Forty short chapters form the core of this look at the real Jesus — or, Yeshua — through examination of the nuances of the language he spoke in his famous sayings and sermons.
Before the short chapters there is a “Quick Start Guide.” It encourages readers to “hunt and gather” — look for the subjects that interest them most of all (there’s an index at the back) and then use the chapters to form a forty-day retreat, for example, during Lent.
Next is an Introduction which offers “an Aramaic Jesus view of Life.” Although only eight pages, this is substantive and a good start to understanding the ancient Semitic worldview of Jesus’s first-century Roman Palestine and how this is expressed through words of the Aramaic vocabulary. Nine words are explained in detail.
Each short chapter also explores one or two Aramaic more words, followed by what Douglas-Klotz calls a “message for today.” For example, in reference to Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Douglas-Klotz explains the meaning of “malkuta (usually mistranslated ‘kingdom’)” as instead “the 'I Can' of Reality” — or “the soul’s vision of the way ahead.” So, then, the message for today offered begins: “The most joyous, appropriate state we can experience, says Yeshua, is to be at one with the One (Alaha) in this moment. He asks us to regard any and every breath as a doorway to a greater sense of empowerment — malkuta — if we are willing to rest in our own personal powerlessness and connect first with the Big Breath.”
One sees quickly how this compact book will change how to see and understand the teachings of Jesus.
