Daily Devotionals
Devotional: 18th of Shevat
By your tradition you make null and void the word of God! (Matthew 15:6)
The Breslovs do not have a head rabbi.When Rabbi Nachman, their founder, died, there was no one found worthy to replace him. It is the motto of the Breslovs that "it is better to have a dead rabbi and a live Judaism, than a dead Judaism and a live rabbi."
Yeshua also spoke of dead Judaism that embraced certain dead traditions. Our Jewish culture is rich with customs and practices that were first developed to bring us closer to God. It is good to practice traditions that are alive and meaningful. But to adhere to tradition when your heart is far from God, results in an empty formality with which God is not pleased. This is the hypocrisy of which Yeshua spoke.
Yeshua was not opposed to tradition. It was as much a part of the Judaism of his day as it is a part of our own today. However, he could not sanction the hypocrisy he saw among some of the Perushim (Pharisees) who used traditions as technicalities to circumvent the true meaning of God's commandments. Tradition should strengthen our relationship with Torah, not misdirect it.
The above Scripture passage challenges us to incorporate traditions for the purpose of expressing and enhancing our relationship with Yeshua so that God is glorified.
...seek to add meaning to my traditions by placing Yeshua, and all that he stands for, in the center of them.
EK
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