National Scholar Report: October 2020
Despite the COVID-19 era, we are grateful to continue to provide meaningful content via Zoom, publications, and other venues.
Articles
Review of Rabbi Hayyim Angel's New Book
Rabbi Hayyim Angel is coming out with a new book, Cornerstones: The Bible and Jewish Ideology. The book is reviewed by Steven Gotlib, a rabbinical student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary who has served as a Campus Fellow for our Institute. Rabbi Angel's book can be pre-ordered on this link: https://www.jewishideas.org/corner-stones-bible-and-jewish-ideology-rabbi-hayyim-angel
Halakha in Crisis Mode: Four Models of Adaptation
Halakha has ample mechanisms for adapting in times of crisis. Competent posekim can utilize these mechanisms to develop creative strategies to reduce communal and individual burdens and allow better access to the consolations and joys of ritual.
In Praise of Critical Thinking: Remembering Dr. Louis H. Feldman
It is one of the unique joys of life to have studied with great teachers. It is one of the unique qualities of great teachers to expand the intellectual horizons of their students. Dr. Louis H. Feldman was that kind of teacher and that kind of human being.
How the Torah Broke with Ancient Political Thought
For the first time in history, the Torah presented a vision to the masses a vision with a radically different understanding of God and humanity. It introduced new understandings of the law, of political office, of military power, of taxation, of social welfare. What we find in the Torah is a platform for social order marked with the imprint of divinity.
The Yemima Method: An Israeli Psychological-Spiritual Approach
Yemima was not your run-of-the-mill teacher. She viewed herself as a channel for heavenly teachings that descended through her. She taught while covered in white scarves, sitting at first behind a curtain and then actually a full story above her students. This was so that the students’ attention would be focused on her message and not on her.
Responsiveness as a Greatmaking Property
When we talk about “God,” we intuitively think of a powerful, nonphysical entity that created and runs the universe. Classical theologians have posited the Greatest Possible Being (GPB) thesis as the primary mode of understanding God. This article argues that a GPB identifiable as the God of religious tradition will contain responsiveness as one of its attributes rather than complete immutability as the Greeks and other classical theologians have posited.
Love the Ger: A Biblical Perspective
The Oral Law teaches that a core Jewish value is to love converts to Judaism. The Written Law teaches that same love and inclusion of the resident alien, complete with rights and responsibilities. The Torah teaches a remarkable love, sensitivity, and fair treatment of all people living in the Land of Israel.
Succoth/Shemini Hag Atseret/Simhat Torah Reader
The first section of this Reader includes short divrei Torah by Rabbi Marc D. Angel on Succoth, Shemini Hag Atseret and Simhat Torah. The second section is an article by Rabbi Hayyim Angel discussing Kohelet, the biblical work by King Solomon dealing with the meaning of life.
Rabbi Marc Angel Replies to Questions from the Jewish Press
Rabbi Marc Angel replies to questions from the Jewish Press on various topics: young married couples applying for welfare; proposing marriage; cell phones for children; beards for men; the power of forgiveness.