The first paragraph of Pirkei Avot does not say what people think it says The first paragraph of Pirkei Avot, The Ethics of the Fathers, states: Moses received Torah from Sinai And [...]
More on how Judaism changed when meeting other cultures Jewish practices and theology continued to evolve as Jews met people of other cultures such as the Canaanites, Greeks, and Christians. Canaanites Many of the biblical books describe the various practices that the early Israelites adopted as a result of [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Review by Israel Drazin And From There You Shall Seek By Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Ktav Publishing House, 2008, 230 pages This is the tenth volume published after Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s death (1903-1993). Most of these posthumous books are based on writings he did not publish; however this volume is an English [...]
