Archive for 'Heart-Centered Judaism'

HomeHeart-Centered Judaism

Understanding the Purpose of the Levirate Marriage and Its Symbolism

One of the ancient institutions that have persisted since archaic times is the levirate marriage. Here is a brief synopsis of the institution and its underlying rational.

Life of a widow in the ancient world was precarious at best. Having no inheritance rights, she was easily exploited and was frequently reduced to abject poverty and/or prostitution. Many ancient civilizations from India, Africa, to the Ancient Near East utilized the levirate marriage (from the Latin levir, a “brother-in-law”) as a means of ...

Learn More

Categories: American Jewish Issues, Bible, biblical history, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish customs, Jewish Folklore, Jewish History, Jewish Law & Technology, Jewish sexual ethics, Jewish symbolism, Judaism and Feminism, The Future of Judaism

Tags: ,

Grieving for a non-Jewish spouse or parent

An interesting but poignant incident took place last week on one of my favorite websites where the participants were discussing the new Orthodox Siddur (prayer book) that the Chief Rabbi of Britain recently wrote. The participants made comparisons to the Artscroll prayer book and the discussions suddenly took an unexpected turn—one that was surprising and tragic.

One of the forum’s participants named Mordechai wrote the following message about a conversation he had with a well-known Chabad rabbi in Florida.

My soul-mate and ...

Learn More

Categories: American Jewish Issues, Askarabbi, Contrarian wisdom, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish customs

Tags:

Pop Kabbalah and the other forms of McMysticism

Q. I recently started reading about other religions to find one that suits me and came upon Kabbalah. I started reading about it (through the most accessible books to find by Yehuda Berg) and started digging the whole thing he was selling. I liked the theories presented in his books and I agreed with the fact that the Bible was never meant to be something lived by so literally. Not to mention many of the other things talked about in ...

Learn More

Categories: biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Conversion, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish and Jungian ideas, Jewish symbolism, Judaism and Feminism, Talmud, Zohar, and Midrash, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

Tags: , , ,

Page 20 of 20 «...101617181920