TINW Torah Study

Rabbi Janet Roberts guest-led our group in a discussion about the ancient legal system of the Israelites, and how the system survived even after the Israelites no longer ruled their own land. This system provided the foundation for the Rabbinic Judaism  we practice today, and for judicial review in American constitutional history.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

We may all be familiar with a line from the Passover Haggadah that says, "My father was a wandering Aramean." This week we learned who the Arameans were, and who it might have been referring to: the patriarch Jacob? Or perhaps his father-in-law, Laban.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

In our sacred text it is written that "There shall be no man’s item on a woman, and a man shall not wear a woman’s garment" (Deuteronomy 22:5). Well . . . why not? The passage has been debated over the centuries and been given a wide spectrum of interpretations. Rabbi Jaech looks at what it might have meant over the years, and what—if anything—it could mean to us today.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

This Labor Day weekend, Rabbi Jaech led us in an exploration of Jewish commentary on labor. Happy Labor Day, everyone!

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

When we read the biblical text we will inevitably come across passages that shock our modern sensibilities. We read texts that encourage violence against others —all in the name of God! Fortunately, our religion is not based on biblical teachings; instead, it is based upon the teachings of the Rabbis who understood that the religion needed to change with the times in order to be relevant. 

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

When we read the biblical text we will inevitably come across passages that shock our modern sensibilities. We read texts that encourage violence against others —all in the name of God! Fortunately, our religion is not based on  biblical teachings; instead it is based upon the teachings of the Rabbis who understood that the religion needed to change with the times in order to be relevant. 

We continue our "Summer of Sperling" series by reading from Professor David Sperling's forthcoming book, Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers. Chapter 3 is titled Sacred Scripture and the Prophet Isaiah. We expect the book to be available for purchase in the next couple of weeks.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

We continue our “Summer of Sperling” series by reading from Professor David Sperling’s forthcoming book, Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible’s Writers. Chapter 2 is titled Scholarly Study of the Bible. We expect the book to be available for purchase in the next couple of weeks.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

We continue with our “Summer of Sperling” series with something new: for the past four years I have been in the enviable position of working with our Scholar-in-Residence, Professor David Sperling, on an update of his 1998 text The Original Torah: The Political Intent of the Bible’s Writers. Many readers of that text, including Professor Sperling’s graduate students, came to the text already having a certain level of proficiency and familiarity with the material that lay readers likely did not have. This updated and expanded revision makes the material accessible to a much wider audience. We expect the book to be available for purchase in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this peek at the first chapter!

If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

Tisha B'Av will be remembered next Saturday night. In honor of the holiday, and as part of our Summer of Sperling series, we revisited a session led by our Scholar-in-Residence, Professor David Sperling, to look at catastrophes in Jewish history and how we remember them.

If you like this podcast, you might also enjoy Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.