Rebekah

Well now Mister Cohen, did you enjoy Japan? What did you learn?

<= = = Everything is incredibly expensive. And it was a long plane flight, I watched the move the Watchmen, mom would have never let me see it, but it was playing and I was bored and it was really intense. And keep some toilet paper with you in case you need it since it is not always available. And some of the hotels there are huge, we stayed at the Hotel Nikko. Tokyo. It is incredible, we ate dinner one night as the sun was setting and the city lights started getting brighter, it was really cool. And the Japanese were all very friendly and I was amazed how many people from all over the world were in Tokyo and the same was true of Kobe. We visited the Synagogue at Kitano-cho. It turns out most of the people there are not into fishing, it is actually pearls, but I guess it is similar. But I have a question sir. On Wednesday the Asahi Shimbun newspaper carried a story about the Euphrates. They said it is drying up and that is a sign of the end times and that was predicted in the book of Relevation. The Watchmen had sighs about the end times as well, what exactly are the end times, what does the Torah say about it?

Well, first of all, it is the book of Revelation, the vision of St. John when he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. In verse 16:12, it says "The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East." However, what is going on in Iraq is not the work of an angel, Turkey and Syria have built dams to keep water from feeding the Euphrates. The Torah refers to "The end of days". The prophet Isaiah says: "And it will be in the end of days, the mountain of the House of YHWH will be established at the head of the mountains, and higher than the hills, and all the nations shall stream unto it. And many peoples shall go and say 'Let us go and ascend to the mountain of YHWH, to the House of the God of Jacob that he teach us from his ways and that we may go in his paths, for the Torah goes forth out of Zion and the word of YHWH from Jerusalem.' And he will judge between many nations and rebuke many peoples. And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nation shall not lift up sword against nation and they shall no longer learn war."

So it is a time of profound reverence to the LORD. If you look around, we are not in such a time. It will be a significant upheaval going from an earth in rebellion to the LORD to a world that reveres the LORD. And of course it will be the time when the LORD is able to bless the families of the world through the offspring of Abraham and so we return to our story, OK?

Then Eleazar the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim, (Aram of Two Rivers) and made his way to the town of Nahor, which is called Harran today in Southern Turkey. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

Then he prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."


Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking."

So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.

Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."

Abraham commands Eleazar to find a wife for Isaac

The original photo is here.

< = = = Hello sir, seems like everyone is talking about Michael Jackson, on Twitter he shot past the Iran discussions. What happens when you are dead?

Well, for all intents and purposes Michael Jackson has been dead for a long time, the news is that his heart stopped beating. However to answer your question, he descends to Sheol, or as some people say, the grave. Sheol is a condition, a place for the human spirit. It is a place those who do not know and love God should fear greatly. As Moses told the people about turning from the LORD, "I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the path I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will make the LORD very angry by doing what is evil in his sight." When they followed God and avoided foreign gods, God blessed them. " But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation. And this is what God says about Sheol, the grave, " They have roused my jealousy by worshiping non-gods; they have provoked my fury with useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy by blessing other nations; I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles. For my anger blazes forth like fire and burns to the depths of Sheol, the grave. It devours the earth and all its crops and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

< = = = So the lights don't just go out, there is activity in Sheol?

Indeed, the most important activity for those that love and follow God is being redeemed from the grave, as David said, "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me." Hosea as well talks about the power of God to redeem from the grave, "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight." But, for now, let us return to the story of Abraham, who is not far from the grave himself.

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to Eleazar, whose name means God my help, the chief servant in Abraham's household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?" "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. "The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land'--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."

<= = = I read about this before, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Germany, pointed out the influence of a Canaanite wife on Isaac would be all the greater since he dwells in the midst of the Canaanite people. Not only the wife but her whole family, extended family and circle of friends and relations would have to be contended with. Issac would have been assimilated into Caanan culture and we would never have come to exist. Abraham is really smart with his directions to his servant.

Very discerning, so the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

<= = = Sir, one last thing . . .

I know, I know, what's with the thigh, right? That has driven Torah commentators crazy throughout the ages. The scripture rarely mentions anything related to sex or sexual organs outside of the Song of Solomon so that when you see it you are wise to take a close look and ask questions. Abraham is reminding his servant that they are set apart from others, they have the covenant of circumcision with God. I understand you are going to Japan with your United Synagogue Youth leader, are you excited?

< = = = I am sir, it turns out there have been Jews in Japan for almost a thousand years on and off with a modern community that is over a hundred years old, since the great fire burned down the city of Kobe. In recent times, most of them have left for Israel, but there are still some families that fish in Kobe. Most of our time will be in Tokyo, but we will get to visit Kobe as well by train.