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,
(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.)
This Torah section has been graphically explained by
our great sage the Apostle Paul:
Gal 4:21 Say to me, you who wish
to be under Torah, do you not hear the Torah?
“Under the Torah” as
it is used in several other places in Paul’s writings refers to the “oral
Torah.” The prevailing teaching of the early Jewish believers was that you
first needed to be converted to become Jewish before you could be “saved” or
become righteous before YHVH.
This was in contrast
with what Paul was teaching the Galations. Paul clearly taught that you could
not enter into the covenant with YHVH through the observance of the “oral
Torah” which was a list of additional teachings and instructions given by the
Jewish religious leaders.
This is not such a far
fetched idea if one notes the prevailing tendency of modern Judaism. There
remains an extremely large emphasis on the additional teaching and instructions
of the Rabbi’s as has been passed on from generation to generation.
Yahshua addresses this
problem during his ministry.
Mat 23:1 Then יהושע spoke to the crowds and to His taught ones,
Mat 23:2 saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Mosheh.
Mat 23:3
“Therefore, whatever they say to you to guard, guard and do. But do not
do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.
Mat 23:4 “For they
bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but with
their finger they do not wish to move them.
Additional comment on
vs 3:
“According to the Hebrew text of the gospel of Matthew preserved by a
14th Century Spanish Jew named Shem-Tov Ibn Shaprut. Textual
investigation of this copy demonstrates that it faithfully retains the wording
of an original Hebrew gospel of Matthew. That conclusion is further
substantiated by remarks of the early Christian church fathers and considerable
analysis of the Hebrew syntax and grammar of Matthew’s account. When we sort
through all the scholarly examination, we discover that the Hebrew text of this
verse doesn’t read “all that they tell you.” The verse in Hebrew says,
“Therefore, all that he
says to you, do and observe, but according to their reforms and their
precedents do not do, because they talk but they do not do.” In other words,
Yeshua is telling His disciples to stick with Moses. Do what the Torah tells
you to do, but don’t follow the opinions, additions, reforms or patterns
established by the rabbis.”
This statement
supports the latter part of Gal 4:21 “ … do you not hear the Torah?” in other
words Paul states that what the leaders are saying and teaching is NOT
according to the Torah of Moshe.
Gal 4:22 For it has been written that Aḇraham had two sons,
one by a female servant, the other by a free woman.
Paul sets up a midrash by focusing on Avraham’s two
sons Yishmael/Ishmael and Yitschaq/Isaac and their two respective mothers Hagar and
Sarah. Sarah is described as a “free woman,” while Hagar is described as a
“bondwoman.” The son of Hagar is produced in the flesh or Avraham’s own
efforts, while Yitschaq/Isaac comes according to the promise (Beresheet 15:16
and 21:2). In this way the “flesh” corresponds to the works of the Torah and
bondage while freedom and the promise correspond to our faith in the “promised
son.”