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destinyimage · 6 months

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Secrets of Biblical Feasts! Unlocking God’s Prophetic Timeline

Nothing captures the restoration of the Jewish root today and the Kingdom to come, as the resurgence of the biblical feasts, the festivals of the Lord.

Yeshua Jesus observed them all! One could characterize the feasts as antidotal and prescriptive, and an introduction to such realities as sanctified time, rhythms of life, and God’s concept of time.

The feasts come not from the body of rabbinic literature or tradition, but from the enduring Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. According to Timothy, this portion of the Bible is a vital part of the entire Word of God: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV). Paul first wrote these words to Timothy when only the Torah was in view.

The feasts are commanded by God to be observed perpetually, “And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days” (Leviticus 23:41 KJV). This brings us to the Hebrew word for “forever,” which is olam, which also describes God’s name (Exodus 3:14-15).

In Leviticus 23:1-2 (NKJV), the same idea is found: “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’”

The writings of Heschel on the Jewish calendar are foundational. Abraham Heschel was a Polish-born Rabbi who lived from 1907-1972. He writes of the feasts and Sabbath in his book, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man: “The Bible is more concerned with time than space, emphasizing generations and events more than things or lands. It speaks the language of history rather than geography.” Feasts like the Sabbath became a holy space in life, and a time to recall history and identity.

Heschel asserts, “Judaism can be characterized as a religion aiming at the sanctification of time…there are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment.” More, “Jewish ritual is God’s architecture of time—observances are predicted on the phases and rhythms of time.”

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A rabbinic explanation illustrates the richness of the feasts this way, “The feasts stand on two legs, one in heaven, and one on this earth, and it is impossible to divide them. Take God out of any festival or memorial and you take away one of its legs and it falls flat.” Being far more than celebrations, each feast was an inner spiritual activity for the Jew. So Judaism is always reinforcing the Jewish concept that He is the Creative Guiding Force or the Source of All That Is.

The Human Need for Memorials

When God ordered the Israelites to observe the biblical feasts, regularly, according to appointed times, they were to mark a holy time, purpose, and message. It was also a time for God to be worshipped and remembered. When God directed Moses to give to Pharaoh the plain reason he should let His people go, He said: “Let my people go that they may worship Me.” Pharaoh prevented the Israelites from remembering God at His appointed time.

Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) said a hundred years ago, “The Jew’s catechism is his calendar, when he called upon his contemporaries to count and live their days accorded to the hallowed order and rhythm of the Jewish calendar (which is of course the biblical calendar.)”

Any notion then of hallowed order and rhythms or numbering of our days and architecture of time, one is confronted immediately with an obvious nugget in the treasure of God; the feasts were given as memorials to be observed forever, from the age past and into the present age, and into the age to come. Even in the Kingdom to come, all humankind, Jew and Gentile, will be required to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Recall that during this time, Yeshua Himself will be reigning upon His throne in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:16).

What becomes evident is the human inclination to forget God and His principles. Out of Israel’s forty-two kings who reigned, only nine did right in the eyes of the Lord, yes only nine. The Psalmist in chapter 78:32 (NIV) answers this mystery: “In spite of all this they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.” Man’s tenacious bout with the same touches all. Man loses his way and must always be brought back to remembrance. An ancient Jewish sage sums it up this way, “As water and fire cannot coexist in the same vessel, so too, love of this world and love of the World to Come are like two wives of the same husband: please one, the other gets angry.” How much more for us in Messiah’s glorious truth!

The Calendar

Regarding the calendar, biblical rhythms need to be calibrated according to our modern civil calendar that Pope Gregory instituted in 1582. His calendar defiled the biblical calendar to its core.

The Gregorian calendar was purely solar, while the ancient Israelites calendar was luni-solar and followed closely the course of the moon to the next moon. Yet the lunar months corresponded to the season of the year, which is governed by the sun. Immediately one sees the close relationship to harvest and planting.

Our modern-day calendar year consists of 365 days. There are fewer than 100 Sabbaths, feast days, fast days, and holidays, and there are more ordinary days than special days.

Roman Days and Months

To grasp how completely the biblical calendar was defiled, consider our modern days and months. The month of January or Januarious was named for Janus, the god of doors. February or Briareus comes from the festival of forgiveness of sins. March or Martius was derived from Mars, the Roman god of war. April or Aprils is derived from the dedication to the goddess Venus. May or Maius is derived from the goddess Maia. June or Junius is named after the goddess Juna. July and August were named after Julius Caesar and Augustus. December was originally the tenth month on the Roman calendar.

When it comes to the days of the week, the Greeks derived their names from the sun, moon, and five known planets; these were in turn named after the Greek gods: Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. They called the days of week theon hemerai (days of the gods). The Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn.

Contrary to the Romans and Greeks, the Bible designates Shabbat-Sabbath from all other days; six days we labor, but on the seventh is a Sabbath! Our modern days trace back to the following:

Sunday came from Sun’s Day or the day of the sun.

Monday from Moon’s Day.

Tuesday was derived from Tiu’s Day for the English Germanic god of war and sky.

Wednesday from Woden’s Day, the leader of the Wild Hun.

Thursday, from Thor’s Day, named for the god of thunder. He is also represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and is the defender of the Aesir.

Friday comes from Freya or Fria, who is the Teutonic/Germanic people’s goddess of love, beauty and procreation.

Saturday (the biblical Sabbath) came from the planet Saturn who was also known as the god of agriculture and harvest. Saturn’s wife Opis was the goddess of fertility, and the Greeks and later mythologists believed they ruled the earth during the time of happiness and virtue, which is ironic since holiness, happiness, and virtue are the qualities that the One True God intended for His people on Shabbat.

What the Spirit of God has initiated today is nothing short of redeeming time and restoring biblical rhythms. This defined not only ancient Israel and the early body of Jewish believers, it characterizes the Kingdom to come.

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antonio-velardo · 9 months

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Antonio Velardo shares: Fall’s Sinuous New Silhouettes by Bharat Sikka and Raphael Hirsch

By Bharat Sikka and Raphael Hirsch From ruched silk to crisp box pleats, expertly draped dresses and separates make a refined statement this season. Published: August 9, 2023 at 07:00AM from NYT T Magazine https://ift.tt/yfKuGQs via IFTTT

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robbertadrianusveen · 11 months

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Welgelukzalig en voorwaarts strevend - Augustinus en Hirsch over Psalm 1:1

Augustinus over Psalm 1:1, en daar tegenover Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. א 1 אַֽשְֽׁרֵ֥י הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֚ר לֹ֥א הָלַךְ֘ בַּֽעֲצַ֪ת רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֖טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד וּבְמוֹשַׁ֥ב לֵ֜צִ֗ים לֹ֣א יָשָֽׁב 1 De lof van een man (SV: welgelukzalig is de man) is dat hij de raad der goddelozen niet heeft gevolgd, noch op de weg der zondaars heeft gestaan, noch in het gezelschap der…

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jewishprayers · 1 year

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What are the most unique Jewish cultural traditions?

The philosophical endeavor to reconcile traditional religion with modern culture has long had a place in Jewish history. Philo of 1st century Alexandria, Rav Saadia Gaon of 10th century Babylonia, Maimonides of 12th century Spain and Egypt— all are great Jewish thinkers who have taken pains to integrate the Judaism of the Torah and the Talmud with the best of contemporary thought. Maimonides not only codified Jewish Law in his monumental work the Mishneh Torah, he also wrote Guide for the Perplexed, which addresses an educated audience perplexed by the contradictions of the Torah and Aristotelian philosophy. The book had a great influence on the development of Jewish intellectual traditions.

By the modern period, ideological syncretism became the norm for Jewish laity and scholars. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries in cosmopolitan centers such as Amsterdam and Venice, many Jews began to participate in the life of the majority culture. Toward the end of the 18th century, the promise of civil equality was offered to Jews in France, Germany, and other European nations on the conditions that they would assimilate into modern, mainstream customs. The argument was made that if only Jews would shed their particular customs and become members of Enlightenment society, they would finally find acceptance among the peoples of Europe.

Hence a new movement was born for the improvement of the Jews: the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment). Centered in Berlin and fathered by the German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the Haskalah was one of the first important movements of Jewish modernity. While preserving the essentials of Judaism, it sought to change the public image of the Jew through secular education. Its motto, “Be a Jew at home and a German in the street,” became the underlying ethos of modern Jewish acculturation. Out of the Berlin Haskalah emerged the academic group Wissenschaft des Judentums (the science of Judaism), which hoped to improve the image of Judaism through scientific research and objective analysis of Jewish sources. The Wissenschaft movement was the fountainhead of all contemporary academic Jewish studies. The Haskalah and Wissenschaft movements soon altered the nature of Judaism itself, and a third movement was born: Reform Judaism.

Reform Judaism originated in Germany in the early 19th century and has served as the foundation for many subsequent Jewish responses to modernity. In Hamburg in 1818, a group of reform-minded Jews started a synagogue which they called a temple, a name once reserved for the holy temple in Jerusalem in the expectation of return, but now applied to a place of worship in Germany where Jews had put down roots as citizens. By mid-century, the Reform movement gained the leadership of more radical German Jews like Rabbi Abraham Geiger and Rabbi Samuel Holdheim. The more moderate Historical School (today called Conservative Judaism) was founded by Zecharias Frankel; the neo-Orthodox trend (today’s modern Orthodox Judaism) was first championed by Samson Raphael Hirsch. Even the Hasidic world found a modernizer in the Musar movement of Israel Salanter. To varying degrees and in diverse ways, they all represent the attempt to reshape traditional Judaism in order to conform more closely to the universalist ethos of Enlightenment-influenced Western Christianity, so that Jews might integrate more easily into the modern nation-state.

Other Jewish responses to the modern world include new cultural and political ideologies. As the Haskalah spread eastward, for example, the movement took on a more literary character. The spread of modern Jewish literature in Hebrew and Yiddish literary movements was one outgrowth of the Russian Haskalah. Another was the rise of new forms of political Jewish expression, including Zionism, Diaspora Nationalism, and Bundism. Zionism referred to the idea of the restoration of the Jewish homeland in Palestine. The theory of Disapora Nationalism held that the Jews of Eastern Europe might form their own autonomous polity based upon the Yiddish language and secular political principles rather than traditional Judaism. Bundism was the Jewish socialist movement born in response to the antisemitism of internationalist socialism. While Diaspora Nationalist and Bundist movements would not have the same success as Zionism, they were important expressions of a distinctively Jewish secularism. Secular Jewish culture lives on today in phenomena such as the Yiddish revival, Klezmer music, and many other areas of Jewish arts and letters.

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This website is a tool you can use to add meaning to your life events. We aim to build a new sense of how to be “at home” in Jewish life. You can build a better life using these spiritual tools. This website offers you the opportunity to glean from traditional and modern sources: prayers, poems, songs, texts and psalms. Whether you are preparing to offer a toast, leading a service, or writing a letter, we invite you to use this website to enhance your words and inspire your community.

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bl-8k · 2 years

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Photographer spotlight is Ethan James Green for W Magazine in Stark Raving Mod! . . . . . . . Photographer: Ethan James Green Fashion Editor/Stylist: Raphael Hirsch Hair Stylist: Sonny Molina Makeup Artist: Raisa Flowers Casting Director: Michelle Lee Manicurist: Jin Soon Choi Models: América González, Maty Fall & Sherry Shi Magazine: W Magazine Set design: Mary Howard #editorials #artistic #fashion #spotlight #photographer #bl8k #creativeagency #bl8kcreative #diversity #wmagazine

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strathshepard · 9 months

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Photography Bharat Sikka, Styling Raphael Hirsch, T Magazine

#Bharat Sikka #raphel hirsch #courreges #red #india

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rickwhite · 2 years

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Behar: The Hetter Mechirah for the Sabbatical Year

“When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land must be given a rest, a sabbath to God. For six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and harvest your crops. But the seventh year is a sabbath of sabbaths for the land.” (Lev. 25:1-4)

A Brief History of the Hetter Mechirah

As the Jewish people began to return to the Land of Israel in the late 1800s, establishing farms and agricultural settlements, the question of letting fields lie fallow during the sabbatical year became - for the first time in many centuries - a burning issue. With the approach of the sabbatical year of 1889, the Jewish settlers turned to the rabbinate to issue a hetter (permit) to allow them to continue working their lands during the seventh year, so that the young and fragile agricultural settlements would not collapse.

Three respected scholars met in Vilna and designed a hetter mechirah, temporarily selling the land to a non-Jew over the sabbatical year. The hetter was approved by Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, chief rabbi of Kovno and the pre-eminent Halachic authority of the generation.

During the following sabbatical years of 1889, 1896, and 1903, many of the new settlements utilized the hetter. However, a number of highly respected scholars vociferously opposed the leniency. Among the opponents were Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin), and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.

The Sabbatical Year of 5670 (1909-1910)

In 1904, Rav Kook arrived in Eretz Yisrael, serving as chief rabbi of Jaffa and the surrounding moshavot. Leading up to the sabbatical year of 1910, Rav Kook took a forceful position defending the hetter mechirah. He penned a treatise entitled Shabbat Ha'Aretz which explained the legal reasoning behind the permit, along with a discussion of the laws for the sabbatical year.

While Rav Kook was an original and creative thinker, he usually took a relatively conservative position in Halachic matters. What led him to support the lenient position in the hetter mechirah controversy?

We can learn much about his underlying concerns from letters that he wrote during this time. The following quotes are from letters in the first volume of Igrot HaRe’iyah.

Reasons to Support the Hetter

While still in Latvia, Rav Kook and his father-in-law, Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (the “Aderet”, rabbi of Ponevezh and later chief rabbi of Jerusalem), discussed the issue at length. In his letters, Rav Kook admits that at that time they both opposed the hetter.

“From afar, when we heard the arguments of those who permit and of those who forbid, we both leaned toward the stricter opinion. But when the Aderet arrived in the Land of Israel, he saw with his own eyes that it is impossible to even consider not making some sort of arrangement for the sabbatical year.” (p. 258)

Seeing first-hand the precarious state of agricultural settlements was a critical factor in changing Rav Kook’s mind. He understood that full observance of the sabbatical year could endanger lives and would likely bring about the collapse of the new settlements.

A second concern was that the entire enterprise of the national return to the Land of Israel could fail over this issue. At that time, the nascent economy of the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael was based on the commercial sale of agricultural produce.

“The Jewish Colonial Association (JCA) representative informed me that the JCA is preparing plans to buy much more property in the Holy Land. But if we decide that there is no permit to allow work during the seventh year via some legal sale, then the representative will be forced to advise that they should invest their money in Canada and cease supporting projects in the Land of Israel.

He also explained that [if lands will lay fallow during the sabbatical year], the Arabs will take control of Jewish land during the sabbatical year by grazing their herds on them and it will be necessary to take them to court.” (p. 285)

A third concern - and perhaps the most important for Rav Kook - was his fear that a strict ruling would plainly demonstrate that Judaism is incompatible with the modern world and building of a Jewish state:

“Even worse is the potential condemnation of Judaism and widespread rejection of Torah observance as a result of a strict ruling, Heaven forbid, in this matter. The anti-religious elements are hoping that the rabbis will forbid [all agricultural activity during the sabbatical year]. Then they will have gained a great victory. They will have demonstrated that by listening to the rabbis, the land will be laid waste, the fields and vineyards will become desolate, and all commercial ties for the sale of wines, oranges, and other agricultural produce will be broken - ties upon which the survival of the Jewish settlement truly depends.” (p. 258)

The Halachic Underpinnings of the Hetter

In his letters, Rav Kook also discussed the legal reasoning behind the hetter mechirah. The sale is actually based on a number of independent, mitigating factors, each one lessening the severity of working the land during the sabbatical year.

The most important factor in taking a lenient stance is the ruling of most Halachic authorities that nowadays the sabbatical year no longer retains the status of Biblical law. Since it is rabbinically-ordained, we may apply various leniencies, according to the principle of sfeika d'rabbanan lekula.

The hetter only permits those types of agricultural labor that are not Biblically prohibited, even when the sabbatical year itself is Biblically-ordained. Thus, planting, pruning, harvesting, fruit-picking, and perhaps plowing must still be performed by a non-Jew hired to work the field. This clause ensures that no Torah prohibitions are violated, even according to the minority opinion that even nowadays the sabbatical year is Biblically ordained.

An additional reason to be lenient is that our current situation is one of “undue hardship”. Given the precarious state of the agricultural settlements, not working the land would be truly life-threatening. In such cases, one may rely on a single opinion - that of the Rezah1 - who held that nowadays, without the Jubilee year, the sabbatical year is not even rabbinically ordained, but is only a pious custom.

Additionally, we may take into account the question regarding the correct count of the years of the Shemitah cycle. The Kaftor Vaferach2 testified that some farmers would observe the seventh year during one year, while others observed it during another. Even though the rabbis agreed to observe just one sabbatical year - and chose the opinion of Maimonides -this is only a convention. The doubt still remains as to which year is truly the sabbatical year.

Rav Kook also intimated that he had additional arguments to be lenient, but intentionally did not publicize them. He feared that, once institutionalized, the hetter would become too entrenched. The ultimate goal was not to circumvent the laws of the sabbatical year, but to allow the settlements to grow and prosper until they would be able to completely observe the sabbatical year in all of its details.

“On purpose, I did not organize everything in this matter to be fully explained, organized, and analyzed as it should be. Some justifications and cogent arguments I have omitted completely. All this was in order that the hetter should not become too accepted, but will always be considered a temporary measure (hora’at sha’ah), something that was permitted grudgingly due to the needs of the time. But when these issues are analyzed in the way of true Torah scholarship... the prohibition would become too weakened - and I certainly did not desire that.” (pp. 348-349)

Eye to the Future

Many of the rabbis who opposed the hetter mechirah wrote that not observing the sabbatical year would in fact jeopardize the future of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, since the punishment for transgressing its laws is exile (see Avot 5:9). While Rav Kook also looked forward to the day when the seventh year would be fully observed, he viewed the hetter as a stepping-stone that would allow the community to achieve that goal.

“We must recognize that we are obligated to strive with all of our strength to bring matters so that, in the end, the sabbatical year will be increasingly observed in all of its holiness in the Holy Land.... But how to arrive at this sacred goal? Which means should we use to attain it? This matter must be considered carefully.

In my opinion, we need to arrive at our desired goal precisely by graduated efforts. Rabbi Chiya Rabbah described the overall redemption of Israel as beginning slowly, little by little - kim'a kim'a [Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 1:2]. So too, the spiritual redemption of establishing the Land’s holiness will advance in stages, step by step.” (p. 330)

One expression of this graduated approach is the distinction the hetter made between those agricultural activities that are prohibited Biblically and those prohibited rabbinically. “We should be like one who saves his possessions from the fire,” Rav Kook explained. “Whatever is more precious and holier [i.e., Biblically-prohibited labor] must be rescued first.”

This distinction also provides a solution to the danger of punishment by exile for not observing the sabbatical year. Such a severe penalty could only apply to transgressing Biblically-ordained prohibitions.3

The Hetter for Farmers and Consumers

What about those who did not wish to rely on the hetter mechirah? Here, Rav Kook distinguished between farmers and consumers.

Rav Kook was very supportive of farmers who did not wish to rely on the hetter. When he heard that the JCA was using the hetter to force farmers to work on the sabbatical year, he became acutely distressed and informed the JCA that the hetter would become invalid under such circumstances. Rav Kook also spoke of setting up a special fund to support these farmers.

On the other hand, Rav Kook was critical of consumers who chose to be stringent in the sabbatical year by buying produce only from non-Jewish farmers. One cannot take on stringencies at the expense of others:

“Certainly it is not proper to look for leniencies and loopholes by purchasing produce from non-Jews, in a situation when this will cause loss of income from Jewish farmers and undermine their livelihood. In general, in any situation where we desire to be strict for ourselves, it is correct to make certain that this stringency does not induce any negative repercussions of financial loss or disrepute for others.” (p. 258)

1 Rabbi Zerachiah HaLevi Gerondi (1125-1186).

2 Rabbi Eshtori HaParchi (1282-1357).

3 Cf Sha’agat Aryeh sec. 24.

#aliyah1800 #Israel #Shmittah Year #Vayikra25:1-4 #hetter

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