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If one examines the biblical account of the origins of Israelite monotheism and the story of its battle with and eventual triumph over paganism, he will discover a…
Written on the Occasion of the Ritual Slaughter Decree in Poland, 1936 [Parliament considered a bill to have animals killed by electricity, rather than by a knife, as required by Jewish law. The bill…
During the seventeenth century, Shalem Shabazī wrote deeply spiritual, kabbalistic poetry that couched his subject— the love of God—in the erotic language of Arabic (and Hebrew) love poetry. His poems…
Gen. 1:11: Tree of fruit producing fruit for its kind—Every tree is called a “tree of fruit,” and they all produce fruit, some for food and some for healing. As for the phrase, “producing fruit for…
When the world wearies of day’s golden egg,
Shabrang, the dark bay steed, appears
From under the crow’s wings…
This is the statute of the Torah . . . זאת חקת התורה—It should say זאת חקת הפרה (“this is the statute of the heifer”), as it says elsewhere “this is the statute of the Passover” (Exodus 12:43)! And if…
Why does a book on Jewish philosophy begin with a discussion of revelation? First, because it is revelation that creates Judaism as a religion. […] Without God’s…
More than twenty-five centuries have passed since an anonymous Jewish poet wrote an elaborate and lengthy prayer that included this exclamation:O how I love your teaching!It is my study all day long (…
I heard from the venerable rabbinic scholar, R. Nahman, an interpretation of the words of [the Besht] that one should intend in every word that he utters submissiveness…
“R. Isaac said, etc.” In Genesis Rabbah it says: “Even though there is not a single superfluous narrative in the Torah—not even ‘the sister of Lotan was Timna’”—for it says in Sanhedrin Chapter ḥelek…