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“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 NASB).

Jesus often alluded to passages from the Old Testament in His teachings. When He taught His disciples to pray, He instructed them to say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This image would have drawn to the minds of His disciples the story of the manna in the wilderness.

God provided manna in the wilderness to feed the children of Israel after they left Egypt (Exodus 16:11-36). They were permitted to gather only enough for that day. They could not gather more than a day’s sufficiency—except on the sixth day. On that day, they gathered a double portion to keep them for the Sabbath.

Prior to Israel’s entry into the promised land, Moses reminded them how God kept them in the wilderness: “He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3 HCSB).

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He instructed them to ask only for their “daily bread.” Just like those wandering in the wilderness, He expected His disciples to understand their need and reliance upon God for His provision.

The emphasis on looking to God for the sufficiency of the day also reminds us of Jesus’ instruction to His followers to not worry about what they will eat or wear because God knows what they need (see Matthew 6:25-34).

That sounds great, right? Don’t worry. Trust God.

Have you ever wondered whether the Israelites in the wilderness ever went to sleep at night worrying that the manna wouldn’t be there when they woke up?

Spiritual slogans often wither in the heat of life’s cruel realities. That’s why our faith cannot rest upon motivational words, but on a genuine encounter with the living God, who provides our daily bread. He is trustworthy, even when our momentary circumstances seem to scream otherwise.

He does provide our daily bread. And we must look to Him and trust Him. He, however, doesn’t give us what we need tomorrow, today. We have to trust that today’s sufficiency is enough for today, and tomorrow’s will be there tomorrow.

Jesus called upon His disciples to trust God, even in the midst of hardship, trials, and difficulties—to not let the cares of life choke our trust in God. Do we have faith enough to see God so intimately involved in our daily lives providing our daily bread?

PRAYER

Father, give us this day our daily bread. Amen.

By Mark Gerson

One of the wonderful things about studying the Torah results from its premise: Every word matters. The importance of every word, and sometimes every letter, leads to a fundamental question: What does it mean when every word matters? It is not that every word is crucial to understanding what happens in a story or what a law requires. It is that every word or combination of words has something to teach us. A single passage that contains multiple words is frequently able to teach us many lessons. And these lessons may be about the most important subjects in our lives—for instance, parenting.

In synagogues all over the world this week, we will read Parshat Toldot. The primary (but by no means only) story in Toldot is that of the birth and early life of Esau and Jacob, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca. The first thing we learn about these twins we learn from God, the most authoritative source. God tells Rebecca (interestingly, only Rebecca—not her and her husband): “Two nations are in your womb, two regimes from your insides shall be separated; the might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.”

In other words, these two boys are going to be different.

Then we come to Genesis 25:27—“And the boys grew up…” The conclusion of that passage reports that Esau loved hunting and Jacob dwelled in tents. But Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the great 19th-century founder of Modern Orthodox Judaism, focused on those seemingly prosaic words, which seem to be an introductory sentence to something more important. 

Rabbi Hirsch saw in this phrase severe criticism of Isaac and Rebecca. He interprets the phrase, “when the boys grew up,” to imply that they were brought up in the same way. Citing ancient “rabbinic commentators,” Rabbi Hirsch writes, “While it was prophesied and known to Rebecca that the boys would be quite different, she and Isaac nevertheless raised them in precisely the same environment and with the same methodology. This was their mistake.”

And their mistake has consequences. As they develop, Esau and Jacob both begin to reveal character flaws that result in a catastrophic and nearly fratricidal clash between them. The family will be destroyed forever, with reverberations that resonate through the Torah—even to the end of Deuteronomy—and quite possibly beyond. 

One of the purposes of the Torah is to help us learn from the mistakes of our ancestors. Indeed, this lesson became perhaps the most important principle of Jewish parenting. We see this during our greatest holiday, Pesach, when we relive and retell the Jewish freedom narrative (the Exodus) at the Seder through the Haggadah. The main function of Seder night is the education of our children. It is the evening when we bring our children into Jewish memory by teaching them the Jewish freedom narrative, broadly defined. 

One of the most important and memorable parts of the Haggadah is the Four Sons—each of whom asks a very different question to the parent who is leading the Seder and receives a different answer that is responsive to the specific question. It would seem reasonable to have one son who asks a question or questions through which his parent can provide the Jewish answer. It would even be comprehensible to have two sons who articulate (perhaps) a right and a wrong. But that is not what the authors of the Haggadah, understanding their obligation to produce a night of Jewish education, chose. They chose four children—not because there are only four types of children, but it is logistically impossible to have an infinite number of children appear. Four is about as many as is reasonable. And it illustrates the point made by King Solomon in Proverbs 22: “Educate the child according to his way.” His way—not “the” way. 

Where might Isaac and Rebecca have gone wrong? The silences of the Torah are often as instructive as its enunciations. They leave room for our imagination, which can help to invigorate and illustrate the text for us. Following Rabbi Hirsch, we can imagine Isaac and Rebecca deciding to raise their children the same way despite their sacred uniqueness. More importantly, we can consider the lessons embedded in Rabbi Hirsch’s interpretation of the clause “and the boys grew up.” The Torah is, after all, our great guidebook. 

The most apparent lessons of this clause regard parenting. They are a reminder that our parental responsibility is to educate, as commanded by King Solomon, in accordance with the specific gifts of each child. We might have a vision, perhaps deriving from our youth, of our child becoming a scholar, an athlete, a musician, or whatever. In comes Jewish tradition and says: Get rid of it! Your child is not created in your image—she is created in God’s image. And it is your job—your exhilarating, privileged job—to see how she was created in God’s image and to be God’s partner in helping her to manifest it.

God, who wants us to be His partner, does not make it hard to figure out how we can do so. Judaism has a general moral ambition, stated very clearly in Exodus and Isaiah (among other places): We are to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, en route to being a light unto the nations. Correspondingly, as parents/educators, we must teach our children the universal qualities that qualify everyone to help contribute toward this end—from loving the stranger to honoring our parents. But that is just where the education process begins. 

Each child has a unique role in contributing to our becoming a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, and it may or may not be what the parent envisioned. From a very young age, the way in which the child is created in the image of God emerges. It could be through qualities commonly considered good: patience, kindness, and compassion. It could be through qualities commonly considered more complicated: impatience, physicality, and pushing boundaries. It could be through music, mechanics, study, prayer, sports, or a thousand other things, in an infinite array of combinations. 

The message, from Rabbi Hirsch’s reading of Genesis 25:27, through King Solomon, the Haggadah, and to us is clear: Your children will reveal to you how they are specifically created in God’s image. Your responsibility is to identify and cultivate it in them. 

Mark Gerson, a devoted Jew, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who (along with his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson) is perhaps the world’s largest individual supporter of Christian medical missions. He is the co-founder of African Mission Healthcare (AMH) and the author of a forthcoming book on the Haggadah: The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life.  

Website: therabbishusband.com
Twitter: @markgerson
Podcast: The Rabbi’s Husband

By Arlene Bridges Samuels 

Most Americans are unaware that the nation of Iran has the United States in its crosshairs. They’re oblivious to the chilling truth that this trigger-happy Middle Eastern country considers us the “Great Satan” and wishes us harm. 

Israel, however, is all too aware of this ongoing threat. They are forced to be hyper-vigilant, based on an exceptionally unpleasant history with Iran. In the 41 years since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iran’s Imams have threatened Israel—and the United States—with a long series of Shiite Muslim intimidations. The Imams view their role as clearing a path for Iran to rule the world once again, in a modern version of the ancient Persian Empire—which centuries ago encompassed the areas of modern-day Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. At its height, it ruled 44 percent of the world’s population—more than any other empire in history. Beginning in about 550 B.C., the ancient Persians conquered three continents with swords, horses, and chariots. Today, the ruling Imams and their Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) want to revive Persian dominance with a religious Islamist caliphate (governance)—and include the menace of an Iranian nuke. 

American administrations, whether Democratic or Republican, must remain alert to Iran since we don’t have to guess at Iran’s intentions. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei always uses the annual Quds Day (Quds is Arabic for “Jerusalem”) at the end of Ramadan to defame Israel, Zionism, and the U.S. while stridently proclaiming his support for Palestinians. Here is part of Khamenei’s May 2020 speech.

“The virus of Zionism won’t last long and will be eliminated. It’s the worst human evil, it will be uprooted from the Middle East despite being supported by the United States … in the not-too-distant future.” Khamenei went on to say, “The cancerous tumor continuing this historical oppression for decades uses the most horrifying forms of murder, crime, destruction of farmlands, and genocide—this is indeed a new record in brutality and wickedness. The main agents and criminals behind this tragedy are the western governments and their satanic policies.” Khamenei and his Imams often refer to the U.S. as the “Big Satan” or “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan.”

Iran’s continuing quest for nuclear weapons has, in part, motivated some of the Arabian Gulf states to forge alliances with Israel in the Abraham Accords—which is a bulwark against Iran’s leaders who have not relented in their goals of dominance in that region and the world.

Deemed the world’s most prolific terror-sponsoring nation, Iran supplies two of its terror proxies—Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon—with money and weapons. For the last nine years, during Syria’s horrific civil war, Iran’s long alliance with Syria expanded. The IRGC’s elite Quds Force, manned by several thousand soldiers and supplied by weapons depots, has been stationed just miles away from Israel’s border. The IRGC has suffered losses due to Israel’s Air Force efforts to contain the Iran threat in Syria. Iran’s threats cannot come true and as Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly stated, “We will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weaponry. We will continue to fight those who would kill us.” Israel’s uncompromising resolve was evident when it destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in a 1981 clandestine air attack and again in 2007, when Israel discovered Syria’s nascent nuclear program. 

Iran has not confined its bellicose meddling to the Middle East. For decades they have allied themselves with North Korea with their mutual interest in developing nuclear weapons. They have pointedly increased their influence in Latin America, building Iranian embassies, numerous cultural centers, and mosques in such nations as Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The IRGC has troops based in Venezuela to help that nation prop up its destructive dictator, Maduro, while the Venezuelan national airline ferries weapons, gold, and people between the two countries weekly.

In 2015, in response to Iran’s decades-long history of destructive influence and actions worldwide, the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany—known as the P5+1—finalized the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. The Obama administration attempted a deal that would contain or prevent Iran’s nuclear quest. Based on faulty principles giving Iran too much too soon without first locking in active, proven concessions, it resulted in an Iran that enjoyed premature offers and compromises and then found ways to continue their smiling, clever chess game—of hidden centrifuges, nuclear missile development, and terror—while still supplying its surrogates in the Middle East: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria. 

The Obama administration and P5+1 mistakenly overlooked Iran’s bullying nature and treated it like a democracy rather than an apocalyptic Islamic regime intent on dominating the world. It resulted in the flawed Iran deal still reverberating today on the world’s stage. Their underground nuclear facilities are scattered throughout the country. Iran’s nuclear goals include adding more centrifuges that spin at 1,500 revolutions per second to enrich uranium. And with its missile systems, with effective ranges between 700 to 1,500 miles, possibilities exist that Iran—by transforming missiles into nuclear-tipped warheads—could threaten not only Israel and the Persian Gulf states, but also Europe. The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K., expressing their concerns to the United Nations Security Council, believe Iran has already achieved nuclear-capable missiles. And it’s not far-fetched to think that Iran could take aim at the U.S. East Coast using a nuclear-tipped missile loaded onto a ship setting sail for the Atlantic Ocean. 

Another ignored issue in the Iran negotiations was Iran’s theocracy and its deep allegiance to their Shiite religion and its largest branch, Twelver Shiism. According to their beliefs, the 12th Imam—or Mahdi, “the awaited one”—is considered an Islamic savior. Shia Muslims believe the Imam Mahdi has been alive since 869 A.D. but remains hidden until a chaotic time on earth when he will appear and rescue mankind.

In William Wagner’s book, How Islam Plans to Change the World, the author and Christian professor observes that “a critical part of Islam is taking control in the world and thus ushering in the Mahdi. They think one of the major blocking points is Israel, and that is one reason why they feel like they must destroy Israel.” Wagner states that Islam wants the entire world to become Muslims. 

Israeli geopolitical analyst Jonathan Spyer observes, “Iran will do all in their power to preserve the regime by all means. Why? Three main reasons: the Mahdi and the necessary upheaval, the Mahdi and Iran as a facilitator for his reappearance, and the Mahdi and Tehran’s visceral hatred of Israel.” 

The P5+1’s lack of understanding about the role of apocalyptic Islamism, along with their demonstrated naivete, led them to think that Iran, the world’s most prolific purveyor of terror, would magically morph into an honest partner and abandon its nuclear goals and threats.

When it comes to American policy toward Israel under differing administrations, history is the best proof by looking at the two most recent Presidents: Obama, then Trump.  

Obama supported Israel’s annual security aid during his two terms. His relationship with Netanyahu, though, was riven with policy disagreements. Several of Obama’s decisions left many Israelis with deep distrust. 

First and foremost, Obama’s push for the Iran deal created damaging divisions between Israel and the United States. Israelis and pro-Israel American evangelicals knew the deal was ill-conceived and based on an anemic American strategy. Secondly, Obama viewed Palestinian leadership as victims instead of corrupt officials, a kleptocracy that did not invest in its population’s well-being. One of the final insults happened in December 2016, when the United States did not veto a U.N. resolution that condemned Israeli “settlements” in Israel’s biblical heartland—Judea and Samaria. Obama then finished off what Israelis perceived as a betrayal by releasing $221 million to the Palestinians on Trump’s inauguration day. Republicans had held it up due to Palestinian corruption, concerned that the money would remain only in the pockets of its leaders.    

President Trump’s outstanding policies, on the other hand, have led both Israelis and pro-Israel Christians alike to compare him to Cyrus the Great, the benevolent military conqueror who freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity in 538 B.C., enabling them to return to their capital, Jerusalem. In an analogous way, President Trump “freed” the U.S. Embassy located in Tel Aviv to move to Jerusalem, Israel’s ancestral capital, after 25 years of delay from Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Trump’s administration has also supported Israel’s annual security aid. Significantly, he kept his promise to pull out of the defective Iran deal and increase Iran sanctions. President Trump gave $5 million to Palestinians to help fight COVID-19, but he cut significant aid to the Palestinians in 2018 and 2019 due to their corrupt leadership, refusals to negotiate with Israel, and their payments to terrorist’s families. 

Supporting Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and brokering the historic Abraham Accords have also won the hearts of Israelis and pro-Israel evangelicals. Israel even named a train stop near the Western Wall in honor of Trump and named a new Golan Heights community “Trump Village.” Had Israelis and their millions of Christian friends been in charge of bestowing the Nobel Peace Prize, President Trump would have been the deserving winner. 

The controversial “settlements” were also recognized in a declaration signed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that “establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law.” In another correction, Pompeo recently signed a long-awaited declaration allowing Israeli citizens born in Jerusalem to add “Israel” as their country of birth. It’s been clear in the last four years that Trump and Netanyahu have enjoyed a warm, collegial relationship.

At this writing, the Electoral College has not yet certified the winner of the 2020 presidential election. If Mr. Biden is officially designated as President-elect, we can expect a change in policies toward Iran and the Palestinians. Biden has said he will rejoin the JCPOA with Iran. This alone would be a source of alarm for Israelis. We could expect Biden to be much more sympathetic to Palestinian leadership, try to broker a deal between Palestinians and Israelis, and likely lean hard on Israel to make useless concessions with no cooperation from Palestinian leadership. Although Biden said he would not move the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv, his policies would undo many of the blessings and security guarantees that President Trump has rightly given Israel.

Mr. Biden has known every Israeli Prime Minister, beginning with Golda Meir, and he and Prime Minister Netanyahu do have a long-term, cordial relationship. Biden is known to have joked to Netanyahu a few decades ago, “I don’t agree with a thing you say, but I love you.” In one of his 1980s speeches on the floor of the Senate, Biden declared, “If there weren’t an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect our interests in the region.” In the 2020 Democrat election debates, he clearly said that he would not threaten Israel with reduced security aid.    

Israelis, though, will not let up in their watchfulness toward Iran and or relax their well-founded policies to defend their homeland on three of their borders with Iran’s surrogates. We will likely hear more stories about Israel’s covert operations similar to Mossad’s 2018 stealthy raid on a Tehran warehouse in the dead of night. In a little over six hours, they confiscated a 100,000-document archive of Iran’s secret nuclear activities. Or another mysterious explosion like the one in 2020 at Natanz—a uranium enrichment site. 

Join us in praying for the nation and people of Israel as they potentially face significant threats in the days ahead: 

• Pray that the outstanding cooperation and partnership between the U.S. and Israel will continue in the years and decades ahead.
• Pray for success and protection for all branches of Israel’s military: ground forces, Air Force, Navy, submariners, police, Mossad, Shin Bet, and cybersecurity. 
• Pray for protection and encouragement for the thousands of Iranians who are coming to faith in Jesus but fear for their safety and their families’ welfare. 
• Pray that Iran’s Imams and IRGC will be stopped in every effort to destroy the Jewish state and Jewish communities worldwide. 

As we pray and advocate for Israel, may we continue to trust that “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). 

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is now an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel 25 times. By invitation, she has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times. She hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

The attacks were relentless. Living in the Israeli city of Sderot means near-constant bombardment from missiles launched by Gaza’s Hamas terrorists. Many individuals, families, and businesses that could leave the chaos have moved out, destroying the city’s life and economy.

Many of those with physical, emotional and mental disabilities have been left behind, however, trying to navigate life in such bewildering daily turmoil as best they can. Thankfully, some residents have chosen to stay and fight—nurturing the city and its people.

For the disabled, one strategic partner of CBN Israel is helping many of these people in need: the Gvanim Association. This remarkable outfit provides programs that advance independent living, offering the tools needed to empower individuals and help them reach their full potential.

Gvanim is responsible for over 2,000 people with various disabilities in Sderot and beyond, all victims of terrorism. After each bombing attack, these highly trained volunteers help every resident get to safety and deal with anxiety.

“Helping people with various disabilities deal with anxiety is a hundred times harder for our team, given their unique situations,” says Gvanim cofounder and head, Nitai Shreiber. CBN Israel is linking arms with outstanding partners like Gvanim to reach out to so many vulnerable people impacted by terror.

Through CBN Israel, you can provide trauma counseling and urgent assistance to those affected by terror as well as emergency response equipment and training for communities on the front lines.

You can be a tangible blessing to so many Israelis who face the ongoing threat and danger of terrorism.

Paul wanted to go to Rome. He said as much in his letter to the Romans. Paul wrote to them, having never been to Rome, but now he planned to go—after he delivered an offering from the saints in Greece for those in Judaea. He desired to visit Rome to impart spiritual gifts to local believers as well as receive their aid on his way to Spain.

He called on the Roman brethren to “strive together” with him in prayer, so that he could come to them by God’s will (Romans 15:30-32 NASB). Paul confidently stated, “I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (15:29). But for all Paul’s desires, all his God-honoring plans, all his prayers and those of the Roman believers, things didn’t go the way he planned.

We learn from Acts 21–27:13 that his trip to Judaea resulted in him being arrested in Jerusalem and kept under house arrest in Caesarea for two-and-a-half years. He appealed to have his case heard before Caesar in Rome. En route to Rome, he was shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, and eventually arrived in Rome to await trial before Caesar—not as a free man, but in chains.

So, what happened? Were Paul’s desires and goals wrong? No. Did his prayers and those of the believers in Rome fail? No. Then what went wrong with his plans?

Quick question: Who wrote the majority of the New Testament? If you said Paul, you’d be wrong. It’s Luke. Luke–Acts together is longer than all of Paul’s letters combined. Luke tells us at the beginning of his Gospel that he relied upon eyewitness sources for his work.

Luke was with Paul in Israel when Paul was under house arrest for two-and-a-half years. This gave Luke the opportunity to meet the eyewitnesses who provided the material for his Gospel and the early part of Acts. Had Paul not been delayed, Luke would not have had that access—and we would not have the majority of the New Testament.

Do not despise the divine delays in your life. We are often so egocentric in our faith that we focus only upon how things impact us. As a result, we do not realize that perhaps God’s delay in our life enables His plan to unfold in someone else’s.

Paul, however, remained submitted to God’s will; therefore, He allowed God to do with him whatever He wanted. So, if Paul arrived in Rome in chains, he would walk obediently to God’s will regardless.

How do we respond when our plans go awry? Can God trust us with His delays to our plans?

PRAYER

Father, guide our steps today. Help us to accept whatever comes from Your hands, even Your delays in our lives. Amen.

By Mark Gerson

In Deuteronomy 6:16, the Torah provides an instruction that seems prosaic: “You must not test the LORD your God as you did when you complained at Massah.” This seems prosaic and even skippable, but then the reader remembers this is the Torah—everything is meaningful. Upon reflection, that is especially true of this passage, which cuts to the very constitution of faith. 

One way to look at one of faith’s primary methods of expression—prayer—is as a transaction. We pray to God to give us something—health, resources, strength, love, or something else. And this is, to a point, fine and surely good. In the best case, we want to be God’s partner on earth, and so we ask God to give us what we need to help Him accomplish our mission. 

But there is a problem. It risks making our relationship with God purely transactional—I want something, so I ask the Almighty for it. And what happens when we don’t get what we want, even when its receipt is clearly warranted—for instance, the health of a child? If prayer were an ATM machine—do this, and that will happen—there would be no such thing as faith. There would be no such thing as a relationship with God. Religion would just be one big transaction, and the Bible would be the horse racing guide in the sky, telling us where to place our bets in order to get more of what we want. 

So, it makes sense that God, in the concluding book of the Torah, would forbid tests. 

But several chapters later, God does something interesting. He tells us to test Him. Consider Deuteronomy 15:10: “Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.”

This seems to be a deal for us and a test for God. The deal: Give maximally without fear that you will be without, and you will be blessed in everything you do. The test: We can give to the poor gladly and maximally and see what happens. The blessing is—just as it sounds and like other biblical blessings—material. God blesses us to have children, to have full granaries, to have abundant rain—among other things. 

Given the blessing is material and that part of our undertaking—indeed, the most relevant part—is commercial, God is making a bold promise: If you give happily to the poor, you will become wealthier.

Why would God seemingly subvert His anti-test instruction in Deuteronomy 6 just four chapters later? A hint, perhaps, was provided in Genesis 18. Abraham is immersed in a conversation with God when three strangers appear. He bolts from his conversation with God to take care of their every need and want. One of these is, of course, their hunger and thirst. The beverage he provides them is milk. Why milk? Perhaps, as Rabbi YY Jacobson points out, because of milk’s unique quality. Its fundamental use is to feed the young. In that process, a mother produces more milk to the extent that she gives it. In this, it breaks the general rule that the amount we have of any material thing diminishes to the extent that we give some away. By serving his guests milk, Abraham is educating us: The more you give generously and enthusiastically, the more you will have as a result. 

Milk, by increasing to the extent it is consumed, is therefore the exception to the general rule about all material things. And considering the only context where this is the case (i.e., it doesn’t work that way at the supermarket!), God is telling us something about giving: Giving is the exception to the general rule about all spiritual things. 

Here, God is telling us, you can test me. 

We are in 2020, an age when the understanding of big data enables us to test and verify all kinds of abstract claims. Let’s see if we can do so here. Rabbi David Wolpe leads Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. He has spent decades as an extraordinary religious leader, both communally and through the biblical teachings that inform his Shabbat morning sermons. In one such sermon, Rabbi Wolpe said that no one ever came into his chambers and said: “Rabbi, I am experiencing financial difficulties because I gave too much to charity.” 

This is interesting! Is Rabbi Wolpe’s invitation the test God was talking about in Deuteronomy 15? I have taken his observation to many friends in the clergy—rabbis, pastors and priests. When I pose the question, “Has anyone ever come to you and said that they are suffering financially because of their charitable contributions to the needy?” the reaction is universal. Every clergyperson to whom I have posed this question has said: “No.” And then I’ve asked a follow-up: “Has anyone, perhaps on their deathbed, ever said that their regret is having given too much money to help the poor?” Again: “No, never.”  

This “no” often accompanies a laugh and stories about how people have made money through giving (sometimes through relationships they have made through charitable endeavors, sometimes otherwise). Given the number of clergy people I have asked this question, and the number of people to whom they minister, the data set is in the millions. 

Out of millions of people, none—according to their clergy—has ever suffered financially from giving to charity. 

So, it seems we have, pursuant to Deuteronomy 15:10, unintentionally tested God—and the results are in. Why would God make helping those in need the exception to the anti-test commandment of Deuteronomy 6? Why would He break His rule and allow a test—and one so clear that a failure risks invalidating the entire divine project on earth? Given what God said of the Torah in Deuteronomy 27:8—that it is “well-clarified”—we should be able to easily figure it out.  

Indeed, every parent easily can. If we had a child in need and someone devoted herself to helping him, what would we do to help her help our child? That’s easy: whatever we could, within our power. Everyone is a child of God. So, what would God do for those who devote themselves to helping His children in need? Everything He can, within His power. And God is omnipotent and deploys that omnipotence in one direction: toward encouraging us (with, literally, a decree from the divine credit officer) that we will always do well by doing good. 

Mark Gerson, a devoted Jew, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who (along with his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson) is perhaps the world’s largest individual supporter of Christian medical missions. He is the co-founder of African Mission Healthcare (AMH) and the author of a forthcoming book on the Haggadah: The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life.  

Website: therabbishusband.com
Twitter: @markgerson
Podcast: The Rabbi’s Husband

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Imagine waking up one morning to news that the Eiffel Tower is no longer considered French. That the pyramids are not Egyptian. And that the Statue of Liberty is not a beloved symbol of the United States. Your reaction would be astonishment. Yet, here’s a fact that is barely a blip on the world’s news feeds: The United Nations has once again voted to rename Israel’s holiest landmark—the Temple Mount and Western Wall in Jerusalem—with Arabic names, thereby denying this vital part of the nation’s ancient and proud history. 

This latest offense against Israel at the United Nations occurred on November 4. In one of the seven resolutions scapegoating Israel, 138 member nations—out of 193—formally renamed the Temple Mount “al-Haram al-Sharif,” its Arabic name. They have also renamed the Kotel (Western Wall) as the “Al-Buraq Wall,” allegedly after Mohammad’s horse. 

This is not the first time the United Nations has tried to remove the Temple Mount and environs from Israel’s history. Let’s look at their track record. The United Nations was set up in 1945 with 51 member nations at a conference held in San Francisco. Their lofty goals included world peace and security, friendliness among nations, human rights, and better living standards. Some meaningful efforts have taken place, but many member nations have chosen denial, incompetence, or inattention to horrors like the Rwandan genocide and other appalling crises. Syria’s mass murders—plus humanitarian horrors by North Korea, Iran, and China—barely get a glance. 

All too often, the U.N. has demonstrated similar dismissal of—and disregard for—Israel. Consider: For Israel, the most important vote the U.N. ever took—which was enshrined by President Truman on May 14, 1948—rebirthed Israel into a modern state. From that day forward, however, the United Nations has promulgated propaganda, slander, and lies against a nation that has repeatedly helped the entire world. Israel has shone as a light to the world, an island of democracy in a sea of disaster. 

The U.N.’s earlier attempt to rewrite Israel’s history happened in October 2016 during a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Ironically, that body’s role is to safeguard and name landmarks worldwide. Twenty-four UNESCO member states voted in favor of the 2016 resolution and 26 abstained. Only six countries chose the right path and voted against the attempted erasure of Israel’s holiest site: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Both the 2016 and 2020 U.N. decisions are propaganda of the worst kind. It’s an affront to the Jewish faith itself. 

This anti-Israel bias is even more inexplicable when you consider the history of the Temple Mount site. Solomon’s glorious Temple with its magnificent treasures was completed in 957 B.C. It was frequented by Jewish generations for 400 years before the Babylonians destroyed it. The Old Testament is replete with eloquent descriptions of the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, and the sacredness of the Holy of Holies.

 This was nearly 1500 years before Mohammed was born in Mecca in about 571 A.D. Thus, at the time that the Temple in Jerusalem was complete, the religion of Islam had not yet made an appearance.

So what is Islam’s claim to this holy place? Allegedly Mohammed took a night journey on his horse Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem, where he “ascended to heaven” from the Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem then became the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Two Muslim structures were built on the Temple Mount. The buildings followed the policy of Muslims to intentionally build on top of other religious structures. The Dome of the Rock was built in 691–692 A.D., likely on the site of Solomon’s Temple after Muslim armies overran Jerusalem. The al-Aqsa Mosque was built in 705 A.D. 

The dates on world history timelines make it clear that both Jewish Temples predated the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam, and Mohammed himself. (The Second Temple existed from 516 B.C. to 70 A.D.) 

The United Nations renaming decisions are an affront not only to Jews and Judaism. They are also an offense to Christians and Christianity. Bible-believing Christians fully embrace the Old and New Testaments, which are foundational to our faith. After all, our Lord Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, walked the Pilgrim Road with thousands in the Jewish crowds. He ascended the southern steps and entered the Temple at least three times a year during Israel’s key Jewish festivals. He walked there. He taught there. And Christians long to visit Israel and walk in Jesus’ footsteps at least once during their lifetime. 

I’ve visited Israel 25 times and the Temple Mount twice. Its 32 acres are easily among the most contentious and explosive acreage on earth. It takes only a word or a visit from an unwelcome Israeli official to spark riots and intifadas. The “rule” is that only Palestinian Arabs are welcome. Even today, Palestinians castigate fellow Muslims visiting from the United Arab Emirates. The Palestinian Authority President, Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, has let the UAE Muslims know they could not pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Past offenses include a beleaguered Egyptian Foreign Minister being escorted off the premises for his own safety. Palestinians have thrown chairs at Muslims from other nations. “Unwelcome” is also an understatement toward Jews and also to Christians, who are allowed to visit at prescribed hours only. The atmosphere is tense, for Palestinian Arabs lurk nearby, making sure that neither Jews nor Christians are praying or singing. It’s a sad place to visit knowing you are being watched and at risk of being told to leave. It’s more than sad for our Jewish friends; it’s indefensible and outrageous.

When Israelis won the Six-Day War in 1967 and regained their rightful historic ancestry—the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and the Western Wall—they made a magnanimous decision. They allowed the WAQF, a religious institution under the umbrella of the Jordanian crown, to administrate the 32 acres—but those acres would remain secured by the Israeli police. The WAQF oversees visitation, worship, and repairs of buildings on the Temple Mount under what is called the “Status Quo Agreement.” However, since 1967, the arrangement has been far from peaceful. Imams use their sermons to incite the Palestinian Arabs, leading to countless confrontations. 

UN Watch is an independent, non-governmental watchdog organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its Executive Director, Hillel Neuer, is an expert when it comes to U.N. propaganda against Israel. Here are a few of his most telling comments about the 193 member nations and their past and present decisions: 

• “The U.N.’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal.”
• “The U.N.’s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the institutional credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body.”
• “The U.N. today showed contempt for both Judaism and Christianity by passing a resolution that makes no mention of the name Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site, and which is sacred to all who venerate the Bible, in which the ancient Temple was of central importance.”

Finally, Mr. Neuer gave a current list of nations and entities about whom no condemnation has ever been mentioned: North Korea, Venezuela, Pakistan, Hamas, Algeria, Turkey, Russia, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Clearly, when it comes to Israel, the U.N. has redefined injustice. 

Please join us in praying for Israel as they continue to come under assault by the United Nations: 

• Using Isaiah 5:20, which says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness,” let’s pray that God will change hearts in the U.N.
• Pray for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, for great wisdom and strength. She is a Christian.
• Pray for UN Watch, which keeps track of the U.N.’s record of poor behavior. 
• Continue to pray for Israel’s peace. We know that God has His imprint on the Temple Mount and all of Israel.

May we remember God’s solemn and unwavering promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: 

“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is now an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel 25 times. By invitation, she has attended Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summit three times. She hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

As an 84-year-old, Tamara is an optimist—despite enduring the terror of the Holocaust and World War II. Yet, she has spent her twilight years living out her dream in a battle zone.

Tamara was a child in a Jewish community in Kyiv, Ukraine, when the war started. Her father died in the Soviet army—but Tamara, her mother and baby brother survived in a barn in Tajikistan. Sadly, they returned to Kyiv to find their relatives had all died, and their village was destroyed. So, they lived on the streets, while her mother worked to save for an apartment.

When her mother learned her sister was alive in Melitopol, Ukraine, they relocated, and Tamara stayed with her aunt after her mother died. But she had always dreamed going to Israel, the land of her forefathers. Together with her aunt, they eventually emigrated there in the year 2000.

They landed in Sderot, a city under constant bombing from Gaza. One day, her home was hit by a rocket, destroying two rooms. She and her aunt survived, and the government fixed the basic damage—yet they left pipes and other items unrepaired. For almost 15 years, she lived in toxic conditions, with black mold, and wet walls and floors. But friends like you were there for her!

CBN Israel repaired the leaking pipes and removed harmful mold. For the first time, Tamara breathes clean, safe air in her own home. Her walls are now white instead of black, and she is grateful!  And your gifts to CBN Israel can help many others, bringing food and supplies to refugees, families with young children, and those who are alone.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, the needs have escalated. Your support can provide groceries, financial aid, and more vital essentials to those who suffer. Please let us hear from you!

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: … ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not … I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first’” (Revelation 2:1-4 RSV).

John’s message to the church in Ephesus praised their works, their patient endurance, their testing of those who claimed to be apostles (but were not), and even their bearing up for the sake of Jesus. But they had abandoned the love they’d had at first.

Interpreters have often taken this to mean that they abandoned their love for Jesus, but that doesn’t make sense within the context. He commended them for their patient endurance for the sake of His name. They were fine as it related to Him. That wasn’t the love they had abandoned. They had lost the love they had for fellow believers.

In the midst of testing those who were calling themselves apostles and refusing to bear evil men—actions that are necessary within the community of faith—they had lost the love that they had for others. We have to walk a fine line between preserving the integrity of the faith, which reflects God’s holiness, and loving those made in His image. When maintaining the purity of the faith becomes our focus, we can fall into the trap of our judgment becoming judgmental and unloving. 

Jesus will not tolerate this. He taught, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1 NKJV). He threatened the Ephesian community that if they did not change their behavior and “do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:5 RSV), He would come and remove them.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of being judgmental and unloving. We justify our actions, claiming that we are defending God and the faith from corruption. God doesn’t need us to defend Him; He needs us to reflect and represent His character. He is holy; He is also love.

Our current environment makes it easy for us to become polarized, even within the church. We can quickly resort to judging others while hiding behind a claim of righteousness. We cannot abandon our love for one another and expect our communities of faith to reflect a healthy body of Christ.

If we persist in judging others, we need to heed the warning Jesus offered to the Ephesians, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:5 RSV). He will judge those who insist on judging others without love.

PRAYER

Father, we confess that too easily we fall into the trap of judging others; forgive us. While we seek to walk rightly before You, may we do so in love for others. Amen.

By Mark Gerson

One of the most enjoyable aspects of hosting the podcast, “The Rabbi’s Husband,” is learning why my guest chose the passage we are discussing. There are thousands of biblical passages to choose from, and a guest—by virtue of having selected the one under discussion—invariably has derived original, fascinating, and sometimes moving insights from it that have profoundly impacted his or her life. I am fortunate to be able to learn, discuss, and share these insights. 

One example is an episode I released last week with Rabbi Ari Berman. Rabbi Ari is the President of Yeshiva University in New York, which is the premier institution of Modern Orthodox Judaism. The passage he chose was perhaps the most interpreted, debated, and haunting passage in the Bible: the Akeidah (the binding of Isaac) from Genesis 22. Every biblical student, from the most renowned ancient Rabbis to kids in Sunday school today, have encountered, pondered, and commented on this awesome passage. 

Who could say anything original about it? Well—Rabbi Berman. 

At the beginning of the passage, God appears and says one word: “Abraham.” 

Abraham responds to God with equal conciseness: “Hineni” (“Here I am”). This is not a declaration of location. It is a statement of existential presence. Here I am: completely, wholly for you.  

God tells Abraham—at least, Abraham interprets God this way—to take “your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac” to the mountain to sacrifice him. This is the first mention of love in the Bible. 

Several verses later, Isaac indicates he realizes something is odd. They are going up the mountain for a sacrifice, but there is no lamb. 

Isaac asks: “Avi”? This is often translated as “Father.” But it is the most personal way to express that relationship. It is more like “Daddy.” 

Abraham responds: “Hineni.” 

Just as Abraham was present for God, he is now present for Isaac. But there is a problem. How can he be present for both God and Isaac, given that God has (according to Abraham’s understanding) instructed him to slaughter his son? 

With this question unresolved, Abraham and Isaac proceed up the mountain. Abraham binds Isaac, lays Isaac on the altar, and takes out the knife. The Bible makes the purpose very clear. Abraham is holding the knife to “slay his son.” 

At this moment, with Abraham’s arm presumably raised high to strike the fatal blow, an angel of God appears. The angel says: “Abraham, Abraham.”  

Why, Rabbi Berman asks, does the angel say “Abraham” twice? The angel could presumably have said “Abraham” as loudly as necessary for the Jewish founding father to hear. And Abraham, presumably, would be ready to listen to an emissary of the God who is giving him this horrible assignment. The answer is in Abraham’s reply. 

“Hineni”—the third time. 

The purpose of the repetition of “Abraham” is clear. The angel, as Rabbi Berman explains, was addressing both Abrahams: Abraham the child of God and Abraham the father of Isaac. Abraham, in answering “Hineni” to the third statement, was being educated in one of God’s great truths: He could be present both as God’s child and as Isaac’s father. 

This message was not primarily intended for Abraham, as he and Isaac walk down the mountain apart, live apart, and do not have another recorded conversation. It was intended for us. Our two great allegiances are to our God and to our children. What happens, the story of the Akeidah leads us to ask, when they conflict? 

The answer is reminiscent of what Maimonides, perhaps the greatest rabbi of all time, said when asked what to do when the Torah and science conflict. Given, he said, that the Torah is true, and science is true—they both must be right. So, if you think that the Torah conflicts with a scientific fact, your interpretation of the Torah is wrong. 

Similarly, God is telling us at the Akeidah: If you think your obligation to your son and to God conflict, your interpretation of either obligation must be wrong. In God’s world, you can be present for both the Lord and for your children.

Why is this important? It disproves a common expression: “I would do anything for my children.” Anything? Even if we are tempted, we cannot be present for our children in a way that does not also accommodate God. 

If a parent wants to indulge a child with too much money or too few rules, to gain a child an advantage by cheating or to protect him from consequences by lying, the answer from Genesis 22 is clear: Your responsibility is to be present for both God and your child. And we cannot be present for God in a way that does not accommodate our children. If a parent wants to study or pray at the expense of providing sufficiently for his family economically or spiritually, the answer from Genesis 22 is equally clear: Your responsibility is to be present for both God and for your children. 

What a gift from God! Given that our feelings of love for God and for our children are so powerful, they can each easily take over our entire selves. And no tension could be more painful and more difficult than the one that could be produced when our greatest passions meet our greatest ambitions. In comes God, telling Abraham—and in so doing, telling us—there is no such tension. You can always be true to God and true to your child. In fact, being present for one means being present for the other. 

Hineni!  

Mark Gerson, a devoted Jew, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who (along with his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson) is perhaps the world’s largest individual supporter of Christian medical missions. He is the co-founder of African Mission Healthcare (AMH) and the author of a forthcoming book on the Haggadah: The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life.  

Website: therabbishusband.com
Twitter: @markgerson
Podcast: The Rabbi’s Husband