Vayeira - Day #3

Vayeira וַיֵּרָא - And He Appeared  

Torah Portion: Genesis 18:1-22:24

Genesis 19:1–20       

19 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, 2 and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”

They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

3 He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 5 They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

6 Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself. 7 He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. 8 See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11 They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12 The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: 13 for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Hashem that Hashem has sent us to destroy it.”

14 Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Hashem will destroy the city!”

But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. 15 When the morning came, the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” 16 But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Hashem being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside the city. 17 It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

18 Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. 19 See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 20 See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”

Today’s Meditation:

Lot warned his future son-in-laws to leave Sodom, that Hashem was going to destroy the city. But Scripture says they thought Lot was joking. They didn’t go. The city burned, and they were killed. How sad, because they were told ahead of time, and they doubted him. It makes me think about good people in our lives who try to warn us of pending disasters.  But do we heed their warnings or just jump into what could be sinking sand? I recall the times people warned me, but I ignored them out of stubbornness. Then something bad happens, and they were right. We need to learn to listen well to those around us who love and care for us and want us to be safe.

Today’s Challenge:

Think of something in your life that you are doing or have done that you know is wrong. I challenge you today to correct it. Even seek advice from someone wise that you know, share your concern, and see how they instruct you in the situation. Pray and seek Hashem. Then do what they say. Whether it's something you've done or are contemplating, correct it today. You will be glad, and you will avert what would have been a negative outcome.

Lech-Lecha - Day #3

Lech-Lecha לֶךְ-לְךָ Go Forth Yourself!  

Torah Portion: Genesis 12:1-17:27

Genesis 13:5–18

13:5 Lot, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. 7 There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. 8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9 Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Hashem destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Hashem, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one other. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Hashem.

14 Hashem said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.” 18 Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built an altar there to Hashem.

Today’s Meditation:

Was Lot looking out for himself? He thought he was choosing the better land, but he actually got some polluted and corrupt land, Sodom. And look at the result of that. Sodom was destroyed. And in the end, Abram was blessed by Hashem with a promise of receiving all of the land.

Next time we have a choice, we will turn to Hashem and ask for guidance on what to do. Also, it might be advantageous and righteous to choose the lesser and give the other person the best.

Today’s Challenge:

I have a friend who is like Abram. She always gives me the best in every situation. I have learned a great deal from her. Here is my challenge for today. The next time you are given a choice with someone else, choose the lesser option and give your friend the best. You will be blessed even more for doing so. 

Noach - Day #3

Noach נֹחַ - Rest  

Torah Portion: Genesis 6:9-11:32

             

Genesis 7:17–8:14

7:17 The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. 18 The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. 19 The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. 20 The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21 All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23 Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him on the ship. 24 The waters flooded the earth for one hundred fifty days.

8 Elohim remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. 2 The deep’s fountains and the sky’s windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained. 3 The waters continually receded from the earth. After the end of one hundred fifty days, the waters receded. 4 The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat’s mountains. 5 The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

6 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 7 and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned into the ship to him, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. 10 He waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out of the ship. 11 The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth. 12 He waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove; and she didn’t return to him anymore.

13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Today’s Meditation: 

Water has great significance in the Bible. The flood, the crossing of the Red Sea, the commandments of washing, and the water from the rock. We must also remember that our bodies are composed of approximately 60% water. We just read about how Hashem separated the waters last week. Bottom line: water is a necessary part of our existence. We can’t live without it. 

In today’s reading, Hashem uses water to cleanse the earth, just like when you go into a mikvah before you enter the Temple area. You must be cleansed to enter into the presence of Hashem. So, what do we do today? Some still use mikvahs in synagogues, while others are baptized with water. Meanwhile, some of us consider how we can be cleansed daily through genuine repentance. Whichever way you choose, it is essential to be cleansed from sin and renewed daily by repentance.

Today’s Challenge:

Take some time today to think about active sin in your life. Or even the sin that you have held on to. See if you can find a way to be cleansed of your sin. Come clean before Hashem today.

B'reisheet - Day #3

B'reisheet בְּרֵאשִׁית - In the Beginning

Torah Portion: Genesis 1:1-6:8

               

Day #3: Genesis 2:20–3:21

2:20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 Hashem Elohim caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Hashem Elohim made a woman from the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 

23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore, a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Hashem Elohim had made. He said to the woman, “Has G-d really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. G-d has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, 5 for G-d knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G-d, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard Hashem Elohim’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Hashem Elohim among the trees of the garden.

9 Hashem Elohim called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

11 Elohim said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Hashem Elohim said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 Hashem Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman, He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. You will bear children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. 18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you, and you will eat the herb of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”

20 The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. 21 Hashem Elohim made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

Today’s Meditation:

We are in the first chapters of Hashem’s Word, and He begins to give commands. His first is to “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it (the earth).” Genesis 1:28  And Genesis 2:17 “but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Two simple commands.

As time goes on, He continues to give us His set of rules. He presents His Laws, the Torah. We are to obey them, and they are forever. Just as the serpent we hear, “Did Elohim really say that? Surely you will not die.” (paraphrase of verses 2:1 and 2:4). Isn’t that what we tell ourselves today? Some religions teach that we no longer have to follow the Law or His rules. That somehow, this all changed. But this is not true. His Torah is Life. His Torah is forever.

Deception works hard to keep us from the Truth. And Truth is, when Hashem tells us to do something, we do it. In love and worship of Him, we follow His Laws, His instructions. And we believe Him when He says that if we do not obey His rules, we will die. 

Today’s Challenge:

What are the times you have been taught things in the Bible and you said to yourself, “Did G-d really say that?” If that has happened, did you look up Scripture to see if He really did say it? Maybe G-d is honestly telling you something, and it’s crucial. You need to know His voice so that you can pay attention and obey.