RabbiO

Fawzo, Obviously any disconnect between Jewish scripture and Christian is not my concern and I also know that you did not come up with the list above. That said, I have to wonder whether the compiler of the list, or you, actually read the material in context. There are a couple of valid points made in the list - the pointing out of the two reasons stated for observing Shabbat. Much of what is presented, however, is just plain wrong. For example, #51, the passage in Leviticus has nothing to do with a widow and therefore does not stand in oppostion to the verse in Deuteronomy. In #41, the verse from Isaiah has nothing to do with a repudiation of Shabbat. In #24, the passages in Exodus have nothing to do with condoing/commanding robbery. I'm not going to run down the complete list, but I bet you can articulate your concerns in a way that is more accurate than the list you appropriated.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy accepted the nomination of the Liberal Party in New York for President of the United States. He said in part, "But first, I would like to say what I understand the word "Liberal" to mean and explain in the process why I consider myself to be a "Liberal,"... I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves. I believe also in the United States of America, in the promise that it contains and has contained throughout our history of producing a society so abundant and creative and so free and responsible that it cannot only fulfill the aspirations of its citizens, but serve equally well as a beacon for all mankind. I do not believe in a superstate. I see no magic in tax dollars which are sent to Washington and then returned. I abhor the waste and incompetence of large-scale federal bureaucracies in this administration as well as in others. I do not favor state compulsion when voluntary individual effort can do the job and do it well. But I believe in a government which acts, which exercises its full powers and full responsibilities. Government is an art and a precious obligation; and when it has a job to do, I believe it should do it. And this requires not only great ends but that we propose concrete means of achieving them. Our responsibility is not discharged by announcement of virtuous ends. Our responsibility is to achieve these objectives with social invention, with political skill, and executive vigor. I believe for these reasons that liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies......"

I'm beginning to see a pattern. I am not a Christian by Dan's definition. I am not a Christian by your definition. I am not a Christian by my definition. The evidence seems undeniable. I am not a Christian. I knew there was a reason I didn't feel funny chanting Hebrew brachot (blessings) over candles, challah and wine on Friday nights. I knew I could figure this out if I worked through it logically. (This concludes the attempt at a humorous interlude in these proceedings. We join the attempt at serious discussion already in progress.)

I would point them to the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Division of Peceptual Studies - "The staff of the Division welcomes information about experiences of the types listed below. We are very careful to maintain confidentiality and routinely use pseudonyms when publishing Western cases that may be easily traced. The identity of persons reporting experiences to us will not be made public in any way without the express written permission of the person(s) involved. We would like to have first information about experiences sent to us via e-mail or by U.S. Mail, preferably typed (see lower left corner of this page for address). Please do not send cassettes with accounts recorded on tape or long manuscripts. The staff may request more details, and informants should be willing to cooperate in a further investigation of the experience reported. The small size of our staff, however, sometimes makes it impossible for us to investigate every experience brought to our attention. (Please note, we cannot provide therapeutic or counseling services via email, telephone, or correspondence to individuals who are made anxious by unusual experiences.) Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) Veridical NDEs** Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) Apparitions and After-Death Communications Deathbed Visions Psychophysiological Studies of Altered States of Consciousness and Psi"

Unfortunately only Fawzo has rabbinical authorization to be my personal gadfly. It would upset the natural order of the universe to allow you to usurp the authority given to him by this benevolent Steeler fan. Given however that you have only beaten him to the punch, I will post a reply in a few days. The next two days are sacred time and place in Judaism and I will not be posting until after then.

My friends, Tonight begins the festival of Pesach, Passover. חג שמח פסח שמח May all who celebrate this holiday of freedom do so in peace and, joy. May all who celebrate be surrounded by those whom they love. B'shalom, Peter

the assembled throng began to realize that wisdom was not the sole property of one individual, that the absence of a title did not mean that a person did not have knowledge to be acknowledged and shared.

Actually the big discussion for 2012 is what kind of celebration can be planned for this rabbi's 65th birthday.

With the understanding, of course, that the site is a Messianic Jewish site and the scriptural readings include what Messianic Jews like to refer to as Brit Chadashah (New Covenant or, no surprise, New Testament) which you ain't gonna find in a normative synagogue.

Sometimes I'm not even sure I'm speaking for myself! (I'll have to clear that with my wife.)

The shortest prayer in Jewish scripture - Numbers 12:13 - spoken by Moshe Rabbeinu with perfect trust on behalf of his sister, Miriam the Prophetess - אֵל, נָא רְפָא נָא לָהּ Ayl nah, r'fah nah lah. G-d please heal her now Words do have power. May your friend be blessed with r'fuah shlaymah - the wholeness of healing, the healing of wholeness.

Willie Nelson is mean?? I know he's grizzled, but mean?? Of course I thought kareoke was Carrie O'Kee, an Irish singer, so you can tell I'm out of the loop. (Apparently my recent health problems did not lead to an ephiphinal moment regarding humor. It's as bad as it ever was. Besides, there aren't too many openings for a contribution by a rabbi on Liberal Christian thread!)

Fawzo, Most usually the above section of Genesis is translated simply as "G-d was in this place and I did not know it." I can only recall seeing my translation twice - once in the 1917 JPS translation - not the 1985 translation - and once somewhere else that I do not recall. The translation I have provided is more accurate. The question is how is one to read it? There are two possible ways. "G-d was in this place. And I, I did not know it." This expresses the sudden realization by Jacob of G-d in a place that he did not expect, more or less accords with an understanding that makes the second "I" somewhat superfluous and thus the conventional translation. But the passage can also be read, "G-d was in this place and I [ie. within me]. I did not know it." Again, it expresses Jacob's surprise in finding G-d where he did not expect, but it deepens where G-d can be found and expresses a different realization as to the relationship between humanity and the divine. In a similar manner, Deuteronomy 4:39 reads - וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם, וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל-לְבָבֶךָ, כִּי יְהוָה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים, בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל-הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת: אֵין, עוֹד The end of that passage is usually translated as "there is none else" or translated for so-called meaning purposes, "there is no other god." "There is none else" is a possible translation, but the phrase that ends the verse - "ayn od" - literally means "nothing more." Within the context of what is written, I submit it is just as possible, as held by those of a mystic bent, to understand the words to mean that G-d is in the heavens, G-d is below, there is nothing except G-d. Just some points for you to play with.

I'm kind of partial to this utterance of Jacob (Genesis 28:16)- אָכֵן יֵשׁ יְהוָה בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה; וְאָנֹכִי, לֹא יָדָעְתִּי "For sure YHVH was in this place and I, I did not know it." The use of the double "I" speaks volumes regarding the relationship between G-d and ourselves and where it is that G-d is found.

Further - וָאֵרָא, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם אֶל-יִצְחָק וְאֶל-יַעֲקֹב--בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי; וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה, לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם Exodus 6:3 - G-d tells Moses that G-d appeared before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Elyon because G-d had not made known the name YHVH to them.

Being the nitpicker that I am, I have to point out two things. First, "I am that I am" may more accurately be "I will be what I will be." Second, the Exodus 3:15 actually reads - יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב, שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם; זֶה-שְּׁמִי לְעֹלָם "YHVH, G-d of your fathers........ This is My name forever." Translating the tetragrammaton as "the Lord" obscures the name revealed in the passage by creating the erroneous impression that the phrase in the verse preceding אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה is G-d's name.

Feel free my friend, but wrong holiday!!

An interesting thing about the "miracle of the oil." There is no mention of it in the books of Maccabees. There is no mention of it in Josephus. The first account of it is written in the Talmud which of course dates several hundreds of years later. There is conjecture that the story is a fable spun by the rabbis for a number of reasons. By the time of the Talmud the holiday was well entrenched. The rabbis were unhappy with the holiday for a number of reasons. First, because it celebrated a war. Second, the Hasmoneans were not held in high regard. Once final victory was obtained, which occurred long after the retaking of the Temple and after the death of Judah Maccabee, the Hasmoneans took the throne, but they were not of the Davidic line. Furthermore, within, oh, a generation and a half they were as inept and corrupt as any and they were as ardently Hellenistic, perhaps more so, than the Selucids and their allies were. Furthermore, because of strife within the Hasmoneans the Romans were invited in and as a result..... Conjecture is that the rabbis could not eliminate a popular nationalistic holiday so they constructed the fable to reinterpret the holiday by demphasizing the military aspect, downplaying the Maccabees, and interjecting G-d into the story as a more active participant. Even if the story of the oil is not true, the truth of the story is sufficient cause to celebrate a people's determination to be true to their heritage and their G-d.

Tonight begins the minor festival of חֲנֻכָּה‎. The time of the year when Jews spend 8 days trying to figure out how to transliterate the Hebrew into English!! More seriously, Hannukah celebrates the retaking and rededication, after cleansing, of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees from the Selucids who desecrated it with the erection of idols and the sacrifice of swine upon the altar. During this holiday that celebrates the victory of the weak over the mighty, the few over the many, may we seek to rededicate ourselves to nurturing the divine spark within ourselves, that we may be a source of strength and love to our families, our communities and all with whom we come into contact. May our lives ever be for a blessing.

To paraphrase Christian scripture (hey, I know a good line when I see it), to you my multi-colored friend and all who have served in places near and far, during peace and during conflict - Well done you good and faithful servants.

My friend, You wrote, "What if? Well, I really don't like to think about that, but if one looks introspectively at life and asks, "What if…?" certainly you could imagine how different things might have been if you had done this instead of that." You speculate about the consequences you would not have had to endure. You speculate about the person you might not have become, the person who you are now. A little ways back I wrote, "It is impossible to look into the past to predict a future that never was. For once a stone is thrown into the lake, we do not control the ripples." The horrors of war that you experienced might have been replaced with experiences of other horrors that would have equally entered your psyche and in their own way provided the same types of perspective that molded the beloved Rev. Rainbow whose wisdom and gentleness we on this forum respect and revere. The answer to "What if...?" must always remain a tantalizing, but unsolvable, mystery. What is within our power is to assess the present, live in it and try to build the future. As Eleanor Roosevelt put it, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, the present is a gift." Remember, too, my friend that the question we each will have to answer before the heavenly court will not be "Why were you not more like Jesus/Moses/Mohammed/...?" The question will be "Why were you not more like you?" Baruch hah-bah-ah b'shaym Adonai. Blessed is he who comes in the name of G-d. You are, and may you always be, so blessed.

Yael, SilverRose, Jonathan, Jewtonium and all - גמר חתימה טובה May it be that you and all you love have been sealed in the Book of Life for the year of your dreams and may we all live to see a world at peace.

To Yael, Jewtonium, Jonathan, SilverRose and all others who by name I do not know - שנה טובה May you and yours, may we all, be inscribed and sealed for a sweet new year, a year of health, a year of blessing, a year of peace. May the sound of the shofar awaken us anew to the potential we too often lock within ourselves

Robin, May you be blessed with r'fuah sh'laymah - the healing of wholeness, the wholeness of healing.

MAZEL TOV