Archive for March 27th, 2009

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Why did God create evil? A Parable from the Zohar

The fact that evil confronts good, gives man the possibility of victory.

— R. YEHIEL MICHAEL OF ZLOTSHOV, Hassidic Aphorism

Let us assume for a moment that the rabbis and the allegorical school are correct in identifying the serpent as a metaphor for the evil inclination. But why did God create the impulse for evil? Would humankind have been better off not having to deal with such an urge? The Zohar raises this question, and offers the reader a most intriguing thought-provoking ...

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Categories: judaism

What does “rabbi” mean and when was the title first introduced?

What does “rabbi” mean, and when was the title “rabbi” first introduced?

This question is much more complex than most people realize. However, antecedents to the term רַב (rab) has some basis the Tanakh, where it denotes “great,” or chief (2 Kgs 18:17; Isa 36:2). Elsewhere the expression rab māg means “chief of princes” (Jer 39:3, 13), while rab tabbāḥım, is “captain of the guard” (2 Kgs 25:8, etc.). By the time of the 1st century, the title of ...

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Categories: Interfaith Dialogue, Jewish customs, judaism, New Testament and Jewish scholarship, Talmud, Zohar, and Midrash, Word Focus