Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.

Rosh Hashanah is not a biblical holiday, although it replaced a biblical one. It is notably different from the holiday it replaced. The biblical holiday, Yom Teruah, had a totally different purpose than Rosh Hashanah, which focuses on the onset of a new year, repentance, and commitment to live the next year properly. Yom Teruah concentrated on months and the number seven. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — In 1953, the brilliant scholar Dr. Theodor H. Gaster published Festivals of the Jewish Year: A Modern Interpretation and Guide. It was updated in 1961. It is about the Jewish festivals and the Sabbath, their description, origin, and comparison to other ancient festivals. In six chapters

Most Jews who read the book do so like they daven (read) the prayers, in a rush, with no intent of trying to understand what they are reading. I once saw a bearded synagogue rabbi fire a very nice highly intelligent un-bearded man because he was not pious enough by the rabbi’s standard to read the book from the Writing to the congregation, and had a bearded man recite the book from the pulpit. While the un-bearded man read the book for the congregation at a fair pace, the bearded man rushed through it as he sped through his prayers. Both the reader and the rabbi failed to understand why Jews were advised by their ancestors to read the Tanakh, including the book of Lamentations. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

The numbers three and seven occur well over a hundred times in Judaism, as do their combination the number ten. The fast day of Tisha b’Av, meaning the ninth day of the Hebrew month Av, seems to be an exception – but is it an exception? [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel – Samuel, published by Koren Publishers Jerusalem in 2021, is one of the best Bible commentaries in English. I say this because of its massive, easy-to-read, scholarly material on many far-reaching subjects, contributions by 20 renowned scholars.  I see the value of this book after I used over a hundred such books while writing my own books on the Bible, such as my many volumes on the differences between the Hebrew Bible and its Aramaic translation called Onkelos, and after I have reviewed over 8,100 books, many dealing with the Bible. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

Since the average Jew and non-Jew in the seventeenth century believed in such things as the ever presence of God, a soul, the inerrancy of the Bible, faith rather than reason, the power of prayer, and the existence of helping angels, and since the Christians killed even their fellow religionists who rejected these notions, the Jewish officials excommunicated several Jews who held contrary views to protect the rest of the Jewish community from Christian outrage and death. One of these was Spinoza, who was excommunicated at age 24, in 1656. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

The Bible says nothing about life after death. It does not mention heaven or hell as an abode after death. The Torah’s entire focus is on behavior that results in the betterment of life, human and non-human, on earth. The only rewards offered to those who need the carrot of physical rewards and the threatening stick of punishments are consequences that occur during a person’s life on earth. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]