PENING

3. PENING low the Shofar 3 3 3

4. PENING Why do we blow the Shofar? Exodus 19:16 “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and there was the sounding of a very loud SHOFAR blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.” Because this is the way G-D begins sacred assemblies 4 4 4

5. abbath Lighting Baruch Attaw Adoni Elohaynu Melech Ha Olam Asher kidshanu bimitzvotav venatanu lechad likner shell Shabbat 5 5 5 5

6. HEMA ISRAELHear oh Israel Shema Israel Adoni Elohaynu (Hear oh Israel the L-RD our G-D) Adoni Echad (The L-RD is one) 6 6 6 6

7. hy do we recite/sing the SHEMA? Because Messiah said it was the greatest Commandment Mark 12:28-29 28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the greatest commandment of all?” 29 And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:” 7 7 7 7

8. e-nay Ma TovBehold how good - Psalm 133:1Am He-Nay Maw tove Behold how good Oo-maw nye—eem And how pleasant it is Shevet aw-heem For brothers to dwell Gum Yaw Hawd In unity 8 8

9. menCL 3A A-men ….A-men….A-men, A-men, A-men Baw-rouk Ha-Shem, Baw-rouk Ha-Shem, Blessed be the Name, blessed be the Name Baw-rouk Ha-Shem Me-she-ach Blessed be the Name of Messiah 9 9

10. -Seh ShalomCL3 Play Em Em O-seh Shalom Beem rue-mawv Am D7 G Em Who yah-seh Shalom aw-lay-nu Am D7 G V'al kol Yees-raw-ale Em Am Em Bf7 Em B'-eem rue Eem rue Ah- main  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Em Am D7 G Ya-a-seh sha-lom Ya-a-seh sha-lom G Bf7 Em Shalom aw-lay-new V’al kol Yees-raw-ale Sing twice 2X 10 10

11. mazing GraceCL 2 A Has-doe Nah-tawn Ad Pa-had Lee-bee V’-has-doe Eht Faw-day Heh-eh-veer Mel-lech Hay V’kye-yahm Ah-dohn Oh-lahm V’-has-doe Eht Dar-kee Yah-eer Toe-dah L’Ale

12. ring our gifts to the altar We Bring Our Sacrifice With Praise We Bring Our Sacrifice With Praise Unto the House of the LORD (2 X) And we offer unto Him Our sacrifices with thanksgiving And we offer unto Him Our sacrifices with joy

13. eview • It was called the “Oral” Law because it was passed down from generation to generation orally. But it was never designed to be binding • We have to remember that Yeshua Himself said “Do as the Pharisees say” • Yeshua called the Mishna “The traditions of the Elders”. These traditions are “fences” around the Torah.

14. eview • Yeshua even quotes from the Rabbis of the Mishna including Rabbi Hillel • The Gamara is a commentary on the Mishna • The Talmud is not without it’s faults. There are inaccurate “facts” and even moral problems with some of it’s writers.

15. eview • We talked about some of the Rabbis of the mishna like Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Gamaliel and Rabbi Eliezer who was more then likely a Believer in Yeshua • We also learned that the word Talmud comes from the word “study” or “learn” in Hebrew

16. eview • We also learned that there are 2 Talmuds. The Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud • and the man who put together the Babylonian Talmud was Judah HaNasi

17. his Class • Next in our introduction to the Talmud: • What are the 6 orders of the Mishna and what do they cover in brief • The Nazerite vow • What does the word Nazerite mean? • Was it for men only? • Biblical characters who took the vow. • Why did someone take it in the first place?

18. his Class • What did it consist of • How long did one take the vow? • Should we do it in this day and age?

19. rders • The Mishna is our prime source of study • The Mishna has 6 Sederim (Seder = Orders) or books • We’ll look at each one in depth later, but now we’ll just get an overview of each one

20. rders • The first is Zeraim which means "Seeds", it deals with prayers and blessings, tithes and agricultural laws. • It has 11 tractates or essays

21. rders • Remember, there isn’t always a cohesion in the texts. They were collected from various rabbis and other collections. So there isn't always rhyme or reason why some Seders are in a particular order

22. rders • The second is Moed ("Festival"), pertaining to the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals (12 tractates),

23. rders • The next is Nashim which means "Women", it concerns marriage and divorce, some forms of oaths and the laws of the Nazerite (7 tractates)

24. rders • The next order is Nezikin which means "Damages“. It deals with civil and criminal law, the functioning of the courts and oaths (10 tractates)

25. rders • The next order is Kodashim which means "Holy things“. It regards sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws (11 tractates)

26. rders • The final order is Tohorot ("Purities"), pertaining to the laws of purity and impurity, including the impurity of the dead, the laws of ritual purity for the priests (Kohanim), the laws of "family purity" (the menstrual laws) (12 tractates)

27. rders • We wont be discussing the menstrual section as that is something where a Rebbitzin (Rabbis wife) would be discussing with women only. We do the same thing with the congregations in India

28. azerite • What does the word Nazerite mean? • It comes from the Hebrew word “Natzir” which means “consecrated” or “separated”.

29. azerite • We find mention of the Nazerite vow in various places in the Scriptures but we’ll first look at Numbers 6 we’ll look at just the first 3 verses for now and we’ll look at the rest in just a little bit.

30. azerite • Numbers 6 • 1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.

31. azerite • Now, we’ve answered one of our questions, who is it for, we see it is for men and women both, not just the men. • Why do most Christians assume it’s only for men? • Because the examples we’re given are examples of men taking the vow.

32. azerite • So which men are these examples taken from? These are just from the Old Testament. • In the Old Testament we see the first man who is named as a Nazerite is Samson. • Everyone knows the story of Samson • He probably didn’t look like this picture, it was probably closer to this…

33. azerite • The REAL SAMSON • He wasn’t all buff, more likely he was very thin and fragile which made it all the more remarkable that he could have such strength. • But here’s when his mother was told she would have him and that he should be a Nazerite…

34. azerite • Judges 13:4, 7, 14 • 4 - Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 7 - But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 14 - She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. • (So Samson’s mother was a Nazerite)

35. azerite • It’s always amazing to me when I hear pastors and even more so other Messianic Rabbis when they don’t cut Samson some slack, he was a life long Nazerite. In today’s western 20th century thinking it’s difficult to imagine making such a vow for your child. I heard one Messianic Rabbi over in Bellevue, Wa. going over the story of Samson and just railing on how rebellious Samson was because he cut his hair and mixed with the Philistines etc. And in the very same sermon he talked about his days in the 60’s when he was in the drug culture!

36. azerite • Did Samson do some things wrong? Yes, but he was a much better person then I was when I was young and probably a better person then most of here. Now there’s nothing wrong with pointing out his rebellion or that he didn’t follow all the rules but the laws of the Nazerite oath were pretty tough. Let’s look at one of those rules now that is often times overlooked.

37. azerite Numbers 6:5 5 ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.7 He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD. 9 ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.

38. azerite • So he couldn’t even go near any family if they had died or were about to die. Samson was a lifelong Nazerite. He didn’t even make this choice himself, his mother had made it for him. • If you think about that, it would be pretty tough. If one of your loved ones died you can’t even go near them. • If your son died or your spouse, you had to keep your distance. That wouldn’t be easy. • It wasn’t easy being a lifelong Nazerite. • We should feel for the guy, not condemn him.

39. azerite Samuel was also a life long Nazerite I Samuel 1 vs 8-9 8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” (So Samuel’s mother was a Nazerite)

40. azerite • Abshalom, “Father of Peace” (Absalom) was also a Nazerite. • Probably life long. • He was caught by his long hair and died when he was rebelling against his father, King David.

41. azerite • How did one take the vow? • It wasn’t anything formal. • It was taken by a simple verbal declaration. You could say, “This day I become a Nazerite!” and you were a Nazerite.

42. azerite • If a Nazerite walked by you and you said “Me too!” you were a Nazerite. Now there were things you did have to do after like shaving your head. But the declaration was simple.

43. azerite • The Mishna says that if you even used a substitute word such as “Nazik”, you were then a Nazerite. If you said, I abstain from all grapes, you were then a Nazerite. Or if you said you abstain from wine, you were a Nazerite That’s why it’s interesting in the New Testament where Yeshua says..

44. azerite • He would not drink of the third cup of wine at Passover, some orthodox Jews think He may have been taking the vow of the Nazerite right then and there.

45. azerite • I don’t believe that myself because the Nazerite vow was for more then just a few days and I believe Yeshua knew He was soon to die. Much sooner then He could fulfill the vow of the Nazir

46. azerite • So that leads us into our next question. • How long could one take the vow. • There were lifelong Nazerites like Samson and Samuel but you could take the vow temporarily as well.

47. azerite • The minimum was 30 days. • Tractate “Nazir” in the Mishna says no less then 30 days. • So you can’t do it for the weekend 

48. azerite • Why would you take the Nazerite vow anyways? • Well, one would take it if they were afflicted with distress or disease in exchange for G-d to help them • It was also a sign of asceticism. Some Jews didn’t eat meat or drink wine anyway so they sometimes would take the vow.

49. azerite • The vow was also taken for the fulfillment of a wish, like to have a child. • Some took the vow for a mix of reasons.

50. azerite • So that begs our last question: Should we take the Nazerite vow in this day and age? • The Jews did away with the Nazerite vow after the destruction of the Temple in 70AD