Hot answers tagged hashkafah-philosophy
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In short the answer is Yes.
Maimonides (also know as the Rambam) codifies 13 principles which are basic to Judaism. These principles are pretty much universally accepted as binding in all Orthodox forms of Judaism. Principle number 8 is, "The belief in the divine origin of the Torah." Principle number 9 is, "The belief in the immutability of the Torah."
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This is a very broad and deep topic; the whole book of Job struggles with bad things happening to good people. After a lot of talk (and Job's friends trying to be helpful by saying "oh Job, obviously it's punishment for some sin you did, silly boy", and both Job and G-d telling them to go jump in a lake), the conclusion appears to be that it's beyond human ...
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Judaism believes in angels, but one is not permitted to pray to an angel or any intermediary. (According to Rambam and Ramban, praying to angels is idolatrous. Others may be more lenient.) Images of angels may also be problematic in certain cases.
Although "Shalom Alechem" is a widespread custom, there are some people who refrain from saying some (or even ...
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Questions relating to God's omnipotence were discussed at length by the Rishonim in the Middle Ages in such great works as Saadia Gaon's "Emunos V'deos", Rambam's "Moreh Nevuchim", Ralbag's "Milchemes Hashem", and others. The consensus among them (in opposition to the authorities cited in @HodofHod's answer) is that God cannot violate the rules of logic. ...
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I do not think it is a problem for a few reasons. Kin'as sofrim tarbeh chochmah (jealousy among scholars will increase wisdom - Baba Basra 21a). A certain extent of competition in Torah is a good thing. Having people compete for even something as minor as points helps increase Torah and wisdom. There is an issue of a person becoming haughty or seeking honor ...
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No, no, no. Judaism makes clear that G-d has no physical form, nor does (nor can) He ever take one on.
You're confusing several stories about angels, which are heavenly beings that can take human form, with their Boss.
Abraham invites three guests who turn out to be angels; similarly, Jacob wrestles with a mysterious man, who is likely to have been an ...
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I think it is fruitless to try to prove torah to non-believers, though people try (e.g. the "torah codes" folks looking for hidden messages in the text). Faith is not science.
As for explaining our belief in the truth of torah, one can ask: Is there anything that Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu cannot do? The torah describes miracles, which were either performed on ...
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This kind of question is addressed by Maimonides in his Guide for the Perplexed (3:15), in which he states that we cannot ascribe to God the ability to do that which is impossible, thus, "it is impossible that God should produce a being like Himself, or annihilate, corporify, or change Himself. The power of God is not assumed to extend to any of these ...
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"Emunat Chachamim" Comes from Avot 6:6 where a list of 48 ways of achieving Torah wisdom are mentioned. There are many commentatries on Avot in general and this mishna in particular, all saying slightly different things. However..
Traditionally, this phrase is meant to mean that you must trust those people who are wiser than you to give over the tradition ...
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I understood the term to mean designated, differentiated or set aside for a purpose. So Kiddush-קידוש would be the verbal declaration that designates the day of Shabbat and differentiates it from all the days that precede it (see the Rambam on the Mitzva of Kiddush). The קדושת היום would be the legal designation of the day. The בית המקדש is a place ...
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The problem with how we read Aggada today is that our approach, instead of being idiomatic, is idiotic.
-- Rabbi Moshe Hauer.
From the Rambam's commentary to the last chapter of Sanhedrin:
There are three categories of people with regards to interpreting Aggada.
The first category take everything literally and teach it as such, going to ...
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The philosophical approach is considered by many to be an "Emunah minefield" for those who do not have proper guidance. The popular "Lev Tov" edition of Chovos Halevavos (with a translation/commentary by R' Yosef Lieberman) has a lengthy introduction to Shaar HaYichud, in which he cites these views at length and in detail.
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In a word, yes. The Midrash (Eichah Rabbah, intro. 2), paraphrasing Jer. 9:12, states:
הלואי אותי עזבו ותורתי שמרו, מתוך שהיו מתעסקין בה, המאור שבה היה מחזירן למוטב
"Would that, even if the Jewish people abandoned Me, they had kept My Torah! By being involved with it, the illumination in it would bring them back to the right path."
Or as the ...
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The verse probably most commonly cited is Devarim 30:19 (translation from Mechon-Mamre):
הַעִדֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם, אֶת-הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת-הָאָרֶץ--הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ, הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה; וּבָחַרְתָּ, בַּחַיִּים--לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה, אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before ...
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The key phrase in your question, I think, is "some level."
It is true that based on the verse you referenced, all human beings have a basic Divinely-given dignity, and we should treat them with that in mind. As Rabbi Akiva puts it (Avos 3:14, translation taken from here): "Beloved is man, for he was created in the image [of G-d]; it is a sign of even ...
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It might be because the Written Torah doesn't really go much into the topic. (Why that is so is a whole other question.) So people may have incorrectly concluded that these ideas weren't originally part of Judaism.
Another possibility is that they mean that we don't believe in the popular conception of Heaven (angels with harps) or of Hell (fiery lakes, ...
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Jewish: Is the person a Jew. According to halacha, this is defined by whether or not the person's mother was Jewish or they converted from another religion to Judaism (and according to some authorities, if the person did not convert from Judaism to another religion, since according to some this would mean that they are no longer Jewish).
Zionist: Harder to ...
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This is one of the "perplexing" topics that the Rambam addresses in his "Guide of the Perplexed". While the examples you give are of Angels (see Shalom's answer), a cursory glance of the Bible, could make it seem like there is reason to wonder whether God can be corporeal, since the Torah does refer to God with "physical" attributes like hand, finger, and ...
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Here are the Rambam's instructions on how to recognize Moshiach: Melachim U'Milchamotahem 11
A Jewish King from the House of David who learns and observes the Torah (written and oral) and assures that Israel does as well can be presumed to be Moshiach.
If he does so and rebuilds the Beis HaMikdosh and gathers in the exiles he certainly is Moshiach.
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Assuming we all exist, think, know and interact with our actual surroundings etc.
The Ontological Proof
The first class of Divine Proof is the Ontological proof. It goes basically like this:
God as a concept is perfect.
Perfect things must have the quality of existing, else they wouldn't be perfect.
Hence, God exists.
Problems
This doesn't really ...
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Typical navi:
sees prophetic visions only in a dream state (Rambam, Hil. Yesodei Hatorah 7:2)
becomes terrified and physically weak from the experience (ibid.)
sees a metaphorical vision, from which he or she then deduces the actual meaning (ibid. 7:3). This is because their prophecy comes to them via an angel (ibid. 7:6) - or as the Gemara puts it ...
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A couple of possibilities, culled from midrashim and commentaries:
Keli Yakar to Deut. 15:10, and Malbim on this verse (Ps. 37:25), say that it means that you will never find that both the tzaddik and his children will be poor; it may be that one or the other of them will be, though.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 35:2) takes נעזב in the active sense: "even ...
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The dictionary defines inerrancy as "freedom from error", in which case, yes, the Torah has inerrancy. One of the cardinal beliefs of Judaism, according to the Rambam, is that God composed the Pentateuch; the others sorta imply he has inerrancy; combined, then, we get that according to the Rambam the Pentateuch has inerrancy. I have no source at the moment ...
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The general consensus is that Sheol/Gehinom/Hell is a place the soul is sent to post-mortem for a Purgatory-like cleansing for up to 12 months. According to Nachmanides in Sha'ar HaGemul quoting Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, She'ol is the lowest level of Hell, also known as Gehinom. He also has the best description of what it is and is cited by pretty much ...
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Soncino translates An'Vat'Nuto as scrupulousness, but mentions in a footnote that it is literally translated as "humility".
The literal translation seems to fit more with the way most commentaries translate it.
Rashi explains it as, "Because of the patience of R' Zechariyah, that he endured Bar Kamtza and didn't kill him". In other words because of his ...
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In the Moreh Nevuchim, Rambam explains how God's attributes should be understood without compromising God's unchangingness.
He compares God's mood to a fire. If you put ice in a fire, it melts, then evaporates. If you put clay in a fire, it hardens. If you put wood in a fire it burns... The fire causes many different and contrasting effects without changing ...
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The statement of Maimonides to which you refer is from his Yad Hachazaka, Repentence [or: Return] chapter 3. There he writes (in my own loose translation):
Everyone has merits and sins. Someone whose merits are more than his sins is a tzadik. Someone whose sins are more than his merits is a rasha. Half and half, he's a benoni [=middle person].
So, ...
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According to some Jewish authorities, especially Kabbalists and Chassidic Rebbes, G-d does not have to obey the rules of logic, since they are just another creation of His. As I wrote to a similar question:
As the Creator of all things, including, but not limited to, time, the "laws" of physics, logic, and existence itself, G-d is not bound by any of ...
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The discrepancy has been raised repeatedly over the centuries, by scholars Jew and non-Jew, Orthodox or not, alike.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab penned an essay on it whereby he very much raised the possibility that the non-Seder-Olam chronology may be correct, though later referring to it as a "thought experiment."
In his taped lectures on the history of the ...
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Whether or not there are Jews who are racist against non-Jews, the Torah places value on all human life. This is, after all, the message of Sefer Yonah where G-d sends a prophet to a non-Jewish nation to provoke them to repent and be spared destruction for their sins.
At the same time Torah teaches that Jews have a special relationship with G-d which ...
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