Daniel Kennemer, at The Blogs

Apply for a Blog

Nov 14, 2022, 4:39 PM

Who were the ‘Philistines’ in the time of Abraham and Isaac?

Abimelech the king of Gerar is mentioned in the biblical narrative as playing an important role in the stories of Abraham and Isaac, in Bereishit / Genesis, chapters 20-21 and 26 (Vayera and Toldot). He is described as being...

Oct 19, 2022, 9:49 AM

Forgotten forgetfulness and its perils (Bereishit)

While the bulk of the words in the Torah and Biblical Hebrew in general are recognizable for Hebrew speakers today, some are of course archaic words that were subsequently lost to the living language. These lost words can often...

Aug 22, 2022, 8:29 AM

Jews and the Andalusian dream – an Islamic utopia?

"A man sleeps here, and sees a dream in Aspamya." (Talmud Bavli, Niddah 30b) אדם ישן כאן, ורואה חלום באספמיא For several centuries, Islamic Spain – Al-Andalus – presented a unique ecosystem in the history of the Jewish Diaspora, and in...

Aug 16, 2020, 4:20 PM

Can Qur’anic i‘rāb help us decipher ancient Hebrew’s forgotten code?

Hiding in the shadows of Hebrew words in the Tanakh, tucked in subtly between words and hiding under dummy vowels, are hints of a system that once tied Hebrew words and sentences together in ways that mystify modern speakers,...

Apr 17, 2020, 9:03 AM

Plagues, Flames and Vultures: The Complexity of a Forgotten God

We’re hearing the words maggēfåh (מַגֵּפָה) or någīf (נָגִיף), the common Hebrew words for a plague or contagious disease, a lot these days, and recently came across déver דֶּבֶר, one of the Ten Plagues of Egypt in the Pesach...

Jan 13, 2020, 3:06 AM

What can the Greek Septuagint tell us about ancient Hebrew?

In the backstory of the Ḥanukkah holiday, describing the persecution and forced assimilation led by Seleucid Hellenist ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and the victorious revolt led by the Maccabee family, the Hellenists and their allies are depicted as inherently...

Sep 27, 2019, 7:27 AM

Rosh HaShanah and the mystery of the Gezer calendar

When is the “real” Jewish New Year? As temperatures begin to drop and the Hebrew lunar month of Elūl comes to its end, Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year festival, is upon us. But is Rosh Ha-Shanah, “the Head of the...

Jun 28, 2019, 5:36 PM

What a challah is and isn’t, and is it halāl? (Shelach)

Bakeries in various countries that have or had large Jewish communities make special breads that are called “challah” or something similar, and represent the kind of ceremonial bread that was called “challah” by the respective Jewish community – generally...

Jun 14, 2019, 6:01 PM

Parents’ wishes, from ancient amulets to Fiddler on the Roof (Naso)

Forty years ago this summer, a group of archaeologists and volunteers headed by archaeologist Gabriel Barkay were involved in a modest dig, at a site overlooking the Ben-Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem. The excavation was done almost in the shadows...

Jun 7, 2019, 8:02 PM

Dairy, Bethlehem and the Book of Ruth (Shavu’ot)

No one really knows why the holiday of Shavu’ot is celebrated with dairy products – cheese cakes, blintzes, puddings, ice cream and other dairy sweets, depending on the particular Jewish community. When the Jerusalem Temple was standing, Shavu’ot was the...

Load more

About Me

Daniel Kennemer is the founder of the Mount Carmel Arabic Immersion and teacher of Hebrew, English and more through Mount Carmel Languages. He studied Archaeology and Geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Contact Me