Peshat - the plain and simple meaning

Rock on Israel!

Sh'ma Yisrael meaning Hear Israel, the declaration of Faith, is a prayer which takes from 3 different sections of the Torah. The prayer should be stated aloud.

Study videos and hebrew in following section.

Baruch atah, YHWH Eloheinu, melech ha-olam oseh ma'aseh vereshit.
Blessed is you, YHWH our God, King of the Universe, the source of creation and its wonders.

http://www.peshat.com/index.php?itemid=282 sh'ma 1) Deu 6:4-9 2) Deu 11:13-21 3) num 15:37-41

	Deuteronomy Chapter 6 4 Hear, O Israel: YHWH is our God, YHWH is one. 5 And thou shalt love YHWH thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; 7 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

	Deuteronomy Chapter 11 13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love YHWH your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 and the anger of YHWH be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which YHWH giveth you. 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which YHWH swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

	Numbers Chapter 15 37 And YHWH spoke unto Moses, saying: 38 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue. 39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of YHWH, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray; 40 that ye may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41 I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am YHWH your God.'

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Karaite Korner, and the people and organizations quoted on http://www.karaite-korner.org, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

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This year, both Rabbinical and Karaite Jews held Passover on the same day. It was truly an incredible coincidence, since the rabbinical calendar is normally off by two days from the new moon calendar described in the Torah. Anyhow, It is quite unfortunate that Rabbinical Jews will be holding Shavout starting on Tuesday evening, June 7, 2011. Based on the following verses, Shavout should always occur the day after Sabbath, a Sunday -- this year, June 12, 2011.

More discussion is here: Counting the Omer 2009

	Leviticus Chapter 23 9 And YHWH spoke unto Moses saying: 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto YHWH. 13 And the meal-offering thereof shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto YHWH for a sweet savour; and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete; 16 even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto YHWH. 17 Ye shall bring out of your dwellings two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, for first-fruits unto YHWH. 18 And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be a burnt-offering unto YHWH, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto YHWH. 19 And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave-offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to YHWH for the priest. 21 And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am YHWH your God.

http://www.karaite-korner.org/omer.shtml:

June 11, 2011:
Today is the 7th day of the 7th week of seven weeks. Today is the 49th day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is Sabbath, the 7th Sabbath of seven Sabbaths. Today completes the 7th week of seven weeks.

11 יוני 2011:
הַיּוֹם יוֹם שְׁבִיעִי לַשָּׁבוּעַ שְׁבִיעִי מִשִׁבְעָה שָׁבֻעוֹת. הַיּוֹם אַרְבָּעִים וְתִשְׁעָה יוֹם מִסְפִירַת חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם מֵהֲנָפַת הָעֹמֶר מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת. ‏הַיּוֹם שַׁבָּת, שַׁבָּת שְׁבִיעִית מִשֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת. הַיּוֹם נִשְׁלַם שָׁבוּעַ שְׁבִיעִי מִשִׁבְעָה שָׁבֻעוֹת.

Not sure if Reform Judaism believes anything beyond the Jewish traditions several of which are misplaced at best. Conservative Judaism does not believe in the covenant. One conservative rabbi once told me that if he were to enter Rabbi school with the belief that the Torah was divine, he would have been kicked out. Could this be the result of following the Talmud rather than the Torah? Orthodox Judaism is dedicated to the Talmud which mostly follows Torah; but discrepancies exist...

The Torah is the contract between YHWH and the children of Israel. While you have the ability to choose to accept or deny the contract, you must recognize the consequences should you choose to deny it. What is left?

Since I have seen many Jewish people seemingly taking the covenant for granted, I decided to look into the signs YHWH has appointed in effort to determine whether or not you are part of YHWH's chosen people. The effort will begin from Exodus Chapter 31 Verse 17 where the Torah says Shabbat will be a sign between Himself and the Children of Israel. The word used for sign in this verse is the hebrew word אוֹת.

	The noun אוֹת ('owth) means sign, signal, token, standard, or proof taken from the root word אוֹת ('uwth), a verb meaning to consent or agree. Rather fitting for the subject at hand. Exodus Chapter 31 15 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to YHWH; whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign (אוֹת) between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.'

Don't ignore the signs!

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GIL SHEFLER, and the people and organizations quoted on http://www.jpost.com, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

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Karaite Jews prepare for Succot with a lemon twist
By GIL SHEFLER
09/22/2010 05:13

300 people are expected to attend holiday services at the ancient Karaite synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Pop quiz: The Four Species of Succot, which starts Wednesday night, are lulav (palm branch), hadass (myrtle), aravah (willow) and etrog (citron) – correct or incorrect?

According to mainstream or rabbinical Judaism the answer is correct. But if you ask Karaite Jews, members of an ancient Jewish movement which strictly adheres to the Bible and ignores the Talmud and rabbinical law, the answer is more complicated.

	The new moon sighting (from Israel) resulted in Sukkot beginning on Friday night at sunset, two days after the mathematically calculated rabbinical calender had predicted. A reference to the making of the rabbinical calendar is posted below. This method of determining the new month via a mathematically calculated calendar occurred after the Jews were sent into exile... the rabbinic court -- the Sanhedrin -- had already been disbanded. Rabbinical Stories - The New Month and the Authority of the Patriarch The Jewish calendar was not fixed until the fifth century CE. Each month began with the appearance of the new moon and had twenty-nine or thirty days. If the new moon appeared on the thirtieth day of the previous month, then that day became the first of the new month. If the new moon failed to appear, then that month had thirty days and the new month automatically began the next day. To ensure that no mistakes were made, the Mishna prescribes that witnesses testify before a rabbinic court, which would assess their testimony and proclaim the new month.

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Avram Yehoshua and the people and organizations quoted on seedofabraham.net are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

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To abstain from all unclean animals (food), is Torah (the first five books of the Bible: Genesis through Deuteronomy). To 'keep kosher' the Jewish way, is both Torah and rabbinic. There is a big difference. God requires that we eat only clean meat (Torah: Lev. 11 and Deut. 14), and so do the Rabbis. But the Rabbis go further. Keeping kosher means that one doesn't eat any dairy products with meat. The Rabbis say that one cannot have cheese with clean meat, or even use a plate for meat, that once had cheese on it.

The separation of dairy and meat, with the rabbinic injunction that it's sin if one violates it, is based on the Scripture about not boiling a kid in its mother's milk. The rabbinic view is that one should not eat meat and dairy together thereby avoiding the possibility of breaking the Commandment.¹ Of course, God never says in this Commandment that one can't eat meat and dairy together, but this is how the Rabbis have interpreted it.

	Exodus Chapter 23 19 The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of YHWH thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus Chapter 34 26 The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of YHWH thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.' Deuteronomy Chapter 14 21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself; thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people unto YHWH thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.

This rabbinic rule came about through a perverse interpretation of Exodus 23:19 (the same verse being repeated in Ex. 34:26 and Deut. 14:21). The proper understanding of this verse deals with the ancient Egyptian and Canaanite idolatrous fertility rite.² The liquid (milk), was sprinkled over the fields by the pagans, after the fall harvest, 'to ensure' a bountiful harvest from their god or goddess, for next year. Exodus 23:19 reads:

'The first of the first fruits of your Land you must bring into the House of Yahveh your God. You must not boil a kid in his mother's milk.'

	From Manners and Customs of the Bible As this injunction is put in connection with sacrifices and festivals, it seems to have referred to some idolatrous practices of the heathen. Cudworth says, on the authority of an ancient Karaite Comment on the Pentateuch, that it was an ancient heathen custom to boil a kid in the dam's milk, and then besprinkle with it all the trees, fields, gardens, and orchards. This was done at the close of their harvests for the purpose of making trees and fields more fruitful the following year. It will be noticed that the injunction of the text is given in connection with the feast of harvest.

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Marina Rustow of The Jewish Theological Seminary, and the people and organizations quoted on jtsa.edu, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

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Exhibit at the JTS Library
December 14, 2000 - April 5, 2001
Online selections available indefinitely



Who are the Samaritans and the Karaites? The Samaritans claim descent from the biblical Israelites of the Northern Kingdom in Samaria, while the Jews trace their origins to Judeans of the Southern Kingdom who were exiled to Babylonia. The Samaritans furthermore accept only the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, as their sacred text. The Karaites accept all twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible, and in this they agree with the Jews. But ever since their origins in eighth-century Iraq, they have rejected rabbinic law as expressed in the Talmud. They maintain instead that the Bible is the sole authentic source of Jewish law.

	Deuteronomy Chapter 31 24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, that bore the ark of the covenant of YHWH, saying: 26 'Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of YHWH your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck; behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against YHWH; and how much more after my death? 28 Assemble unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death ye will in any wise deal corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the end of days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke Him through the work of your hands.'

The Samaritans and the Karaites do not have much in common beyond their special relationship to Scripture. While the two groups had some limited contact and even influence on each other during the Middle Ages, their histories have taken completely different paths. The Samaritans have always lived within pilgimage distance of their place of worship, Mount Gerizim, near Shechem in Samaria. Although during ancient and medieval times, Samaritans lived as far away from Mount Gerizim as Cairo, Damascus, and the Greek isles, the Samaritan diaspora rarely rivaled the Shechem community in religious and cultural importance.

The Karaites, by contrast, never lived in or near one particular place. For much of their history, they maintained a group of representatives in Jerusalem. But the majority of Karaites have always lived among the rest of the Jews. In the Middle Ages, the major communities of Karaites were in Iraq, Syria-Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and Spain. From there they migrated to the Balkans and Turkey, and then to the Crimean peninsula, Russia, Poland, and Lithuania. Until the twentieth century, western Europe was the only major Jewish habitation without Karaites.

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