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DO YOU KNOW THE DERECH HASHEM [REQUIRES LITERACY IN HEBREW]? ARE YOU DEPRESSED [THIS IS IN ENGLISH]? IF YOU HAVE HIGH SPEED ACCESS, TAKE A MOMENT TO LISTEN TO THIS MP3 FILE BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO YOU THAT THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU IF YOU DO NOT HAVE HIGH SPEED ACCESS, TAKE A MOMENT TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE MP3 FILE, BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO YOU THAT THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU As we pass through the various Stations of Life on the Route to Heaven we arrive inevitably at Abel-HaSheetim (Tell el-Hammam), the Brook (Abel) of Acacia Trees (Sheetim [Josh 2:1]). We see that it is a lovely place of shrubs with beautiful yellow flowers. It is the last stop-over before entering the Promised Land. Sheetim is only 8.5 miles east of the Jordan River and a mere 5 miles more from Jericho. Because the victory over Sihon the Amorite King had greatly lifted the spirits of the Israelite army, and because the defeat of the giant Amorite King Og had elicited even more excitement, it was natural in the grassy beauty of this so-called "Brook of Acacias" (Abel Sheetim) to be lulled into a certain comfortable complacency. Although every effort to plot evil and to put a curse on the Israelites was made by Balak King of Moab, and although for this imprecatory purpose the services of a notorious preacher named Balaam were also contracted, in fact no curse could be readily detected in the scenic beauty of this pre-invasion final staging area called Sheetim. However, appearances are deceptive. For in that very area, that Vestibule to Heaven's Door (as close to the Empty Tomb as the Gallows of Judas), the friendly pagans surrounding the Holy People proved to be a little too friendly and, as anyone knows who has taken the scenic tour with the heathen, "bad company corrupts good morals." So paradoxically this lovely place becomes a crime scene of sexual immorality and idolatry and some became sick and some fell asleep because of a breach of the Covenant. For they turned away from their Holy L-rd and found consequently only plagues from Adonoi Hashem who swears by His kodesh (holiness) [Amos 4:2], even in the holy terror of tzidkot Hashem (righteous acts of Hashem) [Micah 6:5]. As Moses [who at Meribah, one of the Kadesh-Barnea springs, fell into testy self-promotion (Num 20:10) away from Hashem's kodesh (Num 27:14)] discovered on Mount Nebo (an ascent that may have been the high point and the low point of his life), a mountain Moses ascended from this very place, Abel Sheetim, it was here that the G-d of Israel showed Himself no respecter of persons, that He sees clearly who is on the side of His Kodesh (Holiness). For from Abel Sheetim Yehoshua (Joshua) sent the spies who found such a one named Rahab. But at Abel Sheetim Achan should have shuddered with mortal fear when G-d told Joshua that He was going to bring holy victory through His Holy Word from which Joshua was not "to turn to the right or to the left." When Achan decided to turn to the right or to the left in order to hide sin in his heart, this was a fatal decision, for nothing can be hid from the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. We either hide the Word in our hearts and live or we hide sin in our hearts and die. For you can be sure of this: your sin will find you out (Num 32:23). G-d is no respecter of persons. Anyone inside or outside of Hashem's Holy Camp who introduces defeat against His Holiness will be defeated. So when like Achan you decide to hide the unholy in your heart, you have decided the death verdict against yourself. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? Satan may try to convince you (Gen 3:5) that your flesh (Ro 7:18) has a right to its allotted portion (Luke 15:12) but when you veer to the right or to the left of kol HaTorah, you find only treifah in the Golus, only pig food in the far country, only dog vomit (2Pet 2:22), only death (Josh 7:25). Achan may have been a Deist who could think that the Deist G-d might wind up the world's clock and then leave Achan and his thoughts to their own devices while G-d went away to concern Himself with more pressing matters elsewhere. But what is more pressing to our Holy G-d than His Holiness? For He swears by His Holiness (Amos 4:2). Achan discovered that the Holy G-d with Whom we have to do is up close and personal in His holy intimate involvement with us and the holy business of His Kehillah. Once an "Achan" said to a leader, "While I was fornicating I continued attending the House of the L-rd but I recused myself from music ministry on the platform, knowing something about Kehal discipline regarding fornicators." But to this "Achan" harboring secret sin our Holy G-d says, "You thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face" (Ps 50:21). The reason we need to examine ourselves to make sure we are walking in the faith and the reason we need to discern the holy body of the holy One in the Seudas Moshiach is that, unfortunately, there is a little bit of "Achan" in all of us [in the sense that, like garbage, we generate unconfessed sin daily], and to this inner "Achan" harboring secret sin this Holy G-d says that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we allow uncleanness to dwell there, if we don't hate our iniquity as G-d does (Ps 97:10), if we allow our eyes to look back on wickedness with a certain perverted fondness or attraction, then there will be defeat in the camp of my life and of my own Kehillah (Josh 7:11-12) if I harbor any secret sin, adoring its wickedness under cover of hypocrisy. Since teachers will be more strictly judged, every teacher has a daily duty to wrestle in prayer until his inner "Achan" confesses and forsakes all secret sin. In my heart there is a Shtiebel, a small prayer
room. Small but commodious, stretching out like Abraham’s Ohel into eternity. There I meditate day and night. I invite you to look around this Shtiebel of my
soul. You will see first a raised platform, a bema, and that bema is where the Baal Tefilah lies face down to daven, among the
holy scrolls that are spread out in the light of the Ner Tamid which hangs over
the Aron Kodesh. One day in this Shtiebel of the heart, I heard a
soft rapping at the door. I looked at the uprights of the door and saw that the
mashkof (lintel) and the mezuzot had been struck with Dahm (Blood). I looked at the latch. What would happen if I opened
it? I had been meditating on the door standing open in heaven. I was thinking about heaven and the Bar Enosh coming to the Ancient of Days on the clouds of
heaven. I wanted the Spirit to lift me up and take me in visions of
El Shaddai far above my dark racing thoughts which are vain. My eyes examined the Blood on the mashkof
(lintel). I seemed to know that my dark vain thoughts must be
constantly expiated by the Blood of the mashkof, lest the Evil one defile my pnimiyus Shtiebel.
On the shulchan (table) of that Shtiebel is a
menorah which is a lamp unto my feet and a Sefer Torah which is a
light unto my path, that Hashem Eloheicha might be with me and that my
thoughts might be acceptable in His sight. Again, I heard a soft rapping at the door. I knew whoever knocked was standing behind the kotel (wall). And I looked, and, hinei, the Kavod Hashem
filled the Shtiebel. The door was locked.
But I sensed my soul under scrutiny.
Again I heard the soft rapping at the door. In my heart there is a Shtiebel, a small prayer
room. Small but commodious, stretching out like Abraham’s Ohel into eternity. From that vantage point there is another Comforter,
the Ruach Hakodesh. And also the Bar Enosh and the Ancient of Days. Shloshah (Three). Abraham looked out the entrance of his Ohel and saw
Shloshah (Three). Yet His Name is Echad. But when the door opened, there was only a Lamb. The Lamb was standing. It had the appearance of having been slaughtered. Its throat was cut and the bloody mortal
wound was a sign that the desolating plague had skipped or passed
over my door. Then I heard the Voice. “If anyone will invite me to come in, I will come
in.” In the darkness of my nefesh, I reached for the Ohr
HaOlam that was shining. His glance fell on the Sefer Torah like a laser
beam, lighting every Hebrew Letter and every firey place which speaks of him in
every Word. As far as this Shtiebel is concerned and also my
dark thoughts, things are rising brighter now since Moshiach has entered
the shul of my heart. The Artists For Israel Bible Society was founded in 1981 "to use media of all kinds" to promote the Jewish Scriptures for the benefit of all. The first item on the agenda of the new not-for-profit organization was to create a media Bible. "The Rabbi From Tarsus" was presented as a mono-drama in which the Shliach Shaul in his prison cell remembers his encounter with the martyr Stephen. This sets up Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin, which recapitulates the story of the Tanakh. Thus with one actor and one set, nearly the entire Bible could be presented on stage and on film, which over the next two decades came to pass in Israel, Australia, Africa, Europe, America and all over the world with various actors and film crews. The task of translating and publishing and distributing printed Bibles, as opposed to the above media Bible, also unfolded in the same time period. Dr Phillip Goble, a professional actor with a doctorate and the graduate school mentoring of Dr Donald McGavran, left his home in Beverly Hills, California, and his studies in Pasadena, and eventually made his way to New York City, where he set up an office in 1979, and where he set about founding the AFII not-for-profit organization. After The Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha was published in 1996, work became to turn this translation into the Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, Russian, and French versions. The Entire Bible was published in 2002. OY TO THEM! JEWISH GREEK IN A FIRST CENTURY HELLENISTIC SYNAGOGUE!See on judaizing. Isn't it time to come back to your spiritual home? PRAY THIS PRAYER AND THEN PRAY THIS PRAYER.
See the ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE.
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