Tanakh teaches a principled, religious morality. The prophets and their followers stood tall and spoke out against tyranny and immorality. Others, however, compromised principle and attempted to find a “balanced” way of juggling morality and other less positive values. Biblical Mordekhai is one of the paragons of the ideal religious position, defying the evil Haman while everyone else fell over in obeisance.
David Weinberg, a writer for the Jerusalem Post, has recommended his top 25 Jewish books from 2022-2023. Rabbi Hayyim Angel's recent Psalms Companion is on the list, as are several other excellent reads.
See his article here.
The religious adventure requires not just that we read the Bible, but that we read a moral Bible, a Bible that preaches love and obligation and care for those who are in need. This is also consonant with a rigorous oral tradition that is not in fact committed to applying literal understandings of the Torah, but is already in the market, so to speak, of creative normative applications of divine texts.
There are numerous ways in which a person can stand up for a principle. It can be through action or inaction, speech or silence, song or march, it can be overt or even an internal stand known only to the principled actor.
For a religious person, relationship with God is a central feature of life. But how does one investigate and seek for the Almighty?
Genuine modesty avoids the extremes of prudery or promiscuity. It fosters self-respect and respect for others. In a real sense, tseniut is not “old fashioned;” it is the avant garde of those who wish to live as dignified human beings.
The Jewish Press newspaper has a bi-weekly feature in which a panel of rabbis is asked questions on current issues. Rabbi Marc Angel is one of the respondents and here are his answers to some of the recent questions.
The two tents of meeting were, in a sense, keeping the community at the “edge of chaos,” a spiritual condition that required balancing stability and innovation, orderliness and spontaneity. “Organized religion” provides vital structure. But the voice from outside the camp prods innovation, creativity, re-evaluation.
What does it mean to say that the State of Israel is the “State of the Jews” or, more accurately, the “Jewish State”?
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) and Rabbi Benzion Uziel (1880-1953) were towering spiritual leaders of Israel. Their different approaches to major halakhic issues reflect the diversity within the halakhic system.