Sadly, the internet and popular literature are filled with misinformation on the meanings of the names of Noach’s sons, often tying them to outdated and nonsensical racist theories combined with an ignorance of geography and linguistics. Here we will look at the sensible meanings of … Continue reading The Meanings of the Names of the Sons of Noach
No Israelites tribes were lost – no such thing is recorded in the Tanach or Talmud! The idea of “lost tribes” is pseudo-history. According to this pseudo-history the Assyrians took ten tribes away (from the northern kingdom) to mysterious locations so that they are now … Continue reading There are no Lost Tribes!
Its that time of year again when we have to contend with “progressive” publications regurgitating revisionist history and pseudo-scholarship from the late 1800s that claims that the Exodus never happened and the Jews were never in Egypt. One variation on this theme that keeps rearing … Continue reading No the Levites do not have Egyptian names!
Part 2 – The Seleucid Dynasty In the first part we looked at the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt who succeeded Alexander’s general Ptolemy I Soter, now we look at the Seleucid kings who succeeded Seleucus I Nicator and ruled the lands to the north and … Continue reading The Greek kings who impacted Jewish history
Part 1 – The division of Alexander’s empire and the Ptolemaic Dynasty With Chanukah upon us its time learn about the Greek kings who impacted Jewish history. Although Chanukah is an important holiday in the Jewish calendar there is surprisingly little information in canonical Jewish … Continue reading The Greek kings who impacted Jewish history
Part 3 – The kings of Bavel In the second part we looked at the kings of Ashur who impacted Jewish history. We end off with the subsequent kings of Bavel. Merodach-Baladan II 722 – 710, 703 – 702 BCE: He was a Chaldean ruler … Continue reading The Kings of Bavel and Ashur in Jewish History
Part 2 – The kings of Ashur: In the first part we looked at the early kings of legend in the period of the Haflagah (dispersal) and Avot (patriarchs). We now come to the Assyrian empire that arose when Ashur rebelled against the Amorite rulers … Continue reading The Kings of Bavel and Ashur in Jewish History
Part 1 – The ancient kings of legend: As we are in the period leading up to Tisha B’Av its time to refresh our memories on the kings of Bavel and Ashur who impacted Jewish history. There are some who think that the names of … Continue reading The Kings of Bavel and Ashur in Jewish History
Finally we come to tav. We of course know the meaning of the name of this letter, it means a mark, as in Sefer Iyov “hen tavi” (“here is my mark”). In particular it referred to a cross shaped marking. The Egyptians had used such … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 22, Tav)
Shin/Sin provides us with some surprises again. Based on its modern form people assume that it depicts two teeth and that the name is a form of the word “shen” meaning a tooth. However the first temple era form of the letter looked like a … Continue reading Origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (Part 21, Shin/Sin)
Ivri Anochi 