Sabbath Rest

Shalom.

It has been about 3 weeks since I wrote my last post. During that time my wife and I closed on a house, and have spent the last couple of weeks, quite literally, off the grid and off line. It has been an interesting time, I would dare say a very quiet time, while we entertained ourselves with nothing more than games and books, just as our ancestors,and we did, before the age of the internet as the world went on without us.

Upon our return to the internet, I found out that an anti Semitic crazy man had shot and killed 11 Jews in a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Shabbat while they were in a baby naming ceremony. I was shocked and saddened. I and my wife practice Judaism,as much as any gentile can, and Shabbat we have found to be a very joyful and peaceful day. This is the subject of this post. I will not the forces of evil in this world discourage me from writing on the wonders and the joy of one of G-d's greatest commands to the Jewish people, nor will I ever cower in shame before those who would try to silence any of us who support the Jewish people.

To that end I dedicate this particular post to the Jews of Pittsburgh that were killed and their families, as well as the people of Pittsburgh, and the Jewish population of the world as a whole.

This past Shabbat was the first day in quite a while that my family and I had a chance to slow down and really enjoy the Sabbath in weeks. It's not that we ignored the Sabbath before, but because we had been so busy with the business of moving, when the Sabbath rolled around our minds were still thinking on the move and all that had to be accomplished. This past Sabbath however was different. We were finally in, no more searching, no more distractions by a world that does not appreciate the Sabbath and the the idea of resting. We can debate what it means to “rest” on Shabbat on another day for I know different people have differing views on just what that means. What follows is our idea of a good Shabbat.

The place that we bought a home in is in the foothills of the White Mountains. We are literally

surrounded by rather large hills so my wife and I thought we would go for a walk up our road to see where it goes. Going “up” the road would be an understatement. The road literally went up hill and we followed it up and over to the other side and back and what a worthy hike it was.

It was gray,cloudy and cold. There was a hint of snow in the air and the late fall coloring was in full plumage. In a word it was beautiful. The views from the top were breathtaking and you could see the snow falling in the distance. We ran across deer tracks and evidence of a bear passing through and myriads of birds. It was if G-d Himself was welcoming us to our new home.

On our way back down, it began to spit snow. While having lunch it picked up steam and by mid afternoon we looked like a winter wonderland. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and resting and ended the day with a visit from our son and his girlfriend. This was one of the most restful and peaceful Sabbaths I can remember in a long time.

This, in my mind anyhow, is what Shabbat is supposed to be about. Communing with G-d,with and through, nature. Reading the Torah and quite literally resting as well as being with family. Yes there is much to be said for being a part of a religious community but when you don't have one you have to make a choice as to how you are going to do things. For us we prefer to rest and relax and let the rest of the world do it's own thing.

Consider this passage from Isaiah 56:2 “Happy is the man who does this, The man who holds fast to it: who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and stays his hand from doing any evil.”

or 52:6-7 “As for the foreigners ( some translations say strangers ) Who attach themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him,And to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants- All who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it, and who hold fast to my covenant- I will bring them to my sacred mount And let them rejoice in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on my altar;For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The Sabbath was meant to be a blessing, it was meant to be a day of rest, a day where we become closer to G-d. If we honor the Sabbath G-d Himself says that we will be happy but, even more important, is that we will be accepted by Him and our offerings, even though we are “gentile” will be accepted by Him.

That is the ultimate for me and my family; to be accepted by G-d and to commune with Him. I hope you will strive for the same.

Shalom.

The Stars Sang

Did you know that one of the most unnatural things for people to do in this modern age is to look up? Watch people, especially as they are walking, and you will see them looking ahead or down, depending on whether or not they are carrying a device, but rarely will you ever see people looking up.

Now I admit I am a little bit on the weird side. I tend to look up quite a bit. I am a weather watcher so I look to the sky and the clouds all the time to determine what is coming. Tell me that snow is coming and I will literally spend hours watching the clouds thicken up, observing the temperature dropping, anticipating the first of the snow fall. In fact I am so fascinated by weather change that I will quite literally sit outside ( on a covered deck or porch) and watch lighting storms. I love to look up and see the changes.

But there is another reason that I like to look up. On a cold clear night,especially here in the north east, you can see the stars in all their glorious fullness and it gives you a proper perspective on just where you stand in the grand scheme of things.

I remember as a child laying outside on my grandmothers lawn and watching the stars. They were so bright ( where I grew up in Maine there wasn't much for lights to obstruct the view) that I could imagine that each star had a musical twinkle with them. I was always just a bit disappointed when I didn't hear anything, yet I was convinced that I should.

Imagine my surprise when I read the book of Job and found this particular passage. Job 38:7 “When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

This, of course, was G-d responding to Job and asking him a series of questions, that he essentially didn't have an answer for, but the fact that G-d says that “ the morning stars sang” gave me a small amount of vindication, knowing that G-d said it has happened. I suppose that we have just lost our ability to hear it.

One thing about looking at the stars ,especially if you spend any length of time at it, is that you get a much better perspective of just where you are ,and stand, in the grand scheme of the universe.

We all live on this planet. We can't escape it. None of us gets out of this alive. Yet we live our lives, thanks to the media and the world wide political class, in almost constant fear. We have threats of war and nuclear holocaust thrown at us on a daily basis, as world “leaders” play a constant game of deadly chicken with each other. Even at our own peon level we fight with each other over everything that those powers tell us we should be “outraged” over, yet nothing is ever resolved and everything remains in chaos. What is the point of all this outrage? Why should we waste our time?

Go find a quite place, preferably well away from lights, on a mountain top, lay down and look up at the stars. Just look. Don't speak, or think, just observe and consider where you are in the grand scheme of the universe. Consider that we are all minuscule dots, on a minuscule planet, in a very small region of space. It is not to say that we are not important to G-d, we are, or His plans, but the universe is so big that it defies imagination and after a while you come to realize that all these things that we are “outraged” over, actually don't mean anything in the grand design of the universe.

Now just imagine if you could get world “leaders” to do the same, to look up into the heavens and come to the realization, that all our differences are petty and that we would, as an entire planet, be better off if we would focus on what really matters, the things that unite us, rather then what, allegedly, divides us.

Perhaps then we would hear, once again, the morning stars singing, and all of the sons of G-d rejoicing as we come to appreciate the things that are truly important.

Someone one said that if we worried about the things that truly matter there would be an extreme shortage of fishing poles. I would amend that with a shortage of back backs and telescopes as well.

In A Beginning

Genesis 1:1 “In a beginning”. A very powerful set of words. Notice I did not write “In the beginning” which most English translations have. The Hebrew says “b-rashith bra” which translates to “ in beginning he created” there is no “the” and , at least in the Hebrew version I have, it suggests the use of the word “A” as being more appropriate. In other words it was a beginning of a cycle of time which is what I want to speak to you about.

Today, even as I am writing this, Jews around the world are celebrating “Simcah Torah” or the completion and the starting over of the readings of the Torah cycle. It is done with dancing and singing while the Torah scroll is brought around the congregation and the scroll is kissed. It is literally celebrating the word of G-d and His laws. And it all starts with “In a beginning.”

So whats the big deal about this? It depends on how you see “beginnings.”

Most of us are taught that everything has an beginning and an ending and a straight timeline in between. This straight line is where we have our lives lived, we live, laugh and cry, eat, drink and sleep, get married, have children and grow old all within this line of time , hence we see that we had a beginning and we know that we have an end, so logic dictates that life is a linear thing from start to finish.

I disagree.

A Rabbi once suggested to me that life is actually circular not linear. He suggested that G-d doesn't just see one day on a particular date, but rather He can see all of the days of that date at the same time. In other words, today being “Simcah Torah” He doesn't just see today, but rather He sees all the Simcah Torah's that have ever been celebrated and will be celebrated all at the same time so that even as we pass from this world to the world to come, G-d still sees us in the cycle of life celebrating His holy days on those days because we have done so. In other words He sees the cycle of life and holy days constantly. It never ends.

Nature shows us the proverbial “circle of life” every day and season.

Look at the moon. Every month it goes from being completely dark ( New moon) to a full moon and then back again, it is constant, and sailors have been predicting the tides since time immemorial because of it's consistency.

We are currently in my favorite time of the year,fall. Yet I know that fall will slowly give way to winter, which will then lead to the renewal of spring and the full vigor of summer, then back to fall. Its a cycle that continually repeats.

One last example. Go out and take a hike in the woods and look for trees that have died. Many times you will find either new shoots or young trees growing out of the stumps or at least you will find various fungi and lichens, even in death, new life begins and is renewed. It's a cycle, circular, not linear.

All of these are an example of “a beginning” and a renewal of life. It is written as In a beginning on purpose, G-d and nature show this.

Now can I prove to you that our lives are circular rather then linear? No I can't. If my soul has been in the past I have no memory( though I believe our dreams play a role in helping us to remember) but I believe that the Jewish concept, that our spirits return to G-d after we die, is true, and if so, G-d may very well put us back into play to learn more. Just my humble opinion on this.

So as we celebrate the renewal of the laws of G-d and the renewal of the reading of the Torah, remember what this is truly about, in the end, and that's the next word in the line, Elohim. HaShem ( the name) G-d. “In a beginning G-d.” After that it's all commentary.

Thoughts From The ER

It was a typical Tuesday. I was standing at my computer, just after breakfast, working on, ironically enough, on my blog, when suddenly I became dizzy. I stumbled over to the chair at the table and immediately felt my chest tighten up, like I had a heavy weight pressing on my chest, and my blood pressure shot up through the roof. I thought I was having a heart attack.

My wife brought me to the local ER where they proceeded to hook me up to a heart monitor and EKG, gave me medication to lower the blood pressure and started running tests to see what was going on.

I had a lot of time to think, as well as panic, while I was lying there, as to what comes next, wondering if I was going to live long enough to see the next day. I wanted to share with you just a little of what I was thinking while this was going on.

I wondered if I suddenly found myself in the presence of G-d what He might say to me or ask. Would He ask about my political views or my world views on politics? Would He ask about my portfolio ( or lack thereof) or if I had a 401k? Would He ask me what my favorite doctrine or religious point of view I have or even about ones that I don't care for?

I really don't think G-d will be interested in my political opinions or affiliation. I don't really believe that He is going to ask me about doctrine or my actual religious views, or about my non existent portfolio, but I do think I have a basic idea of what He would want to know ( yes He is G-d and knows all things anyhow but just bare with me) and this is what I'd like to share with you.

One of the important beliefs in Judaism is justice and charity. In fact I would guess that in all major religions that is a core belief, but in Judaism it is seen as a commandment, to do good, to love justice and mercy in fact justice and mercy were even considered more important then sacrifice.

Micah 6:7-8 “Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, With myriads of streams of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgressions, The fruit of my body for my sins?

He has told you, O man, what is good, And what the Lord requires of you:Only to do justice and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God.”

G-d is not going to hold us accountable for stupid man made rules and regulations or political parties, what He is likely to hold us accountable for is just how much good we have done in this world.

An old time Christian singer by the name of Don Francisco put it well in a song called “the steeple song”.

“do you love your wife, for her and your children are you laying down your life? What about the others? Are you livin' as a servant To your sisters and your brothers? Do you make the poor man beg you for a bone? Do the widow and the orphan cry alone?

This is the kind of thing that I believe that G-d will hold us accountable for both individually but also as a nation. G-d isn't going to care about our politics, or our doctrines. He isn't going to care about about what country we come from or what people groups we associate with. None of that truly matters, what will truly matter, in the end, for all of us, is what we have done to brighten up the world a little bit, what good have we done in our small corner of the world. This is what matters. Everything else, that we seem to think is important is little more then window dressing in the grand scheme of life.

How do you want to remembered? As a person who held strong political or religious views, who had a great portfolio or would you prefer to remembered by you fellow man and by G-d as someone who was compassionate, who cared for the widow and the orphan?

G-d calls us to the latter, not the former.

The tests came back negative for a heart attack, but positive for high amounts of stress, I had let foolish things get to me instead of worrying about the things of G-d that were truly important.

Amazing the things you can think about when your all wired up in an emergency room.

Perspective

Many years ago ,when I first started this blog, I had a very different perspective on religion and life in general. I was a Christian, a youth and young adult pastor, and I took care of a youth camp in the foothills of the Ozarks. I thought that I had found my purpose in life and I was happy.

One thing about me though is that I am rarely content enough with the “status quo” to not ask questions and because I ask questions my perspective on everything changed.

Being a disabled veteran I found that I had a lot of time to study, history and religion being two of my favorite subjects, but in the course of my studying I found that I had questions, questions that those senior to me didn't like answering.

The very first one I asked was If Christianity was supposed to be based on Judaism ,or at least had it's roots there, why does the Christian world worship on Sunday, when there is clearly no biblical basis for it anywhere in the bible, and the second question was why don't Christians follow the Jewish holy days and customs as Jesus would have? The most common answers that I received were a vague reference of collecting money on “the first day of the week” according to Paul's writings or because it was the day of the resurrection of Jesus, and that the requirements of “the laws of Moses” were no longer required.

None of these answers was satisfying and, as I said before, there was no commandment from G-d or even the prophets anywhere validating this change and claims. This really started me down the path of questioning everything and giving me a much different perspective on all that I had ever been taught.

In all candor, many in the Orthodox community will tell you,as a Gentile, that the Sabbath and the Holy days are designated for them only, as a sign between them and G-d that they are His people, and I agree with that, having said that, because they are supposed to be a light to the nations ,I personally believe that all of us should be learning from them , The Jews, and following their example as best as we Gentiles can. Perspective.

Perspective. Sometimes all it takes is asking the one question that is lurking in your mind; What if?

What if the things that I believe aren't actually in the bible but instead were invented by man?

What do you do with it? I know what I did, I studied more and learned more and it changed my perspective on everything I had ever believed to be true, some of which I have shared with you over the last few months.

Today my perspective is very different. While I disagree with many of the doctrines of Christianity, I still believe that G-d is using all religions to reach out to the people of the world and show them that there is a better way to live in this world and in this life.

Am I wrong? I suppose I could be, but let me ask you a question,especially those of you who have been shocked by what I have written, what makes my belief in Judaism any better then the Native Americans beliefs or a Wiccan? What makes Christianity any better then Hinduism?

I grant you that some beliefs are a bit stranger then others “the church of the flying spaghetti monster” comes to mind ( yes, it's real, look it up) but all of it boils down to perspective based on what you have been taught and have come to believe, or not believe, about G-d.

I hope that many of you reading this post will have really studied what I have briefly written about in the past posts. I hope if nothing else I have given you food for thought and have given you a different perspective.

Until my next post. Shalom

The Sacrifices Return

In my last post I asked, at the end of the post, “If Jesus was the messiah and his job was to take away the sins of the world and to end the sacrificial system, why is that same system going to be put back in place?” By now most of you reading this certainly know that I don't believe that Jesus was a god or a messiah of any kind but I still asked the question because right there in the bible, the Christian version at that, it makes it very clear that the sacrificial system is going to return in the future, all this can be found in the book of Ezekiel.

The book of Ezekiel is a very interesting book. Ezekiel was a prophet that was with the people in the exile at the time of his visions from G-d. Many people have not read much of it except for a few choice passages such as the “valley of dry bones” found in chapter 37 or the UFO vision in chapter one.

The history of the Christian church even suggests that there were a number of people who didn't want the book of Ezekiel included in the Christian bible because of the visions, like the UFO incident, and because it is worded differently then the other prophets, but I would suggest to you that the real reason can be found in the last part of Ezekiel.

Starting with chapter 40, Ezekiel is taken in vision to Israel, where he is shown the dimensions of the temple that is to be built, as well as it's implements. He is also shown where and when “the prince” as well as the common people would enter and exit the temple and even who would serve as the priests.

Now some might argue and try to suggest that this is nothing more then a description of the 2^nd temple that was built after the exile but that would be wrong.

These descriptions all come after the return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland and after the battle of Gog-Magog (see chapter 39) neither of which has happened as of yet. Israel has not returned to the days of King David or Solomon when their nation spread over an area almost the size of the United States.

Now look at Ezekiel 47:1-12

These verses speaks of water that will run from the temple that will into the great sea and all along this river there will be abundant fishing and abundant food growing on those trees and the leaves of the trees will be for the healing of the nations. None of this has happened as of yet so it is clearly speaking of a future time.

The point I am trying to say to you is actually quite simple. The nation of Israel will be restored to it's former and better glory. The temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices will return. It's all right there in Ezekiel, I didn't make it up.

For the record I asked several pastors what they thought of the passages in Ezekiel. I was told that they had wonderful explanations for it and that they would get back to me. I haven't heard a word.

If Christians would slow down and actually read what is written in the prophets, instead of relying on pastors or, 90 day reading plans, they might actually come to realize that much of what they have been taught isn't even remotely biblical.

I was going to quote large chunks of these chapters to make the point but I am guessing that if you are still reading this that you either have looked for yourself or your about to (and I would encourage you to do so) I am not telling you this for my own benefit, I want you to go and read it and then decide if what is written there is true. If you believe that the bible is the written word of G-d and that the prophets, including Ezekiel, were repeating what G-d told them, then you are going to have to make a decision as to what you believe.

Blessings, Shalom.

G-d The Savior

In my last post, at the end, I suggested to you that the prophets do speak of a savior. I also suggested to you that it's not the kind of salvation, or the kind of savior, as is claimed by the Christian world.

So who then is that savior? It's G-d Himself.

Isaiah 43:3 “For I the Lord am your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior...”

Isaiah 44:6 “Thus said the Lord, the King of Israel,Their Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts..”

44:23-24 “...For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, Has glorified Himself through Israel. Thus said the Lord, your redeemer...”

Isaiah 52: 9-10 “Raise a shout together, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord will comfort His people, will redeem Jerusalem. The Lord will bare His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, And the very ends of the earth shall see The victory of our G-d.”

These are just a few of many verses and passages that speak of G-d delivering the children of Israel and Judah, that much is plain, but what is it that they are being redeemed, or saved from? I can tell you it's not sin. G-d pleads with them to tun from their sins and return to Him but nowhere does it suggest that He forces it upon them or that any kind of bloody sacrifice is going to be needed if they do return to His way. So what is it that He is saving them from? The exile.

Isaiah 43:5-7 Fear not for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East,Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North give back! And to the South Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth- All who are linked to My name, Whom I have created, Formed and made for my glory.

Even today , with millions of Jews living in Israel there are still many more living in exile and even many more who don't even know that they are Jewish or at the very least of Hebrew descent, this is what His salvation is all about , bringing all to an awareness of who they are and to bring them back to the land of Israel.

Isaiah 49:12-13 “ Look these are coming from afar, These from the North and the West, And these from the land of Sinim. Shout O heavens, and rejoice O earth! Break into shouting, O hills! For the Lord has comforted His people, And has taken back His afflicted ones in love.”

Verses 19-22 “As for your ruins and desolate places and your land laid waste- You Shall soon be crowded with settlers,While destroyers stay far from you. The children that you thought you had lost Shall yet say in your hearing, The place is too crowded for me; Make room for me to settle, And you will say to yourself Who bore these for me when I was bereaved and barren, exiled and disdained, By whom then were these reared? I was left all alone and where have these been? Thus said the Lord G-d ; I will raise my hands to nations And lift up my ensign to peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosoms, And carry your daughters on their backs.”

Over and over again and again, the theme is the same, not just in Isaiah but throughout the prophets. The people have rebelled against G-d and, as forewarned they are punished for their rebellion,but in “the latter days” G-d Himself redeems them from the four corners of the earth and brings them back home and back into an eternal covenant with Him.

You see how simple all this is when you see it in context?

Still, I am sure, there are some of you who doubt this finding, that's fine because I want you to do your own search anyhow. The biggest mistake I have ever seen is the people in the churches and I would dare say even the synagogues just blindly following what they have been taught because it's tradition.

Now for those of you who don't believe any of what I have shared I do have a question for you; If Jesus was the messiah and his job was to take away the sins of the world and to end the sacrificial system, why is that same system going to be put back in place?

Shalom.