The fundamentalist position on the Bible—Jewish and Christian—is that every word comes directly from God on Sinai 3300 years ago. The “critical” or the skeptics’ position is that it is all a man-written compilation of various authors and traditions, the process took an extended period of time, and the text we have today was only finally compiled by the Masoretes…
General Topics
Freedom of Religion and Chickens
Several recent legal decisions in the USA prevent the custom of taking chickens and swinging them above one’s head before the Day of Atonement. This symbolic ceremony of atonement is called Kaparot (atonements). The apparently mystical idea is that the chicken represents one’s own body, which might deserve death for the sins it has committed. But instead, as in the…
Wine
When Noah comes out of the ark, the first thing he does (after thanking God) is to plant a vineyard and then make wine. But then gets drunk and rolls around naked in his tent! You might think that being shut up with your family and zoo of animals for a whole year in a small boat would be enough…
Neanderthals
In the sixth chapter of the Book of Genesis you will find this: “And the sons of the gods saw the daughters of humans that they were good and they took them as wives, wherever they wanted to. And God said my spirit cannot stand these beings…The Nefilim were on earth at that time and the humans mixed with them…
Agnostic
I have always thought it important to read opinions that conflict with mine, either to confirm my position or perhaps to reconsider it. A thinking person should always be prepared to examine his or her received opinions. So it was with eager anticipation that I read Lesley Hazleton’s Agnostic: A spirited manifesto. I have known Lesley for a very long…
Rain
Between the two World Wars in Eastern Europe, yeshiva students used to entertain each other at weddings and other happy occasions with Gramen—rhymes in Yiddish prose or song that combined humor and scholarship. They were “party acts”. Now, with so many other forms of entertainment, the art is all but lost. Sad remnants are preserved at weddings in Chasidic circles…