Tag Archives: Melchizedek

Seven Names or Seven Messiahs?

In this week’s parasha, Tzav, we find the interesting term hakohen hamashiach, the “anointed priest”, referring to the kohen gadol, “high priest”. This term appears a total of four times in the Torah; three times in last week’s parasha, and once at the beginning of this week’s parasha. These happen to be the only four instances of the term mashiach anywhere in the Chumash. Superficially, they do not refer to the Messiah, but rather to the high priest. The Chumash itself never explicitly speaks of hamelekh hamashiach, the anointed messianic king of Israel at the End of Days. However, it does allude to a messianic figure here in the parasha, because one of those future figures whose arrival we expect is the Kohen Tzedek, the “righteous priest” who will serve as the first kohen gadol in the rebuilt Jerusalem Temple.

At the start of the Second Temple era, the hope was that Zerubbabel would be Mashiach. Continue reading →

Damascus in the End of Days

What is the significance of recent seismic events in Syria and Damascus? What might we expect for the region in light of ancient prophecies? Find out in this class as we explore Damascus in Tanakh, Midrash, and Kabbalah. Also: What is the etymology of the name “Jerusalem”? Who was the mysterious Melchizedek? And what is Zedekiah’s Cave?

For the entire playlist on the “Star of Jacob” prophecy, see here.
For the essay on ‘End of Days Secrets from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’, see here.

A Brief Summary of Tithes and Charity

An illustration of bringing bikkurim to the kohen (from the Providence Lithograph Company)

This week’s double parasha, Behar and Bechukotai, begins with the laws of Sabbaticals and Jubilees, and ends with some laws related to tithes. We see here the Torah’s incredible concern for public welfare and social justice—far ahead of its time. The Torah outlines a lengthy system of rules to ensure that the impoverished and the disadvantaged are taken care of, that people have equal opportunities, and that both wealth and land is redistributed to address the disparity between rich and poor, which inevitably results in most societies.

We see, for instance, that at the Jubilee year (every 50th), all lands reverted to their original owners. In Biblical times, when a person purchased land, they were really only leasing it for a number of years, no more than the number of years left until the next Jubilee. So, even if a family had become destitute in the intervening years, and had to sell off all of their land, they could rest assured knowing that they would eventually get their ancestral plot of land back, and have an opportunity to rebuild their wealth. This would ensure that the mega-rich do not swallow up land and grow ever richer (as we unfortunately see all too often today, such as Bill Gates being the largest owner of farmland in America, and Mark Zuckerberg buying nearly an entire Hawaiian island despite the protest of locals). Continue reading →