Rabbi Benjamin Blech - THE “TOP TEN”LECTURES 1) The Holy Jewish Treasures in the Vatican: A Miracle on a Mission to Rome Rabbi Blech shares details of an as-yet unpublicized meeting with the Pope, the head of the Vatican Library and leading Cardinals of the Church, revealing fascinating details of the fate of many precious Jewish items. Included is the story of a miracle with reference to an important manuscript of Maimonides. 2) Meeting Vendyl (the “Original” Indiana) Jones: The Archeologist Who’s Still Looking For the Lost Ark – (And Has Already Found Some of the Items From the First Temple!) Rabbi Blech takes you with him on his incredible journey as he meets Vendyl Jones, the man who inspired the story of Steven Spielberg’s hero in his masterpiece, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Learn why the Lubavitcher Rebby told Vendyl that his finds represent “one of the most important discoveries of our time” and how this former Christian minister today heads an international organization of non-Jews known as B’NAI NOACH, committed to observing the seven universal “Laws of the Descendents of Noah.” 3) KABBALAH: Predicting the Future What the Ancient Mystics Knew About the Events of Our Times Worried about the future? Concerned about the fate of the world? Pessimistic as a result of reading the daily newspapers? Get better information than what political commentators of today tell us – from those whose “track-record” for accurate predictions that have already come true will astound you! 4) Israel and Biblical Prophecy: What Has Already Come True? – What Are We Still Waiting For? Is modern-day Israel the first stage of Messianic redemption? Rabbi Blech takes you on a fascinating journey of little known texts and mystical writings that make events of our times not only comprehensible but almost inevitable. 5) Mysticism and the Modern World: Beyond Madonna, Red Strings and “Kabbalah Lite” Movie stars like Madonna and Demi Moore have cheapened a profound spiritual approach to G-d into a cultic emphasis on red strings, “holy” (and expensive) water and “Kabbalah Lite” theology. Rabbi Blech offers a much needed antidote with an overview of what ancient Kabbalistic teachings offer a serious Jew today – from a deeper understanding of Torah to the meaning of life as well as death and what awaits us in the after-world. 6) What Your Name Reveals About You: Your Personality, Your Character And Your Future! Based on Rabbi Blech’s best-selling book, Your Name Is Your Blessing: The Mystical Meaning Of Hebrew Names, you will discover how your Hebrew given name at birth contains the potential for your “road-map” to life. Names, in Jewish tradition, are given by parents by way of prophetic inspiration; they represent your N’SHAMAH, your soul. Learn how to tell who you really are as you find out how names should be correctly interpreted. 7) The “Oy” and the Joy of Yiddish Based on Rabbi Blech’s best-selling book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Yiddish (used round the country as probably the most popular text on Yiddish, with sales close to 100,000) , this is a chance to learn how Yiddish began, what makes it so popular – and funny - to this day, and how it can add humor and happiness to your life as you familiarize (or re-familiarize) yourself with the language of your Bubbys and Zeidys as well as Fiddler’s Tevye and Sholom Aleichem. This is a lecture loaded with laughs and fun for the whole family! 8) If God Is Good, Why Is The World So Bad? Based on Rabbi Blech’s best-selling book with this title, you’ll learn why Jews shouldn’t accept the views of Harold Kushner in his famous work Why Bad Things Happen to Good People ( a book that has sold over 9 million copies) as an honest representation of Jewish faith. The answer is not that G-d lacks the power to do any better because He is not omnipotent. Judaism has many ways to deal with the universal challenge to belief that stems from the seeming injustice of the world. Ari Goldman, former religion editor of the New York Times put it this way: "Benjamin Blech puts God back where He belongs—in the driver's seat of human events. This raises all sorts of fascinating questions that Rabbi Blech answers with clarity and wisdom. Drawing on centuries of Jewish learning, Rabbi Blech has given us a book that both comforts and inspires." Listeners will be rewarded by a lecture that informs, inspires and comforts. 9) When the Dow Crashes: A Spiritual Guide to Survival in Today’s Financial Crisis Based on Rabbi Blech’s best-selling book, Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life’s Financial Ups and Downs, this lecture will take you on his journey to great wealth followed by the stock market crash – a story so fascinating that the New York Times featured it in a full page story in the Sunday Business section. Rabbi Blech shares those insights that not only helped him to survive great financial loss but also to emotionally and spiritually grow as a result of his experience, an experience unfortunately shared by many millions of others. His book – and the lecture based on it - is timely and timeless, with a universal message: to reflect on the real relationship between money and happiness, between affluence and genuine blessing. In a larger sense, it offers the inspiration, the wisdom and the understanding that will give you the ability to overcome both the financial crises of our times as well as the secrets of coping with all of life’s losses. And the new #10: 10) The Sistine Chapel: The Hidden Jewish Messages of Michelangelo This lecture is based on Rabbi Blech’s newest book that came out this past April ’08 coinciding with the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s starting work on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel – “The Sistine Secrets:The Hidden Messages of Michelangelo”. This groundbreaking book is already the subject of huge interest and discussion. Selling briskly in 25 countries, translated into 15 other languages, a first printing of 100,000 copies by HarperOne, movie and TV rights presently in negotiation with 3 major film companies, national TV coverage, major Feature stories in the Wall Street Journal as well as US News & World Report, this major work proves that Michelangelo incorporated many teachings of Jewish Midrash and Kabbalah into the Sistine Chapel – daring ideas unknown to its 4 million annual visitors. And unlike the DaVinci Code, this book is not fiction but fact. Among other things you will learn: that the Pope’s own chapel, built in the heart of the Vatican, is a full size copy of the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s ancient Temple in Jerusalem. that Michelangelo himself embedded secret messages inside the Chapel. Even more shocking, these messages espoused ideas that struck at the heart of the Papacy. the dramatic truth that these frescoes contain a lost mystical message of universal love, dangerously contrary to the Church of Michelangelo’s day, but true to the original teachings of the Bible as well as to much of contemporary liberal Christian thought and that many messages hidden in these frescoes can only be understood by way of background in traditional Jewish sources. Enrico Bruschini, official Art Historian of the American Embassy in Rome, in his Foreword to the book writes “Just as the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel changed forever the world of art, so will this book change forever the way to view and, above all, to understand the work of Michelangelo. No one who visits the Sistine Chapel will ever be able to view it the same way after reading this work.” A SAMPLING OF LECTURE TOPICS I - ISRAEL 1. Are We At The Beginning Of The Messianic Era? 2. Biblical Prophecies And Modern-Day Israel: What Has Already Happened? What Hasn't Yet Happened? 3.MOSHIACH: An Ancient Hope In Contemporary Perspective 4.. Israel: Is Land For Peace Legal? 5. War And Peace: A Jewish View Of Militarism Vs Pacifism 6. Looking Ahead: Can We Really Be Optimistic About the Future? II KABBALAH 1 The Secrets Of Hebrew Words: The Amazing Ideas Hidden In Words We All Know Based On Rabbi Blech's Best Selling Book, The Secrets Of Hebrew Words 2 The World Of Kabbalah: Mysticism And The Modern World 3 The Secrets Of Kabbalah: Predictions For Our Times 4 Life After Life: What Happens After Death? 5 After Death: Jewish Beliefs And Modern Findings 6. The Zodiac: Does Judaism Believe In Astrology ? 7. The Secrets Of Numbers: 8. The Mystical World Of GEMATRIYA 9. Mysticism And The Secrets Of The Hebrew Alphabet The Design of the Letters And What They Teach Us 10. Predicting The Month When MOSHIACH Come – And Why It Makes Such A Difference III - JEWS AND NON-JEWS 1. Why Anti-Semitism? The Real Reason They Hate Us 2. Judaism And Christianity: How We Differ And Why 3. Jew And Non Jew: What Should Our Relationship Be? 4. The Jew And The Outside World: Is The Ghetto The Answer? 5. Judaism: Universalist Or Particularist ? Are We The Only Chosen People? IV - MAN, WOMAN, SEX AND FAMILY 1. The Sexual Revolution: Why Is It Wrong If It Feels So Good? 2. The Sexual Revolution Vs Jewish Morality: Are Jews Prudes? 3. Homosexuality: What's Wrong With Alternate Lifestyles? 4. Man And Woman: Who Is Superior? 5. The Secrets of Shalom Bayit: How To Have A Happy Marriage 6 Threats To The Jewish Family: Secularism, Sex And Selfishness 7.