Posts by Julia Blum

Last time, we began to discuss Jesus’ final week against a Jewish background. We know already that Jesus had to enter Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan – the very same day when the perfect lamb was to be selected and set apart.  It was Sunday that year, and what had happened between that Sunday […]

We are still in the middle of that weeklong celebration that has come to be known as Pesach, or Passover. This is a good time to analyze the last days of Jesus – and to see that they are understood much better when seen through the Hebrew Bible and against the Jewish background. Here are […]

Why does a modern Christian reader need to understand the Jewish Passover? The connection between Jesus and Passover is evident: The New Testament accounts of Christ’s death refer or allude to the preparation of the Passover lamb in such a clear way that we have absolutely no doubt that the evangelists were consciously presenting Christ […]

Last time, we saw that as chairman, James summed up the discussion at the Jerusalem Council. James concluded the gathering with takkanah, (may I remind you that takkanah is a regulation issued by a rabbinic authority which revises an ordinance that no longer satisfies the requirements of the times or circumstances). James did in fact, […]

My dear friends, we are entering Acts 15 – one of the most crucial chapters of this book. I daresay that most modern readers while reading this chapter, don’t always understand what is going on there.  If one were a religious Jew of the 1st century, he would definitely know what’s going on. We miss […]

To the Jew first … My dear readers, for a few weeks we are back to our journey through the book of Acts.  From the book itself, we know that it was a regular  custom of Apostle Paul to attend synagogue every Shabbat.  Even though Paul’s apostolic mission was to reach the Gentiles with the […]

It’s Purim time – and of course, we will speak about Purim today. Almost everywhere, the festival of Purim is celebrated on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar. This year, in most places Purim began on Wednesday evening, March 16 and will continue through Thursday, March 17. In Jerusalem, however, Purim will begin […]

Little Aleph For the last two weeks, we have been watching the people of Israel building the Tabernacle. This sanctuary was to accompany the Jewish people throughout their long journey in the wilderness and was to be set up in the Land of Israel when they eventually arrived there. Finally, in the very last chapter […]

Last time, we saw the people of Israel bringing excessively bountiful donations for the building of the Tabernacle. As one of the Midrashim says, “they came both men and women; that is to say, in their eagerness they pressed against each other. The men and women came as a huge throng when they brought their […]

Shabbat Shekalim Dear friends, since we have already paused our Acts series, I decided to extend this pause to have a look at the current Torah portions. There are several reasons for that: First, the chapters we are now reading discuss the building of the Tabernacle, and the importance of the tabernacle in Scripture is […]