Katnut d'Katnut

Rabbi Pinchas Punterello

Recently I have been looking into the Marrano or Crypto Jewish origins of a network of families in Calabria in Italy. I have learnt that I am not alone in this but that a liberal woman Jewish Rabbi called Barabara Aiello and an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Pinchas Punterello are also working among the crypto-Jewish families of southern Italy. After five centuries of assimilation, by the mysterious hand of God, the lost Jews are regaining their identity.

I have been researching this crypto-Jewish phenomena since the 1970's being inspired by my own family's history and the writings of the great Anglo-Jewish historian Cecil Roth. We know that the Marrano or Converso families usually only intermarried with other Marrano/ Converso families.

Childe Gilbert the crucified one

Forerunner of the victims of Islamic terror

Jews and Christians targeted together

you a Jewish son of Jewish Septimanian King

Reigning in the citadel of Narbonne

Sweet child of David’s seed

A later icon of a Crucified One

That pale Galilean that conquered.

The differences between the Infancy sections of Matthew and Luke’s Gospel accounts are due to the authors selecting those events that would most fit the audience and purpose of their Gospel. Luke’s Gospel is addressed to Theophilus who is most likely to be the former High Priest and a Hellenistic influenced Jew as is St Luke according to some scholars.[1] [2] Matthew’s audience is more Judean and Pharisee in composition. The genealogy of Matthew is that of St Joseph and the genealogy of  St.

The Hebrew word mashiach means an anointed one or Messiah. The Jewish culture anointed kings, prophets and priests with holy oil to set them apart for their calling. By Second Temple times the Jewish people had certain messianic expectations based on their reading of their holy writings. In Tenach the Davidic kings were called an anointed one and a belief grew in the coming of a future kingly anointed one.

Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly

The figure of Lady Wisdom in Prov 8: 1-21, 9:1-6 is at the heart of both the Jewish and Christian mystical traditions. She is known as Hokhmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) in the Hebrew text of Proverbs 8:1.  In Greek she is called Sophia. Verse 1 refers to her as the call (kara) of wisdom and the voice (kola) of understanding. She is perceived as the wisdom of the upright and holy Torah observant lifestyle (see verse 20).

Jeremiah 23 speaks of false prophets as those who prophesy in the name of Baal instead of Y-H-V-H (V.13). Other signs of whether a prophet is true or false are based on the moral life of the prophets. This is confirmed by Deuteronomy 13 where it states that the false prophets prophesy things contrary to the commandments given by God to Moses and when they encourage idolatry. Deuteronomy 18 however puts the emphasis on whether a prophecy takes place or comes true.

Gilgamesh mourns Enkidu

Each person reading the text of Genesis will have their own ideas based on their background and worldview about Israel's cosmological origin stories. One could choose to parrot the understanding of a certain consensus of biblical scholars or some other form of totalising philosophical or theological structure, ideology or grouping.