Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship

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Philosophy

Gersonides’ Scientific Interpretation of the Tabernacle

Warning: Using contemporary science and philosophy to explain the Torah may soon render your interpretation obsolete.

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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Ascetic Fasting and the Dangers of Piety

To meet Yofiel, the angel of Torah, to ward off the devil, or to pronounce God's name are some reasons for ascetic fasting. But beware: Publicizing your fast not only negates your act of piety but can bring down divine wrath. Just ask Miriam daughter of Onion Leaf.

Prof. Rabbi

Herbert Basser

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Spinoza: Who Wrote the Bible Determines How We Read It

Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated for his controversial beliefs about Judaism, including his rejection of the tenet of Mosaic authorship. However, Spinoza’s real originality is his radical and innovative claim that the origin of the biblical texts holds great significance for how they are to be read and interpreted.

Prof.

Steven Nadler

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Is the Divine Origin of the Torah Really Incompatible with Maimonides’ Philosophical Principles?

Some contemporary scholars have argued that Maimonides only meant to claim for the masses that God revealed to Moses the Torah as we have it today, that he himself could not have accepted the Divine authorship of Torah since it is incompatible with his philosophical principles. Yet, a correct understanding of Maimonides yields no such incompatibility, and, indeed, there is to no reason not to take him at his word.

Prof.

Charles H. Manekin

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Is the "As If" Approach Sufficient to Maintain Firm Religious Commitment?

Prof.

Tamar Ross

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Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz: Torah from Sinai as a Normative Statement

Prof.

Tamar Ross

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The Ethical Problem of Hardening Pharaoh’s Heart

It seems unethical for God to deny Pharaoh free will and then punish him for his actions. Rashi, Nahmanides, and Maimonides all struggle with this problem, and each assumes that even Pharaoh deserves to be treated fairly.

Prof. Rabbi

Shaul Magid

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Two Theories of Truth: Correspondence and Pragmatic

Prof. Rabbi

Lawrence A. Hoffman

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The Mitzvah to Love God: Shadal’s Polemic against the Philosophical Interpretation

Philosophically inclined rabbis, such as Maimonides, attempted to understand the mitzvah to love God in Aristotelian terms, imagining God as a non-anthropomorphic abstract being. Shadal argues that this elitist approach twists both Torah and philosophy, and in its place, he offers a moralistic approach that can be achieved by all.

Prof. Rabbi

Marty Lockshin

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The Linguistic Turn: A New Direction in Religious Thinking

Prof.

Tamar Ross

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On the Problem of Sacrifices: Maimonides’ Ladder of Enlightenment

Maimonides, in his Guide of the Perplexed, portrays sacrifices as a ruse to repudiate idolatrous practices prevalent at the time. In Mishneh Torah, however, Maimonides states that the messiah will rebuild the Temple and restore sacrifices just as they once were. How are Maimonides’ two works reconcilable?

Dr.

David Gillis

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Ralbag’s Surprising Take on Ruth's Conversion

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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What Is Prophecy?

The nature of prophecy is perhaps one of the most overlooked questions, but it was critically important to the medieval Jewish philosophers Sa’adia Gaon, Judah Halevi, Ibn Ezra, and Maimonides.

Prof.

Haim (Howard) Kreisel

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Torah Narratives with Angels Never Actually Happened: Heretical or Sublime?

Maimonides believes that any story in the Bible with angels is a prophetic vision. Nahmanides calls this position “forbidden to believe” and claims they are real occurrences. Must the Torah be historically true or just philosophically?

Prof. Rabbi

David Frankel

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Modern Faith in Sinai

Notwithstanding modern day biblical critical and historical critical claims, applying the tools of contemporary philosophy demonstrates how room still exists to have faith that something extraordinary happened to our ancestors and that this event had a permanent effect on the development of Torah and Judaism.

Dr. Rabbi

Samuel Lebens

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The Secret of the Ma’aseh Merkava According to Maimonides

Already in the time of the Rabbis, Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot was considered to be esoteric knowledge. Although most Jewish exegetes interpret it as a metaphorical teaching about God, Maimonides interpreted it to be about science and astronomy. So why must it be kept a secret? Because Ezekiel was wrong and his science mistaken.

Dr.

Daniel Davies

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Torah MiSinai and Biblical Criticism: Rising to the Full Challenge

Dr. Rabbi

Jeremy Rosen

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