The sky is caving in! Or so it seems. People are trying to go back to what they know as normal and nothing will ever be the same again as far as their eyes can see. And its about how the changing world and how much we can or will tolerate. No, I don’t mean that we shouldn’t try to stop the planned onslaught of plagues and devised cures, the cashless society that will place us all in slavery, or the world-wide famines induced to save the planet—The idea generated by the events taking place comes across loud and clear: Save the earth but not the people who live on the it!

This world, if the history of recurring climate fluctuation is reviewed, has really not changed very much, nor has it ever been due to a reaction to people living on it! The plans for the New World Order have dubious value for function-able life on earth! And it is terrifying to have one’s eyes open while the rug is swept out from under us and we have no more options. Or do we?

When the crunch comes down even in the worst possible light some people will be able to see good even in the evil chaos around them. For many of us, it seems impossible to have faith right now! And if we need faith? then in what or Whom? Is God still alive? Does He even care what is happening all around us? If not then we are all certainly doomed.

Maybe the better question would be, if this is indeed God’s hand allowing a changing world, then why are we depressed? I guess it all boils down to, IF GOD IS IN CONTROL, then why am I worried? Do I really believe in God anyway? Have I gone along in the abundance of my life taking for granted all that is good, ever seeking my own security? Is it plausible that Hashem has given free reign to evil and those who go along with it to separate the good from the bad, those who love truth from those who embrace lies? If the evil monarchs of our time, and those who embrace them, unite, will they be an easy target for Hashem to destroy?

Sennacherib’s army of 185,000 was destroyed in one night back in the days of King Hezekiah. The prophet told him not to worry about it because Hashem was going to take care of it. Whom do we rely on today to encourage us, now that we seemingly do not have any prophets?

Perhaps the problem of this threatened siege has to do with our dire need to ingest the Word of Hashem—The Torah. No I don’t mean interpretations of the Torah, I mean all of the Tanakh including the Torah. We can find many stories of like situations and deliverance. Perhaps if we really look at our lives we will see where we need to shake off the dust of imported exilic mentality and embrace our true Hebrew covenant with Hashem. Many of the towers of today’s greatest religious leaders are falling all around us. It is time to individually connect with Hashem. Time to seek Him with all our hearts. He is there! A few of us know He is there, do you?

First of all get right with God, then add gratitude for the things we still have. Complaining about what is being taken away will only lead us down the road to a life of misery. Imagine being in a concentration camp. Thank God for what things we still have. Hashem is able to stretch those things so that we have no lack. Yes we are in a time that threatens swallow us alive!

There is an ancient story of the prophet Elijah when he had been hiding out by a small stream from the wicked King Ahab during a famine. Every day the ravens brought him a piece of bread until the stream dried up. Then the word of Hashem came to him, directing him to go to a widow that he should lodge with. When he arrived the widow was gathering a bit of firewood to cook her last meal for herself and her son. Elijah asked her to serve him first and promised that the oil and the flour would last as long as it was needed. The widow’s faith was strong enough to make the last cake for him. When she had finished cooking the small cake over the fire, she found more oil in the oil jar and more flour meal in the flour bin. And according to the story in Tanakh, this supply did not run out until the end of the famine. Could this happen today? Do we trust God enough to hang on with Emunah so that His Hand will provide for us? Or will we be like the Israelites in the desert complaining about everything, constantly wishing to go back to the land of normal? Can we live in discomfort and still be happy? That, I think is the question!

Last week I was encouraged to join a three day fast of Tammuz by some of my religiously observant friends. For some reason the fast provoked my curiosity. It seems that there is something missing, something that needs to be researched. I abstained from fasting and instead began this writing in the middle of that fast (18^th day of 4^th Hebrew month.) Of course the reason given me for the fast which is usually one day, was that it should be an extended fast to Hashem because of the world’s current health and economic crises. However I find something not quite clear here. The Bible says something that keeps resounding in my head:

Ezekiel 8:14:“Next He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the House of the LORD; and there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.”

Why is this verse given about women crying over a false god? Does this have anything to do with the custom of a 3-week period of mourning for the loss of the temple ending the 9^th of AV? And why is a Hebrew month named after a Babylonian deity–Tammuz?

It seems significant that for many years Jews have fasted the 17^th of Tammuz, and continued in a state of mourning for the remaining 3 weeks remaining until the 9^th of AV. The traditional claim is that on that day (17 Tammuz) the walls of the city were breached which led to the destruction of the temple. It is also claimed that this is the day the golden calf worship took place at Sinai while the Israelites were waiting for the return of Moses from the mountain and, according to midrash, came about “because the Israelites miscalculated the time of Moses return. (there is no scriptural basis for this understanding). The Jerusalem Talmud declares the wall of both first and second temples were breached on the 17^th of Tammuz.

(See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_of_Tammuz.)

Rabbinic understanding of the timing of the destruction of the temple disagrees with what the prophet Jeremiah said. So what does Jeremiah say about the timing of the breach of the walls?

Jeremiah 39:2 (“And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the walls of the city were breached.”)

Jeremiah 52:6-7: (“By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people. Then the wall of the city was breached.”)

“The Book of Jeremiah (39.2, 52.6–7) states that the walls of Jerusalem during the First Temple were breached on the 9th of Tammuz. Accordingly, the Babylonian Talmud dates the third tragedy (breach of Jerusalem’s walls) to the Second Temple period.[6] However, the Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit IV, 5) states that in both eras the walls were breached on 17th Tammuz, and that the text in Jeremiah 39 is explained by stating that the Biblical record was “distorted”, apparently due to the troubled times.[7]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_of_Tammuz)

So who are we to believe and follow, the prophet or the Talmud? Which has greater weight? Perhaps if we see where the practice came from we may be able to decide…

So who was Tammuz anyway?

“Tammuz, Sumerian Dumuzi, in Mesopotamian religion, god of fertility embodying the powers for new life in nature in the spring. The name Tammuz seems to have been derived from the Akkadian form Tammuzi, based on early Sumerian Damu-zid, The Flawless Young, which in later standard Sumerian became Dumu-zid, or Dumuzi. The earliest known mention of Tammuz is in texts dating to the early part of the Early Dynastic III period (c. 2600–c. 2334 BCE), but his cult probably was much older. Although the cult is attested for most of the major cities of Sumer in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE, it centred in the cities around the central steppe area (the edin)—for example, at Bad-tibira (modern Madīnah), where Tammuz was the city god.

…When the cult of Tammuz spread to Assyria in the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, the character of the god seems to have changed from that of a pastoral to that of an agricultural deity. The texts suggest that in Assyria (and later among the Sabaeans), Tammuz was basically viewed as the power in the grain, dying when the grain was milled.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tammuz-Mesopotamian-god

“In our Hebrew calendar today, the fourth month of the secular calendar year is the month of Tammuz. This, along with other of the Hebrew months, were named during the Babylonian exile after Babylonian deities. The Babylonians were the kingdom du jour of that day and had incorporated this cult into their calendar. The Jewish people also adopted this titular month and its religious ritual and cult, as shown to Ezekiel (chapter 8:14) by God. It was being practiced in the Temple itself in its last days prior to destruction.” D.Y. Freeland, Aish Menorah Timeline

“The festival for the deity Tammuz was held throughout the month of Tammuz in midsummer, and celebrated his death and resurrection.The first day of the month of Tammuz was the day of the new moon of the summer solstice.On the second day of the month, there was lamentation over the death of Tammuz, on the 9th, 16th and 17th days torchlit processions, and on the last three days, an image of Tammuz was buried.”

Dictionary.sensagent.com

“In the 19th century, archaeologists began to uncover archaeological remains that shed light on the ancient pagan religion that led the Israelites astray. Today we know the women were weeping over Tammuz, because he was a fertility god who represented the life cycle of wheat. In Israel, wheat becomes ripe in early Summer when the wheat plant dies, leaving behind a viable seed that can be planted the next year. The Winter rains provide moisture, causing the new wheat crop to rise out of the ground. Unlike in Europe and North America, the Summer in Israel is characterized by a dry period with no rain in which everything green dies and the Winter is characterized by rain with abundant growth and life. The ancient pagans believed that this agricultural cycle of Summer death and Winter rebirth was a shadow picture of the life of Tammuz. The god Tammuz died in early Summer leaving behind the life giving food that sustained the world; then he was resurrected in the Winter, beginning the cycle again.” https://www.nehemiaswall.com/dont-call-tammuz

“The cult of Ishtar and Tammuz continued to thrive until the eleventh century AD and survived in parts of Mesopotamia as late as the eighteenth century. Tammuz is mentioned by name in the Book of Ezekiel and possibly alluded to in other passages from the Hebrew Bible. In late nineteenth and early twentieth century scholarship of religion, Tammuz was widely seen as a prime example of the archetypal dying-and-rising god,…”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumuzid

We of course see the dying and rising god in other religions, right? So now must we have one in Judaism? Christianity embraces and celebrates the day of the mythical birth of Tammuz, December 25 when the sun in ancient sun worship was reborn right after the shortest day of the year to begin it’s return to warm the earth in the cycle of agriculture. It is true however that many Christians do not know this and claim to celebrate, supposedly, the birth of the Jesus.

The entire Hebrew calendar was adopted from the Babylonian Calendar. What are the names of the months of that calendar? Why were the names which were originally numerical, changed to the names on the Babylonian calendar? Which of these are actually names of Pagan deities? Here are the current Hebrew months:

1. Nisan, 2.Iyyar, 3. Sivan, 4. Tammuz, 5. Av, 6. Elul, 7. Tishri,
8. Heshvan, 9. Kislev, 10. Tebeth, 11. Shevat, 12. Adar, and if 13, second Adar.

The Babylonian names which correspond to the same months are:

Nisanu, Aru, Simanu, Dumuzu or Tammuz, Abu, Ululu, Tisritum, Samnu, Kislimu, Tebetum, Sabatu, Adaru, and when a 13^th month: Addaru Arku. (Do you see the similarities?)

The Babylonian Calendar and the Bible

“When ancient Israel fell under the dominion of great empires, its calendar was radically altered. This is because in ancient societies, time and calendars were mainly controlled by political rulers. So we find that in most of the Hebrew Bible, the months of the year are only numbered and hardly ever named; but after the Babylonian exile, in the books of Zechariah, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah, Babylonian month names suddenly appear and become quite frequent. The Babylonian months of Nisan, Sivan, Elul, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, and Adar are used either on their own or alongside numbered months. Nisan, in the spring, is consistently equated in these books with the ‘first month’ of Exodus (Exod 12:2); Nisan, indeed, was the first month of the Babylonian calendar.

The use of Babylonian month names, which later became standard in the Jewish calendar, is hardly surprising in the context of the post-exilic period. The Babylonian calendar originated in Babylonia (southern Iraq) in the early second millennium B.C.E., spread to the rest of Mesopotamia in the late second millennium B.C.E., and then became, in the first millennium B.C.E., the official calendar of the great empires of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia, in use across the whole Near East. The Jews under Persian rule adopted it as their own calendar, as did many other peoples in the Persian Empire.

The Jews adopted not only Babylonian month names but also the entire Babylonian calendar. This calendar was lunar, with each month beginning at the sight of a new moon. Since twelve lunar months are approximately eleven days shorter than the solar year, the Babylonian calendar was intercalated (or evened out) every two or three years by the addition of a 13th month (usually by duplicating the 12th month, Adar, and less frequently by duplicating the sixth month, Elul). This allowed the lunar system to catch up with the sun and the seasons. This calendar may have been quite similar to the original Israelite one, which was most likely also lunar; indeed, this may have helped the Jews to adopt it without qualms.

That Jews of the post-exilic period were using the official, imperial calendar to determine the dates of biblical festivals is evident, at least, from the “Passover Papyrus” from Elephantine (a Jewish colony in southern Egypt). This document indicates that in 419 B.C.E., Jews at Elephantine observed the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread during the first month of the Babylonian calendar, Nisan, in accordance with the Pentateuch’s prescription that these festivals be observed “in the first month” of the year.

This practice presumably continued right into the Hellenistic period, when the Babylonian calendar was still largely used for official purposes by the Aramaic-speaking peoples of the Near East. But after the Jewish Hasmonean state broke off from its Hellenistic Seleucid overlords in the mid-second century B.C.E., the Jews no longer had any reason to comply with the calendar of distant Babylon, and their calendar soon acquired distinct features. Although the Babylonian month names were retained (as in the books of Maccabees), the calendar was intercalated at different times (only the month of Adar, but not Elul, would be intercalated). Still, many Babylonian features remained central to the Jewish calendar, as the Talmud later remarked: “Rabbi Hanina said: the month names came up with them [with the exiles] from Babylon” (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 1:2, 56d).

Sacha Stern, “Babylonian Calendar and the Bible”, n.p. [cited 30 Jun 2021].

The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. The calendar is based on a Sumerian (Third Dynasty of Ur) predecessor preserved in the Umma calendar of Shulgi (c. 21st century BC). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian calendar_

The use of the names of Babylonian and other nations’ god’s for the months in the Hebrew calendar gives attention to those gods and perhaps we should not even be mentioning them!

What does the Bible say of mentioning the names of other gods?

Joshua 23:6-7:

“But be most resolute to observe faithfully all that is written in the Book of the Teaching of Moses, without ever deviating from it to the right or to the left, and without intermingling with these nations that are left among you. Do not utter the names of their gods or swear by them; do not serve them or bow down to them.

Exo 23:13:

“Be on guard concerning all that I have told you. Make no mention of the names of other gods; they shall not be heard on your lips.”

Neither shall ye Touch it lest ye Die…And So we made Fences?

Back at the beginning of time when God formed Adam upon the earth, he gave him instructions about a tree in the middle of the garden of which he was not to eat. Genesis 2:16-17 tells us: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, though shalt not eat of it: for on the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die. According to the order of the narrative God later formed Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21-23). The fact that Eve when later discovering the Tree and the Serpent, quoted to the Serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God as said You shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.”

Why did she add that phrase to what God originally told Adam? Perhaps she had been warned by Adam, “better not even touch it, so that you are not tempted”? This seems a logical explanation as to why she would add a layer or fence around the original command not to eat of the tree. And with subtilty, the serpent, the most cunning of all creatures, turned this exaggeration into a tool to trick her into eating the fruit. So what does that have to do with fences created to protect the Torah?

Well, yes! There is a connection. And while it is true that God himself told Moshe to erect barriers around Sinai so that the people would not break through, can we say that the mountain where the glory of Hashem burned with lightning and thunder and smoke is the same thing as the Torah? Is the Torah itself something so dangerous that fences need to be built to keep people from erring and being consumed by eternal fire? Apparently from the following biblical reference, the Torah is not so high and fragile that the ordinary person cannot understand and obey it:

Deu 30: 11-14: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

But in rabbinic Judaism, one of the most important principles in establishing the laws of the Torah is the right of the Rabbis to create fences to protect it:

“They, (the men of the Great Assembly) said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.” Pirkei Avot, ch 1.

Thus, according to the most observant Jews, it is a violation of Torah to pick or even touch of flower on the Sabbath day, which might lead to gathering or harvesting, or to play any type of musical instrument which might need to be tuned, breaking one of the rabbinical 39 laws of Shabbat having to do with repairing any item. Tearing toilet paper, erecting an umbrella, allowing the refrigerator light to come on…Yes there are many many things that one must not do in order to keep from violating the Sabbath command that you “shall not work”.

Is it not possible that these extra fences created to protect the Torah have actually led many of us to the same confusion and later real violation of the basic command, just as the statement, “neither shall ye touch it lest ye die” did for our first parents?

I once saw a Jewish woman whom I attended synagogue with sitting outside a strip mall eating a bacon cheeseburger. I asked her about it, and granted, it probably it was not nice of me to embarrass her, but I wanted to understand what she thought of it and why she made the allowance. She remarked: “All those rules are so hard to understand! I figure if I can’t keep them, then why try! So she violated the very basic command not to eat pork, and not to eat milk with beef, but I remembered that she was very faithful to light Shabbat candles every Friday evening…a law was not given in the written Torah.

Time after time I have met fellow Jews who can’t keep all the rabbinical code of laws and so they work and drive and shop on Shabbat, eat whatever they feel like—food that is clearly not kosher even from the basic laws of Leviticus 11; however the men put on a Kippah to go to services once in a while and the women light Shabbat candles on Friday night, often after it is dark outside. But they claim that they have been “good Jews” even though they disregard the Word of Hashem and exchange their obedience for the Laws of the Rabbis.

If we want Hashem to return to us, it is time to do true teshuva (repentance, turning around) it is expedient that we pull down the fences once and for all and find for ourselves what the simple Torah is all about. It is time to dig deeply, cast off all synthetic approaches to obedience and get right with God. Then we will find freedom from the chains that have burdened so many for umpteen generations!

Again, as I wrote in the last article (www.https://ariellat.wordpress.com/2021/05/31/who-what-and-why-antisemitism-and-suffering/):

“Why did Hashem again make a point to instruct Joshua that he must not turn to the right or to the left, regarding the Torah, i.e. was not to add to nor diminish it as originally commanded in Deuteronomy? And if Joshua was now free to interpret it as he felt it needed to be given, why is he reminded that it is the law “that My servant Moses commanded you”? And so on down the line, how now do the Rabbis justify their creation of laws and fences, claiming they are based upon the original laws of Moses?”

From the very first days of Adam and Eve upon the earth, we see the tendency to add to the words that Hashem speaks. Enough already. Let God and his Word be our guide and let all others fall where they may. There are many examples of men and who tried to change God’s commands to fit their own thinking…Like Korah, like Nadab and Abihu, like King Saul…and the list could go on and on.

Then freedom shall be once again be known as the true followers of Hashem break off the yoke of bondage to serve Him wholeheartedly.

“The LORD said to his people: “You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” Jer 6:16

Back at the beginning of time when God formed Adam upon the earth, he gave him instructions about a tree in the middle of the garden of which he was not to eat. Genesis 2:16-17 tells us: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, though shalt not eat of it: for on the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die. According to the order of the narrative God later formed Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21-23). The fact that Eve when later discovering the Tree and the Serpent, quoted to the Serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God as said You shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.”

Why did she add that phrase to what God originally told Adam? Perhaps she had been warned by Adam, “better not even touch it, so that you are not tempted”? This seems a logical explanation as to why she would add a layer or fence around the original command not to eat of the tree. And with subtilty, the serpent, the most cunning of all creatures, turned this exaggeration into a tool to trick her into eating the fruit. So what does that have to do with fences created to protect the Torah?

Well, yes! There is a connection. And while it is true that God himself told Moshe to erect barriers around Sinai so that the people would not break through, can we say that the mountain where the glory of Hashem burned with lightning and thunder and smoke is the same thing as the Torah? Is the Torah itself something so dangerous that fences need to be built to keep people from erring and being consumed by eternal fire? Apparently from the following biblical reference, the Torah is not so high and fragile that the ordinary person cannot understand and obey it:

Deu 30: 11-14: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”
But in rabbinic Judaism, one of the most important principles in establishing the laws of the Torah is the right of the Rabbis to create fences to protect it:

“They, (the men of the Great Assembly) said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.” Pirkei Avot, ch 1.

Thus, according to the most observant Jews, it is a violation of Torah to pick or even touch of flower on the Sabbath day, which might lead to gathering or harvesting, or to play any type of musical instrument which might need to be tuned, breaking one of the rabbinical 39 laws of Shabbat having to do with repairing any item. Tearing toilet paper, erecting an umbrella, allowing the refrigerator light to come on…Yes there are many many things that one must not do in order to keep from violating the Sabbath command that you “shall not work”.

Is it not possible that these extra fences created to protect the Torah have actually led many of us to the same confusion and later real violation of the basic command, just as the statement, “neither shall ye touch it lest ye die” did for our first parents?

I once saw a Jewish woman whom I attended synagogue with sitting outside a strip mall eating a bacon cheeseburger. I asked her about it, and granted, it probably it was not nice of me to embarrass her, but I wanted to understand what she thought of it and why she made the allowance. She remarked: “All those rules are so hard to understand! I figure if I can’t keep them, then why try! So she violated the very basic command not to eat pork, and not to eat milk with beef, but I remembered that she was very faithful to light Shabbat candles every Friday evening…a law was not given in the written Torah.

Time after time I have met fellow Jews who can’t keep all the rabbinical code of laws and so they work and drive and shop on Shabbat, eat whatever they feel like—food that is clearly not kosher even from the basic laws of Leviticus 11; however the men put on a Kippah to go to services once in a while and the women light Shabbat candles on Friday night, often after it is dark outside. But they claim that they have been “good Jews” even though they disregard the Word of Hashem and exchange their obedience for the Laws of the Rabbis.

If we want Hashem to return to us, it is time to do true teshuva (repentance, turning around) it is expedient that we pull down the fences once and for all and find for ourselves what the simple Torah is all about. It is time to dig deeply, cast off all synthetic approaches to obedience and get right with God. Then we will find freedom from the chains that have burdened so many for umpteen generations!

Again, as I wrote in the last article (www.https://ariellat.wordpress.com/2021/05/31/who-what-and-why-antisemitism-and-suffering/):

“Why did Hashem again make a point to instruct Joshua that he must not turn to the right or to the left, regarding the Torah, i.e. was not to add to nor diminish it as originally commanded in Deuteronomy? And if Joshua was now free to interpret it as he felt it needed to be given, why is he reminded that it is the law “that My servant Moses commanded you”? And so on down the line, how now do the Rabbis justify their creation of laws and fences, claiming they are based upon the original laws of Moses?”

From the very first days of Adam and Eve upon the earth, we see the tendency to add to the words that Hashem speaks. Enough already. Let God and his Word be our guide and let all others fall where they may. There are many examples of men and who tried to change God’s commands to fit their own thinking…Like Korah, like Nadab and Abihu, like King Saul…and the list could go on and on.

Then freedom shall be once again be known as the true followers of Hashem break off the yoke of bondage to serve Him wholeheartedly.

“The LORD said to his people: “You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” Jer 6:16

King Sihon and Hamas: Threats over the Postponed Jerusalem Parade

Yesterday the Israeli Knesset accepted a coalition that replaces the Netanyahu headed government that was in place for 12 years in the state of Israel. Whether or not this new government will succeed has yet to be seen but there are several important spiritual aspects to consider at the moment. One of these shows a parallel that is shown in the Parsha for this coming Shabbat. Parsha Chukat, the chapters in the Torah that speak of the Red Heifer, the death of Miriam, the second striking of the rock by Moses, Edom’s refusal to let Israel pass through their land, Aaron’s death and the passing on of the high priesthood to Eliezar his son, the event of fiery serpents after complaints about the food, the bronze serpent created by Moshe and raised to save the people, the appeal to King Sihon of the Amorites to let Israel pass through his land and the refusal and consequent battle with the Amorites and Israel’s conquest of the land from Jabbok to the children of Ammon. That are a lot of happenings and just so, today in Israel a lot is happening.

Tomorrow, Tuesday June 15, 2021 a flag parade celebrating the historic Israeli take-over of East Jerusalem during the six day war of 1967. The event is usually scheduled on the Hebrew anniversary, which this year was May 10, but was postponed until after the 11 days’ war last month. Israelis will again march through Jerusalem tomorrow if they do not bend and sway to the threats of terrorist organizations. If they march, Hamas and other terror groups are threatening war, again! They claim the right to the entire land of Israel for what the world knows as the Palestinians who are located in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas declares that Israel is occupying land that belongs to them. They have threatened time and again to push Israel into the sea, claiming that Israel has no right to exist. Hamas has stated that Jerusalem belongs to them and should be the Palestinian capital, not the capital of Israel. And so the flag parade has given them an excuse to bomb Israel again! But how does this fit the Parsha? It fits only in the sense that King Sihon refused to let Israel march through his land promising to neither to pass into any of the vineyards or drink the water there.

But tomorrow is and must be a different story! The entire land of Israel was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Yacov. Jerusalem is God’s Holy City. And the evil minions of Hamas claim it for themselves. The story is much bigger and more significant this time. This time it is not about asking permission to go through someone else’s land. This time the disputed land is Jerusalem which is indisputably the ancestral capital of the heritage of the sons of Israel. How dare they threaten war over that which belongs to Hashem! The terrorists are barking up the wrong tree here ! May we see the place where Hashem placed His Holy Name exalted and exonerated! What will Hashem have to say about this? We dare not cancel this event, we must go forth in the Name of Heaven!

I ask, if they start to bomb us tomorrow, will the earth open up and swallow Hamas and all those who hate Israel? We don’t know the mind of God in these matters but we DO know that this is an unholy attack on Hashem himself.

King Sihon attacked Israel in Numbers 21 and as a result “Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land” (vs 24), “and Israel settled in all the Amorite cities, In Heshbon and all it suburbs.”(25) May Israel now do the same thing! Take back that which was given to the forefathers, for all time!

I pray for our leaders that they will not be intimidated by the evil threats of Hamas and the dictates of the evil Amalek in the rest of the world. They must recognize that this is a war in which Hashem has a part to play. This possible war will require trust and cooperation with Heaven. We must not back down for the sake of Heaven! Go forth and conquer! Push back our borders, take over that which belongs to us from our God-given past.

Back at the beginning of time when God formed Adam upon the earth, he gave him instructions about a tree in the middle of the garden of which he was not to eat. Genesis 2:16-17 tells us: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for on the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die.” According to the order of the narrative, God later formed Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21-23). The fact that Eve, when later discovering the Tree and the Serpent, quoted to the Serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said You shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.”

Why did she add that phrase to what God originally told Adam? Perhaps she had been warned by Adam, “better not even touch it, so that you are not tempted”? This seems a logical explanation as to why she would add a layer or fence around the original command not to eat of the tree. And with subtilty, the serpent, the most cunning of all creatures, turned this exaggeration into a tool to trick her into eating the fruit. So what does that have to do with fences created to protect the Torah?

Well, as I see it, there is a connection. And while it is true that God himself told Moshe to erect barriers around Sinai so that the people would not break through, can we say that the mountain where the glory of Hashem burned with lightning and thunder and smoke is the same thing as the Torah? Is the Torah itself something so dangerous that fences need to be built to keep people from erring and being consumed by eternal fire? Apparently from the following biblical reference, the Torah is not so complicated and fragile that the ordinary person cannot understand and obey it:

Deu 30: 11-14: “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”
But in rabbinic Judaism, one of the most important principles in establishing the laws of the Torah is the right of the Rabbis to create fences to protect it:

“They, (the men of the Great Assembly) said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.” Pirkei Avot, ch 1.

Thus, according to the most observant Jews, it is a violation of Torah to pick or even touch of flower on the Sabbath day, which might lead to gathering or harvesting, or to play any type of musical instrument, because some instruments might need to be tuned which would break one of the rabbinical 39 laws of Shabbat having to do with repairing. Tearing toilet paper, erecting an umbrella, allowing the refrigerator light to come on… Yes there are many many things that one must not do in order to keep from violating the Sabbath command that you “shall not work” according to rabbinic law.

Is it not possible that these extra fences created to protect the Torah have actually led many of us to confusion and later real violation of the basic command, just as the statement, “neither shall ye touch it lest ye die” did for our first parents?

Time after time I have met fellow Jews who haven’t been able to keep all the rabbinic laws and so they work and drive and shop on Shabbat, eat whatever they feel like—food that is clearly not kosher even from the basic laws of Leviticus 11; however the men put on a Kippah to go to services once in a while and the women light Shabbat candles on Friday night, often after it is dark outside. But they claim that they have been “good Jews” even though they disregard the Word of Hashem and exchange their obedience for the Laws of the Rabbis.

If we want Hashem to return to us, it is time to do true teshuva (repentance, turning around) it is expedient that we pull down the fences once and for all and find for ourselves what the simple Torah is all about. It is time to dig deeply, cast off all synthetic approaches to obedience and get right with God. Then we will find freedom from the chains that have burdened so many for umpteen generations!

Again, as I wrote in the last article (www.https://ariellat.wordpress.com/2021/05/31/who-what-and-why-antisemitism-and-suffering/):

“Why did Hashem again make a point to instruct Joshua that he must not turn to the right or to the left, regarding the Torah, i.e. was not to add to nor diminish it as originally commanded in Deuteronomy? And if Joshua was now free to interpret it as he felt it needed to be given, why is he reminded that it is the law “that My servant Moses commanded you”? And so on down the line, how now do the Rabbis justify their creation of laws and fences, claiming they are based upon the original laws of Moses?”

From the very first days of Adam and Eve upon the earth, we see the tendency to add to the words that Hashem speaks. Enough already. Let God and his Word be our guide and let all others fall where they may. There are many examples of men and who tried to change God’s commands to fit their own thinking…Like Korah, like Nadav and Abihu, like King Saul…and the list could go on and on.

When we understand this right, freedom shall be once again be known as the true followers of Hashem break off the yoke of bondage to serve Him wholeheartedly.

“The LORD said to his people: “You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” Jer 6:16