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Old Disciple, New Disciple - Part 2 Note: This Dust of the Master is a revised and updated version of an article from three years ago. Click here to read Part 1. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. (Mark 2:21-22) read more »	Old Disciple, New Disciple - Part 1 Note: This Dust of the Master is a revised and updated version of an article from 2013. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. (Mark 2:21-22) read more »
Parashat Lech Lecha - Genesis 12:1-17:27 Partnering With God In Parashat Lech Lecha we begin learning about a character by the name of Abram. As we know, his name will eventually be changed to Abraham, and our knowledge of his life is pivotal to our understanding of God’s plan for humanity. In fact, the entire Scripture hinges around this one person. When we read this week’s portion, Abraham’s courageous faith immediately becomes apparent when we read of him leaving everything behind in order to obey God’s command and move to the land of Canaan. This is the first of several of Abraham’s trials we read about in this small section of Genesis. read more »	Yeshua: Light of the World On two different accounts Yeshua makes the statement that he is “the light of the world.” John records these two accounts just one chapter apart from each other. The first time, Yeshua tells us: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12) His second statement is in a different context, but has the same implication as the previous one: We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:4–5) What does Yeshua mean by these statements? What is he trying to say? Many times turning to other Jewish writings can help us uncover the deeper meaning behind the Apostolic record, especially Yeshua’s teachings. In this instance, the midrash helps to illuminate the implications behind Yeshua’s words. read more »
The Good Samaritan and The Value of Life (Part 3) But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” (Luke 10:33–35) Previously we discussed some possible underlying reasons that both the Kohen and the Levite might have passed over the man left half dead in Yeshua’s parable. First, we looked at some halachic (legal) issues which seemed to justify their doing so. But then we followed that up with the Talmudic obligation to not pass over a possible corpse, based on a deeper look at the biblical prohibition against corpse contamination for the Kohen in Leviticus 21. Now we will turn to examine Yeshua’s choice of hero in this parable. read more »	The Good Samaritan and The Value of Life (Part 2) A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:30–32) In our last article, we discussed some of the potential issues going on “behind the scenes” in the story of the Good Samaritan. We pointed to the fact that most people are unaware of the implications of Yeshua’s parable. We began by exploring one potential reason the Kohen and the Levite may have chosen to pass up the opportunity to help this dying man: fear of ritual impurity. Another consideration we need to explore is an obligation of both the Kohen and Levite that Yeshua’s listeners would have known. read more »

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