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Rabbi Cardozo

Thoughts to Ponder

Thoughts to Ponder is a weekly invitation to think dangerously and question passionately. Drawing on the Torah portion, classical Jewish sources, philosophy, and the crises of contemporary life, Rabbi Cardozo challenges religious complacency and spiritual comfort. These essays are written for readers who seek a Judaism that disturbs, questions, and ultimately deepens the human encounter […]

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Writers’ Guild

The Cardozo Academy Think Tank opens its doors to voices that probe, question, and illuminate. These essays reflect rigorous thought, spirited debate, and deep engagement with Torah and lived experience. Readers will find essays that challenge preconceptions, explore timeless themes, and make meaning out of the complexity of faith and culture.

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Faith & Defiance

In Faith & Defiance, Rabbi Cardozo opens a window into his soul to illuminate the twists and turns of his spiritual path. These essays blend existential reflection with candid self-inquiry, taking the reader through moments of defiance, conversion, re-conversion, and unending search for meaning in a life lived at the intersection of tradition and transformation.

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Cardozo On The Parashah Book Series

Cardozo on the Parashah: Volume 1

The Book of Genesis

by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Cardozo on the Parashah: Volume 2

The Book of Exodus

by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Cardozo on the Parashah: Volume 3

The Book of Leviticus

by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Cardozo on the Parashah: Volume 4

The Book of Numbers

by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Cardozo on the Parashah: Volume 5

Book of Deuteronomy

by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

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Jewish Thought and Philosophy

To think Jewishly is to stand at the edge of certainty and still choose to believe, question, and seek. Jewish thought lives in the tension between faith and doubt, law and freedom, eternity and change.

The Revival of the Dead & the Miracle of Return

The full text of Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo’s Afterword to Returning

In Holocaust and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Epub / eBook In this insightful essay, Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo speaks of the implications of resurgent memory in our day. Could this be the fulfillment of prophetic vision? He notes that stories of non-lived memory are more common than we think. “Such stories hint at a great secret about the age we are living in […]
September 15, 2018
Returning

A story of memory and redemption

In Holocaust and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Yael Shahar

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kasva Press LLCPublication date ‏ : ‎ September 4, 2018Language ‏ : ‎ EnglishPrint length ‏ : ‎ 504 pagesISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1948403009 How far will one man go to attain forgiveness? Alex died in Auschwitz, having betrayed his faith and his people. Now he’s been given a single miraculous […]
September 4, 2018
The Fragrance of Things to Come

In Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Maimonides, Parashat Vayikra and Tisha B’Av by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

The Temple whose destruction we mourn on the 9th of Av has no inherent value. It is only a means to something that no physical object can contain. On Tish’a B’Av, we do not mourn the loss of the Temple but rather the loss of its message, which we no longer seem to grasp.
July 19, 2018
The Controversy Surrounding My Louis Jacobs Memorial Lecture

In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Louis Jacobs is not at all as radical as some would like to believe. In fact, some ultra-Orthodox thinkers were even more radical than Rabbi Jacobs but remained completely committed to Orthodox Halacha and the belief in Torah from Heaven.
July 11, 2018
Making Conversion Easier

An Open Letter to Israel's Chief Rabbis

In Converting to Judaism and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

The first convert and Jew, Avraham, was only asked to observe a few of the commandments. In the same way, we should allow potential converts this option to slowly work their way up to Sinai.
June 7, 2018
Believing the Unbelievable

In Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Parashat Va'era by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

I am jealous of atheists because they are able to believe the unbelievable. And I, in my simplicity, cannot reach that state of belief.
May 16, 2018
Being Jewish vs. Being Israeli

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai or A.B. Yehoshua?

In Israel, Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Yom HaShoah by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Rabbi Yochanan taught us that Jews can survive without Israel, as long as there is Torah, the portable homeland of the Jewish people. But Jews will not survive solely because of the existence of Israel—however powerful it may be—if Israel does not incorporate a large percentage of Jewish traditional resources.
April 12, 2018
ברית מילה: מדוע לסכן את שלום ילדיכם?

In Halacha and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

היכולת המופלאה של העם היהודי לגבור על כל אויביו – מהמצרים ועד היוונים, הרומאים והפרסים... ועד לנאצים – בהחלט עשויה להיות תוצאה של אותה התערבות גופנית קטנה. המעשה אורך כמה שניות, אבל הוא יוצר נצח.
February 17, 2018
Franz Rosenzweig and the Berliner Shtiebl

In Franz Rosenzweig, Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Liturgy & Ritual and Parashat Terumah by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

To attend synagogue is an art. People must come with a sincere urge to discover their Jewishness, to reconnect with their inner being and with the Jewish people. To enter the synagogue is to hope for a metamorphosis in one’s soul and a transformation of one’s personality.
February 15, 2018
The Enduring Preciousness of the Secular Jew

Some thoughts inspired by the writings of Avraham Joshua Heschel

In Heschel and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

There is little doubt that secular Jews, consciously or unconsciously, keep a large number of commandments. Many of them may not be in the form of rituals, but there is massive evidence pointing to secular Jews’ commitment to keeping interpersonal mitzvot. Beneath the divisiveness of traditional commitment lie underpinnings of religion such as compassion, humility, awe, and even faith.
February 8, 2018
The Challenge of Yitro

Would you convert?

In Franz Rosenzweig, Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Moses and Parashat Yitro by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Yitro confronts us for the first time with a new phenomenon: to be a Jew by choice. He presents all Jews with a major challenge: how to become a Jew by choice even when one has been born into the fold.
February 1, 2018
האם אנחנו באמת אוכלים כשר? על הסוואה, צביעות, והסתתרות מאחורי הלכות כשרות

In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

בעקובת הצמיחה המסיבית של תעשיית הבשר, בה מיליוני חיות נשחטות מדי יום, להתייחס לבעלי חיים בצורה הומנית, כפי שההלכה היהודית דורשת, הפך לדבר יותר ויותר קשה, אם לא לבלתי אפשרי. הלכות שחיטה וצער בעלי חיים כוונו לקהילות יהודיות שאכלו בשר לפרקים, לא לתעשייה הענקית שיש לנו היום, בה החוקים הללו אינם יכולים להישמר. האם לא ראוי ואף רצוי במצב עניינים שכזה, שיהודים דתיים יהפכו לצמחוניים?
January 28, 2018

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