Roots of Faith

In this fifth torah portion of the ancient triennial cycle we read of the first one called a tzadik - a righteous one.  This reading begins with the statement that Noah was a righteous man - unblemished in his generation.  What does it mean to be righteous?  All my life I have been taught that “there is none righteous” and so in this teaching, I begin to explore the idea from a Biblical perspective.

Based upon studies in the ancient triennial cycle, it is shown that dates found within the Biblical text correspond with the current calendar when one is in “sync” with these readings.  It is shown that this week’s reading has a reference to the 17th day of the second month.  According to the Hebrew calendar, the month of Cheshvan is the second month and we passed the 17th of Cheshvan this week.  In Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s Torah Anthology we read that the reference to this date was associated with October 27th 2106 and so the flood gates were opened 4113 years ago as of THIS WEEK!

In this ancient cycle, there are numerous examples of correspondence such as this.  This understanding helps us understand apparent discrepencies in rabbinic writing as to dating. I cover briefly this idea in today’s lesson. The theory that I am working on is that when one is truly aligned with the Biblical texts and with the ancient cycle of readings one can read the Bible and be informed.  This may prove very instructive over time.

Noah is called a “preacher of righteousness” in 2nd Peter 2:5.  What is a preacher of righteousness?

Can you and I, or anyone for that matter be deemed righteous? What is the Way of the LORD? What part does righteousness play in a relationship with God? Is faith separate from righteousness? Can Faith and works operate together?

 All of these questions and more are answered in this week’s lesson.  You will not want to miss this teaching.  The introduction only scratches the surface.  You absolutely need to listen to the “teaching and the dialog” to get the full impact of today’s class.

 

 Genesis 6:9-7:24 - Seder Five Introduction [22:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Genesis 6:9-7:24 - Seder Five Reading [18:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Genesis 6:9-7:24 - Seder Five Teaching [69:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Genesis 6:9-7:24 - Seder Five Dialog [76:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This torah seder has 43 verses. It is titled, The Generations of the Heavens and the Earth. It provides a more detailed account of creation. Whereas the account from Seder 1 was from Heavn to earth, this one is from earth to heaven - or from the earth up.

This reading contains the first mention of God’s four letter name, represented by the English consonants YHWH (See Genesis 2:4).

We also read of the Garden of God - Eden. One of the key points in this week’s lesson is the idea of planting Heaven on earth. God is described as planting a garden (Genesis 2:8) and in the Prophet reading from Isaiah 51:6-16 we read of “planting heaven”. The concept is taught by Ross as teaching the Kingdom of Heaven and bringing about the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

We read of the creation of Adam, the tree of knowledge of Good and “bad”, the tree of life, death..

We also learn the first thing declared in Scripture as NOT Good…for man to be alone.

And finally we learn from the story of the first commandment and the subsequent violation of that command some important lessons. What was the “original” original sin? How about “Adding to the words of God”?

You will not want to miss this class.

 

 Genesis 2:4-3:21 - Triennial Torah Seder Two [117:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download