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suffering, pain, hardship

The word se•vel describes physical, spiritual, mental, emotional or psychological pain and agony one may feel. Se•vel (suffering) appears as a core word only once in the Bible, and there it has a surprising meaning: ‘labor.’ “And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of...

patience

The dictionary definitions of patience are quite similar, both in Hebrew and English: ability to wait quietly or face rejection or delay; ability to bear calmly and with self-control frustrating and upsetting situations. But the Hebrew word suggests the primal feeling...

oral law, talmudic literature

‘Torah she•be•al pe’ is the name of the oral Torah. Oral, in this context, does not mean that it is ‘not printed’ in a book form. On the contrary, most of the rules of Jewish practice are written in numerous books that together make the Torah she•be•al pe. Among many...

tradition, Jewish heritage

Ma•so•ret (tradition) comes from the root, M.S.R, (Mem, Samech, Reysh. Masar is the verb that means: to give, to transfer, to deliver). It is interesting to note that this verb indicates a one-way direction—from the older generation to the new. The English word...

love

Today, we want to discuss the essence of the word ‘love’ as reflected in the New Testament. Whereas the word ‘ahava’ (love) appears 45 times in the Old Testament, this number almost doubles in the New Testament! One of the most interesting chapters in the whole Bible...

I love you (to male, female)

Let’s talk about love. Better yet, let’s talk about declaring and confessing love. Sadly, in our Western culture, expressing love has become a rare gesture given in iota, and is often coupled with a speck sense of embarrassment. Even within the family, when we do say...