Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Holiness


There is one commandment that is arguably more inclusive than any other single commandment in the Torah. “You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I, HaShem, am your God.” Leviticus 20:7

This commandment goes beyond simple specific rules of exactly how to lead our lives. This is an entire philosophy of action. We should behave in a way that is representative of God, and of the Torah, and of the Jewish people. According to Sifri, D’varim 11:22, we should be gracious because God is gracious, we should be compassionate because God is compassionate, etc.

Peter also gives us a good insight into this commandment, “Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” I Peter 1:13-16 (RSV)

Even when there is no specific commandment, we should make sure that we act in a way that is consistent with the ideals of the Torah. As Peter points out, this involves keeping in a particular state of mind, not being manipulated just by our personal wants, but by our sense of right and wrong.

“They are to be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, for they bring near the offerings of Hashem, the bread of their God, so they must be holy.” Leviticus 21:6 This verse is directed specifically at the priesthood, but it seems like there is a broader application here aswell. The reason for Israel to be holy like God is holy is so that we can serve God. Habakkuk 1:13 says that God is too pure to look at sin.

The idea of “holiness” in Hebrew, as I’m sure many of you already know, means to be set apart. We could think about it in terms of the special china. You can’t use special china for everyday use. It’s reserved for special dinners, like Thanksgiving, or when there’s important company. Likewise, we are reserved for special occasions. As members of God’s covenant with Abraham there are certain things that we don’t do, and certain things that we do, simply because we are set apart for those special deeds.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A Home in Time.

First, I want to talk a little about counting the omer, and the observances that come along with it, and then I hope you won’t mind if I get a little more philosophical and talk about the reason we have these kinds of observances.

It is written, “And you will count for yourself beginning after the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the omer of the wave offering, seven weeks should be completed.” (Leviticus 23:15) This is why, in our liturgy, every day between Passover and Pentecost we recite “Today is ____ day(s) of the Omer, which are _____ week(s) of the Omer.” This comes after the evening prayers, so that it’s at the beginning of the day (R. Israel Meir Kagan, The Concise Book of Mitzvoth, positive commandment 26).

The “Sabbath” mentioned here is understood by the sages to refer to the festval Sabbath, which is the day of Passover. They give several different reasons why it is not the day after the weekly Sabbath instead of the festival sabbath, but the most self-evident one is given by R. Yose the Galilean, “Does Scripture say ‘On the morrow after the Sabbath that is in the Passover week?’ It merely says, ‘On the morrow after the Sabbath’; and the year is full of Sabbaths, then go and find out which Sabbath is meant.” (Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth 65a) In other words, if it isn’t after the Passover Sabbath, we don’t have any way of knowing which Sabbath it is supposed to follow.

In Temple times, mourning was restricted and the period between Passover and Pentecost was reserved as a time of joy (Mishna, Moed Qatan 3), however, now the first thirty three days of the Omer are observed as a time of semi-mourning in which we do not hold weddings, cut our hair, or listen to live music. This is to commemorate the death of R. Akiva and his disciples by plague during these weeks.

But why do we observe this kind of counting, and these odd semi-mourning practices for people who died two thousand years ago? Why do we keep festivals at all? It’s for the same reason that we build houses. We want a place to go back to where we know we belong, a place that we can center our lives around. Travelling and exploring are good, but at the end of the day it’s good to have a place to go back to, to know where we belong. The festivals do that for us in more ways that one.

First, the festivals set us apart from other members of the population. We know where we belong in society because of the unique practices that make us who we are. They also give us a connection to the past, a reminder of those who have gone before, and that we are a part of the same cycle as they were. Think of it as our home in time. If our houses are homes in space, holidays are homes in time. The rest of the days of the year we may wander about, trying new things, but on the festivals we return home, and we rise above the constraints of time to reconnect with all of our relatives who have celebrated them before.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Consideration

I occasionally post some random theological thoughts, or book/movie reviews, and an assortment of other thoughts in my facebook notes. I'm considering moving that over to here. It would diversify the kind of posts, but I would keep it from getting off the topic of Messianic life and practice. The theology and philosophy would, obviously, be Messianic in nature, and if I review books or music or movies it would be with a Messianic audience in mind.
I'm wondering if this is something my readership would be interested in seeing. It may even replace the monthly "on the issues" posts (I apologize for missing April), if you want it to.

Also, remember that I'm always open to suggestions for topics. I'd also love to see y'all submitting content. If you have something you want to say that's relevant, I'm happy to share this platform, limited as it is.

I hope y'all are still enjoying the content here, and I'm looking for ways to improve it.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Clinging to a Devouring Fire


“You shall fear HaShem your God, you shall serve Him, and you shall cling to Him, and by His Name shall you swear.” Deuteronomy 10:20

I really want to focus on “And you shall cling to him,” which is taken as a separate commandment from the surrounding verse. In Babylonian Talmud, Ketuvoth 111b, R. Eleazar asks the question, “Is it possible to ‘cleave’ to the divine presence concerning which it is written in Scripture, ‘For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire?’” (Soncino) At first, this just sounds like a clever play on words. Obviously, God is not physically a devouring fire, and the Torah does not want us to actually grab handfuls of God and hang on. If we take a second to think about it, though, R. Eleazar has a point.

How can we , weak, sinful, inadequate human beings that we are, take hold of the Living God? R. Eleazar also offers the conclusion, that we should attach ourselves to Torah scholars. According to the Talmud, when we are attached to Torah scholars it is as if we were attached to the Glory of God itself.

Similarly, Peter tells us, “Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” (I Peter 5:5, RSV) R. Yeshua goes into this topic in some detail in Matthew 23, telling us to be subject to the Scribes and Pharisees who sit in the Seat of Moses (2-3), and then that he himself is our Rabbi (8-10). Also, in Matthew 10:25, the Messiah implies that we should attach ourselves to our rabbi and attempt to become like him.

I know that submitting to authorities is an unpopular idea. Even if we agree in theory, we tend to not like it in practice. Having to swallow our pride and do what the authorities tell us rather than what we think is best is not our first instinct. However, it is important for our survival. There is a reason why we have kings and elect presidents, and why armies have only one general for thousands of soldiers. If each of us makes his own rules and goes his own way, we can’t work together for the common good.

To bring this full circle, it could actually be argued that if we do not attach ourselves to Torah scholars, we are not attaching ourselves to the Holy One, blessed be He. Not to listen to, learn from, and obey the sages and heads of the Torah accademies is the same as ignoring God Himself.