Branches reaching out with the Word
It can be very hard for us at times to understand people of a another language. Here is a fun video to make my point.
The same is true of the scriptures. If we do not learn the langauage, colloquialisms, customs, Torah, manners, traditions, and theology of the Bible there may be a lot of the scriptures that we will not understand properly.
Don’t just improve your English like the video says…improve your Hebrew Roots!
Shalom,
Bill
As I write this the fall Festivals are drawing to a close. There are only a few days left of Sukkot and it will not be long until it is Simchat Torah…Celebrating the Torah. There is a great tradition on this day. The Torah scroll that has been winding from one roll to the other for the last 50+ Shabbats will be re-rolled to being the Torah reading cycle once again.
This coming Shabbat (Oct 6th) begins the new cycle of Torah readings with the traditional reading of Bereshit. I still use an annual cycle and probably will keep tis tradition until a new tri-annual cycle begins in two or three years. (I forget where we are with that.) I really like the annual cycle however, as it gives me the opportunity to EACH year read the whole Torah. I always learn something new and find some new insight.
So, I am excited to celebrate the Torah this year and begin a new cycle. I am excited to see what God has in store to teach me throughout the year 5768.
Shalom and Happy Festivals
Bill
Well, here I am, writing the last blog of the Hebrew year 5767. This past year has been such a blessing to me I am really looking forward to 5768.
Many of you are probably looking at those dates wondering if I am having a stroke or something. For those who do not know beginning at sunset tonight (Sept 12, 2007) we begin the biblical festival of Rosh Hashanah (The Head of the Year). This is the beginning of the new calendar year on the Hebrew calendar. The day is also called “Yom Teruah” or the “the Day of the Trumpet.” It is marked by the sounding of the Shofar (The ram’s horn trumpet.)
There are many great traditions that surround Yom Teruah. HEre are two of my favorites.
1. Sounding the shofar. Somewhere in the Talmud it says that the sounding of the Shofar confuses satan. It is beleived that whenever a shofar is sounded that he gets confused thinking that it is the Great Shofar that will sound on the day of the Messiah’s return and he knows what will happen then! May it come soon.
2. The Teshlich serivce. There is a service done on Yom Teruah where one fills their pockets with rocks and then they go down to the water’s edge and throw the rock in. The rocks symbolize your sins and the water symbolizes the forgivenss of God.
This festival begins a 10 period of repentence. It will end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Until next year! May you be blessed and inscribed for a New Year and may that year be sweet!
Shana Tova,
Bill
Remember when you were in school and the first thing that you would do when you returned was write a short essay on what you did during summer break? Well, here is what I did when I was on summer vacation.
I had a great opportunity this summer to direct our community theatre production of “My Fair Lady.” The biggest blessing in that was the people that I worked with. They were a great group of people. Everyone worked hard to put the production together. We got a long well together. We supported each other. We helped each other. We made sure that we were all taken care of. And the show was a HUGE success.
All in all it was a great community to be a part of for the summer.
But, then I began to wonder. Why aren’t our communities of faith the exact same way all the time? Why is there so much distance and bickering that happens in our communities? Why are so many of the people we worship with at odds with each other? We should be striving to make our communities loving, caring, supportive places to be. If we do our jobs right people will WANT to become a member of our community. What will we be bringing them into?
What can you do to make your community a better place to be?
Shalom,
Bill
As I was preparing for my Sabbath Torah Study I was reading the story of Paul’s conversion. In Acts 9:10 G-d calls out Ananias’ name and Ananias responds, “Here I am, Lr-d.”
That phrase appears over and over again in the scriptures. People again and again saying the words, “Here I am, L-rd.” But do we really know what is all behind that phrase?
To say, “Here I am, L-rd” is not like picking up the phone and saying, “Hi this is Bill can I help you?” It is more like saying, ‘Here I am L-rd. I am willing to listen. I am willing to obey. Whatever you ask we will do. Whatever your will is we will work for it. We place our trust in all that you say and we are ready to follow you. You need only ask and we will obey. I am your foot soldier waiting for your next order. I am your servent waiting to serve.”
How often do we as beleivers say, ‘Here I am, L-rd’ and really mean it.
I encourage you all to come to G-d in prayer and say to him “Here I am, L-rd.” And mean it with all that is behind that statement.
Shalom,
Bill
One of the things that I admire about the Hebrew faith is the fact that they do not shy away from grief. I would not say that they celebrate it, but they certainly understand it as a natural part of their faith. I am also realizing that many of the problems that our society has, comes from unresolved grief issues. I sat on more than one occasion with people who are struggling with either anger, addiction, depression, etc…only to realize they are experiencing that becasue they have not dealt with their grief in the proper way.
If I am not mistaken Judaism is the only (or one of the only) world religions that actually has a process of grief built into their life cycle of faith. In Christianity as soon as the funeral lunch is over we feel it is time to move on. Grieving over. However, in Judaism that is when the grieving begins and there is a process that the family follows. Not only in their own lives, but also in the lives of the congregation. Each week in Shabbat worships there is a special prayer called the Kaddish that is recited by the cantor and those who have lost loved ones. It not only offers them the support they need during a difficult time, but reminds those in the congregation that there are people among them who are still grieving.
Right now we are in the first few days of the month of Av on the Hebrew claendar. This is a time of mourning leading up the the 9th day of Av or Tisha B’av. It is beleived that not only were BOTH Temples destroyed on Tisha B’av, but also many other sins done to the Jewish people have occured at this time. There are rituals and practices that the Jewish people up hold during this time that allow them to grieve events that have been done to them, like the Inquisition and the Holocaust.
I think that it is a very healthy thing to engage ourselves in the proess of grief. We should not be afraid to grieve, cry, mourn, etc…these are all natural parts of who we are as people. We are emotional beings and if we do not deal with our emotions in a healthy way then we can run the risk of unresolved grief. I think one factor for the survival of the Jewish people through these centuries is their ability to deal with grief. We could learn alot from their process of grief and their remmebrance of grievious events.
Shalom,
Bill
The other day I was cooking something. And I reached into the shelf above the stove for a seasoning. And I was “dashing” the seasoning into the pot I though of this Bible passage…
Col. 4:6: Let your speech be always with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
As I encounter people over and over on the web forums I am continually amazed at the lack of grace we show each other. A few posts back I made the comment that integrity is who you are when you are on the internet, shrouded in anonimity. But, yet people continually treat their brothers and sisters with contempt as they commnicate with them over the internet about the love and the grace of G-d. Ironic!
Often I have heard people use the excuse that they are simply reacting to tothers the same way that Jesus reacted to the Pharisees. There are a few things that we should take into consideration when using the example of Jesus and the Pharisees.
1. Jesus had the right to correct them. He is perfect in his Torah observance and in his love and his grace. He is entitled to righteous indignation (if it was indeed that). Perhaps when we become perfect in our Torah obedience we then would have the right to treat people with directness and anger.
2. The Pharisses were the ones who should have known better. It is one thing to rebuke a person who has studied and learned certain aspects of the faith and still do not follow them, but it is a whole other thing to correct those who are new to Torah observance and still learning.
3. Yeshua (Jesus) was more than likely a Pharisee himself. Therefore his correction of the Pharisees was in a way an “in-house” form of communication. You have more responisbilty to your own people then you do to people in the street. You can talk more plainly with people you are connected to than you can to people you do not know or cannot see.
I think that Paul’s advice to the Colossians is sound advice to us. Our speech to each other should be seasoned with grace. Not so much that we do as the scriptures tell us, but also that we treat each other with the same love and respect that the Master wants us to treat each other with.
When I was a little boy I remember my father telling me, “Be careful with the words that come out of your mouth. One day you may have to eat them.” If my words are seasoned with grace? MMM that is an interesting thought!
Shalom,
Bill
There is a tradition in Judaism that from Passover to the end of the Torah reading cycle that one studies the Pirke Avot. The Pirke Avot, also called “The ethics of the Fathers”, is a section of the Mishnah. Over the years I have come to enjoy reading the wisdom found in these pages. I have also been amazed at how many of them are refelected in the Apostolic Scriptures.
This week as I was studying I came across an interesting quote..
Avot 4.16 R. Juda said, “Be cautious in study, for an error in study may amount to presuptuous sin.”
Sometimes I have seen where people are not always so cautious in their study. They allow a clever argument to taint their belief. Are we leading ourselves into presumtuous sin?
Shalom,
Bill
In the parasha for this week (Shelach: Numbers 13-15) we read the story of the Spys who went into the land to spy it out. When they come back only two of them gave a good, honest report. The others gave a report that incited the people to ONCE AGAIN want to return to Egypt. But, something happens. In Numbers 14:13-25 Moses prays to th L-rd and asks him to forgive them their iniquity. And He does!
Immediately after reading that I thought about Yeshua being nailed to the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” I thought about Stephen being stoned, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And then I got slammed with the words, “Forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
Have you ever put some thought into those words before? We are asking G-d to use us as the exmaple of forgiveness. “You know, L-rd, forgive me in the same way that I am forgiving of other people.” OY what a sobering thought.
All over the place I see people holding grudges, harboring anger, hiding frustration, and breaking relationships. And at the same time when we pray the Master’s prayer we ask him to use us as the example of forgiveness. There was one time when a person talked with me about something someone did to them. They asked me if they should fogive them. Even before the words to finish coming frm the mouth I responded, “YES.”
We are a people of forgiveness. That is what we do. For when we do that we give an example to the world of how He forgives all who come to Him. And now it seems when we forgive people we are also showing G-d that we CAN be examples of forgiveness for ourselves. Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
Shalom,
Bill
In the Ethics of the Father (Avot 1.6) we are given the directive to find ourselves a teacher. More and more I am seeing the wisdom in this. It is when we have the direction, education and accountability of a teacher that we find a base on which to build our doctrine. The hardest part of this directive is to actually find someone to fill this role. For some reason in the family of faith there is a shortage of people willing to be teachers. The idea of discipleship is truly lacking in the faith circles of today.
When I first came to the Torah I searched diligently for a person who would take me under their wings and help me to grow in my faith. The first teacher that I had a short while after becoming is student had come to the conclusion that Yeshua indeed was NOT the Messiah and he revert back to Rabbnic Judaism…denying the Messiah along the way. This left me scarred and looking for a new person to mentor or disciple me.
“A” teacher never surfaced. I had a plethera of people who did not understand my call to be a Torah Pursuant person in the Church and derailed what G-d had called me to. I had another group of people who disagreed with what I felt were basic tenenats of the faith. I had still other people who were content to preach at me, but the minute I struggled with an issue I was no longer taken seriously. It was kind of like “Well, if you can’t accept what I tell you then you obviously are not a good student.” Man Alive! Even Yeshua’s disciples asked questions!
So, for thepast few years I have been ‘on my own.’ I have my books, forums, emails and other connections with Messianic beleivers, but yet not one that I could call ‘teacher’.
I think all to often the reason that the Torah Movement is in such a disarry is that people not only follow after thei own hearts in halacha, but also in theolgy. THere is no one to hold us acocuntable. We live in an age where if we do not like somethign we simple change brands. As the people of G-d we are no differnet. We are to be holy and set apart, yet we are just like the world around us. We should be different. We should adopt the concept of discipleship that was in palce at the time of the MAster.
After all we have been called to rasie up disciples…but hwere are all the teachers?
Shalom,
Bill
