Tag Archives: Halacha

Do We Need Religion to be Good People?

Posted on August 20, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

“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

Knowing What Time It Is

Posted on February 21, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Do you know what time it is? If I asked you that question, there are two logical answers and many non-logical answers. If you know what time it is, then the logical … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Belief, Enlightenment philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics of Belief, Halacha, Jewish Philosophy, Moses Mendelssohn, Sociology of Belief, speech acts, Theory of meaning, Theory of truth | Leave a comment

Will Judaism Disintegrate?

Posted on February 14, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

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

Maimonides and Keeping the Commandments

Posted on August 5, 2015 by N.S. Palmer

By N.S. Palmer “God rewards those who perform the commandments of the Torah and punishes those who transgress its admonitions.”1 The Jewish sage Maimonides called that an essential tenet of our faith. But there’s something a little odd about it. … Continue reading →