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Biblical accounts teem with violent episodes. Just a few days ago, we read in the synagogue the story of Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Simeon, massacring the entire male population of a city in a devious scheme using a religious pretext. (Genesis 34) Their father was so aggrieved that even on his death bed, when […]
Hanukkah is, perhaps, the easiest Jewish holiday to celebrate. There are no restrictions on what one may or may not do—no fasting and, in fact, no prohibitions except one: the lights of Hanukkah must not be used for any practical purpose, not even for studying Torah or lighting the Sabbath candles. Hanukkah candles are symbols […]
This title borrowed from the memoirs of scientist and Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini should help us learn from the weekly reading Vayigashwhat makes a good leader. In the context of the 2024 presidential election in the United States, there is much debate around the world about the personal qualities of a leader. Judah, one of […]
There is something strange about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which occurs a few days after Yom Kippur. One is required to leave one’s usual home and move to temporary, flimsy huts exposed to the vagaries of the weather. The holiday embodies the memory of protecting former slaves who dwelled in huts on their journey […]
“This past year has proven how fragile and precious life can be.” Rabbi Moshe Taragin, educator and author, begins his recent article with these words. It is written during the Hebrew month of Elul, which, this year, began in September. He mourns the death of some of his students who died as Israel’s soldiers in the war […]
(240812) — GAZA, Aug. 12, 2024 (Xinhua) — People flee from the Hamad City, a neighborhood in the northwest of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Aug. 11, 2024, following the latest evacuation order issued by the Israeli authorities. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua) (Image by Xinhua) Modern Israel attracts much attention from […]
(Image by Prensa Latina) Every year, Jews recite the entire Pentateuch aloud in synagogues. It is divided in weekly portions. Last week’s one (Vaet’hanan, Deuteronomy 3 :23 – 7 :11) contains passages that are central to Jewish liturgy, including the Shema, a declaration of loyalty to God, or more precisely, a declaration of love […]
Reflections on Avi Shlaim, Three Worlds : Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, London: Oneworld, 2023, 324 pp. During my stay in Iran in 2016, I heard from several Muslims that Jews are good businessmen because they are trustworthy, and their word weighs more than a notarized contract. I recalled these comments when I read about Yusef, one of […]
22.03.24 – Montreal, Canadá – Yakov M. Rabkin The Jewish holiday of Purim, related in the Book of Esther, celebrates deliverance from a genocide. How to celebrate it when death and starvation kill thousands in Gaza, and the holiday’s rhetoric, namely the memory of the archenemy Amalek, is being used by Israeli politicians responsible for […]
Written for the Canadian Jewish News, September 2009. How to help Israel by Yakov M Rabkin* Rosh Hashana, Jewish New Year, is all about moral reckoning and self-improvement. The Jewish tradition views the Jews’ eventual return to the Land of Israel as a spiritual concept, dependent on the behaviour of the Jews and, above all, […]
Published on May 27 in ON LINE opinion – Australia’s e-journal of social and political debate http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8967&page=0 Torn apart between Jewish values and support for Israel By Yakov Rabkin Parents know how hard it is to tell their children untruths or half-truths. We do so when we are morally torn, ethically embarrassed or intellectually inconsistent. […]
Published in German in Jüdische Zeitung, Berlin, February 2009, p. 11 under the title “Unschuld und Veratwortung”. Innocence and Responsibility Yakov M Rabkin[1] The recent massacre in Mumbai is hard to forget. Dennis Praeger, a prominent author and broadcaster, writes in the online Front Page Magazine that “slaughtering as many people as possible in India’s […]
Published in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 27, Number 1, Fall 2008, pp. 104-106 Darwin and the Jews Geoffrey Cantor and Marc Swetlitz, eds., Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism, Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2006, xii+260 pp. This book is a collection of papers written by scholars […]
Published in the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC- Clio, 2008, vol. 2, pp. 739-742. AMERICAN JEWS AND THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES The issue of Jews in any creative occupation—science, art, or literature—constitutes a controversy in itself. If science were seen as an objective and impersonal reflection of physical reality this article would […]
THE SIEGE OF GAZA EXPOSES RIFT BETWEEN JUDAISM AND ZIONISM Yakov M Rabkin Rabbi Dow Marmur is right to raise the issue of morality of Israel’s actions in Gaza (“Can Israel’s attacks on Gaza be justified?” Globe and Mail, January 17, 2008). As a rabbi he naturally turns to questions of morality since this is […]
Letter to the Canadian Jewish News, February 2007 Many thanks for covering a debate about my book A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism that took place at McGill University (“Relevance of Jewish anti-Zionism”, CJN February 8, 2007, p. 19). It was indeed rewarding to discuss with students who had read […]
Published in Isis: International Journal for the History of Science 94 (2003), pp. 117-118. Freudenthal, Gad (Editor). Aleph: Historical Studies in Science & Judaism, No. I. 351 pp., tables. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2001. (Paper.) Studies of Jews in science have often provoked adverse reactions. The idea of distinguishing between Jewish and non-Jewish […]
