Entries Tagged as ‘Apostolic Scriptures’

December 25, 2009

Of Inspiration and Inconsistency

“I have doubts whether you have been as scrupulous with your research regarding the Inspiration of the New Testament as you have been with the doctrine of the Incarnation”

 In a conversation I had with a sincere individual a couple of weeks ago, the above sentiment was expressed regarding what seemed to them to be  inconsistency [...]

December 10, 2009

A Thin Veneer of Authenticity

A couple of weeks ago, a friend came to me with an unusual request.  In her hand was a document, five paragraphs in length, written in English which she desired to have translated into Hebrew.  The document was written by a friend of hers whose daughter had recently become engaged.  This friend’s family is into [...]

November 29, 2009

The Way of Women

As I sat at Thanksgiving dinner this past Thursday, enjoying the opportunity to host my family in my home, I brought up a question to my father that had been on my mind over the previous week.  The question stemmed from my study of Parashah Toldot in which Isaac sends Jacob off to Haran to [...]

November 12, 2009

The Light of Sarah’s Tent

Last Friday, 18 minutes prior to sunset, at precisely 4:59 pm, I lit Shabbat candles, said a traditional blessing and proceeded to eat a nice erev Shabbat meal.  Literally millions of Sabbath keepers all over the world did the same thing on Friday evening, but for me this particular erev Shabbat was most meaningful.  It had [...]

October 29, 2009

Facing our Body Image

As a result of circumcision Abraham’s body would become perfect.  With the foreskin remaining he was not perfect physically.  Once the foreskin was circumcised his body would be perfect, it would be unblemished.
 As I was driving to the grocery store a couple of days ago I listened to the above words of a recorded shiur on [...]

October 25, 2009

A Serious Distribution Error

After taking a two week vacation between Yom Kippur and Shemini Atzeret I returned to work at the hospital to find that one of the patients I was assigned to had an active case of swine flu.  In the interceding two weeks time, not only have I taken care of a swine flu patient, I [...]

October 18, 2009

Burden of Proof

A couple of weeks ago I had opportunity to attend the Bat Mitzvah of a friend’s daughter.  The event was held on Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret at a local Reform Synagogue. Part of the Shabbat worship/Bat Mitzvah ceremony included the calling forth of pre-selected individuals to open and close the doors of the Aron (ark) where the [...]

October 5, 2009

Torah as a Song of Unity and Tension

“The Torah is G-d’s libretto, and we, the Jewish people, are His choir, the performers of His choral symphony. And though, when Jews speak they often argue, when they sing, they sing in harmony, as the Israelites did at the Red Sea, because music is the language of the soul, and at the level of [...]

September 27, 2009

Role Confusion and Commandment 612

Over the past few weeks the topic of role confusion and role appropriateness has inundated my thinking, due to the recent Divine Invitation theological shift announced by First Fruits of Zion.  I, like many others, have been challenged to consider what role among G-d’s people as a Gentile believer I am really suited for.  I [...]

September 6, 2009

Something Missing

With only two more weeks remaining in the month of Elul I have taken some time to read about the topic of repentance based on various rabbinic sources.  This endeavor has proved to be a bit frustrating, for there are numerous opinions and methods regarding repentance presented by various authors and commentators.  Each method is [...]