Hebrew: Barukh atah Yahveh eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu la'asok b'divrei Torah. V'ha'arev na Yahwvh eloheinu et divrei toratekha befinu uvfi amekha beit Yisrael. V'niyeh anachnu v'tze'etze'einu v'tze'etza'ei amekha beit Yisrael kullanu yodei sh'mekha v'lomdei toratekha lishmah. Baruch attah Yahveh hamelamed Torah le'amo Yisrael. Baruhh atah Yahveh Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim venatan lanu et torato. Baruch attah Yahveh, noten haTorah.
English translation: Blessed art Thou, Yahveh our Elohim, King of the universe,
who has made us set apart through His commandments and commanded us to actively
study Torah. Please Yahveh, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our
mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Yisrael. May we and our offspring,
and the offspring of Your people, the House of Yisrael, may we all, together,
know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire.
Blessed are You, Yahveh, Who teaches Torah to His people Ysrael. Blessed are
You, Yahveh our Elohim, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations
and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, Yahveh, Giver of the Torah.
Jer 7:21 Thus said יהוה of hosts,
the Elohim of Yisra’ěl, “Add your ascending offerings to your slaughterings and
eat meat.
Jer 7:22 “For I did
not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Mitsrayim, about matters of ascending offerings or
slaughterings.
Jer 7:23 “But this
word I did command them, saying, ‘Obey My voice,a and I shall be your Elohim,
and you be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so
that it be well with you.’ Footnote: aSee also Gen_26:5, Exo_19:5,
Joh_3:36, Rom_6:16, Heb_4:11, Heb_5:9 and Rev_22:14.
Jer 7:24 “But they
did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the counsels, in the
stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
Jer 7:25 “From the
day that your fathers came out of the land of Mitsrayim until this day, I have
even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and
sending them.
Jer 7:26 “But they
did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did evil,
more than their fathers.
Jer 7:27 “And you
shall speak all these words to them, though they do not listen to you. And you
shall also call to them, though they do not answer you.
Jer 7:28 “But you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that did not obey the voice of יהוה their Elohim, nor did they accept instruction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. (a remnant will hear and obey)
Act 17:30 “Truly, then, having overlooked these times of
ignorance, Elohim now commands all men everywhere to repent,
Act 17:31 because He has set a day on which He is going to judge
the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed,[b] having given
proof of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Footnote: bSee Act_10:42.
This Torah
portion addresses the sin of dealing deceitfully against your neighbour. There
are generally no witnesses so this matter can only be resolved if the guilty
party is willing to own up confess his sin and make restitution.
YHVH required
that among those who are called by His Name such a guilty person to confess his
sin and bring a “guilt offering”(asham) to the altar where the priest would
make atonement for him.
We all have
thought at times that we can get away with our actions only to find a consistent
convicting of the Ruach of YHVH to make a wrong matter right. This is a gift
and should not be abused. If one continually ignores the prompting of the Ruach
regarding specific issues brought to our attention, a time may come when the
Ruach of YHVH will withdraw and leave us to our own devices.
In fact one
of the Hebraic understandings of the curse of YHVH is that He withdraws from
you and leaves you to your own devices. This is possibly one of the most
dangerous situations a person could find themselves in.
When we lie
or steal or bear false testimony against a fellow Yisraelite it is not always
good enough to YHVH that we go in private and rectify the matter. Such a sin or
related transgression must at times be openly admitted to others, the required
restitution and offering made before YHVH will grant atonement for such a sin.
Some sages
believe that if you confess and rectify a transgression as soon as it happens
there is no need for public confession and humiliation. However, a person
initially seeks to ignore a wrong-doing and then comes under a continual
conviction of the Ruach of YHVH to remind them, public confession and
restitution is required.
Sadly many
have been taught that all you need to do is apologise and then carry on as if
everything is normal.
A wise rabbi
was one day approached by someone who had committed “la shon ha ra”(evil
speaking) against him. This person felt very bad and asked the rabbi what they
could do to rectify the matter. The rabbis asked the offender to take a feather
pillow on a very windy day to an open field and release all the feathers into
the wind. Then the offender was required to go and pick up every feather.
Pro 26:18 Like a
madman who throws sparks, arrows, and death,
Pro 26:19 So is a man who deceived his neighbour, And says, “I was only joking!”
Lev 6:1 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Lev 6:2 “When any being sins, and committed a
trespass against יהוה, and has lied
to his neighbour about a deposit, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or
shall extort from his neighbour,
Lev 6:3 or has found what was lost and has lied
concerning it, or did swear falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of
all these that a man does,
Lev 6:4 then it shall be, when he sins, and shall be
guilty, that he shall return what he took by robbery, or what he has extorted,
or the deposit which was deposited with him, or the lost item which he found,
Lev 6:5 or all that about which he swore falsely. He
shall repay its total value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whom it
belongs, on the day of his guilt offering.
Lev 6:6 “Then he brings his guilt offering to יהוה, a ram, a perfect one, from the flock,
with your valuation, as a guilt offering, to the priest.
Lev 6:7 “And the priest shall make atonement for him
before יהוה, and he shall be forgiven for whatever he
did that made him guilty.”
We recognize two major
transgressions in the above instructions: Greed and deceit. When these are present
in our lives and are not repented of, they can cause great destruction in the
lives of people.
Luk 19:8 But Zakkai
stood up and said to the Master, “Look, Master, I give half of my possessions
to the poor. And if I have taken whatever from anyone by false accusation, I
repay fourfold.”
Luk 19:9 And יהושע said to him, “Today deliverance has come to this house – since he also is a son of Aḇraham.
Mic 2:1 Woe to those plotting
wickedness, and working out evil upon their beds! In the light of the morning
they practise it, because it is in the might of their hand.
Mic 2:2 And they coveted fields and seized
them, also houses, and took them away. And they oppressed a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
Mic 2:3 Therefore thus said יהוה, “See,
against this clan I am planning evil, from which you do not remove your necks,
nor walk proudly, for this is a time of evil.
Mic 2:4 “In that day one shall lift up a
proverb against you, and he shall lament with a bitter lamentation, and shall
say, ‘We have been utterly ravaged! He changes the inheritance of my people.
How He removes it from me! He apportions our fields to the backslider.’ ”
Jer 5:30
“An astounding and horrible matter has come to be in the land:
Jer 5:31
The prophets have prophesied falsely1, and the priests rule
by their own hand, and My people have loved it so.2 And what are you
going to do at the end of it? Footnotes: 1See 27:14,15. 2Isa.
30:10, 2 Tim. 4:3.
When
believers suppress truth for the sake of popularity they rob and defraud others
of their rightful inheritance and reward from YHVH.
According
to the instructions of this Torah portion there should be public confession and
restitution made for deceitfully defrauding a fellow believer.
Lev 6:8 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Lev 6:9 “Command Aharon and his sons, saying, ‘This is the Torah of the burnt offering:
This is the burnt offering, because it is burned on the altar all night until
morning, and the fire of the altar is kept burning on it.
Lev 6:10 ‘And the priest shall put on his linen
garment, and put his linen trousers on his body, and shall take up the ashes of
the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and shall put them
beside the altar.
Lev 6:11 ‘And he shall take off his garments, and put
on other garments, and shall bring the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
Lev 6:12 ‘And the fire on the altar is kept burning on
it, it is not put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and
arrange the burnt offering on it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace
offerings –
Maybe this is the way that we secure an
ongoing pleasing relationship with YHVH and our fellow man – We know and are
ready to bring burnt offerings any time of the day or night every day of the
year.
1Pe 2:21 For to this
you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us,h leaving ush an example,
that you should follow His steps,i Footnotes: hNA reads “you”. i 1Co_11:1,
1Jn_2:6.
1Pe 2:22 “who
committed no sin,j nor was deceit found in His mouth,” Isa_53:9.
Footnote: j Joh_8:55, Joh_15:10, 2Co_5:21, 1Jn_3:5.
1Pe 2:23 who, being
reviled, did not revile in return; suffering, did not threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously;
1Pe 2:24 who Himself
bore our sins Isa_53:4 in His body on the timber, so that we,
having died to sins, might live unto righteousnessk – by whose stripes you
were healed. Isa_53:5 Footnote: k Rom_6:2, 1Pe_4:1-2.
1Pe 2:25 For you
were like sheep going astray, Isa_53:6 but have now returned to
the Shepherd and Overseer of your beings.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that
which is in part (Gk – instalment) shall be
inactive. (Lit – whenever maturity
or perfection may be coming, that which is out of an instalment shall be
discarded)
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a
child, I reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I did away with childish
matters.
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, as I also have been
known.
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you Yahveh, our Elohim, King of
the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted
everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, Yahweh giver of the Torah –
Amein
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.