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.
A Spiritual Autobiography
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
This short volume tells the highly unusual story of Dutch-Israeli Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo. A child of an intermarriage between a Christian woman and Jewish man, Nathan Lopes Cardozo discovered Judaism in his teens and subsequently undergwent a ritual conversion and went on to study at Gateshead Yeshiva. Weaving together his history and his novel […]
In Heschel, Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Parashat Emor by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
We Jews are messengers, but we have forgotten the message. It is our obligation to rediscover it and advance it into eternity.
Following a lecture by Rabbi Cardozo, I was thinking about the problem of converts coming before a beit din and feeling pressured to lie to the effect
Gleanings from the David Cardozo Academy
In Halacha and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
This collection addresses matters of an academic, a personal, and a spiritual nature. The contributors include Jewish professors, rabbis, and thinkers, all of whom have taught at or are affiliated with the David Cardozo Academy in Jerusalem. Offering original insights into the Jewish tradition, many of the articles illustrate a more personal and emotional struggle with elements of Judaism, thus capturing the essence of the Academy.
In Halacha and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Halacha has been disconnected from a conscious awareness of God. Today, halachic living ignores Him.
Torah, Mesorah and Man
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Thoughts on Torah, Mesorah, and Man.
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Rabbi Aha said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: When at Mt. Sinai the Israelites heard the word “I” (the first word of “I am the Lord your God” in the “Ten Words”), their souls left them...It may perhaps be argued that this Midrash, like no other text, summarizes the essence of Judaism and its dialectic nature...
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Spinoza by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
What Jesus and Spinoza have in common is that they were alienated by the rabbis of their days. What might they have contributed to the Jewish people had their teachers been more tolerant?
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Whether the angels play only Bach praising God, I am not quite sure; I am sure, however, that en famille they play Mozart. (1) When attending synagogue services around the world, one is often confronted with a lack of religious enthusiasm. In many synagogues, services are heavy and often depressing. It is not always the […]
The Jerusalem Lecture Series (5772/2012)
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Rav Kook, Spinoza and The Kotzker Rebbe by The Cardozo Academy
Six leading Jewish thinkers came together in Jerusalem to examine where Jewish tradition meets the intellectual challenges of modernity — from Spinoza and the Kotzker Rebbe to Dawkins, Foucault, and postmodern philosophy.
Reflections on a recent trip to America
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Some reflections on a recent trip to America: the good, the bad, and the sublime.
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Parashat Lech Lecha and Parashat Shemini by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
For centuries, Jewish thinkers have Which is the higher religious value: to serve God in a spontaneous outpouring of religious devotion (autonomy), or to obey the divine imperative (obedience)?