Words that Matter

Fourth Reading: Genesis 19:21–21:4 The angel sent to overthrow Sodom told Lot that he was about to destroy it, as if to say that he had the power to do so himself. מֵהרִהָמֵּלטָשָׁמּהִכּי לֹא אוַּכלַלֲעשׂוֹתָדָּברַעד בֲֹּאƈָשָׁמּה וגו’: (בראשית יט:כב) [The angel said to Lot,] “Hurry! Escape [to the nearby city], for I can do nothing…

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Thursday prayers

Thursday morning prayer Shema, Yisra’el! YHVH ELOHAYNU YHVH echad.  U’ahavtah YHVH ELOHAYCHA, v’kole levav’cha, v’kole nefeshcah, v’kole meod’cha; v’ahav’cha l’reacha kemo’cha. Baruch atah ADONAI ELOHAYNU, melek ha’olam, asher natan lanu chen’cha, dayienu, emunah b’atah, dayinu, v’ ha’kavod shamcha, dayeinu. Hear now and do, Yisra’el! YHVH our ELOHIYM, YHVH, is one.  And you shall love YHVH your ELOHIYM,…

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Vayera – “And He Appeared”

Christopher discusses the laws of kashrot (kosher) in relation to the separation of meat and cheese. Does this Torah Portion say that Avraham served his guests (the three angels) meat and cheese together? Or is there more to this? Also, Christopher shows in this Torah Portion why the Pharisees believed in resurrection and how Isaac…

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Reviving Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke

By Diaa Hadid Jish, Israel: Two villages in the Holy Land’s tiny Christian community are teaching Aramaic in an ambitious effort to revive the language that Jesus spoke, centuries after it all but disappeared from the Middle East. The new focus on the region’s dominant language 2,000 years ago comes with a little help from…

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Yochanan 2

Yochanan 2 A Commentary on the New Testament From the Talmud and Hebraica by John Lightfoot/ 1. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: [And the third day there was a marriage, &c.] A virgin marries on the fourth day of the week, and a…

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Paul Bradshaw on the church orders published

Originally posted on ancientchurchorders:
Through the kindness of the author, I have received a copy of Paul F. Bradshaw, Ancient church orders (Alcuin/GROW JLS 80; Norwich: Hymns Ancient and Modern, 2015). A brief introduction describes the modern rediscovery of the ancient church orders, and engages with the question of whether these even compose a genre, and…

Parashat Lech-Lecha

STUDY GUIDE LEKH LEKHA (CHAPTERS 12:1-17:27) SUMMARY OF THE TORAH PORTION Abram receives a call from God to journey from his home to the land of Canaan and is promised that he will become a great nation; Abram arrives, but later leaves Canaan for Egypt because of a famine and Sarai, his wife, is taken…

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Parashat Noach / פרשת נח

ELEH TOLEDOTH NOACH 9 These are the memorials of Noach. Noach was a man righteous and perfect in his generation; in the fear of the Lord walked Noach. 10 And Noach begat three sons, Shem, Cham, and Yapeth. 11 And the earth was corrupted before the Lord, and the earth was filled with violences.(37) 12…

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Messiah is concealed in the name Noach

The Number 58-nun chet-spells the word Noach (Noah), whose name means “rest.” Noah, the tenth generation of mankind–“the tenth shall be holy for G-d” (Leviticus 27:32) –symbolizes the rest and peace that will bless the earth in the Messianic era. … of “all”–“for all is in it”) which had previously been concealed in it. Christopher…

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Yochanan 1

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [In the beginning was the Word.] In the beginning; in the same sense with Bereshith, In the beginning, in the history of the creation, Genesis 1:1. For the evangelist proposeth this to himself, viz. to shew how that, by…

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Parashat Noach / פרשת נח

STUDY GUIDE NOACH (CHAPTERS 6:9-11:32) SUMMARY OF THE TORAH PORTION Noah is deemed righteous enough to be spared from the impending destruction of the wicked world; God tells him about the upcoming flood and commands him to build an ark; Noah gathers his family and animals into the ark in accordance with God’s instructions; It…

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