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“Behold, days are coming, says the L-rd, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra᾽el, and with the house of Yehuda… but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra᾽el after those days, says the L-rd; I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their G-d, and they shall be my people…”
-Jeremiah 31:31, 33
“Rabbi Elazar says: Be diligent in learning Torah, and know what to respond to one who denigrates the Torah. Know before Whom you labor–the Master of your work is trustworthy to pay you the wage for your activity.”
-Pirkei Avos 2:14
“While writing this commentary of the New Testament, I had no other goal, as I have said in the first volume, but to reconcile these two enemy sisters: The Church and the Synagogue… to show everyone that the New Testament only comes to show that the root of existence is in the unity of G–d (ahdut ha-Bore) … and also to strengthen the law of Moses (Torat Moshe)… I publish this commentary (to Matthew) in Hebrew for Jews, to introduce them to the New Testament who, until now, have not recognized its beauty (eynam makirim ’et yofya)… Notwithstanding the contrary misconception, the New Testament is in no manner contrary to the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) or to the Talmud.“
-Rabbi Eliyahu Tzvi Soloveitchik, Kol Kore
Waykeeper Principles #6 & #8
6. The Jewish writings called, “the New Testament,” are not equal, but are subordinate to the Torah given by G-d at Sinai (and therefore not a Halachic authority).
8. We do not yet have a kosher translation of the “New Testament,” but its general teachings align especially with Hasidic Judaism (e.g. serving G-d with and beyond ‘the letter’).
Based on the Weekly NT Schedule…
Sunday (1):
John 14:25 → John 15:11 (18)
The Comforter and Peace
25 These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you.
26 But the Comforter, the holy spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid.
Going to the Father
28 You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may trust.
30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of this world is coming; and he has nothing in me,
31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me. Rise, let us go from here.
Chapter 15
The True Vine
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He removes, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it may bear more fruit.
3 You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
“You must realize that the soul of Moses was composed of all twelve tribes of Israel, all the 600,000 being “branches” of it. David’s soul therefore was also a branch of Moses’ soul. This is also why you find that while in the desert Moses performed the duties of both king, priest, Levite, prophet, scholar and military hero. He was only able to perform all these functions because his soul comprised all branches of holiness.When the redeemer will appear in the future, it will be revealed that Moses was the root of all monarchy in Israel and that David will be perceived as Shiloh (numerical value of =345, ‘Moses’).”
-Or HaChaim HaKadosh, on Genesis 49:11:4
6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is cast out like a branch and withers; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Prayer and Fruitfulness
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
9 Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you; remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11 These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Monday (2):
John 15:12 → John 16:4 (20)
The Command to Love
12 This is my commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give to you.
17 These things I command you: that you love one another.
The World’s Hatred
18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were from the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not from the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know the One who sent me.
Responsibility and Sin
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 The one who hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this happened so that the word written in their Torah might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without cause.’
“[Yeshua] was deserving to be the Messiah son of Yoseph (MBY)… However, due to his own breakthroughs (peritz-oto) and the baseless hatred that was among the Israelites towards him, he became disfigured and turned into a foreigner. He became marred and fell from the Yesod of holiness to the Yesod of the kelipah [shell]…”
-Ramdav, Sefer HaLekutim Vol. 1, p. 83-84
“Why was the Second Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there was baseless hatred during that period. This comes to teach you that the sin of baseless hatred is equivalent to the three severe transgressions: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations and bloodshed.“
-Talmud Bavli, Yoma 9b:8
The Coming Witness
26 When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me,
27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Chapter 16
Warning of Persecution
1 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may not stumble.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to G-d.
“… they began to imagine many things about him, of which he was not guilty. And they piled accusations upon him ; at first doubtfully, and when there was none to deny them, the doubts became certainty. Till all Israel ‘knew’ that he was evil, and there was no longer anyone who hesitated to cast dishonor upon David. For everybody said: by shaming David we honor the house of Israel…”
-Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov, The Book of Our Heritage, Sivan
3 And these things they will do because they have not known the Father nor me.
4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
Tuesday (3):
John 16:5 → John 16:28 (24)
The Coming Comforter
5 But now I am going to the One who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
6 But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is for your benefit that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment—
9 concerning sin, because they do not trust in me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
The Spirit of Truth
12 I still have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them now.
13 But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are mine; for this reason I said that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.
Sorrow Turned to Joy
16 A little while, and you will no longer see me; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
17 Some of his disciples then said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,’ and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
18 So they were saying, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.”
19 Yeshua knew that they wished to question him, and he said to them, “Are you discussing this among yourselves, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’?
20 Amen, amen, I say to you: you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will become joy.
21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she has brought forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world.
22 Therefore you now also have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Prayer in His Name
23 And in that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you: whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give to you.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.
Plain Speech
25 These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf;
27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have trusted that I came forth from G-d.
28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Wednesday (4):
John 16:29 → John 17:19 (24)
The Disciples’ Response
29 His disciples said, “See, now you are speaking plainly and not using any figure of speech.
30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need for anyone to question you; by this we trust that you came from G-d.”
31 Yeshua answered them, “Do you now trust?
32 Behold, an hour is coming—and has already come—when you will be scattered, each to his own place, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Chapter 17
Yeshua’s Prayer
1 Yeshua spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your son, so that the son may glorify You,
2 just as You gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given him, he may give eternal life.
3 And this is eternal life: that they may know You, the Only True G-d, and the one whom You sent, Yeshua the Messiah.
4 I glorified You on the earth, having completed the work that You have given me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.
“According to Reis Lakish, as it is written: “The spirit of G-d hovered over the surface of the water” (Genesis 1:2), this is the spirit of the King Messiah. If a person merits, they say to him: ‘You preceded the entire act of Creation.’”
-Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 14:1b
For the Disciples
6 I revealed Your name to the men whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word.
7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given me is from You;
8 for the words that You gave me I have given to them, and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they trusted that You sent me.
9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given me, because they are Yours;
10 and all that is mine is Yours, and Yours is mine; and I have been glorified in them.
11 I am no longer in the world, yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your Name which You have given me, so that they may be one just as We are.
12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your Name which You have given me; and I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14 I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not from the world, just as I am not from the world.
15 I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not from the world, just as I am not from the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
18 Just as You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I sanctify myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Thursday (5):
John 17:20 → John 18:11 (18)
For All Who Will Believe
20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but also on behalf of those who will trust in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in me and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may trust that You sent me.
22 The glory that You have given me I have given to them, so that they may be one just as we are one—
23 I in them and You in me—that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent me and loved them, even as You loved me.
The Desire for Union
24 Father, I desire that those whom You have given me be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which You have given me, because You loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent me;
26 and I made known to them Your Name, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Chapter 18
The Arrest
1 After saying these things, Yeshua went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.
2 Now Judah, who was betraying him, also knew the place, because Yeshua often met there with his disciples.
3 So Judah, having taken the cohort and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4 Then Yeshua, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went out and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
5 They answered him, “Yeshua the Nazarene.”
He said to them, “I am he.” And Judah, who was betraying him, was standing with them.
6 So when he said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 Then he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?”
And they said, “Yeshua the Nazarene.”
8 Yeshua answered, “I told you that I am he; so if you seek me, let these go their way,”
9 so that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke: “Of those whom You have given me, I lost not one.”
Peter’s Sword
10 Then Shimon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the High Priest and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 So Yeshua said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?”
Friday (6):
John 18:12 → John 18:32 (21)
Before the High Priest
12 So the cohort and the commander and the officers of the Judeans arrested Yeshua and bound him,
13 and led him first to Chanan, for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year.
14 Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Judeans that it was better that one man die for the people.
Peter’s First Denial
15 Shimon Peter was following Yeshua, and so was another disciple. That disciple was known to the High Priest and entered with Yeshua into the courtyard of the High Priest,
16 but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the High Priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept the door and brought Peter in.
17 Then the servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?”
He said, “I am not.”
18 Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.
Questioning by the High Priest
19 The High Priest then questioned Yeshua about his disciples and about his teaching.
20 Yeshua answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the Temple, where all the Judeans come together, and I spoke nothing in secret.
21 Why do you question me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”
22 When he had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Yeshua, saying, “Is that how you answer the High Priest?”
23 Yeshua answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike me?”
24 So Chanan sent him bound to Caiaphas the High Priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25 Now Shimon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
26 One of the servants of the High Priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
27 Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
Before Pilate
28 Then they led Yeshua from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters, and it was early morning; and they themselves did not enter into the headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
29 Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered and said to him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him to you.”
31 So Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.”
The Judeans said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”
32 so that the word of Yeshua might be fulfilled, which he spoke, indicating by what kind of death he was about to die.
Shabbat (7):
John 18:33 → John 19:16 (24)
Yeshua and Pilate
33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the headquarters, summoned Yeshua, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34 Yeshua answered, “Do you say this from yourself, or did others tell you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
36 Yeshua answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would have been fighting so that I would not be handed over; but now my kingdom is not from here.”
37 So Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”
Yeshua answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world—to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After saying this, he went out again to the Judeans and said to them, “I find no guilt in him.
Barabbas
39 But you have a custom that I release one man for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”
40 So they cried out again, saying, “Not this man, but Bar-Abba!” Now Bar-Abba was a rebel.
Chapter 19
Yeshua Before Pilate
1 Then Pilate took Yeshua and had him scourged.
2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a purple garment on him;
“Then MESSIAH puts on the ROYAL purple garment (called Purfira), on which the names of all those killed by the idolatrous nations of the world are inscribed and listed. This purple garment OF MESSIAH ascends TO BINAH and is engraved upon the supernal royal garment of the King, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN THAT CLOTHES BINAH. THERE, THOSE KILLED BY OTHER NATIONS AND LISTED ON MESSIAH’S GARMENT ARE INSCRIBED ONTO THE SUPERNAL GARMENT, ALONG WITH ALL OTHERS LISTED ABOVE, AND DIVINE LIGHT IS DRAWN BY THEM TO THIS CHAMBER. The Holy One, blessed be He, will one day clothe Himself with this royal garment OF MESSIAH and judge the nations of the world, as it is written: “He shall judge the heathen and He shall fill the places with dead bodies” (Tehilim 110:6). Until MESSIAH descends and returns FROM THE PLACE OF UNION, bringing lights and bliss down with him for the pleasure and consolation of the souls. And many angels and Chariots DESCEND WITH MESSIAH, each carrying a garment for the souls of those killed by THE IDOLATROUS nations. There these souls experience divine bliss while Messiah ascends and descends.”
-Holy Zohar, Bereshit B: Verse 19
3 and they were coming to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they struck him.
4 And Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
5 So Yeshua came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”
6 Therefore when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify, crucify!”
Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
7 The Judeans answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of G-d.”
8 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid,
9 and he entered into the headquarters again and said to Yeshua, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua gave him no answer.
10 So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
11 Yeshua answered, “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above; for this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
Sentence of Death
12 From this point Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Judeans cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Yeshua out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement (and in Hebrew, Gabbatha).
14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Judeans, “Behold your king!”
15 So they cried out, “Take him away, take him away, crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
16 So he then handed him over to them to be crucified.
Eye To Zion 