The Jewish Studies Blog

JOSEPH’S NEW NAME Readers who have been following this blog for a while know that I love series. It made more sense, to do a series when I was able to publish a new post every week, – but even now, within this current format, I am still happy to proceed with the series we […]

  My dear readers! Last time, we started a new series, RECLAIMING THE BIBLICAL NAMES, and I promised to comment here on the names from the four weekly Torah portions we read each month. Last month, we discussed the names of the primeval history—the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis. As you all […]

My dear readers! My heart breaks when I think of the simple fact that usually at this time of the year, around Simchat Torah, I would write about the Joy of a New Beginning – the Joy of rolling back the Torah scrolls, of dancing with the Torah, of beginning anew the Torah reading cycle. […]

My dear readers, as you can imagine, it has become very challenging to speak about Succoth – especially about the joy of Succoth – since October 7, 2023. Therefore,  this time I decided to explore the meaning and meaningfulness of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Tabernacles themselves in the New Testament. Let us glance […]

My dear readers, our horrible war has been going on for almost a year already. As my friend wrote to me, “It’s now coming up to a year since October 7, and it’s heartbreaking to see the war still going on and Israel so divided”. So, maybe it will come as no surprise that in […]

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Noah is one of the most significant characters in the Bible; virtually everyone knows who he was. It’s interesting that Lamech, Noah’s father, recognized this son’s special calling and mission from the very beginning, and gave him a very significant name: And he named him Noah, saying, This one will provide […]

Dear friends, as you can imagine, here in Israel we all long for peace and the end of this horrible nightmare that surrounds us every day. Twenty years ago – it was during our “peaceful” life, of course – I wrote in my book: “A trip abroad from Israel, to some “normal” country, is somewhat […]

…and he went into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself…                         Gen. 43:30-31   Where are… the yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained? Is. 63:15   As I’ve been preparing my post on Shavuot, the situation in Israel […]

The Sealed and the Unsealed Let’s start with the beautiful words from Revelation 5:1-9, where all three components of our title are present: 1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who […]

Have you ever found yourself skipping over a biblical genealogy and thinking, “Why do we need all these dry lists?” The Bible is full of genealogies, and even the most diligent readers sometimes skip them.  These lists might, indeed, seem dry to us, but in fact, they are very important because they prove the historical […]