Parashat 3 -Lech Lecha - Portion 10

Beresheet/Gen 12:1-13:18

Blessing for the Torah:

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,

v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe,

you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah.

Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

“Lech lecha” or “walk on your own behalf” – is both a command and our decision to obey His commandments. We have a choice. Are we going to come out of all forms of idolatry and embrace YHVH’s Torah/Covenant with all our hearts or are we going to continue to make excuses and compromise our obedience to His Torah. For some there is no turning back; others do turn back, there is still a call going out to the masses of humanity to come out of the defilement of mediocrity and complacency and to enter into the covenant with the Elohim of Yisrael  and worship and serve Him as the scriptures instruct us.

Many people are undecided and are sitting on the fence, they are lukewarm. This is an extremely dangerous position.

Rev 3:16  “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.

I believe most of us don’t fully realize how deeply rooted we are in “Babylonian” thinking and culture. This past week we attended a Chanukah celebration and there was also a birthday celebration of one of the children; after the traditional singing of the “happy birthday song” there was a loud and spontaneous cry “hip hip hoeray” from the guests. Do we even know what these words mean and where they came from?

The word "hip" comes from Latin. It was originally HEP! HEP! 

HEP is an acronym: “Hierosolyma” (Yerushalayim) “Est” (is) “Perdita” (destroyed). It has its dark origins in the period from 117-138 AD and returned centuries later (in the eleventh century) with the crusaders from Europe to Jerusalem but we will not go into it now.

I do not say this to bring any kind of condemnation but just to remind ourselves how unaware we are of how much we are influenced by the spirit of this world.

I also remind you that there is no condemnation for those who joined together with Messiah.

We must not forget that ignorance carries a severe penalty.

Hos 4:6  “My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.

In this section of the Torah we have a model; a kind of prototype of how we come out of the spirit of this world.

Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.