Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Daily Aliya for Shoftim, Revii (4th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: Although the Priestly families were divided into many shifts, each serving in the Temple in their designated turn, a Kohen always retains the right to come to the Temple and personally offer his personal sacrifices. This Aliya then contains prohibitions against divination, fortunetelling and similar occult practices. Instead of probing into the future we are commanded to put our faith and trust in G‑d.

The implication here is that we must not "learn to do" the terrible things, but we may learn about them in order to understand their ways and to better instruct our fellow Jews in this topic. (Tur Shulchan Aruch, based on the Gemara). This can be applied to countering groups dedicated to targeting Jews, such as Jews for Jesus. We are instructed to "know how to respond" to such occult and cult tactics.

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