Genesis

בייה

Genesis 31 – Hometown

Our Discussion is in the loving memory of Sharon Elaine Belk ז”ל.

Dear Family and Friends, Relatives are part of our hometown atmosphere. We pick up good and not-so-good tones, vibes, moods, ambiance, aura, and undercurrents from our family, household, and community. Some of us may have toured historic old hometown places with a grandparent, parent, uncle, aunt, older sibling, or community member. Information surfaces one way or another, like we lived here when we came to America. You were born there. That place is where you attended school. Our congregation used to meet here. Stories of love, joy, and pain emerge with Brit Milah’s, Bar or Bat Mitzvah’s good and sad memories.

We have three main goals for our weekly discussion in Genesis. First, this coming Sunday is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day! Let’s look at our Father Abraham. Second, we will examine a little history of our Ivri/Hebrew Hometown Atmosphere, where we come from. Third, Observances in Yisroel.

Abraham’s father, Terah, was an idol manufacturer, politician, and general of Nimrod’s Army. Terah and Abraham were opposites at that time. That was the father-son space they shared. Ha Torah expresses a dim view of Terah in the year 2000 From Creation. (Genesis 11.28) inform us, ‘Haran [Abraham and Nahor’s brother] died before [their] father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.’ This is a little flavor of the hometown atmosphere Abraham experienced for fifty-two years. Yet, this does not tell the entire story.

In our discussion of (Genesis 29) I mentioned that our Father Abraham, [The Patriarch of the Jewish people], is the head of our lineage. (Genesis 14.13) identifies Abraham as Ivri/Hebrew because of his connection with the River Euphrates, i.e., [Abraham] came from the other side across the River Euphrates. Hence, we, the Jewish people, are הָעִבְרִי– Haw Ivri, which is a Word that identifies us as the People from the other side of the river. Abraham’s hometown area was near the Eastern side of Gan Eden. (Genesis 2.8) says. ‘Lord God Planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put Ha Adam [the male Adam and the female Adam] whom He had formed.’ (Genesis 3.23-24) says, ‘Lord God sent them out from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from where They were taken. So Lord God drove out the man [and woman], and He placed Cherubim at the East of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to The Tree of Life.

In our discussion of (Genesis 30) entitled – Crisis of Identity I said, ‘(Genesis 2.7) says that, ‘When Lord God had entirely formed [the physical body of] Ha Adam, i.e., Adam and Chavah from the dust [gathered around the future Altar of the Holy Temple – in Jerusalem] then [Lord God] blew Spirit Life in their face then the Adam became a living soul.’ Ha Torah reveals more about our Hometown experience. When Adam and Chavah were created, they were physically androgynous. Ha Torah discusses the sexual origins of the couple we each descended from. Adam was partly male and partly female in appearance. Chavah was partly male and partly female in appearance. Lord God Formed their body with a combination of masculine and feminine sexual organs in one body. They were created androgynous. Rabbi Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says (Brooklyn, New York: Benei Yakov Publications 1980), p. 33. This presents us with a unique understanding of humankind’s Hometown. Our Spirit Soul comes from Lord God, who gave it, and our physical body returns to mother earth, i.e., the dust around the Holy Altar in Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes 12.7).

(Genesis 2.10) says, ‘וְנָהָר Vih Naw Hawr – ‘And a river’ went out from Eden to water the garden; and from there it was divided, and became four rivers. Holy Scripture identifies The Euphrates as the fourth פְרָת Pih Rawt – river.

When we discussed the people of the East, their relationship to Mesopotamia, and Padan-Aram. Ha Torah states in (Genesis 25.6) that Father Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines and sent them away from Isaac, his son, קֵדְמָה Kay Dih Mawh – eastward, אֶל־אֶרֶץ קֶדֶם Ehl-Eretz-Key Dehm – to the land of the East, [near the place Cherubim guarded with a flaming sword east of the garden of Eden.

Abraham lived in Eretz Canaan near Jerusalem, but he used to live a long distance away near Ur of the Chaldeans across the river Euphrates where the Tigris meet near the place Cherubim guarded with a flaming sword east of the garden of Eden.

There was a vast desert between Eretz Canaan and the city of Nahor in the Mesopotamia region.

Father Abraham was an honest, ethical righteous man that wanted each of his sons to be successful and to live exalted/holy lives. Eretz Canaan achieved that for Isaac. Remember (Genesis 24.3-8)? Abraham was adamant with his Head Servant, Eliezer, about NOT taking Isaac away from the Holy Land. Lord, our God, did not permit the Holy Offering, Isaac, to leave The Holy Land. When we speak of the Holy Land / Eretz Canaan, we are referring to a country that is separated. It’s separated from all other lands because הָעִבְרִי – Haw Ee Vih Ree – Ivri / the Jewish people who follow the 613 Observances given by Lord our God written in Ha Torah.

Our Father Abraham was honored among the nations. (Genesis 23.6) exclaims, ‘My lord, you are a mighty prince among us,’ for in him was the fulfillment of the prophetic blessing in (Genesis 12.2-3), ‘And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing, And I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you; and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ For this reason, all of his seed born through Isaac and Jacob are calledIvri/Hebrew). The descendants of Father Abraham held onto this name in order not to intermingle with the various peoples in the Canaanite lands. Father Abraham’s name was and is great. Lord God established Ivri as the name for all Israel’s seed forever.

Presently the people living in and outside Israel are working through an internal struggle regarding the correct interpretation of the 613 Observances. There are many possible interpretations, so It gets complicated fast! The right of return is a considerable concern. (Deuteronomy 30) expresses what has happened to – Haw Ee Vih Ree – Ivri. ‘ Lord, our God, will turn our captivity, and have compassion upon us, and will return and gather us from all the nations, where Lord our God has scattered us. If our outcasts have been driven out to the farthest parts of heaven, from there will Lord our God will gather us, and from there will He fetch us – And you shall return and obey the voice of Lord, and do all His Commandments which Moses commanded us on that day. Then Lord our God will make us abundantly prosperous in every work of our hands, in the fruit of our bodies, and in the fruit of our cattle, and the fruit of our land, for good; for Lord will again rejoice over us for good, as He rejoiced over our fathers; If we shall listen to the voice of Lord our God, to keep His Commandments and His Statutes which are written in this book of Ha Torah, and if we turn to Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul.’

Jacob lived twenty years in the hometown atmosphere of Rebekah’s mother, his uncle Laban, his cousins, and the community of the people of the East. Jacob was an Ivri. Rivkah’s Father, Bethuel, was Aramean, and her brother Laban the Aramean. That means they lived near the exalted place – נַהֲרַיִם – Aram-Naharaim – ‘Aram of the two rivers’ [Euphrates River and the Tigris River] in the Mesopotamia region.

(Genesis 31.17-18) informs us that Jacob journeyed from Padan-Aram. ‘Then Jacob rose, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had acquired, the cattle of his getting, which he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to Isaac, his father in the land of Canaan.’

(Genesis 24.10) It informs us that Rivkah was from the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia. – אֶל־אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם – Ehl Ah Ram Nah Hah Rah Yeem.

Dear Ones, we are recognized as people from the other side for these reasons and others. We are supposed to be different. We should be people of the light, the Torah, of love, patience, kindness, honesty, and ethics because we are from the other side. We believe in the Torah and practice Ha Torah in our lives daily. We are Holy and Separated to Lord.

God Bless You!

Shabbat Shalom!

Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk – Ivri

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