Jeffrey Spitzer
Jeffrey Spitzer teaches Bible, Rabbinics, Jewish history and Jewish leadership, and is a house associate at the American Hebrew Academy, a Jewish boarding school in Greensboro, North Carolina. He previously was the chair of the Rabbinic Literature department at Gann Academy, a Jewish high school in Waltham, Massachusetts, and has taught in numerous adult Jewish education programs.
Articles by Jeffrey Spitzer
After the First Temple
Jewish history was permanently altered by the destruction of the First Temple, and the exile that came afterwards.
God as a Wife-Beater
Does this text (or any text) deserve to be excluded from the larger category of Jewish teaching
Who is the Messiah?
Jewish sources have not, as a general rule, focused attention on the specific personal qualities of the Messiah.
The Innovative Spirit and Jewish Tradition
Although the rabbis propagated the belief that rabbinic teaching went back to Moses on Mt. Sinai, many classical texts clearly demonstrate that the rabbis understood the innovative nature of their work.
Jewish Pseudepigraphy
To earn respect, a genre of Jewish texts assigns authorship to biblical figures and sages of previous eras.
Jeremiah 7: The Israelites’ "Edifice Complex"
The prophet takes on the people's mistaken assumption that they can safely persist in unethical behavior--and that God would never destroy the Temple.
Seder Kodashim (Holy Things)
The rabbis restored the religious meaning of the sacrificial cult even though the Temple itself had been destroyed.
The Way of the Gentiles
The prohibition against non-Jewish practices, might relate to the practices of ancient Egypt, Canaan or the social and philosophical ways of non-Jews today.
The Noahide Laws
Seven commandments which, according to Jewish tradition, are incumbent upon all of humankind.
The Non-Jew in Jewish Law
Rabbinic authorities have used different arguments to redress inequities in the way halakhah treats non-Jews.