He was British Jewry’s outstanding homegrown rabbinic scholar, a protégé of Rabbi Eliyahu Munk, and described as an ilui (genius in Torah study) by R. Eliyahu Dessler. Yet R. Louis Jacobs’ desire to reconcile Judaism with academic studies led to his exclusion from Britain’s orthodox rabbinate.
Continue reading
The Akedah, the Binding of Isaac is a disturbing biblical narrative. It has been the subject of profound criticsm. The ancient Midrash proposes three alternative scenes that suggest the criticisms are misplaced. They do not necessarily convince us.
Continue reading
My review of Rabbi Tony Bayfield’s book Being Jewish Today appeared in the Jewish Chronicle on October 25th, 2019.
Jews, on the whole, do not do theology. We have no catechism, not official beliefs that we theorise about and try to make sense of. The nearest thing we have is Maimonides’s Thirteen Principles of Faith, which he wrote to define Judaism against Islam and Christianity, and which the few theologians among us have argued about ever since.
Continue readingAfter he has given them the Torah, God instructs the Israelites to build him a sanctuary, out of materials that they will voluntarily donate.
The idea that the nation needs a sanctuary in which to worship is reasonable. What is harder to understand is the biblical idea that God needs a house to dwell in (Exodus 25,8). Equally difficult is the rabbinic interpretation that implies God needs the sanctuary as much, or even more, than the Israelites. Continue reading