Metzora (Leper) Vayikra/Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Metzora(Leper)Vayikra/Leviticus 14:1-15:33
Haftorah Reading: II Kings 7:3-20
 
Bless each of you today. This Shabbat is known as Shabbat HaGadol. It is the last Shabbat before Pesach.
 
The Haftorah portion for the week is II Kings 7:3-20. Before we get to my question for the week, I would like to take a moment and spend a little time on this passage in II Kings. If you remember, the religious leaders of Israel set up a system of weekly readings from the prophets that could be tied to the Torah portion that week. This was done to get around a prohibition on Jews reading the Torah on Shabbat. King Antiochus Epiphanes outlawed the reading of  the Torah around 168 BCE during the time the Seleucidans ruled Israel. 

B’Shallach (Had Let the People Go) Exodus/Sh’mot 13:17-17:16

B’Shallach(Had Let the People Go)Exodus/Sh’mot 13:17-17:16
 
I want to begin by thanking those who took the time to send in an answer to my question this week.  It is an encouragement to me to receive your thoughts on the topics we study.
 
Tomorrow night at sundown begins a special holiday called Tub’shevat or a holiday of the trees. In Israel it is a time when trees are planted.  I thought it was interesting that trees are being given away here in Pensacola this weekend for Arbor Day but the calendar says Arbor Day is in April.  Maybe we are secretly celebrating Tub’shevat.

Sh’mot (Names) Exodus (Sh’mot) 1:1-6:1

Torah PortionSh’mot (Names) Exodus (Sh’mot) 1:1-6:1

Haftorah Reading: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3

Tonight, we begin a new book of Torah. The name of this first portion is Sh’mot in Hebrew. If you translate this word to English it is, “Names” but the book, in English is called Exodus. This book begins by listing the names of the Israelites who went down to Egypt.

Tol’dot (Generations) B’resheet (Genesis) 25-28

Torah Portion:  Tol’dot (Generations) B’resheet (Genesis) 25-28

Haftorah Reading: Malachi 1:1-2:7

Our Torah portion is devoted entirely to Isaac and his family. In fact this is the only portion that gives us much information about the second of the Patriarchs. In our portion we read of many similarities between Isaac and Abraham. Each had to face decades of childlessness, famine, hostile tyrants and rebellious sons. However, they were both very different. Abraham was constantly on the move. Isaac never left the land of Israel. Abraham spent his whole life as a shepherd. Isaac was a shepherd too but he also was a farmer.  Abraham spent his life interacting with people, spreading his faith in God. We see very little of this in Isaac’s life. Isaac was a digger of wells. We read of his digging of wells here in this portion.

B’shallach (After he had let go) Exodus 13-17

Torah Portion:  B’shallach (After he had let go)(Sh’mot)  Exodus 13:17-17:16

Haftorah Reading: Judges 4:4-5:31

Tonight we read a Torah portion that has many important themes some of which we will cover tonight. In English this book carries the name Exodus and in this portion we read of the beginning of this forty year process which in and of itself has much to say to us.

To get us started I would like to cover the question I sent out this week which had to do with the waters of Marah and the manna that fell each day, except for Shabbat.

B’Shallach (After he let go0 Ex 13-17

Torah Portion:  B’Shallach (After he had let go) Exodus 13:17-17:16

HafTorah: Judges 4:4-5:31

Tonight we read of the exit from Egypt by Israel, crossing of the sea and the beginning of their journey to the Promise Land.  I would like us to explore this Torah portion as it might relate to our own spiritual journey. Here in these verses we can see places where Israel grew spiritually and places where they failed – much as we do. In Exodus 3:12 we see the goal of their exit from Egypt. The goal was that they would serve HaShem on the mountain. This journey would be a process. (Exodus 13:17) The people needed time to grow and get Egypt out of them.

Hukath (Regulation) Num. 19:1-22:1

Torah Portion: Hukath (Regulation) Numbers (B’Midbar) 19:1-22:1

HafTorah: Judges 11:1-33

New Testament: John 3:9-21; 4:3-30; 12:27-50

Tonight we look at one of the harder things in Torah to understand. The Red Heifer here in the opening verse we read hukath Torah – The decree of the Torah. It is as if the Torah is saying “This is the point of the whole Torah.” A verse in the New Testament, Mark 12:30-31, reflects the same kind of idea. Here Yeshua gives an answer to a question that was meant to trip Him up. Love G-d and love your neighbor. What do the two have to do with each other?

B’Shallach Exodus 13

Torah Portion: B’Shallach Exodus 13:17-17:16

HafTorah: Judges 4:4-5:31

New Testament: Luke 2:22-24; John 6:25-35; 19:31-37; 1Cor. 10:1-13; II Cor. 8:1-15; Revelations 15:1-4

In this weeks Torah section we see Israel enter a state much like a prior time in man’s history. What was it? It was the time of the Garden of Eden. Here in Sinai they did not have to work for their daily bread and G-d was constantly among them. They went through the redemption from slavery and entered, in some ways, a Garden of Eden. How can we compare this to our state spiritually? We too have been set free. G-d has said He is always with us and never leaves us. He provides us daily with our spiritual food. It is up to us to go and gather it but it is there for our gathering.

Sukkot Reading: Lev. 23, Exodus 33

 

Sukkot Reading: Levitcus 23:39-44, Exodus 33:12-34:26

As we go through this teaching think of someone in your life that would be a good example of a person that lives with joy in their life no matter their circumstances.

I want us to look more closely at Sukkot and the aspect of joy as well as New Testament references to the holiday. We have mentioned before the water drawing ceremony that took place each day during Sukkot. This is when the priests would go and bring water from Shiloach Springs and pour it over the altar as they prayed for the blessing of G-d in the form of abundant rain in the coming year. There is a striking New Testament reference to this water in John 7:37-38. See John 7:2 where the holiday is specifically mentioned. In 7:37 He makes reference to water and the spiritual truth that His water satisfies completely. He goes on to say that from us will also flow rivers of living water. How does this happen in our lives? G-d tabernacles with us, He becomes that Sukkah in which we dwell until we reach heaven. So how does water flow from us? It must flow daily as we live our lives here in this world. This happens I think, as we live a joyful life daily. Not just when everything is going well and we grow fat. But especially when things might not be going so well as the world measures well. How else can we read in James 1:2, “Count it all joy or pure joy whenever you fall into various trials.” How are we to do that?

Ha’azinu Deut. 32

 

Torah Portion: Ha’azinu Deut. 32:1-52

HafTorah: II Samuel 22:1-51

In Deut. 32:1 Moses uses two different verbs when addressing Heaven and Earth. I want us to start by looking at these verses and what it might mean to us spiritually. First, Ha’azinu means to give ear or listen closely, like when you might share something with a close friend. The other verb is a general term for listen. What can we learn from this? The rabbis say the first word signifies the closeness Moses felt to Heaven. I was thinking about this and about what it means for us. First Judaism sees life both spiritual and physical made up of a dichotomy, light and dark, days of the week, Sabbath, Heaven and earth. Given this, we live somewhat in the tension between these divisions.  We, like Moses, should have a close connection to the divine. We should be so close we only have to whisper and the world should not have the power over us that the spiritual has. We should be able to impact the physical world because of our closeness to the spiritual. We need only to whisper and G-d hears us.