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Dead Sea Scrolls scholar to speak in Bonners Ferry

Bible scholar Nehemia Gordon will speak in Bonners Ferry on May 14 at the American Legion Hall on the Hebrew origins of the Lord’s Prayer and the biblical calendar...

Bible scholar Nehemia Gordon will speak in Bonners Ferry on May 14 at the American Legion Hall on two subjects: the Hebrew origins of the Lord’s Prayer and the biblical calendar.

The event, starting at 3 p.m., will begin with Gordon speaking until 5. A kosher potluck is planned as a dinner break until 6, and then the seminar picks up again until 8. The event is free to the public, though donations will be accepted after the seminar.

Co-author of the book A Prayer To Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer, Gordon joined up with Rev. Keith Johnson, former chaplain to the Minnesota Vikings, to discover the truth about the most recognized prayer in the Christian world. Beginning in Jerusalem, together their adventure in the Holy Land takes them to the very place in Galilee where Jesus taught the multitude this prayer. They also discovered an old Hebrew version of the Lord’s Prayer, secretly guarded by Jewish rabbis for more than a millennium. Their riveting journey and extraordinary relationship are chronicled in A Prayer To Our Father.

Gordon is also a specialist in the study of the ancient Biblical calendar. Along with a team of scholars (including a botanist from the U.S.), the yearly search commences before spring for barley in Israel to determine the new Biblical year. This year, the search took place March 4 and 6. Gordon is well-versed in the ancient forms of timekeeping and the biblical feasts, or Appointed Times.

Born into an Orthodox Jewish family with a long line of rabbis, Gordon rejected the Talmud as being equal to Holy Scripture and became a Karaite Jew in his teenage years — one who rejects later additions to the Jewish Bible such as the rabbinic oral law and places the responsibility of Biblical interpretation on each individual. It is considered to be the original form of Judaism as prescribed by God in the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy).

Gordon holds a master’s degree in biblical studies and a bachelor’s degree in archaeology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has worked as a translator on the Dead Sea Scrolls and as a researcher deciphering ancient Hebrew manuscripts. He has been invited to speak in synagogues and churches around the world and has led groups of pilgrims and visitors on tours of biblical sites. A native of Chicago, Gordon has made his home in Jerusalem for the past 15 years. In addition to A Prayer To Our Father, Gordon has authored The Hebrew Yeshuah vs. the Greek Jesus, and As It Is Written: A Brief Case for Karaism.

For more information or for directions to the American Legion Hall, contact Laura at 208-290-7035 or e-mail laura@idaho4.com.