Image: Three people learning, and the HaMaqom Logo. (hmqm.org)
Are you curious about Judaism? Have you ever wanted to have a chance to ask a rabbi a few questions?
I’m offering a class titled “Sampling Judaism” online this month and next, three meetings in which I’ll make a 30 minute presentation about:
- What do Jews think about God?
- What is Torah, exactly?
- Who are the Jews and what do they want?
Then in each class, students can ask questions about the presentation or about anything else about which they are curious. This is a very basic class, an introduction to Jewish learning and life, and it is built around YOUR questions. No Hebrew required, no credentials required.
If this is something that interests you, Sampling Judaism is easy to sign up for. Just click the link to go to the HaMaqom website and there you can get all the info about cost, times, and registration.
The class is offered on a sliding scale and financial aid is available. Class will meet on Monday nights from January 25 through February 8, from 7-8pm Pacific Time.
You can do each of those in just thirty minutes? Best wishes!
I can start a discussion. Jewish learning is limitless, but we have to start somewhere!
I have a question that’s somewhat outside the scope of the constraints mentioned here:
Zechariah 12:1-14
1 The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. 4 “In that day,” says the LORD, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem [are] my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ 6 “In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place–Jerusalem. 7 “The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David [shall be] like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. 9 “It shall be in that day [that] I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for [his] only [son], and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 “And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 “the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 “all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
Given that it’s the Lord (Yahweh) speaking all throughout the context, and who said in verse ten that they (His chosen people Israel) pierced Him, which is Yahweh Himself having been pierced by His own chosen people then grieve deeply when they see Him, who is it that they pierced, and when, if not Yahweh? Now, I’ve seem some try to spiritualize the act of piercing in an attempt to try and side-step the implications, but the Hebrew doesn’t make room for such slight-of-hand antics and intellectual dishonesty. What say you?
Jr