The Passover Seder: Participating in Israel’s Birth

(message put out to the group Thurs 6th Apr 2023) Shalom everyone, This evening, we hold our Seders, when we remember the story of the Exodus. One of the purposes of retelling the story, is to enable us to feel as if we came out of Egypt ourselves. This aspect of the...

The oft-forgotten purpose of remembering the Exodus

Shalom everyone, We all know that each religious festival has themes, and that there is a purpose to having those festival themes: that by celebrating these festivals together, God has the opportunity to shape and mould us into the kind of people that God intended us...

An Overview of the HEBT Translation of the Torah

A Harmonisation of the Four surviving versions of the Torah The fruits of a twenty-year project are now available for you to purchase online – the HEBT Translation of the Torah (HEBT stands for, ‘Harmonised and Expanded Bible Translation’). It is a completely new...

Why did God allow the Suffering of the Israelites in Egypt?

Shalom everyone, We are so used to the story of the Exodus, that there are some very obvious questions we no longer think about. A while back, a good friend wrote and asked me: … since God, being omniscient, knew that the presence of the Hebrews in Egypt would lead to...

Ghosts, Spirits, and why a faithful Yahwist should not consult the Dead

Shalom everyone, Last year, I received several questions about ghosts, and why a Yahwist is forbidden to summon or speak to the dead. From what I recall, the questions were prompted by seeing people on TV – mediums – who claimed to be able to speak to the spirits of...

Problems with the ‘Book of Enoch’

Shalom everyone, During the 1990s, when I was doing research for The Exhortations, a few people wanted me to include the Book of Enoch. However, after having fully read its contents from cover to cover, digested its beliefs, and researched its origins, I ended up...