Rabbi Yosef Kaufman

Belief is defined in two ways: a. the standard use of the term as the conviction of the existence of a particular phenomenon; b. theologically, the conviction of the correctness of any particular relationship. For example, even the most prosaic of activities, such as biting into an apple, requires a web of belief in... Read more »

The essential feature of monotheism is the creation of otherness from G-d where otherness is defined as complete distinctness from G-d and distinct in and of itself from all other beings and things. That is to say, definitionally for monotheism, G-d is not the creation and the creation is not G-d. This means by definition... Read more »

What is Rosh Hashana about? There are three principal elements of Rosh Hashana: blow the shofar, make G-d the King, don’t say you’re sorry. What connects the dots? The world was created on the 25th of Elul; man was created on Rosh Hashana. Man is made in the image of

Pleasure is not a quality that is sweet, simple, wonderful, or even tangential. Rather, it is an existential state that all humans intensely desire, seek out, pursue, pay for---read the Bible, the Iliad, the news---and something that we will kill for and go to war for. Every nerve in our

What We Had and What We Lost: In the times of the Beis HaMikdash, when there was prophecy and open miracles, a tangible experience of a relationship with G-d was available to everyone. Once the

Basics: The Bible writes that G-d created the world with ten statements of language. What is language? It is the expression of the intentionality of being through sound that is boundaried by the lips, teeth, tongue, palate, and throat. The Kabbala calls it air (ruach) circumscribed by din. The Sefer HaYetzirah speaks at length of... Read more »

On the heels of a lecture on free will, comes decision-making. What is a decision, what is decision-making, and how to do it? A decision is the resolution to pursue a particular course of action, that is to say, it is the process of asserting one’s will into

In talking about cognition you need to talk about epistemology, the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge: how do you know what you know? We talked about the scale of cognition as ranging from skepticism on the left hand end of the scale, which posits you can

The New York Times recently featured a front-page article on polyamory, i.e. open marriage, with photos of people in various types of relationships. The article was sympathetic, verging on apologetics; it came across as a cultural attack on monogamy. Two things stood out for me: the brazenness of the front-page placing of the

Pages By: Rabbi Yosef Kaufman

Notes on Belief

Notes on Monotheism

What is Rosh Hashana About?

Notes on Pleasure

What is the Experience of G-d Nowadays?

Notes on Language

A Jewish Perspective on Decision-Making

Jewish Epistemology

Why Not to Have an “Open” Marriage

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