Hebraic Studies - with Dr. Rabbi Reuven Ben-Avaraham “I Believe - Ani Ma’amim”
Please
Note: Firefox and some
other search engines are not suitable
Use Google Chrome for this page to load perfectly!
Doctorates
are as follows:
1. of Literature, 2. of Philosophy, 3. of
Hebrew Literature/Letters.
4. of Hebrew Studies. 5. of Hebrew (Jewish) Studies.
Please do NOT visit this or any site online or on your mobile on Shabbat or during the Yom Tovim (Feasts)!
Please Note: on this page
and site I will be showing the most blessed four letter *“Memorial Name”
of our beloved
Creator in Ivrit - Y-H-V-H, blessed be His Sanctified Name, which we usually
pronounce as “Adonai” or “HaShem” prior the destruction of the
Throughout the site I will use a version
based on the “Jewish Publication Society” (JPS) version
of the Torah/Tanakh (Torah - Law/Nevi’im -Prophets/Ketuvim Writtings).
Welcome to this page, before we commence in his interesting page why we should belief in the Almighty and give him praise each day and night! And that reason can be very easily found in verse one of our beloved Torah! Yet I have found, now being in my very old age that in general most tend to miss the total point of it meaning on a personal basis.
Can we Say in Faith “I Believe”
Faith is life lived in the light of His Love!
I thought that in this little study that I might use - “Ani Ma’amim” which means; “I believe” - simply to say that we as Jews - should believe. And if we wholeheartedly believe in our faith, then what should you be seeking?
“The earth, O , is full of Thy mercy; teach me Thy statutes. Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O , according unto Thy word. Teach me good discernment and knowledge; for I have believed in Thy Commandments. Before I was afflicted, I did err; but now I observe Thy Word. Thou art good, and doest good; teach me Thy statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me; but I with my whole heart will keep Thy Precepts. Their heart is gross like fat; but I delight in Thy Law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, in order that I might learn Thy Statutes. The law of Thy Mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments.” Tehillim - Psalms 119:64-73 (“Jewish Publication Society” - JPS version of the Tanakh).
I have always strongly believed that faith is part of what makes us human, for it is a basic attitude of trust that always goes beyond the regular evidence that is available to us, but without which we would do nothing of any great value. I addition, without faith between us and our beloved Elohim, , blessed be His Sanctified Name, and in one another we could not risk the vulnerability of falling in love.
Without faith in the future we would never choose to have children. Without faith in the creation of the earth and the universe we would not do science. Without faith in our fellow beings we would not have a free society.
“The righteous (or the just) shall live by his faith” said - Chavaqquq - Habakkuk 2:4 - (JPS version of the Tanakh).
I beg for you to live according the Torah and the precious words of the Tanach which were all inspired by our beloved Elohim, , blessed be He. And always say “I Believe!”
Sustaining it with all our love and faith in our Elohim, , blessed be His Sanctified Name, Who created the Universe in love, Who made every human being regardless of colour, creed or class, in His Image, who lifts us when we fall. He forgives us when we fail and asks us to place love at the centre of our moral world: love of neighbour, love of stranger, love of our one and only Creator, - Y-HV-H -Elohim!
A person who seeks for proof before he or she is willing to have faith simply does not understand what faith is, for they do not know what to believe in, and they will think that it may involve risk, like there are many evil false god’s. It is always possible to live without it, but such a life is found in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’s’ words, “cabined, cribbed, confined, bound … (by) doubts and fears”. Without faith in people they become cynics.
Without faith in financial institutions people simply stop investing and economies tend to founder. Without faith in our fellow citizens democratic freedoms also tend to die.
Without faith in Elohim, blessed be He, the Universe will become a meaningless mess, and let us be honest, the world at large is already without faith, and what condition do you see that it is in right now? Indeed the world and most of its governments is in a hideous mess!
Without faith life ceases to have an objective purpose, for human life is no longer sacred, nor are our promises, duties and responsibilities worthwhile. Those who lose their faith tend to become individualistic and relativist and become very self-seeking and self-sustaining. At first it will seem like a great liberation, but ultimately it leads to a breakdown of trust, and without trust, societies suffer randomness: a loss of energy and order, leading to decline and even it will lean in eventual a total decay.
Just look back to the Grecian’s, whose
greatness in the fifth and fourth centuries of that pre-Christian era was
unsurpassed, in the 3rd century BC a society they became a sorry band of lost
cynics, sceptics, stoics and epicureans whose glory faded with the most
frightening speed. The
If our faith in Elohim means anything, it means humility toward oneself and the love of your neighbour and the stranger.
“ … but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am ” Vayikra – Leviticus 19:18 (“Jewish Publication Society” (JPS) version of the Torah).
But after the
destruction of the
Sadly our faith did change and not for the better for man took it over. It can sometimes lead to self-righteousness and hatred of another. The history of religion has in fact too often been written in bloodshed in the Name of Elohim or some deity, and this was not a consecration but a desecration.
Today in many parts of the world I see religion confused with the pursuit of power, as if that whole tragic history has been forgotten. The blessed Hebrew Tanakh tells us that power only belongs to our Creator, Elohim who uses it to liberate the powerless. Religion has nothing to do with power and everything to do with the Holy and the Righteous and the pursuit of Justice and Compassion. But when religion and politics become confused the result is usually disastrous for both.
Faith is understood in the living and proved in the doing. We encounter the Divine Presence in prayer and through our keeping the Mitzvoth, as well as the wonderful stories and yes through songs. These all lift us beyond ourselves toward the infinite.
“In the beginning Elohim create the heaven and the earth”
And what and amazingly beautiful earth did He create, yet as we all know well, mankind is slowly destroying the earth due to those money hungry billionaires to satisfy their total selfishness whilst they could actually help so many around the world who are dying of starvation, but they do not care less!
Something I would like to remind you of about the countless laws we have been taught about over the many years, did you know the following?
The point is beloved, out of the 613 Mitzvoth Elohim gave us, , blessed be He, not even all of those laws will actually apply you. For are you a serving priest, the answer is obvious. Are you a farmer, most of us live in the city, OK with many may have a fruit tree or a vegetable garden, etc, OK we must kept the first fruit laws, etc.
Scripturally there are ONLY 3 Main laws on the Shabbat;
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”. Shemot - Exodus 20:7. (JPS).
“Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to ”. Shemot - Exodus 31:15. (JPS).
“Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day”. Shemot - Exodus 35:3. (JPS).
But, besides creating the heaven and the earth, he also made man, and the rest we now, it was such a perfect garden so perfect, but yet what happened to the two in the Garden of Eden? Even though they lived a life of heavenly perfection, they sadly failed the Heavenly Father! And of course they were thrown out of the garden.
After having been saved from slavery, and
finally having been given our homeland Yisroel, nevertheless even though
Yisroel failed miserably so many times Our Elohim, ,
blessed be He, was always there to forgive us, if we only returned to
Him! But if we look at the state of Yisroel this day it is in a terrible mess
for the country that JNF pours so much into YET
But, Elohim also made it very clear that all those who will return unto Him, Blessed be His Sanctified Name! He will richly bless, etc, for if you continue to read the Torah, which, remember is the Only book given to Moshe but Elohim Himself, blessed Be He, and also the Prophet’s.
Has the Super Ultra Orthodox Taken
Over Your Shul?”:
Let me ask a
brief question; Does your Orthodox Shul now have Chabad-Lubavitcher
rabbi, well their movement’s official belief is that their late rabbi
Schneerson as their countless billboards all over
“A charmer, or one that consulteth a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto .”
In Conclusion:
However, we have seen Elohim’s, , blessed be He, wonderful glory trough his Creation and through His amazing Miracles and the “Faith of Yisroel”, thus why not let our original faith which Elohim gave us was going” and that means keeping the beloved Torah Let us keep that blessed faith going strong, Elohim is at the very heart of our being, and He continues tow teach us to see His face in the face of the other human beings, leading us to acts of loving kindness. Faith is the bond of loyalty and listening that binds us to our ever-loving Elohim, , blessed be He, and through Him to humanity. Remember Yirmyahu – Jeremiah the priests wanted to kill him, but just ONE GOOd and righteous Man stood up and saved him!
Remember, that Faith is life lived in the light of Elohim’s His love!
Always remember our motto: “The
More Torah, the More Life”, for Elohim, , blessed be His Sanctified
Name, is the one who gave us our Life!”
Return to our MAIN PAGE or go to our Main Index
Email us at ...
Although I have been with Seanic.net, my hosting server for countless years recently they suddenly
transferred my account
to another server owned by them without giving me any notification and only advised me after the event. Even though I have tried to update whatever they told me, but it proved to be useless, especially in my current health situation. Even my computer expert said their details simply made no sense and neither they nor another company I had sought out previously was unable. Thus sadly you will have to copy and paste the email address above into the address box on your email for it to reach me and it will.
Copyright - 1989 - 2023 © hebraicstudies -
All rights reserved
Although the Rabbi does not believe in having to copyright any of the studies, but there have been occasions where parts
of the studies have been partially copied and quoted out of context under his name, and thus he has been misquoted by
those who have their
own agenda and reasons for doing so. Thus, it is only for this reason these
works are covered under © copyright restrictions.