Watch and Listen to New Translation of 3 Enoch 48
Since I recently released a new book, I am sharing some videos that offer people a peek into the texts of the Books of Enoch. It's a bit of self-promotion. But many of my students have been
>Books
"Hearing Distant Echoes" by Pinchas Shir
This book captures many ancient voices, a collection of literary excerpts from ancient Jewish books: Jubilees, Josephus, 4 Ezra, Qumran Scrolls, Talmud, Enoch, Baruch, Maccabees, Mishna, Judith, Apocalypse of Moses, Philo, Mishna, Ben Sira, and many others, fifty passages to be exact. The excerpts are mostly short, sometimes even intentionally
/Articles
You Are God's Temple: 1 Corinthians 3:16
Apostle Paul was a first-century religious Jew, trained at the feet of the best rabbis of his time. Though he addresses primarily non-Jewish audiences, Shaul often writes as a rabbi, resorting to midrash and employing metaphors to illustrate his ideas. Sadly, his readers are not used to this
/Video
A Morning Prayer: May Your Will Always Be...
I wanted to share with you a Morning Prayer and, more specifically, a musical piece I created based on it. The words of this song are inspired by the words of the traditional morning blessings found in the Siddur (Jewish Prayer Book). The person who is praying in the early
>Seminars
The Sign of Jonah and Something Greater (~3hrs)
What is this Sign of Jonah? The traditional thinking is that it's Jesus' resurrection, three days and three nights... But the passage may not be so simple as it appears on the surface. Interested in taking a closer look and discovering another way to read the text?
/Articles
Study the Three Visions of Enoch!
Over the years of teaching, I have often referred my students to the books of Enoch. But most of the time, I did so with some reservations. I knew that the broadly distributed copies they would likely come across would be littered with archaic and hard-to-digest language. Finally,
Returning to Your Own
Torah describes the laws of shemitah, the laws of the sabbatical year, and also yovel - a Jubilee year. This was a time when Israel was challenged to let the land have its Shabbat, a complete rest from agriculture. And yet
Watch and Listen to New Translation of 2 Enoch 7-10
In efforts to raise awareness of my latest book release, I am sharing some videos that present select segments from the Books of Enoch. Naturally, I want to promote my new book, and this video is a way for me
Marking Heads
The Psalms of Solomon are sometimes called Songs of Shlomo (מזמורי שלמה), a book that should not be confused with the Wisdom of Solomon and the Odes of Solomon. Solomon was popular in antiquity, so a number of ancient books
Watch and Listen to New Translation of 1 Enoch 1-7
I recently released a new book, so in my efforts to promote it, I wanted to share some videos and let people experience the texts that captivated my attention for a while. The First Book of Enoch (Ethiopian Enoch), also
Sleeping at the Foot of Sinai
In modern Shavuot celebrations, it is customary to stay up late and to study Torah into the morning hours. Why? Many rabbis would say that we follow this custom because when Hashem decided to give Israel the mitzvot (commandments), they
Unhewn Stones
Has anyone ever complained to you that you are a difficult person? Have you been described as “rough around the edges”? Don’t despair. It just means you are human, and you do not hide it very well. I will
The Harvest of Sheol
We live in a world full of people who think they know how everything works. The audacity of science and investigative thought is often revealed in claiming to have figured it all out, as mere theories are too often presented
The World of Hebrew Prophets: 04-05 Prior to Monarchy (~2h)
What makes one a prophet? How can their words be validated? How can their calling from above be verified? In this socio-cultural study of ancient Israelite prophets, it would not be proper to only discuss the lives of those
The World of Hebrew Prophets: 03 Prophets in the ANE (~1h)
In this segment, the Hebrew Prophets are presented in the context of the broader Near Eastern culture. Israel is not the only people group that has had individuals endeavor to reach out and interact with the supernatural world. Understanding who
The World of Hebrew Prophets: 01-02 Geography and Era (~1.5h)
The words of the prophets can only be understood in their context. Only the books of the prophets themselves do not always give much context. Usually, we encounter their oracles without any explanations. To make sense of the world of
The Scrolls of Apocalypse
Many Jewish scrolls scribed between 300 BCE and 200 CE can be classified as “apocalyptical” because of their frequent focus on the heavenly scenes, secrets, revelations, and visions of the future. Apocalypse is a Greek word that means “to reveal”