bible

What about the Bible? 

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Some say the Bible has been tampered with. Lots of voices are saying this. But let me quote something from the Bible itself:

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3

This is a deep concern. I get emails from New Zealand by a couple of Noahides who are taking apart everything but the Moses Scroll (Shapira Scroll), which means that they hold none of Torah or Tenakh as valid, except, what was written by the hand of Moses. (I think I will unsubscribe). There is a book out there called “Who Wrote the Bible” which does the same thing. And it is not just these sources that are trying to rattle the foundations! Sometimes it is more subtle and has been around for a long time!

There are voices everywhere discrediting everything from the Bible. This is what is happening on one side. And among those who profess belief in the Bible, we hear rabbis stating that the only way to understand the Bible is to let them interpret it for you. Where have we heard this before? 

In my relationship with my Jewish friends, I rarely find someone who has read the entire Tenakh, other than listening to Torah readers at Synagogue in Hebrew read the current Portion so quickly, they are virtually not understandable.

On another side of the religious world, Catholics (especially in Spanish-speaking countries) have told me that since the mass is done in Latin, that only the priest can be trusted to know what God wants of them.  How much difference is there in what has been accepted in Judaism for thousands of years? Similarly, only a rabbi can interpret Torah. Really! And why does individual study of the Bible get so little attention? 

So we have our traditions, and often the Minhagim are fine and acceptable if one is really led to be more spiritual and more connected to the Source of all things. But, that being said, the question arises by critics in religious circles, “who can trust where these things came from?” 

And I will ask who can trust academics? We have seen how the colleges of today have gone down the woke path. I saw it beginning in secular colleges in the 90s. I could not believe how things had changed since I first attended college in the mid 70s. If things can change through academics in the political and educational fields, why would they not be influenced by hundreds of generations of teachers, (rabbis or preachers) who claim to know, but that were taught by others who claim to know, and so on ad infinitum, back for a couple of thousand years? Ever played telephone? Ever see how the message changes so much that when the last person receives the whispered sentence, it has nothing to do with the first person’s idea? And that is exactly how the chain of transmission has gone. There are some things that are so far from what the Torah says that you cannot recognize where they came from! So a young man goes to Yeshiva and everyone says “Wow”! And he graduates more confused than ever before. There are always arguments and debates on what the ancient Sages taught, who was right and whom does this would be “rabbi” choose to follow in his future career. Ever think of studying for one’self? Especially if you can learn Biblical Hebrew? 

But perhaps as in the first instance, the most dangerous trend out there is to discredit the Bible entirely, as many have been doing in recent years! As the Psalm says, “what can the righteous do if the foundations are destroyed?” So if we have to throw out the majority of the Tenakh because parts of it were somehow rewritten, then what are we going to use to guide our lives? Is there nothing? Perhaps a somewhat tarnished instrument is better than no instrument at all!

As to the evolutionary theory, I never bought into the idea that man descended from a monkey and such chaos. Perhaps if atheists could experience a living God who created the Universe, One who works in individual lives to bless, guide and strengthen, maybe, just maybe, we would see a different trend in the world. 

But then, there have always been haters of God, defiant of His leadership and law. 

We have several monsters raising their heads in the religious world. Beware of following them!

I would say in conclusion, let’s not “Throw out the Baby with the Bathwater!” 

What could be wrong with thinking for ourselves?

Ariella

Mezuzot

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Several years ago, my husband and I made Aliya to the Land of Israel, we lived for a time in Tzfat, which is considered one of the four “holy” cities of Israel. 

During that time, I tripped over an uneven place in the doorway of our  house and broke a bone in my foot. Several observant Orthodox friends told us we needed to have the Mezuzah inspected because it might have a broken letter in the scroll. That seemed pretty weird. Since that time I have had suspicions about man made laws. And to have the mezuzah inspected by a trained person costs money so again the element of making money over rabbinic teachings comes to view. . 

We left Tzfat after a hard struggle with some rabbis. We found a little town that was not so fanatical, a bit more secular, and where people left you alone. 

But the Mezuzah theme never left my mind. If you look at Torah there is nothing said about a box. It says to “write these commandments.” Does it say to buy an expensive parchment scroll, expertly written by a sofer and then hide it away in a box that you kiss when you pass in and out of your house? 

The verse says nothing about putting a scroll in a box. It does command each of us to do our own writing, not to go buy something and hide it away in a box!

Deut 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: YHVH our God, YHVH is one.[a] 5 Love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

So the purpose of the Mezuzah, which means door post, is that we might have the commandments embedded, if you will, in our hearts and minds. What a better way than to do the writing ourselves and to place them where we can see them! 

The act of kissing an object is what is done in paganism. People kiss the graves of Saints and Rabbis. People kiss the image of St. Peter in the Cathedral in Rome and other places. Nowhere does the Torah tell us to kiss an object. 

But before we totally dismiss the Mezuzah, we need a new approach to it. How about finding a way to engrave the 10 commandments in a wooden plaque? Paint them, write them, wood burn them and hang them up so you see them and remember them when you go out and when you come in? 

Let’s make the Torah something personal between us and our God! 

Shabbat Shalom
Ariella

Tradition! It IS just a bit of fun, isn’t it?

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The Holiday of Purim is here again, and costumes, parties and fun are sprouting everywhere. Fun is the name of the game. Is there anything wrong with that? I admit that I love to see people smile and all the children and adults dressed up and clowning around! I am not keen on kids eating a lot of candy, partly because I know the health problems that go along with too much sugar, but then that is a personal issue. 

I want to examine, and I don’t claim to be right or wrong, a few things I am uncomfortable with:

  • I know that God’s Eternal Name, YHVH, is important in all of Tenakh, but why is he not mentioned in any form in the entire book? People tell me that it is because He had to stay hidden. That does not make sense. When is it right to hide the God whom we worship from stories that we write about our lives? If anything in a story was done by the Eternal, then why is the emphasis placed on the clever Mordecai and his beautiful niece, Esther, who found herself lined up to become queen of Persia? Why not mention that the Hand of God was involved? Why take credit for the Jews being so clever and smart and leave God completely out of it? Was this because they knew they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Were they indeed under persecution at this time?
  • If they were not suffering persecution, then what else may have been the reason for hiding one’s ethnicity?
  • Is it possible that the story about justifying life for the Chosen People among the nations? No need for a a temple? No need for a Covenant with the Land and the God of the Land?
  • Why were the majority of the Jews still in Persia many years after they were commissioned to return to the Land sixty years after the decree of Cyrus the Great? 
  • Why did Hadassah become Esther naming herself after the pagan goddess Ishtar? And why did Mordecai take that name since it is also a variation of Marduk, a pagan deity worshiped in Babylon and ancient Mesopotamia? According to Torah it is wrong to pronounce the name of a pagan god, but these went so far as to rename themselves after these idols..
  • Perhaps choosing these names was a political move to be able to work and live among the Persians. But the question looms large, why do they want to stay in the Galut? Is it because they are now permeated with the culture? Do they love the customs of the Gentiles more than their own?
  • And what else might be the motive to hide at this time before Haman had the decree to kill all the Jews signed by the king? Would Haman have declared the Jews as public enemy number one, if he had known that the queen was Jewish? The story does not say that they were being persecuted. If so, then why not move back to the land? 
  • The entire plot of the story of Esther seems to justify working subversively to overthrow the powers that be. When is it right to clearly hide one’s identity to be able to climb the political ladder with the intent of having someone at the top? Were Jews ever commanded to do such things? There is plenty of evidence of this happening throughout history. We see Joseph shaving to appear acceptable to Pharaoh when he was brought before him, but he apparently didn’t hide his parentage, because later in the Joseph story, the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews. He apparently was known as a Hebrew even since Potiphar put him in jail. 
  • Maybe there are other reasons, but to me, it seems that the Jews who stayed in Persia enjoyed the Persian lifestyle and culture and did what they did to justify living in the Galut 60 or 70 years after Cyrus opened the way for them to leave. (Note that the decree of Cyrus took place in 539 and the events in the book of Esther were between 483 and 473. (See here and here). These dates are estimates. 

I don’t have answers, on this, and I have to admit that I have gone along with things many times so that I don’t make waves. What should we do about this? Is there anybody else out there who is concerned?

So “Happy Purim” and please think deeply when you drink so much you can’t discern Haman from Mordecai!

Ariella

Power of Distraction

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Is there Anything Real out There?

The world has been spinning out of control in mad chaos that no one really understands. Trump was inaugurated. He accomplished some encouraging things during his first hours in office. Everything sounds good. But is it really? Some of us are burned out from worrying about what comes next. Is Trump telling us the truth? Or is this propaganda?… again? Another big show to gain power and money? Is Donald Trump actually bringing about globalist control? The world was weakened under the past regime. So now, with our confidence destroyed, We embrace a leader that goes beyond the duties of a President of the United States? 

No, you can’t really blame us for pondering that what we see is really not what we get! And how did we come to be this way? Those of us who ask these questions obviously took the red pill, which makes us suspicious of everything. But does God factor in somewhere? Can we believe that the Eternal, all powerful Master of the Universe is still in control? Does He really raise up kings and put down kings? (Daniel 2:21), or are the promises we have relied on in the past null and void of fulfillment? 

Does Israel really have an end-time purpose in this world? Are the glorious promises in the Bible really meant for us today, or did we somehow miss the boat along the way? It’s easy to doubt, and I know it’s not right to think this way. But it’s extremely sad to see so many of our innocents killed, raped, burned, beheaded, and terrified. Even now, though some have been released, what is the chance that any of them who endured the last 16 months will be mentally ill,–that is, if they survive at all? Naturally, we are insecure, and even doubt the reasons for our faith. Sometimes wonder if we will see another tomorrow.

We try to put it out of our minds. Distraction is a game we play and it may be the only way to survive this horrendous war in any semblance of sanity. It’s difficult not to dwell on hostages half buried in dark holes beneath the grime–violated and hated. There is no certainty that any of them are still alive. As humans, we can never be satisfied with not knowing about something so precious as human life. And so we try to avoid thinking of the unthinkable! The long saga of dwelling on the evil fate of these beloved victims–living or perhaps even preferably dead in the tunnels of frozen fright, is pure hell for both them and all of us who have a soul.

So we stop thinking because we must. But let us ask ourselves: where has hope gone? Where is God at a time like this? Are there a few faithful souls who still see good beyond the tragedy of our times? 

The world is being weighed in the balances, with Israel being the centerpiece. It is as if God has drawn a line in the sand. A line separating between those who love His people and those who do not.

To call evil good and good evil seems to be the theme of a world gone mad. I have to believe that Almighty God sees us now. He saw Israel when they labored in the the slime pits of Egypt. Then he called Moses to set His people free.

“And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew…” Exodus 2:25

Can we bank on that now? 

Please share your thoughts. I really would like to hear from you!

Ariella

Israel, Stone of Stumbling

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The Nations are Drinking the Fatal Cup

This morning, the morning of “the deal”  unjust as it seems, even for the hostages held by Hamas, we saw three more Hamas missiles after the supposed deadline for the ceasefire. You just can’t make this stuff up! And nervous as ever, I began to contemplate what the prophets have said about this time. And it suddenly struck me that this war is the way the God of Israel is dividing the nations, either for His Land or against it.  

“1 The burden of the word of YHVH concerning Israel. Thus saith YHVH, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. 

In the war between Israel and all of Iran’s proxies, Hamas, has stolen the limelight for their atrocities against the only democratic country in the Middle East! This war has drawn the attention of every nation in the world. Nations are split down the middle over the opinion of whether Israel is guilty in their participation in this war. Many accuse Israel of committing genocide. The UN has not shown favor to Israel nor has any of their agencies. Israel basically stands alone. It is a nerve wracking time for everyone in the land, Jewish or not. 

Hamas butchered over 1200 of our innocent civilians and kidnapped over 250. The Torah says that kidnapping is a crime worthy of the death sentence. But the world’s liberals and antisemites continue to accuse the Jews as the reason for the world’s woes. And Iran and those who fulfill their plans are aware of this attitude, which they play to their advantage and the outcome is that  Israel again stands alone amid the hatred and accusations of an antisemitic world who will never get over it! And Israel is supposed to stand alone and not be reckoned among the nations? Why do we even try to court their favor? 

“9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him: Lo, it is a people that dwells alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations.  10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel?… ” – Num 23:9-10 ASV

When we read the prophet Zechariah concerning Jerusalem as a cup that makes the world drunk, reeling to and fro, and a burdensome stone, we see exactly what is happening at this time. Yet we still wait for the Eternal God of Israel to rise and fulfill his promises to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is surely there and the world is in the balances of judgment at this time!

Israel has become the hottest topic in the news for the past 16 months. And the people are divided in their support or accusations against Israel. Even among those in Israel, we see division about what the nation should do. 

Many, even Israelis say that we should give Hamas everything they ask in exchange for the Hostages, stop the fighting, stop the killing, make peace with Hamas, give them all of their terrorist prisoners, give them a state…it’s not an equal trade, yet it seems nobody understands that Israel has a right to protect itself and to go to war to defend the nation against the evil intentions of those who desire to destroy everything to take the land for themselves. And by the way, these terror nations have no desire for a part of Israel, they want all or nothing and intend to murder until they get it. If you think I am exaggerating, realize that Hamas is not satisfied to stay in Gaza. Their charter does not recognize the state of Israel. Since 1948, the Arabs were against Israel having a state of it’s own, see link.

And in case people did not know, Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, who, among others instigated the October 7 attack, was released from prison in Israel in exchange for Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped and held hostage for 5 years by the Palestinians. No good came of this other than the return of our soldier. But the cost of so many more due to the release of Sinwar, is mind boggling!

Hamas certainly knows how to bait Israel by taking innocent children and family members! Jews are all family and will give anything to get back their people. And yet, at this time, can we wisely endanger the lives of all the rest of us by releasing thousands of murderous terrorists whose ultimate goal is to continue to massacre more and more of us? It’s an impossible question, and perhaps only solvable by choosing the lesser of two dangers. And, who can say which is better?

If we look at the broad spectrum of the effect of this war on the world, we see a huge division taking place among the nations. We see people of truth choosing to stand with Israel, and those who love the lies of the media and those who go along to get along, screaming “apartheid” and “genocide”. Israel is accused of starving the poor Gazans, among other things. How can 600 trucks of humanitarian aid daily cause people to starve? But it doesn’t matter, people who choose to hate Israel, don’t listen to reason. 

But the good news is that people from all nations are waking up. And this is why I quote the verse from Zechariah of old.

Chapter 12:3 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.”

And this is what we see just now. The land of Israel is being used to weigh the peoples of the nations. And the promise and the curse are standing ready to be poured out! 

“10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; these are the eyes of YHVH, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” – Zec 4:10 ASV

It is the prophetic day of the plummet going throughout the entire world. Israel is the burdensome stone!

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Still shuddering….

Ariella 

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