When I heard that an Israeli citizen and member of the Chabad community had been murdered in a mass shooting in Montreal’s Jewish district recently, my thoughts immediately turned to my father. My dad...
First, I would like to thank each of you for subscribing to Dinah Explores Biblical Patterns. Your financial support is a tremendous blessing and helps make this ministry possible. From time to time, I...
As I was studying this week’s Torah portion, Korah, I expected to encounter the familiar themes of rebellion, priesthood, and judgment. What I did not expect was to find myself back in Matthew 27....
A Note to Readers:This article begins a new series exploring Matthew’s account of the crucifixion and resurrection. What started as a study of the torn veil has expanded into a larger investigation of sacred...
The framework that once carried Christianity through American life is collapsing. In the decades following World War II, churches existed within a society that largely reinforced a Christian worldview. Schools, neighborhoods, civic institutions, entertainment,...
One of the most enduring themes in Scripture is the conflict between brothers. The biblical story repeatedly returns to rivalry, jealousy, wounded honor, and the struggle over inheritance and covenant identity. Cain and Abel....
There is a pattern that runs like a deep current shaping Scripture from beginning to end. In the ancient world, a temple was never built in the absence of conflict. A temple always followed...
UPGRADE The ancient world did not divide reality into natural and supernatural categories. That distinction belongs to a later way of thinking—one shaped by modern assumptions about a closed universe governed by impersonal forces....
Each year on Yom Kippur, two goats stood before the high priest in Jerusalem—one chosen “for the Lord,” the other designated “for Azazel,” the wilderness goat figure associated in early Jewish tradition with chaos,...
The Roman Empire was built on a foundation of power, rank, and humiliation. To keep order across vast territories, Rome relied on a system that shamed the weak and exalted the powerful. Public humiliation...