This week’s Torah portion (i.e., Bechukotai) promises blessings for those who obey God’s law and curses to those who do not. In the opening verses of portion we read: “If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them” then great blessings will follow (Lev. 26:3-ff). The sages comment that the phrase “if you walk in my statutes” (אם־בחקתי תלכו) does not refer to the regular commandments (i.e., ha’mitzvot: המצוות), but instead to the study and love of the Torah (לימוד התורה), the wisdom of which is a “Tree of Life” (עֵץ־חַיִּים) to those who take hold of it (Prov. 3:22). To “walk in the statutes” of Torah is to meditate upon it day and night, so that you will be rooted as a tree beside streams of water, bringing forth fruit in abundance and blessing (Psalm 1:3).

The portion continues by warning that if, on the other hand, you neglect God or are careless about keeping the commandments, you will experience the curse: all kinds of trouble, sickness, sorrows, exile, and (worst of all) alienation from God. The sages emphasize that the cure to the various curses of the law (i.e., tochachah) is the study of the Torah, by which they mean not simply intellectual study but also the careful practice of its principles in your daily life. Torah study, in this sense, is likened to medicine that heals the soul…

Now while it is assuredly true that the practice of Torah – walking in the decrees of God – is the ideal for people, and the imperatives of Scripture, if obeyed, direct the soul to life and blessing, the problem of indwelling sin is so incurably radical that it no amount of resolution of the will nor reformation of character will suffice to transform the fallen estate of human nature and thereby reverse the curse of death given to the sons of Adam, and therefore a cure that comes from beyond the realm of human nature must be found, a heavenly cure that is otherwise called the “righteousness of God” (צדקת האלהים).

Read more “Establishing the Law…”

We are being educated for eternity, and the life of faith is a long lesson in obedience — learning to suffer God’s will, to accept whatever happens, and to endure in hope. Practically speaking this means “laying aside” your desires and surrendering yourself — all that is within you — in trust of God’s plan for your life, even (and especially) in the most harrowing of moments… Indeed, in light of suffering what we really need is perseverance, or what the New Testament calls hupomone (ὑπομονή), a word that means “remaining [μένω] under [ὑπο]” the Divine Presence while being tested (the word “suffer” comes from the Latin word sufferre, from sub- (under) + ferre, to carry, and therefore denotes “bearing under” difficulty). Laying aside our desires is a form of suffering that calls for patience and wisdom as we learn to endure our own frailty and to trust God for what is best…

For the child of God there are no “disappointments” in life, since God directs our steps and uses every circumstance for our ultimate good: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down…” (Psalm 37:3-4). To plead with God for some deliverance, to beseech him for the life of a beloved child or spouse; to cry out from the depths for mercy in the face of loss, as when beside a fresh grave – and to there affirm the threefold affirmation of kaddish: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21) – is to learn the lesson of obedience – surrendering to God’s will, refusing to despair even in the midst of our sorrows….

 

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Read more “The School of Suffering…”

What is the goal of our relationship with God? What is the point? Is it some form of escapism from the suffering we all experience, as Karl Marx cynically wrote, the “opiate” of the masses (”hopium”) intended to insulate us from the truth of our mortal and ultimately hopeless condition? Or is it rather the most radical and fundamental need of the human heart, the very reason for our existence, and the ultimate truth for which we are willing to give up our lives and die?

Yeshua taught that the purpose of a relationship with God was to discover divine life by knowing the truth of God revealed in him. He said to his disciples: “This is eternal life (חַיֵּי עוֹלָם) that they may know you the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah whom you have sent” (John 17:3).  Knowing God in this way means understanding his heart and character, and learning to become “mature” (i.e., τέλειον, “complete, whole, finished”) through your union with the Messiah (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13). Practically speaking we “put on” a new spiritual nature (our “new self”) which is created after the likeness of God (כִּדְמוּת אֱלהִים) in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24).  We know and believe who we are as God’s beloved children (Rom. 8:29). This is a matter of faith, indeed, but it is also a matter of the will. We must line up our attitudes and emotions in light of the truth of reality…

Immature emotions are out of alignment with what is real, evidencing disordered affections based on illusions. “Putting away childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11) means surrendering or letting die (καταργέω) self-centered emotions and desires, letting go of self-pity or bitterness, and refusing to blame others. Spiritual maturity implies humility, denying yourself, a word that means to stop thinking about yourself (from α-, “not,” +ῥέω, “to speak”), and living the truth by sharing God’s redemptive vision and mission for others. We must be careful, however, not to drift away, since it is possible to “forget” the truth that once guided our way; and it is possible to become dull of hearing, shortsighted, and to stop growing in relationship with God (Heb. 2:1). Spiritual truth is not merely intellectual but existential: we must earnestly pursue (διώκω) our heavenly calling (Phil 3:14) and this requires the daily and ongoing decision to live before the LORD our God (Psalm 16:8).  The invitation to “choose this day whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15) implies that is your choice – and your responsibility – to draw near to God (James 4:8).  We can do this by studying and memorizing Scripture, meditating, praying, and sharing our hope with others.  Above all we must ask God for the gift of the Holy Spirit to “bear us up into maturity” (i.e., ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα φερώμεθα, Heb 6:1) so that we may learn from our Master who calls us to be joined to his yoke and learn from him (Matt. 11:29).

 

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Consider for a moment how your thinking defines your inner reality and the quality of your spiritual life. Thinking is inextricably linked to faith, and therefore we are responsible not only for what we believe, but for how we think (Acts 17:30-31). Sinful thinking creates “negative energy” that brings pain to yourself and others. Left unchallenged, such impaired cognitive function leads to slavery of the mind, hopeless addictions of thought, and distressing captivity. The first step to freedom is to confess our sin, acknowledging the reality of our own negativity – and bringing that truth to the light. Therefore teshuvah – turning to God – involves cheshbon hanefesh (חֶשְׁבּוֹן הַנֶּפֶשׁ), accounting for our soul and yielding it to the love of God for rectification: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). For freedom we have been set free, and that means freedom from the power of the lie. If we are blind to our own sin, we cannot confess the truth to find healing (James 5:16).

 

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“Your heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:8). We sometimes pray for what we think we need but overlook what we really need. For instance, we may pray for health, material blessing, and opportunity, but what we really need is the ability to trust, the willingness to surrender our lives to God without qualification, and the grace to see the good in others and not their faults. These needs are just as real as our need for food and clothing, since apart from grace to extend empathy and love toward others, we will never be truly happy. Love “overlooks” a multitude of sins; it looks beyond the present moment to see with compassion, kindness, and empathy… What we really need, then, is to be after God’s own heart, to see other people as God sees them, and to overlook matters that offend or feed our sense of pride. This is what we truly need, and therefore we trust that the Lord our God mercifully “decodes” our apparent petitions to express what the Spirit of God groans and sighs on our behalf (Rom. 8:26).

 

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Note that the word translated as “wounded” is challal (חָלַל), meaning “stricken, pierced, polluted, defiled, or brokenhearted.” This is the condition of heart that is prerequisite for doing real business with heaven. “God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down…. I need Christ, not something that resembles Him.” (C.S. Lewis: A Grief Observed)

 

 

Did you know that one of the most frequently occurring commandments of Torah is to love the stranger? The commandment is repeated in various forms over 30 times in the Jewish Scriptures, for instance: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:18); “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native 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); “Love the stranger, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19); “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 22:21); “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong” (Lev. 19:33); “Do not oppress the stranger” (Zech. 7:10); “Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due the stranger” (Deut. 24:19); “The stranger shall be as the native born children of Israel among you” (Ezek. 47:22), “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you”(Exod. 12:49; Num. 15:16), and so on. Clearly the LORD does not want people to feel ostracized, excluded, or otherwise left out of His providential and loving plans… Indeed, the message of the universal love of God is at the heart of the gospel itself, hearkening back to God’s earliest promises to redeem humanity and restore paradise lost. “Religion,” tribalism, prejudice, ethnic pride, and so on, are anathema to the Kingdom of God.

Read more “Loving the Stranger…”

The receiving of the Torah (מתן תורה) must take place each and every day, as it says, “Trust in the LORD ‘bekhol libekha’ (בְּכָל־לִבֶּךָ) – with all your heart; and know Him ‘bekol derakhekha’ (בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ), in all your ways” (Prov. 3:5-6). The giving of the Torah is described as a “loud and never-ending voice” (Deut. 5:22), though it is our constant responsibility to shema – to receive the invitation of God’s heart.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart… know Him in all your ways” (Prov. 3:5-6). The Hebrew word for trust is “bittachon” (בִּטָחוֹן), from a root word (בָּטָח) that means “to lean upon,” to feel safe and secure (Psalm 31:19). Bittachon describes emotional acceptance of the goodness of the LORD. Some of the sages have said that while “emunah” (אֱמוּנָה), or “faith,” represents a state of cognitive or intellectual understanding (בִּינָה) that God is involved in all the events of the universe, bittachon means emotionally trusting that the Lord is present in every situation for your good…. Rabbi Bechaya put the distinction this way: “Everyone with bittachon has emunah, but not everyone with emunah has bittachon.” Bittachon is an intuitive awareness of the personal love of God for your life, coupled with complete trust that He deeply cares for you (Rom. 8:28). It is an expectation that the love of God is “I-AM-always-with-you,” too.

“Know Him in all your ways,” and that means whatever way you find yourself in, which of course includes the way of your struggles, your transgressions, your fears, and your heartaches, as well as the way of your deepest longing and hope… Amen.

 

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We read in our Scriptures: “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. “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).

 

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