By Israel Drazin The Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 11a, tells a tale that is not even hinted in the Torah. Before enslaving the Israelites, Pharaoh asked Balaam, Job, and Jethro whether it is advisable to do so. Jethro, according to this story, protested, and God rewarded him by having Moses become his son-in-law. Job [...]
By Israel Drazin Chaim Grade’s excellent, disturbing, and depressing 1974 novel The Agunah portrays the pitiful and disastrous impact of the Jewish agunah law upon a kindhearted woman. Orthodox Jewish law forbids women whose husbands refuse to give them a Jewish divorce, called get in Hebrew, or who disappear without proof that [...]
By Israel Drazin Numbers 26:3 and 4 seem to have lost words. They state: “Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho saying …from twenty years and upward; as the Lord commanded Moses and the Israelites that exited the land of [...]
By Israel Drazin Commentaries on the biblical portion Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9) answer many questions and explain the names of biblical portions, who was Balaam, the miracle of the speaking ass, what is Baal Peor, and much else. Why did God name a biblical portion after the evil King Balak? God [...]
By Israel Drazin Numbers 19 tells how people who became impure because of contact with a dead human must be sprinkled with ashes of a red heifer before they can enter the tabernacle.[1] Among other particulars of the law, verse 9 states, “A man who is clean should gather the ashes of [...]
By Israel Drazin I think that women should be treated with respect and have the same rights as men. Many ancient Jewish sages felt the same, but not all of them. The question was raised[1] why did the very wise Greek philosopher Aristotle,[2] disparage women? The answer given is that he was [...]
By Israel Drazin Rosh Hashanah is not a biblical holiday, although it supplanted a biblical one, and is not similar to the holiday it displaced. The biblical holiday, Yom Teruah, had a totally different purpose than Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana focuses on the onset of a new year, repentance, and making decisions to [...]
By Israel Drazin Commentaries on the biblical portion Chukat (Numbers 19:1-21:35) raise theological questions such as, are biblical laws rational, is original sin a Jewish concept, did pagan practices influence Torah laws, and obscurities in the Torah. Is a chok a biblical law that has no reasonable basis? Rashi influenced [...]
By Israel Drazin No biblical holiday is practiced today as mandated in the Bible. The rabbis changed all of the holidays. The major but not only reason for the alterations is that many biblical holy days focused on sacrifices which ceased to exist when the temple was destroyed in 70 CE.[1] One biblical holiday [...]
By Israel Drazin There are significant interpretations of Genesis that many people do not know. This is do in part because much scriptural material is obscure or at best ambiguous. This is not surprising or even bad. All good literature has parts that are obscure or ambiguous. As the great Argentinean writer Jorge [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) that provoke questions about the Torah’s organization and the presence of God. Is the Bible chronological? The portion starts with an obscure word. Korach challenges Moses’ leadership after he “took,” but the verse fails to state what [...]
By Israel Drazin I pointed out in my books that most of the notions held today by many Jews, as well as Christians and Muslims, are relatively recent accretions into Judaism, thoughts that are not in the Bible but taken from pagan cultures. These include the belief that people have souls, the need [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are more surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Shelach (Numbers 13:1-15:41) that raise interesting ideas concerning interpreting the Torah. Why does the Bible change people’s names? Why does the Bible state that Moses changed Hosea’s name to Yehoshua, the only change in Hebrew is an [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Shelach (Numbers 13:1-15:41) raise interesting ideas concerning interpreting the Torah. Seemingly contradictory biblical texts In 13:2, God instructs Moses to send spies to reconnoiter Canaan; apparently he is initiating the enterprise. However, Deuteronomy 1:22 reports that the Israelites [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Beha’alotecha (Numbers 8:1-12:16) contained in Midrash Sifrei, Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, Rashi, and Arnold Ehrlich. 8:15 states l’avod ohel moed, which is an awkward phrase literally meaning “to work the tent of meeting.” Ehrlich suggests [...]
By Israel Drazin Rashi (1040-1105) reports a teaching of Rabbi Ishmael (second century CE) contained in Midrash Sifrei Numbers 30 in his commentary on Numbers 6:13. I think that Sifrei may have erred because what it says doesn’t seem logical or consistent with the interpretive methodology of Rabbi Ishmael. Chapter [...]
By Israel Drazin The semi-holiday[1] Lag B’omer is based on an unsubstantiated and unlikely tradition. Lag B’omer means the “thirty-third day [since bringing the barley harvest] omer [to the tabernacle and later temples to thank God for the barley harvest].” An omer is a certain weight of the grain such as [...]
By Israel Drazin No Jewish holiday is practiced today as the Bible mandates. Shavuot, called Pentecost in English, is a good example. The current observance of the holiday has no relationship to its biblical ancestor and doesn’t even occur at the same time.[1] Very few people know the truth about this day. [...]
By Israel Drazin Like all other biblical holidays, Rosh Chodesh is not observed today as required by biblical law. This is because of changed social circumstances and because the principle part of the biblical worship was sacrifices that were discontinued after the Romans destroyed the Jewish second temple in 70 [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are some thoughts on the biblical portion Bemidbar, Numbers 1:1 to 4:20. Each shows problems with traditions. This fourth biblical book is named after the first significant word in the first chapter, Bemidbar. However most people call the book Bamidbar, which is a corruption of [...]
By Israel Drazin Most people listen to a sermon and think, “This is Torah,” and never ask if what they hear is philosophy, theology, or hermeneutics. There is a big difference. Philosophy is the search for the truth. Ideas are developed from what is sensed by the five senses, proven [...]
In his 2013 book The Essence of Religions, Christophor Coppes tells why he is convinced that people are able glimpse heaven in near-death experiences (NDEs) and that they are true events even though people report them differently. He feels that most religions have inklings of NDE truths, but the religious teachings are overloaded with [...]
By Israel Drazin There are many problems and questions concerning the Shemita and Jubilee years. I will discuss some of them. Shemita means “release.” It is a biblically required year when financially distressed people are aided, the nation’s economy is toughened, food supplies are secured by strengthening fields, and the [...]
By Israel Drazin People who pay attention to what they read realize that none of the Jewish holidays are practiced today as the Torah mandates. Judaism today is not Torah Judaism but Rabbinic Judaism. The rabbis made extensive changes in Torah laws because of changes in human circumstances. Scholars think [...]
By Israel Drazin The following are some comments on the portions Achrei Mot – Kedoshim, Leviticus 16:1 - 20:27. Leviticus 16 describes a Yom Kippur (the tenth day of the seventh Hebrew month) ceremony when the priest is told to take two male goats. He casts lots to determine what [...]
By Israel Drazin All religions have antiquated practices that are vestiges of meaningful ancient practices, but are not useful today because of changes in modern behavior. The brief Jewish ceremony of Zimmum is an example. Orthodox Jews consider meals reminders of the service on the ancient temple altar. Thus eating [...]
By Israel Drazin The Torah is frequently unclear; both the meaning of some words and legal requirements are obscure. This has led to differences in opinions and the acceptance of strange ideas. The word tazria in Leviticus 12:2 is a good example. It literally means “brings forth seed”: “If [...]
By Israel Drazin Samson Raphael Hirsh, Abraham ibn Ezra, Arnold Ehrlich, and Maimonides have what some people might consider unusual even surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Shemini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47, such as the following. Abraham ibn Ezra, Samson Raphael Hirsh, and many others noted that the Torah uses the numbers seven [...]
By Israel Drazin Rashi’s grandson Rashbam, Maimonides, and Arnold Ehrlich have what some people might consider unusual even surprising interpretations of the biblical portion Tzav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36. The following are few of them. Why did the Torah require that the fire of the sacrifice burn on the altar all night in [...]
By Israel Drazin Among many good ideas, C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) offers readers an interesting concept about heaven and hell in his dream/parable “The Great Divorce.” He reveals that heaven is not a state of mind, but hell is. Heaven is what is real on earth. People who see life for what it [...]
