Subject:
Jan 27/11 dicussion
From:
cher turner 
Date:
Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:01:12 -0600
To:
pam rogers 

Pat: Mentioned the Book of our Heritage.

Pam: Shema- quick review why shemah is important to us.

someone asked Pam how the Shema could be applicable to us , they were under the impression it was only for Israel.

When we become Noahides we in fact become part of Israel in that way(resource forthcoming)
How can we find information in the Torah.
-may take a few weeks
-we need to understand how it ties in and how we fit.
-highlight where we fit into Israel.
Pam, found the Path of the Righteous Gentile online , will try to remember to send out to everyone after discussion group.

Focus, to think about the overall picture from creation up to Sanai, skimming...
Parsha study will be Saturday night.

Bereshit ch. 9:26,27
commentary from Rabbi Hertz Chumash.
(remember history here.)
-after the flood
-after Shem & Japeth take garment & cover Noah(drunk, naked)
-when Noah woke up he knew what his son Ham had done to him Noah said cursed be Canaan.
-he shall be slave among slaves to his brethren.
-Blessed be the Lord the G-d of Shem may Canaan be a slave to them
-May G-d expand Japeth &may he dwell in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be a slave to them.


Rabbi Hertz: The G-d of Shem means , Blessed be G-d who will in the days to come keep his promise to the descendents of Shem.
-Japeth was to dwell in the tents of Shem , friendly relations should subsist between the submitic, and Japehetic races.
-This is the first of the universalist forcast in scripture of the day when emnity between nations will be forgotten and they will unite in the acknowledgement of the one G-d of Israel.
-All the way back to Noah and Shem we have the first indication of whats going on.
-of coarse dwelling in the tents of Shem meant studying , learning from Shem , being Melchezidek.
-P.35. Rabbi Hertz #26,27.

-What was Shem's inheritance from Noah?  What part of the world did Noah give Shem?
Canaan- it was taken away from Shem at some point, (will research this out some more later)

Bereshit 12:3, p45 Hertz.
-G-d tells Abraham go forth from your land to the land that I will show you and I will make you into a great nation.
-will Bless you and agrandize your name and you shall be a blessing . etc.
-all the families will be blessed in you.
FOOTNOTES: Rabbi Hertz:
Verse 3 , I will bless those who follow abraham's teaching , will like him enjoy G-ds favor and him that curses you have written out their own curse
-All the families of the earth will be blessed.
Isaiah 42:6- That Israel is to be a light unto the nations ,
-through him (Abraham) all men were to be taught the existance of the most high G-d and the love of righteousness there by opening for themselves the same treasurey of blessings he enjoyed.
Important thing to Note:
-The germ of the idea , underlying the fuller conception of a messianic age was in existence from the time of the founders of the race of Israel.
-In your seed may all of the families of the earth be blessed.
- was the promise given to both Abraham and Isaac?
-It was a promise that reached far beyond the lifetime of each, farther than the limits of the temporal kingdom , their descendents founded.
-that has obtained the partial fulfillment up to our time , and looks for the fullest realization to that future towards which each of us in his measure may contribute his share.
-we have another point to ponder about the overall plan , still in Bereshit-ch 12:4
-as the Lord has spoken .... (please read)
-Verse 5, Abraham took Sarah his wife , Lot his brothers son, and all the possesions that they had aquired ... souls they had aquired in Haran.
-Footnote Verse 5:
-The souls, slaves and dependents,
the Rabbi takes the word souls , mean the proselytes, whom Abraham made among the men and Sarah among the women.These converts became subservient to G-ds law and followed their master in his spiritual adventure .
-putting it in a timeline way,
-Abraham was just called to go out of his own country,
-after the tower of Babel.
-but before the covenant with Abraham with circumcision being the symbol of the covenant.
-Abraham was a Noahide,.
-after the flood.
-Abraham and Sarah became missionaries.

Genesis 17:10
-Abraham is 99 years old
-G-d appears to Abraham and says I am the Almighty G-d walk before me and be perfect.
-I will place my covenant between me and between you and I will multiply you very greatly.
-This is my covenant which you shall observe between me , between you , and between your seed after you.
-That every male among you be circumcized
-you shall circumcize the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be as a sign of a covenant between me and between you , and at 8 days every male shall be circumsized to you throughout your generations. one that is born in the house , one that is purchased with money from a foreigner who is not of your seed,. Those born in the house and those purchased for money shall be circumsized and my convenant shall be in your flesh and an everlasting covenant.
-Rabbi Hertz commentary on circumsision :
-the circumsision is to be the external sign of the covenant,
-as the following verse declares:  it will be a token of the convenant as was the rainbow was the token of the covenant with Noah. and even as the rainbow had existed before Noah this right has been practiced among other people  before Israel.

Pam: Question we have about this,
-Hashem promises Abraham that he will be a father to a multitude of nations.
-a part of that was Ishmael, but it also emphasizes according to Rabbi Hertz , that AV means father and RAHAM is an arabic word for multitude.
-the change in the name emphasizes the mission of Abraham which is to bring all the peoples under the wings of the Shechina.
-before we saw that Abraham and Sarah had created souls, or souls they made however translated.
-And according to the Rabbi's they were converts.
-Specifically - The uncircumsized male who is not circumsized from flesh of foreskin, shall be cut off from his people.
-Note from Rabbi Hertz: to be cut off from his people means either through punishment at the hands of G-d or through the expulsion from the community,
?- could it be you were not allowed to live with the community unless you were circumsized .(research it out)
-covenant of circumsision began the era of Ger Toshav. ??
-The covenant of circumcision was a physical sign in the flesh of the man, who had renounced idolatry.
-Ger Toshav is not an official status today.
-The Ger Toshav anciently was actually a 1/2 convert to Judaism.
-its not available today , and hasn't been available since the 2nd temple was destroyed.
-There are three different levels for Noahides , and Pam recently saw a reference for a 4 th level .(need to research out what the different levels are)
-4th, would have been the idolater, were talking ancient termanology through the years they found , before second temple Ger Toshav was called somethng different , different meaning than it does today.

Rambam:Mishnah Torah, Ger Toshav was the Ger who lived and accepted the 7 laws of Noah, and made an official declaration in front of a beit din to become a Ger Toshav.
-however in the Talmud there is a discussion about it and there are different opinions . some say that we only have to follow the 7 laws , other Rabbi's or sages who say that the Ger Toshav is obligated to live by the whole law with the exception of eating kosher food. There is a very long study in the Talmud.
-In order for us to be righteous in anything , we have to know what righteousness is.
-And righteousness is what we are when we keep the laws of G-d as they apply to us.
-We have to find out how they apply to us (Right!!!!)

Going back to the Shema
-Noah , shem become priest/king  (melchezidek)
-The Torah teaches us the progression .
-It starts out with a few people the ones who remain true to Hashem .
-they maintain the Holy language
-they didn't lose the Holy language at the tower of babel like everybody else.
-they passed down from Adom, Torah
-Torah was before creation.
-things were not commanded until Sanai
-Abraham and Sarah then became to take on converts , to WHAT?
-The one way , G-ds way.
-and they teach Torah, Abraham , Isaac, Jacob all studied at the yeshiva of Shem and Eber, for 14 yrs
-overall picture of the timeline , the things G-d intended with Adom will come back at the end of all of this , mankind, humanity, as a whole will be back to where it was intended to be .(references)
-we are all children of the one G-d
-the shemah is like the statement of faith.
-prior to the temples destruction , ger toshav were thriving in Israel without full conversion Rabbi Beinman's book, 7 colors of the rainbow, in one part it says at the synagogue at Sardis there was an inscription found... born jews , converts to judaism ,observers of 7 laws.(fearers)there is alot of information in the historical records
-when the temple is standing , we are given citizenship in Israel, if you do live in Israel you will have to be a ger toshav.
-according to the Rabbi's Jacob was the first jew.
-G-d fearers is an ancient way of being called Noahide.
-Perkei D' Eleizer's books are full of information.
-accept upon ourselves 2 things , to believe in the creation of the world , and to accept His soveignty.
-All the people standing at Sanai had to accept the soveignty of G-d , and that they would have no other G-ds before him. Before they were given the laws that applied to them and that is where the shemah comes in. 2x a day, when you lay down and when you rise up....

xo hope all is good. Cheryl

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