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Disputed Origins of Religion: Modern Views (Part 2)

In the last two centuries, we have witnessed the rise of many new theories concerning the origins of religion which continue the debate started by the ancients. There seems to be little agreement among scholars as to how or why religions first originated.

Herbert Spencer identified the origin of religion in what he perceives to be the universal practice among primitive peoples of worshiping the ghosts of their ancestors. He then goes on to trace the further evolution of religious consciousness ...

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Categories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish History, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, Jewish symbolism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

From The Age of “Seducing By Scents” to “The Emergence of Ortho-Feminism”

I have often felt that misogyny has been one of the oldest sins since Adam and Eve. The woman’s liberation movement has some remarkable antecedents in American history. It is remarkable how much the 20th century fight for gender rights have completely overturned thousands of years of male hegemony. It is no wonder why traditional religious societies across the globe fear it-change is necessary as it is inevitable.

Seducing By Scents

I came across an interesting article from House and Garden Magazine ...

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Categories: American Jewish Issues, Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Heart-Centered Judaism, Israel, Jewish customs, Jewish Folklore, Jewish Law & Technology, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, Jewish symbolism, judaism, Judaism and Feminism, Responsa Literature, Talmud, Zohar, and Midrash, The Future of Judaism

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Modern Orthodoxy at the Crossroads . . .

Gender roles continue to challenge the Orthodox world of Haredi Judaism in Israel-and elsewhere in the world today even now as women continue to be arrested for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall.

A Primer on the History of Torah Reading

The idea of women’s aliyot (being called to say a blessing over the Torah) continues to pit the world of the past with the world of the present. I guess we could call it , “The Halachic War of the ...

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Categories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Israel, Jewish customs, Jewish History, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, Jewish sexual ethics, Judaism and Feminism, The Future of Judaism

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Beyond the Five-Sensory Zone of Consciousness

Redefining the role of prayer in a modern age is one of modern Judaism’s greatest challenges. This is true not only of Judaism, but of all religion as well. I see prayer primarily in existential terms.

Prayer is rooted in the conviction that there is more to human life and consciousness than just the five-sensory world we experience. Our hunger and yearning the meaning of the universe and our lives prompts us to move from the ordinary to a reality that ...

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Categories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, Jewish symbolism, judaism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

Believing in something vs. believing in nothing

Dorothy Sayers observes, “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair… the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”

The absence of passion in the face of evil explains why evil is so virulent in the world. Such a listless existence is no way ...

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Categories: American Jewish Issues, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, judaism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

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