• The Primacy of Torah and the Gospel

Torah (generally referring to the five books of Moses–Genesis-Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers-Deuteronomy–but should also include all the books of the popularly titled Old Testament (aka tanach) and the Gospel (aka Besorah; generally referring to the books/cephers of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and may also include the books/cephers of The Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation).

But in order for this discussion to move forward, it must be definitively understood that the Bible contains the Creator’s Words and His Words are true and holy. That being said, the Bible is true and holy, and it must serve as the would be child of the Most High’s source of instruction and understanding of the Person and Will of Yehovah Most High. Furthermore, the Tanach (aka the Old Testament) forms the basis for the Brit Hadashah. Furthermore, the Brit Hadashah is the continuation of the Tanach. Without the Brit Hadashah, there is no full understanding of the Tanach. Without the Tanach, there is no full understanding of the Brit Hadashah.

Torah contains the Creator’s instructions in righteousness. It serves as our Faith’s Constitution (a constitution represents a body of fundamental principles and established precedents according to the Creator Yehovah, Elohim Most High). On a more intimate, relationship level, Torah serves as Father’s house rules that stipulate how Yah expects His people to behave and live. Torah specifically defines or codifies what sin is as well as it prescribes the punishment for sin.

The Gospel (aka Besorah) is the Creator’s good news about His Coming Kingdom. This good news of the Kingdom, through the chronicling of the life and ministry of Yeshua Messiah and His chosen apostles, embodies the spirit and truth of the Creator’s Torah. Through Yeshua Messiah’s sacrifice and example as laid out in the Gospel record and the teachings of His chosen disciples turned apostles, the would be child of the Most High has at their disposal a template of how Yehovah the Creator always intended His human creation to live. Torah reaches its greatest potential through the Person and Ministry of Yeshua Messiah and the Gospel

Contrary to denominational and Jewish conventional wisdoms, Yehovah’s elect, through Yahoshua Messiah, have been called to obey and live out (halachah) Torah in their respective lives. Under the renewed covenant, the Creator promised to inscribe His instructions in righteousness on the fleshly tables of His beloved’s hearts and in their minds and their sins He would remember no more (Jer. 31:31-36; Heb. 10:16-17).

Yahoshua (aka Yeshua) Messiah’s personal ministry atoned for the would be child of Elohim’s (aka God’s) sins. Through Yeshua’s obedience unto death, Father’s elect are afforded the opportunity to enter into a personal, intimate relationship (aka a covenant) with the Creator that is based on a trusting faith and obedience. Yahoshua is the elect’s perfect example of the type of individual the elect is to become if they indeed are to become true children of Yehovah.

Yahoshua is in every way the embodiment of the Creator’s Word: the Creator’s Torah (i.e., the Walking-Talking Torah). By way of the would be elect’s imitating the Person of Yahoshua in every aspect of his or her life, they walk (aka Halachah) in Torah in Spirit and in Truth. In other words, he or she faithfully obeys Yehovah’s instructions in righteousness because they seek to please the Creator and because it is simply the right thing to do. Yehovah requires His children to obey Him and walk in His ways.

• The Biblical Calendar: The Creator’s Reckoning of Time and His Set-Apart Days (Not Meant to be a Complete Explanation on the Sacred Calendar and Feasts of Yehovah)

Torah establishes for the would be elect of Yehovah, the Creator’s reckoning of time. Father’s reckoning of time in great part is based upon the Creator’s set-apart (aka sacred) days and seasons. We generally refer to these set-apart days as Sabbaths, Feast Days or Holy Days.

Father’s Sabbaths/Feast Days/Holy Days are times during the biblical calendar year that He established to meet with His chosen ones. As Torah-honoring/obedient people of Yehovah, Yah’s elect are required to keep these Sabbaths/Feast Days/Holy Days in spirit and in truth. Consequently, these set-apart days do not in anyway conform to our Western, Gregorian Calendar. They must be kept within the framework of the biblical calendar.

The weekly Sabbath or the 7th day of the week, is a set-apart day that Father established for his people at Creation. On each 7th day of the week, Yah’s people are required to cease all laborious work and convene a holy convocation.

Days of the week begin and end at sunset (as opposed to each day beginning and ending at midnight on the Gregorian Calendar).

Today, the biblical calendar manifests in two forms: (1) what I refer to as the calculated Jewish Calendar; and (2) what I refer to as the observational calendar. Both calendars are based off the same biblically stipulated criteria of the sighting of the lunar conjunction and the maturity of the barley crop in the land of Yisra’el (aka Israel) at the head of the sacred calendar year. The calculated Jewish Calendar was originally developed in the 4th century C.E. by mathematically gifted pharisees who, facing imminent exile from the Land of Yisra’el, with amazing precision, calculated for centuries ahead of time, when the conjunction of the moon would be visible anywhere on earth. Their calculated calendar eliminated the need for Jews inhabiting the land of Yisra’el from searching for the renewed moon each month and making subjective determinations on the maturity of the barley crop. Unfortunately, the observational calendar and the calculated calendar tend to be at odds one with the other (i.e., they are generally out of sync from each other by 1 to 3 days each month). This is due to the sighting of the renewed moon being influenced by the prevailing atmospheric conditions in the Land of Yisra’el each month. Each man or woman of Yehovah must make a prayerful decision as to which calendar they will keep, so as to properly honor Yehovah and His set-apart days each biblical calendar year.

In bible times, Yehovah’s people determined the beginning of the calendar year through two criteria: (1) the maturity of the barley crop in the Land of Yisra’el, and (2) the sighting of the renewed moon over the Land of Yisra’el. If the barley crop is of an aviv state, and the renewed moon is sighted over Yisra’el, then the sacred calendar year is established. And every 29-30 days thereafter, Yah’s people, under the supervision of the Jewish leaders, would search for the first sliver of the renewed moon. When found, a new month would be declared.

Yehovah set into His calendar His annual feasts days and seasons:

1. Passover (aka Pesach) (The 14th day of the first month of the biblical calendar year–not considered a holy day of rest nor is there a convening of a convocation on this day).
2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (7-day observance) (The 15th through the 21st days of the first biblical month–days 15 and 21 are considered holy days of rest and convocation).
3. The Day of Firstfruits (On the morrow after the Weekly Sabbath during the week of Unleavened Bread–held on the first day of the week–is not considered a holy day of rest nor is there a convening of a convocation on this day).
4. The Day of Pentecost (aka Shavuot) (50-days or 7-weekly Sabbaths after the Day of Firstfruits observance-held on the first day of the week–considered a holy day of rest and convocation).
5. The Day of the Blowing of Trumpets (aka Yom Teruah) (The 1st day of the 7th month of the biblical calendar year-considered a holy day of rest and convocation on this day).
6. The Day of Atonement (aka Yom Kippur) (The 10th day of the 7th month of the biblical calendar year-considered the holiest day of the biblical calendar year-a full day of complete fasting, a holy day of rest, and convocation).
7. The Feast of Tabernacles (aka Sukkot) (The 15th through the 21st days of the 7th month of the biblical calendar year-the 15th day considered a holy day of rest and convocation).
8. The Last Great Day (aka Sh’mini Atzeret) (The 22nd day of the 7th month of the biblical calendar year-considered a holy day of rest and convocation).

The times and dates in which these sacred meetings are to take place are recorded in Torah (sp. Lev. 23 and other Torah passages).

A New Way of Eating

The would be set-apart faithful, obedient, covenant-keeping child of Yehovah, eats only those foods that the Creator of the Universe has sanctioned or deemed as food. Although Torah provides varying details in a couple places as to what are the permitted and what are the prohibited meats for Father’s people, the general understanding of what Yah’s people’s diets should consist of include:

• Chicken, quail, deer, beef, lamb, goats, and fish with scales, and certain insects such as locusts. (We keep it simple by restricting our diet to chicken, lamb, and beef, and occasional fish such as cod and salmon.)

Prohibited foods are:

• Pork, shellfish, scavenger animals, predatory birds and animals, and certain insects.

The reason Father allows certain foods while prohibiting others is at best anecdotal. But it would probably not be a stretch to conclude that the animals that He has prohibited for human consumption serve purposes in the earth that are not consistent with that which would be considered food (e.g., scavengers consume dead animals; pigs eat trash and slop; predatory animals hunt and consume other creatures, some of which may not be clean).

The whole concept of which animals or creatures are clean and which are not, is clearing highlighted throughout the Book of Genesis. From the very beginning, Yah revealed to man which animals are clean (i.e., those suitable for sacrificial offerings and to be consumed by humans) and which animals were unclean (i.e., those not suitable for sacrificial offerings and to be consumed by humans).

As temples unto Yehovah Elohim, we must present clean and set-apart dwelling places for Yehovah’s Spirit (aka Ruach HaKodesh). Defiling one’s body with unclean foods and other unclean substances does not provide Yah with a suitable dwelling place. Yehovah deserves the absolute best we have to offer Him.

The Hebrew Observational Calendar (The Creator’s Reckoning of Time)