No catastrophe challenges treasured beliefs and cherished hopes more than the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's genocide against the European Jews during World War II.
Gamaliel, the sensitive, spiritually-minded grandson of the great Hillel and teacher of Saul, was a leading and influential figure in the days of Jesus.
All the fundamental tenents of Judaism as expressed in the Thirteen Principles of Faith laid down by Maimonides are subjected to a brilliant, courageous interpretation--a major work.
Some degree of spiritual enlightenment must be supposed to account for the overall tolerance, even receptivity, of the people; though they refused to comply with the prophets' uncompromising demands, and occasionally persecuted one or another of them, as a rule they allowed them to preach, and even spawned devotees who reverently preserved their speeches until canonization.