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Teaching from Zion Magazine

Who is a "hero"-a "hero in one culture can be a terrorist in another culture? This is the case wh... more Who is a "hero"-a "hero in one culture can be a terrorist in another culture? This is the case where the "hero" of one culture is the failure of another. An individual is heroic when his action is complimentary to his culture or political agenda. For the other side the same individual is not a "hero" at all, on the contrary the same person for the enemy would be hated and rejected and despised. May be Yeshua (Jesus) is the best example of this paradigm. For the Christians in later generations think of Jesus they see Him as a hero. When an orthodox Jew thinks about Jesus he sees Jesus as an imposter and a false messiah and inticer who used witchcraft. If a hero is someone against whom we measure truth, contradictions and inconsistencies occur because we cannot agree about what is true.

Teaching from Zion

The Lamb is an important motive in both the New Testament and the Passover narrative in Jewish li... more The Lamb is an important motive in both the New Testament and the Passover narrative in Jewish literature.

THE TORAH At the heart of the Jewish community is a synagogue. At the heart of the synagogue is t... more THE TORAH At the heart of the Jewish community is a synagogue. At the heart of the synagogue is the ark (Aron Ha-qodesh) and inside it there is a sefer Torah (a Torah scroll). In Judaism nothing is more precious and more treasured than a Torah scroll. ' Each Sabbath a portion of the Torah is read publicly. Every year the rabbis read through the Torah in the synagogue.2 Even in the first century the Jews read from the Torah each Sabbath. Paul wrote, "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath"(Acts 5:21). The Torah is the Law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible which is called the Tanak. The Tanak stands for the Torah (the Law), the Neviim (the Prophets),and Kethuvim (the Writings). English Bibles refer to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis,Exodus,Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as the Pentateuch.

This Shabbat we are in the middle of the story of Joseph and His brothers! I should say, Joseph a... more This Shabbat we are in the middle of the story of Joseph and His brothers! I should say, Joseph and his coat of many colors! This Broadway show has a very interesting name. I received an enlightened view of the story of Joseph in the Bible from the title of this Broadway operetta. This Shabbat we are reading TORAH : GENESIS 41:1-44:17, PROPHETS : ZECHARIAH 2:14-4:7, GOSPEL : LUKE 24:13-29. The reading of the Torah starts with the following words: "Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river." (Gen. 41:1 NKJV) What kind of statement is this: "Then it came to pass…"? A statement like this can only have a meaning if there is a predetermined scheduled program! Something was expected, programmed, the Directeur gave the signal, the cameras started rolling, the actors enter the stage, and the action begins… The story of Joseph is a classic lesson for every human being and for all times. Joseph starts at the top: he is loved by his father. Let us change from Joseph and put ourselves in his place. You are pampered by your father and mother! You have the best that the family can afford! You don't worry about the others around you. You see everything from your own private point of view! What a wonderful world you are living in your father's house! You forgot that others around you are living in the same house. They don't have a coat of many colors! Winter is coming and your "brothers" might not have a coat of any color, not a coat at all! On top of it all you goad your brothers and make them jealous with your visions of grandeur; "I will be the Sun and you my brothers will dance around me!" You are not the director of this show. You forgot that you are just an actor with the leading part in the show. Your brothers and family are also only actors in the show! ((We must not forget the words of William Shakespeare, "As You Like it!")) JAQUES "The whole world is a stage, and all the men and women merely actors. They have their exits and their entrances, and in his lifetime a man will play many parts, his life separated into seven acts. In the first act he is an infant, whimpering and puking in his nurse's arms. Then he's the whining schoolboy, with a book bag and a bright, young face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Then he becomes a lover, huffing and puffing like a furnace as he writes sad poems about his mistress's eyebrows. In the fourth act, he's a soldier, full of foreign curses, with a beard like a panther, eager to defend his honor and quick to fight. On the battlefield, he puts himself in front of the cannon's mouth, risking his life to seek fame that is as fleeting as a soap bubble. In the fifth act, he is a judge, with a nice fat belly from all the bribes he's taken. His eyes are stern, and he's given his beard a respectable cut. He's full of wise sayings and up-to-the-minute anecdotes: that's the way he plays his part. In the sixth act, the curtain rises on a skinny old man in slippers, glasses on his nose and a money bag at his side. The stockings he wore in his youth hang loosely on his shriveled legs now, and his bellowing voice has shrunk back down to a childish squeak. In the last scene of our play-the end of this strange, eventful history-our hero, full of forgetfulness, enters his second childhood: without teeth, without eyes, without taste, without everything." The essence of the Biblical Story of Joseph is that the forces that drive History, our own private history and the history of empires like Egypt and Rome and all forces in His World, God's World, are beyond us. We are not helpless, we are not robots, we have free will to decide our own destiny, but beyond our own destiny there is the destiny of God's World. That destiny that was predetermined before the creation of the world will not change. This world was created with a beginning and with an end. Like all the worlds, and galaxies in space our own galaxies will one day it is born as a NOVA and the next day it becomes a

The Teaching from Zion is a magazine that is published by Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in ... more The Teaching from Zion is a magazine that is published by Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in Jerusalem, Israel. This magazine is published since the mid-1970's The magazine is free and can be downloaded from our web page: www.netivyah.org

Teaching from Zion Magazine

Who is a "hero"-a "hero in one culture can be a terrorist in another culture? This is the case wh... more Who is a "hero"-a "hero in one culture can be a terrorist in another culture? This is the case where the "hero" of one culture is the failure of another. An individual is heroic when his action is complimentary to his culture or political agenda. For the other side the same individual is not a "hero" at all, on the contrary the same person for the enemy would be hated and rejected and despised. May be Yeshua (Jesus) is the best example of this paradigm. For the Christians in later generations think of Jesus they see Him as a hero. When an orthodox Jew thinks about Jesus he sees Jesus as an imposter and a false messiah and inticer who used witchcraft. If a hero is someone against whom we measure truth, contradictions and inconsistencies occur because we cannot agree about what is true.

Teaching from Zion

The Lamb is an important motive in both the New Testament and the Passover narrative in Jewish li... more The Lamb is an important motive in both the New Testament and the Passover narrative in Jewish literature.

THE TORAH At the heart of the Jewish community is a synagogue. At the heart of the synagogue is t... more THE TORAH At the heart of the Jewish community is a synagogue. At the heart of the synagogue is the ark (Aron Ha-qodesh) and inside it there is a sefer Torah (a Torah scroll). In Judaism nothing is more precious and more treasured than a Torah scroll. ' Each Sabbath a portion of the Torah is read publicly. Every year the rabbis read through the Torah in the synagogue.2 Even in the first century the Jews read from the Torah each Sabbath. Paul wrote, "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath"(Acts 5:21). The Torah is the Law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible which is called the Tanak. The Tanak stands for the Torah (the Law), the Neviim (the Prophets),and Kethuvim (the Writings). English Bibles refer to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis,Exodus,Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as the Pentateuch.

This Shabbat we are in the middle of the story of Joseph and His brothers! I should say, Joseph a... more This Shabbat we are in the middle of the story of Joseph and His brothers! I should say, Joseph and his coat of many colors! This Broadway show has a very interesting name. I received an enlightened view of the story of Joseph in the Bible from the title of this Broadway operetta. This Shabbat we are reading TORAH : GENESIS 41:1-44:17, PROPHETS : ZECHARIAH 2:14-4:7, GOSPEL : LUKE 24:13-29. The reading of the Torah starts with the following words: "Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river." (Gen. 41:1 NKJV) What kind of statement is this: "Then it came to pass…"? A statement like this can only have a meaning if there is a predetermined scheduled program! Something was expected, programmed, the Directeur gave the signal, the cameras started rolling, the actors enter the stage, and the action begins… The story of Joseph is a classic lesson for every human being and for all times. Joseph starts at the top: he is loved by his father. Let us change from Joseph and put ourselves in his place. You are pampered by your father and mother! You have the best that the family can afford! You don't worry about the others around you. You see everything from your own private point of view! What a wonderful world you are living in your father's house! You forgot that others around you are living in the same house. They don't have a coat of many colors! Winter is coming and your "brothers" might not have a coat of any color, not a coat at all! On top of it all you goad your brothers and make them jealous with your visions of grandeur; "I will be the Sun and you my brothers will dance around me!" You are not the director of this show. You forgot that you are just an actor with the leading part in the show. Your brothers and family are also only actors in the show! ((We must not forget the words of William Shakespeare, "As You Like it!")) JAQUES "The whole world is a stage, and all the men and women merely actors. They have their exits and their entrances, and in his lifetime a man will play many parts, his life separated into seven acts. In the first act he is an infant, whimpering and puking in his nurse's arms. Then he's the whining schoolboy, with a book bag and a bright, young face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Then he becomes a lover, huffing and puffing like a furnace as he writes sad poems about his mistress's eyebrows. In the fourth act, he's a soldier, full of foreign curses, with a beard like a panther, eager to defend his honor and quick to fight. On the battlefield, he puts himself in front of the cannon's mouth, risking his life to seek fame that is as fleeting as a soap bubble. In the fifth act, he is a judge, with a nice fat belly from all the bribes he's taken. His eyes are stern, and he's given his beard a respectable cut. He's full of wise sayings and up-to-the-minute anecdotes: that's the way he plays his part. In the sixth act, the curtain rises on a skinny old man in slippers, glasses on his nose and a money bag at his side. The stockings he wore in his youth hang loosely on his shriveled legs now, and his bellowing voice has shrunk back down to a childish squeak. In the last scene of our play-the end of this strange, eventful history-our hero, full of forgetfulness, enters his second childhood: without teeth, without eyes, without taste, without everything." The essence of the Biblical Story of Joseph is that the forces that drive History, our own private history and the history of empires like Egypt and Rome and all forces in His World, God's World, are beyond us. We are not helpless, we are not robots, we have free will to decide our own destiny, but beyond our own destiny there is the destiny of God's World. That destiny that was predetermined before the creation of the world will not change. This world was created with a beginning and with an end. Like all the worlds, and galaxies in space our own galaxies will one day it is born as a NOVA and the next day it becomes a

The Teaching from Zion is a magazine that is published by Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in ... more The Teaching from Zion is a magazine that is published by Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry in Jerusalem, Israel. This magazine is published since the mid-1970's The magazine is free and can be downloaded from our web page: www.netivyah.org