Simchat Torah is the last Sabbath of the Feast of Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is the third and final fall feast (Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah, lit. head of the year and Yom Kippur, lit. Day of Atonement are the other preceding fall feasts). It declares the goodness of God through His abundant provision and care during the wilderness wanderings of the Jews.
I had the privilege of attending Sinchat Torah at a Jewish Synagogue in Portland with a Chinese student from George Fox on this night. Two strangers: an Irish/German and a Chinese guy walking into a Jewish synagogue --- sounds strange enough doesn't it. But they were very welcoming and gave us directions so as to not offend.
First, the yamacha's were placed upon our heads. My Chinese friend had really high poofy hair so it looked a little weird on him but it went well with his plaid tennis shoes.
Next, assigned seating -- men on the leftt, women on the right, separated by a wooden partition with glass at the top - very traditional and happens in many orthodox churches.
We were given two books. One was the songs to sing as we closed out Simchat Torah and the other as we began the bereishit bara - the new cycle of reading through the Torah again.
Almost the whole service was in Hebrew. I took this in Seminary and can still read it (somewhat) but it was a whole other experience hearing it spoken and sung. Like any foreign language I wanted to stop the service and say, "Slow down" but since I was a guest I didn't think it prudent. Every once in a while the young rabbi would call out a page number and we faithfully turned - proud that we were able to participate in some small way.
The service was short - only 45 minutes in total. It was not their full Shabbot service which is 3-4 hours including a lunch. It speaks to community that often is lacking in Protestant churches. There were no instruments in the church - only the voices of worshippers. Not always on key or in timing with each other but they lifted up their communal voices as best they could. I had gift envy. If only the Holy Spirit would give me the gift of tongues I could have sung with them. But alas, the heavenly fire did not fall.
The sermon was short - maybe 5 minutes. As he began to introduce Genesis he said that it was a book of lessons, lessons about righteousness. "Although a righteous man falls seven times he will rise but the wicked are brought down by calamity," says Proverbs 24:16. Righteousness has to do with a man's ability to rise in the midst of his failures. Righteousness is the obedient pursuit of the law. I wept inside.
Torah will never be able to make a man righteous. It will make him a good, moral, man, but it cannot make him right before God. Deuteronomy 27:26 says, "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." We are all cursed because we cannot carry out all the law. It is why Paul tells us in Galatians 2:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree' (Deut. 21:23)." Jesus was cursed not just because he was murdered and hung on a tree like a common criminal (which he was) but because he was an innocent man who, indeed, did keep all the commandments and become our substitution. We were cursed and should have been the one identified as the criminal but he stepped in and deflected the wrath of God by letting it hit him.
Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us so wonderfully that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." It's not in deeds that we become right with God but in responding to the finished work of Jesus.
My prayer is the same as the Apostle Paul - that some day the Jewish people will recognize their Messiah and come to know the true Word, Jesus, as their Lord and Savior.
"Now Cain said to his brother Abel,
'Let's go out to the field.' And
while they were in the field Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain 'Where is your brother Abel?'
'I don't know,' he replied, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'"
I don't think that I have ever been so nervous as I have these last few days regarding the President's adamant decision to strike Syria for atrocities against their own people. I hear our "representatives" giving us "reasons" for spending millions of dollars which we do not have to exact "justice" upon people that we have selectively chosen to deem our "national interest." They tell me that this is about principles. What principles? Is this another "just war"? Death is death but for some reason chemical weapons are different. Have no mothers, fathers, and children died through bombings and gunfire? Are bullets, shrapnel and falling buildings discriminant? What principles are we really fighting for as a nation? I wish our elected officials would tell us and perhaps we would empathize a bit more with their potential decision. If our President has called our nation a post-Christian nation then what values other than the Judeo-Christian ethic are being considered? What sense of "right" is governing this decision. I just cannot believe that we will do this when the Arab League is condemning this. Europe as a whole is condemning this. Israel is handing out gas masks as I write this and bracing for an all out Middle East explosion, and the Islamist are praying that we give them another reason to exact "justice" upon the "Great Satan".
Can we please call this for what it is, "Saving face." Would not the most principled thing be to admit that one did not adequately think about the consequences before one spoke?" There are times when strength is found in both reason and humility. But there is no "I apologize. I was wrong. I spoke before consideration." In our great capital there is no humility. And I fear that we shall pay for this action and not recover; not from the Muslim world but from God.
"I resist the proud," God says. He will abandon us to the consequences of our own sins.
Oh, Church of the Living God, may we be like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel in those chapter 9 prayers of contrition. May we rise up and confess our national sins of pride to a merciful God and find mercy. May godly people stand in the gap and pray for those who are not. Let us pray for the good people who are trying to do the right thing but without the counsel of God. Let us come against the spirit of confusion and delusion. Instead of killing Bashar Al Assad, why are we not on our knees praying for his salvation and the salvation of his people. "If by the sword you live, by the sword you shall die." That not only goes for Syria but for the U.S. as well.
I was in a suk (sook - a shopping plaza) in Damascus, Syria less than ten years ago. The people were the kindest I have ever met. Middle Eastern hospitality puts us to shame. Time and time again we heard, "We hate your politicians. We hate our politicians. But we love the American people. They are the most generous people in the world." Herein lies our greatest strength - love through a generous spirit.
It grieves me to think that many of those friends are now displaced and possibly killed. Families that I once had supper with until midnight...singing, enjoying life...
The Lord speaks to my heart, "Where is your brother?"
I'm afraid my answer is, "I don't know, Lord. What am I to do but pray and weep for him. His blood testifies against us from the ground."
