Jewish philosophy as well as Jewish perspectives - i.e. not only formal philosophy. NOT for questions about Jewish practice unless there's a philosophical component.
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0answers
15 views
Rambam held of Timtum halev?
There is a famous story of the Rambam in the name of R' Chaim Brisker:
"When the Rambam visited Yemen, he met a certain gaon of the geonim of the time. And after the Rambam returned home, this ...
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1answer
20 views
Bitahhon vs. Hishtadlut
In discussing the six constant mitzvot, Jewish Pathways mentions that:
"To achieve results, [one must] invest effort. But the
materials, circumstances, and ultimate result are all provided by ...
15
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7answers
921 views
How do we know that God exists?
Simple enough question, and very much related to the topic.
According to the sources, on what basis should people believe that there's a God?
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1answer
123 views
Importance of learning grammar
What are the traditional Jewish opinions about the importance of learning and speaking Hebrew with proper grammar (dikduk)?
13
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1answer
139 views
+50
Do not separate yourself from the community: what exactly is the community?
Hillel teaches in Pirke Avot (2:4): do not separate yourself from the community. I'm not a historian, but I have the impression that at the time he was writing, towns tended to have one (Jewish) ...
2
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1answer
111 views
Is free will limited to humans?
Do other beings besides humans have free will? Perhaps animals have free will? What about angels?
Does the status of other types of beings' freedom of will affect us in any way?
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3answers
226 views
Was Rambam affected by Islam?
Was Rambam's philosophy affected in any way by Islamic culture or religion? If so, could that influence have influenced his interpretation of halacha?
This question is inspired by an ongoing ...
4
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1answer
80 views
simple faith versus blind faith
There is a view that it is better to avoid studying philosophical works such as the Rambam's guide for the perplexed or the Shaar Yichud from Duties of the Heart. This is based on the idea that Emunah ...
4
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4answers
158 views
Do a mitzva for mashiach?
I recently saw in The Moshiach Times, a popular Chabad-Lubavitch publication for children, an exhortation to "do a mitzvah for moshiach": to do a mitzva with the specific purpose of hastening the ...
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4answers
348 views
Why is Sha'ar Ha'Yichud of Chovos Ha'Levavos so “controversial”?
I have heard that Sha'ar Ha'Yichud of Chovos Ha'Levavos is controversial, and that one needs a rebbe in order to learn it. What does the author say that is so difficult to understand?
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1answer
146 views
Halachic Relevancy of 'Proving God'
The first halacha in the Mishnah Torah states that you must know for certain that God exists (Yesodei Hatorah 1:1). Does this mean that according to Rambam, God can be proven to exist through ...
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0answers
50 views
Why is Akaidas Yitzchak considered a good thing?
I'm having some difficulty understanding the incident of the Akaida. God tested Avraham by commanding him to take his son as a human sacrifice to see if he would obey even this (Genesis 22). However, ...
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2answers
48 views
Why were there no Jewish philosophy tracts until the Rasag?
Jews had their first bump into philosophy when Alexander the Great conquered Israel (in the early Tanaic period). Since then, we lived under the Greeks and Romans for a few hundred years. Both of ...
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2answers
67 views
If Hashem doesn't change, how does prayer work?
If Hashem is perfect and unchanging, how can we pray to Him to have mercy on us? Doesn't that imply a change?
I've heard it implied that the way this works is that the prayer itself has the effect ...
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1answer
49 views
Eavesdropping: permitted or prohibited?
Is there a halachic or hashkafic problem with eavesdropping? Maybe it could be like reading another's mail which Rabenu Gershom made a gezera about.
2
votes
1answer
66 views
Why do some Jewish groups wear a uniform?
My impression of male Chareidi Jews is that they only ever wear a white shirt with a black suit shoes and hat, no tie. I also get the impression that particular other (possibly Chassidic) groups have ...
11
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7answers
467 views
Answering Atheist about Torah miracles
How do we explain our belief in the story of Yonah living in a Fish, the Splitting of a sea, and all the other fantastic Miracles described in the Torah to a person who was not brought up religious; ...
12
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8answers
1k views
If Christianity is avodah zarah and Islam is not, why has the Christian world triumphed over the non-Christian, and why do Jews prefer to live among Christians and not Muslims?
The Rambam quite clearly considered Christianity to be avodah zarah. He did not feel the same way about Islam, however, going so far as to condone praying within a mosque, and many Orthodox Jewish ...
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2answers
236 views
How can I know a rav has daas Torah
I have been privileged to know rabbis of great wisdom and knowledge who could address my issues with unique and helpful insights through the prism of Torah. I always understood them to have "daas ...
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1answer
117 views
why was technology withheld for so long from man
Why did God withhold the discovery of modern technology from man until recently?
what is the reason for this and why does this reason not apply in our era?
(according to the shaar bitachon ch.3 God ...
11
votes
2answers
187 views
What is “emunas chachomim”?
My daughter came home from school with a textbook response for what "emunas chachomim" is. I disagreed strongly with what was written in the book, so I'm not even going to say what they said. ...
-2
votes
2answers
145 views
How do those who adovcate chumrah understand this Gemorah (Gitin 55-56)
Because of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Jerusalem was destroyed.
It happened this way: A certain man had a friend named Kamtza and an
enemy called Bar Kamtza. He once made a party and said to his ...
4
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0answers
49 views
The silence of the Rabbis — Should they have defended Bar Kamtza?
In Gittin 55b-56a, we read that a fellow named Bar Kamtza was humiliated by a host of a party in public view of all, including the rabbis. Bar Kamtza received an invitation to the party by mistake, ...
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3answers
159 views
Why do we say God will be one when we also say He already is?
Aleinu ends with the phrase "on that day God will be one and His name will be one". While we could interpret this to mean that "on that day everybody else will agree with us on this", the plain ...
2
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1answer
48 views
Purpose of Suffering
The Talmud in Berachos 5a says: "Rava said: If a man sees suffering coming on him, let him examine his ways..."
does this mean the suffering is to atone for his sin or does it mean the suffering is ...
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2answers
125 views
What if someone is unable to believe in God?
Suppose someone really truly wants to believe in Hashem, but is simply unable to. Even after much trying and learning Torah, he still is simply unable to believe in God. Would that person be ...
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2answers
217 views
Does Judaism permit sexual relationships outside of marriage?
I am eager to know more about different religions from Islam to Judaism. Furthermore, how different religions look at women and comparing their kinds of approaches to the matter of gender and ...
4
votes
1answer
94 views
What about the Kohen?
It is a given that the Kohen blesses the people, but who blesses the Kohen? Is the Kohen excluded from the Brakha or is he included in the one he makes on the kehillah's behalf?
2
votes
1answer
161 views
What is a non-Jew's purpose in life?
What does a non-Jew have to do in life? Why did God create non-Jews?
A Jews purpose in life is to learn Torah and do Mitzvos. What should a non-jew be spending his time doing?
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0answers
53 views
Is there a concept of time in Gan Eden and the world to come?
Does Time exist in Gan Eden and the world to come. I heard that you cant get bored of these places since there's no time there. Also heard midrash that Yitchak Aviinu went to Gan Eden for 2 years ...
8
votes
2answers
353 views
Which 20th-century Rosh Yeshiva studied under the mysterious Monsieur Chouchani?
Monsieur Chouchani was a mysterious figure who travelled around post-World War II and taught several great Jewish thinkers, including Emmanuel Levinas z"l and [yibadel l'chayim] Elie Wiesel.
...
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0answers
42 views
Does the mitzvah of Tzedek require poverty and inequality in society?
If we accept that giving to the poor and an emphasis on Tzedek are Mitzvot that is repeatedly noted within Tanakh - for example some Midrashic commentary suggests that the sin of Sodom was actually a ...
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1answer
55 views
What is the spiritual value of counting the omer?
I understand that it is a mitzvah to count the 49 days of the omer from the second night of Pesach through erev Shavuos. But what is the spiritual value of counting s'fira? I.e. what does G-d want ...
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3answers
113 views
How can we strengthen belief in the coming of Moshiach and the end of our exile?
We believe that Moshiach will come and our exile will end soon.
How can we strengthen this belief?
Answers supported by sources are preferred.
4
votes
3answers
156 views
May we genetically engineer stuff?
The possibilities of genetic engineering continue to grow. May a Jewish scientist genetically engineer things?
4
votes
1answer
135 views
If someone doesn't believe in the Gemara, is he a heretic?
If someone says "I believe that the Mishnayos/Braisos/Toseftas are accurate, but I think that the Gemara made mistakes and has no holiness.
Is such philosophy heresy?
What about someone who argues ...
14
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8answers
432 views
How does “eilu v'eilu” work out with an absolute truth?
I'm under the impression that religious Judaism believes in absolute truths. That being the case, how does the concept of "eilu v'eilu divrei elokim chaim" (Eruvin 13b) work out? When two scholars ...
13
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7answers
293 views
“I never saw a tzaddik be abandoned…” - how do we understand this?
At the end of bentching we say that "I was young, and I also became old, and I never saw a righteous person be abandoned, and his children asking for bread".
How do we reconcile that with the ...
3
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1answer
149 views
why did avraham pray for sodom
Sodom was one of the most morally corrupted societies that ever existed.
wouldn't their disappearance be good for everyone (including themselves).
keeping those who are thoroughly wicked alive is ...
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1answer
80 views
How did Chazal know they were right about “who is a Jew”?
My question is predicated on the assumption that Jews were created by God as fundamentally different from non-Jews. (I am referring, for example, to the idea that Jews have a special type of soul. And ...
6
votes
5answers
351 views
Do we believe in Heaven and Hell?
In yeshiva I was always told about gan eden and gehinnom, and how the good go to one place while the bad go to the other. However, in popular culture, Jews are always said to not believe in Hell (and ...
2
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2answers
133 views
7
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2answers
277 views
What are the characteristics of Sheol?
The Wikipedia article on Sheol is very unclear as to what it is and combined with the Christian understanding: quoting the New Testament in several places.
Who goes to Sheol once they die (Jews ...
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1answer
77 views
Updating of holy books
I am curious if such thing is possible, e.g. if some new evidence is found (archeological or other scientific or other). So the next generation will have more accurate interpretation, because we all ...
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6answers
361 views
Can God destroy Himself?
I was thinking about it lately.
If God can do everything, can He destroy Himself?
Is there something about this possibility in any of the holy books?
5
votes
1answer
132 views
What attitudes toward Jesus are acceptable for a Jew?
What attitudes toward Jesus are acceptable for a Jew? I understand that idolatry, or embracing the mainstream Christian perception of Jesus as divine, is absolutely out of the question. Furthermore, ...
1
vote
0answers
56 views
Attending networking events under false pretenses
I've recently seen some events advertised for specific groups or for people who fit a certain description, and it got me wondering, would it be alright, from a Jewish perspective (Halachic, Hashkafic, ...
3
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2answers
133 views
Why is there no description of Olam Haba in the Torah?
According to the beginning of the Mesilas Yesharim, the entire purpose of creation is for man to merit Olam Haba (the bliss of the next world).
If so, why is there no mention nor description of Olam ...
4
votes
2answers
446 views
Are the Jews today still waiting for the Messiah to come?
Are the Jews still today waiting for the promised Messiah to come? If so, then what kind of Messiah are they expecting right now? When do they expect him to come?
14
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8answers
376 views
How do I get myself to yearn for moshiach if I'm comfortable in the diaspora?
Intellectually I know that we're supposed to yearn for the coming of the mashiach and the in-gathering in Eretz Yisrael. I know that one of the Rambam's 13 principles calls for this. We pray for ...
