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David Sedley
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David Sedley
The Blogs

David Sedley

Rabbi, teacher, author, husband, father
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Jul 29, 2022, 6:25 PM
Featured Post
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle vs. Jewish law
Marion Gilchrist's dining room and the site of the murder in Glasgow, in 1908. (Public Domain, National Archives of Scotland/ Wikimedia Commons)
Witness testimony led to a guilty verdict for a Jew in Scotland. Sherlock Holmes-type sleuthing found him innocent. Is the Torah wrong to require witnesses? (Masai)
Jul 22, 2022, 6:21 PM
Featured Post
Panda-monium — Parshat Matot
The body of Su Lin at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. (Public Domain, Zagalejo/ Wikimedia Commons)
The pandas were really cute, of course, but more importantly, saving them protected the future for ourselves and our children. Moses understood this need too
Jul 15, 2022, 5:21 PM
Heirlooms — Parshat Pinchas
Picture, taken in 2020, of Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan. (CC BY-SA, Boltor/ Wikimedia Commons)
In the year 705 CE, Fujiwara Mahito, the son of an advisor to the 38th emperor of Japan, Tenji, was walking through the Japanese Kai Mountain region, near Mount Fuji, when he discovered a hot spring (“onsen”).  Fujiwara was...
Jul 1, 2022, 5:41 PM
Featured Post
New traditionalists – Parshat Hukat
Battle of Crecy, From a illuminated manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles. (Public Domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
As values and morals change over time, it is impossible for successful leadership to remain stuck in the past. Or at least not and remain successful
Jun 24, 2022, 7:23 PM
Not all viewpoints are valid — Parshat Korach
Attack against Fort Sumter - 1861 (Public Domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States of America. The Republican candidate defeated Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge and John Bell, winning almost 40% of the popular vote. He carried all but one of...
Jun 17, 2022, 6:41 PM
Featured Post
Damage for decades – Parshat Shelach
Springs, NY General Store NRHP site - vintage gas pumps. (CC BY-SA, CaptJayRuffins / Wikimedia Commons)
The spies' bad report took the Israelites 40 years to walk out of their system, much the way leaded gas did so much harm that it took years to reduce its impact
May 27, 2022, 5:24 PM
Making the decision — Parshat Bamidbar
The Tremeloes in 1968. L–R: Dave Munden, Rick Westwood, Chip Hawkes, Alan Blakley. (Public Domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
In September 1963, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes had come up from London to perform in Liverpool. Midway through the set they got a notification that a telegram was waiting for them at the post office. Poole and the...
May 20, 2022, 3:30 PM
Featured Post
The blessing of stability: Parshat Bechukotai
Painting of privateers attacking Spanish ships by Samuel Scott. (Public Domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
Just as pirates who lived life on the edge took comfort in the rules of their code, the Torah offers similar security in its equal-opportunity blessings and curses
Jan 28, 2022, 6:22 PM
A watershed moment — Parshat Mishpatim
Bill Phillips with his MONIAC computer. (Public Domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
Alban William Housego Phillips (Bill to his mates) was born on a dairy farm in Te Rehunga, New Zealand, in 1914. The town in the Manuatu Whanganui Region is still known today for its sheep and dairy farming. It...
Dec 31, 2021, 2:16 PM
The cow of doubt — Parshat Vaera
Sir Richard Doll. (CC BY-SA, History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group/ WIkimedia Commons)
In 1930s Britain and United States, mortality rates showed a sudden increase in deaths from lung cancer. In 1947, the British Medical Research Council asked two epidemiologists, Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill, to investigate the cause. There were...
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About Me
David Sedley lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children. He has been at various times a teacher, translator, author, community rabbi, journalist and video producer. He currently teaches online at WebYeshiva. Born and bred in New Zealand, he is usually a Grinch, except when the All Blacks win. And he also plays a loud razzberry-colored electric guitar.