Project on Aging

I have been working for TAG-Institute for the past couple of months.

Tag is an organisation dedicated to promoting the broadest possible contribution of Jews and Judaism to the improvement of the world. It does this in two ways - the dissemination of knowledge of Jewish social values through Tag Institute for Jewish Social Values, and humanitarian activities through Tag International Development.

The basic goal of what I have been doing is to present Jewish ideas to the non-Jewish world, to allow the 'Jewish' voice of Social Science to be heard. With over 2000 years of written history, Judaism has a contribution to make to the wider world.

So, here is a document that I prepared on the 'Jewish View on Aging'. There is much more that could be said, but my main focus was where Judaism can make a contribution to the wider world in the field of Aging Enrichment.

If anyone has time or interest to read this document I would appreciate any thoughts, ideas or feedback (positive or negative). This is essentially the first draft and any comments will be incorporated in future versions of this document.

Here is the document on Jewish Aging. Right click to download.

Ninth of Tevet

Today is the 9th of Tevet. Rabbi Dr. Shnayer Leiman has given one of the best shiurim I have ever heard on reason for the fast on this day (which nobody fasts on).

You can hear the shiur (or download it) on the Yeshiva University website:
http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/715371/Dr_Shnayer_Leiman/Jewish_Perspectives_on_Early_Christianity_-_Nittel,_the_Ninth_of_Teves_and_Pope_Simon_Peter

The shiur begins with a cryptic Rashi in Avoda Zara which says that the Romans have no langugage or books of their own. He then looks at the Shulchan Aruch who says that 9th Tevet is a Fast Day, but we do not know the reason why. He cites attempted answers from Sefer Hakabballah, Rema (in Mechir Yayin), Taz and Magen Avraham, Ye'arot Devash and Sefer Ha-Ibbur (which claims that 25th December in the year of Jesus' birth fell on 9th Tevet). Then he gives what seems to be the most likely answer - that it is the Yarzheit of Saint Peter, who was really a Tanna named Shimon Kefas (Kasponi), uncle of Jesus. and he shows that the original text of rashi also made reference to this literature of the 'Jewish version of the Jesus story'.

I have never met Rabbi Leiman, and (unfortunately) have no connection to him, but I highly recommend this and all fo his shiurim.

In the shiur, he is reading from a source sheet. However, I was not able to find the source sheet on that website. So I created it myself (and the sources that he quotes are wild and wonderful).

So, if you want to hear his shiur, and read a source sheet, you can download this source sheet, and click on his link.

Parshat Vayeshev - The Poor Person

I'm sorry - I forgot to put this shiur on the web last week. So you will either have to listen to last week's parsha now (I think it is still kosher if you listen before Tuesday) or you will have to wait until next year to listen to it.

This shiur is fairly simple, but gives a different view of the parsha. I look at Rabbeinu Bachaye's introduction to the parsha, where he describes four categories of poor people. Then with some help from the audience (audience participation is always a good thing) we try to read these four categories of poor people back into the whole parsha, and come out with a theme of loss and redemption as the central idea of the parsha.


I look forward to your comments.

Here is the audio shiur (and the pdf sheets to download if you want).

Parshat Vayeshev - Rabbeinu Bachaye and the Poor Person

(Right click and then 'download as')

Parshat Vayeshev - Rabbeinu Bachaye source sheet

Your feedback is welcome and appreciated. I would love to continue giving a shiur to this group on a weekly basis, but to do that I would need some kind of sponsorship. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a shiur (either l'ilui nishmat someone, or just for no reason) please contact me.

Signs of Life

I recently saw a book (which I believe has just been published) which has beautiful illustrations showing what makes animals kosher and what makes them non-kosher. It is called "Signs of Life" The pictures are beautiful. However, as many of you know, there has been much controversy in the past few years about how to deal with the issue of hyrax and rabbit in terms of whether they chew the cud or not. I was curious how this book dealt with the issue. He spends almost half a page on both animals, and this is what he writes:

The Rock Badger and the Rabbit
Scientists throughout the generations have had the audacity to argue that the rock badger (shafan) and rabbit (arneves) do not chew their cud, in direct contradiction of that which is stated in the Torah. On the contrary, anyone can see with their own eyes that these animals chew their food long after it was ingested. (See Torah Sheleimah, Parshas Shemini (p. 293, quoted in Sefer Sichas Chullin p. 410) for further explanation of why these animals are considered to chew their cud

I am not all that impressed with his scholarship - he apparently didn't actually look in Torah Sheleimah, but relied on the citation from Sichas Chullin (which is honest of him). I'm not sure how many rock badgers or rabbits he has looked at - personally I have never looked at them for long enough to see them chew their food after it was ingested, but I'm skeptical!

But I am completely impressed with his total faith in the Torah (though his reliance on 'that which is stated in the Torah' disregarding the disagreements of Chazal and Rishonim is perhaps a but too much like the Saducees for my linking). And the audacity of those scientists throughout the ages! (Not sure how many studies of rock badgers have been done before the 20th century, but I'll believe him). Wouldn't it be great if scientists would always only stick to the simple text of Chumash and never have the audacity to argue with it!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif We wouldn't have to worry about pesky issues such as the age of the universe, the heliocentric solar system, or the Southern Hemisphere. We would never investigate photosynthesis, because we would know that plants can live without a sun. We would never look for medical cures for illnesses, because we know that they come from G-d, who is the only true Healer.

Wouldn't life be simple (if short) if we restricted scientists from investigating things which make them seem audacious.

PS I just found an article in HaModia about the book which includes the following line:

Signs of Life, is the only modern comprehensive work that deals with the mitzvah of recognizing the kosher signs of animals, providing an in-depth analysis of the issue with beautiful full-color photos and diagrams. It has been widely acclaimed by the Torah leaders of this generation.

I didn't know that it was the only book on the topic! And I'm slightly disappointed that he didn't go into the issue in more details once he realised that it is a Torah mitzvah!

Parshat Vayishlach - the Divine Within

I gave this shiur last night in Jerusalem. Happy Birthday Michael and thank you for hosting the shiur.

This shiur is in part a continuation of last week's shiur on angels. Only this time we examine 'Who is G-d'?

Who did Yaakov wrestle with? All the Rishonim (without exception as far as I could tell) say it was an angel. Yet this appears to contradict the simple reading of the Chumash, and ignores several Midrashim.

Is there a p'shat reading of the text? How are we to understand the statements of Chazal that equate Yaakov/Yisrael/Yeshurun with G-d?

I also bring two kabbalistic Rishonim (there are not so many Rishonim who wrote on kabbalah). However I completely failed to understand what they said, so even though I think the message is valid, profound and true, please ignore my misinterpretation of the Recanati and Avodat HaKodesh. I will try to have a better understanding before my shiur tonight on WebYeshiva.


I look forward to your comments.

Here is the audio shiur (and the pdf sheets to download if you want).

Parshat Vayishlach - The Divine Within

(Right click and then 'download as')

Parshat Vayishlach - The Divine Within - source sheet

Your feedback is welcome and appreciated. I would love to continue giving a shiur to this group on a weekly basis, but to do that I would need some kind of sponsorship. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a shiur (either l'ilui nishmat someone, or just for no reason) please contact me.