Torah Time.

Transcription

1 Torah Time PARASHA Parasha Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:2-29:9 Isaiah 60:1-22 Luke 24:44-53 TORAH TIME Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that YHWH is giving to you as your eternal gift, and you settle it and farm it, bring the first-ripened best fruits (bikkurim) of your farm to the Holy Temple, and declare your love for all that YHWH has done for you. Our Parasha also includes the laws of the tithes given to the Levites and to the poor and detailed instructions on how to proclaim the blessings and the curses on Mount Grizzim and Mount Ebal. Moses reminds the people that they are YHWH's chosen people, and that they, in turn, have chosen YHWH. The last part of Ki Tavo is the rebuke. After listing the blessings with which YHWH will reward the people when they follow the laws of the Torah, Moses gives a long, harsh account of the bad things -- illness, hunger, poverty and exile -- that shall befall them if they abandon YHWH's commandments.

2 (This is an easy explanation of the Torah portion taken from the book The Open Bible - available at ) MEMORY VERSE Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country, Deuteronomy 28:3 LEARNING ACTIVITY Little Billy as so excited to help the neighbours with their yard work. The nice lady who lived across the street from Billy had asked him to help her with raking the leaves. She even offered to pay him ten dollars! Billy didn t mind using his Sunday afternoon to be kind and he was really happy about the ten bucks. He was so happy that he already asked his parents to take him to the store after his work was done. Billy was imagining all the things he could buy with $10... candy, balloons, small toys, soda pop, and more. After Billy finished the job, the nice neighbour was happy to pay Billy for his work. She gave him ten one dollar bills. The smile on Billy s face was really big. He had worked hard and now he was ready to go spend that money. On the way to the store, Billy s father asked him about his plans. Billy, how are you going to spend that ten dollars? Billy began to list the many small goodies he was going to purchase. Dad then asked, How much of that ten dollars are you going to give to YHWH and His people? Billy didn t know what to say. He hadn t thought about sharing his money. And he certainly didn t know that YHWH wanted part of his ten. Billy asked, what are you talking about dad? Well, said father, Everything we have our clothes and even our car belongs to YHWH. When we earn money its His money too. YHWH shares with us. He also wants to use part of our money or belongings to help others. YHWH calls this the bikkurim or first fruits or the tithe. The word tithe means tenth. The word bikkurim is the best part of whatever we have. YHWH deserves the best and asks us to remember Him by giving to others. When it comes to tithing, if you wanted to give ten percent back to YHWH then you would keep $9 and you would give away $1. Billy looked confused. You mean that YHWH wants me to give back some of my money? Father said, Well, yes. It is better to give than just to receive. People that focus on getting are often jealous and stingy. People that share are often kind and generous. The tithe is a chance to share with other with what YHWH has shared with us.

3 Finally, Billy seemed to understand. Okay dad. It s kind of like the Torah portion this week. YHWH said that the people were to give their best to the poor and the Levites. I can do something similar by sharing the money I earned with others. I want to give a few dollars of what I have to the place where we worship. Do you think that is a good idea? Wow Billy, said father. I m glad you learned about the bikkurim and you want to share. Giving to others is a way we show that we love YHWH. Remember our memory verse for this week that says, Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country. - Deuteronomy 28:3. How about I bless you by giving you some ice cream after we visit the store today? WALK THE TALK The daylight hours are growing shorter. School bells are beginning to ring again. Football teams are kicking off their seasons. Can you feel it? The times are changing. The month has even changed. Yes, yes everyone knows it is September but did you know that we are in the Biblical six month, counting from Passover. This is the time given each year to prepare for the High Holy Days of the Bible. The Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah is just around the corner with Yom Kippur only ten days later. For this time YHWH says to repent and seek Him. Every year as we get ready for the fall holy days we read this Torah portion and are reminded that we have the choice between life and death. "And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of YHWH Your Elohim, to keep and do all His mitzvot which I command you this day, that YHWH Your Elohim will set you on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of YHWH Your Elohim. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep. Blessed shall be your basked and your bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out," Devarim / Deuteronomy 28:1-6. The blessings continue and the curses are presented all throughout the Torah portion. Life is like a path in a forest. We can choose to go on the path towards blessing or we can choose curses and death. And like the leaves of the trees that are starting to change colors, it is time for a change of heart. Blessing or curse, the choice is yours and the time to choose is today. YHWH s desire is to bless you and keep you safe. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country, Deuteronomy 28:3.

4 TORAH TALK What does the name of this portion mean? What is the main subject of this portion? What commandments are in this portion? How did YHWH show His love to man in this portion? Why is this portion special? How can you live this portion? Did you read about the Messiah in this portion? Where? What did you learn from the Torah? HEBREW LESSON Yod Yod is a pretty easy letter, since it sounds like its name, with the Y sound of you. And this is because the Y was originally derived from the a long time ago. One way to remember the yod letter is to picture a yo-yo toy. Imagine that the yod letter is a hand swinging a yo-yo around. Now let's try some reading practice again. (yo-yo) - A well-known toy... Note that the horizontal line is just a dash, like in English. And yes, this is actually a word in Hebrew! (yad) - Hand. In fact this is where the name of the letter from; originally it was drawn as a hand. came from cartoonhebrew.com

5 ACTIVITY IDEAS Get a special jar or money bag where you can place a weekly tithe inside. Have a separate container for any offerings that you want to give. Give that container a purpose, such as buying food for a food pantry or toys for sick or poor children. Doing so teaches about bikkurim. Watch your gifts and offerings grow over time as you put in spare change or money. Use sidewalk chalk and make large squares with part of the Bible verse in each square (add stars, hearts, etc in each square). Take 5 pennies and when jump on a square, throw a penny to another square and the words of the verse will be taken away. Try to say the Bible verse together and continue to play the game until you learn the verse. Read Mark 12:38-44 and do the crossword puzzle below. What does this story have to do with our Torah portion and bikkurim?

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7 Torah Portion Quiz 1. The Hebrew name for this portion is "Ki Tavo." What does this name mean? 2. What were the Hebrew People to do with the 12 stones on Mt. Eval? 3. Six tribes stood on Mt. Eval and six on Mt. Gerizim. Who and what were in the middle? 4. Eleven curses were spoken on Mt. Eval. What are they? 5. Why are we to give bikkurim or first fruits to YHWH? 6. What was the first thing the Israelites were commanded to do upon coming into the Land? 7. Moses charged six of the tribes to stand on one mountain and the other six tribes on one facing it. What were the names of the two mountains? 8. What are the blessings for following YHWH? 9. What are some of the curses for walking in opposition to YHWH? 10. What did you learn from this week s class?

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