C.I. Lewis, the well-known 20th century American philosopher from Harvard notes in his book The Ground and Nature of the Right that the concept of obligation pervades all of human thinking. Obligation does not refer only to Moral behavior – it applies to every aspect of thinking and behavior that can called right as opposed to wrong. There is a right and wrong way to calculate numbers. There […]
C.I. Lewis, the well-known 20th century American philosopher from Harvard notes in his book The Ground and Nature of the Right that the concept of obligation pervades all of human thinking. Obligation does not refer only to Moral behavior – it applies to every aspect of thinking and behavior that can called right as opposed to wrong. There is a right and wrong way to calculate numbers. There […]
H.J.RES.104 — To designate March 26, 1991, as `Education Day, U.S.A.’. (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] – ENR) –H.J.Res.104– H.J.Res.104 One Hundred Second Congress of the United States of AmericaAT THE FIRST SESSIONBegun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one Joint Resolution To designate March 26, 1991, as `Education Day, […]
Law is the concern of all humanity…”Pray for the welfare of the state” (Avot 3:2), for it is the state that establishes law in the land: “The king by justice establishes the land” (Proverbs 29:2). And all of this is equally true of non-Jewish governments, for the descendants of Noah were also commanded concerning dinim. (Rav Avraham Koo, introduction to tractate Sanhedrin (1934) (see R. Moshe Tzvi Neriah, […]
When the descendants of Noah were commanded concerning dinim, the commandment was only that they establish laws among themselves, for the world rests on law. Thus also, even after the Sinai revelation: the judges were directed to establish legal norms suited to their nations concerning what had not been commanded. And so it is practiced today among the nations. Merchants and artisans were also instructed to establish regulations […]
The meaning of their (B’Nai Noach) obligation of dinim is that they are required to established laws of honesty and right behavior; they are not bound by the laws of the Bible except those that were commanded explicitly (e.g. prohibition of murder, etc.). That which Israel was commanded, to judge between one man and another, was not addressed to the descendants of Noah. (Hazon Ish, Baba Kama 10:3) […]
TWELVE QUESTIONS Lets explore some primary questions and issues concerning Judaism and the relationship of Torah learning and practice to the modern world. 1. What is Jewish Identity? 2. What makes Torah Law unique among Systems of Law? 3. What are those factors which bind Torah and the Jewish People to the Universal Understandings of all men? 4. What are the logical grounds and basic assumptions […]
“You know, and I can tell you and I have told it so many times, and I will tell it again. Our methodology our analysis, our manner of conceptualizing, inferring, classifying and defining concepts of halakhic matter do not lag behind the most modern philosophical analysis. I happen to know something about modern philosophical analysis. We are far ahead of it, because the tools we employ to analyze […]
Hilbert requires Completeness for an Axiomatic System; that the system itself be the basis for making all inferences and conclusions –But the Torah cannot be reduced to a mathematical, deductive system. It is a system of law. The System can never be incomplete. One must make a Halachic Ruling when practical questions arise. Furthermore, one of the axioms of the Torah is the possuk that one cannot deviate […]
P.F. Strawson in his work Individuals an essay in Descriptive Metaphysics describes the conceptual system which we implicitly use in all human thought processes. This system has very general features which we all take for granted but do not bother to take notice of. Delineating concepts such as Space, Time, Physical Objects and the possibility of individuation, singling out individual objects, are part of this description. It […]
