Izzy here. I wanted to tell you a little story about something special that happened on my birthday last week. And I need you to help me solve a mystery.
So for the last several years I knew there was a book out there about gematria that listed all the numerical values of the words in the Torah, and I wanted to get it but just never got around to it. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I hit a tipping point and just had to have it. So I managed to track down a used copy on Amazon and ordered it, and guess which day it ended up arriving on? My birthday! As if that wasn't special enough, I opened it up and was soooo touched to find this prayer written on the inside cover.
"L-rd help to put a burning desire in my mind to study, grow, and want more of your word daily. Renew a right spirit and clean heart within me. May I be filled with the Ruach haKodesh. May Yeshua make my crooked paths straight." Isn't that beautiful?! I couldn't help but say "ameyn" as I read this for the first time, and I invite you to say your "ameyn" and make this a prayer for all of us, too.
So here's the mystery. WHO WROTE THIS? I'd love to find out so I can say a personal thank you, and I want you to help me. Would you take a moment to share this and ask around in your circles? I'd love it if this wasn't the end of the story, and we were able to find the person and let them know that 16 years later, their prayer touched the hearts of thousands of people.
You know one other thing that touches me about this story? When you live and love passionately, you never know whose life you're going to touch...and when.
L'chaim - to life! Enjoy the rest of this email.
Izzy Avraham
Founding Teacher
a story from Ed
Ed is following Yeshua in a Hebrew way! Here’s a story from him.
I read last night I Samuel 2:1-2 "For I rejoice in thy Salvation." כי שׂמחתי בישׁועתך׃ Or "in my Yeshua."
Verse 2 [There is] none אין־קדושׁ ayin Kadosh -Holy as YHVH. There ain't anyone that is set apart like YHWH. [There is] none אין בלתך ayin bilteka - except or beside. In Benner's Ancient Hebrew, "except: a flowing away of all except on`e. From בל to come to nothing when effort is given. Klein says, "to be worn out." Everything that we do (fashion) either wears out, withers, or dies. But You O LORD NEVER wear out, wither or die.
Deuteronomy 29:4,5. [There is] none ואין צור כאלהינו ROCK like our God. He is the great Tsar. He is our ROCK. We are His stones (Eben). But for you who love Hebrew, I want to show you something that I believe it's quite fascinating and that you could use in the future. I began a project two years ago, in the month of May, when I heard sermons regarding Proverbs 31. It is also planting season in Michigan. Proverbs 31:5 "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household...." Obviously, a mother awakes today, opens the fridge, and puts the pre-made bread in the toaster. A little effort here and there. And then WHAM, breakfast. But we know it didn't happen that way in Proverbs 31. She had to wake up, crush the grain, re-stoke the fire, kneed the crushed grain, and then cook it on the fire. Because my lesson was regarding all the effort a mother had to perform in order to make bread, I decided to grow wheat, organically.
I filmed the growth cycle, starting with my grandchildren throwing the seed. (Of course, there were a lot of out-takes!) I also filmed the harvest and the cutting of the grain. I went to the extreme of harvesting the grain as they would have in ancient, biblical, days. With that said, I made a threshing board and threshed the grain. You may be aware that this method is still being performed where there is no other mechanical equipment.
This is where it gets interesting. The Hebrew word for a threshing board is called מורג "morag ." Benner describes it this way, "a wooden board with embedded stones on the bottom that is dragged over the threshing floor by oxen to break up open grain."
The Latin word for "Morag" is the word "tribulum." That threshing board is called a tribulum. And the teeth that cut the grain is the Hebrew word, "tsar." - rock. Deuteronomy 4:30, " When thou art in tribulation (Tsar), and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice. Tsar - BDB "a hard pebble, flint." Benner, "A very hard rock when fractured forms a razor sharp edge." The purpose of the tribulum is to bind and cut the grain, a mechanical way of separating the grain. It does NOT hurt the grain. It only separates in order to finally get to the seed, which is the MOST important part.
I will let you fill in the blanks. Please read Isaiah 41:15,16.
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