Sometimes I feel reluctant to post a new entry on this blog, because then an old entry is pushed into the archives. I'm rather fond of my little words, and I hate for any of the older words to be subject to discrimination. Whatever. Just something I was thinkin'.

I was reading the tale of Gideon from Shoftim. What a guy. After a stupendous victory over Midian and the manufacture of a quality golden ephod, he settled down to the business of making children. And boy, did he! Seventy sons in total, not to mention the son he had with the concubine in Shechem. And after he lived to a fine old age and was gathered to his fathers, the son of the concubine and his thugs murdered sixty-nine of his sons, missing only the youngest. Quite the tale, that.

Soon I will eat a delicious Sabbath dinner with my family.

G'Shabbes ya'll.

"When Adelle Davis, the famous nutrition writer, appeared on the Johnny Carson show, she was asked to give a 'rule of thumb' for healthy eating. She said, 'If it is adverstised in the media, don't buy it.' An excellent rule indeed. Unfortunately the TV station blipped her out. Viewers never heard the comment.

When money goes into advertising, cuts must be made elsewhere so the cheapest ingredients are used - hydrogenated vegetable oils, high fructose corn syrup, white flour and additives that mimic the taste of properly prepared whole food."

-Sally Fallon, from Nourishing Traditions

I went out walking on a snow-covered golf course under a glowing full moon.
I should write some kind of poem.

The moon tells me that it's one month until Purim, and two months until Pesach. That's good news.

I watched an Iranian film today. It was nice.

I finished studying book of biblical Hebrew grammar yesterday. It took me a few months, but now I'm through. Now what? I tried translating a few verses from Ruth today with moderate success.

And how about that Yitro, eh? I love the first part of this week's parasha. It's one of the few glimpses of the day to day life and family relationships of Moshe. The in-laws come to stay, and they have advice. Note to self: when you get married, pay heed to the counsel of your father-in-law. But only if the Almighty seconds it.

stravinsky's shocking ditonality
reading lengthy victorian novel
hebrew verbs and more hebrew
say kiddush and sip wine with the folks
banging out chords in siemens home
and its blood
left hand f sharp right hand c
visiting sharon at hospital
chatting with andy and lorna and heather
buttering raisin toast for mclanahan clan
why so much anger inside of me?
misery famine misery
the love of God
the mighty right hand
moshe sings a song in rich baritone
and the kahal goyim amble up to belt out the chorus
i will sing unto the lord
for he hath triumphed gloriously
full moon at this point in time
two months 'til pesach
soon and very soon we are going to see the king

bezrat hashem a good week this will be

shavua tov to all the beautiful people out there
and yes I mean you

I'm facing death, and so are the brethren in Messiah of Saskatoon. One of our women is very ill with cancer. I am trusting in YHVH, Elohei Yisrael. The One who raised Yeshua from the grave can surely heal this woman of cancer.

Shabbat Shalom to the whole-wide-wild-world.

Let us forget the fears and cares,
Of this world of death and pain;
Think only of Yeshua, Who lives,
And bless Yah for this Sabbath day.

-yoel

For anyone who's interested in Torah commentary, I wrote a little something about this week's parashah at Follow The Cloud.

On Yom Rishon I went to the synagogue to hear a woman named Maseret Tagaw speak. She's an Israeli Jew that made aliyah from Ethiopia when she was three years old. Right now she's an emissary to the Jewish community in Cleveland. She had an incredible story to tell, my view of the world was expanded, and I had a good time talking to all the folks there.

I want to be in Eretz Israel.

Mobius may be the 5th biggest Jew on the internet, but my site is in the top 10 amalek. Great.

I just got back from the U of S library. I was reading a fascinating book about Andreas Fischer, an Anabaptist who lived in the 1500s and kept the 7th day Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath would make perfect sense for those following the Anabaptist road of separating church from state and getting back to the way the early church did stuff. Very interesting...

The good news of the kingdom, according to Paul:

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man (Yeshua) is preached to unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

The law of Moses is kadosh, spiritual, and good. It shows how us how to live properly, both in relationship to God and in relationship to other people. Unfortunately, as the psalmist writes, there is no one righteous, not even one. The penalty for breaking the law of Moses is death. One may protest that under the law of Moses only certain actions carried the penalty of execution. That is so. For eating camel's flesh or working the land during a shemitah one is not stoned. But I'm not talking about stoning. I'm talking of death, period. It is an undeniable fact that everybody dies. I believe that we die because we disobey the mitzvot of YHVH. Just as Adam and Chavah disobeyed Yah in the garden and thus garnered death, so all their children die.

But here comes the good news.

In Messiah Yeshua, we who believe have forgiveness of sins, and are justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. The Torah condemns us to death because we fail to observe all Yah's mitzvot. But through the death of Yeshua all are justified, ie. declared freed of guilt, and through His resurrection, we have eternal life. As in Adam all die, so in Messiah all will be made alive.

In the western sky I can see the crescent moon. It is telling me that it is the 5th day of the 11th month. Good week to everyone.

I leave you with one of my most favourite poems of all time, Glencoe, by Mr G.K. Chesterton.

The star-crowned cliffs seem hinged upon the sky,
The clouds are floating rags across them curled,
They open to us like the gates of God
Cloven in the last great wall of all the world.

I looked, and saw the valley of my soul
Where naked crests fight to achieve the skies,
Where no grain grows nor wine, nor fruitful thing,
Only big words and starry blasphemies.

But you have clothed with mercy like a moss
The barren violence of its primal wars,
Sterile although they be and void of rule,
You know my shapeless crags have loved the stars.

How shall I thank you, O courageous heart,
That of this wasteful world you had no fear;
But bade it blossom in clear faith and sent
Your fair flower-feeding rivers: even as here

The peat burns brimming from their cups of stone
Glow brown and blood-red down the vast decline
As if Christ stood on yonder clouded peak
And turned its thousand waters into wine.

It's my little sister's 15th birthday. Happy birthday, Hannah!

One hopes to worship God with a little art if one has any, and if one hasn't, and cannot recognize it in others, then at least one can burn a little incense.

-Igor Stravinsky

Once again today I fell into the trap of thinking that if I only try hard enough I can do something worthwhile. The opposite is true. The harder I try, the closer I get to death. Only by living in Messiah can I accomplish anything of worth. Messiah Yeshua is everything to us. He is our life.

Abba, may your kingdom come, and your will be done. Help me to be a good piece of leaven, working through the meal; bearing fruit and multiplying.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

-Yeshua

My newest hobby: Collecting hitpa'el verbs from the Torah. I am now the proud caretaker of two magnificent verbs from Shemot (Exodus), and I'm eagerly looking for more. Thus, I have a proposition for everyone. If you leave me a comment and reveal the reference to a verse containing a hitpa'el verb from anywhere in the Tanach, I, in return, will give you one of 'mine'.
Deal?

And here's a little 'story' I just found containing hitpa'el verbs. Enjoy.

"'Bunter,' said Lord Peter, as the kitchen door closed behind them, 'do you know why I am doubtful about the success of those rat experiments?'

'Meaning Dr Hartman's, my lord?'

'Yes. Dr Hartman has a theory. In any investigation, my Bunter, it is most damnably dangerous to have a theory.'

'I have heard you say so, my lord.'

'Confound you - you know it as well as I do! What is wrong with the doctor's theories, Bunter?'

'You wish me to reply, my lord, that he only sees the facts which fit into the theory.'

'Thought-reader!' exclaimed Lord Peter bitterly.

'And that he supplies them to the police, my lord.'

'Hush!' said Peter, as the doctor returned.

from The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps that Ran by Dorothy L. Sayers

Such a special evening. In Saskatoon there's several dozen families of believers in Yeshua that are practicing the commands of Torah. Tonight most of the men of our community got together at my house, and we all shared about what's going on in our lives for more than three hours; just taking turns, going around the circle. It's sooo special to hear men sharing openly and honestly about the struggles and victories and histories of their lives. We finished by praying for each other and eating some food. I feel like I know everyone much better now. Baruch Hashem!

This week I watched the film 'A Perfect World.' I highly recommend this film. And my recommendations don't come easily. It's a movie with soul, sweet soul.

Recently I've been reading loads of Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. They're so good. It happens often that I'll read one of the stories, and then in the next few days something will come up in conversation with someone that will provoke me to recall the story, often resulting in me making a vocal reference to the aforementioned story. As of today I am tackling 'Daniel Deronda', George Eliot's final novel.