Repentance as we know it today is not a biblical concept despite the thinking of many[1] that the prophet Hosea talked about it. Hosea 14:2 states “Shuva Yisrael ad Hashem Elokekha,” “Return Israel to the Lord your God.” Actually, Hosea says in chapter 14 what he said several times in earlier chapters when he also [...]
In the September 9, 2018 “thetorah.com,” Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber[1] offers a very thoughtful essay “Does YHWH Remit Punishment.” He asks does God inflict punishment even after a person repents. He cites several Torah statements that seem to indicate that even after people repent, they and their innocent descendants are punished for several generations. [...]
After reading this morning's essay, I was asked by a perceptive reader: Doesn’t the Torah itself say, offer a sacrifice as atonement for a misdeed? For example, Numbers 31:50 states, “we brought the Lord’s offerings…to make atonement [the Hebrew is lekhaper, from the root kh-p-r] for ourselves before the Lord.” Thus, it appears that contrary [...]
Repentance is not a biblical concept Parts of Hosea 14, beginning with 14:2, are read as the haphtarah (synagogue reading from the prophets) two or three times a year – with the portion of Vayeitzei, on Shabbat Shuva (the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and sometimes with the portion Vayeilekh. This practice [...]
Rosh Hashanah is not a biblical holiday[1] Rosh Hashanah is not a biblical holiday, although it replaced a biblical one, and is notably different from the holiday it replaced. The biblical holiday, Yom Teruah, had a totally different purpose than Rosh Hashanah, which focuses on the onset of a new year, [...]
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 Neither sin nor repentance is mentioned in the Torah. Sin “Sin,” a prime element in Christian theology, is chet in Hebrew, and chet means nothing more than “missing the mark.” The Bible speaks of three categories of wrongs that are not synonyms. There is chet, the [...]
