The Hebrew volume Chameish Megillot, published by Koren Press,[1] is part of a series of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s commentaries on the Bible called Hatanakh HaMevoar. This volume contains commentaries to the five Megillot, “scrolls,” biblical books that are read in synagogues on five holidays; the books of Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), and [...]
While scholars such as Rashbam, Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and others read what the Bible actually states, Nachmanides (1194-1270) read mysticism into the biblical words. According to Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel, he was the first Bible commentator to do so.[1] He also explained the biblical text by claiming that certain events, behaviors, and conversations [...]
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), winner of many awards for his writings, who wrote or edited more than 500 books, is considered one of the top three science fiction writers. Although his parents were Orthodox Jews, he called himself a non-observant Jew. One of his many books is “Asimov’s Guide to the Bible,” reflecting his interest in [...]
I received a review of my latest three books that are on their way to the US. http://jewlicious.com/2018/04/the-kings-of-israel-series-by-israel-drazin/ If anyone wants a PDF of the books for free on the condition that he or she writes a review of each and places them on Amazon, send me your email address and I will [...]
Robert Alter is a supreme translator of the Bible in readable English and an excellent commentator of the texts. In “Wisdom Books,” his writes an introduction to, translates, and comments on Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. He tells readers that “there is little in the three biblical books that is specifically Israelite.” He notes that the [...]
"And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight" is a brilliant book by the Noble Prize Winner for Literature, S. Y. Agnon. It is typical of his ironic style. Despite its title, the crooked is not made straight in this novel - just the opposite. The book was published in Hebrew in 1912. It was Agnon's [...]
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) offers three main ideas in “The Gay Science,” written in 1882 with additions in 1887, a book called “one of his most beautiful, most idea rich books,”[1] whose title is also translated as “The Joyful Wisdom.” First, God is dead or, as I understand it, the reliance on God should cease. He [...]
Senator Joe Lieberman and Rabbi Ari D. Kahn offer readers fifty essays in “With Liberty and Justice.”[1] The number is built on the brilliant rabbinical idea to connect the holidays of Passover and Shavuot by instituting the practice of counting 49 days between the two holidays (changing the biblical requirement to count seven full weeks), [...]
Agnon’s short story called Ad Olam in Hebrew, was entitled “Forever” in the 2014 volume[1] and retranslated and included in the 2016 Toby Press volume “Forevermore & Other Stories,” under the title “Forevermore.” The tale seems to be straightforward but it is unclear what Agnon, who generally writes in an ironic manner, wanted to convey. [...]
I do not think that my teacher meant this remark to be funny, but I think he was saying a lot with his remark. I am reminded of it often when I see people who do not study the Torah and know little about it, kiss the Torah when it is brought from the ark [...]
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu’ot”[1] is the second volume in a series of books put out by The Rabbi Soloveitchik Library presenting the thoughts of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik. The book addresses eleven issues concerning laws relating to Passover, the Counting of the Omer, the debate between the Sadducees and [...]
Some may say that the mystic Nachmanides was more interested in heaven than earth. Unlike Maimonides, who focused on a scientific study of the world, Nachmanides was concerned with the way in which Jews interact with God. Maimonides’ view led him to see three people-oriented purposes for the 613 biblical commandments. In his Guide [...]
Today is my dad's birthday. He, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin, was born on March 16, 1906. He is well-known as a brilliant man, a scholar with a nice personality. He was also a hero. Although dad came from a wealthy Canadian philanthropic family and worked in the family real estate business for years, he wanted [...]
The Dry Bones Passover Haggadah[1] The Passover meal called Seder, meaning “order” and referring to the sequence of fifteen practices during the meal, is [...]
There are many laws that the rabbi developed associated with what is called today “the holiday of Passover,” which were developed for the most part from the simple Torah mandate that no unleavened product may be in the home during the seven-day holiday of the “Feast of the Unleavened Bread.” But things are not what [...]
Rabbi Hayyim Angel, author of “Keys to the Palace: Exploring the religious Value of reading Tanakh,” is one of my favorite authors who write on the Bible. He is very popular with other readers and scholars as well. This book contains twenty essays and virtually all were accepted by and published previously by well-respected magazines. [...]
Even rationalists like me can read, enjoy, and learn from the writings of mystics. We do not have to accept everything they say as being true, but there are things they say which are true. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook was born in Latvia in 1865 and died in Jerusalem in 1935. His father was [...]
A nice man in Israel sent this "Lesson of Purim" to me: Why are Jews called the "Start -up Nation"? Because everyone starts up with us. Purim sameach, Israel
The holiday of Purim is observed today with a fast day called the “Fast of Esther” that precedes it on 13 Adar. Some Jews observe the fast day from morning until sundown. It does not begin the night before as Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av, and is, in essence, a half day fast. [1] [...]
Knowing that I like a good joke, one of our very nice readers sent me the following: What bracha do we make after shopping online? Birkat Amazon
Megillat Esther Mesorat Harav By Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Many books have been published which are commentaries on various subjects, including the Bible, Siddur, and Haggadah, which are based on teachings of Rabbi Soloveitchik. These books were not written by the rabbi. They are collections of his sayings that the authors of the books [...]
“Extracts from Adam’s Diary,” published by Mark Twain in 1893 before “Eve’s Diary” in 1905, is not as charming, humorous, and unforgettable as “Eve’s Diary,” perhaps because he was not moved when he wrote “Extracts” by his wife’s death in 1904 as he was when he composed “Eve.” For “Eve” reminded him of her, the [...]
Eve’s Diary By Mark Twain Scholars say that a year after Mark Twain’s wife Olivia (1870-1904) died, in 1905, Twain published his charming tale called “Eve’s Diary” with her and her feminist beliefs in mind. In the first two chapters of his book on philosophy, “Guide of the Perplexed,” Maimonides, Judaism’s greatest thinker, read [...]
There are two broad approaches to Orthodox Judaism, each taking an opposite view as to what Judaism requires. Each feeling certain they know what God wants them to do. Modern Orthodox Judaism is convinced that Jews must learn secular knowledge. It is as Maimonides, Judaism's greatest thinker taught, "the truth is the truth no matter [...]
Professor Chaim Waxman, a prominent and highly respected sociologist of contemporary Orthodoxy, has made a superb assessment of the history, development, and current and future situation of Orthodoxy in his relatively short but comprehensive 178-page book, “Social Change and Halakhic Evolution in American Orthodoxy,” with 48 additional pages of bibliography and index. Readers will receive [...]
Some Jewish philosophers and rabbis and non-Jews disagreed over what exactly the Bible was saying in the Ten Commandments. The philosopher Philo who lived during the beginning of the Common era is an example. There are not ten commandments. The oft-used term “Ten Commandments” is incorrect. Scholars and clerics know there are more than ten commands [...]
Many Jews see Maimonides (1138-1204) as the greatest Jewish personality and sage since the biblical Moses, quoting the maxim “from (the biblical) Moses to Moses (Maimonides) there has been no one like Moses.” These people recognize that all of the rabbis, sages and philosophers who lived since the first Moses – including the writers of [...]
In the beginning, the people later called Jews were called Hebrews in the Bible or Bnei Yisrael, which is translated as Children of Israel or Israelites. When the Israelites broke into two kingdoms after the death of King Solomon, the northern kingdom was called Israel, after the ancestor Jacob, who was also called Israel. The [...]
The current practice is that Purim is celebrated as a one-day holiday. Cities that were walled at the time of Joshua’s conquest of Israel – most notably Jerusalem – celebrate Purim on Adar 15, as a commemoration of the end of hostilities in the walled city of Shushan, where the battles occurred on Adar 13 [...]
Sometimes, we say things we wish we never said. The following are some examples from some famous people. "Half this game is ninety percent mental." --Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." --Al Gore, Vice [...]
