Parasha Achrei Mot-Kedoshim (After the Death)

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link

Nehemiah {8:10} "Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”’ This passage of scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but many people confuse joy with happiness. Joy is something inherent with salvation. There is a certain joy in knowing and receiving Messiah Yeshua as Lord and Savior that truly surpasses all understanding. It allows a believer to have joy in the most difficult circumstance because salvation brings along with it the knowledge that no matter what the situation God is in control and has us covered, so there is no fear because He has promised: Jeremiah {29:11} "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Based on this promise a Believer in Messiah Yeshua will never lose their joy. Happiness on the other hand is a human emotion that is easily affected by circumstance, attitude and emotion. It is often difficult to maintain happiness because our minds are constantly inundated with deluded thoughts and we have to constantly seek outside sources to replenish the emotion of happiness. It is a state of wellbeing that ebbs when good things happen or when we get our way and wanes when bad things happen and we do not get our way, it is also dependent on the moment. Not so with joy, it is not dependent on anything external nor can anything external affect or change it. It is totally internal and comes from the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Joy for a Believer is constant throughout life, simply because “…the joy of the Lord is our strength.”

Parasha Tazria-Metzorah (She Bears Seed - Infected)

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link
A favorite topic of discussion by religious people and religious cults is biblical prohibition of cooking on the Shabbat. I would like to address and clarify this topic. Numbers 15:31-36 is about the man gathering sticks on the Shabbat. Clearly, from reading these verses of scripture we see that Moses and the elders did not know what the man’s intentions were, whether it was to gather sticks to light a fire for cooking or to light a fire for working.    Numbers 15:34 “There was no clear instruction about what should be done to him…” The question that Moses and the Elders had, was, ‘was gathering wood a violation of Shabbat?’  Exodus 35:2 “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of Sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.” We can see from this scripture that working on the Shabbat carried the death penalty but from the next verse we see that lighting a fire on the Shabbat did not carry the death penalty. Exodus 35:3 “Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” This verse does not give any indication of the death penalty being required for lighting a fire for cooking. So, we have to conclude that this man was put to death, not because he wanted to cook on the Shabbat but because he intended to work on the Shabbat. Most likely the work he intended to do was related to the building of the Tabernacle. God had just commanded not to light a fire on Shabbat with the intention of working and the work that was implied was building the Tabernacle on the Shabbat. Many people would have been involved in the Tabernacle’s construction; silversmiths, goldsmiths, carvers, tanners, dyers of wool and so forth, most if not all of these tasks would require fire to accomplish. In their zeal to get the job done and knowing human nature, I believe God was reminding the children of Israel that they were not to light a fire on Shabbat to do any work associated with building the Tabernacle. In fact, He felt so strongly about it that He attached the death penalty to it, a penalty, like I said, that was not attached to cooking on the Shabbat!
from Ellen… Bible link
Today we throw words out too quickly.  Sometimes we do not think before we speak and things go haywire. We have thoughts, good thoughts but at times there is a disconnect in how we translate them into words.  The other week was not only Passover but also Easter.  Even though we do not celebrate Easter I kept hearing and reading one word popping up numerous times.  The word was “passion”.  When you hear this word what do you think of?  So, I asked this question of myself and did a little research.  Sadly, the world sees passion more times than not, in a sensual sense, so I did not want to go there.  Where did I go?  I went to the Scriptures and here is what I found.  In John 2.13-20 Yeshua had a great passion for His Father’s house, so he cleared it of man’s corruption.  Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Josaitis were passionate about freedom and equality for people of color. Yeshua had and continues to have the greatest of all passion for His people to be saved, that is his name, SALVATION!  So, I am asking you today…”what is your passion?” I have two wonderful sisters that have a passion for people to be well in more natural ways than with medications.  They study and research their passion continually (BTW they both received Yeshua, hallelujah)!  My husband desires that there be salvation throughout the world, so he studies and researches the Word with insight and passion.  There are chefs who have a passion to continually study food; there are specialized medical doctors who have a passion to research disease and bodily functions; there are gardeners who have a passion to research seeds and flowers; lawyers that continually study loopholes, ha-ha just kidding. So, again I am asking you, “what are you passionate about?”  I ask you to ponder this and take a look at yourself as I looked at myself. I do have one final scripture to share and it is in Titus 2.11-13S: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say No to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”  I encourage us all to pursue godly passions!
Yours in Messiah Yeshua, "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua." (Titus 2:13) Rabbi Jack & Ellen
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Parasha Shemini (Eighth)

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link

Galatians {2:20} "I have been crucified with Messiah and I no longer live, but Messiah lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." The other day during our visit with a good friend and sister in the Lord, somehow the conversation turned to speaking about grafting. Our host told us that she knows of a person that grafted one kind of fruit tree to another kind of fruit tree and when the graft grew the tree produced two different types of fruit, one type below the graft and another type above the graft. I would have passed over the conversation and probably forgotten all about it, however, the next morning when Ellen and I were listening to a short message by Watchman Nee he spoke about grafting. This farmer had an orchard of plum trees that produced small plums with large pits and were not good for marketing. However, in his orchard was one tree that produced large luscious plums with small pits. So, he decides to graft branches from the good tree onto the bad trees. When the grafts started to grow the bad trees produced large luscious plums with small pits above the graft, while still producing small fruit with large pits grew below the graft. Is this not the principal Paul is teaching us in Galatians 2:20? Before we were saved, Born-Again in Messiah Yeshua, our lives were sin-filled and we produced bad fruit, fruit of selfishness, immorality, gossip, evil speaking and the like. But then when we received Yeshua as our Lord and Savior and He was grafted into our lives, well, “We have been crucified with Messiah and we no longer live, but Messiah lives in us.” The fruit we now produce after salvation is not of our old selves, bad fruit, but it is the fruit of Messiah Yeshua, His good fruit being produced in us!

Parasha Chol Moed Pesach (Passover Intermediate Day)

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link

1 Corinthians {15:17} "and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins." Passover deals with the death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. The fact of the resurrection is essential to our belief as Believers. Sadly, there are many that deny the resurrection and subsequently there are many theories like the "swooning fable," the "stolen body fable" and many others like them. But the fact is the tomb was empty, and the lives of Yeshua's disciples were changed in one day. But the greatest proof of the resurrection is that belief in Yeshua as the risen Messiah has survived 2100 years of doubt and persecution. It has outlived the Roman Empire, Russian Communism and everything in between. As Messianic Believers we remember Yeshua's victory over death for all who believe in Him as Messiah, the Son of God and God in the flesh. But sadly, not everyone believes. Why should we believe in the resurrection? Why should we believe in Messiah Yeshua as the only way to heaven? Do we have to believe in the resurrection in order to be Messianic Jews, Christians? Is the resurrection of Yeshua really that important? There are scholars that say, "it really doesn't matter if Yeshua actually, physically rose from the dead." Is that true? Does it really not matter to us if Yeshua actually, really rose from the dead? Will living in the fullness of life as a Believer be affected if Yeshua rose from the dead or not? Is the resurrection really necessary? I think most of us can agree in the essential belief that Yeshua is the Messiah, which means we recognize Him as our King, the Son of God and God in the flesh. This belief is essential to being a Messianic Believer. Failure to believe these things is failure to believe in Messianic Judaism. But what is also essential to being a Messianic Believer is the belief in the resurrection New birth and living hope are only available through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead. As we read in 1 Corinthians, if the resurrection did not happen, then our faith is useless, there is no hope. But He is alive and we do have hope and by hope the Bible means a confident expectancy. We live a better life today because of the confident expectancy we have based upon the truth and realities we have experienced ourselves through the resurrected Messiah. We know NOW that we have a retirement nest egg awaiting us in heaven. We know NOW that our eternity is set with a resurrection that is assured and proven and that enables us to live life in a way that is glorifying to God and a benefit to us.