The Torah Network

3 yrs ·Youtube

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3 yrs ·Youtube

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Philemon Angwanga,

In a post by another person who denounced the observance of Chanukkah, which you then shared to the Min Hazaqen Torah Study Group, you asked this question, "What's the truth then?"

I assume that you posted his message, because you have heard varying opinions on social media and have come to us for wisdom in this matter. I'm hoping that the following rebuttals to that person's post will help you better understand the truth about Chanukkah, and that not all of the opinions you have heard are based on an understanding of all the facts.

In the post that you shared, the author said:

**"The holiday of Hanukkah revolves around the LIE of the nine Branch candlestick that was born from the LIE of the miracle of the oil. This is very similar to the way that the holiday of Christmas revolves around a tree that is rooted in paganism once again a fableistic lie. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to lie to our children in fact we're told to train up a child in the way he is to go which of course would not be the way of a liar. Nowhere in the books of Maccabees will you find any evidence of the supposed miracle of oil that brought about the 8th Day celebration of Hanukkah you see this holiday is based off of lies just like Christmas. The dreidel game is an attempt by the evil one to teach our children to gamble which relates to the god of luck. This holiday of gift giving and merry making is none other than a Jewish appeasement to Christmas."**

In the quote, that man began his comment with an assertion, "The holiday of Hanukkah revolves around the LIE of the nine Branch candlestick that was born from the LIE of the miracle of the oil."

This statement is incorrect, since the observance of Chanukkah, which means "dedication", is founded upon the events in the book of Maccabees, and it would be beneficial to you and others to read it for yourselves. We will be posting two chapters each day for the eight days of Chanukkah, and if you read them, you will get a better understanding of Chanukkah, and hopefully, you will see how those men and women who stood up against the Greeks actually did so to preserve the Torah and the observation of the commandments of YHWH. To say that Chanukkah is a LIE is a very bold assertion from ignorance of the truth.

The facts are that the Greeks tried to destroy the Torah and those who observed the Torah, but those who intended evil were defied and defeated; the altar, having been defiled with pigs' blood, had to be rededicated for the proper use as a place of worship of YHWH Most High. It took eight days to cleanse the Temple and the priests. If you know the Torah concerning the red heifer and the cleansing of a man defiled by a corpse, you would know that the Maccabees, who fought against the Greeks, were priests and had to endure a seven-day ritual of cleansing after having touched dead bodies. They had to do this so that they could officiate at the altar. Thus, the eighth day was the time when they could start.

He continued, "This is very similar to the way that the holiday of Christmas revolves around a tree that is rooted in paganism once again a fableistic (sic) lie."

The rest of his words equated Chanukkah to Christmas, but we understand that the Maccabees were fighting against those pagans who would pervert the worship of YHWH, changing the truth into a lie. There are many ways to remember the Maccabees and what YHWH did through them. The practice of observing these events using dreidel and gelt was a diversion tactic in the first millennium AD, when Rome was severely persecuting all the Yehudi (Jews) and those who would gather to remember the Torah and the things that YHWH had done. It was a terrible time, and the “gambling” game helped the children to remember and acted as a cover for the meeting of the adults. Think of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, with decrees to torture and kill any who would defy the authority of Rome by gathering for Torah readings and fellowship. The soldiers would diligently seek out Torah observant people to kill them, but when they went into a home where the kids were playing a game like popular Roman games, they were less likely to be noticed as gathering for Chanukkah or any other religious meeting.

Do your own research. You asked, "What is the truth?" Read the book for yourself and settle it in your own mind about how you will remember it, or not.

We celebrate Chanukkah, because we remember the men and women who fought and died to preserve the Torah and the way of YHWH. Without that dedication and rededication of the Temple and the altar, where would Yeshua have gone three times a year in observation of the moedym found in Leviticus 23? Where would his mother have gone to bring the lamb required as a substitute for the first-born son? Where would the people have gone to hear the Torah taught? Where?

YHWH could have preserved His Torah and altar some other way, but He did it with the Maccabees, and we are thankful that He preserved His house, otherwise Yeshua would not be able to say, "My house is a house of prayer for all people," because there would have been no house. Instead of a house of prayer, the Temple grounds would have been a place of sexual orgies and a shrine for every deity known to man – except YHWH.

Others will try to distract you from the truth, because there will be many false teachers and those who claim opinion as fact. They will steer you away from remembering the wonders of YHWH and the Torah. Just as Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler of the time, they want you to forget YHWH.

As long as we live and breathe on this planet, may we NEVER forget that the world hates YHWH and those who love Him. Yeshua said, “They hate you because they hated me first.” The usurper prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, and he will not stop until he is destroyed. We remember the Maccabees’ events, because the world’s oppression of the people of YHWH is not over. It will grow worse until Yeshua returns, so the question is: “Will we hold fast to the Torah and the ways of YHWH, or will we submit to the world’s corruption of the truth?”

Philemon Angwanga, 
 
In a post by another person who denounced the observance of Chanukkah, which you then shared to the Min Hazaqen Torah Study Group, you asked this question, "What's the truth then?" 
 
I assume that you posted his message, because you have heard varying opinions on social media and have come to us for wisdom in this matter. I'm hoping that the following rebuttals to that person's post will help you better understand the truth about Chanukkah, and that not all of the opinions you have heard are based on an understanding of all the facts. 
 
In the post that you shared, the author said: 
 
**"The holiday of Hanukkah revolves around the LIE of the nine Branch candlestick that was born from the LIE of the miracle of the oil. This is very similar to the way that the holiday of Christmas revolves around a tree that is rooted in paganism once again a fableistic lie. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to lie to our children in fact we're told to train up a child in the way he is to go which of course would not be the way of a liar. Nowhere in the books of Maccabees will you find any evidence of the supposed miracle of oil that brought about the 8th Day celebration of Hanukkah you see this holiday is based off of lies just like Christmas. The dreidel game is an attempt by the evil one to teach our children to gamble which relates to the god of luck. This holiday of gift giving and merry making is none other than a Jewish appeasement to Christmas."** 
 
In the quote, that man began his comment with an assertion, "The holiday of Hanukkah revolves around the LIE of the nine Branch candlestick that was born from the LIE of the miracle of the oil." 
 
This statement is incorrect, since the observance of Chanukkah, which means "dedication", is founded upon the events in the book of Maccabees, and it would be beneficial to you and others to read it for yourselves. We will be posting two chapters each day for the eight days of Chanukkah, and if you read them, you will get a better understanding of Chanukkah, and hopefully, you will see how those men and women who stood up against the Greeks actually did so to preserve the Torah and the observation of the commandments of YHWH. To say that Chanukkah is a LIE is a very bold assertion from ignorance of the truth. 
 
The facts are that the Greeks tried to destroy the Torah and those who observed the Torah, but those who intended evil were defied and defeated; the altar, having been defiled with pigs' blood, had to be rededicated for the proper use as a place of worship of YHWH Most High. It took eight days to cleanse the Temple and the priests. If you know the Torah concerning the red heifer and the cleansing of a man defiled by a corpse, you would know that the Maccabees, who fought against the Greeks, were priests and had to endure a seven-day ritual of cleansing after having touched dead bodies. They had to do this so that they could officiate at the altar. Thus, the eighth day was the time when they could start. 
 
He continued, "This is very similar to the way that the holiday of Christmas revolves around a tree that is rooted in paganism once again a fableistic (sic) lie." 
 
The rest of his words equated Chanukkah to Christmas, but we understand that the Maccabees were fighting against those pagans who would pervert the worship of YHWH, changing the truth into a lie. There are many ways to remember the Maccabees and what YHWH did through them. The practice of observing these events using dreidel and gelt was a diversion tactic in the first millennium AD, when Rome was severely persecuting all the Yehudi (Jews) and those who would gather to remember the Torah and the things that YHWH had done. It was a terrible time, and the “gambling” game helped the children to remember and acted as a cover for the meeting of the adults. Think of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, with decrees to torture and kill any who would defy the authority of Rome by gathering for Torah readings and fellowship. The soldiers would diligently seek out Torah observant people to kill them, but when they went into a home where the kids were playing a game like popular Roman games, they were less likely to be noticed as gathering for Chanukkah or any other religious meeting. 
 
Do your own research. You asked, "What is the truth?" Read the book for yourself and settle it in your own mind about how you will remember it, or not. 
 
We celebrate Chanukkah, because we remember the men and women who fought and died to preserve the Torah and the way of YHWH. Without that dedication and rededication of the Temple and the altar, where would Yeshua have gone three times a year in observation of the moedym found in Leviticus 23? Where would his mother have gone to bring the lamb required as a substitute for the first-born son? Where would the people have gone to hear the Torah taught? Where? 
 
YHWH could have preserved His Torah and altar some other way, but He did it with the Maccabees, and we are thankful that He preserved His house, otherwise Yeshua would not be able to say, "My house is a house of prayer for all people," because there would have been no house. Instead of a house of prayer, the Temple grounds would have been a place of sexual orgies and a shrine for every deity known to man – except YHWH. 
 
Others will try to distract you from the truth, because there will be many false teachers and those who claim opinion as fact. They will steer you away from remembering the wonders of YHWH and the Torah. Just as Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler of the time, they want you to forget YHWH. 
 
As long as we live and breathe on this planet, may we NEVER forget that the world hates YHWH and those who love Him. Yeshua said, “They hate you because they hated me first.” The usurper prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, and he will not stop until he is destroyed. We remember the Maccabees’ events, because the world’s oppression of the people of YHWH is not over. It will grow worse until Yeshua returns, so the question is: “Will we hold fast to the Torah and the ways of YHWH, or will we submit to the world’s corruption of the truth?”

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3 yrs

Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”
1 Kings 3:26

The wicked would rather destroy everything than let the righteous prevail. They are especially fond of perverting and destroying children. Disney, et al, is like the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They tempt children and lull parents with games, cartoons, and talking animals, but their real goal is the defilement of all innocence. All the while, they accuse teachers of righteousness and discipline of child abuse. Don't be fooled! Righteousness is often a relative thing and sometimes a person who looks wicked is actually more righteous than one who looks wholesome.

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3 yrs ·Facebook

https://fb.watch/9Gp4cT-OD2/

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3 yrs ·Facebook

https://fb.watch/9GoX-uQDDI/

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3 yrs

I've heard it proposed that divorce was a more merciful alternative to execution when adultery occurred. Here is how that could play out.

Imagine a case in Israel under Moses. A man named Manasseh takes a wife Mara and they end up hating each other. Manasseh starts complaining (untruthfully) that Mara was not a virgin on their wedding night. Mara's father's reputation being maligned in this as well, he comes to the judges and proves his daughter's innocence in this area as Deuteronomy 22 commands. Manasseh is ordered to pay 100 shekels of silver to Mara's father and forbidden from ever divorcing her. Years later Mara, still hating Manasseh, hits it off with another fool and commits adultery. When it comes to sentencing, Manasseh is asked if he would divorce Mara rather than insisting on execution. Manasseh, whose heart has changed recently says that he would chose divorce as a mercy on Mara, but he is forbidden from doing so due to his past offense. Mara is therefore put to death.

The way this plays out, what should be a punishment on Manasseh for his false accusation, turns out to be a punishment on Mara who can now not be shown mercy. The idea that divorce is an alternative to execution for adultery, I think fails when it comes to this statute and the other one regarding no divorce in a marriage that is entered because of rape/seduction at the end of Deuteronomy 22.

Thoughts?

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3 yrs

Shabbat Shalom y'all ?????

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3 yrs

Shabbat Shalom! May YHVH bless you all!

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3 yrs

My Daily Reading pt4

2Pe 1:1-21 TS2009
1 Shimʽon Kĕpha, a servant and emissary of יהושע Messiah, to those who have obtained a belief as precious as ours by the righteousness of our Elohim and Saviour יהושע Messiah:
2 Favour and peace be increased to you in the knowledge of Elohim and of יהושע our Master,
3 as His Mighty-like power has given to us all we need for life and reverence, through the knowledge of Him who called us to esteem and uprightness.
4 Through these there have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the Mighty-like nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world, caused by lust.
5 And for this reason do your utmost to add to your belief uprightness, to uprightness knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control endurance, to endurance reverence,
7 to reverence brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love.
8 For if these are in you and increase, they cause you to be neither inactive nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Master יהושע Messiah.
9 For he in whom these are not present is blind, being shortsighted, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins.
10 For this reason, brothers, all the more do your utmost to make firm your calling and choosing, for if you are doing these matters you shall never stumble at all,
11 for in this way an entrance into the everlasting reign of our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah shall be richly supplied to you.
12 And so I intend to remind you of these matters again and again, though you know them and have been established in the present truth.
13 But I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by a reminder,
14 knowing that the putting off of my tent is soon, even as our Master יהושע Messiah made clear to me.
15 And I shall do my utmost also, to see to it that you always have a reminder of these matters after my departure.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we made known to you the power and coming of our Master יהושע Messiah, but were eye-witnesses of His superbness.
17 For when He received respect and esteem from Elohim the Father, such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Esteem, “This is My Son, the Beloved in whom I did delight.”
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the set-apart mountain.
19 And we have the prophetic word made more certain, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture came to be of one’s own interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the desire of man, but men of Elohim spoke, being moved by the Set-apart Spirit.

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3 yrs

My Daily Reading pt3

8 And it shall be throughout all the soil,” declares יהוה, “that two thirds therein are cut off and die, and one third is left therein.
9 “And I shall bring the third into fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My Name, and I shall answer them. I shall say, ‘This is My people,’ while they say, ‘יהוה is my Elohim.’ ”

Mal 3:1-18 TS2009
1 “See, I am sending My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Master you are seeking comes to His Hĕḵal, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. See, He is coming,” said יהוה of hosts.
2 “And who is able to bear the day of His coming, and who is able to stand when He appears? For He is like the fire of a refiner, and like the soap of a launderer.
3 “And He shall sit as a refiner and a cleanser of silver. And He shall cleanse the sons of Lĕwi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall belong to יהוה, bringing near an offering in righteousness.
4 “Then shall the offering of Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim be pleasant to יהוה, as in the days of old, as in former years.
5 “And I shall draw near to you for right-ruling. And I shall be a swift witness against the practisers of witchcraft, and against adulterers, and against them that swear to falsehood, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages and widows and the fatherless, and those who turn away a sojourner and do not fear Me,” said יהוה of hosts.
6 “For I am יהוה, I shall not change, and you, O sons of Yaʽaqoḇ, shall not come to an end.
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My laws and did not guard them. Turn back to Me, and I shall turn back to you,” said יהוה of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what shall we turn back?’
8 “Would a man rob Elohim? Yet you are robbing Me! But you said, ‘In what have we robbed You?’ In the tithe and the offering!
9 “You have cursed Me with a curse, for you are robbing Me, this nation, all of it!
10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and let there be food in My house. And please prove Me in this,” said יהוה of hosts, “whether I do not open for you the windows of the heavens, and shall pour out for you boundless blessing!
11 “And I shall rebuke the devourer for you, so that it does not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor does the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” said יהוה of hosts.
12 “And all nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a land of delight,” said יהוה of hosts.
13 “Your words have been strong against Me,” said יהוה, “but you have said, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is worthless to serve Elohim. And what did we gain when we guarded His Charge, and when we walked as mourners before יהוה of hosts?
15 And now we are calling the proud blessed – not only are the doers of wrongness built up, but they also try Elohim and escape.’ ”
16 Then shall those who fear יהוה speak to one another, and יהוה listens and hears, and a book of remembrance be written before Him, of those who fear יהוה, and those who think upon His Name.
17 “And they shall be Mine,” said יהוה of hosts, “on the day that I prepare a treasured possession. And I shall spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18 “Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wrong, between one who serves Elohim and one who does not serve Him.

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