Izzy here. I thought you might find this free online dictionary of the Targums, Talmuds, and Midrash by Marcus Jastrow useful. See for yourself here.
And if you have any resources you'd like to tell the Holy Language tribe about, I'd be happy to pass them on for you too. Just hit reply and let me know.
Nezzare's Story
Nez is following Yeshua in a Hebrew way! Here's her story.
My story starts with a spiritual journey to truly get deeper into the word of Yahweh. A few years ago I was attending a non-denominational Sunday church, and after a while I started realizing that there was something missing, that it was just skimming the surface of God's holy word. The preacher would only preach for like 30 min and it just seemed superficial. I mean, they were good messages, but there was just no depth to it. I wanted more, so I started reading my bible and I was determined to read the ENTIRE thing. How that happened, is I had a dream and I remember some words, I'm guessing they were Latin, I did a search on these words and found that they meant more or less this: The size or greatness of the willing spirit, when I did a search on that phrase, it led me to the verse in the bible where Yeshua is talking about how he did not come to do away with the law, and that not one jot or one tittle will pass away from it. So, I started doing searches on the law, commandments and covenants in the Bible. I talked about this with a counselor at the Sunday church and of course they don't think that the law is applicable to us Christians because of grace. We had many discussions and she held to her view, and there was one time where the pastor was preaching on the Ten commandments and when he got to the Sabbath commandment, it was just a total wash over, he said that you can keep any day as a Sabbath...he didn't go into any of the many verses found in the bible regarding the Sabbath, I was totally disappointed, and that was the last time I attended.
I realized that Yahweh was calling me back to Him and wanted to reveal these things to me because a few years before that, I felt the need to celebrate Passover and even though I was not keeping Shabbat I was drawn to the Passover and it's meaning and significance, both in the Old and New testament. There is so much that I could tell you, but just know that Yahweh is drawing His people back to Him, He is gathering his people into his truth. It's amazing. Ok so the last thing I want to say is that I also was researching the YHVH and Yeshua, the names and how they were changed in the current bible translations. It's just so unbelievable that all of this has been concealed from us. And I never would have discovered it unless that voice had said to me dig deeper and that dream that started me on my search for truth. Thank you so much for your teachings and your patient way of teaching and explaining the Hebrew Alef Bet. I've watched all of the Alef Bet teachings. I now meet with a group of Messianic believers in Yeshua and I've been able to celebrate Pesach with them and soon Shavuot :)
Nez
You can reach Nez at:
nezwin23@yahoo.com
Are you following Yeshua in a Hebrew way? If so, the Holy Language tribe would love to hear your story, and we would love to help you tell it! Here's how.
new lessons
Modern Hebrew with Elihana Elia this Monday evening, watch here!
NO Biblical Hebrew with Rabbi Derek on the 18th and 25th as he's leading a tour group in Israel.
Live Shabbat services this Friday evening and Saturday morning, join us here!
Hats off to Robert Williams with Melek Design for this meme! Make your own Hebrew meme here or here and send it to meme@holylanguage.com and we'll share yours too.
I'll leave you with this personal thought. I'm reading a book by John Piper right now and I quite appreciate it, generally speaking he's a great preacher, but one thing surprised me. Several times, when explaining a Greek word used in the New Testament, he'd quote a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible where that word was used, but neglect to mention that it's a translation. So he'd say 'and this is the Greek word that Joseph used when he said thus and so'. I was like whaaaaat Joseph didn't speak Greek!
You are smart so I will let you figure out all the reasons why this is a problem.
But it did get me thinking on a deeper level about how Western Christianity in general has done this. Yeshua of Nazareth's first language was a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic - they were both living languages used in the Second Temple era - but the notion persists that Greek was his first language, and that the Greek New Testament contains his original quotes. You'll notice I said "Western Christianity". Most people aren't aware of this, but there is also Eastern Christianity, and interestingly enough Eastern Christians have always read the New Testament in Aramaic, and claim that the Aramaic New Testament is the original. What if?
Regardless of whether the Aramaic New Testament is the original, on a broader level the reason I think this is important is that it's kept us one layer removed from the Jewish world in which Yeshua lived and from the original Hebrew context of the New Testament. So instead of entering his world and knowing him firsthand, we stand outside peering in, or ignore that world altogether and make up our own versions of Christ, painting a picture of a Greek Jesus instead of a Hebrew Yeshua and misrepresenting him to the world and - most tragically - to Yeshua's own Jewish people.
But that is changing! And you could be part of that change...or maybe you already are.
Blessings,
Izzy Avraham
Executive Director
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