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Posted by: Benjamin
JewishEncylopedia: New Year


Based on the sighting of the new moon as stated in the Torah, Yom Teruah will begin at sunset on Friday, September 26, 2014 and continue until sunset on Saturday September 27, 2014.

Happy Yom Teruah!






WORK IN PROGRESS...

another good reference How the Day of Shouting Became Rosh Hashanah by Nehemia Gordon

Confirmed on Jewish Virtual Library: Jewish Calendar:
The "first month" of the Jewish calendar is the month of Nissan, in the spring, when Passover occurs. However, the Jewish New Year is in Tishri, the seventh month, and that is when the year number is increased.
The year number is increased in the seventh month?

The traditional Jewish New Year known as Rosh Hashannah (head of months) is not found anywhere in the Tanakh; therefore, it is tradition. On the same day that Rosh Hashannah is celebrated, Yom Teruah (day of shouting; commanded from the Torah (see Lev 23:23-25; Nu 29:1-6)) is celebrated. Both Rosh Hashannah and Yom Teruah are on the first day of the seventh month; however, the day is most recoginized for being Rosh Hashannah (or the Jewish New Year).

The first day of the first month is commonly understood as the new year. The New Year, the one in the first month, is in fact, defined as the beginning of months in Exodus 12 which shows it was selected by YHWH as a remembrance for His leading the children of Israel from Egypt with a strong hand. It is defined based on the ripeness of aviv and leads to preparations for Passover.

So, let's examine the tradition, commonly known as Rosh Hashannah, which starts the traditional "new year" in the fall when we are told, in Exodus 12, the first month begins in the spring.


Exodus 12 deals with the exodus from Egypt, at the powerful hand of YHWH, in the spring...
Exodus Chapter 12
1 And YHWH spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying:
2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Leviticus Chapter 23
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no manner of servile work; and ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto YHWH.

Numbers Chapter 29
1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you.

New Year
By Isidore Singer, J. F. McLaughlin, Wilhelm Bacher, Judah David Eisenstein

Biblical Data:

In the earliest times the Hebrew year began in autumn with the opening of the economic year. There followed in regular succession the seasons of seed-sowing, growth and ripening of the corn under the influence of the former and the latter rains, harvest and ingathering of the fruits. In harmony with this was the order of the great agricultural festivals, according to the oldest legislation, namely, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the barley harvest, in the month of Abib; the feast of harvest, seven weeks later; and the feast of ingathering at the going out or turn of the year (; see Ex. xxiii. 14-17; xxxiv. 18, 22-23; Deut. xvi. 1-16).

Even the American culture has an economic year beginning in the fall. It is called the corporate fiscal year.

Exodus Chapter 23
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.
15 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep; seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib -- for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty;
16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours, which thou sowest in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labours out of the field.
17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord YHWH.

Exodus Chapter 34
23 Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord YHWH, the God of Israel.

Deuteronomy Chapter 16
16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before YHWH thy God in the place which He shall choose; on the feast of unleavened bread, and on the feast of weeks, and on the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before YHWH empty;

This system of dating the New-Year is that which was adopted by the Semites generally, while other peoples, as the Greeks and Persians, began the year in spring, both methods of reckoning being primarily agricultural and based on the seasons of seed-time and harvest.

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

Kosher: Jewish vs. Biblical
by Avram Yehoshua


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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Posted by: Benjamin
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.

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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06/01/09: Who is born a Jew?

Posted by: Benjamin
Beta-Gershom.org (i.e. half-Jewish.org), and the people and organizations quoted on Beta-Gershom.org (i.e. half-Jewish.org), are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

Some commentary at the end of the article has been added for further clarification. Anyone having additional information - please add a comment.

Who is born a Jew?


The question of who is born a Jew has been much debated. We consider first the views of Orthodox Rabbinical Judaism and Karaite Judaism.

Orthodox Rabbinical Judaism considers that according to the Torah a person is born a Jew only if that person's Mother is Jewish. On the other hand, Karaite Judaism considers that according to the Torah a person is born a Jew only if that person's Father is Jewish.

We will examine the two readings in the Pentateuch that imply a status of the child of Israelite intermarriage to a non-Israelite. We will examine these two readings in light of the Rabbinical position as well as in light of the Karaite position. The two readings are: from Deuteronomy 7:3-4, and Leviticus 24:10-16.

Deuteronomy Chapter 7
1 When YHWH thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
2 and when YHWH thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;
3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4 For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of YHWH be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee quickly.

First, from Deuteronomy 7:3-4 "Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son. For he will turn away your son from following Me, that you may serve other gods."

The first interpretation of this is as follows (we have added in brackets the interpretation of the text):
";Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son ["he" being the Canaanite man, and "his son" being the son of that Canaanite man], nor his daughter [again "he" being the Canaanite man, and "his daughter" being the daughter of that Canaanite man] shall you take unto your son ["you" being the Israelite to whom the Torah speaks to, and "your son" being the son of that Israelite]. For he ["he" being the Canaanite man] will turn away your son ["your son" being the son of the Israelite] from following Me, that you may serve other gods. " In this interpretation, the concern expressed in the Torah is that the Israelite's son is given in marriage to a pagan woman and the pagan woman's father will teach paganism. In this interpretation there is no implication being made on the status of any possible offspring between the mixed couple.

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Posted by: Benjamin
Yochanon Zaqantov, and the people and organizations quoted on KaraiteJudaism.org, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.




When you hear our Rabbanite brothers, they use Hashem instead of his name. Hashem literally means "the name". Even some people will use Adonay instead, but why would one not use the name if its there in the Hebrew Text. We will be looking first at the reasoning for not speaking His Name. We will also examine the reasons for using his Name. So, lets examine the reason for not pronouncing the Name.

Referenced from: JewFAQ.org: The Name of G-d

Pronouncing the Name of God

Nothing in the Torah prohibits a person from pronouncing the Name of God. Indeed, it is evident from scripture that God's Name was pronounced routinely. Many common Hebrew names contain "Yah" or "Yahu," part of God's four-letter Name. The Name was pronounced as part of daily services in the Temple.

YHWH is God's name and His name is commonly used throughout the Tanakh -- by everyone, not just priests.

Genesis Chapter 24
26 And the man bowed his head, and prostrated himself before YHWH.
27 And he said: 'Blessed be YHWH, the God of my master Abraham, who hath not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master; as for me, YHWH hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren.'

Second Samuel Chapter 14
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then thy handmaid said: Let, I pray thee, the word of my lord the king be for my comfort; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad; and YHWH thy God be with thee.'


Continued from JewFAQ.org: The Name of G-d...

The Mishnah confirms that there was no prohibition against pronouncing The Name in ancient times. In fact, the Mishnah recommends using God's Name as a routine greeting to a fellow Jew. Berakhot 9:5. However, by the time of the Talmud, it was the custom to use substitute Names for God. Some rabbis asserted that a person who pronounces YHVH according to its letters (instead of using a substitute) has no place in the World to Come, and should be put to death. Instead of pronouncing the four-letter Name, we usually substitute the Name "Adonai," or simply say "Ha-Shem" (lit. The Name).

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Posted by: Benjamin
Gretchen S., and the people and organizations quoted on her site, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.


A Jewish view of "satan"
by Gretchen S.


Here is a bit about the Jewish view of Satan, as opposed to the ****ian devil. Again, Judaism has no devil, there is no embodiment of evil who tempts us, as in ****ianity. The Jewish view is very different than that portrayed by ****ains. I hope this will be clear by the end of this post.

First of all, the Hebrew word satan (sin-tet-nun sofit) means an adversary or accuser. It is used this way in Numbers 22:22. "And G-d's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the L-rd stood in the way as an *adversary* against him...." The word marked with *'s and translated as adversary is satan (actually l'satan, l' being a prefix that in the context gives the meaning "as"). Likewise in Numbers 22:32, part of the same story about Bilaam.

satan' -- Adversary

Numbers Chapter 22
21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
22 And God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of YHWH placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. -- Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. --
23 And the ass saw the angel of YHWH standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field; and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

Numbers Chapter 22
31 Then YHWH opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of YHWH standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.
32 And the angel of YHWH said unto him: 'Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is contrary unto me;
33 and the ass saw me, and turned aside before me these three times; unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I had even slain thee, and saved her alive.'

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