Tag: Passover
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah 107 (That’s So Lame)
THAT’S SO LAME
With the eclipse so recent, literally putting a point on the new year of the feast cycle at the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh), it seemed proper to emphasize this year’s pilgrimage through the feast. This is true specially in the United States where the eclipse bisected an already very divided nation.
The eclipse gave us a glimpse of a wedding ring, which for believers in Yeshua, is the covenant, particularly Shabbat, the sign of our betrothal. We protect its holiness while we await the Bridegroom’s return. During each eclipse, we have a dramatic reminder.
For Americans, at the very least, I take this as a warning. Repent. Be set-apart. No more lukewarmness toward the feasts and Shabbat.
Pray.
Pray for the world, but especially Israel and our nation.
The new moons are a zikaron, or remembrance. It is an appointed time for Adonai to “remember” us, which means to purpose an action pertaining to us.
Attend Shabbat and each feast with like kind and like mind. Gather however you can. Each year at Pesach, you may have have started the journey through your last “sealing” on earth as we know it. It is your protection to the tribulation that accompanies those final days. Even as I write this, the ancient beasts of Babylon and Medo-Persia are crouching at the door.
In apostolic times, the Biblical feasts were seen as a seal of protection to those who celebrated them. Seven feasts, seven seals. Sound familiar? You can find the details in Creation Gospel Workbook Six.
We are living in a miracle so great that almost everyone is missing it…even those who are the miracle! What is even greater than the Exodus? The Greater Exodus! Israel being gathered from all the nations to return to her covenant, the Living Torah, and her Promised Land of covenant.
Isn’t that greater than the Reed Sea parting? After all, it’s been almost 2000 years since a large group of people dared to proclaim Yeshua the Messiah and walk in obedience to his Torah simultaneously. As with the wilderness journey, the arguments and chaos frequently obliterate the miracle-consciousness.
First, however, before the journey home, the “moral” return begins in the lands of exile. Before we walk and leap on the way to celebrate the foot festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, we need healing. Thousands upon thousands are being healed of enmity against the Word and their Jewish brothers and sisters walking in the covenant.
In ancient times, Jeroboam put up barriers on the highways of Israel to prevent the tribes of the Northern Kingdom from journeying to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts. By separating brothers, which is the seventh and most wicked of abominations, the northern tribes quickly lost their identity among the nations. To undo this separation has to be a work of the Ruach HaKodesh.
To reiterate how the Ruach works to knit together like kind, rather than scatter and separate, I’m including Chapter Two of Standing With Israel: a House of Prayer for All Nations. It describes how prayer brought Jew and non-Jew together at the time of the afternoon prayer and Temple sacrifice. This prayer is named after the sacrifice, the Minchah. It is also called Shemoneh Esrei, or Eighteen, after its eighteen individual prayers.
STANDING WITH ISRAEL: A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS
CHAPTER TWO
JEW AND GENTILE: PETER AND CORNELIUS
The Shemoneh Esrei, whatever its form evolving in the Second Temple era, is a common prayer for both Jews and “God fearers” in Acts of the Apostles. Peter and John observe the hour of prayer: “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” In Acts, Peter and John are still accustomed to praying in the Temple at the appointed hour, and they encounter a lame man, likely a Jew, at the hour of Minchah prayer, the ninth hour. This is three o’clock.
The lame man’s inability to walk in the life of the covenant people makes him poor. He asks alms at the Beautiful Gate (Yaffa Gate), and receives silver and gold of the Kingdom, which is strength to walk into the Temple of Israel as a strong man. His waiting for alms at the gate parallels the common term for a non Jew who practices some of the Torah, but who has not yet converted to Judaism; he is a “proselyte of the gate.” Although he is a native-born Israelite, there is yet a barrier between him and the inner Temple courts, for none blemished in body could enter into those precincts.
The correlation to Minchah prayer and the poor lame man is found in Jewish law. In Berachot 34b of the Talmud, the code of Jewish law and commentary, we read, “The Minchah has the same high degree of holiness which is generally brought by a poor person.” The reason is that a poor man may have to fast his daily bread in order to afford his offering, so his Minchah has a heightened degree of holiness.
Adonai’s concern for the poor is evidenced by the many provisions in Leviticus for the poor man to bring an offering of reduced cost, whether turtledoves and meal in place of flesh, or a single lamb instead of several. This poor man’s Minchah request for help from the disciples of Yeshua is endowed with special favor from his Father in heaven.
Peter and John’s Shemoneh Esrei prayers of faith at the 3 o’clock hour of Minchah minister healing to the poor lame man. This restored Jew sees the beautiful feet of Peter and John, who bring him the good news of Messiah Yeshua. He no longer has to sit outside the Beautiful Gate like a Gentile, separated from the joy of the “foot festivals,” the pilgrimage feasts of Adonai, but he can walk, leap, and praise Adonai in the Temple.
Yeshua is the Beautiful Gate to the House of God. By faith in the blood of the Minchah Lamb, who was sacrificed at the hour of prayer as an everlasting memorial, the restored Israelite can enter the Temple on strong feet. The cripple is reunited with his Jewish brothers and his Messiah in the life of the covenant. He affirms the blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei, “Blessed are You, O Lord, who heals the sick of your people Israel.”
Cornelius is also in Minchah prayer when he is visited by the angel. “He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.” While many English readers would picture Cornelius as kneeling in prayer with clasped hands as Christians do today, the true picture would look much different.
Cornelius learned of the One God of Israel from Israelites; therefore, he learned how to pray from Israelites! Picture Cornelius standing in his home facing Jerusalem. He takes three steps back, then three steps forward, symbolically stepping into the Presence of Adonai. He begins to pray, “My Adonai, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise…”
Cornelius’ Minchah prayers are accompanied by acts of kindness to the Jews of his community. He offers not only the sacrifice of his lips, but good deeds of the Torah. The text calls Cornelius a “God-fearer.” A God-fearer is a Gentile, a “proselyte of the gate,” who has accepted the one God of Israel and who has begun to keep some of the commandments.
Cornelius the God fearer also observes the Jewish hour of prayer: “And Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.” In the waning decades of the second Temple, the hour of prayer is the ninth hour. This places the prayer “between the evenings,” between noon and sundown, three o’clock, the time of unity for day and night.
Even the time of month when Cornelius prayed is evident. Rabbi Munk reminds us that “The Torah ordains ‘On your days of rejoicing and your holy days and on your month’s beginning, you shall blow the trumpets over your offerings that they may be to you a memorial (zikaron) before your God.”
Just as the Jews place goodwill money offerings in the Temple trumpets to accompany their prayers, Cornelius’ good deeds are offered with prayer, and together they ascend as a memorial offering, a zikaron, for the angel says, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.”
Cornelius’ Minchah prayer and gifts to the poor parallel Peter’s Minchah and gift to the poor, not silver and gold, but healing. Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the lunar Biblical month, is a day appointed for sacrifices of prayer and good deeds to be an especial zikaron to Adonai. This may be Cornelius’ exact day of prayer.
When one is fasting as Cornelius says he is the day of his visitation, a significant benediction of the Shemoneh Esrei is inserted. The fasting benediction is a fervent plea to Adonai to answer the prayer:
Answer us, Adonai, answer us, on this day of our fast, for we are in great
distress. Do not pay attention to our wickedness; do not hide Your Face
from us, and do not ignore our plea. Please be near to our cry; please
comfort us with your kindness – before we call to You answer us, as it is
said: ‘And it will be that before they call, I will answer; while they are
speaking, I will hear.’ For You, Adonai, are the One Who responds
in time of distress, who redeems and rescues.
The answer to Cornelius’ fervent Minchah prayer is that indeed, while he is yet speaking, Adonai hears and answers. Cornelius is rewarded with not only acceptance of his zikaron offering of prayer, but redemption for his whole household, and the gate is opened for the unification of the Jew and Gentile in the Commonwealth of Israel. The Orthodox Jewish translation of the New Testament plainly connects the zikaron (remembrance) to the unification of Jew and Gentile through the sacrifice of Messiah. Paul urges the Ephesians to
Have zikaron (remembrance) that you were at that time unrelated
and separate from Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, having been alienated
from the citizenship in the Am Berit, from Yisroel, being strangers to the
Beritot HaHavtacha, lost, and having no tikvah (hope) and without G d
in the Olam Hazeh. But now in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua,
you, who formerly were in the outermost courts, have been brought
near by the kapparah of the dam of Moshiach. Therefore, then, no
longer are you zarim and aliens, but you are fellow citizens of the
Kadoshim and bnei bayit members of the household of G-d.
The KJV translates the same passage:
Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh…that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ…For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one…that in Himself He might make the two into one new man…for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household…
Paul’s placing of believing Gentiles within the Am Berit, or as most English translations read, the Commonwealth of Israel, and the Gentiles’ inclusion with the bnei bayit, or Children of the Household, gives credence to Rabbi Munk’s comment on a portion of the Minchah Shemoneh Esrei:
“The third group (of prayers) comprises the spiritual preconditions for the reunion of the nation of Israel under the rule of G-d. According to the prediction of the prophets, the spiritual and moral foundation will have to be laid before the rehabilitation of our people can take place.” Cornelius’ commandment-keeping, acts of kindness to the Jews, and participation in a “Jewish” prayer lay the moral foundation for the rescue and reunion of Israel under the rule of God.
Apathy, hatred, and jealousy among Israelites is so lame it prohibits entry to the House. Where do we think we’re going?
A lame person cannot fully engage the Shabbat and feasts, a Beautiful Gate into the Presence of our Father at His feasts. He is separate from the House. We are being healed. Rise up and walk. Walk to Shabbat. Walk to the Passover seder with a staff in your hand, ready to collect the seven seals of Yeshua’s kingdom. They are seven beautiful gates, and each week, the Shabbat gate protects you and beautifies you for the Bridegroom while you journey between the feasts.
Healing is available for Jew and non-Jew. One household. One House. A foot-festival is approaching quickly.
The zealous spirit of Elijah says, “The King is coming.” Prepare.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah 106 (Getting Stoned)
Getting Stoned
Biblically, that is.
Torah contains many commandments. Some of those are positive, “you shalls,” and some are negative, “you shall nots.” Most frequently, the negative commandments carry tangible punishments such as restitution, whiplashes, hanging, or even stoning. Sometimes no punishment is prescribed, or a vague phrase, “he shall be cut off from his people.” It has been speculated to be banishment or shunning, and some sources say this is a Divine punishment, not a human one.
Let’s take a closer look at stoneable offenses, which will help us to understand a Divine punishment in John’s Revelation.
“You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.’” (Le 20:2)
“Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.” (Le 20:27)
“Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death….Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. Thus the sons of Israel did, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.” (Le 24:16, 23)
“Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day…Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’ So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.” (Nu 15:32-36)
Idolatry, dark arts, blasphemy, and desecration of the Shabbat are the most explicit of the commandments that carry a death penalty of stoning. An additional commandment against adultery is linked to idolatry:
Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. But they, righteous men, will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands. ‘For thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Bring up a company against them and give them over to terror and plunder. The company will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire. Thus I will make lewdness cease from the land, that all women may be admonished and not commit lewdness as you have done. Your lewdness will be requited upon you, and you will bear the penalty of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’” (Ezekiel 23:44-49)
The Ezekiel passage is addressed to two nations in their state of apostasy, Oholah (Northern tribes of Israel) and Oholibah (Judah). They are also called mystically “Babylon” and “Egypt” because they carried with them the adulteries/idolatries of Egypt and Babylon and continued to practice them. Their example was a message to other “women,” or nations.
The vital transition in Revelation is that first Israel is warned through the “moedic memos” to the Seven Assemblies of Revelation. Next, those nations from which they carried the adulterous idolatries are judged. The smaller to greater pattern may also be seen in Zechariah 14:17 when he prophesies that the commandment that initially was specific to Israel of going up to Jerusalem for the foot festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot will extend to the other nations in the millennium.
It then explains why John prophesies in the Revelation to the world that they will suffer the same sentences applied to Israel for the “stoning” offenses. As those nations transition to King Yeshua’s rule over the earth, they, like Pharaoh, will suffer stoning for stubborness concerning control of Israel and the commandments of Adonai.
To understand how stoning was performed, we have to erase our memories of high school reading assignments such as “The Lottery” or news images of men stoning women in Afghanistan. While throwing stones at someone until they are dead is one way of stoning, the Biblical method is rarely explained outside of Judaism.
The Jewish understanding of how to perform stoning is rooted in Moses’ warning at Sinai to protect the people from the hailstones by which they would be stoned if they approached the mountain:
“And you shall set bounds around it for the people, saying, ‘Guard yourself from ascending the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely die. A hand shall not touch it, for he shall be stoned or he shall be cast down; whether animal or person he shall not live; when the blast of the ram’s horn is drawing out, they will ascend the mountain.” (Ex 19:12-13)
Judicial orders of stoning in ancient times consisted of first, pushing the guilty one off a high place, such as a cliff. This was the “casting down.” If the person were to somehow survive the fall, then he or she would be stoned, sometimes placing a heavy rock on the chest to prevent breathing. First the fall, second the stones.
Exodus 9:25 was a plague of hail in Egypt which affected unbelieving man and beast: “Now therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die.”’” (v. 19)
This is just after a pestilence upon the beasts of Egypt (but not of the prepared Hebrews) which knocked them off their feet (Re 2:22-23). Likewise, those following the idolatrous teaching in Thyatira, which corresponds to the fourth feast of Shavuot, will be thrown on a sickbed and afflicted with pestilence for eating things offered to idols. Egypt and Babylon. Fallen, fallen. The unprepared “believers” and the rebellious world: fallen, fallen.
This equivalency sounds very familiar from the Revelation of John, which describes those who conform themselves to the image of the beast.
The nations are judged at the blowing of the shofar at Yom Teruah in the fall, whereas Shavuot, the conclusion of Pesach, is the warning to the righteous among all nations to prepare. If prepared by “holiness and washing” (Ex 19:14), they will be prepared to cross the boundary and ascend the mountain at Yom Teruah without fear of stoning or being cast down.
Put that in the context of ascending into the cloud, “going up” as the resurrection, then it makes sense why Israel could not ascend until a specific shofar was heard, the Great Shofar of Yom Teruah that accompanies Yeshua’s return.
It is the plague of the Seventh Angel, corresponding to Shabbat and Sukkot, that stones the nations of the earth. If we read the context of Revelation 16, it references Babylon, recalling the Tower of Bavel when mankind agreed to challenge the boundary of heaven to achieve eternal life. Their attempt to approach the mountain without holiness and washing results in this:
“And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.” (Re 16:21)
Egypt and Babylon were the sources of the idolatry-adultery of Israel and Judah. Egypt handed off the authority of the serpent to the first beast kingdom, Babylon. Israel and Judah will be judged first. The righteous among them will wash themselves and their “clothes” (garment of salvation, robes of righteous deeds) and be prepared to go up to the mountain at Shavuot (not saying they will).
The nations and the lukewarm among Israel and Judah will hear the Great Shofar at Yom Teruah, yet not be prepared to ascend. If they try, they will be “stoned.” What would keep them from ascending, or worse yet, being “stoned”?
Adultery/idolatry, dark arts, blaspheming, and profaning Shabbat are all associated with the punishment of stoning.
Warn, judge, cast down, stone.
Yeshua uses the language of Yom Teruah, when he comes like a thief in the night, to warn the world to be “awake” on Judgment Day. Yom Teruah is the opening of the books, and Yom HaKippurim is the closing ten days later, a period known at the Terrible Days, the Great and Terrible Day of Adonai:
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” (Re 16:15)
The preparation for Shavuot at Sinai to receive the Torah included washing one’s clothes. This warning was given through Moses. The Torah.
The clothes must then be “kept,” or guarded, shamar. This guards the person’s body. Likewise, the preparation for Yom Teruah is to stay awake: “Awake you sleeper, arise from the dead…” The warning is to “keep” one’s clothes, which were washed to prepare for Shavuot, all the way to the Great Shofar, the Resurrection of the Dead at Yom Teruah.
Discerning the Body of the Bride on Shabbat is to guard the first of the moedim, to guard one’s clothes. Guarding one’s clothes from Re 16:15 has a Hebrew cognate, shamar, which is also used in the “wedding ring” of Shabbat as shamor et yom ha-shabbat:
“Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.” (Dt 5:12)
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It is because of this warning of stoning at Shavuot that Jewish scholars scrupulously read guidelines concerning stoning offenses in the Torah. “He shall be stoned or he shall be cast down” (Ex 19:13 Artscroll) explains how the death sentence is executed.
If a person is observed committing a stonable offense, he should be warned, just as the Israelites were warned to wash and keep themselves and their garments until the Presence was revealed on the mountain.
The beast will try to “ascend” in rebellion, not obedience, with the stonable offense of blasphemy:
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. (Re 13:5-6)
Adultery/idolatry, dark arts, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking.
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. (Re 9:20-21)
The offender is warned first. If he does not repent (stop), then he is judged. When he is found guilty, he is stoned. The very presence of believers who obey the Word of Adonai and proclaim Yeshua’s testimony serves as a warning to the nations. Those “lukewarm” believers who are a little like obedient Israel and a little like the rebellious world will be assigned a place with unbelievers, at least for a time. (Lk 12:46)
They failed to warn the idolators, magic-workers, blasphemers, and Sabbath-breakers. Maybe they’ve even engaged in it themselves like the Thyatirans. What we do, how we walk before others is the testimony of Yeshua that can warn the world and protect them from falling down and from the hailstones of judgment. Why wouldn’t the Master be angry when He returns if His own witnesses have treated His Shabbat casually?
Those sentenced by the court to be stoned are
First pushed down from a high stoning place. The fall may kill them.
Should he survive the fall, he will be stoned with stones.
Yes, as Israel is judged, so will the nations follow quickly:
“The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell…” (Re 16:19)
First they will be warned like Pharaoh with plagues. Then they will fall. Then they will be stoned.
Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle? (Job 38:22-23)
The message to Laodicea, the Seventh Assembly, is to not think that being “lukewarm” concerning the Shabbat would adequate covering to survive the Presence that is encountered at the resurrection of the dead in the cloud on the Mountain.
It isn’t.
It wasn’t in the wilderness, and it won’t be when we hear the Great Shofar. Yeshua gives the warning:
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” (Re 3:15-19)
Every Shabbat could be the most important Shabbat of your life. We’ve been warned. Don’t get stoned. Why else would the most important number in Revelation be seven? We’ve seen the Words. We’ll hear the sound. Soon, we will see the sounds.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah 105 (One Size Fits All)
One Size Fits All
“Tzav”
“One Size Fits All!”
We’ve probably all been duped by that assurance! Sure it fits, as long as you don’t mind sleeves so long you could make it into a straitjacket!
One size definitely doesn’t fit all. Do we trust the ad enough to order it online? Do we hire a personal shopper who knows our taste, our height, our weight, body shape, even arm length?
How about prayer? Does one size fit all?
That’s a common question even though it is not usually worded that way.
Frequently I hear objections to Jewish prayer as vain repetition. It’s an uninformed way of looking at it, but we often simply repeat what someone who we respected told us. As we allow the Ruach HaKodesh to turn our spiritual life upside down repeatedly, that may be one area that turns.
To help coach new-to-Torah believers in the basics of Jewish prayer, I’ve written books such as Standing With Israel: A House of Prayer for All Nations, Messianic Shabbat Service, and Creation Gospel Workbook Six: Hebrew Prayer and Worship Traditions. Rather than cover that ground again, I thought I would reiterate one of the principles of Hebrew prayer.
Although the basic daily, feast, and Shabbat prayers are fixed and do not change, they do not need to. The Temple service was the same. Fixed. As the daily prayers took the place of the Temple services after its destruction, they too, were fixed.
There is room in the Amidah prayers for spontaneous, personal conversation with Adonai. The point of Hebrew prayer is that the person is transformed with each prayer. When I pray the Amidah in the evening, I am not the same person who prayed it that morning. The conversation with Adonai changed me. As immersion into Messiah Yeshua makes me a new person, so does the fire of the Ruach burn me on the altar each day.
This is why it is so difficult to advise someone on which siddur (prayer book) to purchase. It’s kind of like picking out someone else’s clothes, especially if you don’t know them personally. I’d need to know several things:
1. Do you want Hebrew text, English, or both?
2. Do you want an English transliteration?
3. Do you need a daily siddur, Shabbat siddur, or a combination of both?
4. Do you want a Messianic siddur?
5. Large print, or are you good with a font the size of a gnat’s tattoo in the pocket size?
You get the gist.
This week’s Ulpan-Or newsletter on the Torah portion is an excellent illustration of the personal relationship with prayer. The ashes from altar that burn down from the previous day are symbolically placed beside it. Today’s sacrifice will be a new one. Today’s prayers will be new because we are new, re-born of fire and water. With their permission to reproduce, I’ve included Ulpan-Or’s lesson below:
TORAH PORTION “Tzav”
This Shabbat we will read Torah Portion “Tzav”.
In our Torah Portion Tzav, G?d instructs Moses to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties who offer the offerings on the altar in the Sanctuary.
The fire on the altar had to be kept burning at all times.
It is interesting to notice that each and every morning, the first order of the day in the Holy Temple was for the priest to remove a small portion of the ashes from the altar and place it on the floor just next to the altar.
Why particularly the priest had to start each day with removing ashes from the previous day?
What was the purpose of this ritual?
The purpose of this ritual was not merely to tidy up the ashes left over from the fire that had burned all night. The priest only had to remove a very small symbolic amount of ash.
And, in fact, after the first priest would remove a small portion of the ashes, the other priests would place the remainder of the ashes in a large heap in the center of the altar.
Why is it so important that it’s the first ritual performed in the Temple, – the first step in the service of G?d?
What is the significance of lifting and removing the symbolic amount of ashes?
Let us think. What are ashes?
These are what is left over from the previous day’s service.
Your yesterday, may have been perfect.
Yesterday, you may have achieved a lot with your talents and strengths.
But, …. That was yesterday.
However, if you do the same thing today, you do not grow spiritually.
If you repeat what you did yesterday – then you are merely stuck in the past.
You remain the “Old You”.
So, the ashes that represent “the old me” must be removed, in order to clear the way for “the new me,” that today will actualize today’s greater potential.
That’s why the first step in serving G?d each morning is the realization that that the ashes that represent “the old me” must be removed, in order to clear the way for “the new me,”
One must tell himself – Tomorrow will be totally different – not just “a bit different,” The next day’s potential would be so much greater.
Unlike in the Beatles’ song “Yesterday”, one should not long for yesterday, but rather look onward for a better tomorrow.
Remembering the exodus from Egypt is so central to Judaism.
Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim – ?????, and it means “constraints.”
So, if today you are in the same spiritual space that you were in yesterday, you are in Egypt – you are constrained.
The verse in the Torah insists that you “remember the day you left Egypt all the days of your life.”
Each morning when we wake up, we need to remember to symbolically remove the ashes of yesterday and not limit ourselves to the person we were yesterday.
As Dr. Joe Dispenza says in his book: “Breaking the Habit of being yourself: “If you want a new outcome, you will have to break the habit of being yourself, and reinvent a new self.”
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My Passover Haggadah: An Extended Experience of its Depths, Shadows, and Realities
Each year at the season of Passover, multitudes of millions of Jewish people from all over the...
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah 104 (Whiplash)
Violence in Eden: Whiplash
Although its connection to Yom HaKippurim (A Day like Purim) is more easily heard, the story of Purim in the scroll of Esther holds references to all the feasts. In fact, Purim holds a key to Passover that is very practical. It has to do with how the danger started: evil words. Chametz. Leaven. When Queen Esther calls the Jews to fast with her against the evil, it is during the days of matzah! The antidote to the violence of evil words is holy words, words spoken in prayer and fasting. By fasting and praying with unleavened tongues, the power of evil was broken.
In our “Benjamin Will Not Bow” newsletter, we searched back to Eden to find the source of slander, gossip, and separating brothers in conflict. Ezekiel describes the Edenic violation as a kind of violence. Indeed, today, when people profess hatred toward others, it often leads to actual violence. It “spreads out” two human beings made in the image of Elohim that were not created to be apart.
Ezekiel 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,“You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared.14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there.You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire.15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.16 By the abundance of your trade (rakal) you were internally filled with violence (malu chamas), and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.
It is rather odd that “trade” led to “violence,” or chamas. Perhaps there is more to the word than is translated. What is “trade” in Hebrew?
Rakhal- “…go about, from one to another”
There is much debate on the identity of the “King of Tyre.”
In this type of prophecy, the “villain” may be an archetype of a certain sinner. The tip-off is that it is anachronistic, completely out of the time period. Just as often it will work on the positive side, such as a later person coming “in the spirit of Elijah,” for instance.
This violent violator walked among ”fiery stones” until he was cast out because of his “trade,” rakhal. The same accusation is made against Babylon in Revelation. The Adversary, the serpent, goes back and forth between Adonai and His People to accuse.
The trafficker has two connotations: go about for spice trading and slandering. A High Priest is to go about with spices for atonement, not leverage to accuse Israel.
On the other hand, false witness was trafficked to convict Yeshua.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES. (1 Co 5:6-13)
If only Adam and Eve hadn’t associated with an immoral “person,” the slanderer! Why are we so hesitant to confront a slanderer? We’re not supposed to even eat with one…it’s quite a sour fruit even though it looks juicy.
A “reviler” as Paul describes is G3060 ???????? loídoros
The KJV translates Strong’s G3060 in the following manner: railer (1x), reviler (1x).
Its Hebrew cognate is from din, judgment:
madon ??????
?????? H4066 from H1777; a contest or quarrel:—brawling, contention(-ous), discord, strife.
One who quarrels is one who is both arrogant and “leavened,” prone to distort the truth. The serpent in the Garden was a trafficker of falsely twisted information.
Slander is a reviling truth to separate humans from Elohim and one another. It’s probably not the whole story, just enough to deceive. We must remove these things before Passover. It is chametz!
During the search for leaven, and especially the seven days of Matzah, beware of slander, gossip, and lies. If you have to tape your mouth shut and wear noise-canceling headphones, do it!
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
who spreads strife. H4066 (Pr 6:14)
?
A perverse man spreads ?????? strife, H4066
And a slanderer separates intimate friends. (Pr 16:28)
?
Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
So is a contentious H4066 man to kindle strife. (Pr 26:21)
?
An arrogant man stirs up strife, H4066
But he who trusts in the LORD will prosper. (Pr 28:25)
Stirring up strife is evidence we don’t trust Adonai in the situation. It is “tongue-leaven”:
So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? (Ja 3:5-11)
It is so clear from James’ warning that pride is what sets the stage for the evil tongue and all the abominations that follow. Is Passover just about finding leavened products in our homes, or is it about finding the arrogance that leavens us?
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
16 You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD.
17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor but shall not incur sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD. (Le 19:15-18)
Are there any other commandments in Scripture that we so predictably apply to other people?
You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people…[Sefer HaChinnuch to Le 19:16]
The Jewish sages explain:
“This means that if we hear a person telling something bad about his fellow, we should not go and tell him, ‘So and so is saying this-and-this about you’ unless it is our intention to remove or avoid injury or to stop a quarrel. Our Sages of blessed memory said of the word rakkil (talebearer, slanderer): rakh, soft (kind), to one, and harsh to another. Another meaning: do not be as a Rokhel (peddler), loading up with words and going to peddle them…evil gossip and its partner, slander…bring death to the one who says it, the one who receives it, and the one about whom it is told-but most of all to the one who receives it…he is as one who violates a royal command…”
This explains the violence done by the serpent. He “peddled” words to Eve. To this day, he “peddles” words back and forth from human beings to the Throne, most regrettably, even back and forth from the people of Adonai to His Throne. He accuses us because we continue to load up his peddler’s cart with our word-poisons against one another.
The same tongues that could make peace instead create distance, killing relationships. Just as Adam and Even were separated from the Presence in the Garden, so we continually hide our faces from one another. One day, the Adversary will have no more words from our lips to peddle, and he will be cast down to earth.
This is our goal in preparing for Passover. Make peace. It will not make itself, for peace must be made. Peace is not a spontaneous miracle, but humility in two parties who build it together. Adonai makes peace in the Heavens; it is our job to make peace on earth.
What is the Torah’s punishment for a slanderer? It requires no whiplashes from the beit din, but instead, Adonai Himself is thought to send agents of judgment with “whiplashes.”
Whiplashes are frequently the punishment for violations of the mishpatim, mostly for violation of a negative commandment. Whiplashes can be both literal by human hands or through Divine judgment:
If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes. (Dt 25:1-3)
In the case above, the dispute has a clear innocent person and guilty person. Righteous and innocent. Even the punishment must not be degrading, a mercy the wicked did not extend to the righteous. Slander, however, incurs Divine whiplashes. Consider this slander committed by the ten evil spies concerning the Land itself. By using the truth about the Land of Israel, they turned the hearts of the people against it!
According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. (Nu 13:4)
Moses didn’t give anyone a whipping over the slander and the peddling of malicious talk. Yet, just as in Eden, the sentence was death. The slanderers would die off in forty years, a year for a day. These were Divine “whiplashes.” It is as if Adonai knew the degree of malice each man arrogantly kindled with his tongue, and He set the forty-year death time-table accordingly. Some were executed sooner, some later in the journey. In the graphic below, you can see that whiplashes are sometimes seen in Scripture as the words of a malicious tongue, yet also the judgment of Adonai Himself.
Yeshua describes it this way:
And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. (Lk 12:42-48)
When is it okay to be a tattletale? Mordechai demonstrates: When the truth will save a life. By telling of the plot to assassinate the king, he saved his life. Queen Esther does it more boldly: she accuses wicked Haman in his very presence and saves the lives of all the Jews in Persia!
The assassins and wicked Haman both set out to do the same thing with their tongues: kill. Given time, they would have completed the killing task that their tongues began. They arrogantly decided who had a right to live. So it is with slander. We arrogantly decide who has a right to live and begin to flog our enemies with gossip and slander to kill their reputations.
In Vayigash, Judah atoned for Benjamin, not knowing he was innocent of the charge. In Esther, Benjamin (Mordechai and Esther are Benjaminites) atones for Judah. Atonement can be a painful thing because peacemaking carries a risk of personal loss.
So when we see a peddler’s cartful of words rolling our way, we know what to do. Even though the king was an unwitting receiver of the slander against the Jews, he did receive some lashes. The trouble it started resulted in a number of deaths when he granted the Jews the authority to defend themselves against attackers. The king is supposed to protect his people, not set them up for harm. He received the words, and death happened.
How much more will those suffer who know better than to receive the words, yet they purchase the juicy fruit of slanderous lips. Like Yeshua said, it’s violence, beating up fellow-servants. And they thought it cost them nothing. Free fruit juice.
Whiplash is coming when that cart skids to a stop before the King and Judge of all the earth. May we unload any apples of our own in that cart before Passover.
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Are you planning Passover?
Passover is a celebration that requires significant planning whether you are celebrating in your own home with your family or with a group. In Temple times, people would “register” for a lamb in groups of about fifty people.
Since sacrificial animals all turn a year older on Elul 1 Rosh Hodesh Elul, the new moon festival of the month of Elul marks the opening of the time window when one-year-old lambs qualified for the Pesach will be born. Elul 1 is ma’aser behema, or the counting of domesticated animals. During the time of the Temple, this day was the new year to determine the start date of animal tithes. The lambs would therefore be a year old even though technically aged about six months or less.
Since only a kazayit (the size of an olive) of the lamb had to be eaten to meet the requirement of sharing the Pesach, one lamb sufficed for many people. They simply needed to share in its suffering, not make the main meal from it. The celebratory meal of the chag (joyous festival) was the main course to fill the belly. During Second Temple times, if you did not register ahead of time to share in a lamb, then you were not permitted to eat from it! Yikes.
Such delay in planning one’s worship was considered a severe spiritual lapse. We might compare this to someone who has many opportunities to accept Yeshua as savior, yet refuses or delays repeatedly. When the Day comes, it is too late. Practically speaking, a person could make a last-minute purchase and bring his own lamb by procuring one himself, but that’s a lot of meat for one person to eat before midnight!
Passover is a type and shadow of salvation, but it is also predictive of how we acquire an identity with the holy community of Israel. From smaller family and friends gatherings, we grow together and eventually stand as one people at Shavuot and the fall feasts of Yom Teruah and Yom HaKippurim.
A chag is a “memorial,” so while you’re planning, why not plan to make it memorable? Since an essential element of Pesach is teaching children, the part of the seder that is telling the story of the Exodus can ALWAYS be made memorable to children. For instance, one year, I dressed up in Egyptian costume as “The Plague Lady.” It required a few months of planning! I don’t have any photos from that seder because I was too busy plaguing people, but I looked pretty scary.
Here’s what I did:
1. Water turning to blood: I purchased small (dead) baitfish and a whole big fish from the market and submersed the big fish in a pitcher of red Kool-Aid. When the leader announced the plague, I came in and offered to serve the kids’ table drinks from the pitcher. Yes, they screamed. I then threw some of the dried fish onto their table. Be careful with that one. One of the kids tried to eat one.
2. Frogs: Over a month before the seder, I purchased a frog pinata and three packages of catfish stinkbait. I opened the stinkbait, inserted it into the pinata, then wrapped the frog in a big Hefty bag and left it in the garage until Passover. I unwrapped it just after the dead fish Kool-Aid, unplugged the pinata, and then I walked through the room swinging the pinata around. Yes, it was horrible. I also bought some frog legs from the market and threw some onto the kids’ table. I don’t think anyone tried to eat those. We were all nauseated from the stinkbait frog. It smelled so bad you could taste it.
3. Lice: Easy-peasy. Lice-rice, baby, but go easy. Clean-up is a mess.
4. Flies: Cheap party favors, a dollar a bag. Pass them out to parents ahead of time so they can throw them at the kids. You won’t have to worry about clean-up. The kids will scoop them up to take home.
5. Livestock pestilence: I took a huge stuffed cow, wrapped it in some bandages, stuffed a thermometer in her mouth, and made a “litter.” We took a few trips around the kids’ table asking if there were a doctor in the house. A couple of red cross armbands are good enough for your “paramedics,” siren sound effects optional.
6. Boils: Before the seder started, I used a drama makeup kit to build realistic boils on the arms of volunteers. When the plague was announced, they rolled up their sleeves and moaned and groaned. It was a little disturbing how much they got into the acting.
7. Hail. Easy-peasy. Ping-pong balls. May require temporary confiscation before the seder can proceed. Including adults.
8. Locusts: I bought those from the same place as the dollar-flies. Again, you won’t have to clean them up. They’ll be in pockets. Or they might end up in a few dishes in next week’s oneg.
9. Darkness: A helper cut the lights, and THEN…
10. Killing of firstborn children: …all the firstborn men began wailing and then staged being dead, slumped over tables, on the floor, etc. When the lights came on, voila. They saw dead people. This was very scary for some of the young ones. You might have a better idea, or at least warn them ahead of time it’s not real. No sense in drama trauma, Mama, but it did keep them awake. For several nights, I hear.
So yes, making a memorial memorable takes a lot of planning. I hope you’ve already started!
Looking for insights into the Passover and how it developed from the Egyptian exodus to modern times? When and how were things added, such as the use of four cups of wine or the afikomen? Creation Gospel Workbook Six is an excellent overview of Hebrew prayer and worship traditions. The second section of the book uses the historical development of Passover to show how thousands of years of celebration developed from the seed of the Torah instructions. Here is an excerpt:
“The Tosefta notes that the seder had developed some lighthearted elements to keep the children awake. Modern readers may not recognize the use of reductio ad absurdum in the Mishnah, which sometimes shows up in the Haggadah or other texts that quote from the Mishnah.
A good example of the light-hearted fun may be found when the ten plagues are expounded by later rabbis to include 60, 240, and even up to 300 plagues (Raphael, p. 77). This leaves the uninitiated reader scratching his or her head, but it is a good demonstration that the seders have always been nights of fun for children as well as nights of serious reflection on themes of sacrifice, deliverance, and redemption.
The Tosefta to 10:9b reads: “They grab unleavened bread from each other for the sake of the child to astonish him so that he will not fall asleep.” The rabbis recognized that if the seder may lead to some adult dozing and slumbering, then a child weary from excitement would surely need some helping remaining awake! To combat their drowsiness, adults were instructed to surprise the children by snatching matzah at unexpected times.
Similar games were played in Iraqi seders in order to keep children awake even until the modern era. The following examples from CG Workbook Five Vol IV are listed for reference. These ancient Iraqi Jewish Pesach traditions were still practiced in the early 1900s:
A. When the blessing was made of the soft, pliable matzah, Kadouri took the middle matzah shemora and tore it, creating the shape of the Hebrew letters vav and daled. He wrapped the largest part of the matzah shemorah in a small tablecloth to make the afikoman, and tied it on the back of little Tzadek for safekeeping. This ritual was customary to keep the children interested in the long ceremony. The other children would wait until the little boy fell asleep so that they could steal the afikomen and hide it elsewhere until the end of the seder. However, when the baby fell asleep, Kadouri took the afikoman from him and hid it in the bedroom. The children sat anxiously ready and waiting for the traditional negotiations over the afikoman…” (Yerushalmi, loc. 2299 of 3932)
B. When the time came for the ritual of the ‘Four Questions,’ as was the custom of Iraqi Jews, the children went out of the room with pillows, blankets, matzot, and other paraphernalia, as though to reenact the long journey through the Sinai Desert. They waited outside for a few minutes, then knocked on the door and Kadouri asked, ‘Who is it?’
‘Israel,’ the children answer in loud chorus.
‘And where do you come from?’ the adults asked, still siting around the large dining table.
‘From Egypt,’ the children answered.
‘And where are you heading?’
‘To Jerusalem,’ the children answered again in a joyful chorus.
‘And what do you want?’ the audience asked.
‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ the children broke in loud song, and the adults joined in. (Yerushalmi, location 2310)
C. Everyone laughed and drank wine, blessed the matzah and the karpas, and ate from the delicious, thick, dark charoset made from date syrup and crushed almonds. Then they ate hard-boiled eggs and finally, the delicious festive main course that Hela had prepared. As usual, the seder was over only after the children found the hidden afikoman. After lengthy, funny, and tiresome negotiations, the children handed it back to Kadouri and each received one dinar, feeling it was a fortune.” (Yerushalmi, loc. 2310)
Syrian Jews had a similar custom. The participants act out a personal drama of the Exodus:
Guests: “Where do you come from?”
Seder participant: “Egypt!”
Guests: “Where are you going?”
Seder participant: “Jerusalem!”
Guests: “What are your provisions?”
Seder participant: “Matzah and maror.” (Dweck, 2007, p. 351)
Such enactments kept both children and adults awake through the lengthy seder.
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