Are-you-Dieting
-hebraicstudies.net-
Please do NOT visit this
site on שַׁבָּת - Shabbat or on
the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts!
Re Tanakh versions:
Throughout this site I may use any of 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 (God), 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 אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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Or have you lost your appetite serving our beloved Elohim..
With Rabbi, Dr, Reuven Ben-Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Please Note: All verses below are from the JPS-1917 version of the Tanakh. Each verse is first in Hebrew, then in English.
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Introduction:
The medical profession likes to tell the
story of the matronly patient who was on a strict diet but somehow she
continued to gain weight. Finally, after weighing her for the sixth straight
week only to find she has gained another kilo or so, the doctor asked, if she
was eating anything else beside her diet. She replied in astonishment. “Oh
doctor I strictly keep my diet, and I eat my regular meals and the diet, and
absolutely nothing else”!
The truth is “You are what you eat!”
But sadly there are many Hebrews that take
their faith just like that lady took her diet. Serving Elohim, blessed
be He, is fine, providing it does not get in the way of the things we want to
do.
Everyone who has ever dieted knows that
‘self-control’ and ‘restraint’ is necessary in order to lose weight. Those who
have read the Torah also know that the natural inclinations of the self, is as
opposed to the will of Elohim, as is chocolates, and regular meals are to
dieting. We cannot be good Hebrews and be slaves to the “I, me,
and myself” all at the same time.
Four aspects of our lives need strengthening:
These are: Regular ‘Torah studies’,
‘Tzedakah’ (charity, good deeds), ‘Prayer’, and ‘Honourable behaviour’. It is
obvious that we must do our utmost to strengthen ourselves in all those areas.
Torah study and good deeds: The Torah
says:
רַק
חֲזַק
וֶאֱמַץ מְאֹד,
לִשְׁמֹר
לַעֲשׂוֹת
כְּכָל-הַתּוֹרָה-אֲשֶׁר
צִוְּךָ
מֹשֶׁה
עַבְדִּי,
אַל-תָּסוּר
מִמֶּנּוּ
יָמִין
וּשְׂמֹאול:
לְמַעַן
תַּשְׂכִּיל,
בְּכֹל
אֲשֶׁר
תֵּלֵךְ
“Only be strong and
very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant
commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou
mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest”. Yahushua
- Joshua 1:7.
Remember, return again unto our beloved Elohim and be strong and continue your Torah study, as well as being courageous and doing good deeds!
וְדִבֶּר
יְהוָה
אֶל-מֹשֶׁה
פָּנִים
אֶל-פָּנִים,
כַּאֲשֶׁר
יְדַבֵּר
אִישׁ
אֶל-רֵעֵהוּ;
וְשָׁב,
אֶל-הַמַּחֲנֶה,
וּמְשָׁרְתוֹ
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
בִּן-נוּן
נַעַר, לֹא
יָמִישׁ מִתּוֹךְ
הָאֹהֶל
“And יְהוָה - the LORD spoke unto
Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his
friend. And he would return into the camp; but his minister Joshua, the son of
Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent.” Shemot
- Exodus 33:11.
Now if Elohim told Joshua that he must strengthen himself in studying the Law, how
much more so must we all do that?
The Torah warned Bnei Yisroel (Children,
or Sons of Israel), that if the mitzvoth were not kept,
וְאִם-לֹא
תִשְׁמְעוּ,
לִי; וְלֹא
תַעֲשׂוּ, אֵת
כָּל-הַמִּצְוֺת
הָאֵלֶּה
וְאִם-בְּחֻקֹּתַי
תִּמְאָסוּ,
וְאִם אֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי
תִּגְעַל
נַפְשְׁכֶם,
לְבִלְתִּי
עֲשׂוֹת
אֶת-כָּל-מִצְוֺתַי,
לְהַפְרְכֶם
אֶת-בְּרִיתִי
אַף-אֲנִי
אֶעֱשֶׂה-זֹּאת
לָכֶם,
וְהִפְקַדְתִּי
עֲלֵיכֶם
בֶּהָלָה
אֶת-הַשַּׁחֶפֶת
וְאֶת-הַקַּדַּחַת,
מְכַלּוֹת
עֵינַיִם,
וּמְדִיבֹת
נָפֶשׁ;
וּזְרַעְתֶּם
לָרִיק
זַרְעֲכֶם,
וַאֲכָלֻהוּ
אֹיְבֵיכֶם
“But if ye will not
hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall reject
My statutes, and if your soul abhor Mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all
My commandments, but break My covenant; also will do this unto you: I will
appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall make the eyes
to fail, and the soul to languish; and ye shall sow your seed in vain”. Vayikra - Leviticus 26:14-16.
וֶהֱפִיצְךָ
יְהוָה
בְּכָל-הָעַמִּים,
מִקְצֵה
הָאָרֶץ
וְעַד-קְצֵה
הָאָרֶץ;
וְעָבַדְתָּ
שָּׁם
אֱלֹהִים
אֲחֵרִים,
אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַעְתָּ
אַתָּה
וַאֲבֹתֶיךָ-עֵץ
וָאָבֶ
וּבַגּוֹיִם
הָהֵם לֹא
תַרְגִּיעַ,
וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה
מָנוֹחַ
לְכַף-רַגְלֶךָ;
וְנָתַן
יְהוָה לְךָ
שָׁם לֵב רַגָּז,
וְכִלְיוֹן
עֵינַיִם
וְדַאֲבוֹן
נָפֶשׁ
“And יְהוָה - the LORD shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou have no repose, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot; but יְהוָה - the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and languishing of soul”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 28: 64-65.
Out of the 168 hours that we may have spent
over the past week ask yourself, how many hours were spent for your own
pleasure and how many hours were spent in prayer, and/or Torah Study? As we
well know, time spent watching TV or sport can only be charged to our own
pleasure. If our days are spent working or keeping house, just as our
neighbours spend their days, and our free time is taken up with the trivial
pleasures of life, how then are we unlike the world? Remember that our beloved
Creator commanded us to be different!
I am well aware that this type of self-examination may be uncomfortable, but how much better that we ask ourselves this question now, than wait until Elohim, blessed be He, calls us before Him and ask us what we have done for Him? If our life is not different to those in the world, then how can our lives be described as priests, for remember that is what we are meant to be!
וְאַתֶּם
תִּהְיוּ-לִי
מַמְלֶכֶת
כֹּהֲנִים,
וְגוֹי
קָדוֹשׁ: אֵלֶּה,
הַדְּבָרִים,
אֲשֶׁר
תְּדַבֵּר,
אֶל-בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל
“And ye shall be unto
Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are
the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of
Are you dieting?
If we eat our regular meals as well as the
food on our diet, we are not really on a diet. The reward of dieting will only
come to those who strictly keep their diet. In addition, the measures of reward
will only come to those who are ‘faithful to the precepts as given to us by the
Almighty’.
We should be spiritually ‘trim and fit
today’. Please, present yourself fit in the sight of Elohim, blessed be He.
Acknowledge your failures, and with Teshuvah return to our beloved Elohim and
study His wonderful Torah and all of the Tanakh!
For those who have not been to Shul for a
long time, yet you have a yearning to learn more about the Torah and grow in
being a good and faithful Hebrew, why not go to shul every Shabbas, and to all
the Yom Tovim!
Here is several verses from His word to encourage ‘faithfulness’:
בְּטַח
אֶל-יְהוָה,
בְּכָל-לִבֶּךָ;
וְאֶל-בִּינָתְךָ,
אַל-תִּשָּׁעֵן
בְּכָל-דְּרָכֶיךָ
דָעֵהוּ;
וְהוּא,
יְיַשֵּׁר
אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ
“Trust in יְהוָה - the LORD with all thy
heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding. In
all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths”. Mishle Shlomo -
Proverbs 3:5-6.
הֲלוֹא
צִוִּיתִיךָ
חֲזַק
וֶאֱמָץ,
אַל-תַּעֲרֹץ
וְאַל-תֵּחָת:
כִּי עִמְּךָ
יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ,
בְּכֹל
אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵךְ
“Have not I commanded
thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou
dismayed: for יְהוָה
אֱלֹהֶיךָ -
the LORD thy Eloheicha is with thee whithersoever thou goest”. Yahoshua - Joshua 1:9.
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Please Note: “hebraicstudies” links are located down
the page!
This site was originally created, for those who desired to return to our blessed and wonderful faith. Thus be wise and work on your faith and pray at least two or three times a day (if possible) and always seek our beloved אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s guidance, for His love is always with us, especially when we seek Him, blessed be He! However this site has become very much a teaching site with hundreds of studies!
Remember
what אֱלֹהִים -
Elohim, blessed be He, said the following through a number 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
the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts, and continue saying your
daily תְּפִלָּה - Tefeelah’s - Prayers and
regular בְּרָכָה - Be’ra’chah’s - blessings before food
and drinks, etc!
שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom
Aleichem - Peace be with you!
Enter ...