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Jewish Holiday Calendar
For November 2024 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. Yeshua was crucified on erev Pesach, buried during Unleavened Bread, and was resurrected on Yom Habikkurim (Firstfruits). 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, called 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 Fall Holidays:
The fall festivals prophetically indicate the Day of the LORD, the second coming of Yeshua, the great national turning of the Jewish people, and the establishment of the reign of the Messiah upon the earth during the Millennial Kingdom in the world to come.
Note that in accordance with tradition, holiday dates begin at sundown. Moreover, some holidays may be postponed one day if they happen to fall on the weekly Sabbath:
1. Month of Elul (Mon. Sept. 2nd [eve] - Wed. Oct. 2nd [day])
2. Month of Tishri (Wed. Oct. 2nd [eve] - Thur. Oct. 31st [day]) - Fall holidays begin
3. Month of Cheshvan (Thur. Oct. 31st [eve] - Sat. Nov. 2nd [day])
- Five Sabbaths: Noach, Lekh-Lekha, Vayera, Chayei Sarah, Toldot
- Yom Ha'Aliyah - Honoring Israel's immigrants (Thur. Nov. 7th; Cheshvan 7)
- Sigd - 50th day after Yom Kippur; Ethiopian Jewish holiday (Tues. Nov. 26th)
4. Month of Kislev (Sat. Nov. 2nd [eve] - Mon., Dec. 30th [day])
- Four Sabbaths: Vayetzei, Vayishlach, Vayeshev, Miketz
- Winter Solstice: Fri. Dec. 20th, Kislev 20)
- Dates for Chanukah 2024 (5785):
- 1st Chanukah candle - Wed. Dec. 25th [i.e., Kislev 25] Christmas
- 2nd Chanukah candle - Thur. Dec. 26th [i.e., Kislev 26]
- 3rd Chanukah candle: Fri. Dec. 27th [i.e., Kislev 27]
- 4th Chanukah candle: Sat. Dec. 28th [i.e., Kislev 28]
- 5th Chanukah candle: Sun. Dec. 29th [i.e., Kislev 29]
- 6th Chanukah candle: Mon. Dec. 30th [i.e., Kislev 30]
5. Month of Tevet (Mon., Dec. 30th [eve] - Wed. Jan. 29th [day])
- Dates for Chanukah (continued):
- 7th Chanukah candle: Tues. Dec. 31st [i.e., Tevet 1]
- 8th Chanukah candle: Wed. Jan. 1st 2025 [i.e., Tevet 2] Zot Chanukah
- Secular New Year: Wed. Jan. 1st, 2025 (Tevet 1, 5785)
- Four Sabbaths: Vayigash, Vayechi, Shemot, Va'era
- Asarah B'Tevet - Fri. Jan. 10th (dawn); fast over the seige of Jerusalem
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Note: For more about the dates of these holidays see the Calendar pages....
November 2024 Updates
Note: If any page content appears to be missing, please refresh the page...
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 in the depths of my heart. Amen.
11.07.24 (Cheshvan 6, 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 is the blessing of 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 is sufficient for every good work, but only 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 is no longer I who live..." (Gal. 2:19-20). We do not appeal to God for mercy based on our best efforts, but like father Abraham we believe that God brings life to 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 believe 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).
יהוה תשׁפת שׁלום לנו
כי גם כל־מעשׂינו פעלת לנו
Adonai · teesh·poht · sha·lom · la'·noo
kee · gam · kohl-ma·a·sei'·noo · pa·al'·ta · la'·noo
"O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works." (Isa. 26:12)
Hebrew Lesson:
Isaiah 26:12 Hebrew Reading (click):
The Angel of the LORD...
11.07.24 (Cheshvan 6, 5785) In Hebrew, an "angel" is called malakh (מַלְאַךְ), a word that basically means "messenger" or representative (from the root לאך, meaning "to send"). God created many angels, of course (Psalm 68:17, 103:20), but there there is one malakh who stands out from all the rest of the malakhim (angels) as a King stands above his subjects. This "King of Angels" is called Malakh Adonai (מַלְאַךְ יהוה), or "the Angel of the Lord." Unlike the other angels that function as emissaries of God, Malakh Adonai is the supreme representation or Message of God Himself. His Word/Voice is "one" with the Person of God, just as the Spirit of God is "one" with the Person of God. Since the glory and power of God's infinite Being is incomprehensible to finite creatures, the Angel of the LORD is a form of God's condescension in a visible or audible manner so that an angel or a human being can apprehend His message. This is sometimes called a "theophany" in theological jargon.
This unique King of the Angels (מלך המלאכים), or "Angel of the LORD," is named in about 50 verses of the Tanakh (i.e., "Old Testament"), though he is alluded to in various other places as well (e.g., Gen. 18:1-ff; Gen. 48:16, Exod. 23:20-23, etc.). He is first mentioned in our Torah portion for this week (Lekh-Lekha) where He is clearly called God (Gen. 16:7-13). After he spoke with Hagar in the desert, she called him "the LORD" (יהוה) and identified Him as El-Roi (אֵל ראִי) -- the "God who sees me" (Gen. 16:13). He later appeared to Abraham in the grove at Mamre (Gen. 18:1-ff) to reaffirm the promise of his coming heir, and later still, during the most terrifying moment of the sacrifice of Isaac, he cried out to stop Abraham from bringing down the knife upon his son (Gen. 22:11, see also Gen. 22:15-ff). And note further that it was the "Angel of the LORD" who appeared to Moses in the "burning bush" and identified himself as YHVH, the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (see Exod. 3:2-ff).
Other examples from the Tanakh should be noted. The Angel of the LORD helped Gideon deliver Israel from Midian (Judges 6:11-13); He prophesied regarding the birth of Samson (Judges 13); He led Elijah to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19); He commanded David to build an altar which later became part of the Holy Temple (1 Chron. 21:18), and he is mentioned in Psalm 34:7 ("The Angel of the LORD camps around those who fear him") as well as in Psalm 35:6-7. In light of all this, it is clear that that Malakh Adonai is nothing less than a manifestation of the LORD Himself. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah calls him the "Angel of His Face" (מַלְאָךְ פָּנָיו, Isa. 63:9). And since Yeshua is the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, who upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3), it is clear that He is the Angel of God's face -- the "Message of God" -- that was "sent" (לאך) in human flesh (John 1:1,14). Yeshua is the one and only "King of Angels" (מלך המלאכים), the LORD God who assumed angelic form, the theophany to man and the myriads of angels. Amen! Yeshua is none other than Melekh Ha-kavod (מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד) the King of God's Glory (Psalm 24) and Adonai Tzeva'ot (יהוה צְבָאוֹת), the LORD of the heavenly host.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 34:7 Hebrew reading (click):
The Tree of His Life...
11.06.24 (Cheshvan 5, 5785) The "Tree of Life," etz ha'chayim (עֵץ הָחַיִּים), is mentioned ten times in the Scriptures. It first appears in the Torah as the center of the paradise of Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22-4), but it is soon lost to humanity because of Adam's transgression. In the book of Revelation, it reappears in the center of the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7, 22:2), resurrected on account of the faithful obedience of Yeshua as mankind's "last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45). Those who have washed their robes by means of His righteousness are given access to this Tree in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 22:14). The paradise lost by Adam has been regained by the greater ben-adam, Son of man, Yeshua the Messiah.
In the book of Proverbs, the Tree of Life is a metaphor for the life of wisdom (chokhmah), which is the implied subject of our verse above (see Prov. 3:13). Traditional Judaism identifies talmud Torah (the study of Torah) as the Tree of Life, promising wisdom to those who "lay hold of her" (a Torah scroll has wooden rods called atzei chayim – the "trees of life" – used to roll the parchment). According to the Rabbis, the eternal life that was lost in Eden was restored to humanity with the giving of the Torah at Sinai.
A midrash says that in the paradise of olam haba (the world to come) there stands the Tree of Life, with the tree of knowledge forming a hedge around it. Only the wise one who has cleared a path for himself through the tree of knowledge can come close to it (which is said to be so enormous that it would 500 years to walk around it). Beneath the Tree flows forth the water that irrigates the whole earth, parting into four streams, the Ganges, the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. In mystical (i.e., gnostic) Judaism, the Tree of Life is depicted as an elaborate symbol, the meditation of which is said to "clear the path" back to paradise.
Followers of Yeshua understand that He (alone) is the Tree of Life, the Center of the true Paradise of God (Rev. 22:2). He is the Seed, Root, Trunk, Branches, and Fruit that comes from heaven. The first Adam lost access to God by means of his transgression (eating from the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil"), but the "Greater Adam" reclaimed our access by means of His obedience, resisting the power of evil even to the point of death upon the "tree" of the cross (Phil. 2:8). The resurrection of the life of Yeshua is the "firstfruits" of all who put their trust in Him (1 Cor. 15:20; Jas. 1:18). Yeshua is the "Tree of Life in the center of the Paradise of God," and all who retain Him are forever blessed indeed. Say ye Amen.
Hebrew Lesson:
Proverbs 3:18 Hebrew Reading (click):
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Seeing by Faith...
11.06.24 (Cheshvan 5, 5785) "And the LORD appeared (וַיֵּרָא) to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 12:7). Note that this was the first time God actually appeared to Abram, since earlier he had only "heard" God say to him, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). In other words, it was only later - after Abram had obeyed God's voice by making the move to Canaan - that the LORD appeared to him and an altar was established (Gen. 12:7-8). As long as he remained with his father Terach in the City of Haran (the last outpost of Mesopotamia), he was in a place of delay, unable to behold the Divine Presence. Abram first had to act on what he knew before he was given confirmation by God (John 13:17). Perhaps that is why the very first place Abram came to in the promised land was the "Oak of Moreh" (אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה), or the "Teaching Tree." Abram was taught to believe in order to understand, not to understand in order to believe....
Notice, however, that Abram was immediately tested once he arrived in the promised land. After building another altar and calling upon the name of the LORD (Gen. 12:8), a severe famine tempted him to look for food in the land of Egypt. After leaving the land of promise, Abram willingly forfeited his identity (i.e., he denied he was Sarai's husband) and found himself powerless as his wife was abducted into Pharaoh's harem. The LORD intervened on his behalf, however, and plagued Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, which surely prefigured the future time of the great Exodus during the time of Moses...
In this connection we further note that the next time the Torah states that the LORD appeared to Abram was after he had returned from Egypt, after rescuing Lot from the kings of the east, when he encountered the mysterious Malki-Tzedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק) in Salem. After this dramatic encounter, Abram separated his clan from his nephew Lot and returned to the first altar he built in the promised land (Gen. 13:4).
Hebrew Lesson:
Proverbs 3:18 Hebrew Reading (click):
The Father of all who believe...
The following is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha....
11.06.24 (Cheshvan 5, 5785) Abraham is traditionally regarded as the first Jew, but understand that he began life as a "Gentile," the son of an idolater (Josh. 24:2), who later heard God's voice and then began his pilgrimage of faith into the realm of promise (Heb. 11:8-11). Moreover, God personally chose Abraham and promised to make him into a blessing while he was yet uncircumcised, and it was only later, after he sacrificed his beloved son Isaac (i.e., the Akedah) that he was promised that in his Seed (זֶרַע) would all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 22:18). It was the faith of Abraham - especially as demonstrated by the Akedah - that prefigured the justification of the nations through faith. This is the "Gospel of Moses" which Yeshua alluded (John 5:46). Therefore we read: "And the Scripture, foreseeing (προοράω) that God would justify the nations by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed" (Gal. 3:8-9). In other words, God's great plan of salvation was from the beginning for all the nations of the earth to be redeemed. Abraham is therefore rightly called the "father of all those who believe."
If you understand Jewish thinking on the subject (as opposed to Gentile thinking), Abraham was regarded as the first Jew because he received the rite of brit millah (circumcision). That was the Apostle Paul's understanding as well, as well as the point he made that Abraham was the father of faith for both Jew and non-Jew: "He [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised" (Rom. 4:11-12). As Paul further said regarding this topic, "For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision manifest in the flesh (φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ). But a Jew is one inwardly (κρυπτός), and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God" (Rom. 2:28-29). "For neither the rite of circumcision counts for anything, nor does uncircumcision - but בְּרִיאָה חֲדָשָׁה - a new creation" (Gal. 6:15).
In this connection it is helpful to remember that the word "Jew" (יְהוּדִי) comes from a root (יָדָה) which means to "thank" or to "praise" (Gen. 29:35). The Apostle Paul alluded to this by saying that a Jew whose heart has been circumcised by the Spirit is "one who is praised by God," not by men (Rom. 2:29). Being a Jew therefore means that you are "chosen" to receive blessings and grace to live in holiness for the glory of God and for the welfare of the world. The performance of various commandments are for the greater purpose of tikkun olam, the "repair of the world," in order to reveal God's goodness and love. Doing so makes someone a Jew, not some external rite of brit milah (circumcision). God is the source and the power of what makes a true tzaddik. After all, Israel was meant to be a "light to the nations" (Isa. 42:6; 60:3), and God had always planned for all the families of the earth to come to know Him and give Him glory through Abraham (Gen. 12:3). "Jewishness" is therefore not an end in itself but rather a means to bring healing to the nations... Indeed, the entire redemptive story of the Scriptures centers on the cosmic conflict to deliver humanity from the "curse" by means of the "Seed of the woman" who would come. The gospel is Jewish because it concerns God's great redemptive plan for the whole world...
The first shall be last, and vice-verse (Mark 10:31; Matt. 8:11). "And Yeshua called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45). May it please the LORD to give us all Jewish hearts, full of His praise and the desire to help others in His Name.
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 64:8 reading (click for audio):
Note: You are a new creation who has "crossed over" from death to life in Yeshua... Therefore you have been circumcised inwardly by the Spirit and are grafted into the covenant promises given to ethnic Israel. You are no longer a stranger but a fellow heir and member of God's household (Eph. 2:11-13). In the end of days, "all Israel will be saved," which implies that the Jewish people will be restored to God in Messiah. The great day of Zion comes!
The Original Priesthood...
The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha....
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) Our Torah reading for this week reveals that the very first "priest" (i.e., kohen: כּהֵן) was neither a Jew nor a Levite nor a descendant of Aaron, but rather Someone who is said to have "neither beginning of days nor end of life" but was made like (ἀφωμοιωμένος) the Son of God, a priest continually (Heb. 7:3). This priest, of course, was Malki-Tzedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק), the King of Shalem (מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם) to whom Abraham offered tithes after his victory over the kings (see Gen. 14:18).
The author of the Book of Hebrews makes the point that the priesthood of Malki-Tzedek is greater than the Levitical priesthood and is therefore superior to the rites and services performed at the Mishkan, or "Tabernacle" (Heb. 7:9-11). It was to Malki-Tzedek that Abraham (and by extension, the subsequent Levitical system instituted by his descendant Moses) gave tithes and homage -- and rightly so, since Yeshua is the great High Priest and Mediator of the ultimate covenant based on God's eternal life (see Heb. 8:6).
Hebrew Lesson
Genesis 14:18 reading (click):
In a sense, Malki-Tzedek revealed the perfected or "Final Adam" (אדם האחרון) because just as Adam's original priesthood was to mediate God's Presence on the earth, though he failed, Yeshua was born to "undue the curse" resulting from the transgression by means of the greater priesthood given in his own body and blood. Yeshua offered up a far better sacrifice upon the altar of the Cross in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 15:45). He is humanity's great High Priest (Kohen Gadol) of the New Covenant with God, and like Malki-Tzedek, his priesthood was ordained and abides forever- unlike that given through the Levitical rites. Our Lord Yeshua "ever lives to make intercession for those who trust Him as their Advocate" (Heb. 7:25).
Hebrew Lesson
Gen. 14:19b reading (click):
For more on this subject, see the article, "Exploring the Identity of Malki-Tzedek."
The Great War for your Soul...
"For our struggle is against spiritual forces of evil..." Ephesians 6:12
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) If the LORD is God, then that changes absolutely everything, and nothing is unaffected by this all-pervasive truth. As Abraham Heschel once said, "God is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance," and this is eminently true because "in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Since reality turns on God, reasoning from another set of assumptions is really a form of delusional thinking that ultimately leads to insanity, that is, unsoundness of mind derived from folly or unreasonableness. The fool has said "in his heart" there is no God (Psalm 14:1). "The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 10:3-4). The suppression of the truth necessarily implies an exchange for the lie, and with the lie comes deranged reasoning, slavery, darkness, and fear....
Ultimately we are living in the midst of a great spiritual war -- the war for truth. This has been the battle from the beginning. The very first recorded words of Satan (הַנָּחָשׁ) questioned God's truth: "Did God really say...?" (Gen. 3:1). In the end there will be found two types of people: those who love the truth and those who love the lie. These are the children of light (בְּנֵי הָאוֹר) and the children of darkness (בְּנֵי הַחשֶׁךְ), respectively. Followers of Yeshua the Messiah are told to "walk as children of light" / ὡς τέκνα φωτὸς περιπατεῖτε (Eph. 5:8). The children of light are called to be am kadosh - a holy people - separate from the evil engendered by the fallen world and its forces, just as the very first creative expression of God was the separation of light from darkness (Gen. 1:3-4). The children of light "hate evil and love the good," and conversely, the children of darkness "hate the good and love evil" (Psalm 34:21, Prov. 8:13, Amos 5:15, John 3:20-21). Regarding the heavenly Zion to come, it is written: "nothing unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood (lit. "makes a lie"), but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 21:27).
We must stand for the truth, because the truth is what sets us free (John 8:32). As Yeshua said, "For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world -- to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37). We must turn away from the lie to embrace the truth. One day all that is hidden will become manifest. "As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; His throne was ablaze with fire and its wheels were all aflame. A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; court sat in judgment, the books were opened" (Dan. 7:9-10).
If the devil can't kill you, he will try to make you insane... He will lie to you about who you really are; he will attempt harass you and vex your soul. He will whisper fearful things in your ear... He will make what is small seem big and what is big seem small. He will raise dark suspicion within your soul, causing you to walk in mistrust. He will remind you of your sins to make you feel ashamed and dirty. He will hiss that you are unlovable and unworthy. He will argue on behalf of your flesh that you deserve better than this... He will tempt you to seek relief in cisterns of emptiness and futility. Most of all, he will try to cast a spell to make you forget that you are truly a prince or princess of God Almighty... The devil seeks to drive you into the exile of loneliness and despair. Resist him in the Name of the LORD!
Fret not, therefore, because of evil doers, for they shall soon wither away (Psalm 37). The Great Accounting is coming: "For there is nothing created that is hidden - אין יצור נסתר - but all things are naked and open to the eyes of the One to whom we must render an account" (Heb. 4:13). Every thoughtless word shall be accounted for in the Day of Judgment to come (see Matt. 12:35-37). Recompense is indeed coming, though it is reserved for the LORD God alone, who is ha'shofet ha'tzaddik (השופט הצדיק) - the Righteous Judge (Psalm 7:11). "According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the coastlands He will repay recompense" (Isa. 59:18).
Hebrew Lesson
Proverbs 28:1 reading (click):
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Be not afraid of their faces...
"Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you..."
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) Da lifnei mi attah omed: "Know before whom you stand!" As the prophet Elisha said to his servant Gehazi, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16). We are surrounded by an innumerable multitude of angels, with the LORD of Hosts who rules over all. Ask the LORD God Almighty to give you the "strategic advantage" over the enemy -- for you to see his wiles, but not for him to see you.... Ask God for the armor of light that blinds eyes accustomed to darkness (Rom. 13:12). How else can we fight this archenemy of our souls? We cannot fight "fire with fire," but we can appeal to the One who fills heaven and earth "with horses and chariots of fire all around" (2 Kings 6:17). "Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Adonai Tzeva'ot" (Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of the armies of heaven); "melo khol-ha'aretz kevodo" (the whole earth is filled with His glory" (Isa. 6:3).
God admonished the prophet Jeremiah, "Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD" (Jer. 1:8). Likewise Yeshua says to us, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you" (Luke 10:19). We need the courage and boldness that comes from the Holy Spirit to overcome the "giants in the land." We need the confidence of young David who beheaded Goliath in the Name of the Living God. Ask God to empower you to serve Him now... Just as salvation is "of the LORD," so is the battle of faith: "Not by might, nor by power - but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4:6).
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The Divine Presence...
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) God told Moses that his Name means that He is Present (הֹוֶה) in every moment - past, present, and future (הָיָה וְהוֶה וְיָבוֹא). The Name YHVH (יהוה) is "shorthand" for "I AM with you always" (אָנכִי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּכֶם). There is no moment in time, just as there is no place, where God is not "there" for you. This includes times of testing, darkness, and even death itself (Psalm 23:4).
The LORD our God does not abandon us, even when He may seem hidden, powerless, or unwilling to intervene. Faith trusts that He is present just then - in moments when we are vulnerable, weak, afraid, and seemingly all alone, and yet affirms that somehow all things are bound up in his love and good will toward us... Faith receives God as near to us in our struggles, the loving One who is always with us, and the substance of all our hope for true healing and eternal life.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 23:4 reading (click for audio):
Crossing Over to Life...
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) Our Torah portion this week (i.e., Lekh-Lekha) begins: "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go (לֶךְ־לְךָ) from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). The Book of Hebrews comments, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἔρχεται - "not knowing where he was going" ... for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:8,10).
Abraham closed his eyes to this world and was given the inner light of truth that would reveal his way to God. The Sefat Emet says that every person of faith is likewise commanded daily to "lekh-lekha," to "go for yourself" by crossing over from the world and its deadening habits to live as an exile with God.
Paradoxically, we find ourselves when we lose ourselves - when we leave behind the labels, roles, ideologies, and identities this world foists upon us and instead resolve to seek the promise of God's Kingdom. As Yeshua said, "For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25).
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 25:12 reading (click):
Note: In a sefer Torah (i.e., a handwritten Torah scroll), Hebrew words are written without vowels, so "lekh lekha" (לך־לך), often translated as "go forth," could be read as "go, go!" - emphasizing the importance of the mitzvah: Get moving! Start walking! Begin your journey!
The Narrow Gate...
11.05.24 (Cheshvan 4, 5785) There is a great danger today of fearing the wrong things, and despairing over that which trivial in light of eternity. However honest despair is a gift from God, if it is received as a message to wake up and to take heed of what is most important. "And this is the simple truth - that to live is to feel oneself lost. He who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look around for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce" (Kierkegaard).
As I've mentioned druing Yom Kippur, like Jonah we first must be "swallowed up" in consciousness of our own hopelessness before we realize that we are without remedy apart from God's intervention and deliverance. We start there - in the "belly of the fish" - and later are brought forth by God's mercy and grace. This is the place of the cross, the "narrow gate" that leads to life. As we look to Yeshua, as we lean on him, he reveals more of himself to us.
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 86:13 Hebrew Reading (click):
Hillel the Elder had said, "If I am not for myself then who will be for me? (אם אין אני לי מי לי); But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" (Avot 1:14). Hillel points out here that the language of "I am" (אָנִי) and "for me" (לִי) reveals that we have a relationship with ourselves that must be sanctified and ordered before God. As Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: "The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self," that is, the self is always in a state of dialog. A healed self relates itself to God as the Ground of existence, since otherwise irremediable despair will result, eternal lostness within, an everlasting sickness of soul...
The remedy for being a lost self, relating only to itself without any center or ground, is to turn to God and to find your place in God's love and blessing. As we come to believe that we are accepted and loved despite our many imperfections, inadequacies, and character defects, we find courage to accept ourselves, to "let go" in trust. As Yeshua said, "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it" (Luke 18:17).
Reasons of the Heart...
"God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart... The sweetest prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who have no hope in anything but his love." - Charles H. Spurgeon
11.04.24 (Cheshvan 3, 5785) When I don't understand why God sometimes allows suffering to occur, I'm careful to review who God is before surrendering to feelings of despair. After all, when you are convinced that the Lord is your Good Shepherd who faithfully guides your way, you can trust in his good will for your life, even if you are in darkness and have no light (Isa. 50:10; Prov. 3:5-6).
Who before why... First know God's heart and then (perhaps) you will be able to seek understanding. In cases of great tragedy and loss, however, no rationalization or explanation will likely suffice, and we are therefore left with the raw decision of whether we will trust in God, even in our darkness, and in our sorrows, and apart from understanding...
Thomas Aquinas once wrote: "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary; to one without faith, no explanation is possible." This is because, as Blaise Pascal said, "the heart has its reasons that reason knows not. " Amen, seek first the Kingdom of God and then you will know. We must believe in God's heart first of all...
Hebrew Lesson
Isa. 50:10 reading (click):
Shadows and Reality...
[ "Whether evil or good events betide, let it be the same to you, since you are a stranger and sojourner on this earth. Why have anxiety over a world that is not yours?" - Sassover ]
11.04.24 (Cheshvan 3, 5785) Sometimes we seem to forget that we are not home yet... The ancient thinker Socrates argued that philosophy, when done correctly, was "practice for death," since the passing shadows of this world pointed to an unchanging good, our true end. Likewise Yeshua our Messiah taught us to take up the cross and die daily (Luke 9:23). We are to "set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth," for we have died and our life is hidden with Messiah in God (Col. 3:2-3).
It is difficult for us to die, to let go, however, because we are deeply attached to this world, and we often abide under the worldly illusion that we will live forever, that tomorrow will resemble today, and that heaven can wait... History is littered with crumbling monuments offered to the idols of this world. The Scriptures are clear, however: "The present form (τὸ σχῆμα) of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31), and the heart of faith seeks a city whose Designer and Builder is God Himself (Heb. 11:10). "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day... For the things that are seen are turning to dust, but the things that are unseen endure forever (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Because of our sin, creation was made "subject to vanity," though God has overcome the dust of death by giving us an unshakable hope (Rom. 8:20).
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 144:4 reading (click):
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The metaphysical truth that ha'kol oveir (הַכּל עוֹבֵר), "everything passes" like a shadow, should help us keep our perspective regarding the various moments of testing we all face in this life. As Nachman of Breslov once said, "The whole earth is a very narrow bridge, and the important thing is never to be afraid" (כָּל־הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאד וְהָעִקָּר לא לְפַחֵד כְּלָל). Yeshua is the Bridge to the Father, the narrow way of passage that leads to life. He has overcome the meretricious world and its vanities. He calls out to us in the storm saying, "Take heart. It is I; be not afraid" (Matt. 14:27). When Peter answered the call and attempted to walk across the stormy waters, he lost courage and began to sink, but Yeshua immediately took hold of him, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt (lit., think twice)?" Resist the false assumptions that surround common worldly consciousness: Keep focused on the reality of Yeshua and the way he reveals...
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The Journey of Faith...
11.04.24 (Cheshvan 3, 5785) Each of us has been created by God for a sacred purpose. There is a deep reason why you were born. This explains why we sometimes feel lost and alone in this life. Our discontent, the fracture we sense both within and around us, our sorrows, suffering, and inevitable losses, all of it together, presents a "message" to our souls, a "basso profundo" groan of the heart, a visceral yearning for healing, for eternal life, for heaven... God has created us for himself, yet we find no lasting peace apart from him (Eccl. 3:11). Or as Augustine of Hippo famously put it: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee" (Confessions). Therefore our Lord cries out to those who are hurting, troubled, and afraid: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:28-29).
Our Torah portion for this week is called "Lekh-Lekha," which can be translated as "come to yourself," that is, turn and reconnect to your spiritual essence, your identity, your heart. We have to start the journey there, because ultimate reality is intensely personal, being grounded in the "who-ness" of God. It is within the consciousness of our own "I am," our deepest identity as a personal, thinking, and feeling being, that we are able to relate to the person and heart of the great "I AM" of the LORD.
Abram is an exemplar of faith for us; indeed he is called the "father of faith" (Isa. 51:1-2; Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:29). Abram courageously searched for God in his emptiness, and God graciously answered the cry of his heart. He left everything behind as he journeyed into the realm of promise - regarding himself as someone chosen to know God's blessing and grace. Abram was able to walk by faith because he stopped listening to the voices of the ego - the worldly and unbelieving parts of himself - and therefore was able to hear God's truth.
According to the classical sages, Abram was tested ten separate times in the course of his life. In the first test, Abraham was asked to "go to a land that I will show you" only to find it a place of famine and trouble. In the very of the tests, Abraham was asked to "go to the land of Moriah, to the place that I will show you," and there to offer up his promised son Isaac as a burnt offering... In each case the temptation was to give up hope in God's promise, since at the time of each test Abram did not know the outcome as a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless Abram walked in faith, in fear and trembling, yet fear contextualized by the deeper strength found in God's love and presence. Abraham had to close his eyes to this world and walk in the darkness of faith to see the divine light that transcends this realm; he had to "believe to see" that God's promise was sure.
So the journey is one of faith and the inner transformation that comes from trusting in God (בִּטָּחוֹן). "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" is the call of teshuvah - turning away from enslaving habits that deaden our consciousness - and to come alive by believing that which transcends own understanding. The Greek word for repentance, "metanoia" (μετάνοια) describes the process well, since it means going beyond ("meta") the habitual categories of the mind ("nous") to believe and apprehend the miracle of God. Faith discerns the unseen good that is at work behind the realm of appearances. God is the "Father of Lights" who supervises the ebb and flow of creation. He is always working to direct all things according to his purposes and will. This is the "land that I will show you," that is, the realm of blessing and eternal life.
Hebrew Lesson
Proverbs 4:18 reading (click):
The Meaning of "Hebrew"...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha.... ]
11.03.24 (Cheshvan 2, 5785) In our Torah for this week (Lekh Lekha) Abram, the great patriarch of faith, is called ha-ivri (הָעִבְרִי) - "the Hebrew," a term that means "one who has crossed over" (עָבַר) from another place. Rashi literally identifies this "other place" as Ur Kasdim (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים), located east of the Euphrates River, though the midrash (Genesis Rabbah) spiritually identifies it as the realm of idolatry: "The whole world stood on one side, but Abram crossed over to the other." Abram separated himself from a world steeped in idolatry and polytheism by worshiping One God who is the sole Creator of all things.... Understood in this way, being "Hebrew" means being regarded as an "other," a "stranger," or an "outsider" to idolatrous worldly culture. That's the true meaning of the word...
Various midrashim tell the story about how Abram came to understand the truth that there is only one God who is Creator of all. For instance, when he was born, Abram's mother hid him in a cave. She was afraid that the evil king Nimrod would kill her son because prophets had warned that he would triumph over Nimrod. Guarded by the angel Gabriel, young Abram first worshiped the stars as gods until they were obscured by the Sun. Then he declared that the Sun was god until it set and the Moon took its place. Clouds then covered the Moon, showing Abram that the Moon was not a god either. At last, Abram understood that there was one supreme God would ruled over all the forces of the universe. (Later, after the danger had passed, young Abram rejoined his family.)
A midrash relates that Abram's father Terach sold idols for a living in the city of Haran. But Abram had long since realized that idol worship was foolishness. One day when he was asked to watch his father's store, Abram took a hammer and smashed all the idols - except for the largest one. His father came home and demanded to know what happened. Abram explained that the idols all got into a fight and the biggest idol won. When his father objected that this was impossible, Abram said, "Aha! So you agree with me that idols are powerless! My father, there is only one true God, and this God cannot be shaped with human hands..." Terach was angry but understood that his son had discovered the great truth of ethical monotheism.
Lekh lekha (לך־לך) literally means "go for yourself" (lit. "walk [הָלַךְ] for yourself [לְךָ]"). Rashi states that it means "Go for your own benefit," though the Chassidic teachers interpret it as "Go to yourself" (i.e., begin your own journey back to God). At any rate, it's clear that the phrase is an invitation by God to venture ahead -- to go forth in faith... Go forth and risk everything for the sake of God's promise.
"Go forth ... I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). Note that the LORD spoke to Abram and invited him to forsake his ancestral homeland for the promise of God. But note further that it was only after Abram made the long journey to the unknown land of Canaan that God appeared to him to him by the oaks of Mamre saying, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 18:1). Abram did not believe the promise because he saw God; he was only able to see God after he had walked in faith. First Abram heard the message, and later -- after he acted on his faith -- was he enabled to see more... מַעֲשֵׂה אֲבוֹת סִימָן לַבָּנִים / ma'aseh avot siman labanim: "The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children." The pattern is therefore given: First Abram heard the message, and later - after he acted on his faith - was he enabled to see more. This is the deeper meaning of being "Hebrew," one who crosses over from the realm of the dead to the realm of the Living God...
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As a matter of textual gematria, regarding the promise to make Abraham's name great (Gen. 12:2), the sages note that the total number of Hebrew letters in the names of the three patriarchs Abraham (אברהם), Isaac (יצחק), and Jacob (יעקב) is 13. Likewise the total number of letters in the names of the three matriarchs Sarah (שׁרה), Rebecca (רבקה), Leah (לאה), and Rachel (רחל) is 13. Furthermore 13 is the numeric value for the word echad (אחד), a word that means "unity" and represents the 13 attributes of God's Mercy (Exod. 34:6-7). The combined letters of the patriarchs and matriarchs therefore totals 26, the same numeric value (in gematria) as that for the Name of God (i.e., YHVH: יהוה).
Hebrew Lesson:
Psalm 27:13 reading (click):
Parashat Lekh-Lekha...
11.03.24 (Cheshvan 2, 5785) Chodesh tov, chaverim. Last week's Torah portion (i.e., parashat Noach) introduced us to Abram (אַבְרָם), the descendant of Noah's son Shem, who was the great-grandson of the patriarch Methuselah - a man who who personally knew Adam and Eve and upheld the original promise of redemption given in the Garden of Eden. Just as there were ten generations from Adam to Noah, so there were also ten generations from Noah to Abram (see Gen. 11:10-32). And just as Noah became the father of 70 nations, so Abram (through Shem) would become the father of the Jewish people, through whom the Promised Seed - the Messiah and Savior of the world - would eventually come.
In our Torah portion for this week (Lekh-Lekha), we read that Abram was 75 years old, married to (his half-sister) Sarai, and guardian of his nephew Lot (his deceased brother Haran's son) when he received the promise of divine inheritance: "And the LORD said to Abram, "Go from (i.e., lekh-lekha: לך־לך) your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. In Hebrew, the phrase lekh lekha means "go for yourself" (lit. "walk [הָלַךְ] for yourself [לְךָ]"), though it can be interpreted it to mean "go to yourself," that is, "look within yourself" in order to begin walking out your own journey into the promises. The realm of divine promise is only attained when we venture out in faith. Like our father Abraham, we are called to "cross over," leave everything behind, and take hold of God's glorious promise for our lives.
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Hebrew Lesson:
Genesis 12:1a reading (click):
Blessed Disappointment...
11.01.24 (Tishri 30, 5785) We naturally seek life on our own terms, yet this mercifully and inexorably leads us to disappointment, sorrow, and loss. God calls us to change our direction and turn to him because he knows that what we really need is only found in relationship with him.... Since the blessing is found by connecting with him, he calls us away from the vanity of our idols to know him as our ultimate concern, our highest good, our deepest love...
Like walking upon a plank that stretches out before the fathomless sea, teshuvah is an abandonment of yourself to God's care - the surrender of all that you are - the good as well as the bad, in trust of his love for you (Psalm 139:8). It is not about reforming your character or becoming a "good" person; indeed, it is really not about you at all. Turning to God means losing sight of yourself altogether by being caught up in the glory of the Divine life.
Of course life is a messy business for us. We are weak. We are tempted, and we regularly fail. We are filled with ambivalence; we contradict ourselves; we struggle; we falter, we sin. At times we may even feel lost and inconsolably alone. But faith is a gift from heaven - the gift of God's presence, and as such the miracle attests that "God is with us," even in our times of darkness, in moments of sadness, heartache, confusion, anger, and fear. Where is God in our sorrows, our losses, our nightmares? He is with us. Despite the blindness of our hearts, the Spirit whispers: "I am with you." Yea, God never leaves us; he never forsakes us. He cares. His heart spans "the breadth and length and height and depth" of all that we are, expressed in his eviscerated groans for our deliverance, in drops of blood sweat out in his passion, in the forsakenness and utmost anguish of the cross... Faith believes then sees.
God is with us, yet in the busyness (and forgetfulness) of the everyday we often lose sight of him. We forget. We go dark. We go into exile. And then in "the mercy of our misery" we sense the call of his heart once again: "Come unto me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest..." We slow down and again seek his "hidden" Presence, remembering his greatness and turning our thoughts back to what is ultimately real... What we thought was so big -- the dramas of this world -- suddenly seems small and insignificant. We remember the LORD our God; we revisit what matters most of all. And as we do so, the Spirit of God begins to flow within us as we reconnect with our true identity as God's beloved child. We come back to the open arms our Savior. He is alive; Jesus is real; we belong to him and he will lead us into the depths of his love forever and ever... Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 63:3 Hebrew reading (click):
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The Light of Conscience...
"For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are nevertheless a law unto themselves. They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness..." - Rom. 2:14-15
11.01.24 (Tishri 30, 5785) In the Torah we discover a special verse that identifies the struggle we all have with sin in our lives. It appears early in the book of Genesis concerning God's appeal to Adam and Eve's firstborn son Cain, who was envious of his brother Abel. When Cain was upset that God had "looked upon" (i.e., accepted) Abel's offering of a lamb but had overlooked his own offering of fruit, he was angry and became "downcast." We then read: "So the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? and why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not find acceptance? But if you do not do well, sin lurks at the door; its desire is for you, yet you must rule over it" (Gen. 4:6-7). Sadly Cain did not learn how to rule over the anger that lurked at the door of his heart, and later murdered his brother Abel...
God makes the same appeal to each of us: "Why are you so angry? Why are you downcast? If you do well, will you not find acceptance? But if you do not do well, sin lurks at the door; its desire is for you, yet you must rule over it." Amen, we say, but how are we to understand this admonition? How can we learn to overrule sin within our own hearts?
Let's think this through a bit. First of all we know that sin is doing what is contrary to God's will (1 John 3:4), and we also know that God has endowed the soul with a "conscience" that convicts us when we do something wrong (Rom. 2:15). When we realize that we have sinned we feel down, or have a "fallen face" (פָּנִים נָפלוֹת). When we feel ashamed if we do something wrong, we should understand that this painful feeling is meant to correct us and turn us back to the good.
The conscience is a great gift from heaven because it serves as an intuitive or inner guide that instructs us about what is right and what is wrong -- and how we should live our lives. Indeed, both the Hebrew word for "conscience" (i.e., matzpun: מַצְפוּן) and the word for "compass" (i.e., matzpen: מַצְפֵן) come the root idea of a hidden source of guidance (צפן) that will direct the way we should go. The Greek word for "conscience" used in the New Testament is "sun-eideisis" (συνείδησις), a word that means perceiving something in relation to a known standard of measurement, particularly knowing the rightness or wrongness of an action in light of God's moral law that is revealed within the heart (Rom. 2:15). Conscience is the awareness of moral truth; it is part of the image of God within us that is grounded in divine logic and reason. The Apostle Paul testified that he relied upon the "inner light" of conscience to guide his behavior: "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men" (Acts 24:16). The conviction of the conscience bears witness to the spirit of truth (Rom. 9:1).
Conscience serves as an inner witness of the LORD God our Creator, who demands that we live as righteous people according to the direction (i.e., torah) of his moral authority. All people intuitively know they are morally accountable for what they do, but not everyone lives consciously before the divine Presence, in dialog with his or her conscience. Disregarding the voice of conscience is to disregard God, and conversely listening to its voice is to related to him. In this connection Kierkegaard said: "To have a conscience is to have a relationship in which you, as a single individual, relate yourself to yourself before God," by which he meant that our consciousness of moral reality, and our inner dialog within ourselves, is the mode by which we come to know ourselves before God.
When moral truth is suppressed or denied, however, or when conviction for sin is dismissed or ignored, a terrible thing begins to happen. The soul itself goes into exile and becomes deranged. If one good deed leads to another, so one sin leads to another, but a life of ongoing sin that is repeatedly denied or suppressed produces a spiritually lethal state wherein God may "give the soul over" to its godless desires and its chosen inner darkness. A "seared conscience" is one that is no longer able to detect the prompting of the inner voice of moral truth. Such a conscience is "cauterized" and made dead to the truth.
Tragically we see the effect of a seared conscience in our world every day. Hatred, rage, acts of murder; mass shootings, sexual perversion and violence, addictions, obsessions, and so on, are all prevalent in a godless world that has lost its ability to know what is right and what is wrong. The practice of sin is a life of insanity. The ongoing deception of political, educational, scientific, and other leaders inevitablly evokes divine judgment on cultures that scorn the need for godly virtue. It is hardheartedness and inner depravity that seeks to justify the extinguishment of shame at the price of honesty and truth... The Bible warns us of false teachers who are mouthpieces of evil, and the world system is filled with such teachers who suppress the truth for the violence of the lie. Think of the deceptive mass media and its systematic practice of disseminating lies... Since they implicity refuse the truth of God in their thinking," they are false teachers who deceive others.
Sin "lurks at the door" waiting for the heart to open to its lying seductions. In Jewish thinking, the inner urge to sin, what Christians sometimes call the carnal "sin nature," is personified as an alien force that desires access to your soul. This evil impulse to do what is wrong is called the "yetzer ha'ra" (יֵצֶר הַרַע), or the imagination of evil. The sages came up with the term as they discussed the phrase "the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil" (יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע) during Noah's generation (Gen. 6:5, Gen. 8:21). The phrase "yetzer lev" is a general term that refers to the imagination that inclines the will, whether to do good or to do bad. For instance, yetzer lev can refer to both the imaginative urge of a potter before he forms a vessel, and it can refer to the form of a graven image or idol. The Jewish concept of yetzer ha'ra is often thought to be a weakness of the soul that is liable to the urge to do something evil. This is similar to the Christian idea regarding our inherited "sin nature," or the indwelling desire to sin, that must be "mortified" by faith in God's deliverance.
In the New Testament, however, the struggle with evil goes beyond the Jewish idea of inner wrestling with the yezer ha'ara, for therein we learn that the devil (השטן) walks about as a roaring lion, seeking to "devour" human souls (1 Pet. 5:8), and this picture goes beyond the idea that evil is the result of fallen sinful nature alone. Recall that our verse reads: "sin lurks at the door; its desire is for you, yet you must rule over it," and this personification suggests that there exists an alien force that seeks access to the human heart in order to entice its sinful nature in contempt of God's moral law. "It's desire is for you" can also be read as "his desire is for you" (אֵלֶיךָ תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ), and that is what the devil does, after all: he "devours souls" -- he hungers for them to join him in his lost estate of perdition...
The Lord promises us victory over both our own inclination to sin as well as the outright temptations of the devil if we will sincerely yield to him: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:7-8). Put on the armor of God (Eph. 6:11-18). "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man, but God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above what you are able to bear; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape (τὴν ἔκβασιν), that you may have strength (i.e., δύναμις) to endure it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
If a "seared conscience" is one that is unfeeling and dead to moral truth, a godly conscience is one that is tender, sensitized, and fully alive to moral reality. We can learn to heighten our awareness of moral truth by means of the study of Scripture, as it says "All Scripture is given by the breath of God (i.e.,θεόπνευστος) and is profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16). Of course Yeshua is our Lord, our Master and our guide, and therefore we should study his words about the righteousness of the law, the rule of the kingdom, our duty to practice works of love, and so on. The traditional study of Jewish ethics, called "musar," can also provoke us think about how to live our lives as tzaddikim, or righteous people (Psalm 1:1-3).
The Hebrew word "chinukh" (חִנּוּךְ), "education," shares the same root as the word "chanukah" (חֲנֻכָּה), meaning "dedication." Unlike the Greek view that regards education as a pragmatic process of improving one's personal power or happiness, the Jewish idea implies dedication to God and the willingness to be partners with Him on the earth. Disciples of Yeshua are therefore called "talmidim" (תַּלְמִידִים) -- a word that comes from "lamad" (לָמַד) meaning "to learn" (the Hebrew word for teacher is "melamad" (מְלַמֵּד) from the same root). In the New Testament, the word "disciple" is μαθητής, a learner or a pupil of a διδάσκαλος, or a teacher. I mention all this because true education is foundational to being a disciple of the Messiah, and moral education is a large part of that education.
Let us go back to where we started: "If you do well, will you not find acceptance?" The Hebrew for "do well" here (i.e., yahtav: יָטַב) means to be glad or joyful, to have inner peace and confidence because our conscience attests that we are approved of God. We will then find "acceptance," or she'eit (שְׂאֵת), a word that comes from the verb "nasa" (נָשָׂא) meaning to be lifted up or elevated. When we honor God's truth, we will experience true self-acceptance because God himself will lift up our hearts. And that is the source of our power to withstand temptations of sin, namely knowing that God has accepted us and gives us his shalom. We turn to God and know Him as the "friend of sinners" who loves us with everlasting love and calls us to live in the truth of that love...
O precious Lord, "cause me to me hear your lovingkindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way I should go, for I lift up my soul to you." Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 143:8 Hebrew reading (click):
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Olam Malei - An Entire World...
"The day you were born is the day God decided the world could not exist without you." - R' Nachman
11.01.24 (Tishri 30, 5785) God made you entirely unique, and no one else was created for the special role that you have in the overarching plan of Almighty God...
Jewish tradition says that God created Adam alone as "olam malei" (עוֹלָם מָלֵא), "an entire world," to teach that each individual is of great value and significance. "Thus anyone who sustains one individual has sustained the world; and anyone who destroys one individual has destroyed an entire world" (Sanhedrin 37a). In addition, God created man as a solitary creation to remind all people that they descend from a common source: No one has a greater or better lineage or "pedigree" than anyone else.
Each of us is created with a sense of "aloneness," a built in "hunger" for relationship and especially for God's presence. "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee," said Augustine. Therefore the very first commandment to Adam and Eve comes in the form of a blessing: "And God blessed them and said, פְּרוּ וּרְבו / pru urvu: "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). People were created to be in fellowship with others and with God, and when this is lacking, there is a sense of incompletion, a profound soul hunger and need....
When you feel discouraged or anxious because of difficult times, remember how the LORD God created the world and sustains it for the sake of the revelation of his love for you... You may not understand the present moment, though you can assuredly trust that God's salvation given in the Messiah Yeshua heals you forever and ever (John 5:24). Declare at all times, then: "The world was created for my sake, though I am but dust and ashes." God is faithful, the great Amen of the human heart's cry. Your inner being is redeemed by God for you to experience and know the blessing of eternal life (John 17:3). Amen.
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 43:1b Hebrew reading (click):
Alphabet and Creation...
11.01.24 (Tishri 30, 5785) The Torah begins with the letter Bet (בּ) rather than the letter Aleph (א) to denote God's humility. The letter Aleph is the first letter, the king of the alphabet, and the letter that begins "I AM" (i.e., אנכי) - the first word of the Ten Commandments. The letter Bet, on the other hand, is the second letter that means "house" or "home" (בּית). This suggests that the Torah begins with the focus not on the "I" but on creation, the household of God. And though God did not wish to be the center of attention, so to speak, Aleph and Bet together spell the word "father" (אב), that is, the One who oversees the household of the world in love. As it is written, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (אֲבִי הַמְּארוֹת) with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17).
Aleph is a silent letter, representing God in His ineffable glory and life (אֶהְיֶה) that forever precedes all things (Isa. 44:6, cp. Rev. 22:13). Yeshua described Himself as the "Aleph and the Tav, the First and the Last" (הָאָלֶף וְהַתָּו הָראשׁ וְהַסּוֹף), the One who encompasses all Reality and gives out its strength (Aleph) before the house (Bet) of creation in sacrificial love.
Hebrew Lesson:
Isaiah 44:6b reading (click):
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It may be wondered why we would say that God is humble... Well, it is certainly true that the LORD is self-effacing, self-forgetting, utterly unselfish, absolutely noble of heart, and so on. Moreover we are commanded to emulate God, who is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, etc. (Exod. 34:6-7). Most of all we are to follow the example of Yeshua, YHVH in the flesh, who willingly "emptied Himself" (κενόσις) and took the role of a humble servant (Phil. 2:6-7). Yeshua himself said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:29).
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