Questions tagged [hashkafah-philosophy]
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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Does "reputation scoring" make "the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with"?
Is "reputation scoring" against the spirit of Pirkei Ovos 4 (5) "Rabbi Tzaddok would say: Do not make the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with, ...."
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How do we know that God exists?
Simple enough question, and very much related to the topic.
According to traditional Jewish sources, on what basis should people believe that there's a God?
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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 ...
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Bereishit vs. science
How does Judaism deal with the differences between scientific evidence of the beginning of the world and the account(s) in Bereishit?
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Conversion: If G-d really wanted me to be a Jew (and observe mitzvot), why was I not born into a Jewish family
This question pertains to the issue of conversion, and if it makes sense in the Jewish context of some people being Chosen specifically by God.
Before beginning, this poster is aware of the long, and ...
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Why don't Jews think Jesus is the messiah?
Christians say that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament; Jews disagree. Why couldn't Jesus be the Messiah spoken of? Or could he possibly have been?
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How can we be sure that Judaism is true/the truth?
I borrowed (with permission) a question from Ahmed Han, which is:
People of every religion claim that they are the ones in the right
path. Even the people of sects in these religions think that ...
user1550
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Does Judaism consider women inferior?
According to Orthodox Judaism, women may not be rabbis, be counted as part of a minyan, leyn from the Torah, or study the Talmud. It even says that to teach a woman Torah is to teach her obscenity! (...
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Sheidim: are they fact, or fiction?
Are there really such thing as sheidim? If so, what are they? Please include sources.
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Does one have to take a Midrash/Aggadah literally?
Does one have to take a Midrash/Aggadah literally?
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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 ...
user337
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How does Judaism deal with God and paradoxes?
How does Judaism deal with paradoxes relating to the omnipotence of God?
For example: Can God create a rock that he himself cannot lift?
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All the many, many details
I understand a number of reasons why the Jewish community keeps so many rules to the level of minutiae. But why SUCH a level of intricacy in some of these laws?
I looked through a large book on the ...
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"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" (Tehillim 37:25).
How do we reconcile that ...
Just Wondering
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Why did G-d not stop the holocaust?
Why did G-d not stop the holocaust? Is there anything written to explain why He would not have stopped it? or why He would have allowed it?
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Is belief in Midrashim optional?
The Ramban in Sefer Havikuach (page 32, the bottom of the first column ) asserts with regard to Midrash:
מי שיאמין בו טוב. ומי שלא יאמין בו לא יזיק
Whoever believes in it, good, he who does not ...
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Why does the Hebrew alphabet not have letters representing vowels?
The Hebrew alphabet is actually an abjad rather than a "true" Western-style alphabet, in that every letter represents a consonant, and vowels, if they're indicated at all, require diacritics.
This ...
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How can the Rambam's Eighth Principle of Jewish Faith be believed in light of Hazal?
The Rambam's eighth Principle of Jewish Faith states that the entire Torah in our possession - every verse - was dictated to Mosheh Rabbenu and that it has not changed.
However, we have explicit ...
user3342
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Who is Moshiach?
How do I know that someone is Moshiach? Will I just know? Are there requirements? If someone tells me that he is the Moshiach, is he to be believed. It would seem seem strange to say so.
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Is there "Torah Inerrancy"?
Is there Torah inerrancy?
In other words, does the Torah contain no factual errors: the Noah flood did occur, Garden of Eden did exist, Adam and Eve did live there and were subsequently expelled, etc ...
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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; ...
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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 ...
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Does Judaism have a concept of holy text literalism?
Apologies if this is an ignorant, foolish or offensive question. I am not Jewish, and am asking to satisfy my curiosity.
Some time ago, on a political forum online, I was discussing religious ...
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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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Is it heresy to follow secular dating on the destruction of the first Temple?
There is a discrepancy between rabbinic and secular sources regarding when the first Temple was destroyed -- a difference of some 165 years or so, which are called the "Missing Years."
My question is ...
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What is the machlokes between the Gra and Ba'al HaTanya?
What is the famous argument between the Vilna Gaon and the Ba'al HaTanya in understanding the Sod HaTzimtzum? And what are some ma'areh mekomos in their works where this Machlokes is seen?
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What does "to confuse the Satan" mean and why does it work?
There are several things we don't do in order "to confuse the Satan", like not blowing Shofar on Erev Rosh Hashana. How does it help? Does Satan not realize that Rosh Hashana
didn't pass yet? He ...
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Why are angelic icons not prominent in Judaism?
I learned that the song Shalom Aleichem is all about welcoming the Shabbat angels, and clearly angels are celebrated in Judaism. However I've noticed that images of angels are not very widespread in ...
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Why is there so much space and matter in the universe?
If the point of all of creation is for the Jewish people to accept and carry out the Torah [I realize this is not axiomatic and maybe a point of contention - see Shabbat 88a] .
What is the need for ...
user1552
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What Happens to People Who Don't Have a Portion in Olam Haba?
The last perek of Sanhedrin lists some people who have no share in Olam Haba. Other people who forfeit their share are discussed in the answers to this question: No Olam Habah for these?
My question ...
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May one love a non-Jew?
May one love a non-Jew? Not romantically in the sense of marriage, but rather in the sense that one loves a friend or family. May a Jew love his Gentile father, for example? May a baal teshuvah ...
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Any primary sources that all Jewish males should l'chatchila stay in learning forever?
Does anyone know of any specific sources in Chazal or Rishonim (or even earlier achronim) that indicate that l'chatchila all Jewish males should learn full time forever? I know that this is the ...
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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 ...
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What is the meaning of psak?
I have asked many people this question, and not yet got a comprehensive answer: What is psak?
Like, let's say I have a certain piece of food of uncertain status. If I ask my 6 year old kid if it's ...
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Do Rabbis get punished in Heaven for wrong interpretations or claims?
I had a Zchus of serving a great Rabbi Z"l here in Jerusalem who wrote lots of books on Torah as well as on Halacha and Shu"t. I helped him publishing his books for a decade and for his last years I ...
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Is Shadal a mainstream commentary?
Shadal (Shmuel David Luzzatto) wrote, among many other things, a commentary to the Torah.
I do not know very much about the style and approach of his commentary, but strangely, I've actually never ...
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Does Judaism consider virginity to be a virtue?
Wikipedia outlines the attitudes of various cultures towards virginity including:
Judaism
In Judaism, sex is not considered to be sinful. Though premarital sex is disapproved, there is no ...
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"If God had not delivered us from Egypt we would still be slaves"? Really?
One part of the Pesach seder that has always bothered me is saying that if God had not taken us out of Mitzrayim at that time we would still be slaves today. This seems lacking in faith in God; ...
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What does Kadosh really mean?
What do the terms קדוש (Kadosh), קדושים, קדושה, and קדיש really mean?
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Voting for a person that will not uphold Torah values
It is well known that Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zatzal strongly condemned those that voted for candidates that would not uphold Torah values. Yet there were many Gedolim that had no problem voting for such ...
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Should Jews be self-employed?
Under what method of employment should a Jew sustain himself? Is there a preference for self-employment over working for an employer?
I've heard that an employee is like a slave to the employer and ...
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40 Days Before Conception
It is written somewhere (I don't remember exactly where) that 40 days before conception, it is called out in Heaven who that person will marry. However, if the person gets married multiple times how ...
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Deviations of Ralbag from normative Jewish theology
In an article about the Rashba's views on science, Rabbi Dr. David Horwitz throws in the following sentence (p. 53):
No less than a radical thinker than R. Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag), who had no ...
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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. Rather,...
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Am I a body with a soul or a soul with a body?
I've always thought that our true essence, who we actually are, our personalities are our souls. To me, bodies are just temporary "homes" for the soul. My body can perish, but my soul will continue ...
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Does the Zodiac really have influence on our lives?
Ancient thought, even among the rabbis of the Talmud, was that the Zodiac controlled certain Earthly events. In Hebrew, the signs of the Zodiac are מזלות, now known as "luck".
For example, in Shabbat ...
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Ship of Theseus in Halacha
How would Halacha deal with the Ship of Theseus thought experiment?
For example, if one made a neder (vow) not to have any hana'ah (benefit) from a certain ship and over time every single piece of ...
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Is it heresy to read the Bible literally?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in this debate with Richard Dawkins says:
Rabbis in the 10th century laid down the following principle: If a biblical narrative is incompatible with established scientific fact,...
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What are Rambam's "עיקרים"?
Rambam, in his Commentary to the Mishna (Sanhedrin 10), enumerates 13 "עיקרים" or "יסודות", which he holds are the core "principles" that every Jew is expected to believe. (Summary in English.)
But ...
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How do we know that we have free will?
Where in the torah does it state that humans have, and are entitled to in perpetuity, free will?
user1520