Red-Letter Edition Torah.

[John D. Brey]

The mystics explain that for the time being, only the meaning of the actual letters and words of the Written Torah are revealed through the Oral Torah. However, the deeper meanings behind the “crowns” . . . will only become revealed with the coming of the Moshiach. Thus, every time you see a crown on a letter, it not only hints at the secrets of the Torah, but our longing for a time when these secrets will finally be revealed.​

​

Chabad.org, Why Do Some Letters in the Torah Have Crowns?​

The Talmud . . . says that when Moses ascended to heaven, he saw God "binding crowns to the letters." These crowns represent the higher spiritual nature of the letters.​

​

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah.​

The letters on a sacred Torah-scroll have so-called "tagin" or "crowns" attached to some of the letters. These tagin are drawn as sprouts or shoots that look like the letter zayin. They're only attached to certain letters, in certain places withing the Torah text, making them akin to the red-letters found in the so-called "New Testament." As noted by the article on tagin at Chabad.org, the meaning of the tagin are supposed to be revealed by Messiah such that relating these secret/sacred markings to the meaning of the red-letters in the so-called "New Testament" is justified by many testimonials from knowledgeable proponents of the holy nature of the Torah-scroll.



John

 

[John D. Brey]

The mystics explain that for the time being, only the meaning of the actual letters and words of the Written Torah are revealed through the Oral Torah. However, the deeper meanings behind the “crowns” . . . will only become revealed with the coming of the Moshiach. Thus, every time you see a crown on a letter, it not only hints at the secrets of the Torah, but our longing for a time when these secrets will finally be revealed.​

​

Chabad.org.​

The Talmud . . . says that when Moses ascended to heaven, he saw God "binding crowns to the letters." These crowns represent the higher spiritual nature of the letters.​

​

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah.​

The letters on a sacred Torah-scroll have so-called "tagin" or "crowns" attached to some of the letters. These tagin are drawn as sprouts or shoots that look like the letter tsaddi. And they're only attached to certain letters, in certain places withing the Torah text, making them akin to the red-letters found in the so-called "New Testament." As noted by the article on tagin at Chabad.org, the meaning of the tagin are supposed to be revealed by Messiah such that relating these secret/sacred markings to the meaning of the red-letters in the so-called "New Testament" is justified by many testimonials from knowledgeable proponents of the holy nature of the Torah-scroll.

Tagin are God's tzitzit in that they're the "fringes" or sprouts that spring out of the Hebrew letters of the Torah-text, which, the scroll, represents God's material frame. As such, technically speaking, the tzitzit, or fringes (i.e., the tagin) should be doused in tekhelet (red-purple dye) since they're being grafted onto the Hebrew letters with a permanent ink. Without the red-purple tekhelet dye it's forbidden to mix different species of things in a permanent manner.

As noted in Sefer Yetzirah, the tagin, i.e., the grammatological tzitzit, are a different species than the letters themselves. In further discussions, Sefer Yetzirah relates the Hebrew letters to the material world (Assiyah) while the tagin are related to the higher realm of Yetzirah. As such, the law of shatnez would forbid the attaching of the crowns/tagin unless the tagin were authorized to be mixed with the strictly material letters by their (the tagin) being dyed in the tekhelet dye that allows what's dyed in it to transgress the law of shatnez.

The image of the tzizit-embellished Hebrew letters above uses infrared photography to show that the fringes (tagin) are attached to the original text as an embellishment (ala the tzitzit added to the tallit) rather than being manufactured at the time these particular letter were originally put to the parchment.



John

 

[John D. Brey]

Tagin are God's tzitzit in that they're the "fringes" or sprouts that spring out of the Hebrew letters of the Torah-text, which, the scroll, represents God's material frame. As such, technically speaking, the tzitzit, or fringes (i.e., the tagin) should be doused in tekhelet (red-purple dye) since they're being grafted onto the Hebrew letters with a permanent ink. Without the red-purple tekhelet dye it's forbidden to mix different species of things in a permanent manner.

As noted in Sefer Yetzirah, the tagin, i.e., the grammatological tzitzit, are a different species than the letters themselves. In further discussion of this, Sefer Yetzirah relates the Hebrew letters themselves to the material world (Assiyah) while the tagin are related to the higher realm of Yetzirah. As such, the law of shatnez would forbid the attaching of the crowns/tagin unless the tagin were authorized to be mixed with the strictly material letters by their (the tagin) being dyed in tekhelet.

The image of the tzizit-embellished Hebrew letters above uses infrared photography to show that the fringes (tagin) have been attached to the original text as an embellishment (ala the tzitzit added to the tallit) rather than being manufactured at the time these particular letter were originally put to the parchment.

Ironically, the mnemonic device the scribes use to note the letters that have three tagin attached to them (with a permanent ink) is the Hebrew word "shatnez." The letters that have three tagin attached to them can spell out the Hebrew word "shatnez" (to include the letters gimmel and tsaddi) such that the scribes have, remarkably, used the word "shatnez" (which is a prohibition on mixing species from different kingdoms, say Assirah and Yetzirah), as a mnemonic device to remember which letters are being mixed with the tagin --- which mixing would be an unlawful act (transgressing shatnez) if there's no tekhelet dye (red/purple) in the ink used to form the tagin.

If the tagin aren't taking part in the transformation of the material Torah text into a red/purple edition Torah, then the scribes are participating in an unlawful act (shatnez) when they mix the tagin with the material letters, apart from the material letters being baptized in tekhelet.

Is the Messiah as a new Moses who leads his people out of exile into the world of redemption also perhaps the giver of a Torah for the time of the redemption? Is the Torah and its radiation outward via the tradition the final word of God to Israel or is there in the Messianic or apocalyptic view a new revelation, a new form of the word of God?​

Gershom Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, p. 53.​

John

 

[John D. Brey]

Ironically, the mnemonic device the scribes use to note the letters that have three tagin attached to them (with a permanent ink) is the Hebrew word "shatnez." The letters that have three tagin attached to them can spell out the Hebrew word "shatnez" (to include the letters gimmel and tsaddi) such that the scribes have, remarkably, used the word "shatnez" (which is a prohibition on mixing species from different kingdoms, say Assirah and Yetzirah), as a mnemonic device to remember which letters are being mixed with the tagin --- which mixing would be an unlawful act (transgressing shatnez) if there's no tekhelet dye (red/purple) in the ink used to form the tagin.

If the tagin aren't taking part in the transformation of the material Torah text into a red/purple edition Torah, then the scribes are participating in an unlawful act (shatnez) when they mix the tagin with the material letters, apart from the material letters being baptized in tekhelet.

Is the Messiah as a new Moses who leads his people out of exile into the world of redemption also perhaps the giver of a Torah for the time of the redemption? Is the Torah and its radiation outward via the tradition the final word of God to Israel or is there in the Messianic or apocalyptic view a new revelation, a new form of the word of God?​

Gershom Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, p. 53.​

The original red-letter Bibles were more accurately red/purple lettered Bibles. More importantly:

The inspiration for printing the words of Jesus in red comes from Luke 22:20: "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which I shed for you."​

​

Wikipedia, Red Letter Edition.​

In context, the implication from Luke 22:20 is simple. Tekhelet is the ritual manifestation of the blood of Messiah, which, in Jesus' case, is also alleged to be the blood of God. The importance of this recognition is self-evident in the sense that in the first written covenant, mixing species of things transgresses the law of shatnez unless the mixing is a mixed blessing authorized by the tekhelet dye.

We can speak of a mixed blessing in the sense that in the so-called Old Testament, blood outside of the source of the blood in all cases signifies the death of the organ from whence the blood came. For God to use his own blood as a covering for sin and transgression would require his death, thus lending weight to Luke 22:20 as the source for not only the red letters in the red letter edition of the Bible, but it would retroactively lend support to the idea that tekhelet is a ritual manifestation of this divine-messianic blood as it's found in the Torah text. The most hidden part of the Torah text is none other than the tagin where these secrets lie waiting to reveal their truth in the life and times (and if Luke is accurate, the death) of Messiah. In this sense the tagin, if they represent the blood of messiah, should be rendered red/purple, tekhelet, thus imploring the righteous scribe to manufacture the world's first red-letter edition Torah text by using tekhelet when he inscribes the tagin to the material letters.



John

 

[Ebionite]

View attachment 85732

The original red-letter Bibles were more accurately red/purple lettered Bibles. More importantly:

The inspiration for printing the words of Jesus in red comes from Luke 22:20: "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which I shed for you."​

​

Wikipedia, Red Letter Edition.​

In context, the implication from Luke 22:20 is simple. Tekhelet is the ritual manifestation of the blood of Messiah, which, in Jesus case is also, alleged to be the blood of God. The importance of this recognition is self-evident in the sense that in the first written covenant, mixing species of things transgresses the law of shatnez unless the mixing was a mixed blessing authorized by the tekhelet dye.

We can speak of a mixed blessing in the sense that in the so-called Old Testament, blood outside of the source of the blood in all cases signifies the death of the organ from whence the blood came. For God to use his own blood as a covering for sin and transgression would require his death, thus lending weight to Luke 22:20 as the source for not only the red letters in the red letter edition of the Bible, but it would lend support to the idea that tekhelet is a ritual manifestation of this divine-messianic blood as it's found in the Torah text, and most importantly, the most hidden part of the Torah text, which is none other than the tagin where these secrets lie waiting to reveal their truth in the life and times (and if Luke is accurate, the death) of Messiah.



John

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
Habakkuk 2:12

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1 Corinthians 3:10

 

[Ebionite]

The blood and wine reflects the symbolism of the communion.

Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
Habakkuk 2:4-5

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Romans 1:17

Paul makes it about death:

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:2

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 10:16

 

[John D. Brey]

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 10:16

The purpose of the tefillin is that `the teaching of God may be in your mouth.' For that reason they must be made מן המותר בפיך, from substances `permitted to your mouth.'​

​

Rabbi Samson Hirsch, Collected Writings III, p.152.​

The batim of the tefillin (the box holding the scrolls) must be made of the hide of a kosher animal. In this sense the scrolls, or more accurately the letters/words on the scrolls, represent, since they're placed into the box whose outer skene is kosher animal hide, the soul/blood of the beast of the field (שדי) into which they're placed. In context with his statement above, Rabbi Hirsch points out that the word of God is not supposed to be just something associated with your outer person, but is supposed to be placed in the mouth so that the very soul of the living God, the beast of the field ---Shaddai the lamb of God---be found out to have been put into your mouth and swallowed.

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.​

​

John 6:53–55.​

In context, the tagin, which look like the letter zayin (which is, means, "sword") should be fancied to represent both the izmel of the mohel, and also what sprouts or springs forth from underneath what the mohel removes. The mohel's izmel cuts through the fore skene of the material letters to get to the blood of truth (which is the true source of everlasting life), while the outer skene (material letters/words ) is merely the portal, organ, which, uncircumcised, is the seminal source of mere physical, material, life. As Jesus implied, you must allow the izmel of the mohel, the sharp point of the tagin, to cut through the fore skene of the mere materiality of the words written in the Torah text. If you (the editorial you) don't do that, you have only a material form of faith that will die at the same time the material body dies. If you don't have, don't read (don't swallow), a red-letter edition Torah text, or Bible, you (the editorial you) don't possess everlasting life.



John

 

[Ebionite]

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeedJohn 6:53–55.

47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
48 I am that bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

And back to belief again: "on me" vs "his faith" from Hab 2:4, also "everlasting life" vs "as death" from Hab 2:5.

 

[paarsurrey]

The purpose of the tefillin is that `the teaching of God may be in your mouth.' For that reason they must be made מן המותר בפיך, from substances `permitted to your mouth.'​

​

Rabbi Samson Hirsch, Collected Writings III, p.152.​

The batim of the tefillin (the box holding the scrolls) must be made of the hide of a kosher animal. In this sense the scrolls, or more accurately the letters/words on the scrolls, represent, since they're placed into the box whose outer skene is kosher animal hide, the soul/blood of the beast of the field (שדי) into which they're placed. In context with his statement above, Rabbi Hirsch points out that the word of God is not supposed to be just something associated with your outer person, but is supposed to be placed in the mouth so that the very soul of the living God, the beast of the field ---Shaddai the lamb of God---be found out to have been put into your mouth and swallowed.

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.​

​

John 6:53–55.​

In context, the tagin, which look like the letter zayin (which is, means, "sword") should be fancied to represent the izmel of the mohel since they cut through the fore skene of the material letters to get to the blood of truth (which is the true source of everlasting life) while the outer skene (material letters/words ) is merely the portal, organ, which, uncircumcised, is the seminal source of mere physical, material, life. As Jesus implied, you must allow the izmel of the mohel, the sharp point of the tagin, to cut through the fore skene of the mere materiality of the words written in the Torah text. If you (the editorial you) don't do that, you have only a material form of faith that will die at the same time the material body dies. If you don't have, don't read (don't swallow), a red letter edition Torah text, or Bible, you (the editorial you) don't possess everlasting life.



John

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal (John 6:54 )

Isn't it an attempt by Gospel of John , (not Jesus/Yeshua- the truthful Israelite Messiah as he never said it ), to deviate the Pauline-Christians to become cannibals, please, right??

Regards

 

[John D. Brey]

Isn't it an attempt by Gospel of John , (not Jesus/Yeshua- the truthful Israelite Messiah as he never said it ), to deviate the Pauline-Christians to become cannibals, please, right??

Regards

I don't know how scientifically attuned you are, but the original way two organisms shared genes was cannibalism. At that time there was no programed death-gene. The latter came with phallic-sex. Since Jesus was conceived the old fashioned way, when Mary ingested the word of God (rather than engaging in phallic-sex), Jesus was born free of the death-gene. This means if you eat his flesh and drink his blood you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Which means you are, to the rest of the blood-suckers in the world, something like a walking talking stalk of garlic. . . Your bad breath, and the words that come out of your mouth with it, cause them to beat a path to redder pastures.



John

 

[John D. Brey]

​

In context, the tagin, which look like the letter zayin (which is, means, "sword") should be fancied to represent both the izmel of the mohel, and also what sprouts or springs forth from underneath what the mohel removes. The mohel's izmel cuts through the fore skene of the material letters to get to the blood of truth (which is the true source of everlasting life), while the outer skene (material letters/words ) is merely the portal, organ, which, uncircumcised, is the seminal source of mere physical, material, life. As Jesus implied, you must allow the izmel of the mohel, the sharp point of the tagin, to cut through the fore skene of the mere materiality of the words written in the Torah text. If you (the editorial you) don't do that, you have only a material form of faith that will die at the same time the material body dies. If you don't have, don't read (don't swallow), a red-letter edition Torah text, or Bible, you (the editorial you) don't possess everlasting life.

The tallit represents the "garment" given to cover the nakedness of Adam's body after the sin. More particularly, the garment given to cover Adam's naked body was given to cover the part of the body from whence the sin originated. Technically speaking, when Abraham ritually removes the sinful flesh, the tallit should become unnecessary, as it will be in the messianic-age. The addition of the tzitzit (to the tallit) symbolize the fact that the living soul that's hidden beneath the garment, and is associated with the flesh that exists beneath the fore skene removed in ritual circumcision, is the glorious flesh that represents a mixing or melding of body and soul which are now so united that to think of the two as anything but one becomes a mere technicality:

Ergo the glory, the tiferet תפארת, associated with the priestly garment; and thus, the power of this particular garment, and the color purple, to transgress all former disunity and duality, producing a new unity, a new creation, which, when worn, renders the wearer neither Jew nor Gentile, neither male nor female, neither clothed, nor naked, nor even an alloy of any of these former dualities. The garment becomes part and parcel of its wearer even as the gold in tekhelet so infuses the organic material ---which it thereafter becomes ----that all former duality fade into oblivion.​

​

Tekhelet.​

The paragraph that's the penultimate expression of the quotation above is the quintessence, the heart and soul, of what's in the crosshairs of this examination since it's the power of the tekhelet dye in the thread of the tzitzit that renders it (the tzitzit) oblivious to former binary concerns, therein empowering the tzitzit to unite all and any duality that stands disunited in all other cases. Where this is appreciated, and where the relationship between the tekhelet imbued tzitzit is made parallel to the tzitzit of the Torah scroll, i.e., the tagin of the Hebrew text, the presence of the tagin imply that the most naked reality (garmented by the Hebrew text) is a unification of the soul and body of the Torah in a manner that transcends the very need for the garment (the Hebrew text) but without requiring the elimination of the garment (the Hebrew text) which is now (the Hebrew text is) baptized into a new reality nakedly-clothed in the uncovering of this new, glorious, covering.

The mystics explain that for the time being, only the meaning of the actual letters and words of the Written Torah are revealed through the Oral Torah. However, the deeper meanings behind the “crowns” . . . will only become revealed with the coming of the Moshiach. Thus, every time you see a crown on a letter, it not only hints at the secrets of the Torah, but our longing for a time when these secrets will finally be revealed.​

​

Chabad.org, Why Do Some Letters in the Torah Have Crowns?​

​

As the Zohar says: :"The Torah has a garment, a body, and a soul. The fools of the world see only the garment; those with more understanding do not look at the garment, but see the body that is beneath the garment. The wise servants of the supreme King who stood at Sinai saw only the soul, which is the essence of the Torah. In time to come, they will perceive the `soul of soul' of the Torah, as it says `Your Teacher will no longer be hidden behind His garment, and Your eyes will behold your Teacher' (Yeshayah 30:20)."​

​

Nefesh Hachaim, p. 188.​

John

 

[John D. Brey]

The mystics explain that for the time being, only the meaning of the actual letters and words of the Written Torah are revealed through the Oral Torah. However, the deeper meanings behind the “crowns” . . . will only become revealed with the coming of the Moshiach. Thus, every time you see a crown on a letter, it not only hints at the secrets of the Torah, but our longing for a time when these secrets will finally be revealed.​

​

Chabad.org, Why Do Some Letters in the Torah Have Crowns?​

​

As the Zohar says: "The Torah has a garment, a body, and a soul. The fools of the world see only the garment; those with more understanding do not look at the garment, but see the body that is beneath the garment. The wise servants of the supreme King who stood at Sinai saw only the soul, which is the essence of the Torah. In time to come, they will perceive the `soul of soul' of the Torah, as it says `Your Teacher will no longer be hidden behind His garment, and Your eyes will behold your Teacher' (Yeshayah 30:20)."​

​

Nefesh Hachaim, p. 188.​

Is the Messiah as a new Moses who leads his people out of exile into the world of redemption also perhaps the giver of a Torah for the time of the redemption? Is the Torah and its radiation outward via the tradition the final word of God to Israel or is there in the Messianic or apocalyptic view a new revelation, a new form of the word of God?​

​

Gershom Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, p. 53.​

Not only do the three quotations above question the nature of a new revelation provided by Messiah, but two of them imply that something is hidden in the Torah scroll that won't be revealed until the arrival of Messiah. Furthermore, two of the quotations imply that what's hidden is manifest as hidden by means of the "crown's" or tagin that sprout out of the written text that is (the written text is) the garment covering the naked revelation awaiting the life and times (and perhaps death) of Messiah.



John

 

[John D. Brey]

Is the Messiah as a new Moses who leads his people out of exile into the world of redemption also perhaps the giver of a Torah for the time of the redemption? Is the Torah and its radiation outward via the tradition the final word of God to Israel or is there in the Messianic or apocalyptic view a new revelation, a new form of the word of God?​

​

Gershom Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism, p. 53.​

Not only do the three quotations above question the nature of a new revelation provided by Messiah, but two of them imply that something is hidden in the Torah scroll that won't be revealed until the arrival of Messiah. Furthermore, two of the quotations imply that what's hidden is manifest as hidden by means of the "crown's" or tagin that sprout out of the written text that is (the written text is) the garment covering the naked revelation awaiting the life and times (and perhaps death) of Messiah.

Everything in the Torah has a reason, even its order, so the fact that the commandment of Shaatnez is right next to that of Tzitzith comes to teach us something. According to Talmudic tradition, the laws of Shaatnez are set aside when one must place the blue woolen Tzitzith thread in a linen Tallith. The juxtaposition of the two commandments comes specifically to teach us this exception. This was, however, only true when the blue [tekhelet] thread was still in use. . . the prohibition of Shaatnez only applies when the linen and wool are permanently attached together. Thus, the very tradition that the commandment of Tzitzith can override that of Shaatnez, teaches us that the Tzitzith must be permanently attached to the garment.​

​

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Tzitzith: A Thread of Light, p. 16.​

Ironically, the tekhelet dye was in use right up until around 30 AD which is when the recipe was lost, which is the same time that according to the Talmud, the cloth attached to the scapegoat quit turning white on Yom Kippur. Forty years later, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the recipe for tekhelet was lost to the ravages of time right up until recently (see essay Tekhelet for the restored recipe). Paradoxically, 30 AD is also when a would-be Messiah from Nazareth was made to wear a tekhelet purple garment as he was led for show through the streets of Jerusalem. In the Gospels, the Roman soldiers gamble for the garment since its worth was immense. According to historians, Tyrian Purple (the Roman version of tekhelet), was pound-for-pound more expensive than pure gold. The soldiers weren't messing around. Whomever acquired the blood-stained garment would suddenly be extremely wealthy.

In the Christian West, the relationship between tekhelet and the "crowns" (tagin) that embellish the garment of God took on a direct symbolism when a tekhelet or Tyrian Purple cloth was placed inside the crown of the king which crown was ornamented with priceless jewels of every kind thereby juxtaposing the jewels with the purple cloth which, the cloth, was exponentially more valuable. On May 6, 2023, King Charles was coronated with precisely one of these crowns ornamented with a tekhelet or Tyrian Purple cloth placed inside the lesser valued gold and precious stones.

John