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A collection of 100 posts

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Acts 15: Are Gentiles Allowed in the Church?

How is the message about a God who made covenants with a particular people in a particular land move into the gentile world? This was a perplexing issue for the early church, and the early Jewish leaders used the book of Leviticus to help solve the problem. The Apostle Paul

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The Way God Leads

In Exodus 13:17, the Torah says that God did not lead the Israelites through the land of the Philistines, a much shorter route. Hebrew texts literally says, ki karov hu “though it was closer.” Instead, God led the Israelites through the wilderness path, passing through the sea of reeds,

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Be Careful with Compromises

In Chayei Sara we read the story of Abraham commissioning his servant to search for a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham is certain that he does not want a wife from any of the local families in Canaan. Why? But he is also very certain that he does not

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Why were the Dead Sea Scrolls forgotten?

This is an audio lecture by Rachel Elior, a Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought at the Hebrew University, a talk given in front of an audience of peers. Her research is current and meticulous and often challenges the status quo thinking. She answers a question many who

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Deliver Us

As soon as Jacob resolved to head back home to Canaan, he knew he would be in danger because of his brother. Him and his entire family. So, in Gen 32:12, Jacob prays - hatizileni na meyad achi “Deliver me please from the hand of my brother.” Jacob was gripped

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Be One More

In the weekly Torah reading Vayera (Gen 18-22), we read the story of Sodom and Amorah. It is a story of true sinners in the hands of an angry God. Only things are a bit different for them. They have an unexpected advocate. In Torah, we encounter Abram and

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Hope in Revelation

The role of the prophet is not to predict what is to come, but to speak into their present moment, so how does Revelation fit into the prophetic category? We also discuss how the author uses imagery to connect the dots between the ideas of a suffering Messiah and a

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Revelation: Pop Culture and Armageddon

Have you been fascinated by the Book of Revelation but felt that something must be missing in modern interpretations of this anti-Roman, Jewish document? Revelation is an extremely multifaceted book filled with rich cultural imagery and allusions that many people simply misread. Why? Because they know too little about

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Revelation: The end of the world...or is it?

What is apocalyptic literature, and how does it change the way we read Revelation? What were the cultural developments that birthed the apocalyptic genre, and is that genre a Greco-Roman or Jewish style of literature? This week we talk about the overall context of Revelation and why pop culture

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Be The Light

In Gen 1:14-19 the Torah says that Hashem has set the lights in the sky for several reasons. First - to separate the day from the night. Second - to serve as signs for the times, days, and years. In other words to display stable predictable patterns to help us

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A person is not what he knows... Rebbe Nachman

"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

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Was Jesus a Rabbi?

Was Jesus a Rabbi? Some people would say yes, some no and some would be unsure how to answer. There is a good reason why the answers are often different. This is not a straightforward question. The term rabbi appeared sometime just prior to the first century CE and its

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From Rabbi to Lord to Jesus (~2hrs)

Was Jesus a Rabbi? Some people would say yes, some no and some would be unsure how to answer. There is a good reason why the answers are often different. This is not a straightforward question. The term rabbi appeared sometime just prior to the first century CE and its

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The Psalms of Solomon 1-3 Audio

The Psalms of Solomon are a collection of eighteen Jewish poetic compositions from around the second or first century BCE. They were originally composed in Hebrew or possibly in Aramaic. But the oldest manuscripts that have survived to our times are the Greek and Syrian Aramaic translations of the original

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Everything is in the hands... Rabbi Chanina

"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 see

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The Star Wars Saga...

> Why did the Star Wars Saga begin with Parts IV, V, and VI? In charge of planning, Yoda was! > Simon S. Star Wars0:00/1:321×If you are a Star Wars fan, you might be chuckling, right now. And if you are not a Star Wars fan

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Privileges and Responsibilities

Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker (Spiderman), “with great power comes great responsibility”. This is not a new idea. Parashat Emor (Leviticus 25) lists many privileges and responsibilities the priests must follow. What can we learn from these instructions?

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Musaf - Additional Offering

Torah describes daily obligatory offerings that God commanded to be brought on his altar (Numbers 28). They are called korban Tamid. They are but a token of what we owe truly owe God.  But on Shabbat, God expected another offering - Musaf.

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Is prayer your steering wheel?... Corrie Ten Boom

> Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? > Corrie Ten Boom Steering0:00/1:281×This saying may sound like a cliche, but you have to consider who said these words. If you have never heard of Corrie Ten Boom, she was a Dutch Christian woman who

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"Good people do not need laws..." Plato

> "Good people do not need laws to act responsibly and bad people will find a way around those laws." > Plato Good people do not need laws...0:00/1:311×Many people think that the laws and rules exist only to limit us. And that is

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Six Days a Week... Heschel

> Six days a week we seek to dominate the world. On the seventh day, we seek to dominate the self. > Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Six Days0:00/1:371×Countless Bible readers have stumbled over verses where God tells Moses to instruct Israelites to sanctify the Sabbath. But

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"Learn the Rules..." Picasso

> “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” > Pablo Picasso Learn the rules...0:00/0:591×Rules are not bad by default. Some rules should not be broken unless we wish to face some dire consequences. But Pablo Picasso was right,

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03 Hanukkah in First Maccabees Audio

This lesson on Hanukkah was recorded live with audience participation.  Flavius Josephus describes the days before the Maccabean Revolt. His version is not that different from the book of First Maccabees, which paints those events as a story of heroic struggle for the survival of Jewish ways of life and

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02 Hanukkah in Josephus Audio

his lesson on Hanukkah was recorded live with audience participation. A late first century CE Jewish writer, Josephus Flavius, describes the history of the days before the Maccabean Revolt. How and why did Antiochus IV get involved in Israel’s cultural landscape, and why did he decide to force Israelites

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01 Three Ways to See Hanukkah Audio

This lesson on Hanukkah was recorded live with audience participation. Three ways to see the holiday: Pop-culture, Spiritual and Historical perspectives. How far back do Hanukkah traditions go?