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Prayer Request (for site updates, see below)
November 2009 Updates
Two Blessings for Jacob  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Toldot). Please read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.17.09 (Cheshvan 30, 5770) When we think of Jacob, we naturally tend to recall the dramatic epsiode when he disguised himself as Esau to "steal" the blessing from his father Isaac. In this week's Torah, however, we note that Jacob actually received two blessings from his father. The first blessing -- given to a disguised Jacob -- focused on material blessings: the "dew of heaven," the "fatness of the earth," "plenty of grain and wine," political power and hegemony (Gen. 27:28-29), whereas the second blessing -- given to an undisguised Jacob -- focused on his role as God's chosen patriarch of Israel (Gen. 28:3-4). The difference between these blessings turned on Isaac's restored vision. His first blessing was tailored to the character of Esau as his "natural choice," whereas his second blessing looked beyond mere appearances to behold the vision that was originally given to his father Abraham: וְאֵל שַׁדַּי יְבָרֵךְ אתְךָ וְיַפְרְךָ וְיַרְבֶּךָ וְהָיִיתָ לִקְהַל עַמִּים׃ "May El Shaddai bless you, make you fertile and numerous,
Isaac's Troubled Family...  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Toldot). Please read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.16.09 (Cheshvan 29, 5770) Like Abraham's wife Sarah, Isaac's wife Rebekah (רִבְקָה) had trouble getting pregnant, though Isaac determined never to resort to the use of a concubine as did his father. Indeed, the story of Hagar and Ishmael haunted Isaac throughout his life. Therefore the Torah records that Isaac "entreated" (יֶעְתַּר) the LORD on behalf of his wife. The sages note that this verb (עתר) means to slaughter, and the midrash explains that Isaac ascended Mount Moriah, pitched a tent, and there offered a sacrifice during his prayers. This must have been terribly difficult for Isaac, since the trauma of the Akedah never left him. Nevertheless, Isaac's intercession for his wife proved fruitful, and Rebekah later conceived twins (Gen. 25:21). Rebekah's pregnancy was not an easy one, however, and the children "struggled within her" (the Hebrew verb used here (רָצַץ) comes from a root that means "to run," suggesting that the children were "running in different directions" within the womb; see Rom. 9:11-12). According to Jewish tradition, Rebekah feared she might miscarry and decided to go to the School of Shem (i.e., Malki-Tzedek) to inquire of the LORD. There she was told that "two nations" were in her womb, and "two peoples from within you shall be divided"; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23; cp. Rom. 9:11-12). When the children were born, the first came out hairy and was named Esau (perhaps from the Hebrew word esev (עֵשֶׂב), "grass"), whereas the second came out with his hand on his brother's heel, and was named Ya'akov (יַעֲקב, "grappler," from the word עָקֵב, "heel"). When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, an outdoorsman, while Jacob was a quiet man, studying Torah in the tents of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 25:27). In later Jewish tradition, Esau represented the nation of Rome (and especially Roman Christianity), whereas Ya'akov represented the nation of Israel. Perhaps opposites attract. The Torah states that Isaac loved Esau whereas Rebekah loved Jacob (Gen. 25:28). Isaac grew up as the quiet, disciplined, and dutiful son of Abraham, and he perhaps saw something in his son Esau which he himself lacked. Rebekah, on the other hand, grew up adventuresome, strong, and outgoing, and she perhaps saw something in her son Jacob which she lacked.... At any rate, the sibling rivalry was deep and abiding in the family, and perhaps reflected the problematic differences between the parents themselves. As we will see, Isaac and Rebekah were opposites, just as were their twin sons. The Torah gives an episode in the lives of the two boys to indicate something of their respective characters. Once when Jacob was cooking lentil stew, Esau came in from the field quite exhausted. Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Gen. 25:29-30). Some scholars note that Esau's words should be rendered, "Let me swallow from that red-red," suggesting that he was in such a hurry to meet his needs that he didn't even bother calling it "stew" (the Torah parenthetically notes here that this was the reason Esau was later known as "Edom" (אֱדוֹם, "red")). Jacob, however, decided to take advantage of his brother's weakness by manipulating Esau into "selling" him his birthright. The Torah gives a realistic view of this exchange: while Esau "despised" his status as the firstborn son, Jacob was cunningly manipulative and exploited his brother's weakness. Some time later, when Isaac "was old and his eyes were dimmed from seeing," he sought to bless Esau as the family heir before he died (Gen. 27:1-4). The midrash states that Isaac's eyes were dimmed on account of the ordeal of the Akedah. When he was bound to the altar, Isaac looked up and saw the Throne of Glory with the angels of God circling about. Some of the angels' tears fell on Isaac's eyes, and from that time his eyes had begun to darken. Perhaps Isaac "saw" God as Elohim (אֱלהִים) - the Judge and Ruler of the Universe - but became blind to God as YHVH (יהוה), the Source of Compassion and mercy. The "afterimage" of the Akedah never left him - despite the divinely supplied substitute of the ram - and haunted him later as a form of blindness. Isaac revealed that he was "blind" to the character of Esau, "blind" to his wife's vision regarding Jacob, and so on. When Rebekah overheard Isaac's plans, she decided to trick her husband into conferring the blessing upon Jacob instead of Esau. For his part, Jacob was left with a serious dilemma: Either he had to defy his mother or else deceive his father. And of course Rebekah knew that Isaac would discover the deception after the fact. Rebekah's deception of her husband was intended to show him that he was gullible and thereby easily deceived by Esau's hypocrisy. It was an object lesson, if you will, rather than a outright case of lying. After all, Esau was soon to arrive - venison in hand - and the charade would be exposed for all to see... Apparently Rebekah's plan was to "open the eyes" of her myopic husband, revealing to him that he had been guilty of sacrificing the righteous son Jacob for the sake of deceptive Esau (for more on this, see the "Deception of Esau"). The trickery proved to be tragic, however, for everyone involved. Jacob desperately wanted the love and approval of his father, but he sought to get it through false pretenses. "Come close and kiss me my son..." (Gen. 27:26). This was Jacob's deep desire, and yet after "grappling" the blessing from his father he ironically lost his father's embrace. Indeed, Jacob lost not only his father's embrace, but his mother's as well (after fleeing to Haran, Jacob never saw his mother again). Moreover, Jacob's pathetic attempt to "be Esau" severed any hope of a relationship with his twin brother, who afterwards became his sworn enemy. Away from home and on the run, Jacob's life was also marked with painful irony. He was later deceived by his father (in-law) Laban, his wife Leah, his firstborn son Reuben, and even by his own children (regarding the death of Joseph, his firstborn son from Rachel). And Rebekah's subterfuge cost her dearly, too: after the charade was exposed, Esau turned against her (Gen. 27:45), Jacob was lost to her forever , and her marriage undoubtedly suffered... When Esau returned from his hunting expedition to receive the blessing, the truth came out, but Isaac tremblingly acknowledged to his son: גַּם־בָּרוּךְ יִהְיֶה / "... he (Jacob, not Esau) shall be blessed" (Gen. 27:33). Isaac "trembled exceedingly" because he realized that he had been laboring under an illusion all these years. He now finally understood the truth about his sons and ratified heaven's decision. It is ironic that when Isaac had his sight, he favored Esau, but when he lost his (physical) vision he was enabled to give Jacob the blessing as the patriarch of Israel. After Esau realized the implications, he used wordplay used to vent his anger: When he learned that Jacob had taken away his blessing, he exclaimed, "Is he not rightly named "heel holder" (i.e., יַעֲקב, "Jacob," from the word עָקֵב, "heel")? For he has taken me by the heel (יַּעְקְבֵנִי) these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing" (Gen. 27:36). Then he cried out, "Have you only one blessing, my Father? Bless me too, my Father!" And Esau wept aloud." This is a terribly poignant moment. Esau didn't accuse his father of being gullible or foolish, but simply implored him for his blessing all the more. Tragically, Esau learned the value of the blessing too late. Despite his many tears, he could not reverse the decree from heaven (see Heb. 12:16-17). The sages talk about the "voice of Jacob" and the "hands of Esau" (Gen. 27:22). Both sons were counterparts of one another, though each needed the qualities of the other to be complete. Esau needed to learn the ways of Jacob - to love Torah, to respect the call of the family to be God's agents in the world, to value the things of heaven, and so on, whereas Jacob needed to learn the ways of Esau - to be a man of action, to work with his hands, to deal with the rough-and-tumble world at large. After Jacob fled to Charan to escape the clutches of his aggrieved brother, he learned to be a shepherd, a husband, and a father. In this way Jacob also learned the value of the blessing given to Esau, although this too was discovered needlessly late in his life. In Jewish tradition, Abraham is known primarily for the quality of chesed (חֶסֶד), "kindness," "openness," "expansiveness," hospitality, and generosity. His tent flaps were always open to all who happened to come his way. He was outgoing, welcoming, and solicitous for the welfare of others. His son Isaac, on the other hand, is known primarily for his quality of gevurah (גְּבוּרָה), "strength," "focus," concentration, and discipline. Isaac meditated alone in the fields, stayed close to his tent, and never ventured outside the Promised Land. The sages note that chesed unrestrained by gevurah is unbalanced (leading to indiscriminate leniency and gullibility), whereas gevurah unrestrained by chesed is also unbalanced (leading to stern judgmentalism or cruelty). Whereas Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son at Moriah (chesed), Isaac was willing to be sacrificed (gevurah). The ideal is to have both chesed and gevurah function together to create an inner balance. This ideal is sometimes called tiferet (תִּפְאֶרֶת) and is thought to have been the characteristic later evidenced by Jacob (i.e., after he was renamed "Israel" at Peniel). The enmity of Esau (the extreme of gevurah) haunted Jacob for years, even to the point of wrestling with the Angel of LORD over the issue (Gen. 32:24-29). From such wrestling (i.e., between the ideal of justice and the ideal of chesed) came an inner resolution -- the true blessing from God that resulted in a "limp" -- and the new name of "Israel." Some have speculated what it would have been like for the twins if Isaac and Rebekah had a better relationship. Was their marriage mirrored in the lives of their sons? Why didn't Rebekah tell Isaac about the prophecy about the "elder serving the younger" -- or if she had told him, why didn't Isaac listen to her? And why didn't Isaac tell Rebekah about his plan to bless Esau as the heir of the family? Why did Rebekah feel the need to literally deceive her husband? And why did each parent favor a different child, thereby creating a ferocious sibling rivalry? Rebekah perhaps encouraged Jacob's duplicity because she felt ignored or disrespected by her husband. She found an ally in her son - a "tool" she could use to find leverage and a voice in the family. But Isaac perhaps encouraged Esau's profanity because he never resolved his inner turmoil regarding the Akedah. Perhaps he inwardly chafed at the ideal of strict justice and wanted to be set free.... After all, Isaac was wounded and left nearly blind from the encounter of God as Judge, but somehow he could not embrace God's sacrificial love for himself... It's clear that the families of the patriarchs had serious struggles and were often quite dysfunctional. When we idealize these people, however, we tend to forget their humanity, and they may appear disconnected from us - on a higher spiritual level. For example, Isaac is often characterized as the obedient son who was willing to be sacrificed at Moriah at the hands of his loving father, whereas Abraham is characterized as being so "sold out" to God that he was willing to sacrifice the son he so dearly loved. Now while it is gloriously true that the sacrifice of Isaac presents a clear foreshadowing of the greater "Akedah message" of the Gospel (John 3:16), there is a human side to this story that is sometimes overlooked. Jewish tradition states that Sarah died from the shock of the Akedah, leaving both Abraham and Isaac bereaved. Isaac's "personal holocaust" at the hands of his father caused him to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder that profoundly affected him for the rest of his life: He struggled as a son (he fled from his father Abraham after the Akedah), as a husband (he seemed unable to communicate with his wife), and as a father (his preference of Esau over Jacob caused a terrible rift in the family). Most of all Isaac struggled to understand God's love, despite God's justice... The story of Isaac's family is ultimately one of hope for us all. Isaac was deeply wounded but ultimately found healing, just as his son Jacob later wrestled through his family issues to become "Israel." Take heart, chaverim: God can use us for His kingdom purposes despite whatever dysfunctionality might be in our family backgrounds.
New Moon of Kislev  11.15.09 (Cheshvan 28, 5770) "Sunrise, sunset; quickly go the days...." Monday November 16th is "Rosh Chodesh Kislev," i.e., the "new moon" of the ninth Hebrew month of the Jewish calendar (counting from Nisan). The month of Kislev is unusual because it sometimes varies between 29 and 30 days on the Jewish calendar. Of course, Kislev is also the month when the eight day holiday of Chanukah (חנוכה) begins. This year Chanukah begins on Friday, December 11th at sundown (1st candle) and runs through December 19th. Considering these late days of autumn (and the "late hour" of human history), the following pasuk (verse) comes to mind: יָבֵשׁ חָצִיר נָבֵל צִיץ וּדְבַר־אֱלהֵינוּ יָקוּם לְעוֹלָם yaveish chatzir, naveil tzitz; u'devar Eloheinu yakum l'olam Every time I check the news I am reminded that we are living in a "withered and fading world" -- the prophesied "End of Days" (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים). But Baruch Hashem: our place (מָקוֹם) is grounded in truth that stands (i.e., יָקוּם, "is raised up") forever! Yeshua is our life, chaverim.... He is the Word of our God that is raised up forever!
Parashat Toldot - תולדת  11.15.09 (Cheshvan 28, 5770) The Torah reading for this week is called Toldot ("generations"). This parashah is about Isaac and Rebekah's family and how the promised Seed (i.e., Messiah) would descend through Isaac's son Jacob (renamed Israel) -- rather than through his older twin brother Esau. From Israel (i.e., the Jewish people) would come the "generations" that would ultimately lead to the salvation of the world. As our beloved Yeshua (Jesus) said, "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Note: Recently the computer I use to develop this site crashed and I am busy repairing broken links, restoring lost data, and so on. God willing, I hope to add some additional commentary to this Torah portion later this week, chaverim. Thank you for your prayers for this ministry -- and for your patience!
Eliezer and Ruach HaKodesh  [ The following entry is related to last week's Torah reading (Chayei Sarah). Please read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.15.09 (Cheshvan 28, 5770) In the same verse that the great patriarch Abraham is described as "old and advanced in years" (זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים) he is described to have been blessed bakol - "in everthing" (Gen. 24:1). Contrary to the ideals of youth-obsessed culture, the Torah regards aging as a process of construction, of upbuilding, of perfection -- not of decay. The sages say that the elderly "wear the days of their life as a garment," that is, as an accumulated "presence of days" that attends to the soul of the person. Indeed, the Talmud notes that the word zaken ("elder") can be read as zeh kana, "this one has it." Maturity and wisdom are qualities that should be honored in our culture -- not abhorred or disregarded. As the proverb puts it, עֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת שֵׂיבָה / aseret tiferet sevah: "Gray hair is a crown of glory" (Prov. 16:31). Before he died, however, Abraham wanted to set his affairs in order. His sole land possession in the Promised Land was his burial place (i.e., the Cave of Machpelah (מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה), where Sarah was also buried), but there was a nagging concern that his son Isaac needed a wife to carry on the family line. Indeed, the last recorded words we have of Abraham concern instructions to his servant regarding the mission to find Isaac a wife: "The LORD, the God of heaven (אֱלהֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם), who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his Angel before you (יִשְׁלַח מַלְאָכוֹ לְפָנֶיךָ) and you shall take a wife for my son from there" (Gen. 24:7). Abraham wanted his son to find a wife among his relatives rather than from among the Canaanites, and he therefore commissioned his servant to arrange a marriage. Though he is not explicitly named in the account, this "elder servant" is undoubtedly Eliezer of Damascus (Gen. 15:2). Eliezer (אֱלִיעֶזֶר), whose name literally means "my God will help," is regarded as a consummate example of a godly servant. In Christian theology, Eliezer is regarded as a picture of the Holy Spirit (רוּחַ הַקּדֶשׁ) sent on a mission to find a bride for the Seed of Abraham (i.e., the Messiah Yeshua). Eliezer dutifully departs on his mission and waits by the "well of water," interceding on behalf of righteousness... He asks for a sign from heaven: "Let the young woman to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels' -- let her be the one whom you have appointed" (Gen. 24:13-14). Rebekah's response of kindness and generosity (i.e., חֶסֶד, chesed) to a tired wayfarer demonstrated God's choice. Note that the test concerned the inward character of the woman, not her status or beauty or other worldly factors. And since a single camel needs about 25 gallons of water and requires 10 minutes to drink, watering ten camels would require 250 gallons and at least a couple hours of work running back and forth to the well - no small task for anyone! Rebekah possessed her grandfather Abraham's qualities of gracious hospitality and diligence... Rebekah was willing to leave her family - all that she knew - based on an "otherworldly" promise. Her response to the invitation was simply: "I will go"(Gen. 24:58). This courageous willingness was likewise a characteristic of Abraham who was willing to leave his homeland in search of the greater things of God. Like Abraham, Rebekah was ger v'toshav - a "stranger and a sojourner" - who left everything behind in order to become part of God's chosen family...
Strangers and Sojourners - גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Chayei Sarah). Please read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.12.09 (Cheshvan 25, 5770) God's people are "strangers" in this world. They are literally estranged and live as "resident aliens" -- here, yet not here. Thus Abraham said to the sons of Chet: "I am a 'stranger and sojourner' (גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁב) among you; sell me a burial site..." (Gen. 23:4), and King David likewise confessed: "For we are strangers with You, mere transients like our fathers (כִּי־גֵרִים אֲנַחְנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ וְתוֹשָׁבִים כְּכָל־אֲבתֵינוּ); our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope" (1 Chron. 29:15). Life in olam hazeh (this world) is nothing but a "burial site," a graveyard, a shadowy place of passing that leads to olam haba, the world to come, and to God's glorious kingdom. We cannot find lasting hope in this world and its values; all that must be buried and surrendered to God. Being gerim v'toshavim (גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים), "strangers and sojourners," is inherently paradoxical, however, since a ger (גֵּר) is one who is "just passing through," like a visitor or refugee, whereas a toshav (תּוֹשָׁב) is one who is a resident, like a settler or citizen. Living by emunah (אֱמוּנָה, faith) therefore invariably leads to collision with worldly culture and its values. Faith affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life is a deeper reality that is ultimately real and abiding. It "sees what is invisible" (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the "present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31). The life of faith therefore calls us to live as toshavim - sojourners - who are put at an infinite "distance" from the world of appearances. We ache with a divine "homesickness." We lament over the state of this world and its delusions. We gnaw with hunger for love and truth to prevail in the world. And yet this loneliness, this dissonance, this place of suffering "outside the camp" is not without an overarching comfort: This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent (σκηνος), which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If we are given grace to answer the call of Yeshua to "take up our cross," we presently become ger v'toshav. As gerim we confess that we are strangers in this present world, but as toshavim we believe that our labors are not in vain, and that our true citizenship is in heaven. Like father Abraham, we live in a foreign land as "strangers and sojourners," looking forward to the City of God (Heb. 11:9-10). בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָבִינוּ מֵעוֹלָם וְעַד־עוֹלָם barukh atah Adonai Elohei Yisrael Avinu me'olam v'ad-olam Blessed are You, LORD, God of Israel our father, May His Kingdom come speedily, and in our day, and may the LORD help us live today -- in this world -- as ambassadors and emissaries of the world to come. Amen.
New "Lord's Prayer" Reader Page  11.11.09 (Cheshvan 24, 5770) The Lord's Prayer might better be called the "Disciples' Prayer," or even the "Learner's Prayer." After all, Yeshua taught it to his talmidim (i.e., disciples, learners) in response to their request, "Lord, teach us how to pray" (Luke 11:1). If you are His student, you must likewise ask the Lord to teach you how to pray.... Of course the very first step is to receive God as your loving Heavenly Father who already knows what you need. God is not ignorant of even the smallest of details in your life: "The hairs on your head are all numbered" (Matt. 10:30). The Lord knows all things -- the complete realm of what was, is, and will be -- as well as all "possible worlds." Indeed, Your Heavenly Father knows the "words on your tongue" before you utter them (Psalm 139:1-12). Before praying, then, we must first attune ourselves to reality. "Know before whom you stand" (in Hebrew: דַּע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עוֹמֵד - da lifnei mi attah omed). In order to genuinely pray, we must first wake up! Sometimes we "pray" in a lethargic state, "forgetting" that God is constantly sustaining us by the Word of His Power (Col. 1:17). But as the Scriptures clearly teach, we are always in the Presence of God (Acts 17:28) and the whole earth is filled with His glory (Isa. 6:3). "Worthy art Thou, O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power: for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created" (Rev. 4:11). Prayer subjects us to self-examination and is a corridor into the realm of truth. Genuine prayer doesn't change God as much as it changes us. It is a passion of the heart that functions as refining fire. And praying for others is a means of expressing love and care for them. It's an act of sacrificial love. Prayer should be something essentially inward and private - utterances and groanings made in the "secret places" of the heart - where the the Lord alone has access (Matt. 6:6). That does not mean, of course, that we should never pray collectively or in a group, but the ultimate "amen" of the heart is always an intensely personal decision. There is no authentic "kavanah" in a group; God is not impressed with crowds -- much less with religious ceremonies (as Kierkegaard once said, the "crowd" is untruth). No, God looks at the individual heart and communes with each soul individually (Rev. 3:20). We should never pray for the sake of appearances or to "impress" others. Is there anything more outrageous in the realm of the spirit that such "holier-than-thou" spirituality? Praying for the sake of appearance is sheer hypocrisy. It is a lie expressed in religious talk... Such pretense is a proverbial "pig wearing lipstick." As Yeshua said, those who pray "to be seen by others" have already received their reward (Matt. 6:5). Moreover, Yeshua warned us to avoid "vain repetitions" and ritualistic, formulaic expressions (Matt. 6:7-8). Indeed, even the Disciple's Prayer itself can be turned into a vain repetition if we are not careful! God does not want us to merely read someone else's prayers out of a page from a book (e.g., the "Common Book of Prayer" or the words of a siddur). He is not impressed with the oratory of rabbis and preachers, either. He is not interested in your pastor's eloquence, your favorite teacher's charisma, or your preferred author's insights. God looks at you alone -- as if you were the only one in the room, so to speak - and then He listens... Shema calls to shema. Each of us must ask the Lord to teach us (individually) how to pray. The Disciples' Prayer was Yeshua's answer to His talmidim, but He assuredly didn't want us to parrot the prayer in an unthinking manner. It was Yeshua's answer to His disciples at that time, but we cannot make it our own prayer until we internalize its meaning and choose to follow the Master now.... We can't "copy the answer" out the book and expect to please our Teacher. Each follower of Yeshua must work through the message of this model prayer and make it part of his or her own inner experience of faith. The disciples were ready for Yeshua to teach them to pray, and we need to likewise be ready.... Okay, after saying all that as a sort of disclaimer, tonight I created a new "Disciple's Prayer Reader Page" for those of you who are learning to read Hebrew. This page provides the Hebrew text of Matthew 6:9-13 with a translation for each word directly underneath. I have also included the Greek New Testament text (with translation) as well. I hope you will find it helpful, chaverim! You can download the page here.
An appeal for help...  11.10.09 (Cheshvan 23, 5770) Recently the computer I use to develop this site crashed. Since it's a fairly old system, I think it is time for it to be replaced. I have ordered a new one in the hope that supporters of this ministry will help me defray some of the additional costs. Eventually I hope to have two computers that will "mirror" one another so that if one crashes, I can still continue working on this site without major interruption. If you can help with some of the costs of this project, it would be most appreciated. Thank you!
Parashat Chayei Sarah - חיי שרה [ This week's Torah reading is called Chayei Sarah (the "life of Sarah") which begins (paradoxically enough) with the account of Sarah's death (Gen. 23:1-2). If you haven't already done so, please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.09.09 (Cheshvan 22, 5770) Recall that Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years old and later died at age 127, when Isaac was 37 years old. The Torah does not explicitly state the cause of her death, though according to Jewish tradition Sarah died from shock after learning about what happened to her son at the hand of her husband (i.e., the near sacrifice of Isaac at Moriah). It was just too much for her heart to bear. How could she comprehend Abraham's actions? Was he insane? And what about Isaac? How could Sarah bear the terror her son must have endured? And what about the cherished dream of the family to be God's chosen people on the earth? Because of this great trauma, her soul departed from her.... The midrash elaborates by explaining that after Abraham's early departure (for Moriah) Sarah grew more and more worried about the welfare of her son. By the third day - the day of the Akedah itself - she decided to go look for him. When Sarah reached Hebron, however, the evil one disguised himself as her (disfigured) son. When she saw him, she asked: "My son, what has your father done to you?" He answered, "My father took me and made bound me on the altar. He then took the knife to slaughter me. If the Holy One had not called out, 'Do not cast your hand on this boy,' I would have been slaughtered." When she heard how her son had been bound on the altar, Sarah was so overcome with fright that her soul had departed from her" (Midrash Tanchuma).  Therefore when the Torah says, "And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to cry for her" (Gen. 23:2), the sages say that he was returning directly from Mount Moriah, the place of the sacrifice of Isaac. (This also explains why Isaac was not present at his mother's funeral since he had fled from Abraham and sought refuge with Shem in Salem after the terrifying ordeal). In the Torah text the phrase "and to cry for her" (וְלִבְכּתָה) is written with a diminutive letter Kaf, which has led some of the commentators to explain that Abraham's mourning for his wife was restrained. How are we to understand this? The sages state that the death of Sarah was yet another severe test for Abraham. Would he now regret his faithful obedience to the LORD because of the loss of his wife? The Akedah settled the question that Abraham loved God more than even his beloved son, but the death of Sarah was another matter.... Since Abraham believed that God would raise his son from the dead, perhaps he likewise believed that God would raise his wife from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19). At any rate, to indicate that Abraham loved God unconditionally, the letter Kaf was written smaller, suggesting that his mourning was tempered with continued trust in God's will and plans... It is a provocative thought that Sarah - not Isaac - was the real victim of the Akedah. She, not Isaac, is the one who dies, after all. Jewish tradition has associated the cries of Sarah with the blasts of the shofar during Rosh Hashanah. The broken notes of the shofar are thought to recall her crying for her son... The sages further wonder why Sarah lived only 127 years while Abraham lived to be 175, that is, 48 years more? They answer that Sarah's years amounted to the number of years Abraham lived as ha-Ivri (הָעִבְרִי), "the Hebrew," a term that identifies his relationship to the one true God (for more, see the entry Abraham the Hebrew, below). Since Abraham was 48 years old when he came to believe, and a convert is regarded as a newborn, then Abraham lived (as a Hebrew) exactly 127 years, precisely as long as did Sarah (who was regarded a prophetess from birth). For more about this, please see the article "The Greatness of Sarah." Note: If it pleases God I will add more commentary on this Torah portion later this week. Shalom for now, chaverim.
The Angel of the LORD - מַלְאַךְ יהוה  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Vayera). Please read the previous entries to "find your place" here. ] 11.05.09 (Cheshvan 18, 5770) In Hebrew, an "angel" is called malakh (מַלְאַךְ), a word that basically means "messenger" or representative (from the root לאך, meaning "to send"). God created many angels, of course (Psalm 68:17, 103:20), but there there is one malakh who stands out from all the rest of the malakhim (angels) as a King stands above his subjects. This "King of Angels" is called Malakh Adonai (מַלְאַךְ יהוה), or "the Angel of the Lord." Unlike the other angels that function as emissaries of God, Malakh Adonai is the supreme representation or Message of God Himself. His Word/Voice is "one" with the Person of God, just as the Spirit of God is "one" with the Person of God. Since the glory and power of God's infinite Being is incomprehensible to finite creatures, the Angel of the LORD is a form of God's condescension in a visible or audible manner so that an angel or a human being can apprehend His message.... This unique King of the Angels, or "Angel of the LORD," is named in about 50 verses of the Tanakh (i.e., "Old Testament"), though he is alluded to in various other places as well (e.g., Gen. 18:1-ff; Gen. 48:16, Exod. 23:20-23, etc.). He is first mentioned in Genesis 16:7-13 where He is clearly called God. After he spoke with Hagar in the desert, she called him "the LORD" (יהוה) and identified Him as El-Roi (אֵל ראִי) -- the "God who sees me" (Gen. 16:13). He later appeared to Abraham in the grove at Mamre (Gen. 18:1-ff) to reaffirm the promise of a coming heir, and later still, during the most terrifying moment of the sacrifice of Isaac, he cried out to stop Abraham from bringing down the knife on his son (Gen. 22:11, see also Gen. 22:15-ff). And note especially that it was the "Angel of the LORD" who appeared to Moses in the "burning bush" and identified himself as YHVH, the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (see Exod. 3:2-ff). Other examples from the Tanakh should be noted. The Angel of the LORD helped Gideon deliver Israel from Midian (Judges 6:11-13); he prophesied regarding the birth of Samson (Judges 13); he led Elijah to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19); he commanded David to build an altar which later became part of the Holy Temple (1 Chron. 21:18), and he is mentioned in Psalm 34:7 ("The Angel of the LORD camps around those who fear him") and in Psalm 35:6-7. In light of all this, it is clear that that Malakh Adonai is nothing less than a manifestation of the LORD Himself. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah calls him the "Angel of His Face" (מַלְאָךְ פָּנָיו, Isa. 63:9). And since Yeshua is the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, who upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3), it is clear that He is the Angel of God's face -- the "message of God" -- that was "sent" (לאך) in human flesh (John 1:1,14). Yeshua is the King of Angels -- He is the Angel of the LORD! Indeed, Yeshua is Melekh Ha-kavod, the King of God's Glory (Psalm 24) and Adonai Tzeva'ot (יהוה צְבָאוֹת), the LORD of the heavenly host.
Abraham's Three Visitors  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Vayera). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.04.09 (Cheshvan 17, 5770) This week's Torah portion begins: וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יהוה / Vayera elav Adonai: "and the LORD appeared to him (i.e., Abraham) by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day" (Gen 18:1). The midrash colorfully states that the phrase "by the terebinth trees of Mamre" (בְּאֵלנֵי מַמְרֵא) should be read as "in the terebinth trees," that is, God manifested Himself "as a tree" to suggest that just as an old tree could still bear fruit, so would Abraham in his old age. Rashi says it was the third day after Abraham's brit millah (i.e., circumcision) and God came (in a vision) to inquire as to his friend's welfare (this is regarded as a divine example of bikkur cholim (בִּקּוּר חוֹלִים), "visiting the sick"). During the vision, Abraham suddenly saw "three men" (שְׁלשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים) standing before him. But who were these strangers? According to the Jewish sages, they were the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael disguised as Arab wayfarers. Each angel had a distinct mission. Michael came to announce that Sarah would give birth to a son; Raphael came to heal Abraham from his circumcision; and Gabriel came to overthrow Sodom (Bava Metzia 86b). According to Jewish tradition, when Abraham said, "My Lord (אֲדנָי), if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant" (Gen. 18:3), he was not speaking to the three visitors (as might be inferred from casual reading of the text) but rather was addressing the LORD Himself. (As a point of Hebrew grammar, Rambam notes that the vocalization of the word Adonai (אֲדנָי) with the qamets vowel refers to God; whereas if it's vocalized with a patach (i.e., אֲדנַי) it refers to others, i.e., "sirs.") In other words, when Abraham saw the three strangers, he interrupted the vision of God and asked to take leave of the LORD: "My Lord, if you would, please do not go away from your servant." This interpretation has led to the Talmud's statement that showing hospitality to strangers (i.e., hachnasat orechim / הַכְנָסַת אוֹרְחִים) is more important than even welcoming the Shekhinah (Shabbat 127a). On the other hand, Rashi notes that the literal flow of the narrative suggests that Abraham was addressing the angels by requesting that they stay. In this case, the verse would be rendered, "My lords (אֲדנָי), if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant" (Gen. 18:3). The accepted Christian interpretation is that the chief Angel was a pre-incarnate appearance of Yeshua the Messiah (i.e., a "theophany"). Understood in this light, the first verse of the portion, "and the LORD appeared to him" is immediately connected with the vision of the three archangels. In other words, the LORD appeared to Abraham as the Angel of the LORD (מַלְאַךְ יהוה) accompanied with two other angels. This explains why it is written that the LORD (יהוה) tarried with Abraham after the other two angels left for Sodom. (Note that the patriarch Jacob later referred to the LORD (יהוה) as מַּלְאָךְ הַגּאֵל אתִי מִכָּל־רָע / "the Angel who redeemed me from all evil" (Gen. 48:16), just as he earlier had wrestled with a "Man" whom he later identified as God (Gen. 32:30)). The dialog gets somewhat confusing, however, since it is unclear at times who is speaking. For instance, after graciously providing the three guests with a meal (nb: meat and dairy!), the visitors (plural) asked where Sarah was (וַיּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו / "they asked him..."), but then then the Angel of the LORD said, "I will certainly return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son" (Gen. 18:10). Most of the Jewish sages (i.e., Rashi, Maimonides, etc.) understand this to be the Voice of God that was interjected into the conversation, though the text suggests this came directly from one of the angels, not from a "disembodied Voice" from the heavens. At any rate, the purpose of the question was to confirm God's promise (originally given to Abraham in Gen. 17:16) to Sarah herself.... When Sarah heard this, she laughed within herself (lit, "at her insides") and thought, "Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment, my husband being so old?" (Gen. 18:12). When the LORD (יהוה) repeated Sarah's inward thoughts to the others present, however, He omitted some of her words so that Abraham would not feel ashamed: "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:13). The midrash says that the LORD overlooked her reference to Abraham being "too old" for the sake of shalom bayit (family harmony) and to refrain from lashon hara (evil speech). Perhaps some of this exchange was meant to reprove Sarah for disbelieving her husband's faith about a having future son. The sages note that when Abraham first heard the news about an heir "from his own loins," he laughed joyfully, but Sarah later laughed derisively... The Angel continued: "At the appointed time I will return to you (אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ), about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son" (Gen. 18:14). It should be noted here how the miraculous conception of Yitzchak - the promised "only begotten" son (בֵּן יָחִיד) who was to be sacrificed at Moriah - was meant to foreshadow the miraculous conception of Yeshua and His later sacrifice for our sins.... After reaffirming the promise of the coming heir to Sarah, the angels set out to finish their mission. Abraham escorted them on their way. The chief Angel (i.e., the Angel of the LORD) then rhetorically asked his angelic companions, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do (i.e., go to Sodom), seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him (כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו), that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD (דֶּרֶךְ יהוה), to do charity and justice (לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט); that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him" (Gen. 18:17-19). Abraham was destined to be the father of a multitude of nations - and the land promised to him included the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moreover his nephew Lot dwelt in Sodom with his family. The LORD went on to say that "because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know." The "outcry" has been interpreted to mean the cries caused by violence, and in particular, of the brutal murder of a young girl who dared to help a poor man by giving him bread. According to midrash, it was this girl's cry that "broke through" to heaven and moved the LORD to investigate the matter personally. The LORD's "going down to see" has been interpreted to mean descending from the attribute of mercy to that of judgment. The midrash (citing Ezekiel 16:49) states that the sin of Sodom was primarily because of their pride and their refusal to give charity. According to midrash, Abraham was perplexed about the generation of the Flood and thought it was impossible that there were not ten or twenty righteous people on the earth at that time. Because of this, he felt compelled to question the LORD. Would God destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Perhaps Noach thought the decree of the world's destruction was irreversible, but in this case, the LORD told Abraham that His verdict was not sealed, and that emboldened him to intercede on behalf of Sodom. Abraham's chesed (חֶסֶד), his goodness and compassion, prompted him to "draw near" to the LORD as an advocate on behalf of others. Would God's anger cause Him to indiscriminately stamp out the righteous along with the wicked? May it not be so! The wrath of God is the manifestation of His attribute of justice, but what about his attribute of mercy? Surely the Judge of all the earth would be righteous? Surely the reputation of the LORD was at stake? Abraham opened his plea bargaining with 50 righteous (10 for each of the surrounding cities) and went down to 10. Some of the sages say that he did not fulfill his mission since he did not beg that no matter what the circumstance, Sodom should not be destroyed. As it is written in Proverbs: צַדִּיק יְסוֹד עוֹלָם / "The righteous (even one) is an everlasting foundation" (Prov. 10:25). Moses had interceded on behalf of Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf, even asking God to take his life for the sake of God's pardon of his people. Likewise Yeshua went to Cross and died for the sinful and wicked. Abraham appealed to God to spare the righteous. After learning there were none, he no longer interceded on their behalf.... A midrash, however, states that Abraham did not pray for fewer than 10 righteous men because he believed that if there were less than this, God would destroy the entire world (as He did with Noach and his family, which totaled eight souls). Ultimately, however, God saved Lot and his daughters on the merit of Abraham's intercession ("God remembered Abraham" - Gen. 19:29). In other words, though God might judge the world, He always makes a way of escape for those who are righteous. Note: This entry is presently unfinished. I hope to add to it later this week, IY"H.
The "Temptation" of Grace...  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Vayera). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 11.02.09 (Cheshvan 15, 5770) Apparently there are some "Messianic" ministries out there that claim there are two different ways to "walk faith" in the Messiah, depending on whether you identify yourself as a Jew or not. According to these people, Jewish believers in Yeshua should be "Torah observant," while non-Jewish believers (i.e., "Gentiles") are merely "invited" to become (what they term) "Torah submissive." As one of these organizations recently put it: "Gentile believers do not share identical obligation to Torah as Jewish believers, but they are invited to participate in all of the commandments along with Israel and should be encouraged to do so" (FFOZ, Divine Invitation). According to this "two class" system, Jewish believers are obligated to be "Torah observant," whereas their non-Jewish counterparts are not... The two groups "do not share" the same obligation before the Lord. Let me say plainly that "Messianic" ministries that advocate such invidious doctrines are in grave error -- and are undoubtedly legalistic cults. Forget the lip service these ministries may give to the idea of "salvation by grace through faith." When you get past the "surface language" you will begin to discern appeals to a form of "works righteousness," a meritocracy, a system that claims that salvation itself is ultimately conditional upon something you do, some merit of your own, some observance, some action, some prescribed ritual... Listen closely to the connotations of language. You will soon enough detect that those who teach such divisive things are either ignorant of the meaning of the Torah (and therefore of the meaning of the gospel) or else are deceivers intent on "bewitching" vulnerable souls with superficial knowledge. Their message is often joined with a seductive appeal to human pride as well: "This is what the text really means..." "Now you can know the secrets - unlike those common 'Gentile Christians' who don't really understand..." etc. Please read what I've got to say and see if you might not agree. At the outset it must be conceded that no one has ever been genuinely "Torah observant" since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. More than 40% of the Torah's commandments concern various laws of the priesthood and the sacrifices (korbanot), but apart from a divinely appointed altar (i.e., the Temple), it is literally impossible to fulfill these commandments. Since this is undeniably the case, any advocate of "Torah observance" must immediately qualify their claim by appealing to the logic (and authority) of the Mishnah/Talmud (i.e., Oral Law), which equates prayer, good deeds, and charity with the Torah's sacrificial system (see Berachot 26b). In other words, the idea of "Torah observance" today distills to the question of the authority of the various customs and traditions of post-Temple Judaism. The Oral law of Judaism -- and therefore the authority of the sages -- is given priority over the written law of Moses. (The same point might be made, incidentally, regarding various social laws found in Torah. For example, we are not living in a theocratic kingdom, we do not observe agricultural laws for ancient Israel, we do not release slaves at the year of Jubilee, and so on.) But let me go further here. I've written extensively about the question of "Torah observance" in numerous articles elsewhere on this site. "Torah triflers" (i.e., those who advocate legalism but have yet to seriously think through its implications) are often unaware of the deeper function of Sinai and its provisions. Two things should immediately be said regarding this: 1) Olam ("everlasting") doesn't necessarily mean unchanging (at least in the Greek sense of the term), especially since Moses, David, and Ezra all changed the Torah, and most of the later Jewish sages acknowledged that Torah would be changed in yemot ha-Mashiach (the days of the Messiah); and 2) the New Covenant is an entirely new covenant -- not a renewed version of the sefer ha-brit sprinkled with the blood of bulls at Mt. Sinai. Paul goes back to the Abrahamic covenant -- not to the "blessings and curses" issued from the mountains of Gerizim and Eval as the foundation underlying the deeper covenantal message of God's chesed. Of course you are "free" to attempt to justify yourself using the terms given at Sinai, but then you are constrained by the conditions of that agreement (Deut. 27:26), and you are thereby implicitly denigrating the need for a radically New Covenant. Be forewarned: Persisting in such a project ultimately outrages the Spirit of Grace (רוּחַ הֶחָסֶד) that broods over the Cross of Mashiach (Heb. 10:29). We are furthermore cautioned that hardening our hearts on this matters can lead to eternal loss (Heb. 6:4-8). God is not mocked. He did not sacrifice His Son for the sake of creating disciples of Moses and the rabbis... We are called to follow the Messiah and submit to His authority alone (Matt. 23:8). Anything else is chillul HaShem and a betrayal of the Messiah! It is written: "Now the righteousness of God (צִדְקַת אֱלהִים) apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Rom. 3:21). Those who attempt to mix the covenants are called adulterers (Rom. 7:4-ff.).... The goal or aim of the Torah was the New Covenant -- not the other way around (Gal. 3:17-19). The law is called a "schoolmaster" meant to lead to the Messiah and His Kingdom rule (Gal. 3:23-26). The glory of the Torah of Moses was destined to fade away (2 Cor. 3:3-11), just as its ritual center (i.e., the Tabernacle/Temple) was a shadow to be replaced by the greater priesthood of Malki-Tzedek (Heb. 10:1; 13:10). "Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Rom. 7:6). "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3-4). Let's look at this from a metaphorical perspective, or by means of a Scriptural parable. מַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹת סִימָן לַבָּנִים / ma'aseh avot siman labanim: "The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children." When Abraham was tested with the Akedah (i.e., the sacrifice of his son Isaac), the temptation was to elevate blind obedience above the dictates of compassion and conscience. His temptation, so to speak, was whether to listen to the voice of God (אֱלהִים) or to the voice of the LORD (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה). Why didn't Abraham argue with God (אֱלהִים) by remembering Him as the LORD (יְהוָה), the Compassionate Source of life? Earlier he had argued with God regarding the destruction of Sodom. So why didn't he argue to save his own son? Might this have been Abraham's test, namely, that God wanted Abraham to argue and to challenge the command to perform child sacrifice? According to this view, Abraham failed the test, since he blindly obeyed God without protest (this is similar to those who want to obey the letter of the Torah without taking time to discern the overarching significance of its message). It is noteworthy that after the Akedah, God and Abraham never spoke directly to one another again... Abraham went ahead to offer homage to Elohim, the God of Justice, upon Moriah... The temptation, from this perspective, was not to be swayed by the "merely human" compassion of a father for his son... For three days Abraham steeled himself from all appeals of human tenderness and compassion. At the decisive moment, however, the LORD (יְהוָה) intervened -- and Abraham ultimately heeded the Voice of Love/Grace rather than the voice of Justice/Law.... This was the deeper Voice of the LORD; this was also Abraham's vindication....  There is a fantastic midrash about the white ram that Abraham sacrificed in place of his son (see the Midrash of the White Ram). After its death, the ram's soul returned to heaven, but it wanted to do more in the world of people, so God sent him back to earth. God then gave the ram horns so long that they reached all the way to heaven. In this way, the ram could be in both worlds at once: with its feet on earth and its horns in heaven. Similarly, God sent His Son as the Ram of God to satisfy His requirements for justice (as Elohim) and to demonstrate His unbounded chesed/love (as the LORD). Yeshua now spans heaven and earth as our substitionary atonement, intercessor, and heavenly advocate. In Him "steadfast love (chesed) and truth (emet) meet; justice (tzedek) and peace (shalom) kiss" (Psalm 85:10). His merit alone is our Bridge to the Father: יְשׁוּעָתָה לַיהוָה - Salvation is from the LORD.
It is vital, chaverim, to understand that we are saved by hope in the love and grace of God -- not through adherence to an external lawcode (or by appealing to God as Elohim rather than as YHVH/Yeshua). God looks within the heart. The justified live by trusting in God's gracious love and forgiveness-- not on the basis of meritocracy or conformity to a religious code (Hab. 2:4; Titus 3:5-6). Ultimately there is an infinite difference between being a slave and being a child. Messianic groups that advocate adherence to the terms of the Sinai covenant or otherwise promote "Torah observance" spawn insidious confusion that subtly undermines the message of the Gospel itself. Ironically enough, most of these so-called "Torah observant" ministries often do not truly understand what the word "Torah" actually means. They seem to rather uncritically accept rabbinical thinking and definitions, but they really don't go back far enough. They do both too little and too much in their theology. It is vital to remember there is a distinction between "Torah" (תּוֹרָה) and "Covenant" (בְּרִית). As the author of the Book of Hebrews lucidly states: "When there is a change in the priesthood (i.e., as mediators of the covenant), there is necessarily a change in the Torah as well" (Heb. 7:12). The Levitical priesthood mediates the truth of the Covenant of Sinai; the priesthood of Yeshua (after the order of Malki-Tzedek) mediates the truth of the New Covenant. Torah is a general word that means "instruction" and is always a function of the underlying covenant of which it is part: it is our response to the covenantal actions of the LORD God of Israel. Focusing on the Torah's requirements for ethnic Jews (as opposed to non-Jews) promotes a religious "class system" that Yeshua never once promoted. It focuses on what separates us -- the mechitzah or "dividing fence of partition" -- rather than on the "one new man" ideal that brings us all together (Eph. 2:14). If you want to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, you efface yourself and become a slave to all (Mark 9:35; 10:44). Moreover, since circumcision is the ritual "sign" par excellence of what it means to be an "ethnic Jew," it may be regarded as a test case in this matter. As the great Torah sage Rav Sha'ul (i.e., the Apostle Paul) wrote: For freedom the Messiah has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (ζυγῷ δουλείας). Mark my words- I, Sha'ul, tell you that if you undergo brit milah (בְּרִית מִילָה) the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all! Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes brit milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah! You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God's grace! For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled. When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love. (Gal. 5:1-6)
Parashat Vayera - וירא  11.01.09 (Cheshvan 14, 5770) The Torah reading for this week (Vayera) includes the "Gospel according to Moses," or rather his account of how Abraham was tested by God to offer his "only begotten son" (בֵּן יָחִיד) as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah -- the place of the future Temple. This famous story is referred to as the Akedah (עֲקֵדָה), or Akedat Yitzchak (עֲקֵידָת יִצְחָק) - the "binding of Isaac" (Gen. 22:1-18). At the very last moment, God stopped Abraham from going through with the sacrifice and provided a ram as a substitute. Abraham then named the location Adonai-Yireh (יהוה יִרְאֶה), "the LORD who sees" (from the 3p impf. of the verb ra'ah (רָאָה), "to see").  As Messianic believers, we understand the Akedah as a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice the heavenly Father would give on our behalf. Unlike Abraham, God the Father actually offered His only begotten Son (בֵּן יָחִיד) Yeshua upon Moriah in order to make salvation available to all who believe (John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9). As Abraham himself believed: אֱלהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה / Elohim yireh-lo haseh ("God Himself will provide a lamb"). Consider how the Akedah provides a prophetic picture of the Mashiach Yeshua as the "Lamb of God" (Seh haElohim) who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Both Isaac and Yeshua were born miraculously; both were "only begotten sons"; both were to be sacrificed by their fathers at Mount Moriah; both were to be resurrected on the third day (Gen. 22:5, Heb. 11:17-19); both willingly took up the means of his execution; and both demonstrate that one life can be sacrificed for another – the ram for Isaac, and Yeshua for all of mankind. Indeed, Isaac is a clear picture of the Greater Seed of Abraham to come, the One who would remove the kelalah (curse) and save us from death. Whereas the Akedat Yitzchak foreshadowed God's provision and the coming of the Temple, the Akedat Yeshua (i.e., His crucifixion at Moriah) was the altar where the justice and chesed (love) of the Father fully met. Midrash about Moriah  According to Jewish legend, God chose the site for His Holy Temple in order to honor brotherly love. In the days before the Bet Hamikdash (Temple) was built, two brothers, Shimon and Levi, inherited a large field from their parents. This field was on Mount Moriah, in the heart of the Promised Land. Instead of dividing the land into separate fields, however, the two brothers decided to work the field together. Every morning they got up early and worked the days together. At harvest time, they would cut the wheat, bind it into sheaves, and divide it equally into piles. Then each brother would carry his pile into his own storehouse. One year, after harvesting all day in the sun, the brothers decided to sleep beside their piles of sheaves instead of carrying them to their storehouses. But late that night Shimon could not sleep. He kept thinking of his brother Levi. "It isn't fair that the harvest is divided equally between us. Levi has a family to support, but I am alone.... Why should I take so much? It is better that he receive a bigger portion." So Shimon got up, gathered up as many sheaves he could from his pile, and surreptitiously placed them on his brother's stack. He then went back to his own pile of sheaves and slept sweetly. Awhile later, Levi awoke from a dream. In his dream he saw his brother Shimon as an old and sick man. He thought, "It isn't fair that the harvest is divided equally. Shimon is all alone. He has no wife or children to care for him when he gets old. He will need more grain to help him prepare for his future. It is better that he receive a bigger portion." So Levi got up, gathered up as many sheaves he could from his pile, and surreptitiously placed them on his brother's stack. He then went back to his pile of sheaves and slept sweetly. When daylight came, the two brothers went to load their wagons but were amazed to see the same number of sheaves in their piles as before. Perplexed, they quietly finished their work and went home. But neither brother could sleep that night. Each kept thinking of the needs of the other. Finally, each went to his storehouse, took as many sheaves as he could carry, and began walking quietly to his brother's house. Suddenly, halfway between their homes, the two brothers saw each other in the moonlight. In an instant, they both understood the other's heart. Embracing, they gave each other a kiss of brotherly love. And it was on that spot, atop Mount Moriah, that God chose the site for His Holy Temple.
October 2009 Updates Exploring the identity of Melchizedek [ Disclaimer: The following entry - related to this week's Torah reading (Lekh Lekha) - attempts to explain the traditional Jewish view of the identity of Malki-Tzedek (i.e., "Melchizedek"). Please note that this is simply an "exploratory discussion" that I hope will prompt you to think through some of the questions for yourself... ] 10.30.09 (Cheshvan 12, 5770) After Abram was given the divine promise to inherit the land of Canaan (Gen. 13:14-18), the Torah gives an account of a regional war (near the Dead Sea) during which his nephew Lot was taken prisoner. When Abram learned of his nephew's abduction, he mobilized a small army of men and rescued him, supernaturally defeating King Chedorlaomer and his three vassal allies (Gen. 14:1-16). To honor his victory, the king of Sodom met Abram at the Valley of Shaveh (i.e., the "United Valley" just outside Jerusalem) and escorted him to the city of Salem (later renamed "Jerusalem"). It was here, at Salem, that "Malki-Tzedek" (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק), the high priest and king of the city, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram (Gen. 14:18). But who is this mysterious figure called Malki-Tzedek? The name "Malki-Tzedek" literally means "my king" (i.e., מַלְכִּי, from מֶלֶךְ, "king") is "tzedek" (i.e., צֶדֶק, "just, righteous"). Note that it does not mean "King of righteousness" (as is sometimes claimed by Christian theologians), since the word "malki" contains a possessive personal pronoun (i.e., "my king"). Jewish tradition identifies Malki-Tzedek as Shem (שֵׁם), the firstborn son of Noach, who settled in Salem (שָׁלֵם) some time after the great Flood. To understand how Shem became the first high priest and king of Zion, we need to go back and reconsider the lineage of the patriarchs.  Adam was the world's "firstborn son" (bechor) of God (Gen. 2:7, Luke 3:38). After his transgression (and expulsion from the garden), Adam built an altar and offered sacrifices to the LORD as humanity's first high priest. When he later died, Adam's son Seth (שֵׁת) became high priest in his place. When Seth later died, the priesthood went to Methuselah (מְתוּשָׁלַח) who served for centuries. Methuselah was prophesied to die seven days before the advent of the great Flood, and upon his death his grandson Noach (נחַ) was commissioned to be humanity's high priest. Noach had learned the laws of sacrifice ("clean" and "unclean") from the books of Adam and Enoch as well as from his grandfather (Gen. 8:20). After the Flood, Noach rebuilt Adam's original altar in Jerusalem (which had been destroyed earlier by wicked people of the generation of the Flood). Later, however, he was disqualified to be priest and his firstborn son Shem (שֵׁם) took his place. Shem remained in Jerusalem (i.e., Salem) and became its king and high priest. The name "Malki-Tzedek" was later ascribed to him as an honorary title (perhaps similar to the title Adonai-Tzedek as mentioned in Joshua 10:1). Now Shem was truly an extraordinary person. He was the firstborn son of Noach who personally served the great patriarch Methuselah for 98 years before the Flood (Methuselah, it should be noted, directly knew Adam). And Shem had witnessed -- firsthand -- the devastation of the Flood and God's judgment upon the world. After the deluge, he settled in Salem where he founded a school for Torah study to encourage his descendants to serve the LORD. According to tradition, Shem was present at the brit milah (circumcision) of Abraham and Ishmael (Gen. 17:23), and later Isaac studied with him after the Akedah ordeal (Gen. 22:1-14). Still later, Isaac's wife Rebekah went to visit him regarding the struggle of her pregnancy and was given the prophecy of the "elder serving the younger" (Gen. 25:22-23). And when Jacob finally "stole" the blessing from Esau, he fled from his brother by going first to Shem's school in Salem. So all three of the avot (patriarchs) of Israel -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- personally knew Shem. Shem is considered one of the four righteous men of the "dispersion" period (i.e., the period after the Flood in which the descendants of Noah were to commanded to settle the earth). The thee others are Noach, Eber, and Abram. For 400 years Shem preached to the idolaters of the world, calling them to repentance and offering instruction at his school in Salem. He was a prophet who foresaw the future glory of Zion -- God's Temple and the redemption of the human race. He wanted to establish the kingdom of God based on justice (tzedek) and peace (shalom). According to the sages of the Talmud, God originally planned to bring forth the priesthood through Shem, but he was disqualified because he had blessed Abram before God ("blessed be Abram ... and blessed be the Most High God," see Gen. 14:19-20). Because of this misstep, the LORD decided to bring the priesthood through Abraham's offspring (i.e., Levi). Indeed, the sages interpret David's later statement, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4) as, "You are a priest forever because of the words (al-divrati / עַל־דִּבְרָתִי) of Malki-Tzedek" (Bava Batra 14b). Shem had got his priorities mixed up and put Abram before the LORD, and that displeased God. Moreover, the sages note that Shem understood God primarily as El Elyon (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן), the supreme God among other gods (elim), but Abram put the LORD first ("I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High..." Gen. 14:22). In other words, Shem's idea of God was of a Supreme Being, Creator, and Judge, but Abram understood God as the personal LORD (יהוה), the compassionate Source of life. Abram understood the LORD as the God of human providence and care, not just as the Judge of the earth. As already mentioned, Abram and Shem knew each other, though after the "war of the kings," they were said to be fearful of one another. Abram was said to be fearful that Shem would resent him for killing his descendants (Chedorlaomer was a direct descendant of Shem), whereas Shem was fearful that Abram was angry over the abduction of Lot and the need for war. The offering of bread and wine therefore represented a "peace offering" between the two. Moreover, Shem was further revealing to Abram the laws of the high priesthood. The bread represented the "bread of faces" (לֶחֶם פָּנִים) or "showbread," and the wine represented libations or drink offerings (נֶסֶךְ), both of which became part of later Temple worship. Abram's victory was sanctified by the high priest of God, and Abram's tribute was given to honor God's representative. Malki-Tzedek may have been the historical Shem, though מַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹת סִימָן לַבָּנִים / ma'aseh avot siman labanim: "The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children." In other words, like other "types" or patterns given in Scripture (e.g., the sacrifice of Isaac), there is a deeper significance to the immediate historical context. The fusion of a King-Priest that predates Israel is a picture of the Messiah himself, as was foreseen by the prophets. For example, the name Adonai Tzidkenu (יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ), "the LORD our Righteousness," appears in Jeremiah's prophecy of the "righteous branch" (tzemach tzaddik, צֶמַח צַדִּיק), the great Davidic King who was promised to appear (Jer. 23:5-6). This "Righteous Branch" is also mentioned in Book of Zechariah as the one who would ultimately unite the authority of the priesthood with the Kingship of God on behalf of Israel's redemption. Although Jewish tradition regards Malki-Tzedek to be the patriarch Shem, he is clearly a picture of Adonai Tzidkenu. He is called the "King of Righteousness and priest of the Most High God" (Gen. 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4; Heb. 5:6). The Midrash Lamentations says, "The proper name of Messiah is Adonai Tzidkenu - the Lord our righteousness." Note that the very first occurrence of the word "priest" in the Scriptures occurs in reference to the King/Priest Malki-Tzedek – a picture of the coming Tzemach Tzedakah, Yeshua the Anointed One. The New Testament calls Yeshua Adonai Tzidkenu and declares Him the only True Tzaddik (1 Cor. 1:30; 1 John 2:1) since He alone truly fulfilled the Torah of Moses and gave Himself as a sacrificial offering upon the cross to save the world from the judgment of God (2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:36). Those who trust in Him are also justified as tzaddikim, since "the tzaddik shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11). In short, Adonai Tzidkenu is the name for Yeshua who "saves His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). The righteousness of Yeshua is the gospel message itself, that is, the power of God to save us from the verdict of our sinful condition and to restore our relationship with a holy and morally perfect God. God will not clear the guilty, but He does something infinitely better: He removes the guilt! The curse of the Law's verdict upon us has been taken away through the substitionary sacrifice of Yeshua upon the cross at Moriah (Gal. 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:21). God puts our sin upon Yeshua and gives us His righteousness in exchange. By sincerely turning to Him in confession of our condition and trusting in His righteousness we are declared legally "justified" (i.e., "just-if-I'd" never sinned) before the Judge of the World. Moreover, through our union with Yeshua, we share in the vindication of His resurrected life and have peace with God (Rom. 5:1). To be justified is to share in Yeshua's righteousness: Adonai Tzidkenu! Of course the Book of Hebrews also links the priestly work of Yeshua as our Kohen Gadol of the New Covenant with Malki-Tzedek (Heb. 5-10). Malki-Tzedek is said to have been "made like" (ἀφομοιόω) the Son of God, "having neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Heb. 7:3). This Greek word means "to resemble" or "to liken" (from ἀπό + ὁμοιόω). The priesthood of Yeshua is said to be after the "order of Malki-Tzedek," based on a direct oath from God, that predates the operation of the Levitical priesthood (for more information about the role of Yeshua as our High Priest, see the article "Yom Kippur and the Gospel"). This is not unlike the King/Priest office that Moses held when he commanded the sacrifice of the Passover lambs during the Exodus. The korban pesach (sacrifice of Passover) was not originally instituted through the Levitical priesthood (i.e., the Mishkan), but rather predated the giving of the law to the priests. Yeshua is Adam ah-Sheni - the "Second Adam" - who offered up a better sacrifice upon the altar of the Cross in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 15:45). He is humanity's great High Priest (Kohen Gadol) of the New Covenant with God. Like Malki-Tzedek, Yeshua's priesthood abides forever and is more profound than that given through the Levitical rites. Yeshua "ever lives to make intercession for those who put their trust in Him as their advocate before Heaven" (Heb. 7:25). Note: Some Christians regard Malki-Tzedek as a preincarnate manifestation of Yeshua, though the Book of Hebrews says that Yeshua is "in the similitude" (ὁμοιότης) of Malki-Tzedek, not that He is Malki-Tzedek. Moreover, Malki-Tzedek is said to have been "made like" (ἀφομοιόω) the Son of God, "having neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Heb. 7:3), but again it does not explicitly say He is the same person.... It's entirely possible that Malki-Tzedek was both a historical person and a picture or "parable" of Yeshua as the great High Priest and King. Yeshua came after "the order (τάξιν) of Malki-Tzedek" (Heb. 6:20), a term that refers to an office or position as the true King and High Priest of God (this is expressed in Psalm 110:4 as עַל־דִּבְרָתִי / al-divrati, "according to the word or manner" of Malki-Tzedek). Addendum: This entry was meant to help you better understand traditional Jewish view about Malki-Tzedek. Unfortunately, it does not go into a detailed look at the Book of Hebrews discussion regarding this subject (please forgive any oversight on my part, chaverim). If it pleases God, I will write more about Malki-Tzedek at a later time.
Abram the Hebrew - אַבְרָם הָעִבְרִי [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Lekh Lekha). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.29.09 (Cheshvan 11, 5770) In this Torah portion Abram is called ha-ivri (הָעִבְרִי) - "the Hebrew," a term that means "one who has crossed over" (עָבַר) from another place. Rashi identifies this "other place" as Ur Kasdim (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים), located east of the Euphrates River, though the midrash (Genesis Rabbah) symbolically identifies it as the realm of idolatry: "The whole world stood on one side, but Abram crossed over to the other." Abram separated himself from a world steeped in idolatry and polytheism by worshipping One God who is the sole Creator of all things.... Understood in this way, being "Hebrew" means being regarded as an "other," a "stranger," or an "outsider" to idolatrous world culture. Various midrashim tell the story about how Abram came to understand the truth that there is only one God who is Creator of all. For instance, when he was born, Abram's mother hid him in a cave. She was afraid that the evil king Nimrod would kill her son because prophets had warned that he would triumph over Nimrod. Guarded by the angel Gabriel, young Abram first worshipped the stars as gods until they were obscured by the Sun. The he declared that the Sun was god until it set and the Moon took its place. Clouds then covered the Moon, showing Abram that the Moon was not a god either. At last, Abram understood that there was one supreme God would ruled over all the forces of the universe. (Later, after the danger had passed, young Abram rejoined his family.) A midrash relates that Abram's father Terach sold idols for a living in the city of Haran. But Abram had long since realized that idol worship was foolishness. One day when he was asked to watch his father's store, Abram took a hammer and smashed all the idols - except for the largest one. His father came home and demanded to know what happened. Abram explained that the idols all got into a fight and the biggest idol won. When his father objected that this was impossible, Abram said, "Aha! So you agree with me that idols are powerless! My father, there is only one true God, and this God cannot be shaped with human hands..." Terach was angry but understood that his son had discovered the great truth of ethical monotheism. Lekh lekha (לך־לך) literally means "go for yourself." Rashi states that it means "Go for your own benefit," though the Chassidic teachers interpret it as "Go to yourself" (i.e., begin your own journey back to God). At any rate, it's clear that the phrase is an invitation by God to venture ahead -- to go forth in faith... Go forth and risk everything for the sake of God's promise. "Go forth ... to a land that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). Note that the LORD spoke to Abram and invited him to forsake his ancestral homeland for the promise of God. But note further that it was only after Abram made the long journey to the unknown land of Canaan that God appeared to him to him by the oaks of Mamre saying, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 18:1). Abram did not believe the promise because he saw God; he was only able to see God after he had walked in faith. First Abram heard the message, and later -- after he acted on his faith -- was he enabled to see more... מַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹת סִימָן לַבָּנִים / ma'aseh avot siman labanim: "The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children."
New Hebrew Meditation  10.27.09 (Cheshvan 9, 5770) I wrote another brief Hebrew meditation (The Discipline of Suffering) based on Psalm 119:71: "It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes." I hope you will find it helpful, friends... Personal Update: On a personal level, my wife has been quite sick and we've been stressed to the limit (for a variety of reasons), but God is faithful.... Both our sons are doing well, B"H. Here are a couple pictures I took of them a couple days ago:  Judah and Josiah - October 2009 Despite being without a job, the LORD has been compassionate and gracious to our family. Thank you so much for standing with this ministry! We are only able to serve in this way because of the kindness and love of God's people. Shalom, chaverim.
El Shaddai... אֵל שַׁדַּי [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Lekh Lekha). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.25.09 (Cheshvan 6, 5770) In this week's Torah (Lekh Lekha), the LORD described Himself using the Divine Name El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי), often translated as "God Almighty." In Genesis 17:1, YHVH said to Abram: "I am El Shaddai. Walk before me and be perfect." But why did the LORD choose to reveal Himself using this distinctive Name to Abram? Most English translations render El Shaddai as "God Almighty," probably because the translators of the Septuagint (i.e., the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) thought Shaddai came from a root verb (shadad) that means "to overpower" or "to destroy." The Latin Vulgate likewise translated Shaddai as "Omnipotens" (from which we get our English word omnipotent). God is so overpowering that He is considered "Almighty." According to some of the Jewish sages, however, Shaddai is a contraction of the phrase, "I said to the world, dai (enough)" (as in the famous word used in the Passover Haggadah, Dayeinu -- "it would have been sufficient"). God created the world but "stopped" at a certain point. He left creation "unfinished" because He wanted us to complete the job by means of exercising chesed (love) in repair of the world (tikkun olam). Jacob's blessing given in Genesis 49:25, however, indicates that Shaddai might be related to the word for breasts (shadaim), indicating sufficiency and nourishment (i.e., "blessings of the breasts and of the womb" (בִּרְכת שָׁדַיִם וָרָחַם)). In this case, the Name might derive from the contraction of sha ("who") and dai ("enough") to indicate God's complete sufficiency to nurture the fledgling nation into fruitfulness. Indeed, God first uses this Name when He refers to multiplying Abraham's offspring (Gen. 17:2).  In short, the name El Shaddai provides a picture of God's nurturing love for our lives... God sustains us and loves us, like a mother loves her newborn child... El Shaddai is used almost exclusively in reference to the three great patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and (according to Exodus 6:2-3) was the primary name by which God was known to the founders of Israel (the Name YHVH given to Moses suggests God's absolute self-sufficiency). The word "Shaddai" (by itself) was used later by the prophets (e.g., Num. 24:4; Isa. 13:6, Ezek. 1:24) as well as in the books of Job, Ruth, and in the Psalms. In modern Judaism, Shaddai is also thought to be an acronym for the phrase Shomer daltot Yisrael - "Guardian of the doors of Israel" - abbreviated as the letter Shin on most mezuzot:
Note: If it pleases God, I will add additional commentary to this Torah portion later this week, chaverim.
Parashat Lekh Lekha - לך־לך 10.25.09 (Cheshvan 6, 5770) The Torah reading for this week (Lekh Lekha) introduces us to Avraham Avinu, "our father Abraham," and the crucial concept of being "justified by faith" before the LORD... Some Christians might be surprised to learn that the idea of "justification by faith" is not unfamiliar to Jewish theology (and certainly was not first proclaimed through Martin Luther or any of the other "Reformers"). For example, the Talmud (Makkot 23b-24a) says, "Moses gave Israel 613 commandments, David reduced them to eleven (Psalm 15), Isaiah to six (Isaiah 33:15-16), Micah to three (Micah 6:8), Isaiah reduced them again to two (Isaiah 56:1); but it was Habakkuk who gave the one essential commandment: v'tzaddik be'emunato yich'yeh, literally, "the righteous, by his faithfulness - shall live" (Hab. 2:4). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul had likewise distilled the various commandments of the Torah to this same principle of faith (see Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38). Note: If it pleases God, I will add additional commentary to this Torah portion later this week, chaverim.
Prayer Request  10.2.09 (Cheshvan 5, 5770) Friends, I appeal to you for prayer. With my physical afflictions, I need additional strength to do this work... I do not have an office space and our house is very small, especially with two young children. I am constrained to work throughout the night, but I often am unable to sleep during the day. Presently I am behind schedule writing an article for ZLM, but I am exhausted. Your prayers are sincerely appreciated. Thank you.
New Priestly Blessing Reader Page  10.23.09 (Cheshvan 5, 5770) I created a new "Priestly Blessing Reader Page" for those of you who want to bless your children or friends using the prescribed words of the Torah. This page provides the Hebrew text of Numbers 6:24-6 with a translation for each word directly underneath. Brief explanatory footnotes are also provided. I hope you will find it helpful, chaverim! You can download the page here. Note: This blessing page is intended for personal use, such as blessing your children on Friday night (before the start of the Shabbat meal) or as a bedtime blessing. It is not a description of the ritual known as Nesiat Kapayim ("the Raising of the Hands"), where the priests of Israel bless the people during synagogue services (i.e., birkat kohanim).
Noah in Jewish Tradition  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Noach). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.22.09 (Cheshvan 5, 5770) Despite the fact that Torah plainly describes Noach as אִישׁ צַדִּיק / ish tzaddik: "a righteous man," "blameless in his generation" (תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדרתָיו), and a man who "walked with God" (אֶת־הָאֱלהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ־נחַ), Jewish tradition takes a somewhat ambiguous view of him, especially when he's compared to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people... In the Midrash Tanchuma (מדרש תנחומא), for example, it is said that Noach was righteous in his generation -- though he would not be so regarded in other generations: "To what might this be compared? If a man places a silver coin among copper coins, then the silver appears attractive. So Noach appeared attractive in the generation of the Flood." In other words, Noach was only relatively righteous compared to others.... According to the sages, unlike Abraham who asked, 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?' (Gen. 18:23), Noach seemed relatively undisturbed by the cataclysmic judgment that was to befall humanity and acted only to save himself. Indeed, Chassidic commentators call Noach tzaddik im pelz - "a righteous man with a fur coat," that is, a man only concerned for his own welfare. They ask what kind of tzaddik would respond to the cold by covering himself in fur -- rather than making a fire that would warm everyone around him? The ark (תֵּבָה, teivah) functioned as a sort of "City of Refuge," but Noach failed to constrain his neighbors to come within its shelter. In contrast to Noach's sense of pious resignation, Abraham actively interceded regarding evil (evoking the quality of God's chesed). Abraham argued with God, protesting, remonstrating, etc., on behalf of the world, whereas Noach simply accepted the world as doomed and forthwith sought to look after his own interests.... But what about the statement that Noach that אֶת־הָאֱלהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ־נחַ / et-ha'Elohim hit-halekh Noach: "with God Noach walked" (Gen. 6:9)? Doesn't this suggest that he was indeed a friend of God (אהֵב אֱלהִים)? Of this statement the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah) says "[it] may be understood from the parable of a king who had two sons, one grown up, and the other a child. To the child he said, 'Walk with me'; but to the adult, 'Walk before me.' Likewise to Abraham whose strength was great, he said, 'Because you are wholehearted, walk before Me' (Gen. 17:1), but to Noach, whose strength was small, the Torah says, 'Noach walked with God.'" In other words, Abraham was mature; Noach was like a child. Jewish tradition might be too hard on Noach, however, since Enoch (חֲנוֹךְ) likewise was said to have "walked with God" -- so much so that he (like Noach) was "translated" from this world to a better world (Gen. 5:24). Rabbinical Judaism might have a different motivation here, not wishing to ascribe any special status to the idea of salvation coming from a non-Jewish patriach. Indeed, the first occurrence of the word "grace" in the Torah concerns the patriach Noach: נחַ מָצָא חֵן בְּעֵינֵי יהוה / Noach matza chen b'einei Adonai: "Noah found favor (chen) in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen. 6:8).
It's worth mentioning that this exact phrase is used of Moses himself (Exod. 33:12), though the sages do not appear to make any correlation between the two. Moreover, the New Testament calls Noach a "herald of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5), impugning the traditional Jewish view that he was passive in the face of worldwide evil... And as I've shown elsewhere on this site, Noach is clearly a picture of the Mashiach Yeshua who "rebirths" the world and gives lasting comfort and rest. Truly Noach's life is a picture of comfort given to those who are trusting in Adonai to save them from tribulation! Still, in general it may be noted that the Jewish sages regard "grace" as a passive thing (i.e., being found favored) whereas chesed (love) is regarded an active thing (i.e., bringing about favor). It is one thing, after all, to be a recipient of God's love and favor, and it's another to advocate on behalf of those who are void of this favor for their welfare and good. And it's for this reason that Jewish tradition regards Abraham as greater than Noach, despite the fact that Noach is the righteous forebear of Abraham himself. We may begin with grace, but grace itself is a means of expressing God's love, after all. At any rate, Noach represents the universal faithfulness of God as symbolized by the rainbow. In fact, there is a traditional blessing that is recited in this connection. Whenever we see a rainbow, it is recommended that we say: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלהֵנוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם barukh attah Adonai melech ha'olam, zokher ha-brit vene'eman bivrito v'kayam b'ma'amaro. Blessed are You, Lord our God, master of the universe,
Parashat Noach [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Noach). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.21.09 (Cheshvan 3, 5770) In last week's Torah (Bereshit), we read about the disheartening history of earliest humanity. After ten generations, from Adam to Noah, the LORD had grown so weary of humanity that he "regretted" (yinchem, יִּנָּחֶם) creating man in the first place and "his heart was saddened" (Gen. 6:6). It is interesting to note that the word translated "regretted" comes from the root nacham (נָחַם) -- the same root for the name "Noach" (נחַ) himself. Other Hebrew words that use this root include nichum (compassion), nuach (rest), and menuchah (rest from work). God comforted himself by finding a means to comfort lost humanity.... Noach's father Lamech (לֶמֶךְ, "powerful one") regarded his son as a deliverer who would comfort humanity from the ravages of the curse (Gen. 5:29). Noach would give relief (i.e., rest) from the toil and vexation of life. In like manner it was prophesied that Yeshua would give us everlasting rest: "His rest shall be glorious" (Isa. 11:10), just as He offers rest to the weary (Matt. 11:28, Heb. 4:9). His sacrifice on the Cross at Moriah undoes the kelalah (curse) over the children of Adam. Indeed, His life, sacrifice, and resurrection was like a "magic spell" that "spoke backwards" the sin of the "First Adam" - and by means of His deliverance the power of the curse was forever broken (Gal. 3:13, John 3:14, 2 Tim.1:10; Heb. 2:14; Heb. 9:27-28; 1 John 3:8, Rev. 22:3). By means of His Spirit we are given an everlasting comfort (John 14:16). Note: The great patriarch Noach was a type of savior who rebirths the world and gives lasting comfort and rest. For more about this, see the page "Noah and Jesus."
New Shema Reader Page 10.21.09 (Cheshvan 3, 5770) I created a new "Shema Reader" page for those of you who might wish to recite the Shema before going to bed. This page provides only the Hebrew text of the Shema (with a translation for each word directly underneath). I hope you will find it helpful, chaverim! You can download the page here. Note: If you find this helpful, I am willing to create additional pages like this on the Priestly Prayer (birkat kohanim) as well as other common prayers and blessings. Please let me know your thoughts, chaverim. I also hope to add some additional information regarding this week's Torah portion (Noach) some time tomorrow. Shalom chaverim.
New Shema Study Page  10.20.09 (Cheshvan 2, 5770) Which commandment of the Torah is the most important of all? Or, to put it another way, what is it that God requires of us? What is the purpose of our lives, and how can we fulfill that purpose? The Gospels recount various occasions when Yeshua was asked this very question, and in every case He answered by quoting the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment." Yeshua went on to say, "And the second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There are no other commandments greater than these'" (see Mark 12:28-34; Matt. 22:36-40, Deut. 6:4-9, etc.). To help us remember Yeshua's words, it's helpful to memorize the Shema and to recite it daily (traditionally once in the morning and once before bedtime). Before we go to sleep, for example, we will often recite (or sing) the first part of the Shema to our children (this is sometimes called keriat Shema al hamita, or the "bedtime" Shema). To make reciting the Shema easier for those of you learning Hebrew, I have created a new "Shema study page" that I hope you will find helpful. You can download it here. If you have children (or even if you don't), a helpful bedtime routine is to first tell a story (either from the Scriptures or one that emphasizes Torah values) and then to take a few minutes reviewing the day's events. What have I done today? Did I hurt someone else? (I ask for forgiveness.) Did someone hurt me? (I try to forgive.) Before offering personal prayers to God, it helps to make the declaration: "Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who might have hurt me this day... May no one be punished because of me. And I ask You to forgive me, too, for my wrongdoings...." After this, go on to recite the first part of the Shema and then pray for your family and friends. In closing, it sometimes it helps to sing a lullaby such as "Oseh Shalom": עשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל After this, it's lailah tov (לָיְלָה טוֹב) - "good night," with the most important of God's commandments firmly instilled within the heart before falling asleep...
Parashat Noach - פרשת נח [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Noach). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.19.09 (Cheshvan 1, 5770) What do you think, is it worse to ignore or to defy God? The Torah portion this week states that the generation of the Flood regularly ignored God, while the builders of the Tower of Bavel defiantly sought to overthrow His authority. On the surface it might seem that the latter were more sinful than the former, but it was the generation of the Flood that was annihilated, while the generation of the Tower were merely thwarted in their plans... The sages address this in one place as follows: "...Who is worse, the one who says to the king, 'Either you are in the palace, or I am,' or the one who says, 'I am in the palace, and you are not'? Certainly, the one who says, 'I am in the palace, and you are not'! This is what the generation of the Flood said, 'Who is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what will we gain if we implore Him?' (Job 21:15). The generation of the Tower said, 'It is not fair that He should choose the upper worlds for Himself and give us the lower worlds. So, come let us make ourselves a Tower and place an idol at the top with a sword in its hand appearing to go to war against Him'" (Bereshit Rabbah 38:6). The generation of the Flood was said to be "filled with violence" (Gen. 6:13) caused by ignorance -- literally the "state of ignoring" moral and spiritual truth. Because they willingly disregarded God from their midst, they (humanistically) arrogated to themselves divine prerogatives: "every man did what was right in his own eyes." The resulting moral corruption and anarchy led to divine and catastrophic judgment: when God destroyed them with water, they return the world to its original state of tohu vavohu v'choshekh: "confusion and emptiness and darkness" (Gen. 1:2). The generation of the Tower, on the other hand, overtly rebelled against God. Instead of obeying God's command to fill "all the earth" after the Flood (Gen. 9:1; 10:32), the descendants of Noach said, "Come, let us build us a city and a Tower (מִגְדָּל) with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed (נָפוּץ, "overflowed") across the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). The rise of the Tower (ziggurat) became symbolic of their quest to "make a name" for themselves -- a "collective name" decreed by the hand of arbitrary human tyranny (i.e., Nimrod). The individual was regarded as subservient to the collective good of the State. Only the State could guarantee human safety and perpetuity in light of the possible hostility that might descend from heaven itself... Therefore the Tower was set up to circumvent the threat of further judgment from heaven. God's judgment on the generation of the Tower was confusion, the destruction of their hubris (i.e, the Tower), and the forcible fulfillment of His commandment to replenish the earth by means of a global dispersion. So while it is certainly wicked to either ignore or defy God, it is worse to disregard His presence and live as if He were not really there. And this, in part, explains the rampant wickedness of our age, an epoch very similar to the "days of Noah." The great preponderance of people in the world have become so dull of hearing, so numb, so insensate, so indoctrinated, so propagandized, etc., that they are simply indifferent to the truth status of religion. We are not faced so much with rebels who wish to argue about the truth of faith than we are faced with a "zombie" culture that is incapable of comprehending the issues (for more about this, see "The Days of Noah"). Prophetically, the "days of Noah" are a picture of the idolatrous conditions of the world that prevail just before the calling up of the followers of Yeshua before the time of Great Tribulation upon the earth: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:37). There is hope, chaverim. Despite the depravity of the generation of the Flood, we understand Noach to be a picture of Yeshua our Messiah and Savior (for more about this, see "Noah and Jesus").
From the midst of the whirlwind...  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Bereshit). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.16.09 (Tishri 28, 5770) For reasons not explained in Scripture, God chose to begin creating the world in chaos: תהוּ וָבהוּ וְחשֶׁךְ / tohu vavohu v'choshekh: "confusion and emptiness and darkness" (Gen. 1:2). From chaos and darkness God would shine forth light - indeed, the divine light was the first of all God's creations (a counterpart of the "Light of the World" Himself): יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר / yehi or, vayhi-or: "Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). God's handiwork in creation, then, first involves His mastery over chaos... God speaks from the midst of a whirlwind (סְעָרָה, "tempest"), demonstrating that He is LORD over the seemingly chaotic world around us (Job 40:6). "Greek-minded" theology is more inclined to seek after "Apollo" (the pagan god of harmony and order) than the seemingly chaotic ways of the LORD God of Israel. We often want some sort of "systematic theology" and for God to be explained to us in an orderly, logical way. There is danger here that we forget that the LORD is called Esh Okhlah (אֵשׁ אכְלָה), a "consuming Fire" (Deut. 4:24, Heb. 12:29). God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways (Isa. 55:8-9). As the prophet Isaiah also said: יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חשֶׁךְ עשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא רָע אֲנִי יְהוָה עשֶׂה כָל־אֵלֶּה / "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things" (Isa. 45:7). We live in fearful times, chaverim. People are afraid of losing their jobs, of losing their health, of losing their freedoms, and so on. But we must be careful here. The fear of "losing control" can move us to anger, yet the sages liken anger to idolatry since it denies the providence of God in our lives (hashgacha pratit). Anger over the apparent chaos of life implies that we don't really believe that God is in control -- that He is speaking "from the midst of the whirlwind" -- and therefore we feel aggrieved and perhaps embittered by what might happen to us. We must look to God as the Master of the storms of life and draw closer to Him in trust. The Scriptures affirm that for those who love God "all things work together for good" - gam zu l'tovah - even if the present hour seems chaotic and even dangerous (Rom. 8:28-39). Yeshua warned us not to live in fear of man, but rather to live in fear of God (Matt. 10:28). The worst that man can do is "kill the body" but he has no real power over the soul... Tribulation - the "squeezing of grapes" - is part of the life of faith, but we are invited to come "boldly" before the Throne of Grace (παρρησίας τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς χάριτος) to find help for our lives (Heb. 4:16). Note that the word translated "boldly" in this verse (παρρησίας) means that we can speak freely to God from the center of the chaos of our hearts -- without fear or shame. We don't need to conceal ourselves from the Divine Light, since this is the very Light that overmasters the chaos of creation! Those who accept that God is in complete control of their lives are set free from the terrible burdens of fear and anger. Abiding in ahavah shlemah (אַהֲבָה שְׁלֵמָה, God's "perfect love") means that you can let go. May it please God to help us all remember: חֶרְדַּת אָדָם יִתֵּן מוֹקֵשׁ וּבוֹטֵחַ בַּיהוה יְשֻׂגָּב / "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe" (Prov. 29:25). May the LORD help us abide in His perfect love, free from the ravages of fear and anxiety. Shabbat Shalom chaverim!
Vanity and Creation - הֶבֶל כָּל־אָדָם [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Bereshit). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.15.09 (Tishri 27, 5770) This week's Torah describes some of the dire consequences of the "Fall of Man," as Adam and Eve (Chavah) are banished from the garden, and the very first family of the earth is shown to be tragically dysfunctional. In a fit of jealous rage, Adam's firstborn son Kayin (Cain) murders his younger brother Hevel (Abel) and becomes an alienated vagabond, banished from his family. God then gave mankind ten generations to return to Him but nothing inherently changed. Finally "the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth, and how every thought devised within his heart was nothing but evil every day. And the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth" (Gen. 6:5-7). The Talmud states that even after the great Flood (הַמַּבּוּל) humanity refused to truly turn back to God (as the present state of this world also attests). In light of the ongoing wickedness of mankind, the early sages Hillel and Shammai engaged in a protracted machlochet l'shamayim ("a debate for the sake of heaven") regarding whether it would have been better for humans not to have been created at all... Hillel argued that it was better that humans had been created, whereas Shammai argued the other way. Finally a vote was called for and the decision rendered was this: It would have been better for humans not to have been created than to have been created. However, since we do in fact exist, we must search our past deeds and carefully examine what we are about to do (Eruvin 13b). The debate between Hillel and Shammai is not trivial, nor should it be dismissed out of hand. King Solomon was described as the wisest man on earth and yet he said, הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכּל הָבֶל / havel havelim, hakol havelim ("Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," Eccl. 1:2). But is life really vain? Is it truly empty of lasting meaning? Is it, as Shakespeare once said, a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"? It is noteworthy that Adam's second-born son was named Hevel (הֶבֶל), a word meaning "vapor" or "vanity." Perhaps his name was prophetic of his premature death at the hands of his brother Cain, though since Hevel was righteous (Matt. 23:35), it might be better to associate his "vanity" relative to the first family's debased values. Perhaps Hevel's name was given in despair, after all. Can we even begin to imagine the loss of the original paradise? Can we fathom the horror of losing direct fellowship with God? From the perspective of despair Hevel's life could indeed be regarded as vain, though, as Solomon later attests, the ultimate point of life is to fear God and keep His commandments: כִּי־זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם / "for this is the whole of man" (Eccl. 12:13). Hevel was regarded as "vanity" in the eyes of man, but his death gave witness to the true worth of life. He was the very first martyr, and the "voice of his blood" called out for divine justice. The voice of the sacrificial blood of Yeshua, however, speaks of "better things" than the justice of God since it imparts mercy on behalf of the sinner... Our hands are collectively stained with the blood of Hevel, but the blood of Yeshua washes us clean (Heb. 12:24). The blood of Yeshua is what gives voice to the love and forgiveness of God... Of course, Christianity agrees with the School of Hillel regarding the question of whether life is worth living. For example the Westminster Catechism states, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever" (an end, it may be said, that is also man's chief good). Christianity is not a life-denying faith, though it soberly acknowledges that olam hazeh - this world - is very often a vale of tears and a place of testing. Suffering and affliction in this present age are eschatologically justified as the means of apprehending a greater good. "For our light momentary affliction (θλῖψις: oppression, "squeezing" (as of grapes), "tsuris") prepares us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:17). This world is not our home, and we are afflicted with hardship while we sojourn in our exile. Our hearts "groan" (or "sigh," στενάζομεν) to be in heaven with the LORD, though our present state of suffering should be regarded as a temporary and "light" burden that will be fully comforted in the promised world to come. Vanity has an end, chaverim, and this end affects the entire universe. The prophetic future holds hope that salvation will be literally cosmic in its sweep: "For the creation was subjected to vanity (לַהֶבֶל) not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:20-21). May that day soon come for us, friends! יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְברָךְ - yehi Shem Adonai mevorakh: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
Fences and Distance...  [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Bereshit). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.15.09 (Tishri 27, 5770) Recall that when Chavah ("Eve") was tested by the nachash (נָחָשׁ, i.e., the "snake") in the Garden, she replied to his question about eating from the trees by misquoting God: "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die" (Gen. 3:3). According to midrash, the source for this misquotation came from Adam, who had explained to Chavah that it was forbidden to even touch the "Tree of Knowledge of good and evil" (עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע). Now while his intention might have been good, Adam's decision to build a "fence around the Torah" (siyag la-Torah) proved to be disastrous. The midrash goes on to say that during the snake's confrontation with Chavah, he actually pushed her against the forbidden tree and said, "See, you did not die by touching it, and neither will you die from eating it." Chavah then began to doubt everything else Adam had told her - and this led to her eventual decision to eat the forbidden fruit. The Torah later adds, "Never add anything to what I command you, or take anything away from it. Then you will be able to obey the commands of the LORD your God that I give you" (Deut. 4:2). Trying to "help" God get His message across can be a dangerous venture, chaverim. We can (and should) admonish and exhort one another, but we must be careful not to "read into" the texts of Scriptures ideas that just are not there. As Tozer once said, "The Scriptures, to be understood, must be read with the same spirit that inspired them." Adam's first mistake, then, was to distance his heart from God. This distance was then communicated to his wife, who expressed the rift in her actions. A similar sort of "distancing" from the intent of God's direction was also condemned by Yeshua who berated the Pharisees for adhering to traditions that confused the weightier matters of the will of God with the trivial (Matt. 23:23). Sadly, this idea of putting a fence around the Torah (i.e., siyag La'Torah (from siyag, סְיַג, a "fence") has led to traditions within Judaism that are sometimes at variance with the plain teaching of the Torah itself. May God help us read His word with the same spirit that inspired them, chaverim.
The New Moon of Cheshvan  10.12.09 (Tishri 24, 5770) As I mentioned recently, this coming Shabbat immediately precedes the new moon (of Cheshvan) and is therefore called Shabbat Machar Chodesh (שַׁבָּת מָחָר חדֶש, "Shabbat of tomorrow's moon"). The Moon (יָרֵחַ), one of the lesser lights that God ordained for observing seasons and days (Gen. 1:14-16), is a symbol of both the transience of life and also the constancy of God... Every month the Moon begins in darkness, waxes full, and then wanes back to darkness until it is "reborn" at Rosh Chodesh. The cycle of near-disappearance and reappearance of the Moon on a monthly basis is thought by the sages to be symbolic of the faithfulness of God to Israel. Even when times appear dark, the God of Israel is present and will bring His Light from the seemingly hidden power of the Sun (שֶׁמֶשׁ).
The cycle of the Moon is also a reminder of the distinction between appearance and reality, between what is seen and what is real... The Moon appears at once transient yet abiding, fleeting yet permanently fixed in place. It is an object lesson between the temporal and the eternal. The Moon gives off no light of its own but depends on the power of the Sun for its illumination. Indeed, the Moon teaches us to "look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" - τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα· τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια (2 Cor. 4:18). It is customary to ask God to help us for the coming new month. The traditional prayer reads: חַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ אֶת הַחדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לְטוֹבָה וְלִבְרָכָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה / chadesh alenu et ha-chodesh hazeh l'tovah v'livracha l'sason ul'simcha: "Renew for us this month for good and for blessing, for happiness and joy." May the LORD God of Israel help you and bless you in this coming month, chaverim!
Creation and the Kingdom of Love [ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading (Bereshit). Please first read the Torah portion to "find your place" here. ] 10.13.09 (Tishri 25, 5770) The Torah begins with בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלהִים / Bereshit bara Elohim: "In the beginning God created..." (Gen. 1:1). Some of the sages say that this means, first of all, that God created the concept of time. Instead of תהוּ וָבהוּ וְחשֶׁךְ / tohu vavohu v'choshekh: "confusion and emptiness and darkness" (Gen. 1:2), the Spirit of God (רוּחַ אֱלהִים) "hovered" (like a circling dove) over the surface of the "waters of chaos" to bring order and perfection to the universe. The commentator Rashi notes that the word bereshit ("in the beginning") does not mean a chronological beginning, since the Torah then would have used the word בְּרִאשׁוֹנָה ("at first"). Instead, the word is based on the term rosh (ראשׁ, "head"), and therefore suggests what is most important, i.e., "at the head of (all things)," etc. Time is understood as a continuous cycle without historically identified beginning or end. Indeed, time itself is a "creature" that serves God's purposes...  In light of this, Rashi wonders why the Torah, which (to his thinking) is essentially a book of commandments, did not begin with the first commandment given to the people of Israel, namely the commandment to "observe" the new moon of spring (Exod. 12:2). He then draws the connection between identifying the appointed times and seasons (מוֹעֲדִים) with the rule of God over creation itself (Gen. 1:14). To fulfill the commandment to observe the new moon (and therefore the rest of the days of the year), we must first of all understand that God is the Creator of time and the One who defines the seasons of our lives... Sanctifying time is a means of expressing God's Kingship. Before going further with all this, I think it's important to keep in mind that the New Testament identifies Yeshua as Elohim (אֱלהִים) -- the very Creator of the cosmos: בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר / "in the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1,14). The Divine Voice cannot be separated from God, no more than the Spirit of God can be so separated. Yeshua is the Source of all life in the universe: כָּל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים נִהְיוּ עַל־יָדוֹ / "All things were made by Him (John 1:3). The "Word made flesh" is the "image of the invisible God" and the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint (χαρακτήρ, 'character') of his nature" (Col. 1:15). All of creation is being constantly upheld by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3): "All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him" and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. "stick together") (Col. 1:16-17). Creation begins and ends with the redemptive love of God as manifested in the Person of Yeshua our Mashiach... He is the Center of Creation - it's beginning and end. As it is written: אָנכִי אָלֶף וְתָו רִאשׁוֹן וְאַחֲרוֹן ראשׁ וָסוֹף / "I am the 'A' and the 'Z,' the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 22:13). Indeed, Yeshua is מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים / Melech Malchei Hamelachim: The "King of kings of kings." He is LORD of all possible worlds -- from the highest celestial glory to the dust of death upon a cross... יְהִי שֵׁם יהוה מְברָךְ / yehi shem Adonai mevorakh: "Let the Name of the LORD be blessed" forever and ever (Psalm 113:2). (Note that accepting Yeshua as none other than YHVH "come in the flesh" is regarded as the "Absolute Paradox" by Kierkegaard. The idea of the incarnation defies rational expressions of humanistically devised religion. The New Testament's view of the Godhead transcends simplistic rational monism by revealing that love - i.e., community - is the essence of ultimate reality itself. The idea of the "triunity" of God does not impugn the Oneness of God, but it transcends rabbinical Judaism and Islam's idea of "absolute monism" by understanding oneness in reference to an eternality of intrapersonal community. In other words, Ultimate Reality is multidimensional, personal and loving, and that is part of the very essence of God. There is no such thing as a "Person" - either human or Divine - that exists in an absolute vacuum, outside of relationship. Aristotle's "Unmoved Mover" is a solipsistic illusion and logical absurdity.... Still, all this is not to suggest that the Godhead is comprehensible. Faith in Yeshua as YHVH means accepting the intersection of finitude and space/time with infinitude and eternality. It is ultimately a confession of paradox and therefore of our limited understanding of the nature of God. However, such is not without real hope in a divine love that is so great that it would divest itself of regal glory to condescend to the dust of death itself. Confessing Yeshua as LORD is to affirm that God is God of all possible worlds and circumstances. One day every knee shall bow to to Him, just as it is written in Isaiah 45:22-23 and reaffirmed in Phil. 2:10-11.) Now that we've reminded ourselves that the Scriptures teach that Yeshua is the very Creator and Voice of the utterances of God, we can procede... The Torah records that God (אֱלהִים) began creating the heavens and the earth in the darkness of the primordial yom rishon (יום ראשון, derived from ראשׁ), the "first day" (conventionally called "Sunday" in our modern calendars). The Biblical day (יוֹם) begins in the evening: "and there was evening and there was morning, the first day." This was the "chaotic stage" of creation. From darkness would shine forth light - indeed, the divine light was the first of all God's creations (a counterpart of the "Light of the World" Himself): יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר / yehi or, vayhi-or: "Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). This pattern, vayhi erev, vayhi voker (וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בקֶר), "and there was evening and there was morning," recurs for each of the six days of creation, including the sixth day, when God created man on the first Erev Shabbat. Because of this, all Jewish holidays begin at night (and also because of this, Christians understand yom rishon to be a picture of both the resurrection of Yeshua and the recreated heavens and new earth). According to Jewish tradition, this first Erev Shabbat was also Rosh Hashanah, the "head of the year." Rosh Hashanah therefore represents the day that God began to rule as King of the Universe. When Adam first opened his eyes and human consciousness was born, he immediately understood that the LORD created all things, including himself. According to midrash, Adam's first words were, יהוה מֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם וָעֶד / Adonai malakh olam va'ed: "The LORD is King for ever and ever." God then said, "Now the whole world will know that I am King," and He was very pleased. This was the "tov me'od" (טוֹב מְאד) moment of creation, when God saw all that He had made "and found it very good" (Gen. 1:31). The birthday of humanity is therefore the Coronation Day for the King of the Universe. This also explains why each Shabbat we remember God as our creator. Indeed, among Orthodox Jews, Erev Shabbat is considered the "gateway" back to the Garden of Eden.... According to the sages, the goal or purpose of God's creative activity was the building of a kingdom based on divine love (מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים). As King David wrote, עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָּנֶה / olam chesed yibaneh: "The world is built with chesed" (Psalm 89:3[h]). The world itself is to built upon the foundation of God's love (חֶסֶד, chesed) as it is expressed in the lives of the tzaddikim (the righteous). Indeed, the very first mitzvah (commandment) given to mankind was simply פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ / pru urvu: "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). The family, then, is a picture of a nurturing community based on chesed. For the Christian, this "family building" is centered on Yeshua the Messiah, the true King of the kingdom and the rosh pinnah (ראשׁ פִּנָּה), or "corner stone" of the Temple of God (see Heb. 3:1-6). The first "lo tov" (לא־טוֹב / "it is not good") statement made by God concerned Adam's state of solitude in the garden. Adam needed a companion, an ezer kenegdo (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ), a "helper opposite to him." The sages note that Chavah ("Eve") could either function as Adam's helper (ezer) or his opponent (mitnaged) depending on his merit. Note that Eve was not created to be in subservience to Adam. Indeed, Chavah was the "finishing touch" of Adam, a more refined and sensitive counterpart. Chavah would mirror back to Adam the middot (qualities) of himself... Indeed, in the "genealogy" of humanity, we see that Adam, the firstborn "son of God," comes from adamah (אֲדָמָה, "earth") whereas Chavah, whose name means "life," is related to the verb (חָוַה) that means to "declare" or reveal (Psalm 19:3). Chavah is called em kol-chai (אֵם כָּל־חַי), the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20), and as such, she also is a picture of God, the "feminine" aspect of God suggested by the divine Name, El Shaddai (shadayim means "breasts").  Why was Adam created on the sixth day, from the dust of the earth? Why wasn't he created yesh me'ayin ("ex nihilo") like the angels? The sages answer that this was intended to instill humility in all of us, since even a gnat has an earlier lineage than does the first man. And yet creation itself was designed to express the Kingship of God, and for that man was needed. Man is made from the lowliest substance of earth (dust is next to nothingness itself) and yet he is imparted with nishmat chaim (נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים), the "breath of souls." Mankind functions as a "bridge" between the material and spiritual worlds, and through mankind creation itself is sanctified. In a discussion regarding capital punishment, the Talmud states: "If someone strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. Therefore every single person is obligated to say, bishvili nivra ha'olam (בִּשְׁבִילִי נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם), "The world was created for my sake" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). This is why murdering another human being created b'tzelem Elohim (in the image of God) is considered so horrendous. The sages reasoned that whoever destroys a single soul is accounted as if he had destroyed the whole world; and whoever saves one soul is accounted as if he had saved the entire world. Hence the Torah (Gen. 4:10) records "The voice of the bloods of your brother cries out to me" (קוֹל דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ צעֲקִים אֵלַי). It was not merely the innocent blood of Hevel that cried out, but rather the blood of all his ancestors who were destroyed along with him. On the other hand, each of us must remember (as did father Abraham) that we are afar ve'efer - "dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27). While it is true that we are esteemed by God as His image bearers, our flesh (basar) comes from the dust of the ground. Even our beloved Lord Yeshua clothed Himself in such dust, demonstrating the ultimate form of humility and compassion for us (Phil. 2:7). An old chassidic tale says that every person should walk through life with two notes, one in each pocket. On one note should be the words bishvili nivra ha'olam (בִּשְׁבִילִי נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם) -- "For my sake was this world created," and on the other note the words, anokhi afar ve'efer (אָנכִי עָפָר וָאֵפֶר) -- "I am but dust and ashes."
Values like love, beauty, and truth are not empirical concepts. We do not find them in a test tube or infer them from the facts of experience. On the contrary, we bring them to our experience as image bearers of God, attesting to the wonder of creation and our place within it. The human soul (נְשָׁמָה, neshamah) is not something that a physicist or behavioral psychologist can reduce to other terms, but is an irreducible part of our existence, just as our need for love is itself ineradicable. Human dignity and worth are therefore the result of the love of God as revealed in Yeshua our Messiah. The goal or purpose of God's creative activity was the building of a kingdom based on divine love (מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים). As King David wrote (and Yeshua likewise preached), עוֹלָם חֶסֶד יִבָּנֶה / olam chesed yibaneh: "The world is built with chesed" (Psalm 89:3[h]). The "corner stone" of the Temple of God (i.e., rosh pinnah, ראשׁ פִּנָּה) is the love and kindness of the King of king of kings, Yeshua the Creator, of whom it is written: "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created" (Rev. 4:11). Note: The foregoing just scratches the surface of a few key topics related to this week's Torah reading. Later I hope to discuss the fall of man, the serpent in the garden, and so on, as time permits. Shalom for now.
The Talmud and Zohar on "Bereshit" 10.13.09 (Tishri 25, 5770) Two Jews, three opinions... It sometimes seems like Judaism quite literally can't figure out the first word of the Torah... Lest you think me unfair, consider the very first word of the Torah -- the Hebrew word bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית). Regarding this word the Talmud states that King Ptolemy of Egypt gathered 72 sages and placed them in 72 chambers without telling them why he brought them together. The legend has it that he went to each sage and told him: "Translate for me the Torah of your master Moses into Greek." (This ancient Greek translation was later known as "translation of the Seventy" (i.e., תַּרְגּוּם הַשִּׁבְעִים) or the "Septuagint"). God then prompted each sage to translate the Torah in precisely the same way. For example, the sages all rendered bereshit bara Elohim in Greek as, "God created in the beginning" (ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς) instead of the more literal, "In the beginning created God." The Talmud claims that God prompted the sages to translate this way in order to prevent Ptolemy from thinking that God (אֱלהִים) was created by a spearate being named "in the beginning" (i.e., bereshit). Now what is ironic about all this is that the Kabbalists do precisely what the Talmud claims was expressly forbidden. According to the Zohar, one of the names of God associated with the attribute of "Binah" (understanding) is Elohim (אֱלהִים), and therefore when the Torah says "bereshit bara Elohim," the word Elohim is really to be understood as a direct object, not as the subject of the verb. Moreover, since the word reshit (רֵאשִׁית) is associated with wisdom (חָכְמָה) in Psalm 111:10, the word "bereshit" should be read as "with wisdom." Thus the Kabbalists maintain that "In the beginning God created..." should be translated as "with wisdom Ein Sof (the unexpressed subject of the verb) created Elohim. Here is a diagram of the first clause of the verse:
It should be clear that the Zohar's approach is a classic example of "reading into" the text ideas that simply are not present. Indeed, relying on esoteric methods to discover the hidden meaning of Torah invariably yields confusion and error, chaverim. At any rate, as the word bereshit indicates, there is a great divergence of opinion among Jews regarding its meaning. And since normative Judaism claims that the Oral Torah is a source for genuine truth, those who follow mystical traditions within Judaism will find themselves at odds with the history of Jewish theology.
Parashat Bereshit - בראשית 10.12.09 (Tishri 24, 5770) During Simchat Torah ("Joy of the Torah") we read the last portion of the Torah (Vezot Haberakhah) as well as the first part of the first portion (Bereshit) to symbolize that Talmud Torah - the study of Torah - never ends. This Shabbat, however, the full portion of Parashat Bereshit will be recited at synagogues all over the world.... Note: The word bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית) can mean "in the beginning" or "at the start" or "at the head of (all things)," etc. Notice the term rosh (ראשׁ, "head") appears embedded in the word as its shoresh (root). In Jewish tradition, the word can refer to either the first weekly Torah portion (parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading (called "parashat Bereshit") or to the first book of the Torah itself (called "Sefer Bereshit"). When used to refer to the first book of the Torah, bereshit is sometimes called sefer rishon (the First Book) or sefer beri'at ha'olam (the Book of the Creation of the world). The ancient Greek translation of the Torah (i.e., the Septuagint) called the book "Genesis" (Γένεσις: "birth", "origin") instead of using the translation of the first Hebrew word (בְּרֵאשִׁית), i.e., ἐν ἀρχῇ, for the book's title. The term "Genesis" was used in subsequent Latin and English translations of the book. There are fifty chapters in Bereshit (20,512 words, 78,064 letters) that are divided into twelve weekly readings. Creation - Past Tense or Present Tense? Sometimes we are tempted to think of Creation as something "past tense." God created everything and then "stood back" to watch the drama of cosmic history unfold... This is an incorrect way of thinking about creation, however, since God not only created the universe but is also continually creating it yesh me'ayin - out of nothing (Heb. 1:3). And since parashat Bereshit is centered on creation, it is therefore centered on Yeshua Himself, of whom it is written: "all things were created by him, and for him" and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. "stick together") (Col. 1:16-17). Creation begins and ends with the redemptive love of God as manifested in the Person of Yeshua our Mashiach.... "God creates out of nothing, wonderful, you say: yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners." -- The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard: A Selection, no. 209, 1838 entry
New Perfumes of the Torah  10.10.09 (Tishri 22, 5770) I am now offering two different perfumes that were developed in Israel: frankincense (levona) and myrrh. Frankincense was lavishly used in Temple worship (the Torah specifies it as an ingredient for incense (Exod. 30:34)) and myrrh was used as an essential constituent of ancient perfumes and incense. According to the Gospel of Matthew, gold, frankincense and myrrh were among the gifts presented to Yeshua by the Magi who came to honor the one born the King of the Jews. These make great gift ideas for someone you love... For more information, see this page.
Celebrate the Living Torah!  10.09.09 (Tishri 21, 5770) The climax of the festival of Sukkot is called Simchat Torah ("Joy of Torah"). On Simchat Torah we conclude, and begin anew, the annual Torah-reading cycle. First we read the Torah section of V'zot Haberakhah, and then we read the first chapter of Genesis (the beginning of the next Shabbat's Torah reading). Many Simchat Torah services are rather boisterous events that include "hakafot" - i.e., dancing around the Torah scrolls in delirious praise and thanks.... Since Yeshua the Mashiach (Jesus Christ) is Torah Ha-Emet - the True Torah - we should likewise celebrate the Joy of Torah in our lives. Yeshua is the Living Torah, the Living Word, written upon our hearts so that we can truly dance and embrace the Truth given from God. Indeed, Yeshua did not come to destroy the Torah but rather to fulfill it in our lives (Matt. 5:17-20). As it is written in the Tanakh regarding the New Covenant: "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant (B'rit Chadashah) with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law (Torah) in their inward parts, and write it (the Torah) in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." - Jeremiah 31:31-34 This very idea is clearly re-affirmed in the New Testament (see Heb. 8:8-11). As Christians, then, we have the greater reason to celebrate Torah, since Yeshua (Jesus) is of course the Central Message of the Torah -- its inner meaning and incarnation.
Chazak! Chazak! 10.09.09 (Tishri 21, 5770) If you have been regularly reading and studying Torah with me, rejoice that we have completed the last book of Torah (Devarim) and are now begining anew with Bereshit (Genesis). During the concluding pasuk of each book of the Torah it is customary for the congregation to stand as the Torah reader reads the final words. Then, in a dramatic manner, he signals to the congregation, who then respond with "Chazak, chazak, ve-nit chazek" (Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!):  This is a cry of encouragement to continue with the reading of the next book, and to return to this one again in due course. This custom may be derived from the words of Joshua to the children of Israel, "chazak ve'ematz" (be strong and courageous). The Hebrew greeting Yasher Koach! means "May your strength be firm," and is often said to those who have had performed Torah reading aliyah at synagogue. Note that the Hebrew Scriptures begin -- not from the first person perspective of some man's understanding of God -- but from an omniscient third person perspective, a Voice that reveals the Glorious Power that created the entire cosmos by means of His Word. The very first verse of the Bible, then, reveals the triune nature of God, further indicated by the use of the plural form of the name Elohim with the singular verb bara (he created). Indeed, in this very first parashah we a read a direct quotation from this Elohim that uses plural personal pronouns: "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." Ultimate reality therefore is not some sort of monism wherein God is seen as an abstract monolithic Power that created all things (like an Unmoved Mover), but is echad (one) in a sense that is inherently relational, personal, and the expression of everlasting love.
Hashana Rabbah  10.08.09 (Tishri 20, 5770) Tonight begins Hoshana Rabbah (הוֹשַׁנָא רַבָּה) - the final day of Sukkot - and a sort of "last chance at teshuvah." (Outside of Israel, we eat in the sukkah an additional day, called Shemini Atzeret.) Among Orthodox Jews it's customary to stay up all night studying Torah and to greet friends with the phrase, "piska tava," meaning (in Aramaic) "a good note" (i.e., referring to the judgment of Yom Kippur). During the morning prayer service of Hoshana Rabbah, many Jews choose to wear a kittel (also like on Yom Kippur). Please remember to pray for the Jewish people, chaverim...
The One Who Calls us Near 10.08.09 (Tishri 20, 5770) In this present world (olam hazeh) there are often difficult situations and painful experiences that test even the most resolute faith. Indeed life here is called nisayon - a test. Each of us is under divine examination regarding what we ultimately worship (i.e., regarding that which we will find "worth"). Some things simply cannot be seen apart from the eye of faith in the good. It's been said that "the optimist believes that this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist is afraid the optimist is right." But note that both the optimist and the pessimist are believers -- the one keeps hope while the other caves into despair. Pessimism is a dis-ease of the spirit, after all - an abandonment of hope in the good. Faith sees "beauty in ashes" that cannot be apprehended apart from real hope (Rom. 8:24). The heart of emunah (faith) ultimately affirms: gam zu l'tovah (גַּם זוּ לְטוֹבָה), "this too is for the best" (cp. Rom. 8:28). Emunah "sees what is invisible" (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the "present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31). It affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life (chayei sha'ah) is a deeper reality (chayei olam) that is ultimately real and abiding. Emunah therefore understands suffering as part of the greater purposes of God in the world. Everything has a reason, and that includes the seemingly trivial as well as the obviously tragic. The life of emunah calls us to live as toshavim (תוֹשָׁבִים) - sojourners - who are put at a "distance" from the world of appearances. Faith leads to a form of divine "homesickness," a cry of protest over the state of this world and its evils, and a gnawing hunger for love and truth to prevail in the world. By itself, emunah would die of intolerable heartache were it not for the gift of God's comfort. Indeed, the Scriptures describe God as Av Ha-Rachamim (the Father of mercies) and the God of all comfort: בָּרוּךְ הוּא הָאֱלהִים אֲבִי אֲדנֵינוּ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Mashiach, The blessing continues: "who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Cor. 1:4). Note that Paul links our present suffering (πάθος, pathos) with a divinely imparted comfort (παράκλησις, "paraklesis"), which he regards as a state of blessedness. God Himself "calls us to His side" (from παρά + καλέω) in the midst of our afflictions and pain.... The Greek text reads, ὁ παρακαλῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν, and might be better rendered as, "The one calling to us [to His side] in all our tribulations" (2 Cor. 1:4). God doesn't want us to go through tzuris by ourselves, all alone. He invites us to come to His side for comfort... Trials make more room for consolation. There is nothing that makes a man have a big heart like a great trial. I always find that little, miserable people, whose hearts are about the size of a grain of mustard-seed, never have had much to try them. I have found that those people who have no sympathy for their fellows -- who never weep for the sorrows of others -- very seldom have had any woes of their own. Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more room for consolation. God comes into our heart -- He finds it full -- He begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more comfort he will always have. (Spurgeon, Consolation Proportionate to Spiritual Sufferings, 1855).
Yom Holedet Sameach to Josiah!  10.07.09 (Tishri 19, 5770) Those of you who've been longtime visitors to this site might recall the birth of our first son, Josiah Yisroel, back in October of 2004. Well, today is his fifth birthday! Hooray! Josiah is such a joy and a light to us. If you knew him you would love him, chaverim. His heart is gentle and full of kindness and good will toward everyone... Please offer up a prayer for him, dear friends. May it please God to bless him and help him in every way... Yom Holedet Sameach, Yoshiyahu! 
Blessing others in love... 10.07.09 (Tishri 19, 5770) In Jewish tradition it is customary for a kohen (priest) to inwardly recite a preparatory blessing before performing birkat kohanim ("the priestly blessing" as prescribed by the Torah). This "preparatory blessing" goes as follows:
Baruch attah Adonai, Elohenu melech ha'olam, asher kideshanu bikdushato shel Aharon, v'tzivanu l'varekh et am Yisrael b'ahavah. "Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, The phrase "with love" is integral and is intended to represent the love of the LORD for His people. Just as God blesses us as an expression of His kindness, so too the kohen must seek to display God's love in this manner. The preparatory blessing is intended to induce a state of kavanah (focus) of heart before offering up the blessing. הוֹדוּ לַיהוה כִּי־טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ hodu l'Adonai ki-tov, ki l'olam chasdo Indeed, is there any better reason to give thanks to the LORD than because of His steadfast love, i.e., His chesed (חֶסֶד)? Is there anything greater than the astounding love of God? Can anything overcome it? Can even the hardness of your own heart somehow veto or negate it's purposes? It was because of His great love that God (יהוה) "emptied Himself" of heavenly glory, becoming clothed in human flesh and becoming disguised a lowly slave (δοῦλος). God performed this act of "infinite condescension" in order to "tabernacle" with us as our "hidden King" (John 1:1,14, Phil. 2:7-8). Your neshama (soul) is the "Shulamite woman" he came to woo so that you might "come into His tent" -- willingly, from the heart (Song of Solomon).
I've been sick the last few days... 10.06.09 (Tishri 18, 5770) Shalom Chaverim. I have been sick since Yom Kippur and haven't had the energy to update the site the last few days. With God's help I will find healing and chazak. Thank you for your prayers.
New Hebrew Meditation  10.05.09 (Tishri 17, 5770) I wrote a new Hebrew meditation (Teshuvah of the Tongue) based on Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." I hope you will find helpful, chaverim.
Our Erev Sukkot Celebration 10.03.09 (Tishri 16, 5770) Last evening we celebrated the start of Sukkot at my in-laws home. They built a beautiful sukkah on their deck and we had a good time of fellowship. Though the weather was cold and rainy, we waved our lulavs, prayed, and ate within the sukkah. This was baby Judah's first Sukkot, and he seemed to really enjoy the festive atmosphere (his brother Josiah, of course, had great fun). Here are some pictures from the evening, chaverim:
Shalom and blessings to you all in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah - the One who "tabernacles" with us and who graciously invites all to come within the shelter of His everlasting love. וַיְהִי בְשָׁלֵם סֻכּוֹ וּמְעוֹנָתוֹ בְצִיּוֹן / vayehi v'shalem sukko, u'me'onato v'Tzion: "His sukkah is in Shalem; His place in Zion" (Psalm 76:3). The world is indeed under divine judgment, but those who put their trust in the LORD can say along with King David: יִצְפְּנֵנִי בְּסֻכּה בְּיוֹם רָעָה / yitzpeneni b'sukkoh b'yom ra'ah, "He will conceal me in His sukkah in the day of trouble" (Psalm 27:5).
Sukkot Sameach!  10.02.09 (Tishri 14, 5770) "On the first day you shall take to yourselves the fruit of the goodly tree, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." (Lev. 23:40) This afternoon we bought our "four species" (arba minim) -- i.e., an etrog (citron), a palm branch (lulav), two willow branches (aravot), and three myrtle branches (hadasim) and assembled them. First you take the bundle holder and insert the palm branch (lulav) into the center (tighten using the bundle bands as needed). Take the two willow branches (aravot) and insert them into the left chamber, and the three myrtle branches (hadasim) and insert them into the right chamber:
The leafy plants are held in the right hand and the etrog ("the product of goodly trees") in the left (with the tip (pitam) facing downward). The usual practice is to recite the blessing (al netilat lulav) and then wave the lulav three times in six directions: forward, to the right, to the back, to the left, up, and down (to proclaim God's omnipresence). After reciting the blessing, you turn the etrog right-side up, with the pitam pointing upward. Here are a couple pictures of our lulav and etrog for this year:  We wish a season of happiness and joy as you celebrate the sheltering presence of the LORD Yeshua in your life, chaverim... Shalom.
Prayer Request for this Ministry  10.01.09 (Tishri 13, 5770) I am weary, chaverim, and need some time to recharge and refocus. I sincerely ask for your prayers.... I need to hear from the LORD regarding His will for my life. Please help me by offering up a prayer on behalf of the future direction of this ministry. Thank you so much. - John Continued >
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