By Joseph Shulam.
The good custom of reading the traditional Jewish Torah portions every week has so many healthy factors for the person themselves and their family. My family was 120% secular, anti-all religions, and especially ultra-orthodox traditions. Friday night, holiday nights, there was a family meal. So, what was the conversation around the table? It always started with the food. My father (when he was at home) would pour the wine into his cup and say something good to my mother about the cooking and the food. After commenting to my mother, he would turn to my grandmother, who was already in her mid-80s, and tease her, asking how much money she was hiding in her skirts. If there were guests after drinking the first small cup of Arak, he would start the conversation about the politics of the past week. By the time the food on the plate was diminishing, the discussion about the political situation was already boiling, the voices were already loud, and the language was on fire. A few minutes later, our guests (family or neighbours) would apologise, say goodnight, and go home; This was a weekly exercise.
Our next-door neighbours were Hungarian Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews. Their Friday evenings were different. First of all, they very seldom had guests! Their family was a survivors of the Nazi holocaust, they didn’t have many friends or family. But when my father was not at home (often), they would invite me to join their Friday evening meal because they had two boys and I was good friends with them. Like my father, the father started by saying nice things and thanking his wife for preparing for the Sabbath, cooking, cleaning, and making everything ready for the Sabbath day. Second, the father blesses the bread and the wine and passes the big chalice (silver cup) to each one around the table. After everyone starts serving themselves from the plates in the middle and passing them to the others, the father asks the boys about the Torah portion. The discussion always revolved around the word of God, which was supposed to be read before the Sabbath entered. There was never a talk about politics or gossip about people who were not in the room. The Torah and the Prophets were the topic of discussion. This was not every day, not every dinner; it was the formula for Shabbat evening on Friday.
Our neighbours would dress in their Shabbat clothing and, as a family, go to synagogue on Shabbat morning. Sometimes, they would invite me to join them and go to synagogue with them on special occasions. I liked getting up, dressing in my best clothing, and visiting the synagogue with my neighbours. However, their synagogue was Ashkenazi, and it was hard for me as a child to understand what they were saying or reading because of their Yiddish language and accent.
I am sharing these childhood memories because there is something special for a family every Friday night to have a special event where the conversation is about a set order. The discussion is about the Torah portion that all the religious Jews worldwide read on the same date, gathered around the festive Shabbat dinner table to discuss God’s Word. Even if a person is an idiot, something from that discussion and reading sinks into their hard head. The Torah and the prophets we read every week sink into our heads, even if made from hardened vanadium steel.
In writing every week about the Torah portions, reading from the prophets every week, and sending this prayer list to you almost every week, I learn something new when I read the texts from the Torah and the prophets. It is a good exercise and a healthy diet of pure spiritual food. What you read and share with your family, nutritious food on the table, candlelight, and a small cup of wine, make it a warm, pleasant, and positive experience. But, best of all, repeating the reading of a small portion from the Torah and from the Prophets, and you can also add a parallel text from the New Testament, makes you and your family have this childhood memory a pleasant, positive, and wonderful experience of your family life and extra knowledge of God’s Word. In every synagogue around the world, reading the Torah text and the reading from the prophets drip-feed your memory with God’s word.
This Shabbat’s readings are from the Torah portion called Nasso, Numbers 4:21 – 7:89.
From the prophets, the Haftarah is from Judges 13:2-25.
We read from the New Testament this week from Luke 1:11-20.
Something just popped into my mind. The reading from the Torah (law), the prophets, and the New Testament is usually chosen by ancient tradition because there is a relationship between the Torah and the prophets and the New Testament. The texts are chosen because there is something in common between these readings. It demonstrates that the Bible is connected through and through, deals with similar issues in the Old and New Testaments, and has one agenda of the Holy Spirit for all humanity – a good life that leads us to heaven.
The connections between Numbers 4–7, Judges 13, and Luke 1 are theological and structural, centering around priestly service, Nazirite vows, miraculous birth narratives, and divine purpose for a child even before birth.
The opening short paragraph that starts our Torah reading of the Nasso (take a count) portion is very important to me personally.
Numbers 4:1-3, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house, 3 from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.”
1. Principle number one is any work (job) humans must do is first of all “WHO” will do this job. What qualifications are necessary for the person to do this job? I made the mistake more than once as a minister of God’s Good News, (the gospel) and chose workers because they were available, I liked them, and I needed someone quick to do the job, and because they were available. This is why I made some bad mistakes that cost me my health. When I had to dismiss these brothers and sisters, it was so hard for me that I had my first heart attack, having to dismiss brothers and sisters from the job. The tools and rules that God gives Moses are as follows: 1) take a count of what you have in your hands. Make choices for men and women; when possible, to know these people’s families, it would be wise to watch the family, not just the people themselves. The apple never falls far from the tree!. 2) Consider the age of the person you expect to do the job. You don’t want someone too young and inexperienced, and you don’t want someone who is already wilting.
2. Each servant (who could also be a volunteer) should have a specific realm of authority and a specific task that is clearly described for him, and if necessary, he should be trained for efficiency.
3 The next thing that our Torah reading teaches us is one of the most interesting things in the Torah. Includes laws of purity, restitution, and the ordeal of the sotah (jealousy offering for a suspected adulteress). In every context where you have more than one person working, you need to watch and ensure that you have a team. A team is a group of people who have trust between its members and a visible and experienced commitment. If there is doubt about a team member’s integrity, there has to be an agreement to test the person’s questionable character or behavior before you dismiss them. This is a test of the integrity and honesty of the person in the context of their responsibility.
4 The test here is of a woman who is suspected of sexual impropriety. It is like a machine designed to test whether someone speaks the truth. It is without electronics but with a deep psychological understanding of the soul of our human nature. The priests make a drink that, if the person is not speaking the truth, will give the suspect a severe stomach pain and an attack. The central point is this: don’t condemn a person or accuse him of something without testing him. We are all complex animals and have faculties that are unique to us as humans. Give the suspected lawbreaker a chance to test to see if the suspect speaks the truth!
The following situation is critical: the Nazarite Vow. We have several important Biblical characters who took the Nazarite Vow, and Samson is one of them. Paul took a Vow, and in the book of Judges, the Judge Jephthah took a terrible Vow. He was thinking of something good, but he didn’t consider all of the possibilities and had a tragic choice to make. Paul vowed to return to Jerusalem before he finished his mission to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. “So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow.” (Acts 18:18 NKJV).
We have the instruction from Yeshua, repeated by James (Jacob). Our readings on this Shabbat make it a good point to end this long prayer List teaching.
Matthew 5:37 But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your ” No ” be “No.” For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
James 5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
In our readings this Shabbat, we have other important events like the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Yeshua and his circumcision and dedication in the temple, all these important Biblical and Jewish rules, but this prayer list teaching is getting too long. I will stop here because these other essential teachings are repeated yearly at Christmas; most of you already know them. God bless you all and have a wonderful Shabbat. Have a great week next week. Please pray for Marcia, my wife, and for my health.