It’s BIBLE STUDY COFFEE TIME!
Shabbos (the Sabbath), February 22, 2020
Parshas (the Torah portion of) Mishpatim (Laws)
Primary reading: Exodus 21:1 – 24:18
Reading for this special Shabbat ("Shekalim" – will explain) Exodus 30:11-16
Supplemental II Kings 12:1 – 12:17
hebcal.com/sedrot/mishpat…
The focus of this week’s Bible portion is basic human decency, designed as an imperative from God to man, enshrined in jurisprudence.
In other words, there is a basic social contract, and it is not a contract that you and I came up with using LegalZoom and solidified with an exchange of a dollar.
Rather, the social contract is established by God and implemented by humans.
In opposition to the Bible, there are the Masons. They are a global fraternity designed on the idea of a brotherhood of man.
For Masons, the social contract is what we decide.
The Bible is simply one of many texts to be absorbed.
God is truly optional.
The Masons position themselves as neutral.
You will find Jewish people in the Masons.
You will find federal employees in the masons, and proudly.
I do not believe low-level Masons know what they’re doing there.
In any case, the Bible is very clear that a human being cannot establish the laws between man and man.
For example, a human being cannot decide that a system of slavery is good for people.
And yet the Bible (Jews) did exist in a world where slavery was common.
In this Torah portion we learn that if you are a slave owner, you must set your slaves free at some point – on the 7th year.
*A Hebrew slave goes free on the 7th year. That passage refers to internal slaves.
If a slave owner hits their slave on the eye or the tooth, the slave is immediately set free.
If someone murders someone else on purpose, they are put to death.
"You shall not oppress nor do any wrong to strangers, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
– Strangers here refers to non-Jewish people.
Similarly you are prohibited from taking advantage of the widow or the orphan. The defenseless.
If on your path you see a dead animal that has been torn apart, you are not allowed to eat it.
Men or women who practice sorcery are killed.
I wanted to make that clear since the Biblical verse seems to refer only to women. This is because it was mostly women who practiced witchcraft.
Let’s delve into this fascinating commentary by Dr. Meir Bar Ilan.
Because usually Biblical verses are enunciated in the masculine.
Dr. Bar Ilan points out that "death penalty for anyone doing sorcery/witchcraft" also appears in Leviticus.
"A man or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit shall be put to death" (Lev. 20:27).
Regardless of the simple explanation ("mostly women do witchcraft," the Dr. is perturbed as to why the female is alluded to, if the verse applies both to men and women.
The first answer is that the word used here, "mekhashefa," (pronounced "mach-she-fa") does not mean "female witch." Rather it technically means "a collective of witches."
So the verse is actually saying that you shall not tolerate A COVEN OF WITCHES.
"R. Jonah ibn Janah, the medieval Spanish grammarian, noted that mekhashefa is not the feminine of mekhashef [sorcerer] but a collective noun, just as daggah is not the feminine of dag [fish], but a collective noun denoting fish in general."
"(A similar distinction exists in English, where fish may be either singular or the collective plural, while "fishes" denotes various sorts of fish.)"
"Likewise, tziyyah (wasteland) is not the feminine of tzi (fleet); dayyah, a sort of bird, is not the feminine of day, meaning enough; and hassidah (stork) is not the feminine of hassid, a person devoted to G-d."
"Thus, we see that although the Hebrew suffix ah generally denotes the feminine form, this is not always the case, as is proven by mekhashefa, the collective of witches."
In other words, the Torah — which does not waste words — specifically here refers to a COLLECTIVE of witches. A COLLECTIVE OF WITCHES CANNOT BE TOLERATED.
Note that popular portrayals of witches frequently portray them as a COLLECTIVE which is UNDER ATTACK.
The Salem Witch Trials are a perfect example.
In Hollyweird, the show "Charmed" is about a COLLECTIVE of witches who are the apotheosis of FEMINISM.
Hillary Clinton was inducted into a coven, very recently, if you recall.
Last Night, The Wing Welcomed Hillary Clinton Into the CovenLast night, at the Soho location of the Wing, co-founder Audrey Gelman and Call Your Girlfriend host Aminatou Sow interviewed the former Presidential candidate in front of an audience of 400 cheering…
By calling out the COLLECTIVE (the COVEN) (the SISTERHOOD) (SISTERHOOD IS GLOBAL), the Torah is telling us that there is something uniquely destructive about witches assembled INTO A GROUP.
I recall meeting someone who converted to Judaism. She started out as a Christian, then joined a coven, and then found Judaism.
She said, "there were aspects of witchcraft that I really liked. I still like those. I’m not going to renounce myself."
DO YOU SEE HOW THIS WORKS?
A coven of witches is uniquely dangerous. It is a cancer. It is corona virus. It is death.
Dr. Bar Ilan looks at women as witches throughout history. Is it true that witches are mostly female?
I like how he phrases the question, as a question posed to the Talmudic rabbi who made the comment that "most witches are women."
In a healthy social system, one must question even (especially) those who are most revered.
"In the opinion of the tanna [Jewish religious sage] cited in the baraitha [Talmud], "mostly women practice witchcraft." Was this indeed the case? Is this reliable historical fact, or ad-hoc commentary stemming from the problem presented by the feminine form?"
Indeed, he finds that the sage is incorrect. "Jewish men were involved in magic no less than women. For social reasons which cannot be discussed in this limited format, women were portrayed as more involved in magic, although this was not the case."
We need to delve into this some more. Is it that we’ve misread the Torah, and "sorcery witchcraft" means a collective of women and men? Are the rabbis simply sexist in focusing only on women? Is there a misogynistic dread of female sexuality?
Exodus 22:17 – "You shall not tolerate a sorceress"
Actually the translation is "You shall not allow a sorceress to live."
"Machshefa" – witch
"Lo" – shall not
"Lichyot" – you shall not give life to
"מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה"
Exodus 22:17You shall not tolerate a…
*"Tichayeh" – from the root "lichyot" – to live.
The notion of women as witches really goes back to the beginning of time, to before the curse of Eve. It goes back to Adam’s first partner, Lilith, who (as Jewish legend has it) refused to be subordinated to him, ran away, married Samuel the head of the demons, and spawned evil.
We learn that Lilith is responsible for crib death.
Jewish women used to create amulets as a hedge of protection against her.
You don’t hear about this so much now, because it’s common to want to BE her.
SICK.
jewishvirtuallibrary.org/amulet
"Independent, Jewish & frankly feminist since 1976, Lilith magazine charts Jewish women’s lives with exuberance, rigor, affection, subversion and style."
"Becoming an abortion doula"???????
After the Khmielnitsky Uprising, which saw hundreds of thousands of Jews murdered (& forced to murder each other), desperate Jews turned to the false messiah, Sabbatai Zevi.
Zevi claimed to be a liberator of women in particular.
The false messiah converted in 1666 to Islam (note the 666).
After this disaster, the Hasidic movement arose to salvage the people from going off a cliff of despair. It was founded by the Baal Shem Tov.
The Hasidic movement places special emphasis on the modesty of women.
Unfortunately, in 2020, we see that female modesty has morphed into a male-dominant model with women pathologically covered and removed from view.
This is not however the historical reality or norm. It is, rather, an expression of satanic infiltration of the sect.
Let’s see some of the commentaries on this verse. What can they tell us about the notion of women as witches, the decision to focus on the female, the collective as a source of uniquely destructive spiritual energy?
I’m reading all this for the first time with you, so I don’t know what we will find here.
Rashi: "This does not mean that you may kill her but she shall be put to death by the court."
(note: all of this is at Sefaria.org)
Rashi: "Both men and women who practise witchcraft are included in this law but in using the feminine term מכשפה Scripture speaks of what is usually the case; for it is women who mostly practise witchcraft (Sanhedrin 67a)."
Just to dwell on this for a minute.
In a God society, certain things just cannot be tolerated. It is not the zealot who kills the witch; it is the court which implements God’s law.
Satanists: "Do what thou wilt"
But somehow the Satanists warp and reverse everything. So if you refuse to tolerate that which is not tolerable, they say: "You are a bigot."
Not only that, but they mix things that are valid with things that are not valid.
For example, racism is bad.
But gender-transitioning children is not "gender tolerance."
Here is an interesting comment by the Chizkuni (this is the name of a commentary although it actually means "strengthen me" in Hebrew – the name is a term of respect).
He comments on the proximity of this verse to the prior one (about the penalty to seducers of virgins).
"The reason why this apparently unrelated subject follows on the heels of how to deal with seducers is that people who seek ways and means to gratify their illegal sexual urges, turn to sorceresses to help them do so."
Again we see the female — "sorceress."
In the context of human trafficking, we know that women are very often the handlers of the victims, and that their role is frequently overlooked.
The Chizkuni quotes Onkelos (another commentary) with regard to the way the death penalty is invoked here. It’s not just "you shall put them to death," but "they shall not be allowed to live."
"Instead of only violating a positive commandment when allowing a sorceress not to be executed, any court failing to execute her is also guilty of transgressing a negative commandment, a much greater sin."
"If someone reads this word as tichyeh, with the vowel chink, [when the line would mean “she shall not live,”] he errs. We must be active in preventing her from living, i.e. the court must execute her. The death penalty of stoning is applied."
"The Torah compliments anyone who takes the first step in bringing about the legal execution of a sorceress.
"The longer she is allowed to remain alive, the longer she can practice her nefarious trade."
How many news articles have you seen where witches are putting a curse on President Trump, and they’re celebrated for it?
This is what we are dealing with – a culture SOAKED in evil.
Trump’s Presidency Has Spawned a New Generation of WitchesMagic has long been a form of protest, but resistance through sorcery has burst into the mainstream consciousness only twice in recent memory: during the 1960s, and now.
There is more here. It’s very interesting to me. I hope you’re not getting bored.
Rabbenu Bahya: "The whole subject of sorcerers and their activities centers around the linking of phenomena which ought to be separate and distinct from one another."
"Sorcerers preoccupy themselves with establishing a link between phenomena reserved for our terrestrial world and phenomena from a higher world."
"When such phenomena are linked (illegally) the result represents a challenge and danger to the continued functioning of G’d’s universe."
(By the way, people who worship "other gods" besides the actual God are referred to in the Torah as "star worshipers" – think of "our North Star" references by Clinton and members of Congress when people close to them die, like Elijah Cummings)
Rabbenu Bahya continued: "The חרטומים ["Char-tu-mim"] of Egypt, the Egyptian sorcerers, engaged in such activities and their principal knowledge consisted of producing miraculous phenomena based on their intricate knowledge of the laws of nature."
Recall that Adam Schiff likes to dress up as a Pharaoh.
Clinton WhistleBlower: FEDS Probe Adam Schiff Dressed like Egyptian at Bizarre "Sacrafice" Parties at Ed Buck’s Meth Mansion – True PunditEmbattled Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff was dressed in ancient-Egyptian-themed garb at two wild costume parties at Ed Buck’s meth and sex mansion, according to a Clinton Whistleblower and inside…
Recall all the publicity recently when they discovered Egyptian mummies.
Scientists release audio recreation of ancient Egyptian’s voice in breakthrough studyThe sound of a 3,000 year-old Egyptian mummy can finally be heard, after engineers 3D printed a version of its vocal tract. The noise – a short, vowel-like sound – gives a hint at what the ancient mu…
Recall that the Israel museum has an Egypt exhibit first thing when you walk in (seen 2/20).
The fascination with Egypt is Luciferian in nature because it represents fascination with ways to circumvent God by exploiting the laws of nature. (These people are both sick and stupid.)
Rabbenu Bahya: "When the Torah forbade the joining of linen and wool and the wearing of such products by Jews (except the fringes with the blue wool thread in a four-cornered garment) this is a small hint that there are elements which Torah law wants to keep apart."
"The Talmud Sanhedrin 67 explains that the reason these people are מכשפים ['mach-she-fim'] and the products of their activities are called כשפים ['che-she-fim'] is that they deny the פמליא של מעלה ['pimli shel maala'], the existence and effectiveness of celestial [God] forces."
"A denial of such forces consists of combining elements in our terrestrial world which were clearly meant not to be joined together."
Rabbenu Bahya: "The orbit of the various celestial spheres and their failure to collide are proof of things existing in the universe which are meant to remain apart."
"It is appropriate for human beings to allow the world to function as it was meant to function as this clearly reflects the will of the Creator."
"Interference with G’d’s blueprint for the functioning of the universe is an act of heresy and insurrection."
There is more here. This is a goldmine of insight.
Another view brought forward by Rabbenu Bahya:
"Rabbeinu Chananel…claims that such sorcerers cannot perform any supernatural feats unless G’d specifically wants them to succeed.
Then "why does the Torah bother to outlaw these activities and to make their practitioners subject to the death penalty?"
"The answer is simply that by doing so, or even attempting to do what they have in mind they commit an act of rebellion against G’d and the rules He has established for His universe."
Now why would Gd want them to succeed?
This goes back to something @SaRaAshcraftmentioned about seemingly evil people being part of the plan.
Yes, they are part of the plan.
But they are still evil.
mentions It is easy to get wrapped up in the work of the sorcerers, when it seems to be effective. (In just the same way as so many nowadays are blinded by science.)
"Seeing that during their long stay in Egypt the Israelites had been constantly exposed to acts of sorcery &…would have a tendency to credit these sorcerers w knowledge of matters of substance, the Torah had to come out explicitly forbidding…& legislating the death penalty."
"In order to show us how seriously the Torah views these activities the Torah was not satisfied with the usual command to execute such practitioners of sorcery but it wrote: “you must not allow a sorceress to remain alive!”
"In other words, inactivity, not bringing such a sorceress to justice, is an additional sin committed by anyone who is aware of such people practicing their nefarious art."
"The only other place where the Torah uses such strong language is in connection with the seven nations occupying what was to be the land of Israel. There too the Torah writes: לא תחיה כל נשמה, ‘you must not allow a single soul to remain alive’ (Deut. 20,16)."
Now we get to the specific part where women do it. Rabbenu Bahya continues.
"The reason the Torah writes not to let a sorceress live instead of writing ‘do not let a sorcerer live,’ is that most of the people practicing this art are women."
"Certain activities such as those attributed to אוב [Ov] are carried out exclusively by women. This is what the Torah writes (Leviticus 20,27) “and any man or woman in whom there shall be the sorcery of Ov or of Yidoni shall be put to death, etc.”
"According to information available to us from books dealing with such practices a woman is required to stand over (in) the grave of the dead person above his head whereas her male partner takes up his position at the feet of the deceased."
"A youth must stand in the middle; the lad holds a kind of rattle with which he makes rattling sounds."
"In previous ages this appears to have been a widespread practice."
"The rattles (church bells) which are common in the Kingdom of Edom (Roman Empire) and which are pealed in their towers (cathedrals) appear to have their origin in that practice."
Rashbam: "Seeing that it is the custom of women engaging in witchcraft to practice their art in hidden places such as caves…"
"…The unusual formulation לא תחיה is meant to tell the authorities not to despair of bringing these culprits to justice in spite of their practicing their craft in hideouts. They should be hunted down until found."
Sifrei Hakhamim: [with respect to the identification of sorcerers by gender/death penalty] "the Torah made no difference between man and woman. For it is written, “Man or woman” (Vayikra 20:27). (Rashi, Sanhedrin 67a)"
Another commentator says that men who took many wives invited witchcraft into the home because each one would compete for his affection.
Rabbeinu Yonah on Pirkei Avot 2:7:3 – "The more wives, the more witchcraft"
"In the proliferation of wives, he causes them to do witchcraft – to increase love [towards them]: the hated one will redouble [her efforts] until she sways his heart."
A related commentary from the Tur HaAroch (citing Deuteronomy 19:13:1) – essentially warning us not to have pity on evil.
"One tends to have more pity w/ women, even if they committed crimes, trying to excuse their crimes because of valid motives that might have prompted them."
President Trump, in reading "The Snake," spoke to exactly this tendency.
To close this out, why is Sabbath today called "Sabbath Shekalim?" — you know that shekels are the Israeli currency.
It has to do with the Biblical census, coming before the month of Adar, and the terrible danger we faced then.
Twitter just knocked me off the site. One moment.
Essentially, by giving coins to the census identifying the nation as God’s collective, the Jews paid "bail" before being pursued by a killer – Haman – Persia/Iran – who struck in the month of Adar, which starts next week.
We’ll have to stop this here for now, but suffice it to say that the message of the Torah portion is this.
God is real.
God’s law is the only law.
Everything we do has celestial ramifications and symbolic meaning.
Evil must not go unpunished.
Shabbat Shalom.
By Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal. All opinions are the author’s own. Public domain.
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