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 groups was NOT labeled heretic?
 The Karaites
 The Sephardic Jews in North Africa
 The Mitnagdim
 The Hasidim

 

Question 2. Saadiah Gaon wrote a translation of the Bible in what language?
 French
 Spanish
 Ladino
 Arabic

 

Question 3. Hellenistic Jewish literature is dominated by which figure?
 Philo
 Judah Maccabee
 Rabbi Akiba
 Caesar

 

Question 4. 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 5. Which of these thinkers was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States?
 Baruch Spinoza
 Theodor Herzl
 Abraham Joshua Heschel
 Meir Kahane

 

Question 6. Which of the following philosophers was excommunicated from his Jewish community?
 Saadia Gaon
 Nachmanides
 Gersonides
 Baruch Spinoza

 

Question 7. Gersonides was not
 A talmudist
 A doctor
 A philosopher
 An astronomer

 

Question 8. A main goal of medieval Jewish thinkers was to reconcile Jewish thought with what philosophy?
 Roman
 Greek
 Arab
 Persian

 

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. 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

 

---