In keeping up with the “spirit” of the end of the month from Halloween to the beginning of next month opening with the Christian celebration of All Saints and All Soul’s Day, we’re reposting a series of articles that focus on the UNKNOWN, what lies beyond this life, and all the imaginary creatures spawned by belief systems, religion-sourced or not, that are not based on the TRUTH of the TORAH, the Sinai Revelation. Truly, ignorance is a choice and when people would rather remain in that mental state, then spooks and devils and reasons for celebating the DARK FORCES is part of the culture. Sometimes, we do know better (like us Sinaites) but we simply go along with the merrymaking and the commercialization of it, for that is truly who benefits from such — the businesses that promote them (malls, shops, restaurants, party-organizers, costume makers, candle industry, etc.).

10/30/16 “Do Sinaites celebrate Halloween?”

Revisit: A Hollow Win

10/29/16 “ghosts and spirits, evil creatures” –

TNK” ha satan” vs. OT “Satan”/NT “Devil”

10/21/16 Shabbat Shalom! Sorry to disappear for a day, but Typhoon “LAWIN” (hawk) blew us off the web for 24 hours . . . . If our visitors could not access http://sinai6000.net since Tuesday evening this week, that’s because a super cyclone hit our region and knocked out electrical and digital connections. Indeed, who ever said “man proposes, God disposes?” A bit of trivia from https://www.englishclub.com

Origin: This proverb is a translation from “The Imitation of Christ” by the German-born Thomas à Kempis (c.1380-1471):

“For the resolutions of the just depend rather on the grace of God than on their own wisdom; and in Him they always put their trust, whatever they take in hand. For man proposes, but God disposes; neither is the way of man in his own hands.”

This may be a reflection of a verse in the Bible (Proverbs 16:9): “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” Shakespeare, too, had a similar message in Hamlet by Hamlet: “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.”

Man can strive to build its many versions of ‘Babel’ but once Mother Nature shows up with all her fury and power to dismantle the best of human efforts and genius, we’re at her mercy. Whose NAME do we call on at such times? Not Mother Nature, but YHWH — Creator, Designer, Provider, Protector and ever-Benevolent Merciful and Gracious God. We’re back to normal, just in time for SHABBAT! So enjoy your musical liturgy, dear Sabbath keepers from all over the world, let us enter His Sabbath Sanctuary at sundown.

Here’s the link:

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 3rd Sabbath of October

10/17/16 ” Lunar Sabbath? 12 hour Sabbath.? Do you think its possible that the Sabbath really starts at dawn and ends at dark and not sunset to sunset?”

In Genesis at the culmination of Creation week, the Creator-God sets apart the seventh day as a day to cease from work, for rest of mind, body, spirit. Imagine, no less than the Lord of the Sabbath Himself models a day off from his ‘workweek’ at the beginning of earth time! This precedes the 4th commandment later given at Sinai, so no one should conclude that only Jews are required to observe Sabbath on Saturday. We presume that since the first man and woman (representative humanity, no Jew, no Gentile) were created on day 6, they followed their Creator’s lead and in fact most likely celebrated the first Sabbath of earthly time.

As for the “12-hour Sabbath” — recall that for 6 days before the 1st Sabbath, the Creator set the definition for “yom” (24-hour revolution of the earth, day side exposed to the sun, night side in the dark).“And there was evening, and there was morning”and each day is counted as day one, day two and so forth. From the Genesis account, the custodians of the Torah, Israel, the Jewish sages, take their cue that the biblical day is from sundown to sundown, or sunset to sunset.

Now why is this the best way to reckon “yom” or “day”? Because the Creator is so wise and so smart as to cue humans toward visual signs in His created universe to mark the progress of time. Clocks/watches were non existent then, so how does one reckon the passing of time? Visually! That is why the Israelites are taught to look at the heavens and observe the signs there —sun, moon, stars, etc. How could anyone then have known when a new day had begun if a new day begins at midnight like it does in our day?

Use simple logic in your Torah study, because the Creator/Revelator is VERY logical and scientific and reasonable and VISUAL.

As for lunar Sabbath? Well, the Jewish calendar/biblical calendar is ‘lunar’ while theGregorian calendar is “solar”. Again, the God of Israel taught His people to reckon their month through the first sighting of a sliver of the moon, so they know how to progress through their month as the moon grows to full, then wanes. The Jews go by a different calendar, a lunar calendar; in fact they have just celebrated Rosh Hashanah, their new year and their biblical year is 5777, no countdown to year 0 and count-up to 2016.

Here are posts about the Sabbath

10/12/16 “meaning of uncircumcised lips” – ah, one of our most frequently recurring search terms. It is indeed intriguing why the Hebrew Scriptures use the terms “circumcised” and “uncircumcised” beyond the medical procedure performed on the male sexual organ and that is why we used the scriptural text on the title of the chapter where it occurs. In fact, in Everett Fox’s translation which is what we use, the word is “foreskinned”. The commentary on the chapter itself, Exodus 6, addresses this issue from the Rabbi’s point of view (Midrash), so please go there:

Exodus/Shemoth 6-b: Do you have “uncircumcised lips”?

0/10/16 – “sacrifice” –This word is used by Christianity in connection with the self-sacrifice, death and resurrection of the Christian Savior, Jesus Christ. Since they claim that NT is rooted in OT, and that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22) , it is only proper to check out if there is indeed an OT basis for this and to find out what was YHWH’s original intention for the requirement of animal offerings at the Tabernacle/Temple.

In the context Leviticus 23, such offerings were required for one kind of offense or “sin” — and that is UNintentional sin, meaning, offenses we committed out of ignorance or we had not intended to hurt but caused harm and hurt to our fellowmen nevertheless. Even unintentional killing (not murder) was provided a way out of lex talionis, a life for a life, where offenders who accidentally took a life were offered “sanctuary” in “cities of refuge”. What does the LawGiver and Judge of humanity require for intentional sin? True repentance, a 180 degree turning away from any specific sin; no blood needs to be shed for that.

We are approaching the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, one of the 7 “MY feasts” commanded in Leviticus 23, one of the 3 feasts that is universally relevant, to Jew and Gentile alike and thus, listed among a Sinaite’s MUST OBSERVE. (The other two are the weekly Sabbath and the anniversary of the giving of the Torah on Sinai, in Hebrew “Shavuot”.) October 12, 2016 is the day in the biblical calendar, also the Jewish liturgical calendar. Here are some posts relevant to this feast:

10/05/16 -“yahweh is not the author of confusion” – Yay, our first search entry and it’s not just a ‘term’ but a whole phrase, in fact a quote from one of our posts that a visitor remembered and came back for. But then, which post does that phrase come from? Like the searcher, the way to know is to enter it in the slot that says “Search for . . .” with a magnifying glass beside it and that leads to posts that use the word “confusion” except that in this case . . . none of the posts shows the exact phrase! This isn’t helpful at all, is it? Will get back to you soon as we find the post!

———————————

Welcome October! While we’re waiting for entries in “search terms” which is the purpose for this post, ask us ‘whatsup’ this month?

For one, most of the fall festivals of Leviticus 23 are scheduled the first two weeks of October this year. So observant Israel (and Torah-educated Gentiles) have just welcomed Rosh Hashanah (biblical new year) and immediately following, the nine days of self-examination specifically on horizontal relationships; that is, before our vertical relationship with our Creator/Law-Giver YHWH, for transgressions against Him on Yom Kippur. Then five days after that Day of Repentance comes the Feast of Tabernacles which is celebration time.

Here’s a link for those who want to learn more: http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm.

What non-Jewish celebrations are listed for the month of October? Well, if you got a clue from the image, ‘yours truly’ is a ‘vegetarian’/’vegan’ (is there a difference? Yup!). This month is awareness for the original diet prescribed by the Creator to the first couple while in lush Eden:

Genesis 1:

9 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 2:

2 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Of course meat was added to the human diet in the instructions to Noah after the flood and why not, all vegetation were soaked in water for 40 days and 40 nights and another 150 days thereafter. With animal flesh allowed for human consumption, we then learn about two categories of meat: clean and unclean and for this, you’d have to check out Leviticus 11 plus all our posts on the biblical diet:

What other designations

for October are there?

Well, there’s the

‘spooktacular

phantom-astic

Halloween’

occasion for kids of all ages

have an excuse to ‘costume-ize’. Would you believe we actually have a post about this ghostly-day? Check out: Revisit: A Hollow Win

And of course there’s Oktoberfest where beer-drinkers and sausage-lovers feast till they bellyache.

Here’s a short list of this month’s focus:

Health issues: breast cancer, lupus & diabetes, mental health, pregnancy-infant-loss, down syndrome, ADHD, autism, dwarfism,

Food focus: fair trade, pizza, popcorn, seafood, ham, apple jacks, cookies

Awareness: pharmacists, clergy, sarcasm, and adopt-a -shelter-dog, community safety, music history, energy, computer learning, disability-employment, , longevity, bullying, domestic violence, etc.

For the October born, do you fit this profile?

Image from www.pinterest.com

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of October

October 15, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from storehouse.sonsofzadok.com

“Blessed is the Eternal Power

Who inspires our people to kindle the lights of Shabbat.

Blessed is the Source of Life and Light.”

Lord YHWH,

we join observant Israel

in welcoming Your Queen of Days

with the traditional kindling of the Sabbath lights

which begins the celebration of Your weekly Sabbath,

truly a memorial to You as Creator.

We honor You, Lord YHWH,

as the Source of all Existence,

Whose omnipresence inhabits sacred places,

‘sanctuaries’ set apart for the worship of You,

Who ordained a ‘sanctuary in time’

such as the Sabbath which You Yourself observed

on day seven of week one of earth-time.

Before there was Israel,

before nations were formed,

before the Revelation on Sinai,

before Commandment IV of the decalogue,

there was the Sabbath instituted by You,

to stress its universality,

that it is for all humanity to remember to honor You,

As the One who has no beginning and no end,

Who spoke “let there be” and it was so,

As Creator of all that exist, visible and invisible.

How could we fail to celebrate

this weekly appointed time

with our God and King,

when You have commanded Your people

to remember the ‘first’ in your Creation

that we should set apart,

that ‘first’ you blessed, sanctified and designated

for the most precious gift of rest,

for the benefit of humankind and beasts of burden,

for all who toil non-stop to take a refreshing break

from six days of striving and labor and routine,

Thank You, O Lord of the Sabbath,

for Your holy Sabbath.

Image from michellederusha.com

You have likewise blessed all Sabbath-keepers

by simply granting us not only with a day of rest

but also by adding blessings of joy in heart and peace of mind, with insight, increased understanding

and divine wisdom derived from our Sabbath study

and discussion of Your instructions for living,

Your Torah.

Truly, how blessed are those who follow Your lead

in celebrating this holiest of days!

SCRIPTURE READING on the SABBATH:

[JPS — we have substituted the Tetragrammaton Name YHWH for “the LORD”.]

Isaiah 56

1 Thus saith YHWH:

Keep ye justice, and do righteousness;

For My salvation is near to come,

And My favour to be revealed.

2 Happy is the man that doeth this,

And the son of man that holdeth fast by it:

That keepeth the sabbath from profaning it,

And keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

3 Neither let the alien,

That hath joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying:

‘YHWH will surely separate me from His people’;

Neither let the eunuch say:

‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’

4 For thus saith YHWH

Concerning the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths,

And choose the things that please Me,

And hold fast by My covenant:

5 Even unto them will I give in My house

And within My walls a monument and a memorial

Better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting memorial,

That shall not be cut off.

6 Also the aliens, that join themselves to YHWH, to minister unto Him,

And to love the name of YHWH,

To be His servants,

Every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it,

And holdeth fast by My covenant:

7 Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer;

Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices

Shall be acceptable upon Mine altar;

For My house shall be called

A house of prayer for all peoples.

8 Saith the Lord GOD who gathereth the dispersed of Israel:

Yet I will gather others to him, beside those of him that are gathered.

Isaiah 58

13 If thou turn away thy foot because of the sabbath,

From pursuing thy business on My holy day;

And call the sabbath a delight,

And the holy of YHWH honourable;

And shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways,

Nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof;

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in YHWH,

And I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,

And I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father;

For the mouth of YHWH hath spoken it.

Isaiah 59

21 And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith YHWH;

My spirit that is upon thee,

and My words which I have put in thy mouth,

shall not depart out of thy mouth,

nor out of the mouth of thy seed,

nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,

saith YHWH, from henceforth and for ever.

Image from ourdailyblessinglife-amyb.blogspot.com

In the course of our daily living, may we never miss seeing Your Hand in our lives and those of our loved ones:

homes that shelter us;
provisions for each day;
nourishment for our body;
opportunities where we are able to use our gifts and talents;
learned and natural skills that enable us to earn a living and to sustain our lifestyle;
special privileges we enjoy that have not been accessible to others;
health which is true wealth;
loving relationships that are blessings and even those that are placed before us as a test of our character;
extended existence on earth with quality of life;
living in a country that enables us to to enjoy freedom and rights and privileges;
and many more . . .

Image from www.mysarshalom.com

Finally, we thank You for daily provisions for each one of us,

symbolized by the bread we share together;

We thank You for the joy we derive from people in our lives—family and friends, neighbors and co-workers, those in our faith community.

As we raise this glass of wine which symbolizes our joy,

we celebrate Your Life in us, to Life, L’chaim, Mabuhay!

Image from www.torahstudies.com

HAVDALAH

Blessed are You, YHWH, our God and our King,

for the joy in every Sabbath celebration,

for the fellowship of like-minded believers,

for the knowledge You have made known to us through Your Torah,

and for the time we have left before next sundown

to rest in the peace that You grant us

on this blessed and holy seventh day.

Image from elohists.blogspot.com

Shabbat shalom!

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 3rd Sabbath of October

October 15, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

[Tune: “Remember the Sabbath” from the Seventh Day Adventist, tune heard on TV/Revised Lyrics and added Stanzas]

Image from www.pinterest.com

1. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, honor the day:

Yahuwah commands us to love Him wholly, and we obey;

That we may know Him and learn His sacred ways,

Keeping the Sabbath holy in all our days.

2. Yahuwah, Creator, ceased from creating on the seventh day;

He blessed it, declared it the 4th commandment,

never changed the day;

So why does the world today observe another day,

They forgot His Sabbath, the seventh day.

3. But we who’ve discovered the ancient pathway,

where Jews have led the way;

Where Sabbath is sacred and set apart from

all the other days;

We’ve come to worship the God Whose Day is blest,

We are His Sabbath-keepers, in Him we rest.

4. So enter His Presence with hearts thanks-giving,

worship our LORD;

And fill up this ‘house’ with our voices ringing,

may we be heard!

For we are longing to lift our hearts in praise,

Keeping the Sabbath holy, in all our days.

YAHUWAH, Lord of Sabbath, in You we rest!

Image from systematichymnology.co

[Original Tune: Thou didst leave Thy Throne/Revised Lyrics]

1. Thou didst leave Thy throne, yes Thy heavenly throne, to reach all humanity,

First to Adam and Eve who did not believe, in Thy image they failed to be . . .

Thou sent them away from Eden but never away from Thee.

2. Upon firstborn Cain, so the story goes, Thou didst leave a mercy mark,

Even Noah, his sons, his whole family Thou saved from calamity.

With a vow and a sign, a rainbow, and hope for humanity.

3. From idolatrous Terah Thou found Thy chosen in Abram, Abraham,

Who with Sarah, begot him a promised heir, the promised Isaac.

And soon after there came Jacob, renamed, known as Israel.

4. Thou didst leave Thy throne, yes Thy heavenly throne, but not only for Israel,

Thou chose them, and led them, and fed them and gave them Thy Will for humanity;

Thou made them a ‘light for gentiles’, a ‘kingdom of Priests’ for Thee.

5. Through Thy chosen nation of Israel, Thou has shown to a darkened world,

That Thy Light still shines and Thy Will fulfilled, Thou art RULER of all who see,

Come into my heart, YAHUWAH, there’s a throne in my heart for Thee.

[Tune: Oh how He loves you and me/Revised Lyrics]

Image from persevereandtrust.blogspot.com

Bless those who gather this day,

worshippers, here or away,

Giver of Life, You have granted us time,

Life-time to seek You,

serve You and love You,

What more could we ask of You!

Loved ones with us and apart,

surely they’re gifts from Your heart,

We ask Your blessing for each one we love,

graces and mercies,

watchful protection,

May they know You as we do!

[Take time to mention the names of your loved ones: family, kin, friends and acquaintances, even foes, if any. ]

Image from www.pinterest.com

HAVDALAH

[Original Tune: O Mighty Cross/Revised Lyrics]

Image from www.pinterest.com

1. O Lord of LIFE Who knew my name,

before I came to know Your Name,

Your very breath inspires my soul,

my very being, spirit, heart, my mind, my all.

2. O God of Truth, how can I know . . .

the way to Life, the Way to You,

Your guiding Light, Your Words of Life,

have led me to the path, the only path to You.

3. YAHUWAH Lord, our God of Love,

Who’s taught Your Way, Who’s shown Your Will,

Your Torah says all I should know,

there is no other Source of Truth, it is just so.

4. Immortal God, Who was and is,

from now through all eternity,

You are the First, You are the Last,

no other God is there on earth or heaven above.

Image from grabpage.info1180

Leviticus/Waiqrah

Sacrificial goat, Scapegoat . . . what about the Lamb? Not on Yom Kippur.

October 12, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[First posted on September 26,2012.

Who better than the Rabbis best explain the feasts of Israel, and particularly Yom Kippur which is observed sundown Oct. 12 to sundown Oct. 13 this year of 5777/2016. We checked all the Jewish websites on our links and decided the best teaching article to feature here is that of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. And so, readers may go to his website to read this article, or read it here, although there is so much more to read in his website so please spend time to learn as much as you can absorb of the Chief Rabbi’s teachings.]

Acharei Mot(Leviticus 16-18)

The Scapegoat

The strangest element of the service on Yom Kippur, set out in Leviticus 16:7-22, was the ritual of the two goats – one offered as a sacrifice, the other sent away into the desert “to Azazel.” They were brought before the High Priest, to all intents and purposes indistinguishable from one another; they were chosen to be as similar as possible to one another in size and appearance. Lots were drawn, one bearing the words “To the Lord,” the other, “To Azazel.”

The one on which the lot “To the Lord” fell was offered as a sacrifice. Over the other the high priest confessed the sins of the nation, and it was then taken away into the desert hills outside Jerusalem where it plunged to its death. Tradition tells us that a red thread would be attached to its horns, half of which was removed before the animal was sent away. If the rite had been effective, the red thread would turn to white.

Sin and guilt offerings were common in ancient Israel, but this ceremony was unique. Normally confession was made over the animal to be offered as a sacrifice. In this case confession was made over the goat not offered as a sacrifice. Why the division of the offering into two? Why two identical animals whose fate, so different, was decided by the drawing of a lot? And who or what was Azazel?

The word Azazel appears nowhere else in Scripture, and three major theories emerged as to its meaning. According to the Sages and Rashi it means “a steep, rocky or hard place,” in other words a description of its destination. According to Ibn Ezra (cryptically) and Nachmanides (explicitly), Azazel was the name of a spirit or demon, one of the fallen angels referred to in Genesis 6:2, similar to the goat-spirit called Pan in Greek mythology, Faunus in Latin. The third interpretation is that the word simply means “the goat [ez] that was sent away [azal].” Hence the English word “(e)scapegoat” coined by William Tyndale in his 1530 English translation of the Bible.

Maimonides offers the most compelling explanation, that the ritual was intended as a symbolic drama:

There is no doubt that sins cannot be carried like a burden, and taken off the shoulder of one being to be laid on that of another being. But these ceremonies are of a symbolic character, and serve to impress men with a certain idea, and to induce them to repent; as if to say, we have freed ourselves of our previous deeds, have cast them behind our backs, and removed them from us as far as possible. (Guide for the Perplexed 3:46)

This makes sense, but the question remains. Why was this ritual different from all other sin or guilt offerings? Why two goats rather than one?

The simplest answer is that the High Priest’s service on Yom Kippur was intended to achieve something other and more than ordinary sacrifices occasioned by sin. The Torah specifies two objectives, not one: “On this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins” (Leviticus 16:30). Normally all that was aimed at was atonement, kapparah. On Yom Kippur something else was aimed at: cleansing, purification, tahara. Atonement is for acts. Purification is for persons. Sins leave stains on the character of those who commit them, and these need to be cleansed before we can undergo catharsis and begin anew.

Sin defiles. King David felt stained after his adultery with Batsheva: “Wash me thoroughly of my iniquity and cleanse me of my sin” (Psalm 51: 4). Shakespeare has Macbeth say, after his crime, “Will these hands ne’er be clean?” The ceremony closest to the rite of the scapegoat – where an animal was let loose rather than sacrificed – was the ritual for someone who was being cleansed of a skin disease:

If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease, the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. He is then to take the live bird… And he is to release the live bird in the open fields. (Leviticus 14:4-7)

The released bird, like the scapegoat, was sent away carrying the impurity, the stain. Clearly this is psychological. A moral stain is not something physical. It exists in the mind, the emotions, the soul. It is hard to rid oneself of the feeling of defilement when you have committed a wrong, even when you know it has been forgiven. Some symbolic action seems necessary. The survival of such rites as Tashlich, the “casting away” of sins on Rosh Hashanah, and Kapparot, “expiations” on the eve of Yom Kippur – the first involving crumbs, the second a live chicken – is evidence of this. Both practices were criticized by leading halachic authorities yet both survived for the reason Maimonides gives. It is easier to feel that defilement has gone if we have had some visible representation of its departure. We feel cleansed once we see it go somewhere, carried by something. This may not be rational, but then neither are we, much of the time.

That is the simplest explanation. The sacrificed goat represented kapparah, atonement. The goat sent away symbolized tahara, cleansing of the moral stain. But perhaps there is something more, and more fundamental, to the symbolism of the two goats.

* * *

SHAKESPEARIAN TRAGEDY

The birth of monotheism changed the way people viewed the world. In polytheism, the elements, each of which is a different god with a different personality, clash. In monotheism, all tension – between justice and mercy, retribution and forgiveness – is located within the mind of the One God. The sages often dramatized this, in Midrash, as a dialogue between the Attribute of Justice [middat ha-din] and the Attribute of Compassion [middat ha-rachamim]. With this single shift, external conflict between two separate forces is reconceptualized as internal, psychological conflict between two moral attributes.

This led to a reframing of the human situation. Jack Miles says something profoundly interesting about the difference between Greek and Shakespearian tragedy:

The classic Greek tragedies are all versions of the same tragedy. All present the human condition as a contest between the personal and the impersonal with the impersonal inevitably victorious… Hamlet is another kind of tragedy… The contest is unlike that between doomed, noble Oedipus and an iron chain of events. It is, instead, a conflict within Hamlet’s own character between ‘the native hue of resolution’ and ‘the pale cast of thought.’

Monotheism relocates conflict from “out there” to “in here,” transferring it from an objective fact about the world to an internal contest within the mind. This flows from our belief in God but it changes our view of the soul, the self, the human personality. It is no coincidence that the struggle between Jacob and Esau, which begins in the womb and brings their relationship to the brink of violence, is resolved only when Jacob wrestles alone at night with an unnamed adversary – according to some commentators, a portrayal of inner, psychological struggle. The next day, Jacob and Esau meet after a 22-year separation, and instead of fighting, they embrace and part as friends. If we can wrestle with ourselves, the Bible seems to suggest, we need not fight as enemies. Conflict, internalized, can be resolved.

* * *

RECLAIM THE WILD

In most cultures, the moral life is fraught with the danger of denial of responsibility. “It wasn’t me. Or if it was, I didn’t mean it. Or I had no choice.” That, in part, is what the story of Adam and Eve is about. Confronted by their guilt, the man blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent. Sin plus denial of responsibility leads to paradise lost.

The supreme expression of the opposite, the ethic of responsibility, is the act of confession. “It was me, and I offer no excuses, merely admission, remorse, and a determination to change.” That in essence is what the High Priest did on behalf of the whole nation, and what we now do as individuals and communities, on Yom Kippur.

Perhaps then the significance of the two goats, identical in appearance yet opposite in fate, is simply this: They are both us. The Yom Kippur ritual dramatized the fact that we have within us two inclinations, one good (yetzer tov), one bad (yetzer hara). We have two minds, one emotional, one rational, said Daniel Goleman in Emotional Intelligence. Most recently Daniel Kahneman has shown how the same duality affects decision-making in Thinking, Fast and Slow. It is the oldest and newest duality of all.

We do not deny our sins. We own them.

The two goats – the two systems, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex – are both us. One we offer to God. But the other we disown. We let it go into the wilderness where it belongs and where it will meet a violent death. Ez azal: the goat has gone. We have relinquished the yetzer hara, the instinct-driven impetuosity that leads to wrong. We do not deny our sins. We confess them. We own them. Then we let go of them. Let our sins, that might have led us into exile, be exiled. Let the wilderness reclaim the wild. Let us strive to stay close to God.

Monotheism created a new depth of human self-understanding. We have within us both good and evil. Instinct leads to evil, but we can conquer evil, as God told Cain: “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you can master it” (Genesis 4:6). We can face our faults because God forgives, but God only forgives when we face our faults. That involves confession, which in turn bespeaks the duality of our nature, for if we were only evil we would not confess, and if we were wholly good we would have nothing to confess. The duality of our nature is symbolized by the two identical goats with opposite fates: a vivid visual display of the nature of the moral life.

Hence a supreme irony: the scapegoat of Acharei Mot is the precise opposite of the scapegoat as generally known. “Scapegoating,” as we use the word today, means blaming someone else for our troubles. The scapegoat of Yom Kippur existed so that this kind of blame would never find a home in Jewish life. We do not blame others for our fate. We accept responsibility. We say mipnei chata-einu, “because of our sins.”

Those who blame others, defining themselves as victims, are destined to remain victims. Those who accept responsibility transform the world, because they have learned to transform themselves.

Leviticus/Waiqrah

Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 16 – What? They cast lots for a sacrificial goat and a scapegoat, wasn’t ‘Blood Atonement’ all about a “Sacrificial Lamb”?

October 12, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

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[First posted inv2013. The instructions for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are found in this chapter. For an informative discussion of this most important holiday of the Jewish year, please go to http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm except remember that Jews today observe this commanded feast without a Temple and therefore without the animal sacrificial offerings.

The original commandment was given in the context of the wilderness wanderings. during the time the Tabernacle in the wilderness was built. The animals to be offered on this day were specific: a young bull for the High Priest, and 2 goats for the nation. The best and most thorough explanation we have read on this topic is by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:

Sacrificial goat, Scapegoat . . . what about the Lamb? Not on Yom Kippur.

Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 16

1 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe

after the death of the two sons of Aharon,

when they came-near before the presence of YHVH and died;
2 YHVH said to Moshe:

Speak to Aharon your brother,

(so) that he (does) not enter, at (just) any time, the Holy-shrine, inside the curtain, facing the Purgation-cover that is on top of the Coffer,

that he (does) not die;

for in a cloud I make-myself seen, over the Purgation-cover.
3 In this (manner) is Aharon to enter the Holy-shrine:

with a bull, a young-one of the herd, for a hattat-offering, and a ram for an offering-up.
4 In a holy tunic of linen he is to dress,

linen breeches are to be upon his (naked) body,

with a sash of linen he is to gird himself,

with a turban of linen he is to turban himself;

they are garments for the Holy-shrine.

When he has washed his body in water, he may dress in them.
5 From the community of the Children of Israel he is to take two hairy goats for a hattat-offering, and one ram for an offering-up.
6 And Aharon is to bring-near the bull for the hattat-offering that is his,

so that he may effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household.

AST: He shall confess his sins and his household’s. An essential part of repentance and hence of atonement, confession is one of God’s greatest gifts. He permits a person to erase his past so that he can begin a life unhampered by the corrosive effects of past sins.

7 He is to take the two hairy (goats) and is to stand them before the presence of YHVH,

at the entrance to the Tent of Appointment.
8 Aharon is to place upon the two hairy (goats) lots,

one lot for YHVH and one lot for Azazel.

AST: The next step in the service was to select two he-goats: one that would become a national sin-offering and a second that would become the bearer of all the people’s sins, as it were.

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9 Aharon is to bring-near the hairy-one for which the lot for YHVH came up,

and is to designate it as a hattat-offering;
10 and the hairy-one for which the lot of Azazel came up is to be left standing-alive, before the presence of YHVH,

to effect-atonement upon it,

to send it away to Azazel into the wilderness.
11 Then Aharon is to bring-near the bull of the hattat-offering that is his,

effecting-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household;

he is to slay the bull of the hattat-offering that is
his,
12 and is to take a panful of fiery coals from atop the slaughter-site, from before the presence of YHVH,

and (two) fistfuls of fragrant-incense, finely-ground,

and is to bring (it) inside the curtain.
13 Then he is to place the incense on the fire, before the presence of YHVH,

so that the cloud (from) the incense covers the Purgation-cover that is over the Testimony,

so that he does not die.
14 Then he is to take (some) of the blood of the bull

and sprinkle (it) with his finger on the front of the Purgation-cover, eastward,

and before the Purgation-cover he is to sprinkle, seven times, some of the blood with his finger.

AST: The special service of the Kohen Gadol’s (High Priest) own bull and the people’s he-goat is performed in the Holy of Holies. 16:17 Recanati and R’Bachya explain that on Yom Kippur the KG had to approach God, as it were, without any intermediary between them.

15 Then he is to slay the hairy-goat of the hattat-offering that is the people’s,

and bring its blood inside the curtain,

doing with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull:

he is to sprinkle it on the Purgation-cover, and before the Purgation-cover.
16 So he is to effect-purgation for the Holy-shrine

from the tum’ot of the Children of Israel, from their transgressions, for all of their sins,

and thus he is to do with the Tent of Appointment, which dwells with them in the midst of their tum’ot.
17 No human is to be in the Tent of Appointment when he enters it to effect-atonement in the Holy-shrine, until he goes out.

He is to effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the entire assembly of Israel.
18 Then he is to go out to the slaughter-site that is before the presence of YHVH, and effect-purgation on it,

he is to take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the hairy-goat

and is to place (it) on the horns of the slaughter-site, all around;
19 he is to sprinkle on it from (the rest of) the blood with his finger seven times;

he is to purify it and he is to hallow it

from the tum’ot of the Children of Israel.
20 When he has finished purging the Holy-shrine and the Tent of Appointment and the slaughter-site,

he is to bring-near the live hairy (goat),

AST: Though the commandment to send a “scapegoat” to Azazel is a chok, (decree) that is beyond human intelligence, commentators have attempted to offer rationales”

The ritual of the scapegoat inspires the Jews to repent, for it symbolizes that people can remove from themselves the burden of past sins.
The two identical he-goats symbolize that every person must choose between good and evil; those who do not choose holiness are inevitably pushing themselves toward a wasteland of spiritual destruction (R’Hirsch).

21 Aharon is to lean his two hands on the head of the live hairy (goat)

and is to confess over it

all the iniquities of the Children of Israel, all their transgressions, for all of their sins;

he is to place them upon the head of the hairy (goat)

and is to send it free by the hand of a man for the occasion, into the wilderness.
22 The hairy (goat) is to bear upon itself all their iniquities, to a land cut off;

he is to send-free the hairy (goat) in the wilderness.
23 Then Aharon is to enter the Tent of Appointment and is to strip off his linen garments in which he dressed when he entered the Holy-shrine,

and is to leave them there;
24 then he is to wash his flesh in water, in a holy place, and is to dress in his garments,

he is to go out and sacrifice his offering-up and the offering-up of the people;

so shall he effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.
25 And the fat of the hattat-offering he is to turn-into-smoke upon the slaughter-site.
26 Now the one who sent free the hairy (goat) for Azazel is to scrub his garments and wash his flesh in water;

after that he may reenter the camp.
27 And the bull of hattat and the hairy (goat) of hattat whose blood was brought in to effect-purgation in the Holy-shrine are to be taken outside the camp,

and in fire are to be burned their skins, their flesh, and their dung.
28 And (each) one who burns them is to scrub his garments and wash his flesh in water;

after that he may reenter the camp.
29 And it shall be for you a law for the ages:

in the seventh New-moon, on the tenth after the New-moon

you are to afflict your selves;

any-kind of work you are not to do-

(both) the native and the sojourner that sojourns in your midst.
30 For on this day atonement is to be effected for you,

to purify you from all your sins;

before the presence of YHVH, you will become-pure.

AST: Sacrificial service can serve only to make God receptive to one’s personal repentance; then the sinner must make himself worthy of God’s forgiveness. Only through personal repentance and self-cleansing can a person “be cleansed of all his sins before God” (Sforno).] R’Elazar ben Azariah expounds that repentance and the Yom Kippur service can effect atonement only for sins before Hashem, i.e., against God; one who sinned against his fellow must first appease his fellow.

31 It is a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing for you,

you are to afflict your selves,

a law for the ages.

32 The priest shall effect-purgation who has been anointed and whose hand has been filled to act-as-priest in place of his father.

He is to dress in garments of linen, garments of the Holy-area;

33 he is to effect-purgation for the Holiest of Holy-shrines,

for the Tent of Appointment and the slaughter-site he is to effect-purgation,

and for the priests and for all the people of the assembly he is to effect-atonement.

34 This shall be for you a law for the ages,

to effect-atonement for the Children of Israel from all their sins,

once a year.

And he did as YHVH commanded Moshe.

TORAH STUDY, Leviticus/Waiqrah

TORAH 101: What were the animal sacrifices all about? – Jewish Perspective

October 10, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[First posted in 2012. This is from Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History, by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. What is strange to us gentiles who stand to gain from an informative book like this, is the fact that the book was actually intended for Jews who are— what Telushkin calls —“Jewishly illiterate,” meaning “the most basic terms in Judaism, the most significant facts in Jewish history and contemporary Jewish life, are either vaguely familiar or unknown to most modern Jews.” At this time of the year when Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement is upon us, we are featuring the chapters of this book that are relevant to the celebration of the fall feasts. Reformatting and highlights ours.]

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SACRIFICES – Priests and Levites/Kohanim and Levi’im

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ANIMAL SACRIFICES WERE TO ANCIENT JEWS WHAT PRAYER SERVICE are to their modern descendants: the most popular expression of divine worship. About 150 of the Torah’s 613 laws deal with sacrifices.

Maimonides, the greatest medieval Jewish philosopher, believed that animal sacrifices were instituted to wean people from the ancient and horrific practice of human sacrifice. In fact when God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22;11-13), the Patriarch immediately sacrificed a ram instead (see The Binding of Isaac).

The most famous sacrifice was the one offered on Passover, and known as the Paschal lamb. It commemorated God’s deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. A Jew would bring a lamb to the “Temple/Beit ha-Mikdash in Jerusalem, and give it to a priest, who would slaughter the animal, sprinkle its blood upon the altar, and burn its entrails and fat. The remainder would be returned to the person who had donated the lamb. The animal was then taken back to the donor’s family, which would eat the lamb, along with matzah, bitter herbs, and other foods. The festive meal was interspersed with lengthy discussions of the Exodus from Egypt. The roasted shankbone that Jews still place on the Seder plate on Passover commemorates this Paschal lamb.

From the time King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem about 950 B.C.E., Jewish law stated that sacrifices were to be offered there only. A subgroup within the tribe of Levi, known as Kohanim (Priests) were responsible for offering the sacrifices. The tribe of Levi was the only tribe not allocated territory when the Jews entered Canaan. They were assigned 48 cities in Israel (Numbers 35:1-8), and were supported through an annual tithe assessed from other tribes. It was from the tribe of Levi that the country’s spiritual leaders and teachers were appointed. The Levites also assisted the Kohanim at the Temple.

Some sacrifices were brought every morning and afternoon. To this day, the morning and afternoon services (shakharit and minkha) commemorate these daily Temple offerings. Because the afternoon service was offered at about 12:30 P.M., Jewish law forbids minkha to be prayed before then. Other sacrifices were offered by those wishing to atone for violations of Torah laws through negligence. Still others were gift-offerings to God.

In general, some parts of the sacrificed animal were reserved for the priests to eat; others were given to the person who brought the sacrifice. One kind of sacrifice, however, involved the animal being wholly burned, and came to be known in English as a holocaust.

Only kosher, domesticated animals—cattle, sheep, goats, and birds–could be used for sacrifices. The rabbis explained: “The bull flees from the lion, the sheep from the wolf, the goat from the tiger. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘You shall not bring before Me such as pursue, but only such as are pursued'” (Vayikra Rabbah 27). By law, the sacrificed animals had to be without blemish (Leviticus 3:6, and 22: 17-25).

Besides animals, people brought offerings of their first fruits, wheat, and barley to the Temple.

When the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., many Jews despaired of ever gaining forgiveness for their sins; there was now no place, after all, where they could offer sacrifices. The great first-century rabbi “Yochanan ben Zakkai revolutionized Jewish thinking with his pronouncement that acts of “loving-kindness now superseded sacrifices as the preferred way of attaining God’s forgiveness. In addition to deeds of loving-kindness, the Talmud later taught that “studying of Torah is a greater act than bringing daily sacrifices” (Megillah 3b).

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Indeed, from the Jewish perspective, the Christian emphasis on the atoning sacrifice and atoning blood of Jesus is regarded as a throwback to human sacrifice.

Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative Judaism each has distinctive ways of relating to the Temple’s sacrifices in their services.

Reform Judaism simply has dropped reference to the entire subject from its prayerbook: It views sacrifices as a primitive stage in Jewish religious development, one in which there is no reason to take pride.
The Orthodox prayerbook, on the other hand, repeatedly reiterates the hope that the Temple will be rebuilt, and sacrifices offered there again.
The Conservative prayerbook has changed all future references to sacrifices to the past tense: It speaks proudly of the sacrifices that once were brought before God at the Temple, but expresses no desire to have them reinstituted.

Image from israelshield.blogspot.com

Today, of course, sacrifices cannot be offered by religious Jews because there is no temple in Jerusalem. The reason the Temple cannot be built is that centuries ago Muslims built two mosques on the site of the Beit haMikdash. Various extremist Jewish groups periodically have plotted to blow up the mosques of Al-Aksa and the Dome of the Rock, thereby supposedly enabling the Temple to be rebuilt. Instead, such an act might lead to Israel’s destruction by provoking an international Muslim jihad (holy war) against the Jewish state.

Although few religious Jews would say so publicly, many of them are not heartbroken that these mosques prevent the Temple from being rebuilt. While traditional Jewish theology commits Orthodox Jews to pray for the reinstitution of sacrifices, many are ambivalent about the prospect of again publicly slaughtering and sacrificing animals. In the aftermath of the Six-Day War, other religious Jews established the Ateret Kohanim Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem. One of the school’s primary curricular concerns is the laws of sacrifices, and preparing the Kohanim among its students to resume someday their functions at a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.

OPINION

“Without God, everything is permitted.” – Dostoyevsky

October 6, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[We thank a visitor who clicked this post that has been buried in our 700+ list of articles. This was first posted in 2012; reposted 2014 & 2015 so why not revisit every year hereafter, since YHWH’s Truth does not change although our knowledge and understanding of it should. In fact that is what we consider as the true meaning of ‘progressive revelation’ since YHWH’s complete revelation not only reaches us when we are exposed to the original and unadulterated Hebrew Scriptures, but it also gets ‘digested’ only as often as we feed ourselves– i. e., read Torah and ponder its meaning and better yet, seriously study it like the Rabbis do. That revelation to the individual is what is progressive, not the Revelation itself which is complete.

For those in transition, who are still seeking —anything that helps you in your quest for Truth is worth the time and effort for you as well as for us. In fact, you are our reason for maintaining this website.

This is part of the series “Quid est veritas” or “What is truth?” Here are related posts:

—-Admin1.]

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“And what is ‘truth’?

Is truth unchanging law?

We both have truths.

Are mine the same as yours?”

What a conundrum. These are words placed in the mouth of the Roman prelate Pontius Pilate by lyricist Tim Rice in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” (see Pilate: ‘Quid est veritas?’ – Gospel Truth? – 1).

Such thought-provoking lyrics asking in effect, is truth relative? If it were so, then anything goes in a world where there are as many opinions on anything and everything, and usually majority decide and rule though sometimes strangely, the loud aggressive minority that make it into the seat of power lord it over the silent majority.

“There’s what people want to hear, what people want to believe, and there’s the Truth.”

–Michael White,

author of Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite

(on our MUST READ list).

Take the realm of religion for instance. Each religion we’ve joined and eventually left claimed it has the monopoly of truth, implying everyone else is wrong. At the time we were in each one, we sincerely believed the same about everyone else (our Messianic teacher’s favorite phrase, “sincerely wrong!”). And even now that we are no longer into ‘religion’ (institutional church or denominational fellowship), admittedly we’re just as guilty in thinking we’re right and ‘they’re wrong’. Though this time, we think we know better, having investigated the source or foundation of each belief system and ultimately having come to a conclusion about 4 crucial “Truths”:

who is the OneTrue God,
what is His Name,
what is His revelation [His “TRUTH”]
and where is it to be found.

A truth-quest that knocks from door to door, so to speak, is actually quite educational; you get insights, gain wisdom, learn lessons well as opposed to never venturing out from a religion you were born in and never exposing yourself to other beliefs. Yes we have regrets we had not discovered the TORAH so much earlier, still it’s never too late to start reading and seriously studying it.

We do share one ‘truth’ with religionists (as opposed to atheists and agnostics) and that is—we all do believe there is a God, that is a ‘given’. What He’s like and what He requires of us—is where we go off into different directions.

As we have explained over and over in our articles, the “Truth” we hold on to is the TORAH, as in the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures attributed to Moses as the ‘receiver’ of the Sinai revelation who passed it on to the mixed multitude which passed it on from generation after generation in obedience to Dabariym/Deuteronomy 6.

There are speculations as to who eventually recorded YHWH’s utterances amidst the history of the chosen people during their wilderness wandering of 40 years. Admittedly, there are as many questions regarding the authenticity and reliability of the Hebrew Scriptures, just as there are questions regarding New Testament writings.

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Ultimately our belief and trust in the TORAH boils down to one piece of evidence: the continuing existence and survival of Israel for almost 6 millennia, the reborn nation and the remnant people who are back in the land called Israel today all in fulfillment of prophecy. We figure that if the nation of Israel fails, falls, is wiped out or is assimilated and disappears (no longer distinct in its scriptural and prophetic identity), then we cease from believing in the Hebrew Scriptures and the God of the Torah.

This is what YHWH says,

He who appoints the sun to shine by day,

Who decrees the moon and stars by night . . .

“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”

declares YHWH,

“will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.”

(Jeremiah 31:35-6).

Nothing else testifies as well and as consistently for divinely-revealed Truth and for the Source whose Name is revealed as YHWH, the God of Israel and ultimately the God of the nations. Without Israel’s presence in the world today, and the history of antisemitism and the continuing threat to its existence and survival as a distinct nation, chosen to be a ‘light to the gentiles’—yes, the Hebrew Scriptures would be suspect, just like the “New Testament”.

Ernest Van Den Haag has so eloquently noted in The Jewish Mystique:

Few are the nations whose recorded history goes back so far and is so complete as that of the Jews; their written history starts with the creation of the world; Genesis. And it includes the wanderings, the battles politics, family trees and family skeletons, social policies, economics, the successes and failures, and above all the moral history of this people which believed itself chosen by God for a special destiny, and which—because of that belief—suffered a remarkable fate.

What were they chosen for? Certainly the Jews have been “chosen,” if only for suffering and for survival as an identifiable and continuous group. . . . The languages of these civilizations [S6K: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome] are, at best, preserved only in academic spirits; but Hebrew is still chanted and spoken. It is today once more the language of a country, of the state of Israel—a state which already twice defeated the surrounding Arab tribes, including, this time, Egypt for good measure. Conquered, their capital laid waste, their temple burned banned from their land, dispersed through history and scattered over the world without king or country, everywhere persecuted declared enemies of mankind and murderers of God—the Jews remain. And remain Jews. They still believe themselves the Chosen People, even though, contemplating their long history, one may well ask, “Chosen for what?”

As I am writing, the Jews merrily celebrate their 5730th year [S6K: we are now in year 5777]. For most of these 5730 years, they lived in circumstances so adverse as to defy the imagination. They survived; most of their tormentors did not. Still, even with the patience of Job, they may well begin to suspect that they were chosen for suffering. Nor has their suffering ended. Nazism is gone and Hitler is dead. But so are six million Jews.

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Postscript S6K: If there is truth in the Hebrew Scriptures, then the evidence of that truth —Israel—continues to validate the pronouncements and prophecies declared from the mouth of YHWH through His mouthpieces, the prophets of Israel. Of the TNK [Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim], the “N” and “K” as history and inspired writings look back to the initial revelation in the TORAH. And so should we who have embraced both Israel and its Scriptures as divinely handed down Truth. And as such, it then becomes the OBJECTIVE and ABSOLUTE TRUTH that we choose to live by, as the remnant of Israel do, in or out of the Land.

TORAH is the standard we measure all other ‘truths’ by.

If you and I have to guess how long is a yard and we both claim it’s from our elbow to our wrist, depending on our body size we will most likely not measure perfectly, but if we both go to the universally agreed upon standard of measurement and see how our limb lengths compare to the objective and absolute standard of a ‘yard’, then that settles it.

This works the same with the Word of YHWH. [Read: Debariym/Deuteronomy 18:15-22 which primes us to recognize His TRUTH from man-made truth].

Now back to the title of this post — in a world “without God everything is permitted”, the quote is attributed to the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov, where characters struggle with the same moral and ethical questions, faith, doubt, belief and unbelief. Without the standards set in YHWH’s TORAH governing human relationships that is beneficial to all concerned, then humans pretty much decide for themselves how they will live with one another.

Here are two excellent discussions featured in one of our favorite Jewish website links, Aish.com. There is much to learn from the custodians of the Torah, please go to the many links we have recommended on the lower right of our page.

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[Highlights and reformatting added.—Admin1]

24 Shevat

Jewish Values vs. Other Faiths

Q: I am struggling with the sense that on one hand I want to instill Jewish beliefs in my children, but on the other hand I feel this would be diminishing the value of other faiths. I feel that love, harmony and happiness are the most important values, and that we need to be accepting of everyone’s beliefs. People are different, so isn’t truth relative for each individual?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

This is an important question, one that I think goes to the heart of today’s society.If you think about it, you’ll realize that “truth” cannot simply be everything that everyone wants. Consider the father of Protestantism, Martin Luther, who said, “The Jews are our misfortune,” and fomented a hatred that later helped the Nazis generate anti-Semitism among the masses. Are you unwilling to diminish the value of this “father of a major religion” in the eyes of your children?

What about the jihadists who blow up planes, trains and buildings – all in the name of religion?

Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:

“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance of the will of the Almighty creator. In standing guard against the Jew, I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.”

Do you agree with Hitler or not? Cannot you say unequivocally that he was wrong?

Reality is what is. You have to decide if you want to teach your children truth, or if you want to immobilize them with cushy phrases of political correctness. This does not condone any disrespect toward other people. We teach that all human beings are inestimably valuable and deserve to be loved and respected. But we do not teach that all beliefs have equal value. We are firm in the perception of reality as defined by the Torah. It has served our people well over the generations, all the way back to the momentous event at Mount Sinai which changed the face of human history forever.

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Morality: Who Needs God? –

by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith

If there is an absolute standard of morality, then there must be a God. Disagree? Consider the alternative.

God’s existence has direct bearing on how we view morality. As Dostoyevsky so famously put it, “Without God, everything is permitted.”

At first glance, this statement may not make sense. Everything is permitted? Can’t there be a morality without an infinite God? P erhaps some of the confusion is due to a murky definition of morality we owe to moral relativism.

Moral relativism maintains that there is no objective standard of right and wrong existing separate and independent from humanity. The creation of moral principles stems only from within a person, not as a distinct, detached reality. Each person is the source and definer of his or her subjective ethical code, and each has equal power and authority to define morality the way he or she sees fit.

Random acts of cruelty may not be your cup of tea,
but who says your standards are for everyone?

The consequences of moral relativism are far-reaching. Since all moral issues are subjective, right and wrong are reduced to matters of opinion and personal taste. Without a binding, objective standard of morality that sticks whether one likes it or not, a person can do whatever he feels like by choosing to label any behavior he personally enjoys as “good.” Adultery, embezzlement, and random acts of cruelty may not be your cup of tea — but why should that stop someone from taking pleasure in them if that is what they enjoy. Is having an intimate relationship with a 12-year-old objectively wrong just because you don’t like it?

Perhaps murder makes a serial killer feel powerful and alive. A moral relativist can say he finds murder disgusting, but that does not make it wrong — only distasteful. Hannibal, the Cannibal, is entitled to his own preferences even if they are unusual and repugnant to most.

Popularity has nothing to do with determining absolute morality; it just makes it commonplace, like the color navy.

“But this killer is hurting others!” True. But in a world where everything is subjective, hurting an innocent person is merely distasteful to some, like eating chocolate ice cream with lasagna. Just because we may not like it doesn’t make it evil. Evil? By whose standard? No one’s subjective opinion is more authoritative than another’s.

INCONSISTENT VALUES

Although many people may profess to subscribe to moral relativism, it is very rare to find a consistent moral relativist. Just about everyone believes in some absolute truths. That absolute truth may only be that it is wrong to hurt others, or that there are no absolutes. The point is that just about everyone is convinced that there is some form of absolute truth, whatever that truth may be. Most of us, it seems, are not moral relativists. Bertrand Russell wrote:

I cannot see how to refute the arguments for the subjectivity of ethical values but I find myself incapable of believing that all that is wrong with wanton cruelty is that I don’t like it.

Not too many of us believe that killing an innocent person is just a matter of taste that can change according to whim. Most of us think it is an act that is intrinsically wrong, regardless of what anyone thinks. According to this view, the standard of morality is an unchangeable reality that transcends humanity, not subject to our approval.

THE INFINITE SOURCE

An absolute standard of morality can only stem from an infinite source. Why is that?

When we describe murder as being immoral, we do not mean it is wrong just for now, with the possibility of it becoming “right” some time in the future. Absolute means unchangeable, not unchanging.

What’s the difference?

My dislike for olives is unchanging. I’ll never start liking them. That doesn’t mean it is impossible for my taste to change, even though it’s highly unlikely. Since it could change, it is not absolute. It is changeable.

The term “absolute” means without the ability to change. It is utterly permanent, unchangeable.

Think of something absolute. Take for example an icon of permanence and stability –- the Rock of Gibraltar. “Get a piece of the rock” — it lasts forever! But does it really? Is it absolute? No. It is undergoing change every second. It is getting older, it is eroding.

The nature of absolute is a bit tricky to grasp because we find ourselves running into the same problem of our finite selves attempting to perceive the infinite, a topic we have discussed in a previous article in this series.

Everything that exists within time undergoes change. That’s what time is — a measurement of change. In Hebrew, shanah means “year,” sharing the same root shinah, “change.”

If everything in the finite universe is undergoing change, where can we find the quality of absolute?

If everything in the finite universe is undergoing change — since it exists within time — where can we find the quality of absolute?

Its source cannot be in time, which is constantly undergoing change. It must be beyond time, in the infinite dimension. Only God, the infinite being that exists beyond time, is absolute and unchangeable.

‘I am God, I do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6)

Therefore an absolute standard of morality can exist only if it stems from an infinite dimension — a realm that is eternal, beyond time, with no beginning and no end.

THE DEATH OF EDUCATION

In addition to the demise of morality, moral relativism inevitably leads to the death of education and genuine open-mindedness. The thirst for real learning comes from the recognition that the truth is out there waiting to be discovered — and I am all the more impoverished with its absence.

Professor Alan Bloom writes in his book “The Closing of the American Mind,”

It is the rarest of occurrences to find a youngster
who has been infused by this [liberal arts] education
with a longing to know all about China or the Romans
or the Jews.

All to the contrary.
There is an indifference to such things,
for relativism has extinguished the real motive
of education, the search for the good life…
…out there in the rest of the world
is a drab diversity that teaches only
that values are relative,
whereas here we can create all the life-styles we want.
Our openness means we do not need others.
Thus what is advertised as a great opening
is a great closing.
No longer is there a hope
that there are great wise men
in other places and times
who can reveal the truth about life…

If everything is relative, then it makes no difference what anyone thinks. Ideas no longer matter. With no absolute standard of right and wrong or truth and falsehood, the pursuit of wisdom becomes nonsensical.

What are we searching for? If no idea is more valid than another, there is no purpose in re-evaluating one’s belief system and being open to exploring new concepts — since there is no possibility of ever being wrong.

A common argument often heard for supporting relativism is that in the world at large we see a plethora of differing positions on a wide range of moral issues. Try to find one issue all cultures universally agree to!

Professor Bloom addresses this contention:

History and the study of cultures do not teach or prove
that values or cultures are relative …
the fact that there have been different opinions
about good and bad in different times and places
in no way proves that none is true or superior to others.
To say that it does so prove is as absurd as to say
that the diversity of points of view
expressed in a college bull session
proves there is no truth …
the natural reaction is
to try to resolve the difference,
to examine the claims and reasons
for each opinion.

Only the unhistorical and inhuman belief that opinions are held for no reason would prevent the undertaking of such an exciting activity.

THE NATURE OF DEBATE

The plethora of disagreements demonstrates exactly the opposite point. If everything is relative, what on earth are we arguing about?

Imagine walking down the street and you hear a ferocious argument taking place behind a door. People are yelling at each other in a fit of rage. You ask a bystander what the commotion is all about. He tells you this is a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store and they’re fighting over what is the best flavor of ice cream. Impossible.

Heated debates occur only because
we believe there are right and wrong positions.

Real debates and disagreements occur only because we believe there are right and wrong positions, not mere preferences of flavors. Think of a time you experienced moral outrage. The force behind that anger is the conviction that your position is the correct one. Matters of preference, like music and interior design, do not provoke moral outrage.

What provokes our moral outrage? Injustice? Cruelty? Oppression? There is the sense that an absolute standard of morality is being violated, an objective standard that transcends humanity, that stems from an infinite and absolute Being.

SINAI 6000

S6K – a Collective Voice for Truth-seeking Gentiles

October 5, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[Etched in our minds is a saying sourced to our nation’s national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal:

“Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.”

Translation: “He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.”

Image from eileenbrown.wordpress.com

Sinai 6000 core community cannot be accused of never looking back where we came from; in fact we state it over and over like a broken record in many posts. The reason we ‘look back’ is to remember where we came from, how far we have travelled in this pilgrimage to Sinai, and how much have we learned from each year-lap of our, by now, 6-years-journey.

We have learned from the Torah how the God of Israel through His mouthpiece Moses keeps saying that word “remember” in connection with their whole experience with the God Who liberated them from bondage and Who gave them His “instructions and teachings” –Torah. And so, this post which was first posted August 22, 2012 is a good reminder of where we were at the start of this journey. We have recorded every detail of our experience from the very beginning and so this is being revisited in time for our season of reflection on our ‘turning point’.—Admin 1]

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In one of our discourses “S6K/RW” there was a suggestion by “JC” (a Messianic) in LEAVE A REPLY [specifics edited out]:

“May I also suggest that whoever is answering or writing for Sinai 6000 use his/her real name. Never in [our organization] have we used [our acronym] for our emails but we use our real names. Even Mt. Zion people Center and all. The president of the Philippines will not use “Philippines” in his letters, will he?”

It is a point well taken and has been in our minds for sometime now.

When we write individual articles, we do identify the writer with their 3-letter initials plus “@S6K” to indicate they belong to our small Sinai community. Later, we might be comfortable enough to write our real names; it’s just that the web exposure is so new to us, we’re treading cautiously this early on since the cause we have espoused is bound to arouse anger, confusion, perhaps even hostility, judging from the reaction among our former colleagues.

As we have repeatedly stated, we are not a church nor a religion, just a breakaway sect, if you will, from our former religious affiliations within the wide umbrella of diverse Christianity. Some of us are actually still members of church communities and are simply relearning the “Old Testament” in its original form, the Hebrew Scriptures. in fact what little these particular members have learned in our Torah sessions, they have been recognized in their Christian community as “Old Testament” experts simply because they have gone more in-depth in their Torah study than Christians normally do. We have encouraged them to remain where they are, because we feel that since our Adonai YHWH has originally placed them there to grow and bloom and to minister, they owe it to their following in their respective communities to enlighten them on the Torah of YHWH. What does it profit them to separate and start over with an unpopular (shocking to some) belief system when we can barely convince anyone else in our familial, social and religious circles to hear us out or even consider the Sinaite’s route.

Now back to the suggestion to identify “whoever is answering or writing for Sinai 6000.”

It is not fair to credit one person for the articles we post when it is the collective work and thinking of the whole core group of Sinai 6000. We meet regularly to study and scrutinize the Hebrew Scriptures, discuss our differences in understanding, compare the research we individually have done, and agree on our common stand which we then post on this website. We have not always agreed on the stand we are to declare and in such cases, we take a vote. The writer assigned to articulate our collective voice simply organizes and arranges the group discussions and explains the official stand in these articles in their published form. We also seek out comments and reactions from Sinaites living elsewhere in other countries to incorporate theirs. The writer does not deviate from the core group’s stand on any issue, the writer simply gives final form to the content collectively decided.

When any of us venture on our own to write a personal view, an opinion, share an experience, have a running discourse with our former Christian colleagues, then that writer is identified with his/her initials. If anyone is curious enough to want to know the identity of any writer, we will oblige, but privately and only to that individual.

We are one year-old, approaching our first anniversary this September. We decided to share as we progress in our studies because there is so much to relearn and unlearn. For now we are only on the first rung of the ladder, or the first skin to peel off multiple levels of truths in the vast and rich collection of writings in the Hebrew Bible. We have barely scratched the surface. We know that as we mature and grow, our 2nd, 3rd and more readings and reviews will yield more insight, more comprehension of the same texts we’ve read before. That is the nature of the Book on which is recorded YHWH’s one-time complete historic revelation to mankind. As we mature, when we read the same text, we see and understand more the next time around. We are in transition; our audience are people who have started questioning their long-held beliefs. We don’t expect Jews to learn from us, we address non-Jews just like ourselves who care to know how we arrived at where we are now.

Israel has left us gentiles their legacy in their Hebrew Bible. Christianity has attached its version of Israel’s legacy to its scriptures but it barely emphasizes the importance of studying OT on its own merit rather than as a “proof-text” to support all its Nicene Creed dogmatic declarations.

We provide the gentile voice and gentile understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures, not a Jewish voice, since their agenda is different.

Our Lord YHWH is the God of all nations, we belong to “the nations.” We want to know what YHWH requires of us gentiles; and how or IF it differs from what he requires of His chosen people. We seek to provide the gentile’s perspective on the Hebrew Scriptures.

To our frequent website visitors, we share your hunger for Truth and encourage you to share your own journey with us; send your contributions, write in your questions, your disagreements, join the discussions and discourses. The FORUM is the avenue for this, please feel free to write in your opinion so we can learn from you.

We thank our Lord YHWH for the opportunity He has provided for us to reach beyond the borders of our mountain city and our national boundaries, enabling us to reach as many other seekers like ourselves around the world; truly we are fortunate to live in these times when the internet highway takes us right into the homes of nameless God-seekers like ourselves.

May His Truth be declared, may His Name be known and proclaimed. . . hear O gentiles, O nations, His Name is YHWH.

SINAI 6000

Revisited on Rosh Hashanah 5777: “May you be inscribed in the Book Of Life.”

October 3, 2016 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[First posted September 2014, reposted 2015 and this year, October 13, 2016 is the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

The “book of life” is mentioned in the AMIDAH, the ‘standing prayer’ in the Siddur or the prayer book of Judaism. I quoted it at the end of the post: God is near, do not fear . . . Friend, Sinaite, goodnight.

Since then, I started thinking: “What exactly is this “book of life”? Is it different from the “books” of judgment that we used to fear in our former Christian orientation, the books that will be opened after the end times according to Revelation 20:11-15?

The Judgment of the Dead ¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

As far as Sinaites understand the TNK, there are no devils and demons, no eternal punishment in a horrible place called “hell” and its ‘lake of fire’. What a comforting thought. The Jewish perspective focuses not on the afterlife, but on this life. So what do they mean when they stand up to recite this very short prayer?

“Remember us for life, O King Who desires life,

and inscribe us in the Book of Life,

for Your sake, O Living God.”

The most memorable article I’ve read so far that addresses questions concerning life and death was written by Melissa Jacobs; it is reprinted below and reformatted here for easier reading and better retention. It conveniently lists the questions one should ask of self when one makes an accounting to our Creator of the past year; such questions as:

Did I really take care of my relationships this year?
Did I do everything I could to make the world a better place?
It’s not just ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’ It’s ‘Did I do anything positive?
Did I actively make the world a better place?’
If not, what do I want to change?
What could I do to stand here next Rosh Hashanah and say that I do deserve to be in the Book Of Life?”

—Admin1.]

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Revised Figure

By: Melissa Jacobs

AUGUST 19, 2012

This article originally appeared in the fall 2012 edition of Inside Magazine.

POSTED IN ROSH HASHANAH

Millions of Jews express this sentiment in countless synagogues during the High Holidays. But what does the saying mean?

God isn’t human, so God couldn’t write names in a book. On the other hand, God is all-powerful, so God could presumably do whatever God wants.

Say God does have a book. Is it a Siddur-like book or a Torah-ish scroll — or a Kindle? What does it take to be written into and/or deleted from the Book Of Life? Does it come down to following the Ten Commandments or is it a more general, Santa-esque, naughty-or-nice kind of thing?

What, exactly, is the Book Of Life?

“You are your own Book Of Life,” says Rabbi Yudy Shemtov, senior rabbi and executive director of the Lubavitch Chabad in Yardley.

“You have a beginning, a prologue, an epilogue, chapters, action, drama, love, tragedy, settings, dialogue, symbolism and, most of all, character.”

Other area rabbis agree withShemtov.
- Each one of us writes our own Book of Life, they say, and the High Holidays are the time to read the manuscript, make corrections and plan the next chapter.
- To believe in a mystical, magical Book Of Life that only God controls, the rabbis say, is to abdicate responsibility for our books to an editor in the sky and miss the very essence of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

“I don’t believe that there is a literal Book Of Life or an old man with gray hair writing it,” says Rabbi Michael Knopf, assistant rabbi at TempleHar Zion in Penn Valley.

“But I do believe that our actions have consequences.
I believe that there is a power in the universe, a collective whole, in which every activity that we do, large or small, even morally neutral things, impacts us and impacts others.
“For that reason, I think we should live our lives believing that, in fact, someone is observing all of our actions, all of the time, and writing them or recording them,”
Knopf says.
- “How would you live differently if you felt that you were being watched all the time? Imagine that everything you do in private is public.
- What kind of person would the world see?
- Which actions would you do —
- and which would you not do?”

To be clear, the Book Of Life was real to ancient Hebrews, as it still is to many Jews and Christians. The book is mentioned in many prayers and throughout the Torah. For these observers, the Book Of Life is part of a holy literary trinity that includes the Book Of Death, which is mentioned in the Talmud, and a third, untitled book.

“In the section of the Talmud dealing with RoshHashanah,Rabbi Akiba talks about

the Book Of Life,
the Book Of Death,
and the book of the in-between, which is not given a name.”

Knopf says. “He posits that, on Rosh Hashanah, God writes

the names of the completely righteous in the Book Of Life
and the names of the completely wicked in the Book Of The Dead.
But everyone else gets written in the third book and has their sentence suspended with a wait-and-see approach.
- That was interpreted as meaning that you had a chance to redeem yourself and be taken out of the third book and put into the Book Of Life.”

These books, Shemtov maintains, are metaphors. “God is the reality of all of existence and the source of all of existence,” he says, “but any physical words or imagery that we ascribe to him are metaphors.”

What are the books metaphors for?

Knopf suggests looking at them through the lens of depth theology.
- “Depth theology is the thinking that what we really encounter when we encounter Judaism are answers to questions that ancient Jews asked,” he says.
“Rabbi Abraham JoshuaHeschel was one of the proponents of that line of thinking.
- All of the challenges and sufferings of life were examined by rabbis who then came up with answers. Those answers are often stories, filled with metaphors, that we tell over and over to help explain the world in which we live. So we have the answers, but we no longer have the questions that inspired them.
- “Instead of just accepting those answers,Heschel challenged everyone to recover the questions. The Book Of Life, the Book Of The Dead — these are perfect examples of this.
  - What was the intent behind them?
  - What was the question that rabbis were trying to answer with them?
- Well, it seems that the question was, ‘Why do some people live and some people die?’ ”
RabbiPeterRigler, of TempleSholominBroomall, puts a finer point on it.
- “No one asks ‘Why did this happen?’ at weddings,” he says. “They only ask that at funerals. And even the death of someone who has lived for many years is normally not questioned.
- The questioning arises when someone dies young, through illness or accident. It is in trying to make sense of tragedy that we seek answers from God.”
“When God’s reality challenges our reality, then we question Him — His motives, power and, sometimes, His existence,” Shemtov says. “When the challenges are greater, the questions are greater. We will never have the answers, and they wouldn’t change the reality of what has happened. But still, we question.”

Having a Book Of Life and a Book Of The Dead may have answered ancient Hebrews’ questions about who lives and who dies, and it still has resonance for modern Jews. Indeed, it is the question captured in the bestselling book, When Bad Things Happen To Good People (Avon), by Rabbi Harold Kushner. In it, he, too, seems to discount the power of a Book Of Life.

“I no longer hold God responsible for illnesses, accidents and natural disasters, because I realize that I gain little and I lose so much when I blame God for those things,” he writes. “I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it no more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die, for whatever exalted reason.
“God does not cause our misfortunes,” Kushner continues. “Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws.
“The question we should be asking is not, ‘Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?’ That is really an unanswerable, pointless question. A better question would be, ‘Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it?’ ”

This, the rabbis say, is the question every Jew should ask himself or herself during the High Holidays. “God gave humans free will, and part of that is the responsibility of self-evaluation,” Rigler says. “Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the times to examine your Book of Life, atone for your wrongs and forgive those who have wronged you. Close that chapter and move forward, with purpose, into your next chapter with the intent of being a better friend, spouse, parent, child — a better Jew.”

Knopf agrees with that concept. “Instead of wondering what God is writing about me and if I will make it into the Book Of Life, I ask myself questions.

If I am writing a book about my life, using the past year as evidence, how do I judge myself?
Do I deserve to be in a Book Of Life?
Do I deserve the blessings that I have?

These are haunting questions for me. I have to be an honest judge.

Did I really take care of my relationships this year?
Did I do everything I could to make the world a better place?
It’s not just ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’ It’s ‘Did I do anything positive?
Did I actively make the world a better place?’
If not, what do I want to change?
What could I do to stand here next Rosh Hashanah and say that I do deserve to be in the Book Of Life?”

“I view the High Holidays as a gift,” Rigler says. “We have the opportunity now, while we are alive — instead of waiting until we are dead — to atone for our sins, to correct mid-course, and begin a new chapter. That is a very, very Jewish gift. It is the opportunity for you — not a member of the clergy — to evaluate yourself, your relationship with God, your community and your loved ones. It is the opportunity to ask yourself — not be told by a member of the clergy — ‘What will I do differently in the coming year?’ and find your own answers. Write your own next chapter.”

Shemtov continues the metaphor. “I played a board game one year, and it was a game where you pulled cards from a box of questions,” Shemtov says. “I drew a card that said, ‘If you were a punctuation mark, what would you be?’ A question mark, exclamation point or period? A hyphen or a comma?

“I turned that into a Rosh Hashanah sermon about the Book of Life,” he says. “If you believe that God writes us in a book, I believe that we put in the punctuation. Punctuation changes how a sentence is structured and how the reading of it is perceived. So what kind of punctuation are you going to use to write your Book of Life?”

This article originally appeared in the fall 2012 edition of Inside Magazine.
Melissa Jacobs is the senior editor of Inside.

UPDATED SITE CONTENTS – October 2016

Post:

A Sinaite’s Sabbath Liturgy

CHRISTIANITY

DAILY POSTS

DISCOURSE

IMAGES

ISRAEL

JOURNEYS

KETUVIM

MUST READ

NEVIIM – The Prophets

OPINION

Q & A

SINAI 6000

TNK/Tanach/Tanakh

TSTL – Thus Saith the LORD

WORSHIP AIDS

Oy searchers, need help? – October 2016

A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of October

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 3rd Sabbath of October

Sacrificial goat, Scapegoat . . . what about the Lamb? Not on Yom Kippur.

The Scapegoat

Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 16 – What? They cast lots for a sacrificial goat and a scapegoat, wasn’t ‘Blood Atonement’ all about a “Sacrificial Lamb”?

TORAH 101: What were the animal sacrifices all about? – Jewish Perspective

“Without God, everything is permitted.” – Dostoyevsky

Morality: Who Needs God? –

by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith

If there is an absolute standard of morality, then there must be a God. Disagree? Consider the alternative.

S6K – a Collective Voice for Truth-seeking Gentiles

Revisited on Rosh Hashanah 5777: “May you be inscribed in the Book Of Life.”

Revised Figure

By: Melissa Jacobs

AUGUST 19, 2012

This article originally appeared in the fall 2012 edition of Inside Magazine.

POSTED IN ROSH HASHANAH