Podcasts about Jews

When world-renowned author Sir Walter Scott lay on his deathbed, he asked his son-in-law to bring him “the” book from his massive library. “Which book?” his son-in-law asked. Scott replied, “Son, there is only one book!” He meant the Bible, the most-read book in the world, with 100 million copies sold annually. Of its 31,103 verses, one stands above all others, and it's John 3:16. Atheists, agnostics, Jews, and Christians alike know this verse. It's only 25 words, with “Son” as the 13th word, dividing it perfectly in half. The first 12 words are about God: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son …” The last 12 are about us: “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (NKJV). Short enough to write on a napkin, but long enough to tell anyone how to have a lasting, eternal relationship with God. This one verse can save the universe. Unpack the power of these 25 words and discover God's love for you afresh.

SummaryThis conversation explores the early chapters of the Book of John, focusing on the themes of the Word, the testimony of John the Baptist, the calling of the first disciples, and the miracles performed by Jesus, particularly at the wedding in Cana and in the temple.TakeawaysIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.John the Baptist came to testify about the light.Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.The disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah.Miracles serve to manifest Jesus' glory and authority.John's testimony emphasizes the importance of belief.Jesus' miracles were signs that led to faith.The calling of the disciples shows the personal nature of Jesus' ministry.Jesus' authority is questioned by the Jews in the temple.The transformation of water into wine signifies Jesus' divine power.Chapters00:00 The Word and the Light03:06 John the Baptist's Testimony05:51 The Calling of the Disciples08:45 Miracles and Authority of JesusNewsletter and Blogs: https://benjaminlee.blogYoutube: https://youtube.com/@icandopodcast?si=aiCJ7iQgc_ECK3hVPodcasts: https://icandopodcast.com

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

A scion of the Protestant elite, Theodore Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island. Yet from his earliest years he forged ties with Jews never before witnessed in a president. American Maccabee traces Roosevelt's deep connection with the Jewish people at every step of his dazzling ascent. But it also reveals a man of contradictions whose checkered approach to Jewish issues was no less conflicted than the nation he led.As a rising political figure in New York, Roosevelt barnstormed the Lower East Side, giving speeches to packed halls of Jewish immigrants. He rallied for reform of the sweatshops where Jewish laborers toiled for pitiful wages in perilous conditions. And Roosevelt repeatedly venerated the heroism of the Maccabee warriors, upholding those storied rebels as a model for the American Jewish community. Yet little could have prepared him for the blood-soaked persecution of Eastern European Jews that brought a deluge of refugees to American shores during his presidency. Andrew Porwancher uncovers the vexing challenges for Roosevelt as he confronted Jewish suffering abroad and antisemitic xenophobia at home.Drawing on new archival research to paint a richly nuanced portrait of an iconic figure, American Maccabee chronicles the complicated relationship between the leader of a youthful nation and the people of an ancient faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In his influential Anti-Semite and Jew, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre observed "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." In doing so he articulated the figure of an Antisemite responsible for imagining the Jew in a formulation that has lasted for decades. This figure became an indispensable trope in the period immediately after the war. It enabled Germans and Austrians to navigate a radically changed political and cultural landscape and reestablish lives upended by war by denying complicity in perpetuating antisemitic ideology. The deeply ingrained cultural practices that formed the basis for age-old prejudices against Jews persisted via coded references, taking new forms, and providing fertile ground for explicit eruptions.  Decades before the Nazi persecution of the Jews would emerge as a master moral paradigm of evil in popular culture, the constructed Antisemite became part of a forceful narrative structure that allowed stereotypes about Jews to persist, even as explicit antisemitism became taboo. Lisa Silverman examines the crucial development and implications of the figural Antisemite in a range of trials, films, and texts during the first years after the end of the Second World War. She argues that, in their economically shattered, emotionally exhausted, and culturally impoverished postwar world, Austrians, Germans, and others used the Antisemite as a way to come to terms with their altered circumstances and to shape new national self-understandings.  A readily recognizable and easily adaptable figure of evil, the Antisemite loomed large as a powerful and persistent trope in a wide range of artistic and cultural narratives. As a figure onto which to project or imagine as a source of the hatred of Jews, the Antisemite allowed audiences to avoid facing the implications of crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the endurance of widespread and often coded antisemitic prejudices. In postwar Europe, where everyone looked to blame others for the murder and dispossession of the Jewish population, the authority to define the Antisemite as a receptacle for explicit Jew-hatred became a powerful force. As The Postwar Antisemite argues, antisemitism as a hidden code gained new force, packing stronger, more effective punches and affording its users more power. This era is critical to understanding ongoing struggles over the authority to set the parameters of antisemitism and the power and persistence of this hatred in society. Paul Lerner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In his influential Anti-Semite and Jew, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre observed "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." In doing so he articulated the figure of an Antisemite responsible for imagining the Jew in a formulation that has lasted for decades. This figure became an indispensable trope in the period immediately after the war. It enabled Germans and Austrians to navigate a radically changed political and cultural landscape and reestablish lives upended by war by denying complicity in perpetuating antisemitic ideology. The deeply ingrained cultural practices that formed the basis for age-old prejudices against Jews persisted via coded references, taking new forms, and providing fertile ground for explicit eruptions.  Decades before the Nazi persecution of the Jews would emerge as a master moral paradigm of evil in popular culture, the constructed Antisemite became part of a forceful narrative structure that allowed stereotypes about Jews to persist, even as explicit antisemitism became taboo. Lisa Silverman examines the crucial development and implications of the figural Antisemite in a range of trials, films, and texts during the first years after the end of the Second World War. She argues that, in their economically shattered, emotionally exhausted, and culturally impoverished postwar world, Austrians, Germans, and others used the Antisemite as a way to come to terms with their altered circumstances and to shape new national self-understandings.  A readily recognizable and easily adaptable figure of evil, the Antisemite loomed large as a powerful and persistent trope in a wide range of artistic and cultural narratives. As a figure onto which to project or imagine as a source of the hatred of Jews, the Antisemite allowed audiences to avoid facing the implications of crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the endurance of widespread and often coded antisemitic prejudices. In postwar Europe, where everyone looked to blame others for the murder and dispossession of the Jewish population, the authority to define the Antisemite as a receptacle for explicit Jew-hatred became a powerful force. As The Postwar Antisemite argues, antisemitism as a hidden code gained new force, packing stronger, more effective punches and affording its users more power. This era is critical to understanding ongoing struggles over the authority to set the parameters of antisemitism and the power and persistence of this hatred in society. Paul Lerner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

A scion of the Protestant elite, Theodore Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island. Yet from his earliest years he forged ties with Jews never before witnessed in a president. American Maccabee traces Roosevelt's deep connection with the Jewish people at every step of his dazzling ascent. But it also reveals a man of contradictions whose checkered approach to Jewish issues was no less conflicted than the nation he led.As a rising political figure in New York, Roosevelt barnstormed the Lower East Side, giving speeches to packed halls of Jewish immigrants. He rallied for reform of the sweatshops where Jewish laborers toiled for pitiful wages in perilous conditions. And Roosevelt repeatedly venerated the heroism of the Maccabee warriors, upholding those storied rebels as a model for the American Jewish community. Yet little could have prepared him for the blood-soaked persecution of Eastern European Jews that brought a deluge of refugees to American shores during his presidency. Andrew Porwancher uncovers the vexing challenges for Roosevelt as he confronted Jewish suffering abroad and antisemitic xenophobia at home.Drawing on new archival research to paint a richly nuanced portrait of an iconic figure, American Maccabee chronicles the complicated relationship between the leader of a youthful nation and the people of an ancient faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In his influential Anti-Semite and Jew, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre observed "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." In doing so he articulated the figure of an Antisemite responsible for imagining the Jew in a formulation that has lasted for decades. This figure became an indispensable trope in the period immediately after the war. It enabled Germans and Austrians to navigate a radically changed political and cultural landscape and reestablish lives upended by war by denying complicity in perpetuating antisemitic ideology. The deeply ingrained cultural practices that formed the basis for age-old prejudices against Jews persisted via coded references, taking new forms, and providing fertile ground for explicit eruptions.  Decades before the Nazi persecution of the Jews would emerge as a master moral paradigm of evil in popular culture, the constructed Antisemite became part of a forceful narrative structure that allowed stereotypes about Jews to persist, even as explicit antisemitism became taboo. Lisa Silverman examines the crucial development and implications of the figural Antisemite in a range of trials, films, and texts during the first years after the end of the Second World War. She argues that, in their economically shattered, emotionally exhausted, and culturally impoverished postwar world, Austrians, Germans, and others used the Antisemite as a way to come to terms with their altered circumstances and to shape new national self-understandings.  A readily recognizable and easily adaptable figure of evil, the Antisemite loomed large as a powerful and persistent trope in a wide range of artistic and cultural narratives. As a figure onto which to project or imagine as a source of the hatred of Jews, the Antisemite allowed audiences to avoid facing the implications of crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the endurance of widespread and often coded antisemitic prejudices. In postwar Europe, where everyone looked to blame others for the murder and dispossession of the Jewish population, the authority to define the Antisemite as a receptacle for explicit Jew-hatred became a powerful force. As The Postwar Antisemite argues, antisemitism as a hidden code gained new force, packing stronger, more effective punches and affording its users more power. This era is critical to understanding ongoing struggles over the authority to set the parameters of antisemitism and the power and persistence of this hatred in society. Paul Lerner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

A scion of the Protestant elite, Theodore Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island. Yet from his earliest years he forged ties with Jews never before witnessed in a president. American Maccabee traces Roosevelt's deep connection with the Jewish people at every step of his dazzling ascent. But it also reveals a man of contradictions whose checkered approach to Jewish issues was no less conflicted than the nation he led.As a rising political figure in New York, Roosevelt barnstormed the Lower East Side, giving speeches to packed halls of Jewish immigrants. He rallied for reform of the sweatshops where Jewish laborers toiled for pitiful wages in perilous conditions. And Roosevelt repeatedly venerated the heroism of the Maccabee warriors, upholding those storied rebels as a model for the American Jewish community. Yet little could have prepared him for the blood-soaked persecution of Eastern European Jews that brought a deluge of refugees to American shores during his presidency. Andrew Porwancher uncovers the vexing challenges for Roosevelt as he confronted Jewish suffering abroad and antisemitic xenophobia at home.Drawing on new archival research to paint a richly nuanced portrait of an iconic figure, American Maccabee chronicles the complicated relationship between the leader of a youthful nation and the people of an ancient faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In his influential Anti-Semite and Jew, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre observed "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." In doing so he articulated the figure of an Antisemite responsible for imagining the Jew in a formulation that has lasted for decades. This figure became an indispensable trope in the period immediately after the war. It enabled Germans and Austrians to navigate a radically changed political and cultural landscape and reestablish lives upended by war by denying complicity in perpetuating antisemitic ideology. The deeply ingrained cultural practices that formed the basis for age-old prejudices against Jews persisted via coded references, taking new forms, and providing fertile ground for explicit eruptions.  Decades before the Nazi persecution of the Jews would emerge as a master moral paradigm of evil in popular culture, the constructed Antisemite became part of a forceful narrative structure that allowed stereotypes about Jews to persist, even as explicit antisemitism became taboo. Lisa Silverman examines the crucial development and implications of the figural Antisemite in a range of trials, films, and texts during the first years after the end of the Second World War. She argues that, in their economically shattered, emotionally exhausted, and culturally impoverished postwar world, Austrians, Germans, and others used the Antisemite as a way to come to terms with their altered circumstances and to shape new national self-understandings.  A readily recognizable and easily adaptable figure of evil, the Antisemite loomed large as a powerful and persistent trope in a wide range of artistic and cultural narratives. As a figure onto which to project or imagine as a source of the hatred of Jews, the Antisemite allowed audiences to avoid facing the implications of crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the endurance of widespread and often coded antisemitic prejudices. In postwar Europe, where everyone looked to blame others for the murder and dispossession of the Jewish population, the authority to define the Antisemite as a receptacle for explicit Jew-hatred became a powerful force. As The Postwar Antisemite argues, antisemitism as a hidden code gained new force, packing stronger, more effective punches and affording its users more power. This era is critical to understanding ongoing struggles over the authority to set the parameters of antisemitism and the power and persistence of this hatred in society. Paul Lerner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

In his influential Anti-Semite and Jew, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre observed "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." In doing so he articulated the figure of an Antisemite responsible for imagining the Jew in a formulation that has lasted for decades. This figure became an indispensable trope in the period immediately after the war. It enabled Germans and Austrians to navigate a radically changed political and cultural landscape and reestablish lives upended by war by denying complicity in perpetuating antisemitic ideology. The deeply ingrained cultural practices that formed the basis for age-old prejudices against Jews persisted via coded references, taking new forms, and providing fertile ground for explicit eruptions.  Decades before the Nazi persecution of the Jews would emerge as a master moral paradigm of evil in popular culture, the constructed Antisemite became part of a forceful narrative structure that allowed stereotypes about Jews to persist, even as explicit antisemitism became taboo. Lisa Silverman examines the crucial development and implications of the figural Antisemite in a range of trials, films, and texts during the first years after the end of the Second World War. She argues that, in their economically shattered, emotionally exhausted, and culturally impoverished postwar world, Austrians, Germans, and others used the Antisemite as a way to come to terms with their altered circumstances and to shape new national self-understandings.  A readily recognizable and easily adaptable figure of evil, the Antisemite loomed large as a powerful and persistent trope in a wide range of artistic and cultural narratives. As a figure onto which to project or imagine as a source of the hatred of Jews, the Antisemite allowed audiences to avoid facing the implications of crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices and to deny the endurance of widespread and often coded antisemitic prejudices. In postwar Europe, where everyone looked to blame others for the murder and dispossession of the Jewish population, the authority to define the Antisemite as a receptacle for explicit Jew-hatred became a powerful force. As The Postwar Antisemite argues, antisemitism as a hidden code gained new force, packing stronger, more effective punches and affording its users more power. This era is critical to understanding ongoing struggles over the authority to set the parameters of antisemitism and the power and persistence of this hatred in society. Paul Lerner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Southern California where he directs the Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu confidante Ron Dermer positioned Evangelicals five year ago as Israel's most reliable supporters, more reliable than American Jews. Today, Mr Dermer is gone. He resigned in November as strategic affairs minister and the prime minister's point man on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Gone too is Evangelical reliability with many young Evangelicals and members of President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again or MAGA support base rejecting the long-standing notion that the United States and Israel's national interests overlap. “This train has left the station. It's not coming back, especially with the younger generation,” said Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, an Evangelical conspiracy theorist, who during the Covid epidemic compared masks to the yellow Star of David Nazis forced Jews to wear. Ms. Taylor Greene later apologised for her comment. Andrew Kolvet, a close associate of Charlie Kirk, the assassinated founder of Turning Point USA, an influential far-right youth organisation that has become a platform for the airing of differences in Mr. Trump's base suggests that “Israel has become a symbolic battle about: What does ‘America First' really mean?” Mr. Kolvet has taken over many of the Turning Point duties of Mr. Kirk, who was killed in September while addressing a gathering of the organisation.

On Friday's Mark Levin Show, WJNO's Brian Mudd fills in for Mark Levin. ISIS has been butchering Jews and Christians across the Middle East and beyond, and the world knows it. And when President Donald Trump says that if these terrorists keep spilling innocent blood he'll strike back—he means it. No double‑talk. No hesitation. Strength. Under Trump, Americans have seen lower taxes, a stronger economy, a secure border, peace instead of endless wars, the rollback of DEI mandates, and an end to radical policies targeting children. These are facts, not fantasy. Millions of Americans are grateful for it. In addition, Affordability? Americans are better off today than they were in 2020. Tariffs, deportations, and job growth have put real money back into the pockets of working people. Is the country perfect? Of course not. People are struggling. But the nation is rising—economically, structurally, confidently. Growth averaging 4% in Trump's first year is no accident. It's leadership. The media, corrupt, hypocritical, ideologically driven, pretends none of this is happening. They distort, they smear, and they distract, but the American people see through it. That's why the left keeps losing support. Reality has a way of breaking through the noise. If any of Trump's accomplishments have touched your life, your family, your wallet, your safety—then this is your moment. This is your year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use. This week, we hear amazing Jangles (entertainment news a Jew can use) from Hoffman, including the contentious NY launch of "Marty Supreme" and the inside scoop into actor Jack Black's superwoman of a mother. We hear a full-throated recommendation from Borschel-Dan for a multi-media performance she caught that is touring Israel. Based on journalist and author Matti Friedman's "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai," the Beit Avichai production will announce its schedule of future shows in April. The pair hunker down to review the Schmoovie of the week, "The Sure Thing," a 1985 film of teen love -- and lust. Rob Reiner's second directorial outing gets mixed reviews from our hosts. Hear who gave "The Sure Thing" a middling "meh" and who gave it our top mark of "not bad" on this week's The Reel Schmooze. The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: US actor Jack Black attends the premiere of Columbia Pictures' "Anaconda" at The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles, California, on December 13, 2025. (Robyn Beck / AFP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We kick things off by describing our Christmas break. Darren recounts a harrowing time with one of his film professors. We look into the bad Ric Flair Cameos that have gone completely viral in a hilarious segment. Sid shares of a rapping black Jew who stopped him dead in his tracks during a recent Atlanta Hawks game. Plus, we take a look back at what the Polar Bear Club looked like forty years ago. Plus, we talk about our favorite Christmas songs! NEW! LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL with feedback or any questions. Just call(240) LIVE - CASTThat's ‪(240) 548-3227‬Watch the episode on Youtube for free. Join our Patreon and get a bonus episode each month, and other behind-the-scenes goodies. More info here.Follow us on: Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and our Discord Chat. Also don't forget about our Spotify playlist. We also have merch if you're into that kind of sharing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

Send us a textA nursery rhyme becomes a roadmap to redemption. We walk from Bethlehem's quiet fields to Jerusalem's crowded courts and finally to Revelation's blazing throne room, tracing how Mary's child is the Lamb who fulfills Israel's calendar with pinpoint precision and claims the title deed to history. Angels announce the news to shepherds tending Passover flocks. John the Baptist points with a single word—Behold. And the virgin birth steps out of sentiment and into necessity, establishing the sinless life required for a once‑for‑all sacrifice.Across the final week of Jesus' life, every step lands on ancient promises. On the tenth of Nisan, he is set apart as the true Passover Lamb. For five days, leaders probe and accuse, yet no fault is found. At the very hour lambs are prepared, he is lifted up; at the ninth hour when sacrifices are offered, he declares, “It is finished.” The temple's streams of blood and water echo from his pierced side, and not one bone is broken. Geography joins the testimony: Moriah—Abraham's mountain—becomes the place where substitution is perfected and debt is stamped paid.But the story doesn't end at the cross. John sees a small Lamb—slain, standing, sovereign—with seven horns and seven eyes, worthy to open the scroll and direct the course of human destiny. The Lamb's strength is not bluster; it is holy power. His knowledge is not rumor; it is perfect sight. From creation to Calvary to conquest, he alone is worthy. This is good news for everyone—Jews and Gentiles, women and men, the broken and the self‑assured—because the Lamb who was slain is also the Lamb who shares his victory.Listen to explore the thread that ties manger to altar and altar to throne, to hear how Scripture's symbols become history's schedule, and to consider what it means for a once‑for‑all sacrifice to carry your name. If this episode strengthened your faith or sparked new questions, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the show.Support the showhttps://www.jacksonfamilyministry.comhttps://bobslone.com/home/podcast-production/

Nine times we read the phrase “on that day” in just 15 verses in Zechariah 12 through to the first 2 verses of Zechariah 13. We note the prelude to these pronouncements, “Thus declares the LORD who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” [Zechariah 12:1]. These words fascinate us as a way to announce the character of God, a declaration of his absolute almightiness as the originator of all that exists.     It is the first “on that day” that has captivated the attention of believers throughout our lifetime. “On that day” we read, “I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”  [Zechariah 12:3] Jerusalem has been the centre of attention in the Middle East, attracting more and more the attention of the whole world since Israel became a nation again in 1948 after being “dead” since AD 70.     The USA has tried hard to “lift” the stone to solve the problem: it seems to have only made matters worse. The influences of Iran has grown greater and with the forming of the Abraham accords which has seen some Arab countries having peaceful relationship with Israel, it now seems clear that the day, maybe soon, is drawing closer. The next “on that day” is when God “will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness” [Zechariah 12:4] Today men have invented a great variety of “vehicles” to replace the horse. They get around at great speed. What is this madness? We suggest it means totally irrational behaviour in a situation which gets totally out of control.     Now notice the declaration in the next verse.      “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts their God.” We are strongly inclined to believe this happens because God has poured out on “Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him they have pierced, they shall mourn …” [Zechariah 12:10]     This portrays the wonder of the return of Christ, the Jews recognise their Messiah at last; but Zechariah 13:8,9 appears to indicate they first experience a traumatic time when God will “refine them”. There is an incredible turn around of events “the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives” [Zechariah 14:4] from where Jesus ascended [Acts 1:9-12] But also “on that day there shall be a fountain opened for … the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” [Zechariah 13:1] The most momentous climax possible

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32Support the show, a product of Hope Media: https://hope1032.com.au/donate/2211A-pod/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Teacher and the Preacher is a weekly radio program--hosted by Dave McGarrah, Senior Pastor at Deer Flat Church in Caldwell, Idaho, and Aaron Lipkin from Israel--that airs each Sunday at 10:30 am and 7:30 pm here 94.5 FM and 790 AM on KSPD Boise's Solid Talk. They are a unique phenomenon on the airwaves – a Christian and a Jew in an ongoing dialogue – celebrating the many commonalities but never shying away from the differences. They offer their listeners insights into each other's faiths that don't come up much elsewhere, that can only come through sincere conversation. The weekly discussion is more than a program about a topic; it's a demonstration of how God can bring two people together from 9,000 miles away to bridge the differences, learn from each other, and strengthen their own faiths. If you would like to learn more about this fantastic radio ministry, please visit their website at theteacherandthepreacher.com.Podcast Website: https://www.790kspd.com/the-teacher-and-the-preacher/

On Thursday's Mark Levin Show, we bring you the best of Mark Levin on Christmas Day! There was a spectacle in Qatar where wealthy ruling-class elites from U.S. government, politics, business, and media, along with foreign leaders for diplomatic cover, gathered to align with a regime that funds terrorism and seeks to destroy the United States from within, the West, and Israel. This highlights the success of a new imperial ruling class across both parties, businesses, unions, media, and financiers, who celebrate monarchy, fascism, and Marxist-Islamists while pursuing power, wealth, and glory. They exploit podcasting and podcasters who claim America First while attacking traditional Americanism, Judeo-Christian values, capitalism, the military, and allies, instead demanding ties with enemies like Qatar.  These grifters like Tucker Carlson smear true conservatives, centralize power and wealth in a bizarre feudal-Marxist form, ignore Qatar's role in 9/11 and university corruption, and target vulnerable young people with isolationism toward allies and globalism toward foes. These grifters will cause Republicans to suffer massive losses in midterm elections, even amid a strong economy, by alienating red-blooded Americans—such as veterans, cops, firefighters, electricians, and plumbers—who recognize these figures getting rich in places like Qatar while spreading enemy propaganda against the country.   Later, Gov Josh Shapiro associates radical Muslim elements, including imams in Philadelphia, and providing $5 million to their academy, while hypocritically downplaying his Jewish heritage to non-Jews and emphasizing it to Jews, which is diabolical politics.  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born intellectual, wrote an eye-opening article on Somali culture, which Shapiro ignores while funding radical Islamists. Immigrants must be vetted for assimilation potential. Shapiro and Cox are enabling cultural erosion through political correctness. The Islamist belief system is incompatible with Americanism. Also, it's important to educate the young people about America's history. They are brainwashed by misinformation and by an agenda they don't understand themselves, only because they were taught to do it. We need to educate our future generations, teaching them about people the unknown people who founded our country, such as Roger Sherman, Gunning Bedford Jr and Daniel of St Thomas Jenifer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pastor Martin Cedra reacts to the Bondi Beach terror attack, explaining what life is really like in Australia right now. He breaks down the attack, government responses, hate speech laws, rising fear among Christians and Jews, and why many Australians believe the country is at a tipping point.

Norman Podhoretz, z"l, died on December 16 at the age of ninety-five. For more than three decades, he served as editor of Commentary, transforming it into what Irving Kristol deemed the most influential magazine in Jewish history. He was a literary critic, a political essayist, and one of the fathers of the orientation toward public affairs that came to be known as neoconservatism. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What fueled these accomplishments —his books, his essays, his editing —was a commitment to tell the truth, however unpopular, and to defend the things he loved, however much it cost him. Norman Podhoretz loved America. He believed in the justice of Israel. He was grateful to have been acculturated into the civilizing traditions of the West. And he was willing to break ranks and turn friends into ex-friends in order to defend all three. On this episode, Mosaic's editor Jonathan Silver is joined by Ruth Wisse to pay tribute to this great American, and to examine his legacy. Ruth Wisse is one of the longest-tenured regular contributors to Commentary and, after a career at McGill and Harvard, is now a senior fellow at Tikvah. We live in a moment when moral confidence is in short supply, when our institutions betray their animating purposes, and when social-media cleverness and clickbait substitute for serious thinking. Norman Podhoretz was different and his example can show us a better way to think and to argue; and because we live in a democratic country that requires us to persuade our compatriots, in helping us think and argue differently he can help us meet the challenges of democratic citizenship as Jews and as Americans. This week's episode of the Tikvah Podcast is generously sponsored by Richard Moldawsky in memory of Martin Moldawsky. If you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the Tikvah Podcast, we invite you to join the Tikvah Ideas Circle. Visit tikvah.org/circle to learn more and join.

Jesus' Lineage; Our Lineage by Autumn Dickson I opened up the New Testament this week to study the birth of Christ. I ended up down a bit of a rabbit hole, and I'm going to take you to part of it with me. My rabbit hole took me all over the place, but I'm going to try and simplify it into some basic ideas. It's going to be very technical at first and there are some nice enough implications, but then I want to more broadly apply it to the rest of us. The thing that really got me started down this rabbit hole is the fact that the very first verses we read in the New Testament are the lineage of Joseph. Funny enough, I had never noticed it consciously before because I usually just skip over that part. As I thought about it a bit further, I realized that it was odd. Why are we sharing Joseph's lineage when Jesus isn't of that lineage? Wouldn't it be more effective and helpful to share Mary's lineage (Yes, I know that wasn't the tradition then; it just seems like it would make more sense considering the fact that she's his biological mother). I then learned that many biblical scholars believe that we do have Christ's lineage through Mary. In Luke's account, we receive another account of lineage. This listed lineage lists Joseph, but scholars believe that it's Mary's line anyway. It just mentioned Joseph because of social norms. There are some other theories surrounding Luke's account of lineage, but the most widespread theory is that it really is Mary's line. We're going to go with that theory for all intents and purposes in this particular post. Why is lineage important? Well, it's important for a few reasons. We'll talk about its significance in the life of Christ, and then we'll talk about its significance in our own lives. It had been prophesied that Christ would come off of the Davidic line. Beyond that, He wasn't going to be just some random descendant but heir to the throne (if the Romans hadn't been in charge at the time). Christ's lineage through Mary and Joseph was really important for this particular prophecy. Christ comes off of the Davidic line biologically through Mary. This biological portion of being from the Davidic line is important for obvious reasons. However, Joseph's line is important too. Through Joseph, Christ is able to be known as an heir to the throne of David because that kind of thing always legally passed through males. I spent some time learning about Jewish customs and laws surrounding adoption, and I'll give you a couple of short facts. There wasn't much of a legal proceeding with official records and paperwork when it came to adoption. Rather, if a man stepped up to the role of father in a child's life, that child was legally adopted. If the father treated the child as his own, then the child held claim to everything that the other children held claim to. Inheritances, the family name, all of it. This was actually really important in a society where it mattered who your family was. Christ was of the Davidic line in all the ways that mattered. And this is absolutely amazing. It's cool to think about how God orchestrated every single detail to come together for Christ to fulfill prophecy. It's amazing. Even with His human side coming through His mother, He was still legally adopted and considered an heir through Joseph's line. But I actually want to take this further to allusions surrounding our own heritage, inheritances, and legality in terms of God's family. Like Christ, there are two parts that play into our inheritance. Biologically (not sure if that's the right word but we're going to run with it because I don't have a better word), we are spirit sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Because of our divine parentage, we were always meant to inherit a throne. It's within our “blood,” so to speak. But there's another portion of this. Through divine authority known as the priesthood, we are “legally” adopted into the family of God. There are three parts to this next thing I was to talk about. Christ could have stepped into His kingship if the Jews had been RIGHTEOUS enough to hold on to their kingdom. Joseph SACRIFICED and LEGALLY ADOPTED Christ and because of that, Christ would have been able to step into His kingship. If Israel had been righteous, Christ would have been king. If we are RIGHTEOUS and lay claim upon Christ's power to LEGALLY ADOPT us into the House of Israel, the because of Christ's SACRIFICE, we are to be divine heirs. As another detail in inheritance that is rich in meaning, primogeniture (firstborn son's claim to the throne over other children) was overwhelmingly common but not the absolute rule. Through wickedness or directly through the decisions of God, the older could be deemed unfit to inherit such power. Heavenly Father truly is the Master. All of the details are laid out so beautifully. There are a million parallels in the gospel that add layer upon rich layer to our understanding. I testify that God is in the details. The more I learn about the gospel, the more I am filled with a sense of awe at all of His orchestration. I testify that we come from a divine family, and I testify that Christ made a sacrifice and gave us the power we needed to adopt us into His family as well. All of these combine to an astounding truth; we have been set up to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, to inherit a divine throne. There is so much we were born into. God has so much in store for us. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Christmas – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Check out this Encore from December 19, 2024! (3:26) Bible Study: Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a Father talks about the epic story of Samson in this reading relating his origin story. Lk 1:5-25 Father explains the origin story of John the Baptist. (17:33) Break 1 (19:19) Letters: Can you be forgiven if you are not repentant for your sin? How does God look from different perspectives? Father answers these and many other questions. Send Father a letter at simon@relevantradio.com (32:08) Break 2 (33:33) Word of the Day: X (34:52) Phones: Vince - When I was an altar boy, our church at noon had a high mass; And the rest was regular mass. Am I remembering this correctly Mary - My daughter was in confession and she noticed the priest was on an iPad and she said to the priest, 'you were on the iPad' the whole time, he denied it and she could hear him shut the iPad. Did she do the right thing by calling him out. Jeff - What Emmanuel and Jesus, why two different instructions for the naming? Lisa - I have a son who is non-practicing Catholic and daughter in law whose non-practicing Jew; they’re hosting Christmas Day at their house. And their children not raised. What is my role as a grandma and what if grandson asks me questions about Christmas and Easter?

In this Parshas Vayigash Parsha Prevew shiur, we explore one of the most fundamental ideas in Judaism: our direct relationship with Hashem — without intermediaries, mediators, or go-betweens.The Torah opens Vayigash with the words “Vayigash eilav Yehuda” — Yehuda approaches Yosef directly. Drawing on a powerful teaching from the Kedushas Levi, we learn that when something truly matters, you don't speak through a translator. You go face to face.Judaism teaches that every Jew can approach Hashem directly. He is our Father, and prayer, teshuvah, and connection require no mediator.From there, we explore a fascinating and lesser-known chapter of history:The mysterious legend of Shimon Kippah (also known as St. Peter)Jewish sources that suggest he may have played a role in separating early Christianity from JudaismCensored passages of the Talmud that discuss Yeshu HaNotzriHow Christianity adopted elements from pagan culture, including the origins of December 25thThis shiur is about understanding Jewish belief, Jewish history, and what makes our relationship with Hashem uniquely direct and personal.

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

As a third generation Holocaust survivor, this was an important conversation with a second generation survivor. Marty has been conducting workshops on writing memory for quite a while and that's where we met - in his workshops with Jewish Ethiopians in Israel. Son of the Shoah: Poems from a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor is his emotional reckoning with his parents and the world as being born into a world of pain and distance. At times I saw my own parents in the discussion and at times I would hear my friend whose family is descended from Jews tortured in the Inquisitions.  This was an intimate and powerful discussion which will help the field of memory and Holocaust studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (U Toronto Press, 2025) challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors – including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck – whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide. Drawing on extensive archival research, this groundbreaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust. By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential – not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this powerful Thinking Talmudist episode on Berachot 32b, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explores the depth and intensity of prayer through a dramatic Talmudic story of a pious man so immersed in Shemoneh Esrei that he ignores a Roman general's greeting—risking death—because he is conversing directly with Hashem. The general, furious at being snubbed, quotes Torah verses about protecting one's life, but the pious man responds: if you wouldn't interrupt a human king, how much more so the King of Kings? The general is appeased, and the man departs in peace.Rabbi Wolbe emphasizes "da lifnei mi atah omed" (know before Whom you stand) as the essence of prayer: an intimate, uninterrupted conversation with the Creator, more important than perfect wording. He shares personal anecdotes (e.g., praying slowly alone in an empty shul) and stresses creating a "bubble" of focus amid distractions, while praising the beauty of children in synagogue as the future generation. The episode includes a touching tribute to his grandmother Rivka bas Avrohom (author of Faith in the Night), whose life exemplified unwavering faith amid Holocaust horrors, and reflections on empowering others through belief in their greatness._____________The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan MarbinRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios to a live audience on November 7, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on December 26, 2025_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-talmudist-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1648951154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cZ7q9bGYSBYSPQfJvwgzmShare your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content._____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Talmud, #Berachot, #Prayer, #Conversation, #JewishFaith, #HolocaustSurvivor, #Spirituality ★ Support this podcast ★

In this powerful Thinking Talmudist episode on Berachot 32b, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explores the depth and intensity of prayer through a dramatic Talmudic story of a pious man so immersed in Shemoneh Esrei that he ignores a Roman general's greeting—risking death—because he is conversing directly with Hashem. The general, furious at being snubbed, quotes Torah verses about protecting one's life, but the pious man responds: if you wouldn't interrupt a human king, how much more so the King of Kings? The general is appeased, and the man departs in peace.Rabbi Wolbe emphasizes "da lifnei mi atah omed" (know before Whom you stand) as the essence of prayer: an intimate, uninterrupted conversation with the Creator, more important than perfect wording. He shares personal anecdotes (e.g., praying slowly alone in an empty shul) and stresses creating a "bubble" of focus amid distractions, while praising the beauty of children in synagogue as the future generation. The episode includes a touching tribute to his grandmother Rivka bas Avrohom (author of Faith in the Night), whose life exemplified unwavering faith amid Holocaust horrors, and reflections on empowering others through belief in their greatness._____________The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan MarbinRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios to a live audience on November 7, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on December 26, 2025_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-talmudist-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1648951154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cZ7q9bGYSBYSPQfJvwgzmShare your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content._____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Talmud, #Berachot, #Prayer, #Conversation, #JewishFaith, #HolocaustSurvivor, #Spirituality ★ Support this podcast ★

Joyce discusses the Australian Prime Ministers reaction to the recent Jihad murders of Jews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode discusses why Binyamin and Yosef cried about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and Mishkan Shiloh when they met.

As a third generation Holocaust survivor, this was an important conversation with a second generation survivor. Marty has been conducting workshops on writing memory for quite a while and that's where we met - in his workshops with Jewish Ethiopians in Israel. Son of the Shoah: Poems from a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor is his emotional reckoning with his parents and the world as being born into a world of pain and distance. At times I saw my own parents in the discussion and at times I would hear my friend whose family is descended from Jews tortured in the Inquisitions.  This was an intimate and powerful discussion which will help the field of memory and Holocaust studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (U Toronto Press, 2025) challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors – including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck – whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide. Drawing on extensive archival research, this groundbreaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust. By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential – not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Daily Dose of Hope December 26, 2025   Scripture – Acts 25   Prayer:  Heavenly Father, you are almighty and all-powerful.  You are God of all and yet you care for us.  Thank you, Lord.  Help us settle our scattered thoughts and be silent before you...Thank you, Jesus.  Please guide us as we reflect on your Word today.  Meet us in the midst of our reading and this devotional.  In Your Name, Amen.    Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  I hope you had a great Christmas day yesterday!  We have been on a wonderful journey of reading and reflecting on Scripture over the last eight months, specifically the four Gospels and the book of Acts.  After today, we only have three more days in Acts.  We will take a brief break and then we will begin again on January 5, 2026, to walk through the letters of Paul in chronological order.  I hope you will join us for that as well.   Today, we are working through Acts 25.  Paul's on-going custody and trial continues in this chapter. Felix was recalled to Rome to handle some other events. The man who followed him died after just two years and now we find ourselves introduced to the new governor, Festus. So this means that Paul has been in custody for over two years!   Festus quickly demonstrates that, while he will listen to the Jewish leaders' accusations against Paul, he will not be bullied by them. He appears to want to give Paul a fair hearing once again. Now, the Jews were accusing Paul of both religious and civil offenses. Even if he were not innocent, this raises red flags among the Roman authorities. So Paul uses last card, an appeal to Caesar himself, which was his right to do as a Roman citizen. This also means the Gospel message will now move further up the government ladder. God is at work here.  Think of all the people along this journey that are being exposed to the Gospel message – people at every level of government and society.   I do want to point out Paul's faith here.  He is unwavering.  He knows what going back to Jerusalem would mean and he stands firmly against it.  While we don't have specific Scripture to demonstrate this, we can assume that Paul feels God leading him to go to Caesar.  Paul didn't do anything without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We can safely assume that he is praying, listening, and obeying. AND trusting!   What do you learn from Paul's example here?  If you were being accused of an injustice, how would you handle the situation?   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust (U Toronto Press, 2025) challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors – including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck – whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide. Drawing on extensive archival research, this groundbreaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust. By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential – not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies

As a third generation Holocaust survivor, this was an important conversation with a second generation survivor. Marty has been conducting workshops on writing memory for quite a while and that's where we met - in his workshops with Jewish Ethiopians in Israel. Son of the Shoah: Poems from a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor is his emotional reckoning with his parents and the world as being born into a world of pain and distance. At times I saw my own parents in the discussion and at times I would hear my friend whose family is descended from Jews tortured in the Inquisitions.  This was an intimate and powerful discussion which will help the field of memory and Holocaust studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies

Chabad Chassidus is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the Jew's central purpose as a unifying link between the Creator and His world. Written by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, Tanya is the central text of Chabad Chassidus. It shows the reader a path to realizing their purpose and developing a deeper relationship with G-d. Choose from one of the two formats available: through Lessons in Tanya - a profound and clear explanation of the Alter Rebbe's writings, or through an audio class.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32Support the show, a product of Hope Media: https://hope1032.com.au/donate/2211A-pod/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a third generation Holocaust survivor, this was an important conversation with a second generation survivor. Marty has been conducting workshops on writing memory for quite a while and that's where we met - in his workshops with Jewish Ethiopians in Israel. Son of the Shoah: Poems from a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor is his emotional reckoning with his parents and the world as being born into a world of pain and distance. At times I saw my own parents in the discussion and at times I would hear my friend whose family is descended from Jews tortured in the Inquisitions.  This was an intimate and powerful discussion which will help the field of memory and Holocaust studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/poetry

Parashat Mi-ketz [Genesis 41:1-44::17] is the second parashah in the extended Joseph saga, which stretches over 4 parashiyot, taking us to the end of Genesis in two weeks. This year, it coincides with Rosh Hodesh and Hanukkah, an occurrence which happens with some frequency. In 1991, this triple Torah header took place on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and my senior sermon. It allowed me to begin by noting this was the Jewish version of Torah Torah Torah. I spoke then of the butler's confession, et hatta'i ani mazkir ha-yom, My sins I mention today. The midrash pays attention to the plural, sins, noting that the butler sinned against Pharaoh, which caused him to be sent to jail, and he sinned against Joseph by letting him languish in jail after promising to mention him at the end of last week's parashah. It occurred to me only recently that the butler had in mind his sin against Joseph does not make a great deal sense; what is the value of a public confession when the person sinned against is not even present. Rather, I now think, the butler recognized that his sins against Pharaoh were more numerous than he previously acknowledged. We often see ourselves as more sinned against than sinning, more deserving of being forgiven than forgiving those who have wronged us. In this reading, the butler is more worthy of praise because he is taking on more responsibility, rather than less. Our conversation focused on the character of Joseph, in someways the quintessential diaspora Jew, yearning to be at home and never quite fitting in. He is also one of the more fully drawn characters in the Bible, and his portrait is quite complex. We hope you enjoy it! We continue to keep in mind the one hostage whose body has yet to be returned, may he be returned speedily to his family. We also have in mind the soldiers defending Israel as members of the Israel Defense Forces. Shabbat Shalom. Hodesh Tov. Hag Urim Same'ah.

On Today's Show: Merry Christmas! Dennis marvels at the controversy that has surrounded the celebration of Christmas as a national holiday for the last decade. He explains why he loves the Christmas season and why the expression of the Christmas spirit with its special songs and gift-exchange is important to our national well-being . He also explains why Christmas is disliked by the Grinch crowd.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Read OnlineJesus said to his disciples: “Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.” Matthew 10:17–18These words capture the essence of the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, the Church's first martyr, whom we honor today. The day after celebrating the birth of Christ, the Church, in her wisdom, reflects on the reality of persecution as a consequence of worshiping the newborn King.The Jewish community in Jerusalem was diverse, with traditional Hebraic Jews and Hellenistic Jews who were influenced by the Greco-Roman culture. As Jews began to convert to Christianity, a new unified community of believers emerged. Despite this unity, tensions arose, particularly when Hellenistic widows were neglected in the daily distribution of bread. To address this, the Apostles appointed seven deacons, with Stephen being the first, likely a Hellenist himself.Stephen, described as “a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,” performed great wonders among the people. When confronted by Hellenistic Jews, he defended the faith with wisdom and courage, leading to his being dragged before the Sanhedrin. His eloquent defense angered his opponents, resulting in his stoning. In his final moments, Stephen commended his spirit to Jesus and prayed for his persecutors.At first, his martyrdom seemed a tragic loss that sparked a wave of persecution and scattered the Christian community throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. This dispersion, however, spread the Gospel beyond Jerusalem, leading to many new converts. What appeared to be a tragedy became a catalyst for the growth of the early Church.As we honor Saint Stephen, reflect on the truth that God permits evil only to draw greater good from it. If you face suffering or persecution, let today's feast inspire hope. Trust in God's plan, reject fear, and embrace His will, knowing that He can use every cross for His glory. Saint Stephen, you were a man filled with grace and power, deeply committed to Jesus and the proclamation of the Gospel. Please pray for me, that I will have your courage and faith so that God can use me to further His Kingdom by drawing many souls to Him. Saint Stephen, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Image: Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” — Isaiah 7:14 Let us to-day go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him, […]

Yonit and Jonathan explore the intersection of Jewish identity and Christmas traditions, discussing how Jews navigate the holiday season, the cultural significance of Christmas in Israel, and the impact of Christmas films on perceptions of the holiday. They delve into the complexities of assimilation, the evolution of Jewish customs around Christmas, and the portrayal of Christmas in popular culture. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How can you clearly find Jesus Christ in the Old Testament without getting lost in its difficult passages? Dr. Josh Sears explores practical ways to identify Jesus Christ in the Old Testament through prophecy symbolic scripture and modern prophetic guidance bring clarity to challenging passages.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/S-9CBYZxe9EALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIM.coFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook  WEEKLY NEWSLETTER https://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter  SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE00:00 Part 1 - Dr. Josh Sears01:28 Dr. Sears in IsraelO3:01 Dr. Sears bio05:03 Challenges to reading the Hebrew Bible06:45 Come, Follow Me Manual09:56 Types and shadows16:43 The Hebrew Bible through a Christian lens19:36 The name of God22:28 Premortal Jesus26:23 An example in Isaiah29:50 Roles of Jesus Christ33:47 How would a Jew read this?35:36 Capital L-O-R-D37:44 Jesus sounding “Christlike”40:53 Amping up rhetoric44:12 Wisdom from Panaca, Nevada46:56  Different translations49:48 The Pirate Bible51:43 Restoration scripture informs the Hebrew Bible56:27 Jesus has a plan59:25 New articles on Church website 01:03:06 Examples of changing verses01:06:02  End of Part 1 - Dr. Josh SearsThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

It's Christmas Eve. A holiday celebrated by 2.4 billion people around the world, which centers on a 2,000-year-old story about a Jewish man born in Bethlehem who became a rabbi, who the Romans would later execute in Jerusalem.  But what most people don't know is that the first people who believed in Jesus did not think they were starting a new religion. They were a small group of Jews who thought of themselves as history's last generation, with Jesus as their Messiah. Of course, as we all know now, they were not history's last generation. Instead, they became history's first Christians. How did that happen? When did Christ's followers begin to see themselves as distinct and separate from Judaism? Why did some Jews refuse to accept Christ as the Messiah? And how was that refusal, and the anti-Judaism of the early Christians, directly connected to the antisemitism burning across the globe today? These first few centuries are essential for understanding not just Christianity and Judaism, but the way ideas spread, and why many of the ideas of this period—good ones, and also some very bad ones—still persist in our world today. My guest today, Paula Fredriksen, has spent her career studying this period of history. She is one of the world's leading scholars of early Christianity and the author of many books including: When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation, Paul: The Pagans' Apostle, and Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years.  Paula was born in Rhode Island and now lives in Jerusalem, just 20 minutes from Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified.   This conversation is a Christmas special you won't want to miss. The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all  book links in this article. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices