Author Archive Yoel Halevi

When it comes to the Menorah, no other symbol carries more meaning in the Jewish world.  From ancient art to the symbol of the state of Israel, the Menorah has been a symbol of light to Israel and the nations.  However, when it comes to how the Menorah was made, several questions arise.

One of the basic stipulations of any covenant in the world is the principle of trust and loyalty between the two or more parties.  Many books and papers have been written on the subject of covenants and treaties, but in this short paper I will examine one of the most important words used in covenant language–Love. 

וַיִּקְחוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים אֶת–אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים, וַיָּבִאוּ אֹתוֹ בֵּית דָּגוֹן; וַיַּצִּיגוּ אֹתוֹ, אֵצֶל דָּגוֹן

“The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, where they positioned it beside Dagon” 1Sam 5:2

The name Dagon has been always associated with the fish like god which many try to depict as a merman–a half man, half fish.  It is understood that the word דָּג-Dag-fish is incorporated into his name.  However, this is probably a misunderstanding and the name is actually דָּגָן-Dagan-Grain.

One of the common arguments in Documentary Hypothesis (DH) is that the Torah is built from many documents (E, J, JE, P, H and D) which were written by different authors, and were placed together by someone later in time to create the whole Torah we have today.  This division has driven most of the Biblical Studies world, and is taught in many schools with some to little criticism.  However, new documentation from the Ancient Near East (ANE) has shown that at least some of the assumptions of the system are incorrect, and in some cases detached from historical discourse.

Unfortunately we have many attempts by well-meaning teachers to teach the public on different topics.  In our case, we are dealing with a seemingly simple case of Hebrew.

The name קֹרַח-Qorach shares a form with the word קֵרֵחַ-Qereach-Bald.  Martin Noth, for example, argued that the name Qorach was derived from the Hebrew word for “bald”, but many others have done the same.

הָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְוות יְהוָה, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם

“It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of YHWH’s commandments and obey them”

Numbers 15:39

On occasion when I meet a group not from Jewish descent, I get asked to give the Priestly Blessing after I talk.  The first time this happened I asked why, and the answer was that this was a common practice, and that teachers do this all the time.  I will admit I was surprised because this is unheard of in the Jewish world.  When I declined, I was asked why.  My answer is based on wording in the text.

When you try to find a meaning of a word, sometimes the meaning cannot be found in a dictionary, but in a book of a different nature.  I was reading M. Weinfeld’s book on justice in the ancient world and found an interesting interpretation of the word יובל Yovel– Jubilee. 

The term בין הערביים –Beyin Ha’Arbayim is temporal construct form used to describe a specific time of day, and found in several places in the Bible.  One of the most important places it is used is in connection to the time of the Pesach sacrifice as prescribed in Exodus 12:6.  This term has created many arguments over when to do things, and in fact has raised the question of how does the Torah understand time in overall.

A question which I deal with every year, but do not have a conclusive answer:  How old did the Pesach lamb have to be?