The Setting of the Stage

Our story is set a long time ago, before Christ, in ancient Egypt.  A large number of Jewish people had settled in Alexandria, the most prominent city in Egypt. They used to gather in their synagogues, their place of worship, every Saturday to worship Yahweh, which is how they called God, and to learn their Holy Scriptures.  The one who led the teaching sessions was called a rabbi.

In a synagogue in Alexandria, there was a famous rabbi called Solomon.  He was well known for his wisdom, openness, and kindness.  He was often equated to Solomon, the wise emperor. The rabbi used to conduct special study meetings every Saturday for the young people in the synagogue.

All the young people of the synagogue liked to attend the meetings.  No one needed to be persuaded, for they all enjoyed the rabbi's talk.  Anybody was free to suggest a topic related to his/her day-to-day life. The rabbi referred to their Holy Scriptures occasionally as an aid to giving answers to their questions.

There were several large trees around the synagogue, and they preferred to sit in the cool shade of a tree in a circle when they had the discussions.      

An average of fifteen people attended the meetings.  Their group included both men and women, and they were between eighteen and twenty-five years of age.  Some of the active participants were Yohanes, Martha, Ezekiel, Esther, and Ahaz.

Esther used to keep a record of their weekly meetings.  She took notes while attending the discussion, and later she elaborated it at her home in the form of questions and answers.  In the following pages, we shall see how Esther recorded some of their discussions.

In the discussions presented in this book, the participants ask the basic questions about human existence. The Rabbi uses the first three chapters of Genesis (The first book of the Holy Scriptures) to answer their questions. 

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