Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, April 8, 2021
Shalom,
Today (Thursday) is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. Amazingly, there is a growing list of holocaust deniers. These are people who propose the Holocaust never happened, but is simply an invention of Jewish imagination.
Rabbi Trail: One such person is Abu Mazen. You may know him by his other name, Mahmoud Abbas, who is president of the State of Palestine. He wrote his doctoral thesis on denying the Holocaust.
Let me digress further, after all, this is a RT. Speaking of making things up out of imagination, that pretty much defines the State of Palestine, which is not a State. The Palestinian people, although named after the ancient Philistines are not in any way connected to them. In fact, most of them are or were descended from immigrants to the area, who came originally to benefit financially from the growing Jewish economy. End RT.
The Holocaust is only one example of man’s inhumanity to man, but one that hits very close to home. There are plenty of others, especially in our modern times. You would think the secular humanists (those who believe we can solve the problems in this world by trying harder ourselves) would be winning, but the mounting evidence is that this world is becoming less friendly. Peace on earth and goodwill toward men is not found in the Age of Aquarius, but in the Kingdom of God. The TLV describes these verses of Isaiah as the “Messianic Age Of Shalom.”
Isaiah 11:6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox. 8 A nursing child will play by a cobra’s hole, and a weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Adonai, as the waters cover the sea.
This is more fully explained in the Book of Revelation… Revelation 21:4 He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away.”
I’m not doing justice to Yom HaShoah. In fact, there is no justice for the Shoah, only injustice. The best we can do is honor those who died and those who survived to tell their stories. There are many links on the internet to such stories (and they’re not lying). Go find one today.
My daughter, Jacquelyne, was searching for something not only a little less maudlin about the Holocaust but actually heart warming. She found the only Scottish person to be honored by Yad Vashem (the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum) as “Righteous Among the Nations,” an honor reserved for gentiles who risked their lives to save Jewish people during the Holocaust. Here is one link to her story, but there are others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy5haeVVZ3Q
Day 2 of counting the Omer
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav, Vitzivanu Al Sefirat Ha-Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about the counting of the Omer. Today is five days and no weeks of the counting of the Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about the counting of the Omer. Today is five days and no weeks of the counting of the Omer.
The Hebrew word for vanity is “Hevel” (Hay-Bet-Lamed). It means hot air, to steam or give off vapor. Vanity is like a bubble. It looks good and smells good, but when you put a pin in it, it pops and turns into nothing. I bring this up to simply say, “God is great, and everything else is without consequence.” Let’s agree with John the Immerser… John 3:29b “So now my joy is complete! 30 He must increase, while I must decrease.”
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Thu 8 April-2021 26th of Nisan, 5781 Yom HaShoah
Le 10:12-15 Isa 46 Job 4 (Mt 6) 1 Pet 1
Let’s take note of the last few words of Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46:13b “I put salvation in Zion, My glory in Israel.” In transliterated Hebrew… “V’Natati B’Tzion T’shua L’Yisrael Tif’ar’ti.” God makes a number of promises in Isaiah 46 concerning the future of Israel. Notably, Isaiah 46:3a “Listen to Me, house of Jacob,… 4 Even to your old age I will be the same, until you are gray I will carry you. I have done it; I will bear you; I will carry you; I will deliver you.
So, at the beginning of chapter 46, God promises to deliver the house of Jacob, and at the end of the chapter (in our subject verse), He promises to put Yeshua in Zion and His glory in Israel. But this glory is not the “Kavod” glory we studied a few days ago. This is “Tiferet” glory which could also be called “majesty.” They are both used at the end of Exodus 28:2 You are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron, for splendor and for beauty.
Kavod (weighty seriousness) and Tiferet (beauty worthy of worship) work together. They are different words with similar meanings. They both speak to the revelation of the unity of God. But there is a third “glorious” word. Psalm 118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. 23 It is from Adonai: it is marvelous in our eyes! This uses still another similar word, “Nif’laht” meaning “marvelous” or “wonderfully miraculous.”
I was once asked, “How could all those rabbis be so wrong and you be so right?” My answer is that “all those rabbis” were not wrong. Many were wrong, but there were also many who understood the Scriptures correctly. The “builders” who “rejected” did not rightly understand fulfilled prophesy. Yeshua was despised and rejected of men (Isaiah 53:3), but He has become the foundation stone of the people of God.
Matthew 21:42 Yeshua said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures? ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone. This came from Adonai, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’”
Let’s close today with the testimony of Leopold Cohn, the rabbi who did believe in Yeshua…. https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Blogs2/Yeshua-Explored/Jewish-Friends-of-Jesus-2-Rabbi-Leopold-Cohn He saw the Kavod, the Tiferet and the Niflaht of God through the Messiah, Yeshua.
Week 15
Memory Verse: 1 Samuel 16:7 But Adonai said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have already refused him. For He does not see a man as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks into the heart.”
71 4/07 Monday: 1 Samuel 1-2
72 4/08 Tuesday: 1 Samuel 3; 8
73 4/09 Wednesday: 1 Samuel 9-10
* 74 4/10 Thursday: 1 Samuel 13-14
75 4/11 Friday: 1 Samuel 15-16
Question of the day: Did you read 1 Samuel 14?
Answer: Yes, I did, and I found it to be quite a bizarre story. I’m going to keep this brief and deal with “Tach’lis” (the bottom line). The story shows us how even following signs given by God can lead to wrong conclusions if we’re asking the wrong questions.
King Saul was inquiring of God in error. When the lot correctly fell on Saul’s son, Jonathan, Saul was willing to sacrifice his son and Jonathan did not resist his father, as the obedient son that he was. Then Jonathan was saved by the wisdom of the people (which far outclassed the wisdom of King Saul).
1 Samuel 14:45 But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die? It was he who brought about this great deliverance in Israel! Far be it! As Adonai lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground! For he has worked with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan and he did not die.
The Bible teaches that there is wisdom in many counselors. Proverbs 11:14 Without guidance people fall, with many counselors there is deliverance. (Along with many other places.) Or, as I like to say, none of us is as smart as all of us. This is why I value consensus.