Liberal Orthodoxy —Alan Brill on Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch on the Philosophy of Halakhah, ethics, Maimonides, religious pluralism, religion and state with references to and links to primary sources.
Last month, Rabbi Nahum Eliezer Rabinovitch, the dean of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim, passed away at the age of 92 years old. As a tribute to him at the end of thirty days of mourning, I will devote a post to his philosophical writings about Jewish law. He had a unique Maimonidean intellectual perspective of rationality, autonomy, historic situation, and applying the law to achieve its uplifting purpose. We will look at three of his essays, two of which were written in Hebrew as part of his 1991 book The Way of Torah (Darkhei Hatorah) and one in English.(You may want to download the three essays before we start- Way of Torah,EmunatHakhamim, Rambam Science Taamei Mitzvot) We will conclude with some quotes from his recent Hebrew lectures to students. (I am always happy for lists of typos)
Most of Rabbi Rabinovitch’s thought has been…
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