Numbers 5:16 says that if a woman is suspected of adultry, she is to drink a mixture of water and dust from the temple: A sure way to get a deadly disease. If God, through some miracle, keeps her from a gruesome death, she is innocent. If not, she dies of bloated thigh and belly - an ugly death. This looks as humanly-inspired as the Salem witch trials or the ancient trials where people were tossed into a lake to see if they were witches. If they swam out, they were a witch because people weren't supposed to be able to swim. If they drowned then they were not witches but who cared? Tell me that there was some justification for feeding an accused woman poison and that this is something that a God would think of. It seems ludicrous.

The name Joshua, "YHWSWA", is transliterated in the LXX as "IHSOU()". What grammatical rule or rules render the (first) 'waw' silent that would cause a phonetic omission in a transliteration? George georgeg_is@yahoo.com

I am getting very serious with my girlfriend and am considering getting married - the thing is that she isnt jewish - but my mother is - I have been told by my sister that this is not alowed by jewish law - the thing is that i feel like its hypocritical for me to even consider jewish law in my life - for i have spent my entire life without any jewishness whatsoever - yet i feel this extreme guilt for what i am going to do -

Could you please outline any passages from the Torah that refer to the sanctity of life?

What is the significance and order of a funeral according to Jewish belief?