Author: Steven R. Bruck

Parashah Pinchas 2021 (Pinchas) Numbers 25:10 – 30:1

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In the last parashah, Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, had just run through with a spear a prince of the tribe of Simeon named Zimri and the Midianite woman he was using to mock Moses and his warning against being involved with the Midianites.

God says that thanks to Pinchas’ zeal for God, the plague God sent had been stopped, and he promises his peace on Pinchas and the position of the priesthood to Pinchas and his descendants, forever.

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God commands Moses to take another census, which shows that the generation doomed to die in the desert have all died.

The daughters of Zelophehad came to Moses because their father died and left no sons and they didn’t want their inheritance to be forfeited. God told Moses that women could inherit if there were no sons, but they must marry within their tribe to maintain the proper distribution of the land.

Moses, now coming to the end of his journey, asks God to appoint a leader to bring the people into the land. God appoints Joshua, who Moses charges before all the people.

The parashah ends with God reminding Moses about the daily sacrifices to be made, as well as those for the High Holy Days, so that the people, this new generation, will know what they are to do when they enter the land.

As I was reading this, it struck me that the action of one man, Pinchas, was enough to make a change in the lives of every single Israelite that was present when the man, Zimri, mocked Moses and God in front of everyone, even in the midst of the plague that God sent to punish the sin of the people.

Initially, God had Moses and the Chieftains hang those who had aligned themselves with Ba’al, but when Pinchas showed his righteous anger from his zeal for God, God stopped the plague. It seems that hanging those who had sinned wasn’t enough to stop the plague, but Pinchas’ actions were inspired by such an overwhelming love for God that it, alone, was enough to turn God’s anger from the people.

My question is this: can one person’s actions be so significant as to change God’s plan? It seems that God was willing to have the plague continue, even after the sinners were hung, but Pinchas changed all that with his one deed of righteousness.

Shaul, in his letter to the Romans, said that through the actions of one man sin entered the world, and by the actions of one man salvation became attainable. In the case of the Israelites, there were many who sinned but it was the actions of just one man who turned God’s anger away from everyone.

Can I do that? Can you do that? Can anyone of us do something so wonderful in God’s sight that it will change how God treats all people?

I believe the answer is yes; anyone can affect what God does. Now, do I think I can? Well, that’s a different issue, as I don’t believe I am anywhere near “holy” or “zealous” enough to initiate such actions; but, then again, who am I to tell God what he can or cannot do through me?

The lesson I see in today’s parashah is that when we have a heart for God and do not allow what others think to influence our showing that love and devotion to God, we can initiate actions on God’s part that can affect many people. Within a congregation, within a discussion group, and maybe even within a simple, small ministry such as mine.

So do something BIG for God today, and see what happens. If you don’t notice anything, then do something BIG for God tomorrow and every day after that. You may just do something, one day, which will cause God to bless others.

Hey, even if you don’t see how this influences God’s actions in other people’s lives, I guarantee it will have a positive influence on your life.

That’s it for this week. Please remember to share these messages and subscribe to the website and my YouTube channel, as well.

L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Let’s Talk About the Red Heifer

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I was having a discussion with one of my Facebook friends, a sister in the Lord (Yes, Sarah- I am talking about you) about the red heifer, and I said something that I think is worth sharing. I doubt it will be of any great significance or a wonderful revelation to anyone, but still and all, this is my ministry and so I will talk about it.

Seriously, I think it might be of interest to some.

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The red heifer is an important animal in Judaism. It is a rather rare birth, and when born the cow is to be sacrificed and its ashes used to cleanse those who have become ceremonially unclean when touching a dead body. You can read about the red heifer in Numbers 19:1-10. One of the interesting aspects of the process of preparing the ashes that purify and cleanse people is that for every step in that process, the one performing it is made unclean and must wash their clothes and their body in water, remaining unclean until the evening (i.e., the next day.)

I have read the red heifer is considered a foreshadowing of Yeshua, in that the death of the heifer cleansed people, just as did Yeshua’s death. Personally, I don’t really think that is such a good comparison.

True, the red heifer was killed outside the camp, and Yeshua was killed outside Jerusalem; and true, the death of the red heifer led to a process by which people could be made clean, and the death of Yeshua cleanses us of our sin.

But there are significant differences that I believe make this comparison weak, if not invalid.

For one thing, no one became unclean associating with Yeshua, but the person who burned the heifer, the one who watched it (the Cohen), and the one who collected the ashes all became unclean by their association. The ones who were around and in close proximity to Yeshua not only were not made unclean but instead received the Ruach HaKodesh!

The ashes of the red heifer were used to remove only the uncleanliness that one receives from being in contact with a dead body. There’s no sin in being exposed to or touching a dead body, only ceremonial uncleanliness. The ashes make you clean, ceremonially, but they do not remove sin.

That is a significant difference: the ashes of the red heifer are useful only to remove ceremonial uncleanliness, but they do not remove sin because being unclean is not a sin. God never says, anywhere, that if you are unclean you are in sin. You are not allowed in the sanctuary when unclean, and if you go to the sanctuary when you are unclean or participate in any service (such as a Seder), THAT would be a sin and the ashes of the red heifer would be useless to you. You will need to go through one of the sacrifices outlined in Leviticus 1-7 to remove that sin, and the red heifer ashes are not part of any of those sacrifices.

On the other hand, Yeshua’s sacrifice and the blood he shed cleanses from us our morally wrong sins.

Yes, when in sin we are “unclean”, but not in the same way as when touching a dead body. There is a BIG difference between being unclean because we touched someone’s dead body and being unclean because we killed that person; the former is a ceremonial condition and the latter is a mortal sin.

Now, let’s talk about something I do find to be a valid comparison between the red heifer and Yeshua.

As mentioned above, everyone involved with preparing the red heifer becomes unclean, and what I find interesting is that when we are first introduced to the Torah, the closer we come to the Torah, the more we become aware of our own moral uncleanliness.

In the letter he wrote to the Roman Believers, Shaul mentioned how the Torah created sin because before we were given the law, there was no way to identify sin. As we become more knowledgeable, or better yet let’s say “in contact”, with the Torah, we become more aware of our own sinfulness (uncleanliness) before God.

With Yeshua’s sacrifice, we can be cleansed of our uncleanliness (from sin) just as those who had the ashes of the red heifer sprinkled on them became cleansed of their (ceremonial) uncleanliness.

The red heifer made people unclean and clean, first in contact with it and later after it had been properly prepared for them.

Yeshua, the Living Torah, makes us unclean by identifying that which we do as a sin, and he also makes us clean through his sacrifice, i.e. after he had been “properly prepared” (by means of his crucifixion and resurrection.)

The red heifer and Yeshua initially make us unclean (through touch and learning about sin, respec.), and both have the power to make us clean after they have been “prepared”.

Interesting? I thought so, and I hope you found this little conversation to be interesting, as well.

That’s it for today. I thank you for being here and if you haven’t already subscribed, please do so on my website and on my YouTube channel as well, because they are different lists and I don’t always do a video.

You might also consider buying one or more of my books, and with that I will say l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Judging or Judgmental?

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How many times has someone called you “judgmental” because of something you said or wrote regarding an article or a person’s opinion? Me? More times than I care to remember.

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But aren’t we to judge the world? (1 Corinthians 6:2-3) And didn’t God tell Moses that he will take some of the Holy Spirit he placed on Moses and place it on others so that they can share in judging the people? (Numbers 11:16-30) Heck, even God thinks we should be able to judge others.

So why is it that when someone comments regarding an opinion or a statement, they are called judgmental, indicating that it is wrong to judge anyone?

If you ask me- and even if you don’t I will tell you, anyway (after all, it is my ministry, right?)- the difference between judging and being judgmental is not so much in what we say, but how we say it.

Once I was given (what we call) a back-handed compliment: My Boss told me that when we are in meetings what I say is usually correct, but because of the way I say it no one listens.

In other words, I judged correctly, but the way I expressed myself caused people to ignore my comment.

So, nu? How can we judge without being judgmental?

Here’s what I think the difference is: when we judge, we are looking at both sides of a situation and fairly and unemotionally making a statement regarding that situation. The focus is on the event and not the people involved with the event. When we go past the event and begin to make comments about the people involved, specifically their ability, their knowledge, or their emotional and spiritual state of mind that is when judging crosses over into being judgmental.

We can tell the difference between these two words simply from their proper grammatical usage: we can judge, but we are judgmental. “Judging” is something we do, but “judgmental” is something we are.

Of course, whenever someone judges they are, by definition, being judgmental, so where does it turn sour? It turns sour when we stop talking about the issue and turn it onto the person.

Here’s what I mean:

Judging: I understand what you said but when I look at the Bible references you quoted, there is more to them than what you gave us, and in their proper context the meaning you gave is not biblically sound.

Judgmental: I understand what you said but when I look at the Bible references you quoted, there is more to them than what you gave us, and if you were more spiritually mature you would have known that.

The difference is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Both times the comment is being judged, but in one case it is just the comment and in the other case, it is not the comment, alone, but the person, as well.

No one can tell what someone else’s spiritual state is. We can get an idea from what they say and write, and we can usually have a pretty good understanding of whether they know what they are saying or not, but even when we are positive, in our own mind, that the person is an idiot, it is not for us to say.

God is the only one who truly knows the heart, and even when we are absolutely certain someone is way off base, God knows if that is because they are really an idiot, or maybe a truly repentant and God-centered person who has been taught all the wrong things and speaks with concern but from ignorance.

I have never seen anyone who is in agreement with someone else be called judgmental; I assume that is because when someone says something we agree with, well, then, they are a genius! It seems we pull out the “You’re so judgmental!” card only when someone disagrees with us. Whether or not they really were judgmental, if I don’t have an answer to their comment I can always pull the judgmental excuse to redirect the issue.

In my experience, when someone accuses someone else of being judgmental it is little more than a defense mechanism designed to take the focus off the person accused of being wrong and placing it on the other person. It is nothing more than “smoke and mirrors”, and even when it is justified, it shouldn’t be used.

“Wait a minute, Steve! Why shouldn’t I call someone out when they are being judgmental?”

I’ll tell you why, and this is (of course) just my opinion: it won’t help. Even if you put that person in their place, so to speak, how will that help edify anyone? Sure, after you tell that person off they may open their eyes to what they were doing, but now the focus is totally off what you originally wanted to say and on this argument between the two of you. What you said in order to help people know God better, or edify them, or help console them, is now lost in the smokescreen that this name-calling has created.

If you find yourself being called judgmental, don’t reply and don’t just shrug it off: be humble enough to review what you said and if you think, even just think “maybe” you were judgmental, apologize.

And if you just have to let them know why you are right, you are no longer talking about God but just feeding your own pride.

Better that you should show humility and compassion for the feelings of others than to be correct because (just as I had to learn) being correct won’t be of any use if you are correct the wrong way.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, buy my books, and share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Without Law, There Is No Grace

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I haven’t been posting for almost an entire week, and later I will tell you why.

When Shaul, that nice Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus, wrote to the Believers in Rome, he talked about Grace and obedience.

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Now, for most Christians, they have been (mis)taught this letter confirms that because Grace overcomes sin we are no longer under the law. Even though in Chapters 5 and 6 he specifically states that Grace doesn’t allow anyone to continue to sin, Christianity has taught that the law is irrelevant because we are under Grace.

Well, here’s the kicker, Folks: without the law, there is no Grace!

Shaul also tells us in this letter that the Torah created sin (Romans 5:13), in that if there is nothing officially stating what is right or wrong (so to speak), then there may be a cultural (de facto) understanding of what is okay and what isn’t, but there is no authoritative (de jure) way to enforce that understanding.

Many people have been (mis)informed through their Pastors, Ministers, or Priests that Yeshua did away with the law because we are now under Grace, but without the law, there is only lawlessness. That is an a priori fact of life: if there is no law, there is only lawlessness. There is no middle of the road here, no gray matter, no subtle hues of color. It’s black or white, right or wrong, truth or lies: Grace doesn’t exist if there is nothing to receive Grace from.

If you believe that you are under Grace, then you must also be under obedience to God. Shaul tells us this when he said in Romans 5 and 6 that you were slaves to sin, but now are slaves to righteousness. In other words, where Torah couldn’t save you, through Yeshua you can receive Grace, which does save you; but, that doesn’t mean you can ignore the law. Or, as Shaul puts it, continue to sin.

Look, it’s as simple as this: The Torah can’t save us, but not because following the Torah doesn’t make us righteous. The Torah can’t save us because we can’t follow it correctly- the fault doesn’t lie within the Torah, it lies within us, and it is called iniquity. And because God wants everyone to have eternal life (Ezekiel 18:23), he sent the Messiah to provide a way for us to overcome our iniquity: that doesn’t mean the Torah is done away with, but simply that where we fail to obey the Torah, Grace is provided through Messiah to allow us to be forgiven of that failure to obey.

God’s Grace only counts on the spiritual plane; in the real world, there are always consequences of sin. When someone breaks the law, the judge has the authority to deal out punishment as he or she sees fit, which is a form of Grace. As such, you may be given Community Service instead of jail time, but you will have to pay, one way or another.

However, just because the human legal system allows the judge to show leniency, that doesn’t mean that you can break the law, and it’s the same way with God’s Grace and Torah obedience.

God gave his instructions for worshiping him and treating each other to Moses to teach the Jewish people, who God says is his nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) and as such, they will teach the world how God wants us ALL to live. Yeshua did nothing to change that other than to teach us the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah commandments.

Grace is a wonderful thing but it isn’t the whole enchilada: when we faithfully do what we can to obey and please the Lord, as he said we should in the Torah, God promises we will receive blessings (Deuteronomy 28); and, thanks to Yeshua, when we fail to obey we can receive forgiveness, which is what we call Grace.

Thank you for being here and please like the Facebook page, share the messages and subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel so that you are contacted next time I post.

I didn’t post anything last week because my older sister was visiting from Austin, Texas for my birthday and we were busy every day. It was a great visit and we had a lot of fun.

Until next time, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Parashah Korach 2021 (Korach) Numbers 16 – 18

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In this parashah, we read of the great rebellion, which Korach led along with Abiram and Dathan. Korach was a Levite and Abiram and Dathan were of the tribe of Reuben.

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We all know what happened: the 250 leading men of Israel whom Korach convinced to follow him, along with Korach were all destroyed when they took their censors to the Tent of Meeting, and Abiram and Dathan, with their family and possessions, were swallowed alive by the earth.

Then the people accused Moses and Aaron of killing God’s people, so God ordered that the 12 tribal leaders should put their staffs into the Tent of Meeting, and the one that has buds the next morning will be proof of who God wants to lead. Aaron’s staff not only had buds but flowered and also had ripened almonds.

One last thing that God ordered was that the Levites were to surround the Tent of Meeting so that no one may come close to it without proper authority.

There is so much to talk about here, but what I want to do is deal with is with one verse, one verse that represents the way Israel treats all people fairly and respects all life, even the lives of those that hate us.

In Numbers 16:21, God tells Moses that he will destroy the entire congregation, but Moses prays that God will only deal with the ones who are sinning. God relents and tells Moses to tell the people who are close to the tents of Abiram, Dathan, and Korach to move far away from them, for their own safety so that they will not be destroyed along with those sinners.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

In 1 Samuel 15:6, after God has Samuel tell Shaul that he must completely destroy the Amaleki for the evil they did against Israel, Shaul warns the Keni living with the Amaleki to go away from them or they will be destroyed along with the Amaleki.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

Just recently, Israel defended itself from further rocket attacks by bombing the tunnels that Hamas and PIJ used to launch rocket attacks at Israeli civilians. The Hamas / PIJ tunnels and military headquarters were placed in civilian areas, so Israel dropped millions of pamphlets and made millions of text messages and cell phone calls to the people living there, warning them of the coming attack and telling them to flee before Israel takes out these military targets.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

For the record, hundreds of Gaza Strip resident deaths were not caused by Israel but by the rockets that Hamas and PIJ launched falling short of their target; instead of killing Israeli civilians, Hamas and PIJ rockets fell right on the heads of their own people.

From the time of Moses, some 3500 years ago to this very day, God’s people have respected the lives of all people, treating them fairly and with compassion. Even our enemies have been given way more leeway to attack us before we take defensive actions. And all the attacks Israel has ever made against their neighbors, who refuse to just leave Israel alone because they say they won’t settle for anything but the total destruction of Israel, have been defensive.

The media wants to show Israel as an apartheid and invasive country, and the world seems to want to go along with that lie. The truth is that Israel takes up such a small percentage of the land that is Arab controlled and occupied that it is almost insignificant. Historically, before the state of Israel existed, the land Israel now occupies was wasteland-undeveloped, uncultured, uninhabited except by nomadic people who came and left as the fodder for their herds was used up.

The Jews, even though we are (still and forever) God’s people, have constantly done wrong throughout our long history, yet we have also constantly done right. God has punished us for our sins, and forgiven and saved us from our enemies when we do right. One thing the Bible shows we have always done right, and still do to this very day, is to respect the lives of others in accordance with God’s commandment in Leviticus 19:18.

In Israel, Arabs and Jews live and work together without animosity, each receiving equal pay, equal opportunity for advancement, and mutual respect for each other.

Can we, in the United States of America, make that claim? Does our history show racial equality and mutual respect between religions? Do women have the same opportunity as men? Do different races co-exist well together?

Korach and his followers were jealous of the authority God gave to Moses and Aaron, and I believe that the Arab people are no different. The Media and the United Nations, just like the 250 men who went along with Korach, because of their own sense of self-importance accept these lies and want, instead, to destroy the country that has shown itself superior in every way, especially in the arena of human rights.

The sad fact is that Israel, being accused by the world of being a violator of human rights, is the only country in the world today that truly treats all people in the country with the same rights and privileges, just as God said they should way back when he first gave us the Torah (Exodus 12:49.)

The next time you hear some idiot say that Israel is unfair to the Palestinian people (who aren’t really a people, but a propaganda creation of Yasser Arafat), please correct them with the truth. There are no “Palestinian people”; Hamas and PIJ have hidden behind women and children to attack Israel’s women and children; Israel has always tried to defend only against military targets (which the Arabs hide among schools, hospitals, and civilian homes), and that when Israel takes action, before doing so they do something NO ONE does or ever did- they warn the innocents to get out of the way!

God’s people have made many mistakes, but we have always come back to God and done many of the things God wants us to do, and that is why we are still here; for nearly 6, 000 years everyone in the world has tried to destroy us, but they can’t because God protects us, and through Israel the world is blessed.

One day Yeshua will rule from Jerusalem, the truth will come out, and the world will be ashamed.

Thank you for being here: please like my Messianic Moment Facebook page and subscribe to both my website and YouTube channel. And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!