Shalom
Yisrael-Here is a brand new teaching from the heart of Rabbi
Nydle.
Our
Greatest Enemy
Rabbi
Levi bar Ido/E.L. Nydle
Bnai
Avraham
We
have met the enemy, and he is us!-Pogo
Bereshith
12:1
Now YHWH said unto Avram: 'Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land
that I will show thee.
This article will be perhaps the most
controversial and challenging teachings I have written. I can no longer stay
silent to the chaos and divisions within the Two-House Movement. Having been a
part of this Movement for approximately 10 years, I have come to realize that
it is doomed to failure unless we are willing to change, both as individuals and
as a community as a
whole.
The
greatest enemy we have is our own minds. This may be a hard pill for many within
the Movement to swallow, but unless we change our mind-set that has produced
modern Christianity and all its divisions over doctrine, congregations will
continue to be Christians wearing kippot and tallitot. They may look like Yisrael
but inside they are still in bondage to Babylon. If it walks like a duck, and
quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Howver, rather than just point out the
problems, I am suggesting solutions to steer this Titanic back on course and avoid sinking
into the ocean of failed Movements and not fulfilling our purpose for being
called Yisrael.
Yisrael
is a state of mind and a state of spirituality. Yisrael is a code word that
symbolizes a higher plane of spiritual existence and consciousness. Avram (later
to be called Avraham) was told to migrate to this place of spirituality. In
order for YHWH to reveal Himself in a greater manner, Avram had to leave his
country, his place of birth, and his fathers house, which are all metaphors for
his lower state of spirituality. Each of us, as Yisrael, has that same mission
as Avram. This account of Avram tells us to let go of our Ego and way of
thinking if we are to have eternal fulfillment of our purpose. One
cannot understand the universal spiritual/"mystical" message of Avraham without
understanding him within his context, times and culture.
First
and foremost we must recover the truth that we are not part of a Western
religion called Christianity. A Western mentality has replaced the Middle
Eastern revelation of the Creator. The Scriptures are a Hebrew book and written
by a people who thought Hebraically, embraced the world-view of the Hebrews, and
understood the true reality as Hebrews. One of the most predominate errors
teacher make is the misunderstanding of the symbols from the TaNaK that are repeated in the Brit Chadasha. Hebrew symbols cannot be
used in such a way to contradict and undermine their original Jewish
significance. When Biblical archetypal symbols are detached from their Hebraic
roots, the fruit that comes this type of teaching poisons the minds and cripples
the students ability to think as an Yisraelite. This fact alone can broaden the
scope of the present Movements understanding of YHWH and the Scriptures and
their understanding of such difficult books as Revelation and the teachings of
Shaul of Tarsus.
The
Western mentality focuses upon the external and is anchored in literal time,
space, and objectivity. They want to know whether the events in the Scriptures
really happened and tend to interpret all Scripture literally. The Western mind
has always had trouble embracing the truths found in Hebraic legend, tradition,
myth, intuition, and poetry. They have left this for the irrelevant Jewish
mystics, visionaries, and dreamers to study. This viewpoint limits the
perception of reality that determines the boundaries of truth. The Western
mentality demands a yes or no answer and everything is either black or white.
They demand a religious answer that is part of a dying mainline approach
gleaned from the teachings of Christianity because this speaks to their
limited comfort zone of previous Scriptural understanding. The answer to these
questions for the Hebrew is that a yes answer is nonsense that requires
surrendering the intellect and free thinking, while a no answer removes the
account from the realm of the spirit, and mystery.
There is little hope and future in the
Western literal understanding and answers. It is injecting a slow poison into
the blood system of the Body of Messiah that will result in its death. Leaders
and rabbis continue to spoon feed their students knowledge that come from the
stained-glass halls of Christianity and former teachings based on hidden
hostility towards anything that is rooted in Jewish tradition, legend, and
mysticism. Their teaching has just enough Hebrew and knowledge of Judaism to
make it sound authoritative and Hebraic. The reality is that they are placing
non-kosher preconceived interpretations filtered through the glasses of Rome
upon a Jewish book. They reject anything from Jewish sages and are under the
illusion that they have enough education, wisdom, and knowledge of Hebrew to
make up their own calendars, halakah,
and rightly divide the Word of YHWH. They label anyone who uses Kabbalah as
evil
because they simply do not understand it or study it and are unfamiliar with the
sod or hidden teachings of the
Torah text. Many have become idolaters because they have given the teachings of
the past higher authority than they deserve or merit. Their allegiance is to
Rome rather than Yisrael. The more emancipated from the past we become, the more
we realize how many masters we are really serving. This is the foundation of
idolatry-exile from our Higher Self and from spiritual freedom. Emancipation
from psychological idolatry therefore entails an emancipation of the
mind.
In
order for the Two-House Movement to survive, leaders and whole congregations
must be willing to surrender and abandon the established religious security of
their Christian past, and this will be far more radical than most teachers
have ever considered. It will require a whole new perspective for teachers and
students. However, what I am proposing offers something so much better than the
security and comfort of the past. I am asking you to embark upon the wonderful
insecurity of a journey as our father Avraham did, without boundaries and goals.
We have to be willing to break out from our self-interest and Ego and migrate to
the Land of Emancipation from our illusionary land of comfort. Truth can only be
found outside the box in which we live emotionally, physically, and
spiritually.
I
am asking congregations to seek the truth with honesty and humanity apart from
the dogmatic chains of the past and interpretations of yesterday. If you are
willing to do participate in this challenge, then I know that you will
rediscover the true Reality of YHWH and find him as the powerful life-giving
Elohim found in Yahshua min Nazareth. We must approach the Messiah from within
the rich and beautiful traditions of the Hebrew world from which the He
came.
I
understand that many will be in disagreement with this teaching; that is a
given. Perhaps you find yourself being offended by what has been written.
However, until we are willing to admit that the past teachings, interpretations,
observances, and Western mentality are void of any use to us in our new journey,
we as a Movement are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the church. We will
continue to go down the road that has been traveled by many other so-called
Messianic organizations and Movements. We have to ask ourselves from where
did such a distorted view of reality arise and where did we go wrong? Hopefully,
this short teaching will serve as a blueprint for change for the individual and
UONYC as a whole. This is our destiny and calling as
Yisrael.
H1980
הלך hâlak BDB Definition:1) to go, walk, come1a) (Qal)1a1)
to go, walk, come, depart, proceed, move, go away
1a2)
to die, live, manner of life (figuratively)1b) (Piel)1b1) to walk1b2) to walk
(figuratively)1c) (Hithpael)1c1) to traverse1c2) to walk about1d) (Niphal) to
lead, bring, lead away, carry, cause to walk Part of Speech:
verb