top of page
Julia Blum
Writer
More actions
Oct 2, 2025
About
Julia Bloom is a teacher and a writer. She teaches two biblical courses at the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, “Discovering the Hebrew Bible” and “Jewish Background of the New Testament”, and writes Hebrew insights for these courses. Julia lives with her family in a small town, Mevasseret Zion, next to Jerusalem. The name of the town comes from the book of Isaiah (Isa 40:9) and means: “Bringing Good News to Zion”.
Julia holds an MA degree. She studied in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (religious studies), Tallinn Institute of Philosophy and History (Estonia), and Tartu University ( Estonia). She teaches and writes about early Christian studies, the Jewish background of the New Testament, and incorporating Hebrew insights into study of the Bible.
Julia is an author of several books on biblical topics. She had been teaching in the Israel College of the Bible in Jerusalem and is often invited to speak at various conferences. Julia writes Torah Portion commentaries for different sites, and has been doing Torah weekly lessons at Netiviah radio.
Posts (11)
Dec 28, 2024 ∙ 7 min
Understanding Bible Names
One of the greatest losses we experience when reading our Bible in translation only is the meaning of the Hebrew names. Translations and adaptations don’t simply change the original meaning, but render the names meaningless. Unless we take time to go back into Hebrew, the Biblical names of people and places in translation have no connection at all with the original reference points and ideas buried within the text itself. That’s why I’ll comment here on the names from the four weekly Torah...
0
0
Sep 7, 2024 ∙ 7 min
The Lion, The Lamb and the Sealed Book
The Sealed and the Unsealed Let’s start with the beautiful words from Revelation 5:1-9 , where all three components of our title are present: 1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. ...
0
0
Oct 23, 2023 ∙ 6 min
Lord, Hear the Voice of Judah!
My beloved readers, of course, I wrote this post a few weeks before the war (it feels like an eternity ago), and even in the worst nightmare nobody could then have imagined the horrific attack that happened on October 7 th and all that would unfold (and continues to unfold) after that. It’s really hard to read it now, knowing what happened on Simchat Torah and living in the tense and almost surreal reality of Israel today. Yet, after many doubts, I still decided to publish this post. First,...
0
0
Sep 8, 2023 ∙ 8 min
Pentecost: The Story You Didn't Know
The High Holidays are upon us, and my upcoming posts will be dedicated to the Fall Feasts. This month, however, I can still indulge myself with my favourite topic: showing my readers the hidden gems of the Hebrew Scriptures, the amazing things that are lost in translation. Last time we spoke about Jacob; and I was planning to write about Joseph this time, but Joseph’s saga requires at least two posts, so I will leave that until after the Holidays. Today, we will speak about one of the most...
0
0
Sep 8, 2023 ∙ 7 min
Hagar's Story
Today, we will speak about one of the most overlooked chapters in the book of Genesis – Chapter 16. This is the chapter when Sarah’s Egyptian slave Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s child; Sarah started to “afflict” her and Hagar decided to flee from her mistress. She fled to the wilderness. At first, she was completely alone, then suddenly somebody was walking and talking with her. Meeting someone in the desert was unusual enough, but the stranger’s very first words proved that this...
0
0
Feb 25, 2023 ∙ 5 min
Leah's Tears
When we study about Rebecca, we see an interesting detail in her story. At the end of Genesis 24, we are told that Isaac loved Rebecca (יֶּאֱהָבֶ֑הָ) – and this is the very first time the verb “love” (in Hebrew ahav ) occurs in the Torah in a romantic sense, as referring to a relationship between a man and a woman. Isaac’s feelings for Rebecca must have been very strong if the Torah finds it necessary to introduce this verb here. Even though we do not have this verb referring to Abraham...
0
0
Dec 19, 2022 ∙ 5 min
Jesus' Celebration of Hanukkah
The Festival of Lights For many people in the diaspora – both Jews celebrating Hanukkah and Gentiles observing this celebration – Hanukkah is all about dreidels and latkes. However, if you happen to be in Israel during Hanukkah, go to a children’s party in a kindergarten or elementary school. You would be amazed, as was I many years ago, that it is all about light and lights! Many Hanukkah celebrations begin in full darkness, then the light of a candle – the first Hanukkah candle – pierces...
0
0
Dec 18, 2021 ∙ 5 min
Understand Christmas? Understand Hanukkah!
The Festival of Lights For many people in the diaspora – both Jews celebrating Hanukkah and Gentiles observing this celebration – Hanukkah is all about dreidels and latkes. However, if you happen to be in Israel during Hanukkah, go to a children’s party in a kindergarten or elementary school. You would be amazed, as was I many years ago, that it is all about light and lights! Many Hanukkah celebrations begin in full darkness, then the light of a candle – the first Hanukkah candle – pierces...
0
0
Apr 18, 2021 ∙ 5 min
The Angel Who Goes Before You
The Torah Portion Mishpatim (Ex. 21:1 –Ex. 24:18) seems to be all about laws and rulings (its very title, mishpatim, actually means “laws”). However, at the end of all these laws and rulings, we find an intriguing sentence: “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.”[1] God tells Moses that He would send an Angel before the people – and this seems to be a very special Angel, for God says: “My name is in Him!” [2] Who was...
0
0
bottom of page