The entire text of Pirkei Avot is now up. I’ve formatted it for [hopefully] easy reading, and begun to integrate links to my commentary to the various mishnayot upon which I’ve had a chance to comment. You can find it here: Pirkei Avot Text
If you see this vehicle passing through your city over the next few months, beware. It is carrying a crew of six, who should be approached with caution. They should be considered armed and dangerous. They are armed with the Word of Hashem, and should be considered extremely dangerous to anyone who is smugly confident in their relationship with Hashem. Below is a photo of these desperadoes to help with identification purposes.
Don’t be deceived by their smiling faces, and relatively innocent appearance. Look deep into their beady, criminal eyes. These are the eyes of focused, single-minded, committed members of an international conspiracy to see people return to the Torah of Adonai, and live out their faith through love and good deeds, and are claiming that you have to “Pray just to make it through the day.” Yes, I know. It sounds like a cheap slogan they ripped off a defunct popular hip-hop artist. The next thing you know they’ll turn their prayer propaganda into an unforgettable melody like “It’s A Small World” and poison the minds of prayerless saints across the globe!
Let it be known—If you don’t want to be challenged in your relationship with the Almighty, STAY AWAY from these six Workers of Lawfulness! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
This weekend we have been privileged to have Boaz Michael and his family be with our community. We have really enjoyed being with them, and look forward to a great day today in the culmination of the FFOZ seminar Knocking on Heaven’s Gates tonight.
Having Boaz and his family has already been a tremendous blessing. Seeing the self-discipline of his family, however, has been both a huge inspiration as well as a little bit of a discouragement. The inspiration is obvious. Boaz and his family are an incredible encouragement in all that they are doing to live out their faith, and help those who are living a Torah-pursuant life.
The discouragement aspect is not the fault of Boaz and his family at all. It’s like running a 100 mile race, and reaching the first mile marker. The thrill of the race, and the excitement of the first milestone are motivating, but realizing that you’ve got 99 more of these to go is slightly disheartening. Seeing where Boaz and his family are and then looking back at where we are as a family and a community could easily open a floodgate of tears if I dwelt on this aspect alone. However, I know that I must not focus on the distance, but on the destination, and enjoy the journey in the process. Otherwise, the journey will be unbearable, and the destination unreachable.
Jason’s post, Inspiration that Creates Action, is a good summary of what I’m feeling. I (and also “we” as an infant Torah community) are making what feels like gigantic leaps on the one hand, but on the other hand they are merely baby-steps. I have an internal struggle that wants so badly to be in close proximity to those who are further along this road than I in order to excel in my learning and my application of Torah, but I know that Hashem is growing me at this pace for a purpose. Maybe I’m not as ready for something like this as I think I am. Maybe I’m not as malleable as I think I am, and would merely snap with all of the stretching that would be required in an environment like that. Maybe I just have a different calling and purpose. Whatever the case, I must keep in mind the words of Rav Sha’ul, which states:
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Messiah Yeshua. (Philippians 3:13b,14)
Zondervan has recently released a new addition to their plethora of Bibles in their study Bible family. It is called the Archaeological Study Bible. Although this name has undergone a bit of scrutiny, I think it is a name that is probably best suited for this particular work on marketing level, since the average person doesn’t make classification distinctions between archaeological, historical and geographical information.
The entire Bible is printed in full color, and it has 500 full cover photos of relevant material, not to mention that it’s simply beautiful.
If you have the opportunity, check out their website. It’s full of quite a bit of information regarding this new release, including a $10 rebate if you act quickly (offer expires at the end of June, 2006). The hardback retails for $50, but you can get it for $31 through Amazon.com
I want to officially welcome Boaz Michael in a few regards. The first is to welcome him to Central Arkansas for his seminar tour Knocking on Heaven’s Gates. The second is to welcome him into cyberspace with his new blog, BoazMichael.Org. Lastly, it’s been rumored that he has officially converted. Yes, I believe he is an official Apple/Mac proselyte now. I’ll be able to confirm this once he arrives this week, and funnel the information back to my Mac blood-brother, Tim Hegg. ;-)
Well, now that I’ve had some fun, be sure to check out Boaz’s blog, especially his newest post on holiness which came with incredible timing in relationship to my last post on Parashat Emor.
