Judaism : What is Righteousness and Holiness

 

Judaism must get beyond the fetish stage in which the Laws of God are handled childishly. Repetitive acts alluding to the Torah and God, and Israel and the nation’s obligations; are okay so long as they are employed to attract attention so that the true message, meaning and mission of Israel can be delivered. This stage should have ended with Joshua when the 12 tribes entered the Land of Israel for the first time as a nation around 3500 years ago.

 

The next step should have been taken, but wasn’t. Israel has paid dearly for this failure. Today, Israel is being threatened from the same place that destroyed her 2600 years ago.

 

Let us not allow ourselves the typical time proven formula for disaster, which Israel has employed in the past. Running to Assyria or Egypt for assistance never worked in the past. And running to America, Europe and the UN will not work today.

 

In fact, Iran has about 1000 speed boats armed with anti-ship cruise missiles to take on the U.S fleets sitting ominously in the Persian Gulf. If you don’t think God can allow this Lilliputian fleet of fanatics to serve as the rod of His anger (Isaiah 10:5) and allow them to conquer the Giant Gulliver’s armada of aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines and support vessels, you are mistaken. If God wants Israel punished for its chronic failure to comply with His Covenant and America embarrassed for breaking faith with her founding fathers’ dedication of the Republic of the United States of America to biblical principles, this is what will happen!

 

Iran is in the process of receiving North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range greater than her own missiles. And just as an effete, overly intellectual, emasculated, arrogant and foolish Europe allowed Hitler to rearm Germany despite Winston Churchill’s and Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s prophetic warnings, so are an even more emasculated America and Europe allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Isn’t it strange that America destroyed Iraq for having a nuclear weapons program and is allowing Iraq’s neighbor to acquire them? How stupid can we be? But this stupidity is a mask for the influence of a God who intends to bring His Law into the forefront of the minds of His children – once and for all! Douglas Macarthur saw the Chinese and Soviet threat after the Second World War. He didn’t want Americans to have to fight a stronger enemy and pay again for the same real estate; and so he advocated their destruction at that time. Ronald Reagan’s spirit overcame their aggressiveness temporarily, but treasonous psychopaths like Carter and Clinton and their ilk aided and abetted these and other enemies of the United States of America and other freedom loving peoples.

 

Today, it is Israel that is in imminent danger of destruction. Her secular, atheistic leadership has been pursuing peace through restraint and concessions to enemies without positive results since the state was born in 1948. Proverb 8 is one of the very beautiful, biblical presentations of wisdom. It ends like this: “They that hate me (wisdom) love death”. The meaning of this idea may be difficult for everyone to grasp, but if your legislators fail to grasp its implications, it is absolutely imperative that the right to vote, like the right to drive and the right to practice medicine and law, etc., be inextricably linked to a serious course of education, preferably one which is a high school prerequisite for graduation with a diploma. And before we continue from this point let the so-called lovers of peace and their thugs in the American Civil Liberties Union contemplate this line from the Prophet Isaiah: “And the practice of righteousness is peace and the work of righteousness is eternal tranquility and security” (32:17).  

 

The cause of Israel’s and also America’s and Europe’ peril is not just the rising of Islam, the massive military of Communist China, the resurrection of the Soviet Union, the saber rattling and irresponsible nuclear proliferation of Pakistan and North Korea and the stupidity of western leaders. Blame has to placed at the feet of the Jewish and Christian clerics who claim to represent our Creator, but have not and have not told us that they are misrepresenting Him. It is the clerical establishment which is responsible for the vision of a nation and its leadership. Regard Proverb 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people cast off all restraint; but he that keeps the law, happy is he.”

 

So if clerics were true and loyal representative of God, and people were educated enough to elect wise legislators who follow and represent God, our lives would be so good, prosperous and healthy that our lawyers, doctors, pharmaceutical factories and tattoo and piercing parlors, not to mention psychoanalysts, would become dinosaurs. However, we the people of the Book and others, like to have our mythologies so we can entertain our proclivities and vanities. And so we will experience a destruction – in Israel especially – that is, as Isaiah said, in verse 10:22, overflowing with righteousness.

 

For those of you who love your families, friends, communities and countries, the following exhortation will hopefully have a positive influence – one which will lead you to lead your leaders to do their jobs so God will bless us. You may have to teach your clerics and legislators the knowledge they need to lead you. You may even have to read them the riot act. But you will only succeed if you yourselves read the owner operator manual of your God – given soul, namely the written Bible of Israel. The so-called New Testament doesn’t count. It is about as irrelevant as it would be to Jesus, who lived his life according to the written  Bible of Israel. Ask your pastors about this. If they want to, they can explain this apparent paradox.

 

Now brothers and sisters, our enemies are certainly preparing for war. Islam sees this as a worldwide conquest and annihilation of the western world. Some of our less educated leaders wax romantic and refer to this coming war as though it is freedom fighting another foe. But if Davey Crockett or any American leader and patriot from Benjamin Franklin to Haim Solomon, (who went broke to get George Washington’s revolutionary army the finances to continue the war of independence) were studied today, we would learn how we and our secular and clerical leaders have broken faith with our Creator. The war will certainly have to be fought valiantly and with all of our God – given assets, material and spiritual; but our victory will only be certain if we stop fighting our Creator and return to His way of living so He will bless our soldiers and community militias with victory.

 

We can no more exist as a society which conveniently relegates the worship of the Creator to repetitive, paganistic rituals performed with farcical solemnity in an ornate building a few hours a week, and then go out into His creation and live in a way which insults and mocks Him! This form of Jewish and Christian idol worship is about to become history!

 

Let’s move forward to the understanding of the actions that will succeed in protecting and securing our loved ones. Proverb 21:15 says “To do justly is joy to the righteous, But ruin to the workers of iniquity”. King David, in Psalm 40 : 9, said "I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Yea, Thy law is in my innermost parts". Keep this in mind when logical, intelligent, biblically based arguments are resisted by those you seek to convince and save. 

 

And now without too much more further ado, I will endeavor to present the kernel of this long winded message.

 

We must immediately jump start a religious reformation and rededicate ourselves to righteousness as it is taught in the written, Bible of Israel, which God gave to Israel and by which the Hebrew rabbi, Jesus of Nazereth lived and died!

 

The logical extension of the material presented in Torah Universe is the reclamation of the Bible of Israel and Judaism, from the clerics who have proven to be criminally negligent in serving as its guardians. This reclamation will entail the rededication of our lives to incorporating God’s laws and intentions into our secular lives, thereby sanctifying our world and at long last, embarking on our true mission which was predicted in the biblical story of Noah in Genesis 9:27, i.e., that Japhet will dwell in the tents of Shem. If your clergymen can’t explain this to you, donate a set of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hisrch’s Torah commentaries to your church or synagogue. No one explains it better than he did. The set is simply called The Pentateuch and while the original editor’s translation from German to English is difficult for new readers; the newly published edition is a breeze and  the meaning is clear and remarkably enlightening for any reader.

 

The Jewish reformation requires scrupulous righteousness in every field of endeavor and holiness for those who want to go to the next level of loving God.

 

Where righteousness is eating kosher; holiness is learning about, eating, applying and promoting organic food.

 

Where righteousness for a physician is honestly treating patients with brotherly love and according to the best knowledge you have learned; holiness is learning about, applying and promoting alternative medical systems, positive beliefs and healthy psychology and organic nutrition.

 

Where a righteous psychologist applies all the knowledge and methods he has learned to help his patient to see objectively how to apply the various methods to attain his goals, the holy psychologist teaches him that “the path of righteousness is as the light of dawn, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18). And to a patient who is a cleric or a legislator, he might teach Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the All-holy is understanding.” If the patient is a writer or orator, he might teach “Commit thy works unto the Lord, And thy thoughts shall be established.” (Proverbs 16:3). If the issue is romance, holiness in psychological counseling will include Proverbs 19:14, “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers; But a prudent wife is from the Lord”. Any psychology program in any university which persists in ignoring the teaching of the Bible of Israel is simply not intending to restore psychological health.

 

A righteous advisor to a national leader apprises him of the true facts of issues on his agenda. A holy advisor reminds him of relevant biblical passages; and reminds him that “Righteousness exalts a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people.” ( Proverbs 14:34).

 

A righteous general knows that soldiers’ lives are sacred and insists on strategies which use all assets in the highest and best possible manner. A warrior priest, i.e., a holy general knows how to apply such biblical passages as Proverbs 24:5,6, “A wise man is strong; Yes a man of knowledge increases strength. For with advice thou shalt make war; And in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”  And Proverbs 28:1,2 “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; But the righteous are secure as a young lion. For the transgressions of a land many are the princes thereof; But by a man of understanding and knowledge established order shall long continue.”    

 

For the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, righteousness includes exhorting his soldiers to brotherhood and biblically compliant action in every aspect of their lives. A holy warrior cultivates a relationship with His Creator. He knows the victory is God’s. He knows the Presence of God and He will never offend his Creator who provides miraculous victories. He will have the silver trumpets blown in battle because he needs such blessings as are listed in Deuteronomy 28 to be granted to his people. He will fight with God’s Spirit and defeat Israel’s enemies so the only hope they can ever attain is a fear of Israel which keeps them from needing to be conquered again. If the enemy is the terrorist element which fits the description of the Amalekites in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, he will not fail in destroying them entirely as God commanded. He is aware of the Providentially destined border of Israel from Lebanon to the Euphrates and back to the Mediterranean (cited in several biblical passages including Deuteronomy 11:22-25) and wants to be the general to whom God grants these victories and will not be complicit in paying twice for the same territory. He knows that the victory is the Lord’s that his and his soldier’s holiness is the context for God’s miraculous victories. He understands full well that Israel must rise to her next level of Jeshurun (Deuteronomy 33:26 – 29) because the Lord will “thrust out the enemy” and save his people because He is “the shield of their help” and the Lord “is the sword of thy (Israel’s) excellency”.

 

A righteous legislator will promote the application of constitutional laws and principles in government. A holy legislator will learn, apply and promote God’s agenda in every area of the society, including banking and finance. That means loans are interest free (Deuteronomy 23:20; Proverbs 28:8).

(Torah Universe has a proposal for biblically compliant, profitable, interest free, bank loans for mortgages, business development, etc.)

 

A righteous cleric, priest, pastor or rabbi will teach and exhort his congregation to conquer their negative impulses and be wholeheartedly compliant with the Creator according to the written Bible of Israel. A holy cleric will be marked by God’s Spirit when he teaches his congregation to dedicate themselves to learning, fostering and manifesting God’s intentions. He will sternly warn them as Isaiah did in verse 30:1 “Woe unto the rebellious children, saith the Lord, That take counsel, but not of Me; And that form projects, but not of My Spirit.”  And he will reinforce the vision God has for human society as a bulwark against anarchy (Proverbs 29:18). And when the developers in his congregation propose new community dwellings for the congregants, the holy cleric will wax courageous and cite Isaiah 5:8 “Woe unto them that join house to house, That lay field to field, Till there be no room, and you be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!” He will note the passages indicating that God is not interested in the grossly crowded city cultures which profit developers and commercial interests to the expense of the quality of life of those doomed to live in these cities (Numbers 24 : 19; Isaiah 14 : 21).

 

In short compliance with righteousness involves what is allowed and what is not allowed. Holiness is about loving God and doing what He desires. If you measure your own, your nation’s and civilization’s performance by the above cited standards, you will begin to see how history is shaped and how you can participate in tomorrow’s events for good an not for evil. 

                  

When we read Deuteronomy 6:4 " Hear O Israel: The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all yor might." the object is not to squinch up our foreheads and close our eyes and strain our brains and hearts to get a feeling or sensation for as long as we can muster it. Nor is the objective to study Talmud till the wee hours of the night. The objective is to incorporate God's intentions into everything, everything. We are to be holy by making the world into the world that He desires. Our success is not our primary goal, it is the by-product of earning His blessings for accomplishing His goals. Israel is a holy nation, a nation of priests because it is in God's service to create His kind of world. Just reciting prayers and passages ad nauseum is no substitute for compliance with His Intent. This is a unique and chosen position which we must fulfill. Those who study should study ways to create a reliable organic food supply so our genes won't be destroyed by genetically modified, mineral depleted, toxic ridden foods that cause degenerative disease. We need to study how to build the way God would have us build. We need medical schools which preempt illness and are not compromised by pharmaceutical interests or by the greed of most doctors . We need to study the real history of the world, and science and military logistics. We need to study the Torah - the written one - and finally take God seriously instead of figuring everything that is in the written Bible is some kind of riddle for which God expects us to discover a solution; i.e. substitute which is different from what He says and intends. We need faithful religious men to be courageous soldiers, pilots, sailors, and commandos who can lead brigades to victory after victory because God will be the sword of their excellence.

 

We have no time to waste. Every unforgiving minute of God's time requires our total commitment in the form of wholehearted action. This is what a holy Jew is.

And anyone who ignores the predicted devastation and egoistically engages in pursuits which do not engage God's favor will be held accountable when the Moshiach starts to operate courts of justice to try those who have been a cause of Israel's suffering and the world's suffering because we have not provided an example of a nation of priests, made in God's image.