Purim 2024! The Middle East war is bombarding us on every side, is there anything significant for us in Purim and the book of Esther? Right or wrong, this time we are handling the sneaky Haman (Hamas) differently. Maybe because we do not have a covert Jewish woman sitting as queen in Iran’s palace. Esther prayed and fasted and knew how to don her most beautiful garments to be attractive enough to break the King’s rules about illegal entrance into the throne room. She had no invitation but she took a chance and went before the king. What Chutzpah! Really? She sounds a lot like a normal Israeli once you know the culture. Nobody takes no for an answer here, nor do we always follow protocol. How did we learn this? And did Esther (Hadassah) teach us something about rules that make no sense and the right to refuse something that does us harm?
Some Biblical scholars say that the book of Esther is a myth. Even if it is, there are lessons we can learn from its teaching about Jews in exile. Must Jews always take things into their own hands to be able to defend themselves? Is the Most High Eternal God of the Universe somehow gone on leave of absence? Or is He trying to get us to use our God-given wisdom and cunning to run the enemy out of our Promised Land? Is He somewhere in the shadows standing alongside us as we fight? Does He bring circumstances about so that even corrupt leaders are forced to make right choices about how and where to fight and whom to resist, even if it be the United States and Great Britain? Can we trust that things will go well in the long run? I often wonder what will happen when the United States decides to cut off all military aid to Israel–aid that they promised to their greatest ally in the Middle East. It is a horrifying thought and one that our leaders are trying to avoid by what appears to be stupid agreements with mediators who have betrayed Israel. And many of these mediators are actually Jewish!
So, Israel has offered 700 terrorists, some of them murderers, in exchange for 40 hostages! That is more than 17 to 1! Are we serious? But as we watch, I wonder if something will happen that will change the circumstances.. Are we really alone in this? Is the Great YHWH absent from this war? Or is He working behind the scenes?
Yesterday my husband and I attended a Purim Megillah reading. The normal Purim treats and drinks were on the table. Visitors from out of town were present as well as friends from our town in the Golan Heights. The Megillah reading was a normal 2000+ years traditional reading except for the fact that we sat outside and as the chazan was reading the scroll, IAF planes flew over every minute or so, continuing throughout the day in response to hundreds of attacks from the enemy. Many of us had figured in advance that with Ramadan in place, Purim 2024 was going to be under fire from Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria.
The loud sound of the F-15s overhead was enough to make some want another drink of the hard stuff. The Chazan tried to space the reading so that the planes would drown out the name “Haman”. I guess it was meaningful. For me, the service was a reminder that we were in another encounter with Haman, but this time we are in our Holy Land and the looming question is…”Why do we suffer Amalek after we return to our homeland?” Are we still exiles? Did we import some of that mentality from the diaspora? The celebration, if you will call it that, became meaningful to me when I began to contemplate what is happening on a spiritual level.
I recently questioned the need to continue Purim festivities. Must we remember that we are still in Persia–Iran? Amalek is, in fact, still in our midst! And 75,000 enemies killed at the command of Esther and Mordechai was still not enough to put an end to the hatred that has generated through the centuries.
Seventy-five thousand is a lot more than the MSM claims as Israel’s victims! Some reports say 32,000 Gazans killed.Maybe it would be better for Israel if this was true! Where is our thinking? Why are we pussyfooting around to save “innocent civilians” when we know what those same “civilians” did to our people on October 7? The old saying “never forget” seems to be forgotten. Why are we trying to make peace with those who have our necks on their chopping block? Where is the Chutzpah of the Queen of Persia? She did not, after all, try to be politically correct when she had Haman and his ten sons hung on the gallows!
When will we realize that something is walking out of step with the Eternal? How can we expect His full intervention? Maybe we should stop fasting to fulfill tradition and start fasting for a renewed vision as to what Hashem expects of us!
And then, we shall ARISE and take back that which was promised to us in the strength of YHWH, the Almighty God of the Universe!
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of YHWH rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but YHWH rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isa 60:1-3
Shalom in the Midst of War,
Ariella
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¿Es posible tener una religión basada en la Biblia sin inclinarse ante alguna jerarquía? ¿Qué pasa con el judaísmo? ¿Es mejor que otras religiones?
Hay varias ramas del judaísmo, algunas más complejas que otras. Cada uno tiene su propia Halajá, Mitzvot o conjunto de normas que sigue. Algunos judíos o aspirantes a judíos todavía están en el desierto reuniendo información sobre qué camino tomar. Yo afirmaría que la mayoría de esta clase son de ascendencia judía (quizás perdida en el proceso de la inquisición) o de las 10 tribus perdidas. Pero ¿cómo se sabe a qué grupo seguir y cuánto derecho tiene una organización a ejercer influencia sobre sus seguidores?
Quizás estemos cansados de instituciones creadas por el hombre que nos gobiernan sin que nosotros decidamos al respecto. Vemos jerarquías en el catolicismo, y en cualquiera de las principales iglesias cristianas, en los diferentes niveles del judaísmo ortodoxo y también en los movimientos más liberales del judaísmo rabínico. ¿Qué tal el caraísmo? ¿Está esto exento? Me doy cuenta de que hay al menos tres o cuatro grupos de caraítas, cada uno con su propio enfoque del Tanaj y la Torá. Hay siddurim para algunos de estos. Algunos exigen una estricta observancia de su Halajá.
Si bien personalmente sugiero individualidad en nuestro enfoque en la Torá y su Tanaj interpretativo, no recomiendo el caos. Lo diré, aunque a menudo parece un caos cuando la gente considera su propia religión natal y la encuentra defectuosa. Y cuando se dan cuenta de que cosas que antes consideraban leyes fundamentales de pronto se les presentan como si tuvieran poco valor bíblico, se desilusionan. Algunos descartan por completo la religión, otros buscan otras religiones y otros intentan encontrar la verdad por sí mismos. Pero, considerando este gran renacimiento religioso que está ocurriendo en todo el mundo, ¿estamos entre los que abandonan todas las formas y ceremonias y desechan por completo lo que consideramos religión organizada? ¿Cómo vamos a tener una religión si no tenemos algo en lo que estemos de acuerdo?
La forma caraíta de judaísmo, a diferencia de otras ramas del judaísmo, parece permitir la libertad más bíblica, que es lo que muchos buscan. ¿Pero podemos estar de acuerdo en algo? ¿Podemos aceptar estar en desacuerdo y seguir unidos? La verdad fundamental del caraísmo es que todo debe basarse en la Torá dada en el Sinaí y las obras de los profetas en el Tanaj. En el caraísmo hay un rechazo universal de lo que se llama la Torá Oral o תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל־פֶּה. Esto se basa en las instrucciones a Moisés de que Israel no agregue ni quite de las palabras que YHWH le dio a Israel.
“No añadirás a la palabra que yo te mando, ni quitarás de ella, para que guardes los mandamientos de Jehová tu Dios que yo te mando”. – Deuteronomio 4:2
La ortodoxia, así como otras ramas del judaísmo que siguen a los rabinos, afirman que los sabios recibieron la transmisión de la Torá y se les dio el derecho de reinterpretarla y aplicarla como mejor les pareciera. La siguiente cita lo resume:
“La tradición judía identifica la cadena histórica interpretada por individuos a quienes se les confió la transmisión de la Ley Oral desde Moisés hasta el período rabínico temprano: “Moisés recibió la Torá y la transmitió a Josué; Josué a los Ancianos; los Ancianos a los profetas; y los profetas lo transmitieron a los hombres de la Gran Asamblea”. (mira aquí).
Pero muchos de nosotros vemos tanta desviación de las palabras originales de Moisés que buscamos un acercamiento a la Torá que resista la prueba del tiempo. Y, por supuesto, hay problemas para aplicar toda la Torá incluso hoy en día porque no hay Templo ni sacrificios. Esa parte de la Torá parece haberse perdido al menos hasta que se construya otro Templo. Algunas de las normas actuales no permiten cosas como la poligamia, lo que significa que tenemos que mirar de nuevo y comprender los principios detrás de lo que estaba permitido. A veces la Torá permitía algo pero no había ninguna ley que dijera “lo harás o no lo harás”. Así que la aplicación de la Torá tiene un desafío continuo y así debe ser. No hay ningún deseo de que recreemos una nueva religión jerárquica que decida por nosotros lo que debemos o no debemos hacer. Después de todo, Moisés dijo:
“Ahora bien, lo que os mando hoy no es demasiado difícil para vosotros ni está fuera de vuestro alcance. No está en el cielo, de modo que tengas que preguntar: “¿Quién subirá al cielo para recibirlo y proclamárnoslo para que podamos obedecerlo?” Tampoco está más allá del mar, de modo que tengas que preguntar: “¿Quién cruzará el mar para conseguirlo y proclamárnoslo para que podamos obedecerlo?” No, la palabra está muy cerca de ti; está en tu boca y en tu corazón para que puedas obedecerlo”. Deuteronomio 30:11-14
Entonces, ¿qué se requiere de nosotros hoy? ¿No sería un buen punto de partida si empezáramos a estudiar seriamente el Tanaj por nosotros mismos y dejáramos de aprender tanto de rabinos y pastores? No digo que no haya razón para dejar de aprender y sí, otras personas deben tener influencia, pero ninguna tiene derecho a ejercer autoridad espiritual sobre el individuo en este momento. Y cuando el templo se restablece y se instala el Sacerdocio junto con un tribunal levítico apropiado, entonces los juicios estarán en orden. Aún no estamos allí. Y no creo que ninguno de nosotros sepa cómo será exactamente.
Lo que se requiere en este momento es que estudiemos y oremos, pidiéndole al Eterno que escudriñe nuestros corazones y nos mantenga ante Su vista mientras nos entregamos voluntariamente a obedecer Sus mandamientos. Después de todo, ¿es posible que estas leyes ya estén escritas en nuestros corazones y mentes?
“Porque este es el pacto que haré con la casa de Israel después de aquellos días, declara Jehová: Pondré mi ley dentro de ellos, y la escribiré en sus corazones. Y yo seré su Dios, y ellos serán mi pueblo. Y ya no enseñará cada uno a su prójimo ni cada uno a su hermano, diciendo: ‘Conoce a YHWH’, porque todos me conocerán, desde el más pequeño de ellos hasta el mayor, declara YHWH. Porque perdonaré su iniquidad y no me acordaré más de su pecado.” – Jer 31:33-34
“Él te ha dicho, oh hombre, lo que es bueno; ¿Y qué exige YHWH de ti sino hacer justicia, amar la bondad y caminar humildemente con tu Dios? Miqueas 6:8.
Enfocando en la Tora
Ariella
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Is it possible to have a Bible-based religion without bowing to some hierarchy? What about Judaism? Is it better than other religions?
There are several branches of Judaism, some more complex than others. Each has its own Halakha, Mitzvot or set of standards which it follows. Some Jews or wanna-be Jews are still in the wilderness gathering information about which road to travel. I would assert that most of this class are either Jewish by descent (perhaps lost in the process of the inquisition) or of the 10 lost tribes. But how does one know which group to follow and how much right does an organization have to exert influence over its adherents?
Perhaps we are tired of man-made institutions that rule over us without our decision in the matter. We see hierarchies in Catholicism, and any of the mainline Christian churches, in the different levels of Orthodox Judaism and also in the more liberal movements of Rabbinic Judaism. How about Karaism? Is this exempt? I realize that there are at least three or four groups of Karaites, each with its own approach to the Tenakh and Torah. There are siddurim for some of these. Some require strict observance of their Halakha.
While I personally suggest individuality in our approach to the Torah and its interpretive Tanakh, I do not recommend chaos. I will say, though it often seems like chaos when people consider their own natal religion and find it flawed. And when they realize that things they have formerly considered as fundamental laws suddenly loom up before them as having little Biblical value, they become disenchanted. Some throw religion out completely, others look for other religions, still others try to find the truth by themselves. But, considering this great religious renaissance going on around the world, are we among those who abandon all forms and ceremonies and throw out completely what we consider organized religion? How will we even have a religion if we do not have something that we agree on?
The Karaite form of Judaism, in contrast to other branches of Judaism, seems to allow the most Biblical liberty, which is what many are seeking. But can we agree on anything? Can we agree to disagree and still stand together? The fundamental truth of Karaism is that everything must be based on the Torah given on Sinai and the works of the prophets in the Tanakh. In Karaism there is a universal rejection of what is called the Oral Torah or the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל־פֶּה.
This is based on the instructions to Moses that Israel not add nor subtract from the words he was given by YHWH for Israel.
“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” – Deu 4:2
Orthodoxy, as well as other branches of mainstream Judaism, claim that the sages received the transmission of Torah and were given the right to reinterpret it and to apply it as they saw fit. The following quote sums it up:
“Jewish tradition identifies the unbroken historical chain of individuals who were entrusted with passing down the Oral Law from Moses to the early rabbinic period: “Moses received the Torah and handed it down to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly.” (see here).
But many of us see so much deviation from the original words of Moses that we look for an approach to Torah that stands the test of time. And of course there are problems applying all of the Torah even today because there is no Temple and there are no sacrifices. That part of the Torah seems to have been lost at least until another Temple is built. Some of today’s norms do not allow things like Polygamy which mean we have to take a new look and understand the principles behind what was allowed. Sometimes the Torah allowed something but there was no law saying “Thou shalt, or thou shalt not.” So Torah application has an ongoing challenge and must be so. There is no desire that we recreate a new hierarchical religion that decides for us what we shall or shall not do. After all, Moses said:
“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” Deu 30:11-14
So what is required of us today? Wouldn’t it be a good place to start if we began to study the Tanakh in earnest for ourselves and stop learning so much from rabbis and pastors? I do not say there is no reason to stop learning and yes, other people must have an influence, but none have the right to exercise spiritual authority over the individual at this time. And when the Temple is reestablished, and the Priesthood is installed along with a proper Levitical court, then judgments will be in order. We are not there yet. And I don’t think any of us knows how it will be exactly.
What is required at this time is that we study and pray, asking the Eternal to search our hearts and keep us in His sight while we willingly surrender to obey His commandments. After all, is it possible that these laws are already written in our hearts and minds?
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘KnowYHWH,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares YHWH. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” – Jer 31:33-34
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Mic 6:8.
Yours,
Ariella
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Hundreds of Hezbollah rockets are pounding the Northern part of the State of Israel and Ramadan is just around the corner, in fact just a few hours from now! None of us knows whether our towns in the North will be still standing tomorrow.
I am a Zionist and I hope you are, even if you are not Jewish. But what is the concept of Zionism all about?
“Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.” ADL
If I did not believe that Zion (the land of Israel) belongs to the Jews, I would not be here. And when I hear sympathetic Jews in this land expressing a desire to make peace with those who want to murder, rape and burn the Jews and take away their G-d given home, I want to send these people packing back to the nations where they were once exiled. If they love the idea that there will ever be peace coming out of Gaza as long as Gazan’s live there, then, go on back, kiss the feet of Biden, and like-minded leaders of other nations! Perhaps they will welcome another Jew back to where political groups want to string them up while chanting “from the River to the Sea.” (Frankly not many of those who march in these groups even know which river they are talking about!)
Peace activists who lived in some of the kibbutzim near Gaza learned a fatal lesson. For some it was too late to change their minds. The following clip is from Times of Israel (to read the entire article, click here.)
“In the wake of October 7, Lahav and other Israelis who had supported and campaigned for territorial compromises with the Palestinians as a pathway to peace now say they are being forced to reconsider their views. “‘I used to think Palestinians were good people, like you and me. That Hamas were thugs who got in the way of the population’s desire for a good life: a pretty home, a good car, a good job, a nice yard; good schools for the children.’ Lahav said from the temporary home she shares with her daughter Lotus, a new three-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of a residential project in Kiryat Gat where many Nir Oz survivors have relocated to. ‘After October 7, I realized I was wrong. Just as the Israeli government represents Israelis, Hamas represents the people of Gaza.’”
This is only one testimony. There are many. The idea of Jews making peace with those who have a religious conviction that Jews are blood sucking vampires who have falsely claimed a land that belongs to them (the Palestinian Arabs) makes no logical sense.
But how will the Jews rise to become a light to the nations? Can they ever become a light when they are bowing their own knees to America and giving away that which belongs to the Creator of the Universe to those who have no respect for that One who made His Covenant with Israel and His People? Why do we keep trying to please the nations? Is there no faith in the G-d of Israel anymore? Have our politicians no respect for the promises made to our forefathers? We keep selling out to those who have no respect for us over and over again.
We gave away the Temple Mount which belongs to our G-d. How did we dare? And we will pay with blood to get it back. We gave away Gaza, which was not ours to give and look at what has happened? Perhaps we could calculate the cost in lives and money over the years, let alone the fact that the Gazans took that paradise that we turned over to them in 2005 and turned it into a garbage heap run by slum lords named Hamas. Now what do we expect will happen with Judea and Samaria? How in Heaven’s Name did anybody let those crooked politicians give our land away? And now, only by G-d’s coming alongside will we ever get it back, let alone have a nation of our own. And how will we get Heaven to listen to us now? Does G-d even believe us anymore?
No, it boils my blood to listen to long-time Israelis and Jews from America and England spout off with their liberal rant about learning to be more peace loving, about helping the poor hungry Gazans. Better they get out of Dodge!–Better they leave before the same thing that happened to Be’eri happens to the towns in the North. After all, Hezbollah has a lot more rockets than Hamas in Gaza ever dreamed of having.
One thing is clear, this war is separating between those who believe in Israel as the land of the Jewish people and those who do not. There are a lot of other issues that are revealing who is who, if you will, separating the “sheep from the wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
There is one way only to gain the respect of the nations and to become a light to the world. The world stands in awe of power. When they see a warrior who is invincible they applaud. When they see that people cannot “mess with Texas”, so to speak, they respect. Now may Israel rise to “the brightness of our calling”, there should be no weakness shown in dealing with murderers and rapists. There is no room to accommodate those who support those who are bent on doing evil.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isa 60:1-3
עם הנצח ינצח
May we see a better day for the Land of Israel! Standing together we will win.
The Convergent Tides of Oral Cultures and the Rise of Literate CulturesProduced Two Major Religions in a Backlash to Retain the “Old” While Embracing the “New” World Order
Israel went into the Babylonian exile on the cusp of a major paradigm shift in history: the rise of the written text and literacy. Scholars in this area of study attribute the addition of vowels to the Greek alphabet for hastening the “literate world.” As was typical of the emerging nations of the new Western worldview, the people of exiled Israel, now the Jews in the nations struggled to retain their ancient identity as the chosen people of the Torah of Moses while embracing the new literate world founded in the Greco-Roman cultures.
The shift from purely oral cultures, without writing, to text driven literate cultures allowed people to remember their thoughts without the use of memory aids and to work out more complex solutions. This gave birth to the analytical and systematic thinking which produced science, history, philosophy and liberal education. Professor Walter J. Ong wrote extensively about this “evolution of consciousness” in his 1982 book “Orality and Literacy.” This evolution is manifested in the classical Greek years as seen in the science of Euclid and Meton, the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle, and the more objective historians such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Ctesias.
This new world was no longer solely dependent on the elite scribal class of literates who controlled not only the limited written texts; they controlled the oral narratives from 3000 BCE through the 1st millennia CE. The West developed along these lines as a more secular, pragmatic and individualized society through the text based education of “higher learning.” The purely oral cultures that did not let go of their “orality,” as humanity moved towards “literate” text based cultures, were relegated to the “primitive” end on the continuum to “modernity.” The growing literate cultures remained segregated into classes of the uneducated poor and the educated rich, farmers and city dwellers, the people of oral folk traditions and the townsfolk of letters.
In the midst of this major shift in human history two new religions emerged that not only embraced the new literate mind set but used ancient scribal traditions to preserve their “primitive” oral traditions in their literature and liturgical traditions alongside new theologies that have endured the test of time: Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. The rabbis of the Talmud claimed that they were handing down “the oral tradition that was given to Israel through Moses at Sinai.” The Christian founding fathers claimed equal infallibility in their new theology and text, the New Testament.
Is there verifiable authority for these claims? Looking first at the earlier rabbinic tradition, we ask these questions:
What if the Jewish people have bet our collective soul on the wrong oral tradition that is based in lies and false narratives that aids and abets the exile mentality far from our original Covenant? And if we have, how do we know that and, for the sake of a true return to our Maker, how do we do that?
The Mishna Talmud created a new utopian world for the Jewish people to learn of, embrace, and use to manage the changing social environs in their ever extended exile far from their original covenant and homeland of Israel. This new oral tradition retained a memory of their original texts, the Torah and the Prophets, placing them alongside new texts from the exile that were added to the Hebrew canon. The rabbis completed their work of codifying the Talmud which included ancient scribal devices of repetition and mnemonic memorization along with formulaic expressions such as proverbs and pithy maxims required in a purely oral tradition absent the use of a written text.
This method cleverly allowed the rabbis to invent new and every changing interpretations of the original and foundational text memorialized in the Torah and the Prophets Masoretic text. In the earliest meeting places of the exile and during the second temple period in Israel the people gathered to hear the public readings from the Torah, but in a new and different language [Aramaic] and with new and different interpretations and translations [targumim].
What followed was a vast and never ending collection of commentaries from generation after generation of “Torah scholars” known collectively as the rabbis and sages of the past two thousand years. The retention of this “oral tradition” has worked well to help the Jewish people feel “connected” to their original covenant made at Sinai.
It is implemented through ritualistic formulas of blessings, prayers, mitzvot, and celebrations that replaced the Covenantal temple, priesthood and appointed times in Israel. The orality of the rabbinic tradition is reinforced with the hermeneutical learning method of the Mishna Talmud which interprets Torah through formulaic and mnemonic expressions and repetition.
I forsook the false narrative of my birth religion Christianity that teased out its oral traditions and theologies based on the reinterpretation of the Torah and the Prophets in the New Testament. I chose the Jewish faith and tradition in my adult years seeking an authentic connection to the Covenant Maker of Israel as given in the Torah and the Prophets. I chose to move to Israel as an heir of Abraham through Jacob.
It has been heartbreaking to learn that the Jewish people in the exile inherited the false narrative based on the new Writings and expounded in the Talmud as their interpretive text of the Torah and the Prophets. The written Hebrew text of the Torah and Prophets has been sublimated to the replacement theology of rabbinic Judaism. The Jewish people have inherited this false religion crafted for the exile with no way back to our Covenant of the Ten Words, the Land of Israel, and the proper authority under the Levitical priesthood in the House of YHVH on Mt. Zion.
In fact, we learn that the Torah and the Prophets are not historically significant but allegorical, that Ezra rewrote and restored Torah, that the rabbis replaced the Levites as the presumptive authority to handle and reinterpret the Torah through a contrived chain of transmission, and that when the “mashiach” comes the rabbinic tradition will continue as the legal and religious authority over the Jewish people. Many believe that there is no need for the temple to be restored and that the Jewish people are not required to live in their Covenant Homeland of Israel … none of which is supported by the Torah, the Covenant or the Prophets.
The deep seated angst that continues to reside in the soul of the Jewish people is palpable and is reinforced by the nations continuing hatred of Israel, her people and her land. We are at war again with our neighbors and their allies in the world for our very survival in this Land of Israel. No one can be trusted or believed to have the answer. There are no good answers politically or religiously that will take us back to our Covenant Maker.
Many of us are asking: how do we return to our Covenant Maker as He wills for us?
We must return to our original Torah as given to Moses and as seen through our Prophets, through the end of the first kingdom and into the Babylonian exile, before we have a chance to understand the Will of our Covenant Maker. Even though there is evidence of scribal tampering and false narratives that made it into our canon, it is possible to see through these lies as enabling the post-biblical replacement theology of exile.
We must admit that we have exchanged our Covenant and our very essence for a manmade construct that enables our exile mentality. We must seek the ancient and everlasting path back to our Covenant Maker.
As suggested by students of ancient history, we must be willing to put ourselves in the sandals of those ancients. We must wipe our minds clean of our preconceived assumptions and work to understand their worldviews in their lifetimes. We must forsake manmade interpretations of Torah and relearn what YHVH said then and what He is saying now from His Written Word that was given to His Servant Moses in that day.
Starting with the understanding that Moses and the people who stood at Sinai in 1552 BCE lived in a world that did not have writing for the many. There were no books that could be accessed, no libraries or education for the common people. From Genesis to the first kingdom of Israel was a time of purely oral cultures, bereft of literacy and written literature. The people were wholly dependent on the narratives of the elite scribal classes regarding the heavens and life itself.
Most of humanity has been dependent on and enslaved by the dominance and persuasiveness of the few who controlled the flow of information whether orally or textually received. The people of the world are in the same predicament today. No matter how much we have “advanced,” we are being held hostage by the few self-proclaimed elites who control the flow of information, politically, socially and religiously.
With this basic understanding and in that mindset, we will approach our written text and behold what the Creator of the universe, the Holy One of Israel, actually did for all of humanity through the Covenant He made with Israel. We have forgotten and even forfeited the redemption from bondage that was granted to us 3500 years ago at Sinai. We have forgotten who we are as Covenant Israel. We must remember.
And, keeping in mind that He never changes and that His Word is everlasting, we can at least begin to understand that what He willed for Israel then and what He wills for us today has not changed. We have changed and that is why we must seek His ancient and everlasting paths back to Him and His Covenants.
Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from ministering before Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah rule of law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Isaiah 51:1-2: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek YHVH: look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
