First Fruits of Zion

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23 November 09

Parashat Hashavuah

Vayetze - ויצא : "And he went out"
Torah : Genesis 28:10-32:3
Haftarah : Hosea 12:12-14:10
Gospel : Matthew 15-16

Rachel and Leah

Thought for the Week:
"A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven." (John 3:27)

Commentary:
"And Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face." (Genesis 29:17)

Laban had two daughters: Rachel and Leah. Leah was older, but the Torah says that she had weak eyes. Rachel, on the other hand, was beautiful. What does it mean that Leah had weak eyes? The Hebrew word translated here as "weak" can also mean delicate, tender or soft. Some translations understand it in the sense of "beautiful eyes." In that case, the Torah would be saying, "Leah had beautiful eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and face." Leah had beautiful eyes, but was not as attractive as her sister.

Rashi explains that Leah's eyes were weak because she thought she was destined to marry Esau and therefore she was constantly crying.

She believed that she was destined to marry Esau. She would cry because everybody said, "Rebekah has two sons and Laban has two daughters. The older will marry the older and the younger the younger." (Rashi on Genesis 29:17)

This is probably not the real reason for Leah's weak eyes, but it does raise an interesting point. We know that Esau married Canaanite girls. We know that his mother and father would have preferred him to marry within the greater Abrahamic family. Leah would have been the logical choice for him. It seems natural that the firstborn would have married the firstborn and the second-born the second-born.

Jacob fell in love with the second-born Rachel. But legally, he had already taken Esau's position as firstborn over the family when he purchased the birthright. Leah was the one God had chosen to be the wife of the progenitor of Abrahamic blessing. When Jacob took that position from Esau, he unwittingly acquired Leah as well. Jacob worked seven years to pay the bride price for Rachel. On their wedding night, Laban surreptitiously switched his daughters. He disguised Leah as Rachel, just as Jacob had disguised himself as Esau to trick Isaac. The ruse worked. Jacob accidentally married Leah.

Laban switched his daughters on the wedding night simply to get another seven years of work out of Jacob. Executing the swap would not have been difficult. In the custom of the ancient world, the bride would have been completely veiled and in extravagant dress, unrecognizable. Her unveiling would have happened only in the bridal chamber and in the dark.

Many orthodox Jewish communities today still have the tradition of completely veiling the bride on her wedding day. However, the bridegroom is allowed to lift the veil just prior to the ceremony to make sure he is marrying the right girl.

Jacob's accidental marriage to Leah is a good example of how God works in our lives. We make plans, dream dreams and set out to accomplish certain things. Then our plans are frustrated, our dreams come to naught and we find ourselves far away from our original goals. But this does not mean that God has abandoned us. Your plans for your life may not necessarily be His plans. God may be attempting to work something great through your situation that you never expected.

Through Leah, Jacob sired Judah and Levi, who in turn fathered the line of the Davidic monarchy and the Aaronic priesthood. He never intended to marry her, but the spiritual greatness of Israel came through Leah.

"Routine"

It has now been a month since my last day at work. I have been trying to stay busy. I’ve put a big dent in my job jar but the worst thing is I don’t have a routine anymore. My day use to start around 5am and end around 11pm. Now I usually fall asleep around 2am. and wake up whenever. Don’t get me wrong, going to bed at any time is kind of cool but it is still not good. This reminds me of summer vacation when I was a kid. The first month of summer vacation, there was no bedtime curfew but then in the last couple of weeks before school would start my mom would have us go back to our bedtime curfews. Not having a routine for the day messes me up. Abba wants us to have a purpose and not waste what he has given us. Each day should be considered as a gift Abba has given to us.
Every month I receive the FFOZ monthly ERosh. They are really good and have great info. This month’s ERosh is called “The miracles Of Kislev”


17 November 09

As the rains that started during Cheshvan continue to nourish the land of Israel, the temperatures begin to drop. Daylight hours dwindle away and the long, dark nights of Kislev begin. One cannot help but naturally feel slightly melancholy and glum during the winter seasons. Thankfully, God has given us many reasons to rejoice during this season.

On the 25th of Kislev, the anniversary of the rededication of the Temple is celebrated for eight days. This festival is customarily known as Hanukkah. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have remembered the miracles God performed for the Maccabees. They were not only able to stand up to the persecution of the Syrian-Greeks, but were also able to rededicate the defiled Temple. A frequent phrase heard during this season is "nes gadol hayah sham," a great miracle happened there.

Though this has been a time-honored celebration by the Jewish people, the earliest attestation to the celebration of Hanukkah is not from Josephus or the Mishnah, but the Gospel of John. In John 10:22-42, the Master was present at Temple in Jerusalem during Hanukkah. Just like his previous visit during Sukkot, the crowds were eager for him to announce his kingship as the Messiah. "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly" (John 10:24).

Relating to the story of Hanukkah, the Master points out that he had already told them, "the works that I do in my Father's name, these testify of me" (10:25). For both the Maccabees and the Master, the presence of God's miracles signified his approval of their efforts. Both sought to uphold the true standard of Torah in the face of opposition. For the Maccabees, Hellenist Jews and Syrian-Greek persecutors opposed them. For the Master, unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees challenged his teaching of Torah and the Kingdom of God.

In both situations, the miracles were present for all to see. Unfortunately, miracles do not produce faith; they sustain faith already existent. In the days of the Maccabees, the Hellenists refused to remain true to Torah. In the days of the Master, the unbelievers refused to believe in the One sent from the Father.

The same is true in our day. Miracles are there if one chooses to recognize them. The Amidah prayer expresses it this way: God's miracles are "with us every day" and his wonders and favors are "in every season." Yet, many ignore the miracles that sustain us day in, day out. It takes great faith to acknowledge miracles.

May your Hanukkah be filled with the remembrance of the miracles in the lives of our forefathers, the miracles present in our daily lives, and most of all, the miracle of the salvation made available through the One who was sent from the Father-Yeshua the Messiah!

"How big?"

I have been cleaning my computer desk today, when I came across one of my SD memory cards. I couldn’t remember what was on it. I found out it was mostly fill with my NYC pics, but my mom took these pics of my cat Chance. Chance is clueless on how big he really is. It doesn’t matter what it is, he will always try to fit into it. It seems like he always has to be first before the other cats so he can watch them in his little hide out. Anyway we seem to do that with Abba at times. We try to keep Abba in our little boxes. Abba’s ways are higher than our ways and His way doesn’t fit in our little box.
- Isaiah 40:12, 15
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.”
- Psalm 139:2-16
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord , you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
So how big is Abba?