Beit Tefillah Torah Teaching

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Beit Tefillah Torah Teaching

• Parashah Devarim (Deuteronomy) 2419-2519
• Read Portion

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Traditional Blessing Before the Reading of the
Torah

• Baruch atah HaShem Eloheynu melech ha'olam,
• Asher bachar banu mikol-ha'amim, venatan lanu
  et-torato Baruch atah HaShem, noten hatorah.
  Amen
• Blessed are You HaShem our Elohim, King of the
  Universe,
• who has chosen us from all peoples and has given
  us His Torah. Blessed are You -HaShem, Giver of
  the Torah.

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Traditional Blessing After the Reading of the
Torah

• Baruch atah HaShem, Eloheynu melech ha'olam,
• Asher natan lanu torat emet, vechayey olam nata
  betochenu. Baruch atah HaShem, noten hatorah.
  Amen
• Blessed are You HaShem our Elohim, King of the
  universe,
• who has given us the Torah of truth, and has
  planted everlasting life in our midst. Blessed
  are You -HaShem, Giver of the Torah.

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Beit Tefillah Torah Teaching

• Outline
• Forgotten harvest
• Levirate Marriage
• Battle with Amalek

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Forgotten Harvest

• Deut 2419-20 When thou cuttest down thine
  harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in
  the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it
  it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless,
  and for the widow that the LORD thy God may
  bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When
  thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go
  over the boughs again it shall be for the
  stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

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Forgotten Harvest

• Deut 2421-22 When thou gatherest the grapes of
  thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward
  it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless,
  and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that
  thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt
  therefore I command thee to do this thing.

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Forgotten Harvest

• What is the connection between the laws given in
  these verses and Egypt?
• To answer this question, another question must be
  asked first.
• What would cause a person to need the forgotten
  harvest?
• Proposed answers
• They either did not have any land
• Did not have the ability to work the land that
  they did own
• Their crop failed

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Forgotten Harvest

• What is the connection between the laws given in
  these verses and Egypt?
• Proposed answer Remember the hardships of Egypt
  when you had to work land that was not your own.
  Remember when a drought came and you had to give
  up your land and rely on others for your food.
• What life lesson do we learn from these laws?
• It is our responsibility to take care of others.
  To take care of those you run into hardships.
  You never know when it will be you in need of
  help.

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Levirate Marriage

• Deut 255-6 If brethren dwell together, and one
  of them die, and have no child, the wife of the
  dead shall not marry without unto a stranger her
  husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take
  her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an
  husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that
  the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in
  the name of his brother which is dead, that his
  name be not put out of Israel.

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Levirate Marriage

• This idea seems strange to the 20th century
  western American. To better understand why this
  is so we must look back in Exodus to what a woman
  is entitled to in a marriage.
• Ex 2110 If he take him another wife her food,
  her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he
  not diminish.
• A married woman had a right to food, clothing,
  and conjugal rights. Included in conjugal rights
  is the right to bare children. (see also Gen 38
  Judah / Tamar and Ruth 4).
• Bearing children was one way a woman gained
  status.

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Levirate Marriage

• If the Levirate Marriage was not preformed it was
  considered a shame upon the brother.
• Deut 258-9 Then the elders of his city shall
  call him, and speak unto him and if he stand to
  it, and say, I like not to take her Then shall
  his brother's wife come unto him in the presence
  of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his
  foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and
  say, So shall it be done unto that man that will
  not build up his brother's house.

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Battle with Amalek

• Deut 2517-19 Remember what Amalek did unto
  thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of
  Egypt How he met thee by the way, and smote the
  hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble
  behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary and
  he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when
  the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all
  thine enemies round about, in the land which the
  LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to
  possess it, that thou shalt blot out the
  remembrance of Amalek from under heaven thou
  shalt not forget it.

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Battle with Amalek

• Joshua and the prophecy to fight Amalek
• Ex 1714,16 HaShem said to Moses, Write this
  as a remembrance in the Book and recite it in the
  ears of Joshua, that I shall surely erase the
  memory of Amalek from under the heavens.HaShem
  maintains a war against Amalek, from generation
  to generation.
• The above verse is one of many that Judaism cites
  as a prophecy concerning Messiah son of Joseph.

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Battle with Amalek

• From whom did Amalek descend?
• Genesis 36 tells us the Amalek is a descedent of
  Esau (Esau was also called Edom in Gen. 2530)
• Gen 3612 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz
  Esau's son and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek
• Gen 3616 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke
  Amalek these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz
  in the land of Edom

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Battle with Amalek

• Ob 118 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire,
  and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of
  Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them,
  and devour them and there shall not be any
  remaining of the house of Esau for the LORD hath
  spoken it.

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Battle with Amalek

• The book Mashiach by Jacob Schochet pg. 96 (note
  7) Mashiach ben Yossefs battle against Edom is
  analogous to, and the culmination of, Israels
  first battle against Edom (Amalek) after the
  exodus from Egypt (Exodus 175ff.). In that
  first battle, the Jewish army was led by Joshua
  who is also of the tribe of Ephraim, and
  (according to some) this Mashiachs ancestor

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Battle with Amalek

• We fought Amalek during the first exodus with
  Joshua (an Ephramite) as our leader, should we
  not then expect to fight Amalek during the second
  exodus (Is.11, Ezek. 20, Jer. 31) with an
  Ephramite leading us into battle.
• End of teaching
• Questions / thoughts

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