Torah Rediscovered By Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz According to the publishers, First Fruits of Zion, the printed version of this book is no longer available, but the audiobook may be purchased directly from the publisher. We believe that the printed version is simply a work too important to the body of Messiah to be allowed to disappear. The document you see before you was “rescued” from a web site on the Internet that also contained several other works from the authors, none of which were marked as copyrighted. To ensure that this document is preserved for posterity, it is presented here totally reformatted and re-edited. (The version on the Internet was really a mess; all footnotes were missing, and had to be recovered from the documentation that accompanies the audiobook.) Although the actual copyright status is unknown, this document should be treated as though still under copyright. Bible quotations in the original document were from the King James Version. I have replaced the more lengthy Scripture quotations with text from the Complete Jewish Bible (which had not been published when Torah Rediscovered was written) as this present document is intended for teaching, and I personally believe the CJB translation to be far superior to the KJV. Rickard L. Sawyer Th.M., Th.D., D.Min. Messianic Pastor Adat B’Nei HaMelech Parkersburg, WV June 2002 www.servantofmessiah.org Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................1 Foreword..............................................................................................................4 Prologue Hilkiah’s Discovery ................................................................................5 “Inquire of the Lord”..........................................................................................5 Hidden, but not Lost .........................................................................................6 Found in Judah ................................................................................................6 Significant Spiritual Changes............................................................................6 Guide for Life ....................................................................................................7 This Book—A Shadchan....................................................................................7 Introduction.........................................................................................................9 What Are We Talking About? The Definition of Torah ........................................9 Chapter 1: A Unique Document.........................................................................11 Teaching.........................................................................................................11 A Covenant .....................................................................................................11 A Ketubah.......................................................................................................13 Yeshua’s Stamp of Approval............................................................................14 Chapter 2: The Torah Can Do That? The Purposes of Torah..............................17 How to Understand Rav Sha’ul........................................................................17 1. Torah is not to be observed in order to gain justification before God. ........19 2. Torah helps man to recognize his own sinfulness. ....................................19 3. Torah helps to bring about God’s wrath. ..................................................19 4. The Torah acts as a protector...................................................................19 Chapter 3: The Torah — A Way of Life ...............................................................27 The Torah Reflects God’s Holiness, Goodness, and Righteousness...................27 Life’s Built-in Reminders.................................................................................28 A Jewish Reminder ......................................................................................28 A Daily Reminder—The Tzttziot....................................................................30 A Weekly Reminder-The Shabbat .................................................................31 Monthly Reminders......................................................................................32 Annual Reminders .......................................................................................33 Chapter 4: For Me? For You? For Who?.............................................................35 Idea 1: Torah Should Not Be Followed.............................................................35 Not for Salvation ..........................................................................................35 “Law Versus Grace” .....................................................................................37 Idea 2: Only Certain Parts of Torah Should Be Followed ..................................38 Idea 3: All of Torah Is To Be Followed—But Not Necessarily by Physical Israel .38 Idea 4: Torah Is Applicable Today to Israel and to All Who Are So Inclined.......39 First and Foremost, the Remnant.................................................................39 The Accusation Against Sha’ul.....................................................................39 1 www.servantofmessiah.org Four Centuries Later....................................................................................40 An Amended Covenant? By Whom?..............................................................41 Divine Permission ........................................................................................41 The Bride........................................................................................................48 The Cycle of Worship ...................................................................................48 Summary........................................................................................................49 Chapter 5: Why Follow the Torah? .....................................................................50 Because God Tells Us To! ................................................................................50 Torah Gives Definition ....................................................................................50 Because It Is Who We Are! ..............................................................................50 The Mirror ...................................................................................................51 Because Our Messiah Did It............................................................................51 Because of What It Communicates to Unbelievers ...........................................52 Are We Listening? ...........................................................................................53 Chapter 6: Jewish Misconceptions of the Torah.................................................54 The Dual Torahs—An Explanation ..................................................................54 The Commandments as given to Moshe Fundamental ..................................54 We Need to Know More ................................................................................55 The Explanations, Too?................................................................................55 The Waters Get Very Muddy.........................................................................56 Fixed and Fluid............................................................................................57 An Analysis.....................................................................................................57 Challenging the Rambam.............................................................................58 Justified Interpretations?.............................................................................59 Yeshua and the Oral Torah—The Second Temple Period..................................60 Not His Authority.........................................................................................60 Man’s Laws Over God’s Torah ......................................................................60 The Value of the Oral Torah ............................................................................61 Spiritual Authority.......................................................................................63 “Laws of Tradition” Versus Torah .................................................................63 Chapter 7, Misconceptions of the Torah ............................................................66 A Bitter History Lesson ...................................................................................66 Acts 21: The Key ..........................................................................................67 Sha’ul’s Golden Moment: Passed Over — Why? ............................................68 The Mess that Followed................................................................................69 From the Jewish Side ..................................................................................69 The Irreparable Rift......................................................................................70 And the Beat Goes On.....................................................................................71 Building Better Traditions—The Truth of Eternal Torah ..................................72 Performance-Based Acceptance....................................................................73