Category: Torah

by Z S

Parashat Ki Tetzei

This is adapted from a drash Z. S. read last year at Devar Emet Messianic Congregation. A drash is a brief takeaway from the weekly cycle of texts. This Week’s Readings: Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10 Brit Chadashah: Revelation 21:1-4 I recently spoke with a friend in Israel about some issues surrounding the aliyah process, and how terrible Israeli bureaucracy can get. My friend told me, “I think bureaucracy is a curse from G-d. It’s only because of our sins of lying and forging that we need bureaucracy.” I suppose my friend is right. I wouldn’t have to worry about authenticating documents … Continue reading “Parashat Ki Tetzei” →

by Z S

Divine Revelation in the Epistemology of Maimonides

In a previous article, I wrote about the centrality of the divine to Socrates’ epistemology. Here, I will discuss the source of prophecy in Maimonides’ epistemology. Over a millennium after Socrates, Maimonides echoes similar sentiments in his discourse on prophets in Book Two of The Guide for the Perplexed. He writes with the Aristotelian methodology prevalent in Egypt at his time to conclude that a man can be perfectly well-read and even have great character yet still not attain the status of prophet. Maimonides points out that knowledge and other forms of human wisdom, while necessary, are not sufficient to … Continue reading “Divine Revelation in the Epistemology of Maimonides” →

by A Andrew

Peter’s Vision: Making Clear What Was Made Clean

This is a guest post by A Andrew. He is an aspiring Messianic Jewish apologist. I have lost count of how many times people have pointed to Peter’s vision of the animals on the sheet in Acts 10 and say, “See! You do not need to keep kosher anymore!” It still shocks me every time. The use of Peter’s vision as a proof text for kosher law being discontinued would probably even shock the early Church Fathers. Not even they used Acts 10:9-16 as a justification for their position that no believer should keep kosher [1].