In today’s teaching, Ross covers the great deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt. He begins in Psalm 106 and shares some insights into the story covered by this Torah portion. Ross speaks on the fleeting faith of the children of Israel and of the struggle that is required to achieve freedom. This particular Torah reading begins and ends with the subject of war. It speaks of an eternal struggle between YHVH and an age long enemy known as Amalek. Ross shares some insights into the redemption. There are things that we must do. You will not want to miss this teaching.

Click here to listen, or follow this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2012/02/04/when-pharaoh-let-go.htm

In this week’s teaching, Ross continues his study of the redemption of Israel from Egypt. He begins by reading from a biblical account of a Passover recorded in II Chronicles and shows that those from some of the tribes were not following the Passover as it was written in the Torah of Moses. He then challenges his listeners with a question; Have we missed the point of Passover by not following what is written? In this week’s class Ross speaks on the prevalent view of the Passover held by most who were introduced to the Festival of Passover through Christian teachings. For Christians, the Passover points to the death of God’s son. Is this the message of Passover? You will be challenged by this teaching but are encouraged to listen and make up your own mind.

Click here to listen to this class or follow the link below:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2012/01/28/the-real-meaning-of-passover.htm

In this week’s class Ross shows the connection between the promises to the patriarchs and to the descendants. He begins by covering the “RE” revealing of God to Moses and carefully works through the texts showing that the promises made to and through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are also for their seed. He focuses on a particular phrase found in this week’s reading where God claims to lift His hand in an oath to the fathers. Building on this, Ross covers the other occurrences of this act and speaks of the promised inheritance. For what purpose does YHVH deliver Israel from Egypt? Several times in this week’s reading YHVH says, “Shalach et ami”. What does this mean and how does it relate to modern day claimants of the distinguished name Israel? You will not want to miss this class.

Click here to listen to this class or follow this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2012/01/21/i-lift-my-hand-the-heritage.htm

In this week’s teaching, Ross covers the first reading from the book of Exodus called Shemoth. The meaning of the Hebrew title is “names”. In this week’s class Ross covers the importance of some key names for those through and by whom the great redemption of the book will take place. The reading begins with the names of the sons of Israel, then shares the names of two midwives, the name of God, and finally the name of God. Practically everyone of importance in this reading is named with the exception of the Pharaoh. You will not want to miss this first teaching from the book of Exodus. Join us as we continue our study through the Torah.

Click here to listen to this teaching or follow this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2012/01/14/shemoth-the-names-of-the-redemption.htm

In this week’s Torah teaching, Ross shares on the subject of the Patriarchal Plan. He begins by recounting the promises passed from generation to generation. In the Torah and the prophet reading, we read of the passing of Jacob, Joseph and David respectively. But Ross shows that though all of these men went “the way of all the earth”, the plan did not die. It continued to be passed through the ages. The promises still stand. The purpose remains yet unfulfilled. What was the meaning of the plan that was first entrusted to Abraham and what does it mean for us today? You will not want to miss this teaching. A special thanks to Glenn Chatterton for assisting in the study and preparation of this class. His insights were very helpful.

Click here to listen to this teaching or follow this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2012/01/07/the-patriarchal-plan.htm

In this week’s Torah portion, Ross covers perhaps the most cherished story in the Torah – Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Ross shows that this story hints at a reunion of Judah and Joseph, the single most prominent theme in all of the prophets. The connection between the Torah and Prophet reading this week sheds light on this all important teaching. How will this reunion take place? You will not want to miss this teaching. Listen and share.

To Listen, click here or follow this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2011/12/31/judah-draws-near-to-joseph.htm

Sixty-seven years ago this very weekend at the “turning” of the Gregorian year 1943-44 the founding meeting of United Israel World Union took place in Waterville, NY. This tiny meeting of less than a dozen people was hosted in the home of Clayton and Ermine Burlingame at 405 Tower Street, Dec. 30, 31/January 1st (Thurs, Friday, Sabbath). On New Year’s Day, in a Sabbath gathering held in their living room, David Horowitz spoke at length about his vision of UIWU and his typewritten notes have survived as shown here. The little group determined to move ahead with incorporation and as a result UIWU was legally “born” on April 17, 1944–our founding date. However, beyond matters of legal incorporation the spiritual founding of UIWU was surely that cold Dec/Jan weekend, and particularly on that Sabbath.

In 1995  looking over all this history and talking with David Horowitz about what he remembered and we made a startling discovery using Arthur Spier’s Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar–a most useful book that has all the holydays and Torah readings between 1900-2100, correlated with the Gregorian calendar. The Torah reading that weekend, for Sabbath, January 1, 1944, was Vayiggash–Genesis 44:18-47:17, which begins the tearful but joyful tale of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. The Torah portion begins with the phrase “Then Judah came near (vayiggash) to him,” and leads up to the scene of Joseph’s revelation of himself to his brothers.

When we told David this he was utterly astounded, as he had not remembered or realized it. That reading, Vayiggash, has indeed been a central one for UIWU and its purposes through all these years. The ancient Rabbis must have realized its implications as well since the Haftarah reading paired with it is Ezekiel 37:15-28 about the “two sticks,” Judah and Joseph, being joined as one, just following the famous vision of the valley of Dry Bones, and thus serving as its interpretation.

When we got our UIWU Torah scroll from the late Edna Dillon, of blessed memory, in August, 2003 and we first unrolled it here in Charlotte we were curious to see where it had last been read. It had been stored in a closet for at least 30 years and was touched by no one. You guessed it–the Torah was rolled to Genesis 44:18–Vayiggash! Edna said it was only used when David was able to visit the West Union, West Virginia group, so he must have read from that passage on his last visit with them–probably sometime in the early 1970s.

Many have  deliberated and discussed the various English Bible translations and which is best in terms of accuracy. Of course they divide themselves quickly into two categories: Jewish and Christian, meaning translations of the Tanakh and translations of the entire standard English Bible including the New Testament. Then there are the various full academic study Bibles such as the Oxford Annotated or Harper Collins Study Bible that include the Apocrypha, which is quite useful to have. Both of those have scholarly notes and are based on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In terms of standard English Bibles I prefer the Revised Standard Version (RSV) over the NRSV. The problem is that it is hard to get these days since the NRSV has taken over with most publishers.  You can still get the RSV Oxford Annotated edition with the Apocrypha, still in print, and I would suggest it as a basic resource for the “entire” Bible with notes (plus wonderful Oxford maps)–but be careful here not to confuse it with the newer one that is the NRSV. This is the correct one on Amazon here.
The Revised Standard Version represents many advances over the King James and American Standard Version tradition. The problem with it is that in many places it incorporates conjectural readings, emendations, and alternative textual traditions like the Septuagint. These are indicated in the footnotes, but one just has to be aware one is not always dealing with just the standard Masoretic text.

The English Standard Version (ESV) attempts to keep all the virtues of the RSV in terms of scholarship and academic integrity, while removing this objection and relying wholly and solely on the Masoretic traditional Hebrew text. It has swept the evangelical Christian market and also attracted the attention of many scholars, on its way to replacing the popular New International Version (NIV) that had once held that market. It comes in many editions but the standard textual edition is reasonable in price and you can get it with the apocrypha on Amazon here.

I would recommend either one or both of these as a basic translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament for general reading and reference, and whether one has much interest in the N.T. or not, it is clearly an important part of our culture and from an academic and historical point of view both the N.T. and the Apocrypha are needed for general Biblical studies.

The problem with both the RSV and the ESV is that they still are not as literal and careful with the Hebrew as I would want but on the whole the ESV makes a fair attempt.

In terms of English Bibles though I still favor heavily the 1901 American Standard Version (not to be confused with the New American Standard Version that also can be good), both for its accuracy and literalness as well as its unprecedented use of the Divine Name Jehovah, which few standard translations have ever done. It is basically “out of print” but you can find editions if you want a hard copy. It is easily available in electronic formats, both free on the web and for various devices.  I have the ASV on my iPad and computer and often use it as an English parallel to the Hebrew. I find it to be quite accurate, and an advance over the KJV.

In terms of Jewish translations of the Tanakh the choices are much more limited. There are four main ones I would note:

1. The 1985 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. This one is the most widely available and would be somewhat equivalent to the RSV in terms of its academic approach to the text. However, it does, for the most part, stay with the original Masoretic Hebrew rather than bringing in alternative readings. Its drawback is that it can be very loose with the text and put meanings into the English that are clearly more interpretations, thus closing off to the average reader the more literal or original meaning.

2. The older 1917 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh is now, alas, out of print but it was heavily modeled on the ASV but without, of course, using the Divine Name, but choosing “LORD” for YHVH as most English translations have done. This is the Bible that David Horowitz used all his life and Ralph Buntyn has David’s personal leather bound copy. I have one of my own that I bought years ago, back in the 1970s. If you check the used bookstores you can find a copy. You can also get an e-book version for $.99 on Amazon here that will download to the Kindle app on any device! There are also numerous web sites that have this 1917 JPS Tanakh on-line. I do recommend it and if I had a parallel version of the Hebrew Bible with this 1917 translation I would consider it the best of all worlds in terms of the Hebrew Bible.

3. The Koren “Jerusalem Bible,” produced in Israel with the traditional Hebrew text and a fairly literal English translation by Harold Fish on facing pages. You can get it at many bookstores but most easily via Amazon here.  Two disadvantages are the print is small and the binding is not of the highest quality. I have used and worn out about three of these but over the years switched to a Hebrew Bible with no English.

4. The 1996 Stone Edition of the Tanakh. Even though this one is quite popular I find the translation far far from accurate and literal and just as the Christian translations of the Bible have a strong theological slant in many places this translation of the Tanakh has a decidedly Jewish slant that gets in the way of the literal/accurate meaning of the text itself.

So the upshot of this note, depending on your own preferences would be to get:

1. A copy of either the Oxford RSV and ESV with the Apocrypha just so you have a standard full English Bible. Which you chose might depend on whether you want the notes, maps, etc. of the Oxford or just the straight text of the ESV.

2. A copy of the 1917 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh if you can find one through a used book dealer. Otherwise, if you use electronic devices, it is easy to obtain, or, alternatively get a copy of the ASV, which is very similar and has the added bonus of using the Divine Name.

A final personal note…

I had to suspend most of my work on the Transparent English Bible (Original Bible Project) when I became chair of the Department of Religious Studies here at UNC Charlotte in 2005, taking on a 40 hour+ per week job, 12 months a year. This left me almost no “extra” time for the translation and what time I have had for research I have given to writing the four books (The Jesus Dynasty, Restoring Abrahamic Faith, The Jesus Discovery, and Jesus and Paul) and related research, filming, and archaeology projects. I have the intention of returning to the TEB work when I retire from the chair job in May, 2013 and we have plans to publish portions of the translation in e-book format as early as 2012. If you are not familiar with this “best of all translations,” you can download a sample of Genesis 1-12 at the Web site.

Today is Christmas morning and for untold millions thoughts go to family, friends, and yes, the birth of Jesus. Last night the churches were filled with Christmas Eve services.  For an alternative take on Jesus’ birth, December 25th, and a different kind of “Silent Night” see my essay, at Bible&Interpretation, a web site well worth a bit of browsing:

http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/xmas357921.shtml

I love this wonderful Armenian portrayal of the meeting of Miriam with her kinswoman Elisheva in the region of Ein Kerem in the “hill country of Judea,” west of Jerusalem. Note that the unborn babies are shown in situ as if by ancient ultrasound. According to Luke’s gospel the women were separated in their pregnancies by six months and Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, implying that she was attending at the birth of John/Yehochanan.

In this week’s class Ross teaches from the 2nd reading of the Joseph cycle of readings. The dream theme shows up again this week. In fact, the word dream occurs 20 times in this week’s reading. Ross takes this week to work through the significance of dreams from a biblical perspective. After recounting Pharaoh’s dreams, Ross turns to a similar dream in the book of Daniel. He discusses the point that the “Hebrews” have been used to both dream and to interpret dreams. Dreams are essential to the historical and prophetic revelation of Yehovah’s way – are they essential in the present? You will not want to miss this teaching.

Click here to listen or go to this link:

http://rootsoffaith.org/2011/12/24/the-biblical-dream.htm