Month: October 2011

Shalom.  Our teaching this morning will be from Genesis 48.5 and 6, but our subject will focus on Verse 6.

READ GENESIS 48.5-6

GENESIS 48.5  They are mine.  Jacob adopted Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim to make them as his own sons, the fathers of their two tribes, the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim.

GENESIS 48.6  And your issue – Those born of you.
Which you will beget – Which you give life to shall be yours.  And they shall be called after the name of their brothers Manasseh and Ephraim.

That is, any other children that Joseph has after Manasseh and Ephraim will be assigned with the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim with regard to the land they will inherit when the children of Israel come into the Land.  When the children of Israel came out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery and bondage, and when Joshua led them in the Land of Canaan, the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim each inherited their own parcels of land with the other tribes of Israel. 

The tribe of Manasseh inherited a huge parcel between the Galilee and the Dead Sea, and Ephraim a smaller parcel, south of Manasseh.  Thus Joseph received a double portion of land given to his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, while Jacob’s other sons inherited one parcel of land when Israel came into the Promised Land.  So why did Joseph receive a double portion while Jacob’s other sons received only one parcel of land?

The answer is this.  Jacob removed Reuben’s birthright and gave it to Joseph.  Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn, and Joseph was Jacob’s eleventh born son.  But because Reuben defiled his father’s bed, Jacob disqualified Reuben from receiving his birthright.

GENESIS 35.22-26

VERSE 22  CONCUBINE – PEELEHGESH – A woman who cohabits with a man, to whom she is not married.

1 CHRONICLES 5.1 
VERSE 1      Reuben is not counted as the firstborn in the genealogy of Jacob.  That is Reuben is not counted as the firstborn in the family tree of Jacob because he defiled his father’s bed.  Thus Jacob gave Reuben’s birthright to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, or the son of Jacob.  And the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.  Meaning, Reuben is not counted as firstborn in Jacob’s genealogy, his family tree.

What is a birthright?

BIRTHRIGHT – BEHKHORAH – A birthright. The right of the firstborn.

What is the right of the firstborn and what is given to him?

DEUTERONOMY 21.15-17
VERSE 15 The man has two wives, one loved, the other unloved, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife.

VERSE 16  When he wills his property to his sons, he cannot treat as firstborn the son of the loved wife and reject the son of the unloved wife who is older.

VERSE 17  Instead, he must accept the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife by giving him A DOUBLE PORTION of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength.  The right of the firstborn is his.

So what is the right of the firsborn’s son?  He is to receive a double portion of everything from his father’s estate.  Thus the birthright Joseph received was a double portion of land in Israel that was given to his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim.

Let’s return to 1 CHRONICLES 5.2

1 CHRONICLES 5.1-2  So Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim were split into two independent tribes, the tribe of Manasseh, and the tribe of Ephraim, and each inherited parcels of land in Israel as did Jacob’s other sons.

1 CHRONICLES 5.2  The privilege of royalty, however, which should have gone to the firstborn, was not given to Reuben or Joseph.  It was given to Judah, because The Bible says, he prevailed above his brothers.  He was stronger than his brothers.  And of him, that is from Judah came the chief ruler.  The chief ruler is David of whom Messiah descends.  Thus Judah would be the source of Jewish leadership, and Royalty of the Davidic dynasty and Messiah. 

And these were the words of Jacob in his blessing and prophecy to Judah.

                            GENESIS 49.1,8-10

VERSE 8  Judah in Hebrew is Yehhoodah – which means praise, and at some time in the future, all Israel, and all the world will praise the special descendant of Judah, Messiah Yeshua The King.  And He will destroy all His enemies at His return, His second coming.  Who are His enemies?  Those who hate Israel, those who attack her and seek her hurt.  After all, Jacob, God’s chosen, is called by the name Israel, given to him by the Lord God  And all Israel will bow down to Messiah, The King of all the earth.

VERSE 9  A lion’s whelp is a cub, a young lion.  Can this mean that Messiah is and was a child and a son.  A child and a son of Israel, and The Son of GOD.

                            ISAIAH 9.6

BACK TO
GENESIS 49.9  Judah is a lion’s whelp from the prey.  He tears in pieces.  Judah was strong, King David was strong and powerful, and Messiah is omnipotent.  He is GOD Almighty, all ruling with no limits or boundaries to His power.

Who shall rouse Him up?  Who shall rouse this old lion up?  Who will provoke Him?  Those who seek to destroy His people Israel.  Messiah will rise up and destroy them all (See Zechariah 14).

VERSE 10  The sceptre is a rod, a symbol of the rule of law.  And GOD’s Law of Moses, His Torah will never change and no one can abolish it.  And it will not depart from Judah.  It will not be removed or taken away.  Nor will the promise of Messiah’s Kingship ever be removed from the tribe of Judah.  He is The King of Israel, The King of all the earth.

Nor a lawgiver from between His feet.  The Lawgiver is GOD, Who is Messiah, Who in the flesh as a human being descends from Judah.  He, Messiah Yeshua, is The Lawgiver to Moses, to give The Law to Israel, and for Israel to give The Law to all the world (by The Bible).

From between His feet.  The word feet in Hebrew is REHGEHL – Besides feet, also means possession.  The Law of Moses belongs to GOD.  It is GOD’s Law.  It is Messiah’s Law and it never changes, and is never abolished.

Until Shiloh come, and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.  Shiloh is another title for Messiah and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.  The word gathering in Hebrew is YEE KAH HAH, which means obedience.

All the people of the world will obey GOD The Messiah, Yeshua Ha Mashiakh, the descendant of Judah.

Let’s go back to Deuteronomy 21.15 about a man having Two wives.

                            DEUTERONOMY 21.15

Can a man have two wives or more?  Is it lawful with GOD.  The answer is No.

Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel.  And if you add in his two concubine maidservants, he had four wives.  David had four wives.  Solomon had 700 wives, princes, and 300 concubines.  And The Bible says, his wives turned away his heart.  But that doesn’t mean it’s right, or of God.

Having more than one wife is violating GOD’s Law.  It is unlawful.

GENESIS 2.18  A helpmeet is a helper.  One helper, One wife.

G
ENESIS 2.21-24  VERSE 24  He shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh, one person.

One wife, singular  In Hebrew,  EESHAH

NOT wives, NAH SHEEM

EPHESIANS 5.23  The husband is the head of his one wife.  He is the leader and spiritual leader of his household.  He has the responsibility to lead and provide for his family.  He is the glue that keeps his family together.  GOD holds the husband responsible for what takes place in his home, good and bad.  And he is to have only one wife.

Listen to Messiah’s words.  MATTHEW 19.3-9 and MARK 10.7-9

GOD Himself only has one wife, and that one wife is Israel.  He is not married to Rome or Russia, or England or the United States.  He is married to Israel, His one wife, and those non-Jewish people are grafted into GOD’s wife Israel;  You join in with her by doing what GOD commands His people Israel. Obey His Voice, and have faith in His Messiah Yeshua.

ISAIAH 54.5-10, ISAIAH 62.5, JEREMIAH 3.14, JEREMIAH 31.32 (31-34), REVELATION 19.7-8

But there is something disturbing that has taken place.  Adultery and fornication where GOD’s wife Israel has left GOD to run after other lovers, or other gods, other laws, other rules and commandments other than those of GOD. They have rejected Him by rejecting His Word. As The Prophet Samuel said to King Saul in 1 Samuel 15.22; To obey is better then sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry. 

                            MATTHEW 19.9, ISAIAH 1.2-27, JEREMIAH 3.8

GOD will marry Israel again, when Israel turns to Him, and repents, and obeys Him, and not others.  When Israel receives their Messiah Yeshua, and GOD puts His Law of Moses in their hearts to obey Him.  GOD will forgive all their sins and remember them no more, for His mercy endures forever, and GOD will reconcile His people back to Him, because He is married to Israel.  For His wife and bride will be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the Righteousness of the Saints.  You and me and others who love GOD and Messiah and have ears to hear.  We obey GOD.

Shalom,  Ira Weinstein

Shalom and good morning.  Our teaching will be from GOD’s Word in Leviticus 23.33-44 about the 8th day of Sukkot, which is today.

READ LEVITICUS 23.33-44

Today is the 8th and last day of Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles.  And as we did for Rosh Ha Shannah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, learning what the Talmud teaches on those festivals of The LORD, we will do the same this morning for the 8th day of Sukkot.  As you know, the Talmud is not the Torah.  It is not GOD’s Law of Moses but a collection of Jewish law and tradition from the teachings of the major Jewish scholars from 200 to 500 C.E./A.D. which was the classic period of Rabbinic Judaism.

But of much greater importance, we will then learn what The LORD our GOD teaches from Scripture on the 8th day of Sukkot and how we should observe it.  And at the conclusion of this study, we will learn what the prophetic fulfillment in Messiah is for the 8th day of Sukkot.

First the Talmudic teaching for the 8th day of Sukkot.  Judaism calls the 8th day of Sukkot, Shemini Atseret, meaning, the 8th day of the assembly, which is the last day of the Festival of Sukkot or the Festival of Tabernacles.  Outside Israel, Orthodox and Conservative Jews celebrate Shemini Atseret for two days, and Reform Jews for one day, but The LORD would have us to observe it on the 8th day only.  The Rabbis regard Shemini Atseret as an independent festival in certain respects.  One of which is its name given by the Rabbis.  But otherwise regard it as a continuation of Sukkot.  The holiday is not linked to any specific historical event as Passover is.  The Sukkah or booth is no longer an integral part of the holiday, although traditions vary in that area from not using it at all to reciting a ceremony and prayer called the Qiddush which proclaims the holiness of the Sabbath or Festival as a memorial to the Creation, and for the Exodus from Egypt.

Shimini Atseret, Talmud teaches, symbolized the special relationship between GOD and Israel in the Diaspora.  The Diaspora is the scattering of the Jewish people to countries outside of Israel from the Assyrian exile in 722 B.C.E./B.C., the Babylonian exile in 586 B.C.E./B.C., and the exile following the destruction of Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple in 70 C.E./A.D. by the Romans.

In the Diaspora, the Biblical Festivals are extended to two days.  Thus at the conclusion of Sukkot and actually on the 9th day, the final chapters of Torah are read, Deuteronomy 31 through 34.  This 2nd day, which is tomorrow, is called Simkhat Torah, which means, rejoicing of the Torah.  And Simkhat Torah ranks as a major celebration in Judaism.  There is nothing written about it in Talmud because it is a comparatively late custom.  On Simkhat Torah, The Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark and the Congregants make seven circuits of the Synagogue accompanied by singing and dancing.  In the former Soviet Union, beginning in the 1960’s, Jews developed the custom of gathering together at the Synagogue on Simkhat Torah as an open expression of their Jewish identity.

The distinctive worship feature for Shemini Atseret, the 8th day of Sukkot, is the prayer for rain, with the Cantor in traditional Ashkenazi Synagogues wearing a white robe as on the high Holy days of Rosh Ha Shannah and Yom Kippur.  Ashkenazi is defined as a Jewish person from a Christian country in Europe, while Sephardic is defined as a Jewish person from a Muslim country, especially from the once Muslim countries of Spain and Portugal.  And the Book of Ecclesiastes is read in the Synagogue, and also Zechariah 14.16-19.  Let’s read the words from Zechariah 14.16-19.

There is evidence in 2nd Temple times that greater numbers of people made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on this Festival than on other pilgrim festivals, since at the time, the harvest had been fully gathered and farmers were free to leave their fields.  The three pilgrimages, or the three annual festivals when pilgrims went by foot to Jerusalem, are Passover, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, and The Feast of Tabernacles.  The 2nd Temple, as a point of information, is the 1st Temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E./B.C., and restored 70 years later whne the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile.  This would be around 516 B.C.E./B.C.  The Temple was later looted and desecrated by the Syrian Antiochus IV Epiphanes between 169 and 167 B.C.E./B.C., and reconsecrated in 165 by Judah The Maccabee.  King Herod completely rebuilt The Temple, turning it into one of the most beautiful buildings in the Roman Empire.  It was destroyed by the Roman General Titus in 70 C.E./A.D.  The original Temple known as the 1st Temple was built by Solomon and dedicated in approximately 964 B.C.E./B.C.

Let’s go to The Bible now and see what The LORD teaches us about the 8th day of Sukkot, today, and how we should observe it.  Let’s turn to Leviticus 23.

LEVITICUS 23.33  The LORD speaking to Moses is Yeshua The Messiah, Who is The Word of GOD.  And He is GOD.  John 1.1.

LEVITICUS 23.34  The 15th day of the 7th Hebrew month, which is Tishrei, shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for 7 days unto The LORD.  The 1st day was last Thursday.

LEVITICUS 23.35  A holy convocation is a Service, a gathering of the people dedicated to The LORD.  Also, a holy convocation means a rehearsal for a future event.  We will discuss that future event, and what it is at the conclusion of this teaching.

LEVITICUS 23.36  Here in Verse 36 is GOD’s teaching on how we should observe the 8th day of Sukkot.

– The 8th day is a holy convocation, a Service, a gathering of the people dedicated to The LORD.  And it is a rehearsal.

– You shall offer an offering made by fire unto The LORD, which is an atonement to cleanse you of all your sins so you will be clean before The LORD.  That you will be forgiven your sins by The LORD.  However, Yeshua The Messiah is our offering unto The LORD, our atonement that cleanses us from all our sins and God remembers our sin no more.  This is the teaching from The Bible, The Word of GOD.

– The 8th day of Sukkot is a solemn assembly.  In Hebrew, ATSERET, a solemn or serious gathering.

– On the 8th day, The LORD says we are to do no servile work.
KAL MEH LEH KHET AHVODAH LO.

No work of any kind, no labor, no employment, no business.

So what is fixed and established by GOD for us to do on this day, the 8th day of Sukkot?

– Hold a holy convocation, a gathering of the people, a Service dedicated to The LORD GOD.  The LORD GOD, you may recall, is Yeshua The Messiah.

– Have an atonement for our sins.  Yeshua The Messiah is that atonement.

– It is a solemn assembly, a very serious gathering.

– Do no work of any kind on this day.

Because The Bible contains no explicit account of the daily order of service in The Temple, my understanding is that the worship service focused on the sacrifice, the shed blood of animals for the atonement and forgiveness of sins for the people.  LEVITICUS 17.11

It’s not that GOD enjoys killing animals.  He does not.  He prefers obedience to His Word.  And that was lacking in the Children of Israel in Biblical times and today.  In fact, disobedience to GOD is widespread throughout the world today.  And since the days of Adam, GOD has used the shed blood of animals to forgive sin.  But always, GOD has pleaded with mankind to obey Him.  But most people still disobey Him.  That is why so much tragedy has come upon Israel, and that is why so much tragedy has come upon this world.  Disobedience to GOD.  GOD prefers obedience rather than sacrifice.  L
et’s look at these words.

                            1 SAMUEL 15.22-24,  JEREMIAH 7.21-26

(Jeremiah 7.21) PUT – SAHFAH – add to

And GOD never changes.  He never changes His Word, and He never changes His Law, His Torah.

                            MALACHI 3.6, DEUTERONOMY 4.2, ISAIAH 40.8,
                            LUKE 4.4, HEBREWS 13.8, DANIEL 7.25

(Hebrews 13.8)  Same means, never changes.

There is no difference with Messiah Who was GOD in the flesh.  GOD quite frankly is our sacrifice, our atonement for our sins, the perfect atonement, and GOD still wants us to obey Him, every Word that proceeds out of His Mouth.  GOD never changes.  Those words are His Law, the Law of Moses, His teachings and instructions.  But we have Bible teachers all over the world teaching us to disobey GOD, telling us GOD’s Law has been changed or abolished.  And that is deceitful.  It leads us away from the Truth of GOD.  And that is never good.

Peter has an interesting way with words when it comes to the Believer in Messiah returning to sin, and sin is breaking GOD’s Law of Moses. 

                            1 JOHN 3.4, 2 PETER 2.21-22

(2 Peter 2.22)  The vomit and mire/mud are symbolically sin, and so many Believers have returned to their sin.

Messiah says to The Believer, Go, and sin no more.  Don’t return to sin, but rather obey GOD and His Law of Moses.  JOHN 5.14 – Made WHOLE – made healthy
                        JOHN 8.11

Obedience to GOD and not sinning is the foundational teaching of The Bible.  satan’s job is to deceive us as he did to Adam and Eve, and he has had great success today.  GOD has put His Law in our hearts when we come to faith in Messiah.  So why not obey Him?  GOD in the person of Messiah gave His Life for you to atone for all your sins.  So repent, if necessary, and return to The LORD GOD and follow Him, obey His Word, His Torah, His Law.

Okay, what is the prophetic fulfillment in Messiah for the 8th day of Sukkot?  I believe we are rehearsing on this day for eternity in Heaven.  At the end of the 1,000 year Millennium, we will move from the Messianic Kingdom in Israel on earth, to Heaven, The Holy City New Jerusalem, the New Earth that will come down from GOD out of Heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That will be our permanent dwelling place forever. A place of purity and joy with no sin and no curse, and so much more. We are rehersing for that. I like it.

                            REVELATION 21.1-27 AND REVELATION 22.1-21

(Revelation 21.7)  OVERCOME – To prevail over the opposition of satan and sin, to gain the victory and win.  And that can only be accomplished by faith in Messiah and obedience to GOD’s Law of Moses.
(REVELATION 21.8)  FEARFUL – faithless

Shalom,  Ira Weinstein

Shalom and good morning.  Our message today will be from Genesis 48.1-6.

READ GENESIS 48.1-6.

GENESIS 48.1-3  GOD blessed Jacob with these words in Verse 4.

GENESIS 48.4  I will make you fruitful.
FRUITFUL – PAHRAH – grow and increase.

And MULTIPLY you.

MULTIPLY – RAHVAH – increase you in abundance, enlarge you, make you great, you will excel and give, and you will yield much.

Make of you a MULTITUDE of people.
MULTITUDE – KAHHAL – an assembly, a congregation, especially the Congregation of the People of Israel.

I will GIVE this LAND to your SEED after you.

LAND – EHRETZ – land, country

SEED – ZEHRAH – your posterity, all your descendants, all your future generations.

For an EVERLASTING POSSESSION.

EVERLASTING – OHLAM – for eternity, forever.  Without end.

POSSESSION – AHKHOOZAH – something seized (the land of Canaan was seized conquered and occupied at GOD’s command and renamed Israel) a possession means ownership, and with rights, because the land was given to the Jewish people the descendants of Jacob, by GOD The Creator, for the earth belongs to GOD and all that is in it.

I CORINTHIANS 10.26 – FULNESS – its’ contents, that which is put in to fill it up.

PSALM 50.12 – FULNESS – all that is in it.

PSALM 89.11, GENESIS 50.24

So GOD blessed Jacob, saying to him, “I will make you fruitful, you will grow and increase, and I will multiply you, and enlarge you in abundance, and I will make you great and you will excel, and I will make you a multitude, a congregation of people, a Congregation of the People of Israel.  And I will give this land to your descendants after you, which was Canaan, but years later GOD renamed it The Land of Israel after the descendants of Jacob whom GOD gave him the name Israel.  The land of Canaan became the possession of the Children of Israel when GOD brought the People from Egypt in the Exodus to the land of promise, Israel, for an everlasting possession, an everlasting ownership, for the earth belongs to The LORD and everything in it.  Thus GOD’s Covenant, His Word spoken in The Bible to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the title deed that guarantees ownership of the land of Israel to the Jewish people forever, even throughout eternity, because The LORD GOD is The Creator of Heaven and earth, and all the earth belongs to Him.

Israel will continue to belong to the Jewish people and those non-Jewish people who join in and are grafted into Israel through their faith in the Jewish Messiah Yeshua, and their observance of Torah, GOD’s Law of Moses, throughout the 1,000 year Millennium.  Even the New Jerusalem, the new earth, the Holy City that will come down from GOD out of Heaven, GOD will give to His People, His Jewish People, and His non-Jewish people who are grafted into Israel, forever.

                            DANIEL 7.27

Let’s look at some Scriptures that speak to the eternity of Israel.

ISAIAH 35.10 – In The Millennium the ransomed of The LORD are those GOD delivered, redeemed and rescued, will return to Zion.

Zion – TSEEONE – is the name for Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish People.

ISAIAH 1.27 – REDEEMED – PAHDAH – rescued, preserved, delivered

CONVERTS  – Those who turn to GOD through faith in Messiah and observe Torah.
RIGHTEOUSNESS – faith in Messiah, and obedience to Torah, Law abiding.

ISAIAH 66.8 – The Jewish people will return to Israel at the beginning of The Millennium.

ISAIAH 60.14-21 – This will take place in The Messianic Kingdom, the 1,000 year Millennium when the Jewish people return to Israel, and throughout eternity in The New Jerusalem.

                            ISAIAH 51.3, ISAIAH 49.14-15

ISAIAH 2.1-4  Out of Zion, in The Millennium, out of Jerusalem will go forth The Law, the Law of Moses.

ISAIAH 33.5  In The Millennium, Zion will be filled with righteousness, obedience to Torah, and faith in Messiah Yeshua.

JEREMIAH 23.5-6  Messiah will reign in Israel, and Israel will be saved, and we will dwell in safety and security.

                            AMOS 9.15, LUKE 1.32-33, ZECHARIAH 2.10-11

And Israel, not the earthly Israel of today, and not the Israel of The Millennium, because after The Millennium, and after the judgment of the dead at the Great White Throne, the earth will flee away, vanish and disappear (Revelation 20.11, 12).  The HOLY CITY NEW JERUSALEM, the new earth will come down from GOD out of Heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  The new earth will be called New Jerusalem.

                            REVELATION 21.1-4, 10-11, HEBREWS 12.22

Jerusalem has always been the City of GOD and New Jerusalem is where GOD will dwell and live with us forever.

                            MATTHEW 5.35, REVELATION 21.22-23

Israel, as GOD said to Jacob, is an everlasting possession of the Jewish People and all those non-Jewish people who are grafted in by belief in Messiah Yeshua, and observance of Torah, GOD’s Law of Moses.

BACK TO
GENESIS 48.3-5  Jacob said to Joseph, your 2 sons Manasseh and Ephraim are mine.  That is, I am adopting them.  So why did Jacob adopt Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim?  Because Jacob would make them as his other sons knowing that GOD would make all his sons the fathers of the tribes of Israel, from whom all Israel, all the Jewish people would descend.  And Manasseh and Ephraim, as fathers of their tribes, would be numbered with the other tribes of Israel when GOD would allocate the land to them when they came out of Egypt into the land of Canaan which GOD called Israel after the name Israel He gave to Jacob.

                            NUMBERS 1.1-10, 32-35

So Jacob adopted them, so all Israel, all the Jewish people would descend from them as his other sons.

BACK TO
GENESIS 48.6  your ISSUE – MOLEHDET – meaning which you beget, which is born of you.

WHICH YOU BEGET – YAHLAD – give birth to, i.e., it is the male parent that gives birth and life to the child.

Let’s talk a little about begets and begots.

MATTHEW 1.1-2, 16  Yes, of course it was Miriam, a Jewish girl who gave birth to and brought forth Messiah in His human nature, of whom was born Yeshua, Who is called Messiah.

GOD The Father Who is The Holy Spirit, is The Father of Yeshua The Son of GOD, and it is GOD The Father Who beget, or gave life and birth to Yeshua in His human nature or the human part of Yeshua Who is also GOD.

                            LUKE 1.30-35

VERSE 35 – The power of the highest – DOONAMIS, miraculous, supernatural power that overshadowed Miriam.  That is, the power of GOD was upon her and caused her to have a supernatural birth. She was a virgin and He is called The Son of GOD, Yeshua The Messiah, GOD with us.

PSA
LM 2.7 BEGOTTEN – YAHLAHD – I have given you birth, and you are born from Me.

Messiah is begotten or born of GOD.  Messiah is GOD, yet in His human nature He was born from a woman, being both GOD and man.  Thus GOD is The Father of Messiah.  He gave Miriam a miraculous birth.  This day have I begotten You, Messiah Yeshua, giving you birth and life as a human being.

                            PSALM 2.7-12

The Son of GOD did not originate in Matthew, but was taught and prophesied in Tnakh, The Old Testament, and fulfilled in The New Testament.

                            ISAIAH 9.6, ISAIAH 7.14, PROVERBS 30.4
                            MICAH 5.2, MATTHEW 26.60-68

Yeshua is The Only One born of GOD The Father.  Everyone else is or was born from their own father and mother, except Adam and Eve whom GOD created without father and mother.

JOHN 1.1,14  VERSE 14  Only begotten of The Father; the only born of the Father.

ADAM AND EVE – GENESIS 2.7 & GENESIS 2.18-23

JOHN 1.18  No man has seen GOD, that is His nature, His Spirit, because GOD is invisable.
DECLARED Him, He has told us of Him.
BOSOM – I believe means an intimate relationship.

                            JOHN 3.35, PSALM 110.1, JOHN 17.1

How are we born of GOD, that is, born again?

1 JOHN 2.29  Being righteous as Yeshua is righteous.  Believing in Messiah, and as Messiah did, obey The Torah, The Law of Moses, every Word that proceeds out of The Mouth of GOD.  That is how we are born again, born from GOD.

There is only one GOD.  The one GOD, Elohim, is The Father, Messiah, and The Holy Spirit.

                            DEUTERONOMY 4.35, 39, DEUTERONOMY 6.4,
                            DEUTERONOMY 32.39, 1 SAMUEL 2.2, ISAIAH 44.6, 8,
                            ISAIAH 45.5, 18, 22, ISAIAH 46.9, MARK 12.29-32,
                            JOHN 12.44-45, JOHN 14.7-9

                            Yeshua is GOD.  He is The Father, The Son Who is The Messiah,
                            and The Holy Spirit.

This morning, we spoke on many different subjects.  GOD’s blessing to Jacob and the Jewish People.  God Saying, God Covenanting that The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People today and forever. Even throughout the 1,000 year Millennium. And after GOD sends this earth fleeing, empty and destroyed, and The Holy City, New Jerusalem, the new earth that will come down from GOD out of Heaven, that Land also is and will be an everlasting possession to the Jewish People and those non-Jewish people who have faith in the Jewish Messiah Yeshua, and today observe Torah GOD’s Law of Moses.

And we spoke at length on the begets and begots.  Though Yeshua is The one GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He is the only begotten of GOD, the only one born from GOD.  But yet, we ourselves can be born of GOD spiritually, born again, by being righteous as Yeshua is righteous.  Having faith in Messiah, and observing Torah.

Shalom,  Ira Weinstein

Shalom.  Today is the first day of Sukkot.  Sukkot in Hebrew is Tabernacles and it is an eight day Festival of The LORD.  GOD commands us to observe the first day, today, as a Sabbath and the eighth day we are to observe as a Sabbath unto The LORD.  And as we did for Rosh Ha Shannah and Yom Kippur, we will learn what the Talmud or Rabbinic law teaches for the observance of Sukkot, and then The LORD’s teaching as He instructs us from The Bible.

First the teaching on Sukkot from the Talmud.  Sukkot in Hebrew means Tabernacles.  A tabernacle is a booth.  Sukkot is the third of the pilgrim festivals known as shalosh rehgalim meaning, three pilgrimages.  A pilgrimage is defined as a long journey made to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion.  A pilgrim is the person making the long journey.  Three pilgrimages were made by foot to Jerusalem.  Every male Israelite was required to make the pilgrimage to the place The LORD your GOD will choose, later defined as Jerusalem, three times a year.  The three Festivals are Passover, Shavuot or Pentecost, and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles as written in Deuteronomy 16.16-17.

The Hebrew name Sukkot derives from the main aspect of the Festival which involves the celebrant’s dwelling in a sukkah or booth for seven days during the Festival.  Sukkot is one of the harvest festivals, which are the Feast of Weeks, better known as Pentecost in the springtime, and Sukkot which comes at the end of summer.  Sukkot was given added historical significance as a commemoration of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness from Leviticus 23.43.

The Festival became so popular in the times of the Mishnah, the oral law, around 200 CE/AD, that it was simply known as Hag or the Festival.  And this according to Talmud is the festival par excellence.  Liturgically, that is the worship service, is described as Zeman Simkhataynu, the time of our rejoicing.  Deuteronomy 16.15.

The Bible also commands Jewish people to dwell in a sukkah, or booth for seven days during this Festival.  Leviticus 23.40-42.

During the Synagogue service, with portions of the plants from the boughs or the fruits of good trees, the branches of palm trees, the twigs of thick trees, and the willows of the brook, the Congregants are to make a circuit inside the Synagogue and wave the plants singing the hoshanot which you may know better as Hosanna, from Psalm 118.25.

Save now, or deliver now comes from the Hebrew Hosheeah nah.  These words were spoken with great enthusiasm in the days of Yeshua when He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, when great crowds of Jewish people went before Him and followed Him shouting, Hosheea nah to the Son of David.  Blessed is He that comes in The Name of The LORD.  Hosheea nah in the highest.

                            MATTHEW 21.8-9, MARK 11.7-10, JOHN 12.12-15

The Hoshanot prayers, or deliver now prayers are recited on Sukkot during the circuits around the Synagogue.  The prayers are written in a form of litanies or supplications spoken by the Congregation.  They are in simple form addressing GOD by His different titles, or beseeching The LORD for deliverance because of Your Truth O LORD, and because of Your Covenant.  Also, the plants are waved in prescribed fashion during the reciting of The Hallel which is a generic term or general term for praise with the reciting of Psalms.  Hallel in Hebrew means praise and the most widely known Hallel is from Psalms 113-118.

Let’s read PSALM 118.13-29.

During The Festival, religious Jews take their meals and spend the day in a temporary Sukkah or booth.  And many Synagogues also construct an adjoining Sukkah for the symbolic welcoming of Biblical Guests, the seven Patriarchs or heroes in Biblical history; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David.  Somewhat similar to the place setting for Elijah at the Passover Seder table.  And the welcoming of the Biblical Guest is done on each of the seven days.  It’s a custom of 16th Century kabalistic origin.  Kabbalah comes from the Hebrew word kahval meaning to receive, to receive tradition.

On the 7th day of Sukkot which has been given the name Hoshana Rabbah, or the Great Hoshana, the Great Deliverance (if only my people knew of their Messiah, The Great Deliverer).  Hoshana Rabbah is also a ceremony, or a circuit of the Synagogue seven times with portions of the four plants being held by the Congregants.  Most of these ceremonies originate in ancient Temple customs.

Later on in The Festival is the Feast of water drawing which is a water libation, or an offering of water, and great popular rejoicing on the last six days of The Festival.  This portion of Sukkot comes from ISAIAH 12.3.

We know that Salvation comes from Messiah Yeshua.  He also gives us His Holy Spirit of GOD when we believe on Him.  And therefore we have a great joy.

Talmud teaches that the drawing of water was celebrated in Temple times and was the most joyous occasion of the year.  Let’s see what Yeshua did during one of the water offerings at Sukkot.

                            JOHN 7.37-39

VERSE 37 – THE THIRST – A spiritual thirsting to draw close to The LORD GOD through His Messiah Yeshua.

VERSES 38-39 – Those who believe on Him will receive The Holy Spirit that flows from Him.  The rivers of living waters are spiritually His Holy Spirit.

As The Scripture has said.  ISAIAH 12.1-3.

VERSE 3 The Holy Spirit comes from GOD, My Salvation, Yeshua Ha Mashiakh, for believing in Messiah.

                            ISAIAH 55.1-3

VERSE 1 – Everyone that thirsts for The LORD, come to the waters, to The LORD GOD.  It does not cost money.  It’s free.

VERSE 2 – Delight in The LORD GOD, by going to Him, and obeying Him.  For The LORD GOD is the delight of life.

VERSE 3 – Obey GOD, every word that proceeds out of His Mouth, and live.  A good life on earth, and eternal life in Heaven.  And receive His everlasting Covenant of Peace.

                            EZEKIEL 37.25-28

As The Scriptures have said, come to The LORD and He will give you life, a good life here on earth, and eternal life in Heaven.  And The LORD is Messiah Yeshua, our Salvation.  Incline your ear to Him, The LORD says, and obey Him, and your soul shall live, and GOD will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.  And it’s free.  It doesn’t cost money.

Here are the sure mercies of David.  PSALM 89.18-37.

Now let’s see what The LORD prescribes for us from The Bible, how to observe Sukkot, The Festival of Tabernacles.

LEVITICUS 23.33-34  The Feast of Tabernacles is a Feast for seven days.

LEVITICUS 23.35 – A holy convocation is a gathering, a Service dedicated to The LORD GOD, and a rehearsal for a future event.  That will be the 1,000 year Millennium and the great things we will do in The Kingdom of our GOD.  We’ll speak on some of those future events a little late
r in the message.

And no work of any kind on the first day of Sukkot.

LEVITICUS 23.36  Seven days you shall offer an offering to The LORD.  GOD has always required a sin offering, a sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins which of course is an atonement for sin.  And we also find out that Sukkot is an eight day Festival.  And since there is no Temple in Jerusalem, no sacrifice can be made.  But our sacrifice that cleanses us from all our sins before GOD is Yeshua The Messiah, Who as in Psalm 118.27 was the Sacrifice bound with cords to the horns of the altar.  LEVITICUS 17.1-5, PSALM 22.1, 14-18

Yeshua is our atoning sacrifice, our offering to The LORD that cleanses us, that makes us clean from all our sins before The LORD GOD.  Jewish thought on Yeshua or Jesus is as incorrect as Christian teaching is on Torah.  Both mistaken and unlawful.  Yeshua is The Promised Jewish Messiah and it His Sacrificial death that atones for the sins of mankind, to those who receive Him.  This is Biblical teaching in Tnakh, the Old Testament and the New Testament.  GOD has not left His people without an atonement for sins even though there is no Temple today.

And the Torah, The Law of Moses, stands forever and it is in force forever.  GOD has never abolished it, nor has He changed it, nor would He ever want to change it.  For His Law for all mankind is perfect, perfect Truth without iniquity, just and right and for our good.  The LORD GOD says, “For I AM The LORD.  I change not,” Malachi 3.6.

The New Covenant, or The New Testament is first introduced to the world, for the world by Judaism in Tnakh in Jeremiah 31.31-34 where The LORD said to the Prophet Jeremiah, That He will make a new Covenant with The House of Israel and with The House of Judah.  In which GOD will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more.  Listen.  GOD says, by receiving His New Covenant, His New Testament Who is Yeshua The Messiah, our atonement for our sins, GOD will put His Law in our hearts. That is, in the hearts of Jewish and non-Jewish people, to obey. And He will be our GOD, and we will be His people.  Rejecting GOD’s Law is every bit as fallacious as rejecting Yeshua as our Messiah and atonement for our sins.  The reason Yeshua is our Messiah, and our atonement is because The Bible says He is our Messiah and atonement.  Not because of what man says, or what religion says.  Messiah is ELOHIM.

LEVITICUS 23.37-39  The first and eighth days are Sabbaths unto The LORD.  You shall do no work on those days.

LEVITICUS 23.40  It is a time of rejoicing before The LORD your GOD seven days.

LEVITICUS 23.41  Sukkot, like all GOD’s Festivals in Leviticus 23, is a Statute forever, and we will celebrate His Festivals here on earth, and in the Millennium, and in Heaven forever.  That’s why all of these festivals are rehearsals.  We will celebrate them in the Millennium and Heaven, forever.

LEVITICUS 23.42-44  These are The Feasts of The LORD.  The LORD GOD does not designate them as Jewish holidays, but The Feasts of The LORD for all mankind.

I believe the future event we are rehearsing for in Sukkot is the 1,000 Millennium and everything that will be great and joyous in it.  And here are just some of those marvellous events we can look forward to.

ISAIAH 35.10  Everlasting joy, without end, without interruption.

ISAIAH 65.18-19  The Millennium will not only be a rejoicing for us, but a joy for The LORD GOD also.  ZECHARIAH 2.10-11, ZECHARIAH 8.6-8

ZECHARIAH 14.9  Messiah will be King over all the earth.  And His Name one.  His Name is Yeshua, Salvation.  The Messiah.

ZEPHANIAH 3.17-20  Messiah will sing to us, and have great mercy on His People.

HOSEA 2.19-23  Messiah will marry us, The Marriage Supper of The Lamb.  That’s how much He loves us.

REVELATION 19.5-9 – The Marriage Supper will take place in The Millennium, in Israel, and Israel will be like the Garden of Eden, and its appearance as the Garden of Eden.  Perhaps the Marriage Supper will take place on Sukkot.

ISAIAH 48.16-17  The LORD GOD and His Spirit has sent Me, Yeshua.  The LORD is Messiah, your Redeemer that marries you and delivers you, The Holy One of Israel.  Yeshua is The LORD your GOD which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way you should go.

                            JOHN 12.44-45, ISAIAH 9.6-7

(Isaiah 9.7)  Even in The Millennium and throughout eternity, His judgment, His justice, even His Torah, His Law will be forever, in joy and singing, in praise and peace.

Shalom,  Ira Weinstein

Shalom.  Our teaching this morning will be on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement.  And as we did last week for Rosh Ha Shannah, we will do the same this week, learn what The Talmud or Rabbinic law teaches on Yom Kippur, and then what GOD’s instructions are for this day, The Day of Atonement.

First, Let’s read Leviticus 23.26-32.

So let’s see what The Talmud teaches about Yom Kippur and what the Rabbinic traditions are for Judaism to observe.

The Day of Atonement, according to Talmud which means teaching, is the most solemn, most serious occasion on the Jewish calendar, falling on the 10th day of the Hebrew month Tishrei, which is today, and the only fast never postponed even if it falls on a Sabbath, as Yom Kippur falls on a Sabbath today.  So the question must be asked, why do Jewish people fast on Yom Kippur when GOD does not ask them to fast, but to afflict your souls?

                            LEVITICUS 23.27

Talmud defines, “And you shall afflict your souls”, to mean, you must fast and abstain from food.  But the Hebrew word for afflict, as in, “you shall afflict your souls”, does not mean, you shall fast and abstain from food.  The word afflict in this passage comes from the Hebrew word ahnah which has many meanings, but none meaning fast and abstain from food.  Ahnah, or afflict, as in, “You shall afflict your souls”, means, humble yourself and submit yourself.  Submit has a number of meanings such as yield, surrender, abide by, comply with, accept, adhere to, agree to and conform to.  All meaning, you shall submit yourselves to The LORD your GOD and obey Him.  Fasting is good.  Obeying GOD is better.  That is the basic principle of GOD’s teachings, to fear The LORD your GOD, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve The LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul.  To keep the commandments of The LORD, and His Statutes for your good.

                            ECCLESIASTES 12.13

HIS COMMANDMENTS – All His Law

For this is the whole duty of man – this applies to every man, every person. 

Afflict your souls, or humble yourselves, also means, do not be proud or arrogant, but to be submissive to The LORD GOD, humbly obedient to Him.

                            PROVERBS 8.13

FROWARD MOUTH – deceit, fraudulent and dishonest.

Back to Talmudic teaching for Yom Kippur.  Rosh Ha Shannah, the Jewish new year, is 10 days before Yom Kippur, and Talmud teaches that on Rosh Ha Shannah, GOD judges every individual for the forthcoming year, and His judgment is finally sealed on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement.  That is, the fate of every individual is decreed on Rosh Ha Shannah for the coming year, and on Yom Kippur, today, it is sealed.  An unfavorable decree can be avoided by repentance, prayer and charity.  The Bible has much to say about GOD’s judgment, but let’s look at what Scripture teaches about GOD’s final judgment.

                            REVELATION 20.7-15

VERSE 12  Works are described in James 1.25 as doing what GOD’s perfect Law of liberty tells us to do.  Obey His Torah.

                            JAMES 1.25

Blessed in his deed means performing The Law, doing what it says.

VERSE 15  How can we be sure we will be written in The Book of Life?

                            EXODUS 32.33

How do we have our sins forgiven?  By believing in GOD’s Anointed, Yeshua The Messiah.  Then The LORD GOD will FORGIVE us our sins and remember them no more.

                            JEREMIAH 31.31-34

Then we can be sure we are written in GOD’s Book of Life.  By believing in Messiah, our Atonement, then by doing the works that the perfect Law of liberty teaches, obedience to GOD’s Laws, Commandments, His teachings and instructions.  Then we can be sure we are written in GOD’s Book of Life.

Believers in Messiah are judged on earth.

                            2 Thessalonians 1.3-5

Our judgment from GOD is our patience and faith in all our persecutions and tribulations that we endure.

And repentance is taught throughout Scripture.  Repentance is turning from sin, that is breaking Torah, (1 John 3.4) then doing what is lawful and right.

                            EZEKIEL 33.19

WICKED – RAHSHAH – ungodly

WICKEDNESS – REESHAH – iniquities, sins

Continuing with Talmudic teaching for Yom Kippur, the Rabbis insist that one’s proper observance of Yom Kippur can serve to atone for transgressions against GOD.  However, The Bible teaches that today, The Messiah Yeshua atones for our transgressions against GOD.  Today, Messiah is the only Atonement acknowledged by GOD.  There is no other Atonement but by His shed blood.

                            ISAIAH 53.10-12, LEVITICUS 17.11

And Talmud teaches that sins committed against others require our seeking forgiveness from them prior to The Day of Atonement.  Messiah teaches the same, that we must seek forgiveness from those we have sinned against, but He does not say it must be done before Yom Kippur.  I believe He means we must seek their forgiveness whenever the occasion requires it.

                        MATTHEW 5.23-24

RECONCILED – make peace.

Thus the Talmud teaches that The Day of Atonement atones for a person’s sins against GOD, but it does not atone for his transgressions against his fellow man.  Yes, we must be reconciled to the Brother we offended, but GOD through Messiah Yeshua forgives all our sins, every one that was committed against GOD and man.

                            HEBREWS 10.16-17

The Yom Kippur prayers are divided into 5 Services.  The 1st is the evening Service or the Ma’Ariv Service, and The Kol Nidrei prayer is recited.  Thus the evening of Yom Kippur is known as Kol Nidrei.  The Kol Nidrei prayer, or all vows prayer states that all kinds of vows made before GOD unwittingly or rashly during the year, and unfulfilled shall be considered null and void.  I prefer what John says in 1 John 1.9-10.

 &nbs
p;                          1 JOHN 1.9-10

Thus from the onset of Yom Kippur, the worshippers might remove from themselves the guilt of any vow they had unintentionally failed to observe.  I prefer Yeshua’s teaching on vows.  Don’t make them.

                            MATTHEW 5.33-37

VERSE 33 – You shall not forswear yourself – do not bind yourself to an oath.  An oath is a vow or a promise to GOD.

Back to the Yom Kippur Prayers.  The following day in the morning, the additional Service in the afternoon, and the concluding Service are filled with prayers.  Plus the can not dos, the forbiddens.  No food, no drink, no marital intercourse, no anointing of oil, and no wearing leather shoes.  And the prohibitions of Shabbat such as no work and not lighting a fire.  The prayers of the day stress confession of sins, and supplications, or humble and earnest prayers for forgiveness for themselves, their family, and the whole congregation of Israel throughout the world.

Many worshippers remain in the Synagogue for the entire day.  The Torah readings relate to the sacrifices on Yom Kippur from Leviticus 16 and Numbers 29.7-11.  While the Haftorah readings which are the Prophets or prophetic readings are from Isaiah 57 and 58.  I’d like to read a portion of those Scriptures.  LEVITICUS 16.15-31, ISAIAH 57.15-21 AND ISAIAH 58.8-14.

Here is GOD’s teachings for Yom Kippur from The Bible.

LEVITICUS 23.26  The LORD is Yeshua.  Yes, Yeshua is in the Old Testament because He is GOD The LORD.

GENESIS 1.1  GOD is Elohim.  Elohim is a plural word for The ONE GOD of Creation.  GOD is The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.  Messiah is The Word of GOD. Deuteronomy 6.4

                            JOHN 1.1,14

BACK TO LEVITICUS 23.27  Holy convocation – a time set apart and dedicated to The LORD GOD, a Service, and a rehearsal for a future event.  We’ll address the rehearsal for the future event a little later.

Afflict your souls – we spoke about afflicting our souls earlier.  We should be humble and not prideful, and humbly obedient to The LORD our GOD and His Torah, every Word that proceeds out of the Mouth of GOD.

Offer an offering made by fire unto The LORD.  GOD has always required a sacrifice for a sin offering, an atonement for the people to be cleansed of their sins.  Today our sacrifice for a sin offering is Messiah. 

The Day of Atonement in Hebrew is The Day of Atonements, plural. Yom ha Kippurim.

LEVITICUS 23.28 reads Day of Atonement, but in Hebrew Yom Kippurim, Day of Atonements, plural.

LEVITICUS 25.9  reads Day of Atonement, but in Hebrew is The Day of Atonements, plural

ATONEMENT – KEEPUR – meaning cleansed from all your sins before The LORD.

So why the plural word atonements?  I believe atonement is plural because the people were cleansed from all their sins by the many atonements or sacrifices.  Today we are cleansed from all of our sins by One Sacrifice, Yeshua Ha Mashiakh, Yeshua The Messiah.

LEVITICUS 16.29-30  THE ATONEMENT.  KAHFAYR – clean from all their sins.

Today, Yeshua cleanses us from all our sins.  We need no other sacrifice or atonement.

BACK TO
LEVITICUS 23.28  No work

To make an atonement for you before The LORD your GOD.  You have been cleansed of all your sins.  And as it was then, it is today.  The LORD requires us to obey Him.  That never changes.  And like today, many obeyed GOD, and many did not obey GOD.

LEVITICUS 23.29  AFFLICTED – humble themselves and obey GOD.

LEVITICUS 23.30-32  GOD commands us to do no work on Yom Kippur.  It is a Statute forever.  Yom Kippur is a Sabbath of rest, and we should be humble before our GOD and obey Him.

So what is the rehearsal for Yom Kippur?  I believe it’s an end of days rehearsal to prepare for The LORD’s return and His Atonement for many unsaved Jewish people.

At Messiah’s return, GOD will save many Jewish people who were not saved, and who are not saved.  Many unsaved Jewish people will be resurrected from the dead and many unsaved Jewish people who are alive at His coming, GOD will bring them into The Land of Israel at the beginning of the 1,000 year Millennium.  This is prophetic teaching.

                            DANIEL 12.1-2, DEUTERONOMY 30.1-5

All the Jewish Believers in Messiah Yeshua, and all the non-Jewish Believers in Messiah Yeshua, those who have joined in with Israel by faith in Yeshua, having a humble spirit obeying The LORD GOD and His Torah, will also be resurrected at Messiah’s return.  And those of us who are alive in Messiah at His return will be caught up together with the resurrected in the clouds to meet The LORD in the air.  And we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the last shofar, and when we see Messiah, we will be like Him, having the same magnificent spiritual body He has.  And all of us will supernaturally fly with Messiah to Jerusalem, to Israel to begin the 1,000 year Millennium, The Kingdom of Messiah, that will be like the Garden of Eden.  Beautiful and perfect.

This will all happen, I believe, on a future day of Rosh Ha Shannah, the memorial of blowing of trumpets.  10 days later on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, all the unsaved Jewish people will stand before their Messiah, The LORD their GOD, and He will save them.  They will look upon Him Whom we have pierced, their Atonement, The One Who cleanses us from all our sins, Yeshua Ha Mashiakh, Yeshua The Messiah. And in His love, He will save them.

                            ZECHARIAH 12.10-14

Great mourning, I believe, because the Jewish people will see their Messiah Who saved them from destruction.  The One we have rejected for so many years.  Yeshua Ha Mashiakh, Yeshua The Messiah.

Yom Kippur is The Day of Atonement, a day GOD has set aside for all individuals to be cleansed from all their sins through sin offerings and sacrifices to The LORD.  However, there is no sacrifice today because there is no Temple in Jerusalem.  But GOD has given us our Sacrifice, Yeshua Ha Mashiakh.  He is Our Atonement.  The Only One who cleanses us, that makes us clean from all our sins before The LORD our GOD.  The One Who will take us into The Millennium and into eternity in Heaven forever in perfect peace and perfect joy. 

Shalom,  Ira Weinstein

Shalom.  This morning our teaching will be on GOD’s Festival, a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, or as Judaism calls this day, Rosh Ha Shannah, The New Year.  We will learn what the Talmud or Rabbinic law teaches about this festival and also GOD’s teachings and instructions from The Scriptures for this Holy Day, a Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets.  Beth Elohenu is a Congregation that follows Torah.

READ LEVITICUS 23.1-2 & 23-25

LEVITICUS 23.1  The LORD spoke to Moses.  Thus The LORD Who is Yeshua The Messiah spoke to Moses.

                            JOHN 1.1, 14

FEASTS of The LORD – These are the Feasts of The LORD, and not only for Jewish people, but for everyone.

FEAST – MOADE – An appointed time, or fixed time.  For example, the 7th day Sabbath on Saturday is always every Saturday, every week.  His Festivals never change times.  They are forever. 

HOLY CONVOCATIONS – MEKRA KODESH

A time set apart and dedicated to The LORD, a gathering of the people for a Service dedicated to The LORD GOD.  Also a rehearsal that prepares us for a future event.  Every Festival of GOD found in Leviticus 23 has an important fulfillment which has been fulfilled or will be fulfilled in Messiah Yeshua.  Later in the message, we will reveal what the future event or events are for this day, a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets.

Here are the Festivals of The LORD GOD.  All found in Leviticus 23.

LEVITICUS 23.3  The 7th Day Sabbath on Saturday.

23.5  Passover, in the 14th day of the first month at evening IS THE LORD’S PASSOVER.  Around March/April.

23.15-16  50 days after Passover is Pentecost.  A Feast of The LORD.

23.23-24  Today is GOD’s Feast, a Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets.  Judaism calls this day, Rosh Ha Shannah, The New Year.  We will speak on this festival in a minute.

23.26-27  10 days later is The Day of Atonement.

23.34  5 days later is the Feast of Tabernacles

23.36  8 days later is the 8th day of Tabernacles, and it is a Sabbath.

These are all the Festivals that The LORD your GOD would have you observe.  They are the Feasts of The LORD, and they are all Sabbaths.

So let’s look at today’s Festival, a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, or as Judaism calls this day, Rosh Ha Shannah, The New Year.

LEVITICUS 23.23-25  Today is a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, or as Judaism calls this day, Rosh Ha Shannah, The New Year.  Today is the first day of the 7th month on the Jewish calendar called Tishrei.

Let’s see how Judaism observes this day according to the Talmud, the Rabbinic law.  And then we’ll learn how The LORD GOD would have us observe this day according to His Word in Scripture.

First the Jewish tradition in Talmud.  This Holy Day of GOD, a memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, has been renamed Rosh Ha Shannah by the Rabbis.  It is The New Year in Judaism.  This is taught in the Talmud, and not in The Bible.

There are 4 days of the year in Judaism regarded as the new year.  They are all listed in the Mishna or the Talmud.  The first day of Nisan, The Passover month, is marked the new year for the reigns of Jewish kings, and the order of months for religious purposes including the festivals.  Also the first of the Hebrew month Elul, which is around August and September, observes the new year for cattle tithes when tithes had to be given for cattle born during the previous year.  Then there is the first day of Tishrei, which is today, the 7th month on GOD’s calendar.  It is the new year and is the beginning of the Hebrew calendar as January first begins our year.

The first day of Tishrei, today, is also the beginning of the Sabbatical year.  Every 7th year, the land must keep a Sabbath to The LORD.  That is found in Leviticus 25.2-4.  And that Sabbatical year as well as the Jubilee starts on the first day of the Hebrew month Tishrei, which is today.  And that is found in Leviticus 25.8-10.  And also the 15th day of Shevat which falls around January and February is the new year for trees.

Let me say this.  The Bible teaches there is only one New Year and that is the Passover month Nisan on the Hebrew calendar.  LEVITICUS 23.5.  Talmudic teachings are often in opposition to Biblical teachings.  Today is not the new year as taught in Talmud.  But again, we will see how Judaism observes this feast, a memorial of blowing of Trumpets.

Of the four new years in Talmud, only the first of Tishrei, today is celebrated as a religious new year festival, Rosh Ha Shannah.  Since that day, the Talmud teaches, all who have entered the world pass before The LORD GOD in judgment like a flock of sheep.  And also today is celebrated as a new year religious festival because it is specified in The Bible as a festival, and a Sabbath, a memorial of the sounding of the shofar, and a day of sounding the shofar, although no mention is made in The Bible that this day is a new year.

The sounding of the shofar is one of the distinctive features of this religious celebration of the festival and has largely determined the character of the liturgy or the worship of the day.  Three groups of prayers, each consisting of ten Scriptural verses selected from three sections of The Bible.  From The Torah, which is the first five books of Moses, and from the Prophets, and from the Writings, such as The Psalms and Proverbs, etc.  All wonderful Scriptures describing the sovereignty of GOD, GOD’s remembrance of His creatures, and the sounding of the shofar.

Rosh Ha Shannah marks the beginning of ten days of penitence, or repentance for our sins and wrongdoings.  And ends ten days later at Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement.  Rosh Ha Shannah does not commemorate any historical event in Jewish history, but rather the Creation of the world.  Talmud teaches that GOD created the world on Rosh Ha Shannah.  Who’s to say they are right or wrong?

Rosh Ha Shannah has been since Rabbinic times around 200 BCE (BC), a period of self-examination and divine judgment, a judgment that is universal for the entire world.  On this day, according to Talmud, GOD judges mankind for the forthcoming year, a judgment finally sealed ten days later on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement.  The worship stresses people’s yearning for the establishment of GOD’s sovereignty over the entire world, and the ushering in or The Millennium.  We know, you and I, that this will happen when Messiah Yeshua returns, Who is GOD Almighty, to set up His Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem to all the GOD-given borders of Israel.  See Zechariah 14.

Rosh Ha Shannah, observed for one day in Biblical times, that was before Talmud became Jewish law around 200 BCE (BC) and is now observed for two days even in The Land of Israel.

There are various customs connected to Rosh Ha Shannah.  On the first night, that is last night, dishes are prepared that are meant to be a good sign for the new year.  For example, apples dipped in honey are eaten while a prayer is recited for a good and sweet year.  On the second night, new fruit is eaten in order to be able to say the sheheheyanu blessing, or “Who has kept us in life”, a blessing of thanksgiving, which is “Blessed are You O LORD our GOD, Who has kept us in life, and preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season”.

It is also a custom to go to a river or pond or seashore to recite “tashlikh”, the custom on the&nbsp
;first afternoon of Rosh Ha Shannah, and recite verses from Scripture concerning repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Some even turn out the pockets of their garments and let crumbs fall into the water.  We know our sins are forgiven by faith in our Messiah Yeshua, and repentance comes from turning to The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and turning away from all our sins.  And sin is breaking The Torah, the Divine Law of Moses (1 John 3.4).  Thus leading a Law-abiding life that is right and lawful in the eyes of GOD and Messiah.  (Ezekiel 18.21-22 and Acts 2.37-38).

The sages also called today’s festival, Yom Ha Din, Day of Judgment, and Yom Ha-Zikkarone, Day of Remembrance.  That is a day GOD remembers humankind, the Talmud teaches.  We know that GOD remembers us every day, all the time forever.  The traditional greeting on this Holiday is, “May you be inscribed in The Book of Life for a good year”.

The tractate or writing on Rosh Ha Shannah is in The Mishnah, or the Talmud.  There’s a lot of wonderful teachings, but not Scriptural.

So now, let’s look at The LORD’s teaching from The Bible, for His Festival, a Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets.

LEVITICUS 23.23-24  In the seventh month, on the first day of the month.  It is a Sabbath.  No work of any kind.

SABBATH – SHAHBAHTONE – A special Sabbath, no work of any kind.

A MEMORIAL of Blowing of Trumpets – Zeekhrone Tehrooah

A MEMORIAL – Zeekhrone – A remembrance, meaning to remember something or someone.

And we should blow trumpets or shofars.  It is a Holy Convocation, a Holy Day set apart for The LORD.  So what are we to remember?  I can think of nothing else or no One else but The LORD GOD Himself because of all the wonderful things He has done for us, and because GOD remembers us always and forever.

GOD created The Heaven and the earth and all that is in them.  He created day and night, vegetation and seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees of every kind that bear fruit with their seed in it.  The sun and the moon and the stars to separate light from darkness.  And GOD had the waters bring forth abundantly the living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.  And GOD created every living creature after his kind, cattle, creeping things, wild beasts of every kind.  And then GOD said, “Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness, so GOD created man in His own image, in the image of GOD He created them male and female.”  GOD created everything first before He created man, for our good.

We remember GOD for making Israel a great nation in Egypt.  And after 400 years of Egyptian slavery, He took us out of Egypt by the hand of Moses in the Exodus, and brought us into the Promised Land, Israel, the homeland for the Jewish people for an everlasting possession.

We are to remember The LORD for the countless things He has done for all of us, and will continue in His wonderful works for us.  And His great promises for every one of us.

23.25  No servile work means no work of any kind.

And you shall offer an offering made by fire unto The LORD.  That is a sacrifice for sins.  A sacrificial atonement for the cleansing of sins using a perfect and clean animal, has always been required by The LORD GOD.  Up until the time the second Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. the sacrifice was done daily, on Sabbaths, and on all the festival days.

                            NUMBERS 28.1-4, 9-10

Today, there is no animal sacrifice because there is no Temple, and of course because Yeshua is our Atonement for sins.

                            LEVITICUS 17.1-11

Thus the animal sacrifices that GOD requires on all the festival days clearly indicate that our sins must be forgiven to have a right relationship with GOD.  And Yeshua’s atoning Sacrifice is The New Covenant that replaces the animal sacrifice ONLY.  We have forgiveness of our sins from GOD.  Then upon receiving Messiah into our lives, GOD puts His Law, His Divine Law of Moses into our hearts to live by them, causing us to lead a law-abiding life, right with GOD, having our sins forgiven, and saved unto eternal life with GOD Who is our Messiah, forever, Jeremiah 31.31-34.

What is the future event or events that will take place at a future Rosh Ha Shannah or a Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets?  Messiah will return.  The resurrection and those who are alive in Messiah will be taken up to meet Messiah and all His Saints in the air.  And then the family of GOD will continue on to Jerusalem to set up The Millennial Kingdom where GOD will rule the world.  And The LORD shall be King over all the earth.  In that day shall there be 1 LORD, and His Name One. His Name is Yeshua.

Let’s look at some Scriptures:

MATTHEW 24.29-31,  1 CORINTHIANS 15.50-58
ZECHARIAH 2.10-11,  DEUTERONOMY 30.1-5

Thus, on some future day, on The Day of a Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets, or The Rosh Ha Shannah, The LORD will return, the resurrection will take place along with those alive in Messiah. We will meet The LORD in the air and fly into Jerusalem in GOD’s supernatural power, and set up The Millennium where Messiah will be King over all the world.  And GOD will save many Jewish people at His return.

I believe Messiah’s words in Matthew 24 summarize this message.

                            MATTHEW 24.36-44

VERSE 44  BE READY:  be prepared.  The Bible teaches us how to be ready for Messiah’s return.  And that is to have faith in Messiah Yeshua, and do what your Father in Heaven Who is The GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob requires of you.  Obey Him.  Obey His Divine Law, The Law of Moses, GOD’s teachings, His instructions and His Torah.  Then you will be ready for Messiah’s return.

May you be inscribed in The Book of Life for a good year, and may you be blessed by The LORD our GOD Who has kept us in life.

Shalom.  Our teaching this morning will be from Genesis 47.27-31.

READ GENESIS 47.27-31

GENESIS 47.27-29  VERSE 29  If now I have found grace in your sight, i.e., do me this favor, do not bury me in Egypt, please.

47.30  When Jacob died, his sons carried him to Canaan and buried him there in the cave of the field Abraham bought for a burial spot for him and his family.

                            GENESIS 50.12, 13

47.31  I believe Jacob bowed to his son Joseph because of his love and respect for his son, and thus fulfilling the dream Joseph had years back in Canaan before he was shipped off to Egypt because of his brother’s hatred toward him.  All because of GOD’S plan to bring the children of Israel into Egypt where GOD would make them a great nation; the beginning of their history to this day. All the plan of GOD.

                            GENESIS 37.5-11

Jacob never forgot Joseph’s dream.

GENESIS 48.1  I have a question.  Are the lost 10 tribes of Israel which include the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, truth or myth?

The lost tribes of Israel as the story or stories are told, include in addition to the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Dan, Issachar, Zebulin, Asher and Naphtali.  It’s all legend and folklore.  It’s a myth.

Here’s one of those legends that is Jewish folklore scripted by a Jewish traveler by the name of Eldad ha-Dani.  Eldad ha-Dani lived in the 9th century, that is around 800 A.D. who claimed to be from the lost tribe of Dan.  And this fellow ha-Dani had a wild imagination.  He announced the existence of an independent Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia which was made up of the remnants of the tribes of Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Dan.  It was a warring kingdom that lived across a mythical river called the Sambatyon where the sons of Moses lived.  It gets better.  This mythical river, we’re told, was a mighty torrent of stones all week for 6 days.  And on the Sabbath, the river rested.  Eldad ha-Dani also announced that he was the head of the lost tribes of Israel.  And that his people had Jewish sovereignty, whatever that means.  So as his story unfolds, the imagination of the Jewish people in the Mediterranean was stirred.  They hoped to hear of the lost tribes, and also their traditions regarding the advent of the Messiah.  I think on the verse of Scripture from Isaiah 53.1 – “Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of The LORD revealed?”  Many Jewish people seek The Messiah, but most reject Him, now. GOD has not revealed Him to them.  But that will change.

So continuing our story, Eldad’s account was extremely popular among the Jewish people around 800 A.D. to 1500.  And his thoughts were printed in 1480 in a place called Mantur, a community in Northern Italy not far from Venice.  Eldad’s story is regarded as myth, and so is the story of the lost tribes being lost.  GOD has scattered the Jewish people throughout the world and all who are Jewish know they are Jewish and not lost.

So continuing with this folklore about the ten lost tribes of Israel, some Jewish scholars believe that Eldad’s account influenced other legends about the lost tribes.  And some people who think they are from the lost tribes of Israel and are not Jewish, take this legend very seriously.  Here is the sensational story of the anglo-Israelites:

The belief is this.  The British people, at least some of the British, believe they descend from Joseph’s son Ephraim who was supposedly the leader of the ten lost tribes.  And certain Americans believe they are descendants of Ephraim’s brother Manasseh.  And as this unusual story unfolds, the establishment of The State of Israel in 1948 caused anger and resentment among anglo-Israelites, a term unknown to many meaning the people of Great Britain and the United States.  That is some of the people from Great Britain and the United States.  They concluded that their rightful name and inheritance, that being the land of Israel, had been usurped and seized by a small remnant of Judahites, a nice name for Jews, whose credentials were at the most that they only represented two of the tribes of Israel, Judah and I guess the other tribe being Benjamin.  And in 1946, a group known as the British Isarel World Federation argued that the birthright of Israel which includes the possession of Palestine, was held by Joseph, the ancestor of the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, neither, they say are within modern Jewry.  Meaning they are not Jewish.  This British Israel World Federation continues by saying, the Jews cannot therefore claim to hold the title deeds to Palestine; and the only people who may justly claim possession of Palestine on behalf of all Israel are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, by whom they meant of course, the people of Great Britain and the United States.  Are you shaking your head yet in disbelief?  And many who believe this silliness believe they are Israel, the chosen race.

The lost tribes stories are myth.  But from this foolishness comes a lie that has almost become a truism today.  The lie is the Jewish people are not a race with a single ancestry, but a people united by a sense of shared history and destiny.  The Jewish People are a race.  A race is a family, a group of people related by a common descent.  The Jewish People descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s sons, the twelve tribes of Israel.  And the Jewish People have been given The Land of Israel by GOD Almighty for an everlasting possession. See Genesis 17.8, etc., etc., etc. The title deed for The Land of Israel is The Bible, and the Jewish People have been living in the Land of Israel for some 3,500 years.  The ten tribes of Israel are not lost.  The legend is simply myth.  And The LORD our GOD promises He will bring back the Children of Israel from all the tribes of Israel, back to Eretz Y’Israel, The Land of Israel at the start of The Millennium.

                            JEREMIAH 31.1-14, EZEKIEL 37.15-28
(EZEKIEL 37.16)  All who join in with Israel.
(EZEKIEL 37.19)  HIS FELLOWS, his companions, those who are joined with him, those joined in with Israel.

(EZEKIEL 37.24)  David will be King under the authority of Messiah.  One Shepherd-Messiah.

I will close with these words from Jeremiah 31.3 which The LORD GOD speaks to you.  “I have loved you with an everlasting love.  Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.”


Shalom,  Ira Weinstein