This study of the weekly parsha is dedicated in the loving memory of Naomi Channah, Mrs. Naomi Lipton Kravitz may she rest in peace, by her son, Daniel Kravitz, and family. 1 Nisan The Torah states, "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month {Nisan} they shall take every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house" {Exodus 12:3} 10 Nisan The Torah continues, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats; And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 14 Nisan Hebrew days are divided into twelve hours. At the beginning of summer we reach our longest day, June 21st. Sunrise is 5:31 am and sunset is 8:31 pm Denver Time USA. June 21st is fifteen hours long. However a Biblical day is only twelve hours. To understand the length of a Biblical hour we divide 15 hours {900 minutes} by 12 Hebrew hours. A Biblical hour on June 21st is 1 and 1/4 hours or 75 minutes long. The first half of the day is from 5:31 am to 1:01 pm. The second half of the day is from 1:01 pm to 8:31 pm. Now to compare the shortest day of the year for Denver USA. That day is December 22nd. Sunrise is at 7:18 am and sunset is at 4:18 pm. December 22nd is just 9 hours and 20 minutes long. However the Biblical day for December 22, 2000 is still twelve hours. To understand the length of a Biblical hour we divide 9 hours and 20 minutes {560 minutes} by 12 Hebrew hours. A Biblical hour on December 22nd is apx. 46.66 minutes long. The first half of the day is from 7:18 am to 11:58 am. The second half of the day is from 11:58 pm to 4:38 pm. For example: The time is extremely important because ALL CHOMETZ {leavened bread} and other products that contained any form of the five prohibited grains: wheat, barley, spelt, rye and oats had to be removed except for making matzoh, unleavened bread. All unleavened bread had to be removed before the sixth hour on the fourteenth of Nisan. It was forbidden to offer the Karbon Pesach before all chometz had been removed! Hashem said, "Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice {the Karbon Pesach} with leaven {bread present}. Exodus 34:25 Now there is a point to all of this especially
for the Christians / Messianics. 2. The Karbon Pesach had to be "a male of the first year". Jesus again does not qualify here. 3. The Karbon Pesach had to be "without blemish". Jesus again did not qualify. According to the New Testament, he was beaten, pierced and injured. See the article "A Lamb Without Blemish." 4. The Karbon Pesach had to be offered before the conclusion of the twelfth hour of daylight. After the conclusion of the twelfth hour of daylight the twelve hours of night began. Then it was too late to offer the Karbon Pesach. The death of Jesus was well after that time on the 15th of Nisan, late in the afternoon after the ninth hour. {Matthew 27:46:50}. 5. The Karbon Pesach was offered on the Temple courtyard grounds. Again Jesus does not qualify. He died according to the New Testament at Golgotha. {Matthew 27:33}. The New Testament states that, "Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, Where do you want us to prepare to eat the passover [sic]? Matthew 26:19 This should have been well before the sixth hour of 14 Nisan. Holy people begin weeks in advance preparing for Pesach. To wait until hours before all chometz was forbidden before even asking the question, "Where do you want us to prepare to eat the passover?" should be of extreme concern for anyone who makes claims to Jesus' absolute perfection and righteousness. In addition, no mention is made as to obtaining a lamb or goat on the tenth of Nisan as required by the Torah. The New Testament states, "And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said to him {Jesus} Where do you want us to prepare that you may eat the passover?" Mark 14:12 The New Testament states, "Then the day of unleavened bread came when the passover must be killed. He {Jesus} sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go prepare us the passover that we may eat.' and they said to him {Jesus}, "Where do you want us to prepare it?" NOW Matthew, Mark and Luke all clearly state that Jesus' disciples went to prepare the Passover meal. They each also state: Matthew, "When the {that} evening was come... Mark, "And when the {that} evening was come he {Jesus} came with the twelve and they sat down and did eat..." Luke, "And they went, and found as he had said to them and made the passover ready. And when the hour was come {after dark and after evening prayers} he {Jesus} sat down with the twelve apostles..." Now Matthew, Mark and Luke each state that Jesus sat down to eat the Passover meal with him. HOWEVER John disputes their record. John contradicts their record. John says, "Now before the feast of passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. and supper being ended the devil having now put into Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him..." John 13:1,2 We have the record of Matthew, Mark and Luke that state Jesus sat down to eat his Passover meal and we have John stating it was "BEFORE THE FEAST OF PASSOVER." Christians /.Messianics, which record is correct? Remember one cannot begin the Passover meal until after dark, until after kiddish {blessing on the wine and the matzoh}.
Next we notice that "AS THEY WERE EATING" {the Passover meal} that "Jesus took bread," leavened bread, forbidden bread, bread that represented sin, bread that G-d said Jews were forbidden to eat or even posses in their home during Pesach! Next we notice that they were already "EATING" before kiddish, before the wine was first blessed, before the matzoh was blessed following the wine Next we notice the seder order is backwards. Jesus blessed the bread before the wine. Dear reader, these types of problems are generally unknown to most Christians / Messianics because they do not truly understand the Torah or the correct process of the Pesach seder. They haven't consider that Jesus took leavened bread instead of matzoh. They don't know that one does not begin the Pesach meal without first saying kiddush. How would they know that kiddush is not said in the middle of the Pesach meal? How would they know that the blessing is first said on the wine and then on the matzoh? Holy reader, what these contradictions to the Torah show is that either the writers did not know the most basic precepts of Torah or that they openly violated the very concept of Pesach. Why would they go to prepare? Why would they rid the house of chometz? Why would they bother if they were going to eat chometz, bread anyway? Holy reader, these are just a few of the many problems presented within the New Testament. There are many more. This is why Jews do not believe the New Testament. It violates the Torah! It teaches errors! It corrupts the very meaning of Pesach! It contradicts itself! Later during the Pesach meal we read that Jesus, according to John, "He {Jesus} arose from supper, and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself and that he poured water into a basin and began to WASH THE DISCIPLES feet, and to wipe them with the towel..." John 13:3,4 Again, holy reader, this sin is so obvious to observant Jews. Bathing oneself during Pesach is prohibited. Even washing one's clothes is prohibited during the eight days of Pesach. This should be a clear sign to any Jew like the other aforementioned problems that Jesus and his disciples were NOT TORAH OBSERVANT They openly disobeyed the commands of G-d! There is no missing this! It is blatant! Later that evening, after the seder meal, Mark states that "they {Jesus and his disciples} went out into the Mount of Olives." Matthew 26:30 While there "Judas one of the twelve {a disciple of Jesus}, came with a great multitude with swords and with staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people." Matthew 26:47 Mark 14, 26, 43; Luke 22:39, 47. John adds to this description, "Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came with lanterns and torches and weapons." John 18:3 Dear reader, have we lost sight of the fact that this is Pesach? This is the night of the first seder! It is on this night that we are commanded to remember at our Pesach table what happened in Mitzriam. The Chief Priest {SINGULAR, there is only one Kohen Godal, not two } had his own very serious areas of responsibilities to perform and prepare for, PLUS the mitzvah of Pesach. To suggest that this most holy man had the desire and the time to plan, arrest, convene a court on Yom Tov, call witnesses and convict a man is so unbelievably ludicrous, it is beyond imagination!! Not only are we talking about work on the Yom Tov, which is forbidden, we are talking about disrupting the Pesach Seder of the holiest men of Kal Yisroel and many other Yidden. The New Testament lacks such credibility and understanding in making such claims. The Kohen Godal is not going to disrupt his Pesach seder with his family. He is NOT going to disrupt the Pesach seder of the men sitting on the Bais Din, he is NOT going to work or require men to work on a day on which work is forbidden! He is not going to be the source of such false accusations as written in the New Testament! Again anyone who slightly understands Torah Judaism understands just how utterly ridiculous this is! Christians / Messianics who do not understand the Torah cannot and will not see how utterly false and utterly impossible these claims of the New Testament are surrounding Jesus' last 36 hours. The New Testament records, "When the morning was come, {15 Nisan} all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death." Matthew 27:1 Dear, dear reader, how can one be in the Bais HaMikdosh {the Holy Temple} in morning prayers that last for hours and at the same time be consorting to kill another Jew? Have we forgotten that every Jewish male is required to appear before Hashem on three separate occasions each year? Pesach is one of these times! Just consider what the New Testament is claiming here. In Yerushalyim at this time of year sunrise is about 6:04 am which is the time for morning prayers. Sunset is about 7:11 pm that means the time for morning prayers must conclude well in advance of 12:35 pm. In other words, even though the time between 6:04 am and 12:35 pm is the first half of the day, the first six hours, 12:35 is NOT actually morning. This is why we have a time limit on reciting the Shema. It has to be recited in the morning! Essentially after three Biblical hours have passed it cannot be considered morning any longer. Then it is midday. So the point is that on Pesach with Shacharis and Mussaf prayers and offerings in the Bais HaMikdosh, time is a factor. One must consider that most everyone has not slept the previous night, that the Pesach seder lasted most of the night if not all of the night. One must consider the holiness of the day of Pesach. When one considers these factors it is unrealistic to state that anyone, let alone the Kohen Godal, had time to take counsel against Jesus. It is unreasonable! Another point where time was a serious factor was when Jesus died after the ninth hour on Erev Shabbos. Joseph, who is credited with removing Jesus' body, would have only around 3 hours and 20 minutes to journey from the death site to Pilate; obtain permission from Pilate to receive Jesus' body; make arrangements for a burial place; remove the body to that place; wash, wrap and prepare; then visit a mikveh in accordance with the laws of uncleanness. When taking into account the distances back and forth, short delays in obtaining permission, etc., 3 hours and twenty minutes is not feasible. Matthew 27:57-59; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56. Now in Matthew, Mark and Luke, the day of Jesus' death was called the preparation day which is from Thursday night until Shabbos begins. John on the other hand indicates that the "Sabbath was an high day" that Shabbos and Pesach fell on the same day. John 19:31 We have pointed out that there are many incorrect reports surrounding Jesus' Passover meal, arrest, conviction and death. It does not require a great education to understand many of these VERY BASIC problems, just simple and careful research. It is clear that the New Testament makes many unsupported claims. We return to the chronology. of Shabbos Pesach: 15 Nisan 16 Nisan The third day {16 Nisan} and fourth evening after leaving Mitzriam, B'nei Yisroel camped at the edge of the Sea of Reeds at Pi HaChiros where they saw Pharaoh and his army charging after them. So it was on this day thousands of years ago that Hashem delivered B'nei Yisroel with a great victory over the armies of Mitzriam! Today is the day that our enemies were completely defeated. Their ability to retaliate against us was destroyed! Their power to return us to slavery was eliminated. THANK G-D! Wishing you the very best, Dr. Akiva G. Belk JewishPath is a sponsor of B'nai Noach Torah Institute. As a sponsor we are permitted to offer one FREE E-Mail course on a limited basis per individual from BNTI's Introduction Courses. We invite you to visit and choose an E - Mail Intro Course. BNTI offers Intro Courses in Judaism and Spirituality {7 Noaich Laws}. BNTI Responses are NOT AUTO!!
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