Groans - What are they, and what do they tell us?

Hello my dear reader,

       I have had a rather wonderful day. Unfortunately for my younger brother, things are not going so well. He lost his job today but I have comforted as best I could telling him it is the risk of working for very low end security companies. I had warned him before that the world of private security is a tough one with extremely high turn over rates. I pray he gets into exactly the right job that HaShem intends for him.
      I studied my Chumash today as I do everyday. I promised myself a commitment of studying Mishna, and Torah everyday including the commentaries until I have completed studying all pages. I read first in Hebrew, and then in English. Today I decided to start from the very beginning of the Torah as I tended to get distracted and forget where I left off over the last few weeks. I also met as a chance meeting a dear friend of mine, Frank, who lives in my building and we had a wonderful talk as we always do. I hold the gentleman in very high regard as I find him to be a very astute thinker who clearly thinks about words as I do that are chosen by the speaker for use. This means of course that he takes things into very careful consideration. A true attribute of an author such as he. He is fine Jewish man who is proud of his Christian beliefs, but willing to learn Torah. I feel HaShem has truly blessed me with this new friend of mine because I truly have a drive and a mission to try and educate average Jews such as myself on Torah, and bring them back to their Jewish people. Basing the knowledge I am passing on on only the Bible rather than my personal opinion. This is very important.
      However these are not involved with the topic of this evening. The topic of this evening is about the groan, that "uh-huh" response you receive from someone that is very monotone and tells you that the listener is not truly interested in what you're saying. In fact, a groan conveys far much more than simple apathy. A groan is like a picture, and as the old adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." so too is a groan. Groans, or "uh-huh's" can tell you more than just simple disinterest but in fact a complete disregard and lack of respect for the information being offered.
      I do not believe that I have shared this yet probably due to the fact that is causes me great pains in my heart, but my mother became a Christian a couple of years ago and very quickly fell into apostasy, and as of current she has become fairly anti-Semitic. This is fairly common for those of our People who go into Jewish apostasy as they are the ones that have been a contributing factor in Jewish persecution throughout history. The horrible ideas of Jews supporting pedophilia, senseless killing of gentiles, stealing, lying, and the like. These ideas came from Jews wishing to be accepted by their new found family. My mother unfortunately has fallen into this and I have argued with her concerning the Talmud as well as catching her in lies when she claims she just randomly thought of things only to find out a day later she found it on a Jew hating christian website. I promise to dedicate one of my next postings on the Talmud in the near future to clear a lot of this up.
     But I bring my mother up because of the groan. We just spoke lightly today, a conscious choice on my part as I wish not to get into any discussions with her that are deep. We went on about our day, she is gardening, and canning. She asked me what I had been up to, and I told her very respectively, "Oh not too much. I have been immersing myself in Torah studies. Judaic studies are a very large portion of my day these last few months.". Her response was, uh-huh.... and then the subject was quickly changed to something about her needing help with trying to download free MP3's on some strange Christian studies she has fallen into. Another topic of discussion for another time.
     The "uh-huh" is surely a verbalization made to mask what we normally call a groan because what the speaking really wants to do is say "ya I don't really care, I'm not listening, I'm not listening...". I ponder right now whether or not they are good signs that tell me I am somehow getting through to her. My Aunt and Uncle who are devout Evangelicals always show interest in my studies while still being firmly grounded in their strong beliefs. A stance I respect wholeheartedly even if I challenge their thought patterns form time to time. I do it simple out of the great love I have for my dear Auntie and Uncle. However, with my mother she has no interest in speaking with me on the subject due to our past conversations where I had respectively provided her with empirical information based solely on the bible she had in her hand. Since then, we have spoken little. I would like to hope that this means that I am getting through to her even if a little at a time, and since I cause her to question everything she has gone into she has and continues to express "disinterest" in order to protect herself. I pray that someday I can pray teshuvah with her, and bring her back to her Jewish People.
      *ten minutes later* Alright, my mother called as I had promised  earlier to help her learn how to use a plugin on a particular website. She randomly asked me, "Is there a nice Japanese girl you could introduce your brother to?". Now, I should tell you the reason for why she asked about a Japanese girl. I have been studying Japanese and classical Japanese Lit. and Theater for about 7 years, and also have a beautiful Japanese wife. I would say that maybe about 89% of my friends are Japanese though most of them have since moved back to Japan and are getting married at a dizzying rate. She figured I knew someone single. I told her that would be very difficult due to language barriers as well as cultural barriers. I told her that I have been saying to him off and on in a horrible mock Betty Boop accent, "Why can't you go to schul and find yourself a nice Jewish Goyal", which incidentally makes him smirk, and my Aunt and Uncle laugh sincerely. They also agree that he should by the way, and they aren't even Jewish! What was her response? See below:

"No, mm-mm. No, absolutely not. They are wretched, horrible, snobby snooty women that have no desire to have a relationship with G-d!" (My MOTHER speaking here)

I told her that what she was saying was absolutely not true, and complete "lashon hara", evil tongue/gossip/slander, for those of you who do not know. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My ears became hot with anger, and frustration. I told her if that was her opinion to then keep it to herself and not verbalize it ever. It is evil, and wrong. "It is lashon hara and you should not engage in such practices." to which she responded, "I don't believe in such superstition." Superstition? Really? Well dear reader, this was going to be a simple post on what the simple groan tells us, but it is time to divert and delve into our precious Torah, and see what it has to say on this matter of gossip, and slander:

Leviticus 19:!6, "You shall not go up and down as a tale bearer among your people."

Leviticus 25:17, "And you shall not wrong one another"

Psalms 140:12, "A slanderer shall not be established in the earth; the violent and the evil man shall be hunted with thrust upon thrust."

Proverbs 10:18, "He that hides hatred is of lying lips, and he that utters a slander is a fool."

Psalms 34:14, "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile."

Lashon hara - Don't do it!

Out of the kindness of my heart I wanted to show you the Al Chet text that we say at Yom Kippur when we confess our sins. I have put in bold the ones that this specifically targets to make emphasis on the importance of guarding ones tongue:

         I took the time to type everything out, but if you're not sure what you see when you click on the picture, then you can simply click here and you'll be directed to a site with the complete Al Chet.

            It is important to note that you will find 11 of the sins we atone for on Yom Kippur, the holiest time of the year for us, and to know this is by no means an accident. Speech borne sins make up 26% of the things we have to atone for! That shows you the very weight that we carry with each word spoken. Remember, HaShem created all things through spoken word. We repent through spoken word. Promises, blessings, and judgments are all done through spoken word. 

           So through all of this we must remember to guard our tongues against such actions. It is not righteous. Remember, Psalms 15:1-3, "Who shall dwell upon Thy holy mountain? He that walks uprightly......That has no slander upon his tongue, nor does evil to his fellow, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor:" We are human and can be prone to gossip and the like. Sometimes we can say hateful and hurtful things about a person, country, and/or peoples which only spread disinformation, untruths, hurt feelings, fear, misunderstanding, and intolerance. Stay away from it. Watch yourself every day and take careful care what you say. Take careful consideration of the words and phrases you may use and understand the great weight which all words carry. Just like that "uh-huh" we talked about earlier, and what we can understand from it. 

              I apologize if this posting was a bit late in the night. It took me time to stop, calm down, research, and then return to my base work. But I ask you to take what I have said to heart. Stay away from Lashon Hara, and present yourselves in an upright fashion. We are Jews, and we must act as fine examples of proper conduct in the eyes of HaShem.

                  Lilah tov, and be well,

Effort - Without it we cannot say we tried.

Hello dear reader!

Yet another day for a find chit-chat. Today I have been working on a couple of things including compiling a complete series of Torah readings committed to audio files from back in the late 70's, compliments of the following people: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm
               and     http://kodesh.snunit.k12.il/i/tr/t0101.htm

I always fine the resources on Mechon Mamre.org to be surprisingly rich, and precious. Their efforts in bringing HaTorot to the Jewish World so very important, and I thank them for their very hard work. The audio files are quite a treat, and it really helps to have someone reading out loud while I am reading along. With the new contacts taht I have, I find it difficult to see the nikud/vowels of my student style Chumash with Rashis, and as a result my eyes get very tired very quickly. This guy helps me a lot. He does not chant, but instead simply reads clearly each word with such clarity that I find following along, or merely listening to be a breeze. He uses Sephardic Style reading, but what is very nice is he clearly has the native Israeli accent, and thus I get all of those fantastic gutturals that I love oh so very much. It's nice to hear those "silent letters" actually get pronounced, it adds a much more natural flow and flavor to the readings.

I wanted to talk ever so slightly about effort a bit. I think it is important as Jews (or as people if you're not Jewish, and reading this) to take the steps to strive for self improvement. Not just that,. but also taking the time and effort no matter how small you think it may be or how limited based upon your current abilities and dispositions to work on creating some level of understanding.

Nothing pains me more than meeting a fellow Jew who has gone off the path, or has rejected any kind of path. I have a friend whom I have known compliments of an old internet text based game who is Israeli, and an Atheist. I try not to preach although L-rd knows I want to. It is my spirit, and has always been part of me to want to share Torah, and reach out to all not just my Jewish people.

I feel that if I meet a Jewish Atheist, then it simply means he/she never knew Torah. Sure, they probably heard bits here and there having basic highlighter knowledge of random points large and small. Basic knowledge of the stories, but ultimately lacking knowledge in the Prophets, and Writings. The general populace knows the first Five Books - The Torah, but very few have a working knowledge of the Prophets and Writings that really explain the times we are in now, have the expounded answers concerning how we should conduct ourselves and countless amounts of other information contained within. I feel honestly that if a Jew were to study his/her TaNaKh (Torah - Nevi'im - Ketuvim) then I think the concept of Atheism could not enter the mine of one learned in our texts. And if they go on further to study our Oral Torah, then even greater understanding can be achieved. I think King David had it right when he said, "The fool hath said in his heart: 'There is no G-d;" . I certainly don't mean that I consider one who rejects the idea of a creator as foolish per se, but certainly lacking in the knowledge needed to make a proper informed decision. And I think that it is exactly what King David is trying to say as well, that if you're learned in the Holy Texts given to our 3 million ancestors you would have every bit of empirical knowledge to know what they say is true because all you need do is ask your parent, grand parent, and so on.

We have never had a single break in our history where knowledge was lost. "We" all saw the same thing. "We" all experienced the same thing. "We all survived the same thing. "We" all share in the same experience of divine revelation. This is the very foundation of Judaism. We are told through the generations without argument nor break that all things were shown to so that that we may know HaShem (Exodus 10: 1-2)

To say that G-d has us operate on faith alone is just not so. My Christians despite the evidences I provide for them to show that they are practicing falsehood (through ignorance), they always respond that they have to rely on their faith that their texts are true, and correct. It is always quoted in terms of the importance of having faith alone Romans 4:22 " And because of Abraham's faith, G-d counted him as righteous." as well as Romans 4:2,"What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteous.". However, we simply know that is not the full truth concerning Abraham by simply examining Genesis 15:6

Genesis 15:6 with Rashi

As we examine the texts we know that it was not purely that Abraham had faith, but as a Prophet who spoke with, even argued with G-d often, and having met G-d's Angels, he had knowledge. Knowledge is truly power. If your Grandmother, and Grandfather, and THEIR Grandparents, and their Grandparents Grandparents going all the way back to Har Sinai, sharing the same accounts traveling all through history untainted, then we can know that what they say it is true. We base our belief in knowledge, not lack thereof. 

Returning to my main point of effort, we should really be taking the time to learn, and better ourselves. Reach out to our fellow Jew, and human. Teach them of the one G-d of Israel, and their place in His Kingdom. Teach them the 7 Laws of Noah. And to our fellow Jew, if we find that they have left their Torah behind then reintroduce that person to his people as it is the case that Torah and the Jewish people have a precious umbilical connection. Help them re-establish that connection. Learn with them. Teach them. Love them through our Torah. If we do not reach out and at least show some effort in this, then it will be counted to us. Do the right thing but not for your sake, but for theirs.

I make a conscious effort to study Torah everyday. Be it books on hand, or various audio files. When I am on the train going to work, having a work break, or on the train coming home from work, I have my Tanakh loaded on my iPhone. I also have the works of Tanya (free app in the iTunes store). I work on finding newer studies on Jewish history, Torah, and Hebrew. Always striving to better myself, and improve and build upon what knowledge base I have. Reinforcing my foundation. It is important that we all, especially as Jews, take such steps no matter how large or small they may be in such efforts.

The Gemara speaks highly of Gentiles (non-Jews) in their practices, even if they are practicing falsehood they do so with sincerity. When you walk down the street it can be almost safe to assume that when you see a pair or group of non-jews walking around at that point or sometime within that day, they were talking about Jesus of Nazareth, or some such thing. You will find more people with a New Testament and/or a New King James walking around than you will a Jew. I'm not saying become a bible thumper, but at least try and dedicate some part of yourself during the small times between work to practice truth with sincerity. You owe it to yourself. I wanted to share a quote that I pulled from another Torah website that happened to have it just so you can see what I mean.

[The Kotzker said an amazing quip: "They server Sheker but they serve it with sincerity as if it were Emes. We serve the Emes, but unfortunately we often serve as if it was Sheker" - without proper sincerity.] - See Torah.org for further reading

I hope you take what we have talked about today with heart, and start taking those precious steps. Remember, no effort is too small in the eyes of HaShem, and righteousness is never too far off.

                 Be well,

Accountability

Hello reader!

It comes time to write another post for the new week. My last one was Friday, and while due to my line of work in protecting the public which causes me to work on Shabbos (Sabbath), I still make it a very conscious point of effort to never do anything such as needlessly writing, spending of money, and the like which are all prohibited on Shabbos. If I don't need to do it out of pure necessity at work, then I wont. So, of course, no blogging. I think I will keep the blogs on a schedule of Monday through Friday Morning.

In case you are wondering what the laws of the Sabbath are according to Judaism, please check out the following website which covers all 39 laws of the Sabbath in exhaustive detail:
http://www.ou.org/chagim/shabbat/thirtynine.htm

I wanted to add a point of clarification before we move forward with the teaching of today. Sometimes I do not convey information very well and I wanted to be sure we understand each other due to the subject of materials here and my references to the Christian Bible when doing my work. I was, and never have been a Christian, or a J for J. I want people to understand that in no point in time did I ever accept the idea of Jesus being G-d, and completely rejected alle paganistic ideas and traditions held by Christians. I merely accepted the idea of him being the person we currently call in modern language "The Messiah." who as Christians claim will have "a second coming". After committing myself to detailed studies on the Christian N.T. and The Torah, I very quickly found the whole  possibility of Jesus of Nazareth of being this special person we as Jews currently are waiting for to be an impossibility. It is exactly why we as Jews currently do, and MUST reject Jesus, and hold Christian teachings as complete false prophecy.

Now to get on track here and talk about the subject of the day: Accountability. I've included a proper funny for this:

I bring this subject up because of a series of conversations I have had recently. You will find that this is for the most part going to be the general theme of my writings. They will almost always stem from one or many conversations I have had in the recent days.

In a fairly recent conversation I had we were talking about "sour grapes", understanding generational punishments, along with being held accountable for iniquities we ourselves commit. We are going to visit Exodus 34: 7 (in the Chumash with Rashi) and see what we find concerning generational curses, and see what Rashi has to say on this subject:

Exodus 34:7 '...7 keeping mercy unto the thousandth generations, foregiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.'

So very clearly we can see that children will pay for the sins of their fathers, and fathers fathers, and so on for quite a while. But if we begin to examine the Torah further, we find apparent contradictions in this idea by simply examining Jeremiah 31, and Ezekiel 18 which is as follows.

Ezekiel 18:
"1 And the word of the L-rd came unto me, saying: 2 'What mean you, that you use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? 3 As I live, saith the L-rd G-d, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are Mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful, and right,...9 has walked in My statues, and has kept Mine ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the L-rd G-d."

So very clearly we can see that nobody pays for the sin of their fathers. How can we prove it? Well, actually, just further reading of Ezekiel 18 will show us this:

"14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that see's all his  father's sins, which he has done, and considers, and does not such like....19 Yet say you, Why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father with him? When the son has done what which is lawful, and right, and has kept all My statues, and has done them, he shall surely live. 20 The south that sins, it shall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father with him, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son with him; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

This is the word of G-d given through the Prophet Ezekiel. So what does the Prophet Jeremiah have to say on this subject? Simply visit Jeremiah 31 and we shall see:

"28 In those days they shall so no more, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' 29 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge."

I should first say that these are messianic prophecies that show and end to the falsehoods concerning this deplorable proverb. What is very interesting is that if we simply examine in a Christian Bible we are going to find something very strange, be prepared as I am going to quote a few things:

1) Galations 2:16 "...nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the laws no flesh will be justified."

2) Gelations 2:21 "I do not nullify the grace of G-d, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."

3) Romans 8:3 "For the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, G-d did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,"

So what do we find so perplexing here? We find very quickly that according to Christian thought, we cannot truly atone for sin because since we stumble often in our commitment of the laws of Torah, that we truly cannot repent for it and get back on the path. Something completely in opposition of what our Prophets, and King David tell us in their writings, and the Psalms, and Proverbs.

So what about the generational curse we visited earlier on Exodus 34:7? I have scanned it with my magic book wand ^^

Let us examine Rashi a little closer to see what he is saying,

Rashi tells us here that G-d is telling us that He remembers sin repeated by the children who saw their parents sin, knew it was sinful and wrong but did it anyway. So where is this verse "I am HASHEM your G-d..." located? Rashi tells us that this was already stated by G-d earlier in our Torah. Well, thanks to Rashi, and Art Scroll, we simple look at the references, and it pointed us to Exodus 20:5, let us examine:

 Further Commentary as follows:

So Rashi is explaining to us that He [G-d] remembers the sin of the fathers against "b'nin maradin"/"rebellious children,"..., "For those who hate Me, when the sons continue to sin after their fathers.". So by merely examining the texts of Exodus, we see that this only means that greater punishment comes to those who see sin, know what it is and the wrongness it encapsulates, and yet while having this empirical knowledge of knowing wrong from right - You do consciously do wrong, knowing full well that it is sinful, and thus against G-d's wishes.

So we find a trap that Christianity has created for itself, and it honestly comes from the lack of Torah knowledge and honesty that the prime founder of Christianity, Paul, had. We see this time and time again in the Christian New Testament where the writers systematically shoot themselves in the foot. Even without Rashi showing us the obvious! Rashi just does the work for us when examining the texts.

Paul admits in Gelations 2:21 inadvertently that if righteousness does in fact come through the Law [of Torah] then Jesus' death was pointless. Sorry to tell you this Paul, but if you had merely examined Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, you would see that nobody could pay for us. We only pay for our own misdeeds, furthermore, if we turn away from sin, and DO good THROUGH THE LAW, then it is counted to us as righteousness.

So what about this affirmation made by Paul about the Law of Torah being a curse and not a blessing? In no place does G-d EVER call His Laws a curse. But Paul says,

Gelations 3:13, "Christ redeemed up from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us---for it is written, "CURSES IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE--".

This is a clear manipulation of our texts in an attempt to reference Deuteronomy 21:23, but if we examine Deuteronomy 21:22-23 which says,

"22 If a man will have committed sin whose judgement is death and he shall be put to death, and you shall hang him on a wooden beam, 23 His body, shall not remain for the night on the wooden beam, rather you shall surely bury him on that day, for a hanging person is an insult to G-d; and you shall not make impure your land, which HASHEM, your G-d, gives you inheritance."I

A healthy examination of this, and the verses previous to verse 22 is very clear that the body being hung is only for those who have put to death by stoning. They do not die while being hung. Hanging was never a means to capitol punishment. As our Sages write, "He shall be put to death, you shall hang him" does not mean he shall be put to death by hanging. Hanging is not one of the methods by which Jewish courts perform execution." (See Devek Tov.), Rashi and our Rabbis show us that "For a hanging person is a curse of G-d". What Rashi goes on to explain a hanging person would be an "insult to G-d", and it is because we were created in the likeness of His "image", and Israel are His sons. He goes on to give us an example of twin brothers, one becomes a King. The other who commits a sin punishable by death is then hung. The people would look at the person hanging and say, "The King is dead!", and therefore we see that since we the people of Israel, G-d's firstborn (Jeremiah 31:8), and are in a sense representative of Him, we therefore must tread carefully so as to not insult HaShem. Death by hanging was not a way to put to death those who earned the sentencing, and a body was not to be left overnight. However, why the hanging even if it is only after being dispatched with? To act as a visual warning and reminder that "Hey look everyone! This person sinned harshly against us and HaShem, and was required that He be put to death. See what happens when you do things of great evil? This is you!."  The concept is so simple.

No where here does it state that the Torah is a curse.

2 Corinthians 5:21 also tries to tell us that we needed to have someone take on sin on our behalf, and be sacrificed so that through this unfortunately person, we might be righteous. But the Torah disagrees entirely on this as seen by our previously cited texts above. Nobody needs, nor can they pay for your sins. Only you are held for your own.

Back to our subject of accountability. Who is accountable? The Torah tells us, only you are. But need we die in our own iniquity? Of course not. Pray Teshuvah. Repent with a full contrite heart, and do your best to turn away from the things you know is not befitting as a Jew, and a human being (even if you are not Jewish). Do that which is good, upright, and righteous. If you stumble, and/or fall. Put your feet back under you, and stand upon again in the light of HaShem. Righteousness is not far off from you. G-d tells us this is so. You can do it.

I hope you take this teaching to heart, and we will see each other again tomorrow.



                       Be well,

How Holy are G-d's Covenants?

I pose this question for various reasons, but it all started with an ongoing discussion that I am in the midst of as we speak. The question of "Why do people cherry pick what they will and won't follow in their religion?". What he wanted to know is simple. Where did the cherry picking start?

This question is not so simple as it may appear. It is a short question to a very large issue. Now, when talking about other Religions such as Har Krishna, Buddhism, and the great multitude of other faiths in the world I would have no idea where to start. I've never practiced them, nor have I studied them to any great extent. My knowledge of them is superficial at best. But Islam, and Christianity I can talk about.

Cheery picking is really the very deep issue of Deuteronomy 4:2 which is as quote:

"You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the L-RD your G-D which I command you."

We talked about this in my previous posting concerning what happens when you inch by inch begin to veer off the path. Eventually you will find yourself very far away from the road. Torah most certainly is our road map for how we as humans should conduct ourselves. But like we found with people who fall into apostasy you will find that rather than make their funny ideas personal, and private they generally have to bring others with them. It is better to die as a group rather than die alone, right? One fight one right eh? We saw this with the Dead Sea sect that created strange writings in the Ge'ez language surrounding Enoch, Adam and Eve and "Nefillim" (no longer great men who fell, but suddenly demon giants form the seed of disobedient angels). All of which is complete bogus, then the Church took those same writings and highly Christianized them. We also saw this with the Baal worshipers, and the Sadducee's. All of these people vanished. No longer identified as Jewish. We see it with the early Christians which were Jewish, they have not a single line today that identifies as Jewish. They lost their place with the People Israel.

It is important to point out that the Christianity we are all familiar with is not Mark's Christianity, nor Luke's, nor Matthew's. Certainly Luke, Matthew, John, and Paul share ideas but having Mark being the earliest of the "synoptic gospel" we find that Mark see's everything very differently. No, in fact the earliest writings are the letters of Paul who was forming his Church. He was done with the Jews, and went to the non-Jews. To do this though, he had to remove Judaism from Nazarene first. This is why we find the Christian writings favoring the Romans greatly, and instead of being Jewish, they flirted with idolatry. Hence the later veneration of Mary, the "virgin birth", the trinity, and Jesus being G-d made flesh. Christianity converted to Rome, not the other way around. This is WHERE the cherry picking started. At least with the Dead Sea sect they were still somewhat frum (observant, religious), but they did attempt to change the Torah. Create new stories and mythologies. The thing about the Sadducee is that this group utterly rejected the Oral Torah, and were more interested in being like the Romans, and "getting with the times" than anything else. Both "died out". They either went away and were lost to the diaspora, or they went back to what we call in modern times (thanks to Reform Movement) Jewish Orthodoxy. So for Christianity as we see now for it to survive it HAD to go away from the Jews. Matthew and Luke was very frustrated with how they couldn't get Jews to join. Paul was fed up, and went to the pagans. It just could not survive with the People Israel.

Islam had to do the exact same thing. Don't go to the Jew. Most certainly don't go to the Christian. Go instead to a war torn, deeply wounded people as a result of Roman rule in the rest of the fertile crescent, all pagans, and spread Islam there.

So what was the program for everything?

Christianity holds that: G-d changed His mind and left the Jews. Turned away from the Torah. No more would people be bound to it. He instead went to the Gentiles (non-Jews). You no longer followed the laws...except the law against male homosexuality (which now includes female homosexuality). Pray to Jesus instead of pointing yourselves towards Jerusalem, and praying to G-d, and the cross is your symbol of salvation.

Islam holds that: G-d changed His mind again, and left the Christians. Replaced Jesus with Muhammed, and went to Arabic people who descended from Abraham's first son Ishmael. Newer laws were made replacing Christian law...except for general homosexuality. Still a no no. Also, instead of praying to Jesus you pray pointed towards Mecca. Instead of the cross, it is the kabba as your symbol of salvation.

What do these two have in common? G-d changed His mind. But the problem is, such a concept does not ever enter into the Torah except on what two occasions? The giving of punishments, and warnings. Those can always be changed. If they could not, how truly merciful would G-d truly be?

We can see the trend as follows:

G-d says He will never change His mind, and that He is not a liar (Numbers 23:!9, above picture), goes to the People Israel, says He has made an eternal un-breaking promise with us. And gives 3,000,000 of our ancestors 600,000 Torah's. However...

(Christianity)
G-d changed His mind from ISRAEL and TORAH to ----> Christian, to New Testament, and Jesus.

(Islam)
G-d changes His mine AGAIN from CHRISTIANITY, NEW TESTAMENT, and JESUS to -----------> Islam, Quran, and Muhammed.

So what is the problem we see here? Both Christianity and Islam MUST admit to the following issue:

                     G-D CAN CHANGE HIS MIND ANYTIME

And therefore, Christianity and Islam are only as valid as the new found fickleness of G-d. They therefore must admit that at any point in time no matter how far in the future it may or may not be, a new group can come along through a lone "Prophet" who magically had a revelation while in seclusion rather than 3,000,000 people experiencing the SAME revelation at once. And there it is. The issue is that both faiths are based on a temporary seating, and nature.

I think this is a good place to end this post for the day. Allow yourselves to consider my words. Then study the Torah, and see what G-d's opinion is on this. The Torah is abundant with His unchanging opinions. I've quoted a few already.

                   Be well,

The Jewish Wrap Star (teffilin)

Today my brother and I worked on his Hebrew reading lesson. We are working through the first and basic morning blessings you make upon rising. In addition to that, after we have spent about 30-40 minutes on the reading lesson we move on to the Mishna lessons of the day. We just started this the day before yesterday, and it is going pretty well. We are starting at the very beginning of the entire Mishna. So currently we are in Sepher Zaraim, Tracttate Berachoth (Blessings), Second Chapter, Second Mishna teaching. I started here because on the first day I had him wrap tefillin, and say the Shema. It was his first time wrapping in about 12 years or so, so this was a very special thing. Lo and Behold! Our first Mishna teachings are dedicated to the Shema. So why do we wear tefillin? It is very simple:

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 "Love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart, all your being, and all your might. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house's door frame and on your city's gates."

             This I feel is a very special commandment. G-d provides us with an abundance of physical time oriented symbols that in this great diaspora, with the Heavens being silent until the messianic times, is very useful and personal to us. When we wrap ourselves in a Tallit Godol, wear our tzistzis (Tallit Katan), and wrap tefillin, we basically close parts of ourselves off from the rest of the world and have a quiet place to concentrate on praying to HaShem. The Tallit envelopes us and we find ourselves in a special place for just Him and me. The tzistzis that adorns our torso under our shirts allows us to really personalize and internalize our commitment to G-d's laws, and we remember them each time we see or touch a fringe. Knowing that, we are less prone to go after our hearts and eyes. When we wrap tefillin we tightly wrap and ensconce our laws and eternal covenant we have with G-d close to our hearts, and minds. I think this is a truly special thing.

           Well, that is my teaching for today. I have to run off to work or I'll be late. I'll probably post again tonight after work. At stationary posts I always find myself meditating on Torah, even when listening to Pimsleurs Hebrew lessons for teaching myself conversational Hebrew. It is going very well by the way! Afterwards I will be learning Arabic with the same program, and with help from my Muslim friends. Why? Because if we do not know, we do not understand. You always fear what you do not know. I am a polyglot, and languages are what I do very well. HaShem gave me the gift of gab...or the curse of never knowing when to shut up. But one thing is for sure, I enjoy communication with all peoples. Establishing dialogue is oh so very important.

           Be well,

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

                 Alright, sure, the title is not very "original" but you have to admit "Fiddler on the Roof" is an amazing movie. It is coming to the end of the night, and I figured I would post a little bit more on this first day to close with. Over time between my Torah studies, and what have you while I fully intend to share them with you, as I will tonight, I will also talk a bit more about Christianity, and why we as Jews must stay very far away from it. Why we should not even entertain ideas of even flirting with it. And Islam for that matter. While at least Islam is actually monotheistic, it has still gone off the derech in many ways. I will tell you now that my best friend, whom I would never trade for the world, is a Muslim. We are like two peas in a pod. A mutual friend of ours, who I highly regard as a very sincerely and intelligent individual is also a Muslim. With each passing day I learn a little bit more about Islam. And with each new insight I am provided, I find that between Christianity and Islam they have two very strikingly similar cores that we as Jews have to tangle with. The End Time. The Messiah.
                 For the purpose of privacy, I will name the mutual friend, Carl. Yeah, that sounds like a great name. Carl and I were talking about Messianic Prophecy. He asked me what we as Jews hold concerning Hell, and Damnation. Originally this conversation started when we were talking about Jinn (Genies) and how we as Jews have stories of Shaydim which were roughly the same thing. I would certainly think that the two words are connected. We got on the topic when talking about the new movie, "The Possession", coming out and how it is a kind of famous Jewish ghost story based on real events. Long story short we got on end times discussion when he wondered, "I wonder if the Jewish Messiah, and the Christian Messiah are actually going to turn out being the anti-christ..". I looked back at him and told him honestly, "We as Jews have no such concept."
                  To be honest I am baffled by the obsession with a mythology that Muslims holds because of Christians, and in turn even further baffled by their own obsession with this invented concept. I told Carl this and asked him very plainly, "Where in the Holy Texts of the Torah does it say we have an anti-christ?". See, the thing is we don't. No special army of darkness lead by Satan and his cohorts. No army of light to beat the devil back into Hell to be imprisoned for a time, then released to prepare for judgement of the people still alive on Earth. None of this. We simply have a few points to make concerning the Messianic Era, and what will happen. If you just explore Ezekiel 37 you will find almost all of what these times will look like. It is by no means any coincidence that there are over 100 verses purely dedicated to what the times will be like, and why only a mere handful of verses actually talk about this mysterious person who will be our King in that day. So what will happen? I've decided to build the points of Ezekiel 37 for you:

1. The Prophet Eliyahu will arrive. (As per the promise of Micah 3:23)
2. The Dead will be resurrected. They will be made whole. No "zombies".
3. All of the Jewish People will be gathered in Israel.
4. All of our Tribes will be reunited, and we will be made whole as a single People once more.
5. The whole of the Jewish people will be righteous as One once more.
6. All of our iniquities will be cleansed.
7. We will have our King, from the House of David, from the line of Solomon. And this line will reign again forever more. 
8. He, that is to say, the King, will have the fear of G-d, knowledge of the L-rd's judgement's, and statutes.
9. We will follow the Laws of the Torah once more in their entirety as a nation.
10. World Peace will commence, everlasting.
11. The Third and FINAL Temple will be rebuilt.
12. Universal knowledge of G-d will cover the world like the waters of the ocean. Forever.

If we just examine these 11 basic points from Ezekiel 37, is it not odd that something so important as maybe the following invented points are completely absent?:

1. The King (that is who we call in modern language, the messiah) will vanquish Satan's Army.
2. When the Messiah arrives you must believe in him and G-d.
3. The evil will be plunged into an eternal lake of fire.
4. The nation of Israel will be judged and deemed guilty, and be also cast into the fire.

                      Ezekiel 37 literally hits on every single main point of what will happen. The four above points do not even enter into any part of Jewish Scripture. The Prophets who talked extensively about the Messianic times did not even think to mention such things. And, by the end of the Prophets we are told that during this long diaspora prophecy will be sealed. Yet suddenly soon after Prophecy is sealed, we have a sudden deluge of "New Prophets" who after a long time were suddenly visited by a Messenger of G-d. That is okay, we are told this is going to happen. In fact even while the Messiah is here, people will still falsely prophesy! Just examine Ezekiel 13, and you will find that people will in fact attempt to prophesy in the L-rd's name, and G-d will make sure that when this happens that their writings will occur but not in the language of the House of Israel.
                      "Ezekiel 13:7-12 Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, The L-rd said is; although  I have not spoken? Therefore, thus says the L-rd G-d; Because you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, against you, says the L-rd G-d.And my hand shall be upon the prophets who see vanity, and who divine lies; be in the council of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the L-rd G-d. Because they have led my people astray, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and if one builds a wall, these prophets daub it with whitewash; Say to those who daub it with whitewash. that it shall fall; there shall be a deluge of rain; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy winds shall break out."

                      It really just goes on and on. It speaks very clearly about we the Jewish people being persecuted in G-d's name. I really encourage you to study Ezekiel if you want to know anything about what is, and will occur before the arrival of Elijah, and the person we call the messiah.

                      I have been told a number of times from my Muslim friends (whom I cherish) that over time as per the Quran, that the Torah became corrupted over time. So it did come something as a surprise to them when I told them that our texts have never changed, and that we have a very very VERY strict system to prevent changes. Why? Because of Deut 4 which tells us that we cannot add or subtract from the Word of HaShem. We are taught that if we were to remove or add even one letter that it spells the destruction of the World. Why? Why do we hold such a belief? Because it is our teaching that the Torah holds the divine blueprints of Creation. But I think there is another aspect to this thought we hold, and that is very simple. Change on thing, and it all changes.

Imagine if you will: One day you are driving down a long dark highway. No traffic, nor signs of civilization for miles. You are sleepy, and begin to doze off. You fight and fight the urge to sleep, and with each jerking awake, you find yourself further off to the side. Finally, you fall asleep. And you do not wake up until you strike a small cactus, and begin to bump about in the dark. You stop. You get out of the car, and have no idea where the road is. Even worse, you are in a part of the world where darkness lasts 6 months out of the year.

                        You see. With each slight change in the Torah, you would go off the path. Very rapidly, you will find yourself careening off the road out of control. We see that today with our Muslim brothers, and Christian sisters. They came form us, and somehow ended up very far away from what it once was. Worst still, they have no standard of their own to operate under. Hundreds of thousands of variations of the Quran and the New Testament can be had throughout the known world. But only one Torah. At least as Jews, we can agree that our Torah scrolls are the same for the all came from a pure line of Scribes that operate under a strict code and standard. Who can argue with that?


                  Well, I've ranted enough for the night. I will see you tomorrow. I hope you meditate and consider these words. On this page, I have included a video called, "A Rational approach to the Divine Origin of Judaism." in which Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen talks about religions in general, and his work at disproving all of them including Judaism, only to find how beautifully unique we truly are. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEg_Oys4NkA

I encourage everyone to check it out. Enlighten yourselves, and broaden your spectrum of knowledge on Judaism. To become Jewish? No. To understand Judaism? Yes. Please.


                   Be well,

The Start of a Beautiful Frienship

                

                I want to welcome you, the reader, to my first blog. This is not to say that it is in fact my first blog, but one should never count their immature posting on myspace from 10 years ago. No, this is my first true blog as an adult male, a father, a husband, and a Jew who wishes to share his journey through Torah, and Talmud with you. I have decided to take this path of blogging for a number of reasons, primarily to keep me honest. It is my desire to study every day, and to share my studies with you.

               I should provide you with a bit of background history so that you might truly understand why I have begun this path, and find my dedication to my G-d, Jewish People, and Our Holy Torah. It must be first established that there is zero intention to proselytize any. It is, and has always remained the stance of Judaism that none are required to become Jewish in order to find their place with G-d. To be Jewish means that we have a greater responsibility to the World to follow our Laws, all 613 of them in addition to our additional 7 divinely appointed Rabbinic Laws.
               I am a Jew. I have always been a Jew. My Jewish soul (my neshama) has always cried out as a Jew for our G-d, our Torah, our People, and Israel. I was married very young, purely of my own volition, most assuredly out of rebellion and wanting to be free from the shackles I felt latched to at home back in 2002. My then wife and I had a very difficult marriage. Several factors played into the trials, but most notable of them were her family's inability to understand and their complete disregard for Jewish customs and beliefs. My ex-wife is a ger, a Jewish convert. This is not  bad thing at all. In fact it is highly regarded because a person took on the greater responsibilities of being Jewish. Took on the mission of Tikkum Olam, healing the world, and our laws. This is a very righteous thing. Such a thing is never required of a non-Jew though. Only observance of the 7 laws of Noah which are as follows:

1. Prohibition of Idolatry. Worship only the G-d of Israel, the one true and only G-d. No statues or image.
2. Prohibition of Murder. No reason to be killing needlessly.
3. Prohibition of Theft. If it isn't yours, don't take it!
4. Prohibition of Sexual Immoralities. If it isn't human, don't sleep with it, and so on..
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy. Don't misuse nor curse G-d's Name!
6. Prohibition of eating flesh taken from an animal still alive. (That's just gross anyhow)
7. Establishment of Courts of Law. They must be just, and righteous.

        
        Simple right?  So for a non-Jew to become Jewish and take on the much GREATER responsibilities is regarded as a great and righteous thing. Unfortunately her family did not understand, and systematically began to work and wear away at not just her Jewishness, but our sons Jewishness, and my own Jewishness as well. And it worked. Although my family was not exactly observant, I grew up in an Orthodox Community, I became the standard black hatter with the long banana curl sideburns that you find in New York, Skokie Chicago, and the like. After almost a year, I was indistinguishable from just any standard civilian walking the streets. It all happened so fast, that I was truly caught by surprise by the end. It was a wonder why suddenly I was wrought with depression, continuously sad, and searching for other pedestrian ways of compensating for something I had lost. After a couple years we finally divorced, but admittedly against my will. But it was certainly for the best. I later joined the US Army Reserve in order to gain back some sense and semblance of order that I crave, nay, THRIVE upon. Order and systems are things I understand. Without them I begin to feel as if I am perpetually free-falling without so much as tether or safety rope to catch me. I had unknowingly cut it long ago. You’ll begin to understand what I mean very soon.

Why now? Why have I gone back, why have I returned to my People? What an interesting concept that is, “returned to my People”. If there is one very important concept that you the reader should understand. Judaism and being Jewish are umbilical. You are either connected to all or none at all. Once you stop, truly cease with your G-d given obligations you cut yourself off. We see this very clearly throughout the world. You lose your place with the People of Israel. However, that is never permanent. Perform teshuvah, return to HaShem, and you regain your place. But you must want to do it. But sometimes when a person is undergoing immense emotional pain and torture, something so easy as teshuvah, that simple little option, gets lost in the tumult of emotions. Faded by the fog of internal war. Guilt, shame, and a deep sense of humiliation can be very hard roads to cross. It goes without saying that I forgot these simple steps. We pray these prayers daily! Allow me to show you:

Found on pg 61-62 of Tehillat HaShem Siddur

This is a simple set of prayers that I took with my handheld scanning wand. I'm still new to using it, and it takes me a couple tries. I tend to forget where the screen stops, so sometimes I cut words off on one end. This is from my personal and very treasured siddur, or prayer book. If one finds themselves immersed in our texts, you will find that repentance is everywhere. If we are not exalting G-d, we're asking for forgiveness primarily, and then of course for the speedy return of the Prophet Elijah (Malachi 3:23), the rebuilding of the third and final Temple and everlasting peace (Ezekiel 37).
When one comes so far away from their people, and their covenant, you forget the options G-d has laid before you. Over time, and through the counsel of others outside of the light of Torah I began looking elsewhere. It should be no surprise that Christianity was where I started to look. One of the first things I learned was John the Baptist's Christianity. It seems like that is exactly what Evangelicals want you to hear, "Behold, the lamb of G-d, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29), which of course is followed up with a very creative reconstruction and complete interpolation of the Exodus story. I was not exactly the most learned Jew on the block mind you. Oh no, I was fairly standard. I knew bits and piece here and there. But when you listen to the likes of Sid Roth, Jack Van Impe, Pastor John Hagee, and other prominent evangelicals, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. I certainly did not.

I will admit that I am a naive person. Generally very innocent, and overly trusting. Why would people manipulate the Torah? Why would they mislead me? G-d is G-d right? Certainly I rejected the whole crazy Trinitas Personae (three persons, the trinity), Homo Usia (of same nature). It was far too paganistic for me. I knew right from wrong. But what I did not know was that no one could ever pay for the sins of others. (Ezekiel 18). Christians said that someone had to pay. So I believed them. I believed that according to them the messiah had to pay, and it was foretold as such. =

But remember when I mentioned my neshama, that special Jewish soul of mine earlier? It always knows when something is up. It knew wholly that I had been duped through desperation and an extreme desire to belong again. It all started with the Psalms. I read several Psalms everyday during Basic Training at Ft. Leonard Wood. It was my comfort. Though I studied also the New Testament often, as they were abundant on all military posts, I began finding problems. King David tells us all we need to do is repent. The Christian Bible says we must accept Jesus to be saved. (Mark 16:16). Why should I believe in a man to seek redemption? David tells us throughout his divine Psalms, most notably Psalm 40:7 concerning what G-d desires. The more I studied, the more problems I found.

     Because of all of this, and the constant studies I have undergone in the last year and a half, I have reconnected with my G-d, my Torah, and my People. My sense of peace has returned. The Christian ideas made no sense to me, they contradicted the Torah at every turn, but good came out of it. I had that "ah-ha!" moment, and that is why I am where I am today. For so long I felt disconnected, but I can happily say that I feel no such thing anymore. The Torah did that for me.

So now today, I study with my younger brother. I am re-learning Hebrew rapidly, and I am teaching him as well. We spend an hour or so every day in study, and through this I find great happiness and peace.

     Each future blog post I will provide a bit of Mishna, and Torah Study. My post numbers per day may vary depending upon my outside schedule, but I look forward to sharing what I do with my younger brother with you, the reader.


          Be well,