#the exodus according to jewish tradition

[gliklofhameln]

Torah Ark curtain from Italy, 1717

This tour-de-force of needlework is a unique example of a Torah ark curtain embroidered with the entirety of the text of the Ten Commandments as they appear in Exodus 20. The Hebrew verses are gracefully embroidered onto the silk ground and are spaced according to the traditional layout of the text in a Torah scroll.

Many synagogues have the custom to hang curtains specific to each of the seasons or Jewish holidays, and this curtain was likely hung in front of the Torah ark on Shavuot, the holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

A cartouche beneath each of the three columns contains the following enigmatic inscription: “I will reveal my secret to the One Who supports those who run [toward God], for behold my oath is fulfilled.” The initial letters of each of these words are marked and, taken together, spell out the name of the woman who created this extraordinary textile: Esther Kohenet. The name Kohenet indicates that she was the daughter of a kohen; it was a title used by women of this station in eighteenth-century Italy.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Next, I'm going to try and pour out information about Jewish religious literature. To be fair, there are probably way more extensive posts, websites and YouTube videos on this topic, but I chose to talk about it because I've seen some slight misinformation going around. Hope I won't come off as patronizing. Note, I'm writing it to be comprehensible for none-Jews as well as Jews, so I might say a lot of things you already know if you're Jewish.

So, Jewish religious literature can be divided to three main branches: Mikra, Mishnah and Talmud. This is not a completely precise division, nor can it be applied to every Jewish religious book, but it's helpful for the basic books, those considered obligating by Rabbinic Judaism.

Mikra (which, roughly translated from Hebrew, means "something that is read") is the one of those three that is pretty much closed: you can't really write a new Jewish book that'll be considered a part of it. It's also called the Written Torah, and includes the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, AKA Tanakh. In case you're wondering, that includes all books in what Christians call "the Old Testament", only sorted differently and into three categories: Torah - the Pentateuch, Nevi'im (Prophets) - which includes every book named after a person outside of Job, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Neḥemiah, and in addition to those books includes the books of Judges and Kings, and the Ketuvim (Written texts) - which includes all the rest of the books. The order of the books in the Tanakh is as follows (using their English names for convenience, I don't necessarily stand behind those translations): Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Nevi'im: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1&2), Kings (1&2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Twelve Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Naḥum, Ḥabakuk, Zephaniah, Ḥaggai, Zechariah, Malachi). Ketuvim: Psalms, Proverbs, Job (transliteration did a number on this one), the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra&Neḥemiah, Chronicles (1&2). Overall, there are 24 books in the Hebrew Bible. It is only later divisions, some of which are outright nonsensical, that made the number into 39.

Those books are ones that are considered to be written using some degree of Divine Inspiration or outright prophecy (which doesn't have to do with knowing the future). Common tradition considers the division of the Tanakh to be between three levels of prophecy, of which the Ketuvim were written in the lowest. As the Written Torah, the entirety of these scriptures is meant to be read (and not repeated by heart). There are occasions where there's a difference between the reading tradition and the writing one - but that's another story. The last books in the Tanakh were written around the 5th Century BCE according to tradition, and it was closed to new additions a couple of decades, perhaps a century or two, later.

The other two branches are both considered parts of the Oral Torah, to varying degrees. You see, according to Jewish tradition, Moshe (Moses) got the Torah in Mt. Sinai in two parts: the Written one (which at the time only included the Pentateuch) and the Oral one, which included explanations on how to actually act upon the commandments in the Written Torah, in addition to deduction laws to be used on the Written Torah (at least according to Rambam, AKA Maimonides). Both the Mishnah and the Talmud, at their core, are based on that. But much of the things said there are things clearly said by Sages and Rabbis from the 1st Century CE onward. How does that work, then?

The answer kind of depends who you ask. But the Orthodox way to look at that is usually that people either have old traditions that were passed down to them, or are using the deduction laws given to Moshe at Mt. Sinai. But I guess all that was a digression, so let's get back on topic.

The Mishnah is called that way after the Hebrew word for repetition. It's supposed to be sturdied this way to be memorized, though it mostly exists as written text nowadays. Back in the time it was codified - the Tana'ic era (10-220 CE, approx.), called that way after the Aramaic word for people who memorize through repetition - there were many versions of traditional laws memorized this way. This stemmed from many different people teaching the same laws, and it ended up being a game of Telephone. Also, it probably needs to be said that while I call those "laws" they weren't usually the bottomline Halachic rules, since it included disagreements and multiple opinions.

The end of the Tana'ic era came when one person, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, composed an authoritative collection of those after studying all the different traditions he knew of. This is what we nowadays call the Mishnah. It's made of 60 tractates- (whisper, whisper Wait, really? Whisper, whisper Huh. All right, then.) I have been informed that the number is actually 63. Who knew? Anyway, those 63 tractates are sorted by topic into 6 orders. Those orders are: Zera'im (seeds, concerns itself with matters related to plants with the odd tractate about liturgy at the start), Mo'ed (occeasion/time, concerns itself with Jewish holidays), Nashim (women, concerns itself with marriage laws in addition to two tractates about oaths and vows), Nezikin (damages, concerns itself with court procedures. Has two miscellaneous tractates that don't make sense there but belong nowhere else), Kodashim (holy things, concerns itself with matters relating to the Temple procedures as well as one tractate about Kashrut and one about heavenly punishments), and Taharot (ritually clean things, I guess? Though this translation is less than accurate. Has to do with - you guessed it - ritual cleanliness). The tractates aren't divided evenly between the orders, and inside of them are sorted by length. The longest tractate is 30 chapters, the shortest is 3. And yes, all of that was supposed to be remembered by heart - possibly only by a number of specific people.

Now, I didn't mention it previously, but there were certain books written that didn't get into the Tanakh - Apocryphal books. Those are not only considered outside the religious canon, but are not to be studied as well - though this might be a little flexible, the bottom line is they can't really be used for anything religious. I'm saying this right now because the same isn't true for Oral traditions that weren't codified in the Mishnah. Some of those were codified in other ways, and can be used to help understand the Mishnah better - which leads us to the Talmud.

Talmud, translated literally from Hebrew, means "study", as in the study of the traditions from the Mishnah. It is a separate book from the Mishanh, but is structured around it. Due to that, there are occasions people will tell you a given quote is from the Talmud when it's actually from the Mishanh - since the Talmud quotes the Mishnah when talking about it. The Talmud usually tries to reason the origin of the opinions in the Mishnah and to delve into the intricacies of those laws: what happens in fringe cases? What about other situations that the Mishnah didn't mention? How does what this specific Tana (rabbi from the Mishnah) says here fits with what he himself said in another place? And such things. The Talmud is, in essence, a recording of centuries of debates and discussions about the Mishnah. Oh, and there are two Talmudim (the plural form of Talmud).

One could say that the Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi) is the equivalent of the oral traditions that didn't get into the Mishnah: it's less studied and considered less obligating than the Babilonian Talmud (Gemara, or Bavli). It still is occasionally quoted and used to study things the Gemara doesn't talk about or doesn't elaborate on. The main difference between the two is where thy were codified - the Yerushalmi is a codification of the study as it was conducted in the land of Israel (mostly in the galillee; the name Yerushalmi is a little misleading), while the Bavli codifies and records the study of Babylon. There's also a different in the language - both are written in Aramaic interladed with Hebrew, but in different dialects. The Yerushalmi was also codified a couple of centuries earlier than the Bavli - the Yerushalmi was codified around 350CE, due to persecutions under the Bizantine empire, while the Bavli was compiled by the 5th century CE.

While those two Talmudim are separate from each other, there is some intersection. Travel between the land of Israel and Babylon wasn't too rare at the time (called Tekufat Ha'Amora'im in Hebrew, the era of the Amora'im. Amora means interpretor or translator in Aramaic), and so you can see rabbis from Babylon mentioned in the Yerushalmi and Rabbis from the land of Israel mentioned in the Bavli. The easiest way to tell the difference is by their title - in Babylon, a rabbi is called "Rav [name]", while in the land of Israel they are called Rabbi. There is a reason to that, but I'm not getting into it yet. In addition, the Bavli regularly talks about how things are done "in the west" - which is the land of Israel, since it's to Babylon's west. As mentioned, the Bavli is the more authoritative of the two, and is the one usually referred to when people say "the Talmud". The Bavli directly discusses 37 of the Mishnah tractates - it nearly doesn't talk at all about the first and last orders of Mishnah. The Yerushalmi, meanwhile, talks extensively about the first one - but has nothing about the next to last one. There are also other tractates missing in the middle for both.

Now, technically the Babylonian Talmud was codified at the end of the Amora'ic era. However, somewhat unlike the Mishnah (well, I'm not being accurate, the Mishnah also has a thing or two that was shoved later), there were still later additions from a time known as the Savora'ic era. Savora is a word that means "a reasoner" in Aramaic, and I probably could've explained how appropriate this name is for them if I'd have studied enough. From what I know, the characteristics of a Talmudic piece from the Savora'ic era is having no names mentioned/having names of known Savora'im mentioned (the latter is a little rare, to my understanding), and reasoning about the language and meaning of words from the Mishnah. the Savora'ic era probably ended at around the 6th-7th century CE.

From that point on, we'll need to more or less abandon the comfortable division I offered earlier, because it's kind of hard to say which book belongs where, besides many books that might technically fall under the same category but be different enough to require their own categories. In addition, from here on out, no book is considered as all-obligating: you can't go against the Talmud in a halachic ruling, but you can go against anything later.

But, since this thing is long enough as it is right now, I think I'll just write a couple of additions about important books I chose not to mention, and then finish it here for now - with the next couple of periods of history of Jewish religious literature left for a future date.

So, the most significant genre of books I've been ignoring are the Midrashim. I mean, sure, I could talk about Apocrypha, or about the Tosefta/Baraitot (oral traditions that didn't get into the Mishnah), but I mentioned those already. The Midrashim, however, are a genre of writing I completely ignored so far.

I think the best way to explain Midrash is that it's a loose interpretation of the Mikra, based on traditions. There are generally two sub-genres for Midrash - Midrash Halachah and Midrash Agadah. The former concerns itself with the law, the latter with the stories and ideas. The books of Midrashei Halachah we have that I can remember are Mechilta (lit. "Including", more or less. On Exodus), Sifra (lit. "Book", from Aramaic. On Leviticus) and Sifrei (lit. "Books", from Aramaic. On Numbers and Deuteronomy). Those are mostly from the Tana'ic era, I think. There are two major books of Midrashei Agadah, both encompassing all of the pentateuch, named Midrash Rabbah and Midrash Tanḥuma. Those are named after specific people, likely the ones who compiled them, and those names indicate they are from the Amora'ic era.

So, to sum it up: 24 books written during the vague time of the Biblical era, codified into the Tanakh at around 300 BCE, with lots of disagreement on the exact date. Oral traditions passed down between generations, including ones clashing with each other and rulings added through the generations, passed around throughout the Tana'ic era (10-220 CE), and codified into 60 tractates of Mishnah by the end of it. In addition, at the same time, some loose interpretations of the Tanakh that have led to the rulings of those oral traditions are written down in the Midrashim. Discussions and elaborations on those oral traditions of the Mishnah as recorded from places of learning in Babylon and the Land of Israel through the Amora'ic era - around 220-500 CE - are recorded in the Talmud, with some additions from around the 6th century CE.

Any inconsistency in spelling and terminology is to be blamed on my unwillingness to go back and edit this. Sorry.

Thank you for reading, have a good day, and I hope to see you for part 2! Once I get an idea about what I'm going to say in it...

[dailydemonspotlight]

May I ask for you to cover the silly snake Samael? He carried me so hard.

Samael - Day 52 (Request)

Race: Fallen

Alignment: Dark-Law

June 11th, 2024

Good lord, as if the last one wasn’t complicated. Why do I do this to myself? Angels are typically seen as the good guys in Abrahamic mythology- it’s two sides, after all, the forces of hell versus the forces of heaven, with Earth and its meddling members in the crossfire. However, as with all things in mythology, it’s not as simple as it seems. While this is true for the most part, with the wholly holy good guys fighting the devilishly devious demons, the Talmud introduces a different, far more bizarre angel, one who is a mix between the two. Enter today’s Demon of the Day, the angel of death and destroying angel of Jewish lore, Samael.

Samael is an archangel, one of the highest hosts of angels in the heavens, yet he’s far from being a heroic, holy figure- no, in most Talmudic and post-Talmudic texts, he serves almost as a villain, or at least a morally gray character. His role is very ill-defined in most texts, however, as it’s almost entirely up to interpretation and differing traditions- some list him as being Satan himself, while others believe him to be a benevolent archangel, and still others believe him as a representation of the darker side of God’s reign. I believe that each interpretation can hold some water of its own, but first, we need to look at how he’s represented in scripture.

Samael’s first appearance is actually non-canonical to most Christian traditions, that being in 1 Enoch 6:7- in a common translation, we have “Shemihazah, wh[o was their chief; ‘Ar’te]qof, second to him; Rema[sh’el], third to him; Kokab’el, fourth to him; [...-el, fi]fth to him; Ra’ma’e]l, sixth to him; Dani’el, sev[enth to him]; Zeq’el, eighth to him; Baraq’el, ninth to him; ‘Asa’el, tenth [to him]; Hermoni, [el]eventh to him; Matar’el, twelf[th to him]; ‘Anan’el, thirteenth to him; Sato’e[l], fourteenth to him, Shamshi[‘el, fif]teenth to him; Sahari’el, sixteenth to him; Tumi’el, seventeen[th to him;] Turi’el, eighteen[th] to him, Yomi[‘e]l, nineteenth to him; Yehadi[‘el, tent]tieth to him.” According to u/zanillamilla on the r/academicbiblical subreddit, (seriously, yes, reddit. They did their research.) Each of the brackets represent quite literal gaps in history, such as where the original text was smudged or broken, and this has led to a very conspicuous gap. The fifth angel to Shemihazah in power. In order to uncover what the fifth angel is, however, one has to read the original text, a fractured tale available only in Greek, which has had some creative liberties taken in translation.

The original lists of the angels… also do not list Samael, and even in the original text, the fifth angel is left unnamed, likely due to fracturing yet again. Even in a second Greek original, likely a rewrite, there is no mention of Samael. However, what Samael does appear in, is in association with the embodiment of evil- in the Ascension of Isaiah, he appears as a major antagonist under a set of four names; Melkira, Malkira, Belkira, and Bechira. Each of these names roughly translate to ‘king of evil,’ which paints a rather obvious picture. Due to laws of the original language, the Ascension of Isaiah makes it obvious that this king of evil is Samael himself, in spite of the differing names.

However, past his establishment in (debatably) Enoch 1 and his role in the Ascension of Isaiah, Samael takes a break for the first few centuries of the world… before coming to a roaring restart after the fifth and sixth century, wherein he makes his case in the Talmud. Interestingly, his role in the Talmud isn’t anything even close to an angel of death- no, he’s a straight up demon, in more ways than one! In his first appearance, the Exodus Rabbah, he appears as the accuser in the heavenly court, battling against the archangel Michael, who was trying to defend Israel’s actions. Unfortunately, I can’t verify this on account of not wanting to pirate a book, but this idea is explored in Elliot R. Wolfson’s book Perspectives on Jewish Thought.

Later in the Torah, more specifically the book “Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer,” Samael reappears and is identified as the serpent who tricked Adam and Eve, essentially making him analogous to Satan. In this tale, it’s also described that he had a child with Eve, that child becoming Cain. Pirkei, as I’ll call it going forward, is a major source for understanding the intersecting parts of several Abrahamic faiths, and its offhand mention of Samael as the serpent along with his characterization in other texts seems to paint him as being an equivalent to the Devil in the Talmud.

However, the role of Samael in a more angelic light comes in the form of Kabbalah. Likely inspired by his presumed listing among the other angels in 1 Enoch, Kabbalah teachings describe him not as satan or a similar prefix, but rather as something different- an archangel. The fifth, to be exact. He has reign over several areas in kabbalistic mysticism, including war, goats, demons, and the ‘Destroyer Angels.’ As well as Esau, for some reason. Maybe that’s where Tainted Jacob came from…?

Later in the teachings, and years, Samael and a fellow demon, Lilith, finally are connected together as husband and wife- he serves as a part of the qlippoth, what’s effectively the big bad group in Judaism, and is the prince of all demons in the story “Treatise on the Left Emanation.” So, cool. We have a lot to work with here. Prince of demons, evil asshole, the works- but where’s the more sympathetic light come from? That would be in the Apocalypse of Moses, a bizarre story, even for biblical standards- but for this one, we finally have a connection to Samael beyond just being analogous for Satan.

"This one," said Metatron, addressing Moses, "is Samael, who takes the soul away from man." "Whither goes he now?" asked Moses, and Metatron replied, "To fetch the soul of Job the pious." Thereupon Moses prayed to God in these words, "O may it be Thy will, my God and the God of my fathers, not to let me fall into the hands of this angel."

Holy shit, finally. While only a scant mention, this is the shaping block for what makes Samael so prevalent as the angel of death outside of the Talmud. Finally. This tale, which paints Samael as an angel yet again, seems to mark a shift of Samael’s typical depictions. He appears not as a villain, but rather, an angel doing his job. All of this combines together to make Samael an intriguing bit of how an angel changes through Abrahamic folklore, but... well, how is he depicted in SMT?

I love his design, but it kinda confuses me, to be frank. How an angel of death became a snake is beyond me... but I have an idea. More than likely, this is based on how his interpretations change throughout mythology, and, more importantly, his appearance is based on him being the serpent that gave Adam and Eve the apple. If that was the intention, which I do think it was, it ties everything together in a neat little bow, and I love it.

[kcyars99]

to all my fellow Jewish people have a safe and happy Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה‎, Rōʾš hašŠānā, literally 'head of the year') is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה‎, Yōm Tərūʿā, lit. 'day of shouting/blasting'). It is the first of the High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים‎, Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm, 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins ten days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, as well as beginning the cycle of autumnal religious festivals running through Sukkotwhich end on Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.

Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan, the spring Passover month which marks Israel's exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of humanity's role in God's world.

Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn), as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to "raise a noise" on Yom Teruah. Its rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting special liturgy about teshuva, as well as enjoying festive meals. Eating symbolic foods, such as apples dipped in honey, hoping to evoke a sweet new year, is an ancient tradition recorded in the Talmud.

Etymology

Rosh is the Hebrew word for "head", ha is the definite article ("the"), and shana means year. Thus Rosh Hashanah means "head of the year", referring to the day of the New Year.

The term Rosh Hashanah in its current meaning does not appear in the Torah. Leviticus 23:24 refers to the festival of the first day of the seventh month as zikhron teru'ah ("a memorial of blowing [of horns]") Numbers 29:1 calls the festival yom teru'ah("day of blowing [the horn]").

The term rosh hashanah appears once in the Bible (Ezekiel 40:1), where it has a different meaning: either generally the time of the "beginning of the year", or possibly a reference to Yom Kippur, or to the month of Nisan.

In the prayer books (siddurs and machzors), Rosh Hashanah is also called Yom haZikkaron"the day of remembrance", not to be confused with the modern Israeli remembrance day of the same name.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Itzchak Tessler

The people of Israel left Egypt twice, so to speak. According to Jewish tradition, after Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, their descendants were enslaved by the pharaohs. About 3,300 years ago, after a long period of enslavement, they made their first exodus from Egypt.https://p.ynet.co.il/XRDbA68IN/

In 586 BCE, following the destruction of the First Temple, many Jews, led by the prophet Jeremiah, migrated to Egypt. For over 2,500 years, a vibrant and illustrious Jewish community thrived there.

However, as the State of Israel was taking shape and over the next two decades, the Egyptian government made life increasingly difficult for Jews. This led to a second and final exodus from Egypt, with most Jews immigrating to Israel, and others dispersing primarily to the United States, France, Argentina and Brazil.

With the help of the International Organization of Jews from Egypt, headed by Levana Zamir, and supported by the Zionist Archive of the World Zionist Organization, we have assembled a puzzle that offers a glimpse into the history of this distinguished and ancient community from the beginning of the last century, highlighting the challenges that led to their second and final exodus.

Fleeing Eretz Yisrael to Egypt

In 1915, during the height of World War I, it might be hard to believe, but Jews saw Egypt as a safer refuge than the Land of Israel. That year, Jewish refugees from the Land of Israel arrived in Egypt aboard the American warship Tanas.

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[lepertamar]

Since it was buried deep in a long esoteric fandom post, i kinda want to extract and expand on this comment as its own post

There is an ancient, global, historical and cultural meme: a ton of christian concepts of Satan, and of Hell, and satanic-ness, is based on antisemitic interpretations of jews. but also, and i mean this in the coolest possible way, as a Jew, much of it is based on real actual Jewish imagery -- in particular, it is based on Jewish G-d.

take the explicit, overwhelming, absolutely ubiquitous association of G-dwith fire, to the point where it is the overwhelmingly primary attribute of G-d, and any invocation of fire in the jewish tanakh hints at connotations of G-d. Blood dashing and blood marking, and flesh sacrifice by slaughtering and burning of offerings is religiously jewish, throughout the jewish Tanakh, especially in Exodus. The frightening imagery of fire and brimstone that in the tanakh marks G-d’s presence (in Sodom, at Sinai, at the red sea, in the ark of the covenant) has entered basic western vocabulary in the opposite direction, where this imagery -- imagery that in the sources characterizes all of G-d's and the Jews' presence and religious behavior in Exodus and throughout the rest of the Tanakh -- is casually described as hellish and satanic. Volcanoes' lava fields are 'hellish', fires of natural gases producing pillars of flame and smoke (that led the tribes in the desert and out of egypt in exodus) are 'hellish'. rituals of fire and blood and burning and heavy costumery and ancient crumbling scrolls hidden in arks embossed and engraved with strange tongues (all according to direct unsubverted tradition and commandment) are satanic. and the devil is given a characterization echoing judaism’s depiction of jewish G-d: as a challenging and frightening and alluring figure who straddles fae-adjacent borders between tricksterish disruption and extreme legalism, who makes deals and bargains (covenants, even) with humans.

In christianity it's usually a distancing game -- a forcible identification of all these recognizable attributes of G-d and judaism with the non-god, christian figure of the devil; and simultaneously a forcible identification of jewish g-d with christian god (after all these attributes are stripped out), and of christian god with extremely different attributes, or at least opposition to the devil. But not always.

It's found in exactly as many words in foundational Gnostic theology that had a great amount of influence on the development of early christianity: it explicitly and actively (rather than the implicit coding above that mainstream christian imagery does) identifies Jewish G-d, as in the exact God of the Jews who is depicted in the Torah, as a false god, the archon and demiurge, who should not be, who is responsible for creating the material world as an illusory, fallen, sinful, inherently corrupted world as an intentional prison, rather than an incomplete starting point a la grapes-but-not-wine, and whom Jews evilly or deludedly follow to maintain the existence of this sinful world rather than escaping to the neoplatonic purity of true forms, where the True God, the New Testament god who includes Jesus Christ, rules instead.

It's pretty ~normal as a process goes! (it in fact totally mirrors some stuff in judaism, where we identified various things as treyf because they had connotations of a canaanite pagan thing LMAO. semiotics using ingroups and outgroups in this way is very very common, and normal! and our g-d, of course, with Its troubled, complex heart, in many ways comes from folding the hearts of many different canaanite gods into one person). but in this case it's maybe unique in scope and subtlety, for contingent historical reasons: a case of the sign outstripping the signified to an incredible extent and also of trying to backdoor-in identification with the god in question (eg the designation of gnosticism as a heretical sect by christianity, because mainstream christians preferred to recontextualize/repurpose jewish g-d, rather than break from It and allow jewish g-d to be defined by/identified with jews, even if in the gnostics’ explicitly evil way).

it does also have a weird consequence more modernly, among ppl who backlash to christianity with eg [demonic imagery is cool] stuff and don't realize what it looks like to people who have a slightly larger camera aperture: just skipping over the entire existence of judaism in terms of why the hell-stuff exists or is a hell-thing in the first place (there are a few reasons, and this is the big one). like, it DOES feel bizarre when there's like, ppl trying to be edgy and subversive by embracing christian demonicness that [checks notes] is just aesthetics and attitudes that are just very traditional jewish imagery and ritual. yk it just feels a bit....'hm....do they....uh.....know...'. when the old satanists 'inverted' the jesus pentagrammaton with uh, just the sigil of baphomet, as if the hebrew lettering etc is originally christian. like….

as most peopel know, the association of judaism with satanism is both extremely a longstanding Thing in antisemitism, but also smth jews are Super dystonic and jumpy to disclaim for obvious reasons.

now ofc jews's flat statement that this association is just fake is like, 'true', in that while judaism certainly developed in the past 2 millennia with an awareness of christianity and in the same world as a variety of other cultural influences, judaism is obviously not about christianity. as in, it doesn't categorize its elements and framework of the world according to christian elements and frameworks. reversed or otherwise. but 'it's fake' is not like...a complete answer i guess. (like, it implies hell aesthetics were totally independent and preexisting and judaism was only associated with it post-hoc); it's also kinda, giving up ground? in the going straight to 'hdu say we're freaks! we r normal!' rather than 'is that supposed to be an insult? being a freak is cool and also your instinct to categorize us this way is telling and interesting'

this isn't unique, similar reactions happen alot where there's a marginalized culture trying to avoid violence lol, but it's sort of. lame. why not lean into this attempted dunk. the material universe as a delicious as well as incomplete and perilous mass of bursting universeness, whose materiality is what brings about both fortune and misery, brought to material existence by jewish g-d who is scary and bizarre and fiery and has a great deal of weird opinions/ideas about a bunch of detailed specifics about this-worldly life and the this-worldly material of the universe, who makes deals with the particular people who engage with them -- who is a recognizable germinating seed of the surface of christian hell and satanic aesthetics and ideas, is metal and interesting!

and it's not like. idk. a set of frames that are incompatible with christianity either, afaict some traditions lean harder than others, but i'm jewish and obviously not exactly an expert in those aspects of christianity lol.

a friend of mine regarding their conversion to judaism said:

like g-d as a... person, for lack of better terms. g-d who is a bit of an unknown quantity? sort of devilish, smirking at you when They offer a deal and you are not aware of the legalese (or maybe you are! ) and it's just like. this is how g-d is. g-d is just being g-d, g-d is this rascal who is quite particular but also endlessly enamoured with what people will do...

i didnt (& still dont!) care for satan in the christian sense because ....i don't find a god who is unchangign and eternal and sort of... impersonal.... in any way interesting. & thus an anti-god who is.... there and personal but like just to "tempt" you or w/e is also boring in comparison.

but g-d who is playful, who is tempting and trying to seduce you and be seduced, who you can bargain w and get into a contract w which might seem "unfair" in some ways (fucking halakhah right wwww) and like bullshit legalese but it's like....you are agreeing to it! you are taking that on bc you find that worthwhile. like how someone sells t heir soul to the devil, because they think it's worthwhile; but ig in this case you're not rlly getting like, "be able to play the fiddle better than any mortal" type just a... you have the option and you want to take it! that is all far more compelling to me and far more godlike. bc it transforms g-d into an active participant

[sysmedsaresexist]

Genesis 1:26 - Who is 'Us'? Exodus 4:16 - Moses is Elohim?

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. "

The meaning is threefold, but not endogenic or plural.

First, in Jewish tradition, God called a meeting with the angels, and that's who 'Us' is referring to. Catholicism rejects this idea so I don't know much about it. If anyone wants to jump in, that'd be cool.

Second, plural theory, and this is where the fight is. However, the argument is actually that God is three separate people, not a system. In other words, not that type of plural. This is an important argument, as these branches of religion are monotheistic.

Third, and the accepted reading, God is referring to himself as the Trinity-- father, son, and holy spirit, which are all one and the same.

According to the Christian Research Institute, "Finally, there is warrant in the immediate and broader contexts to support the idea that the plural pronoun us refers to the divine plurality of the Trinity."

The reason God uses 'Us' is because he is creating man and woman in the context of the holy trinity-- a context of everlasting and infinite relationships in the godhead.

Finally, the next verse, God refers to himself in the singular. "God created humanity in his image, in the image of God he created it; male and female he created them” (1:27).

Is Elohim plural?

"So long as the question is about the form, the answer is yes. That, however, does not mark the end of the relevant questions that should be asked. There is a second important question to be answered, about the meaning of the word. Is the sense of the word elohim plural? The answer is that it is not.

Those who argue the nature of God from the fact that elohim is a plural form make a fundamental mistake. They are under the impression that it is the form of this word that determines its sense!

There is one more question: How did a reference to the true God end up as a plural form? Since the question is about the form, it is a question about the Hebrew language. It is not about the nature of God. Even so, the answer is not difficult to understand. Hebrew has its own characteristics as a language. Among these is the way in which it expresses might, authority, and reverence.

In Exodus 4:16, Moses is told that Aaron would be to him for a mouth, while he would be for a god (elohim) to Aaron. The form of elohim is plural, yet Moses was clearly one person — not a group or family of beings. This is sufficient to indicate that a distinction must be drawn between the form and the sense of a word. Second, Moses was to be like elohim to Aaron only in the sense that he would be in a position of more authority and respect. The same expression is used in 7:1, where Moses is told that he would be like elohim to Pharaoh." [X]

[nerdyqueerandjewish]

While the goal of life is ultimately to transcend the cycles of gilgul altogether, the Kabbalah likewise identifies certain great souls that reincarnate in each generation specifically to assist other souls on their journey or to rectify some past wrong. According to Lurianic tradition, for example, the soul of Abel was reborn as Moses while the soul of Cain was reborn as Jethro. The positive relationship between Moses and Jethro in the Exodus narrative thus rectifies their violent past, bringing about a repair, or tikkun, in their relationship and in the world at large.

I wanted to see what details existed about Jewish reincarnation so I was reading on my Jewish learning… obsessed with this

[ancientcosmicsecrets]

The Exodus

The Exodus, a tale etched in the annals of human history, recounts how Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and into the promised land of Israel. Yet, their journey was difficult, particularly in the barren and hostile Sinai desert. How did they endure for 40 years in such an unforgiving environment? And what was the enigmatic sustenance that God bestowed upon them each morning, known as manna?

According to some researchers, the manna mentioned in ancient texts may not have resulted from divine intervention but rather a product of extraterrestrial technology. It is believed that the manna was not a natural substance but was created by a sophisticated machine hidden in the desert. The Manna Machine was powered by nuclear energy and produced algae as a food source for those in need. The Manna Machine was based on an intriguing description in an ancient Jewish text called the Zohar, part of the Kabbalah mystical tradition.

Read Article 

Link in BIO 

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Jehanna / ジャハナ, Ismaire / イシュメア, and Joshua / ヨシュア

Jehanna (JP: ジャハナ; rōmaji: jahana), romanized as Jyahana in Japanese, is the name of the desert kingdom ruled by Queen Ismaire in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Gehenna (JP: ゲヘナ; rōmaji: gehena) is the name of the valley in which the Old City of Jerusalem is found within. According to the Bible, some kings of Judah would have child sacrifices done at Tophet, a pagan shrine in the valley, causing the prophet Jeremiah to curse the valley. Later, Jewish rabbinic traditions would adopt the Hebrew name of the valley, Gehinnom, as a realm of punishment for the wicked after death, compared to the more general "underworld" of Jewish tradition, Sheol. It is believed that from Gehinnom, Islam would have Jahannam (ジャハンナム), their faith's land of punishment for evildoers in the afterlife. Both Gehinnom and Jahannam are said to burn their sinful with unending fires, which may have influenced the scorching desert location of Jehanna and the burning of Jehanna Hall. Of course, the arid environment also likely is due to the concepts of Gehenna and Jehannam coming from two major religions from the Middle East, typically associated with dry, desert land.

Ismaire (JP: イシュメア; rōmaji: ishumea), romanized as Ishumare in Japanese, is the Queen of Jehanna. She most likely gets her name from the Biblical figure Ishmael (JP: イシュマエル; rōmaji: ishumaeru), the first child of the patriarch Abraham. Abraham and his wife Sarah were unable to bear a child together, despite God's promised covenant claiming they would have numerous descendants. Sarah believed that the resolution to be for Abraham to lay with her handmaiden Hagar, and with her Ishmael would be born. However, he would not be the child promised to Abraham - that would be Isaac, born from the believed-to-be infertile Sarah. Tension between Sarah and Hagar had been brewing since Ishmael's birth, culminating in the servant and her son being ordered to leave, left to wander the deserted wilderness. However, God promised Abraham that, as Ishmael was still his child, he would make a people as well - the Ishmaelites. According to Muslim tradition, the prophet Muhammad was a descendant of Ishmael. Ishmael would be elevated in status, considered one of the Islamic prophets.

Joshua (JP: ヨシュア; rōmaji: yoshua), romanized as Jhosua in Japanese, is the vagrant prince of Jehanna. In the Old Testament, Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim was an aide to Moses after the exodus from Egypt. He joined Moses in the first ascent of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God. After the Israelites reached the borders of Canaan - the land promised to them by God, Joshua was sent as one of their twelve spies to assess the land and its inhabitants over 40 days. Joshua and Caleb reported favorably, believing that with the aid of God they could take the promised land from the Canaanites. The other spies instead exaggerated the strength and fortifications of the peoples of the land, convincing the Israelites that God lied to them and it was impossible for them to take the land. As punishment, God would make the people wander for 40 years, until all of that generation, bar Joshua and Caleb, had passed. After Moses' death, Joshua was selected by God to be the head of the Israelites, and blessed him with invincibility. The Book of Joshua then tells of how Joshua led his people in the conquest of the land of Canaan.

Ismaire and Joshua ruling over a desert kingdom is likely based on their namesakes both having wandered through the desert before founding a nation. Similarly, Joshua's wanderlust may be loosely based on the 40 years in the desert before the Israelites could enter the promised land. Joshua's ability to promote to the Assassin class may be in reference to the biblical Joshua's role as a spy - a role the series often gives to characters of the Thief and Assassin classes.

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Structure, Flexibility, and Torah

(I wrote this d’var for tomorrow’s Shabbat evening services. Turns out I won’t be leading services tomorrow after all - so I’m sharing it here instead!)

I love being a Jew. I see it as an active thing – BEING a Jew. Living a Jewish life, making Jewish choices, taking part in our rich, meaningful traditions and fulfilling the mitzvot of the Torah.

However, if I said that I was living a Jewish life in every possible way – making all Jewish choices, taking part in all our traditions, and fulfilling all mitzvot – that would be a lie.

Those of you who come to Shabbat services regularly on Friday nights know that you will nearly always find me here, now. However, if you also come on Saturday morning, then you know that you will almost never find me there, then. I bake challah, but I do not light Shabbat candles. I take time off from my day job on Jewish holidays when I can, but I’m not always able to. I eat kosher foods, but I do not have kosher dishes, since I share my kitchen with three people who do not keep kosher.

I do what I can. Sometimes, I feel like I’m not doing enough.

It’s easy to imagine that G-d might also think that I’m not doing enough. After all, there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. If your boss gave you an employee handbook with 613 rules for employee conduct, then you would assume that this is a strict boss with a very structured work environment, someone who wants you to obey their instructions without fail or flexibility.

But this week’s parsha makes it clear that “obey without fail or flexibility” is not an entirely accurate description of G-d’s expectations for Jewish people.

This week we read Parshat Vayikra – the beginning of the book of Leviticus. Incidentally, Leviticus has 243 of the 613 mitzvot – more than any other book in the Torah.

(If you’re curious, second place goes to Deuteronomy at 203 mitzvot, Exodus comes in third at 109, Numbers is fourth at 56, and Genesis has only two.)

So, Leviticus is the Big Book of Rules, right? In Vayikra, the start of this book, there are a lot of rules about making offerings at the temple. These are sin offerings. A person would admit wrongdoing and atone for their sin by making the offering. In Leviticus chapter 5 verse 6, the Torah explains, “he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he had committed, a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat, for a sin offering.”

But it doesn’t end there. The next verse, verse 7, reads “But if he cannot afford a sheep, he shall bring as his guilt offering for that [sin] that he had committed, two turtle doves or two young doves before the Lord.”

And then if we jump ahead a couple verses, to verse 11, the Torah reads, “But if he cannot afford two turtle doves or two young doves, then he shall bring as his sacrifice for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.”

(An ephah is a unit of measurement here, and according to Google, it’s about the size of a bushel. So you would bring a tenth of a bushel of flour. I’m not sure exactly how big that is, but it doesn’t sound like much. Certainly it sounds less than a whole sheep.)

So – the commandment here, the mitzvah, is to make a sin offering. And through the Torah, G-d gives specific instructions about what to bring and what to do with it – you bring a sheep, and this is how you kill it. It’s a structure for atonement. But the Torah also provides exceptions or alternate options for this sin offering. If you can’t bring a sheep, bring two doves, and if you can’t bring two doves, bring some flour. The Torah provides structure, and it also provides different structures depending on your individual means.

In doing so, the Torah takes a behavior that could be very limited – something that only rich people could do, the people who could afford to give up an animal because they had plenty more to eat or breed – and turns it into something that anyone could do, within their means, in the way that works best for them. It’s flexible. It’s also encouraging in a way – having these different options for how to participate in the mitzvah makes the whole idea of making sin offerings feel more accessible for anyone.

And this ties in well with how I see and experience Judaism. It’s accessible for all of us. Yes, there’s structure. Judaism includes instructions for every part of our lives. And like I said before, it’s an active thing. I don’t think that you can really BE a Jew if you aren’t doing ANYTHING that’s Jewish.

But you don’t need to do EVERYTHING.

You don’t need to obey EVERY commandment in exactly the same way as everyone else in order to live a Jewish life, make Jewish choices, and participate in the Jewish community. G-d empowers all of us to show up when we can, and how we can, in the way that works best for us, to create a meaningful life as Jews. For me, tonight, that means standing up here in front of you, delivering this d’var. Last week, it meant sitting in the back row with my friends, and next week, it will mean traveling home to spend Passover with my family. And every week, every day, we get to make those Jewish choices, to create our Jewish life. Shabbat shalom.

[jewishprayers]

What is the role of Torah in Judaism?

The Torah is a central text in Judaism and is considered by many to be the foundation of Jewish tradition and culture. It is a collection of books that contains the laws, teachings, and history of the Jewish people and is considered to be the source of all Jewish belief and practice. The Torah is written in Hebrew and is one of the most important symbols of the Jewish faith.

In traditional Jewish communities, the Torah is read in synagogues on a weekly basis and is considered to be the foundation of Jewish life. It is not just a religious text but also a cultural and historical document that reflects the beliefs and experiences of the Jewish people. The Torah is seen as a source of wisdom and guidance, and its teachings are central to the daily lives of many Jews.

The Torah is divided into five books, known as the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These books contain stories of the creation of the world, the history of the Jewish people, and the laws that guide Jewish life. The laws in the Torah cover a wide range of topics, from dietary restrictions to the ethical treatment of others, and are seen as a way of living a righteous life in accordance with God's will.

The Torah is also an important part of Jewish customs and traditions. For example, the tradition of Torah reading in synagogues is a central part of the weekly worship service, and the act of reading from the Torah is considered to be a deeply meaningful and spiritual experience. Additionally, the Torah is used in Jewish life cycle events, such as bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, and funerals, and is considered to be a source of comfort and guidance during these significant moments.

Jewish doorways are often blessed with a special blessing known as the "Mezuzah," which is a small scroll of parchment containing a prayer and a portion of the Torah. The Mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home as a symbol of the family's commitment to their faith and to the laws and teachings of the Torah. This custom is considered to be an important part of Jewish culture and is a visible reminder of the central role that the Torah plays in the lives of many Jews.

In addition to its role in Jewish worship and tradition, the Torah is also seen as a source of inspiration and a means of preserving Jewish culture and identity. The teachings and stories in the Torah have inspired generations of Jewish artists, writers, and thinkers, and have helped to shape Jewish culture and tradition. The Torah is also an important part of Jewish education, and is studied by children and adults alike in order to deepen their understanding of the Jewish faith and their connection to the Jewish people.

In conclusion, the Torah plays a central role in Judaism, serving as the foundation of Jewish belief and practice. It is considered to be a source of wisdom, guidance, and comfort, and is a key part of Jewish traditions and culture. The Torah is a central text for Jews, not only for religious purposes but also for cultural and historical reasons, and continues to be a source of inspiration and a symbol of the Jewish people's commitment to their faith. Whether through its use in worship services, its role in Jewish life cycle events, or its study and interpretation, the Torah is an integral part of Jewish culture and tradition and continues to play a central role in the lives of many Jews.

Jewish Doorways:

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.

Visit Jewish Doorways now :

Life Events Made Meaningful With Jewish Traditions - Jewish DoorwaysJewish Doorways helps enhance your Jewish life cycle events and rituals through prayers, poems, psalms and/or songs for all ages and life special occasions.https://jewishdoorways.org/

[becauseanders]

I posted 3,892 times in 2022

79 posts created (2%)

3,813 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@alinnsurana

@that-was-anticlimactic

@wingwaver

@bizarreshark

@ollifree

I tagged 3,892 of my posts in 2022

#dragon age - 492 posts

#asdfghjkl; - 412 posts

#gif - 367 posts

#yeah - 348 posts

#meow - 209 posts

#zukka - 173 posts

#dragon age ii - 163 posts

#🦀 - 154 posts

#mass effect - 150 posts

#anders - 145 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#'you are sarcastic and abrasive but you're just so soft and caring and you can't stop being those things no matter how much you try' 🥺🥺

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

♿️🙃

72 notes - Posted May 23, 2022

#4

"Jewish tradition teaches that a nefesh, or a full-status life, begins at birth. Other religious traditions believe life begins at other stages. Restrictive abortion laws — rooted in only some religions’ interpretation of when life begins — impose religious beliefs on me. This is a violation of my rights."

just a friendly reminder for when we talk about abortion bans and the "religious right" that the problem is NOT religion as a whole, it is SPECIFICALLY CHRISTIANITY and a severely bastardized version at that, but banning abortion is inherently antisemitic (can't speak for other religions but i imagine this does apply to others as well) and therefore so is throwing all religion under the bus for the actions of the distorted sects of one! i, a jew, am a deeply religious person yet these bans infringe on my and many others' religious freedom—in an actual, legitimate definition of that term—just as much as they infringe on anyone's basic human rights!

also, from the National Council of Jewish Women:

Does Jewish law state that life begins at conception? No, life does not begin at conception under Jewish law. Sources in the Talmud note that the fetus is “mere water” before 40 days of gestation. Following this period, the fetus is considered a physical part of the pregnant individual’s body, not yet having life of its own or independent rights. The fetus is not viewed as separate from the parent’s body until birth begins and the first breath of oxygen into the lungs allows the soul to enter the body.

Does Jewish law assert that it is possible to murder a fetus? No, Jewish law does not consider a fetus to be alive. The Torah, Exodus 21:22-23, recounts a story of two men who are fighting and injure a pregnant woman, resulting in her subsequent miscarriage. The verse explains that if the only harm done is the miscarriage, then the perpetrator must pay a fine. However, if the pregnant person is gravely injured, the penalty shall be a life for a life as in other homicides. The common rabbinical interpretation of this verse is that the men did not commit murder and that the fetus is not a person. The primary concern is the well-being of the person who was injured.

According to Jewish law, is abortion health care? Yes, Jewish sources explicitly state that abortion is not only permitted but is required should the pregnancy endanger the life or health of the pregnant individual. Furthermore, “health” is commonly interpreted to encompass psychological health as well as physical health. NCJW advocates for abortion access as an essential component of comprehensive, affordable, confidential, and equitable family planning, reproductive, sexual health, and maternal health services.

What does Jewish law say about the rights of the person who is pregnant and the rights of the fetus? Judaism values life and affirms that protecting existing life is paramount at all stages of pregnancy. A fetus is not considered a person under Jewish law and therefore does not have the same rights as one who is already alive. As such, the interests of the pregnant individual always come before that of the fetus.

Do abortion bans unduly favor one religious viewpoint over another? Yes, different religions believe that human life begins at different stages of development. Science can explain developmental timelines, but philosophic and religious viewpoints largely determine what exactly defines “life” or “personhood” for each individual. NCJW believes, as the First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees, that no one religion should be enshrined in law or dictate public policy on any issue — including abortion

78 notes - Posted May 8, 2022

#3

boba fett: *tripping balls after ingesting a lizard*

me: oh, like miette!

83 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

#2

modern au: sokka with tourette’s and autistic zuko

sokka meows as a tic, zuko meows as a stim

echolalia from both parties ensues, and it’s adorable

133 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

changes in barometric pressure, my beloathed

207 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[freebiblestudyhub]

What Is 3rd Commandment?

The Third Commandment, found in the biblical books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, carries significant weight within the Judeo-Christian tradition. This commandment, often summarized as “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” addresses the reverence due to God’s name and serves as a crucial element of moral and ethical conduct. In this article, we will explore the historical context, theological implications, and practical applications of the Third Commandment, aiming to provide a thorough understanding of its importance in contemporary society.

Historical Context of the Third Commandment

The Decalogue: Origins and Significance

The Third Commandment is part of the Decalogue, also known as the Ten Commandments, which are foundational to Jewish and Christian ethical teachings. These commandments were given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai after their exodus from Egypt, as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:4-21. The Decalogue serves not only as a legal code but also as a spiritual framework that guides moral behavior and community relationships.

Cultural Background

In ancient Israelite culture, names were more than mere labels; they embodied the essence and identity of individuals and deities. In this context, the name of God was considered sacred and powerful. To misuse God’s name was not just a matter of language but an affront to His character and authority. This understanding of names persists in many cultures today, emphasizing the weight that names carry.

Theological Implications of the Third Commandment

Reverence for the Divine

At its core, the Third Commandment underscores the need for reverence toward God. It reflects the belief that God’s name represents His presence, authority, and attributes. The commandment calls believers to honor and respect God’s name in speech and action, recognizing it as a reflection of His holiness.

The Nature of God’s Name

God’s name, often represented as Yahweh in the Hebrew Scriptures, encompasses His qualities, such as love, justice, mercy, and sovereignty. To take His name in vain is to diminish these qualities and the relationship believers are meant to have with Him. This commandment invites reflection on the nature of God and the responsibility that comes with invoking His name.

Interpretations of the Third Commandment

Traditional Jewish Understanding

In Jewish tradition, the Third Commandment is seen as a prohibition against false oaths and blasphemy. The Talmud expands upon this commandment, emphasizing that one should not swear falsely by God’s name or use it lightly in everyday conversation. The Jewish perspective places a strong emphasis on the integrity of speech and the seriousness of commitments made in God’s name.

Christian Perspectives

Christian interpretations of the Third Commandment vary, but they often emphasize the importance of not only refraining from using God’s name in vain but also living a life that honors Him. Many Christians view this commandment as a call to bear witness to God’s character through their words and actions, ensuring that their lives reflect the values associated with God’s name.

Contemporary Interpretations

In modern contexts, the Third Commandment can be interpreted to encompass broader themes, such as integrity in communication and the ethical use of language. The rise of digital communication has introduced new challenges regarding how individuals invoke God’s name and the implications of careless speech.

Practical Applications of the Third Commandment

Speech and Communication

The Third Commandment challenges individuals to consider the power of their words. Using God’s name lightly, such as in casual expressions or exclamations, can dilute its significance. Believers are encouraged to communicate with intentionality, ensuring that their speech reflects their values and respects the sacredness of God’s name.

Integrity and Authenticity

Living in accordance with the Third Commandment requires a commitment to integrity and authenticity. Individuals are called to align their actions with their professed beliefs, ensuring that they do not misrepresent God through hypocrisy or deceit. This alignment fosters trust and credibility in personal and communal relationships.

Respect for Others

The Third Commandment also extends to how individuals speak about others, particularly those who may be seen as representatives of God. Engaging in gossip, slander, or derogatory remarks not only misuses God’s name but also undermines the dignity of others. Upholding respect in communication reflects a commitment to honoring God’s character.

The Third Commandment in Religious Practice

Worship and Prayer

In religious contexts, the Third Commandment emphasizes the importance of how God’s name is used in worship and prayer. Worship leaders and congregants are encouraged to approach prayer with reverence, recognizing the power and significance of invoking God’s name in their praises and petitions.

Educational Contexts

The Third Commandment can also inform educational practices within religious communities. Teaching about the significance of God’s name and the ethical implications of its use can foster a culture of respect and reverence among believers, encouraging them to model appropriate behavior in their interactions.

Social and Community Impact

In broader societal contexts, adhering to the Third Commandment can promote a culture of respect and integrity. Communities that prioritize the ethical use of language and honor the divine can foster stronger relationships and a sense of shared values among diverse populations.

Challenges to Upholding the Third Commandment

Cultural Shifts

In contemporary society, cultural shifts often challenge traditional understandings of reverence and respect for language. The normalization of casual or flippant use of God’s name in media and entertainment can lead to desensitization regarding its sacredness. Believers are called to navigate these challenges thoughtfully, advocating for language that honors God.

Misinterpretations and Legalism

Some may approach the Third Commandment with legalistic interpretations, focusing solely on specific language prohibitions without grasping the broader ethical implications. A healthy understanding of the commandment invites a more holistic approach that encompasses attitude, intention, and the spirit of the law rather than merely its letter.

Conclusion

The Third Commandment remains a vital aspect of ethical conduct within the Judeo-Christian tradition. By calling for reverence for God’s name, it invites believers to reflect on their relationship with the divine and encourages integrity in communication and behavior. As individuals navigate a complex cultural landscape, the principles embedded in the Third Commandment provide timeless guidance for living a life that honors God and respects the sacredness of language. Through intentionality in speech and action, believers can embody the essence of the Third Commandment, fostering a culture of respect, integrity, and authenticity in both personal and communal contexts.

[astra-and-lilith]

Building the Tabernacle - Sukkot

Am Abend des 26. Oktober beginnt dieses Jahr das jüdische Fest des sieben Tage dauernden sogenannten Laubhüttenfestes. Wieder sind die Deutungen sehr unterschiedlich, die einen sehen die Ursprünge in landwirtschaftlichen und kanaanitisch-ursprünglichen Riten, andere möchten lieber nicht an diese Wurzeln glauben und sehen in diesen Tagen nur das Andenken an die Wüstenwanderung der Söhne Israels nach dem Exodus aus Ägypten. Die Riten sind kompliziert, eine Laubhütte ausserhalb der Wohnung zu bauen, ist nicht etwas, was jede und jeder kann und mag. Der Bau einer Laubhütte? "We build the sukkah so that we can look at the stars at night. Its branches have gaps to let in the sky. Observing the wonder of creation is one of the delights of the sukkah; and so, as wie build the shelter, we pledge to preserve those wonders for generations to come." So Rabbi Dr. Jill Hammer in ihrem Buch "The Jewish Book of Days."

Und sie erklärt dann: Sukkot, the joyful festival of the harvest, opens the gate of the earth. It begins the part of the year when we are most connected to the soil and to the sacred dimension of space. By tradition, Jews start building their sukkah, the ritual booth for the festival of Sukkot, on the day after Yom Kippur. The booth reminds us of the roving mishkan, "the Tabernacle", which is the portable shrine of the Israelites in the wilderness. In this shrine, the Shekinah, the indwelling presence of the Divine, makes Her earthly home.

The mishkan is a portable structure of curtains, rods, and ornaments, a resting place für the Divine Presence while the Israelites wander in the wilderness. Today, according to Rashi, is the day the Israelites begin to gather materials for the holy sanctuary. The Tabernacle artists take the cloth, gold, spices, and wood they collect and make it into a place for the Devine.

[mrlnsfrt]

Spiritual Discipline: Fasting

“The light of a Christian character will shine before men and win glory for God without the artificial aid of public advertisement. Ostentatious religion may have its reward here, but it receives none from God.” — A. Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, (London: E. Stock, 1909), 90.

This post is part of my Join Me on The Mountainside series. In Matthew 6 Jesus has been highlighting the importance of genuine worship as opposed to performative religiosity. Jesus already talked about giving to those in need (almsgiving, covered in my post The Heart of Worship), and prayer (Principles for Powerful Prayers Part 1, and Part 2, and now He addresses fasting.

As with almsgiving and prayer, those who fast must not advertise their piety by visible signs of suffering and deprivation. Otherwise a person again gains accolades from people rather than from God. — Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 121.

When you fast

16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. — Matthew 6:16-18 NKJV

Notice that Jesus does not say if you fast, but when you fast. Jesus takes for granted that we will fast. Sadly, fasting has been so misunderstood and misused that it seems to be mostly neglected by modern Christians.

Almost 500 years ago Calvin wrote in his Institutes, “Let me say something on fasting: because many, for want of knowing its usefulness undervalue its necessity, and some reject it as altogether superfluous; while on the other hand, where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into superstition.” (John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion IV.12, 14, 15)

Cultural/Religious Context

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. - Matthew 9:14-15 NKJV

From Matthew 9:14-15, Mark 2:18-20, Luke 5:34-35 we know that fasting was a common practice, so common that some were perplexed as to why Jesus’ disciples did not fast.

An ancient Jewish treatise on fasting from the 1st century a.d., Megillath Ta‘anith, mentions Jews who at that time regularly fasted on the second and fifth days of the week, that is, Monday and Thursday (see Luke 18:12). Although Jewish tradition attributes this custom to the story that Moses began his 40-day fast on Mt. Sinai (see Exodus 34:28) on a Thursday and terminated it on a Monday, it seems probable that the observance of these two days as fasts actually arose from the desire to keep them as far as possible from the Sabbath, and at the same time not to have them too close together. (for more see Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, vol. 2, pp. 241-243. quoted in Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 584.)

Fasting in itself is not the problem, the problem lies in what it can become.

Too often fasting degenerated into a means of righteousness by works through which men hoped to appease an austere God and earn His favor, regardless of the state of their hearts. — Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 584.

Centuries before Jesus was born prophets had declared what God was interested in, and it was not in their fasts and other religious rituals.

Fasting

There are two chapters from the Old Testament that I find especially helpful when studying the topic of fasting. One of the is Zecharaiah 7.

7 Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, 2 when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, 3 and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? 6 When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? 7 Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.’

11 “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. 12 Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13 Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts. 14 “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.” — Zachariah 7 NKJV

Fasting is not compatible with rebellious disobedience. It is not that Israel was trying to do good but failed. They refused to listen to the prophets and rebelled against God, which also caused God to not listen when they called out.

Another chapter from the Old Testament that helps us understand what God values regarding fasting is Isaiah 58.

1“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.” —Isaiah 58 NKJV

Fasting is not a magical pill. Fasting is not something you can do isolated from your personal relationship with God. You can’t live your life in rebellion against God’s will and expect fasting and prayer to work when you have no desire to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that accompanies your love and devotion to God. True fasting springs from a sincere desire to draw close to God and not a performance or a desire to simply have God do your bidding.

Why fast?

In my study of fasting, I came across interesting and helpful insights.

Self-discipline

Fasting strengthens self-discipline, it lessens the hold of material things upon us, it shows God that we mean business, it lessens the power of habit, and it enables us to seek God without distraction. —Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 102.

I would change the sentiment in this quote slightly and say that fasting shows us that we mean business. God knows our hearts, but we don’t, we can fool ourselves. But when we fast we show ourselves that we are serious about connecting with God, that we are serious about our spiritual journey, and that we truly desire to draw closer to God. When we act it strengthens our faith by revealing to ourselves that we are serious about our devotion to God.

There is a value to self-disicpline (1 Timothy 4:7; Romans 13:14; 1 Corinthians 9:23-24, 27; 2 Timothy 1:7; Proverbs 25:28; Galatians 5:22-23; Titus 1:8 etc.) and fasting is an opportunity to practice self-disicpline and remind us that we are not controlled by our apetites.

Humbling ourselves before God

Unless our fasting be that which marks such a heartfelt sense of sin and of seeking unto God as will brook no diversion from its purpose, moving us spontaneously and for the time being with a lack of appetite for all things else, then it is but a superstition, a piece of morbid formalism. — Arthur Walkington Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2005), 175.

Another reason for fasting is a way of humbling ourselves before God. (Psalm 69:10; 1 Kings 21:27,29; Ezra 8:21) Fasting reminds us that we do not provide for ourselves God provides for us and we do not deserve His blessings. At times our sense of sin is so strong that we desire God more than we desire food. We fast because food became less important than seeking God for a period of time.

Just to clarify, fasting does not endear us to God. God loves us and nothing we do can make Him love us any more than He already does (Romans 5:8; 8:35-39; Psalm 36:5-7; John 3:16) Fasting reminds us of our great need of God and places our relationship with Him above our desire for food for a period of time.

The object of the fast which God calls upon us to keep is not to afflict the body for the sin of the soul, but to aid us in perceiving the grievous character of sin, in humbling the heart before God and receiving His pardoning grace. His command to Israel was, “Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.” Joel 2:13. — Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing p87.

Sharpness of mind

There are times when the Christian needs keenness of thought and discriminating judgment; he may have important decisions to make, or may need to discern more clearly the will of God. Under such circumstances fasting can prove a great blessing. Such fasting may not necessarily mean complete abstinence from food, but a diet limited to the simple essentials for maintaining health and vigor. The Christian may, like Daniel, refrain from the use of “pleasant bread” (Dan 10:3). God is not honored and one’s Christian experience is not promoted by any practice that weakens the body or impairs the health. See Matt. 6:16. — Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 584.

When we need to make a big decision and we need special guidance from God and fasting allows for greater clarity of thought. (Acts 13:2-3)

How long should you fast for?

Some examples of fasting from the Bible for different lengths of time.

David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. — 2 Samuel 12:16 NKJV

“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” — Esther 4:16 NKJV

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Daniel 10:2-3 NKJV

These examples show us that fast can be for different lengths of time and of different nature. Queen Esther fasted from food or water, Daniel fasted from “pleasant food” for a month, and David fasted and refused to sleep on his bed. Based on these verses I believe that if a medical condition keeps you from fasting from food you can find a fast that works for you, where you give up something you enjoy, what you would consider “pleasant food” or as David refused to sleep on his bed, maybe you could give up social media, or secular entertainment for a period where you will more diligently seek God.

The important part is seeking God, and fasting for a purpose. Otherwise, you’re just going on a diet or doing a cleanse. Fasting is not punishing yourself but carving out a time to seek God more intentionally.

Do not be like the hypocrites

When you advertise what should remain a secret between your soul and God, employing counterfeit sadness or ostentatious grief, you reduce what should be held in great sanctity to a mockery and a farce. Genuine fasting originates from a deep sense of unworthiness before God. To make it into a podium from which to proclaim our sanctity and humility is turning light into darkness. The Pharisees deliberately made efforts to look emaciated and hungry to better advertize their fasting. They exhibited all the external appearances of humiliation while their hearts were lifted up with spiritual pride. The problem was not so much their behavior as the truth and sincerity of heart it lacked.

If we have to look miserable to be considered spiritual, then there is something wrong with our views of spirituality. —Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 27.

When your spiritual journey becomes only a series of religious behaviors aimed at impressing those around you, you become a hypocrite. Your walk with God becomes a performance to be observed by others.

Hypocrisy robs us of the reality of Christian living. When we care more about our reputation than our character, when we care more about what others will think about our prayer than about an authentic conversation with God, when we give money as a substitute for true heart devotion, we become like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, who He compared to whitewashed tombs that looked good on the outside but were filthy on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28)

Hypocrisy robs us of spiritual rewards. We exchange the eternal approval of God for the shallow praise of those around us. Our spiritual life becomes hollow and lifeless. We pray but there are no answers, we fast but experience no true transformation. Not only do we miss God’s blessings here and now, but we also lose God's reward when Jesus returns.

Hypocrisy robs us of true spiritual influence. Fake Christians hurt the kingdom of God more than any atheist ever could.

Do you want to overcome hypocrisy? The first step is to be honest with God in your secret life. Never pray anything that you do not mean from the heart, lest your prayers become babbling empty words. Your motivation must be to please God alone, regardless of who is watching and what they might say or do. Develop your heart, strengthen your character in the secret place, when no one is watching.

When reputation becomes more important than character, we have become hypocrites. — Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 27.

Takeaway

We should be more concerned about the state of our hearts than external performances. External behavior will flow from a contrite heart, so focus on the condition of your heart instead of the outward behavior. Focus on your heart, whether you’re helping the needy, praying, or fasting, do it sincerely seeking to honor God. Give your heart to Jesus and allow Him to transform everything about you from the inside out.

My challenge for you

Engage in the spiritual disciplines of helping those in need, spending time in prayer, and fasting, out of a sincere desire to open yourself to God. Surrender to God and allow Him to bring about the changes He wants you to experience in your life. Don’t worry about what others will think, do, or say. Follow God, with all your heart, with all that you are. Be an authentic Christian. You don’t have to have it all figured out, just don’t be fake. Don’t engage in religious behavior just because of the optics, but out of a sincere desire to be used by God for His honor and glory.

So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. — Joel 2:13 NKJV