יום חמישי, ב׳ אב תשפ״וThursday, July 16, 2026
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Yonatan Milevsky PhD, is an author and lecturer. His forthcoming book is The Philosopher's Haggadah. He teaches Jewish History and Ethics at TanenbaumCHAT in Canada.
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With such acceptance, one can attain wisdom, since one who acknowledges the limits of his or her knowledge is more receptive to new ideas.
Given that most interpreters take the first usage to be related to the practical purpose it served rather than to the divine standard that it met, the original reference to the term also implies that good is discoverable by human reason. G
Perhaps you’re thinking of cherubs. Those may be described as having a childlike face, based on the Talmud. But cherubs are also characterized in Tanach as weapon-wielding guardians, and several medieval Jewish thinkers see them as referring to intelligence, so that reference doesn’t fit either.
In Randle Cotgrave's dictionary, in the early 17th century, the word appears as concern for one's country. But it is the etymology of the term that may reveal to us what our tradition has to say about patriotism.
The moed is experienced through the va'ad. In other words, we only relate to and perceive that particular time within the context of our collective experience of the holidays.
In the Talmud, foods are class-based. You just do not read of rabbis stating that they drink the common beverage, date beer, but only if it is of the single origin variety, brewed locally in Neharda'ah.
As my father, Rabbi Uziel Milevsky, of blessed memory, taught me, it is the number beyond the natural.
I say, why should the old and frail have all the fun!? A cane can be a remarkably flashy accessory. Indeed, there was a time in which the cane was a sign of high society.
Rashi's interpretation of the term, namely, those who have the authority to enforce the law, looms large in its modern usage – everyone is afraid of the mishtara!
It is not surprising therefore that the only word we have to associate with this concept, rishon, comes from the most basic human feature, the head, a connection made by the 12th-13th century figure, Rabbi David Kimhi.
It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when Jews had to place wax in their ears – it is said that this came from their wives' candles – in order to prevent them from hearing Christian sermons.
I can touch on semiotics and explain how it is a shield that offers protection, but that the identity that it represents is its own protection.
Literary evidence from the time of the Second Temple, such as the works of Josephus and Philo, and even archeology, indicates that it was a place of instruction and learning.
In all the accounts, he concludes that what he witnessed can only be explained if there are other forces in control in the universe. And from that point forward, his interpretations and his conduct were influenced by that mistaken notion.
July 10, 2026 
