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

The last few weeks Mainstream News has highlighted the supposed atrocities of Israel to the Palestinians. And many have trumped up a lot of antisemitic hatred even to those Jews who live in the diaspora and have nothing to do with Israel. And we ask why are Jews being accused and why after thousands of years do we continue to suffer? Why is antisemitism rampant, why are Arab terrorists threatening to kill all Jews and take the land of Israel for themselves? This question has been asked by Jews and Gentiles alike. Rabbis and other scholars have written much on this topic.

My Jewish Learning* (http://www.myjewishlearning.com) shows possible views ending up with the accusation that the Holy ONE, Blessed be He, has broken His covenant with Israel and that is why we cannot expect to see miracles anymore* (see below). REALLY?

The argument is based upon the assumption that Jews, at least the most observant ones, are keeping their part of the covenant. Yet, are we really keeping our part of the bargain? I see at least two things that fly in the face of what the Bible says:

The majority of Jews do not believe they have to live in the Land of Israel to be good Jews. As long as the traditions of the Oral Torah are observed, the exile mentality can continue anywhere and at any time.

Rabbinic Judaism teaches that the rabbis received the authority through a divinely appointed chain of command to interpret the Torah based on their own majority view;

They state: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly.” (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/pirkei-avot-ethics-of-the-fathers-3/) The chain of transmission was then passed on to the sages and on to the rabbis of our day.

This transmission is based upon:

Ex. 23:2 “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;” JPS Tanakh (So, this is not given as a positive command, rather a negative one, yet this is the justification for following the consensus for rabbinic decrees and interpretations of Torah.)Thus it is that today we find many instructions that are not found and often not even alluded to in the written Torah.

And why should we take exception to this? Because it is stated in the written Torah and in the book of Joshua:

• Deuteronomy 4:2: 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 LORD your God which I command you.
• Deuteronomy 12:32
  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
• Joshua 1:5-7
  No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them. Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.”

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? And how is it that we can now change it on the basis of one simple Torah statement (Ex 23:2) clearly misinterpreted and taken out of context; how can we add insights to the Torah based on this Oral transmission?

And what about building fences? “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. At Sinai God told Moses to put barriers around the mountain that the people not be able to break through to Him. The assumption that this is equivalent to putting a fence around the Torah does not seem to add up.

Here is the commentary from My Jewish Learning, mentioned at the first of this article showing the rabbinic leaning to the concept that God has abandoned His part of the covenant with Israel:

*Israel as Estranged Wives and Widows
(https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/israel-as-estranged-wives-and-widows/)
By Jeffrey Spritzer

Isaiah 50 1 – The metaphor of Israel as the wife of God receives several potent and shocking midrashic reinterpretations as the rabbis reflect on Israel’s suffering and persecution.
Although the biblical book of Job presented a radical critique of the covenantal theology that suffering is punishment for sin, the rabbis, in general, chose to maintain a belief in the covenant. The most common rabbinic approach to the problem of suffering, and in particular, the suffering of the people of Israel in exile, involved relocating reward and punishment to Olam haBa, the next world. Even so, the rabbis could hardly escape the reality of the pain that people experienced in this world. In order to explain the failure of the covenant between God and Israel, the rabbis sought the closest analogue: the occasional failure of the human covenant between husband and wife. 

Love on the Rocks – When the covenant seems to work, the rabbis imagined the covenant as a love story. Most notably, the rabbis transformed the love poetry of the biblical book of Song of Songs into the love story of God and Israel. Yet, if Song of Songs Rabbah and the Targum (Aramaic interpretive translation) of Song of Songs preserve the love story, then a peculiar midrash ic collection known as Midrash Song of Songs (edited by Eliezer Greenhut) presents the story of “love on the rocks.” The one known manuscript of this midrash was apparently copied (or maybe even written) during the Crusades and was then lost during the Holocaust.

“‘Show me your countenance’ (Song of Songs 2:14). This is like a man who had an ugly wife whose name was Hannah. She honored her husband greatly, but he was sad, because although she had a good name and beautiful deeds, her face was ugly. A dream maker came and asked why he was distressed, and he explained why. ‘Do you want her to be beautiful?’ ‘Yes,’ came the reply. In the morning, she became beautiful. She saw herself and she began to lord herself over her husband. In the night, the dream maker came again and asked what he wanted. ‘Please make Hannah ugly again.’ ‘For your voice is pleasant and your face becoming’ (Song of Songs 2:14). The Holy Blessed One said to Israel, ‘When is your voice pleasant to me? When you are pressed down by persecution…’” (Midrash Song of Songs Greenhut 2:14).

The flip side of the biblical and rabbinic suspicion of wealth and good times (“You will eat and be satisfied. Be careful lest your hearts stray,” [Deuteronomy 11:16, and cf. Deuteronomy 8:11-20]) is the belief that bad times and, in particular, suffering and persecution somehow foster the kind of relationship that God wants from Israel. Suffering, according to this view, leads to Israel’s devotion and even to a perverse beauty.

Israel as Loyal Widow – Although the previous passage does not reveal any bitterness or irony, that is not the case with other uses of the husband-wife metaphor. The book of Lamentations begins “How has the city, so full of people, become k-almanah, like a widow!” For the rabbis, the interpretive crux becomes the single letter-word, k-almanah, like-a widow. How is Israel like a widow without actually being one?

“‘How has the city, so full of people, become like a widow!’…R. Hama bar Ukba and the rabbis [disagreed]. R. Hama bar Ukba said: She is like a widow who chose continued support (in the house of her deceased husband) rather than her ketubah (her marriage settlement which would have required her to find a new husband)…”

R. Hama’s approach needs a little explanation. According to the Talmud (Ketubot 52b), a woman has two choices upon the death of her husband. The common choice is that she receives the ketubah settlement that would support her for a year or so until she could be remarried. Instead, Israel is seen as a widow who chooses to stay in the house of her deceased husband rather than go somewhere else.

Although Lamentations mourns the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, R. Hama’s analogy raises the specter of what, in modern times, would be seen as a metaphor for the death of God. Israel’s continued faithfulness to the land and religion of Israel, is seen as the widow who maintains a posthumous fidelity towards her husband. Yet, Israel’s God/Husband is not really dead, so Israel is only like a widow and not one in reality.

God as Abusive Husband – The rabbis’ parable, however, takes the understanding of “like a widow” and not really a widow in a totally different direction.  “The rabbis said: It is like a king who was angry with his matron and wrote out her divorce document, but then got up and snatched it from her. Whenever she wished to remarry, he said to her, ‘Where is your divorce document?’ And whenever she demanded monetary support, he said to her, ‘But have I not divorced you?’”

“Similarly, whenever Israel wished to worship idols, the Holy Blessed One said to them, ‘Where is your mother’s divorce document?’ (Isaiah 50:1); and whenever they wished that God should perform miracles for them as in the past, the Holy Blessed One, said to them, ‘Have I not already divorced you?’ That is what is written, ‘I sent her away and I gave her divorce document’ (Jeremiah 3:8)” (Lamentations Rabbah 1:1.3).

For the rabbis in this midrash, God’s behavior is that of a wicked husband who takes advantage of the inequity in Jewish law which puts the power of divorce exclusively in the hands of the man. Although the woman in this parable is divorced and not widowed, as in the biblical verse, the woman is only “like a widow” in that she lacks the support of a husband and yet, she lacks the freedom of the widow to remarry. Israel suffers, and lacks the support of God who does not even allow Israel the freedom to depart and join with other gods.

Together Forever – A final example of the rabbinic response to suffering, however, contrasts sharply with this last vision of a powerless Israel. R. Joshua of Sikhnin reports this parable of R. Levi:

“R. Joshua of Sikhnin said in the name of R. Levi: ‘I am the man’ (Lamentations 3:1); I am the one who has learned from suffering. Have I benefited from what you thought fit?!”

“It is like a king who got angry at his wife and forced her out of the palace. She went and pushed her face up behind one of the pillars, [staying in the palace, but hiding]. The king saw her as he was walking by and said ‘Such impudence!’ She responded, ‘My lord king, this is the right and appropriate thing for me, since no other woman besides me has accepted you.’ He retorted, ‘Only because I disqualified all other women [from marrying me] for your sake.’ She said to him, ‘If that is the case, why did you go to that house on that street if not to meet with a woman who ended up rejecting you?’”

“Similarly, the Holy Blessed One said to Israel, ‘Such impudence!’ But Israel said, ‘Master of the Universe, it is right and proper for us since no other nation besides us has accepted the Torah .’ God retorted, ‘Only because I disqualified all other nations for your sake.’ Israel said, ‘If that is the case, why did you offer the Torah to all of the nations, only to have them reject it!’” (Lamentations Rabbah 3:1.1)

Although the Temple was destroyed, Israel remains attached to God. But she is far from powerless. Like the woman of the parable, ejected from her home, Israel can turn to God and say, “You may be angry with us, but we’re all You’ve got!” This translation follows the reading of R. Samuel ben Isaac Jaffe, the sixteenth century author of the commentary Yefeh Anaf. Jaffe comments:

“‘I am the man’ who has suffered as a result of having accepted Your Torah. Instead of You doing good for me, You have done me evil; had I not accepted Your Torah, then I would be free and I would not have suffered for having not fulfilled it.”

Rabbi Jaffe affirms the theology of the covenant, but nevertheless bemoans the consequences. Other rabbinic texts present God in ways that are even more transgressive of the basic terms of the covenant, including describing God as a wife-batterer.
Later theologians developed different kinds of theologies to explain suffering in this world; in comparison to modern theological responses, the rabbinic repertoire seems rather limited. Nevertheless, working from within the covenantal theology that suffering is punishment for violation of the Torah’s norms, the rabbis found effective ways to subvert and rework the metaphor of covenant to express their own theological discomfort, and more importantly, their own voices of protest to the suffering which they saw as a violation of a divine covenant.”

So what is the consensus? Is it possible that the rabbis led us on a path away from the covenant so far that we ourselves stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, as guilty of covenant breaking? And what covenant would that be? Have we added to His Words which He expressly forbade? Have we observed mitzvot that were never commanded of Hashem? Have we deleted anything? Or as Hashem instructed Joshua, not turned to the right or the left?

If we really read what Torah says, many of the mitzvot can only be observed in The Land. Why then are Jews still remaining in the exile keeping Shavuot (for example) while they are not IN THE LAND? (Lev 23:9), and why are they keeping Succot when it specifically says IN THE LAND? (Lev 23:39)

Why are we not all striving to be IN THE LAND? Experts calculate that only 2 percent of the Jews returned from Babylon at the time they were released by Cyrus to build the 2^nd temple. How many are waiting in America and Europe and every other country on the globe and for one reason or another put off returning to THE LAND—The only land where Jews are under any kind of Divine protection?

And there are other mitzvot that may only be kept when there is a Temple and a Priesthood. So why do we attempt to keep these things rather than actively take back the Temple Mount and begin construction of Ezekiel’s Temple?

So we have several things to do to get ourselves right with Hashem, get back to Israel, and dig deeply to find what the Torah really says, discarding all that has led us to the right hand or to the left. Then we will see a Divine return to Hashem’s part of the covenant!