Nathan Lopes Cardozo
ARTICLES BY: Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Seventy Years of an Unyielding 3,330-Year Marriage
This year's Yom HaAtzmaut commemorates the anniversary of a marriage that has lasted more than 3,000 years -- and has now completed its 70th year. This...
Plato’s Haggadah in the ‘Dialogues’
Now that Jews all over the world will once again assemble around the Seder table and read the Haggadah -- the story of the exodus from Egypt -- it...
Amalek: A Warning to Israel’s Chief Rabbinate
The Jews’ most formidable enemy in Biblical times was the nation of Amalek. Amalek was, and symbolically still is, the personification of evil, brutality, racism...
The Enduring Preciousness of the Secular Jew
We live in an age of unabashed irreverence. Debunking has become the norm, and at every turn, we experience a need to expose the clay...
Moses — The Successful Failure
Throughout history, some of the greatest people have often failed time and again, until they eventually made it to the top. Others thought that they had...
How to Solve the Jewish Conversion Crisis
Conversion is a serious matter. It signals a transformation and involves a tremendous amount of soul-searching. Human beings are more than just accumulations of plasma,...
The Retreat of Creative Thinking From Judaism
Most of our yeshivot have retreated from creative thinking. We encourage the narrowest specialization rather than push for daring ideas. We are producing a generation...
Be Fearful of Religion: Parashat Veyetze
Being religious is fraught with danger. People are often pulled in directions where they can easily break their necks. To be religious is to allow...
Teachers, Students and Judaism
It is out of the notion expressed in earlier essays that my philosophy on Judaism has gradually emerged. It is a slow process that has...
Simchat Torah: The Unyielding Sefer Torah
Simchat Torah presents us with a rare paradox. On no other occasion do we celebrate our relationship with the Torah as we do on this...
Why We Need a Year of Mourning for Our Parents
The Torah warns us against excessive mourning in a most unusual way: “You are the children of God your Lord. Do not mutilate yourselves and...
Finding the Goodness in Our World
Woody Allen, a keen but unusual observer of our world, once remarked: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path...
Jews Are Not Inherently Righteous; Only Our Actions Make Us So
No word in the Torah is as central to Judaism as the word kedusha (holiness). But no word in the Jewish tradition is as dangerous as this...
Why Sacrifices?
Does Judaism really need animal sacrifices? Would it not be better off without them? After all, the sacrificial cult seems to weaken Judaism. What should a highly...
