Intended audience and material included on the site
This internet site – Orthoprax Judaism – is devoted to Biblical and Jewish studies. The site is intended to be a study site in which people can study in a serious way about the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish tradition. The site is obviously intended in the main, though not exclusively, for a Jewish audience. I hope that Jews of all backgrounds, across the spectrum ranging from secular to ultra-orthodox, will enter the site to learn about their tradition and heritage. I also hope that there will be non-Jews who will enter the site to study – the Hebrew Bible is a foundation not only of the Jewish tradition but of the western culture; and, aside from the fact that there may be non-Jews who are interested in learning about Judaism, in the material that I present as a teacher of Jewish studies I am dealing with issues of universal importance concerning religion (such as the issue of what it means to be religious).
What is of importance to me as a teacher of Jewish studies is not whether one agrees or disagrees with material that I present. I am always curious to know whether people agree or disagree with material that I present – however, what is most important to me as a teacher is to cause one to think and to examine one’s own viewpoints and orientation, to broaden horizons and to inspire to further study.
This internet site will include in the main 3 things. First, as a teacher of Jewish studies, I have authored 5 books – one on the Hebrew Bible and the others on Judaism – that are ready for publication. The first book on the Hebrew Bible has been published, and at various times in the future the other books on Judaism will be published. I will not myself be selling my books over the internet site, but there is a link to the purchasing of my first book on the Bible – Reconciling a Contradictory Abraham – on my home page of this site. I hope very much that people will read my books not out of any financial interest. I am investing financially in the publishing of my books, and I do not expect to profit from the books. But, what is important to me is that people read the books because they have been written from the deepest part of my heart out of a great love for the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition. My books, like material that I present on this internet site, are not meant to convey any personal message of mine as a thinker or philosopher, as I am not a thinker or philosopher and have no original philosophic thought of my own. My books and material that I present in general are intended to convey what I understand as a teacher of Jewish studies to be the nature of the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish tradition.
Second, this internet site will include reading material of two sorts. There will be longer articles, which are summaries of material from my books containing excerpts from the books or material based upon material in the books. The obvious question is whether this summary material in these articles can be read without reading the books, and the answer is that most certainly the material can be read without reading the books. But, the books contain much elaboration upon the summary material, and much additional material not included in the summaries so that I hope that people will not read the summary material in place of the books but as a supplement to the books (either as preparation prior to reading the books or as reinforcement after reading the books). At the present time there are 9 such articles, and I do not anticipate adding any more articles of this nature, though my plans could change. At least at the present time, these articles are enough in my opinion. There will also be shorter articles that I am calling blogs, which will be issued once every few weeks. I anticipate that over the next few months there will be about 20 or so such articles – again, I may decide in the future to add more, but at least at this time this is my plan to have about 20 such articles.
Third, this internet site will include video classes in Biblical and Jewish studies – in the main containing material not found in my books or in the reading material of this site. I do not anticipate having any definite number of such videos, and I will produce them slowly to be issued once every few weeks. I will try to limit the length of the videos to approximately 30 minutes or so, and if a particular subject demands more time than this I will try to divide the subject into segments in which there may be more than one video of about 30 minutes.