A week ago, in our post titled Restoring Kol Israel: No more male or female?, we made a huge statement that many may have glossed over. Because it is so monumental, we need to go back and parse it with implications spelled out. Here is the quote:
To be clear, Yah is delivering these commands through Moses to the men of the households and it’s the man’s responsibility to teach them and discern correct application for his women.
See post
As demonstrated earlier in the cited post, the Torah commands, over and over, as given by YHVH to Moshe, are specifically addressed to the men. While this understanding is not in conflict with most of Orthodox Judaism, it is a decided cut against the western egalitarianism and feminism that has overrun the church.
To review a couple things very quickly, our heart’s desire is to see kol Israel, all 12 (13) tribes restored. That cannot happen unless the most basic building block is restored. That building block is the man and, if he has one, his family. Call it what you will, manhood, masculinity, patriarchy, etc, the simple fact is that the structure of a nation cannot be assembled from broken or improperly functioning family building blocks. The basis of the entire structure that Yah designed and implemented is focused on the man leading his family. It began in Gan Eden with Adam and Chava.
Adam was given headship and the direct commandment of Yah. It was Adam’s responsibility to lead and correct Chava, which he did not do. His failure is what led to the fall of mankind, at that time entirely contained in his loins. He chose to follow Chava, instead of correcting and leading her.
In a sense, from that point forward we are each ‘Adams’ with the responsibility to follow Yah, obey HIS commands and lead our families. The entire structure, instituted before the Fall is patriarchal and the adversary is constantly railing against it. His very first attack was against the woman and he continues to this day with that line of assault (among others).
Restoring patriarchy and walking in the ways of Yah is not easy because it demands buying into the Torah at a deeper level than simply attending Shabbat or keeping the feasts. It demands that men step up and be the men Yah calls us to be and it requires women to catch the vision of restoration and their role as helpers who enable their head to be obedient to Yah. In essence, both men and women must reject the roles imposed by the world and embrace the roles defined in Scripture.
So, as demonstrated in our previous post, the commandments are written specifically to the men who then have the responsibility to teach them to and see them carried out by those under their headship/authority. See how beautiful and challenging this is? The man has to do the work of Adam and the woman has to do the work of Chava.
Let’s break down the implications for the different people in this structure. Our categories are: married men, single men, married women and single women as well as children.
Married man: A married man is to be vested in building a ‘house.’ He is, therefore, the head that is responsible before Yah for the vision, leadership, instruction, obedience and wellbeing of his house. He should know and be walking well the commandments and should be a proven provider and leader. More details here.
Single man:A single man who aspires to be the head of a house is to be learning. He should be growing in Torah, learning and growing under the tutelage of his own father as well as other qualified men in the community around him. He should be intentionally building/growing a business or career that can support his future family. Dating or ‘chasing girls’ is not what a single man is focused on. In fact, if he is, he is not yet mature. Hormones may be working, but his brain is not.
Married woman: A married woman will seek to be assimilated to her husband. She understands his vision and calling and asks how she can help him fulfill it. She builds her house and is a blessing to him every day of her life. She is not in competition with him, nor does she undermine him. She is a witness and ambassador into the community and represents him well at all times. More details here.
Single woman: A single woman is under the headship and authority of her father. (In the case of older women, i.e., widows or divorcees, they should be under the headship of a man, whether father, brother or elder in the community, until such time as they are remarried. Simply, there is not a Torah allowance for uncovered women in the community.) The single woman should be learning how to be a wife and build her master’s house. She is learning submission and assimilation as well as all of the skills necessary to operate a home and rear children.
Children: The very young ‘singles’ are growing in wisdom and knowledge in schooling, Torah and life skills. Little boys should be at the beginning stages of learning skills and wise decision making skills. They should be following dad around and exploring interests to discern gifts and possible business/career paths. Little girls should be learning the basics of managing a home and performing the tasks necessary to care for a family. She should also be learning how to be a helpmeet that relates properly to leadership and authority.
The world will find these things to be laughable at best, abhorrent at worst. The adversary desires rebellion and any atack against Yah’s created order is a ‘good’ day. Conversely, learning and walking in Yah’s design for family and personal roles leads to blessing and ultimately to restoration!! This, then, is the vision every Torah observant person, particularly non-Jew, needs to grasp to speed the redemption of the kingdom. Anything short of getting the most basic building blocks, man and family, correct is going to fail.
I challenge every reader to ponder deeply what it means to walk in the ways of the King. Are we willing to step up and be the generation that gets it right, or do we continue to follow the ways of the world? Men? Women?
11:3 Restoration 