10-01-07 Sunday - Bible Study with the Homies at Twin Towers

       

On the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, per request, I ended up engaging in Bible Study with the homies - stated former gang members at Twin Towers Jail of the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California.  Such study was under less than perfect conditions, since access was denied to any books, papers or pens.  Regardless of the deficiencies, we engaged in a free flowing discussion, which ended up going along the following lines:

1. History of translations of the Hebrew and Greek portions of the Christian Bible, limitations of such translations, the history of prohibition on translations to vernaculars, and the revolutionary nature of translations to English (King James) and to German (Luther).
2. The close relationship between the words of Jesus in the Greek Bible and the words of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible.  The fact that Isaiah was by far the Hebrew Bible book most quoted by Jesus, and likewise, the most popular book among the fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  That the writings of Isaiah and other prophets, centered on social justice, were the foundation of Jewish faith at the time of Jesus. 
3. The concept of Critical Bible Studies, two books of Isaiah, various sources for Genesis.
4. Apocryphal and heterodox Gospels,  the Nicene Council, the interpretation of Jesus Christ in the various Gospels, including the heterodox Gospel of John.
5. Hebrew Bible apocrypha, and the Talmudic debate regarding Esther, Daniel, Song of Solomon. 
6. The concepts of Infinity and Nothingness.
7. The teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Braslov - in particular the Tale of the Lost Princess  and the Tale of Seven Beggars.  I was requested to recount the Tale of Seven Beggars, but felt unqualified to do so absent a book to read from.  However, I promised to provide the online references for the tales, so here we go:

Links:

1) Rabbi Nachman's Tales:

http://www.shuvubonim.org/ravn.html

The Tale of the Seven Beggars.
http://www.shuvubonim.org/storysb.html
The Tale of the Lost Princess.

http://www.shuvubonim.org/storylp.html