Introduction to Righteous Jurisprudence

The Torah is full of legal and religious laws and precedents that offer us significant insight into righteous jurisprudence. In this section I will explore concepts of jurisprudence in the Torah in the areas of criminal law, civil law, civil liberties, and religious law. There are many inaccuracies in modern thought about biblical jurisprudence. Some … More Introduction to Righteous Jurisprudence

Holiness

The Torah speaks frequently of the concept of holiness. The Israelites are commanded to be a holy people. In several places the Torah gives this commandment with just a single negator, that is “you will be a holy people… do not do this or that [that would make you not a holy people].” For example, … More Holiness

Controversial Rabbis

I recently read Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s article, The End of the Rabbi as Mr. Nice Guy. I follow Mr. Boteach’s website on a regular basis as I think he has a lot to offer American society. In general, I respect his opinions and find his writing to be thought-provoking and philosophically sound despite our theological … More Controversial Rabbis

The Bible Unearthed: A Review

The Bible Unearthed is a book and documentary on the theories of Israel Finkelstein, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and Neil Asher Silberman, a contributing editor for Archaeology Magazine. The documentary discusses the archaeological evidence of the stories contained in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures). The Bible Unearthed presents the narrow academic view … More The Bible Unearthed: A Review

Personal Responsibility

Many Rabbinic rules and aspects of the Orthodox Jewish lifestyle are built on the premise of minimizing temptation to misbehavior. The sexes are segregated so as to prevent inappropriate sexual temptation, for example. Much of rabbinic practice centers on “building fences around fences.” But there’s one main problem with this train of thought: Judaism isn’t … More Personal Responsibility

The Noahide Laws

Noahides are a group of people who are not Jewish, who wish to live a Jewish lifestyle, and wish to have that lifestyle sanctioned by Jews. In order to accomplish this end they abide by a set of laws called the Noahide Laws. These laws are set for them by Jews. The Noahide laws are … More The Noahide Laws

Moshe and Herodotus

In B’midbar (Numbers) 31, the story is told of the Israelites’ victory over the Midianites. In it, Moshe (Moses) commands the army to kill all the Midianites except the unmarried women (virgins). This was, apparently a somewhat common ancient practice, since Herodotus references it multiple times in his Histories and in detail. However, Herodotus uses … More Moshe and Herodotus