Thank God for Disasters???

 

 (This article was originally published on September 12, 2017)

 

Why is it that the best of humanity always seems to come

out of a crisis, disaster, traumatic event???

 

Is this the only time we truly feel our connection to others,

especially whole groups of people we “hate” -- or hate us???

 

When our normal -- self-absorbed, constantly consuming, immediately gratified, mostly distracted and indifferent -- lives are disrupted, we come to realize an ancient truth –

 

We Need Each Other!

 

Who else is there, but others who are enduring the same disaster? Without helping one another, we all hurt or may even die! In our Lives 1st Initiative at the TOV Center, we combine ancient values and wisdom with 21st century science.

 

This science is rewriting the book on how our brains function.

 

Research has shown that humans are genetically hardwired for fairness, loyalty and compassion. Babies, toddlers and even young children live without prejudice.

 

They have to be taught to discriminate, hate and fear.

 

● Years ago, I watched a news program about a massive earthquake in Turkey. Greek soldiers were there helping in the rescue efforts. Normally the two groups despise one another.

 

● The reaction and coming together in America after 9/11.

 

● Palestinian firefighters working with Israeli firefighters during the forest fires.

 

● The looks on the faces of Syrian refugees being bussed and helicoptered to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

 

These types of behaviors reveal who we all are really are! The Lives 1st Initiative views conflict, crisis and even disaster as catalysts for tremendous growth and transformation.

 

I teach that same idea about grief, loss and recovery as well. When things will never be the same, they can be different. Nothing like going through something that reminds us of this:

 

We All Are Interconnected!

We All Bleed Red.

 

What a revelation! I’ve mentioned before, that in our Jewish tradition, we say the same blessing when we hear good news and one when we hear bad news, because we truly don’t know the difference.

 

"Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the Just Judge.”

 

Disasters? If they help open our eyes, open our hearts and bring out our true nature, which is to Protect, Preserve, Raise Functionality and Increase the Quality of Lives -- then let’s not waste the opportunity to show Love!

 

It’s all about putting Lives 1^st!

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

 

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Power and Money 101

 Introduction

 

Three memes affect human lives globally – Money, Power, and God. In this series I will discuss money and power. Money and Power are linked together in the lives of people who believe in a god, as well as people who have no religious beliefs. It goes without saying, that the American lives are directly affected by how much or how little money and power people have. However, most people know little or nothing about what money and power are, how they are created, or how people acquire them.

 

Amazingly, in light of the fact of the importance of money and power in a capitalist democratic nation, our educational institutions, from Pre-K to Ph.D., do not teach the answers to those questions. Most people enter adulthood with very little knowledge about money and power.

 

Why? There are many answers to that question, but the following should be included in every discussion.

 

● People with lots of money and power actively work to keep them.

 

● People with little money and power do not know how they can change things.

 

● As long as most Americans remain uneducated about power and money, they are easily manipulated by those with power and money.

 

Power 101

 

● Power means “getting someone else to do what you want them to do.”

 

● Humans have two options for exercising power – persuasion and force.

 

● One of the most powerful persuasion options is money.

 

● One of the most powerful force option is death.

 

● In America there are many laws related to power and money.

 

Laws are compromises reached between a majority of elected members of government institutions – local, county, state and federal.

 

Money 101

 

● Money has historically been defined in terms of the three functions or services that it provides – a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account.

 

● Medium of Exchange. Money facilitates transactions. Without money, all transactions would have to be conducted by barter, which involves direct exchange of one good or service for another. Money is accepted in all transactions, by sellers and buyers.

 

● Store of Value. In order to be a medium of exchange, money must hold its value over time; that is, it must be a store of value. If money could not be stored for some period of time and still remain valuable in exchange, it would not be adopted as a medium of exchange. As a store of value, money is not unique; many other stores of value exist, such as land, works of art, and even baseball cards and stamps. Money may not even be the best store of value because money depreciates with inflation. But, money is more liquid than most other stores of value because as a medium of exchange, it is readily accepted everywhere. Furthermore, money is an easily transported store of value and is available in a number of convenient denominations.

 

● Unit of account. Money provides a common measure of the value of goods and services being exchanged. Knowing the value or price of a good, in terms of money, enables both the supplier and the purchaser of the good to make decisions about how much of the good to supply and how much of the good to purchase.

 

Power & Money

 

● Traditionally, money has been nothing more and nothing less than a political creation, a promise to pay between two or more parties, enforced to a greater or lesser degree by the power of a state.

 

● Ultimately what makes money valuable is the confidence that it is backed by something.

 

● The US Dollar is backed by political power, law enforcement agencies, and military power.

 

Choose Life & Demand Transparency,

Jim Myers

 

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Purim Teaches Lessons of TOV

 

(Purim began at sundown yesterday and ends at sundown today. This article by Rabbi Leynor was published on March 4, 2015.)

 

Tonight is the beginning of Purim. There is the old joke about Jewish holidays, "They tried to kill us, they couldn't, let's eat!" Funny as this may sound, there is much truth. Purim has taught me some very important things. First, the central characters are both male and female. If you don't know the story, get a good translation of the Book of Esther and enjoy. The story has TOV and RAH, good against evil, palace intrigue, wonderful plot twists and turns and a surprise ending. The female lead, Queen Esther, is beautiful, intelligent, creative and courageous. She has to hide her Jewish identity for her own safety. (Sound familiar?) Actually, there were many "Purims" in Jewish history. There were many Jewish communities that were in danger of annihilation, but somehow those who held some power in the greater community stepped forward and did what they had to do to save the Jewish community.

 

In the Purim story, which supposedly takes place in the ancient Persian Court, the enemy of the Jews is named Haman. In many ways, he is the model for Hitler and others whose intent was the destruction of the Jewish people. The male hero is named Mordecai. He is the uncle of Esther. He understands the workings of the court and involves himself in the government even foiling a plot to assassinate the Persian King. He also mentors and guides Esther. She was not his biological child, but was treated as a daughter and in return she brought him and everyone untold blessings. My oldest son is not a biological child, but is very much my son and brings me great blessing.

 

To me, the climax of the story comes when Esther is told by Mordecai that she must approach the King to cancel the decree, engineered by Haman, which stated that on such and such a day, all the Jews in the empire could be slain and their property confiscated. Esther is afraid. If the King doesn't accept her visit, she could be executed. She came to realize unless she came forward, she, along with her people would be killed. She not only rises to the occasion, but creates a plan to destroy Haman.

 

So what is TOV? At the risk of her own life, she confronted the powers that be and did what was TOV for her and the community. Her actions Protected Life, Preserved Life, Increased the Functionality of Life and Increased the Quality of Life for her people. The King made another decree that the Jews could defend themselves on the supposed day of their destruction and Haman was caught in a plot that destroyed his power and his family.

 

God is not mentioned in the story. It is the brave actions of those who have access to power, coming forward to save the community at the peril of their lives. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It is no different today, and through human history. Those who stand up to RAH, evil, against the community are the real heroes. Because evil always has a plan, TOV must be ready to respond with actions which Create Light and Protect Life. As with many Jewish holidays, it is considered a mitzvah to extend kindness to the poor and send gifts of sweets to others. I wish you all a Happy Purim.

 

Do TOV. Choose Life!

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

Doing What’s Life Instead of Believing What’s Right!

In my previous email, Adam Destroyed the Law But Jesus Didn’t (click here to read), I discussed what the words found in Matthew 5:17 meant to Yeshua, the Jesus of history. English translations have something like this:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:

I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

Here is what he actually said:

Do not think that I have come to misinterpret the Torah or the Prophets.

I have come to correctly interpret them!

In my email, Making the Jesus of History Part of Lives and Discussions Today! (click here to read), I pointed out that in the first century environment in which Yeshua lived “correct interpretations of the Torah and the Prophets” were a very big deal. Yeshua wasn’t the only one claiming to “correctly interpret” them. He was competing with the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Hellenists and Herodians. So, the Jewish people living in Galilee and Judea faced the challenge of “choosing from six interpretations” of their Scriptures.

We know a lot about what the Pharisees taught from Rabbinic Judaism (Babylonian Talmud). With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls we learned much more about what the Essenes taught.

One thing the Pharisees and Essenes shared in common was that

they both insisted that members only follow their interpretations.

Yeshua, the Jesus of history, used their “mutual exclusivity claims” to a very important point – it was the one absolute requirement for membership in the Kingdom of Heaven!

Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments,

and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Make sure you understand this:

Unless your acts of tzedaqah exceeds those of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The key point Yeshua made is this:

Doing acts of tzedaqah is required for entering in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Accepting, following or teaching anyone’s interpretations

-- without acts of tzedaqah –

isn’t enough for admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

What are “acts of tzedaqah”? I answered that question in my email, The Jewish Jesus and the Salvation of Gentiles (click here to read). In the first story in Genesis, the Story of the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, the Creator used “The TOV Standard” to measure each act of creation:

Acts that are TOV protect and preserve lives,

make lives more functional and increase the quality of life.

Now pay close attention to the “acts of tzedaqah” Yeshua pointed out in the parable in Matthew 25:35-36:

Giving food to the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty,

bringing a stranger into a home, giving clothes to the naked,

visiting the sick, and going to see people in prison.

Acts of tzedaqah are acts are TOV -- they are acts that affect lives in TOV (good) ways. The acts Yeshua described in Matthew 25 are not the only acts of tzedaqah. For a human to survive and thrive as the Creator intended, their basic needs must be met:

● Basic physical needs -- water, food, clothing, shelter, protection, etc.

● Basic emotional needs -- affection, love, support, meaning, happiness, etc.

● Acts of tzedaqah provide basic physical and emotional needs for another person.

The key point Yeshua taught his followers was always be aware what’s going on in the lives of people you encounter in the normal course of your day. He stressed the importance of love in people’s lives. Something that lots of Bible readers do not know is that in Yeshua’s culture the opposite of love was not hate –

The opposite of love for the Jesus of history was indifference!

In my last email I challenged readers “to consider how the teachings of the Jesus of history can be applied to current circumstances.”

What would happen in America if Christians did

acts of tzedaqah like Jesus taught above in their lives?

I hope you found this informative and thank you for reading it. Please discuss it with others, too.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Making the Jesus of History Part of Lives and Discussions Today!

In my last email, “Let’s not call him ‘The Jewish Jesus’”, I discussed how much I appreciated Dr. David Flusser’s work on Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity. I pointed out that Flusser called Jesus “the Jesus of history” and “the historical Jesus” – but he did not call him “the Jewish Jesus.” Today I want to share two more things that set Flusser apart from other Jewish and Christian scholars.

While Flusser understood Jesus belonged fully to

the diverse and competing streams of Jewish thinking of the first century,

he felt no need to deny Jesus his high self-awareness.*

Flusser’s point about “diverse and competing streams of Jewish thinking of the first century” is critical for understand the people Jesus interacted with in the Gospels:

● Pharisees

● Sadducees

● Essenes

● Hellenists

● Herodians

All of the groups above had their own interpretations of Jewish Scriptures and other writings. The historical Jesus added his interpretations to the mix. He made sure the people that knew him best clearly understood what he believed God had called him to do. He announced it at his hometown synagogue on a Shabbat (Luke 4:16-21):

“The Spirit of Yahweh is upon me,

because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . .

Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus told the people that he was the person God called to fulfill those words – he was “the anointed one.” When the Hebrew word translated “the anointed one” was translated into Greek it became “christos” – and when that was transliterated into English it became “Christ.”

By the way, in the Jewish Scriptures and Jewish culture

there have been many christs (anointed ones).

That is something that most people don’t know -- there were other people claiming to be “the anointed one” in the first century, too. For Flusser, Jesus seeing himself that way -- and others viewing him that way – wasn’t a problem. That is probably why Flusser said, “even Jesus’ most radical conclusions would have been unthinkable without the innovations of those in the generations of Jewish teachers before him and the nurturing environment of Jewish thought at the time he lived.”

However, because most people are not familiar with the Late Second Temple Period and the environment in which Jewish people lived, they cannot see the Jesus of history the ways his contemporaries saw him – or the way he saw himself.

Because of how the human brain biologically works,

the only thing any human can do is “use the beliefs he or she has acquired

about Jesus and his world to give meanings to the words of the New Testament.”

Flusser did something else that I encourage others to do – apply the teachings of Jesus to current circumstances to see their relevancy. A graduate student of his provided this example:

                   

On the eve of the Gulf War, January 15,1991, the streets of Jerusalem were virtually empty in anticipation of the outbreak of war and the consequent launching of scud missiles on the civilian Israeli population. The student went over to Flusser’s house to discuss a research project. Flusser opened the door and said, “Interesting days we are living in. What would Jesus say? Let’s go and find out.”

In closing let me challenge you to do the following:

1. Learn more about the diverse and competing streams of Jewish thinking of the first century.

2. Apply the teachings of the Jesus of history to current circumstances.

I hope you found this informative and thank you for reading it.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Sources:

● Jesus by David Flusser © 1997 The Maness Press , the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; pp. 10-12.

Let’s not call him “The Jewish Jesus”

“Like research in other fields of human achievements and activities through the ages, the study of ancient Judaism and early Christianity must be done objectively, employing accepted and unbiased methods of scholarly endeavor. The starting point is a truism:

Christianity arose among the Jews —

it was once a part of Judaism.

Therefore if you want to analyze Christian origins,

you have to study ancient Judaism.”

Those are the words of the scholar I place at the top of my list for knowledge about the Second Temple Period and Early Christianity -- Dr. David Flusser (b. 1917 - d. 2000). He was an Israeli professor of Early Christianity and Judaism of the Second Temple Period (538 BCE to 70 CE) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His pioneering research on Jesus and Christianity’s relationship to Judaism won him international recognition. In 1980, Flusser, who spoke nine languages fluently and could read 26, received the Israel Prize, the country’s most prestigious honor.

As Israel’s foremost scholar on Jesus and Early Christianity, he was often asked to comment on “the Jewishness of Jesus” or to provide the “Jewish perspective.” Few requests irritated him more.

Flusser reminded his students that his is

not the study of “the Jewish Jesus” but the Jesus of history.

That Jesus was Jewish is a matter of historical record.

Flusser popularized the idea that Jesus never intended to start a new religion but was born and died a faithful Jew. It must be noted that whether reading the Greek philosophers, medieval theologians or the words of Jesus, Flusser did not work as a detached historian. He worked as “a man of faith” who saw his scholarship as having relevance to the complex challenges of the present age. Flusser was a devout Orthodox Jew who applied his study of the Torah and Talmud to the study of ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic texts, as well as the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Something that set Flusser apart from other scholars, however, was that while he understood Jesus to belong fully to the diverse and competing streams of Jewish thinking of the first century -- he felt no need to deny his role as the cornerstone of the faith of the early Christianity. Thus, Flusser did not hesitate to question assumptions which are foundational for many contemporary New Testament scholars.

He was an original thinker willing to give fresh consideration to the evidence

— even if it meant challenging long-held opinions, sometimes even his own.

For Flusser, a better understanding of the ancient sources of two world religions — Judaism and Christianity – is needed to eliminate innate prejudices.

A study of the New Testament and early Christianity without

an intimate knowledge of Jewish sources

leads to inaccurate and fragmentary results.

Hence it is essential for a New Testament scholar – and readers -- to have access to all the available Jewish sources, as well as sound knowledge of the trends and groups of Judaism in antiquity.” Often people are surprised to learn the whole New Testament reflects Jewish thought and life from a time period earlier than most of the rabbinic texts -- not just the synoptic gospels. And likewise, evidence from New Testament research is also very fruitful for Jewish studies of that period too.

While reviewing notes from my earlier research recently, I realized I needed to change something I have been doing a lot in recent years. In the future, instead of referring to “the Jewish Jesus” I will refer to “Yeshua, the historical Jesus” or “Yeshua, the Jesus of history.”

Just as Christianity has changed over the past 2,000 years, so has Judaism. Two very different religions have emerged. Therefore, “the historical Jesus” or “the Jesus of history” better defines “the Jewishness of his world.” I hope you found this informative and thank you for reading it.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

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Sources:

● Jesus by David Flusser © 1997 The Maness Press , the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; pp. 10-11.

● Judaism and the Origins of Christianity by David Flusser © 1988 Magnes Press, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, p. xii.

Will America Fail and What Role Will the Rich Play?

If you read the histories of tribes, kingdoms, empires and nations you will find some common factors led most of them to ultimately fail. A narrow group of elite people gained control of political and economic institutions of a society and restructured them.

● They structured political institutions to remove restraints on their use of power.

● They structured economic institutions to extract resources from the rest of society.

The synergistic relationship between extractive economic and political institutions introduces a strong feedback loop:

“Political institutions enable the elites controlling political power to choose economic institutions with few constraints or opposing forces. They also enable the elites to structure future political institutions and their evolution. Extractive economic institutions enrich the same elites, and their economic wealth and power help consolidate their political dominance.”

Daren Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, in their book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, argue that when you combine rotten regimes, exploitative elites and self-serving institutions with frail, decentralized states, you have something close to a prescription for poverty, conflict and even outright failure.

“Extractive economic and political institutions,

though their details vary under different circumstances,

are always at the root of this failure.” (p. 372)

Today, a new narrow elite exists, the Global Power Elite. One of the reasons they exist is that the resources they have accumulated are larger than nations. They control entities that are larger and wealthier than many nations – multinational corporations. Below is a quote from Peter Phillips’ book Giants: The Global Power Elite:

“The richest 1 percent of humanity in 2017 controlled more than half of the world’s wealth; the top 30 percent of the population controlled more than 95 percent of global wealth, while the remaining 70 percent of the population had to make do with less than 5 percent of the world’s resources.”

For the 1% elite group to extract that much wealth required the restructuring of political and economic systems of many nations so global wealth would flow into their hands. Interestingly, Peter Phillips not only exposes what the 1% have been doing – he provides a list of the names of the wealthiest members of the group.

Based on what Daren Acemoglu and James A. Robinson discovered in their research about why nations fail, if we want to understand how the 1% to extracted so much wealth from so many nations, we need to identify the following:

1. rotten regimes

2. exploitative elites

3. self-serving institutions

4. frail decentralized states

Political institutions are thus inexorably intertwined with economic institutions, as the enforcer of law and order, private property, and contracts, and often as a key provider of public service.

The people who control inclusive and extractive economic institutions

both need, use and require the state to achieve their objectives.

“The” question that needs an accurate answer today is this:

What roles are rotten regimes, exploitative elites

and leaders of self-serving institutions playing

in using the media and social media to polarize

and turn members of societies against each other

in order to keep them from seeing what they are doing?

In order for America to reverse the dangerous path it is clearly on, members of society must adopt a shared vision that includes the following:

1. political leaders with inclusive values and morals that value human life

2. inclusive elites that use their wealth in ways that benefit all of society

3. leaders of political and economic institutions that make them accessible to all members of society.

4. strong networked states

If you have a better idea, please let me know. However, based on what I have learned from over three decades of research, from the earliest written documents until today – the common factors listed above have been part of mankind for the last 5,000 years.

Thank you for reading this. Please share and discuss it with others.

May your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers

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