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There are lessons for the modern ger (stranger) in the account of Avram.  We also explain historic and legal points about Melchizedek, Hagar and circumcision in this week’s torah portion, Lekh-Lekha (GO!).

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“I will make you into a threshing-sledge, new, with sharp, pointed teeth, to thresh the mountains and crush them to dust, to reduce the hills to chaff.”

When do you know when biblical text is literal or metaphoric?  We look at how to understand biblical metaphors and idioms with this week’s haftarah in Isaiah 40 and 41.

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Who stole my bible?!  In this week’s torah portion, Noach (Noah), Yoel further addresses the claim that parts of the Tanakh were stolen from other cultures and writings by examining elements of the account of the flood.

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“For me this is like Noach’s flood.  Just as I swore that no flood like Noach’s would ever again cover the earth, so now I swear that never again will I be angry with you or rebuke you.”

We learn about Samaritans and the origins of the haftarah readings as a supplement to this week’s haftarah from Yeshayahu 54.

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“If it does, [YHWH] is responsible for this great tragedy; if not, we will know that it is not his oppression which has been over us, but that what has been happening to us has been only by chance.”

Do things happen by chance? The Philistines test for evidence of God’s hand and successfully transport the Ark of the Covenant by oxcart. We also look at the direct hit on Baal the storm god in part 5 of our Light of the Prophets: Samuel series.

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“The blind I will lead on a road they don’t know, on roads they don’t know I will lead them; I will turn darkness to light before them, and straighten their twisted paths.  These are things I will do without fail.”

Some history of ancient temple liturgy precedes our presentation of Haftarah Bereshit in which Isaiah describes the powerful promise to save and restore YHWH’s exiled covenant people.

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“Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go.”

Our haftarah presents the transition of leadership from Moshe to Joshua.  This lesson is supplemented with history on the Torah reading cycle traditions.

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In Part 2, we finish the discussion on counting the Omer, addressing the “day after the sabbath” and “firstfruits”; Yom Teruah and what it is for, Yom Hakippurim and “afflicting your soul” from “evening to evening”, Sukkot; what constitutes a sukkah, what are the four species, and why is it just the native-born who can celebrate Sukkot?

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“He makes me swift and sure-footed as a deer and enables me to stand on my high places.”

 Biblical poetry about God’s protection and deliverance is the common thread between this week’s torah portion and haftarah Ha’azinu.

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“These are the designated times of YHWH, the holy convocations you are to proclaim at their designated times.”

We begin our study with a discussion on identity since the Feasts are for Israel. Do you have to be a native born Jew to keep the Feasts of YHWH? Do you have to live in Israel? Is Sabbath one of the Feasts? We address these questions and more as we go verse by verse through the text of Leviticus 23 from our Weekly Bible Class. In Part 1 we cover Shabbat, Pesach, Chag Hamatzot and the Wave Sheaf/Omer.