At the Opening of Many Thoughts



The name I have chosen for this blog, “many thoughts” is a translation of “rabot makhshavot” from the verse “rabot makhshavot b’lev ish ve’atzat ha’shem he takum.” “Many thoughts are in the heart of man; but the desire/plan of God shall be upheld”.  While I have wanted to blog for a number of years and for a short while had a blog where I posted some of my creative writing, finding an appropriately descriptive yet concise name for the blog was a real challenge. As anyone who knows me is well aware, I am NOT known for brevity. I settled upon “many thoughts” as the verse it is taken from is both one of my favorites and one of the more concise summations of my theology. Furthermore, as I hope to explore a diverse array of topics, “many thoughts” seemed most apt.

Reshit davar (firstly) I would like to thank my friend and Haver in Torah, Madda and melekhet ha’kodesh, Yair Lichtman for suggesting that I take some of my longer Facebook posts and adapt them as blog posts. I would also like to thank the numerous friends and strangers who have commented on the facebook posts which are the opening posts on this blog. In particular, I would like to thank Ben Matz, Yehuda Greenfield, Aryeh Laufer, Raphi Levi, Avraham Sommer, Gavriel Gross, Sarah Robinson and Courtney Hodrick as well as my professors, Rabbeim and mentors at YU and elsewhere for numerous deep and thought provoking conversations, comments and for helping me develop and refine the ideas, Torah insights, theology and philosophy in my posts. They would not be the same without you. The list of people who have had a major impact on my theology, worldview and Jewish experience is to borrow the biblical image, are “like the sands of the sea, which are numerous to be counted”.  The task of giving proper ha’karot ha’tov to all those to whom it is owed is simply impossible as there is no adequate way to give/make repayment for the ultimate gift that can be bestowed, the gift of knowledge, and the tools, skills and passion for learning more.  

Finally, echoing the words of r. Hehuniah ben Hakanah in the Mishnah (Berakhot 4:2), I give thanks to God, the Creator of all and ultimate source of knowledge who has granted me my portion among those who dwell in the House of Study.

I hope to use this blog as a platform to share some of my more developed pieces of personal theology and thoughts on the Jewish texts which shape my life.

Sections:

L’kol zman va’et (for everything there is a season): thoughts on the yearly cycle of the Jewish holidays, Torah reading and related divrie torah.

Ve’yavinu ba’mikra (and they understood the bible): comments and notes on Biblical texts. I expect that this will take the form of short comments emerging from my hevruta study of Tanakh with Avi Sommer as well as some thoughts on the Torah reading.

Culture/ Torah u’madda: Assorted thoughts on cultural happenings, the intersection of general/western culture and Torah.

Other sections to be determined.





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