Destination Yisra'el: Meditation

Meditation

05/09/2013

Parashot Tazriah: The Ancient Torah Foundation of Modern Preventive Health Care and the Preservation of Human Life

Parashot & Haftarot from Va'yikrah - Leviticus

Tzara’at is not Leprosy [Hanson’s disease] but could be any form of Depigmentation of the Skin such as Leukoderma or Vitiligo. The Torah outlined the principles of Modern Day Preventative Health Care. Any potential of a New Contagious Disease had to be Isolated by the Levitical Priests until it could be determined that it was not a Contagious Disease and to Prevent it from Infecting the rest of the Children of Israel.

KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #26 - Year 5773 (2012/2013) – April 13, 2013

Parashot Tazriah (She bears seed); Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59

Parashot Metzorah (Infected one) - Leviticus 14:1 - 15:33

Haftarah; Ashkenazi - II Kings 4:42-5:19
Sephardic - II Kings 7:3-7:20

NOTE: Kol HaTor, in its commentaries on the weekly Parashot, endeavors to search for and accentuate the Torah Messages contained in the Parashot as applicable to the main Theme of Tanach of the Return of the House of Israel, i.e. the Lost Ten Tribes of Northern Israel and their Reconciliation with Judah to form the reunited 12-Tribed Kingdom of Israel.

DISCLAIMER - The authors to whom we quote from for this Commentary are not associated with KOL HA'TOR and need not agree with our views expressed herein or in our other publications. While we publish their views for its relative value to the interpretation of the Parashah, KOL HATOR does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by these authors.

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The following extracts from Rabbinic commentaries on Parashat Tazriah & Metzorah have been compiled into a comprehensive Commentary by Kol HaTor with our own comments and insights between [brackets].

There are 54 separate Torah portions in the annual Jewish Torah reading program. In non-leap years there are only 50 Sabbaths. For this reason some Torah portions are combined and read together for one week. This week Parashot Tazria and Metzora, which are two of the least popular portions for modern Jews, are combined.

[For detailed weekly Torah Reading specifications for every year in advance, refer to: Hebrew Calendar

For this week we have selected Rabbinic commentaries which not only link onto our last Parashah, with the amazing Message protruding from the death of Nadav and Avihu in the Tabernacle, but also bring a sequence of these “dry” and uninteresting, legalistic Parashot into exciting perspective. Come share once more in the life-giving experience that Rabbinic insight gives to the written Word that is so often skimmed over or even excluded by readers of the Bible.

Before setting out on this exciting spiritual high-ride, we need to make mental notes of key Hebrew terms that not only underlie this commentary and much of the main theme of the Bible, but should also form part of the sincere Bible searcher's future vocabulary:

Contact Dermatitis is not Contagious but to the Priests it would be Isolated until it could be Determined that it could not be Spread or become Contagious to the Surrounding Population of Israelites

Ancient Hebrew Preventive Health Care Vocabulary

Tahor - undefiled, clean, pristine (noun tehorah - pure, undefiled).

Tahmei - impure, defiled (noun: tumah - defiled, unclean).

Tzara'at - defilement, skin disease akin to leprosy

Metzorah - someone afflicted by tzara'at.

Summary of this week's double Torah portion: After last week's portion regarding tumah (spiritual defilement) resulting from dead animals, Parshat Tazria introduces the various categories of tumah emanating from human beings. A woman after giving birth is ritually impure for a certain period of time prescribed for her to stay away from the Tabernacle or Temple.

The rest of the portion describes in great detail the varying and numerous manifestations of a skin disease called tzara'at - the physical manifestation of a spiritual malaise, a punishment from G-d for the sin of speaking evil speech, amongst various other anti-social transgressions.

A metzorah, (someone afflicted by a tzaraat-like skin disease) is subject to a series of examinations by a Cohen (priest), who declares the patient to be either tahor (pure) or tamei (impure). If tamei, he is isolated outside of the camp, an appropriate punishment for someone whose foul tongue caused dissension amongst others. After the period of defilement, the formerly afflicted person offers sacrifices before being declared ritually pure again by the High Priest.

The second, parashat Metzora, further deals with treatment for tzara'at. Metzora also contains the first mention of ritual immersion of a person in water for spiritual purification from a physical impurity ('baptism').

In parashat Shemini last week we read about Aaron's two righteous sons, Nadav and Avihu, bringing “alien fire” into the Holy of Holies, a service which only the High Priest was permitted to perform once a year on Yom Kippur. They paid with their lives for their excessive zeal based on their advanced thinking on matters Divine.

We considered this as a cautionary reprimand for today's reawakening Ten Tribers who are so greatly blessed with discovering and restoring Hebraic Truths which were hidden to them while in exile amongst the nations. Many of these non-Jewish restorers of ancient Hebraic Truths become unteachable, considering their “discoveries” as exclusive Divine gifts and privileges.

It is not strange for these restorers to “barge in where Angels fear to tread” with their hasty and often shallow condemnations, judgments, conclusions and rejection especially, of Rabbinic guidance, formulated during the ‘life-long’ extensive period of 3500 years, tight back from the time of Moses himself!.

Let us now embark on this week's Parashot as the wisdom of Rabbinic insight instills ‘life’ into an otherwise dormant seeming portion of legalistic Scripture.

Rabbi Reuven Mann with Mesorah.org writes about the following observance:

Rabbi Reuven Mann - “According to the Rabbis these phenomena [of sin-induced skin diseases] are no longer in existence, for we are not on a high enough level to warrant this degree of Divine Providence. We must therefore be even more careful about the type of speech we indulge in. The Torah regards cleanliness of speech as essential to a life of holiness. The words we utter can have profound consequences not only on others but on ourselves as well. We should always be cognizant of the temptation and danger of slanderous speech and take all the necessary precautions to avoid it.”

Tzara'at is today doubted but could have been Leprosy, for it was an Infectious Disease that came from a bacterium called Mycobacterium Leprae but was not very Contagious. It took a long time to manifest its Skin Manifestations; Large Bumpy Multi-nodular lesions coalescing into Plagues and later Ulcerations associated with Disfiguring Loss of Limbs and Digits. To the Hebrew Israelites Prevention of Diseases was one the highest form of Torah observance for its Purpose was to Save Lives.

Rabbi David Silverberg, from Virtual Beyt Midrash, gives us insight into the Torah laws concerning

Rabbi David Silverberg - “Parashat Tazria introduces us to the laws of tzara’at, a type of skin-disease which renders the patient tamei (ritually impure). Throughout the ages, scholars have uncovered for us the symbolism underlying this institution and its particular laws, showing how the procedures for dealing with tzara’at reflect the proper approach towards spiritual defilement in general.

These analyses generally take into account the prominent role of the kohen throughout this process. The kohen was the only one who could formally declare the presence of tzara’at. A non-kohen, no matter how proficient he may be in the relevant laws, cannot establish tum’at tzara’at [skin defilement].

Only once the kohen determines the presence of tzara’at does the patient become ritually impure. Similarly, as the Torah outlines in the beginning of Parashat Metzora, the kohen is the one who conducts the metzora’s [individual defiled person] process of purification. The kohen’s role is often seen as symbolic of the function served by the spiritual guides and leaders in “purifying” the community from their spiritual ills.

The Midrash attributes tzara’at to the “drying of a fountain.” Leaving aside the physiological issue of to what exactly this Midrash refers, let us address the more crucial question: what does this represent in terms of tzara’at and its symbolic meaning?

Rav Stollman suggests that Chazal teach us in this passage that impurity results from a “drained fountain.” The process of defilement does not take place in a vacuum, it does not occur suddenly without reason. A person or community becomes “tamei” when its authentic fountains of spirituality are drained, when the “hairs” begin to “drink” from alternative sources of “life” rather than their traditional teachings. Tum’a thus means the detachment from one’s source, from one’s origins.”

[This is a condition that the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel in exile amongst the nations have been facing for the last 2800 years, being banned by the Divine One from the Land of Israel. The modern phenomenon of the world wide Hebraic Roots Restoration Movement is bringing awareness of their Hebrew Roots to millions of these lost and scattered sheep of the House of Israel, drawing them to Torah observation and a desire to return to the Promised Land. This all in fulfillment of the Main Theme of Biblical Prophecy; refer:

View the Comprehensive Extract of the Divine Promises in Ancient Scriptures

Biblical Confirmations of the Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel

The kohen’s role, symbolic of the responsibility assigned to the religious leaders of every generation, is to identify this detachment, to check and see whether or not the people draw their values and ideals from the “fountain” of tradition. They must carefully study both the tradition and the current reality to determine whether or not there exists a parity between the two. Should they determine the presence of tum’a, that the fountain has indeed dried, then they must lend the metzora a hand as he undergoes the process of purification, the process of refilling the wellsprings with the spiritual waters of our traditions, enabling him to reenter the Jewish [Hebrew]people and recommit himself to the teachings of our heritage.”

Measles in Adults was Viral Born and an Exceedingly Contagious Illness that could have caused Rampant Viral Infectious Epidemics throughout the Large Population within the Israelite Tribal Camps. The Children exposed to measles could easily die with Pneumonia, Encephalitis. This would infect the Pregnant Mothers that could result in Miscarriages of the unborn fetuses, Premature Labor, a Stillborn birth of a Child who died in the Uterus or a Pre-term Delivery. This could also result in the early Post-natal Death of a Premature Born Infant. This man would have been Isolated outside the Camp of the Israelites until his Infection was Cleared and He was Declared “Clean” or “Tahor” by the Levitical Priests of Israel.

Rav Chanoch Waxman from Virtual Beyt Midrash rounds up our review. He presents a very broad perspective, linking several Scripture sections together and serving as a continuation of our discussions on Nadav and Avihu in Parashat Shemini last week.

Rav Chanoch Waxman – “Immediately after the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, Moshe received an important communication from G-d regarding the appropriate conditions for entering the holiest part of the Mishkan.

Leviticus 16:1 – “And HaShem spoke to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aharon, who died when they drew too close to the presence of HaShem. And HaShem said to Moshe: Tell Aharon your brother that he should not come at will into the Holy Place within the curtain in front of the covering upon the ark, lest he die, for I appear in the cloud over the cover. Thus only shall he enter the Holy Place…’”

This passage is, of course, the opening of Parashat Acharei Mot [two Parashot further on].

Strangely enough, the Torah does not place this passage in textual sequence with the death of Nadav and Avihu. Despite the apparent chronological sequence implied by the subject matter, the issue of entering into holy space and the possibility of death, the Torah only presents the parasha of Acharei Mot a full five chapters after the death of Nadav and Avihu.

Despite the near synchronicity with the death of Nadav Avihu implied by the term “after” (see Ramban 16:1), the Torah chooses to delay the parasha of Acharei Mot, literally “after the death,” until after the corpus of Chapters Eleven through Fifteen.

This intervening bulk, primarily consisting of the parashiyot of Tazria and Metzora and the laws of "tzara'at" [defilement], can be categorized as the laws of tum'a and tahara [defiled and undefiled]. All of its component parts relate to the concepts of “clean” and “unclean” or perhaps more accurately, “pristine” and “defiled.” A quick sketch of the structure of this intervening segment should demonstrate the point. The overall segment breaks down as follows.

Topic

Verses

Sample mention

of "tamei"

and "tahor"

Section 1- Permissible and

Forbidden Animals

11:1-47

11:4-8,

24-38, 47

Section 2- The laws of the

Postpartum women

12:1-8

12:2, 4-8

Section 3.1- Tzara'at (lesions)

of the body and Tzara'at

upon garments

13:1-59

13:3, 6-8, 11-14,

46, 51, 55, 58-59

Section 3.2- Purification

from Tzara'at-the post

Tzara'at procedure

14:1-32

14:1, 4, 7-9, 11,

19-20, 31-32

Section 3.3- Tzara'at

of the house- home

14:33-57

14:36, 40, 48,

53, 57

Section 4- The laws of

male and female discharges

and menstruation

15:1-33

15:2-6, 13-14,

16-18, 19,

25-26, 29-31

If so, we face an obvious problem. Why does the Torah choose to “interrupt” the natural flow of the narrative from the death of Nadav and Avihu (10:1-20) to the laws for Aharon's entrance into the holy area (16:1-34) with the laws of tum'a and tahara (11:1-15:33)?

Alternatively, we may prefer to the “code of tum'a and tahara” the strange phenomenon of tzara'at. In other words, why does the Torah place the laws of tzara'at, and the overall code, in close juxtaposition to the death of Nadav and Avihu?

Quite possibly we may have already done much of the conceptual work necessary to answer these questions. The answer may well lie in connecting the two concepts, “tum'a and tahara” and “entrance into a holy place,” discussed until this point.

In describing the purification period of the postpartum women, the Torah states the following:

Leviticus 12:4 – Our [current Parashah] – “She shall remain in a state of purification from her blood for thirty-three days, she shall not touch any consecrated thing (kodesh), nor enter the sanctuary (mikdash) until her period of purification is completed.”

Given that she is “tamei” and has not yet reentered the pristine, pure and holy state of “tahara,” the postpartum women is banned from contact with sanctified objects and sanctified space. Or to phrase this a little bit differently, the sanctified personal state of "tahara" constitutes a necessary condition for contact with the holy.

This mutual exclusivity of holiness and tum’a is also present as a theme in the other segments of the overall section outlined above. The sufferer of tzara’at lesions is banned from the camp, whose center consists of the abode of G-d. This is not only alluded to by the text of Vayikra [Leviticus](see 13:46), but stated explicitly in Bamidbar [Numbers], during the arrangement of the camp.

Bamidbar 5:2-3 – “And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying: ‘Instruct the Israelites to remove from the camp anyone with tzara’at lesions… put them outside the camp so that they do not defile the camp of those in whose midst I dwell.’”

Likewise, in summing up the laws of discharges, section four of the overall code of tum'a and tahara, the Torah reiterates the tension between a state of tum’a and the sanctuary, and mandates the death penalty for the improper mixing of the two.

Vayikra [Leviticus] 15:31 – “And you shall warn the Children of Israel regarding uncleanness, lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling My Mishkan which is among them.”

Moreover, the verse of c partially quoted above also mandates the expulsion of the zav and the zava, those suffering from emissions, from the camp.

Finally, this connection, or perhaps need to disconnect, between tum’a and sanctity can be located not just in sections, two, three, and four of the code, but even in section one, the laws of permitted and forbidden animals. In closing out the segment, G-d informs Israel that he has high expectations:

Va'yikrah 11:44-45 – “For I HaShem your G-d: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not make yourselves unclean through (eating) any swarming thing… For I am HaShem… you shall be holy for I am holy.”

Sacredness does not end at the borders of the sanctuary nor even at the borders of the camp. The category of the holy extends to the very person of each and every individual member of Israel. As members of the holy nation, another type of mobile sanctuary, another method of encapsulating G-d's presence in the world, the Israelites are enjoined from improper mixing of the sacred and profane, of contacting or ingesting certain kinds of animals.

To put this all together, the common denominator of Chapters Eleven through Fifteen, the laws of tum’a and tahara, consists not just of the categories of tum’a and tahara but also of the need to separate between the tamei and the holy. Whether in the context of the sanctuary itself, the camp within which it resides, or the people within whose camp G-d resides, holiness demands special care, and particular conditions for encountering and preserving it.

This brings us back to the sin and death of Nadav and Avihu. They died because of lack of care for the details of “hilkhot kodashim,” the laws for the proper treatment of sanctity and approach to sanctified space. They entered the sanctuary and G-d's space when not commanded. It is no wonder, then, that in between the story of their death (10:1-20) and the story of the proper conditions for entering the holiest space (16:1-34), the Torah teaches the full corpus of “hilkhot kodashim,” the laws of sanctity and relation to holiness (11:1-15:33).

Alternatively, we may wish to link the “laws of tum’a and tahara” (11:1-15:33) to the death of Nadav and Avihu in a slightly different, albeit related fashion. At the close of the laws of permitted and forbidden animals, section one above, the Torah teaches the following:

Va'yikrah 11:46-47 [of our Parashah] – “This is the Torah of the beasts, and of the birds, and of every living creature… to distinguish between the unclean (tamei) and clean (tahor), between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.”

The phrase ‘to distinguish between the unclean and clean’ should bring to mind the immediate aftermath of the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. As mentioned, the Torah follows the story of the deaths with a code of priestly conduct. The latter part of the code consists of two imperatives:

Va'yikrah 10:10-11 – “And you must distinguish between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean. And you must teach (lehorot) the Children of Israel [all 12 Tribes] all the laws which HaShem has imparted to them through Moshe.”

While these two imperatives are linguistically and conceptually distinct, they are nevertheless practically intertwined. The priests carry a special responsibility both for differentiating between the sacred and non-sacred, between the tamei and the tahor, and for the teaching of those very laws to the Children of Israel.

However the obligation to teach and enforce the laws stems from more than just their general Torah-teaching role. The custodians of the sanctuary and the laws of “differentiation” cannot guarantee the integrity of the sanctuary and the sanctified status of the sanctuary, camp and people unless the laws of sanctity are observed by all.

All of this should explain the juxtaposing of at least section one of the larger “laws of tum’a and tahara” with the death of Nadav and Avihu. The death serves as the occasion for defining the role of the priests. This definition is followed by the actual laws of "differentiation" entrusted to the priests, and for which they bear special responsibility.

In fact, this theme easily can be expanded to cover the remaining segments of the laws of tum’a and tahara. Like section one, section three, the corpus of the laws of tzara'at, ends with an echo of the priest's code of Chapter Ten. After a summary of the various types of tzara’at (14:44-46), the Torah states the following:

Va’yikrah 14:57 – “To teach (lehorot) when it is unclean and when it is clean, this is the Torah of tzara'at.”

While this verse may refer to the Torah's purpose in expounding upon the laws of tzara'at at length, it most probably refers to the role of the priests in making the determination as to whether a particular lesion is clean or unclean. After all, the Torah elaborates upon this role extensively throughout the one hundred and sixteen verses of the laws of tzara'at (13:1-14:57).

Newborn Jewish Baby protected from Premature Postnatal Infant Death while the Mother was in Isolation while she in Tamei (impure with Postnatal Blood Discharges. The Child during this Period of Time would be Immunologically Compromised or “Defiled” which allowed the Infant and Mother the proper time to Recover from Labor and Delivery and develop a Robust Immune System for a Child now in Tahara (Undefiled, Clean, and Pristine Health).

Moreover, the linguistic parallel to the terms “teaching,” “unclean” and “clean” found in the code of priestly conduct (10:10-11), and the apparent fusing of the concepts into a montage of teaching, ruling and governing the arena of tum’a and tahara, further strengthens the connections outlined above. If so, like section one, section three provides a corpus of “differentiation laws” that the priests are charged with guarding and teaching.

In a similar vein, it is Aharon the priest, along with Moshe, who is charged with “warning” the children of Israel regarding their uncleanness and the possibility of death in section four, the laws of emissions (see 15:1, 31). Finally, regarding section one, the laws of the postpartum women, it is the priest who plays the key role in restoring her state of “tahara” (see 12:6-7), guides her in her passage from tamei to tahor and facilitates her approach to the sanctuary.

In sum, the placement of the laws of “tum'a and tahara” in the middle of the narrative of Nadav and Avihu's death stems from more than just the concern of both of these parts of the Torah with “hilkhot kodshim,” the rules for the treatment of sanctity. The juxtaposition also stems from the definition of the role of priests in the aftermath of the death of Nadav and Avihu. It stems from the overarching concern of both segments with the role of priests, their job description and their special responsibility for the ‘laws of differentiation.’

While the dual theory outlined above more than handles the problem of the structure of the middle part of Sefer [book of] Vayikra, I would nevertheless like to try to elaborate on some additional literary and philosophical connections between the “laws of tum’a and tahara” and the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. Let us begin by taking a look at the treatment given to one who manifests tzara’at upon his body.

Va'yikrah 13:45 – “And the leprous man whom the lesion is upon, his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be left bare and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.”

The four actions required of the “metzora,” the sufferer of tzara’at, can all be thought of as connected to disgrace and shame. The rending of the garments and baring of his head constitute symbols of dishevelment and disgrace, similar to the baring of the head of the women suspected of adultery (see Bamidbar 5:18).

Similarly, the covering of the upper lip, probably done by the garment worn upon the upper body (see Ibn Ezra 13:45), involves the covering of the metzora’s mouth and his silencing. Having been visited by an affliction from G-d, the metzora stands speechless in front of divine retribution. He possesses no explanation and no rationale for his behavior and affliction. He is like the false prophets of Mikha 3:7 who “shall be put to shame” and “cover their lips.” Having been afflicted by a divine plague, the metzora can do no more than proclaim his own disgrace and utter, “Unclean, unclean.”

However, some of these actions symbolize not just shame, disgrace and self-negation, but also the related phenomenon of mourning. This brings us back to the deaths of Nadav and Avihu. Right after the deaths, Moshe tells Aharon, Elazar and Itamar:

Va'yikrah 10:6 – “Do not bare your heads and do not rend your clothes, lest you die… But your brothers, all the house of Israel shall bewail the burning that G-d has wrought.”

Aharon and his sons are forbidden from mourning. They cannot express their pain and anguish nor demonstrate physically the impossibility of continuing normal existence as if nothing has occurred. Consequently, they cannot bare their heads nor rend their clothes. If so, the acts of the metzora resemble acts of mourning; they resemble the response of one visited by death.

In fact “nega,” translated as “lesion” above, constitutes the Torah's standard term for tzara’at affliction and appears innumerable times throughout the laws of tzara’at. Interestingly enough, the term literally means “touch” and is used in the contexts of Bereishit [Genesis] and Shemot [Exodus] to connote a plague from G-d, the concrete manifestation of the metaphorical “finger” or “hand” of G-d (see Bereishit 12:17, Shemot 11:1). Shemot 11:1 uses the phrase “od nega echad,” one more touch/plague, to herald the plague of the firstborn, the visitation of death upon the Egyptians. In other words, visitation by a “nega,” the touch or hand of G-d, logically results in death.

This connection between nega-tzara'at and death is further strengthened by both the story of tzara’at found in Sefer Bamidbar and the phenomenology of tzara’at. Upon speaking ill of Moshe and being chastised by G-d, Miriam is stricken with tzara’at (Bamidbar 12:1-10). At this point, Aharon, who had been party to the slander, beseeches Moshe not to hold a grudge against them and to pray for Miriam's welfare.

Va'yikrah 12:11-12 – “And Aharon said to Moshe: Please my master, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly. Let her not be as one DEAD, who emerges from his mother's womb with half his flesh eaten away.”

Apparently, tzara'at symbolizes death. The appearance of tzara'at resembles the appearance of a grisly miscarriage or stillborn baby. The death of the flesh in tzara’at comprises a harbinger and portent of the ultimate punishment soon to be visited upon the sinner. No wonder the metzora responds to his tzara’at as one responds to death. In a last-ditch effort to stave off his fate, he proactively mourns his soul and his impending doom.

Jewish Mom with Healthy Newborn

This connection between death and tzara’at should help shed some light on the topics contained within the latter parts of the “laws of tum'a and tahara,” the subject matter of Parashat Tazria and Parashat Metzora.

As has often been pointed out, death defiles. The corpse constitutes the “father of all tumot.” Similarly, the shadow of death, the affliction of tzara’at, defiles. But the metzora is not the only one in these sections of the Torah who has encountered death and had its shadow cast upon him. The people mentioned at the end of Parashat Metzora, those suffering from emissions, have also encountered the shadow of death. The menstruating women faces the loss of potential life implicit in her bleeding, and zav and zava the “loss of life” implicit in their diseases and consequent inability to procreate.

Similarly, the postpartum woman, mentioned at the beginning of Parashat Tazria, has passed through the harrowing and life-threatening experience of childbirth. Within her experience of birthing life, she has encountered the shadow of death. If so, the topics of Tazria and Metzora are united by their connection to death and the consequence of defilement.

But this is not all that unites the postpartum women, the metzora and the sufferer from emissions. In general, the texts focus not just on the cause of the defilement, but also on the process of return, the means of restoring a state of tahara. Each parasha depicts the process of “passing through,” not so much the encounter with death, but the return from its touch, the approach to the sanctuary and the bringing of offerings (see 12:6-8, 14:1-20, 15:13-15, 28-30).

Putting this all together and linking up with the story of the deaths of Nadav and Avihu yields something rather interesting. The dynamic implicit in the legal material of Tazria and Metzora parallels the dynamic implicit in the narrative frame of the text, the story of the death of Nadav and Avihu. From the perspective of narrative, the text is about Aharon, a father who at his very moment of triumph has suffered a devastating loss. In his own words: “Such things have befallen me” (10:19).

Due to his sacred status he is even forbidden from explicit mourning (10:6-7). Yet somehow he must pass through, he must continue through death, return to the sanctuary and perform the divine service. Likewise and in keeping with the implicit theme, the legal material is about “passing through death” and approaching the sanctuary.

Circumcision to the Children of the Israelites was a Spiritual and Tribal Celebration. Here the Tribal Family would Welcome and Introduce the Babe to a New Life when the Child was Dedicated to the Divine and now a part of the Jewish-Israelite Culture that was a Culture of Life.

But this is not all. In a striking parallel to the story of Nadav and Avihu, a story of the “eighth day” (see 9:1, 9:23-10:2), each of these “passing through” or “purification” passages contains a reference to a period of seven days and a climactic eighth day. The postpartum woman who bears a male is tamei for seven days. On the eight day her son is circumcised (12:2-3). After a seven day waiting period outside his own tent upon his return to the camp, the metzora brings his climactic offering, approaches the sanctuary and achieves “tahara" on the eighth day (14:8-11). Likewise the zav and the zava count seven days and only then, on the eighth day, bring their offerings, approach the sanctuary and reenter a pristine and undefiled state (15:13-15, 28-30).

Is the eighth day some sort of magic number in Sefer Vayikra? Maybe! But perhaps there is something more here. The eighth day of the miluim ceremony was intended to be the day of G-d's descent to the Mishkan, the day when the very source of all being, of life itself, came and dwelt amongst the people. The death of Nadav and Avihu on the eighth day not only constituted a tragedy in its own right, but a staining of the essence of the eighth day, an undercutting of the status of the Mishkan and G-d's presence. The day of G-d's arrival and His very presence are now associated with death and mourning in the consciousness of Israel.

Upon the death of Korach and his cohorts, the Children of Israel gave vent to this exact sentiment:

Bamidbar 17:27-28 – “And the Children of Israel said to Moshe: Behold we die, we perish, we all perish! Everyone who so much ventures near the Lord's Mishkan dies. Alas, we are doomed to perish!”

If so, we may formulate yet one more reason for the juxtaposing of Tazria and Metzora with the story of the death of Nadav and Avihu. The “passing through" stories of the postpartum woman, the metzora, the zav and the zava serve as a counterweight to the death of Nadav and Avihu. The dynamic of passing through death and returning upon the eighth day to the sanctuary and G-d's presence, to full and pure life, reverses the linkage between the eighth day and death in the story of Nadav and Avihu.

The legal material reminds the Children of Israel of the ideal relation between G-d's presence in the sanctuary and the categories of life and death. Rather than holiness causing death, death causes distance from the presence of G-d. The transcendence of death and affirming of life finds its concrete expression in approaching the sanctuary and entering into G-d's presence.

May it be the will of the Almighty that we merit to pass through the shadow of death that hovers over us these days and return to full and holy life in the presence of G-d."

(End of Quote)

We referred to this concept of "The eighth Day" also in our previous Parashat Shemini, quoting from Rabbi Tzwei, at Torah.org:

Rabbi Tzwei – “The number eight [the title of this Parashah, named after the introductory words of this Scripture portion] Kabbalistically refers to the “World to Come” and therefore is used to define the events of the day of the erecting of the Tabernacle, “bayom hashemini” [on the eighth day], for on this day a “New World Order” was initiated.”

[We are also reminded of this New World Order of the Kingdom of G-d in the metaphoric depiction by the Succot Festive period, of the future Kingdom dispensation. The 7 days of Succot (depicting the Marriage Festivities, as at Sinai, between G-d and His Bride, are followed by “the eighth day”, the conclusion of the Torah annual cycle with all its New World Order ‘symbolism’].

Compiled and presented by KOL HATOR

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“Judah -The Lawgiver of God–Part One”

“Judah-The Lawgiver of God –Part Two”

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04/21/2013

Parashot Shemini: Obedience to Torah and Rabbinic Guidance brings Salvation to Life

Parashot & Haftarot from Va'yikrah - Leviticus

Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu bring Alien Fire into the Holiest of Holies and leads to their Destruction

KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #25 - Year 5773 (2012/2013) – April 6, 2013

Parashat Shemini (Eighth); Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Haftarah; Ashkenazi - II Samuel 6:1-7:17
Sephardic -II Samuel 6:1-6:19

DISCLAIMER - The authors whom we quote from for this Commentary are not associated with KOL HA'TOR and need not agree with our views expressed herein or in our other publications. While we publish their views for its relative value to the interpretation of the Parashah, KOL HATOR does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by these authors.

The following extracts from Rabbinic commentaries on Parashat Shemini have been compiled into a comprehensive Commentary by Kol HaTor with further comments between [ ]. As we read in the Parashat Shemini written by Rabbi Eli Mansour titled, “Obeying Torah Authority” on Daily Halacha.org, we read:

Daily Halacha – “Parashat Shemini tells of the inauguration of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) and the special events that were held to mark the “opening day” (on the eighth day) of the Mishkan's operation. Moshe tells Aharon, who on this day became the Kohen Gadol, to prepare a number of animals as his personal sacrifice, and to instruct Benei [the Children of] Yisrael to prepare animals for their sacrifice. Benei Yisrael's sacrifice included an Egel – a calf – as well as a goat.

The Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf

The Sages explain that these two offerings served to atone for two different sins: the calf (for worshipping of strange gods), of course, atoned for … the sin of the golden calf, whereas the goat served to atone for the sale of Yosef. Over two centuries earlier, Yosef's brothers sold him as a slave to Egypt, and to conceal their crime they slaughtered a goat and dipped Yosef's garment in its blood, so that it would appear as though he were killed by an animal. On the day of the Mishkan's inauguration, Benei Yisrael atoned for their ancestors' sin through the offering of a goat as a special sacrifice to God.”

[The ‘selling of Yosef into slavery’ according to Rabbinic interpretation, represents the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel’s exile into oblivion amongst the nations. Yosef, through his two sons Ephraim and Menasheh, represents the re-identifying body of 10-Israel in dispersion, which will return to the Land in the End Time. Yosef’s life, his later rulership in Egypt under the Pharaoh and his revealing himself to his brothers, represent the ultimate Return and Reconciliation with Judah (the Jews) in the Redemption and the settlement of the Promised Land of Greater Israel) ].

The work “Be'er Yosef” explains that both these unfortunate events – the sin of the calf and the sale of Yosef – resulted from the same mistake: disregarding the guidance of Torah leaders. As many Rabbis explained, Benei Yisrael did not actually worship a golden calf. Rather, they sought to create some kind of structure that would replace Moshe as the source of guidance and instruction from God, the site at which God would convey His commands.

Such an idea is not intrinsically wrong; in fact, this is precisely the function served by the Mishkan. However, when Benei Yisrael contemplated this idea, they consulted with Chur, one of the leaders appointed to guide the people in Moshe's absence, and he opposed the initiative. But the people were very enthusiastic about the idea to fashion the calf, and therefore killed Chur for expressing opposition. Aharon, the other leader appointed over the nation, had no choice but to acquiesce, in order to spare himself the same tragic fate as his colleague. The severity of the sin thus lay not in the act itself, but rather in the brazen disregard for Chur's authority.

Similarly, Yosef's brothers acted as they did on the basis of sound Halachic reasoning. Yosef had spoken negatively about them to their father, seemingly in an effort to have them expelled from the family, and his dreams indicated that he sought to rule over them, in violation of Yehuda's exclusive rights to the monarchy. The brothers therefore convened a Beit Din (Rabbinical court) and concluded that he is liable to the death penalty. They erred, however, in not consulting with the Rabbinic leadership of the time – Yaakov, Yitzchak, Shem and Ever. As in the case of the golden calf, what appeared as a valid and warranted course of action was followed either without the guidance of the Torah leaders.”

Joseph’s brothers slaying a Goat to Stain his Coat of Many Colors as though Joseph was Slain by a Wild Animal

[The sin of the Northern 10 Tribes of Israel, centuries later, after the Hebrew nation had settled in the Promised Land, was identical: They rebelled against the judicial mandate of Judah (Micah 1:2-7) and set up their own interpretations of Torah.

Refer to Kol Ha Tor’s in-depth study “Judah – the Mechoqeck of G-d”

As a result G-d cut them off from His Covenant and exiled them amongst the nations – but, with the Divine Promise that He would regather them and re-unite them at the End of Time with Judah, in fulfillment of His Promise and Blessing to Avraham of an innumerable generations, and (Genesis 12:7; 13:16; 15:5), settled in a vastly expanded land mass: The Greater Israel. With the historical guilt record cleared, seeming disaster strikes the joyful celebrations at the inauguration of the Tabernacle. Aharon’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, both righteous souls, are struck dead in the Tabernacle by ‘the fire of G-d’, for bringing untimely, wrong sacrifice].

Rabbi Berel Wein, writing on the Parashat Shemini and posted on Torah.org the following words:

Rabbi Berel Wein – “After the seven days of excitement and joy upon the consecration of the Mishkan and the installation of Aharon and his sons as the priests of Israel devoted to the service of God and humans, tragedy strikes the family of Aharon and all of Israel. The commentators to Torah as well as the Talmud itself searched for the causes that created this sad situation.

The questions underlying the events described in the parsha of Shmini go to the heart of Jewish faith and worldview. They require investigation and serious analysis. A review of the opinions expressed in Talmud and by the commentators, do not at first glance reveal any major transgressions on the part of Nadav and Avihu. True, Aharon’s role in helping create the Golden Calf may explain his being brought to grieving for his two eldest sons, but it was Nadav and Avihu who died, not Aharon.

Small mistakes often lead to great tragedies. And the Torah teaches us that personal failures that can be tolerated in most humans are magnified and are not overlooked when they occur to people in positions of power and leadership. The scale of Heavenly tolerance, so to speak, is a sliding one, dependent on the status, accomplishments, abilities and public position of the human person being judged.

There is a special sin offering reserved for the leader of Israel. The accepted usual sin offering is insufficient if we are dealing with the sins of leadership. This is one of the key lessons of this parsha. God’s justice is personal and exacting. Nadav and Avihu are the prime examples of this truism.”

In response, Rabbi Yochanan Zweig, writing in Torah.org concerning the “alien fire” that was used in the Holy of Holies, wrote these words:

Rabbi Yochanan Zweig - “The Torah records that Nadav and Avihu brought an "eish zarah" - "alien fire" into the Holy of Holies, a service which only the Kohein Gadol was permitted to perform once a year on Yom Kippur.The Ramban finds it inconceivable that Nadav and Avihu would perform such a blatantly brazen act without authorization, and therefore offers another interpretation.Nevertheless, the Sifra maintains that they did enter the Holy of Holies.How can the actions of Nadav and Avihu be explained?

Perhaps even more perplexing is the Tannaic interpretation that Nadav and Avihu entered the Sanctuary “shisuyei yayin” – “having imbibed wine”.Apparently, they violated the commandment forbidding a person to perform the sacrificial service while inebriated. Moshe Rabbeinu attests to the fact that Nadav and Avihu were greater than himself and his brother Aharon; how can this behavior be attributed to men of such stature?

The number eight [the title of this Parashah, named after the introductory words of this Scripture portion] Kabbalistically refers to the World to Come and therefore is used to define the events of the day of the erecting of the Tabernacle, “bayom hashemini”, for on this day a new world order was initiated.Nadav and Avihu's error was a result of their belief that this new world order indicated the perfection of the world, created a utopian society.

In a perfect world imperfection does not exist and therefore everything can be used to serve Hashem at the highest level; no special sanctification or time limitation exists to prevent a person from entering the Holy of Holies to perform service to Hashem. However, the building of the Tabernacle marked only the beginning of the process toward a perfect world, only a link to the World to Come. Therefore, limitations and imperfections still existed.”

[Rabbinic interpretation of the Scriptures is done on 4 levels of biblical exegesis in rabbinic Judaism that ranged from the basic literal to more advance interpretations. This is called PaRDeS that includes;

Peshat, the plain (simple) or literal reading; the
Remez, the allegorical reading through text's hint or allusion; the
Derash, the metaphorical reading through a (Rabbinic sermon's) comparison/illustration (midrash); and the
Sod, the hidden meaning reading through text's secret or mystery (Kabbalah).

The study of Torah (and the Bible) affects man’s consciousness in various progressive ways. This includes:

Da’yah – knowledge, the initial stage;

Binah – understanding; and

Haskel – mind consciousness, convicting realization and effort.

This latter category of consciousness is a stage of spirituality which progressive study of the Bible can bring about. This, to Christianity, Ten Tribers and Hebraic Restorers may be known as a religious experience or conviction which they refer to as ‘conversion’ (repentance), viz. spiritual conversion. In Judaism this condition is better known as Teshuvah].

Let us now bring forth the wisdom of Rabbi Pinchas Winston also from Torah.org on his sage counsel titled, “Learning Perceptions” that came from the Parashat Shemini:

Rabbi Pinchas Winston - “Haskel, [is derived] from the word seichel, which means ‘mind’. Haskel, therefore, refers to a level of consciousness on which a person becomes mindful of an idea, to the extent that it becomes an axiom of his perspective on life. On such a level, violation of the idea is a violation of self.

This is different from Dayah and Binah, two lesser levels of awareness, which mean knowledge and understanding respectively. Dayah is really just awareness of an idea before one actually begins to understand its meaning or role in life; something that is a function of Binah or understanding. Understanding something or even its consequences alone is not necessarily enough to change a person’s path in life.

A heart attack or something similar, God forbid, does change lives. To intellectually confront death lacks impact; to experientially confront it is real enough to cause a person to identify their errant behavior with catastrophic results. This has the capacity to change a person’s life, and to force them to take responsibility for their actions to the point of biting the bullet and quitting what they should have quit a long time ago, or to start doing that which they should have begun doing a while back.

This is the level of Haskel, or Da’as. It is the level of intellectual realization on which an idea merges with one’s mindset. A person has a difficult time living with himself if his life runs contrary to the concept, which is what forces a person to eventually do teshuvah [repentance, turning around].

If he doesn’t, then he has to shut himself down emotionally, which can and usually will have extreme consequences, such as, at best, becoming a hypocrite, and at worst, a sociopath. When that happens, a person can do just about anything without any real sense of remorse, making him a danger to society and himself.

It is only on the level of Haskel that ideas become part of reality, and they make life exciting. Ideas that are based in truth, when implemented, impact us and the world in which we live. The more truth-based they are, the greater the impact they will have, some of which is visible to us, much of which takes place in spiritual realms beyond our ability to perceive.

This can be both exhilarating and dangerous at the same time. If the idea being actualized is implemented at the wrong time, or even in the wrong place, it can damage the world and the person responsible. The intention can be good and the act great, but if the conditions are wrong then the impact is wrong and destructive.

There is no question that Nadav and Avihu, the two eldest sons of Aharon HaKohen, were great people. They learned their Torah directly from the mouth of their uncle, Moshe Rabbeinu, and they had been sanctified for their roles in the Mishkan. If they suffered from anything, it was a little too much religious fervor, too great a desire to achieve Haskel on some of the holiest ideas known to mankind.

They had been trained to connect to God. They knew things that others did not, and could not. Officiating in the Mishkan required more than obedience and a memorization of responsibility. It required a deep and profound understanding of what was supposed to be accomplished, and how. If they had been drunk on anything, it was on all of the sublime knowledge they had been exposed to in a very short period of time.

It was only natural for them to want to become unified with that knowledge, to experience what they had already gained on the levels of Dayah and Binah on the level of Haskel. And, in time, they would have done exactly that, with the permission of God, just as Adam … would have been permitted to eat from the [Tree of Good and Evil] on the first Shabbat, had he waited for Divine permission to do so.

For, G-d does not create knowledge and then keep it away from man. What we are not supposed to know at all we do not know about. What we are told about is something that we can know, but only at the right time, when we’re ready to know it, and when history is ready for us to learn it. To jump the gun is to bring about exactly the opposite of what the knowledge is meant to do: bring us closer to G-d, and make life a Godly experience.

This is also true of levels of knowledge as well. We may already know about something on the level of Dayah and Binah, but not yet on the level of Haskel. As hungry as we may be to make that leap of knowledge experience, and we should be, we have to be careful to not emotionally bite off more than we can chew at the time.

I believe that the majority of the time people are ready for higher levels of knowledge, or at least could be, but they do not pursue them. Instead, they accept their current level of understanding and intellectual appreciation, and intellectually, and therefore emotionally, stagnate.”

[The above Rabbinic analysis provides great guidelines to re-awakening Ten Tribers and Hebraic Restorers. In fulfillment of Prophetic Promise, these souls are finding (often on their own, by G-d’s Guidance as promised) great revelationary Truths in the Bible. These discoveries rocket them out of Churchianity and into the Wilderness, on the Way back Home to the Promised Land. It also, logically so, boosts their personal egos.

This, unfortunately to the extent that many of them having been burnt by the contorted teachings of their Church leaders have become very hesitant about learning from established religious institutions. Also, having been brainwashed against Rabbinic teaching while living in a society which condemn the ‘man-made contortions of Scripture by the Rabbis’, a society which generally hates Judaism for some or often no reason at all, these restorers of Truth are very reluctant to fall under ‘man-made’ religious domination once more.

This Parashah and these Rabbinic interpretations, presented on the Sod level beyond the very limited extent of the ‘Written Word’, hold invaluable guidelines and Divine reprimands for these discoverers of new-found Truth, about the danger of extravagant zeal – even for the Truth – as with Nadav and Avihu.

Now here, below, follows the spiritual remedy. Do take careful and serious note!]. Rabbi Pinchas Winston continues:

Rabbi Pinchas Winston - “We are now into the period of Sefiras HaOmer [the Counting of the Omer – i.e. the 50 days from Pesach to Shavuot, Pentecost], the goal of which is to develop a leiv tov— a good heart. The 32 days from Pesach to Lag B’Omer is for developing a heart (the gematria [i.e. the numerical value of the Hebrew letters spelling of] leiv, or heart, is 32), so-to-speak, and the 17 days after Lag B’Omer, the gematria of tov, or good, is for transforming our hearts into good hearts, as it says:

“He [Rebi Yochanan] said to them [his students], “Go out and discern which is the best way to which a person should cling.”

Rebi Eliezer said: “A good eye (i.e., be tolerant of others).” Rebi Yehoshua said: “A good friend (i.e., he should be one and have one).”

Rebi Yosi said: “A good neighbor [from whom he can learn good traits].”

Rebi Shimon said: “One who considers consequences [of his actions].”

Rebi Elazar said: “A good heart [that will lead him to all of the above].” (Pirkei Avos 2:13)

If ever there is a time of year to achieve a good heart, it is now. Ultimately speaking, it is about becoming real with truth, which means knowing what you know not just on the level of Dayah and Binah, but on the level of Haskel as well. That is when a person has difficult time acting contrary to what he knows is the Godly way to behave.”

[A good starting point for those who are not conversant with the above concepts of: Omer, Shavuot, Gematriah is to start learning about it and the many related topics].

To strive for UNITY

In closing, Rabbi Yissocher Frand with Torah.org makes the following observation of the underlying Divine Call for UNITY in this Parashah and its Message. He responds to the question: "Why is this symbolism (the Goat that atones for Yosef's Sale) appropriate now at the dedication of the Mishkan? Maybe it would have been appropriate when they left Egypt to have the Paschal Offering be a goat rather than a lamb?"

Rabbi Yissocher Frand – “The Oznaim L'Torah gives a very logical answer. The underlying cause of the sin of Yosef's sale was unfounded hatred (sinas Chinam). Part of the function of the Mishkan was to act as a unifying force within the Jewish [Hebrew} people. That is why emphasis is placed on the fact that it was "in the midst of the camp." The Mishkan was the focal institution of the nation, geographically as well as spiritually. It served to unify Klal Yisrael [The 12-Tribed Community].

This year, unfortunately, because of our sins we all spent Pessach separately. But G-d willing, the Temple will speedily be rebuilt and we will all spend Pessach together in Jerusalem -- unified as a single and cohesive nation [i.e. ALL 12 Tribes as required for the Redemption]. The Oznaim L'Torah quotes the pasuk from Parsahs Terumah "The middle bar inside the beams shall extend from end to end (min hakatzeh el hakatzeh)" [Shmos (Exodus) 26:28] This phrase is symbolic of the ability to unify diverse components of the people -- from the far left to the far right --who can all come together and rally around a single national focus of attention, i.e. -- the Mishkan.

Now, at the dedication of the Mishkan, whose purpose in part was to unify the people, was indeed the appropriate venue to achieve atonement once and for all for that unseemly incident in the nation's history which typified disunity within the family -- the sale of their own brother (Joseph) into slavery.”

“Next year in Jerusalem!”

Compiled and presented by KOL HATOR

Contact us , or write to:

P O Box 3174

Karnei Shomron

ISRAEL

44855

Tel. +972 52 7474834

Skype: bibrev

Refer also on this Web Site to:

************

You Might Want to Refer to the 2012-2013 Yearly Kol Ha’Tor Parashat Portion Reading Index for future Kol Ha’Tor Commentaries

You might Want to Read Destination Yisra’el’s Kol Ha’tor Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah -The Lawgiver of God–Part One”

“Judah-The Lawgiver of God –Part Two”

Posted at 05:45 PM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, American Israelite Nation, Festivals of the Lord, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Meditation, Mystical Judaism and the Zohar, Orthodox Jewish Life, Redemption of Israel, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Returning to Judaism, Sages of Israel | Permalink

04/09/2013

Parashot Tzav: How G-d used “Ritual Animal Sacrificing” to Keep Humans from Destroying each Other and Protecting other Animals.

Parashat & Haftarot from Va'yikrah - Leviticus

The Sacrificial System in King Solomon’s Temple

KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #24 - Year 5773 (2012/2013) – March 23, 2013

Parashat Tzav (Command!): Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36

Haftarah: Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22-23

This year, Parashat Tzav coincides with Shabbat HaGadol, the Sabbath preceding Pesah. The Parashah describes the sacrificial offerings and rituals to be performed in the Tabernacle or Temple by the nation, in order to maintain a close relationship with G-d. When Tzav coincides with Shabbat HaGadol, the normal Haftarah from Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22-23 is replaced by Malachi 3:4-24 (which is Malachi 3:24-4:6 in non-Hebrew Version).

This Haftarah from Jeremiah is disturbingly condemning of Judah, specifically. It raises perplexing questions about the entire Sacrificial System and, of course, the problem that for the last 2000 years Judah was not able to bring Sacrifices, due to the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish Exile.

Jeremiah 7:28-34 – “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares HaShem. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

So beware, the days are coming, declares HaShem, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.”

Jeremiah 8:1-3 - “At that time, declares HaShem, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped.

They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground. Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares HaShem Almighty.”

Britain's Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, presents the following enlightening review of this perplexing Haftarah titled “Violence and the Sacred”:

Jeremiah 7:22-23 – “When I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command:

‘Obey me, and I will be your G-d and you will be My people. Walk in all the ways I command you that it may go well with you.’”

Britain's Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks – “Commentators have been puzzled by the glaring contradiction between these words and the obvious fact that G-d did command the Israelites about sacrifices after bringing them out of Egypt. Several solutions have been offered.

According to Maimonides, the sacrifices were a means, not an end, to the service of G-d. Radak argues that sacrifices were not the first of G-d’s commands after the exodus; instead, civil laws were. Abarbanel goes so far as to say that initially G-d had not intended to give the Israelites a code of sacrifice, and did so only after the sin of the Golden Calf. The sacrifices were an antidote to the Israelites’ tendency to rebel against G-d.

The simplest explanation is to note that the Hebrew word ‘lo’ does not invariably mean “not”; sometimes it means “not only” or “not just”. According to this, Jeremiah is not saying that G-d did not command sacrifices. He did, but they were not the sole or even most important element of the religious life. The common denominator of the prophetic critique of sacrifices is not opposition to them as such, but rather an insistence that acts directed to G-d must never dull our sense of duty to mankind. Micah gave this idea one of its most famous expressions:

Micah 6:6-8 (parts) – “With what shall I come before HaShem and bow down before the exalted G-d?...Will HaShem be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?...He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does HaShem require of you:

To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your G-d.”

Yet the question remains. Why sacrifices? To be sure, they have not been part of the life of Judaism since the destruction of the Second Temple, almost 2,000 years ago. But why, if they are a means to an end, did G-d choose this end? This is, of course, one of the deepest questions in Judaism, and there are many answers. Here I want explore just one, first given by the early fifteenth century Jewish thinker, R. Joseph Albo, in his Sefer ha-Ikkarim.

Aztec Human Sacrifice Rituals in Meso-America

Albo’s theory took as its starting point, not sacrifices but two other intriguing questions. The first: Why, after the flood, did G-d permit human beings to eat meat? (Genesis 9: 3-5). Initially, neither human beings nor animals had been meat-eaters (Gen. 1: 29-30). What caused G-d, as it were, to change His mind?

The second: What was wrong with the first act of sacrifice -- Cain’s offering of “some of the fruits of the soil” (Gen. 4:3-5). G-d’s rejection of that offering led directly to the first murder, when Cain killed Abel. What was at stake in the difference between Cain and Abel as to how to bring a gift to G-d?

Albo’s theory is this. Killing animals for food is inherently wrong. It involves taking the life of a sentient being to satisfy our needs. Cain knew this. He believed there was a strong kinship between man and the animals. That is why he offered, not an animal sacrifice, but a vegetable one (his error, according to Albo, is that he should have brought fruit, not vegetables – the highest, not the lowest, of non-meat produce).

Abel, by contrast, believed that there was a qualitative difference between man and the animals. Had G-d not told the first humans: “Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves in the ground”? That is why he brought an animal sacrifice. Once Cain saw that Abel’s sacrifice had been accepted while his own was not, he reasoned thus. If G-d (who forbids us to kill animals for food) permits and even favors killing an animal as a sacrifice, and if (as Cain believed) there is no ultimate difference between human beings and animals, then I shall offer the very highest living being as a sacrifice to G-d, namely my brother Abel. Cain killed Abel not out of envy or animosity but as a human sacrifice.

The Violence as Hundreds of Thousands of Animals are Sacrificed Yearly in Nepal; Part of Numerous Cultures today Around the World today

That is why G-d permitted meat-eating after the flood. Before the flood, the world had been “filled with violence”. Perhaps violence is an inherent part of human nature. If there were to be any humanity at all, G-d would have to lower his demands of mankind. Let them kill animals, He said, rather than kill human beings – the one form of life that is not only G-d’s creation but also G-d’s image. Hence the otherwise almost unintelligible sequence of verses after Noah and his family emerge on dry land:

Genesis 8:20-22 – 9:1,3,6 (parts) – “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood…”

According to Albo the logic of the passage is clear. Noah offers an animal sacrifice in thanksgiving for having survived the flood. G-d sees that human beings need this way of expressing themselves. They are genetically predisposed to violence (“every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood”). If, therefore, society is to survive, human beings need to be able to direct their violence toward non-human animals, whether as food or sacrificial offering. The crucial ethical line to be drawn is between human and non-human.

The permission to kill animals is accompanied by an absolute prohibition against killing human beings (“for in the image of G-d, has G-d made man”. It is not that G-d approves of killing animals, whether for sacrifice or food, but that to forbid this to human beings, given their genetic predisposition to violence, is utopian. It is not for now but for the end of days.

In the meanwhile, the least bad solution is to let people kill animals rather than murder their fellow humans. Animal sacrifices are a concession to human nature (on why G-d never chooses to change human nature, see Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Book III, ch. 32). Sacrifices are a substitute for violence directed against mankind.”

The contemporary thinker who has done most to revive this understanding (without, however, referring to Albo or the Jewish tradition) is René Girard, in such books as Violence and the Sacred, The Scapegoat, and Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World. The common denominator in sacrifices, he argues thus:

René Girard – “…internal violence – all the dissensions, rivalries, jealousies, and quarrels within the community that the sacrifices are designed to suppress. The purpose of the sacrifice is to restore harmony to the community, to reinforce the social fabric. Everything else derives from that." (Violence and the Sacred, pg. 8).

The worst form of violence within and between societies is vengeance, “an interminable, infinitely repetitive process”. Hillel (whom Girard also does not quote) said, on seeing a human skull floating on water, said in Avot 2:6:

Rabbi Hillel the Great (Avot 2:6) – “Because you drowned others, they drowned you, and those who drowned you will in the end themselves be drowned”

Sacrifices are one way of diverting the destructive energy of revenge. Why then do modern societies not practice sacrifice? Because, argues Girard, there is another way of displacing vengeance:

René Girard – “Vengeance is a vicious circle whose effect on primitive societies can only be surmised. For us the circle has been broken. We owe our good fortune to one of our social institutions above all: our judicial system, which serves to deflect the menace of vengeance. The system does not suppress vengeance; rather, it effectively limits itself to a single act of reprisal, enacted by a sovereign authority specializing in this particular function. The decisions of the judiciary are invariably presented as the final word on vengeance.” (Ibid. pg. 15)

(End of Quote)

Not only does Girard’s theory re-affirm the view of Albo. It also helps us understand the profound insight of the prophets and of Judaism as a whole. Sacrifices are not ends in themselves, but part of the Torah’s programme to construct a world redeemed from the otherwise interminable cycle of revenge. The other part of that programme, and G-d’s greatest desire, is a world governed by justice. That, we recall, was His first charge to Abraham, to “instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.” (Genesis 18:19).

Have we therefore moved beyond that stage in human history in which animal sacrifices have a point? Has justice become a powerful enough reality that we need no longer need religious rituals to divert the violence between human beings? Would that it were so!

In his book, The Warrior’s Honour (1997), Michael Ignatieff tries to understand the wave of ethnic conflict and violence (Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Rwanda) that has scarred the face of humanity since the end of the Cold War. What happened to the liberal dream of “the end of history”? His words go the very heart of the new world disorder:

Michael Ignatieff – “The chief moral obstacle in the path of reconciliation is the desire for revenge. Now, revenge is commonly regarded as a low and unworthy emotion, and because it is regarded as such, its deep moral hold on people is rarely understood. But revenge – morally considered – is a desire to keep faith with the dead, to honour their memory by taking up their cause where they left off. Revenge keeps faith between generations…

This cycle of intergenerational recrimination has no logical end…But it is the very impossibility of intergenerational vengeance that locks communities into the compulsion to repeat…

Reconciliation has no chance against vengeance unless it respects the emotions that sustain vengeance, unless it can replace the respect entailed in vengeance with rituals in which communities once at war learn to mourn their dead together. (The Warrior’s Honour, pg. 188-190)

Far from speaking to an age long gone and forgotten, the Laws of Sacrifice tell us three things as important now as then:

First, violence is still part of human nature, never more dangerous than when combined with an ethic of revenge;
Second, rather than denying its existence, we must find ways of redirecting it so that it does not claim yet more human sacrifices; and
Third, that the only ultimate alternative to sacrifices, animal or human, is the one first propounded millennia ago by the prophets of ancient Israel. No one put it better than Amos:

Amos 5:23-24 – “Even though you bring Me burnt offerings and offerings of grain, I will not accept them…but let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

(End of Quote)

Shabbat HaGadol and the Healing Message of the Malachi Parashah

Shabbat HaGadol (The Great or Awesome Sabbath), has its own reflection on the pending Redemption. The Malachi Parashat portion brings a more promising Message. Ismar Schorsch, the chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, writes

Ismar Schorsch – “Malachi, who lived in Judea some time after the return from the Babylonian exile, was the last of the prophets to make it into the Hebrew canon. We have but a few specimens of his message. His final words, which constitute our haftarah, relate to the end of days, a devastation that will spare only those who have remained faithful to God.

The return of Elijah, the prophet who never died, will both foretell the impending doom as well as provide salvation from it. In speaking of that day, Malachi uses the Hebrew word “gadol (great)”:

Malachi 3:23 – “So, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome (gadol), fearful day of the Lord.”

The Real Life HaShem promises to Us: “Paradise Lost – Paradise Restored”

According to Malachi, when Elijah appears:

Malachi 3:24 – “He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that when I (the Lord of Hosts) come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.”

In short, the onset of the Messianic Era begins at home with Familial Reconciliation.”"

(End of Quote)

In these Times of the reawakening and Return of the House of Israel, we can look at these "familial reconciliations" also as applying to the Greater Family of Israel: The House of Judah and the House of Israel; the proverbial 'Prodigal Son" and the "Faithful Son".

Similarly, we can apply the following recommendations to the desperately poor relationship between the two Houses of the Family of G-d (The House of Judah and the House of Ephraim (Lost 10-Israel). In a commentary on Parashat Tzav, Jill Minkoff of The Acadamy of Jewish Learning notes as follows:

Jill Minkoff – “Malachi’s verses also speak to this relationship (with G-d) and are as poignant today as during his lifetime. Rev. Dr. A. Cohen, in commentary on The Twelve Prophets, describes the Jewish community of Malachi’s era as negligent: the Temple service was in disrepute, Temple priests were careless with their duties, people were not tithing appropriately, there was general skepticism and indifference with regard to religion, morals were lax, and divorce and intermarriage were common (Dr. A. Cohen, pg. 335).

Gunther Plaut, in The Haftarah Commentary, likens this to contemporary times: we often doubt G-d’s presence and justice, there is instability within communities, and the rate of divorce and intermarriage has increased (Gunther Plaut pg. 576). With these similarities across time, Malachi’s messages are still important and meaningful to us. In Malachi 3:6-7, G-d states:

Malachi 3:6-7 – “…I am HaShem - I have not changed… From the very days of your fathers you have turned away from My laws…Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you…” [These are very comforting assurances after the Divine Condemnations and utter Rejections of the normal 'Jeremiah Haftarah'].”

These are words of hope. G-d does not and has not changed; yet G-d can and is willing to “turn back”, make teshuvah, just as humans can. Cohen emphasizes that G-d wants (us) to turn from apathy and “rekindle” the spirit of religion; G-d is not necessarily concerned with the specific detail of ritual (as found in Parashat Tzav), but with ritual spirit that shows reverence to G-d (336). This ritual spirit, a process of teshuvah, is not easy.

“How shall We turn Back?”

In Malachi [3:7]), one is able to uncover the following seven-step process for teshuvah:

Step 1:

Acknowledge that one has turned away from G-d (3:4-5).

Step 2:

Determine whom the problem involves and who will need to take the corrective action (3:5-7).

Step 3:

Determine how to take the corrective actions (3:8-9).

Step 4:
Know the reward for changing back to G-d’s ways (3:10-12).

Step 5:
Know that G-d is aware of the current realities and barriers to change (3:13-16).

Step 6:
Know the consequences of not changing (3:17-21).

Step 7:
Know what to do and do it (3:22-24).

When Elijah appears (and hopefully before), reconcile relations between parent and child into a vision of family “unity and affection” (Plaut pg. 579). Yet, family reconciliation is difficult. Rabbi Missaghieh points out the immense nature of this challenge. There are no demonstrations of this teshuvah in biblical narration; so there are no “good old days” to look back upon and from which to learn (ibid pg. 288).

For us, other additions to this process may include being aware that a change is needed, understanding the laws of Moses and Israel, determining how to live according to these laws and rules, embracing the need to foster family unity, and living accordingly. It is not an easy task. It never has been.

We, the children of Jacob, must make the first ‘act-ion’ in the process of teshuvah; then God will also turn and we will finally be face-to-face enjoying the radiance and blessings that are our due.”

(End of Quote)

This portion from Malachi, the final paragraphs of the Tanach) therefore ends with the admonition: “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the Decrees and Laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.”This Divine Admonition is directed at the 'faithful Remnant':

Malachi 4:16-18 - “Then those who feared HaShem talked with each other, and HaShem listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared HaShem and honored His Name. On the day when I act,” says HaShem Almighty, ‘they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve G-d and those who do not.”

And, under the apt heading that was inserted into the English Translation of this Final Admonition:

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

Malachi 4:6-12 – “I HaShem do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob [ALL 12 Tribes, both Houses of Israel], are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from My Decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says HaShem Almighty.

But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a mere mortal rob G-d? Yet you rob me.

But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing Me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My House. Test Me in this,” says HaShem Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says HaShem Almighty. ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful Land,” says HaShem Almighty.”

It should be significant to all those interested in and striving for the Reconciliation of the Two divided Houses of Israel, that a Divine Call for Tithing underlies the Final Call of the Bible for the Final Days towards Redemption!

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You Might Want to Refer to the 2012-2013 Yearly Kol Ha’Tor Parashat Portion Reading Index for future Kol Ha’Tor Commentaries

You might Want to Read Destination Yisra’el’s Kol Ha’tor Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah -The Lawgiver of God–Part One”

“Judah-The Lawgiver of God –Part Two”

Posted at 07:56 AM in Apocalypse Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation, Catastrophes around the World, Coming of the Messiah, Festivals of the Lord, G-d's Creation, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Meditation, Messiah Millennial State of Israel, Messianic Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Redemption of Israel, Religion, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Returning to Judaism, Sages of Israel, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End, Temples of Solomon and Herod, Third Temple of the Jews | Permalink

12/29/2012

Israeli Growth Rate and the Redemption of the Tribal Lands of Judea and the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel

Blue Line for “Jewish Baby Boomers” and Red Line for “Jewish Immigrants”

Two Columbia University professors, one of which is Jewish, Yinon Cohen and Neve Gordon have determination that the “Lack of Peace” in the Middle East was determined by one statistical fact: Jewish babies! Ruffled feathers began to fly in the face of “Friends of Israel” who support the Jewish settlement movement and those who believe that there is a G-d of Israel, who chose the Hebrew people, and made a covenant with them as “National Israel” at the mount called Sinai. This was after this same G-d promised his chosen emissary, Abraham, that his descendants through Isaac and Jacob would have divine legal “deed of trust” to the entire Land of Israel, for their descendants, forever.

It was in the early 1990s that following the 1991 Madrid Conference, our Norwegian Lost Israelite brothers plotted secretly until when they revealed the “Oslo Accord” (1993), this began the ill fated international quest to induce the Israelis “Land for Peace” for the sole purpose to give the “fields of Ephraim” in Central Samaria to the Palestinian peoples for a national homeland.

So they, the Palestinians created terrorism, suicide bombers, and rocket launchers and even use their own children as human shields to fend off attack by the Israeli defenders. Then they sought to negotiate more “Land” for “Peace” that never came. They began calling this region “Occupied Territory” as they sought to delegitimize the settling of Israeli citizens in that region that they called the “West Bank” which was actually the biblical heartland of the homelands of the ancient Children of Israel.

The only reason that there was a “West Bank” was because there was also an “East Bank” on the “other side of the Jordan” that was also artificially conceived by the British Mandate, supposedly for a national homeland for the Palestinian people. Instead it was given to the Hashemite Jordanian royal family in order to get “insider rights” to the oil in the Middle East, predominately in Saudi Arabia.

During these years, the State of Israel began to encourage the Israeli settlement Program which was initiated in the early 1990s to encourage Israelis settling in the mountains of Israel in central Shomron. This was done to establish a Jewish presence throughout all the land of Israel.

As we notice in the chart above, the immigration into the “mountains of Samaria” skyrocketed in 1990, then quickly began to decline, only to be followed by two surging growth patterns in 1997 and 1999 just before Yasser Arafat decided to sabitoge the entire “Land for Peace” by plotting the Second Intifada, seeking to kill, maim or destroy any Jewish people living in the “mountains of Israel” placed there for a homeland for the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel.

After the Gaza Disengagement, the patriots and pioneering Jewish families then began a concerted effort, this time on their own to “settle” the biblical mountains of Israel. This Jewish settlers “do it yourself” attitude came only the heels of the cowardice of their own Israeli political leaders who lost the vision of G-d’s promise and blessings to restore this land at the “end of days” to the G-d of Israel.”

After the devastating 2005 retreat from Gaza, the “Black Knight” assault on “settler kids” at Amona, and the continuous harassing of Jewish settlers living in Hebron, one of the most Jewish of the ancient Jewish towns in Jewish history, immigration into the Shomron regions continued to decline.

The evidence today appears that the natural birth rates of Israeli children born to parents that were patriotic to the dreams of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, continues to expand while the immigration rate of all Israeli into the Shomron and Judean regions of the Land of Israel continued to decline. Was this a lack of faith that their country’s government and Supreme Court leadership are against the Divine Will have political goals and agendas that are against the commands of the G-d of Israel? Even if so, there is sufficient growth to allow for the Jewish people to remain the ascendant population within the region, even against a growing Palestinian population.

What we now are witnessing, in the second graph is the evidence that the accelerating Annual Birth Rate in Shomron and Judea is and will be in the future one of the keys to the sustenance of the Jewish population in the biblical heartland of Israel. Here, where the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived and flourished, is today witnessing a flourishing population of patriotic and pioneering settlers who are predominantly Orthodox Observant Jews.

Testifying to the graph depicting the birthrate of the Jewish population, we see that the “Total Israeli Jewish population” living from Galilee to the north and Eilat on the Red Sea to the south, the average the total birthrate is only about 3.0%. We are initially unsettled by the facts that the “West Bank” Palestinian’s total birth rate is slightly higher at 3.1%.

The High Fertility Rate of Ultra-Orthodox Women in comparison to Israeli and Palestinian Populations

Yet when we put all the Jewish patriots settling in the Mountain of Judea and Shomron, we have an amazing population birthrate of 5.1%. What is the key to such a jump in the Jewish birthrate; the Ultra-Orthodox Jews. When we look at the birth rate of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews living within the entire Land of Israel, from Galilee to Eilat and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, the annual birthrate is an amazing 6.5%.

If we dig a little bit deeper, we discover that the Ultra-Orthodox population of Jewish people is seeking predominately to live in the biblical heartland of Shomron and Judea where their Patriarchal fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob once lived. There they lived, died and were later buried there in Hebron, in the family tomb purchased by their Father Abraham. It is in these regions of Shomron and Judea that the birthrate of the Ultra-Orthodox is a whopping 7.7%.

We have to understand the biblical command of the G-d of Creation to “be fruitful and multiply”. This means that in the eyes of the G-d of Creation, it is more important to have children then it is to have a Mercedes Benz, an estate, or an executive position in an important company. Also we have to consider that these are the stout pioneers of the State of Israel, who still have to evacuated their own legally purchased homes and dwellings, and watch them be razed to the ground to appease their tribal brothers to the north and choose instead to give the tribal homelands for the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel away to the Palestinians for their homeland. Consider if that was your home?

Now, let us witness the chart depicting the annual Jewish Israeli growth rate. We then look at the total populations and analyze how the annual growth rate in the entire Land of Israel is partitioned out to different sectors of the population. Here we see the result:

The Growth Rate of “All Israeli Jews” from the Sea to the River is 1.5%,
The Growth Rate of “Palestinians” living in the mountains of Israel called Shomron and Judea is 2.2%,
The Growth Rate of “All Settlers” patriotic to the goals and dreams of Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that the Children of Israel should take possession of the “Land” is 3.6%, and;
The Growth Rate of “All Ultra-Orthodox Settlers” living in the biblical heartland of Israel, fulfilling G-d’s mandate to “be fruitful and multiply” is 6.6%.

The evidence today appears that the natural birth rates of Israeli children born to parents patriotic to the dreams of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob continues to expand while the immigration rate of all Israeli, into the Shomron and Judean regions of the Land of Israel continues to decline. Is this because there is a lack of faith that their country’s government and Supreme Court leadership refuse to govern with just policies that reflect the commands of the G-d of Israel? Do they believe that their government leader’s political goals and agendas are against the commands of the G-d of Israel? Even so, there is sufficient growth to allow for Jewish people to remain the ascendant population within the region, even as we shall see against a growing Palestinian population.

What we now are witnessing, in the second graph is the evidence that the accelerating Annual Birth Rate in Shomron and Judea is and will be in the future one of the keys to the sustenance of the Jewish population in the biblical heartland of Israel. Here where the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived and flourished, today is witnessed by the flourishing patriotic and pioneering settlers who are predominantly Orthodox Jews.

Testifying to the birthrate of the Jewish population in Israel, we see in the “Total Israeli Jewish population” living from Galilee to the north and Eilat on the Red Sea to the south; the average the total birthrate is about 3.0%. Yet we are unsettled by the facts that the West Bank Palestinians total birth rate is slightly higher at 3.1%.

In spite of the fact that the most honorable goal of lives of these pioneering Jewish settlers, they are still threatened and actually evacuated from their own legally purchased homes and dwellings. They have their homes bulldozed to the ground because the international furor coming predominately from the countries in Northern Europe.

Is not the message coming clear, the animosity and anti-Semitism of the Lost 10-Tribes of the House of Israel today living in Northern Europe towards their Jewish brothers is still alive and well. In a day not to far in the future, the G-d of Israel has promised to stop their arrogance to their brother, Judah, and their abomination of G-d’s Holy Name, and He will set the stage of global catastrophes that will effectively make the lands of their dwelling non-inhabitable.

The Ultra-Orthodox Trump Card

Let us now look that the last graph. In 1991, the year of the Madrid Conference, the international globalists established an international agenda to delegitimize the Israeli Jew’s right to live and possess the biblical heartland of Israel. All these honorable Jews wanted to do was to live in the hometowns and regions of where their Patriarchal forefathers once lived almost 4,000 years ago.

At that time, the population of ultra-Orthodox Jews living in the Shomron and Judea (not the West Bank) was less than 5,000 people, or less than 5% of the pioneering settlers living in the same region. The State of Israel began an official building program in which apartments and a variety of homes were built for the expanding Jewish population. With that also came a whole array of incentives and subsidies.

During the years of the Oslo Accord, after 1993, the State of Israel began to encourage the Ultra-Orthodox population to move to Shomron and Judea. First note that the term “West Bank” is a globalist term loaded with anti-Semitic ideology, and definitely not a biblical term. Yet today, over 30% of the population that lives within this region is Ultra-Orthodox Jews. In less than 8 years into the future of the State of Israel, the Ultra-Orthodox population will be nearly 40% of the entire population of Israeli patriots today living as citizens in the biblical heartland of the Northern Kingdom of Israel; Shomron and the northern regions of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the region of Judea. This tremendous growth has not and will not come by immigration. It has come from the expanding birth rate of those Torah pioneers who have chosen to stay true to the commands of the G-d of Israel

What this means today; the peoples who are following the commands of the L-rd believe fervently also that possessing the land is a Divine command. The G-d of Israel commanded that it was imperative to “possess” the “Land” in order to make this region a “Holy Land”. Let us look now at the statistics of the demographics of the expanding Jewish population today divided between the Haredi Jews and all other Israeli Settlers:

The Year of 1991 (Pre-Oslo); Ultra Haredi Jews: 5.2% and Other Israeli Settlers: 94.8%;
The Year of 2011 (Post-Gaza Disengagement); Ultra Haredi Jews: 31.0% and Other Israeli Settlers: 69.0%;
The future 2020 (Age of the Messiah?); Ultra Haredi Jews: 38.2% and Other Israeli Settler: 61.8%.

The facts are now clear, there is a mega-trend going on in Israel and it is no wonder that the future of Israel, in the non-spiritual eyes of the globalist anti-Jew, is seeing their political ideology of destroying the spiritual identity of the Land of Israel as being G-d’s Holy Land. The political identity of the Zionist State of Israel is turning away from being one with the rest of the “nations of the world”. They are returning to their true Jewish roots, while there political ideology is turning into a spiritual ideology with their futuristic vision of Israel begin transformed into the vision of the Messianic Kingdom in the “World to Come!”

A spiritual volcano is about to erupt in the Middle East and around the world. When it does, the transformation of the humans with a spiritual orientation of “service to others” will become more elevated and the polarity of the forces of light in conflict with the forces of darkness will become the battleground of the future.

On December 21, 2012, the world made a transition towards our future. The world as we know it to be is now being seen by millions as an era “passing away.” Their new identity will gradually escalate into a global focus on preparing to be a part of the “World to Come” and the “age of the Messiah.”

This fact is becoming an ever present reality especially in the lives of the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, as the “The Call to the Ten Tribes of Yisra’el; “Come Home!” becomes an urgent obsession most of their lives. It's time for the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel to begin their historic journey back home and return to their Jewish roots in Judaism.

It’s time for emuna, the “faith” in the Sovereignty of the Divine One of Israel that He is capable of making this fact happen and renew the spirit within us, for us to daily “call upon the “Master of Legions” bring to reality the true “Messianic World to Come” and the recreation of the mountains of Israel in Shomron and Judea into a new “Gan Eden” (Ezekiel 36:35).

Ezekiel 36:33-36 – “On the day when I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the ruins will be built. The desolated land will be tilled, instead of having been desolate in the eyes of every passerby. People will say, ‘This very land, which had been desolate, has become like the Garden of Eden; and the ruined, desolate and demolished cities have been fortified, inhabited!” The nations that remain around you will know that I, HaShem, have rebuilt the ruins and I have replanted the wasteland; I, HaShem, have spoken and I shall act.”

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The prophecies are clear that the G-d of Israel will redeem the “Sparks” of the Hidden Jews of the Diaspora and the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel so that peace can restored to all the earth. This is not a conditional prophesy. Rather, it is a prophecy for both the Jews and the Lost Israelites, when we will be restored back into brotherhood; the Jews of the House of Judah and Lost Israelites of the House of Israel (Ezekiel 37).

This Biblical portrayal includes Prophecies that the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel are about to return to the Land of their Biblical Inheritance. This is Divine Destiny in living reality as the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel return to their Homelands first in Shomron (Samaria), Israel. If you want to learn more, Contact “Kol Ha Tor Vision”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will entail Establishing the Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness into a new homeland for the Return of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel when All Israel will finally be redeemed.

For inquiries about Kol Ha Tor Vision for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Visit – “Shomron Lives!”,a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria, that hosts Shomron (Samaria) Tours to reacquaint the Returning Lost Tribers of the House of Israel.

Posted at 10:24 PM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, American Israelite Nation, Apocalypse Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation, Arabs and the Jews, Britain as Ephraim, the Lost Tribe, Catastrophes around the World, Christianity and Israel, Coming of the Messiah, Current Affairs in Israel, Earth Change Catastrophes, G-d's Creation, Global America, Global Europe, Global Islam, Global Israel, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Israel and Global World Order, Israeli Settlements and the Homeland for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Judaism's Covenant, Land of Israel, Meditation, Messiah Millennial State of Israel, Messianic Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Palestinian State and Israel, Redemption of Israel, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Returning to Judaism, Rome and the Lost Tribes of Israel, Samaria and Judea, Time of the End | Permalink

12/28/2012

“Why the Focused Rest of Shabbat is Important”

Welcoming the Shabbat Rest

Destination Yisra’el – To the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel who are in the process of returning home to your Hebrew-Judaic roots, the worship on the Jewish Shabbat is an experience unlike how many modern Christians worship on the Seventh-day Sabbath. Enjoy this brief but poignant philosophical discussion on how to keep the Jewish Shabbat and be true to the Jewish and the Lost Israelite's historical and spiritual foundation established at the mount called Sinai.

Israel Today – “Rest and action are two poles of existence. Whatever one is doing, one is either resting or exerting oneself. Exertion complements rest and rest complements exertion as day complements night and night complements day. The reader knows from universal experience, that exercise leads to a deeper sleep and that without resting, one cannot have the energy to act. Therefore, the question of primary importance, as with all pairs of opposites, is the question of balance.

The issue of balance between work and rest is epitomized in the difference between the Hebrew and the Greek approaches to time and place.

In Homer’s epics, the heroes fight battles and travel on voyages. The direction of activity starts from home and extends outward to the farthest reaches of the Earth. In the case of the ancient Hebrews, their texts describe the conquest of a homeland and its settlement. The direction of activity is inwards. The goal is to return to the pre-fallen state of man wherein man lived in a garden and the point of life was to “settle it and guard it.” The ultimate messianic vision is that “every man would sit under his vine and under his fig tree.” The ultimate goal is to arrive at a state of tranquility wherein movement is unnecessary and time is of no consequence.

The goal of technology is to quicken movement, to go faster and farther, in less time and with less effort. Let us take a step back and look at the expectations for modern technology and how it would help us. Calculators were meant to replace slower and more tedious forms of computation. Cars and planes were invented to save the time and effort of lugging baggage and one’s self to various locations. In these respects, technology has succeeded.

However, everyone expected that technology would lead to shorter workweeks, but it has not. Ever since Henry Ford came up with the forty-hour work-week, nothing in North America has changed. Instead, technology has become invasive, eliminating the boundaries between work and the rest of one’s life, thereby increasing the length of the work-week to allow it to reach to within one’s private life.

Home is no longer a refuge from work and the time in our private lives has decreased. The reason for this failure of technology to save time is that focusing on action will not increase rest. No matter how much one focuses on getting things done, there will always be more to do. In fact, the more one focuses on getting things done, the more things one finds to do!

The only solution is to focus on rest. A focused rest is different than a rest that is merely a gap between two activities. Just as it takes focus to be active, it takes focus to properly rest. It also takes an appreciation for rest. We must set aside time to rest, to just be and to not achieve. The key is in setting aside time both for rest and activity; and in this, the Hebrew approach is worthy of emulation.

As opposed to the Ancient Greeks, who had no day of rest, the Hebrews set aside a day for focused rest, the Sabbath. This day is not considered a break from the week, but the purpose of the week! On this day one does not merely take time off, but instead actively focuses on creating an atmosphere of rest. Electronic devices are completely forbidden by Orthodox Judaism to be used on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath also exists in Christianity, the premier child of both Greek and Hebrew civilization that has inherited practice and ideology from both. In abandoning religion, western society has abandoned its Hebrew heritage to exclusively focus on continuing the Hellenic pursuit of perpetual advancement.

Ancient Greece tired itself out and vanished. The Hebrews are still here. Was tranquility the secret for their longevity? Perhaps it was. Perhaps the wise reader would like to entertain the thought of a day without technology once a week — a day of tranquility.”

Credit to Michael Berg - “Why the Focused Rest of Shabbat is Important” – Israel Today – December 12, 2012

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If you want to learn more about the difference in the Jewish Shabbat and the Christian Sabbath, you are Welcome to Contact “Kol Ha'Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United) and the restoration of the Shabbat Rest within our lives. This super Event of all Times will entail establishing in the region of Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness into a new homeland for the Return of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel when All Israel will finally be redeemed.

Posted at 09:39 PM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, American Israelite Nation, Britain as Ephraim, the Lost Tribe, Christianity and Israel, Coming of the Messiah, Festivals of the Lord, G-d's Creation, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jesus (Yahshua) the Messiah, Judaism's Covenant, Meditation, Messiah Millennial State of Israel, Messianic Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Religion, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Returning to Judaism, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End | Permalink

12/26/2012

Ascendant Israel: Jewish Quorum prayed for Third Time on Temple Mount in 1900 years

Moshe Feiglin, in the Likud Party in Israel ascended the Temple Mount and Prayed with a Minyan

In early December, 2012, Moshe Feiglin and a number of observant Jews did what was unthinkable. They violated the unwritten Israeli rule prohibiting Jews from “practicing religion” like praying on the Temple Mount. There in sight of the Dome of the Rock Mosque, Feiglin, a Likud Jewish “hardliner” who was No. 15 on the Likud list for the imminent elections in Israel and the leadership of the Likud Party, was walking with at least 10 men across the platform surrounding the Dome of the Rock.

Noted for begin in the right-wing sector of the Likud, the swelling tide of Messianism during the recent “Eight Day War with Hamas in Gaza”, the nationalist and the settlers groups are now tilting the entire political framework of the State of Israel towards Observant Judaism and Israeli nationalistic idealism.

This is the same Feiglin who outlined his political vision on Facebook of the future of Jerusalem when he stated that his “mission” would be over when “we build the [Jewish] Temple on top of the Temple Mount and fulfill our purpose in the land.”

Since the Oslo Accord, in spite of there being no laws against a Jew praying on the Temple Mount, the Israeli government in league with the Islamic Wakf, who control the Temple Mount, have informed any Jews or Christians not to carry out any form of religious prayers, ceremonies upon the Mount, with the threats that spontaneous riots and violence against the Jewish people below at the Western Wall my occur.

On this given day, there just happened to be a camera crew with Channel 10 News who obtained video footage of a group of Jews including what many Observant Jews predict may be a future MK in the Israeli Knesset, who were praying on the Temple Mount. Not only this, there was at least a minyan of 10 men praying there on the Jewish peoples Most Holy Site in the world.

Moshe Feiglin (in black jacket, second from right) prays on the Temple Mount, Monday (photo credit: screen capture/Channel 10)

It was considered that by ElderofZion blogsite, that this might have been the first time since the destruction of the Temple of Herod in the year 70 CE that ten men constituting a minyan, which according to the sages of Judah would represent that the Holy One of Israel would also be present with them. Over the centuries there have been numerous pilgrims, visitors, to the site but there had been no mention of ten men worshipping as a minyan; the minimum number of men needed to pray, perform public worship, recite the priestly blessing, partake in readings from the Torah and the Prophets plus recite the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, the Kiddush HaShem and the recitation of the Birkat ha-Gomel.

Yet, the Elder of Zion blogsite revised their opinion when they received insightful article written by Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner on the topic of the halchah and the history of the Jewish people who visited the Temple Mount over the ages, as they sited:

Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner – “Following the Arab conquest we have very little information concerning Jewish activity occurring on the Temple Mount. Unlike during the Christian Byzantine times, there is no indication that the Muslims prohibited Jewish visitation to the site. The first solid report of what was going on during this time comes in the early 12th century when Jerusalem was already in the hands of the Crusaders. This report is found in a rarely referenced book called Megilas Hamegila by Avraham ben Chiya. He was a rabbi who is believed to have lived in Barcelona and was occasionally quoted by the Abarbanel, among others.

On page 99, he mentions that the Arabs had good relations with the Jews. He says that the Jews were even permitted to have a synagogue on the Temple Mount, which they used on holidays to serve in place of the sacrifices that had been offered in the Beis Hamikdash. This synagogue was destroyed when the Crusaders came [in 1099], and since that time the Jews were prohibited from entering the Temple Mount, we learn.”

The video makes it clear that this wasn't a few people praying - this was a minyan, as opposed to other times that individuals prayed on the Har HaBayit

As reported on the “Recent Developments in the News regarding the Temple Mount”, last updated on December 21, 2009, the late Chief Rabbi, Rav Shlomo Goren wrote in the Yibane HaMikdash, Issue 10, that originally was published in the Darchei Torah, the following summary of “The Struggle on the Temple Mount:”

Late Chief Rabbi Rav Shlomo Goren – “With the first military deployment in the liberated and united Jerusalem, I decided that the time has come to establish facts on the ground, and I started to organize Jewish prayer services on the Temple Mount, in areas permissible for those defiled by contact with the dead to enter.

In these great days, I could not free myself from the thought that, from a historical perspective, the designation of the Western Wall Plaza for Jewish prayer is only the result of Jews being banned from the Temple Mount by the Crusaders and by Moslems together. Hence, an intolerable situation has been created, that even after the liberation of the Temple Mount, the Moslems remained up on the Temple Mount, and we stayed down below, them inside and us outside.

Prayer by the Western Wall is a sign of destruction and exile, and not freedom and redemption, since Jewish prayer by the Western Wall started only in the 16th century. Before that, Jews had prayed on the Temple Mount for centuries, and when they were expelled, they prayed on the Mountain of Olives, across from the Eastern Gate. Jews have been praying by the Western Wall for only about three hundred years.

In the framework of the function of the Military Rabbinate, we held organized study and prayer on the Temple Mount -- Shacharit (morning service), Mincha (afternoon service), and Ma'ariv (evening service), and Torah reading on Shabbat, Monday, and Thursday on the Temple Mount Plaza itself, inside the Mugrabi Gate, near our study center. Once, the Waqaf people tried to close the Shevatim Gate, on the northeastern end of the Temple Mount, from a gathering of officers of the Military Rabbinate that was held on the Temple Mount. We broke through the gate and entered. That taught them the Temple Mount is ours officially and practically.

On the 9th of Av, 5727 (1967 CE), I held a Mincha service for a small group on the Temple Mount Plaza across from the steps going up south of the Dome of the Rock, a place that is permissible to enter according to all Halachic authorities. This Mincha service on the 9th of Av on the Temple Mount raised many reactions in the media in Israel and abroad. Jewish writers hostile to religion in the State started incitement against our efforts to renew Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

Handing the Key of the Temple Mount to the Waqaf

In the midst of deliberations, in both governmental and religious frameworks, about renewing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount and building a permanent synagogue on the open southern plain, the Minister of Defense told me, to my great surprise, that he decided to pass the auspices and responsibilities for all arrangements on the Temple Mount to the Islamic Waqaf. He ordered me to take the Torah study center of the Military Rabbinate down from the Temple Mount and to remove all officers of the Temple Mount. From then on, according to him, the Military Rabbinate has no responsibility for the arrangements there, and I should stop organizing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. I accepted the order with anger and pain, and I told the Minister of Defense that this is likely to bring about a third destruction, since the key to our sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is the Temple Mount.”

Such are the events that are now ascending into the consciousness of the Orthodox Jews and the Righteous Gentiles especially with the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Judah. Since the days of the soon aborted, “Eight Day War with Hamas in Gaza”, when the young Israeli soldiers were clamoring to participate in the invasion of Gaza, feeling that this was a righteous war, the sense of the Messiah’s presence has been more and more palpable in the Land of Israel. No doubt will see these types of events begin to crumble the old framework of the global elite as an elevated state of consciousness is changing the hearts of the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel seeking to return to the brotherhood of “All Israel” and gaining a new respect for the rabbanim of Yisra’el and opening the gates of heaven for eventually the full revelation of the Maschiah ben Dovid.”

Credit to ElderofTzion.org – “The First Minyan on the Temple Mount in 913 years (updated – not quite) Something rather momentous happened on Monday.” – December 3, 2012

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The Finger of the Divine is rapidly transforming our world in to the final guela and redemption for All Israel; Judah and Ten-Israel together. As it comes to the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, our naturalized homelands as we know them to be will soon disappear and we will have only one choice left, assimilate into rapidly decaying gentile world, or return to our ancestral tribal homelands in Israel. The prophets have a lot to say as to the fate of each of these Lost Israelites and continue to reveal to us today the prophetic matrix of the future.

Daily a new State of Israel is emerging; dynamic, vibrant, and exhibiting all the hallmarks of a new ascended attitude of their goals and destiny for them, the “Land” and the progressive revelation of a New Spiritual and Revitalized Israel. Outside the “Land” the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel are making their desires known that it is time for us to come home, and reunited the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

To learn more about this redemptive process, you are Welcome to Contact “Kol Ha'Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will entail establishing in the region of Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness into a new homeland for the Return of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel when All Israel will finally be redeemed.

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12/19/2012

Parashat Miketz: The Reunification of Joseph representing the Lost 10 Tribes and Judah representing the Jewish People

The Reunification of Joseph with his Eleven Brothers in Egypt

A KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #10

Year 5773 (2012/2013) – December 15, 2012

Parashat Miketz (At the End of): Genesis 41 - 44:17

Haftarah: 1 Kings 3:15 - 4:1

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Our Torah Reading this week coincides with Chanukah. Our commentary will shortly bring all this into perspective. First, let us pick up the context of our Parashot readings thus far. Underlying these first 9 Parashot, since Genesis chapter 1, we have traced the Divine Intent to create a righteous Body to rule with Him in His Kingdom over this World which He had created all for humanity’s sake – His Creation. This was further defined by the Blessing to Abraham which narrowed it down to a section of the descendants of Ya’acov, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

In Parashat Va’yeshev, last week, we were introduced to the long-standing Division amongst these Tribes brought about by their individual striving for leadership. Yosef, representing the 10-Tribed faction of the ‘House of Israel’ was introduced and the Need for ultimate Unity to restore Peace and Oneness in the House of HaShem was stressed as a Final Requirement for the completion of Redemption (Geulah). We also need to clarify the metaphoric representation in each of these historic Biblical role players in order to more fully comprehend the underlying Divine Message for our Time.

Standing in Awe in the Presence of HaShem

Judaism of today is represented by the Tribe of Judah (together with the small tribe of Benjamin and ‘those of Ephraim who have joined with and live amongst Judah’.

Yosef is regarded by the Rabbis as being representative of the Ten Tribes of Israel who have been in exile since the breakup of the Kingdom of Israel in the time of King Solomon, 2800 years ago.

Prophesy predicts their Return to their Hebraic Roots and to the Land of Israel in a process of Restoration and Redemption. As Parashat Mikeitz will show though, Yosef, while representative of the 10 Tribes, seem to be separate from and unrecognized not just by Judah, but also by his fellow 9 brothers. This could be explained by regarding Yosef as the spiritual ‘first-born’ amongst the Ten Tribes; the one who would be in a ‘leadership’ position with Truth.

As such, even Yosef’s brothers, who are still in spiritual ‘Egypt’, regard him as somewhat strange and not part of them. To Judah, Yosef is an ‘Egyptian’ and a stranger, while he has really received the double Blessing of the First-born which has been passed on to his sons, Ephraim and Menasseh (‘Ephraim’ being a group compound name for 10-Israel also).

Parashat Mikeitz will thus further emphasize the great division and spiritual rivalry which withholds the ultimate Redemption and which has to be overcome by Judah, Yosef and Ephraim – thus ALL 12 Tribal contenders whose Reconciliation is a foundational requirement and condition for Redemption.

This non-recognition of Yosef (as the leader, represented by the Hebraic Restoration Movement which takes the lead in restoring and establishing the Torah-based Return of 10-Israel) by all his brothers, is evident today from the recognition and treatment that Hebraic Restoration Returnees receive from both Judaism and the Church.

The latter regards these Hebraic Roots Restorers as “traitors to the Christian faith who reject the NT Grace and want to place themselves (with Judah) under the burden of the Law again.” Judaism, on the other hand, regards these ‘strange pagans’ with great suspicion for wanting to keep Jewish Laws, tradition and culture. Surely, “Yosef is not recognized by his brothers!”

Our Reading this week brings a particularly encouraging Message for this ‘Time of the End’ which we are no doubt approaching before the ultimate Redemption of the Ages. In fact, this week’s Parashah is named “Miketz” – (“At the End of”, according to the first words of the Parashah).

While this section fits perfectly the times that we are living in and this time of Chanukah, it does at first glance seem totally irrelevant and inapplicable that the Haftarah portion this week comes from the inconspicuous book of 1 Kings chapter 3 which relates the argument between two prostitutes about a baby.

Closer consideration though, will reveal an amazing Message in this dispute for the very Time that we are living in. Bear in mind, that this dividing of the Torah into some 52 weekly Readings, paired with defined extracts from the Prophets and other sections of the Tanach, follows a pattern selected and set by Jewish Sages many centuries ago. If the entire Bible did not testify to a Divine spiritual, almost mathematical foundation underlying it, then this all could well be classified as ‘amazing co-incidence’.

We start our commentary with an extract from an article written just this week by Rabbi Chaim Richman of “The Temple Institute, Jerusalem”. Interpolating Comments by KOL HA’TOR are presented between [ ].

Genesis 42:8 - “They did not recognize him (Yosef)”

As Rabbi Richman writes:

Rabbi Chaim Richman - “Chanukah, the eight day celebration of the victory of the Maccabees over their Greek oppressors, is the only holiday on the Hebrew calendar that spans two months. By virtue of its unique placement on the Hebrew calendar, the great Festival of Lights occurs not only at the darkest time of the solar year, in close proximity to the winter solstice, it also incorporates within its eight days the darkest moment of the monthly lunar cycle,

When a brother does not recognize a brother, this is the definition of spiritual darkness; this is the meaning of exile. There are two fundamental reasons why the brothers did not recognize Yosef. He was dressed and coiffed in the manner of the royal house of Egypt. Everything about his outward appearance was foreign to them. He epitomized everything that their descendants, the Maccabeus warriors, would rebel against thousands of years later.

On a deeper level they didn't and couldn't recognize Yosef until the guilt they bore for the wrong they had done him would be resolved, as eventually it was. So while they remained outwardly faithful to the teachings and yearnings of their fathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov [Judaism], they had betrayed their own heritage by their misdeed. They were foreign to themselves. [The result was the lack of Unity; the Prime Divine Requirement for Redemption and the Return of the Divine Shechinah.]

But what makes this moment even darker than a moonless night in the depths of December is the simple fact that until they could recognize one another, until they could resolve their differences, until they could come clean with themselves, look directly into the eyes of their brother and register the bright glimmer of pure holy light looking back at them, they couldn't even tell that they were in such darkness. They were not yet cognizant of the fact that they were already [still] in exile. The long night had begun [had not ended] and they were unaware.

We cannot possibly reconcile with G-d, our Father in heaven, until we reconcile with one another. And this is true even within the microcosmic sphere of our own family unit. Can a father truly be pleased with any of his children if they, themselves, are estranged from one another?

Yaakov couldn't possibly have been brought down to Egypt until his sons had first reunited. And although this reunion would take place at the onset of a cruel exile, it was at once both the beginning and the beginning of the end of the exile. For recognition and unity and brotherly love for one another is what it takes to sustain and resist and eventually overcome any exile, no matter how dark.

The miracle of the cruse of pure oil that lasted for eight straight days was really the miracle of the rekindling of the pure light of Torah within the hearts of estranged brothers. And just as in the case of Israel in Egypt, the rekindling of the light of brotherly unity didn't mark the end of the war with Antiochus. The war would rage on for two more decades. But it did mark the beginning of the eventual victory over those who sought to darken the eyes of Israel. Unity among Israel can only lead to victory and redemption.

Today we are living through the prophesied historical period known to our sages as “the heels of the messiah," that is, a period marked both by the growing light of redemption and the final efforts of the forces of darkness to return Israel to exile. And there are still among Israel those, who, in spite of, or perhaps because of the blinding light of Redemption, are finding it difficult to recognize their own brothers.

We need to reach out to them even as we continue unabated in our efforts to work toward and build the coming Redemption even as it approaches, and as the Maccabees did in their day, to rebuild and purify the great stone altar, rekindle the golden menorah and return the Holy Temple and the Divine service to the embrace of all mankind.”

THE HAFTARA

Commentary by KOL HA’TOR:

King Solomon with Two Women Claimants for One Baby

Our Parashah portion from Genesis has clearly accentuated the destructive Division of the Elected House of Ya’acov as a continuation of the Message of the previous Parashah Va’Yeshev (Parashah #9).

The Haftarah this week exposes a similar great division between two mothers regarding a communal treasure – a child. Both claimed the same child as theirs. Upon the King’s decision to cut the child in two and give each mother a half, the real mother was easily identified by her love for her child, when she asked the judge to rather give the child to the other mother. The other mother was happy to see the child rather die so that neither of them would have the pleasure of a child.

Much the same applies to the two divided Houses of Israel today (Judaism and re-awakening 10-Israel), who both are entitled to the Divine Promise regarding the same Promised Land – the physical Land of Israel promised to Abraham and his uncountable generations. Both these factions however, have their own terms – and totally inconsiderate of each other. 10-Israel wants the Land to be free from Judah’s Rabbinic control and Judah is not to be found for sharing the Land with what they regard as non-Jews.

Noteworthy also is the fact that this Parashah refers to these two mothers as “two prostitutes “– I Kings 3:16, who lived in one house. If indeed the claim to a child is a metaphoric reference to the claim for the Promised Land; why then are the mothers referred to as ‘prostitutes’? How could this possibly apply to the Divine Beneficiaries of the Promised Land, Judah and 10-Israel – the twelve Tribes of Israel?

Well, this may well be where the awesome implications of this week’s Torah Reading (indeed, of the Bible’s entire Redemption Message) really takes effect. Read on:

The Bible’s evaluation of the two ‘contestants’ to the Promised Land really makes some uneasy, almost pornographic reading! We will just quote the main themes here and leave the reader to read the somewhat horrid descriptive characterizations for themselves in Ezekiel chapter 16 and 23:

Ezekiel 23:1 – “The word of HaShem came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.

The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.”

This, without doubt, is a reference to the Two Houses of Israel to whom these Final Messages of the Age is directed. In case you have any doubts about this, read the complete chapters 16 & 23 of Ezekiel.

Not only are these Two Houses divided on the issue of the “disputed child”, i.e. the Land and the Inheritance, but they point fingers at each other about who of them really is the ‘harlot’, each trying to justify herself! The Bible phrases the Divine Verdict loudly and clearly: BOTH are!

Yet, BOTH are His Beloved, while He is patiently waiting on their Teshuvah (Repentance)! His Grace even encompasses taking back His Divorced Bride, 10-Israel, with whom He pleads for her return – but, on His Terms this Time! (This entails a complete and comprehensive additional study. Suffice it here to say that all Jewish Prophets foretold and foresaw this Return to complete the Redemption.

Refer to our comprehensive quoted list of these Scriptures at:

“Bible Confirmations of the Regathering of the Tribes of Israel”

Both Houses should learn from this Haftarah, to pray for and share a Living Land, rather than to reflect the attitude of: ‘Rather let the Land be lost to both factions, than to share it with each other’, or to have to acknowledge each other.

Judah has to come to realize that Jews from the Tribe of Judah and Benjamin alone can NOT POSSIBLY settle the Greater Israel. The entire world population of Judah only numbers some 15 million Jews – not even enough to settle the current region of Israel West of the Jordan River.

A Biblical Map of Greater Israel will reflect that current ‘Jewish Israel’ is not much more in proportion to the Greater Israel, than a nature reserve. Estimates of a 10-Triber population of one billion people have been mentioned in Jewish Sages’ writing – more like the figure required settling Greater Israel. Where will such numbers of Jews come from?

And, if 10-Israel has to be accommodated, it cannot possibly be on basis of expecting them to be “Super Torah Jews” rather than the reality of being “Returning-to-Torah” subordinates who need a loving hand up, just the same as much of the majority of non-observant and secular Jews in the world need it.

10-Israel, on the other hand, needs to realize that it cannot expect Judah to become subject to a religious system “which their fathers never knew”, or to a theology that has a pagan foundation.

The required UNITY to secure the Peace which will guarantee the Return of the Divine Shechinah has to come from a heart of love and sincere concern, from those to whom the LIFE of Greater Israel is as essential as a mother’s love for her child.

May we all search for and find this Key to UNITY in the House of Zion!

KOL HA’TOR – the Vision for a re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom of Israel

http://www.kolhator.org.il

You Might Want to Refer to the 2012-2013 Yearly Kol Ha’Tor Parashat Portion Reading Index for future Kol Ha’Tor Commentaries

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You might Want to Read Destination Yisra’el’s Kol Ha’tor Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One”

“Judah- The Lawgiver of God – Part Two”

To understand more about the Return of the 10 Tribes of Israel to their Homeland in Shomron (Samaria), Israel, Contact “Kol Ha’Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove.

Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will entail Establishing the Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness as part of the Land of Israel, and preparing the “Land” for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.

For inquiries about Kol Ha Tor Ministries for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Visit – “Shomron Lives!”, a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria, that hosts Shomron (Samaria) Tours to reacquaint the Returning Lost Tribers of the House of Israel.

Posted at 06:36 AM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, American Israelite Nation, Britain as Ephraim, the Lost Tribe, Christianity and Israel, Coming of the Messiah, Current Affairs in Israel, Global America, Global Europe, Global Israel, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Illuminati, Masons and Secret Orders, Israel and Global World Order, Israeli Settlements and the Homeland for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Labor Zionism, Land of Israel, Meditation, Messiah Millennial State of Israel, Messianic Israel, Native American Hebrew Nation, New World Order, Obama White House and Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Palestinian State and Israel, Redemption of Israel, Religion, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Rome and the Jews, Rome and the Lost Tribes of Israel, Sabbatean Jewish Anti-Jew, Sages of Israel, Samaria and Judea, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End, Time of the End, War against Israel, Zionist State of Israel | Permalink

12/14/2012

Parashat Va’yeshev: “The House of Joseph” - Northern Ten Tribes of Israel’s rebellion from the Tribe of Judah

"Jeroboam sacrificing to the Golden Calf" by Jean-Honore Fragonard, 1752 (L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris)

A KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #9

Year 5773 (2012/2013) – December 8, 2012

Parashat Va’yeshev (And he was settled): Genesis 37:1-40:23

Haftarah: Amos 2:6-3:8

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Having followed through the first 8 Readings of the Torah, the ‘Blessing of a Multitude of Nations’ to Avraham, the 9^th Reading “Va’yeshev” (‘And he was settled’) now brings us to the finer division of Avraham’s descendants into two Houses.

“The Flight of the Prisoners [of the Ten Tribes of Israel] – painting by James Tissot (1836-1902)

The first section (Genesis 37) deals with Yoseph (son of Ya’acov). ‘Yoseph’, in Rabbinic interpretation, embodies what later would become the Torah rebelling and Judah rejecting Northern Ten Tribes of Israel. As such, ‘Yoseph’ became the mascot reference or group name for the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel, which would become rejected by HaShem and exiled into oblivion amongst the nations of the world.

Chapter 38 deals with the descendants of Judah. Who would become the Second House of Israel. At first glance, this chapter is not a complimentary reference to Judah, who’s first 2 sons (Er and Onan) would be struck dead by HaShem for their wickedness. Further to Judah’s discredit, he then sleeps with Er’s widow, Tamar, after seeing her for a prostitute!

Yet, from Judah would arise the descendents of the “Lion of Judah” with many illustrious leaders to come; like Joshua, King David and a host of others. Both Judah and Yoseph would be “in the line of Mashiach ben Yosef” (Gaon of Vilna, Kol HaTor, ch 1.23).

Just as this Reading relates the terrible division and disunity amongst the sons of Ya’acov in capturing and selling Yoseph, so there would come great division between the Two Houses of Israel which make up the Nation of HaShem. This division would last until the End Time – the Time that Mashiach ben David will come to rule over the nations in the re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom of the G-d of Israel.

The Gaon of Vilna, of blessed memory, in the same section quoted above, sheds the following light on this Reconciliation in the End Time:

Vilna Gaon - “In our deeds and with our prayers we help Mashiach ben Yosef, and by acting with all our strength when the awakening comes from below, we will achieve the unity of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David who are “the tree of Yosef and the tree of Judah.” At first they will be in your hands individually, and afterwards “they will be united in My hand.”

The unity of both are the foundation for the unity of the Holy One blessed be He and the Shechina, and thus the completion of the Redemption. We at the Kol HaTor Vision (publishers of this Commentary) believe that we are now in the “Time of Awakening” referred to by the Gaon. It is therefore incumbent on us to strive for thus Unity that the Gaon refers to. Whereas our Reading this week introduces us to the Great Division, we should use this knowledge that we are gaining here as stepping stones to Reconciliation and thus the ultimate Redemption (Geulah).

The purpose of these commentaries is to bring realization of the intrinsic Message contained in the Bible and understanding of HaShem’s Plan and Intent for mankind. Only in this way can we hope to comply and work together with each other and with HaShem to reach the ultimate. For this reason we now insert a complete review here on the Great Division in the Nation of HaShem and the reason for it. In this way we will have sufficient information and knowledge to take the right decisions to work towards the ultimate – and above all, to be found worthy of being part of it!

A Rift Extending Across History: Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

“Jacob and Rachel at the Well”; (c. 1896-1902) Painting by James Jacques Tissot (French, 1836-1902), Gouache on Board at the Jewish Museum, New York

The conflict between Joseph and his brothers particularly that between Joseph and Judah, runs like a seam across the entire history of Israel. At times Joseph gains the upper hand, at times Judah prevails, but the schism always resurfaces. Our sages even speak of two messiahs, each with a role to play in the final fulfilment of Israel’s mission—a messiah descended from Joseph, and a messiah from the royal house of David, from the tribe of Judah.

The conflict has its roots in Jacob’s marriages to Leah and Rachel. Jacob’s preference lay with Rachel—she was his first love and the one he regarded as his primary wife. But Leah was the first he married, the first to bear his children, and the one to emerge victorious in the sisters’ competition to provide Jacob with the most sons. All of Leah’s six sons were born before Rachel’s firstborn, Joseph; Rachel had a total of two children, as she died while giving birth to her second son, Benjamin.

As Jacob’s firstborn, Leah’s son Reuben is initially slated for leadership in all areas of Jewish life. But Reuben sins and his firstborn’s rights are transferred to three of his brothers: the priesthood goes to Leah’s third son, Levi; the kingship to Leah’s fourth, Judah; and the “birth right” (the right of the firstborn to a double portion in his father’s heritage) to Joseph. Thus Joseph’s descendants comprise two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and receive two territories in the Holy Land.

(Reuben’s sin is itself an outgrowth of the Leah/Rachel rivalry, as Reuben interferes in his father’s marriage arrangements in protest of Jacob’s giving precedence to Rachel’s maid, Bilhah over Leah.)

Jacob transfers his love of Rachel to her son Joseph, demonstrating his greater preference toward him over his brothers—as he had demonstrated his preference of Rachel over Leah. The brothers’ jealousy is augmented by Joseph’s dreams, which Joseph insists on repeatedly describing to them and to his father—dreams which foretell his mastery over them. This the sons of Leah are determined to prevent at any cost. Shimon and Levi plot to kill Joseph; Judah prevents this, but oversees his sale into slavery.

Joseph the Vizier of Egypt with his Ten Brothers

But the brothers’ victory is short-lived. Soon they find themselves in Egypt, at the mercy of a harsh viceroy who, unbeknownst to them, is their banished brother. They prostrate themselves before him in fulfilment of his dreams. Judah confronts Joseph, but finds his considerable physical might and intellectual prowess bested by his younger brother. Then comes the moving scene in which Joseph reveals himself to them and is reconciled with them.

Joseph is now the undisputed leader of the fledgling nation. He is their protector and their source of sustenance. Even Jacob bows to him.

When the people of Israel emerge from the Egyptian exile, it is under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, both Levites. But it is Joshua, a descendant of Joseph, who leads them in their conquest of the Holy Land. Several generations later, another descendant of Joseph, Gideon, liberates them from foreign rule and governs them. For 369 years the Tabernacle, which as the forerunner of the Holy Temple serves as the spiritual epicenter of Jewish life, is situated at Shiloh, in the territory of Joseph. When the people of Israel ask for a king, a descendant of Rachel, the Benjaminite Saul, is endowed with the crown.

Then, after centuries of Josephian ascendancy, the pendulum swings once more. David, the scion of Judah, is anointed as king; his struggles with King Saul are a replay of the age-old Leah/Rachel rivalry over the leadership of Israel.

For seven years David reigns in the Judean city of Hebron, while a son of Saul is the recognized king in the north. But then the sovereignty of David is accepted by the entire people of Israel. David makes his capital in another Judean city; Jerusalem. His son Solomon builds the Holy Temple on a part of the city which straddles the boundary between Judah and Benjamin. The schism seems to be healed, the people united, with the leadership firmly in the hands of Judah.

But once more the conflict resurfaces. Following Solomon’s death, Jeroboam, a descendant of Joseph, leads a revolt against the royal house of David. He even gets other tribes descended from Leah to join him in the renunciation of the Judean leadership. For the next 240 years, the Holy Land is split into two kingdoms; the northern kingdom of Israel, encompassing ten breakaway tribes under Josephian leadership, and the southern kingdom of Judah. (Interestingly, the tribe of Benjamin remains loyal to the Judean throne.) The sons of Joseph are simply not prepared to accept the sovereignty of Judah.

(This is most emphatically illustrated by the following Talmudic account (Sanhedrin 102a):

Sanhedrin 102a - “G‑d Himself grabbed Jeroboam by his robe and said to him: ‘Repent, and I, you and the son of Jesse [King David] will stroll together in the Garden of Eden.’ Asked Jeroboam, ‘Who will walk first?’ ‘The son of Jesse,’ [answered G‑d. Said Jeroboam,] ‘If so, I’m not interested.’”

The breach persists to this day. A century before the destruction of the first Temple, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, overran the northern kingdom of Israel and exiled the ten tribes to an unknown place. They were never heard from again. The rest of Jewish history, as we know it, is the story of the surviving tribes of Judah and Benjamin, a significant part of Levi (whose priests and Levites lived in cities throughout the Holy Land), and a small number of Jews from the other tribes who lived in the kingdom of Judah.

But the prophets promise that there will come a time when the rent halves of the people of Israel will be reunited. The messianic age will be heralded by a messiah from the tribe of Joseph and a Davidic messiah from the tribe of Judah; ultimately, however, the sovereignty of Judah will be established once and for all. In the words of the prophet Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:22–25 - “I will make them into one nation in the land . . . and a single king shall be over them all . . . My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have a single shepherd… and My servant David shall be their prince forever.”

Haftarah

Patriarch Jacob moves to Egypt to be with his Son Joseph

To make this week’s Prophetic reading relevant, we have to look around us at what is happening. Here in Israel there are ominous signs (Dec. 2012). Our government has just conspired with the enemy’s conditions and seem to continue bowing before their demands which are becoming more and more suicidal for us as a nation.

The news media reports that warships of various nations are entering the seas around us – USA, Britain, France, and Iran. Arab dictatorships are being toppled one after the other in the name of ‘democracy’, by a consorted force of Western capitalist-Arab interests. They are being replaced by even more fundamentalist Shariah Law Islamic dictatorships.

Syria is now on the list while preparing poison tipped rockets. In all this, our Israeli government and the media are taking a lame duck attitude of wait and see – obviously not having alternative cards to play.

With this in mind and considering how often these long past selected Prophetic sections commonly have virtual applicable application to the news of our time, the ominous message may not be so co-incidental as we would wish it to be.

Amos 2:13; 3:1-2, 6-8 – “Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain …Hear this word, people of Israel, the Word HaShem has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.

When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not HaShem caused it? Surely the Sovereign HaShem does nothing without revealing His Plan to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?”

Threatening and scary as the future may seem to us right now, let us NOT forget HaShem’s Promise to Avraham of uncountable numbers of Israelites to re-settle the domain of their forefathers – the Greater Israel (! – talk about explosive topics!)

Let us not lose out of sight the miraculous phenomenon of a debilitated Judah having rebuilt a model world leading nation and country in just 60 years – on a foundationless, desert and swamp infested desolate countryside!
Let us BLESS Judah for this!
Let us not forget that it is according to the Prophecies of HaShem!
Let us NOT forget the rest of these Prophecies of even greater to Come! – the 2^nd Exodus!
Let us sculpt His Eternal Promises on our minds and in our souls:

Genesis 28:15 - “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this Land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Kol HaTor Vision for a re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom in Greater Israel

http://www.kolhator.org.il

You Might Want to Refer to the 2012-2013 Yearly Kol Ha’Tor Parashat Portion Reading Index for future Kol Ha’Tor Commentaries

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You might Want to Read Destination Yisra’el’s Kol Ha’tor Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One”

“Judah- The Lawgiver of God – Part Two”

To understand more about the Return of the 10 Tribes of Israel to their Homeland in Shomron (Samaria), Israel, Contact “Kol Ha’Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove.

Posted at 06:22 AM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, American Israelite Nation, Britain as Ephraim, the Lost Tribe, Famous Lost Israelites and Jews, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Illuminati, Masons and Secret Orders, Israel and Global World Order, Israeli Settlements and the Homeland for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Jewish Anti-Semitism, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Labor Zionism, Land of Israel, Meditation, Native American Hebrew Nation, New World Order, Nuclear, Scalar, Biological and Conventional Warfare, Obama White House and Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Palestinian State and Israel, Redemption of Israel, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Revelation's Seals and Plagues, Rome and the Jews, Sabbatean Jewish Anti-Jew, Sages of Israel, Samaria and Judea, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End, Time of the End, War against Israel, Zionist State of Israel | Permalink

11/27/2012

Parashat Toldot: Isaac and the Three Wells of Abraham

The Patriarch Isaac building a Well on the Land promised to Him and His Descendants

A KOL HA’TOR Presentation

Weekly Bible Reading #6

Year 5773 (2012/2013) – 17 November 2012

Parashat Toldot (Generations) - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9

Haftarah - Malachi 1:1-2:7

Parashat Toldot – “Generations”

We are at the 6^th Weekly Reading of this Year – a year which promises Revelations according to the interpretation of its numerical value (ref. our Parashat Bereishit commentary); the increase of wisdom.

The week of Parashat Toldot has also seen the start of the Gaza War in Israel. After 4 days of constant bombing from both sides, there are now ominous signs of the Arab neighbors joining in, as Egypt has just announced its siding with and support of the Palestinian Cause to drive the Jews from their Homeland.

If this is to develop into a major war of the End Times before the Coming of the Ruling Messiah, then it has started certainly on an unexpected date in the Biblical Calendar. So, as to not be accused of reading matters into the Parashah, we will this week not present our own commentary on Toldot but instead, present commentaries by two totally unrelated sources – the first ones, incidentally, that have come our way this week.

Our locating these commentaries were in fact initiated by the Gaza War – but, it was not the intention of the authors to link it the way we will. In fact, these two commentaries may even seem to present two opposing and incompatible views, though we see an amazing link between them which will explain why this war started in this week of Toldot.

The first Commentary is an extract from a commentary by Rabbi Bernie Fox

DISCLAIMER - Please note that the author and Jewish Times have no ties with Kol HaTor and our additional comments may not necessarily meet with their approval. We do recommend that you subscribe to the FREE internet magazine of Jewish Times through this link as a valuable source of Bible interpretation and related news and topics.

Torah’s Vision of the Eschatological Age

Comments from Kol HaTor are shown between [ ].

Bereishit (Genesis) 26:2-3 - “And Hashem appeared to him and said: Do not descend to Egypt. Dwell in the land that I tell you. Dwell in this land and I will be with you and I will bless you because to you and to your descendants I will give all of these lands. And I will fulfill the promise that I made to your father Avraham.” (Beresheit 26:2-3)

1. Yitzchak relocation to Gerar

Virtually the Torah’s entire discussion of Yitzchak is contained in Parshat Toldot. This is the account of his experiences in the Land of the Pelishtim [Palestine]. The Land of Cana’an is stricken by famine. Yitzchak decides to follow the example of his father, Avraham, and lead his family to Egypt for the duration of the famine. For both Avraham and Yitzchak, this was a logical decision. The Land of Cana’an – Israel – depends primarily upon precipitation for irrigation. Draught inevitably produces famine.

Egypt’s agriculture is supported by the Nile River. Therefore, Egypt was often spared from regional droughts and famines. As Yitzchak prepares to descend to Egypt, Hashem appears to him and directs him to not travel to Egypt but to remain in the Land of Cana’an. Then, Hashem explains the reason He requires that Yitzchak remain in the Land of Cana’an.

Hashem promised to give the Land of Cana’an to Avraham’s descendants. The fulfillment of this promise will begin with Yitzchak’s uninterrupted residence in the Land and continue with his descendant’s’ possession of the Land.

The reasoning of the passages is not completely clear. Yitzchak was told to remain in the Land of Cana’an because it had been given to him and his descendants. Yet, Yaakov left the Land of Cana’an with Hashem’s blessings in order to flee from the wrath of his brother Esav. Later, he and his children abandoned the Land of Cana’an and descended to Egypt in order to escape a famine that ravaged the region. Again, Yaakov’s descent to Egypt took place with Hashem’s blessing.

Why was it inappropriate to Yitzchak to leave the land but acceptable for Yaakov to do so?

2. Two views on Hashem’s instruction

We will consider two views on Hashem’s instruction to Yitzchak to remain in Cana’an. Netziv suggests that Hashem commanded Yitzchak to remain in to order to demonstrate his love for the Land of Israel. In other words, Yitzchak’s remaining in a time of famine would demonstrate that he was willing to endure hardship in order to remain within the Land.

Rabbaynu Ovadia Sforno offers an alternative interpretation of the passages. He explains that Yitzchak was destined to be acknowledged by the people of the Land as a prince of Hashem. His occupation of the Land as Hashem’s prince would establish his presence and rightful title to the Land. Therefore, his descendants would return to a Land that was their legacy from their forefather Yitzchak. However, Yitzchak’s title to the Land was dependent upon his treating it as his own. Therefore, he could not abandon it in this time of famine.

According to Sforno’s interpretation, the commandment to remain in the Land applied to Yitzchak. He was responsible to establish title over the Land. This mission did not apply to Yaakov. Therefore, when circumstances required that he leave the Land, he did so.

Bereishit 26:6 - “And Yitzchak dwelled in Gerar.”

3. Yitzchak’s conflict with the Pelishtim [Palestinians]

Yitzchak remains in the Land of Israel, and following the example of his father, he settles in Gerrar. The Torah describes Yitzchak’s experiences in Gerar in some detail. Yitzchak arrives and – like Avraham – he conceals that Rivkah (Rebecca) is his wife. He is discovered by the king – Avimelech – who commands the people to not harm Yitzchak or Rivkah. Despite the famine, Yitzchak is successful in harvesting a bumper crop, and while in Gerar, becomes increasingly wealthy.

Yitzchak’s success is followed by a number of unpleasant events. First, the Pelishtim destroy the wells that Avraham had developed in their land. Then, Avimelech, responding to jealously evoked by Yitzchak’s success, ask Yitzchak to leave Gerar and settle elsewhere. Yitzchak re-digs the wells developed by Avraham and restores to them the names that had been given to them by his father. He digs additional wells. Ownership of the first two wells is contested by the Pelishtim. The first he names Eysek –meaning quarrel. The second he names Sitnah – meaning conflict or hostility. Yitzchak again relocates. Finally, he develops a new well and it is not contested. The Torah provides additional details of Yitzchak’s experiences. The account ends with Avimelech coming to Yitzchak and asking that they renew the covenant originally established between Avraham and the Pelishtim.

4. The symbolic meaning of Yitzchak’s wells [Well presents source of water = wisdom].

The Ancient Wells as Dug in the Middle East

Nachmanides comments that this account is included in the Torah as an allusion to the future. The three wells developed by Yitzchak refer to the three Batai Mikdash – Holy Temples. The first and second were opposed by the nations of the world and eventually destroyed by the enemies of Bnai Yisrael [sons of Israel, 12 Tribes]. The final well represents the future and final Bait HaMikdash – Holy Temple. It will be accepted by all nations as Hashem’s sacred temple and will be a place for universal worship of Hashem.

Nachmanides’ comments and his interpretation of these passages require careful consideration. Is his conclusion that these passages are an allusion to future events based upon a tradition or is there some element within the passages that suggests this interpretation?

Bereisheit 26:15 - “And all of the wells that the servants of his father dug during the days of Avraham his father the Pelishtim sealed and filled with dirt.”

Bereisheit 26:18 – “And Yitzchak again dug the wells of water that they dug in the days of Avraham his father and that the Pelishtim had sealed after the death of Avraham and he called them by names corresponding with the names his father called them.

[The filling of the wells symbolize the covering up of the True Religious concepts with pagan theology. Something which rebelling 10-Israel was also guilty of].

5. The significance of the names Avraham assigned to his wells

As explained above, one of the conflicts between Yitzchak and the Pelishtim was over the wells that Avraham had developed in their land. The Pelishtim destroyed these wells and Yitzchak not only re-dug them, but he also reestablished the names given to the wells by his father.

Why were these wells the source of such vigorous contention?

HaKetav VeHaKabalah offers a compelling response. He explains that Avraham chose the name for each of his wells very carefully. Each was assigned a name that communicated that Hashem is the only true G-d and only He should be worshiped [in Truth]. In other words, Avraham used each well as an educational tool.

People would come to the well to draw its water. They would learn its name. The unusual name would provoke discussion and consideration of the message communicated by the name. During Avraham’s lifetime, the Pelishtim preserved the wells and their names.

In part, this reflected an acceptance of the ideas communicated by the names and in part, the wells and their names were preserved out of respect to Avraham. With his passing, the Pelishtim reverted to their idolatry and they chose to forget Avraham. The wells, that were reminders of Avraham and his message, were destroyed. Yitzchak reestablished the wells and restored their names. This reflected his commitment to the mission of his father.

6. The strange names that Yitzchak assigned to his wells.

It is interesting that Yitzchak was eager to reestablish his father’s wells and to restore their names, yet to the first two wells that he developed, he gave rather odd names that do not seem to communicate a message regarding Hashem or monotheism. Instead, these names communicate messages of conflict and strife!

Perhaps, it is this odd behavior of Yitzchak that serves as the basis of Nachmanides’ comments.

The names that Yitzchak gave to his wells are difficult to understand if considered individually. However, when considered together, these names communicate an important message. Understanding this message requires appreciating the significance of the wells developed by Avraham and Yitzchak. These wells were an important economic resource for Yitzchak and Avraham. However, they were also an enormous contribution to the people of the region.

Agriculture, settlement, and animal husbandry all require access to an adequate supply of water. In an arid region, the development of wells is a prerequisite for the settlement and the economic development of the region. Each well developed by Avraham and Yitzchak benefited all of the people of the area.

The wells are also a fitting representation of the religious message communicated by Avraham and Yitzchak. These ideas elevated humankind from paganism and barbarity and established monotheism and justice. Avraham reinforced the association of the wells with his revolutionary message by assigning each of his wells a name that communicated an important idea.

7. Yitzchak preserved his story through the names he assigned the wells

Taken together, the names that Yitzchak gave to the wells describe Yitzchak’s experience among the Pelishtim. The name of the first well reveals that initially, Yitzchak experienced rejection. He was the scion of Avraham and prosperous in his own right, nonetheless, he was shunned by his neighbors. This well which benefited all of the people in its region was destroyed by those whom it benefited. His continued prosperity and his successful development of a second well did not change matters. As the name of the second well reveals, his neighbors continued to reject him and were eager to forego the benefits of the well rather than accept Yitzchak.

Nonetheless, Yitzchak persevered. He did not contend with his neighbors, he merely developed a third well. Suddenly, the neighbors who previously rejected him abandoned their resistance and accepted Yitzchak.

On a superficial level – without any reference of the deeper meaning of the wells – the account teaches an important lesson. Yitzchak did not achieve success and overcome resistance through conquest of his neighbors. He could not claim responsibility for his eventual success. He was powerless to overcome the resistance and hatred of his neighbors and with the passage of time, this resistance remained intense and showed no sign of abating.

However, suddenly Yitzchak’s neighbors concluded that they could no longer deny the evidence that Yitzchak enjoyed a providential relationship with his G-d – Hashem. With this realization, they no longer contended with him and accepted him. The lesson of the experience is that Yitzchak’s salvation and even triumph over resistance and antagonism was not the consequence of political maneuvers, military triumph, or shrewd financial plays. He did not achieve acceptance through a gradual, incremental process. Instead, banishment and rejection were suddenly replaced by acceptance and admiration. Without forewarning of change, the people came to accept the reality of Yitzchak’s special relationship with Hashem.

The names that Yitzchak selected for his wells demonstrate his confidence in his eventual success. The names he gave to the first two wells recall his conflict and strife with his neighbors. He gave these names to the wells knowing that the tension between him and the P’lishtim would be replaced by acceptance. He wanted the names to recall his emergence from persecution to acceptance and teach a lesson. Hashem’s deliverance is sudden and its precise moment is unknown. However, His covenant is eternal and will be fulfilled.

8. The eschatological message of Yitzchak’s wells

When the wells are considered as representations of Avraham’s and Yitzchak’s mission, the message of the passages is even more significant. The passages were no longer merely a biographical account of Yitzchak’s experiences. They emerge as an assertion regarding the triumph of truth and justice. The passages describe humanity’s encounter with the religious and moral system introduced by Avraham, promoted by Yitzchak and embodied in the Torah given to the Bnai Yisrael (Children of Israel).

The passages describe a prolong period of self-destructive rejection and denial. The advanced religious ideals and moral principles introduced by the Patriarchs and formalized in the Torah were a boon to all humanity. Nonetheless, these teachings – represented by the wells – are despised and discredited. Humanity dwells in a relentless self-imposed darkness. Enlightenment seems impossible. But suddenly and without forewarning, light penetrates the darkness and knowledge and truth triumph over ignorance.

[There is a distinct message for 10-Israel in all this. They, like the Philistines, have rejected, and despised G-d’s Torah and discredited His teachers (Rabbinism, the Mechoqeck of G-d, His Lawgivers – ref. our Mechoqeck study), but suddenly, over the last few decades light and knowledge have penetrated the dark and millions of re-awakening Ten Tribers in exile amongst the nations are returning to their Hebrew Roots].

Now, Nachmanides’ interpretation of the passages can be fully understood. The lessons represented by the wells are embodied in the Bait HaMikdash. It is the focal point of monotheistic and enlightened service to Hashem. From the Granite Chamber adjacent to the Temple, the highest court of the nation teaches justice and morality. Yitzchak’s experiences are a harbinger of the future. The first and second Temples were despised by the nations of the world and they were destroyed by them.

Nonetheless, there will be a third Bait HaMikdash. This third Temple will be embraced and acknowledged by the very peoples who destroyed its predecessors.

9. A unique element of the Torah’s Eschatological vision

The eschatological vision represented by these passages is unique. Many religions and nations long for conquest and power over their enemies or those whose view oppose their own. Many religions seek to impose their ideas upon those who deny their “truth”. The Torah’s view of the Messianic era differs drastically from these perspectives.

Ultimately, it is a vision of the triumph of ideas and the acceptance of the Torah’s truths – not their imposition upon others. The triumph of the ideas embodied in these Temples will not be achieved through Bnai Yisrael’s conquest of its opponents or through the imposition of Torah doctrine upon “nonbelievers”. Instead, it will be achieved through the triumph of truth over falsehood and the capacity of the light of wisdom to penetrate the darkness of ignorance.

[Can it be that 10-Israel’s return to Torah could serve as a testimony to the nations of the Triumph of Truth over falsehood? While to Judah it could be fulfillment of HaShem’s Prophecy that He would “make them jealous with a foolish nation”?]

In short, Yitzchak’s experiences are representative of an eschatological perspective. They describe the destiny of his descendants – Bnai Yisrael. Yitzchak experiences presages the rejection, persecution, banishment, and eventual and sudden acceptance and triumph of Bnai Yisrael in the Messianic era. ■

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Our second reference on this Parashot is from the Jewish Press.

It focuses on the perspective of War in the Divine Plan for humanity. This article was specially written in the context of the Gaza War (which started in the week of Toldot 2012). It’s theme is clear from the title: “We Are Seeing Moshiach in Action!”.

This article was not written as a commentary on Parashat Toldot but we present it here in our commentary as offering the link to our first section above, viz. being part of the message embedded in Yitzchak’s 3^rd Well – of Truth coming suddenly to the pagan nations who have all along rejected the Torah, Judaism and Rabbinism.

Whereas one could construe from the first part above that the “acceptance of Yitzchak’s Mission by the Philistines (Palestinians, i.e. Arabs) will come in a quiet intellectual way”, this review of “Messiah in Action” brings the war factor into perspective. As such it explains why this latest 2012 Gaza War ignited at such an inconspicuous date – because it may be part of the approaching Time of “the triumph of truth and justice. The Time of humanity’s encounter with the religious and moral system introduced by Avraham, promoted by Yitzchak, and embodied in the Torah given to the (12-tribed) nation of Yisrael.” (to paraphrase Rabbi Fox’s words above).

We Are Seeing Moshiach in Action!

by Tzvi Fishman

About the Author: Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Creativity and Jewish Culture for his novel "Tevye in the Promised Land."

DISCLAIMER - Please note that the author and Jewish Press have no ties with Kol HaTor and our additional comments may not necessarily meet with their approval. We do recommend that you subscribe to the FREE internet magazine of Jewish Times through this link as a valuable source of Bible interpretation and related news and topics.

Tzvi Fishman - “The Pillar of Cloud, otherwise known as the Clouds of Glory, or Amud HaAnan, protected the Jewish People [rather: the 12 Tribes of Israel] in the Wilderness, and the “Amud HaAnan” Operation which Tzahal (Israel Defense Forces) has now undertaken is intended to protect our beleaguered citizens in the South.

But it is much more than that. Rabbi Kook writes:

Rabbi Kook - “When there is a great war in the world, the power of Moshiach awakens. The time of the song bird [Kol HaTor] has come, with the weeding away of tyrants. The evil ones are obliterated from the world, the world becomes more perfected, and the ‘voice of the turtledove’ is heard in our Land. [i.e. the Prophetic Time for the ingathering of exiles – Gaon of Vilna]

“And after the war has climaxed, the world is revitalized with a new spirit, and the ‘Footsteps of the Moshiach are exceedingly revealed. The greater the war’s measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the greater the expectation for the ‘Footsteps of the Moshiach’ which the war reveals…

“With great insight, incredible valor, with deep and penetrating logic, with true desire, and with clear understanding, we need to receive the exalted contents of the light of G-d which is revealed in wondrous action in the workings of precisely these wars.”

Rabbi Kook ends his essay by quoting from our morning prayers. Make no mistake. This is what Operation “Amud HaAnan” is really all about:

Orot, 2:1 - “The Master of wars, sower of righteousness, Who causes salvation to sprout, the Creator or cures, awesome in praise, the Master of wonders, Who renews His goodness every day the act of Creation, cause a new light to shine upon Zion, and may we all be privileged to see its light”.

Hashem is the Master of wars. And now, as citizens in the south of Israel sit anxiously in their bomb shelters, Hashem is at war. Hashem is weeding out tyrants, the killers of Jewish men, women, and children. Hashem is obliterating evil ones from the world, the murderers from the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. The Moshiach has awakened. He is sitting in the cockpit beside our pilots as they soar over Gaza, cleansing and perfecting the world. While the Israeli Army is fighting, Hashem is sowing righteousness. Hashem is causing salvation to sprout. He is causing a new light to shine upon Zion, and it is our task to open our eyes and see it. No, my friends, this is not a mere war – this is Moshiach in action!

The Mashiach is not only the ideal Jewish king, but a process which evolves over time. The Gemara informs us that, “There are 2000 years of Moshiach (Sanhedrin 97A). In Tractate Megilla, we learn that, “War is also the beginning of Redemption” (Megilla 17B). The Rambam tells us that one of Moshiach’s premier tasks is to fight the wars of Hashem (Laws of Kings and Their Wars, 11:4).

Yes, Operation “Amud HaAnan” has come to protect our citizens, to teach Hamas a painful lesson, and to return our power of detriment, but when you watch the footage on TV, know that you are watching the “Footsteps of Moshiach ” You are witnessing the Sanctification of G-d in the world. Let the word go forth, “There is a living G-d in Israel!”

Yes, war is hell. Yes, if war could be abandoned, the world would be a better place. But the Redemption of Am Yisrael also comes through wars. In the roar of our jets streaking over Gaza, Moshiach is on the way! When evil doers are uprooted from the world, the light of Moshiach appears. The greater the magnitude and force of the war, the greater the revelation of Moshiach which follows.

Our hearts and prayers are with the soldiers of Israel. May Hashem grant them and their commanders the holy courage and valor to finish the job and wipe out the evil in our midst, for the betterment of the world. And may we all be privileged to see and enjoy the new light shining on Zion!

(End of Quote)

Additional observations by Kol HaTor:

Kol Ha’Tor – “The 1^st World war in 1917, in its aftermath arranged the nations in a way of which the outcome was the Balfour Declaration, according to which a Home Land was declared for Jews.

The 2^nd World War, as a result of Hitler’s persecution of Jews, resulted in the Return of Jews (The House of Judah) to the Land promised to Abraham and his descendants. [Refer to the Prophecy of Rabbi Judah ben Samuel in Postscript below].

The international repercussions of the Return of Judah to their Land would lead to World War 3, now in the making. Jerusalem is facing nuclear and bio-chemical annihilation.

ZecharYah (Zechariah) 14:2 - “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle …”

All of these event will occur at the Time of His Coming to establish His Kingdom on earth (refer the last part of chapter 14). This turnabout in the realization of Israel’s opposers will come suddenly;

When they see the God of Israel coming to defend and save Israel from total annihilation.
When they realize that these Jews and their Torah culture, which they have always despised, is the Elect of G-d;
When they see His ‘Jewish’ World Rule set up in Jerusalem – not Islam, not Christianity, not any of the other isms, but Judaism, the Message of Yitzchak’s 3^rd Well will be fulfilled - when the Toldot (generations) of Abraham are settled in the Promised Land, in its Greater format (See Kol Ha Tor’s video on “Greater Israel”

And these ‘generations’ will include the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel which will be re-identified, returned to the Land and reconciled with the House of Judah to form the Reunited 12-Tribed Kingdom of the G-d of Israel! (Refer Kol HaTor Web Site and especially the long list of clear and specific Prophecies about their Return: “Bible Confirmations of the Regathering of the Tribes of Israel”

Why will they so suddenly accept Abraham and Yitzchak’s culture? Imagine when these Prophecies come to be fulfilled in the World, when they will see:

ZecharYah 12:2 - “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.”

ZecharYah 12:3 - “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

ZecharYah 12:8 - “In that day shall HaShem defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of HaShem before them.”

ZecharYah 12:9 - “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

ZecharYah 14:4 - “And his (G-d’s) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (They shall see it on international TV and on Internet!)

ZecharYah 14:12 – “And this shall be the plague wherewith HaShem will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”

ZecharYah 14:16 - “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, HaShem of hosts, and to keep the feast of Succot.”

Ezekiel 38: 18-23 - “This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at My Presence

The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am HaShem.”

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POSTSCRIPT

Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel Prophecy

JERUSALEM – Judah Ben Samuel was a legendary and prolific German rabbi of the 12th century who made some astonishing and specific predictions about the future of Jerusalem and Israel that came true.

Judah Ben Samuel, also known as Judah he-Hasid (Judah the Pious), lived and worked from the end of the 12th century until the beginning of the 13th century in Regensburg, authoring a number of books in the German language.

Ludwig Schneider of Israel Today magazine has translated some of his work into English over the last few years, including “The Book of the Pious – Sefer Hasidim” and the “Book of Calculations – Sefer Gematriyot.”

Following the Christian crusades to the Holy Land, between 1096-1270, a regular correspondence developed between the Jews in the Holy Land and the Christian West. Thus, for example, the rabbis in Worms and Regensburg in Germany knew that Saladin’s Ayyubids had been ruling in the Holy Land since 1187.

At this time, Judah Ben Samuel published the results of his biblical calculations (Gematria) and astrological observations and summarized as follows: “When the Ottomans (Turks) – who were already a power to be reckoned with on the Bosporus in the time of Judah Ben Samuel – conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.”

One jubilee is 50 years (Leviticus 25). It is the 50th year after seven times seven years, the year in which each person should regain ownership of his or her land. Ben Samuel’s calculations were purely theoretical; there was absolutely no sign at that time of their being fulfilled. He himself was not able to experience their fulfillment, for it was only 300 years after his death that the first of his predictions were to come true.

The Mamluks, who had been reigning in Jerusalem since 1250, were conquered in 1517 by the Ottoman Turks. They remained for eight jubilees (8 x 50 = 400 years), that is to say they were in Jerusalem for 400 years. Exactly 400 years later, in 1917, the Ottoman Turks were conquered by the British. The League of Nations conferred the Mandate for the Holy Land and Jerusalem to the British. Thus, from 1917, under international law, Jerusalem was no-man’s land.

Then, when Israel captured Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967, exactly one jubilee (50 years) after 1917, Jerusalem reverted to Jewish-Israeli ownership once again. Thereby, according to the prophecies of Judah Ben Samuel, the Messianic End Times began.

Many scholars have studied and made reference to Judah Ben Samuel’s writings in an effort to understand how he reached his conclusions.

The secret of how Judah the Pious arrived at such accurate predictions has less to do with the actual calculations than it does with the fact that he had consecrated his life to God Ben Samuel was often called “Light of Israel.” Even bishops came to him for advice. If anyone asked him where his wisdom came from he would answer:

Ben Samuel - “The prophet Elijah, who will precede the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and emphasized that the precondition for answered prayer is that it is fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”

But to recap the astonishing predictions: In AD 1217 this scholarly and pious rabbi prophesied that the Ottoman Turks would rule over the holy city of Jerusalem for eight Jubilees. Now, keep in mind, he made this prediction 300 years before the Ottoman Turks seized control of Jerusalem in 1517. If indeed 1217 and 1517 were jubilee years as Judah Ben Samuel believed, then his prophecy was exactly right, because exactly 400 years after the Turks took control of Jerusalem they were driven out of the city and the holy land in 1917 by the Allied forces under the command of General George Allenby – on Hanukkah, by the way.

[Note: There is no 100% consensus in Judaism as to which years are the exact Jubilee years today].

But it gets more interesting still.

The rabbi also prophesied that during the ninth Jubilee Jerusalem would be a “no-man’s land.” This is exactly what happened from 1917 to 1967, due to the fact that the Holy Land was placed under British Mandate in 1917 by the League of Nations and literally “belonged” to no nation.

Even after Israel’s war of independence in 1948-49, Jerusalem was still divided by a strip of land running right through the heart of the city, with Jordan controlling the eastern part of the city and Israel controlling the western part of the city. That strip of land was considered and even called “no-man’s land” by both the Israelis and the Jordanians.

It was not until the Six Day War in 1967 when the entire West Bank of the Holy Land was conquered by the Israeli army that the whole city of Jerusalem passed back into the possession of Israel. So once again the prophecy made by the rabbi 750 years previously was fulfilled to the letter.

It certainly would be significant if both 1917 and 1967 were Jubilee years, considering the significance of what happened in Jerusalem on those years. But it gets even more interesting, because Judah Ben Samuel also prophesied that during the 10th Jubilee Jerusalem would be under the control of the Jews and the Messianic “end times” would begin. If he’s right, the 10th Jubilee began in 1967 and will be concluded in 2017.

This Page has been compiled by KOL HA’TOR Vision for the Restoration of the re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom of Israel.

You Might Want to Refer to the 2012-2013 Yearly Kol Ha’Tor Parashat Portion Reading Index for future Kol Ha’Tor Commentaries

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You might Want to Read Destination Yisra’el’s Kol Ha’Tor Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One”

“Judah- The Lawgiver of God – Part Two”

To understand more about the Return of the 10 Tribes of Israel to their Homeland in Shomron (Samaria), Israel, Contact “Kol Ha’Tor”, the Voice of the Turtledove.

Posted at 05:23 AM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, Arabs and the Jews, Archeology in Israel, Archeology of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Coming of the Messiah, Famous Lost Israelites and Jews, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Meditation, Messianic Israel, Mystical Judaism and the Zohar, Orthodox Jewish Life, Palestinian State and Israel, Redemption of Israel, Return of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Samaria and Judea, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End, Time of the End, War against Israel | Permalink

11/25/2012

Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One

The Rabbi studying Torah

Hebrew: Mechoqeck

By OvadYah Avrahami

Kol Ha’Tor

Awesome Biblical Proof that:

The rejection of Judaism and its Rabbinical leadership is in direct violation of the Declarations of the God of Israel according to which:

Judah is the Judicial Authority (Mechoqeck) of HaShem on earth

Judah is the sole representative of the Kingdom of HaShem on earth

The Rabbinical leadership is the authorised Teacher of the Torah of HaShem –

AND ABOVE ALL! - - - Judah is ?……READ ON for this staggering Revelation!

Index

Introduction

The following Scriptures should raise no eyebrows:

Isaiah 33:22 - “For HaShem is our Judge, HaShem is our Lawgiver (Mechoqeck), HaShem is our King; He will save us.”

Obviously, the Lawgiver does not break the Law by sitting in Judgment, but His unauthorised subjects do.

Even those who oppose of God’s Law (Torah) would not think of denying that HaShem is the Lawgiver, as these Scriptures confirm. They would however take exception to the following Scriptural statement and undoubtedly find, or create reasons for arguing it away. The onus is on you though, as the individual reader, to consider the following statement and decide how you would accept it or interpret it. This text uses the exact same Hebrew word Mechoqeck,, and is written in the very same Bible, the Word of HaShem.

This text will no doubt raise many eyebrows.- coming from the Mouth of HaShem Himself:

Psalms 60:7 - “Judah is my Lawgiver (Mechoqeck),”

And just in case someone may propose that this is an editorial error in the Bible, it is repeated once more in Psalms 108:8.

The word Mechoqeck appears 6 times only, in the Tanach (OT).

Once it refers directly to HaShem Himself, as quoted in the introduction above in Isaiah 33:22 and reprinted:

Isaiah 33:22 - “For HaShem is our Judge, HaShem is our Lawgiver (Mechoqeck), HaShem is our King; He will save us.”

Twice it refers clearly to Judah (the Jews).

Psalms 60:7 – “Judah is My lawgiver.” (Hebrew: ‘Yehudah Mechoqeqi’). Some English translations render it ‘My Sceptre’.

Psalms 108:8 – the same words and translation.

Of the three remaining instances, twice it is a vague reference, but the final instance is an equally bold declaration regarding Judah, as recorded in the Word of HaShem. This declaration regarding Judah is no doubt inspired by His Spirit in line with the Divine Promise made to Jacob by HaShem Himself at Luz (or Bethel) in Samaria.

According to this Divine Blessing, G-d would bless Jacob’s descendants, which would grow into a multitude of nations, whom G-d would bring back to this very Land of Israel (Genesis 28:10-19).

Genesis 49:10 – “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver (Mechoqeck) from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the obedience of the people (the nations) be."

This text and its bold declaration will form the theme of our further discussion.

Genesis 49:10 – “Divine Appointment of Judah”

Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu

Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel (1983 to 1993) and Member of the Supreme Rabbinic Court in Jerusalem

The Blessing declared by Genesis 49:10 upon the Tribe and the descendants of Judah was part of the Blessings pronounced by Ya’acov (Jacob) under Divine Inspiration, on his death bed, over his 12 sons (fathers of the 12 Tribes of the nation of Israel which would proceed from them). It was defined as being a declaration of “what lies before them in time to come.” (Genesis 49:1).

According to this Prophetic Blessing, Judah (the Jews) would retain the ruling legal authority amongst the 12 Tribes of Israel "... UNTIL Shiloh comes," to whom the ruling authority "over the nations" belongs.

There can be no doubt, that one of the main reasons why Jews (descendants of the Tribe of Judah) are disliked by other nations, is because of their image of representing legalism, religious legalism, which they portray. This dislike certainly protrudes from many Christians who regard themselves as ‘free from this legalism through the Grace of their Messiah.’ Even a major part, if not the majority, of Hebraic Roots Restorers (a great awakening phenomenon of late), protests against what they regard as ‘the man-made legal obligations of the Rabbis’.

Notwithstanding this resistance, these Restorers of Torah, as they like to portray themselves (and which indeed they are identified by) are gradually partaking more and more of these Hebraic legal responsibilities themselves – like the Sabbath, Feast days, Jewish customs, etc.

The majority of these returnees to Torah principles, claim to uphold only the literal injunctions of the Bible, while vehemently rejecting the Rabbinic "man-made” injunctions. Yet, ironically, they are also adopting many of the salient Rabbinic Oral Torah directives for rituals and religious items for which the literal Word (the Bible) offers no directives at all.

Examples of these are the Prayer phylacteries, Tefillin, the Talith, the Mezuzah, etc. In their restorative drive, however, they select only those laws which they believe they are obligated to, and even then, they choose to interpret and define these Laws according to their own understanding or, as many claim, “according to the leading of the Holy Spirit”- though they still vociferously differ with each other. This results in great discord and disunity in the Restoration Movement because of the great confusion amongst its adherents regarding interpretation of these ‘Jewish’ Laws and practises and their rejection of rabbinic interpretation.

Above all this confusion, one striking effect is indisputable: viz. the Power of the Word of G-d:

That the Tribe of Judah (Jews) have indeed remained as the Guardians of Torah throughout the ages, since Moses received it from G-d and interpreted it for the people, notwithstanding all the persecutions and pogroms they had to endure for this Divine Mandate placed on them by G-d;
That the Tribe of Judah would remain to blaze the Trail and, by example, set the Pace and be the Light unto not only the nations, but also to those who, while opposing their interpretations of the Word of G-d, yet follow their guidance as they are no doubt led by the Spirit of G-d.
The Most High certainly employs paradox and controversy to achieve His Purpose!

Christians claim that their Messiah replaced the authority of Judah

James Tissot, “Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees”, Brooklyn Museum

Let us consider at the outset, the claims of Christianity that the Christian Messiah, Jesus, since his appearance 2000 years ago has therefore replaced the ruling authority of the Jews; being Shiloh who has come. By far the greater majority of the Messianic Hebraic Restoration Movement, who proclaim a more authentic Jewish version of the Christian Messiah, and whom they call by his Hebrew name Y'Shuah, also erroneously believe that he replaced the authority of the Jewish rabbanim of Judah.

Let us recall here our opening quotation regarding Judah as being the Lawgiver (Mechoqeck) of HaShem. Has Jesus or Y'Shuah now replaced Judah as the Lawgiver, thereby ending its legal Mandate? Adherents of this claim are unanimous in their vehement denial and rejection of "Rabbinic authority". Yet, it would be a great insult today, to credit any 'Messiah' with "Ruling over the nations" (as the latter part of the Prophecy and Divine Mandate of Genesis 49:10 specifies) while we observe the ever worsening ungodliness, rebellion, terror and sinfulness of the nations! Prophecy defines His Rule over the nations as a Rule with "a Rod of Iron".

This has surely NOT been accomplished yet - but will most certainly be so, when Messiah takes over the Rule of this world in the aftermath of the War of Gog Magog (Armageddon) - now well in sight! Until then, Judah remains to be the Lawgiver (interpreter) by Divine Mandate (Genesis 49:10).

When the Messiah comes as Ruler over the Nations, as the King of the World, then only will He take over the Law 'faculty' (Mechoqeck) from Judah.

The Reign of King Messiah

Further Torah confirmation of Judah as the Lawgiver

The legal authority of Judah as the Mechoqeck of G-d, entails the issue of Torah Law interpretation. The Word of G-d makes clear provision for the nation of Israel for this Torah guidance:

Deuteronomy 17: 8 -13 – “If a case comes before you … any dispute at all … you must make your way to the place that HaShem your G-d chooses and approach the Levitical priests and judges then in office (does that include today?). They will … give a decision for you. You must abide by the decision they pronounce for you … you must take care to carry out all their instructions. You must abide by the verdict they give you and by the decision they declare to you, swerving neither to the right or left of the sentence they have pronounced for you. If anyone presumes to disobey either the priest who is there in the Service of HaShem your G-d, or the judge, that man must die. You must banish this evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear of it and be afraid and not act presumptuously a second time.”

How should this Torah Directive apply to Messianic followers – if their Messiah did appear 2000 years ago? How does it apply to Hebraic Roots Restorers today who are gradually adopting more and more Jewish Torah injunctions? Where should they turn for sound and proper Torah interpretation today? Does the Messianic New Testament not in fact quote their Messiah’s command and confirmation (almost as a direct reference to Deuteronomy 17 above) that they should listen to the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees and DO what they say (Matthew 23:2)?

Matthew 23:2-3 – “Then Jesus spoke to the people and to his disciples saying: ‘Upon the seat of Moses the Pharisees and the sages sit. Now all which (they) say to you, keep and do; but (according to) their ordinances and deeds do not do because they say do or not.” (Shem-Tob’s Hebrew Matthews)

One of the remarkable features of the Hebraic Restoration Movement is its Return to Torah observance - which is simply another Prophetic fulfilment. In fact, they claim that this was one of the main mandates of their Messiah - to return the masses to Torah observance - to reconcile them to the Eternal Covenant.

To credit any Messiah with the designation of Mechoqeck for this lawless dispensation today, is nothing short of a grave insult against His capability as Law Interpreter.

The Torah Dispensation of the Messiah

That 'Shiloh' refers to the Messiah, is almost unanimously agreed to by Jewish commentators throughout the ages. Refer Notes:

So, are the Messianic claims that their Messiah has now replaced the Torah Law faculty of Judah valid - or is there another explanation?

Christians believe that Messiah will return at the End of Time - in a 2nd Coming to rule as King. Jewish interpretation is also explicit about the existence of TWO Messiahs:

Messiah ben Yosef - Who will regather the exiles of Israel, having reconciled them to Torah observance (concluding a Renewed Covenant with them), and;
Messiah ben David - Who will reign as King over Israel and the world.

You might want to read -

“Messiah ben Joseph” – Wikipedia

“Messiah Son of Yosef” – Yair Davidiy with Brit-Am

“Tracing Mashiach be Yosef” – Rabbi Daniel Krentzman

“Kol-hator” – Quoting the Gaon of Vilna

The Rabbinic sages knew that the ancestral right to the kingly leadership rule, resting in the Davidic line of the tribe of Judah, would cease at the coming of the "Messiah, the son of David" (a common appellation of King Messiah found in Rabbinic writings).

Conclusion: 'Shiloh' must therefore refer to Messiah's yet future Coming, when He will truly reign as King over the nations. Until then, according to Genesis 49:10, Judah will retain its authoritative legal rule, having duly been mandated for this by HaShem "until Shiloh comes - unto Whom the nations would be obedient."

Isaiah 11:10-13 – “‘In that day’ the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His place of rest will be glorious. ‘In that day’ HaShem will reach out His hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will assemble the scattered people of Judah (Jews) from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's (Biblical compound term used for regathered 10 Tribes of Israel) jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim." (Refer also to Ezekiel 37:15).

Though "the Root of Jesse" is claimed by Messianics to refer to their Messiah who came 2000 years ago, this Prophecy from Isaiah clearly refers to a yet future event - a Time when Judah and Ephraim will be reconciled to each other.

UNTIL that Time of Reconciliation of the two divided Houses of Israel, Judah shall retain its Mechoqeck leadership through its Rabbinic authority over Torah interpretation - much to the vehement rejection of 'Ephraim' - the Ten Tribes and other Gentiles who have turned to the G-d of Israel yet reject His Torah with its 'legalism'.

Jurisdiction of the Lawgiver (the MeChoqeck)

Orthodox Jews at the Wailing Wall

Some amazing revelations await us as we delve deeper into the Hebrew Scriptures surrounding this topic of the Law of HaShem and Judah’s designation as the Mechoqeck of HaShem. May the contents of this study assist in bringing some agreement and unity, by accentuating the Divine appointment of Judah as the Mechoqeck of HaShem, i.e. the ‘Law Giver’ or Law Interpreter and authority.

What does the Law of HaShem entail – of which Judah has been declared ‘the Mechoqeck (Lawgiver) of HaShem’? In its broader sense, the Law of HaShem is referred to as:

THE TORAH – “law; teaching, direction; instruction." This noun occurs 220 times in the Hebrew Tanach (OT). In Judaism it entails the first 5 Books of the Bible which specifies the 613 Laws of HaShem. Often referred to as ‘The Laws of Moses’ – meaning, ‘as given through Moses’.

Psalms 119 defines the Torah in finer detail:

Psalms 119:1 – “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Torah of HaShem".

This is followed by 176 verses praising the Laws, Statutes, Judgments, Commandments, Decrees, Precepts etc. We will shortly define the total encompassment of His Torah (Instruction, teaching, direction, system).

G-d gave Israel the Torah in order that they might observe it and enjoy the Blessings of Life which come through observing it:

Deuteronomy 4:8 - “And what nation is there so great, that has Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law, which I set before you this day?"

The Prophets called Israel to repentance by returning to the Torah Instructions: Isaiah 1:10. Jeremiah prophesied of a future time when G-d would renew His Eternal Covenant with His People in terms of the ‘New Covenant’, according to which the Torah would be internalized: G-d's people would willingly obey Him, according to a loving spiritual obedience of their hearts and minds:

Jeremiah 31:30-33 –“Behold the days are coming – the word of HaShem – when I will seal a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah: not like the covenant that I sealed with their forefathers on the day that I took hold of their hand to take them out of the land of Egypt, for they abrogated My covenant – although I became their Master. For this is the covenant that I shall seal with the House of Israel after those days - the word of HaShem – I will place My Torah within them and I will write it onto their hearts; I will be a G-d for them and they will be a people for Me.”

At the end of days, in the final hours before the revealing of the Messiah, the Torah is the last things the HaShem invites both the House of Judah and the House of Israel to remember!

Malachi 4:19 (Stone Edition TaNaKh) or Malachi 4:4 (NKJV – “Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all of Israel – [its] decree and [its] statutes. Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of HaShem. And He will turn back [to G-d] the hearts of fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers. Lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.”

Isaiah 56:3-7 – “And the foreigners who join themselves to G-d to serve Him and to love the Name of G-d to become servants unto Him, all who guard the Sabbath against desecration and grasp My covenant tightly — I will bring them to My holy mountain, and I will gladden them in My house of prayer; their elevation offerings and their feast offerings will find favour on My Altar, for My House will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.”

What does this Law of Moses entail, to which the people are admonished to return?

The word ‘Torah’ is derived from the Hebrew root verb yarah - (2 Chronicles 26:15) meaning to show the way, to shoot, to throw (like an arrow), to pour water, to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach, archer, direct, inform, instruct, to lay a cornerstone.

The word for a teacher, in Hebrew (Moreh), is a direct derivative of this verb.

Do we have an indication here, that by being appointed and declared the ‘Mechoqeck’ of HaShem (‘The Lawgiver’), that Judah has been Divinely intended to be the Law Teacher of the 12 Tribes and of the world? Let us see if we find further references in our search for this answer, by delving further into the meanings of the various Hebrew words used for ‘Law’ in the Bible. Let us throughout our study also bear in mind the mandated pointers of Shevet (Sceptre) and Mechoqeck given for Judah in Genesis 49:10.

Psalms 119 confirms that the Law of HaShem entails various concepts which we will list under the section Notes 2 for those readers who want to make an in-depth study.

Psalms 119:1-8 – “Praiseworthy are those whose way is perfect, who walk with the Torah of HaShem. Praiseworthy are those who guard His testimonies, they seek Him wholeheartedly. They have also done no iniquity, of they have walked in His ways. You have issued Your precepts to be kept diligently. My prayers: May my ways be firmly guided to keep Your statutes. Then I will not be ashamed, when I gaze at all Your commandments. I will give thanks to You with upright heart, when I study Your righteous ordinances. I will keep Your statutes, O, do not forsake me utterly."

This wide encompassment of His Law, gives clear indication of how shallow the reasoning goes, which claims that G-d has no Law – or, that it is only the 10 Commandments which have to be observed. HaShem’s Laws and System are for the purposes of running a country and a nation. This requires as wide a set of laws, rules and regulations as any country requires.

It should resolve from this, amongst the professing followers of HaShem across the world, who read and search the Bible, that the authority regarding the spiritual operation and determination of this much wider encompassment of His Law has been given to the spiritual leaders of Judah – “until Shiloh comes, to Whom the Rule belongs,”... when nations will be subdued to His Rule of Law – as in any government in the world.

Many modern day Messianic Hebraic Roots Restorers (reawakening 10 Tribers) who are in the process of returning to Torah (as prophesied in Ezekiel 37:15 and other Prophecies), take great exception though to the suggestion, even in their own NT Writings (Matthew 23:2, Romans 3:2), which sanction both Deuteronomy 17 and the Divine Mandate to Judah contained in Genesis 49:10.

Further Divine Mandates unto Judah

The Esteemed Kabbalist Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri – Painting by Elena Girshbein

Genesis 49:10 – “The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah … until Shiloh comes …”

The Hebrew word translated Sceptre here, is ‘Shevet’. Shevet - "tribe; rod." - a rod denoting rule over a nation as defined in:

Ezekiel 19:11, "And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule,..."

In modern Hebrew, Shevet mainly means "tribe". In the Tanach it is used 143 times to denote a "tribe," a division in a nation. It is the preferred term used for the twelve Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:16; Exodus 28:21).

As ‘a rod’, the word Shevet is used as ’a symbol of authority in the hands of a ruler’. As such it is translated ‘sceptre’ in Amos 1:5, 8 and as ‘an instrument of warfare’ by Messiah at the establishment of His Kingdom.

Isaiah 11:4 – “But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod (Shevet) of His mouth..."

In Gen. 49:10,Shevet is generally translated ‘Sceptre’ – depicting the Rule and authority of Judah.

This interpretation however, would result in duplicating the “ruling“ aspect of this Divine Mandate in this Scripture, viz. “The Sceptre (ruling rod) shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver (Mechoqeck) from between his feet, until Shiloh comes to Whom the Rule belongs.”

We may therefore consider using the alternative and more often used meaning of ‘Tribe’ for Shevet, in the first part of the text. Thus: “The Tribe (tribal identity) shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver (Mechoqeck) from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.”

This would be perfectly valid in terms of the historic fact: Th that while the Ten Tribes of Israel disappeared because they rejected the Torah authority (Mechoqeck) of Judah and were resultantly cut off and exiled by HaShem. Judah remained identified throughout the 2000 years of their dispersion – all the time retaining and expounding their Mechoqeck (Lawgiver) Mandate.

As for the word ‘Law’, where we have seen various alternative synonyms, the word Shevet also has a synonym: “Matteh” – meaning both ‘rod’ and ‘tribe’. . It occurs 251 times in Tanach. As ‘staff’ it signifies authority or power over another nation. And as such it is used in reference to the Messianic Rule Psalms 110:2. It refers to ‘Tribe’ 183 times. The "tribes" of Israel are each designated as ‘matteh’.

This dual meaning for ‘matteh’ therefore validates the probability that the Divine Mandate to Judah, in Genesis 49:10, could well refer to the maintenance of Judah’s Tribal identity as the ‘Lawgiver’ of HaShem, who should be recognized for it by the Returnees of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Prophecy predicted the re-identifying of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in the End Time, when they would return to Torah and to the Land. It should be clear from this, that their Return should then also be preceded by true repentance from their original arrogance and rejection of the authority of Judah and a recognition and subjection to Judah’s Divine Mandate as the Mechoqeckim (Lawgivers) of HaShem.

For a clearer understanding of such a suggested probability, it is necessary that we at this stage do a quick review of the conditions surrounding the historic rejection of Judah and its Divinely mandated Mechoqeck (Law Giver) status, by the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel.

Continue to Part Two – “Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part Two”

************

You might Want to Read the Entire Series on “Judah the Mechoqeck”

“Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One”

“Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part Two”

The world around is quickly becoming transformed into a polarizing a world of two choices: for G-d or for Satan, for Goodness or for Evil, for Restoration of All Israel or against the restoration of the House of Israel and the House of Judah. As it comes to the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, our naturalized homelands as we know them to be will soon disappear and we will have only one choice left, assimilate into Clinton’s global village or return to our ancestral tribal homelands in Israel. The prophets have a lot to say as to the fate of each of these Lost Israelites.

This comes to one sobering conclusion, if you are a descendant of the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel and you despise your brothers, the Jews, you will be left cohabitating with peoples who will have a genetic hatred to you even though you think you want to be a part of them.

So today, the G-d of Israel is whistling or coaxing you to come back to the brotherhood of Klal Yisra’el (All Israel). To learn more about this redemptive process, you are Welcome to Contact “Kol Ha'Tor”,the Voice of the Turtledove. Here is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will entail establishing in the region of Shomron (the Ancient Bible Heartland of the Patriarchs) and the Judean Wilderness into a new homeland for the Return of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel when All Israel will finally be redeemed.

Posted at 08:00 PM in Aliyah, Returning to the Land of Israel, Christianity and Israel, Coming of the Messiah, Current Affairs in Israel, History of the Jews, History of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Israeli Settlements and the Homeland for the Lost Tribes of Israel, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Jesus (Yahshua) the Messiah, Jewish Anti-Semitism, Jewish Parashahs, Judaism's Covenant, Labor Zionism, Land of Israel, Meditation, Messiah Millennial State of Israel, Messianic Israel, Orthodox Jewish Life, Palestinian State and Israel, Redemption of Israel, Samaria and Judea, Spiritual Quest at the Time of the End, Time of the End, War against Israel, Zionist State of Israel | Permalink

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Parashat Va’yeshev: “The House of Joseph” - Northern Ten Tribes of Israel’s rebellion from the Tribe of Judah

11/27/2012

Parashat Toldot: Isaac and the Three Wells of Abraham

11/25/2012

Judah - The Lawgiver of God – Part One