The seventh Exodus portion, Terumah (25:1-27:19), is read weekly every year. When all the portions are finished, reading the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, begins again, giving people a yearly look at the entire Pentateuch. Terumah, like all other biblical portions, gives readers many common-sense teachings that help them improve themselves and all [...]

   The weekly biblical portion of Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18) contains many common-sense rules demonstrating how the Torah humanized ancient laws in other cultures. I will give some examples. As the Torah wanted, these laws reflect the ancient rabbis' understanding of the laws called “Oral Laws” or “Rabbinical Judaism.” The rabbis understood that the Torah spoke [...]

(I have been sick, but I am getting better, and beginning to work again.)   The Decalogue, which most people mistakenly call “The Ten Commandments,” is contained in the fifth Exodus biblical portion, Yitro, which Moses repeats with many changes in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. Some Jewish philosophers, rabbis, and non-Jews disagreed over what [...]

   Marc B. Shapiro's books and articles are always superb. His writings are filled with fascinating information. His presentation of scholarly ideas and religious and secular practices, ancient and modern, Jewish and non-Jewish, is explained engagingly. Even people who are generally uninterested in the subjects, Jews and non-Jews who have no background knowledge of it, [...]

Rabbi Drazin’s Speculations Generate an Eclectic Book January 25, 2025 / Leave a Comment Humorous, Serious, and Thoughtful Ideas by Israel Drazin; Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House; © 2024; ISBN 9789657-801741; 98 pages plus sources, index and author information; $19.95. SAN DIEGO – Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin’s column appears regularly in this publication. Our regular readers will not be [...]

  I have been reading and reviewing the inspiring, fascinating books by the brilliant writer Rabbi Dr. Charles H. Freundlich for over ten years and have enjoyed every one. Sol's Journey, his eleventh fiction book since he started writing them at age eighty, is no exception. It is a delightful, informative, thought-provoking collection of seven [...]

  I have been reading and reviewing the inspiring, fascinating books by the brilliant writer Rabbi Dr. Charles H. Freundlich for over ten years and enjoyed every one. "Sol's Journey," his eleventh fiction book since he started writing them at age eighty, is no exception. It is a delightful, informative, thought-provoking collection of seven short [...]

  Many words associated with religion have lost their meaning, and when synagogue and church leaders use them to inspire their people, they frequently lead them astray. The following are some examples.   Religious What do people mean when they say, “I want to be religious”? When we see someone and say he is a [...]

  The biblical portion of Vay’hi, Genesis 47:28-50:26, the final portion of Genesis, allows us to see the benefits of questioning the Bible. Questioning the Bible leads the questioner to consider possible solutions. This, in turn, can lead to learning, prompting the questioner to act. Action is the goal. It leads to self-improvement, which, in [...]

  Judah steps forward in the biblical portion of Vayyiggash, Genesis 44:18-47:31, which means “steps forward, “Judah stepped forward near him (Joseph)” to defend his younger brother Benjamin, whom Joseph was threatening. Whereas Isaac mistakenly preferred Esau and Jacob preferred Joseph, the Torah likes Judah, as do most Jews and some Christians today. While many people [...]

  People of all religions frequently describe some things as holy and devise sacred ceremonies that involve them without realizing they are false. They do so because others thought they were holy or because of superstition or flawed reasoning. The Scroll of Antiochus is an example.   The Scroll of Antiochus The Scroll of Antiochus [...]

  Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin’s Mysteries of Judaism Vol. 5: More than 150 Mistaken Notions about God and the Bible is a thought-provoking examination of the Hebrew Bible and its narratives. Drazin invites readers to challenge conventional interpretations and approach biblical texts with intellectual curiosity and critical thinking. Highlighting over 150 common misconceptions about God, [...]

  The biblical portion Mikkets, Genesis 41:1-44:17, is fascinating. It reveals some different, more mature, and intelligent acts by Jacob’s son Joseph than the seventeen-year-old youngster who tormented his brothers who sold him into slavery. Still, there are some questionable, even troubling, behaviors. Joseph knew about a series of two dreams experienced by his father [...]

  The biblical portion Vayyeshev is the first of four portions that deal with Jacob’s son Joseph. It begins in Genesis 37:1 and ends in 40:23. In the past, I raised questions that seemed to indicate that Jacob was a very fearful man. Jacob was silent when his daughter Dinah was held by the prince [...]

  Israel Drazin’s Who Was the Prophet Elisha? is a thought-provoking exploration of one of the Bible’s most enigmatic figures. Through a blend of scholarly rigor and accessible analysis, Drazin offers a comprehensive examination of Elisha’s life, ministry, and legacy, presenting new insights into the prophet’s role in biblical narratives. His work challenges traditional views, while offering a [...]

  Rashi begins his commentary to the biblical portion Vayyishlah, Genesis 32:4-36:43, with a midrashic sermonic interpretation borrowed from Midrash Genesis Rabba. The portion begins by saying Jacob sent malachim to his brother Esau. The Hebrew malachim has many different definitions, including: “messengers,” “sailors,” and “angels.” Rashi opted for the latter. He may have thought [...]

  The Bible tells stories about many men and women to delight readers, inspire them to act as God desires, help them learn from the lives described, and improve themselves and all of creation. Many commentaries were composed to highlight and explain the messages of the tales. In Five Biblical Portraits, Elie Wiesel describes the [...]

(I added the following to my prior submitted essay) Morality In his Guide for the Perplexed 1:2, Maimonides (1138-1204) interprets the story of the Garden of Eden as a parable. He stresses that people must use the “image of God,” which Genesis 1:27 states God placed in humans. In Guide 1:1, he interprets the “image” as intelligence. In [...]

  Numerous questions arise when we delve into the biblical portion concerning Abraham in Lekh Lekha, Genesis 12:1-17:27. One such question is the apparent mistake in narrating Abraham’s story, which begins when he is 75. His early life is briefly noted in only six sentences in 11:27-32. Shouldn’t the entire story of Abraham, including these early [...]

  The highly respected Greek philosopher Aristotle, born in 384 BCE and died at age 62 in 322, was a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great. In his Poetics. he states that the principal effect of good tragedy literature is the purging of emotions, especially pity and fear. He called this catharsis. [...]

  Under current Jewish Law, as understood by most Orthodox Jews, women have different obligations than men. With just a few exceptions, they do not have to observe positive commands limited to specific times. Wearing tefillin exemplifies this leniency because men do not wear tefillin at night, on Shabbat, and on holidays. So are Sukkah, [...]

   Before the birth of Israel Baal Shem Tov in 1700, different groups of Jews were called Hasidim, meaning “pious ones. " For example, in the 1st century BCE, there were Hasidim, men and women who were uncompromising observers of Jewish law. They joined the Maccabean revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucids and were partners in winning [...]

  The Hamas brutal war started on October 7, 2023. The attack was on the Jewish Shabbat. It was one of the most tragic days in Israel’s history. Many hundreds of Hamas terrorist fighters attacked Israel's homes along the Gaza border with Israel. Ignoring basic morality, the Hamas fighters savagely killed 1,200 people: Jewish Israelis, [...]

drazin_Elishacover Drazin -Who Was the Prophet - Elisha_Revised-4_200724   I attached above a link to a pdf of both my recent book on Elisha and the cover of the book.  I hope that you enjoy reading the book.  I would appreciate it if you would write a review of the book and place the review [...]

  Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel’s books are superb. He reveals much that many people do not know and does so in a clear, easy-to-read fashion. He gives us deep and broad insights. He examines the Torah text from Jewish and non-Jewish sources. He follows the rational view that Maimonides (1138-1204) taught in his introduction [...]

  In its review of the 1985 edition of The Fifth Son, the New York Times calls Eli Wiesel the “most-heard voice of the Holocaust, a voice that is humanist and universal even as it is Jewish-minded and special…the author makes all of us ‘children’ of that generation, all of us who were not there, in [...]

  Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. Some scholars say he was the first philosopher to divorce politics from ethics. He believed that violence and deceit were sometimes necessary to maintain power, introduce new essential institutions, and purge the community of men who [...]

  Prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or experience. It is favoring or disliking something without good reason. It is irrational. It destroys people, both the person feeling and doing it and the person or group affected by it. After being the second actor to play the Chinese [...]

  Marry a Mensch As far as I can find out, my dad, the famous Talmud scholar Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin, was the first Orthodox rabbi to write a book giving explicit advice about marriage and sex. His book was called Marriage Made in Heaven. Some of his colleagues, including one of his sister’s rabbi-husband, [...]

Maggid Books, an imprint of Koren Publishers Jerusalem Ltd, published the Hebrew edition of Rabbi Shagar, Living Time: Festival Discourses for the Present Age, in English in 2024. Maggid Books considers it an important book. It is part of Maggid’s “Modern Classics.” Many people agree. But not all. Rabbi Shagar (1949-2007) is Rabbi Shimon Gershon [...]