I went looking for wisdom everywhere — except Judaism. Then I joined a weekly Torah study group and realized I had spent years searching for something I had inherited at birth.
I've literally just come to this realisation that my own tradition contains all the wisdom I have been seeking elsewhere, after spending a lifetime avoiding it or skirting around the edges.
Understand this article. As a Catholic I learn something new everytime I open my Bible just as the writer learns something new when he studies the Torah. All this means is that the Lord God or Yahweh has been speaking to us for thousands of years IF we pay attention.
You say you learn something new every time you open your Bible. That is good—but the question is whether what you learn aligns with what Yahweh actually commanded. The article shows that Genesis 8:21 in the Hebrew speaks of the yetzer (inclination) of humanity's heart being evil from youth—from birth, as Rashi confirms. This is not a "Fall" doctrine. It is the human condition as created, addressed by mitzvot.
The Septuagint shifts the language to dianoia (mind) set upon evil, turning nature into behavior. But even the Greek does not teach inherited sin. That idea comes from Augustine and Calvin, not from Moses.
You say Yahweh has spoken for thousands of years if we pay attention. Agreed. But He spoke at Sinai—before Catholicism existed. He gave Torah—not a catechism. He commanded Shabbat, not Sunday. He forbade images, not icons. He defined atonement through sacrifice and repentance, not through a crucified man.
If Yahweh has been speaking all along, then the question is simple: are we listening to Him, or to centuries of tradition that replaced His word? Torah-only means returning to what He actually said—not what others later claimed He meant.
Josh, this is absolutely the best explanation of Torah study for a secular Jewish circle that I've ever seen. It's perfect- you really get it and serve it up like the amazing spiritual repast and invitation to the Pardes Rimonim that Talmud Torah is- can you visit my shul and share your wisdom with my congregation? Get in touch with me- Yeshar Ko'ach and FANTASTIC!!!
Exactly. At Synagogue one Shabbat I joked to my friend that our Jewish religion is actually a book club where we read and discuss the same book over and over again every year. The best part of every service is the Torah reading. It's amazing how you can hear the exact same portion year after year, but actually each time you hear and read it, it's different and you're different.
We have a Menonite friend and when we were visiting her, we went to their church service. I noticed that the preacher / vicar / religious leader had chosen something from the Bible, read it and related it to something. After the service I asked her, how do they manage to read the whole Bible. She answered, they just get the bits and peices that the preacher chooses unless one goes to Bible study. I told her that we divide the Old Testament (Five Books of Moes) into weekly portions so that we read the whole thing every year, along with some of the rest because of the bits related to the portion of the wek read from Prophets, Kings etc. She was amazed.
For somebody who is not a Jew one of the things I continually miss in the Jewish Bible is appreciation for the significance of names. As an English speaker who doesn’t speak Hebrew and knows little Jewish history except what I’ve read in the Bible. I don’t understand what the names mean and so I miss a lot of connections.
For example, recently I was reading about Absalom, betrayal of David, and as I did a little digging, I realize that Absolom means peace of the father or the father‘s piece, which is a hugely ironic name in light of Absolom aggression against his father.
Thanks for your reflection here about the Torah. It was wonderfully written.
I was re-reading the Tanach and realized that myself! My knowledge of Hebrew is very limited. My Tanach has English on one side and Hebrew in the other, and once in a while I look at the Hebrew and see if I can pick out anything interesting, such as how the names are in Hebrew.
And I realized Absalom was (In Hebrew) Av-Shalom.
I wasn't sure what Av was, but Shalom is one of the most well-known words in Hebrew, meaning Peace, and also used for hello and goodbye.
I asked my Rabbi about Av. He said father, or father of. ("Dad is Abbah or Avah, I suppose, if you use a soft "vet" (like a V) instead of a hard "bet" (like a "B") and the only difference between those two letters is a dot in the middle. (It's essentially the same letter with two possible pronunciations.).
So Absalom is Av-Shalom, and his name is father of peace.
I am very happy for you opening up to the intellectual and complex wisdom of the Bible! The Torah for me is just the first 5 books, as in Israeli regular (non- religious) educational system, we enjoyed covering almost all the books, including the Solomonic creations — “”Song of Songs” romanticism, “Proverbs” of middle aged Man’s wisdom, and “Ecclesiastical” acceptance of the temporary nature of life and the inevitability of departure. We absorbed the histories of Kings and Prophets, the dramas and tragedies of wars, defeats and destructions, and some resurrections of Jewish independence, before this seminal biblical narrative ends and history proper begins. And we had to pass the government matriculation exams on this subject too, from which I still remember the specific Psalm we never studied in class, analyzing it for poetic style, period of its composition, and hypotheses by whom it would have been composed. It was intellectual fun!
We learned some parts for verbal recitations, e.g., “David’s Lament for the Defeat of and Deaths of the first monarchy of Israel in the Battle of the Gilbo’a Hills by the Hand of the Philistines”. And carefully descending down these Hills towards the Valley of Yizrael from Samaria, parched yellow-dry in August 1970, I’m sure all members of our navigating squad could recall the above lament, in which David, the future King of Israel, curses the Gilbo’a Hills for being the site of this disaster with “no rain and no dew” for millennia, suring the Israeli summer.
In high school, I enjoyed atheistically a glimpse of the Talmud, in the year that led to the “6th Day War,” and the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, making the “Only Land” of my generation more complete, alas, not less demanding of determination and sacrifice.
You are 100% right, and Torah is God instruction, and like you found it is good document, everything God made is better than good, in fact the best, the greatest, have you thought about how the world will be, if we all read Torah and practice it. I am a Nigerian an Ibo(Igbo) tribe, we practice Torah without reading it, for example, we circumcise our boys on the eighth day of their birth. But when l was a teenager in high school in Nigeria, we had a teacher, l think from the other tribes, and he was our religious teacher, we were studying New Testament and he said something about The Lord Jesus Christ, that we didn’t like, though we were taught to be respectful to our elders, we got mad, and revolted against our teacher, in defense of King Jesus Christ, we new, that King Jesus Christ is our brother, and we don’t know how we knew that, lately we found out that, we are the tribe of Gad, one of the tribes of Israel. That some people of Israel, left Egypt and migrated to Niger in west Africa. So we missed the wilderness experience. The Torah was supposed to be our school master until King Jesus Christ came. Now some of our families of Israel are waiting for the Messiah. But King Jesus Christ is our True Messiah because l used to resist Christian faith but one faithful day l went to their meeting, was mad initially, finally came to prayer to get saved, knelt down for prayer and saw a vision of myself in Hell, terrified and cried out to God, then saw King Jesus Christ and He caught and took me out of Hell and saved me and my life was changed for the best, from that day, l started preaching and telling people, my experience, Hell is real and King Jesus Christ saves from Hell.
Bridget, your story is moving, and your Igbo heritage is fascinating. The oral traditions your people preserved—circumcision on the eighth day, reverence for the God of Israel—echo the covenant in ways many have forgotten. That is worth honoring.
But I must speak plainly from Torah. You say you resisted the Christian faith, then had a vision of hell and were saved by Jesus. I do not doubt your sincerity. But visions are not the standard. The Torah is.
Deuteronomy 13 warns that even if a prophet gives signs and wonders, if he leads you away from the God of your fathers and His commandments, do not listen. The test is not spiritual experience—it is whether the teaching aligns with what Yahweh already spoke at Sinai.
You call Jesus your Messiah and brother. But Torah says the Messiah will build the Temple, gather Israel, and bring universal peace (Ezekiel 37, Isaiah 11). None of this happened.
If you are truly of Gad, then return to the covenant of your ancestors. Not a vision. Not a feeling. But Shema Yisrael—hear, O Israel, Yahweh is One.
There is something so powerful about searching far and wide for wisdom, only to discover that some of what we have been seeking has been waiting for us within our own spiritual inheritance. I love the idea that faith can be less about acquiring answers and more about returning, questioning, and discovering what has been there all along. Thank you for sharing this. ❤️
Great article Joshua. Reminds me of something my older brother told me several decades ago when he was studying in Yeshiva “Jews have the best thing right under their noses but don’t realize it!” My brother was referring to the teachings, lessons and wisdom of the Torah stufy. As others here have correctly stated Kol Hakavod!
I've literally just come to this realisation that my own tradition contains all the wisdom I have been seeking elsewhere, after spending a lifetime avoiding it or skirting around the edges.
Written with your usual eloquence and brilliance, Joshua!
Understand this article. As a Catholic I learn something new everytime I open my Bible just as the writer learns something new when he studies the Torah. All this means is that the Lord God or Yahweh has been speaking to us for thousands of years IF we pay attention.
Torah Logos: A Torah-Only Response
You say you learn something new every time you open your Bible. That is good—but the question is whether what you learn aligns with what Yahweh actually commanded. The article shows that Genesis 8:21 in the Hebrew speaks of the yetzer (inclination) of humanity's heart being evil from youth—from birth, as Rashi confirms. This is not a "Fall" doctrine. It is the human condition as created, addressed by mitzvot.
The Septuagint shifts the language to dianoia (mind) set upon evil, turning nature into behavior. But even the Greek does not teach inherited sin. That idea comes from Augustine and Calvin, not from Moses.
You say Yahweh has spoken for thousands of years if we pay attention. Agreed. But He spoke at Sinai—before Catholicism existed. He gave Torah—not a catechism. He commanded Shabbat, not Sunday. He forbade images, not icons. He defined atonement through sacrifice and repentance, not through a crucified man.
If Yahweh has been speaking all along, then the question is simple: are we listening to Him, or to centuries of tradition that replaced His word? Torah-only means returning to what He actually said—not what others later claimed He meant.
Josh, this is absolutely the best explanation of Torah study for a secular Jewish circle that I've ever seen. It's perfect- you really get it and serve it up like the amazing spiritual repast and invitation to the Pardes Rimonim that Talmud Torah is- can you visit my shul and share your wisdom with my congregation? Get in touch with me- Yeshar Ko'ach and FANTASTIC!!!
I have literally BORED friends and family on this topic for years,
UNTIL they started to read a BIT
And now I can finally say
Told you!!!!
Terrific read Joshua , terrific
Exactly. At Synagogue one Shabbat I joked to my friend that our Jewish religion is actually a book club where we read and discuss the same book over and over again every year. The best part of every service is the Torah reading. It's amazing how you can hear the exact same portion year after year, but actually each time you hear and read it, it's different and you're different.
We have a Menonite friend and when we were visiting her, we went to their church service. I noticed that the preacher / vicar / religious leader had chosen something from the Bible, read it and related it to something. After the service I asked her, how do they manage to read the whole Bible. She answered, they just get the bits and peices that the preacher chooses unless one goes to Bible study. I told her that we divide the Old Testament (Five Books of Moes) into weekly portions so that we read the whole thing every year, along with some of the rest because of the bits related to the portion of the wek read from Prophets, Kings etc. She was amazed.
An absolutely brilliant reminder about how so much of we have been seeking can be found in what we've always had. Perfectly timed for the Days of Awe!
This article has me in tears. It’s genius is staggering
For somebody who is not a Jew one of the things I continually miss in the Jewish Bible is appreciation for the significance of names. As an English speaker who doesn’t speak Hebrew and knows little Jewish history except what I’ve read in the Bible. I don’t understand what the names mean and so I miss a lot of connections.
For example, recently I was reading about Absalom, betrayal of David, and as I did a little digging, I realize that Absolom means peace of the father or the father‘s piece, which is a hugely ironic name in light of Absolom aggression against his father.
Thanks for your reflection here about the Torah. It was wonderfully written.
I was re-reading the Tanach and realized that myself! My knowledge of Hebrew is very limited. My Tanach has English on one side and Hebrew in the other, and once in a while I look at the Hebrew and see if I can pick out anything interesting, such as how the names are in Hebrew.
And I realized Absalom was (In Hebrew) Av-Shalom.
I wasn't sure what Av was, but Shalom is one of the most well-known words in Hebrew, meaning Peace, and also used for hello and goodbye.
I asked my Rabbi about Av. He said father, or father of. ("Dad is Abbah or Avah, I suppose, if you use a soft "vet" (like a V) instead of a hard "bet" (like a "B") and the only difference between those two letters is a dot in the middle. (It's essentially the same letter with two possible pronunciations.).
So Absalom is Av-Shalom, and his name is father of peace.
Which as you mentioned -- tremendously ironic!
Great article, spot on. Torah is indeed the guide in our daily life in any given period of our short time on earth.
Kol hakavod 🖖
Joshua, incredibly meaningful. Beautifully explained. Thank you
Good day and Shalom Joshua!
I am very happy for you opening up to the intellectual and complex wisdom of the Bible! The Torah for me is just the first 5 books, as in Israeli regular (non- religious) educational system, we enjoyed covering almost all the books, including the Solomonic creations — “”Song of Songs” romanticism, “Proverbs” of middle aged Man’s wisdom, and “Ecclesiastical” acceptance of the temporary nature of life and the inevitability of departure. We absorbed the histories of Kings and Prophets, the dramas and tragedies of wars, defeats and destructions, and some resurrections of Jewish independence, before this seminal biblical narrative ends and history proper begins. And we had to pass the government matriculation exams on this subject too, from which I still remember the specific Psalm we never studied in class, analyzing it for poetic style, period of its composition, and hypotheses by whom it would have been composed. It was intellectual fun!
We learned some parts for verbal recitations, e.g., “David’s Lament for the Defeat of and Deaths of the first monarchy of Israel in the Battle of the Gilbo’a Hills by the Hand of the Philistines”. And carefully descending down these Hills towards the Valley of Yizrael from Samaria, parched yellow-dry in August 1970, I’m sure all members of our navigating squad could recall the above lament, in which David, the future King of Israel, curses the Gilbo’a Hills for being the site of this disaster with “no rain and no dew” for millennia, suring the Israeli summer.
In high school, I enjoyed atheistically a glimpse of the Talmud, in the year that led to the “6th Day War,” and the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, making the “Only Land” of my generation more complete, alas, not less demanding of determination and sacrifice.
Wishing you well!
Oscar
You are 100% right, and Torah is God instruction, and like you found it is good document, everything God made is better than good, in fact the best, the greatest, have you thought about how the world will be, if we all read Torah and practice it. I am a Nigerian an Ibo(Igbo) tribe, we practice Torah without reading it, for example, we circumcise our boys on the eighth day of their birth. But when l was a teenager in high school in Nigeria, we had a teacher, l think from the other tribes, and he was our religious teacher, we were studying New Testament and he said something about The Lord Jesus Christ, that we didn’t like, though we were taught to be respectful to our elders, we got mad, and revolted against our teacher, in defense of King Jesus Christ, we new, that King Jesus Christ is our brother, and we don’t know how we knew that, lately we found out that, we are the tribe of Gad, one of the tribes of Israel. That some people of Israel, left Egypt and migrated to Niger in west Africa. So we missed the wilderness experience. The Torah was supposed to be our school master until King Jesus Christ came. Now some of our families of Israel are waiting for the Messiah. But King Jesus Christ is our True Messiah because l used to resist Christian faith but one faithful day l went to their meeting, was mad initially, finally came to prayer to get saved, knelt down for prayer and saw a vision of myself in Hell, terrified and cried out to God, then saw King Jesus Christ and He caught and took me out of Hell and saved me and my life was changed for the best, from that day, l started preaching and telling people, my experience, Hell is real and King Jesus Christ saves from Hell.
A Torah-Only Response to Bridget Morah
Bridget, your story is moving, and your Igbo heritage is fascinating. The oral traditions your people preserved—circumcision on the eighth day, reverence for the God of Israel—echo the covenant in ways many have forgotten. That is worth honoring.
But I must speak plainly from Torah. You say you resisted the Christian faith, then had a vision of hell and were saved by Jesus. I do not doubt your sincerity. But visions are not the standard. The Torah is.
Deuteronomy 13 warns that even if a prophet gives signs and wonders, if he leads you away from the God of your fathers and His commandments, do not listen. The test is not spiritual experience—it is whether the teaching aligns with what Yahweh already spoke at Sinai.
You call Jesus your Messiah and brother. But Torah says the Messiah will build the Temple, gather Israel, and bring universal peace (Ezekiel 37, Isaiah 11). None of this happened.
If you are truly of Gad, then return to the covenant of your ancestors. Not a vision. Not a feeling. But Shema Yisrael—hear, O Israel, Yahweh is One.
There is something so powerful about searching far and wide for wisdom, only to discover that some of what we have been seeking has been waiting for us within our own spiritual inheritance. I love the idea that faith can be less about acquiring answers and more about returning, questioning, and discovering what has been there all along. Thank you for sharing this. ❤️
Great article Joshua. Reminds me of something my older brother told me several decades ago when he was studying in Yeshiva “Jews have the best thing right under their noses but don’t realize it!” My brother was referring to the teachings, lessons and wisdom of the Torah stufy. As others here have correctly stated Kol Hakavod!
This is a wonderful article. What part of Torah did you study?
Right now we are in Deuteronomy! :)