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,
An amazing discovery has been just recently unveiled in Jerusalem: a seal that possibly belongs to Isaiah the Prophet. Archaeologists have been digging south of the walls of old Jerusalem in the area known as Ophel. Though outside of the
The Book of Enoch is a well-known Jewish composition from the Second Temple era. Older English translations of 1 Enoch (Ethiopic Enoch) are in the Public Domain and widely available online for free. The problem is that the narratives
In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses each of his sons. The words he speaks are beautiful, but they can be hard to understand. When he gets to Dan, he compares his son to a serpent. A strange blessing for a child,
In our weekly reading, Pharaoh was not counting sheep. Instead, he saw disturbing dreams about sets of cows and stocks of grain. The dreams troubled him. He knew they were important but could not make sense of the message they
The “Kingdom of Heaven” (מַלְכוּת הַשָׁמָיִם, malchut hashamaim) is an ancient Jewish idea easily traced back to the Hebrew Bible, where the prophets speak of a coming messianic age when God will establish
Every time I go on vacation I need to go somewhere. I can't stay at home. If I stay at home, I will end up doing things around the house. It will not be a vacation. I can&
These videos are inspirational talks and teachings about love. It is not a strictly academic topic but an interactive spiritual conversation about the meaning of love. How should we make sense of love in light of the core teachings about
This enlightening video explores the profound message of love conveyed in the three sacred books (Megilot) read during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Guided by the esteemed Rabbi Sacks, this teaching session will not only inspire you but
Inside this book are new and updated translations of seven Jewish texts from the Second Temple Era: Prayer of Manasseh, Book of Baruch, Psalms of Solomon, Testament of Moses, Lives of the Prophets, Apocalypse of Moses, and Apocalypse of Abraham.
From time to time, I hear people make references to the pearly gates of heaven, where St. Peter stands and admits people into eternity. I have seen all sorts of depictions of this scene. I never understood this tradition until
Sticky situations. Standing in front of pivotal decisions is something we all do. Many stories in the Torah inspire us about these very scenarios. This is one of those stories. Some of us face hard decisions quite often, and some
There is an intriguing and cryptic text about Dan in the Torah. In Jacob’s final blessing on his sons, in Genesis 49, Dan is compared to a “serpent” (נָחָשׁ; nachash). Dan shall judge his people as one
