Nehemia Gordon

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A rabbinical treatise by Nehemia Gordon's ancestor Rabbi Zalman of Volozhin, published in 1925 with an additional commentary by Gordon's great-grandfather Nehemiah Rubinson, a prominent Chicago area Rabbi.
A rabbinical treatise by Nehemia Gordon's ancestor Rabbi Zalman of Volozhin, published in 1925 with an additional commentary by Gordon's great-grandfather Nehemiah Rubinson, a prominent Chicago area Rabbi.

Nehemia Gordon (1972 –) is arguably the best known Karaite Jew of this era. He was born to an Orthodox Jewish family with a long line of Rabbis, but rejected the Talmud and became a Karaite Jew as a teenager. Nehemia is a native of Chicago but has lived in Jerusalem, Israel since making Aliyah in 1993."

Gordon is considered a Hakham, a religious leader of the Karaite Jewish communities, and until recently served on Universal Karaite Judaism's "Religious Council" (which represents Israeli Karaites), and on the Board of Directors of the ancient Karaite synagogue in Jerusalem. He is also a co-founder of the World Karaite Movement, a Karaite revival group. He coordinates Aviv searches each year and releases information on the crescent new moon sightings in Israel. In February 2007, Nehemia Gordon also accepted the position of Provost of the Karaite Jewish University.

Gordon holds a Master's degree in Biblical Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He translated texts contained in the "Dead Sea Scrolls Reader", was an assistant on the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication project coordinated by Emanuel Tov, and worked as a researcher on the Hebrew University Bible Project under the auspices of Shemaryahu Talmon.

Gordon was recently a guest on Zola Levitt Ministries Television, a Messianic Jewish group, where he was interviewed about his religious beliefs. Gordon also appeared in an ESPN special broadcast before the 39th Super Bowl talking about his time as the Hebrew teacher of the late NFL star, Reggie White. Gordon subsequently spoke about White's spiritual journey in an episode of ESPN SportsCentury. In 2007 a Jerusalem Post article on Karaite Judaism included a feature about Gordon.

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus ISBN 097626370X
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, Part 1. Texts Concerned with Religious Law ISBN 90-04-12650-3
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, Part 2. Exegetical Texts ISBN 90-04-12648-1
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, Part 6. Additional Genres and Unclassified Texts ISBN 90-04-12646-5
  • As It Is Written: A Brief Case for Karaism by Shawn Lichaa, Nehemia Gordon, and Meir Rekhavi ISBN 0976263718

[edit] Nehemia's websites