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Jewish

2018-09-26T15:25:17-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Simchat Torah: A Celebration of Continuity

Last updated on: September 26, 2018 at 3:25 pm By Michael Weiner

Yup, another holiday. But this is the last one for a while, I promise. On Monday, Jews will celebrate Simchat Torah, literally translated as a holiday of “rejoicing with the Torah (Bible).” On the Sabbath each week, Jews gather in synagogues and read a portion of the Five Books of Moses. After an entire year of these weekly public readings, we finally complete all five of those books, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, on Simchat Torah. Almost immediately after completing the... Read more

2018-09-21T10:26:52-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sukkot: You Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone

Last updated on: September 21, 2018 at 10:26 am By Michael Weiner

This Sunday night, Jews the world over will begin observing the seven day holiday called Sukkot, or as it’s so oddly translated in English, the “Feast of Booths.” I prefer the clearer NIV Bible translation, which renders the word sukkah as “temporary shelter.” That really gets to what this commandment of the holiday is all about: leaving your homes for seven days to go camp out (usually in the backyard) in a temporary shelter. The reason for this strange ritual is... Read more

2018-09-14T14:47:09-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yom Kippur: is it really the day of “atonement?”

Last updated on: September 14, 2018 at 2:47 pm By Michael Weiner

That’s how most people translate it. But maybe they’re missing the mark. In a lecture I attended on this subject, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag pointed out that the Hebrew word “kippurim” (the plural of “kippur)—which is translated here as “atonement”—does not actually refer to atonement for sin when it’s used in the Bible. The most relevant context where the word “kippurim” appears is in the Book of Exodus, in which the Children of Israel are commanded to observe a seven... Read more

2018-09-06T12:27:40-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

You won’t believe what this 18th century rabbi said about Christianity

Last updated on: September 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm By Michael Weiner

My apologies for the clickbait title. But, for once, it’s actually true! You legitimately would not believe what Rabbi Jacob Emden—one of the most famous and influential Western European rabbis of the 1700s—had to say about Christianity and Jesus in the first chapter of a book he wrote about Jewish history, entitled Seder Olam Raba Vezuta . For those who were eagerly anticipating another post about traditional Jewish approaches to controversial Bible verses, I’m sorry for this interruption in our... Read more

2018-09-01T22:44:59-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How Orthodox Jews read tough Biblical passages: Part III—“An Eye for an Eye?”

Last updated on: September 1, 2018 at 10:44 pm By Michael Weiner

My last two posts about controversial Bible passages were a bit obscure. I’m sure many Christians are completely unfamiliar with the law of the female captive. It’s certainly not the kind of topic you hear a sermon about on Sunday morning. But today’s post is different. Today, I’m writing about the Biblical law of “an eye for an eye,” which is widely known and also widely criticized. It even has its own special name in Latin,—lex talonis—which means “the law... Read more

2018-08-29T19:36:16-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How Orthodox Jews read tough Bibical passages: Part II —The case of the rebellious son

Last updated on: August 29, 2018 at 7:36 pm By Michael Weiner

This post is the next installment in what will hopefully be a series on traditional Jewish interpretations of tough biblical passages. Today’s issue is the “Law of the Rebellious Son.” Here is the complete Biblical passage below: “If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the... Read more

2018-08-24T14:12:57-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How Orthodox Jews Read Tough Biblical Passages: Part I—“Marrying a Female Captive”

Last updated on: August 24, 2018 at 2:12 pm By Michael Weiner

As the title suggests, I am beginning a new series of articles for this blog on the topic of how Orthodox Jews interpret some of the (seemingly) morally problematic, controversial sections of the Bible. The stuff about sex and violence and everything else. You all know those verses. But you might never have heard about how ancient and medieval Jews interpreted some of these stories and laws. This post will highlight one example of those interpretations. Deuteronomy Chapter 21:10-14 contains... Read more

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2025-05-08T10:12:31-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Getting to the Table: Why should Jews trust the Church?

Last updated on: May 8, 2025 at 10:12 am By Michael Weiner

I’m moving backwards. In my first piece, I wrote about how Jews and Christians can have better interfaith conversations when they are sitting at the table and talking. This piece is about how to get Jews and Christians to come sit at the table in the first place. Because after 1,500 years of anti-Semitic preaching, persecution, and violence emanating from the Catholic Church and basically all Protestant sects, why should Jews trust modern Christians enough to sit down and talk... Read more

2018-08-10T11:50:57-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Issues that Divide Us: Are the Jews a Chosen Nation? Part II

Last updated on: August 10, 2018 at 11:50 am By Michael Weiner

In my last post, I explained what the idea of the Jews being a chosen people means to me, guided by the biblical texts and later Jewish philosophers. In this post, I want to talk about how Catholics understand Jewish chosenness. In broad strokes, for over a thousand years, the universally accepted Christian doctrine was that the Jewish people, while once chosen, lost that special status after rejecting Jesus. Since then, Jews have been exiled and cursed and forfeited... Read more

2018-08-06T14:14:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Issues that Divide Us: Are the Jews a Chosen Nation? Part I

Last updated on: August 6, 2018 at 2:14 pm By Michael Weiner

My first post to this blog made the case for expanding opportunities for honest interfaith dialogue between Christians and Jews on the issues that matter most to us both. Efforts towards this goal have been going on since Vatican II and show no signs of stopping, despite pushback from religious extremists on both sides. So we are moving in the right direction. I just want us to get there faster, by improving the quality of the conversations we have.... Read more

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