Tag: Haim Shore’s Bible Study

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

The True Meaning of the First Commandment

(Related: The True Meaning of the First Commandment (Podcast))

The first of the Ten Commandments is bizarre:

“I am Jehovah, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of slaves.” (Exodus 20:2).

This “Commandment” is bizarre on two counts.

First, The Bible starts with God as creator:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

Why, then, God introduces Himself as God of History (“Who took you”), and not as God of creation (“In the beginning God created”)?

Secondly, unlike the rest of the Ten Commandments, articulated as commands, this commandment is articulated differently, not as a command but as a statement of fact (“I am Jehovah…” God of history). Why is this bizarre way of “commanding”?

To answer these two puzzles, it is instructive to learn that in the original Hebrew there are no “Commandments”. Only Devarim (from the Hebrew verb “to speak”, namely, Divine communication in the form of a dialogue). In Genesis 1 God does not “Speak”. God “says”!! And this implies a monologue, namely, a Divine command. God command is obligatory. It is always fulfilled, to the letter (Genesis 1). Conversely, the Ten Commandments are Divine utterances, out of a dialogue (“speaking”). And in this dialogue, human beings preserve their most basic condition of existence, Free Will. We, human beings, are free to decide whether we wish to pursue the Ten Commandments, or otherwise. The Ten Commandments are for us to decide, out of the precious free-will, bestowed on us by our Creator.

Once the dependence on free-will in pursuing the “Ten Commandments” is properly grasped, the First Commandment is bizarre no more.

Regarding the first puzzlement (“Why God of History and not God of Creation”), the First Commandment requires of us to accept, out of free will, that God rules history. Therefore, there is purpose to life on Earth, both for the collective (in the form of nations and other forms of societies), and for our own personal existence on planet Earth (“Divine Providence”). God of Creation is easy to adopt as fact. It seems logical (to many, not all…). Not so with God of History. This requires a high level of faith. It is not nearly self-evident (as God of Creation is). God of history hides Himself. Prophet Isaiah recognizes the difficulty, and states this in no ambiguous terms:

“Indeed, You are a God Who conceals Himself, the God of Israel, Savior.” (Isaiah 45:15).

Therefore, addressing the second puzzlement (“why the First Commandment is articulated as statement of fact”), this commandment is indeed a command. It requires of us to accept as fact an invisible, unprovable fact. The unobservable reality that Jehovah is indeed also God of History, looking out for what transpires in His world, and leading it towards its Ultimate Goal:

“And I will reveal Myself in My greatness and in My holiness and will be recognized in the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Jehovah.” (Ezekeil 38:23).

“For then I will convert the peoples to a pure language that all of them call in the name of Jehovah, to worship Him of one accord.” (Zephaniah 3:9).

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew Podcasts (audio)

The Hidden Message of the First Chapter of the Bible (Podcast)

(Related post: The Hidden Message of the First Chapter of the Bible )

Haim Shore_Divine Providence_Final_March 19 2024Download

On YouTube:

An earlier related post, addressing evidence for the new interpretation:

 “And Elohim Saw Ki Tov” (“that it was good”)” (Gen. 1) — A Different Viewpoint

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General My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

How to Build a GAG (Roof) in Two Steps

In an earlier post, we have addressed the significance of GAG (roof in biblical Hebrew). The word comprises two appearances of the second most rare letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the third letter, Gimmel (corresponding to the letter g in English).

In an added comment, I have observed that the two major sins of the Israelites, on their way to the Promised Land, are denoted, in Hebrew, the Sin of The Egel (Sin of the Golden Calf), and the Sin of The Meraglim (Sin of the Spies). For both sins, the Hebrew names include Gimmel as their middle letter. Combined, the two sins form a particular version of Gag, the Israelite Gag.

As the Bible tells us, both sins were responded by extreme Divine wrath.

Reacting to the sin of the Egel, God said to Moses:

“Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn against them and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exodus 32:10).

Reacting to the sin of the Meraglim, God said to Moses:

“..How long will this people provoke me and how long will they not believe in me for all the signs which I have performed amongst them? I will smite them with the pestilence (Dever), and disinherit them, and will make of thee a great nation and mightier than them” (Numbers 14:11-12).

Moses prayed to God, and his prayer mitigated the severity of the intended Divine punishment.

According to Jewish tradition, as reflected in Talmud and affiliated interpretations, the Jewish people, for generations to come, had to pay dearly for these two sins. For example, the sin of the Meraglim occurred, according to Jewish tradition, on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av. This date is known in Jewish tradition (and possibly also historically) to be also the date when the First Temple and The Second Temple of Jerusalem were destroyed. Other catastrophes that befell the Jewish people throughout history (like the expulsion from Spain, 1492) had also taken place on that date.

Reading these two episodes in the Bible, the Egel episode and the Meraglim episode, one cannot escape the conclusion that with these two sins, combined, the Israelites have created their own particular form of Roof (Gag), namely, a disconnect between The Heaven and The Earth.

Unlike the Gag of Agag, king of Amalek, Hamman the Agagite, Gog and Magog, a Gag formed with an explicit intention to disconnect The Heaven and The Earth (Genesis 1:1; refer to the earlier linked post), the Israelites formed a particular version of Gag, one that is not deliberately pre-planned, one that is not intentional.

What can we learn from this particular form of Gag? Can we construct a similar Gag?

The two sins teach us a powerful lesson of how to construct own personal Gag. We detail herewith a two-step procedure to achieve this goal.

Step 1: Repeat The First Sin (of the Egel): “Dancing around a Golden Calf”.

Explanation: Build your whole life around a materialistic objective, like gold (money), fame, territory and other similar materialistic assets.

Step 2: Repeat The Second Sin (of the Meraglim): “Slander and refusal to go to the Promised Land” (for whatever excuses).

 Explanation: The latter involves two elements:

  • The spies spoke ill of the Promised Land. The Israelites spoke ill of God (Deuteronomy 1:27). Therefore, Prescription A:

“Speak ill of all, all the time” (whether people, Promised Land, God or otherwise);

  • The Israelites refused to “go up” to the Promised Land, giving excuses (Deuteronomy 1:26-27). Therefore, Prescription B:

“Refrain from any attempt to gain blessing awaiting you; Generate your own personal justification to stay passive, idle, to stay lazy” (Example: “…in Jehovah’s hatred of us He had brought us forth out of the land of Egypt..”, Deuteronomy 1:27).

Articulated more succinctly, Step 2 to owning a Gag involves rejecting any possible blessing by avoiding necessary work to be done (”And Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased from all his work which Elohim had created to be done”; Genesis 2:3).

We have outlined in this post a two-step prescription to becoming happy by pursuing the two sins of the Israelites, on their way to the Promised Land. The Israelites constructed their own version of Gag, namely, disconnecting the physical dimension of life, The Earth, from the spiritual dimension, The Heaven. As related in the Bible, over and over again, constructing the Gag is guarantee to stop “pouring down” of blessing.

If, to the contrary, the idea of building a personal Gag does not seem that appealing, we may wish to re-consider how Eretz Israel is described in the Bible, which also becomes a faithful description, so we believe, of the most basic human condition on Planet Earth (Deuteronomy 11:11):

“And the land, into which you go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys; By the rain of the heaven will you drink water”.

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew Podcasts (audio)

Agag, Haman the Agagite, Gog, Magog, Gag — What binds them all together? (Podcast)

On the general concept of “Roof” in the Hebrew Bible, and what does it really signify:

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Podcasts (audio)

“Becoming Holy” — The Bible Prescription (Podcast)

This post considers various paths to Holiness, suggested in the past, and contrast them with the biblical way.

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Podcasts (audio)

“Only, no fear of God in this place” (Gen. 20:11; Podcast-audio)

What happens to a society, governed by democratically-elected representatives, subject to humanly-created law?

Is this guarantee that atrocities not be committed?

Here are three stories from Scripture, involving three biblical heroes:

King Abimelech, King David, Abraham.

The stories are seemingly non-related. In fact, they convey a single common message. What is this message?

 

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Podcasts (audio)

“Do Not Steal” – Is it in the Ten Commandments? (Podcast-audio)

The answer to this intriguing question may surprise you. The true meaning of the Eighth Commandment, according to traditional Jewish scholarship, is not what it appears to be.

So where prohibition on stealing, in the common sense of the word, does appear in the Ten Commandments?

Find details in this podcast:

 

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Historical Coincidences My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Kavod — The Most Peculiar Word in Biblical Hebrew

Link to podcast-audio:

“Kavod – the most peculiar word in biblical Hebrew” (Podcast-audio)

Kavod in modern Hebrew means honor, respect or glory. A person may show Kavod to his fellow human being, and a military medal of honor, bestowed unto a military service person, is a medal of Kavod (Ot Kavod).

The word appears in the Jewish Bible no less than 199 times. Numerous times it appears therein in the same sense as in modern spoken Hebrew. Examples:

  • “Akhan, My son, give, I pray thee, respect to Jehovah, God of Israel..” (Joshua 7:19);
  • “And on that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall fade..” (Isaiah 17:4);
  • “The Heavens declare the glory of God..” (Psalms 19:2).

Yet, this is only one sense with which Kavod appears in the Bible and it is not the most frequent one. A more frequent usage does not relate at all to the created giving glory to the Creator. Rather, it relates to Kavod as intrinsically linked to the Divine. And here we encounter the impossible combination of words:

Jehovah’s Kavod.

What does that mean?

Jewish bible interpreters have attempted, throughout the ages, to impart plausible meaning to this bizarre idiom; however, they have always relied on the traditional sense of “honor” or “respect” or “glory”. In most Bible translations (from biblical Hebrew), “Jehovah’s Kavod” translates into “Jehovah’s glory”.

As we shall soon realize, all those interpretations fall short of satisfactorily explaining most usages of this combination of words in the Jewish Hebrew Bible.

Thus, we are left helpless figuring out and imparting any sensible meaning to this bizarre expression; That is, until we scrutinize instances where it appears, and try to integrate these with scientific knowledge we currently possess about the universe. Once we do that, stunning amazement and deep appreciation for Jehovah’s Kavod follows.

Let us start with a few examples:

  • When Moses expresses desire to learn of Jehovah’s ways in leading His world, he asks: “Please show me Kevodcha” (“Your Kavod”). The Divine response: “..I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And He said, thou cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live” (Exodus 33:18-20);
  • Prophet Isaiah explains why the world exists (seemingly the only time the Bible relates so explicitly to this question): “All that can be named, by My Name and for my Kavod I have created it, I have formed it, I have even made it” (Isaiah 43:7);
  • Prophet Isaiah delivers an account of his vision, hearing the Seraphim crying to each other, saying: “…Holy , Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his Kavod” (Isaiah 6:3).

How can we settle the first example with the last, while they seem so much at odds and unrelated to one another?

In the first example, Moses obviously requests to learn how the Divine is leading His world. While the response Moses gets is unsatisfactory (“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”), the Divine response affirms that what Moses really desired in his request (“Show me your Kavod”) is to learn the ways by which God is leading His world. No reference whatsoever to God’s glory, as the latter is seemingly implied by the last example!!

Jewish tradition makes a reasonable distinction between two types of Divine leadership of the universe: By Law-of-Nature and by Divine Intervention (often explicitly expressed on a personal level as Divine Providence, or Hashgachah Pratit).

The former, Law-of-Nature, relates to the Ten Divine “sayings” of Genesis Creation narrative (Genesis 1). Later, after Noah’s flood, God re-assures humankind that Law-of-Nature exists and that it is ever-lasting: “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night would not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

The latter, Divine Intervention, relates to divine intervention in the world to exercise a system of justice: “..Would not the Judge of all the earth do Justice?” (Gen. 18:25). However, this Divine intervention is mitigated by Divine graciousness and mercy, as the former quote of God’s response to Moses has shown. Furthermore, leadership by Divine intervention is not restricted to the confines of Law-of-Nature; Occasionally, it operates contrary to Law-of-Nature, as the Ten plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7:20-12:30) testify.

Let us assume that indeed Jehovah’s Kavod is an overall term for the two basic Divine leaderships of the universe: By Law-of-Nature and by Divine intervention.

Is there indication for Law-of-Nature in Jehovah’s Kavod?

Is there indication for Divine intervention (or Divine moral code) in Jehovah’s Kavod?

Expressed differently: Can one find evidence, within the term itself, that Jehovah’s Kavod indeed represents the double-faceted Divine leadership of the world?

Surprisingly, the answer is a resounding YES.

Let us address the former first. As quoted earlier, prophet Isaiah describes his vision of Seraphim crying to each other, saying: “the whole Eretz is full of his Kavod.” (Isaiah 6:3). However, as addressed in my book (Section 14.1, p. 201), Eretz (earth in biblical Hebrew) implies either “world” or “Earth”. Given current scientific knowledge, we may therefore re-translate Isaiah thus: “..Holy , Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole universe is permeated with his Kavod.” (Isaiah 6:3).

Is there any hint in Jehovah’s Kavod for Law-of-Nature, something that, by modern science, permeates the whole universe?

We can think of one answer only:

The gravitation force!! (in modern spoken Hebrew, force of Kevidah).

By Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the gravitation field, generated by any celestial mass (like galaxies and stars), determines the most fundamental properties of the four-dimensional space-time, as we experience it in daily life and as we observe throughout the universe via astronomy, aided by scientific theory (Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, with succeeding derivatives up to the present Super-string theory). There is indeed nothing else that we can state permeates the whole universe.

And how do we, mere Earth-bound mortals, experience gravitation force?

By feeling that every physical object, large and small, is heavy, carries weight. We nowadays are aware that this sensation of physical articles being heavy is due to gravitation force. That is how we experience it in our every-day life. Additionally, by modern science, we have learned that the gravitation force (indeed gravitational field) determines the fundamental properties of the four-dimensional space-time continuum, in which we live, and the gravitational field indeed permeates the whole universe.

So:

  • If Jehovah’s Kavod expresses modes of Divine leadership of the universe (as Moses used the term in his request to God, “Show me thy Kavod”);
  • And if one of the two modes of leadership, by Jewish tradition, is Law-of-Nature;
  • And if per modern science, the most central and fundamental force-of-nature to determine the basic properties of the space-time continuum, permeating the whole universe, is the gravitation force;

Given all that, does Jehovah’s Kavod in any way points to the gravitational force???

Amazingly, Biblical Hebrew makes the impossible and implausible link between two utterly non-related concepts: Jehovah’s presence in the world via Law-of-Nature, and the most basic force of the universe, the most influential on observed Law-of-Nature, only known by modern science— the gravitation force.

Heavy, in biblical Hebrew, is Kaved (same root as Kavod, implausible as this may sound). Examples (altogether 41 instances of Kaved in the Bible imply heavy):

“Behold, tomorrow about this time I will rain heavy hail, the like of which has not been in Egypt since its foundation until now” (Exodus 9:18,24);

“And now my father had burdened you with a heavy yoke and I will add to your yoke..” (1 Kings 12:11).

We finally address the second question, put forward earlier:

Is Jehovah’s Kavod also indicative of Jehovah’s leadership via Divine intervention, imposing the set of moral Divine commandments via a system of justice operating within the confines of free-will?

The answer is similar to that for the previous question: As Jehovah’s Kavod indicates a major Law-of-Nature (Gravitation Law), so it hints at a major Divine commandment, the fifth commandment, which starts with Kabed (meaning honor):

“Kabed thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16).

We summarize:

  • Jehovah’s Kavod, mostly wrongly interpreted to-date as Jehovah’s glory, has been shown in this post to really mean, consistent with Jewish tradition, Jehovah’s double-faceted leadership of the universe;
  • It is completely incomprehensible why biblical Hebrew should link “glory” with… ”heavy” (as both derive from same linguistic root);
  • Aided by modern science, and pursuing the new interpretation of Jehovah’s Kavod, an incredible link has been established between Kavod and Kaved (both emanating from same biblical Hebrew root);
  • Consistent with the new interpretation, Jehovah’s Kavod is appropriately indicative of both force of gravity (leadership by Law-of-Nature) and of the Ten Commandments (leadership by Divine intervention).

Personal confession: Mind boggling…

Comments:

Comment [1]  (added April 28, 2019): The three-letter Hebrew root of Kavod (and related words) is “כ.ב.ד” (K.B.D). The gematria value of this root is the same as Jehovah (26). This is perhaps further evidence that Kavod in biblical Hebrew is indeed a general term for all modes by which the Divine manifests its presence in the world.

Comment [2] (added June, 17, 2020): The Coronavirus pandemic, denoted by WHO (World Health Organiztion) — COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease-2019), is indicative of, sounds like — Kavod (a stunning insight by Avinoam Ben-Mordechai); Read a separate post about the pandemic here.

Comment [3] (added June, 19, 2020): In the most prominent biblical demonstration of Divine intervention in the affairs of humankind (Divine leadership, Kavod), the Ten Plagues of Egypt, the word Kavod, with variations, appears Ten Times (within only three chapters!). Five times the word describes, as adjective, four of the plagues (“natural” disasters), stating that they were “heavy”; the other five times, Kavod describes Pharaoh’s “heavy” heart, refusing “Let My People Go”. Here is the list in Exodus (Chapter: Verse):

{ (8:11), (8:20), (8:28), (9:3), (9:7), (9:18), (9:24), (9:34), (10:1), (10:14) }.

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew Videos

Biblical Hebrew Linkage to Physical Reality (Video; Hebrew, English captions)

A possible linkage between biblical Hebrew and physical reality is discussed in this new video, based on lecture delivered by Professor Haim Shore at Bar-Ilan University,  November 2015, now with English captions:

Biblical Hebrew Linkage to Physical Reality -Prof. Haim Shore (Hebrew with English captions)

 

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General My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

The Five Principles of the Ten Commandments

This post outlines the five general principles at the core of The Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are a wakeup call unto the ego to acknowledge the existence of “the other” and develop appropriate (moral) relationships with “non-ego” others:

The Five Principles of the Ten Commandments_Nov 2016

Comment: Since this post first appeared, I was asked what “Non-ego other” means (see first principle). To understand the concept, it is perhaps best to define the opposite. An “Ego other” is a human being whom one considers an extension of his/her own ego. The epitome for an “Ego other” is a slave. However, “Ego other” may appear in more obscure forms, where the potential exists, like a personal assistant, a subordinate (at work), one’s own child or a spouse. All forms of “Ego other” are morally wrong.

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew Videos

Is There Linkage between Biblical Hebrew and Physical Reality? (Video; Hebrew, English captions)

This presentation addresses the key question of whether biblical Hebrew is intrinsically linked to physical reality. Delivered at Bar-Ilan University, I explain in this lecture the methodology employed and demonstrate with some statistical results.

:”הרצאה בעברית שניתנה באוניברסיטת בר-אילן במסגרת יום עיון של ארגון “המטרה אמת

Is There Association Between Biblical Hebrew and Physical Reality? (Hebrew)

With English captions:

PowerPoint file used in the lecture (and some more) is linked below:

קובץ PP שנעשה בו שימוש בהרצאה (וקצת יותר) בקישורית שלהלן:

Prof Haim Shore Presentation at Bar-Ilan Univ_Hebrew-English_Nov 2015

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

אורך חודש ירח ממוצע על פי בהר”ד ו-וי”ד בלבד

בפוסט זה אני מראה כי ניתן לחשב אורך חודש ירח ממוצע על פי שני מושגים ידועים ביהדות מקדמת דנא: בהר”ד ו-וי”ד (מופיעים, למשל, בכתבי רמב”ם ועוד).

החישוב נעשה על ידי הצבת משוואה אלגברית פשוטה ופתרונה על סמך המידע שמספקים שני המושגים שהזכרתי (ואלה בלבד!).

השוואת הפתרון לערך שנמסר באתר של סוכנות החלל האמריקאית (NASA) מראה סטייה של:

0.000005 ימים.

פרופ שור_משך ירח הלבנה הממוצע על פי בהרד ו-ויד_המהפך 4_הרב זמיר כהן_הידברות_2014

המאמר המקושר נתרם לספרו של הרב זמיר כהן מארגון הידברות: “המהפך 4” (2015).

פוסט נפרד מציג אותו חישוב, אם כי בצורה מקוצרת מעט, באנגלית (In English)

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Genesis Creation vs. Modern Cosmology – A Statistical Analysis! (Hebrew/English/Spanish videos)

Genesis Creation vs. modern cosmology— are their timelines compatible? (accounting for their different time-scales). Statistical analysis is employed in this post to examine this question.

Below are links to two new video clips (English/Hebrew), produced by Mr. Oren Evron. Each lasts about ten minutes and both aim to answer the following question:

Are Genesis Creation timeline and that of modern cosmology compatible, after all?

The findings shown are evidence-based, namely, results of data-based statistical analysis, which is addressed in detail (mostly in non-technical terms).

English version:

Genesis Creation vs. Modern Cosmology – New Scientific Findings (English)

Hebrew version (גירסה עברית):

Genesis Creation vs. Modern Cosmology – New Scientific Findings (Hebrew)

Spanish version:

Genesis Creation vs. Modern Cosmology – New Scientific Findings (Brazilian Portuguese)

Refer also to the videos page on this blog:

Videos (Hebrew, English, Brazilian Portuguese)

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General My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Present-Day Ultimate Replay of Sin of Adam and Eve

In this post I show that at present-day and age we witness a replay of the biblical sin of Adam and Eve.

We, as humans, entertain free will. This is made possible since our submission to the Law-of-Nature is not total. There are isolated islands in our lives where randomness prevails, allowing us to do whatever our heart desires, with apparently no moral consequences and no penalty due to violating some punishable law.

For example, we cannot decide to jump out of the window of a fifteenth floor of a high-rise because penalty would be immediate and ultimately catastrophic to our very survival. No free will here. Conversely, we may decide whether we wish (or wish not) to join a certain group of people for a shared activity with seemingly no devastating consequence, irrespective of which course of action we may have decided to pursue.

In summary, without ever so defined, our lives comprise two worlds intermingled with one another and generally indistinguishable from one another: The world of the “Law of Nature” and the world of “Randomness”. Our ability to exercise free will is conditioned on the existence of the latter; however we are prevented from exercising free will within the confines of the former.

Let us rephrase this assertion in biblical terms. The two seemingly unrelated and independent worlds, that of “Randomness” and that of “Law of Nature”, both originate in one source, which the Bible relates to as “Jehovah-Elohim”. Jehovah is source of the law of morality that prevails in the world of randomness. Elohim is source of physical creation and of Law-of-nature, within whose confines creation conducts itself since the beginning of time, at the Big Bang.

From its inception, humankind has aspired to be like God. But in what sense?

As the sin of Adam and Eve is described in the third chapter of Genesis, the serpent seduces Eve, explaining to her why it would have been beneficial to eat of the “Fruit of Knowledge”:

“For Elohim knows that on the day that you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like Elohim, knowing good and bad” (Genesis 3:5).

In other words: Gaining knowledge, by eating of the Fruit-of-Knowledge, aims at becoming like Elohim, knowing the Law-of-Nature that would grant us knowhow of that which is beneficial to us (“Good”) and that which is not (“Bad”). The burning desire is dominance over nature (including dominance over other human beings), but not the study of Law-of-Morality, which prevails in the “World of Randomness”, concealed from us so that we may exercise free will.

For that sin, the sin of wishing to know Elohim (source of Law-of-Nature), and not Jehovah-Elohim (the complete and all-encompassing manifestation of God’s leadership of his world, which is also the only name for God used by the “objective” narrator), Adam and Eve are subject to expulsion from the Garden-of-Eden.

Knowing Elohim with the objective of being Elohim-like implies knowing Law-of-Nature and gaining dominance over nature and people. Murdering another human being is the ultimate expression of dominance over nature as a result of the desire to be as powerful (and as “Great”) as Elohim.

An individual calling “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is greatest”), while taking someone else’s life in an act of murder, commits the exact same sin as that of Adam and Eve, only taken to the extreme:

“I know Elohim (since I know Law-of-Nature)” → “Therefore I have gained dominance over nature” → “Therefore I am Elohim-like” → “Therefore I have Elohim’s privilege to take your life away”.

All wrong!! And on many counts.

The privilege to take away one’s life does not belong to Elohim but to Jehovah Elohim. Alone.

And no amount of knowledge of Elohim, supposedly leading to a state of being God-like, provides complete knowledge unless complemented by the knowledge of Jehovah and his law:

“And now, Israel, what does Jehovah, your Elohim, requires of you but to fear Jehovah, your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah, your Elohim, with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

The history of the human race is marked by committing, over and over again, the exact same sin of Adam and Eve: Gaining knowledge about Law-of-Nature, originating in Elohim, with utter lack of interest in knowing Law-of-Morality, originating in Jehovah.

The stated mission, indeed the role, of the Jewish nation in the world is to declare in the public square:

“The free will that you experience in the “World of Randomness” is an illusion. As there is Law-of-Nature there is also Law-of-Morality. These are not two separate worlds, one governed by Law-of-nature and another  governed by.. nothing.”

And days are coming, when all will know, and aspire to know, not only Elohim but also Jehovah:

“Behold, days are coming, says Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah”,…, “and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah” (Jeremiah 31:30-33).

“Allahu Akbar”, followed by murder, is present-day ultimate replay of the ancient sin of Adam and Eve. The latter have produced first human attempt at separating Elohim from Jehovah, learning the ways of the former (leading by Law-of-Nature), while ignoring, and neglecting to learn, the ways of the latter (leading by Law-of-Morality).

Days are coming, prophesizes prophet Jeremiah, when this artificial separation of the two worlds will be no more.

**********************************************************

This post may also be read at Times-of-Israel:

Present-day Replay of the Sin of Adam and Eve

 

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew Videos

Prof. Shore’s Bible Findings – Simplified (New Short Videos, English/Spanish)

Two new video clips (Hebrew/English), each about ten minutes long, have recently been produced by Mr. Oren Evron. In these I explain, in plain language, the basic principles underlying my research on the Jewish Hebrew Bible and on biblical Hebrew. Below is the English version:

Two other videos (English/Hebrew) focus on Genesis creation narrative:

English:

 

 Hebrew : 

 

Categories
Historical Coincidences My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Agrippa Key for English Alphabet Gematria

A most intriguing finding, addressed in Oren Evron’s movie, is the nearly perfect correlation found for the trio of words, {moon, Earth, sun}, between the Hebrew gematria and the English Agrippa-Key gematria.

Although a table of Agrippa-Key may be easily reached via the Internet, we comply herewith with a request made by a viewer of this blog and present the Agrippa Key in the table below:

Agrippa Key_English Gematria

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

The Two Books of the Divine and Their Scientific Linkage

What do we mean by “Two books of the Divine” and their “Scientific Linkage”? In this post, I discuss the significance of my research about the Jewish Hebrew Bible and biblical Hebrew.

Since my research findings were first published in a book (Shore, 2007) and later, when these findings had become more widely spread due to Oren Evron’s movie (Evron, 2014, 2015), I have received mixed responses, extending from complete apathy, to attempts to explain away the findings by attributing them to ancient Earthly civilizations that somehow possessed modern scientific knowledge, up to sincere and true appreciation of the implications of the findings as alluding to the divine origin of biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Torah.

In all these responses, one element seems to have been missing, and that is the inevitable conclusion emerging from the new discoveries:

The two books of the Divine are scientifically linked.

What do we mean by “the two books”?

Since its primary inception at the historic event of receiving the Ten Commandments by Moses at Mount Sinai, Judaism has consistently emphasized the two aspects of the Divine, as experienced by humans: God as creator of the cosmos and Law of Nature (Genesis 1:14, 8:22), and God as source of morality and its dictates.

Those two percepts of the Divine correspond to our own personal experience as concurrently living in two worlds:

* “The World of Law of Nature”, where free will is not feasible since violating law of nature results in immediate, apparent and non-miraculous penalty;

* “The World of Randomness”, where apparently no law exists with adverse consequence for its violation, wherefore we are free to act as we please.

Example for the first world (“Law of Nature”) is jumping from the 100th floor of a high-rise, where ignoring (“violating”) gravity results in immediate unambiguous “penalty”; An example for the second world (“Randomness”) is responding to a beggar’s plea for money, where we exercise free will on how to react, with seemingly no apparent consequence and no implication to our own personal destiny (irrespective of how we have responded).

The Ten Commandments, relevant only to the “World of Randomness”, where free will can be exercised, convey to us the “news”:

By word of the Creator, you are not completely free to act as you please.

Our own personal experience of the world as allowing free will, however only to a confined degree, namely, only in “The world of randomness”, this personal experience is expressed in biblical Hebrew in two concepts of the Divine, as creator and as source of morality. These concepts are epitomized in two names for the Divine, which repeatedly appear throughout the Hebrew Jewish Bible:

Elohim and Jehovah

(Please relate to my talk with Avi Ben-Morechai, accessible on this blog).

Prophet Isiah explicitly reference these two names and what they stand for:

“For thus says Jehovah that created the heavens, Elohim himself that formed Earth and made it, he has established it, not a wasteland created He it .. I am Jehovah and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:18).

The two books of the Divine, corresponding to these two names, are the physical cosmos, subject of investigation by modern physics, and Hebrew Torah. These two books have heretofore been perceived as unrelated to one another (at least not scientifically). For example: To this day, well known physical constants, like the speed of light or the electromagnetic charge of an electron, are accepted by modern physics as given. Furthermore, it is accepted that there is no scientifically established theory to determine these constants, apart from stating that if these constants were minutely changed the cosmos as we know it would not have been in existence (see lengthy discussion of this issue, for example, in Wikipedia, entry “Fine-tuned Universe” and references therein).

Obviously, no one ever linked these physical constants to biblical Hebrew.

The scientific new discoveries have changed this perception. They lead unavoidably to the conclusion that numerical values of biblical Hebrew words represent quantitative values of major physical properties of objects that the words stand for. For example, Eretz (Earth in Hebrew) represents Earth’s geometrical properties (like diameter and surface area) but also Earth’s mass, all of which are major physical properties of Earth. The scientifically unexplainable nature of the physical constants, alluded to earlier, become explainable in light of the new scientifically established discoveries: The speed of light (a physical constant) is what it is because light in Hebrew is Or, with a numerical value of 207 (which, by proper change of scale, converts into the physical speed of light).

By establishing the deep significance of the numerical values of Hebrew words, namely, their relationships to actual physical properties observed in the cosmos, the two worlds experienced in our lives, the “World of Law of Nature” and the “World of Randomness” (where apparently no law prevails unless one regards the Ten Commandments and their derivatives), these two worlds are scientifically unified and experienced as originating in one source. At the same time, the two books of the Divine, “Law of Nature” and “Law of Morality”, Elohim and Jehovah, respectively, no longer are experienced as separate “entities”: One subject to scientific enquiry; the other existing as a controvertible article of faith.

Rather, physical reality and morality are experienced as stemming from a single source.

With this, an ancient prophecy starts to begin to have its imprint on the annals of human history:

“..On that day Jehovah will be one and his name One” (Zechariah 14:9).

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Comment: Above post may be downloaded as a PDF file:

THE TWO BOOKS OF THE DIVINE_Haim Shore_April 2015

Categories
My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Q&A with Haim Shore

Pursuant to recent introduction of Oren Evron’s English-version movie: “The Torah – Math Unveils the Truth”, a document of questions and answers (Q&A) is linked herewith:

Q&A with Prof Haim Shore (English)_Movie_The Torah-Math Unveils the Truth_Feb 2015

Link to the movie:

Oren Evron’s Movie: “Torah – Math Unveils the Truth”

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

New Movie on Prof. Shore’s Biblical Research Findings (English-Hebrew)

A while ago I was approached by Mr. Oren Evron, who had suggested to produce a movie based on findings from my research on the Bible and on biblical Hebrew (as these are described in my book).

I happily accepted but clarified that my input to the production of the movie will be restricted to ensuring that my research findings are appropriately presented (from the scientific and the statistical perspectives).

The result is a fabulous high-quality movie, which presents, in a straightforward and easy-to-understand fashion, the findings and their profound significance.

A link to the channel, where the movie is posted, is given below:

“The Torah – Math Unveils the Truth” (English)_by Oren Evron_Feb 2015

A link to the movie with built-in Hebrew subtitles is given below:

הסרט עם תרגום מובנה לעברית:

“The Torah – Math Unveils the Truth” (English-Hebrew)_by Oren Evron_Feb 2015

Categories
My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Average Length of the Lunar Month Calculated from Baharad and Ve-Yad

This post shows how average lunar month may be algebraically calculated, accurate to five decimal points, from two ancient Jewish concepts, Baharad and Ve-Yad, associated with Written Torah (Genesis) and Oral Torah, respectively.

The average duration of the lunar (moon-based) month is, according to NASA site, 29.530589 days. Jewish tradition offers two concepts, basic to the Jewish calendar:

Baharad and Ve-Yad.

Both are related to an “attempt” to include the six days of creation (no regular days by any account) in the regular Jewish calendar. This is done by defining an imaginary year that preceded the start of the first lunar renewal in the Jewish calendar (starting, according to Jewish tradition, with the completion of the creation of Adam).

In the article, linked below, I show that these two concepts alone, Baharad and Ve-Yad, are sufficient to obtain a solution to an algebraic equation, which implies that the average duration of the lunar month is 29.530594 days (a deviation of 0.000005 days from the value cited at NASA site).

Haim Shore_Average Length of Lunar Month Calculated from Genesis and Jewish Tradition_Oct 2014

Same article appears in Hebrew in a separate post.

Categories
Historical Coincidences

Hebrew Samech and Its Occurrence in Names of Jewish-Nation Enemies

The Hebrew letter Samech often occurs in names of enemies of the Jewish Nation, in the Bible and else. Is this a coincidence?

Samech, the fifteenth in the Hebrew alphabet, seems to be one of the most peculiar (and significant) letters in the Hebrew Bible and in Jewish history, past and present. Here is why:

Haim Shore_Significance of the Hebrew Samech and its Occurrence in Names of Enemies of the Jewish Nation_Oct 2014

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

“And God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am God”

“And Elohim spoke to Moses and said to him: I am Jehovah” (Exodus 6:2). I consider this bizarre verse, with two names for God, one of the most important verses in the Torah. In this blog entry, I explain why.

The exact verse, as it appears in common English translations, is:

“And God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the Lord” (Exodus 6:2).

As seen above, the original Hebrew indeed uses two different names for God: Elohim and Jehovah. Why use in this short verse two different names and how is this significant?

The linked article below addresses this question.

Haim Shore_God spoke to Moses and said to him I am God_April 2014

Categories
My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

Hebrew-English presentation on the Bible and on biblical Hebrew (with color ‎graphics)‎

This presentation expounds on various research findings given in my book: “Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew” (Shore, 2 Ed., 2012).

The book is now available for free download at this blog’s home page (“About“).

Presentation is divided into eight parts:

  • “Laban – the Case of a Lost Identity” (Ch. 15 in the book; in Hebrew);
  • “Chance” and “Cold” – two separately developed scientific concepts of entropy that are actually one (and also expressed by a single word root in biblical Hebrew; Ch. 3 in the book; Hebrew);
  • Average lunar month according to Jewish sources (Ch. 18 in the book; Hebrew; See also separate blog entry on the subject);
  • “When a sample of observations are aligned on a straight line”: “A parable” about measuring temperatures on both Celsius and Fahrenheit scales (Ch. 23 in the book; English);
  • Relationships between numerical values of sets of Hebrew words and related physical traits (three consecutive examples with color plots; Hebrew-English):
    • Example 1: Time-cycles (“Day, Month, Year”; Ch. 12 in the book);
    • Example 2: Celestial diameters (“Moon, Earth, Sun”; Ch. 8 in the book);
    • Example 3: Velocity (“Light, Sound, Standstill” or “Lightening, Thunder, Silence”; Ch. 21 in the book);
  • Results from a computer simulation study aimed to estimate probabilities (Hebrew);
  • The planets example (An extensive example of relationships of size-sorted physical traits of celestial bodies to numerically sorted biblical names; Hebrew-English);
  • Genesis creation story – A statistical analysis (English);

To watch the PDF file in presentation mode, open with Adobe Reader and then go to: View -> Full Screen Mode. To manipulate slides click mouse-left to advance and mouse-right to retreat to previous slide.

Prof Haim Shore presentation_Bible and biblical Hebrew research_March 2016

Categories
My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

New Articles Related to My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

In this new blog entry, I deliver links to three new documents related mostly to the statistical analyses associated with my research on the Bible and on biblical Hebrew:

1. Three chapters from my book: “Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew”. These chapters mostly address the statistical perspective of my research work, as expounded in the book. Bookmarks may assist navigating between chapters:

Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew_Book by Haim Shore_2nd Revision_2012_Three Sample Chapters

2. An article in Hebrew, published recently in “Ha-mahapach 3”, by Rav Zamir Cohen of Hidabrut Oganization.

הידברות מקריות בתורה ובשבת הקודש

3. An article invited by Rav Zamir Cohen for the upcoming book “Ha-Mahapach 4”. The article explains how average lunar month duration can be calculated, from ancient Jewish sources (including the Hebrew Bible), to be 29.530594 days vs. NASA’s estimate of 29.530589 days.

פרופ שור_משך ירח הלבנה הממוצע_עבור המהפך 4_הידברות

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My Research on the Bible and Biblical Hebrew

An Interview with the Author in The Jerusalem Post (Dec. 4th, 2009)

Link to an interview with professor Haim Shore, about his statistical analysis research of the Bible and biblical Hebrew, on The Jerusalem Post (Dec. 4th, 2009) :

An Interview with the Author in the Jerusalem Post (Dec., 4th, 2009)