Rabbi's Drash

Nitzavim-Vayelech

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5 7 6 9

Numbers 30:2-36:13
 

This double portion, "standing in the Presence of G-d" and "he went" brings us out of the curses due to our disobedience to G-d. It is hard to understand how we cannot see our own disobedience when the Torah is so clear. As I mentioned in the last drash, Rabbi Kahane was very honest and sincere. We have been so accustomed to blame G-d for everything that goes wrong in our lives instead of accepting the blame ourselves for not following His Word. It is not because G-d is not listening to us but we reap the consequences of our own behavior. It is not a coincidence that these portions precede the High Holidays. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called by our sages, the Yamim Norayim, the terrible days. It is a very solemn period filled with a sense of trepidation since for the Books of Life are open on Rosh Hashanah and our names are sealed on Yom Kippur. If we are holding anything against someone, it is a time to forgive and let it go. If we sin, we need to come clean before G-d. We must not allow our sense of self-righteousness and being better than others, stop us from humbling ourselves before G-d and asking Him for forgiveness. Moshe in this portion called everyone to stand before the Presence of G-d in the order of their positions. If we were to look at that today, it would be the Prime Minister first, followed by the members of Parliament from the Prime Ministers of each province down to the local MPs to the citizens followed by the women, children and finally the foreigners. It was not only for those standing there that that day but also for all those who were not there yet. This is similar to what Yeshua said when he prayed for all those with him that day and all those of us who would come to believe in him in the future. We are all to stand under this promise, the Torah which we said that we would keep. True teshuvah or turning to G-d comes when G-d transforms our hearts first and then we walk in His Promises. The word shuvah is repeated over and over; turning back to G-d! We will do what he asked but this can only be truly done when He is with us. No man is capable of obeying Torah with G-d being in them. Religion is the antidote against following G-d. It is us our way of telling G-d that we are going to do things our own way. We invent doctrines, traditions and dogmas so that we can say that we follow G-d but really it is showing that we are not happy with G-d's Word, we prefer our own. How many of us truly have the desire to follow G-d? We confuse following G-d with doing what we feel.. Our prophet Jeremiah in chapter 17:5,7 warned us "cursed is the man who trusts in man. Blessed is the man who trusts in G-d," "The heart of man is deceitful. We can't trust ourselves" (Jer. 17:9-10). When you hold something against someone even if you feel an injustice has been committed, you are the loser. It becomes like a cancer within you breaking down your immune system and causing disease. The spiritual and physical go hand in hand. Preparing for the High Holidays is truly a matter of life and death. True believers in G-d work very hard at this time. It is not coincidence that Yeshua read Isaiah 61 at Yom Kippur (Luke 4:16-30). He as Messiah was announcing deliverance to Israel. Yeshua told us at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 that we are to trust in G-d, seek His righteousness first and everything will follow. He was speaking to Israel in a context they could understand that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. He was saying that the Presence of G-d was there with them in the form of Messiah and that he would bring more understanding to them about Torah. It is important to understand that at that time the tradition of the elders had already brought a lot of confusion to the people. Yeshua was breaking the chains which were paralyzing the people not allowing them to worship G-d. The traditions were nullifying the Word of G-d. He came to tell us to follow G-d not man. If we have a tradition that does not turn us away from the G-d of Israel, it is not a problem. Yeshua himself celebrated Hanukkah (John 10:22) so he was not taking us away from our traditions. However he fought against a religious order that put burdens of religiosity on the people too great for them to bear. There are many examples in the Sermon on the Mount of how our traditions break with the Word of G-d. This is not only in the case of Judaism. We see this in Christianity today as well. When people tell us as Messianic Jews that we are under the law, that we are being legalistic, they need to re-examine exactly what this means. Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17 He had not come to change anything but to make it clearer; that whoever teaches the least of his brethren to disobey the Torah would be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. We cannot take this lightly. Christianity tells us as Jews that we need to follow their Jesus Christ whom they have molded into a foreign god, making images of him which we are told not to do. They erect a cross, hang him on it and want us to bow down and worship this image; it is impossible for us and goes against the mitzvoth in the Torah. When they change the Sabbath to Sunday, they annul the Word of G-d but call us legalistic. No one has the right to destroy the Word of G-d. In Deuteronomy 30 Moses tells us that it is not too difficult to keep the Torah. Paul does the same in Romans. It is not impossible to keep His Word. It is impossible to consistently be righteous. Before the High Holidays, ask yourself what part of your journey are you with G-d? Have you really done teshuvah? Are you rebellious? Are you ignoring G-d's Word? Are you filled with self-righteousness where you are better than others and there is little G-d can teach you anymore? Are you totally open to His Presence in your life? Where ever you are, I ask you one thing…come down to reality and be honest with yourself. Are you being a politician where you show everyone one face but when you are alone or with family, another face comes out? G-d wants us to be real with ourselves and with others. We do not need to put on a show. G-d is not impressed with us. He prefers a humble and contrite heart which He can mold. Never be afraid to turn or to return to G-d. He wants our honesty and sincerity. Never be afraid to admit that you do something wrong. There is great healing in acknowledgment. 1John says, if we say we have no sin, we call G-d a liar. Rabbi Eleazar tells us to look at each day as if it were the first day of our lives and also the very last. The first day as everything is full of hope and possibilities, as a new beginning; and as our last day in order to be totally clean before our G-d to be in His Presence! In this coming week let us be honest with ourselves and the others around us; if we have done anything that has hurt someone, to ask for forgiveness and if someone has done something to you, tell them and clear the air; if we are holding things against another person we are the ones committing sin. Let us make it right with one another. Let us go into this New Year by being careful how we treat and deal with each other. We will stand before a Holy G-d who only wants the best for us. This is living Torah. Do not perform. Be yourself. Don't try to impress anyone. And Let it go!        May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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