Blessing for the Torah:
Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH
ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher
bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH,
the blessed
One for all eternity. 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.)
“One of the problems the early Greek and Latin
Church fathers had with the Torah is how it connected to everyday life. In
their Greek and Roman worldview, the goal was to escape this mundane physical
world and ascend to the sublime realm of ideas and philosophy where the soul
could be free from the clutches of the fallen universe. In their view of the
transcendent G-d it hardly seemed possible that He could be concerned with
houses, crops, cloths and even latrines. Somehow the haloed image of Messiah
was besmirched by such worldly concerns. They concluded that the true meaning
of the Torah(indeed of all Scripture) was embedded in the mystical layer of its
meaning, extractable only through allegory.
The very fact that Torah often deals with the most
common elements of life shows that YHVH always intended for His truth and
nature to be manifested through human lives. Unlike the pagan gods manufactured
in the minds and hands of fallen mankind whose “wholly other” character forbade
them to have contact with mortals, the Elohim of Yisrael dwells in the midst of
His people. He (Messiah) would descend so they might ascend. From the very
beginning YHVH intended to reveal Himself to man through Messiah – Immanuel –
Elohim with us.”
Isa 1:2
Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth! For יהוה
has spoken, “I have reared and brought up children, but they have transgressed
against Me.
Isa 1:3 An
ox knows its owner and a donkey its master’s crib – Yisra’ěl does not know, My
people have not understood.”
Isa 1:4
Alas, sinning nation, a people loaded with crookedness, a seed of evil-doers,
sons acting corruptly! They have forsaken יהוה,
they have provoked the Set-apart One of Yisra’ěl, they went backward.
Isa 1:5 Why
should you be stricken any more? You continue in apostasy! All the head is sick,
and all the heart faints.
Isa 1:6 From
the sole of the foot, to the head, there is no soundness in it – wounds and
bruises and open sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with
ointment.
Isa 1:7 Your
land is laid waste, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your
land in your presence. And it is laid waste, as overthrown by strangers.
Isa 1:8 And
the daughter of Tsiyon is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden
of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9 Unless
יהוה of hosts had left to us a small remnant, we would have become
like Seḏom, we would have been made like Amorah.
Isa 1:10
Hear the word of יהוה, you rulers of Seḏom; give
ear to the Torah of our Elohim, you people of Amorah! (Jer
23:14; Amos 4:11; Lam 4:6; Rev 11:8)
Let us consider how this remnant lives. – Our Torah portion begins.
Deu 22:8 “When you build a new house, then you shall
make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring blood-guilt on your
house when one falls from it.
“The first instruction given regards the
requirement of a parapet, a small guard rail required to be built around the
edge of a roof or balcony. In the ancient near east, houses were built with
flat roofs which were utilized for various purposes: drying and storing
produce, socializing, and sleeping in warm weather. The roof provided a kind of
“living room” where guests and family could gather. As such, it was imperative
that safety from falling from the roof be provided. A home owner who did not
makes such a provision was liable for the injury or death of anyone who might
fall from his roof. Negligence in such a matter was tantamount to homicide. The
Sages ruled that the parapet should be a minimum of 10 hand-breadths tall (30
inches). The law of the parapet is a good illustration of the Torah itself,
which when obeyed, functions as a “guard rail” for life in general.”
Deu 22:9 “Do not sow your vineyard with different
kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of
your vineyard be defiled.
Deu 22:10 “Do not plough with an ox and a donkey
together. (Mat 11:29)
Deu 22:11 “Do not put on a garment of different kinds,
of wool and linen together.
Drash vs 11 – Wool
comes from an animal, linen comes from the earth. Man can take cotton seed and
produce linen. Man has no role in bring a sheep that provides wool into the
world. We assume that a normal man is not able to bring heaven and earth
together. Only Messiah is able to do this, and who Messiah appoints – his
priesthood.
“Josephus (Ant. 4.208) offers the suggestion that
the prohibition relates to the way those things pertaining to the High Priest
were not to be used by the common man. Since the High Priest wears garments
woven of wool and linen (e.g., Ex 39:8), these are comparable to that of the
anointing oil and incense which was not to be duplicated or used by the common
Israelite (cf.Ex 30:22–27). Interestingly, the very next section of our
parashah deals with tzitzit, which were traditionally made of white linen
threads combined with the dyed woollen thread of teichelet. Since these do not constitute
a garment, they do not violate the prohibition of mixtures. Yet in combining
the two substances, the common Israelite wore something that symbolically
connected to the Ephod of the High Priest. Since the purpose of the tzitzit was
to 
