My Reality Musings

Here's a little piece I wrote in shorthand then expanded on. I liked it then, I like it now (though I might disagree with some parts). It's very raw and stream of consciousness. I tried to explain my references, but would be pleased to get the source for anything I wrote. Most translations are from the 1985 JPS translation, some from 1917, and some are my own.

This is about 2 pages that I typed up one evening (Thurs Feb 22, 2001) after reading a number of science articles. I started to wonder about how well we understand the universe. It seems that so many things we take for granted are just general rules of how matter usually behaves. The nature of reality, is different from what we expect. This required further study so I started jotting down notes of things to look up and why which brought me to question the meaning of the universe and life as well. I had also just read some Maimonidies on evil and was influenced by his opinions. Also, I am generally influenced by my belief in the general correctness of the documentary hypothesis, that the Torah and the rest of the Bible were written by human beings. Just like other cultures told stories attributed to their Gods sayings and actions, so ours. Just like the medieval Zohar was attributed to a 2^nd century source, 2^nd Temple Jews wrote pseudepigrapha, attributing their writing to others, and so the Jews of the 9^th-7^th centuries compiled their ancient oral traditions and wove them with their sometimes accompanied, sometimes new, sometimes amplified and stretched explanations, to create the books of the Bible. What makes the Bible important, is that it is ours: our history, our traditions, our God. “ze eli ve-anvehu, This is my God and I will exalt Him", “YaHWeH [is] elohenu, YaHWeH echad (the Sustainer of the universe, alone)” I have inserted explanations in brackets. It will become obvious that my thoughts eventually became more organized and moved into a kind of essay form. Mon Feb 26, 2001

What is Light, [that it can exhibit properties of having] mass? Light [can be used in]-focusing [or moving] DNA [as if the light were a] magnet, why [is it] attracted to black hole [if it has no mass. What happens to light when it cannot escape? What does it mean that scientist can slow it, stop it, and store it?] , [We call it Electro-Magnetic] EM radiation [due to it’s dual-nature according to Maxwell’s equations. How does it act as if] with mass?, p = h/lambda [a scarcely remembered formula from Physical Chemistry that the wavelength of the electron is indirectly related to it’s mass. Thus, a baseball has a small wavelength and light waves have a small mass] -> electrons have waves and waves have momentum [mass]. [What is the] Nature of matter, [it’s] forces, TOE [Theory of Everything, can it all be truly reconciled and brought to a single cause?], Strings [a theory that seems to unify quantum physics with Einsteinian relativity by postulating that the world is made up of tiny rubber-band-like one-dimensional strings vibrating in 11 dimensions, its properties as matter determined by the various frequencies at which the string vibrates.], how [do] protein's [come to] work and [what can account for the] evolution of [the] genome [from unicellular creatures to ourselves. We have such different make-ups and functions.], [What can explain the] evolution of complex/specialized creatures (are there intermediaries or relatives to bats? [Bats have specialized vocal chords to make high-pitched sounds, a brain that can interpret that, a circadian rhythm that keeps it up when it’s food is available, and the ability to fly and make use of the aforementioned]), [Scientists have discovered] echoes of [the] Big Bang [in the static in space], [are there really] miracles in the world: [is seeing them just] coincidence [,willing to interpret some events as miracles and not others,]and perspective? [There are many] More disasters than miracles! [Following the possibility of God’s intervention in the world, Is there a] Possibility of a divine force communicating with man [as described in the Bible or generally]? [Such a ] Force must have thought. Thought has limits unless [the being is] thinking everything at once. Is that what we are? God's dream?[God thinks everything at once, including our own thoughts and the location of our atoms in the past present and future. Thus, we don’t really exist because we are the creation of God’s mind] And just like in a dream, the dreamer can communicate with the objects [and insert his thoughts into his objects heads with or without their knowing]? [More on the physical nature of God’s world.] How can matter and energy be related? [E=m*c^2, the energy in matter is proportional to it’s mass. According to the zeroith law of thermodynamics, matter can converted into energy and energy into matter, but they cannot be created or destroyed. Thus, they share something fundamental, like the EM wave that makes light has a dual nature, E=mc^2 that makes the world has a dual nature.] What separates them? Why [then are] atoms [made] of 3 components [if there are only two fundamentals]? [They have] Positive, Negative, [and] Neutral [charges].. are they really [“charged”? How is a charge related to the nature of the subparticle]? What about anti-matter? [It is exactly the same as its parallel but somehow reacts completely opposite. In fact, a proton can decay into a neutron and positron. Not only does it create an electron with positive charge which will soon be obliterated by contact with matter of like quality to that which just created it, but the sum mass of the products is greater than the reactant! In any case, what makes the atom so unstable that a neutron will be better than a proton and can cause such a change?] [Even more fundamentally,] What makes a positive attract a negative? Is that God? The force that gives rules to the world? If so, how can that God care for us or speak to us? Can he tweak the rules at times? Would that cause reality waves? [like some explosions can cause gravity waves and earthquakes and sounds cause matter waves?] Or, as in a dream, the impossible just happens? But the impossible doesn't happen [except in stories and legends, e.g. the Bible]! Magicians make the impossible seem to happen. What is a prophet but an impassioned speaker of the divine values? God, says Feuerbach [19^th century European post-Hegelian, pre-Marxist. Manufacturer or toilets], is the ideal of man. God exists not in heaven, but in our minds. We see God where we see good. If so, what about evil? Pointless evil? Can it be that the world is good as a whole but not to individuals? Why would a good God create a world unfair to individuals? Then again, can we expect to be better off than animals who are subject to predators, disease, famines, and disasters? And the mind [which makes us so human]! Some things we recall vividly and other we forget [It is so wonderful and so fallible. Incidentally, different people have vastly different abilities to learn, analyze, and forget]. And the body! It sometimes seems to run it's own course [By being tired, lustful, lazy, or wakeful]. And the mind wants to circumvent reality [, to control our physical urges that impede our long-term goals or personal values]. We dream beyond reality, thus the mind is greater than reality. But the mind is limited and reality is not [as noted above. Reality even though there is a finite quantity of it, can expand to theoretically infinite proportions. This is more hyperbole in fact. Reality does have limits in terms of the above-mentioned laws but can comprehend more than the mind. Thus, this sentence is not entirely true or true at all]. Does the mind just work as a screen for the infinite information of the world and simply choose what is important to analyze and turns the mountains of problems into plains of sense? And what of culture and conditioning that we have so many possible lifestyles at our disposal and we are seldom comfortable with foreign ones [I wasn’t even sure of this as I wrote it]. We can never completely erase the imprinting of our childhood. Where, instead of learning languages or math, we learn how to interpret the world. And yet, some people absorb good, others reject it. Some absorb evil, others reject it. How can we all be the same? What is the cause of the difference? It cannot be either Genes or Environment [alone]. Is that God? "All is in the hands of God except the fear of him [BT Berakhot 33b]" But living life moment to moment I feel like I am wasting my time. Why eat when I can... what am I supposed to do!? Study Torah? Make friends? Learn about nature? Probe mathematics? Heal the world!? To what end? What does it matter if I am selfish? It only hurts me as much as other people ignore me or I disgust myself. Can the world be fixed? Why does it need fixing? Is God's wisdom to teach us to fix it? What does it matter to God that we exist? I cannot imagine that a divine being would need us unless he were lonely. And the divine being is not human to feel. Of course, the Bible portrays a God of emotion and favoritism [but Maimonidies says this is just parable]. What [of the traditional Jewish choices] do I prefer: an anthropomorphic God, the realization of human ideals, or a superhuman being as imperfect as ourselves, or a transcendental power that makes everything work, but is only the battery for the machine? Did the battery make the machine? What does a battery need a machine for? The world cannot exist without God. God can exist without the world, else he is not God. So what of the world? To what end, purpose, reason is there existence, and what am I supposed to do with it? What is the human capacity for knowledge of himself? Can one know the world if he cannot know oneself? Kant [19^th century Europe] said that we see the phenomena, [perceivable] reality through a filter (our limited senses subsequently edited and produced and analyzed in the brain) but the noumena, such things not directly sensible are forever beyond human ken. We may catch shadows of them, but that is all. So what is the shadow [noted] above? I seem to have shown that God cannot exist [since a God that does not need people would not create people. Whereas, a God that needs people is not an all-powerful God and is merely a superhuman such as the Greek gods. In any event,] There are no miracles, there was and is no revelation [since God has no hand to heal nor mouth to speak]; can one say that there is even good or evil, or are those just constructions of what meets our goals without injuring others? They are ideals.... And yet, I believe that they exist. I feel that they must exist even if I do not know what they are. Can I know without experience? I would think only those things which are programmed (i.e. already part of me) can be experienced without experience. The Bible is beautiful because it is a refracting of history through the lens of Godly values. History becomes false, yet more powerful. There is a truth beyond reality. Truth exists outside of reality. There is a world inside us in which God reigns. God is our imagination, our desire for righteousness. That I can make sense of these words [I write], is that acclimation or miracle? [Trying to learn a foreign language is proof of how unnatural a particular language is to man. Language-learning abilities, however, seem to be innate.] [Thus, thankful that I can both write and think such thoughts, I need mention that] Judaism is about gratitude. I am gracious that I am alive, that my body works, my mind thinks, and that nature has laws. But if God is in the regular, if the miracle is mere existence, then I should then thank God every moment that I am [I don’t quite follow my logic here. This is a Godless sentence. I could simply be grateful that I’m alive and ignore God]. Why I am I do not know; but I must be grateful that I am. And yet, if I were not, I would feel no worse off. Someday, I will be no longer. And then what will have been my life? What will become of what I know? Mere biological pathways [that happened to think and desire and make friends]? To what end!? For the world to be righteous, there must be a beyond death [since there is so much injustice here]. Else, what is our mind for, if it is to end? This is an argument of passion and faith, not of reason. Just because I am not satisfied with the answer, does not make it true. From this I derive, that one must choose. One must live life as if there is a God. Live life and thank God that you exist. Work to your fullest. Fight despair. Though times be difficult and the world seems unfair, it will in the end be righted [in the beyond death, where God’s beneficence will be unveiled]. Thus, despair is pointless. We must take advantage of every situation. The world will go on no matter how we feel. But this is [a] general [God to believe in], what of [religious] tradition [which posits a special relationship with this God which can show favoritism]? Why obey rules posited by those before us [since they are man-made and not of God himself]? Well, it is clear that since there is no revelation that the only reason to maintain ties to tradition is for the sake of order. And meaning. Thus, where tradition impedes us, we must resist it. Where it advises us, we must embrace it. Tradition, one may say, exists out of the love of those who keep it. Where they err, we correct. That is the correction of the world. To repair our cultures. To make them fair and just. To remove the ugliness and bring out the beautiful. But what about our ancient texts [which preserve these ancient traditions which we shall change even contrary to some of the beliefs of these texts]? No, we shall not change them. We shall see them in their context, what values prompted them, and we must reapply those values. Which values? Those which speak to us. Then why look at the text? Because it is beautiful; it is ours. What if it isn't beautiful? Then we see that we have advanced and that is beautiful. [Like any sermon, you need a happy ending so I provided it. This is very much philosophy in the air. What does it matter when your best-friend dies in a car crash on his wedding day or when your child has a genetic disease or your father suffers a disabling stroke? It hurts. We question the meaning of the disaster. We seek someone to blame. Can we blame God? The Holocaust was brought about by Man, therefore it can be explained. But why should a child deserve to have AIDS or leukemia or dementia? No, the world is not fair. But because we are material beings, we succumb to material disasters. Our being human does not exempt us from reality. No matter of piousness can change the physical rules by which the world runs. We must not depend on miracles to avert a dangerous situation (BT Kiddushin 39b). So, we must accept life as it comes, roll with the punches, and come back stronger. Here are my three rules of life: Friends, Family, and Faith. Only through the latter can we truly have the former or anything else. Mordechai Kaplan’s three rules of religion were: Believing, Behaving, and Belonging. What do we do with this? If we change, do we no longer have any of these? So what of prayer? Why not just meditate? There’re not necessarily so different. I suggest you take the liturgy and turn it into a list of problems to correct and blessings to count. But we have traditional ways of doing so! They were only codified for those who couldn’t organize the thoughts themselves. If you can organize your own thoughts, by all means do so. Write your own prayers. Share with friends. Know that the Hebrew root to pray PLL means to demand justice. Demand justice (Deuteronomy 16:20, Amos 6:24). Seek peace and speak kind words (Psalms 34:15). Do justice, love goodness and walk modestly with your God (Micah 6:8-9). Practice goodness and justice and trust in providence (Hosea 12:7). God wants loving-kindness between man and his fellow, not material offerings (Hosea 6:6). We are all children of God (Genesis 1:26-27, Malachi 2:10), no one superior to the other (M Sanhedrin 4:5). However we worship him with the best of our produce and ethics, he remains the Sustainer (YaHWeH) of the Universe and the same God of us all (Malachi 1:11, Hosea 14:3). The essence of God does not change (Malachi 3:6) but people might (Ezekiel 11:19). Ritual is just to purify man (Bereishit Rabba 44:1). Respecting one’s fellow creatures is more important than preserving personal ritual (BT Eruvin 41b). Our misdeeds will someday be fixed (Micah 7:18-19). A day will come when all will seek the good and find his place (Amos 8:11-12, 9:14-15). For those of you who still believe in an active God, know that your action to repair the world must precede his (Zechariah 1:3). God is kind, just, and fair, and for this we should devote ourselves to emulating him (Jeremiah 9:23). Such a god is the only being mighty enough and wise enough to create a world as rich in experience as ours that it not be by chance (Jeremiah 10:12-16). However, we see that the world is naturally diverse. We need not apply this to God. Feuerbach would say that what we see in God is what we desire of ourselves. Therefore, don’t be just an human being, be an image of God.

Verses to ponder, selected by me on the fly:

“1 Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter! 2 May my discourse come down as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, Like showers on young growth, Like droplets on the grass. 3 For the name of the Lord I proclaim; Give glory to our God! 4 The Rock!--His deeds are perfect, Yea, all His ways are just; A faithful God, never false, True and upright is He.” (Dt. 32:1-4)

Here are the topics:

Covenant, Creation, David, Death, Free will, God, Justice, King, Knowledge, Meat, Prayer, Prophecy, Providence, Sin, Tikkun, Text, Torah, Women

Covenant	“Thus said God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what it brings forth, who gave breath to the people upon it and life to those who walk thereon: I am the Lord, in My grace, have summoned you, and I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you a covenant people, a light of nations—opening eyes deprived of light, rescuing prisoners from confinement, from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; I will not yield My glory to another, nor My renown to idols.” Let nature “do honor to the Lord, and tell His glory in the coastlands.” (Isaiah 42:5-8,12)
Covenant	“For the mountains may move and the hills be shaken, but my loyalty shall never move from you, nor my covenant of friendship be shaken—said the Lord, who takes you back in love.” (Isaiah 54:10)
Covenant	“The Lord has sworn by His right hand, by His mighty arm: Nevermore will I give your new grain to your enemies for food, nor shall foreigners drink the new wine for which you have labored. But those who harvest it shall eat it and give praise to the Lord; and those who gather it shall drink it in My sacred courts.” (Isaiah 62:8-9)
Covenant	“But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you.” (Jeremiah 7:23)
Covenant	“I accounted to your favor the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride—how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of His harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty; disaster befell them.” (Jeremiah 2:2-3)
Covenant	“Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me, a child that is dandled! Whenever I have turned against him, My thoughts would dwell on him still. That is why My heart years for him; I will receive him back in love.” (Jeremiah 31:20)
Covenant	“See, I will gather them from all the lands to which I have banished them in My anger and wrath, and in great rage; and I will bring them back to this place and let them dwell secure. They shall be My people, and I shall be their God. I will give them a single heart and a single nature to revere me for all time, and it shall be well with them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them and that I will treat them graciously; and I will put into their hearts reverence for Me, so that they do not turn away from Me. I will delight in treating them graciously, and I will plant them in this land faithfully, with all My heart and soul.” (Jeremiah 32:37-41)
Covenant	Covenant is everlasting (Ezekiel 16:59-63)
Covenant	“Moses took one part of the blood and put it in basins, and the other part of the blood he dashed against the altar. Then he took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will faithfully do!’ Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord now makes with you concerning these commands.’” (Exodus 24:6-8)
Covenant	After the instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle: “Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you. You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his kin. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:13-17)
Covenant	After confessing sin: “Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob; I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land.” (note Sinai not mentioned)
Creation	“Does an ax boast over him who hews it, / Or a saw magnify itself above him who wields it? / As though the rod raised him who lifts it, / As though the staff lifted the man! (lit: man=the not-wood)” (Isaiah 10:15)
David	God says he’s given David rest from all his enemies (though he fights again in chapter 8). “I will establish a home for My people Israel” (?) When David’s son builds God a house, God will “establish his royal throne forever” and will “chastise him with the rod of men… but I will never withdraw My favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed to make room for you.”(2 Samuel 7) What about hasmonean kings?
David	No David God will remove all idols, remove wild beasts, and banish war from the land (hoshea 2)
David	A shoot from Jesse will judge the land with Justice (Isaiah 11)
David	The Northern and Southern kingdoms will be reunited under David (Ezekiel 37:15-28)
David	Since Israel’s rulers have abandoned him, God will take charge and appoint a new ruler, “My servant David” “For you, My flock, flock that I tend, are men; and I, your Shepherd, am your God—declares the Lord God.” (Eze 34)
David	Solomon rewarded for obedience, chooses wisdom. (I kings 3:1-15) Solomon then violates all the commands of marriage and kingship in Deuteronomy and loses the Northern kingdom. (I Kings 11:1-13)
David	God will destroy all sinners and “set up again the fallen booth of David” (Amos 9:8-11)
David	Mashiach need not mean “anointed by oil” but simply God’s chosen messenger (Isaiah 45)
David	II Sam 22:24 sinless david-psalm 18 “I have been blameless before Him, And have guarded myself against sinning”
David	II Sam 12:1 after adultering with Bat-Sheva and killing her husband, “But the Lord was displeased with what David had done” to which David judged himself that man “deserves to die” and God curses David “You have put Uriah the Hittite to the sword; you took his wife and made her your wife and had him killed by the sword of the Ammonites. Therefore the sword shall never depart from your house—because you spurned Me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite and making her your wife.” David replied “I stand guilty before the Lord” and his son is killed for his sin.
Death	Humans can raise the dead, a woman raised up Samuel from Sheol (I Samuel 28:8-19)
Death	The dead cannot praise God. (Psalms 115:17)
Death	Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Death	Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Death	"Dust" is used to denote the grave #Job 7:21
Death	Seen as Belial, a folk underworld like Sheol (2 Sam 22:5)
Death	Elisha brings back 2 to life (II Kings 4:31-37, 13:20-21)
Free will	“I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to him.” (Deut 30:19-20)
Free will	“I know, O Lord, that man’s road is not his [to choose], that man, as he walks, cannot direct his own steps. Chastise me, O Lord, but in measure; not in your wrath, lest you reduce me to naught. Pour out your wrath on the nations who have not heeded You, upon the clans that have not invoked Your name. For they have devoured Jacob, have devoured and consumed him, and have laid desolate his homesteads.” (Jeremiah 10:23-25)
Free will	“Says the Lord: Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands” (Jeremiah 18:6)
Free will	We must choose YHWH will all our hearts or not at all. “Elijah approached all the people and said, ‘How long will you keep hopping between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; and if Baal, follow him!’” (I Kings 18:21)
Free will	Even with clear revelation, people need not believe in God “35 It has been clearly demonstrated to you that the Lord alone is God; there is none beside Him. 36 From the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; on earth He let you see His great fire; and from amidst that fire you heard His words. 37 And because He loved your fathers, He chose their heirs after them; He Himself, in His great might, led you out of Egypt, 38 to drive from your path nations greater and more populous than you, to take you into their land and assign it to you as a heritage, as is still the case. 39 Know therefore this day and keep in mind that the Lord alone is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other” (Deut 4:35-39)
Free will	After Cain kills his brother, God counsels him on sin: “Why are you distressed, / And why is your face fallen? / Surely, if you do right, / There is uplift. /But if you do not do right / Sin couches at the door; / Its urge is toward you, /Yet you can be its master.” (Genesis 4:6-7)
God	“The Lord is God from of old, creator of the earth from end to end, he never grows faint or weary, his wisdom cannot be fathomed. He gives strength to the weary, fresh vigor to the spent. Youths may grow faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but they who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles grow new plumes: they shall run and not grow weary, they shall march and not grow faint.” (Isaiah 41:28-31)
God	“I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god but Me.” (Isaiah 44:6)
God	“Above the expanse over their [the angels’] heads was the semblance of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and on top, upon this semblance of a throne, there was the semblance of a human form. From what appeared as his loins up, I saw a gleam as of amber—what looked like a fire encased in a frame; and from what appeared as his loins down, I saw what looked like fire. There was a radiance all about him…. That was the appearance of the semblance of the Presence of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 1:26-27,28)
God	“I looked, and on the expanse over the heads of the cherubs, there was something like a sapphire stone; an appearance resembling a throne could be seen over them.” (Ezekiel 10:1)
God	“They say to the wood, ‘You are my father.’’ To stone, ‘you gave birth to me,’ while to Me they turned their backs and not their faces. But in their hour of calamity they cry, ‘arise and save us!’ and where are those gods you made for yourself? Let them arise and save you, if they can, in your hour of calamity. For your gods have become, O Judah, as many as your towns! Why do you call Me to account? You have all rebelled against me” (Jeremiah 2:27-29)
God	At the end of Job, God says that since we are not God, we are not privy to understand suffering. Suffering need not seem logical. It may be a test, a chastisement, or a punishment. (Job 38-39) And God has the power to return to you what he has taken (Job 42)
God	“To You nations shall come from the ends of the earth and say: Our father inherited utter delusions, things that are futile and worthless. Can a man make gods for himself? No-gods are they! Assuredly, I will teach them, once and for all I will them my power and My might. And they shall learn that my name is Lord.” (Jeremiah 16:19-21)
God	“He made the earth by His might, established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the skies. When he makes His voice heard, there is a rumbling of waters in the skies; He makes vapors rise from the end of the earth, He makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth wind from His treasuries. Every man is proved dull, without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame because of the idol, for his molten image is a deceit—there is no breath in them. They are a delusion, a work of mockery; in their hour of doom, they shall perish. Not like these in the Portion of Jacob, for it is He who formed all things; And [Israel is] His very own tribe. Lord of Hosts is His name.” (Jeremiah 51:15-19)
God	Lord of Hosts, enthroned on the Cherubim (Isaiah 37:16, Numbers 7:89, 1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Kings 19:15, 1 Chronicles 13:6, Psalms 80:1, Psalms 99:1)
God	God flew on a Cherub (II Samuel 22:11, Psalms 18:10)
God	“Behold, the Lord Himself comes from afar in blazing wrath, with a heavy burden—His lips full of fury, His tongue a devouring fire, and his breath like a raging torrent reaching halfway up the neck—to set a misguiding yoke upon nations and a misleading bridle upon the jaws of people…. For the Lord will make His majestic voice heard” (Isaiah 30:27-28,30)
God	“In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of his robe filled the Temple. Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly. And one would call to the other, ‘Holy, holy, holy! The Lord of Host! His presence fills the earth!’” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
God	The midrash (BT Kiddushin 30b) on Deut 13:5 says that the command to walk after God means to follow his attributes, not physically. Even so, some of God’s attributes (Dt. 5:9) are forbidden to man (Dt. 24:16)
God	“Be on guard concerning all that I have told you. Make no mention of the names of other gods; they shall not be heard on your lips.” (Exodus 23:13)
God	“Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elder of Israel ascended; and they saw the God of Israel: under his feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity….When Moses had ascended the mountain, the cloud covered the mountain. The Presence of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days. On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Now the Presence of the Lord appeared in the sight of the Israelites as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.” (Exodus 24:9-10,15-17)
God	God controls nature and uses it to cajole our obedience (Dt 11, Sam 12, I Kings 18:20-46)
God	Allows for other gods. “You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal!” (Deut. 3:24)
God	Allows for other gods. “And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you. 3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did in the matter of Baal-peor, that the Lord your God wiped out from among you every person who followed Baal-peor; 4 while you, who held fast to the Lord your God, are all alive today. 5 See, I have imparted to you laws and rules, as the Lord my God has commanded me, for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6 Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, "Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people." 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the Lord our God whenever we call upon Him? 8 Or what great nation has laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day? 9 But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children's children: 10 The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to Me, "Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children." 11 You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with flames to the very skies, dark with densest clouds. 12 The Lord spoke to you out of the fire; you heard the sound of words but perceived no shape--nothing but a voice. 13 He declared to you the covenant that He commanded you to observe, the Ten Commandments; and He inscribed them on two tablets of stone. 14 At the same time the Lord commanded me to impart to you laws and rules for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy. 15 For your own sake, therefore, be most careful--since you saw no shape when the Lord your God spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire--16 not to act wickedly and make for yourselves a sculptured image in any likeness whatever: the form of a man or a woman, 17 the form of any beast on earth, the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the waters below the earth. 19 And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These the Lord your God allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven” (Deut. 4:1-19)
God	Nature of Revelation “4 Face to face the Lord spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire--5 I stood between the Lord and you at that time to convey the Lord's words to you, for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain” (Deut 5:4-5)
God	“4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. 7 Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; 9 inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to you--great and flourishing cities that you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant--and you eat your fill, 12 take heed that you do not forget the Lord who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. 13 Revere only the Lord your God and worship Him alone, and swear only by His name. 14 Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you 15 --for the Lord your God in your midst is an impassioned God--lest the anger of the Lord your God blaze forth against you and He wipe you off the face of the earth.” (Deut 6:4-15)
God	God doesn’t like poop “13 Further, there shall be an area for you outside the camp, where you may relieve yourself. 14 With your gear you shall have a spike, and when you have squatted you shall dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. 15 Since the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you, let your camp be holy; let Him not find anything unseemly among you and turn away from you.” (Dt 23:13-15)
God	Moses argues with God “ ‘If then You slay this people to a man, the nations who have heard Your fame will say, ‘It must be because the Lord was powerless to bring that people into the land He had promised them on oath that He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ Therefore, I pray, let my Lord’s forbearance be great, as You have declared, saying[Ex 34:6-7], ‘The Lord! Slow to anger and abounding in kindness; forgiving iniquity and transgression; yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity upon children, upon the third and fourth generations.’ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to Your great kindness, as You have forgiven this people ever since Egypt.’ And the Lord said, ‘I pardon, as you have asked. Nevertheless, as I live and as the Lord’s Presence fills the whole world, none of the men who men who have seen My Presence and the sign that I have performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who have tried Me these ten times and have disobeyed Me, shall see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers; none of those who spurn Me shall see it.’” (Numbers 14:15-23)
God	God has bad aim (after Korah): “When Moses and Aaron reached the Tent of Meeting, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Remove yourselves from this community, that I may annihilate them in an instant.’… He [Aaron] took the incense and made expiation for the people; he stood between the dead and the living until the plague was checked.” (Numbers 17:8-10,12-14)
God	When people whore around, God kills them until Pinehas kills a ringleader (Numbers 25:6-9)
God	“I am the Lord and there is none else; beside Me, there is no god. I engird you, though you have not known Me. So that they may know, from east to west, that there is none but Me. I am the Lord an there is none else, I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe(oseh shalom u-voreh ra)—I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:5-7)
God	God changes his mind very easily? Or so it seems… “The word of the Lord then came to Samuel: ‘I regret that I made Saul king….’ [Saul then confesses his sin and repents] And Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthier than you. Moreover the Glory [Eternal] of Israel does not deceive or change His mind, for He is not human that He should change His mind.’” (I Samuel 15)
God	“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord with one name(YHWH echad u-shemo echad).” (Zechariah 14:9)
God	That is why Scripture states that the olive oil is intended for Moses and not for God ("to bring you clear oil" in Ex 27:20, as compared with Ex 25:2, "You shall accept gifts for Me"). The pronoun in the second person singular makes explicit that God has no need for human light.
History	“On the tenth day of the fifth month [10^th of Av]…Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards came to represent the king of Babylon in Jerusalem. He burned the House of the Lord, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person.” (Jeremiah 52:12-13)
History	Gideon offered an offering at an angel’s request on the wood of an asherah (Judges 6:26) which the Mishnah forbids (somewhere, I’ve lost the source, AZ 3:7 is the best I have)
History	What about kashrut? “If only the troops had eaten today of spoil captured from the enemy, the defeat of the Philistines would have been greater still!” (I Samuel 14:30, cf v32-35)
Justice	“Ah, those who call evil good and good evil; who present darkness as light and light as darkness; who present bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter! Ah, those who are so wise—in their own opinion; so clever—in their own judgment!…. Who vindicate him who is in the wrong in return for a bribe, and withhold vindication from him who is in the right. Assuredly, as straw is consumed by a tongue of fire and hay shrivels as it burns, their stock shall become like rot, and their buds shall blow away like dust. For they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, Spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 5:20-24)
Justice	“For the Lord of Hosts has ready a day against all that is proud and arrogant, against all that is lofty—so that it is brought low: against all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and stately, and all the oaks of Bashan; against all the high mountains and all the lofty hills; against every soaring tower and every mighty wall; against all the ships of Tarshish and all the gallant barks. Then man’s haughtiness shall be humbled and the pride of man brought low. None but the Lord shall be exalted in that day.” (Isaiah 2:12-17).
Justice	“Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did you pay no heed?” “No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free; to break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home; when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to ignore your own kin. Then shall your light burst through like the dawn and your healing spring up quickly; Your Vindicator shall march before you, the Presence of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry, He will say: Here I am. If you banish the yoke from your midst, the menacing hand, and evil speech, and you offer your compassion to the hungry and satisfy the famished creature—then shall your light shine in darkness, and your gloom shall be like noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will slake your thirst in parched places and give strength to your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, like a sprig whose waters do not fail.” “If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your affairs on My holy day; if you call the Sabbath ‘delight,’ the Lord’s holy day ‘honored’; and if you honor it and go not your ways nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains—then you can seek the favor of the lord. I will set you astride the heights of the earth, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob—for the mouth of the Lord has spoke.” (Isaiah 58:3, 6-14) “No, the Lord’s arm is not too short to save, or his ear too dull to hear; but your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God, your sins have made him turn his face away and refuse to hear you.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)
Justice	“In those days, they shall no longer say, ‘Parents have eaten sour grapes and children’s teeth are blunted.’ But every one shall die for his own sins: whosoever eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be blunted.” (Jeremiah 31:29-30, cf. Ezek 18:4,19)
Justice	“You will win, O Lord, if I make claim against You, yet I shall present charges against you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are the workers of treachery at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root, they spread, they even bear fruit. You are present in their mouths, but far from their thoughts. Yet You, Lord, have noted and observed me; you have tested my heart, and found it with You. Drive them out like sheep to the slaughter, prepare them for the day of slaying!” (Jeremiah 12:1-3)
Justice	We are commanded to destroy Amalek (Ex 17:14, Dt 25:19, I Sam 15:2-20)
Justice	“Cursed be he who is slack in doing the Lord’s work! Cursed be he who withholds his sword from blood!” (Jeremiah 48:10)
Justice	“Le the breed of evildoers nevermore be named! Prepare a slaughtering block for his sons because of the guilt of their father. Let them not arise to possess the earth! Then the world’s face shall be covered with towns.” (Isaiah 14:20-21)
Justice	Reasons for the plagues include, to know: none like the Lord our God (Ex 8:6), that the Lord is in the midst of the land (Ex 8:18), to show God’s power, that His fame may resound throughout the world (Ex 9:16), to fear the Lord God (Ex 9:30), “I have hardened his [Pharaoh’s] heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and ofyour sons’ sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them—in order that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Ex 10:1-2), “that I may gain glory through Pharaoh and all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ex 14:4) and many, many more. Of course, the plagues continue after the Egyptians recognize God, in the end it is just to show the god-king that there is a greater might (Ex 6:1), which I don’t think is particularly fair to the people.
Justice	Abraham challenges God that he is not acting justly and God seems to agree (Genesis 18:25). Elsewhere, when God wants to destroy the people, Moses argues the people’s case and God actually kills many before his wrath is appeased as I’ve quoted elsewhere, e.g. the golden calf, pinehas, and korah.
Justice	“Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord alone shall be proscribed. You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.” (Exodus 22:19-23)
Justice	“You must not carry false rumors; you shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness: You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong –you shall not give perverse testimony in a dispute so as to pervert it in favor of the mighty—nor shall you show deference to a poor man in his dispute.” (Exodus 23:1-3)
Justice	Shemittah/Sabbath (sevens): “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but I the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves. Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your bondman and the stranger may be refreshed.” (Exodus 23:10-12)
Justice	Apparently, any non-Jewish male of the same tribe as a non-Jewish female who has sex with a Jew must be killed along with such females. (Numbers 31:1-18)
Justice	Shemittah reinterpreted “Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts” (Dt. 15:1)
Justice	Hillel's dictum "That which is hateful to thee do not do unto others" (Shab. 31a) constitutes in its context the principal Jewish dogma. (EJ=belief)
King	“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did as he pleased.” (Judges 21:25)
King	Philosophy of Leadership without a king After Deborah, “Then the Israelites did what was offensive to the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years…When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet… The angel of the Lord appeared to him [Gideon] and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, valiant warrior!’” (Judges 6:1-12)
Kings	“A nation, yea an assembly of nations, shall descend from you. Kings shall issue from your loins.” (Gen 35:11)
Knowledge	On three sources of knowledge: “Then they shall seek vision from the prophet in vain; instruction shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.” (Ezekiel 7:26)
Knowledge	To the priests: “Drink no wine or other intoxicant, you or your sons, when you enter the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die. This is a law for all time throughout the ages, for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean; and you must teach the Israelites all the laws which the Lord has imparted to them through Moses” (Leviticus 10:9-11) following sacred=kashrut, clean=tzara’at
Knowledge	On love: “Let me be a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand. For love is fierce as death, passion is mighty as Sheol; its darts are darts of fire, a blazing flame. Vast floods cannot quench love, nor rivers drown it. If a man offered all his wealth for love, he would be laughed to scorn.” (Song of Songs 8:6-7)
Knowledge	On the other hand, revelation, like prophecy, comes to each individual in accordance with his capacities. When the voice went forth at Sinai, God addressed each person with a voice he could endure (Ex. R. 5:9). (EJ=Revelation)
Meat	“You shall be a holy people to Me: you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs.” (Exodus 22:30)
Meat	“If anyone of the house of Israel slaughters an ox or sheep or goat in the camp, or does so outside the camp, and does not bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord, before the Lord’s Tabernacle, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man: he has shed blood; that man shall be cut off from his people.” (Leviticus 17:3-4)
Meat	Deuteronomy 12:13-19, 20-28 creates the idea of profane slaughter.² This text prohibits all sacrifice at the local altars that existed throughout the land and requires the destruction of those altars. Deuteronomy 12:5 understands that worship at these altars has been prevalent. “20 When the Lord enlarges your territory, as He has promised you, and you say, "I shall eat some meat," for you have the urge to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you wish. 21 If the place where the Lord has chosen to establish His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that the Lord gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart's content in your settlements. 22 Eat it, however, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten: the unclean may eat it together with the clean. 23 But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh. 24 You must not partake of it; you must pour it out on the ground like water: 25 you must not partake of it, in order that it may go well with you and with your descendants to come, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 12:20-25)
Meat	Ezekiel 44:31 The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.
Prayer	“Oh, cease to glorify man, who has only breath is his nostrils! For by what does he merit esteem?” (Isaiah 2:22)
Prayer	“The living, only the living can give thanks to you as I do this day; Fathers relate to children your acts of grace: ‘It has pleased the Lord to deliver us, that is why we offer up music all the days of our lives at the House of the Lord.” (Isaiah 39:19-20)
Prayer	“The people I formed for Myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21)
Prayer	“And if you tell me that you are relying on the Lord your God, He is the very one whose shrines and altars Hezekiah did away with, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship only at this altar!’” (Isaiah 36:7)
Prayer	“ ‘What need have I of all your sacrifices?’ says the Lord. ‘I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, and suet of fatlings, and blood of bulls; and I have no delight in lambs and he-goats. That you come to appear before Me-who asked that of you? Trample My courts no more; bringing oblations is futile, incense is offensive to Me. New moon and Sabbath, proclaiming of solemnities, assemblies with iniquity, I cannot abide. Your new moons and fixed seasons fill Me with loathing; they are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime—wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil; learn to do good. Devote yourself to justice; aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:11-17)
Prayer	"Iron was created to shorten man's days, while the altar was created to lengthen his days. What shortens life should not be listed as a tool to build what lengthens life." (Middot 3:4)
Prophecy	“The prophets who lived before you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and pestilence against many lands and great kingdoms. So if a prophet prophesies good fortune, then only when the word of the prophet comes true can it be known that the Lord really sent him.” (Jeremiah 28:8-9)
Prophecy	“The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel were to intercede with Me, I would not be won over to that people.’” (Jeremiah 15:1)
Prophecy	“You enticed me, O Lord, and I was enticed; you overpowered me and You prevailed. I have become a constant laughingstock, everyone jeers at me. For every time I speak, I must cry out, must shout, ‘Lawlessness and rapine!’ For the word of the Lord causes me constant disgrace and contempt. I thought, ‘I will not mention Him, no more will I speak in his name’—but [his word] was like a fire raging in my heart, shut up in my bones; I could not hold it in, I was helpless.” “Accursed be the day that I was born! Let not the day be blessed when my mother bore me! …. Why did I ever issue from the womb, to see misery and woe, to spend all my days in shame!” (Jeremiah 20:7-9,14,18)
Prophecy	“A youth ran out and told Moses, saying, ‘Eldad and Medad are acting the prophet in the camp!’ And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant from his youth, spoke up and said to him, ‘My lord Moses, restrain them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you wrought up on my account? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!’ ” (Numbers 11:27-29)
Prophecy	“and He said, ‘Hear these My words: When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the Lord.’” (Numbers 12:6-8)
Providence	After David commits adultery and kill the husband, “Therefore the sword shall never depart from your House—because you have spurned Me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite and making her your wife.” (II Samuel 12:10)
Providence	It only takes one sin of one unimportant individual to ruin the war (Joshua 7:10-26)
Providence	“But they [poor and rich] as well had broken the yoke, had snapped the bonds. Therefore, the lion of the forest strikes them down, the wolf of the desert ravages them. A leopard lies in wait by their towns; whoever leaves them will be torn in pieces. For their transgressions are many, their rebellious acts unnumbered.” (Jeremiah 5:5-6)
Providence	“He was despised, shunned by men, a man of suffering, familiar with disease. As one who hid his face from us, he was despised, we held him of no account. Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten and afflicted by God; But he was wounded because of our sins, crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, and by his bruises we were healed. We all went astray like sheep, each going his own way; and the Lord visited upon him the guilt of all of us.” “He was maltreated, yet he was submissive, he did not open his mouth; like a sheep being led to slaughter, like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her, he did not open his mouth.” “And his grave was set among the wicked, and with the rich, in his death—though he had done no injustice and had spoken no falsehood. But the Lord chose to crush him by disease, that if he made himself an offering for guilt, he might see offspring (or his arm=his vindication) and have long life, and that through him the Lord’s purpose might prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see it; he shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion.” (Isaiah 53:3-6, 9-11)
Providence	“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord alone. He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream: It does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh; It has no care in a year of drought, it does not cease to yield fruit. Most devious is the heart; it is perverse—who can fathom it? I the Lord probe the heart, search the mind—to repay every man according to his ways, with the proper fruit of his deeds. Like a partridge hatching what she did not lay, so is one who amasses wealth by unjust means; in the middle of his life it will leave him, and in the end he shall be proved a fool.” (Jeremiah 17:7-11)
Providence	“You are My war club, [My] weapons of battle; With you I clubbed nations, with you I destroyed kingdoms; with you I clubbed horse and rider, with you I clubbed chariot and driver, with you I clubbed graybeard and boy, with you I clubbed youth and maiden; with you I clubbed shepherd and flock, with you I clubbed governors and prefects. But I will requite Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the wicked things they did to Zion before your eyes.” (Jeremiah 51:20-24)
Providence	“The Lord spoke further to Ahaz: ‘Ask for a sign from the Lord your God, anywhere down to Sheol or up to the sky.’ But Ahaz replied, ‘I will not ask, and I will not test the Lord.’ ‘Listen, House of David,’ [Isaiah] retorted, ‘is it not enough for you to treat men as helpless that you also treat my God as helpless? Assuredly my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel. (By the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good, people will be feeding on curds and honey.) For before the lad knows to reject the bad and choose the good, the ground whose two kings you dread shall be abandoned.” (Isaiah 7:10-16)
Providence	“Have you not heard? Of old I planned that very thing, I designed it long ago, and now have fulfilled it.” (Isaiah 37:26)
Providence	“All the nations assemble as one, the peoples gather. Who among them declared this, foretold to us the things that have happened? Let them produce their witnesses and be vindicated, that men, hearing them, may say, ‘It is true!’ My witnesses are you—declares the Lord—My servant, whom I have chosen. To the end that you may take thought, and believe in Me, and understand that I am He: Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none shall exist—None but me, the Lord; Beside Me, none can grant triumph. I alone foretold the triumph and I brought it to pass; I announced it, and no strange god was among you. So you are My witnesses. And I am God. Ever since day was, I am He; None can deliver from My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:9-13)
Providence	“7 It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that the Lord set His heart on you and chose you--indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; 8 but it was because the Lord favored you and kept the oath He made to your fathers that the Lord freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know, therefore, that only the Lord your God is God, the steadfast God who keeps His covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments, 10 but who instantly requites with destruction those who reject Him--never slow with those who reject Him, but requiting them instantly. 11 Therefore, observe faithfully the Instruction--the laws and the rules--with which I charge you today.” (Deut 7:7-11)
Providence	Manna, is it really so good?: “The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!’… It tasted like rich cream.” (Numbers 11:4-6,8)
Providence	Priestly blessing: “The Lord bless you and protect you! / The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you! / The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace! Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:24-27)
Providence	God brings victory in war but cannot protect his own prophet, e.g. I Sam 16:2
Providence	(BT Men 29b) íåøîì äùî äìòù äòùá áø øîà øùå÷å áùåéù ä"á÷äì åàöî ò"ùáø åéðôì øîà úåéúåàì íéøúë ãçà íãà åì øîà êãé ìò áëòî éî úåøåã äîë óåñá úåéäì ãéúòù ùé ãéúòù åîù óñåé ïá àáé÷òå ïéìéú ïéìéú õå÷å õå÷ ìë ìò ùåøãì ò"ùáø åéðôì øîà úåëìä ìù êøåçàì øåæç åì øîà éì åäàøä àìå úåøåù äðåîù óåñá áùéå êìä åçë ùùú íéøîåà ïä äî òãåé äéä åì åøîà ãçà øáãì òéâäù ïåéë ïäì øîà êì ïéðî éáø åéãéîìú åúòã äáùééúð éðéñî äùîì äëìä åéðôì øîà ä"á÷ä éðôì àáå øæç äæë íãà êì ùé íìåò ìù åðåáø ÷åúù åì øîà é"ò äøåú ïúåð äúàå åéðôì øîà éðôì äáùçîá äìò êë åúøåú éðúéàøä íìåò ìù åðåáø [êøåçàì] øåæç åì øîà åøëù éðàøä åøùá ïéì÷åùù äàø åéøåçàì øæç äøåú åæ ò"ùáø åéðôì øîà ïéìå÷îá äìò êë ÷åúù ì"à äøëù åæå éðôì äáùçîá
Providence	"No man bruises his finger on earth unless it is decreed in heaven" (Hul. 7b); and all is revealed and known before God: "even the small talk of a man's conversation with his wife" (Lev. R. 26:7). Similarly: "The Holy One sits and pairs couples—the daughter of so-and-so to so-and-so" (Lev. R. 8:1; Gen. R. 68:4; and cf. MK 18b), or: "He is occupied in making ladders, casting down the one and elevating the other" (Gen. R. 68:4). (EJ=Providence)
Sin	After David’s adultery (see II Sam 12:10) “David said to Nathan ‘I stand guilty before the Lord!’ And Nathan replied to David, ‘The Lord has remitted your sin; you shall not die. However, since you have spurned (the enemies [scribal addition]) of the Lord by this deed, even the child about to be born to you shall die.’”(II Sam 12:13-14). Not very just either.
Sin	After Ahab sins, is punished with the destruction of his line, he repents. “Then the word of the Lord cam to Elijah the Tishbite: ‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his lifetime; I will bring the disaster upon his house in his son’s time.’” (I Kings 21:28-29) The sages, uncomfortable with this, said it’s dependent on the sons following in their father’s evil ways.
Sin	Saul apologizes “I did wrong to transgress the Lord’s command” for not killing all of Amalek (or apparently one tribe since they continue to show up throughout the book) and the Lord rejected him “as king over Israel.” (I Samuel 15:24-26)
Sin	“But if you do not obey My command to hallow the Sabbath day and to carry in no burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates; it shall consume the fortresses of Jerusalem and it shall not be extinguished.” (Jeremiah 17:27)
Sin	“Turn back, rebellious children—declares the Lord. Though I have rejected you, I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. And I will give you a shepherd after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill. And when you increase and are fertile in the land, in those days—declares the Lord—men shall no longer speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, nor shall it come to mind. They shall not mention it, or miss it, or make another. At that time, they shall call Jerusalem ‘Throne of the Lord,’ and all nations shall assemble there, in the name of the Lord, at Jerusalem. They shall no longer follow the willfulness of their evil hearts.”
Sin	“When men fall, do they not get up again? If they turn aside, do they not turn back? Why is this people—Jerusalem—rebellious with a persistent rebellion? They cling to deceit, they refuse to return. I have listened and heard: They do not speak honestly. No one regrets his wickedness and says, ‘What have I done!’ They all persist in their wayward course like a seed dashing forward in the fray. Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons, and the turtledove, swift, and crane keep the time of their coming; but My people pay no heed to the law of the Lord. How can you say, ‘We are wise, and we possess the Instruction of the Lord?’ Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes! The wise shall be put to shame, shall be dismayed and caught; see, they reject the word of the Lord, so their wisdom amounts to nothing.” (Jeremiah 8:4-9)
Sin	“Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her that her term of service is over, that her iniquity is expiated; for she has received at the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
Sin	“In those days, Hezekiah fell dangerously ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die, you will not get well.’ Thereupon Hezekiah turn his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ‘Please, O Lord,’ he said, ‘remember how I have walked before You sincerely and wholeheartedly, and have done what is pleasing to You.’ And Hezekiah wept profusely. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ‘Go and tell Hezekiah: Thus said the Lord, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. I hereby add fifteen years to your life. I will also rescue you and this city from the hands of the king of Assyria. I will protect this city. And this is the sign for you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing that He has promised: I am going to make the shadow of the steps, which has descended on the dial of Ahaz because of the sun, recede ten steps.’ And the sun[‘s shadow] receded ten steps, the same steps as it had descended.” (Isaiah 38:1-8)
Sin	Nothing has changed: “24 As long as I have known you, you have been defiant toward the Lord.” (Dt. 9:24)
Sin	Psalm 51:1 For the leader. A psalm of David, ²when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had come to Bathsheba. ³Have mercy upon me, O God, as befits Your faithfulness; in keeping with Your abundant compassion, blot out my transgressions. ⁴Wash me thoroughly of my iniquity, and purify me of my sin; ⁵for I recognize my transgressions, and am ever conscious of my sin. ⁶Against You alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are just in Your sentence, and right in Your judgment. ⁷Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin my mother conceived me. ⁸ Indeed You desire truth about that which is hidden; teach me wisdom about secret things. ⁹Purge me with hyssop till I am pure; wash me till I am whiter than snow. ¹⁰Let me hear tidings of joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed exult. ¹¹Hide Your face from my sins; blot out all my iniquities. ¹²Fashion a pure heart for me, O God; create in me a steadfast spirit. ¹³Do not cast me out of Your presence, or take Your holy spirit away from me. ¹⁴Let me again rejoice in Your help; let a vigorous spirit sustain me. ¹⁵I will teach transgressors Your ways, that sinners may return to You. ¹⁶Save me from bloodguilt, O God, God, my deliverer, that I may sing forth Your beneficence. ¹⁷O Lord, open my lips, and let my mouth declare Your praise. ¹⁸You do not want me to bring sacrifices; You do not desire burnt offerings; ¹⁹True sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God, You will not despise a contrite and crushed heart. ²⁰May it please You to make Zion prosper; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. ²¹Then You will want sacrifices offered in righteousness, burnt and whole offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Sin	For sinning against God we get disease, war, wild beasts, famine, cannibalism, and utter ruin. (Leviticus 26) At least, that’s what the Torah says.
Sin	"There is no death without sin, and no sufferings without transgression" (Shab. 55a) and "A man is measured with the measure he uses himself" (Sot. 1:7) (EJ=Jphilosophy)
Text	9 temani/yemenite difference in Torah br 4:14 MNShW'-MNSh' br 7:11 M'YNWTh-M'YNTh br 9:29 WYHY-WYHYW sh 27:31 ThY'ShH-Th'ShH sh 28:26 H'FWD-H'FD bm 1:18 BShMWTh-BShMTh bm 10:10 ChDShKM-ChDShYKM bm 22:5 B'WR-B'R dt 23:2 DKH-DK'
Text	(BT Meg 2b) Prophets “watchers” established final letters ê"ôöðî
Text	(BT San 21b, 22a) Mar Uqvah: Torah first given in Hebrew script and text and given again to Ezra in Assyrian script and Aramaic. R’ Yosi: Ezra could have received the Torah and he changed the text to Aramaic with an Aramaic Targum. Rabbi says Torah originally given in Assyrian, at sin became “Roetz” and returned to original when they repented. R’ Elazar says nothing ever changed.
Text	Of quite a different order are scrolls from other areas of the Judaean Desert. All of these are practically identical with the received text. This applies to fragments of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, and Psalms discovered at Masada (the Jewish fortress destroyed by the Romans in CE 73), as well as to the finds at Wadi al-Murabba'at, the latest date of which is CE 135. Here were found fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Isaiah in addition to the substantially preserved Minor Prophets scroll. Variants from the Masoretic text are negligible. The same phenomenon characterizes the fragments of Numbers found at Nahal Hever.
Text	2 sam 21:8 BT Sanhedrin 19b, Targum, two MS read “Merav”, most printed read “Michal”
Text	Jeremiah had a different accent. He called our forefather yishak (Jeremiah 33:26)
Text	reuel (Ex 2:18, Num 2:14, 10:29) deuel (Num 1:14, 7:42, 47, 10:20) (different genealogy)
Text	It is clear that the books that make up the Bible cannot possibly have comprised the whole literary production of ancient Israel. The Scriptures themselves bear testimony to the existence of an extensive literature which is now lost. The "Book of the Wars of the Lord" (Num. 21:14) and the "Book of Jashar" (Josh. 10:13; II Sam. 1:18) are certainly very ancient. Prophetic compositions are ascribed to Samuel, Nathan, and Gad (I Chron. 29:29) of the early monarchy period and to Ahijah, Jedo/Iddo, and Shemaiah from the time of the division of the kingdom (II Chron. 9:29; 12:5; 13:22). The references to the chronicles of King David (Chron. 27:24), of Solomon (I Kings 11:41), and of the Kings of Israel and Judah (ibid. 14:19, 29; I Chron. 9:1; II Chron. 16:11; 20:34; 27:7; 32:32; 33:18) all bear witness to royal annalistic sources no longer extant. A category of literature called "Midrash" (II Chron. 13:22; 24:27) is also ascribed to the times of the monarchy, and a book of dirges to the end of that period (II Chron. 35:25). While it is true that in many of these instances it is possible that the same work has been referred to under different titles and that the caption sefer might indicate a section of a book rather than the whole, it cannot be doubted that numerous other works must have existed which were not mentioned in the Bible. In fact, the very concept of a scriptural canon presupposes a process of selection extending over a long period.(EJ: canon)
Tikkun	“Shout, O barren one, you who bore no child! Shout aloud for joy, you who did not travail! For the children of the wife forlorn shall outnumber those of the espoused.” (Isaiah 54:1)
Tikkun	“Surely they are My people, Children who will not play false. So He was their Deliverer. In all their troubles. No angel or messenger, His own Presence delivered them In His love and pity He Himself redeemed them, raised them and exalted them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:8-9)
Tikkun	“For behold! I am creating a new heaven and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered, they shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever in what I am creating. For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, and her people as a delight; And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in her people. Never again shall be heard there the sounds of weeping and wailing. No more shall there be an infant or graybeard who does not live out his days. He who dies at a hundred years shall be reckoned accursed. They shall build houses and dwell in them, they shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit…. They shall not toil to no purpose… Before they pray, I will answer; While they are still speaking, I will respond. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent’s food shall be earth. In all My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done—said the Lord. Thus said the Lord: The heaven is My throne and the earth is my footstool: Where could you build a house for me, what place could serve as my abode? All this was made by my hand, and thus it came into being.” (Isaiah 65:17-21,23,24-66:2)
Tikkun	“Assuredly, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when it shall no more be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites out of the northland, and out of all the lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their fathers.” (Jeremiah 16:14-15)
Tikkun	“Then shall maidens dance gaily, young men and old alike. I will turn their mourning to joy, I will comfort them and cheer them in their grief. I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and My people shall enjoy My full bounty” (Jeremiah 31:13-14)
Tikkun	“Thus said the Lord of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month [17^th Tamuz], the fast of the fifth month [9^th/10^th Av], the fast of the seventh month [3^rd Tishrei], and the fast of the tenth month [10^th Tevet] shall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah; but you must love honesty and integrity” (Zechariah 8:18-19, cf. II Kings 25.3ff, (Jer. 52.6ff); II Kings 25.8ff. (Jer. 52.12ff); II Kings 25.25ff (Jer 41); II Kings 25.1ff (Jer. 52.4).
Tikkun	“The arid desert shall be glad, the wilderness shall rejoice and shall blossom like a rose” (Isaiah 35:1) “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout aloud; for waters shall burst forth in the desert, streams in the wilderness. Torrid earth shall become a pool; parched land, fountains of water; the home of jackels, a pasture, the abode [of ostriches], reeds and rushes” (Isaiah 35:5-7)
Tikkun	“In that day, men shall turn to their Maker, their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel; they shall not turn to the altars that their own hands made, or look to the sacred posts and incense stands that their own fingers wrought.” (Isaiah 17:7-8)
Tikkun	“And the many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may instruct us in His ways, and that we may walk in his paths.’ For instruction shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Thus He will judge among the nations and arbitrate for the many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.” (Isaiah 2:3-4)
Tikkun	Mashiach actually does the judging (Isaiah 11)
Tikkun	Rules for war, think of the future. “19 When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? 20 Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced.” (Dt 20:19-20)
Torah	Torah speaks from the future, as if written after prophecy ceased. “10 Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses--whom the Lord singled out, face to face,” (Dt 34:10)
Torah	Author of Joshua quotes a lost book, the Book of Jashar (Joshua 10:13). Why was it lost if it was worthy of mention here?
Torah	Preceding a lengthy chapter on ethics interspersed with ritual, as seen below: “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. You shall each revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I the Lord am your God.” (Leviticus 19:2-3)
Torah	Revelation incomplete or modified: Numbers 9:6-13 Institutes second Pesach for those unable to observe first Numbers 15:32-36 A man gathers sticks on Shabbat, not specified what to do. Leviticus 24:12 A man cursed in God’s name and the people didn’t know what to do. Sons take father’s punishment (See Ez 18 elsewhere quoted) The daughters of Zelophehad ask God to change inheritance law and he does! (Numbers 27:1-11) But God didn’t think it through till some implications were pointed out to him so that he modified the new law (Numbers 36:1-12).
Torah	Reason for observance “20 When, in time to come, your children ask you, "What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that the Lord our God has enjoined upon you?" 21 you shall say to your children, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 The Lord wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; 23 and us He freed from there, that He might take us and give us the land that He had promised on oath to our fathers. 24 Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the Lord our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. 25 It will be therefore to our merit before the Lord our God to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as He has commanded us."” (Deut 6:20-25)
Torah	God’s promise to make Israel innumerable, even 2 million people now, they are still seen as small, they cannot even fill the land of Israel! (cf. Ex 23:29, Dt 7:22-24)
Torah	Korah complains, righteously: “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3)
Torah	The author of the Torah quotes foreign books as reference sources: “Therefore the Book of the Wars of the Lord speaks of…” (Numbers 21:14)
Torah	The Torah quotes Ammorite poetry, which apparently was divinely inspired? “Therefore the bards would recite: ‘Come to Heshbon; firmly built and well found is Sihon’s city.’” (Numbers 21:27)
Torah	Donkey’s apparently could talk in the Near East: “Then the Lord opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam..” (Numbers 22:28) not to mention that angels take up space and block their way and hold swords (v. 23)
Torah	“5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people--for he was above all the people--and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered: 'Amen, Amen', with the lifting up of their hands; and they bowed their heads, and fell down before the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, even the Levites, caused the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 And they read in the book, in the Law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” (Nehemiah 8)
Torah	“Keves” sometimes misspelled “Kesev” (Gen 30:32, Lev 1:10, 22:19, Num 18:17, Deut 14:4 to cite a few)
Torah	Quotes in Gemara not same as the Mesorah (see Halivni)
Torah	Torah speaks to a very late generation: Canaanites then in the land. (Gen 12:6, 13:7)
Torah	Before a long list of Edomite (Esau) kings, some of which postdate Moses, we hear “These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites.” (Gen 36:31) The Torah again seems to be speaking from a perspective of the future!
Torah	The Torah explains the meaning of omer as a tenth of an ephah (Ex 16:36). Apparently the Israelites had forgotten what it was by the time the Torah was written.
Torah	A prominent tribe of Israel, the Ephraimites, lost pronunciation of the language of God(Ex 32:16, Judges 12:6). All the more so, traditions have been forgotten. Just look at the arguments in the Talmud. It seems more likely that “It’s from Moshe or Prophets” means it was a tradition they had no source for. That doesn’t mean it really goes back that long!
Torah	Apparently God couldn’t spell very well when he gave the Torah because he continues to write HuW’ instead of HiY’ as we read it today. Even tenses are sometimes ruled incorrect by the Mesorah (cf. Num 24:4), letters changes (Jer 2:20, Ezra 8:14), added (I Sam 17:23), meanings changed (Psalms 100:3), and letters switched (Eccl 9:4). According to James Barr (A New Look at Kethibh-Qere), there are 15 significant variations in Genesis, 10 in Exodus, 5 in Leviticus, 9 in numbers, 155 in Samuel, and 123 in Ezra. By the way, if Ezra standardized the text because it had already achieved holiness in his time, according to Halivni, why are there some many errors in his own book?
Torah	All Torah explained at Sinai (Rambam Intro 1)
Torah	I posit that all “Hilkhot le-Moshe me-Sinai” are just unexplainable Jewish customs. Else, why would the sages in the Talmud not understand simple mishnayot like (Shabbat 3:4, “samovar that they removed it”) (RH 4:9 “yababa=wail”) (BK 1:1 Meba’e)
Torah	Breishit 5:1 Sefer Toldot Adam Shmot 24:7 sefer ha-brit Numbers 21:14 Sefer Milchemot YHWH Shemot 17:14 zicharon amalek Devarim 28:58,61 29:19-20,26, 30:10 sefer (torah) ha zeh Devarim 31:26 priest need sefer torah Joshua 8:31 sefer torat moshe, 24:26 sefer torat elohim Joshua 10:13 Jashar SB 1:18 Jashar SA 10:25 writes mishpat hamelech be-sefer MB 14:6 sefer torat moshe MB 22:8 found sefer torah 23:2 sefer ha-brit Isaiah 34:16 sefer YHWH Jeremiah 36:8 read sefer divrei YHWH Malachi 3:16 sefer zicharon DB 17:9 Sefer Torat YHWH DB 25:4 be-Torat be-Sefer Moshe DB 34:14 sefet torat YHWH be-yad Moshe DB 34:15 found torah 34:30 sefer ha brit 35:12 sefer moshe Nehemiah 8:1 sefer torat Moshe, asher tziva YHWH et yisrael 9:3 sefer torat YHWH
Torah	Gen 12:6 “Canaanites then in the land” ibn ezra=there is secret. íåãé ìéëùîäå; joseph b. Eliezer bonfils çòðô úðôö 14th ce moses didn't write 'then'; hizkuni (hezekiah b. Manoah)-13th ce written from future
Torah	Gen 36:31 Kings list. Ibn ezra=written w/prophecy, yitzhaki said written in days of yehoshaphat but book should be burned. David Kimhi=18 king parallel; others-before moshe, not later kings
Torah	Ex 16:36 “omer is isaron”, they say nothing. Sarna= saul at 1040 bce; edomite king in bm 20:14 shft 11:17 exodus latest 1250 bce; egyptian text of 13-12th bce call edom bedouins and archeology. Nothing sedentary till 11th bce; therefore=king-)aluf eg num 31:8 is josh 13:21 nasi . -) not necessarily dynasties
Torah	Dt 1:1 rashbam =ever ha-yarden is name from Israelite side
Torah	Dt 34:5-12 ibn ezra= written by Joshua
Torah	Other opinions maintain that the Torah was written piecemeal (scroll by scroll) during the 40 years of wanderings in the desert, or that it was written down all at once at the end of those 40 years (Git. 60a). There are also sources which speak of the existence of scrolls before Sinai (Kasher, pp. 356–62). (EJ=Revelation)
Torah	The sages went so far as to declare "the suppression of the Torah may be the foundation thereof" (Men. 99). (EJ=belief)
Torah	"The Torah speaks in the language of the sons of man" (Yev. 71a; BM 31b). (EJ=Jphilosophy)
TorahSum	So we see, that if any of the Torah was given at Sinai, it was probably the law code explicitly noted as written down, and not the narratives and prophesies which bear the mark of an edited folklore.
Women	Women can judge: “Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess; she led Israel at the time. She used to sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for decisions.” (Judges 4:4-5)
Women	“When one with a discharge (zav) becomes clean of his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, ad bathe his body in fresh water; then he shall be clean. On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. The priest shall offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Thus the priest shall make expiation on his behalf, for his discharge, before the Lord. When a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and remain unclean until evening. All cloth or leather on which semen falls shall be washed in water and remain unclean until evening. And if a man has carnal relations with a woman, they shall bathe in water and remain unclean until evening. When a woman has a discharge (zavah), her discharge being blood from her body, she shall remain in her impurity (nidah=dawah, infirmity v. 33) seven days; whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Anything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; and anything that she sits on shall be unclean. Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; and anyone who touches ay object on which she sat shall wash his clothes, bath in water, and remain unclean until evening. Be it the bedding or be it the object on which she has sat, on touching it, he shall be unclean until evening. And if a man lies with her, he impurity (nidah) is communicated to him; he shall be unclean seven days, and any bedding on which he lies shall become unclean. When a woman has a discharge of blood (zav dam) for many days, not at the time of her impurity (nidah), or when she has a discharge beyond her period of impurity, she shall be unclean, as though at the time of her impurity, as long as her discharge lasts…When she becomes clean of her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she shall be clean. On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves and two pigeons… You shall put the Israelites on guard against their uncleanness (tum’a), lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling My Tabernacle which is among them.” (Leviticus 15:13-25,28-29,31)
Women	In a list of incestuous or adulterous relationships: “Do not come near a woman during her period of uncleanness (nidah tum’a) to uncover her nakedness.” (Leviticus 18:19)
Women	“If a man lies with a woman in her infirmity (dawah) and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow and she has exposed her blood flow; both of them shall be cut off from among their people.” (Leviticus 20:18)
Women	Apparently, a simple cleaning can remove death impurity. (Numbers 31:19-20)
Women	Isaiah 23:16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Women	Zephaniah 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Women	Zechariah 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.
Women	Jeremiah 31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
Women	Isaiah 30:22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. {thy graven…: Heb. the graven images of thy silver} {cast: Heb. scatter}
Women	Lamentations 1:17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
Women	Ezekiel 18:6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
Women	Jeremiah 9:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
Women	Avigael smart (I Samuel 25:3)
Women	Isaiah 19:16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
Women	Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. {lead…: or, call thee blessed} {destroy: Heb. swallow up}
Women	Nahum 3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
Women	Clever woman always need an introduction as such. (2 sam 20:16, etc.)
Women	Mamzer is woman’s fault (Dt 23:3)
Women	A joy of the righteous Barzillai the Gileadite’s life is to listen to the singing of men and women (II Sam 19:36)
ZzzEND	Whoever repudiates idolatry is called a Jew" (Meg. 13a); (EJ=belief)
ZzzEND	“Behold, My word is like fire—declares the Lord—and like a hammer that shatters rock!” (Jeremiah 23:29)

Deuteronomy as the Intellectual Foundation of Conservative Judaism (CJ Spring 1999)

Benjamin Edidin Scolnic

The Ten Commandments of Exodus 23 and 24

It is in Exodus 34 that we find the words "the Ten Commandments" for the first time. Moses receives the two labels with the Ten Commandments on them. But "the Ten Commandments" that he receives here are not what we think of as the Ten Commandments. Here's the first part of this chapter:

The Lord said unto Moses: "Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tables the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. . . ."

So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him.

He said: I hereby make a covenant. . . . Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are advancing, lest they be a snare in your midst. No, you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred posts, for you must not worship any other God.
You shall not make molten gods for yourselves.
You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, eating unleavened bread for seven days, as I have commanded you at the set time of the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you went forth from Egypt.
Every first issue of the womb is Mine, from all your livestock that drop a male as firstling, whether cattle or sheep. But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born among your sons.
None shall appear before Me empty-handed.
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor; you shall cease from labor even at plowing time and harvest time.
You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations from your path and enlarge your territory; no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times a year.
You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened; and the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover shall not be left lying until morning.
The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

And the LORD said to Moses: Write down these commandments, for in accordance with these commandments I make a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water; and he wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. So Moses came down from Mount Sinai.

Indeed, Exodus 23:10-27, following H.L. Ginsberg, gives us the set of commandments that were written on the first tablets. I'm going to number them as Ginsberg does:

Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat it; and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves.
Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your bondman and the stranger may be refreshed.
Be on guard concerning all that I have told you. Make no mention of the names of other gods; they shall not be heard on your lips.
Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: You shall observe the feast of Unleavened Bread-eating unleavened bread for seven days as I have commanded you-at the set time in the month of Abib, for in it you went forth from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
And the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field;
And the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, the LORD.
You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened;
And the fat of My festal offering shall not be left lying until morning.
The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk

**Gog Magog (Ezekiel)

Succot (Zechariah)

God changed mind and took Levites.

Originally, God intended that the first-born of each Jewish family would be a Kohen -

i.e. would serve as that family's representative to the Holy Temple. (Exodus 13:2,

Exodus 24:5)

Then came the incident of the Golden Calf. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai and

smashed the tablets, he issued everyone an ultimatum: "Make your choice -- either God

or the idol." Only the tribe of Levi came to the side of God. (Exodus 32:26)

Let's start from square one: Pidyon Haben refers to the "redemption of the first born

son," and is commanded in the Torah (Numbers 18:15-16).

The reason behind this mitzvah is to remind us how during the Exodus from Egypt, God killed the first-born Egyptians, yet miraculously spared the first-born Jews. And

since one's first child brings so much happiness, it's a fitting time to acknowledge

that everything we have belongs to God. (Numbers 3:13)