Holiness)

May 1, 2020 Leave a comment

Just as we did last week, this week’s Torah reading will be a double reading.

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The first one comes directly after the death of Aaron’s two oldest sons for having offered unauthorized fire. God gives the Cohen and the people the regulations for what is to be done on Yom Kippur.

He also tells us that any animal to be killed and eaten must be brought to the Tabernacle and slain there, as a peace offering, and that under no circumstances is the blood ever to be eaten.

By the way, the rabbis determined the regulation about not killing any animal without first bringing it to the Tabernacle was only required when the people were in the desert, and after being in the land it was only regarding animals killed as a sacrifice.

We are warned not to do any of the things that the Egyptians did, with regard to worship or social interactions.

In the next parashah, we are told right from the start that we are to be holy because our God is holy. God gives us laws that the rabbis teach fall into three categories: moral, ritual, and social.

The Golden Rule is found in this parashah (Leviticus 19:18) which says we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

The rest of this parashah contains the regulations against necromancy, idol worship, child sacrifice, sexual perversities, and unlawful marriages, to include the specific punishments for each of these immoral activities.

Oh my! So much to talk about, so little time to do it.

What I want to talk about today is based on something that just happened to me, which was that I agreed to leave a Bible preaching group because their administrator and I disagree about which laws apply to which Believers. And this event, which just happened this morning, fits into the parashah regarding today.

One of the traditional Christian teachings is that the Mosaic Law is only for Jews and Christians are not required to follow it. They say they are under the Law of Christ (whatever that is) and therefore only required to obey the moral laws that God gave, which they restrict to the 10 Commandments.

Now, I am sure they agree they should also obey the laws against sexual perversities, since they are of a moral nature, and of course, they love Leviticus 19:18, although they change the wording. But as for those laws which are of a ritual or ceremonial nature, they say those are only for the Jews. That would include anything having to do with the sacrificial system, the Festivals we are to celebrate (Leviticus 23), and (in my opinion) pretty much anything else they just don’t want to do.

The idea that there are some laws for Jews and some laws for Christians is not justified by anything that God or Yeshua (Jesus) ever said. In fact, God tells us exactly who is subject to these laws, and they are his chosen people and anyone who sojourns with them (Leviticus 19:34).

Let’s take a minute to make sure we understand what sojourning, called residing in some Bibles, means- it doesn’t mean just hanging around with the Jews. It means to live with them, to accept their way of life, their God, and thereby all that they are required to do within their social and religious system. In other words, if someone who is not born of Jewish ancestry chooses to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are, by definition, sojourning with the Jewish people. And throughout the Torah God states, more than once, that whosoever sojourns with his people will be treated the same as a natural-born Jew, meaning they have the same rights and privileges, and consequently, will be required to obey the same laws and practices.

I am constantly amazed and disappointed when I hear a Christian say they want to do as Jesus did, and then in the same breath tell me that they don’t have to follow the laws of Moses. They say they want to be like Jesus, but they reject the way he lived and worshiped. How can you do as Jesus did when you don’t do what Jesus did? How can they be so blind to their own hypocrisy?

It’s because they have been taught to be blind, by those who themselves are blind. I call this type of person a Buffet Believer, and devote an entire chapter to this topic in my book, “Back to Basics: God’s Word vs. Religion.”

The idea that God gave some laws to Jews, some to Gentiles, and some to whomever else is not found anywhere in the Tanakh. However, if you want to find it in the New Covenant, you can find many, many passages that when taken out of context would seem to confirm this idea that Christians don’t have to obey the laws of Kashrut (Kosher) or any other “ceremonial” laws.

You know, God never specified which laws are ritual and which are moral- God simply said these are the laws. Period. He doesn’t specify any one Torah commandment being any more or less important than any other, and certainly never said any of them are optional.

The idea that some religions are subject to some of the laws in the Torah, and others are not, goes against everything God says. And if someone wants to send me passages from the New Covenant that appear to justify Christians do not have to obey all of God’s instructions, my response is that the letters in the New Covenant are mainly written by men to Gentile congregations that were having interpersonal relationship issues and on the verge of relapsing into paganism. The Apostles, all of whom were wise and holy men, were Jews who were confirming the Jewish lifestyle but giving the Gentiles leeway in how quickly they adapted to it. Never, ever did any of the Apostles, and that includes Shaul (Paul), expect that these Gentiles learning how to live as God wants us to live would be exempted from following God’s instructions.

God has no religion, only his rules for how we are to worship him and how we are to treat each other. These instructions were given to Moses for the Jewish people to learn, and then as God’s nation of priests (Exodus 19:6), to bring it to the world.

God made a covenant with the Jewish people which we call the Mosaic Law, and anyone who wants to be in covenant with God must obey those laws. Traditional Christian teaching is that they are not under the Mosaic Law, which, by definition, means they are out of covenant with God. Christianity says they are under the Law of Christ, which isn’t really well defined but is, in fact, a term that Paul coined in his letters. Now, we all know that Jesus never did or said anything that wasn’t what his father told him to do or say, so to teach that Jesus taught against the Torah must be a lie. Therefore, if you reject the Mosaic Law, and that means any part of it, then you choose to not be in covenant with God.

Look at it this way: the Apostles were taking what they knew God said in the Tanakh and teaching it to the Gentiles, so they did it at a pace and level the Gentiles could deal with. You don’t learn Quantum Mechanics right away- you have to build up to it by learning basic arithmetic, then algebra, trigonometry, etc. This is why the New Covenant letters were addressed specifically to specific congregations, and dealing with their specific problems. The New Covenant doesn’t have directions dictated by God to a prophet, but only letters with instructions written by men teaching others what God said in the Tanakh. There is a BIG difference between God speaking through a prophet and men writing letters.

As for me, I would rather do as God said then as people say. What about you? Forget what humans have said you have to do, or don’t have to do, and look at the Bible- the entire Bible- and see what God says. Make your decision based on that, because when you meet God and tell him that you were doing only what they told you you had to do, he might say something like this:

“My child, I understand you did as they told you to do, but it is what I say that counts.”

Thank you for being here and please subscribe; share these messages with others and check out my website. I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Parashot Tazria-Mezora 2020 (Leviticus 12-13/ 14-15)

April 24, 2020 Leave a comment

Because this is a leap year, the Jewish calendar adds an additional month, Adar Rishon, so that it remains in proper sync with the Gregorian calendar. As such, there are times when, in order for the annual cycle of the Torah readings to end on Shemini Atzeret (the 8th day of Sukkot), we will have a double parashah reading (the plural of “Parashah” is “Parashot”.) This Shabbat is one of those occasions.

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Both of these readings deal with uncleanliness, which would prevent one from being allowed to enter the Sanctuary and in some cases requires isolating the person until the condition is determined to be resolved. The first reading deals with leprosy (which in Hebrew is called Tzara’at) of the body, clothes, and even the walls of the house, and the second reading deals with uncleanliness caused by bodily excretions, such as a seminal emission and menstrual flow.

The Torah tells us how to determine if the tzara’at is contagious or not, and also what sacrifice is required for either of these forms of uncleanliness, once the person has been declared clean. With regard to those suffering tzara’at, until such time as the person is declared clean, they are to be isolated from the rest of the community.

The laws of purification are complex, and there are those who argue they were instituted for hygienic reasons, and those who argue they are purely levitical (religious); the former hold that these laws prevent the spread of disease and the latter that they are designed to bring us to a more holy station in life.

There are good arguments for both, and I believe that they are two sides of the same coin, being complementary and not exclusionary.

I find it very interesting that these readings, dealing with the need to isolate those with an infectious disease, occur at this point in time when the world is experiencing the same, exact sort of problem. We are all in a form of isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The one main difference is that the current isolation is not for religious reasons at all, but strictly to (hopefully) prevent the further spread of the disease.

But is there a religious side to it?

I think we can look at this pandemic as a way to gauge the spiritual status of a country. For instance, here in America, our politicians (who have been at odds since the election of the current President) are not working together at all to help the citizens, but using the current panic to play the “Blame Game”; one side saying the administration didn’t do enough, fast enough, and the administration saying they did what they did in a timely manner and when they wanted to do more, they were held up passing legislation because the opposing party wanted to fill the legislation with their own “pork”.

In the meantime, the people these politicians are supposed to help and work for suffered and will suffer even more after this de facto Martial Law is lifted because we will be in a recession.

Worst of all is the media, which has unquestionably been at the forefront of the panic and, in my opinion, directly caused the panic with their sensationalism and irresponsible reporting. And as I have said many times, Satan is called the Prince of Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2), and all our news, whether through radio, TV, or the Internet goes through the air.

This nation used to be God-fearing and brave, but that was way back when I was a kid and God was still a valuable asset to this country. We were formed by the need to worship God, we included God in our government and schools, and we based how we lived on God’s rules. That’s not the way it is today; we have kicked God out of the government, out of the schools, and even out of the workplace. We ignore God and his instructions but are overly sensitive to possibly offending godless people. Americans today are offended by any spoken word, insult and ridicule God-fearing people, are totally self-absorbed, and worship sports figures, movie stars, and science.

The Enemy has been watching and evaluating when the best time will be for him to make his move. He is readying his forces on earth (if you think I am talking about China, you are right, but it’s not just China) and I believe he has already begun his attack. His attack started with a diversion, the Covid-19 attack, which is using the godless people of the media and government to throw all their attention to the popular fear of infection when the real attack is against our economy. And not just the economy of America, but of the world because if America suffers economic devastation, it will become world-wide economic devastation.

The current program of isolation in America is the means to an end; not just for slowing the spread of this current pandemic (which, by the way, won’t really keep more people from catching it in the long run) but for setting us up for the Antichrist to gain a foothold in order to take charge of this country, then the world. When America falls, the world will follow because we are still the most powerful nation in, and the leader of, the world.

The Shabbat reading for tonight couldn’t be more appropriate and timely. We are suffering from an infectious and deadly disease, but it isn’t tzara’at or Covid-19, it is faithlessness and apostasy. This pandemic has proven that people today are easily controlled by fear, which is not what the Spirit of God gives, but is a tool of the Enemy.

People are not saying “Goodbye” anymore, they are saying “Be safe”, but I think we should be saying, “Trust God and don’t be ruled by fear.”

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share me out and check out my books; and remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Why Read The Torah?

April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 Leave a comment

Oops! Last week when I posted Parashah Shemini, I was a week too early. I missed the fact that on the Shabbat after Pesach (Passover) we read a different portion of the Torah, specifically for that Shabbat. So, that means I am a week ahead, and as such, I thought we could use this week to review the reason why reading the Torah portion (called a Parashah, the plural is Parashot) is so important, especially if you want to be able to understand what is in the New Covenant writings.

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The Torah is the first five books of the Bible (most of you already know that) and they contain every, single instruction for how to worship God and how to treat each other that God wants us to know. In truth, it is really the only part of the Bible that is made up of the exact words God gave to us, with Moses taking dictation. Every single Torah is exactly the same as every other Torah- when the Scribes who are specially trained to write the Torah (called Sopherim) finish copying one Torah to another, they count every single letter to make sure there is nothing missing or added.

Yeshua taught from the Torah. That was the only scripture that existed. Of course, there were many traditional teachings, which became the Mishna and the Gomorrah (together they make up the Talmud.) But as for the written word of God, when Yeshua was teaching, he was teaching from the only scripture there was, and that was the Torah. And as far as Yeshua being the spotless lamb of God, i.e. a sinless person, he was sinless because he did everything that God instructed us all to do, which (again) is found in the Torah.

My point is that to understand what Yeshua taught, we need to first know what is in the Torah. Shaul (Paul) also taught only from the Torah; in fact, being a Pharisee trained by one of the greatest Rabbis in Jewish history, Gamaliel, he was a Torah expert.

The New Covenant writings have absolutely nothing in them that is “new.” I know, I know…you are going to quote from Ecclesiastes and tell me there is nothing new under the sun, and (of course) I will agree with you, which also proves my point about the New Covenant. Yeshua taught from the Torah, the Disciples of Yeshua taught what they learned from Yeshua, which was from the Torah, and Shaul taught what he knew from the Torah.

Let’s take a break for a minute and go over something important to know. In the letters from Shaul to the congregations of (almost exclusively) Gentile Believers he formed, he gave them a lot of leeway in how strictly they followed the Torah because they needed that. He was against requiring Gentiles to make a complete and immediate conversion to Judaism because he knew that paradigm shift in lifestyle would be too difficult and he would lose a lot of them. That is the same conclusion the Elders in Jerusalem came to, which you can read about in Acts 15. They gave only 4 immediate requirements, and that was never meant to be the only thing Gentiles had to do, just all they had to do for now. It was assumed (and you can see that plainly in Acts 15:21) they would eventually learn all the commandments in the Torah. This discussion, however, is for another time.

If you wanted to build a house, you wouldn’t start with the roof or the second floor, would you? In fact, you wouldn’t even start with the main floor until you had laid the foundation. The Torah is the foundation for the Tanakh, which is what many consider to be the “Jewish Bible”. The books that come after Deuteronomy are either of historical nature (such as Joshua, Kings 1 and 2, Chronicles 1 and 2, Ruth, Esther, etc.) or they are prophetic books. But they all have one thing in common, and that is that they show us how well, or more often how poorly, the Chosen people lived within the covenant they had made with God. They also show how God always kept his side of the covenant, even when we kept breaking our side of it. And how willing God was, and still is, to forgive us when we repent.

The New Covenant writings start with the Gospels, which are the narrative of all the messianic prophecies we read throughout the Tanakh coming to fruition in Messiah Yeshua. His teachings, which we read in the Gospels, are all from the Torah, but what was different was not what he taught about the commandments, but what he taught about how we are to follow the commandments.

The Pharisees were teaching performance-based salvation, i.e. what we call in Judaism the P’shat, the plain language of the Torah. For example, when they taught do not murder, they meant to not kill someone on purpose, and that was all. Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning of the law, so he said we know not to murder, but if we hate in our heart, that is murder.

If you aren’t familiar with the terms P’shat or Remes, look up the Jewish form of biblical exegesis called PaRDeS.

In order to understand what Yeshua taught, we need to know what the Pharisees taught so we can see the difference. Only reading the New Covenant is like reading the second book of a two-book story, without ever having read the first book. You might get some of the story-line, and may understand a lot of what is happening, but without knowing the background you will never really understand the characters or the way things got to where you “came in” to the narrative.

This is why it is important for anyone and everyone who professes to want to follow Yeshua to know what he knew- the Torah. After all, didn’t John say the Word of God became flesh and walked among us? He was talking about Yeshua, and the only Word of God (as we learned earlier) that existed then was the Torah, so Yeshua is the living Torah. That is why he could never preach anything against the Torah, because if he did then he would be a house divided against itself, and we all know what he said about that.

If you are a Believer and have not read the Torah, then you are cheating yourself out of knowing your Messiah. You cannot understand the depth of what Yeshua taught or understand anything in the letters Paul wrote if you do not know the Torah and, in fact, you really need to know the entire Tanakh. That was what they taught from, and that is where we learn about God, the Messiah and God’s plan for mankind.

It comes down to this: if you don’t know the Torah, you can’t really know Yeshua.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe and share these messages with others. I always welcome your comments, and next Friday we will be back on schedule with the Parashah readings.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Parashah Shemini 2020 (Eighth day) Leviticus 9 – 11

April 10, 2020 Leave a comment

We have events happening in each chapter of today’s reading that holds a vital lesson for everyone.

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First, in Chapter 9 we are told what to do when preparing to come into the presence of the Lord.

Chapter 10 tells of the death of Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, which came about as punishment for their offering fire to the Lord in a manner that was not only wrong but demonstrated their disrespect for him and the Sanctuary.

And Chapter 11, the Laws of Kashrut (Kosher), is probably the most abused, misunderstood and ignored set of God’s instructions that we find anywhere in the Bible.

There has been so much written on the Kosher laws, by me and others, that I feel anyone who doesn’t understand how Acts 10 and Mark 7 have been misunderstood and incorrectly interpreted by now probably never will.

If you are unsure of what I mean, please take a moment to go to this link: The Truth About Mark 7 and Acts 10

What I want to talk about today is what we read in Chapter 9. The eighth day referenced at the beginning of this reading is the eighth day of the ceremonial anointing of Aaron and his sons as Cohanim. It is on this day that their anointing is completed, and God is going to demonstrate his acceptance by having his Shekinah glory appear for all the people to see. In order to prepare for this most holy of events, there are three offerings that must be presented:

A sin-offering is made for Aaron, his sons, and the entire congregation;
A burnt offering is next; finally
A Thanksgiving or Peace offering is made.

When we know what each of the offerings represents, the reason for them being done in this particular order makes sense.

The sin offering is pretty much self-explanatory, and it is done first for the Cohanim (Priests). Once they have been cleansed, they are then able to approach the Lord and intercede for the people.

After the Cohanim and the congregation have been cleansed of their sins, they offer the wholly burnt sacrifice. This sacrifice is representative of T’Shuvah, turning from a sinful life to a righteous life, and the offering is completely burned up to demonstrate their total commitment to God.

Lastly, the Thanksgiving offering, which is, as the name implies, to give thanks to God for all that he does for us, from healing to protection to the giving of blessings. This is the only offering in which the one offering the animal also partakes in the eating of the sacrifice, to represent communion with God, i.e. being in his presence.

Here is an interesting note: the Passover sacrifice is not for sin, but is a thanksgiving sacrifice. Even though Yeshua died for our sins, his sacrifice on Passover served as both a Yom Kippur sin sacrifice and as a Passover thanksgiving sacrifice, thanking God for his protection from death, i.e. eternal damnation.

So, looking at these three sacrifices as one continuous event, when we wish to be in the presence of the Almighty we need to first ask for forgiveness of our sin so we can be cleansed before the Lord, who cannot condone sin in his presence. Once cleansed of our sin, we then reconfirm ourselves to worshiping and obeying God as he commanded in the Torah. Finally, now that we are clean and back in covenant, we can come into the presence of God to give thanks to him for his protection and blessings.

The bad news is that these offerings cannot be done today because the temple in Jerusalem is no longer there, but the good news is that they have been replaced by the death and resurrection of Yeshua. Not all three though- the sin and thanksgiving sacrifices are replaced with Yeshua’s sacrifice; however, the burnt offering is something we can’t do at the temple, but we can demonstrate in our daily lives. We must live in accordance with the instructions God gave us in order to be in covenant with him; and, not through just a spiritual connection, but through the way we live our lives.

If you want to be in the presence of God you need to do more than just count on Yeshua…you need to live as God wants you to live, as he told us we all should live, and you find those instructions not in the New Covenant, and not in the Apocrypha, and not by watching Dr. Phil or listening to some TV evangelist, but by reading the Torah.

Just like we are reading in this weeks’ parashah.

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Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Parashah Tzav 2020 (Command) Leviticus 6 – 8

April 3, 2020 Leave a comment

We continue receiving the instructions from God regarding the various sacrifices. We are told to maintain the fire on the altar, the daily burnt offering, what to do with the parts of the offering, which parts go to the Priests, who may eat of which parts, what to do with the ashes, and finally, the inauguration of the services and anointing of Aaron and his sons.

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

Considering how close this reading is to the Passover Seder (which this year will be in just 5 days), I want to talk about something I have mentioned before in different messages but always bears repeating.

Let’s look at Leviticus 7:15, which is part of the instructions for the Peace Offering (I am using the Soncino edition of the Pentateuch and Haftorah):

And the flesh of the sacrifice for his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering.

Did you know there are actually three separate types of peace offering? They are:

Thanksgiving offerings, which are for deliverance from sickness or danger;
Offerings in fulfillment of a vow made in times of distress; and
Free-will offerings when the heart is moved to show gratitude to God

The unique thing about the peace offering is that it is the only sacrifice in which the one sacrificing partakes in the eating of the sacrifice. With all the other types of offerings, what is offered is reserved to the Lord and the Cohen making the offering; the Lord gets the best parts, and the Cohen takes a part of what has been offered as his payment, which he shares with his family.

But the peace offering is not just giving to the Lord, it is sharing with the Lord. It allows communion between man and God, bringing us together eating a holy meal while sharing each other’s presence.

During the Seder, we remember the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, and how its blood on the lentils of our homes saved us from the plague which killed all the firstborn. That sacrifice was not for sin or guilt but was a peace sacrifice because the one offering shared in the meat, and it saved us from danger.

Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus) sacrificed himself in order that we could have a way in which we could ask God for forgiveness, and his sacrifice occurred the day after the Passover Seder. Consequently, he has been called the Pesach Lamb of God, referring to the Passover sacrifice.

But that doesn’t make sense because the Passover lamb was not a sin sacrifice, and Yeshua died for our sins; his sacrifice replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple, which within a few decades after Yeshua’s death was completely destroyed, making sacrifice impossible.

Yet, the sacrifice of Yeshua was more than a sin sacrifice because his sacrifice provided more than just forgiveness of sin. His sacrifice also serves as a thanksgiving offering because once cleansed of sin we are able to come into communion with God; the parochet was torn, allowing us to enter into God’s presence. Not only that, but it saves us from danger, in fact, the greatest danger there is: the eternal consequence of sin.

Yeshua’s sacrifice is a double-edged sword: one side is the Yom Kippur sacrifice, which provides us forgiveness from our sins, and the other side is the Passover sacrifice, a thanksgiving offering that saves us from the danger of our sins and brings us into communion with God.

Two of the most important offerings that can be made to God: one to attain forgiveness of sin and the other as thanksgiving for salvation from danger. Only Yeshua, the Messiah, could have made this possible with one action, and only God could have given us a Messiah who was able to live a sinless life and thereby be an acceptable sacrifice.

What is left for us, today, is to accept that Yeshua is who he said he was, the Messiah God promised to send and to obey what he taught, which is what God said in the Torah.

One last note: in today’s reading God also specifies that when someone does not do all that is required regarding the peace offering then he will nullify the offering, and instead of communion with God it will be considered an abhorrent thing and not be accepted. Not only that, but the one who ignores God’s instructions will be cut off from his people and his iniquity will be on him.

The reason I point this out is that Christianity has been teaching Jesus died for our sins and therefore all sin is already forgiven and all that “Jewish” stuff in the Torah is not for those who follow Jesus. This is a lie and tantamount to violating the instructions for the thanksgiving sacrifice, which means that anyone who professes to follow Jesus but ignores the instructions in the Torah, will not have his or her offering (meaning Yeshua’s sacrifice) accepted.

In other words, if you think that you are saved because Yeshua died for your sins, but you ignore what is written in the Torah, then Yeshua’s sacrifice will mean nothing for you.

God gave instructions in the Torah that tell us how to worship him and how to treat each other, and nothing Yeshua did or taught went against or changed any of those. If you want to be saved by the blood of the Passover Lamb of God, then you need to follow the instructions that the Lamb of God told us to follow. Don’t worry about what Paul or John or any of the Apostles said because they are not the Messiah!

Obey Yeshua, who taught to obey God, and his sacrifice will be accepted for you by God.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and consider buying the books I have written. Actually, don’t consider buying them, just go ahead and buy them. If you like what you read in my messages you will like my books, too.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Parashah Vayikra 2020 (He called) Leviticus 1 – 5

March 27, 2020 Leave a comment

I should start off wishing you all a Happy New Year for yesterday was the first day of Nisan (which used to be called Aviv) and is what God declared to be the first day of our year.

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

We have come to the central book of the Torah. These first 5 chapters define the sacrificial system, starting with a description of the different types of sacrifice, followed by the specific procedures for the sins of an individual and for the sins of the community.

All that God has instructed us to do regarding sacrifice is not possible for us to do anymore, not since the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The reason we had to do these sacrifices at the temple was because of God’s instructions, which were that we are not to sacrifice anywhere we want to, but only at the place where he puts his name (Deuteronomy 12:.13).

Each type of sacrifice, whether for sin, for guilt, for thanksgiving or the wholly burnt sacrifice is described in minute detail. God even accounts for those who cannot afford the required animal, allowing for them to substitute a different animal, one they can afford to give. This idea of being allowed to provide a substitute is something that will eventually provide for our salvation, many years later.

Every detail of how to perform the sacrifice is given in these chapters, but what I believe to be the most important part of the entire process is not explained.

The sacrifice is more, much more than just the spilling of blood. The physical actions we do, i.e. bringing the animal, killing it, dividing it up, splashing the blood and burning it on the altar are just physical things. We read throughout the Tanakh how these were being done but were, in many cases, unacceptable to God. In fact, through the prophet Amos God said that he hated the sacrifices and songs we made unto him (Amos 5:21-23), so if God wants us to perform these sacrifices, but in some cases, he says that he hates them, what was different? What was missing?

What was missing is something that is still missing today in many churches and synagogues: genuine repentance.

Let me share with you what I believe the sacrificial system should entail:

We must sin. After all, if we do not sin, there is no need for a sacrifice to gain forgiveness, so for the sacrificial system to work, we need to sin (not that I suggest you should sin, only that this system is designed for when you sin);
We must recognize and confess that we sinned. In today’s reading we are told that when we sin, whether or not we know it, we are still guilty. But to be forgiven, we must recognize that we did commit a sin. Too many people are taught that what God says is sin isn’t really sin anymore because the times have changed, or because all those laws were done away with by Yeshua. That is a total lie, but that topic is not something which we will be covering today;
We must repent of our sin. This is probably the most essential part of the entire process because we can recognize and even confess that we sinned, but if we aren’t sorry we did it, then there can be no forgiveness, no matter what we do. It is repentance, more than anything else, which God is looking for from us. Not just that we are sorry we sinned, but that we are sorry we failed to do as God said we should. Repentance is not just feeling sorry we did wrong, but feeling sorry that we disobeyed God because in our hearts we should want to be obedient children. And, for the record, feeling sorry because you were caught does not count as being repentant;
We must present a sacrifice. This step of the process was to be done with one of the prescribed animals but has been replaced by Yeshua. This is what is meant by the term “He died for our sins”; Yeshua’s sacrifice did not remove the sacrificial system or the laws that created it, but simply replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem. This is one of the most misunderstood truths about what Yeshua did as our Messiah. Nothing of the Torah was removed or done away with, only the need to bring an animal to the temple when asking for forgiveness. Every step of the process I am describing here is still valid and necessary if one is to ask God to forgive their sins. And now, the last step is;
We must ask for forgiveness. I know that seems to be an obvious step, but it is the one step that everything else before it leads up to. Forgiveness is available, and not only is God willing to forgive, but he desires to forgive. God wants every sinner to turn from his sin and live (Ezekiel 18:23), but forgiveness is NOT automatic. God will not automatically forgive us, so if you have been taught that because of Yeshua all your sins are always forgiven, you will be very unpleasantly surprised when you come before the Lord on Judgment Day. There is no such thing as once forgiven, always forgiven.

The truth is that God will always forgive us when we confess our sins, are genuinely repentant and ask for forgiveness by calling on the name of Yeshua, whose sacrifice was made as an eternal substitution for the animal we must bring to the temple.

Yeshua’s blood is the substitution for the blood of the sacrifice we are supposed to supply. It was never supposed to be our own blood, but the blood of an innocent. While the temple existed, that blood was supplied by a sacrificed animal and had to be performed for each and every sin we committed. Because of Yeshua, we do not have to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem.

That is why God sent the Messiah.

Throughout the Bible, we are told, over and over, that God knows our hearts and our minds, and whereas in today’s reading he outlines the physical steps of the sacrificial system, what really matters to him is not what we do, but why we do it.

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Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Parashot Veyakhel / Pekudey 2020 (He assembled / Accounts) Exodus 35 – 40

March 20, 2020 Leave a comment

Because we are in a Leap Year, in order to have the annual reading cycle of the Torah comply with the Gregorian calendar, there are some Shabbat readings where we will read two parashah instead of one. This Shabbat is one of those times, and it also takes us to the end of Sefer Sh’mot, the Book of Exodus.

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In these last chapters, we are told of the generosity of the people in giving all the materials needed for constructing the Tabernacle; in fact, Moses had to order them to stop bringing materials because they had contributed too much. We are told how the construction and materials were made, and these chapters are almost a word-for-word repetition of the instructions God gave Moses earlier. The style of the last chapters of Exodus regarding the Tabernacle is like reading “Here is what you are to do”, in minute detail, then we read “This is what they did”, in minute detail, ending with “And this is what was done”, in minute detail.

The last chapters tell us that Moses blesses the people for their work (which is likely when he wrote Psalm 90), which they did exactly as God commanded, and we end this book with God’s presence filling the Tabernacle.

And we end this book of the Torah with the statement we use at the end of each book:

Chazak! Chazak! V’nit Chazek!
(Be strong! Be strong! And let us be strengthened)

Regarding the building of the Tabernacle, we are given so many minute details of every aspect of this task. We are told how many loops, how many posts and bearings, what is made of which material, how many pomegranates, the dimensions of each section of the tent, and the weights of the materials used.

Would you like to know why there is so much detail regarding the building of the Tabernacle?

So would I. And you know what else? I don’t think we will ever know.

The same sort of minute detailing is given when Ezekiel measured the Temple, which we can read about in Ezekiel 40-43. It seems that there must be some reason, and maybe that reason is simply so that when we do rebuild the Temple, we will already know what we need to have and how to do it.

Who knows? Let’s move on…

What I found interesting in these readings is that Moses did not ask for God’s guidance or pray for success when they started to build the Tabernacle, and he did not bless the people for their work until after the entire task was completed correctly. I have always thought that when we start a project or begin a task, we should ask God for guidance and bless the people performing the task.

But the Chumash explains Moses held back his blessing until after the project was completed because it is an easy thing to start something difficult, but very hard and rare to complete it exactly as it was supposed to be done.

My take on this is that a blessing is not given but earned.

That also jibes with what we read in the Bible, as God’s blessings were given after something was done and not before. We should ask for God’s guidance and help, but a blessing is not to be given until the task is completed.

The same holds true with obedience. God has many blessings, so many that if you put them into a bottomless pit they would spill out over the top, but we will not receive even one blessing if we do not do something worthy of one.

Yes, there are times when God will bless someone even though they don’t deserve one, and we know that he rains on the just and the unjust, alike, so there will be times a blessing is given that has not been earned, but that is God’s choice to do. After all, these are his blessings to give, and if he wants to give one for no reason that we can discern, then he can give it. And really… who in their right mind would ever refuse a blessing?

The lesson for us from all this is that when we do as God says we should, we will receive a blessing. We will not get anything for not doing anything, and that means when you have a need and ask God to help you, he is willing and able to help but he will not do it for you.
Too many people sit around complaining about their life and asking for prayer from others. Yet, when they are given advice on how to get out of their slump or how to meet their needs, they always seem to have some excuse why that won’t work. Or they will say they have tied it and it didn’t work. I often wonder when someone says nothing works if they really tried hard enough to make it work. How many times have you tried to open a jar and found it too hard, but then you get angry at the jar and you can open it? Is it the anger, the adrenaline, or just simply that you finally put the effort needed into the task?

When you are in a slump or have a need, it is right and a good idea to ask God for help, but he won’t do anything until you walk in faith (as Abraham did) by getting off your kvetching tuchas and do what you would do as if you already had what you asked for. Yeshua tells us this is what we should do in Mark 11:24 when he said:

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

Figure out what you want, determine how to get it, ask God for help and then get started. Don’t wait for the answer and don’t wait for a sign, for no sign shall be given. Just walk in faith trusting that what you asked for will be given to you. But keep your eyes open and your ears clear so that you can see where God leads you once you start walking; you never know, you may start in the wrong direction and God will have to redirect you.

God’s blessings are here for the asking, but they are not given until the work is done.

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I welcome your comments and until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom.

Parashah Ki Tissa 2020 (When you take) Exodus 30:2 – 34

March 13, 2020 Leave a comment

In today’s Torah reading we are told about the 1/2 shekel that every male of fighting age had to pay in order to ransom their souls. God then gives instructions regarding the laver (Mikvah), preparing the incense, and assigning Bezalel and Oholiab over the manufacturing of all the articles needed for the Tabernacle. He also instructs Moses about the Shabbat and gives some of the Kashrut (Kosher) laws.

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The Sin of the Golden Calf happens in this parashah, as well as God describing his very nature to Moses, which in Judaism we call the 13 Attributes of God.

The parashah ends with God forgiving the sin of the people (thanks to Moses’ intervention) and Moses receiving the second set of tablets.

When I started to read this parashah, I knew immediately that what I should talk about today was not the really big topics, meaning the Golden Calf sin or God’s nature, but the very first thing I read about- the ransom.

Many people are confused over the fact that God says we should not kill, yet he orders us to entirely destroy men, women, and children, whole societies. How can a God that hates killing order genocide?

The Torah is more than just a list of commandments. One of the things it does is to establish a penal code, and there is one penalty for murder and another one for accidental homicide. For a murder, meaning a premeditated and purposeful act of killing someone, the penalty is death. However, if someone commits an accidental homicide, they are allowed to pay a ransom for their life.

As an example, if I wait in hiding for you and when you come, I attack you and kill you, I am a murderer and the penalty is death. However, if I lend you a bull that is known to gore people and it kills you, then I have committed the sin of causing someone to die and my penalty is death. However, because this death was unintentional I am able to pay a ransom for my soul and stay alive.

Of course, I may have to deal with the blood avenger at some point, but that’s not relevant to today’s message.

As I mentioned, the very first lines of this parashah say that everyone who is older than 20 years of age must pay a half-shekel ransom for their souls. The reason for this payment is because God IS against people killing other people, which always is a sin. However, when a soldier kills while in battle, God does not consider that the same as intentionally murdering someone. As such, a ransom is able to save their soul from the penalty of sinning.

We read in other places how the soldiers, upon returning from a battle, would dedicate some or all of the spoils to the Sanctuary. This was their ransom payment, which they gave in order to avoid the penalty for having taken a life.

God hates anyone dying, and we read in Ezekiel 18 that he doesn’t want anyone to die, and wants only that those who sin would turn from their sin so they may live. The ransom for one’s soul is how God allows for killing while still maintaining his overall commandment about not killing. The sin of killing is still a sin, but when done under orders by God or unintentionally, there is a means to avoid the immediate penalty (death), and that will also allow for forgiveness of the sin on a spiritual plane.

Ultimately, when we sin on earth we must suffer the consequences of that sin, even if we repent and are forgiven because forgiveness of sin is a spiritual event and secures our place in eternity. It does not let us avoid the consequences of that sin while we are still alive. The ransom for one’s soul when the killing is unintentional or a result of being in a war, is a “legal device” which will countermand the penalty.

There is a story in the Babylonian Talmud about how the angels, upon seeing the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, sang praises of joy for the salvation of the Israelites, but God rebuked them, saying, ‘The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you would utter song in My presence!”

The point is that God hates it when someone kills another person, but as a fair and perfect judge, he will take into consideration the cause and motivations behind the action. When killing is done by God’s command, we are not really going out on our own volition and killing someone, we are acting as God’s executioners. The slaughter of the people we read about in the Bible was not genocide, as much as it was punishment for the sins they had committed. Considering the thousands of innocent people, of all ages and gender, who were sacrificed to the pagan Gods, these people were all guilty of murder and when God sent the Israelites to destroy those cities, he was not murdering innocent people but was actually using the Israelites as his means of executing criminals. But even though they were killing under orders, so to speak, the people doing what God commanded still had to pay the penalty for taking a life.

God hates murder and hates the act of taking a life, but he is also a fair and righteous judge who knows and accounts for the motivation behind our actions. That is good news for those who try to do right but fail and repent, and bad news for those who think they can go through the motions of being worshipful, righteous and repenting, but whose hearts and minds are really ruled by sin.

You can’t fool God.

Amen!

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Parashah Tetzaveh 2020 (Command) Exodus 27:20 – 30:10)

March 6, 2020 Leave a comment

God continues to give Moses detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle and all that is involved with it. In this reading, we are told how to manufacture the priestly robes, including the breastplate of judgment, the procedure for anointing the priests, and the construction of the altar.

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I don’t know why there is so much detail in these last chapters of Exodus, but today’s reading mentions something that has been a mystery to every biblical scholar of modern times, and that mystery is: what the heck are the Urim and Tummim?

The Hebrew words mean Lights and Perfections, and there has been an on-going argument over whether they are a separate part of the breastplate or incorporated into it. There is no question that they are an essential part of receiving the divine will when matters of great importance are discussed but what are they? Are they some kind of dice? And, whatever they were, how were they utilized?

I believe that the throwing of lots had to be a binomial action, meaning when asking God to indicate his will, the questions had to be presented as a “Yes” or “No” option. There are many references in movies to seers throwing pieces of bone with letters on them and diving an answer, but I don’t think that is how the Urim and Tummim worked; however, I really can’t say anything for sure since I don’t have any idea of what they were.

Another interesting fact about the Urim and Tummim is that they seem to have been used only up to the time of David, and the only mention of them after 1 Samuel 28:6 is in Ezra, where they were used to determine the genealogy of those who couldn’t identify their families when making aliyah from Babylon to Jerusalem.

I have my own idea about the loss of these devices and will share it with you. Again, this is my thought and is not to be taken as a definitive answer to what happened to them.

I believe the use of the Urim and Tummim was rejected because the kingship decided that it was able to make its own decision. There was the king, who had advisors, the prophets and the assigned Cohen. These people seem to be the ones who decided what to do, and even though we often read of David consulting Adonai with regards to what actions he should take, we don’t really read that much after Solomon’s rule. Actually, mention of any of the later kings of either Judea or Israel even consulting God is rare. Of course, the kings of Israel wouldn’t have consulted Adonai because they worshiped the pagan gods, but I would have expected that the kings of Judea, at least those who did right in God’s eyes, would have consulted him often, but I really don’t recall a lot of references to that.

We know that under Solomon, Israel had peace and Solomon had the supernatural wisdom that God gave him, so maybe a need for the Urim and Tummim didn’t exist? After many years of not being used, their existence could have been more or less forgotten, or maybe how to use them was lost?

To me, from the time of Shaul as king, and more so down the line of kings, it seems that the prophet took precedence over the priest with regard to knowing God’s word, and since the high priest was the only one with access to the Urim and Tummim, perhaps that is what led to the loss of their use?

No one knows, and probably will never know, what the Urim and Tummim were or how they were used, or why they weren’t used (except for one mention) after David’s kingship.

The Urim and the Tummim are a mystery, and people love to solve a mystery, and when I run across a mystery within the Bible I always check to see how it stacks up to my Acid Test question, which is: “How does this affect my salvation?”

And, as far as knowing all about the Urim and Tummim, the answer is: it doesn’t. It is an interesting mystery, and since I can’t answer it, and (frankly) no one ever has, I will leave you with this reminder from Moses (Deuteronomy 29:29):

Things which are hidden belong to ADONAI our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.

In other words, don’t sweat the small stuff and stay focused on what matters, which is to follow the instructions God gave us.

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Parashah Terumah 2020 (Offering) Exodus 25 – 27:19

February 28, 2020 Leave a comment

Except for the chapters devoted to the sin of the Golden Calf, from here until the end of this book of the Torah, we are given a detailed account of the manufacturing of the Tabernacle.

These chapters outline the instructions from God for building the Ark of the Covenant, the menorah, the table for the showbread, the altar and the types of materials to be used for the tent and its supports.

And that’s it for this parashah.

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The Tabernacle played an integral role in the lives of the Israelites as they wandered through the desert, as well as did the Temple in Jerusalem.

There have been different interpretations by Jewish biblical scholars of what the Tabernacle represents, and as a Messianic Jew, I am also familiar with the Christian thoughts (initiated by Saul/Paul) that we, as members of the body of the Messiah, are ourselves a tabernacle, or temple, or church, since we have the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, living within us. Just as God was known to be present in the Tabernacle in the desert, Christians believe that they are a tabernacle because God is present in them.

The Rambam (Maimonides) said the Tabernacle was the way God helped the Jewish people to wean themselves from the pagan practices many had adopted during the four centuries they served as slaves in Egypt, and that makes sense to me. Even much later, when Gentiles were accepting Yeshua as their Messiah and converting from their pagan practices, the four commands that the Elders in Jerusalem required of them (Acts 15) were designed to wean them from their pagan lifestyles and allow them to learn how to become Torah observant in a manner that wouldn’t be too difficult a change to do, all at once.

I think the churches and temples today are where same-thinking people can gather and support each other. They serve as a meeting place for communal worship, but I have always thought the communion with each other was as important as the communion with God.

Too many people go to church or shul once a week on their Sabbath and feel they have “done their part”; the rest of the week they live as they want to. I also have known people who feel that going to their congregational meeting place is a commandment, and by doing so they are worshipping God correctly.

That’s not true – there is no place, anywhere, in the Bible where we are commanded to go to the temple every weekend. We are commanded to go to where God places his name three times a year to sacrifice, but other than that our communion with God is to be daily, hourly, every second of our lives, no matter where we are.

In other words, going to church or to the temple doesn’t make you a good Christian or a faithful Jew; what does is our relationship with God and how we act when no one else is around.

I am sure you have heard the adage that an honest person will do the right thing even when they know no one else is watching. In the same way, a faithful person will be praying and doing as God wants, whether or not anyone else can see, whether or not they go to a house of worship.

Now don’t get me wrong…there is nothing bad or incorrect about attending church or shul on a regular basis. In fact, that is a good thing because we need to support and encourage each other, and the best way to do that is through getting together. But the Tabernacle, the Temple in Jerusalem, Westminster Abbey, or the small shul a Shabbat-walk away, are all just symbols of the presence of God in our life. It is not wrong to have one, as some might say, and the building of the third Temple is not a bad thing, either. Until such time as God completes his plan of salvation and his Shekinah glory is among us, forever, we need a physical place to meet and worship.

The point is that a place where we gather and worship together, as well as schmooze over coffee and sweets, is just as important a reminder of God’s presence in our lives as the Tabernacle was for the children of Israel as they wandered through the desert.

As I said above, except for a chapter or two, from here to the end of this book we are told, in extreme detail, about the building of the Tabernacle and it is, understandably, a little boring at times. I don’t know why there is so much detail, but I hope that as we delve further into the remaining parashot we may receive some revelation.

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