Hoshana Rabba
Numbers 29:26 - 34

Shemini Atzeret
Deuteronomy 14:22 -16:17
Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
1Kings 8:54 - 9:1

Simhas Torah
Deuteronmy 33:1 - 34:12; Genesis 1:1 -2:3
Numbers 29:35 - 30:1
Joshua 1:1-18 Seph: Joshua 1:1-9

Giving the World Bread, Water and Wine of Sukkos ©

By Dr. Akiva G. Belk

This study of the Holy Days is dedicated in the loving memory of Mr. Jack and Mrs. Bella Noahson, may they rest in peace.

If you would like to dedicate a parsha lesson, Gematria study or discussion for one of the Holy Days on our cyberspace class in the memory of a dear friend or loved one we will do this for a gift of Chai, $18.00 American dollars.

According to the Torah during the Festival of Sukkos we are to offer many sacrifices during the seven days of observance in addition to our normal sacrifices.

Yet one point is very clear, today we do not offer:

14 - Rams
70 - Young Bulls
98 - Lambs
07 - He Goats

One may ask, Why? It is because our Bais HaMikdosh {Holy Temple} was destroyed and is not rebuilt yet. We cannot offer our sacrifices as commanded by the Torah. Many religions do not understand the significance of this. The Bais Ha Mikdosh was THE ONLY TEMPLE ON EARTH where the Presence of Hashem dwelt. Hashem has not chosen to dwell among any other religion. That being the situation it is difficult for the religions of the world to understand the absence of the place that Hashem chose to dwell.

Yet the the religions can understand what it world feel like if their holiest place on earth was destroyed. They can understand how it would they feel if they were prevented from rebuilding it as we Jews have been prevented. At first glance few seem disturbed by these facts... One of the reasons for this is because few understand the impact of Hashem’s presence. Few really understand what it was like for Moshe to stand in Hashem’s presence in the tent of meetings. Few can imagine what it is like to speak with G-d as Moshe did.

With so many religions and religious leaders making such outlandish claims it gives the impression that talking to G-d is no big deal. It gives the impression that thousands of religious leaders world wide speak with G-d on the level of Moshe like it was nothing... like it was an everyday event. Dear dear reader these people are not speaking with G-d. They are not on Moshe’s level! Don’t be fooled or persuaded by their claims.

Even though we Jews agree that G-d dwells within us. That does not compare with the presence of G-d dwelling in the Holy Temple. One must consider the impact... the impact on the world because we presently cannot fulfill all the commandments of the Torah because our Holy Temple is destroyed.

Then to have Christian / Messianics teach that Jews receive no forgiveness for their sins because we cannot offer sacrifices in our Holy Temple and because we do not believe in Jesus is ludicrous. They also teach ‘G-d has blinded our eyes...’

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they {that is the Jews of 3750 ce} still would not believe in him. {According to John, writer of the book of St. John of the New Testament} This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ‘L-rd, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the L-rd been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: He {referring to Hashem} has blinded their {referring to the Jews} eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn —and I would heal them.’ ” John 12:37-40

So, dear reader, not only is our Holy Temple in Jerusalem destroyed and we cannot offer sacrifices, but we have people from other religions making false statements about us and about what G-d says in our Tenach.

Now let’s examine the truth.

First, Jews are commanded by G-d in the Torah not to be persuaded by miracles. Our guideline is the Torah. Many forces of evil have power to do miracles. So the Jews who remained true to Hashem’s commands in the Torah were correct. See Deuteronomy 13:3 - 6.

Second, the supposed quote / reference from John is from a Jewish Novie {prophet}, Isaiah. The reference John appears to be making is out of proper context. John’s misunderstanding of the prophecy in Isaiah is understandable because John was not well educated. He was not a scholar. There is no evidence that John could even read Hebrew to verify what the Novi said. When John made these statements they were in direct confrontation to decades of Jewish teaching and commentary regarding Isaiah 6. John was clearly out of his league.

Third, this prophecy is past tense. It was spoken to King Ahaz and the Jews of his time / kingdom. This prophecy was not spoken to righteous G-d fearing Jews who observed the Torah! This prophecy was directed to disobedient Jews.

Christians / Messanics who believe John 12 also teach that Jesus did away with Hashem’s Commands to observe the Torah’s commandments of sacrifice as at Sukkos. They believe that Jesus offered himself as the supreme sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.

“John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of G-d, who takes away the sin of the world!’ ” John 1:29

“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to G-d for a sweet smelling savior.” Ephesians 5:2

“{Jesus} who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” Hebrews 7:27

“Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world, but now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself... And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy... and where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.” Hebrews 9:26; 10:10,14,18

Now, holy reader, these are radical views by people that know very little about Torah Judaism. These are views of people who generally cannot read or understand Hebrew and of people who believe the Tenach {Jewish Old Testament} was done away with. However the truth is that the Torah is very real and very much alive in the heart of G-d and many Jews who observe it!!

Despite what other religions teach about us, we still have an obligation, our Covenant with Hashem. We still have an obligation to observe the Festival of Sukkos even though our Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed and even though we cannot offer sacrifices. WHY?

At Sukkos our eyes are drawn to the third Bais HaMikdosh as spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel. As we construct our sukkah we look FORWARD to the day when our Holy Temple will be rebuilt. We look FORWARD to the time when complete observance of Sukkos will return, when all exiles will return from the four corners of the earth and when Jerusalem will have millions of sukkahs scattered throughout her city. That is the day we look forward to! It is in that day - despite all that Christians / Messanics teach about sacrifices being done away with and about Jesus being the one and only eternal sacrifice - that the descendants of Zadok not Jesus will begin offering sacrifices again. See Ezekiel 44.

Chassidim, this is after the horrific battle known as Gog and Magog. So those of us who live in 5762 should not fool ourselves. We still have this battle that Hashem will wage against the nations of the world. WHY?

Again at Sukkos time we are reminded of this battle that MUST happen before all Jews are drawn from the four corners of the world and before our Bais HaMikdosh is built and before sacrifice and Temple worship returns. Dear ones, Sukkos time is a reminder to every Jew: PLACE YOUR TRUST IN HASHEM OUR DELIVERER!!

Until that time arrives we should especially focus on the seventh day of Sukkos, Hoshana Rabba, when we march around the beemah of the shul with our lulav and esrog seven times.

Remember our sukkah is a reminder. Our sukkah is not only a reminder of dwelling in humble, modest booths in the BaMidbar {the Wilderness} but of our deliverance from Mitzriam. Sukkos looks FORWARD to a similar but greater deliverance by our G-d and our KING, the deliverance from death by the nations of the world at Gog and Magog. We were weak and fearful then {in Mitzrim} BUT we trusted in our DELIVERER! Sukkos reminds us that we are weak and fearful now and MUST return to that trust of our forefathers in Mitzriam. Yisroel should NOT succumb to pressures of great nations or of all the nations of the world. We must REMEMBER this is only a time clock ticking towards our final deliverance from our enemies.

As the time clock ticks towards Gog and Magog, take comfort in the memory that the Creator of the universe did NOT CREATE OR ENDORSE dozens of religions. In fact one of the very important memories that we are to stir up is when Kal Yisroel was delivered from Mitzriam {Egypt} our Creator defeated every god of Mitzriam. That will happen again at Gog and Magog!! Not only will the nations of the world line up against Yisroel but many of the religions of the world also line up against us. Our Creator and our Deliverer will defeat the nations and annihilate the religions. Only two belief systems will exist after Gog and Magog, Judaism and Spirituality. These are the original and only belief systems sanctioned by Hashem from the beginning and from the Torah!!

Spirituality is the original belief system that every human had from Creation. Spirituality is founded upon the 7 Noaich Commandments. This system does not require animal sacrifice. It requires uncomplicated obedience to 7 Torah Commandments. Judaism does require sacrifice. It is the righteous Jews, descendants of Zadok, who will offer sacrifices for both Jew and Spiritualist.

The priests, who are Levium, descendants of Zadok who faithfully carried out the duties of My sanctuary when B'nei Yisroel went astray from Me, are to come near to minister before Me; they are to stand before Me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Master Hashem. They alone are to enter My sanctuary; they alone are to come near My table to minister before Me and perform My charge. Ezekiel 44:15,16

I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My Altar; for My House will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The word of the Master Hashem who gathers the exiles of Israel declares, ‘I will gather still others to him besides those already gathered.’ Isaiah 56:7

This is in references to Jews, Jewish converts and Spiritualists. Righteous Jews are the light of the world. They are the priests of Spirituality. Our sages say that the total sacrifices of young bulls during the seven days of Sukkos is 70. {13 on the first day, 12 on the second. 11 on the third 10 on the fourth, 9 on the fifth, 8 on the sixth and 7 on the seventh = 70 young bulls}. Seventy represents the 70 nations of the world at the time of Torah when Kal Yisroel was in the BaMidbar.

70 also represents what happened when the priests of the world {Noach and his sons} preached repentance for 120 years to the sinful descendants of Adam and Chava who strayed from Spirituality. They were warned of their departure from Spirituality. They were warned of their idolatry. When they did not heed the warnings of Noach to repent, the Torah records, Vah Yee Maw Choo {they were obliterated} [from the earth].

Vah Yee Maw Choo {they were obliterated}
70 = Vav 6 Ches 8 Mem 40 Yud 10 Vav 6

This is the same type of conclusion recorded in Tenach, Ezekiel, for thousands of years which will take place at Gog and Magog. This is the Torah’s warning to the sinful non observant world, “REPENT”! So when we sit in our sukkah knowing the outcome of Gog and Magog, we must take Noach’s example. Noach was opposed by all peoples and all religions, yet he was righteous! He was spared because of his righteousness! If we are righteous we will also be spared from the impending destruction. Both righteous Jew and Spiritualist will be spared.

When we construct our sukkah we are to remember Noach and his sons as they constructed the Tayvah {Ark} of salvation for the world. While they were constructing the ark of salvation they were condemning the world. When we build our sukkah, Mystically we are to understand the Spiritual significance. Noach reached out to the world while constructing the ark. We are to do the same. It is an opportunity to share with the non Jewish world about Spirituality just as Noach did. Yet we cannot share something we do not understand... something we have not obtained... a Mystical temple that we have not constructed.

Sukkos follows Rosh Hashanah, the ten days of repentance and Yom Kippur because we need preparation time. We need to be right with Hashem. Our sukkah must be a holy sukkah as the Bais HaMikdosh was. We must seek a pardon for our sins. The fourteen lambs represent this pardon. 7 days times 14 lambs = 98 or the Gematria of the word Si Lah Ach {pardon}. The seven days of observing sukkos is like receiving a pardon for our sins. It is like our Yom Kippur to the world. It is like seeking a pardon for the righteous Spiritualists of the world.

Si Lah Ach {pardon}
98 = Ches 8 Lamid 30 Samech 60

Now after the seven days of Sukkos, after Hoshana Rabba, we enter Shemini Atzeres. The Festival of Shemini Atzeres is separate from Sukkos. Shemini Atzeres is after sacrificing 70 bulls, 98 lambs, 14 rams and 7 he goats. On Shemini Atzeres one is expected to experience great joy, pure joy since one’s sins have been forgiven and one receives a pardon. Now on Shemini Atzeres, the eighth day, we have reached the pinnacle of our righteousness. We are on the mountaintop. We are ready to fulfill our responsibilities. We are now on Noach’s level. We can share Hashem’s message to the world. We can face the nations, the people, the religions that oppose us and say “Repent, judgment is near.” We have reached the level on which we can face the king whose servants have swindled us and dig an additional well as Abraham had his servants do. We can pay the exorbitant price for the burial place as Abraham did. We can offer wine, water and bread to the world that gave us nothing when we exited Mitzrim. Why?

Spiritually we have reached the place where, when done properly, only the righteous can abide. We are not content that we have been taken advantage of, yet we have the power to overlook it. We have the power to forgive. This is our opportunity to reach out from the holiness of our sukkah to those that are misguided by the religions of the world. It is our opportunity to teach Spirituality! It is our responsibility to teach of the impending judgment and to direct non Jews towards Spirituality. In other words we transcend to another level of sacrifice. We sacrifice our anger our hatred our attitudes to teach Spirituality to the world as Jonah did. We offer bread, water and the wine of Spirituality to the world. we lead the serge to repentance... we don’t follow it!!

Now our spiritual sukkah is complete. When we reach that frame of mind that G-d intends for us, it is just as if we had sacrificed in the Bais HaMikdosh.

Wishing you the best

Dr. Akiva G. Belk

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