Weekly Torah Commentaries

By UMJC - Union Of Messianic Jewish CongregationsReligion & Spirituality Christianity Judaism

Weekly Torah Commentaries episodes

July 15, 2021 Tisha B'Av: Facing Our Traumas
For the Jewish people, summer brings the anniversary of our greatest
national trauma. On Tisha B’Av, we don't simply mourn the loss of a
building—we grieve the pain of divine abandonment. As Lamentations (the
megillah or scroll customarily read on Tisha B'Av) asks: “Eicha?” or
“How?—how could all this happen?”
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July 12, 2021 How to Rebuke with Respect
If you love someone, honor them, even at your own expense. Get in the habit
of safeguarding others’ honor and reputation. The starting point for this
is being in touch with your own infinite value; only one who is secure in
their place, who has “reputation to give,” as it were, is able to guard
others’ honor generously.
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July 07, 2021 Individualism Meets Responsibility
The concept of individualism tempered by participation in the collective
whole has been challenged this past year, as the emphasis on individuals
and their rights seems to have skyrocketed. The problem is that
individualism apart from participation in the collective whole leads to
chaos.
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June 29, 2021 Jerusalem the Waiting Bride
The words of Jeremiah the prophet draw our attention beyond our undeniable
failures as a people to our equally undeniable foundation as a people
chosen and loved by God. And it’s particularly striking that the Lord is
speaking here specifically to Jerusalem.
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June 24, 2021 Almost a Prophet
Like a play within a play, the episode with Balaam confronts us with a
truly paradoxical figure: a God-fearer who could prophetically proclaim the
rise of Israel but dies merely a soothsayer, almost as a passing footnote.
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June 17, 2021 Buy a Ticket Already!
Everyone knows that simply looking at something cannot cure a deadly
snakebite. What healed the Israelites was the power of God, through their
display of faith in looking at the serpent raised up by Moses. It’s a
testament to God’s character that, despite the lack of faith shown by the
Israelites again and again, once they repented, he gave them a means to
display faith in him once more, and by it, be saved from certain death.
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June 02, 2021 Monsters, Giants, and Other Formidable Obstacles
The fears, horrors, and insecurities of our childhoods do not disappear
with time, as we might imagine, but rather remain buried deep in our psyche
only to reemerge in more sophisticated expressions. Unless we slay, shrink,
or unmask the monsters and giants of our past, they make a home next to our
“child within.”
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May 25, 2021 Faith Is Not an Easy Journey
When walking by faith, we are not guaranteed the knowledge of the “whats
and whys” of our walk. Like Israel, we may not know how long that walk
might be or what its various stops or detours might be like. We can have
our hopes or ideas, but in all things, we must trust in Hashem.
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May 18, 2021 A Cure for Jealousy
A man becomes suspicious that his wife has been cheating on him. He has no
proof, only his feelings of jealousy. So, the husband publicly accuses his
wife of adultery and brings her to the temple to perform a ritual to prove
her guilt.
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May 13, 2021 The Day that Changed the World
The Jewish people did not experience true liberation of mind, body, and
soul until they came to Mt Sinai, heard the voice of God, and received the
Torah. On Shavuot we celebrate not just being given some laws; we celebrate
being given our freedom, our identity, and our soul.
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About Weekly Torah Commentaries

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Reflections on the weekly Torah portions from a diverse group of Messianic Jewish rabbis, scholars, and lay people. Our contributors bring fresh insights to familiar texts, drawing connections to…