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. [...]

18 01, 2016

Must a Jew Comply with a Rabbinical Decision He Knows to Be Wrong?

By |2016-01-18T05:50:15-07:00January 18th, 2016|Thoughts|

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 [...]

29 09, 2014

Three tales with profound lessons

By |2014-10-03T02:09:27-07:00September 29th, 2014|Thoughts|

                                             Three rabbinical tales with profound rational lessons[1]   Maimonides, in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Introduction to Perek Chelek, describes how one should understand rabbinical stories and declares that most people do not deal with rabbinic Midrashim[2] correctly. According to Maimonides, three clusters of people exist, each taking a radically different approach to [...]

Go to Top