17 07, 2020

Was the Torah revealed from Heaven?

By |2020-07-17T06:23:41-07:00July 17th, 2020|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

The doctrine of Torah Min Ha-Shamayim, “The Torah is from Heaven,” is a fundamental teaching of Orthodox Judaism. Rabbis say it means that God dictated the Five Books of Moses to Moses. But even rabbis who strongly defend this doctrine do not know how God communicated the Torah to Moses or how much of it. [...]

29 06, 2020

Aquinas and theology vs. Maimonides and philosophy

By |2020-06-29T10:08:57-07:00June 29th, 2020|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

“Saint Thomas Aquinas” by G. K. Chesterton, the author of fiction and nonfiction books, including the famous Father Brown murder mysteries, wrote this comparatively short history of the Italian Roman Catholic saint who was canonized in 1323. His teachings became the official teachings of Catholicism in 1917. Chesterton’s depiction of Aquinas Chesterton describes Thomas Aquinas [...]

11 05, 2020

Epicurus was not as bad as he is portrayed

By |2020-05-11T13:08:24-07:00May 11th, 2020|Thoughts|

Judaism describes a non-believer in God as an Apicorus, a name most likely derived from the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BCE), as Professor Marcus Jastrow states in his famed Dictionary, although Maimonides in his essay Chelek states it is an Aramaic word.  The rabbis thought that Epicurus denied the existence of God and was a [...]

5 04, 2020

Nachmanides Unique View of the Passover Seder

By |2020-04-05T04:39:15-07:00April 5th, 2020|Jewish Books, Thoughts|

Some may say that the mystic Nachmanides (1194-1270) was more interested in heaven than earth. Unlike Maimonides (1138-1204), 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 [...]

13 02, 2020

An Excellent Study of Maimonides

By |2020-02-13T07:40:36-07:00February 13th, 2020|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

The Spaniard Maimonides (1138-1204) is generally considered the greatest Jewish philosopher. He sours so high above other people that he is called “The Great Eagle.” The popular saying about him is “From Moses to Moses, there were none like Moses.” The first Moses is the biblical law giver. The second refers to Maimonides whose first [...]

15 12, 2019

The Chanukah story does not criticize the Greeks

By |2019-12-15T09:31:29-07:00December 15th, 2019|Thoughts|

Many people are mistakenly convinced that the Jewish holiday of Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish religion over Hellenism and that the enemy was Greece. Neither supposed fact is true. The Jews in Judea, Egypt and other countries of the diaspora had a longstanding favorable relationship with the Greeks and Hellenism well before and [...]

23 10, 2019

Some questions about Cain and Abel

By |2019-10-23T22:19:22-07:00October 23rd, 2019|Thoughts|

Who was the better person, Cain or Abel? It is possible to see the tale of Cain and Abel in a different light. Cain became a farmer. This is very difficult work. Abel opted to be a shepherd, arguably a lazy activity. Why does the Bible seem to prefer Abel? Why did Abel think that [...]

24 09, 2019

A new book on Jewish philosophy

By |2019-09-24T21:13:30-07:00September 24th, 2019|Philosophy|

“Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology in the Torah,” by Shmuel Phillips, a rabbi and lawyer with a law degree from the University of London, is a book filled with interesting information inspired by his understanding of the views of Maimonides and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. The book has thoughtful articles often prompted by all of [...]

28 10, 2018

Maimonides’ personality unknown by too many people

By |2018-10-28T04:57:49-07:00October 28th, 2018|Jewish Books|

                       Too many people, including rabbis and scholars, focus on just two of Maimonides’ books to help them decide Maimonides’ frame of mind: his philosophical Guide of the Perplexed and his code of law which he called Mishneh Torah, which means the Second Torah. Focusing [...]

17 10, 2018

Difficulties with the Akedah story explained

By |2018-10-17T04:01:41-07:00October 17th, 2018|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

    The thrust of Soren Kierkegaard’s 1843 influential book “Fear and Trembling” is long reflections on Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac, a story told in Genesis 22.[1] Kierkegaard concludes from his analysis that Abraham represents the prototype of faith, for he showed faith when he was willing to obey God’s command to [...]

14 08, 2018

The solution is simple

By |2018-08-14T04:17:33-07:00August 14th, 2018|Thoughts|

                                                  In an exccelent and informative article, Professor Marty Lockshin of York University, a rabbi, examined the difficulty raised by Deuteronomy 13:2-4 and tells the solutions offered in a Midrash and by several medieval Jewish commentators.[1] I will add another solution. Deuteronomy states: “If there appears among you a prophet or a dream-diviner – [...]

24 06, 2018

Are Divine Commands Rational?

By |2018-06-24T04:28:56-07:00June 24th, 2018|Thoughts|

  While there are Jews who are convinced that certain biblical commands are inscrutable and that even though we do not understand them, we must obey them, others like Maimonides and Abraham ibn Ezra were convinced that all the divine commands are rational and people can and indeed should understand them.[1] In his commentary to [...]

4 04, 2018

Maimonides said what Nietzsche said

By |2018-04-04T06:29:40-07:00April 4th, 2018|Book Reviews, Thoughts|

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 [...]

28 01, 2018

Who was Maimonides?

By |2018-01-28T06:23:17-07:00January 28th, 2018|Thoughts|

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 [...]

26 11, 2017

Maimonides’ methodology and prophecy

By |2017-11-26T05:33:03-07:00November 26th, 2017|Thoughts|

Maimonides (1138-1204) wrote his philosophical work Guide of the Perplexed in 1190 to disseminate truths as he saw them to fellow Jews who lacked his knowledge. He was particularly interested in demonstrating that the biblical and rabbinical writings are consistent with the rationalistic philosophy of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.). M. Friedlander, in his [...]

12 11, 2017

Did we sin?

By |2017-11-12T06:48:20-07:00November 12th, 2017|Thoughts|

  I bought a statue of the famed philosopher Aristotle. It is covered in heavy bronze. It is 14.25 inches tall. It looks great. I placed it next to the Maimonides books that I wrote because Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and Maimonides (1138-1204 CE) are my favorite philosophers. Both are rationalists. Socrates taught Plato, Plato taught [...]

26 10, 2017

We need to think about Maimonides

By |2017-10-26T05:28:22-07:00October 26th, 2017|Thoughts|

  It is good to be reminded of Maimonides, especially in this time when so many people are influenced by the idea that God wants people to have faith, that faith is all that is important, except, possibly, so some people contend, God created the world so that people can, indeed should, sit back and [...]

20 09, 2017

Nachmanides’ attempt to defend Judaism at Barcelona

By |2017-09-20T04:28:25-07:00September 20th, 2017|Book Reviews|

“The Disputation at Barcelona, by Ramban,” translated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel, is a classic text composed by Nachmanides (1195-1270), also known as Ramban, of the formal dispute that Nachmanides had with Pablo Christiani in 1263 before the king of Aragon, James I. It is an interesting piece of Jewish history. There are two [...]

14 09, 2017

The curious views of Nahmanides

By |2017-09-14T04:58:49-07:00September 14th, 2017|Thoughts|

  Nachmanides was a famed Bible and Talmud commentator. His real name was Moses ben Nahman Gerondi. He is known in Hebrew as Ramban and in European languages as Nahmanides, also spelt Nachmanides (1194-1270). He was a mystic and had mystical ideas. What are some of his views? Among much else, Nahmanides believed that Jews [...]

30 08, 2017

Is the concept of “faith” sensible?

By |2017-08-30T06:45:30-07:00August 30th, 2017|Thoughts|

My answer is no. Ever since I was a child, I heard about faith and understood that it makes no sense. One day when I was still young my father Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin took me to hear a lecture by the famous Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Heschel said the faith is not a Jewish [...]

27 08, 2017

The Seven Noahide Commandments

By |2017-08-27T06:05:42-07:00August 27th, 2017|Thoughts|

  In 1986, the Lubavitcher Rebbe invited me to speak with him and requested that I, an American Army General, speak at Army bases around the world about the Seven Noahide Commandments. Although I try to think rationally and not mystically like the Rebbe, I did so, and this is a version of that speech.   [...]

26 07, 2017

Some people dislike paradise

By |2017-07-26T04:21:30-07:00July 26th, 2017|Book Reviews|

Lost Horizon By James Hilton   The philosopher Maimonides (1138-1204) considered the biblical story of the Garden of Eden as a parable, not an actual event, in his Guide of the Perplexed 1:2. He states that the Torah is speaking about morality. I think his interpretation is correct. I will not summarize it here, but [...]

18 07, 2017

Must a Jew Obey a Rabbinical Decision He knows is Wrong?

By |2017-07-18T04:30:26-07:00July 18th, 2017|Thoughts|

  There are various views about mistaken rabbinical decisions. Maimonides answers "no." Here is what I wrote in my book “Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind.” Rabbi Solomon Yitzchaqi (1040–1105), better known as Rashi, the acronym of his name, makes a rather remarkable and, in the mind of many, counterintuitive statement in his commentary to Deuteronomy 17:11. [...]

2 07, 2017

The Bible does not discuss ethics

By |2017-07-02T06:16:16-07:00July 2nd, 2017|Thoughts|

                                                                      The Bible does not discuss ethics   Ethics is a subject that people speak about often and most people think that the Torah must discuss [...]

28 06, 2017

The truth about Maimonides

By |2017-06-28T04:57:02-07:00June 28th, 2017|Thoughts|

                                                                                                               [...]

24 05, 2017

The current Shavuot is not a biblical holiday

By |2017-05-24T03:19:10-07:00May 24th, 2017|Thoughts|

The following essay is from my book "Mysteries of Judaism" in which I pointed out that all the biblical holidays were changed. In "Mysteries of Judaism II: How the Rabbis and Others Changed Judaism," I describe Maimonides' view that the Torah wanted the Israelites to change what is in the Torah. For example, he writes [...]

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