Shabbat Shalom Kol Yisrael. It is our pleasure to present this week's
Torah Parsha commentary by Nazarene Yisraelite Rabbi T. (Mordecai) Mitchell,
Rabbi and Rosh Zaken of B'nai Yeshurun Nazarene Yisraelite Synagogue,
Kittanning, Pa., and board member of the Union of Nazarene Yisraelite
Congregations. It is our sincere hope and prayer that these commentaries
encourage, inspire, and strengthen the body of Messiah in Kol Yisrael. Our
Parsha this week is Kedoshim (Holy Ones) Vayyiqra (Leviticus)
19:1 20:27. Our
Haftarah is Yehezkiel (Ezekiel) 20:2 20. Our suggested Brit
Chadasha readings are: Luke 7:1 -- 23 and 1 Kefa (1 Peter) 1:13 21. Also,
please read Tehillim (Psalms) 32 and 33.
Before we begin let us remember to count the Omer. This
Shabbat (just after sundown Friday) is the 13th Day of the Omer. Also, this Shabbat we
sanctify the Rosh Chodesh (New Moon of) the month of Iyar, which begins on
Monday evening (May 5, 2008) just after sundown.
Also, I wish to thank each and every one of you for your
prayers for my continuing recovery. Thank you brethren for upholding me.
Progress is being made and Yahweh will work in His own good time, as He sees
fit. Despite our own personal ailments we were able to keep a most wonderful and
blessed Passover Seder with Rebitzen Luz Maria Sepulveda and congregation Luz A
Los Naciones, in Bethlehem, Pa. It is my belief that the recent Chag HaMatzah
observance will lead to physical healing. Now to our
commentary.
Vayyiqra 19:1 And Yahweh spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
2 Speak to all the congregation
of Yisrael, and say to them, 'Be set apart, for I YHWH your Elohim am set
apart.
3 'Each one of you should fear his
mother and his father, and guard My Sabbaths. I am YHWH your
Elohim.
Here we have basic instructions for beginning our journey to
achieve a state of holiness. Without striving for holiness, we can never hope to
have close communion with Almighty Yahweh. It's that simple.
Interestingly, the first step Yahweh tells us to take is to
fear our mother and father. This of course is a reiteration of the Ten
Utterances in Shemoth (Exodus) 20:12. However, we note the reversal of rank, if
you will. For whatever reason, mothers are placed before fathers, where in
Shemoth 20:12, fathers come before mothers. We also may note a reversal of
commandments in that the command to respect (honor or fear) our parents is
placed before the keeping of the Sabbath. (By no means is this to be taken as
instruction to in anyway disregard or diminish the importance of the Sabbath).
Lets us also consider that we honor our parents by honoring Yahweh first.
(Some of us have had good, caring
loving parents. Some may have had one or perhaps both parents who were not so
loving, or were neglectful, or who outright abandoned us. No matter what our
situation, we have to let go of the past, let go of the hurt and pain, and
forgive. We must replace resentment with love. There is no resentment, there is
no hate or hurt in the Heavens, and there will be no such things in the Kingdom
of Yahweh).
Whenever we see a repetition of a theme or word, or when we
see what seems (in this case) to be a deliberate reversal of order, we should
take this as a sign post that Yahweh is using to call our attention to
something.
Why would Yahweh call our attention to a matter by reversing
the order from a previous passage? No doubt, if we invited comment on this
question we'd receive dozens if not hundreds of opinions, and also no doubt,
most if not all would have a relevant and insightful opinion or
response.
However, for lack of time and space, allow this to suffice:
By the reversals seen in Vayyiqra 19:3, perhaps Yahweh is telling us to try
looking at things from a different perspective. Get out of our rut and take a
fresh new look at Scripture each and every time we read it.
What I would like to do this week is to consider only a few
verses from this Parsha. However, I urge all to please read the entire Parsha,
the Haftarah, Brit Chadasha and suggested Psalms and try to come up with your
own personal insights. Some of the ways to do this are, but not limited to,
doing word studies, looking for related (Hebrew) words, doing Gematria studies,
researching subject matter in the extra writings such as the Talmud or Zohar.
One homework assignment, for those willing, is to count the number of times
the phrase I am Yahweh, (Ani YHWH) appears in this Parsha. Most of the Parsha
contains negative commandments (Thou shalt not). How many times do we
encounter positive commands (Thou shalt)? (Please forgive the King James
English).
OK, lets us move on to consider a few more themes.
19:9 'And when you reap the
harvest of your land, do not completely reap the corners of your field or gather
the gleanings of your harvest.
10 'And
do not glean your vineyard or gather every grape of your vineyard, leave them
for the poor and the stranger. I am YHWH.
The principle here is simple, when we don't share what we
have to share we are not using it properly. Here, the Scripture speaks of
physical food. While it is vital to see to the physical (temporal) needs of
those less fortunate than ourselves, we must extend our sharing to the SOD
level, by sharing the same knowledge and wisdom that Almighty Yahweh has shared
with us the things He has allowed us to learn must be shared with those
willing to learn.
We must also practice righteousness, charity and loving
kindness with the stranger who dwells among us, Vayyiqra 19:33, 34. So who is
the stranger. We often tend to favor our brethren when it comes to sharing
temporal and physical needs. But those who are not in the faith may need our
love and compassion as well. We cannot turn our backs on someone in need because
they are a different religion, or perhaps no religion. To shun helping such
people is religion, but it is not spirituality. Truly spiritual people reach out
to anyone in need.
On a final note let us turn to Vayyiqra 20:25 And you shall make a distinction between clean beasts and unclean,
and between unclean birds and clean. And do not make yourselves abominal by
beast or bird, which I have separated from you as unclean.
While on the Pshat level (basic, literal level) this verse
(correctly so) pertains to what we put into our bodies. However, on the Sod
level (higher or mystical) is pertains to all sorts of unacceptable
relationships. Learning to make distinctions (our Havdalah prayer) is vital to
our spiritual survival. In closing we will look at two examples from
Scripture.
The first is in Acts 10. Kepha (Peter) has a vision of all
sorts of creeping, unclean creatures, and he is commanded to Verse 13
...rise up, Kepha, slay and eat. Of course Kepha does not actually kill or eat anything. You can't eat
a vision. However, he knows there is a deeper meaning to this vision and
wonders what it could mean. No doubt through more prayer and meditation, the
answer is revealed to him and he reiterates it in verse 28: ...You know that a Yehudite man is not allowed to associate with, or
go into (the home
of) one of another
race (ethnic
origin). But Elohim has shown
me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
It should be clear that the purpose of Kepha's vision was to
teach him that he must take the message of salvation, the coming of the Kingdom
of Yahweh, and the Two-House message to the very gentiles he was taught to shun.
We must also understand that there is no Torah teaching or principle that
justified taking separation from Gentiles to the extreme practiced and taught by
some in those days.
However, we must learn to draw a line so to speak, when it
comes to making distinctions in certain personal
relationships.
Such instruction is found in Debarim (Deuteronomy) 7:3 4
concerning marriages with those who are not in the faith: 3 And do not intermarry with them you do not give your daughter to
his son, and you do not take his daughter for your
son.
4 for he turns your sons away from
following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the displeasure of YHWH shall
burn against you and promptly destroy you.
(For additional understanding concerning the pitfalls and
dangers of marrying outside the faith please read NehemYah 13:23
27).
In closing we must consider that the commandments or
instruction of the Torah are given to us that we might live. Disregarding them
leads to spiritual death and spiritual death leads to physical death. However,
while we may all die physically, we have the hope of being very much alive and
well spiritually through Yahweh's gift of eternal life.
We have come through Chag HaMatzah, the Festival of
Unleavened Bread. It is our hope and prayer that we will all continue our own
personal deleavening process as we progress toward Shavuoth (Pentecost) and
receiving Yahweh's Torah. May we fulfill Torah as the lifestyle of the redeemed,
our own personal lifestyle. May Almighty Yahweh bless us all on this
journey.
Questions or comments regarding this week's commentary may
be addressed to Rabbi Mitchell via e-mail at:
yoel@arm-tek.net.
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