23 Apr 2020
We never expected to be able to identify the scribe responsible for The Hidden Bones Apocalypse. It has come as a surprise that there is a very logical answer to the question of his identity. That answer is driven by: 1) our conclusion regarding timing, 2) the content of the Hidden Bones message, and 3) the relationship of the Hidden Bones message to the other writings of the period, bot...
19 Apr 2020
The long period during which we have studied the specifications for, the erection of and the consecration of the mishkan - the desert sanctuary - comes to an end in Parashat Shemini. At the end of Parashat Tzav, the previous parashah, we learned that Aaron and his sons were to remain in, or at the entrance to, the tent of meeting, for seven days after their ritual anointing. It is on the...
05 Apr 2020
There are many more who seek than there are those who find. For some, perhaps most, seeking is itself the end. Finding is avoided perhaps because it would put an end to the familiar – to the seeking. Or it is avoided out of a fear that is not or cannot be acknowledged.
Why is it that so few choose to take the direct path to knowledge of their true nature? Why is the progressive path s...
02 Apr 2020
In a few days, on Passover, we will read in the Haggadah the words that are recited when offering the first fruits of the land on the festival of Shavuot. The verbal formula is introduced by and concludes with directions for the choreography of the offering. It is found in this passage from Deuteronomy: (Deut 26:4-10; NRSV)
Introduction: When the priest takes the basket from your hand...
24 Mar 2020
(This is a summary of a section of the book “The Hidden Bones Apocalypse”, which is nearing completion.)
We can identify the time period during which our scribe inserted the hidden bones marker phrase into the biblical text with a high degree of confidence. This is an outline of the process of identification.
First, we can establish the extreme parameters of the insertion timing as...
15 Feb 2020
Having just completed the section of The Hidden Bones study that addresses the issue of the timing of the insertion of the marker phrase into the Hebrew text of the bible, I'm now going to begin the section that will identify our scribe.
That will be followed by an additional analysis of the hiddenness issue, specifically addressing the suppression of the message in the early rabbinic...
15 Feb 2020
I've just completed the section of The Hidden Bones Apocalypse that analyzes the question: When were the special marker phrases that define that Apocalypse inserted into the biblical text?
The initial time window is defined on the early end by the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. I've used a date of 250 BCE for that, although some would say it might be as early as 275 BCE.
...
14 Feb 2020
This is an excerpt of a section in our analysis of The Hidden Bones Apocalypse:
Shavuot in Ezekiel
The reader’s first reaction to the heading of this section might be ‘but there is no Shavuot in Ezekiel’. That is the standard reading of Ezekiel, of course. It is said that Ezekiel ignores Shavuot in his listing of the festivals because he wrote from the perspective of exile. Shavuot...
24 Apr 2019
My teacher, Rabbi Bernard Zlotowitz (zekher tzadik livracha) told us often that ‘all translation is midrash’. I have had occasion recently to spend time with the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch both in Hebrew and, thanks to a first-of-its-kind recent translation[1], in English.
At a dinner in Israel just before Pesach, I brought up an issue involving the Samaritan community and the r...