Category Archives: Jewish History/Culture

Other Side

Other Side
Rabbinic teaching styles create visual images for abstract ideas to better communicate their thoughts. Think of the Biblical descriptions of people (sheep, goats, white washed walls), God (Father, Rock, Shepherd) and even places (far country, abyss, land of the twelve). Across the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum, where religious Jews were plentiful, was a Greek/Roman…
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Life in Babylon

Life in Babylon
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and…
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Benah: Let’s Build

Benah: Let’s Build
 Then the Lord God made (benah) a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22 God is Creator. In Genesis God created, or made, the earth, heavens, animals, trees – ex nihilo – out of nothing. God is also Builder and Designer. When He made…
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Shalom

Shalom
Shalom, or peace, is highly sought. But what is it really? One superficial definition would be the lack of war or conflict. But shalom is more than the absence of something. Some say it is a restoration or a making right. I like the understanding that it is wholeness or inner completeness. We associate it…
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