Author: Steven R. Bruck

Just How Many Pilgrim Festivals Are There, Really?

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If you were to ask most any American, “What is a pilgrim festival?” I’ll bet their answer will be “Why, that would be Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November.”

But that isn’t really a pilgrim festival, is it?

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For us religious types, a pilgrim festival is one where we are required to congregate at our respective house of worship, be that a synagogue, a church, or a mosque.

You know, I have been reading the Bible for over 25 years, nearly every, single day, and have gone through it at least 2 dozen times, and what is wonderful about this book is that even when you have read it as often as I have, not to mention all the studies I have been involved with requiring me to research throughout the Bible, you can still read something you have read over and over, and see a new truth in it.

So, nu? What am I leading to? It’s this: I have always known that there are three pilgrim festivals in Judaism: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

If you do an Internet search for “Jewish pilgrimage festivals” on Google, you will get any number of “hits”, from Britannica’s site to the one called My Jewish Learning to Wikipedia, and so on, and they will all tell you that the Jewish pilgrim festivals are Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

Now here’s the thing that hit me just the other day as my daily reading had me in Leviticus, Chapter 23…there are actually 6 pilgrim festivals in Judaism!

That’s right! Not 3 or 4 or even 5, but there are 6 times that God says we are to have a holy convocation, which translates to being physically at the Temple.

That means from the time after we entered the land, which was when the first Shavuot began, people were required to go to the Tent of Meeting (first at Gilgal, then Shiloh, then Jerusalem) until we had Solomon’s Temple. But, after 73 AD, when Roman soldiers destroyed the temple, we had nowhere to go to fulfill the commandments regarding pilgrim festivals.

Here’s an interesting side note: although Pesach (Passover) was celebrated before we entered the Land, Shavuot and Sukkot were not to be celebrated, and Habikurim (First Fruits) also had to wait until we were established in Canaan. God stated, specifically, that these were to be celebrated AFTER we entered the Land (see Leviticus 23:9).

So, this was quite a revelation to me- all these years I was teaching that there are three pilgrim festivals because that is what I was taught, but I was wrong.

Let’s go to the Book of Leviticus (CJB) and see what God says is to be a holy convocation:

Pesach is a pilgrim festival for two reasons: one, because all sacrifices had to be made at the place where God put his name (Deuteronomy 16:6), and secondly because we are to have a holy convocation on the first day of Hag HaMatzot.

It certainly looks to me that God wants us to congregate together on the first day of Hag HaMatzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread), then again on Shavuot, then again on Rosh Hashanah (originally called Yom Teruah, Day of Trumpets), then again on Yom Kippur, and finally on the first day and the eighth day of Sukkot, which is called Yom Atzeret, also known as Simchat Torah.

Now, some may say that some of these holy convocations were included with the required presence at the temple, so they don’t really count as a separate pilgrimage. Maybe there’s some truth to that, but God specifies 6 holy convocations, and for me, that means there are 6 separate and unique times we are to be at the temple.

So, this certainly begs the question: How could I have read and studied the Torah for so many years, and never seen, which has always been right in front of my face, that there are really 6 pilgrim festivals, not just three?

My answer is that I have been doing what so many people do, which is reading the Bible but only seeing what I have been told is there.

Most people, if you ask me, are at the height of spiritual ignorance because they don’t read the Bible at all. The next level down is those who hear others tell them what is in the Bible, but don’t bother to verify what they are told.

The level I was on all this time when reading Leviticus 23 and never noticing the true number of holy convocations was the level where I am reading the Bible but only seeing what I already know it says.

This is probably why so many people who do read the Bible miss so much of what is in there- we have blinders, blinders that were placed on our eyes by religion, which told us what the Bible says, So, even though we are looking right at it, we only see what we have been told is there.

This is why it is so important to pray to God and ask for Holy Spirit guidance each and every time we read the Bible, so that we can be freed of the blinders religion has placed on our eyes.

The scary thing is that now I have to wonder: How many other things in God’s word have I read and not understood properly?

The comforting thing, though, is that now that I know this has happened, I will be doubly careful and much more aware of what I am reading.

The bottom line for all of us is to recognize the potential that no matter how many times we have gone through the Bible, we may still be reading something but not seeing it.

Let me finish with telling you what I will be doing, and suggest you do the same: from this moment on, I am reading with both eyes open, and accept the fact that as well as I know the Bible, I may not know it all correctly.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah B’ha’alotecha 2022 (When you set up) Numbers 8 – 12

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Moses has set up the tabernacle and consecrated it. Now he consecrates all the Levi’im as separated for God, in place of all the firstborn that God destroyed in Egypt.

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We are told how the camp would remain where they were when the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, and how they travelled when the cloud moved. No matter how long the cloud stayed, or how long it kept moving, the people did as the cloud led them.

The people complained, as always, about no meat and how they had it better in Egypt, so Moses asks God to just kill him if he has to continue to deal with all these complaints. God tells Moses to pick out 70 trustworthy men and they will share the load with Moses, as God will place some of the spirit he gave to Moses on them.

The order of march is given to us, so we know how the people moved, who was first and who was last, and the final chapter deals with when Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. The punishment God meted out was to cause Tzara’at (leprosy) to appear on Miriam. Moses immediately prayed for her to be cured, and God did that, but also shut her outside the camp for a week.

There are some interesting things in here, at least, interesting to me.

One is the giving of the spirit to the 70 elders in the camp. Even though two of them did not appear with the others at the Tabernacle, as Moses had told them, they also received the spirit. That makes me wonder if they refused to come, or just forgot, or had something else come up. In any case, God did what Moses asked him to do, even though it seems that these two refused to be part of it.

But that’s not the only thing I wondered about- we are told in Exodus 18 that Moses’ father-in-law suggests delegating authority to others to take the load off of Moses in dealing with disputes, and even goes as far as to tell Moses that God commands it. Every time I read that passage, I wondered, “How did Jethro know God commanded it?”

And now, here in this parashah, we see that God does command Moses to pick 70 men to help him in dealing with the people, so is this the same event?

In this parashah we also read that Moses asks his brother-in-law to stay with the people as they travel. To me, it makes sense that when Jethro brought his wife and children out to Moses that maybe other members of the family came with them. If so, then the brother-in-law could have been there when Jethro made his suggestion to Moses.

I don’t know, absolutely, if these two Torah stories are the same event, but it seems so to me. After all, it is no secret that the books of the Torah are not in strict chronological order, and some events are repeated in different books.

Another part of this particular parashah that I love is the last chapter, Chapter 12, where Miriam and Aaron speak out against Moses. Not because of what happened, but because this parashah is the passage I read at my Bar Mitzvah, which I had on the same day I celebrated my 13th birthday, and guess what today is?

That’s right. Of course, it was quite a while ago that I was 13, but this is the very passage I read on this same day of the year, all those many years ago.

And I constantly use this particular Torah story when talking about praying. Especially when people pray on and on, or ask God to heal someone specifying exactly, in inordinate detail, what God should do in order to heal them.

I believe we should ask God for help by following Moses’ example. Here we have Moses seeing his big sister white as death, yet in his shock and anguish at her fate, all he says is:

“Oh God, I beg you, please, heal her!” (CJB)

That’s all he said, and I believe it is because he trusted God to know what to do.

That’s called faith!

We should demonstrate that level of trust and faith, ourselves, when asking God to help someone. Wordiness is not faithfulness, and going an-and-on-and-on is not going to make God any more inclined to do something.

And I have to consider (disagree if you will) that God, as patient as he is, when someone is telling him how to heal and what to do and where to do it, he has to be thinking something along the lines of:

“Really? You think I don’t know what to do? “

So today’s message is this: trust in God to know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and even if it should be done.

When it comes to asking God for anything, I go by the old KISS rule:

Keep It Simple, Schlemiel!

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, and while on the website please buy my books.

If you like what you get in these messages, you will like my books. I guarantee it.

Also, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word (read and agree to the rules, please) and remember this: I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Sometimes It’s Just Life

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There was this man I knew when I was attending a Messianic Synagogue in Northeast Philadelphia. He had a gentle disposition, a real heart for God, and one other thing, which we talked about now and then: he felt that everything that happened to him, good or bad, was from God.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Now, we all know that God is in charge- no question about that.

I, myself, have been in charge of people most of my career, either through given authority as a Marine Corp Officer, or by assumed authority, meaning I was always the “Duty Expert”. And in that position, I learned long ago that being in charge doesn’t always mean taking charge.

(Off the topic: tomorrow is my 68th birthday, and now when I say “long ago”, it is much more literal than I care to think about.)

Back to the main point- what I am saying is that very often, when you have people under your authority who are expected to perform their duties, even though the “buck stops here” means in your lap, there are a lot of other people handling that particular buck before it gets to you, and it is just a part of life that sometimes the buck gets mishandled.

As a retired IT professional, one who started as a programmer and ended up on the hardware side of the house, I can tell you absolutely that in any system, the weakest point of that system will always be where there is human intervention.

Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people- that is not necessarily God, or the Devil- it is (I believe) more often than not just… what… happens.

Look at all the people who do not really know or worship God (even some who think they do) as they go through life. We know that God will allow us to walk away from him, and that he hopes we will repent and return, but in the meantime, when we do not do as God has instructed us, we are on our own.

God will allow you to remain unprotected by him if you chose to ignore his commandments. Yes, he will still bless those who reject him, and sometimes hold blessings from those who accept him- after all, he is God and knows what he is doing.

Job and his friends learned that, the hard way.

We are told that God will bless those who bless the Jewish people and who obey his commandments (Genesis 12:3 and Deuteronomy 28, resp.), yet we are also told that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy (Exodus 33:19), so when good or bad happens, you need to ask yourself “Is this God, or just life?”

If you ask me, I’d say it’s probably just life.

My friend, the one I told you about at the beginning, once had his car break down. His explanation? He went shopping on a Saturday because he was out of food, and so as punishment God killed the clutch on his car.

Maybe God did, but I have to say I really doubt that the creator of the universe, the Lord, God, Almighty, savior and forgiver, and Judge of the world, went out of his way to destroy that guy’s clutch because he had no food and went shopping on a Saturday.

That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it? I mean, God could have just made him wait for a long time in line (that is almost a form of purgatory, in and of itself, right?), or had him run out of gas, or something not quite so expensive.

Or maybe, and I think much more likely, the clutch was going to break, anyway, and it just happened, as so often does in life, that it just happened to break right after this guy went shopping on the Shabbat.

Just like yesterday, the hottest day of the year so far for us here in Melbourne, Florida, that the motor of our outside AC unit decided to rust out and stop working. Not God, not the Devil, just life. “Murphy’s Law” in action.

Didn’t Yeshua ask who wouldn’t lift their donkey out of a hole on Shabbat? (Luke 14:5)

Does anyone here (and please comment on this, if you don’t mind) think that God will punish every single infraction of the Torah, every single time we have one?

I don’t.

If my job has me constantly on the road (as my friend’s job did), and come one Saturday morning I find there is nothing to eat in the house so I go to get some food, I believe that God is compassionate enough to give me a break and not punish me for traveling and spending money on the Sabbath just so that I can eat.

And for the Devil, well- why would he attack me if I was being sinful? That just doesn’t make sense, as Yeshua pointed out when he talked about a house divided against itself in Matthew 12:25.

No, the Enemy of God will not bother you when you are sinning. In fact, he will help you! The only time you can expect Satan to come after you is when you are doing something wonderful for God’s kingdom and encouraging others to seek God.

And even then, whatever happens may just be life. I’ll go on record saying that, as far as I am concerned, things that happen to you or others is more likely the result of just being alive than it is some form of divine, or devilish, interference.

When something bad or good happens to you, don’t sweat it. If it is a good thing, thank God anyway. If it is a bad thing, don’t automatically think the Devil is out to get you or that God is punishing you. But…if it is bad and it continues to happen, well, then maybe you should practice a little self-reflection; you know, just to be sure.

As for me, when either good or bad things happen to me, more often than not, I believe it’s just life.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Were the Egyptians Really Going to Kill the Israelites?

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We all know the story: God sends his 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, but not until the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, does Pharaoh give in to God and allow the Israelites to leave.

But then, what does Pharaoh do? He gives chase after them.

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And when the Israelites see the 600 chariots coming after them, what was their first reaction?

“And they said to Moses, ‘Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?’” (Exodus 14:11 JPS Tanakh)

I have always wondered why they would even think that?

I mean, c’mon- what was the only reason why Pharaoh wouldn’t let them leave in the first place? Wasn’t it because he needed them to be slaves?

Weren’t they the only labor force he had to build his own tomb, and to create the great edifices of Egypt?

Why in the world would he want to now slaughter them?

In the Torah (JPS Tanakh version), we read why Pharaoh went after the Israelites in Exodus 14: 5:

“And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned towards the people, and they said: ‘What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?‘”

Nu! Pharaoh never intended to kill them, just recapture them. But the people Moses led into the desert immediately assumed the worst possible situation.

Why? Later on, we read how they continually kvetched about everything- no water, no meat, no vegetables… yadda-yadda-yadda. Even when Korach rebelled, they didn’t want some other leader to take them to the land of milk and honey, but to take them back to Egypt!

Talk about wanting to stay in one’s comfort zone! Even when there was no comfort to be found in it.

Oy gevalt!

If you ask me, I think the reason they were so afraid is because of their lack of faith. And I am not talking about their lack of faith in God to save them, but their lack of faith in anything. Especially themselves.

I see this in people all the time, this general fear that they carry around with them like an albatross around their necks, but one that they refuse to let go of.

I read a book long ago, in a previous life when I was in a very bad marriage, that was called “The Dance of Anger.” In that book, the author pointed out how in an abusive relationship (either physically and/or verbally), when one of the partners tries to change it into something better, the other partner will refuse to cooperate, even going out of their way to resume the abusive relationship.

The reason the author says this happens is that the other partner is comfortable with the old relationship, even though it really isn’t comfortable, at all; it’s just what they are used to. The more one tries to “change the dance”, the more the other one tries to pull him or her back into the old relationship.

I lived that dance and no matter how hard I tried to change it, it was impossible for me to do that.

But that’s an entirely different story.

The Israelites had been slaves for 400 years, some 20 or more generations, and that was the only dance those people knew. Their mindset was one of conditioned slavery, and the idea that they would be free- even though they had been crying to be free- was so uncomfortable to them that when they were free, they would rather have gone back to slavery.

And we can still see this in so many Christian religions today.

Those who have been brought up with Christianity’s traditional teachings about which holidays are the ones to celebrate (consequently teaching which ones to ignore), what you are allowed to eat, when to rest, who to pray to, etc. all are attractive to the previously sinful lifestyle that the people lived.

I am sorry, but if you are thinking that Yeshua (Jesus) did away with the Law of Moses, let me fill you in on what being in your current comfort zone really is about:

  1. The Law of Moses isn’t the law of Moses- it is God’s law! The instructions he gave to Moses, so that Moses could teach those who worship God, are the way God wants us to act. Nowhere, ever, did God’s son, Messiah Yeshua, say we should ever act differently.
  2. The Christian religions we have today, which originally came out of Judaism, generally do not follow what God said to do. They have created their own holidays, their own Sabbath day, their own rituals, ceremonies, and tenets. And they are all man-made; and as I said, almost none of them are in accordance with God’s instructions.
  3. Yeshua preached to love God and each other- in that order. And the way he said to show that love is to be obedient (John 14:15; 1 John 5).
  4. Christians are told they should follow in Jesus’s footsteps, i.e., live and act as Jesus did. But Christianity has, over the centuries, rejected everything that Jesus did with regards to his worship of God and the lifestyle he led!

Sorry to burst your comfort zone bubble, but that’s the way it is, and if you don’t believe me, read the Gospels and show me where either God or Yeshua said to do any of the things that modern Christianity teaches people to do.

Show me where God said burying bones under the altar is a good thing to do.

Show me where Yeshua said to pray to him instead of to God.

Show me where God said he wants churches to be jam packed with statues of people and pictures of him and Yeshua, and that people should bow before them and pray to them.

Show me where God said to ignore the Holy Days he commanded us to celebrate.

Show me where Yeshua said people should celebrate holidays devoted to him, and not to God.

Show me where…well, you get the idea.

We are all born with original Sin, or as we say in Judaism, the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), and until we are old enough to know right from wrong, or good from evil, we do whatever our evil inclination tells us to do.

That’s why sinning is so much more comfortable and easy to do than living a righteous life.

And when we learn of something different, such as how God really wants you to live, that is so far outside of our comfort zone that we rebel; God wants us to learn how to dance a waltz with him, but we prefer to dance alone.

Can you believe it? We feel better dancing alone than dancing with God.

The Israelites who left slavery in Egypt decided they felt better under Pharaoh’s harsh and abusive rule than living free under God’s compassionate and loving rule.

And, for the most part, people are no different today.

Yeshua said we are all slaves to something (Matthew 6:24), either to God or to money (meaning earthly things), so it is up to you which master you will serve. I can tell you, absolutely, that it is much, MUCH easier to serve earthly things than to serve God.

But, if you care about where you spend eternity, then you need to break out of your comfort zone and get a new dance partner.

When you’re dancing with God and let him lead, you will be led to eternal peace; but, when you dance with the Devil, he will let you think you are leading but in the end, he will lead you to hell.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Do You Believe in God or Do You Acknowledge Him?

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After reading the title of today’s message, you might be asking, “Hey, I believe in God, so what’s missing?”

What might be missing is the difference between being told “Welcome, good and faithful servant” or “Be gone from me- I never knew you!”

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

I’m sure you are all familiar with the old saying, “In one ear and out the other”, right? That’s when we use selective hearing, and even though we heard what was being said, we never really paid enough attention to it to retain or even acknowledge what the other person was saying.

Aha! There’s that word, the very word upon which my entire message is based: acknowledge.

Many people believe in God, but that doesn’t mean you are saved.

Many people take the next step and believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah, but that doesn’t mean you are saved.

After all, every demon in Sheol (hell) not only believes in God and Yeshua, but they’ve seen them! Heck! They used to worship God at his feet.

But they’re not saved, are they?

The difference between believing in God and acknowledging God is how well we obey what God tells us to do. And, considering that God requires obedience (Isaiah 1:11), specifically obedience to his instructions in the Torah (which, for the record, Yeshua never-ever-even-once said could be ignored) means that if someone only believes in God but fails to even try to obey his Torah, then he (or she) doesn’t acknowledge God.

And what we do not acknowledge is, by definition, unimportant to us and we ignore whatever it is.

Do you like the idea that you might be ignoring God?

If someone is talking drek to me, I turn away from them and place my palm towards them and say, “Talk to the hand.” I believe the person is there, I believe the person exists, and I also believe the person is saying something to me that they think is important.

But I refuse to acknowledge them.

During my whole life I have seen people doing this to God, in Christianity, and even to some degree, within Judaism. People say they believe in God but they refuse to acknowledge what he says as important, choosing instead to obey their priests, pastors, ministers, or rabbis.

Christianity has taught that the Mosaic Law is not relevant to Christians, and in fact, some go as far as to say those who are trying to obey God’s Torah show faithlessness and are “under the law”. My experience is that nearly everyone who has ever thrown that in my face had no idea what they were talking about, especially when it came to what Shaul (Paul) meant when he used that term.

The rabbis have created Halacha, which means “the walk”, and it is composed of the rabbinical instructions regarding how to obey the Torah commandments. It is formed from what is in the Talmud (called the Oral Law) and, essentially, creates more work for Jews who are trying to obey God’s word. The ordinances against eating meat and dairy together, the distance one can walk on the Shabbat, the public reading of the Torah on certain weekdays, the lighting of the candles for Hanukkah, and many other requirements for everyday activities are all outlined in Halacha, which has been developed over centuries.

Halacha does acknowledge God, but takes it to a level beyond what God requires, and as such, in my opinion violates the Torah commandment against adding to or taking away from what God told us to do (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Let’s finish today’s message with this:

Do you believe in God?

Do you believe Yeshua is the Messiah?

If you do, either for one or both, here’s one last question:

“Do you acknowledge God?”

If you ignore what God said to do in the Torah then you do not acknowledge God or Yeshua, for that matter, because all Yeshua ever taught was what is in the Torah.

Here is the bottom line, people: if you follow the teachings of your religious leaders instead of what God said to do, then you may believe in God, you may believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but you’re thrusting your hand in God’s face while turning away from him.

That’s a hard word to hear, and I am sure right now there may be some of you thrusting your hand in MY face- refusing to acknowledge what I am saying- and that is your choice. I never tell anyone what they must do, but I will tell you what God says you must do, which he said through Moses and all the Prophets: you must obey God.

Not obey Paul, not obey John, not obey any of the Popes, not obey Martin Luther, not obey Charles Russell, not obey John Calvin, not obey the Rambam (Maimonides), or any of the people who have created their own religion or religious tenets, rites, ceremonies or holidays over the centuries since Yeshua went to sit at God’s right hand.

NO! We are not to obey human beings, we are to obey God, and God, alone. Yeshua taught everyone to obey God, the only difference between what he taught and what the Pharisees taught is that Yeshua taught God’s deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah.

Those who acknowledge God and have received the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) by asking for it in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua, know what I am talking about.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, or you are currently showing me your palm, then I sincerely pray that you will retract you hand and reconsider your attitude.

Think about all you have been taught by your religious leaders as to how you worship God, who you to pray to, what you eat, which holidays you celebrate, and then compare that to what God said in his Torah, which is really your Torah, too.

I hope then you will see that throughout the entire Bible, the ONLY place where God instructs us how to worship him and how to treat each is in the Torah.

And throughout the Gospels, which are the only records of what Yeshua taught, Yeshua never said to ignore his father’s commandments.

Finally, after you do this, please ask yourself this important- this eternally important- question:

“If I want to be saved, should I obey people or should I obey God?”

How you answer that question will determine whether you will hear “Welcome, good and faithful servant” or “Be gone from me- I never knew you!”

Thank you for being here, and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!