If you are a Lost Jew or from the Lost of Israel and suffer already many years for not being accepted……. Why not joining Beit Ya’aqob International? If you like the do Teshuvah in Messiah Ben Yoseph with His Divine Mandate you are most welcome to join! Follow the millions who are already joining………! Come fill out the form click: http://beityaaqov.org/here/join-us/ and receive your National Ephraim Identity Cart. For organizations and/or more information contact me (Ariel) click: http://thewatchmenfromisrael.org/contact-us/
Never forget HaShem Loves you very much. Messiah Ben Yoseph stated clearly:
Mat 15:24 And He answering, said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Yisra’ĕl.”
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click:
Invitation: COME VISIT WITH ME, AND MY FELLOW JEWS, THE HAR HABAIT?
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A MUST READ FOR ALL JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WHO VISIT THIS WEB-SITE!
We believe,
Yehudah has to go her ‘prophetic way’:
in ‘the Judicial Authority (Mechoqeck*) of HaShem: The Rabbinical leadership is the Divinely authorized Teacher of the Torah of HaShem’ for the Jews!
Because,
Gen 49:10 “The sceptre shall not turn aside from Yehuḏah, nor a Lawgiver (Mechoqeck*) from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him is the obedience of peoples.
H271 חָקַק* châqaq khaw-kak’ A primitive root; properly to hack, that is,engrave(Jdg_5:14, tobe a scribe simply); by implication to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets in primitive times) or (generally) prescribe: – appoint, decree, governor, grave, lawgiver, note, pourtray, print, set.
Ephraim has to go her (different as Yehudah) ‘prophetic way’:
Devarim 30:10 if you obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim (Messiah Ben Yoseph, the Divinely authorized Teacher of the Torah of HaShem for Ephraim!), to guard His commands and His laws which are written in this Book of the Torah, if you turn back to יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being.
Read more about Messiah Ben Yoseph click: “Divine Aspects of Mashiach ben Yosef…….” According to the teachings of the Vilna Gaon
This means HaShem went with Ephraim a different way than with Yehudah. But, as the rabbi’s are teaching: Ephraim (a different nation, the Lost Northern Kingdom of Israel) comes back with Messiah Ben Yoseph as their divine ordained leader. And Yehudah comes back with ‘their Judicial Authority (Mechoqeck*) of HaShem: ‘The Rabbinical leadership, the Divinely authorized Teacher of the Torah of HaShem for Yehudah.’
Devarim 30:1-10 “And it shall be, when all these words (Messiah Ben Yoseph) come upon you, the blessing (Messiah) and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart…..
This really means, you read from the beginning of Bereshit/Genesis until the end of Devarim/Deuteronomy. And by every Word that Abba Yahweh speaks you ask Him for forgiveness where you went wrong and promise Abba Yahweh the do it good
………among all the gentiles where יהוה your Elohim drives you,
2 and shalt turn back to יהוה your Elohim and obey His voice (Messiah Ben Yoseph), according to all that I command you today……
You, Ephraim and Yehudah say that already together: Devarim 5:27 ‘You go near and hear all that יהוה our Elohim says, and speak to us all that יהוה our Elohim says to you, and we shall hear and do it.’…… You should say it again Ephraim and Manasseh when Messiah Ben Yoseph ‘knock’s on the ‘door’ of your heart.’
……..with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children,
3 then יהוה your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where יהוה your Elohim has scattered you.
4 “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens, from there יהוה your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does take you.
5 “And יהוה your Elohim shall bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He shall do good to you, and increase you more than your fathers.
6 “And יהוה your Elohim shall circumcise your heart (By Messiah Ben Yoseph, the teaching of the HaBerith HaChadasha Scriptures) and the heart of your seed, to love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, so that you might live,
7 and יהוה your Elohim shall put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8 “And you shall turn back (Do Teshuvah) and obey the voice of יהוה (Messiah Ben Yoseph) and do all His commands which I command you today.
9 “And יהוה your Elohim shall make you have excess in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground for good. For יהוה turns back to rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,
10 if you obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim, (Messiah Ben Yoseph) to guard His commands and His laws which are written in this Book of the Torah, if you turn back to יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being.
That is the Promise from Abba Yahweh the only Way, no other Way is accepted….
This blog is a part from the website: ‘The WatchMen from Israel’.
Jerusalem-Israel, Sivan 8, 5776 / Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Yaʽaqoḇ 1:1 Yaʽaqoḇ, a servant of Elohim and of the Master יהושע Messiah, to the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion: Greetings.
Isa 48:20 “Come out of Baḇel! Flee from the Chaldeans (Muslims)! Declare this with a voice of singing, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth! Say,‘יהוה has redeemed His servant Yaʽaqoḇ!’
See click: Call for an international committee of wise people to form a government for the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel and all their friends.
Isa 59:20-21 “And the Redeemer shall come to Tsiyon, and to those turning from transgression in Yaʽaqoḇ,” declares יהוה……
Your Redeemer:
Yeshayahu 43: 11 “I, I am Yahweh, and besides Me there is
no savior (Hebrew – מושׁיע Moshia). Messiah Ben David, our coming Leader, shall speak again from between the Cherubim above the Atonement Lid,
Eze 36:37-38 ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “Once again I shall let the house of Yisra’ĕl inquire of Me (speaking again from between the Cherubim above the Atonement Lid) to do for them: I shall increase their men like a flock.
38 “As a set-apart flock (by the Torah of Messiah), as the flock at Yerushalayim at her appointed times, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am יהוה.” ’ ”
……..21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” said יהוה: “My Spirit that is upon you, and My Words that I have put in your mouth, shall not be withdrawn from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” said יהוה, “from this time and forever.”
Eph 6:17 Take also the helmet of deliverance, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of Elohim….
We share these studies for the benefit that you shall learn Torah Ephraim and Manasseh worldwide. NOT to put you under Jewish Halachah. If you like to become Jewish you have go to a Jewish Rabbi. Beit Ya’aqov International is a non-Jewish organization an Ephraim Agency and hope to become the Restored Northern Kingdom of Israel and to be soon united with Yehudah (the Jews, the old Southern Kingdom of Israel. Already restored in The Modern State of Israel) but only under the sovereignty of Messiah Ben Dawid.
Yehudah became his Holy sanctuary and Israel his Kingdom – Psalms 114 :2
We will see that the children of Israel return to Most High and Torah of Mashiach, And will hug in the Holy Land, and by obeying and listening the “VOICE of Most Ancient Holy One of Israel”, will bring offerings in a righteous way on the holy mountain and also bring the Ark of the covenant with pure heart in the right place (i.e In Har HaBayit, on the foundation Stone [please read click: About ‘The Foundation Stone’ in Jerusalem……]) and We will Welcome the son of David on Mount Zion, Jerusalem – Gaddi, President, BeitYaaqov International.
[Ha Khadosh Baruch Hu – Baruch HaBa B’Shem Adonai ]
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“AZAMRA Parshah” Diaspora & Israel Torah Readings Shabbat June 18
On Shabbat June 18 Diaspora communities will read the Torah portion of NASO while Israel communities will read the portion of BEHA’ALOTCHA. Subscribers in Israel will need to scroll down the email past the commentary on the Diaspora reading to find the commentary on the Israel reading for this Shabbat.
DIASPORA TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT JUNE 18:
NASO Numbers 4:21-7:89
Haftara: Judges 13:2-25
UNIVERSAL TORAH COMMENTARY ON NASO
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
THE LONGEST PARSHAH
Parshas NASO, with 176 verses, is the longest parshah in the whole Torah, and the Midrashic commentaries, particularly the aggadic Midrash Rabbah, are also exceptionally lengthy. It is fitting that this parshah is usually read on the Shabbos immediately before or just after the festival of Shavuos celebrating the Giving of the Torah, when our love of the Torah is renewed and we receive new vigor and energy to devote ourselves to our studies. We are now enjoying the longest days of the year, and the long Summer Shabbos should give us plenty of time to explore the beautiful mysteries of this Parshah.
* * *
NO “BEFORE” AND “AFTER” IN THE TORAH
As noted in a number of previous commentaries, the sequence of parshahs and sections in the Torah is not always chronological, and Parshas NASO is one of the prime cases.
The opening of our parshah, dealing with the census of the Levitical families, is a direct continuation of the previous parshah, BAMIDBAR, the closing section of which started the narrative of the Levitical census. The command to Moses to conduct the census of the people was given “on the first day of the SECOND month” of the year after the Exodus (Numbers 1:1) and Moses did so forthwith. After completion in parshas NASO of the account of the census, the Torah JUMPS BACK chronologically to the first day of the FIRST month of the year after the Exodus — the day of the inauguration of the Sanctuary.
The chronological jump is not obvious immediately. However, the section after the Levitical census deals with commandments that relate to the newly inaugurated sanctuary: sending the ritually impure out of the camp, the sacrifices of the SOTAH (the wife suspected of infidelity), and the NAZIR (who vows not to drink wine, cut his/her hair or become defiled by the dead), the priestly blessing (which was given in the courtyard outside the Sanctuary, and was instituted by Aaron on the day of its inauguration). The lengthy closing section of NASO narrates in detail the dedications and sacrificial offerings of all the Princes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel on the twelve inaugural days of the Sanctuary, starting on the 1st Nissan. Although the date is not written explicitly in our parshah, it says: “It was on the day of the completion by Moses of the erection of the Sanctuary.” (Numbers 7:1). We are already familiar with this most auspicious day from our studies in Exodus and Leviticus.
The Torah continues dwelling on 1st Nissan and associated themes into the following parshah, BEHA’ALOSCHA, and there the date is given explicitly: “And G-d spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the second year after their going out from the Land of Egypt IN THE FIRST MONTH” (Numbers 9:1). Rashi (ad loc.) tells us that this verse indeed is the written proof that there is no “before” and “after” in the Torah.
In other words, the various parshahs and sections of the Torah are not necessarily arranged in chronological sequence but thematically. This indicates that adjacent passages in the Torah whose subjects may not on the surface appear to be interconnected do in fact have profound interconnections. This gives rise to the rabbinic method of interpreting passages in the Torah according to their SEMICHUS, “proximity” to one another. Our parshah contains a case in point in the rabbinic comment on why the section about the NAZIR, who vows to abstain from wine, comes directly after that about the SOTAH, the unfaithful wife. “Everybody who sees the damage done by and to the Sotah will want to abstain from wine, which is what brings to fornication” (Rashi on Numbers 6:2).
* * *
THE GIVING OF THE TORAH AND INAUGURATION OF THE SANCTUARY
As noted earlier, NASO is always read on the Shabbos after Shavuos, anniversary of the Giving of the Torah. Clearly there is a deep link between the Giving of the Torah and the Inauguration of the Sanctuary/Temple and its associated commandments, which is the theme of the greater part of NASO. On this, one of the longest Shabboses at the height of summer, when the world is in full bloom around us, the Torah keeps our minds focussed on the 1st of Nissan, the “New Year”, time of rebirth, the day of the Consecration of the Sanctuary.
On the day the Sanctuary was consecrated, the Torah descended from Sinai with its awe, thunder, lightning and earthquakes and was brought in the golden Ark of the Covenant, under the wings of the Cherubs, into the ultimate serene tranquillity of the Holy of Holies. This was the vision of Jacob, the founding father who built the House of Israel: that the Torah should come down from its lofty heights and dwell inside the Sanctuary — not only in the actual, external Sanctuary, but in the home of every Israelite and the heart of every Israelite. When we bring the Torah into our homes and our hearts, it becomes the vessel of peace and blessing that radiates light all around us, just as the blessing of the priests radiates from the Sanctuary (and today, during the priestly blessing in the synagogue, from before the Ark, housing the Torah scrolls): “May the Lord bless you and keep you.”. For the study of Torah itself confers blessing. For the entire Torah is woven of the names of G-d, and “in every place where I shall cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:21).
* * *
IN THE HOME AND IN THE HEART
At the center of parshas NASO are two lengthy sections that bring the Torah of the Sanctuary directly into our very homes and hearts: these are the sections dealing with the laws of the SOTAH, the wife suspected of infidelity, and the NAZIR, who vows to abstain from wine, cutting his/her hair and defilement from the dead.
At the very center of the true Torah home is the love between husband and wife, which is the very foundation of the BINYAN — the “building” or structure of the family. True love between husband and wife is very jealous: true love brooks no outsiders and third parties. The unity of husband and wife must be complete, face to face, without a trace of a shadow in between.
It is hard even to speak of the purity of love between husband and wife in a world in which third parties are accepted as a normal part of life. It is this rampant immorality that breeds broken homes, broken hearts, children who grow up between one home and another, knowing little or nothing of family, roots and kinship.
Completely opposite is the morality emanating from the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Sanctuary: “This is the Torah of the Sotah.” Strange as it may seem ithe context of contemporary (im)morality, the ceremony of the Sotah, the wife suspected of marital infidelity, one of the most awesome rituals of the Temple, is intended as a bulwark of family purity.
In normal everyday life husbands and wives are constantly coming into contact with all kinds of other people in various different contexts, and it is only natural that relationships can form even in societies that are sexually segregated (as in Temple times) let alone in contemporary mixed society.
The Sotah ritual — administering the bitter waters to the wife even as she protests her innocence in the face of suspicions of infidelity — was intentionally very frightening to the woman involved and to all who saw it. Here we see the Temple, where the ritual would take place, as a kind of theatre where a spectacle is held up to the entire nation in order to teach a deep lesson.
The bitter waters are the truth-tester of the Torah (quite different from lie-detectors). Mixed with the water was earth from the floor of the Sanctuary (archetype of the Israelite home as it should be) and the dissolved ink of the letters of Torah verses and curses written on the scroll of the Sotah, including the holy name of G-d. What is the truth? Did she or didn’t she? Is she lying or is she telling the truth?
The actual Sotah test in Temple times only works when the husband himself is absolutely beyond reproach on any level in all of the commandments relating to sexuality — the foundation of the Covenant. On such an ideal level of purity, love is fierce and love is jealous. Suspicions may arise. The holy waters of the Sotah can dispel them. For this it is worth dissolving and washing off even the holy name of G-d: to make peace between man and his wife, or to make them separate.
Today, in the absence of the Temple, the Sotah waters take on a different significance, more allegorical. In actual life, without ideal levels of purity, suspicions and strange thoughts do often creep into the best of relationships. It is not infrequently through the bitter waters of suffering that the truth really comes out, one way or the other. And when the bitter waters prove that there was never any disloyalty at all, the resulting rebirth of love and vigor brings new, stronger children into the world, strengthening the home with the joyous mother of children at its center.
[In the Midrash, the Sotah is the Jewish nation, suspected of infidelity to G-d because of their dalliance with the nations, tested by the bitter waters of suffering.]
* * *
THE NAZIRITE
The Hebrew word NAZIR is today used for a monk, but the Torah has no place for such celibacy, and only the prophet Moses and certain true Tzaddikim were permitted to separate themselves from “the way of the world”. The Torah NAZIR was not one who separated himself from the world as a recluse from normal life. (On the contrary, the laws of NAZIR are bound up with family life: a man may make his son a NAZIR, he may invite his wife to take the vow of NAZIR, nullify her vow, etc.) The Nazirite vow is one that would in Temple times be taken on by a regular, normal person who did not want to separate himself from the entire world but did want to set extra limits on his own behavior over and above what the Torah requires of everyone.
Following on from the above-quoted Midrash — “Everybody who sees the damage done by and to the Sotah will want to abstain from wine, which is what brings to fornication” — the NAZIR living in the real world full of immorality wants to set for himself or herself extra personal boundaries against anything that may even lead to such immorality — wine and anything connected with wine, and even fancy hairstyles! The Nazirite may not defile himself with the dead, for while death exposes the folly of worship of the body, fears of aging and death often drive people to seek out the pleasures of the body compulsively.
The section dealing with the NAZIR sets forth the detailed laws of the Nazirite vow, yet implies that taking on specific vows is not encouraged by the Torah. Among his sacrifices the Nazirite has to bring a sin-offering for abstaining from permitted pleasures, as if what the Torah itself prohibits is not enough. When we take on vows, sometimes the tests become overwhelming, and may cause us to break them unwittingly (like the Nazirite who becomes unwittingly defiled by contact with the dead.).
What the Torah wants from us is the true labor of the heart: commitment. A vow is an explicit verbal commitment that we make, creating a Torah of our own, something that goes beyond the letter of the law. It may be in the form of a personal boundary. It may be in the form of a specific commitment. Jacob, the founding father of Israel, builder of the home, was the first one to make a vow. At Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount where Jacob dreamed of the ladder (SULAM = SINAI = Giving of the Torah), he woke up and set up the Temple foundation and vowed to give a tithe of all he received to G-d. The Torah that came forth from the Sanctuary (Leviticus 1:1) begins with a vow — that of a person who wants to offer a sacrifice in the Temple: “When a person would offer an offering” (Leviticus 1:2).
The Nazirite vow is much more demanding than a one-time sacrifice: it is a commitment to a very strict discipline — complete abstinence from grapes and wine, no haircutting to emphasize the opposite of body-oriented immorality, etc. In the present day world in which we lead our lives, the actual Nazirite vow is not a practical possibility, but we certainly all know ways in which it is desirable to hedge ourselves in with personal boundaries that help separate ourselves from that which is negative and evil in this world of Good and Evil.
What is asked of us is to make our personal boundaries and adhere to them without expressing them in the form of specific vows. The danger of the vow is that during the initial enthusiasm in which in which it is made, we may not see prospective difficulties that could make it impossible to adhere to it. What is asked of us is not to tie ourselves up in verbal commitments that we cannot keep, but rather, to make an inner commitment — the commitment of the heart — to what we know to be good, and then do everything in our power to adhere to our commitment.
* * *
TWELVE STYLES
The concluding section of NASO deals with the sacrifices of the Twelve Princes on the twelve inaugural days of the Sanctuary. It is striking that these were one-time sacrifices, yet we read these portions of the Torah several times during the year: they are publicly read in the Synagogue during Chanukah, and in some Synagogues they are read from a Torah scroll on the first twelve days of Nissan.
In last week’s commentary discussing the names of the Princes and numbers of the tribes of Israel in the Wilderness, I made reference to the fact that in the Hebrew Torah, all of these are ciphers, codes and letter-permutations that bring entire worlds upon worlds into being. The same is true of the portions dealing with the sacrifices of the Twelve Princes, each of whom brought identical offerings on twelve successive days.
One of the reasons why the Midrash Rabbah on NASO is so lengthy is because not only does it contain extensive drashos on the SOTAH and NAZIR, etc. It also contains very lengthy drashos showing that although each of the Twelve Princes brought identical offerings, in each case they had an entirely different meaning and intention, each wondrous, each amazing.
And so too each Israelite dons the same Tallis and Tefilin, abstains from the same forbidden labors on Shabbos, gives Tzedakah, does Chessed. But in each case the meaning and intention of each act is entirely different. The hidden intentions in the heart of each one. the hidden efforts.
And G-d has joy from them all. All are His children. All are members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the House of Jacob.
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
* * * * * * * * * * *
ISRAEL TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT JUNE 18:
Parshas BEHA’ALOTCHA, Numbers 8:1-12:16
Haftara: Zechariah 2:14-4:7
UNIVERSAL TORAH COMMENTARY ON BEHA’ALOTCHA
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
After the dedication of the Sanctuary — the portable Temple and repository of the Torah — the Children of Israel were almost ready to start the journey to the Land of Israel. The purpose was to fulfill the mission of Abraham, the founding father: to take the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem so that the light of the Torah would shine from Mount Moriah to the entire world.
The opening sections of BEHA’ALOSCHA set forth some final details relating to the Sanctuary and its services (the lighting of the Menorah, the inauguration of the Levites and their service, the law of the Second Pesach). The Torah then relates the miraculous Divine providence visible in the encampment and journeyings of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. The sections dealing with the Sanctuary conclude with the command to Moses to make trumpets, after which the Torah relates the Children of Israel’s momentous first journey from Sinai towards the Promised Land.
* * *
UNTIL THE FLAME GOES UP BY ITSELF
Rashi explains the thematic connection between the opening verses of BEHA’ALOSCHA, about the Menorah, and the concluding section of last week’s parshah of NASO:
“When Aaron saw the dedication offering of the Princes of the Tribes, he became demoralized because neither he nor his tribe was with them. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: By your life, yours is greater than theirs, because you kindle and tend the lights” (Rashi on the opening verse of our Parshah).
The Consecration of the Sanctuary and the offerings of the Princes were events of cosmic significance containing the keys of creation — but they were one-time events. The service of Aaron and his tribe were daily.
The service of the Priest (Aaron, Chessed) is to light the Menorah. Each one of us is the Priest in charge of the lighting of our own Candelabrum: allowing the light of DA’AS, the understanding of G-d, to shine out from its source, in the Sanctuary, before the Holy of Holies, into our souls, minds and hearts. But how can we attain DA’AS?: “An amazing wonder is DA’AS, it is exalted far above me, I cannot reach it” (Psalms 139:6). How can a human being possibly attain the light of DA’AS, knowledge of the Infinite G-d? This is the work of the priest, whose task is to tend the lights and kindle them.
Rabbi Nachman explains that the lights of the Candelabrum that each one of us, as priest, must tend, are the seven lamps of the face: the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth. We tend the eyes by not looking on evil (i.e. by not gazing at and lingering over evil temptations, and by seeing not the bad everywhere but the good). We tend the ears by heeding the words of the wise and their reproof. We tend the nostrils by breathing into ourselves the fear and awe of G-d, knowing that our very lives depend upon Him. We tend the mouth by not speaking falsehood — EVIL SPEECH.
The priest must light the lamps “until the flame goes up by itself”. Rabbi Nachman explains that when we do our work of tending the lamps, as detailed above, DA’AS will come upon us of itself, and we will be able to understand things that we could not understand before. DA’AS is obviously a spiritual understanding which we may not even be able to put into words. Spiritual understanding is metaphorically called “light”, and “shines” in the form of “Seven Clouds of Glory” (i.e. from all directions). These are a surrounding canopy of holiness. From this canopy — dark in relation to its Infinite Source, but a protective cloud radiating light to the camp below) shines the light of DAAS. The way to attain this light is by tending the lamps of the Menorah, as above. (Likutey Moharan I:21).
* * *
THE LABOR OF THE LEVITES
After the account of the daily service of the Priest (CHESSED) in each one of us, we come to the inauguration of the Levites (GEVURAH) and their service: the guarding of the Sanctuary/Temple and singing during the sacrificial services.
In the Generation of the Wilderness, the Levites carried the parts of the portable Sanctuary on the journeys. The highest service was that of carrying the golden Ark of the Covenant through the wilderness until it would reach its place in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. From there the light of the Torah would shine to all the world.
It is said of the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant that, while its bearers were apparently carrying it, in truth it was carrying its bearers. However, this was a one-time service of the Levites in the Generation of Wilderness. After the entry into the Land of Israel, the essential service of the Levites that remained for all times was that of singing during the Temple services.
Why does this require GEVURAH? It may seem that singing is a simple, pleasant task that should be associated with CHESSED. Yet we see with our own eyes how hard it is to sing. It’s not the singing itself that is so hard: in fact, once you start, like the Ark of the Covenant, which carried its bearers, the song carries you. What is hard is to START singing.
This is sadly apparent in today’s MIKDASH ME’AT, the “portable Temple” that should be the Sanctuary of the Children of Israel in all their habitations, the BEIS HAKNESSES, the House of Gathering of the Children of Israel — the SYNAGOGUE. There are some in which a good (or bad) Chazan is paid to sing, and occasionally a choir, and this may be inspiring. In many, however, there is an embarrassed prayer leader and a heavy congregation reluctant to get any form of SINGING.
It is this heavy, depressed reluctance to start singing (people start looking at their watches) that must be overcome with GEVURAH, forcing ourselves to sing. The act of “force” need not be brutish. Often all that is needed is just starting to lightly hum the NIGUN (melody), then keep going until the grace and beauty of the melody itself takes over, and the Ark of the Covenant carries its bearers.
The commandment of the Service of the Levites completes the account of the Sanctuary indicating the supreme importance of song in the Temple/Synagogue Service. Singing in prayer is a unique human ability that even the angels wait to hear. It is the crowning moment of the Service. We may want to hurry the prayers so we can get away from the Synagogue, but instead we “slaughter the animal”, “sacrifice ourselves” and stand there singing instead. The song is made up of air, RU’ACH, spirit. The song is GEVURAH, sifting the animal RU’ACH, the side that wants to run away and occupy ourselves with the secular world, from the uniquely human RU’ACH — the air of our songs. This air or RU’ACH is the vessel through which the even higher faculty of DA’AT is able to enter and dwell, and then everything is complete: the Meat is on the Table (the sacrifice), the Lights are kindled (the Menorah) and the Choir are singing.
* * *
THE SECOND PESACH
“The Second Pesach” has two senses in connection with our parshah. In the first sense, so far there had only been one Pesach: the night of the Exodus from Egypt. The celebration of the one-time Second Pesach, a year later, free in the Wilderness, recipients of the Torah, with the Sanctuary newly erected, was itself an event. It showed that the Exodus, as the foundational event of the People, was henceforth to be institutionalized as an annual experience with the slaughter of the lamb on Passover.
The sacrifice could only be offered by those in a state of ritual purity. So central to the attachment of the Individual to the Nation is this annual sacrifice (failure to bring the sacrifice makes one liable to excision) that some provision had to be made for those who were unable to bring it in its proper time on 14 Nissan. This might be because they were far away and unable to reach thTemple, or because of defilement for any one of a number of naturally recurrent reasons (contact with the dead, menstrual impurity, etc.) Accordingly they were given a “second chance” on the annual PESACH SHENI, Second Pesach (in the second sense of the term!) institutionalized now in Torah law.
The Torah narrates in our Parshah how this vital national law, integral to the annual functioning of the Temple as the central focus of the Children of Israel, came to be revealed because when G-d commanded them in the wilderness to observe the one-time “Second Pesach” on 14 Nissan, one year after the Exodus, a number of people in the camp were ritually impure.
Knowing there was no way they could participate in the celebration of this awesome one-time event — institutionalizing for all time the annual celebration of the anniversary of the Exodus with the eating of the Paschal Lamb, they felt they had LOST OUT. They felt denied this central act of communion with fellows because of extraneous natural reasons: they had to attend to the dead.
“Why should we be worse off, not to be able to offer the sacrifice of HaShem in its appointed time among the Children of Israel” (Numbers 9:7). (The offering of the Paschal Lamb in the Sanctuary Temple was accompanied by the full Levitical choir and orchestra singing the Hallel, an awesome experience.)
“Why should we be worse off?” There was no way that they could offer the Sacrifice but they longed to be able to. It was their longing that elicited the commandment of Pesach Sheni, the annual “Second Pesach” that gave a SECOND CHANCE to those who lost out the first time — a tremendous act of love and compassion.
Longing and yearning elicits love and compassion. It is our longing for the Second Pesach, the Pesach of GEULAH, when we too, now impure through contact with the dead etc., will have a SECOND CHANCE and won’t have to feel we lost out because we didn’t experience the Pesach in Jerusalem.
* * *
THE CLOUDS OF GLORY and MOSES’ TRUMPETS
As indicated above, the Clouds of Glory constitute an exalted state of consciousness in which a high DA’AS, knowledge of G-d, dwells, because we seek to sanctify ourselves and order our lives in the proper order (the Israelite camp). With DA’AS one can understand that everything that happens is under G-d’s control: there are times when you stay still for different periods, times when you have to venture and journey for different periods.
We may wonder when we will come to the end of the journey through the wilderness? When will we reach the Promised Land? We know when the Generation of the Wilderness reached the Promised Land, but when will OUR generation get there? When will we see the Ingathering of the Faithful to the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah, from which the Torah will shine to the world? When will WE sing the Hallel in Jerusalem?
The answer is given in our parshah, in the commandment given to Moses: “Make for yourself two trumpets of silver.” (Numbers 10:2).
Moses is the central NESHAMAH, the root soul of all the Children of Israel. Moses, who brings the TORAH to Israel, must be in command. In his hand are the trumpets to summon the Children of Israel and their leaders together. In addition, in the Temple, the Priests had trumpets which were sounded.
One of the occasions for sounding these Trumpets of Moses — Trumpeting the TORAH of Moses — is in times of war. “When you come to war in your land against the enemy oppressing you [such as now], and you shall BLAST ON THE TRUMPETS [the trumpets of the Torah of Moses] and you will be remembered before the Lord your G-d and you will be saved from your enemies” (Numbers 10:9). The verse speaks of war in the land against THE enemy. Asks the Midrash: “Who is THE enemy? This is in the war of Gog and Magog, after which there will no longer be any enslavement to the nations” (Sifrey).
It is in this war against Gog and Magog that we will be remembered before G-d when we hear the blast of the Trumpet of Moses, making us remember the Torah of Sinai.
* * *
THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS
The Torah account of the one-time journey of the Generation of the Wilderness is a paradigm of the entire history of the Children of Israel. Before we arrive at the trials and tribulations, the Torah sets forth the ideal form in which the Children of Israel advance through history, organized into tribes and families travelling in formation.
As the Children of Israel set off on their journey from their historical place of encampment at Sinai, where the Torah came into the world, Moses (root soul of the Children of Israel, HEVEL or ABEL) makes his eloquent appeal to Jethro, the archetypal GER TZEDEK, Righteous Proselyte (KAYIN or CAIN) to link and journey together (reconciled brothers: TIKUN).
Only when the Jew and the Righteous Gentile link together on this journey through time can the Torah dwell in the Promised Land and shine forth from Mount Moriah. [Yael, righteous proselyte wife of Hever HaKeini, Jethro’s descendent, delivered Israel from Sisera; Ruth (same letters as Jethro) was the great grandmother of David, who made the Torah rule in Israel. Shmayah and Avtalion, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir and many other important Israelites were from families of proselytes. Sometimes the proselytes shames the Israelite, because the proselyte exposes his weaknesses, having become tired after years on the road, while the proselyte is fresh with the clear vision of the beginning, the Exodus, which we have to re-experience each year at Pesach.
* * *
THE INVERTED NUNN’S
“And it was with the travelling of the Ark, and Moses said: Arise HaShem and let your enemies be scattered and those who hate you will flee from before you. And with its resting, he will say: Return HaShem to the tens of thousands of thousands of Israel” (Numbers 10:35-6).
In the Torah scroll, these two verses, the opening verses of the sixth Aliyah, are preceded and followed by an inverted letter NUNN. The two verses are thus set off apart, as a separate entity. (A scroll with 85 letters, corresponding to the number of letters in this parshah, halachically has the same status as a Torah scroll and must be treated with the proper respect.) The two verses are of central importance in the entire Torah. It is when Moses stands up, blasting forth the TORAH OF HASHEM, that G-d’s providence is shown in scattering the enemies of Israel and returning His indwelling Presence to the longing and yearning thousands and thousands.
The rabbis taught that although we normally speak of the Five Books of Moses, there are really Seven, because these two verses constitute a separate book by themselves. The two verses divide the Book Numbers into all that came before and all that comes afterwards. What came before is one book. What will come afterwards is another. And these two verses are a book in themselves, making Seven Books of the Torah. These are the Seven Clouds of Glory that accompany us on all our journeys, shining the light of DA’AS to us at all times.
Why was it necessary to make a separation between all of the book of Numbers that came before these two verses and all that comes afterwards? With the census of the people, erection of the Sanctuary and the ordering of the Camp of the Israelites in its proper order, the entire Order of Creation in its ideal form was complete.
From now on, the task was to actually take the Torah up to Zion. To go on the journey. Actually implementing and adhering to the Torah day to day on the arduous journey of life, amidst all the trials of the wilderness is an entirely different story.
The two verses separate between the Ideal and the Actual. One of the two verses speaks about a state of war. The other speaks about a state of peace. In each case it is Moses who must speak, to bring the Divine Presence upon Israel. “And Moses said.. And he will say.”
* * *
THE SCHOOLBOY RUNS AWAY
The rabbis said that they left Sinai like a schoolboy running from school (or like worshippers after the service). There is a side that simply rebels against the discipline of Torah and Mitzvos, the same dry diet of words and letters on a scroll, songs, prayers amore prayers, day after day. “MANNA”. Spiritual sustenance. Great! But what about some Coke?
As soon as the real, actual hardship of the wilderness become apparent during the first three days of the journey, the first complaints began to be heard about FLESH. Man is made of two sides, the Spiritual and the Physical: that is his entire challenge in life. Dinning out the Trumpets of Moses, Trumpets of the Torah, are the cries of our appetites and desires for physical comforts and pleasures like in Egypt, where they come HINNOM, “free” (free of the burdens of Torah and mitzvos, see Rashi on Numbers 11:5).
The admixture of yeast in the dough, the ERUV RAV (“Mixed Multitude”, the opposite of the Righteous Proselyte, the fallen HEVEL, Bilaam) raise their voices in LOSHON HORA, evil speech, about the dull, boring diet: the Manna. The source of all evil lies in evil speech. [Thus today, in the time of exile in the war of Gog and Magog, aspersions are cast upon the Diet of Moses, Manna, Torah, and upon Moses himself, in the form of the true Talmidey Chachamim, who are considered to smell putrid in the time of Mashiach. The aspersions are cast by the ERUV RAV, those who lust for the material world and those led astray by them.]
Moses could not take it. If his voice was not going to be heard, what was the point of living?
The only solution was to spread the spirit of Moses around among the people, kindling from Moses’ MENORAH of Prophecy and lighting up 70 other Prophets, making a Sanhedrin of 70 Elders with Moses, the root of the Tree, at the Center: the King. These would bring the prophetic spirit back to the people.
When Moses is King, order is restored, DA’AS reigns, and we learn that material lust is from the side of death and must be buried. That first stop on the journey through the wilderness was named “The Graves of Lust” — “for that is where they buried the people who had the lust” (Numbers 11:35). It is necessary to overthrow the ERUV RAV and to make Moses the king.
* * *
THE UNIQUENESS OF MOSES
Our parshah contains G-d’s own testimony about the uniqueness of “My servant Moses, who is faithful in all My House.” (Numbers 12:7). This too was occasioned by a one-time event, a nearly fatal sin of LASHON HARA that is to be inscribed daily in our memories: “Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam on the road when you went out of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 24:9). Miriam criticized Moses.
Even the saintliest are human. Sometimes even they may be tempted to cover over and disguise their own faint residue of pride under a veneer of piety. “Why is he any different?”
Only Moses is beyond all pride. “And the man Moses was very humble more than all man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).
Evil speech kills. The punishment is “death” — leprosy, the withdrawal of life and vitality from the flesh.
Only Moses can bring healing. “G-d, please, heal — please — her”. The voice of Moses must be heard.
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
—
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org
Rabbi Avraham Ben Yaakov Greenbaum: TORAH FOR THE NATIONS
provides teachings and resources from the Jewish religious tradition for people of all nations, backgrounds and beliefs.
All the materials on this site reflect “Orthodox” Torah Judaism and are based on the Hebrew Bible (“TaNaKh”, Torah, Prophets & Holy Writings), the Talmud, classic Torah law codes (Mishneh Torah & Shulhan Arukh), teachings of outstanding rabbinical sages of all generations, and the inner mystical Torah tradition (Zohar, Kabbalah and Chassidut).
His site is edited by Rabbi Avraham ben Yaakov Greenbaum under the supervision of leading present-day rabbinical authorities.
“AZAMRA Parshah” Diaspora & Israel Torah Readings Shabbat June 18
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If you believe Messiah Ben Yoseph as is explained in Scriptures,
Jer 31:31-37 “See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’ĕl and with the house of Yehuḏah1, Footnote: 1See Hebrews. 8:8-12, Hebrews. 10:16-17 (Please read these verses in the HaBerith HaChadashah Scriptures).
32 not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares יהוה.
33 “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’ĕl after those days, declares יהוה: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts (Messiah Ben Yoseph). And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.
34 “And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know יהוה,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares יהוה. “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more.”
35 Thus said יהוה, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the laws of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, and its waves roar – יהוה of hosts is His Name:
36 “If these laws vanish from before Me,” declares יהוה, “then the seed of Yisra’ĕl shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus said יהוה, “If the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I would also cast off all the seed of Yisra’ĕl for all that they have done,” declares יהוה.
Yohanan (one of the writers in the HaBerith HaChadashah Scriptures) bore witness of The Righteous One – The Foundation of the world, Messiah Ben Yoseph who received the soul of, The Messenger of His Presence – מלאך פניו.
What ‘makes’ Him The Righteous One!
In the Talmud ((Yoma 38b) is written:
Hiyya b. Abba said also in the name of R. Johanan: Even for the sake of a single righteous man does the world endure, as it is said: But the righteous is the foundation of the world. 26
Hiyya himself infers this from here: He will keep the feet of His holy ones’ 27 ‘Holy ones’ means many? — R. Nahman b. Isaac said: It is written: His holy’ one. 27
26 Pro 10:25 As the whirlwind passes by, The wrong one is no more, But the righteous (in Hebrew וצדיק יסוד עולם׃ ‘and the Righteous’ –singular-) has an everlasting foundation.
27 1Sa 2:9 “He guards the feet of His kind ones (in Hebrew חסידו ‘His Righteous One’ –singular-) but the wrong are silent in darkness, for man does not become mighty by power.
Kol HaTor is telling ‘Metatron is The Messenger of His Presence, what we don’t believe!
Isa 63:7-9 Let me recount the kindnesses of יהוה and the praises of יהוה, according to all that יהוה has done for us, and the great goodness toward the house of Yisra’ĕl, which He has done for them according to His compassion, and according to His many kindnesses.
8 And He said, “They are My people, children who do not act falsely.” And He (HaShem) became their Savior – In Hebrew it is written: He became their מושׁיע – Mosiah.
9 In all their distress He was distressed, and the Messenger of His Presence – ומלאך פניו הושׁיעם באהבתו – saved them. In His love and in His compassion He redeemed them, and He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Exo 25:8-9 “And they shall make Me a Set-apart Place, and I shall dwell in their midst.
9 “According to all that I show you – the pattern of the Dwelling Place and the pattern of all its furnishings – make it exactly so.
Exo 25:20-22 “And the keruḇim shall be spreading out their wings above, covering the lid of atonement with their wings, with their faces toward each other, the faces of the keruḇim turned toward the lid of atonement.
21 “And you shall put the lid of atonement on top of the ark (Were ‘The Righteous One’, in the ‘heavenly one’ brought from His own blood), and put into the ark the Witness which I give you.
22 “And I shall meet with you there, and from above the lid of atonement, from between the two keruḇim which are on the ark of the Witness, I shall speak to you all that which I command you concerning the children of Yisra’ĕl.
The One who spoke ‘between the kerubim above the lid of atonement’ and promise to speak again:
Eze 36:37-38 ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “Once again I shall let the house of Yisra’ĕl inquire of Me to do for them: I shall increase their men like a flock.
38 “As a set-apart flock, as the flock at Yerushalayim at her appointed times, so shall the wasted cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am יהוה.” ’ ”
is He not:
‘the Messenger of His Presence’? (And NOT with whatever we can come up with!) The Word that became flesh……..!
Php 2:5-11 For, let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah יהושע,
6 who, being in the form of Elohim, did not regard equality with Elohim a matter to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and came to be in the likeness of men.
8 And having been found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, death even of a stake.
9 Elohim, therefore, has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name which is above every name,
10 that at the Name of יהושע every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess that יהושע Messiah is Master, to the esteem of Elohim the Father.
Who did the Yom Kippur service ‘above’ as the high-priest after the ‘order’ of Melchizedek….. (For ALL 12 Tribes and all their friends!)
Heb 9:11-12 But Messiah, having become a High Priest of the coming good matters, through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,
12 entered into the Most Set-apart Place once for all, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, having obtained everlasting redemption.
Not to ‘replace’ the ‘earthly’ service and the ‘rest’ of Torah!
Because He bears the Divine Mandate Devarim 30: 1-10 (He is: ‘These Words’ in verse one.)
He shall teach the Torah of Messiah if we let Him speak again from between the Cherubim above ‘the lid of atonement‘…….. (The ‘appearance’ of Messiah Ben David as is promised).
Then I ask you please say it again as our for parents,
Devarim 5:27 ‘You go near and hear all that יהוה our Elohim says, and speak to us all that יהוה our Elohim says to you, and we shall hear and do it.’……
And come united with Beit Ya’aqob International:
3:10 “From beyond the rivers of Kush my worshippers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering – Messiah Ben Yoseph.
In real Teshuva.++++
To be:
‘A World Union of the Lost Tribes from Israel, Yehudah and Ephraim and their friends in the reconciliation with the Jews under the Divine Mandate of Messiah Ben Yoseph who we love to call Yeshua Rabbeinu our Mashiach.’
And let us built together the Holy Nation of Ephraim. Jewish Rabbis are helping Beit Ya’aqob International with good advice and we share as much as possible their Torah studies. NOT to put you under Jewish Halacha. But to teach Torah.
Take upon you what Abba Yahweh said,
Jer 31:9 “With weeping they shall come, and with their prayers I bring them. I shall make them walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they do not stumble. For I shall be a Father to Yisra’ĕl, and Ephrayim – he is My first-born.
Yes take upon you <span style="color: