To Unify a Nation By MK Rabbi Dov Lipman Urim Publications, 2014, 96 pages ISBN 978-965-524-148-8 In this short volume, member of the Israeli Kenesset (MK) Dov Lipman describes many ways to improve Israeli society and unify divergent groups in Israel. Lipman is an Orthodox rabbi. His ideas are helpful and necessary and [...]
Moses and the Path to Leadership By Zvi Grumet Urim Publications, 2014, 239 pages ISBN 978-965-524-155-6 Zvi Grumet’s informative book on the development of Moses’s leadership ability affords readers an opportunity to psychoanalyze and better understand Israel’s first national leader as well as themselves. According to Grumet: “The early narratives of Moses’s [...]
On the Relationship of Mitzvot between Man and his Neighbor and Man and his Maker By Daniel Sperber Urim Publications, 2014, 221 pages ISBN 978-965-524-145-7 The winner of Israel’s prestigious Israel Prize, Professor Daniel Sperber, a rabbi and Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, published an extremely significant [...]
My Rebbe By Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz Maggid Books, 2014, 246 pages My Rebbe is a biography of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994) Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the Lubavitch chassidic movement, also called “Chabad,” for forty years. The term “rebbe” was developed by the early chassidim to distinguish their spiritual leaders, who they [...]
Princess of Mars By Edgar Rice Burroughs Because of the expiration of their copyrights many excellent books are available in various formats for a very low fee, or even free from amazon, as it does for this book. Amazon also offers the entire set of all Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seven Jack Carter [...]
Chapter 21 More rapes and a third civil war The author or authors of Judges emphasize the Israelite depravity four times[1] in the final five chapters by stating “In those days there was no king in Israel; each man did what he felt was right.” Chapter 17 tells about a [...]
The rabbis changed a Torah law Numbers 30:3 contains the divine command, “A man who vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath, to bind himself with a binding obligation, must not nullify his word; he must do all that goes out of his mouth.” This biblical law clearly [...]
Why do Israelites kill women and children in the Bible? Many people prefer to believe that every event and law mentioned in the Bible is true, perfect, and the highest level of morality, since it is divine. Moses Maimonides taught the opposite: the Torah had to deal with the often primitive mind-set [...]
Chapter 20 Another civil war Chapter 20 describes another Israelite civil war, all of Israel against the tribe of Benjamin. However, if our supposition mentioned in the last chapter is correct, it is the tribe of Ephraim alone or as the lead tribe that is fighting against the tribe of Benjamin. This [...]
The City By Dean Koontz Bantam Books, 2014, 418 pages ISBN 978-0-345-54593-0 Cost $28.00 Dean Koontz, best-selling author of over sixty novels, frequently writes tales with “magical realism,” as he does here. This genre was used with perfection by many other writers, especially South Americans, and also by Nobel Prize Winners Shmuel Yosef Agnon [...]
Overzealous in religion is being irreligious[1] Chapter 25 of the book of Numbers narrates the story of Aaron’s grandson Pinchas’ zealous behavior. When the Israelites settled in Shittim, during their forty-year stay in the desert under the rule of Moses, many of them disobeyed God’s command. They accepted the cunning invitation [...]
The Dybbuk By S. Ansky Translated and introduction by S. Morris Engel Nash Publishing, 1974, 160 pages This folk tale contains many superstitious beliefs. It is a story composed originally in Russian and then Yiddish, and the translation is good. It is about the intense unrequited love of a dybbuk for a live girl. [...]
This book shows us how to read the Bible Peshat Isn’t so Simple By Rabbi Hayyim Angel Kodesh Press, 2014, 311 pages For over two millennia most Jewish Bible commentators did not explain the Bible’s plain meaning, called “peshat” in Hebrew, but used the biblical verses and events as sources for [...]
Did the non-Israelite prophet Baalam exist? There is disagreement in the ancient Jewish sources whether Balaam, the non-Israelite prophet who tried to curse Israel, actually existed, or if he did exist, did parts of the story really happen. Whether he existed or not, there is no consensus as to whether he was [...]
Two holidays that ceased to exist The Talmud[1] states “There never were in Israel greater days of joy than the fifteenth of (of the month of) Ab and the Day of Atonement.” Despite this accolade, both holidays ceased to exist. The joyous biblical holiday of Yom Hakippurim ceased and morphed into sober [...]
A sure weight loss and retention method Undoubtedly diet means a life-time eating habits, and diets should include lots of fruits and vegetables and be supplemented by daily exercise. Everyone knows that. What people seem to have forgotten is the advice of the twelfth century philosopher and physician, a man [...]
Bybliotech’s splendid anthologies Bybliotech recently published many anthologies of classical writers in a digital format that can be bought very cheaply. The many books by Josephus and Nietzsche which I bought are available on amazon for only $1.99 for each of the two anthologies. Virtually everyone realizes that there are huge [...]
An unusual interpretation of Cain and Abel’s sacrifice Most people know no more about the Bible than what they learned as children or what they heard their clergy tell them in a sermon, which was not designed to reveal what the Bible says but some moral lesson the clergy feels the [...]
The prelude to civil war Chapters 19-21 tell how members of the tribe of Benjamin committed egregious breaches of hospitality, how this led to civil war, the virtual destruction of Benjamin, and how after making a vow that could not be annulled Israel saved the tribe from extinction. In chapter 19 a [...]
Weather whistle blower The inventor of the percentage system of predicting the weathermust have had a sense of humor because his or her system of telling us whether or not it will rain by giving us a percentage is a joke. The percentage tells us that when weather experts look at the [...]
The Mystery of the Red Heifer One of the many biblically mandated practices that no longer exists is the law of the red heifer. However, it did morph into another practice today. Chapter 19 in Numbers describes this very curious practice: the selection of a red heifer, its slaughter, and its use [...]
Chapter 18 Part two Abarbanel’s problematical interpretations Abarbanel had many ideas that would bother modern people. He supposed, like Rashi, Nachmanides, and others that God is involved in everything that occurs in this world and sometimes manipulates people, like puppets, to do the divine will. Even grass does not [...]
Chapter 18 The shameful history of Micah’s temple Whether one accepts the notion that chapter 17 was composed to ridicule the temple that King Jeroboam of the northern nation Israel built in Dan[1] or not, it seems that the origin of Micah’s temple is disgraceful, although this is not [...]
Judges 17 The Lawless years The final five chapters of Judges consist of what scholars call two appendices. One deals with the tribe of Dan (chapters 17 and 18) and the last three (18-21) with the tribe of Benjamin. They are called appendices because they do not mention any judges. [...]
Is there a World to Come? Korach and his followers who rebelled against Moses are punished by being swallowed up by the earth and descend alive into “Sheol” (Numbers 16:31–33). The word “Sheol” appears in the Torah previously, in Genesis37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31. Virtually all Bible commenters, rabbis and scholars, agree that [...]
Archeologists found a stone seal that may prove that Samson is not a legendary figure, but a man who actually existed. [1] The Science Daily of August 13, 2012 reported that archaeologists from Tel Aviv University discovered a circular stone seal in a house in Beth Shemesh, in Israel about 15 millimeters in diameter [...]
Holistic Prayer A Guide to Jewish Spirituality By Avraham Weiss Avraham Weiss is not only a prestigious and highly respected rabbi but also a sensitive and caring person. This is reflected in his book on prayer, which should be read. His book is readable, moving, and informative. It has three parts: goals of [...]
The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai Ed. and trans. Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell New York: Harpers & Row, 1986 The famous late Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) is considered by many people in Israel and internationally as Israel’s greatest modern poet. His poetry is relevant for all people and cultures, poignant, thought-provoking, and [...]
The Golem of Hollywood By Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman Father and son, the best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman and his son Jesse Kellerman composed this unusual, clever, insightful, and engaging mystical thriller involving a burnt-out, alcoholic, Jewish detective, his righteous rabbi father, the discovery of the head of a criminal who was mysteriously murdered with [...]
Why did Moses send spies if God was helping the Israelites? Shelach (Chapters 13:1–15:41) The plain reading of the Torah text reveals a discrepancy. There are two different accounts concerning the dispatching of spies to reconnoiter Canaan in advance of the impending military offensive to conquer the land during [...]
