oldest code of law that is in our hands today. Scholars differ in dating Hammurabi and his Code. Many think he ruled for 42 years between 1792 and 1750 BCE. They date the [...]
Three very helpful but imperfect ways of dividing the Bible One of the most important ways to understand what biblical stories and texts are saying is to examine and understand the biblical event, idea, or word in the context of the section. This obviously requires that the reader know where the [...]
Fasts observed for events that did not occur on the day of the fast There are two extended mourning periods in the Jewish calendar, one for three weeks and the other for seven. Both are not based on verifiable facts and dates, both are not biblical since the events occurred after the [...]
Two fascinating new books about Jerusalem Adventure in the City of David By Ahron Horovitz Megalim and Maggid Books, 2015, 200 pages Although this exceptionally beautiful book was designed for youngsters, the book should be read by people of all ages and religions, for the book teaches many things about Jerusalem [...]
An unusual, sometime bizarre, but interesting interpreter Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (also spelled Abravanel, 1437-1508) was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, Bible commentator, advisor to kings, and a wealthy financier. His many Bible commentaries generally begin with incisive questions. He was a clear thinker, but opposed philosophy and the rationalism of Maimonides, although [...]
What is the Zohar? Many rabbis try to show that some Zohar notions are reasonable by ignoring the vast majority of the book and by mistranslations. They insist that the Zohar was composed by Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai around the year 130 CE. However, scholars recognize that Moses d’ Leon, a Spaniard [...]
Why certain things and people are called holy The concept of “holiness,” meaning that something or someone is sacred does not exist in the Bible. “Holiness” in the Bible means “separate.” When the Bible asserts that God is holy it signifies that God is totally separate and distinct from humans. When [...]
A Sure-fire diet I posted a version of this article in the past but I am reminded about it not only because I practice it daily, and because the message is important, but also because I saw confirmation of it by a doctor on TV. The following is another version on what [...]
Ancients, including Jews, believed their god functions only in their territory Many scholars contend that in the ancient Near East people believed that there were many gods, the power and presence of a god was localized in the territory inhabited by the worshiper, and did not know that all lands belong to [...]
The evolving concept of marriage in Judaism The rabbis changed, or perhaps we should say “updated,” many biblical laws because of a growing sensitivity to what is proper. However, frequently, when changes were made, the rabbis conservatively maintained some of the old practices. Marriage is an example of these two phenomena. The [...]
Does the Torah allow polygamy? The Torah “allows” polygamy, but frowns upon it. Its treatment of polygamy is a good example of Maimonides’ teaching in his Guide of the Perplexed 3:32 where the sage stated that humanity during the Torah’s early history was primitive; while God could change human nature, God did [...]
A Miracle in Baltimore (?) Is it a miracle that the beautiful building of Shaarei Tfiloh Congregation, just 150 feet from where rioters tossed rocks at police and two blocks from stores that were devastated at the Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore during the recent Baltimore riot wasn’t damaged? Here are some [...]
Philo as a Biblical Commentator Philo (about 20 BCE to about 50 CE) of Alexandria, Egypt, is one of Judaism’s great philosophers. The noted scholar Harry Wolfson wrote in his book Philo that Philo was the first Jewish philosopher who “contributed anything new” to Jewish-Greek philosophy. Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel offers readers [...]
The Real Reason for the Additional Day of Holidays Few people know why Jewish tradition added a day to the biblically assigned number for Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot when the holidays are observed outside of Israel, and why a second day was appended to Rosh Hashanah in both Israel and the diaspora [...]
The Origin of Announcing the Days of the New Moon in Synagogues Yesterday, May 17, 2015, as on eleven of the twelve months of the year, many synagogues had their congregants rise as they followed the ancient custom to announce the appearance of the new moon during the Shabbat services prior to the [...]
The holiday of Shavuot occurs next week. I think readers may be interested in what I revealed about Shavuot in my book “Mysteries of Judaism,” in which I showed that none of the biblical holidays are observed today as mandated in the Torah. The truth about Shavuot the non-biblical holiday [...]
Understanding Jonah rationally Should we accept the biblical book Jonah, including Jonah surviving in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights and his brawling with God, as fact or as an internal scuffle? We need to know Maimonides’ view of prophecy and that repentance is not a [...]
The true meaning of prayer Most people feel certain that the current understanding of prayer is the understanding of the concept in the Torah. This is not so. Prayer is defined as a worship service, a religious observance, a devout entreaty to God, a spiritual communion with the divine. The word is [...]
Unusual explanations in Midrashim on Jonah Midrashim, the singular is Midrash, are many books composed over centuries that contain laws as well as a myriad of legends. The name is derived from the Hebrew root d-r-sh, to sermonize and to expound. In the beginning of his book Chelek, Maimonides warns that [...]
I have been discussing changes made in Jewish laws and practices over the centuries. Open Judaism is a recent movement seeking changes, but only on a restricted basis. What is Open Orthodoxy? Rabbi Avi Weiss, the founder of Open Orthodoxy, defined the movement[1] as being within Orthodox Judaism, “completely committed to Torah [...]
I am studying the biblical book of Jonah and plan to write a commentary on the book that will contain a chapter by chapter explanation of this difficult volume, traditional Jewish views, non-Jewish views which are similar but in which the authors “find” Christian theology, and a rational approach to the difficulties in it [...]
The Sabbath that disappeared and the one that moved My wife Dina and I took an extended 78-day cruise from February 2, 2015 until April 21, 2015 on Queen Victoria beginning and returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the cruise we went through the Panama Canal and visited over two dozen places [...]
I will write several articles on the biblical book Jonah. In this first one, I will point out the difficulties with the story, the New Testament explanations that try to see Christian doctrine in the tale, and the view of a prominent Christian who does the same. In a future article I will summarize the view [...]
Saturday is the anniversary of my dad's death, and I thought it would be proper to remember my parents at this time. Rabbi Dr. Nathan and Celia Drazin My dad passed away in 1976 at age 70, but his story remains. He was a remarkable man. Nathan Drazin was one of eight children, [...]
