Dr. Israel Drazin served for 31 years in the US military and attained the rank of Brigadier General. He has a PhD in Judaic Studies and a Masters Degree in psychology and a Masters Degree in Jewish Literature. He is an attorney and a rabbi.
He developed the legal strategy that saved the military chaplaincies when its constitutionality was attacked in court, and received the Legion of Merit for his service.
He was the scholar who recognized that the Aramaic translation Targum Onkelos took hundreds of items from the Tannaitic Midrashim, which were edited around 400 CE; therefore, the Targum must have been composed after that date, a period much later than had been widely accepted.
He is the author of more than 50 books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, and a series of books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, a history of the legal case he handled, and dozens of books on the Bible.
His works, available on Amazon, include:
*A Rational Approach to Judaism and Torah Commentary
*Can’t Start Passover Without the Bread (Children’s Literature) ***
*For God and Country: The History of a Constitutional Challenge to the Army Chaplaincy
*Maimonides and the Biblical Prophets
*Maimonides: Reason Above All
*Maimonides: The Exceptional Mind
*Mysteries of Judaism (Maimonides and Rational)
*Mysteries of Judaism II: How the Rabbis and Others Changed Judaism
*Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker
*Onkelos on the Torah Understanding the Bible Text (5 Volume Set)**
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 1: Genesis) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 2: Exodus) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 3: Leviticus) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 4: Numbers) **
*Onkelos on the Torah (Book 5: Deuteronomy) **
*Sailing on Moti’s Ark on Sukkoth (Children’s Literature) ***
*Stories that Teach the Truth: Ecclesiastes, Tobit, Susanna, and Other Stories.
*Studies in Onkelos (Hebrew edition)
*Targum Onkelos to Exodus [2]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*Targum Onkelos to Leviticus [3]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*Targum Onkelos to Numbers [4]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
Targum Onkelos to Deuteronomy [5]: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary
*The Authentic King Solomon
*The Tragedies of King David
*Understanding Onkelos
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Five Books of Moses (Maimonides and Rational)
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Hosea
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Jonah and Amos
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Joshua
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Judges
*Unusual Bible Interpretations: Ruth, Esther, Judith
*What’s Beyond the Biblical Text? **
*Who Really Was the Biblical David?
*Who Was the Biblical Prophet Samuel?
** Co-Authored with Stanley Wagner
** Co-Authored with Leba Lieder
The Jewish calendar contains a mourning period during the summer months. It begins and ends with fast days, whose precise dates are not based on verifiable facts. The mourning period chiefly commemorates the destruction of the first and second temples, and serves to remind Jews of their history and their connection to the land and people of Israel. (Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin)
Fast days: legends, history, explanations Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr.
Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel, the author of ten books, has made a fascinating, enlightening, and much needed contribution to our understanding of the Coronavirus pandemic and Jewish and other views on the subject in his book God and the Pandemic. He gives readers a thorough very readable analysis of the many pandemics, earthquakes, plagues, and other occurrences that killed many people. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Book Review: ‘God and the Pandemic’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiThe doctrine of Torah Min Ha-Shamayim, “The Torah is from Heaven,” is a fundamental teaching of Orthodox Judaism. Rabbis say it means that God dictated the Five Books of Moses to Moses. But even rabbis who strongly defend this doctrine do not know how God communicated the Torah to Moses or how much of it. For example, there are Orthodox rabbis who agree that Moses was the author of the book of Deuteronomy, or most of it, and God approved what he wrote. More significantly, Maimonides states that we have no idea how the Torah was revealed. A modern rabbi and scholar Louis Jacobs argues that he knows how it was revealed. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Debating Divine Revelation Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Rabbi Michael Hattin’s new 207-page book Judges has 19 chapters, two less than the biblical Book of Judges. Judges is part of a series of Maggid Books, a division of Koren Publishers Jerusalem, that uses an interdisciplinary approach incorporating traditional rabbinic interpretations with scholarly literary techniques to explore the characters, themes, and text of the Hebrew Bible. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Judges in Book of Judges did not judge Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionMaggid Books has just published an excellent comprehensive 493-page study of the biblical Book of Esther called Esther: Power, Fate, and Fragility in Exile by Erica Brown, Ph.D, an award-winning author of many books, lecturer, and Jewish teacher. Brown tells readers exactly what the Bible text is saying, not what people read into it. She does so in clear, easy to read language. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
What is the Book of Esther really about? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion
Saint Thomas Aquinas was authored by G. K. Chesterton, whose output includes both fiction and nonfiction books, including the famous Father Brown murder mysteries. Chesterton wrote this comparatively short history of the Italian Roman Catholic saint who was canonized in 1323. Aquinas’ teachings became the official teachings of Catholicism in 1917. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Theology vs. Philosophy; Aquinas vs. Maimonides Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionWhat is more important believing in God or acting properly? [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Blaise Pascal’s foolish bet Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionRabbi Dr. Sperber quotes his speech during the ordination of female rabbis. “A relatively short time ago such an occasion within an Orthodox setting would have seemed to be impossible, almost hallucinatory. Yet what was so recently a dream has now become a reality. Yet what was once implausible has now become almost a norm, at least within a certain segment of the modern Orthodox community.” He notes that some Orthodox leaders refuse to accept the change, “But this is to be expected, and indeed understandable, given the traditionalist inability to recognize the dynamic nature of halachah. For they are grounded in dogmatism, while we strive after dynamism.” [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
May Orthodox Judaism have female rabbis? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion
Menasseh served the descendants of Portuguese and Spanish exiles, Jews like him who escaped from these lands. He made a small amount of money as a printer of books, a job he had to take because the community paid him a minimal salary as one of their rabbis. He worked hard to persuade the English king to allow Jews to live in England, but died believing he was not successful. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Books: Menasseh ben Israel paved Jews way back to England Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish HistoryJews and non-Jews who want to know more about the Bible (the Tanakh) and such questions as why biblical figures acted as they did, could do no better that to read Professor Nechama Price’s Tribal Blueprints. This book is part of the excellent Maggid Tanakh Companion series. Maggid is part of Koren Press. The series uses an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates traditional rabbinic interpretations with secular scholarly literary techniques to explore biblical characters and themes. Professor Price is a senior lecturer in Bible and Judaic Studies at Stern College and Director of Yeshiva University’s Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud Studies. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
‘Tribal Blueprints’ examines Jacob, his wives, sons, and descendants Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionThe current observance of Shavuot has no relationship to its biblical ancestor and doesn’t even occur at the same time. Very few people know the truth about this day. Most Jews think Shavuot recalls the day the Torah was revealed to the Israelites during the days of Moses. This is not true. This significance was given to the holiday in the middle ages when the holiday had lost one of its original purposes; the sacrifice prescribed for the day was discontinued when the second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. I am not advocating that Jews should not observe Shavuot. Judaism today is not Torah Judaism. It is Rabbinic Judaism. Jews observe the Torah as it is interpreted by the rabbis. I observe Shavuot. The purpose of this article is simply to reveal its historical development. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Biblical Shavuot and its practice today Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish ReligionIn “The Devil and Daniel Webster” Benet depicts Daniel Webster saving a New Hampshire farmer from the Devil and from Hell. In the story, the farmer Jabez Stone was impoverished; every effort he made on his farm turned out bad. Exacerbated, he agrees to sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for ten years of great prosperity. His request is granted. At the end of the ten years, Jabez rushes to the famed orator and lawyer Daniel Webster to come and save him. The Americanized Devil, who calls himself Scratch, comes to collect the farmer’s soul. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
On ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionI was asked to explain the verse in Malachi 1:3, “Esau I hated.” He wrote: “This is one of the few verses in the Bible that truly disturbs me…. I believe everyone who has ever lived … will attain supreme, lasting happiness…. What exactly does it mean that God hated him, I don’t know?” A similar question can be asked about Malachi 1:2 where the prophet chastises the Judeans for not loving God despite God loving them. Does God feel hatred and love? [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
Does God have emotions: anger, hate, and love? Read More »
Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish ReligionBetween, January 1918 and December 1920 more people were killed by the Spanish flu than all the people who died during World War I soldiers and civilians, 50 million, about a tenth of the world population of 500 million at that time. The flu struck just prior to the end of World War I (1914-1918) when conditions in the US and world-wide were terrible: weak, hungry, overworked people living in overcrowded conditions. There were lots of movement of people around the world, such as soldiers moving from country to country. There was no concept of mitigation and isolation. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]
What was the Spanish Flu? Read More »
International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Science, Medicine, & Education, USA