A lighted Hanukkah
Oops, guess I have to delay my Torah Study for the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study material for a week or 2 as I have missed one whole week of Parashah Vayera reading during my recent trip to Beijing, China. No matter what it is I still need to study all the weekly study material provided for by the TCV3 course and to share it here whenever I have captured a few important keypoints from my study. Right now I am studying the material for Parashah Vayera from the TCV3 study material and it’s a quite joy to read but let me provide the summary of what I have learnt from the previous Parashah which is Lech Lecha. I got sick a couple of days since my return to Singapore as the weather in Beijing was extremely unpredictable and frenzily cold at times. My wife too got a flu and fever back here and taken 2 days mc and so did I. So all in all, I lost quite a number of days of not been able to study God’s Word, The Torah.
OK, about the study of Lech Lecha. What does it tell us and how can we apply this study in our daily life? From the study, it talks about the Exile of Israel and also the Redemption of Israel through God’s anointed one, Cyrus, the Persian king. Remember we are now studying the Haftarah portion of each of this weekly parashah and so usually we will not discuss stuff concerning the Torah portion. The Haftarah portion on Parashah Lech Lecha is to read Isaiah 40:27 – 41:16 and this specific passage is about God reassuring the Jewish people that even though they are been exiled to a foreign land and under harsh oppression, they are still the Mighty God’s chosen ones. God will not abandon them not to mention forsaking them and God would do it so miraculously marvelous that He make a Persian king to show favour to them and send them home to Israel and help build their Temple for them and let them study their beloved Torah again. What God had done let no man questions. What God had blessed let no man curses.
Actually the reading of the Haftarah Lech Lecha on Isaiah’s passage contains 3 supposed references that link to the story of Abraham’s journey to the Promised Land. Isaiah 41:8 been one as a correlation to the Torah portion because God consider Abraham His friend. The following passage continues with idol-makers at work in a workshop is also another one as an allusion to the story of Abraham. According to the rabbinic legend, Abraham’s father was an idol-maker and as a child, he worked in his father’s shop. A 3rd connection would be the description of God calling up a hero from the east to save His people.
Rabbinic interpretation would consider this hero Abraham himself but many scholars however have understood it that this hero were refering to Cyrus, the Persian king and not Abraham. So if God would save His people from the harsh oppression of the Babylonians through Cyrus His anointed, certainly God would again save His people from the evil oppression of the nations through our beloved Messiah Yeshua His Final Anointed. So all brothers and sisters in Messiah, pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for the Jewish people.
By the way, this month is the month of Kislev, the month where we celebrate Hanukkah – the Feast of Dedication. A Feast where our beloved Master Yeshua celebrates together with his disciple during his life-time ministry on earth. (John 10:22-30) 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 from the Gospel of John. 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. The above bold sentences are from the interpretative works of the FFOZ eRosh team.
Now, let me continue with my study on Vayera and see what I learn from them. Pardon me as this is actually the Parashah week on Toldot. Sorry about the insequentiallito…..
Baruch HaShem, baruch Yeshua.
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