Senator Joe Lieberman and Rabbi Ari D. Kahn offer readers fifty essays in “With Liberty and Justice.”[1] The number is built on the brilliant rabbinical idea to connect the holidays of Passover and Shavuot by instituting the practice of counting 49 days between the two holidays (changing the biblical requirement to count seven full weeks), [...]
Some may say that the mystic Nachmanides was more interested in heaven than earth. Unlike Maimonides, 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 Guide [...]
The Dry Bones Passover Haggadah[1] The Passover meal called Seder, meaning “order” and referring to the sequence of fifteen practices during the meal, is [...]
The following is chapter 8 in my book "Mysteries of Judaism." My followup book "Mysteries of Judaism II: Why the rabbis and others changed Judaism" is arriving in the US within days. If you want either book and agree to write a review and post it on amazon, even if the review is short, I [...]
The following essay is from my book "Mysteries of Judaism." [...]
Why Was the First Passover Different [...]
Demons and Sympathetic Magic in the Passover Seder I spoke in the past about the ancient Jews believing in demons, the power of sympathetic magic (doing something on earth that causes heaven [...]
Demons and Sympathetic Magic in the Passover Seder We saw in the prior articles that the belief in demons, the power of sympathetic magic to conjure the appearance of the messiah, the use of an intercessor to obtain God’s attention, and the belief in the effectiveness of magic numbers to help accomplish [...]
The odd practice of starting a holiday a half a day early The Bible requires the Israelites to observe Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, currently called Nissan, by sacrificing a lamb, called the Pascal Lamb, and eating it together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This biblical holiday [...]
This article appeared in my book “Mysteries of Judaism” where I point out that all the biblical holidays were changed radically by the early Israelites, Pharisees, and later rabbis. The following practice is an example of such a change. I am repeating it here because the practice will begin this week on the second [...]
The following article appeared in my book “Mysteries of Judaism” where I showed that all the biblical holidays, without exception, were changes by the early Israelites, Pharisees, and later rabbis. I repeat it here because the holiday of Passover occurs this week. Why Was The First Passover Different From All Other Passovers? The Israelites’ [...]
The following article is from my recent book "Mysteries of Judaism" where I showed that every biblical holiday is not observed today as mandated in the Bible. Passover: A dead holiday passed on its name Unlike Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holiday of Passover did not continue to exist in a radically modified [...]
When is Passover? The question “When is Passover?” seems as simple as the humorous question, “Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?” Everyone with the slightest bit of Jewish education would answer that it begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan and ends seven days later in Israel or eight [...]
Why Was The First Passover Different From All Other Passovers? The Israelites’ first Passover, celebrated in Egypt just prior to the exodus and described in Exodus 12:1–11, was radically different from the biblically mandated holiday observed after the exodus. Exodus 12, which describes the Egyptian ceremony, raises many questions. (1) Why does the [...]
By Israel Drazin The Bird’s Head Haggada By K. Mosele and L. Birkinshaw The Israel Museum and Koren Publishers, 2012, 66 pages ISBN 978-965-301-1045 This very clever, instructive, and colorful pop-up edition of the Passover Haggada is adapted from one of the oldest illustrated Haggadot in the world, published in Germany around [...]
Review by Israel Drazin Festival of Freedom Essays on Pesah and the Haggadah By Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Ktav Publishing House, 2006, 206 pages This is the sixth of so-far eleven posthumous writings assembled, edited, and published by The Toras Horav Foundation based on writings the famed Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik [...]
The Origin of the Seder The Passover Rite and early Rabbinic Judaism By Baruch M. Bokser Jewish Theological Seminary Press, 2002, 188 pages This reprint of the 1984 classic by Professor Bokser explains the origin of the Passover Seder meal ritual. He notes that the Pascal sacrifice was an important part of Jewish ritual [...]
Why was the first Passover different from all other Passovers? By Israel Drazin The Israelites’ first Passover, celebrated in Egypt just prior to the exodus and described in Exodus 12:1-11, was radically different from the Torah mandated holiday observed after the exodus. Exodus 12, which describes the Egyptian ceremony, raises many [...]