Summer Bible/Tanach 5779 at Herzog College

Yesterday I spent the day immersed in Bible, Tanach at Michlelet Herzog, Herzog College in Alon Shvut. They offer a weeklong "festival" of study and touring. It's not cheap, but it's worth it for me. My summer vacation treats are membership in our local pool and spending one day at Herzog. I prefer that to a hotel or other "vacation."

This year enough* people signed up for the Shomron-Binyamin bus, which made traveling very easy.
I signed up for lectures according to the lecturers. Three are favorites from Matan, Dr. Yael Ziegler, Yael Leibowitz and Atara Snowbell, who no longer teaches there. They are my all time favorites, and if you ever have the opportunity to hear them, take advantage.

Herzog College Yemei Iyun, Bible Study Days offer classes and tours in Hebrew, English and French.

The organization, as usual, was excellent. This time my classes were only in two locations, two lectures, lunch and then the following three in a large "tent." Besides the bus, I signed up for lunch, which was also excellent. There was fish, plus a vegetarian alternative, lots of vegetables, salad, fruit and bread for those who wanted. There were hot/cold drinks in various locations, plus fruit, cookies and pastry throughout the day.

I must admit that the various lectures are all mixed up in my head. They covered similar overlapping topics and even quoted some of the same Bible verses.

To very superficially summarize, the lectures were about the era between the two Holy Temples, Ezra, Nechemia and Jeremiah.

Each of the five lecturers/speakers have different styles, and I really enjoyed the fact that they went over similar subject matter in their individual ways. The era is so similar to today:

• aliyah
• intermarriage
• assimilation
• "Who's a Jew?"
• To build or not to build a new Holy Temple?
• True or False Prophets? Who's really speaking in the name of Gd?

An added bonus was seeing lots of friends, many I've known since I was a teen. I also got to meet people I've been in touch with via facebook and other social media.

The growing popularity of the Tanach, Bible is further proof that we're preparing ourselves for the Third Temple and the Moshiach. They are connected, and I believe that we have to change, be ready, prepare ourselves and the world. It's not the job for the Moshiach to change us.  Gd willing we will work harder to make ourselves better, do Teshuva, repent and utilize the gifts Gd has been giving us, like the Land of Israel.

במהרה בימינו

bimhaira biyameinu

speedily in our days...

*last year it was cancelled for the day I needed due to insufficient registration

Guest Post by Atara Snowbell on חרות Herut

Atara Snowbell, Matan

Earlier in the week I posted  Shiloh Musings: For a Good Jewish Theological Discussion, You Need Hebrew!, which I sent to my Tanach/Bible teacher Atara Snowbell. Although she hasn't taught me for a couple of years already, I still consider her as one of my teachers, and I wanted her to read that article. I feel that it relates to some of what we learned together in ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, The Book of Numbers. I received her permission to post her reply on this blog:

Completely makes sense, as in אין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתורה clearly is not an indication of freedom in the modern sense, but rather freedom to tie oneself into an obligatory system of one's choice.

Being an עובד ה' is true freedom, as it obligates you to the truest and most noble values.

--Of course, as an aside, I don't believe "free to do what I want" is truly freedom either, because it enslaves me to my own human desires and whims, one of the worst types of enslavement.--

The best "proof" for your post is that the Torah uses the same term to describe the enslavement to Pharaoh and to God - עבד

ויקרא פרק כה 

(נה) כִּי לִי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים עֲבָדַי הֵם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי יְקֹוָק אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:

Chazal picked up on this when they compared Purim to Pessach - they ask whether one should say Hallel on Pessach and conclude that we don't, because whereas on Pessach we were Pharaoh's slaves and became God's slaves, on Purim we were Ahashverosh's slaves and remained his slaves:

תלמוד בבלי מסכת מגילה דף יד עמוד א 

רבא אמר: בשלמא התם +תהלים קי"ג+ הללו עבדי ה' - ולא עבדי פרעה, אלא הכא - הללו עבדי ה' ולא עבדי אחשורוש? אכתי עבדי אחשורוש אנן. 

So we are redeemed from slavery but become free, only to become slaves to God. But that type of slavery is true freedom, as it is enslavement to divine values. There is not such thing as a gap, at all times we are enslaved to something: time work family our own human needs and desires. Freedom is the ability to choose to be enslaved to a set of values and morals that is right; True freedom is being enslaved to God, by choice.

I once gave a shiur that related to Eved Ivri - the Hebrew slave and the Torah's attitude toward slavery, based on this very idea. The Torah's approach is based on this very idea - no man should be enslaved to another, since they should be free to worship God alone. But that's for another discussion...