Parashat Tzav
The Temple was not a ‘nice’ place to be. It was a bloody and smelly place, not the place for the squeamish, blood was everywhere. There were burning corpses of animals already lifted up and offered as sacrifices to G-d, their blood draining away into the gullies and drains around the altar. Blood, and the sacrifices generally, were core to the daily work in the Mishkan and later Temple. Sacrifices have a core function in Judaism, and that is to remind us of something profound: the death of the innocent, the substitution of the guilty by a living creature who didn’t deserve to die. The continual exposure to blood and the demise of innocent life was meant to show a Torah truth to Israel that we sometimes fail even now to grasp: sin causes death.
Reading the first sections of Leviticus/Vayikra it can feel like we’re wading through lists of offerings that have no modern equivalent, or that seem just ancient and irrelevant to us today. Frankly, they may even seem boring and we quickly skip through to find something more ‘interesting’. Such a one however would not be blessed with the deeper understanding reserved for those who diligently seek G-d and don’t give up so easily.
In particular there is one offering amongst all the rest in this portion that is of interest: the zevach todah, the Thanksgiving offering. We are commanded to offer this, so it is assumed you will have something to be thankful for! The Thanksgiving offering belongs to the group of offerings known as the Peace Offerings. It is similar to the Peace Offering but changes them slightly, enforcing the eating of it in one day rather than three. The elements include, amongst others, unleavened bread.
Rabbi Elie Munk in his commentaries draws upon Psalm 107 for the reasons why and when to bring this offering. The Psalm, so it is said, was used at the times someone brought this offering, and it specifically talks about surviving great danger, receiving miraculous intervention and recovering health. Of interest is the also the reason that one should bring a Thanksgiving offering if you had been captive and had now been set free. Apparently, this was brought not by someone who merely felt gratitude, but rather who had avoided an impending tragedy, dreadful situation or judgement and had been saved out of it.
The Thanksgiving offering involved you giving thanks to G-d for His intervention, or more importantly, also what you had been delivered out of. The concepts that grow organically with this involve therefore the thankfulness one feels after being forgiven and restored to fellowship again. Indeed, we could go further and say that true thankfulness stems from knowing forgiveness and restitution.
Already we can see that just saying ‘thanks’ is utterly inadequate. It says volumes about our society that even a cheap ‘thanks’ is so infrequently heard today. But the words we say are cheap and do not in any case reveal the true depth of feeling the one offering thanks has. In Judaism thanks is shown not just said. Actions of thanks, as in the offering here, speak to one’s true heart attitude and relationship with the one offering the forgiveness. Offerings, like this one, are not cheap. They cost, it involves the death of an animal which is then eaten in celebration of the deliverance and release. The offering, although commanded when one wants to give thanks, is voluntary. It has to be from a willing and truly grateful heart, something not forced but genuine. Yet a command it is, obedience has to be mixed with genuine volition and emotional expression.
A life lived in ungratefulness denies the very real blessings of G-d; it is tantamount to denying Him from whom all good things come. Being grateful actually places you into a submitted relationship with the G-d who provides, a relationship of giver and receiver, a relationship founded on the goodness of G-d and His mercy and grace. This is not a case of standing before G-d and saying, ‘I deserve this because I did so and so’, this offering is from an awareness that G-d as sovereign has given, blessed and acted or intervened on my behalf. Thankfulness restores a relationship out of balance because you have to humble yourself before the One whose love and generosity stretch far beyond your own and from whom you receive unwarranted good things.
Thanksgiving says you have a healthy relationship with G-d. If you know that being thankful and showing it is not large in your life, it is time for a spiritual check up. Only someone who ‘gives thanks in everything’ truly knows who G-d is, and who they are.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Vayikra
The bloody path of returning to G-d
Jewish children of five years old begin their Torah study with this book, otherwise known as the Torat Cohanim, the Torah for the Priests. How ghastly to start with something as horrific and bloodthirsty as animal sacrifices! Surely we should begin with the Creation, or the building of the Mishkan, something visual and hands on. But no, it begins with sacrifices. And don’t be put off by the alternative title as if it only is meant for the priests to read and do. We, the lay-people, are not untouched by these things either. As if to make this point Vayikra begins with a vav of continuation from Shemot (Exodus), we’ve just finished building the Mishkan and now straight to what was going to happen there: sacrifices.
How hard it is for us modern, liberal, western democratised Jews of the 21st century to visualise the Holy place, blood spattered and smelling, animal carcasses around the place, some being burned and the smoke and aroma ascending. Surely though, that is now our problem: we have a highly sanitised view of G-d, who He is and what He demands of us. Yet the opening verse here should quickly change our minds. The word kara is used (and a further 9 times in Vayikra alone) where normally amar would be used. It seems that with this emphatic verb G-d is saying ‘this is so important it needs to be proclaimed, called out, spoken loudly or declared to Israel’. It was the purpose of the Mishkan to not only be G-d’s dwelling place in the midst of us but to be the vehicle for maintaining the sacrifices: sacrifice made a way for G-d to dwell with us. This is the important link G-d wants to ‘shout from the rooftops’!
Why should this be so important? Again the answer is in the Hebrew text. From the Midrash Rabbah we have R. Abbahu noting that the word for offering (karban) has the root for ‘draw near’ (karav), the two are interlinked. The message of sacrifice is that to draw near to G-d, or approach Him, we have to come with a sacrifice. Sacrifice makes a way to approach Him who is otherwise unapproachable because of our sin. So what is sacrifice? Can we define it apart from the nuts and bolts of the actual act? Yes we can. Sacrifice is a price paid FOR something. In Vayikra 1:4 it says that the animal dies as an atonement on behalf of the one offering it. This can be seen as a transaction completed, a contract made that satisfies both parties to it, an exchange of acceptance or agreed values/status. Seen this way we see that G-d certainly does not need sacrifice as if He were some angry, tempestuous, capricious or bloodthirsty deity who needed appeasing. Far from it; this is a purchase and a statement of contractual standing, this satisfies justice and righteousness.
In fact we might say WE need it far more than He does, but then again we didn’t instigate sacrifice, He did… He always has put sacrifice in place for us, because we are not able to. We wouldn’t understand what is needed to satisfy the just and righteous standards of G-d. Sacrifice is also death, and here the exchange element is brought out strongly, the animal dies in your place. Understanding sacrifice in this way lifts Yeshua’s own statement that ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ to a high level. Only by HIS sacrifice can we actually draw near to Father G-d. Only by that exchange, purchase is redemption possible. And we have forgotten just how bloody and costly Yeshua’s sacrifice was, the agony and visual, physical nightmare it must have been.
Sacrifice is not barbaric but integral to our faith and identity as Jews. Some would have us believe that this is now over, the Temple gone and that ‘pleasant, nice’ times are here to stay. Think again, the Temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices will start again at some point with Mashiach in the Temple as High Priest overseeing it all.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei
Why His way is not our way
There are three themes that link together in this portion: The commandments about Shabbat, the freewill offerings given by the people and the building of the Mishkan.
Why start this set of three with Shabbat? Interestingly Adam and Chava’s life after they were created began with Shabbat. Man’s thinking would be to start with the first working day of the week, but no, it began with Shabbat. This shows that they couldn’t ‘do’ anything for G-d, make anything, it was all done for them. They inherited it all by sheer dint of the fact that G-d had created them and given them life. They began with rest before they had begun to work! The world can’t understand this, surely you rest after you’ve worked. Not so, in G-d’s way you rest before you are able to work for Him.
Thus the building of the Mishkan could only begin once the Shabbat keeping had been established and was secure. We can’t actually work for Him until we enter His rest. First we have to make sacred time, a chronological space, and then we can put something in it. Once we’ve entered that place of rest we realise that everything has been done by G-d already, we just need to walk into our inheritance as He guides us. That is how we walk and work with G-d.
And neither was this command to build and have Shabbat given to an individual. We have got so used to thinking individualistically that we forget that these were given to the whole community. In Shemot (Exodus) 35:1 we read that Moses assembled the whole congregation of Israel together to be involved with the construction. Why the focus on the community? The answer lies in the building and the giving.
A team of builders will accomplish so much more than a solitary builder. We are now so used to doing our own thing that this concept seems vaguely cultic today, yet it is the bedrock of building G-d’s Mishkan and His work. Likewise a solitary donator achieves little with the finances given to him/her. But a community giving can achieve much for G-d. This ‘body ministry’ is the foundation also in the Messianic Writings, the body of believers who together carry out G-d’s work. If you work in a team you are not able to vault your own work above that of others, you readily recognise that each person has what you lack and vice versa, so you esteem others higher than yourself, in fact you need them!
G-d’s community intention is for our growth, and that is directly linked to how you are connected relationally. Relational growth is biblical, Torah growth.
As a body we are called to build not demolish. We are to confront error, convict of sin and bring correction, and it is the Spirit of G-d that achieves these things. But we can become so negative that our initial reaction to anything is ‘it won’t work’, or we habitually criticise any work of G-d or the people leading it. That’s demolishing. Our active response to G-d is of building, working for Him as slaves to righteousness. We are called to use the tools He has given us, even if we don’t like them! G-d isn’t concerned whether you like the person you’re sitting next to, the Leadership or anything else; you are called to work with what G-d has provided. Equally what we build may not meet your idea of beauty or conform to your own standards of acceptability or design. This building is G-d’s not yours. It has a purpose higher than yours, and will be built in the way He chooses.
So the key to building what G-d wants is to first enter His rest of Shabbat in the fullness of what Shabbat signifies and means. Then He expects us to build and work together for His glory, both in giving as well as in relationships.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Ki Tisa
“I’m sorry everyone, I’ve got a load of things to do today and I’m in a hurry so I need to rush through this.” Hmm, have you noticed we are always in a hurry? This has to be done, that has to be done. Even in our work, pressure is on us to meet deadlines etc…
This week’s Sidra tells us that Moshe was still on the mountain with the L-rd and the people had become impatient waiting for Moshe to come down the mountain. He had been there nearly 40 days, he could be dead for all they knew, after all he was getting on in years. So they demanded of Aharon to make them a god of gold. I could talk about how weak Aharon was buckling under pressure, but hey, don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. But I think you all know where I am going with this, their lack of patience led them into sin, a grave sin.
In the Messianic Writings, the letter to the Messianic Jews chapter 11 tells us that Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham were all men of faith. Noah was a tzadikh in his own day; he had to wait 120 years before G-d did what he said he would do, and that was to destroy the earth. Avraham had to wait many years before Yitzchak, the blessing that G-d promised through his seed, was born. We are told that the delay was a time of testing for Avraham.
Again, because of her sin, Yis’rael’s entry into the promised land was delayed from 40 days to 40 years.
The Haftarah reading (M’lakhim Alef 18: 7 – 15).
G-d sends Eli’yahu to appear before Achav. On the way, he meets Ovadyah who was a steward in the palace, and who loved the L-rd. Eli’yahu tells him to go ahead and tell the king that Eli’yahu was coming soon. Ovadyah was quite anxious about doing this as Eli’yahu had a reputation of not being where they thought he should be. However, Eli’yahu assures him he will be there on that same day.
In life there is always a time of waiting. We have to wait in a queue nearly every time we go to the supermarket. We have to wait in a doctor’s surgery or a bank. If we order something by post or over the internet or eBay, we have to wait until it is delivered. (And we watch for the postman every day until it comes, sitting by the window, wondering why he is late, again! And you get on to the post office and have a go at those who don’t know anything about it, because you wanted it yesterday!!!!!). (Joking)
We all know what it is like to wait. In Acts 1:4, Yeshua told the talmidim not to leave Yerushalayim until they had been immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh as the Father had promised.
When blessing comes from G-d there is nearly always a waiting period. And we are not to be idle or complacent; the talmidim in Acts 1 watched and prayed together until the day of Shavu’ot when the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them.
Yesha’yahu says in 40: 31: “But those who wait on the L-RD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Let us be people who ‘wait on the L-rd’. Let us rest in Him; if it means you have to get up an hour earlier, so be it.
Silently now, I wait for Thee
Ready my G-d Thy will to see
Open my eyes illume in me
Spirit Divine.
Torah: Sh’mot 32: 1- 6; Haftarah: M’lakhim Alef 18: 1 – 15; Messianic Writings: Acts 1.
Rabbi Boaz
Parashat Tetzaveh
There are a number of key themes running through the building and equipping of the Mishkan (tabernacle), the altar with its incense and impact on the senses designed to remind us of the need for constant prayer, and the eternal light filling the area with light indicative of G-d’s presence eternally with us. We also now read of commandments to make garments for Aaron, for the priesthood. The Mishkan in all its glory and beauty would be ineffectual if the priesthood didn’t take up their role and calling and function before the Lord as they should. Aaron as the first High Priest had very special garments made for him. And again, we notice, these were commanded by G-d and made for him, he didn’t do this himself. The garments that marked him out in his special role were designed in Heaven and made on earth. G-d gave him this calling, and G-d equipped him with the garments to fulfil it.
What then is the point of this beautiful construction and the specially clothed priests? The point is that G-d has designed the place where He is to be worshipped as something wonderfully beautiful and visually powerful, as also those called to function there. The articles and clothing are declared to be ‘things of glory’. But the critical point about this is as Maimonides also saw, that the articles were to bring G-d that glory not man. This was not to exalt a person, nor even the place in itself as if somehow the garments or construction had some external mystical qualities. No, the visual impact was to evoke a response in people to worship G-d and give HIM all the glory. Once again we see that the visual external things are so designed by G-d to lead us into a closer walk with Him and give Him glory. And these things are GIVEN by revelation by G-d to us, they are not things we design or have input into, we are shown, commanded, told how to do it.
We live in an age where we have lost the sense of all this. People don’t connect any more with the fact that G-d has the right to lead us into worship and give Him the glory in the ways that He alone wants. He takes the external, visual prompts seriously as they reflect on Him. It does MATTER where we worship, how we worship, with what we worship. When man gets his hands on these things, rather than listening to G-d, he fails to see the deeper connections, trivialising that which actually has huge importance.
And the importance is this: G-d gives us designs, garments, buildings, talents and gifts which are meant to be used for His glory alone. It all comes FROM Him and we are to function within it as He designs and sets out. In fact, this is made even clearer in the text this week. When G-d calls for the ordination of Aaron and his sons He doesn’t tell them how grand they will look all dressed up, how much respect they’ll get from the people because they look so special. No, He doesn’t focus on the garments at all because those are for Him alone. The focus in the ordination is somewhere else. The Hebrew used here for ordination is ‘limaleh yadim’, to fill the hands. The traditional understanding is very instructive here, that the hands of the priests would be full of the offerings being brought by the people to the altar of HaShem. In other words, the ordination was directly linked with serving the people, allowing them to worship and offer sacrifices to the Lord. Literally, the priests and leaders of the people would have their hands full with that job!!
We see this reflected in the offerings commanded at the ordination too, unleavened bread. Unleavened bread reminds us of servitude, being a servant or slave. We keep the Matzah even today during Pesach precisely because it reminds us that we were slaves to sin and have been bought to now be the servants of G-d in righteousness. At Shavuot we eat leavened bread in the offering because we have been set free to follow G-d in the commandments He gave. Also, the priests had no means of support for themselves, they were directly dependant on the offerings given by the people to live; this represented again the fact that they served the people. As the priests served the people and so served G-d, they led the people closer to G-d. A crucial and critical role to have, and one that is very serious. If it worked, then G-d would get all the glory, which was and is His desire even today.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Terumah
God’s Blueprint
Nothing in the universe is left up to chance. We do not live in an unpredictable, unplanned cosmos wrought by the hidden uncontrolled hand of statistical randomness. The universe, all creation, runs according to the rules set down by the only God, of Avraham Yitzchak and Ya’akov. It is not a cold unfathomable place, hostile to humanity, far from it. It is a warm and above all righteous place perfectly designed for humanity to live in and thrive there, if we follow the moral code, the guidelines by which all things run and prosper. To attempt to operate the ‘kit’ in a different way will result in an inevitable crash, a universal blue screen of death. The Torah, the complete Mitzvot, outlines for us the user instructions that make the universe tick. And one of the main lessons we are to learn from the Torah about how the universe ticks is included in this week’s portion. It is here that we read of the building of the Tabernacle/ Mishkan, and the offerings brought in order to build it.
A fundamental lesson is learnt not so much as asking WHY the Mishkan was built (although that is a very good question), but HOW. And as we consider this it is no wonder that we see something very special about the construction. Let’s ask the obvious question: What does all building work begin with? The foundations. You dig deep in order to build up, a basically vertical concept. But this is not so with this construction. What we see here is that the construction work begins in the middle and works out: the Ark, followed by the Holy of Holies and so on until we reach the outside badger skins and the opening flap. It is a horizontal concept. From this we learn that all building work undertaken by the Lord God starts with Him. He is at the centre and everything extends out from Him. The design has His fingerprints all over it; He says effectively, if this building project will stand and last, and be used as it should be, ‘fit for purpose’, then God has to be at the centre and everything emanates from Him outwards to us, not vice versa. The work is always from God’s perspective not ours. We think ‘up’ He thinks ‘out’. God has planned that His presence will come to us, we need to learn that we can’t ‘find’ God (and people have tried). We can call upon His name, and the Torah says He will be found, but that is as He responds to our desire to know Him and be with Him. In Psalm 127:1, it says that unless Lord builds the house we labour in vain. If we think we can build anything for G-d we are wrong. Our own ideas are effectively worthless in comparison to HIS eternal ideas. In fact with the Mishkan not only did God tell Moshe how big it was to be and what materials to use, He even told him who was to build it, Bezazel and Aholiab, men who had been gifted to build it. Nothing was left to chance or random design, this place was to represent the footstool of God on this earth. His will is interpreted to us through His designs, choices, callings and giftings. This place was the ‘Palace’ if you like of our God on earth, He rules from there. The Kingdom of God begins to take shape amongst our people, a theocracy where His rule is absolute, a benign dictator.
Messianic Judaism is a reformational, revived form of Judaism. Whenever such reconstruction work is undertaken you should always take a look at the foundations before starting to build or add to. Our foundations as Jews in our Jewish lives is drawn from Torah, and not just as text or a historical narrative, but as revelation from God. Within it we read of core, foundational principles as we see here in the construction of the Mishkan. It is why in Messianic Judaism we uphold and teach the centrality of God Himself in our midst. Upon this Rock we shall build and have safe foundations, through Him alone will we see this reformational work grow and extend out to fill the anticipated and projected borders, physically, theologically and ethnologically.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Mishpatim
“These are the rulings you are to present to them: If you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to work six years; but in the seventh, he is to be given his freedom without having to pay anything. If he came single, he is to leave single; if he was married when he came, his wife is to go with him when he leaves. But if his master gave him a wife, and she bore him sons or daughters, then the wife and her children will belong to her master, and he will leave by himself. Nevertheless, if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children, so I don’t want to go free,’ then his master is to bring him before G-d; and there at the door or doorpost, his master is to pierce his ear with an awl; and the man will be his slave for life.”
In this Torah portion, Moshe details many of G-d’s laws to the Israelites. These include laws about worshipping other gods, kashrut, business ethics and treatment of animals. G-d outlines the details of three holidays: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. G-d provides an angel to protect the Israelites from their enemies, and warns the Israelites not to worship other gods. Moshe goes up to Mount Sinai to meet with G-d for 40 days and 40 nights, leaving Aaron and Hur in charge.
The exodus from Egyptian slavery culminated with the giving of the covenant to a new nation of ex-slaves. The people of Israel carried in their bodies and souls the indelible marks of their former brutal and harsh slavery. The people of Israel were free men and their relationship with the Torah was to be one of voluntary compliance, not forced compulsion.
B’nei Yis’rael suffered great cruelty whilst slaves in Egypt. HaShem announced to Moshe their freedom. And in Sh’mot 7:16, Par’oh was told: “And thou shalt say unto him: The L-RD, the G-d of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying: Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness…”
The Children of Is’rael were not set free to do as they liked. Many people today think exactly that. They walk in and out of congregations, walking all over G-d’s anointed leaders and the people as they wish. All in the name of freedom: “because I have been set free from the law, It’s G-d and me, I hear from G-d”. But do they?
Hashem sets us free, to serve Him. How can we serve G-d, who is a Spirit? Whilst the JPS and NKJV and AV all use the word serve in Sh’mot 7:16, the CJB, NIV and others use the word ‘Worship.’
So firstly we serve G-d with worship.
We serve G-d in our worship, in our singing, praying and reading his word. The Cohanim served G-d in the Tabernacle and the temple, preparing the way for our corporate worship.
Secondly, our service to HaShem is not just spiritual, but physical. How then can we serve a G-d who is spirit?
Well, G-d may be spirit, but He does have a body. And that is where we serve Him. Are we not all Talmidim of Messiah? And yet He showed us examples of service when He took a towel and washed His talmidim’s feet, the work of the lowliest servant in the house.
Rav Sha’ul says to the Messianic community in Galatia: “For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbour as yourself””
We are all SAVED to SERVE; we are the called out ones, called out of bondage in Egypt to serve the living G-d. We do this by worshipping Him and by serving each other through our community. And if you are not participating in the community, if you turn up on a Shabbat and that’s it for the week, then you are not serving. We need to be fully involved, looking for what needs to be done, seeing a need, seeing where our gifts can be best used.
Hear the call and respond. A number in the scriptures responded immediately: Kefa and Andrew straight away left their nets and answered Yeshua’s call. Kefa’s mother-in-law, after Yeshua had healed her, got up and ministered (served) them.
FINALLY – JOY IN SERVICE “With joy they offered great sacrifices that day, for G-d had made them celebrate with great joy. The women and children too rejoiced, so that the celebrating in Yerushalayim could be heard far off.” Nehemiah 12:43.
After all the hard work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, there was great joy. There is joy in serving our great G-d if we love and serve Him with all our heart, soul and mind.
Rabbi Boaz
Parashat Yitro
Setting boundaries for protection
This portion begins with our people waiting before Mount Sinai, encamped 3 days, expectant, having been commanded to go out and worship Him ‘on this mountain’. They had purified themselves and the encounter with G-d and Moshe is about to begin.
Curiously Moshe is told to do something, read Shemot (Exodus) 19:10-13 and 21. He is told to ‘set bounds’ or build fences around the mount, to stop people breaking through. Isn’t it strange that these fences should be built? Surely G-d wants us to draw close to Him? Why prevent us? The text makes it clear, lest we die. The contact of holy with unholy would mean certain death for us, in fact this is true even now, if we stand before G-d not having our sins removed, we shall surely die. So what is this all about? How can we understand this on a deeper level?
G-d wants us to know that He can only be approached in the way He sets out. With fear, reverence and awe of who He is: Not just running into His Presence. To draw close is to become more holy, set apart and distinct from this world. If G-d seems far away, look at your life and you will see who has moved. G-d sets boundaries and fences, He wants us to know how to approach safely because He wants us to approach. But we have to know who He is and how utterly holy and ‘other’ He is. We have to know our G-d. Why does G-d set boundaries? Because He does not desire the death of the sinner. He desires that all would get saved and experience His salvation and redemption, but if someone were to blunder in He would have to take their life and G-d does not want to do that. That is why He gives commandments, His teachings, it is all about how to live and approach Him for fellowship, have a safe relationship with Him. The teachings are not about appeasement to a capricious or angry G-d, but lead us to atonement for sin and transgression.
We can get self-righteous about this, surely they deserve to die, just look at them. Well, we all deserve it just as much as ‘them’. Self-righteousness may make you feel good because it makes you look better, but it cuts no ice with G-d. His prerogative is correction leading to reintegration and ultimate restoration of man to man relationships as well as G-d to man. G-d’s love means He sets boundaries so we don’t fall into sin and die: Read 2 Peter 3:9.
So what are G-d’s boundaries? We begin to see them in this passage clearly. Shemot (Ex) 20 lists for us the first of G-d’s teachings. Often misnamed the 10 Commandments, they are actually the first 10 of His sayings or words to us. Each commandment in fact is seen as the chapter heading for the rest, so the Shabbat one encompasses all the festivals and high holy days in it, including the concept of creating holy time. This is why Yeshua Mashichaynu says in Matt 5:19 the ‘least of these commandments’, referring to the commandments in the subset of each ‘greater’ commandment.
The Torah was given on 2 tablets, the first 5 are directed to our relationship towards G-d, the rest towards man; again what Yeshua established as true in Matt 19:16-22, the man had kept his G-d directed commands but failed to keep the neighbour ones. Yeshua’s own summary of Torah should be instructive for us in Matt 22:34-40: ‘Love the Lord your G-d…and your neighbour as yourself’. We fail to be obedient if we get this out of kilter; we can become very spiritual people but miss out loving our neighbour, or become very socially minded and miss out on G-d. Both are wrong, together they are right.
Yeshua said that all the Torah and Prophets hang on the 2 summaries, is that understanding to be kept for us as Jews only? Are those from the nations not free to worship the Lord with all their heart etc? We should be reaching out to those not born Jewish and call to them saying ‘Come and join us in worshipping G-d’. If Yeshua is the Mashiach (Messiah) for us as Jews, He is for those not born Jewish too. G-d is the only G-d and we need to point others to Him too. They too can and should respond to the offer of salvation and come in to join Israel and follow the One true G-d and His Mashiach.
So stay within G-d’s boundaries, they are there for a purpose: to make you holy and allow you to approach Him. Whoever you are!
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Beshalach
Tu b’shevat, the 15th of Shevat, is a day designated as the New Year for trees. Our Land has always been a fruitful and blessed, fertile Land, while at the same time having the potential to be incredibly dry and arid, a living picture to the narrow balance we have in Israel between being blessed of the Lord, relying on His faithfulness to provide (as we see today in the portion, manna) and the arid consequences of His removing that blessing if we fail to walk in righteousness and faith as a nation.
To plant a tree is to act in faith for the future and in so many ways helps the desert to bloom. And trees have a prophetic place in the Jewish scriptures, drawing a visual metaphor for true righteousness for all who draw close to the Lord: Ps 1:1-3 and Jeremiah 17:7-8. We are called to be like trees that draw the sap from the Lord alone, good sweet water that will cause good fruit to grow, fruit that others can and should eat – not just as individuals but also as our national prophetic call.
The Temple in Jerusalem will have an interesting role in this regard; read Ezekiel 47:1-2, 7-12. This tree(s) is talked about in Shemot Rabbah where it tells us about the darkness of winter giving way to the light of spring; so it is with the coming of Mashiach and says ‘in future trees will bear fruit every month and men shall eat thereof and be healed’. You will recognise the passage of course as it is further developed in Revelation 22:1-2. This river that flows out from the Temple has as its spiritual source the very presence of God, which is of course why the Shekinah filled the Mishkan to make such a point. It is this life giving water that feeds those connected to it, ultimately all Israel, and allows us as His people to fulfil our calling.
And what is that calling? On one level I can hear you all saying ‘to be a light to the nations’. Yes, true, but the passages also tell us what this is: the leaves are as medicine, or as Revelation puts it, for the healing of the nations. The fruit and leaves that we produce as Israel should be something that brings healing to the nations, the non-Jewish people… the fruit is not for us.
The portion this week narrates an interesting cause and effect as we left Egypt. Read Exodus 14:31. God acts in miraculous supernatural power which produces in us FEAR. Fear then, once channelled, took us to a place of belief, both in God and His servant Moshe through whom He spoke. You’d think that that would be enough; we feared God and believed in Him. Well, so do the unclean and demonic spirits… As challenging as it is, we have to conclude that if Israel, our people, us, are to be a part in bringing healing to the nations from our spiritual fruit, then fear of and belief in God is not going to be enough.
The highest commandment is to LOVE God. As we left Egypt we were aware for the first time in 400 years of God’s reality – that He was. We hadn’t yet begun to know Him; that would come later as He fed us, watered us and shepherded us through the wilderness. And it is this bit that is vital to understand because without it, the ‘knowing God’ bit, the ‘having a relationship with the living God of Israel and our Fathers’ bit, we will not be able to fulfil our calling. We as Israel MUST love God and love our neighbours if we are to have any impact at all; after all this is the highest Torah command. The same theme is picked up by Yochanan in his first letter 1 John 4:7-12, 16-19. Notice also how it is love that drives out fear… Now it IS healthy to fear God, to be in awe of Him, but it is not the basis of a healthy relationship with God. And this relational base is even, I think, hidden from view right from the start as we walked out into the desert. We were commanded to go out and… serve Him, or worship Him (the same). You cannot serve or worship God truly without knowing Him. Genuine worship and service to God is relational, not fear-driven. Without the element of volition, service becomes slavery.
So, by our love all men will know… This is a challenge indeed. As Messianic Jews, the remnant of Israel, we have a particular role to play. We have created and established a firm basis and foundation for this renewed Judaism that is based on faith in Yeshua, His sacrificial death view website. We have been theologising and building our communities. All of this is good but is not what will have an impact. It’s not our services, nor our Hebrew ability or fluency, nor our knowledge of tradition, Talmud or even Torah that will convince, it is whether we are demonstrating the one thing we CAN offer: the love of God and love for our fellow man. This is the highest commandment. God gave a sacrifice for sin, His Son, bearing the shame and pain that that entailed, because He loved us first. Love is shown, demonstrated, not just felt. Feelings come and go, love remains.
Love like this WILL cost you, in terms of time, finances or talents vjxln4d. But we have no choice. Our model has been set by Mashiach for all time. Love gives all and is fundamentally willing to stand in the gap for those around as much as Yeshua Himself intercedes for us forever. It’s why in leaders like Moshe you see a willingness to sacrifice themselves for the people: love in action.
Remember the trees? They were able to bring forth fruit and leaves because they drew from the river, the presence of God. In many ways our critics in other forms of Judaism are right; we’ll probably never be able to compete with them at what they do, but neither should we be disheartened by that; what we have to offer we do. We bring the love of God to others and worship Him in spirit and in truth. We exist to show that God is alive and His salvation offer still valid for all and any that would call on His name. We have the testimony of lives healed and changed because of forgiven sin, not just hoped for forgiveness but real forgiveness, with all the release and removal of guilt, failure and condemnation that otherwise would be ours.
We have a record here of an ancient theme in Judaism linking the healing of the nations with the original trees in Gan Eden. This is a powerful reminder of our calling as Jews and as Israel, to be a light to the nations and bring the message of salvation and love to all who need that healing.
Rabbi Binyamin
Parashat Bo
In last week’s Parasha, G-d brought seven of the plagues on Egypt and each time we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart. In this week’s Parasha, G-d brought a further three plagues upon them: a plague of locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. After the first of these three, the locusts, Pharaoh called for Moshe and said…
“I have sinned against ADONAI your G-d and against you. Now, therefore, please forgive my sin just this once; and intercede with ADONAI your G-d, so that he will at least take away from me this deadly plague! He went out from Pharaoh and interceded with ADONAI. ADONAI reversed the wind and made it blow very strongly from the west. It took up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Suf; not one locust remained on Egyptian soil. But ADONAI made Pharaoh hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Israel go.”
Seven times the L-rd gave Pharaoh the time to repent and make teshuvah and we are told ‘Pharaoh hardened his heart’. This time however G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and brought about the next plague of thick darkness that could be felt.
So what am I trying to say? It brings the message home to us that we do not know when our end will be.
Whether you know G-d and Yeshua is your Messiah – or maybe you are battling some problem and are resisting G-d – or whether you just do not know G-d at all – do not harden your heart towards Him, but “Seek the L-rd while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. “For, for you today is the day of Salvation.
Rabbi Boaz