n>A few years ago, when my parents asked me what I would like for my 30th birthday present, my answer was 6,000 pages long and around 2,200 years old. The gift I requested for this milestone celebration was Outside the Bible. This three volume series is an anthology of books, actually, scrolls, from around the time of the biblical Second Temple period, which for one reason or another, had been excluded from the traditional Jewish canon (though some of the books had been preserved in various denominations of Christianity). Presented, in English translation, were these once-lost, at least to us Jews, works, along with running commentaries by Jewish scholars with expertise in that historical era. Read Full Article »