Scroll to Scroll: Todays Parsha #25: Tzav (Command)

SPECIAL NOTE: Revised Torah Portion Schedule! Some of you have asked me about the listings on my calendar and how it relates to the Torah portions we actually do. My calculations for the sun, moon and stars on the calendar are the main focus and are very intensive; the Torah readings, while usually correct, are put as a guideline only. When double portions begin hitting, as they do at this time of year and Great Feasts like Pesach also intervene, I sometimes reserve for myself a bit of flexibility to slightly modify the schedule due to a variety of factors. Regardless of those factors however, my goal is always to keep people fundamentally on time and in unity with Jewish worship as much as possible even if sometimes my double portions are a little different, they all catch up in the end. So here is the revised schedule for the next month or so March 23rd: Tzav March 30th: Shabbat in the Middle of Pesach (Pesach Special) April 6th: Shemini April 13th: Tazria/Metzora April 20th: Acharei Mot/Kedoshim April 27th: Emor May 4th: BeHar/BeChukkotai Please also note that there are some format changes with Double Portions. Because two portions go up at the same
1|Page

time, generally speaking I have one set of Study Questions and one Torah Thought for the Week to cover both parts. Otherwise, no one can get a week to work out the answers to the issues raised. I will be reproducing these notes throughout this period of time, but if you have any questions, please ask! Todah! Andrew PS-The Special Moedim Teaching, or Pesach Special, does not have a Torah 101 version. All Great Feast teachings are free and open to everyone.
PART 1: THE LAST AND CURRENT TORAH PORTIONS ANSWERS TO LAST WEEKS STUDY QUESTIONS (Vayikra): 1) What is one possible message we can derive from the meaning of the names towards the end of Exodus 38? In the shadow of El [Betzalel], (is) My light [Uri]. (In His) hole/pit [Hur], (is) praise [Judah]. My fathers tent [Oholiab], my brother has supported [Ahisamach] (and) judged [Dan]. 2) If you know the answer to #1, is there anything that has happened recently in the Torah or perhaps elsewhere in Tanakh that this coded message might apply to? The first sentence seems to apply to Moshe on Mount Sinai. He was in the shadow of El and yet YHWH wrote the Ten Commandments through the light of His divine presence. The second sentence seems more apt about Jonah, who in the hole or pit of big fishs stomach he praised YHWH in prayer. Or it might refer to when the earth split open to swallow up the Golden Calf worshippers and others were killed by the Levites which was in a sense counted as praise unto YHWH for righting the great sin.

2|Page

The third sentence, if slightly modified from the way I have it, might apply to Moshe and Aaron. My Fathers tentmeaning our Heavenly Father YHWHwas supported by Moshes brother Aaron, but Aaron himself has been judged for his sins with respect to the Golden Calf. In that case the last part of this sentence would change from and judged to and he (Aaron) has been judged. 3) How is another detail about Betzalel directly related to both a Gospel event and our future? Since Betzalels name adds up to 153, this is connecting him to the only time in the Scripture that this number directly appears (Joh 21:1) After these things Y'shua revealed himself again to his disciples by the sea of Tiberius. Now he appeared in this way: (Joh 21:2) There were together Shimon Keefa and Tooma, who is called the Twin,236 and Nathaniel (Bar-Tulmay), who was from Qatneh of Galeela, and the sons of Zawdee, and two others of the disciples. (Joh 21:3) Shimon Keefa said to them, "I go to catch fish." They said to him, "We will also come with you." And they departed and embarked into a ship. And during that night they did not catch anything. (Joh 21:4) And when it became morning, Y'shua stood at the edge of the sea, and the disciples did not realize that it was Y'shua. (Joh 21:5) And Y'shua said to them, "Children, do you have something to eat?" They said "No!" to him. (Joh 21:6) He said to them, "Cast your net from the right side of the ship and you will find." And they cast it and they were not able to drag the net in from the multitude of fish that it had caught. (Joh 21:7) And that disciple whom Y'shua had loved said to Keefa, "This man is our Master!" And when Shimon heard237 that it was our Master, he took his garment and girded his loins, because he was naked, and threw himself into the sea that he might come to Y'shua. (Joh 21:8) But the other disciples came by boat for they were not very far from the land, only but about two hundred cubits, and they were dragging that net of fish. (Joh 21:9) When they had come up onto the land they saw burning coals, and placed fish and placed bread upon them. (Joh 21:10) Y'shua said to them, "Bring some of those, now that you have caught fish!" (Joh 21:11) And Shimon Keefa embarked and dragged the net to land, being full of one hundred and fifty and three great fish.238 And with all this weight, that net was not torn. (Joh 21:12) Y'shua said to them, "Come dine." Not one of the disciples did dare to ask him who he was, for they had known that he was our Master. Now since Yshua had commanded his apostles, Follow me and you shall 3|Page

be fishers of men that 153 fish can only be symbolic of the followers the apostles recruit, namely us. In my calendar system, there is only one time the number 153 crosses a data set of more than 8000 years, and it is in the year 2028. I look at that as a sign that we have this long to catch fish or followers, and in 2028 the 153rd fish is caught and we begin to run out of time. Then 2 years later, 2030, is the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection. 4) How are three separate names in the Haftorah portion used to apply to the same man and yet talk about different aspects of that man? In 43:28 both Jacob and Israel are threatened with devastation. But, as we talked about before, in many other cases Jacob is mentioned to refer to sin and Israel is mentioned to refer to virtue. As we get further into Isaiah 44, Jacob is told not to fear and Israel is also part of a general blessing, so once again both names are treated the same way. Whats going on then? Is my previous rule or pattern irrelevant? Hardly! The reason this is different is because of the third nameYeshurunwhich is also linked to Jacob/Israel whom I have chosen. Yeshurun means Upright Man and is a poetic name for both the man and the nation named Israel. In other words the evil side of Jacob-Israel is condemned in chapter 43 but in chapter 44 the good and virtuous side of this same man and nation is praised and remembered by the name Yeshurun. So when he is wicked he is reviled and when he is upright, Jacob-Israel is praised. 5) If you know the answer to #4, how is the bad side of the third name also referenced in the Torah and applied to the dark aspects of the man we were just talking about? And how do those dark aspects also show hope for a better future? Because even though Yeshurun means upright one, in application poetically to the man Jacob and the nation of Israel named after him we see the other sidethe side of evil associated with that same name.
15

Jacob has eaten to his heart's content, Yeshurun, grown fat, has now lashed out. (You have grown fat, gross, bloated.) He has disowned the Elohim who made him, and dishonored the Rock, his salvation, 16 whose jealousy they aroused with foreigners -- with things detestable they angered him. 17 They sacrificed to demons who are not Elohim, to gods hitherto unknown to them, to newcomers of yesterday whom their ancestors had never respected. 18 (You forget the Rock who fathered you, the Elohim who made you, you no longer remember.) (Deuteronomy 32:15-18) But there is also hope

4|Page

26

No one is like the Elohim of Yeshurun: he rides the heavens to your rescue, rides the clouds in his majesty! 27 The Elohim of old is your refuge, his the eternal arm which here below drives the enemy before you; he it is who says, 'Destroy!' 28 Israel rests trustfully. The well-spring of Jacob is chosen out for a land of corn and wine; there heaven itself rains down dew. 29 Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, O victorious people? Yahweh is the shield that protects you and the sword that leads you to triumph. Your enemies will try to corrupt you, but you yourself will trample on their backs. (Deuteronomy 33:26-29 NJB) AND NOW FOR THIS WEEKS PORTION 1) Meaning of this weeks Torah portion and summary of contents: Tzav means command as in commanding the sons of Aaron. It is another form of the same root we saw in an earlier partition tetzaveh or you will command/charge. This time the focus of the portion is on the priestly responsibilities in preparing sacrifices. 2) Read Parsha (English-Leviticus 6:1-8:36). NOTE: Many Christian Bibles begin this portion by taking several lines away from Leviticus 5 and adding them to this chapter. For these versions, the Torah portion begins in Leviticus 6:9! 3) Play by Play commentary where appropriate.

Please Note: The system for numbering chapters and verses is different in this part of the Torah between Jewish and Christian Bibles. Christian versions only have chapter 5 go up to verse 19; Jewish versions go up to 5:26, with the extra 7 lines for Christians being in their Leviticus chapter 6. Obviously we are following Jewish conventions here. When in doubt, always consult JPS or Stone as they will have the correct chapter and verse divisions. 4) Point out key Hebrew words/terms. Color Commentary: MIKNAS (6:4) = trousers, or possibly undergarments. Most Rabbis believe these garments are inferior in quality to the final outer ones worn by the priests. EL PENEY MIZBEACH (6:7) = towards the face of the altar (literal reading). This actually refers to the front part of the altar where a worshipper ascends to. It is interesting that both the presence of Elohim and the altar itself are said to have a face; apparently to come before one means to be in the presence of the Other. front in Hebrew is also referred to as QEDEM elsewhere, facing east, towards the rising sun. BEKUMTZO (6:8) = with closed fist (literal reading). Some Rabbis think this means a full handful; but others contend this involves just the three middle 5|Page

fingers, with the thumb and pinky being used to wipe off the excess. The literal reading favors the first interpretation I believe. Bible.ort.org however favors the latter and translates it as three middle fingers. Zeh korban Aharon uvanav asher-yakrivu l'YAHWEH beyom himashach oto asirit ha'efah solet minchah tamid machatsitah baboker umachatsitah ba'arev (6:13) = This is the offering that Aaron and his descendants must bring from the day that [any one of them] is anointed [as High Priest]. It shall consist of 1/10 ephah of wheat meal, and it shall be a daily meal offering, with one half [offered] in the morning, and one half in the evening. The phrase ON THE DAY indicates that a common priest only brings this offering on his day of ordination whereas a high priest does this every day of his service. This idea finds widespread agreement in the Talmud. Vehakohen hamashiach tachtav mibanav ya'aseh otah chokolam l'YAHWEH kalil toktar (6:15) = It is a law for all time that the anointed priest among [Aaron's] descendants shall prepare it. It must be completely burned. Although all the sons of Aaron (Exodus 28:41) are anointed to serve as priests, the Rabbis believe the anointed priest refers just to the High Priest. Uchli-cheres asher tevushal-bo yishaver ve'im-bichli nechoshet bushalah umorak veshutaf bamayim (6:21) = Any clay pot in which it is cooked must be broken. However, if it is cooked in a copper pot, [the pot] may be purged and rinsed with water. The pot must be broken because it will absorb the foul taste/essence of the food. Copper will not. Im al-todah yakrivenu vehikriv al-zevach hatodah chalot matsot blulot bashemen urekikey matsot meshuchim bashamen vesolet murbechet chalot blulot bashamen (7:12) = If it is offered as a thanksgiving offering, then it must be presented along with unleavened loaves mixed with oil, flat matzahs saturated with oil, and loaves made of boiled flour mixed with oil. Ten loaves each of four types of bread equals a total of 40 loaves. Perhaps this is remembering Moshe on the Mount for 40 days or the Flood? Or perhaps a foreshadowing of Yshua ha Mashiyach fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights so he could tell the enemy Man does NOT LIVE by bread alone! VEIM HEACHOL YEACHEL MIBESAR-ZEVACH SHLAMAV BEYOM HASHLISHI LO YERATSEH (7:18) = if a person bringing an offering ever eats it on the third day, it will not be accepted. This is because it is possible to abuse the system and become gluttonous under the guise of offering so much meat on the altar. If you make a living out of sacrifices for the purpose of always having fresh cooked meat, that is for your benefit, not Abba YHWHs.

6|Page

Vehabasar asher yiga bechol-tame lo ye'achel ba'esh yisaref vehabasar kol-tahor yochal basar (7:19) = Any [sacrificial] flesh that comes in contact with something unclean may not be eaten; it must be burned in fire. Otherwise, any ritually clean person may eat the flesh. The text only says flesh but context demands it is flesh only fit for sacrifice. Deuteronomy 12:15 says that all flesh eaten during the wilderness was fit for sacrifice. VENICHRETAH HANEFESH HAHI MEAMEYCHA (7:21) = and cut off will that NEFESH be from his people. The word NEFESH here can mean soul or even person which suggests a kind of exiling process from the tribes of Israel. Others however contend the meaning of life or life force is intended with this word, and that would imply killing this person for the offense. BEYOM TSAVOTO ET-BENEY YISRAEL LEHAKRIV ETKORBEYNEHEM LYAHWEH BEMIDBAR SINAY (7:38) = on the day that the children of Israel were commanded to offer offerings to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai, on the same day the Ten Commandments were given, around Sunday, 6 Sivan (May 12th), 1447 BCE. This event is recorded in Exodus 24:5-15. This was a very special exception, because generally speaking Abba YHWH talks of not requiring sacrifices during the wilderness period (Jeremiah 7;21; Amos 5:25; Acts 7:42). However, the sacrifices required for the Great Feasts were still enjoined upon Israel. Vayakrev Moshe et-Aharon ve'et-banav vayirchats otam bamayim (8:6) = Moses brought forth Aaron and his sons, and immersed them in a mikveh. This is where immersion/baptism comes from in original context. Since it starts with kohenim, the Immersers intentions are to raise up priests for the High Priest, Yshua! Leviticus 8:8 is the exact middle point of the Torah! Torah Question of the Week: Does the lack of a Tabernacle or Temple eliminate the need for offerings or tithes?

END PART 1

7|Page

PART 2: THE HAFTORAH Torah Question of the Week: Does the lack of a Tabernacle or Temple eliminate the need for offerings or tithes? There are some folks who seem to believe that if we cant replicate things 100% as they were done 3000 years ago that our only alternative is to throw up our hands in frustration and not do it at all. But it seems like, when it is to these same folks advantage, they will easily be able to transfer ancient systems into modern practice! For example, take the rabbinic ban on the name of YHWH. Many Christians have an absolute ball at criticizing the blindness of the Pharisees for their man-made traditions and so on. They will also happily extend that criticism to the Talmud and Rabbinic Orthodox Judaism, pointing out flaws at seemingly every turn. But, when it comes to NOT saying the Name of YHWH that He commanded us to do no less than 300 times what do they do? They lean on the authority of the rabbis! Similarly, a lot of decisions that were made by Roman Catholicism are accepted by Protestants who in the same breath say Rome had no right to make those decisions in the first place! So there is plenty of this kind of selective blindness/retention of tradition to go around. However, to answer the question directly, we need to look at root concepts that clearly transfer over into our times. So, for example, we understand that while there arent cohenim doing Temple ministration right now, that we nevertheless retain the need for a mediator between YHWH and man. In the same way, we need to learn how to support our assemblies, charities, Jerusalem pilgrimages inspired by ancient examples but adapted for our modern realities. How we transfer from say supporting the cohenim or Tabernacle-Temple and modern tithing is a complicated discussion best left for another time. That we should always strive do so is a clear and present command that YHWH lays on our hearts today and every day of our lives. 5) Haftorah portion (English- Yiremyahu (Jeremiah) 7:21-8:3 and discuss common themes with the Torah portion. 6) Our linguistic commentary Many deep Hebrew terms in this portion. SHEMA- not just to hear, but to obey, perform. (Well known but always worth repeating.)

8|Page

HALAKH way to walk, but this time, they walked after their own counselsor got on the wrong road! Confirmed with the phrase they went backwards, not forward. NATSAH incline as in incline their ear, listen. Actually means to stretch out, expand in the sense that our increased attention to YHWHs Word makes us to stretch out, compared to building a tent where two can meet, or to reach down from heaven to us we reach back up to Him through tuning in to what He has to say! ETZEM- bone can actually refer to the frame of the whole body or in fact having a deep intimacy with another, such as Adam saying of Eve this is now the bone of bone and the flesh of my flesh which means he is one with her. Like blood, bones can cry out in protest and speak for the person and their deepest needs such as:
10

All my bones will say, "YHWH, who is like You, Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him, And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?" (Psalm 35:10) Key point: YHWH didnt lay the entire requirements of His Torah as a pre-condition to emancipating Israel. The only thing He asked of them was Follow My voice (Jeremiah 7:23), 7) Renewed Covenant portion: (English) Romans 12:1-8 (all the way through with applicable footnotes.) Romans 12:1 73) Murdock has rational service, the other more common rendering is reasonable service. Both ideas tend to resolve in our minds though rather than in our hearts, a rational or reasonable man is generally known for his cerebral logic and reason. Here the beauty and elegance of Mashiyach and Pauls Hebraic spirituality shines through. The key Hebrew words that elucidate us to this specific service are; avodah and avad together they occur about 400 times in the Tanakh as the word service or serve. When an Observant Jew reads reasonable service he or she identifies with the expression, haavodah shebalev, (the service of the heart). This is a very beautiful element of spirituality within observant Judaism that gives Joy, Delight and Beauty of kiddusha (being a Set Apart people through Torah observance). The central theme of being a kedoshim (Set Apart people) is to sanctify ourselves and be set apart unto YHWH. Avodah underscores that our service or work of obedience to YHWHs Word is accomplished by His Spirit working through us, not of our own strength lest any man should boast but; Mashiyach in us the hope of glory. When we observe Shabbat we are not trusting in our good works or good deeds, but in expressing joy and delight in our Father in Heaven who gave Shabbat. Avodah lev, the work of the heart is through chen (grace) and chesed (mercy), it is spiritual empowerment to be obedient and bring Glory to the Name of our Father 9|Page

in Heaven. This is the kind of service Paul refers to. When Paul and all the Shlichim observe Shabbat for example, it is not through works of the law, but through our reasonable service of the heart, according to the one new man. Whether YHWHs people are in Judaism or Christianity all are called to joyful obedience in YHWH, this is our reasonable service. Romans 12:2 74) Acceptable comes from the word qablaa ( ) in Aramaic or qabala (kabbalah) in Hebrew and derived from qabal which means to receive. Kabbalah that lives outside the Tanakh and NT incorporates very dark and demonic elements of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, religious bigotry, religious identity, ego, lust, and all manner of empowerment through evil. Many of the ideas of modern Kabbalah evolved during medieval or dark ages, a time that was fraught with spiritual darkness, deception, wickedness, torture and all manner of weirdness and witch hunt for power and authority. As we track and compare the ideas of haSatans version of Kabbalah with Scripture, we can easily recognize that the demonic world simply reacted to the teachings of Mashiyach Yshua and Rav Shaul with evil religious devices to distract people from the Kingdom of Heaven. Note that the Hebrew the word for divinationnachashis the same word for the serpent that tempts mankind into sin, all sorcery and related arts come from the serpent, haSatan. The NT uses a plethora of Aramaic and Hebrew spiritual terminology like nothing that existed before or after. Please see footnotes on Mat_13:11, 1Co_2:14, Col_4:12. 8) Highlight common themes in Aramaic: TZEBINA (12:2) = pleasure, also means will of Elohim. We do His will and we gain His pleasurenot of course in a sensual context. Yshua uses this word in the Masters Prayer or Slotha when he says, Neh-weh tzev-ya-nakh (Done is Your will). GMIYRA (12:2) = perfect, to literally fill up, complete and also mature over time. In a bad sense (Luke 15:14), you can fill up on literally nothingness, i.e. you spent all you had and youre broke but rich in that nothingness which is all you have left. In Romans 5:3 we are told affliction PERFECTS us in patience, which has the sense of repetition of skill/mastery. Whats interesting there is that this same word will become the title of one half of the Talmud (GEMARA, to master/perfect/complete) and the other half is called the MISHNAH (to repeat)! PARYSH (12:2) = discern, actually literally to separate, set apart, therefore, a synonym KADOSH (holiness). The term Pharisees comes from this word, those that separated themselves from the world to practice (in theory at least) the Torah. ESHTEKHALEPHO (12:2) = only time the word appears in this form in the entire NT. But its root is KLPH which means change (such when Yaakov says 10 | P a g e

every gift is from above where there is no SHIFTING of shadow). The word is in Imperative format, which means it is a kind of command on steroids. In this form it can mean transmute. It is adjacent to its nearest Aramaic synonym KHADATA, which means change, renewal, and in this case is where we get the Hebrew CHADASHA, as in Brit Chadasha. This is the Aramaic cognate of that Hebrew word. When two synonyms appear back to back like that (like Isaiahs famous shalom shalom) it forms a kind of double amplifier. You could actually read this as feel renewed in your renewal! (I guess thats change we can really believe in!) HADMA (12:4) = members, but literally limbs, like that of a tree, validating that Mashiyach and YHWH are one! These are not like members in the sense of two men being separate MEMBERS (people) of the same club! PALEG (12:5) = distribute or divide, but when used in a bad sense, can mean to doubt or be uncertain. In Aramaic, to divide ones thoughts or speech is considered a sign of deception, like we might say hes two faced in English meaning hes a hypocrite. In Luke 12:13 it can also mean judge, arbiter as in Man who appointed me a divider over you and your brothers inheritance? 9) Apply these themes/issues to modern issues in the Netzari faith. (The root concept in all of these readings to keep a spiritual focus in a material world. As we saw earlier, YHWH proclaimed in the Haftorah that the only commandfor that is what Tzav meanshe laid on Israel was to follow Him and hear His voice. The rest would be details that He would work out later, step by step. So when we deal with new believers and get a little impatient with their progress, lets remember that YHWH had to be patient with each of us!) 10) Relate to all or part of an Appendix portion of AENT or footnotes from a portion. (18 NT Misconceptions, #1 and #2, p. 794-795.)

STUDY QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED NEXT WEEK 1) How do some very recent current events and the book of Romans itself, part of which was our NT portion, combine to threaten some key tenets of the Roman Catholic faith? 2) If we could go back in time to the middle of the first century when Paul traveled there, what would be the most surprising thing we would see about this original Roman assembly of believers when compared to Catholic tradition about their own origins? 3) What does the prophet Yiremyahu (Jeremiah) have in common with a major debate recorded in the Book of Acts? 4) Where in this Torah portion do we see a veiled reference to Yshuas arrest? 11 | P a g e

5) Where in this Torah portion do we get a detail that helps solve a so-called discrepancy in the nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke?

Torah Thought for the Week: Punctual Chaos It arrives the same time every year, right on schedule: chaos. Specifically speaking, calendar chaos. While some years are clearly worse than others, the Body of Mashiyach, especially in Hebrew Roots circles, will always endure some strife in the early days of March that coincide with new or full moons, for the start of Abib and for Pesach itself, respectively. But before commenting on that score, let me explore with you all a far more popular form of this chaos, that is to say, in Christian circles. Though it is not talked about nearly as much, the church has its share of calendar controversy to deal with. The difference is, the people WITHIN a particular church tend not to engage the leadership on these issues. Each church or denomination is almost always on the same calendar page between the leadership and the laity. It is when we cross denominations, from Protestant to Catholic and from Catholic to various Eastern Orthodox persuasions, that these differences become most apparent. As long as we are talking about one kind of calendar chaos creating division, we might as well talk about this part too, since this one affects almost 2 billion people. We must understand this aspect first before even thinking about the differences between us as Hebraic Roots believers, since 95% of us came out of the church system, with yours truly of course being an exception. On the Christian side then, this problem manifests in two configurations. Beginning in about 44 BCE, the Romans instituted a number of reforms that would eventually became known as the Julian Calendar, named after Julius Caesar who ushered in the first set of reforms. As many of you know, the Julian calendar over time proved to be widely inaccurate and would begin losing a day against the actual tropical year every 128 years. Julians estimated year length of 365.25 solar days (365 days, 6 hours, 0 minutes) was 11 minutes LONGER than the actual tropical year (365.2422, or 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes). Take those 11 minutes and multiply it by 128 and you get a total of 1,408 minutes. Divide 1408 by 60 and this translates to 23.46 hours. Obviously, as the centuries drew on, this error accumulated. By 1582, the Roman Church had lost 11 days in this way and so the Gregorian calendar with its revised leap year schedule was instituted to correct the error and prevent it from re-occurring in the future. Just so you all know, our current Gregorian calendar will not lose a day for 3,323 years and if a slight modification to our calendar is made where the year 4000 is NOT a leap year, this will bring the calendar to not losing a day for more than 19,000 yearsboth of which are way better than 128 years per lost day.

12 | P a g e

Just as an aside, if you have ever wondered why Christians have this song about 12 days of Christmas when its only one day, its because of this difference. Western Christians on the Gregorian calendar celebrate on December 25th and the rest pick January 6th, the Julian date. Funny thing is, if you include the 25th as day 1 (as opposed to counting FROM it towards the 6th) you have 13 days, so maybe the songwriters just ran out of stuff to give their true love and dropped the 13th day. The good news here though is, because Gregorian stabilized this problem and also in part to Eastern Christians not wanting to change their dates, this variance between the Christmases will never widen. But as bad as that is, their calculations for what they call Easter are even worse. Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox groups all claim to have different calculation methods for Easter or what should really be called Resurrection Day. They jump through an amazing array of hoops to avoid the inescapable fact that Resurrection Day is fixed to the first day of the week AFTER the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Of course, in order to find Resurrection Day you have to find Passover with the Rabbinic calendar first, but try telling that to these people. So, in order that a bunch of Jews arent in the position to tell them when their most important holiday is, ironically they have actually harked back to the original calendar used by these same Jews! What it comes down to is choosing the right Sunday after the start of spring, and the long story short is no matter how they try to do that (the details are complex and vary from denomination to denomination) it still comes down to tracking the New Moon nearest the start of spring and counting to the full moon, from which they count further to Sunday after full moon. This is a method that uses the STARS to set the year, which is exactly what the Israelites also did. But I should warn you and tell you these Christian groups will never admit this is true. The official corporate line is reflected here Following the First Council of Nicaea, the date for Easter was completely divorced from the Jewish calendar and its computations for Passover. Thereafter, in principle, Easter fell on the Sunday following the full moon that follows the Northern spring equinox (the so-called Paschal Full Moon). However, the vernal equinox and the full moon were not determined by astronomical observation. Instead, the vernal equinox was fixed to fall on the 21st day of March, while the full moon (known as the ecclesiastical full moon) was fixed at 14 days after the beginning of the ecclesiastical lunar month (known as the ecclesiastical new moon). Easter thus falls on the Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon. The computus is the procedure of determining the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon falling on or after 21 March and the difficulty arose from doing this over the span of centuries without accurate means of measuring the precise solar or lunar years. The model that was worked out assumes that 19 tropical years have the same duration as 235 synodic months (modern value: 234.997). [1] 13 | P a g e

(Ironically, the SAME 19 year lunar cycle used by the Rabbinic calendar that they have decided NOT to useAGR) Since the 16th century, there have been differences in the calculation of Easter between the Western and Eastern Churches. The Roman Catholic Church since 1583 has been using 21 March under the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter, while the Eastern Orthodox continued and continue to use 21 March under the Julian Calendar. The Catholic and Protestant denominations thus use an ecclesiastical full moon that occurs four to five days earlier than the eastern one. While these issues were going on, there was actually calendar unity in the form of the Rabbinic calendar, which is accepted by about 97% of the Jewish people. So when I as a Jewish person came into Hebrew Roots as a believer in Yshua, you can imagine my shock at finding almost NO UNITY amongst HR teachers! To make matters worse, these same divisions were tacitly encouraging ex-church folks to abandon Torah observance in favor of the unity of where they came from in the first place. Again, the calendar unity in Christianity is a kind of illusion too, but the divergences dont manifest at the denominational level, where everyone in an individual church is on the same page. So a believer will go from this kind of unity, not to mention having most of their friends and families back in the church, into a movement where either Passover or Tabernacles can be argued over a 4 day period (as has happened twice in the past five years) or where some folks could be a month off from when Abib starts (also which has happened recently). I would not have written Wheel of Stars though were it not for my friends begging me for clarity so they would NOT have to return to church. Please tell us Andrew, when IS Pesach?!? Now my intent for the rest of this discussion is not necessarily to revisit all the problems of other calendar systems per se. Obviously I am closer to the Rabbinic than the Karaite system on many points, though not all. Instead, I simply wish to point out the salient fact that ancient Israel would be unable to function as a nation if these calendar controversies caused them to argue the way many of us argue about the timings today. There had to a final and binding decision on both the New Moon and the timing of Feasts at New and Full Moon, or nothing would ever be accomplished. Such is admitted plainly in the Talmud here
2

Formerly bonfires were lighted (to announce the appearance of the new moon); but when the Cutheans (Samaritans) practiced their deceit, it was ordained that messengers should be sent out. How were these bonfires lighted? They brought long staves of cedar wood, canes, and branches of the olive tree, and bundles of tow which were tied on top of them with twine; with these they went to the top of a mountain, and lighted them, and kept waving them to and fro, upward and downward, till they could perceive the same repeated by another person on the 14 | P a g e

next mountain, and thus, on the third mountain, etc. Whence did these bonfires commence? From the Mount of Olives to Sartabha, from Sartabha to Grophinah, from Grophinah to Hoveran, from Hoveran to Beth Baltin; they did not cease waving the burning torches at Beth Baltin, to and fro, upward and downward, until the whole country of the captivity appeared like a blazing fire. (Rodkinson Mishnah, Rodkinson Mishnah, Rosh Hashanna 2:2) Incidentally, the Talmud also records the New Moon being consecrated over a 2 day period originally, and this matches the Biblical record but is a topic for another time. All of this analysis though necessarily leads to another key point: Even today, leaders among us who insist they have to sight the crescent to declare the month have a very hard time doing so all the time. One authority in particular has by his own admission had to rely on calculation because he could NOT determine the crescent over Israel at least 4 times in the past 3 years. So my question is this: If some experts have problems doing this NOW, how much more of an issue would cloudy and other atmospheric conditions been manifesting 2-3000 years ago in our past? Obviously barley and crescent rolls are not the whole story, either then or now. And yet, I believe we can now with a great degree of historical certainty exactly how the stars, sun and moon worked together to bring in the seasons. The problem isnt proving itrather the problem is for people to take the time to hear all the evidence for it that is out there. In the meantime, I am happy to share on this matter when I can and engage in thoughtful and respectful dialogue with a very wide array of calendar camps representing almost all of the possible schools out there. Let us use the Scripture and reason before YHWH to understand His appointed times, because it is pleasing to Him and because, if we get the day wrong, very often there can be negative consequences. In other words, this issue is really worth the effort, even if it does always seem to come with Punctual Chaos. Im Andrew Gabriel Roth and thats your Torah Thought for the Week! Next week, our Pesach Special! Stay tuned!

15 | P a g e