5-Av 5784 Footsteps Dec 7

Tuba Av is a festival of future redemption, marking the end of tragedies in the month of Av. Siyum and charity were practiced leading up to Tuba Av. Deaths stopped on the 9th of Av, but people didn't realize until the 15th due to the full moon. Rosh Chodesh is significant and should be observed. It is a remembrance of temple services and keeps us connected to God's times and seasons. The timing of Rosh Hashanah remains mysterious. It is observed for two days to confuse Satan. Yeshua is the Lord and Messiah for all people. As the full moon of the month of Av, Tuba Av represents the festival of future redemption, signifying the end of the tragedies that marked the first part of the month. Leading up to this day, we held Siu Mim and gave charity each day to alleviate our sorrow and accelerate the redemption. However, after the 15th of Av, these practices are no longer observed. Now, just to be clear, a Siyum, which is spelled Samech, Yud, Vav, Mim, means completion and in Judaism, occasionally spelled Siyum, S-I-Y-Y-U-M in the transliteration of English, is the completion of any established unit of Torah study. The most common units are a single volume of the Talmud or Mishnah. So, like we said, these practices are no longer observed after the 15th of Av. Additionally, 45 days before Rosh Hashanah, Tuba Av is the first day we start wishing one another a Ketiva Vachatimatovah, hoping to be signed and sealed for a good year. So that means a writing and inscription for good in the Book of Life. Now, according to the Talmud Yerushalmi, the Jerusalem Talmud, in Tammit 4.7, the deaths actually stopped on the 9th of the month in the wilderness, the curse for 40 years that all of those who were supposed to enter the land would not. It was, I believe, mainly men over the age of 19, so 20 and up. The deaths actually stopped on the 9th of Av, on Tisha B'Av, but the people of Israel did not realize this until the 15th, when the moon was full, because between the 9th and the 15th, sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what day it is, but it's very clear on the 15th when it's a full circle, a full moon. So that's why the date of Tuba Av was established as a day of celebration. Now this aligns with the significance of the 15th as the peak of the month. The moon is always full, and the full moon represents the moment in its cycle when its fullness is visible to us, allowing us to fully appreciate its light. Similarly, the ups and downs of Jewish history are merely perceived fluctuations in our experience of closeness to God. In reality, there are no true descents, d-e-s-c-e-n-t-s, even on Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. At the exact moment of destruction, our relationship with God remained entirely intact. Now, since this is the last episode for the year 5784, even though it's being released in 5785, and we'll be skipping an episode on Elul this year, I wanted to end with a thought about the holiday of Rosh Chodesh. If you've been following along for any amount of time, especially this past year, you know we've been working on summarizing each month's significance and meanings, and I've spoken some about Rosh Chodesh. I mean, it is important with my spiritual walk, in my spiritual walk with Hashem, and I have found observing Rosh Chodesh to be very meaningful, and help me to better understand the times and seasons. Now, I encourage you to do the same, and learn the prayers, and follow the calendar, and know when each new month is approaching. There are many things to learn about it, but the best way to learn them is to practice them. In the 12 to 13 months, depending on if it is a leap year or not, you will know so much more than you do right now, if you practice observing the calendar, and just recognizing what the date is, and recognizing Rosh Chodesh, and learning the Rosh Chodesh prayers for the next 12 months. Now, it is also commanded that we do special prayers, and the Musaf service on Rosh Chodesh, because these are Zichronim, which are remembrances of the Temple services. It is also commanded, I'm sorry, and the Temple services are commanded by God in the Torah and in the Tanakh. Now, you may say, well, wait, we don't have a Temple. Well, how are you going to know what was done in the Temple, or how to do it, or teach others how to do it, if you don't know it already, and have not practiced it for at least some time in your life? Now, an interesting Jewish custom that is regarded today, for instance, as a practice toward the future, when we do have a Temple, is the avoidance of cemeteries by a lot of Jews, unless there is a funeral. Even certain practices that are in the Bible, if people know that they are from the line of Levi, or actually even Kohen, they will still practice this in order to practice it for the future, even though we all are contaminated by impurity from death, everyone on the planet is. There is nobody that has spiritual purity right now because there is no Temple, no ashes of the Red Heifer to purify, and so on and so forth. But anyway, all of these practices are to, even if you practice them for your entire life and you never see the rebuilding of the Temple, it is still passing it on to your family and resetting your family tree toward a spiritual and biblical observance for the future. So, it is all part of God's times and seasons and you learn them when you do them, back to Rosh Chodesh, and as you do them, you learn them. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty cool, right? Pretty, pretty, pretty amazing. Now, there are other things we treat like this in Judaism, a remembrance, another remembrance of a practice that keeps us in practice and sharp with the idea that Hashem will bring back the fullness of said ritual of observance in the future, even if we have to wait until the Aloha B'Av is the Rosh Chodesh prayers and the service and the verse states in Psalm 81.4, blow the shofar at the moon's renewal at the appointed time, B'kisseh, for a festive day. Now, some people believe that B'kisseh is referring to the full moon, and because it goes, blows shofar at the moon's renewal, which is Rosh Chodesh, when it's almost invisible, it's like a halo of light, it's very hard to see, covered by a disk of darkness, and then comma, at the appointed time, B'kisseh, for a festive day, well, that in the month of Tishri, for instance, is the month of, I'm sorry, is the festival of Sukkot. Now, the term B'kisseh can also be interpreted as hidden, from this our sages conclude that the timing of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah is intended to remain cloaked in mystery. This is one reason we do not bless the month of Tishri on the preceding Shabbat, and why Rosh Chodesh is only minimally referenced in the entire Rosh Hashanah service. Now, I is concealed, but the next verse, let me grab my Bible, okay, so I think I was confused for a second, I wasn't looking at the text, so that's what you get, right, when you don't look at the Bible. Some translations actually have it as the full moon, that is incorrect. The original Hebrew says, which translates, sound the shofar on the new moon, or the concealed moon on the appointed time for the day of our festival. Okay, so, like I said, there are other things we treat like this in Judaism, a remembrance of a practice that keeps us in practice and sharp, with the idea that Hashem will bring back the fullness of said ritual or observance in the future, even if we have to wait until the Alam Chabad. And Rashi has some interesting comments, if you look at, for instance, Chabad.org, and you can see the Rashi comments on Psalm 81, verse 4. By the way, this is a weekly psalm that is said, that was said in the temple services on Thursdays, and is still said today in synagogues all over the world on Thursday morning. Now, one rationale for the secrecy of the Rosh Hashanah and the new moon service and announcement, and the shofar blowing, and the two days of Rosh Hashanah, the fact that everywhere in the world, even in Israel, they observe Rosh Hashanah for two days, and this has become a tradition and a standard observance in Judaism, because of the fact that it's on the new moon, and the new moon is hard to discern, and it is possible to miss the day, because sometimes you don't know if it's the 29th, the 30th, or the first day of the Hebrew month. So, one rationale for the secrecy, and Perry Stone, an evangelical pastor out of Cleveland, Tennessee, has a show called Manna Fest, M-A-N-N-A-F-E-S-T, great show, gets into Hebrew and Hebrew studies and numerology, as well as meanings connecting the festivals in both the Tanakh and the New Testament. So, he talks about this too, and this is also, this comes from ancient Judaism, that we aim to confuse and mislead the Satan by keeping the day of Rosh Hashanah undisclosed. Now, Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first and second days of Tishri, you can see this in Leviticus 23, with only the first day, sorry, it doesn't say in Leviticus 23, the second day, it just says the first, with only the first day recognized as Rosh Chodesh, so only the first day of Tishri 1 is recognized as Rosh Chodesh. The rabbis worried that if Rosh Chodesh prayers and customs were observed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, people might mistakenly think to continue these practices the following day, because that's what you do many of the months out of the year, is they're set on both days of Rosh Chodesh, you have two-day Rosh Chodesh several times per year, but that's beyond the scope of this to explain why, but if you look at a Jewish calendar, you'll see that some months you have two days of Rosh Chodesh, so this section I just read is based on the article by Naftali Silverberg from AskMoses.com, which you can find linked in the episode description. Now, we always like to end our broadcast with an invitation to recognize Yeshua as Lord and Messiah of Israel and the Messiah of the entire world. The time is coming, friends, when he will return to gather the elect, both Israel, the Jewish people, and people from all lineage from the tribes who put faith in him, and the Gentiles, the nations who have also put their faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. If you are Jewish or Gentile, it doesn't matter, you owe it to yourself to read the New Testament and let Hashem and the Ruach HaKodesh speak to you about the truth. What if the apostolic scriptures, the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Peter, 1st and 2nd Timothy, all of the books, Hebrews, the book of Yaakov, the book of Revelation, and I missed a couple in there. What if Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, what if the Tanakh and the Gospels of Yeshua and the letters and epistles of the Talmudim of Yeshua, including the Apostle Shaul, Paul, are commentary and testimony of the fulfillment and prophecy of the Hebrew scriptures? What if? I don't understand why most Jewish people I know refuse to buy a copy and read it, especially since we have a few really decent translations of the New Testament. Sorry if the phrase New Testament is offensive, but as you can hear, I never refer to the Tanakh as the quote-unquote Old Testament. I mean, come on, they're both old. If you call them, if you decide to call the Old Testament the Old Testament, then you might as well call the Older Testament and the New Testament the Old Testament. All right, friends, well, that is a wrap, and we thank you and bless you and wish you well. Shavua Mevorah, a blessed week, Yom Naim, a pleasant day, and an upcoming stupendous, fulfilling, meaningful, and sublime Shabbat Shalom. And remember, please send us any feedback or questions or comments you have to Footsteps of the Messiah at gmail.com. Shalom, and may the God of Israel and his Messiah Yeshua bless you.