Archive for the ‘Biblical Festivals’ Category
On October 22nd, 2011, the Roots of Faith Congregation will begin again in Genesis on their annual trek through the Torah of Moses. This is an excellent opportunity to join up with us for a year of Scriptural study that will change your life!
Every Saturday morning, people from literally around the world join with us for a unique religious service that is aimed at inspiring people to live a more biblically authentic lifestyle. Services are broadcast live over the internet at www.shma.tv. Class begins at 10:30 AM CST. Viewers can log in and participate in a live chat session before and during the class.
Our services begin with a stimulating, engaging and educational class on the reading from the Law of Moses (the Torah) for that particular week. This part of the service lasts about an hour. These teachings are available for download through iTunes or directly from our site each week and are enjoyed and shared by hundreds.
After the conclusion of the class, the local congregation reads the designated reading from the Law of Moses (Genesis though Deuteronomy). These weekly readings are identical with those read in most synagogues around the world and thus participants find themselves in sync with the Jewish people. It typically takes about 30 minutes to read the weekly portion of Scripture.
After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the local congregation assembles on camera at a table where we discuss elements of the weekly reading. The internet audience participates in the discussion through an interactive chat feature.
In addition to the weekly services, Roots of Faith also celebrates the Biblical Festivals and broadcasts these services over the internet.
If you are looking for spiritual nourishment and an environment where you can learn and share your views with others, then perhaps Roots of Faith is for you. We are making efforts to fully utilize technology to convey an ancient and relevant message to the modern world.
Non-Jews as well as Jews are welcomed and encouraged to participate as we seek to learn to live a more Biblically authentic lifestyle! Anyone who believes in the One God of Israel and seeks to live according to the principles of His words will find this outreach quite refreshing.
Please join us and tell others about us. Thanks for your continued interest in Roots of Faith!
Shalom,
Ross
Last night marked the beginning of the strangest festival in the biblical calendar. It is called the “festival of shelters,” literally and it last for seven days. The word is Sukkoth in Hebrew, which literally means “huts” or some other kind of temporary dwelling. Its meaning is very close to our English “homeless shelter” today. Though it is often translated “tents” or “booths” the idea is some kind of arbor or lean-to under which one can get a tiny bit of needed shelter, but still very much exposed to the elements and the sky. This was one of the three ancient pilgrim feasts of Israel. We are not told too much about it, but the meaning seems simple, Israel, settled in permanent dwellings and cities in the land, is never to forget its “wilderness” origins, so that once a year, in the Fall, they are to actually “go back to nature” and camp out or live in huts, tents, or temporary dwellings, for a week, so as to remember that YHVH made our ancestors live in this nomadic, temporary way in the time of Moses. This festival then vividly reminds us of that, of the CAMP of Israel, of the time when the Column of Cloud/Fire was visible, when there were no sacrifices or Temple, just the simple “tent of meeting,” when everyone was fed morning and evening with the mysterious “manna,” and when YHVH spoke face to face with Moses.
You can find the descriptions in the Torah, particularly in Leviticus 23: 39-43. But what is really interesting about Sukkoth is that it not only looks back, but also forward. Notice these words of the Prophet Hosea:
I have been YHVH your God since your days in Egypt, and I will make you DWELL IN SUKKOTH again, as in the days of MEETING.
I will speak through prophets, I will give vision after vision and through the ministry of prophets will speak in similies” (12:9-10)
This is really an incredible verse, as it pictures a time of Israel’s restoration, when Prophecy returns, no more “hiding of the Face,” and the days of “meeting” could well refer to that “Tent of Meeting,” from those wilderness times. Here we have that same motif that we find elsewhere in the Prophets, the idea of an Exodus II that parallels Exodus I of the time of Moses. Thus Micah the Prophet declares: “Once again YHVH will show marvelous things as in the days when you came out of Egypt (Micah 7:14-15)
Zech 14 also tells of a time when the whole world will come up to Jerusalem and dwell in Sukkoth/tents/shelters during this week….
Some other relevant readings for this time are Hosea 12, Micah 7, Psalm 80-81, Isaiah 24-35…
Some folk camp out in tents, others gather at campgrounds or even hotels, some just stay out on their porches or balconies and many build shelters on their property, as is the custom within Judaism. The more one can actually “live” in the Sukkoth, the better in terms of getting the meaning of the festival. The moon during Sukkoth is full. On a clear night everything is bright and lovely, almost magical. The experience can remind us of a more simple and primitive time, getting away from all the “modern conveniences,” more or less what we mean when we talk of “camping out.”
We at United Israel wish all of you, our thousands of readers worldwide, a meaningful festival. Sukkoth is truly an extended Biblical “Thanksgiving.” In our troubled and complex world it pulls us outside, away from it all, to sit/dwell in our “huts” for the next seven days…
In today’s class Ross “covers” the subject of the Day of Atonement. What does Atonement mean and what is required of us on this most holy day? There are many traditional elements of this day, but what is the central message that we are supposed to take away from the Torah concerning what is called Yom Kippur? Ross takes his listeners through the two key texts that detail the “Day of Atonement”. You will not want to miss this teaching. Listen to it and then share with others.
Click here to listen to this teaching.
http://rootsoffaith.org/2011/10/08/the-day-of-coverings.htm
Just some thoughts on this holy evening…
Two male goats are selected for Yom Kippur, one is “for YHVH” and the other “for Azazel.” Both are said to be “for a sin offering” (v. 5).
One is slain and the other is sent away into the wilderness. What has been confusing to me and many others who have discussed this passage is that BOTH goats are spoken of as somehow providing “atonement,” or better translated “covering.” So why the difference?
Many have favored the interpretations that make the two goats positive and negative, and it is the case that Azazel in ancient Jewish texts (1 Enoch, and various rabbinic traditions, etc.) is the name for an “angel” who opposes YHVH. But if one is negative and one positive, how can both provide “covering”?
What is easy to miss here is that the first goat, the one that is “for YHVH,” that is slain, makes “covering for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the people and because of their transgressions, all their sins” (v. 16). In other word, the blood off that goat is to cleanse the Tabernacle that has become unclean because of the sins of the people, NOT to removed the sins of the people per se.
In contrast, the sins of the people themselves are PUT ON the head of the live goat. That goat is not killed, yet that goat too is spoken as a “sin offering” (v.5), ,making atonement/covering (v. 10), and that goat “bears all their iniquities” into a remote area.
This distinction seems to be an important one. There seems to be no evidence in this text that the slain goat is for the forgiveness of the people’s sins as such, yet this is how the many have read this (see Hebrew 9), as applying it to “Christ.” The other goat is not even spoken of in the N.T. texts and yet it seems THAT goat is the “sin bearer.”
A lot of the reason this mystery of the two hairy goats is difficult to grasp, and engenders many opinions, is that we come to the text with presuppositions from our backgrounds, assumptions, and the history of interpretation. It is hard to actually read the text with “new eyes” and allow it to say what it appears to say.
It might well be that the “two hairy goats” represent two related pictures of the “Covering” or redemption from sins that come each year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Covering…One is related to YHVH dwelling in the Tent of Meeting, the other to Azazel…It is the latter that has gotten people confused, because many have transferred the meaning of the latter to the former, and read about the blood of the slain goat as if it brings redemption from moral sins.
According to Leviticus 16 both goats are spoken of as “sin-offerings,” and both “atone,” but one by dying and the other by being driven into the wilderness. They seem to be closely related, rather than one “good” and the other “evil.” This creates a real problem for the view that these two hairy goats represent a good/evil contrast.
An important key might be to look at Lev 16:15-20. The goat that is KILLED and the blood that is shed is specifically said to be for the “covering” (atoning) for the sins of the people, but as related to the “uncleaness” of the HOLY PLACE. In other words, Aaron going in, with blood from the bull for himself and household, and blood from the goat for the people, is related to making the TENT or Tabernacle holy where YHVH dwells–among an unclean people–see v. 16. This seems very clear. This is what we would call “ritual” cleansing. It is specifically related to the Tent/Tabernacle.
Accordingly, the way the slain goat on YK is interpreted by the Christians, as in Hebrews 9, as a picture of the atoning for sins in general, especially for “moral” failures, through the shedding of blood, is incorrect. The statement “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” is often quoted, but seems to be without basis in the Torah. Notice, with the live goat there is no shedding of blood mentioned, and yet there is “atonement” or “covering” by its removal.
The goat that really “bears the sins” is the one sent away, into the desert. Notice v. 22. All the sins and iniquities and transgressions are put on the head of this LIVE goat and he is send away TO Azazel! This seems to be what really brings the thorough REMOVAL of the sins of the people, the ultimate “covering” that comes on Yom Kippur–not the blood of that first goat that was for the cleansing of the Tent of Meeting. It is as if to say–to hell with your sins! They are cast FAR AWAY, to the desert places, where Azazel and the demons dwell.
In 2nd Temple times there is the tradition of casting this second goat off a cliff and killing it. And this might be appropriate. But if one sticks with the text itself, there is an emphasis on the LIVE goat–not a dead one. It is the SENDING forth, to the desert, to Azazel, that seems to be the point. No SHED BLOOD is mentioned or involved.
This insight seems to provide a kind of “breakthrough” in thinking about Yom Kippur in the Biblical texts. What it means is that the MAIN image of ATONEMENT, the one GREAT atonement, on the DAY of atonement/ covering, is the REMOVAL of sins borne by a LIVE animal–NOT the via the shedding of blood. This has implications in taking one beyond the sacrificial system of ritual cleansing that was set up in connection with the Mishkan, upon which so many have put their focus.
This line of understanding makes the Haphtarah readings for Yom Kippur all the more powerful. The story of Jonah is read. And then the passage in Micah 7:18-20–where sins are CAST AWAY…into the depths of the sea. The whole emphasis is on TURNING, and then sins being carried away–on “mercy not sacrifice” as the Prophets put it.
“On the tenth day of the seventh month is Yom Kippur – a Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26).” According to the Bible, this tenth day of the seventh month, which begins on the evening of the ninth and lasts until the evening of tenth, shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest on which we should “afflict” ourselves (Leviticus 23:32). This day is considered the most holy day on the ancient Hebrew calendar – a Holy of Holies! But what should we do on this day to set it apart? What does it mean when it says to afflict our souls?
The primary texts that concern this holy day are found in the Torah (Leviticus 16 and Leviticus 23:26-32). Leviticus 16 contains an ancient ceremony performed by Israel’s High Priest. The central theme of the ceremony and of the day is “atonement”. “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the YHVH from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever (Leviticus 16:30-31).”
The word “atonement” is a translation of a Hebrew word that comes from a root composed of the letters (Kaph, Peh, Resh). The word “atonement” occurs 14 times in Leviticus 16 alone. The basic meaning of this word is “to cover”. So this is literally a day of covering. What is it that is being covered on this day? The covering associated with Yom Kippur refers to the sins of the people. The ceremonies that brought about this “covering” involved two identical goats; one that was killed and one that was led away into the wilderness l’azazel (often translated as the “scapegoat”).
The detailed rituals and sacrifices described in the Torah for Yom Kippur were principally carried out by Aaron, but there remains a point that was then and is now to be performed by all – citizens as well as the alien residing with you (Leviticus 16:29 and Leviticus 23:30) – to “afflict” the soul. The Hebrew here is anah (aleph, nun, heh – ana’) and means, “to be bowed down, afflicted” according to Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.
Some translations render this as “deny yourself”. The word occurs twice in Leviticus 16 and three times in Leviticus 23 (Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:27, 29, 32). This means that this word occurs five times in the two passages that deal with Yom Kippur.
Given this information, a key theme that emerges at this time is “self-denial”. In the Bible, this word is associated with what we would call “fasting”. Examples are found in Ezra 8:21-23 and Psalm 35:11-14.
During this time of year we should be focused on returning to God through repentance. If we are to effect a change in our walk, we must turn to God and His ways with all of our heart and soul. This repentance can include fasting and mourning as we read in several passages, but it is not merely the participation in a fast or in the refraining of certain activities that will put one in right standing with God. The heart has to be right! I would encourage you all to read Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14. A careful reading of this passage indicates that a true fast involves a focus on the needs of others as well as a denial of self. When we learn to place the needs of others above our own needs, we will begin to walk in the ways of righteousness.
ESV Isaiah 57:14 And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. 17 Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. 18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, 19 creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” 58:1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; 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 pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. 13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Beginning at sundown this evening, millions of Jews around the world begin their fast for Yom Kippur, joined by hundreds of thousands of non-Jews who also seek to observe the holy days of the Torah. The ceremonial aspects of the day are not currently practiced, but the heart of the matter is still required and the true meaning of anah seems to be the key to understanding the meaning of this holy day. Remember that this is an eternal statute! We can still perform the weightier portion of this day. Deny yourself! Afflict your soul! If we return to HaShem, He will return to us. May your sins be forgiven! May they be cast into the depths of the sea! “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever (Leviticus 16:30-31).”
The 10th day of the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar is called Yom Kippur in the Bible–literally “a day of covering.” The covering refers quite directly to the forgiveness of sins. In ancient times, first in the Tent or Tabernacle, and in later centuries in both the First and the Second Jewish Temples, elaborate and special ceremonies were carried out on this day. The High Priest, once a year on this day, entered into the inner room of the Temple called the Holy of Holies, where the ark or of the covenant or “testimony,” was housed. This is the chest that held the stone tablets upon which was inscribed the “Ten Words,” or Ten Commandments. These ceremonies are described in Leviticus 16.
Since the days of the 2nd Temple, which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE, Yom Kippur has continued to be observed by Jews worldwide all through the centuries. Indeed, it is considered the holiest and most solemn day of the year. It has essentially come to be understood as a day of Atonement. The word Atonement, literally, “At-One-Ment” is the day Jews and Torah believers want to be at one and at peace with their heavenly Judge. Heshbon HaNefesh, is the Hebrew term for “an accounting of one’s life” and this is the prerequisite for entering into G-d’s redemptive plan for the past year and beginning the new year with a clean, pure slate. This is the day of being inscribed in the “Book of Life.” It is a day of individual and collective Acknowledgment of sins, Repentance, and Redemption, all steps which lead to G-d’s forgiveness and reconciliation. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and though these three steps seem easy and simple enough, they are interwoven over a period of 10 days (known as the Asseret Y’mey T’shuvah, or 10 days of repentance) into a tapestry which is given in order to allow us to ask for forgiveness from our friends, acquaintances, and family as well as from G-d. Atonement is the goal on this day of “last chance” as G-d finalizes His judgment.
Some believers emphasize confession; Jews emphasize repentance. Confession admits a wrong. Repentance, to be accepted, requires a commitment to change. To confess without change is to accept evil as unalterable behavior. Repentance or Teshuvah is the total reversal of behavior in order to receive redemption. Leviticus 23:27 instructs us to “afflict our soul” which simply says to deny ourselves of food, drink, sex, work or any activity which would divert our attention from meditation and focusing on the sins we’ve committed during the past year. Yom Kippur is called “the Sabbath of Sabbaths” in the Torah. It is set apart as is the weekly Sabbath to emphasize introspection, self-evaluation, and on trying to figure out the meaning and purpose of our lives. Reconciliation with G-d and mankind is paramount to having our names written in the Book of Life and having the seals affixed for the coming year.
Leviticus 16:22 describes how the High Priest performed sacred rites during Yom Kippur which included having a lottery to choose two goats: one consecrated to G-d; the other the Azazel goat. The High Priest confessed the sins of Israel on the Azazel-goat and set it free in the wilderness so that it “shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region”. The goat consecrated to G-d was offered on the altar as a purification offering.
In Rabbinic literature, Yom Kippur is given an additional name, Yom HaDin, or Day of Judgement and is a fasting holiday of epic proportions. This should be a festival without food. The fast for this day is biblically mandated and is an act of self-denial. This is the designated day to nourish our souls and not our bodies. The words of Isaiah are read in every congregation: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.” (Isaiah 58:6-8)
Finally, on Yom Kippur, the shofar is blown just once, one long blast at the very end of the holiday. Thus a new year begins and the sages have proclaimed that the day after Yom Kippur is when we are the cleanest and purest of the entire year.
Rebecca Buntyn
This fascinating piece by Bruce Feiler is well worth reading and including in your family Thanksgiving table discussion today…Best wishes to all!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-feiler/how-moses-created-thanksg_b_787077.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Hollywood is rediscovering the Bible.
Two rival films about Moses, both by established producers, are vying to become the next chapter of the century-long love affair between the merchants of sin in Tinsletown and the prophet of hope in Israel. But no matter how far the filmmakers stretch their story, there are unlikely to reach the least known but perhaps most influential impact of Moses today: He is the Patron Saint of Thanksgiving.
The real story of Thanksgiving has surprising biblical roots. A few years ago, I set out on a 10,000-mile journey through the hidden symbols of American life that became the basis for my book, America’s Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America. My journey began on a visit to Plymouth, Mass., where I boarded a replica of The Mayflower. A re-enactor was reading from the Bible. “Exodus 14,” he explained. “The Israelites are trapped in front of the Red Sea, and the Egyptians are about to catch them. ‘Hold your peace!’ Moses says. The Lord shall fight for you.’ Our leader read us that passage during our crossing.”
I hadn’t ever associated the biblical prophet with this most American holidays, but his fingerprints are all over our turkeys. How did this happen? How did a 3,000-year-old story become the inspiration for a contemporary American national holiday?
The answer begins with the Protestant Reformation. All through the Middle Ages, Catholics were not allowed to read the Bible directly, but the Reformation, coupled with the printing press, brought vernacular Bibles into the hands of everyday believers. Many of those believers were Protestants who felt oppressed by the Church. They related to the story of the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham who were enslaved in Egypt around 1200 B.C., were set free by Moses, then set out for the Promised Land.
The Pilgrims, a band of Protestant outcasts, saw themselves as fulfilling this biblical story. In coming to the New World, they, too, had to cross a tumultuous sea, arrive in an untested wilderness and create a new “Promised Land.” As a result, when they set sail on The Mayflower in 1620, they described themselves as the chosen people fleeing their pharaoh, King James. On the Atlantic, their leader, William Bradford, proclaimed their journey to be as vital as “Moses and the Israelites when they went out of Egypt.” And when they got to Cape Cod, they thanked God for letting them pass through their fiery Red Sea.
The pilgrims were so enamored of Moses, the Bibles they brought with them were emblazoned with pictures of Moses on the title page, and they named their children biblical virtues like Fear, Patience and Wrestling, as in “Wrestling with God,” the English translation of Israel.
As Peter Gomes, the preacher of Harvard told me, “They weren’t trying to recreate the biblical narrative. They were trying to fulfill it.” Because of them, the story of Moses became the story of America.
And because of the biblical roots of this most secular of American holidays, if your gathering threatens to descend into a familiar fracas among different faiths, factions and political persuasions, Moses, precisely because he has been used by believers and non-believers alike, Republicans and Democrats, Jews, Catholics and Protestants, may be the one figure who can unite the family and allow them all to enjoy their pumpkin pie.
This entry is part of a series, “This Month in Moses,” chronicling the 400-year relationship between the United States and “America’s Prophet.” For more information, and to read the entire series, visit Bruce Feiler’s website, or follow him on Twitter.
Tonight begins the Jewish festival popularly known Sukkoth, the “feast of huts” or booths. The King James Version translated it as the “Feast of Tabernacles,” and that is how many Christians who observe it in some fashion refer to it most often today.
What is all the more interesting about this day is that by some calculations (see Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology) Jesus was born on or very near the 15th day of the 7th month–based on the chronology given in the book of Luke. The calculations are complex but have to do with the time in which Zechariah, father of John the Baptizer, served in the Temple (Luke 1:8), as the “section” of priests in which he was part went on duty at a specific time of year. From that window calculations can be made as to the birth of John, followed by the birth of Jesus six months later. My own calculations based on a computer program I use puts the birth of Jesus in 5 B.C. very close to Sukkoth, or September 22nd on the Gregorian Calendar, corresponding to the Autumnal Equinox. It just so happens that today, in 2010, the 15th day of the 7th month, beginning Sukkoth, also corresponds to the Equinox–that is today, September 22nd/23rd.
There is a fascinating Roman civic inscription dating to the year 9 B.C. that was passed by the cities of Asia to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor Augustus. It reads in part: “Whereas, finally, that the birthday of the god (i.e. Augustus) has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel (euangelion) concerning him, therefore, let all reckon a new era beginning from the date of his birth, and let his birthday mark the beginning of the new year.”
It is surely more than ironic that the birth of Jesus, an insignificant Galilean peasant, living under the brutal boot of Roman occupation, just a few years later, did indeed lead to a new era, a kind of “birthday of the world,” that has paled into insignificance the birth of the celebrated Emperor Augustus.
So today in particular it seems has a double meaning, as the festival of Sukkoth for Jews and others who observe the Torah festivals, but for Christians, and really our entire society, the birthday of a new era, in that Jesus himself was born on or very near this day.
Even though the Israeli celebration of Independence Day, based on the Hebrew calendar (Iyyar 5) was celebrated this year on April 19th, there is something profound about May 14 on the Gregorian Calendar that really acts as a marker of great events of the last century.
Just to think, on this very date, in 1948 these great and momentous things happened. One very interesting fact is that if you follow an “observed” Jewish calendar for 1948 and don’t add the 13th month that year, it moves everything one month back–that is “Adar II becomes Nisan, Nisan becomes Iyyar, and Iyyar becomes SIVAN–which makes the establishment of the State of Israel fall on Sivan the 5th, the evening of Shavuot or Pentecost. That would mean the establishment of the State of Israel in some way echoes the Standing At Sinai in the days of Moses, and the giving of the Torah, also celebrated in Jewish tradition as falling at Sivan 5/6th. It is certainly uncanny that both the former and latter “national” founding of Israel would correspond to this festival of “Weeks.”
One can not help but think of Isaiah’s ancient query:
Is. 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
There is a nice set of articles on the Aish HaTorah Web site dealing with the history of Israel and Zionism more generally:
http://www.aish.com/holidays/Israel_Independence_Day/holiday_page.asp
In this day and time when “Zionism” is used by so many as some kind of ugly word, it is refreshing to capture some of the Spirit that the true “returnees to Zion” really had 60 years ago. The founder of United Israel World Union, David Horowitz, was one of those “pioneers,” who moved to what was then called “old Palestine,” in July, 1924. You can read more about his experiences and life with photos of those times in a previous Blog post here: Remembering David Horowitz.
An very nicely done illustrated “Timeline” can be found here:
http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_war_independence_1948_timeline.htm
For those a bit “rusty” on the history, here is a crash course Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History:
Crash Course in Jewish History Part 65 – The State of Israel
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
After the British brutally turned away Holocaust survivors from Israel, the UN voted to partition the land.
The British broke promise after promise to the Jews while they created new Arab countries out of the land of the former Ottoman Empire. In addition, because of Arab revolts and pressure, the British even barred entry to the land of Israel to Jews fleeing the Holocaust. (See Part 64.)
Even when the full scope of the Holocaust was known, and thousands of Holocaust survivors were stranded in refugee camps (DP camps), the British refused to relent.
One of the most egregious of the British actions involved the refugee ship, Exodus, which the Royal Navy intercepted in 1947 in the Mediterranean Sea with 4,500 Jews aboard. The ship was brought into Haifa port under British escort; there the Holocaust survivors were forcibly transferred to another ship and returned back to Germany via France.
Abba Eban, who was then the Jewish liason to a special UN committee — called Special Commmitte On Palestine or UNSCOP — persuaded four UN representatives to go to Haifa to witness the brutality of the British against the Jews.
Historian Martin Gilbert includes Eban’s account of what happened there in Israel: A History (p. 145):
“[In Haifa] the four members watched a ‘gruesome operation.’ The Jewish refugees had decided ‘not to accept banishment with docility. If anyone had wanted to know what Churchill meant by a “squalid war,” he would have found out by watching British soldier using rifle butts, hose pipes and tear gas against the survivors of the death camps. Men, women and children were forcibly taken off to prison ships, locked in cages below decks and set out of Palestine waters.’
“When the four members of UNSCOP came back to Jerusalem, Eban recalled, ‘they were pale with shock. I could see that they were pre-occupied with one point alone: if this was the only way that the British Mandate could continue, it would be better not to continue it at all.’”
UN PARTITION OF PALESTINE
The British also wanted out of the problem. They had 100,000 soldiers/police trying to maintain control with a total population of about 600,000 Jews and 1.2 million Arabs. (Interestingly, they had the same size force controlling India with a population of over 350 million!)
And so it came to pass that the British turned the matter over to the UN which decided to end the British Mandate over what was left of “Palestine” (after the creation of the country of Jordan) and to divide the remaining land among the Arabs and Jews. The proposal called for the Jews to get:
a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast, including Tel Aviv and Haifa
a piece of land surrounding the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), including the Golan Heights
a large piece in the south, which was the uninhabitable Negev Desert
The Arabs were to get:
the Gaza Strip
a chunk of the north, including the city of Tzfat (Safed) and western Galilee
the entire West Bank of the River Jordan and the hills of Judea and Samaria
Jerusalem was to be under international control.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for this partition plan. Of those voting, 33 nations voted yes, including USA and USSR; 13 mostly-Arab nations voted no; 11 nations abstained.
Hard-hearted to the end, the British did not vote yes; they abstained.
As disappointed as the Jews were with the portion allotted for the Jewish state, they felt that something was better than nothing after all the waiting and the pain.
However, the Arabs, always maximalist in their demands, rejected the UN resolution. The next day Arab rioting began, and two weeks later soldiers from surrounding Arab countries began arriving into Palestine.
The British, happy to be out of the situation, were packing up to go and turned their backs on what was going on. Writes David Ben Gurion in his Israel: A Personal History (p. 65):
“The British did not lift a finger to stop this military invasion. They also refused to cooperate with the UN committee charged with supervising implementation of the General Assembly resolution. At the same time, the Arabs living in the district destined to become part of the Jewish state began evacuating their homes and moving to the Arab states neighboring Palestine at the orders of the Arab High Committee.”
In the midst of confusion, the rioting continued with almost 1,000 Jews murdered by Arabs in the ensuing four months.
One of the worst incidents occurred on April 13, 1948. A convoy of 70 doctors and nurses making their way to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arabs. This happened 200 yards of a British police station. After a seven-hour shoot-out, during which the British did nothing, all the doctors and nurses were killed. Afterwards, the Arabs mutilated their bodies.
JERUSALEM UNDER SIEGE
In all of this, the British encouraged the King of Jordan, Abdullah, to invade and annex the Arab sections to his kingdom. To Abdullah this was not enough. He wanted Jerusalem too.
As a result Jerusalem came under siege.
The focus of the struggle during April and May 1948 was the road to Jerusalem which passes through the mountains. The vehicles on that road are completely exposed to gunmen up above. It was on this road that all supplies to the Jews of the city had to come. But they could not get through.
Hunger reigned. The residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were completely cut off.
And then an amazing incident happened. A young Yemenite Jew, who was not known for his shooting skills, almost accidentally killed three Arab men in the hills. One of these men was the Arab leader, Abdul Khader el Husseini. Demoralized, the Arab forces abandoned their positions to attend his funeral.
As a result a huge convoy of 250 trucks of food was able to re-supply the city. Writes Berel Wein in Triumph of Survival (p. 397):
“[On Shabbat, April 17, 1948] Jews left their synagogues and, with their prayer shawls still draping their shoulders, helped unload the convoy. The siege of Jerusalem was broken for the moment. The Arabs, however, mounted a strong counter-attack, and by the end of April once again cut the Jerusalem road… for the next seven weeks Jewish Jerusalem was isolated.”
A NEW STATE IS BORN
The official date given by the United Nations in their partition vote for the creation of the two new entities was May 15th, 1948.
Thus, May 14th was to be the last day of the British Mandate. At 4 p.m., the British lowered their flag and immediately the Jews raised their own.
It was a flag designed in 1897 by the First Zionist Congress. It was white (the color of newness and purity), and it had two blue stripes (the color of heaven) like the stripes of a tallit, the prayer shawl, which symbolized the transmission of Jewish tradition. In its center was the Star of David.
Thus on May 14, 1948 at 4:00 p.m., Hay Iyar, the 5th of Iyar, Israel declared itself a state.
After 2,000 years, the land of Israel was once more in the hands of the Jews.
David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence over the radio:
“The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here the spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world…
“Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of the dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and restoration of their national freedom.
“Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel…
“We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all…
“With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948.”
(Note that the Declaration of Independence of Israel — unlike the American Declaration of Independence — does not mention God. This is because the hard-line secularists that dominated the Jewish Agency opposed any such thing. “Rock of Israel” became a compromise.)
Everyone was dancing in the streets. But not for long.
Almost immediately five Arab countries declared war and Egypt bombed Tel Aviv.
Was the Last Supper a Jewish Passover Seder? Millions of Christians who are happily and profitably discovering their “Hebraic roots” by studying, participating in, and even reenacting “Passover” services have equated it with the final evening meal Jesus had with his disciples. Indeed, many so-called “messianic” groups have developed an extensive interpretation of the traditional Jewish Passover Seder that finds all sorts of Christological meanings reflected in the ceremonies, including the death and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of humankind.
All four of our gospels report that Jesus ate a last meal privately with the Twelve, on the “night he was betrayed,” as Paul puts it. However, the Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, Luke) and John report things differently in so far as whether this meal took place on the night of Passover, or the night before. Although many have attempted harmonization, the differences in the two reports remain stark and and can not be ignored. Scholars have exhaustively argued out every possibility pro and con.
I argue in The Jesus Dynasty (chapter 12 “Last Days in Jerusalem”) that the final meal was not a Passover Seder and offer a revised chronology in which Jesus dies on a Thursday, rather than a Friday, with the Passover Seder falling at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan, after sundown, Thursday night with that Friday, in the year AD/CE 30 being a “high day” sabbath, followed by the weekly Sabbath.
In a thoroughly comprehensive general article just published in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April, 2010) titled “Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder,” Boston University professor Jonathan Klawans explores the issue in a clear and compelling way, concluding that the last meal of Jesus was most likely not a Passover Seder. I am pleased to say you can read it on-line here, but hope you will consider subscribing to BAR magazine as it continues to bring us quality articles of this type.
N I have chosen as a “Last Supper” illustration the etching by the incomparably great Albrecht Dürer in which the “beloved disciple” is sleeping as a small child, next to Jesus.