Something New at TorahResource – The Deal of the Day

We have introduced a new feature at the TorahResource website. Monday thru Friday the home page will feature the Deal of the Day. A different product will be chosen each day and offered at a reduced cost—sometimes $5 off, or $10 off, or even more. Check it out!

You'll also find a "Deal of the Day" category in the navigation bar on the Home page of our online store. Click on it to see what's for sale on that day and what the savings are.

Write a Review & Receive a $5 Gift Certificate

Did you know that you can write a review of a product at our online store? Just select a product, scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll see a button that allows you to write a review. During the month of August, if you write a review, we'll send you a $5 Gift Certificate that you can use for any product in our store. (Only one $5 Gift Certificate per customer, but please feel free to review as many products as you like.)

New Phone Number for TRI – 888-547-8889

We now have a Toll-Free phone number specifically for TRI Student Services and Information – 888-547-8889
Please feel free to give us a call if you have questions. You can also contact Student Services & Information via email at: gspringer @ torahresource.com

Registration is Under Way for Fall Classes

Registration for the Fall Classes at TRI began on August 1. The Fall Quarter at TRI begins September 6, with orientation beginning August 29. The Classes being offered in the Fall Quarter are:

501Hist – Judaisms of the First Century (3 Qtr hrs) – Instructor Rob Vanhoff
501BibSt – How We Got Our Bible (3 Qtr hrs) – Instructor Tim Hegg
501Bib – Studies in the Parashot I (1 Qtr hr ) – All TRI Instructors
501Heb – Beginning Hebrew Grammar I (2 Qtr Hrs) – Instructor Tim Hegg
501Grk – Beginning Greek Grammar I (2 Qtr Hrs) – Instructor Rob Vanhoff

Go to the TRI Website for further information.

TRI Catalog Available

The academic catalog for 2011–2012 is now available at the TRI website for download. (Click here for a direct link to download the catalog.) The Catalog outlines the core courses for the three Programs being offered, as well as a Course Description of all the classes, information on tuition, policies, FAQ, and more.

We would also be happy to send you a Catalog in the mail. Just go to "Request Information" on the TRI Website and fill out the form, checking the appropriate box.

Seminar at Ohr Yeshua Messianic Synagogue in Florida

Tim Hegg will be teaching a three day seminar, August 26–28, hosted by Ohr Yeshua Messianic Synagogue in Bradenton, Florida. Topics to be covered in the Seminar will be: Our Identity in Yeshua; A Fundamental Principle in Bible Interpretation; What's New About the New Covenant?; The Deity of Yeshua; Discernment in an Age of Misinformation; and The Glory of His Name. Contact Rabbi Gary Beresford (941–755–0001) for more information.

"Great is Your Faithfulness" – Thots on Tisha B'Av
by Tim Hegg

(Click here to download a pdf copy of this essay.)

Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av, which falls this year on August 9) is a day in the history of Israel that is filled with destruction. Here’s a list:

1. According to traditional reckoning, on this day the spies brought back their evil report and persuaded the people of Israel not to go up into the Land as God had commanded them to do.
2. On this very day Nebuchadnezzar and his troops destroyed Solomon’s Temple (the 1st Temple).
3. On this very day Titus destroyed the 2nd Temple.
4. In 135 CE, on this very day, Bar Kochba and his troops were slaughtered, ending the 2nd Jewish revolt.
5. On this very day the Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered Jerusalem to be plowed under and a new, pagan city built on its place (Aelia Capitolina).

In modern times other bad things happened to our people on this day as well.

1. According to some traditions, the 1st Crusade began in 1095 CE on this day. It was a war of the Christians against the Turks who had captured Jerusalem. Eventually the European armies captured Jerusalem, killing the entire population, and claiming the entire region, now known as Israel, as a Christian state.
2. In 1290 CE, on Tisha b’Av, King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England.
3. Incredibly, on this same day, in 1492 CE, all the Jews were expelled from Spain.
4. In 1555 CE, Pope Paul IV decreed that all Jews should be moved into a ghetto.
5. In 1914, on August 1, which was Tishah b’Av in the Hebrew calendar, the German ambassador to Russia formally declared war, and World War I began.
6. And, on July 22, 1942 (which also was the beginning of Tishah b’Av), the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto were ordered deported to the death camps, a move that marked a significant beginning of Hitler’s “Final Solution.”

For this reason, the 9th of Av has become a day of fasting in the Jewish calendar and a day of prayer to seek God's protection and favor. It also is a long-standing tradition to read the book of Lamentations ('Eicha) on Tisha b'Av because it is composed of mournful laments over the destruction of the First Temple. Lamentations is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah (witnesses of the Jeremiah authorship include: the Lxx, the Vulgate, the Bavli [b.Bava Batra 15a], the Targum on Jer 1:1, and the Old Latin and Syriac versions).

The poems which make up the book of Lamentations are modeled after funeral dirges of the Ancient Near East, which follow a common form. They express the excellence of the deceased and contrast this with the sorrow his or her death has brought. In Lamentations, the "deceased one" is Jerusalem and the Temple, the former glory of which has past. As the prophet looks on, the dusty rubble of the destroyed city is a sober witness of the destruction and a stark contrast to the former glory of the Holy City.

But the book of Lamentations contains more than laments over the destruction of the Temple. It also makes it clear that though the destruction came by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies, Israel's God was the One Who decreed the destruction against His wayward people:

How Adonai has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger. (2:1)

Adonai determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying, and He has caused rampart and wall to lament; they have languished together. (2:8)

Yet in His righteous anger, Adonai has not acted unfaithfully, nor has He gone back on His promises (2:17). Indeed, the severe discipline of His people proves His love (cp. Amos 3:2), and so the prophet turns in his mourning to seek the favor of God because he knows that the Holy One of Israel is faithful to His word.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Adonai's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "Adonai is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him." (3:21–24)

How is it that so many mournful events have happened to our people on this same day throughout history? Is it just an uncanny coincidence? Of course not! In fact, that Tisha b'Av is marked throughout our history as a day upon which destruction has come upon us is proof beyond doubt that the God Who controls history has His attention upon His chosen people. "For whom Adonai loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights" (Prov 3:12). Indeed, Tisha b'Av stands as irrefutable proof that the God of Israel is the One in control, and that He continues to call HIs people back to Himself. Thus, Jeremiah ends his Lamentations with a prayer for the return of Israel:

Restore us to You, Adonai, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old… (5:21)

This Tisha b'Av, as we fast, pray, and contemplate the awesome acts of God, may our hearts likewise be strengthened to cling to Him all the more and to trust His faithfulness for our future and the future of our people.