“Maimonides ”

Jewish Practices & Rituals: Animal Sacrifices and the Messianic Period

1. If God wanted us to have vegetarian diets and not harm animals, why were the Biblical sacrificial services established? During the time of Moses, it was the general practice among all nations to worship by means of sacrifice. There were many associated idolatrous practices... read article

Gematria

Hebrew letters are associated with numbers. Gematria is the computation of individual letters, words or entire sentences utilizing their numerical equivalence... read article

Antinomianism

ANTINOMIANISM (from Greek anti, "against," and nomos, "law"), opposition to the law and, more especially, a religiously inspired rejection and abolition of moral, ritual, and other traditionally accepted rules and standards... read article

Charity

The obligation to help the poor and the needy and to give them gifts is stated many times in the Bible and was considered by the rabbis of all ages to be one of the cardinal mitzvot of Judaism.In the BibleThe Bible itself legislates several laws which are in effect a sort of tax for the benefit of the poor. Among these are *leket, shikhḥah, and pe'ah as well as the special tithe for the poor (see *ma'aser). The institution of the sabbatical year (see *Sabbatical Year and Jubilee) was in order "that the poor of the people may eat" (Ex... read article

Death & Bereavement in Judaism: Ancient Burial Practices

In the Bible Decent burial was regarded to be of great importance in ancient Israel, as in the rest of the ancient Near East. Not only the Egyptians, whose extravagant provision for the dead is well known, but also the peoples of Mesopotamia dreaded above all else the thought of lying unburied. One of the most frequently employed curses found in Mesopotamian texts is: "May the earth not receive your corpses," or the equivalent... read article

IDF Soldiers Missing-in-Action: How Far Should Israel Go to Redeem Captive Soldiers?

Article discussing the dilemmas Israel faces when soldiers are held hostage... read article

Virtual Jewish World: Aden, Yemen

Aden is a seaport city in southwestern Yemen, possibly identical with the city of Eden referred to in Ezekiel 27:23. Aden had a long and storied Jewish history that was almost completely wiped out due to violence against the Jewish community after the establishment of Israel... read article

Issues in Jewish Ethics: Adultery

Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married woman, or one engaged by payment of the brideprice, and a man other than her husband... read article

Suretyship

SURETYSHIP (Heb. עַרְבוּת), one person's undertaking to fulfill the obligation of another toward a third person (called the arev, ḥayyav, and nosheh, respectively). In Jewish law fulfillment of an obligation is secured primarily through the assets of the debtor – "a man's possessions are his surety" (BB 174a; see *Lien) – and it is in addition to this that a person may serve as a surety for the fulfillment of the debtor's obligation toward his creditor... read article

Ma'aseh

MA'ASEH (Heb. מַעֲשֶׂה), a factual circumstance from which a halakhic rule or principle is derived; as such it constitutes one of the Jewish law sources... read article

Judaism: Aharonim

AḤARONIM (Heb. אַחֲרוֹנִים; lit. "the later" [authorities]), a term used to designate the later rabbinic authorities, in contrast to the *rishonim, the earlier authorities... read article

Ethical Literature

ETHICAL LITERATURE (Heb. סִפְרוּת הַמּוּסָר, sifrut ha-musar). There is no specific ethical literature as such in the biblical and talmudic period insofar as a systematic formulation of Jewish *ethics is concerned. Even the Wisdom *literature of the Bible, though entirely ethical in content, does not aim at giving a systematic exposition of this science of morals and human duties, but confines itself to apothegms and unconnected moral sayings... read article

Public Authority

PUBLIC AUTHORITY, in the context of this article, a term referring to an authoritative body composed of representatives of the public – whether appointed or elected by the latter – and entrusted with the duty and power to arrange various matters of common concern to this public. (For particulars concerning a personal authority, see *King and Kingdom; *Nasi; *Exilarch.) It has been stated that "the foundations of the community, as they remained in existence until the modern Enlightenment, were laid mainly in the first generations of the Second Temple period" (Y. Baer, in: Zion, 15 (1950), 1)... read article

Charity (Tzedakah): Charity Throughout Jewish History

The obligation to help the poor and the needy and to give them gifts is stated many times in the Bible and was considered by the rabbis of all ages to be one of the cardinal mitzvot, or commandments, of Judaism... read article

Execution

EXECUTION (Civil), laws concerning methods of recovering a debt.Definition and Substance of the ConceptIn Jewish law, a debt or obligation (ḥiyyuv) creates in favor of the creditor not only a personal right of action against the debtor, but also a right in rem in the form of a lien over the latter's property (termed aḥarayut nekhasim; see *Lien; Law of *Obligation). Hence, many of the laws concerning the methods of satisfying a debt out of the debtor's property also apply to the recovery of a debt with the consent of the debtor, and not merely to recovery of a debt by court action; e.g... read article

The 613 Commandments

COMMANDMENTS, THE 613 (Heb. תַּרְיַ״ג מִצְווֹת, taryag mitzvot). The total number of biblical commandments (precepts and prohibitions) is given in rabbinic tradition as 613. R. Simlai, a Palestinian teacher, states: "613 commandments were revealed to Moses at Sinai, 365 being prohibitions equal in number to the solar days, and 248 being mandates corresponding in number to the limbs of the human body" (Mak. 23b). (See the table "613 Commandments... read article

Incunabula

IntroductionThe term incunabula (or "cradle books") denotes books printed before 1500, including broadsheets, or other typographical products printed from letterpress composed of movable type. The first book known to be printed by Gutenberg in Germany dates from 1445. Jews were denied the opportunity of learning the art of *printing as long as it was exclusively practiced within Germany, where the strict rules of the guilds forbade the admission of apprentices who were not proved to be legitimately born sons of Christian citizens... read article

Jewish Medical Ethics: Genetic Screening & Genetic Therapy

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Galut

GALUT (Golah) (Heb. גָּלוּת, גּוֹלָה), exile.The ConceptThe Hebrew term galut expresses the Jewish conception of the condition and feelings of a nation uprooted from its homeland and subject to alien rule. The term is essentially applied to the history and the historical consciousness of the Jewish people from the destruction of the Second Temple to the creation of the State of Israel. The residence of a great number of members of a nation, even the majority, outside their homeland is not definable as galut so long as the homeland remains in that nation's possession... read article

Takkanah

A takkanah is a directive enacted by the halakhic scholars, or other competent body enjoying the force of law... read article