IJII

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo is the dean of the David Cardozo Academy and the Beth Midrash of Avraham Avinu in Jerusalem and Herzliya. He is the author of many books and essays on Judaism. www.cardozoacademy.org/ office@cardozoacademy.org

Rosh Hashana is a day to contemplate the need for great Jewish Ideas. A day to think big. To get out of our compartmentalized boxes. Hayom Harat Olam: Today the world is born. On Rosh Hashana the world should be newly created.  This is specifically important for the future of Judaism.

• Read more

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is Dean of the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem. He is well known as an author and lecturer who stimulates his audiences to think about Judaism in a vibrant and creative way. This essay is no. 266 in his Thoughts to Ponder series, published originally through www.cardozoschool.org.

 

 

The Making of a Gadol

Moshe Rabeinu’s Leadership and Rebellion

A Plea to Bring Spinoza, Locke and Sartre into the Beth Midrash

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Leadership is one of the most difficult qualities for man to achieve. It requires a rare combination of wisdom, courage, knowledge and experience. Very few people possess all thesequalities and even fewer know the art of combining them in a balanced way.

• Read more

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, a prominent author and lecturer, heads the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem, cardozoschool.org<br /> <p> <span style="background-color: #fefefe"></span> </p> <p> &nbsp; </p>

How embarrassing for man
to be the greatest miracle on earth
and not to understand it!
How embarrassing for man
to live in the shadow of greatness
and to ignore it,
to be a contemporary of God
and not to sense it.
Religion depends upon what man does
with his ultimate embarrassment.

- Avraham Joshua Heschel

• Read more

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is Dean of the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem, and a well known author and lecturer. This article appears in issue 7 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

Preface

It is with great hesitation and trepidation that I write this essay. I do not want to be misunderstood. I am in love with Judaism, rabbinic tradition, and halakha. I regard them as holy, and they are at the very core of my existence. Nonetheless, I am concerned about the future of Judaism and its impact on our young people.

• Read more

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is Dean of the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem (www.cardozoschool.org), and author of highly regarded books and articles. This essay is reprinted on our website with his permission.

I will teach transgressors Your ways
that sinners may return to You
[Tehilim 51: 15]

Despite everything, I have great hopes for Rabbi Elon and believe he will deliver. I do not know what really happened, what is true and what is not. Surely something awful seems to have taken place. Nevertheless, though he may have seriously erred, caused people suffering, and damaged the honor of Judaism, and though he deserves to take responsibility and pay for his actions, I believe that it is in his power to teach us an important lesson.

I am neither a member of Rabbi Elon's camp nor a follower of his. I do not believe in the idolization of people, even great rabbis. And I am not going to defend him.

• Read more

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo is Dean of the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem. A noted author and lecturer, this essay is adapted from his book, For the Love of Israel and the Jewish People, Urim, 2008. It appears in Issue 2 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

 In his magnum opus, Ha’amek Davar, Rabbi
Naftali Tzvi Berlin, (also called 
Netziv, 1817-93), the last leader of the illustrious  yeshiva of Volozhin, Russia, asks why the
first book of the Torah, Bereshith  is
also called: Sefer Hayashar, “the book of those who are upright”. In his own
unusual way, Netziv responds that this is due to the fact that the three
patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaacov, the main figures in this book, were
men of uncompromising straightforwardness, justice and mercy.

• Read more