Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for the continued study of the set of several of the “most anti-paganism” and pro-Torah portions IN the Torah. As clear as the ‘run-up’ to this parsha has been, when it comes to how YHVH literally “hates” the worship of foreign, false, gods, this one pulls no punches. Chapter 13, in particular, and the description of a ‘false prophet’, and what should be done with such is the kind of thing which has, not surprisingly, disappeared from any dogma that it exposes.
And the latter part of the parsha is an outline of the major lies of the ‘whore church’, which turn out not to have been “down away with” at all.
The Erev Shabbat overview of the portion (Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17):
Sometimes the Sabbath Day “deeper examination” has a twist, too. Again we are reminded of the ‘snare,’ and the seduction of idolatry. Still, we will hear the question asked, “just what revelance does any discussion of someone trying to entice to follow after ‘foreign gods,’ especially “those which you yave not known,” have today? (The irony of just how pervasive they are, instead, may be lost on the questioners.)
Mark suggests the best clue to the dilemma is still found in the parallels between idolatry and adultery, but the key to understanding how to combat the problem lies in “joy” (actually, simkah, and the difference matters).
The combined audio file:
“Re’eh: Looking for God[s] in All the Wrong Places”