Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

Like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur does not exist in the Bible. It replaces another day known as Yom Hakippurim. Yom Kippur is singular, “day of atonement,” while Yom Hakippurim is plural, “day of atonements.” The biblical Yom Hakippurim is mentioned in Leviticus 16:29–31, 23:27–32, and Numbers 29:7–11. No work was permitted on this day, special sacrifices were offered, and the Israelites were obliged to te’anu et nafshoteikhem. This  is improperly translated as “you must afflict your souls.” (To read more, please click on the headline.)

Many people, secular and religious, of different cultures and worldviews, have attempted to calculate the age of the world. There is no agreement between them, simply because it is an impossible task. Christians, Muslims, and Jews have tried to do the calculation based on a literal reading of the Bible and have come up with different times. The following shows the impossibility by focusing on the widely used Jewish version.

God commanded the Israelites through Moses to completely blot out the memory of the nation of Amalek. The command is repeated by the prophet Samuel in I Samuel 15. The only voice speaking against this apparent genocide is that of the first Jewish king Saul, who was strongly criticized by Samuel for not killing all of the Amalekite people and who lost his monarchy because of his apparently reasonable behavior.

Philo sidesteps the difficulty of the slaughter of an entire people by interpreting the entire report allegorically. Amalek is not a nation, but a symbol of the impassioned coward who strikes anyone he sees standing in his way. He hides until his enemy has passed him by, no longer looking at him. Then he rises and assaults what he perceives is his opponent’s weakest point. Philo was thus the first to introduce the idea that it is not the people that should be eradicated, but the nefarious self-destructive quality of Amalek that an individual must obliterate from his personality.

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — In 2008, in my first book on Maimonides called Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind, I described how ancient Jews had a totally different idea why they were blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. As Rosh Hashanah observances Sept. 29-Oct. 1 approach, I thought I’d  recapitulate for San

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Although there is no proof that other humans existed, it is reasonable to suppose that Adam, Eve, and their three sons were not the only humans during the early post creation years. One of the biblical writing methods, is not to reveal everything, to leave it

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Was Isaac extremely angry that Abraham tried to kill him? Many people are convinced that Isaac was angry with his father because he lied to him when he said that the two were going on a trip to offer a sacrifice to God, implying that the