Tag Archives: Torah Touring

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.

Spotlight on Nature: Latest Safari Map Update

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I’ve been preparing for a new tour and part of this preparation has been mapping the wildlife in the southern suburbs of Jerusalem. My recent astounding sightings have been;

Graceful Prinia (bird)

Eurasian Jays

Kuhl’s Pipistrelle Bat

European Green Toad

Common Gazelle (!)

You can check regular updates on this map:

It was a wonderful experience seeing the gazelle at 5:30 am as the sun rose over the Jerusalem hills.  I’m going to be preparing this tour for the next few months, if your interested in booking me for a tour you can contact me here.

Torah Portion: Shelach

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When I used to think of the word ‘Negev’, I would think of it meaning ‘South’ or ‘Desert’. I never used to think of it as being something that one ‘goes up to’. In fact from my vantage point in Jerusalem today, I very much descend in altitude to the Negev.

However if we look at the topographic map pictured above, we can clearly see (as indicated by the orange and red colours signifying altitude) that if I was coming from Paran, which is part of the central valley system (running down the centre of the map in green and blue signifying a lower area) I would certainly be rising in altitude. In fact the whole Negev system, which is the southern part of the map from Beersheva to the Jordan and Arava valley running down the middle, is a highland.

But this phrase is not just talking about a rise in altitude, but also a ride in spirituality. A rise in the spiritual depths of wandering the Desert to the heights of the Holy Land.  This phrase was also used by Ben Gurion in his attempts to settle the Negev, he told the people;

‘Go up to this Negev!’

 

Torah Portion: B’ha’alotcha

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‘And this was the deed of the Menorah beaten out of Gold, from its base to its flowering it was beaten out, just as the Eternal revealed to Moses in a vision’. (Bamidbar / Numbers 8:4)

Why did Moses need to be illustrated the method of building the Menorah or Candelabra in a vision, why could n’t he just have it shown to him?

The making of the Menorah is described earlier in the Bible, it was supposed to be made of pure Gold and beaten out of one piece of metal. This involves two impossibilities:

Firstly if the Menorah was made of pure gold, it would not keep its shape. Most gold is mixed with an impurity so that it will keep its shape, gold is normally fairly soft. This is why we have the karat system, which is a system of grading the impurities in the gold.

Secondly, how could it be beaten out of one piece of gold, this is metallurgically impossible. It can be molded out of one piece, or many pieces could be beaten and then stuck together, but to get one massive lump of gold and beat out an intricate item  would be impossible.

This is why Moses required a vision, because the making of the Candelabra or Menorah was a miracle and only the Eternal could show him how to do it. The Menorah in the picture above is the Menorah that belongs to the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, it stands next to the steps to the Western Wall Plaza. To illustrate this point, it was made of a high quality of gold (but not pure gold)   and was formed by a chemical / electrical process called electrolysis.