29 11, 2015

The Thrice-Told Tale of the Likeable and Loathsome Lilith

By |2015-11-29T06:48:27-07:00November 29th, 2015|Thoughts|

                                         The Thrice-Told Tale of the Likeable and Loathsome Lilith   Aside from the few astonishing legends about regal amazons who retained control over their spouses and men in general, world history has unfortunately continually assigned a submissive and subservient role to women in the home and in society. Since Judaism is not monolithic, [...]

25 10, 2015

The Tashlich Ceremony: Another Bribe to Silence Satan

By |2015-10-25T02:29:18-07:00October 25th, 2015|Thoughts|

                                            The Tashlich Ceremony: Another Bribe to Silence Satan   Tashlich is a rite like kapparot whose non-rational basis is very obvious. The tashlich ceremony preserves a superstitious belief held by the Jewish masses of ancient times concerning water and the divine beings that dwell around it. The rite has been reinterpreted over time, [...]

21 12, 2011

Why write law codes after Maimonides did?

By |2011-12-21T07:16:04-07:00December 21st, 2011|Thoughts|

By Israel Drazin   Maimonides wrote his Mishneh Torah, his code of Jewish law. About a century after his death in 1204, Jacob ben Asher (1270–c. 1340) composed a code of Jewish law that he called the Tur. Roughly two centuries later, Joseph Karo (1488–1575), compiled his law books, which he named the Shulchan Arukh. More [...]

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