Sages of the Ages

Dear Friend,

2019 Sages of the Ages Series with Rabbi Rashi Simon – The Life and Legacy of five great Torah personalities who have shaped Jewish Life for the last 500 years. Continue to come back to view the newest additions to the series.

Please feel free to contact the Office for more details.

Saadia Gaon

Rambam

Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ari)

Abarbanel

Click below to watch Rabbi Simon’s Rashi shiur:

Download notes and source sheet

R Yosef Caro

Click below to watch Rabbi Simon’s Rashi shiur:

Download notes and source sheet

R Moshe Isserlis

Click below to watch Rabbi Simon’s R. Yehuda Ha-Levi shiur:

Download notes and source sheetv

Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ari)

Click below to watch Rabbi Simon’s Rashi shiur:

Download notes and source sheet

Maharal

Click below to watch Rabbi Simon’s Rashi shiur:

Download notes and source sheet

Meet the Meforshim

Dear Friend,

Welcome to this valuable course to “Meet the Meforshim”. We look to develop a better understanding of the Jewish personalities through the ages in this short course. As the tales and our understanding develop, we will publish more information and recaps online so that you can gain the benefit of revising and remembering the lessons learnt.

Please feel free to contact the Office for more details.

Week 1

Knowledge and Belief from Saadia Gaon

Some key aspects of Saadia’s thought (this is a paraphrase as the original is rather abstruse!)
1. The laws of the Torah can be divided into two groups. The first set encompasses those laws which human reason immediately identifies as necessary for human society, such as the prohibition against murder. Such laws are common-sense. The second set of laws, however, are far less obvious and their purpose often eludes people. Included among these are Shabbat observance, kashrut, and the laws of family purity. Saadia tells us that if we examine these laws closely we will discover that they do, in fact, yield benefits for individuals and society, though sometimes these benefits are not immediately apparent. As an example, abstaining from work on holy days leads to more study and the development of family relationships.

2. Saadia maintained that human beings possess free will, the capacity to make choices about their behavior. Muslim philosophers at this time promoted the Kallam, a system of thought which denies the existence of free will as an illusion and even denies causality of events in the universe, ascribe all power and will to Allah. Saadia parted company with Muslim philosophers over the issue of free will, for several reasons. First, if God is the first and only cause in the universe, then there is no difference between the righteous and sinners; all do the will of God. Hence there is no difference between a righteous deed and a sin. Second, if God is fully in control of people’s behavior, then it makes no sense to punish one who breaks the law, since s/he is merely doing the will of God. Finally and most importantly from a Jewish perspective, in a universe totally dominated by the will of God, mitzvot have no purpose or meaning, since people are incapable of “obeying” or “disobeying” them. There can only be a commandment if there is someone capable of accepting the commandments. In an effort to emphasize the role of free will in Jewish thinking, Saadia placed great emphasis on the covenant made at Sinai, in which the Israelites freely obligated themselves to God. Hence Saadia maintained that God created us with free will, a concept that has always been central to Jewish thinking.