Revelation 21:2, Through Jewish Eyes

Observation: A Jewish man when he prays in early mornings except on Shabbat,  is accustomed to wear tallit and tefillin.  Now according to Christian dogma, as written by John (Yohanan) the apostle in Revelations 22:2, when Messiah returns, the new Jerusalem descends.  As per Johns vision the given dimensions on Revelation/Apocalypses, the new Jerusalem which one may infer will contain the third temple from Jewish sources, is cubic in shape and is positioned on earth, centered on earthly Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel.  The planet with this new, cubic new Jerusalem, looks like it will be donning the Shel Rosh Tefillin (phylacteries). Let us look at the meaning of this vision and the implication from a Jewish perspective.

Explanation: First, we need to define a few concepts to achieve some semblance of understanding of what this vision may be saying to us.  The Torah, the instructions given to us, the Jewish people on Mt Sinai, is more than just a set of rules and regulations. Jan Assmann, University of Konstanz, Germany noted the following theory which I happen to agree with it.  Contrary to popular belief The Torah is not the Law, it merely contains laws.

Fig 1.       "The Torah: A political alliance between a God and a people is an absolute new, unheard of and unprecedented concept. As such, it requires a specific amount of historical motivation and explanation. This is the reason why the story is told... We are dealing here not with just "a" story, but "THE" story, the foundation of the covenant that is the foundation of the people of Israel... The revolutionary concept of the covenant between the people and God implies a triple process of theologizing: (1) the theologizing of the political concept of alliance, (2) the transformation of a secular law code into ius divinum, to denote a law prior to and thus ranking above all (the Torah) and of (3) human history into sacred history. Therefore, the Torah has these three aspects and functions: of a law code, a treaty and a sacred historiography."

Secondly, The Torah is not just a mere two-dimensional book, or text receptacle, the Torah, is a 4th dimensional entity, is a living document that transcends time.  There is this understanding in Judaism that The Torah existed well be fore the creation of our universe, and the reason the Universe was created is because of the Torah, “In rabbinic literature, it was taught that the Torah was one of the six or seven things created prior to the creation of the world. According to Eliezer ben Yoseph the Galilean, for 974 generations before the creation of the world the Torah lay in God's bosom and joined the ministering angels in song. Simeon ben Lakish taught that the Torah preceded the world by 2,000 years and was written in black fire upon white fire. Akiva called the Torah "the precious instrument by which the world was created". Rav said that God created the world by looking into the Torah as an architect builds a palace by looking into blueprints. It was also taught that God took council with the Torah before He created the world.” https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-written-law-torah

We, whether we like it or not, regardless of our credos, we do live within the Torah, we are part of the testament, the teaching, the creation itself as creation is a continuous process that is ongoing, and we are part of it under the umbrella of the Torah.  This whole concept of the Torah being a 4th dimensional entity is a whole other manuscript that will be addressed separately.

So far, we have just address two concepts that will help us understand the vision that Yohanan had and that alludes to the planet wearing Tefillin.  At this stage you may ask what on earth are tefillin, if you are not conversant with Jewish dogma and practices tefillin are phylacteries as described by Jesus (Yeshuah) in the New Testament.  Note that He Jesus did not object to the use of Tefillin, but he did object on how they were used, as a sign of self-glorification, this too is a whole other manuscript.  Because of the nature of the Torah, some instructions are taken as literal others a spiritual, yet others as a midrash i.e. parables from which you infer much deeper teachings that are multidimensional in nature. As an example that is relevant to this manuscript, let’s look at Deuteronomy 6:8.

 “You shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as an os – a sign – upon your hand, and they shall be for totefot – a reminder – between your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 6:8)

As previously stated, although there are many dimensions to the words of the Torah, they are meant to be taken literally as well; therefore – just as it is commanded – we take inscriptions of chapters of Torah and then place them, one on the head as a reminder between the eyes, and the other as a sign on the arm situated against the heart. Rosh (on the head as a reminder between the eyes) and Yad (as a sign on the arm, close to the heart) Tefillin.

Fig 2. The Shel Rosh Tefillah with the three and four-pronged shin depicted above as opposed to the unmarked Shel Yad Tefillah, left image left Bayit (Box).

Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form (the singular being "tefillah"), it is loosely used as a singular as well. The arm-tefillah, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm/hand, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillah or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead. The Torah has been interpreted to say that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.

“Tefillin” a powerful spiritual tool.

Tefillin consist of two cube-shaped leather boxes, (Batim), with straps hanging down, which attach the boxes – one, Tefillin shel rosh (Tefillin of the head), snugly to the head and the other, Tefillin shel yad (Tefillin of the hand) wrapped around the arm, in close proximity to the heart. Each of these boxes contains the four paragraphs of the Torah that mention the idea of wrapping the Tefillin: Deuteronomy 6: 49, and 11:13-21, Exodus 13:1-10 and 13:11-16. These are carefully hand-written on small parchments by a sofer (scribe) and inserted in the leather boxes.

Here, however, there is a basic difference between the two boxes: When the Torah describes the hand Tefillin, it uses a singular term; but for the head Tefillin, it uses a plural, totefot. Thus, each of the four Torah paragraphs in the head Tefillin is written on its own scroll and inserted in one of four small compartments. These four compartments are carefully pressed together to maintain the cube-like shape of the Tefillin. By contrast, in the hand Tefillin all four chapters are inscribed on a single scroll and placed in one compartment.

We place the hand Tefillin upon the left arm so that it rests near the heart, and the head Tefillin is placed above the forehead, between the eyes so it rests against the skull – near the brain. From the boxes hang straps, which encircle the head and tie on the arm. Thus mind, heart, and actions are all aligned – and unified toward Heaven.

The physical Tefillin describe a deeper spiritual reality. The box encircles the parchment, surrounding it; the parchment, in turn, surrounds the black ink of the holy letters. Thus there are three levels: two makifim, surrounding forces – the Bayit (literally, house) is a makif ha’rachok – a distant surrounding, as a home surrounds the person dwelling within; the parchment encompassing the letters, is also a makif, albeit a makif ha’karov – intimate soundings in close proximity to the letters, as “clothes” that garb the wearer. The actual writing is Torah: divine intellect, it is an internal truth, a pnimi – an inward reality. 

So, what does all these terms trying to tell you, if you are not familiar with deep esoteric teachings then put in simple terms, Makif, is to surround, that is the powerful transcendent light that surrounds all creation, that is the kavod the Glory of HaShem that cannot be contained by a vessel.  Then there is pnimi that is the inner light that is bestowed on those that love and follow HaShem, the inner light we also call Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), it fills us internally a ever changing inner light that allows us to see in the spirit world and see the true purpose of us being in this world.

This idea of light is derived from the teachings of our sages, that creation is based on emanations of light, called Sephirot, sephirah in the singular form.  According to our sages there are ten sephirot, the emanations through which divine energy flows into world, emerge in order: the three levels of intellect, and the seven emotional attributes. Chochmah – wisdom or intuition, binah –understanding, or cognition, and Da’at –knowledge, or awareness, are collectively called mochin – mind, or seichel – intellect. These generate the seven emotions: chesed – kindness, gevurah – restraint, tiferes – harmony, netzach – ambition, hod – devotion, yesod – connection and Malchut –receptiveness.

There is so much more that we could talk about this subject alone, but for the sake of brevity, lets try and tie up these concepts to tefillin and the vision of Yohanan. In Judaism it is well understood that the 4 upper sections of the ten sephiroth deal with intellect see fig 3.  The lower remaining seven are the emotional component of our beings that is our feelings. Now from Fig3 we see the word Keter this is a component that is beyond the intellect that is Keter – the “crown” – deep desire. The order of the ten Sefirot is replicated through the chain of creation: Malchut of a higher reality becomes the Keter-crown of the lower one.  Keter links above with below; so too, within Keter itself is a level which is drawn downward, called “arich anpin” – the “long face” – and a higher part of Keter connected upward, the final level of the higher world, that is our spirit the only part of ourselves that can communicate with the higher realm, and translates down to the lower realm.

Fig 3. Comparison between sephiroth and tefillin, the upper portion of Sephiroth represents the Shel Rosh Tefillin the intellect, whilst the lower 7 emanations represent the emotions that we commonly refer to as the heart, what drives us.

The sefirot are ten emanations, or illuminations of God's Infinite Light as it manifests in Creation. As revelations of the Creator's Will (רצון  ratzon),[The Song of the Soul, Yechiel Bar-Lev, p. 73, cited on Kabbalah page] the sefirot should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different channels through which the one God reveals his will.

In later Jewish literature, the ten sefirot refer either to the ten manifestations of God; the ten powers or faculties of the soul; or the ten structural forces of nature. [Ginsburgh, Rabbi Yitzchak (2006). What You Need to Know about Kabbalah. Jerusalem: Gal Einai Institute. ISBN 965-7146-119.]

Now lets put it all together  and see where it leads us, the following is a direct excerpt form a source that is very concise:

The Bayit of the head Tefillin is the most distant makif – the highest, deepest desire: It is a crown above, and surrounding, the head. In cosmic terms, it represents the desire and purpose of creation, and from it a flow comes downward into the parchment; and then into the written word, the divine intelligence of Torah.

The head Bayit contains chapters of Torah which represent intellect – chochmah, binah and Da’at – teaching, instructing and guiding us how to live our personal lives and pursue our collective purpose.

On each side of the head Tefillin is the letter shin, one with three strands and one with four strands. The shin also alludes to the idea of seichel – intelligence, with the three strands representing chochmah, binah and Da’at: First, a thought comes to mind, chochmah; then with the faculty of binah we comprehend and decipher the thought; and then we use our Da’at to take the understanding we now have and implement it. Da’at affords us the ability to distinguish and make choices; it ensures that what we understand intellectually does not remain in the mind alone, but effects our emotions and informs our behavior. And since choices emerge in Da’at, Da’at itself can be subdivided into a right-side quality, chesed, and a left column, gevurah. Thus the three levels within mochin are actually four levels, and so we have the second four-pronged form of the shin, and the four divisions within the Bayit.

In cosmic terms, Keter is the ultimate desire and purpose, and mochin brings the purpose to be lived out in real time; yet it is through the lower seven emotional Sefirot that creation actually occurs. Indeed, the seven-day cycle of creation that the Torah describes directly reflects the seven Sefirot, with each day of the weekly cycle representing another sefirah.

And so it is in our own lives. Our reality is primarily “emotionally” based, and the way most people live life is reactive, reflecting their emotional responses. It is often rare to find clarity of thought, expansive thinking and openness of mind. In Kabbalistic terms, this is because Keter – resolute purpose – and the mature deliberation of mochin are “above” the world; thus our purpose – and the means to attain it – does not seem so apparent, and need to be “revealed” to us.

Thus as we reach the age of thirteen, when our minds have developed sufficiently, we put on Tefillin with the intention to draw down our purpose and the revelation of the mochin (Intelect), into our reality, through our emotions until the truth of this higher revealed reality infuses our way of being and acting.

From the Bayit – and the Torah contained within – flow the straps, first surrounding our heads, then tied in a knot the shape of a dalet – for the word Da’at, and from the reality of Da’at (albeit sometimes only in a state of poverty, dalus in Hebrew) flow the two straps: one to the right and one to the left, representing the general flow of the emotional attributes of chesed (kindness) to the right side, and gevurah (restraint) on the left; thus the right strap hangs lower then the left, for we wish to draw down more chesed than gevurah. In truth, chesed and gevurah emanate from the same “space”, the transcendental knot interweaving both these elements – rooted in the deepest place of Keter, the “black”, the level beyond comprehension which is called the space for “the light of darkness.” Nevertheless, we seek to draw chesed – kindness – into dominant revelation.

Da’at is the key to our emotions, so that they open and flow in the general direction of either right or left, giving or restraining, openness or confinement. The straps represent a flow “downward”, and though their “source” (made of leather) is the same as the parchment, the makif beyond letters and comprehension – they must be colored with the “darkness” of black dye, reflecting a descent below. They represent the highest level of Keter (the “black”) projected into the lowest and densest of vessels.

But before we can draw down this new, deeper level of Keter-mochin (Crown-Intellect), we must make sure that our own vessels are fully equipped to absorb the new flow. For if we draw down mochin and the vessels are unfitting, we will cause a shattering of the vessels. And so, before we put on the Head Tefillin, we don the Hand Tefillin.

Whereas the Bayit of the Head Tefillin is Keter (Crown), the Bayit of the Hand Tefillin represents Malchut (Kingdom). The “receiver” of the other nine Sefirot, Malchut contains them all; thus, all levels – placed in separate compartments in the Head Tefillin – are written out in one scroll and included within one container. From Malchut, we wrap the strap around our hands seven times (reflecting the seven emotional Sefirot) literally tying, linking, and fastening our emotions and our hands in complete dedication, ready to receive the deeper levels of mochin.

Certainly, there is mochin (intellect), as well at the level of the hand, the physical world; however, it is the mochin connected with our emotional state – our emotional intelligence, as it were.

For every reality contains the entire partzuf (Divine "Personae/Visages/Faces/Forms/Configurations) – the complete internal structure of the ten Sefirot, including mochin (intellect), middos (emotions) and actions.  The Hand Tefillin designates the entire partzuf: First we place the Bayit, then wrap on the upper arm twice, corresponding to the three levels of intellect, then we wrap the seven times which are aligned with the seven emotions, concluding with warping the straps around the palm of our hand reflecting the world of action.

Having bound our reality, in total dedication, we can put on the Tefillin of the head and draw down a deeper, profound measure of mochin – a mochin from a world of perfect oneness and unity, ensuring a perfect alignment between our deepest level of soul, mind, emotions and actions.

The vision of Yohanan therefore is in line with our daily prayer as a Jew, we are eagerly awaiting the coming of Moshiach and the final redemption of HaShem’s people Am Yisrael.  There is no secret that we await the rebuilding of the third temple, the question has always been do we start, or do we wait until it comes down from heaven.  There is no simple answer to this question, and with proverbial knowledge that when you have a Jew there are at least three opinions, imagine the opinion of over 10M Jews worldwide? 30M opinions!! I’ll say yeah, we will agree one day, when Moshiach comes.  

Here is one my opinions, we know that we are all responsible for adding goodness to this world, the more we add we hasten the coming of Moshiach as it is written “Zion shall be redeemed by justice and her repatriates by tzedakah ("justice" or "righteousness").” (Isaiah 1:27) “Keep justice and do tzedakah, for My salvation is near to come and My tzedakah to be revealed.” (Isaiah 56:1).  Here Tzedakah refers to righteousness, righteous living, actions and thoughts.

Since the return of the Jewish people back to the land of Israel I am a firm believer that we are closer to the final redemption as it is written, “Though it is not known when the Day of Judgment will be, I do tell you that the hour you gather and assemble together you shall be redeemed, as it is said, ‘I will surely gather Jacob, all of you [i.e., when all of you are together]…’ for then immediately ‘their king shall pass before them and G‑d at the head of them.’ (Michah 2:12-13).”

The final redemption, is not a foreign subject in Judaism, and given that Yohanan was a Jew, his vision of a new Jerusalem descending onto earth with proportional dimensions like a Bayit shel Rosh, would it be a stretch to say that the Divine will reign the whole Eretz from Jerusalem with His Divine light, emanating from Jerusalem? Just as we use tefillin, to receive higher spiritual endowment from above, so too will the new temple and new Jerusalem, may be viewed as the conduit for the restoration of the whole planet, all its inhabitants via the earth wearing tefillin, food for thought I believe.  Here is another dimension, when we wrap tefillin in our arm we align our emotions ready to then receive from above that which is supernatural, well the last two thousand or so years, it has been like the wrapping of arm tefillin “Shel Yad Tefillin”, the coming of the third temple along with Moshiach is the “shel Rosh Tefillin”, if Yohanan’s vision is right, then definitely this world is ripe for some supernatural revelation when He comes……..(As I said one Jew three opinions, here is one on Yohanan's vision the other two are for my consumption)

But a Drop of Water

Here is an interesting fact that got curiosity aroused and would inevitably become a deep thought.  We have seen in life that drops of water form in most unusual places as well where we want them to form.  In some cases, these drops serve as a conduit for creative people to convey a message.  As an example, photographers some time use a drop of water to convey what they see in a different form, creativity at its best.

As an example the following photograph shows a drop of water being used as a microscope, yes a microscope, the drop of water formed on top of a flower petal, the contact angle of  the droplet on the surface of the flower petal can tell us a lot of information about the surface composition of the flower.  It also relates back to us what happens to droplet, for example have you consider how a lens on a microscope is shaped in order to magnify the object is being studied?  So it happens that a whole study of interactions aroused from this idea that a glass can be shaped to magnify a distant object and also a small object, form here we can extrapolate the science to a drop of water interaction with a surface and see how the droplet interact by measuring the angle of interaction. In short, a more hydrophobic surface makes a spherical pronounced droplet of smaller diameter compared to a hydrophilic surface makes a less compact more broad and higher diameter droplet.

The shape determines the magnification of the droplet as in the image obtained of a flower after some light rain.  What started as a photo of a wet flower turned into the drop of water that can be used as a natural microscope.  As you can see the image clearly magnified the flower petal and the cellular structure can be seen.  But this is not the whole story that a drop of water can be used for there other creative images that abound on the internet that drops can be used to give a wider view of a landscape and reflections of landscapes people and scenes.  

This brings us to an astonishing revelation that in passing a Rabbi Mendel Kaplan mentioned in one of his teachings, he simply said a drop of water can reflect the whole sun.  From that statement Rabbi Mendel Kaplan moved on but seeded a concept that has blossomed into this short article.

How does this concept of a water drop, and faith, Torah and life be merged together what was the implication from his one liner that got this analogy of water and human life going?  Is there any other implication that ca be drawn from this teaching? Lets us explore this concept from a perspective that perhaps has been overlooked of the expanse of time and culture. In Jewish thought the Torah is compared to water, living water to be precise. Just as water is a source of life for the world, as it says, A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters (Song of Songs 4:15), so the Torah is a source of life for the world, additionally in Song of Songs Rabbah 1:19 we find the following quotes:

- Just as water restores the soul, so does the Torah.

- Just as water is cleansing, the words of Torah are purifying.

Song of Songs Rabbah 1:19 is a source of Jewish wisdom passed down from our sages of old that is very relevant to today’s understanding of Torah and B’rit Chadasha.  One of the greatest quotes in the B’rit Chadasha was from our Rebbe Yeshuah, when he met the Samaritan woman in John (Yohanan) 4:14, “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

This whole interaction can now be seen in a new light from the Jewish perspective, what Yeshuah is offering is the Torah, that will bring eternal life, and that is what the Torah is eternal live once is internalized in us. But wait there is more, not a set of stake knifes but more to the concept of water as great reflector.  If a drop of water in the physical concept is capable of reflecting the whole sun can a drop of “water” Torah capable of reflecting the whole “Sun”, the giver of the Torah HaShem himself.  The answer is yes indeed and that is the whole point and purpose of the Torah, that we created beings in the image of our creator be able to reflect to be like our creator in the spiritual sense and dare say in the physical sense as well. 

That was the whole interaction in Yohanan 4:14 “But whoever drinks the water I give him…” I am very clear here HaShem the giver of the Torah at Mt Sinai, the living water is given to us and if we partake it springs forth eternal life, that is the sole purpose of the Torah, life.  In Deuteronomy (Devarim, Words) 30:19 we read: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. So choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,”, very clearly here Moses is speaking to the children of Israel, “I have set before you life and death”, he has set the Torah life, and by inference death as well.  If the Torah is life, rejection of Torah is death, one cannot live without water, we will die of dehydration slow and painful.

So yes, we are called to be a reflection of our creator to bring “living water” to the world it is clear that the Jewish nation was set apart for a purpose, to be droplets of water in this planet.  In Exodus ( 19:5-6:  “5 Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. 6 And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”  This whole concept of being sent to the world is not new, Yeshuah is just following the template set in Torah with Moses and reaffirming it, when he said to his disciples (Talmidim, followers, imitators) in Mark 16:15 ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation’.

One final thought, I started with the concept of a water droplet being a natural microscope that reveals that which is hidden from the naked eye, so is a person filled with Torah, that it magnifies that which is hidden that is contrary to Torah, eventually all come to the surface, as the magnifying effect of the Torah droplet exposes that which is anti-Torah

Rosh Hashanah Selichot

Ariel Ben-Klezmer

13 September 2017

Selichot

“The day of awe and judgement, of reflection and repentance, are a time when Jews use their prayers to seek the Father Who hovers nearby awaiting their call.”  (The complete Art scroll Selichot) The period starting on the month of Elul, (Hebrew Calendar this year 5777 it started on the 23rd of August 2017), for Sephardic Jews means the preparation for the 10 days of awe starting on Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah) and culminating in Yom Kippur (The day of Attornment).  Also, known as the feast of Trumpets, derived from blowing of the Shofar, but most commonly known as the Jewish new year, and On Yom Kippur, the judgment for our deeds entered in these books are sealed. This day is, essentially, your last appeal, your last chance to change the judgment, to demonstrate your repentance and make amends.

Within our Jewish global community there are some markedly differences in which we approach our daily living, prayers and worship styles.  For example, the largest groups more well-known Jews in the world are Sephardic, and Ashkenazy, of course there are a few others, like Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews (Hebrew: יהודי תימן Yehudi Teman), are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen.  Additionally, there are Mizrachi Jews (Hebrew: יהודים מזרחי Yehudim Mizrachim), also known as Mizrachi (Hebrew: מזרחים Mizrachim) in short are Jews descended from local communities of the Middle East. and Ethiopian Jews or Beta Israel (Hebrew: בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, Beyte (beyt) Yisrael; “House of Israel" or "Community of Israel”), also known as Ethiopian Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדֵי אֶתְיוֹפְּיָה: Yehudi Etyopyah), are Jews that developed and lived for centuries in the area of Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire that is currently divided between Amhara and Tigray Regions of Ethiopia. Most of these peoples have emigrated to Israel since the late 20th century.

What does this have to do with Rosh Hashanah, you may ask? Well simply put they all have a unique way of expressing their cultural diversity within the context of Judaism.  Let me give you two brief examples:  In Sephardic culture prayers of repentance are said from the first of Elul, 40 days of prayers, until Yom Kippur these are known as Selichot plural of asking forgiveness. The rational of 40 days of asking forgiveness for one’s actions is derived from the fact that the original custom was ten days of prayers Teshuvah 3:4 but my Sephardic ancestry decided ten days in not enough and we had to enter Rosh Hashanah with the process of prayer. Those forty days were in remembrance of the golden calf incident to not fall ever again into idol worship by a mediocre lifestyle. Noe there is a lot more to it but for the sake of brevity I will leave it at that. 

In Ashkenazy culture the prayers begin after two criteria, one the 25th of Elul and Motzei Shabbos (The night after Shabbat).  Note here that Ashkenazim never pronounce or even write the T everything ends in “s”.  Now why on this day, well according to tradition Adam and Eve were created on Rosh Hashanah, which was a Friday the six day of creation.  On the basis that of the pristine state of creation before sin entered the world, starting to pray in this day will remind us of our need to return to a primordial state of “Pristine Sinless-ness” as in the days of creation.  Additionally, four days of Selichot before Rosh Hashanah to symbolise the four days an animal need s to be inspected before a sacrifice.  This brings me to what the Tanach teaches what HaShem desires, true worshipers and a repentant heart are more valuable than all the burnt offerings, (paraphrased). This brings me to one last thing got my attention as I was studying for this period of Jewish life, and it hit me right between my eyes, from Rosh Hashanah 31a one can derive that sin is caused by self-deception, our sages teach us that no one sins unless a spirit of foolishness enters him.  and in our current environment there is no greater evidence than this.

Take this time of self-analysis as you come before HaShem in your prayers and ask for self-deception to be revealed, as you know you never know you are being deceived until after it’s over.  Likewise ask for the spirit of foolishness to be removed from your life, in this way we usher to return of Messiah. 

The Power of Words

I am not sure what comes to your mind, when you hear the words, “And he spoke”, for me it is a mixture of thoughts that go through my mind.  Firstly, what did it sound like? Was there and echo? How loud was it?   Secondly, I think of the sound waves created, the propagation of these sound waves and finally, I think about the content intent emotion and feeling of the words, I then visualize the message as I perceive it to be.  Now there is a lot of information in these following verses, as I read them I see history being recorded, with a purpose, so that future generations become aware of the message, the intent and the setting under which the message was given, the emotions the rationale, all of which, I normally process, when I hear someone say, “He said to him….”

ה֥וּא אַהֲרֹ֖ן וּמֹשֶׁ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָמַ֤ר יְהוָה֙ לָהֶ֔ם הוֹצִ֜יאוּ אֶת־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם עַל־צִבְאֹתָֽם׃

It is the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring forth the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.”

27

הֵ֗ם הַֽמְדַבְּרִים֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֔יִם לְהוֹצִ֥יא אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם ה֥וּא מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹֽן׃

It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to free the Israelites from the Egyptians; these are the same Moses and Aaron.

28

וַיְהִ֗י בְּי֨וֹם דִּבֶּ֧ר יְהוָ֛ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֖ה בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (פ)

For when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt

29

וַיְדַבֵּ֧ר יְהוָ֛ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹ֖ר אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֑ה דַּבֵּ֗ר אֶל־פַּרְעֹה֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרַ֔יִם אֵ֛ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י דֹּבֵ֥ר אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

and the LORD said to Moses, “I am the LORD; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I will tell you,”

30

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֖ה לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה הֵ֤ן אֲנִי֙ עֲרַ֣ל שְׂפָתַ֔יִם וְאֵ֕יךְ יִשְׁמַ֥ע אֵלַ֖י פַּרְעֹֽה׃ (פ)

Moses appealed to the LORD, saying, “See, I am of impeded speech; how then should Pharaoh heed me!”

Today's article is rather short, I just want to concentrate on verse 30, Moshe’s reply to HaShem.  “See, I am of impeded speech; how then should Pharaoh heed me!”, we as reader may identify with this situation, I am a nobody why should anyone listen to what I have to say, why would my actions or my objection or opinion would matter.  Regardless of who we are, what our intellect, education, social status we tend to think less of ourselves in most situations.  I am over generalizing , yes I know, there are the opposite situations that because some people are famous, they have this idea that what ever they have to say, is right and should be treated as gospel. For now lets leave it at that, as that will be a whole other article and rather lengthy one.

More often than not we are our worst judges, we tend to over analyze and put ourselves down, even for minor issues.  The question is why do we do this to ourselves, why the self deprecation? One possible answer is that we as individuals, tend to spend a lot of time in our thoughts, going over and replaying situations and events on a regular basis. No one knows our thoughts better than ourselves, and HaShem of course, but as far as the reality we live on, we know our hearts like no other person, deep thoughts that are reoccurring, habits, feelings, etc. This puts us in a position that we think we are our best judges, and then proceed to be quite harsh with ourselves, additionally we become disappointed with ourselves and feel that we are not good enough.  What I am describing is a cycle that repeats on a regular basis.  

Now to this behavior, we add more fuel, that even makes less worthy, and more judgmental with ourselves and we now start to transfer that self anger to others in the immediate circle, and to the rest of the world.  We tend to look for bad traits even if they do not exist, we seek to feed that anger by the thoughts we entertain, what we look at and what we feed our heart and mind.  Think about this for a moment , try if you can put yourself in Moshe’s sandals, He was, from his perspective, rejected by his mother, unwanted, then rejected by the royal house, then his people, to the point that he had to flee for fear of the repercussion of him killing someone in order to defend one of his people.  Here is another you grow up in a palace then you find out you are in all reality a slave.  Forty years have lapsed, you have an encounter in the wilderness that makes you return to face your past, deep in your mind, you know where you came from, but the recent experience tells you and gives you a new direction, what would be your first reaction? Like Moshe make excuses, try and avoid the direction that will change not just your life but the life of so many others?

Here is what this article is aiming at, like Moshe he was struggling with self image, he was convinced that he was not worthy of coming before Pharaoh to deliver HaShem’s message.  We have one of the few human beings that have the privilege to converse with HaShem and witness supernatural events like no other person in history after the flood.  What we think and spend time delving on, causes to either feel good about ourselves or brings us down, depression, self loathing, etc.  It is important to know that our words have power, they create, just like HAShem created the universe we exist, we create the world we live in.  You may be thinking, hang-on Rabbi, what are you saying that we are like G-d we can create, that’s borderline blasphemy.  Is it really? It is not blasphemy, and yes we create by the power of our speech and what we think on. 

If you think about it, what is speech, but a thought vocalized into a sound wave that is propelled into the universe for those that are close by to hear what is being declared, it really is a combination of chemistry, physics and the spirit, the Eternal Blessed be He hears and allows it to come about.  So the lesson from this verse 30 is, be careful on what you allow to enter your heart, which you then meditate and chew over and digest, that is feeding your spirit, which becomes a thought, which becomes a word, that is then created and manifested in your life. Sound is a pressure wave, (Air molecules are acted upon), which consists of alternating periods of compression and rarefaction. Here is another interesting fact sound waves can be cancelled or annulled, in the case of noise-cancellation a speaker emits a sound wave with the same amplitude but with inverted phase to the original sound. The waves combine or are added to each other to form a new wave, in a process called interference, and effectively cancel each other out.  This effect is called destructive interference. 

In the same manner thoughts have the same effect, which are then activated in the form of sound , i.e. speech, it has the same effect.  You have good thoughts and bad thoughts, good positive speech and poor negative speech.  In the case of noice cancelling the two waves are of equal and opposite amplitude, however if one is greater than the other the prevailing sound will be the that of greater amplitude, it is therefore imperative that your thoughts and words are the ones that build rather than destroy your soul.  This last bit of information is to let you think and ponder which reality you would rather experience. The word Abracadabra may derive from an Aramaic phrase meaning "I create as I speak." אברא כדברא Remember is not magic is reality.

Walking History

As is customary, my wife and I enjoy engaging in conversation whilst we drive down the mountain. We live in area that inspires deep thinking and creativity, so this next few lines are the result of such environment.  Additionally my past experiences have been a catalyst for this train of thought.  Lets talk about history and the amount of time we occasionally give to our past.  Sometimes it is more than occasionally and it is our driving force in our minds, delving and re-living in the past.  I know, I can speak from experience, our past experience can sometimes be re-lived by the power of our minds, it is very real to each of us and can be very detrimental to our health devastating to our relationships.  Therefore the following article is an explanation of what my wife and I discussed, and how I view history from a non Western view point.

Before we delve into history and past experiences I will bring up a couple of facts about the dimension we live in, the environment in which we are part of, our planet earth and the location we live, for me Qld Australia.  I have to say deep in my heart I am a Melbourne-ian, (if there is such word), hard core Victorian, just so that you know. Our planet contrary to popular belief, does not have circular orbit around the sun. The position of the earth in relation to the sun, the centre of our galaxy and the universe, at this very moment I am writing, and that you are reading will never be occupied again. Just like the moment you lived reading this article, it will never return nor be experienced ever again.  That is a fact and our path (the earth’s that is) around the sun is elliptical and spiral in form, the sun itself has motion and is in relation to the centre of our galaxy the milky way, and is not a straight line either like all of creation is spiral and elliptical.  Yes, I am a scientist and I do believe in creation, a grand designer made all this as the pattern is obvious and palpable. So everything has motion and direction, all things move and are directed by vectors, forces and acceleration, nothing is really still.

By now you are thinking, yes but I am looking out the window and the rock in the garden is not moving, it was there this morning , yesterday and the day before, actually it has been in the same position since it was put there.  I will disagree, let me ask this question, relative to what is the rock in the same position? To your location or to the universe? Additionally the molecules and atoms that make that rock are in a furious state of flux, vibrating as the rock heats up and cools at different times of the day and seasons.  Therefore my statement has validity, that nothing stands still.  So here is the next question, what does this has to do with history and past experiences, and our minds?  The answer is a lot, and now allow me to begin to explain how our discussion developed into this article you are now reading.

The years 2015 and 2016 have been volatile in my life and my wife’s, we looked back and we realized that our past experiences are as far or as close as we choose them to be in our thoughts, but the reality is the events are further and further way from us each day goes by.  There are two ways of looking at history in particular our past.  In western society we normally say that our past is behind and our future is in front of us.  By now your mind is thinking, yes captain obvious, that is the only way to look at the past, is there another?  Yes, there is, if we have the future in front of us how come we cannot see the coming events? The answer may be because the future is behind you and is overtaking you and as it happens, it is revealed around you, on your left and right above and below like a wave hitting a lighthouse.

You see we cannot see our future and we are forbidden to look into it, we are not to see seers a negative commandment in the Torah, one of the few negative commandments that carries the death penalty.  Before you jump onto the high horse about the death penalty , relax there is no temple and no Sanhedrin, so we are off the hook regarding the death penalty, and that is a whole other issue, and article.  Regardless in our standing of the Torah, we are not physically able to see our future, and therefore the best conclusion is that the future is behind you and it comes at you at a higher rate than your existence, this is concrete thinking as opposed to abstract thinking.

Now history is not behind you, but rather, in front of you, and you can see it is an event that has occurred, that you are able to recreate certain aspects of it, explain in detail, is as if it is a picture that you can describe it in detail. It is laid in front of you and not only that it is also moving, it has overtaken you and moving at a faster rate than your existence. Here is where it got me thinking we are always in a state of motion even when we are siting we are moving.  Life moves on, regardless of how we feel, where we are and what we are doing.  So lets put time in a physical perspective, the planet earth has inertia and spins on its axis as well as it revolves around the sun.

From a physics perspective, we can say that the earth is spinning at a rate that yields an equatorial speed of 465.1 m/s, 1,674.4 km/h, thanks to physics and empirical observation, we safely agree with this figure, its all mathematical.  Now the average person walks at a velocity of 5 km/h.  So if at sunrise we start walking, the demarcation of night and day overtakes us and goes past at 465 m/s.  Now lets put this into perspective that we can understand, in a year there 365 days all at 24hours each, that equates to 8760 hours in a year.  The distance that we can travel in a year assuming non stop walking, as time does not stop, therefore we assume perpetual motion, is 8760 X 5 km/h = 43800 kms.  in contrast the earth is spinning at at 1674 km/h, and that equates to a distance of 14,667,744.0 kms.  Remember we are always moving we never visit the same location twice in any life time.  So any event that occurs in our lives, in a 24 hour period we can say that it is either 120kms away or 40,185.6 kms away,  after 24 hours have lapsed, the choice is yours, how far apart we put ourselves with past events.

Therefore, living in the past the longer the event occurred, the further away it happened and more distance is in between us.  The reason I used walking pace is because in the second temple era everything was measure on a shabbat’s walking distance, or on a regular day’s walking distance.  We find it on the Jewish writings of the Brit Chadashah, in many instances it refers to a shabbats walking distance or a days journey.  All of these were at a steady pace of the average human being, and not a shopping spree of Christmas Day of parents that forgot to buy presents.

So now lets recap for example, an event in the distant past, and this is just a rough estimate, I was born in 1959 that makes me roughly 57 years old, yes an old goat, so that in hours is 499,320 hours alive plus or minus a few hours, ok two thousand hours to be precise.  So about 50,000 hours at 5 km/h gives us 250,000 kms since my birth.  Lets use the speed at which the earth spins and it gets scary how far away I was born, 50,000 x 1674.4 = 83,720,000 kms.  So now put this into a practical example, the most hurtful event that has happened in your life, how far is it from you and can it return to bother you?  Is it logical for us to dwell on the past or should we look forward to what is coming, to what is being revealed in our lives every second, every moment?  How do we now make decisions based on this information, what choices do we make and how do we deal with the outcomes of our choices?  Remember when HaShem forgives, he sets our trespasses as far apart as the East is from the West, now does that that terminology makes sense now?  One more and important question, who is walking in our side?  Who takes the journey alongside with us, this is an important question as this will determine how much are we going to enjoy our time here on earth.  If we are lucky we may endure 700,800 hours to live, which measure are you using to determine your distance travelled and how much are you going to allow the past to affect your now?

The good fruit

Last shabbat I taught on the parables of the fig tree and the barren trees, looking at the parables from a Jewish point of view.  I mentioned that a plant in order to give good fruit, it needs to be planted in good soil  with water access and that the fruit produced is a source of nourishment. This morning on my routine commute to the city centre I started to ponder on the issue of fruit and a comment I made in the teaching.  I said that in our congregation we try our best to refrain from becoming fruit cakes.  That is an expression I normally use to describe people that go all weird and hyper spiritual, out of context and on non Torah base practices, that abound in Christianity and “messianism” and Hebrew Roots and Judaism, no one is free from this craziness.

So as I was driving I could not help to make the parallels on a fruit that is picked from the tree when its ripe, there is nothing like a fruit that has ripen in the tree its sweeter more filling and carries more nourishment and essential natural components for our well being. Just try to google search on this and you will find plenty of evidence in the intergoogle.  I know the difference in tomatoes ripped in the plant and camera ripped tomatoes, same with mandarines and oranges, pomegranates, and my favourite fruits, figs and pineapples.  I can tell a ripped pineapple in the plant from outside the fruit shop, it permeates its aroma all over.  The extra facet of the teaching that came to me in the car is: Just as fruit ripens in the tree and it nourishes you, so are the fruit of the spirit.  At the right time at the right place when you share the fruit of the Spirit it brings life to those partaking from it.  

However, if you take the fruit and add other ingredients such as sugar, flour, eggs, yeast, spices etc you end up with a fruitcake.  As the fruit is cooked and processed it looses its value, its vitamins are oxidised and become non effective the same for its natural sugars they loose their flavour.  Components that can be tasted in the natural fruit are lost as you heat them up in processing it and these essential volatiles are lost.  This is the same in the Spirit, take the word of the Torah and  working of the Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, mix it with Greco-Roman practices and human thought process. Add to it a pinch flowery speech and you get new dogma and teachings that no longer bring nourishment, they may taste good but are not life giving. Repeat this process several times and it becomes a truth and the norm, however it is still a fruit cake no matter how you present it.

As I mentioned earlier, that a plant in order to give good fruit, it needs to be planted in good soil, we are the plant, the good soil is the Torah, the living water is Yeshua and the light that allows the good soil and water to produce good fruit is the Ruach.  The chemistry that puts it all together, walking in the spirit of HaShem, He is the source of the good fruit.  The good fruit does not need processing it should be enjoyed as it is given at its season.

Shalom

Parasha Vayikra 2015

Leviticus 1:1- 5:26, Eze 45:16-46:18 and Markus 7:1-30

Here we are March 17th , yesterday I blinked and six months have gone by, since Simcha Torah. And we are at parasha vayikra, well, traditionally I would engage in the Torah portion  full on, but this time I will deviate from the norm and the tradition, and will look at what the Apostolic writing has to say.  This weeks portion is found in Markos 7:1-30.  As a Messianic Jew that believes that Yehoshua (Yeshua) is the true Jewish Messiah, then I find it fitting to break with tradition and look at the Apostolic writings that deal with tradition.

The whole chapter starts with a description of those present in the narrative, we  have the Prushim, that is Pharisees, and scholars of the Torah. No doubt they came to argue Torah, a very Jewish pastime, we argue we scream at each other and then we eat and celebrate a successful torah study group.  From the outside and for those not of Jewish DNA it will seem that a war just being declared and a fist fight is about to break, but not so.  All was going well but as soon as they saw that Yeshua’s talmidim were not acting according to the traditions passed down from generation to generation, things went down hill from there.  The tradition equated the washing of the hands to spiritual purity, and on seeing eating without washing hands they spoke up, it was only natural, they are the keepers of the traditions and the Torah.  However Yeshua had a few things himself to say about the whole scenario.

Where we as human beings, mere mortals, that only see the external, will always worry about that which is external and perceptible to our senses.  Yeshua a man endowed with a special soul and anointed by HaShem to fulfil the role of Messiah, saw things a little bit deeper, in fact so much deeper, that he saw the heart as if it was in pure mid day sunlight.  He then begun to excoriate them because their hearts were not pure and clean, that tradition had superseded Torah, and as result their hearts were far from HaShem, and love and the real mitzvots.  Our Master saw fit to bring the dross out for their hearts and begun to teach everyone present the true nature of whom we are.  The heart is devious and deceitful to one self, we are talking about the nature of the human being, the evil inclination that we are born with pass down from generation to generation.

What an insight, he went onto say-'That which is coming out from the man, that doth defile the man; for from within, out of the heart of men, the evil reasonings do come forth, adulteries, whoredoms, murders, thefts, covetous desires, wickedness, deceit, arrogance, an evil eye, evil speaking, pride, foolishness; all these evils do come forth from within, and they defile the man’ was this a new concept? Sukkah 52a:34 - The Holy One, blessed be He, called it Evil, as it is said, “For the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). and Sukkah 52a:36

3) David called it unclean, as it is said, “Create me a clean heart, O Lord,” (Psalms 51:12), which implies that there is an unclean one. One last one - Mishneh Torah, Repentance 2:4 Anyone who confesses verbally and does not commit in his heart to abandon [sin], this is like a... person who immerses [in a purity pool] while holding an unclean creature in his hand, so that the bath... is not effective until he sends away the unclean creature, and so it says, One who admits….

The whole idea was known all along, but as you well know , knowledge is not the issue, obedience is.  One cannot say today I did not know this or that, the information is freely available , a few strokes of the keyboard and we have access to over two millennia of knowledge and writings of the sages and great Tzadikim (righteous ones), for us to learn and apply to our walk.

Here is the key, for this week consider your life , your walk, your thoughts and your actions.  The evil inclination in you how strong is it? does it need feeding does it thirst? Yeshua said if your enemy hungers feed him, if he thirst give him drink.  Who is our enemy, our evil inclination our own selves, we need to feed the evil inclination bread and give it water.  I know what you thinking, “The rabbi lost his marbles!!” Not really, well truth be told yes a long time ago, but the reality is that yes our worst enemy is ourselves and our evil inclination.  In Judaism bread  equates to Torah and so does water, but water also equates to Messiah.  So bread and water to our enemy subdues him Torah and Messiah in our lives, subdues our evil inclination and strengthens us.  Your chose like in Mt Sinai choose life or choose death, your choice, I urge you says HaShem choose life!