Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

Rabbi Israel Drazin

Dr. Israel Drazin served for 31 years in the US military and attained the rank of Brigadier General. He has a PhD in Judaic Studies and a Masters Degree in psychology and a Masters Degree in Jewish Literature. He is an attorney and a rabbi.

He developed the legal strategy that saved the military chaplaincies when its constitutionality was attacked in court, and received the Legion of Merit for his service.

An Ancient Still-Relevant Play about War’s Ravages

The Trojan Women is a superb translation and adaptation of a splendid play by Euripides (about 480 to about 406 BCE) who wrote tragedies in ancient Athens. Scholars estimate that he wrote over 90 plays, most of which have been lost during the past 2,500 years. Only about a dozen and a half survived. The Trojan Women was first performed in 415 BCE. It is based in large part upon the classic Iliad by Homer which describes the war between the Greeks and Trojans. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Why do bad things happen to good people?

In the first book of my series of Mysteries of Judaism, I pointed out that all of the biblical holidays, such as Passover, and rabbinical Jewish holidays, as Chanukah and Purim, were changed over the years. Some, as Passover on Nissan 14, even disappeared even though mandated in the Torah. Some, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, although many think these are the most holy of biblical Jewish holidays, are not mentioned in the Torah, both replace Bible holidays. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Hanukah does not disparage Greek culture

Many people are mistakenly convinced that the Jewish holiday of Hanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish religion over Hellenism and that the enemy was Greece. Neither supposed fact is true. The Jews in Judea, Egypt and other countries of the diaspora had a longstanding favorable relationship with the Greeks and Hellenism well before and long after the incidents that prompted the rebellion of Judah Maccabee, his father and brothers in 168 BCE. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

Modern ‘Prometheus Bound’ a Delight to Read

Howard Rubenstein’s play Prometheus Bound” is based on the play of the same name attributed to the famed Greek playwright Aeschylus (c. 525 BCE – c. 456 BCE), called the father of tragedy, from which it was freely adapted, and based on the epic poem “Origin of the Gods” by the Greek didactic poet Hesiod (c. 750 BCE – c. 650 BCE). The late Dr. Rubenstein of San Diego, California, wrote his version in ordinary English which made the play accessible, meaningful, comprehensible, thoughtful, and entertaining. It is very good. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Some little known facts about Hanukah

Many Jews, even those who do not observe any Jewish practice other than Yom Kippur and Passover, observe Hanukah, mostly because their children want gifts, but they have wrong ideas about the history relating to the holiday. Even most observant Jews have wrong ideas, as do many non-Jews.  The late Dr. Howard Rubenstein of San Diego published a fascinating book about the history of Hanukah called Maccabee: An Epic in Free Verse. Based upon the Books of Maccabees. The book is very readable. One should not be turned off by the words “free verse.” In fact, Rubenstein’s free verse is easier to read than the average novel written for the general population, and is more interesting. I recommend the book. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Was Chaucer an Anti-Semite?

One of the tales that is told in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is the controversial story told by a prioress called “The Prioress’s Tale.” A prioress is a woman who is head of a house of nuns. She is next in rank below an abbess. She is seemingly a religious person with religious ideas. Chaucer describes his prioress in his book in two ways. She is introduced in his Prologue as an aristocratic, genteel, pious nun, but the story she tells shows her demeaning Jews and stating that Jews drink Christian blood in a Jewish ritual. She describes how Jews were rounded up, treated brutally, and then murdered by the Christian community. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History

Mapping the Bible, Correcting Misconceptions

The book Places in the Parasha is a very good book, with chapters for each of the more than fifty Torah readings in synagogues on the Shabbat as well as the special readings on holidays. It identifies the location of places mentioned in the portions and gives us information about these places. As a result, we learn more about what the Torah is saying and get a deeper understanding of the events that are mentioned. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion

The Wisdom of Gersonides

 It is tragic even bizarre that most rabbis today sermonize by quoting Midrashim as if what the Midrash states, despite being contrary to nature, actually occurred. They also quote the views of mystics, but not rational thinkers such as Maimonides other than to quote a legal view of his that parallels those of mystics, leading congregants to think that the rabbi is teaching them what Judaism wants them to know. They do not tell congregants that Midrashim are parables, stories designed like Aesop’s fables to make us think. They do not encourage congregants to think. They are, in essence, anti-rational. In view of this tragic practice, it is a good idea to view the ideas of some rational Jewish thinkers such as Gersonides. He was not of the intellectual level as Maimonides, but he was a thinker and will prompt us to think as well. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

A Radical View about ‘Truth’

I read some books and essays recently focusing on the “truths” that people of different religions have that differ with the “truths” held by people of other religions. The object of the books and essays is to find how we can improve interfaith relations when the lives of different people are based on ideas that they find hard to give up despite others refusing or unable to accept what they believe. Examples include the “truth” held by many Christians that there is a trinity of three gods, that of many Jewish mystics that God was composed of ten parts that came apart, and that of Muslims who “know” that Mohamed received the Koran from God. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Examining Jesus as a human

According to James is an interesting and thoughtful book. Whether readers are Christians, Jews, Muslims, or something else, and even if they strongly disagree with the story Howard Rubenstein tells about James, an older brother of Jesus, they will find that the story prompts them to think about many aspects of religion. The story is fiction. But it is based on the views of many scholars. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Humor, song lyrics, and Jewish practice

Sam Glaser’s The Joy of Judaism contains 407 pages of very interesting insights into Jewish practices offered to readers by a very accomplished communicator in a clear, often humorous, always insightful and inspiring way. Glaser’s book covers virtually all aspects of Judaism. He shows readers how they can enjoy Jewish practices. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion