This week’s parsha, Vayishlach (Genesis/Bereshiet 32:4 thru chapter 36) continues the story of Yakov/Jacob at the time where he has left the house of Laban, and begins the return to his hom, as commanded.
And, importantly, that story begins with his encounter with his long-estranged brother Esau, who, as he last recalled, intended to kill him.
The Erev Shabbat reading:
The Sabbath Day midrash includes a look at the prophet Obadiah, and asks a question. Or is it clear?
Because the animosity has persisted through the millennia.
Vayishlach: Esau is Edom…is…AmeriKa???” Means!
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
This week’s parsha, Vayetze (Genesis/Bereshiet 25:19-32:3) follows the story of Yakov/Jacob after he leaves home and heads to the place of his mother Rivka/Rebeccah’s family.
And like so many things concerning the Patriarchs, it is not only maximally Politically NOT-Correct, but practically a litmus test for how far so much of the sun-god-day church has departed from the lessons of Scripture.
The Erev Shabbat reading:
There is a whole lot that much of ‘xtianity’ really doesn’t like about this one. And for the same reasons, some of the context may even seem confusing to ‘modern sensitivities.’
Why, for example, is the man who lied to his father to “usurp” his elder brother Esau’s blessing, and birthright, also held up as an icon of “emet,” the Hebrew word for ‘truth’? And why would the Creator of the Universe and Author of Scripture choose to use a man with four wives to bring forth His people?
Is it possible that there’s something in this story that ‘the Church’ would prefer to overlook, or outright hide?
This story is not merely NOT-PC. It’s a glaring example of what so pervades the world that so hates His Word today:
Vayetze: Real vs Fake” Means!
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for a two-part look at this week’s parsha, Toldot (Genesis/Bereshiet 25:19-28:9) which is the primary description in the Bible of the life of Yitzak/Isaac, and includes the stories of his twin sons, Esau and Yakov.
The Erev Shabbat reading:
The Sabbath Day midrash is focused on what was originally called a “struggle” in the womb between the two twin brothers. But the Hebrew word (ratzatz) used, and Rivkah’s reaction, suggest it was FAR more intense than a mere struggle.
And it continues, in every way.
Because so does the reason that Esau is “hated” by YHVH.
Toldot: Poor Esau? Or the ‘Battle Has Never Ended?’
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
This week’s parsha, Chayei Sarah (Genesis/Bereshiet 23:1 – 25:18) essentially concludes the story of the life of the Patriarch, Abraham, but is titled the ‘Life of Sarah,’ and begins with her death at the age of 127. But this portion is perhaps THE most significant exposition of principles once known as the English Common Law in all of Scripture, by example.
The Erev Shabbat reading, from the First Land Contract, to the First “Good and Faithful Servant,” and a prototype for what constitutes marriage as well:
Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa has noted that it is surprising (but perhaps shouldn’t be!) how often the regular Torah parsha reading is so precisely on-target for what it happening in the world at that time. This one seems to be an exception. At least until we look a bit deepeer.
What does a parsha that has EVERYTHING to do with fundamental elements of the ‘common law’ matter in a week where the big issue seems to be whether the world even survives long enough for an inauguration?
The answer is in the contrast: we got here because “lawlessness abounds,” and not only has the “love of many grown cold,” but outright hatred seems to abound as well in its place.
Chayei Sarah: A message for the Remnant – who had better know what “Come in His Name” Means!
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
This week’s parsha, Vayeira (Genesis/Bereshiet chapters 18 through 22) tells the second part of the story of the life of the Patriarch, Abraham, and includes at least two of the most well-known, and even prophetic, incidents in that sage.
The parsha title, Vayeira, “And He appeared,” refers to YHVH Himself, and two of His ‘malakim,’ or messengers, who appeared to Abraham on the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and is the time when the patriarch famously ‘dickers’ with the Creator on behalf of those about to die. And there is more to that visit as well.
The Erev Shabbat reading concludes with perhaps the famous event in his life, which is certainly not only prophetic, and foreshadowing, but also cited as the epitome of an “act of faith”:
The Sabbath Day midrash is all about a question that Mark Call suggests is something we should be considering today:
Can WE have “faith like Abraham?’
After all, this patriarch is essentially not only the ‘Father of Our Faith,’ but also a man who faith is literally of “Biblical Proportions.”
There are other factors to consider… …but we can, and must.
Vayeira: The ‘Faith’ of Abraham’ – and what it means for us
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship this week for a two-part look at the first parsha chronicling the life of THE Patriarch, Abraham.
The Erev Shabbat reading begins with the title phrase, Lekh lekha, or “get thee out,” of your land, your home, everything you’ve known, and go to the place that “I will show you.” He just does so, in an act of faith that has stood as a testament to that faith for millenia:
And, again, there is much in the life of this first patriarch that is so fundamental, so important, and so long-forgotten now, that it amounts to an object lesson about what is wrong with a society which is so clueless about THE fundamental structure of society, and government.
It should be no surprise, then, that so much of what Abraham did, and represented, is anathema to a ‘church’ that prefers its own dogma to His Written Word. From marriage, to ‘works’, to circumcision – there are lessons here that have been twisted, or worse.
The Sabbath Day midrash asks a question that Mark suggests MUST be asked at “such a time as this,” now that the ‘Date Certain’ has passed, but the danger, and the challenges ahead, have only begun.
Do we understand why “the world” so DESPISES everything about “patriarchy”. And why, if we are to “return to Him,” it starts with understanding what the father Abraham teaches us?
Lekh Lekha: Abraham, THE Patriarch, Which Matters NOW – because Some of the Blessings Come First
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
We began the reading of Parsha Noach last week, both with the story of his genealogy, the nature of the world at that time, and the Flood itself. But that parsha also includes at least one other famous story, and one which also bears more relevance today that we might like to admit.
The Erev Shabbat reading of the parsha follows the Flood, in chapters ten 12 of Bereshiet/Genesis, and includes the story of Nimrod, and the Tower of Babel:
The Sabbath Day midrash picks up the theme of Nimrod, Babel, and what it was about that tower that was so unique to YHVH that it merited the response He gave it.
And it seems to have lot to do with what Bebylon became, and evidently still represents: a system that is antagonistic to His.
There are parallels, anti-parallels, but this time the question concerns what might follow the parallels after that Flood, “as it was in the days of Noach…”
The issue this time is Babylon, and what constitutes the ‘Greater Babylon Metro Area.’
Noach+: Nimrod, Babylong and ‘Transformational Technology’ The Remnant must Self-Select!
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
In some ways, Bereshiet (Genesis, and “in the Beginning) is the most fundamental element in the Bible. Literally everything else builds, line-by-line, precept-by-precept, upon that Foundation.
Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship has often contended, that six chapters of Genesis in parsha Bereshiet (Genesis 1 through 6) is just too much to even try to do justice to, study-wise, in a single week, So, this cycle, we depart a bit from the “annual Torah reading” layout to do a bit deeper dive into this second half of the first parsha in the Book. Which actually ‘overlaps’ via the story of Noach, the Nephilim, and the Flood anyway.
The Erev Shabbat reading of the ‘next segment’, into the story of Noach and the Flood, in chapters four through 9 of Bereshiet/Genesis:
The Sabbath Day midrash is about Big, even “climactic” changes. And there are two that follow the logical sequence of the story: Noach, and the Flood, and – don’t forget – the Book of Joshua describes the events AFTER the five Books of the Torah, and the conquest of The Land. And that, too, was a time of Big Changes.
Which is true today.
And there are parallels, anti-parallels, and no shortage of warnings about what looks like “as it was in the days of Noach…”
Bereshiet+: Big, BIG Changes – both Then and Now
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
In some ways, Bereshiet (Genesis, and “in the Beginning) is the most fundamental element in the Bible. Literally everything else builds, line-by-line, precept-by-precept, upon that Foundation.
And, as Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship contends, that is why those fundamentals are so hated, by a world, and – yes – a ‘church’ which hates what He ordained. So this week we depart a bit from the “annual Torah cycle” layout to do a bit deeper dive into this first parsha in the Book.
The Erev Shabbat reading of the first three chapters of Bereshiet/Genesis:
The Sabbath Day midrash is about that fundamental truth that has been undermined, inverted, despised by ‘the world,’ and deliberately ignored by what rightfully IS the Whore Church, direct descendant of what He called Ahola, still in exile for idolatry.’ And it is at the very heart of almost all that is wrong today with a world which despises His Authority.
Bereshiet: Patriarchal Authority – When the Foundations Have Been Destroyed, What MUST the Righteous DO?
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
This week, because of the Fall Holy Days, and as we near the conclusion of the Torah cycle, Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship elected to take a look at the final parsha in the Torah, where Moses wraps up his final address to ‘kol Israel’ with blessings of the tribes, and is then allowed to see the promised Land from Mount Nebo just before he dies.
And there is here at least one tradition that seems to make a wonderful point, even if this portion will be read a bit before most of those on the more ‘rabbinic’ calendar do: When we reach the end of the Torah at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy,we continue right back into Bereshiet/Genesia 1:1, since the intent is to show that the study of His Word is a continuing cycle.
The Erev Shabbat reading:
The Sabbath Day midrash examines a contrast: Moses addressed a people who were about to get a new leader, and finally enter and then begin the battle for their long-promised land.
We currently have no leader, and are evidently closer to losing a land than entering it, although there are certainly battles ahead, one way or another. But, as the Bible shows, the reasons for judgment are the very same.
And this is where the paths, on every level, and the stories, too — diverge. Call it a “fork in the road,” and a fork in the Word.
We continue into Genesis/Bereshiet because ALL of His Word is built upon ‘the Rock,’ that He was there, “in the Beginning,” and “knew the end from the beginning,” “changes NOT,” and Wrote for us what we needed to know, and do.
But the ‘mixed multitude,’ under the leadership of Joshua/Yoshua, both the Namesake, and ‘type and shadow,’ of that prophet Who was “like unto Moses,” proceeded to enter the land, and begin those battles. And that story continues in the Book of Joshua.
Both roads apply.
V’zot HaBerakah: “The Fork in the Road”
The combined two-part teaching is here, via Hebrew Nation Radio.
