Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
FROM THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:
Shabbath Parah
Shabbath Parah is the “Sabbath of the Red Heifer.” It occurs on the Sabbath prior to Shabbath Hachodesh of the month of Aviv. It is a reminder to the people of Yisrael that they must be purified in order to eat the soon coming Pesach. In ancient times, a public announcement was made to that effect immediately before Rosh Chodesh Aviv.
The scripture readings are: B’midbar 19:1-22 and Yechezqel 36:16-38.
“And YHWH spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, saying, This is a law of the Torah which YHWH has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Yisra’el, that they bring you a red heifer, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish and on which a yoke has never come. And you shall give it to El’azar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and shall slay it before him. And El’azar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times toward the front of the Tent of Appointment. And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes – he burns its hide, and its flesh, and its blood, and its dung. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and throw them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. The priest shall then wash his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest is unclean until evening. And he who is burning it washes his garments in water, and shall bathe his body in water, and is unclean until evening. And a clean man shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall place them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Yisra’el for the water for uncleanness, it is for cleansing from sin. And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and is unclean until evening. And it shall be a law forever to the children of Yisra’el and to the stranger who sojourns in their midst. He who touches the dead of any human being is unclean for seven days. He is to cleanse himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean. Anyone who touches the dead of a human being, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the Dwelling Place of YHWH. And that being shall be cut off from Yisra’el. He is unclean, for the water for uncleanness was not sprinkled on him, his uncleanness is still upon him.”
“And the word of YHWH came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, when the house of Yisra’el dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. To Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her monthly period. So I poured out My wrath on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols they defiled it. And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. I have judged them according to their ways and their deeds. And when they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My set-apart Name for it was said of them, These are the people of YHWH, and yet they have gone out of His land. But I had compassion on My set-apart Name, which the house of Yisra’el had profaned among the nations wherever they went. Therefore say to the house of Yisra’el, Thus said the Adonai YHWH, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Yisra’el, but for My set-apart Name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I shall set apart My great Name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am YHWH,’ declares the Adonai YHWH, ‘when I am set-apart in you before their eyes. And I shall take you from among the nations, and I shall gather you out of all lands, and I shall bring you into your own land. And I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean – from all your filthiness and from all your idols I cleanse you. And I shall give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh, and put My Spirit within you. And I shall cause you to walk in My laws and guard My judgments and shall do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be My people, and I shall be your Elohim. And I shall save you from all your uncleannesses. And I shall call for the grain and increase it, and I shall bring no scarcity of food upon you. And I shall increase the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of scarcity of food among the nations. And you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not excellent. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own eyes, for your crookednesses and your abominations. Not for your sake am I acting,’ declares the Adonai YHWH, ‘let it be known to you. Be ashamed and blush for your ways, O house of Yisra’el! Thus said the Adonai YHWH, On the day that I cleanse you from all your crookednesses, I shall cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruined places shall be rebuilt, and the land that was laid waste tilled instead of being a ruin before the eyes of all who pass by. And they shall say, This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Ěden. And the wasted, the deserted, and the destroyed cities are now walled and inhabited. Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, YHWH, have rebuilt the destroyed places and planted what was laid waste. I, YHWH, have spoken it, and I shall do it.”

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
From this week’s Torah portion:
“And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘When you take the census of the children of Yisra’el, to register them, then each one shall give an atonement for his life to YHWH, when you register them, so that there is no plague among them when you register them. Everyone among those who are registered is to give this: a half-sheqel according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, twenty gerahs being a sheqel. The half-sheqel is the contribution to YHWH. Everyone passing over to be registered, from twenty years old and above, gives a contribution to YHWH. The rich does not give more and the poor does not give less than half a sheqel, when you give a contribution to YHWH, to make atonement for yourselves.’”
Why the seemingly excess verbiage here? Couldn’t the Torah have simply stated that one is to give ten gerah for the annual atonement of this offering? Apparently, the Torah needs to indicate that YHWH very specifically wants a half-sheqel to be given — and to make clear that ten gerah is not an amount that stands on its own, but is half of a complete sheqel that consists of twenty gerah. But shouldn’t this particular atonement offering be symbolic of oneness and unity — a complete sheqel, rather than the fragmentation of a half-sheqel?
As one complete sheqel is composed of twenty gerah: one unit of ten gerah corresponds to the person’s incompleteness without the rest of the community of Yisrael. As its individual members combine, they comprise one whole entity as a complete sacred sheqel. The law of the half-sheqel also teaches us that, while we all have different amounts of resources we are able to give — whether of money, service, charity, or simply love for one another — that we all must contribute to the community and, when it comes to being counted, in the eyes of YHWH the rich and poor are totally equal. We all count the same.
This same concept is the essence of marriage among the children of Yisrael. If each partner approaches the marriage with a sense of his or her self as a complete entity, they will at best achieve only a minimal relationship between two distinct, self-contained lives. But marriage should be much more than that. The ancient sages propose that a husband and wife are the male and female aspects of a single soul, born into two different bodies. For many years they live separate lives, often at a great distance from each other and wholly unaware of the other’s existence. But divine providence from YHWH ultimately contrives to bring them back together under the wedding canopy and accord them the opportunity to become one again – not only one in essence, but also one on all levels—in their conscious thoughts and feelings, and in their physical lives.
Marriage is thus more than the union of two individuals. It is the reunion of a single halved soul, the fusion of two lives originally and intrinsically one. To experience this reunion, each must approach his or her life together not as a “ten,” but as a half. This half-sheqel consists of ten gerah—each must give their all to the marriage, devoting to it the full array of resources and potentials they possess. Yet each must consciously and continually regard himself or herself not as a complete being, but as a partner —one half always seeking its other half to make it whole again.
The lesson then, in these verses from this week’s Torah portion, is that none of us are fully complete on our own. Each person’s half-sheqel needs somebody else’s half-sheqel to be complete. We’re all dependent on each other. That’s what it means to be part of the community of Yisrael – or a marriage. We are all connected to and dependent upon one another. We all have to give and participate for these relationships to be fully complete.

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
FROM THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:
"It is a sign between Me and you..."
“And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘And you, speak to the children of Yisra’el, saying, “My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, YHWH, am setting you apart. And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall certainly be put to death, for anyone who does work on it, that being shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work is done, and on the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, set-apart to YHWH. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death. And the children of Yisra’el shall guard the Sabbath, to perform the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the children of Yisra’el it is a sign forever. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”’ And when He had ended speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moshe two tablets of the Witness, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.”
Just as a wedding ring is a sign (Hebrew - "oth") between man and wife, so is the Sabbath day a sign between YHWH and His people.

Here is the fruit of christians watching the #superbowl. The man said that he would receive the Bible, but clearly the bible has escaped his grasp and was kicked out of the church, in exchange for the world and it's ways.
Ephesians 5:1 Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children,
3 John 1:11 Our beloved, do not imitate evil, but the good. One who does good is from God. One who does evil has not seen God.
PHBT

Someday every tribe will love Yah's perfect laws.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL1qUd8F/

 

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TikTok - Make Your Day

How do we know if we’re living through not only world-changing events, but long-awaited fulfillment of prophecies? Chances are, we won’t know until we have lived through the transition and look back with spiritual hindsight to discern what exactly happened. However, we can have some idea of what we’re experiencing, and what God would have us do. When it comes to Israel, Samuel Wearp is a good person to consult. He has recently returned from the Blessed Land, where he saw firsthand what has happened since the demonically-inspired assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. In this three-part interview, he shares his thoughts on the nature of this conflict, and how God’s people should walk through it.

Samuel and his brother Benjamin share a message in song later in the podcast, and we hear as well from Barry Phillips and the Aleph Tav Band. These musical selections frame the midrash Barry and David Jones share, which they call “Offering-Obedience.”

https://thebarkingfox.com/2024..../02/27/samuel-wearp-

 

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Samuel Wearp: How the World Changed on October 7, part 1 - The Barking Fox

How do we know if we’re living through not only world-changing events, but long-awaited fulfillment of prophecies? Chances are, we won’t know until we have lived through the transition and look back with spiritual hindsight to discern what exactly ha