United Israel

I wanted to post some of my notes this week related to my personal study of the weekly parsha called Be-Ha’alotcha (translated, “When you put up”). It has some key points and some of the most interesting - though seemingly unconnected stories.
 
It begins with instructions for the “putting up” of the menorah, and speaks of the “purification of the Levites”, who according to the literal reading of the Hebrew (8:16) are “given, yes given” to YHWH.
 
There is allowance made for a “make up” Passover for those that were on a journey or impure when the Pesach of the first month was kept.
 
In Chapter 9, we read an interesting point that “there will be one statute for you (pl) and for the stranger and for the citizen of the land”.  I love this idea.  There are many out there that place artificial distinctions between Israel and humanity.  It is my opinion that all of the world will be instructed into the “Way of YHWH”. Indeed this is the reason for Israel serving as a nation of Priests, being given a charge to be a light to the nations, etc.  One only has to read Isaiah chapters 2 and 56 (for example) to see that this is the goal for humanity.
 
Chapter 9:15-23 we read of the cloud and how it guided the travels of the Israelites. I had not noticed it in previous readings of this text, but the movement of the cloud and the reaction to this move by the people following, are closely associated with their obedience to the “word of YHWH” (mouth might be a better rendering).
 
Chapter 10 deals with the reasons for the sounding of the trumpets and the order of travel for the tribes.
 
Chapter 11 switches gears on us. Here we meet with much complaining by the people. They long to return to Egypt. I guess this had me thinking.  Often, I meet people who have left their “spiritual Egypt”, but for one reason or another they begin to crave the things that they had there. The provision of God begins to lose its flavor and they want to return. These complaints are “bad in the ears of YHWH” and His anger is flared - and subsequently we read that it was bad in Moses’ eyes.
 
The people still direct their complaints to the man Moses and not to God. In this week’s lesson we see that despite Moses’ humility - he is becoming a bit tired.  The people lash out at Moses and he unloads on God.  He feels that he is carrying the burden alone and asks God to kill him if things continue as they are.  I think that it is interesting to note that God does not react…or should I say over-react to Moses when he makes this comment.  In fact, he seemingly ignores his drama altogether and just resolves the issues at hand. Often, I think we take comments of others and over-react causing more problems rather than setting forth solutions.  This can be a lesson to us all.  God does not chide Moses for his exaggerated remark, He merely sets things straight.  Read it and see how God “fixes” the problem!
 
In verse 20 we find that God informs Moses what he should relate to the complainers.  If they want what they had in Egypt, then that is what they shall get.  Not just a taste of what they had, but enough that it will run out of their noses!  It should be noted that this is a result of their “rejecting YHWH”.  This is very similar to the later demand for a King like the nations.  Often, I find that God fulfills the request of His people, even when they are in rebellion.  He allows them what they ask for in order that they will realize what they have done and return to His ways.  Be careful what you ask for!
 
This Torah reading also contains some interesting points on the imparting of the Spirit.  Chapter 11:1-18, and 24-25 reveal the solution to Moses carrying the whole burden alone. God takes some of the Spirit that is upon Moses and shares it with the “70″. They prophesy as an indication that the Spirit is on them, but then it says that they did not do so again (v.25).  One is reminded of the story in 1 Samuel 10.  Of particular note is what is recorded in 1 Samuel 10:6 - When the spirit comes upon you…you will become a different man!  How true is this?  When people claim to be spirit filled and continue to practice their ungodly behavior, one has to wonder if their claims are true.
 
When Moses is informed that some are in the camp prophesying and that he should make them stop - he says that he wished all YHWH’s people were prophets.  This is important. Too often, leaders want to be in charge and have others serve them.  Not so with Moses! Yeshua said that this is the way Gentiles think.  Many churches are full of this in their pastor adoration! We should all learn from this.
 
An interesting play on words that shows up in the Hebrew comes next.  Moses has just asked that YHWH “put his Spirit on” the people so that they could all be prophets.  In the very next verse, the “Ruach” does indeed travel to the people, but translated as “wind”, the Ruach from YHWH brings the quail that the people craved!  Be careful what you ask for!
 
In Chapter 12, we find Aaron and Miriam complaining against Moses.  This is a remarkable story! God calls them into account for their challenge against Moses. He would later ask them, “Why did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?!”  We should learn from this that one should be very cautious when speaking words against the meekest man on all the earth. God spoke to him, mouth to mouth and he saw the “form of YHWH”!
 
For her part in this, Miriam is afflicted.  I find it very instructive to read the prayer that Moses offers on her behalf.  I have been in prayer meetings with many over the years where people petition God with many words.  Yeshua talks of this repetitious prayer practice.  Do we think that we must go on and on for God to hear us and answer?  Moses says 5 Hebrew words and God acts. “God, please heal her please.” We should learn from this. 
 
So this is my summary of the Torah reading for this week.  Study it and learn from it. The festival of Shavuoth has just passed. I pray that like the ancient Israelites, we receive the Torah afresh. Put these words in your heart. Be humble, seek God and keep your prayers simple. Plead with God on behalf of others - even when they do wrong to you. Moses wished that all of God’s people were prophets and that He would put his spirit on all of them.  I pray that as well.
 
Have a great week.  Shalom, Ross
 
Ross K. Nichols
www.RootsofFaith.org

This is the descriptive entry that will appear in the new 8th edition of the Encyclopedia of American Religions, the most authoritative reference work on religions of all types in America:
★2086★

United Israel World Union (UIWU)
200 East 10th Street
Suite # 111
New York, N.Y. 10003

Editorial Offices: P.O. Box 561476, Charlotte, NC 28256

The United Israel World Union (UIWU) was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1944 by founder David Horowitz who served as President until his death at age 99 (1903–2002). The primary purposes of UIWU are to represent a universal version of the Hebraic faith to the non-Jewish world, based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, as well as to provide a meeting place for Jews with non-Jews who are accordingly drawn to this message. The hallmark of the organization is Isaiah’s prescription that “My house will become a house of prayer for all peoples.” Central to this mission is the conviction that scattered among the Gentiles are untold numbers of descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel who are discovering their identity and their kinship to the Jewish people. Membership is based on the simple declaration of faith in the One God of Israel and a commitment to live according to the principles of the Hebrew Bible. Members, accordingly, observe the Sabbath day, Jewish festivals, and a biblical “kosher” diet, although the manner and extent of such observances is left to one’s individual conscience.

During the decades of the 1950s through the 1970s the movement flourished with centers in New York, Michigan, and West Virginia; members scattered through 30 States and 15 foreign countries; and an active mailing list of 9,000. Horowitz edited and published the triennial United Israel Bulletin from 1945 until his death. As an accredited member of the United Nations Press Corp since 1945, and serving twice as its president, Horowitz rubbed shoulders with many Ambassadors and heads of State, forming a close friendship with the late Dag Hammarskjöld. He published a syndicated weekly column that appeared in 22 Anglo-Jewish newspapers, reflecting his Jewish perspectives on world events in the light of UIWU perspectives. Horowitz received many honors including Israel’s Defender of Israel Medal presented by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In the 1980s and 1990s operations of UIWU reached a low ebb due to the age and health of Mr. Horowitz.

Although it remains incorporated in New York, in 2004 the UIWU transferred most of its records, archives, and operations to Charlotte, North Carolina. Administered by Dr. James D. Tabor, the offices house the David Horowitz Memorial Library, which holds correspondence between Horowitz and various world leaders and celebrities including David Ben Gurion, Eleanor Roosevelt, and King Abdullah of Jordan, 60 years of back issues of the United Israel Bulletin, and a complete archive of Horowitz’s weekly UN Columns (1950-1998).

Membership: As of 2008 membership is at 300 with active surface and e-mail lists totaling 1700.

Periodicals: United Israel Bulletin has ceased regular publication but both archive and current materials are regularly added to the organization’s Web site: unitedisrael.org, and special issues will be published on specific topics once a year.

Sources:
http://unitedisrael.org
By-Laws of United Israel World Union, approved 1944, amended 2005.
David Horowitz, Thirty-three Candles (New York: World Union Press, 1949)

65th Anniversary Annual Meeting
April 11-13, 2008
Doubletree Guest Suites/SouthPark
Charlotte, North Carolina
The 65th Annual Meeting of United Israel World Union will be held in Charlotte, NC, April 11-13th. We will gather at the lovely Doubletree Hotel in Southpark with our Sunday night program at the Jewish Community Center. There is no conference fee for attending our meetings.

President George Bush is making his first trip to Israel as president and his first ever to Palestinian-controlled land as he attempts to effect change in the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has vowed to work hard as peacemaker, promising additional trips to the area in an all out effort to conclude an accord between the two sides before his second term as president ends. Although declaring publicly that the Palestinians are entitled to a state of their own, critics suggest that his policies skew too much toward Israel. Most Israelis trust him as a caring friend. Some say that his Mideast efforts have come too late and it is an attempt to effect a more favorable legacy as he leaves the presidency. Can his late charge actually play any role toward this legacy or, has his legacy caught up with him?

Webster’s Dictionary defines legacy thusly: “Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past”. Let’s explore.

The son of an old colonial family, George Bush was born in Norwich, Vermont, in 1796. At age eighteen he enroled in nearby Dartmouth College. He had gained, in his high school years, considerable proficiency in Greek and Latin, and having then read widely in the classics. At Dartmouth, Bush found in the study of religion a focus for his intellectual energies. Upon graduation he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry and later became a tutor. He had received a thorough grounding in the study of the Bible in it’s original languages and early translations. In addition to Hebrew, he mastered Aramaic and Syriac. He would later use his knowledge of these languages to produce a multivolume Notes on the Old Testament, published in the 1840s.

In 1824 Bush was ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. In his new post his independent and inquiring spirit asserted itself. He was soon making statements from the pulpit to the effect that there was no scriptural authority for the Presbyterian form of church government. The ensuing controversy led to Bush’s removal from the pulpit. This was not the only time he would become embroiled in religious and academic controversy.

For some time Bush had been interested in Islam, a subject then little known in the United States. In 1830 he published The Life of Mohammed, which was issued in the popular Harper Family Library series. It was the first American book about Islam. Islam was presented as an “invention” by a former merchant “constitutionally addicted to religious contemplation.” Bush offered various explanations for Mohammed’s motives in “palming a new religion upon the world.” All in all, The Life of Mohammed was an anti-Islamic polemic typical of its time.

In 1831 the board of New York University invited George Bush to become its professor of Hebrew and oriental literature. NYU was a secular institution with no denominational ties. Bush accepted the position and remained at NYU for fourteen years (1832-46).

In 1833 Bush wrote A Treatise on the Millennium, in which he questioned the notion, then popular in some Protestant circles, that the second coming was imminent. This would later place Bush in direct opposition to William Miller, leader of the Aventists. As Bush saw it, there was no scriptural  basis for Adventist belief. It was in his opinion, “one of the most baseless of all the extravaganzas of prophetic hallucination.”

The year 1835 saw the publication of Bush’s A Grammar of the Hebrew Language. More than a century before, Judah Monis, a Jew of Marrano extraction, whose story I covered in a lecture entitled “Our Hebrew American Heritage”, had chosen to convert to Christianity in order to receive an appointment as instructor of Hebrew at Harvard College.

In 1844 George Bush was at it again. He produced Valley of Vision; or,The Dry Bones of Israel Revived: An Attempted Proof of the Restoration and Conversion of the Jews. He argued against a spiritual interpretation of the prophecies concerning “the end of days” and advocated instead “the literal return of the Jews to the land of their fathers.” In the tradition of the European humanist scholars however, Bush did not have much regard for the Jews as a people. He believed that they would be restored to life and land and would accept Christianity in the end.  

The realism of Bush’s call for the return of the Jews was underscored by the inclusion in the book of a map of Palestine with areas marked for the settlement of the returning tribes. This geographic realism exemplifies a shift from the Puritan concept of American Zion to an advocacy of American support for the renewal of the Biblical Zion. The advocacy is scripturally based, but not apocalyptic in nature. The Adventist/Millerite claims are rebutted, but the support for a renewed Zion remains.

While formulating his view of the coming redemption and of the place of the Jews in it, Bush was deeply influenced by the Swedish scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a man whose all-encompassing mystical system exerted enormous influence in European esoteric circles. By the mid-1840s Bush had become a full-fledged Swedenborgian, a convert to the Church of the New Jerusalem. Because of his increased involvement with the Swedenborgian church, Bush abandoned his university post and stopped writing and publishing scholarly works.

George Bush (1796-1859), though now well-nigh forgotten, was once considered one of the most profound and ingenious scholars of the mid-nineteenth century, and his more than thirty volumes of polemic, biblical commentary, and interpretive history of religion enjoyed great popularity. His views on the Hebrew language, the Jews, and his statements about the possibility of a restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land is noteworthy. His life and work have to be taken into account in any evaluation of the early study of Hebrew and Judaism in America.

One wonders today whether Bush would have been surprised by the realization of the dream of the Return to Zion, then advocated only by a small group of “Christian Zionists”? Could he have imagined that two of his relatives would someday become presidents of the United States?

Nineteenth-century scholar George Bush saw history through a biblical lens. Today, as the younger President Bush formulates his own Middle East policies and contemplates his own place in history, the writings of his ancestor may hold renewed relevance and an answer to a legacy. 

Ralph Buntyn