Using the Bible and my knowledge of Hebrew, my book connects Evangelical Christian believers to the roots of their faith in the Land of Israel at the time of Jesus.
A BRIDGE TO YOUR ROOTS – An Evangelical Journey through the Land of Israel
Synopsis
Some places are so fascinating that you feel the whole world should know them. The Land of Israel is just such a place.
Shai Shvalb has been giving tours in Israel for 10 years and is an expert on the biblical language surrounding the places, people, and history there. A Bridge to Your Roots takes the reader on a written tour of the Holy Land. Yet, it is no mere travelogue. It combines expertise as an Israeli tour guide with intricate knowledge of the Hebrew language to reveal the roots of the Christian faith in the land where it was first planted.
The Bible is not just any book. It was written in Hebrew about events that took place so long ago and in a different context. Only by understanding its source language and the place from which it arose can one fully explore the depths of the Bible’s ideas. This book connects the ideas of the Old and New Testaments to the region’s geography. Interwoven etymological explanations reveal the foundational meanings of their words and their linguistic contexts in English.
The book is not just a guidebook for tourists but a spiritual guide intended for the pilgrim. Though Shai is an Israeli Jew, he wrote the book with an eye to Christian sensibilities. It describes, among other things, the social, religious, and historical background of the time of Jesus at the end of the Second Temple period in the first century CE.
To choose a path through the Holy Land, the book retraces the footsteps of the American writer Mark Twain, who journeyed there in 1867. In this book, you’ll walk where Twain walked and added places he failed to discover when he traveled here.
Whether you plan to visit Israel in person or virtually, this book will allow you to experience its wonders simply by turning a page and connecting you to the place where your faith first set down its roots.
