Thinkers & Thought Quiz

A wide cast of intellectuals devoted their lives to defining what Judaism meant to them, and what it should mean to others. How much do you know about these thinkers and their philosophies?

---

Question 1. Which of these statements is NOT one of Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith?
 God has no physical body
 The Messiah will redeem Israel
 The dead will be resurrected
 Jews must live in the Land of Israel

 

Question 2. According to E. E. Dessler the best way to understand God is to
 Do works of lovingkindness
 Study Torah
 Work for a Jewish organization
 Fast and immerse oneself in Kabbalah

 

Question 3. Who came up with the concept of I-Thou?
 Martin Buber
 Abraham Joshua Heschel
 Mordecai Kaplan
 Franz Rosenzweig

 

Question 4. What is syncretism?
 A unanimous decision in the Talmud
 A tradition that is accepted both by Ashkenazic and Sephardic rabbis
 A negative commandment
 None of the above

 

Question 5. When Joseph Soloveitchik moved to the United States, he became Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox community in what city?
 Boston
 New York
 Philadelphia
 Baltimore

 

Question 6. Hellenistic Jewish literature is dominated by which figure?
 Philo
 Judah Maccabee
 Rabbi Akiba
 Caesar

 

Question 7. True or false: Kabbalists thought that only a handful of worthy students should receive the secrets of the Law.
 True
 False

 

Question 8. In Jerusalem, or On Religious Power and Judaism, Moses Mendelssohn argued that
 Jews should move to Israel
 Judaism is constant with values of the Enlightenment
 Judaism was all but dead
 Jews should convert to Christianity

 

Question 9. When did Jewish thinkers begin to try to prove the existence of God?
 In the Second Temple period
 In the Talmud
 In the Middle Ages
 After the Enlightenment

 

Question 10. True or false: Non-Jewish readers refered to Moses Mendelssohn as "the Jewish Socrates."
 True
 False

 

---