Sh'ma! HEAR! (and OBEY!)

(painting by Gina, January 2010)

"Sh'ma Y'israel, YHVH Eloheinu,YHVH echad...

Hear, Israel. YHVH our Elohim (God), YHVH is ONE.
And you shall love YHVH Elohim
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your might."
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Sh'ma Y'israel..."
"Hear, Israel..."

I have been asked, both directly and indirectly, why it is that I have made so many changes and why it is that I am doing so many "Jewish" things. Actually the things I am doing are YHVH's commanded things, and it happens that He commanded them to His people...ALL of His people, beginning with Adam, but more specifically to His chosen people Israel. As a believer in Yeshua, I am grafted into the people of YHVH. I am part of the commonwealth of Israel. If I choose to love the God of Israel with all my heart, then I should also choose to follow His Word with all that I am!
These blog posts give many answers to why I am choosing to live the way I do. But eveything can be summed up in this scripture from Deuteronomy.

Many of us are most likely quite familiar with this scripture. For those who live in relationship with YHVH and live by the Word of YHVH, this scripture is of utmost importance...a constant reminder to HEAR and OBEY every part of YHVH's Word!

This scripture is called the "Sh'ma" (sheMAH or shaMAH) because of the first word in the verse. Sh'ma is the Hebrew word for "hear", and thus this verse begins with "Sh'ma Y'israel" or "Hear, Israel...".
(Sh'ma is Strong's Concordance H8085, for those who care to look it up.)

Did you know that "sh'ma" means more than just to hear something through your ear. Sh'ma, according to Strongs Concordance, is much more than just hearing. It means: to hear, to listen to, to obey; to hear with attention, to consent or agree to, to yield to, to be obedient; to declare.

Take a look at these scriptures...

Exodus 19:5-6 (spoken to the people of Israel)
And now, if you "sh'ma, sh'ma" (it's repeated twice in the Hebrew - translated "diligently obey") My Voice, and shall "sh'ma" (guard) My Covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples - for all the earth is Mine - and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart (holy) nation.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28
See, I am setting before you today blessing and a curse: the blessing, when you "sh'ma" the commands of YHVH your Elohim (God) which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not "sh'ma" the commands of YHVH your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other mighty ones which you have not known.

Deuteronomy 13:4 (spoken to Israel regarding their desire to follow prophets who may sound good and may prophesy with accuracy, but who try to lead Israel away from YHVH)
Walk after YHVH your Elohim and fear Him, and guard (a form of "sh'ma") His commands and "sh'ma" His Voice, and serve Him and cling to Him.

1 Samuel 15:22
Then Shemu'el (which means "heard of God") said, 'Does YHVH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice, as in obeying ("sh'ma") the Voice of YHVH? Look, to "sh'ma" is better than an offering, to heed is better than the fat of rams.'


This command to love and obey our Lord YHVH is not just an "Old Testament thing". We are also commanded to love and obey YHVH and His Son Yeshua throughout the New Testament. Even though the word used is a Greek rather than a Hebrew word, the command is still the same!

Hebrews 5:7-10
During Yeshua's life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver Him from death; and He was heard because of His godliness. Even though He was the Son, He learned obedience (Greek "hupakoe") through His sufferings. And after He had been brought to the goal, He became the source of eternal deliverance to all who obey (hupakoe) Him, since He had been proclaimed by God as a cohen gadol (high priest) to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.

John 14:15,23-24
(Yeshua said) If you love me, you will keep (Greek "tereo" or guard) my commands....If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Someone who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words - and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.

1 John 5:2-3
Here is how we know that we love God's children: when we love God, we also do (tereo or guard) what he commands. For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome...

So, why is it that I have recently been changing so many things in my life?
Why have I stopped celebrating pagan festivals and begun to celebrate YHVH's appointed times?
Why have I taken to heart the command to set apart the Sabbath for Him?
Why do I support and pray for Israel as YHVH's chosen people to be His Light to the nations?
Why do I seek to know His Word and do it?

Because I love Him!

I want to know YHVH Elohim, through Yeshua the Messiah, in every way He intended and in the depth that He designed. He has laid out the key to my relationship with Him in His Word, and I want to know, love and obey Him with all that I am! I have discovered that as I seek to sh'ma His Word more and more, I have so much richer understanding and deeper love for my God...YHVH Elohim through Yeshua HaMashiach in the power of Ruach Elohim. My God is ONE!

Many times when I am reading the Tanakh (Old Covenant) or the B'rit Hadashah (New Covenant), I feel like Josiah when he found the Book of the Law after many years of Israel's turning away from YHVH and disregarding His Word (2 Kings 22 - 23). Josiah was so upset at what he heard when he realized his people were no longer following YHVH's Word that he tore his clothes in shame and repentance and ordered that everything in Israel that was against YHVH's word to be removed, torn down and destroyed. Josiah "turned to YHVH with all his heart, and with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moses." (2 Kings 23:25)


I also want to love YHVH with all my heart, with all my being and with all my might!
I want to SH'MA...HEAR and OBEY!

Shabbat Shalom,
In the Name above all names...Yeshua,

Gina

Happy New Year? What Does YHVH Say?

It is January 1 on the Gregorian calendar.
Is it "Happy New Year"?

For me, it no longer is.

I know this statement will bring forth a response from some people. I can only imagine the different responses that will come up.
(But I don't really want to hear them all!)

With my decision to follow the Word of YHVH rather than traditions of man and religion, I am discovering that just about EVERYTHING in my life has to change! Did I see these changes coming when I made this decision? No, honestly, I did not realize how much of my life is based on tradition rather than the Word of YHVH.

Am I sorry that I made this decision? NO!
It is difficult to make changes, I admit.
I am a creature of habit (and, I would guess, I am not alone in this).
It is hard to change so many things at once. It is difficult to allow YHVH to renew my mind, change my "spiritual eyes" to see His Word the way He wants it to be known, rather than the way it has been twisted into religion.
But with all I am, all my heart, soul and strength, I want to follow and know YHVH for who He is and for how He wants to be known by me!
I want to do everything HIS way...not my way, not anyone else's way!
Even if it means inconvenience. Even if it means pain.
Even if it means loss. Even if people don't understand.

I want to live what Paul says in Philippians 3...what might have been gain to me, I count as loss because of Yeshua the Messiah, and for the sake of knowing Him, I count all as refuse and loss in order to gain Yeshua!

So for me, giving up pagan traditions and ways of living that go against the Word of YHVH are worth everything I gain in relationship with HIM!

(I know some people will be reading this as judgment against our western way of Christian life...please keep reading before you judge my intentions.)

As I have been reading YHVH's Word with open eyes and with a willingness to see where I have been wrong, I have noticed that we humans have changed SO MANY things about what YHVH's Word says. I am apalled (but at the same time not surprised...the enemy has been hard at work from the very beginning of time to twist and change what YHVH says).

We have changed the day of the commanded Sabbath (and no longer keep it holy...set apart). We have changed the foods YHVH commanded us NOT to eat. We have changed the Set-apart Appointed Times (feasts) that He commanded for all generations. Now we celebrate pagan holidays (which He expressly forbids) and call them holy days. We have decided which part of His Torah, His commands, His mitzvot, His Word we will obey and which He no longer means for us to obey. This is just a start of the list of changes that have been made by humans (with much help from the enemy) that are being accepted and practiced by millions around the world as the "word of God". I don't want to get into all of these things right now...I will save them for other posts in the future. Today I just want to focus on the truth of this holiday that is being celebrated today around the world and what YHVH's Word actually says.

You might be offended at what I've said. You might be angry. You might decide I've gone off the deep end or off my rocker (or whatever other cliche you might want to use). But please just take a look at what YHVH's Word says! And then compare it to the common practices in churches today. Search it out for yourself before you label me as insane or critical or judgemental.

Ready for some research?

First, may I direct you to a website that someone showed me just today? You might be surprised at what you read...and you might be surprised to research more and discover the truth.

This article is called "New Years Blood Bath", and it addresses the tradition in Europe (and now Israel) of calling New Years "Sylvester". One of the Caesars first placed the New Year on 1 January (based on a god that was an "appropriate" choice for a new year), and he celebrated by murdering Jews. Read the article for more information on the term "Sylvester" and the foundations of the new year happening in January. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/4011

For more information, check out the Wikipedia article entitled "New Year"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_year).

You will see that most of the "Christianized" world follows this calendar and this setting of the new year. You will also see that many other cultures have different new years based on various gods, various events in the seasons, various traditions, etc.

Even Rabbinical Judaism has established its own version of when the civil new year is, based on the oral tradition and teaching (Mishnah) of the sages. This new year (Rosh Hashanah) is celebrated in the fall (usually September), during the Feast of Trumpets.

The question here is not "who is right"? And the statement "our way is the right way" is an ignorant and dangerous one.

The ONLY thing that matters is what YHVH says!

So what does YHVH say?

First, let's look at what YHVH says about the seventh month (the month of Rosh Hashanah):

"YHVH said to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel, "In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar. Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to YHVH."'" Leviticus 23:24-25

"'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the shofar for you. Prepare a burnt offering to make a fragrant aroma for YHVH...'" Numbers 29:1-2

This Set-apart appointed time, called Yom Teruah (Day of Blowing the Shofar), was simply a day to blow the shofar, to rest and present an offering before YHVH. Through a series of events over the passing of many years, the sages of Judaism established this day as the new year (Rosh Hashanah) for the civil calendar (the day when the calendar year advances, among other things).

So does YHVH actually say when the New Year should begin?
Does He command a New Year in His Word?

Yes!

In Exodus, when YHVH was about to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, He spoke to Moses and Aaron:

"YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt; he said 'You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you.'" (12:1)

Immediately following that command, YHVH commands the people to celebrate Pesach (Passover) from the tenth to the fourteenth day of the same month. This would be a commemoration of the miracle YHVH was about to perform on behalf of His people...bringing them out of Egypt by way of death of the firstborn and salvation through the blood of the lamb. And then YHVH led them out of Egypt, just as He said! (see the rest of this chapter in Exodus)

This month, known as Aviv in the Torah and known as Nisan now, usually happens in March or April in the Gregorian calendar.

Simply, this is the day and month YHVH commanded as the beginning of the year. I believe He has very specific and important reasons for ALL He commands His people to do! I want to follow His Word!

So, today for me is just another day. I have to begin writing 2010 on everything. I have to begin a new tax year. I have to live and function in a culture that sees this as the start of the new year. However, my heart and soul and focus is on what the Word of YHVH says. I will celebrate as He commands...every Set-apart day that He commands!

Celebrating Yeshua, and life in YHVH through Him,
Gina