BEMA Discipleship
This program was introduced to me by a former mentor of mine, and was one of the primary igniters that jump-started my deconstruction of my faith journey, and its reconstruction into something that is more rabbinic and Israel-centric. I love the summary of their mission, which is "seeking to recapture some of these experiences through an attempt to return to a more ancient, rabbinic approach to discipleship. The podcast is a deconstructive study of the Scriptures." The four pillars of the program include: 1) Becoming "People of The Text"; 2) Studying in Community; 3) Developing Discipleship in your life; 4) Wrestling with the Tensions of the Hebrew faith.
Their content is created in a podcast format (similar to ours), and is a great starting point for those looking to get introduced into thinking with an Eastern mindset concerning the Biblical Text. Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are great people with an awesome platform, and have the same goals for ministering to the Western church as Paul and myself.
Sefaria
Sefaria has been a recent guilty pleasure of mine. Now that I know that there is value and treasures to be found about God and humanity in resources outside of the Biblical Text itself, I have been hungry in finding "nuggets" of wisdom in Jewish resources like the midrash, Talmud, Targum, and Halakhah. Sefaria is "a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation."
If you want a free resource that can allow you to sink your teeth into the mind of Jewish rabbis and thinkers, and give another dimension to the Biblical Text that you are familiar with, this is a great website to visit. It can be a challenge to find quality English equivalent translations of those Jewish texts, but I am always happy to assist those trying to figure out how to navigate the website. Just shoot me an email and I'll help!
My Jewish Learning
This online resource is operated by another great ministry seeking to educate others about the Jewish nature of the Hebrew faith, and to enrich people's journey through the Text with contextual and historical information, particularly about the Torah and the Patriarchs of the nation of Israel. My Jewish Learning seeks to "empower Jewish discovery for anyone interested in learning more" and their site is "geared toward all backgrounds and level of knowledge. So whether you’re a Hebrew school dropout seeking a refresher on how to light the Hanukkah menorah or a synagogue president looking for a new perspective on the week’s Torah portion or a newcomer contemplating converting to Judaism — we have something for you."