Ibn Ezra’s “Secret of the Twelve” Did Moses write the entire Torah? Do traditional Jewish commentators differ on the subject? Who wrote the story of the death of Moses? The twelve verses of Deuteronomy chapter 34 tell the story of the death of Moses. The introductory four verses narrate how God told [...]
Chapter 6 Gideon: The hesitant judge who struggled Chapter 6-8 introduces readers to the judge Gideon. In chapter 6 he has several experiences which could be taken at face value and understood as supernatural events or as the internal struggles of an anxious man. The Israelites lived in peace after [...]
TZAV (Chapter 6:1–8:36) DOES GOD WANT SACRIFICES?[1] Much of Leviticus focuses on sacrifices. After the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, when sacrifices could no longer be offered, the rabbis said that the synagogue and prayer services would take the place of sacrifices. Many individuals today agree with [...]
VAYIKRA (Chapter 1:1–5:26) Can we bewitch God with sacrifices and prayers?[1] The biblical book Leviticus describes elaborate ceremonies of sacrifices. Although the rabbis maintained that the sacrifices were accompanied by prayers, most people do not realize that prayer is not explicitly mentioned in the Pentateuch, the five books [...]
TETZAVEH (Chapters 27:20–30:1) Moses’ Name is Missing This biblical portion Tetzaveh is the only one from Exodus through Deuteronomy that does not contain Moses’s name. Why? And what can we learn from this? One midrashic[1] suggestion for this unusual occurrence is that it has to do with Moses’ plea [...]
TERUMAH (Chapters 25:1–27:19) The ancient Sanctuary was not built for God[1] This section of the Torah commands the building of a Sanctuary, a tent in which sacrifices were offered to God. Commentators dispute whether the command was issued before or after the episode of the golden calf which is [...]
MISHPATIM (Chapters 21:1–24:18) Was the entire Torah revealed at Sinai? In the Torah portion of Mishpatim, we find the beginning of the unfolding of an intricate and complex set of social regulations called civil laws in most societies. Civil laws place God outside of the public arena and replaces divine [...]
Yitro (Chapters 18:1–20:23) Revelation and the Ten Commandments (Chapter 20:1–14)[1] The events preceding the revelation are told in chapter 19. Moses ascends Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:3) and communicates with God on the third day of the third month. He descends on the same day (Exodus 19:7) and communicates [...]
Review by Israel Drazin The Book of Job By Mark Larrimore Princeton University Press, 2013, 286 pages ISBN 978-0-691-14759-8 Mark Larrimore offers readers a clear presentation of the views of many well-respected interpreters of the difficult to understand biblical book Job. Job, as he shows, raises many problems. Most interpreters [...]
Ibn Ezra in Genesis Clerics give sermons and extol certain biblical commentators giving their congregants the impression that whatever the person said was correct even though the commentator, like all of us, also made remarks that were not acceptable. Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164) is an example. Some of his interpretations are rational, others [...]
By Israel Drazin Maimonides’ Important Idea about Prophecy The following essay is a shortened version from my book Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets Maimonides 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 [...]
The two greatest Bible secrets - 2 By Israel Drazin God was not directly involved in the Bible The following is from my book Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind One of the most overlooked revelations of Maimonides, one that profoundly affects how the Bible should be interpreted, is the clarification that he [...]
Review by Israel Drazin Believing and its Tensions By Rabbi Dr. Neil Gillman Jewish Lights Publishing, 2013, 113 pages After teaching religion at The Jewish Theological Seminary for some fifty years, and serving as chair of its Department of Jewish Philosophy, Dr. Gillman retired and summarized his views on [...]
Joshua Chapter 1 By Israel Drazin Having completed 54 Unusual Bible Interpretations on the Pentateuch, I have begun this series on the next biblical book Joshua. I will focus on one chapter every week. The Book Joshua The first chapter of Joshua presents its history using the number three.[1] [...]
By Israel Drazin The following is a brief version of an excerpt from “Beyond the Bible Text” by Rabbi Dr. Stanley Wagner and me that was published in September 2013. We usually put three articles for each biblical portion, generally discussing thought-provoking subjects that people will not find elsewhere. This week’s essay is [...]
By Israel Drazin Most sermons teach proper behavior, but when examined carefully, there are elements in them that frequently seem irrational and untrue. Their messages may be good but, among other problems, the verses used to support the messages may not say what the clerics say they say to [...]
By Israel Drazin The following is a brief version of an excerpt from “Beyond the Bible Text” by Rabbi Dr. Stanley Wagner and me that will be published in September 2013. We usually put three articles for each biblical portion, generally discussing thought-provoking subjects that people will not find elsewhere. This week Jews [...]
By Israel Drazin The following second of my two-part introduction to Judaism’s greatest sage, a man whose works on philosophy, medicine, and law were read by people of all faiths, is adapted from my book Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind. Who was Maimonides? In the approximately fourteen hundred years in which Jews lived under Muslim [...]
By Israel Drazin Part one The following two-part introduction to Judaism’s greatest sage, a man whose works on philosophy, medicine, and law were read by people of all faiths, is adapted from my book Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind. Sages extolled Maimonides Some people are identified as geniuses because they are able to raise daring, [...]
By Israel Drazin The following is a brief version of an excerpt from “Beyond the Bible Text” by Rabbi Dr. Stanley Wagner and me that will be published in September 2013. We usually put three articles for each biblical portion, generally discussing thought-provoking subjects that people will not find elsewhere. (Chapters 26:1–29:8) [...]
By Israel Drazin The following is a brief version of an excerpt from “Beyond the Bible Text” by Rabbi Dr. Stanley Wagner and me that will be published in September 2013. We put three articles for each biblical portion, generally discussing subjects that people will not find elsewhere. (Chapters 21:10–25:19) A Law that shows [...]
By Israel Drazin[1] Aside from the few astonishing legends about regal amazons who retained control over their spouses and men in general, world history has unfortunately continually assigned a submissive and subservient role to women in the home and in society. Since Judaism is not monolithic, Jewish literature contains both positive and negative [...]
By Israel Drazin In my essay “Divine revelation continues today,” I discussed the views of Rabbi Kook, Maimonides, Aristotle, Ba’al Shem Tov’s grandson, and others who stated that divine revelation continues today. I showed that these thinkers felt that modern people can and should seek God’s revelation in history [...]
By Israel Drazin Pinchas Polonsky describes the open-minded concept of Rabbi Abraham-Yitzhak Kook (1865-1935)[1]. His “teachings reflect a deep modernization of the Jewish faith and of its approach to an array of contemporary problems.” Polonsky calls Kook’s approach “Modern Orthodoxy.” But his ideas could, and indeed should, radically change the way [...]
By Israel Drazin The portion Re’eih, Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17, gives us an opportunity to speak about study vs. action, whether the Masorites who established the correct Torah text are always right, and if the Torah prefers that people be vegetarians. Metaphors, Maimonides, and action The Torah is not only a book about [...]
By Israel Drazin On October 18, 2010, Jewish Ideas Daily published an article from The Weekly Standard of October 16, 2010, entitled Of Greeks and Jews, but advertised it as Was Maimonides Jewish? The article stated that “according to unpublished correspondence of the political philosopher Leo Strauss, no.” The article states that [...]
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 The Book of Esther is one of the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible. Curiously, God is not mentioned in this volume of Scripture and there is no indication that God was involved in any way in helping Esther and Mordecai save the Jews of Persia from [...]
By Israel Drazin A very knowledgeable reader of my writings wrote to me asking two questions. The first was: do I think religious people should study philosophy or science? The question was prompted by my use of the word philosophy frequently. I understand that the great Greek and Jewish philosophers Aristotle [...]
By Israel Drazin In my discussion on “Are intelligent people moral,” I wrote that Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) taught in his Guide of the Perplexed 1:2 that people should work to develop their thinking and understanding by studying the sciences and logic, and make life decisions based on what they learnt, on [...]
