Which Yeshua?

This week’s reading from the Besorah (Good News) is Mark 15:1-15 which contains the story of Yeshua and Barabbas. Some scholars think that Barabbas was most likely not just a murder but a zealot who had killed for political reasons. He was fighting to rid Israel of Roman control. Also, Barabbas was not his real name. Barabbas is Aramaic for “Son of my father”. When arresting authorities would ask a Jew what his name was he would give this answer as a way of concealing his true identity and also as a form of rebellion. Ancient Christian tradition has it that Barabbas’ real name was Yeshua (Jesus). This was a common name of that day.

So in this scene, we have two Yeshua’s presented to the crowd. On the one hand is the political Yeshua, the earthly Yeshua, who stands for rebellion and independence from Rome. The other Yeshua is the spiritual Yeshua, who calls for letting what belongs to Cesar be given to Cesar and what belongs to God be given to God. The first Yeshua was what the people wanted. They wanted a messiah who would free them from the worldly dominion of Rome. They did not want the Messiah whose “kingdom was not of this world”. And so, when presented with a choice, they selected the worldly political “messiah”, and sent the true Messiah to His death.

This passage is also problematic for relations between Jews and Christians over the last 2000 years. In another version of the story the Jewish crowd asks to have Yeshua’s blood on its hands. This has been used by the church over the centuries to claim that Israel is accursed by God for rejecting the Messiah and has led to a long history of abuse and destruction.

We have to recall that this is one crowd, a mob really. A mob that was most likely picked and spurred on by a small band of priests and pharisees who were lackeys to Rome. Certainly we do not have all of Israel rejecting the Messiah in this scene, as evidence in many other passages of many people coming to faith in Yeshua, including scribes and Pharisees! A proper understanding of the dynamics of this passage will help heal the rift that has been made between the church and the nation that the church has been grafted into.

Moses Madness

In this last week's parsha (weekly Torah reading) we have the story of Moses striking the rock rather than speaking to it to bring forth water. God is angry with Moses and tells him that he will not get to enter the Promised Land.

This seems to be a bit harsh. Why did God mete out such a severe punishment for such a seemingly minor infraction? Well, the rabbis have varied opinion on it. And as is typical in Rabbinic tradition, they are all offered without an attempt to decide on which one is the correct interpretation. This is because we can learn from all of the opinions.

1. Rashi says that very simply, Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it.

2. Ramban says that it was because Moses got angry and since Moses was always the voice of God, this implied to the people that God was angry. The text doesn't say that God was angry with the people and so Moses was misrepresenting God and abusing his position as prophet.

3. Rambam says that its because Moses said, "Shall we bring forth water..." which implied that he was doing it by his might rather than giving the glory to God.

4. Abarbanel says that its because Moses and Aaron had sinned previously but had never been punished. Aaron had made the Golden Calf. Moses had sent the spies into the land which resulted in on of Israel's great apostasies.

5. Another rabbi said that it was because Moses got angry, which for you or I would not be so bad. However, because Moses was God's great prophet, he was held to a much higher standard of behavior.

What is Spiritual Direction?

As most of you know, I am a trained spiritual director. This is a little known area although it has been gaining in popularity in both the Christian and Jewish world in recent years. Here is my attempt to explain a little about it.

The underlying assumption of spiritual direction is that God is constantly speaking to us; we just have to learn how to listen. He speaks to us through the warp and woof of everyday life. We may hear His voice in a song, a painting, some words of a friend, while reading scripture, the liturgy, basically anywhere.

Spiritual direction is essentially a trained individual helping another to hear God speak to them. A spiritual director is a catalyst or a sounding board for the directee. It is not therapy where the emphasis is on diagnosing the causes of a person’s afflictions. It is not mentoring or discipleship where the emphasis is on teaching someone. Nor is it just two friends sharing their spiritual experiences. It is a focused prayerful listening time where the director hopes to help the directee delve deeper into his or her experiences and hear that Voice. I always emphasize “trained” because without training a director can easily let it slide into therapy, mentoring, simple spiritual conversation, or advice giving.

Typically directors meet with someone for about an hour every 4-6 weeks. The person brings to the session some experience that he or she would like to share and explore more deeply. It is the job of the director to prayerfully listen and ask open-ended questions to help the person process the experience more fully. Here is a sample session that I made up. In interest of space it is kept very concise.

Directee (T1): Last week I went to the art gallery and was captivated by this one painting.

Director (D1): What was it about the painting that captivated you?

T2: It was this scene of a beach with wind blowing through the trees; a person was walking along the beach. It made me feel calm, but I am not sure why.

D2: Calm?

T3: Yes. Just staring at it made me feel at peace and relaxed. I have been puzzling over why this captivated me so for the last week.

D3: Can you connect this painting to any other experience that may have had that gave you feelings of peace and calm?

T4: (thinks a moment) You know, I never thought about this, but I guess it sort of reminds me of this time that I was on such a beach, some years ago. I was going through a very difficult time in my life.

D4: How does that experience connect with peacefulness and calm?

T5: Well, on that beach that day, I was just soaking in the sun, feeling the breeze through my hair, thinking about all of my worries. Then suddenly I felt God’s presence. I felt Him say to me that He provides the sunshine and the breeze and that He would provide me the strength to get through this difficult time in my life. As soon as I “heard” this I was flooded with peace, knowing that things would be OK. It was tough for a while after that but I just seemed to have the strength to see it through.

D5: So this painting reminded you of this experience and brought back the same feelings?

T6: Yes. And you know, things have been hectic for me lately again. I have been feeling kind of abandoned by God. Maybe this was His way of reminding me that He will always be there for me.

D6: Would you be willing to spend some time in prayer right now and let us revisit this beach and see how it might speak to your current circumstances?

T7: Sure….

In this brief snippet, I have tried to illustrate how a session would normally go. Notice that the director is asking very open-ended and reflective questions. This helps the director avoid moving the conversation to his or her own agenda or perceived outcome. It also helps the person explore their memories, feelings, and insights and allows God to piece things together with the person. It may seem surprising that this person did not connect the two experiences before this session but it is not uncommon for people to not piece things together like this until they have an opportunity to talk about it and reflect on it in a concentrated way. I have frequently done this myself!

I have found having my own director to be very useful over the years. I have also found that being a director has been an incredible blessing to me as I have had the privilege of sharing in many people’s journeys. Quite often God has spoken to me through a directee, bringing insight into my own life circumstances.

If you are serious about your faith journey, I would highly recommend that you seek out a trained director. I think that you will find the benefits amazing. There are a number of spiritual directors around Michigan and the country. I can refer you to some here in the State. You can also contact local retreat houses, religious orders, etc… Many of these have or know of qualified directors. One national directory can be found at Spiritual Directors International (www.sdiworld.org).

Gratitude

I have been thinking this week about gratitude, and also practicing it a lot more! Gratitude really is an antidote to melancholy, which I can be prone to. When you start looking at all of the good things that you have and all of the good things that God has done for you, it’s hard to stay down long. This week I have thanked Him for a good job, good health, having a wonderful wife and kids, and many other things. Most of all I have been thanking Him for His gift of Himself. What more can a guy ask for?

The siddur (Jewish prayerbook) is full of reminders to be thankful. In the morning, we get up and we sing “Modeh ani lefanecha…”, “I offer thanks to You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.” The very first words from our mouths are to be words of gratitude.

We then proceed to recite a whole litany of praises and thanksgiving to Hashem for the many good things He as done for us. “Blessed are You, Lord Our God, for… giving the rooster to know between day and night, opens the eyes of the blind, releases the bound, straightens the bowed, clothes the naked, …”

The central prayer of Judaism, prayed three times a day, is the Amidah, which literally means “standing”. We are standing before the King of the Universe offering our prayers and petitions to Him. In the midst of the Amidah, we thank God for many things. One of the prayers thanks Him for the miracles that are with us daily. A heart of gratitude allows us to see that His providence and love surrounds us constantly.

In the days of the Temple, there were thanksgiving offerings that had nothing to do with sin or guilt. They were simply opportunities for people to come to the Temple and thank God for His goodness.

May we all develop eyes of gratitude; it is a salve to the soul!

Quotable Quotes

“That which man acquires by contemplation he should spend in love.”

--Meister Eckhart

“Look how foolish humans are! The path to Heaven is open and no one enters,

And yet the gates of Hell they rush to break down!”

--Rabbi Simcha Bunam

Gut shabbes,

Izzy

Bitachon sermon

Bitachon- Trust in God

This is a sermon that I delivered at the shul last week...

There is a story about a shoe company in the early part of the 20^th century who sent two salesmen to Africa to see if it would be profitable to sell shoes there. The first salesman traveled around the land and sent back a telegram saying “Don’t bother. No one wears shoes here.” The second salesman also went around Africa and sent back this message, “Great opportunities! No one has shoes!” This story illustrates that how we perceive things can greatly influence our conclusions.

This is certainly true of our parsha[1] this week. The parsha starts off with the 12 spies sent into the Land to see if it was good. They return. Ten of them report bad news. They said that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, but they also say that the cities are strong, the people are giants. “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes and in theirs!” they exclaim. But 2, Yehoshua and Kalev (Joshua and Caleb), give a good report. They say the land is good and God is on our side. We can conquer this land.

Why the difference? How can two groups of people see the same things and draw completely different conclusions? The 10 saw the good land but reacted in fear and dismay. But the 2 had excitement, confidence, and joy. The reason is that Yehoshua and Kalev had bitachon—trust in God. They saw the same things that the others did, but instead of reacting in fear they were excited about the good land that they were about to receive. I am sure that the well fortified cities and the giant inhabitants were at first daunting to them as well. But they also trusted in God’s promise that they were taken out of Egypt for a reason, to receive the Torah and then enter the Promised Land.

Bitachon is considered a core virtue in Judaism. The Rambam’s son, Rabbi Avraham, once said, “Trust is one of man’s loftiest attributes, indeed one of the foundations of Torah. It is on everyone’s lips, but implanted in the hearts of a chosen few.”

Interestingly though, there was some debate amongst our sages as to whether trust in God is one of the mitzvoth or not. Rambam himself did not include it in his enumeration of the commandments. Ramban, Nachmonides[2], however, criticized him for leaving it out. He declared that it is based on the commandment to not listen to astrologers to determine the future. He argues that God is over all and therefore could even reorder the constellations that astrologers rely on. “From this we learn,” he writes, “the commandment to trust in God in all that we do, as is brought in the Prophets and the Writings.”

Bitachon, trust, makes all the difference in the world. It turns what would be fear and despair into strength and happiness. The Torah is replete with references to just how important trust is. The most famous one is in Mishlei (the book of Proverbs): “Trust in Hashem[3] with all your heart and do not rely on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (Prov 3:5).” Trusting in God leads to peace and joy. Lack of trust in God leads to confusion, fear, doubts. When our people failed to trust in Hashem and instead listened to the ten spies, they certainly did not have straight paths, did they? They were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

There are plenty of other references. In the Psalms we have, “Put your hope in Hashem, be strong and He will give you courage. (Psa 27.14)” And, “Cast your burden upon Hashem and He will sustain you. (Psa 55.23)”

In the Besorah[4], Rav Shaul[5] states “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh[6]. (Rom 15.12-14)”

In the first letter to the believers of Corinth he says, “Love… always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… (1Cor 13.7)”

Yeshua Himself lived a life of perfect bitachon. He trusted in that Hashem had the best in mind for Him. And He exhorted us to do the same. In the famous sermon on the mountain He said, “Do not worry about what you will wear or what you will eat. God knows that you need these things. Instead, seek His kingdom and its righteousness and He will give these other things to you.” In that same sermon he likened those who trusted in His words that He was bringing from the Father to a builder who built his house on rock. Those who do not trust in God are like those who build their houses on sand, which are washed away in storms.

Yeshua trusted in God even unto the point of death. In the Garden, He was standing on the edge of a new land—the land of suffering and death. Yet He was able to trust God and say “Your will not mine.”

Not surprisingly, since it is comprised largely of scripture, our siddur[7] is also full of references to trusting in God. At the end of the hymn “Adon Olam” we sing, “God is with me, I shall not fear.”

Just before we pray the Amidah[8], we refer to God as “tzur yisrael”, Rock of Israel. Rock is symbolic of trustworthiness in Jewish literature.

The second blessing from the Amidah calls out to God who is worthy of our trust. “M’chalkayl chayyim b’chesed, m’chyay maytim b’rachamim rabim…” You sustain the living with steadfast love, and give life to the dead with great compassion.You uphold the falling, heal the sick, free those in bondage, and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like You, Lord of might, and who can be compared with You, O King,

who brings death, restores life, and causes salvation to spring forth.

And at the conclusion of the service, in the Alyenu, we call out to the God who will keeps his promises and will keep His promise of bringing the Messiah and the world-to-come.

“We hope therefore, LORD our God, soon to behold Your majestic glory,

when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty; when all human beings will call upon Your Name, and all the wicked will be turned to You;

when all inhabitants of the earth will know and recognize, that to You every knee should bend and every tongue should swear.”

Bitachon doesn’t mean that we just sit back and fold our hands in our lap and wait for someitng to happen. The rabbis have been very clear that we are to unite our efforts to trust in God, trusting that He will aid us. In fact, it is considered a mitzvah to do so.

In the 11th century, Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda wrote a book titled "Duties of the Heart". In it he said:

“When one goes about earning a livelihood, he should bear in mind that he is performing a mitzvah, for God commanded man to resort to his own resources, as we read ‘The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.’”

We should not wear ourselves out working night and day trying to ensure that we are secure. Nor should we be lazy, trusting that God will provide. Instead, we should do a reasonable amount of work and trust that it will be sufficient.

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t share our fears and concerns in prayer. We are encouraged to pour out our hearts to God, but again trust that He will hear us, comfort us, and answer our prayers. A number of years ago, a woman showed up for a spiritual direction session, and asked me if I had ever had God tell me to shut up before. I said that I hadn’t and asked her to tell me about it. She told me that her husband was going on a trip to a dangerous third world country and she had been very worried about his safety. She kept praying over and over again that God would protect him. Finally, the day arrived and she took him to the airport. As she drove away she was once again seized with fear and started to pray again. At that moment God busted through to her and told her to shut up. As we unpacked this we realized that she was basically praying without bitachon. She was so caught up in the fear that she was unable to do anything but repeat herself over and over again. She couldn’t hear God in any of this. She was acting like the spies and was freaking out.

One rabbi wrote, “One lacks trust in God if he does not preface the hope and expectation of salvation to his prayer when in trouble… Here lies our mistake, for we think that we have trust in God because we pray, while in truth we might be close to believing in God, yet far from truly trusting in Him.”

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we always get what we want. Sometimes God says no because it is not in our best interest. Sometimes pain and suffering can be in our best interest. Other times he can’t grant us our request because to do so would violate another person’s free will. The prayer, “God make so-and-so love me” is likely to go unanswered. Ultimately, the rabbis say, trust in God means that we trust that He will be with us. With us in the pain, joys, desires, fears. Recall the midrash that says God’s name that He revealed to Moshe Rabbenu[9] at the burning bush could mean “I am that I am” but it could also mean “I am with you now and will be with you in the future.”?

In Jeremiah it says “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord and the Lord is His trust.” The rabbis asked why does it say this twice? Their conclusion was that ultimately trust in God is trusting that He will simply be with us. Trust is not what He can do for us, but the trust that He will be with us. It is a realization that the greatest gift He can give us is His presence.

The spies entered into the land but because they didn’t have bitachon, they returned in fear.

Oftentimes we find ourselves standing on the edge of a new land, an undiscovered country. For us it may be a life change like a job change, retirement, marriage or (God forbid) divorce. It may be the loss of a loved one, facing a severe illness, or even death. All of us in this congregation have faced or are facing such transitions. Deb has a son who is now in the Navy and is no longer close to home. Abby just took a new job. Zora just retired. Laura is on this new journey into exploring her Jewishness. We ourselves are facing Hannah graduating and moving on to college next year.

Looking at any of these situations without bitachon, at least places the temptation to be consumed with doubts, fears, and anxiety; and if allowed to run amok can lead to total despair. We can become like the spies and freak out. Or we can choose to have trust in Hashem, who has promised that He will always be with us, always work for our good. Then we can have peace, joy, confidence, and strength. Do you recall the sermon that I did a few months ago about the Exodus from Egypt? Remember the handout? The indicators of whether we were moving towards or away from God, ourselves, and others were these very moods. If we are experiencing anxiety, fear, confusion, anger, despair then we are in a place that is not so close to Hashem and trust in Him. On the other hand, if we have peace, hope, joy, confidence, then we are drawing closer to Him and living in trust of Him.

The Messianic movement is also on the verge of a new land. As we approach this crucial period of passing from one generation to the next there are fears of whether the movement will last or not. As we continue in this direction and work towards our goals, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem is doing something important and unique and that He will prosper us.

The broader Jewish community is also on the verge of a new land. With the high assimilation and intermarriage rates, there are fears about whether there will be any Jews left in America in a 100 years. While these are real concerns that we need to work towards resolving, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem has promised that there will always be an Israel.

May we imitate the Yehoshua and Kalev’s bitachon. May we imitate the life of bitachon that Yeshua Rabbenu[10] had. If we do, it will give us peace, joy, and make us better servants of Hashem.

---

[1] Weekly Torah reading (Old Testament)

[2] Rambam and Ramban are two very famous and important Jewish authorities.

[3] A substitute for God’s name ( called Jehovah in churches) so that it is not pronounced. It means “The Name”.

[4] Lit. “Good News”, the New Testament

[5] The Hebrew name of the apostle Paul

[6] Hebrew for “Holy Spirit”

[7] Prayer book

[8] Central prayer recited during services

[9] Moses, Our Great Teacher

[10] Jesus, our Great Teacher

Understanding Torah

Musings: Understanding the Law (Torah)

This topic has been on my mind lately so maybe someone out there will benefit from me discussing it. I may have discussed it before, so if I am redundant, my apologies.

A number of years ago a lady came up to me after a talk that I did on the Mosaic Law and asked me why God started down the path of legalism to begin with. This question is rooted in a widely held belief that God intended for Jews to earn their way to heaven by following the Law. Once the Messiah had come and died for our sins, the way of Grace had arrived and replaced the old “works-righteousness” model.

What I explained to her is that this is based on a false understanding of what the Law is about. There is essentially no reference or mention to earning your way to heaven in Jewish literature. The traditional interpretation of scripture throughout the ages is that God, by grace, chose the people of Israel and brought them out of Egyptian bondage. It was only then that He gave them the Law to show them how they were to live no that they had agreed to become His kingdom of priests. Torah is usually translated as “law” but it actually comes from the word “to teach”. Torah (or the law) is God’s teaching on what it means to be holy.

Notice that this parallels exactly with the event at Golgotha. Yeshua offers Himself up in Grace as an offering for the whole world. It is after this that we have teachings through Paul and the apostles that basically teaches us how to live as His followers. This is the same pattern. God redeems (from Egypt, from sin) and then teaches how we should live holy lives as followers of Him. In fact, many of these teachings are primarily targeted to Gentile believers who do not have the background of the Torah to teach them how to live. Recall that these were people coming out of a harsh pagan culture. Many of the concepts about compassion, orderliness, humility, etc… were just not assumed knowledge.

So far from Jews earning the right to heaven through following the Law, they were simply living by the standards that a gracious God gave them. To put it in theological terms, the Law has more to do with sanctification not justification.

The term for sacrifice itself points to this. In Hebrew it is referred to as Korban. This comes from the root word meaning “to draw closer”. Sacrifices did have an atonement aspect to them but they also had another aspect of being a way to draw back into this relationship with God now that the person has repented. It can be looked upon in the same way as a husband bringing flowers to tell his wife that he acted in a bad way and wants to restore the relationship. In fact, there is no sacrifice in the Bible for someone who has not already repented. This is because there is no way to restore the relationship with God if you are not contrite and sorry for your sin.

In like manner, Yeshua’s death has not only an atonement quality to it but also a sense of bringing us closer to God, restoring our broken relationship with Him. This is how His death continues to be efficacious for us today. As His followers, we still sin and need a way of drawing closer to Him when we repent. His sacrifice acts as that perfect Korban, in doing so. We, in effect, bring the “flowers of Yeshua” to God and tell Him we are sorry and wish to restore the relationship.

Torah is about grace, just as Yeshua is. There is no dichotomy here between the Old and New Testaments. God in His grace redeemed Israel and taught them the way to go. This was a foretaste, first-fruits as Jeremiah calls it, of those who from the nations would also be redeemed in Messiah Yeshua and be instructed by the apostles.

Quotable Quotes

“If one believes in the lovingkindness of the Creator there are no questions. If one does not believe, there are no answers.”

-- Rabbi Yaakov of Radzimin

“The sages say that each person is like a world in miniature. This means that if one is a world in his own eyes, then he can be considered a miniature. And if one is miniature in his own eyes, then he can be considered a whole world.”

--Rabbi Noah of Lechovitz

“As children we learn to speak. As elders we learn silence. And this is the great fault that we have, to learn to speak before we learn to be quiet!”

--Rabbi Nachman of Breslov