By Eddie Chumney CHAPTER 3 And ye shall observe this thing [Passover] for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever:.. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord ‘s Passover,…
Category: Ancient Paths
Lights of Love and Fear
The Mishnah states that pious men and men of good deeds would dance before them with flaming torches in their hands. The Meor Vashemesh on Sukkos writes that the hands symbolize the love and fear that one has for HaShem, so the Mishnah alludes to the idea that the pious people had a tremendous fire…
Pesach / פסח
Mon, 14 April 2014 at sundown (15th of Nisan, 5774) Pesach / פסח Passover (Hebrew: פֶּסַח Pesach) commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the…
Nazarene Ecclesia
Organization of the Jerusalem Nazarene Ecclesia It soon became apparent, at least by 34-35 CE, that the central church needed an organization to deal with the conflicts such as the Greek adherents to the faith and how to provide for the Greek widows, as well as how to deal with the gentiles who wished to be admitted…
Just be Happy
The Gemara learns from the verse that states vhoyisa ach sameach, and you shall be nothing but joyous, that there is an obligation for one to be joyous on the night of Shemini Atzeres. There is a contradiction in the words of Rashi if this obligation also applies to Shemini Atzeres by day. The commentators ask that…
A Difficult Departure
The Gemara concludes that the halacha regarding Shemini Atzeres is meisav yasvinan beruchei lo mevarchinan, we dwell in the Sukkah but we do not recite a blessing for the mitzvah of dwelling in the Sukkah. The Medrash states that the reason why we celebrate Shemini Atzeres is because HaShem declares, “you, the Jewish People have…
There is only One God
Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai declared, “there are few people of the highest level, i.e. who have received the Divine presence. If there are a thousand, I and my son are from that group. If there are a hundred, I and my son are from that group. If they are two, they are myself and my…
Teaching Torah to a Child
The Gemara states that when a child knows how to talk, his father teaches him Torah and the recitation of Shema. The Gemara states that Torah means that the father should teach him the verse that states Torah tzivah lanu Moshe morashah Kehillas Yaakov, the Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the Congregation of…
Blessings Prevent Anger
The Gemara states that one must recite the blessing for a mitzvah prior to performing the mitzvah. This is referred to as over laasiyasan. There are a number of instances in the Torah where the word over is used and the Medrash and Gemara interpret the word to denote anger. An example of this is regarding the laws…
Gold and Humility
The Mishnah states that the people of <st1:place w:st=”on”><st1:city w:st=”on”>Jerusalem would bind their lulav bundles with gold strings. The Chachamim said to Rabbi Meir that they would first bind the lulav with material of the same species in order to fulfill the mitzvah properly and then they added the gold strings as decoration. It is…
4Q246: 4Q Aramaic Apocalypse
Posted on February 27, 2008 by Jin Yang Kim 4Q246 Manuscript Transcription of 4Q246 Translation of 4Q246 Col. I 1. [ ] rested upon him, he fell befor the throne 2. [… k]ing, rage is coming to the world, and your years 3. […]. . . your vision, all of it is about to come unto the world….
Esrog; Fruit of Desire
The Gemara states that an esrog is described in the Torah as a pri eitz hadar, the fruit of the hadartree, and the word hadar can be interpreted to mean haddar, that dwells. Thus, the esrog is a fruit that dwells on its tree from one year to the next year. It is noteworthy that the Rishonim write that the…
Yeshua Centered Judaism 
You must be logged in to post a comment.