(Featured Image: Garden of Eden Painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens) The story of Adam and Chava (Eve) is one that most people take to have some great mystical, otherworldly significance. Many use it to justify misogyny and the oppression of women. Others see it as the source of an “original sin,” … More Gan Eden: A Journey to Civilization
First Shmuel 15:22-23: [To King Shaul] 22 Has YHV as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of YHV? Behold: to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion [against YHV] is as the misdeed of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as … More A Quote from Shmuel (Samuel)
The week of Passover (the Chag Hamatzot) is the most important holiday in the Jewish year, and like most other Jewish holidays, involves commandments and customs regarding food. While Rabbinic Jews shun leavened bread and grains during their Passover week, except for wheat grown and blessed especially for making matzot, Karaites do things a little … More Food for the Chag Hamatzot
The uniqueness and oneness of YHVH as God and Creator. The truth of the Torah as given to Moses. The perfect nature of the [written] Torah which requires no additions or supplement. The concept of a reward for those who keep the Torah. The holiness of the Temple in Jerusalem and its status as a … More Karaite Declaration of Faith
Many people ask about the harshness they perceive when reading the Torah. They read the words, almost without exception a translation of the Hebrew, and see the many crimes for which a person can be executed. It seems like YHVH is very tough and unforgiving. Indeed, these passages do exist but they are very much … More The Torah and the Death Penalty
An archaeological dig in Khirbet Qeiyafa, in Israel west of Jerusalem, has uncovered a piece of pottery with an ancient Hebrew inscription from the time of King David. What is says and the letters it uses lead to the conclusion that the Torah might have existed at the time. More evidence telling us what we … More Interesting Find Concerning the Torah
The Rabbis tell us that we must have the oral law (the Talmud) because the written Torah is too hard to understand. Interpretation is required. They hold that Moshe received a second Torah at Mt. Sinai, one he passed down by word of mouth over the many generations. Conveniently, only the Pharisees knew of this … More The Fiction of the "Oral Law"
I just read this post (about the family arrangements of Charedi women financially supporting their families so that the husband can study Torah full time) over at Domestic Felicity, which is written by an Orthodox woman in Israel. In this case, I have to agree with her assessment of the situation. I would like to … More Interesting Article Link
Perhaps it’s the Yankee in me, but I believe that “G-d helps those who help themselves.” As I see it, the Torah, to say nothing of the rest of the TaNaKh, is replete with stories of G-d intervening when, and only when, humans are ready to do their end of the work. When we cease … More Maybe It’s Just Me…
Silver Trumpets 