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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.
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)?
In Heschel and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
I have learned to be constantly thankful to God for His incredible gift of children, children-in-law and grandchildren. I learned this on Friday, June 11, 2010, when my wife and I nearly lost a daughter and three grandchildren.
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
There is only one time I have ever forgiven an anti-Semite. But it was for a good reason. He had successfully helped me to become Jewish!
What do we mean when we ask "Who is like our God?"
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Liturgy & Ritual by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
The song “Ein Keloh-enu” rejects the traditional so-called rational proofs for the existence of God, since they are based on a serious paradox.
In Converting to Judaism, Eliezer Berkovits and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Israel has been confronted with the plight of hundreds of thousands of people who made aliyah, mostly from Russia, who are children of mixed marriages or who have other Jewish ancestry, such as Jewish grandparents. Most of them are not halachically Jewish since their mothers are not Jewish. Yet many of them would like to become Jewish. The problem, however, is that the majority do not want to commit themselves to a halachic way of life.
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
While the winds of war with Iraq are coming closer and closer, committed Jews have a special obligation to think of the enormous loss of life this war is surely going to cost to many human beings who are or are not on our side of the conflict.
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
There are moments in life when one is confronted with divine intervention. Thoughts on the loss of a great woman.