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
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
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
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?
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,
This is a lecture by Prof. Rachel Elior of Hebrew University. If you are interested in Kabballah, Hassidism, Zohar, and the development of esoteric spirituality in Judaism, you will find this lecture very insightful. Dr. Elior is an expert in
The full Shema consists of three passages: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37–41. Its words communicate an entire set of deeply held spiritual beliefs that forge a mindset that manifests in practices. This Part
Why does Torah give fathers and husbands such power over promises their daughters and wives make? It’s unfair. Are women not capable of making good decisions or valid promises? Are they prone to overpromise? Of course, the answer to
In Jewish life, Shema is not exactly a typical prayer. It's a recitation of three paragraphs from the Torah: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37–41. What stands behind these sentences, however, communicates
The worship of reason is arrogance and betrays a lack of intelligence. The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Anyone who reads Rabbi Heschel's writings knows that he was
"The Dignity of Difference" by Jonathan Sacks presents a compelling argument that diversity should not be feared or suppressed but rather celebrated and embraced. By acknowledging and respecting our differences, we can foster a more harmonious and peaceful
This is a video of a lecture by Rabbi Sacks called "The Dignity of Difference" delivered at Duke University in 2007. The lecture is about 40 minutes long and starts a bit slow (Rabbi Sacks begins it @ 12
Offerings serve a purpose, often a symbolic visual purpose, to express something that words alone cannot. Words are effective most of the time, but sometimes only the actions are adequate. The Torah describes how Levites were shaved, purified by water
Many students of the Bible and ancient history have heard about Herod the Great. Yet most visitors to the Holy Land never get to see these amazing historical ruins connected to the famous king. There is just so much to
A buried treasure of nine well-preserved bronze Byzantine coins found by archeologists during an excavation near Highway 1 serves as evidence of the Persian invasion of Jerusalem at the end of the Byzantine period, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.
I stumbled across this animated video on the historical developments of Cannan and was impressed by how simply and easily the author covered the events of history that we know so little about. I loved it, so I decided to
The Book of Baruch (ספר ברוך, Sepher Baruch), also known as 1 Baruch, is a non-canonical text attributed to Baruch ben Neriyah (ברוך בן נריה), a scribe and close associate of the prophet Jeremiah. The current version of the
