1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources

Kindness of Your Youth

The Talmud describes the Book of Jeremiah as “kulei churbena” – it is all about the destruction (Bava Batra 14b). In light of this description Jeremiah’s first prophecy to Israel seems out of place. “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: So says the Lord, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, when you followed me into the wilderness, into an unsown land. Israel is holy to the Lord, the first of His crop; all who devour them will be held guilty; evil shall come upon them.” (Jeremiah 2:2,3).

Visions of destruction and pain fill the Book of Jeremiah. At the same time, throughout the book, the prophet provides words of comfort and reassurance with the vision of the final redemption. But this introductory prophecy, a prophecy about Israel’s past, still calls for an explanation. Why is this prophecy chosen to introduce the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile from the Land of Israel?

Perhaps we can better understand this prophecy when we consider the concept of exile. When God punishes us He is not merely taking revenge or expressing anger. Each punishment is planned out as a path to correct us and to help us accomplish the purpose for which we were created.

When Israel sinned they lost the ability to accomplish their purpose in their own land. Therefore, Israel needed to wander in the spiritual wilderness of exile. Instead of testifying to the oneness of God in the light of Divine favor, Israel will need to fulfill this task in the darkness of exile.

Before we set out on this new aspect of our mission, God reminds us of our original commitment to Him. When we followed Him that first time we weren’t expecting anything. Our love for God was so complete that we followed Him out into the desert without knowing how we would be sustained.

This prophecy is the appropriate introduction to exile. God is declaring that Israel is indeed capable and fit for the task of exile. Their love for God runs so deep that all of the persecutions and suffering of exile will never extinguish it (Song of Solomon 8:7). The fire in Israel’s heart for God, which we showed when we followed Him into the desert, has the strength to remain loyal to Him even in the darkest depths of exile.

Isaiah prophesied that we will yet emerge from this exile with our loyalty to God intact. We will yet enter the gates as the nation that remained faithful to the God who we followed when we left the land of Egypt (Isaiah 26:2).

May it happen speedily in our days.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Landscape of the Bible

The second strategy employed by the Church in her effort to silence the voice of the Jewish prophets is by misrepresenting the literary structure of the Bible. As it is with any work of literature, the Jewish Bible contains highlights and climaxes. The prophets used various literary devices to emphasize certain events and certain teachings. Having a storyline slowly build up towards a certain event is one device used by the prophetic narrator to direct the reader’s attention to a given point (e.g. the Sinai revelation in Exodus 20). Repeating a teaching again and again is another literary device that the prophets used to underline a given teaching (e.g. the universal principles of justice and charity). Pointing back to a specific teaching, reiterating and elaborating, is yet another method that the prophets used to help us see the importance of a given truth (e.g. the Sinai revelation as per Deuteronomy 4).

The Church ignores the literary structure that is inherent in the Bible itself. Instead the Church presents its own version of the “highlights” of the Jewish Bible. These are passages or verses that, when read out of context, seem to support one Christian doctrine or another. The Church promotes the non-contextual reading of these solitary passages as if they were the central teachings of the Jewish Bible. The Church’s exaltation of the alleged “virgin birth” of Isaiah 7:14, is a perfect illustration of this strategy. A contextual reading of this verse will reveal that this prophecy has nothing to do with the Messiah and a correct translation will prove that there is no virgin mentioned in the verse. But in complete disregard for the literary structure of the Jewish Bible, the Church has for centuries pointed to this verse as if it were the climax of human history. By exalting this passage, the Church has successfully distorted the literary landscape of the Jewish Bible in the minds of many readers.

Through the implementation of these various strategies, the Church has endeavored to silence the voice of the Jewish prophets.

(Read the full article here – https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/christianity-unmasked/ )

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Being a Jew – What Does it Mean?

The Bible tells us that G-d took the Jewish people to Him for a nation and that He is their G-d (Genesis 17:7; Exodus 6:7).  The relationship between G-d and Israel is like a marriage. G-d will not enter into such an intimate relationship with any other nation and Israel will never enter into a devotional relationship with anyone aside from their G-d.

“You were shown in order that you know that the Lord is God there is none beside Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).

It is Israel’s holy calling to testify to this truth. Israel is to carry the torch of the Oneness of G-d throughout the corridors of history.

This truth has two ramifications. The first ramification of this truth is the simple fact that the devotion of our hearts belongs to no one but to the One who brought our hearts into being in the first place.

The second ramification of this truth is that every inhabitant of this earth, including those people who are deified by the various world religions, are but fellow subjects of the One Creator.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

16. Objection 1.8
Here Brown tries to explain to his readers why Jews have not accepted Jesus as their god. Brown lists several explanations for the Jewish position but Brown fails to tell his readers the most important reason why Jesus was never an option for the Jew. The Christian Scriptures themselves testify that the most important Jewish reaction to Jesus was: “how can a man claim to be god?” In other words, Jews in Jesus’ time and until today, recognize that attributing divinity to a human being is idolatry. It is for this reason and for this reason only that Jews gave their lives rather than accept Jesus. Judaism teaches that human life is sacred, but in order to avoid idolatry, one must be ready to die.
Imagine the following scenario. A certain drug manufacturer developed a drug that he claimed would cure chicken pox. The FDA refuses to approve the drug, because they recognize that some of the ingredients of this drug are extremely dangerous toxins. When asked why the FDA turned down his product, the manufacturer responds by complaining that they never seriously tested his drug. The manufacturer never tells his prospective customers that the FDA considers the contents of his drug to be harmful and dangerous. The word “dishonesty” does not begin to describe the salesman’s attitude.
Brown is doing the same thing. He fails to inform his readers, that the Jewish people, who were entrusted by God with preserving the message of Sinai, consider his product idolatry. Instead he tries to convince his readers that the product he is trying to market was not given a fair trial!
Another point to consider on this issue is Brown’s own admission that the Church had been preaching false doctrine. For centuries upon centuries, the Church had been teaching that Israel is no longer the elect of God. Even today, many Churches contend that the Jewish people can no longer consider themselves God’s firstborn sons. So how are Jews supposed to accept the “truth” of Christianity? The Christian teaching that the elect of God are the followers of the Messiah is nowhere to be found in the Jewish scriptures. Should the Jews have accepted a non-scriptural election and repudiate the scriptural election? According to Brown’s own standard that he set forth in the introduction – “follow the Bible” – and according to Brown’s own interpretation of the Bible, the Church has miserably failed. Why does Brown value the conversion of Jews to Christianity at a time when conversion to Christianity meant rejecting God’s firstborn son? (Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31:8).

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal