Question
Good afternoon, I was hoping I might be able to ask you guys if there might be a general purpose book for Torah studies, that would be useful for gentile studies? Long story short, I'm trying to find my Faith, and as a person I feel like the only way to know where you're going is to know where you've been, and that means that the Torah is important context to be able to fully see the New Testament in the proper light. To me, anyway. I'd be appreciative of anything that might have translations, but I'm mostly hoping for something that has a good index of commentaries from noted scholars in English if possible. Thank you in advance, your time is appreciated.

Question
According to Genesis 38, Judah begat Er, Onan, and Shelah, and Er and Onan grew up old enough to marry Tamar before they died. Then Judah had two sons by Tamar, Perez, and Zerah, the former who grew up old enough to beget Hezron and Hamul, whom he entered Egypt with after Jacob. But what's the problem? There isn't enough time for all that! According to Genesis 38:1, Judah moved near Hirah the Adullamite "at that time." What time? Well, the previous chapter tells us. According to Genesis 37, Joseph was seventeen, and the Medanites had sold him to an Egyptian named Potiphar. So that's the front-end. What about the backend? Joseph's brothers arrived in Canaan in the second year of the seven years of famine, according to Genesis 45:6, 28. And we know that Joseph was 39 at that time because of Genesis 41:46, which states that Joseph was 30 when he entered the service of the Pharoah. Joseph lived throughout the 7 years of plenty and 2 years into the years of famine, making him 39. Between Joseph's 17th and 39th years of life are 22 years, which is thus our window for the events of Genesis 38. The youngest possible age that a male can discharge is 11 years old. Let's say Er was born in Joseph's 17th year and married Tamar at 11 (Joseph's 28th year) before dying the same year. Then, let's say Onan was born in Joseph's 18th year and that he married Tamar also at 11 (Joseph's 29th year) before dying the same year. So if Shelah was born in the 19th year, he was only 10—too young. Thus, Tamar seduced Judah, and then Perez and Zerah were born in Joseph's 30th year. This only gives us 9 years for Perez to grow up before he moves to Egypt, so he's too young to have a kid, let alone two. I'm sure Jews for the last 4000 years noticed this and have had an explanation; I just don't know what that explanation is.

Question
I am a 17 year old Jewish boy and I want to get into learning about the teachings and rules and stories of the Tanakh and Halacha. I want to know where to start and where to go with my learning journey. There is so much to learn in this religion that I just want some direction at least to start. What resources should I use? What should I learn first?

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Hey there, why this word רֶמֶשׂ translated as everything that moves in genesis 9:3 versus other times when it is used and clearly different from "all animals, or all moving things" other times it seems to be mostly translated as "creeping things" (whatever those are) and google translate says "insects" Thanks

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Hello, I am researching the composition of the Torah for a School Project , and a part of my investigation is to research why a particular piece of scripture was excluded from the canon of scripture from the Hebrew tradition. I was hoping you would be able to help me with this part. Are you able to give me any detail into why The Maccabees were excluded from the Torah? Many thanks for your help !

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I appreciate your time and patience in answering questions, It has been my understanding that Messiah will lead the people into battle and also to build the future temple. Is this incorrect, since it seems the one who builds the temple should not be a man of war? 1 Chronicles 22:8 Thank you!

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I came out of Christianity several years ago and have been listening to online Jewish teachings to find truth. Because of what I have learned from rabbis, I am seeing a lot of patterns in the Tanach that I can't unsee and I cannot quit thinking about it. I am looking for someone to consider these patterns and help me know if there is validity to it or if I'm just jumping to wild conclusions. There is so much! But I will just present the main idea of it and await your response before sending other verses that I think support my conclusion. Here goes: Elements of Genesis 38 mirror Jeremiah 3. Basically Tamar, who represents the Northern Kingdom (in the reflection), plays the prostitute and when Judah (Southern Kingdom) sees it, then he does worse. But when confronted with it, he recognizes his sin and repents. The same thing seems to happen with David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 & 12. There are two children born from both Judah/Tamar and David/Bathsheba (One from adultery and one for Yibbum?) Tamar: 1) Zerah, whose line leads to the "Troubler of Israel" 1 Chron 2:7, and 2)Perez, whose line leads to the Messiah. Bathsheba: 1) Dead baby 2) Live baby - Solomon, whose line leads to Messiah. Since both the Northern and Southern kingdoms were likened to prostitutes (Jer 3, Eze 23), then it seems valid that the two prostitutes standing before King Solomon were a representation of the Northern & Southern Kingdom. They both have a baby. So two babies, one dead and one alive. The live baby, the true messiah, comes from the Southern Kingdom, Judah, the rightful mother. And the Northern Kingdom has been trying to push off a dead baby into the arms of Judah and claiming it is theirs. This is what Christianity has done, and Judah has examined this 'dead messiah' through the light of the Torah and know that it is not their baby. I believe the Northern Kingdom is actually lost in Christianity. Thank you for your time, I anxiously await your feedback.    

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Shalom aleichem Rabbi Lauffer. Thank you for answering my last question. In this page of Ein Yaakov on Sotah, near the bottom of the page appears the word "Piska" in bold lettering. I don't think it's part of the actual Gemara, so what does this signify? Thanks. https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=67688&st=&pgnum=55