one of the kids that i tutor comes from a jewish family. recently, as his tutor i have had the privilege of being somewhat involved with the family during the jewish holiday season of rosh hashanah and yom kippur. it has been really interesting to learn more about these holy occasions from the mom and the dad and to ask them questions about the jewish tradition. one of the highlights for me was taking a look at a sukkot constructed by the family. before doing this tutoring gig, i would have never known that a sukkot most closely represents a tent or tabernacle (not the one carried around by the children of israel before the temple), and that it's use dates back to a command to the israelites found in leviticus 23:42. i also discovered that the 12 year old boy that i tutor is required to memorize parts or all (not sure which) of the torah. in order to do this, he needs the ability to understand and speak hebrew! so, in light of all this i figured to myself, "hey, i believe in the old testament. it's part of the holy book i read." if a 12-year old jewish boy can learn it so well and understand the laws and the relationship the israelites had with god (in hebrew, mind you), maybe it's time for me to start investigating the old testament i've been largely avoiding for years. so i will be diving into the torah, or, the first five books of the old testament. my goal is to discover what i can learn about old testament law and why jewish people put so much emphasis on it, and if i would do well to begin placing some more on it myself. i have checked out a few books from the library so i will probably be supplementing my blog posts with those as well as the obvious text from the old testament itself. hopefully this will be cool and my ambition will not get waylaid by the minutia of leviticus and so forth.
abuch out.
