Tag Archives: Essenes

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 Kabbalah of Solar

This Friday evening, we usher in the new year 5784 of the Hebrew lunisolar calendar. Our calendar follows lunar months, but is synchronized to the sun over the course of a 19-year cycle. Since a lunar month is 29.5 days, each month on the Hebrew calendar is either 29 or 30 days, resulting in a year that is typically just 354 days long. The solar year is a bit over 365 days long, meaning that a strictly lunar calendar will fall behind 11 days each year. To avoid this problem, we add an entire leap month, a second Adar, seven times in 19 years. This ensures that we stay in synch with both moon and sun. The upcoming year will be such a leap year, with 13 months instead of 12.

Although our calendar is lunisolar, and Jewish holidays, rituals, and halakhot generally follow this calendar, there are exceptions to the rule. In fact, there are a handful of Jewish laws and principles that follow not the lunisolar calendar, but the solar calendar of 365 days! We will explore some of the major ones below, and then look at the Zohar’s incredible revelations about the secrets of the solar calendar. Continue reading

Apocrypha, Part 1: Understanding Tanakh

Join us as we embark on a journey exploring the Sifrei Hitzonim (“Apocrypha”), the ancient texts that were deliberately suppressed and excluded from the Tanakh. In this first part of the series, we explore who wrote the Tanakh, how it was compiled, and what criteria were used in its canonization. We also take a look at why some Biblical books almost didn’t make the cut.

Along the way, we discuss whether the Book of Daniel is truly prophetic or not, why some sought to “cancel” the Book of Ezekiel, the surprising apocryphal Book of Esther, and why Shir haShirim is so graphic and explicit.

For the class on the four Sages who ascended to Heaven and saw Metatron, see here.

For a class on the secret of chashmal, the “electricity” of the Divine Chariot, see here.

For more on the translation of the Tanakh into Greek and why it was tragic, see here

For more on the Dome of the Rock and the Foundation Stone, see here.