Tag Archives: genesis

Podcast 4: Isaac and Rebecca: The Other Hebrew

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Bibliography

Hittite Treaties and Letters, D. Luckenbill

The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures

Vol. 37, No. 3 (Apr., 1921), pp. 161-211

University of Chicago Press

Reflections on The Mitanni Emergence, G. Schwartz

Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 17

The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, A Zornberg

Image Books 1996

Studies in Bereishit, Nechama Leibowitz

Jerusalem, WZO, 1976

Pseudo Translation of Yonatan ben Uzziel:

http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/

Please see the main Bibliography for more.

Bibliography for 1st 3 Podcasts and Timeline of History

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The Time of The Patriarchs

 

Bibliography

Tanach – The Jewish Bible, an anacronym of Torah (1st 5 books), Nevi’im (prophets), Ketuvim (Witings). Any Hebrew Tanach with clear print will do. preferably with all the major commentaries for this you will need:

Tanach with Mikraot Gedolot.

The Jewish Bible: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures — The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text: Torah * Nevi’im * Kethuvim JPS Paperback – November 1, 1985

An English Translation of Rashi on the Pentateuch M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann (5 vols., London, 1929–34)

Carta Bible Atlas, Y. Aharoni, Hendrickson Publishers, 2015

Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land, A. Negev , Mackmillan, 1990 (constantly updated)

A Chronology of Israel, A Wolff, 2008

The Jewish People: Their History and Their Religion , D. Goldberg and J Rayner Penguin 1992

Biblical Archaeology Review, Ed. Herschel Shanks, 1975 – present,

The Beginnings of Israel: A Methodological Working Hypothesis, Zecharia Kallai, Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 59, No. 2 (2009), pp. 194-203

Jar-burial Customs and the Question of Infant Sacrifice in Palestine, WH. Wood, The Biblical World, 36.4  1910

Bereishit (Genesis) Rabbah – A Hebrew midrash, a translation can be found at: http://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah

Midrash Tanchuma – Another Hebrew Midrash, a translation can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/mhl04.htm

 

 

 

 

Podcast Episode One: Right From The Start: Abraham (Metchilah)

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Welcome to my first podcast in the series: “The History of Judaism”. I shall be telling the History and story of the Jews from an educated Jewish Perspective. the first podcast focuses on Abraham and my decision to place this as the start of my narrative about Jewish History.

Here is a Map of Abraham’s Journeys:

Abaraham's Journey

 

Next time: A Journey to the Other Side: Abraham’s historical narrative

(The music in this podcast is “By Way of Haran” by Pharoah’s Daughter recreated under the following creative commons license “Live on WFMU’s Transpacific Sound Paradise 12/12/2009 byPharaoh’s Daughter is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.” Check out the band at www.pharaohsdaughter.com/music.html )

Torah Portion: Vayetse – The Place of Jacob’s Ladder

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William Blake's painting of Jacob's Ladder

“Jacob went out of Beer Sheba and went towards Haran. He touched the Place and went to sleep for the sun was going down…”

(Genesis (Bereishit) 28:10 -11)

In this week’s Torah portion, when Jacob leaves his parents to escape from his brother’s wrath and find a wife there is a very bizarre episode. He arrived at some un-named place which the hebrew text says he ‘touched’, he then went to sleep and had a fantastical dream where God appears to him promising him saftey and he sees Angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven. If this was n’t bizarre enough Rashi the 10th century scholar’s explanation of the text is even more wondrous.

Which Place?

Rashi locates the place as Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac and where the Temple of Solomon was built. This fits in  thematically  as the Binding of Isaac concerned God’s protection of Abraham and his progeny and the Temple of Solomon was a conduit to heaven as symbolised by the dream.

Hang on, does n’t Jacob Give the place a name?

When Jacob woke up from his dream he says:

‘this is the House of God (or Beit El) and this is the gate of heaven”

(Genesis 28 : 17)

He calls it Beit El, not Mount Moriah, and as we can see on this map, they are at two entirely different places.

The position of Beit El in comparison to Jerusalem

Rashi and ‘Warpspace’

There are many explanations, some say Beit El is just meant figuratively, the ‘House of God’ means the Temple, not a place called ‘Beit El’ (not likely as the scripture goes to some lengths to tell us its former name; Luz).  Possibly it refers to the position of the temporary Temple that existed before the Temple of Solomon or the Tabernacle. This was placed for a long period in Shiloh, just North of Beit El. My favourite explanation is Rashi’s, that the land (and some Rashi scholars say the fabric of the Universe itself) folded or ‘warped’ so that Jerusalem was the same place as Beit El.

The Place

In any case in hebrew the word place; ‘HaMakom’ is one of the names of God and reminds us that in every place, no matter how far we may feel we are from God, God is there.

Torah Portion: Chayei Sarah: the Caves of the Patriarchs

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The Cave of Machpelah, burial site of the Patriarchs at Night

“Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham in the Cave of Machpelah in the Field of Ephron the Hittite” (Genesis: 25:9)

This appearance of both Isaac and Ishmael at the funeral of Abraham is seen expressive of a situation where both Isaac and Ishmael were living in peace with one another. It is interesting to note that after burying Abraham in the place where Abraham buried his wife Sarah, Isaac then goes and lives in ‘Be’er Lehai Ro’i’ (The Well where Ishmael was saved by an angel). Seemingly Isaac actually dwelt with his brother and they operated with as a family unit (possibly including Hagar).

If one were to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, commonly identified as Machpelah. One would also see Jews and Muslims (traditionally thought of as the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael respectively) sharing the same building for prayer.

Torah Portion: Vayera ‘The Terebinths of Mamre’

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“God appeared to Abraham at the Terebinths of Mamre“

(Genesis 18:23)

What’s a Terebinth?

The word in Hebrew here is ‘Alon’ which refers to Oak rather than Terebinth, which is a different kind of tree. The Picture above is of a ‘Quercus Calliprinos’ or ‘Palestine Oak’, which can be seen all over Israel.