Category: Torah

Third Sermon at Sh’ma Yisra’el: Surrender and Life in Its Fullest Measure

Sermon VaYigash: Surrender and Life in Its Fullest Measure

Shabbat shalom.

Our parasha for today is VaYigash, a Hebrew word that means, “and he drew near.” It covers Genesis 44:18 through 47:27.

When Rabbi Erez invited me to speak this week on this parasha, I was pleased to be given the opportunity. First, because it is a portion I’ve taught on before, two or three years ago, before I moved here to Sh’ma Y’israel. And second, because it is a portion of Torah that I felt I could teach on better than I had the first time.

The most important theme I drew from the Torah portion this week is that of surrender. Now, in the eyes of the world, surrender can only mean one thing: defeat. An inability to overcome the odds against you and succeed in spite of them. In essence, and put in the simplest way possible, surrender in our culture means giving up, losing, ceasing all struggles and accepting one’s fate.

The question this week’s Torah reading forces us to examine is, is surrender always a bad thing? What I’d like to suggest is that the quality of life that follows surrender depends upon the nature of who one is surrendering to.

If you are surrendering to one who is merciful and generous in victory, one can expect a life of ample provision and cheerful service. If you are surrendering to one who is, by contrast, harsh and without concern for the well-being of his newly-won subjects, then life can become quite difficult.

The first surrender we witness in this week’s Torah reading is that of the sons of Israel to Yosef. Now, to this point, Yosef’s brothers have not recognized him for who he is and Yosef himself has not yet revealed his own identity. So when Judah steps forward to speak with Yosef and surrender to the court of Pharaoh, Judah has no reason to expect a tender response. This potential for fear is reflected in Judah’s words, when he acknowledges that Yosef could have easily decided to have him and all his brothers killed if he wished.

Now, in the text of the Torah, Judah is both complimentary and immediately submissive in his surrender. However, some sources of Jewish tradition suggest this was not immediately the case.

I’d like to share part of such a tradition preserved for us in the Aramaic targum known as Neofiti B’resheet. For those of you who are unfamiliar, allow me a moment to explain. The targumim were a set of spoken paraphrases, explanations, and expansions of the Jewish scriptures that a rabbi would give in the common language of the listeners, which during the time of this practice was often, but not exclusively, Aramaic. This become necessary near the end of the last century before the Common Era, as Aramaic grew in usage among the people of Israel. These renderings were at times very loose translations because the rabbis of that day felt it was more important to get the meaning and common understanding of the Torah across to the listener, rather than preserving an exact, word-for-word representation.

For example, if the Torah verse said, “A star shall rise out of Ya’akov,” and the rabbis agreed that the intent of the verse was a reference to Messiah, in the Aramaic targum, they would translate that verse very directly as, “Mashiach will rise out of Ya’akov,” so that the true meaning and intent of the verse was preserved in the translation, even if the exact phrasings were not.

Also, as is the case with this week’s portion, sometimes a targum would preserve an entire midrash, an interpretive teaching that helps shed light on the understanding of the text that the rabbis of that era held to. So, while the Aramaic targums are not as reliable as the Torah itself, they are useful for capturing a snapshot of how the Torah was being taught in the century leading up to the birth of Yeshua. This, in turn, helps us understand the Torah in the light of the first-century Judaism that was commonly understood by Yeshua and his Talmidim.

Does that help? Good.

Now, returning to our portion, in the Targum Neofiti, a midrash expanding on Judah’s confrontation with Yosef is preserved, and it suggests Judah was not immediately submissive. Remember, Yosef has just ordered them to surrender Binyamin, the last living son of Ya’akov and his favorite wife, Rachel… as far as Ya’akov knew, because he believed Yosef to be dead. It reads, in part, like this:

Targum Neofiti – B’resheet 44:18
And Judah approached him, raging in words and contrite in tongue. He roared like a lion and said, “I beseech, my lord, let your servant now speak a word; and, my lord, let not your anger be enkindled against your servant. Did you not say to us from the first time we came to you, “From before the L-RD I fear’? And now your judgments have turned to become like to the judgments of Pharoah, your master.” … Perhaps it has not been said to you, and perhaps it has not been heard by you, what my two brothers, Simeon and Levi, did in the fortress of Shechem, that they entered into it and killed every male in it, because within it they defiled our sister Dinah, who is not of the number of the tribes and who has no portion and inheritance in the division of the land. How much more for the sake of Binyamin, our brother…?”

The passage goes on with Judah basically threatening to kill every male in Egypt, starting with Yosef and ending with Pharaoh, if Yosef does not relent. Eventually, toward the end of the passage, Judah calms down and becomes more contrite as the Torah narrative resumes.

Why would the targum preserve this tradition? To show that Judah is not a person to meekly surrender; to further illustrate how passionate he is about not wanting to bring on his father the grief of losing his beloved Binyamin.

Now, whether this tradition about Judah is accurate or not, we know what the Torah says happens next. Judah finally lays out the truth before Yosef; that the demand they leave Binyamin behind because of the apparent theft of an object belonging to the court, which Yosef had had planted there to bring matters to a head—to abandon Binyamin to Yosef would mean the death of their father Israel.

Judah then offers up his own life in place of Binyamin’s, demonstrating a selflessness that has not been present before this in the actions of the sons of Israel. He is surrendering himself to an uncertain fate, and in doing this, Judah, in the eyes of Yosef, is also demonstrating repentance; he is showing by his actions that he regrets being the cause of his father losing one of his sons, and does not want to be the cause of him losing another.

Remember, through all this, Judah has no idea he’s speaking to his brother Yosef. So this surrender tells Yosef a lot.

It tells him his brothers regret their past actions which took Yosef out of their lives. It tells him they are not treating Yosef’s closest brother, Binyamin, with the same kind of jealousy with which they treated Yosef, because they are now willing to give up their own lives to preserve the lives of Binyamin and their father Ya’akov.

And it tells him that they are not doing this for show, because at this point they know Yosef only as Zephaneth-Paneah, second in authority in all of Egypt only to Pharaoh himself. Since they do not recognize him as Yosef, the surrender is more meaningful, because they have no assurance of mercy.

Yosef’s response also confirms our suspicions of how time and The L-RD have healed his wounds as well. Yosef no longer holds any bitterness toward his brothers, because no one could hold bitterness in their heart and live before God and man as Yosef did. In this week’s reading, that suspicion is confirmed by Yosef’s actions; in response to the surrender of his brothers to the power and authority he holds over them, Yosef meets his brothers with mercy and forgiveness. We read this in the Torah, in:

Genesis 45:1b-8a
So no one else was with him when Yosef revealed to his brothers who he was. He [Yosef] wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharoah’s household heard. Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef! Is it true that my father is still alive?” But his brothers couldn’t answer him, they were so dumbfounded at seeing him. Yosef said to his brothers, “Please! Come closer.” And they came closer. He said, “I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t be sad that you sold me into slavery here or be angry with yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life … God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth and to save your lives in a great deliverance. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

Imagine the shock and relief that must have gone through the sons of Israel! For well over twenty years, they had lived with the regret that comes from the foolish actions of their youth. They had carried the shame so heavily that they could never bring themselves to share the truth of their actions with their father.

Instead, they had maintained the lie of Yosef’s death. And now, after years of not being sure if he was alive or dead themselves, before them stands the very brother they had thought they’d rid themselves of forever. Yosef is not only alive, but is second in authority to the most powerful ruler in the entire region, the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Furthermore, when Yosef reveals himself, he does not meet them with accusations of betrayal, rage, and bitterness, but instead is humbling himself before them, asking them not to be upset, because ultimately it was God who had wanted Yosef in Egypt, to preserve the lives of Ya’akov and his sons.

Consider for a moment just how powerful a portrait of Messiah that Yosef now is. Yosef had been figuratively put to death, while Yeshua was literally put to death. For a time, Yosef was concealed among the nations; similarly, Yeshua has also been concealed among the nations.

When Yosef stands before his brothers, they fail to recognize him until he reveals himself to them. And in the same way, many of us today have Yeshua standing before us through the teachings of both the Torah and the Ha’Brit Ha’Chadasha, and yet can so easily fall short of recognizing Him for Who He truly is.

Zechariah 12:10, 13:1
“and I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me, whom they have pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son. When that day comes, a spring will be opened up for the house of David and the people living in Yerushalayim to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”

Just as with Yosef and his brothers, when Yeshua reveals Himself, both to us and to the Jewish nation as a whole, we mourn that we did not recognize him sooner. We grieve for all we have done to him. Yet, as the passage indicates, a fountain for cleansing from all sin and impurity has been provided, and that fountain is His Ruach HaKodesh, his Holy Spirit.

We can draw confidence in Yeshua’s forgiveness of us by the shadow of messiah cast by Yosef in this Torah portion. Although his brothers never fully forgave themselves, and therefore never trusted in Yosef’s forgiveness of them, what do Yosef’s actions reveal? He moves his entire family to Egypt, arranging with Pharaoh to have them stay not just anywhere, but on the best, most fertile land Egypt at that time had to offer, the land of Goshen.

In the same way, Messiah is preparing a place for us to dwell with him, as He says in:

Yochanan 14:2-3
“In my Father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you. Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be also.”

Just as Yosef met his brothers with forgiveness and restoration, so Yeshua meets us. Just as Yosef prepared a place for his family, so that they could all be together, so Yeshua is doing the same for us. For as long as we draw breath, we have time and opportunity for Yeshua to uncover His face and make Himself known to us.

Now, that is often the main emphasis of this parasha; the story of Yosef revealing himself to his brothers. It’s powerful. It’s moving. It’s a clear picture of Messiah in the Torah.

But before I wrap up, I want to draw your attention to the last chapter. After Yosef is restored to his family, the Torah relates how he went on to govern Egypt for Pharaoh.

We are told that at first the people came to Yosef and bought grain with money; when they ran out of money, they begged Yosef for mercy and Yosef agreed to accept their livestock in exchange for grain. When their livestock ran out, Yosef accepted their land as payment, and when they had nothing left, he made them servants of Pharaoh, purchasing their loyalty at a price.

At first glance, such behavior does not seem very Messiah-like, and it does not seem to fit in with Yosef as a shadow of the Messiah. After all, these people are starving, and Yosef seems only interested in accumulating assets for Pharoah.

Yet, on the contrary, I believe the Torah is giving us a very clear picture of the Messianic kingdom. Like Yeshua, Yosef’s mission is to do what? To build the kingdom. What Yosef does is that he gives people a choice; surrender all they have and live, or hold on to their possessions and perish.

Ironically, once they have surrendered all they have, and have put Pharaoh in his place as their ruler, they receive all they have surrendered back to them, with Pharaoh keeping only a fifth of their produce as a direct asset for the kingdom.

If one saw this purely on the human level, it would seem like the act of a ruthless man in pursuit of the things of this world; a man gathering money, livestock, land and the loyalty of the people because he had them over a barrel, their only other option being death by starvation.

And yet remember the words of Yosef to his brothers.

“It was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life … God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth and to save your lives in a great deliverance.”

Consider how much that is reflective of Messiah’s purpose, as we find this in the words of:

Yochanan 10:10
The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.

The shadow of Yosef echoes here in the words of Messiah Yeshua, just as the words of Messiah Yeshua are seen in Yosef’s actions in this week’s Torah portion. Yosef was sent into Egypt to preserve life. Yes, that includes the life of Ya’akov and the rest of his family, but the last chapter of this parasha makes clear that it also includes all life in Egypt and the surrounding territory.

The kingdom of Pharaoh expanded greatly under Yosef’s influence, because he worked to build and strengthen and expand his master’s kingdom. In the same way, Yeshua has done likewise, raising knowledge of the God of Y’srael from the borders of Y’israel out to the entire world.

And while many assume that the “grace of God” is free or at least cheap, this week’s Torah portion reminds and corrects us on that false assumption. Too often, we look at our lives and what we have and grudgingly, if at all, hand a tithe back to the community we’re a part of. But what this passage illustrates is that we don’t “owe God a tenth” anymore than the Egyptians “owed Pharaoh a fifth.”

Because, like those in Egypt, we were bought by God. Not just ten percent of ourselves, not just a fifth of ourselves… we give up all we have and become the sole property of haShem. All we have, all we are, all we ever will be… belongs to haShem.

We read this in:

Genesis 47:23
Then Yosef said to the people, “As of today I have acquired you and your land for Pharoah. Here is seed to sew your land.”

This is a very accurate and telling picture of how things would be in the time in the desert, as well as how things would be in the land of Y’srael, how they ought to be in our Messianic communities, and how things will be in the World to Come. In the world as God desires us to live in it, no one goes hungry… and everyone belongs completely to the L-RD.

This sentiment is reflected in the teachings of the Talmidim of Yeshua. As Rav Sha’ul writes in:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God.

This is the second instance of surrender in this week’s Torah portion. And again it shows that when we surrender to the right people … to God, who is merciful and kind, generous and full of forgiveness … surrender doesn’t have to be a death-knell of defeat.

When we surrender ourselves to HaShem, and the living Torah, Messish Yeshua, it means nothing less than life to us… life in its fullest measure, and life in the World to Come.

Shabbat shalom.

Sermon: Listening to God

Shabbat Shalom

This week’s parashah brings us to the final portion of the book of B’midbar, the book we call Numbers. The portion is called Masei, a Hebrew word that translates to “Journeys of.” And in chapter thirty-three, the L-RD through Moses recounts all the journeys of His people through the wilderness, from the first day of the exodus until that moment. It’s a long chapter, but has a very familiar structure. Each account of a step in their journey reads like this:

Numbers 33:6
They moved on from Sukkot and camped at Etam, by the edge of the desert.

The moved, and then they camped. That’s the pattern. They moved and camped, moved and camped. Yet how did they determine when to move and where to camp? Was it on a whim? No, if we look back throughout the Torah, each move of the people of Israel was given by God to Moses, and their obedience followed.

Now, there have been many incidents during this journey that we’ve read about by studying along with Stan this year in our journey through the Torah. We read about the people’s complaints about the manna, about their need for water, about the Korah rebellion and about external threats posed by figures such as King Balak and the rebellious prophet, Balaam.

As much rebellion and discontent with God as has been expressed over this period in the desert, one thing has remained constant. When God told them to move, they moved; and when God told them to camp, they camped.

It may not seem like a lot. Certainly, one could wish for greater obedience, fewer troubles, less rebellion. But we should not be too quick to skim over or dismiss this passage in our reading this week, because it reveals a pattern that answers a somewhat universal question.

One thing many of us who are believers struggle with is, “How do I listen to God? How can I know I’m hearing him?”

It’s a simple question on the surface, but can become far more complex in application. But the basic clue to the ultimate solution to this is revealed in some of the last words of B’midbar. We read this in:

Numbers 36:13
These are the teachings and rulings which THE LORD gave through Moses to the people of Israel in the Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

These are the teachings and rulings. Let’s notice that phrase. Some translations will render it as “These are the laws and regulations.” It is perhaps more helpful, to today’s Western audience, to use words like teaching, instruction and similar words. Yet this is a relatively modern phenomenon, brought about by our culture, our time, our biases.

But in earlier times, and certainly in the time of Yeshua, the concept of laws or commands did not carry with it our modern negative connotations. Laws were seen by the people to be a good thing; a protection against chaos, against lawlessness, against crime and selfish acts dominating and dictating the acts of others.

This was true even in the time of Moses, for as we read in:

Deuteronomy 4:8
And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

We can intuit from this passage that not only were the laws of God considered a good and positive thing, but they themselves were a witness to the nations. The laws and rulings of man might be petty and unfair, but the laws of God were set apart from the laws of the world because they were not petty or unfair. As the Torah tells us over and over again, God had one set of laws, one set of teachings, one set of instructions that were for everyone, including, “the stranger living among you.” God’s sense of justice applied equally to all; this was not the case in other parts of the world at that time. Even today, many nations have one set of penalties for natives of their land, and another set of penalties for those who are not natives.

Is it possible for us to adopt that mindset today? Can we still see the goodness and protection in the laws of God, or are our minds so polluted by the corruption of the world around us that we must rename His laws as “instructions” or “teachings” in order to avoid having them seem automatically onerous and unfair?

Whatever we choose to call them – laws, teachings, instructions – however, misses the main point. The main point is that when God speaks, when He tells us something, our obedience should follow. That is the pattern of the heroes of faith throughout the Torah. Let’s take a look at a few examples. Noah is one of the heroes mentioned in book of Hebrews’ Faith Hall of Fame.

Genesis 6:13-14
God said to Noah, “The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the Earth. Make for yourself an ark of gofer-wood…

Would Noah’s name have been included if God had said, “Make for yourself an ark of gofer-wood,” and he had ignored God’s instructions? Of course not.

Let’s look at Abram. We read in:

Genesis 12:1
Now THE LORD said to Abram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.”

In this example as well, the pattern for listening to God is established. God speaks, lets us know what He wants, gives us instructions and then…

We just stand there rejoicing that God spoke to us? Well, maybe, for a time, but then…

We go around and tell all our friends, “God spoke to me! God spoke to me!” Umm… maybe… but then…

We pray again and again and again, just to make sure we really understood all the finer nuances…

No. What sets apart the obedient from the rest? They obey. They go and do “everything The LORD commanded them.”

We continue to see this pattern of God commanding, offering instructions, and obedience following. Let’s read:

Genesis 35:1
God said to Jacob, “Get up, go up to Beit-El and live there, and make there an alter to God, who appeared to you when you fled Esau your brother.”

And this pattern continues beyond the patriarchs. Here is how, after introducing himself to Moses, God instructs him at the burning bush:

Exodus 3:10
“Therefore, now, come; and I will send you to Pharoah; so that you can lead my people, the descendants of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Now. Come. Come now.

Not next week. Not a couple years down the line. Now. This is part of the nature of listening to God. When he has something for us to do, he doesn’t offer up a bunch of lead-time. He doesn’t tell us what’s coming three to five years down the road. He simply says, “Now, come,” and it is our obligation to follow and do.

And I think part of the reason why is that God knows our hearts. He knows that even among the obedient, if he offers us the luxury of time to think instead of obey, we’ll find a way out, a reason to put off obedience.

Consider the example of the prophet Samuel from:

1 Samuel 16:1
The LORD said to Samuel, “How much longer are you going to go on grieving for Saul, now that I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because I have chosen myself a king from among his sons”

One of the wonderful things about listening to God is this: he’s never at a loss. He’s never unsure. He knows the answers to all our, “Now what?” and “What’s next?” questions. Often, what holds us back is our own willingness to hear what He has to say, or own readiness to obey “all that the LORD has commanded.”

And we’re not alone in that. God knew what he wanted when he said this in:

Jonah 1:1 -2
The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amitai: “Set out for the great city of Ninevah, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention.”

And we all remember how obedient Jonah was at first, right? He ran the other way and found out there is nowhere you can run that God cannot find out. And when he was finally expelled from the belly of that big fish, done with his rebellion of the moment, what did God say?

Jonah 3:1-2
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Ninevah, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.”

This nature of listening to God is something that carries over into the New Covenant writings, the gospel accounts. Yeshua calls his talmidim in very much the same way in which the LORD called various patriarchs, prophets and other heroes of the faith. We read this, for example, in:

Luke 5:27-28
Later Yeshua went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting in his tax-collection booth; he said to him, “Follow me!” He got up, left everything, and followed Him.

And it is obedience in following him, that sort of unhesitant obedience, that is the key element of actually listening to God, just as Levi did here.

How important is our ability to listen and obey God? One could make the point that without it, we have no relationship with God, as Yeshua warns in:

Luke 6:46-49
Why do you call me, “Lord! Lord!” but do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them – I will show you what he is like: he is like someone building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the torrent beat against that house but couldn’t shake it, because it was constructed well. And whoever hears my words but doesn’t act on them is like someone who built his house on ground without any foundation. As soon as the river struck it, it collapsed and that house became a horrendous wreck.”

So if we believe God, are we going to blow him off? Are we going to ignore what he tells us? Are we going to argue with Him over whether He’s right or wrong?

Too often, that’s what we try to do. And it can manifest itself in ways that are both noticeable and subtle. Think back to when you first were introduced to the Messianic movement, to the concept that commands even as seemingly minor as avoiding unclean foods like pork, were concepts still relevant in the lives of those who follow Messiah Yeshua?

Some of us were willing to obey sooner than others, but because it was a new teaching, I think most of us who come from a Christian background had to at least go through that, “Say what?” moment. Our obedience increases as our understanding grows.

But at some point, we all reach that part of our journey where we fully understand what God’s asking of us. We can no longer say, “Oh, we didn’t know.” At some point, we know. And when we reach that point, it’s time to decide … are we going to obey? Or are we going to continue arguing with God?

There are rewards for obedience. Those of us who listen to God and do what he says gain an intimacy with Him that goes as deep as a family bond, as Yeshua confirms in:

Luke 8:21
But he gave them this answer: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s message and act on it!”

And see, more than any outward show of words, it is our choices, our actions, our decision either to obey or rebel that determines whether we will receive the benefits of such a relationship with God.

We can fill out lives with the trappings of religion. We can wear kippahs and tallits, we can show up at every service, every mo’edim, every event sponsored by our community here at Kehilat Sar Shalom. We can even drop our weekly offerings into the offering box, show up for Feed My Starving Children and help out in the kitchen.

But if we’re not obedient to “all that the LORD has commanded” us, it’s all dross. If we obey God, if we listen and do as He says, all those things are wonderful. Without our obedience, without our listening and doing, none of the rest will mean much.

This is the point Yeshua is making when he said this in:

Matthew 7:21
Not everyone who says to me, “LORD! LORD!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants.

Notice the smallest word in that verse is probably the most important one: do. Those who do what my Father in heaven wants. That do represents our obedience. And to be obedient, we must first listen. We listen, and then we do.

Yeshua expounds on this in greater detail in this parable in:

Matthew 21:28-31
“There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.

This underlines an important point: while our words our important, they are only meaningful when backed up by our obedience. And when our obedience and our words are at odds, it is our obedience that God credits to us as righteousness.

Listening to God is not easy to do.

Sometimes it’s not easy because, deep down, we know what God is going to ask of us, and whatever it is, we don’t want to give it up.

And that doesn’t have to even be about a sin. Sometimes what you’re holding on to is merely comfortable and familiar. Not bad in and of itself. But if the choice is to hold onto that, or follow a more challenging call of God, guess which one becomes the better choice?

The better choice is always the one that involves listening to and obeying the LORD.

Andie and I have some current experience in this area. I have been part of the community here at Kehilat Sar Shalom for twelve Passover Sedars, about eleven years and counting.

In that time, I’ve spent a season learning what the Messianic movement is all about, getting familiar with the basics of our faith. I also spent a season in Wisconsin where I was living a distance away and sometimes only made it back for the Passover Seder itself and nothing more.

But more recently, I’ve spent time helping out. From helping with our Bar/Bat kids, to helping out Stan in the office and down at Beth Yeshua, to helping out with getting Out of Zion off the ground. My wife has spent a few less years here than I have, but has helped out in areas like the praise and worship team, the dance team, she was invaluable in a number of areas down at Beth Yeshua, and has even helped out in the nursery.

It’s been an enjoyable and fulfilling time in our lives, and the training we’ve received here, the teaching Stan does week in and week out, have been a blessing.

There are many ways in which staying here at Kehilat Sar Shalom would continue to be wonderful, continue to be a blessing.

But in listening to God over the last year, in our prayer lives, we began to hear a new call. As connected and comfortable as we feel here as part of this community, God has other plans for us. It’s time for us to begin a new season of our lives.

That is why we will be moving, in the latter half of August, to the Portland, Oregon area. There are a number of benefits to this move in terms of the weather and our health, and there are a number of challenges, such as leaving behind the friends and extended family members we’ve found here.

And we’ve had some people say to us that it feels sudden and they wonder why this is happening so quickly.

But whether we’re talking about Andie and I moving to Oregon, or a call on your own life, one thing I’ve found in my study is that God still calls people today, just as he did in days of old. He calls us now. He calls us to go, to follow Him. He calls for and expects us to listen, go, and do. To obey. That is the definition of knowing you’re in the will of God. That is how you know that you’re listening.

Because nothing He asks of us will ever violate that pattern. It’s how we all know, no matter what he calls any of us to, that we are in relationship with him, experiencing that intimacy as deep as family, that we are in His love.

For, as Yeshua said in:

John 15:10
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

As always, Yeshua is our example for each and every one of us. So let us follow Him, each according to the call He has placed in each of our lives individually.

Shabbat Shalom.

My Nitsavim-VaYelech 2010 Commentary

Shabbat Shalom

Today we have two Torah portions to cover. The first is Nitsavim, a Hebrew word that means, “You are standing,” and the second is VaYelech, a Hebrew word that means, “And he went.” Together, these portions cover everything from Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 10 (though some Bibles will number it as verse 9) through all of chapter 31.

You know, this week’s reading brings something to mind. As some of you may remember, I used to teach the bar and bat mitzvah kids here a few years ago. One week we were discussing the Ten Commands, and we had been focusing for a while on, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” One of the boys raised his hand and when I called on him, he asked, “Craig, are there any commands that tell us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Before I could answer, one of the other boys spoke up and said, “Of course there is! Thou shall not murder.”

Now, of course, the commands of the LORD are not a joking matter. And yet, too often, we as believers do not treat them with the seriousness they deserve.

In this week’s reading, God makes it clear his commands are not to be taken lightly. For example, we read this in:

DEUTERONOMY 29:18-19
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.”

The passage goes on to say that such stubbornness will only bring disaster on the people and the land. Yes, God is patience; He is gracious and long-suffering; He is certainly not short-tempered. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished so what should that tell the children of Israel? That they do not want to be numbered among the guilty! That they should not persist in going their own way!

Unfortunately, in this week’s reading, God reveals to Moses that despite everything the children of Israel has been through, including losing an entire generation in their time of exile in the wilderness, due to their stubborn rebellion to God, the lesson has not been learned. God confirms this to Moses in:

DEUTERONOMY 31:15-16
Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.

Can you imagine the anguish Moses felt upon hearing this prophecy from the LORD? He had dedicated his life to serving the God of Israel to bring them here to the Promised Land, where they might be blessed and serve the LORD, and in his final days in this life, he is basically being told, “Mission Incomplete.”

Now, one can argue that Moses had done all that God had commanded him to do, and that is true. In that sense, Moses had fulfilled his mission – but God’s plan is not yet complete. You see, the fact that the people of Israel will sin and rebel again is not a failure of Moses; Moses was just a man, like any of us. It is not even a failure of the law; for the commands of God are true. What was missing was constant communication between God and his people.

That’s what the Israelites turned down at Mount Sinai; God offered to let them hear from Him directly, but they were intimidated by that and asked for a human mediator instead: Moses. Moses couldn’t be there all the time… and now in this week’s portion, he’s about to not be there at all.

God promised earlier in Deuteronomy a “prophet like Moses” who will restore that constant communication between God and His people, and that prophet like Moses is the Messiah Yeshua. Part of why the law was so hard for the children of Israel to keep is because they were trying to do it on their own. No one can accomplish that apart from God’s help. Perfect obedience requires a lack of sin; and no one lacks sin, except for Yeshua the Messiah, as we read in:

I JOHN 3:5
But you know that he [Yeshua] appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.

This is the hope we have as followers of Yeshua; yet are those who say that the Torah is too hard to follow, or that it has been done away with because it was fulfilled in Yeshua, correct? Once we have the power of God through His Spirit, the Ruach haKodesh, at work in our lives, are we to continue to regard the Torah as too hard to fulfill, as having no value and as something that is now done away with and irrelevant?

This week’s reading teaches us the correct answer is, “No!” The Torah is not asking us for more than we are capable of. Here is one of the cornerstone verses of this week’s reading, and we find it in:

DEUTERONOMY 30:11
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

In this passage, the LORD is speaking through Moses to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. He has spent time summarizing the entire history of the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah, and the laws that shall govern them in the land they are about to enter. And so it is entirely appropriate at this point for the LORD to reassure the people, so that they do not feel overwhelmed by the burdens and responsibilities they have been given and he shares these words. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

As Solomon observed, there’s nothing new under the sun. As it was back in the days of Moses, so it is today. I’m sure many of the children of Israel listened to all these commands, this entire Torah, and found themselves overwhelmed by it, and in their hearts were thoughts that it was too much for God to expect of them. That no one could ever keep it. That’s how many believers still feel about it today.

But is that true? Well, if the Torah is to be believed, and IT IS, then we have to accept as true what we read here. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

This is consistent with the life of Messiah Yeshua. He lived a life far above the standard set down in the Torah, and if He is our example, would he set an example that no one can follow? Of course not! He set one we are capable of following!

We also know there are others who lived at or above the standard set by the Torah. For example, we read this in:

LUKE 1:5-6
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.

Blameless is the key word there. And such an achievement is a requirement for leadership in a congregation, as we read in:

TITUS 1:6-7
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless–not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

Is blameless keeping of the Torah standard really too hard for any believer to live up to? Notice that these passages do not indicate sin-free living, but blameless living.

I took my examples from the New Covenant writings to demonstrate that this is not only a Mosaic standard: the expectation to live a life blameless according to the written Torah is how Yeshua lived out His example, it is a standard many people are said to have lived up to in both the Old and New Covenant writings, and it was a general expectation for those in leadership in the first-century church.

Would this be expected if it could not be accomplished? The answer, of course, is “No.” It would not be required if it were impossible to do it.

It is important to remember that what the Torah requires is not the LORD’s perfect standard for holy living, but merely the minimum standard for our behavior to be acceptable to Him. In other words, it’s the least anyone could do in gratitude for all He has done.

This is why Yeshua taught things in this style, saying, “You have heard it said, but I say to you.” Each teaching in that style always has Yeshua raising the standards, not lowering them or doing away with them. And He did this to point out that not only was the Torah standard achievable, but much more was possible as well.

It is a myth that no one can live up to the expectations of the Torah. Remember the words from this week’s reading, offered truthfully to the Israelites by God: “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

Now, let’s not be deceived. All are subject to sin; all fall short of the LORD’s perfect standard. But there is a vast difference between the occasional slip into sin in a moment of weakness and what Paul identifies in:

GALATIANS 5:21
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That phrase, “live like this,” indicates a state of ongoing, willing, unrepentant sin. It is that point at which one gives up the struggle against fleshly desires, snuffs out the will of the Spirit, and we begins to justify and excuse whatever sinful behavior captures and enslaves them.

That is what the LORD is referring to here as well as he speaks to the people of Israel through Moses in this week’s reading. The LORD is not impatient with those who slip up occasionally; but those who allow their hearts to grow hard and unrepentant will not go unpunished by Him.

That’s our insight for today from Nitsavim and VaYelech; the LORD is and will always be consistent. He is not a God who deals unfairly, making demands that are impossible to meet. Because, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

Shabbat Shalom.

Real intimacy with God – Return of the B’ha’lotcha impressions

If anyone doubted the extent of Moses’ intimacy with God, it is put to rest in this week’s Torah portion. In response to the complaining of Aaron and Miriam, the L-RD declares Moses the most humble man who had ever lived, the sole faithful servant in all His house, and even says words to the effect that “I appear to prophets” in glimpses and riddles, but that Moses “knows my form; I speak to him clearly and without riddles.”

That’s an amazing level of intimacy between the L-RD and Moses, right there. To paraphrase Peter, Moses “was a man, just like you and me.” He was an ordinary man in the sense of being human and fallen, but extraordinary in his level of obedience to the L-RD.

Most of us like to imagine intimacy with God any time we pray for longer than 10 minutes; that’s not real intimacy with God, however. Real intimacy is having God speak to you directly in this way, to not have to have the barrier of riddles and obscurity clouding communication.

Who wouldn’t want that with the L-RD?

Umm… apparently, everyone at the mountain of the L-RD when the commands were given; God stated His desire to speak to us all directly, yet after our very first taste of that, we opted for Moses as mediator rather than hearing from God directly.

Son of B’ha’alotcha impressions

I’ve had a chance to read the commentary our Torah commentator this Shabbat, Tom, will be giving and it’s quite an impressive bit of work. Picking up a cue from the first could verses, he builds an entire commentary around the few comments made in the portion about the temple menorah.

It’s amazing how much he found in those couple verses or so; tying it in so neatly to Messiah Yeshua was also a pleasant accomplishment. I’m certainly looking forward to hearing it delivered this Shabbat.

Revenge of the B’ha’alotcha impressions

A beautiful picture of Israel following the L-RD’s commands is presented in this week’s parashah. The L-RD instructs the people, through Moses, how and when they are to move camp or not.

The Torah specifically states that the people of Israel did all that the L-RD commanded in this regard; they never moved camp until the L-RD said move; they stopped when the L-RD indicated they were to stop, also. Isn’t that a picture of what God would have us all do?

We should not presume to know too much about God’s will for us, but to constantly seek Him out in prayer, moving only when he says to, and stopping once he stops. Only by strict obedience can we truly confess that we are following the L-RD’s direction with our lived.

Anything less is doing “our own thing.”

More B’ha’alotcha impressions

When the Gentiles stir up the Israelites with grumbling about the food provided by the L-RD, provoking them to the point that they were all using selective memories of their lives as slaves to consider themselves better off than when they were in Egypt, because at least they had a variety of food to eat there, the L-RD responds to their longing for meat in a massive way.

Moses complains to the L-RD about the burdens of being responsible for so many people, and the L-RD delivers a somewhat terse response. “They want meat? Fine! They’ll have it not just for a day or two, but for a whole month, until it’s coming out their nose and they grow sick of it.”

Not exactly a happy chef, our L-RD, eh? So when Moses asks where it’s all going to come from, He sends a flood of quail into the camp for the people to harvest… and while the food was still in their mouths, a plague struck that ended the lives of many.

A message about being content with whatever the L-RD has given us could be no clearer. Am I right?

B’ha’alotcha impressions

At the men’s Torah study Rob and I head up each Thursday night, we were amazed at the richness of this week’s parashah. B’ha’alotcha covers Numbers chapters 8-12, and it’s just full of riches.

One of the items that stood out is the dispute between God and Moses’ siblings. Both Aaron and Miriam complain against Moses and suggest that God has spoken to them also.

While this is true, what was the reason for their grumbling? That Moses had a Gentile bride. That was the cause of their jealousy! Yet what a suggestive picture this is of the Messiah. He, too, has taken a Gentile bride as the “grafted in” portion of the commonwealth of Israel that is called his people. What an amazing picture!

Yet, lest Gentile believers get too proud of themselves, one should note that in this parashah, it is the grumbling of the Gentile “mixed multitude” hanging out with the children of Israel that begin the grumbling against the L-RD’s manna-only diet.

And this is just scratching the surface of this rich, rich portion.

My 2010 B’har-B’chukotai Commentary

This opportunity to do a Torah commentary came up suddenly. Right through mid-week before the Shabbat, another fine Messianic Rabbi In Training (MRIT) was scheduled to do this one; he even had it written. But then he fell under the weather and needed a quick replacement. The rabbi called me Thursday night, during my men’s Torah study, to ask if I could fill in and assure me I could just use last years’ if I needed to. I told him I could probably do better than that.

I got the call around 8:30 PM Thuesday night. I didn’t get home and settled in front of my keyboard until two hours later. By 1 AM, I was done. Good thing we stayed on-topic in our Torah study; the portion was fresh in my mind and all I really needed to do was transfer some of what we had discussed into commentary form. It may not be exciting, but this is what I came up with. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

This week, we have a double portion for our weekly reading. It includes B’har, a Hebrew word that means, “On the mount,” as well as the portion known as “B’chukotai,” a Hebrew word that means, “In my statutes.” This double portion covers Leviticus chapter 25 through Leviticus chapter 27, and brings to an end our time in Leviticus for this Torah year.

This week’s reading covers the concept of giving even the land the people of Israel will enter, the land God has promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a Sabbath rest.

LEVITICUS 25:2B-5
‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the L-RD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the L-RD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.

Now, when many people look at this passage, they comment on how marvelous it is, how it shows God’s wisdom that modern agricultural science bears out the idea of giving the land a rest from producing crops is such a good idea; they cite the science of crop stress, soil enrichments and all these wonderful facts about farming that confirm that God knew what he was talking about in this passage.

Well, I’m not here to talk to you about how wonderful it is that God knew all this. Of course He knew it! He’s God! I’m here today to mention how sad it is that it took us well over 3,000 years of the science of man, from the time of the Exodus to figure out that God was right all along!

Of course, I think it’s also important to dig deeper than that. You see, God’s not just some cosmic farmer handing down crop management tips from his heavenly Monsanto office. God is going well beyond general truths here; he’s laying down some very special promises to the people of Israel, and they are conditional promises, based on the obedience or disobedience the people of Israel display in response to the L-RD’s commands.

You see, this is not merely about agriculture here. This is actually a teaching the L-RD is giving about how completely He wants us to observe His Sabbaths. You see, it’s not just enough for us to observe it as believers. He wants His Sabbaths to be observed by all of creation, a point he makes clear here by pointing out that even the Promised Land itself should rest; not only on the seventh day of the week, when we are to do no regular work, but in the seventh year, when we are to rest the land for an entire year.

Now, some people might read this and say, OK, we get the point. Observing the Sabbath is a good idea. Got it. But do we really have to observe a year of not working the land once every seventh year? I mean, c’mon, that would ruin the economy, people would starve.

No, they wouldn’t. God’s promises for both the seventh year Sabbath for the land, as well as the fiftieth-year Jubilee, show two important things: first, God will provide; and second, these really are special promises for His people as they enter the Promised Land, and not just good general agricultural principals that would work anywhere in the world. We read one of these promises in:

LEVITICUS 25:20-22
You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

Now that’s a promise that definitely will not work just anywhere! I mean, go ahead and try it if you want to; find some secular farmers who don’t observe the L-RD’s commands and have them work the land six out of every seventh year, being sure not to work the land at all in the seventh year, but in no other way honoring God or observing His commands. I can almost guarantee you that their sixth-year crop will NOT be a triple harvest.

Remember, God’s promising to offer His people this triple harvest in the sixth year, before they actually observe the seventh-year agricultural Sabbath. The promise and provision will be obvious, giving His people confidence to indeed follow through with their obedience. The point is, these are special promises by the L-RD to His people, not just some guidebook to farming in Israel.

Yet there will still be doubters, people who say, “C’mon, I mean, we’re talking about dirt here. We’re supposed to let dirt rest? God can’t be serious, can He?”

Well, let’s take a look at just how serious God is about this command. We find this in:

LEVITICUS 26:33-35
I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.

So, what God is saying here is that while His people are certainly free to either obey His command for the agricultural Sabbath, or to disobey, there will be a penalty if they ignore this command: God will scatter his people among the surrounding nations, lay waste to all that was built there, and the land will lay desolate until all of the agricultural Sabbath years and Jubilee years they failed to observe have been fulfilled. I’d say this passage at least suggests that the L-RD takes this command many people read past quite seriously.

The parashah goes on from here to establish rules for observing the fiftieth-year Jubilee, in which those who sold property are allowed to return to it, those who are in bondage are allowed to go free, and those who are in debt are forgiven their financial burdens.

Once we enter chapter 26, however, the theme changes to the topic of obedience versus disobedience, and here is where we delve into the part of this week’s teaching that focuses on the life application aspect of these commands. Why is that important?

Well, how many here are farmers? Not many? OK, how many of you raising your hands are actually farmers in the land of Israel. Boom. Nobody left. Right?

You see, while agricultural commands are the topic, what applies to us all is our willingness to either agree with God, that His rules and instructions are right and just, and follow through with that by obeying Him – or to disagree with Him and walk in rebellion and disobedience.

We have that choice, all of us. We are free to do either and God will not step in and prevent it. However, there is a cost to disobedience, even for believers. Not just for the Jewish believers who looked forward to the promised Messiah, but for all of us looking back on the fulfillment of that Messianic promise in Messiah Yeshua.

Leviticus 26 makes it very clear where God stands. First, Hhe promises to reward the children of Israel richly if they obey Him. But then, He also outlines the penalties that will befall them, the correction they will suffer if they disobey. We read this in:

LEVITICUS 26:14-16A
“‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you:

The passage then continues on to outline all the levels of punishment that the L-RD will dole out to Israel if they continue to walk in disobedience. As Rob observed in our men’s group Torah study this week, there’s an interesting parallel between these punishments, and the plagues the L-RD sent upon Egypt when Pharoah refused to fear and obey God in allowing Moses and the Israelites to leave for three days to worship God in the desert, and bury Joseph’s bones outside of the land of Egypt as he had requested.

The similarity is that God doesn’t correct or rebuke or punish all at once; it comes in waves, and between each wave, God offers a chance for repentance and a return to obedience. As each opportunity for repentance passes, the next wave of punishment gets a little more severe. Each time, this comes not because God loves dishing out punishment to His people, but as an attempt to wake them up to their rebellion and offer them a chance to return to the path of obedience.

We read this in:

LEVITICUS 26:27-28
“‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.

So you see, between each wave of punishment, God inserts and if-then statement. If you continue to disobey, here’s the next thing I’m going to have to do, and it’s harsher and more severe than the last.

What’s the solution? We read this in:

LEVITICUS 26:40-45
“‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the L-RD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the L-RD.’”

If we confess, if we repent, if our uncircumcised hearts are humbled, if we pay for our sins, then the L-RD will remember his covenant with us and return us to right standing before Him. Now, some people believe this is all done away with; that repentance comes one time when we surrender our lives to Yeshua, and then is completely unnecessary because we’re forgiven. But that’s not so.

For as long as there is an ability to rebel against God, for as long as we are able to choose disobedience over obedience, there is a need for repentance, humbling, and payment for sins. It is important to remember that simply saying, “I’m sorry,” isn’t true repentance. It involves turning away from the disobedience. It involves making restitution to those we’ve wronged. Those are all things we are capable of, but in our rebellion, sometimes refuse to do.

Fortunately, the one thing we can’t do on our own – to pay our owner for his loss as a result of our rebellion – and our owner is the L-RD – is a price that has already been paid for us, by the Messiah Yeshua.

May we never treat the price He paid in our place, for our disobedience, as though it came from a dollar store.

Shabbat Shalom.

My Tazriah-Metsora 2010 Commentary

Well, I made a successful return to Torah commentaries this Shabbat. Hopefully what I shared was enlightening. You can now all judge for yourselves. Here’s my 2010 Tazriah-Metsora commentary.

Shabbat Shalom.

This week, we have a double portion for our parashah. It includes Tazriah, a Hebrew word that means, “She bears seed” or “She conceives,” as well as the portion known as “Metsora,” a Hebrew word that means, “Infected one,” or “diseased one.” This double portion covers Leviticus chapter 12 through Leviticus chapter 15.

Now, this week’s reading covers such topics as pregnancy and childbirth, skin diseases, bodily discharges and the laws surrounding purification from all of these afflictions. But before we delve into that, I want to share a word of encouragement from this week’s portion for a select portion of this congregation – and you’ll know who you are in just a moment.

Now, some of you might remember the 1980s. One of the big trends back then was custom T-shirt shops. You could walk in, select the size and color of T-shirt you liked best, and then select just about any kind of saying or cartoon that you wanted and it would be added to the shirt while you waited.

I’ll always remember one we got my father. It’s not a Biblical saying, but it might sound like it. The t-shirt read, “God made only a few perfect heads. All the rest, he covered with hair.”

I thought it was pretty funny back then, too. Of course, those of you who’ve known me for a few years now will testify that, as the years go on, my head’s getting a little closer to perfect all the time.

Yet the word of encouragement for those of us who are a bit closer to perfect atop our heads comes to us from:

Leviticus 13:40-41
If a man’s hair has fallen from his scalp, he is bald; but he is clean. If a man’s hair has fallen off the front part of his scalp, he is forehead-bald; but he is clean.

So, that’s good news, right? Some of us may be balding, men, but at least we’re clean! Now, joking aside, the passage does go on to say that if baldness is accompanied by sores of various kinds, it can indeed indicate ritual uncleanness. Of course, so can a whole lot of other things. And what we see in this week’s double-portion is that there is so much ritual uncleanness in the world, it’s almost impossible to avoid!

Yet it’s important to note that ritual uncleanness is not always the same as sinfulness – though, at times, it can be. For example, that which is unclean can often be remedied in this week’s parashah by simply bathing and separating oneself from the community until evening. Can water grant remission of sins? No, the Torah is clear that blood must be shed for sins to be pardoned. So if some types of uncleanness can be remedied by washing with water, they must not be sources of sin, but a simple lack of purity.

Yet even this insight misses something more important. What both of these portions talk about is what? Ceremonial uncleanness, right? As we read, for example, in:

Leviticus 12:1-4
The L-RD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.

So you see, many of these purity laws have to do with one’s fitness to enter the Temple … the Tent of Meeting … and since that Temple no longer stands, it would seem many of these laws are of limited relevance and use to us today. Right?

Not so fast. Because while the laws of ritual purity were specific to Jewish people living in the Land, and relevant to entering the Temple or the Tent of Meeting, they also have a more symbolic, spiritual aspect to them.

Let’s start by looking at the word for impurity or infection. The Hebrew word for our second portion is “metsorah.” It is derived from two root words. The first, “motzi,” means “source or well-spring.” The second, “ra,” means “evil.” So the word “metsorah,” in addition to meaning “infected one” or “diseased one,” could also be said to mean “well-spring or source of evil.”

When one thinks about this, it begins to make sense. After all, on a spiritual level, what causes infection or disease in our spirit? Evil, right? Specifically, exposure to evil or a source of evil. And often, simple exposure is enough.

We see the truth in this in the story of the fall of man. What happens when Adam and Chavah are exposed to the lies of the serpent? They become infected, diseased with doubt. Doubt about what? Whether to trust in the words of the L-RD, or the words of the serpent. Exposure alone to that doubt is enough to produce what comes next: rebellion against God’s only command at that time, as they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

In the same way, we can see how simple exposure to impurity can infect us in our daily walk, in our witness, in how we view, understand and even explain our faith in the L-RD to others.

For example, what does the Tenakh teach us about where to invest our faith and trust? We read this in:

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the L-RD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

This is what the L-RD asks of us, right? To simply put our trust in Him, rather than our own understanding of things. We can all agree on that, right?

Yet we live in a world that is full of people who don’t do that; who put their trust in their own understanding, rather than in the L-RD. Still with me? Good.

One of the most prevalent theories out there in the world today, in the understanding of men, is the theory of evolution.

Like atmospheric yeast, it’s out there in the world, like it or not. And this idea that man was not created but evolved from lower life-forms, and all the ideas that spring forth from that core theory, such as that the earth is, as scientist Carl Sagan always said, “billions and billions of years old,” rather than nearing the end of the six thousand years of human history spoken of in the Bible, has been entrenched in public education and the public mind so firmly for so long, that the fact is that today, many believers would prefer to cast aside the first few chapters of Genesis in an attempt to lure those who view the world through evolutionary, so-called scientific eyes, than to even attempt to believe what God has revealed about the nature of His creation.

The rationalization many use is that they “don’t want a few chapters in one book of the Bible” to be a barrier to someone entering the kingdom of heaven. “It’s not important enough,” they’ll claim.

Yet, is that what we’re called to do? Are we to stake claim only in the words of the Torah that make sense to the unbelieving? Or are we to simply trust in the L-RD with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding?

And that’s what simple exposure can do! Simply by being in the same atmosphere as this well-spring of evil, we become infected, diseased in our own thinking. We start to change what we believe to make it easier for the unbelieving to accept, rather than simply standing firm in our trust in the L-RD… which is what the L-RD has called us to do!

This is just an example. There are many. Perhaps the well-spring of evil in your home is broadcast television, which contains so many shows that are rooted in evil and untruths that can infect you, make you impure in your simple, commanded trust in God. Perhaps for your children, it’s videogames that is the source of infection. It could be an unhealthy amount of time spent on the Internet, rather than in the Word of the L-RD.

It could even be something as simple as evil speech – known as lashon horah in Hebrew – the practice of speaking of people in a way meant to diminish them in the eyes of others, even if what you’re saying is true. If the intention is to diminish rather than to build up, it’s lashon horah and it can destroy a sense of safety and trust in a community.

Now, perhaps, we begin to see the pieces come together from what seems on the surface like a rather dry and boring pair of Torah portions. For you see, for all these detailed instructions on how to rid oneself of impurity, there is one remedy that is never recommended. Whether an impurity is a result of sin, or a simpler impurity that isn’t necessarily sin but does make you ceremonially impure – in other words, unfit to come before the L-RD – one solution that the Torah NEVER endorses is to do nothing about it!

That’s amazing to think about, isn’t it? I mean, you read about how touching a mildewed cloth makes you impure, but the solution is to wash and wait until evening, the start of a new day, and one is tempted to think: well, then that’s not sin! Why is the Torah being so nitpicky? If it’s not sin, why all the fuss over simple impurity.

Well, it’s because while God does desire for us to come to Him through Messiah Yeshua and experience His yeshua – His salvation – he isn’t done with us once the sin is dealt with. God wants us to live a life far above that minimum standard required to attain eternal residence in His kingdom! He wants us to, as he repeats throughout the Torah, including just before this week’s parashah in:

Leviticus 11:45
I am the L-RD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God. Therefore, be holy, because I am holy.

Holiness – not just freedom from sin but freedom from all impurity – is the nature of God. To experience intimacy with God, we must strive to be like him. Not just forgiven of our sins, but pursuing holiness, which is the lack of all metsorahs – the lack of any sources or well-springs of evil in our lives.

Let us, therefore, pursue lives that are holy – free of all spiritual infection and disease – in how we live and walk through this life and live by our beliefs, our trust in our creator. Let us be holy, because the L-RD our God is holy, and may we accomplish this through our redeemer, the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Back on Torah commentary… at least for this week

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the opportunity to do a Torah commentary; there’s a great rotation established at Sar Shalom already, so I’ve been able to kick back and listen to the study and scholarship of others for the last few months, since Beth Yeshua closed its doors.

However, I’ve been busy working on childrens’ materials, running the camcorder and various other duties on Shabbat, so I haven’t been completely lazy, either! However, that changes this week.

Stan asked me last Shabbat to fill in for a commentator who will be unavailable this weekend when his turn comes up; so I’ve already prepared a new commentary for the double-parashah portions of Tazriah and Metsora. It’s almost completely different (expect for a couple paragraphs) from the one I did at Beth Yeshua last year.

It will be fun to offer up a Torah commentary in front of a much larger crowd; at least some of the faces will be familiar friends from Beth Yeshua!

And when they are old, they will not depart from it?

Recording artist Katie Perry is an interesting, if somewhat tragic, figure in today’s popular culture. Best-known for her risque hits like Ur So Gay and I Kissed a Girl, Perry is thought of by many as a quite worldly figure, caught up in trading on her looks for fame.

Yet according to the biographical information on her, she is the daughter of a deeply committed Christian family – both of her parents are pastors. She was raised listening only to gospel and contemporary Christian music. Her first musical attempts were as part of just such a band.

So how did a girl raised in a way many believers would consider “with all the right influences” stray into trading on her sexuality, composing songs known for their outrageous and worldly descriptions of sinful behavior?

Well, who knows the specifics of her circumstances, beyond her and God? However, I’d suggest that one thing believers tend to over-focus on is the externals and not the root causes.

Katie Elizabeth Hudson (her real name) is just famous, but the same sort of thing happens to the children of many Christian parents; even more so children of those in the ministry.

I suspect part of the culprit here is the moral relativism rife in the church. If one raises their children to listen only to spiritual artists, but also preaches grace grace grace, where’s the self-discipline that will help them make the right decisions once they grow up and live on their own?

Grace must be balanced by self-discipline… a desire to live a life showing gratitude toward the creator by not making the choices of sin that cause a holy God to distance himself from us, or the narcissism to believe that it’s OK to sin today, because we can always repent tomorrow… Someday, for all of us, tomorrow never comes.

Hopefully Katie Elizabath Hudson will realize that before Katie Perry is all that remains.