from Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Sequel to We Have Reason to Believe, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1999. Man-made versus divine precepts IT IS IMPORTANT to free the doctrine of Torah min hashamayim ["Torah from Heaven"] from the fetters ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 3: 4 (1952), 157-161.   It is generally assumed by modern writers on the redaction of the Babylonian Talmud [1] that the editors, whoever they may have been, had it as their aim to gather ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Siegfried Stein and Raphael Loewe, eds., Studies in Jewish Religious and Intellectual History (University of Alabama Press, 1979), 157-66. Three differing attitudes have obtained among religious people towards the ... Continue Reading ➨

Conservative Judaism 34,1 (Sept-Oct. 1980), 4-16. If God knows beforehand how man will conduct himself in the future, how can man be free to choose? This problem has long exercised a powerful fascination over the religious mind. In medieval Jewish ... Continue Reading ➨

A reprint from Judaism—A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, 6: 3 (Summer 1957), 202-9.   Religious teachers are generally agreed on the significance to religion of disinterestedness. The love of God and obedience to His will, ... Continue Reading ➨

The Society for the Study of Jewish Theology 1. To Further a Philosophy of Traditional Judaism based on sound scholarship In the Jewish religious world today there are two basic attitudes. One is represented by those who believe that Jewish ... Continue Reading ➨

In THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS - THE FATE OF OUR CHILDREN: Proceedings of the European Conference of the Standing Conference of Jews Christians and Muslims in Europe London, 14th February to 17th February 1972 ..."The Faith of the Fathers and the Fate ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Zvia Ginor, ed., Yakar Le’Mordechai: Jubilee Volume in Honour of Rabbi Mordecai Waxman. Essays on Jewish Thought, American Judaism, and Jewish-Christian Relations (Ktav Publishing House, Inc.: Temple Israel of Great Neck, NY ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published as entry in the Blackwell Companion to Jewish Culture: from the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Blackwell Publishing: 1990) or EJ. vol. 12: 268-9. Montefiore, Claude Joseph Goldsmid (1858-1938) Theologian and founder of ... Continue Reading ➨

In this issue we have transcribed discussions from two Roundtables. The former was held in London, England, among leading specialists of a mixture of disciplines. The group included biblical scholars, linguistic experts, an eminent archaeologist and ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Moshe Hallamish, ed., Ish Bi-Gevurot: Studies in Jewish Heritage and History Presented to Rabbi Alexandre Safran   In tractate Bava Batra of the Babylonian Talmud (89b) three baraitot are quoted, dealing with ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Gevuroth haromah: Jewish studies offered at the eightieth birthday of Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler. Ed. Ze’ev W. Falk (Jerusalem: Mesharim, 1987), xvii-xxxi [Engl. section]. Republished in L. Jacobs. Judaism and Theology: ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in The Solomon Goldman Lectures, vol. v, ed. Byron L. Sherwin and Michael Carasik (Chicago: Spertus College of Judaica Press, 1990: 45-55) Based on lecture delivered at Spertus College, 27 Oct 1985   The kabbalists ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Modern Judaism 5.1 (Feb. 1985): 95-104. A major theme in Scholem's writings on Hasidism is the relationship between Hasidic thought and Kabbalah. All the early Hasidic works use Kabbalistic terms and vocabulary, the Hasidic ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in HUCA 42 (1971): 185-96. Republ. in L. Jacobs. Rabbinic thought in the Talmud. London; Portland, OR: Vallentine Mitchell, 2005: 42-54. Every student of the Babylonian Talmud is aware that not infrequently in this work a ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Masorti 3 The very brief entry 'Birthday' in the Encyclopaedia Judaica (vol. iv, p. 1054) simply states: 'The celebration of birthdays is unknown in traditional Jewish ritual. A comparatively late exception, however, is the ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in the Masorti Journal, no. 2 One often hears arguments about which of the aliyot confers greater privilege. According to the Talmud (Gittin 59a-b), there was so much contention over the aliyot in ancient times, members of the ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published as an entry in the Blackwell Companion to Jewish Culture: from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Glenda Abramson (Oxford; Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Reference, 1989), 19. Repr. in new ed. of this work, Encyclopedia of ... Continue Reading ➨

Originally published in Seymour Siegel (ed.), Conservative Judaism and Jewish Law (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 1977), pp. 111-22. Three distinct attitudes are possible with regard to the challenge of Bible criticism and its implications for ... Continue Reading ➨