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Torah Pearls, Tanakh Tours, Hebrew Bible, The Moses Scroll

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Nehemia Gordon Interviews Idan Dershowitz On His Book...

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2025/11/06

Here is Part II of Nehemia Gordon speaking with Idan Dershowitz about his book, The Valediction of Moses. This recording includes some engaging discussion on the use of “Elohim” in V, rather than the Tetragrammaton. Here’s hoping for a Part III!

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Nehemia Gordon Interviews Idan Dershowitz On His Book...

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2025/10/30

I very much enjoyed this interview about the Shapira Scroll. Nehemia Gordon speaks with Idan Dershowitz about his book, The Valediction of Moses. It’s well worth watching, and I’m looking forward to Part II.

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Does Genesis 14 Fill A Vacuum Created By The Shapira...

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2025/10/30

The Genesis 14 narrative was crafted around the prehistory references in the Shapira Scroll. The narrator did this with the intention of answering how the indigenous peoples of the lands east of the Jordan were dispossessed or destroyed, while writing Abram into the narrative as the hero, thus paving the way for the sons of […]

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There Can Be Only Twelve

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2025/10/21

The Torah contains two competing lists of the twelve tribes of Israel. While no two lists of the tribes are identical, their division into one of two categories is revealing. Milgrom identifies a determining factor: “The tribal lists throughout the Bible may vary in the names and order of the tribes, but they share in […]

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Should I Observe The Feast Days in Light of the...

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2025/10/14

In recent weeks, I have been contacted privately by numerous sincere people asking the same question: Should I continue to observe the biblical feast days? The question comes after Ross and I completed the third season of Torah Pearls. This year-long journey through the weekly Torah portions differed in approach from the previous two seasons. […]

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Is The Shapira Scroll In The Damascus Document?

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2025/10/09

This paper will offer evidence supporting the Shapira Scroll as a proto-biblical document. It will do this by comparing and contrasting passages from the following three documents: the canonical text of Leviticus, the Cairo Geniza’s Damascus Document (CD), and the Decalogue – together with its corresponding Blessings and Curses – of the Shapira Scroll. It […]

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The Controvertial Pentateuch Finale – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/10/05

Haazinu & Ha-Berachah: The final chapters of Deuteronomy contain the Song of Moses, blessings to the tribes (except Simeon), and the death of Moses. Who wrote these chapters and when? Who is the prophet likened unto Moses? Was there once a shrine of Jehovah at Moses’s tomb on Mount Nebo? Does El Shaddai mean “god […]

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Writing In The Name Of… – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/10/02

Vayelekh: a chapter rich with farewell speeches, a sacred scroll, and signs that the pen traditionally attributed to Moses may not have been his own. We begin with a third-person narrator introducing Moses—not as the author, but as the subject. Ross highlights the layered voices within the text and the key moment where “this Torah” […]

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Stand In The Name Of God – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/09/21

In a world where foundational values are being challenged, this week’s episode opens with a reflection on what it truly means to stand for the covenant—a theme at the heart of Nitzavim. Moses gathers the entire community of Israel—leaders, strangers, and even future generations—for a solemn covenant renewal ceremony. This parsha warns of hidden sins, […]

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All Curses and No Blessings? – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/09/15

Ki Tavo opens with first fruits and the ancient creed, “My father was a wandering Aramean,” then moves to tithes for the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Finally, the covenant ceremony at Ebal and Gerizim resumes, raising thorny questions about the role of the Levites, the division of the tribes, and why […]

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Torah Sanctioned Rape? – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/09/07

Ki Tetze – one of the Torah’s most packed and complex portions. From the unsettling opening law about the captive woman to the closing command to remember Amalek, we explore how these ancient statutes mix the strange and the sacred. Together, we unpack difficult and sometimes puzzling texts on war, family, justice, and compassion, asking […]

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The Monarchy Is Not Mosaic? – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/09/02

Shofetim (Deut 16:18–21:9) – The portion begins with the appointment of judges and officials—a settled bureaucracy that seems far removed from the wilderness setting of Moses. From there, we explore capital cases and curses, the limits of priestly authority, and the role of the prophet. At the center lies the striking law of the king […]

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Interrupting Moses – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/08/25

Re’eh – We begin with Moses setting before Israel “a blessing and a curse,” a covenant ceremony tied to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Our discussion dives into the age-old debate over the true location of these mountains before considering the interruption that follows—the sudden insertion of the central Law Code (Deut 12–26). Is this […]

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Repetitions, Previews, One Source? – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/08/18

Ekev (Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25) – We track Deuteronomy’s recurring four-verb covenant formula (שמע–למד–שמר–עשה), its call to love God, and its heart-focused theology. We wrestle with the debated “hornet” (MT) versus “plague” (Shapira/Valediction) in 7:20, revisit the Hebrew behind “leprosy” (is it really a plague?), and ask who actually made the Ark—contrasting Deuteronomy’s account with the Priestly […]

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The Shema, The Decalogue, Additions & Subtractions –...

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2025/08/13

This week on Torah Pearls (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we explore Va’etchanan through the lenses of the Documentary Hypothesis and the Moses Scroll. Moses says God was angry with him “because of you” (Deut 1:37; 3:26; 4:21)—but is that what Numbers reports? We’ll unpack the meaning of “statutes and judgments,” the command not to add or take […]

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Devarim – But Whose Voice Is Speaking? – Jono, Ross,...

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2025/08/01

As we open the Book of Deuteronomy, something shifts. Moses begins to speak—but so does a narrator. Whose voice are we hearing? And is this the same story we’ve heard before? In this episode, Ross, Jono, and Ezra work through the first portion of Deuteronomy (1:1–3:22), tracing familiar events—Horeb, the spies, the wilderness journeys, battles […]

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The Cold-blooded Slaughter of Women & Children, Can...

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2025/07/25

Matot & Masei – wrapping up the Book of Numbers with a double portion that’s as provocative as it is puzzling. From the complex laws of vows and their echoes in the New Testament to the grim account of holy war and its troubling arithmetic, no subject is off limits. Why does a chapter once […]

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The Point Of Pinchas – Jono, Ross, & Ezra

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2025/07/18

A plague strikes. A spear is thrust into sinners. A priestly silence is broken. This week, Ross, Jono, and Ezra ask: What’s the real point of Pinchas? We explore the sudden return of the Priestly source, possible contradictions in the Midianite saga, the strange stability of Israel’s census, and words from ancient scrolls that shed light on […]

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Balak: Hired To Curse, Inspired To Bless – Jono,...

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2025/07/15

BALAK – We unpack the strange and layered story of Balaam and discuss the Deir Alla inscription’s possible link to the biblical prophet, contradictions in the narrative (including God’s changing commands and a talking donkey), and the angel identified as a “Satan.” Regarding the matter of Peor, we explore the blurred lines between Moabite and […]

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The Red Heifer – Will It Ever Happen? – Jono, Ross, &...

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2025/07/04

Chukkat, translated as ‘statutes’, begins with a puzzling purification ritual—the Red Heifer and its sacred ashes—which leads to deeper questions: What year are we in when Miriam dies and Aaron is stripped of his garments? Why does chapter 20 leap from the early wilderness years to Aaron’s death in the 40th? Is there a hidden […]

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