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.

  • Afterthoughts on the Pandemic: the Black Spot or the White Page?

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    The purpose of genuine religious life is to protest against this optical illusion and to teach us to refocus our spiritual spectacles. It is not that religion shows us something new. Rather, it shows us what we have seen all our lives but have never noticed, that there is dazzling goodness in this world. There is order instead of chaos; there is diversity, not just monotonous existence; and above all, there is the infinite grace of the human deed.

  • The Upcoming Post Corona Crisis – Part 6: Talmudic Rainbows

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    What is the Talmud all about? The first thing that must be emphasized is that the Talmud displays deliberate chaos. It roams from one topic to another without any real inner logic, other than that one word gives rise to a whole new idea without warning us that it is coming. The outsider may have trouble making heads or tails of it all. And then suddenly one gets the hang of it and realizes that all this chaos flows together into an unbelievable picture, with hundreds of colors harmoniously coming together. That moment of comprehension is a great joy for the intellect and the human soul.

  • Truth, Compromise, and Meta-Halakhah

    In Halacha and Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Yael Shahar

    The Talmud manages to do what few legal systems even attempt: it integrates psychological and moral issues seamlessly with normative legal guidelines. But to appreciate the full extent of this integration, it's important to pay attention to something that is too often left out of today's Gemara classes: the aggadah.

  • Rav Kook & Aggadata

    Aggadah and the Tragedy of “Secularism” in Religious Jewish Education

    The Upcoming Post Corona Crisis - Part 5

    In Halacha, Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Rav Kook by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    In returning the prophetic spirit to Judaism, the world of Aggadah is of crucial importance. Aggadah is the prophetic voice within Judaism, where prophecy not only speaks, but allows the reader to answer. It is the part of Judaism that deals with the sum total of human life. It prevents mechanical observance by freeing our inner spirit. Whereas Halacha is the consummation, Aggadah is its aspiration.

  • In Memory of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z.l. – A man of faith & defiance

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    With the demise of Rabbi Sacks, world Jewry as never before, has to ask itself how it can produce Rabbis on the level of Rabbi Sacks so that Judaism can continue to be a world player.

  • The Disputation in Barcelona: Theatrical Challenges

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Yael Valier

    In the context of the launch of a new theater company whose mission is to bring entertaining theological content to audiences in and around Jerusalem, Roy Doliner’s Divine Right was chosen as the company’s first production. This play about the Disputation of Barcelona balances historical accuracy and creative dramatic content in a satisfying and intellectually honest portrayal of the events of the Disputation for educated lay audiences. This paper examines the technical, dramaturgical, and theological issues that arose during this production for the playwright, director, actors, and audiences.

  • God, Bach, and the Chasidic Nigun

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    Music touches the otherwise untouchable and intangible within us. It soars toward the infinite. When I listen to music, I feel like my feet are lifted off the ground and my soul is extracted from my body and starts to live a life of its own. There is no way to “prove” this feeling of transcendence, just as love cannot be proven. It belongs to an entirely different realm.

  • My Spiritual Problem With the 26 Letters of the Alphabet

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    While the Greek narrative focuses on “seeing,” the biblical perspective focuses on “hearing” the deeper internal dimension that eludes the naked eye.

  • Franz Rosenzweig’s Disturbing Demand

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    I am taking the reader through the uncharted territories I traversed during my voyage of discovery. Only after I have taken the reader through the many mountains and valleys will I be able to reflect on my journey as a whole and attempt to articulate my holistic re-visioning of Judaism. I am guided by the Talmudic method of argumentation where ideas are raised and discussed; sometimes these ideas are accepted, while other times, they are rejected. There are instances where a final determination is never reached. At other times, the debate might suddenly continue many pages later or may even resume unexpectedly in a different Talmudic tractate altogether. It is in this spirit that this contemplative Autobiography is written.

  • Complacency and Mental Cliches

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo

    After living in the Orthodox community for some years, I became deeply disturbed by the fact that many Orthodox Jews were not spiritual in the slightest. They were secular Jews who happened to be observant. These were all very nice people, but they were guilty of religious plagiarism. One religious day was identical to the previous day, without any new encounter with the Divine and the Torah. Everything was “under control,” to the point that any novel spiritual and intellectual struggle was completely absent. But most disturbing was my realization that I myself had become guilty of this!

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