THE GRAND FEAST

Shemos: 22:30

Sources: Midrash Tehillim 766, Torah Shleimah p.147

The Torah warns: "Do not eat flesh torn off in the field by a predator. Cast it to the dogs". (22:30)

Rabbi Berachia said in the name of Rabbi Yaacov: "If someone eats animal flesh torn off by a predator, he will be judged by Hashem". But if he keeps this mitzvah, then a grand feast will be prepared for him. When Moshiach comes - He will eat the Livyoson fish and special meat, as it says: "And you will eat food and be satisfied". (Joel 2:26)

http://www.congregationlubavitch.org/page.asp?pageID=%7B33101C19-832E-41C2-B722-7A63D9D4AAD2%7D

What is the meaning of this feast? This commandment is given to the nations of Noah. It is given to restrain the lust of devouring G-d’s creatures. Should humans become no different from predators the hope of Mashiach could not shine through them to all creatures.

The livyoson, like a dragon of the sea, is a symbol of the very nature of the earth and its ecology in the absence of G-d’s immediate and personal presence. This is due to Adam’s sin. The poetic image of feasting on the livyoson is the promise of all creation being resotred to a state that is equal to and greater than that which would have been had Adam never sinned. A choice to east in a manner that is in contrast to that which the predators are forced now to eat can be a choice to testify to this hope and faith in the promise of Mashiach in the Torah and Scriptures.

The Corner of Your Field

Lev. 23:22 You shall not remove the corner of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

A Comment On The Israel Bible
"This Biblical imperative is still practiced in Israel today. Each season, farmers throughout Israel leave over millions of pounds of produce from the fields which are then collected by volunteers and distributed to poor people all over the country."
Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/leviticus/chapter-23/verse-22#sFeViLLfzXAJYEXO.99


Proverbs 11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him.

The Israel Bible comments:
The Bible commands the Israelites to set aside a certain portion of their crops, grown in the Land of Israel, for the poor . The corners of their fields, the forgotten sheaves and the grains that fall during harvest are all left for the needy (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:19).
Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/proverbs/chapter-11/verse-26#s3i4V2JcAuFppHC8.99

Lev. 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am Hashem your God.
Deuteronomy 24: 19-20
19 When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go back to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Hashem thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.
20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
24:20 When you beat your olive-tree:

The Israel Bible Comments:
Just as food must be left in the fields for the poor during the time of the harvest, so too fruit must be left on the trees. In describing the process of removing the fruit from the olive tree, the verse says “when you beat your olive tree.” Olive trees were harvested by beating the branches with a stick, causing the olives to fall to the ground. According to the Sages, this hints to the blessing of abundance in the Land of Israel. There will be so much produce that the farmers will only need to harvest what falls off with the beating of the tree branches; they will not need to bother to climb a ladder in order to reach what was left at the top! What remains on the tree is left for the poor and needy.

Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/deuteronomy/chapter-24#wxS5odwWkP4hL3Cc.99

Mahx Note:
The corner of the field in this commandment is only the corner of the field in the Land of Israel. Nevertheless, the clear principle of leaving “the corners” of what G-d provides for us for the poor is a principle that we can clearly understand that G-d would desire to see followed anywhere. To do so because it is G-d’s expressed will for the Land of Israel is very near to the spirit of direct obedience to the commandment itself. But how can this be done? One cannot obey a commandment, in its spirit anymore than in its letter, according to one’s own ideas.

It is essential to look more closely at what is given as this commandment in the Torah. Indeed, there is more than one commandment about leaving behind a measure of one’s harvest of G-d’s blessing for the poor. These commandments can, however, in essence, be seen to be one commandment.
There is the commandment to leave the corners of the field no matter what the crop. Then there is the commandment to leave behind any gleanings that fall in the field, and the commandment not to go back and fetch any sheaf left in the field. There is also the commandment not to strip the vineyards bare, not to go over them a second time, but to leave grapes for the poor. And there is the commandment not to remove all the olives from the olive trees, but to leave some for those who are without other resources.

All these commandments are like one principle being commanded. This principle does not take away from the specifics of each commandment as spelled out to the letter. Rather, the principle adds them together and thereby adds to them. How so?

From understanding the principle, that it is G-d’s will to provide for the stranger and the poor out of the blessings with which he blesses whomever he blesses is to realize that there are “corners” to the Land of Israel itself through which G-d wills to provide for all the spiritually poor strangers of the nation who would take hold of the “corners of the garments” of the children of Israel to go with them to worship the G-d of Jerusalem.

Just so, there are no limits to G-d’s will to bless those who seek his blessing through Avraham, in accordance with his promises to Abraham, to Yitzchak and Yaakov. Therefore, anyone who will seek to leave a portion of the blessings they have recieved for the poor, and do so because G-d commanded this of the children of Israel, will be shown a way of doing this in holiness to the pleasure of G-d.

Deuteronomy 1:8 w/Mahx Notes

https://www.icloud.com/pages/0NM4d7xZhCX07SyEYyfNCYhpg#Deut._1-8

The Master of Prayer and Romans 8:3

What the Torah could not do without the Master of Prayer the Torah could do with the Master of Prayer.

What the Torah could not do by itself through the human being due to the weakness of the fallen human being, God did through sending His son with the Torah, that His son, in accordance with the Torah might condemn sin in the flesh and justify the human being in the Torah through him.

Romans 8 KJV
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

What the Torah could not do together with the fallen nature of Adam, God sending his own Son in the likeness of the fallen nature of Adam, and for sin, did — through his Son in fulfillment of the Torah.

Romans 8 Youngs Literal Translation
3 for what the law was not able to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, His own Son having sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, did condemn the sin in the flesh,

4 that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

What is it said here that the Torah was to do? It is said here that the Torah was to condemn sin in the flesh. And by implication then it was to establish its own righteousness in the human being. In short, then, due to the weakness of the flesh the Torah was not even able to fully condemn sin in the flesh. And accordingly it was not able to establish its righteousness in the human being.

What does it mean that the Torah should condemn sin in the flesh? This is not to condemn the human being but to condemn sin without condemning the human being. That is, therefore, to establish that the crime is the crime against the Torah and that it has been committed. The crime is condemned. However, it is not the purpose of the Torah to destroy the criminal, but to establish the condemnation of the crime, so that the criminal might be saved from the guilt and power of the crime.

What does it mean that the flesh was weak so that the Torah was not able to accomplish this on its own? The human being in the condition called "the flesh" would not be subject to the truth of the Torah. It could not be. It did not ever fully listen to the Torah, but tried to justify itself against what it thought would be the condemnation of the Torah, and therefore to justify itself in the Torah, against the true testimony of the Torah, which is that the sinful human being is worthy in the end of nothing but death — yet this is because of the unworthiness of sin, whereas the One who gave the Torah desires life for the human being. And this is the full testimony of the Torah. But the flesh, that aspect of the human being subject directly to death for sin, was weak in being overcome by inner shame and the fear of death, and could not hear this full testimony. Therefore it gave itself over in abandonment to sin, or deafened itself entirely to the Torah and did what was right in its own eyes, or continued ceaselessly to hope in finding some way to justify itself in the Torah. And so there was not one righteous human being who repented perfectly in the Torah, hearing perfectly its testimony. It was then that God sent His Son and established beyond all defense the condemnation of sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Torah might be fulfilled in those brought into his Spirit, who walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

Where do we see this very teaching from the Torah itself?

Exodus 32
9 …The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.

10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."

11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

And:

Deuteronomy 9
13 …"The LORD spoke further to me, saying, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.

14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

15 "So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.…

For this is understandable in that it can be seen that Moshe recognized that Hashem would certainly keep His covenant with Avraham, Isaac and Jacob and save Israel as His people, as He brought them up out of Egypt and gave them His Torah, so He would bring them into the Land of Testimony. Therefore Moshe knew that Hashem's covenant was made so as to be dependent upon a Tzaddik from below praying and beseeching Him for the forgiveness of His people, Israel. Accordingly, he knew that if he prayed then for Israel his prayer would be heard. For the covenant was certain that Hashem would Himself provide that Tzaddik who would pray from below for Israel when Hashem would be prepared to destroy them altogether and the prayer of that Tzaddik would be heard.

Now this is the prayer of one who incarnates the Torah itself, so that it is heard not only Above but also Below that it is the Torah that pleads for Israel and does not condemn the children of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Between G-d And Adam

The question that is often asked is how are G-d and Adam/Humanity united in Yehoshua/Jesus? The question that needs to be asked is how is G-d and Adam differentiated in Yehoshua?

This is also the question, how is the Creator and the creation differentiated in Yehoshua? To make this clearer, how is it ultimately and absolutely only in Yehoshua HaMashiach / Jesus Christ that the independent power of G-d to exist and live is differentiated from the dependent power of creation to exist and live?

This question is a most essential question on every level. It is not only an essential question on the broadest level of existence. It is also an essential question on the interpersonal level that lays at the heart of the Torah, the level of love. You cannot respect or love G-d if you are not completely clear as to what the difference is between you and G-d. Sin attempts to obscure the difference between ourselves and G-d. 

This is experienced also in the interpersonal relationship between soul and soul. You cannot respect or love another unless you fully appreciate the difference between yourself and them. This is the core premise for understanding the commandment to love your neighbor equally to and with yourself, and to treat others equally to  yourself. It is no truer to say that you can't love your neighbor if you don't first love yourself than it is to say that you can't love yourself if you don't first love your neighbor. It all begins with appreciating the true value of the difference between your neighbor and yourself. And the exact difference between every soul is created and established in Yehoshua HaMashiach. This is because the exact difference between G-d and all creation is created and established in Yehoshua HaMashiach. 

This is why the common question asking how the divine and human are united in Yehoshia/Jesus is an immature and poorly framed question. The way different things may be united depends on how the are differentiated. Starting with the question, how are the divine and the human united in Mashiach/Christ assumes that it is already known from self-evidence how they are differentiated. In fact this is not known. There is abundant self-evidence that the human and divine are different, but there is no self-evidence at all as to how they are differentiated. To suggest that how the existence of the Creator and the creation are different is self-evident to one's self would Nero suggest that one jadone's self the nature of the word of G-d. Since we hold that it is Yehosha HaMashiach alone who possesses the nature of the word of G-d, we also understand that in him is the knowledge of how the existence of the Creator is differentiated, both in the beginning and for eternity, from the existence of his creation.  

We must begin, therefore, by asking the right question.  How is G-d and Adam differentiated in Yehoshua? Even by asking this question we state as our premise that it is in Yehoshua HaMashiach, as the word of G-d, that G-d and Adam and therefore all creation are differentiated.  Mashiach is the one who enables creation to exist distinct from G-d.

Deep Questions for Christian/Jewish Dialogue #1 Trinity

I am asked, do you believe in the doctrine of the Trinity?

I respond, Let me ask you a question, so that I am sure I understand what it is that you are thinking when you ask this question.

When you read that The Word become flesh, how do you understand this? Did the Word become flesh or was his body only a garment?  When his body was raised from the dead, was it a mere garment that was raised?

For it is written, The LORD God breathed into his nostrils and he became a living soul.  Since Adam, the first human, became a living soul through the unity of the body and the spirit, how do you understand the Messiah to have become a living soul?

Was only the spirit divine or was the body also divine? Or how do you say that also the human soul, which lives through the union of body and spirit, in Mashiach was the Word of God?

If the Word did not actually become flesh but only put on the body like an article of clothing, if Mashiach is not the Word of God being human in both spirit and body, what does it mean to you to say that the Word became flesh and lived among us?  If the body of Mashiach is not both human and divine at once, how is Mashiach a living human soul and the son of Adam at all, and how is it that the human soul and body were raised as one from the dead?

So then, when you ask if I believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, are you asking if I believe that the human soul of Mashiach is a member of the Trinity?

I would ask you a further question. Do you believe that the Messiah of Israel is one root soul of all Israel?

If you do, does your understanding of the Trinity illuminate this relationship? Ought we to speak of things that are over our heads?

Will the day come when it is brought to light that Christians have killed one another, either literally or socially, over concepts of God that they never even should have tried to speak about?  For there is no way to come to the Father except through the revelation of the Mashiach of Israel, our soul, which revelation is yet to be made fully known in all creation.

Then the knowledge of the God of Israel will fill the earth like the waters fill the oceans.  Then no one will challenge their neighbor, questioning them and threatening them, saying, Do you know the true doctrine of God?

Then Yehoshua Knowing...

What does it mean, "You will seek me and not find me"?



Yochanan/John 6

:15 

Therefore, Yehoshua, knowing that they are about to come and to seize him that they might make him king by force, departed alone again to the mountain, withdrawing by himself.



Comment

The record shows that everything that happened to Yehoshua was about the people's desire for an anointed Prophet King like Moshe. Indeed, they looked for a son of David, but one like Joseph/Yehosef, who would rule over all nations through the power of his personal righteousness and unique relationship with HaShem.

Indeed, Yehoshua would be that Anointed One, but the people would have tried to make him that King by force. This is what the rulers of the Jews who lived in the territory of Judea were determined to prevent from happening. Yehoshua, in obedience to the direct order that he received from God, his father, determined to use the will of the rulers as his own way of escaping the will of the people to make him King by force. 



Yochanan 7:34-36 based on OJB


34 You will seek me and not find me and where I am you are not able to come.
 35 Therefore, those of  the territory of Yehudah said to themselves, Where is this man about to journey that we will not find him? Surely he is not about to sojourn to the Golus, those in exile to be found among the Yevanim (the Greeks) to teach the Yevanim? [Mishle/Proverbs 1:28]
  36 What is this word which he said, "You will seek me and will not find me and where I am you are not able to come"?

Comment

This pattern of dramatic tension between the people and the rulers of the Jewish Nation around Yehoshua that was set up during his ministry to Israel on earth can be seen to repeat throughout history.  This tension was later taken over in the relationship between the people of the nations who were drawn to Yehoshua/Jesus, on the one hand, and the later rulers of the Jewish nation, the rabbis, on the other hand.  Like in the case of the Jews of the Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem, where so long as the people saw his power they wanted to make him the king of Israel by force — and the rulers determined to do whatever they needed to do to stop this — so a Christian society developed manifesting itself in forms like the Christian Roman Empire, the Crusades as well as many more subtle forms that wanted to make Yeshua/Jesus King by force.  

Against this effort, the rabbis continued to stand firm, simply by refusing to acknowledge or accept him as the king or Messiah of Israel.  And Yehoshua himself, according to the purpose of God, continued to use this effort of the leaders of the Jewish nation to his own ends.  For he will remain concealed at the right hand of God and will never be revealed by God to the world openly until Jerusalem with her Torah leaders become  ready to embrace him.  And they will not become ready to embrace him, certainly, until the many peoples who follow after him cease trying to make him to be the king of Israel by their own force.