Jewish Thoughtflow

This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

נשים דעתן קלות -

Roughly translated as "Women's intellect is light/weak", this phrase has, by many, been slotted into the "ancient misogynistic attitudes" category. For, as is well known, women are just as capable as men at intellectual capabilities. Differences between men and women are caused by social stigma, and have been rapidly decreasing as our societies become more egalitarian. Just look at average SAT math scores, which had men outperforming women at rates of 10:1 in the 80's, and just 2.5:1 in the 90's as the women's rights movement gained in popularity. So why would the Talmud make such a claim about women?

Join Jewish Thoughtflow in their long awaited episode exploring the intellect of the man and the women, as well as the implications for our every day life.

This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

In part 1 we examined a few different methods of having morality without religion, ranging from an innate sense of morality, to a strictly logical (slightly robotic) version aimed at creating the perfect society ("perfect" again being subject to numerous theories). In Part two we begin to question these theories. Is it truly possible, without a God, to come up with rules which will actually lead to a Perfect society? If the only reason I'm listening to God is because this will lead to the best society, or best personal perfection, can that really be called service of God? Is it heretical to propose that God is limited to being Moral? And lastly, but most importantly, why should we follow this emotion called "morality" more than any other?

Join us for part 2 of the Morality trilogy, as we take conversations to paths rarely treaded, and thoughts to conceptual planes most minds flee from, all in the hopes of spreading the beauty of Judaism, God, and the Torah. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

Where does morality come from? Is it an innate sense of justice that all humans share? Is it a system of "should"s and "shouldn't"s aimed to create the best society? The best personal experience? Or can it only exist in a God-Given Code of rights and wrongs? This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

After establishing the rules of reinterpretation in episode one, we move on to the greater challenge of actually dealing with the problem at hand. The verses say one age, thee science says another. What to do, what to do.

Perhaps if the verses can't be taken non-literally, science can. Maybe the scientists have made a colossal blunder! Perhaps the light moves faster than we think, every dating method is off (conveniently so, as the mistake doesn't apply to any of the practical sciences), and fossilization happened within the past 6000 years! Maybe, but probably not so defensible for anyone with even a basic level of scientific knowledge. (this is not to say the science is perfect, it is too suggest there is a range of reasonably expected error, a topic Jewish ThoughtFlow will go more in-depth at a later time)

Another famous explanation coined the Omphalos Hypothesis is that Hashem created the world in a completed state. Put simply, Hashem wanted a functioning universe for man. In order to do so, he created a world that was inhabitable. This includes full mountains, rivers, sun with starlight reaching the earth, and all the other luminaries. As simple as it sounds, this answer actually raises many philosophical problems.

First, if we are assuming the world was created formed, with a suggested but non-real history, what is stopping us from suggesting that the world was in fact created last Thursday!? This is termed the "Last Thursdayism Problem", and is the main attack on the Omphalos Hypothesis.

Second, the Omphalos Hypothesis is by definition unfalsifiable. There is no way to disprove that the world was created formed. If so, this should make it scientifically untenable.

Third, the suggestion that the world was created old is to suggest that Hashem is misleading us with information. He is expecting us to believe Him and not our own eyes. Is this really what Judaism expects from us?

Lastly, what is the purpose? I understand Hashem wanted a complete world. Fine. I can accept that part of a functioning world is sunlight, starlight, etc. Fine. But why the Earthly history? Why the fossils of animals that never really existed? Why the history of humans who never existed?? Why are there strata of Earth, suggesting an evolution which never happened? What is the purpose?

As usual, Jewish ThoughtFLow goes where few have gone before, delving into the opposition to make sure the Torah perspective, perfect as we know it to be, can be understood by those with questions. And the way to figure out the answers? Delving into the sources to reveal the way Hashem wants us to view the world. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

The Age of the Universe has been debated for millennium. The Jewish perspective through the years has been, for the most part, that the universe was created approximately 5781 years ago. The Non-Jewish perspective has shifted from Eternal, popularized by the great philosophers Aristotle and Plato, to a more finite number in the mid 19th century, which has slowly (and sometimes quickly) grew from 10's of millions, to the current number scientists run with today; 13.81 billion years old.

As we know, the scientific assumption has never really matched, or been close to the number a literal reading of Genesis will give us. So what do we do.....

Well, the simplest thing to do, when dealing with an issue of a text and empirical data, is reinterpret the text. Unfortunately, in this case, the text is the Torah, and the writer was the greatest prophet in history, transcribing Hashem's story to the Jewish people, making it more difficult to just allegorize.

In "The Age of the Universe: Part 1", we go in depth into the four rules of reinterpretation, so beautifully categorized by the Great 10th century Rabbi, Rav Saadia Goan, in his magnum opus, Emunos V'Daos. Think all Verses are literal? Think again! Think no verse needs to be understood literally? Think again! Learn (or hear again) the difference between logic and reason, vision and extrapolation, Aristotle and Plato, and much much more in the latest episode from JewishThoughtFlow! This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

Women's faces are mysteriously absent from many religious publications, and many are surprised or disgusted by this omission. Isn't this objectifying women? Isn't this presenting the nature of man in a horrible light? Why is the woman's job to protect men?

Join us as we explore the nature of man, the nature of women, and the Torah's philosophy to perfect both.

Please like, subscribe and SHARE! any questions, comments, concerns, can be addressed to [email protected], or through personal communication (Avi - 248-952-7071, Mottie - 248-410-5973)

Should Jews be involved in social activism? Do police exhibit excessive NON-lethal force towards blacks? Does disparity in races imply racism? Avi and Mottie answer questions from the listeners about their controversial episode "Should Jews Support Black Lives Matter?"

Avi and Mottie explore the roots, ideas, and claims of the popular Black Lives Matter Movement in an attempt to discover if its an organization that the Jewish Community should support. Hint, we did not think so.