A Heretical Rabbi? Bridging Two Worlds
I am a rabbi by career who promotes and provides Judaism to Jews of religious and unaffiliated backgrounds. For those who know me, this may seem paradoxical. I don’t necessarily...
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10 Pros and 10 Cons of Religion and Judaism
Overview: Providing 10 pros for adherence to religion, 10 cons of it, and the compromising path to reap the positives and rectify the negatives. A crucial factor in decision-making is...
Can Judaism be Proven?
Overview: Our decisions do not need 100% certainty to convince us to do them. Comparing the consequences of performing Mitzvos versus not doing them. Why doesn’t God make the truth...
The Torah: Divinely-Inspired or Man-Made?
Overview: A clear pattern in Jewish history following the biblical theme of the Covenant and its predictions which played out surprisingly accurately against all odds. The Covenant Argument First...
Where Man Meets the Divine: The Partially Divinely-Inspired Model of Torah
Overview: An approach that reconciles both faith and critical scholarship, bridging somewhere in the middle of a divinely-inspired Torah and a man-made Torah. Torah min hashamayim – the term...
On the Origins of the Israelites and Their Religion
Overview: A summary of what we know about early Israelite history, starting from its conception down to its destruction and rebirth. Discusses genetics, the Exodus, the twelve tribes of Israel,...
Did Moses Really Write the Torah?
Overview: Evidence to demonstrate the antiquity of much of Torah yet showing how Moses couldn’t have been the only author of the Torah, as proven by a number of rabbinic...
The Composition of Deuteronomy: When it was Written
Overview: Exploring various elements in the dating of Deuteronomy. Showing both sides of the aisle in the research of Deuteronomy’s laws, language, and theology in attempt to date the book....
Is the Torah’s Text Accurate?
Overview: In this article we discuss various elements of the Hebrew Bible’s text. It’s original script, the rabbinic invention of Safrut, the amendments made to it, the scribal errors, and...
Torah and Evolution: Early Genesis as a Metaphor
Overview: The ancient genre of metaphor and the indications that early Genesis was not intended as literal history. This would reconcile the issues of Evolution and Genesis. The approach to...
Exodus on Trial: Were the Israelites Enslaved in Egypt?
Overview: Summary of both the evidence for and against an Israelite Exodus and the responses of each side. The element of embellishment in ancient story-telling and the possible ramifications of...
How Many Israelites Really Left Egypt?
Overview: Challenging the literal interpretation of 600,000 leaving Egypt. Giving scriptural-friendly and archaeological-friendly alternatives to the common notion of the mass exodus from Egypt. What first may appear as...
Genesis on Trial: Were the Patriarchs Real Historical Figures?
Overview: A general outline of the arguments for and against the historical credibility of Patriarchal Genesis, the responses of each side, by comparing it to ancient documents from that time....
The Genesis of Genesis: On the Origins of the Book
Overview: Arguments for early authorship, arguments for later authorship, legends based on kernels of truth, legends that served political and ideological agendas, and the several layers found within the book...
Israelite Conception of God: Monotheism or Monolatry in Torah?
Overview: The differences of deity worshipping in the ancient world, the biblical conception of God, the inferior gods in Tanakh, and what makes Judaism unique as a monotheist belief system....
The Biblical View of Afterlife
Overview: The biblical view of an afterlife in the context of Canaanite belief in Sheol and the Egyptian belief in the spiritual afterlife of judgment; why the Torah makes no...
An Oral Law at Sinai?
Overview: The ancient concept of law and its oral component, internal gaps in the Written Torah left for the Oral Law, hints to extrabiblical laws throughout Tanakh, minimalist and maximalist...
The Rabbis: Supermen or Fallible Human Beings?
Overview: There’s a common misconception that turns the rabbis into supermen who can never make a mistake in science or Halacha. This article will bring sources and proofs to demonstrate...
The Origins of the Rashi & Rabeinu Tam dispute on Tefillin
Overview: The dispute between Rashi and Rabeinu Tam regarding the order of the Tefillin. How can there be arguments on commandments from Sinai. Giving a historical perspective to the dispute....
The Yeridas Hadoros Myth
Overview: Narrowing down the various ‘yeridas hadoros’ misconceptions to the few possibilities of its true meaning, from a rational and empirical perspective with rabbinic texts to support the conclusions. ...
The Ever-Evolving Morals and Biblical Law
Overview: A summary of the interaction between the evolving morals of society and the changes to biblical and rabbinic law as a result. Serves as a synopsis to the other...
Why Did the Torah Permit Slavery?
Overview: Why slavery wasn’t and couldn’t be outlawed by the Torah. The treatment of Hebrew and Gentile slaves in the Israelite home. The Torah is regarded as the de-facto code...
Was Torah Influenced by Surrounding Cultures?
Overview: Addressing the issue of parallels between the divinely-inspired Torah and the man-made Ancient Near East documents. Parallels include phraseology, civil laws, and religious rituals. Introducing the partially-divinely-inspired model for...
Kuzari Principle: The Mass Revelation Argument Deconstructed
Overview: The classical argument explained, but then deconstructed with an understanding of myth-formation in the ancient world. While I do believe there is evidence that can support the idea...
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