Mar 27, 2008
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Parashah, Torah | 0 comments
I recently posted this on FFOZ’s Torah Club Forum, but thought I would go ahead and post it here as well. And (as I stated in the forum) most people will already know this, but it’s a good reminder…
Yesterday was the fourth reading for this week’s parasha. It included Vayikra/Leviticus 10:16. Within this verse we have the phrase [i]S’ir hachatat darosh darash Moshe[/i], which roughly equates to “Moshe inquired insistently (or diligently) about the he-goat of the sin-offering.”
What’s special about this? First, the repetition of the root דרש. This root is where we get the word “drash” or “drosh,” meaning to “seek out,” commonly used to mean a time of teaching from what one has already sought out in the Scriptures. The doubling of this root in the passage implies a seeking out that is more intense than normal. Second, the sages tell us that these two words mark the very center of the Torah.
From both of these insights we can infer that we are to diligently seek out the heart, or the “center,” of the Torah at all times and never be satisfied with a “pat answer.” We must be as the Bereans of the Apostolic Writings at all times–diligent students, seeking out the very heart of Torah.
Feb 13, 2008
Posted on Feb 13, 2008 in Children, Miscellaneous, Torah | 2 comments
Choshen/Breastplate
Fitting in with these week’s Parashah, I designed this simple coloring sheet for my children of the Choshen (Breastplate of the Kohen). I thought I would post it in case anyone else was looking for something like it. Feel free to use for whatever purpose. Print as many copies as you like and be sure to pass it around.
Right-click (pc) or Control-click (mac!) to download:
UPDATE March 6, 2011: Thanks to
Jennifer for pointing out that the order of the tribes was incorrect. I have updated the PDF according to the correct tribal ordering.
Jan 18, 2008
Posted on Jan 18, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Torah | 0 comments
Just wanted to announce that our congregation is now the owner of an incredible Torah Scroll! It arrived this Wednesday. I think we got our scroll the same day that we got the new FFOZ magazine that is devoted to Torah scrolls. If you’re interested, here are some photos I snapped yesterday.
Nov 1, 2007
Posted on Nov 1, 2007 in Mishnah, Torah, Yeshua | 3 comments
Toby Janicki of FFOZ, recently posted some thoughts in regard to the Oral Torah and Yeshua’s statement, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.” It was a very insightful post that confirmed some ideas I’ve been developing over the last several months. I think his quote from Schimmel’s book, The Oral Torah, is a key to help us understand a basic principle regarding the work of Yeshua. Here is the quote from the book:
Before instituting a decree of enacting an ordinance or inducing a custom which is deemed necessary, Beit Din [House of Judges] must calmly deliberate and make sure that the majority of the community can live up to it. At no time is a decree to be imposed upon the public, which the majority cannot endure. (The Oral Torah, H. Chaim Schimmel, pg. 112)
I posted my thoughts as a comment on the FFOZ blog, but I thought I would include them here for easy reference…
In regard to the spiritual leadership of Israel during the first century, Yeshua did not come to negate the Oral Torah (as many of us already know, but we would do well to emphasize this point here). He came to 1) expose, rebuke & correct hypocrisy and 2) make the Torah accessible to the “am ha’aretz,” the common person – the “average Joe” (so to speak).
At this point in history, Torah study and mitzvot had almost completely been relegated to the aristocracy. There was a great chasm between the “learned” and the am ha’aretz. Yeshua’s rebuke is often quoted ending with the first portion, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders.” However, the heart of the matter is found in the latter part in which he said, “but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”
This is huge! Yeshua’s rebuke worked! The word of Hashem that he spoke did not return void. They did not fall on deaf ears. The difference between the “burdens” the common man faced during the time of Yeshua and the Oral Torah of today is this very principle. We cannot equate the Oral Torah with the “burdens” that the hypocrites, during the time of Yeshua, had placed on the general populous.
Although I do not believe we should follow the Oral Torah blindly, nor in its entirety (for various reasons associated with our Master), we have to recognize that these are two different animals, and speak out against the slanderous accusations from those who are ignorant (not “dumb,” merely uneducated in this particular area) of the differences.
Oct 16, 2007
Posted on Oct 16, 2007 in Judaism, Talmud, Torah | 9 comments
“Rabbi Meir said: From where do we know that even a non-Jew who engages in the study of Torah is like a High Priest? For the verse states (Leviticus 18:5): ‘And you shall keep my statutes, and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live in them.’ The verse does not speak of ‘priests, Levites and Israelites,’ but rather says, ‘a man,’ which includes non-Jews. Thus you learn from here that even a non-Jew who engages in the study of Torah is like a High Priest.”
b. Sanhedrin 59a, Steinsaltz translation
