Devarim/Deut. 11:26 – 16:17

Haftarah: 1 Samuel 20:18-42

The Messianic Writings: Yohanán / Jn. 6:35-51

Re’eh: It means Watch!

Summary

Our parsha talks about the following topics:

1st Aliya/Reader (11:26-12:10):

Moshe explains to the people that before them they have the path of blessing and cursing.

The Mitzvot of destroying all places where idolatry was practiced are remembered.

To offer the korbanot (sacrifices) only in the place that HaShem will choose,

And the prohibition of having private altars.

2nd Aliyá/Reader (12:11-28):

HaShem will choose the place where the sacrifices will be offered.

Laws regarding the meat they are going to consume.

Do not eat blood.

In the blood is life.

3rd Aliyá/Reader (12:29-13:19):

Moshe warns them not to deviate in the pursuit of idolatry, and not to add Mitzvot to the Torah and do not detract from them.

The prohibition of listening to false prophets or relatives or loved ones who try to divert us from the path of HaShem is remembered.

The obligation to destroy the city that has been totally perverted behind idolatry.

4th Aliyá/Reader (14:1-21):

We cannot do certain actions as a sign of mourning for the death of a loved one (tattoos, lacerations, haircuts).

It reminds them about kosher eating.

The animals that can eat.

The fish is allowed for consumption.

The birds are allowed for consumption.

5th Aliyá/Reader (14:22-29):

The laws of tithing.

The laws of the shemitah (sabbatical year of the earth).

6th Aliyá/Reader (15:1-18):

Laws related to slaves and the expiration of debts.

Laws of tzedakah (charity),

And the loan of money without interest.

7th Aliyá/Reader (15:19-16:17):

Some laws on the firstborn of animals.

Moshe reminds the people to watch over the festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, including all Mitzvot associated with them.

ELUL

The Mystery of the Sixth Month – ELUL

It is known as the sixth month in the Bible.

1 Chronicles 27: 9

The sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. There were 24,000 men in his division.

And the last month of the Jewish civil year.

The month of Elul appears in the Bible with its Babylonian name, only once:

Nehemiah 6:15.

“The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul

ELUL means “harvest” and refers to “the last harvest of the year.”

The King is said to walk through the fields, examining the latest harvest.

This is the month in which the King is in the field, everyone can approach him, and the King makes his face shine on everyone who approaches him.

In small numbering, ELUL adds up to 13, alluding to the 13 principles of mercy / Divine Rajem that are revealed in the month of ELUL.

The 40-day period between the 1st of Elul and the 10th of Tishreen, in which the Selijot are prayed,

(Selijotסליחות – is the plural of ” Selija ” which means ” forgiveness. ” They are poems that address the Creator of the Universe to ask for His mercy before the Jewish New Year arrives which occurs at the end of the month of Elul, the 1st of Tishreen, also called Rosh Hashanah – The Head of the Year.)

The period of 40 days, is the same dates of the Hebrew year of 2448 (1313 B.C.E.), in which Moshe went up to Mount Sinai to receive the second Tablets of the Law with the ten commandments,

After having broken the first tables, before the spectacle of the golden calf that the Hebrews began to worship in his absence.

Since Adonai announced through the mouth of Moshe to the people of Israel that he was forgiving their sins, the date of Moshe’s descent from Sinai became the Day of Atonement / Yom Kippur.

and the 40 days from the 1st of Elul, is a time of penance, repentance, and forgiveness.

Many Bible teachers and I join them, say that Yeshua went to Yochanan the Immerser to be tevilah, and then he is taken by the Ruach of Adonai to the bamidbar / desert, and after 40 days and 40 nights, Yeshua returns to Yerushalayim to the Temple and there they give him to read the Sefer of Yeshayahu and reads the Haftarah that is only read in the Yobel / Jubilee year and on Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:8-9), thus beginning His ministry (ref. Mt.3-4; Mk.1; Lc. 3-4; Josephus the Historian).

From the first of the month Elul and until Yom Kippur, the shofar or ram’s horn is blown daily – in the morning except on Shabbat, to awaken hearts to introspection and repentance, as the prophet Amos says:

Amos 3:6

“Will the shofar be blown in a city without the people shuddering?”

Elul is also an acronym:

Song of Songs 6:3

Ani le Dodi VeDodi li”

“I am for my beloved as my beloved is for me”

Evaluation Time

In the calendar used in the West, ELUL corresponds to the months of Aug, Sep., and Oct., where administratively speaking, a new annual cycle begins.

During this time, the results in different areas of society are evaluated.

The companies take stock, inventories, and audits.

The schools begin a new year, and the judiciary pompously opens a new judicial year, including the mandatory report of what happened in the year that ended.

The smell of new books, new clothes, and rainy weather tell us that something is changing, in a cycle that repeats year after year.

Spiritual Awakening Month

Homiletical texts relate that, in the time of Noah / Noah, immediately after the universal flood, the builders of the Tower of Babel were so engrossed in their work and their eagerness to “touch the sky with their hands” was so great that when a brick was broken, they would sit and cry for the loss.

On the other hand, when a man suffered an accident, no one was fazed by it.

Something similar happens in our days.

Every brick of technique is jealously guarded, but the fall of man is not given importance.

For all this, when the month of Elul begins, which is the month of spiritual awakening, we are called to ennoble our hearts,

To make ourselves better and better, examining our actions – our “majzor” – the book of our life.

Jeremiah 6:16

Here is what Adonai saying: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, ‘Which one is the good way?’ Take it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Teshuvah

Yermiyahu / Jeremiah 31:21

“Return, virgin of Israel, return to these cities”

Where “return” takes the sense of “repent“, from the Hebrew Teshuvah (תשובה), “return, repentance“.

This is how our parsha begins and we finish our study TODAY:

Devarim / Deut. 1:26-28

26” See, I am setting before you TODAY a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Adonai your Elohim that I am giving you TODAY28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Adonai your Elohim and turn from the way that I command you TODAY by following other gods, which you have not known.” 

Shabbat Shalom Mishpojah!

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