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Clarifying the Talmud: Rabbi Shimon’s War-time Words
One of the most persistently misrepresented quotations from rabbinic literature is a passage from Soferim 15, often cited by anti-Semitic sources as stating: “Even the best of the Gentiles should be...
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Defending the Talmud: A Hebrew Catholic Perspective
IntroductionIn recent years, certain passages from the Talmud have been taken out of context and weaponized by anti-Semitic and anti-Talmudic individuals seeking to cast Judaism in a negative light....
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Rediscovering the Talmud: A Hebrew Catholic's Defense
The Talmud has often been the subject of misrepresentation, particularly in anti-Semitic literature and polemics against rabbinic Judaism. Among the Hebrew Catholic community—those Jews who have come...
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The Talmud: Its Wisdom, Methodology, and Spiritual Depth
The Talmud, at its core, is a compilation of the oral teachings of the Torah, preserved through centuries of Jewish scholarship and dialogue. Its primary component, the Mishnah, was written down in the...
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A Hebrew Catholic Defense of the Talmud: Its Richness, Beauty, and...
The Talmud, a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, is often subjected to gross misrepresentation by critics who seek to use out-of-context citations to defame the Jewish tradition. In reality, the Talmud...
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The Apple Orchard: A Hebrew Catholic Defense of the Zohar and Kabbalah
The Zohar and the wider Kabbalistic tradition have often been subject to suspicion or criticism, both within certain Jewish circles and especially among Christian scholars unfamiliar with its nature or...
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The Apple Orchard and the Hebrew Catholic Encounter with Kabbalah: Part II
The mystical tradition of Kabbalah, especially as developed in the Zohar, invites the soul into a profound spiritual garden: the "Pardes," or "Orchard." This image of the orchard (Hebrew: פרדס) is a...
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Mystical Dwelling: A Comparative Reflection on the Ari's Seven Palaces and...
In the rich and complex landscape of Jewish mysticism, the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari) and his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital offer profound insight into the soul's journey through divine...
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Divine Dwelling and Ascent: Teresa and the Ari
The spiritual topographies of Jewish Kabbalah and Catholic mysticism offer parallel visions of the soul’s interior journey into divine intimacy. Among the most powerful of these are St. Teresa of...
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A Hebrew Catholic Haggadah for the Feast of the Assumption and/or Tu B'Av
A Hebrew Catholic Haggadah for the Feast of the Assumption: A Tu B'Av-Inspired Sacred Meal of Dance, Joy, and Marian ContemplationSaid Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel: There were no greater festivals for...
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Divine Ascent: Bernardino, John and Teresa
Divine Ascent: A Comparative Study of Bernardino de Laredo's Ascent of Mount Sion, St. John of the Cross's Ascent of Mount Carmel, and St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle in Light of Jewish...
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Lies Told About Pope Francis
I posted this list with answers some years ago but have updated it. I would have not bothered but so many even after the Pope has died are still slandering his name and distorting his ideas.In Defense...
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The Rose Among Thorns: A Hebrew Catholic Reflection
The Rose Among Thorns: A Hebrew Catholic Reflection on the Zohar’s Mystical Opening“Just as a rose among thorns is tinged with red and white, so too is the Assembly of Israel affected by judgment and...
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The Rose of Fiat: Marian Contemplation in the Divine Will
In the first blossoming of the Rose in the Zohar, we saw the soul of Israel opening amid judgment and mercy, receiving dew from above, and aligning itself as a living Temple. But there is a deeper...
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The Womb of Mercy: The Rose in the Heart of the Messiah nd the Church
If the Zohar opens with a Rose rising among thorns, and Mary is the most fragrant unfolding of that Rose, then we now enter the Heart of the Rose— its secret center, where Divine Will and Divine Mercy...
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Lowering the Mystical Bucket – Drawing Rivers from the Wellspring of Divine Will
The Zohar whispers that the rivers of Eden flow from a hidden source. The soul must lower its bucket (d'li) into this mystery — not once, but constantly. In my reflection on the Zohar’s blossoming...
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Co-Creation, Identity, and Pastoral Mystery in the Divine Will
The Zohar in Prologue 7–10 dares to ask a question few would venture near: "Who created these (Mi bara Elah)?" It is not simply, “What was created?” or “How?” but “Who?” This question points beyond...
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Blossoming in the Divine Will
This brief essay presents a five-part contemplative and pastoral interpretation based on the Prologue to the Zohar, focusing on its implications for the life and spirituality of Hebrew Catholics....
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The Fiery Chariot and the Still Small Voice: Elijah’s Revelation and the...
In the Zohar's unfolding prologue, we reach a profound turning point with the arrival of Elijah the Prophet — Eliyahu haNavi— appearing not as a distant biblical figure but as an immediate mystical...
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Elijah’s Mantle and the Hebrew Catholic Vocation
In the unfolding mystical dialogue of the Zohar, Elijah emerges as more than a prophet — he becomes a heavenly interlocutor, an initiator into the mysteries of creation and revelation. In many ways,...
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