DON SEEMAN

ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE RELIGIOUS
STUDENT: BETWEEN LOVE AND RESPECT


The love of [God's] creatures requires considerable effort
if it is to be widened to its proper scope. This is against the shallow conclusion which can be reached at first glance, by means of insufficient preparation in the realm of Torah or that of practical morality, which makes it appear as if there is some opposition, or at least equanimity [in Judaism] regarding the attainment of this love, which should always fill all of the chambers of the soul. The most elevated state of love for the created beings needs to take the love of humans, and to extend it to include all of humanity entirely. Despite variation of opinions, religions, and faiths, and despite all the differentiations of race and clime, it is necessary to reach a deep understanding of all the different peoples and human collectivities, and as far as possible to learn their characteristics and traits, in order to determine how this human love may be established on foundations which will lead to action. " Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook Midot ha-Raayah' In the spirit of the above quotation from the writings of Rav Kook, this article considers some of the promises and challenges which the study of anthropology can offer students today in their attempt to define an integrated religious response to human diversity.

SHUBERT SPERO

TOWARDS AN ETHICAL THEORY OF JUDAISM

Judaism, conceived as a religion whose primary sources are the Bible and the Talmud, contains much that is considered today to be moral teachings. This article analyzes the understanding that the biblical writers and the Rabbis might have had of these teachings, and concludes that there is reason to believe that their view is commensurable with our own. While these sources imply the centrality of moral teachings, there is no medieval Jewish thinker who develops an "ethical theory" indicating the special role of morality. This article attempts to explain why this is so, and concludes with an outline of a possible ethical theory of Judaism.







LEE M. SPETNER

EVOLUTION, RANDOMNESS, AND HASHKAFA

Randomness is an essential component of neo-Darwinian theory. It is also the main point of conflict between the neo-Darwinian Weltanschauung and Torah hashkafa. It turns out, however, that (1) the randomness of the variation called for in the theory is untenable theoretically, and (2) there is no evidence for it. There is, however, much evidence for directed variation, where the environment induces adaptive variations. A new theory is described that suggests that the capability of living organisms to adapt to a wide variety of environments is built into the genome, and there is good molecular evidence that such is the case. Moreover, the proposed theory can explain many phenomena that the neo-Darwinian theory cannot explain. It is pointed out that this approach was suggested almost two hundred years ago by Rav David Luria.


ASHER Si. KAUFMAN

SURFACE MEASURE IN ANCIENT ISRAEL:

THE CASE OF MIDDOT 2,1

The first part of Mishnah Middot 2,1 has been completely misunderstood, both by the standard commentators and by modern scholars. This article explains the origin of the mistake and offers the correct interpretation.