Parashah-Shelach
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Throughout this site I may use any of the following three
versions of the Tanakh: 1. “Jewish Publication
Society” (JPS-1917), 2. “Mechon-Mamre.org” (MEC), and 3. “Sefaria.org” (SEF),
three brilliant versions, However, the JPS-1917 is my preferred version!
Colour coded
details of our beloved TaNaKh:
1. Torah = History & Law, 2. Nevi’im = The Prophets. 3. *Ketuvim = all
other Writings.
*The Ketuvim - Includes, Poetical
books - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Megillot, or Scrolls - Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations of
Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, prophecy of Daniel, and history
of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles I & II.
Please Note: Some
alterations or (additions) have been made relating to ‘Names’ and ‘Attributes’
of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, having been corrected like it
once was pre the “Masoretic Text”.
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Remember the following truth from our
beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO
THE WORD which I command you, NEITHER SHALL
YE DIMINISH FROM IT, that ye may keep the commandments of יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem, which I command you”. Davarim -
Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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“If the LORD delights in us, then He will
bring us into this land, and give it unto us a land which floweth
with milk and honey”. Numbers 14:8. (JPS-1917 version of the
Torah).
With Rabbi,
Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
This study is loosely
based on ‘Parashah Shelach’ - Numbers 13:1-15:41.
In this very busy world, life has sadly changed greatly. Indeed it is very easy to lose sight of oneself, as the world we live in is so filled with ‘distractions’, ‘temptations’, and easy avenues for ‘gratification’ which so many seem to get lost in. And sadly I do mean ‘spiritually lost’, a loss of who we really are?’ We can be so easily be distracted by what we see, or even what we want to see.
The central theme of this study had Moses sending scouts to assess the ‘Promised Land’. Of course, the familiar story we will know so well, reveals that ten of the twelve scouts return with an extremely negative report, including the story of the dangerous Giants who lived there. However, two of the scouts, being ‘Joshua’ and ‘Caleb’, returned with a positive report of a “land flowing with Milk and Honey”. Sadly, the “stiff necked” people can only see fear, and as a result, based on the past, they wandered for forty long years in the wilderness. Whilst ten men saw things with great ‘fear’, yet the other two saw great ‘opportunities’. The old expression “perception is reality”, Believe it or not that is the theme of this brief study.
But, like all of our beloved Torah, the texts speak to each of us and our experience. For all of us, at different times in our lives, will have “seen” things a certain way, only to discover years later, that what we saw then was not the full truth. What we may have seen was what we wished to see at that time in our life. Thus, looking back on our life and the choices we made; we can sometimes reflect on the following “if only I had seen this then”! Of course, life however is not like that. We reflect the times in which we live, and have lived and discovered the message from the portion is which had the contexts of at a certain time where we were in life, which so often determines how we “see things”. The test of all of this is how we adapt to ‘new circumstances’ and ‘growth’ which may, we hope, allow us to “see” things from a different vantage point. Sometimes this is called ‘maturity’, or the ‘lifelong process of maturing’ and ‘learning!’
In an interesting way this portion also gives us a very easy way to remember for us to check the contexts of what and how we make choices as we grow. How can we remember to try and see life and our choices that should be grounded in an ‘ethical’ and ‘moral foundation’? At the end of the portion, we read of the command to “make fringes on the corner of their garments” (Numbers 15:38). This is a tangible visible reminder that we need to be grounded in faith of our beloved tradition.
When we look at the fringes on our ‘Tallit Katan’ or ‘Tallit’ we should be reminded that we are part of a sacred tradition and we look to make a decision, as we need to “see” that the choices we need to be based on, is the ‘ethical’ and ‘moral traditions of our Hebraic life’. The fringes remind us that after we “see” things, we need to “look” deeply at the ‘context’ and ‘implications’ of what we can actually see in our Tanakh, being the only Holy Scripture, as all others were written by men, rabbis!
Please read Numbers Chapters 13:1 to 15:41, as it has so much to teach us!
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Remember what אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, blessed be He, said the
following via several of our prophets...
“The More Torah, the More Life”,
For Elohim is the One who
gave us our ... “Life!”
May the שָׁלוֹם - Shalom = Peace
of צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה= the LORD of hosts, be with
you, and please always uphold our blessed שַׁבָּת - Shabbat, as well as
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daily תְּפִלָּה - Tefeelah’s - Prayers and
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שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom
Aleichem - Peace be with you!
Enter ...