HaShavua- Elevate

Another contribution from rabbi Jack in Toronto. Thanks again, -Bradley

"The Gift Of Restitution"


Parashat HaShavua Naso / Elevate



This Week's Reading List:
BaMidbar / Numbers 4:21-7:89
Shoftim / Judges 13:2-25
Ma'asei Talmidim / Acts 21:17-26


Bamidbar {5:5} HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses), saying, {5:6} Speak to bnei Yisrael (children of Israel), When an ish (man) or ishah (woman) shall commit any chatat (sin) that men commit, so as to trespass against HaShem, and that nefesh (soul) shall be guilty; {5:7} then he shall confess his chatat which he has done: and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. {5:8} But if the ish have no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to HaShem shall be the Cohen's; besides the ram of the Kapparah (Atonement), whereby Kapparah shall be made for him. {5:9} every heave-offering of all the Kadosh (separate / holy) things of bnei Yisrael, which they present to the Cohen, shall be his. {5:10} every man's kadosh things shall be his: whatever any ish gives the Cohen, it shall be his.

At times, when a person sins they need to not only ask forgiveness, both from HaShem and the person they sinned against but also they need to make restitution. For example: a thief, when caught, needed to make restitution to the person he stole from. He was to return what he stole plus he was to add twenty percent more to it. However, what happens if the thief is caught years later and the victim is dead with no living relatives? What is the thief to do then? This passage of Scripture from Parasha Naso answers that question for us. It says that restitution is to be made to a kinsman, and if there is no kinsman it is to be made to the Cohen. So whatever that restitution was, the Cohen was to receive it for his own personal use.

As we know there is no longer a Temple in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), nor is there an Aharonic priesthood presiding over the Temple services, so we need to ask ourselves, “If this mitzvah (commandment) is Temple and priesthood dependant, does it still have application today?” The answer to that question is “yes,” and I will explain why shortly.

Even though Yeshua HaMashiach forgives us for our sins when we confess our sins, there are still consequences for sin, and we must therefore still make restitution if we have cheated, stolen, borrowed something without returning it or caused anyone expense as a result of our sin. However, what if we come up against a situation as specified in our Scripture passage above? There is no longer any Temple. There is no longer a Cohen. So how do we make restitution if the person we have sinned against has passed away without having any next of kin or if the company we took something from is no longer in business?

Now, I am not here to accuse anyone, but I am sure that I can confidently say that somewhere in the world at sometime in recent history, a pastoral leader of a congregation took advantage of this passage of Scripture. I am sure that I could say that even some who boldly declare to their congregants that, “We are no longer under the Law,” have applied this passage of Scripture to themselves and received unwarranted and unbiblical gifts from well meaning, well intentioned people who honestly wanted to be exonerated by making restitution. In fact I have been asked by such people how this passage of Scripture is to be interpreted and how it was to be applied today. I have even been asked if I would receive their offering of restitution, which of course I do not.

After careful reading, praying and seeking the L-rd concerning the proper application of this passage of Scripture, I think I have the mind of G-d for the answer.

Even though we do not have a Temple in Yerushalayim today and even though there is no longer a Cohen to receive the gifts of restitution in cases as specified in our Parasha, I believe that HaShem still requires us to make restitution. Even if the person we have sinned against has passed away without having any next of kin or the company we took something from is no longer in business, we still need to bring restitution. How then are we to do it? Are we to give it to our pastor or rabbi for their personal use? Absolutely not! Restitution should always be made when required, but it must be done appropriately. It should fulfill the requirements of Torah to the person sinned against or to their next of kin. However, if in the case the person is dead or there is no next of kin or the company is no longer in existence, then I believe that the restitution money should be given to the Kehilah (Congregation) to which you are going and it should be specified that it is a gift of restitution, to be used for the furtherance of HaShem’s Kingdom, therefore, for missions or evangelism.

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!

BaMidbar -Numbers

Another contribution from Rabbi Jack in Toronto, Thanks again for sharing, -Bradley



"Numbering For War And Miracles"


Parashat HaShavua BaMidbar / In The Wilderness

This Week's Reading List:
BaMidbar / Numbers 1:1-4:20
Hoshea / Hosea 2:1-22
Korintim Aleph / 1st Corinthians 12:12-20


Kefa Alef (1 Peter) {2:9} But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for G-d's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;

I can not remember ever starting one of my commentaries with a passage of Scripture from the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant), so this may very well be a first. The reason I started with this passage of Scripture is because of what we learn from Parasha Bamidbar.

Bamidbar {1:47} But the Leviim (Levites) after the tribe of their avot (fathers) were not numbered among them. {1:48} For HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses), saying, {1:49} Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, neither shall you take the sum of them among beni Yisrael (children of Israel) ; {1:50} but appoint you the Leviim over the tent of the testimony, and over all the furniture of it, and over all that belongs to it: they shall bear the tent, and all the furniture of it; and they shall minister to it, and shall encamp round about the tent. {1:51} When the tent sets forward, the Leviim shall take it down; and when the tent is to be pitched, the Leviim shall set it up: and the Ger (Foreigner) who comes near shall be put to death. {1:52} Bnei Yisrael shall pitch their tents, every ish (man) by his own camp, and every ish by his own standard, according to their hosts. {1:53} But the Leviim shall encamp round about the tent of the testimony, that there be no wrath on the kehilah (congregation) of bnei of Yisrael: and the Leviim shall keep the charge of the tent of the testimony. {1:54} Thus did bnei Yisrael; according to all that HaShem commanded Moshe, so did they.

This Parasha is all about numbering bnei Yisrael. However, it was a special numbering. Only those twenty years to fifty years old that were able to go to war were numbered. That would mean that anyone fifty years and older were excluded from the census. The total numbers of able bodied men able to go to war were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty. Now of course, because the Liviim were in charge of the religious life of the congregation of Yisrael, their responsibility being HaShem’s representative to the people and visa versa, they were excluded from battle and therefore from the census.

I know some of you may think that I am going to talk about believers in Yeshua HaMashiach being conscientious objectors (against going to war for religious reasons) but that is the farthest thing from my mind. The fact is the Leviim did go to war; they just did not go into battle as we can see from the following passage of Scripture:

Y’hoshua (Joshua) {3:8} "You shall, moreover, command the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant, saying, 'When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. '" {3:9} Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of HaShem your G-d." {3:10} And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living G-d is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. {3:11} "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the L-rd of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.

Today, of course, there is no Mishkan for us, as a Royal Priesthood, to serve in and therefore, the supportive role as the keepers of the Ark of the Covenant and all the accoutrements of the korban (draw near / offering) system is no longer necessary. Yet in the verse I quoted from Kefa Alef above we are called a royal priesthood. Therefore, our role as priest has evolved a little since the days of the Mishkan and the Bet HaMigdash (Temple). As priest of G-d today, even though we are not responsible to maintain a Tabernacle or Temple with its system of offerings, we like the Liviim of biblical times are still responsible to represent HaShem (the Father) to the people. Therefore, I believe that a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach today, needs to be anywhere and everywhere possible to preach the Besorah Tovah (Good News) about Yeshua HaMashiach and His free gift of salvation. This of course would include the armed forces.

Countless stories of miracles happening on the battlefield and stories of battlefield salvations have come out of the wars being fought today by Canada, the United States and Israel. Now, I am not a proponent of war but sadly, like it was in biblical times, sometimes war is necessary. As for believers in Yeshua HaMashiach, even as a royal priesthood, we can not be conscientious objectors. Like the Liviim of old, we have a G-d to represent and what better place to represent Him then among soldiers who are facing the prospect of death everyday and who may have questions about their eternal destiny.

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!