BS”D
THE COVENANT OF OLD SHALL BE RENEWED
At the giving of the Torah Israel declared
EXODUS CH 19 V 8
And all the people (ISRAELITES) responded together, "We will do everything the L-RD has commanded." So Moses brought the people's answer back to the L-RD.
Exodus 24 v 3 and v 7
V 3: So Moses came and told the people all the words of the L-rd and all the ordinances, and all the people answered in unison and said, "All the words that the L-rd has spoken we will do
V 7: And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it within the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the L-rd spoke we will do and we will hear"
Now let's see what the recognised prophets of old said after Israel failed in our Mission to keep and live in the Law:
Ezekiel 11:16-20
“Although I have cast them (ISRAELITES) far off among the Nations although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. (This is good to know given we are such a minority in the world and often face the wrath of an angry world.) "thus says the L-rd G-d: I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” and this process has begun, it is exciting but there is much work still to be done as it states “And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. Then I will give them one heart, (K’ish echad b’lev echad, like one man with one heart - all of us as one, like that time when we were all together when we first received the Torah,) and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their G-d.” I think the reference to a heart of stone is at times we feel we are so special, so holy and in that arrogance we push those around us away rather than showing them the beauty within the holy Torah, the grandeur of serving the King of Kings and the huge responsibility and obligation that comes with this service. We are only special if we are doing our jobs as requested at Sinai. At times we forget the laws of treating our fellow correctly, though we may daven three times a day and may presume to know a whole lot more (and may not), but do we attain this sprituality at the expense of another be it a friend or a spouse, are we there for them when they really need us, do we really feel for those around us, experience their pain, vulnerabilities and isolation, it is a level which I suppose I for one need to, and probably most of us need to subscribe to, to see the universe the creations as all being loved and honoured by our creator and to bring this awareness to see the holy sparks of all the living creatures, in the entire creation – we see in the Laws obligations to each other, obligations towards animals, the Mitzvah to care for the sick and lonely, the poor or the vulnerable, special laws for the convert, all those who are “outsiders” …as we were aliens in a foreign land: this was I think the key lesson of Egypt - for we were strangers in the land of Egypt,
Lest we forget the tablets have two parts, we need both, the sages teach us a parable about the final redeemer, that the redeeming Leper sits in the gates of Rome and does one bandage at a time, while all the Lepers around him fold and unfold many bandages, perhaps this is because he sees the world as one, as unified and the pain of everyone is a single pain - one wound - the wound of a bleeding creation - we need to heal the pain in service to our Creator the cause of all causes. Our pain is his pain! When we do this, we repair the world we see the wrongs we have actually wrought and then repent and do rightousness which will then bring us redemption G-d willing it.
I heard on this past Sabbath at the third meal from Rabbi Gideon Pogrond of the Chief's rabbi Goldstein's office, prior to us receiving the Torah, refer to Exodus 24 v 10 scripture discusses Moses and the elders approaching mount Sinai it states "they saw a vision of the G-d of Israel, and under his feet was like a brick work of Sapphire" wow what an insight what a vision - Hashem showed them bricks under him just before us receiving the Torah, Rashi tells us that he was reminding us of the oppression that we were subjugated to, intense slavery, we were work horses, forced to do the brick work of the Egyptians, we were subjected to unjust judgements and laws" We were serving a man, flesh and blood and with his cruel laws, we were enslaved to a mere mortal, who even had the audacity to state who is this Hashem that I should take note of him, maybe just maybe that is why the detailed laws after Sinai begin with the Laws of slaves, and setting them free? We were slaves we know what it is like to be Aliens, Enslaved and Afflicted, to serve a cruel king with cruel decrees, the message I think is rather accept the decrees of our merciful creator, who is just and cares for his subjects, he wants us to know this and serve him. Hashem in this vision demonstrated in a prior parsha a similar message, using a burning thorn bush (thorns and fire symbolise the pain and suffering the Jews in Egypt were feeling, but the bush was not devoured) when Moses first encounters him, this shows G-d feels our pain we are all his creations, he longs for our return to him, no matter what we may have done, so why not pure love - my gut feels is to allow for redemption, through judgements the righteous will be redeemed, Isaiah Ch 1 v 27 "Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.”
l think for a pure and holy world, to work we need both Love to bring peace and compromise and Laws to guide us to facilitate righteousness, for through the Law we find the will and pathways to being righteous, and judgements as a process to achieve final redemption. It is through pain and suffering that one is humbled and sensitized to others pain –achieving a heart of Flesh.
Ezekiel 37:24-28 foretells
“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their G-d, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the L-rd, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, says the L-rd, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out to the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the L-rd. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the L-rd: I will put My Law in their mind, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their G-d, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the L-rd,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the L-rd. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
We see in the old covenant we find that G-d describes himself as an unappreciated husband and Israel are his unfaithful bride – why unfaithful because they were not being true to his law to carry out his judgements, the Covenant we said we would honour but did not. This was a covenant to be faithful that had been breached and we were found wanting – unfaithful in obedience. A broken covenant.
But through Judgements is redemption to realise the wrongs we have wrought to feel the pain of others that we may have caused, to achieve complete Teshuva (repentance), total regret through a realisation of the suffering we have caused.
The new covenant will be one of complete obedience to G-d’s Laws and statutes (how do we know this look at the words of Jeremiah) – on the mind all the time, “My Law in their mind” our thoughts will want to serve, we will know the Law, through our love of the Creator the Law will be on our hearts “...write it on our hearts” (the heart is the centre an organ that supplies the life blood of the body, we see importance always goes in the centre, our hearts in the middle of our bodies) so I think the prophet says our Creator will draw us to the Law, finally we will have accepted his judgements with love. Then we will be as a wife who realises the goodness of the Husband she married who wanted only her good, she (Israel) will want to please her husband (Hashem) who bestows on her a bounty of blessings every day!
The prophecy reads: I will put My Law in their mind, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their G-d, and they shall be My people. Note in Jeremiah 31:33 the Laws become part and parcel with the way we will live.
Yechezkiel Chapter 20
V 11"And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgements which if a man do he shall live."
v 19 where it states "I am the L-rd your G-d, walk in my statutes and keep my judgements and do them.
v20 And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know I am the L-rd your G-d."
The prophesy then goes onto tell of how the Israelites rebelled and were unfaithful to the Covenant v21 "They walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgements, to do them which if a man shall do he will live in them, which they did not do... so Hashem says I will "pour out my fury on them..." " v23 " that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them throughout the countries" (this actually happened we can look back and confirm the words as being true) and he states the reason being V 24 "because they had not executed my judgements but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers idols" The final prophecy speaks of Israel realising their sins and feeling remorse about them.
Clearly we did wrong by not following the Laws of Sinai, and exercising the required judgements... and as a result we were informed we would be receiving a rod of unjust and unholy decrees, we all know the history of the persecutions and judgements and suffering placed on the Jews in exile.
But the good news may it happen soon is Ezekiel comes full circle and states in
V 40 he says " For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, said the L-rd G-D, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land serve me; there I will accept them; and there will I require their offerings, their first fruits, (given during the festival of Shavout - showing the first of everything belongs to G-d, our creator) of your oblations, with all your holy things. V41 "I will accept you with your sweet and savour, when I bring you out from the nations wherein you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the nations" The emphasis is we will return to be sanctified once again, if only we listen our deeds will be sweet and savour.
Courtesy of the Midrash Tanchuma "Perhaps one might say that some of these Laws (Old Covenant ones were not understandable or not relevant in our modern times) or given in vain, so scripture Leviticus 18 v 4 ends with "I am Hashem."
Leviticus 18 v 4
You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the L-rd your G-d. Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the L-rd.
So in closure the new covenant is likened by Hashem to a newer healthier marriage - one that will be powerful and honoured it will no longer be broken as Jeremiah implied above a time will come – the cheating will stop, and this will now become a new beautiful marriage a new covenant of faithfulness and righteousness, where Israel will once again be accepted by G-d with sweet and savour, when Hashem will bring us out from the nations wherein we have been scattered; to be sanctified before the nations–
Have you all heard of the Levithian fields found in Israel some time back, well recently Russia through president Putin has signed a contract to build natural gas plants and tap into the oil fields found off the coast of Tel Aviv, is this not exciting news… a reason to return perhaps…
may it happen soon!
For a great Dvar Torah well written and in parts funny by Daniel Sandground of Ohr Someyach Jerusalem on the Laws visit
Hear are some of the best of it extracted
As Jews we must appreciate that all areas of our life are intertwined with Torah and holiness derives from halachically correct business dealings no less than from piety in matters of ritual. From this point of view we can appreciate that these ‘mundane’ laws are of huge importance and in a sense brings us back down to Earth in realising that it’s not just about putting on Teffilin in the morning or making sure you keep Shabbat properly, our responsibility goes far beyond this into all areas of life.
The first line of the parasha states… “לפניהם תשים אשר המשפטים ואלה”… which translates as… “And these are the ordinances that you shall place before them”. With the help of our good friend Rashi we determine that this was a commandment by Hashem to Moshe on how he should give over the Torah to the Jewish people but why the strange language of ‘placed before them’? Surely ‘taught to them’ or ‘given over to them’ would have been a more effective language to use?... The mefarshim determine that this language means that the laws and statutes should be ‘placed before them’ like a set table, ready to eat. The implication of this language therefore suggests that they would be given over in a palatable way which would make their digestion (no pun intended) an immediate process, unlike walking into a room to a non-set table and having to wait to commence the meal, a set table suggests that the mitzvahs should be started immediately. The code of Jewish laws is called the Shulchan Aruch/The Set Table and it is in this book that majority of Ashkenaz laws and practices from the Torah are found. When comparing the Torah to a ‘Shulchan Aruch’ we can take things a step further… there are two reasons why people eat, the main reason is of course for nutrition and the other reason is for taste, to derive pleasure from the food. This is comparable to Mitzvahs which we are meant to primarily do because we have to (like eating for nutritional purposes) but once we learn the reasons for these mitzvahs we then find ourselves performing them also for the pleasure factor (like the taste of the food). Incidentally the Hebrew word for ‘taste’ is טאם/tam which also happens to be the word for ‘reason’… we see that the reason for doing the mitzvahs provides the taste for wanting to do them because it is through this understanding that we find ourselves falling into the second category of performing them… for pleasure. With this in mind there is an important lesson to be learnt here, we must perform mitzvahs because we have to, it is our spiritual sustenance in this world but combined with Torah study we are able to take more pleasure out of them through their טאם/tam.
Have a Happy Adar and Chodesh Tov!
Michael
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