BeGods

Sorry once again for the delay - I have simply been distracted.

One of the books I have been reading lately is "The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation" by Brad Young. Really thought provoking so far. One thought that hit me, as I obviously have politics on my mind with the election and all the talk surrounding me in DC, is a point Young raises on p 10.

Young is explaining the meaning of parable, Mashal in Hebrew. In ancient Hebrew tradition, parables are a way of telling a story about God, as we know from what is recorded about Yeshua throughout the gospels. It is a way to reveal something about God and also conveys a moral story.

What I was struck by is the description of this verse "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God things that are God's" found in Luke 20:25, Matt 22:21 and Mark 12:17. Young says, "In Judaism, Haggadah inspires esteem for others by calling to remembrance God and each person who is created in his image...The Bible simply describes the story of creation, Haggadah reveals the ones created in God's image in the nameless faces of all humanity."

The verse above is a parable - something I wouldn't have thought until I opened up Young's book. When Yeshua is asked about if its lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, he makes one simple point: this coin has Caesar's image on it. Therefore, it belongs to Caesar. On the contrary, we all bear the image of God on our likeness. Therefore, we belong to God.

This hit me hard. Whatever I feel about myself, I belong to God. Whatever you may feel about God, you cannot escape him for you are made in his image. Whatever happens, we belong to God because our image reflects him. period. for good or for bad too - which is a scary thought. Let us hope we reflect at least a fraction of his goodness.

shabbat shalom

Rejoice!

Two thoughts, neither of which are my own but nevertheless..

“I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to " rejoice" as much as by anything else”.
-who else but CS Lewis

You have been invited to meet The Friend
No one can resist a Divine Invitation
That narrows down all our choices to just two:
We can come to God dressed for dancing
or
be carried on a stretcher to God's ward
-the lovely Hafiz

I think I'll take the dancing!

CSL

I adore CS Lewis. In fact, I used to joke that he was meant for me, if I had been born at a much earlier time and until I met my dear love. CSL was wholly devoted to his Maker, as a good skeptic can only be. As an atheist that discovered God he met his doubts face to face and took them on. I'm not saying that to truly believe, we have to doubt, but to know that we know that we know (yikes, I just quoted Sarah Palin!), sometimes we need to dig deep into ourselves and lay the doubt out before us. I love his balanced approach to spirituality. I also love how he dwelled in the details, like any good philospher, without losing sight of the vision. He reminds me a bit of rabbi - writing and observing his faith, aware of the irony, facing the difficulties, and always, with humor. I also love how he made nature so romantic. One of these days, I shall journey to the rolling green hills of the UK so I too can experience what inspired him.

So over the course of the next days, I will share some of my favorite CS Lewis quotes with you:

"Looking for God - or heaven - by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters or Stratford as one of places. Shakespeare is in one sense present at every moment in every play. But he is never present in the same way as Falstaff or Lady Macbeth. Nor is he diffused throughout the play like a gas. If there were an idiot who thought plays existed on their own, without an author...our belief in Shakespeare would not be much affected by his saying, quite truly, that he had studied all the plays and never found Shakespeare in them.

"I am not suggesting at all that the existence of God is as easily established as the existence of Shakespeare. My point is that if God does exist, He is related to the universe more as an author is related to a play than as one object in the universe is relatd to another...To some, God is discoverable everywhere; to others, nowhere. Those who do not find Him on earth are unlikely to find Him in space. (Hang it all, we're in space already; every year we go a huge circular tour in space.) But send a saint up in a space ship and he'll find God in space as he found Him on earth. much depends on the seeing eye"
-The Seeing Eye, Christian Reflections.

A more lovely autumn!

The colors have been amazing this fall! I feel so blessed to be able to experience nature's last hurrah before the coming winter.

I don't remember such color in the years past. As the saying goes, its not necessary to experience new landscapes, but to have new eyes. A car is also handy...

Yeshua's life verse

I am back - *finally* I've been sick and then busy. Its been an amazing week - one I will remember forever. I felt like I won the world series - just like 2004. When 11:00 hit the whole crowd at the drafthouse stood up with one giant yell of joy and relief! Amazing. When I am sick, the last thing I want sometimes is to think so I resort to my shallow pursuits -romantic comedies, John le Carre novels, and shallow tv shows. But I just started reading "the origins of totalitarianism" so I figured its time for me to continue my study once more as my brain power is back! So the kingdom of God is like...what?



first, i want to begin with Yeshua's life verse. A friend of mine back home and I were talking about a variety of spiritual and religious issues. I was telling her about my philosophy towards work and that I want to do "kingdom work" with my life - this is my standard, alluding to the passage in Luke 4:14 where Yeshua quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 saying:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."


Isn't this an amazing passage, quoting Isaiah. it outlines exactly what Yeshua does - with the exception of the year of jubilee. If anyone recalls a year of jubilee during the period his life is recorded in the gospels, let me know. To me, this passage almost reads like his Bar Mitzvah. The Bar Mitzvah (or Bat Mitzvah) is when a Jewish youth comes of age and is determined to be ready to obey God's commandments. (Bar means son, Bat means daughter.) After Yeshua returns from being tested in the wilderness, he goes to teach in the synagogue. and stands up to read. (note: in 4:16, the author (Luke) states that Yeshua went to Synagogue on Shabbat, "as was his custom." I wonder where this statement came from - if this was an original Luke statement, and is it evidence that Luke was gentile as most believe, or was it a later addition by editors? end note.)


The second part that is interesting to me is that instead of a passage from the Torah, he read a passage from the haftorah - reading of the prophets. some claim this tradition developed in the time of Antiochus IV Ephiphanes, when he banned the Israelites from reading the torah. To skirt around this ban, they would read passages from the prophets that corresponded somewhat to the appropriate Torah reading. The Isaiah passage cooresponds with Deuteronomy 26-29 torah passage, which is all about affirming the covenant, with the appropriate blessings and curses. This passage is intriguing, one of those parts of the torah where your gut reaction is to think that God is a meanie. But I am so thankful he gives us a choice - and carefully outlines the consequences so we can make an informed decision. And as Moshe says, this instruction is not baffling to us at all. "It is not in the heavens that you should say, 'Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say 'Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' No the thing is very close to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, to observe it." (30:12-14)

Then he admonishes us..."Choose life...by loving the Lord your God, heeding his commands, and holding fast to Him" (30:19). And how better to live, not simply breathing but living, than following in Yeshua's path, adopting his life verse, His purpose, as our own. Isn't that the stuff Kingdoms are made of? Kingdom work at least, indeed.

Shabbat shalom.

the 10 words

I've been intrigued by Exodus 34 for several months. Its a bit confusing of a chapter, particularly compared to Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 - the traditional "10 Commandments" chapters of the Torah.

Ex. 20 and Deut 5 have the same list of the 10 "words" The hebrew used in both books is "devarim" not "mitzvot", the traditional word for commandment. Below are the 10 we all know and love:
1. I am God
2. No idols
3. No name in vain
4. Shabbat
5. honor mom and dad
6. no murder
7. no adultery
8. no stealing
9. no false witness
10. no coveting.
There are some differences between the two but they are not huge really. Just those details I love (invoking Egypt vs. Creation etc.)!

Then you have Ex. 34. What tripped me up several months ago is that Exodus states this in vs. 10: "He said: I hereby make a covenant..." then there follows approximately 10 items:
1. tear down your idols
2. no covenant with inhabitants of the land
3. do not make molten gods
4. observe feast of unleaven bread
5. redeem firstborn
6. observe Shabbat
7. observe three feasts
8. observe Pesach
9. give God your first fruits
10. no boiling kid in mothers milk

Immediately after - the next verse (27)states "Adonai said to Moshe: Write down these commandments (using "devarim" the hebrew for words), for in accordance with these commandements, I make a covenant with you and with Israel." Then in 28, it says "he (Moshe) wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the ten commandments (devarim).

What is going on here? We are all in agreement, Christians and Jews alike that Ex. 20 and Deut.5 are the 10 commandments. Deut. 5 (19) claims that these are "the words - those and no more" Adonai spoke to your whole congregation with a "mighty voice." Now I always see Deut. as a more authoritative text. Its like Moshe found time over the course of 40 years in the desert to create a grand summary and was able to underline the major points. out of all the injunctions, the 613, God spoke 10 directly to the Israelites. I get this, looking over the 10 words, they are all important to remember. But are they then, the condititons of the convenant with God created at that time.

You all know the verse well I am sure - Exodus 24 has the Israelites saying with one voice " All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do," using again "devarim" instead of mitzvot. The covenant is then sealed in the blood Moshe dashes upon the people (6-8). This verse does not take place directly after chapter 20, but follows after a bunch of other rules.

What is going on here?

In the meantime, shabbat shalom.

every jot and tittle -seriously? Part 1

I am punchdrunk right now deleriously tired. its been warm and my building turned off the ac. since we live on a busy street, it is next to impossible to sleep with the windows open. and its impossible to sleep in the hot stuffiness. Grumpy am I and it is Waaaaayyyy past my bed time now.

But as I was brushing my teeth, I started thinking about how God is really against idolatry and this fact is one of the only clear issues in the Bible. the second part is what stimulated me to go to the Torah as the other day i was reading through Isaiah and thinking how muddled the writing is. it starts as a vision Isaiah had over the course of four kings - then switches to the story of how he was called Wierd way to begin a story - shouldn't it be reversed?How can we say the written word before me - right now its the new revised standard version - is inerrant? There are errors - counting errors, geographical errors, spacial errors, and some texts are clearly composite. Doesn't mean Abba did not inspire the spirit of the text and the writers, but its difficult to truly say that every single item in the text was written by God and without error.

Now I LOVE the details of the Bible - in fact this is my greatest analytical shortcoming. I am a person who sees the trees, examines them up close, studies the bark, the insects, the leaves and crisscrossing of the branches, forgetting i am in a forest or why I am there. I often fail to see the forest. So when I read something in the text, I often wonder why it is that way...its my rabbinic tendancies I guess! :) The rabbis believed or seemed to have believed that every word and, moreover, the absent of explanations or words all had meaning. Occasionally, they would fill in the story, or explain God's intention through alluding to another biblical verse for the answer or tying it to another Rabbi's interpretation. I'll try to find an example for most of you who have not seen this in another post.

What are your thoughts? i'd be curious to what you think about inerrancy? and the clear "truths" of the bible, aside from idolatry. And i hope to talk about this over the weekend, but doesn't it appear to be that Adonai doesn't deny the existance of other "gods" but tells his people - you shall not worship them?

Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur - many christians are probably wondering why I would celebrate Yom Kippur, aside from those who know my Jewish proclivities. The next best thing right? Here is how I see the holy day, through the eyes of scripture.

Leviticus 16 (or Vekirah - the call I think. Note: all books of the Torah (the five) are called after the first hebrew word of the book. End note) describes how Yom Kippur was carried out in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. The sacrifice rituals are carried out (note: the hub and I joked about sacrificing a squirrel, but the whole "without blemish" thing tripped us up. Not to mention it would be rather barbaric to sacrifice a squirrel...end note). Two goats serve as the sin offering - one marked for Adonai and one marked for "Azazel." First Aaron offers a bull to make "expiation" for himself and his family, and then he sacrifices the goat for the people of Israel's sins. After he does so and purges the "shrine" of impurity (symbolic impurities I think), he lays his hands over the second goat and confesses upon the goat the sins of the people. Once finished, this goat is led out to the wilderness "carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region." (vs.22).

Today we do not have a temple or a tabernacle and people are scattered everywhere. But we fast, as it requires in Leviticus 16:29, we "practice self-denial." in Judaism post-temple and throughout the rabbincal period, a tradition developed to say the "kol nidre" prayers. Kol Nidre literally means "all vows." its a prayer that is said approximately half way into the service. The mazor, the cantor, begins the prayer in a whispher and gets louder the second and third time, with increasing urgency. This is a prayer where we are apologizing in advance for the vows we will break in the year to come. So not only is Yom Kippur a time to reflect on your past sins (somewhat, since you should have repented already for them in the 10 days prior), admit them outloud in public as a community, hand beating heart, but also for the sins you will commit in the year to come.

During Yom Kippur day, I went into the library near where services were to learn more about the special services and the different componets. I do not have the source, but one book i read suggested that the rabbinic community decided the kol nidre prayer wasn't appropriate and forbid it until the time of the spanish inquisition. Marrano Jews (marrano means "pig") forced to convert under Catholicism and fulfill their conversions under pain of death said many vows they could not keep. Forbidding pork or working on Shabbat could lead to their execution, so the kol nidre prayer took on a special meaning for them.

The other thing I learned is that some scholars believe Yom Kippur was more of a happy occasion than it is celebrated today. After the community confessed its sins, they would through a party and even find mates. Rosh hashanah was also more of a celebratory feast. Over time, through the years in exile, both holidays became more solemn and sober.

God says to honor Yom Kippur forever "This shall be you a law for all time..." (16:29). Good enough reason for me to celebrate it. At the very least, don't we all need a day anyway where we deny ourselves and concentrate ou our relationship with our Creator? Aside from teh fact that Sunday is not the biblical shabbat, i don't ever recall it being a true time of denying oneself. not in my life at least. The other piece for me is the sin issue. Yeshua died for our sins, so the whole Yom Kippur thing isn't necessary anymore. Well - yes and no. I don't think of Yom Kippur as the key to my salvation, but it is key to me walking humbly with my God. Our sins are an obstacle to becoming a people before Him; they block the desired and required intimacy. And I don't remember to confess them every day or even what they are. As I chat the Vidui (confession), I cast off those blockages and misteps and end with a song of praise, the aleinu. its an amazing time. Yom Kippur is a time to get right with God .

thank goodness I have already repented...

So I am not blogging as much as I planned, nor have I technically launched my study on the Kingdom so you say...more on that later. I am watching the Pats with the hub now for one. Second, the weather is gorgeous - absolutely the loveliest autumn I recall!!! It pains me to be indoors typing on my computer or holed up in the library nearby. These are some pics from my day out today! A perfect, liliest of lily days - the nearby hills, apples, soy no-water chai, disc golf and foliage! There are some adorable pix of the hub but since my blog is annoymous I shall not post them...

More tomorrow on Yom Kippur, midrashic texts, and then succot! Go Patriots -please stop playing so terrible...

The book and the sword

Not to belabor the point but I did want to share a passage I promised in an earlier post from "The Book and the Sword" by David Weiss Halevi.

"When the sound of the closing of the door, after the first child was shoved into the crematorium, reached heaven, Michal, the most beneficent of angels, could not contain himself and angrily approached God. Michael asked, "Do You now pour out Your wrath upon children? In the past, children were indirectly caught up in the slaughter. This time they are the chief target of destruction. Have pity on the little ones, O Lord." God, piqued by Michael's insolence, shouted back at him, "I am Lord of the Universe. If you are displeased with the way I conduct the world, I will return it to void and null." Hearing these words, Michael knew that there was to be no reversal. He had head these words once before in connection with the Ten Martyrs. He knew their effect. He went back to his place, ashen and dejected, but could not resist looking back sheepishly at God and saw a huge tear rolling down His face, destined for the legendary cup which collects tears, and which, when full, will bring the redemption of the world. Alas, to Michael's horror, instead of entering the cup the tear hits its rim, most of spilling on the ground- and the fire of the crematorium continued to burn."

those deep green fields, those trees

6 years ago on Yom Kippur eve, I stood near the train tracks as the rain fell steadily against my face, soaking the Israeli flag i had drapped on my shoulders. We were the second to last group standing near a sight known to too many of the dead and living - the train track that led to, and stopped in the Bierkenow death/work camp in Poland. I signed up for this trip weeks ago - five days in Poland and six days in Israel - an apostolic, evangelical Christian version of the March of Dimes.

Looking back on that day, i am cognizat of how unaware I was of what I was doing. Maybe it was the fact that this was my first trip overseas really. And everything I intensely studied for the last four years was actualizing itself in front of my eyes, in the pouring rain. Those images I remember in my third grade class of haShoah, the Holocaust, of that singular train track, the crematoriums and the bunkers surrounded me. My brain was in overload, it could barely process, barely place each minute or passing hour in the broader context.

As we returned from the camps, we headed back to our "hotel," ate a large meal and spent most of the night in prayer. in the middle of the night, on yom kippur in the town of Auschwitz (Osvetim), I prayed in tongues. This series of events is something I am still processing.

If I recall correctly, after Yom Kippur ended, we went back to the death camp, which is a memorial now. Seared into my memory is a beautiful and horrific image of fields of the greenest grass I have ever seen - a former depot for the ashes. And the pond and forest, where more ashes were dropped off...there on that spot we read Ezekial 37, a prophesy of the re-creation of Israel as a nation "O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live...and they lived...a vast mulitutde."

This memory is one reason I feel as strongly as I do about Yom Kippur. One day, years ago, a group of individuals tried to destroy a people. Several nations fought to decimate this evil from spreading further. But the world did not proclaim enough in one voice. Needless to say, God was faithful in the end, for there is always a remnant, and he made a people rise again from the ashes. Its powerful and awesome to think about - its bigger than I can think about.

So Yom Kippur...tomorrow I will lay out the Torah injunctions for the Day of Atonement. We all have a deeper purpose here on this earth though, there is a reason or reasons more like it for our lives. Among other things, I see Yom Kippur as a day to truly "deny myself" and focus on my Creator, and take time to be still and listen, to ask forgiveness for my sins and the sins of my people, the Germans, and to pray that we will not be silent anymore.

Rimonim all around!

I love fall. The air turns warm with crisp mornings and reasons to wear comfortable clothes again. Everything about autumn speaks to me of comfort and coziness (except Yom Kippur, which I will get to in a minute or the next post). And it's the High Holy Days – the Days of Awe! Time to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchah Torah! It's a good time to be spiritual.

One of my favorite things about modern Judaism is how they have adapted a number of symbols for each holiday that serves to remind us about something important. For instance, bread is cooked into round shapes - some saying the circle represents the circle of life, others say it represents a crown, a symbol that God is King, as I discussed earlier.

Another food eaten at this time because it is in season are rimonim - pomegranates!!! I looooove pomegranates!! When I lived in Israel one fall, we ate rimonim practically every day. They were amazing over there and so cheap at Ben Yehuda market. Growing up, rimonim were a special treat and occasionally my mom would bring one home from the supermarket when they were on sale. I then don a big or drape myself in napkins to prevent the ruby juice from staining my clothes and savor each seed of the rimonim. In my younger years, eating a rimon was like eating rubies, the jewels of heaven! Yum! So imagine my delight eating them practically every day for a month in Jerusalem.

The Rabbis believed rimonim were a symbolic fruit for Rosh Hashanah, claiming each of the"613" seeds stood for the "613" commandments in the Torah (not just 10!). The hebrew word for commandment is Mitzva, (mitzvot in plural). While eating the seeds of the rimonim, we are to be reminded of the importance of carrying out God's mitzvot. What a great tool of remembrance for us - at least a yummy one! The High Priest of the Temple had pomegranates around the hem of his gown - reminding him of the mitvot each time he walked! (Ex. 28-33-34). In Numbers (13-23), the scouts who went out from the camp into the haeretz Yisrael brought back pomegrantes along with grapes to demonstrate how fruitful the land was. Kings and Chronicles discuss how pomegranates were displayed all over the Temple and Song of Solomon discusses how one's limbs are like pomegranates (?) Maybe if I saw a rimonim tree, I would understand that parallel...

Today most of us likely experience rimonim in the form of juice. Rimonim have lots of anti-oxidants, which in a simplistic form, contain ingrediants that boost our cells, and restore life. How perfect that pomegranates would have such properties when they symbolize the mitzvot. "Choose life", Moses pleaded with the people in Devarim 30: 15-20 after laying out the mitzvot, with the blessings and curses. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life--if you and your offspring would live--by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that Adonai swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them."

How important, as we prepare our hearts and minds for Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, that our deeds match our heart. Rosh Hashanah is also about forgiveness along with repentance, in fact, as Yeshua points out in Matthew - we are supposed to say the forgiveness prayers before we begin the process of repentance. We need to forgive others, ourselves before we can go before our Creator and turn away from our sins and errors. The hebrew for repentance is T'shuvah, which literally means to turn (directions). We can discuss mitzvot later as they are important but it will be a rich couple weeks of postings and plenty of time to explore the mitzvot, and charity vs. justice.

Next time you stumble upon rimonim in the store, pick one up and enjoy the seeds, and think of God's eternal promise to you and your role in his Kingdom.

If you so choose

In Devarim (Deuteronomy), which is one of my fav. books of the Torah. To me, it answers the so what - explaining why God wants us to do or do not. One passage I find intriguing particulalry in hindsight with respect to 1 Samuel is chapter 17, begining with verse 14.

Here God says to the Israelites, "If, after you have entered the land that Adonai assigned to you, and taken possession of it, and settled in it, you decide, "I will set a king over me, as do ll the nations about me," you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by Adonai." I find the conditions interesting and I am sure the Rabbis have much to say about this passage in the Talmud. One of these days, I'll try to look this up. Enter the land, take control, and settle. There must be peace before there is a king - the king will not quarentee peace. The israelites would have had to prove they were able warriors before they could have a king. They also must have acquired some level of wealth in order to establish themselves, and determine order. After all of this, then they are "free" to choose a king.

This freedom is interesting when one skips ahead to 1 Samuel 8:7 where Adonai says to Samuel, "heed the demand of the people in everything they say to you. For it is not you that they have rejected; it is Me they have rejected as their king." I thought Adonai was fine with them having a king - He doesn't say its a bad thing in Devarim and this is the book where God outlines how to be a people before him. What gives?

I really don't know but could speculate that it has to do with the "nations" bit. In Samuel, the people are concerned that Samuel the priest is old (is Samuel also a prophet?) and his sons are not proper replacements. They say they want a king to "govern us like all other nations." Adonai did point this out in Devarim "as do all the nations about me." This is a disturbing issue. Throughout the Torah, the laws and heavenly edicts are there to distinguish the people of Israel as distinct from the world around them. Their separateness, in essence, prove that God is truly the God - "Adonai is God, Adonai is one."

Therefore, the desire for a king is a point where the people of Israel mimic the practices of the other nations. The rest of the passage in Devarim outlines what the king should do to demonstrate his own distinctiveness as Adonai's annointed. Among all these "requirements" is one passage that stands out, beginning with vs. 18. "When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching (Devarim or the whole Torah up to that point?) written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere Adonai to observe faithfully every world of this Teaching as well as these laws (So both Devarim and the 4 other Torah scrolls) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instructions to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.

This is the key - note it does not say he is supposed to be the supreme authority on the Torah - but it should guide his life and his rule (or her life/rule).

Apples and Honey

Tonight is erev rosh hashanah - the evening(erev) of the head (rosh) of the year (shanah). Going into tonight, I must admit that I was confused about the point of rosh hashanah. There aren't pages of description in the Torah/Old Testament, just little paragraphs. Why does God care about the new year? Why does he want it ushered in with silver trumpets and the sound of the shofar? Why is the economy falling apart on the new year and can house republicans really be that stupid?

very quickly because it is past my bed time, i quickly found out why I was to celebrate rosh hashanah this year, at least for tonight (since I forgot to ask for tomorrow off and I have an important meeting). At the service, by myself with D out sick, I opened up my siddur to the very beginning to read the preface. If you have never read the preface and introduction to the Bible or prayer book, it is a must. Sometimes, such as in this book, they contain deep thoughts and explanations for why this book is the way it is for the honoring of rosh hashanah and yom kippur. Other prefaces, specifically for Bibles, are rich histories of how that particular translation came to be or the history of the printed Bible. Interesting stuff. This siddur, this prayerbook, unlocked the mystery of why I felt so keenly to skip Gossip Girl and cuddling with my husband and walk down to Rosh Hashanah services.

the preface explained that rosh hashanah is about celebrating God as King, and shaping ourselfs to be members of his kingdom. Hallelujah! how perfect is that! It noted that we are his administrators in his kingdom, there to do his will (thy kingdom come, not my kingdom come). and that it is our job to take care of his kingdom. how timely. Now there are a few remaining thoughts I remember because it is truly past my bed time...but the author of the preface noted that rosh hashanah and yom kippur speak to three things: God as King, remembrance, and redemption. The book also mentioned, and I love this thought, that the rabbis said the pivotal verse for Jews everywhere, and truly, followers of the Eternal God everywhere, Deuteronomy or Devarim 6:4 "Hear o Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (the Shema) is us saying we accept the yoke of God's Kingdom. When we say the Shema, we say here I am, King of the Universe, here to do your will.

shanah tova.

Thy Kingdom Come

"your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

What do these words mean? Over the last 8 years or so of my existence, they have come to mean everything in my walk with God. They are the reason I am launching this study, even though the situation is not exactly perfect. I have not mastered Tanahkic Hebrew, nor do own Baumgarten's four volume lexicon, nor an apple computer with the $400 dollar lexicon/translater that would allow me to dissect each word to the verb root as I desired when I thought of doing such a study years ago. And the aesthetics of my surroundings are not quite up-to-snuff. I still do not have that blue cozy chair I have coveted with the ottoman, and my window scene isn't amazing. But it ain't bad anyway, the sun is finally peeking through the dark rain clouds, the street glistens from the just fallen rain and the leaves are just beginning to turn colors. In addition, there is a Greek festival up the street with a cup of avoglomeno soup with my name all over it, and perhaps a necklace or two... yah!

So, kingdom. here or in heaven? what is God's desire? what did Yeshua mean by this verse, this prayer? Why should we pray the same way? I feel this verse makes us or breaks us as Children of God. We may not know it for a long time but I think it helps unlock how we are supposed to walk our walk with him. Where we view the kingdom of God shapes our walk - it impacts our actions and how we live our lives. It separates the wheat from the chaff. And what exactly it is is the focus of my study. What did Yeshua mean by the kingdom of God?

First, lets unpack the actual verse itself, since this will be the starting point of my study.
David Stern notes in the Jewish New Testament Commentary (which is the only reference book I have at the moment...I'll work on that) that the opening lines of Yeshua's prayer is similar in style to the opening phrase of the mourners Kaddish, the prayer that comes near the end of the Shabbat services on Friday evenings. The opening of the Kaddish reads "Let God's name be made great (hallowed) and holy in the world that was created as God willed (thy will be done). May God complete the holy realm in your own lifetime, in your days and in the days of all the house of Israel, quickly and soon."

I have always loved the Kaddish. How perfect is it that just at the point where we as an individual are mourning our loss, we collectively with our religious community, rise up and praise God. It is not about us, it is about him and his Holy name. For those suffering wrenching grief at the loss of a dear one prematurely, I understand if this does not comfort you. It just puts me in a sense of awe though, that God is sovereign. It reminds me of the time I went to Auschwitz the death camp almost a six years ago at this time but during the days of Awe, and I was crying and upset, asking God those questions everybody asks in times of tragedy, even if they do not believe in the Creator of the Universe - where were you when this occurred. Why didn't you stop it? I remember so clearly what i heard back (we can talk offline if you have an issue with me hearing things from God - feel free to ask) "I was here."

I'm not going to say I get this answer, or think its fair. I wonder too about a God that would be there among such awfulness with the crematoriums burning deep into the night and the suffering...but God is. on earth as it is heaven. Not that heaven is a bunch of brutish fascists burning people, but we as his followers did not do enough to stop it. there is line where something on earth becomes our responsibility as agents with free will. the holocaust - we did not stop it. global poverty - we have not stopped it. the genocide in darfur, the brutish acts of the burmese regime, the murders in Iran...all things we have not stopped. What is a God who gave us free will to do? what is permitted on earth is permitted in heaven; on earth as it is in heaven.

I have this passage from a book i want to share but the husband is not feeling well and sleeping in the room where the book is so I'll post it later. Plus I do not want to dwell too much on the Holocaust. The point I want to end with is that how we view the kingdom of God affects how we live our life and our walk before him. If we think its some magic place up in the clouds with streets of gold, where we get to eat whatever we want and feel no pain, and that its God's job to fix it all. In fact, the worse this place gets, the faster his kingdom of gold and chocolate mousse will come to us - then we are not going lift a finger to make this world better. If the kingdom of God is here on earth, or can be manifested here on earth and we can exercise our free will to make this place better, then we'll live the life of servants. Of course, to pull a C.S. Lewis, it could be neither of these or something in between. it is my hope that by the time this study ends, we'll all have a better idea of what we should be walking towards.

the magic kingdom

Why al memlekah? Its Arabic for "the Kingdom" which is the focal point of this blog. Why Arabic over hebrew? well, what first came to mind when I thought about blogging my study of the Kingdom of God was "mustard seed" but that name was already taken by somebody blogging about sustainability or poetry, something like that. The next name that came to mind was al memlekah, which I will forever associate with Paul Oakenfield's "dead can dance" song because of the movie "the Kingdom" about an FBI team's time in Saudi Arabia.

That movie was so fascinating to me since I had been to Saudi Arabia, a place we call in my line of work "the magic kingdom" as things are not always as one would think in the Kingdom. I thought the trailer for the movie was pretty bitchin and since I was in arabic class at the time, al Memlekah immediately popped into my head whenever i saw the trailer.

For some reason, hamamlakah - the hebrew version of the kingdom is not as strong as al memlekah. or at least for me the connotations are not as strong. the arabic, with its thoughts of the Saudi desert passing underneath my airplane, or the camels wandering on the white sand, or that time i at dominos pizza surrounded by bikini clad saudi women at the beach club seem a great intro to my study of the kingdom of God, which I feel in many ways is not going to match all my preconceived notions of what the Kingdom of God is and when will it come, or at least the notion may continue to do the mind warp that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to do to me. At the very least using the arabic and talking about Saudi Arabia means I can post some of my pics, with the caveat that one is not allowed to take pixs in al memlekah so don't turn me in to any religious police you may know!

Another note on language and word usage, I am going to use Jesus' Hebrew name, Yeshua, because I like it better.

Be extraordinary

At some point in our lives, we face a choice to live life in a drab, monotone manner, stuck in the routine of workweekendwork or to sieze a far off idea while in some punchdrunk state of little sleep, with that no-water soy chai from 6:30 am ritzy starbucks still running through your bloodstream at 10:21 pm. And the thought occurs, that its time to make life happen in this city i hate on some days, most days because it does not inspire me and drains me as i toll for my paycheck and benefits. I think, i don't have to be a routine. I don't have to settle for starbucks. I am not limited to Times New Roman in size 14 font. I don't have to let my thoughts bounce around only in my head. I can learn how to wiki! I can create something! I can be extraordinary. I can be God's.

This blog will be me trying to capture the inspirational and a reflection of my journey to unpack the kingdom of God.