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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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 29, 5776 / Tuesday, July 05, 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 July 9
On Shabbat July 9 Diaspora communities will read the Torah portion of KORACH while Israel communities will read the portion of CHUKAS. 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 JULY 2:
Parshas KORACH, Numbers 16:1-18:32;
Haftara: I Samuel 11:14-12:22
UNIVERSAL TORAH COMMENTARY ON KORACH
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
* * *
KORACH’S ENVY
In the account of the sin of the Ten Spies in the previous parshah of SHELACH LECHA, we learned about the painful consequences of distorted vision in man’s relation with G-d. The Spies and those who listened to them lacked faith in G-d’s promise to take them to the Land of Israel, allowing outward appearances deceive them into thinking they would be unable to conquer it. The sin could be rectified only through a protracted exile that comes to teach us that, in spite of outward appearances, G-d is in fact leading us to ultimate, complete possession of the Land.
The distortion of vision that is the theme of our present parshah of KORACH, a distortion which led to such dire consequences for Korach and those who listened to him, was of a different nature. In Korach’s case, the distortion lay in the way man views his fellow man: Korach could not bear to see another more prominent than himself. “Why is Moses the king, Aaron the high priest. and Korach just another Levite?”
The sin of vision of the spies is deeply rooted in the sin of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Just as the outer appearance of the fruit made Eve lose faith in what G-d said about not eating it, so too the spies wanted to see things for themselves and make their own decisions — and they lost their faith. Korach’s sin of vision, on the other hand, is rooted in Cain’s jealousy of Abel, whose offering (the prototype Temple sacrifice of Aaron) found favor in G-d’s eyes. “Why is Abel the priest?” Cain wanted the whole world for himself — so he killed Abel. So too Korach was envious of Aaron’s eternal role as the high priest of G-d’s Temple, and he tried to destroy him.
According to the Midrash, Korach’s “starting point” is to be found at the end of the previous parshah, giving the commandment of Tzitzis, where a single blue thread is tied with seven white threads as fringes on the four corners of our garments. [Issues relating to the use of white linen threads with the blue TECHEILES woolen thread are also bound up with Cain and Abel: the offering of the former was of linen, while the latter offered sheep.] The question that Korach asked was: “If a person is wearing a garment that is entirely TECHEILES, does it also require Tzitzis?” When Moses answered that it does, Korach ridiculed him: “If a single blue thread is enough to fulfill the duty of Tzitzis for a white garment, surely a garment that is entirely TECHEILES doesn’t need Tzitzis!”
Korach wanted a garment that was all TECHEILES, all kingship and grandeur. He did not want to be reminded that the only King is G-d, all around us, in all directions. Korach wanted the kingship and grandeur for himself: he was all TECHEILES, all GEVURAH. According to rabbinic tradition, Korach possessed amazing wealth. Everything was for himself, yet in rebelling against Moses and Aaron, Korach played the democrat, the people’s champion: “All the community, all of them are holy, and HASHEM is within them, and why do you lord it over the Assembly of HASHEM?”
Korach’s rebellion was against the authority of Moses (the rule of law), but he justified it with an appeal to people’s highest ideals: “Everyone is holy — so why do we need priests and rabbis?” Korach used his wealth and prestige to whip everyone up into a frenzy against Moses.
The first word of G-d’s command to Moses and Aaron — “SEPARATE yourselves from this assembly and I will consume them.” (Numbers 16:21) gave its name to a doctrine that was espoused by Rabbi Moses, the Chasam Sofer (1762-1839) leader of European Jewry in his time, in response to the proponents of religious and cultural assimilation. The doctrine is that of HISBADLUS, Separation. At a time when assimilationist thinking was spreading rapidly among the Jews of Europe, the Chasam Sofer urged his faithful co-religionists to separate themselves in every possible way from anyone who deviated from the Judaism of the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Torah law.
Today, assimilation has become so universal that the Torah faithful have little option but to run after the assimilated and try to help them find their way back to G-d. Nevertheless, having an understanding of the origins of HISBADLUS may help us in trying to unravel the knots of MACHLOKET (conflict) in which our communities are so tied up. For HISBADLUS remains the key to the separatist attitudes shown by some in the observant community until today. The essence of HISBADLUS is to try to distance oneself from those who represent a culture and way of life that are in rebellion against G-d’s Torah as we have it from Moses.
The assimilation movement made rapid inroads among Jews everywhere from the 1800’s onwards because of the strength of its appeal to those who felt caged in by the centuries-old restrictions on Jewish social and economic life. While assimilation had its theorists and exponents (from Moses Mendelson onwards), what gave it such power and influence was the fact that it was sponsored by a clique of extremely wealthy Jewish sponsors (= Korach) who were themselves in flight from the Torah of Moses. They used their influence in the countries in which they lived to establish synagogues, educational and cultural institutions that deviated from the traditional pathway. Indeed, they have been so effective that they have succeeded in making what is essentially a deviation appear mainstream, whereas the authentic Torah of Moses appears purely marginal. What could be more of a distortion of vision?
* * *
HELL
The punishment of Korach and his band was that “they went down alive to SHE-OL” (Numbers 16:30). The bible commentator OR HACHAYIM (Rabbi Chayim ben Attar) explains (ad loc.) the use of the word SHE-OL (which has the connotation of “borrow”) as a term for Hell. “The explanation is that the earth did not have power over them to kill them, but they were left alive, and the earth gave them as a deposit to Gehennom”.
Many seekers of the truth of the Torah are confused about what place She-ol, Gehennom or Hell really play in the Torah worldview. In the Bible, the word used for hell is, as in our parshah, SHE-OL (see also Genesis 42:38 and Deuteronomy 32:22).
Throughout the Talmud, the standard term referring to hell is Gehennom, but this does not appear in the Bible at all except as the name of a location just outside ancient Jerusalem — Gey Hennom, the “Valley of Sighs”. This was where there was an idolatrous temple to Molech, to whom children were dedicated by being passed over fire (making the children scream or “sigh”).
The confusion over what hell really is derives precisely from the fact that all false religions and cults use precisely this idea to strike such fear into the hearts of their led flocks that they will be psychologically locked into the cult all their lives. Going down to hell alive is precisely what is so frightening about the idea, as it means that death is not a refuge of unconsciousness from the threatened pains of hell. On the contrary, “hellfire and brimstone” preachers delight in reminding their audiences how, despite the excruciating pain of the threatened fire and freezing cold, etc., there is no death and no relief in hell, only more and more pain. all this as the punishment of those who dare stray from the cult!
In the Five Books of Moses, the prime sanction that is threatened for disobedience against the Torah is not hell, but rather the tribulations of This World (as in the curses in Leviticus chapter 26 and in Deuteronomy chapter 28). However, Hell is also threatened: “For a fire is kindled through my wrath and it will burn to the depths of SHE’OL.” (Deuteronomy 32:22). The Talmud teaches that unconsciousness and insensitivity provide no relieve in hell. “The worms of the grave are as hard to the dead person as a needle in living flesh” (Shabbos 13b). But the Torah also explicitly states that “When the wicked person turns from all his sins that he did and guards all My laws and practices justice and charity, he will surely live. All his sins that he did will not be remembered against him; through the righteousness that he practiced he will live” (Ezekiel 18:21-22).
The psychological power wielded by priests and cult-leaders over their hypnotized flocks lies in their implicit claim that it is they themselves who determine who will suffer in hell and for what crimes (i.e. betrayal of the cult). However, the Torah teaches that G-d alone determines what each one must suffer, and that a person suffers only for those actions for which he bears responsibility, and not for the crimes of others. (“It is the soul that sins that will die. A son will not bear the sin of a father and a father will not bear the sin of the son. The righteousness of the righteousness will be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him” — Ezekiel 18:20).
The Torah view is that while hell is certainly painful, it is compassionate in the sense that the sinner pays for his sins in order to be cleansed of them and thus prepared for reconciliation and true communion with G-d. Thus the Torah teaches that there is a time-limit to hell, while the final reward is eternal.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov commented that while we believe in the eternal reward (Gan Eden), and while it MAY BE that Olam Ha-Zeh, “This world”, exists somewhere or other, the place we are in now would for many people appear to be Gehennom, in view of the terrible suffering many people go through here. May all that we may have suffered here be our atonement, and may G-d speedily grant relief from all our troubles and sorrows.
The Talmudic rabbi Rabbah bar bar Hannah relates (Bava Basra 74a) that he was taken by “an itinerant merchant” to a place in the wilderness where Korach and his band were swallowed up. There was a fissure in the crust of the earth from which smoke was rising, and the heat was so intense that some drenched cotton-wool lowered into it on the end of a spear was scorched immediately. The merchant asked him what he could hear. He heard voices crying out: “Moses and his Torah are true, while Korach and his band are deceivers.” The merchant told Rabbah that Korach and his band were rotating in the fire of hell like meat on a spit, and that every thirty days they would complete a circuit and could be heard saying the same thing: “Moses and his Torah are true.”. This fits in well with another teaching of Rabbi Nachman: that the essential pain of hell is not so much physical as the pain and shame at having been wrong all along. If we have been wrong, let’s admit it!
* * *
THE TORAH ECONOMY
The account of Korach’s challenge to Moses and Aaron is followed by the laws relating to the sacrificial parts and Terumah (gifts of grain, oil, wine and other produce) given to the priests in return for their service in the Sanctuary, and the tithes which the Levites received in return for theirs.
In Temple times, these gifts made up a substantial part of the livelihood of the priests and Levites, who were thus left free to pursue their work of going out among the people and teaching them the Torah. Since the study and teaching of the Torah are not per se economically productive activities (though they are the source of all blessing, spiritual and material), the only way they can be seriously pursued is when each member of the wider society takes a share in supporting them.
In the words of Rambam (Laws of Shemittah and Jubilee 13:12-13):
“The tribe of Levy did not have a share in the land of Israel or in war booty together with their brothers, because they were separated to serve HaShem and minister to Him and to teach His righteous ways and laws to the multitude. Accordingly they were separated from the ways of the world, they do not fight in war like other Israelites and they do not have a share in the land or attain material power. They are the army of G-d and G-d is their share and inheritance.
“And not only the tribe of Levy, but every single person from all the inhabitants of the world whose spirit encourages him and whose understanding leads him to separate himself to stand before G-d and serve Him, to know G-d and go on the straight path. G-d will remove from his neck the yoke of the “many calculations” that people seek for themselves. For this person has sanctified himself as a holy of holies, and HaShem will be his portion for ever and ever and G-d will provide him in this world with what suffices him, just as G-d provided the priests and the Levites with their livelihood. And thus King David said: HaShem is the portion of my share and my cup: You sustain my lot!”
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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ISRAEL TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT JULY 9:
Parshas CHUKAS, Numbers 19:1-22:1;
Haftara: Judges 11:1-33.
UNIVERSAL TORAH COMMENTARY ON CHUKAS
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Now that we have passed the summer solstice, the days are still long but imperceptibly they are starting to get shorter, as we move inexorably closer to the end of the year and the coming New Year and Days of Awe. The Hebrew letters of the present month, Tammuz, are the initial letters of the phrase Z-MAN T-ESHUVAH M-MASHMESH U-VA, “the Time of Teshuvah is getting closer”. The letters of next month, AV, are the initial letters of ELUL BA – “Elul (month of repentance) is on the way”. After the month of Av comes Elul itself, and soon afterwards, Rosh HaShanah, Simchas Torah and the conclusion of the annual reading of the Torah.
In the previous parshah, KORACH, we passed the mid-point of the book of Numbers (Numbers 17:20). Korach’s conspiracy is not explicitly dated in the Torah narrative, but is considered to have taken place early on during the wanderings of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. The Torah passes over the 38 years of wandering after the sin of the Spies in almost complete silence — except for a list given later on of the stopping points on the journey, Numbers ch. 33, parshas MAS’EI. In our present parshah of CHUKAS, we move almost imperceptibly from the initial period in the wilderness following the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah, right to the end of the 40 years of wandering and the first stages of the conquest of the Land of Israel.
Parshas CHUKAS begins with the commandment of burning the Red Heiffer and using its ashes for purification from defilement from the dead. This commandment was among the first given to the Children of Israel directly after the Exodus and the Crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:25, see Rashi there). The section about the Red Heiffer as we have it in CHUKAS (Numbers ch. 19) is also listed in the Midrash (Sifra) as one of those given to Moses on the 1st Nissan one year after the Exodus, the day the on which the Sanctuary was erected.
The positioning of the section of the Red Heiffer here — as we move into the latter part of the book of Numbers and on towards the end of the Torah — is bound up with its thematic relationship with other sections of our parshah. The commandment of the Red Heiffer, which comes to purify from defilement from contact with the dead, is followed immediately by the narrative of the death of Miriam. (“The death of Tzaddikim atones like the sacrifices” — Rashi on Numbers 20:1). The death of Miriam took place in the last year of wandering in the wilderness, on the 10th Nissan, exactly a year before the crossing of the Jordan and the entry into the Land. This is the first clue to dating the events in this parshah. The ensuing lack of water in the wilderness caused Moses and Aaron to strike the rock, leading to the decree that they would not enter the Land but die in the wilderness. Moses takes Aaron up Mount Hor to die, while Elazar, his son succeeds him as High Priest. We suddenly have to confront the loss of the elders and leaders of the generation. How do we deal with death?
Without our even noticing the transition, the older generation are leaving one by one, having been replaced by a whole new generation. The new generation — who are actually the old generation in new bodies — are now moving inexorably forward to the end and the goal – the Land of Israel. The Generation of the Wilderness have passed on, and the Generation of the Conquest now begin their advance.
As the Torah directs our eyes to the end goal of the wandering in the wilderness — entry into the Land to fulfill the Torah there — it first focuses our eyes upon the end goal of man, which is death: “This is the Torah: when a man dies.” (Numbers 19:14). For unless we come to terms with death, we cannot truly live. Death is a fact, perhaps the main fact, of life. We are forced to confront it at some time or another. In order to come to terms with it, we have to learn how to look at it.
Thus parshas CHUKAS takes its place in the series of parshas read during the bright summer months of Tammuz, time of Teshuvah, that teach us how to look at various different aspects of life in the correct perspective. BEHAALOSCHAH taught about the purity of vision in general. SHELACH LECHA taught about viewing the world — and our own selves — with the eyes of faith despite outward appearances. KORACH taught about how we look at others who may be better than ourselves. CHUKAS now comes to teach us how to look at our mortality, death, the end goal of life, in the right perspective — for with the right perspective, we can transcend death.
Today, only a decade after we were promised a new order of peace, the world has been plunged before our eyes into an era of global war. Every day we are bombarded with gruesome and horrific images of bloodied, burned, mutilated bodies. It has long ceased to be surprising to hear of new daily outrages in locations far and near. We are hardly aware of how dulled our sensitivities have become to injury, death and suffering. If we were to start weeping as we should, would we have enough tears for all the suffering in the world?
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches that the only way we can transcend suffering is by trying to focus our vision on the faraway, ultimate goal of the entire creation, which is surely completely good. Rabbi Nachman says we must even close our eyes to this world — close them tight — so as to keep focussed on this ultimate, transcendent goal, which is to bring the entire universe to perfect unity and completeness through G-d’s hidden guidance and providence. (Likutey Moharan 1:65 “Garden of the Souls”.)
While no-one can fathom the depths of meaning of the Red Heiffer — any more than we can fathom the real meaning of death and of life — we are free to search for hints of meaning in this fascinating commandment, which is the key to complete redemption. This depends upon the restoration of the ashes of the Red Heiffer, because only when we are able to be purified from impurity from contact with the dead can we go up to the Temple, source of LIFE, and carry out all its rituals in the proper way.
What causes defilement from contact with the dead is not the soul of the dead person. It is the physical remains of his or her body. The death and decomposition of the body are very repugnant: they threaten us, both as health hazards and because they undermine our pride and dignity as living human beings. They remind us of our mortality — “You are earth, and to the earth you will return” — but we cannot live with such intense awareness of the vanity of the physical world. We are commanded to cover the body, bury it in the earth, put it out of sight. We should not pre-occupy ourselves with the dead (as did the Egyptians). Our job is to keep living, to keep marching to the end goal — “the Land of Israel”.
Thus the priest (son of Aharon, signifying light and vision) takes the pure Red Heiffer — its redness signifying the harshness of DIN, Strict Judgment, and GEVURAH, Might. The priest sheds the heiffer’s blood — breaking its power. The priest gazes towards the the Holy of Holies and sprinkles the blood of the heiffer towards it. This sprinkling of the blood of the Red Heiffer towards the Holy of Holies was integral to the whole ceremony, which was performed on the Mount of Olives at a spot directly aligned towards the gates of the Temple. The body of the heiffer was then burned on a woodpile and minute quantities of its ashes were mixed with water from a living source to be sprinkled with hyssop on people and utensils that had become defiled.
In breaking the power of Strict DIN, the priest had to look towards the Holy of Holies, because this is the ultimate goal of all creation, the place of complete unit, peace and perfection. Defilement from the dead is very depressing. (The chapters on this subject in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah can also be somewhat depressing, as they deal in detail with different parts of the body in varying stages of decomposition, etc.) In order to live we cannot occupy ourselves with death. We must be aware of our mortality, but we must separate ourselves from physical death. The souls of the dead go on living on their plane, and so must we on ours. The seven days of purification from defilement with the dead are seven days of separation from what ought to be the abnormal — the decaying dead body, which has to be buried and put away — in order to return to the Land of the Living. It is necessary to be sprinkled with the ashes of the Red Heiffer on the third and seventh days of the week in order to draw renewed strength by repeatedly looking toward the Holy of Holies.
Like the priest breaking the force of severe DIN by gazing towards the Holy of Holies, we too, in order to keep living, must keep our gaze focussed on the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies in our lives should be our times of prayer and Torah study, and, in the family context, quality time with our dear ones and especially spouses. These are the best support through all the vicissitudes of life.
* * *
“ARISE, O WELL.” (Numbers 21:17)
The living waters with which the ashes of the Red Heiffer are mixed are one of several references to water in our parshah. Notable among the other references are the “Waters of Strife” — the waters that Moses and Aaron extracted from the Rock, which cost them the privilege of leading the Children of Israel into the Promised Land. This section of the Torah is of course no less profound than the preceding section about the Red Heiffer. Rabbi Nachman saw his explanation of Moses’ striking the rock (Likutey Moharan I:20) as being the key to all of his Torah discourses. The bare essence of Rabbi Nachman’s teaching is that even the saintly Moses should not have sought “water” — Torah insight and inspiration — “by force”, i.e. in the merit of his good deeds, his “rod”, as a “right”. Rather, he should have wept and begged for the waters of Torah as a gift, through prayer. Thus Moses had to atone for his error with the 515 prayers that he offered in the hope of entering the Land of Israel.
It was the death of Miriam that led to the lack of water which made Moses strike the rock. For throughout the forty years of wandering, a miraculous well accompanied the Israelites in the merit of Miriam. Miriam (having the connotation of bitterness) symbolizes the soul of the suffering true Torah scholar (“eat bread with salt, drink water by measure”) through whose merit Torah insight comes into the world to inspire the generation. When this soul departs the world, there is a terrible thirst for water, with no one having the power to enlighten and inspire. Each generation needs to dig for the waters of the Torah anew.
The history of Miriam’s well is not written explicitly in the Torah text but only allusively. The allusions are brought out in the Aramaic Targum and in Midrashim brought by Rashi on certain verses in our parshah — such as Numbers 20:10-11 and 21:15ff. This well of the waters of inspiration accompanied the Israelites on all their journeys in the wilderness and provided water for the camp at each of their stopping places. When Miriam died, it disappeared, but it returned in the merit of Moses and traveled with the Israelites on the last stages of their journey through the wilderness. When they entered the Land under Joshua (on 10 Nissan, anniversary of the death of Miriam), the well also entered the land. It traveled to the Kinneret (Sea of Gallilee), where it is said to be visible from mountains to the east as a kind of “sieve” on the surface of the sea. From the depths of the Kinneret, the well is said to feed the waters of Israel’s most important water reserve. (The ARI is said to have taken R. Chayim Vital on a boat and given him a cup of this water to drink, after which R. Chayim Vital understood the teachings of his master.)
The final stages of the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness and the first stages in the conquest of the Land of Israel are recounted in our parshah. Their geography is somewhat obscure to many, as they took place in what is today the kingdom of Jordan, which for political reasons remains temporarily out of bounds for Torah lovers. The Israelites were headed to ARVOS MO’AV, the “plains of Moab” east of the River Jordan facing Jericho. There they assembled prior to the entry into the Land in order to hear the final discourses of Moses, which make up the book of Deuteronomy.
Our present parshah describes their journey there. From the wilderness, they advanced around Edom (S.E. of Yam HaMelach, the “Dead” Sea) and Moab (to the east of the southern part of Yam Hamelach), crossing the River Arnon, which flows into the Yam HaMelach from the east, midway from north to south. The Arnon, which meets the sea via a spectacular mountain gorge, is the boundary between Moav, which the Israelites were forbidden to conquer, and the territories to the north, which had been conquered by the Emorites. The narrative of the Israelite conquest of the latter territories begins in our parshah.
The parshah relates that the miracles of the crossing of the Arnon were comparable with the miracles of the crossing of the Red Sea (Numbers 21:14ff.). The Emorites were waiting for the Israelites in caves in the gorge below, but the two sides of the gorge miraculously came together, allowing the Israelites to walk safely above. The Well of Miriam, which traveled with the Israelites, flushed the blood of the dead Emorites out of the gorge so that the Israelites could see the miracles performed for them.
Thus, forty years after the Generation of the Exodus had sung to G-d when they came up from the Red Sea, the Generation of the Conquest sang again as they witnessed the first miracles of the conquest. “That was the well of which HaShem said to Moses, gather the people and I will give them water. Then Israel sang (lit. WILL SING) this song: Arise, O well.!” (Numbers 21:16-17).
The conquest of the Land depends upon Miriam’s well — the well of Torah insight and inspiration. May we soon hear the song of the conquest of the Land for the Torah, for the Holy of Holies and for the glory of HaShem — quickly in our days!
Shabbat Shalom!!!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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AZAMRA INSTITUTE
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AZAMRA Parshah Diaspora & Israel Torah Readings Shabbat July 9
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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’…..
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 to be His First-Born……. In the family of Israel.
Beit Ya’aqov International ask you to pay a membership fee of 10 dollar a year. Furthers we hope and Pray that you bring your tithes (fulfill the Mitzwah) to the Ephraim National Fund (until we are united with Yehudah under Messiah and build His House together, to bring it there) so that Abba Yahweh shall bless you also with good and necessary the Parnassa.
After you filled out the request to join click http://beityaaqov.org/here/join-us/ and Beit Ya’aqov International received your fee, she send you your unique: Ephraim National Identity Cart.
Please Ephraim and Manasseh worldwide come, let yourself grow unto a Holy Nation unto Yahweh Elohim through Messiah Ben Yoseph your ‘Leader’.
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