Ramifications of Shema II – Psalm 63:4

Posted on July 27, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Ramifications of Shema II – Psalm 63:4

In my article entitled “Ramifications of Shema”, I presented the concept that with the knowledge that God is the only power firmly planted into our hearts, we come to the realization that we can never gain any pleasure through an act of disobedience nor will an act of obedience bring us to any pain.

I have since been asked a question. The questioner presented me with the following scenario: Imagine that a Jewish man is driving down the highway and he runs out of kosher food. Right there on the side of the highway he sees a shop that only sells non-kosher food products. Now let us follow the two hypothetical paths that this situation can lead to.

# 1 – This Jewish fellow buys a non-kosher sandwich, he eats it and drives on his merry way. Or # 2 – He does not buy the sandwich and he starves for the next several hours until he arrives at a place where he can get kosher food.

In scenario # 1, he was disobedient, but he escaped the pain of hunger and gained the pleasure of eating tasty food. In scenario # 2, the same fellow was obedient, but he lost out on the pleasure of the food that he could have enjoyed and his obedience caused him to suffer hunger. How then can I make a blanket statement that you never lose through obedience and that you never gain through disobedience?

In order to answer this question, let us look a bit deeper into these two hypothetical scenarios. In scenario # 1, where the person ate that which his God commanded him not to eat, how do you think his connection to God was affected? Let us assume that this person is not plagued by guilt (which more often than not, is not a healthy place to go). He justifies his disobedience to himself by saying; I had no choice; I was starving. But his eating certainly did not bring him any closer to God.

Let us now look at scenario #2. Perhaps as the person was driving down the highway, he was feeling the pangs of hunger and he was not enjoying the experience one bit. But the next time he approaches God in prayer, he will feel a connection that he would have never felt had he chosen the other path. I am not talking about feeling proud that he obeyed God. That could never be considered a connection to God, for God hates pride (Proverbs 16:5). A feeling of pride in obedience is actually an attitude that creates a distance from God. What I am talking about is a feeling of closeness. When this person looks back at the opportunity for obedience that came his way, he realizes that the Creator of all gave him an opportunity to show his love and his loyalty to the God of Israel. He looks back at the temptation and he realizes that by overcoming the urge to violate God’s command, he brought his life in line with God’s truth – he recognizes his obedience as an embrace with God. He recognizes the situation as an opportunity to live out the concept that as Jew, he is a firstborn son of God. He recognizes that his act of obedience towards God brings him in line with the full stature of Eternal Israel. His obedience is woven in with the obedience of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the beloved of God (Deuteronomy 10:15) and all of their descendants who have been loyal and who will be loyal to their calling as a holy nation.

The closeness to God that is generated by following scenario # 2 surpasses anything that scenario # 1 has to offer. I stand by my original statement; you will never gain through disobedience towards God and you will never lose through obedience towards your Father in heaven. You just have to open your eyes and your heart.

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Posted in Basic, Judaism | 3 Comments

Validating the Oral Law

Posted on July 26, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Judaism claims that it possesses an authentic understanding of the Biblical laws that goes beyond the words that are written in the Bible. According to Judaism, when God taught Moses each of the laws, He did not just recite to Moses the words that were subsequently recorded in the Bible. God presented Moses with the complete spiritual concept of each one of the Biblical laws.

When Moses taught the people, he too did not limit his teaching to the recitation of words. Moses gave over the understanding that he was granted by God pertaining to each of the commandments. When the Jewish people passed the Law on to their children, they did not limit the communication to the recital of words or to the delivery of a book. The children absorb how their parents live the Law, how their parents sense the Law and the spiritual concepts that stand behind each of the laws.

The Jewish people accept the Law of Moses together with the understanding that they received from the Jews who walked before them. Judaism recognizes that not every concept that their parents teach them originates with Moses. Many customs and practices accumulated over the generations and the Jewish people keep record of the origin of each practice and custom. But the core spiritual concept that stands behind each of the commandments goes back to Moses.

There are seven basic lines of reasoning through which we can establish the veracity of the Oral Law. (Six of these apply to the Law in general and one pertains particularly to the law prohibiting idolatry.) I present here a summary of these seven lines of reasoning.

# 1 – The first line of reasoning through which we can establish the authenticity of the Oral Law is the same line of reasoning that we use to establish the authenticity of the Jewish Scriptures. Both Jews and Christians agree that the Jewish Scriptures were provided by God to give guidance to His people. It follows therefore, that God would put in place some method of validation through which subsequent generations can be confident that these books are truly His word.

The method of validation that God utilized in order to ratify His word throughout history is the living testimony of the Jewish people. The process is briefly described in the opening phrases of Psalm 78. “That which we have heard and know and our fathers have told us. We shall not withhold from their sons, recounting unto the final generation the praises of the Lord, His might, and His wonders that He has wrought. He established a testimony in Jacob and set down a Torah in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to make known to their sons. So that the final generation may know; children yet to be born will arise and tell their own children, so that they may place their trust in God, and not forget the works of God, and they will safeguard His commandments” (Psalm 78:3-7).

The method that God used to confirm His Law to the final generation is the living testimony of His chosen witness nation. These witnesses ratify both the Written Torah and the Oral Law. If we cannot trust the witness for one, we cannot trust the same witness for the other.

# 2 – The second line of reasoning through which we can establish the veracity of the Oral Law is closely related to the first argument. This line of reasoning focuses on the testimonial observances.

The Bible clearly tells us that God designated various testimonial observances as a means to preserve His truth amongst the Jewish people. The living observances of circumcision, Passover, redemption of the firstborn, the Sabbath, and Tabernacles were all appointed by God as a means of passing various truths from one generation to the next (Genesis 17:11-13, Exodus 12:25-27, 13:8, 11-16, 31:12-17, Leviticus 23:42-43, Deuteronomy 16:3).

These observances play a vital role in the preservation of God’s truth amongst His people. The miraculous events of the exodus and Israel’s subsequent sojourn through the wilderness served as the hammer-blows through which God formed this nation for Himself (1Samuel 12:22, 2Samuel 7:24, Isaiah 43:21, 44:21, 1Chronicles 17:21). Scripture attests to the foundational nature of the exodus events by repeatedly making reference to the exodus in the most central settings (Exodus 20:2, 29:46, Leviticus 11:45, 22:33, 25:38, Deuteronomy 6:21, 8:14, 29:1-8, Joshua 24:17, Judges 2:12, 2Samuel 7:23, 2Kings 17:7, Jeremiah 2:6, Hosea 13:4, Micah 6:4, Psalm 81:11). And Scripture explicitly points to the testimonial observances as the means through which the impression of this pivotal event is to be preserved.

Circumcision and the Sabbath are the witnesses that God appointed to teach the future generations of the irrevocable nature of God’s covenant with Israel. The Sabbath was designated by God to ensure that every generation of Jews will know the sanctity that God grants Israel (Exodus 31:13). The election of Israel (1Samuel 12:22, 2Samuel 7:24, Isaiah 43:21, 44:21, 1Chronicles 17:21) and God’s sanctification of Israel (Exodus 19:6, Leviticus 11:45, 20:26, Deuteronomy 7:6, 26:19, Jeremiah 2:3, Ezekiel 37:28) are central components of the theology of Scripture. God recognized that the full impact of these critical truths cannot be preserved solely through the written word. God designed the testimonial commandments so that each generation of Jews could learn to appreciate the significance of Israel’s election and her sanctification by God.

The Biblical texts that describe the testimonial observances make clear that God expected the latter generations of Jews to look at the living observances of their parents, and see in them a repository of God’s holy truth. These texts make clear that God recognized that the written word alone is not a sufficient means of preserving the full impact of His truth without being enhanced by the living observances.

# 3 – The third line of reasoning through which we can establish the veracity of the Oral Law focuses on God’s preservation of Rabbinic Judaism. The Bible makes it clear that God planned to preserve His people to the end of history. It is also clear from the Bible that God planned to preserve the Law of Moses so that every generation of Jews will be able to observe it (Deuteronomy 30:2, Malachi 3:22). Throughout the history of the Jewish people various factions of Jews have advocated different approaches to the Law of Moses. The Sadducees had their method of observing the Law, the Essenes insisted on their own discipline, the Nazarenes and the Sabbateans each presented their own variations of implementing the Law. But God did not see fit to preserve the practices of these sectarian groups. The only approach to the Law that has any claim for historical continuity is the approach of the Pharisees; those who followed the Oral Law. The one system of practicing and applying the Law of Moses that God preserved is the system that approaches the Written Torah through the understanding of the Oral Law.

This argument is underscored when we focus on the Sabbath. God declares that the observance of Sabbath stands as an eternal sign of the divine sanctification of the Jewish people (Exodus 31:12-17). Throughout the annals of Jewish history there have been various approaches to observance of the Sabbath. But the only observance that could claim historical continuity since the times of Moses is the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. It is through the rabbinic observance of the Sabbath that God’s covenantal sign is preserved.

The miracle of Judaism’s survival can only be attributed to the power of God’s promise. God told us that His spirit is amongst us (Haggai 2:5), and that it will never depart (Isaiah 59:21). God promised that He will be our sanctuary in this bitter exile (Ezekiel 11:16), and that His Sabbath will stand as an eternal testimony to the sanctification that He continuously grants His people (Exodus 31:13). It is clear that the survival of Rabbinic Judaism is an expression of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

# 4 – The fourth line of reasoning through which we can establish the veracity of the Oral Law points to the complexity of the Law. The five books of Moses present a law that is quite complicated. This Law is to be observed by a nation in unanimity. Judges, priests and arbitrators of the Law are to administrate and apply this complex law system for a diverse nation. This Law is to be observed throughout the annals of Jewish history, in whichever far-flung locale that Jewish people find themselves. There is no way that this could happen with any semblance of coordination if there is no recognized, authoritative interpretation of the Law.

If the only authority is the written word, then any individual or any group of individuals can offer their own interpretation of the Law. How could the judges prosecute a Sabbath violator on the basis of the written word alone? The accused could always offer his own interpretation of the Law which would render him or her innocent. Whose interpretation of the Law would be binding on such a large community of people?

The history of the Protestant Church serves to illustrate this point. No one accused Martin Luther of being stupid and no one accused him of not firmly believing in the principle; “sola scriptura” – “Scripture alone”. Yet today many Protestants recognize that Luther was not reading “Scripture alone” and that he was heavily influenced by his Catholic background. It did not occur to Luther to question the replacement theology that was accepted at the time, yet today many Protestants recognize that this teaching is not rooted in Scripture.

It is obvious that different people, from different cultural and religious environments will read the same book and see different messages. How then can we be confident that any given understanding of Scripture is more valid than another? The principle “sola scriptura” opens the door for an inundation of interpretations. This may be harmless in the realm of abstract study, but in a situation of a nation trying to unanimously live by the laws presented in Scripture, this is not an option.

When God presented the Law to Israel, it was immediately applied to the life of that society. That society recognized that the judges and arbitrators of the Law (over 60,000 of them – Exodus 18:21) possessed an understanding of the Law that was binding on everyone. There was a system of living arbitrators who carried in their hearts and minds an authoritative understanding of the practical application of the Law. And there is no way that the Law could be observed as a nation without a binding authoritative understanding of the Law.

# 5 – The fifth line of reasoning through which we can verify the authenticity of the Oral Law focuses on the concept of a target audience.

The purpose of communication is to transport the thoughts of the communicator over to his or her intended audience. A wise communicator will determine the means of communication that he or she will use according to the abilities and the mind-set of the audience he or she is trying to influence. The choice of words exercised by the communicator will be calibrated according to the particular understanding of the target audience. In order to properly understand a given communication one must first determine to whom it is that the communicator is directing his or her words.

The communication we are discussing here is the Jewish Bible. Who is God’s target audience? To whom is God addressing these words?

In order to begin to comprehend scripture, one must have a working knowledge of the language of scripture. We must appreciate that language is more than a collection of words. Language in general, and the language of scripture in particular, will take an abstract and intangible concept and express it in a single word. A necessary prerequisite to comprehension of scripture is the understanding of concepts such as: God, Israel, holiness, prayer, commandment, Temple, law, prophecy, and much more. We all acquire our perception of these concepts through interaction with fellow man. The man or woman, who will read scripture without previously possessing an understanding of these concepts, has yet to be born.

Each individual society has its own perspective, and its distinct understanding of God, holiness, law and prophecy. These words have one meaning for the Jew, another meaning for the Christian, and yet a different connotation for the Moslem. Each society will read scripture using their own particular dictionary.

So the question remains; who is God’s target audience?

There are three different methods that can be utilized to determine the intended audience of a written communication. The document may explicitly specify the intended recipient by name. Alternatively the document may implicitly identify the one to whom the writer directs his words. And finally, the agent that the writer entrusted with the delivery of his message may tell us to whom it is that he was appointed to deliver the message.

In the case of the Jewish scriptures we can employ all three possible methods in order to discover the intended audience of Jewish scripture. Psalm 147:19,20 explicitly tell us that God imparted His words to Israel, to the exclusion of every other national entity. The scriptures implicitly identify Israel as the object of her words. The word “you” as it is used in the Jewish scriptures almost always refers to the nation of Israel. The agent designated by God to deliver this book is none other then the people of Israel. They affirm the basic truth, that the book of the Jewish scriptures is intended for the national entity of Israel.

God presented the Jewish scriptures to the Jewish society. In these books God directly addresses the Jewish nation. All others who read this holy book must bear this simple fact in mind. Any non-Jew reading the Jewish scriptures is reading a record of God’s directives to the Jewish nation. The only dictionary to be used when reading this book is that of the society to whom the book is addressed – the Jewish people. The true language of scripture, is the language of the Jewish people. When scripture says the word “God”, it is referring to the Jewish concept of God. When scripture makes reference to concepts such as holiness, Temple, prayer, or Sabbath, these abstract ideas must be understood in a Jewish context. The scriptures are directed at the Jewish people, it was obviously written in their language.

The Oral Law preserves the only true context of Scripture. According to those who reject the Oral Law, the Jew and the Gentile are equally authorized to apply their interpretations of the Law. In light of God’s declaration in Deuteronomy 33:4 this cannot be.

# 6 – The sixth line of reasoning through which we can establish the veracity of the Oral Law is through some basic historical research.

The Scriptures testify that the Jewish people had a coherent and unified spiritual leadership in the early years of the Second Temple. Ezra, who was a recognized leader of the Babylonian Jewish community, was granted the power to enforce and to promulgate the teachings of Judaism under the rule of the Persian kings (Ezra 7:25,26). Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah and Nehemiah worked together to establish the spiritual roots of the community in the Land of Israel (Ezra 5:1, Nehemiah 10:30). It is only under a unified leadership commanding widespread respect that the establishment of a new holiday could take root amongst the Jewish community that was scattered throughout the Persian empire (Esther 9:27,28 – compare 2Chronicles 30:10).

Anyone who accepts the validity of the Jewish Scriptures, must accept that the spiritual leadership of the Jewish people in the beginning of the Second Temple era possessed the authentic understanding of the Law of Moses. The only question that can be asked is; which of the later Second Temple communities are the true heirs of Ezra and Nehemiah? Was it the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the Essenes? Only one of these groups could be the true inheritor of Ezra and Nehemiah while the other two must be schismatics, who broke off from the main body of the nation.

We have learned from the scriptures that in the early days of the Second Temple, the Jewish people possessed a unified spiritual leadership. This leadership was respected throughout the far reaches of the diaspora. This is only possible if these scattered communities shared a common understanding of the Law. They must have possessed a strong network of coordinated leadership that held sway throughout the provinces of the Persian Empire and beyond.

The historical records of the later Second Temple era reveal that the Sadducee and the Essene communities were limited to the Land of Israel. There is no record of any Sadducee or Essene presence in Babylon or Rome, both of which possessed large Jewish communities. There is nothing to indicate that the Sadducees or Essenes possessed anything that resembled a network of leadership with international influence. The Pharisees on the other hand possessed a highly coordinated network of leadership that was respected throughout the entire Roman Empire and beyond.

The Pharisees relied on this network of leadership to apply their calendric decisions. The calendar of the Pharisees was based on monthly and yearly decisions of the central body of leadership. The respect that this body of leadership commanded enabled the international Jewish communities to celebrate the biblical holidays in unison. The respect commanded by the central Pharisaic body of leadership was not limited to the Jewish community. A large number of Pre-Nicean Christians also followed the calendric decisions of the spiritual leadership of the Pharisees. This phenomenon was so widespread in the Christian world that the Nicean council found it necessary to prohibit this practice.

There can be no question that the Pharisees were the true heirs of Ezra. The far-reaching extent of Pharisee influence can only be understood if we accept that the common root of all the scattered Jewish communities was Pharisaic. The Sadducees and the Essenes were obviously newcomers to the scene who only impacted the immediate area in which they originated.

# 7 – The seventh line of reasoning relates to the prohibition against idolatry.

As a general rule, the argument about the authenticity of the traditions of Judaism is not very relevant to the debate between Judaism and Christianity. It is not necessary to believe in the traditions in order to reject the doctrines of the Church. The Bible itself provides more than enough evidence to refute the claims of Christianity. Historically, Jews who rejected the traditions of their fathers, (known as Karaites), were amongst the strongest opponents to Christianity. Conversely, there are Christians who accept the authenticity of many of the traditions and still believe in Jesus. It is clear that the traditions are not a central factor in the debate between Judaism and Christianity.

There is however one exception to this rule and that is the tradition that defines the prohibition against idolatry. This tradition has been the central focus in the debate between Judaism and Christianity for the past 2000 years. When Jews chose death over Christianity, and tens of thousands made this choice, it was because they believed in the Jewish definition of the prohibition against idolatry. This is the one area where the Bible explicitly refers to extra-scriptural revelation as an authoritative source from where the Jewish people can find the truth. In the book of Deuteronomy (4:32-35) Moses reminds us about the miracles of the exodus and about the Sinai revelation. Moses tells us that these served as a lesson, unparalleled in the history of mankind, teaching us about the absolute sovereignty of God. Earlier on in that same chapter Moses tells us how this lesson will be preserved for the future generations. He tells us that we will teach it to our children and children’s children (4:9). He speaks of a chain of living teachers, not of the handing over of a book. When it comes to the issue of idolatry, the Bible explicitly points us towards our national heritage. And it is precisely in this area that all Trinitarian Christians reject the national traditions of the Jewish people.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Faith Structure, Oral Law | 14 Comments

Ramifications of Shema

Posted on July 25, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Ramifications of the Shema

In the previous article we explained the second phrase in the Shema as: “we recognize that the Lord is the only power – and that we pledge to live our lives in light of that recognition”. In this article we will examine some of the ramifications of aligning one’s life to conform to the truth of God’s absolute mastery of all.

Trust

One practical ramification of living the truth of the Shema is the sense of trust, security and peace. To the degree that one is aware that there is no power on earth beside God, to that same degree will this person be at peace. The knowledge that no one or no force can harm us or bring us benefit aside from our loving Father removes all false hopes and all false fears from our hearts. The recognition that we are only here as an expression of His love, and that all that we could hope for is completely in His hands, brings us to a complete and total trust in God (Psalm 131:2).

Gratitude, Love and Relationship

Another practical ramification of living the truth of Shema is the development of an attitude of gratitude, love and constant connection with God. As our minds fill with the recognition that all that we possess came to us through God, our hearts fill with boundless gratitude towards the One who gives us all. We learn to feel His love in every breath we take, because we appreciate that each and every breath is a gift from Him. When you live the Shema, every wisp of wind is a caress from your Father, the beauty in your life is a thoughtful gift from God, and you learn to sense His embrace on a constant basis.

Obedience

Every action that we take as created beings can only be for one of two reasons; either in the hope of gaining pleasure or for the purpose of escaping pain. The pleasure and the pain can occur on many levels; it could be physical, emotional, or spiritual, but this is the motivation behind all of our actions. In order to take an action to gain pleasure or to escape pain we must be convinced that there is a reasonable chance that our action will produce the desired effect. But once it becomes clear to us that God is the only true power, we then know that He is the only one that can grant us pleasure and that He is the only one that can protect us from pain. Once this truth is firmly planted in our minds we come to the realization that disobedience towards God can never give us any benefit or protect us from any pain. Absorbing the truth of the Shema leads to a life of obedience towards God.

No Idolatry

The truth of the Shema prevents us from falling into idolatry. The sin of idolatry occurs when we allow our hearts to be lead astray by one of God’s creations. When we see any force or any being that exists inside of God’s creation as a true master of our destiny, or even over one aspect of our destiny, and we are persuaded to submit ourselves to this force, we have committed idolatry. With the truth of the Shema in front of our eyes, we will never make this mistake. The Shema declares that everything that exists is equally subservient to the One all-powerful God. No force and no being can be seen as a true master over any aspect of our destiny. Any force or any being that we can imagine can only be a servant of the One true God because its existence can only be a gift from the One true God.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Basic, Judaism, The Ultimate Truth | 3 Comments

The Shema

Posted on July 25, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

The Shema

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Generally, we tend to focus on the last point of the passage: the oneness of God. I want to call attention to the second phrase in this verse: “the Lord is our God”. What do we mean when we say that He is OUR God? In what way is do we possess Him? Is He not the God of all creation?

When God sent Moses to take us out of Egypt, He told Moses that the purpose of the exodus was that He will take us unto Himself for a nation and He should be to us for a God (Exodus 6:7). This theme is repeated often throughout the Scriptures (Leviticus 11:45, Numbers 15:41, Deuteronomy 26:17, Jeremiah 32:38 – to mention a few). How are we to Him for a nation? And how is He “to us for a God”?

The Hebrew word E-l-o-h-i-m which we translate as “God” actually means “power” or “strength”. This name of God is often translated as “Almighty”. This same word is also used for entities other than God such as for human judges in Exodus 21:6. With this understanding in mind, the second phrase in the Shema reads; “the Lord is our power”, which makes things a bit more perplexing.

Every step in our life is taken with the assumption that power exists. If I plan to walk from here to there, I must first assume that my legs have the power to carry me, that the path that I will be walking upon has the power to hold me, and that I have the power to navigate that path successfully. Every thought and every action is taken with the understanding that certain powers are there. It would not occur to me to move my finger across this keyboard unless I already understand that my fingers have the ability to do so and that the keyboard will produce the appropriate effect.

Because everything depends on power, we direct our lives accordingly. As far as I see that my body is a power in my life, I will feed it and take care of it. As far as I see that my employer is a power in my life, I will seek to align my life in a way that the positive power that I need from my employer should continue to flow towards me. This may mean working in a manner that pleases him or her, flattering my employer or attending the events my employer asks me to attend.

God took us out of Egypt so that we can live with the understanding that no power exists independent of God. All power and strength that exists is God’s strength. God taught us through the exodus and through the Sinai revelation that all of existence is His and that there is no other power (Deuteronomy 4:35).when we see gravity at work, we are to understand, that it is but an expression of God’s will. When we see a person walking down the road, we are to recognize that every step is a kindness from God. There is no power independent from God.

The Jewish people are called upon to live with this truth planted firmly into their psyche. The only power that can harm us is God’s wrath and the only power that could bring us blessing is His mercy. It is completely futile to attempt to appease another power at the expense of our obedience to God because no other power can harm us against God’s will. It is foolish to think that we may lose something by obeying God, because nothing has the power to give us anything unless God so decrees.

As God’s people, we are called upon to live our lives in light of this fundamental truth. To the degree that we allow this truth to permeate our lives, to that same degree do we fulfill our mission as a nation that is holy to God.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

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Mourners of Zion

Posted on July 20, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Mourners of Zion

The three weeks; from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av, were designated by the spiritual leadership of Eternal Israel as a time of mourning for the destruction of the Temple. The fact is that a Jew who walks in the ways of his or her ancestors will carry the heartache of the destruction all the time. The “Three Weeks” are unique only in that they are a time for a more explicit outward expression of this steady mourning.

In the book of Isaiah we learn that the attitude of mourning for Zion is not a peripheral aspect of our relationship with God. In Isaiah 61:3 we find that the term: “Mourners of Zion” is synonymous with Israel as the servant of God. The promise to the mourners of Zion in this verse (61:3) directly parallels the promise to Israel in verse 60:21. The fact that the prophet gives Israel this name (mourners of Zion) in this context, tells us that the attitude of grieving over Zion is central to our calling as a nation before God, and is a crucial factor in our hope for the Messianic promises.

The heart of the Jew is the yearning to connect to God. Not that I, the Jew, should ascend to heaven, but rather that God should come to dwell amongst us here on earth. God promised that this will come to pass (Leviticus 26:12, Ezekiel 37:28). God also promised that it is through Israel that He will work towards the pinnacle of history (Isaiah60:2,3). God first revealed His glory to Israel (Deuteronomy 4:35), and Israel is charged with the task of witnessing to the world that there is but One God (Isaiah 43:10). After Israel encountered God, there is nothing on earth that could satisfy her but God Himself. No glory or pleasure could appeal to the heart of Eternal Israel but that her ultimate dream come to fruition – that the God of truth come to dwell in her midst here on earth. And as long as that has not yet happened, the heart of the Jew will pine and yearn for that great day.

The life of the Jew is filled with joy, the joy of serving God, the gratitude towards our loving Father who gives us everything – including our very existence, the joy of the hope inherent in the Messianic promises, and even the joy that as His servants we can mourn and yearn before Him. But it is only to the degree that the mourning for Zion is a reality in our hearts that we can hope for the restoration and the promises.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Holidays, Judaism | 31 Comments

Response to Line of Fire 10

Posted on July 8, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to The Line of Fire 10

On the July 7 2011 segment of Dr. Brown’s radio show: “The Line of Fire” he addressed several video clips by Rabbi Eli Cohen ( http://www.lineoffireradio.com/2011/07/07/dr-brown-answers-the-rabbis-part-3-and-an-interview-with-david-bruckner-of-jews-for-jesus/#comments ). In this article we will address some of the arguments that Dr. Brown raises in his presentation. In no way is this to be considered a comprehensive refutation of all of Dr. Brown’s statements.

Before I set out to point out the flaws in his arguments, I would like to commend Dr. Brown for the tone of his presentation. He makes it clear that he respects Rabbi Cohen as a person and that his presentation is not a personal attack against Rabbi Cohen. By bringing a conciliatory tone to the table the discussion can focus on the real issues.

  1. Dr. Brown makes the claim that 2 Chronicles chapter 7 teaches that once the Temple was destroyed, Israel is without national atonement.

The passage in Chronicles presents no such teaching. The passage does say that with Israel’s sins the Temple will be destroyed, but the Scripture says nothing about Israel not being able to atone for sin. The wording that the prophet uses in verses 21 and 22 of this chapter directly parallel Deuteronomy chapter 29:23-25. The passage in Deuteronomy leads to God’s directive as to how we can go about getting the Temple back. The answer is repentance. Although we do not have a temple, the Scriptures clearly teach that there is a path for the nation to be reconciled with God and that path is turning back to the Law of Moses through sincere repentance.

2.      Dr. Brown addresses Rabbi Cohen’s arguments concerning the Christian interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27. By accepting the Christian teaching that assumes that there is no atonement without blood, Dr. Brown has missed the main thrust of Daniel’s prophecy. The background of Daniel’s prophecy is that he feared that the restoration that Jeremiah prophesied was not coming to pass. Jeremiah had predicted that Israel’s exile was to last 70 years and Daniel was under the impression that this prophecy was not being fulfilled. The answer to Daniel’s prophecy is that what he had expected to be accomplished with the 70 years of Jeremiah will not be fully accomplished until a later time. When the angel speaks to Daniel about the expiation of sin, he is not talking about blood offerings because that was not the subject of Daniel’s prayer. The angel was talking about Israel’s suffering. The purpose of Israel’s suffering is for the expiation of sin, and the angel was explaining to Daniel that it was not going to be accomplished in the 70 years of the Babylonian exile.

3.    Rabbi Cohen points out that the Christian interpretation which assumes that Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled through Jesus is simply untenable. All of the glorious predictions about ushering in eternal righteousness and anointing the holy of holies have not come to pass. The point Rabbi Cohen is trying to make is that the culmination of this prophecy is yet to occur.

Dr. Brown responds to this point with the argument that the prophecy comes with a time limit. It must be fulfilled before the destruction of the Second Temple. Dr. Brown argues that according to Rabbi Cohen’s argument, Daniel would have to be a false prophet.

Dr. Brown recognizes that the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy is yet to come. Dr. Brown contends that a “foretaste” of the fullness of the prophecy took place during the time of the Second Temple, while its final culmination is to occur with the return of Jesus.

The problem with Dr. Brown’s interpretation is that the prophet says nothing about a “foretaste” or that the prophecy will be fulfilled in two stages.

When we read the prophecy in context, with the clear understanding that the focus of the prophecy is suffering of Israel and what it is supposed to accomplish, we can readily understand this Scriptural passage.

Daniel assumed that through Israel’s suffering in the 70 years of the Babylonian exile, the glorious Messianic era would be ushered in. The angel informed him that this was not to be. The angel told Daniel that there was a period of 490 years was decreed over Israel which will culminate in the destruction of the Temple. By noting the parallel verses in chapter 11 (verses 31-35) we learn that the destruction of the Temple will be accompanied by a new exile and that Israel will still undergo yet another refining process. It is only with this second exile that Israel will accomplish what Daniel expected her to accomplish in the first exile. The process that will usher in eternal righteousness, anoint the holy of holies and put a permanent end to sin is to begin at the end of the 490 years.

4.     Towards the end of his presentation Dr. Brown makes the claim that by establishing the largest religion in the world, Jesus has thereby fulfilled a Messianic prophecy. I wonder which prophecy he is referring to. As far as I can tell, there is no such prophecy in the Hebrew Bible.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 66 Comments

Explaining Judaism to a Teenager

Posted on July 7, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Explaining Judaism to a Teenager

I don’t have to tell you that teenagers ask questions.  – How do you answer them?

There is only one way to do it: Honestly.

So when your teenager asks you: How do we know that Judaism is true? – What are you going to answer?

Here is a suggestion:

By definition, a religion is going to be telling you information about the realm of the unknown. Each world religion claims to possess the truth about things that we cannot see, feel, hear, touch or taste. Judaism claims that there is One God who demands that we live a moral life. You can’t see this God and the benefits of living a moral life a moral life aren’t readily apparent to a teenager. Christianity claims that Jesus is divine and that if you don’t believe in him you will live to regret it in the afterlife. The alleged divinity of Jesus is not something that anyone ever saw. Islam claims that Mohammed is a true prophet. No-one ever touched or felt the prophecy of Mohammed.

In order to get you to believe their respective claims, each religion must present a bridge through which the information passed from the realm of the unknown to this physical world. Each religion points to a conduit through which they receive their information from that unseen and untouchable world.

The Christian points to Jesus. Jesus, it is said came from the world of the unknown, and told us what he learned there. Jesus is the conduit of communication that the Christian must rely on in order to bring the information from the world of the unknown to our physical world.

The Moslem points to Mohammed. Mohammed, it is said, peered into the world of the unknown and taught his followers what he learned.  For Islam, it is Mohammed who bridges the gap from the world of the unknown to this material world.

Judaism is the only world religion that does not bridge this gap through an individual. The two foundational precepts of Judaism; the perception of God and the knowledge that Moses is His prophet, both came from God directly to the nation, as a whole, from the realm of the next world (Deuteronomy 4:35, Exodus 19:9).

Judaism is the only belief system that lays claim to obtaining information from the realm of the unknown on the level of a nation. The fact that this claim is unique to Judaism is something to consider.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Faith Structure | 3 Comments

Explaining Judaism to a Child

Posted on July 7, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Explaining Judaism to a Child

Children ask questions. That is how God created them. The interaction that is generated by the questions children ask is a key component in the education of the child (- adults can learn a lot form these interactions too).

So what do you do when a child asks you: “how can I know that we are right? If I would have been born into a family of a different faith, I will probably believe as they do. Does the fact that I happen to have been born into Judaism make it right?”

How do you explain the foundations of Judaism to the child?

You always have the option of pointing the child to books like the Kuzari or the books of Rabbi Avigdor Miller, and encourage him or her to read them. However, in most cases, the child is capable of asking the questions before he or she is capable of understanding these books.

You could point to the experiences of Judaism; the sanctity of the Sabbath (Exodus 31:13), answered prayers and connecting to God through the observances of Judaism, but for some children, this answer will not work. Some children will continue to press you, they will ask: “don’t the members of other religions also claim to encounter deep spiritual experiences in the context of their respective faiths? Do I have to taste the experiences of every faith and compare them to each other before I can be confident that we have the truth?”

Here is one way of presenting Judaism to a child:

“You know my dear how much I love you. You can surely recognize that all parents love their children. The love that parents have towards children is one of the most powerful forces that exist on this planet. It wouldn’t make sense to assume that a nation of parents will knowingly teach their children to live and die for a lie. Perhaps one or two crazy people out of a million may intentionally mislead their children, but we cannot believe that a nation of parents would deliberately deceive their children.

We can therefore be confident that Christian parents and Moslem parents are telling their children the truth. And they are. The Christian parent tells his or her child that 2000 years ago some men came to our country and taught us a teaching that we accepted and believed. And this is indeed true. 2000 years ago the apostles of Christianity came to the world and delivered their message, and by and large, people accepted their message.

The Moslem parent is telling his or her child the absolute truth. About 1500 years ago a man came out of the desert and taught us a teaching and we accepted that teaching. This is indeed absolutely true. 1500 years ago a man did come out of the desert and he did present a teaching that many people accepted.

The Jewish parent is not telling his or her child that someone presented a teaching to them. The Jewish parent is testifying – this happened to us. WE were taken out ofEgyptwith signs and wonders, WE wandered in the desert for 40 years while God sustained us with open miracles and God spoke to ALL OF US at Sinai. No one told us the story, it happened to us.

If you want to reject our testimony you will be saying that the Jewish nation is the only nation in the world that knowingly passed on a lie to her children. It doesn’t add up.”

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Faith Structure | 13 Comments

The Exodus versus the Resurrection

Posted on July 7, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

The Exodus versus the Resurrection

Most world religions look to various miraculous events as the foundations of their faith. Judaism and Christianity both share this quality. Both of these belief systems see certain supernatural occurrences as the pillars of their respective faiths. Judaism looks to the Exodus experience, while Christianity looks to the resurrection of Jesus. Each of these belief systems points to their own “foundational miracles” to justify their respective beliefs.

How do these two claims compare to each other? Is Christianity’s claim that Jesus was resurrected in any way comparable to Judaism’s claim that the miracles of the exodus were real events in the history of the nation? Are these two claims equally credible?

The answer is a thunderous NO! There is no way to compare Christianity’s resurrection claim to Judaism’s exodus. These two are as far apart from each other as east is from west.  This is true on several levels.

Impact

The Exodus impacted the lives of two nations in a concrete way that is measurable in practical terms. Egypt lost it slaves, Israel was freed from slavery. Egypt was devastated by a series of plagues, while Israel was sustained in the desert for 40 years. The Egyptian army drowned in the sea, while Israel was saved from its pursuers.

To understand the impact of the exodus in modern terms try to imagine the Mississippi turning to blood for a week, the entire USA plagued with frogs, lice, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn. Then imagine the entire army drowning in the sea. The impact of these events touches so many people.

Who is impacted practically by a resurrection?

Duration

The exodus miracles lasted for 40 years, the resurrection of Jesus is limited to a few “sightings”.

Witnesses I

Those who testify to the truth of the exodus are the physical descendants of the people who were impacted by this event. There is no one alive today claiming to be a physical descendant of those who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection.

Witnesses II

The witnesses for the exodus include an entire nation, a nation that was large enough to capture the land of Canaan. The witnesses for Jesus’ resurrection are the few individuals who followed him in his life-time.

Witnesses III

The community of witnesses that testify to the verity of the exodus had no predisposition for this story. There are no motivating factors that we could point to that would explain why the Jewish people “needed” to produce the exodus story. The followers of Jesus desperately “needed” a resurrection story. These people had already committed themselves in devotion to this charismatic leader. They believed he was greater than Moses and wiser than Solomon, and now he was dead. With this psychological backdrop, it would be a historical aberration if these people wouldn’t come up with something along the lines of a resurrection story.

Direct versus Implied

The foundational events of Judaism directly prove the theological truths that they are called upon to support. God introduced Himself to the nation at Sinai with the words: “I am the Lord your God”. They were shown that there is no power aside from God (Deuteronomy 4:35). The nation heard God speaking to Moses, thus confirming that Moses is indeed a prophet – i.e. one to whom God speaks (Exodus 19:9). The two pillars of Judaism, the perception of God and the knowledge that Moses is a true prophet came directly from God to the entirety of the nation.

Even if we were to assume that the resurrection actually happened, it would still not  confirm the theological claims of Christianity in a direct way. Just because someone was resurrected does not make him or her the second person in the godhead or the Jewish Messiah. The Jewish Scriptures record several instances of resurrection (1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 4:8-37, 13:20,21). No one ever claimed that the people who were resurrected by Elijah and Elisha were divine. It is only through the interpretation of the theologian that one moves from a resurrection claim to the trinity.

Philosophy

There is a fundamental difference between the ideas that the exodus and the resurrection are called upon to support. The concept that there is One Supreme being who is above all of nature is a concept that many philosophers came to believe in through human reasoning. There is no inherent “mystery” in the concept of One Creator to whom all are beholden.

The Christian trinity, on the other hand, is a theological absurdity. The concept that a human being, who walked the earth like everyone else, is somehow divine; is not a logical conclusion that anyone would come to on his own. Christian theologians admit that this concept is a “mystery” that cannot be readily understood.

Consistency versus Conflict

The theological claims of Judaism do not conflict with any other claims that Judaism accepts as valid. There is no room for potential conflict. The exodus establishes the basis of a belief that does not conflict with any other previously established claim in any way.

The theological claims of Christianity, on the other hand, conflict with the claims of Judaism that Christianity claims to accept. The exodus miracles taught the Jewish people to worship no one beside the God that they were introduced to at Sinai. This obviously excludes Jesus. Christian theologians found the need to exert themselves for 2000 years to reconcile the monotheism of the Jewish Scriptures with the trinity of the Catholic Church, coming up with conflicting solutions to this problem. In other words the faith that the resurrection is called upon to support needs a plethora of complicated theological arguments to defend it from the charge of idolatry. The faith that the exodus is called upon to support does not.

Who is Obligated

According to Judaism, the only people that are bound to the teachings of Moses are the physical descendants of those who experienced the exodus and those who choose to join them. Judaism does not believe that the rest of the world is separated from God if they do not accept the teachings of Judaism. Judaism teaches that as long as one follows their conscience that God implanted into every human being they can enter into a relationship with God.

In sharp contrast, Christianity teaches that anyone who does not accept Jesus is condemned to the fires of eternal hell, their relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth notwithstanding.

Conclusion

In order to establish that there is One Supreme Being above all of nature; God turned the Nile into blood, plagued Egypt with frogs, lice, wild animals, pestilence, boils, locusts, hail, darkness, and the death of their firstborn. This wasn’t enough, he had to split the sea, and drown the Egyptian army. Still not enough. He had to sustain a nation in the wilderness for 40 years leading them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of cloud by night. Still not enough. He had to speak to the entirety of the nation to establish the only claim for a national revelation in the history of mankind. All of this; for the purpose of establishing a truth that the philosophers of many disparate cultures discovered on their own.

Yet Christianity would have us believe that to establish the idea that a certain human being is deserving of all of our worship – the same God produced a resurrection that was only verified by the few believers?! And Christianity doesn’t stop there. Christianity would have us believe that the same God condemns everyone to hell for not believing the theological claims of the Church.

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Posted in Faith Structure | 27 Comments

Jeremiah 22:16 – I

Posted on July 5, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Jeremiah 22:16

We are born with the capability of total surrender. It is possible for a person to give themselves over completely, body and soul, to anyone or anything.

Many people go through life without exercising this capability. They may perhaps give over a part of themselves; to their spouses, to their country, to an ideal, or to the deity that they believe in, but they will not submit themselves in complete surrender to any of these entities. They hold on tight to their inner self and that deepest part of their psyche never bends to anyone.

There are others, who do exercise the human capability of total surrender. At some point in their lives they encounter an entity that captivates them to the degree that they pledge their very existence to that entity. Others are persuaded to surrender their lives to someone or something for hope of eternal promise or for fear of punishment. (This last scenario cannot truly be considered total surrender; after all, the motivation behind this surrender is selfish, but that is a separate discussion.)

These two groups of people; the ones who will not surrender themselves completely, and those who surrender themselves to the entity of their choice, are both making the same mistake. Both of these groups of people assume that it is their prerogative to surrender themselves when they chose and to whomsoever they chose. This is not the truth that is taught by the Jewish Bible. The Bible clearly teaches that we already belong, completely and totally, body and soul, to the One who brought us into existence and who is constantly sustaining every facet of our lives. (Psalm 95:1-7). It is not for us to choose to whom to direct our devotion to, nor is it for us to withhold our submission. It is for us to recognize that we already belong to the One Creator of heaven and earth.

It is not easy to come to a clear recognition of God’s absolute sovereignty over ourselves. We have a tendency to see ourselves as masters, as self-sufficient and independent beings. It is difficult for us to acknowledge that we possess absolutely nothing; not our wealth, not our bodies not our souls and not our lives. There is a part of us that refuses to see that we are absolute paupers before God. Many of us carry this knowledge in our minds, but few of us actually live this truth with every breath.

The prophet points to King Josiah as a man who recognized the reality of existence. He lived with the knowledge that he possessed nothing before God. Every fiber of his being pulsated with the truth that he, as well as everybody else are but beneficiaries of God’s kindness and that in no way can we consider ourselves deserving of that kindness.

When Josiah saw a pauper, when he saw the need of the weak people in society, he saw a reflection of himself. Josiah was never able to tell himself: “I am different than these destitute people; I have and they don’t, I am master and they are subjects, I possess and they are needy” – because Josiah lived and breathed the truth that we are all equally beholden to God; completely and absolutely.

The prophet points to Josiah’s activities on behalf of the poor: “This is knowing God”.

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Posted in Basic | 3 Comments