I know that a few of my former students check in on this blog from time to time, and I thought it might be helpful for them to see an addition I made last week in my lecture on the Conquest. I usually give three evidences from Scripture that Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan… Read More »
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The following programs are essential to my (nearly) everyday use. If seems often that I hear recommendations of other programs (e.g., Google toolbar) and I just think – you don’t need that if you have this other one, which is superior in all regards (e.g., Dave’s Quick Search Deskbar). So here is a short list… Read More »
It seems to me that one sign of maturity is the realization that making fun of someone’s name isn’t really funny. Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me that probably any joke about a person’s name, that person has already heard before (if not a hundred times). Thus it’s not funny to them.… Read More »
The latest report on the sifting of Temple Mount debris is posted, including information about what has been recovered thus far: a seal impression from the Second Temple period (five-pointed star with the word ‘ירשלג [Jerusalem] inscribed on it), a fragment of a monumental door jamb of a gate from the Second Temple Period, arch… Read More »
As I said before, most of the trip was to places that few tourists visit. Much of our time centered on the Delta (north of Cairo) and so-called Middle Egypt (between Cairo and Luxor). We drove through many villages, and they are not all the same. But the following observation is true for some of… Read More »
Nearly all of our traveling was done during daylight hours, and nearly all of it was through inhabited areas. In other words, I feel like I saw half of the population of Egypt. Maybe I’ll write more on that later. But the reality that I was impressed with was the hard-working nature of the Egyptian… Read More »
There are always things I’m learning that I think I should have known a long time ago. One example is the way that the Hasidic Jews (ultra-orthodox) treat Christmas. Here’s a quote from a recent article on it in Haaretz. On Christmas Eve, known in Jewish circles as Nitel Night, the klipot (shells) are in… Read More »
So, if you were a parent and had two sons, one living in Israel and the other in a comfortable southern California suburb, for whose safety would you be most concerned? If you listened to the U.S. State Department and the TV news, you’d be terrified for your son and his family living in Israel.… Read More »
We spent more than a full day in the Nile Delta, more time than I had in my previous 6 trips to Egypt. I was struck by a number of things. 1) The land is green and productive everywhere. And in use. No empty space that goes unused here. 2) The use of the land… Read More »