Connecting Scripture and Life

Connecting Scripture and Life

by Connecting Scripture and Life

Religion & Spirituality

Episode 10: Tamar and Judah - Genesis 38

Tamar is one of the women whose name is commemorated in the Genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17). Often mistaken, as it was with her father-in-law Judah, for a prostitute, Tamar used the power she had in the world she lived in to fulfill the law of God given to Israel through Moses. The punishment for her actions was death, but she offered her life for the life of her adopted people. Please join us for a reprise of Episode Ten to honor a courageous woman who kept alive the line that leads to Jesus.

Episode 3: Balaam and the Talking Donkey - Numbers 22

Rabbi Jason Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy talk about the strange story of the prophet Balaam and the Moabite King Balak and the donkey that saw the angel.

Episode 9: The Good Samaritan - Luke 10 25-37

In the Good Samaritan story two leaders of the people walk by a beaten man on the street, but a traveler stops from his duties to take care of the wounded man. He brings him to an inn, sees to his comfort and promises to check in on him on his return journey. What is being asked of us in this parable? Join Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy and they explore this question and much more.

Episode 11: Book of Ruth

Episode Eleven: Book of Ruth

Episode 1: The Binding of Isaac - Genesis 22

In Connecting Scripture and Life first six-podcast series Rabbi Jason Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy share insights and struggles with faith today that the Scriptures both illuminate and confound. It is hoped that these conversations will encourage everyone to see beyond what they know and consider new ways of exploring the same truth. Rabbi Jason Fruithandler is Rabbi at the Woodbury Jewish Center in Woodbury, New York. He served for seven years as Associate Rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles. Barbara Murphy has been with the Catholic Bible Institute since 2001 and Coordinator of Bible Studies in English in the Office of Religious Education at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 2022.

Episode 121: A Fantastic Tale- Judges 15

This chapter in the Samson saga employs some fantastic and macabre humor that draws the reader in and tends to leave us with the questions, huh? Three hundred foxes and the jawbone of an ass? It seems far-fetched, and yet when we lift our jaws up off the floor and look around at our world today it's almost embarrassing in how familiar the story seems to be. Who is this Samson and why did God choose him? Why does God grip him and then we see Samson kill thousands? What is this really about? Please join us as we wrestle with the meaning of this fantastic tale and wonder about God's message for us now.

Episode 120: Sitting with Discomfort - Judges 14

The question we keep asking about this text is, 'Why is this here? What are we supposed to learn from this? Where is God?' This is a strange story of a young Samson going down into Philistine territory and finding a wife among Israel's overseers, and we're told this was God's doing! Huh?! Then we have the Lord gripping Samson, and Samson rips apart a lion but tells no one. He finds honey in the skeleton and turns it into a riddle to trick the companions given to him at his wedding banquet. There is a lot of deception and trickery, violence and cruelty in this and we keep hearing "The Lord gripped Samson". We are left sitting in profound discomfort and over and over asking the question why.

Episode 119: The Annunciation of Samson - Judges 13

In this first chapter of the saga of Samson we hear the announcement of his birth to an unnamed barren woman. The angel of the Lord appears and tells her she will bear a son who will be blessed by God from the womb. Her husband, Manoah, does not believe her and prays to God to send the messenger to him so he might hear it with his own ears. Even then the angel appears to the woman. Only when the angel ascends to the heavens in the fire of sacrifice does Manoah realize, and he is afraid. It is the woman who understands the promise of a son who will be the greatest judge of Israel. Please join us.

Episode 118: The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me - Luke 4:19-18; Isaiah 61:1-2

In this episode we talked about what it means to have the spirit of the Lord upon us. Jesus anointed by God to bring good tidings to the poor captured our thoughts and we began to understand that all of us have the spirit to bring good news to people who are vulnerable or thought of as less than human. We told stories of experiences when the Spirit captured our hearts, those moments when humanity won the day. Rabbi Fruithandler assigned everyone some homework: bring glad tidings to someone in customer service, someone who is struggling for the basic needs in life, anyone who needs to feel the love of humanity. Let the Spirit anoint you!

Episode 117: Sarah Not Put to the Test - Genesis 22

This is the difficult story of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, when Abraham is put to the test and told to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. It is a story in which Isaac's mother, Sarah does not appear, her name is not even mentioned, but we are feel her presence. God put Abraham, and in extension, Isaac to the test on Mt. Moriah, but not Sarah. When Abraham faltered she held firm. God promised her laughter, she believed and it was reckoned to her as righteousness. Please join us as we write a imagine a new midrash of Sarah.

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