Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

[caption id="attachment_119024" align="alignright" width="100"] Rabbi Israel Drazin[/caption]

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.

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He was the scholar who recognized that the Aramaic translation Targum Onkelos took hundreds of items from the Tannaitic Midrashim, which were edited around 400 CE; therefore, the Targum must have been composed after that date, a period much later than had been widely accepted.

He is the author of more than 50 books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, and a series of books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, a history of the legal case he handled, and dozens of books on the Bible.

His works, available on Amazon, include:
*A Rational Approach to Judaism and Torah Commentary
*Can’t Start Passover Without the Bread (Children’s Literature) ***
*For God and Country: The History of a Constitutional Challenge to the Army Chaplaincy
*Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets
*Maimonides: Reason Above All
*Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind
*Mysteries of Judaism (Maimonides and Rational)
*Mysteries of Judaism II: How the Rabbis and Others Changed Judaism
*Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker
*Onkelos on the Torah Understanding the Bible Text (5 Volume Set)**
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 1: Genesis) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 2: Exodus) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 3: Leviticus) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 4: Numbers) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 5: Deuteronomy) **
*Sailing on Moti’s Ark on Sukkoth (Children’s Literature) ***
*Stories that Teach the Truth: Ecclesiastes, Tobit, Susanna, and Other Stories.
*Studies in Onkelos (Hebrew edition)
*Targum Onkelos to Exodus [2]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*Targum Onkelos to Leviticus [3]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*Targum Onkelos to Numbers [4]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
Targum Onkelos to Deuteronomy [5]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*The Authentic King Solomon
*The Tragedies of King David
*Understanding Onkelos
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Five Books of Moses (Maimonides and Rational)
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Hosea
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Jonah and Amos
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Joshua
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Judges
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, Judith
*What’s Beyond the Biblical Text? **
*Who Really Was the Biblical David?
*Who Was the Biblical Prophet Samuel?

** Co-Authored with Stanley Wagner
** Co-Authored with Leba Lieder
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Why ‘Jonah’ is appropriate to read Yom Kippur afternoon

Maimonides teaches his readers to distinguish between the biblical attribution of an event to God and its immediate physical cause. In other words, biblical language saying that “God did” or said something does not necessarily mean God directly intervened in nature the way a human being might. God was the ultimate cause of the event because God created the laws of nature, but the act happened according to those laws. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Why ‘Jonah’ is appropriate to read Yom Kippur afternoon Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

New Translation and Commentary of Psalms

Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (1903–1993), widely known as “the Rav,” is considered one of the most influential Orthodox Jewish thinkers and teachers of the twentieth century. Born into a famous rabbinic family – my father, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin, studied under his father – he inherited the rigorous analytical approach to Talmud associated with his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk. He also studied philosophy at the University of Berlin, earning his doctorate, and brought Western philosophical learning into conversation with traditional Jewish thought. He became the rosh yeshiva (rabbinic head) of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in 1941. For decades, he taught Talmud and Jewish philosophy and trained approximately 2,000 rabbis.
(Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)

New Translation and Commentary of Psalms Read More »

Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Batman comics illustrator brilliantly tackles Genesis 1-11

Instead of thinking of Genesis merely as a sequence of names and episodes, readers can visualize Creation, Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel as parts of a continuous human drama. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Batman comics illustrator brilliantly tackles Genesis 1-11 Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Koren Publishers’ new siddur: An appraisal

A siddur does not merely tell Jews what words to say. Its primary purpose is to help congregants understand what they are saying and why: the meaning of what the siddur contains, their biblical and historical sources, and why ancestors suggested they read them. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Koren Publishers’ new siddur: An appraisal Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Technology

Rabbi reviews another rabbi’s analysis of the biblical books of Samuel

The Book of Samuel, which follows Judges, describes the emergence of kingship. Samuel begins in this atmosphere but does something much more complicated than simply saying, “Israel needs a king.” The book introduces Samuel, a prophet and judge; then Saul, Israel’s first king; and then David, Israel’s great kingThe crucial question becomes: Can human political power be exercised responsibly under God’s authority? That is precisely the question that interests Rabbi Silber. (Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)

Rabbi reviews another rabbi’s analysis of the biblical books of Samuel Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘Creation:’ The story of beginnings by Jonathan Grossman

Grossman, a professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, is widely known for demonstrating how careful attention to the structure and wording of the biblical text reveals layers of multiple meaning that are often overlooked. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

‘Creation:’ The story of beginnings by Jonathan Grossman Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jonathan Grossman reveals who Jacob was and more

The series emphasizes careful reading of the biblical text, literary structure, recurring themes, character development, biblical dialogue and narrative techniques, theological and ethical lessons, and connections between different parts of the Bible that aid in understanding their significance. (Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)

Jonathan Grossman reveals who Jacob was and more Read More »

Israel, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Textual analysis of Deuteronomy offers little-known facts

His work appeals to readers across a broad spectrum of Jewish backgrounds because he seeks to demonstrate that many profound ideas emerge from paying close attention to the Torah’s own language before consulting later commentators.[Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Kabbalah and the Holocaust 

Kabbalah and the Holocaust: Healing a Broken Cosmos is among Rabbi Samuel’s most ambitious theological works. Instead of asking only the usual, most often heard question, “Where was God during the Holocaust?” he investigates how Jewish mystical thought attempts to understand the existence of evil without diminishing God’s justice and human responsibility. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Kabbalah and the Holocaust  Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Holocaust, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

‘The Sacrificial Service’: Leviticus teaches valuable lessons

Grossman argues that sacrifices are not primitive rituals intended merely to appease God. Instead, they are symbolic acts through which worshippers express gratitude, repentance, devotion, dependence, celebration, and reconciliation. (Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)

‘The Sacrificial Service’: Leviticus teaches valuable lessons Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Solomon’s contributions to the Bible weighed through Rashi’s lens

The book begins with a puzzle. The passionate love poetry of the Song of Songs, the practical wisdom of Proverbs, and the philosophical skepticism of Ecclesiastes appear so different that many readers wonder why they belong together in Scripture. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Solomon’s contributions to the Bible weighed through Rashi’s lens Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors