HEBREW - JUDEANISM

Question 1

ṭumah

Answer 1

In Jewish law, ṭumah (Hebrew: טומאה‬, pronounced [tˤumʔa]) and ṭaharah (Hebrew: טהרה‬) pronounced [tˤaharɔ]) are the state of being ritually “impure” and “pure” respectively.[1][2] The Hebrew noun ṭum’ah, meaning “impurity,” describes a state of ritual impurity. A person or object which contracts ṭumah is said to be ṭamei (Hebrew adjective, “ritually impure”), and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and utilisations (kedusha in Hebrew) until undergoing predefined purification actions that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.

The contrasting Hebrew noun ṭaharah (טָהֳרָה) describes a state of ritual purity that qualifies the ṭahor (טָהוֹר; ritually pure person or object) to be used for kedusha. The most common method of achieving ṭaharah is by the person or object being immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath). This concept is connected with ritual washing in Judaism, and both ritually impure and ritually pure states have parallels in ritual purification in other world religions.

The laws of ṭumah and ṭaharah were generally followed by the Israelites, particularly during the First and Second Temple Period,[citation needed] and to a limited extent are a part of applicable halakha in modern times.

Question 2

Halakha

Answer 2

THE WAY TO BEHAVE

The word halakha is derived from the Hebrew root halakh – “to walk” or “to go”.[2]:252 Taken literally, therefore, halakha translates as “the way to walk” rather than “law”. The word halakha refers to the corpus of rabbinic legal texts, or to the overall system of religious law.

Halakha (/hɑːˈlɔːxə/;[1] Hebrew: הֲלָכָה‬, Sephardic: [halaˈχa]; also transliterated as halacha, halakhah, halachah or halocho) (Ashkenazic: [haˈloχo]) is the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the Written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical laws or “commandments” (mitzvot) (traditionally numbered as 613), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic law, and the customs and traditions compiled in the many books, one of the most famous of which is the 16th-century Shulchan Aruch (literally “Prepared Table”).

Halakha is often translated as “Jewish Law”, although a more literal translation might be “the way to behave” or “the way of walking”. The word derives from the root that means “to behave” (also “to go” or “to walk”). Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but also numerous aspects of day-to-day life.

Question 3

Aggadah

Answer 3

Aggadah (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic אַגָּדְתָא‎ “tales, lore”; pl. aggadot, Ashkenazi pronunciation aggados) refers to non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.

In terms of etymology, the cognate Hebrew: הַגָּדָה‬ means “telling”, while the Aramaic root אגד (as well as נגד, from which אגדה may arise) has the dual implication of “expanding” / “drawing out” and “binding” / “drawing in”.[1] Correspondingly, the Aggadah may be seen as those teachings which communicate Rabbinic traditions to the reader, simultaneously expanding their understanding of the text, while strengthening their religious experience and spiritual connection.[2] The root also has the meaning “flow”,[3] and here relates to the transmission of ideas.[4]

Question 4

Tanakh

Answer 4

The Hebrew Bible, also called the Tanakh (/tɑːˈnɑːx/;[1] תַּנַ”ךְ‬, pronounced [taˈnaχ] or [təˈnax]; also Tenakh, Tenak, Tanach) or Mikra, is the canonical collection of Jewish texts, which is also the textual source for the Christian Old Testament. These texts are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic (in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few others). The form of this text that is authoritative for Rabbinic Judaism is known as the Masoretic Text (MT), and is divided into 24 books, while the Protestant Bible translations divide the same material into 39 books.

Question 5

Samaritan Pentateuch

Answer 5

The Samaritan Pentateuch, also known as the Samaritan Torah (Hebrew: תורה שומרונית‬ torah shomronit), is a text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the Samaritan alphabet and used as scripture by the Samaritans. It constitutes their entire biblical canon.

Question 6

Masoretic Text

Answer 6

The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Tanakh for Rabbinic Judaism. It is not the original text (Urtext) of the Hebrew Bible. It was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. The oldest extant manuscripts date from around the 9th century.[2] The Aleppo Codex (once the oldest-known complete copy but now missing the Torah) dates from the 10th century. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah.

Question 7

Torah

Answer 7

Torah (/ˈtɔːrə, ˈtoʊrə/; Hebrew: תּוֹרָה‬, “Instruction”, “Teaching” or “Law”) has a range of meanings. It can most specifically mean the first five books (Pentateuch) of the 24 books of the Tanakh, and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries (perushim). It can mean the continued narrative from the Book of Genesis to the end of the Tanakh (Malachi), and it can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings.[1] Common to all these meanings, Torah consists of the origin of Jewish peoplehood: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws (halakha).

Question 8

Talmud

Answer 8

Talmud translates as “instruction, learning”, from a root LMD “teach, study”.

The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד talmūd) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.[1][2][3] Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to “all Jewish thought and aspirations”, serving also as “the guide for the daily life” of Jews.[4]

The term “Talmud” normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi).[5] It may also traditionally be called Shas (ש״ס), a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, or the “six orders” of the Mishnah.

The Talmud has two components; the Mishnah (Hebrew: משנה, c. year 200 CE), a written compendium of Rabbinic Judaism’s Oral Torah; and the Gemara (circa year 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term “Talmud” may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together.

Question 9

Second Temple

Answer 9

516 BC - 70 CE

The Second Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי‬, Beit HaMikdash HaSheni) was the Jewish holy temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. According to Jewish tradition, it replaced Solomon’s Temple (the First Temple), which was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE, when Jerusalem was conquered and part of the population of the Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile to Babylon.

Question 10

Third Temple

Answer 10

If built, the Third Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש השלישי‎, Beit haMikdash haShlishi, literally: The House, the Holy, the Third) would be the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem after Solomon’s Temple and the rebuilt Second Temple. Although it has not been built, prospects for its completion are important in Jewish eschatology.

The Third Temple is portrayed as a religious notion and desire in Judaism rooted and expressed in many of Judaism’s prayers for the return and rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem that had once stood as the First and Second Temples that were destroyed by the ancient Babylonians and the Romans.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, religious Jews have expressed their desire to see the building of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. Prayer for this is a formal part of the Jewish tradition of thrice daily Amidah prayer. Although it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism, and anticipated as a soon to be built place of worship. The prophets in the Tanakh called for its construction to be fulfilled prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic age.[citation needed] The rebuilding of the Third Temple also plays a major role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology.

Architectural plans for the third Temple exist most notably in Chapters 40–47 of the Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel’s vision pre-dates the Second Temple).

Since a number of Jewish scholars have stated that the deadline for the arrival of the Jewish Messiah is the Jewish Year 6000 (2240 CE), this would also seem to be a deadline for beginning the construction of the Third Temple.[citation needed]

Question 11

First Temple

Answer 11

DESTROYED 587 BC

According to the Hebrew Bible, Solomon’s Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the Holy Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ‬: Beit HaMikdash) in ancient Jerusalem before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE and its subsequent replacement with the Second Temple in the 6th century BCE.

Question 12

Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)

Answer 12

In 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of the city and its temple in the summer of 587 or 586 BC.

Following the siege of 597 BC, the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as tributary king of Judah, at the age of 21. However, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar responded by invading Judah[1] and began a siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BC. During this siege, the duration of which was either 18 or 30 months,[2] the Bible describes the city as enduring horrible deprivation.[3] After completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,[4] Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem’s walls, conquering the city. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons killed, Zedekiah was blinded, bound, and taken captive to Babylon,[5] where he remained a prisoner until his death.

Question 13

Kingdom of Judah

Answer 13

The Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew: מַמְלֶכֶת יְהוּדָה‬ Mamléḵeṯ Yehudāh; Akkadian: 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 Ya’uda; Aramaic: 𐤁‬𐤉‬𐤕‬𐤃𐤅‬𐤃‎ bytdwd) was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant. The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to a United Monarchy, but historians are divided about the veracity of this account. In the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE, the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified.[5] Jerusalem, the kingdom’s capital, likely did not emerge as a significant administrative center until the end of the 8th century; before this the archaeological evidence suggests its population was too small to sustain a viable kingdom.

Question 14

Jerusalem

Answer 14

Jerusalem (/dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‬ About this soundYerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس‎ About this soundal-Quds)[note 2] is a city in the Middle East, located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Question 15

Shalim

Answer 15

GOD OF DUSK

Shalim (Shalem, Salem, and Salim) is a god in the Canaanite religion pantheon, mentioned in inscriptions found in Ugarit (Ras Shamra) in Syria.[1][2] William F. Albright identified Shalim as the god of dusk, and Shahar as god of the dawn.[3] In the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Shalim is also identified as the deity representing Venus or the “Evening Star”, and Shahar, the “Morning Star”.[1] His name derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root S-L-M. The city of Jerusalem was named after him, and the biblical King Solomon may also have been.[4]

Question 16

Shahar

Answer 16

GOD OF DAWN

Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit. Shahar is described as a child of El along with a twin, Shalim, the god of dusk. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.

The name is a cognate of the Hebrew word Shahar (שָׁ֫חַר) meaning dawn.

Isaiah 14:12–15 has been the origin of the belief that Satan was a fallen angel, who could also be referred to as Lucifer. It refers to the rise and disappearance of the morning star Venus in the phrase “O light-bringer, son of the dawn.” (Helel ben Shaḥar, translated as Lucifer in the Vulgate and preserved in the early English translations of the Bible) This understanding of Isaiah 14:12–15 seems to be the most accepted interpretation in the New Testament, as well as among early Christians such as Origen, Eusebius, Tertullian, and Gregory the Great. It may be considered a Christian “remythologization” of Isaiah 14, as the verse originally used Canaanite mythology to build its imagery of the hubris of a historical ruler, “the king of Babylon” in Isaiah 14:4. It is likely that the role of Venus as the morning star was taken by Athtar, in this instance referred to as the son of Shahar.[2] The reference to Shahar remains enigmatic to scholars, who have a wide range of theories on the mythological framework and sources for the passage in Isaiah.

Question 17

Lucifer (fall from Heaven)

Answer 17

Lucifer (/ˈljuːsɪfər/ LEW-si-fər; “light-bringer”) was a Latin name for the planet Venus as the morning star in the ancient Roman era, and is often used for mythological and religious figures associated with the planet. Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. Interpretations of a similar term in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as “Lucifer”, led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer and its associated stories of a fall from heaven to Satan. Most modern scholarship regards these interpretations as questionable, and translate the term in the relevant Bible passage as “morning star” or “shining one” rather than as a proper name, “Lucifer”.

Isaiah 14:12-21 = The Fall of Lucifer

“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!”[10]
“Fallen from heaven”: see Luke 10:15, 18 for the words of Jesus Christ regarding the fall of Satan.
“Lucifer” or “Day-star” (Hebrew: הילל hēylēl, from הלל hâlal, “to shine”). The Septuagint renders it, Ἑωσφόρος Heōsphoros, and Jerome in the Vulgate, “Lucifer, the morning star”; in the Chaldee, “How art thou fallen from high, who wert splendid among the sons of men.” The New Oxford Annotated Bible suggests the correlation with “a Canaanite myth of the gods Helel and Shahar (Morning Star and Dawn), who fall from heaven as a result of rebellion.”

Luke 10:15 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
15 And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.

Isaiah 14 New King James Version (NKJV)

Mercy on Jacob
14 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.

Fall of the King of Babylon
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden[a] city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, ‘Since you [b]were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’
9 “Hell[c] from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak and say to you:
‘Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’
The Fall of Lucifer
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O [d]Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the [e]lowest depths of the Pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who [f]did not open the house of his prisoners?’
18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an [g]abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
[h]Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
Babylon Destroyed
22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,
“And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine,
And marshes of muddy water;
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts.
Assyria Destroyed
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying,
“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in My land,
And on My mountains tread him underfoot.
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
And his burden removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth,
And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
And who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
And who will turn it back?”
Philistia Destroyed
28 This is the [i]burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.

29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,
And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The firstborn of the poor will feed,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
I will kill your roots with famine,
And it will slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
All you of Philistia are dissolved;
For smoke will come from the north,
And no one will be alone in his [j]appointed times.”
32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.
Footnotes:

Question 18

EL

Answer 18

El who lived on a mountain to the north.

’Ēl (or ’Il, written aleph-lamedh, e.g. Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎍; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤋;[1] Hebrew: אל‬; Syriac: ܐܠ‎; Arabic: إل‎ or إله‎; cognate to Akkadian: 𒀭, translit. ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity”, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite.[2] The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral ʾ‑l, meaning “god”.

Question 19

Elohim ‬

Answer 19

CHILDREN OF EL

Sons of God

Elohim (gods), “Sons of El” in Canaanite mythology

Elohim
Hebrew: אֱלֹהִים‬ in the Hebrew Bible refers to deities, and is one of the many names or titles for God in the Hebrew Bible.

The word is identical to the usual plural of el, meaning gods or magistrates, and is cognate to the ‘l-h-m found in Ugaritic, where it is used for the pantheon of Canaanite gods, the children of El, and conventionally vocalized as “Elohim”. Most uses of the term Elohim in the later Hebrew text imply a view that is at least monolatrist at the time of writing, and such usage (in the singular), as a proper title for the supreme deity, is generally not considered to be synonymous with the term elohim, “gods” (plural, simple noun). Rabbinic scholar Maimonides wrote that the various other usages are commonly understood to be homonyms.[1]

Question 20

Book of Joshua

Answer 20

The Book of Joshua (Hebrew: ספר יהושע‎ Sefer Yĕhôshúa) is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) and the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.[1]:42 It tells of the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, the destruction of their enemies, and the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes, framed by two set-piece speeches, the first by God commanding the conquest of the land, and, at the end, the last by Joshua warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses.[2]

Question 21

Joshua

Answer 21

The English name “Joshua” is a rendering of the Hebrew language Yehoshua, meaning “Yahweh is salvation”.[5][6] The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea—the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name (Numbers 13:16).[7]

“Jesus” is the English derivative of the Greek transliteration of “Yehoshua” via Latin. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word “Yehoshua” are rendered as “Ἰησοῦς” (Iēsoūs), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic: ישוע‎ Yeshua, Nehemiah 8:17).[8][9] Thus, in modern Greek, Joshua is called “Jesus son of Naue” (τοῦ Ναυή) to differentiate him from Jesus. This is also true in some Slavic languages following the Eastern Orthodox tradition (e.g. “Иисус Навин”, Iisús Navín, in Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian, but not Czech).

Question 22

Moses

Answer 22

Moses (/ˈmoʊzɪz, -zɪs/)[2][Note 1] was a prophet in the Abrahamic religions, according to their holy books; however, scholarly consensus sees Moses as a legendary figure and not a historical person.[3] According to the Hebrew Bible, he was adopted by an Egyptian princess, and later in life became the leader of the Israelites and lawgiver, to whom the authorship of the Torah, or acquisition of the Torah from Heaven is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew (מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ, lit. “Moses our Teacher”),

Question 23

Midrash

Answer 23

BOOK OF INTERPRETATIONS

The Hebrew word midrash is derived from the root of the verb darash (דָּרַשׁ‬), which means “resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require”,[8] forms of which appear frequently in the Bible.[9]

The word midrash occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles 13:22 “in the midrash of the prophet Iddo”, and 24:27 “in the midrash of the book of the kings”. KJV and ESV translate the word as “story” in both instances; the Septuagint translates it as βιβλίον (book) in the first, as γραφή (writing) in the second. The meaning of the Hebrew word in these contexts is uncertain: it has been interpreted as referring to “a body of authoritative narratives, or interpretations thereof, concerning historically important figures”[10] and seems to refer to a “book”, perhaps even a “book of interpretation”, which might make its use a foreshadowing of the technical sense that the rabbis later gave to the word.[11]

Midrash (/ˈmɪdrɑːʃ/;[1] Hebrew: מִדְרָשׁ‬; pl. Hebrew: מִדְרָשִׁים‬ midrashim) is biblical exegesis by ancient Judaic authorities,[2] using a mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud. The term is also used of a rabbinic work that interprets Scripture in that manner.[3][4]

Such works contain early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (haggadah) and occasionally Jewish religious laws (halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture (Tanakh).[5]

“Midrash”, especially if capitalized, can refer to a specific compilation of these rabbinic writings composed between 400 and 1200 CE.[1][6]

Question 24

Septuagint

Answer 24

The Septuagint (from the Latin: septuāgintā literally “seventy”, often abbreviated as or LXX and sometimes called the Greek Old Testament) is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures from the original Hebrew.[1] It is estimated that the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or Pentateuch, were translated in the mid-3rd century BCE and the remaining texts were translated in the 2nd century BCE.[2] Considered the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is quoted a number of times in the New Testament,[3][4] particularly in the Pauline epistles,[5] by the Apostolic Fathers, and later by the Greek Church Fathers.

The full title in Ancient Greek: Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα μετάφρασις, literally “The Translation of the Seventy”, derives from the traditional story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas that the Septuagint was translated at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars (6 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel) who independently translated identical versions of the entire Hebrew canon.

Question 25

The Codex Vaticanus

Answer 25

The Codex Vaticanus (The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209; no. B or 03 Gregory-Aland, δ 1 von Soden) is regarded as the oldest extant manuscript of the Greek Bible (Old and New Testament), one of the four great uncial codices.[1] The Codex is named after its place of conservation in the Vatican Library, where it has been kept since at least the 15th century.[2] It is written on 759 leaves of vellum in uncial letters and has been dated palaeographically to the 4th century.[3][4]

Uncial

Question 26

Jordan River

Answer 26

The Jordan River (also River Jordan; Hebrew: נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן‬ Nahar ha-Yarden, Classical Syriac: ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ‎, Arabic: نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ‎ Nahr al-Urdunn, Ancient Greek: Ιορδάνης, Iordànes) is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) river in the Middle East that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee (Hebrew: כנרת Kinneret, Arabic: Bohayrat Tabaraya, meaning Lake of Tiberias) and on to the Dead Sea. Jordan and the Golan Heights border the river to the east, while the West Bank and Israel lie to its west. Both Jordan and the West Bank take their names from the river.

While several hypotheses for the origin of the river’s name have been proposed, the most accepted is that it comes from Semitic Yard|on ‘flow down’

Question 27

Promised Land

Answer 27

The Promised Land (Hebrew: הארץ המובטחת‬, translit.: ha’aretz hamuvtakhat; Arabic: أرض الميعاد‎, translit.: ard al-mi’ad; also known as “The Land of Milk and Honey”) is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), was promised and subsequently given by God to Abraham and his descendants, and in modern contexts an image and idea related both to the restored Homeland for the Jewish people and to salvation and liberation is more generally understood.

The promise was first made to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21), then confirmed to his son Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and then to Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 28:13), Abraham’s grandson. The Promised Land was described in terms of the territory from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates river (Exodus 23:31). A smaller area of former Canaanite land and land east of the Jordan River was conquered and occupied by their descendants, the Israelites, after Moses led the Exodus out of Egypt (Numbers 34:1-12), and this occupation was interpreted as God’s fulfilment of the promise (Deuteronomy 1:8). Moses anticipated that God might subsequently give the Israelites land reflecting the boundaries of God’s original promise, if they were obedient to the covenant (Deuteronomy 19:8-9).

Question 28

Covenant

Answer 28

Jeremiah Chapter 31: 30-39
30 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;

31 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; forasmuch as they broke My covenant, although I was a lord over them, saith the LORD.

32 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people;

33 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know the LORD’; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

34 Thus saith the LORD, Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar, the LORD of hosts is His name:

35 If these ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.

36 Thus saith the LORD: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.

37 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.

38 And the measuring line shall yet go out straight forward unto the hill Gareb, and shall turn about unto Goah.

39 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

Question 29

Diaspora

Answer 29

A diaspora (/daɪˈæspərə/)[1] is a scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale.[2][3] In particular, diaspora has come to refer to involuntary mass dispersions of a population from its indigenous territories, most notably the expulsion of Jews from the Land of Israel (known as the Jewish diaspora) and the fleeing of Greeks after the fall of Constantinople.

Question 30

Judah ha-Nasi (Hebrew: יהודה הנשיא‬, Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince)

Answer 30

Judah ha-Nasi (Hebrew: יהודה הנשיא‬, Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince) or Judah I, also known as Rabbi (רבי‬) or Rabbenu HaQadosh (רבנו הקדוש‬, “our Master, the holy one”), was a second-century rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea. According to the Talmud he was of the Davidic line,[1][2] the royal line of David, hence the title nasi “prince”.[3] The title nasi was also used for presidents of the Sanhedrin.[4] Judah HaNasi died on 15 Kislev, AM 3978 (around December 1, 217 CE).[5][6]

Question 31

Ἑβραϊστί

Answer 31

IN HEBREW

Ἑβραϊστί
in Hebrew
Adv

Original Word: Ἑβραϊστί
Part of Speech: Adverb
Transliteration: Hebraisti
Phonetic Spelling: (heb-rah-is-tee')
Definition: in Hebrew, in Aramaic
Usage: in the Hebrew, or rather, in the Aramaic dialect.

adverb from Hebrais.

Original Word: Ἑβραΐς, ΐδος, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: Hebrais
Phonetic Spelling: (heb-rah-is’)
Definition: Hebrew, the Aramaic vernacular of Pal
Usage: the Hebrew language, or rather: Aramaic.

from Eber

Eber: Heber, an ancestor of Christ
Original Word: Ἕβερ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Proper Noun, Indeclinable
Transliteration: Eber
Phonetic Spelling: (eb-er’)
Definition: Heber, an ancestor of Christ
Usage: Eber, father of Peleg and son of Shelah.

Eber: “region beyond,” a descendant of Shem, also the name of several Israelites
Original Word: עֵבֵר
Part of Speech: Proper Name Masculine
Transliteration: Eber
Phonetic Spelling: (ay’-ber)
Definition: “region beyond”, a descendant of Shem, also the name of several Israelites.

‘son’ of Shelah, and ‘grandson’ of Arpachshad.

‘father’ of Peleg and Joktan.

The same as eber; Eber, the name of two patriarchs and four Israelites

from abar
abar: alienate

Original Word: עָבַר
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: abar
Phonetic Spelling: (aw-bar')
Definition:

Question 32

Ἑβραῖος (Hebrew)

Ἰουδαῖος (Judaean)

Ἰσραηλίτης (Israelite)

Ἑλληνιστής (Greek)

Answer 32

SYNONYMS

xxxix. Ἑβραῖος, Ἰουδαῖος, Ἰσραηλίτης.

All these names are used to designate members of the elect family and chosen race; but they are very capable, as they are very well worthy, of being discriminated.

Ἑβραῖος claims to be first considered. It brings us back to a period earlier than any when one, and very much earlier than any when the other, of the titles we compare with it, were, or could have been, in existence (Josephus, Antt. i. 6. 4). It is best derived from עֵבֶר, the same word as ὑπέρ,Etym. Note. 22 ‘super;’—this title containing allusion to the passing over of Abraham from the other side of Euphrates; who was, therefore, in the language of the Phoenician tribes among whom he came, ‘Abram the Hebrew,’ or ὁ περάτης, as it is well given in the Septuagint (Gen. 14:13), being from beyond (πέραν) the river: thus rightly Origen (in Matt. tom. xi. 5): Ἑβραῖοι, οἵτινες ἐρμηνεύονται περατικοί. The name, as thus explained, is not one by which the chosen people know themselves, but by which others know them; not one which they have taken, but which others have imposed on them; and we find the use of Ἑβραῖος through all the O. T. entirely consistent with this explanation of its origin. In every case it is either a title by which foreigners designate the chosen race (Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod. 1:16, 19; 1 Sam. 4:6; 13:19; 29:3; Judith 12:11); or by which they designate themselves to foreigners (Gen. 40:15; Exod. 2:7; 3:18; 5:3; 9:1; Jon. 1:9); or by which they speak of themselves in tacit opposition to other nations (Gen. 43:32; Deut. 15:12; 1 Sam. 13:3; Jer. 34:9, 14); never, that is, without such national antagonism, either latent or expressed.

When, however, the name Ἰουδαῖος arose, as it did in the later periods of Jewish history (the precise epoch will be presently considered), Ἑβραῖος modified its meaning. Nothing is more frequent with words than to retire into narrower limits, occupying a part only of some domain whereof once they occupied the whole; when, through the coming up of some new term, they are no longer needed in all their former extent; and when at the same time, through the unfolding of some new relation, they may profitably lend themselves to the expressing of this new. It was exactly thus with Ἑβραῖος. In the N. T., that point of view external to the nation, which it once always implied, exists no longer; neither is every member of the chosen family an Ἑβραῖος now, but only those who, whether dwelling in Palestine or elsewhere, have retained the sacred Hebrew tongue as their native language; the true complement and antithesis to Ἑβραῖος being Ἑλληνιστής, a word first appearing in the N. T. (see Salmasius, De Hellenisticâ, 1643, p. 12), and there employed to designate a Jew of the Dispersion who has unlearned his proper language, and now speaks Greek, and reads or hears read in the synagogue the Scriptures in the Septuagint Version.

This distinction first appears in Acts vi. 1, and is probably intended in the two other passages, where Ἑβραῖος occurs (2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5); as well as in the superscription, on whosesoever authority it rests, of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is important to keep in mind that in language, not in place of habitation, lay the point of difference between the ‘Hebrew’ and the ‘Hellenist.’ He was a ‘Hebrew,’ wherever domiciled, who retained the use of the language of his fathers. Thus St. Paul, though settled in Tarsus, a Greek city in Asia Minor, describes himself as a ‘Hebrew,’ and of ‘Hebrew’ parents, “a Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5; of. Acts 23:6); though it is certainly possible that by all this he may mean no more than in a general way to set an emphasis on his Judaism. Doubtless, the greater number of ‘Hebrews’ were resident in Palestine; yet not this fact, but the language they spoke, constituted them such.

It will be well however to keep in mind that this distinction and opposition of Ἑβραῖος to Ἑλληνιστής, as a distinction within the nation, and not between it and other nations (which is clear at Acts 6:1, and probably is intended at Phil. 3:5; 2 Cor. 11:22), is exclusively a Scriptural one, being hardly recognized by later Christian writers, not at all by Jewish and heathen. Thus Eusebius can speak of Philo, an Alexandrian Jew, who only once in his life visited Jerusalem, for so much I think we may gather from his own words (vol. ii. p. 646, Mangey’s Ed.), and who wrote exclusively in Greek (Hist. Eccl. ii. 4): τὸ μὲν οὖν γένος ἀνέκαθεν Ἑβραῖος ἦν: of. iv. 16; Proep. Evang. vii. 13. 21; while Clement of Alexandria, as quoted by Eusebius (H. E. vi. 14), makes continually the antithesis to Ἑβραῖοι, not Ἐλληνισταί, but Ἕλληνες and ἔθνη. Theodoret (Opp. vol. ii. p. 1246) styles the Greek-writing historian, Josephus, συγγραφεὺς Ἑβραῖος: cf. Origen, Ep. ad Afric. 5. Neither in Josephus himself, nor yet in Philo, do any traces of the N. T. distinction between Ἑβραῖος and Ἑλληνιστής exist; in heathen writers as little (Plutarch, Symp. iv. 6; Pausanias, v. 7. 3; x. 12. 5) Only this much of it is recognized, that Ἑβραῖος, though otherwise a much rarer word than Ἰουδαῖος, is always employed when it is intended to designate the people on the side of their language. This rule Jewish, heathen, and Christian writers alike observe, and we speak to the present day of the Jewish nation, but of the Hebrew tongue.

This name Ἰουδαῖος is of much later origin. It does not carry us back to the very birth and cradle of the chosen people, to the day when the Father of the faithful passed over the river, and entered on the land of inheritance; but keeps rather a lasting record of the period of national disruption and decline. It arose, and could only have arisen, with the separation of the tribes into the two rival kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Then, inasmuch as the ten trbes, though with worst right (see Ewald, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, vol. iii. part i. p. 138), assumed Israel as a title to themselves, the two drew their designation from the more important of them, and of Judah came the name יְהוּדִים, or Ἰουδαῖοι. Josephus, so far as I have observed, never employs it in telling the earlier history of his people; but for the first time in reference to Daniel and his young companions (Antt. x. 10. 1). Here, however, by anticipation; that is if his own account of the upcoming of the name is correct; namely, that it first arose after the return from Babylon, and out of the fact that the earliest colony of those who returned was of that tribe (Antt. xi. 5. 7): ἐκλήθησαν δὲ τὸ ὄνομα ἐξ ἧς ἡμέρας ἀνέβησαν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς ἧς πρώτης ἐλθούσης εἰς ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους, αὐτοί τε καὶ ἡ χώρα τῆς προσηγορίας αὐτῆς μετέλαβον. But in this Josephus is clearly in error. We meet Ἰουδαῖοι, or rather its Hebrew equivalent, in books of the sacred canon composed anterior to, or during, the Captivity, as a designation of those who pertained to the smaller section of the tribes, to the kingdom of Judah (2 Kin. 16:6; Jer. 32:12; 34:9; 38:19); and not first in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; however in these, and especially in Esther, it may be of far more frequent occurrence.

It is easy to see how the name extended to the whole nation. When the ten tribes were carried into Assyria, and were absorbed and lost among the nations, that smaller section of the people which remained henceforth represented the whole; and thus it was only natural that Ἰουδαῖος should express, as it now came to do, not one of the kingdom of Judah as distinguished from that of Israel, but any member of the nation, a ‘Jew’ in this wider sense, as opposed to a Gentile. In fact, the word underwent a process exactly the converse of that which Ἑβραῖος had undergone. For Ἑβραῖος, belonging first to the whole nation, came afterwards to belong to a part only; while Ἰουδαῖος, designating at first only the member of a part, ended by designating the whole. It now, in its later, like Ἑβραῖος in its earlier, stage of meaning, was a title by which the descendant of Abraham called himself, when he would bring out the national distinction between himself and other peoples (Rom. 2:9, 10); thus ‘Jew and Gentile;’ never ‘Israelite and Gentile:’ or which others used about him, when they had in view this same fact; thus the Eastern Wise Men inquire, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2)? testifying by the form of this question that they were themselves Gentiles, for they would certainly have asked for the King of Israel, had they meant to claim any nearer share in Him. So, too, the Roman soldiers and the Roman governor give to Jesus the mocking title, “King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:29, 37), while his own countrymen, the high priests, challenge Him to prove by coming down from the cross that He is “King of Israel” (Matt. 27:42).

For indeed the absolute name, that which expressed the whole dignity and glory of a member of the theocratic nation, of the people in peculiar covenant with God, was Ἰσραηλίτης. It rarely occurs in the Septuagint, but is often used by Josephus in his earlier history, as convertible with Ἑβραῖος (Antt. i. 9. 1, 2); in the middle period of his history to designate a member of the ten tribes (viii. 8. 3; ix. 14. 1); and toward the end as equivalent Ἰουδαῖος (xi. 5. 4). It is only in its relations of likeness and difference to this last that we have to consider it here. This name was for the Jew his especial badge and title of honour. To be descendants of Abraham, this honour they must share with the Ishmaelites (Gen. 16:15); of Abraham and Isaac with the Edomites (Gen. 24:25); but none except themselves were the seed of Jacob, such as in this name of Israelite they were declared to be. Nor was this all, but more gloriously still, their descent was herein traced up to him, not as he was Jacob, but as he was Israel, who as a Prince had power with God and with men, and prevailed (Gen. 32:28). That this title was accounted the noblest, we have ample proof. Thus, as we have seen, when the ten tribes threw off their allegiance to the house of David, they claimed in their pride and pretension the name of “the kingdom of Israel” for the new kingdom which they set up—the kingdom, as the name was intended to imply, in which the line of the promises, the true succession of the early patriarchs, ran. So, too, there is no nobler title with which the Lord can adorn Nathanael than that of “an Israelite indeed” (John 1:47), one in whom all which that name involved might indeed be found. And when St. Peter, and again when St. Paul, would obtain a hearing from the men of their own nation, when therefore they address them with the name most welcome to their ears, ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται (Acts 2:22; 3:12; 8:16; cf. Rom. 9:4; Phil. 3:5; 2 Cor. 11:22) is still the language with which they seek to secure their good-will.

When, then, we restrict ourselves to the employment in the N. T. of these three words, and to the distinctions proper to them there, we may say that Εβραῖος is a Hebrew-speaking, as contrasted with a Greek-speaking, or Hellenizing, Jew (which last in our Version we have well called a ‘Grecian,’ as differenced from Ἕλλην, a veritable ‘Greek’ or other Gentile); Ἰουδαῖος is a Jew in his national distinction from a Gentile; while Ἰσραηλίτης, the augustest title of all, is a Jew as he is a member of the theocracy, and thus an heir of the promises. In the first is predominantly noted his language; in the second his nationality (Ἰουδαϊσμός, Josephus, De Macc. 4; Gal. 1:13; Ἰουδαΐζειν, Gal. 2:14); in the third his theocratic privileges and glorious vocation.

Question 33

אַבָּא

Answer 33

FATHER - ORIGINATOR

אַבָּא • (ʾabbā) m (plural אֲבָהָתָא‎, singular construct אֲבוּ‎, feminine counterpart אִמָּא‎)

father, ancestor, progenitor
teacher
chief, leader
author, originator