Israel vs Amalek

[Chiram]

"In the 17th chapter of Exodus, there is a brief account of a battle between Israel and Amalek. The armies of Israel were under the leadership of Joshua (symbol of intuitive faith), and Moses (the rational power) did not go into battle, but retired with Aaron and Hur to a high place nearby. Moses stood on a hill with the rod of the Lord in his hand, and whenever he raised up his arms, the armies of Israel were victorious, and whenever he lowered his arms, the forces of Amalek gained advantage. Moses was old, and it was difficult for him to hold up his arms continuously throughout the long day of the battle; nor could he stand for so great a length of time. A stone was brought for him, that he might sit, and Aaron stood upon one side of him, and Hur upon the other. And they held up his arms until nightfall, and the armies of Israel were victorious.

Aaron, the priest, was of the tribe of Levi, and Hur, the great general, was of the tribe of Judah. In Jewish mysticism, as we have already suggested, Israel did not necessarily signify merely the Israelitish tribes. The battle was the same as the great Hindu war between the powers of light and the forces of darkness upon the plain of Kurukshetra. Moses is an embodiment of the universal law, and he is upheld on one side by religion (Aaron), and on the other hand by the statehood (Hur). If the arms of the law are permitted to fall, Amalek, the adversary, gains advantage in the battle of life. Here is an interesting and seldom mentioned Biblical story, highly symbolical in the philosophical sense. We should also remember that Joshua, the son of Nun (the fish), is a Messianic figure in the Tanach, and that he led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, where it was not lawful that Moses should enter.

The Promised Land, which Moses was permitted to behold from afar, signifies the complete experience of truth. In the Gnostic ‘Hymn of the Robe of Glory’, this is the homeland to which the wanderer returns after his long exile in the darkness of materiality. Thus Canaan is the symbol of fulfilment, the reward, the ultimate goal, the end which justifies the long and difficult disciplines of self-unfoldment. There is an Oriental subtlety in the allegory that Moses could not enter Canaan. The Lord of all things, when he fashioned the world, created fifty gates of wisdom. Moses, the servant of the Lord, passed through forty-nine of these gates, but through the fiftieth gate he could not pass.

The aged lawgiver is in this way revealed as a personification of the human mind. Growing wise with wisdom, the mind may approach the mystery of “I AM THAT I AM”, but it is not given to the reason or the intellect that it may possess truth. Greatness of learning makes it possible for man to stand upon a mountain and look across toward the substance of the eternal promise, but final union with the supreme mystery is beyond even wisdom. As Plotinus explained to his disciples, man ascends from opinion to knowledge, from knowledge to wisdom, from wisdom to understanding, and then, by a dynamic experience beyond understanding, he attains illumination which is union with the blessed God.
…
According to the Biblical approach, Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land because he had become angry and smote the rock as described in Numbers 20:10-12. At the time, the Lord rebuked Moses and decreed that he should not bring the congregation of Israel into the Promised Land. The commentaries say that the Angel of Death came to Moses in the lonely hill of Moab, and the great lawgiver sought to drive away the Angel of Death with the staff upon which was written the name of the Most High. Then the Lord came unto Moses and promised his servant that he should not be delivered unto the Angel of Death. And the Lord kissed the soul of Moses, and the liberator of Israel went to sleep in God, in the valley of Moab. And Moses was taken unto the Lord on the Sabbath, the seventh day of Adar, and the call of the angels could be heard for twelve miles about the place.
…
No consideration of the life and work of the lawgiver of Israel would be complete without a survey of the consequences of his mission. The incorporation of the Tanach into the compound of the Christian Scriptures vastly enlarged the influence of Judaism among non-Jewish people. The Mosaic law, as summarized in the Ten Commandments, is probably the most widely disseminated ethical-moral code in the world today. Moses is no longer regarded by Christians as a Jewish legislator, but as a great spiritual teacher. Among those less theologically minded, Christianity is still sometimes referred to as reformed Judaism. Naturally the two faiths are in some variance on this delicate question, but Jesus himself declared that he had come to fulfil the law and the prophets, and not to overthrow and destroy them.

Broadly speaking, the Ten Commandments have refined and ennobled all people who have accepted and applied them as rules for living. … Through him (Moses), the Jewish people have exercised a sphere of moral influence far greater than the numerical or political strength of the congregation would otherwise have made possible. Strengthened and united under the Mosaic Dispensation, the Jews were also largely responsible for the preservation of essential learning through the long and dark centuries of the medieval world. Refusing to incorporate into the then prevailing Christian society, they perpetuated the arts and sciences, philosophies and ethical concepts, and priceless heritages of tradition, until the Renaissance and the Reformation made possible the restoration of learning."

(Transcribed from 'Tanach Wisdom' by Manly P. Hall, p.72 - 73 - 1987)

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

Okay that's a little coincidental..... So you are a Freemason?

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

I'm a Mason, and I don't care what people think! My greatest hope is we will rebuild the Temple and everyone will bow to HaShem!

[Chiram]

Yes, it'd sure be nice to get back to the Garden. I was translating some of Hall's work into French and came across that passage reminiscent of Shlomo's great article for Purim.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

I didn't see Shlomo's post...

[muman613]

The Ten 'Commandments' as you call them are not revered as much by the Jewish people because they are only a small sample of the commandments given by our G-d to our teacher Moses. We do not even call them '10 commandments' as there really aren't even 10 commandments (according to many). The first 'commandment' is actually a statement "I am the L-rd your G-d who took you out of bondage in Mitzrayim". We call them the '10 Sayings' (Aseret HaDibrot). We Jews were given a total of 613 commandments in order to be Holy to Him. The 10 Sayings are basically just categories of commandments (all of the 613 fall under one category or another).

The commandments to remember what Amalek did to us was recently observed the week of Purim (about 2 1/2 weeks ago). We all read the Haftarah portion (portion of the prophets we read every week) where Amalek was supposed to be wiped out but Saul had mercy on the Melech HaAmalek and allowed him to live (and his flocks) against the command of our G-d. We read this during the week of the Purim holiday because Haman (the evil one in the Purim story) was a descendant of Amalek.

http://www.torah.org/learning/livinglaw/5768/yisro.html

 What distinguishes the Ten Commandments from all the other 613 laws in the Torah, which were also accepted at Sinai, is that the Ten Commandments act as the "categories" under which all the other commandments are included (Rashi, Shemos 24:12).

Several rabbinic works group the mitzvos according to their association with the Ten Commandments highlighting them as t he ideological basis for the 613 mitzvos in the Torah. This is beautifully alluded in how the text of the Ten Commandments contains 620 letters (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:16) that correspond to the 613 mitzvos plus the 7 rabbinic precepts (or the 7 Noachide laws). Of parenthetic note, is how the number 613 itself reduces to (6+1+3=) 10.

http://www.torah.org/learning/parsha/hsummary/zachor.html

Haftorah Zachor
Shmuel I - 15:2

This week's Haftorah takes place 2,873 years ago. In the year 2883 - 878 b.c.e. King Shaul was sent by G-d to destroy the nation of Amalek. Agag was their king, and it was a singular moment in history when every member of Amalek was in one place at the same time. Shaul, as per Shmuel Hanavi's instructions, was successful in destroying Amalek. However, as the Haftorah clearly states, Shaul had mercy and allowed the king, Agag, to remain alive, as well as the captured cattle. The commentaries state that in the interim, Agag was able to impregnate a maidservant, from which the nation of Amalek would survive. Hashem told Shmuel that Shaul's neglect of His command to totally destroy Amalek must result in Shaul loosing the right to be king. Despite Shmuel's prayers for mercy, Hashem didn't relent, and Shmuel went to tell Shaul of G-d's punishment.

The connection to Purim is well documented. Haman is called, "the Agagi". He was a direct descendent of Agag. In ascertaining Hashem's mercy and justice, we are forced to acknowledge our limited understanding. The notion of killing men woman and children is thankfully foreign and abhorrent to us. Nevertheless, Shaul was commanded to eradicate the entire nation.

The Haftorah identifies Shaul's sin in not fulfilling G-d's commandment as misplaced mercy. Had he known that, 521 years later, his merciful act would result in the potential extermination of the entire Jewish people, Shaul would not have had mercy on Agag and the cattle. It is the responsibility of a king to think beyond the immediate and do what has to be done to guarantee the future of his nation. Being that no single human can ever guarantee the future, he has no choice but to listen to Hashem's commandments and do as he is told. That insures the future.

The message of Purim is the story of our Haftorah. Hashem works His miracles through the normal passage of time. Actions done today set in motion ripples in time that radiate far into the future.

May today's celebration of Purim set in motion the redemption of tomorrow!

The controversy whether we stand or sit during reading of the 10 commandments in Yitro?

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/1750073/jewish/The-Custom-That-Refused-to-Die.htm
.
.
.
But the story does not end there. So special were the Ten Commandments to Jews that they found their way back. Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, author of Tur (14th century), suggested that one should say them privately. Rabbi Joseph Caro argues that the ban applies only to reciting the Ten Commandments publicly during the service, so they can be said privately after the service. That is where you find them today in most prayerbooks—immediately after the morning service. Rabbi Shlomo Luria had the custom of reading the Ten Commandments at the beginning of prayer, before the start of Pesukei de-Zimrah, the Verses of Praise.

That was not the end of the argument. Given that we do not say the Ten Commandments during public prayer, should we nonetheless give them special honor when we read them from the Torah, whether on Shavuot or in the weeks of Parshat Yitro and Va’etchanan? Should we stand when they are being read?

Maimonides found himself involved in a controversy over this question. Someone wrote him a letter telling the following story. He was a member of a synagogue where originally the custom was to stand during the reading of the Ten Commandments. Then a rabbi came and ruled otherwise, saying that it was wrong to stand, for the same reason as it was forbidden to say the Ten Commandments during public prayer. It could be used by sectarians, heretics and others to claim that even the Jews themselves held that the Ten Commandments were more important than the other 603. So the community stopped standing. Years later another rabbi came, this time from a community where the custom was to stand for the Ten Commandments. The new rabbi stood, and told the congregation to do likewise. Some did. Some did not, since their previous rabbi had ruled against doing so. Who was right?

Maimonides had no doubt. It was the previous rabbi, the one who had told them not to stand, who was in the right. His reasoning was correct also. Exactly the logic that barred it from the daily prayers should be applied to the reading of the Torah. It should be given no special prominence. The community should stay sitting. Thus ruled Maimonides, the greatest rabbi of the Middle Ages. However, sometimes even great rabbis have difficulty persuading communities to change. Then, as now, most communities—even those in Maimonides’ Egypt—stood while the Ten Commandments were being read.

So, despite strong attempts by the sages—in the times of the Mishnah, the Gemara, and later, in the age of Maimonides—to ban any custom that gave special dignity to the Ten Commandments, whether as prayer or as biblical reading, Jews kept finding ways of doing so. They brought it back into daily prayer by saying it privately and outside the mandatory service, and they continued to stand while it was being read from the Torah despite Maimonides’ ruling that they should not.

[muman613]

http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5757/sh/dt.57.2.05.html

ASERET HAD'VARIM

The 'Aseret haDibrot ("Ten Commandments", as they are [inaccurately] called [see below]), have always been a source of tension and conflict in Judaism. On the one hand, the Torah explicitly states that the 'Aseret haDibrot comprise the covenant between God and the B'nei Yisra'el (see Sh'mot [Exodus] 34:28, D'varim [Deuteronomy] 4:13). Yet, throughout our history, we have fought those religious approaches that maintain that only these "Ten Commandments" were Divinely given and continue to maintain that the entire Torah, from the Bet of B'resheet, is from God. (This difficulty is what led to the abandonment of the daily public reading of the 'Aseret haDibrot - see BT Berakhot 12a and JT Berakhot 1:5. See also the famous Response of Rambam [#233] to the question of standing up for the public reading of the 'Aseret haDibrot).

Before moving on, a word about the faulty translation of Aseret haDibrot - "Ten Commandments". First of all, this group of Divine commands is not referred to by any numerical grouping until later in Sh'mot (34:28) - where it is called 'Aseret haD'varim - the Ten Statements. The other references in the Torah use the same wording and Rabbinic literature constantly refers to 'Aseret haDibrot (Rabbinic Dibrot being roughly equivalent to the Toraic D'varim).

The word Commandment - (Heb. Mitzvah) implies a Divine directive which either obligates or restricts us. Eating Matzah on Pesach night, avoiding stealing, studying Torah and avoiding eating impure animals (e.g. pigs) are all Mitzvot - Commandments. Each separate action which is obligated or forbidden constitutes an independent Mitzvah (although there are significant debates as to the number of Mitzvot included in some commands which have two separate actions; e.g. hand and head T'fillin, morning and evening K'riat Sh'ma); several Mitzvot may be included in one paragraph, even in one sentence or phrase in the Torah. When we read through the first section of the 'Aseret haDibrot, we find four or five distinct commands (depending on whether we reckon the opening statement as a Mitzvah - see Ramban and, alternatively, Avrabanel on Sh'mot 20:2). It is not only a poor translation to render this group of statements as Ten Commandments - it is also inaccurate. There are between 13 and 15 Mitzvot within the 'Aseret haDibrot. In order to avoid inaccuracies or clumsiness, we will just refer to these verses as 'Aseret haDibrot throughout this shiur.

[muman613]

I must add that I find that article a bit disturbing because it does not acknowledge the current position of the Jews as the ones who continue to observe the holy commandments which were given to us. We are not history, not a people to built onto. Judaism is a complete and living religion which needs no other faith to complete our goals. The Hebrew prophets lay out the future of the LIVING JEWISH NATION which is not extinct, which is vitally continuing to be a light unto the nations.

[Binyamin Yisrael]

The Ten 'Commandments' as you call them are not revered as much by the Jewish people because they are only a small sample of the commandments given by our G-d to our teacher Moses. We do not even call them '10 commandments' as there really aren't even 10 commandments (according to many). The first 'commandment' is actually a statement "I am the L-rd your G-d who took you out of bondage in Mitzrayim". We call them the '10 Sayings' (Aseret HaDibrot). We Jews were given a total of 613 commandments in order to be Holy to Him. The 10 Sayings are basically just categories of commandments (all of the 613 fall under one category or another).

 

They actually contain 14 commandments. The prohibition of stealing actually refers to kidnapping. The prohibition of stealing money or objects is in Parashat Mishpatim.

Also, Non-Jews are not required to follow The Ten Commandments. In fact, they are prohibited from following one of them. They are not allowed to keep Shabbat.

Many Xtians don't even know what the ten are. I saw the "Ten Commandments" statue that a court ordered removed from a Bible Belt courthouse. It was Left to Right rather than Right to Left and had "Honor your parents." as the sixth on the second tablet. It should be at the bottom of the first tablet. They think the Sixth Commandment is to honor your parents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Traditions_for_numbering

http://morallaw.org/2011/09/26/roy-moore-foundation-defend-dixie-county-decalogue-in-brief/#prettyPhoto/0/

The first tablet should be on the right and the second one should be on the left. There is also a dispute about whether they tablets are rounded at the top as most draw it or flat at the top.

[Binyamin Yisrael]

I'm confused now because he put 6 on one tablet. I'm sure other places had it the way I said.

[muman613]

Correct Binyamin... Depending on how its counted it could be as many as 15 individual mitzvot in the Aseret HaDibrot... And I find it somewhat humorous that the Christians are so concerned about them (considering they violate several of them).

Something about the order of the commandments...

http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/521322/jewish/The-Meaning-in-the-Order.htm

It is amazing to me how ten simple utterances could provide the basis for an entire civilization. And not only did they apply to the people then, but they do just as much for each and every one of us now. This is why on Shavuot we listen to the Ten Commandments as they are read aloud. For these ten concepts are our foundation as a people.

While each commandment is worthy of its own individual explanation, there is a unique order in which they are conveyed, which carries a message that can help us to better understand our relationship to G‑d and to our fellow human beings.

There is a unique order in which they are conveyedThe Talmud explains that the first five commandments reflect our obligations to G‑d, while the last five instruct us regarding our relationships with other people. The medieval commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra further explains that all the commandments can be put in one of three categories: emotion, speech and action. While the Ibn Ezra does not tell us which commandment fits into which grouping, Nechama Leibowitz, a brilliant 20th century Israeli biblical scholar and commentator, provides us with a fascinating theory on the order of the Ten Commandments. According to Nechama1 (as she always referred to herself), the order of the Ten Commandments follows a triple chiastic2 structure using the three elements of emotion, speech and action.

The first two commandments, 1) Belief in G‑d and 2) Not worshipping other gods, both have to do with what is in our hearts, what we feel to be true. We are then told not to take G‑d's name in vain; this is clearly speech. Keeping the Sabbath is all about action.

What about the fifth commandment, honoring ones mother and father? Does this continue with action as the structure would suggest? Surprisingly, Jewish law defines respecting parents entirely through our actions toward them. We are not commanded to love our parents, but to honor them. This means behaving toward them in a respectful way: getting them water when they are thirsty, not sitting in their designated chair, and standing when they enter a room (they may excuse us from this action). This commandment appears on the side of the tablets which is our obligation to G‑d, for if we disrespect our biological creators, we are in essence dismissing our Divine Creator. This commandment also serves as the perfect bridge to the commandments concerning our fellow human beings.

Beginning with the top of the second tablet we have: Murder, Adultery, and Stealing which are all sins completely mired in action. Bearing false witness against your neighbor is a transgression through speech. The final commandment, coveting that which belongs to your neighbor, is contained within one's heart, one's emotions.

While the pattern is chiastic in reference to the emotion, speech and action, we can see a parallel structure in regard to level of difficulty. Belief in G‑d seems relatively easy. In fact, recent polls show that 92% of Americans believe in a higher power. Transforming that belief into our speech is more difficult. How often am I truly sincere in my prayers? How many times have I made bargains with G‑d if something will go my way, only to forget about it once I have achieved my goal?

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

You have to remember the author is a Freemason and a Christian Mystic...so he is a Christian. There is no Jew or Christian in Lodge. So he is bias in someways, he also said things before ww2 that don't look good, out of ignorance, like, Jews should stop segregating themselves. But he has some very good work, that talks about the early Church, Johnites, Monotheistic Egypt, Judaism, Noachides, etc.

Muman, I didn't see what you did on replacement...The poster could be just trying to cause trouble too.....

[muman613]

You have to remember the author is a Freemason and a Christian Mystic...so he is a Christian. There is no Jew or Christian in Lodge. So he is bias in someways, he also said things before ww2 that don't look good, out of ignorance, like, Jews should stop segregating themselves. But he has some very good work, that talks about the early Church, Johnites, Monotheistic Egypt, Judaism, Noachides, etc.

Muman, I didn't see what you did on replacement...The poster could be just trying to cause trouble too.....

Shalom Ephraim,

I am not sure what you mean 'what you did on replacement'? From my personal 'Jewish' perspective the commandments were given to the Jews at Sinai. The Aseret HaDribot are called the 'Tablets of the Covenent' since they cement the covenant between Hashem and the Children of Israel. The commandments of Sabbath is intended only for the Jewish nation...

http://arachimusa.org/ArticleDetail.asp?ArticleID=1883

As we find recorded in the Torah, G-d promised the People of Israel that there will always be a number of Jews somewhere in the world who observe the Shabbat (Sabbath) fully, as prescribed by the Torah. The Shabbat is the sign of an everlasting pact between G-d and the Jewish People, as we find in the Torah: And the children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath (Exodus 31:16-17). Commenting on this verse, the Sages interpret this is as a promise the Jewish People will never abandon the observance of the Sabbath altogether. At least a segment of the nation will always “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” as G-d commanded. This promise is all the more surprising when viewed in the light of Jewish history, particularly in the Diaspora. Again and again, we find that when our adversaries attempted to entice us to abandon the Torah and embrace their culture and religion, their first target was Shabbat. This makes it all the more amazing that to this very day, every Friday evening, as the sun sinks into the western sky, the Shabbat is welcomed warmly by Orthodox Jews the world over. Despite the extreme travails of the exile, there remains a solid core of Orthodox Jews who observe the Shabbat fully, just as their forefathers did thousands of years ago. All the attempts of the gentiles to sever the sacred bond of the Jewish People with the “most precious of days” – the Shabbat – have come to naught. Some used brute, barbaric force. Others armed themselves with taunts, persecution and humiliating decrees against the People of Israel and their Sabbath. The Greeks and the Romans courted the favor of the masses with barbaric “entertainment.” In their eyes, this took the form of cruel torment of the those who persisted in honoring the sanctity of the Seventh Day. The idea of “wasting” a full seventh of the world's human resources by refraining from productive work one full day each week was preposterous in the eyes of the ambitious Greeks and Romans. It was only much later that the gentile world acknowledged the benefit of a weekly day of rest. Even then, it was a far cry from the Jewish Sabbath, a day of spiritual renewal. For the gentiles, Sunday or Friday, or whatever day they might choose, is a day of physical rest and repose rather than an opportunity to draw nearer to the Creator. Nonetheless, despite the torment and persecutions, the Jewish People guarded and preserved their bond with Him who gave them the Sabbath and refused to profane it with even the slightest violation of its laws and regulations. G-d established this pact of the Shabbat with the People of Israel and with them alone: “… between Me and the Children of Israel, it shall be an everlasting sign...” This covenant was established between the Creator of the universe and His people, Israel, alone. The Sages commented on the words “between Me and the Children of Israel...” as follows: “And not between Me and the (gentile) nations.” This unique bond of Israel with the Sabbath is reflected in the Sabbath prayers: “...and You did not bestow it, O L-rd, our G-d, upon the nations of the lands, and You did not bequeath it, our King, to those who worship graven idols; the uncircumcised shall not abide in its repose, for it is to Your people Israel that You bequeathed it with love, to the seed of Jacob, whom You have chosen.” (from the prayer for Shabbat morning) This promise that there would always be a special bond between Israel and the Creator, in the form of the Shabbat, has been miraculously fulfilled against all odds. As we know, the early Christians also observed Saturday as their Sabbath. Heaven orchestrated events in such a way that, when the new religion began to spread and win additional adherents, the church decided to transfer its day of rest to Sunday. As a result, the sign of Israel's pact with G-d remained unique and incontestable. Similarly, with the rise of Mohammedanism; rather than sharing a day of rest with the Jews, the Muslims kept their day of rest on Fridays and as it remains to this day. Only Israel continues to mark its day of rest on that day of the week originally designated by the Creator. Again each week, the People of Israel confirm their exclusive right to the sign of their unique pact with their Creator.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

Muman, Shabbat is only for the "Israelite Nation"! Judah wasn't the only one that made it. What about all the others that converted from a Jew and had a Jewish mother, over and over again. What about people converted from other Jewish sects?

[muman613]

Muman, Shabbat is only for the "Israelite Nation"! Judah wasn't the only one that made it. What about all the others that converted from a Jew and had a Jewish mother, over and over again. What about people converted from other Jewish sects?

Israel includes all 12 tribes as Jacob/Israel was the father of all Tribes. All Converts to Judaism are counted as full Jews. But non-Jews are not required (nor should they) to observe the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a special covenant.

If you look at the two versions of the Tablets which Moses brought down from Sinai you will discover a variation concerning the commandments of Shabbat.

The first set of commandments gives the reason for the Sabbath as the seventh day of creation...

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2492623&p=complete

8  Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.
9  Six days may you work and perform all your labor,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your beast, nor your stranger who is in your cities.
11 For [in] six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

But the second Tablets give an alternate reason to observe the Sabbath. The second set of Tablets is the 10 commandments we have today... The reason for observing Sabbath is to remember the miracle Hashem did for us when he took us out of bondage in Egypt.

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0505.htm#14

11 Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy God commanded thee.
12 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
13 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.
14 And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

Thus we learn that the Sabbath represents both CREATION and re-creation of the Jewish nation as a people that G-d brought out of bondage in Egypt.

[Chiram]

I'd like to thank my fellow JTFers for your kind insights into this matter. I assure you of no intent to cause trouble.

The main reason behind this post was to complement Shlomo's article for Purim which I much enjoyed: https://jtf.org/in-every-generation/

After reflection, I believe that it contributes a mystical element which transcends theological disputes and thus can be especially useful for our righteous gentile allies to deepen their appreciation and connection with the Jewish people, also supporting Shlomo's conclusion that the struggle between Israel and its enemies is akin to the archetypal battle between Light and darkness, Life and death, occurring since time immemorial, yet still real in every generation.

[Ephraim Ben Noach]

I'd like to thank my fellow JTFers for your kind insights into this matter. I assure you of no intent to cause trouble.

The main reason behind this post was to complement Shlomo's article for Purim which I much enjoyed: https://jtf.org/in-every-generation/

After reflection, I believe that it contributes a mystical element which transcends theological disputes and thus can be especially useful for our righteous gentile allies to deepen their appreciation and connection with the Jewish people, also supporting Shlomo's conclusion that the struggle between Israel and its enemies is akin to the archetypal battle between Light and darkness, Life and death, occurring since time immemorial, yet still real in every generation.

Welcome brother!