Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets
The book addresses provocative questions such as:

  • What is the proper way to interpret the Torah?
  • How does Maimonides understand the episodes of the Prophets?
  • Did miracles such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the falling of the walls at Jericho, and the sun standing still for Joshua really occur?
  • What assumptions cause us to misunderstand the Bible?
  • Is there a biblical mandate prohibiting suicide?
  • Does the Bible forbid ceding parts of the land of Israel for peace?
  • Can children be punished for their parents misdeeds, and, if not, why does the Torah say that they are punished?
  • Why does Shabbat begin at different times for men and women?
  • Why did significant biblical leaders violate rabbinical laws? What really caused the adding of a day to holidays shortly after the time of Moses?
  • Why does the Bible not always mean what it appears to say? Is it true that Judaism does not know what happens after death

1102872673
Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets
The book addresses provocative questions such as:

  • What is the proper way to interpret the Torah?
  • How does Maimonides understand the episodes of the Prophets?
  • Did miracles such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the falling of the walls at Jericho, and the sun standing still for Joshua really occur?
  • What assumptions cause us to misunderstand the Bible?
  • Is there a biblical mandate prohibiting suicide?
  • Does the Bible forbid ceding parts of the land of Israel for peace?
  • Can children be punished for their parents misdeeds, and, if not, why does the Torah say that they are punished?
  • Why does Shabbat begin at different times for men and women?
  • Why did significant biblical leaders violate rabbinical laws? What really caused the adding of a day to holidays shortly after the time of Moses?
  • Why does the Bible not always mean what it appears to say? Is it true that Judaism does not know what happens after death

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Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets

Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets

by Israel Drazin
Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets
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Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets

Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets

by Israel Drazin

Overview

The book addresses provocative questions such as:

  • What is the proper way to interpret the Torah?
  • How does Maimonides understand the episodes of the Prophets?
  • Did miracles such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the falling of the walls at Jericho, and the sun standing still for Joshua really occur?
  • What assumptions cause us to misunderstand the Bible?
  • Is there a biblical mandate prohibiting suicide?
  • Does the Bible forbid ceding parts of the land of Israel for peace?
  • Can children be punished for their parents misdeeds, and, if not, why does the Torah say that they are punished?
  • Why does Shabbat begin at different times for men and women?
  • Why did significant biblical leaders violate rabbinical laws? What really caused the adding of a day to holidays shortly after the time of Moses?
  • Why does the Bible not always mean what it appears to say? Is it true that Judaism does not know what happens after death

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9789652294302
Publisher: Gefen Publishing House
Publication date: 03/01/2009
Series: Maimonides
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. Israel Drazin served for thirty-one years in the US military and attained the rank of Brigadier General. He has a PhD in Judaic studies, a master s degree in psychology, a master s degree in Hebrew literature, and is an attorney and a rabbi. He developed the legal strategy that saved the military chaplaincy when its constitutionality was attacked in court, and received the Legion of Merit for his service. He was the scholar who recognized that Targum Onkelos incorporated hundreds of words from the Tannaitic Midrashim, edited around 400 CE, and therefore must have been composed after that date, a period much later than has been widely accepted. He is the author of twenty-five books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authored with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth-century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House.

Date of Birth:

May 1656

Date of Death:

August 1728

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction xiii

Part 1 Preliminary Ideas

Chapter 1 Should Jews Accept Non-Jewish Ideas? 3

Chapter 2 Maimonides' View on Prophecy 7

Chapter 3 Three Ways to Interpret Torah 15

Chapter 4 Traditional Biblical Scholars Employing Reason to Interpret Torah: Select Examples 23

Part 2 Interpretations of the Prophets

Chapter 5 “Tell Me the Truth, Moses, What Really Happened at the Red Sea?” 31

Chapter 6 “Joshua, Why Didn't Moses Circumcise the Israelites Before They Entered Canaan?” 41

Chapter 7 “The Problem, My Dear Readers, Is Based on Wrong Assumptions!” 47

Chapter 8 Did the City Walls of Jericho Miraculously Fall? 55

Chapter 9 What Gave Joshua the Right to Kill Achan in a Non-judicial Fashion? 63

Chapter 10 Can We Rely on God to Perform Miracles? 71

Chapter 11 Was Joshua Acting Morally When He Enslaved the Gibeonites? 77

Chapter 12 Did the Sun Stand Still for Joshua at Gibeon? 83

Chapter 13 Does the Book of Joshua Contradict Itself? 87

Chapter 14 Does Joshua 24 Deny the Revelation of the Decalogue at Sinai? 91

Chapter 15 Does God Dwell Only in Israel? 99

Chapter 16 Why Did Saul and David Violate Jewish Laws? 105

Chapter 17 The Jewish View of Suicide 117

Chapter 18 “Come On, Now, Does Penitence Really Rid Us of Sin?” 123

Chapter 19 The Rape of Tamar 133

Excursus 1 When Did the Process of Conversions Begin? 139

Chapter 20 May a Court Execute a Person Who Killed His Brother When Neither Has Children or Siblings? 143

Chapter 21 The Occasional Irony of the Bible 149

Chapter 22 Why Did King David Allow Shimei to Curse and Stone Him? 155

Chapter 23 May Jews Count People? 159

Chapter 24 What Did David Do Wrong When He Counted People? 163

Chapter 25 1 Kings 2 through 10: The Deceptive Description of Solomon 171

Chapter 26 Demonstrating Irony 175

Chapter 27 Why Would God Punish Future Israelites for Solomon's Misdeeds? 181

Chapter 28 Trading Land for Peace: A Biblical Example 185

Chapter 29 Why Did the Rabbis Reject the Simple Meaning of 1 Kings 22? 189

Chapter 30 The Ever-Illusive Letter Heh 195

Chapter 31 Are There 613 Biblical Commandments? 203

Part 3 Other Maimonidean Interpretations

Chapter 32 Maimonides' and Pseudo-Aristeas' Unique Views on the Dietary Laws 209

Chapter 33 Maimonides and Bechor Schor's Analyses of the Decalogue 215

Chapter 34 Did Moses Know That the Land of Israel Is Holy? 227

Excursus 2 Rabbi Shneur Zalman on the Second Day of Holidays 231

Chapter 35 The Pagan and Biblical Views of Life after Death 233

Excursus 3 The Need to Be Held Accountable 242

Part 4 Original Ideas Based on the Maimonidean Method

Chapter 36 The Real Reason for the Additional Day of Holidays 245

Excursus 4 Why Did the Practice of Announcing the Day of the New Moon in Synagogues Begin? 257

Chapter 37 Putting God Together Again 259

Chapter 38 The Irrational Belief in a Destructive Evil Eye 265

Chapter 39 The Significance of the Number Seven 277

Excursus 5 Further Examples of the Use of Seven and Other Significant Numbers 291

Chapter 40 Why Do Women Light the Sabbath Candles Long before the Sabbath Begins? 305

Excursus 6 A Few Words about the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Karaites 315

Chapter 41 Maimonides' Apparently Curious Added Requirement to the Noahide Commandments 317

Afterword 321

References and Additional Reading 325

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