Biblical Artwork

The bible has been at the center of many artists creations for hundreds of years now. From Michelangelo and the famous painting of “Creation of Adam” to Rembrandt’s “The Blinding of Samson“, “The Incredulity of St. Thomas ” or Paul Gauguin’s “The Yellow Christ“.

Continue reading

Posted in Bible Art | Tagged , | Comments Off

Similar Names in the Abrahamic Religions

The 3 Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism share many first names in common, though most of are pronounced differently in each language, primarily Arabic, Hebrew and English. Naturally, most of these names can be tracked back to each religion’s respective holy book.

There are many similar first names and the list below represents a sample of the most common ones.

List of first names and their pronunciation in English

Continue reading

Posted in Bible Study | Tagged | Comments Off

Between Easter and Passover

Passover is a Jewish religious holiday celebrating the exodus from ancient Egypt and the enslavement of the Israelites. Though Passover is one the holiest Jewish holidays, it is also celebrated by many Christians in honor of the Old Testament, and it closely linked by many to the Christian holiday of Easter, though the latter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.

In many Christian oriented countries and languages, the names of Passover and Easter are synonymous, suggesting how closely related they really are.

These two Christian and the Hebrew holidays also occur on very similar dates, usually sometime in March or April.

Easter Sunday 2011 date: April 24

Passover Eve 2011: Monday, April 18

Fun and facts

More on Passover

More on Easter

Passover printable coloring pages

Easter printable coloring pages

Biblical Love Quotes

Have a happy holiday.

Posted in Religion Matters | Comments Off

Different facets of the Jewish religion and other facts

Most non-Jewish people are very often not familiar with the different facets of Judaism and indeed, many Jewish people are equally unaware of them. What are the differences between Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazi ones? Is Kabbalah part of the Torah, and how does the Talmud fit into the puzzle?

These are just common questions many other exist including such examples as what is the difference between the many Jewish religious sects: Orthodox, Hasidic, Conservative, Reform and other Jewish streams all having slightly different religion views and often rival one another in more ways then one.

All the questions raised here are not unique to the Jewish religion. Most religions worldwide are divided into many different sects that while common sense dictate should get along, that is not always the case.

This blog is not about religious provocations and disputes, so I will this subject be for now and focus on numbers: the division of Israel’s population into religious and secular by percentage.

There are approximately 5.6 million Jews in Israel, amongst which:

  • Around 17% of all Jewish Israelis regards themselves as religious belonging to one of the sects described earlier.
  • 39% more define themselves as believers or traditional Jews.
  • 44% of the population is believed to be secular

Among the secular sector, only a minor percentage defines itself as opposing religion – which is a fact correlating with other religions as well. Most countries see a rise in the number of religious people – in almost any existent religion today, Christianity and Islam more than others.

Posted in Bible Study | Tagged | Comments Off

Most Popular Names in Hebrew

The Israeli bureau of statistics announced the most popular names in Israel for 2010, showing some biblical baby names are still in fashion, not only within the religious community.

Below is the list of the 20 most popular baby names in Israel for 2010 /2011 and I marked the names with biblical origins.

Top 20 boy names in Israel

  1. Noam
  2. Itay (Pronounced EE-tt-aa-i)
  3. Uri (Biblical origins, pronounced OO-rr-ee)
  4. Daniel (Biblical origins)
  5. David (Biblical origins)
  6. Yehonathan (biblical origins, meaning “God gave”)
  7. Joseph (Biblical origins)
  8. Ido (Pronounced EE-dd-oo)
  9. Moses (Biblical origins)
  10. Ariel (Biblical origins)
  11. Yair (Pronounced Y-a-ee-r)
  12. Yonatan (Biblical origins)
  13. Abraham (Biblical origins)
  14. Itamar (Biblical origins)
  15. Guy
  16. Yehuda ((Biblical origins)
  17. Nehorai (Not a biblical name, taken from the Mishna as explained here)
  18. Israel (Biblical origins)
  19. Amit
  20. Omer

Top 20 boy names in Israel

  1. Noa (Biblical origins)
  2. Shira
  3. Maya
  4. Tamar (Biblical origins)
  5. Yael (Biblical origins)
  6. Talya
  7. Sara (Biblical origins)
  8. Hila / Helah (Biblical origins)
  9. Noya
  10. Michal (Biblical origins)
  11. Maayan (Biblical origins)
  12. Ron (Biblical origins)
  13. Rivka (Biblical origins)
  14. Adi
  15. Leeann
  16. Ella (Biblical origins)
  17. Rachel (Biblical origins)
  18. Hodaya
  19. Avigial (Biblical origins)
  20. Lia
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Holy Places to Visit in Israel

Modern Israel is one of the world’s most densely populated countries but also one with a plethora of holy places to the 3 relevant religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The amount of holy places, burial sites and locations is truly enormous, most are of minor importance and seldom see more then a handful of visitors while others a renowned worldwide and visited by hundreds of thousands each year.

Continue reading

Posted in Bible Travel | Comments Off

Bible Atlases

Bible atlases are not similar to modern day atlases we all know and use, primarily as school students. The bible atlas includes much more details, historical events and landscapes than found on a regular atlas, and it usually covers time periods thousands of years long, detailing the biblical timeless stories and events.

Most bible atlases are bought as gifts and as such, these books have highly decorative covers, informative color drawings and plenty of maps that illustrate various elements of the bible. Some bible atlases also include further DVD extensions for comfortably viewing on TV or a computer and some even come accompanied by recordings of actual bible verses when appropriate.

This luxurious atlases doesn’t always with a hard to bare price tag, and many are sold for 50$ or less, making them the perfect gift for any bible believer, whether Jewish or Christian.

Posted in Bible Geography | Tagged | Comments Off

Books of the Hebrew Bible List

The Holy Bible has two main versions: the Hebrew version (Tanakh) and the Christian version (the Old Testament).

The Hebrew Bible is divided into three main sections, each containing their respective books:

Three sections of the Hebrew bible and their respective books

Section 1:  Torah

  1. Bereishit
  2. Shemot
  3. Vayikra
  4. Bamidbar
  5. Devarim

Section 2: Nevi’im (Prophets)

1st Sub Section: First Prophets

  1. Joshua
  2. Judges
  3. Samuel 1
  4. Samuel 2
  5. Kings A
  6. Kings B

2nd Sub Section: Last Prophets

  1. Isaiah
  2. Jeremiah
  3. Ezekiel
  4. Trei Asar – Twelve shorter prophecy books combined to one:
    1. Hosea
    2. Joel
    3. Amos
    4. Obadiah
    5. Jonah
    6. Micah
    7. Nahum
    8. Habakkuk
    9. Zephaniah
    10. Haggai
    11. Zechariah
    12. Malachi

Section 3: Ketuvim

  1. Tehillim
  2. Mishlei
  3. Job
  4. Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)
  5. Megillat Esther (The Scroll of Esther)
  6. Megillat Ruth (The Scroll of Ruth)
  7. Eicha
  8. Kohelet
  9. Daniel
  10. Ezra and Nehemiah
  11. Chronicles
  12. Book of Daniel
  13. Ezra
  14. Divrey Hayamim
Posted in Bible Books | Tagged | Comments Off

A simple man from the holy land

Bible study is sometimes like building a jigsaw puzzle. You collect all the different parts and put them together into a clear picture. The diverse parts scattered in many sources of knowledge. Since many of those sources are available through the internet, maps, books, articles and so on, one thing you owe to do yourself – and it is to explore  the holy land on foot.

This is it, you can learn about the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee , Jerusalem, know every detail, study the maps, read the books, but nothing can be compared to visiting the actual historic site. Only after you stroll Jerusalem alleys, visit the temple mount, you will understand what holiness is, and what a religious passion is. Only when you will climb the Snake Path to Messada, you will realize what siege and rebellion are. Only a visit in Qumran and the ancient sect Essenes site will tell what the Judea desert feels like and how devoted a believer can be.

I myself visited Israel in different occasions. A visit to this small country is nothing similar to anywhere else. Each stone, each rock, route and a person is connected to the bible story in some way or another. And since we are dealing with sources of knowledge – I wanted to recommend one source that made for me the difference –

In my first visit to Israel, which was the visit that I become passionate about bible study, I met an incredible personality that made my visit so interesting and resourceful. He connected the past with the present and provided intriguing knowledge about every step of the trip. His name is Miki Ermann he is a tour guide that provide guides in English and German. In my following visits I met different tour guides, most of them where very good – to some I connected and some less, but Miki was the one that opened the door to this important part of the puzzle.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Bible Study

When I am browsing after useful information on the internet, I often encounter religious sites.

In the past, I was discouraged to enter those websites, since I was drawn back from people that approach knowledge from the perspective of truth. Means that when I come to study the bible I want to discover what the truth is. The religious approach presents the truth and teaches us the bible in real light.

Today, as a grown up individual I really like these kind of sites. The religious enthusiasm that approaches the things on a spiritual level makes these sites an asset. As in any thing, things need to be correlated with different information, but surely there is valuable information at least to challenge the learner to find the correct information. One of those sites is biblestudy.org – a site with many articles that focus on the new testimony bible.

Posted in Bible Study | Tagged , , | Comments Off