Jewish Prayer and Meditation
What was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice?
Friday, May 1st, 2009A reader may wonder: What was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice?
Professor Robert Alter writes that the biblical narrator used several techniques to convey meaning, e.g., statements by the anonymous narrator, by God, by heroes or heroines, by verbal clues, by juxtaposition of material, by characterization, and by effects of actions. Applying [...]
Maimonides’s View on Sacrifices
Friday, May 1st, 2009Despite some ambivalence Maimonides felt about the institution of animal sacrifices, the great Jewish philosopher argues that animal sacrifice can reflect a noble impulse that pushes one to give one’s very best in areas that go far beyond the cultic sector.
For example, Maimonides considers Abel’s sacrifice as a paradigm for all types of [...]
When Speaking of the Ineffable
Friday, July 11th, 2008v
When Speaking of the Ineffable
Like Philo of Alexandria over a millennium before him, Maimonides boldly asserts that the negative attributes of God represent the true attributes.[1] Thus, when we say that “God exists,” that means to say that He is not nonexistent; when we say that “God is wise,” that is another way of saying [...]