Tag Archives: Ask the Rabbi

WHAT IS A JEW? Q. I know you must have been asked a thousand times, but what is a Jew? A. The problem is that there is no one word which completely answers the question. Countless attempts have been made, of course. Religion is a crucial element, but so is …

BELIEVING OTHERS. Q. Should you believe what people tell you? A. Yehoshua ben P’rachyah’s principle in Pir’kei Avot is, “Hevei dan et kol ha’adam l’chaf z’chut” – “Judge everyone in the scale of merit” (Avot 1:6). In other words, give other people the benefit of the doubt, and put the …

ME & THE TREE. Tu BiSh’vat, the New Year for Trees, is a relatively late arrival on the Jewish scene.  The festival derived from the rabbis, not from the Bible. It was observed in Sh’vat because this was the changeover time for tithing fruit trees, but it could have been …

WOMEN’S BRAINS. Q. How can the Talmud say that women have no brains? A. It doesn’t. The statement you must be thinking of is “nashim da’atan kalah alehen” (Shab. 33b, Kidd.80b). I know that some people who read the words superficially think they mean that women are light-minded, but the …

THE SANHEDRIN & UNANIMOUS CONVICTION. Q. Is it true that if a Sanhedrin unanimously votes to convict a defendant, the unanimous verdict cannot stand? A. 23 judges sat on the Sanhedrin trying capital cases. If there were a majority of one in favour of acquittal, the accused was acquitted; for …

LIVING IN A CAGE. Q.  Keeping the commandments seems to put you in a cage which gives you no freedom.  You have to obey or else.  How can Judaism demand this? A.  Emmanuel Levinas used this analogy when he said that to take refuge in moral or ritual codes is …

BIBLE CHAPTERS. Q. Did the Bible always have chapters and verses? A. Not in Judaism. The chapters and verses came from Christian sources and, as we shall see, do not always subdivide the Hebrew text logically. During the Middle Ages, when Jews were compelled to take part in disputations with …

BEN EZRA IN THE POETRY OF BROWNING. Q. Who was the Rabbi Ben Ezra about whom the English poet Browning wrote? A. Born in Toledo, Spain, in 1092, he visited England in 1158 and called it “an island in the corner of the world” (“Angleterre”). He likened the London fogs …

FEMININITY & THE MIKVAH. Q. Why do brides have to go to the mikvah? A. A mikvah is a small pool constructed according to ancient rules. It contains 40 se’ahs (a se’ah is about 3 gallons) of natural water – from rain, a natural spring, etc. – though it may …

GOD WITHOUT RELIGION. No Jewish hymn is as popular as Adon Olam. Not only in the synagogue but on the concert platform and wherever people sing. The rhyme and rhythm are a godsend to pop-composers. Never mind that it is highly religious poetry and many people (performers and audiences alike) …

PUT-DOWN OF WOMEN. Q. Why does Judaism put down its women? A. I don’t agree that it does. There are uncomfortable things said about women, but there are also wonderful poems in their praise in both the Bible and rabbinic literature. Social mores denied a broad education to many women …

AMBITION. Q. Does Judaism have a problem with people being ambitious? A. Alan Marshall, an Australian author who overcame polio, wrote a book, “I Can Jump Puddles!”   An American educator interviewed at the age of 70 said he was still climbing mountains, at least metaphorically. In the Book of …

GHOSTS. Q. Does Judaism believe in ghosts? A. Despite suggestions to the contrary, the answer is No. This applies regardless of whether the living try to summon up the ghost or whether the ghost appears on its own initiative. The Jewish belief as summed up by Maimonides (Guide 3:46) is …

THE MEANING OF LIFE. Q. What is the meaning of life? A. I cannot give you a one-liner that will say it all in a few words. What I can do is to quote Richard Rubenstein, who argues that after the Holocaust we have to say life is absurd, an …

THE HOLE IN THE WALL FAST. The wall of Jerusalem was breached on 17 Tammuz, enabling the enemy to enter Jerusalem and destroy the sanctuary. The fast we observe that day is, according to the prophet Zechariah, one of four that commemorate the destruction of the city and the Temple. …

READING THE TORAH IN TRANSLATION. Q. I hear that our ancestors translated the Torah reading as they went. Why don’t we do the same? A. The ancient practice was to call up one person to read the Torah and another “l’targem”, “to translate” (into Aramaic) (Mishnah Meg. 4:6).  Even a …

Question.   What can we do about Jewish fundamentalists? Answer.      The Mishnah B’rachot tells us that one may not enter the Temple mount with a “funda”, a money belt. From this word of Latin derivation comes the notion of a fund. A related word gives us the word …

SUICIDE. Life is the supreme value, a gift from God to be cherished, appreciated and tended. Man is made in the image of God (not in a physical but an intellectual, spiritual and moral sense), so whoever destroys a life also diminishes God. We are warned to take care of …

RABBIS REMAINING IN THE DIASPORA. Question.    Why do some rabbis prefer living in the Diaspora to Israel? Answer.      They know that the Talmud says that if you live outside Israel it seems that you have no God (Ket. 110b). Tosafot to that passage says that some people are reluctant to …

MALE & FEMALE IMAGERY FOR GOD. Question. Why do we call God “He”? Answer.    Despite our post-feminist age, a crucial question remains: the Gender of God. It is axiomatic that He has no physical form, and anthropomorphisms (applying human terminology to Him) are metaphors. So why do we call …