TINW Torah Study

Our "Summer of Sperling" continues with revisiting the session of our Scholar-in-Residence, David Sperling, from  December 25, 2021. Because this session was led on Christmas, Professor Sperling led our group in a discussion of what classical Jewish sources have to say about Jesus.

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.

Our "Summer of Sperling" continues with revisiting the session of our Scholar-in-Residence, David Sperling, from  November 28, 2020. We will focus on contractions, or inconsistencies in the biblical text. In particular, we focus on the stories about our patriarch Jacob. Why did he leave home? What was going on at Bethel? Did his family hail from Beersheba in the 18th century, or is there more to the story?

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.

Summer of Sperling - lesson #1
While Rabbi Jaech is on her summertime professional development program, we will revisit sessions that have been led by our Scholar-in-Residence, David Sperling. Follow is from Feb 20, 2016.

God spoke "plainly and not in riddles" to Moses. He also gave inspiration to other prophets, but those prophets would have to work harder to divine the true meaning of the messages. Why did this interaction between humans and God stop? According to the earliest rabbis, the answers to life's questions can be found by studying the words of Torah, day and night.

This week, our Scholar-In-Residence, Professor David Sperling, led our group in a discussion of the Shema. We learned that imploring our god for protection was not unique to the Israelites, and we learned that there was dissent among Jews about what should be included in this prayer that has remained a cornerstone of our religion.

Miriam is often acknowledged as the older sister of Moses. But closer inspection of the biblical text calls that relationship into question, and hint that Miriam might have been a highly regarded leader of the ancient Israelite community, who became relegated to the lesser role of "sister" in order to minimize her status.

The background of characters with what could be described as super-human abilities is often attributed to a liaison between a god and a human—typically a male god and a female human. This is true in the Bible just as it is true in Greek mythology. Why do we need to attribute these special characteristics to something other than just human ability? Maybe humans really ARE special, just as they are!

The issue of Gun Control is echoed in the issues of Weapons Control that our ancient sages have long grappled with. By reading their text, we can see how they struggled with weapons and how their presence should be regulated in society, just as we do. We may also find compelling arguments that help us to form our own conclusions.

The Bible has several curses/warnings that, if the Israelites don't adhere to God's laws, calamity will befall them and they will be forced to resort to cannibalism. This is a great threat for Jews to use against other Jews. But what happens when this type of text falls into other hands? This week we looked at how Christian commentators of the Middle Ages used these biblical tales against the Jews.

In this particularly division time in our country, Rabbi Janet Roberts led our group in a discussion about what the ancient rabbis had to say about the power of words, and how words can cause irreparable harm. 

Biblical lines that do not follow a usual pattern are ripe for interpretation. In this week's Torah Portion, a man who got into trouble in the Torah is not mentioned by name—but his mother is. Female characters are often given short shrift in the Torah, but not this one! This week we delve into what that might have meant about this particular character.