Gary Webster: Adar- Esther: The First Crypto Jew [2025/5785]
Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Gary Webster.
Shalom from Jerusalem, the truly eternal city. We begin Rosh Chodesh Adar tonight. Jews all over the world will celebrate Purim in about two weeks. Purim is a holiday akin to Mardi Gras in America. Boys and girls, men and women disguise themselves. There is a lot of eating and drinking. Some Jews read the book of Esther. Why do Jews wear disguises?
The answer is forthcoming.
I titled this chat, “Esther: The first Crypto-Jew.” What is a Crypto-Jew?
Wikipedia defines it thus, “Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek kryptos – κρυπτός, 'hidden').This behavior was very prevalent during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition.
Why would someone want to hide their identity? One reason is, it is dangerous to your health and well-being to reveal your ethnicity. Second, it might affect your climb up the ladder of success. Many a Jew in America changed their name in order to succeed. How many actors and actresses Anglicized their names? Bigotry against Jews and Blacks was prevalent in the early twentieth century in America. Today, in the Western countries of Europe and America, Jews are not displaying any outward signs of their Jewishness. Men don’t wear the kippa. Women don’t wear their Magen Davids. How did it come to this? In a word, anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism is not a twenty-first century phenomenon. It has been around for millennia. The book of Esther gives us a glimpse at how it can rear its ugly head.
The exiled Jews were living the good life in ancient Persia(modern day Iran). Mordechai, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, was an important figure in the government of Persia. The king, Ahasuerus, neither loved nor hated the Jews. However, a series of unfortunate events caused him to go against the Jews. The first was the removal of Vashti from being queen. Second was the promotion of Haman to chief advisor. The third was his signing into law an extermination order without any deliberation.
How were the Jews going to be saved from extinction? A Crypto-Jewess would intervene. Her name, Esther. Was Esther, truly a Crypto-Jew? Did she observe Shabbat? Did she keep kosher food laws? Did she celebrate the Holy days? Pesach, Shavuot, or Sukkot? Was she a Jew in name only?
"Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem. Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so." Esther 2:5-10
What caused Hadassah to reveal her true identity? A crisis. The Oxford dictionary defines the word this way: “a time when a difficult or important decision MUST be made.”
Haman’s evil decree would reach her in the palace. She would not be spared. She summoned up the courage to act and revealed her true identity to her husband, the king and to the entire palace. Her decision saved her life, the life of her cousin Mordechai and countless other Jews. Let us not be too hard on Hadassah. What would you or I have done if we were in her place?
I believe many who name the name of Christ today are Crypto-Christians. These individuals keep their identity hidden from their colleagues, classmates and friends. Why? They want to fit in. They do not wish to be considered weird for reading their Bibles or praying over their food or going to a house of worship on the regular. These Crypto-Christians don’t want anything to interfere with their achieving the American Dream.
These Crypto-Christians cannot stay undercover for long. The times in which we are living are forcing us to make a choice. In Matthew 25, Yeshua commends those who gave Him food when He was hungry and drink when He was thirsty. He praises those who gave Him shelter and clothed Him; visited Him when He was sick and in prison. The righteous ask Him, “When did we see you in these needy situations?” Yeshua replies:
"Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Who are Yeshua’s brothers and sisters? The Jewish people. Now is not the time to be silent. The time to act is NOW. There are attendant risks for doing the right thing. Many righteous Gentiles did the right thing during World War II. It cost some their lives. Don’t wait for a crisis to do the right thing. Speak up and out against anti-Semitism. Speak up and out against anti-Israel talk. Tell the world about Yeshua. As the hymn goes, “Everybody ought to know who Jesus is.”
Rosh Chodesh Sameach.
Gary Webster: Adar-bet [2024/5784]
Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Gary Webster.
Shalom from Jerusalem. Tonight starts the month of Adar Bet. Adar extended over two months this year. At the close of this month, we will celebrate Purim. It is a familiar story. The enemies of Israel cry death to the Jews and make plans to annihilate them. They fail and are destroyed. The Jews celebrate by eating and drinking. As you watch the news, you see history repeating itself. When will the enemies of Israel learn? The nation of Israel is
"the apple of God's eye."
And the reason I have to be here with you today is rosh chodesh Nissan, which is a very special month in the Hebrew calendar. Nissan is a month with several biblical connections. We just mentioned Purim a minute ago. The month of Nissan was the month when the King Ahasuerus Hash Varosh decrees the destruction of the Jewish people. You can see that in the third chapter of the book of Esther. Pesach, which is the highlight of this month is celebrated on the 15th of Nissan, which is the famous night, the famous Passover Seder. And it's a night of telling stories, singing. It's a night of drinking a lot of wine, and, of course, it's the night we celebrate Israels redemption from bondage in Egypt.
In the Talmud, we read that there are four new years in the Jewish tradition. Rashash Shanah, the first of Tishri, is one of them. It is called the civil New Year, and also it's called Yum Hatruah, the day the shofar sounds. But on the detracted Rosh Hashana tonight, the first of Nissan is called by two names: the New Year of the Kings and the New Year of the Festivals. Wow, okay. New Year of the Kings sounds super exciting. It is historically the moment we start to count how many years a king is ruling over Israel.
"This month shall be your beginning of the month. It's the first month of the year to you."
This month shall be your beginning of months. It's the first month of the year to you. Beginnings have meaning. Beginnings have an intrinsic power. How can we understand what these beginnings mean? What they mean to us as believers? Let's see, for example, the example I gave before: the civil New Year. Here, Rosh Hashannah, on the first of Tishri. As we all know, the first of Tishri is preceded by a period of preparation, the month of Elul. From God's point of view, this is a time when His people have a chance to look inside, to soul search for signs of sin, for signs of transgressions against God. And then this whole month passes by, and on the first of Tishri, The Yum Hatruah, our souls are awakened. We see our corruption. We are enlightened, and we understand our human situation. Then, and only then, God's judgment on His people starts. During that, 10 days until Yum Kippor, we are under this, judgment.
And then, on Yom Kippor, we ask forgiveness as a people. And if we are sincere in our repentance, we are forgiven. This, can be understood as a mashal, as a parable of what happens in the life of every single Believer. God operates in our hearts, preparing us to see our need for forgiveness. His Spirit makes us see how God's holy and how we are not holy, how we need Him to change our hearts. And then He grants us the ability, the capacity to repent. And we do it, and then we accept Yeshua, and our lives and souls are saved by Yeshua's merits. And then, and only then, we become a new creation. But how about tonight? How about the first of Nissan? What does it represent to me as a Believer? This is the beginning of the months according to the Bible. This is the day we celebrate the beginning of the festivals according to the Bible. And that's when your time with God effectively starts. That's when your life as a believer starts. That's when your life together with the Lord begins.
And as it says, in the first month of the year, what we see is that the month of Nissan comes with a very powerful teaching. It's the month when Israel was released from bondage and servitude. What does this parable means to us? How does this mashal apply to our lives? See, once we are saved, the God of Israel makes us His people. He gives us new Hearts. He gives us new life. He gives us His Spirit. And now it's the time to take us from sin, from bondage, to literally take us from the hands of the enemy and bring us to His kingdom.
How does He do it? He tells us to remove the hametz the leaven, from our houses. He commands us to sacrifice and to apply the blood of the Lamb to our doors. He asks us to prepare ourselves and wait for His miracles. The month of Nissan talks about the beginning of our lives as believers. Many, many of us, brothers and disters in Christ, remain on the surface, trusting only on dalvation. Salvation is important, but dalvation is only the first step. Hebrews 12 teaches us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that we are expected to be vessels of sanctification and honor. And Galatians 2 even mentions that,
"From now on, I no longer live, but Mashiach lives in me."
For me, among other possible explanations, I guess, for me, that's why this rosh chodesh, the first Nissan, has so much meaning. Because it's time for us to mature our spiritual life within the kingdom of God. It's time to work on ourselves, to fight the flesh that still lives inside of us, to fight the flesh that still lives within these new creatures that we are. You are not the old you anymore, but parts of the old you, are still there. You have to take out the corpse. You see, and the majority of the believers I know that I had the opportunity to meet, stay in this state, this immature State, their whole lives. They keep counting only on salvation, only on mercy, mercy, mercy. And they don't grow up. They don't grow up in the, in the Messiah.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
You see, we need to fight. We need to fight the lust in our eyes. We need to fight the greed in our hearts. We need to fight our desires for attention, for fame, for pleasures. That's not why we were saved. That's not the objective, to be saved. That's not why, God, sent, His only Son to save us. Again, without Holiness no one will see the Lord. I don't know really how you can be saved and yet not see the Lord. Are we really saved if we don't pursue sanctification and, spiritual maturity? I don't know. That's a question that, you probably should answer, yourself. You can go to the Lord and ask Him.
But what I know is I want my eyes to see the Lord. I want these eyes to see God. And I want to sit at His table, and I want to enjoy His presence one day. And, sanctification is the only chance I have for this to happen. Have a wonderful month of Nissan to all of you. Pesach kasher vasameach to all of you.
Thanks for listening