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Parashat Vayakehel
By Rabbi Haim Levi
This parashat contains 4 Chapters and 122 verses. Exodus 35- 38:20. Haftarah, Ashkenazim, I kings 7: 40 50 Haftarah Sephardim, I king 7: 13-26. Synthesis of this Parashat: The parashat describes the construction of the Mishkan; designed exactly in accordance to the instruction given by HaShem in the previous Parashot, especially as ordered in Parashayot Terumah and parashat Ki Tisah. The actions described here took place right after Yom Kippur of the year 2449, 6 months after the departure from Egypt. A Must note must be taken here, in relation to obedience and to Israel’s Tzadikim, the teacher of the nation, taken from the word the holy half Shekel, Hebrew, ,hmjn. The rabbis of old taught That this word having the letter Tzadi m in the middle refers to the word Tzadik ehsm meaning a Godly faithfully teacher, elevated by HaShem to create other men who would in turn continue To teach Israel. Note the word arrangement. Before the letter Tzadi m is the letter Chai j; after the Tzadi m is the letter Yud h , which together spell the word meanig hj living or life; all this tells Israel, that those who surround the Elder rabbi will earn an eternal life of Holy knowledge in HASHEM. Far on the right side is the letter Mem n and far on the left side is the letter Tet ,.which combined For the Word met ,n death, why? Because they presumed to become learned by themselves; they need not that someone teaches them. Themes: 1. Shabbat. Ex. 35:1.3 2. Voluntary contribution, to the Mishakan by all the families of Israel Ex 35:4-9. 3. Construction of the Mishkan ex 35:10- 29 4. God’s selection of the men who would carry out the holy work Ex 35: 30-35 5. The designation of Bezalel, and the excitement of the people to give all gifts to carry out all the worked 36:8- 38. 6. The description and building of the curtains, all the coverings the boards with all the components and divisions. Ex 36: 8-38 7. All the furniture, The Holy arc, and its coverings, The table Shulchan le panim. The holy Menorah and the altar of incense , all covered with gold in and out Ex 37 8.. The mishbeach haloah , the altar of Elevation made of copper Ex 3 38:107 9. The laver, the kiyor made of the mirrors given by the women Ex 38: 98-17 10. The curtain for Ex 38: 18-20. The excitement and care shown by the people by all kinds of contributions in personal involvement in God’s house, has continued among Jews during these 3500 years. Jews of every generation have made the building of the synagogue to be a showplace of beauty. Everyone has happily contributed to Glorify HaShem in their house of beauty.
How About the Holy Trinity?
By Rabbi Haim Levi
WHERE CAN IT'S ORIGINS BE FOUND? Beth Israel Messianic Jews (Sefardic) is a Torah submissive, Torah Obedient, and Torah bound Congregation founded by Rabbi Haim Levi in 1981, though its beginnings go back as far as 1978. We have no connection with any Christian organization, or do we agree with any Christian beliefs other than we consider Yeshua to be the Messiah, who was not the founder of another religion contrary to Judaism. I, the founder of Beth Israel Messianic Sefardic congregation in Tampa Florida, along with others who have kept our faith in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob faithfully, have undertaken a vision to help of our brothers, are Anusim, or Crypto Jews, who are returning to the Kehilat of Israel, by teaching them the truths of Torah and the vision of our Messiah. Each of us suffered torture and death from the hands of the Roman Church, or other Christian organizations, who even today continue to teach and to practice the Church replacement theology that gave birth to the satanic hatred toward us, the people of the Bible. This hatred was first introduced in mass with the establishment of The Spanish Inquisition, of the years 1380, to 1492. This brutal organization, destroyed most of our ancestors in Spain under the natural blessings of the Vatican. Later in the 1930’ came Hitler, n the greatest evil the world has ever sin in the person of Satan’s helper Adolf Hitler. He and his Nazis machinery took my wife Rachelle Sotto Levi’s family, born in Salonika Greece, and with the help of the Greek Orthodox priests were all shipped in cattle cars to the ovens of Auschwitz, where they all perished. Only her mother Lucia, z.l survived, along with he father Eliezer and brother Isaac. Twenty years later, her mother found her only living brother Haim Levi, who had settled in Tel Aviv Israel. Haim Levi whom they all called Vital, eventually died from the results of so many years of Germans’ torture and her mother Lucia, who never quite recovered either died in Atlanta, in 1992. The vast majority of those who died in Auschwitz, were Spanish speaking sefardim Jews that were not wanted in any of the Balkan nations where they had lived since the expulsion from Spain in 1492. The Nazis also sent my relatives, the family Cano, who had settled in Amsterdam, Holland, and sent them all to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. I was born in Medellin, Colombia, where my ancestors had lived for over 200 years. Some distant relatives in my family converted and are today faithfully committed to the Church of Rome, never admitting any Jewish roots. Though we do believe that Yeshua is the promised Messiah of Israel, we emphatically reject all other doctrines that have been attributed to him during the following 2000 years. We see that the prophet Isaiah writes about The suffering Messiah in 53:1-12 ”. Verse 3; reads: “He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not.” A number of rabbinic scholars of antiquity had much to say about this scripture. I’d like to quote a couple of them here: Rabbi Abarmabel of Spain said: “Such is the explanation of this Midrash, which comments itself to me, when the first verse is expounded of the King Messiah.” **Don Isaac Abarmabel (1437-1508), Spanish Statesman, and Bible commentator, expelled from Spain with the rest of the Jews in 1492. Rabbi Sh’mon Ben Yochai had this to say: “And afterward, the holy one will reveal to them the Messiah, the son of David, whom Israel will desire to stone saying, ‘Thou speakest falsehood; already is the Messiah slain and there is none other Messiah to stand up; and so they despised Him.’” Targum Jonatan says regarding this scripture: “Then He (my Servant) will become despised, and will cut off the glory of the Kingdoms; they will be prostrate and mourning, like a man of pains, like one destined for sickness; and as though the presence of the Shekinah was withdrawn from us, they will be despised and esteemed not.” (The Targum is a Greek translation of the scriptures We reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We reject the doctrine of the trinity, though we agree with the one principle of the Zohar, Few rabbis today still claim that the Sepher Yetzirah (book of the creation) was written by “our father Abraham “of which Rabbi Tzvi Nassi says, all the rabbis are of this opinion” Never the less, the incapable conclusions, He still holds: That The Tenack, definitely present the God of Israel in a three fold way: as Father, and King, as the eternal Son, or as the angel of The Lord, which in rabbinic writings is often referred to as Matatron and the Targunim as Memra, (The word) and the Spirit, which is God himself, for God is incorporeal, as stated in Rambam’s. Thirteen principles of faith numbers 2, and 3. “He is a unity of one and there is no plurality in Him.” Athanasius a theologian born in Alexandria Egypt, about in the year 239, was the creator of the Athanasian Creed with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, formulated such doctrine. Among his doctrines are the damnatory clauses, pronouncing eternal doom upon all who do not accept the catholic faith. Athanesius and his creed, was the force that prompted Constantine to convene the Council of Neacea, in 325 A.D, which abolished the Sabbath, replacing it with Sunday, abolishing also the Passover and replacing it with the Festival of the goddess Ishtar, known today as Easter We reject, Christmas, (the Mass of Christ) as a Roman festival, once known as the saturnalia, though we respect the beliefs of our gentile brothers who faithfully practice it. We reject the doctrine of the Holy communion, or The Lord’s supper, or the one called The Holy Eucharist, as nothing else, save that Yeshua as a Faithful Jew, naturally took the time to celebrate and to remember, that our Torah commanded us to observe our Holy Passover, as we have been doing for over 3000 years. We faithfully follow our holy Torah and all it’s Mitzvot, keeping Shabbat an all of the Holy festivals of Adonai.