“Today is
twenty-one days which are three weeks of the Omer.”
Theme of the Week:
Tefreit - Beauty
Theme of the Day:
Malchut - Majesty
Overall Theme: The
Majesty of His Beauty.
Prov.
1:8a My son, hear the instruction of thy father.
Beauty is not
beauty anymore when it is sold or thrown desperately on someone, yet a beauty
can still be beauty when its sacrificed. But for beauty to keep its form and
dignity in spite of humiliating conditions it must be majestic.
Such beauty is
when a father lets down his guard and sets aside responsibilities to instill a
majestic element to his son.
Traditional text
to read is Psalm 119:161:168:
161 ¶ SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a
cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
162 ¶ I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.
162 ¶ I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.
When David
wrestles over the Torah and finds something new, it is as if he just won a
battle and is reaping the spoils of the war. To David the Torah is more
valuable and precious than any of the material possessions he may acquire in a
battle.
Here again David
is proclaiming that the Torah is Truth. I guess this answers Pilates question
to Yeshua (John 18:38).
“TRADITION!”
Tevye’s famous exclamation is oh so very true. I would guesstimate that 90% or
more of Jewish Tradition has it’s foundation in the Tanak. Other traditions in
Judaism come from the particular culture they find themselves in or they derive
from the Talmud, the Jewish compendium on Torah Law. There is virtually nothing
done in Judaism that doesn’t have meaning behind it.
Many believe, and
if you ask most Rabbis, they will tell you Jews pray regularly three times a
day, and Muslims, five.
Then the Scripture
of David popped in my head the other day where it says:
Psalms 119:164
Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
And I began to
think, “Seven. Why seven?” I know that seven is the number that represents
completion and perfection. But I then noticed that most Orthodox Jews too pray
seven times a day.
Daily Prescribed
Prayers:
1.
Shacarit
- Morning prayers
2.
Mincha
– Afternoon / Midday
prayers
3.
Ma’ariv
– Evening prayers
Prayers for Meals:
1.
Breakfast
2.
Lunch
3.
Dinner
Then you have the
final prayer of the day:
1.
Bedtime Shema
This equals out to
7 daily prayers.
I then began to
think, was this accidental or was it done with this in mind? I kind of think it
may be accidental, because the reason Rabbis do not count the prayers over
meals because to any religious person they are almost a given. That is why they
emphasis the three daily prayers of; Schacharit, Mincha, and Ma’ariv. And they
will tell you that Avraham taught us to pray in the morning, Isaac at noon, and
Jacob at night, and that the 3 prayers correspond to the sacrifices in the
Temple that we can no longer give because the Temple is no longer standing. So
it is believed that it is the responsibility of every Torah Observant Jew to
pray these three times daily.
Whatever the
reasoning behind our traditional prayers I think this is a good tradition to
keep. Any tradition that encourages and helps people to communicate and to draw
closer to G-d is a good tradition.
Rav Sha’ul says,
“Pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17).”
Meaning, always keep your Neshamah (soul / spirit) in an attitude of constant
prayer. The seven prayers of Judaism kind of backs this verse that Rav Sha’ul
penned; Because as said earlier, seven means, completion, fullness and
perfection.
The siddur we pray
from, which makes up many of the seven prayers in which we pray daily, is said
by the Rabbi’s to be our love letter to YHWH in response to His love letter to
us which is the Torah. And this could not be considered (as some do) as vain
repetitions, because no one ever gets tired of hearing the same words, “I love
you.” No matter how many times it is said. As long it is said with sincerity
and devotion. The Rabbis would be the first to say that if you cannot pray from
the siddur in such a manner it is best that you don’t pray at all, because it
is like a mechanical, meaningless, blemished sacrifice which is abominable to
G-d. And when someone is truly in love they find any and every excuse to meet
with and spend time with their lover. So if we truly love G-d as we claim, why
wouldn’t we want to pray seven times a day?
And when we pray
it is traditional to face East. Why? Because that is the direction of where the
Temple stood.
And we remember the words of Sholomo Ha Melek (King Solomon).
1 Kings 8:30 And hearken thou to the supplication
of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward
this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest,
forgive.
We also have a
tradition to wear a Tallit, a prayer shawl where we cover our selves up during
some of these prayers. I like to think of it as sometimes you meet in public,
like on a group or double date and sometimes you just want privacy between you
and your beloved.
Yeshua Moshieynu
said:
Matt. 6:6 But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly.
Unless you were
very rich, there was no such thing as a closet as we know it, and so “the
closet” became a Jewish idiom for ones Tallit.
Not only is G-d
like our lover, but He is also our King, and when we pray we sometimes wear a
Tallit, and don Tefillin. I liken this unto getting dressed in the proper
attire to see a king. We also bend our knees and bow ever so often during our
prayers from the siddur. Why? Because you bow in humility when you honor or
make any supplication to a king, how much more so the King who is above all
kings!
Sure, during the
course of a day you may, and it is okay to, toss up a quick prayer here and
there very informal like, because not only is G-d our Creator, Lover, and King,
but He is also our Father. And a Father can be approached at any time, and a
Father such as ours loves to spend time with His children.
Prayer is not
simply a religious thing, but it is more of a relational thing.
I love this verse
and quote it often, if someone is truly Torah Obedient, then nothing will
offend them, because they have the wisdom pf the Torah on their side. I see all
too often religious people who call themselves brothers and sisters in the
spirit, getting all bent out of shape when someone tries to give them genuine,
loving, constructive criticism. Or maybe they may get offended because they
disagree on the color of carpet that should be in the sanctuary! Some
translations say “nothing will make them stumble”, well, same result, because
they have the wisdom of the Torah on their side, they will see pit falls and
stumbling blocks before they reach them, it also says in this Psalm that the
Torah (Word) is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, this is another
reason if we love and keep the Torah we will not falter. If you know and keep
Torah, you will, as this verse says, have “Shalom Gadol” Great Peace. See Matt.
11:6, 24:10
Since Yeshua is
the Living Torah, His Commandments is no different from the Torah it self. Since
G-d and Yeshua are One, since they are Father and Son, Yeshua’s Commandments
are the same as the Fathers, and here we see that that is the Torah.
167 ¶ My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.
168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
David is not
afraid to make this “grandeous” statement, he asks G-d to check him on it and
to see if he hasn’t done his best to adhere to the Torah wholeheartedly.
“Abba YHWH Elohim,
make me beautifully majestic like You so as to rightfully and humbly carry
myself as a beautiful majestic ambassador for You in all I do. In Yeshua’s Name
Ameyn.”
