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Behar-Bechukotai: Exile or Living in the Blessings in the Holy Land

A woman holds up the Israeli flag and her new Israel identification after making Aliyah. (Jewish Agency photo by Brian Hendler)

God commands Israel to observe the Shemitah every seventh year, a Sabbath for the land. Of course, this rest parallels God’s rest after creating the universe, as well as the Shabbat. In Judaism, “seven” signifies a completion as well as holiness. It is considered the “all-encompassing number that celebrates the sacred purpose of a Jew to infuse holiness into the whole of Creation.”

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Parasha Tazria-Metzora: Tzaraat, Purification, Restoration, and the Messiah

Messiah and the Lepers, by Gebhard Fugal

Both Tazria and Metzora focus on the laws of leprosy, a spiritual condition that causes the afflicted to become impure. These portions outline laws regarding how to handle the metzora, the one who is infected, as well as how he or she may be purified once healed. The Hebrew word that is translated leprosy, tzaraat, does not actually correspond to the modern day affliction of leprosy. Its origin is spiritual, but it obviously has a physical manifestation. The condition is identified by a priest, not by a doctor.

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Parasha Shemini (Eighth): The Shekhinah and New Beginnings

A child sits at her father's feet as he prays at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. (Israel Tourism photo by VuTheara Kham)

For seven days, Aaron and his sons stayed at the Tent of Meeting as part of their ordination process. On the eighth day, Moses called for them to begin presenting the offerings (קָרְבֳּנוֹת, korbanot) to the Lord. These offerings were given as a kind of “welcoming ceremony” to greet the arrival of God’s Shekinah (Glory or Divine Presence): “Then Moses said, ‘This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.’” (Leviticus 9:6)

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A Passover Day Dedicated to the Coming of the Messiah

The Peaceable Kingdom, by Edward Hicks

Although Passover ended at sunset Friday night here in Israel, an extra day of Passover is celebrated in the Diaspora (outside Israel). This last day of Passover is called Acharon Shel Pesach in Hebrew, and a highlight of the day is a feast that is devoted to the Messiah. As well, the Torah and the Haftarah readings for the day include Messianic Prophecies and the promise of the Messianic era found in Isaiah 11.

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Passover: A Celebration of Freedom and Redemption

IDF soldiers eat matzah in the field

In Temple times, the Passover lambs were slaughtered during the day of Nissan 14. At the same time they were being slaughtered, Yeshua (Jesus) was slain as the Passover Lamb of God so that we may be set free from the bondage of sin and redeemed from the power of the Kingdom of darkness. For that reason, it is not only the Israelites who rejoice at being rescued from slavery at this special time of the year or the firstborn who celebrate their escape from death.

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Parasha Vayikra (And He Called): A Very Special New Beginning

Ewe with a newborn lamb

The new beginning of the Jewish year is being marked in a big way this year with a supermoon (a moon that is aligned with the sun and at its closest approach to the earth) that totally eclipsed the sun at 7:41 a.m UTC (Coordinated Universal Time or 9:41 a.m. in Jerusalem). That eclipse took place in the North Pole, which has to be the ultimate symbol of the wilderness. Of course, the wilderness is significant in Judaism because the Torah was given in the wilderness and not in the Land of Israel. Judaism teaches that the wilderness represents the world, with all its struggles.

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Parasha Vayakhel-Pekudei | Shabbat Parah: Purified for Passover

Jewish men pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

When Moses assembles the people together, he underscores the fact that the message he is conveying to them is not his own, but Adonai’s. That message includes a set of instructions for living a Godly lifestyle. The Israelites, who entered into covenant with the God of Israel to do what He commanded, were not expected to only listen to the message—they were expected to follow through with it, applying it to their owns lives, turning from their former ways. Likewise, we are not just to be hearers of the Word of God but also do what He has commanded us.

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