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Tikkun Olam is a ubiquitous phrase is in many Jewish circles. What does it exactly mean? Many Jews think it means social activism, environmentalism, or political involvement. These are often seen as the vehicles for bringing... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Despite significant improvement in interfaith dialogue in some quarters between Christians and Jews, many Christians still maintain theological positions that are inimical to fundamental Jewish beliefs, and consequently, to... See More
Children's eBooks
An Israelite father; a Canaanite mother. A young boy is caught between two worlds during the time of Samuel the Seer. Captured by the Sea Peoples during a battle, he is enslaved and taken to the Philistine stronghold of Gath... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The word Mishnah is derived from the Hebrew word meaning "repetition" or "to study and review." The term Mishnah may be used to indicate a single paragraph or verse of the Mishnah. Several passages in the Talmud illustrate... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The history of early Christianity is shrouded in mystery. Jesus and his early followers were Jewish, but most Jews and Christians know little of the origins of either. Since the third and fourth centuries CE, Judaism and... See More
In the year 167 BCE, a small band of Judean priests sparked a conflict against the Seleucid Empire that would last a quarter of a century. The immediate trigger had been a sacrifice to idols about to be offered by a Jew at... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The idea of a distinctive Messiah, with a specific role, was not definitively established across all the Jewish movements of the Second Temple era. Some groups expected multiple messiahs, and some did not expect one at all... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Few Biblical figures are as intriguing and mysterious as Enoch. He is mentioned only a few times in the canonical Hebrew Bible, but the impact of his story went on to affect the theology of many books written during the... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The mass conversion of Iberian Jews to Christianity in the late 14th and 15th centuries was catastrophic for the Jewish community. Possibly up to a third of the Jewish community converted. There are many reasons why such... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The relationship between Judaism and Christianity has been acrimonious throughout most of history. Often confronted with persecution, with arguments of Divine rejection, and with religious practices and beliefs that appeared... See More
Religion & Spirituality
In traditional Judaism, the revelation of the Torah at Sinai was a miraculous event. It is the foundational event of the Jewish people as a nation. The rabbis perceived God's continued involvement in creation, but also saw... See More
History
The Six-Day War was an impressive and momentous event that forever altered the Middle East landscape. The State of Israel which had successfully survived the war of independence and established itself militarily during the... See More
Religion & Spirituality
We live in a radically different world than we did just a year and a half ago. The world has experienced unprecedented fear due to COVID 19. Consequently, most countries have undergone lockdowns, social distancing, and... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Despite the Jewish origins of specific theological ideas, the proximity of concepts that appear to have become central to Christian faith raises a measure of theological uneasiness and concern if not fear among many Jews... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The history of Jews in Spain and Portugal spans more than thousand years. By most measures, it is even longer than the large-scale settlement of Jews in the land of Israel which was interrupted several times in Jewish... See More
Religion & Spirituality
In 1665-1666 the messianic movement of Sabbatai Zevi (also written as Shabbetai Zevi, Shabbetai Tzvi, Shabtai Sevi, etc.) spread like wildfire throughout the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean and northern and western... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., and the Babylonian exile that followed, could have spelled the end of Israelite identity. But the return of exiles first under Zerubbabel and again under Ezra... See More
Religion & Spirituality
A great many Jewish holidays and practices, in their earliest understanding, reflect the great innovation of Biblical religion. The Bible emphasized historical events in contrast to nature. Other ancient Near Eastern... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Most people familiar with my work know that my area of primary expertise is Sephardic history, more specifically the Crypto-Jewish experience. While investigating this area of study, one interesting episode in the history of... See More
Religion & Spirituality
One of the principal theological themes of the Hebrew Bible is the relationship between Israel and God. At the heart of this bond is the supernatural experience at Sinai. The Torah focuses on the uniqueness of God and His... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Thousands of Jews forcibly converted to Christianity in Spain and Portugal were subjected to religious persecution for continuing to adhere to their ancestral faith. The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions lasted for... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The year was 1391. Spring was about to turn into summer. By the end of the summer, 80 Jewish communities in Castile and Aragon were torn by violence. A third of the Jewish community had been murdered. Perhaps another third... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Of all the Jewish thinkers that arose in the twentieth century, none stands out as revolutionary and as controversial as Mordecai Kaplan. Kaplan was paradoxical. He maintained high levels of personal halakhic observance and... See More
Religion & Spirituality
Death is, unfortunately, a part of life. As much as we may not want to acknowledge it, death comes to us all though it often comes to us at different stages in life. Many are confronted with death early in their childhood... See More
Religion & Spirituality
In 2006, I was attending several week-long classes at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago. One of the classes was titled "Who is a Jew?" and was taught by my doctoral advisor, Rabbi Dr. Byron... See More
Religion & Spirituality
This book explores some of the prevailing attitudes and ideas held by Maimonides, or the Rambam, i.e., Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, and Benedictus (Baruch) Spinoza on the subject of knowing God. A hypothetical dialogue between... See More
Religion & Spirituality
The Books of Enoch continue to stir the imagination of those interested in the Bible as well as those interested in the history of the Nephilim. So many times, however, people fail to understand both the historical context... See More
Religion & Spirituality
This book reviews types of Iberian Conversos (i.e. primarily forced but also voluntary Jewish converts to Christianity) from the late 14th to the 17th centuries and surveys the Christian and Jewish attitudes towards them. It... See More
Teen & Young AdultThe Chronicles of Canaan continue with Eliel the young warrior serving the newly appointed King Saul in his quest to save the Kingdom of Israel by fighting Ammonites and sorcery in Endor. The Ammonite King Nachash threatens... See More