An introduction to the Torah, the Jewish guide to living. “I call heaven and earth to witness on you this day, that I have set before you life and death… choose life that you may live…” (Deuteronomy 30:19) Where do you go to seek answers about life?
Read more →I have recently found myself either teaching or having a conversation with someone and the topic of Divine authorship of the Torah has come up. For me, writing is a great way to clarify my understanding of a topic, so I’ve chosen this week to present one
Read more →Author: Rabbi Asher Resnick By any critical standard, the Torah ranks as one of the greatest works of literature and moral instruction ever written. If the Torah’s author was a human being, he must have been one of the greatest geniuses, moral systematizers and literary artists that
Read more →Author: JEWISH NOBEL WINNERS 0.2% OF WORLD POPULATION 14.1 Million Jews Literature 1910 – Paul Heyse1927 – Henri Bergson1958 – Boris Pasternak1966 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon1966 – Nelly Sachs1976 – Saul Bellow1978 – Isaac Bashevis Singer1981 – Elias Canetti1987 – Joseph Brodsky1991 – Nadine Gordimer World Peace
Read more →The closing paragraphs are famous, but few have read Mark Twain’s complete article. It’s long but fascinating. Print and read. Harper’s Magazine, March, 1898 Some months ago I published a magazine article descriptive of a remarkable scene in the Imperial Parliament in Vienna. Since then I have
Read more →Author: Rabbi Asher Resnick Introduction Mashal with the seven gold chariots coming out of the ground. The only specific area besides Torah where study is required of all Jews is history.Remember the days of old, understand the meaning of each generation. Ask your father and he shall instruct
Read more →Dear Rabbi Mechanic, You spoke at my school today (YUHSB). As you were walking down I asked u a question which u said u couldn’t really answer on the spot and would have to think about more. So here goes: A lot of what you were saying
Read more →Hi Rabbi, I had a question about the Mass Revelation argument.In the Gospel of Mathew, he writes that Jesus was publicly executed, at which point the parochet ripped down the middle from top to bottom, darknessfell over the entire land, a rock-shattering earthquake occurred and thedead rose from
Read more →Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt”l would say the following thoughts in a shmues virtually every year (during a certain tekufa) on Parshas Korach. He would also mention these ideas quite often in chaburas as well.He felt that they were extremely fundamental. There was one particular year when he
Read more →In order to examine the claimed national revelation at Mt. Sinai, we need to establish clear principles of history. How can we know that any claimed historical event actually occurred? What is the difference, in other words, between what we all relate to as history (i.e. true
Read more →1. Read the following sources: Exodus chap 19, 20 (all) (with Rashi on 19:9,10), Deut. 4:25-39 Deuteronomy 4:9-13, 5:1-4, 5:19-30, 6:20-22,7:17-19, 8:1-3, 8:11-16, 10:21, 11:1- 8, 29:1-8 Deuteronomy 13:2-6, 18:15-22 Kuzari – selected sections Rambam – Ch. 8 (also 7, 9, and 10 if time) Yesodei haTorah Intro.
Read more →Let’s begin with a story: There was once a Chassidic Rebbe who was the head of a large community. He had three different sons, one who was the eldest, another the biggest scholar, and the third the most charismatic. Everyone always understood that whenever the Rebbe would
Read more →1-5 : Rebbe Story – The only reasonable way for G-d to establish a national religion is to give the entire nation clear evidence of the authenticity of the claimed prophet. 6-7 : Incredibly, only Judaism amongst all world religions is based on this type of a
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