Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle   MANY ORTHODOX rabbis - it is safe to assume - will devote their sermons on Shavuot, the season of the giving of the Torah, to the theme of Torah min hashamayim, "Torah from Heaven." They will ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Journal of Semitic Studies, 2: 4 (1957), 349-59. A baraita [2] records that 'ten measures of poverty descended into the world, nine of them were taken by Babylon'. There is the further statement of R. Asi [3] that the ... Continue Reading ➨

The Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture, 1978 Published by the Judaic Studies Program, University of Cincinnati   R. Elimelech of Lizensk (1717-87), disciple of the Meseritcher Maggid, is famous in the history of Hasidism as the ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism, ed. Raphael Loewe (Humanities: 1966), 87-114. The belief that there is a special mystical ‘spark’ in every human breast can be traced back, in western mysticism, at least to ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Conservative Judaism 33/2 (Winter 1980), 18-28. This article was delivered as a paper to a conference organized by the International Jewish Consultation on Interreligious Concerns and the World Council of ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 8, 3 (1957), 143-154. While the concept of hasid as it appears in the literature concerning the hasidim of Ashkenaz, and more particularly of Beshtian Hasidism, has received more or less adequate ... Continue Reading ➨

Published in Whitfield Foy, ed., Man's Religious Quest (Croom Helm: London, 1978) Original source: Louis Jacobs, A Jewish Theology (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973), 269-75. In view of the importance the doctrine of Israel as God's chosen people ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published as Chapter 5 in Sarah Coakley, ed., Religion and the Body (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 71-89. In this chapter the relationship is examined between body and soul as expressed in three Jewish rituals - the sabbath ... Continue Reading ➨

This article is an edited transcript of the Aryeh Dorfler Memorial Lecture given in 1970 at Leo Baeck College. It was originally published in European Judaism 6.1 (Winter 1971/72), pp. 44-49. The notion of 'as if ' is known in modern philosophy ... Continue Reading ➨

A. Time Value of Money Sales of 'bonds' are mentioned frequently in talmudic literature. In view of the biblical prohibition of usury, the only forms of debt that were traded were those of discounted bonds. The application of discounting of ... Continue Reading ➨

Entry by Louis Jacobs in the Blackwell Companion to Jewish Culture: from the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Blackwell Publishing: 1990), 674-5. Schechter, Solomon (1847-1915) Scholar, theologian, and president of the Jewish Theological Seminary ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Fifteen Years of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue (Libreria Editrice Vaticana; Libreria Editrice Lateranense, 1988), 191-6. Republished in L. Jacobs. Judaism and Theology: Essays on the Jewish Religion (London; Portland, OR: ... Continue Reading ➨

A Sermon Preached at New London Synagogue in 1964 In a statement issued to the press (Jewish Chronicle, February 2nd, 1962) the Dayanim of the London Beth Din reject all higher criticism of the Bible and all textual criticism and they affirm their ... Continue Reading ➨

A series of six sermons delivered at the New West End Synagogue in the winter of 1955 The Significance of the Individual One of the momentous truths taught by Judaism is that the individual counts, that he matters to God, that what he does with ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Abraham J. Karp et al. (eds.), Threescore and Ten: Essays in honor of Rabbi Seymour J. Cohen on the occasion of his seventieth birthday (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, 1991) 133-41.   In the responsa collection ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Modern Judaism 1.2 (Sept. 1981): 184-216. Republished in L. Jacobs, Judaism and Theology: Essays on the Jewish Religion (London; Portland, OR: Vallentine, Mitchell, 2005), 159-195.   Aryeh Laib Heller (d. 1813), ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Judaism, 17: 2 (Spring 1968), 197-202.   The problem of Divine providence was a major concern of the medieval Jewish thinkers. Maimonides (Guide, 3: 17-18) defends not only the doctrine of general providence ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Modern Judaism 2: 3 (October 1982), 297-310. Republished in L. Jacobs, Judaism and theology: essays on the Jewish religion (London; Portland, OR: Vallentine, Mitchell, 2005), 144-158.   Religious individuals who ... Continue Reading ➨