text: Our Torah portion concludes with the case of the “unsolved murder” (dum de dum dum)!!! The specifics are given concern- ing the (ehg-lah ah-rue-fah) eglah arufah/axed heifer, which served as an atonement for the peoples of the neighboring cities since they didn’t prevent the murder. (Verses 1-9)
  According to the Sages, if the corpse of an unwitnessed murder was found lying in the open, the Torah required the elders of the closest town to perform a public ritual in which they declare they were not guilty and they pray for forgiveness for the Hebrew people.
  This Haftarah opens with a rebuke to B’nei Yisra’el/Children of Israel about forsaking Yehovah. It is followed by words of comfort and encouragement and ends with the Holy One speaking about His continued presence in Yerushalayim / Jerusalem as her Defender and Protector. In the process, Israel is redeemed from exile and begins to declare Yehovah’s salvation to the nations.
  It is somewhat difficult to see the connection between this Haftarah and the Torah portion. However, Rabbi Hertz comments, “. . . the haftarah sets out a program of religion – to plant heaven and establish the earth for the children of men. The Sidra, in one of its luminous commands – “justice, justice, shalt thou follow” – gives the fundamental prerequisite for all humans living on earth.”
  Mattityahu/Matthew 5:38-42 There have been many erroneous teachings from these verses. First, with regard to an “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” phrase, which is quoted directly from D’varim/Deuteronomy 19:21, The Almighty was not condoning revenge but was controlling and limiting it. According to the Mishna, “if someone wounds his “brother”, he becomes liable to compensate the injured party for five different aspects of the injury:
  In the case of damage, here is an example of how restitution is determined. Suppose someone blinded someone else, cut off his hand or broke his leg. They value the injured person as if he were a slave for sale in the market and they appraise his value before the injury and now. The Mishna (Oral Torah before being written down) goes into great detail on how the five different areas are to be compensated.
  Secondly, “if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek”. This is a Hebrew idiom referring to an insult. In other words, Yeshua wasn’t condoning physical abuse but was encouraging His brothers to disregard verbal insults and not give them validity by responding to them. In NO way did He believe or teach one should allow oneself to be physically abused.
  Mattityahu/Matthew 18:15-20 “. . . every accusation can be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses . . .” is a direct quote from D’varim/Deuteronomy 19:15 and is the way Yeshua says we are to handle a matter if a brother commits a sin against us and won’t listen when spoken to privately.
  Acts 3:13-26 D’varim/Deuteronomy 18:15-19, specifically, is quoted in verses 22 & 23. “For Moshe himself said, ‘Yehovah will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you. Everyone who fails to listen to that prophet will be removed from the people and destroyed.”
  1st Corinthians 5:9-13 Verse 13 is the connection to our Torah portion. Eight times in the book of D’varim/Deuteronomy, alone, we are told to “expel the evildoer from among yourselves”. Those words are found in . . .