Program’s Mission: Stimulate critical thought in order to realistically redefine our narrative and positively reshape our reality through dialogue and with self-determination.
Dedication: Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Jewish theologian and philosopher with a social consciousness that led him to participate in the civil rights movement. Considered “one of the truly great men” of his day and a “great prophet” by Martin Luther King, Jr., Heschel articulated to many Jewish Americans and African Americans the notion that they had a responsibility for each other’s liberation and for the plight of all suffering fellow humans around the world (“Conversation with Martin Luther King,” 2). Heschel was born in 1907 in Warsaw, Poland, to Rabbi Moshe Mordecai and Reizel Perlow Heschel. He received his PhD from the University of Berlin (1933), as well as a liberal rabbinic ordination from the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (1934). Heschel then succeeded Martin Buber as the director of the Central Organization for Jewish Adult Education in Frankfurt, Germany, until his deportation by the Nazis in 1938. Heschel taught in Warsaw and London before emigrating to the United States in 1940. In 1945, he became professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary of America, a post he held for the rest of his life. King later remarked that “Rabbi Heschel is one of the persons who is relevant at all times, always standing with prophetic insights” to guide persons with a social consciousness (“Conversation with Martin Luther King,” 2). Both men were driven by the notion of a collective responsibility for the fate of all mankind and believed that the struggle to overcome injustice must be ecumenical.
Perspective: Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time. Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogenous, to whom all hours are alike, qualities, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious. Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans or the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate; the Day of Atonement. According to the ancient rabbis, it is not the observance of the Day of Atonement, but the Day itself, the ‘essence of the Day,’ which, with man’s repentance, atones for the sins of man. [Hebrew] ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time. Most of its observance – the Sabbath, the New Moon, the festivals, the Sabbatical and Jubilee year – depend on a certain hour of the day or season of the year. It is, for example, the evening, the morning, or afternoon that brings with it the call to prayer. The main themes of faith lie in the realm of time. We remember the day of the exodus from Egypt, the day when Israel stood at Sinai; and our Messianic hope is the expectation of a day, of the end of days. In a well composed work of art an idea of outstanding importance is not introduced haphazardly, but, like a king at an official ceremony, it is presented at a moment and in a way that will bring to light its authority and leadership. In the Bible, words are employed with exquisite care, particularly those which, like pillars of fire, lead the way in the far-flung system of the biblical world of meaning. One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word qadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar? It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: ‘And Elohim blessed the seventh day and made it holy.’ There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness. This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, Elohim would create a holy place – a holy mountain or a holy spring – whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.
Origin of Shabbat
Genesis 2.1-3: Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their array. And on the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all His work which Elohim in creating had made.
YHWH’s Sabbath, not Israel’s or a Jewish day
Leviticus 23.1-3: And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘The appointed times of יהוה, which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings, My appointed times, are these: Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a set-apart gathering. You do no work, it is a Sabbath to יהוה in all your dwellings.
The Sign and Seal of YHWH
Exodus 31.12-17: “…And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, “and you, speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה, am setting you apart. And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall certainly be put to death, for anyone who does work on it, that being shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work is done, and on the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, set-apart to יהוה. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death. And the children of Yisra’ĕl shall guard the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the children of Yisra’ĕl it is a sign forever. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed…’”
(Seal contains name, source of authority, jurisdiction of power)
Exodus 20.8-11: Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. Six days you labour, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of יהוה your Elohim. You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore יהוה blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.
New Testament Observances
Luke 4.16: And He came to Natsareth, where He had been brought up. And according to His practice, He went into the congregation on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
Acts 17.1-3: And having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonike, where there was a congregation of the Yehuḏim. And according to his practice, Sha’ul went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths was reasoning with them from the Scriptures, explaining and pointing out that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, יהושע, whom I proclaim to you.”
Colossians 2.16-17: Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths – which are a shadow of what is to come – but the Body of the Messiah.
Hebrews 4.4-9: For somewhere He has said thus about the seventh day, “And Elohim rested on the seventh day from all His works,” and in this again, “If they shall enter into My rest…” Since then it remains for some to enter into it, and those who formerly received the Good News did not enter in because of disobedience, He again defines a certain day, “Today,” saying through Dawiḏ so much later, as it has been said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Yehoshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath-keeping for the people of Elohim.
Prophecy of changing Sabbath, Feast Days and Law
Daniel 7.23-25: This is what he said, ‘The fourth beast is the fourth reign on earth, which is different from all other reigns, and it devours all the earth, tramples it down and crushes it. And the ten horns are ten sovereigns from this reign. They shall rise, and another shall rise after them, and it is different from the first ones, and it humbles three sovereigns, and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time.
The Mark of the Beast: The Roman emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity, though his subsequent actions suggest the “conversion” was more of a political move than a genuine heart change. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321. On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. —Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75.
“..It is remarkable, however, that Eusebius, in the very connection in which he announces this new doctrine, unwittingly exposes its falsity. He first asserts that Christ changed the Sabbath, and then virtually contradicts it by indicating the real authors of the change. Thus he says:— “All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these WE have transferred to the Lord’s day.” 57 The persons here referred to as the authors of this work are the Emperor Constantine, and such bishops as Eusebius, who loved the favor of princes, and Sylvester, the pretended successor of Saint Peter. Two facts refute the assertion of Eusebius that Christ changed the Sabbath: 1. Eusebius, who lived three hundred years after the alleged change, is the first man who mentions such a change; 2. Eusebius testifies that himself and others made this change, which they could not have done had Christ made it at the beginning. But though the doctrine of the change of the Sabbath was thus announced by Eusebius, it was not seconded by any writer of that age. The doctrine had never been heard of before, and Eusebius had simply his own assertion, but no passage of the Holy Scriptures to offer in its support]. But after Constantine, the Sabbath began to recover strength, at least in the Eastern churches. Prof. Stuart, in speaking of the period from Constantine to the council of Laodicea, A. D. 364, says:— “The practice of it [the keeping of the Sabbath] was continued by Christians who were jealous for the honor of the Mosaic law, and finally became, as we have seen, predominant throughout Christendom. It was supposed at length that the fourth commandment did require the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath (not merely a seventh part of time), and reasoning as Christians of the present day are wont to do, viz., that all which belonged to the ten commandments was immutable and perpetual, the churches in general came gradually to regard the seventh-day Sabbath as altogether sacred.” 58 Pro. Stuart, however, connects with this the statement that Sunday was honored by all parties. But the council of Laodicea struck a heavy blow at this Sabbath-keeping in the Eastern church. Mr. James, in addressing the University of Oxford, bears this witness:— “When the practice of keeping Saturday Sabbaths, which had become so general at the close of this century, was evidently gaining ground in the Eastern church, a decree was passed in the council held at Laodicea [A. D. 364] ‘that members of the church should no rest from work on the Sabbath, like Jews; but should labor on that day, and preferring in honor the Lord’s day, then, if it be in their power, should rest from work as Christians.'” 59 This shows conclusively that at that period the observance of the Sabbath according to the commandment was extensive in the Eastern churches. But the Laodicean council not only forbade the observance of the Sabbath, but they even pronounced a curse on those who should obey the fourth commandment! Prynne thus testifies:— “It is certain that Christ himself, his apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath:. . . . the evangelists and St. Luke in the Acts ever styling it the Sabbath-day,. . . and making mention of its. . . solemnization by the apostles and other Christians, . . .it being still solemnized by many Christians after the apostles’ times, even till the council of Laodicea [A. D. 364]…
History of the Sabbath By J.N. Andrews
Council of Laodicea:
Canon 29 Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
Canon 37 It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them.
Canon 38 It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety.
Catholic Confessions about the Sabbath (the boast of Rome is in her power)
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”–Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a letter dated February 10, 1920.
“Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And ho! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church.”–Priest Thomas Enright, CSSR, President of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and printed in the Hartford Kansas Weekly Call, February 22, 1884, and the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal in June 1893, page 173.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act . . . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”–from the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.
Conclusion
“…If one displaces the Shabbat with another day and calls another day his Shabbat, he has denied the authority of YHWH, His Mashiyach and the Word of YHWH. Yeshua Mashiyach observed the Seventh Day Shabbat, He did not “go to church on Sunday” or any other day of the week. Yeshua rested on Shabbat and we His people, are to be like Him. Religions have usurped authority from Yeshua and made their own laws. The prophet Daniel prophesied about an anti-Messiah who would change times and laws. Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Much more is said in Scripture about the Torahless one called the anti-Messiah or the adversary of YHWH. Not only is the entire plan of Salvation illustrated in the Moedim, but through observing each set time one begins to live within the timetable of YHWH’s Word. Our very life goals, identities, values and interests become tuned within a yearly plan, our vacations, family times and all other schedules are worked in with the Moedim. Disciples of Yeshua internalize the values and appointments of the Kingdom of Elohim within. The Moedim are for those who want to fully participate in the timetable of YHWH and His Mashiyach, but most are too busy in Babylon to even know the main reason why YHWH created the Sun, Moon and Stars.
