The HaDerek Laleket is to be a codification of Nazarene Halachah similar to the Rabbinic Shulchan Aruch. It will be laid out on two major parts. The first part will be the Middot (principles) of Nazarene Halacha. The second part will be divided into the same basic divisions as the Shulchan Aruch, and will apply these principles, so as to develop a working codification of Nazarene Halacha. Like my Scripture Commentaries, I may skip around and cover topics according to priority of need within the Nazarene Community, and this work may take months or years to complete, if it is ever truly “complete”.
Part I
Middot (Principles)
Kol V’Chomer
Kol V’Chomer means “light and heavy”. Each of the commandments has a certain weight relative to others. This is why Yeshua said:
אותם שהם חומרים בתורה את משפט חסד ואמונה
“Those things which are weightiest (חומרים) in the Torah, judgment (משפט), loving kindness (חסד) and faith (אמונה).” (Matt. 23:23)
There are times when one must “violate” one commandment, in order to keep another which is of greater weight. For example the Torah requires every male child to be circumcised on the eighth day (Lev. 12:3). While elsewhere the Torah requires us to rest from “work” on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11). This creates a dilemma. Should a child who is eight days old be circumcised on the Sabbath? Yeshua addresses this matter, saying:
22 Because of this, Moshe gave you circumcision; not because it was from the fathers: and on the Sabbath, you circumcise a man.
23 If a man is circumcised on the day of the Sabbath, that the Torah of Moshe be not loosed, do you murmur against Me, because I have healed the whole man on the day of the Sabbath?
(Yochanan 7:22-23 HRV)
Similarly we read in the Talmud:
“R. Eleazar answered and said: If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the two hundred and forty-eight members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall [the saving of] the whole body suspend the Sabbath!”
(b.Yoma 85b)
This is in keeping with the Mishnah, which states:
All of the requirements of circumcision may be done on the Sabbath.
(m.Shabbat 18:1; b.Shabbat 128b)
From this we may conclude that the commandment to circumcise on the eighth day, is weightier than the commandment not to work on the Sabbath.
And in another passage Yeshua says:
5 Have you not read in the Torah, that the cohenim profane the Sabbath; in the Temple, and are blameless?
6 But I tell you, that here, is greater than the Temple.
7 But if you had known what it means, For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,(Hosea 6:6) you would not have condemned the guiltless.
(Matthew 12:5-7 HRV)
Yeshua is quoting Hosea:
For I desire mercy (chesed), and not sacrifice:
and the knowledge of Elohim, rather than burntofferings.
(Hosea 6:6 HRV)
The word for “mercy” here is “CHESED” which is a Hebrew word meaning “mercy, grace, undue favor, loving kindness.”
From this verse we learn that any matter of CHESED overrides the sacrifices.
The Two Weightiest Commandments
Yeshua reveals to us the weightiest and second weightiest commandments in the Torah, when he is asked:
36 Rabbi, which is the great commandment in the Torah?
37 And Yeshua answered him and said, You shalt love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your nefesh, and with all your might. (Deut. 6:5)
38 This is the greatest commandment in thw whole Torah.
39 And this is the first, but the second is like it, And you shalt love your neighbour as yourself. (Lev. 19:18)
40 On these two commandments hang all the Torah and the prophets.
(Matt. 22:36-40)
Mark’s account continues with:
32 And the scribe said to him, Good, Rabbi, you hast said the truth: for he is one; and there are none others apart from him:
33 And that a man should love him with all the heart, and with the entire mind and with all the nefesh, and with all might, (Deut. 6:5) and that he should love his neighbour as himself (Lev. 19:18), greater is this than all the offerings and sacrifices (Hosea 6:6).
34 And Yeshua saw that he answered the matter wisely. He answered and said to him, You are not far from the Kingdom of Elohim. And no man dared to ask him again.
(Mark 12:32-33 HRV)
Here we learn that the two greatest commandments are first to “Love YHWH” (Deut. 6:5) and second to “Love your neighbor” (Lev. 19:18). But Mark 12:33 reveals that these two are connected to Hosea 6:6, which Yeshua had cited in Matthew 12:5-7.
This reveals to us that the “chesed” (loving kindness”) referenced in Hosea 6:6a relates to the commandment to “love your neighbor” and that the “knowledge of Elohim” referenced in Hosea 6:6 relates to “love YHWH” in Deut. 6:5.
Matthew 23:23 then gives us another important clue. When Yeshua references judgment (משפט), loving kindness (חסד) and faith (אמונה) as the “weightiest” matters in the Torah, he has revealed to us further understanding.
Here “loving kindness” is chesed (חסד) and relates to “love your neighbor” (Lev. 19:18) and “faith” is emunah (אמנה) and relates to “love YHWH” (Deut. 6:5). Now we know these are the two greatest commandments, so the third “matter” of these three weightiest matters gives us a major key of the order of weight after these first two. The third weightiest matter in the Torah is “judgment” which is mishpat (משפט).
There are three classes of commandments in the Torah, the Judgements (Mishpatim, plural of mishpat), the Testimonies (Edot) and the Statutes (Chukim).
The Mishpatim are the commandments that regulate relations between people. These are the types of laws that men tend to realize are needed and should be in place, even without them being revealed in the Torah. Among these laws are laws against murder and theft.
The Edot are commandments that testify in some way to YHWH, in that they remind us of events and concepts. These include circumcision, Sabbath, the appointed times (Feasts), the Mezuzah, the Teffilin etc. If the Torah had not commanded these things, we would not be ding them, but since we have the Torah, we can understand their purpose.
Finally we have the Chukim. These are commandments the human mind finds difficult to understand, but that we do simply because YHWH has said to do them. Among these commandments are the commandments no to mix wool and linen in our garments, or kosher laws.
In Matthew 23:23 Yeshua is telling us that immediately after the two greatest commandments in weight, comes the Mishpatim. Following this pattern we can see that after the Mishpatim would come the Edot and then the Chukim.
So the order of priority is:
FIRST
“And you shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5) i.e. “faith” (Matt. 23:23) “the Knowledge of Elohim” (Hosea 6:6)
SECOND
“thou shall love thy neighbor as yourself:” (Lev. 19:18) i.e. “chesed” (loving kindness) (Matt. 23:23 & Hosea 6:6)
THIRD
The Mishpatim, the commandments that regulate relations between people. These are the types of laws that men tend to realize are needed and should be in place, even without them being revealed in the Torah. Among these laws are laws against murder and theft.
FOURTH
The Edot, the commandments that testify in some way to YHWH, in that they remind us of events and concepts. These include circumcision, Sabbath, the appointed times (Feasts), the Mezuzah, the Teffilin etc. If the Torah had not commanded these things, we would not be ding them, but since we have the Torah, we can understand their purpose.
FIFTH
The Chukim, the commandments the human mind finds difficult to understand, but that we do simply because YHWH has said to do them. Among these commandments are the commandments no to mix wool and linen in our garments, or kosher laws.
Within these categories, issues of weight can also arise. For example within the Mishpatim Yeshua teaches us that the commandment to honor our parents outweighs the commandment to keep our vows (Matthew 15:1-9). And within the Edot the commandment to circumcise on the eighth day, and make sacrifices and burnt offerings, outweigh the restrictions of the Sabbath (Jn. 7:22-23 and Matthew 12:5-7).
Pikuach Nefesh
This is the principle halacha that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other mitvah. When the life of a human life is in danger, almost any commandment of the Torah is loosed. This principle is implicit in the second greatest commandment “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).
The Torah teaches us:
“You shall keep My statutes and My laws, which a person shall do and shall live by them. I am YHWH.”
(Lev. 18:5)
A remez (implication) of this verse, is that the Torah is intended for life, and an application of the Torah that produces death, is not the intended application of Torah. This is why the prophet said:
“And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.”
(Ezekiel 20:11)
There are exceptions to this principle. One may not commit murder to save another life, since there is no “net gain” in taking one life to save another. One may not violate the greatest commandment “Love YHWH” by acts of blasphemy or idolatry. Moreover, certain acts of forbidden sexual relations are not loosed under this principle, since the sex act is a picture of the “male and female” “image of Elohim” (Gen. 1:26-27) such acts deface the image of Elohim and are thus violations of the greatest commandment. (See b.Sanhedrin 74a on these three limitations).
T’chit Chesed
T’chit Chesed “under grace” is the antipathy of the Essene halachic principle of T’chit Torah (Under the Law). Yeshua taught:
27 And He said to them: The Sabbath was made for a son of man, and not a son of man for the Sabbath.
28 Thus also, the Son of Man is the Adonai of the Sabbath.
(Mark 2:27 HRV)
A similar saying is given in the Talmud by Rabbi Jonathan ben Joseph, citing the Scriptural basis:
R. Jonathan b. Joseph said: For it is holy unto you (Ex. 30:22; 31:14); I.e., it [the Sabbath] is committed to your hands, not you to its hands.
(b.Yoma 85b)
Since the Sabbath is holy to us (Ex. 30:22; 31:14), and not vice versa, the Sabbath was committed to our hands, and was made for us, not vice versa. Likewise we are told that the Jubilee year is “holy to you” (Lev. 25:12) and so we can make the generalization that the Torah is to be holy to us, and thus that the Torah in general was committed into our hands, and not we into its hands. We are not “under the Torah” but the Torah is prepositionally under us.
This principle is an extension of the understanding of “chesed” under the principle of Kol V’Chomer above.
Yesod HaBriah
Yeshua taught:
3 And the P’rushim approached him, and tempted him, saying, “Is it right for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
4 And he answered and said to them: “Have you not read that he who made man the beginning, ‘made them male and female’ (Gen. 1:27)
5 And said, ‘Wherefore shall a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ (Gen. 2:24)
6 And now then, they are no more two but one flesh only. What therefore Elohim has joined together man cannot separate.”
7 But they said, “And why then did Moshe then command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put her away if she was not pleasing in his sight?” (Deut. 24:1, 3)
8 And he answered them and said, “Because Moshe on account of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I tell you, every man that has put away, or shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and takes another, commits adultery. And whoever takes the divorced also commits adultery.
(Mt. 19:3-9)
This was very similar to the Essene halacha on the same issue as found in the Damascus Document:
They are caught in…Fornication, by taking two wives in their lifetime although the Principle of Creation ( יסוד הביאה Yesod HaBriah) is “male and female He Created them” (Gen. 1:27) and those who entered the ark “went into the ark two by two” (Gen. 7:9). Concerning the Leaders it is written “he shall not multiply wives to himself” (Dt. 17:17)
(Damascus Document 4,20-5,2)
The “Principle of Creation” (Yesod HaBriah) appears to be the same principle which Philo of Alexandria called “nature”:
(3) And his [Moses] exordium, as I have already said, is most admirable; embracing the creation of the world, under the idea that the law corresponds to the world and the world to the law, and that a man who is obedient to the law, being, by so doing, a citizen of the world, arranges his actions with reference to the intention of nature, in harmony with which the whole universal world is regulated.
(Philo; On Creation 3)
(143) But since every city in which laws are properly established, has a regular constitution, it became necessary for this citizen of the world to adopt the same constitution as that which prevailed in the universal world. And this constitution is the right reason of nature, which in more appropriate language is denominated law, being a divine arrangement in accordance with which everything suitable and appropriate is assigned to every individual. But of this city and constitution there must have been some citizens before man, who might be justly called citizens of a mighty city, having received the greatest imaginable circumference to dwell in; and having been enrolled in the largest and most perfect commonwealth.
(On Creation 143)
…for he [Moses] was not like any ordinary compiler of history, studying to leave behind him records of ancient transactions as memorials to future ages for the mere sake of affording pleasure without any advantage; but he traced back the most ancient events from the beginning of the world, commencing with the creation of the universe, in order to make known two most necessary principles. First, that the same being was the father and creator of the world, and likewise the lawgiver of truth; secondly, that the man who adhered to these laws, and clung closely to a connection with and obedience to nature, would live in a manner corresponding to the arrangement of the universe with a perfect harmony and union, between his words and his actions and between his actions and his words.
(On the Life of Moses 2, 48)
Gezeirah (Making a Hedge about the Torah)
The ancient sages gave a directive to עשו סייג לתורה “make a fence about the Torah” as we read at the opening of tractate Avot in the Mishnah:
Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly. They [the Men of the Great Assembly] would always say these three things: Be cautious in judgment. Establish many pupils. And make a fence about the Torah.
(m.Avot 1:1)
Later in Avot we read that Rabbi Akiva said “Tradition is a fence to Torah” (Akiva Avot 3:13)
Such a fence has come to be called a Gezeirah (a term which originally just referred to a tradition, decree or sentence (as in DuTillet Matthew 15:6)
What does is mean to “make a fence about the Torah”? Rambam explains it like this:
“Make a hedge about the Torah”, refers to the decrees and enactments of the Sages-these keep a man far from transgression, as the Blessed One said, ‘Therefore shall ye keep what I have given you to keep (Lev. 18:30),’ which the Talmud (Yebamot 21a) interprets to mean; add protection to what I have already given you as protection.”
(Maimonides on Avot 1:1)
A good example of such a fence can be found in the very first Mishnah of the Talmud:
1:1 From what time may they recite the Shema in the evening?
From the hour that the priests enter [their homes] to eat their heave offering.
“until the end of the first watch” the words of Rabbi Eliezer.
But the sages say, “Until midnight.”
Rabban Gamliel says, “Until the rise of dawn.”
M’SH’SH: His [Gamliel’s] sons returned from a banquet hall [after midnight].
They said to him, “We did not [yet] recite the Shema.”
He said to them, “If the dawn has not yet risen, you are obligated to recite [the Shema].
And this applies not only [in] this [case]. Rather, [as regards] all commandments which sages said [may be performed] ‘Until midnight,” the obligation [to perform them persists] until the rise of dawn.”
[For example,] the offering of the fats and entrails—their obligation [persists] until the rise of dawn [see Lev. 1:9, 3:3-5].
And all [sacrifices] which must be eaten within one day, the obligation [to eat them persists] until the rise of dawn.
If so why did sages say [that these actions may be performed only] until midnight?
In order to protect man from sin.
(m.Berakhot 1:1)
While the Torah requires the evening Shema to be said before the rise of dawn, the sages erected a “fence around the Torah” teaching that it should be said by midnight (Rabbi Eliezer held that it should be said even before the end of the first watch). The sages set up the fence “in order to protect man from sin”. If one is attempting to fulfill the commandment to say the evening Shema before midnight, then even if one is late, one is less likely to violate the actual Torah. Thus the “fence” helps prevent transgression of the actual Torah.
Yeshua also instituted hedges around the Torah. In Matthew 5 we read of a series of these:
Making a Fence Around Murder
Yeshua begins by citing the commandment against murder:
You have heard what was said to them of old time,
You shall not murder: (Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17)
and whoever commits murder,
the same will be condemned to the judgment.
(Matthew 5:21 HRV)
Yeshua builds a fence around this Torah command, saying not to even be angry with your brother.
22 But I tell you, that whoever shall be enraged against his brother, he will be
condemned to the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, You are nothing: he will be condemned to the council of the synagogue. And whoever says to him, You
impious one: he will be condemned to the fire of Gey Hinnom.
23 And if you present your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you:
24 Leave your offering there before the altar, and go you first, to atone to your brother, and then come and give your offering.
25 Come to terms with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way: lest HaSatan deliver you up to the judge, and the judge deliver you up to the officer, and you be cast into the jail.
26 Amen, I tell you, you will not go out from there, until you have paid the last penny.
(Matt. 5:22-26)
Making a Fence Around Adultery
Next Yeshua cites the Torah commandment against adultery:
You have heard that it was said to them of old time,
You shall not commit adultery: (Ex 20:13(20:14); Deut. 5:18)
(Matt. 5:27 HRV)
Yeshua then builds a fence around this commandment as well, saying:
28 But I tell you, that whoever sees a woman and covets her, has already committed
adultery with her in his heart.
29 And if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and cast it from you: for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, than that the whole body should be cast into Gey Hinnom.
30 And if your right hand offend you, cut it off and cast it from you: for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, than that your whole body should be cast into Gey Hinnom.
(Matthew 5:28-30 HRV)
Yeshua makes a fence around this commandment, telling us not to even lust after another man’s wife to commit adultery even in our hearts. The Talmud places a similar hedge saying “Unchaste imagination is more injurious than sin itself…” (b.Yoma 29a).
Making a Fence Around Divorce
Next Yeshua quotes the Torah concerning divorce:
It was also said concerning him that would put away his wife
that he should write her a bill of divorcement,
and give it to her, and send her away from his house: (Deut. 24:1)
(Matt. 5:31 HRV)
Yeshua makes a fence once again saying:
But I tell you, that whoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of
fornication, commits adultery with her, and whoever takes her that is cast off, commits adultery.
(Matt. 5:32 HRV)
Here Yeshua tells us not only that we must not put away a wife without issuing her a bill of divorcement, but that we should also only do so for the cause of fornication. (Here Yeshua agrees with the House of Shammai m.Gittin 9:10)
Making a Fence Around Vows
Next Yeshua cites the Torah in regards to keeping ones vows:
Again, you have heard that it was said to them of old time,
You shall not forswear yourself,
but shall pay to YHWH your vow:
(Lev 19:12; Num. 30:3(30:2); Deut. 23:22(23:21))
(Matt, 5:33 HRV)
Yeshua then goes on to make a fence around this commandment as well:
34 But I tell you, you shall not swear by a confirming word–not by heaven, for it is
Elohim’s throne,
35 And not by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, and not by Yerushalayim, for it is the city of the great king.
36 And you shall not swear by your head, in that you have no power to whiten one hair or turn it black again.
37 But let your words be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these words, is of
evil.
(Matt. 5:24-37 HRV)
So to make sure we do not break our vows, Yeshua says not to even make them in the first place. This was in fact the practice of the Essenes in those days. Josephus writes:
…swearing is avoided by them [Essenes],
and they esteem it worse than perjury;
for they say, that he who cannot be believed
without [swearing by] God, is already condemned.
(Josephus; Wars; 2:8:6)
And we read in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
A man must not swear
either by Aleph and Lamedh (Elohim)
or by Aleph and Daleth (Adonai)…
(Damascus Document Col. 15, 1)
Making a Fence Around Liability
Next Yeshua cites the Torah in regards to the laws of liability:
You have heard what was said,
An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. (Ex. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21)
(Matt. 5:38 HRV)
In this teaching Yeshua said:
38 You have heard what was said, An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I tell you, that you not withstand evil: but if one would smite you on the right cheek, turn unto him the other.
40 And whoever wishes to contend you in judgment, and wishes to take from you your coat, leave him the cloak also.
41 And he that impresses you for one mile, go with him even two.
42 And whoever asks of you, give to him: and from him that would borrow of you, turn not you away.
(Matthew 5:38-42 HRV)
Now to understand this teaching one must understand that in the first century there was a great debate between Pharisees and Sadducees regarding the interpretation of the phrase “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
The Sadducees took this very literally as a law of revenge. They maintained that the court should be knocking out teeth and putting out eyes.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, understood the passage, in light of the Oral Law, to be a law of liability and not a law of revenge. Thus if a man caused another to loose a tooth or an eye he was liable to compensate that man financially as we read in the Talmud:
Why [pay compensation]? Does the Divine Law not say
‘Eye for eye’? Why not take this literally to mean [putting
out] the eye [of the offender]? — Let not this enter your mind,
since it has been taught: You might think that where he put out
his eye, the offender’s eye should be put out, or where he cut
off his arm, the offender’s arm should be cut off, or again
where he broke his leg, the offender’s leg should be broken.
[Not so; for] it is laid down, ‘He that smiteth any man. . .’
‘And he that smiteth a beast . . .’ just as in the case of
smiting a beast compensation is to be paid, so also in the
case of smiting a man compensation is to be paid.
(b.Baba Kama 83b)
Yeshua seems to have understood this passage in the light of Oral Torah, as did the Pharisees, as a law of liability rather than as a law of revenge.
Yeshua begins by saying:
But I tell you, that you not withstand evil:
but if one would smite you on the right cheek, ‘
turn unto him the other.
You may notice that the KJV has “That ye resist not evil”. However the actual Hebrew reads: meaning literally “You will not stand before evil” (שלא לעמוד נגד הרע) The KJV understands this verse to mean “you will not stand against evil” but it is actually meant to be understood “you will not stand for evil” or “you shall not withstand evil”. It is telling us not to allow evil in our presence.
Next Yeshua addresses the idea that “eye for an eye” is a rule of revenge. He tells us “if one would smite you on the right cheek, turn to him the other.” Not that the cheeks are literally smiten, but the financial value of two smiten cheeks rather than just one, just as the text speaks of two garments or two miles.
Yeshua continues:
And whoever wishes to contend you in judgment,
and wishes to take from you your coat,
leave him the cloak also.
And he that impresses you for one mile, ‘
go with him even two.
Here Yeshua discusses the Torah command concerning collateral on a loan. As the Torah says:
10 When you do lend your neighbor any manner of loan, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
11 You shall stand without, and the man to whom you do lend, shall bring forth the pledge without unto you.
12 And if he be a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.
13 You shall surely restore to him the pledge, when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you, and it shall be righteousness unto you before YHWH your Elohim.
(Deut. 24:10-13 HRV)
Yeshua is telling us that this general principle of liability means that borrowers must beet the financial liability.
Finally Yeshua says:
And whoever asks of you, give to him:
and from him that would borrow of you,
turn not you away.
Telling lenders that they may freely lend knowing that they are protected by the same law of civil liability.
Yeshua’s point in these verses is not to nullify the Torah precept of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” Instead Yeshua supports the idea that “an eye for an eye” is a Torah principle of financial liability.
Here Yeshua builds a fense around the rules of liability, instructing us to give more than our statutory obligations of liability.
Making a Fence Around Loving our Neighbor
Next Yeshua cites the commandment to love our neighbor, but adding a false conclusion to it:
You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor, (Lev. 19:18)
and hate your enemy,
(Matt. 5:43 HRV)
The additional phrase “and hate your enemies” was drawn from a false Essene interpretation. The Damascus Document interprets Lev. 19:18 as follows:
As for the passage that says,
“Take no vengeance and bear no grudge
against your kinfolk” (Lev. 19:18)
any covenant member who brings against his fellow
an accusation not sworn to before witnesses
or who makes an accusation in the heat of anger
or who tells it to his elders to bring his fellow into repute,
the same is a vengence-taker and a grudge-bearer….
(Damascus Document 9, 2)
Note that this Qumran interpretation of Lev. 19:18 would limit “neighbor” in Lev. 19:18 to “any covenant member” i.e. a member of the Yachad (Essene community). In fact the Essenes taught:
…bear unremitting hatred towards all men of ill repute…
to leave it to them to pursue wealth and mercenary gain…
truckling to a depot.
(Manual of Discipline 9, 21-26)
But Yeshua makes a fence around “love your neighbor” saying:
44 But I tell you, Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you and despitefully use you:
45 In order that you may become the sons of your Father which is in heaven, who makes His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the righteous and on the wicked.
46 For if you love only them which love you, what reward have you: do not even the
transgressors do this?
47 And if you ask after the shalom of your brothers only, what do you exceed: do not
even the Goyim do this?
48 You therefore be wholehearted, like your Father which is in heaven, who is
wholehearted.
(Matt. 5:44-48 HRV)
Yeshua make a fence, telling us not just to love our neighbor, but to love everyone, even those not already in the Torah observant community. This is like the words of Hillel:
Be disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace,
loving people and drawing them near to the Torah.
(m.Avot 1:12)
From these six examples, we see Yeshua making a hedge about the Torah, laying down a hedge that protects us from violating the avtual Torah.
Ha’Osek BaTorah Lish’mah
Ha’Osek BaTorah Lish’mah means “dealing with the Torah for its own sake.”
This is the key. The basis of true Judaism is studying and observing Torah “for its own sake” as we read in the Mishna:
Antigones of Soko received [Torah] from Simeon the Righteous. He used to say, “Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of wages, but be like servants who serve their master with no thought of a wage – and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.”
(m.Avot 1:3)
Rabbi Meir said: Whoever occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake, merits many things; not only that but he is worth the whole world.
(M.Avot 6:1)
One of the first disputes recorded in the Talmud, is a dispute between the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai, over the recitation of the Shema:
The House of Shammai says: In the evening one should recline in order to recite the shema, and in the morning they should stand. As it is written “when you lie down and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)
But the House of Hillel says: Everyone may recite the Shema in his own way, as it is written: “And you shall go by the way” (Deuteronomy 7:7)
(m.Berachot 1:3)
The House of Shammai required that the Shema be recited in the evening while reclining. However the House of Hillel was not concerned with whether one was laying down, or standing up, but with the intent of their heart. Likewise the Talmud teaches that in making offerings, it is not the size of the offering that is important, but that one directs one’s intention to Elohim:
“…all are the same, the one who offers much and the one who offers little, on condition that a man will direct his intention to Heaven.”
(m.Menachot 13:11)
This is why we read in the Talmud:
Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai said to his disciples: My sons, what is the meaning of the verse, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but the kindness of the peoples is sin? (Prov. 14:34) R. Eliezer answered and said: ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation:’ this refers to Israel of whom it is written, Who is like thy people Israel one nation in the earth? (2Sam 7:23) But ‘the kindness of the peoples is sin’: all the charity and kindness done by the heathen is counted to them as sin, because they only do it to magnify themselves”
(b.Babba Batra 10b)
The Talmud (based on Proverbs) is telling us that even when the goyim do good things, it is always with a selfish motive, and thus it originates from the Yetzer Ra, not the Yetzer Tov.
Torah observance should always proceed from a pure motive and never from a desire to gain something for yourself, such as notoriety. Many of Yeshua’s halachot are designed so that motzvot can be better performed with a pure motive. for its own sake, rather than a motive like “being seen of men” (Matt. 6:1-6; Matt. 6:16-18 & Matt. 23:5) If a mitzvah can be performed in such a way as not to invite a selfish motive, that is the preferred halacha.
Part II
A Nazarene Commentary on Talmud
Part III
Halachot
Orach Chayim (Prayer and Synagogue; Sabbath; Holidays)
Yoreh De’ah (Kashrut; Conversion; Mourning; Eretz-Yisrael; Family Purity)
Even Ha’ezer (Marriage and Divorce)
Choshen Mishpat (Civil Liability; Beit Din Procedures and Witnesses)