You may have heard that Jesus was a Rabbi. So what? Knowing this fact has no value if one does not know much about ancient Rabbis. Merely stating that Jesus is Jewish or that he was a Rabbi means absolutely nothing unless one understands what stands behind such identity. What...
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus said to his disciple Peter, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19). A couple of...
A “Torah expert” (νομικός; nomikos) once asked Yeshua, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 10:25). Like a good rabbi, Jesus answered with a question: “What is written in the Torah?” (10:26). The learned man replied that, of all the Torah commands, it is most important...
The piercing note of a shofar – a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies – cuts through the mountain air of the Galilee. Here in northern Israel, shepherdess Jenna Lewinsky is raising a flock of “Jacob Sheep” as a religious calling. With anything up to six horns on each animal,...
"A person is not what he knows, a person is not what he does. A person is what he is longing for." Rabbe Nachman of Breslov When making an acquaintance, it is common for people to ask each other what they do for a living. Occupations can somewhat...
"Everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven" Rabbi Chanina (Berakhot 33b) When Rabbi Chanina mentions the "fear of heaven" - he means "the fear of God". And by "fear" he does not mean fear as most people...
A new exciting archeological discovery was recently announced – a small ancient tablet made of copper found on Mt Ebal, in Israel. The artifact was scientifically dated to the late Bronze age, maybe the 13th or 14th century BCE. That is quite old! The most exciting part is that the copper...
Israeli archaeologists working on a major Roman-era port city have unveiled new discoveries including an altar dedicated to Augustus Caesar and a centuries-old mother-of-pearl tablet inscribed with a menorah. The finds at Caesarea, a complex on the Mediterranean coast 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Tel Aviv, were the result...
When I first heard that Robert Alter was working on translating the whole Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and I was thrilled that this brilliant scholar decided to undertake such a monumental task. Professor Alter is well-known for his attention to the literary features of Hebrew. When his translation came out, it...