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Prayer Request (for site updates, see below)
I was laid off from my full-time job several years ago when -- after a lot of prayer, soul searching and discussion with my wife -- we decided to operate the Hebrew for Christians ministry entirely by faith in God's provision through the love and kindness of His people. I am not paid for doing this work, and therefore I ask you to consider supporting us. If you can help, please offer a donation or purchase some of the Hebrew study materials offered here. Encouraging other web sites to link here also helps us become more visible on the web. Above all, agree with us for the Lord's will to be done in our lives. Todah, chaverim.
    
Note: My wife and I have have three young children (Josiah, Judah, and Emanuel David ). The LORD has graciously provided for us as Adonai Yireh (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה), "the One who sees [our need]." We are living one day at a time by the grace and mercy of God, and I want to publicly praise Yeshua and acknowledge His faithful love in caring for my family -- despite the trials during this time. The LORD God of Israel is faithful and true! And to those of you who have sent us a word of encouragement or donation during this difficult time, please accept our heartfelt appreciation! Your chesed truly helps sustain us.
יהי שׁם יהוה מברך - "May the Name of the Lord be blessed."
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I want to offer a word of thanks for all your kindness and encouragement over the last 20+ years, chaverim... I could not be in ministry apart from the grace and love you have shown to me and my family. Thank you so much and may the great and unsurpassable blessings of the LORD God of Israel be upon you always. -John
Jewish Holiday Calendar
Note: For site updates, please scroll past this entry....
The Torah divides the calendar into two symmetrical halves: the Spring and the Fall, indicating the two advents of Messiah. The Biblical year officially begins during the month of the Passover from Egypt (called Rosh Chodashim, see Exod. 12:2), and the spring holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits both recall our deliverance from Egypt and also our greater deliverance given by means of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, the great Passover Lamb of God. The holiday of Shavuot (i.e., "Pentecost") both commemorates the revelation of the Torah at Sinai as well as the revelation of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) at Zion, in fulfillment of the promise given by our Lord....
The intermediate months of summer end with the advent of the sixth month of the calendar, the month of Elul, which recalls the time Moses interceded on behalf of Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf. To commemorate this time of our history, we likewise focus on teshuvah (repentance) in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah and especially in anticipation of Yom Kippur, the great "Day of Atonement." In Jewish tradition the 30 days of Elul are combined with the first ten days of the seventh month (called the "Days of Awe") to set apart "Forty Days of Teshuvah" leading up to the Day of Forgiveness for Israel. Immediately following Yom Kippur, the mood changes as we begin preparing for a joyous week-long celebration called Sukkot (i.e., "Tabernacles") that concludes with the holiday of Simchat Torah.
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The Spring Holidays:
The spring holidays (i.e., chagei ha'aviv: חגי האביב) provide a portrait of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah: Yeshua was crucified on erev Pesach (during the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs), buried during Chag Hamotzi (the festival of Unleavened Bread), and resurrected from the dead on Yom Habikkurim (the Day of Firstfruits). Fifty days after Passover, on the climactic holiday of Shavuot (i.e., "Pentecost"), the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) fell on the believers in fulfillment of the promise given by our Lord. Note that the giving of the Holy Spirit occurred precisely according to the calendar countdown given in the Torah (Lev. 23:15-16), and that it occurred after the resurrection of Yeshua -- just as our Messiah foretold (John 16:7; Acts 1:6-8, 2:1-4). This proves that the feasts of the LORD (מוֹעדי יהוה) were not abolished after the crucifixion. The meaning of the gospel is prefigured in the holidays given in Torah. See Luke 24:27, 24:44; John 5:46; Acts 26:22, etc.
![Spring Holiday Timeline (H4C]](../../About_HFC/Site_News/roshchodeshim-line.gif) |
Kindly note that in accordance with both Torah and Jewish tradition, the following holiday dates begin at sundown (ויהי־ערב ויהי־בקר; Gen. 1:5):
- Month of Adar (Thurs. Feb. 27th [eve]) - Sat. March 29th [day])
Dates for Passover Week 2025:
Free Seder Guide
- Month of Nisan (Sat. March 29th [eve]) - Sun. April 27th [day])
- Month of Iyyar (Sun. April 27th [eve] - Tues. May 27th [day])
- Month of Sivan (Tues. May 27th [eve] - Wed. June 25th [day])
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Note: For more information, see the Calendar Pages....
May 2025 Site Updates
Note: Please refresh the page (or press F5) to see the latest updates...
Consolation in Grief...
05.14.25 (Iyyar 16, 5785) Just a quick personal update, friends. I've been living in an emotional fog the last year or so, grieving, soul-searching, feeling strong one day, the next day like I am falling to pieces... The holidays have been especially hard. I don't sleep much; I am riddled with various pains. I sometimes review the past to understand what has happened but find no resolution. Despite the ambiguity and heartache, I nevertheless "remember the future" and the precious promises of God. In my tears there is hope.
Is the Lord present in the midst of the messiness of my life? Is he teaching me through godly sorrow to more fully surrender to Him? I know Him to be patient and kind, merciful and gracious, despite my omnipresent shortcomings and smallness of faith. I seek His consolations as am covered with sadness like a shroud. When I get exhausted over myself, I pray silence; my heart is renewed as I know he always at my right hand.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who is the Father of Mercies (אַב הָרַחֲמִים) and God of all Comfort (וֵאלֹהֵי כָּל נֶחָמָה), the One 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. 1:3-4). Amen.
Thank you for your prayers and support as I continue to press on in ministry, trusting in God's healing love and grace, and eagerly awaiting the day we shall all see Him face to face. May that day come soon! Amen. - John
Faith without Fear...
He said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee (דַּי לְ חַסְדִּי), for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may rest upon me... for when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Cor. 12:9-10
05.14.25 (Iyyar 16, 5785) The Spirit of the LORD speaks to the heart of faith: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, and you are mine" (Isa. 43:1). God has personally redeemed you, friend; he calls you by name, and you belong to Him. The Lord loves you with an everlasting love (אהבת עולם) and draws you close (Jer. 31:3). He will never leave nor forsake you, even if you might face waters that seem to overwhelm or fires that seem to devour (Isa. 43:2). The will of your Heavenly Father will never lead you to a place where his love will not there sustain you. Faith finds its place in God's heart.
Worry is a place of exile and pain. We are commanded, al tira, "fear not," because fear was behind the original sin in the garden, just as mistrust lies behind our own hiding and self-imposed exile from God... Since sin expresses a heart of fear (Rom. 14:23), the way of healing is to courageously turn back to God, despite our uncertainties. We can trust God's love for us because of the cross of Yeshua our Lord. If we haven't received God's love and acceptance, we are still enslaved to fear and abide in a state of exile. The love of God casts out our fear because it casts out all our sins (1 John 4:18).
It is written, "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a "sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7). Memorize that verse. The Greek word for "sound mind" means "safe" because of the power and grace of the Living God... If you sense fearful oppression within your heart, turn to the Lord and offer him focused praise. Lift up your soul to him and thank him for your trouble. This has the double benefit of confessing your trust in God's care, as well as vexing the enemy of your soul. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find your help (Heb. 4:16); cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7).
The Name of the LORD (יהוה) means "Presence" and "Love" (Exod. 3:14; 34:6-7). Yeshua said, "I go to prepare a place for you," which means that his presence and love are waiting for you in whatever lies ahead (John 14:1-3; Rom. 8:35-39). To worry is to "practice the absence" of God instead of to practice His Presence... Trust the word of the Holy Spirit: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for healing peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).
Take comfort that your Heavenly Father sees when the sparrow falls; he arrays the flower in its hidden valley; and he calls each star by name. More importantly, the Lord sees you and understands your struggle with fear... Come to him with your needy heart and trust him to deliver you from the burdens of your soul (Matt. 11:28).
Hebrew Lesson
Isa. 43:1b reading (click):
Inner Transformation...
05.14.25 (Iyyar 16, 5785) The fact that God knows the number of hairs on your head is just to say that he knows you better than you know yourself... Your heavenly Father "sees in secret," and that also means that he can and will save you from whatever is hidden within you that still resists his love and touch... We have to trust in God's power to heal us, even when it seems that healing is not forthcoming, even when we still find ourselves divided, troubled, and anxious. We have to believe that God's help is always present. "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope for the LORD."
God sees what He does within us, His "it-is-finished" work, the effect of His great salvation within our hearts, even if at this present hour this may be hidden from our eyes... There is appearance, and there is reality; and only God sees what is ultimately real. We have to trust in His promise to be transformed into the divine nature, even if today we find ourselves sinful, needy, and in disrepair... By God's grace we are what we are. So don't give up. We are saved by hope (ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν, Rom. 8:24), a hope for you today.
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Made Whole by Faith...
05.13.25 (Iyyar 15, 5785) It is written in our Scriptures: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). Many people may have acquaintance with the teachings of Yeshua but hesitate when it comes to making the decision to believe in him... They may show some interest in matters of faith; they may even read the Bible and occasionally pray, and yet they continue on as before, even growing old without resolving whether or not to embrace the Lord. Sadly many remain unresolved as long as they live...
It is not easy to trust God in the midst of affliction, temptation, and sorrow. It may be easy to "profess" faith, but it's quite another to truly live it. On the other hand, it's harder still to be skeptical, to withhold the decision to believe, and to live in the chaos of being "two-souled" (δίψυχος) - a life of contradiction and instability. Indeed the "double-minded" person is lost to himself, uncertain of who he really is, why he was created, where he is going, and whether he is ultimately to find peace at the end of his wandering. Such a life is never at rest, "ever learning but unable to come to the full knowledge of the truth." As Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: "There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true."
God is near; he is not far from each one of us. "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you; purify your hearts, you double-minded" (James 4:8). Amen. Take hope. "The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth" (Psalm 145:18).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 145:18 Hebrew reading (click):
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Sanctifying God's Name...
05.13.25 (Iyyar 15, 5785) From our Torah this week (Emor) we read: "You shall not profane my holy Name, that I may be made sacred among the people of Israel" (Lev. 22:32), which the early sages said provides the basis for "kiddush HaShem" (קידוש השם), or the duty to always honor God, even if that might mean enduring martyrdom for your faith....
Jewish halakhah (law) furthermore says we are to think of kiddush hashem whenever we recite the Shema, and that our inmost intent should be self-sacrifice (mesirat nefesh), or the willingness to give up our lives to God in complete surrender. After all, if we are not willing to give up our lives for God, how can we be willing to genuinely live for him? The purpose or goal of our very existence is to know and love God, to be sanctified in truth, but if we value our carnal lives on earth as more important, we exist in a state of contradiction. Therefore people obsessed with their own physical safety, health, pleasure, happiness, well-being, etc., do not know the true meaning of life...
Our lives on this earth were not meant to be an end in themselves, but rather a means to the greater end of knowing and loving the Eternal God. Indeed, God's love is better than any sort of life this present world can afford. As Jim Elliot once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
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Sanctifying God's Name means that we regard our relationship to God to be an end in itself - our ultimate concern - and there is nothing higher that may challenge our duty before heaven. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matt. 6:33). Our mortal life in this fleeting world is a means to the end of reaching our eternal destiny (Psalm 16:11), and esteeming the means above the end is therefore idolatry (Rom. 1:25). This is called chillul HaShem (חילול השם), or profaning the Name of God...
Faith in the LORD may lead us into collision with the world and its spurious power structures, however "we ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). Taking a stand for the truth of God will make you an outsider to the "crowd" and its endless idols and vanities. Indeed a person of genuine moral conviction may be labeled an "enemy of the state," may be persecuted as a "terrorist," and may even suffer martyrdom.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rightfully defied the king's decree to bow down before the "golden image," and confessed that they were willing to die rather than betray the truth of the LORD of Israel (see Dan 3). This is a prime example of kiddush HaShem, honoring the truth of God even at the risk of losing our lives. For many Jews, reciting the Shema is a solemn declaration that we esteem the truth of God above all things, that God alone is our ultimate good, and that we must be willing to surrender our lives rather than to deny the greatness and glory of His Name. Many tzaddikim have died with the Shema on their lips...
Kiddush HaShem may be understand both literally and metaphorically. Literally understood, kiddush HaShem (i.e., martyrdom) is a possibility, one of the severest tests that may be given to the soul, and the temptation is to shrink back from the threat of death by denying the faith... Metaphorically understood, kiddush HaShem is a necessity, an essential act of the will that decides to "take up the cross" and follow Yeshua, and the temptation is to minimize the truth, to compromise the faith, and thereby to slowly fade away...
In this connection Yeshua asks, "What will it profit a person if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Mark 8:36). Indeed, finding your life, value, and "place" here is to exile yourself from the promise of heaven. As Yeshua said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:39). What is required, in other words, is categorically everything, with nothing left over. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us: "Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life."
We see an example of both chillul HaShem and kiddush HaShem in the life of the Apostle Peter. On the one hand, though he had boldly professed that he would be willing to die for Yeshua, he later denied that he knew his Savior (Luke 22:33-34). After doing teshuvah (i.e., repentance) however, Peter became wholehearted and fearless, and Christian tradition says he eventually died as a martyr under the tyranny of wicked Emperor Nero...
Likewise, in our effort to relate to people of different faith, we may be tempted to downplay the demands of the gospel or to minimize the full deity of Messiah. Sadly I've seen this happen among Gentiles so enamored with the Jewish roots of the faith that they begin to question, then to deny the central truth of our Messiah (the deeper law of mercy). We must not confuse the covenants of God, for this leads to double-mindedness which is regarded as "spiritual adultery" (see Rom. 7:1-4). It is chillul HaShem - the desecration of the Name of God - to turn away from the meaning and message of the cross of Messiah (Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor. 2:2). The price of being loyal to Messiah is mesirut nefesh (מְסִירוּת נֶפֶשׁ) -- surrendering your life by "taking up the cross." The cross is a scandal to religion and all other attempts to whitewash the truth about the human condition (Gal. 5:11).
In the Kaddish we read: "yitgadal ve'yitkadash shemei rabba," meaning "may God's great Name be magnified and sanctified." Amen, and may we honor and sanctify the presence of the LORD by turning to Him with all our heart, soul, and strength, knowing Him in all our ways. He is faithful and will help us sanctify His Name...
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 6:4 reading with comments (5 min audio):
Transformed by Love...
05.12.25 (Iyyar 14, 5785) How do we change? How are we made new? Is it through self-effort? making resolutions? changing our diet or wardrobe? going into counselling? joining a "religion" and practicing its sacraments? Or do we change by the miracle of God's compassionate intervention in our lives? When Yeshua invites us to turn and come to Him, he wants us to awaken to something so valuable that we would be willing to give up everything in the world to take hold of it (Matt. 13:45-46). True spiritual transformation is not just about leaving your sin behind you (as good as that is), but is rather about discovering the glory of true and infinite life. It's about being the beloved...
God's love sees the hidden beauty, worth, and value of your life. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matt. 13:45-46). You may be tempted to identify with the merchant and regard this parable as a challenge to give up everything to obtain the surpassing worth of the kingdom of heaven, but another way to understand it is to see God as the Merchant, the central character of the story.... Instead of you paying the great price for the pearl, turn the story around: God pays the price - and you are regarded as His choice pearl! You are a treasured possession, the "apple of God's eye..."
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 17:15 Hebrew reading (click):
We are changed by the power of God's love, but this means that we must allow ourselves to be loved without attempting to earn it (Rom. 4). If we are willing to receive love only if we regard ourselves as worthy or deserving of it, then we will reinforce the illusion that love can be bought, explained, or owed to us based on our merit...
Have you discovered the glory and wonder of God's unconditional love, despite the many sins and the shame of your life? Do you know "in your gut" that his love means no longer having to defend or explain yourself? God's love enables you to quit hiding what you really are from Him; you can give up the pretense of being something you're not. When you turn to the Lord in the transparency of your brokenness, weakness, and neediness, you will find Him there, accepting you for who you really are...
That's the message of gospel, after all. The cross of Yeshua is the end of "self improvement" projects, and that includes the "end of the law" as the means of attempting to find our acceptance before God (Rom. 10:4). We come to know God's love and acceptance "apart from the law," that is, despite our repeated failures, pain, and loss of the false self. We are truly changed as we disclose more and more of what we really are to God, that is, when we come "out of the shadows" to be made visible and healed before His glorious Presence. Then we discover the "lightness" of being united to the risen Messiah and the "law of the Spirit of life in Yeshua (תּוֹרַת רוּחַ הַחַיִּים בְּיֵשׁוּעַ). May God work within us all such a miracle!
Perfection and Holiness...
05.12.25 (Iyyar 14, 5785) Our Torah portion this week (i.e., parashat Emor) begins by explaining special requirements for Israel's priests, and then goes on to list the yearly cycle of Sabbaths and the seasonal festivals. First of all the priests (kohanim) were required to be "perfect," without any physical defect or uncleanness that might render them unfit for service. Everything about the priests – their clothing, hair style, skin condition, and especially their adherence to the meticulous steps required to offer the daily sacrifice (לֶחֶם אֱלהָיו) - was to be "defect free," and any deviation might incur the penalty of death itself (see Lev. 10:2; Num. 4:15, 2 Sam. 6:6-7). On the other hand, what sometimes disqualified a priest were things beyond his control, for instance, a variety of physical disabilities such as blindness, having a limp or disfigured limb, and so on (see Lev. 21:16-21).
Thinking about these requirements raises some provocative questions concerning the meaning of "perfection" in our lives, and particularly how we, as a deeply flawed people, can possibly be "perfect." The question is radical and affects how we are to understand practical holiness or the idea of "sanctification": Are we to seek to be perfect people, and if so, how do we understand what this means? Is our spirituality bound up with perfectionism, with flawless performance, and with always being and doing what is right?
In the Sermon on the Mount Yeshua warned that our righteousness should exceed that of the religious leaders of his day (Matt. 5:20), and he went on to say: "be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Here we note that the Greek word translated "perfect" (τέλειος) may mean "mature" or "fully developed" more than morally flawless, though regarding moral and spiritual practice this distinction is not clear cut, especially if by "mature" we mean godly in character, as the context of Yeshua's statement clearly implies (see Matt. 5:1-48). The Hebrew word translated as "perfect" (תָּמִים) can also mean "complete," but it can connote being "wholehearted," "sound," or even healed (שָׁלֵם). So the question arises, does the word "perfect" mean "flawless" or "healed" -- or perhaps both?
Of course we understand that only God alone is truly perfect (Deut. 32:4; Psalm 18:30), completely good (Matt. 19:17), flawlessly righteous (Psalm 145:17), entirely holy (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 15:4), and peerlessly unique (Exod. 15:11; Jer. 10:6-7), but how can we relate to God's overmastering perfection in the midst of our daily flaws and chronic imperfections? How dare we approach "to offer the bread of God" (Lev. 21:17)?
Followers of the LORD are called to be a nation of priests, a "select people," set apart to serve God in holiness (Exod. 19:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:9; Lev. 11:45), but it is clear we are blemished, imperfect, blind, halt, needy, and unclean... This is common to the human condition: all of us, Jew or non-Jew alike, are broken, flawed, and in the midst of the inevitable flow of life that leads to death and decay (Rom. 3:23). We are sick with sin and unable to heal ourselves, and therefore we need a radical transformation - "deliverance from ourselves" – that must come through divine intervention and the miracle of spiritual rebirth (John 3:3,7).
Nevertheless in this world the paradox still remains: we are finite yet long for the undying, the infinite; we are in flux yet anchored in hope; we are a "new creation" yet still saddled with the old nature; we are made holy yet we live in the midst of the profane; we are purified yet still need cleansing; we are healed yet are still wounded; we are redeemed of God yet still need to turn to God in teshuvah; we die daily yet have eternal life. Our hearts are to be a divine sanctuary, yet we are powerless to make God appear in our midst...
Perfection haunts us; we often defile the ideal with the real. Our romantic visions fail us; all of us are strangers, wanderers, in lonely exile. And the question then becomes – how do we embrace the "already-not-yet," the process, the fleeting days with their poignant moments – within the context of real hope, a vision that heals and brings us real comfort? How do we make peace with our imperfections, our present darkness, and our hunger for deliverance? How do we envision healing in the midst of our brokenness?
Ironically those defects that disqualify us as priests can be transformed (by grace) into compassion for others, and this can enable us to reach out to God in the midst of our flawed existence... After all, the deepest role of the priest is to draw others near to God, but this requires empathy and awareness of the needs of others. Therefore God clothed himself with our frailty, our infirmities, and the brokenness of our sin in order to redeem us in Yeshua. As it is written, we have a high priest who is able to sympathize (συμπαθέω) with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15). The priest of the New Covenant is a mediator through through poverty of spirit and mourning (Matt. 5:3-8). Just as Joshua the high priest was graciously given robes of righteousness in exchange for his filthy garments (Zech 3), so we are given an imputed righteousness that comes through trusting in "the One who justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5). "For our sake God made Him (i.e., Yeshua) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). This is a righteousness that is "apart from the law, though the law and prophets testified of it; namely, the righteousness of God given through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah" (Rom. 3:21-22). Our present groaning for the complete deliverance is a gift given by the Spirit of God crying out within our hearts (Rom. 8:22-23).
C.S. Lewis once remarked, "God doesn't love you because you are good, but He will make you good because He loves you." This goodness is the miraculous inner working of an imparted godliness, the divine gift of a new heart and spirit (Ezek. 36:26). Awaken to your eternal perfection in the world to come: "You shall be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect" can be read as a prophecy.
Do not give up, friends; do not succumb to despair. We must learn to endure ourselves and believe in the healing to come. "Do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light 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" (2 Cor. 4:16-18). And may God help us walk in perfect faith in His unfailing love (Phil. 3:14).
Hebrew Lesson
Ezekiel 36:26a reading (click):
Note: This topic was meant to provoke us to do some hard thinking and to raise some questions... Yeshua is our perfect "inner priest" who mediates God's love and holiness for us, of course. In Him alone we find peace with God and a place for perfection. Shalom.
Parashat Emor - פּרשׁת אמר
05.11.25 (Iyyar 13, 5785) Shalom chaverim. Our Torah portion for this week (parashat Emor) lists the eight main holidays revealed in the Jewish Scriptures. In the Torah, these "holidays" are called "appointed times" (i.e., mo'edim: מוֹעֲדִים), a word which comes from the Hebrew root meaning witness (עֵד). Other words formed from this root include edah (עֵדָה), a congregation, edut (עֵדוּת), a testimony, and so on. The related verb ya'ad (יָעַד) means to meet, assemble, or even to betroth. The significance of the holy days, then, is for the covenant people of the LORD to bear ongoing witness to God's love and faithfulness, as it is written in the Psalms, "All the paths of the Lord are compassion and truth to those keeping his covenant and his testimonies" (Psalm 25:10).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 25:10 reading (click):
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Metaphorically the "paths of the Lord" (i.e., orechot Adonai: ארחות יהוה) are likened to "ruts" or grooves created by the wheels of a caravan (i.e., orechah: ארְחָה) passing repeatedly over the same ground. These paths signify the Divine Presence journeying with God's children in this world. In temporal terms, we are able to discern the path by means of the divine calendar. God's love and faithfulness attend to His covenant (brit) and to the commemorations of the yearly "appointed times" that testify of God's faithful love. Keeping God's testimonies, then, means that we will be careful to observe the holidays in order to witness to God's truth...
The key verse in our reading focuses on the holidays of the calendar: "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'These are the appointed times of the LORD (מוֹעֲדֵי יְהוָה) that you shall proclaim as holy convocations (מִקְרָאֵי קדֶשׁ); they are My appointed times'" (Lev. 23:2). Note that these hallowed times - the very first of which is the weekly Sabbath - are "of the LORD," and that means they should be regarded as appointments given by God Himself to help draw us closer to Him, to reveal His prophetic truth, and to remind ourselves of His great plan for our lives. God did not give us the Torah in vain, friends, neither does He speak out of two sides of his his mouth... Yeshua was the Voice of the LORD speaking the words of Torah to Israel at Sinai, and therefore every "jot and tittle" (קוֹצוֹ שֶׁל יוֹד) is indeed relevant to our lives as his followers (Matt. 5:18-19).
Picturing the Atonement...
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) This week's Torah portion, Acharei Mot, includes instructions given to the priests of Israel to perform an elaborate sacrificial ritual that vividly illustrates the nature of "atonement" (i.e., forgiveness and cleansing from sin) and which, by extension, provides insight into the priestly work of Yeshua as the "Mediator of the New Covenant." In order to see this, I will first briefly review Leviticus chapter 16 and the ordinance of "Yom Kippur" (or what is often called the "Day of Atonement"), and then I will go on to indicate some connections all this has with the sacrificial ministry of Yeshua.
So let us begin with the first verse of chapter 16, where we read that the LORD spoke to Moses some time after Aaron's two sons died when they offered "strange fire" (אֵשׁ זָרָה) in the Holy of Holies (as recorded earlier in parashat Shemini: see Lev. 10:1-11). You may recall that immediately following their death, no explanation was given for God's fiery judgment other than Moses' statement that those who serve as priests must be "sanctified," and with that Aaron "kept silent" (Lev. 10:3). After the dedication of the Tabernacle, however, we are given reason for God's judgment when the LORD spoke to Aaron saying that it was forbidden to consume alcohol when serving at the Tabernacle upon pain of death (see Lev. 10:8-11). Alcohol impairs thinking and muddles the difference between what is holy and unholy, the clean and the unclean, and consequently obscures the intent of Torah. The LORD requires that those who draw near to him be sober-minded, earnest and reverent in their service (Eph. 5:15-19). So chapter 16 begins with God instructing Moses regarding the basic etiquette of the priests, particularly warning that they were not to casually intrude into the Holy of Holies, since this represents the Throne of God, the place where the Divine Presence is manifest in the cloud upon the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (Lev. 16:1-2).
The LORD then said that Aaron was permitted to come before the Throne of God, the Holy of Holies (קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים), only in the role of the High Priest (הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל), and only by means of the sacrificial blood of a bullock (young bull) offered for sin and a ram (male sheep) offered for a whole burnt offering. Only by the merit of these sacrifices would the High Priest be able to enter before the Holy One (Lev. 16:3). Note that these sacrifices were for Aaron to be regarded as sinless in his service before the LORD.
After Aaron washed himself by immersing himself in a mikvah, he would put on four special garments sanctified for the momentous occasion (Lev. 16:4). Instead of the "golden vestments" of distinction (בִּגדֵי הזּהב), however, he wore "white vestments" made of linen (בִּגדֵי לבן). These included a plain linen tunic, breeches, belt, and turban. The pure white linen represents both the humility of the servant as well as his purity.
During the course of the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest would change his vestments no less than five different times! When he performed his "outer service" in the courtyard, he would wear the golden vestments, but when he performed "inner service" of the Mishkan, he would wear the linen vestments. Before every change of vestment he would wash his hands and feet at the kiyor (water basin in the courtyard) and then immerse himself in a mikvah.
Aaron next would take from the congregation two kids of the goats (שְׁנֵי־שְׂעִירֵי עִזִּים) for a sin offering, and one ram (וְאַיִל אֶחָד) for a burnt offering (to be used later). First, however, he would was required to offer his bullock to atone for his sins according to the laws of sacrifice (i.e., by laying both hands on the head of the animal, confessing his sins, and then slaughtering it and catching its blood in a basin, and so on). When he was finished with his sin offering, he would take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent, and then draw lots (גּוֹרָלוֹת) - one lot "for the LORD," and one lot "for "Azazel" (i.e., עֲזָאזֵל, from עֵז, "kid" and אוּזָּל, to be sent away"). Note that the two goats had to be the identical in appearance, size and weight. Two tablets of gold, one inscribed with God's name (יהוה), and the other the name Azazel (עזאזל) were placed inside a wooden box and Aaron would draw one tablet (or goral) out and put it on the head of the goat to his right, and the other on the head of the goat to his left. Aaron then took the goat designated "for the Lord" to be prepared as a sin offering, and the goat designated to be sent away was set aside to be presented to the LORD before being released into the desert (Lev. 16:7-10).
After the selection of the two goats, Aaron would sacrifice his bullock as a sin offering for himself and his fellow priests. Then he would take a fire pan full of burning coals from the outer altar (i.e., the brazen altar) and a double handful of finely ground incense (i.e., ketoret: קטרת) that would be brought beyond the veil (i.e., parochet: פרכת) into the Holy of Holies, where he would place the incense on the burning coals in the fire pan so the smoke would cover the top of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD (ארון ברית־יהוה) containing the Tablets. Then he would take some of the bullock's blood and, with his forefinger, sprinkle it once above the east side of the cover of the Ark (i.e., kapporet: כַּפֹּרֶת), and then seven more times toward (or upon) the cover itself. If he did this correctly, he would not die (Lev. 16:11-14).
Next Aaron would sacrifice the people's sin offering, the goat selected as "for the LORD" (ליהוה) and bring its blood into the Holy of Holies beyond the veil where he would sprinkle the blood in the exact same manner as the bullock's blood was sprinkled. The blood upon the cover of the ark represented the people's atonement for breaking the laws of God. Aaron would then return to the Holy Place (i.e., the partition of the Tabernacle where the Menorah, the Showbread Table, the Menorah, and the Altar of Incense were situated) and sprinkle the blood over these objects as well, with special attention given to the golden Altar of Incense (מזבח הזהב), where its corners were daubed with the sacrificial blood (Lev. 16:15-19).
After atoning for the Holy Place of the Tabernacle (i.e., hakodesh: הַקֹּדֶשׁ), Aaron would call for the live goat -- the one selected "for Azazel" -- to be brought to him. Aaron would then lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of people, "transferring" them to the head of the goat. Once this confession (i.e., viduy: וִדוּי) was accomplished, the goat would be "sent away" (azal) by the hand of a designated man into the desert. "The goat shall bear upon him all the people's iniquities into a desolate land (i.e., eretz gezerah: אֶרֶץ גְּזֵרָה), where the designated man would release him" (Lev. 16:20-22). Note that the "designated man" refers to one selected to do this holy task even on this special Sabbath. In Hebrew this anonymous person is called "ish itti" (אִישׁ עִתִּי), or a "timeless man," because his service transcends the restrictions of the Sabbath. Also note that the term "desolate land," or eretz gezerah, can be understood as a land of "decree," indicating that the "goat for Azazel" is a divine decree that surpasses our understanding (like the decree of the Red Heifer). Upon the release of the live goat, Aaron would return to the Holy Place, remove the white linen vestments, and then immerse himself in a mikvah at a sanctified place. He would then put on his regular High Priest vestments and go outside to offer his own burnt offering and the people's burnt offering at the altar of the outer court, being careful to burn the fat of the sacrifices upon the altar (Lev. 16:21-25).
The atonement service was finished when the bodies of both the bullock given for Aaron's sin offering and the goat given for the people's sin offering were taken outside of the camp to be completely burned in the fire. Both the one who sent the goat away into the desert and the one who burned the bodies of the sin offerings were required to wash their clothes and immerse themselves in a mikvah before they could reenter the camp (Lev. 16:26-28).
The LORD then told Moses that that this series of rituals was to be performed every year as the "Day of Atonements" (plural, i.e., yom ha'kippurim: יוֹם כִּפֻּרִים), an ordinance to be performed on the tenth day of the seventh month on the calendar (i.e., Tishri 10). The people were required to "afflict their souls" (i.e., fast) and the appointed High Priest would perform the same rites - in the same prescribed order - that were given to Aaron. "And this shall be a statute forever (לְחֻקַּת עוֹלָם) for you, that atonement (i.e., kaphar: כָּפַר) may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins" (Lev. 16:29-34). No work was to be done on this special sabbath of fasting, "because it is a Day of Atonements to make atonement for yourselves before the LORD your God" (see Lev. 23:27-28).
Note that Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is called an eternal decree, "chukkat olam," though we might better understand the word "olam" (עוֹלָם), translated as "eternal," to refer to the heavenly realm, that is, as a "decree of eternity," which suggests something deeper than the symbolic rituals performed at the Tabernacle (and later at the Temple). Indeed, Yom Kippur foreshadowed the great work of Yeshua, the Mediator of the New Covenant, wherein everlasting atonement was secured by means of his sacrifice given at the cross.
The author of the Book of Hebrews writes, "When the Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol (high priest) of the good things to come, then, through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle which is not made with human hands (that is, not of this creation), he entered into the Kodesh ha'Kodashim (Holy of Holies) once and for all - not by means of the blood of goats and bullocks but by means of his own blood, thus securing for us eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11-12). The Levitical system of worship was a "shadow" of a greater reality to come, since "it is impossible (ἀδύνατος) for the blood of bullocks and goats to take away (i.e., ἀφαιρέω, used to translate the Hebrew כָּרַת, to "cut off") sins" (Heb. 10:4; Psalm 40:6-8).
In light of the ministry of Yeshua as our great High Priest of the New Covenant, we understand the blood of the sin offering "to the LORD" to represent the blood of atonement that was shed upon the cross for our purification from sin, whereas the offering made "to Azazel" represents the additional aspect of removing of our sins far "outside the camp."
Just as both of the goats of the Yom Kippur ritual constituted a single offering made to God (i.e., Lev. 16:5 states "he [Aaron] shall take ... two male goats for a (singular) sin offering"), so the sacrifice of Yeshua represents two aspects of a single offering before God. The blood of the first goat was given "to the LORD" for atonement, but the exile of the second goat was given to banish sins from the Divine Presence. Likewise Yeshua served as both our atoning sacrifice before the Father and as our "scapegoat" who "carries away our sins" (Isa. 53:4, 5; Matt. 8:17; 1 Pet. 2:24). The "sent away goat" represents the separation from God that Yeshua experienced on our behalf as He bore the wrath of God in our place... Because of the Messiah's sacrifice, our sins are now put away "as far as the east is from the west" and are forever buried in the bottom of the sea, never to be remembered again (Psalm 103:12; Mic. 7:19; Isa. 38:17; Jer 31:34). Yeshua is both our Sin Offering whose blood cleanses us from sin as well as our "Scapegoat" who forever banishes our sins from God's holy Presence. Amen. יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְברָךְ - "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
Let me close with a few additional remarks about the significance of Yom Kippur. First, God gives his directions, though we are responsible to heed his voice, as it says: "You shall guard my decrees and keep my ordinances, to walk in them, which, if a man does, he shall live by them" (Lev. 18:4-5). The atonement is (in a sense) a "divine-human" cooperative, since 1) the people were asked to acknowledge their iniquities, transgressions, and sins, that is, to confess their need for atonement, 2) to "afflict" themselves by demonstrating sorrow for their various wrongdoings; and 3) to provide the means by which the atonement rituals could take place (i.e., the physical sacrifices, the garments for the High Priest, the upkeep of the Tabernacle, and so on). On the other hand, everything comes from the hand of heaven, and therefore it may rightly be said that God alone makes atonement for us. "No man" was to be in Holy of Holies when the blood was offered upon the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (Lev. 16:17), which suggests that Aaron represented a divine Mediator before the LORD. The blood of the sacrifice therefore was offered by God and by means of God's own gift.
Within the inmost section of the "three-in-one" Tabernacle was the "three-in-one" Ark of the Covenant that held the two tablets of the Law of God, the covenant that defined the boundaries for rightly relating to Him, and it was upon its cover that the blood was offered to illustrate that only divinely ordained sacrificial blood would cleanse the people from their sins. As the blood was sprinkled upon the kapporet, the dark cloud surrounded the Ark, and the Divine Presence accepted the appointed sacrifice. This is a picture of the atonement secured by Yeshua upon the cross, as he offered up his life in intercession for us, surrounded by the dark cloud, and therein the blood of our Savior was given to cleanse us from sin.
It is important to note that the word in the ancient Greek translation of the Torah (called the Septuagint) that was selected to translate the Hebrew word kapporet (i.e., the cover of the Ark, sometimes called the "mercy seat") is hilasterion (ἱλαστήριον), often translated "propitiation." The New Testament picks up this usage where it says: "God put forward Yeshua as a propitiation (ἱλαστήριον) through faith in His blood" (Rom. 3:25). In other words, the sprinkling of Yeshua's blood - represented by His Passion upon the cross - was "presented" upon the Heavenly Kapporet, before the very Throne of God Himself. Yeshua here functions as the great High Priest after the order of Malki-Tzedek (i.e., Melchizedek) who provides everlasting forgiveness for our sins (Heb. 9:7-10:10). Because of His sacrifice, the parochet - the wall-like covering separating the Holy of Holies - was rent asunder and God's love was let loose upon the world! All those who are trusting in Yeshua as their atoning sacrifice before God (i.e., kapparah: כַּפָּרָה) are able to draw near to God full of confidence in his acceptance and love (Heb. 4:16; Rom. 5:2; Eph. 3:12).
The requirement that the High Priest would be sinless in his service, donned in humble attire that would be "left behind" after the sacrifice was complete, raised up from the waters in newness of life to provide an ascending offering on our behalf, all picture the high priestly work of Yeshua our Lord. That the body of sacrifice was taken outside of the camp and completely consumed as a whole burnt offering (עֹלָה) alludes to Yeshua's death "outside the camp" as well (Heb. 13:11-12). The ongoing "decree of heaven" to recall the Yom Kippur service speaks to our ongoing need to savor our atonement by trusting in God's provision for us. Yom Kippur both recalls our need for forgiveness and reveals God's compassion and grace as he provides the means by which we are eternally restored to him. Amen.
Well chaverim, I sincerely hope that this overview of the Yom Kippur service - and its connection with the ministry of Yeshua - will bless you in your understanding of the greatness of our God. Shabbat shalom!
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 43:25 reading (click):
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Battle Against the Lie...
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) We are living in anxious times, friends. The world is drunk with its delusions and truth has fallen in the streets... Outrage and rank stupidity are dark motifs of our moribund and cowardly culture. The Apostle Paul wrote that the time before the "End of Days" would be "perilous" (χαλεπός) and full of unrelenting human depravity (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Yeshua warned that apostasy would abound and that the hearts of many would run cold as ice (Matt. 24:12). In light of the raging spiritual war going on all around us, the following needs to be emphatically restated: "The important thing is to not lose your mind..."
The mind is the "gateway" to your heart, and it is therefore essential to guard your thinking by immersing yourself in the truth... Fear is often the result of believing the lie that God is not in control or is unable/unwilling to help you... "Not losing your mind" therefore means being grounded in what is real, and it therefore means understanding your identity and provision as a child of God. "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power (גְּבוּרָה / δύναμις) and of love (ἀγάπη), and of a "sound mind" (σωφρονισμός), lit. a "delivered" mind, "healed" from fragmentation (2 Tim. 1:7). The Greek word "sound mind" (σωφρονισμός) comes from the verb sodzo (σῴζω), meaning "to save," from saos (σάος) "safe," in the sense of being under restraining influence of the Spirit of God... The closest Hebrew word might be musar (מוּסָר), moral "discipline."
Part of the task of "guarding your mind" is being able to discern between good and evil. "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil (יִרְאַת יְהוָה שְׂנאת רָע); I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterances" (Prov. 8:13). As Amos cried out, "Hate what is wrong, love what is right." We are called to love the truth and abhor the lie. Tolerating sin in a world ripe for judgment is a tacit form of "collaboration" with the enemy... Indeed, the only thing regarded as intolerable in the devil's world is the objection that people have a supposed "liberty" to sin. But the LORD is clear on this point: "Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. Those who think they are wise in their own sight are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding" (Isa. 5:20-21).
Our Torah portion this week includes the statement, Lo ta'amod al dam re'ekha: "You must not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is at stake" (Lev. 19:16). The principle of lo ta'amod (לא תַעֲמד) means that we have a moral duty to speak the truth when others are victimized. "Standing idly by" can therefore mean refusing to come forward with the truth about a situation from fear of the consequences, but it can also mean excusing the sin of our culture and of our friends. "A truthful witness (עֵד אֱמֶת) rescues lives, but the one who breathes lies (יָפִחַ כְּזָבִים) brings deception" (Prov. 14:25). As it is written, "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness (עֵד חָמָס)" (Exod. 23:1). It is the truth that sets people free to serve God, but this presupposes the ability to discern how we all become enslaved to deception. "You are to distinguish between the holy (i.e., ha-kadosh: הַקּדֶשׁ) and the common (i.e., ha-chol: הַחל), and between the unclean (i.e., ha-tamei: הַטָּמֵא) and the clean (i.e., ha-tahor: הַטָּהוֹר)" (Lev. 10:10, see also Ezek. 44:23). Just as God separated the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:4), so we are called to discern between (בֵּין) the realms of the holy and the profane, the sacred and the common, and the clean and the unclean. Indeed, the Torah states "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called night," thereby associating His Name with the light but not with the darkness (Gen. 1:5). "For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness" (1 Thess. 5:5). We are instructed therefore to wear the "armor of light" (Rom. 13:12) and to be equipped to wage spiritual warfare in God's Name (Eph. 6:11-18).
Yeshua testified before the godless rulers of this world: "For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world - to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:38). The people of God are the people of truth!
Hebrew Lesson
Lev. 19:16 reading (click for audio):
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We have a moral duty to (humbly) correct others or to confront them about their sins. We must warn others that they too will one day stand before God in judgment of their lives. The Hebrew word tokhechah (תּוֹכֵחָה) means "reproof" and is connected with love. We are to judge with righteousness, using a "good eye" (ayin tovah) and always extend the hand of merit (kaf zechut). As it is written, "Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbor frankly, so that you won't carry sin because of him" (Lev. 19:17). One of the most unloving things you can do to another person is to wink at their sin or to disregard their calling before God... A good friend will hold your "feet to the fire" and help you stay honest with yourself... He or she will encourage you to "press on" to realize your true identity as God's child. As it is written in Proverbs: "One who rebukes a person shall in the end find more favor than the one who flatters with words" (Prov. 28:23). Tokhechot may be likened to a good Father's moral correction of a son that leads to life (Prov. 6:23). "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline (musar) of the Lord, nor be weary at his rebuke (tokhechot). For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" (Heb. 12:5-6; Prov. 3:11-12).
We have to be careful about all this, of course, and ask God for great wisdom whenever we seek to offer correction to others. For example, when Nathan the prophet went to King David to confront him about his sin with Bathsheba, he told David the story of the poor man who was robbed of the only lamb he had by a rich man. David was outraged and ordered the perpetrator to be put to death. Only after David had pronounced judgment on the offender did Nathan reveal his parable: Attah ha-ish! "You are that man!" (2 Sam. 12:7). As the Baal Shem Tov remarked, God proceeds similarly with anyone due to be punished for a transgression - by retelling the story of his or her sin in a slightly disguised form, as if it had been committed by someone else. When the person condemns the fictitious sinner, he therefore comes to terms with his own sinfulness and culpability... Therefore we are instructed to judge others with awareness of our own frailty and with kaf zechut - the benefit of doubt extended toward the other person. As Yeshua reminded us, "Do not judge by appearances," but "be'tzedek tishpot amitekha" (בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפּט עֲמִיתֶךָ), in righteousness judge your neighbor (John 7:24, Lev. 19:14). We all have a proverbial "log" in our own eye whenever we attempt to remove the "speck" we see in someone else's (Luke 6:42)... Using an "indirect method" method of communication requires a good deal of wisdom, however, and in general it is a good to refrain from a direct form of rebuke, unless the other person truly understands that you value and care for them. Above all it must be remembered that it is the role of the Holy Spirit to convict the heart of sin (John 16:18).
Another aspect regarding this topic is confession... "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed" (James 5:16). "We are only as sick as the secrets we keep," and yet confiding in another by disclosing our sins and struggles makes us vulnerable. In order to be "corrected" by a friend, we have to trust that we will be accepted... And we have to be honest -- first with ourselves, and then with the trusted other. As Margary Williams wrote in the Velveteen Rabbit: "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." It is in this context that correction can be lovingly offered, while there is a shared sense of brokenness and genuine love. Simply "rebuking" others rarely does any good...
Notice that the great commandment to love your neighbor "kamocha" (as yourself) is given in connection with forgiveness. Leviticus 19:18 reads, Lo tikom, v'lo titor (לא־תִקּם וְלא־תִטּר): "You must not take vengeance nor bear a grudge ... but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." As an aside, let rhetorically me ask why the oft-repeated phrase, "I am the LORD" appears after so many of the Torah's commandments (i.e., "You shall do x... I am the LORD")? The sages reply, to remind us that God sees everything and nothing is hidden from His eyes... God knows our heart, chaverim, and perfectly understands our inner intentions. Yeshua, the Word of the LORD, is "sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
In light of the madness and depravity of this evil world, it is essential to remember that God is in complete control of all things. He works "all things together for good" to those who are trusting in Him. And "there is no fear in love" (אין פַּחַד בָּאַהֲבָה), especially since we know that ein od milvado (אֵין עוֹד מִלְבַדּו) -- there is no real power apart from the LORD (i.e., He is the only true Power in the universe, despite the menace and threats that mankind routinely inflict upon one another). Indeed, our King the Messiah Yeshua is called Elyon lemalkhei-aretz (עֶלְיוֹן לְמַלְכֵי־אָרֶץ) - the "Ruler of the princes of the earth" (Rev. 1:5) - and that means they ultimately will answer to Him. Despite the madness and schemes of this world, we know that the LORD God Almighty reigns, and therefore we need not be afraid of man or his devices. The call to holiness is a call to act counter culturally -- call upon the Name of the LORD and walk in faith, chaverim!
A Closing Thought: Ultimately the problem we have with "holiness" is that we are decidedly unholy people. This is similar to the idea that the Law is "holy, just, and good," but we are "sold into slavery to sin" (Rom. 7:12-14). But thank God for our Savior Yeshua, who graciously imparts holiness to us and sets us free from the vain attempt to please God through the principle of "self-effort" (1 Cor. 1:30; Titus 3:5; Rom. 8:1-2)! Because of Him, we do not work toward a place of victory, but rather from the place of His victory (1 Cor. 15:57)! Our LORD Yeshua -- the Killer of death; the Slayer of the Serpent; the final Victory of God's awesome love for us! יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְברָךְ - "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
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Mystery of the Scapegoat...
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) Our Torah portion for this week (Acharei-Kedoshim) focuses on the solemn occasion of Yom Kippur (the "Day of Atonement"), which (among other things) included the mysterious rite of the se'ir mishtale'ach - the "sent goat" (a term later translated into English as "scapegoat" by William Tyndale). During a special ceremony, Aaron selected two male goats over which lots were to be drawn. Both goats were to be unblemished, healthy, and as much alike as possible. On one lot was inscribed "for the LORD" (לַיהוָה) and on the other was inscribed "for Azazel" (לַעֲזָאזֵל). After the lot was selected, the goat designated "for the LORD" was to be slaughtered as sin offering for the people, whereas the other goat was marked with a red band around its horns and left at the gate of the Tabernacle courtyard. Later in the service, Aaron would confess the sins of the entire community of Israel over this goat, which would then be "sent to Azazel" in the desert (Lev. 16:5-10; 21-22). Notice that in some ways the ritual of the "two goats" of the Yom Kippur service was similar to the ritual of the "two birds" used for the cleansing of the leper we saw earlier in parashat Metzora, since in both cases the focus was on purification from uncleanness (tumah) secured through the mediation of a priest...
The sending away of the goat "to Azazel" is regarded as one of the central rites of the entire Yom Kippur service, though it has puzzled many of the traditional Jewish commentators. The sages ask how the idea of ritually "transferring" the sins of the people onto a goat can be reconciled with the Torah's clearly expressed commandments that each person has a moral duty to undergo teshuvah and take responsibility for his or her own actions... In light of this paradox the sages wonder why the Torah commands that on the holiest day of the year a "scapegoat" for sins should become the focal point...
While many scholars think "Azazel" comes from the verb azal (אָזַל), meaning to "go away" (i.e., to banish), the Jewish sages generally regarded the name as a reference to a geographical location of some kind, perhaps to a mountainous region with precipitous cliffs (Bavli Yoma 67b). According to Jewish tradition, the "designated man" assigned to run the goat away from the camp would go to this location to push the goat off a cliff to its death (Lev. 16:21-22). But notice that the idea of killing the goat is a Rabbinical fiction, since the Torah simply states that the goat should be "sent away" (וְשִׁלַּח) into the wilderness. After all, if the animal was meant to be killed as a sacrifice for sin, why wasn't it slaughtered at the Tabernacle, as was required for all other sin offerings? Moreover, it is clear that the goat was not intended to be a sacrifice offered to "Azazel" or some other angelic being, since the Torah repeatedly forbids such acts of idolatry (e.g., Lev. 17:7).
According to Maimonides, "Azazel" symbolically represented the "extreme" point of being "outside of the camp," and the goat's exile was intended to instill fear that the same fate awaited those who refused to repent. Other commentators have said that since some of the Israelites made offerings to demons (i.e., se'irim [שְׂעִירִם], the same word for "goats"), the rite of the "sent goat" was intended to destroy the idolatrous impulse of the people (Lev. 17:7). Still others have suggested that the two goats represented the struggle between Jacob and Esau, who were similar in appearance but had very different destinies. Jacob represented holy sacrifice (i.e., the goat "for the LORD" at Zion) whereas Esau represented exile (i.e., Mount Seir, the "mountain of goat"). The midrash states that the "sons of god" (בְּנֵי־הָאֱלהִים) who intermarried with human women (Gen. 6:1-2) were actually two angels - Aza and Azael - who originally asked God to allow them to enter human history to prove their loyalty. These two angels rebelled, however, and introduced gross perversions into the human family, and the "sent goat" was therefore offered to atone for the sins of gross sexual perversions and other horrendous evils. Most of the sages regard this midrash as an allegory intended to warn against sexual sin, and therefore the description of the Yom Kippur service is immediately followed by a list of forbidden sexual relationships (Lev. 18).
Finally, a few commentators have suggested that the ritual of the sent goat was a sort of "concession" made to the devil. They argue that the name "Azazel" refers to a name of a particular demon (perhaps even of the devil himself) that was associated with the wilderness regions (see Matt. 4:1). Instead of allowing illegitimate sacrifices made to the "goat demons" (Lev. 17:7), the ritual of "banishing the goat" acknowledged the power of spiritual darkness, and constituted a repudiation of "the force that rules desolate places, whose power is revealed in bloodshed, war, destruction, and under whose authority are the demons, the se'irim, the he-goats" (Nachmanides, Moreh Nevuchim). "Azazel" therefore represents the dread of sin and evil, which is regarded as essential to genuine teshuvah, and the "banishing of the goat" is symbolic of the need to resist the power of the devil... The ritual of the sent goat is therefore not intended to "appease the devil" but is meant to banish impurity and perversity from the community in order to avoid offending the LORD. After all, the goat was not sacrificed but rather sent away from the Presence of God...
The author of the Book of Hebrews writes, "When the Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol (high priest) of the good things to come, then, through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle which is not made with human hands (that is, not of this creation), he entered into the Kodesh Kodashim (Holy of Holies) once and for all - not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing for us eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11-12). The Levitical system of worship was a shadow of a greater reality to come, since "it is impossible (ἀδύνατος) for the blood of bulls and goats to take away (i.e., ἀφαιρέω, used to translate the Hebrew כָּרַת, to "cut off") sins" (Heb. 10:4).
In light of the ministry of Yeshua as our great High Priest of the New Covenant, we understand the blood of the sin offering "to the LORD" to represent the blood of atonement that was shed upon the cross for our purification from sin, whereas the offering made "to Azazel" represents the additional aspect of removing of our sins far "outside the camp." Just as both of the goats of the Yom Kippur ritual constituted a single offering made to God (i.e., Lev. 16:5 states "he [Aaron] shall take ... two male goats for a (singular) sin offering"), so the sacrifice of Yeshua represents two aspects of a single offering before God. The blood of the first goat was given "to the LORD" for atonement, but the exile of the second goat was given to banish sins from the Divine Presence. Likewise Yeshua served as both our atoning sacrifice before the Father and as our "scapegoat" who "carries away our sins" (Isa. 53:4, 5; Matt. 8:17; 1 Pet. 2:24). The "sent away goat" represents the separation from God that Yeshua experienced on our behalf as He bore the wrath of God in our place... Because of the Messiah's sacrifice, our sins are now put away "as far as the east is from the west" and are forever buried in the bottom of the sea, never to be remembered again (Psalm 103:12; Mic. 7:19; Isa. 38:17; Jer 31:34). Yeshua is both our Sin Offering whose blood cleanses us from sin as well as our "Scapegoat" who forever banishes our sins from God's holy Presence. יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְברָךְ - "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 103:12 reading (click):
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Being the Beloved...
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) Our Torah for this week, parashat Kedoshim, begins: "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy (קדשִׁים תִּהְיוּ), for I the LORD your God am holy'" (Lev. 19:1-2).
Because we are chosen to be God's people, his redeemed children, we should be holy, just as God is holy (see 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Holiness, however, is not a matter of what you do but who you truly are. You are someone beloved who has been rescued and taken up from the "depths of Egypt" to be united with God.
Holiness is something you receive within your heart; it is a gift of being "set apart" to be sacred and beloved by God. Genuine holiness (i.e., kedushah) is connected with love and grace. "Being holy" therefore means coming alive and looking away from that which deadens the spirit (Col. 3:1-4); it means accepting yourself as the Beloved of the LORD...
As I've said before, the word kedushah (קְדוּשָׁה) means sanctity or "set-apartness" (other Hebrew words that use this root include kadosh (holy), Kiddush (sanctifying the wine), Kaddish (sanctifying the Name), kiddushin (the ring ceremony at a marriage), and so on). Kadosh connotes the sphere of the sacred that is radically separate from all that is sinful and profane. As such, it is lofty and elevated (Isa. 57:15), beyond all comparison and utterly unique (Isa. 40:25), entirely righteous (Isa. 5:16), glorious and awesome (Psalm 99:3), full of light and power (Isa. 10:17), and is chosen and favored as God's own (Ezek. 22:26).
Hebrew Lesson
Song of Solomon 6:3 reading:
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Extraordinary Encounters...
The following is related to our Torah reading this week, parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim...
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) We "sanctify" our hearts whenever we consciously focus on what is sacred, awesome, wonderful, and glorious about Reality, and in particular, on the Living God, oseh shamayim va'aretz (עשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ), the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and the great salvation we have in Yeshua. In our Torah portion this week (i.e., Acharei Mot) we read: "You shall not do as they do (לא תַעֲשׂוּ) in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes" (Lev. 18:3). In other words, we are not to follow the crowd, to appeal to the status quo, or to mimic the customs of the world because we are a visionary people who walk by faith in the Torah of the LORD (Psalm 119:1-3).
Being in a vital relationship with God means separating from the ordinary and mundane, leaving our "original homeland" behind us and crossing over to the realm of blessing. Abraham had to leave the land of his father before he could receive the promise; the Israelites had to trek far into the desert before they received the vision at Sinai, and we have to leave our old lives behind to partake of newness of life. There is a radical break from the past -- we are transformed, reborn, and made into new creations by the miracle of God (2 Cor. 5:17). "Being holy" therefore means coming alive and looking away from that which deadens our hearts (Col. 3:1-4). Behold, the LORD God of Israel makes all things new!
The call to be holy is radical and completely contrary to the world and its messages of conditional approval. Worldly culture flatters itself by making a pretense of true originality and genuine love. It imagines itself to be "cool," unconventional, creative, sophisticated, artistic, and so on, but in truth it is trite, uninspired, and cloyingly tragic. To be truly original means encountering God in your daily experience, struggling through the day in faith, disregarding the clamor and demands of popular culture and its idolatry (i.e., fads, fashions, trends, etc.). God calls his people to come alive, to be new, and to experience abundant life; we are to treasure the unseen, the possible, and to keep faith in the healing good that will overwhelm all darkness. Now that's radical; that's original; that's powerful.
Note the connection between worldliness and idolatry, since idolatry essentially involves trying to find your identity, your worth, your satisfaction, and your ultimate fulfillment in the realm of the transitory and the finite (i.e., the world) rather than in God.... We are (rightly) warned against the vices of "worldliness" and are admonished to abstain from popular culture and its spurious values, but note well that worldliness extends well beyond all this, since it concerns understanding the identity and nature of the person as a whole. The fruit of worldliness is the result of being rooted in this world rather than in God's kingdom. The various desires of the human heart - even the desire for "normal things" like personal happiness in this world - may be regarded as "worldly" if they are devoid of submission to God and His rule. Conversely, even Christian workers may be "worldly" if they base their identity in what they do rather than who they are in the Messiah...
We are "in" but not "of" the world; we are embedded within our culture to be salt and light, and that means we stay true to our vision and relationship with the LORD our God... We don't have to reinvent the wheel, however, since we learn from one another and especially from the testimony of our holy Scriptures, but nevertheless we must personally venture out and encounter God within our own hearts, trusting in his love for our everlasting healing. B'chol dor va'dor: in each generation an individual should look upon himself or herself as having been personally delivered from Egypt. To be efficacious, the message of the Passover Lamb must be personally received by the heart of faith.
Renew the affirmation of faith and know who you are: "If then you have been raised with Messiah, seek the things that are above (τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε), where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God; focus your thoughts on the things above - not on things here on earth - for you have died, and your life has been hidden with Messiah in God. Then when the Messiah, who is your life, appears, you too will appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:1-4). Amen.
Hebrew Lesson:
Leviticus 20:7 reading (click for 2 min audio):
Stealing the Mind (גְּנֵבַת דַעַת)
05.09.25 (Iyyar 11, 5785) It is written in Torah portion Kedoshim: "You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind (לִפְנֵי עִוֵּר לא תִתֵּן מִכְשׁל); you shall fear God; I am the LORD" (Lev. 19:14). Just as no one can deny the validity of logic by means of argument, so no one can intelligibly deny that truth is necessary... Indeed, every person intuitively believes that truth exists, since otherwise he or she would not ask any questions or make any statements. In other words, we instinctively presuppose the value and reality of truth whenever we communicate, and we understand that there is an implied social contract to be honest and not to deceive others. Deceitful language puts a "stumbling block before the blind" when it is used to withhold important information from others. Politicians who make mutually exclusive promises to different groups of people are dishonest and cloak their true intentions. The same may be said about people who sell products or services using misleading claims.
Those who willfully misdirect others violate the ninth commandment not to bear false witness (Exod. 20:16; 23:1). Such deception is called "genevat da'at" (גְּנֵבַת דַעַת), or "stealing of the mind," since it defrauds another person's thinking. Misleading people is a violation, then, of both the commandment not to steal and the commandment not to bear false witness. The Torah warns us never to exploit other people's vulnerability or to take advantage of their good will and trust. Those who use false words and deceitful language to blind the eyes of the gullible will assuredly face judgment, as it is written: "No creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account" (Heb. 4:13). Lying to others is desecration, profanity, and ultimately a form of violence. Those who cause others to stumble will tragically discover that truth will be a stumbling block to them. May God help us to fear Him and to be yashar – upright in our communication with others. Therefore may each of us proclaim: "I have chosen the way of truth; I have set your judgments before me" (Psalm 119:30; also 2 Tim. 2:19).
דֶּרֶךְ־אֱמוּנָה בָחָרְתִּי
מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ שִׁוִּיתִי
de'·rekh · e·moo·nah · va·char'·tee
meesh·pa·te'·kha · sheev·vee'·tee
"I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set your judgments before me." (Psalm 119:30)
Every Soul's Battle...
"Truth is not something you can appropriate easily and quickly. You certainly cannot sleep or dream yourself to the truth. No, you must be tried, do battle, and suffer if you are to acquire the truth for yourself. It is a sheer illusion to think that in relation to the truth there is an abridgment, a short cut that dispenses with the necessity for struggling for it." - Kierkegaard
05.08.25 (Iyyar 10, 5785) The central problem we all have is the strife and unrest we encounter with God, the war within our hearts and souls whether we will truly believe. This secret strife underlies and pervades all other concerns, for it is intuitively sacred and it haunts us as we hurry through our distracted lives. What's wrong with your heart? "We have peace with God" yet there is still something unsettling within, a question, a secret fear that we are still outside, a failure, even a disappointment before love. We are "two-souled," double minded, and therefore unsure of who we are and why we exist.
Our ability to walk with God is given to us by God's Spirit. When Yeshua said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness," he added, "and all these things shall be added to you." What are "these things" except the daily cares that consume the soul? When we worry we are in effect accusing God of faithlessness; we suspect that what we do is more vital than what God has promised to do for us...
"Seek first" is the call to do battle within the secret place of our hearts before God. That is the brazen altar wherein we make sacrifice. It is the struggle of the will to make the decision, to let go in surrender to God's promise. The question is not about any particular issue but is the heart of the issue itself, whether you will trust and press forward or doubt and fall back into despair. The battle is fought in the secret place of the heart, behind the closed doors, where your Father sees in secret.
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Return of the Heart...
"Only the person who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy. Those who do not want mercy never seek it. It is better to find God on the threshold of despair than to risk our lives in a complacency that has never felt the need of forgiveness. A life that is without problems may literally be more hopeless than one that verges on despair." - Thomas Merton
05.08.25 (Iyyar 10, 5785) Part of the meaning of teshuvah (i.e., "repentance"), at least for some of us, is learning to trust and believe in love. This is a very deep turning of the heart. If you were emotionally abandoned as a child, for instance, you were deprived of the security, nurture, and basic human connection needed to genuinely partake in love. Instead of developing a sense of belonging and acceptance that your heart desperately needs, you inherited a sense of shame that taught that you were inherently unlovable and unworthy. Consequently, as you grew up, you may have found it difficult to trust or ask others for help; you might have turned inward, relying only on yourself, protecting yourself from further pain. You may have became lonely, filled with sadness, anger, and fear. Ironically and tragically, as you protected yourself from abandonment you made your heart hard and numb, and that led to the abandonment of yourself....
We have to be careful here, friends, not to destroy ourselves. As Soren Kierkegaard astutely wrote, "To despair over one's sins indicates that sin has become, or wants to be, internally consistent. It wants nothing to do with the good, does not want to be so weak as to listen occasionally to other talk. No, it insists on listening only to itself, on having dealings only with itself; it closes itself up within itself, indeed, locks itself inside one more enclosure, and protects itself against every attack or pursuit from the good by despairing over sin." As C.S. Lewis later said: "the doors of hell are locked on the inside." Frederick Buechner also likewise warned: "Despair has been called the unforgivable sin - not presumably because God refuses to forgive it, but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven."
There are providential miracles... Healing can come when we return again to ourselves - unconditionally accepting ourselves despite the pain of our past - and open our hearts to be loved. It was when he "came to himself" that the prodigal made the decision to go back to his father (Luke 15:17). Therefore the Spirit of God calls out to the bereft: "Return to your heart and know" (Deut. 4:29). This is possible only if we are willing to turn to God for the grace we need to be made whole. It is by turning to God (i.e., teshuvah) that we find ourselves to be beloved and made whole. Believing in God's love for us enables us to truly love ourselves, and from that connection, we can move out to love others as well.
O friend of broken hope, savor the phrase, "Know therefore today and return to your heart..." It the heart that is the place of connection with God... As Yeshua said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20). Today may you find courage to "return to your heart" and receive again God's love for your soul... Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 4:29 reading (click for audio):
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Blessed Inner Poverty...
05.07.25 (Iyyar 9, 5785) The word ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי) in Hebrew can mean "the happy ones," from the adjective osher (אוֹשֶׁר), "happy," and the root word ashar (אָשַׁר) meaning to "go straight" or to walk uprightly (i.e., yashar: יָשָׁר). Ashrei can also mean "enriched," favored, or "blessed." Enriched is the man (אַשְׁרֵי־הָאִישׁ) who ... delights in the Torah..." (Psalm 1:1-2). The sages note that ashar is formed from aleph (א), representing the One true God, and sar (שַׂר), meaning ruler, which suggests that when the LORD is the Ruler of your life, you will be enriched and find genuine happiness. Indeed, the word ashrei is embedded in both the first and last words of the Torah scroll itself (i.e., bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית) and Yisrael (יִשְׂרָאֵל)), which hints that we are made happy when we submit to God's will (i.e., his Torah) for our lives...
The Torah of the LORD is most clearly manifested in Yeshua, the Living Torah and Messiah of God, the Wisdom of God: "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'" (Matt. 5:2-3). Paradoxically we are profoundly enriched by understanding our great inner poverty and our ongoing need for divine intervention... Only when we come to the end of ourselves, when we realize our powerlessness and radical insufficiency, can we come to know Yeshua as moshia (מוֹשִׁיעַ), as our Savior. And this is an ongoing state of dependency: we walk "with a limp" as did Israel. Therefore Paul said, ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι: "for when I am weak, then I am strong." You are made rich indeed when you encounter your spiritual bankruptcy, brokenness, and must entirely depend on God for your daily miracle...
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Spirituality often enough involves a sense of irremediable brokenness, a feeling that you are not whole, that you are a mess, and that your need for God's healing is constant and relentless... Contrary to the ideals of proud humanism, spirituality is a state of "blessed neediness," of being "poor in spirit," that aches with inner desperation for God's power of healing. Those who humbly cry out to the LORD understand their great need for deliverance, "Woe is me, for I am ruined..." (Isa. 6:5). As Yeshua said, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14).
Our Lord Yeshua testified: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10), and therefore He is found in the midst of the leper colonies of the hurting, the forgotten, and the rejected. As the "Man of Sorrows" (i.e., ish makhovot: אִישׁ מַכְאבוֹת) he understands the language of our pain (Isa. 53:3).
Faith and Offence...
05.06.25 (Iyyar 8, 5785) Some people attempt to share the gospel message by making a "sales pitch" for Jesus... The temptation in evangelism is to make the message seem as attractive as possible and to minimize the difficulties involved in making a genuine decision to walk with the Messiah. Often the appeal is made along the lines of the ego's self-interest. Jesus is put forth as a solution to life's problems, a panacea for the worries of life, a blessing for your love life, etc. "Believe in Jesus -- because it works for you! You'll be amazed by the results! God will bless you and you'll find happiness and contentment at last!"
Unless we are careful, using an approach like this can make a subtle appeal to the flesh, to the all-too-human desire for personal satisfaction, happiness, and even pride. But Yeshua never made a "cheap sale" of His message and mission. He never appealed to the flesh as a reason for following him. On the contrary, he repeatedly stated the cost of discipleship and warned of being hated for his sake. "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard (i.e., τεθλιμμένη, "oppressive") that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt. 7:14). Indeed, Yeshua often intentionally offended people when they encountered him. Far from making it easy to believe, Yeshua regularly put up stumbling blocks when people approached him. He never was a "people pleaser" and he never apologized for speaking the truth, just as he never sought the crowd's approval nor sought a "market" for his mission. Even less did Yeshua seek the approval of the status quo, that is, the religious establishment of the Jews or the political establishment of Rome.
In short, Yeshua's life was scandalous to human beings and their various conceits. Encounters with him were always "tests" that evoked one of two responses: offense or faith. For example, Yeshua scandalized his family (Matt. 12:48), his community (Matt. 13:54-57, John 6:42), the gawking crowd (John 6:26-30), various religious seekers (Mark 10:17-22), the religious establishment (Matt. 15:12), the political establishment (Luke 13:32), and even his own followers (John 6:61). His question is always, "Who do you say that I am?" People either were offended at him or accepted him, but Yeshua made it impossible for them to be indifferent about who he was.
For instance, when a delegation of scribes and Pharisees came up from Jerusalem to meet with him, they immediately asked Yeshua why his followers did not adhere to the "tradition of the elders" by not washing their hands before they ate bread (Matt. 15:2). Yeshua turned the tables on his critics by asking them why the elders transgress the commandment of God by adhering to tradition. God commanded kibbud av ve'em, "Honor father and mother," but the sages decreed that a gift given to the Temple would preempt this obligation, even if the parents were in great need. Yeshua rejected their reasoning as sacrilege and went on to lambast them as hypocrites who put on a show of religion (Matt. 15:8-9). Yeshua then called the crowd over to contradict a prevailing religious dogma of the day: "It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, but rather what comes out." After this, the disciples approached Yeshua and said, "Did you know that the Pharisees were offended (i.e., scandalized) when they heard you say this?" Yeshua answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted. Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt. 15:13-14). When the religious gatekeepers encountered Yeshua, they were offended because they did not believe. They tripped over the "Stone of Stumbling" (אֶבֶן נֶגֶף) when they encountered the "Rock of Hindrance" (Isa. 8:14, Matt. 21:44, 1 Pet. 2:8). As Yeshua later stated, "whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomsoever it falls will be ground to powder" (Matt. 21:44).
The encounter with the Pharisees contrasts with the following one, in which a Canaanite woman begged Yeshua to heal her daughter (Matt. 15:21-28). Unlike the Pharisees, this woman came recognizing the identity and authority of Yeshua as the "Lord, Son of David," and believed in His power as healer and deliverer. Despite her repeated appeals, however, Yeshua "did not answer her a word," and finally his exasperated disciples begged him to send her away (Matt. 15:23). The woman finally drew close to Yeshua and prostrated herself before him, saying, "Lord, help me." Yeshua finally answered her directly by saying, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Here is another case of possible offense. When she agreed with his words and chose not to be personally offended, however, Yeshua praised her faith and healed her daughter as she requested.
The underlying issue in these two narratives is not about personal hygiene or defilement, nor even of Yeshua's mission to the house of Israel as opposed to the Gentiles, but rather offense verses faith. As David McCraken wrote, "The opposite of offense is faith, but the only way to faith is through offense" (The Scandal of the Gospels, 19). The "clean" and pious Pharisees lacked faith, whereas the "unclean" Gentile dog showed great faith. As Yeshua reassured John the Baptist: אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לא־יִכָּשֵׁל בִּי / "Blessed are those who take no offense at me" (Matt. 11:6).
Contrary to modern church growth theorists, Yeshua often deliberately delivered his message in the most offensive way possible. For instance, when Yeshua came to his home town of Nazareth and attended a synagogue service, he was called to recite the Haftarah from Isaiah (Isa. 61:1-2). After the reading, he sat down and said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21). The people were shocked, scandalized, and offended at such audacity, and asked, "Is this not Joseph's son?" (cp. Matt. 13:55-57). Yeshua then warned them to look beyond their natural expectations (i.e., offense) in order to see the truth: "No prophet is accepted in his own hometown." Instead of appealing to the people to consider his claims, however, Yeshua further scandalized their sense of ethnic pride by offering his commentary on the Haftarah reading. First he reminded the congregants that in the time of Elijah the prophet, many widows of Israel suffered during the famine, but God only sent the prophet to a Gentile woman of Sidon (1 Kings 17:9-24). He then continued this theme by reminding them that though there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, none of them were cleansed except the Na'aman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:1-16). When the synagogue members heard these words, they were enraged. Their ethnic pride was offended and their sense of identity as God's favored people was threatened. Who is this man to say such things to us? So intense was their outrage that the congregation rose up to murder Yeshua by throwing him over a cliff (a prophetic picture of the scapegoat of the Yom Kippur ritual). Yeshua, however, miraculously "passed through the midst of them" and made his way back to Capernaum (Luke 4:28-31).
Other scandals surrounding the identity and authority of Yeshua are given in the New Testament, such as his claim to be "Lord of the Sabbath," to be able to forgive other people's sins, to be the Voice of YHVH concerning the intent of the Ten Commandments, to be the Judge of the world, to be honored as God, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of Israel, the Holy One of God, the Good Shepherd, the Way and the Truth and the Life, the First and the Last, the true Light, the Great I AM, the LORD of Glory, and on and on.... In every case of disclosure, the possibility of offense or faith is given.
Undoubtedly the greatest offense of all, however, concerned Yeshua's claim to be none other than YHVH in the flesh. In John's Gospel, following the story of how Yeshua forgave the woman taken in adultery, he announced, "I am the Light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). The Pharisees objected that his testimony was invalid since it was based solely on his own authority. When Yeshua appealed to the testimony of his Father, the Pharisees hinted to the crowd that Yeshua might be a bastard (John 8:19). Yeshua was unfazed by their slander and simply stated that they "did not know his Father." He then went on to say, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins" (John 8:21-24). Finally, the all-important question is addressed to him: "Who are you?" (this question is in direct response to Yeshua's earlier question, "Who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:29)). In reply Yeshua said, "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning..." While he was speaking, many believed in Him, and Yeshua then said to them, "If you remain in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). When these new "believers" objected that they were never in bondage to anyone, Yeshua told them they were slaves to the power of sin and therefore children of the devil, separated from God (John 8:33-47). Yeshua's words again caused offense, and the people began to say he was crazy, a "Samaritan," and possessed by a demon. Yeshua said on the contrary, he honored God, but they were dishonoring him, and that was certainly characteristic of the devil. He continued to preach, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death" (John 8:51). This apparently was the last straw, the final offense regarding Yeshua's identity. "Who do you think you are? Abraham died as did the prophets. Who do you make yourself out to be?" Yeshua continued, "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Yeshua said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). When they heard this, the outraged crowd began gathering rocks to stone Yeshua for blasphemy. They understood that Yeshua was claiming to be none other than YHVH in the flesh - a scandal and an outrage to both religious sentiment and to human reason. As Kierkegaard said, this is the "Absolute Paradox," the point at which offense and faith entirely collide. Behold the man! Here was none other than God Himself standing among them clothed in flesh and blood....
The eternal, essential Truth has entered into time; the Infinite Source of life has been joined to the finite, the necessary has been joined with the contingent. "The absurd is that the eternal truth has come into existence in time, that God has come into existence, has been born, has grown up, has come into existence exactly as an individual human being, indistinguishable from any other human being." To the natural mind, the mind that seeks "objective truth" and rational comprehension, this is an impossible offense as well.
Yeshua regularly offended those whom He encountered, including his own followers. When he said that he was the bread of life, and that this "bread" was his flesh given for the life of the world, his followers asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Yeshua then amped up his rhetoric by saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:51-59). When his disciples later complained that this teaching was "difficult" (e.g., kosher law forbade the drinking of blood), Yeshua directly asked them, "Does this offend (scandalize) you? It is the Spirit that gives life to His words; human reasoning will not help (John 6:63). Here again the "test" evoked one of two responses: offense or faith. The measure of the offense corresponded with the measure of their faith. The greater the offense, the less faith, and conversely. His question is always, "Who do you say that I am?" Some of his followers could not answer this question and therefore "turned back and no longer walked with him" (John 6:66). Finding offense at the teaching of Yeshua always provides an opportunity for us to discover where we need to exercise faith. If we find ourselves resisting or rationalizing some of the words of our Lord, we are presented with a decision point in our walk with Him.... So where is it with you? Personal suffering? Selling everything you have to follow Him? Taking up the cross and being willing to die for Him? Loving your enemies? Plucking out your eye if it causes you to sin? Nothing less than complete trust is the goal, of course, though often we must wrestle through to the place of surrender in our hearts. Where are you inwardly resisting the message of Yeshua in your life?
Many "postmodern evangelical" churches focus on entertainment, on getting "results," and being "seeker sensitive" in the attempt to "spread the gospel" message. This so-called "gospel" focuses on meeting people's practical needs rather than heeding the message of the Kingdom of Heaven and salvation. The way of Yeshua, however, is anything but pragmatic. His focus entirely turns us around. To be great you must be a slave; to live you must first die to yourself; theology is far more important than mere humanism; you must love your enemies and pray for those who abuse you; you must count the cost before becoming a disciple; you must give up everything in order to follow Him; you must be willing to suffer and even die for the sake of His truth. Indeed, Yeshua taught us that our duty to love God is simply nonnegotiable. After all, though He was offered all the kingdoms of the world with all their "glory" in exchange for merely a "compromise" in His theology, Yeshua adamantly refused (Matt. 4:8-10; Deut. 6:13; 10:20). Yeshua's rebuke of the devil is a rebuke to all idolatrous pragmatists who likewise reason that the end justifies the means.
Indeed, the devil is the ultimate pragmatist, appealing to people to abandon the idea of unchanging truth for the sake of expediency (i.e., "consensus," "tolerance," "ecumenicism," "church growth," "results," "tithes," and so on). Satan is the ultimate liar, the ultimate propagandist, and the ultimate con artist. He is a master at seducing and enslaving people. Yeshua, on the other hand, brings OFFENSE. There is NO GOSPEL MESSAGE apart from offense - first, the offense of the ego's deflation (i.e., being convicted as a law breaker deserving of Hell), and second, the offense of the Cross (i.e., that no human merit can effect the salvation given through Yeshua ALONE). The offense of the gospel is the proclamation that there is no other way to heaven than through the Cross of Yeshua, and there is no other Name than the Name of Yeshua for the salvation of human beings (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 1:23; 1 John 2:23). Pragmatists offer up an "inoffensive" gospel that appeals to the "felt needs" of seekers (i.e., pagans). Although good works are commendable, there is no offense in promoting social justice in the world today, just as there no offense in seeking to alleviate the suffering of the world's poor and downtrodden. However there is considerable offense by proclaiming that Yeshua is the ONLY way of salvation, and by stating that His sacrifice upon the cross (alone) is what makes us right with God. That kind of talk will be regarded as closed minded, intolerant, and even as hateful to people who attempt to justify themselves apart from God. The pragmatist is willing to overlook the offense of the gospel for the sake of "unity" that brings the people of the world together. Ecumenicism is therefore the holy grail of the organized church. However, there is NO model for this approach given in Scripture, and especially not in the teaching and ministry of Yeshua our Messiah...
Pragmatists within the organized "church" regard big numbers, big events, big money, "big deals" to be the measure of the success of the Gospel. Nonsense. There is more power in the lowly faithfulness of one surrendered soul working in the vineyard than in a throng of 10,000 Christian dabblers. Drawing a crowd never resulted in large-scale conversions in Yeshua's ministry. On the contrary, Yeshua called individuals to take up the Cross and follow Him. He knew the nature of the crowd, the mob, the power of "groupthink" (John 2:23-25). The fickle crowd that once hailed Him as King of Israel later chanted "crucify him! crucify him!" Indeed, Yeshua understood the nature of the crowd....
Pragmatism and the theology of Yeshua are POLES APART on the continuum of truth. Church leaders who seek to grow the church by pragmatic means are in serious error, since they want to justify sinful means (i.e., manipulation, deception) to promote what they believe to be a greater good (i.e., the perpetuation of "Christian" culture, the growth of the institutionalized church, etc.). However, we know that the LORD God of Israel does not promote or endorse sin, regardless of any supposed benefit given to the world at large. The end never justifies the means. God is not a pragmatist, and there are no "noble lies" for sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. The failure to communicate the truth about the cost of discipleship can lead to disillusionment and despair among those who are seeking the truth. If we do not ground people in true Gospel message, they will become scandalized when they face inevitable difficulties or encounter suffering in their lives (Mark 4:16-17).
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Postscript...
It ought to be mentioned that though Yeshua was indeed a "Stone of stumbling" and "Rock of Offense," we are commanded to avoid needlessly offending others (Rom. 12:18; 1 Cor. 10:32; 2 Cor. 6:3). "Follow peace with all men and holiness" (Heb. 12:14). However, in some cases standing up for our Lord will cause others to be offended. Those who live godly lives will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). When we share the message of salvation, for example, the conscience of others may incite them to anger. We do not need to apologize on behalf of the truth, though of course we must also be careful to speak the truth in humility and genuine love (Eph. 4:15).
Podcast...
A Living Faith...
05.06.25 (Iyyar 8, 5785) Shalom chaverim yikarim. We read in our Torah this week (Kedoshim): "You shall keep my decrees and my judgments, the pursuit of which man shall live: I am the LORD" (Lev. 18:5). The Kotzker Rebbe advised reading this verse as "You shall keep my decrees and judgments to bring life into them," meaning that we should bring all our heart, soul, and strength into the teaching of Torah. The commandments nourish the soul as food does the body. Just as we seek to season our food to make it flavorful, so we seek to observe the truth with conviction and joy.
"All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Messiah will give you light. Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, but redeem the time, because the days are evil." (Eph. 5:13-16)
Amen. "May the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish the work of our hands upon us; yea, establish the work of our hands" (Psalm 90:17).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 90:17 reading (click):
The Goal of Holiness....
05.06.25 (Iyyar 8, 5785) In our Torah portion for this week (Kedoshim) we read: "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, 'Be holy as I the LORD your God am holy'" (Lev. 19:2). This doesn't mean wrapping ourselves up in some protective cloak of religious rituals as much as it means accepting our own atonement: reconciling who we are with our past, finding healing and love, and walking in genuine hope...
Holiness isn't as much "separation" from the profane as it is "consecration" to the sacred, and in that sense it is a kind of teshuvah, a turning of the heart back to reality.... Negatively put, "being holy" is turning away from fear, despair, and anger; positively put, it is embracing the worth and value of life, respecting the Divine Presence, and walking in the radiance of God's love. Amen, let is be so. Hashivenu Adonai....
Hebrew Lesson:
Lam. 5:21 reading (click):
Loving the Stranger...
05.05.25 (Iyyar 7, 5785) From our Torah portion this week (Acharei-Kedoshim) we read: "The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God" (Lev. 19:34). But how is it possible to love someone who is a "stranger" apart from empathy for someone who is lost? The unspoken assumption here is that since we know how it feels to be an outcast, oppressed and without a sense of belonging or home, so we ought sympathize with others who feel that way too.
When we acknowledge the suffering of others we also acknowledge our own. We let go of the weapons of blame and retribution when we give voice to the "stranger" within ourselves, when we realize that others share in our suffering: "Do not oppress a sojourner, for you know the soul of a stranger (וְאַתֶּם יְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הַגֵּר), for you were strangers..." (Exod. 23:9). The Hebrew verb used here (i.e., yada, to know), implies intimacy, personal and direct understanding. You "know the soul" of the stranger by reliving their place, and by using the "good eye" to see how they share common our pain, joy, hope, and so on.
Being sensitive to the heartache of others helps us find our own healing: We are brought out of our "inner Egypt" into freedom and wholeness. Remembering what it was like to be a stranger helps us extend compassion to ourselves, and that brings healing to our hearts.
The mitzvah to love the stranger applies not only to someone whom we regard as an "outsider," but even more radically to the "stranger within ourselves," that is, to those aspects of ourselves we censor, deny, or reject...
Like the prodigal son, we have to "come to ourselves" to return home (Luke 15:17) - believing that we are somehow redeemable - yet we will be unable to know how we are unconditionally loved until we venture complete disclosure. That is the great risk of trusting in God's love for your soul: You must accept that you are accepted despite your own unacceptability... Those parts of ourselves that we "hide" need to be brought to the light, atoned for, healed, and reconciled. If we don't love and accept ourselves, then how can we hope to love and accept others?
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 10:19 reading (click):
Loving our Neighbor...
05.05.25 (Iyyar 7, 5785) Our Torah portion this week, Acharei Mot, contains the verse, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD" (Lev. 19:18), which is generally regarded as the most fundamental commandment of Torah. The Talmud recounts that when challenged by a pagan to teach the meaning of the Scriptures "while standing on one foot," Hillel said, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah and the rest is commentary; go and learn it." Hillel summed up the Torah as "doing no harm" toward others (i.e., the "Silver Rule"), which agrees with the Apostle Paul's statement, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment (πλήρωμα) of the law" (Rom. 13:10). Of course Yeshua earlier taught His followers, "whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12; 22:36-40).
Some of the mystics have said that when two people love one another, the Holy One reigns between them, as alluded to by the Hebrew word for "love" (i.e., ahavah: אהבה), the gematria of which is thirteen (1+5+2+5=13), but when shared with another it is multiplied: 13 x 2 = 26, which is the same value for the Sacred Name (יהוה), i.e., (10+5+6+5=26). In other words, when we love, esteem, and respect one another, the LORD's presence is multiplied and revealed among us (1 John 4:7-8). "Where two or three gather in my Name..."
Hebrew Lesson
Leviticus 19:18b reading (click):
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In this connection, it is interesting to note that the gematria for the Hebrew commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (i.e., וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹך) equals 820, the same value as the word yekidash'ti (וְקִדַּשְׁתִּי), "And I [the LORD] will sanctify" (Exod. 29:44). When God commands us to "love your neighbor as yourself," he graciously includes the addendum: "I am the LORD," which the sages say recalls the revelation of the Name YHVH (יהוה), and that therefore is understood to mean, "I will help you to do this," or (in this case) "I will sanctify you through your acts of lovingkindness."
Of course followers of Yeshua have the ongoing obligation to love and care for one another (see John 13:34, 15:12,17, Rom. 13:8; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Pet. 1:22, 1 John 3:11, etc.). After all, in this world the only tangible way we can express our love for God is by extending gemilut chasadim (loving acts) to others (James 2:15-17, 1 John 3:17, 4:20). Indeed, Yeshua taught that our obligation to love and care for others may sometimes even preempt our outward duty to love God Himself. For example, what good is it to "tithe mint and cumin" and yet neglect the needs of those who are suffering? (see Matt. 23:23).
Tragically, the idea of "loving" or "serving" God can even be used as a pretext for rejecting those with whom we might disagree... What else explains religious hatred, hidebound denominational prejudices, and other forms of sanctimonious humbug at work in the various world religions of today? Even in so-called Christian churches we see this sort of bigotry at work. As Yeshua forewarned: "the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God" (John 16:2). Sadly this sometimes applies even to those who claim to love and worship the very Prince of Peace (שַׂר־שָׁלוֹם). The world's religious zealots are routinely trying to "do God a favor" by hating and even killing others... This is "Jihad-version" of religiosity is a terrible sickness of spirit. In light of the sacrificial love and grace of God, can there really be anything more perverse than this?
Love is the central idea of all true Torah. Though there are some slight language differences between the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions of the Ten Commandments, both begin with "I AM" (אָנכִי) and both end with "[for] your neighbor" (לְרֵעֶךָ). Joining these together says "I am your neighbor," indicating that the LORD Himself is your neighbor (see diagram below). When we love our neighbor as ourselves (אָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ), we are in effect demonstrating our love for the LORD, while on the other hand, every social transgression is a transgression against God. As our Scriptures teach, "If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother is a liar," since "love fulfills the law" (1 John 4:20; Rom. 13:8). When we love our neighbor as ourselves we walk in the Torah of the LORD, which is perfect (Psalm 19:7).
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The Heart of Atonement...
05.05.25 (Iyyar 7, 5785) Most of our deepest anxieties come from the fear of death, whether we are conscious of this or not... Death represents fear of the unknown, fear of being abandoned, fear of being rejected, fear of being separated from others, and so on. I am so glad Yeshua gives us eternal life, which for me is not so much about immortality of the soul as it is being loved and accepted by God... That is what "at-one-ment" means, after all (John 17:22-23). Because God loves and accepts us, we trust Him to be present for us, even in the darkest of hours, on the other side of the veil, where he there "prepares a place for us" (John 14:2). As Yeshua said, "I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the One who sent me has eternal life (חַיֵּי עוֹלָם) and will not be condemned, but has passed (i.e., μετά + βαίνω, lit., "crossed over" [עָבַר]) from death to life" (John 5:24). God's love "crosses over" from death to life and now forever sustains me.
Our Torah reading for this week (Acharei Mot) provides details about Yom Kippur, or the "Day of Atonement," a special service that gave ritual expression of God's love by making purification for our sins. As I've explained before, the word for love (i.e., ahavah: אהבה) equals the number thirteen (1+5+2+5=13), but when shared it is multiplied: 13 x 2 = 26, which is the same value for the Sacred Name (יהוה), i.e., (10+5+6+5=26). Likewise the Hebrew word for "life" is chayim (חַיִּים), is written in the plural to emphasize that life cannot be lived alone but must be shared. Notice that within the word itself are embedded two consecutive Yods (יי), representing unity in plurality (Yod-Yod is an abbreviation for YHVH, also indicating the "deep Akedah" of Father and Son). God gave up His life so that we can be in relationship with Him, that is, so that we can be "at-one" with His heart for us. Whatever else it may mean, then, the Hebrew word for "atonement" (i.e., kapparah, "covering," "protection," "purification," "forgiveness") is about accepting God's heart for you - being unified in his love - and if you miss that, you've missed the point of the Torah's teaching....
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 118:17 reading (click for audio):
Theodor Herzl Day...
05.04.25 (Iyyar 6, 5785) This coming Thursday, May 8th, is "Herzl Day" in Israel (i.e., Yom Herztl: יום הרצל), a national holiday established by the Knesset to commemorate the achievements and Zionist vision of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a man considered by many to be the father of the modern State of Israel (though his mission was fostered by several dispensationalists Christian leaders).
During Herzl Day a memorial service held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the site of Israel's national cemetery, where Herzl's tomb is located. It should be noted that though Herzl was a remarkable man, he was greatly influenced and helped by Bible-believing Christians who foresaw the vision of Zion and the reestablishment of the State of Israel and who therefore assisted him by providing support for his political vision.
For more information about Herzl Day, click here.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 122:6 reading (click):
Parashat Acharei-Kedoshim
05.04.25 (Iyyar 6, 5785) Shavuah tov be'Yeshua, chaverim. This week we have another "double portion" of Torah. Our first Torah portion is called "Acharei Mot" (אחרי מות), which transitions from the preceding readings regarding ritual purity (tahora) to recall the tragic incident of Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron who were killed when they offered "strange fire" upon the Altar of Incense during the dedication of the Tabernacle (see Lev. 10:1-2). Because these priests approached the Holy of Holies in an incorrect manner, the LORD further commanded Moses to instruct Aaron that he should enter the innermost chamber only in a carefully prescribed manner once a year - on the tenth day of the seventh month - during the sacred time called Yom Kippur (i.e., the "Day of Atonement").
On this most solemn day, Aaron was instructed to immerse himself in a mikveh (pool of fresh water) and to dress in all-white linen. He then was instructed to slaughter a bull as a personal sin offering. Aaron then brought some ketoret (incense) to burn within the Holy of Holies before returning to sprinkle the blood of the sin offering seven times before the Ark of the Covenant (i.e., the kapporet or "Mercy Seat"). Aaron repeated this procedure using the blood of one of two goats that was selected (by lot) to be slaughtered as a sin offering on behalf of the people. After this, Aaron took more of the sacrificial blood and purified the Altar of Incense and the other furnishings of the Tabernacle. Later, the fat of these sacrifices was burned on the Bronze Altar, though the hide and the flesh were to be entirely burned outside the camp.
After purifying the Tabernacle, Aaron would go to the gate of the courtyard and lay both hands upon the head of the other goat (designated "for Azazel," a name for the accusing angel) while confessing all of the sins and transgressions of the people. This "scapegoat" was not slaughtered, however, but was driven away into the wilderness, carrying "all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited." Finally, Aaron returned to the Tent, washed and changed his clothes, and offered two more burnt offerings – one for himself and one for the people – to complete the purification process.
This elaborate ritual was ordained to be a decree for Israel, and the day of Yom Kippur was to be observed every year as a time of "affliction and mourning" for all the people. The portion ends with further instructions about making sacrifices, including the prohibition against offering sacrifices apart from the rites of the Tabernacle. The consumption of blood is explicitly forbidden, since blood was reserved for sacrificial purposes upon the altar.
Our second Torah portion, called Kedoshim (קדשׁים), provides a series of social and ethical commandments concerning the practical expression of holiness in daily life: "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy (קדשׁים תהיו), for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). Indeed this portion lists more mitzvot (commandments) regarding practical ethics (musar) than any other of the Torah, thereby directly connecting the holiness of the community with obedience to God's moral truth.
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After stating the requirement to be holy, the LORD begins to explain, "Each of you must respect (i.e., yirah: יִרְאָה) his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God" (Lev. 19:3). The duty to revere (or honor) one's parents recalls the Fifth Commandment (Exod. 20:12), which is the starting point of learning to respect other people in our lives. Notice that the word for "my Sabbaths" (שַׁבְּתתַי) implies both the keeping of the weekly Sabbath as well as the "appointed times" of the LORD. As we shall see, sanctifying time is a way we can express practical holiness in our lives...
Various practical commandments are given in this Torah portion through which a Jew is sanctified, or set apart to be kadosh - holy - and therefore fit for relationship with God. God is not only "wholly Other" (i.e., transcendent) but also pervades all of creation (i.e., "immanent"), and those who are called into His Presence must therefore be holy themselves. Such practical holiness results in sanctification obtained through the observance of commandments (mitzvot). These commandments include both mitzvot aseh (commandments to do something) and mitzvot lo ta'aseh (commandments to refrain from doing something). In addition, chukkim, or "statutes" are given that further separate the Jewish people from the customs and profanity of the surrounding nations.
The Ladder of Truth...
"It is not the truth that needs people, but people who need the Truth." - Kierkegaard
05.02.25 (Iyyar 4, 5785) The Hebrew idea of "truth" (i.e., emet: אֱמֶת) is richer than factual description or "correspondence" between language and reality, since it contains moral implications and possibilities: what is true is also right, good, reliable (honest), beautiful, and sacred. The Hebrew word comes from a verb (aman) that means to "confirm" or establish, and the noun form (i.e, emunah: אֱמוּנָה, "faithfulness" or "trustworthiness") expresses the will to live by what is ratified, the "amen" of decision.
The Hebrew concept is therefore existential: truth that is not lived is not really truth. Speaking the truth (dibbur emet) and abhorring dishonesty are considered foundational to moral life, as it says: "Speak the truth (דַּבְּרוּ אֱמֶת) to one another; render true and perfect justice in your gates" (Zech. 8:16). Yeshua said, "Amen, amen I say to you...." throughout his ministry to stress the reliability and certainty of God's truth (Matt. 5:18, 26, etc.). Indeed, Yeshua is called "the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Rev. 3:14). In that sense truth is not a "what" of correspondence but rather a "who," since reality turns on the magnetism of the divine presence (Col. 1:16).
The ancient Greek word translated "truth" is aletheia (ἀλήθεια), a compound formed from an alpha prefix (α-) meaning "not," and lethei (λήθη), meaning "forgetfulness." Greek scholars say the word lethei itself derives from the verb lanthano (λανθάνω), which means "to be hidden," so the general idea is that a-letheia (i.e., truth) is non-concealment, non-hiddenness, or (put positively) revelation or disclosure. Thus the word of Yeshua - His message, logos (λόγος), revelation, and presence - is both "unforgettable" and "irrepressible." Yeshua is the Unforgettable One that is manifest as the express Word of God (דְּבַר הָאֱלהִים). He is the Light of the world (אוֹר הָעוֹלָם) who imparts the "light of life" (John 8:12). Though God's message can be supressed by evil and darkened thinking, the truth is regarded as self-evident and full of intuitive validation (see Rom. 1:18-21).
Note that the LXX (i.e., the ancient Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures commonly called the Septuagint) dates from the time of the philosopher Plato, though of course the Hebrew text dates back to the time of Moses (13th century BC) and even earlier. About 300 BC, "Theophrastus," a student of Aristotle, wrote of the Jews that 'being philosophers by race, they converse with each other about the Divine." Abraham, who dates from about 2,000 BC, was the first avowed monotheist who openly repudiated the polytheism and idolatry of ancient Ugaritic culture (Abraham also long predates the rise of Hinduism and the animistic hymns of the Vedas and their priestly commentary found in the Upanishads by a thousand years, just as ancient Judaism predates "Islam" by thousands of years). Similarly, both David and his son Solomon (10th century BC) wrote "existential" works of philosophy, predating the modern world by nearly 3,000 years...
Truth is more of a verb than a noun, chaverim. We must live the truth in order to know it....
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 25:5 Hebrew Reading:
Finding your Greatest Good...
05.02.25 (Iyyar 4, 5785) The heart (הלב) is the center of the will - the locus of desire, affection, and love... However, the heart itself must be constrained by wisdom (חוכמה), since unbridled desire is slavery to the lower nature (יצר הרע), as it says: "The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the faithless will be ensnared by their own desires" (Prov. 11:6). The problem for many of us is having "disordered loves," that is, serving various idols of the heart that demand our attention yet divert us from what we really need. The difficultly is not so much that we indulge in lesser loves as much as we do not know the love of God that heals us and sets us free. As C.S. Lewis once said, "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing" (Mere Christianity). The righteous have found the most precious secret: "I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness" (Psalm 17:15).
It has been said that "there is nothing so whole as a broken heart." We become whole when we discover that the idols of our hearts do not truly satisfy us. Usually this involves a "severe mercy" as we learn that what we thought we "needed" proved to be just another illusion... Then and only then can we begin to believe in and to accept God's love as our highest good. Such "perfect love" casts out the fear induced by the idols of the heart. When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the passions of our heart are ordered correctly. As it is also written in our Scriptures: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday" (Psalm 37:4-6).
The Lord is near to the shavur lev (שבור לב), the one with a broken heart. The Hebrew word "lev" (לב) metaphorically refers to our inner life, that is, our affections, mind, and will. This is revealed in the letters of the Hebrew word itself: the Lamed (ל) depicts a "staff" used to direct something (i.e., the will), and the Bet (בּ) depicts the "house" of the physical body. Lev then represents our inner life of thought and feeling expressed in our actions. Those who are broken in heart – the nishberei lev (נִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵב) – have discovered that they cannot control their own lives, that they are inwardly "shattered," and therefore they need divine help. Contrary to conventional wisdom, God helps those who cannot help themselves; He prefers to use broken vessels in His service (Psalm 51:19). As A.W. Tozer observed: "Beware of any Christian leader who does not walk with a limp."
Yeshua taught, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). As I've mentioned before, the Greek word translated "pure" is katharos (καθαρός), sometimes used describe the cleansing of a wound (catharsis), or to describe the unalloyed quality of a substance revealed through refining fire. Metaphorically, then, purity of heart refers to separation from the profane - singleness of vision, wholeheartedness, passion, and focused desire for the sacred. Faith is a great trembling of love: "With this ring I do worship thee..." As we center our affections on Yeshua, we become pure in heart -- i.e., unified, made whole, and healed of our inner fragmentation. We see the Lord both in this world, through his effects, and then panim el panim (פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים), "face to face," in the world to come. Our hope purifies us for that coming great day of full disclosure (1 John 3:2-3; Heb. 12:14). That day is surely drawing near, friends.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 37:4 reading (click):
Leprosy of Ingratitude...
The following is related to our Torah reading this week, parashat Tazria...
05.02.25 (Iyyar 4, 5785) Tazria, or "leprosy," is a spiritual sickness brought about by sinful thinking and faithlessness... In this connection Kierkegaard notes: "The gospel about the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19) is about how the nine were healed of their leprosy – and then caught, so to speak, an even worse leprosy: their ingratitude and unthankfulness.
Herein lies the difference between sickness of the body and sickness of the spirit." Ten metzorot (lepers) were healed in body, but only one was healed both in body and soul -- the "stranger" who recognized God's kindness and who made an effort to offer his thanks...
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 41:4 reading (click):
Why Torah Matters...
"The word of God is always most precious to the man who most lives upon it." - Spurgeon
05.02.25 (Iyyar 4, 5785) Where is it written, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the godly one may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17), it is to be noted that "the Scriptures" referred to here are the Jewish Scriptures (i.e., the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings), since they are the foundation, the context, and the overarching matrix for the later New Covenant revelation... These were the Scriptures Yeshua used to contextualize and explain his ministry to his followers: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Indeed when Paul wrote these words to Timothy the "New Testament" Scriptures had not yet been compiled by the leaders of the first-generation followers of Messiah.
How important is the Torah, friends? It is essential as the foundation for all that follows, including the very meaning of the gospel message! In other words, the Torah has both a logical, a linguistic, and a theological priority regarding our understanding of the New Testament, and the failure to read in context invariably leads to faulty interpretations and doctrinal errors of various kinds. "To the Jew first, and [then] to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16) is a principle not only of how the gospel message would transcend ethnic Israel to be offered to all the nations, but also about how we should approach the subject of Biblical hermeneutics. God "breathed out" (θεόπνευστος) his revelation in order, and the message itself must be understood in light of that order (Gal. 4:4-5). Moreover, since all of the New Testament finds its semantic roots in the Torah of Moses and the other Hebrew Scriptures, it is important to study Biblical Hebrew first before studying the Greek New Testament, since the Greek words were translated from the ideas originally given in the Hebrew texts of the Torah.
All of the Torah is amazingly wonderful; it is an inestimably great blessing! After all, what would we know of the creation of the universe and of humanity apart from its pages? What would we know of the reason for sin, sickness and death -- and therefore our need for salvation itself apart from the account of the fall of man as described in Book of Genesis? Or what we know of God's moral truth apart from the revelation of the law at Sinai? Or how could we understand the need for sacrificial blood atonement apart from the sacrificial laws given in Leviticus? Or how would we understand the struggle of the journey of faith apart from the Book of Numbers? Or how would we appreciate the essential duty to love God with all our hearts -- the great Shema -- and the corresponding duty to love others as we love ourselves apart from the Book of Deuteronomy?
So the Torah provides the framework by which we read the Gospels, and apart from this framework we miss much of the original intent and meaning of the Bible... Again, that was Yeshua's approach to the Scriptures, after all. He repeatedly explained to his followers that would have to suffer and die, according to the Scriptures (see Luke 9:22, 9:44; Matt. 16:21; Mark 8:31). He told the disciples on the road of Emmaus: "All things had to be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me (Luke 24:44). Indeed Yeshua chided the rabbis of his day saying: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; but it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39), and he also said, "If you would have believed Moses, you would believe in me, because he wrote about me" (John 5:46).
So love the Torah, friends; learn its message and study its passages carefully. That's good New Testament theology, after all: "For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope" (Rom. 15:4). The Holy Spirit still speaks to the heart of those who love Yeshua, the everlasting King of the Jews: "Oh how I love your Torah (תּוֹרָה); it is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 119:79 commentary (click to listen):
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The Mercies of God...
"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones... I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners..." (Isa. 57:15, 18)
05.02.25 (Iyyar 4, 5785) It is written in our Scriptures: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (i.e., ruach nishbarah: רוח נשברה); a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Yet how are our hearts broken unless we know the heartache of heaven shared on our behalf? That we feel ourselves lost within ourselves, in despair over our lives, in desperate need for the healing touch from God that brings us to comfort...
We are "in" but not "of" the world, so that means that we share in the common hardships and sorrows of this world. However, the difference is this: We do not suffer alone, for God's love surrounds us with comfort. For those who know Yeshua, suffering does not demand an intellectual answer to "why" we suffer as much as it evokes the heart's cry for God's presence... In the midst of our troubles the Spirit groans within us: "My soul clings to you and your right hand upholds me" (Psalm 63:8). We come to God in our brokenness, holding fast to his promise of comfort, and God upholds us with his hand. "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your word gives me life" (Psalm 119:50).
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 51:17 Hebrew Reading (click):
God is not indifferent to our sufferings, chaverim, and indeed, that is the basic message of the cross... Indeed how can we believe in God's love apart from the cross? How can we know the truth of his heart? God knows those who are broken and contrite (Isa. 57:15). The LORD is full of comfort; he loves the afflicted, he has grace for the humble, he forgives the fallen, and he revives the heart. The Lord says: "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners..." Compassion is his nature - as the cross of Yeshua reveals - and therefore we can come to him in our need, in our affliction, and as those who are "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3).
God loves us even when we feel forsaken, all alone in our private struggles. The Spirit impels us to cry out for deliverance and experience consolation in our distress. This is a common experience in God's people: in our sorrows we seek him, and then we rediscover his mercies and great compassion. Great is his faithfulness (Lam. 3:23). "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners..."
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 119:50 Hebrew Reading (click):
Witness of the Spirit...
05.01.25 (Iyyar 3, 5785) "Because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Gal. 4:6). Note here the Spirit does not cry out using "esoteric" or magical names for God, nor does the Spirit refer to one of God's many titles based on the divine attributes, but instead uses a term of intimacy and profound trust. After all, the word "abba" (אַבָּא) is not so much a name for God as it is a claim about who you are -- it is a confession that you belong to the Lord as his beloved child...
Throughout his ministry Yeshua referred to the LORD simply as his "Father," though he used the intensive address "Abba, Father" (Ἀββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ) just before his arrest and crucifixion, that is, during his intercession at Gethsamane (גַּת שְׁמָנִים), near the olive oil press on the Mount of Olives where the anointing oil for the Temple (שֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה) was made, and therefore he called upon "Abba, Father" while in deep suffering and tribulation of heart (Mark 14:36). "Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will..."
The mixed dialect of Hebrew and Greek here (i.e., Ἀββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ) may indicate identification with both the Jewish people and the Gentiles who would be united in his passion, as it says, שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם לָרָחוֹק וְלַקָּרוֹב - shalom shalom la'rachok vela'karov: "Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near," says the LORD; oo'refativ: "and I will heal him" (Isa. 57:19, Eph. 2:15).
Knowing God as your heavenly "father" is an intimate matter of the heart, an inner cry or groan coming from the miracle of spiritual rebirth. "The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God's children" (Rom. 8:16). Amen, may we know who we are in Him.
Hebrew Lesson
Isa. 12:2 Hebrew reading (click):
Priests and Lepers...
05.01.25 (Iyyar 3, 5785) In our Torah portion for this week (Tazria) we read: "When a person (i.e., adam: אָדָם) has on the skin of his body a swelling (שְׂאֵת) or a scab (סַפַּחַת) or a bright spot (בְּהֶרֶת)... he shall be brought to the priest" (Lev. 13:2). Here the sages note three common afflictions that befall the "children of Adam," namely, 1) swelling (i.e., שְׂאֵת), representing arrogance; 2) scabs (סַפַּחַת), representing worldly vanity (from a root (סָפַח) that means to "join together"); and 3) bright spots such as moles or macula (i.e., בַּהֶרֶת), from a root (בָּהָר) meaning to enlighten, representing carnal reasoning to regard the ways of God.
When we see only the affliction, we must go to the priest – to one who helps mediate the Divine Presence – to see how deep the affliction is and what its root might be... Symbolically, since we are all priests to one another (see Exod. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:5,9; Rev. 1:6), we share our afflictions with one another, allowing ourselves to be seen, and to confess our need for healing. "Therefore, disclose (ἐξομολογέω, lit. 'confess out') your sins to one another and pray (εὔχομαι) for one another, that you may be healed..." (James 5:16).
Followers of Yeshua are intended by God to be healers (Luke 9:1). The most common word for healing in the New Testament is therapeuo (θεραπεύω), a word that means to serve, to care for, and to restore to health. Unlike some ministers who draw crowds to demonstrate the power of miraculous "faith healing," true spiritual healers take the time to listen to others, to hear their inward pain, and to extend compassion and grace to them. They help open the inner eyes of the heart by extending hope and a new vision about what is real... Indeed, lasting healing focuses less on being cured than on finding hope that will never die.
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 103:3 reading (click for audio):
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April 2025 Site Updates
Root of the Righteous...
04.30.25 (Iyyar 2, 5785) It is written, "No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved" (Prov. 12:3). A person's heart is revealed by his core convictions and desires. Wealth and the pleasures of this world do no good for the eternal soul. Although the wicked of this world may appear to prosper, it is only temporary and will not last (Psalm 37:1-2); on the other hand, though the righteous may appear to fall, it is only temporary, and they will rise again, since the Root of the Righteous (שׁרֶשׁ צַדִּיקִים) is God's own power: "The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast down, for the Lord holds his hand" (Psalm 37:23-24).
Hebrew Lesson
Proverbs 12:3 reading (click for audio):
The sages note that the word translated "established" (in Prov. 12:3) comes from a word (כֵּן) meaning a "base" or a "stand" – that is, something external that supports something, but the word "root" (שׁרֶשׁ) refers to the inner essence of the plant. The Malbim said that man is like an inverted tree with its roots on top, drawing life from heaven that provides him with spiritual sustenance. The wicked cut themselves off from the root and base their lives on the material and transitory foundation of this world. Yeshua likened the immovability of the righteous as those who build their house on the rock: when the tempest comes, the house will not fall, because it is founded upon the rock. Those who build their house on the sands of this world are foolish: when the tempest comes, the house will collapse and its fall will be great (Matt. 7:24-27). In the midst of life's storms and trials, the righteous (הצדיקים) have an inner support that keeps them from being destroyed, and that is the Rock of our Salvation (צוּר יִשְׁעֵנוּ), Yeshua our Lord!
The Scriptures state twice: שׁרֶשׁ לְמָטָּה וְעָשָׂה פְרִי לְמָעְלָה / "Take root downward and bear fruit upward" (2 Kings 19:30; Isa. 37:31). As Yeshua said, "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it produces a harvest (John 12:24). The inner life goes into the earth - it dies and then is re-opened to yield fruit. We pray we might surrender ourselves to the Lord fully, being immersed in His passion, "bearing fruit in every good work (ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ καρποφοροῦντες) and growing in da'at HaShem (דַעַת אֱלהִים) - the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). The "fruit of the righteous is a Tree of Life" lit., etz chayim (עֵץ חַיִּים), "the Tree of lives" (Prov. 11:30). It is the fruit of Yeshua, the Righteous One, who bears fruits of healing for the lives of those who turn to Him in trust...
"I can do all things through the Messiah who strengthens me," not "some things," or a "few things," but ALL things (Phil. 4:13). Yeshua is the Tree of Life, the Source of all our strength. "May you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being" (Eph. 3:16). Let's remember to pray for one another and ask the LORD to help make each of us fruitful to the glory of our Heavenly Father (John 15:8). Amen...
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Prophetic Significance of Israel...
Today is Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence day. Let us remember Israel in our prayers...
04.30.25 (Iyyar 2, 5785) Shalom ahuvim. Can a case be made that we among the "terminal generation" before the return of Yeshua? The Torah predicted that the "End of Days" would occur sometime after the return of the Jewish people from their worldwide dispersion back to the land of Israel (see Deut. 30:1-3), and indeed the theme of exile and return is repeated in the prophets (see Jer. 23:3; 32:37-38; Ezek. 37:21, etc.). Therefore it is surely extraordinary that Israel was reborn as a nation in their ancient homeland on May 14, 1948 (Iyyar 5, 5708), after nearly 2,000 years of exile...
Moreover, the existence of the modern State of Israel is entirely consonant with New Testament prophecies regarding the advent of the Messiah, since Yeshua taught that the Jewish people would indeed be in the land of Israel at the time of his second coming, and that the city of Jerusalem would be surrounded by enemies of the Jewish state (see Matt. 24-25; Mark 13, Luke 21). Furthermore, if we understand a "generation" to mean 70-80 years in duration (as stated in Psalm 90:10), then when Yeshua said, "this generation (ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη) shall not pass until all these things take place" (Matt. 24:34), he was perhaps referring to the generation that would originate with the restoration of the modern State of Israel, which further implies that Daniel's 70th Week (i.e., the Great Tribulation) could begin very soon. And while it is true that "no one knows the day or hour" of the "great day of the LORD" (יוֹם־יְהוָה הַגָּדוֹל), Yeshua faulted the scribes and the Pharisees for failing to discern "the signs of the times" (Matt. 16:3) and for missing the "time of their visitation" (Luke 19:44), and therefore we are to actively look in anticipation his second coming...
Hebrew Lesson
Isa. 66:8 reading (click):
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Am Yisrael Chai! - the people of Israel live! Like many other prophetic statements found in the Jewish Scriptures, this verse from the prophet Isaiah is "dual aspect," since it was both partially fulfilled when the Jewish people reestablished the State of Israel, but it will be entirely fulfilled at the outset of the Millennial Kingdom after the return of Messiah (see Isa. 66:7-16; Rom. 11:26). Meanwhile we behold the restoration of the "Fig Tree," and understand that the great harvest draws near, friends... May God help each one of us be awake, ready, with hearts full of steadfast faith (1 John 3:2-3; Titus 2:11-14; Matt. 24:32).
Regardless of how you may regard the prophetic events that herald the "end of the age," however, know this: Today might be your last in this world - your very own "Rosh Hashanah" when you will appear before the Judge and Creator of your life... Therefore should we live each day as if it were our last and pray that God will help us to serve Him in the truth.
Finally let me (preemptively) add that while we may discern that the time is indeed "short" and that the hour "draws near," I do not believe in "date setting" or predicting the return of the LORD, since that is "chokhmah nisteret" (חכמה נסתרת), "sealed wisdom," known only to the Father (see Matt. 24:36, Acts 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:2, etc.). Nevertheless we can foresee by faith the great and promised day to come!
Wed. April 30th - Thurs. May 1st
Happy Birthday Israel!
Turning to God's Heart...
04.29.25 (Iyyar 1, 5785) Turning to God in teshuvah, or "conversion," is not something you accomplish in your own strength or will. No, it is an act of grace wherein God touches you to make you alive (John 1:11-12). After all, how could it really be otherwise? From our perspective, teshuvah is a matter of trust - first trusting that God loves you and redeems you from the curse of your life, and second, that he will guide you by means of his spirit to know him. Sanctification, then, is the practice of attending to God's presence, seeking him in your heartache and in your hope, walking with him in your sorrows and in your joys....
Doubts may sometimes arise, however. You may hear questions within your soul asking where you are really going, or questions about the choices you have made. You may feel anxious or uncertain about your relationship to "God, the universe, and everything." When this occurs, you must again remember who you truly are. You must recall and reaffirm God's personal and covenantal love for you, even when you feel afraid or lost inside.
God's everlasting love in Yeshua is the foundation, the solid rock, and the place where you will find shelter. It is the very "ground of your being." God's heart is the place where you are never left nor forsaken, even if you have wandered into painful byways of regret, sinfulness, and loneliness. Like the prodigal, when we "come to ourselves," when we remember where we really belong, we will rediscover our Father's outstretched arms welcoming us back home (Luke 15:17-24).
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 41:13 Hebrew reading (click):
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The Olive Tree Israel...
Israeli Independence day begins Wednesday, April 30th and runs through the following day...
04.28.25 (Nisan 30, 5785) Do you have a Jewish heart? If you say that you love the "LORD God of Israel" (יהוה אֱלהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל) -- and it's clear that the LORD God of Israel loves the Jewish people -- it follows that you likewise will love the Jewish people (see Deut. 7:6-8; 14:2; 2 Sam. 7:23-24; 1 Kings 8:53; 10:9; 1 Chron 17:20-21; Isa 43:1-3; Jer. 31:31-37; Ezek. 36:24-28; Rom. 11:1-2;11:28; Hos. 11:1-11, etc.). After all, the LORD Yeshua is called מֶלֶךְ הַיְּהוּדִים / melech ha-Yehudim: the "King of the Jews" (Matt. 2:2, 27:11, etc.), and the very term "Mashiach" [i.e., "Christ"] is a regal term denoting the anointed King of Israel. Christians who pray to "Jesus Christ" are really praying to Yeshua as the anointed King of the Jews... And one day (very soon) Yeshua will indeed return to Jerusalem, the "City of the Great King" (Matt 5:35), to assume the throne of David and complete the redemption originally promised to the Jewish people (Zech. 12:1-13:1; 14:1-9, Ezek. 37:12-14, etc.).
God will prove faithful to ethnic Israel, friends, and to deny this is to radically question God's faithfulness to the "Church." Indeed, let me say this as plainly as I can: Churches or teachers who claim that God has abandoned ethnic Israel are directly impugning the credibility of the Gospel message itself. Yes, it's that serious of an issue...
Note the verse that says, "I will bless those who bless you, but the one who discounts you will be cursed" (Gen 12:3). Why is this the case, chaverim? The answer is found in the second half of the verse: "For in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" [i.e., through the advent of the promised Seed, the Messiah]. We cannot impugn the promises of God given to the Jewish people without likewise impugning God's promises given to us in Messiah. To say that God is "done with the Jewish people," or to consign them to a dark fate, is to disregard them, to curse them, and that leads to reciprocal judgment from heaven.
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The physical descendants of Abraham are called בָּבַת עֵינוֹ (bavat eino), the "pupil of God's eye" (Zech. 2:8), a term of endearment that the LORD uses for no other nation on earth. Indeed the very habitations of the nations were established based on the number of the children of Israel (see Deut. 32:8). The Scriptures declare that the LORD will never abandon His original covenant people but will yet choose them for His Name's sake (Isa. 14:1). The church has not replaced Israel in God's redemptive plan but is merely "grafted in" to the original "root" of Israel. "Remember," Rabbi Paul warns, "it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you" (Rom. 11:18). "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, "Amen!" (Psalm 106:48).
Note: Please don't regard the "curse" mentioned in Gen. 12:3 to suggest that God is somehow vindictive, petty, etc. No, the reason the curse befalls those who reject God's plan for Israel is because Israel was the means God chose to bring salvation to the world: Yeshua was born the King of the Jews who came to ransom all those who trust in him from the curse of spiritual death (Gal. 4:4, Rom. 3:2, John 4:22). The reason God can't bless people who hate the Jewish people or Israel is because that would mean he would bless those who hate the truth, who spurn salvation, and who love darkness... The same God who promises us life and healing in Yeshua is the one who promised never to cast of Israel or to eternally disown the Jewish people. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, God cannot give us a good apart from himself, since there literally is no such thing.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 135:4 reading with commentary (click):
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Related Topics:
God's "Super Sign" of Israel...
Yom Ha'aztmaut is observed on Iyar 5th, which begins Wednesday, April 30th at sundown and runs through the following day until sundown...
04.28.25 (Nisan 30, 5785) Israel's Independence Day is called Yom Ha'atzma'ut (יום העצמאות), the "day of independence." In Hebrew, the word independence (atzma'ut) comes from atzmi - "my bones" (i.e., etzem: עֶצֶם), so the name itself alludes to God's glorious promise to revive the "dry bones" (עֲצָמוֹת) of Israel by bringing the Jewish people back from their long exile during the End of Days (Ezek. 37:1-6). "Son of man, can these bones live?"
Hebrew Lesson
Ezekiel 37:3a Hebrew reading (click):
But why should Christians care about ethnic Israel? After all, many Christian denominations advocate some version of "Replacement Theology" and regard the promises God made to the Jewish people as belonging exclusively to their church... The existence of the modern State of Israel therefore evokes little thanks to God from these groups, and some of their ranks even regard Israel's revived presence on the world stage as an embarrassment to their typically "liberal" theology. Hence we see the (remarkably bad) phenomena of so-called "Christian" church denominations that express anti-Israel sentiment, even asking their followers to divest investments in Israel on behalf of the "Palestinians," etc.
The title "Christ" refers to the anointed King of Israel, the Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ)... To say "Jesus Christ" is therefore to affirm that Yeshua is none other than the Messiah, the rightful King of Israel (מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל). Followers of Jesus, the One born "King of the Jews" (Matt. 2:2), should therefore care deeply about Israel because the existence of Jewish people - and of the nation of Israel in particular - demonstrates that the LORD (יהוה) is completely faithful to the covenant promises He made to our patriarchs (e.g., Gen. 15:9-21). Indeed, the Scriptures teach that the Name of God is forever designated as אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק ואלהי יעקב - "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exod. 3:15), just as it is also the "LORD God of Israel" (יְהוָה אֱלהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל). The perpetuity of the Jewish people - despite so much satanic hatred over the millennia - is an awesome testimony of God's loyal love (Jer. 31:35-37). עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי / am Yisrael chai: "The people of Israel live!" Israel is a sign of the "sure mercies of David" (חַסְדֵי דָוִד הַנֶּאֱמָנִים) that are revealed in Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah (Isa. 55:1-6). Moreover, the New Covenant itself, as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, explicitly promises the perpetuity of the Jewish people throughout the ages:
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD (יהוה), when I will make a new covenant (בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my Torah (תּוֹרָה) within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I 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."
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD of hosts is his Name: "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel (זֶרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל) cease from being a nation before me forever." Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD. (Jer. 31:31-37)
According to this theologically critical passage, if you saw the sun shine today or the stars in the night sky, you can be assured that God's promise to preserve the "offspring of Israel" -- (i.e., zera Yisrael: זֶרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל) -- is in effect. Indeed, in the world to come, heavenly Jerusalem will have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel engraved upon its gates (Rev. 21:12). Note well that this is the only occurrence in the entire Tanakh (i.e., "Old Testament") that the New Covenant (בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה) is explicitly mentioned... It is a foundational passage of Scripture for those who claim to be followers of the Jewish Messiah.
The spiritual blessings Christians enjoy come from the root of God's covenants with Israel... Yeshua our Savior was born the King of the Jews, and he plainly said הַיְשׁוּעָה מֵאֵת הַיְּהוּדִים הִיא- "salvation is from the Jews" (Matt. 2:2; 27:11; John 4:22). The Apostle Paul clearly warned those who think the church has "replaced" Israel: "Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you" (Rom. 11:18). This doctrine is so foundational that it may be rightly said that how you think about Israel will affect every other area of your theology. Indeed, the nation of Israel is God's "super sign" that He is faithful to His covenant promises (Jer. 31:35-37). Celebrating Israel's existence acknowledges God's loyal love for us all! For more on this subject, see the article, "Is Christianity Anti-Jewish?"
In the holy Torah we read how God said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק ואלהי יעקב), has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations'" (Exod. 3:15).
Hebrew Lesson
Exod. 3:15b Hebrew reading (click):
"Your Name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, throughout all ages" (Psalm 135:13). Therefore the prophet cries: "in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel" (Isa. 24:15).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 135:15 Hebrew reading (click):
Israel's Independence Day...
04.28.25 (Nisan 30, 5785) After the Jewish people had suffered for nearly 2,000 years of exile as clearly foretold by Moses (Lev. 26:38, 44; Deut. 28:64-64) and the Hebrew prophets (Isa. 43:5-6; Jer. 30:11; Joel 3:2; Ezek. 36:8-10; Hos. 9:1-10, etc.), Israel was miraculously reborn as a nation in their ancient homeland on May 14, 1948 (Iyyar 5, 5708). In honor of this historical event, Jews across the world traditionally celebrate Iyyar 5 as Israel's Independence Day, or Yom HaAtzma'ut shel Yisrael (ום העצמאות של ישראל).
The date for Yom Ha'atzmaut can vary from year to year. For instance, it may be moved a day earlier (i.e., to Iyyar 4th) so that it will not conflict with the weekly Sabbath. On our secular calendar this year Independence Day is observed Wednesday, April 30th at sundown until the following sundown on Thursday, May 5th.
Note that the word atzma'i (עַצְמָאִי) means "independent" in Hebrew. The word atzma'ut (עַצְמָאוּת) means the state of independence, which comes from atzmi - "my bones" (עֶצֶם). Hence the "Day of Independence" is called Yom Ha'atzmaut in Hebrew. The name reminds us of God's promise to revive the "dry bones" (עֲצָמוֹת) of Israel by bringing the Jewish people back from their long exile (see Ezek. 37:4-5).
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי / am Yisrael chai: "The people of Israel live!" The nation of Israel is God's "super sign" that He is faithful to His covenant promises (Jer. 31:35-37). Celebrating Israel's independence acknowledges God's loyal love for us all.
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Wed. April 30th - Thurs. May 1st
Happy Birthday Israel!
Parashat Tazria-Metzora...
04.28.25 (Nisan 30, 5785) Shavuah tov, chaverim. This week we have a "double portion" of Torah reading, namely parashat "Tazria" (Lev. 12:1-13:59) and parashat "Metzora" (Lev. 14:1-15:33), both of which focus on the concept of being "clean" (i.e., tahor: טָהוֹר) and obtaining purification from a state of "uncleanness" (i.e, tamei: טָמֵא).
Our first reading, Tazria (תזריה) continues the discussion of the laws of "purity" and "impurity" that were introduced earlier with parashat Tzav. A new mother is regarded as a niddah (a menstruent woman) and is considered "impure" (tamei) regarding the sanctuary for 40 days (if a boy) or 80 days (if a girl). On the eighth day of life a boy must be circumcised. After the mother's "period of impurity" had ended, she was required to bring a yearling sheep as a burnt offering and a dove for a sin offering (if she is poor, two doves sufficed for both offerings).
The portion goes on to describe certain afflictions, collectively called tzara'at (צרעת) that cause the affected person (or thing) to be both ritually impure (i.e. tamei: טָמֵא) and in a state of uncleanness (i.e., tumah: טומאה). Note that tzara'at is not to be identified with "leprosy" (as some translations claim), since the symptoms of tzara'at included not just the afflicted person's skin, but sometimes his clothes, pottery vessels, and even his house.
When applied to people, tzara'at indicates a sort of a spiritual sickness (i.e., yisur: יסור) that could only be diagnosed by a kohen (priest). If white or pink patches appeared on a person's skin, the afflicted person was required to contact a kohen for an examination. If the priest detected 1) two hairs that had turned white within the spot, or 2) a piece of healthy skin in the middle of the spot, he was declared a "metzora" (מצורע) and was required to do undergo prescribed treatment; otherwise he was declared tahor (clean).
On the other hand, if the priest suspected tzara'at but was somewhat unsure, the supposed metzora was quarantined and required to perform teshuvah (repentance). If a second evaluation indicated that the spot(s) had grown larger in size, however, the person was declared tamei (unclean) and was subject to the restrictions for the metzora.
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Once someone was diagnosed as metzora, they were forced to leave the community and to live in a state of exile. He or she had to tear their clothes like a mourner, put a shroud over their face (descending to the upper lip) and remain alone. If anyone came near, the metzora was required to cry out: "Unclean! Stay away! Do not become impure because of me!" (no one was permitted to come within eight feet of the metzora). While so isolated, the person would have opportunity to perform teshuvah and seek spiritual "rebirth" (as described in the following Torah portion, parashat Metzora)
In our second portion this week (i.e., Metzora: מצורע), we learn about the laws for cleansing metzoraim. If the person suffering from tzara'at had apparently been healed, he or she would call for the priest to be officially reexamined. If the priest saw no sign of tumah (uncleanness), a second examination was scheduled a week later, and if the metzora was free from any sign of the disease, the process of tahara (purification) would begin.
The purification process was somewhat elaborate: After the second examination, the priest required that the metzora bring the following items for his cleansing:
- An earthenware bowl filled with spring water (mayim chayim)
- Two birds of the same type (whether turtledoves or pigeons)
- A stick of cedar wood
- A hyssop branch
- A scarlet thread
The priest then instructed that one of the birds would be slaughtered over the earthen bowl filled with fresh water, with its blood mixing with the water. The living bird, the piece of cedar, and the hyssop branch were then tied together using the scarlet thread, and the entire bundle was dipped into the earthen bowl. The blood and water mixture was then sprinkled seven times on the healed metzora, and the living bird was then set free.
Next, the afflicted person washed his or her clothes, shaved off all their hair (including the eyebrows), and bathed in a mikveh (ritual pool for cleansing). After that he or she could return to the camp - but not to his home for another seven days. On the eighth day the person would bathe again and offer several offerings (a chatat, an asham, an olah, and a minchah), but the blood from the asham (guilt) offering was mixed with oil and applied to his earlobe, thumb and foot, similar to the blood applied to the priests during their ordination. Oil from a meal offering was sprinkled seven times in the direction of the Sanctuary. Only after all this was the metzora pronounced tahor (clean) by the priest. The life of uncleanness would be over, and the healed person would be like a one who was brought back from the dead to new life.
This purification ritual corresponded with other rituals revealed in the Torah. The sprinkling of the hyssop by the priest recalled both the blood of the Passover lamb and the sprinkling of the ashes of the Red Heifer that cleanse from contact with death; the offering made of the two birds - one which was sacrificed and the other set free - recalled the scapegoat of the Yom Kippur ritual. The washing of garments, the shaving of all hair, and the immersion in a mikveh recalled the birth of the Jewish people at the Sea of Reeds. The blood of the guilt offering applied to the earlobe, thumb and foot, recalled the dedication of Aaron and his sons as the priests of Israel (Lev. 14:14). In other words, the individual purification process mirrored the purification of the community of Israel, and healing ultimately meant being reidentified as a redeemed child of God. In a very literal sense, then, we see how the metzora was "reborn" by water and by the blood (John 3:5; 19:34; Heb. 9:19).
Acceptance and Trust...
The following entry reflects on Yom HaShoah and our need for endurance...
04.25.25 (Nisan 27, 5785) What do we do with anguish of heart? The ancient Jewish custom of keriah (קְרִיעָה), the tearing of clothes (or cutting a black ribbon worn on one's clothes) to express grief, is to be performed while standing up. The sages say this is to teach that even in time of grave testing, when we protest over loss and recoil from what God brings our way - we are to be upright, we are to meet all sorrow while standing upright. We forswear all blame and accept life on God's terms, continuing to trust in times of darkness. Even in moments of inner heartache we affirm faith in God's promises for good.
We had nothing when we were born into this world, and all that we now have was given to us by hashgachah pratit - the providential plan of God. As the LORD graciously gave, so He has the prerogative to take away. Pain, suffering, and even death itself surely do not come by accident but are rather part of the inscrutable will of God, who works all things together for the good of creation. Gam zu l'tova – this too is "for the good," even if the good is not revealed in the moment. Job refused to blame God for his troubles, but instead he understood that whatever God does (or allows) must itself good, and there is no reason to doubt this, even if in the present there is tribulation – indeed, even the throes of death. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17). As it is written, lo yimna-tov laholekhim be'tamim (לא יִמְנַע־טוֹב לַהלְכִים בְּתָמִים), "no good thing does he withhold from those who walk in completeness" (Psalm 84:11), and you are made complete (תָּמִים) because of the finished work of Messiah on your behalf. Do not be afraid of His providence: no good thing will the LORD withhold from you...
We cannot escape suffering in this life, but God gives us heart to face the struggle. Each day contains the opportunity to serve God even in the midst of trouble (Matt. 6:34). We cannot control much of what happens to us in this life, so our task is to sanctify time and trust that God will see to our true needs. Taking refuge in God means personally trusting in His goodness for your soul, despite circumstances that might tempt you to lose heart. al evosh, ki chasiti vakh - "Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You" (Psalm 25:20).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 25:20 reading (click):
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Message of Loneliness...
04.25.25 (Nisan 27, 5785) Sometimes we may experience painful loneliness -- a desperate feeling that we are unlovable, unwanted, unseen. We struggle between the extremes, at once lamenting our very existence while demanding to be made safe. We feel abandoned, hopeless, and shrouded in gloom: "darkness, my one companion left..." (Psalm 88:18). We then attempt to suppress or avoid the pain through distractions of various kinds, but doing so will only temporarily hide the truth of our inner sadness.
Deep down we are profoundly afraid that we will never feel comforted, that love is not possible for us, and therefore we are trapped, bound to our sorrow, made captive to a relentless inner grieving of heart. "Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived" (Nouwen).
It takes courage to face ourselves, but it is only when we go "through the wound" that we discover who we really are -- and how our loneliness teaches us our desperate need for God's love. Only when we accept our loneliness and understand it as an invitation to turn away from the world and its illusions will we be able to seek God alone, in our solitude, and there find healing for our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3).
It is in the seclusion of the desert when we discover yesh ohev davek mei'ach, "there is a Beloved one who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). In the desert, in the waste places of the hurting soul, in the mourning over your life, you learn that you are never really alone, that you are not forgotten, that God sees you and wants you to feel accepted, chosen, esteemed, beloved, wanted... In the desert your Beloved one speaks and says to you: "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away" (Song 2:10).
The core of the struggle is here - whether you will decide to trust in God's personal love for you or whether you will shrink back into the places of darkness, isolation, and pain. Yeshua says, "Come to me; I love you, I accept you. I receive you to myself; I will take you by your hand. I will be with you..." Faith in Yeshua means believing in God's love for you.
Hebrew Lesson
Song 2:10 Hebrew (click):
Is Life Worth Living?
"There is only one really serious philosophical problem," Camus says, "and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy. All other questions follow from that" - Albert Camus
04.24.25 (Nisan 26, 5785) 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'shem shamayim (מַחְלוֹקֶת לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, "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).
In his famous Gifford Lectures regarding the nature of religious belief, the American philosopher William James (1842-1910) described the consciousness of death as "the worm at the core" of all that we hope for in the attempt to find lasting happiness apart from God. He wrote: "Make the human being's sensitiveness a little greater, carry him a little farther over the misery-threshold, and the good quality of the successful moments themselves when they occur is spoiled and vitiated. All natural goods perish. Riches take wings; fame is a breath; love is a cheat; youth and health and pleasure vanish. Can things whose end is always dust and disappointment be the real goods which our souls require? Back of everything is the great specter of universal death, the all-encompassing blackness" (Varieties of Religious Experience).
These are sobering and chilling words, and yet the truth is that death is inevitable for us and therefore it constitutes the central question of our existence in this world. Pleasures, wealth, and worldly ambition do not satisfy us but are like chasing after the wind -- they are "havel havalim" (הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים), the utmost of vanities, as King Solomon said long before the French existentialists ever expressed the idea (Eccl 1:2). We live in a world of constant flux wherein ha'kol over (הכל עובר), "everything passes" and nothing abides. Our lives are as a vapor; our days are troubled and our aspirations fail: "My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass" (Psalm 102:11); "I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; I am shaken off like a locust" (Psalm 109:23); "What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field" (Isa. 40:6). "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14).
"What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the Sun? I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. ... The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the Sun. ... Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun: but if a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity." (from Ecclesiastes)
James concludes: "In short, life and its negation are beaten up inextricably together. But if the life be good, the negation of it must be bad. Yet the two are equally essential facts of existence; and all natural happiness thus seems infected with a contradiction. The breath of the sepulcher surrounds it." Such is the ambiguity and despair of the human condition.
Hebrew Lesson:
Ecclesiastes 1:2 Hebrew Reading (click):
In light of such harsh realities of our existence "under the sun," where can we find meaning? Where is hope? If all our dreams eventually turn to dust, where can we find substance, where can we find perpetuity, where can we find life? How can we reconcile our inner hunger for life with the transience and pain associated with our mortal coil? These sorts of questions prepare the heart for the message of the gospel, for the gospel message is always a message given to those who are broken in heart, to those in desperate need of healing.
Does all this imply that despair can be healing or curative? Yes, if it expresses the loss of our idolatrous ideals, visions, and dreams... It is hard to let go of old expectations, to give up cherished fantasies, and to find ourselves in a place of emptiness, but we must go through the desert before we can live the promise. We can only grow spiritually when we let go of our romance with the world, abandoning its vain idols, and awakening to the reality of the Divine Presence. We then can turn to God and learn to live in the moment, trusting him to help us through the temptations of the day. We all must walk through the "valley of the shadow of death" to find hope on its other side, and it is only by passing that way can we know the Name of God as the "I-AM-with-you-always" One.
Death is the central problem of life, and therefore to find a solution we must find something that has more power than death, something that can "untrue" death's lie and restore what was originally intended to be our divine inheritance. This is where the resurrection of Yeshua becomes the center of everything we believe as Christian people. The love of God is stronger than death, the mercy of God triumphs over his justice, and the sacrifice of Yeshua makes us right with all that is eternal, abiding, beautiful, and good.... Because Yeshua lives, we shall live also. The resurrection of Yeshua from the dead vindicates our salvation and secures for us eternal life. We are made alive together with Messiah and now live in an entirely different order of reality, free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 7:4, 8:2). God has "made us alive together with the Messiah" (συνεζῳοποίησεν τῷ χριστῷ) through the resurrection (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13). Our union (oneness) with the Messiah means that we are connected with Him in the spirit. "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Messiah, so that you may belong to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God" (Rom. 7:4). We are "raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Col. 2:12).
The resurrection foretells of the destiny and future glorification of the believer. "Because I live, you also shall live" (John 14:19). The resurrection ultimately restores us to a condition of eternal righteousness and innocence in olam haba, the world to come. It is therefore the ultimate expression of tikkun olam, the repair of the world, since even the creation "groans" and laments for the completion of salvation (Rom. 8:22). Creation is weeping for our future salvation! The Messiah's resurrection was the "firstfruits" of many that will likewise experience the glorified state (Rom. 8:23, 1 Cor. 15:20). "Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is" (1 John 3:2). The goal of salvation was to reconcile the world back to God in love. In the glorious end, יִהְיֶה הָאֱלהִים הַכּל בַּכּל / yihyeh ha-Elohim ha-kol bakol: "God will be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28).
The resurrection of Yeshua (i.e., techiyat ha-Mashiach: תְּחִיַּת הַמָּשִׁיחַ) demonstrates that God is LORD over all. Only the Master of the Universe can resurrect the dead; only God Almighty can swallow up death in victory, and only Yeshua has conquered the grave (1 Cor. 15:54-55). Indeed, all other world religions were founded by people who are now decomposed in their graves. Yeshua's resurrection demonstrates that He is LORD and His word is truth (Matt. 24:35; Luke 21:33). We can find courage to face hardship and even death because we know that this world is merely a corridor to the world to come. The dead in Messiah will be resurrected, and those who remain and are alive at His coming will be changed and receive new, glorified bodies (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The resurrection guarantees that those who believe in Yeshua will likewise be resurrected to experience eternal life.
Finally, the resurrection of Yeshua means that He is present for you right now. He is not indifferent to your suffering or "too busy" to be bothered by your struggles. On the contrary, He is "sympathetic to our weaknesses" (συμπαθῆσαι ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ἡμῶν) and will help us through the trials (nisayonot) of life (Heb. 4:15). We therefore can come boldly before Him to find grace (χάρις) for our need (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 our hearts -- without fear or shame. Our Savior knows who we are and we do not need to affect an outward show of righteousness in order to obtain His help... The Lord draws near enough to touch us when we draw near to Him (James 4:8). Only a risen and loving Savior can help you through the pain, frailties and temptations of this life; and only living Lord can fill our lives with meaning and purpose so that we are made more than conquerors by means of his great love. Our life in the Lord is never in vain, chaverim....
The most important fact of history, and that which radically transforms everything else - is the resurrection of Yeshua from the dead. Spiritual life means being awake to the risen reality and saving Presence of Yeshua, the One who Overcame and vanquished the power of death. Without Him we are hopeless; with Him we are more than conquerors (1 Cor. 15:14; Rom. 8:37). The resurrection means Yeshua is forever alive, and that today he hears your heart's cry. He is surely able to help you, and nothing can overthrow his invincible will. Our Lord suffered and died for your inner peace and healing, but now death has no hold over him, and he "ever lives to make intercession for you" (Rom. 6:9, Heb. 7:25). He is your compassionate Advocate (παράκλητος, lit. "one called alongside") who gives you heavenly comfort (1 John 2:1). Even more: The very power that raised Yeshua from the dead now dwells in you (Rom. 8:11). The miracle of new life is "Messiah in you - the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). The Lord will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5): He "sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24); He sustains your way, and he will perfect the work of salvation on your behalf (Jude 1:24). In short, there simply is no "gospel" message apart from the resurrection! The resurrection is the victory of God salvation - His everlasting vindication over the powers of darkness - for your life.
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 118:17 Hebrew reading (click):
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."
Lament and Forgiveness...
The following is related to our Torah reading for this week, parashat Shemini...
04.24.25 (Nisan 26, 5785) On the great day that the Mishkan (i.e., "Tabernacle") was consecrated, Aaron and his sons carefully prepared sacrifices upon the brazen altar on behalf of all the people of Israel. After Moses and Aaron went into the tent and prayed, they came out and blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD suddenly appeared as a fire that issued forth and consumed all the sacrifices on the altar. When the people saw this they cried out in awe and "fell on their faces" in worship (Lev. 9:1-24).
But then something terrible happened. In the midst of the glorious revelation of God's presence (Shekhinah), Aaron's two oldest sons, Nadav and Abihu, each picked up a fire pan and offered incense within the tent, something that God had not commanded, and immediately both of them were consumed in a flash of blinding light (Lev. 10:1-2).
We can't imagine the horror Aaron must have felt at that time, the shock, the confusion, the sadness... Moses then tried to explain what happened to his brother, saying "this is what the LORD meant when he said, "In those who are near me I will show myself holy (בִּקְרֹבַי אֶקָּדֵשׁ), and before all the people I will be glorified" (Lev. 10:3). Somehow these "theological" words were meant to rationalize what had happened, but Aaron was muted in his grief; his heart had no words that could sanctify what had happened. "Aaron was silent," though the Hebrew text says more: va'yidom Aharon (וַיִּדֹּם אַהֲרֹן), Aaron was devastated, "cut off" and utterly traumatized by what had happened.
Maybe something like this has happened to you. Someone loved or cherished is suddenly immolated, ripped away from you, and you are unable to feel, to cry, to speak. You are bereft of comfort and any attempt to rationalize your loss is painfully vain and even meaningless... "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent" (Wittgenstein).
It all happened so fast, and seemingly at the worst possible time... We don't know what he was thinking or feeling, but perhaps Aaron experienced "derealization," that is, a sense of unreality that all this was a bad dream. Were his two sons really dead? How could they die at the height of the solemn occasion -- and by the very fire of God? It's unthinkable. Aaron was devastated, and we can only speculate what might have been running through his mind at the time. Was he mortified over the mistakes that his sons made? Was he was angry or confused over Moses' strange rebuke? Surely Aaron would have felt alone and afraid, unsure of what he was doing, alienated from the Lord who had brought him into the midst of this whirlwind... Was he not with Moses from the beginning? Did he not go before Pharaoh as God's ambassador? Did he not walk in faith and celebrate God's redemption? Did he not love his sons and hope for their future? Everything in his life led to this climactic moment wherein his sons would serve as God's healers for the people, and yet the furious display of glory suddenly made the Lord seem like strange fire, dangerous and unsafe...
"I have tested you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10). "When God wants to bind a person to him properly, he summons his most faithful servant, his trustiest messenger, and that is Grief, and he tells him, 'Hurry after him, catch up with him, don't leave his side!' And no woman can cling more tenderly to what she loves than does Grief..." (Kierkegaard: Journals). It is written in our Scriptures, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19), and this is because God uses affliction as the way of correction to lead us to the truth. God who is the Source of our life is also the end of our life.... If there is consolation to be found in the seemingly inexplicable death of his sons, it was that they died in the presence of God, not in judgment over their misdirected zeal, but to reveal something greater that needed to be known.
We suffer, and life hurts. Often we are afraid. And if suffering is part of God's overarching plan for creation, if it is somehow part of the "divine idea," then how do we learn to emotionally accept it without becoming bitter? We earnestly desire the love and blessing of God, but we are shaken when terrible things happen. We are told not to be afraid, that we are not alone, but we often do feel afraid and alone in our suffering...
First we must find faith that God's decision to create us is for our blessedness rather than for evil, or minimally that it is better for us to have been created than never to have been born (Jer. 29:11). In that sense trusting God represents an affirmation of our life and its value. Whether this is the "best of all possible worlds" is an abstract question for speculative theology, but where we live, in the raw and messy struggles of life, in the midst of our joys and elations, but also in our darkness and pain, we need faith to believe that our existence has some meaning and purpose, that our lives carry some significance, and that not everything is hevel havalim, "vanity of vanities." Asking whether it would have been better had you never been born is not a trivial question, then, and indeed the ancient Hebrew prophets Job, Solomon, Jeremiah, and Jonah each wrestled with it in the course of their lives (Eccl. 4:1-3; Job 3:1-3; 10:19; Jer. 20:14; Jonah 4:3).
The sages asked whether we can ever be justifiably angry at God, and they answer that surely we can, because otherwise we could never love Him "bekhol levavkha," with all our heart (Deut. 6:5). Indeed, how can we claim to love God if we withhold the truth, lie to ourselves, and attempt to hide who we really are from Him? If you are angry at God, he already knows, so why the pretense? Being angry with God is part of being a real person in a real relationship with Him, and allowing yourself to express the truth of your heart to him is a sign of trust... Forgiving God means letting go of your grudges over matters infinitely beyond your control. We need God to even know that we need God...
Of course there is no sin in God for he is the Rock, "all his ways are justice; he is a God of faithfulness, without iniquity, entirely just and upright (Deut. 32:4). Every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). We may know this intellectually, but our emotions and our theology may get out of sync. Rightly (and sympathetically) understood, when we "forgive God" we are confessing our own ignorance about what is happening to us while allowing our hearts to give voice to its pain. At bottom, suffering is a type of grieving, a confession of the darkness of our loss. On the other hand, we can find healing through the grieving process. Over time we learn that by "forgiving God" we are able to forgive ourselves, and we are then released from the pain that withholds us from love and blessing in our lives.
Frederick Buechner reminds the heart of faith: "The worst isn't the last thing about the world. It's the next to the last thing. The last thing is the best. It's the power from on high that comes down into the world, that wells up from the rock-bottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last, best thing is the laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes. You are terribly loved and forgiven. Yes. You are healed. All is well." For more on this topic see the article: "Angry at God..."
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 119:75 Hebrew reading:
Trust in Dark Hours...
04.24.25 (Nisan 26, 5785) The Spirit of God encourages the downcast: "Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the Name of the LORD (יִבְטַח בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה) and lean upon on his God" (Isa. 50:10). Spiritual darkness is permitted by God for his own sovereign purposes, perhaps as a means to teach us to abandon ourselves to his care. Trusting in God (i.e., bittachon - בִּטָּחוֹן) does not mean that we are obligated to affirm that this is "the best of all possible worlds," though it does mean we believe that eventually God will wipe away every tear and make all things right.
Bittachon is a word for this world, which says, "Though he slay me, I will trust in him..." We do not need to trust for what is seen in this world but for an unseen good (Rom. 8:24). Those who call upon the LORD can trust not only in concealed good behind ambiguous appearances ("all things work together for good") but also in a future, real, substantive good that will one day be clearly manifest for us all... We fight the "good fight" of faith, which is a worthy struggle that eventually is realized for blessing. Meanwhile, we pray to God to be kept from such depth of sorrow that leads to sickness, darkness and despair.
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 50:10 reading (click for audio):
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If you ask for bread, your heavenly Father will not give you a stone... Only God can deliver us from our "disordered loves" to take hold of what is truly essential. All we can do is ask, and keep on asking - even as we struggle on, despite ourselves, despite our losses... And we often revisit our sins over and over until we become "sick of our sickness," that is, until we begin to understand what our heart really needs. It's as if we are constantly being asked, "Is this what you want?" and our choices confess the truth... Only God does the miracle of real change within the human heart - only God can give life from the dead!
Substance of Hope...
04.23.25 (Nisan 25, 5785) "Faith is the foundation (i.e., ὑπόστασις: the "substance," reality, underlying essence, etc.) of hope, the conviction of the unseen... Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near must believe that God exists and rewards (μισθαποδότης) those who seek him" (Heb. 11:1,6).
Note that God is pleased when we seek his presence, that is, when we when we look past the ephemera and ambiguity of the phenomenal world for the truth about spiritual reality (2 Cor. 4:18). For our part, faith resolves to confession (ὁμολογέω), that is, aligning our perspective and focus to agree with the revelation and message of divine truth and verbally declaring our conviction. We must say that we believe, and affirm it with all our heart (Rom. 10:9). As it says, "I will make Your faithfulness known with my mouth" (Psalm 89:1).
When you encounter tribulation, or experience some crisis of your faith, reaffirm aloud: "I believe in God's promise..." Physically expressing your faith is itself an act of faith, and this encourages your soul to trust in God's healing reward even in the present struggle or darkness. "Confess your faith one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." God is faithful and meets you more than halfway... "Seek the LORD and His strength; ask for His Presence at all times" (Psalm 105:4).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 105:4 Hebrew reading (click):
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Hearing the Unsaid...
"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." - Soren Kierkegaard
04.23.25 (Nisan 25, 5785) From our Torah portion this week (Shemin) we read: "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered strange fire (אֵשׁ זָרָה) before the LORD, that He had not commanded them" (Lev. 10:1). The sages note that while Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu were godly people, they had assumed that since God had not explicitly told them not to do something (i.e., not to burn incense in the Holy Place), then it was "permissible" to go ahead and do that thing. However, just because God doesn't say that we shouldn't do something does not mean that we are at liberty to do it. All we can infer from silence is silence, not that the silence somehow communicates agreement with our desires.... Remember that it is not what God has not said that should be our concern, but rather what he has said (see Deut. 29:29).
The Lord expects us to think clearly, especially in matters of our service to him. Yeshua calls us to use discernment to distinguish between "weightier matters" from those that are light. "Blind guides" emphasize what is relatively insignificant and thereby lose sight of what is most important. The Lord wants us stay focused on what matters to his heart, not to seek for other things he has not commanded (אֲשֶׁר לא צִוָּה אתָם).
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." - William James
This sort of presumption is common today, where many make a pretense of ignorance, suppressing what they don't want to hear to justify their own religious biases and ideologies... It takes a genuine humility to confess that we often don't know why we are doing what we are doing, and then to back up and ask for God's help and direction.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 90:12 reading (click):
Forsake me not, O LORD...
04.22.25 (Nisan 24, 5785) Though it is comforting to know that God will never leave nor forsake us, he nevertheless allows trouble in our lives so that we will learn to call upon him and know his heart in our struggles (1 Pet. 1:5-9; Hos. 6:1-3; Job 5:18; Jer. 3:22). For how else will we understand the truth of our great need for him, and how else his great provision? "Blessed are the poor in spirit," describes the poignant awareness of our inner poverty, our bankruptcy of heart, the destitution of our condition (Matt. 5:3).
We cry inwardly, "Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me" (Psalm 38:21) because we realize our need for deliverance from ourselves; we understand that we cannot take even a step in his way apart from his upholding. As Kierkegaard said: "We know that if God should put to the test our faithfulness to him, we know well that at the moment of testing, he himself must hold on to us, that is, we know that at bottom we are unfaithful, and that every instant it is he who at bottom holds us." Amen, as the Spirit intercedes: סְעָדֵנִי וְאִוָּשֵׁעָה - "Hold me up, and I shall be made safe, and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually" (Psalm 119:117).
"Do not forsake me, O LORD," is the mantra in our darkness, the antiphon of God's promised Presence, despite the devouring gloom; it is the cry of the heart that knows that only God can get us through the next moment and its temptation to despair. "Do not forsake me, O LORD, lest I be swallowed up by my pain, my fear, my sadness, my anguish of heart; do not forsake me, for I am nothing but the anguish of the moment, the sorrow of loneliness, the fear of my own heart as I tremble before you in my desperation; O do not forsake me...."
O LORD, You came to heal the sick; you spoke life to those who are without strength or remedy; you came to seek the lost, to find those who are without a place or sense of belonging in this world. O Lord, you know that without you I can do nothing; you know that I am weak, poor, and needy; my path is perilous and I have no hope apart from you. Be not far from me; do not leave me to my own devices nor the counsel of my own soul. Save me, O God, for the glory of your Name; be magnified in your heart of love and faithfulness. Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 38:21 reading (click):
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The Book of Life...
04.22.25 (Nisan 24, 5785) The sages say every person's life is a "book," as it is written: "This is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1). There are heavenly scrolls written about the story of your life (Dan. 7:10; Rev. 20:12). They further note that the Hebrew word for "name" (i.e., shem: שׁם) shares the same numeric value as the word "book" (i.e., sefer: ספר), suggesting that a person's name summarizes the meaning of their life.
Likewise God's Name contains all the letters of the Scriptures - from the very first letter Bet (in "bereshit") to the very last letter Nun (in "amen") - which, when put together, spell the Hebrew word for "son" (i.e., ben: בן). The revelation of God, then, is disclosed in the life of His Son, who "Alef and Tav" (את), the Direct Object, the Beginning and End, of all things...
Hebrew Lesson
Isa. 44:6b reading (click):
Dangers of Strange Fire...
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." - 1 Pet. 5:8
04.21.25 (Nisan 23, 5785) From our parshah for this week (i.e., Shemini) we read: "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered strange fire (אֵשׁ זָרָה) before the LORD, that He had not commanded them" (Lev. 10:1). The sages interpret "strange fire" (i.e., esh zarah: אֵשׁ זָרָה) as alien passion or illicit zeal stimulated by artificial means (in this case, drinking wine before their service).
The experience of intoxication may seem to elevate the soul, but in reality it muddles the ability to discern spiritual realities: "Drink no wine or strong drink ... when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean" (Lev. 10:9-10).
Highly honored in Israel, Nadab and Abihu were the first priests of God, and if they drank wine before entering the sanctuary it was surely not for crass purposes, but rather to "sanctify" their experience -- or so they may have thought... They were severely judged, however, because they presumptuously sought to sanctify themselves by means of an artificial influence, and this made them "strange" before God. Likewise many people today seek "spiritual highs" and "signs" without undergoing the discipline of Torah study, prayer, meditation, and so on. God wants our hearts in service, but our hearts must soberly be reverent before Him (1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 5:15-18).
"Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron ... brought strange fire ... and they died before the LORD" (Lev. 10:1-2). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God who is called esh okhlah, El kanna (אֵשׁ אכְלָה אֵל קַנָּא) - "a Consuming Fire, a jealous God (Deut. 4:24). Indeed, though atonement was provided under the law for every kind of sin and transgression, there was one exception: "But the soul that sins presumptuously (בְּיָד רָמָה) shall be out off from the midst of my people" (Num. 15:30). We must be careful not to casually regard God's truth with undue familiarity, lest we find ourselves under the influence of strange passions that lead to presumption....
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 4:24 Hebrew reading (click):
Let us therefore be "sober and vigilant," friends. "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor. 10:11). It is prophetically astounding that the very time the Tabernacle was inaugurated, tragedy struck and Aaron's two sons were killed. This should warn those teachers who speak casually of God from the pulpit, since they act profanely and encroach upon the Divine Presence. Let us be admonished, friends and honor the Living God. As the sages have wisely said: Da lifne mi attah omed: "Know before Whom you stand!"
The Month of Iyyar...
04.21.25 (Nisan 23, 5785) On the Torah's calendar, the month of Iyyar falls between the month of redemption (i.e., Chodesh Yeshuah, or "Nisan") and the third month of revelation (Sivan), and is therefore primarily regarded as a "month of passage" to prepare us for the revelation given at Sinai and later, at Zion (i.e., Shavuot or "Weeks," or "Pentecost"). Every day of this new month is counted in anticipation of the climactic jubilee of Shavuot. Rosh Chodesh is celebrated for two days on months with just 29 days, so it will begin a day "early" for Iyyar, that is, on Nisan 30, which this year began Tuesday May 7th at sundown.
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֵיךָ יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ
וֵאלהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁתְּחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ חדֶשׁ טוֹב
בַּאֲדנֵינוּ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ אָמֵן
ye·hee · ra·tzon · meel·fa·ne'·kha · Adonai · E·lo·hey'·noo
ve·lo·hey · a·vo·tey'·noo · she·te·cha·desh · a·ley'·noo · cho·desh tov
ba'a·do·ney'·noo · Ye·shoo'·a · ha·ma·shee'·ach · a·men
"May it be Your will, LORD our God and God of our fathers,
that you renew for us a good month in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Amen."
Wednesday April 23rd at sundown
Holocaust Remembrance Day...
04.21.25 (Nisan 23, 5785) Yom HaShoah, or "Holocaust Remembrance Day," marks Israel's time of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews -- including over a million children -- who perished as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany and its accomplices. It was inaugurated in 1953 and is annually observed on (or about) the 27th day of the month of Nisan, just a few days after Passover Week in the spring. In stark contrast to the celebration of freedom commemorated during Passover, Yom HaShoah marks a very difficult time when we revisit specters of absolute evil and again ask haunting questions about the power and presence of malevolence in our world. Often we are left speechless over the cruelty and depravity of human beings. It all seems so inexplicable, so needlessly horrible, so senseless, so vile... We may feel powerless, despondent, or full of indignation, but still we ask ourselves, how could this have happened? How was all of this possible?
Simply put, the Holocaust was the result of cowardice and self-deception... The systematic, institutionalized, and "politically correct" genocide of the Jewish people was made possible solely because so many others - including nominal "Christians" - forfeited their God-given responsibility to live as authentic individuals by passively surrendering their will to "the crowd." But giving up your identity to join a gang inevitably leads to fragmentation of the soul, potentially inviting in a "legion of demons..." Regardless of whether it's a gang of thugs running an inner city neighborhood, or the pressure to keep quiet over ethical misconduct at your place of work, or the desire to feel "approved" as a good citizen of the state, or even the pressure to conform to a particular religious group, in either case, "losing yourself" in the midst of the crowd is an evasion, a cop-out, and a desecration of the image of God within you. Indeed following the crowd is a form of slavery where you surrender your freedom for the sake of a supposed sense of security... You become self-deceived because you no longer "own" yourself but became the ward of "another." Becoming a member of a crowd makes you into a copy or similitude, a shadow rather than a person of substance.
We must never forget what happened to the Jewish people under Hitler. The Holocaust was made possible because people timidly refused to stand apart from the group to serve as bold witnesses of the truth. And the great risk of our age is the revival of political fascism that attempts to again control, disarm, and violate people's freedom all for the supposed "greater good" of the "state." We must remember that silence in the face of evil is itself evil: "First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me" (Martin Niemöller).
This year Yom HaShoah, or "Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins Wednesday, April 23rd (at sundown) and runs through Thursday, April 24th until sundown.
Hebrew Lesson
Zephaniah 1:15b reading (click):
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I realize that Yom HaShoah (i.e., Holocaust Remembrance Day) is observed this week, but I would be remiss not to mention an earlier genocide of Christians -- mostly Armenians but also Assyrians and Greeks -- that took place under the Islamic Ottoman Empire, throughout World War I, where the Muslim Turks systematically massacred approximately 1.5 million Armenians, 300,000 Assyrians, and 750,000 Greeks. Today April 24th is recognized (by some) as "Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day." In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame. For more information see the links listed below.
Yom HaShoah Podcast...
Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day, begins Wednesday April 23rd at sundown and runs through the following day until sundown...
04.20.25 (Nisan 22, 5785) Shalom chaverim. I made an audio podcast for Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day (see the link below). In it I discuss some of the philosophical influences that led to the atrocities of the attempted genocide of the Jewish people, including the rise of the wild-eyed idealism of G.W. Hegel and the invidious concept of the "dialectic" that was used to negate the value of the individual in preference to the collective.... Hegel directly influenced Karl Marx and his godless materialism and social revolutionary theories, and in general it may be said that German idealism led both to the nihilism of Friedrich Nietzsche and eventually to the barbarity of Adolf Hitler's national socialism. Though the subject matter is a bit philosophical, I nevertheless hope you will find it helpful.
This week's Torah:
Parashat Shemini - פרשת שמיני
04.20.25 (Nisan 22, 5785) This week's Torah reading (following Passover week) is parashat Shemini ("eighth"), which continues the account of the seven-day ordination ceremony for the priests (as described earlier in Parashat Tzav). During each of these "seven days of consecration" Moses served as the first High Priest of Israel by offering sacrifices and training Aaron and his sons (i.e., the kohanim or priests) regarding their duties at the mishkan (i.e., "Tabernacle").
On the eighth day however, (i.e., Nisan 1), and just before the anniversary of the Passover, Aaron and his sons began their official responsibilities as Israel's priests. In the midst of the dedication, however, tragedy struck as Aaron's sons Nadav and Abihu took it upon themselves to make their own offering before the Holy of Holies of the tent. Since this was not the prescribed means of offering sacrifice, God considered the incense offered to be "strange fire" (i.e., esh zarah: אשׁ זרה) and both sons were tragically consumed by fire before the LORD (Heb. 10:29,31). Aaron was required to remain silent as his sons' bodies were removed by his cousins, and Moses then warned Aaron's two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, not to mourn during this sacred occasion.
The portion includes a list of animals, birds, fish and insects permitted as food, which subsequently provided the framework for Jewish dietary law (i.e., kosher law). The Israelites were permitted to eat any mammal that has both a split hoof and chews its cud (Lev. 11:3). Likewise, only fish that have both scales and fins were to be regarded as kosher. A list of acceptable (i.e., non-predatory) birds was given, along with the commandment not to eat any insects unless they have a pair of jointed legs used for leaping. The dietary laws were intended to sanctify the Israelites by separating them for holiness: "For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44).
Providentially considered, the inauguration of the Sanctuary is directly connected with the Passover, since the daily sacrifice of the Lamb (i.e., korban tamid: קרבן תמיד) presented an ongoing memorial of the great Exodus from Egypt. Indeed, consider that the central sacrifice of the Mishkan (i.e., "Tabernacle") was that of a defect-free lamb offered every evening and morning upon the altar in the outer court, along with matzah and a wine offering, signifying the advent of the true Passover Lamb of God given sacrifice for us. This is called "God's Food" in the Torah (Exod. 29:38-42; Num. 28:4-10; John 1:29).
The Ocean of Torah...
We all know so little; thank God he gives us grace to know matters of His heart...
04.18.25 (Nisan 20, 5785) A young man once sought audience with a well-respected rebbe to ask if he could become his student. The rebbe asked the chasid, "Do you know any Torah?" The young man softly answered, "Only a little..." Replied the rebbe, "That is all we ever know, a little Torah...."
The Scriptures do not command us to believe "on cue," but rather reveal a world of questions for our hearts to ponder. Instead of regarding the Bible as a "Book of Answers" for our questions, it is worthwhile to think of it as a "Book of Questions" for our answers. As we listen, God questions us so that we can know him by means of the dialog within our hearts. As any good teacher knows, when a student earnestly wrestles with a question he learns more than if he were given a straightforward answer. Similarly, God gives us permission to be without answers so that we will be free to seek, to struggle, and to "own" what we come to understand through our relationship with him; that way our learning will be real, substantive, and born from the urgency our own inner need.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) tells of a vision of seeing a little boy at a beach scooping up the ocean thimbleful by thimbleful and emptying it out on the sand. Then he sees an angel who tells him that this boy will have emptied out the entire ocean long before he could exhaust what may be said about God. The Jewish sages sometimes describe Torah as an "ocean" because it is so profound in layers of meaning and truth. Torah is also likened to a venture into the unknown, into the dark "Cloud of Unknowing," because God is ultimately incomprehensible, and it is impossible to be truly competent in our understanding of him (see Isa. 55:8-9; Isa. 40:13; Rom. 11:33-34, Psalm 147:5).
The progression often goes something like this: First you come to believe and are filled with much conviction; you think you know who God is and what people must do to be saved. As you grow more, however, you encounter further aspects of Torah and become less sure of your own understanding. You begin to realize that you don't have all the answers, and this awareness helps you be more humble and sympathetic regarding the struggles others may have regarding the questions of faith. Paradoxically, the deeper you go in your studies the more you are emptied, though the blessing comes when you find yourself able to empathize with those searching for truth (Psalm 27:8).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 147:5 Hebrew reading:
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Cries of the Heart...
"The real hope is not in something we think we can do, but in God, who is making something good out of it in some way we cannot see." - Thomas Merton
04.18.25 (Nisan 20, 5785) Whatever else you may think about the commandments of God, the idea of a genuine love connection is foundational and essential. Indeed the very first of the Ten Commandments is Anochi Adonai Elohekha (אָנכִי יְהוָה אֱלהֶ֑יךָ), "I am the Lord your God," which invites you to open your heart to receive the touch of the Spirit of God. It is your invitation to come home and find a sense of belonging...
There is no love like that of the Lord, but you can't feel or take hold of that love if you don't open yourself up to speak to Him, and that includes "pouring out your heart" in earnestness, making yourself bold as you cling to the truth of his love for you...
We are to pray to God with all our heart, but that must include the broken heart, too - that is, the broken parts of ourselves that must be recollected and mended before the passion of God's healing love. And that must include the angry heart, the crazy heart, the fearful heart, the faithless heart, and so on.... We "lift up our soul" to the LORD - all of ourselves - as we let go and pour out our heart before God. Our feelings are important in prayer - the ingredient added to our petitions that quicken the heart and focus the will.... "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God" (Hos. 14:2) means returning to the place of heartfelt trust - where the LORD is your God, and you live, move, and have your being as his beloved child.
Pouring out your heart to God in an honest, spontaneous, and intensely personal way is called "hitbodedut" (הִתְבּוֹדְּדוּת) in Hebrew. After we "talk our hearts out," or silently sigh, or even "inwardly scream" before the Lord, in our emptiness and in our powerlessness we can begin to truly listen, as it says, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15). Only after we sigh deeply and surrender are we receptive to the voice of the Spirit's whisper. אַשְׁרֵי כָּל־חוֹכֵי לוֹ - "Blessed are all those who wait for Him" (Isa. 30:18). So we wait, we abide, we hang on and persevere -- even when God seems to "take his time" or does not immediately intervene in ways we might wish or hope to apprehend. We refuse to lose heart, for we find strength when we trust in God's love... The Light of the world still shines: Yeshua, be my inner word, my heart, and my groaning for life today, and forevermore, amen.
The greatest blessing is to be filled with the desire to draw close to him, to experience "hunger and thirst" (i.e., visceral yearning) for God's presence and touch. Holy desire – expressed in the yearning of heartfelt prayer – is therefore a state of true blessedness, and the more desperate our need for God the more blessed we are. It is our desire, our holy need that creates a bond of connection between our soul and its Creator, and that is the deeper meaning of "mitzvah." As Yeshua said: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matt. 5:6).
Hebrew Lesson
Matt. 5:3 Hebrew reading:
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Sanctified by Grace...
In the midst of my darkness and sorrows I am comforted that it is all of grace, that God's hand is upon me, and that therefore I can rejoice from the depths of my heart. Amen.
04.18.25 (Nisan 20, 5785) Yeshua said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Note that the spiritual life of Messiah flows from our connection with him, though the very possibility for that connection come from the blessing of His grace...
We cannot create the new birth by means of moral reformation, since the divine life is a miracle from above and not the result of human agency or aspiration (John 1:13; John 3:6). If we "live in" Yeshua we will bear fruit - our spiritual connection or "union" with him will be sufficient for every good work, but only the fruit that derives from the life of Messiah will abide (1 John 2:17). Good works are a necessary consequence of regeneration in Messiah, but by themselves they are insufficient and something more is needed (Matt. 7:21-23). Therefore the Scriptures point to the salvation of God and his grace as the efficient cause for the miracle of newness of life: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us..." (Titus 3:5); "for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves (τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν), it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8); "so if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace" (Rom. 11:6).
Grace and human effort are mutually exclusive when it comes to life from above: "It is the Spirit that gives life (τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ ζῳοποιοῦν); the flesh (i.e., human nature) is no help at all" (John 6:63). There is a new "center" of identity within the heart: "I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). We do not appeal to God for mercy based on our best efforts, but like father Abraham we believe that God brings life from the dead. In short we believe that "salvation is of the LORD" (יְשׁוּעָתָה לַיהוָה), that is, that God justifies the ungodly and performs the inner work of salvation on our behalf and for our healing (see Rom. 4:1-5:2).
As C.S. Lewis once said in this connection: "The Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or -- if they think there is not -- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it" (Mere Christianity). Nevertheless we must not confuse cause and effect. The work of God is to trust in Yeshua (John 6:29) and we then learn to "work out" what God has "worked in" to our hearts by faith, as it says, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13). God who has performed a good work in you will "confirm you to the end blameless in the Day of our Messiah Yeshua" (1 Cor. 1:8; Jude 1:24-25).
Hebrew Lesson
John 15:5 reading (click):
Being Made Whole with God...
During Passover we read Shir Hashirim, the "Song of Songs," the amazing love story of a disguised shepherd and his beloved... "Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li" - Song of Songs 2:16
04.17.25 (Nisan 19, 5785) In the Torah we read: "You shall be blameless with the LORD your God" (Deut. 18:13), which seems to suggest that we should be perfectionistic in our faith, and indeed some older Bible versions translated the Hebrew word tamim (תָּמִים) as "perfect" which once meant "to be thoroughly made," though in modern times means flawless, faultless, or ideal. Because of these connotations, it is better to translate the Hebrew word as "complete," "whole," or "sincere."
When God said to Abraham, "I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be tamim (Gen. 17:1), he was not saying "be perfect" or "don't ever make a mistake," but rather be fully engaged, that is, to walk before God passionately, sincerely, wholeheartedly (מכל הלב), and by doing so to "walk out" the relationship with full assurance that he is accepted and beloved by God. Likewise when Yeshua said "Be therefore perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48), he meant that we should be complete, finished, and "made whole" by knowing and receiving the overflowing love and light of God.
"You shall be wholehearted with the LORD your God" is therefore a mandate to know who you are, to know what is truly good as distinguished from what is evil, and to be united with God's passion to be healed from your inner conflicts and ambivalence (δίψυχος). We are made "whole" or "perfect" (i.e., complete) when we resolutely turn to God for healing of what divides our hearts, as it says: "The Torah of the LORD is perfect (תָּמִים), returning the soul" (Psalm 19:8). Understand the Torah's commandment, then: "You shall be tamim (i.e., whole and wholehearted) with the LORD your God," to be a prophecy of transformation for your life, friend... Amen. And may you passionately know "the love of Messiah that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19).
Hebrew Lesson
Deut. 18:13 Hebrew reading (click):
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