The Genesis of Modern Science

Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton, and the other founders of modern science were all believers in the truths of the opening chapter in the Hebrew Bible.

Thomism  John O'Callaghan, Ralph McInerny,  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Thomas Aquinas saw natural law as primarily governing the relations between human beings and God, not the operations of the natural world.  SAVE

Marvels  Eugene Wigner,  Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics.  The appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.  SAVE

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Jonah and the Music of Yom Kippur

Leviticus 10 tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died for bringing "strange fire" before the Lord in the wilderness. As a result of their deaths, according to Leviticus 16, God instructed Moses to ordain an annual Day of Atonement.

My Favorite Book in the Bible  Harold Bloom,  New York Review of Books.  Jonah is a sly masterpiece, a parody of prophetic solemnities, a magnificent piece of literature because it is so funny.  SAVE

The Bible Scholar Who Didn’t Know Hebrew  Anthony Grafton,  Jewish Review of Books.  Elias Bickerman may not have heard all the harmonies in Jonah, but he heard much else.  SAVE

Kol Nidrei Quartet  John Zorn,  Milken Archive of Jewish Music.  Neither a setting nor an arrangement, John Zorn's clever and imaginative composition evokes Yom Kippur's mood of awe and introspection. (Audio)  SAVE

Chromatic Vows  Arnold Schoenberg,  Milken Archive of Jewish Music.  Arnold Schoenberg's Kol Nidrei takes a drastic departure from tradition. (Audio)  SAVE

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Who Owns Maimonides?

Abraham Joshua Heschel once suggested that if one didn't know that "Maimonides" was a person, one would assume it was the name of a university. Heschel was referring to the monumental breadth and influence of the 12th-century philosopher's work.

Perplexed by Maimonides?  Natan Slifkin,  Rationalist Judaism.  A chart of the various approaches to Maimonides' theology, from the academic to the ultra-Orthodox.  SAVE

Mediterranean Maimonides  Jewish Ideas Daily.  For Maimonides, Islamic culture was not just background but shaping influence.  SAVE

The Tale of Maimonides and Peter  Fred MacDowell,  On the Main Line.  Was the great religious philosopher a heretic, as some medieval rabbis thought? A legend extant in many versions tells how he dramatically and successfully dispelled the charge.  SAVE

Sifting the Cairo Genizah  Lawrence Grossman,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  The centuries-old materials found in the loft of a Cairo synagogue include handwritten letters and documents of Maimonides.  SAVE

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Menorah carved on stone, found in a 2,000-year-old tunnel to Jerusalem.

Mysteries of the Menorah

On the eve of Tisha b'Av, 2011, archeologists revealed artifacts newly unearthed from the great Jewish revolt against Rome (67–70 C.E.), including coins minted by the rebels and a stone incised with a sketch of the Temple menorah. But what is the menorah, and what does it symbolize?

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