3rdCompass.org: Another Call To Israel

3rd Compass -> Group News and Articles -> Another Call To Israel

Another Call To Israel

(Prophecy)
Make Comment

9/21/2023

Updated 10/12/2023

Today, I noted a blog at The Times of Israel, which needed comment. I copy it and my reply [Note, as of 10/12/2023 The Times of Israel took down all public comments from their site]:

Doing the Daf as Israel implodes
Why must I help fund lifelong study of texts about men falling naked off roofs into the waiting bodies of women below?

by Pamela Peled

Kiddushin, the tractate of the Talmud that is currently being dissected around the world, devotes a great deal of time to explaining why women are exempt from time-bound commandments: girls don’t don phylacteries, for example, or study Torah. In fact, rabbis emphatically denounced the transgressive idea of wives or daughters tussling with the Talmud; Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus declared that anyone who teaches his daughter Talmud teaches her tiflut – sexual license or lewdness. Learning Torah, he feared, would impart enough wisdom to women to outwit their men.

Ben Azzai, who lived a little later, went a step further still. He worried that, since the merit of Talmud is known to postpone punishment, women could stray, study, and then not swell up from the gelatinous muck that fallen women are forced to drink. Imagine that, if you dare.

Not to be outdone, Rabbi Eliezer stated, unequivocally, that the words of the Torah are better burned than entrusted to women. Now there’s a thought to ponder.

However, in Israel and around the world, women’s Talmud study groups are sprouting like white hairs in the Rabbis’ beards. And, in the run-up to Covid, when people were still meeting in living rooms but starting to panic at the smallest sneeze, I joined a Daf Yomi study group in a quiet street of a little town near Tel Aviv. I am not religious, but I am Jewish in my blood cells and on my skin; I also have a decent background in biblical texts, Jewish liturgy, and the history of my people. But I knew very little about what compelled our sages in days of yore when they were creating the codes and commandments that form our religion.

I tiptoed into the Talmud one wintery morning not really knowing what to expect, but certainly not anticipating answers to what you should do if you rather unfortunately expel foul gas in the middle of prayer. (Answer: take four steps back, wait for odor to disperse, and walk forward again.) To my amazement, apart from long discussions on what constitutes carrying on Shabbat (is walking home with undigested cholent in your guts considered ‘carrying?’), and how to become betrothed to a woman (through a document, a gift of money, or, to put it as bluntly as our wise teachers did, through sexual intercourse), there were also disputations about deviant sexual behavior.

If a woman, for example, is ‘atypically’ raped by 10 men, is she still considered a virgin? After all, physically, she might still be intact; go to Kiddushin for graphic reasons why.

Call me cynical, call me uncultured, call me a person with zero sensibility or spirituality, but all I could think of as I read of men falling naked off roofs into the waiting bodies of women on the ground below was: you’ve got to be kidding me. I was amazed, and amused, and ultimately enraged that my taxes, and the taxes of my army-going, reserve-duty-serving, university-fee-paying children, fund bochers in big black hats to study minutia like this for lifetimes.

It’s unreal, and it’s just plain unfair.

I was moved to write about this; my. My book “Doing the Daf as Israel Implodes” examines the craziness enveloping the not-so-Holy Land today – the misogyny, the racism, the extremism, the burgeoning religiosity… and traces much of it back to the Talmud. When men sit in dimly lit study rooms for decades, learning about how a hundred women don’t equal two men when it comes to saying Grace after Meals, or how chatting to a man in a marketplace with uncovered hair is grounds for divorce, is it any wonder that they shunt women to the back of the bus, erase female faces from billboards, spit at young girls who dare to bare an elbow?

Itamar Ben Gvir presumably keeps all the commandments of kashrut and Shabbat, as does Bezalel Smotrich, Simcha Rothman, Shlomo Karchi and others. They are ruling the country now, and imposing their terrifying dogma on every facet of our society. The homophobic Avi Maoz is religious; he’s in charge of part of our children’s education. Just last week, 4 million shekels were budgeted to subsidize the cultists going to Uman. Some do drugs, some visit prostitutes, some were caught smuggling drugs in a Sefer Torah. On my tax money.

It’s pretty terrifying. It’s turning mainstream Jews into antisemites. And it might just stem from the Talmud.

Copied from https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/doing-the-daf-as-israel-implodes

My reply:

As someone who has looked through false teachings for well over a decade, it was not hard to see that the texts of Halacha are not the works of El Elyon, God Most High. I see many commentors here ranting over the author’s “shallow knowledge” of Talmudic study and that “deep study” is required. One even said “the devil can quote Scripture for his own purposes.”

Oh my people, Israel, how little you know of your errors. For millennia you have built cisterns for water that do not hold water, for you have lined them with your false teachings and doctrines of demons. Such things not only CANNOT retain the waters of HaMakor Mayim Haim - the Fountain of Living Waters, but actually repels them – the correct ways of El Shaddai, Almighty God.

You have lost your way, Rebellious Daughter Israel. Tell me what good it does to make “deep study” of what is false and from demons? Listen to the voice of your El Hai, Living God now, His name is Yahovah Saboath – Yahovah of hosts, and He has given a decree to you, an offer leading to true life and renewal.

See God’s Offering to All in Judaism at the 3rdCompass site and review it and related texts thoroughly. If there is falsehood in any of it then make your stand. But if you see El Elyon, then throw away your Talmudic texts and traditions and come to your God in truth and spirit. Those who do will retain what comes from HaMakor Mayim Haim - the Fountain of Living Waters and be renewed to what is everlasting in the name of Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High. Amen.

Update

9/23/2023

Updated 10/12/2023

I made further comment in The Times of Israel article above. Relevant comments are copied below (my edits are in red) [Note, as of 10/12/2023 The Times of Israel took down all public comments from their site]:

laplane:

is the talmud [Jewish laws and text outside of scripture], as written, deemed the current operative to-do book for jews? don't we jews do the same as followers of other religions - study our religious works as reflecting history and not necessarily also accepting their contents as required current practice? times and social conditions change; shouldn't such changes be factored into how we observe our religion today?

csguttentag:

The torah was given by GOD. [The Torah are the first books of the Old Testament, especially the Laws given through Moses]
The prophets (nevi'im) elaborate on the torah - but never contradicts it. [The Prophets are the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament]
The writings (ketuvim) elaborate on the prophets - but never contradicts it. [The Writings are other books of the Old Testament]
The mishnah elaborates on the whole bible (tnach) - but never contradicts it. [Mishnah, Gemare, other Jewish texts mentioned are like the Talmud. They are Jewish law and writings outside of scripture]

The gemare elaborate on the mishnah - but never contradicts it.
The Rambam and Shulchan Aruch codifed the Gemara - the may have different interpretations but the will never contradict it.
And so it continues. for 3,335 years the Jewish nation have been living their live interpreting what came before them - but never ignoring or refuting those that came first.

ישראל ותורה והקב'ה אחד [Israel and Torah and God are one]

My reply:

You do not understand how interpretation works if you believe your Halachic history has no contradiction to what God gave [Halacha is the body of Jewish law and teaching outside of scripture]. What is in the Tanach [Bible] was given by God, at least His original words that are correctly interpreted. Your Mishnah and other Halachic texts may try to elaborate on what God gave, but because of incorrect interpretations and the corruptions of darkness, the Jewish "laws" you study and follow are not God's ways and in fact often violate God's law. Didn't He say, "You shall not add to nor take anything away from the words I command you, so that you may keep the commands Yahovah your God commands you”? (Devarim/Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32) You broke God's commandments long ago when your unapproved shepherds assumed they knew better of what the Torah and Prophets meant. But they were wrong and changed what God gave. So now, you follow the laws and traditions made by men and darkness, no different than other religions, but are more severely reproved by God when He deems time for judgment, for as a People of God, El Elyon holds you to higher standard of which you should know better. It is time to throw away your crumbling laws that are based on ways that God gave for an age long past and replaced long ago.

Israel and Torah can only be one with God if there is no contradiction with Him. And I am sad to say, Israel had never been completely one with God, even in the days of Moshe/Moses, for the people often rebelled. And so it has been for that 3335 years you speak of.

El Elyon, God Most High, Reminds To Look Further Than Sweet Sentiment

3/7/2025

Updated 4/21/2025

Today, I came upon a Times of Israel article sharing some wonderful sentiments and analogy about the planting of trees and the people of God. The author, Jennifer Airley, talked about how a fruiting pomegranate tree grew in a public area against all odds after a stray pomegranate fell from a tree in her neighbor's yard. She noted the stray planting thrived with sheer, obstinate will to grow despite being thrown down in an unplanned accident. She also talked about how the act of planting trees in Israel symbolized connection and commitment to settling the land of Israel. The trees they planted in their own yard after making aliyah (immigration to Israel) were especially symbolic of their pride in helping the original people of God settle back in the Holy Land.

Jennifer also talked about her son, Binyamin, who planted a vineyard with the same hope and commitment to Israel. But he was lost to the Israel Hamas War in Gaza after October 7th, and so she shared a family analogy of Binyamin, saying,

"We didn’t bury Binyamin. We planted him. Though he is no longer with us physically, his roots continue to deepen and spread, his trunk grows taller, and his sweet fruits keep producing — well beyond the physical capacity he had while in this physical world.

So, if you want to understand the Jewish people, look to the tree. See its roots, its branches, its fruit — and its unwavering commitment to continue and grow. Like the tree, we are deeply connected to the land, nourished by Torah [Law/Teaching of Moshe/Moses] and our Jewish tenets, growth by prayer, faith and commitment, always reaching upwards toward the heavens - to strengthen and flourish.

This is our story, and it always will be."

Jennifer's sentiments were poignantly sweet and arboral symbolism accurate. God, Himself, has used trees and plants to refer to people and His own people, but because, I too have a family story involving much hope for tomorrow in planting and gardening, but one that also has tragedy like Jennifer's, I knew the Lord wanted me to speak about it and why it is bad to only focus on the good, sweet things (see A Miracle and A Warning for Passover 2025 for my story). My comments to "We didn’t bury our son Binyamin. We planted him." follow:

<https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-didnt-bury-our-son-binyamin-we-planted-him>

Minister Ty Alexander: The tree is a wonderful sentiment for the people of God, for strong, deep roots prevent uprooting. And whom should never be uprooted but Israel? My mother was a passionate gardener whom El Shaddai, God Almighty, granted her wish to plant tropical fruit trees in retirement, some of which included pomegranates. And Echad (One), whom is our AviAd, Eternal Father, even worked destiny for me to find a perfect house warming, retirement gift for her when I was sightseeing over an hour away from her new retirement home. It was a plaque, hidden away on the floor of a shop with Audrey Hepburn's quote, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." And so, like you Israel, my mother too planted because she believed in tomorrow.

Such is the love of El Elyon, God Most High, for those who are His own. God's wonders and affections do come despite any failures and shortcomings of His people, but truly, the people too often only see love and affection from heaven while they refuse to acknowledge El Elyon is still HaShaphat, The Judge, whom remembers and repays the sins of the people upon them.

It is always for reason horrible things come, for El Elyon does not judge unrighteously but makes right judgments, and so just as the fluttering swallow flies, an undeserved curse does not come. But why is it, my people Israel, that you translate Mishlei 26:2 [Proverbs] "כצפור לנוד כדרור לעוף כן קללת חנם לא לו תבא " as "As a sparrow must flit and a swallow fly, so a gratuitous curse must backfire"? (The Israel Bible, JPS Tanakh); Or as "Like a fluttering sparrow or a flying swallow, an undeserved curse will come home to roost"? (CJB)

Your teachers have done you great disservice to make you hope in heaven but reject all accountability when El Elyon makes all accountable and judges correct. How then can there be undeserved curses; severe judgments from the AviAd? Would you say you are righteous as Iyov/Job, undeserving of all that happened to him? Iyov did not deserve all the horror he was made to witness, but even Iyov had to learn further and so got the rebuke of El Shaddai for presuming too much.

So may the wise and temperate among you see how El Elyon writes your story much differently than how you interpret it; how you interpret Torah, Neviim, tradition, faith, and commitment. May you see why that is so bad for you and your future; for what you've committed to in your branches is not the same faith, Torah, and tradition that El Elyon wrote for nourishment.

Remain deeply connected to the land, my people, but do not keep nourishment in that which only gives superficially for your roots. Do not keep nourishment in those whom know the words of El Elyon only superficially, for as the kibbutz was abandoned, so also the plantings with hope in tomorrow. It is because those who plant for tomorrow, also reject all corrections, and so in our day, from Yisrael to Yaakov, from Ephrayim to M’nasheh, from the Euphrates to Egypt, there is no one blameless as Iyov before El Elyon. All are held accountable, and so may you seek what it is the people have done wrong so that El Elyon holds them accountable still to this day.

3rd Compass -> Group News and Articles -> Another Call To Israel