Beliefs & Practices

Jewish Doctrine and Dogma. Jewish Ideas and Beliefs, Philosophy and Theology. Articles on Jewish Ideas and Beliefs.

Do we respond immediately to a claim of dire need, or perform

Contemporary Concerns on Nature and the Environment. Jewish Nature. Jewish Environment.

According to at least one scholar, Jewish tradition does not recognize the right of personal conscientious objection.

Extending a biblical exemption from military service to Israeli refuseniks.

Rabbinic parables explicitly compare God to a variety of human analogues, reflecting the rabbis' subtle, complex, and diverse images of God.

Deuteronomy's laws of warfare include the requirement that a nation seek a peaceful settlement before engaging in war.

Establishing a new program of Jewish resistance.

The Bible has a number of models for nonviolent resistance.

Few traditional sources discuss the ethics of fighting noncombatants, but some Jewish laws of war do display a moral genesis.

Deuteronomy 20 permits wars of aggression, but the talmudic rabbis made it difficult to declare one.

When lives are at stake, Judaism permits--and probably requires--fighting.