Sukkot: The Whole World in God’s Tabernacle

If you are unfamiliar with Sukkot (Tabernacles), I have at the bottom of this post a quick primer on the holiday. If you don’t know the basics of Sukkot, I recommend reading the Quick Start Primer first.
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Seventy Nations, White Robes, Palm Branches, and the Age to Come

Andre Neher was a Hebrew language and literature professor at the University of Strasbourg. The following is excerpted from Moses and the Vocation of the Jewish People (Harper Torchbooks, 1959) and is included in Philip Goodman’s The Sukkot/Simchat Torah Anthology (JPS, 1973). I will quote Neher with a few interspersed comments of my own.

It is interesting to note that the prophets not only interpreted the idea of the desert in the sense Moses attached to it, but also the rite expressing this idea in the Pentateuch.

In other words, the prophets referred not only to the story of Israel in the wilderness, but also to the festival of Sukkot, which is a commemoration of the wilderness experience of Israel.

If the Passover actually restores the moment of the Exodus from Egypt in a ritual manner, the march across the desert is repeated in the Feast of Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33-44). Each year for seven days the Jews symbolically leave their solid, man-made houses and shelter under leaves and branches in the open air, thus restoring the fulness of nomad life.

Nomad, or rather human. For though it is not to be denied that from ancient times the feast of Sukkot was celebrated in the definite desire not to renounce the value of nomad life for good, it is no less characteristic that the historical significance of the desert was very early associated with it.

Neher is saying that festivals like Sukkot may have had a non-religious as well as a religious purpose. When nomads settled into farm and urban life, the idea of a festival to remember the nomad past is a reason to celebrate and feast at the end of harvest. There are examples in many other cultures from ancient times of autumn harvest festivals. Yet Sukkot for Israel, says Neher, was from very early associated with the story of Israel in the wilderness as well, so that it was religious as well as agricultural in nature.

If there is a prophet for whom the central position of Israel and Jerusalem is one of the fundamental realities of history, it is certainly Zechariah. “Yea, many people and mighty nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem . . . in those days it will come to pass, that ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:22-23). In the fourteenth chapter of his prophecy Zechariah expands his gravitation round the Jew to the measure of cosmic eschatology, and he localizes its internal principles in the rites of the feast of Sukkot.

Zechariah 14:16-17 makes specific the general principle of the world grabbing onto the hem of Jews and asking to be taught about God. In the Age to Come (cosmic eschatology in Neher’s terminology), the world will celebrate Sukkot with the Jewish people.

Neher goes on to say a bit more, but he concludes with a startling idea:

If the consciousness Israel possesses of her special election may be described as Paschal, it may be said that the universal nature of election is Sukkothic

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In other words, Passover commemorates the events in which God chose Israel as his treasured people. Sukkot celebrates the greater notion that God chooses the whole world working through Israel to reach them. The idea of Sukkot being about the whole world is reflected in the sacrifices of Sukkot (which include 70 bulls throughout the seven days, standing for the seventy nations, Num 29:12-35) and the prophecy of the whole world celebrating Sukkot together.

Passover is Israel’s election. Sukkot is the widening of God’s family to include the whole world, all who come to him.

This is realized, by the way, in the New Testament book of Revelation 7:9 and following as the multitude from the nations worships in white, festal robes with lulavs in their hands.

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Sukkot: A Quick Start Primer

–A sacred occasion, offerings, a Sabbath.

Leviticus 23:33-36, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Say to the Israelite people: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the Lord, to last seven days. The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations; seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the Lord; it is a solemn gathering: you shall not work at your occupations.

A sacred occasion (a.k.a. holy convocation, sacred assembly) is variously translated. It is not really about an assembly, but an announcement from the Temple to Israel that a day is set apart as a Yom Tov (a good day, a special Sabbath in which food preparation is allowed).

The offerings are detailed in Numbers 29, see below. The number of offerings for Sukkot is very significant.

–Branches and fruit: the four species, seven days in booths, a memorial of the exodus and wilderness.

Leviticus 23:39-44, Mark, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you shall observe the festival of the Lord to last seven days: a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you shall take the product of hadar [majestic] trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall observe it as a festival of the Lord for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages. You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God. So Moses declared to the Israelites the set times of the Lord.

The branches and the fruit are known as the four species. They are: a palm branch (lulav), willow wands, wax myrtle branches, and a citrus fruit known as an etrog (like a large lemon with a distinctive shape and beauty).

The booth, or Sukkah, is a temporary dwelling, usually a wooden structure with cut branches for a roof.

–Sukkot is a seven-day holiday of feasting and rejoicing. A separate eighth day is attached, called Shemini Atzeret, which is also a Yom Tov just like the first day of Sukkot. A post-biblical custom adds a ninth day called Simkhat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Torah, in which we parade our Torah scrolls and read from the beginning and the end of the Torah.

The most noticeable customs of Sukkot are the booths built at every Jewish home, the lulavs and etrogs (wands of branches and a beautiful fruit waved ceremonially), and feasting and eating outdoors in the Booths.

–Numbers 29:12-35, The number of bulls offered during Sukkot famously equals 70, the number of nations of the world (see Gen 10 for the Table of Nations which equals 70).

–Zechariah 14:16-17, The prophet sees Sukkot in the Messianic Age as a universal celebration for the whole world, bringing Jew and Gentile together as one.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIBLICAL HOLIDAYS / FEASTS, CHECK OUT MY BOOK AND THE LEADER KIT FOR SMALL GROUP STUDY FROM LIFEWAY. YOU CAN SEE A VIDEO INTRODUCTION AND GET INFORMATION HERE AT THREADSMEDIA.COM.

SUKKOT: Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)

In my “spare” time, which has been much diminished lately, I have been working on a Sukkot Haggadah. I will be releasing it later this week as a free PDF download. Just as was the case for my Shavuot Haggadah, it is very incomplete.My plan was to get a start on these haggadot this year and have something more complete ready by next year.

What I will have available in my Sukkot Haggadah for this year is less than I had hoped. Yet, even incomplete, there is plenty of useful information and inspiration for your holiday (Sukkot begins Friday night, October 2, and end Friday, October 9). The Haggadah will have:
–Biblical Readings About Sukkot
–Laws and Traditions of Sukkot (a brief summary)
–A Guide to Sukkot Prayers
–Questions and Answers With Maimonides
–Sukkot After the Bible
–An Introduction and Some Readings and Comments in Ecclesiastes (Qohelet).

The following is an introduction to Ecclesiastes that is included in the Haggadah.
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Ecclesiastes is the legacy of an unknown figure who calls himself Qohelet. Related to the word qehillah, the name Qohelet has something to do with congregating or assembling. James Crenshaw suggests that the name is not about speaking to gatherings of people, the common theory, but rather is about one who assembles sayings and proverbs.

Ecclesiastes is a collection of sayings and proverbs mixed with reflection and philosophical searching.

J.A. Loader (Polar Structures in the Book of Qohelet) proposes a theory about the reason for Qohelet’s pessimistic philosophy. After Israel’s period of exile, God became more distant. Prophecy faded. Miracles were a distant memory. Many forms of Judaism filled the void of obvious divine presence with different ideas of mediating presences of God’s work in the world. People spoke of the shekhinah, of mediating angels (who were named and classified in detail), and of the word of God active in worldly affairs while God himself was distant. Qohelet, says Loader, refused to fill the void of God’s distance because his appraisal of reality did not allow it. Using the tools of wisdom, he found systematized wisdom empty. He concluded that God himself actively caused the vanity of life.

Loader’s theory has merit. There is a strange absence of miracles, prophecy, or reference to a revealed Torah in Qohelet. Instead we find the much-repeated phrase “under the sun.” If God chose to resolve all of life’s difficulties in person as in the Exodus from Egypt, life would not be vanity. But the reality is that God is hidden. There is no lasting gain. Death and chance level everything so that justice cannot be seen.

Did Qohelet believe in more than what is under the sun? There are a few indications he must have. Even discounting the final epilogue of the book which was likely written by someone else, Qohelet indicates in several places that he believes in the end wisdom will be better than folly and fearing God is the wise thing to do even if there is no evidence under the sun for reward and punishment. Qohelet, it should also be said, is no deist. He attribute the simple joys of life as well as the vanities of life directly to the activity of God. Rather than solving life’s difficulties, God actively makes vanities happen.

Suppose with me that Qohelet did believe in more than what is under the sun. Is there still value in writing of a painfully honest philosophical search resulting in the conclusion of vanity?

Absolutely there is value. In the first place, Qohelet gives us practical wisdom about how to live in the world where God is distant. Second, Qohelet helps us understand how to use wisdom critically to deconstruct false wisdom. Third and most important, Qohelet obliterates all the easy answers of his time and of later times which present a false optimism about life and lasting meaning. In our time, for example, Qohelet’s words are an impenetrable challenge to atheistic humanism.

Using wisdom, Qohelet gives an unwelcome dose of reality. He teaches us a way to practically face the hiddenness of God. He turns us away from easy answers. Without saying it, he leads us to look beyond the realm under the sun, beyond the realm where God is distant, to a time when God will be present in a tangible way. There is no satisfaction in anything else.

A Yom Kippur Statement

The road to the New Jerusalem lies before us, always long and difficult, but with such a sought-after destination at the end. No amount of striving and desire could ever be too much for such a destination. No amount of striving could be sufficient to get us there. But God, the ever-merciful, does not leave us to our own strivings but empowers us along the way a thousand times a thousand times.

Yom Kippur is a day for encountering God. Satan in Hebrew has the numerical value of 364, which some rabbis have said indicates that God allows Satan to accuse us 364 of the 365 days of the year. Today is the day when, in Temple days of old, God ordained that Israel’s unrequited sins be cleansed and purged. For all the Israel of God, from Israel and the nations, today remains the day of his mercy in judgment.

There are many reasons in our modern world not to take Yom Kippur seriously. The modern spirit urges us not to believe in traditions and dates and ancient stories of divine oversight. The postmodern spirit urges us to believe all spiritualities are the same and disdain particularistic traditions like Yom Kippur. The popular religious spirit urges us to believe forgiveness is easy and cheaply received so that chest-beating and uttering confessions with the lips are passe.

But God says of this day, “On this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord” (Lev 16:30).

CLASSIC REPRINT: Reflections on a Yom Kippur Noob Experience

I posted this reflection for last year’s Yom Kippur (2008). I think it is one of my best stories.
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I have been on the path of Judaism for about seven years. Before that, I was learning about Judaism, but from a different paradigm. I used to see Judaism as “them” and Christianity as “us.” Judaism was the other. My interest in Judaism was in order to be a better Christian. And that is still somewhat true, by the way. The great paradox of Messianic Judaism is finding harmony in two faith traditions many people consider antithetical.

Yet, I experienced a change about seven years ago. It was not a sudden watershed moment, a complete turn-about on a dime. It was more gradual. But it began with the realization that the rabbis are a whole lot smarter than I used to give them credit for. Once I began to accept tradition as a legitimate, though not infallible, teacher, my approach to Judaism began to change.

In my recent book by LifeWay (a Christian publisher — see? paradox), I wrote a description of a noob experience I had with Yom Kippur (not that I am up to date with modern terminology, but noob means a newbie, someone who is getting into an interest they know little about). I’d like to quote this excerpt from Feast and reflect on it . . . (see my book Feast here).
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I was out of my comfort zone to be sure, but I asked for it. I wanted to experience a traditional Yom Kippur prayer service, and in those days, the Messianic Jewish congregations I knew about were not very traditional. To really experience the solemnity of the day, I felt I needed to be with Orthodox Jews.

Back then, I had to borrow a tallis—a prayer shawl—as I wasn’t traditional enough to even own one. I entered the room that contained only praying men. The women were in another section, separated by a dividing wall. I could hardly see them, but some of the men were on their knees, their heads touching the floor. Others were sitting and praying with their noses buried in the holiday prayer book. Many were ritually beating their chest.

There is no temple to go to any more, and so there is no Holy of Holies. That means there’s no chance for the high priest to enter beyond the veil and sprinkle blood on the cover of the ark. Yom Kippur now is not what Yom Kippur used to be. Yet I felt as if I was in the holiest place left on earth, the place of prayer for atonement.

This experience occurred in the old days, in the pre-Judaism days of Derek. I entered the experience expecting a certain result: I expected to go into the synagogue, see how confused and sadly lost these Jewish people were, and exit more resolved than ever to convert all Jewish people to Jesus.

I was nervous to be sure. I was like an intruder, entering the synagogue and hoping to be thought Jewish and that no one would ask a question. Fortunately for me, it being Yom Kippur and all, people were too busy praying to socialize or ask who I was. They had no idea I came to pray that they would all come out of the darkness and enter into the light of Messiah.

I had heard in a sermon by a Jewish evangelist that Yom Kippur was a time when he was very sad for his people, ritually beating their chest as if their ritualistic pleas of mercy would turn the heart of God toward them. I thought, how sad that people would beat their chest. What a pathetic and wasted display of ritual and emotion when simple faith in Jesus would do!

Yet as I watched, my mind was changed. I started praying for them to be “saved,” but the spirit of repentance was contagious. Didn’t I have enough failures that I should also beat my chest before the Living God? Or should I expect that grace makes all such displays of contrition irrelevant?

I don’t believe I thought of it then, but only later. Yeshua himself commended the practice of beating the chest. He told a story of a tax collector and a Pharisee. The tax collector beat his chest and said:

God, be merciful to me a sinner!

And Yeshua said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

But what attitude had I brought in here with me? I had brought in the attitude of the Pharisee. In a paradoxical reversal, I was now the Pharisee and these modern day Pharisees were the tax collectors (in my confused thinking, I mean — I don’t mean that Orthodox Jews are brigands). I was thinking to myself, “God, I thank you that I am not like these Orthodox Jews but that I know my sins are already forgiven.”

There is a Grace Myth to the effect that we are automatically alright with God because of the cross and that we are in need of very little repentance.

The great men of God in the Bible repented greatly.

Yeshua did not take away repentance in his teaching, but said that we would be forgiven IF we forgave others. He condemned an attitude of smug superiority in the religious people of his day. He would never condone the attitude of some Christians and Messianic Jews (thankfully, not all) who shrug off their own sin while seeing all too clearly the sins of others.

Yeshua taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This is hardly the prayer of someone whose sins magically disappear after they are committed.

No, as a noob in an Orthodox Yom Kippur service, I was on my way to freedom. I was about to be set free from the manic depression of guilt, doubt, and complacency. I was about to find a needed correction to my theology. I was about to find that Yom Kippur is something we all need, and more than once a year. The way of the righteous is repentance until the perfect comes.

Yom Kippur: A Prayer Banned by the Nazis in 1935

In his Yom Kippur Anthology, Philip Goodman comments on the following prayer:

In 1935, when anti-Semitism was clearly evident throughout Germany, Rabbi Leo Baeck (1873 – 1956), who was president of the representative organization of German Jewry, wrote a prayer that was distributed to all rabbis in the country for reading at Kol Nidre services. When the Nazis found a copy of the text, they arrested Rabbi Baeck and placed him in an S.S. prison. This prayer, which the Nazis had prohibited on Yom Kippur in 1935 was made a part of the trial record of Adolf Eichmann that took place in Jerusalem in 1961.

We Stand Before Our God
Rabbi Leo Baeck

In this hour all Israel stands before God, the judge and the forgiver.

In his presence, let us all examine our ways, our deeds, and what we have failed to do.

Where we transgressed let us openly confess: “We have sinned!” and, determined to return to God, let us pray: “Forgive us.”

We stand before our God.

With the same fervor with which we confess our sins, the sins of the individual and the sins of the community, do we, in indignation and abhorrence, express our contempt for the lies concerning us and the defamation of our religion and its testimonies.

We have trust in our faith and in our future.

Who made known to the world the mystery of the Eternal, the one God?

Who imparted to the world the comprehension of purity of conduct and purity of family life?

Who taught the world respect for man, created in the image of God?

Who spoke of the commandment of righteousness, of social justice?

In all this we see manifest the spirit of the prophets, the divine revelation of the Jewish people. It grew out of our Judaism and is still growing. By these facts we repel the insults flung at us.

We stand before our God. On him we rely. From him issues the truth and the glory of our history, our fortitude amidst all the changes of fortune, our endurance in distress.

Our history is a history of nobility of soul, of human dignity. It is history we have recourse to when attack and grievous wrong are directed against us, when affliction and calamity befall us.

God has led our fathers from generation to generation. He will guide us and our children through these days.

We stand before our God, strengthened by his commandment that we fulfill. We bow to him and stand erect before men. We worship him and remain firm in all our vicissitudes. Humbly we trust in him and our path lies clear before us; we see our future.

All Israel stands before her God in this hour. In our prayers, in our hope, in our confession, we are one with all Jews on earth. We look upon each other and know who we are; we look up to our God and know what shall abide.

“Behold, he that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4).

“May he who makes peace in his heights make peace upon us and upon all Israel.”

PODCAST: Yeshua in Context – Signs and Sabbath

In Mark 2:23 – 3:6, what is the meaning of Yeshua comparing his situation to David? Why did Yeshua deliberately seek out the Sabbath as a time to heal?

We began last episode to examine the symbolic meaning of Yeshua’s actions. Readers often overlook the symbolic meanings of Yeshua’s words and deeds. We are separated by many centuries from the culture of Yeshua. David stories don’t resonate the same way for us as they did in his time. And maybe there is something about the Sabbath that is especially Messianic.

LISTEN ONE OF TWO WAYS:

(1) If you have iTunes, search Yeshua in the iTunes store and subscribe.

(2) If you don’t use iTunes, go to this link at derekleman.com.

Yom Kippur: Assurance of Forgiveness

The first time I saw men beating their chests and prostrating themselves on Yom Kippur, I was scandalized. At the time I was in a Christian setting and I was used to an entirely different attitude towards sin and forgiveness. The messages I was hearing at the time were completely about the assurance of forgiveness. I was told, literally, that faith was like learning to float in a swimming pool. The key, they said, was to do nothing but relax and floating would come naturally.

In other words, I was told that forgiveness is automatic, a done-deal, accomplished in the past and our part is only to know the forgiveness we already have.

I can hear many people now ready to deny that this is a common stream in popular Christianity. I assure you it is not uncommon.

Moaning and wailing and beating chests asking for forgiveness appeared to me, at that time, to be the ineffectual attempts of men to save themselves. I wrote about my story in “A Yom Kippur Noob Experience,” which I will perhaps repost this Friday as a classic reprint.

The influence of my early mentors began to fade as my Bible reading did not match their sentiments. I kept running into repentance in the Bible. In those days, if something was in the “Old Testament,” I was told I could not trust it. Anything in the old was possibly overturned in the new.

Yet in the new I saw “repent and be baptized” from Peter (Acts 2:38). I saw from Yeshua “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14). From Paul I saw “those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:7). And Yeshua’s brother seemed to capture the atmosphere of that Orthodox Jewish Yom Kippur service very well. Only he commended it:

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. -James 4:8-10

Now . . . the Other Side
The truth is rarely as simple as a one-sided principle. Life is full of complex issues in which an issue can be approached from two sides.

Forgiveness comes when we repent. Forgiveness is also assured.

The rabbis took Leviticus 16:30 in this regard: “On this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.”

The prophets frequently promised it: “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isa 43:25).

Yeshua said it: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28).

Wearing White on Yom Kippur
In the Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud), there is a beautiful passage that explains how Jewish traditions of Yom Kippur reflect the assurance of forgiveness rather than despondency or fear of unforgiveness:

It is customary that if a man knows he has to appear in court for trial, he wears black clothes and lets his beard grow, as he does not know what the verdict will be. However, the children of Israel do not act thus. On their day of judgment they don white clothes, trim their beards, eat, drink, and rejoice, for they have confidence that the Holy One, blessed be he, will perform miracles for them.

Note: The reference to eating and drinking is the evening when Yom Kippur ends at the breaking of the fast.

The Neglected Haftarah: A Resource Review

If you don’t read the whole article, please skip to the end to find a free resource on Haftarah Bereshit (the prophetic reading for the first week in Genesis) being offered only on Messianic Jewish Musings.
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Haftarah. That must mean “half of the Torah,” right?

Well, it might as well the way many of us treat the Haftarah. It is just that other passage we read on Shabbat. I include myself in the critique, believe me.

For the uninitiated, the Haftarah readings are selections from the prophets that are read to accompany the weekly readings from the Torah. This upcoming week is a good example. The Torah portion is Ha’azinu. The Haftarah readings are special for this week, selected to go with the theme of repentance and forgiveness on this Shabbat Shuvah (Sabbath of Return, the Sabbath between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur). Thus, we will read Hosea 14:2-10, Micah 7:18-20, and Joel 2:15-27.

As you follow the Torah cycle and seek to understand it, you find that the Haftarah portions are chosen with two things in mind: themes from the weekly Torah portion and times of the year. The Haftarah portions are a microcosm of Torah and calendar. They are easier to digest in many cases than the longer Torah readings. They often add an emotional or imaginative theme to the Torah topic of the week.

So why are they neglected? I think the first reason is that there is so much in Torah already. The Haftarah is added work and many don’t find time to add anything to the weekly d’rash about it (me included). The second reason is that Haftarah readings skip around the prophets and so there is often no context to follow. You have to know Judges and Ezekiel and Isaiah well to take a selection pulled out seemingly at random and understand where it is coming from.

The New and Definitive Commentary for Messianic Judaism
Daniel Lancaster is a great researcher and thinker, not to mention writer. He has been rewriting First Fruits of Zion’s Torah Club materials for the past half a decade or more and doing a great job.

First Fruits of Zion has just released the new Torah Club Volume 3 written by Lancaster. As usual, it is a tool for both beginners and more advanced students of the Bible and the Jewish system of readings. Consider, for example, this explanation offered by Lancaster for the Haftarah. It is both foundational and up to date:

The exact meaning of the word “haftarah” is not entirely certain. “Haftarah” does not mean “half of the Torah” as some English speakers may assume. Some sources suggest it means “to take leave of.” That is, taking leave of the Scripture reading because the haftarah is the last scripture read in a synagogue service. Others suggest that it means “conclusion,” indicating that the reading from the Prophets con-
cludes the public reading in the synagogue.

Also uncertain is the origin of the custom of reading the haftarah on Sabbaths. A medieval legend suggests that the practice began during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes IV, which preceded the Maccabbean Revolt (165 BCE). According to this legend, Antiochus prohibited the Jewish people from studying Torah. They compensated by creating a reading cycle of passages from the Prophets, which
mirrored the weekly Torah portions. Since the law did not forbid the study of the Prophets, they thereby kept the letter of the king’s prohibition while surreptitiously learning Torah. Although the legend enjoys popular support, it has no historical documentation and is probably an apocryphal explanation.

In Torah Club Volume Three, Lancaster makes use of ancient rabbinic sources as well as some modern scholarship. If I had a wish it would be that Lancaster had also made use of medieval commentators, particularly Kimhi, and also more modern scholarship.

That small wish notwithstanding, FFOZ’s Torah Club Volume 3 is the only Messianic Jewish guide to Haftarah. In the Walk series by Jeff Feinberg there are excellent short summaries, but as they are limited to one small page per summary, they are in no way competition for Torah Club Volume 3.

For $25 a month you can receive a month’s worth of Haftarah commentaries at a time and a set of high quality binders to store them in for future reference. To receive these materials sign up here at ffoz.org.

Bereshit Haftarah (Isaiah 42:5-43:10) Commentary Free for Messianic Jewish Musings Readers
Here it is, over 20 pages of free material. The Torah cycle begins again October 17. Get ahead by studying the Bereshit Haftarah portion from Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10.

Get the free sample of Bereshit Haftarah here.

Yom Kippur: Philo on the Sabbath of Sabbaths

Philo lived in the days of the New Testament (20 B.C.E. to 50 C.E.) in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria had a huge Jewish population, about half of the city, and was also one of the largest cities in the Roman empire. The number of Jews in Alexandria rivaled the Jewish population in all of the land of Israel in those days.

Philo was a pioneer in attempting to harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism. He is famous for using allegorical methods of interpreting texts from the Hebrew Bible. His writings are a major witness to ideological and historical events informing the New Testament.

As we approach Yom Kippur (begins Sunday night, September 27), consider some well-written words by Philo on the meaning of the feast of Yom Kippur:

The feast held after the “Trumpets” is a fast. Perhaps some of the perversely minded who are not ashamed to censure things excellent will say, “What sort of a feast is this in which there are no gatherings to eat and drink?” . . . For it is in these and through these [acts of unmitigated surrender to fleshly pleasures] that men, in their ignorance of what true merriment is, consider that the merriment of a feast is to be found. This the clear-seeing eyes of Moses, the ever wise, discerned and therefore he called the fast a feast, the greatest of the feasts, in his native tongue a Sabbath of Sabbaths, or as the Greeks would say, a seven of sevens, a holier than the holy.

Philo’s reference to the “Sabbath of Sabbaths” is to Leviticus 16:31 and 23:32 which refer to Yom Kippur as a Shabbat Shabbaton, a Sabbath of Sabbaths or a Sabbath of Complete Rest.

Astute readers of the Bible should say, “But there are other days also called a Shabbat Shabbaton.” You are correct (Exod 31:15; 35:2; Lev 23:3; 25:4 used of the regular weekly Sabbath and of the Sabbath year).

So how, then, is Yom Kippur a unique Sabbath of Sabbaths? This exact question was posed to a Hasidic teacher, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Rimanov. He replied:

Regarding Shabbat, it is written, a Sabbath of Sabbaths unto Hashem, but about Yom Kippur it is written, a Sabbath of Sabbaths unto you. For on Yom Kippur we draw the sanctity of the heavens down to earth. -Artscroll Yom Kippur, p.57

So while every weekly Sabbath and every Sabbath year is a Shabbat Shabbaton to God, Yom Kippur is the only one said to be so for us.

And how can a fast be a feast? It is my experience, and I hope Musings readers will write and confirm, that the emotional experience of Yom Kippur exceeds even the feast of Sukkot in intensity. It is a mournful kind of joy, perhaps, but on Yom Kippur we feast in the transformation and nearness to God that repentance brings.

The Tashlikh We’ll Never Forget

It was a dark and stormy Rosh HaShanah. On the second day, we tried to get a few families together for tashlikh, the ceremony of casting bread crumbs representing sins into a river or similar body of water accompanied by readings about God casting our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). The problem is, all over town we were in the second full day of rain.

All over town, that is, except my part of town on the far east side. We had been dry all day, but with water hanging above seemingly held back by the firmament for some appropriate moment yet to arrive.

Finally, abandoning the idea of going with other families, we decided to just go ourselves near the house to the Yellow River Park. There were a number of delays and issues, but finally we got out the door.

As we exited the car and walked the few hundred yards on a path to the river, I smelled the rain about to fall. “Every minute counts, guys. The faster we get there the better chance we can stay dry.”

In less than sixty seconds the rain came. It had held off for five or more hours, but we had delayed just a little too long.

As my wife and seven of my eight kids sprinted through sheets of water (not pleasant drops, mind you, but drenching gobs of water), I shouted, “We’ll have to skip the readings and make this quick.” I had wrapped my Siddur and a book of Rosh HaShanah readings in a plastic bag just in case this happened. Never mind if I get wet, but I couldn’t stand to see a good book dampened in any way.

At the river, I quickly shouted a few words about God casting our sins into the depths of the sea and said an impromptu blessing. We tossed bits of Nature’s Own Whole Wheat Bread into the river. “Has everyone thrown?” I asked.

“David hasn’t,” my wife answered, “and he needs to, since he just smacked me in the face before we left.” David is our eighteen month old and he’s not prone to smacking his mother, but today he had.

We handed him two bits of bread and he knew exactly what to do. He didn’t come close to missing the river with his tiny throwing arm.

We all sprinted back to the car, hopelessly waterlogged.

As we settled in the car, it hit me. “Now I feel like the rain was holding back till God could get us wet. Not only did we cast our sins away, but God even gave us a ritual washing to boot.”

Josiah, my ten year old, said, “Woohoo, I finally got baptized!” I had to agree.

Rosh HaShanah: Spiritual Empowerment

When I was a new student of the Hebrew Bible, I marveled time after time when I would find what I considered to be a New Testament concept in the Hebrew Bible. I concluded that there is little new in the New Testament, but more a clarification of pre-existing ideas and a little further development of them.

I find a similar experience at times reading topics in rabbinic literature.

As I read selections for Rosh HaShanah, a few have struck me as being like Christian theology of the Holy Spirit. For example, in Christian theology there is a process called regeneration. The Spirit changes a person to make them able to receive divine help. The idea is that without regeneration we may desire help, but we are so corrupted by sin we are unable to ask for the right help or to receive it if we did. Regeneration is also known as spiritual birth or rebirth.

Regeneration is generally thought of as a one-time event at the beginning of a person’s relationship with God. Yet there is also an idea that we need help continually to be able to receive divine strength. Paul speaks of getting help from the Spirit in prayer because we are so un-attuned to spiritual realities.

There is an idea that we have an ongoing need for God to make us able to receive heavenly benefits. We are waiting for a permanent change to our being, a transformation that has not happened yet. While we wait, the Spirit empowers now.

This morning a few selections from the rabbinic corpus brought this to my mind.

In the Pesikta Rabbati (c. 845 C.E.), a collection of aggadic midrashim (midrashes that tend to be narratives), we read:

Consider the parable of a prince who was far away from his father–a hundred days’ journey away. His friends said to him: “Return to your father.” He replied: “I cannot; I have not the strength.” Thereupon his father sent word, saying to him: “Come back as far as you can according to your strength, and I will go the rest of the way to meet you.” So the Holy One, blessed be he, says to Israel: Return unto me, and I will return unto you (Malachi 3:7).

Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi, cousin to Najmanides (Ramban), reflected on the nature of repentance. He noted that God has given repentance as a gift to humankind. Without repentance there would be no hope as we have all sinned. At the end of his meditation, Gerondi considers the import of a great verse on repentance from Deuteronomy 4. Note how he sees from this verse that repentance is empowered by God and the slightest move toward God from a person is met with divine aid to come the rest of the way:

The Torah in many instances exhorts us in relation to repentance. It is shown that penance is accepted even when the sinner repents because of his many troubles, much more when his repentance proceeds from the fear and love of God, as it is said, In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return to the Lord thy God and hearken to his voice (Deut. 4:30). And it is clear from the Torah that God assists the penitents when they are limited by their nature, and implants in them a spirit of purity whereby they attain to the level of loving him.

PODCAST: Yeshua in Context – Enactments of a Prophet

When you decide to get behind your assumptions and the images you are used to and seek to know Yeshua as he appeared to his own generation, it’s not easy and it’s not as if it all happens at once.

A major realization for me was that Yeshua came as a prophet. I had such a cosmic, resurrected Messiah image of him, it wasn’t easy to see the obvious. You can’t begin with the glorified, ruler Messiah if you want to understand him.

Rather, the glory of God came to us veiled and in the living, breathing form of humanity. Like the glory of God showing through the cloud in the wilderness of Israel’s wandering, so the divinity of Yeshua shone through his humanity.

If we read the life and message of Yeshua in the gospels and put what we read into human categories, the largest one is that of a prophet.

LISTEN ONE OF TWO WAYS:

(1) If you have iTunes, search Yeshua in the iTunes store and subscribe.

(2) If you don’t use iTunes, go to this link at derekleman.com.

Rosh HaShanah: Yeshua & the Apostles on Repentance

This High Holiday season, Messianic Jews should not be surprised to find that the theology of repentance in the Siddur and in rabbinic literature follows similar lines to what Yeshua and the apostles had already said. The apostolic message flows from the Hebrew Bible as does the rabbinic tradition. It is to be expected that these two streams would have much in common.

Some may be surprised by the strong note of repentance required in the New Testament. Others may be surprised by the radical forgiveness offered by God. The Bible upholds the notion of repentance and good deeds on the one hand and the insufficiency of our deeds and the need for mercy on the other.

Perhaps most surprising to some will be Paul’s words, as he is known as the apostle of freedom. Yet he calls for persevering in good in order to obtain eternal life. Some find it difficult to assimilate this into their view of Pauline salvation and suggest this is a hypothetical case of being saved by perfection. It is not difficult to assimilate this idea without resorting to hypotheticals. Good works are necessary for salvation, but they can never be sufficient.

Yeshua’s Main Message

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the good news. –Mark 1:14

The Prayer Yeshua Taught Us

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. –Matthew 6:12

Peter’s Sermon

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” –Acts 2:37-40

Beating the Chest, Humility
The following saying of Yeshua is a sort of trap for the unwary listener. Even as you listen to Yeshua’s story, you are tempted to look down on the arrogant Pharisee in the story. But watch out, because in so doing, you become like him.

May we all, this Yom Kippur, beat our own chests like the tax collector and grieve and wail over our sins.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” –Luke 18:9-13

Be Wretched and Mourn
Yeshua’s brother, James (Jacob), the leader of the central Jerusalem congregation which was the prototypical community of the whole Yeshua movement, sounds a note which may sound foreign to some. The idea that Yeshua has made atonement for us leads some to the erroneous conclusion that we have already obtained all grace.

James’ words would be a fitting call to the congregation to stand before the Ark on Yom Kippur.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. –James 4:8-10

Self-Condemnation Versus Repentance

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. –Romans 2:1-5

Judgment by Deeds and Persevering in Good

For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. –Romans 2:6-10

A King Compared to God

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. –Matthew 18:23-27

The Place of the Penitent

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. –Luke 15:7

Restitution Seeking Forgiveness

Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19:8-10

God’s Desire

The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. –2 Peter 3:9

Rosh HaShanah: Maimonides on Repentance

Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204) was a Spanish rabbi, physician, philosopher, and commentator on the Talmud. Better known as Maimonides or Rambam, he fled Spain when a Muslim conqueror offered the choice of conversion or death. He eventually became the physician of the Sultan Saladin, the leader who retook Palestine from the Crusaders. Maimonides is revered in the secular and Jewish world as a great intellect, a man of remarkable accomplishments in philosophy, Jewish law, and leadership. He was a rationalist, anti-mystical, and persuaded that Aristotelian philosophy could, with Torah, discover all truth.

Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah is a fourteen volume masterpiece. His decisions about the laws of Israel are regarded with finality and are reflected in the later law codes which are the basis of Orthodox Jewish practice today. Maimonides was able to absorb the entire content of the Talmud like few in history.

The following excerpts from Mishneh Torah (7:2-4, 8) on repentance reflect themes in rabbinic literature. They are also scriptural themes and find themselves reflected in the words of Yeshua and the apostles as well.

Death and Repentance

A man should always consider himself as if he is about to die; he may die when his time is up while still behaving sinfully. He should therefore repent of his sins immediately. Let him not say: “When I grow old I shall repent,” since he may die before getting old. Solomon in his wisdom said: Let your garments be always white [as burial garments] (Ecclesiastes 9:8).

Sinful Ways and Thoughts

Do not say repentance is limited to sinful acts, such as fornication, robbery, and theft. Just as a man must repent of these, so he must scan and search his evil traits, repenting of anger, hatred, envy, scoffing, greed, vainglory, excessive desire for food, and so on. One must repent of all these failings. They are worse than sinful acts; when a person is addicted to them, he finds it hard to get rid of them. The prophet says: Let the guilty man give up his way, and the evil man his thoughts (Isaiah 55:7).

God’s Love and the Penitent

Let not the repentant person imagine that he is far removed from the merit of the righteous on account of the iniquities and sins he committed. This is not so. He is tenderly loved by the Creator as if he had never sinned. Besides, his reward is great, since he had tasted sin and got rid of it by suppressing his evil impulse. The sages said: “Where repentant sinners stand the thoroughly righteous cannot stand” (Berakhot 34b); that is, their merit is superior to that of persons who never committed a sin, because the repentant had to exert greater effort in suppressing their impulse.

Humility, Shame, and Repentance

Those who repent should be exceedingly humble in their behavior. If ignorant fools insult them by mentioning their past deeds and saying to them: “Last night you were doing this and that; last night you were saying this and that,” they should pay no attention to them, but on hearing this they should rejoice, knowing that this is their merit. As long as they feel ashamed of their past deeds and are disgraced because of them, their merit and worth are enhanced. It is a flagrant sin to say to a repentant person: “Remember your past deeds,” or to mention them in his presence so as to embarrass him, or to recall similar incidents that are reminiscent of what he did. All this is forbidden along with all kinds of insulting words against which Torah warns us, as it is written: You must not vex one another (Leviticus 25:17).

Ways of Reading Torah

Last week’s reading was Nitzavim, which begins in Deuteronomy 29:9 (10 in Christian Bibles). Moses has gathered the second generation, all of them, before entering the land. Gathered are the men, the women, the children, and everyone from the woodcutters to the water-carriers.

Torah is your responsibility Moses tells them. And not only yours, but it is the responsibility as well of those who are not here today — the future generations who have yet to be born.

I am trying to impress upon my synagogue the joy and responsibility of Torah learning. I held a party at my house this week with an in-depth class for beginners in the study of Torah.

In preparing for that class, I thought about different ways of reading Torah. I wanted to introduce my students to a quick summary of different kinds of reading they might be exposed to.

Because Messianic Judaism is closely related to Christian communities, it is natural that my synagogue members might own and read reference materials prepared by Christian authors. So a Christian approach to Torah was the first one I wished to summarize for them. It might seem, when you read it below, that I am being highly critical of church readings of the books of Moses. While I respect the various denominations that follow Jesus in their own traditions, I have yet to find one which has its strength in respecting the books of Moses. I think it is fair to say this is a weak spot in virtually all forms of Christianity.

Because my synagogue members are likely to use reference materials prepared by the Orthodox Jewish community, I prepared them to understand the Orthodox-Mystical way of looking at Torah. As you will see below, I take issue with and yet learn from the Orthodox view of Torah.

Also, it is likely that my members will read, see, or hear the modern, rationalist way of looking at Torah, which I describe as the Scientific-Historical view.

Finally, I tried to sum up my own view of how Torah is to be read. I call it the Community-Covenant view.

I hope that you enjoy the chance to consider these different ways of reading. Please do not hesitate to correct me or ask me for clarification if you think I have been unfair. I am frequently wrong and it would not surprise me.
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WAYS OF READING TORAH

A Popular Christian Model: The Outdated Manual
A collection of stories pointing to Christ and useful for character building combined with laws and procedures for Israel that have little to do with living for God today.

An Orthodox-Mystical Jewish Model
The Torah contains within it answers for every area of life. Written Torah is combined with Oral Torah, the teachings of the sages filtered down through the years which are said to have their basis in God’s unwritten instruction to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Although written Torah is granted the greatest authority, in this model, all of the rabbinic teachings become authoritative like Torah. When an answer cannot be found in the literal (p’shat) interpretation, other more mystical interpretations can be found to justify traditions (remez or hint, d’rash or comparative, and sod or mystery). Studying Torah means reading the written Torah as well as Talmud and other rabbinic literature.

A Scientific-Historical Model
Different authors or groups over a long period of time wrote the Torah. The documentary hypothesis has variations but generally sees a Yahwist writer (J) from the time of the kings, an Elohist writer after him (E), followed later by the Priestly writer (P), and the Deuteronomist (D). Later the idea of Holiness writer (H) was added. In general, J and E wrote the older stories. P added rituals and regulations for a temple whereas the pure worship of old had been spontaneous and on quickly made altars. D added the idea of a covenant and blessings and curses. H amended P and was concerned with purity and holiness laws. In this view, the Torah is Israel’s philosophy of religion as it developed over centuries.

A Community-Covenant Model
The Torah is the foundation of God’s revelation to his community (Israel and through Israel to the nations). The Torah establishes a covenant and a community. The covenant is with Israel but has in view spreading to the nations through Israel as the priestly people (therefore, it is no surprise that Torah has different requirements for Jews and Gentiles regarding some matters). The community is important in understanding Torah, since many details are omitted. It is not possible to keep Torah in isolation from the community. Thus, the traditions of Israel, broadly interpreted, are part of Torah. Whereas the Orthodox-Mystical approach grants too much authority to rabbinic literature, a more moderate community-covenant model recognizes and finds answers within rabbinic literature. Whereas the Orthodox-Mystical model always adds more layers of tradition and insists on the strictest rulings, the community-covenant model looks for consensus in tradition and is more open to variation and local traditions.