24 08, 2014

Do we want a king?

By |2014-08-24T06:36:23-07:00August 24th, 2014|Thoughts|

                                                                          Do we want a king?[1]     Deuteronomy 17:14-20 contains laws concerning kings, specifically what a king should not do. The royal power brings to mind the ridiculous belief once held by many people, and still held some today, people who don’t know they are retaining this ancient idea. It is the [...]

4 08, 2013

Shoftim – Unusual Interpretations 48

By |2013-08-04T08:36:55-07:00August 4th, 2013|Thoughts|

                                                                      By Israel Drazin   There are many phrasings in this portion (16:18-21:9) that allows us to examine the biblical writing style: obscure and ambiguous texts, apparently unnecessary word, God’s view of non-Israelites, and which people should guide us.   Obscurities and ambiguities             I mentioned previously that all good literature contains obscurities and ambiguities [...]

7 11, 2011

A revolution in Bible study

By |2011-11-07T05:42:48-07:00November 7th, 2011|Book Reviews|

Bringing the Prophets to Life By Neil N. Winkler Gefen Publishing House, 2011, 193 pages   Many Jews consider the Bible to be the sacred text revealed by God to the Israelites trough Moses. Multiple commentaries were composed on the Torah. Some emphasized the Torah’s literal meaning, such as the commentaries of Rashbam, David Kinchi, [...]

27 07, 2011

King David with all of his faults

By |2011-07-27T04:35:46-07:00July 27th, 2011|Book Reviews|

The Life of David By Robert Pinsky Nextbook, 2005, 217 pages     Was King David pious? Was he a holy man who was divinely inspired to compose the biblical book of Psalms, the charismatic ideal leader whose offspring would never cease to lead Israel because he was so good, whose descendant would be the [...]

Go to Top