Hebrew4Christians Blog

by John Parsons
www.hebrew4christians.com

While writing the other day I remembered something I had once read regarding mankind’s grandeur and lowliness.  In a discussion regarding capital punishment, the Talmud states: “If a man 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, “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.

On the other hand, each of us must remember (as did father Abraham) that we are anokhi afar ve’efer - “but 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).

A chassidic tale says that every person should walk through life with two notes, one in each pocket. On one note should be the words, anokhi afar ve’efer — “I am but dust and ashes.” On the other note should be the words, bishvili nivra ha’olam — “For my sake was this world created.”

Our true worth comes from being loved by the LORD God of Israel. May we all understand how precious we are in the true humility that marks our beloved Lord Yeshua.

by John Parsons
www.hebrew4christians.com

Thursday May 22 at sundown this year marks Lag B’Omer, a semi-holiday that commemorates the death of thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students during the last of the Jewish-Roman wars (called the Bar Kochba Revolt (מרד בר כוכבא‎), c.132-135 AD).  Since Jewish tradition understood the Messiah to be a military leader who would deliver the Jewish people (from the Romans) and usher in world peace, Rabbi Akiva (incorrectly) surmised that Shimon bar Kochba, the leader of the Jewish resistance, was in fact the Jewish Messiah — based on an esoteric reading of Numbers 24:17: כּוֹכָב מִיַּעֲקֹב - “A star shall come out of Jacob” (”Bar Kokhba” means “son of a star” in Aramaic). His tragic endorsement led to widespread destruction of countless Jews and further alienated the Messianic Jewish community from Israel. The eventual defeat of the Jews by Emperor Hadrian perhaps marked the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora from the Promised Land. The province of Judaea was then renamed Palestine and Jerusalem was called Aelia Capitolina.

According to Kabbalistic legend, all of Akiva’s students died during the time of the Omer Count, but Akiva “started over” with a new batch of students. Of these, his foremost student was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the purported author of the Zohar (one of the key texts of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism). Lag B’Omer is remembered as the Yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Shimon Bar Yochai, who told his followers to rejoice - not mourn - after his death. Today special celebrations are held in the village of Meron (near Safed, Israel), where he is said to have been buried. Every year, thousands of Jews celebrate late-night revelry at Mt. Meron in Israel.

It should be clear that Lag B’Omer is not a Christian/Messianic Jewish holiday, but on the contrary marks a tragic time that ultimately separated the Messianic Jewish community from Israel and contributed to the loss of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. During this time of “countdown,” chaverim, let us pray that the eyes of many will soon be opened that Yeshua is indeed the Mashiach (anointed King) of Israel.

by John Parsons
www.hebrew4christians.com

The Hebrew word devakut (דְּבָקוּת) means “cleaving” and refers to communion with God (in some Jewish thinking, devakut approximates the “beatific vision” in Christian mystical tradition). This word is derived from the Hebrew word davak (דבק), meaning devoted to God (the word for glue is devek which likewise comes from the same root). Davak is used to describe how a man cleaves to his wife so that they become basar echad – “one flesh” (see Gen. 2:24), and is also related to the word for bodily joint (debek), suggesting that we are to stick as closely to the LORD as our bones stick to our skin (Job 19:20). The devakim were those who “held fast” or “cleaved” to the LORD throughout the wilderness wanderings (Deut. 4:4) and all of us are likewise commanded to revere the LORD and cleave to Him (Deut. 10:20).

In the Kabbalah, devakut is considered as the highest mystical step on the spiritual ladder back to God, though (in contradistinction to this) Jesus emphasized that he is the true sullam, or Ladder, to God. Just as Jacob saw the ladder reaching to heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, so Yeshua told Nathanael that He is the sha’ar hashamayim - the Way into heaven (John 14:6).

Chaverim, יֵשׁ אֹהֵב דָּבֵק מֵאָח — yesh ohev davek me’ach — “there is a friend who sticks (davek) closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24). His Name is Yeshua, the true Lover of our souls…

Blessed be His Name.