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

Moses

Moses is most widely described in the Hebrew bible as prophet and as the leader who rescued the ancient Israelites from the Egyptian enslavers and after 40 years in the dessert died without getting into the Promised Land. Moses is also well described in both the Christian New Testament and the Islamic Quran.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Mosh’e (Mo-sh-e)

English: Moses

Arabic: Musa

Abraham

Perceived to be the father, or at least one of the fathers, of the Abrahamic religions primarily Judaism and Islam.  Abraham also appears on some Christian writings.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Avraham

English: Abraham

Arabic: Ibrahim

David

David was the second king of the ancient kingdom of Israel and together with King Solomon; he is one of the most influential Hebrew biblical characters in current days. David is also a key figure in both the New Testament and the Quran.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Da’vid (Da-vi-d)

English: David

Arabic: Daud (Da-ood)

The three names above appear to be most common names shared by the 3 Abrahamic religions, but many others exist, some with great pronunciation differences the bare no resemblance to the original name.

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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.

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.

When I was 10 years old I was acquainted with my first Bible Atlas, which was the Carta Bible Atlas. I remember taking this thick and heavy book off my grandpa’s bookshelf, there were so many sketches, drawings, maps, and the truth is that I couldn’t understand anything then, but at the same time I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

When my Grandpa entered the room, and found me browsing confusingly through the pages and sketches, he sat next to me and tried to help organizing the mess a bit. He taught me how to read a map, and made connection between the old bible stories and reality “here is where David came from”, he declared when viewing the Ayalon Valley’s map “Do you see Ur of the Chaldees? This little red dot, here is where Abraham came from”, he had whispered secretly, and something awaken inside of me. As a child I was always in love with Bible stories, but only at my Grandpa’s old apartment, with the Atlas placed on my laps, this love became an endless curiosity and excitement.

Carta Publishing is located at Jerusalem, the center of Bible studies, and continues to publish new books and updated editions of its extraordinary publications which became ‘Must’ to all the bible fans.

Where can I get the Carta Atlas?

Carta Publishing is running an active website, where it is possible to purchase the most up to date editions of it’s publications including the Atlases and books, modern maps of Israel, Jerusalem, field guidebooks for Pilgrims and travelers to the Holy Land, comprehensive Hebrew dictionaries and Hebrew script publications. Carta’s publications appeal to Bible enthusiasts, students and researches.

The real news about Carta’s new website is the Carta Map Bank section. Carta is now making available in digital formats it’s vast Biblical and Historical map collection accumulated through tens of years of research. The website offers the use any of the maps featured in the database in research papers and presentations, in Bible classes, sermons and for other educational purposes.