Showing posts with label Jewish women. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Jewish Women Recreating Temple Veil

Jewish Women

Recreating Temple Veil

Wednesday, May 28, 2014 | Tsvi Sadan ISRAEL TODAY

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Bible

For more than two years a small group of women have been attempting to recreate the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.

"The women of the veil chamber," as they call themselves, have founded a little workshop in the biblical Samarian community of Shiloh that is filled with weaving devices and wool. Their attempt to weave the veil is in accordance with the commandment: "you shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim" (Ex. 26:31).

Learning how to weave the veil is another way of preparing for the day the Temple will be rebuilt.

But the task is almost beyond reach. Everything needs to be learned from scratch. The weaving techniques and the special six-cord threads required by the biblical text, the production of the correct blue, purple and scarlet dyes - all of these are lost arts.

The size of the veil itself, a single rag-like object measuring 20 meters high, 10 meters wide and 10 centimeters thick, is a project of immense complexity in and of itself. The making of the veil is therefore going to be a long learning process of trial and error.

One of the more unique challenges is to weave the faces of the cherubim so that it is an eagle face on one side of the veil and a bull's face on the other side. Another is the aforementioned production of the exotic colors needed for the veil. The scarlet is assumed to be made out of an oak aphid; the blue out of a special sea snail. The purple was also produced from animals, though no one knows for certain what animal.

While the project is beset by seemingly insurmountable obstacles already in its infancy, the women believe they will be able to produce a veil that will pass the scrutiny of the rabbis.

In addition to the "the women of the veil chamber," there is another group of women who for four years already have been producing the priestly garments needed for Temple worship, including special trousers, tunics, sashes and hats.

The making of the priest's clothing also required a learning process, but unlike the veil, these were fairly simple to produce. Since according the Jewish law a priest can perform his duties only if he is wearing his special priestly clothes, some who would fill this role are already acquiring the required garments and keeping them safely in their homes. These garments, which have to be tailor-made for each person, are sold at affordable prices to encourage as many Jews of priestly lineage as possible to buy them.

Some may see such activities as provocative. Others may see it as delusional. The weavers themselves believe that by getting involved in such a holy activity they are hastening the time of Israel's redemption. Whatever the case, at the very least one cannot but admire the desire to revive a lost enchanting art that for one reason or another continues to excite millions around the world.

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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

God's View of a Woman by Frank Viola - Identity Network

God's View of a Woman by Frank Viola

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Editor's Note: What follows is the transcript of a spoken message Frank Viola delivered to a church in Chile. Keep in mind that the Chilean culture tends to have a very low view of women.

After tonight's message, if this recording gets out of this room and someone hears it in your country, I will be declared a heretic. I may even be in danger of my life.

Further, after tonight's message, some of the men in this room may not want me to come back. The women, however, will want me to move here!

Note the following passages:

"And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the tomb, and how His body was laid" (Luke 23:55, KJV, emphasis added).

"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren" (Acts 1:14, emphasis added).

Let's take a trip back to ancient Israel and look at how women were viewed before Jesus came. Generally speaking, the Jews had a dim view of women. Jewish women were not allowed to receive an education. Hence, they were largely uneducated. Their only training was in how to raise children and keep house.

Women were also largely excluded from worshipping God. In Herod's temple, there was a special court that stood on the very outside. It was called the Court of the Gentiles. The Gentiles could go into that court, but they were limited to that area alone.

Five steps above the Gentiles court was the women's court. The women were limited to that one area. Fifteen steps above that was the Jewish men's court. Thus men were given far more privileges to worship God than were women.

A woman had no voice in her marriage. Her father decided whom she would marry, when she would marry and why she would marry. A woman couldn't divorce her husband under any condition. Only a man could initiate a divorce.

Jewish women were to be seen as little as possible in public. In fact, young men were warned about talking to women in public - so much so that it was a shame in ancient Israel for a man to talk to a woman in public. Consequently, most women stayed out of the streets.

Women were Inferior

Women were regarded as inferior to men. They were regarded as property, just like cattle and slaves. Jewish males prayed a daily prayer of thanksgiving. This prayer shows how poorly the Jews looked upon women. It goes like this:

Praise be to God. He has not created me a Gentile.

Praise be to God. He has not created me a woman.

Praise be to God. He has not created me an ignorant man.

This was man's view of a woman in first-century Israel. It was not much better in other cultures. In fact, ever since the Fall of humanity, women have been regarded as second-class citizens - inferior to men. But something happened that changed all that.

Jesus came.

Take Your High Place

In Jesus Christ we find God's view of a woman. Not man's view. Not the American view. Not the European view. Not the Asian view. Not the African view. Not the South American view. Not even the Chilean view. But God's view.

Jesus Christ is God made flesh. As such, He embodies all of God's opinions. In His earthly life, Jesus was the visible expression of God Himself. By His actions and His words, we discover God's view of a woman. And that view was utterly contrary to the prevailing view of His day.

Consider this. When God decided to make His entrance upon this planet, He visited a woman. He chose a woman to bring forth the eternal Son, the Messiah - the Anointed One for whom Israel had waited thousands of years.

The life of God was first placed in the womb of a woman before it got to you and to me. And God was not ashamed.

Sisters in Christ, this is your Lord's view of a woman. Take your high place.

But that's not all. As Jesus ministered, He ripped down all social conventions that were pitted against women. On one occasion, He rose to the defense of a woman caught in adultery. He became her attorney and saved her life. And God was not ashamed.

Jesus was noted for palling around with sinners. He supped with prostitutes and tax collectors. We are told in John 4 that He met a woman, and He did something that shocked the disciples: He talked to her in public. And He was not ashamed.

Not only was she a woman, but she was a divorcee. But not only was she a divorcee, she was actively living in immorality. Yet not only was she a woman, a divorcee, an adulteress living in sin, she was worse than a Gentile. She was a Samaritan - a half-breed. (A Samaritan was a person with whom Jews were never to talk.)

Your Lord talked to this divorced, adulterous, Samaritan woman in public, and He forgave her of her sins. And He was not ashamed.