Torah: (Devarim) Deuteronomy 14:22 — 16:17; Haftarah: 1 Kings 8:54 — 9:1
The Eighth Day of Festive Assembly
The Bible in Leviticus 23 mentions a day called ATZERET: "Seven days you shall bring an offering made by fire to Yehovah; on the eighth day shall be a holy gathering unto you.... It is a day of festive assembly (atzeret)" (Leviticus 23:36). The seven days refers to the festival of Sukkot. The phrase "on the Eighth Day" was interpreted to mean that this day is the continuation of the seven days and the concluding day of Sukkot, but it was regarded by the rabbis of old as a festival in its own right. Included in the service were special prayers for rain, and, as its name implies, Atzeret ("Assembly"), was also the time when the people assembled, once in seven years, for a public reading of the Torah.
Shemini Atzeret is observed in the Shabbat spirit. It is also one of the four days of the year when Yizkor prayers are recited. The additional service, Musaf, includes, indeed, a special prayer for the rain looking forward to the coming days of rain and the water so essential for a fruitful year, hence another name for this day was, "The day of drawing of water." This day is also connected with the Messianic prophesy given by Isaiah 12:3: “And you shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.” Thus the joyful prayer and the joy with which the ancient ritual was done in the Temple had a double expectation, the plentiful rain needed for a good crop and the coming of Messiah. The Talmud talks about this day as one of the most joyful day of the year: “Our Rabbis taught, He who has not witnessed the rejoicing at the place of the Water-Drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life.” Mas. Sukkah 51b
In the Brit Chadashah we also read about this joyful day and Yeshua's response to the prayer recited during the drawing of water: “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast (Sukkot) Yeshua stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water'" John 7:37-38. The Messianic prophesy was indeed fulfilled. Yeshua was born during the Feast of Sukkot and anyone who comes to Him will find salvation and will never hunger and thirst for spiritual nourishment. What a joyful day indeed.
A ninth day has been added by tradition to the festival of Sukkot. This day was instituted about the tenth century by the Diaspora Jews and is called SIMCHAT TORAH - REJOICING OF THE TORAH. This observance gives honor to the completion of the cycle of weekly readings of the Torah. In Israel Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated on the same day.
"Torah - the beloved companion of our live"
This Shabbat we rejoice in the word of God revealed to us in the Torah. But many Jewish people think of Torah as a collection of 613 laws, instead of a collection of God's teachings for their own benefit. Many Christians and many Messianic believers look also upon the Torah as a collection of dos and don'ts. But we need to understand that for Israel the Torah is not only that which leads individual people to salvation in Messiah, but that it is the only way through which God will make possible for Israel as a nation to come to His Son. This is what the prophets tell us, that it is going to be through the Torah that God brings His people Israel to know who Yeshua haMoshiah is. Therefore, without Torah there could be no salvation for Israel.
Judaism is not a biblical religion today. It is based upon biblical foundations, but it does not have a biblical outcome, therefore, the Jewish people, as a whole, have not come to the right conclusions. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the Jewish people who did not believe in the sacrifice of Yeshua—the sacrifice who replaced the required sacrifices of the physical Temple—needed to redefine Judaism. And through the rabbinate at the Yavneh Academy (Second Century CE) they rebuilt Judaism without the corner or foundation stone. The builders of this new Judaism built up a religion that rejected the chief cornerstone. But the prophecy given in Psalm 118 was that “the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone of the corner.” Therefore, it shall became what it used to be, the chief of the corner, the Rosh Pinah. Torah-true Judaism is at odds with Rabbinical Judaism. Talmud—a collection of Rabbinical commentaries and commentaries on commentaries, known as the Mishnah and Gemara—is regarded as the only definer of Judaism. Torah is not allowed to speak for itself.
So, the only acceptable way for the nation of Israel to be saved would be through the acceptance of Torah in their hearts. There will be no acceptance of the Messiah until Torah is accepted. Much of Christianity has taught that the Jewish believers should abandon Torah observance. But, when the Jewish people will receive Yeshua as the chief cornerstone of the Jewish faith, they will not be converting to the Christianity as we know it today, but they will return to their God given faith—Torah-true Judaism. They will become Bible observant. There is going to be a very Biblical Messianic Judaism in Eretz Yisrael when Messiah comes back. And so, we have to understand that if we are ministering to the Jewish people, we have to be able to share with them that they first have to believe in the Torah. And if they do not believe in the Torah, they will not be coming to a saving faith in Yeshua, because you cannot separate Torah from Messiah; without Torah there is no reason to believe in Messiah. The Torah has within it the very desire of God's heart expressed toward Israel, and what Israel is expected to express toward God. Yeshua said: “If you believed Moshe [i.e. Torah], you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
May we be found worthy to be called to bring the message of salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike and be a light to the darkened world revealing the need for a savior, who ultimately will turn this darkness into light, and open the eyes of the blind and reveal the truth to mankind. Yeshua came to correct the teaching of the rabbis and He opened our eyes to the truth of the Torah. Let us persevere in reading His word and make the Torah the center of our lives.
Simchat Torah - Rejoicing in the Torah
Simchat Torah is not a biblical or historical festival; in fact it is a post-biblical development. Yet, it has turned into one of the most widely celebrated festivals in the Jewish year. Simchat Torah focuses on the Torah as the beloved companion of our lives. The celebrations of Simchat Torah are reminiscent of a wedding. As a bride and groom dancing with each other on their big night, so, too, on Simchat Torah, we desire to hold the Sefer Torah in our arms. Until the early middle ages, the weekly Torah reading followed a triennial cycle, meaning that it took three years for each congregation to complete reading the whole Torah. When the annual cycle was adopted, Simchat Torah was developed. It is on this day that the reading of a cycle is completed and a new cycle starts. At Ma’ariv (the evening service) and at Shacharith (the morning service), the congregation recites "Ata Horeita" - a series of verses praising God. The ark is opened and all the Torah scrolls are removed. The leader holds a Torah and recites a prayer, with the refrain "Hoshia Na" (please save us). The other people holding the Sifrei Torah follow the leader as he circles the synagogue. It is customary for the rest of the congregation to kiss the Sifrei Torah as the procession passes by. The act of encircling the synagogue is called Hakafot. After an entire hakafah, has been completed the congregation bursts out in joyous song and dance - rejoicing in God’s mercy by giving us His Torah.
The Sefer Torah
The Sefer Torah is written by a Sofer, a scribe. Parchments called Klaf are specifically prepared from a kosher animal, usually a goat or a cow. The Klaf is meticulously prepared by the Sofer, who first soaks the skin in lime water for nine days to remove hairs, and then stretches the skin over a wooden frame to dry. A Sefer Torah usually contains 248 columns called amudim (amud - a column), and one rectangle of parchment yields space for three or four columns. Thus, a Sefer Torah may require approximately 80 or more skins. In general, there should be no less than three amudim on one yeriah (sheet or folio) and not more than eight. There must be a margin of three inches on the top, four inches at the bottom, and two inches between columns.
The Sofer makes his own quills for writing. The feathers must come from a kosher bird, a goose, or a turkey. The Sofer carefully carves a point at the end of the feather and uses many quills in the course of writing one Sefer Torah. A special quill is used only for God's four-letter name, YHVH. He also prepares the ink by combining a blend of powdered gall nuts, copper sulfate crystals, gum arabic, and water, preparing only a small amount at a time, so that the ink will always be fresh.
Once the materials are prepared, the Sofer visits the mikvah in preparation for such holy work and prays that the holy work about to be undertaken will be imbued with the sanctity in the Sofer's heart. It takes a Sofer almost a year to write on parchment more than a quarter of a million letters. The Sofer is not allowed to write from memory. The Sofer has to look into the text of an accurate copy or a Tikkun for each next letter, concentrating himself on the holiness and significance of each of the letters. The Torah can only be written in a special square script called K'tav Ashuri. Although Hebrew is read from right to left, the Sofer writes each individual letter from left to right, checking each word from the Tikkun, singing each word, each letter, out loud.
The scroll may contain no errors whatsoever. Some mistakes may be corrected by scraping off the ink of a letter made in error with a knife or a pumice stone and rewriting it. If a mistake is made in writing any of the names of YHVH, no correction may be made because God's name may not be erased. The entire sheet of parchment must be buried or placed in a genizah, and the Sofer must begin that section of the Torah again. Once the sheets of parchment are completed, the scribe checks them each three times with the help of someone else who uses a Tikkun.
When the writing is complete, the Sofer sews the individual pieces of parchment together using a thread called giddin which is made from the leg sinews of a kosher animal. The Sofer makes one stitch every six lines of text, sewing the backs of the parchment sheets, so that the stitches are not visible from the front. Then the scroll is sewn onto wooden rollers called Atzei Chayim (trees of life - plural of Etz Chayim). The Torah is then dressed and ready to be dedicated in a Jewish community in a special celebration called a 'Siyyum Torah.'
Shabbat joy, peace, and blessings! Shabbat Shalom!
