Day Four
Today is the Fourth Day of Passover and I’m going to discuss some of the rich traditions passed down and practiced by Jews to this day.
Most Celebrated Holiday
Passover is the most celebrated holiday in Judaism and is practiced more often than Yom Kippur and Chanuka. Passover is so central to being a Jew, that Maot Chitim (wheat money) is practiced to this day.
Maot Chitim (wheat money)
The Haggadah recited at the Seder reads “All who are hungry, let them come and eat.” The tradition of Maot Chitim begins collecting money thirty days before Passover, and the funds are distributed to those in need on the Shabbat prior to the start of Passover. This practice ensures everyone in need can celebrate a rich Passover. This year Moyock Christian Fellowship participated in Maot Chitim providing boxes of food, medicine and shelter to Jews in need in Israel. Brother Brian’s wife Vickie’s family ancestors are Jews and we felt called by God to participate in this rich tradition of Maot Chitim.
The Haggadah (telling)
In the Christianity, our Holy Bible is the most read, most printed, and most purchased book around the world. In Judaism, it’s not the Hebrew Bible that is most read, printed or purchased but instead the Haggadah. The Haggadah tells the story of the Exodus and is passed down to Jewish Children. This book details the rituals of the Seder meal and is read at Passover.
G_d (the why)
The Torah instructs Jews to “obliterate the name” of idolatry in the Land of Israel, but specifically warns against doing the same to God, so it is Jewish practice not to spell out God, but instead spell it G_d. This ensure that any written text that might get damaged or destroyed does not contain the name of our creator.
Fourth Traditional Scripture Reading of Passover
Exodus 22:24-23:19 – King James Version
24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
26 If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:
27 For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
28 Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
30 Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.
31 And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
23 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.
18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.
The morning of the 4th day of the Pesach, we Jews stand on the 3rd day of the Omer count. The Omer count teaches a נמשל mussar whereby Jews count the day cleansed of avoda zara. The count distance from biur chametz and the night of the Sedar Pesach where we Jews acknowledge that HaShem alone brought Israel out of Egypt. The משל of biur chametz sanctifies as קודש. Which means exactly what? That Jews commit to remove and distance themselves from chametz, similar to a nazir who likewise does so with grapes, what Jews do with chametz the entire chag of Pesach. The נמשל of biur chametz, Jews search their houses and property to remove any and all foreign Gods. Something as did Israel before the revelation of the Torah at Sinai; comparable to La’van searching the tents of Yaacov looking for his God.Bottom line, the Haggadah teaches faith in the justice of HaShem which ipso facto rejects prayer offered to both idols or other Gods. The 11th middle Blessing of the Shemone Esri,
ולירושלים עירך ברחמים תשוב, ותשכן בתוכה כאשר דברת וכו’ וכסא דוד מהרה לתוכה תכין…
Its central k’vanna makes discernment between oath brit sworn to HaShem from the worship of foreign imposter Gods/chametz. The revelation of the Torah at Sinai excludes all other Gods. Both rational or mystic belief based theologies, mussar mitzvot exclude from the inheritance of the brit Cohen nation. Rational or mystic theology compares to avoda zara which once worshipped the stars in the Heavens as Gods; the latter – an inheritance given to all Mankind. Only Israel accepted the Torah revelation of HaShem at Sinai. Mussar commands middot, tohor middot.
Ingestion of tohor middot causes the emotional irrational mind to mature due to developing wisdom, consequent to acquired life experience; lessons learned over and over again and again, until that novice becomes a master.Enslaved Israel had to learn how to make and work with bricks. Wisdom enlightenment, attained through labor with bricks, likewise produced two great “tuma” Temples: courtroom righteous justice has priority over korbanot. The logic skill that applies knowledge of bricks and their purposes, equally applies to many other subjects and walks of life. On this basis stands all Common Law courtrooms of justice.
Rule #1 of the Torah faith: Erect the Torah world – – through validation of established precedents. A novice that reads T’NaCH and Talmud, basically limited his understanding to what his eyes immediately read from those books. The style of the Baali-Tosafot – they brought precedents from other places within the Sha’s Talmud; their T’NaCH and Talmudic commentaries learn by way of bringing comparative precedents, comparative case/law, from other places within the Sha’s Talmud. A novice can not duplicate the sh’itta of learning done by the Baali Tosafot; a commentary which consistently follows the sh’itta of learning through precedents; expressed throughout the Baali Tosafot’s commentary upon the Sha’s Bavli.
The קודש of the Haggadah: it separates tefilla from prayer. Both the worshipers of idols and the disciples of the Scientific method limit the reality of their Gods to 3 physical dimensions. On par with the Ancient Greeks as expressed through the flaw of Euclid’s 5th axiom of geometry, or the absolute necessity required by all branches of Xtian theology, which demands that a physical Jesus once lived as a man within the lands of Judea over 2000 years ago. Neither the idea of a myth or an imaginary Jesus can Church theology ever accept. Therefore persons who pray, they – by definition – worship other Gods. Why? Because persons who pray have long ago embraced Goyim customs, cultures, practices and behaviors – all Goyim refused to accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai; assimilated Jewry have likewise abandoned and rejected the cultures and customs practiced by the Cohed nation.
The רשע who asks one of the 4 questions, he excludes himself not only from the liberation from Egyptian g’lut, but even worse he excludes himself from the eternal Cohen inheritance of the Jewish people. G’lut comes when the Cohen nation abandons tohor practices and assimilates unto foreign alien cultures and customs. Year by year Yidden repeats the salvation from Egyptian bondage. Slowly the dawn breaks and Yidden perceive much more than the טפש פשט of remembering the suffering and salvation from the bondage of Egyptian slavery, an event that happened thousands of years in the past, yet whose meaning applies to our situational lives. Specifically, that HaShem and no other God or Angel, redeemed slaves from g’lut.
In the beginning: Yosef reveals his hidden identity unto his brothers, to the latter dedication of korbanot by the sons of Aaron, avodat HaShem stands separate and apart from prayers offered unto other Gods. קודש. The Haggadah of Seder Pesach teaches the קודש: HaShem commands the 613 mitzvot over the tuma of the worship of other Gods. Do not follow after the culture or customs practiced by the Goyim who refused to accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. To understand the 613 requires a strong knowledge of classic Jewish cultural practices and customs. Tuma attempts to divorce the 613 from the cultural background of Jewish culture, customs, practices, and ways. The Torah refers to this crime by the name of avoda zarah. Prayer – the opposite of tefilla. Persons who worship other Gods …… they pray.
Persons who worship other Gods, they know nothing of the pre-condition which tohor makes upon both mitzva observance in general and tefilla in particular. They assume that korbanot compare to primitive Bar BQ’s offered up to Gods who live in the Heaven – rationally comparable to the stars in the skies. They do not grasp that tefilla functions as a sign of the brit faith, on par with brit melah, shabbot, and tefillen. Tefilla means the dedication of tohor middot unto HaShem alone, as learned directly from the Chumash and NaCH: that HaShem accepts our korban tefilla middot dedications as קודש, and rejects the prayers Goyim pray unto their foreign Gods, by judging those alien Gods with curses and plagues.
An interesting Pesach commentary,
Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, bases his lecture upon the Reshon halacha established by Rambam. He makes efforts to explain Talmudic opinions of origination, based upon the order the Rambam organized his halachic code. Not to follow after the way of the Goyim defines the mussar mitzva of “Jewish modesty”: not to follow or copy the customs, manners, and ways that Goyim accustom their social neighborly affairs. The Rambam listed these halachot located within the Talmudic legal title subject – the Gemara of avoda zara. And herein lays the rub, what defines avoda zara? A lack of modesty. As opposed & contradicted by the worship of idols and other God(s). Of the two, which has מלכות priority? The midda of modesty learns its definition, tohor humility stands upon the יסוד, the life lived by the prophet – king Moshe. Versus the 2nd Commandment revelation of the Torah at Sinai.
Rabbi David Bar-Hayim failed to bring the mussar commandment attached to the halachic rulings that forbade to follow the practices customs or manners – both personal and dress – the Goyim time honored traditions. But he failed to mention the Torah specific commandment – After the ways of Egypt or Canaan, do not follow. Alas the Rambam erred. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim failed to discuss the 13 tohor middot revelation of the Torah sh’Baal pe – Master of Torah logic – in his amplification of the Rambam’s Halachic opinions located in the halachot of avoda zara: “his” errors doubled and compounded, “he” ripped apart the warp from its woof, the very fabric of the Sha’s Bavli. “He” divorced prophetic mussar learned directly from the aggadic drosh of logic unto the T’NaCH Primary Sources which teach the kabbala of our musar masoret, known as prophecy.
Rabbi David Bar-Hayim follows the err made by the Rambam, similar to the prophet Chaggai who taught a tuma prophecy, consequent to the domino effect error made by Shlomo the king – who failed to listen or to heed the mussar mitzva which the prophet Natan commanded, and which king David opened his final address to another Man in this world. Chaggai links construction of the Temple as the mitzva “of keeping and doing”… the tuma curse included in the 2nd paragraph of kre’a shma. Natan, the prophet of king David, advised the king, the Torah commandment: the ways and customs of the Goyim – do not follow. The construction of the Temple by king Shlomo: this erroneous action\decision…initiated the path whereby the soul of king Shlomo walks before HaShem unto all eternity. Herein defines the term: destiny.
The curse decree pronounced upon king David by Natan the prophet, this mussar passed as an eternal inheritance which king David’s sons forever inherit – comparable to DNA – War among Brothers, also known from the evil sinister alias: “Civil War”. Civil War – – no greater plague of destruction and cruel death. King Shlomo erred, he failed to establish the rule of law through the judicial decisions reached by the Federal Sanhedrin lateral Common Law court system. The din by which king Shlomo launched his reputation of fame, that “courting” [people in dispute] came before the Court of king Shlomo – not before the lateral Common-law Sanhedrin Court.
[Common-law courtrooms stand upon logical precedents which the opposing lawyers introduce as “legal” evidence – made by two of the three Torts Court Justices – these opposing Torts court justices argue the merits of that specific Case, before the 3rd Judge of the same Torts Court. Upon this יסוד\kabbala stand the Order of Organization of both the Small and Great Sanhedrin Capital Crime courts of law. When the opposing Justices argued pro & con “legal”, meaning —- (the obligation to acquire similar yet earlier opinions made by all previous courtrooms; specifically – from all other Sanhedrin courtrooms across the country. Law by means of valid precedents successfully compares to completely different, but as yet currently undecided court cases. From this sh’itta – of precedents required – the 3 Justices of the Torts court rooms determine judicial justice) ] —- earlier halachic precedents, legal rulings made by earlier\previous courts of Common-law.
The prophets teach the strong mussar commandment: justice justice pursue. From this tohor concept of mussar, Natan the prophet interpreted the k’vanna of the 2nd paragraph – acceptance of the curse obligation within the mitzva of kre’a shma. Specifically the dedication to do all mitzvot, tohor mussar middot mitztvot לשמה. Herein explains why rabbis in Judea did not have to wear distinctive garments to acknowledge their reputations of righteousness.
Whereas g’lut rabbis emphasized making a distinction of dress. Rather these Court Rabbis enjoy the potential to transform their lives unto the מדרגה, the Order of righteous, known as “Baal Shem Tov\master of the Good Name” – – meaning – – fear of heaven. Doing mitzvot לשמה. This reputation, it defines – Good Name – of Judean Jews. Doing mitzvot oblivious of what means לשמה – slandered the reputation. The consequences of this evil – Bad Name …. Goyim condemn g’lut Jews – throughout human history they crush and oppress stateless refugee populations.
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