28
May
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.
28
Mar
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.
27
Mar
A question which I deal with every year, but do not have a conclusive answer: How old did the Pesach lamb have to be?
25
Mar
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Take a detailed stroll through the opening verses of Exodus 12 as Yoel teaches this Passover text to the weekly group Hebrew Bible Class. You will hear the Hebrew text read, translated and explained according to the ancient culture.
4
Mar
During the second temple period a custom developed to give a half shekel to the temple. The act is known as “The half shekel temple tax”. Little do people know that this tax was not agreed upon by all.
2
Feb
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Yoel demonstrates the importance of unity as he walks us through the acts of King Jeroboam, who departs from Torah and causes division in the kingdom of God with alternative places of worship, calendar, and priesthood. Also, Yoel answers temple questions from the members of the 3T Tour with Keith Johnson and Jono Vandor, March 2013.
1
Feb
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Yoel and Jono address the debate about the Temple Mount, examining evidence for its location from Muslim sources, as well as tradition, archaeology, and biblical history. Also, is Temple Mount still holy in its present condition?
23
Jul
In 2013 I had the pleasure of studying archaeology under Dr. Chaya Katz of the Open U, and do archaeological studies in actual sites under Dr. Amit Dagan of the Bar-Illan U. One of the sites we studied was Khirbet Qeiyafa near the the Elah Valley. On the site Dr. Yoseph Garfinkel has discovered portable temples made of clay which might represent temples which were common in Israel. If this is true, we might be looking at a prototype temple which was used as the model for the Temple of Solomon.