The Amidah is the essential part of the morning, afternoon and evening weekday services in the synagogue. Every Jew is religiously obligated to pray the Eighteen Benedictions daily.
Where Little Ones Splash: The Hebrew Roots Movement
The Hebrew Roots Movement has more to offer than merely rediscovering the biblical feasts and referring to New Testament personalities by their Hebrew names.
Pileggi Sermon: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand”
Listen to a sermon by David Pileggi delivered at the Narkis Street congregation in Jerusalem.
Where Seed and Thistle Grow
The interpretive approach of this essay assumes that Jesus’ frame of reference for the Parable of the Sower centered on the kingdom of heaven. Jesus emphasized repentance and grace, and their joint role as a catalyst for increasing God’s reign.
Jesus’ Reference to Folklore and Historical Events
An inherent consequence of our distance from the world of Jesus is that we primarily understand Jesus’ words as they apply within our twenty-first century eschatological and theological framework. However, Jesus’ teachings reflect his cultural background as a Jewish rabbi in first-century Galilee.
Was New Orleans Punished for Its Sinfulness?
Let’s consider how Jesus would have responded to the damage and loss of life wrought by Katrina.
Abraham’s Temptation, Forerunner of Jesus’ Temptation
When tempted, both Jesus and Abraham vanquished their tempter with words of Torah, just as Israel’s teachers exhorted their students to do.
Blessed Be the “Name”!
We may have misunderstood, or partially misunderstood, many biblical expressions that contain the idiom, “the name of.”
The “Only Begotten” Son
As a small boy growing up in Alabama I had a deep love of God and a real hunger to know him better. By the age of eight I had read the entire Bible. But, like most people, I often struggled to understand what the Scriptures were saying. Many verses didn’t seem to make sense.
No Longer Aliens (and Enemies) of the Commonwealth of Israel!
According to the New Testament, a pagan who becomes a follower of Jesus and enters the Kingdom of Heaven (in conservative Christian parlance, “gets saved”) becomes part of the Commonwealth of Israel.