Hebrew Bible to the World: Recent Episodes
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I draw on 3 assumptions and 5 sources:
Assumptions
The Bible is the most consequential and influential book the ever existed and it has much for each of us. 2. It is written in a way that is designed to communicate maximum information in the available space, and it makes the reader a participant and co-author. 3. It is not a historical record but a book of instruction and it is structured and designed as such. It is true in that deep and profound sense.
Sources: Hebrew and other languages. Volumes of Jewish interpretation - 3000 years of it. Modern and Christian interpretative traditions: Accept the Truth from whoever says it. Philosophy and everything else I know.
I post outlines of each talk on avakesh.com. This Hebrew word means "I will seek".
I welcome your questions at HebrewBibletotheworld@gmail.com
As we come to the end of the first great narrative of Genesis, what is it about? We will explore how to read Biblically: Forward, backward, and, most importantly, to the middle, to draw out what i tells.
For thousands of years, readers of eh BIble sensed that it is a story of falling ann recontruction. But there are 7 ruptures desribed in Genesis. Each was provided a solution nd tehn the solution also failed. We will disucss 3 of them - the best known Fall and how it wsa conceptualized in Jewish and Christian thought, teh role opf Satan and Yetzer Hara (Evil INclincation), but also the rupture of Cain adn QAbel, and Nephilim.
How do we approach the Two Trees of Genesis? What do they mean, or.. what do they tell?
Review and short explanation to 10 approaches to Image of God from Nishmat Chayim of R. Menashe Yisroel, and we close with Pico Della Mirandola and R. Y.B. Soloveitchik for modern man.
On return to Eden:
Yael Ziegler - Return to Eden in the song of songs - https://www.hatanakh.com/en/lessons/paradise-regained-return-gan-eden-shir-hashirim
Yael Ziegler - Israel as the replacement for Eden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dafcwgiUrQ&ab_channel=Israel365
Alex Israel - https://www.alexisrael.org/behukotai---back-to-eden
The 4 rivers of Genesis - what they may be and why are we told about them at all.
Note: I misidentifeid the title fo the book about Aharon Marcus. It is: The Chasid from Hamburg, not Nuremburg and here is the link there you can see it, https://www.amazon.com/Chasid-Hamburg-Portrait-Courage-Humility/dp/158330701X
Are the events of Genesis literally true or represent true and profound teachins, or both? Are some non-literal and how do we distniguish?
Man;s evolving udnerstanding and covenant with Woman. Biology, reproduciton, spirituality.
I complete the story that is found a few minutes into the podcast.
After my vanity and ambition had me figuratively stuck on the podium, in the panel in which I palyed a role of a scientist, not a Rabbi, and could not contradict religiously offensive material being spoken by a fellow panelist, rertribution and a lesson came fast. As I exited the venue and went into one of those Manhattan underground garages to reclaim my car, it would not start. A tow truck could not pass thorugh the narrow entrance and the proprietor would not help me in any way.
Now I was literally stuck.
A worker quietly whispered to me that the owner lieaves at 4 AM, and then he will help. I waited on the cold Manhattan street until then, and he pushed my car out onto the street with another vehicel. Then I was able to get a tow truck.
G-d is the Great Teacher!
The narrative of Creation is mirrored, parallel or chiastic, and how it related to tis message.
Why is Creation presented as occurring in 7 steps? Cause and effects are separated. SPiritual lessons from this presentation.
An addendum discussing another example of Guided Repetition and how when the day starts is determined by the overarching religious mindset.
When does the 24-hour start? What do evening and morning have to do with it. Ibn Ezra and Rashbam and others on this question.
It TELLS us about distinctions as the basis of law-based religious life. We examine the dietary laws through this prism.
Light and darkness are not really separate, but they are distinct. What does it tell us with this separation?
How do you see the light; don't you see with the light?
It is not only the science of the ancients that you need to translate, but also their conventions, societal organization and culture!
Two lights! Emission theory of seeing The elephant in the room Do the ancients have anything to teach us?
The light was created on the first day, but the sun was made on the 4th day. What kind of light was it, and where did it go?
Two more interpretations of the enigmatic Spirit of God. The verse is telling you how to view the interaction of physical and spiritual A point about how the Christians and the Jews differently describe a spiritual experience.
God's gender, the morality of hierarchical orders, Near Eastern parallels, and do they matter.
Some tangents and asides related to the past 3 episodes: If you were God, Isaia's theology, more on the definite article in Hebrew.