Jewish Culture and Customs by Randy Collins

The Bible was written in a world that isn't ours. Randy Collins spends thirteen chapters handing you the cultural keys — the feasts, the Sabbath, the temple, the marriage customs, and the everyday habits that the biblical writers assumed their readers already understood.

Jewish Culture and Customs is a thirteen-chapter study of the Jewish life and practice that stands behind the biblical text. When Mordecai tore his clothes and threw ashes on his head, everyone around him understood exactly what he was saying. When Jesus told the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man, His listeners heard Him unsettle generations of rabbinic tradition. Modern readers slide right past those moments, because the culture standing behind the words has gone quiet on us.

Drawing on Jewish scholars and historians with the Scriptures as the foundation text, Randy Collins walks back through the world Jesus and His disciples actually lived in. The study unfolds in the order the Jewish story itself unfolds, from Abraham's call forward.

What's Inside

Thirteen chapters tracing Jewish life from the patriarchs through the first century:

• Chapter 1 — Early Years
• Chapter 2 — Literature, Education, and Law
• Chapter 3 — Prayer, Objects and Garb
• Chapter 4 — The Tabernacle, Temple, and Synagogue
• Chapter 5 — Jewish Sects, Movements, and the Church
• Chapter 6 — Observing the Sabbath
• Chapter 7 — Major Feasts
• Chapter 8 — High Holidays and Fasts
• Chapter 9 — Marriage and the Family
• Chapter 10 — Food, Hospitality and Clothing
• Chapter 11 — Jewish Commerce
• Chapter 12 — Sickness, Death, and Mourning
• Chapter 13 — Diverse Practices and Beliefs

Format & Features

Every chapter opens with a Scripture text and closes with Questions for Discussion and space to write, so the book works as easily in a quarter-long adult class as it does at the kitchen table. Hebrew terms are used and explained throughout, adding authenticity without requiring any background in the language.

Eleven reference schedules round out the back of the book: the Hebrew names of God, the months of the Jewish year, the origin of the Hebrew language, the Ten Commandments, Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith, a recipe for challah bread, the categories of Sabbath work, unclean food in the New Testament, the morning washing of hands, common units of measure, and the everyday sayings we still borrow from the Bible. A resource guide, full endnotes, and a glossary of Jewish terminology complete the volume.

Who It's For

Gentile Christians who love the Scriptures but were never handed the cultural background — along with Bible class teachers, small-group leaders, and preachers looking for a readable, well-sourced introduction to the Jewish world of the Old and New Testaments.

About the Author

Randy Collins spent twenty-nine years with IBM in accounting and finance, then another fifteen in small business consulting. He became a Christian in 1958 and served thirteen years as an elder with the church in Greencastle, Indiana, later worshiping with congregations in Fishers, Indiana, and Aiken, South Carolina. He began writing adult Bible study guides in 2010 and has since authored several books, including Stop…and Smell the Mints, The Garden of the Shulamite, and Growing Old Gracefully in the Lord. A certified Purdue Master Gardener, he lives in Avon, Indiana.