Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle)

 

 

Candle Lighting and Habdalah Times:

 

Amarillo, TX, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:37 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:39 PM	Austin & Conroe, TX, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:08 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:08 PM	Brisbane, Australia Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 4:44 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 5:39 PM
Chattanooga, & Cleveland, TN, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:30 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:32 PM	Manila & Cebu, Philippines Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 6:03 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 6:56 PM	Miami, FL, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 7:49 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 8:45 PM
Murray, KY, & Paris, TN. U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 7:49 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 8:53 PM	Olympia, WA, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:38 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:56 PM	Port Orange, FL, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 7:59 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 8:57 PM
San Antonio, TX, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:09 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:08 PM	Sheboygan  & Manitowoc, WI, US Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:05 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:17 PM	Singapore, Singapore Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 6:50 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 7:41 PM
St. Louis, MO, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:00 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:05 PM	Tacoma, WA, U.S. Fri. May 29 2015 – Candles at 8:37 PM Sat. May 30 2015 – Habdalah 9:55 PM

For other places see: http://chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.asp

 

Roll of Honor:

 

His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David and beloved wife HH Giberet Batsheva bat Sarah

His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Dr. Elisheba bat Sarah

His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Abraham

His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Karmela bat Sarah,

His Honor Paqid  Adon Yoel ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Rivka bat Dorit

His Honor Paqid Adon Tsuriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Gibora bat Sarah

Her Excellency Giberet Sarai bat Sarah & beloved family

His Excellency Adon Barth Lindemann & beloved family

His Excellency Adon John Batchelor & beloved wife

Her Excellency Giberet Laurie Taylor

Her Excellency Giberet Gloria Sutton & beloved family

His Excellency Adon Gabriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HE Giberet Elisheba bat Sarah

His Excellency Adon Yehoshua ben Abraham and beloved wife HE Giberet Rut bat Sarah

Her Excellency Giberet Prof. Dr. Emunah bat Sarah & beloved family

 

Her Excellency Giberet Patricia Sand

His Excellency Adon El-Adamah Ruach

Her Excellency Giberet Lydia Ruach

Her Excellency Giberet Anternette Clabon

Her Excellency Giberet Rosalyn Reed

Her Excellency Giberet Shanique Scipio

Her Excellency Giberet Olette Jennings

His Excellency Adon Ernest Davis

Her Excellency Giberet Claudine Johnson

Her Excellency Giberet Veronica Lagrone

Her Excellency Giberet Misty Freeman

Her Excellency Giberet Erma Dupree

 

For their regular and sacrificial giving, providing the best oil for the lamps, we pray that G-d’s richest blessings be upon their lives and those of their loved ones, together with all Yisrael and her Torah Scholars, amen ve amen!

Also a great thank you and great blessings be upon all who send comments to the list about the contents and commentary of the weekly Torah Seder and allied topics.

 

If you want to subscribe to our list and ensure that you never lose any of our commentaries, or would like your friends also to receive this commentary, please do send me an E-Mail to benhaggai@GMail.com with your E-Mail or the E-Mail addresses of your friends. Toda Rabba!

 

This Torah Seder is dedicated to Her Honor Giberet Karmelah bat Sarah who has undergone a difficult and delicate operation. We pray that HaShem’s comforting presence be with her, so that she may be speedily healed, strengthened, and completely recovered, together with all the sick of Yisrael, for the Glory of G-d, most blessed be He, amen ve amen!

 

Shabbat “Ki Yarchiv” - “When will enlarge”

 

 

 

Blessings Before Torah Study

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us through Your commandments, and commanded us to actively study Torah. Amen!

 

Please Ha-Shem, our G-d, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and our offspring's offspring, and all the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your delight. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Amen!

 

Blessed are You, Ha-Shem our G-d, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations, and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

 

Ha-Shem spoke to Moses, explaining a Commandment. "Speak to Aaron and his sons, and teach them the following Commandment: This is how you should bless the Children of Israel. Say to the Children of Israel:

 

May Ha-Shem bless you and keep watch over you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem make His Presence enlighten you, and may He be kind to you; - Amen!

May Ha-Shem bestow favor on you, and grant you peace. – Amen!

 

This way, the priests will link My Name with the Israelites, and I will bless them."

 

These are the Laws for which the Torah did not mandate specific amounts: How much growing produce must be left in the corner of the field for the poor; how much of the first fruits must be offered at the Holy Temple; how much one must bring as an offering when one visits the Holy Temple three times a year; how much one must do when performing acts of kindness; and there is no maximum amount of Torah that a person must study.

 

These are the Laws whose benefits a person can often enjoy even in this world, even though the primary reward is in the Next World: They are: Honoring one's father and mother; doing acts of kindness; early attendance at the place of Torah study -- morning and night; showing hospitality to guests; visiting the sick; providing for the financial needs of a bride; escorting the dead; being very engrossed in prayer; bringing peace between two people, and between husband and wife; but the study of Torah is as great as all of them together. Amen!

 

Contents of the Torah Seder – ‎ D’barim (Deut.) 12:20 – 13:19

 

·        The Slaughter of Animals for Food – Deut. 12:20-22

·        Warning Against Blood – Deut. 12:23-28

·        Distinctiveness in Worship – Deut. 12:29-31

·        Religious Seducers – Deut. 13:1

·        A False Prophet – Deut. 13:2-6

·        Seducers in One’s Own Family – Deut. 13:7-12

·        A City Tainted With Idolatry – Deut. 13:13-19

 

Reading Assignment:

 

The Torah Anthology: Yalkut Me’Am Lo’Ez - Vol 17: Deuteronomy – III – Gratitude & Discipline

 

Rashi & Targum Pseudo Jonathan

for: D’barim (Deut.) ‎‎12:20 - 13:19‎

 

 

Welcome to the World of P’shat Exegesis

 

In order to understand the finished work of the P’shat mode of interpretation of the Torah, one needs to take into account that the P’shat is intended to produce a catechetical output, whereby a question/s is/are raised and an answer/a is/are given using the seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel and as well as the laws of Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew expression.

 

The Seven Hermeneutic Laws of R. Hillel are as follows

[cf. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=472&letter=R]:

 

1. Ḳal va-ḥomer: "Argumentum a minori ad majus" or "a majori ad minus"; corresponding to the scholastic proof a fortiori.

2. Gezerah shavah: Argument from analogy. Biblical passages containing synonyms or homonyms are subject, however much they differ in other respects, to identical definitions and applications.

3. Binyan ab mi-katub eḥad: Application of a provision found in one passage only to passages which are related to the first in content but do not contain the provision in question.

4. Binyan ab mi-shene ketubim: The same as the preceding, except that the provision is generalized from two Biblical passages.

5. Kelal u-Peraṭ and Peraṭ u-kelal: Definition of the general by the particular, and of the particular by the general.

6. Ka-yoẓe bo mi-maḳom aḥer: Similarity in content to another Scriptural passage.

7. Dabar ha-lamed me-'inyano: Interpretation deduced from the context.

 

Rashi’s Comments on D’barim ‎12:20 - 13:19‎

 

20 When [the Lord your God] expands [your boundary... and you say, "I will eat meat,"... you may eat meat] The Torah teaches proper conduct, that one should not desire to eat meat unless [one lives] in abundance and wealth.-[Chul. 84a.] [you may eat meat,] according to every desire of your soul In the desert, however, the meat of a non-consecrated animal was forbidden to them, unless one first consecrated it and offered it up as a peace offering.-[Sifrei: Chul. 16b]

 

21 If the place the Lord, your God, chooses to put His Name there, will be distant from you And you will [consequently] be unable to come and make peace-offerings every day, as [you do] now when the Mishkan goes along with you.

 

you may slaughter... as I have commanded you We learn [from here] that there is a commandment regarding slaughtering, how one must slaughter. [Since this commandment is not written in the Torah we deduce that] these are the laws of ritual slaughtering given orally to Moses on [Mount] Sinai.-[Sifrei ; Chul. 28a]

 

22 But as the deer [and the gazelle] are eaten, [so you may eat them] You are not admonished to eat them in a state of ritual purity; if, however, [you will reason:] Just as the fat of the deer and the gazelle is permitted [as food], so too should the fat of non-consecrated animals be permitted. Therefore [to counter this] Scripture says, “but” (אַךְ )

 

23 However, be strong not to eat the blood Since it is stated “be strong” [i.e., resist temptation], you learn that the [Israelites] were inclined to eating blood. Therefore, it is necessary to state, “be strong.” [These are] the words of Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Simeon the son of Azzai, however, says: Scripture comes only to caution you and to instruct you as to what extent you must be steadfast in [fulfilling] the commandments: If regarding blood, which is easy to watch out for, since a person has no desire for it, [the Torah] needed to strengthen you with its admonition, how much more so [must one strengthen oneself] for all other commandments! -[Sifrei]

 

and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh This is an admonition against אֵבֵר מִן הַחַי , [the eating of] a limb from a live animal.-[Sifrei ; Chul. 102a]

 

24 You shall not eat it This is an admonition against the eating (דָם הַתַּמְצִית) , (the last blood oozing [from the incision of slaughtering]).-[Ker. 4b]

 

25 You shall not eat it This is an admonition against the eating of the blood contained in the limbs [of the animal].-[Ker. 4b]

 

in order that it be good for you... Go forth and learn the [magnitude of] the reward for [observing] the commandments: If [in the case of] blood, which disgusts a person, he who abstains from it earns merit [both] for himself and for his children after him, how much more so [does this apply] to abstaining from theft and immorality, after which man’s soul of does lust.-[Mak. 23b]

 

26 However, your holy offerings [... you shall carry, and come to the place which the Lord chooses] Although you are permitted to slaughter unconsecrated animals, I did not permit you to slaughter consecrated animals and eat them in your cities without offering [them] up [on the altar]; rather, you must bring them to the Temple.

 

27 And you shall make your burnt-offerings If [your sacrifices] are burnt-offerings, place the flesh and the blood on the altar [as it says: הַבָָּשָָׂר וְהַדָָּם עַל־מִזְבַּח -"the flesh and the blood on the altar of the Lord," with respect to burnt offerings]. But if they are peace-offerings, “the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured upon the altar” first, and afterwards “you shall eat the flesh.” Our Rabbis further deduced that [the words] “However, your holy offerings... [you shall carry]” (verse 26) come to instruct us regarding consecrated animals that are outside the Land [of Israel], as well as to instruct us regarding animals that have been exchanged for other consecrated animals, and regarding the offspring of consecrated animals, that [all of] these must [also] be offered up [in Jerusalem].-[Sifrei ; Bech. 14b]

 

28 Keep [and hearken to all these words that I command you] This [term שְׁמֽר , “keep”] refers to the studying of the Oral Law. [Since it is not written down,] you must “guard” it “in your innards,” so that it should not be forgotten, as it is said, “For it is pleasant that you guard them (תִּשְׁמְרָם) in your innards” (Prov. 22:18). And if you studied, you may understand and fulfill [the commandments], but one who is not [immersed] in study, cannot be [immersed] in practice.-[Sifrei]

 

[Keep...] all these words [that I command you] This means that a light commandment should be as precious to you as a difficult commandment.-[Sifrei]

 

[That it may benefit you...when you do] what is good in the eyes of Heaven.

 

and proper in the eyes of man.-[Sifrei]

 

30 Lest you be attracted Heb. פֶּן־תִּנָּקֵשׁ אַחֲרֵיהֶם Onkelos renders תִּנָּקֵשׁ as an expression of מוֹקֵשׁ , a “snare.” [However,] I say that he was not meticulous in examining the language, for we do not find a “nun” (נ) in [any form of] the verb “to snare,” not even as a root letter that is [sometimes] omitted from it. However, as an expression denoting vehement movement [from place to place] and rattling, we do find a “nun” (נ) , as in “and his knees knocked נָקְשָׁן one against the other [in fear]” (Dan. 5:6). Here, too, I say that פֶּן־תִּנָּקֵשׁ אַחֲרֵיהֶם means “lest you be attracted to them,” i.e., by becoming bound up in what they do. Similarly, “May a creditor search out (יִנָקֵּשׁ) all that he has” (Ps. 109:11)—here David cursed the wicked that he should have many creditors and they should continually go after and be attracted to his money.

 

Beware, lest you be attracted after them, after they are exterminated from before you [God says:] After you see that I will annihilate them from before you, you ought to consider why these [people] were exterminated; because of the corrupt actions that were in their hands [i.e., that they had committed]. Accordingly, you should not act likewise, lest others come and exterminate you.-[Sifrei 14:54]

 

How do [these nations] serve [their gods?] [Until now,] the only cases that incurred the [death] penalty for idolatry were slaughtering, causing to go up in smoke, libation, and prostration [before any other god], as it says, “[He who slaughters [a sacrifice] to the gods shall be destroyed] except to the Lord alone” (Exod. 22:19). [This means that the of death punishment is incurred if one commits] things that are done for the Most High [namely the four aforementioned types of worship]. Here [Scripture] teaches you that if it is customary to worship a particular idol by some other rite, such as defacating before [Baal] Peor or casting a stone at Mercurius, this is considered its worship, and [one who performs that form of worship] is liable [to the death penalty]. However, regarding slaughtering, causing to go up in smoke, libation, and prostration, even though it is not customary [for that idol], one is liable [to the death penalty].-[Sanh. 60b]

 

31 for also their sons [and their daughters they would burn in fire to their gods] The word גַם , “also,” [comes] to include their fathers and mothers [among those they burned]. Rabbi Akiva stated, “I [once] saw a heathen who bound his father before his dog, which then devoured him.” [Sifrei] [The dog represents the idol, either because it was made in the form of a dog, or this is a pejorative. The dog’s eating the father means that the heathen burned his father in fire before the idol (Zedah Laderech).]

 

Chapter 13

 

1 Everything [that I command you] the less significant [commandments] as well as more significant ones.-[Sifrei]

 

that you shall be careful to do [This statement] attaches a negative commandment to the positive commandments mentioned in this parashah, for wherever הִשָּׁמֵר is used, it is an expression of a negative commandment. Lashes, however, are not incurred for [infringement of a prohibition when] the term הִשָּׁמֵר is attached to a positive commandment.

 

You shall neither add to it [e.g., placing] five chapters in tefillin [instead of four], or [using] five species for the lulav [instead of four], or [reciting] four blessings [instead of three] for the “blessing of the kohanim .”-[Sifrei]

 

2 [If there will arise among you a prophet...] and he gives you a sign Heb. אוֹת , [meaning a sign] in the heavens, as it is stated in the case of Gideon [who said to the angel]: “then show me a sign (אוֹת) ” (Jud. 6:17), and then it says [further], “let it be dry only upon the fleece [and upon all the ground let there be dew]” (Jud. 6:39).

 

or a wonder Heb. מוֹפֵת , [meaning a sign] on the earth. (other texts [of Rashi read as follows]:

 

and he gives you a sign in the heavens, as is written, “and they [i.e., the sun, the moon, and the stars] shall be for signs (לְאֽתֽת) and for seasons” [Gen. 1:14].

 

or a wonder on the earth, as is written, “If there will be dew on the fleece only, and upon all the ground, dry” [Jud. 6:39]). Even so, you shall not listen to him. But if you say, “Why then does the Holy One, blessed is He, give him the power to perform a sign? [Scripture replies,] "for the Lord, your God, is testing you [... whether you really love the Lord your God]” (verse 4). -[Sifrei ; San. 90a]

 

5 keep His commandments the Torah of Moses.

 

heed His voice the voice of the prophets.

 

worship Him in His sanctuary.-[Sifrei]

 

and cleave to Him Cleave to His ways: bestow kindness, bury the dead, and visit the sick, just as the Holy One, blessed is He, did.-[Sotah 14a]

 

6 [Because he spoke] falsehood Heb. סָרָה , lit. something turned away, removed from the world, which neither existed nor was created, and which I never commanded him to say; destodre in Old French, to distort.

 

and redeemed you from of the house of bondage Even if God had no [other claim] on you other than that He had redeemed you, it would be sufficient [to demand your obedience].-[Sifrei]

 

7 If [your brother...] tempts you The term הֲסָתָה always denotes inciting as it is said, אִם ה' הֱיסִתְךָ , “If the Lord has incited you against me” (I Sam. 26:19); ametra in Old French, will incite, that he tempts him to do so.

 

your brother from the father[’s side].

 

the son of your mother from the mother[’s side].

 

of your embrace The one that lies in your embrace and is attached (מָחֲקָה) to you; afichiede in Old French, bound, attached (Greenberg), afichier in Old French, to attach (Gukovitzki). This is similar to הָאָרֶץ וּמֵחֵיק (Ezek. 43:14), which refers to the base [of the altar] that is affixed firmly in the ground.

 

[Or your friend,] who is as your own soul This refers to your father. Scripture enumerates those [persons] who are dear to you; how much more so [must you apply this] to others [and not spare them]!

 

[If your brother...tempts you] in secret Scripture speaks of what commonly [occurs, but does not exclude the other case, i.e., one who entices publicly], for usually the one who entices speaks clandestinely. Similarly, Solomon [describing an episode of enticement,] says: “In the twilight, in the evening time, in the blackness of night and the darkness” (Prov. 7:9). -[Sifrei]

 

[Let us go and worship other gods,] which neither you nor your forefathers have known This would be a great disgrace for you, for not even the heathen nations forsake what their forefathers have handed down to them. Yet this [man] says to you, “Abandon what your forefathers have handed down to you!”-[Sifrei]

 

8 Let us go and worship other gods...] whether near to you or far [from you] Why did [Scripture] specify [gods] that are "near... or far"? Rather, this is what Scripture says: Through [knowing] the character of those [gods] close to you, you learn the character of those far from you; just as those close to you are devoid of substance, so are those far from you devoid of substance.-[San. 61b; Sifrei]

 

[gods... far from you,] from one end of the earth [to the other end of the earth] This refers to the sun, the moon, and the legion of heavens [i.e., the stars], which extend from one end of the world to the other.-[Sifrei]

 

9 You shall not desire him Heb. לֽא-תֽאבֶה . You shall feel no longing (תאב) towards him; do not love him תֽאהֲבֶנוּ) (לֹא ). Since it is said, “You shall love your fellow man as yourself” (Lev. 19:18), [therefore it is necessary to tell us that] this person, [however,] you shall not love.

 

and do not hearken to him when he pleads for his life, that you should pardon him. [It is necessary to state this] because it says, “[If you see the donkey of your enemy] you shall surely help him” (Exod. 23:5); this person, [however,] you shall not help.

 

neither shall you pity him [It is necessary to state this] because it says, “you shall not stand idly by the blood of your fellow man” (Lev. 19:16). This person [however] you shall not pity.-[Sifrei]

 

[neither shall you...] have mercy upon him Do not search for merits in his favor.

 

nor shall you shield him If you are aware of something that will condemn him, you are not permitted to remain silent.-[Sifrei]

 

10 But you shall surely kill him -(If he has left the court, acquitted, have him returned for conviction;) if [on the other hand,] he has left the court convicted, do not return him for acquittal.-[Sifrei]

 

Your hand shall be the first against him [to put him to death] The one who was tempted [to idolatry by this person] has the duty to put him to death. [However] if he did not die by his hand, he must die by the hand of others, as is stated (in this verse), “and afterwards the hand of all the people, etc.”-[Sifrei]

 

13 [If you will hear in one of your cities which the Lord, your God, gives you] to dwell therein [The words “to dwell therein” are added] to exclude Jerusalem, which was not apportioned as a dwelling place [for a particular tribe].-[Sifrei]

 

If you hear... saying Heb. לֵאמֽר , lit. to say. [If you hear people] saying thus:

 

14 [Unfaithful] men Heb. בְּנֵי־בְלִיַּעַל —people without a yoke בְּלִי עוֹל , who have thrown off the yoke of the Omnipresent.-[Sifrei]

 

[Unfaithful] men But not women.

 

the inhabitants of their city But not the inhabitants of another city. From here [our Rabbis] said: A city is not considered a “wayward city” (עִיר הַנִדַּחַת) unless men (אֲנָשִׁים) lead it astray, and unless those who lead it astray are from within it.-[San. 111b]

 

15 Then you shall inquire, investigate, and ask thoroughly Heb. וְדָרַשְׁתָּ וְחָקַרְתָּ וְשָׁאַלְתָּ הֵיטֵב . From this verse [in combination with others as explained], our Rabbis learned [the law of] the “seven investigations” [in a court of law], since Scripture uses many expressions [of investigation]. Here there are three expressions: דְרִישָׁה , חֲקִירָה , and הֵיטֵב [i.e., “inquiry,” "investigation," and “thoroughly”]. The term וְשָׁאַלְתָּ , “ask,” is not counted as one [of the seven investigations (חֲקִירוֹת) ] and the the cross-examinations (בְּדִיקוֹת) [regarding accompanying circumstances] are derived from it. [So far, we have three expressions.] And elsewhere [in the case of collusive witnesses,] it says: הַשּׁוֹפְטִים הֵיטֵב וְדָרְשׁוּ , “And the judges shall inquire thoroughly” (Deut. 19:18). [This adds two more expressions, דְרִישָׁה and הֵיטֵב , to make five altogether.] And still elsewhere [in the case of idolatry,] it says: וְדָרַשְׁתָּ הֵיטֵב , “And you shall inquire thoroughly” (Deut. 17:4) [thus adding two more expressions, דְרִישָׁה and הֵיטֵב , to make up a final total of seven investigatory expressions demonstrating the law of “seven investigations”]. And our Rabbis learned a שָׁוָה גְּזֵירָה [i.e., an inference from an identical word in two passages, which teaches us that the laws in one passage apply to the other passage as well] from [the words] הֵיטֵב הֵיטֵב , to place what is stated in one context in the other context. [I. e., it is accounted as if all seven written in the context of the “wayward city,” as well as in the cases of collusive witnesses and individuals who worshipped idols. I.e., all the seven expressions can be connected together to make seven investigations.] - [San. 40a; Sifrei] [The judges would ask the witnesses the following seven questions: 1) In what shemitah cycle was the crime committed? 2) In what year? 3) In what month? 4) In what day of the month? 5) On what day [of the week]? 6) In what hour? 7) In what place? (San. 5:1)]

 

16 You shall surely strike down Heb. הַכֵּה תַכֶּה . [The double expression is used to explain that] if you cannot execute the death penalty that is prescribed for them, put them to death in some other manner.-[Sifrei ; B.M 31b]

 

17 [and burn with fire the city...] for the Lord your God [i.e.,] for His Name and for His sake.

 

18 that the Lord may return from His fierce wrath For as long as idol worship [exists] in the world, the fierce wrath [of God exists] in the world.-[Sifrei ; San. 111b]

 

Ketubim: Tehillim (Psalms) 119:1-24, 25-48. 49-72, 73-104

 

 

Rashi’s Comments on Psalm 119:73-104

 

74 Those who fear You will see me in prosperity and rejoice, because what was bestowed upon me will be bestowed upon them, for I am among those who fear You, and I hoped for Your word.

 

75 in faith You afflicted me With justice, You afflicted me.

 

78 for they condemned me falsely For no reason they condemned me. (I found:) I say that this deals with the embarrassment [of David] when they would say to him, “If one is intimate with a married woman, with what [method] is his death penalty?” when he [David] had not sinned.

 

79 May those who fear You...return to me For the Sanhedrin separated from him when he became a mezora because of that iniquity [with Bath-sheba]. Even if she was divorced, whoever puts his eyes on her, anyone who touches her, will not be guiltless.

 

81 pines Heb. כלתה , desires.

 

82 My eyes pine Heb. כלו , lit. fail. My eyes look constantly until they fail.

 

83 like a wineskin in smoke Like a flask of skin that dries in smoke.

 

84 When will You execute that I might see it in my days.

 

85 Willful sinners have dug pits for me Those who come to disqualify me do not do so according to the Torah.

 

86 All Your commandments are faithful A Moabite and not a Moabitess; but they pursue [me] to prohibit me [from entering the congregation of the Lord].

 

they pursued me in vain My enemies pursued me in vain.

 

87 They almost destroyed me I was on the earth as nothing, but I stood with my strength. Likewise (verse 95): “Concerning me, the wicked hoped to destroy me” from entering the congregation, and so (above 116:16): “You loosed my thongs.”

 

96 or every finite thing, etc. to search them and to debate about them.

 

Of every finite thing To every conclusion of a thing there is an end and a boundary, but Your commandments have no end or boundary to their conclusion.

 

98 Each of Your commandments makes me wiser than my enemies Concerning Doeg and Ahithophel they [the Rabbis] said that their final conclusions did not agree with adopted practice. The secret of the Torah is in my hands forever, for I gained understanding from all my teachers; I learned a little from this one and I learned a little from that one (after I learned from my distinguished teacher).

 

99 are my conversation All my conversation was about them.

 

101 I restrained my feet Heb. כלאתי , I restrained, as (I Sam. 25:33): “who have restrained me (כלתני) this day from coming into bloodshed.”

 

Meditation from the Psalms

Psalm 119: 73-104

By: H.Em. Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David

 

I am repeating my introduction from the first part of this psalm for continuity.

 

The life of King David was devoted to the attainment of self-perfection in the service of God. Every action and every step in David’s life was calculated to bring him closer to this lofty goal. In this psalm of one hundred seventy-six verses, the lengthiest in the Book of Tehillim, David painstakingly charts the progressive stage of his determined ascent toward spiritual perfection. The psalm follows the sequence of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; eight verses begin with א, aleph, the next eight with ב, beit, and so on, because this psalm embodies an orderly program for achieving personal perfection. The Talmud^[1] refers to this psalm a תמניא אפין, the repetition of eight. Whereas the number seven symbolizes the power of This World, which was created in seven days, eight symbolizes release from the desires of the mundane work which distract a person from his spiritual aspirations.^[2]

 

In these verses David describes the many obstacles and danger that confronted him in his lifetime. Yet his spirit refused to be overwhelmed by sorrow, for he embraced the fount of joy, the Torah. As David followed the guiding light of G-d’s Torah, his lips burst forth in these ecstatic verses of praise for G-d’s salvation. This psalm opens with the statement: Praiseworthy are those whose way is wholesome, who walk with the Torah of HaShem. It goes on to cite scores of examples of how David strived to walk with G-d. In conclusion David declares: ‘I have attempted to follow You all my life HaShem. If I have failed, I beseech You not to abandon me! I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek out Your servant, I have not forgotten Your commandments’.^[3]

 

King David begins the tenth letter (yud) of Psalm 119 with a statement which speaks about his creation:

 

Psalm 119:73 Your hands made me and fashioned me; enable me to understand, and I shall learn Your commandments.

 

The body, which HaShem fashioned, has 248 organs which correspond to the 248 positive commandments. The 365 sinews of the body correspond with the 365 negative commandments.^[4] The 613 mitzvot relate to 613 specific physical areas in the body. David, with the above statement, is calling attention to the commandments by referring to his body. The purpose of the commandments and the purpose of the body are neatly joined together by Iyov:

 

Iyov (Job) 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I see G-d:

 

Thus we understand that the commandments and the body are both given to use in order that we see G-d. Rabbi Vidal HaTzorfati observes that G-d affected the bulk of creation through intermediate forces, whereas He created man directly and attended to him Himself. Adam was created from the earth of Mount Moriah, the site where the Temple was destined to be built, an allusion to the fact that G-d prepared man to be a dwelling place for His Sacred Presence. This is possible only if man recognizes his potential greatness and lives up to the destiny for which G-d prepared him. ^[5]

 

The Alshich and Malbim explained that David was saying the if G-d would grant him insight and understanding, he would be able to study and analyze the spiritual dimensions of his limbs and organs so that he could discover the particular commandment for which each limb was prepared. ^[6]

 

The human body is divided into three parts: the head, the most aristocratic part of the body; the middle section, which incorporates the heart; and the lower section of the body, the most mundane of all (symbolizing the three sections of the Mishkan, the Kodesh Kodashim (Holy of Holies), the Kodesh (the Holy Place), and the Chatzer (the courtyard), and the three worlds, the world of the angels, the world of the luminaries, and this world.

 

The Hakhamim declared that there were 248 members (bones) in the human body;^[7] namely, forty in the tarsal region and the foot (30+10 = 40); 2 in the leg (the tibia and fibula); 6 in the knee (including the head of the femur, and the epiphyses of the tibia and fibula); three in the pelvis (ilium, ischium, and pubes); eleven ribs (the twelfth rib, owing to its diminutive size, was not counted); 30 in the hand (the carpal bones and the phalanges); two in the forearm (radius and ulna); 2 at the elbow (the olecranon and the head of the radius); 1 in the arm (humerus); four in the shoulder (clavicle, scapula, coracoid process, and acromion)—which makes 101 for each side of the body, or 202 for both—eighteen vertebræ; 9 in the head (cranium and face), eight in the neck (7 vertebral and the hyoid), five around the openings [sic] of the body (cartilaginous bones), and six in the key of the heart (the sternum).

 

Like man, the earth is also divided into 248 parts with a head, eyes, mouth and other limbs. It also has 365 arteries. Every time a person observes a commandment, he sustains one of his limbs, as well as a part of the world. Each limb announces, “Observe a commandment with me, so that I will live long”. It is for this reason that man is called a microcosm He is a miniature universe, having in him everything that exists in the world.

 

Nowhere is it written which mitzva corresponds to which item in the body. This appears to be a secret Tzaddikim have. When something goes wrong physically, it is because a mitzva or group of mitzvot are not being performed properly. The power that should be flowing to that limb is subverted. The power that should be coming from the soul (Torah) to the physical body (mitzvot) is not flowing properly.

 

“The body”, writes Hakham Culi,^[8] “has 248 limbs and 365 blood vessels . . . The soul has exactly the same number of limbs and blood vessels, but these are spiritual rather than physical. Each part of the soul is in its counterpart in the body, and is strongly bound to it.”

 

The Shela Hakodesh writes that each positive mitzva that one fulfils and each negative commandment that one is careful not to transgress nourishes its corresponding limb or vein. However, if one neglects one of the mitzvot or commits a sin, he blemishes the parallel limb or vein of his neshama. The Shela then notes that it is impossible for any one individual to observe all 613 mitzvot. Some mitzvot apply only to Kohanim; others, only in Eretz Israel or when the Temple stood. Still, others apply only in rare circumstances, e.g., if one’s brother dies without children and there is a mitzva for him to marry his brother’s widow (yibum). If that is the case, how can one properly prepare his neshama for the Olam HaBa and prevent his neshama from being blemished?

 

The Shela answers that if one fulfils those mitzvot that he is capable of performing and learns the sections of the Torah related to all the mitzvot, it is considered as if he fulfilled the entire Torah. This is alluded to in:

 

Debarim (Deuteronomy) 30:11: “For this commandment that I command you today is not hidden from you...” This refers to those mitzvot that are hidden from one and are impossible to fulfil, e.g., mitzvot that apply to Kohanim.

“...And it is not distant...” This refers to mitzvot that are possible to fulfill but circumstances are rare, e.g., Yibum or Birchat HaChama.

“...Nor is it across the sea...” This refers to mitzvot that can only be performed in Eretz Israel thereby exempting one who lives across the sea. The Torah says that one should not say that it is hidden, far, in the heavens or across the sea. Rather, it is very near to you, in your mouths and in your hearts to learn and delve into it. The pasuk ends with the words “to perform it”. All that precedes these final words is given on condition that one performs those mitzvot that he can fulfil.

 

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai interpreted the following verse:

 

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 23:15 HaShem your G-d is constantly present in the midst of your camp.

 

“In the midst” refers to none other than your heart, and “your camp” is your body with its 248 limbs. The verse thus continues, “Make sure that no unseemly thing/word be seen in you, which might cause Him to withdraw His presence.” Your body is a Temple for the Divine! Sanctify [i.e. elevate] your mind, speech, and actions, even when you are engaged in permitted activities. [In other words, sanctification does not only refer to refraining from that which is forbidden, but, in addition, to being careful to elevate even that which is permitted.^[9]] Woe to you if you don’t, for it will be considered as if you had defiled the Mikdash of the king!

 

An Illustration

 

The concept of a face is something that reveals on the outside that which is hidden on the inside. The Torah provides some insight into this definition of face:

 

Shemot (Exodus) 33:20 No one can see My face because no man can see Me and live!

 

This was, in essence, what HaShem told Moshe Rabbeinu on top of Har Sinai. As the Kabbalists explain, “face” here refers to a more direct revelation of HaShem, which is the end result of successfully entering PaRDeS to the greatest extent possible.

 

The physiognomy of the human face alludes to ascending levels or dimensions of existence. The mouth, which represents the sense of taste, the least spiritual of our senses, is in the lowest position. The nose, representing the more spiritual sense of smell, comes above the mouth, and the eyes take the highest position as the sense of sight is considered the most spiritual of the senses.

 

Rabbi Yoseph Chayim of Bagdad goes into the conceptual or spiritual implications of this as well. He quotes the verse:

 

Debarim (Deuteronomy) 7:11 You shall therefore safeguard the commandment (mitzva), the statutes (chukim), and the laws (mishpatim) which I am teaching you today, to do them.

 

And says: The 613 commandments are traditionally divided into three categories:

 

1) Chukim (statutes or decrees) such as not mixing or cross-breeding certain species when planting, or not eating pork, etc.,

 

2) Mitzvot (commandments or testimonies) such as wearing tefillin or keeping the Sabbath and other commemorative festivals, and

 

3) Mishpatim (laws or judgments) such as not killing, not stealing, etc.

 

These three levels of commandments can be said to correspond to three types of pleasures. In ascending order, these are taste, smell, and sight. Though all of these exist here in this physical world, the lowest of the three, namely taste, is most appropriate for the level of reality in which we live.

 

Smell is considered the loftiest and most transcendent sense. The Arizal says that when the sin of Adam brought lust into the world it affected all of the senses except for that of smell. The sense of smell remained unaffected. All other senses desire forbidden things while the nose remains holy.

 

The nose is that part of the body which is connected most directly with the life force.

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 2:7 And HaShem God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

The nose is used to perform two functions: Breathing and smelling. Now, we have a principle in the Torah which tells us that if we have a single organ which performs two functions, then both functions are intrinsically one function.

 

Chazal^[10] teach us that there was a time when people died when they sneezed. The first time you sneezed, you died. This is why we say mazal tov when someone sneezes, and doesn’t die. Clearly we can see then that the nose was the place where life force went in and the place where the life force went out.

 

The Midrash says that when it came time for a person to pass away, he would sneeze and his soul would exit his nostrils:

 

Pirke D’Rabbi Eliezer Ch. 52 From the day that heaven and earth were created, people did not become sick. A person might have been walking in the market, he would sneeze and his soul would leave his body through his nostrils. Jacob requested mercy, ‘Master of the Universe, do not take my soul until I have instructed my children and the members of my house.’ God acceded to the request.... That is why one wishes a person ‘life’ when they sneeze.

 

“The Chizkuni^[11] zt”l informs us that Yaakov Avinu changed the way people die. From the beginning of creation, a man’s sneeze would be his last breath. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, when he sneezed, his neshama (soul) would leave his body, without warning.”

 

Baba Metzia 87a Until Jacob there was no illness: then Jacob came and prayed, and illness came into being, as it is written, And one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick.

 

Thus we see sickness that leads to death, instead of a sneeze, for the first time.

 

The Talmud calls the pleasure of smell one that benefits the soul and not the body.^[12]

 

Smelling is the faculty which tells us whether or not something is alive. Things that are fresh and full of life smell very good. Things that have died smell very bad. The higher the organism, the worse it smells when the life force has left. Thus we see that the nose is the organ for the life force.

 

As we are taught, Mashiach will judge and rectify reality by using his sense of smell. This means he will be able to detect the truth of a person’s statement and will truthfully judge who is guilty, as it says in the prophecy of Isaiah:

 

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 11:3 and his delight will be in the fear of G-d and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor decide after the hearing of his ears...

 

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 11:3 He will be scented with the fear of God, and he will not judge by the sights in his eyes or decide by the sounds in his ears.

 

The word for “delight” (v’haricho) has the same root as the word “smell”, (rayach). The Sages interpreted this to mean that the Mashiach will be able to judge through the sense of smell. According to tradition, the four senses of sight, hearing, taste and touch were all blemished due to their participation in the sin of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Only the sense of smell does not appear in the verses describing the sin, thus retaining its original pristine state. Relatively speaking, smell is the sense of the soul, the others of the body. The sense of smell was, therefore, not blemished in the primordial sin. The common expressions “something doesn’t smell right”, and “this stinks” used to illustrate situations that feel intuitively wrong, allude to the association between smell and judgment. Smell is connected to intuition and inspiration, both of which emanate from a superconscious level above logic and reason. Mashiach represents the consummate state of ongoing inspiration from HaShem; therefore he will be able to judge through his rectified sense of smell.

 

Our sense of smell is our sensitivity to the inner, often unconscious, emotions and motives of ourselves and others. Smell is considered the most evocative, the most inner, and the most primitive of our senses. Not only does it penetrate the innerness of the object, it also penetrates to our own innerness. Of all the senses, only smell is perceived internally, as thought the smell is inside us. So of all our senses, smell creates the most direct connection between the innerness of the object we perceive and our own inner selves. While the body appreciates decoration, the enjoyment of the soul is to encounter something directly, as it truly is. All the other senses appear to us as external to our body.

 

The Torah^[13] states that HaShem breathed life into the form of Man. The Hebrew word for breath, nesheema, is the same as the word for soul, neshama. Our spiritual life force comes, metaphorically, by way of air and respiration.

 

Yirmiyahu refers to the Mashiach as the “breath of our noses”

 

Eicha (Lamentations) 4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of HaShem, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

 

The sovereignty of Mashiach will be more elevated than that of Moshe Rabbeinu. For the Gemara teaches:

 

Sanhedrin 93b The Messiah-as it is written, And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge of the fear of the Lord. And shall make him of quick understanding [wa-hariho] in the fear of the Lord. R. Alexandri said: This teaches that he loaded him with good deeds and suffering as a mill [is laden]. Raba said: He smells [a man] and judges^[14], as it is written, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, yet with righteousness shall he judge the poor.

 

It is explicitly stated that the sense of Mashiach is the sense of smell as the Prophet says, “And he shall smell with the awe of God”, “he shall judge by smell”.^[15] By his sense of smell the Mashiach will know how to connect each Jewish soul to its Divine root, and thereby identify its tribe (branch) in Israel.

 

Mashiach will judge by his sense of smell, whereas a king is permitted to judge only according to the testimony of witnesses.^[16]

 

The most spiritual of all the senses is the sense of smell and so it is not surprising that it is strongly associated with Mashiach.

 

The sense of smell was the only one of the five senses that was not involved in the sin that took place in Gan Eden. It is the sense which saved the Jewish people in the time of Mordechai and Esther, who are called Mor veHadas (“myrrh and myrtle”, the two primary sources of fragrance).

 

The Hebrew word for “smell” (רֵיחַ) is cognate to the word for the second level of soul,^[17] which is called “ruach” (רוּחַ). The sages teach us that smell is the one and only sense that “the soul enjoys and not the body”.

 

The Abudraham^[18] explains that “the reason we smell spices after Shabbat ends is to comfort the person because the extra soul^[19] leaves after Shabbat”. The source for this idea is the Gemara:

 

Beitzah 16a Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The Holy One, blessed be He, gives the Jew an extra soul on Shabbat eve. After Shabbat ends, it is taken away from the person, as it says, “He ceased working and rested”,^[20] since it ceased, oh my, the soul is lost.

 

Two concepts are contained in Rabbi Shimon’s statement. The first is the idea that G-d gives each Jew an extra soul, so to speak, as Shabbat begins. The second concept is that the person reacts to the extra soul’s departure as Shabbat ends.

 

In Summary

 

Man is a metaphor. Indeed, one of several meanings of the Hebrew word adam (“man”) is “I resemble”. For man is a microcosm of creation, in the words of the Talmud, “As the soul fills the body, so HaShem fills the universe.”^[21] Thus Iyov declares, “From my flesh, I perceive HaShem”,^[22] by contemplating the workings of our body and the manner in which it relates to and is animated by our soul, we gain insight into the workings of creation and the manner in which it relates to and is sustained by its source. Man is a microcosm, and so provides analogies for all other worlds which can explain the secrets of reality and the great riddles hidden from our senses”.^[23]

 

According to R. Bachya, our primary duty is to study that which is closest to us: the human being.

 

It is our duty to study the origins and birth of the human, the form and structure of his physical frame, how the various body parts are connected and function together, the purpose of each individual part and the need for it to take its present form. Next we should study man’s advantages, his various temperaments, the faculties of his soul, the light of his intellect, his qualities,  those that are essential and those that are accidental; his desires, and the ultimate purpose of his being. When we have arrived at an understanding of the matters noted in regard to man, much of the mystery of this universe will become clear to us, since the one resembles the other... as Job said:^[24] “From my flesh I see God”.^[25]

 

The Rambam^[26] states that the only way to love and fear HaShem is through the study of His creation, for only through this study are we able to know HaShem. Our understanding of HaShem can only be achieved by the intellectual investigation of the genius and balance of His creation. Every detail, every remarkable insight and fact is necessary in our attempt to know (Daat) and connect with HaShem.

 

The human body is the physical element in a complex and ultimately spiritual being. The human body is not simply the housing for the spiritual essences; it is part and parcel of the combined human being, a being that will ultimately exist in greater spiritual form in the world to come, after the resurrection. For when the world to come begins, and we stand up at the resurrection, we will stand up with combined body and soul, though both will be raised to a much higher spiritual level than at which we stand today.

 

The walls of the succah represent the human body, and are even adorned with jewelry, so-to-speak, as we adorn a body. For, like the body itself, the walls of the succah are only a temporary and somewhat flimsy encasement for the person, the soul that enters and then later leaves it.

 

The spiritual nature of the human body is manifested in an erect posture. This is one of the aspects of a human being which shows his spiritual nature. The fact that a man stands upright and has a certain glow in the face is a manifestation of his difference from an animal. These two features distinguish us from the animals.

 

Maharal’s View

 

The Maharal^[27] suggests that the human body symbolizes aspects of HaShem, rather than that the actual form of the body reflects the form of HaShem in some way. In his view, human characteristics such as our walking upright, having two eyes, the heels of our feet, all remind us, if we understand them correctly, of attributes of HaShem. Specifically, our walking upright indicates a lack of subservience, our eyes remind us of HaShem’s awareness of good and evil, and our heels can remind us of the ubiquity of sin.

 

Vilna Gaon’s View

 

According to our mystical tradition, the human being is a microcosm of all creation, and within the human being one can find the characteristics of every creature. The Vilna Gaon, ^[28] states that this idea is expressed in the following pasuk, where the Creator proclaims:

 

Beresheet (Genesis) 1:26 Let us make the human being in Our image and after Our likeness.

 

Who was the Creator speaking to when He said, ‘Let us make the human being’? According to the Vilna Gaon, the Creator was addressing all of creation, bidding each creature to contribute a portion of its characteristics to the human being. For example, the human being’s strength is traced to the lion; his swiftness to the eagle; his cunning to the fox; and his capacity for growth to the flora.

 

Connections

 

King David was acknowledging his response to HaShem for his own creation. He understood that he was made by HaShem for a purpose. In the same way, our Torah portion opens with an acknowledgement that HaShem would be enlarging the borders for the Bne Israel. In return, HaShem set down the requirements for keeping the land by performing the commands which would accomplish HaShem’s purpose for the land and His People. David’s gratitude was expressed in his willingness to learn the commandments. The gratitude of the Bne Israel would be expressed by their willingness to learn and carry out the commandments which HaShem formulated for their benefit. It is the performance of the commandments which lead us to cleave to HaShem as the Torah teaches:

 

Deuteronomy 13:5 You shall follow the Lord, your God, fear Him, keep His commandments, heed His voice, worship Him, and cleave to Him.

 

This word ‘cleave’ is a consistent connection which joins these three sederim together. In addition, the words ‘commandment’, that which ‘HaShem’ ‘said’ to do, form the verbal tallies that connects our Psalm to our Torah portion.

 

Rashi, commenting in v.85 of our portion of Psalm 119, tells us:

 

Willful sinners have dug pits for me Those who come to disqualify me do not do so according to the Torah.

 

This verse neatly sums up our portion from Mordechai. In that portion, the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the chief Priests, Elders, and Scribes conspire with Pilate to have Yeshua condemned to death. In our portion a couple of weeks ago, these leaders held a night time trial, of Yeshua, which was illegal according to the Torah.

 

Sanhedrin 32a CIVIL SUITS ARE TRIED BY DAY, AND CONCLUDED AT NIGHT. BUT CAPITAL CHARGES MUST BE TRIED BY DAY AND CONCLUDED BY DAY.

 

Ashlamatah: Isaiah 54:2-9, 17‎

 

RASHI	TARGUM
1. ¶ "Sing you barren woman who has not borne; burst out into song and jubilate, you who have not experienced birth pangs, for the children of the desolate one are more than the children of the married woman," says the Lord.	1. ‎¶ Sing, O Jerusalem who was as a barren woman who did not bear; shout in singing and exult, [you who ‎were] as a woman who did not become pregnant! For the children of desolate Jerusalem will be more than ‎the children of inhabited Rome, says the LORD.
2. Widen the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations, do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.	2. Enlarge the place of your camping, and cause the ‎cities of your land to be inhabited; hold not back, increase the people of your armies and strengthen your ‎rulers.
3. For right and left shall you prevail, and your seed shall inherit nations and re-people desolate cities.	3. For you will be strengthened to the south and to the north, and your sons will possess peoples ‎and will cause desolate cities to be inhabited.
4. Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed, and be not embarrassed for you shall not be put to shame, for the shame of your youth you shall forget, and the disgrace of your widowhood you shall no longer remember.	4. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not ‎confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the ‎reproaches of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5. For your Master is your Maker, the Lord of Hosts is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth.	5. For your Maker is your husband, the ‎LORD of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is ‎called.
6. For, like a wife who is deserted and distressed in spirit has the Lord called you, and a wife of one's youth who was rejected, said your God.	6. For the Shekhinah of the LORD has summoned [you] like a wife forsaken and distressed in ‎spirit, like a wife of youth who is cast off, says your God.
7. "For a small moment have I forsaken you, and with great mercy will I gather you.	7. "In a little anger I forsook you, but with great ‎compassion I will bring your exiles near.
8. With a little wrath did I hide My countenance for a moment from you, and with everlasting kindness will I have compassion on you," said your Redeemer, the Lord.  {S}	8. In a‎ brief hour, for a time, I took up the face of My Shekhinah from you, but with everlasting benefits which do not ‎cease I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer. {S}
9. "For this is to Me [as] the waters of Noah, as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never again pass over the earth, so have I sworn neither to be wroth with you nor to rebuke you.	9. This is like the days of Noah before me: ‎as I swore by My Memra that the waters of the flood which were in the days of Noah should no more go over the ‎earth, so I have sworn that my anger will not turn upon you and I will not rebuke you.
10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills totter, but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace totter," says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.  {S}	10. For the mountains may ‎pass and the hills be split, but my goodness will not pass from you, Jerusalem, and My covenant of peace will not ‎be cast away, says He who is about to have compassion on you, says the LORD. {S}
11. O poor tempestuous one, who was not consoled, behold I will set your stones with carbuncle, and I will lay your foundations with sapphires.	11. O needy one, suffering ‎mortification, city concerning which the peoples say it will not be comforted, behold I am setting your ‎pavement stones in antimony, and I will lay your foundations with good stones.
12. And I will make your windows of jasper and your gates of carbuncle stones, and all your border of precious stones.	12. I will make your wood as ‎pearls and your gates of carbuncles, and all your border of precious stones.
13. And all your children shall be disciples of the Lord, and your children's peace shall increase.	13. All your sons will be taught in the ‎Law of the LORD, and great will be the prosperity of your sons.
14. With righteousness shall you be established, go far away from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from ruin, for it will not come near you.	14. In innocence you will be ‎ established; be far from oppression, for you will not fear; and from breaking, for it will not come to you.
15. Behold, the one with whom I am not, shall fear, whoever mobilizes against you shall defect to you.	15. Behold, the exiles of your ‎people will surely be gathered to you at the end; the kings of the peoples who are gathered to distress you, Jerusalem, will be cast ‎in your midst.
16. Behold I have created a smith, who blows on a charcoal fire and produces a weapon for his work, and I have created a destroyer to destroy [it].	16. Behold, I have created the smith who blows fire in coals, and produces a vessel for its worth. I have also created the ‎destroyer to destroy;
17. Any weapon whetted against you shall not succeed, and any tongue that contends with you in judgment, you shall condemn; this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their due reward from Me, says the Lord. {S}	17. no weapon that is prepared against you, Jerusalem, will prosper, and you will declare a sinner every tongue ‎that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their innocence before me, says the LORD." ‎ {S}
1. Ho! All who thirst, go to water, and whoever has no money, go, buy and eat, and go, buy without money and without a price, wine and milk.	1. "Ho, everyone who wishes to learn, let him come and learn; and he who has no money, come, hear and learn! Come, hear and ‎learn, without price and not with mammon, teaching which is better than wine and milk.
2. Why should you weigh out money without bread and your toil without satiety? Hearken to Me and eat what is good, and your soul shall delight in fatness.	2. Why do you spend your money for that ‎which is not to eat, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Attend to my Memra diligently, and eat what is good, and your soul ‎will delight itself in that which is fat.
3. Incline your ear and come to Me, hearken and your soul shall live, and I will make for you an everlasting covenant, the dependable mercies of David.	3. Incline your ear, and attend to my Memra; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with ‎you an everlasting covenant, the sure benefits of David.
4. Behold, a witness to nations have I appointed him, a ruler and a commander of nations.	4. Behold, I appointed him a prince to the peoples, a king and a ruler over all ‎the kingdoms.
5. Behold, a nation you do not know you shall call, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, for the sake of the Lord your God and for the Holy One of Israel, for He glorified you. {S}	5. Behold, people that you know not will serve you, and people that knew you not will run to offer tribute to you, for ‎the sake of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. {S}
6. Seek the Lord when He is found, call Him when He is near.	6. Seek the fear o/the LORD while you live, beseech before him while you live;
7. The wicked shall give up his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts, and he shall return to the Lord, Who shall have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.	7. let the wicked forsake his wicked way and a man who ‎robs his conceptions: let him return to the service of the LORD, that He may have mercy upon him, ‎and to the fear of our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," says the Lord.	8. For not as My thoughts are your ‎thoughts, neither are your ways correct as the ways of My goodness, says the LORD.
9. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts [higher] than your thoughts.	9. For just as ‎the heavens, which are higher than the earth, so are the ways of My goodness more correct than your ‎ways, and My thoughts prove (to be) better planned than your thoughts.
10. For, just as the rain and the snow fall from the heavens, and it does not return there, unless it has satiated the earth and fructified it and furthered its growth, and has given seed to the sower and bread to the eater,	10. For as the rain and the ‎snow, which come down from the heavens, and it is not possible for them that should return ‎thither, but water the earth, increasing it and making it sprout, ‎giving seeds, enough for the sower and bread, enough for the eater,
11. so shall be My word that emanates from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, unless it has done what I desire and has made prosperous the one to whom I sent it.	11. so is the word ‎ of My goodness that goes forth before Me; it is not possible that it will return before Me empty, but accomplishes that which I please, and ‎prospers in the thing for which I sent it.
12. For with joy shall you go forth, and with peace shall you be brought; the mountains and the hills shall burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap hands.	12. For you will go out in joy from among the Gentiles, and be led in peace to your land; the ‎mountains and the hills before you will shout in singing, and all the trees of the field will clap with their branches.
13. Instead of the briar, a cypress shall rise, and instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise, and it shall be for the Lord as a name, as an everlasting sign, which shall not be discontinued." {P}	13. Instead of the ‎wicked will the righteous/generous be established; and instead of the sinners will those who fear sin be established; and it will be before the LORD ‎for a name, for an everlasting sign which will not cease." ‎ {P}

 

Rashi’s Comments on Isaiah 54:2-9, 17

 

1 Sing, you barren woman Jerusalem, who was as though she had not borne.

 

you who have not experienced birth pangs Heb. חָלָה , an expression of childbirth, for the woman in confinement gives birth with pains and writhing.

 

for the children of the desolate one The daughter of Edom.

 

2 and let them stretch forth far off.

 

lengthen your cords These are thin ropes that hang at the bottom of tents, and that are tied to stakes called ‘chevills’ in French, which are thrust into the ground.

 

3 shall you prevail Heb. תִּפְרֽצִי , shall you prevail.

 

4 your youth Heb. עֲלוּמַיִךְ , your youth.

 

6 who was rejected When she is rejected at times that her husband is a little wroth with her.

 

8 With a little wrath Heb. שֶׁצֶף . Menahem (Machbereth p. 179) interprets this as, “with kindling of wrath,” and Dunash (Teshuvoth p. 20) states, “with a little wrath,” paralleling “For a small moment have I forsaken you,” and so did Jonathan render, and with everlasting kindness that will exist forever.

 

9 For this is to Me [as] the waters of Noah [i.e.,] it is an oath in My hand, and He proceeds to explain His words, “as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never again pass over the earth, etc.”

 

10 For the mountains shall depart Even if the merit of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs is depleted, My kindness shall not depart from you.

 

11 tempestuous one whose heart storms with many troubles.

 

I will set with carbuncle I pave your floor with carbuncle stones.

 

12 jasper Heb. כַּדְכֽד , a kind of precious stone.

 

your windows Jonathan renders: your woodwork, and Menahem associated it with (Dan. 7:10): “ministered to Him (יְשַׁמְּשׁוּנֵהּ) .” (Menahem, apparently renders: your utensils, i.e., the vessels that serve you.) And some interpret it as an expression of a sun (שֶׁמֶשׁ) , windows through which the sun shines, and they make opposite it a barrier of kinds of colored glass for beauty, and Midrash Psalms interprets שִׁמְשׁוֹתַיִךְ as well as שֶׁמֶשׁ וּמָגֵן (Ps. 84:12) as “the pinnacles of the wall.”

 

of carbuncle stones Heb. אֶקְדָּח . Jonathan renders: of gomer stones. Gumrin is the Aramaic translation of גֶּחָלִים , coals. He interprets אֶקְדָּח as an expression similar to (supra 50:11) “who kindle (קֽדְחֵי) fire,” and they are a type of stones that burn like torches and that is the carbuncle (karbokle in O.F.), an expression of a coal. Others interpret it as an expression of a drill, i.e., huge stones of which the entire opening of the doorway is drilled, and the doorposts, the threshold, and the lintel are all hewn from the stone.

 

of precious stones Desirable stones [from Jonathan].

 

14 go far away from oppression [Although grammatically this is the imperative, here it is the future,] like (supra 52:2) “Shake yourself from the dust.” You will be far away from those who oppress you. Printed editions of Rashi contain the following addendum:

 

go far away from oppression You will stay far from oppressing other peoples in the manner the wicked do, that they accumulate money through robbery, but you will not need to rob, for you will not fear poverty or straits, or ruin, for it shall neither come nor shall it approach you. [Abarbanel])

 

With righteousness that you will perform, you will be established with an everlasting redemption, and you will be far from people’s oppression for you will not fear; you will not even have terror or fear of them, and you will be far from ruin, for it will not come near you. [Ayalah Sheluchah])

 

15 Behold, the one with whom I am not, shall fear Heb. גּוֹר יָגוּר . Behold, he shall fear and dread evil decrees, he with whom I am not, i.e., Esau. ([Mss. read:] the wicked Esau and his ilk.)

 

whoever mobilizes against you Heb. גָר . Whoever mobilizes against you for war. Alternatively, מִי גָר [means:] whoever contends with you (וְנִתְגָּרֶה) . And our Rabbis explained it as referring to the proselytes (גֵּרִים) , [i.e.,] to say that we will not accept proselytes in Messianic times. And even according to the simple meaning of the verse it is possible to explain: whoever became sojourners with you in your poverty, shall dwell with you in your wealth. Comp. (Gen. 25:18) “In the presence of all his brethren he dwelt (נָפָל) .”

 

16 Behold I am He Who created a smith who devises a weapon, and I am He Who has created a destroyer that destroys it. That is, to say: I am He Who incited the enemy against you; I am He Who has prepared retribution for him.

 

and produces a weapon for his work For necessity. He completes it according to all that is necessary.

 

17 Any weapon whetted against you Any weapon that they will whet and sharpen for you, i.e., to battle with you.

 

whetted Heb. יוּצַר , an expression similar to (Jos. 5:2) “sharp knives (חַרְבוֹתצֻרִים) ,” also (Ps. 89:44) “You have also turned the edge of his sword (צוּר חַרְבּוֹ) .”

 

Chapter 55

 

1 Ho! All who thirst Heb. הוֹי . This word הוֹי is an expression of calling, inviting, and gathering, and there are many in Scripture, [e.g.,] (Zech. 2: 10) “Ho! Ho! and flee from the north land.”

 

go to water to Torah.

 

buy Heb. שִׁבְרוּ . Comp. (Gen. 42:3) “To buy (לִשְׁבּֽר) corn,” buy.

 

wine and milk Teaching better than wine and milk.

 

2 Why should you weigh out money Why should you cause yourselves to weigh out money to your enemies without bread?

 

3 the dependable mercies of David For I will repay David for his mercies.

 

The sure mercies of David - That is, says Kimchi, “The Messiah,” called here David; as it is written, “David my servant shall be a prince over you” (Ezekiel 34:23).

 

4 a witness to nations A prince and a superior over them, and one who will reprove and testify of their ways to their faces. ([Mss., however, read:] One who reproaches them for their ways to their faces.)

 

5 Behold, a nation you do not know you shall call to your service, if you hearken to Me, to the name of the Lord that is called upon you.

 

6 when He is found Before the verdict is promulgated, when He still says to you, “Seek Me.”

 

8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts Mine and yours are not the same; therefore, I say to you, “The wicked shall give up his way,” and adopt My way...

 

“and a man of iniquity his thoughts” and adopt My thoughts, to do what is good in My eyes. And the Midrash Aggadah (Tanhuma Buber, Vayeshev 11 explains:)

 

For My thoughts are not, etc. My laws are not like the laws of man [lit. flesh and blood]. As for you, whoever confesses in judgment is found guilty, but, as for Me, whoever confesses and gives up his evil way, is granted clemency (Proverbs 28:13).

 

9 As the heavens are higher, etc. That is to say that there is a distinction and a difference, advantages and superiority in My ways more than your ways and in My thoughts more than your thoughts, as the heavens are higher than the earth; you are intent upon rebelling against Me, whereas I am intent upon bringing you back.

 

10 For, just as the rain and the snow fall and do not return empty, but do good for you.

 

11 so shall be My word that emanates from My mouth to inform you through the prophets, will not return empty, but will do good to you if you heed them.

 

12 For with joy shall you go forth from the exile.

 

the mountains and the hills shall burst into song before you for they will give you their fruit and their plants, and their inhabitants shall derive benefit. ([Some editions read:] And their inhabitants shall sing.)

 

13 Instead of the briar, etc. Our Rabbis expounded [Targum Jonathan]: Instead of the wicked, righteous people shall arise.

 

briar...and...nettle They are species of thorns; i.e., to say that the wicked will be destroyed and the righteous will take their rule.

 

Notes to the Prophetic Lesson

By: Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai

 

Our Ashalamatah for this Sabbath falls into a Petuchah (Pericope) that includes two chapters of Isaiah (i.e. Isaiah 54:1-17 and 55:1-13. However as we have said, whilst for public reading purposes we only read from 54:2-9, 17, yet for homiletic and didactic purposes all verses in the two chapters of Isaiah are open to us.

 

The verbal tally between the Torah Seder for this Shabbat and our present Ashlamatah is as follows:

 

Torah: Deut. 12:20 -

כִּי-יַרְחִיב יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת-גְּבֻלְךָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר-לָךְ

 

When will enlarge (Heb.: Ki-Yar’chiv) Ha-Shem, your G-d, your border as He has promised you ...

 

Isaiah 54:2 -

הַרְחִיבִי מְקוֹם אָהֳלֵךְ

Make larger (Heb.: HaR’chivi) the place of your tent ...

 

Taken at face value, the text of Isaiah 54:2 commands the Jewish people to prepare themselves to render hospitality and accommodate large numbers of peoples who are desiring to accept the G-d of Israel, His Commandments and His people as their own..‎

 

Thus, in Isaiah 54:3-5 we read:

 

“³For you will spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will possess the Gentiles, and [they] will make [your] desolate cities to be inhabited. ⁴ Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Neither be you confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood will you remember no more. ⁵ For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth will He be called.”

 

 

Again, at face value, the text is implying that the Jewish people at some point in their history will come to the understanding that G-d has prepared a great number of Gentiles to join with the Jewish people in the land of Israel to “repopulate” all the land of what the Scriptures call the promised Land (also known by some as the land of “Greater Israel”).

 

Some, like Yair Davidiy^[29] propose that these Gentiles are none other than the Exiled Israelite Tribes who commixed with the Gentiles and became like the Gentiles. Some, have also found that the Nazarean Codicil supports this argument and cite James 1:1 and possibly I Peter 1:1 as support. Personally, I find the proofs adduced by His Excellency Yair Davidiy to be truthful and most accurate (in contradistinction with the dogmas of British Israel and Messianic Ephraemites). The distinction here is that Yair Davidiy like the Nazarean Codicil and us make the Torah as taught by our Sages and the acceptance of our Sages teachings and authority to be in the end the litmus test of who will be “in” and who will be “out.”

 

The Psalms this week have also this to say who believe that they may have Jewish blood in them or that they descend from the ancient Israelites:

 

‎Psalm 119:74 “Those who fear You will see me [as the Messiah] and rejoice for I ‎hoped for Your word.‎

Psalm 119:79 “May those who fear You and those who know Your testimonies return to me [and recognize me as their King Messiah].”

 

Those who are returning, be they descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, or descendants of the Jewish people, need to understand that there is only one door available to all who want tore turn to the covenant. This door consists as our Sages have taught the binding one-self to the yoke of the Kingdom of G-d (i.e. the yoke of King Messiah) and the binding oneself thoroughly to the yoke of the commandments as taught by the Jewish Sages. Without this resolute double binding no one has any authority whatsoever to claim to be a follower or a disciple of the Messiah. Any other ways are defective, and promote nothing more than anarchy and anti-Semitism cloaked in a veneer of pseudo-holiness.   Clorfene and Rogalsky^[30] in their seminal work on the Seven Laws of Noah make this point perfectly clear, that even to claim one is a “righteous Gentile” or “G-d fearer” one must of necessity accept Rabbinic authority. And if this is so concerning the “Righteous Gentile” how much the more those who claim to be descendants of ancient Israel, or of the Jewish people.

 

The Torah Seder for this week makes this point also clear when it says:

 

Deut. 13:5 “After the LORD your God will you walk, and Him will you fear, and His commandments will you keep, and unto His voice will you hearken, and Him will you serve, and unto Him will you cleave.”

 

Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel^[31] notes regarding positive Commandment # 6 – Cleaving to G-d, according to the order of Maimonides;

 

By this injunction we are commanded to mix and associate with wise men (Hakhamim), to be always in theire company, and to join with them in every possible manner of fellowship: in eating, drinking, and business affairs, to the end that we may succeed in becoming like them in respect of their actions and in acquiring true opinions from their words. This injunction is contained in His words (exalted be He), And to Him will you cleave,^[32] which are repeated in the verse And to cleave to Him.^[33] The Sifre says: ‘And to cleave unto Him means that we should cleave to wise men (Hakhamim) and to their disciples.’^[34]

 

The Sages also use the words to Him will you cleave as proof that it is one’s duty to marry a wise man’s (Hakham’s) daughter, to give one’s own daughter in marriage to a wise man (Hakham) to confer benefits on wise men (Hakhamim) and to have business relations with them. ‘Is it possible,’ they say, ‘for a man to cleave to the Divine Presence, seeing that it is written, For the LORD your God is a devouring fire?’^[35] Hence we must conclude that whoever marries a wise man’s (Hakham’s) daughter [or gives his daughter in marriage to a wise man (Hakham), or confers benefit on a wise man (Hakham) out of his possessions, is to be regarded in the light of this verse as cleaving to the Divine Presence].’^[36]

 

Two important further notes should be mentioned here for the sake of clarity.

 

First, all returnees whether of Jewish ancestry or ancient Israelite ancestry must clearly note that all present translations of the so called New Testament whether they be from the Greek or the Aramaic Peshitta are all full of errors, because those who made those translations carry in their minds a Christian baggage that will not allow them to objectively see and understand truth in Hebraic terms. For, we must realize as Wittgenstein so aptly stated: “A whole mythology is deposited in the language of the writer.”^[37] And thus, a translation of the Nazarean Codicil (so called New Testament) which teachings are not consistent with the 613 commandments of the Torah as taught by our Sages is to be deemed a work of idolatry and a mistranslation of the original intentions of its writers. To our knowledge there is no such translation of the Nazarean Codicil in the market. Their Honours Rosh Paqid Adon Hillel ben David, and Paqid Dr. Adon Eliyahu ben Abraham and myself are the only ones who are endeavouring to the best of our abilities to bring such work to light despite the many difficulties and lack of resources, great obstacles which with the generosity of some most wonderful souls and the work of the Ruach HaQodesh are totally surmountable. It is therefore my recommendation to all returnees that they beware of what they are reading or being taught about the Messiah or his Messengers – all must agree with the 613 Commandments of the Torah as taught by our Jewish Sages to be true and acceptable!

 

This is what Messiah King David and his descendant Messiah King Yeshua latter affirms, when he penned the following injunction:

 

Psalm 119:79 “May those who fear You and those who know Your testimonies (Heb.: עֵדֹתֶיךָ – Edotekha) return to me [and recognize me as their King Messiah].”

 

The Hebrew term used here, i.e. Edoth – are according to Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch^[38] “the symbolic observances representing truths which form the basis of Israel’s life” such as the prohibition of work on Shabbat (Sabbath), Pesach (Passover), Shavuoth (Pentecost), Sukkoth (Tabernacles), and Shemini Atzereth (Feast of the 8^th Day); the prohibition against the enjoyment, use and possession of Chamets (leavened substances) and the commandment to remove Chametz (leavened substances) for the whole week of Unleavened Bread; the commandments to erect and dwell in the sukkah for seven days  during the Festival of Tabernacles, as well as purchasing a Lulav for the Festival of Tabernacles; observance of the Fast Days, Purim and Chanukah, and all of the Rosh Chodashim (New Moons); the commandments concerning the Tsitzith, and Mezuzah, etc., etc. If the Messiah or any of his teachers or followers are not proclaiming these EDOTH as commandments of the Messiah, then what we have is either a false or defective Messiah or teachers who have totally misinterpreted the commandments of the Messiah and of his disciples.

 

All of this, of course brings us to what Professor Hanson^[39] most eloquently and truthfully has enunciated:

 

“Scripture without an interpretative tradition is dumb and useless. This does not mean that any tradition will do, but that it is a delusion to imagine (as apparently the Reformers did) that Scripture is self-interpreting. Some element of tradition, some theological presuppositions are essential if we are to succeed in interpreting Scripture at all.”

 

The concept of “Sola Scriptura” invented by the Reformers and the inheritance of all Protestants and Messianics of whatever stripe and colour is a fairy tale, a fable and figment of their imagination that miserably distorts reality. In fact, what the Reformers did was to inject Catholic and Anglo-Germanic values and traditions into their own interpretations of the Scriptures, and pass it on as the true meaning of what the Scriptures literally mean. Unless a returnee whether he/she be a descendant of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel, or a descendant of the Jews, catapults this notion of “Sola Scriptura” to where it belongs, i.e., to the dustbin of pagan fables, and accepts fully and totally the traditions of our Sages and as taught by the Master His Majesty King Yeshua the Messiah, when his words and those of his disciples are translated correctly and in the light of the Torah!  

 

Second, the Torah and the Nazarean Codicil (so called New Testament) can’t cope with the illegitimate Greco-Roman/Christian concept of “personal salvation,” for, in truth, in reality such animal does not exist but again is a figment of Greco-Roman culture and values. “Salvation” in its true meaning must be communal in nature.^[40]  This sacrosanct concept is embodied in the words that an angel of Ha-Shem spoke to a Righteous Gentile, one  of Hakham Tsefet’s first converts to Judaism – “Who will tell you words (or, “commandments”), whereby you and all your household will be saved” (Acts 11:14). Similarly, the Master himself in his abbreviation of the Amidda commands to pray “Our Father” and not “My Father.”

 

All returnees will do so in community. Therefore, it behoves all those of Israelite or Jewish ancestry to make that return with their family, as well as with others of like-minded persuasion. To this end, therefore returnees should seek to actively participate in a close knit community of like minded persons, dedicated to the observance of the commandments as the Sages have taught, to the adherence and faithfulness of His Majesty King Yeshua the Messiah, and to support fellow Jews in need. Help is available to all those who like our father in the faith, Abraham did and “called upon the name of Ha-Shem” – i.e. had a prayer service and taught the Torah together with his family and together with “the souls that they (Abraham and Sarah) had gotten (i.e. converted) in Haran.”. Unless returnees start creating Torah Observant communities then their faith and observance does not avail much. 

 

This is what the Prophet speaks to all returnees throughout all Diaspora today irrespective of the context of the original words:

 

Isaiah 54:2 “Widen the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations, do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.”

 

That is, start opening your house or some other place to hold prayer or Torah/sharing services/meetings, or join with another group of like minded people in your area to do so. But these prayer services and Torah teachings must be done in accordance with the commandments of the Torah as taught by our Sages and the faithfulness of His Majesty King Yeshua the Messiah. In doing so the prophecy utter by King David the Messiah will surely come to pass:

Psalm 119:79 “May those who fear You and those who know Your testimonies (Heb.: עֵדֹתֶיךָ – Edotekha) return to me [and recognize me as their King Messiah].”

 

And above all, do not be neglectful of the injunction in our Torah Seder for this week:

 

Deut. 13:5 “After the LORD your God will you walk, and Him will you fear, and His commandments will you keep, and unto His voice will you hearken, and Him will you serve, and unto Him will you cleave.”

 

May we all of the House of Israel and of the House of Judah be found doing so with alacrity and style, amen ve amen! 

 

PIRQE ABOT

Pereq Dalet

Mishnah 4:13

By: Hakham Yitschaq ben Moshe Magriso

 

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: One who does a good deed has gained for himself an advocate. One who commits a sin has gained for himself an accuser. Repentance and good deeds are shields against troubles.

 

This master teaches us that a person should not say, “Although I have committed many sins, I have also given much charity and have done many good deeds, and one should offset the other.” You should know that God rewards each good deed and punishes each sin, and one does not offset the other.

 

In Barukh SheAmar, [the prayer introducing the morning Psalms,] we say:

 

Blessed is He who does not regard persons nor take bribes . . .

 

This wording may seem very difficult to understand. How can God be given a bribe? The entire world belongs to God—what can He be given?

 

The meaning is that God cannot even be bribed with good deeds. We cannot bribe God with good deeds to overlook our sins. God punishes a person for all his sins, and then rewards him for all his good.

 

The master therefore says that when a person observes a commandment or does another good deed, a good angel is created. But when he commits a sin, then an accusing angel (mekatreg) is created. One angel does not offset the other.

 

The only recourse is through repentance (teshuvah) and confession (viduy) before God. One must confess each sin and resolve never to repeat it. Beyond this, he must do good deeds (maasim tovim). These will serve as shields against the evil created by his sins.

 

 

Verbal Connections

By H.Em. Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David &

HH Giberet Dr. Elisheba bat Sarah

 

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:20 – 13:19

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:2-9, 17

Tehillim (Psalms) 119:73-104

Mk 14:66-72, Rm 11:25-32

 

The verbal tallies between the Torah and the Psalm are:

LORD - יהוה, Strong’s number 03068.

Say / saith /saying - אמר, Strong’s number 0559.

Soul - נפש, Strong’s number 05315.

 

The verbal tallies between the Torah and the Ashlamata are:

LORD - יהוה, Strong’s number 03068.

God - אלהים, Strong’s number 0430.

Enlarge - רחב, Strong’s number 07337.

Say / saith /saying - אמר, Strong’s number 0559.

Place - מקום, Strong’s number 04725.

Name - שם, Strong’s number 08034.

 

 

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 12:20-21 When the LORD <03068> thy God <0430> shall enlarge <07337> (8686) thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say <0559> (8804), I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul <05315> lusteth after. 21  If the place <04725> which the LORD <03068> thy God <0430> hath chosen to put his name <08034> there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD <03068> hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul <05315> lusteth after.

 

Tehillim (Psalms) 119:75 I know, O LORD <03068>, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Tehillim (Psalms) 119:81 CAPH. My soul <05315> fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Tehillim (Psalms) 119:82 Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying <0559> (8800), When wilt thou comfort me?

 

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:2 Enlarge <07337> (8685) the place <04725> of thy, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD <03068> of hosts is his name <08034>; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God <0430> of the whole earth shall he be called.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:6 For the LORD <03068> hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith <0559> (8804) thy God <0430>.

 

Hebrew:

 

 

Greek:

 

Greek	English	Torah Seder Deu 12:20 – 13:19	Psalms Ps 119:73-104	Ashlamatah Is 54:2-9 + 17	Peshat Mk/Jude/Pet Mk 14:66-72	Remes 2 Acts/Romans Rm 11:25-32
ἀδελφός	brother	Deu 13:6				Rom. 11:25
ἀναθεματίζω	consumption, curse	Deu 13:15			Mk. 14:71
ἀνίστημι	arise	Deut. 13:1		Isa. 54:17
ἀποστρέφω	turn away	Deu 13:17		Isa 54:8		Rom. 11:26
ἀφαιρέω	remove	Deu 12:32				Rom. 11:27
γίνομαι	become, came to pass, taken place	Deu 12:25 Deu 12:26 Deu 12:28 Deu 13:14	Psa 119:76 Psa 119:80 Psa 119:83			Rom. 11:25
ἔθνος	nations	Deut. 12:29 Deut. 12:30		Isa. 54:3		Rom. 11:25
ἐλεέω	show mercy	Deu 13:8 Deu 13:17		Isa 54:7 Isa 54:8		Rom. 11:30 Rom. 11:31 Rom. 11:32
ἔλεος	mercy	Deut. 13:17	Ps. 119:77	Isa. 54:7		Rom. 11:31
ἐξέρχομαι	come forth	Deu 13:13			Mk. 14:68
ἔρχομαι	came, come	Deut. 12:26 Deut. 12:29 Deut. 13:2	Ps. 119:77
ἐχθρός	enemies		Psa 119:98			Rom. 11:25
ἥκω	come	Deu 12:26				Rom. 11:26
θεός	GOD	Deut. 12:20 Deut. 12:21 Deut. 12:27 Deut. 12:28 Deut. 12:29 Deut. 12:30 Deut. 12:31 Deut. 13:2 Deut. 13:3 Deut. 13:4 Deut. 13:5 Deut. 13:6 Deut. 13:7 Deut. 13:10 Deut. 13:12 Deut. 13:13 Deut. 13:16 Deut. 13:18		Isa. 54:5 Isa. 54:6		Rom. 11:29 Rom. 11:30 Rom. 11:32
λέγω	say, said	Deut. 12:20 Deut. 12:30 Deut. 13:2 Deut. 13:6 Deut. 13:12 Deut. 13:13	Ps. 119:82	Isa. 54:6 Isa. 54:8	Mk. 14:67 Mk. 14:68 Mk. 14:69 Mk. 14:70 Mk. 14:71 Mk. 14:72
ὅλος	entire, whole	Deu 13:3	Psa 119:97
ὀμνύω	oath	Deu 13:17		Isa 54:9	Mk. 14:71
ὁράω	see, appear		Psa 119:74		Mk. 14:67 Mk. 14:69
πᾶς	all, entire, whole, every	Deut. 12:20 Deut. 12:21 Deut. 12:28 Deut. 12:31 Deut. 12:32 Deut. 13:3 Deut. 13:9 Deut. 13:11 Deut. 13:15 Deut. 13:16 Deut. 13:18	Ps. 119:86 Ps. 119:91 Ps. 119:96 Ps. 119:97 Ps. 119:99 Ps. 119:101 Ps. 119:104	Isa. 54:5 Isa. 54:17		Rom. 11:26 Rom. 11:32
πατήρ	father	Deu 13:6 Deu 13:17				Rom. 11:28
πρόσωπον	face, before	Deut. 12:29 Deut. 12:30		Isa. 54:8
ῥῆμα	word, matter,	Deu 12:32 Deu 13:11			Mk. 14:72
ῥύομαι	rescue			Isa 54:5 Isa 54:8		Rom. 11:26
σώζω	deliver		Psa 119:94			Rom. 11:26

 

 

Nazarean Talmud

Sidra of “D’barim (Deut.) 12:20 - 13:19”

“Ki Yarchiv” “When will enlarge”

By: H. Em Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham &

H. Em. Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai

 

School of Hakham Tsefet’s Peshat Mordechai (Mk) Mishnah א:א

Now as Tsefet was below in the courtyard, one of the Kohen Gadol’s servant[41] girls came (to the courtyard below the house). And when she saw Tsefet warming himself, she stared at him and said, "You also were with Yeshua the Nazarean." But he denied it, saying, "I do not know, nor do I understand what you are talking about." And he went out on the forecourt, and the Temple[42] crier[43] called out. And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood around, "This is (one) of them" (the talmidim of Yeshua). But he refused to acknowledge (Yeshua) again. And a little later those who stood by said to Tsefet again, "Surely you are (one) of them; for you are a Galilean,[44] and your speech resembles (a Galilean)." Then he took an oath and swore,"[45] (that he was not one of Yeshua’s associates, by saying) I do not know this man you are talking about!" A second time the Temple crier called out. Then Tsefet remembered the prophetic words that Yeshua had said to him, "Before the Temple crier calls out twice, you will disassociate yourself from me three times." And when he thought about it, he wept (in repentance).

 

School of Hakham Shaul’s Remes Romans Mishnah א:א

¶ So that you will not see yourself as having attained wisdom (Hokhmah),[46] brothers,[47] I want you to understand this mystery;[48] some[49] of Yisrael lack the ability to understand the mystery of the Gentiles[50] (with the Nefesh Yehudi), and how their full (chosen) number will come in.   All Israelites[51] have a share in the world to come[52], as it is said, “Your people also will be all righteous/generous, they will inherit the land forever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified” (m. San 10:1 - Is. 60:21).   And these are the ones who have no portion in the world to come:   (1) He who says, the resurrection of the dead is a teaching, which does not derive from the Torah, (2) and the Torah does not come from Heaven; and (3) An Epicurean. R. Aqiba says, “Also: He who reads in heretical books,   The Redeemer will come to Tzion, and to those in Ya’aqob (Jacob) who repent[53] from transgression." This is the LORD's declaration. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children's children, from now on and forever," says the LORD. (Isa 59:20-21) They are opposed to the Mesorah, enemies of God, which is to your advantage, but regarding the election, they are the beloved because of the patriarchs[54], since God's gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. You once disobeyed God, but now have an opportunity to experience God’s loving-kindness, because of their disobedience, because of the loving-kindness[55] shown to you they also may now be shown loving-kindness. For God has enclosed all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all.

 

 

 

Nazarean Codicil to be read in conjunction with the following Torah Seder

 

 

Commentary to Hakham Tsefet’s School of Peshat

 

May our Master teach us concerning the “Cleaving to one’s Master – Hakham”?

 

Job 42:6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."

 

b. Ned 39b Seven things were created before the world, viz., The Torah, repentance, the Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah. The Torah, for it is written, The Lord possessed me [sc. the Torah] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.^[56] Repentance, for it is written, Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you have formed the earth and the world... You turn man to destruction, and say, “Repent, you sons of men.”^[57] The Garden of Eden, as it is written, And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden from aforetime.^[58] Gehenna, as it is written, For Tophet^[59] is ordained of old.^[60] The Throne of Glory, as it is written, Thy Throne is established from of old.^[61] The Temple, as it is written, A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.^[62] The name of the Messiah, as it is written, His name [sc. of Messiah] shall endure forever, and [has existed] before the sun!^[63] But Moses said thus: If a mouth has already been created for it [sc. Gehenna], tis well; if not, let the Lord create one. But is it not written, There is no new thing under the sun?^[64] He said thus: If the mouth is not near to this spot, let it draw near.

 

Repentance and Gehenna, created before the world, cause us to understand that G-d had made the provision of free will from the very beginning.

 

The wrath of G-d is averted when we repent and return to the LORD as it is written in our Ashlamatah:

 

Isa 54:8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love," says the LORD your Redeemer.

 

And Hakham Tsefet remembered what Yeshua (His Master) said as it is written…

 

Hakham Tsefet gained “hope” in remembering the Name of Messiah as it is said…

 

Mar. 14:72 Then Tsefet remembered the words that Yeshua had said to him, "Before the Temple crier calls out twice, you will disassociate from me three times." And when he thought about it, he wept (in repentance).

 

From this, we learn that Hakham Tsefet knew that he was to repent, as it is written…

 

D’barim 13:17 Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that the LORD will turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.

 

How is it that we know that Hakham Tsefet’s denial of Yeshua, as the Messiah was failure to “Cleave to G-d?” (Positive Mitzvah #6)

 

We know that denial is failure to Cleave to G-d. Hakham Tsefet was unfaithful (qafir) to Yeshua the Messiah! The Syriac versions of Mark use the word kephar to indicate that Hakham Tsefet “denied” association with Yeshua.^[65] Maimonides uses the word “qafir” or “kafir” (kephar) to describe the unfaithful in the “Guide to the Perplexed.”^[66] The term “qafir” refers to a person who rejects G-d or who hides, denies, or "covers" the truth. When we look at the etymology of the word kaffir (kephar), we find that it means to be an "unbeliever, infidel, and impious wretch." The literal sense of kaffir is "one who does not admit the blessings of G-d," also meaning kafara "to cover up, conceal, deny. We understand the word “infidelity” to mean "want of faithful obedience, unbelief in religion; false belief, paganism." It also means "unfaithfulness or disloyalty to a person" (originally to the Sovereign, and to a lover or spouse). From this word, we get the idea of an infidel, meaning, "unfaithful, not to be trusted,” "unbelieving," "one who does not believe in religion" of unfaithful to his religion. Also used to translate Arabic qafir, which is from a root meaning, "to disbelieve, to deny."

 

Hakham Tsefet’s infidelity is a breach of the 6^th Positive Mitzvah located in the previous Torah Seder D’barim 11:22 and as noted by the Rambam in his Sefer Ha-Mitzvot. By way of contiguity, we see that what Hakham Tsefet and the Rambam are trying to say.

 

D’barim 11:22 For if you keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love the Lord, your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him,

 

NOTE: The wise man, or as he is called in Hebrew, talmid Hakham, `the disciple of wisdom', interpreting and exemplifying as he does the word of God, is regarded in Jewish thought as being nearest to Him. To cleave to the wise man (Hakham) is thus to cleave to the LCORD (Ber. 10b; Pes. 22b).

 

Scripture provides a perfect example of a disciple cleaving to his master in the constant and reverential attachment of Joshua to Moses: “But his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent” (Ex. XXXIII, ii). The Mishnah records the following saying of Jose ben Joezer of Zeredah, one of the early Fathers of the Tradition: `Let your house be a meeting-house for the wise; and sit amid the dust of their feet; and drink in their words with thirst' (Ab. 1, 4). The Talmud abounds with illustrations of disciples going to extreme lengths in their earnest desire to learn the ways and customs, conduct and conversation of the wise men (Ber. 62a). To miss the society of an assembly of the wise men was considered an irretrievable loss: `It is impossible that a gathering of the wise men should take place without their bringing to light some profound and fresh interpretation of the Law' (Hag. 3a).^[67]

 

How then does Hakham Tsefet nullify his denial of Yeshua?

 

If a person transgresses any of the mitzvot of the Torah, whether a positive command or a negative command - whether willingly or inadvertently - when he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess before God, blessed be, He as [Numbers 5:6-7] states: "If a man or a woman commit any of the sins of man... they must confess the sin that they committed."^[68]

 

And what is the fruit of Hakham Tsefet’s repentance?

 

Yesha’yahu (Isa) 54:2 "Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out;¹ do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep.

 

Hakham Tsefet’s demonstration of his infidelity to Yeshua, as a talmid, is his way of demonstrating the seriousness of the breach of the 6^th positive mitzvah as noted above. In our pericope Hakham Tsefet is found by the fire warming himself.^[69] By inference, we see that Hakham Tsefet is more concerned with his physical comfort and safety than his master’s well-being.^[70] Hakham Tsefet’s repudiation of his master begins with a simple evasion and concludes with the swearing of an oath that he does not know, nor is he associated with the Master.^[71] When we are unfaithful to G-d in serving self, we become idolatrous. Scholars have reduced idolatry to the serving of one’s self and selfish desires instead of G-d and His messengers.

 

 

Commentary to Hakham Shaul’s School of Remes

 

Hakham Shaul, is playing off Hakham Tsefet’s infidelity to the Master, and provides us a reason for those groups who have been pruned away. He further builds his thesis by his meditation upon the admonition against false prophets and apostates (D’barim 13:2-6) and those who seduce whole families (D’barim 13:7-12).

 

The “mystery” at hand is that mystery of the Gentiles and their relation to Yisrael and the Mesorah. The opening sentence is directed at the Gentiles being “grafted” into the stock of the Jewish tree, i.e. the “olive tree.” Hakham Shaul is addressing the attitude of superiority that some of the converts have accepted thinking that they were ready to become Hakhamim, at least in their own eyes. So, while φρόνιμος can and does means “wisdom” the use of φρόνιμος here makes us conclude that Hakham Shaul’s audience is still very elementary in their knowledge and spiritual education. Here we say elementary because they believe prematurely that they are “wise” or possess more wisdom that the branches that have been pruned away. Regardless they are in no place to claim such wisdom and Hakham Shaul immediately sets them straight. This is often a great problem with new or potential converts. Hakham Shaul drives the point home by using φρόνιμος rather than σοφία sophia paralleled in the Hebrew by the word חָכְמָה – chokmah.

 

Understand this mystery; some of Yisrael lack the ability to understand the mystery of the Gentiles, and how their full number will come in.

 

Interestingly we note that the number of the gentiles is fixed and when all of the Gentiles (with the Nefesh Yehudi) come in, the branches that have been pruned away will be grafted back in. We will clarify this statement below.

 

Should it be such an undiscoverable mystery to know that G-d has hidden some of His gems among the most unusual places?

 

Mat 13:44 ¶ "The kingdom of heaven/governance of God through bate Din and Hakhamim as opposed to human Kings and Presidents is like a treasure (the Mesorah hidden among the Gentiles) hidden in another country, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (where he had hid the treasure).

 

Thus, the gems that are the “special treasure” are hidden in some unsuspecting country where G-d will send His plenipotentiary agents to recover. The mystery of the Gentiles is that G-d has hidden his jewels among the nations as a means of accomplishing His redemptive and restorative plan.

 

Two verses from the Tanakh are intimated here. We find the phrase πᾶς Ἰσραήλ 148 times in the Tanakh.  Here Hakham Shaul uses the diachronic phrase πᾶς Ἰσραήλ to mean “the remnant,” “the chosen” and “the others” relating to every generation of the Jewish people, showing those from every generation will have their part in the Olam HaBa.

 

This same phrase is found in the Mishnah and Talmud. The Mishnah, after telling us that all Yisrael will have their part in the Olam HaBa goes on to tell us who will NOT have part in the Olam HaBa. The two key groups for us to mention here are those who do not believe the resurrection is mentioned in the Torah and the Epicureans.

 

It would appear that the phrase cited by Hakham Shaul, is an affront to the Tz’dukim (the Sadducees). As such, we can determine that it was already established among the P’rushim (Pharisees) that the Tz’dukim who also embraced epicurean pursuits would not have their part in the Olam HaBa.

 

Sanders suggests that this phrase “All Yisrael” was penned before 70 c.e.^[72] As such, the P’rushim were trying to make a direct attack on the philosophy of the Tz’dukim. He also believes that Hakham Shaul is trying to show that the Priesthood of the Tz’dukim was invalidated long before 70 c.e. Eppstein takes the Tz’dukim out of office before 6o/61 c.e. He also points out that they had actually “excommunicated” themselves as members of the covenant before the temple was destroyed.^[73] Other information seems to suggest that they may have migrated towards Rome near this time.^[74] Consequently, Hakham Shaul refers to them as the “enemies of G-d.”^[75] However, it may be that Hakham Shaul is referring to those who will not accept the Mesorah as the enemies of G-d. If this is the case, we would suggest that the opposing group may extend to other groups such as the Shammaites who opposed the Mesorah of Hillel. We will further deal with this below.

 

While we will have to clarify some information here in a section below, we again draw attention to the fact that the Tz’dukim serving as the Kohanim bankrupted the Priesthood before the destruction of the Temple.

 

In receiving this information, we must dissect a Gemarah to begin to unfold Hakham Shaul’s allegorical hint.

 

b Berachot 8a And this conforms with the following saying of R. Hiyya b. Ammi in the name of Ulla: “Since the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has nothing in this world but the four cubits of Halakhah alone.” So said also Abaye: “At first I used to study in my house and pray in the Synagogue. Since I heard the saying of R. Hiyya b. Ammi in the name of Ulla: ‘Since the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has nothing in His world but the four cubits of Halakhah alone,’ I pray only in the place where I study.”

 

"From the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed is He, has nothing in His world, except for the four cubits of halacha (Jewish law)" (B. Berachot 8a). In our vast world, a mere four cubits hardly seems a fitting dwelling place for the omnipresent Almighty! Indeed, in Talmudic parlance "four cubits" is a code word for an individual's personal space (B. Eruvin 48a). Thus, our sages are telling us that instead of a focal national center for the Almighty's presence, God finds a dwelling place in each person's personal four cubits.^[76]

 

Figure 1 - Four Cubits

 

A considerable amount of discussion is given to the word “halakhah.”  While some would suggest that, the word “halakhah” means only halakhic materials. However, the general view that the word “halakhah” refers to every avenue of Torah study. We have given an illustration to show our view of these “four cubits.” We must also note that generally the span of the arms is the height of a person.^[77] The four levels of PaRDeS hint to the practice of Torah study.

 

We should be able to understand the intention of the cited Gemarah with relative ease. Torah study is considered the highest form of worship available to the Jewish people. As such, we can readily see that where ever we have a custom of encountering the Divine Presence is where we should study and pray. This is often the practice of those Hakhamim who have a So’odic perspective of this Gemarah.

 

This re-enforces Hakham Tsefet’s spiritual, “living stones.”

 

You are drawn to a living Stone, rejected by men  but chosen by God as precious; And as living stones (לֻחֹת – luchot)^[78] you are built into a Mishkan^[79] (a spiritual house), a holy (separated) priesthood,^[80] of Hokhmah to offer up sacrifices^[81] of the breathed^[82] Torah received from God through Yeshua HaMashiach.”^[83]

 

We know that the Hakhamim are able to use the “four cubits” (PaRDeS) as a way of explaining deep So’odic truths. When the Sages come to the word “halakhah,” they find a treasure to dissect. Rearranging the letter of “halakhah,” we find the word “ha-kallah” the “Bride.” This depicts the key to find depth in a four-cubit realm. Some talmidim are Erusin – betrothed to the Torah. The Torah has captured their imagination and they are truly infatuated with many fine things that are to be found in the Torah. However, the true “talmid Hakham” (student of the Hakhamim – student of wisdom) not “Erusin” “betrothed” to the Torah, he is Nisu’in married to the Torah discovering all the intimacies forbidden to the Erusin.

 

It is general knowledge that there were many factions and opinions on how the Torah was to be “walked” out in personal life during the first century. The P’rushim preserved many of the teachings and opinions of the previous generations. The P’rushim were the fundamental halakhic group of the Second Temple period. Because we know that, there were “many Judaisms”^[84] according to Neusner, we seldom take the time to see how these differing groups were able to dwell together in Eretz Yisrael. We would naturally assume that each group followed the Torah according to their own interpretation. For example, we know that the Tz’dukim opposed the P’rushim and their halakhic views. This is especially true for the Tz’dukim who governed the Temple and its workings.

 

The establishment of halakhic norms was the fruit of Hillel’s labors. While Shammai may have played his part in pushing the P’rushim towards the forefront, it was Hillel and his school of thought that established a halakhic norm. The question at hand is, just how much did the other groups accept Hillel’s normative halakhah?

 

Newman in his work “Proximity to Power and Jewish Sectarian Groups of the Ancient Period, A Review of Lifestyle, Values, and Halakhah in the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Qumran” using Rabbinic sources shows that the P’rushim (Pharisees) were, as noted above the group that held the greatest influence over the people in the First Century. Now when we say “the people” we are not just speaking of the “Am HaAretz,” the people of Land" i.e. the uneducated Jews. The dominant citizens of Yerushalayim generally accepted their halakhic norms.

 

Perhaps the clearest demonstration of the contrast between the norm-orientated approach demanding obedience to social norms and the value-orientated position demanding non-compromise with social norms is the story of a conversation between a Sadducee father and his son.^[85] This is the story of a Sadducee son who serves as High Priest at the Temple on the Day of Atonement. When he burned incense, he acted according to the Sadducee tradition of igniting before entry of the Holy of Holies, in contrast to the Pharisaic opinion. After proudly announcing his action, his father reprimanded him saying that even though they have an alternative tradition, they have accepted upon themselves to act according to the Pharisaic tradition. The father expected his son to die soon due to his disobedience.^[86]

 

As he says: “even though we do expound matters as you say, we do not do things in the way in which we expound them. We obey the words of the Sages” (the Hakhamim).^[87]

 

Newman here shows that the Hakhamim and their halakhic rulings established a normative life for everyone living in Yerushalayim. But, we must assert that this is generally true of all groups that had interaction with each other. Newman also shows that there were those who refused to act according to the normative halakhah of the Hakhamim. This is especially true of the Tz’dukim who governed the Temple.

 

In other words, it is very likely that even though there were many differing groups there was a halakhic norm established by the Hakhamim.

 

We must assume that a seceding group (that does not compromise and prefers values over other factors) would determine otherwise, that if a mistake was made it should be discussed and corrected, that absolute truth was more binding than a court’s ruling. But, in the Pharisaic world, the court’s ruling was more binding than absolute physical truth. This is well expressed in the words of Rabbi Gamaliel to Rabbi Yehoshua: “My Rabbi in wisdom and my pupil in having accepted my words.”^[88]

 

Without making a lengthy commentary on all that Newman has posited, we conclude that the Halakhah of the Hakhamim was far more influential than had been previously believed. And, this shows just how obstinate the Tz’dukim were, who held the Priestly offices.

 

Now the words of Hakham Shaul make sense. If the Tz’dukim who managed the Priesthood and the Temple were constantly contentious, those who accepted the normative halakhah of the Hakhamim would have considered them rebels and outcasts. To recount the words of Eppstein, they “excommunicated” themselves. We find this very truth applicable today. When the norms of the Hakhamim are not accepted the contentious excommunicate themselves.

 

It should be evident that not all the P’rushim agreed with every halakhic ruling of their Hakhamim. However, opinions were of no consequence when it came to actual practice. Today everyone seeks the opinion of Rabbi Google and to become self-proclaimed Hakhamim. Eppstein shows us that regardless of opinion exegetically or otherwise, in the end we follow the words of the Hakhamim!^[89] If we fail to accept this norm, we as noted above are the branches pruned away. Eventually the repentant will be grafted back in. But, those who remain in their rebellious state will be cast into the fire.

 

During the First Century, two dominant groups wrestled for power and control of the Jewish nation. What may not be evident is that the two powers were wrestling with an age-old problem. The division of the Kingdom began centuries before ending in eventual exile. We must realize that HaShem’s plan is eternal and His system of authority has been in place for thousands of years. With each faction, the nation becomes more fractured. We must learn to unify under the authorities established by G-d. Hakham Shaul shows us that we have to become united through being grafted into one tree under the authority of the Hakhamim.

 

Some Questions to Ponder:

 

1. From all the readings for this week, which particular verse or passage caught your attention and fired your heart and imagination?
2. In your opinion, and taking into consideration all of the above readings for this Sabbath, what is the prophetic message (the idea that encapsulates all the Scripture passages read) for this week?

 

Blessing After Torah Study

 

Barúch Atáh Adonai, Elohénu Meléch HaOlám,

Ashér Natán Lánu Torát Emét, V'Chayéi Olám Natá B'Tochénu.

Barúch Atáh Adonái, Notén HaToráh. Amen!

 

Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, King of the universe,

Who has given us a teaching of truth, implanting within us eternal life.

Blessed is Ha-Shem, Giver of the Torah. Amen!

 

“Now unto Him who is able to preserve you faultless, and spotless, and to establish you without a blemish,

before His majesty, with joy, [namely,] the only one God, our Deliverer, by means of Yeshua the Messiah our Master, be praise, and dominion, and honor, and majesty, both now and in all ages. Amen!”

 

 

Next Shabbat:

Shabbat “Banim Atem” - “You are children”

 

 

 

Shalom Shabbat!

 

Hakham Dr. Yosef ben Haggai

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David

Rabbi Dr.  Eliyahu ben Abraham