This engaging and informative work presents a rational and thought provoking approach to the understanding of Judaism. It shows how people can use their intellect, live in the present, make personal and social progress and enjoy the goods of this world.
This book addresses such questions as: ~ What does God require of people? ~ Does God really want us to have faith? ~ How should we interpret the Bible? ~ How do we deal with seemingly unreasonable midrashic tales? ~ Does God want us to pray? ~ Do Jews believe in angels and demons? ~ Should we accept the truth taught by non-Jews? ~ Is sin a harmful emotion? ~ What is the value of comparing biblical stories to Greek myths?
About the Author Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin has been successful in several significant fields. He is a noted Bible scholar, an author of ten books, a United States Army Brigadier General and chaplain, a rabbi and a lawyer. As a lawyer, he headed the United States’ Medicare’s civil litigation staff. In the United States Army, General Drazin developed the legal argument that saved the military chaplaincies of the Army, Navy and Air Force when lawyers insisted in court that these institutions were a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Seven of his ten books are on Targum Onkelos, the fourth century Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch. By careful analysis of the ten thousand differences between the wording of the Targum and the Bible, Dr. Drazin was the first scholar who was able to identify the date of the Targum. He showed the Targum’s consistent reliance on the final edited version of the tannaitic Midrashim - which were edited around 400 CE - and that the Aramaic translator even copied a version of the Hebrew words of the Midrashim hundreds of times into his Aramaic translation. Dr. Drazin received his Rabbinic Ordination in 1957 from the Ner Israel Yeshiva in Baltimore, Maryland.