SUNDARA RAO TSAPPIDI

UNVEILED MYSTERIES

OF QUMRAN

By

SUNDARA RAO TSAPPIDI

PHILIPS PUBLICATIONS

D.No. 47-2-7, Lourdunagar, Gunadala,

VIJAYAWADA - 520004. A.P., India.

Phone 0866-2451783

Unveiled Mysteries Of Qumran

Sundara Rao Ts.

First Edition - December 2014

(C) The author

Rs.75/-

Price :

Published by :

PHILIPS PUBLICATIONS

D.No. 47-2-7, Lourdunagar, Gunadala,

Vijayawada - 520 004. A.P., India.

Phone : 0866 - 2451783.

“HE SATISFIES THE LOVING SOUL”

- Psalm 107.9

Foreword

Rev. Dr. Sundara Rao Tsappidi is a servant of

God doing ministry through his writings for His glory.

The Almighty God satisfies his soul by providing him

another opportunity to bring out a wonderful book with

the title “Unvieled Mysteries of Qumran”. It contains

14 articles and all these articles are unique of their kind

with invaluable information regarding the Bible. Like

the articles of the previous books, this book also provides

a lot of information for the students and the scholars of

the Bible. One such article is “The writers of the Dead

Sea Scrolls”. It brings out many truths about the

scriptures and their originality. It is the work of the scholars who did great research

work and stated many things which are unknown to us.

Though Rev. Dr. Sundara Rao is shattered in health and with poor eye-

sight at the age of Seventy Nine, in an answer to his prayers, our gracious Lord

enables him to put his efforts in this seventh book. His thinking is lateral and with

this lateral thinking he sees the incidents, the men and the women in the Bible in

a different angle. He has the Zeal to present more information about them. For

example Mary Magdalene. The Bible provids little information about her. But here

in this beautiful article we find her personal life, her longing for the Savior and her

missionary work after the Resurrection of Christ along with the other disciples of

our Lord. I strongly believe that Rev. Dr. Sundara Rao Tsappidi, with the blessings

of our Lord, will bring out many more books of this kind for His Glory and for the

spreading of the Gospel. May our gracious Lord bestow His blessings on him by

providing sound health, knowledge and wisdom.

With best compliments.

The servant of God,

D.S. Sundara Rao,

M.A.,M.phil.,

Associate Professor of English (Rtd)

CONTENTS

Chapter : 1

What is Torah ?1

Chapter : 2

The Writers of the dead sea scrolls15

Chapter : 3

Some Memorable Promises of God31

Chapter : 4

Twelve Minor Prophets44

Chapter : 5

Seven words on the Cross54

Chapter : 6

New Jerusalem of Jesus Christ65

Chapter : 7

Promise of His coming79

Chapter : 8

Apostles and their journey91

Chapter : 9

Mary Magdalene101

Chapter : 10

The Anti – Christ to rule his beastly empire115

Chapter : 11

Jerusalem with three Faiths - Abraham as the father128

Chapter : 12

History of Asian Religions136

Chapter : 13

Events in chronological order at end times151

Chapter : 14

Some Biblical references161

(cid:2) (cid:2) Chapter : 1

WHAT IS TORAH?

The word “Torah” in Jewish tradition literally means teachings. It is often used to describe the entire gamut of Jewish religious teachings. This Torah refers not only to the first five books of Moses, but also to the prophet’s Holy writings like Talmud and Midrash. That is to say to all the religious worship from the earlier to the present day. A part of five books are called Torah, and there are two more parts in the Bible. They are the books of the prophets (Neuiim), which consists of 21 books; and that of Holy worship or “Hagio-grapha” (ketubrim) which consists of 13 books. Following is the list of 39 books, of the Bible, the Old Testament.

2.The books of prophets - Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I kings, II

kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosia, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,

Zephaniah, Nehemiah, Habakkuk, Haggai Zechariah and Malachi.

3.Books of Holy Writings - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,

Lamentations, Ecclesiasts, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, I Chronicles

and II Chronicles.

This Torah is the complete piece of Judaism and a key to Jewish survival. The role played by Torah in the lives of individuals differs from one another. The statement in Deuteronomy 3.3-4 points out that Torah is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob’s which became widely accepted doctrine. It became a legacy of Jewish people. They took it into their hearts. They loved it. They passed it on for learning from generation to generation. According to some scholars, it was Ezra, the scribe of the fifth century, took the initiative for the detailed study of the Bible.

The most prominent of the early scholars, who interpreted Torah and made it a relevant living document were Hillel and Shammai of the first century C.E. The interpretation of these scholars and other contemporaries were recorded in the first part of the Talmud known as “Mishma”. The second part of the Talmud was known as “Zemara” and it was only a commentary on Mishma. Then Palestine or Jerusalem also created the second Talmud. The main source of information regarding the origin of the Torah was Torah itself. If we look into the book of Exodus 19th chapter, it gives the following account. The Israelites suffered and humiliated as slaves for about 430 years in Egypt, and miraculously escaped from that with the guidance of God. They crossed the sea of Reeds, which is also called the Red Sea. There God told Moses that Israelites would be His children and a holy nation; if they maintain purity and stead fastness in their loyalty to Him. This loyalty has to be manifested by the observance of the Torah’s commandments (Mitzvoth) God called Moses to the summit of Mount Senai, and gave him the Ten Commandments. He took them and came down to transmit them to Israelites. This is the most important and precious thing revealed from the Mount of Senai.

Israelites, indeed, accepted Torah traditionally and wholeheartedly. God revealed Himself to Moses, and gave that Torah to the children of Israel. Then whether they accepted all of the contents, we have to see. As a matter of fact, the rabbis of Talmud offered full details of the Torah. Some believed that Torah was older than even the world itself. Since Torah was the epitomey of wisdom, it is said that even God consulted Torah before He started the creation of the world. Some believed that Torah was a God inspired document and the truths in it were divinely. The rabbis said that it required three months to present the Torah to Israelites. The Bible indicated that the revelation took place in the third month (Siven). This time was required for the enslaved Israelites to get prepared to accept the Torah and follow the commandments.

Some Jewish mystics believed in the special astrology significance in the appearance of the third day of the third month for the appearance of God on the Mount Senai. Most of rabbis of the Talmud were strong believers of astrology and they saw special meaning in the chapter 19 of Exodus. This particular chapter emphasised the importance in the third day of the third month. It was the most auspicious day for Israelites as they escaped from the bondage in Egypt and marched toward their promised land. It was also the day of Passover which they celebrated it as a festival later.

This third day of the third month according to Hebrew calendar, (falls in May-June in our calendar) was chosen by God Himself, His physical appearance on the sixth day of the month for the revelation of the Torah. It is also specified that Torah does not belong to the children of Jacob alone (Israel) but also to his twin brother Esau, and finally to all humanity. It is presumed that Torah was presented to Israel on Sabbath day because number seven and three play very prominent role in Jewish law. These two numbers used in the book of Torah are important and auspicious. The Talmud described as “All agreed that Torah was given to Israelites just on the Sabbath day; and the rabbis proved it by quoting the Bible from Exodus 20.8 remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy”

Here, the word ‘day’ is emphasised and also in Exodus 13.31 remember this day on which you came out of Egypt. The rabbis prayed for some time, because God gave to the children of Israelites only in the desert of Senai but not in their promised land. They came to a conclusion regarding the intention of God. They felt Torah was not only for the Jews but it was for the entire humanity. The intention of God was expressed with the presence of Abraham (Abram) in Genesis 12.1-3, where in God asked Abraham to go to different places and speak about His name and for that achievement Abraham was rewarded with abundant blessings. In Genesis 12.1-3 God also made a covenant with Abraham that he was entrusted to go through out the land and spread His name throughout the world. In Jewish understanding, a covenant is treated as a permanent link between the past and the present. The outcome of it was the Jews who would never be dissolved and they remain together under its umbrella; since they were the seed of Abraham. It was later called the “holy seed” and the people of holy fellowship; and also they were called the covenant people. Mount Senai where the revelation of Torah took place had its names. They are the names of different places in that desert.

1.Tz in - God announced His commandments there. The name “etzin” is

connected to “TZIVOV”, which means He commanded.

to the word, “Kodosh”. Its meaning is holy, sanctified.

3.Kaadmut - It was called so, because the Torah which was in existence from

the time of creation at last revealed here. The name Kadmut is connected

with the word “Kodem” or “kodema” which means early ancient.

4.Parn - The people of Israel had increased. This word is connected with “paree”

which means they multiplied.

5.Simai - It was there that the hatred of God toward heathens began. This

word came from “sina” which means hatred toward idolaters.

6.Cherev- (Horeb) because heathens were decreased there. The name “cherev”

Moses remained at the top of the Mount Senai with God to receive many things. They were the Ten Commandments, and the complete Torah was communicated. This included the Pentateuch. It was also written law; Torah, “she bechtav” and its community the Talmud which is also called oral law. Just as the rabbis believed that God had chosen, the Mount Senai for His revelation of Torah, Moses was chosen as the transmitter of Torah for the entire humanity.

Prophet Moses was called the law giver, emancipator and its greatest prophet in Jewish history. And according to the Bible it was he who received the Ten Commandments directly from God. Palestinian Jewry Yo Chaman of the first century said that Israel was not chosen by God to receive the Torah. He added God offered Torah to every nation, but the people refused to accept and then He offered it to Israelites and they accepted it including the God. As mentioned in the ancient tradditions the green colour was associated with Torah. According to history Mount Sinai was once full of green trees the synagogue with green Magi “Shavuot”. But this information was not approved by some people. They recognized the use of greenery for the houses and the church. This green colour is a symbol of birth and growth of Christianity.

This custom of using trees and wreaths widely spread in Christian homes. And this greenery was also introduced in the churches on Pentecost Sunday which is to come just fifty days after Easter to symbolize new growth. It is also called white seventh day and people would go to the church with white robs especially for taking baptism and that whiteness is the indication of forgiveness from sin. Gradually Torah was symbolized as the “tree of life”. So today all the synagogues are decorated with greenery. As mentioned in the Talmud Moses did not write Deuteronomy but Joshua, his successors wrote. Some other Talmudic scholars expressed their opinion, and they said God Himself declared the whole Torah to Moses and with divine power wrote everything inducting his death. And during the second century, a Jewish philosopher by name, Philo said that the spirit of God enveloped Moses and he foresaw his death, It could also be seen in his writings. With that God given spirit, Moses could give all details of his last days in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 34.

Kabbalists in sixteenth century became fond of probing every letter and word of Torah While doing so they found in Exodus 12.37, as the adult Israelites freed from Egypt were 6, 00,000. The kabbilists concluded by saying this information which was also useful for the interpretation of every word in Torah. That is to say every word in Torah has 6, 00,000 faces. This interpretation was first expressed in the Talmud by a Rabbis line. Some scholars like Spinoza questioned the literary side of the Bible, as they belonged to the scholars of Higher criticism. But they were refused by traditionalists, who said Torah was a divine gift. One of the major issues of the higher criticism was the composition of the Bible itself. It did not accept the authorship of the Bible, primarily the book of Exodus by Moses. As explained in detail the first five books of the Bible, were the collections of matter through various sources, and composed as book and completed only at the time of Ezra the scribe in the middle of the first century B.C.E.

In course of time, the documentary theory was also proved not correct in their assessment. For example, there were a good number of contractitory statements regarding the flood of Noah in 5 to 9 chapters in Genesis. For instance Genesis, 6.19 it is said that Noah took one pair of all animals into the Ark and in Genesis 7.2 it is pointed out seven pairs of all cleaned animals and one pair of unclean animals should be taken into the Ark. Then in Genesis 7.17 and 8.6, it is said that the rain water flooded the earth and remained for forty days where as in Genesis 7.24, it is mentioned as the rain water remained on the earth for 150 days. In Genesis 8.8-12 it is pointed out that Noah sent out a dove to see whether the flood water had receded or not. Again it is written in Genesis 8.7; Noah sent a raven to see the condition of water on the earth.

Most of the traditionalists rejected the documentary theory, and believed all the contents of the Bible. In spite of some anachronisms and inconsistencies. The traditionalists were not interested to explain every inconsistency and other statements found in the Bible because some of them were beyond their comprehension. While studying the Bible the traditionalists are advised to follow the under mentioned :

1.The Bible did not follow the correct chronological order what is explained

in detail earlier must have happened later, or any incident that is mentioned

later must have happened earlier.

2.The Torah is in the language of man, therefore words and concepts must

not be explained scientifically.

There are two letters E and J used by the Higher critics to identify two types of Documents of which Torah was composed. The word J stands for the English word “Jehova” and it is said in Hebrew as “yehova”. But the Jewish people were banished to use that word as it was connected to God. Another word “Adonai” was used. The next word “Elohim” was used in Torah for God, particularly in the book of Genesis. So both the names “Adonai” and “Elohim” were used for God.

The teachings of Torah and the tradition of Jewish people were directed to encourage them to achieve a position of holiness. If we look into Leviticus chapter 19.2, it is said “you shall be holy for the Lord your God holy” and also, you shall believe my commandments diligently, I am the Lord, you shall not profane holy name that I may be sanctified in the middle of the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you from the earliest days. Torah was used in the public. Synagogues handwritten parchment and in course of time that system became a law. The instruments of metal were not used in the synagogues. Each of the books of Moses retained as individual handwritten scroll.

The Rabbis passed a resolution so that the Torah was not allowed to be read in the public because the scrolls that were written incomplete would be less holy, rather than the scrolls contained a few books of Moses. If the incomplete scroll is used, it would show disrespect to the congregation. Jewish law was established degrees of sanctity and it could be applied to the religious articles. The Torah scrolls for their sanctity were treated as the highest and so no other object shall be put on it. The principle of Jewish law, followed here was first found in the Talmud. One may elevate the sacred articles to a higher degree of sanctity, but one may not lower them.

According to the impression of the Rabbis of the Talmud, the Torah must be carried only with right arm, whenever it was passed from one person to another. It must be on the right hand side only. The code Jewish law, specifically pointed out that one should not touch Torah with bare hands, but there is no correct proof for that. The Torah reader must use a Torah pointer to touch the parchment. A woman in a ritual impurity was not allowed to touch or kiss the Torah as she would touch or kiss “Mezuzo” which contains a parchment written from the Torah. It is a regular custom, among the non Jewish communities, the children and elders used to form in groups and visit the synagogues. Their purpose of visiting synagogues was to know and understand the Jewish customs and traditions. Torah scroll was often removed from the Ark, so that the visitors might inspect it. Some rabbis in Babylonian Talmud, explained their view point that Mezuzot could be written in any language, but Torah must be written only in Hebrew language. And other rabbi Simeon ben Gamalied said that Torah might be written either in Greek or Hebrew. The Palestine Talmud gave its explanation why it was permitted Torah might be written in Greek also. The reason is because Greek is a rich language and also a classic.

The translation of scripture through Greek would provide honour to the Torah and it might be helpful for the propagation of the message, it is believed. The earliest Jewish record showed how the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. It was found in the Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephs, who lived in Jerusalem and Rome during the first century C.E. The Greeks called the translation of Torah, “Septuagint” which means “seventy”. The Jews again translated that word into Hebrew called “Tagurrl Ha - Shivim” which means translation of seventy. Actually seventy two persons were involved in the translation work.

In the later centuries, the remaining part of the Bible was also translated into Greek. Then the term “Septuagint” was applied to the entire Bible, although it was referred to the part of Torah only previously. The Torah was an inheritance of the children of Israel (Jacob). Keeping this in view many Jews opposed; when Torah was taught to the Gentiles also whenever the Torah was taken in procession toward synagogue, the congregation had to pay due respect to the scroll by touching the Torah with a prayer book and then by kissing the object. The origin of the kissing custom they might have found in the “song of songs” book (3.11). As per the references, the Jewish people are portrayed as a bride and God is portrayed as bridegroom.

Torah is the holiest and the most regal object in the Jewish history and therefore it became necessary to adore the book with the symbol of royalty and a crown. There are three crowns - the crown of law, (Torah) the crown of the priest and the crown of royalty. But the crown of good is above all. The crown was like a beautiful ornament to Torah. The book of proverbs 3.18 is referred to the Torah as the “Chayim” which means a “tree of life” Because of this uniqueness, the ends of parchment of the scroll were attached to the ends of the wooden rollers. The Torah pointer is referred to in Hebrew as “yad” which means “hand”. It may be wooden piece or metal but the seize of it must be six to eight inches long.This Torah pointer was originated in Germany in sixteenth century. If any mistake is found in the Torah scroll, that must be corrected within thirty days. The number eighty five was selected because of verses 35 and 36 of the book of numbers contain a total of eighty five letters. If any Torah becomes old and shabby because of many a correction it has to be buried at the earliest in a cemetery. In olden days, the Torah had a special room in synagogue. The Cairo, “Geneva” (means a place to hide) was the most famous place for storing such things. That storage room was at the upper floor of Ben Ezra synagogue in “Fortat” old Cairo.

According to the traditions of Jewish people, Torah scroll is equated to human being. It is natural to bury the human body after death. In the same way the Jews used to bury the Torah scroll after it becomes out of use. Other sacred writings like prayer books, or Talmud would be also given the same treatment as the Jewish people gave to the unused Torah scroll. It has been a regular custom for the Jews to tear their garments over the death of a relative. In the same way, those people would tear their garments, when a Torah was consumed by fire. Judaism has a stronger tradition of treating a poor man as a dead man.

The Ark was also called the Ark of covenant. It was most precious and important one to Jewish people. It was built and carried, along with the Tabernacle at the foot of the Mount Senai. This Ark represented God’s holiness and presence. So, the Israelites always carried it with due respect. The sentiment of the Jews was that whenever they prayed they turned their faces towards Jerusalem temple. According to the Palestinian Talmud, if there were nine adults and one minor was added to that, it would become ten with Torah and then further proceedings continued. But the Babylonian Talmud says, if there were nine adults present, the Ark would be treated as tenth and the service would be continued as usual, so the ark is treated as the holiest object and the Jews never permitted to sell away the old Torah scrolls for any amount though that amount would be used for the construction of other Synagogues.

The ark was always covered with a cloth and they preferred Blue, purple and maroon coloured cloth for that purpose. During the holidays or high holidays the covering of the ark, and the Mantle of the Torah, would be changed and put white cloth, because white colour is the symbol of purity and hope. It is linked with one of the famous prophecies of prophet Isaiah (1.18). If your sins are like crimson colour they can turn into snow white. The meaning here is that man can be changed and God would redeem him. The Torah scroll is the holiest object kept in the synagogue, where as the ark is the second holiest thing. The Talmud rabbis insist more on the congregation members to keep standing when the ark is opened and the Torah is exposed. As mentioned in the Levities 19.32, “you shall rest before the aged, and show defence to the old”

According to one tradition God commanded Moses to involve the whole nation in the construction of the ark of covenant, So that all of them had a share in the Torah. The eternal light “mertamid” that burns continuously over the ark was introduced in the eighteenth century. The original internal light was part of the seven branched Menorah that was when prophet Amos (3.8) said “when a lion roars who will not fear?” The lion is the symbol of strength courage and majesty. It is mentioned in the Bible more than any other animal. When Jacob was blessing his sons before his death, he predicted about their future. He compared his fourth son Judah to a lion (Genesis 49.9). By the time Canaan was divided among all Israelites, Judah became most powerful, and important person from the twelve tribes, King David was from the tribe of Judah. Prophet Israiah and Nehemiah were also from the tribe of Judah.

Basing on the wonderful history it is understood that the characteristics of the lion like courage, strength and majesty must have been associated in the Torah which is the most important part of Jewish people. The Star of David was called “Magen David” literally means “shield of David”. According to one tradition of Jewish history, King David used six pointed shield in the battles, but it was not mentioned in the Bible. It is said the Star of David was kept in the synagogue about 1,800 year ago. But we can see his tomb even today in Jerusalem covered with blue cloth. For the first time the Star of David’s emblem appeared in the sixth century in Italy on the Tombstone. After that the Magen David could be seen on a variety of religious articles including arks and Torah mantles.

People must have used either reed or quill for the purpose of writing the Torah scroll and they should have taken that quill from the kosher fowl. The ink they used was specially made for writing. The parchment on which Torah was written must be from the hide of the kosher animal. Generally, it was the work of a scribe. So, he would be entrusted with the sacred work and he had to immerse himself in a ritual bath before commencing such sacred work. Before the start of the work, of writing, the new scroll, he had to declare, “I am writing the Torah in the name of its sanctity and in the name of God in its sanctity”.

The Hebrew word sofer, (the plural word of soferim), which means “one who count”. The Talmud informs us that some of the early scribes called saferims used to count letters, words, and verses of the Torah. According to one tradition on Yom kippur, the priest would read from the Torah, which was kept in the temple. The scribes would safe guard the old scrolls when they wanted to write a new one. For the Jewish people Torah scroll is highly sacred, and so the writer must follow all the formalities before starting to write. Then regarding the parchment the scribe must make it durable and smooth.

The cleaning and softening method of the skins of the animals has been changing from time to time. In the present days, animal skins are softened by soaking them in the water for a couple of days. When the skin is prepared for writing the scroll of Torah, the conning must be done as quickly as possible, by a Jew, and then only the parchment could be used for writing the Torah. The scribe might write the scroll of the Torah, on the hide of any domestic or wild animal. Instead of writing the Bible books in the form of scroll the first century CE, they were written on the sheets of parchment stitched together and rolled up, there by it became very convenient to write in codex form.

During the time of Talmud, (the first five centuries CE) the scribes used pieces of wood or reeds as pens. The codex Bible format was preferred by the new emerging Christian church. This codex Bible was very common in the fourth century and used by both Christians and Jews. The Talmud says “If a scroll cannot be covered with a cloth, What is written inside would be spoiled in course of time. And the Jewish law established a rule that the height of the Torah scroll and its circumference must be equal. Many of the scribes followed the old established tradition. They used to begin every column, of the Torah scroll with Hebrew letters. Vav. In the Bible God’s name is referred to with seven names - Yehova (Jehova), Adonia, EL, Etoah, Elohim, Shaddai and Tzevaot.

The method of reading the law was recorded for the first time in (Deuteronomy 30.10 - 12). Prophet Moses, after the words of Torah instructed the priest in the following way. At the end of every seventh year, (the shemita year) at the feast of boothes Sukkoth, you shall read this Torah aloud in the presence of all Israelites…….. That they may hear and so learn to respect the Lord your God and observe faithfully every word of this Torah. Even though the Jewish tradition considered the whole Bible as sacred, and the word of God, the first five books of Moses called Pentateuch were believed as more sacred than the books of Prophets and the Holy writings. Then the reading of Sabbath Torah differs from week to week. But on the whole, the Sabbath reading was more than any holiday reading. The custom of people standing while reading Torah was going on as it had its origin from the time of Ezra. It is said, “And Ezra opened the book in the presence of all people and when he opened it all people stood up Some scholars certified that people must stand when Torah was read. The person who was assigned to read Torah for the congregation was called Baal (Koray) which means master of the reading.

The Torah was not read in public prior to the return of exciled Jews from Babylon to Palestine in 520 CE. On certain occasions, only the king, elders and high priests read it and the congregation listened to it. The time of reading the Torah was reserved for some illustrious persons of the community and for that purpose seven Torah honours were awaited on each Sabbath. The first to be called for reading the Torah was a priest the second was Levite and others were the members of Israelite community.

The Talmud socially said that a minimum of seven “aliyot” are to be awarded in a Sabbath. As mentioned previously more honours have to be distributed on a Sabbath than any other. The Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, and also holier than any other day in the Jewish calendar. The number seven played a very important role in the Bible because even God took rest on the seventh day after creating the universe for six days. In addition to that both festivals, the “Passover” and “Sukkota” were declared to be seven day festivals. In the book of Deuteronomy it is said in 31.10-13 that at the end of every Sabbath year, the Torah was to be used for the children of Israelites.

There is no authentic information in the Bible why God has chosen Aaron and his family members only and assigned the important work of priesthood. They were kept in charge of the ark. As written in the book of Deuteronomy (10.8), when the Israelites were in the desert, God separated Levities and assigned them, the task of carrying the ark along with them whenever they went to minister about Him. The sixth day was also important in the Bible, because God created the universe in six days including man and completed the task of creation. So it is a sacred number in Jewish tradition. Reading of Torah was treated as a form of study. And studying Torah is a divine commandment.

The meaning of the Hebrew word ‘Gelila’ is rolling up. The person who used to roll up the Torah scroll is called Gelila. On Sabbath morning who is called Master who claims seven blessings, two in connection with Torah reading and five in connection with “Haftara” of the five blessings. One is recited before the prophetic person, and the remaining four, upon his conclusion. Those seven blessings are also recited by a master on the festival occasions and on unexplained reason. They were not made to correspond to the number of seven awarded on such occasions. The Hebrew Bible used today is known as (Mosorate) text. And today’s text is the result of a process which began in about 2600 years ago with Ezra, the first scribe. As clearly mentioned in the Jewish traditions God gave to Moses on the Mount Senai not only the Ten Commandments, but also the entire contents of Torah. God dictated that word by word.

Then the rabbis (who taught that Torah was) transmitted this Torah to Joshua, then Joshua to elders, the elders to the prophets and the prophets to the members of Great Assembly. Torah was studied by the later generations believed to be the same original one that God gave to Moses. The opinion of the other tradition was that the Torah of Moses was unknown to people, for many centuries. Since the time of revelation at Mount Senai in about 1250 BCE, till the Davidic Dynastic ruler Josiah, during seventh century BCE. For about 600 years, nobody talked about the where abouts of that Torah scroll.

So, at the time of King Josiah, the copy of Torah was found in the Temple while some repair work was going on. This incident was mentioned in the Bible, in the second book of Kings 22 chapter. This Torah was discovered by the High priest of the Temple “Hillkiah” at that time. Then he told this to the scribe Shafan and Shafan to the king. The king in great excitement called all people and read the Torah for them. People could not come to conclusion about the Torah, used by Egyptians. It was a theological one that God dictated to Moses. The Talmud referred to many copies of Torah that remained at that time. But the Torah scroll read to the people by that High priest the Yom Kippur was considered the original one of Moses. Therefore, the scroll was known as the “Azara” scroll (Sefer Ha-azara) also called Ezra scroll (sefer Ezra). It was an official Temple scroll. When the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD a copy of the parchment was removed from the Temple by the commander of the army “vaspasian”. Later he took it to Rome and kept it in the royal palace.

In the year 220 CE, Severus, the emperor of Rome built a Synagogue to the Jewish people and brought back that codex from the royal palace to the new Severus synagogue. Since that time the codex was continued on his name. The reading of the Talmud was that the Torah scroll was brought for the public reading. It was pointed out by some scribes to keep proper space in the book as opening and closing sections. The Torah scrolls used for the public reading at present are written in the same manner as that of the earliest times. “Rabbinic Bibles” is the English term and in Hebrew literature it is called “Mikraot Gedotot” which means literally “Great Bibles” or “large Bibles”.

The first Rabbinic Bible was edited in 1509 by an apostatic Jew “Felex Pratrovesus”, the son of a rabbi and the Bible was published in 1571 by David Bomberg a Christian printer. The Torah comprised of five books. In the days of the second Temple, almost middle of the fifth century BCE, Ezra the scribe introduced a new system of reading only some selected lines from Torah. They were to be read aloud to the public. This method continued for centuries. But during the third and the second centuries the Syrian - Greeks happened to rule Palestine and the public reading of Torah was banned by the authorities. Then reading some verses from the books of prophets was introduced.

For every holiday special sacrifices were brought to the Temple. And those offerings were in addition to two regular sacrifices on every day. Those additional sacrifices were called “Musafim”. But after the Temple was destroyed, in 70 CE, there were no such sacrifices. If we go back to the Biblical history, we can find how the Jewish people celebrated the New Moon holiday. It was not a full holiday to be absent from the work.

The Sabbath that comes immediately after Purim festival is called Sabbath “Zachor”. The meaning of that is Sabbath Remembrance. The matter that is read from the second scroll on that day would begin with the Hebrew word, “Zachor”. The Jewish calendar was arranged in such a way that the Sabbath zachor was observed every year on the Sabbath before Purim. The Torah reading for the seventh day Passover (Exodus 13.17) describes the dramatic rescue of Israelites who were trapped between the pursuing army and the sea reeds. Strongly God provided the way and then Israelites passed that way safely. This part was ended with thanks given to God by singing a song.

The feast of Yom kippur on the 10th of “Tistri” is the only feast mentioned in the Pentateuch. Though the feast of Esther was also mentioned in the Bible (Esther 4.16) the Rabbis did not give much importance to that.

Rosh Hoshana in Jewish tradition is a good time for the people to prove their loyalty to God. Tradition had taught to the people of Israel that on Rosh Hosana, they used to blow ram’ s horn as a reminder of the animal that Abraham found and sacrificed as a substitute to his Isaac. In the morning reading for the “Day of Atonement” the script part would be taken from Leviticus 16.1 - 31, and the High priest was supposed to take care of the formalities of the Yom Kippur.

But regarding fasting, it is not clearly said any where as one must follow to achieve something in one’s life. Yet prophet Isaiah mentioned the advantages of keeping in fasting. He explained clearly about meaningful fasting as follows:

1.Fasting leads one to loose the fetters of wickedness.

2.It will stop doing the bands of oppression.

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