After concluding the popular series of video lectures on the book of Joshua - "The People of Israel Are Coming Home" - we are pleased to invite you to join us with this new weekly series of teachings of the Book of Judges, entitled:
"The People of Israel Strive for Leadership"
The book of Judges follows the book of Joshua in the Tanach (Bible) in the section called Early Prophets.
The period is a difficult one for the Jewish people, Joshua has died and they are fragmented into tribes trying to sustain and consolidate their hold on the area of the Promised Land allotted to each.
They must do this without a central leader of the stature of Moses or Joshua, with hostile armies constantly attacking them and with the influence of local pagan worship taking its toll as they learn to keep the Torah Laws that will build their society with G-d's help.
The Judges are a series of leaders, each of whom rises for a period of years and acts to save the nation from its foes, those within and those without. The period is one of extreme ups and downs, with figures such as Deborah, Samson and Jepthah.
This week we begin the book of Judges with a lecture on chapter 1 dealing with
THE DISAPPOINTING GOALS OF THE ERA OF THE JUDGES