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It is a fact that there are societal fads in terms of the place of religion in various cultures. In the 1920s and '30s, religion in the U.S., and in most Western countries, was seen as essentially irrelevant by most people. In the 1940, '50s and...
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We have already seen that in nineteenth century Germany, two powerful non-Orthodox Jewish movements had arisen; Reform, and the Wissenschaft school. To be sure, there was was traditionally Orthodox community as well, that carefully maintained the...
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We have seen in the last installment how the teachings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch led to the birth of Modern Orthodoxy, which has since morphed into several forms. There is, however, an alternative understanding of Hirsch, which flourishes...
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We have seen how the views of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch brought many to accept "culture" as something apart from Jewish Tradition, and the necessity of using Torah for the sanctification of "culture". There were many others who had similar...
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When I studied European History in college, I was very surprised to learn that in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, a major target of the Catholic Church was, of all things, Bible Societies. In fact, Pope Gregory XVI issued an encyclical in...
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While in Yemen, the Jews kept Talmudic wedding traditions which have long since died out in other communities. However, in Israel, and other lands in which Yemenites have settled, many of these traditions have gone by the wayside, in favor of...
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Perhaps the most impressive Yemenite event is a wedding, together with the prenuptial celebrations. About a week before a wedding, the bride and groom attend a "Henna" celebration. This tradition is common in the Middle East among Muslims, and is...
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For many years after Maimonides, the Yemenite community followed his path both in Halachah (Jewish law), which, as we have seen, was very close to their own ancient practices, and in his philosophical approach to Jewish theology. Beginning in the...
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Maimonides was faced with a difficult choice. Should he risk his position...and his life...in order to respond to the pleas from Yemen? Would his intervention really accomplish anything? He finally decided that he must save a Jewish community from...
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A non-Yemenite rabbi whose name will forever be associated with that community is Moses Maimonides (1138-1204), known and beloved by the Jewish world by the acrostic RAMBAM, but by the Yemenites simply as Rabbenu (our rabbi, our teacher). He is...
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