What in the world is a "mezuzah?"

Those who have been Torah observant for a while, know what a "mezuzah" is, and probably have one on their door. But for those who don't, you'll find this very interesting:

A mezuzah is a piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21). These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael", beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, ADONAI our God, ADONAI is One."

Here is the origin of the mezuzah:

Deuteronomy 6: 4 "Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; 5 and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.(CJB)

Deuteronomy 11: 18 Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead; 19 teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up; 20 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.... (CJB)

To help remind Believers that YHWH is always with them, they affix a mezuzah to the door frame of their homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9). In that passage, YHWH commands His people to keep His words constantly in our minds and in our hearts by (among other things) writing them on the doorposts of our house.

The case containing the scroll is nailed or affixed usually (but not necessarily!) to the door frame about one third from the top of the door jamb with the top of the Mezuzah at an angle (facing toward the center of the room one is entering.) The reason many affix it at an angle is because the Rabbis couldn't decide whether to attach it horizontally or vertically. No Mezuzah is affixed at the entrance to bathrooms and toilets, for obvious reasons.

When affixing a Mezuzah to your door one recites the prayer:

Hebrew: "Baruch attah YHWH eloheynu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu likboa m'zuzah"

English: Blessed art Thou, O YHWH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments and commanded us to affix a Mezuzah.

Every time you pass through a door with a Mezuzah on it, you touch the mezuzah. This merely shows your love and respect for YHWH and His Word, and indicates that you have opened the doors of your heart to Him.

Revelation 3: 20 "Behold I have been standing at the door, and I will knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door. I will come in to him, and will dine with him and he with Me."

It is proper to remove a Mezuzah when you move, and in fact, it is usually recommended. If you leave it in place, the subsequent owner may treat it with disrespect.

The Mezuzah is significant for Believers because when we place it on our doorpost it is symbolic of us having Torah written upon our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Proverbs 3:1,3; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26. 27; Romans 2:14, 15; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:8-12; Hebrews 10:16).

In 2 Corinthians 3:3 Rav Shaul (Rabbi Paul) references Jeremiah 31:33 indicating YHWH has written Torah upon our hearts - therefore we are a spiritual Mezuzah since we become "containers" of YHWH's Torah!

The Mezuzah on the doorpost of our homes displays a powerful message that our household honors YHWH and that it is dedicated to His Torah!

What's the difference between Passover and Yom Kippur?

READER QUESTION:  What's the difference between Passover and Yom Kippur, since Yeshua died on our behalf:

OUR RESPONSE: 

The death of the Messiah represented a REDEMPTION, the necessary "substitution" for us just as the lives of the Hebrews first born were spared by the redeeming blood of the lambs on the evening of the original, and only, "pass-over" (Exodus 12:13). This was a GIFT to those who believed. Notice that even the Egyptians, if they had complied with the command, would have been spared their first-born! All it took was the belief and acceptance of YHWH as their God.

Similarly, the death of the Messiah was a one-time GIFT to those who accepted the offer of his redemption for them, no matter their sins to that point. (That one-time gift remains for us today.)

Yom Kippur, on the other hand, was that one time a year that the Cohen could enter the Holy of Holies to atone for the multiple inadvertent sins of the people for their very lives. Today, Yom Kippur remains our individual time to come to YHWH to repent and make good our personal sins for the year and our sins against others, for we all continue to sin unintentionally even though we remain covered by the Messiah’s blood redemption for us. 

Think about it. At the Passover, the first-born, those who belonged to him (Exodus 13:2), died if the people did not obey YHWH - humans and their animals alike. But at Yom Kippur, it's about what sentient humans have done - their own actions - for which one must seek honest repentance and acquittal.

Thus, the Passover event was the connection to the Messiah dying at that same time of year as the original and only “pass over” - to redeem ALL who have "taken YHWH as their God." We must all be redeemed *by blood* if we are to enter the Kingdom (Leviticus 17:11).

And Yom Kippur remains our annual time of acknowledgment of our shameful, inadvertent sins; otherwise, we must find a way to bring back the animal sacrifices so we can be "redeemed" over and over again, each time we sin unintentionally……

If you’ve never participated in a Passover seder, here’s help!

For those who are new to the idea of Torah, and have never participated in a Passover seder (celebration either at a Messianic synagogue, or your own, at home), we invite you to print off our Passover Haggadah, which sets forth the order of the Passover Seder.

Passover/Unleavened Bread/Hag HaMatzot celebrates the deliverance of the slaves from Egypt. It is the story of redemption by the killing of the Passover Lamb, the blood of which was applied to the doorposts while the Israelites were still in Egypt, shortly before their Exodus.

Obedience to the command to take a lamb into their homes for a few days and then kill it for the purpose of spreading its blood on the doorposts ensured that their firstborn would be spared the Tenth Curse against Pharoah who refused to let God's enslaved Chosen People leave Egypt. When the Angel of Death passed through the land and saw the blood, he "passed over" those houses and spared the first born within (Exodus 12:1-13).

Exodus 23:14-16: "Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah (unleavened bread) at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts."

Passover not only serves as a reminder of the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt; but it is also the story of redemption through Messiah Yeshua, whose shed blood on the cross freed Believers from the slavery of earthly bondage to "the world!"

Yeshua fulfilled this event when he was crucified. However, please note, he was NOT "the Passover Lamb!' Why? Because (1) the original Passover lamb in Egypt was not a "sin "sacrifice"; it was a "substitute", a "redemption"; and (2) no one "sacrificed" Yeshua, as he martyred himself to shed his divine blood on our behalf.

Please read our in-depth explanation of Passover and how to observe it.

Have you ever noticed that Matthew 22:36-39 is often taken out of context?

Have you ever noticed that Matthew 22:36-39 is often taken out of context?

Matthew 22:36. "Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?" 37. And Y'shua said to him, that "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind." 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." (AENT)

For some reason, that passage keeps being twisted into the idea that "loving God and your neighbor" is ALL that's expected of you, rendering null and void YHWH's original, Divine Instructions called "Torah."

That is a HUGE mistake, because YHWH's Torah commands are our ONLY blueprint for moral, holy living!  Yet, people will respond with some nonsensical comment such as, "Well, NOBODY can keep all those 613 original commands, and the Bible says if you break one, you've broken them all."

Statements like that reveal that people have completely missed the fact that YHWH never, ever said that EVERYONE had to adhere to "all 613 commands," as MOST of His instructions were directed at the Levite cohens (priests); while some were only for men; some only for women; and some were only for a certain time frame...  (By the way, men numbered them, not Him.)

HOWEVER - and please take note of this:  Some were meant to last FOREVER and for ALL Believers! (See Exodus 12:49, Numbers 15:13-16, Isaiah 56:6, Galatians 3:28 and Romans 10:12-13.) I'm talking about those verses where YHWH specifically states His people must do something "forever" or "throughout your generations" - such as keeping His Seventh Day Sabbath REST (which is a SIGN between YHWH and those who are HIS, Exodus 31:16-17; Ezekiel 20:11-12), and celebrating His 7 Feasts (i.e., Exodus 12 and 34; Deuteronomy 16:1-8, Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 28:16-25, Romans 6:4, II Cor. 5:21, etc.), and eating only "clean" foods … all the things designed to set HIS people apart from "the world."

“But,” some will retort, “the death of Jesus abolished all that on the cross!”

…Nope, it did not!  Please pay close attention to what you are about to read:

It is imperative to remember that, yes, Yeshua WAS and IS “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), and that his divine blood redeemed us.  HOWEVER, YHWH’s TORAH did NOT die when Yeshua’s FLESH was “crucified!” If someone refuses to believe that, then perhaps this next sentence might help change their mind:

Since Yeshua was the “Arm” of YHWH (Isaiah 53:1) and the Word of YHWH (John 1:1, 14), and he died on the cross/stake, then the “Word” (Torah) ALSO ROSE AGAIN when he was resurrected!

Isaiah 40:8 says: “Grass shall wither, the flower shall fade, but the word of our ELOHIM stands forever. (See 1 Peter 1:24-25.)

While YHWH eventually recorded TEN in stone, we must remember, these ten are just part of the larger picture taken from His Torah, which He said would stand forever. Many people balk at this idea because they are under the erroneous impression that they don't even have to bother even keeping the TEN Commandments anymore (let alone the "613"); but, rather, just TWO.  HUGE MISTAKE!

Let's take a closer look at what Matthew 22 actually says:

Matthew 22:36. "Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?" 37. And Y'shua said to him, that "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind." 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." (AENT)

Unfortunately, people always seem to stop right there, totally ignoring the NEXT verse, verse 40, which says:  "On these two commandments HANG Torah and the prophets."

THAT tells us, there is "something more" to this passage!

For instance, does verse 40 imply that all of God's original instructions have been done away with or were somehow replaced? NO! The Torah and the Prophets HANG/ARE DEPENDENT ON those two commands!

There's more to pleasing YHWH than just "loving God and loving your neighbor!" SIN is still sin and God still expects His people to adhere to His Divine Standards for moral, holy living!

The thing is, people love to pick and choose and play around with the commandments that were written in stone - such as, for instance, the Fourth Commandment concerning the seventh-day Sabbath. Christianity has decided that the death of Jesus somehow changed YHWH's Seventh Day Sabbath rest to a church event done on Sunday morning (which is mostly based on the writings of what they THINK Paul wrote); which, more often than not, concentrates on bands and entertainment instead of solid Torah teachings (after all, they believe the "law" is considered a curse!)... after which some go home to mow their lawns and clean their houses, or return to the office to catch up on some work....

It seems mankind has always liked to "pick and choose" when it comes to God's Word, but it's time to realize that the “forever” or “throughout your generations” commands were NEVER abolished ... on the cross, or anywhere else!

2 Timothy 3:16. All Scripture that was written by the Spirit is profitable for instruction and for decisive refutation, and for correction, and for deep extensive learning in righteousness; 17. that the man of Elohim may become perfect and complete for every good work. (AENT)

Responding to a rabbi who insists that “the whole Bible is Torah” and that the entire Bible is about Jesus, and simply believing in Jesus suggests you are Torah observant….

Here's our response to a 24-minute video of Rabbi who insists the whole Bible (not just those five Books of the Bible) are "Torah"; that you are Torah observant by simply “believing in Yeshua”; and that the entire Bible is about Yeshua because he is God:

While Yeshua was “the Word” (John 1:1, 14) and the “arm” (Isaiah 53:1) and as such, a PART OF YHWH, he “alone” was NOT the totality of who “YHWH” is. He is NOT the “whole focus,” as Rabbi Zev Porat asserts. Without YHWH, Yeshua would not exist.

Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (NOTE: He didn’t say he sent himself.)

Luke 8: 1. And it happened after these things that Y'shua was going around in the cities and in the villages and was preaching and declaring the Kingdom of Elohim.

If the entire Bible is “all about Jesus,” where does that leave YHWH - the One who sent Yeshua and to whom Yeshua prayed while on earth? If Yeshua is God, then why were YHWH’s people in the wilderness/desert for FORTY YEARS, being told “there is no other God except for me” (Exodus 20:3; also Isaiah 45:5-6, 21; Psalm 83:18; Mark 12:32, etc.); and WHY do we see HIM calling Himself YHWH, and not “Yeshua, while revealing His Name to Moshe?

Here are YHWH’s words, in black and white:

Exodus 3: 13 And Mosheh said to Elohim, "See, when I come to the children of Yisra'el and say to them, 'The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His Name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 And Elohim said to Mosheh, "I am that which I am." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Yisra'el, 'I am has sent me to you.'" (ISR)

NOTE: The Hebrew text reads: ’eyeh ’asher ’eyeh, the word ’eyeh being derived from hayah which means to be, to exist, but the Aramaic text here in v. 14 reads: ayah ashar ayah. This is not His Name, but it is an explanation that leads up to the revelation of His Name in v. 15, namely: .

Exodus 3:15 And Elohim said further to Mosheh, "Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra'el, ' Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yitsh'aq, and the Elohim of Ya'aqob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.' (ISR)

If what Rabbi Porat asserts is true, then YHWH has been toying with us humans over the millennia to keep us confused and fighting about who He is and who His MESSIAH is!

Let’s take a closer look at these assertions:

If Rabbi Porat is correct and Yeshua is ELOHIM/God, then he sent himself to earth, caused himself to be born via a human woman, had his diapers changed, allowed Satan to “tempt” him; and ultimately – while basically sweating bullets - prayed to himself before he died, begging GOD to “take this cup from me”…

John 6: 35. Y'shua said to them, I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will not hunger. And whoever believes in me will not ever thirst. 36. But I have said to you that you have seen me, and you do not believe. 37. All who my Father has given to me will come, and whoever comes not to me I will cast outside!

38. For I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. 39. And this is His will, that of Him who sent me, that all that He has given to me I do not lose even one. 40. For this is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in Him, will have life that is eternal. And I will raise him up on the last day.(AENT)

Notice, Yeshua keeps talking about the “will of his Father?” If Yeshua himself is GOD, then how can GOD have a Father? And can GOD can be born and die? How does that make him any different from us mere, filthy human beings who are born into a fallen, sin-laden world?

When Moshe wrote the TORAH (the first 5 Books) there were no “writings or prophets” to complete the Tanach! Therefore, there is a reason why the Writings of Paul and James, and John, and the Gospels are NOT considered part of the Tanakh - they were not written by prophets!

The Gospels are the record of the Messiah's birth and his teachings of and about Torah and why he was sent, and the rest (mostly Paul) are about how we are supposed to understand what Yeshua did and said and how we are to incorporate into our lives. The New Testament is NOT "new" Torah or "more" Torah!

So, how can anyone even suggest that the actual Word of God is not just the 5 Books of Moses (which are the ONLY Books that contain YHWH’s original, Divine Instructions!

YES, the entire Bible applies to us, but ONLY those FIRST FIVE Books contain the INSTRUCTIONS OF YHWH (the “Father” – without whom “Yeshua” would not have existed, much less, become our Divine Messiah)!

Rabbi Porat asks: “How do we follow the Word of God, how do we follow the Torah …. And the definition of Torah, according to the Word of God is the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. If you’re born again, if you’re under the blood of Yeshua (Jesus), if you call upon Yeshua/Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, if you believe that he died on the tree and the cross for your sins, he rose on the third day, and if you repent and believe, you have full redemption of sins, then you, according to the Bible, are Torah observant.”

Sorry but that is downright FALSE! This is the typical Christian dogma, because “just believing in Jesus” is only part of the equation to have eternal life! Take a look at Yeshua’s own words and then continue reading ALL of John 17 on your own:

John 17: 1. Y’shua spoke these things and he lifted up his eyes to Heaven and said My Father the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that your Son might glorify you. 2. Just as you have given him authority over all flesh that whomever You have given him, he will give to him life that is eternal.

3. Now this is life that is eternal, that they might know You, that You are the Elohim of Truth, and he alone whom You have sent, the Mashiyach Y’shua. 4. I have glorified You on earth. The work that You have given to me to do I have finished it. 5. And now glorify me my Father with You in that glory that I had with You from before the world was.

6. I have made Your Name known to the sons of those men whom You had given to me from the world. They were Yours and You have given them to me, and they have kept Your Word. 7. Now they have known that everything that you have given to me I have given to them and they received them. 8. And they know that I have truly proceeded from your presence, and they believe that You have sent me.

9. And I plead for them. It is not for the world I plead; rather, for those whom you have given to me because they are Yours. 10. And everything that is mine is Yours, and Yours is mine and I am glorified by them. 11. Henceforth, I will not be in the world, and these are in the world. And I am coming to Your presence. Kadosh[1] Father, keep them by your Name,[2] that which you have given to me, that they may be one as We are. (AENT)

NOTES:

[1] Kadosh/Set Apart means that YHWH and His Word will never change; we can put our trust in Him knowing He will keep His Word.

[2] A very key passage. Aramaic literally reads that YHWH gave His Name to Y’shua; therefore, he has the Name of his Father within him.

No, sir, the Bible is NOT all about Messiah Yeshua; it is all about YHWH – who handed down His Divine Instructions and sent His MESSIAH to earth in the womb of a virgin! The life of Messiah is only thoroughly discussed in the New Testament, which is approximately the LAST FIFTH of the Bible. Yeshua does not exist without YHWH. That is a fact revealed in Scripture.

SIGH! Those pesky “uncanonized books” just keep being lauded….

If you’re among those who like to insist that we need to use uncanonized books to "fill in the blanks historically, " then please read the following:

There were good reasons for certain books to be left out of the canon!  It’s because they either contained doubtful authenticity, or they had unknown authorship, were of doubtful origins, or were historically or geographically off the mar.  Therefore we don’t have a right to pick and choose what to believe in them.

We simply have to remember, they are NOT part of the Bible for a reason! Yet, many people who find their way to Torah, FLOCK to these books, because they think they contain "secrets" that have been kept from us – one example being that the angel called “Gadreel” is actually Cain’s father… never mind that SCRIPTURE says Adam and Eve had Cain: Genesis 4:1.

The reality is, veering from your study of Scripture to pursue knowledge from those EXTRA-Biblical, UNCANONIZED books, is like coming upon a massive, bloody car pileup on the freeway. No matter how gory, your mind WANTS to see .... and then you have nightmares because you can't un-see people’s brains and guts all over the road.

Unfortunately, most people seem to be conspiracy theorists, drawn to things that aren't necessarily true or are somehow "forbidden knowledge." Reading those books gives people the idea that they're privy to "something they shouldn't know" - and, to them, it becomes way more important than actual Scripture. As a matter of fact, once they start reading those books, they don't even know if they're reading an actual copy of Jasher or Enoch, or whatever, because there are many “fakes” of those books out there….

For instance, let's take a look at the several reasons the Book of Enoch not canonized"

First, we have no authoritative Book of Enoch; rather, we have documents that purport to be the Book of Enoch. It's pseudepigrapha.

Secondly, its calendar is indecipherable being only an agricultural calendar based on the sun, not matching scripture.

Thirdly, it contradicts the canonized scriptures and, honestly, could we have today a "book" written by a man who existed such a long time before the Flood? While we have evidence of some very ancient writings on tablets, few, if any, have been shown to have been written by anyone prior to the flood.

Yes, stories of Enoch circulated in Biblical times. He is even mentioned in Jude 1:14 regarding a prophecy from Enoch. But since Jude was written in the First Century CE, its reference to Enoch is most likely only expressed from oral tradition and not any "Book of Enoch" which is nowhere mentioned in scripture.

The bottom line is this: No matter what the latest scuttlebutt is - Rome did NOT replace everything for its own ends! While Rome attempted to tamper with some things, the Eastern-Aramaic traditions escaped their greedy hands by being preserved in Persia, which was outside their influence. And the Greek actually also didn't fare as totally badly as some had feared either, because we can check it against the Aramaic to make sure.

In the end though, line by line and concept by concept, YHWH has preserved the totality of His Word to mankind. We should never let questions about this line or this version of the text distract us from the big picture, but let the mystery of understanding His Word drive us to appreciate it more and more for the Set-Apart revelation that it is ... without trying to FORCE extra-biblical writings into HIS Word!

How is the Sabbath a “sign”?

READER COMMENT: Referring to the Sabbath being a “sign” I looked up the word ¨sign´, the definition I got was a signal or mark. My question then is, are YAH´s people the ones who keep the sabbaths and the others who are SUN-day worshippers are the ones who are disobiedent and does not keep the sabbath. The scripture say the sabbat is a sign between YHWH and the believers. I need some feedback on this. Thanks.

OUR RESPONSE:

Let’s start with some pertinent scripture passages:

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. 2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.

Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"

Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

Yes, "sign" means, in its narrowest sense, a "signal or mark". Indeed, by this definition, many think a "sign" must be visible. But as used in scripture some 79 times, it means many things including a signal, flag, beacon, evidence, mark, token, etc. What is missed in trying to translate the Hebrew word אוֹת "oth" (sometimes spelled "owt") as "sign" is that אוֹת, (oth), is evidence of something either literally or figuratively. The rainbow (Genesis 9:13) is a literal sign. Observance of the Passover and the Feast of Mazah (Exodus 13:5-9) is a figurative sign.

So "keeping the Sabbath" is a "sign" because YHWH commanded it and we are to do just that as our part of the covenant with Him. No one actually "sees" us "keep the Sabbath", so here the sign is figurative. We "keep the sabbath" when we DON'T do those things we want to do like go to movies or go shopping or watch a sports game, etc. Instead, we set aside the Shabbat as holy, for Him as He asked. So the "sign" is that we keep the Sabbath in our lives. (Isaiah 58:13-14.)

Another example:

Many say the Month cannot be renewed when the moon is in conjunction because when the moon is in conjunction, it can't be seen. They say "How is the moon a sign if you can't see it?" So they think the "sign" of the new month is the sighted crescent. The problem is that they don't realize the when the moon can't be seen, that IS the sign of the new month! This is because the moon is always visible, all month (sometime during every day), except when it is in conjunction. So this is another example of a "figurative" sign. You can't see the moon, but the fact that you can’t see it IS the sign.