Genesis

בייה

Our Torah discussion begins with a brutal display of relationship fiascos and sibling rivalry between Jacob’s sons. It’s not pretty!! Why is this happening? What’s going on? The criteria of Ha Torah must be entirely truthful with the communication shared with readers because Ha Torah is The Book of Truth that Lord our God spoke to Moses on Har Sinai. Therefore Ha Torah must be 100% Reliable. Every Letter, Word, Sentence, Paragraph, and Chapter of Ha Torah is Truth. If one Hebrew Letter is damaged or missing, that Torah scroll is pasul/invalid until a correction is made. Human translations have errors and biases. Chumashim has commentary and conjecture. So how does the reader know which is accurate, poorly translated, or false? It is best to learn Hebrew, so one knows the Truth. It is essential to be mindful of these points when reading, studying, and sharing Ha Torah.

Ha Torah is also a book of logic. In this instance, using pure reason, we can say that we may experience relationship fiascos and sibling rivalry. Jacob and his children are righteous, yet they experienced relationship fiascos and sibling rivalry that may have been averted. What would be the point of sharing this information if nothing could be done? We can rejoice because Ha Torah shared the failings of these righteous people. That is good news.

(Genesis 38.1) says, וַיֵּרֶד יְהוּדָה מֵאֵת אֶחָיו ‘And it came to pass at that time, that יְהוּדָהJudah – וַיֵּרֶד – Vah Yee Rehd – went down מֵאֵת – May Ayt – from – אֶחָיו Eh Chawv – his brothers.’ Judah lived on high moral ground until he participated in the kidnapping, selling his brother Joseph into captivity and deceiving his father. Until then, his brothers highly regarded Judah even though he was not firstborn. He was a natural leader. That is when Ha Torah informs us, ‘Judah went down from his brothers.’He became diminished in their sight. Why? (Genesis 37.26-27) says, ‘Judah said to his brothers, מַה־בֶּצַע Mah Beh Tzah – What profit is it? וְנִמְכְּרֶנּוּ Vih Nee Mih Cih Reh Nu – Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers were content.’ His brothers highly regarded Judah at that time until his advice caused a series of serious mishaps. He stumbled and led his brothers into stumbling as well. (Proverbs 24.16) says, ‘A righteous/just man falls seven times, and yet rises again.’ Unfortunately, Judah continued to stumble for a while. He isolated himself from his father and brothers. He married a woman of the accursed כְּנַעֲנִי Canaanite tribe. They had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shuah (Genesis 38.1-5).

At this time, we are going to look at the Word דֶלֶת – Deh Leht – or דָלֶת – Dalet. דֶלֶת – Deh Leht is a door, gate, portal, or entrance. דָלֶת – Dalet – is the number four in the Hebrew Aleph Bet. The Dalet is significant from many angles. Jacob had four wives and four firstborn sons. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29.34-35). The Moshiach will come through the line of Judah. (Genesis 49.8-10) says, ‘Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down in your presence. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you are gone up; he stooped down, couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the scepter from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall the obedience of the people be.’

Please remember that Jacob is a Prophet Patriarch and entrance to Moshiach, so when Ha Torah reveals that Judah went down from his brothers and married a woman from the cursed Canaanites, that is a red flag for those of us living in 5783 From Creation. The Prophet Patriarch Abraham said to his chief servant, Eliezer of Damascus – ‘Swear by our Lord, God of heaven, and earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, (Genesis 24.3). ‘Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, charged him, and said to him, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.‘Why? Noah, the father of Ham, cursed Canaan, Ham’s fourth son. (Genesis 9.22-28) says ‘Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers. And he said, Blessed be Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his slave. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall live in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his slave.

The Midrash suggests that Ham and Canaan emasculated Noah so he could no longer have children. This prevented Noah and Na’amah from having a fourth son to care for him in his later years. Using the number four represented by the Letter Dalet, we observe the corruption and the brutal display of relationship fiascos and sibling rivalry between Noah and Na’amah’s son Ham’s fourth son Canaan. So, the word to us is to stay on the path of Torah Observance. Let’s use Ha Torah to help avert and filter out issues before they reach an explosive level. We can do this. May each of us be loving, kind, and giving. May Lord Bless us. May we follow Ha Torah’s guidelines. May we bring peace and healing to our world. May this coming Sabbath and every Sabbath be a blessed Day.

Good Sabbath!

Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk

Author