Biblical Heritage Center Blog

My two sons and I were watching a show on the Science Channel about the latest technology and recent scientific developments -- 3-D printing, androids (Geminarians), cyborg suits which allow the paralyzed to walk again, artificial limbs controlled by our brain waves using a structure to grow stem cells into organs and body parts!! ! When you think about it, humans can be amazingly creative. I would even go as far as to say, we have the technology to solve most of the world's problems. No, I'm not caught up in waiting for some "Messiah." If humans could figure out how to tap human potential, it would be a very different world. Read Rabbi Leynor’s latest blog at -- http://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2014/08/our-collective-tov-potential-is-waiting.html

Today, I have been working on a very important section of the Torah. It is found in the final book, Devarim ( Deuteronomy ). It will provide the answer to the questions that Ezra and his fellow scribes worked very hard to answer as they recorded the words of the first scroll of the Torah. The questions are: (1) Why did our United Kingdom divide into two separate and warring kingdoms – Israel & Judah? (2) Why did foreign nations conquer Israel & Judah? (3) What can we do to reunite and preserve the new kingdom? The answers are found in the following words of the man who is viewed as the greatest priest and prophet of the Hebrew Scriptures – Moses . Read the complete BHC Bible study at -- http://bhcbiblestudies.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-choice-is-yours-life-or-death_99.html

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor's latest blog is about parenting. "I recently responded to a posting on FaceBook from someone deciding to leave their synagogue. I read their criticisms and complaints, having heard most of them before as a pulpit rabbi. The points they brought up are very valid. ● Why should they spend so much money for dues, building funds, the Bar and Bat Mitzvah crush? ● Why should they belong to a congregation, go twice a year, and suffer through a long service in a language they don't understand, not knowing why they are doing what they do?"  Read the complete blog at -- http://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2014/08/tov-parenting.html

Dr. Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught political philosophy since 1980. Two of Professor Sandel’s books – Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? & What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets – should be required reading for every America today ( click here for links to them ). Below is the definition of “ virtue ” followed by an excerpt from his book on justice. virtue : from vertu (c. 1200); moral life and conduct; a particular moral excellence ; [i] c onformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles . [ii] Professor Sandel : The great questions of political philosophy are: Does a just society seek to promote the virtue of its citizens? Or should law be neutral toward competing conceptions of virtue, so that citizens can be free to choose for themselves the best way to live? According to the textbook account, this question divides ancient and ...

It’s one of the most famous lines in the Bible: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18). Impressive. Fascinating. Inspiring. Capable of a thousand interpretations and raising 10,000 questions. A remarkable proposition coming out of ancient Judah, which was embedded in the Near Eastern world of wars, slavery, class and ethnic divisions and discriminations of all kinds. One interpretation of this verse that has been making the rounds for years turns this grand idea on its head: The claim is that the verse means to love only one’s fellow Israelites as oneself . Instead of being inclusive, it’s actually exclusive. Is there anything to this claim? Read the complete article at -- http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/love-your-neighbor-only-israelites-or-everyone/

Look at the world in which Noah lived. Now the earth was corrupt in the Creator’s sight and was full of HAMAS . The Creator saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  The Creator said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with HAMAS because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. HAMAS is defined as violence, wrong , and being a false witness . It is used to describe “ knocking off ” part of a plant and “ stripping its fruit .” This sounds a lot like the world we live in today,  doesn't  it?  Read the complete article at  http://bhcbiblestudies.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-last-generation-before-great-flood.html

It is a tale that seems at home in an espionage thriller about ancient religious secrets, such as the "The Da Vinci Code." For nearly 2,000 years, stories have circulated about the ultimate fate of sacred Jewish objects plundered from the Jerusalem Temple by Romans in A.D. 70—including a human-size, solid-gold Menorah. One widely shared theory among some Jews holds that the artifacts are hidden inside the Vatican, which many believe inherited the wealth of the Roman Empire. There is only one problem, say many scholars: It isn't true. Read the complete article at -- http://online.wsj.com/articles/yeshiva-students-challenge-myths-of-the-menorah-1408069132