Why Are Ancient Rabbinic Decisions Binding?
This essay is chapter 3 from my book "Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind." [...]
20
03, 2017
15
03, 2017
Why Do Jews Prefer the Shulchan Arukh to Maimonides’ Code of Law?
The following is from my third book on Maimonides. Why Do Jews Prefer the Shulchan Arukh to Maimonides’ Code of Law? Maimonides’ fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah was the first, most comprehensive, most readable, and best-organized code of Jewish law. It is [...]
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02, 2017
Were the Ten Plagues Miracles?
The following essay is chapter 24 in my third book on Maimonides: Maimonides, Reason Above All. [...]
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02, 2017
Maimonides’ son defends his father
The following is chapter 5 from my book Maimonides: Reason Above All [...]
29
01, 2017
Who was Maimonides’ son?
The following essay is chapter 5 in my book Maimonides: Reason Above All [...]
22
01, 2017
Maimonides took most of his ideas from Aristotle
The following is the second chapter from my third book on Maimonides called "Maimonides: Reason Above All." I gave my book this name because both he and Aristotle were convinced that the most important part of humans is their ability to reason, something most humans do not do. [...]
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11, 2016
Maimonides disparages morality
Maimonides Disparages Morality One book of the Talmud [...]
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11, 2016
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11, 2016
The truth about messiahs
The truth about Messiahs There are many books about the messiah. Some claim that we can expect a miraculous appearance of the messiah. Some, such as Patai’s and Rabow’s books tell about the dozens of false messiahs that appeared in the past and continue to appear today. Still others, such as Maimonides’s [...]
21
10, 2016
According to Maimonides, Heaven and Hell do not exist
The concepts of a world to come, of life after death, of heaven, purgatory, and hell are not in the Hebrew Bible, but are post-biblical ideas. Maimonides, Judaism’s greatest thinker, wrote in his essay called Chelek that heaven and hell do not exist. If you accept his view do not expect to go to [...]
4
09, 2016
A scholarly view of Maimonides different than mine
Many religious people of all religions look about and study history and convince themselves that the world and people cannot be improved except by the intervention of God and a miracle, by God creating a messianic age. While the idea of a messianic age is in the New Testament, it is not in the [...]
19
06, 2016
Rabbi Soloveitchik’s misunderstanding of Maimonides (?)
Maimonides Between Philosophy and Halakhah Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s lectures on the Guide of the Perplexed Edited with an introduction by Lawrence J. Kaplan Forward by Dove Schwartz Ktav Publishing and Urim Publications, 2016, 256 pages This book is interesting because it shows the basic ideas of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s thinking, but readers should not [...]
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05, 2016
Baruch Spinoza Borrowed His Basic Philosophy from ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Baruch Spinoza Borrowed His Basic Philosophy from ibn Ezra and Maimonides Non-Jews consider Baruch (or Benedict) de Spinoza an esteemed philosopher. Many feel that he breathed fresh air into philosophy and helped launch the open-minded enlightenment in the seventeenth century. Rebecca Goldstein, in her 2006 [...]
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05, 2016
Why Do Rabbis Prefer the Shulchan Arukh over Maimonides’ Code of Law?
Why Do Rabbis Prefer the Shulchan Arukh over Maimonides’ Code of Law? Maimonides’ fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah was the first, most comprehensive, most readable, and best-organized code of Jewish law. It is no surprise, for example, that the fourteen books of his code are so expertly crafted [...]
3
04, 2016
Who was Maimonides’ son?
Abraham, Son of Maimonides [...]
6
03, 2016
Did the Sun Stand Still for Joshua at Gibeon?
Did the Sun Stand Still for Joshua at Gibeon? Joshua 10 narrates an astounding story. Joshua, Moses’ successor. and the Israelite forces fought against five southern Canaanite kingdoms and defeated them. Then Joshua sang a song praising God for causing the sun to stand still over the city of Gibeon and extending [...]
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02, 2016
Maimonides and modern scientists on the miraculous parting of waters
Maimonides and modern scientists on the miraculous parting of waters Maimonides was convinced that God does not perform miracle. In his Guide of the Perplexed 2:48, he wrote that whenever the Bible reports that God caused a phenomenon to happen, it should be understood that the event was a natural occurrence. He explains [...]
20
01, 2016
There are not 613 Biblical Commands
There are not 613 Biblical Commands There is a concept that there are 613 biblical commands. However, a careful examination reveals that there is no biblical teaching that there are 613 commands, and there are far less than 613 biblical commands. Rabbi Simlai’s Sermon The first report that the Torah [...]
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01, 2016
Must a Jew Comply with a Rabbinical Decision He Knows to Be Wrong?
Must a Jew Comply with a Rabbinical Decision He Knows to Be Wrong? 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. In the commentary, he states that a Jew is not [...]
13
01, 2016
Hasdai Crescas: Jewish Philosophy Unintentionally Including Christian Beliefs
Hasdai Crescas: Jewish Philosophy Unintentionally Including Christian Beliefs One of the most tragic occurrences in Judaism’s long history is the frequent absorption of alien, often heathen and Christian notions.[1] This occurred not only amongst the uneducated masses; rabbis fell prey to this phenomenon as well, simply because they did not know Jewish history [...]
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01, 2016
The non-biblical notion of holiness
The non-biblical notion of holiness The concept of “holiness,” meaning that something or someone is sacred does not exist in the Bible. The biblical Hebrew word kedushah, which is usually translated today as “holiness” means “separate.” When the Bible asserts that God is holy it signifies that God is totally separate [...]
6
01, 2016
The origin of the strange concept called sin
The Origin of Sin There is no concept of “sin” in the Hebrew Bible as a distorting stain upon the soul that requires a kind of supernatural atonement or cleansing process, as the concept is understood today. To the contrary, wrong behavior is seen in scripture in a rational, natural way. [...]
3
01, 2016
The Rejection of Maimonides’ “Jewish Beliefs” by Recognized Jewish Scholars and Rabbis
The Rejection of Maimonides’ “Jewish Beliefs” by Recognized Jewish Scholars and Rabbis Studying Maimonidean thought means coming into contact with rational ideas that are not considered mainstream in Jewish philosophy. In his The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised, Marc B. Shapiro examines the thirteen principles that Moses Maimonides [...]
27
12, 2015
What does Maimonides teach?
What does Maimonides teach? The great philosopher Maimonides is misunderstood by many people, most of whom need to see him saying what he never said. Maimonides’ God Maimonides’ God is transcendental, meaning God is not involved in the daily activities of the world. God either created the world out of [...]
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12, 2015
Is the Bible Really the Source of Philosophy?
Is the Bible Really the Source of Philosophy? One of the fundamental questions posed by Jewish philosophers has always been, ironically, whether Judaism has a philosophy at all and where that philosophy stems from. Many people consider Philo the first Jewish philosopher, claiming that he introduced Greek ideas into Jewish thought. Yet he [...]
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12, 2015
Maimonides’ Great Secret
Maimonides’ Great Secret: A New Understanding of the Bible One of the most overlooked revelations of Maimonides, one that profoundly affects how the Bible should be interpreted, is the clarification that he gives in his Guide of the Perplexed 2:48. This important insight is contained in the last chapter of the second of his [...]
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11, 2015
Maimonides’ Concealed True Teachings: Prophecy and Angels
Maimonides’ Concealed True Teachings: Prophecy and Angels Even in his youth, philosophy was an integral part of Maimonides’ life (1138-1204). He wrote a volume on logic when he was still quite young – scholars are uncertain of the exact date, but suppose that he composed his first works in his early twenties. He [...]
13
09, 2015
Maimonides vs. Daf Yomi
Maimonides vs. Daf Yomi There is a problem with those who study the Talmud (known colloquially as “learning the Talmud”). Most of these people do not really understand what is being read, why the Talmud states what it states, what are the different versions in other parts of the Talmud, in [...]
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08, 2015
Maimonides, Abarbanel, and Cognitive Dissonance
Maimonides, Abarbanel, and Cognitive Dissonance Isaac Abarbanel, a highly intelligent fifteenth and sixteenth century Bible Commentator, used his introduction to the biblical book Amos to express his difference with Maimonides on the issue of prophecy. Abarbanel insisted that the view about prophecy held by most people, that prophecy is miraculous, is correct, [...]
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08, 2015
The brilliant teachings of Maimonides
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed One of the most significant and life changing books ever written is Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Maimonides lived from 1138 to 1204. Many people consider him the most important person since Moses who handed Israel God’s revelation. Others are convinced that he is far better [...]
