Every time I read this parashah I do not understand the answer Aaron gives to Moses after Nadab and Abihu are destroyed for offering incense that was done in a disrespectful and unauthorized manner. I suppose it has to do with God accepting the sacrifice but since Aaron lost his
Although the definition of these words is very similar, meaning to give someone the ability to do something, the connotation (general usage) is that to empower is to help someone do something beneficial for themselves, and to enable is when we allow someone or support them in doing things harmful
I once knew someone who saw the “If:Then” statement not as a conditional event, but as a threat. If you promised something good, that was always nice, but if the promise was conditional, then it was a threat. If I said I will do this if you do that, doing
Weren’t we in the book of Leviticus last week? How’d we get back to Exodus? Today, actually tonight, begins Passover (‘Pesach’, in Hebrew.) As such, this being one of the most important and happiest of all the Holy Days God gave us, we read this portion of the Torah and
This week I seem to be on a pathway leading to somewhere; where, I don’t know. Monday I felt led to write about building our belief system in something (hopefully God), and yesterday it was about telling people what our beliefs are without forcing it down their throat because, ultimately, it
This book is also known as the Torat Kohanim, or Laws of the Priests. It is all about the Priesthood, regulations for how they are to act, how they get paid and also how to identify clean from unclean. The 7th Sabbatical year known as the Jubilee Year, as well
In the early part of the 15th Century, if you asked a scientist about the world, he would have told you it was flat. In the 18th Century if you asked a doctor how to cure diseases he would have told you to bleed the patient. In the 19th Century,
This is one of the happiest festivals we have. Fairs, games, reading the book of Esther (Hadassah) with groggers and shouting. For those that don’t know the way we read this book in the Synagogue, groggers (noisemakers) are handed out to everyone, adults and children. When we read the book (it’s
Do you recall what happened when Joshua first attacked Ai? They had just come from a great triumph at Jericho, defeating the fortified town and destroying all the people and all the booty, just as God commanded. Oh, but wait! Someone didn’t destroy all the booty, did he? Achan kept
There are 5 Covenants that God made with us. The first was the Noahide Covenant, then the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic. Finally, there is the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31). The usual Christian teaching is that the New Covenant did away with most of the previous 4 covenants, leaving only what
In the Seventies, the big spiritual saying was, “I found it!”, meaning (of course) Jesus. There was also at that time a big resurrection (no pun intended) of Messianic Judaism, which has continued to grow. At that time, being Jewish, not caring, but still having been brought up being taught
What are the two taboos? Never discuss religion and politics, right? That’s what we are told, and it’s good advice. The reason I say they are two too many is because when God created everything, His original plan was that there would be only one, non-taboo discussion: Him. The governmental
Sometimes I am both blessed and trusted by my Pastor and asked to deliver a Shabbat message. I am sure there are others out there who are not the congregational leader but also are asked to deliver a message now and then. Or maybe you are a congregational leader and
The Kingdom of God was preached to us by Yeshua. Even if you don’t believe He was/is the Messiah God promised, He did preach about God’s kingdom. He never created a new religion. So if Yeshua was Jewish, preached about Jewish law and customs, stuck totally to what the Torah
When Yeshua was asked what is the most important commandment of all, His answer was simple- Love the Lord and love each other; on these two commandments pivot all the writings and the Prophets. Notice He didn’t say , “…and all the other stuff that will be added later.” The
I thought we’d take a different path this morning and talk about the mechanics of Torah interpretation. I am constantly telling people to read the Manual, yet I haven’t really helped anyone in understanding how to read the Torah. The following suggestions are from a Bible study class I used to
Do you recall where, in the Bible, we are told that just believing in Yeshua as the Messiah and Son of God isn’t enough? It is followed by the fact that even the demons believe He is the Son of God (I’ll give you a hint- look for it in
Ooh- what a nasty title, Steve! How dare you say I am not doing what Jesus did! You don’t even know me. That’s right- I don’t know how you worship, but (as the title says) from my experience watching and hearing about “Christian” service, you are probably not doing what
What do you think would have happened if Joseph was not a Godly person? Who would have interpreted the dream Pharaoh had? And if Daniel wasn’t a real man of God? Would good old’ Nebbie-what’s-his-name ever have found out about the different kingdoms that would follow his? Or his dementia
It seems that every parasha I read has more than I could ever write or speak about in less than a tome. On Fridays I always go through the readings: first I read, then I glance through, and finally (if I still need to) I scan. I read comments in my
