Author Archives: alreguelajat

Menasheh ben Israel (1604-1657) was born into a family of Portuguese Jewish converts who left Lisbon fleeing the Inquisition, which had brought them to trial for secretly practicing Judaism. Menasheh’s exact birthplace is unknown; some say it was in La … Seguir leyendo →

Hasidic Judaism is a Jewish religious movement that originated in Ukraine in the 18th century. The students of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the movement, spread it throughout Eastern Europe and established «courts,» groups of Hasidim led by … Seguir leyendo →

Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his essay “A Time for Renewal,” asks: Who is a Jew? And he answers: “A person in whose life Abraham Avinu would feel at home, a person for whom Rabbi Akiva would feel a great affinity, … Seguir leyendo →

A.B. Yehoshua, in his article “Defining Who Is a Jew,” says: “To be Jewish, you don’t need to live in Israel, you don’t need to speak Hebrew, you don’t have to be formally part of a Jewish community, you don’t … Seguir leyendo →

We can simply define the concept of «identity» as the set of characteristics of a person that distinguish them from others. Therefore, Jewish identity is the set of Jewish characteristics of an individual that distinguish them from those who are … Seguir leyendo →

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, in his essay “A Presentation of Process Theology”, explains how the philosophy of ancient Greece and medieval Europe influenced our thinking with concepts that do not correspond to Judaism. Thinking that God is omnipotent, which means … Seguir leyendo →

In principle, Judaism supports and encourages organ donation to save lives (pikuach nefesh). According to Jewish law, halacha, saving a life nullifies almost all of the commandments in Judaism, with the exception of those prohibiting murder, illicit sexual relations, and … Seguir leyendo →

It is written in Deuteronomy 24: “If a man takes a wife and marries her, and if she becomes displeasing to him because he has found something indecent about her, he shall write her a certificate of divorce and give … Seguir leyendo →

Professor Will Herberg tells us: In modernity, man used reason and science to shape his life and culture, placing everything in human terms, forgetting the divine. The expansion of science and technology fostered the illusion that human well-being was simply … Seguir leyendo →

Isaac Adolphe Crémieux was born five years after France granted equal rights to its Jewish citizens, after its Constituent Assembly approved it in 1791. He was born in 1796 in Nîmes to a Jewish family who had embraced the revolutionary … Seguir leyendo →