Loving the Law with Rabbi Shmuel Bowman (Going Deeper Series)

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Welcome to Out of Zion with Susan Michael, an exploration of the Bible and the land of

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Israel.

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From ancient biblical sites to the story behind the stories, join Susan on a journey through

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the most exciting book on the planet.

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Hit the subscribe button for future episodes, which will deepen your faith and bring the

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Bible to life.

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And now, here's our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there, and welcome back to another episode of Going Deeper.

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This is our fifth episode, and one I'm really looking forward to talking about the Torah

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and God's commandments that we're reading about this week in our Walk Through the Bible

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reading.

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We have with us today a very special guest, a very special friend of the International

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Christian Embassy Jerusalem and of mine, Rabbi Shmuel Bolman.

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And Rabbi Bolman is the Executive Director of Operation Life Shield, and we partner with

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him in placing bomb shelters throughout southern Israel and vulnerable communities there to

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rocket attacks.

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And so we have had the opportunity to work very closely together for a number of years

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and to get to know each other and to build relationships that go beyond the personal

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level and more between our communities.

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And Rabbi Bolman is also an ordained Torah scribe, and that means that he has a love

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and a passion for teaching the sacredness of the Hebrew text and also the significance

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of the rabbinic law and the rabbinic traditions that go along with that text.

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And so, Rabbi Bolman, we just give you a very warm welcome from your home there in Israel.

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We thank you for joining us today.

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Wonderful to be here, Susan.

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Thank you.

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Well, first, we all want to know what is a Torah scribe, and how did you become one,

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and what is it that you do?

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So this is a great question.

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A Torah scribe in Hebrew is a sofair, sofair stamm.

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Because to say just a scribe, if you look at the dictionary, for example, a scribe will

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define it something like somebody who wrote down things before the invention of the printing

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press or something like that.

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And clearly, the printing press has long been invented, and in fact, we're dealing with

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printing and writing things digitally.

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And yet, there are those of us who are still scribing today.

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So clearly, there's still a role for us, even with the invention of all this technology.

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So therefore, what is it?

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To be a Torah scribe, to be a sofair stamm, means that we're writing sacred writings.

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And in this case, we're talking about Torah, we're talking about Tfilon, and we're talking

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about Mzuzot, which I'll get into more detail, as well as other sacred writings that, Susan,

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are more than just having a nice handwriting.

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This isn't calligraphy.

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This is about following the strict guidelines of the law, of the law of Moses, to make sure

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that each and every letter is absolutely exact and perfect, and is connected to the

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exact same way we've been writing these same sacred scrolls for thousands of years, without

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any change whatsoever.

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So in a sense, it's a combination of having, obviously, you've got to have legible, and

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I would say good, scribal handwriting.

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But you also need to know the laws, and ask the very basic question, what defines this

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Hebrew letter?

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And the other thing that it means, for those out there in TV land and radio land who know

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the Hebrew letters, and that is that the Hebrew letters, sofair, means lispor.

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In Hebrew, it means to count, which means I'm a counter.

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I'm a writer and a counter.

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And what am I counting?

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I'm counting space.

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I'm counting the space that defines each letter.

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I'm the counting the space between each letter and between each line.

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And so it's a combination of those things.

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I know that sounds like a long and complicated answer, and it is on purpose.

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Well, I love it, and it's this tradition, and it's this strictness of the tradition

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that has given us a text that we can be very confident in, that it's accurate, because

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you and generations of predecessors have kept it very, very strictly to the letter.

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And I was always told that when writing a Torah scroll, that if there was one mistake,

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that it had to be discarded and started all over again.

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You didn't allow any mistakes.

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And so we thank you.

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It can be noted.

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Because that means that we have an accurate text.

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Well, exactly.

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Well, you're welcome.

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On behalf of scribes from all the generations.

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Yeah, that's exactly right.

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You've really articulated the crux of the issue.

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The issue is, it has to be exact so that the transmission of the Torah, the transmission

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of the Bible from generation to generation, can be accurate.

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And in order to do this, you need to be a Torah scribe.

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You have to be God fearing.

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Because there's no way that you can transmit the Word of God from generation to generation

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without feeling the sense of like, if I decide to go on my own creative path here, if I decide

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that, you know what, I think I'll phrase it this way.

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I think the letter will look nicer that way.

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If you don't have the fear of God, that's the way that the terminology, it's called

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Yeret Shemayim, then you can't do this job.

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Okay, you have to be able to be an observant Orthodox Jew, to be able to know the laws and

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to be able to say, I'm taking this stuff seriously.

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It has nothing to do with how I feel that day.

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Okay, it has to do with those guidelines.

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And the fact is that we're writing in the same way that we were writing for last, you

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know, a couple thousand years.

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We're using a feather.

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We're using this case of turkey feather.

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And this turkey feather gets worked down and I create this.

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So this is the result of a turkey feather for those who can see this.

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It's a, what's called a commas or a quill.

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And for those of you listening in on the podcast, try and imagine a fountain pen that was made

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from a feather.

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It has to be carved down and ultimately used for the ink to flow down.

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I'm using black ink.

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It has to be strictly black.

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It has to be kosher black ink.

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In other words, the ink cannot be comprised of any animal products that would be on kosher.

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So it has to be black ink.

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It can't be green ink.

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It can't be, you know, I may, you know, I love, I love all sorts of colored dicks.

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I, you know, I write with blue black.

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I like, I write with green.

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Mm-mm.

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Not when you're writing sacred scrolls.

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It has to be black ink and you have to be writing on parchment, not on papyrus and not

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on lovely stationary.

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Okay.

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And it has to be.

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So these are all things that haven't changed in thousands of years.

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And so we're, hopefully the idea is, is that when we've written a Torah scroll, when I've

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written a Torah scroll and you read it, it's going to be the same Torah scroll that you

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could have been reading 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 2000 years ago, 3000 years ago,

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all the way back to Mount Sinai.

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And I love it.

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And that is what's so exciting.

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I'm passionate about it.

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Yes.

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As you can tell, perhaps, and I love talking about it because it's, it's a great, it's

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a great responsibility and a great, and a great gift.

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It is.

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It's a very special responsibility.

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And so I'd like to talk a little bit now about Torah itself, what it is that you're

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writing.

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And, you know, I'll be very transparent with everyone.

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One of the reasons I really wanted to do this interview with Rabbi Bowman was because in

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the New Testament, the word Torah is largely translated as law.

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And a lot of Christian theology and all just has such a negative perspective of law.

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And so I wanted us to hear today from an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, what law means to the Jewish

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people.

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What is Torah?

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How did they translate it?

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How do they see it, what its purposes are?

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So Rabbi, what is Torah and what's a better translation of it, a better explanation of

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what it is?

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Right.

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So the translation of Torah is a guidebook.

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And if you were going on a hike anywhere in America, in Europe, in Israel, so it would

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be dangerous actually to start on a trail that you've never been on before and just

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start walking.

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You don't know how long that trail is going to last for.

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You don't know what you're going to need.

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You're going to need water and for how many days?

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You're going to need light.

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You're going to be walking in the dark.

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Are you going to be camping out?

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Are you going to be dangerous animals?

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Are there going to be bandits along the way?

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You need to have a guidebook that's going to be able to say, okay, you're about to go

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down this path.

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These are the tools that you're going to need in order to not only survive but to flourish.

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And so the Torah is that guidebook and that path is the path of life.

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And that path is, that's a life with yourself, with your family.

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It's a journey with your community and it's a journey with other nations.

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And so this journey to go down that journey, that road, that trail, blind, if you will,

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without a guidebook, you could fall into a lot of holes and you could get bitten by a

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lot of snakes.

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You need to know what to pack into your backpack and that's what the Torah is.

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It's your guidebook.

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And yes, it does have many, many laws in there.

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But those laws, which are both what's called mitzvot, positive commandments and let's

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call them negative commandments.

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In other words, things that you do and things that you don't do.

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So that's just the same way as you would pack your backpack for the kind of trail you're

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about to go on.

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What are the things that you are going to do?

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How much water are you going to bring?

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And what are you not going to be doing on that trail?

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What plants should you stay away from and not eat, right?

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Because it could be poisonous.

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So the Torah is filled with laws which are about how to navigate this pathway of called

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life and to do it successfully.

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Well, I just want to interject one thing.

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When you refer to Torah or when anyone refers to Torah, that's what we call the first five

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books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, correct?

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So yes and yes and no.

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And so when we refer to the ball and the prophets, yes and no.

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Okay.

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So, Jews expand that definition.

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Okay, you're right.

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It does the Torah in the most literal, literal sense is the five books of Moses, right?

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From Genesis to Deuteronomy.

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Absolutely.

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But we also expand that term to also include the prophets, the writings and to also include

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the oral law, what's called the Talmud.

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Okay, which is rabbinic law.

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So all of that is called Torah.

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Why?

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Because all of that is the guidebook or the guidebooks that one is going to need in order

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to thrive in this life.

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And I need to emphasize so importantly that what do we mean to thrive in this life?

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It means to be really a servant of God.

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It really means to follow the will of God.

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Okay, to be in a sense that kind of person that is filled with God and is then able to

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live a God filled life.

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Because just to walk down that trail just for the fun of it.

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Okay, that's very cute and very nice and everything, but there's much more that we're meant to

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do on that trail of life, much more than just to kind of skip along.

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We're supposed to walk that trail filled with the Spirit of God.

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And this is the guidebook on how to do it.

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It's beautiful.

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And the Torah is not just about the law and the commandments, which is what we're reading

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right now in our weekly reading.

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But it's all, it's the stories, it's the history, it's the prophecies, it's all of it, is all

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encompassing in Torah as your guidebook.

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But there's one element in there that we've been reading about and that is God's covenant

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with the nation of Israel.

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And I kind of liken it to a marriage proposal from Mount Sinai.

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And God says, if you'll obey me and you'll follow me, then you're going to be my treasured

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possession above all the earth.

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And you'll be to me a kingdom of a priest of holy nation.

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And the people of Israel said, okay, well, we will.

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And the first thing that God gave was the Ten Commandments.

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So first tell us what is your view of that covenant and the purpose of it?

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Well, it's a beautiful image.

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The wedding, the wedding ceremony, as a matter of fact, we talk about at the festival of

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Shavuot, which follows its 50 weeks after Passover, Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks.

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And the idea that that is the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

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And we liken that idea actually to a wedding.

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That that's, you know, and it's all there.

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There's the wedding canopy is there.

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The nation of Israel is there.

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God is there.

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What's described as in, I guess, an anthropomorphic terms, God being the groom, the nation of

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Israel being the bride.

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It's very much an anthropomorphic terms in image terms.

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But that's that feeling that we're going into this not a business deal.

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This isn't a contract between two companies trying to figure out how to make a profit.

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No, this is like you're talking about.

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It's this love between God and the nation of Israel.

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And we're saying, this is what I'm bringing to the marriage.

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And this is what I'm bringing to the marriage.

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And that's what that covenant is about.

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It's like when you go into, when you go into a marriage and you say, well, this is, this

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is what I promised to do.

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And this is what I promised to do.

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And thus a beautiful forever eternal relationship comes out of that.

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Right.

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So that's a beautiful, beautiful example.

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And then so then God gave the 10 commandments, but then the whole lot of more commandments

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followed.

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So what is the difference?

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What is, what is the purpose of the 10 commandments by themselves?

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And then explain to us about the rest.

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There's 613 commandments explained to us how the difference.

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Sure.

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So again, we have to go back to the Hebrew.

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We have to go back to the Hebrew.

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You know, there's no, there are no shortcuts in the Hebrew.

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It's not called the 10 commandments.

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Even though you and I both love that movie by Cecil B. DeMille Star and Charlton Heston,

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fabulous movie.

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I love it.

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It's just a great movie.

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But here we go.

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That's not what it's called in the, in the Hebrew.

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It's not called the 10 commandments.

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The word for 10 is Esser.

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Right.

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And, and the next word is Esserat hadeebrot.

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Esserat hadeebrot.

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That's how the 10 commandments are actually called, which means the 10 utterances or the

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10 spoken words.

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Okay.

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Or the 10 spoken phrases, which is not the same word as commandments.

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As we mentioned, the word for commandment is mitzvot.

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Okay.

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And the word mitzvot comes from the word save, or sav, which means obligations.

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Okay.

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So those laws that we're talking about are obligations.

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Okay.

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Just like if you were to become a member of a club or a citizen of a country or, you

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know, even in many families, there are guidelines, obligations, right?

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If you're going to be part of this family, then you're obligated to show up at dinner

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at every night or to call in when you're traveling or whatever.

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There's all sorts of agreements within a family, there are obligations within a company, there

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are obligations within a club, membership, within a synagogue, within a church.

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That's what commandments are.

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That is actually, that's what commandments are.

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However, the 10 utterances, if you will, are bold stoplights.

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They're lights that go off, they flash, and they're there to illuminate literally in front

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of our eyes at all times.

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And they're basic truths.

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Do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery.

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Right?

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Honor this, you know, honor your parents.

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Okay.

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So, serve the Sabbath.

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Do not take the name of God.

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These are basics so that even with all the other mitzvot, and there are 613 of them just

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in the five books of Moses, and then there are thousands more when we get into rabbinic

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law, okay?

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And there, these are laws, these are obligations that you need to study, and they take you

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to take a lot of work.

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But if you want to put like bullet points and have them in front of you, that's the

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10 utterances, okay?

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And they are within the body of the mitzvot, of the commandments, of the obligations.

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Well, okay, you've mentioned something here about rabbinic law, and so I feel like we

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want to clarify that for our listeners.

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So the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, are found in the written Torah.

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And then when you mention rabbinic law, that's what you would call the oral Torah, which

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has been developed over the centuries alongside the written Torah.

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And it's in order to clarify and to elaborate on the written Torah and to implement it into

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your lives.

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A lot of times we don't quite grasp this, but if God says, you know, and maybe you

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can give us a good example, okay, to observe the Sabbath, well then how do you do that?

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And that's where the rabbis came in and said, well, this is how you do it, this is what

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you don't want to do, and then as the times would change, they would have to elaborate

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on it further to give you guidance, because you didn't want to break that commandment,

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but you didn't really know how practically to carry it out in your life.

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And so that's how you ended up with just, as you said, thousands of oral law alongside

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the Torah.

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Yeah, I think that's a really good way of describing it.

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And I'll just go a little further by saying that we believe that the oral Torah was delivered

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at the same time as the written Torah.

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And what does that mean?

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That means that the Torah is written down, there's 613 commandments, but from the very,

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very, very beginning, there were ideas of, okay, how do we now, how do we implement this

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from the very beginning all the way from Mount Sinai?

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And as you correctly stated, as time went by, more and more issues come up, okay?

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It's almost like you can liken it to the US Constitution.

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The founding father is right down the original Constitution, and then as time goes by, issues

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come up and you have amendments, right?

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So you have the initial Constitution, which is a certain amount of fixed writing, and

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then over time, and that document, the Constitution, is a living document.

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And even today, things come up, and that's what, in a sense, the Supreme Court of the

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United States is all about.

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You go and see whether or not is this or is this not constitutional.

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And that's very, very important.

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Also that the laws that are made, whether it's in the United States, we're talking about

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Congress or if in other countries, Parliament or in Israel, the Knesset, they ultimately

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have to come back to, well, is this or is this not constitutional?

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So the same thing happens with the Torah.

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I'll give you a clear example.

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The Torah specifically says to write these words on your, and place them on your head

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and on your heart.

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That's nice.

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Okay.

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So how do you do that?

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How do you actually do that?

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And the rabbis at the same time came along.

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So what's called Tfilon, which is another thing that I'm writing.

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So Tfilon, just to give you an example, is in the shape of black boxes.

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Where in the Torah, I'm talking about in the written law, does it talk about these black

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boxes?

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And yet every Jewish male is putting them on every single morning.

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And then we've been doing this for the last 3000 years.

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Why?

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That's because that's part of what was called the oral law.

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And that's, and what happens with rabbinic laws, quite simple.

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And that is that came a point in time when because of dispersion and because of the expansion

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of the Jewish world, that it was no longer feasible just to pass this information orally,

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in other words, from mouth to ear, from one generation to the other.

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And it became necessary to transcribe these laws and write them down.

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And that became the Talmud.

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And that's what we call rabbinic law, which still is alive and flourishing to today.

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00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:09,760
Okay.

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00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,800
Well, we just read this last week, I believe.

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We read out of Deuteronomy 11, where we have the verse that describes what you just referred

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to.

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So I want to read the verse.

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It says, fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds.

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Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

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Teach them to your children.

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And write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

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And I love how that you have learned to implement that in such practical ways.

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And if you would share with us about the phylactery and what's in it and what you say when you

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put it on in the morning, because it's such a beautiful verse.

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00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:00,840
It most definitely is.

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00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,440
Well, these are, again, for the viewing audience, these are the phylactery.

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Okay.

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00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,640
So this is the one for the head.

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It has four separate compartments.

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And this is the one for the arm.

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For those of you just listening, try and imagine a square box made of leather attached by leather

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00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:21,880
straps.

382
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:22,880
Okay.

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00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,280
And in Hebrew, we call this tilan.

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00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:29,760
One goes on the arm because it has to be facing the heart.

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And the other one, as we just mentioned directly from the Book of Deuteronomy, is going to

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00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,280
wind up going right between our eyes, right somewhere around there.

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00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:39,280
And that's what's going on.

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Once I put them on, I'm saying this beautiful sentence that says, وَرَسْטِحْلِ لَدْنَيْبْ

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رَسْטِحْلِ لَצَدَكَ مِشْبَطْ بَحَسْدِ

390
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:55,040
And it goes on and it basically says, I am being betrothed to you, God.

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We are being betrothed to each other.

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And it goes perfectly to the image that you shared with us just a moment ago regarding

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that marriage.

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00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:06,920
We are in a constant-stated betroval.

395
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,160
One of the questions you may ask is, is like, no, so like, when are you getting married already?

396
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,160
Like, when is the marriage happened?

397
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:19,560
You're always in the state of betrothal, which is almost like this engagement process.

398
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,080
And yeah, that's right.

399
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:29,320
We are literally every day going through that loving betrothal experience with God as we

400
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:30,320
put these on.

401
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:31,640
And what are we putting on?

402
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:33,440
Because maybe that'll give us the clue.

403
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:34,880
So in Deuteronomy, what are we putting on?

404
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,200
But Phyllian includes four passages.

405
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,440
Exodus chapter 13, verses 1 through 10.

406
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,400
Exodus chapter 13, verses 11 through 16.

407
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,520
Deuteronomy 6, verse 4 through 9.

408
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,480
And then Deuteronomy 11, 13 through 21.

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00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:52,960
And we take a look and we break those down.

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00:26:52,960 --> 00:27:01,760
We see that the first two passages have to do with the Exodus from slavery.

411
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:02,760
Okay?

412
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:03,760
Wow.

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00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:10,360
That's even going to free you from slavery, except that that that which loves you.

414
00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:11,360
Okay?

415
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:14,600
That's a tremendous, tremendous, tremendous statement.

416
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:15,600
That sense of freedom.

417
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:20,080
The second two passages from Deuteronomy have to do with love, loving God.

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With Deuteronomy 6 dealing all about love and Deuteronomy 11 talking about the rewards

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00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,360
of that covenant that we talked about at the beginning.

420
00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:34,280
And those are the four messages that are always on us, on our forehead and on our arm.

421
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:36,760
The other thing you mentioned is about putting them on our doorposts.

422
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,680
That's called a Mizzuzah.

423
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:41,840
And this is a Mizzuzah.

424
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:42,840
It's a flattened one.

425
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,480
It ultimately gets rolled up.

426
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,920
And what this is, is Deuteronomy 6 and Deuteronomy 11.

427
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,560
It's all about love.

428
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:52,560
But it's a declaration.

429
00:27:52,560 --> 00:28:00,880
Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad is the first line, which in English is sometimes

430
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:07,460
translated as hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

431
00:28:07,460 --> 00:28:10,680
But the word shema isn't just here.

432
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:17,760
It's more about listening on the inside.

433
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:19,440
Listening on the inside.

434
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:20,960
That God is one.

435
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:21,960
Okay?

436
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:23,840
It's our mission statement.

437
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:24,840
Okay?

438
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:25,840
And where are we putting this?

439
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:27,520
We roll this up into a nice little roll.

440
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:28,520
Okay?

441
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:29,520
We roll it up.

442
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:34,840
We place it inside a bite, which means a house, a housing, if you will.

443
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,200
And that can be any material that you want.

444
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:39,920
The Mizzuzah has to be on parchment.

445
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,160
Everything has to be on parchment.

446
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:42,640
This can be on, it can be plastic.

447
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:43,640
It can be glass.

448
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:44,640
It can be stone.

449
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:45,640
It can be metal.

450
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:46,640
It can be whatever you want.

451
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,480
You put it on your doorpost of your house.

452
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:57,480
And it's a constant reminder when you go in and when you go out, right, that you're bringing

453
00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,000
God into the house and when you leave, you take God with you.

454
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,000
Okay?

455
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,000
That's what's going on.

456
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,200
It's not like there's a switch that you turn God on and turn God off.

457
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:08,600
Okay?

458
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,680
God is always, always in you.

459
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:17,200
And what a better, what not a better place to place that message that on your doorpost.

460
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:23,080
And I love it because it just shows that love and reverence really for the Word of God and

461
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:31,200
for the Torah and that honoring of it and wanting to be reminded of it in everyday life

462
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:36,800
and to make sure that you're always doing these things to remind you of what God has

463
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,320
said and to remind you of that relationship.

464
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,200
And it really is a very beautiful thing.

465
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:48,600
And we're always so worried about legalism, but I think it's good to take a moment and

466
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:55,840
look at the absolute beauty of these daily reminders and daily routines that are there

467
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:01,400
because of the love for Torah and the love for the God of Torah.

468
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:08,000
You know, if it were just about, I'm just going to say that those, that those routines,

469
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:14,040
those, those guidelines, laws, commandments, whatever you want to call them, things that,

470
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,080
that sometimes people can feel really weighted by like, oh, really?

471
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,680
Can we, do we really have to follow these things?

472
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:20,680
Is that what it's about?

473
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:27,040
Well, the problem is we're human beings and let's face it, we sometimes do things based

474
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:32,320
on, you know, our feelings, based on pleasure, based on pain, based on all sorts of things

475
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:38,160
that, that, that affect our decision making.

476
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:42,560
The fact of the matter is, is that as long as I have these things, I have to, I have

477
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:47,480
to put these on every morning, except for Shabbat and on festivals.

478
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,280
Doesn't matter how I feel like it or not.

479
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:50,360
You know what, Susan?

480
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,520
Some days I'm really into it.

481
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:53,680
I really am.

482
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:55,120
I got news for you.

483
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,000
Other days, I got a meaning to go to.

484
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,400
I got things to go to.

485
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:01,400
Really?

486
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:02,680
I got to put these on?

487
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:03,680
Really?

488
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:04,680
Come on, maybe?

489
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:05,680
I don't feel like it.

490
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:06,680
Too bad.

491
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:07,840
Too bad.

492
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,480
You put them on and zap, you're reminded.

493
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,080
Oh yeah.

494
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,800
Oh, God is in my life today.

495
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:22,200
That's what's going on, whether I felt like it or not.

496
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:29,440
Well you mentioned Shabbat, so let's end our time together today talking about the Sabbath.

497
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:37,000
And you know, the Sabbath was there in creation and the roots go back to the creation.

498
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:45,360
But then God brings it in as though it's a part of your arrangement with Him, your observance

499
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:46,520
of the Sabbath.

500
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:52,880
So share with us just a minute before we close today about the significance of the Shabbat

501
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:53,880
to you.

502
00:31:53,880 --> 00:32:02,000
Okay, well, you know, Shabbat at its very, very core is really about keeping a Jewish

503
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,080
home Jewish.

504
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,080
And it's very interesting because we have a saying that says that more than Jews have

505
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,120
kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath have kept the Jews.

506
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:11,680
What does that mean?

507
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:20,160
That means that like it or not, if you're observant, you're taking 24 hours off from

508
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:21,760
whatever you're doing.

509
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,280
And it's very interesting because we don't use the word taking time off, we call it taking

510
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,160
time on.

511
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,080
It's a time to really get real.

512
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:39,520
It's a time to just stop and to reflect and to be part of the creation process because

513
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:43,280
God rested from creating on the seventh day.

514
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:50,360
And when we do that, when we mimic that experience, we discover something amazing.

515
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,320
And that is, you know what, it's nothing.

516
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:53,640
It's not about me.

517
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,760
I don't have to really be working seven days a week.

518
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,280
It's a real ego buster.

519
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:05,640
Okay, we really come along and we understand that I'm doing my part, but really it's all

520
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:08,440
God.

521
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:14,320
And lo and behold, I can take off that day and I can get into, you know, I can elevate.

522
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,360
Everything we're doing is about elevating.

523
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,080
Everything that we're doing is about sanctifying the food that we're eating, the wine that

524
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,920
we're drinking, the blessings that we're making, the prayers that we're saying.

525
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:29,080
It's all about saying, let's makhadiish, let's do kiddush, let's raise it up another level

526
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,200
for 25 hours, for 24, 25 hours.

527
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:37,360
And then when Shabbat ends, we make a separation between Shabbat and the rest of the week.

528
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:38,480
It's called Havdallah.

529
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,880
We go back now into the rest of the week.

530
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:46,520
We drop down, we drop down, but we take a little bit about that Sabbath with us to imbue

531
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,360
it into the rest of the week.

532
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,160
The Shabbat, it's an amazing gift.

533
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:52,160
I love it.

534
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:58,880
Well, I love how you said that not only do you keep the Shabbat, but it has kept you.

535
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:04,480
And I once heard someone describe the Sabbath as almost like the wedding ring.

536
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:10,720
In other words, it's a visible sign of the covenant of the marriage.

537
00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:15,520
And it's there.

538
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:21,000
It has kept you because it gave something that the whole family did together every week

539
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,040
and a tradition that was passed on from generation to generation.

540
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:31,240
But it's like, it's a visible sign that there's a relationship here, that there's something

541
00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:33,640
different here in this family.

542
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:35,160
We actually call it Nihimbru.

543
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:36,160
It's been, I give it.

544
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:43,240
Exactly like you say, we actually say, Shabbat, we say, ot hi le olam, which literally means

545
00:34:43,240 --> 00:34:46,600
what you just said, ot means a sign.

546
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,240
Olam means forever.

547
00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:55,760
And we say, Shabbat ot hi le olam, Shabbat is a sign of our covenant forever.

548
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,240
You're absolutely right.

549
00:34:58,240 --> 00:34:59,240
That's beautiful.

550
00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:00,240
Well, thank you so much.

551
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:08,120
There's so much for us to learn and to gain from this, even as the Christian community,

552
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:15,240
American Christian community, to realize the importance of looking different and being

553
00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:22,360
different, of keeping alive that we are different from the rest of the world and not being ashamed

554
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:29,960
of that and to realize the significance of it and how that it honors God when we keep

555
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:38,080
these traditions and we keep these things before others and we come apart and are different.

556
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:44,600
And so we want to thank you, Shemail, for being with us today and for sharing just from your

557
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,360
heart on these traditions.

558
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:54,480
I think our listeners are really going to enjoy it and take away from it just an encouragement

559
00:35:54,480 --> 00:36:01,120
here of walking in the footsteps that your people have laid for us to come alongside

560
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:07,680
and to just to love the word of the Lord, make it our whole life and to make sure that

561
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:13,720
every day we're uplifting it, we're being reminded of it, and we're living according

562
00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:15,720
to it because it is a roadmap.

563
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:18,160
So thank you so much.

564
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:24,560
And we just invite everyone back here next week for our next week's reading of Walk

565
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,520
Through the Bible.

566
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,320
And just thank you so much for joining us today.

567
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,840
And until then, God bless.

568
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,720
We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

569
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:44,200
Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or

570
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,400
wherever you like to listen and learn.

571
00:36:46,400 --> 00:37:04,440
Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJUSA, All Rights Reserved.