Resources: • Adventist Mission Website: http://wjafc.globalmissioncenters.org/
This website is the new resource provided by the Office of Adventist Mission of the General Conference of the Seventh-day
• Website: www.jewishadventist.org
We pray every week for the leaders of the Jewish Ministry,
Shabbat Shalom Newsletter
747
9 September 2017 18 Ellul 5777
Professional Urban Development: The WJAFC provides:
Shalom Adventure Magazine online: www.ShalomAdventure.com
If you would like to read articles, watch videos, learn things about Judaism and Israel, this website is just for you.
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WJAFC: If you would like to share with people, this forum on facebook is a good place for that.
• Photos: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/1131446298409925652
- Professional Urban training for Jewish Ministry
91?source=pwa We have posted a lot of pictures on Internet during the last years. Don’t hesitate
- Teaching for theological students
• Russian Website: http://www.boruh.info/ This website is in Russian, many articles
- Help to plant new congregations. - Support for AdventistJewish dialogue with scholars and rabbis
to look at them.
and the parasha are posted on it every week.
WJAFC Paris
A weekly Journal of information and training published by the World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center Under the umbrella of the General Conference —Office of Adventist Mission
Journal of Information and Training — Issue 747 — 9 September 2017 / 18 Ellul 5777
Carlos Muniz English Edition: Richard-Amram Elofer
Richard Amram Elofer
Russian Edition: Alexandra Obrevko French Edition: Sabine Baris Spanish Edition: Jael Wells Cuellar Portuguese Edition: Carlos Muniz Dutch Edition: Hubert Paulleta
Hubert Paulleta 8
Emails: English: richard@elofer.com Russian: sashok_l@mail.ru French: sabinebaris@gmail.com Spanish: jael_wells@hotmail.com Portuguese: cdmuniz@gmail.com Dutch: hpauletta@hotmail.com
Credit photos: Richard Elofer, Alexandra Obrevko, Jael Wells Cuellar Hubert Paulleta, Laurent Baris and Advent Digital Media
for more information: contact us at www.jewishadventist.org
Alexandra Obrevko
Sabine Baris
awøbDt_yI;k
This issue
A must website. To subscribe to our newsletter. To download some resources (Hebrew Sabbath School, and other documents). To order the book “Comfort, Comfort my people…” and many other things. •
Shabbat - Ki-Tavo
News 1 Parasha’s comments 2-4 Haftarah 4-5 Apostolic Writings 5 Stories & Traditions 6 Inspirational Corner 6, 7
Weekly Jewish-Adventist Journal of Information
We pray every week for the Jewish Friendship Ministry. I suggest our partners to pray from September 10 to 16 for Rogel Tavares and his team who are working in Sao Paulo in Brazil. The Conference of Sao Paulo has open a Cultural Center in one of the Jewish neighborhood of that city. Many activities are taking place in this center. Let’s pray for this ministry in Brazil.
News
Shanah Tovah Happy New Year 5778 Trip to Israel
Richard Elofer organizes a trip to Israel and Petra in Jordan, from October 15 to 29, this trip is for French speaking people, we still have some availability, if you are interested send an e-mail as soon as possible to richard@elofer.com.
Pre-Holidays Celebration
We received this news from our group in London: “Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is going to give a lecture at St John’s Wood Synagogue on Thursday 14th September for a pre-Rosh Hashanah lecture to launch his latest publication ‘Ceremony & Celebration: An Introduction to the Holidays.”
Next Celebrations
Most of our Jewish Adventist congregation in the world have some meetings to mark the Jewish celebration of the feasts. If you are interested to attend one of these meetings, please let us know and we will let you know if there are some similar celebrations in your town. Let’s remember the Jewish Celebration will take place at these moments: Rosh Hashanah: - Wednesday September 20 evening - Thursday September 21 all the day - Friday September 22 all the day Yom Kippur: - Friday September 29 evening - Sabbath September 30 all the day Succoth: - Wednesday October 4 evening - October 5 through 12, morning and evening services Simchat Torah: - Friday October 13 all the day
It is a good meeting to be in contact with Jews and to make friends. Please check in the synagogues of your city where the Jewish people organize special events like this one and participate to it.
Parasha for this Week
W
hen Bnei Yisrael dwell in the Land of Israel, its first fruits are to be taken to the Temple and given to the kohen in a ceremony expressing recognition that it is G-d who guides the history of the Jewish People throughout all ages. This passage forms one of the central parts of the Haggadah that we read at the Passover Seder. On the last day of Pesach of the fourth and seventh years of the seven-year shemita cycle, a person must recite a disclosure stating that he has indeed distributed the tithes to the appropriate people in the prescribed manner. With this mitzvah Moshe concludes the commandments that G-d has told him to give to the Jewish People. Moshe exhorts them to walk in G-d’s ways, because they are set aside as a treasured people to G-d. When Bnei Yisrael cross the Jordan River they are to make a new commitment to the Torah. Huge stones are to be erected and covered over with a thin layer of plaster, and the Torah is to be written on them. The Jewish tradition, aware of her responsibility to preach the Torah to the world, af-
Ki-Tavo
awøbDt_yI;k
Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8 Happiness And The Land
T
he Parasha starts saying “[Vehaya Ki Tavo] When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance” (Deuteronomy 26:1. The first word of this verse is Vehaya, we have already said in these columns that the word Vahayah denotes happiness especially as it seems that this word is not necessary in the text, the translator has even not translated this word, “When you come” is the direct translation of KiTavo. Let’s remember that the promise land, is also symbolically representative of the heavenly promised land, the land where the Messiah will introduce us after his coming. Entering to the Land of the Lord would always produce happiness in our heart.
Bikurim and Tithes
T
he parasha describes the processes of offering the first fruits (bikurim in Hebrew) to the priests in the Temple. The Torah states: “you shall take some of the first of
2
all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land … . And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time ….” (Deuteronomy 26:2–3), The bikurim were given to the priest who was in service at the time of the gifts, it was not necessary to wait for the High priest. This law of the bikurim was one of the 613 commandments, one of these hundreds of commandments which cannot be fulfilled today because of the destruction of the Temple and the disappearance of the Kohanim and the Levites. That is why the Gemarah is speaking about this law in our days, in the absence of the Temple and the priests, it is said “When someone brings a present to a talmid chacham (dedicated to study the Torah) it is as though he brought bikkurim.” That means the Jewish people have accepted that some practices could be the equivalent of some commandments. That is why the Rambam wrote the kohanim or priests “that it is not the tribe of Levi alone [that is dedicated to Hashem’s service], but every person who dedicates himself to the
service of Hashem is sanctified, and Hashem will be his everlasting inheritance and assure that he is provided for in this world, just as He has provided for the Kohanim and Levites.” That is why we can agree with the Jewish tradition that the Torah scholars who are the theologians and pastors of today are the Kohanim and Levites of “that time.” Supporting them by giving them a salary through bikkurim (offering) and ma’aser (tithes) to live decently in our days is a proper way to perform the commandments of God in the 21st century.
Written on Stones
G
od has given the ten commandments to Israel and wrote them on two tablets of stone, by this we understand the permanence of G-d’s law. But now Moses says to Israel that all the laws given in the Torah are forever, that is why he ask them to write them on stones: “you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” (Deuteronomy 27:8) These stones on which Hashem wants us to write his laws
“And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”” (Deuteronomy 27:8)
credit: pinterest.com
Parasha Overview: Ki-Tavo
are symbolically representing our heart as Jeremiah announced it “I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33), any person who is ready to experiment G-d in his life will accept that God’s laws will be written in his heart, then the Torah will have an indelible effect on him and will refine him physically and spiritually.
I
Blessings and Curses
n this parasha there are blessings and curses, it is never easy to read these verses, because when I read personally these verses, I don’t see the failures of Israel but my own failures and I invite everyone to look at these verses in this way. It is easier to see the defaults of others than ours, that is why reading the Torah let’s open our eyes on our own situation. The word of God is timeless it speaks to everybody all the time. The verses which describe the curses are called in Hebrew the tochachah, these verses are composed of 676 words. The Almighty tells us in this text that we don’t have to be afraid of him, because
he is a G-d of Love, Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky affirms that “the Tetragrammaton (Hashem’s holy four letters name) — which denotes rachamim — mercy — has the numerical value of 26, and it is mentioned 26 times in the tochachah; 26x26=676. With His mercifulness, G-d converts for His beloved children bitter curses into sweet blessings.” The Torah states: “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.” (Deuteronomy 27:26), in this verse those who are cursed are those who accumulate two behaviors towards the law of God, 1. they do not confirm it, and 2. they don’t do them, that means they don’t practice them. Some people can affirm that they respect God and his law but don’t practice them, to respect the Torah is not enough if we don’t practice them, it is what Yaakov, the very brother of Yeshua said: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what
he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22–25). it is absolutely necessary to “do them” la’asot otam. Respecting and practicing G-d’s law is also a way to sanctify the name of G-d. Let’s remember that when Yeshua instructed his disciples on prayer, he prayed saying: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9), “hallowed” means “blessed” or “sanctified,” in practicing the law of God we teach the nations what it means to sanctify the name of God, that is why the text of the Torah says: “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.” (Deuteronomy 28:10), what we do has an effect on the surrounding nations, that is why it is also a way to prepare the coming of the Messiah. We all expect his coming, but as we know we must prepare the nations for his coming. The Messiah is not coming only for his people, but for all the nations.
3
firms that the Torah must be written on the stones in the world’s seventy primary languages. Half the tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim, and half on Mount Eval, and the levi’im will stand in a valley between the two mountains. There the levi’im will recite 12 commandments and all the people will answer “amen” to the blessings and the curses. Moshe then details the blessings that will be bestowed upon Bnei Yisrael. These blessings are both physical and spiritual. However if the Jewish People do not keep the Torah, Moshe details a chilling picture of destruction, resulting in exile and wandering among the nations.
T
his Shabbat is the fifth Shabbat after Tisha B’Av. We are in a period called Shiva D’nechemta—”Seven weeks of comfort.” The seven Haftarot of the weeks between Tish’a B’av and Rosh Hashana are prophesies of comfort and hope for Israel and G-d’s people at large. This text of comfort reminds us the mission of Israel. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the L-RD has risen upon you. ” (Is. 60:1). Gd’s people have to shine and to reflect the glory of the L-rd, which is G-d’s character. Her testimony will bring nations and kings to her and through her to G-d. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Is. 60:3). However, to see people coming to her she must lift up her eyes and accepts evidences given by the L-rd “Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; ” (Is 60:4). She will shine even more to be “radiant” “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.” (Is 60:5) Even the Arabic world will come to Israel: “A multitude of
credit: pinterest.com
Haftarah Overview Isaiah 60:1-22
With Joy and Gladness
T
he Torah tells us too how to serve the Lord, it is written that the curses can come to the people of God, not only because they did not serve the Lord, they did not practice this law but much more because they did not serve the Lord or practiced his law with joy, The Torah states: “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,” (Deuteronomy 28:47), Besimchah with Joy and happiness, that is the way of practicing His law. But doing God’s law in this way presuppose a great communion with Him, a special relationship which is so deep that even in painful circumstances we practice His law with Joy and gladness. It is interesting to notice that the midrash associates this joy and gladness with the Shabbat. That is why the Jewish people is invited to celebrate the Shabbat rather than to keep it. Keeping denotes to guard, if we have to guard it, that means a war, we have to guard it against an enemy, that is not a correct way to make the Shabbat a delight to the Lord our God, it should be a day of delight, of joy and gladness that is why the good way to com-
4
“The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.” (Deuteronomy 28:12)
municate about the Shabbat is as a day of celebration. May the Lord witness to us that we served him “with joyfulness and gladness of heart” (Deuteronomy 28:47). Another question: Why does the Torah request Joy from us? Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, clarifies “Man’s nature is to constantly want more than he presently has. ‘He who has one hundred wants two hundred.’ But the text says because of the abundance of all things,” (Deuteronomy 28:47). We are not happy because we never have enough, we always want more… That is why our moments of joy are mixed with sadness over what we lack — and this is destructive both physically and spiritually. Therefore, the Torah commands us to feel a joy that is complete — to focus on and rejoice with what we have.” If we think that we will be happy only when we have more, then we will NEVER be happy. When we finally get what we were hoping for, we will once again focus on getting more and will again feel unhappy. Happiness is dependent upon our state of mind. We can only be happy if we appreciate what we have and what we are presently doing. One can have eyes, hands, feet, a mind to think with and be depressed unless he focus-
es on taking pleasure in these gifts. Imagine if we were blind and suddenly were given the gift of sight. Would we be “flying high”? We would be beyond ourself in happiness! Why wait to appreciate what we have? Let’s make a list of our gifts and for what we are grateful to the Almighty. The Lord can stop His blessings just “Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;” (Deuteronomy 28:47) The Jewish people are preparing themselves for the coming feasts, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth, it is a good testimony to serve G-d with joy and gladness in order to witness to our Jewish friends that we believe in a loving and merciful G-d, thus even though the 10 days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are days of judgment we are confident in our God, not because we deserve a good sentence, but because he is forgiving us in the name of Yeshua Hamashiach, the one who pardoned our iniquity, that is the message of Joy and comfort we read in the book of Isaiah: “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,” (Isaiah 40:2) That is a good preparation for Rosh Hashana.
T
Apostolic Writings — Matthew 5:1-12
he text of our parasha, which is at the end of Deuteronomy (we are close to the end of the Jewish year) introduces us to the blessings and curses which will occur to the people of G-d if they follow or not the prescriptions of the Torah. We have too often insisted on the curses However, it is good also to think about all the blessings for those who obey God. First let me be clear on one thing, these blessings and curses are not really rewards or punishments coming from God because we do or not do what he commands, no, these blessings and curses are much more consequences of our actions. God knows very well the nature of man, that is why he gave us the 613 commandments, these commandments are not here to restrict our liberty, but to help us to live happy on the earth. It is the great revelation we received from Yeshua haMashiach in the Apostolic Writings. It is exactly what we discover in this chapter 5 of Mattatyahu we want to read today. This text if full of blessings, the blessings God promises to His people. That is why the place where Yeshua pronounced this sermon is called the Mount of Blessings or the Mount
of Beatitudes. The parasha ends saying: “Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do” (Deut 29:9). Being faithful to the covenant helped Israel to prosper and to survive in spite of all the persecution and suffering. Yeshua made the same promise to his people. When Yeshua was on the Mount of Blessings he listed the blessings, which are for each one of us, if we follow the terms of the new covenant with Him. The text of Mattatyahu says: “His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:” (5:1–2), that means the following instructions and blessings are for His disciples. For those who believe in Him as the Messiah, for those who follow Him and accept His covenant. Below we can read these blessings. We notice that each blessing is followed by a promise in connection with the blessing. Reading these blessings we discover that we are far, from what the world consider as a blessing. In this text Yeshua says that those who are blessed are not those who laugh, or the rich, or those who enjoy a big family, but the blessed of G-d are the poor, those who mourn,
• Blessed are the poor in spirit • Blessed are those who mourn • Blessed are the meek • Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness • Blessed are the merciful • Blessed are the pure in heart • Blessed are the peacemakers • Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness • Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me
the meek, those who hunger and thirst, who are persecuted, who are insulted… However the poor are not poor in money, but in spirit, they are those who are aware of their lack of the spirit of God and beg God to give them His spirit. Those who are mourning are doing so because they see all the sin on earth and are full of tears because human beings are ignoring their creator. Those who are meek, discover that in this world only the violent can possess the earth, but one day, G-d will hear their voice and they will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst see all the unfairness and lack of righteousness on the earth and are hungry of the true righteousness, the one which comes from G-d and will justify each member of G-d’s people. Then Yeshua describes the blessings of the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers, they will receive from G-d mercy, they will be called “son of G-d” and they will see God. Then G-d’s blessings will be for those who are persecuted, for those who will be insulted and even be falsely accused for things they have not committed.
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven for they will be comforted for they will inherit the earth for they will be filled (or satisfied) for they will be shown mercy for they will see God for they will be called sons of God for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you 5
camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come.” (Is 60:6a) It will bring wealth to her “They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the L-RD.” (Is 60:6b). To comfort Israel, G-d’s promises to her that she will see her children who are in exile come back home, “For the coastlands shall wait for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them” (Is 60:9a). That will come from the L-rd “for the name of the L-rd your G-d, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.” (Is 60:9b). Israel will live in peace without fearing the nations and invaders “Your gates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.” (Is 60:11). Blessings will be always there for her “Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the L-rd will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever. . . the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the L-rd; in its time I will accomplish it quickly. (Is. 60:20-22).
Stories and Traditions
Torah Words in Heart
Inspirational Corner v Had Israel been
true to God, He could have accomplished His purpose through their honor and exaltation. If they had walked in the ways of obedience, He would have made them “high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor.” “All people of the earth,” said Moses, “shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.” “The nations which shall hear all these statutes” shall say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” Deuteronomy 26:19; 28:10; Deuteronomy 4:6. (DA 28)
T
he great sage, Rabbi Akiva, was an illiterate shepherd up to the age of forty. He once came across a stone which water had dripped on for a long time, eventually boring a hole in it. From this he concluded that if water can penetrate a hard stone, surely Torah could penetrate his heart of flesh and blood (Avot DeRabbi Natan 6).
What is Good For Us?
O
nce a man was digging in front of the king’s palace. A guard noticed what he was doing and asked him to explain his actions. The man replied that he had dreamt that there was a treasure buried in front of the king’s palace and therefore had come to dig it up. The guard said to him, “What you are doing is very foolish. For instance, I had a dream about a treasure buried under so and so’s house — do you think that I will go to dig there?” Coincidentally, the name the guard mentioned was the man’s own. Immediately, he ran home and dug under his house, and indeed there was a treasure there. The moral of the story is that at times people run all over seeking a treasure and do not realize that i t is i n their own back yard. Rabbi Moshe draw a lesson from this story: “Often man
6
does not realize what is really good for him. He may pursue silly goals, thereby fleeing from good fortune. Hashem is therefore promising us that His blessings will come upon us even if one attempts to run away from them: “they will overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:2) — and despite yourself, you will reap the benefit of Hashem’s blessings.”
Authentic Prayer
R
abbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad Chassidut, was imprisoned in Russia for disseminating Torah teachings. One morning a member of the judiciary committee, who was a Jew, entered his cell. Upon seeing the Rebbe wearing his tefillin, instead of becoming upset and angry, he left the room frightened and filled with awe. Later, he returned and asked the Rebbe to explain what had happened. The Rebbe told him that the Torah says, “all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of G-d is proclaimed over you, and they will revere you” and the Gemara (Berachot 6a) explains that this refers to tefillin sheberosh (tefillin of the head) “Thus, when people see a Jew wearing Tefillin, they revere him. The officer then asked, “If that is so, why doesn’t anyone fear me when I wear Tefillin?” To this the Rebbe replied, “The words of the Gemara tefillin sheberosh are precisely chosen. It means, Tefillin in the head. When a Jew wears Tefillin, they should
not be merely al harosh (on the head) — while the thoughts are elsewhere,’ but sheberosh (in the head), spirituality is not only outside of our head, but inside, “in our head.” When the peoples of the world see you praying, what do they see, if they see an authentic believer they will revere him.
Kids Parasha Ki-Tavo
awøbDt_yI;k
Inspirational Corner v The terms of the “old
Blessings, not Curses
W
hen Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi lived in Liozna, he was the ba’al koreih (reader of the weekly Torah portion) on Shabbat. Once, he was away for the week of Parshat Ki Tavo, and someone else read in his stead. His son, Rabbi DovBer, who later succeeded him as leader of Chabad, was not yet Bar Mitzvah and fainted when the curses were read. He was so ill that it was questionable whether he could fast on Yom Kippur. After being revived, he was asked why was he more affected now than in previous years. He replied: “When my father reads the Torah, one does not hear any curses.” To Rabbi Schneur Zalman the curses were not the ultimate will of Hashem. On the contrary, Hashem loves His people and wants to show them His blessings. These curses are only superficial; concealed in them are blessings which the Jewish people will eventually merit. Consequently, the term vehayah to introduce the list of curses is appropriately used to emphasize the joy that will be experienced through these berachot (blessings).
Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
“And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice: ‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the L-rd, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ” (Deuteronomy 27:13–18) http://www.bnai-tikkun.org.nz 7
covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man do, he shall even live in them.” Ezekiel 20:11. But “cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” Deuteronomy 27:26. The “new covenant” was established upon “better promises,” the promise of forgiveness and the grace of God to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with God’s law. “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts... . I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33, 34. (EP 260)