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todaysjewishholiday · 6 days

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6 Elul 5784 (7-8 September 2024)

The fifty fourth century was a golden age for the Ashkenazim of Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As with all such golden ages for the Jewish people, it was not without dangers, and it ended in a devastating conflagration, but while it lasted it was a time of a great flowering of rabbinical study and remarkable freedom of movement for Jews across the eastern lands of Europe. More than anything else, it was this age that established the strength of Ashkenazi Judaism from which modern Jewish orthodoxy has fed. And one of the great lights of this time, whose rabbinical career carried him across the full breadth of Ashkenaz, was Gershom Shaul Lipmann ben Nathan haLevi Heller, known to his contemporaries as the Tosfot Yom Tov.

Heller was born in 5339 in Bavaria, days after his father's sudden death at the age of 18. Despite Nathan Heller's brief life, he had fathered four children. Gershom was taken under the wing of his paternal grandfather, Rabbi Moses, who began his education in Torah study. After several years of study in a yeshiva near home, the adolescent Heller traveled on his own to the beit midrash of the Maharal of Prague, a giant of both Torah and secular studies who regularly debated with the great gentile scholars of his time. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, Heller received semicha from the Maharal and an appointment as a dayan in Prague. He remained there for 27 years, producing a number of treatises including the one whose title became his rabbinic eponym, before journeying to Moravia to take up a rabbinical post there, and being offered the position of Chief Rabbi of Vienna after barely a year in the region.

Yom Tov was of great service to Vienna's scattered Jews, receiving permission to establish a centralized community, and creating a communal constitution and various communal institutions for the good of all. However, his organized and thoughtful approach soon made him enemies among the wealthier members of the kehilla. When the Gentile authorities imposed harsh taxes on the city's Jews, Heller led the community's leaders in deciding to collect the tax progressively as a percentage of individual wealth, rather than as a simple poll tax, to lighten the burden on the community's poor. The rich, however, were not happy being asked to pay their share, and accused their chief rabbi of slandering Christianity. Heller was arrested and sentenced to death, but his allies were able to persuade the Emperor to reduce the sentence to a fine of 10,000 thalers, and a ruling that he was not to serve as a rabbi anywhere in the Emperor's realm. As soon as the fine was paid off, Heller left for the eastern border.

He was warmly welcomed into the Jewish community of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and soon appointed to the Council of the Four Lands, which functioned as a Jewish proto-legislative body and as a gathering for Jewish leaders to discuss issues for which they needed to collectively appeal Gentile authorities. Yom Tov served for three years as a rabbinical authority in Nemirov, then moved to Ludmir, and from there to Krakow, where he served as one of the Av Beis Din of Krakow's rabbinical court, and also as head of the Krakow yeshiva. It was during his two decades in Krakow that the horrors of the Chmielnicki Revolt passed through the Commonwealth. He survived the massacres, and passed away six years later on 6 Elul 5414. He was laid to rest in a humble grave in a corner of Krakow's Jewish burial ground.

#jewish calendar #hebrew calendar #judaism #jewish #jumblr #yahrzeit #tosfot yom tov #Gershom Shaul ben Nathan haLevi Lipmann Heller #ashkenazi diaspora #ashkenazi judaism #ashkenazi history #ashkenazim #chmielnicki revolt #council of the four lands #cw antisemitism #cw christian antisemitism #Elul #6 Elul

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istodayajewishholiday · 14 days

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6 September 2024 - 3 Elul 5784

No, today is not a Jewish holiday. Shabbat begins at sundown.

#judaism #jumblr

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ofpd · 2 years

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2 weeks until tu b'shvat and then another month until purim and then another month until pesach and then 26 days until lag baomer and then 17 days until shavuos and then it's not much more than a month until shva asar b'tammuz and then 3 weeks until tisha b'av and then only 6 days until tu b'av and then only another 2 weeks to elul which is basically just the prelude to rosh hashanah and then there's yom kippur 10 days and then sukkos only a few days after that

#txt

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dailyanarchistposts · 2 months

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Would industrial society not simply re-emerge?

Ishkah: I’m sceptical of Kaczynskis’ confidence that a new industrial revolution wouldn’t simply re-emerge, especially with people passing down memories and books of all the benefits to modern life.

My concerns are that firstly, the harm to the environment would be much worse than us simply transitioning to renewable energy and rewilding areas as we depopulate, as is the trend in advanced countries. Secondly, I would argue the probability that we will achieve a long-lasting, mostly peaceful, technologically advanced, left-anarchist society is far more valuable to me than returning to an either never ending series of warring feudal societies or feudal societies that repeats the industrial revolution and has another series of world wars for resources.

Primitive life is more appealing to me personally than feudalism in that I could be born into a fairly egalitarian tribe like the Penan or even if I wasn’t I wouldn’t know any different life, or if I had some of the egalitarian ideals I have now, the possibility would be there to strike out on my own and form an egalitarian tribe. But, bar convincing everyone to be hunter gatherers, or the provision of technological incentives to have fair and democratic communication among societies who trade with each other – you just are going to recreate feudal era societies where you’d have to be very lucky to escape from conscription and tyrants, and where the environmental destruction in the long term could be far worse.

Zerzan: What is happening in terms of social movements? Perhaps Kaczynski’s forgotten. And to me his rigidly anti-tech focus kind of loses its steam. As you know, I’m anti-civilization and if you’re just stuck with only the anti-tech thing you get to this wooden position where you you lose a lot of potential it seems because the rest of it just flows.

I noticed in the notes you were saying well you don’t want to be stuck in some medieval deal without industry, well that’s right, there you get the problem, right? I mean there was a piece – not to go too far along with this, but there was a piece – in the American magazine ‘The New Yorker’ back in the 90s when the trial was still going on I believe, it was simply called ‘E Pluribus Unabomber’, it was kind of a funny little one page piece. And it posed that question precisely, precisely that, okay so you’re against modern technology? Does that mean you want the middle ages? And he never answered that question.

I don’t want the middle ages, hell no. You know, you’ve got to look back to see what this crisis is all about what has brought us to this stage. Otherwise you’re kind of stuck with this one note deal that’s really rather limited. He’s insisted over and over and over that he has no interest in anything but modern technology, I mean that’s almost silly, the crisis shows that it’s much bigger and much deeper than that.

It comes to a head with the technological society, and by the way he told me he got his ideas from Elull, it’s an American vernacular version of the technological society, that’s his great gift, that’s his great plus, he made it very readable, you know the original or the original translation in English is hard to read, it has that abstract classical mode of the way French are taught to write and it’s very off-putting I think in the rest of the world, the rest of the west anyway, the rest of say America. [6]

Ishkah: Yeah, and it’s interesting Ellul is a kind of classical Christian anarchist, who likes the anabaptist tradition of creating small communities within a federated society, so he’s very critical of this concept of technique, but he still wants to make accommodations for technology if we can view it as a tool.

But, yeah I think for most of the people who identify with Kaczynski’s philosophy, calling themselves anti-industrialists rather than primitivists is an optics move, in that they don’t want to be seen to be striving for something that most people see as impossible to achieve. Because an anti-industrial revolution is achievable if you can destroy the electricity grids and keep them from being rebuilt, and once it is thoroughly destroyed it will be harder to rebuild and easier to stop than at least other pre-industrial oppressive conditions like feudal tyrants.

Zerzan: Well sure, it’s less abstract, here we are so totally immersed in the technology and the alienation it’s brought is just frightful, it’s so palpable, it’s just you know utterly impossible to ignore.

So, yeah there’s the technology on all sides at every moment, so sure it’s obviously part of the problem of course it’s right up there, but that’s just part of it. To me it’s like the leftists who are only limited to talking about capitalism, well of course one’s against capitalism, but it goes much deeper than that, right? Look at the rest of it, look at how it emerges and why?

Ishkah: Yeah and I definitely like a lot of Bookchin & eco-feminist philosophy who write about the priestly classes throughout history, who even before there was capitalism were trying to keep people ignorant and regimented into hierarchies.

But, in terms of getting this global shift is it that you just don’t have kids and within a hundred years you’ve only got a very small population and obviously using some direct action to encourage people and show them the way?

Zerzan: Well yeah, it’s kind of hard to answer, I mean that’s the challenge, what would that look like? How fast could that happen if you change directions and start to imagine things so differently? I mean who can say? Whether it happens at all that is obviously an open question, we may not get anywhere with this, I’m not clear about that and no one can be I don’t think.

So, but you start to think about the emerging directions and the transition and so forth, but only when you get to that place can you start to pose those questions and think about specific practical parts of the picture, it’s difficult to speculate there and I have to some degree, but that’s a further question it seems to me.

Ishkah: Yeah it’s interesting, I like the critique in a lot of ways, like I talk about this concept of minimum viable use. Like we have a really nice culture in Europe of punk post, where if you want to talk to someone who’s on a camp across the country and someone’s going that way, then you write them a letter and that person takes it to them. So, rather than calling them you put the effort into the creativity of the writing to them and then that’s the minimum viable use technology needed for that task and then in doing that you’ve fulfilled yourself more than just a quick phone call. [7]

Zerzan: Yeah exactly, something technology is erasing. Now we just text, don’t even want to hear the human voice. I mean it’s just getting so monstrous, so fast, and maybe that’s of course the strangely silver lining in the whole thing, it’s just impossible to ignore the effects. And people are so miserable, I mean the immiseration is just almost unimaginable, but there it is, it’s the alienation, the isolation, there’s suicide among the young, deaths of despair, opioid crisis, on and on, and on, it’s just huge estrangement.

Ishkah: Yeah so that’s a good Segway to the next topic…

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jewish-holiday-tournament · 2 years

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Jewish Holiday Tournament Round 1

1. Purim vs. Yom Yerushalayim WINNER: PURIM

2. Tu Bishvat vs. Shemini Atzeret WINNER: TU BISHVAT

3. Seharane vs. Tzom Tammuz WINNER: SEHARANE

4. Hoshanah Rabba vs. the Fast of the Firstborn WINNER: HOSHANAH RABBA

5. Sukkot vs. The First of Nisan WINNER: SUKKOT

6. Rosh Chodesh vs. Tisha b'Av WINNER: ROSH CHODESH

7. Yom Kippur vs. Lag BaOmer WINNER: YOM KIPPUR

8. Mimouna vs. Pesach Sheini WINNER: MIMOUNA

9. Pesach vs. Leil Slichot WINNER: PESACH

10. Shavuot vs. The First of Elul WINNER: SHAVUOT

11. Shabbat vs. Purim Katan WINNER: SHABBAT

12. Chag HaBanot vs. Tu b'Av WINNER: TU B'AV

13. Chanukah vs. Yom Ha'Atzmaut WINNER: CHANUKAH

14. Sigd vs. Asarah b'Tevet WINNER: SIGD

15. Simchat Torah vs. The Fast of Esther WINNER: SIMCHAT TORAH

16. Rosh Hashanah vs. Shushan Purim WINNER: ROSH HASHANAH

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mackenlov · 1 year

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We are now in Elul as we prepare our hearts for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

ROSH CHODESH ELUL: "I AM MY BELOVED'S"

Thursday evening begins the second day of Rosh Chodesh and the first day of the new month of Elul. The word Elul in Hebrew, אלול, is an acronym of the verse - "אני לדודי ודודי לי - I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine," from Song of Songs 6:3. The verse, which describes belonging and connection and fidelity and love between Israel and HaShem, is the perfect description for the month of Elul, whose essence is that of drawing close to HaShem, renewing and reinvigorating our love and dedication to HaShem, and working on making ourselves worthy receptacles of HaShem's love and light.

Chodesh tov - have a very good month of Elul!

#elul #roshchodesh #rosh hashanah #yom kippur #iamyourbeloved #mybelovedismine

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mariacallous · 2 years

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Using loan-level mortgage data matched to credit bureau information, Aaron Payne of the University of Pennsylvania and Ronel Elul and Sebastian Tilson of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia show that occupancy fraud – when investors falsely claim they are owner-occupants – represents a larger share of the housing market than previously thought. The authors estimate that occupancy fraud accounts for 6% of loans issued from 2005 to 2007 and 3% of loans issued from 2008 to 2017. Fraudulent borrowers pay interest rates 26 basis points lower and have default rates 4 percentage points higher than otherwise similar investors who do not claim to be owner-occupants. Fraudulent borrowers make up one-third of the total investor population. The authors find that the rates of fraud are roughly similar among securitized loans, loans held in portfolios, and loans guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises. Finally, the authors show that fraudulent borrowers often default “strategically” when their equity becomes negative, which may pose a risk in future business cycles.

"Occupancy fraud has been suggested as a contributor to the housing bubble. We show it was pervasive and remains present. Fraudulent investors accounted for an outsize share of defaults in the bust and pose a risk should prices decline.

We identify occupancy fraud — borrowers who misrepresent their occupancy status as owner-occupants rather than investors — in residential mortgage originations. Unlike previous work, we show that fraud was prevalent in originations not just during the housing bubble, but also persists through more recent times. We also demonstrate that fraud is broad-based and appears in government-sponsored enterprise and bank portfolio loans, not just in private securitization; these fraudulent borrowers make up one-third of the effective investor population. Occupancy fraud allows riskier borrowers to obtain credit at lower interest rates. These fraudulent borrowers perform substantially worse than similar declared investors, defaulting at a 75 percent higher rate. Their defaults are also likelier to be “strategic,” suggesting that they pose a risk in the face of declining house prices."

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mybeautifulchristianjourney · 2 years

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Sanballat's Conspiracy

1 Now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left therein (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates),

2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me mischief.

3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?”

4 Yet they sent unto me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same manner.

5 Then Sanballat sent his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

6 wherein was written: “It is reported among the heathen, and Geshem saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words.

7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ And now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.”

8 Then I sent unto him, saying, “There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.”

9 For they all made us afraid, saying, “Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to slay thee, yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.”

11 And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

12 And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me; for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

14 My God, think Thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have put me in fear.

15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty and two days.

16 And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen who were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought by our God.

17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.

18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.

19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. — Nehemiah 6 | 21st Century King James Version (KJV21) The Holy Bible; 21st Century King James Version Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc. Cross References: Genesis 36:39; Exodus 14:25; 1 Chronicles 3:21; 1 Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 1:6; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 4:1-2; Nehemiah 7:1; Nehemiah 13:4; Nehemiah 13:29; Job 13:4; Psalm 52:2; Psalm 138:3; Proverbs 28:1; Jeremiah 20:10; Ezekiel 13:17

#Sanballat's conspiracy #completion of the Wall #Israel's enemies cast down #work wrought by God #Nehemiah 6 #Book of Nehemiah #Old Testament #KJV21 #21st Century King James Version Bible #Deuel Enterprises Inc.

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aevarswall · 2 years

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Good day, there is much information I lack, but this is what I have thus far.

Fact 1: In 1 Chronicles 24 King David set up the division of priestly orders, marking the order of Abijah as the eighth to serve. As I understand it, these priestly divisions would serve in the temple for a week twice a year, cycling through the 24 of them beginning in the Hebrew month of Nissan through Elul, then repeating for Tishrei to Adar.

Fact 2: In Luke 1, Zechariah is listed as a priest from the order of Abijah. Assuming that the Jews at this time followed the list as laid out by David, then the order of Abijah would’ve served in the temple sometime either in April/May or October/November should my math be correct.

Fact 3: Six months after Zechariah has served, Gabriel visits Mary and gives her the good news. I’m certain there’s some Catholic friend who’s sitting on information that will correct this, but by my calculations that places this visit in either around September or around April.

Fact 4: The average pregnancy is ~38 weeks which is about 260-odd some days. This would place the birth of Christ either in late May or late December depending on when Zechariah went up.

Fact 5: Luke 2 states that the shepherds of the region were watching their flocks by night.

Fact 6: The climate in and around Bethlehem in May will range from 57 to 78 Fahrenheit and 42 to 57 Fahrenheit in December. Assuming a warming trend that has continued for the past couple millennia to shift the temperature by ~2-3 F would still place Bethlehem in the “light-sweater” weather range.

Fact 7: The average European sheep can comfortably withstand ~30 F temps. While sheep in the Levant during the Roman Empire were likely fat-tailed sheep, I assume they had similar tolerances.

Fact 8: In Nehemiah 12, after the return from the Exile, a new set of priestly orders are set up, placing Abijah as the twelfth. I am not certain if this list served as the ceremonial order, or if the author of Nehemiah was simply compiling names as he saw fit. If it served as an order, then Abijah’s Order would serve June and December, essentially just shifting all the dates above forward by a month.

Conclusions: Should my math be true, I see nothing in the Bible that would argue against Christ having been born in late December so we can all stop saying that it does.

If there is blaring aught I have missed or overlooked, let me know.

Sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20160401001536/http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Israel/Bethlehem/climate-profile.aspx?month=5 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Chronicles+24&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=ESV https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-lowest-temperature-that-sheep-should-be-left-outside-When-is-it-too-cold-even-for-them https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah+12&version=ESV

#long #Christmas #for later

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dfroza · 4 days

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A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures

for the 16th of September 2024 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New Covenant) of the Bible

[The Book of Revelation, Chapter 16 • The Book of Joshua, Chapter 11]

along with Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms with Proverbs 16 and Psalm 16 coinciding with the day of the month, accompanied by Psalm 89 for the 89th day of Astronomical Summer, and Psalm 110 for day 260 of the year (with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 2nd revolution this year)

A set of posts by John Parsons:

Shavuah tov, chaverim. Our Torah portion this week (i.e., Ki Tavo) includes instructions for the people to ratify the Sinai covenant in the promised land by means of a special ceremony performed in the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim (later fulfilled by Israel, see Josh. 8:30-35). During this ceremony the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience would be declared, and Moses warned the people by providing a seemingly endless description of terrible consequences that would befall the Jewish people if they disobeyed the terms of the Sinai covenant (Deut. 28:15-68). In Jewish tradition this litany of woe is called the “tochachah” (תּוֹכָחָה), a word that means "rebuke" or "reprimand."

Reading the tochachah is difficult and painful, though it serves as a bitter medicine to wake us up and prevent us from falling into a lethal coma. In that sense the tochechah may be regarded as a great blessing, since it shocks us into experiencing the gravity of God’s grace. This is similar to Yeshua’s grave warnings about the dangers of hell. If we refuse to listen or rush past his words, we are missing the substance of God’s lament given through the Hebrew prophets. Sin is a lethal problem, and we must turn to God for healing or we will die. As Blaise Pascal once wrote, “Between heaven and hell is only this life, which is the most fragile thing in the world.” Therefore shuvah! -- turn to God and receive the blessing of life!

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

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Ki Tavo Summary:

Ki Tavo Table Talk:

Ki Tavo / Elul podcast:

9.15.24 • Facebook

Our Torah portion for this week (i.e., Ki Teitzei) includes the statement that a man who was to be executed and “hanged on a tree” (עַל־עֵץ) was under the curse of God, that is, was utterly condemned under the verdict of the law (Deut. 21:22-23). According to the Talmud (Nezakim: Sanhedrin 6:4:3), the Great Sanhedrin decided that “a man must be hanged with his face towards the spectators” upon a wooden stake, with his arms slung over a horizontal beam. It should be noted that while this is technically not the same thing as the gruesome practice of Roman crucifixion, the reasoning based on this verse was apparently used to justify the execution of Yeshua (Mark 15:9-15; John 19:5-7; 15). The exposed body was required to be buried before sundown to keep the land from being defiled. Besides the shame of this manner of death, the one so executed would be unable to fall to their knees as a final act of repentance before God, thereby implying that they were under the irrevocable curse of God (קִלְלַת אֱלהִים).

In this connection, we should note that Yeshua was falsely charged with blasphemy before the corrupt Sanhedrin of His day (Matt. 26:65; Mark 14:64; John 10:33) - an offence that was punishable by stoning (Lev. 24:11-16). However, since the Imperial Roman government then exercised legal hegemony over the region of Palestine, all capital cases were required to be submitted to the Roman proconsul for adjudication, and therefore we understand why the Jewish court remanded Yeshua and brought him to be interrogated by Pontius Pilate. Because Roman law was indifferent to cases concerning Jewish religious practices (i.e., charges of blasphemy), however, the priests further slandered Yeshua by illegitimately switching the original charge of blasphemy to that of sedition against Rome. The Sanhedrin undoubtedly rationalized their duplicity because the Torah allowed for an offender to impaled or "hung on a tree" (Num. 25:4), and since they were unable to do carry out this judgment because of Roman rule in the area, they needed Pilate to condemn him to death by crucifixion (Matt. 27:31; Mark 15:13-4; Luke 23:21; John 19:6,15). Note that crucifixion is mentioned elsewhere in the Talmud (Nashim: Yevamot 120b) regarding whether a widow can remarry if her husband had been crucified, as well as by the Jewish historian Josephus. The Talmud furthermore alludes to the death of Yeshua where Yeshua is said to have been crucified on “eve of Passover” (Nezekin: Sanhedrin 43a).

Some say that the word “cross” in the New Testament should be translated as “stake” or “tree” instead, claiming that the shape of the instrument that Yeshua was crucified upon was not cross-shaped or “cruciform.” Now while the Greek word translated “cross” (i.e., σταυρός) is not fully described in the New Testament, according to ancient historians there were different "shapes" of the means used for crucifixion, including the crux simplex (|), the crux immissa (+), the crux commissa (T), and even stakes shaped as an X or Y. The "T" shape (commissa) was described by the historian Josephus, and is likely the form used to crucify Yeshua, since the early Christians all referred to it that way. There are also ancient Greek (pre-Christian era) descriptions of crucifixion. For example Herodotus (450 BCE) wrote: "they crucified him hands and feet stretched out and nailed to cross-pieces," which suggests that the cross immissa or commisa shape was used in ancient times... Incidentally the gruesome practice of crucifixion goes back to the ancient Persians and Phoenicians.

So it is likely that Yeshua was crucified on a stake made of a cedar tree that was formed by attaching a crossbeam to a pole that was inserted into the ground. It is also likely that he carried only the crossbeam, or gibbet, as he walked to Golgotha to be hung up to die, since the stake would likely have weighed 300 pounds or so, and after brutal flogging under Roman whips it is unlikely that even the strongest of men could carry one... Moreover, the description of a Roman soldier putting a sponge on a hyssop stalk to give Yeshua a drink suggests that he was crucified on "short cross," since the stalk was usually less than two feet long. Regardless of the exact shape of the cross, however, death by crucifixion was horrifyingly shameful and unutterably painful.... but Yeshua went there for you.

The Torah clearly teaches there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood (Lev. 17:11, Heb. 9:22). The sacrificial death of Yeshua as the great “Lamb of God” was intended not only to cleanse us from sin (and to absolve us from the verdict of guilt as required by the law), but was also intended to fully satisfy both God’s justice and compassion (see Rom. 3:22-25; Psalm 85:10). In other words the cross is the place (ha’makom) where Yeshua “became sin for us” - the One who knew no sin - that we might be made the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). As the apostle Paul wrote: "The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for it is written, 'A Man hanged on a tree is cursed...' (Gal. 6:13, quoting Deut. 21:22-23). The Son of Man was “lifted up” to save from death as the brazen serpent (נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת) in the desert prefigured (Num. 21:9; John 3:14-15). And just before Yeshua died upon the cross, he said something of tremendous significance. Eyewitnesses to his crucifixion wrote, "When he had received the drink (of vinegar) Yeshua said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30; Matt. 27:50). In Koine Greek, this final statement is recorded as a single word: tetelestai (Τετέλεσται), a cheer of victory and triumph. In Hebrew, Yeshua might have uttered, “nishlam” (נִשְׁלָם) or perhaps more likely “gemar tov” (גְמָר טוּב), testifying to his fully accomplished atonement (כַּפָּרָה) made on our behalf....

In Greek, the word tetelestai (Τετέλεσται) is an “indicative perfect passive” form of the verb teleo (τελέω) which implies that something has been completed with an enduring effect or state. The verb comes from telos (τέλος), a noun meaning a goal or purpose. Telos is the word Paul used when he wrote: “For Messiah is the end of the law (τέλος νόμου) for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4).

Tetelestai was the cry of victory to the Father. "I have finished the work you gave me to do." What was that work? To establish the new covenant (brit chadashah) between God and man by offering up His life as the atoning sacrifice for humanity’s sins (Heb. 1:3, 10:12). The priesthood of Yeshua is said to be after the "order of Malki-Tzedek," based on a direct oath from God, that predates the operation of the Levitical priesthood (for more information about the role of Yeshua as our High Priest, see the article "Yom Kippur and the Gospel"). Yeshua was the only Tzaddik who ever completely walked out the truth of Torah. He expressed its inner meaning perfectly and embodied its truth in full. The Akedah of Yeshua (i.e., His crucifixion at Moriah) was the altar where the justice and chesed (love) of the Father fully met. If God were not just, Yeshua did not need to die; and if God were not loving, He would not have given up His Son as a ransom for our sin. Justice and mercy kiss.

The Torah (i.e., law) is holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12), but those seeking righteousness based on its demands will discover the tragic fact that it is powerless to impart righteousness and life (2 Cor. 3:7-18). It is sin within the human heart that condemns people - not the law! The crucifixion of Yeshua condemned sin in the flesh (again, not the law) and now the righteousness of God is imparted to those who embrace Yeshua by faith (Rom. 8:3-4). Enabled by the Holy Spirit, with the law now written upon our hearts (Jer. 31:31-3; Heb. 8:10-11), we are empowered to fulfill the requirements of the law based on a new covenant relationship with God (Gal. 2:16, 3:2). We no longer seek righteousness by means of maintaining ritualistic or other ordinances (Rom. 4:5, Gal. 2:16) but by receiving the free gift of Messiah’s righteousness imputed to us through our trust (Eph. 2:8-9). Because of Yeshua’s victory, we do not strive for acceptance before the Father, we abide within it, chaverim (John 15:4).

Imagine for a moment what it might have been like to hear Yeshua cry out, “It is finished!” His final breath, His kiddush Hashem, His spirit given up and now released before the Father - the resonance of this word filling all heaven and all earth - “It is finished! Father! It is finished! I have completed the work that you have given me to do!” Imagine the joy, the celebration, the glory, the honor given to the Son as He appeared before the Father after securing us so great a salvation.

Because Yeshua became our “serpent” upon the cross, all those who have been bitten by the snake and poisoned by the venom of sin may be delivered. Just as the image made in the likeness of the destroying snake was lifted up for Israel's healing, so the One made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3) was to be lifted up as the Healer of the world. Likewise with the other pictures of our Savior as the “leper Messiah,” as the “red heifer” who purifies from death, as the “scapegoat” sacrifice who sends our sins into exile, and so on. Yeshua is Adonai Tzidkenu - the LORD our Righteousness. Blessed be His Name forever and ever...

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

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