http://www.scribd.com/people/view/424044-msamuel This a feed for documents on Scribd written by msamuel 30 Fri, 30 May 2008 02:05:20 GMT Fri, 30 May 2008 02:05:20 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/3159595/1-The-True-Meaning-of-Kosher The True Meaning of Kosher Slaughter houses are not for the squeamish of heart. I have personally worked as a Kosher Supervisor in my twenties, and for a long time afterwards, I gave up eating meat. Many people probably would become vegetarians if they knew how their meat was obtained. From this perspective, Kosher slaughter is no worse than any other kind of slaughter. The Kosher laws were designed to minimize pain to the animals; the blade must be so sharp, the animal loses consciousness immediately. Kosher laws are detailed and exact. In binary terms, kosher laws differentiate between the f Fri, 30 May 2008 02:05:20 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/3159595/1-The-True-Meaning-of-Kosher http://www.scribd.com/doc/2465248/1scripd Q. What is your opinion on the recent Boteach - Hitchens Debate concerning God? Rabbi Boteach is an excellent promoter, but in this debate, he failed to get Hitchens to define his definition of God, which he could have skillfully taken apart. Some of his points were well-stated. As a person who believes in having an authentic dialogue, I think religious minded people and their spiritual leaders ought to listen to the complaints that Hitchens, Harris, and Dawkins are making. While I certainly believe that God made humankind in His image, I also think (as Voltaire and Freud have noted) that we h Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:59:35 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2465248/1scripd http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450970/What-is-a-Mamzer-By-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel What is a “mamzer”? A: The JPS Tanakh defines a mamzer as: Q: What is the Biblical meaning of “mamzer” ? Will the laws governing the mamzer not being able to marry ever change? “No one misbegotten shall be admitted into the congregation of the Lord; none of his descendants, even in the tenth generation, shall be admitted into the congregation of the Lord.” It is interesting that both the Septuagint and the Vulgate translate mamzer “as a son of a prostitute.” “ ‫ ד‬Over a century ago Abraham Geiger suggested that the meaning of mamzer comes from ma’am zar belonging to Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:23:37 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450970/What-is-a-Mamzer-By-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450929/Why-would-God-need-to-rest-on-the-seventh-day-By-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel Why Would A God Need to Rest on the Seventh Day? By Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel While it is true that many translations of the Bible such as the New Revised Version Standard (NRSV), the King James' Version (KJV) and others render the word Shavat as "rested" a more accurate translation of Shavat is "abstained," i.e., "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because He abstained from all His work which God created to make" (Gen. 2:4). Nachmanides (12th century) interpreted these words to mean "he ceased to perform all His creative work." Why the need to abstain? Obviously it wasn't because of Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:17:38 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450929/Why-would-God-need-to-rest-on-the-seventh-day-By-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450928/Shechina-and-the-Sufi-notion-of-Shikeina-by-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel Shechina and the Sufi notion of Shikeina “Early in the history of Islam, the Sufis were not satisfied with the outward observances and rituals of religion. They wanted, instead, a religion of inner experience, an asceticism that renounced the luxuries of the world and devoted itself purely to obedience to God. One of the greatest Muslim mystic and theologian, al-Ghazali (1058-1111) made a formal attempt to merge the doctrines of mysticism with the orthodox consensus of the community that was the Sunnah. He told the other theologians that unless they created a “science of the heart” for a Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:17:37 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2450928/Shechina-and-the-Sufi-notion-of-Shikeina-by-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel http://www.scribd.com/doc/2445167/Rabbi-Dr-Micheal-Samuel Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel I am presently working for the Quad-Cities and I am currently in my second year. My synagogue is about 200+ families and we are quite active for a small but traditional community. My background in somewhat unusual. I am the child of a Holocaust survivor. My father Leo Samuel z"l came from a long line of rabbis and he lived in what use to be known as Czechoslovakia. My father continues to be my inspiration and mentor -- even as I grow older each day. I recently discovered that on my mother's side of the family, she was related to some of the famous 19th century rabbis ( Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:03:17 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2445167/Rabbi-Dr-Micheal-Samuel http://www.scribd.com/doc/2445142/About-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel- About Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel I am presently working for the Quad-Cities and I am currently in my second year. My synagogue is about 200+ families and we are quite active for a small but traditional community. My background in somewhat unusual. I am the child of a Holocaust survivor. My father Leo Samuel z"l came from a long line of rabbis and he lived in what use to be known as Czechoslovakia. My father continues to be my inspiration and mentor -- even as I grow older each day. I recently discovered that on my mother's side of the family, she was related to some of the famous 19th century ra Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:43:48 GMT http://www.scribd.com/doc/2445142/About-Rabbi-Dr-Michael-Samuel-