To Know Torah - The Book of Genesis: To Understand the Weekly Parasha. Modern Reading in the Peshat of the Torah and its Ideas

Dig deep into the plain meaning of the Bible’s stories and commandments

Would you like to know what the Old Testament (Pentateuch) is all about from a Jewish point of view? This book reveals the morals, ethics, and ideas behind the stories and commandments of one of the oldest books in the history of mankind – a book that serves as the foundation of Jewish and Christian religion. Given the difficult Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written and how challenging it is to translate and to explain, the author wanted to offer to the reader the simple meaning of the text (p’shat) in accessible and friendly language.

The Book of Genesis is opened before you – from a Jewish perspective

The series includes 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Book 1, Genesis tells the stories of the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, the three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and their families, and their journey from Canaan to Egypt.

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Dr. Chamiel's doctoral dissertation was later published by Carmel Publishers in Hebrew and then translated to English as The Middle Way: The Emergence of Modern-Religious Trends in Nineteenth-Century Judaism, by Academic Studies Press. His work on The Middle Way, which focuses on European Jewish thought in the 19th century required Dr. Chamiel to become intimately familiar with the modern Torah commentaries penned by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Samuel David Luzzatto. This sparked his desire to bring their thought and commentaries to the attention of the public. At the same time, he was aware that biblical Hebrew becoming more distant and difficult for speakers of the modern language, making it difficult for readers to follow a line-by-line commentary. This motivated his efforts to communicate the intentions of Scripture to the modern reader in a clear concise manner, free of mystical or philosophical speculation, and homiletical interpretation. His goal was to encourage the student to read the original text, and attempt to delve deeply into both the text and the commentaries to which he refers in the notes throughout the book. Although the notes refer primarily to his preferred interpretation, they also reference other important perspectives, and sometimes present comparisons to interpretations he rejects. Deep study of the text and notes allows the reader and student to achieve a relatively broad perspective on the simple meaning of the text and the biblical worldview, on issues that interest him or difficulties he finds in the text. This type of study will help the reader prepare a lesson or sermon appropriate for his audience. May this book merit to increase the study of Torah, the most valuable asset of the Jewish people, the first book on the Jewish bookshelf, and the foundation for all Jewish thought throughout the generations.