The Psychological and Ethical Teaching to Judge Favorably
I want to discuss here one of the most important Talmudic sources, in my view - a source that reflects a very profound understanding of psychology. The source in the…
Roots of Humanistic (Cognitive) Psychology in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Tradition
The essence of Judaism as a religion, in my conception, is not faith in a philosophic sense (the adopting of correct philosophic propositions) and not ritual or law but moral…
Delegitimization throughout the Orthodox Jewish World of Those Who Think Differently
In my view, widespread throughout the orthodox Jewish world (modern and ultra-orthodox) is an anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic approach characterized by a lack of mutual respect and lack of tolerance toward…
Roots of Democracy and Pluralism in the Jewish Tradition
The term democracy literally means rule (or authority) of the people. But, democracy is not just a political system of government by the people, or by elected representatives of the…
Rava’s Copernican Revolution
Rava was one of the great rabbis of the Talmudic period. While Maimonides (who lived in the 12th century) stands out as the great systematic philosopher of the Jewish tradition,…
On the Orthoprax and Anti-Theological Nature of the Jewish Tradition
The term orthodox is a Latin term not indigenous to the Jewish tradition, representing an influence of Christianity; and, literally means correct doctrine implying that religion requires correct doctrine in…
Reconciling a Contradictory Abraham
The obvious question from a literary point of view regarding the story of the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22, 1-19) in the Hebrew Bible arises in contrast with the previous…
On the Orthoprax and Anti-Theological Nature of the Hebrew Bible
In my opinion, the Hebrew Bible, regardless of religious assumptions (without assuming that the Hebrew Bible is Divinely revealed or inspired), is the greatest and most influential piece of literature…
The question of who is a Jew and the Biblical names of the Jewish people
Traditional Judaism is a religion in a very different sense than Christianity. Christianity is a religion in an orthodox (correct belief) sense of a faith commitment - not only faith…
Background on Judaism
Background on Judaism I will first describe the nature of traditional Judaism here only in a factual and descriptive sense - without addressing ideological issues at all. Afterwards, I will…