Posted on 07/14/2017 10:14:41 AM PDT by Phinneous
The Verse that Says It All
A fascinating Midrash credits an isolated verse in this week's Torah portion, Pinchas, with encapsulating the quintessence of Judaism[1].
The Midrash quotes four opinions as to which biblical verse best sums up the ultimate message of Torah. One sage, by the name of Ben Azzai, believed it was the verse in Genesis[2]: "This is the book of the chronicles of man; on the day that G-d created man He created him in the image of G-d."
Another sage, by the name of Ben Zoma, holds a different verse to be more central to Jewish thought: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One[3].".....
(Excerpt) Read more at theyeshiva.net ...
Bill Gates is spending the day with the chairman of General Motors.
"If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades," boasts Gates, "you would now be driving a V32 instead of a V8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour. Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50."
"Sure," says the GM chairman. "But would you really want to drive a car that crashes four times a day?"
The Verse that Says It All
A fascinating Midrash credits an isolated verse in this week's Torah portion, Pinchas, with encapsulating the quintessence of Judaism[1].
The Midrash quotes four opinions as to which biblical verse best sums up the ultimate message of Torah. One sage, by the name of Ben Azzai, believed it was the verse in Genesis[2]: "This is the book of the chronicles of man; on the day that G-d created man He created him in the image of G-d."
Another sage, by the name of Ben Zoma, holds a different verse to be more central to Jewish thought: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One[3]."
A third Talmudist, Ben Nanas, chooses this verse: "You shall love your fellow man like yourself[4]." Finally, the fourth sage, Shimon, the son of Pazi, casts his pitch for the epic verse of the Bible. It is culled from the section in this week's portion that deals with the obligation during the time of the Temple to bring each day two lambs as an offering to G-d. "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon[5]."
This verse, according to Shimon, the son of Pazi, is the defining verse of Judaism.
The Midrash concludes: "One of the rabbis stood on his feet and declared, 'The verdict follows the opinion of Shimon the son of Pazi!'"
The Big Question
Now, there is something in this Midrash that seems really amiss. The first three opinions are logical. The notion that all of Judaism can be traced back to the idea that a human being reflects G-d, makes perfect sense. The same can be said about the concept of a single and universal G-d, or the injunction to love our fellow man like ourselves—these ideas, introduced 3300 years ago by the Hebrew Bible, vividly embody the essential weltanschauung of Judaism and its contribution to human civilization.
But how does the verse "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon" represent the core essence of Torah? How can one even begin to compare the message about offering two lambs with the global and noble ideas contained in the other three opinions?
What is even more astonishing is that the final verdict in the Midrash selects this verse about the sheep as the "winner." The biblical verses dealing with love, monotheism and human dignity, the foundations of morality and civilization, did not "make it" in the contest; it is precisely this verse enjoining us to offer a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the afternoon -- that was chosen as the "representative" of the Jewish paradigm!
The Depth of Perseverance
One of the most seminal Jewish thinkers in the post-medieval period was Rabbi Judah Loew (1525-1609), who was known as the Maharal of Prague and served as the Chief Rabbi of Prague. In one of his works[6] he offers a moving answer to the above query.
What the fourth and last sage, Shimon, the son of Pazi, was suggesting is that the verse that ultimately defines what it means to be a Jew, is the one that speaks of unwavering consistency, "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon." Every single morning and every single afternoon you shall make a sacrifice for your Creator.
Of course, the biblical declarations that reveal the philosophical depth of Torah and its grand vision for humanity—monotheism, love, human dignity—are powerful, splendid and revolutionary. But what makes living a Jewish life unique is the unswerving commitment to live and breathe these truths day in, day out, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
One can be moved to tears by the notion of tikkun olam, of healing the world; one can become aflame with a burning passion toward the ideals of human dignity, love and peace. One can be inspired to make a donation, to give a speech, to shed a tear, to attend a rally or to write an article. But the real and ultimate power of Judaism is that it always inspired its people to cultivate their relationship with their souls and with G-d on a continuous basis, every day of their lives. Judaism asks the human being to make daily sacrifices for truth, for love, for peace, for justice, for moral depth, for G-d. "One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon."
During exciting days as well as monotonous days, on bright days and bleak days — “One sheep you shall offer in the morning and the second sheep in the afternoon." In the morning, when you awake, you are called to make a sacrifice to G-d. In the afternoon, when your day is winding down, you are called, once again, to sacrifice something of yourself for G-d.
Judaism is not only about a moving Yom Kippur experience or an emotional memorial ceremony; it is something the Jew lives every moment of his life. It is the dedication of ordinary people to construct, through daily ordinary acts, a fragment of heaven on planet earth.
The mission statement of Judaism is that you are always an ambassador of the Divine, an ambassador for love, light and hope. When your sun rises and when your sun sets, you are G-d's agent here on earth to infuse it with meaning, purpose and harmony, creating unity out of chaos, oneness out of fragmentation, light woven from the stuff of darkness. You may be having a good day or a bad day, you may be at peace or in the midst of a struggle, but you are, in the words of the Maharal, an "Eved Hashem," a servant, a messenger of G-d. You are a ray of infinity, working for G-d, and reflecting His oneness in the world you inhabit.
To watch a more elaborate video presentation of this class by Rabbi YY Jacobson, please click here.
To comment on this essay, please click here.
[1] The Midrash is quoted in the introduction to Ein Yakov, compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Ben Chaviv. He writes there that he found this information recorded in the name of the Midrash, but could not discover the original source. He proceeds to present his own explanation to the Midrash.
[2] Genesis 5:1.
[3] Deuteronomy 6:4.
[4] Leviticus 19:18.
[5] Numbers 28:4.
[6]Nesivos Olam vol. 2 Nesiv Ahavas Ria chapter one. My gratitude to Rabbi Nir Gurevitch, spiritual leader of the Australian Gold Coast community. I first heard this Midrash and Maharal from Rabbi Gurevitch, when I visited his community several years ago.
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There’s not one aspect of Judaism that means ANYTHING apart from Him. From proto-evangel to The End, He was the entire point all along...”...all the promises of God are “Yes!” in Christ”...and “the stone the builders rejected [who] has become the cornerstone”...and “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was I AM”.
Etc.
There’s not one aspect of Judaism that means ANYTHING apart from Him. From proto-evangel to The End, He was the entire point all along...”...all the promises of God are “Yes!” in Christ”...and “the stone the builders rejected [who] has become the cornerstone”...and “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was I AM”.
Wow . . . who would have thought that merely stating the claims proved them??? [/sarcasm]
Amen! The Old Testament is full of the Messiah, just as He showed the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus. And what Phillip showed the eunuch from the book of Isaiah. “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” The Bible, Old and New Testament, is the most exciting book in history.
The Tanakh and particularly the Torah is a holographic record of the boundary conditions the Ein Sof established for all the events in the Universe focusing on the 7000 year salvation plan. The Gematria and Equal Letter Skip (ELS) coding tell us of the importance of the ending of Hebrew year 5777 and the start of Hebrew year 5778.
For me, the key verse is not in the Torah, but in the “Tweets” of King Solomon. Wisdom is explaining the creation of the world, and she says:
PRO8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
God. KING JAMES BIBLE TOUCH - KJV (Kindle Locations 26322-26323). Kindle Edition.
This verse tells us that the Ein Sof used the “Laws of Form” revealed to George Spencer-Brown around 1957 to create the Universe by making the first distinction between inside and outside, i.e., drawing a circle on the face of the deep. This is why Genesis starts with Bet.
The Law of Forms provide the foundation for the Universe as an accounting system based on complex whole numbers. It explains why naming is important to the Ein Sof. Introduces the concept of the cross, as in crossing a boundary. It explains memory (and Elohim remembered Noah), oscillation (there was evening and there was morning), and mapping. Everything needed to support the Salvation Plan: “And Abraham believed Elohim and it was accounted to him as righteousness.”
Since it takes at least two dimension to form a boundary, the Law of Forms explains why Burkhard Heim, in 1948, assumed quantization of area, he was able to drive a seventh degree equation which describe the Universe as starting as three spheres, or as the Sages say, three books.
So we stand at the point in history when knowledge has increased so that we can understand how the Ein Sof made the world, and that it is quite literal to say that He did it by writing the Torah and that the Tanakh records the final vessel that the Potter crafted.
DAN12:04 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
God. KING JAMES BIBLE TOUCH - KJV (Kindle Locations 35487-35488). Kindle Edition.
The Book of Daniel has been unsealed. The wise would do well to heed its prophetic warnings.
The crucified Passover Lamb is more than a statement. It’s history.
How do you know?
If you were a missionary in a foreign culture that had never heard of J*sus, how would you prove he is what you claim he is? Would you just tell them and expect them to take your word for it?
Would you just quote the "new testament" and expect them to accept its claims from the get-go? What makes you think they would automatically agree with anything it says?
Do you even understand the concept of having to externally prove the claims of chrstianity and the "new testament" before someone will believe them, or is that idea completely foreign to you?
Sanhedrin 107B of the Babylonian Talmud: "Jesus... stood up a brick to symbolize an idol and bowed down to it. Jesus performed magic and incited the people of Israel and led them astray."
Sanhedrin 43A: "On Passover Eve they hanged Jesus of Nazareth. He practiced sorcery, incited and led Israel astray...Was Jesus of Nazareth deserving of a search for an argument in his favor? He was an enticer and the Torah says, 'You shall not spare, nor shall you conceal him!"
Gittin 57a in the Soncino edition, with its reference to "sinners of Israel" being "boiled in hot excrement," contains a footnote for the passage, labeled footnote #4. Located at the bottom of the page of Gittin 57a, footnote #4 makes reference to the fact that "sinners of Israel" is indeed a coded reference to Jesus!
All these Rabbinical teachings cited in this post sound spiritual but they actually personify the verse, "ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth." -2 Timothy 3:7
I AM the way,m the truth and the life, no man come to the Father but through ME" - Jesus
"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:12
My experience with Christ is more than intellectual or mental assent. I have tasted the Holy Spirit, I have been given supernatural mercy through the name of Jesus. The proclamation (Words) of the New Testament resonate in my heart and mind as being - true. Judaism and the Talmud are anti-Christian and not Truth.
I’ll show you some cool things after Shabbos. (Google Zohar prophecy industrial revolution)
I’m cool with thread hi-jacking. I do the same thing. ;)
Georgie, regarding your prooftexts, please give a full listen so that you can refute the Jews better (And this is a free link cuz I’m Jewish ;) ) Note: Please ask your pastor if you can listen to it first. It may be heretical. I don’t want you to get into trouble.
https://outreachjudaism.org/the-suffering-servant-of-isaiah-53-part-1/
https://outreachjudaism.org/the-suffering-servant-of-isaiah-53-part-2/
and
http://jewsforjudaism.ca/isaiah-53/
We believe we know what Isaiah meant, and we know it in Hebrew.
Mr. JesusIsLord, sir, Please take a look at this. Every horror of the Talmud you have ever heard about, without exception, is a distortion of the pure intent. Without exception. By the way, this decades-old site was created to counter the centuries-old problem of anti-Jew nudniks.
Enjoy, scholars!
Good Shabbos Jew and Gentile!
Regarding everything in your bible after Chronicles: that which is true is not new, and that which is new is not true.
Deuteronomy 4:2 - “Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
“Wow . . . who would have thought that merely stating the claims proved them???”
Because in this case it does? Because, re: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”, THIS IS THE LORD’S DOING, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
Marvelous in our eyes...OUR eyes...eyes:
“And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
Amen!
There's been an update:
"For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (Deut. 27:26) Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” (Hab.2:4)
And then one of THE most radical statements in all of Scripture:
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
That's Leviticus 18:5. NOT the way of faith. Why? Because...
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deut. 21:23) He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."—Galatians 3:10-14
Revelation given to Paul the apostle from the resurrected Lord Jesus. Not learned from any man or any other apostle but FROM GOD. Utterly authoritative.
“There’s been an update:”
I not only find your contention that THE Law is a “curse” to be ridiculous on many levels, but it thoroughly undercuts your own claims about my very distant cousin, the carpenter. Your own scriptures claim he is the Messiah based upon his (rather dubious, at best) lineage back to King King David - well, why would ANY of that matter if THE Law was a “curse?” Why the dependence on the foundation laid by Judaism, if that foundation, the very Law upon which Judaism is based, is a “curse?” Why not just make a complete break and start a whole new religion? I’ll answer that - because no one would have bought it.
Further, your ignorance of what you call the “Old Testament” is astounding. The blessings of Heaven (called “The World to Come”) are given to ANY human being who follows the 7 Noahide Laws. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-seven-noachide-laws Judaism, unlike most other religions, is not exclusive and NEVER was so - any person can do good deeds, any person can improve themselves and thereby earn an eternal reward. NOTHING else is needed - just abide by the 7 Noahide Laws. No need to worry about the “curse” of THE Law - just abide by 7 pretty basic ones and you’ll be fine...and there’s certainly no need for a person to be worshipped as equivalent to G-d (which would be idolatry, and a violation of the first of the Noahide Laws).
Great video. It’s not for nothing that the Talmud is (less reverentially) known as “the book of arguments.”
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