UNDERSTANDING THE TALMUD - Rabbi Solomon Zweitter
In the revelation at Sinai, God (Hashem) gives the Jewish People the Law; The Written Torah; and The Oral Torah, also known as the Talmud. The Oral Law was written down in the 3rd and 4th centuries in response to the turmoil then taking place in Israel. These oral laws became the beginnings of the Talmud and of Talmudic literature. In this lecture, Rabbi Zweitter gives a glimpse of the Holy Book, and presents how it defines the normative Judaism of today and that of ancient times. This introduction, though brief in comparison to the huge existent body of knowledge, provides the Noahide Movement with a deeper understanding of how Jesus and his apostles lived and thought.
Rabbi Solomon Zweitter is Professor of Talmudic Literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel, and a graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York.
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75 Minutes, CD, $18.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
SATAN - Rabbi Michael Katz
Satan is the fallen angel of gnostic origins and the universal symbol of evil as defined by Christianity and Islam. He is described in literature (Paradise Lost, et al.) and in theology as an adversary of God. This notion of Satan as a fiend or a Prince of Darkness is inimical to the Jewish concept of God, which regards Satan as a servant of God. First mentioned in the Book of Job, Satan asks God to take away the earthly advantages of Job, in an effort to prove that Job might well not be so wonderful if all his benefits were removed. God permits Satan to do this, which is an example showing that Satan is always acting in God's behalf, whether as the evil inclination or as the prosecuting angel in the world to come. Satan's task is a thankless job where failure in effect denotes success. God creates Good and Evil in order to give man free will; Satan, rather than being an instigator creating evil, is God's vehicle to test man's free will of good versus evil. In this lecture, Rabbi Michael Katz explains who Satan really is and is not.
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Rabbi Michael Katz, formerly of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the first Rabbi to provide instruction to members of the Noahide movement in the Seven Commandments of Noah.
75 Minutes, CD, $18.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
IDOLATRY - Rabbi Israel Chait
The subject of idolatry, albeit a relic of the ancient world and seemingly far in the past, remains one of the most important areas of Jewish Law. Why is this? Torah considers one instinct of man to be the most dangerous: the religious/spiritual instinct. While Judaism acknowledges that idolatry is a part of man's makeup in that it makes him feel secure, the unique doctrine of Judaism, one of its basic tenets, is that there are no idolatrous beliefs in its worship.
In the ancient world, many civilizations believed in an invisible supreme being, but continued to rely on magical thinking, astrology, and other manifestations of idol worship. Today idolatrous notions are not just from the past, but exist in the here and now in many spiritual new age movements. This reliance on primitive thought is becoming a hallmark of the modern age, just as it had been thousands of years ago.
In this DVD, Rabbi Israel Chait explores the important subject of idolatry, and its metaphysical construct as a universal primitive urge of mankind.
Rabbi Israel Chait is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva B'Nai Torah in Far Rockaway, New York, and has collaborated closely with the Noahide Movement.
62 Minutes, DVD; $30.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
TALMUDIC THOUGHT - Rabbi Saul Zucker
The two fundamental books of Judaism are the Torah, which includes the five books of Moses, The Prophets and The Writings; and the Talmud, otherwise referred to as "The Written Law" (Torah), and "The Oral Law" (Talmud). What is the Talmud? How does it correspond to the Torah, and why is it necessary? These questions lead to the kernel of Judaism - God's revelation to the Jewish People at Sinai - and are essential for a real understanding of Judaism and of its unique way of worshipping God and following His precepts.
To better understand these questions, think of the Torah as a machine, and the Talmud as its manual. Without the manual, you could interpret the Torah in any way you choose. You could even go against the judgments and precepts of God. Torah and Talmud, in order to reach the real meaning of God's Laws, must therefore always be intertwined.
In this DVD, Rabbi Saul Zucker leads the viewer into the intricate world of Talmudic thought and the Talmud's significance to Judaism.
Rabbi Saul Zucker is principal of the Mesivta of New Jersey in Teaneck, New Jersey.
93 Minutes, DVD; $30.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD - Dr. James D. Tabor
The search for meaning in the face of poverty, sickness, evil, war, death and human despair, is the quintessential question of religious faith and Mankind, whether one believes in the hereafter, resurrection of the dead, Heaven, or an existential secular humanism devoid of God. The Torah and the Tanach (the Bible) speak about the "Hiding of the Face of God" - in Deuteronomy (Tohaha), The Prophets, and the Psalms, (in Hosea, for a period of three days) - after which the footsteps of the Messianic Age will begin. This Messianic Age as described repeatedly in Isaiah, Micah and Malachi, will herald a humane world, one without sickness, hatred, war, poverty, or death. In this DVD, Dr. Tabor discusses and answers the question, "Is there a plan for the Jewish People and for Mankind, as explained in the Bible (Tanach)?"
Dr. James D. Tabor is Chairman of the Department of Religion at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and author of many books and articles on the origins of Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
67 Minutes, DVD; $30.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
TO TORAH AND TESTIMONY - Dr. James D. Tabor
In today's culture of Post Modernism and moral relativism, can there be certainty in this age of uncertainty? This is the quintessential question posed in this intriguing DVD. Dr. James Tabor explores the message of the "Testimony," also known as the "Law," which Moses brings down to the Jewish People from Sinai. The witnessing of God's presence by the Jewish People at Sinai is a unique event in history - it had never happened before, and probably will never happen again. According to Dr. Tabor, this witnessing serves as the bedrock faith which is the foundation to inspire and comfort the true man of faith in the existence of Hashem (God).
Dr. James D. Tabor is Chairman of the Department of Religion at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and author of many books and articles on the origins of Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
63 Minutes, DVD; $30.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
DNA AND TORAH - Dr. Gene Lavers
The creation of life in the aqueous (water solution) environment of the cell is impossible to replicate in a laboratory, since chemicals cannot make changes without other chemicals (catalysts and enzymes) and heat. In other words, although man can create changes with the aid of catalysts, enzymes, and heat, we are not able to duplicate the miracle of life using the inert medium of water alone, as is found in all living matter.
The molecule responsible for this miracle of life is DNA. DNA is composed of four nucleic acids, Adenine (A); Cytosine (C); Guanine (G); and Thiamine (T), and serves as the alphabet of all creation. This simple alphabet of the four letters A, C, G, &T expands in sequence and number to determine the life and form of all organisms. In a similar fashion, in the Torah the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet provide a similar master code of how and why we exist, while DNA is a physical Torah of our chemical makeup.
In this DVD, Dr. Lavers gives a clear and compelling introduction to one of the major building blocks of Biology, DNA, and discusses its similarity to Torah.
Dr. Gene Lavers, Professor of Biochemistry at New York University, is the coeditor of Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Eye Research, former chair of biochemistry and director of the graduate program in basic medical sciences. His interest in the relationship between the codes and instructions of life (DNA) and Torah correspond to his research in molecular biology, information transfer, and the nature of consciousness.
65 Minutes, DVD; $30.95 – Price Includes Shipping and Handling
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