Judaism
Elucidation of Genesis 1 (Off Site) by Shlomi Tal
This article is a secular-minded elucidation of the first chapter of the book of Genesis based on the original Hebrew text, with translation and commentary.
Genealogical Saga of Judaism (2001) by Shlomi Tal
According to Orthodox Judaism, nothing has value unless it is for the sake of God. Could such a belief perpetuate a religious worldview in which a people who see themselves as being “chosen” by God slip into an ethnocentric myth that is both closed-minded and dangerous? Speaking as an Israeli citizen and former Orthodox Jew, the author critiques the genealogical saga from Abraham to the Babylonian Captivity while shedding much light on our contemporary world.
Judaism and Jewish Apologetics (1997) by Guido Deimel
A short review of the goals of the Jewish faith.
Jewish Law, the Burial of Jesus, and the Third Day (2001) by Richard Carrier
Demonstrates from sources that in the time of Jesus the Jews had the full practice of their own laws, and that these laws required that Jesus be taken down Friday, that he be placed in a temporary tomb for the Sabbath, and that he be buried Saturday night in a special graveyard reserved for criminals. Therefore, Jesus could not have been in the tomb of Joseph Sunday morning. Also, a “third day” motif in Jewish law and exegesis is examined that may relate to early Christian resurrection belief.
Was the burial of Jesus a temporary one, because of time constraints? (October 3, 2002) by Glenn Miller (Off Site)
Miller rebuts the hypothesis that Jesus’ body was only temporarily stored in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. [Note: Carrier’s 2001 essay was updated in May 2002 to address Miller’s significant points.]
Reply to Glenn Miller on the Burial of Jesus (2002) by Richard Carrier
Religious Attitudes toward the Disabled (2015) by Michael Moore
In this essay Michael Moore provides ample evidence that discrimination against the handicapped is often doctrinally justified in all five of the major world religions today. Moore cites not only direct scriptural support for discriminatory attitudes toward the disabled, but also actual instances of such discrimination by religious perpetrators and even apologists’ use of explicit arguments for holding handicapped persons in low regard. The specific example of religiously inspired discrimination against the disabled illustrates the more general point that believers can use scripture to rationalize virtually any human behavior.
The Sinai Argument (2001) by Shlomi Tal
As do fundamentalist Christians with the empty tomb, Orthodox Jews base their faith on the alleged historical fact of the revelation at Mount Sinai. This essay rebuts one argument for the historicity of a public revelation put forward by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi and Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb.