Author: Ariella Golani גולני

Passover and Paganism—Lamb’s Blood and Matzah?

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Passover Defies Paganism, nothing more!

At the time of the Exodus, the children of Israel were told to bring a one year old male sheep or goat into their homes from the 10th day of the first month and then on the 14th day it was to be sacrificed in the evening. (Exodus 12). From the blood of this animal they were to paint the doorposts and the lintels of their houses.

One of the Egyptian gods was a Ram.

“The Ram represents the powerful god of sun and air Amun-Re, with Taharqa standing below. King Taharqa was the third in the line of Kushite rulers whose power extended from their native Nubia (northern Sudan) to the whole of Egypt, which they ruled as the pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty. Throughout his reign of Egypt Taharqa used the symbolic imagery of Amun-Re to evoke power and strength. Many depictions of King Taharqa show him with the ram’s head and sun disc, symbolic of Amun-Re, worn as earrings or an amulet around his neck.” Ashmolean Ram

Israel was to abominate the gods of Egypt and as a demonstration of this, they took the lamb right about the time of the 9th plague and tied it up on display to show their courage in defying that Egyptian god. Yes, Israel after so many years, oppressed by slavery in Egypt, finally showed their chutzpa in obeying this command.

So, here is an intriguing question:

If indeed the purpose of bringing the Passover goat or lamb was to defy an Egyptian god, then how does Christianity reestablish that god–by calling Jesus “lamb of God” at his baptism and later sacrifice him and resurrect him as their god? If the purpose of the Passover lamb sacrifice in Egypt was to abominate the gods of Egypt—thus becoming a symbol of Israel’s defiance of paganism, then why do Bible believing Christians purport that the crucifixion of the “lamb” was the sin offering for all-time, by their god who is symbolized by this lamb (male sheep) and not the defiance of the paganism from which Israel was being delivered? Somebody has it all messed up, don’t you think? How did this very clear symbol of paganism from which Israel was clearly being delivered, become the very god that Christians worship? Passover was not about a sin offering, that came later, and the instructions were given for that at Sinai (Leviticus 4, Exodus 29). In some cases the sin offering was not a lamb, but a bull.

So the original reason Israel was to sacrifice the Passover lamb or goat was for the purpose of defying the paganism of Egypt. It had nothing to do with a sin offering, it had nothing to do with a symbol of a future lamb of God that would be given as a sin offering to save the world! Passover is about coming out from the customs of paganism, about being a pure and holy, separated people. It also includes a reminder every year when we threw out the Hametz or leavening agents in our bread.

Matzah

“It is believed that the use of sourdough in bread leavening production developed in ancient Egypt in approximately 3000 BC and from there spread gradually to Europe, throughout ancient Greece and the Roman Empire until the present.

“The ancient Egyptians developed the art of cooking leavened doughs in molds the first loaf pans. The molds were heated and then filled with dough, covered and stacked in a heated chamber. These were perhaps the first mass-produced breads.” History of Food Processing

Bread is a symbol throughout the ages of sustenance. It is called “the staff of life.” Different cultures draw their bread from different grains, but the grain part of the diet is called “bread” and even in the Bible bread figures in the form of the sustanance of humanity. We remember the manna was called “bread from heaven” and

Deut 8:9-10:

“…a land (Israel) where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.”

Genesis 3:19: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

So if bread is used as a symbol of sustenance for humanity, and the art of making raised bread was first introduced by Egypt whose religious customs included offering it to their gods… (see the following prayer)

“An offering given by the king (to) Osiris, the lord of Busiris, the great god, the lord of Abydos…’That he may give an invocation offering of bread, beer, oxen, birds, alabaster, clothing, and every good and pure thing upon which a god lives.'” Wikipedia

…then, do we not have another reason behind the Matzah—unleavened bread–which was eaten along with the lamb, in haste with the loins girded and sandals on their feet, ready to flee Egypt with all of it’s customs? It was in this moment that the people of Israel defied the customs of Egypt and readied themselves to return to the pure unadulterated customs (unleavened if you will) of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and go back to the LAND which had been promised them.

Your’s for a leaven free Pesach!

Ariella Tiqvah Casey

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¿Un Frasco para echar las Groserías?

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El Arrepentimiento y El Pecado Original

Ayer, Sally decidió sacar $5 de la caja registradora de su trabajo. Ese día había realizado varias ventas en efectivo sin recibos. Ok, entonces $5 no es mucho, pero ¿qué representa y es realmente pecado? La mayoría de nosotros diríamos que es un pecado. Para mí, incluso tomar una moneda de cinco o diez centavos que no te pertenece es robar. Pero, ¿cómo se le perdona por esto? ¿Y se trata de borrar esta única acción, o se trata de la tendencia subyacente que causa el robo? ¿Y si ella ha hecho esto 100 veces? ¿Quizás lo está haciendo compulsivamente? Bueno, aparte de la psicología, el pecado es un gran problema y parece que todos nosotros luchamos con una forma u otra, ya sea robar, engañar, mentir, usar lenguaje profano o cualquier otro pecado.

¿Cómo se perdona a uno? ¿Y qué sucede con nuestros pecados pasados que han sido vencidos? ¿Siguen registrados en alguna parte? ¿Hay un gran libro negro en el Cielo que nos impedirá la Vida Eterna si no confesamos nuestros pecados? ¿Qué es la confesión de todos modos?

En el cristianismo, el proceso del perdón es más o menos carta blanca, vuelves a pecar y vas a la iglesia o te arrodillas y la sangre de Jesús te cubre. Esperas dejar de pecar, pero muchas personas siguen haciendo lo que desearían no haber hecho y algunos finalmente viven en negación, creyendo que el pecado “no es tan malo”. Entonces mi pregunta es, ¿cómo les ayudó la sangre?

En el judaísmo existe el concepto que se llama teshuvá, palabra hebrea para arrepentimiento, pero incluye hacer algo más que confesar un pecado, algo que te cuesta, exigiendo en el caso de robar, y esto está respaldado por instrucciones específicas en el Torá donde pagas al menos el doble por lo que has robado.

En el caso de romper el día de reposo incluso en una emergencia, me han dicho que ayunar o pasar tiempo sin hacer algo que a la persona le gusta hacer satisfará la necesidad causada por el pecado. Quizás esto pueda tomar el lugar del antiguo sistema de sacrificios y puedo estar de acuerdo con algo de esto porque, en aquel entonces, se ofrecía un sacrificio cuando una persona reconocía que había hecho algo malo. No bastaba con reconocer el pecado, también había que hacer un pago. Y hablando de sacrificio, como yo lo veo, no perdonó nada, pero hizo que el pecador viera lo que había hecho bajo una nueva luz y renunciara a un animal escogido del rebaño, ¡eso no fue barato!

¿Alguna vez has oído hablar de un frasco para groserias? Se usa esto mas en el ingles. Pero para explicar: las personas que quieren curarse de las palabrotas o el habito de decir groserias ponen dinero en un frasco o tarro cuando se equivocan. Hace que algunas personas piensen dos veces cuando van a usar blasfemias, especialmente después de perder dinero una y otra vez. Entonces, ¿es posible que el proceso de arrepentimiento tenga que doler para que no lo vuelvas a hacer tan fácilmente? Hay personas que se disciplinan para estar realmente a la altura, por así decirlo, o “tomar el toro por los cuernos” y vencer un pecado en particular. Las adicciones son un ejemplo de pecado repetitivo. Esta área, especialmente en el caso del abuso de sustancias, requiere la abstinencia completa de la sustancia para estar libre de ella. ¿Qué hay de perder los estribos y lastimar a los que están cerca de ti? ¿Cómo se supera eso? Tal vez renunciar a una cantidad de dinero o renunciar a un postre o unas vacaciones.

Para el mundo no judío, esto podría parecer lo que se conoce como “una religión de obras”. Hay un elemento de obras involucradas, pero ¿qué dice la Biblia? –(Uso el Tenakh o Antiguo Testamento) porque ahí es donde la ley y los profetas hablaron de tales cosas.

Entonces, ¿qué pasa con los antiguos sacrificios requeridos por la Torá? ¿Y qué hay de hoy cuando el sacrificio de animales ya no es posible? ¿Y estos sacrificios alguna vez sirvieron para limpiar la culpa de uno, o borrar los pecados?

Sal 40:6 “Sacrificio y ofrenda no quisiste, pero abriste mis oídos; holocaustos y expiación no pediste.”

1Sa 15:22 “… ¿Se complace Jehová tanto en los holocaustos y sacrificios, como en obedecer la voz de Jehová? He aquí, el obedecer es mejor que el sacrificio, y el prestar atención (escuchar) que la grasa de los carneros. ”

Los profetas posteriores hablaron de un cambio de corazón en lugar de la necesidad de sacrificio:

Jer. 25:5: “Volveos ahora cada uno de vuestro mal camino y de la maldad de vuestras obras, y habitad en la tierra que Jehová os ha dado a vosotros y a vuestros padres para siempre jamás;

Eze 18:30 Por tanto, yo os juzgaré, oh casa de Israel, a cada uno según sus caminos, dice YHVH Elohim. Arrepentíos, y convertíos de todas vuestras transgresiones; para que la iniquidad no sea vuestra ruina. 31 Echad fuera de vosotros todas vuestras transgresiones en que habéis transgredido; y os haga un corazón nuevo y un espíritu nuevo; porque ¿por qué moriréis, oh casa de Israel?

¿Es posible que todo el sistema de sacrificios originalmente estuviera destinado a hacer que las personas reconocieran la gravedad de la desobediencia, al igual que el frasco de la maldición? ¿Tenían el propósito de volver el corazón de uno hacia la justicia y alejarlo del pecado? Además de la ceremonia que se realizó, el sacrificio llevó consigo el elemento de ver el sufrimiento de un animal por el pecado de uno y también la pérdida o riqueza personal

Creo que nunca se trató de ninguna expiación de sangre. Dios no se complace con la sangre de los animales más que con la sangre de los humanos.

Isa 1:11 “¿Para qué me sirve la multitud de vuestros sacrificios?” Dice YHVH. “Estoy harto de los holocaustos de los carneros y de la grasa de las vacas cebadas. No me deleito en la sangre de los toros, ni de los corderos ni de las cabras”.

¿Qué pasa con nuestros pecados pasados? ¿Qué dice la Biblia acerca de ellos? ¿Nos acompañan por el resto de nuestras vidas como amarrados a nuestras espaldas hasta el juicio cuando se nos da algún tipo de castigo? O peor aún, ¿nos enviarán a un infierno ardiente? ¿Los cubriría un sacrificio de sangre? ¿O es nuestra confesión y alejarnos de ellos todo lo que se necesita?

Os 14:2 “Toma contigo palabras, y vuélvete a YHVH: dile: Quita toda iniquidad, y recíbenos con misericordia: así daremos las becerros de nuestros labios.”

Ezequiel 18:27 “Además, cuando el impío se aparte de la maldad que ha cometido, e hiciere lo que es lícito y recto, salvará su alma con vida. 28 Por cuanto él considera, y se aparta de todas sus transgresiones que ha cometido, ciertamente vivirá, no morirá.”

Bien, entonces, ¿qué significa lo que dice el profeta Ezequiel? Que lo que hiciste en el pasado es nulo y sin efecto si cambias tus formas. Tiene que haber un alejamiento, tiene que haber un cambio. Y cómo eso sucede incluye obtener un nuevo corazón y mente. Y lo que hace que esto no se trate de obras es lo siguiente:

Eze 36:26 “Os daré un corazón nuevo, y pondré un espíritu nuevo dentro de vosotros; y quitaré de vuestra carne el corazón de piedra, y os daré un corazón de carne.”

Dios es quien nos da el nuevo corazón, pero tenemos que pedirlo y desearlo lo suficiente como para cambiar. No más justificación para el pecado: ¡se necesita un corazón quebrantado y la voluntad de cambiar!

Joe 2:13 “Y rasgad vuestro corazón, y no vuestras vestiduras, y convertíos a YHVH vuestro Elohim, porque él es clemente y misericordioso, tardo para la ira y grande en misericordia, y se arrepiente del mal.”

Pero más allá de esto, Dios se hace cargo en el campo de la disciplina. No todo depende de nosotros, después de todo, ¡somos sus hijos!

Pro 3:11: “Hijo mío, no menosprecies la disciplina de YHVH, ni te canses de su reprensión, 12 porque YHVH reprende al que ama, como el padre al hijo a quien quiere”.

¡La mejor evidencia del perdón de los pecados pasados de una persona es que ya no lo hace! Según Ezequiel 18, los pecados pasados solo se retienen contra nosotros si no cambiamos. Pero si el justo deja de ser justo, ninguna de sus buenas obras será recordada…

Vimos en Ezequiel 18 que las buenas obras de uno no se recuerdan cuando nos volvemos a hacer el mal y debemos recordar que tampoco se recuerdan nuestras malas obras pasadas si cambiamos por las buenas. ¿Qué hace Dios con los pecados que confesamos y abandonamos?

Isa 38:17 “He aquí, fue por mi bien que tuve gran amargura; pero por amor has librado mi vida del pozo de la destrucción, porque has echado todos mis pecados a tus espaldas.”

Sencillo, ¿no? Nuestro juicio se basa en quiénes somos ahora y en quiénes nos convertimos. ¿Qué pasa con las consecuencias de las cosas que hemos hecho, las decisiones que hemos tomado? Todos experimentamos consecuencias, si no lo hiciéramos, estaríamos muertos, y veo las consecuencias como causa y efecto, no como castigo. Incluso en la ciencia puramente secular, siempre habrá una reacción a cualquier acción (ver la tercera ley de Newton).

También está el ingenio acreditado a Albert Einstein:

“La locura es hacer lo mismo una y otra vez y esperar resultados diferentes”.

¡Así que seguimos tocando la estufa caliente pensando que no dolerá la próxima vez!

No es fácil para quien peca habitualmente vencer finalmente. En el caso de lastimar a otros, habrá daño a la relación así como a ambas partes. Muchas veces la familia y los amigos nunca perdonarán ni olvidarán. Lo más difícil que podemos enfrentar es la falta de perdón de las personas, pero Dios les da libre albedrío tal como nos lo da a nosotros.

El juicio no será sobre lo que hicimos en el pasado sino sobre lo que hacemos ahora y seguimos haciendo. Y la respuesta simple para vencer es que queremos vencer, confesamos y nos arrepentimos y LE PIDAMOS a Dios que nos dé un corazón nuevo. También incluye hacer buenas obras y enmendar la brecha que a menudo hemos hecho con los demás. Podría significar separarnos de conocidos que nos mantienen atrapados en ciertos malos comportamientos.

Ahora, ¿qué pasa con el pecado original del que tanto se habla? Los cristianos dicen que todos lo llevamos desde el nacimiento, y el judaísmo lo llama la inclinación al mal que Adán y Eva acogieron en el mundo cuando comieron del árbol prohibido, pero ¿de qué se trata todo esto y somos incapaces de vencer por eso? ¿Tiene algo que ver con el pecado generacional? ¿Somos juzgados por los pecados de nuestros padres?

Eze 18:20 “El alma que pecare, esa morirá. El hijo no llevará la iniquidad del padre, ni el padre llevará la iniquidad del hijo; la justicia del justo será sobre él, y la impiedad del impío será sobre él.”

Éxodo 20:5: “… Yo soy YHVH, Dios celoso, que castigo la iniquidad de los padres sobre los hijos hasta la tercera y cuarta generación de los que me aborrecen…”

Así que aquí vemos tendencias pecaminosas, cosas que obtenemos de nuestro ADN de nuestros padres, así como de nuestra crianza. ¿El pecado original? No en este caso. Adán y Eva eligieron el conocimiento del bien y del mal y nos lo transmitieron. Pero si resistimos la curiosidad de experimentar con el mal y más bien elegimos el bien, somos contados como sabios. La idea del pecado original lleva consigo la idea de pagar por algo que nunca hicimos. Un Dios justo no nos haría pagar por los pecados de nuestros padres, sólo si deseamos

repetirlos nosotros mismos. Es todo un asunto personal. Cada uno es juzgado por su propio comportamiento. ¿Bien?

Sal 37:27 “Apartaos del mal, y haced el bien; y habita para siempre.”

Job 28:28 “Y dijo al hombre: He aquí, el temor de Jehová, eso es sabiduría; y apartarse del mal es entendimiento.”

No existe tal cosa como cargar con la culpa por aquello con lo que nacemos. La tendencia no es algo que nos acumule culpa, aunque es cierto que estas tendencias hacen que la vida sea más difícil, pero nuestro Padre Celestial tiene suficiente misericordia para tratar con nosotros, para reprendernos y disciplinarnos hasta que aprendamos. No todo está sobre nuestros hombros para vencer el pecado, el Creador mismo está haciendo su recreación al formarnos a su imagen. Así que nos corresponde conectarnos con Él y confiar y luchar juntos con Su poder divino para conquistar lo que está mal en nosotros.

Job 23:10: “Pero él conoce el camino que yo tomo; cuando me haya probado, saldré como el oro. 11 Mis pies han seguido de cerca sus pasos; He seguido su camino sin desviarme. 12 No me he apartado de los mandamientos de sus labios; He atesorado las palabras de su boca más que el pan de cada día”.

¡Aleluya! ¡Podemos hacer esto!

Ariella Tiqvah,

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Curse jars and Original Sin

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Curse jars and Original Sin

Yesterday, Sally messed up, she took $5 from the cash drawer at her job.She had made several cash sales without receipts that day. Ok, so $5 isn’t much, but what does it represent and is it indeed sin? Most of us would say it is a sin. To me even taking a nickel or dime that does not belong to you–is stealing. But how does she get forgiven for this? And is it about blotting out this one action, or is it about the underlying tendency that causes the stealing? And if she has done this 100 times? Perhaps she is doing this compulsively? Well, psychology aside, sin is a big problem and it seems that all of us struggle with one form or another—be it stealing, cheating, lying, using profane speech or any other sin.

How does one get forgiven? And what happens to our past sins that have been overcome? Are they still registered somewhere? Is there a big black book in Heaven that will block us from Eternal Life if we don’t confess our sins? What is confession anyway?

In Christianity the forgiveness process is pretty much carte blanche, you sin again and you go to church or to your knees and Jesus blood covers you. You hope to stop sinning but many people keep on doing what they wish they didn’t do and some finally live in denial, believing that the sin is “not so bad.” So my question is, how did the blood help them?

In Judaism, there is the concept of Teshuvah, a Hebrew word for repentance, but it includes doing something more than just confessing a sin, something that costs you, requiring (in the case of stealing which is this is backed up by specific instructions in the Torah) where you pay at least double for what you have stolen.

In the case of Sabbath breaking even in an emergency, I have been told that fasting or spending time without something a person likes to do will fulfill the need that is caused through the sin. Perhaps this can take the place of the ancient sacrificial system and I can agree with some of this because, back then a sacrifice was given when a person acknowledged that they had done wrong. It was not enough to recognize the sin, there was also a payment that had to be made. And speaking of sacrifice, as I see it–it did not forgive anything, but it caused the sinner to see what they had done in a new light and give up a choice animal from the flock–that was not cheap!

Ever heard of a curse jar? People who want to cure themselves of swearing put money in the jar when they mess up. It makes some people think twice when they are going to use profanity, especially after losing money time and again. So, is it possible that the repentance process has to hurt so you don’t do it again so easily? There are people who discipline themselves to really come up to the plate so to speak, or “take the bull by the horns” and overcome a particular sin. Addictions are an example of repetetive sin. This area, especially in the case of substance abuse requires complete withdrawal from the substance in order to be free of it. How about losing one’s temper and hurting those close to you? How does one get over that? Perhaps giving up an amount of money or forgoing dessert or a vacation.

To the non-Jewish world, this could appear as what is referred to as “a religion of works.” There is an element of works involved, but what does the Bible say?–(I use the Tenakh or Old Testament) because that is where the law and the prophets spoke about such things.

So what about the ancient sacrifices required by the Torah? And what about today when animal sacrifice is no longer possible? And did these sacrifices ever serve to clear one’s guilt, or blot out sins?

Psa 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire–but my ears you have opened–burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

1Sa 15:22 “…Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed (harken) than the fat of rams.”

The later prophets spoke of a turning of the heart rather than the need for sacrifice:

Jer. 25:5: ‘Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

Eze 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith YHVH Elohim. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Is it possible that the entire sacrificial system originally was meant to bring people to recognize the seriousness of disobedience, much like the curse jar? Were they meant to turn one’s heart towards righteousness and away from sin? Besides the ceremony that was performed, the sacrifice carried with it the element of seeing the suffering of an animal because of one’s sin and also the loss of personal wealth. I believe it was never about any blood atonement. God is not pleased with the blood of animals any more than the blood of humans.

Isa 1: 11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says YHVH. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats.”

What about our past sins? What does the Bible say about those? Do they accompany us for the rest of our lives as if strapped to our backs until the judgment when there is some type of punishment given us? Or worse, will they send us to a burning Hell? Would a blood sacrifice cover them? Or is our confession and turning away from them all that is needed?

Hos 14:2 “Take with you words, and turn to YHVH: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.”

Eze 18:27 “Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”

Ok, so what does Ezekiel mean? That what you did in the past is null and void if you change your ways. There must be a turning away, there has to be a change. And how that happens includes getting a new heart and mind. And the thing that makes this not about works is the following:

Eze 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

God is the One who gives the new heart to us—but we have to ask for it and want it bad enough to change. No more justification for sin–it takes a broken heart and a willingness to change!

Joe 2:13 “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto YHVH your Elohim: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”

But beyond this, God takes over in the discipline field. It is not all up to us, after all we are His kids!

Pro 3: 11: “My son, do not despise YHVH’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for YHVH reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

The best evidence of forgiveness of a person’s past sins is that they don’t do it anymore! According to Ezekiel 18, the past sins are only held against us if we do not change. But if a righteous person stops being righteous none of his good deeds will be remembered…

We saw in Ezekiel 18 that one’s good deeds are not remembered when we turn to doing evil and we must remember that neither are our past evil deeds remembered if we change for the good. What does God do with the sins we confess and forsake?

Isa 38:17 “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.”

Simple, isn’t it? Our judgment is based on who we are now and who we become. What about consequences for things we have done, decisions we have made? We all experience consequences, if we did not, we would be dead — and I see consequences as cause and effect, nor punishment. Even in purely secular science, there will always be a reaction to any action (see Newton’s 3rd law).

There is also the witicism acredited to Albert Einstein:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

So let’s stop touching the hot stove thinking it won’t hurt next time!

It is not easy for one that sins habitually to finally overcome. In the case of hurting others, there will be damage to the relationship as well as to both parties. Many times family and friends will never forgive and forget. The hardest thing we may ever face is the lack of forgiveness from people, but then God gives them free will just like He does us.

The judgment will not be about what we did in the past but what we do now and continue to do. And the simple answer to overcoming is that we want to overcome, we confess and repent and ASK God to give us a new heart. It also does include doing good deeds and amending the breach we have often made with others. It could mean separating from acquaintances that keep us trapped in certain bad behaviors.

Now what about Original Sin that there is so much discussion about? Christians say we all carry it from birth, and Judaism calls it the Evil inclination which Adam and Eve welcomed into the world when they ate of the forbidden tree, but what is this all about and are we indeed unable to overcome because of it? Does it have anything to do with generational sin? Are we judged for the sins of our fathers?

Eze 18:20 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

Exo 20:5: “… I am YHVH a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me…”

So here we see sinful tendencies, things we get from our DNA from our parents as well as from our upbringing. Original Sin? Not in this case. Adam and Eve chose the knowledge of good and evil and passed this on to us. But if we resist the curiosity to experiment with evil and rather choose the good we are counted as wise. The Original Sin idea carries with it the idea of paying for something we never did. A just God would not make us pay for our parents sins–only if we desire to

repeat them ourselves. It is all a personal matter. Each is judged for his own behavior. Right?

Psa 37:27 “Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.”

Job 28:28 “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

There is no such thing as bearing guilt for what we are born with. The tendency is not something that stacks guilt upon us—though it is true these tendencies make life harder, but our Father in Heaven has enough mercy to deal with us, to reprove and discipline us until we learn. It is not all on our shoulders to overcome sin, the Creator Himself is doing his recreating in forming us in His image. So it behooves us to connect ourselves to Him and trust and struggle together with His divine power in conquering what is wrong with us.

Job 23:10: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”

Halleluyah! We can do this!

Ariella Tiqvah,

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How not to Cook a Baby Goat

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By Ariella Casey

Strange Laws…Whose?

Perhaps my favorite minefield, if you can call it a minefield, is located in the back yard of churches and synagogues. What? You ask. What is buried there? What–besides corpses in old church graveyards or worn out holy books in a Jewish genizah? Believe me you can find beliefs and systems of belief there too!

There are many traditions and man-made laws in the religious world, some which have been passed down by tradition and some which have morphed into creeds that have very little likeness to what was originally taught.

In a way these things are like grenades. Here in Israel we are warned of mine fields of still active explosives.

There are traditions, like mine fields that may have been buried for centuries and nobody really knows why they are accepted and even feared. Why have they turned into something for which they were never purposed? And how do we get back to basics in order to put them back in the genizah or cemetery as fully discarded trash or on the other hand, resurrect them, polish them up, remodel and set them up, if you would, on their own foundation for all to behold?

And what is the tool that qualifies for discovering and clarifing in this search in the minefield of claimed truth? If we have nothing else, we have the Sacred Scriptures, which in their original language is of much more value than any other modern tool. And basically, the Torah is the Capstone by which all must be measured. It is sort of like what the prophets Zechariah and Isaiah call a plumet or plumb line.

Zec 4:10 For who hath despised the day of small things? Yea, they shall rejoice even those seven — and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel: these are the eyes of YHVH, which run to and fro in the whole earth.”

Isa 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

And King David in the book of Psalms calls them a lamp.

Psa 119:105 your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

The book of Proverbs uses the same symbolism:

Pro 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light…

So how dare anyone use the Bible to disprove the teachings of the Sages? Who are we anyway? Can someone who has never been to Yeshiva understand anything about truth?

Perhaps we should see what the Bible says about truth. Does it need the ancient Sages and accredited Yeshivas to teach its truths? And is it possible to serve God by following the simple basic Torah?

Deut 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 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? 13 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? 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

If we look at Jewish law and scrutinize it, we can often find that a closer look reveals something that the Torah either does not state specifically or does not state at all. Lets take our lamp and plumb line to one of the strictest observances in Judaism– the teaching and practice of not mixing milk and meat. Where does it come from and could it possibly be taken out of context or exaggerated?

Exodus 23:19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shalt bring into the house of YHVH your God. You shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹֽא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּֽוֹ

The same law appears in Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21.

Exo 34:26 “The first of the firstfruits of your land your shalt bring unto the house of YHVH your God. You shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.”

Deu 14:21 “Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto YHVH your God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.”

Seems pretty simple, just don’t cook a baby goat in it’s own mother’s milk. This is the conclusion I come to by looking at the simple text in the Torah. But later we will take a look at something deeper regarding this command. I wonder if it is about a literal boiling, or cooking or something deeper?

Notice that the first two references regarding this law come right after the command to bring the firstfruits. The third reference comes after “for thou art a holy people unto YHVH your God.

But from this simple injunction there have been added many layers of fences—precautions, ways to keep from breaking the law…But do any of them actually fit? Are they actually necessary? What are they? These are general rules I have come across in my friendship with Orthodox Jews. Where did they come from and how have they developed?

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the YHVH your God which I command you.” (Deut. 4:2.)

  • …do not cook a calf in milk of any animal, nor a goat, nor a chicken, nor a turkey…
  • …do not eat a cold cut with cheese even though it was not cooked together
  • …do not use a pan that has been used for milk to cook any meat of any kind, other than fish
  • …do not eat meat on a plate that has had milk products at times
  • …do not eat meat products with milk products at the same meal nor even up to the next meal
  • …a space of 6 hours must be placed between milk and meat
  • …do not wash dairy and meat dishes in the same water nor keep them in the same cupboard, nor use the same silverware to eat both. Separate dishes must be used for meat and milk meals.
  • …do not set a milk dish on a counter where meat has been prepared.

What the commandment does not say: (pretty much all of the above):

A chicken or turkey does not come from an animal that gives milk, that is perhaps the most far fetched and even the well known Jewish Sage and commentator Rashi “expressed the opinion that the reference to mother’s milk must exclude fowl from the regulation, since only mammals produce milk.” Wikipedia

The Torah says nothing of eating milk and meat items at the same meal. Nor does it say anything about mixing the milk of one animal with a with the meat of another species. It doesn’t even say that milk from one cow cannot be used with the meat from another cow’s calf, or goat meat of one with milk of another goat.

If we look even closer, we see that it says only to not cook a kid in his own mother’s milk. So a bottle of goat’s milk from a different farm would not be a problem to use in cooking.

It says nothing of using cheese or yogurt or sour cream at the same meal, or even on the same sandwich with a piece of meat. There is nothing about a glass of milk drunk at the same meal.

And since it states specifically “a kid” then cooking an adult animal in milk would not break the commandment even if it was the milk from it’s own mother, but then how would anyone know where the milk came from?

So, yes, here we see many fences have been added to a simple command apparently just to keep us safe from disobedience to the law, which in this case seems to be very obscure, especially when interpreted the way it has been in the rabbinic sense. Are we indeed serious at all about not adding to the commandment or changing what God says?

What if this whole commandment has been misinterpreted, no, I do not mean from Hebrew to English, I mean the underlying meaning of the verse. What is the concept? Here I give credit to my Jewish friend Batya Shemesh (a pseudonym) who told me she learned this from her father who was an Orthodox rabbi.

According to this explanation, the law is talking about a very young kid that is still nursing, that is still not weaned. You don’t take that nursing kid in the sight of it’s mother and kill it and cook it. After all, it is in it’s mother’s milk if it has not been weaned! Could this make more sense from the stand point of compassion, to not take the baby in the milk stage, (still not weaned)—not to take it away from it’s mother who has an emotional caring for her young? And that could be applied to not taking baby birds from the nest in the sight of the mother bird. By the way that is an actual law of the Torah…see Deut. 22:6-7:

“If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.”

Is this not the same principle? The principle of not causing unnecessary pain even to animals?

How it morphed and what it may have originally meant:

As we saw above, even the famous Rashi did not go for the idea that meat from fowl was included, yet it has become the norm. A lot of history and voting by the majority has gone to create the law as it exists today, even though it has nothing to do with what was originally meant.

“Obadiah Sforno and Solomon Luntschitz, rabbinic commentators living in the late Middle Ages, both suggested that the law referred to a specific foreign [Canaanite] religious practice, in which young goats were cooked in their own mothers’ milk, aiming to obtain supernatural assistance to increase the yield of their flocks.” Wikipedia

And according to a Blue Letter Bible commentator:

“The true sense of this passage seems to be that assigned by Dr. Cudworth, from a manuscript comment of a Karaïte Jew. ‘It was a custom with the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid, and boil it in the dam’s milk; and then in a magical way, to go about and sprinkle all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards with it, thinking by these means, that they should make them fruitful, and bring forth more abundantly in the following year. Wherefore, God forbad his people, the Jews, at the time of their in-gathering, to use any such superstitious or idolatrous rite.’” Exo 34:26; Deu 14:21; Pro 12:10; Jer 10:3 BLB

So I would conclude that whether this was an ancient pagan practice used as magic to convince that people’s god or gods to bless their crops, or whether it was actually a law of kindness given to keep Israel humble and kind and to show mercy even to such as a baby goat–the principles shown, even from simply refraining to boil a kid in it’s own mother’s milk, are a far cry from what today has morphed into an insane separation of that which is good from that which is good and requires a household to own at least two sets of dishes (I forgot, three sets, one for Pesach) and two sinks and separate cupboards in which to keep it separate.

Hashem must be shaking his head when he sees the extent people go to re-explaining what was meant to be simple and straight forward!

Treinta Piezas de Plata

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Treinta piezas de plata… Otro mal uso del contexto Bíblico

Entonces, ¿usted dice que su “Señor” fue vendido por treinta piezas de plata? No puedo discutir el hecho de que los cristianos lo afirmen o que esté escrito en el Nuevo Testamento, ¡pero no estoy impresionado con la supuesta prueba que conecta Mateo 26:15 con Zacarías 11-12-13!

Sí, he escuchado muchas “pruebas” sugeridas para la misión divina del “Señor” del cristianismo. Este tampoco funciona. Ya sabes, la historia: Judas Iscariote recibió 30 piezas de plata por la traición de su amo. Y para respaldar esta afirmación, se usa Zacarías 11:12-13.

Dice:

Y les dije: Si os parece bien, dadme mi precio; y si no, aguanta. Y pesaron por mi precio treinta piezas de plata. (¡Suena bastante convincente! Pero espera…)

Y me dijo el Señor: Echalo en el arca del tesoro, el buen precio que me han dado. Y tomé las treinta piezas de plata y las eché en el tesoro de la casa del Señor. (¡Sí, todavía suena bastante bien! Pero sigue leyendo…)

Averigüemos de dónde viene esto realmente.

En primer lugar, la versión KJV anterior del texto usa la palabra “precio” (שְׂכָרִי), que también según el hebreo Strong incluye los siguientes significados posibles:

שָׂכָר sâkâr, sierra-kawr’; de H7936; pago de contrato; concretamente, salario, pasaje, manutención; por implicación, compensación, beneficio:—alquiler, precio, recompensa(-ed), salario, valor.

Otras traducciones usan; alquiler, pago o tarifa aquí, entonces, ¿por qué se seleccionó la palabra “precio” para la KJV? Parece indicar que alguien está siendo comprado, pero ¿cuál es el contexto de Zacarías 11?

Si usamos el Tanakh para definir lo que está en Tanakh, en lugar de aplicar una pequeña cita extraída de su contexto original para dar credibilidad a una afirmación del Nuevo Testamento, tendremos una visión más completa de lo que realmente se dice. Así que retrocede e investiga el libro de Zacarías.

Zacarías 11 y mucho de la última parte de Zacarías está hablando de lo que iba a pasar con Israel y Judá por su desobediencia a su parte del pacto con YHVH que hicieron en Sinaí. Les muestra rompiendo este pacto, o y el voto de guardar el pacto que claramente se rompe significa que hay un precio que debe pagarse.

El precio por la ruptura de un voto para un hombre es de 50 siclos de plata. Para una mujer se valora en 30 piezas de plata en la Torá. ¡Sí! Es la cantidad que paga una mujer cuando hace y luego rompe un voto. Como dice el versículo siguiente, esto se paga a la tesorería del Templo. La valoración de su voto se muestra en Levítico 27:1-4:

El SEÑOR habló a Moisés, diciendo: 2 “Habla a los hijos de Israel y diles: Si alguno hace un voto especial al SEÑOR sobre el avalúo de personas, 3 entonces el avalúo de un varón de veinte años hasta sesenta años, cincuenta siclosa de plata, conforme al siclo del santuario. 4 Si la persona es mujer, la valoración será de treinta siclos.

Este es el contexto de la profecía de Zacarías 11:12-13:

“Y les dije: Si os parece bien, dadme mi salario; y si no, aguanta. Y pesaron por mi salario treinta piezas de plata. Y me dijo el Señor: Echalo en el arca del tesoro, el buen precio que me han dado. Y tomé las treinta piezas de plata y las eché en el tesoro de la casa del Señor.

Así que la cantidad de treinta es la valoración del voto de una mujer. ¿Por qué una mujer? Jesús no era una mujer. Entonces, desde el principio, el contexto no se ajusta al de la traición de Jesús. Pero algo funciona aquí; si miramos los otros capítulos de Zacarías podemos ver que Judá e Israel están representados como dos mujeres. Por ejemplo:

Zacarías 5:6-9:

Y yo dije: “¿Qué es?” Él dijo: “Esta es la canasta que está saliendo”. Y él dijo: Esta es su iniquidad en toda la tierra. 7 Y he aquí, la cubierta de plomo estaba levantada, ¡y había una mujer sentada en la canasta! 8 Y él dijo: “Esto es maldad”. Y él la metió de nuevo en la canasta, y descargó el peso de plomo en la abertura.

9Entonces alcé los ojos y miré, y he aquí, ¡dos mujeres que se adelantaban! El viento estaba en sus alas. Tenían alas como las alas de una cigüeña, y levantaron la canasta entre la tierra y el cielo. 10 Entonces le dije al ángel que hablaba conmigo: “¿A dónde llevan la canasta?” 11 Me dijo: “A la tierra de Sinar, para edificarle una casa. Y cuando esté preparado, pondrán la cesta allí sobre su base. (La profecía anterior de Judá siendo llevado a Babilonia puede parecer vaga si uno no está familiarizado con Zacarías).

Jeremías 6:2:

He comparado a la hija de Sion con una mujer hermosa y delicada.

Lamentaciones 2:1

“¿Qué cosa tomaré por testigo de ti? ¿A qué te compararé, oh hija de Jerusalén? ¿Qué te igualaré para consolarte, oh virgen hija de Sion? porque grande es tu quebrantamiento como el mar: ¿quién te podrá sanar?

Aquí y en muchos otros lugares, Israel o Judá se representa como una mujer/mujeres. Entonces, si una mujer, aquí prefigurada como Israel como una sola entidad, hace un voto y lo rompe, el valor es de 30 siclos de plata. Entonces HaShem está reclamando que ella necesita pagar por el voto roto, su voto de ser fiel al pacto que hizo con YHVH en el Sinaí. Y este dinero es para ser entregado a la tesorería del Templo, no como precio o pago de un soborno por la traición de Jesús, ¡no! Recuerda que Zacarías dice “dame mi precio (o pago o tarifa)”. (lo que me debes por romper un voto.)

Y es claro que el voto del pacto se está rompiendo en Zacarías 11, porque dice:

contra 10. Y tomé mi vara, la Belleza, y la corté en dos, para quebrantar mi pacto que había hecho con todo el pueblo.

Vs. 14: Entonces corté mi otro cayado, es decir, los lazos, para quebrantar la hermandad entre Judá e Israel.

Entonces, la historia del Nuevo Testamento de la traición de Jesús por parte de uno de sus discípulos no se ajusta a la profecía de Zacarías 11, que es claramente una profecía de la ruptura del pacto por parte de la “mujer” figurativa que representa a Israel.

¡Seamos cuidadosos en el uso libre de los textos bíblicos para mantenerlos en contexto antes de construir una casa sobre arena y adorar un dogma que no tiene fundamento!

Como siempre,

Ariella Tiqvah

Si disfrutaste mi publicación, ayúdenme en compartirla, y si quieres seguir mi blog, me ayudará a salir mas al público con mis ideas. Gracias por tu ayuda.