To Mitzvah or not to Mitzvah?

So what does it mean to be a bat (bar) mitzvah? Under Jewish law, children are not obligated to observe the commandments, but are encouraged to do so and taught the commandments to prepare them for adulthood. At the age of 13, or 12 for girls, they then become obligated to abide by the Lord's commandments or mitzvot. A public ceremony is called a bar or bat mitzvah. In its earliest form, a mitzvah is the celebrant's first aliyah.

Aliyah (uh-LEE-uh; ah-lee-AH0 Lit. ascension. 1) Reading from the Torah (or reciting a blessing over the reading) during services, which is considered an honor (pronounced uh-LEE-uh). 2) Immigrating to Israel (generally referred to as making aliyah and pronounced ah-lee-AH).

Not having been brought up with Judaism, I missed the opportunity to do a bat mitzvah at age 12. Knowing about my Jewish heritage and learning more about Torah, I became fascinated with the idea of doing this tradition, especially once I was blessed with children. My mom had done her bat mizvah years ago, and I thought it was time for me to do mine. But would it be weird, doing a bat mitzvah at my age, which is considerably past age 12? I could not decide. Then after, mentioning it to our congregational leader, I learned what my portion would be. It was no coincidence. My portion was Emor, meaning "Say" and the readings were Leviticus 21-24 from the Torah, Ezekiel 44:15-24 from the HafTorah, and 1 Peter 2:4-10 from the Brit Chadesha. To me, the portion was about being a parent. And how the Lord is our parent, and only wants the best things for us. We follow his mitzvot, or commandments, to please him. Just the same way we follow our parents rules or respect them, because we love them. Then I learned that my birthday this year was on a Friday, which made it a perfect time to do my bat mizvah, and chant my Torah portion during services. I felt like that wasn't a coincidence and this was the year I could do it!

Linda Medina, Bat Mitzvah, May 6, 2011

Learning to chant the Torah portion was challenging, but very fun. I only chanted the first reading of my Torah portion, which was Leviticus 21:1-15. I learned it the Ashkenazi style, rather than the Sephardic style. After so many years of hearing the Torah blessings and chanting in Ashkenazi, I couldn't wrap my brain around the Sephardic style. I would have had to learn all the blessings all over again. But I do think I will eventually learn the Sepahrdic style, especially since I learned that this is the style that is used in Israel. If doing a bar or bat mitzvah is something you or your children are looking at doing, I would encourage you to study Hebrew first. I already knew Hebrew enough to make out the words, so following along with the recording to learn the chanting was easier for me. It is such a blessing to be able to read God's word in Hebrew. You get a sense of closeness with the Word. And being able to discern the words and their meaning, opens up the scriptures like I never experienced in plain English. Learning my portion was also a blessing because, once I learned it, it would be in my head and I would "sing" it or chant it throughout the day. What a blessing to be able to sing God's word! Even though a bat mitzvah is not commanded in scripture, it certainly doesn't contradict scripture. In fact, it encourages the learning of scripture and committing it to memory. That is actually very scriptural.

"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart." Deuteronomy 6:6
"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul..." Deuteronomy 11:18
"But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it." Deuteronomy 30:14
"Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You." Psalm 119:11

I cannot think of a better tradition to pass on to my children. To mitzvah, or not to mitzvah? What could be nobler?

Great online tutor to help learn your Torah portion: http://bible.ort.org/

Order workbooks and cds to learn Hebrew: http://www.messianicjudaica.com/messianic_022.htm

Spring Cleaning

There are only 11 more days until Passover. I can't believe it. As I look at my kitchen and see all the items I will have to throw out, well it's just crazy. I don't know how my cabinets get so stuffed and full. There is no way my family will be able to eat all this stuff before Passover begins. Food bank, here we come! As I am planning my attack on clearing out my cabinets and making room for more appropriate things for Passover, like Matzah and Matzah meal. I am wondering...did the whole concept of Spring Cleaning come from this Festival? It is Jewish tradition to go through the entire house and clean out the leaven from the home.

"Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses;..." Exodus 12:15

Every inch of the house is scrubbed and cleaned so that not one crumb of bread or leavened item is left behind. (That is something that I will pretend to attempt with two small children, ages 3 and 2, underfoot.) The concept of cleaning out the leaven is an awesome one. In scripture, leaven is often referred to as sin.

"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

So during Passover, you are to remove the leaven from your home, or take the sin out of your life. You are reminding yourselves of the Perfect Passover Lamb, Yeshua, who died for our sins and made us clean. This year, it occurs to me that this Spring Cleaning should also be a time to make pledges. I pledge to no longer to hoard these baked goods and stock them up in my cabinets like there's no tomorrow and replace them with food that are good for my body. And I also pledge to go through my spiritual cabinet in my soul, remove the sin, and replace it with more love, patience, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and gratefulness. And since I have made an effort to replace the bad, sinful, leavened things, with the good, healthy, unleavened things, maybe my Spring Cleaning won't be as difficult next year!

Breath of Life

Let me begin this first blog with a little background. I am owner of the on-line store MessianicJudaica.com. I have been a practicing Messianic Jewish Believer for 15 years. And yet, I am constantly learning more and more and growing in my faith. Praise the L-rd! This post is focused on the Breath of Life. A friend of mine stated during a prayer, "thank you for giving us bodies that move." Wow. As I pondered that thought, I marveled at the fact that not only can I move my body, but that when I wake up in the morning, I am breathing! Yes, the L-rd has seen fit to give me another day. I can get up, hug my children and my husband. I am able to speak and think. I am so blessed! I know this may seem a trivial thing to acknowledge, but really, I think it is very important to remember these basic and fundamental gifts the L-rd has provided to all of us. In the world we live in with a slowing, if not failing economy, with all the rise in crime, and the decline in family values, the spread of pagan rituals, the persecution of believers and missionaries, and so many other things I have yet to mention, we are still blessed. Because the L-rd chose to breathe into our bodies the day we were born. "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." - Genesis 2:7 This means that whether you are a christian or messianic believer, agnostic, athiest, Jew or Gentile, you were given the breath of life by G-d. So remember, this the next time you wake up and find yourself still breathing. Praise the L-rd! Count your blessings and thank Him! Because a thankful heart is a happy one.