CUARTO CURSO ENSEÑANZAS ACADÉMICAS

Fdo.: J uan J osé M ateos o tero

Suggestions on what to do:

If you are unsure that the revelations of the knowledge of Israel's prophesied identity in the Last Days apply to you, study them in the Torah, the Prophets, and the

Writings, (i.e. the Tanakh, the whole Bible). Sincerely discuss these points with G-d and ask Him for direction. He will surely answer.

The Ides of Chanukah and the Twilight Zone of Time

by Steve Mathe

About the author: Steve Mathe has been lead in the search for Hebraic Roots for several years. He has made several stops along the way in various organizations.

On Dec. 4th, 1990, G-d called him on “the carpet of repentance and personal correction”, and he was told that “he did not know anything.” Subsequently he was led (according to the promise in Isaiah 54:13), to search out and study from the Hebraic perspective answers in the Scriptures concerning Ephraim’s return.

He and his wife Charlene have studied for and made their personal return to the Covenant by going through an Orthodox conversion in 1994. They have taken the Hebrew names Sh’mayah Nachman and Yerusha Leah, son and daughter of Abraham.

Steve/Sh’mayah is a licensed marriage and family counselor and has a psychotherapy/counseling practice: Harbor Therapeutic Services / Yachad Levavenu (Unite Our Hearts) in Fullerton, California. The purpose ofYachad Levavenu is to provide counseling, teaching, research and referrals for those drawn to the teshuva movement, to those seeking inner healing, discipleship and growth, and to those who wish to know more about the restoration of the remnant of Joseph and the prophecies of the regathering of the whole House of

Israel. Yachad Levavenu emphasizes faithfulness in traditional daily prayers as the way to unite our hearts for inner healing, to turn the hearts of the children to the hearts of the fathers, and to advance the fulfillment of the United Israel.

Steve’s specialty is dream interpretation along Biblical principles. He has seen the relevance of this in his own and clients’ lives according to Job 33:14-33. He reports that since his calling, his clientele has completely changed, though not by his doing; from regular psychotherapy clients, to those that G-d is drawing to

seek help in their healing as well as personal and corporate repentance in the great regathering at the end of the age. His clients are most often told of this by dreams before their first visit. This seems to be in line with Joel 3:1-5.

Steve Mathe can be contacted by fax at (714) 528-3235, or at his office at (714) 879-9455.

email: [email protected] mailing address: P.O. Box 431 Placentia, CA 92670-0431

Office: Steve A. Mathe, MFCC Harbor Therapeutic Services 305 N. Harbor Blvd. Suite 317

Fullerton, CA 92632

The Ides of Chanukah and The Twilight Zone of Time

by Steve A. Mathe

“Chanukah opens a world of chinuch, of dedication, of new beginnings forever fresh. Chanukah provides a new way of looking at things, giving us the

internalized tools to face every situation with tranquillity born of utter dedication, of belief in the value of the moment, wherever it may lead. In Chanukah we were bequeathed the survival tactics for facing Galut Edom, and have acquired the potential to take the inevitable step when the trauma of history forces it upon us, ending Galut Edom and the long night’s journey into the day.” So ends Rabbi Matis Weinberg his thorough research into the deep significance found in the legacy of the Feast of Dedication.(1) What are the meanings of these terms of dedication, new beginnings and Galut Edom? How is this “fresh look” relevant to those awakening now from the exiled House of Yosef, a

concept that a portion of our readership is aware of, and identifies with? To answer these questions for those drawn to hear the call, this article will give a glimpse into the spiritual legacy stored in the treasure house of Chanukah, the Feast of Lights.

But why do we need to know these seemingly obscure and esoteric things?

Because the very meaning of the word Chanukah points us to learn more about it;

for the name Chanukah comes from the word chinuch,denoting “education or training for a vocation.” At this appointed time in the yearly cycle of sacred holy days and in the present time of world history, knowing this etymological root carries the first implication for us to learn more about this spiritual legacy for all Israel. Like all Biblical principles, it has several levels of meanings and carries prophetic portent for all those drawn to the Hebraic understanding of G-d’s Word in the last days.

To begin to understand this heritage of Chanukah we need to know just what the term Galut Edom really is. The teaching about this term by the sages and rabbis for some 2000 years can be summed up in the conclusion that

“the galut”, or exile, of Edom is the grip on the minds of those captivated by the legacy of Greek cultural, civic and religious ideals. Fundamentally, it is an exile into a mind-set that specifically keeps the children of Israel from living according the Torah’s standards. It is named after the spirit of Esau, also called Edom, grandfather of the evil Amalek, each of whom sought to destroy Israel (Gen. 36:8-12, Ex. 17:8-16). This hereditary hatred was to become the heritage of many generations of Esau’s physical descendants. Likewise, this spirit, i.e.

attitude, disposition and motivation, was seen by the sages to posses various successive world empires that persecuted and held sway over the people of Israel.

It reached a definitive lasting expression in the Hellenization of the Western world beginning with the conquests of Aristotle’s greatest pupil, Alexander the Great. This “spirit” known in our time as the “Greek spirit” gave the Western world founded upon Hellenistic models, its characteristic identity. The

contributions of such intellectual giants as Aristotle and Plato reconfigured the entire mode of Western thought. Like Alexander’s conquests, Greek thought took the world by storm, holding that “human knowledge” could discover and

fathom absolute truth. Its discoveries in the realm of

“the rules of measurable nature” seemed to support this axiom and labeled it as

“scientific, objective” and practically relevant. This “glory of Greece”

challenged Israel with its enlightened philosophy, worship of given beauty, form, and the appeal of scientific critical examination of nature. With the allure of freedom for unshackled and unbounded iconoclastic thinking, it made many to doubt the “old” Torah’s rules for spiritual development. These intellectual

achievements are not necessarily evil in themselves. They are the fruits of man’s efforts to fulfill the commandment to develop, improve and cultivate the world (Gen. 2:15). Yet these respected ideals of Greek philosophy carried a hidden agenda of antagonism toward the Torah’s commandments which the eternal G-d gave to build true ethical character along the “rules of the spirit” for all time.(2) After Greek political power had waned, this disposition of the Greek spirit was passed on and suffused into the Roman Empire whose power structure and organization imposed Greek culture and ideals even more effectively on its subjects. The rabbis have correctly perceived this “mission” of Rome to be essentially that of Esau / Edom masquerading in the civilization of a Greek toga, (which denotes intellectual advancement), yet relentlessly persecuting Ya’aqov (Jacob) and threatening him with destruction (Gen. 27:41).

Greek culture historically prided itself as a civilizing influence to barbarian non-Greeks. Their good will mission was to replace local cultures with

their superior Hellenistic improvements. For the conquered this world view meant adoption of the “modern” philosophy of relying on human reason and logic and emphasis on developing the human body’s potential for beauty as the epitome of Hellenistic means and ends to perfection. For other nations this

seemed as truly “enlightenment.” But for Israel this effect directly “replaced” the legacy of Abraham whose means to “perfection / wholeness,”

[Heb. tam / tamim], was the exercising of free will to build the beauty of the soul, i.e. integrity of the heart and uprightness of being and doing (Gen. 17:1).

The charge to Abraham was to “walk before Me and be you perfect.” This was to be done only through the keeping of G-d’s commandments, i.e.

statutes, halacha [Heb. for rules of daily walk] to govern and shape all conduct and interaction with things living and inanimate. This Divine directive was the very essence of G-d’s covenant with Abraham. It was in this “spiritual” legacy of Abraham, i.e. the observance of G-d’s commandments for daily righteous living that all mankind is to be blessed (Gen. 26:4-5, Ps. 101). Instead it was

Hellenistic culture that saw itself as the mediators of Divine virtue to mankind.

Therefore it sought to eradicate this Torah (3)observance, the very foundation of Israel’s identity. Centuries ago the sages of Israel have correctly perceived the spirit of jealous, resentful Esau to possess it (Gen. 25:30, 27:41). This was their most effective weapon for the destruction of Israel, not necessarily militarily but by displacing the Torah with the deception of their intellectual prowess. Esau’s physical progeny followed their father’s vendetta toward Jacob throughout Biblical history, (Gen. 36:12, Num. 24:20, Deut. 25:12, I Sam. 15:2). His

“spiritual children” formatted on the Greek model were to carry the same spirit till the last days. For this reason the rabbis refer to Greece’s successor Rome, the carrier of Greek culture, as Edom, and its grip on the minds of the dispersed of Israel as the latter’s exile in the captivity or Galut of Edom.

In the second century BCE under the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the Greek oppression of Israel was at its heaviest. In their desire to assert “cultural dominance” the Seleucid Greeks tried to make Jews forget the Torah and admit to the superiority of Greek thought and worship that descended from Mt.

Olympus. Not only did the Greeks enforce with armed might allegiance to their culture’s philosophy, but they also gained willing allies among substantial numbers of liberal Jews who willingly traded in their “old” Torah faith for the

“modern philosophy” of their conquerors. Many from Judah joined forces with the people of Yavan [Greece], to eradicate the very foundations of Israel’s G-d-given identity.(4) For this reason says Rabbi Weinberg, “Galut Yavan (the exile of Greece) expands our concept of what galut is, for it was loss not of the land of Israel, but of the national expression of malchut [kingdom], of kingship over our land. Galut Yavan found us fatally divided, without the ability to be a whole people; it was a galut within. Yet despite its internalnature, this period is defined as Galut Edom.”(5)

Though its immediate political empire ceased in 140 BCE, the anti-Torah “spirit”

of Hellenism, like the spirit of Esau / Edom still rules the Western world and holds the children of Ya’aqov captive. Rabbi Weinberg further points out that

“the climax of [this] challenge is reached towards the end of the final galut, that of Edom. Never has there been such danger as with Edom, a civilization that views itself as ethical, moral and humane as never before, caring for knowledge, for peace, for life, for the very ecology.”(6) With this seemingly benign agenda, our Western civilization now further tempered and “improved”

with Christianization, is held to be the beneficent heir to Greco-Roman ideals.

Amazingly, it appropriates the name of Israel calling itself a “Judeo-Christian”

civilization, and its religious members as the “new and true Israel.” It believes it has supersededIsrael with a “new” set of ethics of its own creation and views Israel with its “Old” Testament Torah as an unsavory relic. The spirit of Edom is indeed ensconced at the core of Western society in the beauty of Greek form.

Illusive and subtle as a muse’s inspiration, it insidiously permeates the secular and religious sectors with the beauty of its ideals of fairness, freedom, education and representative government. However, like the statutes of ancient Greece, these “ideal forms” lack character and soul. Instead they contaminate the soul of Israel with a fatal split of divorce from G-d and the two families of Israel from each other (Jer. 3:8). It also causes individuals to be internally split, holding on to two conflicting, diametrically opposed theological opinions. Some of these are derived from the Torah and some are deceptively mixed with those that the Torah warns against (Deut. 12:30, I Kings 18:21). Those caught in this split prevent themselves from learning more about Israel’s heritage, the Torah. The holding on to unclean theological precepts prevent them from learning more about the

legacy of Abraham for all nations. These “concepts, dogmas and doctrines of men” act as blockages in the mind’s channels of receptivity to the flow of truth from G-d’s Torah. Like naive romantic teenage lovers, the adherents of the Greco-Roman legacy have been captivated by these forms of [intellectual]

beauty for centuries. This captivity is not unlike those of Odysseus’ men, some of whom encounter the enchantress Circe who turns them into pigs. All the others sail to the siren’s island and are seduced by their song. This song is most

“beautiful” for it promises “ripe wisdom, knowledge of the hereafter, and quickening of the spirit.” Yet it causes them to forget everything else.

Their skeletons, [a metaphor for “internal psychological / intellectual structure”], join those of countless others piled high on the island of deception.(7)

Centuries ago, the rabbis of Israel saw a correlation between the four types of unclean animals in Lev. 11:4-7 and the four world powers in the Book of Daniel (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5). They especially noted the swine’s allusion to Edom, for the swine appears “clean” showing its split hoof on the outside, i.e. a “surface-deep” relationship to G-d. It flaunts its superficial sign of purity, while in reality it is grossly impure on the inside.(8) It does not chew the cud, which is symbolic of an internal process alluding to the praise of The Holy One. Adherents, i.e.

partakers of this porcene philosophy lack G-d-given insight into their underlying

human-centered character and are unaware of the lack of “soul” of

Torah-centered revealed wisdom. The rabbis teach that the word Yavan comes from the word hona’a, i.e. deceit, for Greece endeavored to deceive Israel and dull their minds with the impurity of their philosophy. It is said that one’s name contains the secret of one’s mission in the world. Accordingly, “Greece was to become the root of illusion and falseness in the world.”(9)

The sages of Israel have understood this “kingdom of brass [copper]” to be spreading through intellectual prowess out to the four directions of the world, moving swiftly like its image of a leopard with four wings, and “bearing rule over all the earth” (Dan. 2:39,7:2-7).(10) They saw Yavan’s real intention to make the Torah inaccessible to Israel and thereby destroy the sanctity that is embodied by it in the world. Without attachment to G-d’s holiness via the commandments, Israel’s destruction would ensue. The spirit of blood-red Edom, transferred to and inherited from ancient Rome was to power the secular and religious institutions of the West till the last days. Its galut would be the last one before Israel’s redemption from it and would not end completely till the coming of the Messiah.

The effects of Galut Edom’s “spiritual” origins were made evident in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great who forced not just Hellenistic culture and philosophy but also itsgods on all conquered peoples. Beginning with

Constantine, the spirit of Edom even more powerfully dominated the West with the added power of ecclesiastical authority. During the Middle Ages the lowest level of ignorance was reached when Aristotelian logic was given Divine status and placed on the same level as the Scriptures. It was used “to corroborate the veracity of the highest and most abstract matters of faith, including the existence of G-d.”(11) This is why Ephraim’s last days’ return is to be from the grip of the spirit of whoredoms in the west (Hos. 4:12, 11:10). This hold, or grip, is insidiously deceptive for it does not seem as a prison at all. It seems “natural”

because it harnesses natural human psychological drives for its unholy purposes.

Its overpowering effect is driven by the “spirit of Ishmael,” the drive for

pleasure, and the “spirit of Esau,” the drive forpower.(12) Though these human drives are not evil in themselves, these “spirits” i.e. unseen spiritual forces of the world which control them, are. Truly, the physical Galut Yavan of Antiochus was a precursor and an essential component of a deeper galut, the dark hatred of Edom that subtly but thoroughly colors and possesses the institutions of the West. This pervasive influence with its appeal of superior intellectual power seductively conquered the West with the civilized face and veneer of Greco-Roman civilization. Ever since, like a “spirit” in the mind, it held its host with an iron(13) grip from true enlightenment. Appearing to be advanced, fair, ideal and inclusive, in effect for millennia it has opposed the release of Israel to her G-d.

This illusion has been perpetuated to our very days by the often seemingly benevolent attitudes of those in power that promote anti-Torah measures. The Roman emperor Hadrian in his “kind-heartedness” wished to “save the Jews from injuring themselves” by forbidding circumcision, of which G-d said “it is my covenant between me and you;” a sign in the flesh that we are to keep the commandments with that flesh and the heart of the flesh (Gen. 17:10). Moreover, Hadrian outlawed the Shabbat, of which G-d also said, “it is a sign between me and you for ever” (Ex. 31:17). He also opposed the principle of family purity, whose statutes are the source of Jewish holiness in the home and before G-d.

Rome specifically targeted for destruction and replacement the most fundamental declaration of Israel’s faith, the Sh’ma: “Hear O Israel, the RD our G-d the L-RD is One.” All these decrees could have but one aim and one result, to bring about the assimilation, or as the Romans later put it, the “civilization” of the Jewish people.(14) This Rome undertook with a fiery “missionary” zeal and after the destruction of the Second Temple began a systematic campaign to eliminate the observance of the commandments. Above all, the teaching of the Torah was eventually forbidden, for the Romans now realized that in this lay the hidden strength of this nation.(15) The influence of the spirit of Edom reached a height under the influential reign of Justinian I, 527-565 CE. He severely restricted economic and religious life [for Jews] in his empire, prohibited Torah study and many other Biblical statutes and commandments. Particularly singled out was the recitation of the Sh’ma, whose clear declaration of the Oneness of G-d, openly contradicted Christian doctrine. In his collection of Roman laws known

as Corpus Juris, Justinian included all the anti-Jewish laws passed by his

In document Boletín Oficial de Castilla y León (página 169-175)