Jewish Theology

Dear Rabbi Simon, In this week’s Torah Reading 31:24, Rabbi Moshe Alshich (Safed, 1508-1593) implies that reincarnation is worse than Gehinnom (Purgatory). How can this be so? What’s the source for reincarnation. Why is it not in the Gemoro? Shavua Tov, Alistair Dear Alistair The doctrine of reincarnation, while now quite commonplace in Jewish Thought, is actually the subject of much…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I hope you had a good Yom Tov. The Sun stood still for Joshua (ch. 10) prolonging the day. Hundreds of years later, the day was shortened for King Chizkiyahu (2 Kings ch. 20). Have these miracles caused observable astronomical effects? Are there any other miracles in Tenach whose effects can be observed today? In reply to…

For Rabbi Simon’s article on Reincarnation which appeared in the Jewish Chronicle on June 2, 2006, click this link: reincarnation

Ask the Rabbi: Life’s Not Fair (when the innocent suffer) Dear Rabbi Simon, People often ask why children suffer and sometimes even die when they have done nothing wrong. I am thinking about the Manchester teen concert bombing atrocity and more. Rashi on this week’s Parsha (Korach, see Num. 16:27) attributes it to machloket (internecine strife). Rabbeinu Bachye says the fate of…

Dear Rabbi Simon, When Moshiach finally comes, there will inevitably be disputes as to whether he’s genuine.  At what point can we be certain that he has really arrived?  Could Moshiach be a lady? Gaby Dear Gaby, Difficult though it is for us to imagine, in today’s seemingly fractious and contentious Jewish world, Maimonides writes that when moshiach arrives the…