 |
Summary: This article is based on a PR of major portent to all returnees. It was received on January 6, 1993. At that time it was not understood by the author till much later. Had it not been a revelation, the author would never have understood the meaning of the names, much less their significance to the returning Tribes of Israel. The names of the last three of David's sons born to him in Jerusalem spell out what these essential processes are that all returnees are to be processed through. |
“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.” — Hos. 5:15
“Turn us again O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.” — Psalm 80:7
“Make our heart pure to serve you in truth…” — Musaf Amidah for Shabbat
We are in the in the teshuvah (return / repentance) movement of the prophesied "last days." As such we are experiencing its most relevant sign, the beginning of the regathering of all the Tribes of Yaakov to the G-d of Israel, to observance of the Torah, to each other, and eventually to the Land. At the beginning of this process, the early contingent of the trailblazers of this movement is being called out of their exile in the spiritual wilderness of the nations (Hos.1:6, 8:1, 9:3 & 17). These pioneers, “one from a city, two from a family [clan],” (Jer. 3:15, Isa. 10:20-23), are beginning to journey homeward to Torah-faith. As Jewish tradition maintains, those furthest from the Torah are being called to come home first. Interestingly, they are coming from both houses of Israel, Yehudah and Ephraim. They are repeating the pattern of the two reconnaissance men, Yehoshua from Ephraim and Calev from Yehudah, who returned from the Land to those waiting in the wilderness with an encouraging report about God’s promises to the whole nation of Israel, (Num. 13:5-16, 14:7-9; Jer.33:7). They seem to be a very small lot, who will be followed later by the great many of regathered Israel. Yached Levavenu as part of this latter day first contingent, is calling attention to the Prophets summoning us to the preparation we must do in anticipation of this regathering. Yached Levavenu promotes this effort to marshal that preparation that the pioneer "first contingent" from the physically and spiritually exiled of the so-called "Lost" Ten Tribes can do today.
Patterns for us to note:
On the Day of Atonement / Yom Kippur, a goat chosen by lot, was offered by the
high priest to express the coming closer of the congregation to the God of
Israel before entreating Him for forgiveness for the whole nation. However, this
communal petition was not to apply to individuals who have not made their own
individual repentance first. Each individual was to first put his own
spiritual house in order for the group's petition of forgiveness to apply
to him. Likewise, this site asks its readers to order their repentance along
individual as well as group lines. This means that those called to wake up first
are called to repent of the grave theological / religious sins they inherited
from their fathers in the Galut / Diaspora. We cannot repent of sins for others.
Rather, we are to repent of the errors bequeathed to us by our ancestors and
fathers in the Galut. We are told that the nations, [the context
implies the nations of Israel in the latter days], will realize they have
inherited lies form their fathers, e.g. their religious and political belief
systems, their ideals, ways and means contrary to the Torah, (Jer. 16:19). We,
the early contingent to arise from the spiritually dead, need to verbally
confess to G-d, i.e. acknowledge these sins on our behalf
and on behalf of
our people as Daniel did, (Dan. 9:18-29). He not only confessed
on behalf
of Yehudah, but acknowledged on their behalf that the curse of exile
has come upon them for not listening to the Torah as Moses prophesied, (Dan.
9:5-14). In other words, he was a leader in repentance and prayed as an
intercessor on behalf of his companions in exile. Doing so by us and
all concerned Israelites, will bring more Divine intervention and Guidance into
our midst and speed up our individual and collective Redemption.
We are to repent of our part in these sins, as well as of sins of errors,
omission and commission, and also of sins regarding our relationships in our
daily lives. We are to have clean hands and hearts if we are to approach God
upon our awakening (Psalm 24). Hosea reminds us that it is really G-d,
speaking prophetically through Yaakov, who told us thousands of years ago what
to do in our latter-days' return, (Hos. 12:3). Yaakov, our father instructs us
to “be clean and change our garments,” i.e. to repent of our personal sins,
(Gen. 32:2). How much more are we to do so as members of the nation of
priests, if we are to come close to HaShem to entreat Him on behalf of Israel as
well as the world? This is why Yaakov our father, reaching across time,
tells us to be clean and change our garments before we show up at
Beit El,
the House of God, (Gen. 35:2). We have tasks to do as watchmen concerning the
repatriation of the House of Israel to the God of Israel. This is why we, the
first contingent, have been called out of the Valley of Dry Bones early. We, the
pioneer early returnees, have the obligation to set the right pattern of
repentance for the myriads of Israel’s families to follow. We are to strengthen
the "ingathered" and those who are being gathered to fortify them against the
forces of evil who will try to reclaim them. The essence of the order of
this pattern for early returnees is embodied in the following three ancient
Biblical names whose relevance is revealed to us, "the children's children," in
"the latter days:"
The name of the book and number of the chapter and verse,
II Samuel 5:16, containing these
three names were received as a
revelation by the author during prayer on January 6, 1993.
These three names point to the three basic processes all returnees /
resurrectees from the Valley of Dry Bones need to go through to to further their
journey of return to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is to be noted,
that all contain the name of God, and point to the fact that one cannot do this
independently but must rely on His direction and leading.
1. Eli-Shama, (My
God hearing, implying
My God causes
to hear), i.e. Hear God’s call to wake up out of the sleep of spiritual
death, and spiritual forgetfulness of our estrangement from the G-d of Israel.
The implication here is that the Divine wake-up call that woke all of us, is
that of the Shema: “Hear O Israel, the L-rd is our God, the L-rd is one.” (Deut.
6:4).
2. Eli-Yadah, (Knowledge of My God, implying My God
causes to know), i.e. Gain knowledge, i.e. study of who we are, our
identities and attributes, in the light of the Torah, and
acknowledge with
thanks
who the true God is, where we have been, and what is expected of us now.
The Hebrew word yadah has many connotations and
can be translated in
several legitimate ways. Samson Raphael Hirsch, classical commentators and
modern Hebrew dictionaries affirm that acknowledging, confessing,
and its
extension of "giving thanks because of acknowledging something or
someone, are legitimate derivatives, if not direct meanings."
To this end, the prophets have forecast that in the latter days we will
acknowledge, because we will intensely study, i.e. research these
identity-related truths in God’s message to us in the Prophets:
“...and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the L-rd your God has driven you,( Deut.30:1-2)
“The fierce anger of the Lord shall not turn back, until he has done it, until he has performed the intents of his heart, in the latter days you shall understand, [consider, i.e. intensely study / research] it. (Jer. 30:24)
This "intensive search" that we are to do is at the very core of all instructions that we are commanded to do in the Torah. Since the total number of words in the Torah is even, there is no middle word. At the very center of the Torah is the space between the words DAROSH DARASH (Lev. 10:16): "and Moses SEARCHINGLY SEARCHED." Only if we search with great intent, and are willing to let go of any resistances to find the truth, will we arrive at the knowledge of truth. We do not have to wait till the terrible wake-up calls come upon Israel to research our obligations that are part and parcel of our identity as members of the returning House of Israel. We can do that now. We, the "first contingent, the advance guard," can return to God now.
“ And you shall seek me and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. And I will allow myself to be found by you, says the LORD: and I will restore you from captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations...” (Jer. 29:13-14)
“ Know this day and take unto your heart that God is the L-rd, there is none beside Him,” (Deut. 6:39)
Ephraim was admonished by Hosea at the time of their impending removal from the Land, to lay emphasis on gaining knowledge of God over offering of sacrifices. Their knowledge of the worship of God was centered on offering countless sacrifices as if God needed them, as the heathen suppose that they could ingratiate themselves to their gods with sacrifices. They mixed the worship of the true God with the ways of the heathen. Rather, the Creator desires that Ephraim lay emphasis of gaining true knowledge which is centered on keeping His commandments. Hosea's message from the Creator to latter-day Ephraim is still the same :
“ For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of G-d more than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
3. Eli-Phalet, (My God of Deliverance, implying My God causes to escape), i.e. Ask God for mercy that we may be accounted worthy to be regathered and to escape not only the confinement of our graves of the spiritually dead in the Valley of Dry Bones, but also the harsh wake-up calls that are slated to go out to the whole world.
The Vilna Gaon observed in the Book of Joel that the ingathering of the exiles will be characterized by the action of "escaping."
"For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape,.... and among the remnant, those
whom the LORD will call." (Joel 2:32)
The Midrash Tanchuma tells us that Zion is the [spiritual] domain of
Mashiach be Yosef, and whatever befell Yosef will befall Zion. As Yosef escaped
his prison, so will the captives of Zion at the end of the age. The Gaon wrote
that we get a hint of this "escape" in the phrase
"among the remnant"
which in gematria equals 566, the value of the letters in "Mashiach ben Yosef."
According to the Gaon, the ingathering of the exiles will be accomplished by
Moshiach ben Yosef. While this person may not show up on the world scene till
later, it does not mean that the "ingathering" cannot start without his manifest
presence. The calling out of the "remnant of Zion" from spiritual Babylon has
been under way for some time and is testimony that this principle holds fast.
All of us touch on the above three steps signified by the names of the
"last three sons of David, born in Jerusalem" immediately when we are
called to wake up. After waking up to who we are, we are to return
repeatedly
to act on the second and third steps because we need to deepen our knowledge
of God and His instruction to us, the Torah. Since we have been in
"mental / ideological" captivity for 2700, years, it may take repeated
efforts to fully escape and divest ourselves from the deeply ingrained erroneous
beliefs of our prison houses of the last 2700 years. Now that our "sentence is
up," we have to actually walk out of our spiritual prison houses.
This may not be easy to do, since we have become identified with our captors, a
la the Stockholm syndrome. Working on our escapes now that the doors of
our prison houses are opened, will promote and further our repentance to be
deeper and more complete. This in turn will cause us to escape the shock
of the harsh wake-up calls surely to come upon our peoples in the last days.
"But this is a people that is robbed, and spoiled, all the young men of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses,
they are for a prey and none delivers / rescues, with none to say, 'Give it back!'," (Isa. 42:22)
"Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have I helped thee,.... that
you may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,!' to them them that are in
darkness..."
(Isa. 49:7-8)
The sages of Yehudah have based the hope of the restoration to what the
prophets of old have prophesied, and that it comes due to God's mercy on us"
“Therefore thus says the LORD God, ‘Now I shall restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I shall be jealous for My holy name.’” (Ez. 39:25)
Biblical commentator Rashi tells us that when the final redemption comes, the assimilated hidden ones of Israel will be reunited with the rest of the nation and be restored to the status of their forefathers. Commentator Ramban states that "until they are restored to the status of their fathers and returned to their place,” their redemption is not complete. These sages only comment on what Moses prophesied of this time:
“It will be when all these things come upon you – the blessings and the curses that I have presented before you – then you will take it to heart among all the nations where the Lord, your God has dispersed you, and you will return to the Lord your God, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and all your children with all your heart and all your soul.” (Deut. 30:1-3)
Jeremiah also has prophesied of Israel that: “they shall return with their
whole heart.” (Jer. 24:7). This
whole heart return implies asking for
and submitting to a Divine healing, through a Divine operation, a Divinely
performed circumcision, where the barriers to Divine guidance on one’s heart are
Divinely removed:
“The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, to love HaShem you God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live, (Deut. 30:6)
It will be the time when G-d will have ceased from hiding His face from us:
“And I will not hide my face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out my Spirit on the House of Israel, declares the Lord,” (Ez. 39:29)
If this “outpouring of the Spirit” is eventually to come upon
the whole House of Israel, it can certainly come upon the early returnees NOW,
if we ask for it on an individual basis. Once we set our hearts to repent and
follow God's directives with a no-holds-barred attitude, God adds the curative
factor / ingredient to the repentance process. This additive is called the
“circumcision of the heart.” Physical circumcision, performed by man, is a sign
of being inducted into the Commonwealth of Israel, and the taking on the
obligations of the Covenant. For physical humans it also permits a fuller
contact with the feminine "help meet"
and thusly mirrors a pattern for
the spiritual transaction the physical act pictures. In the process of
repentance in humans, spiritual “circumcision of the heart” is performed by God
and means the removal of the spiritual impediment to contact with Divine Help.
Because the “natural barrier,” i.e. the inborn resistance of the human heart to
God’s leading is removed, it can more fully be in contact with the inspiration
and influence of the “feminine powers” of the Spirit of God. It is then
that the human [higher] spirit of man is able to begin to unite with the guiding
Spirit of God, and realize its truly creative potential for the holy ensoulment
of man .
The sages of Yehudah discovered the divinely ordained principle that “if one
comes to purify himself, he is assisted by God,” (Shabbat 104a). Though the full
scope and implications of this principle in the process of ultimate
repentance, the “circumcision of the heart,” will not unfold till the coming of
the Messiah, the process can begin NOW with us, the awakening pioneers of the
early contingent from the Valley of Dry Bones, (Ez. 37). Who is the
early
contingent? They are those who have come into an awareness of Israelite
identity up to now and who are feeling a pull in their hearts to return to
faithfulness to the Covenant. Individuals and small groups within this
diverse collection, are on various levels of understanding what it means to
return to God and to His Covenant. Regardless of who we are, where we
have come from, in what group we find ourselves upon our awakening, or where we
are on our "return to God and His Covenant"
journey, God’s assistance
with repentance is available to us now. Though we do not have the physical
Mishkan where the
Shekhinah, God's helping Agency, was manifestly available to assist us in a
visibly spectacular manner, we do have God's promise that He is with us in a "
minor manifestation" of His Help, in the exile we are in now:
"...Thus says the Lord, Although I have cast them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries, and I have
been a little sanctuary in the countries where they have come, therefore says the Lord God: Yet will I gather you from the peoples, and assemble
you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." -- (Ez. 11:16-17)
Though that Help, may be in minor manifestation, i.e. not
readily visible as it was in the Mishkan / Tabernacle, the effective might of
that Help is unlimited. It is the Agency that will bring us out of our spiritual
captivity. Moses wrote of God's Agency bringing us back: “…the L-rd
will bring back [i.e. because He is
with us], your captivity and
have mercy upon you…” (Deut. 30:3). The word for
bring back here is the
unusual use of the word v’shav. It implies that God Himself, (as it
were), was to be in exile and will return from exile with the captives of
Israel. Of course this refers to His revealed Presence, the guiding force of his
holy Spirit. Ezekiel tells us that the return of God's guiding Presence and the
pouring out of the His Spirit upon Israel will be parallel events, (Ez.
39:29). Though the full manifesting glory of His Presence for all to see,
which departed from the first Temple (Ez. 10:18-19, 11:22-23), will not return
till later, the pouring out of his holy Spirit upon the pioneering remnant can
be had before that time. The revelation of that guiding Presence is
available to us now, if we turn our face to him and call upon him
earnestly to guide us with his eye, (Psalm 32:8). For that to begin,
we
have to turn our faces toward Him for He has opened the gates of repentance for
us. We can do that by taking on the task for the early contingent. It is
our job, the job of the early returnees of the early contingent, to ask that God
begin with us the process of the circumcision of the heart. Thusly we can be
enabled to become the foundation of the repentance movement among the Ten
Tribes. We have already been placed on that schedule by virtue of the fact of
our awakening. It is our task to recognize and acknowledge that responsibility
and respond to His calling by heeding the injunctions of the Prophets.
“According to the Prophets, the spiritual and moral foundations will have to be
laid before the rehabilitation of our people can take place” (The World of
Prayer, Vol. 1, Rabbi Elie Munk, Feldheim Publishers, 1963, p. 126). This
foundation is preparation with prayer and by seeking repentance to receive the
Messiah of Israel, who comes specifically
to the repentant ones of Yaakov
(Isa. 59:20). Speaking specifically to the people of Joseph, Amos tells us how to
prepare for this rehabilitation:
“Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts shall be with you, as you have spoken. Hate the evil and love the good, establish justice in the gate; it may be that the L- rd G-d of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:13-15)
The Prophets predict this seeking and searching for His ways:
“...afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the L-RD their God, and David their king, and shall come trembling to the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.”
(Hos. 3:5)
We, the early returnees, can search for our king David now to lead us with his
instructions for us in the prophetic Psalms. He specifically speaks to the
progeny of Joseph:
“Give ear O Shepherd of Israel that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou who art enthroned upon the keruvim, shine forth. Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Menashe stir up thy might, and come and save us. Restore us, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will thou be angry against the prayers of thy people?”
(Psalm 80:1-4)
Who but the early returnees of the remnant of Joseph, and those of Yehudah who will join in the pleading, will pray to God with these words? Hosea tells us to:
“Take with you words, and turn to the L-rd, say unto Him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.” (Hos. 14:2)
David teaches us to entreat G-d:
“Turn us O G-d of our salvation, and cause thy anger toward us to cease,” (Psalm 85:4)
At this time we are to confess our sins, corporate and private. King David set us the example with his own repentance and tells us today what to do:
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found...” (Psalm 32:5-6)
David tells us that we too can receive Divine Guidance like the priests and
prophets of old:
“… Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those invoking His name, called upon the L-rd and He answered them. Out of the pillar of cloud He spoke to them; they observed his precepts and His ordinances which He gave to them.” (Psalm 99:6-8)
As with Moses, Aaron and Samuel, the prophetic Spirit will also be given to us in the Mishkan of prayers for the direction of Israel as we return to the observance of His Torah, statutes and ordinances. It will also be given to us individually now. After 2700 years of having his face turned away form us, God has opened to us the gates of repentance, and pleads with us to come to Him for forgiveness for our corporate and individual sins. He already started the process by turning his face toward us and waking us up. We are expected to turn to Him, when He begins to draw near to us (Isa. 54:7, 55:6-7). Then we can start a reciprocal dialogue and interaction with God as we walk the paths of the Torah restored to us. It is time for us to reciprocate, turn our faces toward him, and ask Him for the Divine assistance of His holy Spirit to prime us with spiritual energy to enable us to repent and return to his Him.
It behooves all awakening Israelites of the Ten Tribes, and especially those who wish to stand in and plead for mercy for Israel as modern day lechem panim, to seek out the God of Israel for his Divine forgiveness, guidance and enabling to repent. This service by the few is much needed because “all sacred acts require summoning” (Ibid, Munk, p. 90). This is so because, “like the recognition of truth, teshuvah /repentance, requires divine assistance. "If a man is filled with earnest desire to return, then God helps him” (Talmud, Tractate Yoma 38b). Benjamin Franklin advised us likewise: “God helps those who help themselves.” We humans grossly underestimate our own spiritual powers. While it is true that we are weak as a worm, (Isa. 41:14), with Divine strength added to us, like to our father Yaakov at the river Yabbok, we can also prevail over the greatest of evil forces, and most importantly over our own evil inclinations. Many believe that "if we pray hard enough," God will act. In truth, if we pray with sincere devotion and desire, then God will bless us with strength from His holy Inspiration to enable us to act for ourselves. Because most do not pray and practice to this end, we continue to languish away in spiritual exile. Though God by His grace and mercy has already started to wake us up without any initiative on our part, the ready continuance and peacefulness of the process depends on advancing on our spiritual journeys and coming near to Him. Doing so by the few, will not only speed up the process of redemption, but will also mitigate Divine corrective judgments on the many (Isa. 41:1, 48:8-9; Mal. 3:22-24). It is clear that early mercy will be extended to us IF WE REPENT OF OUR SINS AND RETURN TO THE TORAH. Our repentance will cause us and all Israel to escape the harsh wake-up calls to come upon Israel and the world.
The
Quintessential Lesson
and
idols common
to our group:
God tells us the primary foundational principle that we need to learn
as His firstborn:
“You shall know this
day and take to your heart, that it is the L-rd, He is G-d — in heaven above and
the earth below — there is none other... (Deut 4:39).
As G-d’s firstborn,
not just as Israel as a whole, but also as Ephraim, another firstborn, (Jer.
31:9), we are to pay special attention to learning this quintessential lesson of
our ages-long training of God’s firstborn for the function of priesthood to the
nations. Our captivity’s purpose is basically to learn this lesson. Our priority
on the repentance list is to let go of other gods, demigods and parts and
divisions of god/s, and most importantly any
additions of these to the God of Israel. Overall, Israel’s sin is idolatry,
and every other sin can be traced back to it. As we have agreed to in the
Covenant, Israel was to be cast out of the Land for worshipping false gods and
for not listening to the Torah, the instruction of the God of Israel, (Dan.
9:10-13). As they wished to emulate the gentiles, they were sentenced to worship
other gods till the Redemption:
“And it shall come to pass when thou shall show these people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, wherefore has the LORD pronounced all this great evil upon us, or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God, then shall thus say unto them, because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my Torah, and you have done worse than your fathers, for behold you walk everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart that they may not hearken unto me. Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither you nor your fathers, and there shall you serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.” (Jer.16:10-13)
Indeed, Jeremiah only
reiterates and expands on the Torah, for God commanded us through Moses to
confess our sins and the sins of our fathers in the time to come:
"And they shall
confess their iniquity, and the iniquity
of their fathers, with their trespass which they
trespassed against me,
and that they walked contrary to me;..... then only will their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and then will they make amends for
their sin. Then will I remember my covenant with Yaakov, and also my covenant with Yitzhak, and also my covenant with Avraham,
and I will remember, and I will remember the Land." (Lev. 26:40-42)
We must tear down the internalized idols of our times in us with Divine Help.
Jeremiah prophesied that we would continue serve other gods once we were cast
out of the Land. This servitude to the philosophies of the gods of the gentiles
was to last till the last days. From the time Israel disappeared into the land
of Assyria, they were to worship in the houses of foreign gods, (Jer. 31:15).
These gods have blinded us to seeing, hearing and walking according to God’s
directives, (Psalm 115:1-9, Hos. 4:17). These gods have also caused our
spiritual deaths. Though her children number by the millions, Rachel weeps for
them, for they are dead, spiritually dead. (Jer. 31:15). Rachel’s weeping, is a
“prophetic weeping,” for Jeremiah describes her voice coming out of Ramah. Ramah
was the headquarters of the prophetess Deborah when she ruled as judge of
Israel. From there she gave her inspired guidance and prophecies concerning the
tribes of Israel. Likewise Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin sends her
mourning cries through the corridors of time to us. She tells us that “we are
not,” i.e. spiritually viable. This is in line with the Jewish custom of
mourning a family member who has “converted out” of the faith of Israel. Those
members have been traditionally counted as dead. The history of our 2700
year-old spiritual captivity in the philosophies, replacement theologies and
mind-sets of
“Galut Edom /
Yavan,” i.e. the spiritual captivity of the Occidental World is
suffused with Greco-Roman ideals. Our long history of estrangement from the G-d
of Israel has bound (Hebrew: havur / joined, wedded) us to idols, (Hos.
4:17). We will need direct Divine intervention in our mindsets, in our
individual and collectives subconscious minds, indeed in the very core and
matrix of our lives, in order to recognize them and to be loosened from
them.
This allegiance is what we are to repent of as a group; the idolatries we have
all taken part of since we were cast out of the Land. Today we may not have the
wood and stone idols of old, although in some quarters they still persist.
Modern idols of our western world may be the excessive pursuits of the luxuries,
entertainments and shallowness of our age: sports, food, thrills, anything and
everything that takes our minds and focus off G-d and His Torah. While these
activities may be acceptable in moderation and on occasions in their proper
place, it is their frivolous and addictive use and their perversities that
define them as idols. More insidious idols are the secular philosophies that
dominate our age, mostly the liberal and or exploitative philosophies of life
and governance which pervert and replace the values and precepts of the Torah.
These governing currents are also prevalent in religious beliefs. Of these idols
the spirit of unbelief is the worst Baal of them all. It is most prevalent in
our times. In essence, it is the idolatry of one’s self, our own strength and
our own power, our refusal to rely on God. Jeremiah depicted unbelief as an
ingrained grievous sin: “…written with a pen of iron and with the point of a
diamond, it is graven on the table of their heart.” (Jer. 17:1). Its effect is
also grievous: “Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes his flesh his
arm, and whose heart departs from the L-rd.... Blessed is the man that trusts in
the Lord and whose hope the L-rd is. (Jer. 17:5,7). To one degree or another, we
are all contaminated by these idols of our time. Therefore, we ALL need to ask
the God of Israel to enable us to repent. God describes us as “sick” (Ez.
34:16), and we all need the Divine Doctor to diagnose and enlighten us to where
we need cleansing of these hidden sins.
Let us take the words of king Solomon and the prophets NOW and plead with the God of Israel for help with our personal and collective repentance:
“Turn us unto thee, O Lord, and let us return; renew our days as of old,” — Lam. 5:21
“… if they take thought in the land of their captivity, saying, we have sinned, we have done amiss and dealt wickedly; if they return to thee with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their captivity… then hear from the heavens, from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee. — II Chron. 6:37-38
“If my people upon whom my name is called shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” — II Chron 7:14
"The L-rd our God be with us, as He was with our fathers, let Him not leave us nor forsake us, the He may incline [turn, stretch] our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to observe His commandments and His judgments that He commanded our forefathers." — I Kings 8:57-58
"I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.” — Hos. 5:15
What to do:
Repentance is a paradoxical
process that starts with the calling of God, and requires our reciprocation
with action to do what He asks us to do.
We can start by:
1) Thanking Him for calling you to return to Him.
2)
Asking Him to give us the strength and ability to do so.
3)
Reading about The Confession Prayer.
4)
Studying the references of the Confession Prayer.
5) Going to God and praying the confession prayer as God tells us by Moses and by the rest of the
Prophets.