[At the bottom of this page, the image of a book might interest you —- well, not so much the image but the title of the book!  For the longest time, we have agreed with the attribution to Abraham as the patriarch to whom three major monotheistic world religions trace their roots: Judaism, Christianity, Islam […]

[Unbracketed commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; the translation/commentary is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses, with additional commentary from RA/Robert Alter.—Admin1.] —————————————————————- Genesis/Bereshith 24 1 Now Avraham was old, advanced in days, and YHVH had blessed Avraham in everything well stricken in age. See XVIII,11. 2 Avraham said to his servant, the elder […]

[Until we started reading Rabbinic commentary on the Torah, we missed the connection between the previous chapter and this one. Supposedly, the reason Sarah dies (aside from old age) is because of the heartbreak she–as any mother of a one and only son–goes through from knowing that Abraham will dutifully fulfill the most shocking instruction […]

[Once again, prepare for a lonnnnggggg read—-parts of the TORAH need more explanation than others; and definitely this chapter is crucial to the understanding of what the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham was TRULY about and . . . sorry to have to keep correcting Christian teaching, but this is not a prefiguration of the […]

[Finally, the child of promise is born, and we’re not talking about you-know-who.  Just the thought of Sarah having a firstborn son at her age, that’s the true miraculous conception and birth! The most ideal age for childbearing is said to be from teens and before the age of 30; in fact birth defects are […]

[Hmmmmm . . .  you might pause and think about the details we fail to take into consideration when we simply rush through reading these chapters because we’ve read it a few times or, even for the first time, we think—what is the relevance of this to me?    When you imagine Abraham and Sarah […]

[What a strange society and culture Sodom/Gomorrah had! It appears that the whole male population were  . . . well, what exactly should we call them?  Sodomists? That term is defined as “intercourse involving anal or oral copulation.”  Are sodomists simply sexually aberrant while being straight or are they always homosexual in gender preference? Are […]

[YHWH’s covenant with Abraham—let us not miss the point that this covenant is intended to be a blessing to ALL of humankind except that the process will take centuries, if not millennia for its final fulfillment.  But it starts with this covenant that creates an exclusive lineage that will lead to the establishment of a […]