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In this 7th episode of the Oral Torah Series, Yoel and Jeff Gilbert focus the discussion on the 8th principle of faith as presented by Maimonides and his position on the voracity of the Torah of God given through Moshe.
Who doesn’t love a freshly baked slice of bread? With the exception of people who have health problems, most of us see bread as a basic staple of our food. In Hebrew the word for bread is לֶחֶם – Lechem. Bread was the basic food in grain-based societies, and had many forms beginning with more porridge like food to sophisticated breads (in Egypt they had many types of baked goods).
Challah bread is the most common bread for Shabbat in Jewish circles, and in many cases is the common bread used before and after Shabbat. This word actually has its origins in Biblical Hebrew. The word חלה Challah is probably from the word חלל which in this context means “hollow”. The idea is that the bread rises to a thickness which creates the small cavities.
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Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) is approaching, on which the book of Ruth is traditionally read. Join Yoel and Jono Vandor of Truth2U.org for some insight into this account of King David’s great-grandmother.
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Yoel and Jeff Gilbert bring some of the questions from listeners. How are we to view and use the Book of Psalms? Is it prophetic? Which sects in the Second Temple period had an Oral Torah and how did it affect the commoner? Can we understand the written text without Oral Torah?
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Very rarely do we find direct references to characters who appear in the bible in extra biblical material. However, some very prominent characters do have a reference in the inscriptions of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms. These references are usually in relation to war or taxes. The Assyrians specifically mention one great king of Israel, Ahab, son of Omri, who belonged to one of the longer reigning families (however, very short in comparison) of the North.
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Yoel and Jeff continue the discussion on the Oral Torah, part 5. Oral Torah, what is it, what WAS it and who can make it?
Education (i.e, the passing of any form of information) is not limited only to the field of writing but also to the oral transmission of information. Hence, when one wants to understand education in biblical Israel, and later on in the Jewish world, one must create a divide between literacy and the overall principle of information. Therefore, in this article we will have to create a theoretical but necessary division between “traditional” education and its latter development, canonical/written education. I say canonical because our focus here is on the education of literacy and the study of the bible.
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Yoel and Jeff Gilbert of TalkinTorah.org discuss the second temple period of Israel and the early stages of what we today call Judaism.
The class is done in a virtual class room with multiple participants. We meet on Sundays at 11:45am US eastern, or 6:45pm Israel time. You do not need to know Hebrew for this class, and you also receive a recording of the classes every month. For the link and how to join, click the More Info Button to email us.
