"And no longer shall each man teach (lamad- with rod, 3925) his neighbor and each his brother, saying 'Know Y-HVH,' for they shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, says Y-HVH; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Several questions came to mind when we encountered this passage. What does it mean that we no longer shall we teach with a rod our neighbor or brother? We believe clues can be found at Gal.6.1-10, Matt.7.1-5 as well as Jam.3. We believe these scriptures clearly teaches the error of taking up that rod upon believers because even if we are being called to teach we are to do this in love, humility, respect, tolerance, peacefulness, and with self-control. Not that using the spiritual "rod" is always wrong, for indeed we called to teach our children this way, but adult believers should be a different story (as are many teens). It is these we believe this text is speaking of for it says "from the least of them to the greatest" which believe can be defined as through Yeshua words at the Sermon on the Mount:
"Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but He who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt.5.19
Therefore we believe the least are those who annulled his laws while the greatest upheld and kept His laws. And for those who are our neighbor, Yeshua said:
"Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell in among robbers?" and the man he was teaching responded, "The one who showed mercy on him." and he spoke rightly. Thus our neighbor is the one who needs mercy. (Lk.10.29-37)
And isn't our brother one who shares our faith? Adding to this our neighbor is one who is in need of mercy, this reminds us of the words of our L-rd when He said, "the measure you give will be the measure you will get." Matt.7.2. Yet whom needs mercy for their beliefs more than the ones HaShem hardened that we might come unto Him? Hence, Rav Shual warned us:
"Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved;" Rom.11.25-26
Also,
"Just as you were once disobedient to G-d but have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy." Rom.11.30
The "sin" of Judah was for our sake and in time for theirs as well. Remember that He died while we were still sinners; so why should we worry or even push them if these words imply they are also saved? Not by a different covenant, but we believe by the same covenant we have, through the same blood, the same G-d and faith. Also remember that the Father and Son are one (echad), so nothing is done (including hardening their hearts) without the intent of the Divine Plan. Thus like our father Yosif, we believe one day Moshiach Ben Yosif will say to our brothers in Judah who up until now refuse to believe in Him:
"...do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, because you sold (denial pushed) Me here (among the Goyim); for G-d sent Me before you to preserve Life (ours)." Gen.45.5
Yet this seems to go against so much of what we were taught. Doesn't Judah need to know HaMoshiach? We suspect in some ways they already do. The following is a JEWISH TEACHING:
"Kadmon, as the first being to emerge from the infinite Godhead, Ein-sof, is essentially indistinguishable from the deity, yet at the same time his body is said to both emanate and constitute the world. Man, having been created in God¹s image, is said by the Kabbalists to be comprised of the very same cosmic elements, the sefirot, which comprise the "body" of Adam Kadmon. The symbol of Adam Kadmon expresses the idea that the cosmos itself has both a soul and body very much like that of man, and that the world too is garbed in the interest, value and Eros which is normally thought to be the exclusive province of humankind.
In the Lurianic Kabbalah, Adam Kadmon is the first being to spontaneously emerge in the metaphysical void, which was formed in the center of the cosmos after the Tzimtzum. The Sefirot and worlds, which they comprise, are, according to Luria and his disciple, Vital, emanated from the various orifices in Adam Kadmon¹s head: from the ear, the nose, eyes, and mouth. The highest, most sublime of these emanations, forms the world of A tziluth, from the Hebrew "etzel", meaning "near" (to the infinite God). However, even higher than Atziluth, according to the Lurianists, is the World of Adam Kadmon itself, often abbreviated as the World of A¹K, a world so high and sublime as to be virtually indistinguishable from Ein-sof. From within this realm, so close to the infinite God, Adam Kadmon directs the subsequent course of events in the lower worlds.
Adam Kadmon, from his abode in the highest world, is instrumental not only in the emanation of the Sefirot, but also in their reconstruction and repair. Lights, this time from the forehead of Adam Kadmon, bathe the broken vessels and actually occasion their initial reconstruction into Partzufim. As such, according to Luria, the Primordial Man is instrumental not only for the world¹s creation, but for its redemption as well. Still it is the province of actual men and women to assure the world¹s Tikkun The symbol of Primordial Man and Adam Kadmon is discussed in detail Chapter 4 of Symbols of the Kabbalah, and in relationship to similar notions in Indian Philosophy, Gnosticism and Carl Jung in Chapters 3, 5 and 8 of Kabbalistic Metaphors. The Lurianic Kabbalah is treated in detail in Sanford Drob's Symbols of the Kabbalah and Kabbalistic Metaphors."
In fact the only piece in the salvation puzzle we suspect Judah does not yet understand is His Sacrifice. Yet prophecy clearly says one day this will also be revealed to them:
"And I shall pour out on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first born." Zech.12.10
Therefore we believe all this means that we don't have to seek their conversion, we don't have to evangelize to them for it is written:
"And no longer shall each man teach (lamad- with rod, 3925) his neighbor and each his brother, saying 'Know Y-HVH,' for they shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, says Y-HVH; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Herein we believe resides that mystery for what is so mysterious in our sharing the Gospel and Judah converting? This was done in the first century, yet after this our church was told:
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Acts 1.8
And we believe it was written in that order for a reason, as we read:
"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of G-d for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Rom.1.16
And this is exactly what happened in the first century when thousand of Jews came unto faith; and through their faith and testimony our church was founded and made strong. Yet by the third century the church began to grow hostile towards Jewish ways, thus forcing Jews to abide the traditions that evolved for the grafted-in and making our Moshiach and our faith to look more Goyish in its roots. For example, consider the incident where the woman with the hemorrhage grabbed hold of His tzitzis, yet not a single "fringe" is found on any of our pictures of Him for the last two thousand years. And even though He laid parameters for Tiphillos and Tzitzis, neither are ever found on Him in any of our icons and pictures which have Him in prayer. Yet we believe this a fulfillment of prophecy:
"As regards the Gospel they are enemies of G-d, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefather." Rom.11.29
We believe the term "they" is explained earlier, which are those who sought to force the laws of Moshe upon the grafted-in:
"Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the Law shall live by it. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down) or 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your hearts (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is L-rd and you believe in your heart that G-d raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Rom.10.5-9
The Halachic Laws do not save, they act only as a fence or manual to help us grow closer to G-d and our fellow man. Yet Acts.15.28 states that these laws for the Grafted-in are a "great burden" to them. In Galatians, Rav Shual makes it clear they are even an obstacle in salvation, Gal.5.1-12. Therefore being an obstacle we believe our church had to choose between reaching out further to Judah or turning her mission to bring the "full number" in. Yet given that Judah's salvation was unaffected by their rejection, Rom.11.28-32, for we see this as part of HaShem's plan, our church had no choice but to believe that:
"...while the Catholic Church regards the saving act of Christ as central to the process of human salvation of all, it also acknowledges that Jews already dwell in saving covenant with G-d." ("Reflections on Covenant and Mission", Consulation of the National Council of Synagogues and the Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, 8-12-02).
This, we believe, is the essence of the mystery Rav Shual wrote about. How can we help Judah bridge that last impasse if we are not allowed to seek after their conversion? We suspect the clue to this mystery lies in Jer.31, in those passages few ever reach out to understand. It has to do with two houses (not one) as well as a son born second to our father Yosif, who in this text is HaShem's "first born" ( verse 9). It was to this son that the New Covenant was made and without this son's house (the house of Israel), we believe the Gentiles have no right of claim to this text of Jer.31 except by the claim of Rav Shual (Paul) who made this connection. Therefore we suspect the answer to this mystery lies in this missing house (the Lost Tribes, E'phraim, etc.) and without solving this mystery how can we ever know with any certainty exactly how "all Israel will be saved"?
This brings us to why we published this in the first place. Many have claimed that the Bishop's Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs went out of line and was way off eccleastically in their document called "Reflections on Covenant and Mission" saying that they were advocating to two covenant theology, however we see nothing of the sort. What we see them advocating is One Covenant, the New Covenant that was given to both houses. First to the house of Israel under the guidance Yeshua through His Church. Yet, by our reckoning, the passage above states that Judah is indeed under this same Covenant today and probably has been since they were hardened by HaShem (all except perhaps those that judged unwisely (see Mal.1.11-13 and cf to Rom.11.13-22), which we all are at risk for. We also believe that the "Covenant of Moshe" is also valid for today, except the Temple sacrifices which have ended (but not the Thanksgiving Sacrifice of the Mass) for those who accept the Eternal one upon the cross (though for Judah who do not, this we suspect is not true).
In the last two thousand years Judah has come a long way toward our faith, which anyone knowledgeable of their ways should be able to affirm and as we have tried to briefly show above. After all we have defended the Doctrine of the Incarnation using the Kabbalah and there are others who can build equally compelling arguments for our Church. We have also supported our Church's doctrines on saints and baptism using Judah's own teachings, so how can we say that our Moshiach is not present within them if our own Church's doctrines are strengthened by Judah's own?
So how does this coincide with Jer.31's mystery? Well, if we who are believers in HaMoshiach are not to beget/convert our brethren in Judah, then this probably includes passing out tracts, getting into debates or any other method that is normally covered under the terms of "spreading the Good News". So what is to be done? We suspect the answer resides in the House of Israel. With that in mind, we remember the lesson from our science teacher who said that the first part in solving a mystery is to ask the right questions. And so we ask where is the House of Israel, what did Yeshua HaMoshiach have to do with their return (in one prophecy He is called Moshiach Ben E'phraim), the full number of the Gentiles coming in, and the end time mission of the Holy Roman Catholic Church?
