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1. We have now obtained a preliminary articulation of reason and religion; we turn now to the sources of Judaism, out of which the religion of reason should be derived. We ought…
In my opinion, one cannot understand the development of the Science of Judaism except by taking note of the profound contradictions or, if you will, the unique dialectical tensions present within it…
“Prayer is to religion what thinking is to philosophy. The religious sense prays as the intellectual organ thinks.” Prayer, to carry this saying of Novalis a step further, is a significant…
Note: The word “religion” is not biblical. It is taken over from paganism, where it does not include the factor of freedom. People disagree as to whether it is derived from religere or relegere; about…
February 9, 2000Dear Ammi,It was a pleasure meeting you in person last week. […]I wonder what the staff and the other patrons thought about the two of us sitting there, me with my beard, peyot, and…
Maimonides, the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, was of the opinion that the principles and methods of metaphysics formed part of the traditional lore of the sages of the Mishnah and…
Jewish mysticism in its various forms represents an attempt to interpret the religious values of Judaism in terms of mystical values. It concentrates upon the idea of the living God who manifests…
[ . . . ] The duality in the attitudes of cognitive man and homo religiosus is rooted in existence itself. Cognitive man concerns himself with a simple and “candid” reality. He does not seek to closet…
The telos (takhlit) of man’s activities, in the aspect (behinah) of having will and choice, is the ultimate human good (ha’hatslahah ha’enoshi’it). This excellence necessarily comes after the…
Following the example of Plato, I have Socrates in his last hours relate the arguments for the immortality of the human soul to his students. The dialogue of the Greek author, which has the name Phaed…