MESORA THE JOURNAL ON TORAH THOUGHT |
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3 Jewish with-
out God? Most Sacred?
LETTERS
We reply to 2 fundamentals in Judaism.
5 Pharaoh’s Analyzing Pharaoh’s dreams and his behavior, Rabbi Chait explains a Rabbinic dispute on if this was the same Pharaoh.
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Response
15 Change of
Fortune
RABBI ISRAEL CHAIT
RABBI REUVEN MANN
How did Joseph know Pharaoh’s dreams were prophetic?
Joseph’s lesson after being thrust into immoral Egyptian society.
11 Divine Dreams 19 Perfection vs.
Torah
RABBI MOSHE BEN-CHAIM
Dreams
RABBI ISRAEL CHAIT
8 Joseph’s
God’s master plan of providing numerous individuals with dreams functioned to direct the course of Jewish history.
RABBI ISRAEL CHAIT
Who is the greater person, and why?
PHAROAH ’S WISD O M
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“Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Tzaphnas-Paneach; and he gave him for a wife Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On” (Gen. 41:45) Pharaoh foresaw political problems in appointing one accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife. Pharaoh wisely dispelled rumors of Joseph’s ill repute by giving him Potiphar’s daughter as a wife. Who would believe that Joseph attempted rape of a woman, and then marries her daughter? Poti-Phera’s wife would no longer accuse Joseph, as any accusation would bring shame to herself. Pharaoh sought to silence Poti-Phera too, by promoting him to a Priest, in exchange for his silence. Finally, Pharaoh changing Joseph’s name was an attempt to cloak Joseph’s Hebrew slave reputation with an Egyptian veneer. God joined these acts in one passage as they all share one goal of Pharaoh dispelling Joseph’s harmful reputation.
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LETTERS RABBI MOSHE BEN-CHAIM
Being Jewish without God? QUESTION: Must one believe in God to be considered Jewish? RABBI: This is akin to asking, “Must one help people in order to be called kind?” Kindness is synonymous with helping others. If one never helped another person, he is not kind. So too, the definition of a Jew is one who is convinced that God exists, that He is the sole creator, that He rewards and punishes, that He is not physical, and that there are no intelligent beings that can counter God’s will (idolatry is false).
So, the answer is this: “Yes, one must believe in God to be Jewish.” The most vital element of Judaism is recognizing a single Creator of the universe. Without this recognition and conviction, one is not Jewish and has no portion in the afterlife—Olam Haba—as afterlife is the direct result of a perfected soul. And a perfected soul is one who distinguishes reality from fantasy, and adheres to the authority of Torah’s Author. One who is not perfect—and worse, fails to recognize God—has no (LETTERS CONT. ON NEXT PAGE)
WWW.MESORA.ORG DEC. 3, 2021
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