Torah/Pentateuch

Scholars have commonly located the source of Paul’s analogy for the resurrection body in 1 Cor 15:39–49 in the enumerated creatures of Genesis 1. Some interpreters have suggested Sir 43:1–10 lies behind the reference to the variegated glory of the celestial bodies mentioned in 1 Cor 15:41. Paul seems to list each of the respective terrestrial creatures and their bodies in a hierarchical order, as he does with the celestial bodies, relating the resurrection body to the later. Rather than the eschatological egalitarianism presumed in some attempts to appropriate Pauline eschatology for theological purposes, this text suggests that Paul envisioned the imminent resurrection of the dead would result in a kind of celestial hierarchicalism, a point often overlooked by interpreters. In this paper, I will argue for an alternative source for the celestial hierarchicalism apparent in the formulation of Paul’s resurrection mythos in 1 Cor 15:41, namely, an apocalyptic reception of Exodus tradition rooted in the hierarchical ascent of the cosmic mountain in Exodus 24 and its later reception. As is the case for other apocalypticists before, contemporary with, and after Paul, this paper will provide further evidence that Paul's own particular construal of Jewish eschatological mythoi, while recognizable, would place him squarely alongside other Jewish contemporaries who operate at the fringes of their own tradition in the wider ancient Mediterranean religious landscape.

Throughout the Pentateuch, God and Moses have done, before anyone else, what the scribes have always done: they have updated, amended, and supplemented. Through the projection of such characters in the narrated story, characters endowed with their own hermeneutical skill, the scribes have authorized – better, canonized – their own work, inscribing their practice in the texture of the founding events. They have cast God and his prophet as scribes in their own image, so as to become  scribes in Godʼs and Mosesʼs images.

This chapter examines some of the assumptions that are typically employed when dealing with the development of the Hebrew Bible. The first part of the chapter is a critique of the very term "Jewish Bible." It points out some of the problems with the term and make a plaidoyer against being politically correct. The second part focuses on what it means to explain the "development" of the Hebrew Bible and suggests that diachronic analysis alone cannot fully explain its formation. In this author's view, proper understanding of the development of the Bible requires drawing upon intellectual and literary models more commonly associated with the period of the “reception of scripture” than with conventional composition history.

The Torah's censuses of the tribal tallies in Exodus and Numbers, suggesting the flight that some three million Hebrews fled ancient Egypt in ca. 1450 BCE, is one of the major targets of scorn by deniers of Torah tradition. Meanwhile, ultra-Orthodox Torah scholars, if they are even aware of the problems with this, will either deny the science or appeal to magical thinking. Modern Orthodox thinkers might submit to the opposition, but claim that the Torah is "not a history book", tacitly agreeing that the Torah account has little historical value.

This piece was written to show the sceptic and educated religious believer alike that a solution known to and used by academia for sixty years is entirely consistent with belief in the solid logic of the Torah's wording. Plausible reasons are given as to why the Torah tallies human beings as it does.

An enormous amount of research and the synthesization of historical events and archaeological artifacts has led the author to verify Israelite residence in Egypt from 1876–1446 BC. This research is connected to the unexpected discovery of interconnecting archaeological, epigraphical, and iconographical evidence that attests to the presence of Israelites in Egypt over virtually the entire 430 years. By the sheer volume of verifiable evidence of complementary historical data—when comparing the biblical text and the artifactual and epigraphical record—the author attempts to demonstrate convincingly to objective readers that the biblical story of the Egyptian origins of the Israelite ‘nation’ is reliable as a factual account. Never again will students of the Bible have to listen to uniformed university professors denounce the story of Israelites in Egypt without a ready defense for its validity.

The key issues within this essay are maintaining purity in one’s life and thus being holy as a reflection of one’s salvation in Jesus Christ. I do not believe a homosexual lifestyle constitutes living a pure life or makes one holy and this belief will be tested against the seminal texts of Leviticus 18:22, 29 and 20:13. The terms ‘abomination’ (Lev 18:22, 29; 20:13) and ‘sexual immorality’ (Acts 15:29)will also be investigated in order to unlock the understanding of the original audience of the Bible as to what they meant (i.e., the ‘author-intended meaning’) (Smith 2008:170). Knowledge of the author-intended meaning is important because it aids in correct interpretation and thus in the accurate understanding of the meaning of the seminal texts

For about 150 years, scholars have attempted to identify the language of the world’s first alphabetic script, and to translate some of the inscriptions that use it. Until now, their attempts have accomplished little more than identifying most of the pictographic letters and translating a few of the Semitic words. With the publication of The World’s Oldest Alphabet, a new day has dawned. All of the disputed letters have been resolved, while the language has been identified conclusively as Hebrew, allowing for the translation of 16 inscriptions that date from 1842–1446 BC. These inscriptions expressly name 3 biblical figures and greatly illuminate the earliest Israelite history in a way that no other book has achieved, apart from the Bible.

O Israel antigo teve por fundamentação a religião de Yahweh. A crença no Deus da Confederação e na Aliança deu origem ao povo que hoje conhecemos como judeus. A religião de Yahweh trouxe para a sociedade de então uma grande revolução, o pensamento de um único Deus universal. Este pensamento deu origem a uma mudança na forma de organização da religião e do cotidiano religioso. Em uma época e sociedade regidas pelo compasso da vida religiosa, esta mudança altera toda a forma de organização da comunidade. Mas, a formação de uma nação envolve muitos outros elementos além do religioso. A relação com seu entorno, os modos de produção, a assimilação cultural, a adesão de novos membros na sociedade, são estruturas que compõem o quadro a ser construído. Este estudo engloba estas questões em uma jornada em busca de melhor compreender o processo de formação da história de Israel. Abstract. Ancient Israel had in the religion of Yahweh its fundamental basis.The belief in Confederation's God and the Alliance originated the people we know as Jews. The religion of Yahweh brought to society a great revolution: the thought of a single universal God. This thinking has led to a change in religion's organizational form and it's daily life. In an age and society governed by the compass of religious life, this change alters all forms of community organization. Besides Religion, the formation of a nation involves many other elements. The relationship with their environment, production methods, cultural assimilation, the acceptance of new members, are structures that make up the framework to be built. This study covers these issues in a quest to better understand the formation process of Israel's history.

Detailed arguments for dating Genesis 1-11 to the exilic era.

1. There is no reference to Moses writing any of Genesis, Exodus 1-14, 15:20-19:23; 24:1-18; 32:1-34:35; 35:30-40:37, or Leviticus 24:10-23, and only Numbers 33:3-49 is attributed to Moses (rather than the entire book).

2. People and events of Genesis 1-11 are cited rarely in the Old Testament, and virtually only by books dating to the Babylonian exile or later.

3. The text of Genesis 1-11 has a number of strong parallels with various Mesopotamian texts which were written very early, long before the birth of Moses. The level of detail in these parallels indicates strongly that they were not simply the result of a Hebrew writer demonstrating oral knowledge of stories he had heard; they indicate the writer of Genesis 1-11 had actually read these Mesopotamian texts, and was not only consciously aware of them but was writing in direct response to them.

4. Certain vocabulary in Genesis 1-3 is used elsewhere only in books written during the monarchy or later.

5. Certain names appear only in Genesis 1-11 and books written during or after the Babylonian exile; typically they appear later in 1 Chronicles 5 or later books as personal names, and in Isaiah and Ezekiel as place names.  Some names appear as personal names before the exile, but as place names only during or after the exile. A few names appear only in Genesis 10. Some verses in Genesis 1-11 use place names which help date the text. In particular, several verses in Genesis 10 indicate the chapter could not have been written until after the reign of Solomon.

In his objective study of the texts, Maurice Bucaille clears' away many preconceived ideas about the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Quran. He tries, in this collection of Writings, to separate what belongs to Revelation from what is the product of error or human interpretation.

His study sheds new light on the Holy Scriptures. At the end of a gripping account, he places the Believer before a point of cardinal importance: the continuity of a Revelation emanating from the same God, with modes of expression that differ in the course of time. It leads us to meditate upon those factors which, in our day, should spiritually unite rather than divide-Jews, Christians and Muslims.

As a surgeon, Maurice Bucaille has often been in a situation where he was able to examine not only people's bodies, but their souls. This is how he was struck by the existence of Muslim piety and by aspects of Islam which remain unknown to the vast majority of non-Muslims. In his search for explanations which are otherwise difficult to obtain, he learnt Arabic and studied the Quran. In it, he was surprised to find statements on natural phenomena whose meaning can only be understood through modern scientific knowledge.

He then turned to the question of the authenticity of the writings that constitute the Holy Scriptures of the monotheistic religions. Finally, in the case of the Bible, he proceeded to a confrontation between these writings and scientific data.

The results of his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Quran are set out in this book.

An updated version, with the addition of one paragraph. I also recommend that you read the Tree of Life (1st and 2nd Part), which is now also published here in Academia. This is a post on my blog, and also a supplement to my last book titled, The Torah of the Messiah.

Here is my blog: http://secretofbereshit.blogspot.com/

Discussions of 4QMMT have often focused on whether the epilogue refers to a tripartite canon comprising the Books of Moses, the prophets, and David. Recent scholarship has tended to doubt the possible reference to a Davidic corpus but has nonetheless persisted in the assumption that the Book of Moses ‫מושה(‬ ‫)ספר‬ refers to the canonical five-book Torah. In this article I reexamine the use of the term ‫מושה‬ ‫ספר‬ in 4QMMT and other Second Temple-period sources and argue that the expression had a narrower scope, specifically denoting the Book of Deuteronomy. By recognizing the restricted nature of the ‫מושה‬ ‫ספר‬ in MMT, we are better able to appreciate early Jewish conceptions of Scripture and the important place of Deuteronomy in the rhetoric of the epilogue.

Winner – 2021 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise. Reviewed in:
Vetus Testamentum, 72, no. 2 (2022): 348–350.
https://brill.com/view/journals/vt/72/2/article-p348_13.xml
Review of Biblical Literature (05/2022):
https://www.sblcentral.org/API/Reviews/13524_72038.pdf
Review of Biblical Literature (03/2022):
https://www.sblcentral.org/home/bookDetails/13524
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 45, no. 5 (Book List 2021) :
https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1177/030908922110017
Rivista Biblica Italiana 69, no. 2 (2021), 277–82
https://www.academia.edu/77359238/Recensioni_03_Bianchi_J_Rhyder_Centralizing_the_Cult_The_Holiness_Legislation_in_Leviticus_17_26_FAT_134_Mohr_Siebeck_T%C3%BCbingen_2019_
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 83, no. 1 (2021): 131–33.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/781558
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 133, no. 2 (2021): 288–89.
https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1515/zaw-2021-2007
AJS Review, 44, no. 2 (2020): 414–16.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0364009420000148
Old Testament Abstracts, 43 (2020): 885–86.
Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtgeschichte 26 (2020): 321–24.
https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.13173/zeitaltobiblrech.26.2020.0321

This work provides new insights into the relationship between the Holiness legislation in Leviticus 17–26 and processes of cultic centralization in the Persian period. The author departs from the classical theory that Leviticus 17–26 merely presume, with minor modifications, a concept of centralization articulated in Deuteronomy. She shows how Leviticus 17–26 use ritual legislation to make a new, and distinctive case as to why the Israelites must defer to a central sanctuary, standardized ritual processes, and a hegemonic priesthood. This discourse of centralization reflects the historical challenges that faced priests in Jerusalem during the Persian era: in particular, the need to compensate for the loss of a royal sponsor, to pool communal resources in order to meet socio-economic pressures, and to find new means of negotiating with the sanctuary at Mount Gerizim and with a growing diaspora.

https://books.google.ch/books?id=h_u1DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Tüm diller içerisinde yazılmış en iyi Tora açıklamaları arasında kabul arasında kabul edilen büyük eser MeAm Lo’ez şimdi Türkçe!

Türkçe'ye Çeviren: Gökhan Duran

Rabbi Yaaakov Culi tarafından yazılan MeAm Lo’ez, en büyük Yahudi kaynak kitaplarından biridir. MeAm Lo’ez’in Balkan ve Türkiye’deki Yahudiler arasındaki başarısı benzersizdir. MeAm Lo’ez, her yönü ile akademik bir çalışma olarak kabul edilse de, hedef okuyucu Talmud bilginleri değil, sıradan insanlardır. Basit ve doğal bir tarzla, günlük konuşma dili ile yazılmış olması, bu çalışmaya karşılıklı konuşuyormuş gibi bir tarz kazandırır. Sanki Yazar karşımızda oturmuş, bize ayetleri tek tek ayrıntılı anlatıyor gibidir.

Yeruşalim’de 1689’da doğan Rabbi Yaakov Culi, tanınmış bir aileden geliyordu. Yirmibeş yaşında genç bir adam olarak, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun başkenti İstanbul’a 1714’te vardı. Yahudi halkının neredeyse tamamen dinlerini ve geleneklerini kaybetmek üzere olduğunu gören Culi, İbranice bilmeyen bu topluluğun sıradan insanlarının anlayabileceği bir Tora açıklaması yazdı. MeAm Lo’ez yayımlandığında, tüm bu bölgenin manevi iklimini değiştirdi. Dinlerini yerine getirmeyi neredeyse tümüyle bırakmış onbinlerce Sefarad ailenin yeniden tamamen dinlerine tamamen bağlı olmasını sağladı.

Presented at SWCRS, Irving, TX, 3/11/2018. Oddities in the characterization and actions of the patriarch Isaac in the book of Genesis have long been noted by scholars, but the typical way of dealing with these oddities has been dismissive, either of the originality of authentic Isaac traditions or of Isaac as character (he is often characterized either as morally problematic or laughable). Without asserting anything about the historicity of Isaac the man, this paper proposes that the portrayal of the character Isaac seems to reflect an ancient traditional understanding of Isaac as a child and a man on the autistic spectrum, but ancient Israel and the classical Hebrew language had no resources for labeling this condition.

Son una secuencia que abre una posibilidad de entender mejor y más claro cómo Jesús quiso describir el carácter de Dios. Jesús mostró un Dios diferente al que tenía en vista la mayoría del mundo antiguo y lo hace hoy al mundo actual también. La demostración está basada en las bienaventuranzas registradas en el conocido sermón del monte.  Es una exégesis contextual y explicativa del carácter de Dios.

Dqs Mittelalter l0 (2005) 2: Produktive Kulturkonflikte frtihe vollplastische Skulptur vorhanden ist, zum anderen auch nicht klar ist, wie das Golgothakreuz wirklich aussah, d. h. ob es überhaupt mit einem Corpus Christi versehen war. Ob die schon früher in der Forschungsliteratur herangezogenen georgischen Großkreuze, auf die sich auch Schüppel beruft, den Brückenschlag herstellen können, ist zumindest fraglich. Interessant und aufschlussreich ist der Abschnitt über die liturgischen Funktionen dieser wegen ihrer Größe nicht leicht handhabbaren Kreuze. Schon aufgrund ihres hohen Materialwertes waren die Kreuze wohl nicht permanent ausgestellt. Wie das Mainzer Beispiel zeigt, konnten die Kruzifixe zerlegt werden, um dann vor allem während der Passions-und Osterzeit liturgisch gebraucht zu werden. Erstaunlicherweise wurden die recht sperrigen Objekte während der Festzeiten auf Prozessionen mitgeführt, verhüllt und enthüllt, niedergelegt, verehrt, um schließlich, mit beträchtlichem Kraftaufwand emporgehievt, zumeist über Lettner oder Kreuzaltar ihren Standort zu finden. Aufgrund der schlechten Quellenlage bleibt die Frage nach dem Verbleib der Kreuze außerhalb besonderer Feste und Anlässe weitgehend unbeantwortet.

Deuteronomy addresses social contexts of widespread displacement, an issue affecting 65 million people today. In this book Mark R. Glanville investigates how Deuteronomy fosters the integration of the stranger as kindred into the community of Yahweh. According to Deuteronomy, displaced people are to be enfolded within the household, within the clan, and within the nation. Glanville argues that Deuteronomy demonstrates the immense creativity that communities may invest in enfolding displaced and vulnerable people. Inclusivism is nourished through social law, the law of judicial procedure, communal feasting, and covenant renewal. Deuteronomy’s call to include the stranger as kindred presents contemporary nation-states with an opportunity and a responsibility to reimagine themselves and their disposition toward displaced strangers today.

In his introduction, Garrett identifies several features of his commentary. First, he attempts to give readers short introduction to Egyptian history culture language and geography. While this appears primarily in the introduction, the commentary itself often sets the text in a historical context. Second, he attempts to state the “evidence and arguments over crucial questions.” Obviously these will include things like the date of the Exodus and the location of Sinai. His goal is to “walk readers through the complexities involved.” Although he reaffirms the reliability of the text, he does not distort the evidence in order to produce a “conservative answer.”

an interpretation of the hermeneutics of the Temple Scroll interpreting  Deuteronomy, published in: Kristin De Troyer/Armin Lange (Hg.), The Qumran Legal Texts between the Hebrew Bible and Its Interpretation, CBET 61, Peeters, Leuven 2011, 59-74

«Una tradizione antica riferita da illustri sapienti informa che tutta la Toràh, i primi cinque libri della Bibbia, è composta dal nome di Dio». E’ la fascinazione proposta dallo scrittore Erri De Luca, che ci offre una prima motivazione per indagare in merito
alle caratteristiche e all'importanza che la Torah riveste nell'ambito dell’Ebraismo prima e successivamente all'esilio babilonese, nel giudaismo ed infine per il cristianesimo stesso, le cui radici affondano nel giudaismo.  La recente scoperta del Prof. Mauro Perani, nel maggio 2013,  del più antico testo completo in ebraico della  SeferTorah, può rappresentare un ulteriore  spunto di riflessione. Il rotolo custodito presso la Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna è stato datato tra la seconda metà del XII e l’inizio del XIII secolo e consentirà agli studiosi d’integrare il codice di Aleppo, parzialmente distrutto nel 1947, approfondendo un’indagine che non si è mai del tutto conclusa ed evidenzia la centralità che i primi cinque libri della Bibbia rivestono per tutta la cristianità, oltre che per gli stessi ebrei. Un valore che trascende dall'aspetto normativo (troppo spesso erroneamente esaltato), per risiedere nel più profondo significato di rivelazione di Dio, affidata a Mosè perché la trasmettesse al popolo di Israele e tramite esso alla intera umanità.

Acest studiu s-a născut din nevoia de a înțelege rolul important pe care sângele îl are în general în Biblia Ebraică, iar în mod special în cărțile Pentateuhului. Analiza noastră va fi făcut pe baza textului masoretic, deoarece acest text ilustrează bine mentalitatea semită - care înțelege sângele ca fiind sursa vieții. Pe acest considerent, în prima parte a prezentului articol, dorim să exemplificăm interdicțiile pe care sângele le comporta în societatea iudaică antică. Iar apoi, dorim să subliniem că în Pentateuh sângele apare ca un simbol al vieții fizice, al izbăvirii din calea morții, al curățirii păcatelor și al sfințirii preoților. Toate aceste simbolisme datorându-se faptului că sângele este în primul rând semnul legământului dintre Dumnezeu i poporul Său (Ieș 24, 8). În ultimă instanță dorim să arătăm că taina sângelui din Pentateuh poate fi pe deplin înțeleasă prin raportare la taina sângelui Mântuitorului Iisus Hristos.

PDF Flyer for my book. Sefer Tagin Fragments from the Cairo Genizah A Critical Edition, Commentary and Reconstruction. Volume 12 of the Cambridge Genizah Studies Series.

In Sefer Tagin Fragments from the Cairo Genizah, Marc Michaels transcribes and recreates fragments of arguably the earliest found manuscript of the manual for sofrim (scribes) concerning the decorative tagin (tittles) and 'strange' letter forms that adorn certain words in the Torah. Comparing these found fragments against other core and secondary sources of Sefer Tagin (including several pages of a new secondary source), Michaels establishes the most likely readings to assist the reconstruction of the fragments and shed light on the original intention of the author of Sefer Tagin.

Le récit du péché de Moïse en Nb 20,1-13 est un haut lieu de la sagacité et de l'imagination des exégètes. En dépit de l'apport de générations de commentateurs, il y a toujours -et il y aura toujours -à se demander quelle est, au vrai, l'identité du péché en question, qui vaut à Moïse de ne pas pouvoir mener le peuple sur la terre de la promesse. Le commentateur Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865) a pu épiloguer: «Moïse notre maître a commis un péché, mais nos commentateurs en ont entassé au moins treize sur lui, chacun d'entre eux ayant inventé un [péché jusque là] inédit […]. Je me suis dès lors gardé d'aborder ce problème par crainte d'attribuer un nouveau péché à Moïse 1 !» Les différentes hypothèses, qui circulent en version rabbinique 2 ou en version critique 3 , font jouer le plus souvent le verdict divin du v. 12 -«Parce que vous n'avez pas cru en moi pour manifester ma sainteté devant les fils d'Israël»pour déduire que la faute de Moïse (et d'Aaron) est celle d'un manque de foi 4 , ou encore le rappel des faits par Dieu au v. 24 -«parce que vous vous êtes rebellés contre ma bouche» -pour inférer qu'il s'agit d'une rébellion. Ceci dit, il reste encore à identifier ce manque de foi et/ou cette rébellion. Pour certains, la faute de Moïse est d'avoir frappé (et par deux fois 5 ) le rocher au lieu de lui avoir parlé 6 , comme YHWH le lui avait 0976-08_Romer_25_Sonnet 03-27-2008, 14:09 535