26 11, 2019

Why must women begin the Sabbath before men?

By |2019-11-26T07:08:05-07:00November 26th, 2019|Thoughts|

                                       Why Must Women Light Sabbath Candles Long before the Sabbath Begins? If people would take the time to look at the bulletin of an Orthodox Synagogue, they would find something very curious. The women are instructed [...]

10 08, 2015

Why must women start the Sabbath before Men?

By |2015-08-10T07:33:08-07:00August 10th, 2015|Thoughts|

                                                   Why must women start the Sabbath before Men?   If people would take the time to look at the bulletin of an Orthodox Synagogue, they would find something very curious. The women are instructed to light candles several minutes before the men are scheduled to attend the Mincha service,[1] and Mincha takes place [...]

22 04, 2015

The Sabbath that disappeared and the one that moved

By |2015-04-22T03:33:08-07:00April 22nd, 2015|Thoughts|

                                                                    The Sabbath that disappeared and the one that moved   My wife Dina and I took an extended 78-day cruise from February 2, 2015 until April 21, 2015 on Queen Victoria beginning and returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the cruise we went through the Panama Canal and visited over two dozen places [...]

4 01, 2015

Why Are 39 Labors Prohibited on the Sabbath?

By |2015-01-04T07:56:30-07:00January 4th, 2015|Thoughts|

                                   Why Are 39 Labors Prohibited on the Sabbath?[1]   People familiar with the Jewish Sabbath laws know that the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, doesn’t list the activities prohibited on the Sabbath; rabbis instituted these laws and say that the laws are “hinted” in the Torah.[2] These hints are based on two of many [...]

27 09, 2014

The Sabbath provoked Sadducees and Pharisees

By |2014-09-27T21:21:58-07:00September 27th, 2014|Thoughts|

                                                                      The Sabbath:                                                    The Peaceful Day Provoked                                                     Sadducees and Pharisees     As I wrote in my recent book “Mysteries of Judaism,” all the biblical holidays were changed by the rabbis because of the conditions of their time, especially because the temple was destroyed in 70 CE and sacrifices, which were an [...]

19 06, 2013

A strange tale of Pharisees

By |2013-06-19T03:55:41-07:00June 19th, 2013|Thoughts|

                                                                                          By Israel Drazin               Numbers 19 tells how people who became impure because of contact with a dead human must be sprinkled with ashes of a red heifer before they can enter the tabernacle.[1] Among other particulars of the law, verse 9 states, “A man who is clean should gather the ashes of [...]

7 03, 2013

Vayakeil Pekudei – Unusual Interpretations 17

By |2013-03-07T14:28:40-07:00March 7th, 2013|Thoughts|

                                                                          By Israel Drazin   The biblical portions of Vayakeil and Pekudei, Exodus 35:1- 40:38, have many biblical laws and a host of descriptions of the ancient tabernacle, the Mishkan, used by the Israelites during their forty-year desert wanderings. I will discuss the Sabbath and the Cherubim.   Why does the Torah single out [...]

7 12, 2011

Do religious laws benefit God?

By |2011-12-07T07:58:10-07:00December 7th, 2011|Thoughts|

By Israel Drazin   It is certainly true that most Jews today, including most rabbis, see a distinction between ritual and social laws. The first focuses on God and the second on people. In the Ten Commandments, for example, the laws forbidding idols and those requiring rest on the Sabbath are seen by most Jews [...]

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