Month: January 2010

  • US Government's Double Standand of Religious Freedom

    While this is not my usual format of the written word, I felt that it was a subject that needed addressed
     
    According to the Constitution, the government is not to establish a national religion and is supposed to look at all people the same.This is the separation of "church and state".The question rises , does it treat all religions or the lack of a religion with the same respect? A bigger question is what gives the United States government the right to push another country towards accepting a faith that is not the faith of that country and why is it so selective on which country to do it to?
     
    Friday, January 22, was a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer concerning a defense contract company,  Trijicon of Wixom, Mich, agreeing to remove references to the Christian bible from combat rifle sights made for the U.S. military, a major buyer of the company's gear.The inscriptions are not obvious and appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number. Trijicon of says it will also provide to the armed forces free of charge modification kits to remove the Scripture citations from the telescoping sights already in use.The references to Bible passages raised concerns that the citations break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are predominantly Muslim countries.
     
    YET, the US State Department has asked the Israeli Foreign Ministry to decrease Yad l'Achim activities against missionaries.Yad l'Achim is an Israeli organization that works to keep Christian missionaries from attempting to convert Jews within the borders of Israel.The new State Department report on worldwide freedom of religion gives Israel a failing grade with regard to its level of religious tolerance, even though the practice of other faiths is protected by Israeli law. 
     
     In January 2009 the U.S. Secretary of State re-designated Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for violations of religious freedom. In connection with this designation, the Secretary issued a waiver of sanctions "to further the purposes of the Act." Saudi Arabia being a country that allows NO other religion except Islam within its borders.

    This news story about Trijicon only shows the double standard of the US government. While they absolutely can't take a chance of insulting their oil peddling "allies" with spreading another faith, even so completely cryptically hidden, they press Israel to allow Christian missionaries free run within Israel's borders to convert Jews away from their faith.
     
    This is showing favor of one religion and its desire to extend itself over the survival of another.Yes, the Constitution is only here in the States, but the US government needs to recognize the sovereignty of another country to protect its own culture,life and faith and the right of that country to protect those within its own borders in a civilized way. I wonder how these Washington pundits would feel if a foreign country insisted that the United States allow Islamic, Buddhist or whatever "missionaries" free reign try and change the culture, religions, and life here to what they think it should be?

  • TRUE CONQUEST

    "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."

    No matter how often you've heard that phrase in response to being a
    "sore loser," no matter how many times you've said it to someone else
    to soften the disappointment of defeat, somehow it doesn't ring 100%
    true.

    Is it merely "environmental" conditioning that inculcates us with the
    desire to be on top? Or is there more to the passion for winning,
    succeeding, conquering?

    In the very beginning of the Torah, in the book of Genesis, G-d gives
    humanity its raison d'etre, "Conquer the earth. Dominate the fish of
    the sea, the birds of the sky, and every beast that walks the land."

    People were put into this world with the express purpose and mission
    of conquering it. Why, then, are most of us turned off by people who
    are aggressive, pushy, or domineering? After all, these are traits

    that would seemingly bring one more quickly to the aforesaid goal than
    being laid back, relaxed,serene, or even apathetic. After all, it would seem that it
    should come naturally for a person to want to conquer.But what is it to
    "conquer the earth? Is it to bend nature to our will or is it more to conquer the physical natures of ourselves to understand better our responsibilities to the earth?
    Every individual is a miniature world. Thus, Jewish mystical teachings
    explain that before conquering the world at large -- the earth, the
    fish, the birds, the beasts -- we must first conquer the world in
    microcosm, ourselves. A person must master himself first before he can
    set out to master the world. This is accomplished through the
    subjugation of the "earthly" and "beastly" in his own nature.Past pieces posted
    discuss this  and it's relationship of not just coming closer to the Creator,but in
     defeating and solving life's problems

    In the Mishna (Ethics, ch. 4), the Sages ask three pointed questions
    concerning titles that most people would be happy to wear. "Who is
    wise... who is mighty... who is wealthy." Our Sages answer that a
    strong person is one who conquers his inclination and they quote
    Proverbs which teaches that a patient person is better than a strong
    man and one who masters his spirit is better than one who conquers a
    city."

    G-d created the first person as a single individual to show us clearly
    that one person -- each and every person -- is potentially capable of
    "conquering the world."
    What is this world conquest? The individual and universal mission.
    To elevate the whole of nature to the service of humanity. Not
    humanity driven by greed, selfishness, ego, But humanity infused and
    illuminated by the Divine Image, by the spark of Godliness, the soul
    which is veritably a part of G-d above.Once we conquer the base aspects
     in ourselves, we can handle the problems of life and  then we can become
    the proper caretaker of the world given us.

    The ultimate purpose of this conquest of self and world is so that the
    whole of Creation will recognize the Creator. This mission will find
    its fullest expression in the Messianic Era when, as the Prophets
    foresaw, the world will be filled with the recognition and knowledge
    of G-d and being in harmony with what we are a part ,creation.

  • Trinity: God or Gun Oil?

    Trinity became a basic dogma of Christianity when it was mandated by the council of Nicea in 325 CE. This is when the concept became doctrine of the church,although it was first thought up almost one hundred years before.For the first few hundred years after his death,Jesus had no designation as G-d or son of the trinity.

    If G-d is all-powerful, why wouldn't He and only He, be the One that "saves" eternally like it says in the scriptures? Why would G-d need another entity to do His work,when He can do everything? He needs no other.
    Isaiah 43:10-11,"..I am He:before me there was no G-d formed,neither shall there be after Me. I , even I, am the L-rd;and beside me there is no savior."
    Isaiah 44:24,"....I am the L-rd that maketh all things;...alone...by Myself."
    Isaiah 45:5-6," I am the L-rd,and there is none else, there is no G-d beside me:...there is none beside Me. I am the L-rd, and there is none else."
    Isaiah 45:21-22,"....and there is no G-d else besides me;..Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:for I am G-d and there is none else."
    Deut 4:35,"..the L-rd he is G-d;there is none else beside Him."
    Deut 4:39,"He is G-d in heaven above and on the earth below:...there is none else."
    Deut 32:39,"See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me:.....neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand."
    1 Chron 17:20, "O L-rd,there is none like thee, neither is there any god beside thee."
    Nehem 9:6,"Thou, even thou art L-rd alone."
    Psalm 86:10,"....thou art G-d alone."
    Hosea 13:4,"....for there is no savior beside me."

    John 10:38 says the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Read John 17:23,"I in them and thou in me,that they be made one.", John 14:20, "I am in my Father and ye (followers) in me and I in you", John 17:21,"That they all be as one;as thou,Father,are in me,and I in thee..", To take this literally in the Christian concept that they take, John 10;30 ,then G-d would be a fifteen in one G-d. Notice that also the Holy Spirit is totally ignored in these verses? In fact, to say Hashem is in me and I am in Hashem is a declaration of faith, not Deity
    Or ha'Emeth:Who is the true believer in G-d?The man who believes that the Shekinah is within him always and guards him;That he is in the creator and the Creator is in him.


    1 Cor 15:28,(Paul)"And when all things are subdued to him,then the son also himself be subject to He that put all things under him,that G-d will be all in all."Jesus is a servant and subject of G-d.How could he be part of a trinity which is equally powerful and eternal?

    1 John 5:7,"...the Father,the son and the Holy Spirit." isn't in your bible.It was added text like many verses.  This passage was added to the bible in the sixth century.It is first found in a paper called Liber Appologeticus in the fourth century. It is noted that the words "in heaven,the Father,the Word,and the Holy Ghost;and these three are one(KJ) in older translations (1John 5:7) are sixth century additions to the original text.The footnote in the Jerusalem Bible,a Catholic translation,says these words are "..not in any of the early Greek manuscripts or in the earliest manuscripts of the Vulgate itself."It is interesting that the Catholic church,who originally added this verse would admit now that it a spurious addition to the Testament.

    Mark 15:34( Matt 27:46),"And at the 9th hour Jesus cried out,"My G-d,my G-d,why have you forsaken me?" Can G-d forsake himself? This verse is one that clearly shows that Jesus had a G-d and was not G-d. Jesus' G-d was the G-d of Israel,the one G-d.

    Look at the absurd ideas created when Jesus is considered G-d:

    1)G-d sends G-d away from Himself

    2)G-d teaches Himself what he already knows

    3)G-d's doctrines belong only to part of Himself

    4)G-d gives Himself a command to do
     
    Also note that reference to the holy spirit is neglected,even though it is supposedly part of this triune godhead,Since Jesus never called himself G-d or a part of G-d and referred to himself as a son of man, shouldn't people believe him? Trinity is not seen in any of the teachings of Jesus,but in the religious teachings about Jesus by Christianity.
     
    The bible says God is ECHOD,One. That is a prime number, not an ordinal number.
     
    Ok,pop multiple choice quiz.
     
    1. If you walk in a bar in Tel Aviv and order echod beer, how many does the bartender bring you.
    A. One
    B. Three
    C.Two
     
    2. If God, Jesus and the holy spirit are one and they go to the movies.How many tickets do they need to buy?
    A.One
    B. Three
    C.Two
     
    Can a fallible human be God? Not unless God is imperfect. If the words written in the Greek text are true to form as to what was said by Jesus, as Christianity believes they are, then how is it that Jesus couldn't quote the Hebraic scriptures correctly concerning his own ancestry? Part of the "trinity" didn't know what scripture says that any mortal man that heard the story does? The Greek text even implies that the devil knows scripture (Mat 4:1-11), so wouldn't a member of the "trinity"?
     
    Jesus quote:Mark 2
    25. And he said unto them, Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry, he, and they that were with him?
    26. How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and gave also to them that were with him?

    Tanakh quote 1 Sam 21
    1. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
    2. And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
     
    Ahimelech was High Priest, not Abiathar. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. David was alone on a mission commanded by Saul and there were no others with him.
     
     
    Jesus himself taught that he wasn't God when he said  "The Father is greater than I am." (John 14:28) The Greek texts state that Jesus has One who is his God, so how can he be God? (Revelation 3:12)
    If the "son" and the "Father" are the same, why, when faced with tough questions, did Jesus say only his  "father" knew those things such as the case in Mark: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are  in heaven, neither the son, but the
    Father.    "     (Mark 13:32)  Let us not forget the Gospel of Thomas which the Church attempted to destroy! This Gospel emphasizes Jesus' own sayings, casting him as a wise man but not the 'Son of God'.

    Three in one is gun oil, not the Creator of all.

  • Good and Bad Things Happen to All People

    Based on a teaching by Rabbi Weiman

    A principle that is part of the philosophical concepts and beliefs of Kabbalah is the recognition that G-d is not only the creator of our reality, but He also is in control of everything in existence.  This implies that all events that occur are either caused by His command or at least allowed to occur by His tacit approval. Of course since this is a basic point of Jewish philosophy most hold its general understanding. The mystics, however, seem to be much more acutely aware of this aspect of truth.

              The spiritual world responds to the physical world.  This means that many of the events that happen to us are a specific reaction to something we’ve done.  It may be a benefit that comes from a good deed, or a negative consequence of a bad deed.  What goes around comes around in quite a specific way.  If your spiritual composition passes through one area of challenge you may even find yourself in a negative situation (from your perspective) as a result of a good deed.  What it means is you’ve risen to a new level and you’re ready for a more significant challenge.  From a non-spiritual perspective a person may say, “Why is this catastrophe happening to me?” This is like a sophomore in college going into junior year saying, “but I passed my finals, why are they giving me even more complicated work to do?”  When you realize fully that life is meant to be a process of spiritual growth you will accept and even welcome new challenges.

    After all, being given a difficult task is actually G-d complimenting you; He’s saying, “I know you’re ready for this.”

     Any life situation may be a challenge or even a message from the Allmighty.  The sages say that since we don’t have prophecy in our era; life’s events are the only way G-d can speak to us.  We may not understand all the messages, but a moment’s pause to reflect on a special event in your life may reap some interesting results.  The very fact that you recognize G-d runs the world and nothing is an accident or you consider what happens in life as some type of karma is an elevating thought, which can have powerful connotations in choosing the proper direction to take in life.

    .  The Zohar says that no blade of grass grows without an angel striking and saying, “Grow.”  Also, knowing that there is a meaning to everything can be calming in the face of life’s many adversities.  Sartre and other existentialists came to the correct conclusion that without G-d, nothing means anything.  What many people don’t realize is that with G-d everything is meaningful. Nothing is without purpose. Even a simple rock eventually breaks down and mixes with organic materials to become soil that a plant roots in to become food for an animal.

              This doesn’t mean we can figure out the “why” behind all of life’s difficulties or tragedies.  If we could we’d be G-d.   Some things that happen to us are recompense from previous existences, reincarnations.  It even seems we’re not meant to know it all.  This itself is one of life’s challenges, to trust the Infinite Being when we’re confused by injustice.  G-d’s knowledge is clear, though, when you come to the point of the next world.  What pain and suffering is so terrible when it is replaced with an eternity of pleasure?  Not only that but the soul in the next world is unencumbered by the fog of physicality.  It becomes attached to G-d and will comprehend the necessity for all that it went through.We can strive to emulate reaching a higher point in this life. Just as there are fifty levels downward to degradation in this physical world,with the fiftieth level being a point of no return. There are fifty levels of rising above, with the fiftieth being the level of humanity when the Messianic Age comes.

               The other side of the coin is also true.  What to you may seem as a good thing happening to a bad person may in fact be to their detriment.  The worst thing that can happen to a materialistic person is to win the lottery.  They, of course, are ecstatic.  Now, however, they can waste even more time.  They can buy sixteen motorcycles, three houses, and all the other “toys” they want.  Spiritually they are wallowing in the mud.  People with less leisure time may actually be able to live a more spiritually sensitive life.This is not to say that a comfortable life automatically leads to some sort of spiritual wasteland; it simply means that sometimes when we pay to much heed to what we have materialistically, we lose track of the importance of our own spiritual health.

     Conversely, when an evil person is deprived of the ability to do evil, that is a tremendous spiritual benefit.  As a wise woman  once said to a criminal in jail, “You are very lucky they stopped you from doing more damage to your soul.”

              The Talmud says that the next world is upside down.  With a little perspective or reframing you can bring some of the next world into this one. Then we all can have a bit more clarity in life and realize that everything that happens during that life is to refine or contaminate our spirit, depending on making the right choice or not.

  • Sheer Determination Through Tenacity

    How do you maintain spiritual focus in a material world teeming with every imaginable distraction? Is there a way to perpetuate a moment of inspiration, not allowing it to dissipate under the weight of our burdens? How do we keep our values aligned when we have bills to pay, promises to keep, a workload that never seems to go away? How can your soul’s voice be heard amidst the surrounding din and congestion? What should we do when doubts creep in, when uncertainty and other debilitating forces weaken our resolve? How do we overcome adversary and all those detractors who cynically dismiss our noble and virtuous efforts?  Why do some people seem to have the strength and courage to prevail over challenges, and others do not? Where does their certainty and power come from? And can we all access it?

    The answer to these and many other similar questions is given to us in – what may seem to some, a surprising place – a Chassidic discourse, studied by many people during this time of year. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the sixth Chabad Rebbe. The last discourse he published in his lifetime was issued for study that very day. The Chassidic discourse, titled Basi L’Gani, Come to my Garden (a verse in Song of Songs), consists of twenty chapters.

    When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, assumed leadership of the movement, he began his first discourse with the same verse, and elucidated on the original discourse. Every year hence, on this day, Yud Shevat, the Rebbe would focus, in consecutive order, on another one of the twenty chapters of the discourse, in 1952 – chapter two, 1953 – chapter three, concluding with chapter twenty in 1970. Then he began the order again. Based on this cycle, this year, 2010 (5770), corresponds to the 20th and final chapter of Basi L’Gani.

    What is the theme of chapter twenty? Unwavering spiritual fortitude, determination and commitment in face of the challenges that we face living in self-indulgent material universe. Esoteric in tone, this chapter, when deciphered, is as practical and relevant as any message you will ever hear.

    Briefly, the chapter discusses the harsh challenges our pure and innocent souls face in a selfish and corrupt world. The soul, he explains, originates in a very pristine and sublime state – seamlessly bound to its Divine source. In that state no duality exists; the soul’s identity and agenda is one with the Divine plan. But then this pure soul descends into the physical body and material plane, which is dominated by different and conflicting self-interests. Your integrated soul is an alien in this fragmented world, creating radical dissonance. Yet, this drastic descent is precisely the purpose of all existence: So that the soul can repair the schism and overcome – and refine – the temptations and seductions of the physical body and the material universe.

    This process demands enormous effort and exertion. The soul must fight a grueling battle to conquer the relentless pull of materialism.

    Just as we become spiritually inspired, the “animal soul” unleashes its fury, assaulting our psyches and unsettling us with every type of distraction; at times, overwhelming us with baseless doubts and fears.

    The only way to triumph in this battle is to muster the deepest resources of the soul – the enormous, unwavering power of Netzach – which emerges only in the face of adversary. Rooted in the core of the soul (beyond all other revealed faculties), Netzach (literally “victory”) is sheer determination – total and absolute commitment to forge ahead despite any challenge, unknown and doubt.

    The energy of Netzach comes from a deep-rooted belief in who you are and what you need to accomplish; embracing what you believe in and not allowing anything to stop you from getting it.

    We access this power precisely when we are under attack. When we fight to live virtuous lives in a corrupt world, when we stand up firmly for justice and morality, when we combat selfishness, our own or others, our conviction evokes the deepest Divine, spiritual resources. As demonstrated with the example of an actual war: When a leader is threatened and goes to battle, the drive to win causes him to unlock his most precious treasures and resources, ones that have never before been seen, anything to help him prevail. The challenges of life, thus, become catalysts that ignite our deepest strengths. The greater the adversary, the more powerful are the forces of certainty we awaken and the more determined we are to succeed.

    Complacency is the root of weak resolve and apathy from thinking you can't change things for the better is worse. By contrast, when we feel that our spiritual identity is threatened and we fear betraying our own highest aspirations, this danger stimulates new energies and will power, which draws out the unshakeable core of the soul rooted in the unshakeable Essence of the Divine.

    There is no greater gift than the gift of determination: The absolute certainty that you are precious and indispensable; that you are on a mission championing a cause; that the place and time in which you find yourself is exactly where you belong; and that you have the power to make your unique mark on the universe.

    So the secret to access inner strength and resolve is by looking at our own doubts and procrastination as an “enemy.” Define the enemy and then gather all your inner strengths to go into battle. Allow your enemy to empower you. When the challenge seems particularly formidable, act counter intuitively: Instead of retreating, obstinately commit, with supra rational tenacity, to fulfill your mission to refine your corner of the world.

    When you make that netzach commitment, your inner soul, fed by the indomitable Divine, will carry you.

    Based on a teaching by Rabbi Jacobson

  • Happiness is yours for the taking

    Happiness is yours for the taking. As we’ve mentioned before, your happiness cannot be dependent on anything external or else you are completely dependent. Happiness must be generated from inside.This is not saying that happines isn't from external sources since we are physical beings, but recognizing what contributes to real inner happiness.The difference between the happiness from say having your favorite team win and the happiness you get from true friends and family or helping others.
     
    Happiness that is dependent on external factors is illusory. It can make you feel like you really are happy, or it can make you feel like you ought to be happy. Either way, the reality sets in and sometimes you actually feel worse. Some people go to a party on New Year’s Eve, drink, laugh, and tell jokes with their friends, and then go home depressed. The expectation of joy can be depressing when you don’t really have anything specific to be joyful about. So you bought a new calendar. Big deal.
     
    Physicality by its very nature is limited and temporary. So any emotions attached to it will be that way also. Our soul, the inner part of us, is connected to the Infinite and therefore brings us longer lasting joy, and true joy. Happiness must, has to, is imperative that it comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. “Happiness depends upon ourselves” as Aristotle once said.
     
    Ask yourself what you are thankful for. Notice the things in life that give you pleasure. Become a connoisseur of inner pleasure like a wine connoisseur is about wine. Every thing you need for happiness is already on the inside. Appreciation. Almost everything in your environment is giving you some kind of pleasure. All you need to do is focus your attention on it. It is human nature to focus on what we do not have. It takes a tiny bit of effort to focus on what we do have, which is a lot. Imagine you want to be a musician but can’t afford an instrument. Here’s a guy that can play his own beard…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGaaxlvP-BA&feature=related  which didn’t cost him a dime.
     
    But seriously folks life is providing you with many pleasures that go unnoticed every day like running water, electricity, indoor plumbing, friends, family, work etc. When you take the time to notice your pleasure, it will put you in a better mood.
     
    Deeply imbedded in our psyche is the desire to cling to the Infinite. All the pleasures of this world, from a warm bath to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, are a tiny glimpse of the infinite pleasure that is  the spiritual  side of this life. By taking the time to focus our attention on it here, we are opening ourselves up to an infinite source of an infinite variety of pleasure.

    It’s your inner appreciation that shows you how everything and everywhere are a source of some kind of pleasure. You’re not relying on what is outside, but what is inside.

    This is not to say that there aren't bad things in life that can make keeping your eye on the pleasant things difficult at times, but more often than not; it is the inconsequential that does this.How often has some minor thing ruined your mood that you know will have no effect of your life just a few days,or even hours, from when it happens? I have to plead guilty as charged on that myself at times.The idea is to hone the practice of paying more attention to what is spiritually uplifting and gives inner happiness

    The ideals of belief in a World to Come puts all of life into perspective. After all, if God can do anything, and there isn’t a next world, He sure made a very flawed existence for us. Don’t get me wrong, there are awesomely beautiful and wonderful things about life from beginning to end: love, accomplishment, wisdom, Beethoven, Michelangelo, etc. But we could have done without all the war, ignorance, tyranny, and famine,  mosquitoes, Beevis and Butthead, etc.

    We often see the hand of God at work in this world, but we also see injustice. It must be, if God is just, that another realm exists that recompenses the sufferers in this world, and does justice with the wrongdoers.

    The next world is not a side point; it is a crucial component of Monotheism. Ancient Bible scholars, sages and kabbalists referred to an afterlife. Maimonides includes it as one of his famous Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith. The Midrash and Talmud make many,  many references to the next world. It’s incontrovertible that throughout history it has been a cornerstone of Judaism,Christianity,Islam and many other beliefs. You can believe what you want. It’s a free country.

    The real awesome experience of being one with God, which is the reward for doing good acts in this world, can only be experienced in a realm designed specifically for reward and closeness to the Infinite. This world is perfectly designed for challenges; the next world is perfectly designed for pleasure and delight with the Creator.

    When put in their proper perspective all of life’s difficulties become understandable. Not easy, not pleasant, but understandable. And as the great psychologists have said, when a person understands his/her suffering, the burden is alleviated greatly. We can still have tranquility of soul. We can still have peace of mind.

    No matter what the difficulty, we can emerge with inner peace, and happiness if we keep our minds and spirits focused on that inner happiness we get from the real pleasures of life and keep that proper perspective concerning things that don't.

  • To See the Divine

    From my files:

    		 

    The Extrordinary Within the Ordinary

    Watch a beautiful sunset. Listen to a stirring symphony. Smell a delicate fragrance. Taste a delectable wine. Touch the soft cheek of a child. Those are our five senses at work – taking in and experiencing the aesthetics of our universe. But what else enters through our sensory doors? How stimulated – overstimulated – are we by the multitude of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches inundating our daily interactions? And what impact does it have on us? Are we products, perhaps even victims, of the forces seducing our senses? Take television: Does anyone know the far-reaching effects that visual stimulation has on our psyches? How much is it desensitizing us to “see,” “hear” and experience the more sublime aspects of our lives – the invisible and ethereal?

    So when we observe the world around us, the people, events and experiences of our lives, what should we be looking for? When we are seeking a loving relationship – or standing before a person we love – how do we assure that we are looking at the important things that matter, and not at superficial externals? And how do we attain such perspective when we are swamped with the endless flow of information assaulting our senses, numbing and distorting our priorities?

    Genesis  chapter 18 opens with the words “And G-d appeared to Abraham.” What did Abraham see? What does it mean to "see" the Divine?

    When we look at any particular object what do we see? First we see the physical features of the object – its shape, color, size and position. We may also notice its functions and the benefits they serve. With more focus, we can discern subtle elements and other aspects that may not have been ostensibly noticeable. Upon further study we develop a “deeper look” at the object and learn its unique composition of elements and molecules, and its biological and chemical makeup. Further down and in we discover its atomic structure, which in turn is comprised of sub-atomic particles. How far down the “rabbit hole” can we go?

    Left to our own mortal resources we can only go that far. But with help from an unexpected place we can actually come to perceive – to see – the essence of the object, and even beyond that.

    When the Kotzker Rebbe was a young child he was once asked: “Where is G-d?” To which he replied: “Wherever you let Him in?”

    To see the Divine is to see the Essence of all reality, and to recognize that this Essence is beyond all reality. “He is the space of the universe, but the universe is not His space.” In some ways it means to see the forest from the trees; the roots from the symptoms; the causes from the effects.

    Abraham did two critical things to reach a point that he was able to see the Divine, to the point that “G-d appeared to him.” Firstly, he left his comfort zones  and embarked on a lifelong journey away from his subjective inclinations toward transcendence. Secondly, Abraham dedicated his life – and passed on his legacy to his children and generations to come – to focus not on the means, but on the end: To look beyond the seductive distractions of surface life and see what lies within; to search for the essence of things, rather than react to their symptoms. To seek out the purpose of existence and turn that purpose into the driving force of our decisions, rather than allow our existential needs and concerns to determine the course of our lives. Notwithstanding the conventions of the time, not conforming to the pressures around him, not enticed by the sights and sound of the universe, Abraham looked beyond and within them for a higher presence. This higher awareness then translates into action – to living a life of virtue, righteousness and justice.

    Once Abraham demonstrated his commitment, once he “paid the price” and did his part piercing through the outer layers and peering deep inside for the deeper reality, then the Higher and Inner Reality reciprocates, “and G-d appeared to him,” revealing the essential forces that shape all of existence, far beyond those that Abraham could ever discover on his own accord.

    The great 13th century sage, Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman), also known as Nachmanides, states a critical axiom – one that would change the landscape of Jewish education were it only emphasized in our schools:

    “Know this fundamental principle: All the journeys and events that happened with the Patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] come to teach us about the future…they were shown what would happen to their descendants. For this reason the Torah documents in detail the experiences that transpired with the Patriarchs. No one should think that these are superfluous details; they actually pave the way and map out all the future events that would transpire with their children throughout history. There is nothing that happened to Abraham that would later not occur with his children (Ramban, Lech Lecho 12:6).

    How do we apply this principle to the opening of  “And G-d appeared to him,” to Abraham?

    Indeed, a well known story suggests that Abraham’s Divine revelation was unique to him alone. When the Rebbe Rashab was a young boy, he went to his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, to receive a blessing in connection with his birthday (Cheshvan 20). When he entered his grandfather's room, he began to cry. His grandfather asked him why he was crying and he explained that in cheder (school), he had learned that G-d had revealed Himself to Abraham and he was upset, why G-d did not reveal Himself to him. The Tzemach Tzedek replied: “When a righteous Jew at the age of 99 decides to circumcise himself, he is worthy that G-d reveal Himself to him.” The Rebbe Rashab was satisfied with this answer, and stopped crying.

    And yet, the Rebbe Rashab did cry, and according to Nachmanides, there is nothing that happened to Abraham that would later not occur with his children, Abraham’s Divine revelation in some way can and will happen to his children.

    Abraham paved the way for us to have a similar experience: To see the inner forces that shape our outer realities.

    But in order to see your life in this special way, you too have to commit to the same two things that Abraham committed to: One, you must travel away from your own subjective trappings and remove the immediate pressures that block you from seeing what lies within. This includes controlling the flow of images, sounds, tastes, touches and smells, which enter your being and clutter your life. Two, you need to focus on the inner forces and the purpose of it all, ensuring that the means that lead you there are not confused with the end goal. Too often we get so consumed with the tools – earning a living, shopping, preparing – that we are left with no time, energy and space for the purpose of all these tools. Sometimes we may even forget that there is a purpose, like embarking on a journey and then forgetting the destination.

    This commitment to the higher goal, as opposed to the means, in turn manifests in a life driven by virtue and selflessness, rather than instant gratification and immediate needs.

    Once you demonstrate your commitment to this approach, new doors will open up from within. And then – and only then – will you begin to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Every detail of your life begins to burst with enormous energy. You learn to savor every sight, every sound, every taste, every touch, every smell.

    You can look at a wild flower and see a flower, or you can see, as Blake put it, Heaven. You can listen to a bird sing and hear a song, or hear the music of angels. You can gently caress the finger of your beloved and touch a finger, or you can touch eternity.

    A new perspective emerges in your life, teaching you how to bridge the visible and the invisible, the sensory and the supra-sensory – how to use your senses to reach beyond your senses and experience new dimensions.

    And above all, your new vision allows you to release fresh energy from every experience you encounter: In a life driven by self-interest every situation is numbed and deadened by “what’s in it for me?” In stark contrast, a life driven by seeing the Divine opens your eyes, ears, taste, touch and smell to experience yourself and others in unprecedented ways. You learn to see new things, and see old things in new ways.

    Every situation then becomes an opportunity to generate innovative power to help others and improve the world – directing every detail of your life toward the sublime, revealing the Divine purpose in everything, fulfilling the very objective of existence.So the next time you look at and experience the world , look at and experience the world.

  • Tape a PETA member Today LOL

    I really love animals and my pets are like family members, but I don't do vegatarian. If that's your gig,then no prob, but I like my steaks. People like PETA that put animals ahead of human life are freakin aholes though.

    PETA,the same morons that brought you the ad comparing the Holocaust to slaughtering chickens for food and protested to the Palestinian Authority about a donkey killed when terrorists loaded in with explosives to murder people, learned you don't bring your self righteous pompous ass to a biker rally and protest them wearing leather LOLOL

    http://forum.goregrish.com/threads/peta-protester-duck-taped-to-tree-at-biker-rally.15300/

  • THE MYTH OF A JUDEO-XTIAN TRADITION

    This is an age in which news has been superseded by propaganda, and education by brain-washing and indoctrination from the advertising used to sell poor quality goods, to the classes in schools designed to make children into conditioned robots of the State, the art of persuasion has displaced the simple virtue of truth.

     Since the end of the Second World War we have been bombarded from all sides with references to the Western world's "Judeo-Christian religion," and "our Judeo-Christian heritage." We are told by both church leaders and scholars that our society is based on a supposed "Judeo-Christian tradition". The notion of "Judeo-Christian religion is an unquestioned - almost sacrosanct - part of both secular and church thinking. American Christian leader Prof. Franklin H. Littel, a vocal supporter of the Zionist state, frankly declared that "to be Christian is to be Jewish," and that consequently it was the duty of a  Christian to put support for the "land of Israel" above all else. Pat Boon, the North American singer and evangelist, said there are two kinds of Judaism, one Orthodox and the other Christian. Yet such a decidedly Christian Zionist outlook is to say the least  wildly simplistic and profoundly unhistorical.

     
    As the astute Jewish writer, Joshua J. Adler, points out, "The differences between Christianity and Judaism are much more than merely believing in whether the messiah already appeared or is still expected, as some like to say."

     The comments of Jewish author Mr. S. Levin may well explain the Christian's need for the Judeo-Christian myth. Writing in the Israeli journal ,Biblical Polemics, Levin concludes: "'After all, we worship the same God', the Christian always says to the Jew and the Jew never to Christian! The Jew knows that he does not worship the Christ-God, but the Christian orphan needs to worship the God of Israel and so, his standard gambit rolls easily and thoughtlessly from his lips. It is a strictly unilateral affirmation, limited to making a claim on the God of Israel, but never invoked with reference to other gods. A  Christian never confronts a Moslem or a Hindu with 'After all, we worship the same God'."

     Back in 1992 both Newsweek magazine and the Israeli Jerusalem Post newspaper simultaneously printed extensive articles scrutinizing the roots of the sacrosanct  Judeo-Christian honeymoon.

     The statement heading the Newsweek article read: "Politicians appeal to a Judeo-Christian tradition, but religious scholars say it no longer exists." The Jerusalem Post article's pull quote announced: "Antisemitism is a direct result of the Church's teachings, which Christians perhaps need to re-examine."

     "For scholars of American religion," Newsweek states, "the idea of a single Judeo-Xtian tradition is a made-in-America myth that many of them no longer regard as valid." It quotes eminent Talmudic scholar Jacob Neusner: "Theologically and historically, there is no such thing as the Judeo-Christian tradition. It's a secular myth favored by people who are not really believers themselves."

     Newsweek cites authorities who indicate that "the idea of a common Judeo-Christian tradition first surfaced at the end of the 19th century but did not gain popular support until the 1940's, as part of an American reaction to Nazism and concludes that, "Since then, both Jewish and Christian scholars have come to recognize that - geopolitics apart - Judaism and Christianity are different, even rival religions.

     The Jerusalem Post accused the Christian Church of being responsible for the holocaust. The French Jewish scholar Jules Isaac was quoted as saying: "Without centuries of Xtian catechism, preaching, and vituperation, the Hitlerian teachings, propaganda and vituperation would not have been possible." "The problem," concludes the Jerusalem Post, "is not, as some assert, that certain Christian leaders deviated from Christian teachings and behaved in an un-Christian manner; it is the teachings themselves that are bent."
     
    A few perfect example of these teachings are such as (SAINT) JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: The strongest attacks on Jews and Judaism by the Church Fathers are to be found in the homilies of Chrysostom (344-407) in his Antioch sermons. He is considered to be among the most beloved and admired in Church history. Besides his proclamation of Jews as
    "godless, idolaters, pedicides, stoners of prophets, and commiters  of 10,000 horrors [which, incidentally, is found in the Christian  book in Matthew 23:37-38], Chrysostom said in his book Orations Against The Jews that:: "The  Jews are the most worthless of all men.   They  are  lecherous,  rapacious, greedy. They are perfidious murderers of  Christ.  They  worship  the   Devil.  Their  religion is a sickness.  The Jews are the odious assassins of Chrst and for killing  God there  is  no  expiation possible,  no  indulgence  or pardon.   Xtians   may never cease vengeance,  and  the  Jew must live in servitude forever. God always  hated  the  Jews.  It  is  essential that all Christians hate them." (year 379)
     
    Chrysostom's homilies were to be used in seminaries and schools for centuries as
    model sermons, with the result that his message of hate would be passed down to succeeding generations of theologians. The nineteenth century Protestant cleric R.S. Storr called him "one of the most eloquent preachers who ever since apostolic times have brought to men the divine tidings of truth and love." A contemporary of Storr, the great theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman, described Chrysostom as a "bright, cheerful, gentle soul, a sensitive heart."
     
    Then there is the Father of the Protestant Church, Martin Luther, who stated:"What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?
    First, their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and of Christianity, in order that God may see that
    we are Christians. Secondly, their homes should be likewise broken down and destroyed.
    Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught. Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat
    of death to teach any more..."

     Joshua Jehouda, a prominent French Jewish leader, observed in the late 1950's: "The current expression 'Judeo-Christian' is an error which has altered the course of universal history by the confusion it has sown in men's minds, if by it one is meant to understand the Jewish origin of Christianity...If the term 'Judeo Christian' does point to a common origin, there is no doubt that it is a most dangerous idea. It is based on a 'contradiction  in abjecto' which has set the path of history on the wrong track. It links in one breath two ideas which are completely irreconcilable, it seeks to demonstrate that there is no difference between day and night or hot and cold or black and white, and thus introduces a fatal element of confusion to a basis on which some, nevertheless, are endeavoring to construct a civilization." ("Antisemitisme Miroir du Monde pp. 135-6)

    What is the Truth?
     Is there then any truth in this term, "Judeo-Christian"?  Is Christianity derived from Judaism? Does Christianity have anything in common with Judaism?

     Reviewing the last two thousand years of Western Christian history there is really no evidence of a Judeo-Christian tradition and this has not escaped the attention of honest Christian and Jewish commentators.

     The Jewish scholar Dr. Joseph Klausner in his book "Jesus of Nazareth" expressed the Judaic viewpoint that "there was something contrary to the world outlook of Israel" in Christ's teachings, "a new teaching so irreconcilable with the spirit of Judaism," containing "within it the germs from which there could and must develop in course of time a non-Jewish and even ANTI-Jewish teaching."

     Dr. Klausner quotes the  Xtian theologian, Adolf Harnack, who in his last work rejected the hypothesis of the Jewish origin of Christ's doctrine: "Virtually every word He taught is made to be of permanent and universal humanitarian interest. The Messianic features are abolished entirely, and virtually - importance is attached to Judaism in its capacity of Jesus' environment."

     Gershon Mamlak, an award-winning Jewish Zionist intellectual, recently claimed that the "Jesus tradition" is essentially the ultimate extension of ancient Greek Hellenism and is in direct conflict to Judaism's "role as the Chosen people" 

     Dr. Mamlak, writing in the Theodor Herzl Foundation's magazine of Jewish thought, Midstream, maintains that the prevailing theory that Christianity originated in the spiritual realm of Judaism "is anchored in a twofold misconception: 1) the uniqueness of Judaism is confined to its monotheistic God-concept; 2) the 'parting of the ways' between the Jesus coterie and Judaism is seen as the result of the former's adaptation of the doctrines of Christology

     The first misconception means: "When the affinity of the Jesus coterie with Judaism is evaluated by common faith in the One, severed from the believer's duty to execute the Law of the One and to acknowledge the Chosen Nation of Israel as His instrument-faith in the One becomes anti-Judaism par excellence

     In Gershon Mamlak's view, "The conflict between Judaism and the Jesus tradition goes beyond the confines of theology. [The Jesus tradition] was the cosmopolitan renunciation of the national phenomenon in general and extreme hostility to Israel's idea of a Chosen Nation as the divine instrument for the perfection of the world."

     Evidently the concept of a common Judeo-Christian tradition has more to do with post 1945 politics and a certain amount of 'public relations' than it does with historical and Biblical reality. Never the less a number of modern Christian polemicists have managed to rest certain Greek text verses in the drive to give a Scriptural basis to their argument. 

      The few Christian book 'proof texts' utilized by Christian Zionists and secular proponents of the modern Judeo-Christian myth are the product of poor  translation. Messianic Jewish writer Malcolm Lowe in his paper "Who Are the Ioudaioi?" concludes, like Robert and Mary Goote, that the Greek word "Ioudaioi" in the Greek text should be translated as "Judeans", rather than the more usual "Jews". David Stern, a Jew turned Christian, also came to the same conclusion when translating the "Jewish New Testament".

     Few Christians are aware that the translators of Scripture often mistranslated the word "Jew" from such words as "Ioudaioi" (meaning from, or being of: as a geographic area, Judean). The word Judean, mistranslated as "Jew" in the Greek Text, never possessed a valid religious connotation, but was simply used to identify members of the native population of the geographic area known as Judea.

     Jesus Christ and the Pharisees
     
     The Greek text reveals an intense conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, which was made up of two schools of thought and were principal Judean religious sects (see Matthew chapter 3, verse 7; Matthew chapter 5, verse 20; Matthew chapter 23, verses 13-15, 23 29; Mark chapter 8, verse 15; Luke chapter 11 verse 39). Much of this controversy was centered on what was later to become the foundation and highest authority of Judaism, the Talmud. In the time of Jsus , this bore the name of "The Tradition of the Elders" (see Matthew chapter 15, verses 1-9).

     The Judean historian Josephus wrote: "What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses

     While the Pharisees observed the laws of Moses, they also had a great body of oral tradition which is its explanations of how to observe the written. By their tradition, they undertook to explain and elaborate upon the Law. This was the "Tradition of the Elders", to which the name of Talmud was later given. In the written form, it had its beginning in Babylon, during the  Babylon captivity of the people of Judah, where it developed in the form of the commentaries of various rabbis, undertaking to explain and apply the law. 


     Rabbi Louis Finkelstein in Volume I of The Pharisees, the Sociological Background of their Faith says, "Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes of name, inevitable adapting of custom, the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered."

     According to The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, (1942) p.474: "The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature."

     Moshe Menuhim explains that the Babylonian Talmud "embodied all the laws [ Misnah] and legends [Midrash], all the history and 'science,' all the theology and folklore, of all the past ages in Jewish life - a monumental work of consolidation. In the Talmud, Jewish scholarship and idealism found their exclusive outlet and preoccupation all through the ages, all the way up to the era of Enlightenment. It became the principal guide to life and object of study, and it gave Judaism unity, cohesion and resilience throughout the dark ages."

      "The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart's blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs, or ceremonies we [Jews] observe - whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists - we follow the Talmud. It is our common law." (A History of the Jews, SoIomon Grayzel).

     Both Jewish and Christian scholars agree that it was Jesus'  flagrant rejection of this "Tradition of the Elders" and his open confrontation with the powerful Pharisees that created the climate that led to his death. Historically, Christian thinkers argued that the Talmud was directly responsible for the rejection of Christ. In their view these "traditions" blinded the eyes of the people to a true understanding of the prophecies  which related to the coming of the Messiah. These Christian thinkers seem incapable of understanding that they have made of the Jesus person just another type of Pagan god, walking around on two feet and performing miracles, rising from the dead and vanishing in a blaze of light, sitting on the right hand of the god on that high chair - like some of Zeus's sons and  like so many of those gods on Mount Olympus. They have even attempted to say that Jesus is derided in the Talmudic writings.We should also point out here that, contrary to many Christians' thinking, the Talmudic literature does not contain criticism of Jesus.  Some have sought to link him with a Yeshua Hanotzri, who is said to have practiced magic and sought to lead Israel astray (Sotah 47A and Sanhedrin 107B).
     
     But a foremost historian of the rabbinate, the twelfth century Abraham ibn Daud, wrote (Sefer Ha-Kabbalah, Jewish Publication Society Edition, p. 15) that we possess a true tradition (Kabalat Emet) that this Yeshua Hanotzri lived during the reign of Alexander Yannai (died 76 B.C.E.), and had been a disciple of Joshua ben Perachiah, thus making it impossible for him to have been the founder of Christianity.  This tradition is also given by Nahmanides (Vikuakh Ha-Ramban, Mossad edition, p. 306).  Some have tried to link Jesus with a magician named Ben Stada, but R. Jacob Tam-the eminent Tosafist and grandson of Rashi-dismissed this (Shabbat 104B), as he had lived during the second century.
    The point of the post is not to say that different people can't live,work and just plain exist side by side. It points out that there is no theological connection between Judaism and Christianity or Jewish scripture and Christian scriptures, as some may like to believe. While our book shows over and over that God forgives anyone that repents and seeks Him, the Christian book changes the very meaning of the concept of a coming new covenant from Torah being placed in our heart as though it were instinct to a human sacrificial concept with a being "washed in the blood" as many Christians phrase it, and a ritual consumption of the flesh and blood of messiah/god that excludes all that disbelieve. This may seem rather blunt, but it reflects the pagan ideas of consuming one's god as in the Mithra Cult and a dozen others. Those that followed the Mithra Cult would cover themselves in the blood of sacrifices to "wash away transgressions".

  • New Covenant ?

     

    Jeremiah 31:31.  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
     32.  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
     33.  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
     34.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
     35.  Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
     36.  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
     
    What is this "new covenant" that is mentioned in Jeremiah if it is "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt"?
     
    Jeremiah states that "this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." If one looks at the actual Hebrew text, "My Law" is towraatiy, My Torah.
     
    Jeremiah 31:33  Kiy zo't habriyt 'asher 'ekrot 'et- beeyt Yisraa'eel'achareey hayaamiym haaheem, n'um- Yahweh, naatatiy 'et-towraatiy bqirbaam w`al- libaam 'ektabenaah whaayiytiy laahemlee-'Elohiym wheemaah yihyuw- liy l`aam.
    How is this new covenant different from the original? Originally it states we are to write these laws on our own heart and teach them to our children.
     
    Deut 11:18.  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
     19.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
     20.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
     
    Looking at the text,one can see this coming new covenant is God writing the Torah laws on our heart where it will be as instinct to know them rather than learning and no longer need to teach them to our children.
     
    The term "new covenant" is used only once in Jewish text and Jeremiah is it.It's precepts are direct and simple in meaning, that the Torah law will be written on our hearts.No mention of blood sacrifice of a man and , to be perfectly blunt, no mention of a ritual representation of drinking blood and eating human flesh.
     
    When one examines the Greek text of the Christian book, the term new covenant is used six times It is only used in the book of Matthew and in Hebrews by Paul, if he is the author .
     
    The book of Matthew has Jesus saying Matthew 26: 28.  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.This the translation from the KJV, which translates the Greek word here as testament instead of covenant, as Paul does in his books. You can find the Greek word in Strong's and it is the same here as in Hebrews. G1242  The same goes for the parallel stories in Mark and Luke.
     
    This raises the question on whether this is added text, whether the authors copied the idea from Paul's books since those were written first, or Jesus wasn't familiar with the text of Jeremiah.
     
    The Christian book misquotes Jeremiah in where the original text says in verse 32:....which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: the Greek text changes the wording to Hebrews 8:9..... because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
     
    Whether the author of Hebrews was unfamiliar with the Hebrew text or changed the wording to give the impression that God has now,somehow, discarded Israel for the new believers is something the reader will have to discern. Christianity does regard their text as divine.
     
    The Hebrew word in Jeremiah's verse says "ba'altee," which means a "husband." It in no way can be translated as "to disregard."  To be a "husband" is the precise opposite of "disregarding" someone.
    One may try to point out the reference of divorce in Jeremiah in an attempt to show that the radical change in what the new covenant is valid in claiming God did indeed "divorce" Israel..When you ask about the "divorce in Jeremiah," I am sure that you are referring to the parable in the opening verse of the third chapter of Jeremiah, where the prophet uses a harsh allegory to illustrate God's displeasure with His wayward nation.  For the readers of our website who are unfamiliar with this subject, I will briefly explain your series of questions.

    Using a jarring metaphor, Jeremiah compares Israel's spiritual disloyalty to an adulterous woman who has been put away by her husband whom she betrayed.  The prophet then asks a biting question, "After she leaves him and marries another man, may he return to her again?" (Jeremiah 3:1) The unspoken answer is that he cannot.  Deuteronomy 24:1-4 states that the original husband may never come back to his twice-divorced wife.

    Therefore is how can Israel ever return to its rightful place as God's priestly nation?  The prophet seems to indicate that she (Israel) has married another, namely, the gods of the heathen nations, and she is therefore unable to return as God's "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22).  How can Israel ever hope to restore herself with the Almighty when the Law of Moses seems to indicate that she cannot?  How can the nation of Israel look to the commandments of the Torah for her salvation when, according to Jeremiah's metaphor, it is those very commandments that prevent her from returning? 
     
    If you have had difficulty understanding Jeremiah 3:1, it is that you made two mistakes while reading the parable of Israel as the divorced wife.  The first error is to interpret a parable in a hyper-literal fashion.  I find it puzzling that Christians, who should be quite familiar with the use of parables, have such difficulty understanding how Jeremiah is using the parable of the "divorced wife."  The second mistake is reading only half the parable.  In fact, the answer to your question is embedded in the final clause of the very same verse.  Let's first examine this parable more closely.

    Jeremiah's purpose in using this parable is two-fold.  First, the prophet wishes to vividly illustrate Israel's spiritual disloyalty to its Creator.  Second, and most importantly, unlike the twice-estranged wife whose original husband cannot return to her, the prophet appeals to the Jewish people to repent and proclaims that it is their covenantal purpose to be restored as God's chosen people.  What is impossible with the forsaken woman is the destiny for the children of Israel.  Let's look at the entire verse in context.

    They say, "If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he return to her again?"  Would not that land be greatly polluted?  But you have played the harlot with many lovers; "Yet return to Me," says the Lord.    (Jeremiah 3:1)

    The central feature of the prophet's exhortation that you overlooked appears at the very end of the verse, " 'Yet return to Me', says the Lord."  Jeremiah makes this plea five times throughout the chapter.  The message of the prophet is clear: The mercy and compassion of the Almighty is far beyond the scope of man's comprehension.  Whereas normally the betrayed husband would never take back his adulterous wife, our merciful God will forgive His wayward nation.  While the transgressed husband would never part with his burning wrath against his estranged wife, Jeremiah points the way to forgiveness, reconciliation, and salvation with the Almighty. In contrast to the enraged husband who would never take back his unfaithful wife, God will, upon repentance, compassionately receive his disobedient people.  What must Israel do to win the affection of its Maker?

    Just cry out to Me, "My Father, you are the Master of my youth!" (Jeremiah 3:4)

    Yet how can this be?  Will God's wrath not be kindled forever against His nation?  Jeremiah responds with a rhetorical question.

    Will He remain angry forever?  Will He keep it to eternity? (Jeremiah 3:5)

    The Almighty's answer follows with a comforting oath promising Israel an eternal destiny and permanent union with the Almighty.

    "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord, "for I am married to you.  I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion." (Jeremiah 3:14)

    The central message of the third chapter remains: The fate of disloyal Israel stands in stark contrast to an unfaithful wife.  Whereas the adulterous woman may never return to her former husband, Jeremiah beckons the Jewish people back to the Almighty, and assures them of their eternal destiny to be forever married to their Maker. 

    Yet, by what means can the Jewish people return to God?  A few chapters later, Jeremiah answers this question as he outlines for his disobedient nation how they are to end their persistent backsliding.  In his seventh chapter, the prophet warns his people not to place their hopes on blood sacrifices or look to The Temple of the Lord to save them.  Jeremiah proclaims that these institutions cannot deliver them from their brazen sins.  Rather, they must turn away from idolatry and return to God by keeping the commandments.  Please take a moment and study Jeremiah's remarkable message on atonement. 

    So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, "Improve your ways and your deeds, I then will allow you to dwell in this place.  Do not rely on false words, saying, 'The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord are they.'  If you improve your ways and your deeds, if you perform judgment between one man and his fellow man, you do not oppress the stranger, an orphan, or a widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not follow other gods for your detriment.  I will then allow you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave your forefathers from days of yore to eternity . . . .  So says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices and eat flesh; for neither did I speak with your forefathers nor did I command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning a burnt offering or a sacrifice.  This thing did I command them saying, 'Listen to Me so that I am your God and you are My people, you walk in all the ways that I command you . . . .' " (Jeremiah 7:3-7, 21-23)

    The above chapter stands as a reverberating indictment against the church's most fundamental creeds.  For example, according to Christian doctrine, man cannot merit salvation through his own repentance.  Atonement comes only through the shedding of innocent blood.  Throughout the seventh chapter of Jeremiah, however, the prophet proclaims the very opposite message on atonement.  Over and over again, Jeremiah loudly declares that God does not want blood sacrifices but rather repentance alone for man's grievous sins.(  See my post of True Biblical Teachings on Atonement) 

     
    The  term new covenant is used again in the continuation of the text in 8:10.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
     11.  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
     12.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
     13.  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
     
    G-d made a covenant with Abraham. G-d reconfirmed that covenant with Isaac. He recommitted it with Jacob. G-d made a new covenant, built on the old, with Moses.None of the "old" covenants went away as implied by the Greek text. This is what Jeremiah prophesied. After the Diaspora G-d will make it clear to the world that Israel is STILL his beloved. He will make a new covenant with the houses of Judah and Israel that will be so apparent to Israel and the world that we won't need to teach the word of G-d. Instead Torah will be inscribed in the heart just like the prophesy says.
     
    On first look at the text in Hebrews 8, it appears that the author is saying that soon people WOULD have it written on their heart and the old way of learning and study was going to end. Then you get to Hebrews 12 where the author drops any pretense of saying the new covenant is anything like it says in Jeremiah, but changes it to being pivotal on the death of Jesus. Hebrews 12:24.  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
     
    Then when one looks at Paul's book 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
     
    24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."  This verse shows a claim as to what the new covenant is completely changed without any pretext.
     
    Under the eternal covenant G-d has with the Jews we are forbidden from consuming  blood -- even symbolically. Leviticus 17:12.  Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
     13.  And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
     14.  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
     
    This is a total abhorrence to a Jew and this "new" covenant is obviously NOT a continuation of the Jewish covenant nor any type of reflection of the prophesy in Jeremiah. The concept shown in the Greek text is not a mistranslation of the Hebrew text, but a completely foreign idea to what it says in the Jewish scripture as far as the Law and the Prophesies.
     
     Compare 2 Samuel 7:14 against Hebrews 1:5. The link in the Christian bible is not such a straight line. Hebrews 1:5 references Psalm 89:26, not 2 Samuel. When you read a few verses preceding that in Psalm 89, you will find a replay of 2 Samuel 7  Then you see that Psalm 89:24 is almost exactly 2 Samuel 7:15 - but who would know, without searching. …then…. you will see something more.  Psalm 89, which the book of Hebrews has directed you to, the same book of Hebrews that says the "old" covenant is decaying and about to vanish away (see above) …when you come upon Psalm 89: 34 which just eight verses later and even in the poorly translated Christian version -(this is v.35 in the Jerusalem bible) - says clearly:
    My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."