Credit Where Credit is Due

Jamie has taken the entire "Era of COVID" and then some to study the Torah, mostly through the eyes of Dennis Prager who has completed a commentary on Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy. Numbers can be pre-ordered now. Prager wrote, "The Old Testament is often dismissed as outdated, irrelevant, and even immoral. None of that is true." Jamie would encourage you to get and read these books, Prager's "Rational Bible" series, but that is totally optional for any talk or course of study.

General References

Unless specifically noted otherwise, you may generally assume most of what I'm sharing came as a result of reading or listening to one or more of the following materials:

Books:


Helpful Online

Best Literal Translation

I'm often asked what's the best Bible translation for this kind of study. Well, since we're digging into the ancient Hebrew texts, Dennis Prager (and I) think that as close to literal is best. We want to know what it actually says. For that, he recommends the King James Version (KJV) or the translation by Everett Fox listed above. Prager has also mentioned the NIV and ESV as good. None are perfect, but these are the closest. Even the KJV made mistakes that have led to issues, like translating the Commandment "Thou shalt not murder" (correct) as "Thou shalt not kill" (incorrect). Also understand that thought-for-thought and paraphrased translations can be useful in some situations.

 

Who, exactly, did what, exactly, to Joseph?
The Torah is largely silent about an afterlife. Why?