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Category Archives: Modern Orthodoxy
Do We Need Religion to be Good People?
“Does being religious make someone a good person?” Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Christianity, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy
Tagged Christianity, Divine Law, Faith, Halacha, Judaism, Matthew Arnold, Morality, Prayer, Religion, Social harmony
5 Comments
Chaos and Creation, from Genesis to Today
My new blog post for The Jewish Journal: You might not expect it, but the very first words of the Torah explain how social change works. The most familiar English rendering is “In the beginning, God created the heavens and … Continue reading
Tisha B’Av Turns Tragedy into Victory
My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” According to the late comedian Alan King, that’s the explanation of most Jewish holidays. It’s particularly relevant to the fast day of Tisha … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, The Jewish Journal
Tagged Alan King, Dunkirk, First Temple, Positive attitude, Reframing, Second Temple, Tisha B'Av
4 Comments
Is Jewish Peoplehood Passé?
Is it time for us to stop thinking of ourselves as “the Jewish people”? Are we not one, but many? Some influential writers think so. They start with what is obvious: today’s Jewish population is incredibly diverse. World Jewry includes … Continue reading
Torah Parallels Are No Problem
My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Were the Jews the first people to think of monotheism? And would it matter if we weren’t? Such questions tend to worry Biblical scholars when they start comparing our Torah with other … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, The Jerusalem Post
Tagged Atrahasis, Biblical Parallels, Blanshard, Gilgamesh, Maimonides, Moses Mendelssohn, Prophecy, Revelation, Saadia, Saadya, Spinoza, Torah
1 Comment
How Medieval Islam Influenced Modern Judaism
My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: In the modern era, we associate Islam mainly with terrorism, barbarism, and opposition to science. But it was not always so. Long ago, our early encounters with Islam influenced the development of … Continue reading
Will Judaism Disintegrate?
My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post: A popular California rabbi’s forecast seems gloomy until you think about it. Then you realize it’s absolutely catastrophic. He says that Judaism is: “… a platform [that] rests on a mountain of dynamite. … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, The Jerusalem Post
Tagged Authority, Autonomy, Eliyahu Fink, Fink or Swim, Halacha, Hedonism, Jewish tradition, Maimonides, Millennials, Modern Orthodoxy, Moses Mendelssohn, Nihilism, Open Orthodoxy, Saadia Gaon, Spinoza, Zeitgeist
22 Comments
Orthodoxy, Truth, and Half-Belief
My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post: People who have a secular worldview often wonder how Orthodox Jews can believe what they do: for example, that the Torah is literally true, that God commanded all the mitzvot, or that the … Continue reading
Costs, Benefits, and Beliefs
By N.S. Palmer I’m puzzled. No worries. It’s my normal state. I’m revising the draft of my book Belief, Truth, and Torah. I want to make it engage more fully with arguments from one of our professors at Hebrew College, … Continue reading
The Thousand-Year View 