Lent (Adar for Messianic Hebrews)

Today is the 20th of Shevat and the fruits tied on the boughs of the trees before TU beShevat will be starting to deplete so it is time to start thinking about the Yashan diet if Lent. 

Here is a pleasant recipe idea. 

Lenten Beetroot Soup (oil free)

200 g Beetroot
500 g Black eyed beans
2 heads Broccoli
300 g Baby potatoes
15 g Soya mince meat (optional)
Black pepper (to taste)
Ground cumin (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Vegan vegetable stock cube

Method

Take soaked overnight black eyed beans and add them to 1.5 liters of water. Boil on a low heat for about 20 minutes add baby potatoes and soya mince meat. Boil until potatoes nearly cooked. Add salt, pepper and ground cumin. When all ingredients are cooked add broccoli and grated beetroot, boil another 5 minutes and add your stock cube. All done!

Leviticus 23:10-14

"When you plough the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the Priest a Sheaf (Omer) of the new grain you produce. The Priest is to offer-up the Sheaf  (Omer) before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf. The Priest is to offer it up on the day after THE WEEK (of the Spring Moon Feast of Unleavened Bread).

At the time you offer-up the Sheaf (Omer), you must make an Oleh to the Lord -a lamb a year old without defect- and its baked offering of two-tenths of an ephaha of the finest flour with a spread of oil as an Eshah presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink -a quarter of a hin of wine.

You must not eat your new produce neither cooked, nor dried, nor fresh, until the very day you bring the Qorban (חגיגה) to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live."

The Yashan diet restrictions on Reishith Katzir First Harvest observed by Christians as Lent is also known as Chodosh ve Yoshon or Chadash ve Yashan (New and Old). It comes from a rule of Kashrut whereby Spring Produce (from the First week of Adar which follows Maslenitsa the last week of Shevat) is not Kosher until one brings the Omer with 1) a Lamb 2) and Sweet Baking 3) with Oil 4) and Wine for Spring Pilgrimage from Lulav Sunday along with the Reshith Omer to the Priests during the Pascal Holy Week to be waved on Yom Ha-Bikkurim 7 weeks before Pentecost. As a symbol of abstinence, traditional Christians usually give up 1) meats 2) and egg 3) along with fats 4) and alcohol (traditionally, saxons also gave up flour) until they bring the Omers to Church on Palm Sunday then again (with not even Eucharistic Bread in the last days) until Yom Ha-Bikkurim when cakes, fats and yeast products can finally be eaten.

Only Yashan food is Kosher at this time. Anything which takes root after the week following the last preparation day in Shevat (the New Year For Trees, when Aviv restrictions on Chadash begin) is considered un-Kosher Chadash until Omer Sunday or Reishit Katzir. It is Shammuti Halakhah to consider anything which can be harvested after New Year for Trees (Shevat) Kosher as long as the Omer of Aviv was brought to the Priests during Holy Week in time for the Yom Ha-Bikkurim of that year.

Shammuti Halakhah observes Chadash restrictions after the last preparation day of Shevat -New Year for Trees (the Moons of Aquarius)- for 6 weeks until Aviv Aliyah (Pilgrimage) Week in order to fulfill the Mitzvah concerning Chadash. This Aviv period of Chadash restriction is called Lent (Adar).

Nisan, the primary month of the year, always begins during Aviv with the New Moon closest to the Spring Equinox. Yom Ha-Bikkurim is always the Sunday of or immediately after the Full Moon of Nisan.

Aliyah Aviv

These days Aliyah means emigrating to settle in Eretz HaKodesh and Arafat is the name of a mountain but originally both referred to going up to Jerusalem i.e. Pilgrimage.

Aliyah Aviv (Spring Pilgrimage) or Aliyah HaShana (New Year Pilgrimage) or Aliyah Reishith Katzir, or Aliyah Rosh Kodesh, was the most important pilgrimage. It marked the end of the Lenten Chadash restrictions on produce for the New Year making the crops Yashan Kosher for the rest of the year. Adar produce following Crop New Year would not become Kosher to eat before someone went up to Jerusalem with your Offerings. Christians know this as the Lenten Pilgrimage which took place with the arrival of pilgrims by Palm Sunday. The Torah simply calls it "Rosh Kodesh". The word חדש / חודש (Season) is related to חדשה (New) and is of particular importance to Christians. For the Spring Pilgrimage, Believers would bring the Korban Omer Reshith Tenufah to Jerusalem in good time for the Priests to offer it on Yom Ha-Bikkurim.

Calendar Division

Under the simple rule of the Hasmonean calendar, the 1st day of the year was always a Sunday, while Nissan 14th & 21st as well as Tishrei 1st, 15th and 22nd were always Saturdays. This simple rule was that the week of the Fullmoon closest to the Spring Equinox is the 1st week of the year. This allowed everyone to know when they had to start preparing for the Akeedah Pilgrimage from which Christian Holy Week and Islamic Hajj both derive. Even the 1st month of the Chinese always used to coincide with Shevat. 

Although the Julian Calendar was inspired by the Hasmonean Calendar, sadly the Julian Calendar no longer follows this simple rule. As a result, Russian Christmas currently coincides with Gregorian January 7th. Hopefully this rule will be restored on earth one day.

The Council of Nicea was supposed to be responsible for making this calendar official but thanks to the Constantinian dynasty the Julian calendar persisted.

Next Judaism adopted Hillel II's calendar when the Sanhedrin failed.

Then (according to academics) under Umar II the Meshulamim opted for a 12 Lunar month 355 day year instead of the Hasmonean calendar where Ramadan always coincided with Teveth.

Finally in 1582 the Romans started pushing the Gregorian Calendar. 

As a result Jews, Constantinians, Muslims, and Romans are all divided through a kind of nationalistic calendar Idolatry which has torn apart the Tent of Abraham. It is therefore essential to respect each other's calendars rather than idolize our own until the Messiah comes to restore one system of universal time throughout the cosmos. 

Nittel Gadol

Originally there were two days of Christmas. These two days were Christmas and the Feast of Stephen. Among the nobility, gifts were given on Christmas night after all religious obligations had been fulfilled while among the peasantry, gifts were presented on Christmas Eve at midnight mass. 

When the Calendar reform of 1582 took place, people who were not under the influence of the Vatican were about 10 days late in recognising the 1st night of Christmas which had become equivalent to the Ecclesiastical Eve of the Gregorian 5th of January rather than 25th of December. 

24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,01,02,03,04. 

Both nights came to be considered equivalent to each other and what became January 5th came to be considered equivalent to the 25th resulting in the idea of 12 nights then days of Christmas. 

This resulted in a makhlokhes. over the correct timing of Nittel observance among Perushim. In the end, Christmas Eve became recognize as Nittel Katan while the 5th of January remained Nittel Gadol with 12 days of Nittel from Dec 25th to Jan 5th followed by Kalenda on the 6th of January. 

(Interestingly the 25th of December and the 6th of January once both corresponded to the 1st of Shevat at the beginning of the 1st century.)

But in 1901 the Julian Calendar had slipped by 2 days causing many formerly Julian countries to adopt the Gregorian Calendar in the 20th century and in recent decades, the significance of Nittel Gadol has diminished everywhere outside of the sphere of Russian Influence. It is likely that the observance of 12 days of Nittel will eventually vanish as the remaining Orthodox Churches abandon the Julian Calendar in favour of the Gregorian.

On the 7th day of Christmas...

As already mentioned, the darkest night Vigil ends at 23:59:59pm on the 24th of December and the hiatus on studying Torah ends at midnight with the beginning of the 8 day Kaleyd (Yiddish for the Talmudic Kalenda i.e. Christmas) celebration established by Adam to celebrate the lengthening of days. The protective covers are removed and a Mitzva is observed to begin each new season like Kalenda with a fresh supply of sweet water, as brought down by the 10th century Hai Gaon. 

But it is the 7th day of Kalenda which is the correct day for Jews to give non-Jewish friends presents to separate ourselves from any Gentile Festivities on New Year's day.

This Halakhah about when to give presents during Kaleyd was recorded by Israel Isserlein (1390-1460) in Austria mentioned in the Terumas HaDeshen [Siman 195. :

שו"ת תרומות הדשן (סי' קצה')

Responsa of the Terumat haDeshen 195

שאלה: בכמה עיירות נוהגים היהודים לשלוח דורונות לכומרים ולשלטונים ביום שמיני לניתל כשמתחדשין להם השנה, יש

חשש זהירות בדבר או לאו?

Question: In many cities it is the custom for Jews to send gifts to priests and nobles on the Eighth Day after Nittel when they make their New Year. Should we be concerned about the danger of this or not?

תשובה: יראה דיש ליזהר בזה שלא ישלחו ממש באותו יום אלא יום קודם או אחריו...

Answer: It appears that we should be careful regarding this practice not to send it on the actual day of the festival (lest they think we are celebrating) but rather on a day before or after.

The correct Hilchos is for Jews to send gifts to non-Jews on New Year' Eve the 7th day of Kalenda following Nittel rather than New Year's Day itself. 

Interestingly this responsum along with several others on the topic of dealing with apostates and Gentiles was apparently omitted from the original Terumas HaDeshen out of fear of the censor. The responsa were printed at the end of the sefer in certain editions. 

In accordance with his ruling the Rema [Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 148:12] writes: “If a person wishes to send a gift to a gentile on the eighth day after Nittel which they call New Year’s when they view it as a good omen if they receive a gift — he should send it the night before. (The words in italics were censored from later editions.)

It seems appropriate at this point to mention even more sources from Orthodox Judsism which are relevant to The Way of the Messianic Hebrews originating among the Chazal of the Shimon ben Shetach Yeshiva following both Talmuds and

the Teliya of Yochanan ben Zakkai (c.20-c.100). 

We should also consider the Christology of Aqiba (c.50-c.135) who has never been disregarded for having temporarily mistaken Bar Kokhba for the Sar HaPanim. His student Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai who said "There is a perfect man, who is an messenger, this messenger is Metatron, the keeper of Israel; he is a man in the image of the Holy One, blessed be He, who is an emanation from Him; yea, He is HaShem; of him cannot be said, He is created, formed or made; but he is the emanation from G-d. This agrees with what was written in Jeremiah 23:5-6 of the sprout from David, that though he shall be a perfect man, yet he is ‘the Lord our Righteousness’ " in The Propositions of the Zohar.cap 38, Amsterdam Edition.

We should also consider the Piyyutim of Eleazer ben Kalir (570 – c. 640) which mention Sar HaPanim and the preexistence of our righteous Messiah. 

Here I provide a list of some of the Scribes and Pharisees who made comments relevant to Messianic Noahides:

The Pirqoi ben Baboi (8th–9thC.). 

Rabbeinu Bahiya (1050–1120); 

Rashi (1040 – 13 July 1105); 

the Tosafists 

{like Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry (d. 1105); 

Rabbeinu Tam (1100 – 9 June 1171); 

Yechiel of Paris (died c. 1268); 

Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (fl.1240s); 

Judah of Melun (fl.1240s); 

Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise (fl.1240s)}; 

the Hassidei Ashkenaz 

{such as Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (1150 – 1217); 

and other Rishonim 

{like Nachmanides (1194–1270); 

the Meiri (1249–1316); 

Rabbeinu Yerucham (1290–1350); 

and Ibn Shaprut (born c.1350)}; 

the Litvak Perushim 

{like the Rema (1530-1572); 

Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm (1520 – 1583); 

Moses Rivkis (17thC.) who said "the gentiles in whose shadow Jews live and among whom Jews are disbursed are not idolaters. Rather they believe in creatio ex nihilo and the Exodus from Egypt and the main principles of faith. Their intention is to the Creator of Heaven and Earth and we are obligated to pray for their welfare."

The there is Jacob Emden (1697 – 1776)} 

Moses David Valle (d.1777); 

Baruch Fränkel-Teomim (1760–1828);

Nachman MeUman (1772-1810); 

Elijah Tsvi Soloveitchik (1805–1881); 

Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808 – 1888) who said "although disparaged because of its alleged particularism, Judaism….has been at pains to stress that, while in other respects their views and ways of life may differ from those of Judaism, the peoples in whose midst the Jews are now living [i.e. Christians] have accepted the Jewish Bible of the Old Testament as a book of Divine revelation. They profess their belief in the God of heaven and earth as proclaimed in the Bible and they acknowledge the sovereignty of Divine Providence in both this life and the next.

Israel produced an offshoot [i.e., Christianity] that had to become estranged from it in great measure, in order to bring to the world—sunk in idol worship, violence, immorality and the degradation of man—at least the tidings of the One Alone, of the brotherhood of all men, and of man’s superiority over the beast. It was to teach the renunciation of the worship of wealth and pleasures, albeit it not their use in the service of the One Alone. Together with a later offshoot [Islam] it represented a major step in bringing the world closer to the goal of all history."

The there was Isaac Lichtenstein (1824-1908);

Chaim Yedidiah Pollak (1854-1916)

Judah David Eisenstein (1854 – 1956); 

Pinchas Lapide (1922 – 1997); 

Harvey Oscar Falk (1932-2006); 

the Rabbonim of the CJCUC; 

and this project has also been supported by Rav Dov Meir Stein (d.2020) of blessed memory and other members of his Nascent Sanhedrin Project currently under Nasi Meir Hakak HaLevi.