Dear Rabbi and Susan, Thank you for creating the study guide for Scrolling through Scripture! I didn’t expect learning Hebrew would be included with this course! I have a question about one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The eighth letter of Hebrew is chet. The way it is pronounced reminds me of Heth,
The Cave of Machpelah in Israel Read More »
Dear Rabbi and Mrs. Lapin, I’ve wondered this for a long time and appreciate the opportunity to ask you. What is the meaning of yellow to Jewish people? You often wear a yellow tie. In one of your podcasts you’ve talked about the importance of yellow (the man in the yellow hat) to the authors
The Significance of Yellow Read More »
As the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) begins tonight, our Israeli family and friends will be living a contradiction. As Jews have for thousands of years they will be eating and, in many cases, sleeping in temporary booths, or Sukkot, outside their homes. At the same time, they will be ready within seconds to move inside
Have you ever found that once you’re in the midst of a project, you lose some of the enthusiasm and excitement that motivated you at its beginning? It’s just plain harder to keep going on an existing enterprise than it was to launch it in the first place. As children, we were particularly susceptible to
Power All the Way to the End Read More »
I want to know more about your understanding of the term “Ezer kenegdo” (Genesis 2:18) translated as helpmate in English. What does it actually mean? Jonathan Dear Jonathan, We are delighted that you recognize that any translation of a word or words in the Bible into another language is going to miss out on much
What Does the Hebrew Mean? Read More »
I’ve noticed in many Jewish writings the words G-d and L-rd. While it’s obvious what the words mean, I’m curious why they are spelled that way.Tom Dear Tom, Some questions pop up repeatedly on our question feed and this is one of them. We can only tell you why we do not write God’s name
Where is the Missing ‘O’? Read More »
One of my least favorite laws was the National Speed Limit law of 1974 that mandated 55 miles per hour as the legal maximum. Government assured us that it would save gasoline that, back then, we were lining up at gas stations to buy at, gasp! 55 cents a gallon. Of course the law did
Never Marry Your Aunt Read More »
To my astonishment, I have discovered that I am beginning to recognize Hebrew letters after watching your Scrolling through Scripture courses. I have also purchased your recommended Bible. Looking at both the Bible and the course is confusing me a bit. Tim Dear Tim, We are delighted that you are beginning to feel a little
Squiggles and Lines in my Bible Read More »
What parent, at one time or another, hasn’t wished for an absolutely reliable, invisible lie-detector? What business professional interviewing a potential hire hasn’t wished for exactly the same thing? Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘Invisible’ is impossible. True, but so is ‘absolutely reliable lie-detector,’ so I saw no harm in adding ‘invisible’ to the wish list. It is true
Sleep, not hibernate. What happens if you extract a little blood from a hibernating ground squirrel, preserve it till the summer and inject it into another squirrel? That active little mammal with his bushy tail will instantly go into hibernation. We don’t clearly understand if cold weather sets off the chemical changes in squirrel blood
Year of the Squirrel Read More »
