New Resource: Judaism 101

A dear friend asked for a primer on the basics of Judaism, so I put together a list of the top ten things to know. Since Pesach is coming up and it is customary to sing Echad MiYode’a, I modelled it loosely after the song. My attempt was to condense all of the key concepts of Judaism, and the central beliefs (including mystical ones), plus introduce all the major texts of Judaism, the key historical figures, and the major holidays. It should be an interesting read even for a veteran talmid chakham.

I hope the following brief primer is helpful both as a useful resource to share with others, and to make the upcoming Pesach seder more meaningful. (You might even want to share it with guests at your Pesach seder that might be new to Judaism.) Wishing everyone a chag kasher v’sameach!

See the new ‘Judaism 101’ page here. 

Judaism 101

Erev Rav, Part 2: The Five Types (Video)

Continuing the eye-opening series on the “Erev Rav” with an exploration of the five types of Erev Rav, and how they manifest in the world around us today. Plus, the secret of the letter Hei added to Abraham’s name, the parameters of “lashon hara”, the Zohar’s “dogs of Yom Kippur”, and comments on concubines, cults, and cabals.

For Part 1 in this series, see here.
See also ‘Bringing Mashiach Today’.

Constellations and the Jewish Calendar

Yesterday marked the start of the new month of Nisan, first of the Jewish calendar. According to our ancient mystical texts, like Sefer Yetzirah, each of the twelve months of the Jewish year corresponds to one of the twelve Zodiac constellations (mazalot). The month of Nisan corresponds to Aries, or tal’e in Hebrew. Aries is depicted as a sheep or ram and, of course, the highlight of Nisan is the holiday of Pesach, referring to the korban pesach, the “paschal lamb”—a sheep!

The Ram-headed idol Ra

Our Sages pointed out that God specifically commanded this species to be sacrificed because it was what the Egyptians worshipped at the time. This is likely referring to the ram-headed deity Ra. Amazingly, Ra is actually mentioned in the Torah when Pharaoh tells Moses that Ra neged pneichem (Exodus 10:10), typically translated as “evil [ra] will be before you”. Rashi comments here that Ra is an Egyptian idol and Pharaoh was warning the Israelites that they would perish under the wrath of his god Ra. Of course, the entire Exodus narrative was about showing God’s mastery over all aspects of Creation, and His destruction of Egypt’s false idols, Ra chief among them.

In astrology, Aries is a “fire” sign, which is quite appropriate for the Exodus connection. The fire alludes to the fire of the sacrificial altar for the korban pesach, as well as the pillar of fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Wilderness. Furthermore, at the Pesach seder, the Haggadah reminds us to say “blood, and fire, and columns of smoke”, dam v’esh v’timrot ashan, in memory of the Ten Plagues and the Exodus. (Actually, this phrase originally comes from Joel 3:3, straight from the prophet’s vision of the End of Days!) Continue reading →