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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Wednesday, 23 May 2012), at his official residence, dedicated the Prime Minister’s Tanakh Study Circle in memory of Shmuel Ben-Artzi, the late father of Sara Netanyahu, who also participated in the circle. Mr. Ben-Artzi, who passed away last November, was a Tanakh teacher and researcher.

The Tanakh Study Circle renews a tradition started by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and which was continued by its sixth, Menachem Begin.

At the start of the first lesson of the renewed Tanakh Study Circle, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Ben-Gurion and Begin believed that the Tanakh should be the heritage of the entire nation – secular and religious, young and old, men and women. The Tanakh is the foundation of our existence. It unites the Jewish People, as it has throughout the generations. It also serves not only as a foundation but also as a map and compass. The Tanakh is always relevant vis-à-vis today’s problems and challenges. It inspires, it is a source of life for our people and I think that it is important to expand Tanakh study and love of the Tanakh among all parts of the nation. This is also the goal of this circle. I am certain that thanks to the researchers, rabbis and learned men and women here, who know and love the Tanakh, we will enrich our common knowledge.”

Here at EY, we wholeheartedly support PM Netanyahu’s renewal of this beautiful tradition. We see the Torah as our primary and most important connection to the Land of Israel.

Yasher Koach Bibi! 

ϟ Shavuos: Am Yisroel’s Chassene

bennistar:

The Zohar HaKadosh states:

“Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his students were learning Torah without sleeping on the night of Shavuos. Each one was expounding previously unrevealed ideas. Rabbi Shimon delighted in each new idea, as did the rest of the students.

Rabbi Shimon said to them, “My sons, joyous are you with your portion. Since this night, you are (with your Torah learning), preparing the adornments for the bride, and rejoicing with her. Tomorrow she will go underneath the Chuppah only with you. All of you will be inscribed in the King’s book, and he will bless you with unlimited blessing from above.”

The gemora tells us, how before the giving of the Torah, Hashem held the mountain (Sinai), over our heads, warning us to accept the Torah, or risk being buried alive on the spot. Nevertheless, Chazal (our sages) understood the incident another way. The mountain above our heads was actually a Chuppah, a marriage canopy, and that the acceptance of the Torah was akin to the wedding ceremony. By accepting the Torah, Hashem and the the Jewish People became wedded to each other.

This is the description of the wedding preparation in the Zohar. (Emor 98a)

“It (Shavuos night), is like a King who is marrying his son to a distinguished princess. The night before the wedding, he spent the whole night in his treasure houses, selecting the garments for the groom. He brought out silken robes, a crown studded with seventy precious jewels and all of the other trappings of a King.

Then he went to the home of the Princess. He observed her maidens preparing her exquisite jewelry, the finest garments and her crown. He told them, “I have prepared for the Princess a special chamber of purification. Its source is a place of flowing waters, and the rarest and most sublime spices and fragrance surround it to increase and complete her purification. Come my daughter, the bride of my son. Come you with your maidens to the place of purification that I have prepared for you.” “Tomorrow, when the time arrives you will enter underneath the Chuppah with my son and I will prepare a palace to be your home. In this home will also be a chamber for me so that I can dwell with you for eternity.”

This is how Hashem unites with Am Yisroel on the night of Shavuos.

May we all be worthy to receive the Torah together with Moshiach this upcoming yom tov!

ϟ This Week’s Schedule

Today is Rosh Chodesh Sivan.  So what is coming up this week of importance?  Well, on this day 3324 years ago we arrived at Mount Sinai.  We got settle in – getting ready for the most exciting day in history – the receiving of the Torah.

read more

absolutetruth

ϟ “I Believe”

by Reb Gutman Locks @ Mystical Paths

     Last week, two people tried to explain to me why their religious beliefs were correct, and mine were not. The first was a non-Jewish woman from England, and the second was a young, Jewish traveler from Argentina.

     The non-Jewish woman tried to convince me that without her man-god my sins would not be forgiven, and the Jewish man tried to convince me that buddhahahaha taught the proper path for all mankind, and without following his teachings I would merely wallow in the illusion of creation.

     Although I explained to both of them what the Torah says, and why they were mistaken, they did not budge from their beliefs. This is the nature of belief. Belief in foolishness and belief in the truth employs the same mechanism. A religious Jew who believes in the Torah, and bases his spiritual life only on belief is doing fine, but his spiritual life is being bet on the same thread that those other two people are betting their lives on.

     So, what is the difference between believing in Torah and believing in the religions of idolatry? Some Jews like to answer that those other stories are based on merely one man, or a few men’s experience, whereas to the opposite of this, the giving of the Torah was witnessed by millions of Jews standing at Mt. Sinai at the same time. But that argument is not as good as it seems because each of us did not get our belief from millions of people, but from only the one or two who taught it to us.

     Then, what is the proof that our belief is in truth and theirs’ is not. We see in our lives that the Jews who follow the Torah go on as Jews. Their grandchildren are almost certainly going to be named Moshe, Avraham, Sarah, Rachel, and such. While almost every Jew who has accepted other religions, or even deviated from the sages’ teachings, their grandchildren will almost certainly be called Luke, John, Maya or Samsara. The point here is not that just their names will be such, but that in almost all likelihood, they will intermarry and have non-Jewish children.

     But, what about those other religions? They see that their beliefs cause their religions to continue, just like we see that our belief causes the Jewish people to continue. What did I show them that contradict their beliefs, (not that it changed them)?

     To the one who reads the Bible but told me that I needed someone else to die for my sins, I answered: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, and sons will not be put to death because of fathers, a man will be put to death for his own sins,”[i] and “The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him,”[ii]and “Everyone will die for his own iniquity.”[iii]

     And to the buddhist Jew I tried to explain that this world is not an illusion, but to most, it is a delusion. I told him that an illusion is outside of your head… out there in the physical world like a mirage, and a delusion is within your head, like thinking that there is no Creator.

     I told him, “Buddhahaha taught that all life is suffering, and the only way to avoid the suffering is to detach from the world. To the opposite of this, the Torah stresses that, when used properly, this world is the gorgeous, Garden of Eden. We are not to detach from it. We are to become involved with it, and to elevate it by using it for holy purposes.”

      “They teach that everything that happens was destined to happen, and no matter what we do, each of us is always subject to our karma. And the Torah teaches that we can turn at any moment we choose, and when we do turn, none of our past will follow us. Since they teach that there is no G-d, they will not bother to ask for Mercy. Who can they ask? Thank G-d, we know that there is a Creator Who is forgiving.”  

[i] Deuteronomy 24:16

[ii] Ezekiel 18:20

[iii] Jeremiah 31:29.

MysticalPaths

ϟ How Accurate is the Torah?

How do we know that the Torah we have today is the same text given on Mount Sinai?
The Torah was originally dictated from Hashem to Moses, letter for letter.  From there, the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us:
Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes.  The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (with the Tablets).  If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would “testify” against him.  (Likewise, if he had access to the scroll in the Ark and tried to falsify it, the distributed copies would “testify” against him.)
How were the new scrolls verified?  An authentic “proof text” was always kept in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, against which all other scrolls would be checked.  Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Sages would periodically perform global checks to weed out any scribal errors.

WRITING A TORAH SCROLL

To eliminate any chance of human error, the Talmud enumerates more than 20 factors mandatory for a Torah scroll to be considered “kosher.” This is the Torah’s built-in security system. Should any one of these factors be lacking, it does not possess the sanctity of a Torah scroll, and is not to be used for a public Torah reading.
The meticulous process of hand-copying a scroll takes about 2,000 hours (a full-time job for one year). Throughout the centuries, Jewish scribes have adhered to the following guidelines:

• A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is added.
• A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is deleted.
• The scribe must be a learned, pious Jew, who has undergone special training and certification.
• All materials (parchment, ink, quill) must conform to strict specifications, and be prepared specifically for the purpose of writing a Torah Scroll.
• The scribe may not write even one letter into a Torah Scroll by heart. Rather, he must have a second, kosher scroll opened before him at all times.
• The scribe must pronounce every word out loud before copying it from the correct text.
• Every letter must have sufficient white space surrounding it. If one letter touched another in any spot, it invalidates the entire scroll.
• If a single letter was so marred that it cannot be read at all, or resembles another letter (whether the defect is in the writing, or is due to a hole, tear or smudge), this invalidates the entire scroll. Each letter must be sufficiently legible so that even an ordinary schoolchild could distinguish it from other, similar letters.
• The scribe must put precise space between words, so that one word will not look like two words, or two words look like one word.
• The scribe must not alter the design of the sections, and must conform to particular line-lengths and paragraph configurations.
• A Torah Scroll in which any mistake has been found cannot be used, and a decision regarding its restoration must be made within 30 days, or it must be buried.

SUCCESS OF THE SYSTEM

Maintaining the accuracy of any document as ancient and as large as the Torah is very challenging even under the best of circumstances.
But consider that throughout history, Jewish communities were subject to widespread persecutions and exile.  Over the last 2,000 years, Jews have been spread to the four corners of the world, from Yemen to Poland, from Australia to Alaska.
Other historical factors make the accurate transmission of the Torah all the more difficult. For example, the destruction of the Temple 1,900 years ago saw the dissolution of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish central authority which traditionally would unify the Jewish people in case of any disagreements.
Let’s investigate the facts as we have them today. If we collect the oldest Torah scrolls and compare them, we can see if any garbling exists, and if so, how much.
How many letters are there in the Torah?  304,805 letters (79,847 words)

If you were to guess, how many letters of these 304,805 do you think are in question? (Most people guess anywhere from 25 to 1,000 letters.)
The fact is, that after all the trials and tribulations, communal dislocations and persecutions, only the Yemenite Torah scrolls contain any difference from the rest of world Jewry.  For hundreds of years, the Yemenite community was not part of the global checking system, and a total of nine letter-differences are found in their scrolls.
These are all spelling differences.  In no case do they change the meaning of the word. For example, how would you spell the word “color?”  In America, it’s spelled C-O-L-O-R. But in England, it’s spelled with a “u,” C-O-L-O-U-R.
Such is the nature of the few spelling differences between Torah scrolls today.  The results over thousands of years are remarkable!

TORAH COMPARED TO OTHER TEXTS

But how impressive is this compared to other similar documents, such as the Christian Bible? (Both books contain approximately the same number of words.)
First of all, which would you expect to be more successful in preserving the accuracy of a text?
The Christian Bible.  For several reasons.
First, the Christian Bible is about 1,700 years younger than the Torah.  Second, the Christians haven’t gone through nearly as much exile and dislocation as the Jews.  Third, Christianity has always had a central authority (the Vatican) to ensure the accuracy of their text.
What are the results?  The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book written to prove the validity of the New Testament, says: ” A study of 150 Greek [manuscripts] of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings… It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the New Testament in which the [manuscript] is wholly uniform.”
Other scholars report there are some 200,000 variants in the existing manuscripts of the New Testament, representing about 400 variant readings which cause doubt about textual meaning; 50 of these are of great significance.
The Torah has nine spelling variants—with absolutely no effect on the meaning of the words.  The Christian Bible has over 200,000 variants and in 400 instances the variants change the meaning of the text.
The point of course is not to denigrate Christianity. Rather, this comparison demonstrates the remarkable accuracy of the Jewish transmission of Torah.

THE TORAH AND THE UNIVERSE

There is a famous story in the Talmud (Eruvin 13a):
When Rabbi Meir came to Rabbi Yishmael to learn Torah, he was asked:
“What is your profession, my son?”
“I am a scribe,” was the reply.
He said to me: “My son be careful with your work, for it is the work of Heaven.  Should you perhaps omit one letter or add one letter — it could result that you destroy the entire world
Rebbe Meir remarked: “Needless to say, I do not err by omitting or adding (letters)… but I am even concerned for a fly — lest it come and alight upon the right-hand corner of a dalet ד and erase it, thereby rendering it a reish ר
The famed commentator Rashi (11th century France) offers examples of how the addition or deletion of a single letter can lead to a blasphemous or heretical reading of the Torah — i.e. a mistake that could destroy the entire world.
Maharsha (16th century Poland) explains there is a danger even if the error does not affect the meaning of the word. This is because of a Kabalistic tradition that the letters of the Torah form the sacred Names of Hashem written as “black fire upon white fire.”  These letters were employed by Hashem in creating the world, and it is through them that He sustains it.  The deletion of even one letter of this sustaining force therefore threatens the existence of the world.
Carefully guarding the words of the Torah has been a Jewish priority throughout the centuries.

Note:  When I began to write about this important topic, I went on line and found this brilliant essay from Yeshivah Aish HaTorah.  I decided that I couldn’t do any better; so, I reproduced it here with some minor embellishments from me.  Thank you Aish.
Have a great Shabbos.

Absolutetruth613

ϟ The roots of Zionism - אחרי מות -קדושים

zavatchalavudvash:

defenderofisrael:

I’m not sure if people understand this or not: Theodore Herzl was not the founder of Zionism. Zionism was founded after the exile from Israel 2000 years ago. Herzl organised the political aspect not the ideology.

Last year, I had the opportunity to hear a man from the Shomron council give a lecture. He asked the audience “Who was the first Zionist?”. 

The entire audience answered, “Herzl”. 

The man (whose name I cannot remember) pointed his finger at us and said “No. Avraham was the first Zionist. At the moment he agreed to Hashem’s command of Lech Lecha, he started Zionism”. 

It was this man, his lecture and his words, that inspired me, to be the Zionist I am today. He helped me realise that Zionism is not separate from Judaism - it is a part of it. Last year, one of my friends studied a subject that included learning texts from Yechezkel and Yirmiyahu. One of her assessments was an essay about the “Triangle” - the covenant between Hashem, His people and His land. 

Every religious Jew who davens 3 times a day, yearns to return to his homeland, to see Jerusalem rebuilt. When people say Zionism and Judaism are separate, they are incorrect. When people say Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism are two different things, they are incorrect. Zionism and Judaism are intrinsically connected - just like Jews are intrinsically connected to their homeland and their G-d. 

This connection, this Triangle, is seen through this week’s Parsha, Achrei Mot-Kedoshim. 

We are told 

 וְלֹא תָקִיא הָאָרֶץ אֶתְכֶם בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם אֹתָהּ כַּאֲשֶׁר קָאָה אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם:

And let the land not vomit you out for having defiled it, as it vomited out the nation that preceded you.

(Leviticus 18:28)

The Land of Israel has a different status to all other lands in the world. Israel has a low tolerance of immorality. If Jews do not follow the Torah and keep the Mitzvot in the Land of Israel, they will be “vomited out” and exiled. This is further explained by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in a Sicha that explains Rashi’s commentary on the first verse of Genesis. He explains that the moment Bnei Yisrael conquered the Land of Israel, it was given a different status, and the land itself, as well as its inhabitant, are held to a higher standard. If they do not adhere to this higher standard of Torah and Mitzvot, they will be expelled. 

Two perakim later we are told 

 וָאֹמַר לָכֶם אַתֶּם תִּירְשׁוּ אֶת אַדְמָתָם וַאֲנִי אֶתְּנֶנָּה לָכֶם לָרֶשֶׁת אֹתָהּ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ אֲנִי יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר הִבְדַּלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הָעַמִּים

So I said to you, You shall possess their land, and I shall give it to you to possess it a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, Who has distinguished you from the peoples.

(Leviticus 20:24)

The juxtaposition of the two ideas in this verse, the possessing of the Land of Israel, and the fact that G-d has distinguished Israel “from the peoples” is significant. Jews are separated from other nations, through their fulfilment of the Torah and Mitzvot. Although the root ב.ד.ל is used here to denote separation, the root ק.ד.ש (from which the title of the Sidrah is derived) has the same connotation of separation, with the added meaning of ‘holy’. Only when Jews separate themselves through the practice of Torah and Mitzvot, are they holy and worthy of possessing the Land of Israel. 

Today, we are lucky enough to see this Triangle being implemented in the Land of Israel. This generation has seen Israel become the world centre of Torah learning for the first time since the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. We celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut - Israel’s independence, through the Chidon Hatanach - the Bible Quiz. Newscasters remind their audience to count the Omer and the public sale of Chametz on Pesach is illegal. 

 May we merit, to see this Triangle implemented in its most ideal form, with the coming of Mashiach, במהרה בימנו אמן סלה. 

Torah

hamikdash:

 I have decided to set up a one stop shop for all the Jewish Bloggers out there to help with the fight against missionaries.  Here are some good links to get started:

• Be True
• Yad L’Achim
• Jews For Judaism
• Messiah Truth Project
• Being Jewish Anti-Missionary Gateway
• Outreach Judaism
• Torah Life & Learning
• Simple to Remember
• Counter Missionary
• Gavriel Sanders
• Jews For Hashem
• Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth
• 26 Reasons Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus
• Judaism’s Answer
• Messianic Jewish Truth
• The Truth About Moshiach

Another take on dealing with missionaries:

• Be Jewish

Printouts, materials and online books:

• HERE
• HERE
  
• Their Hollow Inheritance (free online book)
• The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors - Warning: Atheist Website

Don’t quite get the whole Omer thing? Luckily, Aish Hatorah is here to give a refresher course!

Sefirat Haomer

Count the days of the Omer and the days leading up to Shavuot/Matan Torah with this nifty chart!