The Real Threat to Israel’s Democracy Comes from the Office of Its Attorney General
The incoherence of the accusation against Netanyahu.
October 25, 2019
Did the Greatest of Medieval Jewish Bible Commentators Get His Ideas about Creation from Plato?
Rashi and the Timaeus.
While Iberian and North African rabbis of the Middle Ages—like Abraham ibn Ezra, Moses Maimonides, and Moses Naḥmanides—read non-Jewish languages and had advanced secular educations, their counterparts in Germany and northern France did not. The great French exegete Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes (1040-1105), better known as Rashi, thus cites exclusively Jewish sources in his highly influential commentaries. But, writes Warren Zev Harvey, he “was well-versed in the surrounding Christian culture, and had connections with Christian scholars.” Harvey argues that it is quite likely that Rashi actually drew on Plato’s Timaeus in his exegesis of the opening verse of Genesis, and notes many parallels:
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Login or SubscribeOctober 25, 2019
In a Year, Iran Can Begin Buying Weapons from Russia and China and Exporting Them to Terrorists
A deadly sunset clause.
Did the Greatest of Medieval Jewish Bible Commentators Get His Ideas about Creation from Plato?
Rashi and the Timaeus.
A Half-Century and More of Israeli-Kurdish Friendship
Israel’s recent offer of aid is nothing new.
In the Talmud’s Most Difficult Tractate, the Rabbis Tackle Mathematical Probability
The case of the mixed-up sacrificial birds.