Category Archives: Midrash

The Watchers & the Book of Jubilees

A deep dive into the eye-opening ancient Book of Jubilees. Along the way, we unravel the story of Enoch and the mysterious “Watchers” and fallen angels in the pre-Flood generations, the difference between Nephilim and Anakim, how Jubilees envisions the End of Days, and what really happened with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

For lots more information on Nephilim and Anakim, please see here.
For more on Jubilees, see here.
The class on Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel
Part One and Part Two of this series on the Apocrypha.

The Four Who Ascended to Heaven (Video)

What really happened with the four ancient Jewish Sages who ascended to ‘Pardes’, the Heavenly realms? Find out in this class where we also explore the difference between “physical” and “spiritual” worlds, the “upper waters” and “lowers waters” of Creation, and the proper approach to the study of mysticism and Kabbalah.

For the related class on ‘chashmal’ and electricity that was mentioned, see here.

Video of the Stuttgart water study here.

For a deeper analysis and exploration of the Heavenly waters and how they tie into Jewish rituals, see ‘Secrets of the Last Waters’.

Things You Didn’t About King Solomon

A Modern Replica of the Mishkan in Timna, Israel

This week’s parasha, Terumah, begins the Torah’s lengthy descriptions of the Mishkan, the “mobile sanctuary” or “tabernacle”. Fittingly, the Haftarah is a passage from I Kings describing King Solomon’s construction of the Jerusalem Temple, the permanent version of the Mishkan. Once the Temple was completed, it seems that Solomon actually brought the original Mishkan into the Temple and “parked” it there (I Kings 8:4-6). As per tradition, Solomon foresaw the future destruction of his own Temple, and made sure to build a secret chamber within the Temple Mount to hide the Ark of the Covenant and the original Mishkan vessels there, for safekeeping until the Final Redemption and the Third Temple.

The basic details of his biography are well-known: he reigned as king of a unified Israel for 40 years in a peaceful era (alluded to by his name, Shlomo, meaning “peace”); he had many wives and concubines; and he wrote three books of Tanakh: Mishlei (“Proverbs”), Kohelet (“Ecclesiastes”), and Shir haShirim (“Song of Songs”). What else do we know about this enigmatic king? Some of the lesser-known details will surely surprise you! Continue reading