SHARE THE PROPHETIC HEBREW VISION
By Dr. Rabbi Cohen Shalomim HaLahawi IMD, Ph.D., PsyD, MRbs, DFM, DPH
Jewish Levitical Priest, Socio-Spiritual Political leader, Physician, Author & Humanitarian
Mizrahi-Ethiopian Jewish Int’l Rabbinical Council.
Cushite Hebrew Yeshiva-Open Int’l University
Edenic Light Integrative Pastoral & Family Life Care
http://mizrahi-judaism.international http://CHY-OIU.EDUATION
Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved. No permission is granted to copy, upload, post, broadcast, publish or display anywhere for personal or commercial purposes, without the express written consent of the author. Permission is only granted to press the social media share buttons herein.
Part 1- The Case of Capitalizing in Hustling & Usury of hard-working people by inner-cities: The Poor vs the Fake Poor & Who We Should & shouldn’t Support According to “Torah Law”-
It’s nothing that I despise more than financially irresponsible people. I am a wealth creator & I simply don’t like people with a “poverty of mind” hanging around me because they interfere with & are a burden to prosperity. This is not the same as being a humanitarian & having compassion on the poor, especially amongst the indigenous who have been affected by evil imperial policies that have plunged them into poverty, pestilence & despair or helping someone who’s fallen on bad times or have become a victim of circumstances such as a natural disaster, accident, job closing down, spouse suddenly passing away or one who is disabled & simply needs help. I am speaking of able-bodied people, who are young and older adults, who have chosen to live an irresponsible life, without any regard for maturity, financial responsibility & economic stability, especially in a marital-family structure. I am also speaking of people who can collectively spend 1 Trillion dollars a year on unnecessary material things, with the average woman with 2-3 children, born out of wedlock, making an annual income of at least $36-45,000 when you combine Section 8, AFDC, WIC, Food Stamps, exorbitant child support, while also many decide to become escorts & strippers or engage in whoring around & lifestyle-prostitution, getting men to pay her bills, which is basically untaxable money “under the table”, on top of Charities that many still run to in order to receive extra Heat & Energy assistance, on top of the heat and energy assistance they may get along with Section 8(adding the whoring, stripper & escorts the income can sore beyond $65,000), and then get 4000-7000.00 a year in tax returns, mostly of which are fraudulently filed. They are “literally living it up”, at the expense of hard-working Middle & Upper Class tax dollars.
This link to the song “Living My Best life”, sums up the “Impoverished African American Experience” in the inner cities. https://youtu.be/QFFdSR6U_kc
You in the club every night with no job
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
Eatin’ good off your foodstamp card
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
You made a killin’ last year off fraud
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
If you know you ain’t goin’ to work tomorrow’
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
You got a lot to be smilin’ for
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
So what the fuck you be wylin’ for?
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
If you’re breathin’, you achievin’
We havin’ fun this evening, believe me
(Smile bitch, smile bitch, c’mon!)
Yet still after all of this, “destructive socialism” & transferring of wealth in the form of hard-working Tax-payer dollars via Welfare & under the table profiteering, they have nothing to show for it, still live in poverty, most don’t own a home, living in the projects and have no moral conscience to even recognize just how stupid they all are. Yes, i’ll say it again, “Stupid”!!!
The Torah makes clear that people are in fact “stupid” or “Dumb” for the lack of knowledge:
Hoshea 4:1 Hear the word of יהוה, you children of Yisra’ĕl, for יהוה has a case against the inhabitants of the land: “For there is no truth or kindness or knowledge of Elohim in the land.
Hos 4:2 “Swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery have increased. And bloodshed follows bloodshed. Hos 4:3 “Therefore the land mourns, and everyone living there languishes, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens. And the fish of the sea are taken away.
Hos 4:4 “However, let no one strive or reprove another, for your people are like those striving with a priest. Hos 4:5 “And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet shall also stumble with you in the night. And I shall make your mother perish.
Hos 4:6 “My people have perished for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for Me. Since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.
The above verse is in fact mistranslated, even though having the lack of knowledge can lead to one perishing, the actual Aramaic word for perishing is “Daw-maw, To be dumb or an utter failure”, which makes sense when a person lacks knowledge & is un-educated in the Torah & divine laws that govern human life.
This is exactly what the inner city has become, dumb & utter failures because they lack the basic knowledge & wisdom to function as civilized, stable human beings with properly established communities rooted in moral, cultural & prosperity-based economic values. The reality is, that if you have economic spending that makes you equal to being the 16th largest Country in the world, beating out 100’s of other actual Nations, and yet you live in basic “shit-holes” all across the United States, then you are collective dumb, stupid & utter failures.
The dictionary definition of shit-hole (noun): (noun): an extremely dirty, shabby, or otherwise unpleasant place.
People can get offended at the usage of such terms, but the fact is, nobody in their right mind, especially Middle & Upper-Class people, who want a future for their children, don’t want their children around people who think being destructive, immoral & literally living dangerous hoods is normal. Just like nobody would ever think of selling “black people’s hair”(while black people in their stupidity wear other trafficked people’s hair), nobody ever dreams about moving on up to the “hood”. The hood is a place everyone takes precautions to avoid at all costs & rightfully so. People who are prosperous by natural disposition do not want to “co-dwell” alongside those who have a “poverty of mind” & a “Spirit of poverty” lingering all around them. Light & darkness, good & evil, constructive & destructive cannot co-exist. It is either collectively one or the other, but the two by natural law must be segregated from each other, or else the Light, good & constructive nature will become corrupted by the dark, evil & destructive nature.
The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, Dead Sea scrolls:
“You made Belial for the pit, angel of enmity; in darkness is his domain, his counsel is to bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits of his lot are angels of destruction, they walk in the laws of darkness; towards it goes their only desire.”
Rules of the Community, Dead Sea Scrolls, “I shall not comfort the oppressed until their path is perfect. I shall not retain Belial within my heart.”
If you want to destroy a marriage, family, a business partnership or ensure you never make it in life, be financially irresponsible & allow the spirit of poverty(a demonic spirit aka dybuk) to overtake you & order your steps. 80% of marriages fail in Western civilization directly due to finances & the spirit of poverty, especially when one spouse walks in the spirit of prosperity & the other spouse has a poverty of mind. This is an unequally yoked marriage of light & darkness that should NOT exist & the one who is prosperous should not have to dwell & ruin their future for the other if the other chooses not to mature, evolve & become good stewards and co-builders in prosperity according to the Torah.
I have absolutely no sympathy for people who are lazy & impoverished, and who by their own destructive behavior set themselves & their people back. Those mentioned above who exploit the welfare system are not by Torah definition people of poverty that we should have compassion for, like say those in Palestine, Africa & amongst the indigenous. People who have a Spirit of Poverty are walking in sin & violating the Torah, thus they are to blame for having such a condition as having a spirit of poverty is a “choice”, just as one opening their spirit to other demonic possessions. The Torah makes it clear that those who disobey and disregard the commands of Elah will be cursed in Deuteronomy 28.
Those cursed under these circumstances are not the true poor we are supposed to have compassion on, they are poor and impoverished because of SIN, which requires rebuke & judgment, and ultimately they have to be the ones to repent & cast off this sin & learn the proper character traits necessary to bring about the Spirit of Prosperity. Those of us who are in the Torah & are light, are then required to teach those who come unto us for guidance, but we are not required to evangelize people “out of” willful poverty, but we can stand up & politically stop the none-sense by reducing & limiting welfare & making those legitimately impoverished a priority, including the disabled & the widow with children, but not the single mother, who whores and has children out of wedlock, raising them in single-parent homes & thus brings about poverty upon herself & her improperly established household. We have no business being complacent with destructive behavior nor condoning & supporting those who choose to engage in such, invoking the spirit of poverty upon themselves. We definitely should have no compassion on a lazy able-bodied man, who’s a drunkard, a weed head, and engages in behavior that brings about poverty upon himself. Married couples and families should always be a priority under Torah law when it comes to charity & they should always be prioritized alongside others of the nations who have been victimized into impoverishment due to tyranny, colonialism & capitalism under the guise of Liberal Democracy.
Proverbs 6:3 “Do this at once, my son, and deliver yourself, For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go, humble yourself, and urge your friend. Pro 6:4 Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids. Pro 6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand, And like a bird from the hand of the trapper.”
“Pro 6:6 Go to the ant, you lazy one! See her ways and be wise, Pro 6:7 Which, having no commander, overseer or ruler, Pro 6:8 Provides her supplies in the summer, Gathers her food in the harvest.”
Pro 6:9 “How long would you lie down, O lazy one? When do you arise from your sleep? Pro 6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to lie down; Pro 6:11 And your poverty shall come like a prowler, And your need as an armed man”
This is why despite the fact that I’ve worked with some of the largest UN NGOs around the world to help change people’s lives for the better, according to the principles and values I hold within the Torah, I have not even thought about working for Non-Profit charities in the USA, especially for inner-cities. I have turned down 100% offers for me to come & work with various groups in the USA to help combat poverty & other dysfunctions in the inner cities.
These are not legit poor & disadvantaged people., for the most part Their poverty is rooted in having a morally corrupt culture that protects & idolizes drugs, drug dealers, gangs, prostitution, whoredom, paganism, and everything else the Torah both forbids & makes clear will bring about a curse and place people in the exact same conditions you see the black community. The false accusations of police brutality, an external genocide & the delusions of oppression due to white privilege are all tools of satan used in the black community to distract the truth and reality that they are the ones who are being held accountable for their own self-made conditions. The Last I checked, the morally healthy black people who established 3 separate black Walstreets in the middle of the Jim Crow & Segregation Era, didn’t seem to have the plagues & problems you see with modern liberalized blacks. But the key word is “morality” which distinguishes the former from the latter. Thus my sympathy is not with wicked cultures & behaviors. I expect suffering, death & being cut off to be the light of day, until such people realize their destructive behavior and seek true change and then actually change.
We see people from 3rd world countries come to Western Civilization & the majority come to work, seek education & make a future for themselves, while inner-city African Americans remain complacent in their conditions, that they have created for themselves while blaming others & continuing to seek handouts & remain welfare bound. Most see education as selling out & consider those from their own families & communities as traitors for daring to enter the academic realm, seek a better life & enter the middle & upper-class realms of life. Ironically these same people who see poverty, ignorance & illiteracy as staples of a faithful black ally, idolize rich rappers & movie stars. You have 36 Million African Americans & yet barely 1 million actually get a college or technical education.
As this article shows, The inner city, especially #liberal dominated black community, suffers from being stupid, for the lack of knowledge as Hoshea speaks:
References to read https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/black-college-student-body/417189/
My wisdom that has been for the past 20 years is to always live below your value and means. That means living slightly below the class you belong to. If you are upper class, handle your spending like a Middle Class, If you are Middle Class, budget like you are struggling. That way if something does go wrong with temporary financial difficulties that can knock you below your class, you won’t feel much of the sting and will recover faster.
People sometimes get confused about how I can be an Essene(Netzarim Pre-Yeshua) Levitical Priest & yet live the way I live in the Upper-Middle Class. My answer is simple. What Elah gave me, I have been a good steward of it, and he trusts me and gives me more.
Essenes were never meant to be actually Poor. They were supposed to be Poor in Spirit, which is not the same as the Spirit of Poverty. This is directly related to
“having humility & appreciation for what you have been given, while also having compassion on others to help raise them up by teaching them & imparting the wisdom of responsibility that has been imparted unto you”..
Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that יהוה is good; Blessed is the man that takes refuge in Him! Psa 34:9 Fear יהוה, you His set-apart ones, For there is no lack to them who fear Him! Psa 34:10 Young lions have lacked and been hungry; But those who seek יהוה lack not any good matter. “
Lack is the Hebrew word maḥsōr: A masculine noun referring a lack, a need, poverty. It indicates what is needed because of a lack (Deu_15:8); or what is required to meet a need (Jdg_19:20). Its sense becomes focused on the want or lack. There can be no lack (Jdg_18:10; Jdg_19:19). To live in a constant state of need is equivalent to poverty (Pro_6:11; Pro_11:24; Pro_14:23; Pro_21:5; Pro_28:27).
Because I am Ethnic Jewish & a Rabbi-Cohen who adheres to the Torah, I am by promise supposed to be prosperous in every area of my life & neither poverty nor the spirit thereof is ever supposed to come unto me nor overtake me :
Psalm 30:6, “As for me, I have said in my prosperity, “Never would I be shaken!”
Aramaic word for Prosperity is šālû: A masculine noun indicating security, prosperity. It indicates a state of abundance including good health that gives a false sense of total security in one’s present state
Proverbs 8:12 “I, Chockimah, have dwelt with insight, And I find knowledge, foresight”.
Pro 8:20 “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of right- ruling, Pro 8:21 “To bestow substance on those who love me, And to fill their treasuries.”
The blessings of Deut 28, which apply to those who follow the Torah(or those who come from cultures that have principles in alignment with the spirit of the Torah) are self-explanatory. Becoming wealthy & prosperous financially according to the principles & ethics of the Torah, is the right way to gain wealth. You are not Capitalizing on the vulnerability of your brothers & sisters of the covenant & your profits come come economic engagement with foreign peoples and nations, who you are still to act justly towards, without exploitation, tyranny & oppression.
Prosperity also applies to health, as I have written in my article “Being Holistic vs trying to be Holy”, being happily married, fulfilling your purpose & calling, being fruitful, multiplying and increasing, having a great sexual life, having an evolved mind & mental stability & especially having a solid strong relationship with Yahwah Elah by becoming empowered with the Ruwah HaQodesh in your life. The latter is the most essential for all of the rest to occur.
This type of wealth & prosperity is not what the Hebrew prophets, including what the books of Enoch & the Dead Sea Scrolls, are condemning(And they condemn alot). What they are attacking & condemning is what we discuss in Part 2 below


Part 2 Usury & Capitalism, What does the Torah say about such & the evils behind them
Isaiah 8:21 , “And they shall pass through it hard pressed and hungry. And it shall be, when they are hungry, that they shall be wroth and curse their sovereign and their Elohim, looking upward.
Isa 8:22 And they shall look to the earth and see distress and darkness, gloom of hard times, and be driven into thick darkness.”
Usury
NOUN
1. The legal & illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest.
“the medieval prohibition on usury”
synonyms:
extortionate moneylending · payday lending · loan-sharking · shylocking, Mortgages, Credit Cards
archaic
interest at unreasonably high rates.
plutocracy-government by the wealthy. a country or society governed by the wealthy.
an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth.
The term plutocracy is generally used as a pejorative to describe or warn against an undesirable condition. Throughout history, political thinkers such as Winston Churchill, 19th-century French sociologist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, 19th-century Spanish monarchist Juan Donoso Cortés and today Noam Chomsky have condemned plutocrats for ignoring their social responsibilities, using their power to serve their own purposes and thereby, using their power to serve their own purposes and thereby, using their power to serve their own purposes and thereby increasing poverty and nurturing class conflict, corrupting societies with greed and hedonism
This is clearly seen in today’s United States of America, where culture & class conflicts, racial division, rampant poverty amongst certain classes & the literal forced social promotion of destructive Hedonistic behavior(i.e. LGBTQ, Slut Walk, over-sexualized media & education exposed to young children and adults alike etc).
To become the US President, a state governor, senator, or other member of Congress, millions of dollars must be raised(which could be used to serve the less fortunate & make society a better place) & millions of dollars can be made being a politician. Add Corporate greed, control, censorship & literal dictatorial policies in regards to social issues & it becomes more clear by the day, that America, in its gross violation of its Biblical foundations, has been enslaved & entrapped in a system of Usury and Plutocracy.
While it would be understandable that a Nation would use usury towards other nations and in foreign economic trade, using usury against one’s own people is a form of slavery & servitude. It’s no coincidence that the legal definition of an employee is “a servant”. Employment in a system of usury is a form of servitude. When you consider a Corporation like Apple or Amazon that has a trillion-dollar financial profiteering system, yet only pays its workers 15-16.00 an hour, that is beyond usury and is very much servitude and slavery.
When corporations can control how you express yourself in public, on social media, etc, even when you’re not on the clock or at your job, resulting in you being disciplined or worse yet fired, is Plutocracy at its finest. It is also known as Corporatism a form of fascism. The US government, defined as a foreign corporation with regards to the States, even operates under this mode.
This authoritative site here which pertains to the United States Codes, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/3002 , makes it clear that the US is a Federal Corporation.
LII U.S. Code Title 28. JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE Part VI. PARTICULAR PROCEEDINGS Chapter 176. FEDERAL DEBT COLLECTION PROCEDURE Subchapter A. DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. Section 3002. Definitions
(15)“United States” means—
(A) a Federal corporation;
(B) an agency, department, commission, board, or other entity of the United States; or
(C) an instrumentality of the United States.
If one pays attention they’d notice that all US States & Cities are incorporated.
You also have unincorporated areas as well. The picture below explains Corporatism.
It is undeniable & irrefutable that the United States system of Capitalism is bonafide fascism, by way of Corporatism. Facebook, Twitter, You-tube, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Porn-hub & all the owners of the Porn Industry, etc are all colluding with the Federal Corporation called the United States Inc., to make major national & social decisions. This is the reason we see a growing civil war between the Church(traditional religions of Judaism, Christianity & Islam) & Liberal secular culture. Corporations are the driving force between us all. They are the ones weaponizing immorality & destructive sexual behaviors(Hedonistic) & arming them to attack, censor, and strip the rights of those who dare not bow to their ideologies and demands, even if they have to use physical force. And of course, if the other side is subjected to physical attacks and having immorality forced upon them and their children, it’s only a natural expectation that at some point they are going to defend themselves and retaliate with physical force. This is exactly what the US & International Plutocrats want. It’s an orchestrated situation.
Weaponizing via Liberal Democracy, extremist black Americans, the LGBTQ community, protecting gang members, controlling the music content that youth are exposed to & using movie stars & music artist as mouth-pieces for hedonistic social agenda, controlling the cartoon content with social & political ideologies that subtly and many times blatantly brain-washes and reprograms children thinking, legalizing drugs such as marijuana which is known to reduce the IQ in youth & adults & cause biological genetic damage resulting in perpetual inferior born children, who will be the future of slavery & social exploitation, attempting to normalize pedophilia & exploiting & using the poor from international foreign countries to overrun the US borders & clashing with law abiding traditional valued American citizens has absolutely nothing to do with “Freedom & Human Rights” and everything to do with power & control, to rewrite history and force a new of way of life and culture upon those who did not ask for this new life and way or have them suffer the consequences, especially via economic & financial warfare(i.e. destruction of ones career).
This is also a chameleon form of #Colonialism, which is also a form of Usury. We are seeing the continued actions of colonialism via apartheid systems among the indigenous, but also via economic & sociological warfare against those who refuse to embrace liberal democracy & “public” hedonistic culture. They are especially using this form of exploitation by directly targeting youth and bypassing parents.
Speaking of parenthood, the destruction of the traditional patriarchal married family, being replaced with the rise of bastard-ville, single mothers, and children born and raised in single-parent homes, are very much a part of the Plutocrat plans.
We can go on and on and prove without a shadow of a doubt, to those who actually care about humanity, that the Western “form” of Usury/Capitalism is the cause of much of the world’s misery, suffering, wars, genocide, tyranny & virtual slavery.
Elah brought forth Jewish Prophets & Islamic Scholars to condemn Capitalism being placed upon a Nation’s own people AKA Domestic Capitalism
The Postexilic author of the statutory codes in Leviticus writes:
Leviticus 25:35 ‘And when your brother becomes poor, and his hand has failed with you, then you shall sustain him, and he shall live with you, like a stranger or a sojourner.
Leviticus 25:36 ‘Take no interest from him, or profit(increase), but you shall fear your Elohim, and your brother shall live with you.
Lev 25:37 ‘Do not lend him your silver on interest, and do not lend him your food for profit. ‘
The Aramaic word for profit/increase in verse 36, tarbath, is a cognate of the Arabic riba; A feminine noun meaning increase, excessive interest, usury. It is used to indicate usurious interest; oppressive, unjust rates of interest .
The Hebrew word for profit/increase in verse 37 is Mar-beeth –A feminine noun depicting greatness, an increase, a gain(Capital). It indicates profit or gain from lending ;
An example of excessive Interest:
A $100,000 mortgage with 4% annual interest rate (4% APR). Doesn’t sound too bad right? wrong. If you mortgage the house for 30yrs, you have to calculate 4% x 30yrs= 120% Usury. So you in essence paid for 2 houses for the total price of one.
These types of business practice are condemned in the Sapiential (Wisdom) Judaism writers as well;
Proverbs 28:5 Evil men do not understand right-ruling, But those who seek יהוה understand all. Pro 28:6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, Than one perverse in his ways, who is rich. Pro 28:7 He who watches over the Torah is a discerning son, But a companion of gluttons shames his father. Pro 28:8 He who increases his possessions by interest/Usury and unjust profit Gathers it for him who shows favour to the poor.”
The Aramaic word for for interest/usury is Neshek-A masculine noun meaning interest, usury. It refers to the amount paid back to a creditor beyond the principal (Exo_22:25 [24]; , a practice forbidden in Israel with respect to other Israelites (Psa_15:5. A righteous man did not practice usury or charge an excessive amount of interest (Ezkiele_18:8, Eze_18:13, Eze_18:17; Eze_22:12).
The Aramaic word for Profit in the above verse is Raba, A verb meaning to be many or to become many; to be abundant. It means to become numerous or great: it refers to an increase in volume, extent, power, or influence; In the intensive or causative stems of the verb, it indicates the increasing or enlarging of someone or something:
I do not believe what was said in verse 9 after condemning usury was a coincidence when the author says:
Proverbs 28:9 “He who turns away his ear from hearing the Torah, Even his prayer is an abomination.”
The Hebrew scriptures are very vivid & clear on the matter of usury/capitalism. Notice the Aramaic Raba is basically the same as Arabic term for usury, riba, which is rather neutral, coming from a root meaning to remain over or increase.
The Biblical term for usury, neshek, is strongly negative, coming from a root whose basic meaning is to strike as a serpent.
The term neshek itself is used twelve times in the Hebrew scriptures, but related words are used several times as well. All of them either prohibit usury or speak of it in deprecating terms.
Shemot (Exodus) 22:25, “If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that is poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest. Exo 22:26 If thou at all take thy neighbor’s garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him before the sun goeth down: Exo 22:27 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
FOREIGN CAPITALISM & USURY FOR THE BENEFIT OF DOMESTIC CITIZENS
This text already brings up the question of whether usury in general is prohibited, or merely usury of a brother, that is one under the covenant of Elah who is also ingrafted into Hebrew culture. The Torah has been interpreted to permit usury from unbelievers.
Deut 23:19 “Do not lend at interest to your brother, interest of silver, interest of food, or interest of whatever is lent at interest. Deu 23:20 “To a foreigner you lend at interest, but to your brother you do not lend at interest, so that יהוה your Elohim might bless you in all that you put your hand to in the land which you are entering to possess.
Usury is prohibited from those under the covenant(citizens), but permitted from strangers(non-citizens), that is gentiles.
Deut 15:6 “For יהוה your Elohim shall bless you as He promised you. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And you shall rule over many nations, but they do not rule over you.
Deu 15:7 “When there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, within any of the gates in your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you, do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,
Deu 15:8 for you shall certainly open your hand to him and certainly lend him enough for his need, whatever he needs.
Deu 15:9 “Be on guard lest there be a thought of Beliyaʽal in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is near,’ and your eye is evil against your poor brother and you give him naught. And he shall cry out to יהוה against you, and it shall be a sin in you.
Deu 15:10 “You shall certainly give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this reason יהוה your Elohim does bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.
Deu 15:11 “Because the poor one does not cease from the land. Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall certainly open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to your needy one, in your land.’
In regards to the Hebrew domestic economy, the strength and well-being of the economic situation is considered to depend on the avoidance of domestic usury capitalism. That is because the Torah teaches a “form” of Socialism & is also the root of Communism. Even in the Dead Sea Scrolls and copied by the Netzarim in the New Testament, the people had all things in common when it came to property, money, living, food, etc.
That is where the concept originated, as Jews invented Communism, Socialism & Social Capitalism (as it relates to foreign economic policies in charging usury to foreign gentiles). The type of Socialism taught in the Torah did not negate one being able to become wealthy on his own merits, skills & hard work. People were encouraged to pursue their own purpose & calling for their own benefit, the benefit of their family, and then the benefit of the communities via welfare and social programs & tithes & offerings. (the actual Middle Eastern term for Taxes).
Psalms 15:1 יהוה, who does sojourn in Your Tent? Who does dwell in Your set-apart mountain? Psa 15:2 He who walks blamelessly, And does righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart. Psa 15:3 He has not slandered with his tongue, He has not done evil to his neighbour, Nor lifted up a reproach against his friend; Psa 15:4 In whose eyes a reprobate one is despised, But he esteems those who fear יהוה; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; Psa 15:5 He has not put out his silver at interest, And has not taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these is never moved. .
Jeremiah 15:10 “Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to all the earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent to me for interest. All of them are reviling me.”
The words of Jeremiah imply not only a prohibition on lending with interest but on borrowing with interest as well. The guilt is thus attached to both parties in the transaction.
Ezekiel 18:7 if he does not oppress anyone, does return to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, does give his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, Eze 18:8 if he does not lend on interest or take increase, turns back his hand from unrighteousness, executes right-ruling in truth between man and man, Eze 18:9 if he walks in My laws, and he has guarded My right-rulings in truth – he is righteous, he shall certainly live!” declares the Master יהוה.
This is a positive approach to the problem, as well as another affirmation that neshek and tarbith are equivalent.
Ezekiel 18:13 makes the point negatively,
`Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.’
The context suggests that the abomination of usury is one of the sins provoking the Babylonian captivity. Verses seventeen and eighteen release the innocent children of the effects of their parents’ sins in taking usury.
Ezekiel 22:12. `In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou has taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, said Yahwah Elohim.’
The taking of usury is equated here with bribes in judgment resulting in the execution of the innocent, and with extortion. Ezekiel thus defines more carefully what he means by `abominations’ in chapter eighteen.
After the captivity, the matter of usury arose again and was put to a quick end by the intervention of Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s argument is not based on fear of renewed captivity as a result of usury. Rather, he appeals directly to law and justice. Having authority as governor, his measures were met with success:
Nehemiah 5 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their brothers, the Yehuḏim(Jews). Neh 5:2 And there were some who were saying, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many. Let us get grain for them, and eat, and live.”
Neh 5:3 And there were some who were saying, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses. Let us buy grain because of the scarcity of food.” Neh 5:4 And there were those who were saying, “We have borrowed silver for the sovereign’s tax on our lands and vineyards.
Neh 5:5 “And now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. And see, we are subjecting our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been subjected, and there is no power in our hands, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”
Neh 5:6 And it was very displeasing to me when I heard their outcry and these words.
Neh 5:7 And my heart ruled over me, and I strove with the nobles and with the deputy rulers, and said to them, “You are exacting interest, each one from his brother.” And I called a great assembly against them,
Neh 5:8 and said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers, the Yehuḏim, who were sold to the gentiles. And you even sell your brothers! Or should they be sold to us?” And they were silent and found not a word to say.
The New Testament Gospel references to usury are neither legislative nor normative. In a parable we find Jesus/Yeshua quoting a master scolding a servant for neglecting his property.
Matthew 25:27 ‘Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.’
The same story is repeated in Luke 19:23. Yeshua makes no comment here on usury as such. The text does reveal that Yeshua’ hearers were familiar with the practice and that at least some, those having capital, approved of it. The context might well be lending to unbelievers.
If anything the banks & money lenders should in fact pay “interest” to its “share-holdings aka customers, upon whose money that is stored for savings, is then used as the basis for the ability of that Bank to lend money to others, but should not be charging interest on loans to the citizens of the country of its existence but only to foreigners.
Islamic banking is well-known in the financial world and is becoming popular as an investment alternative even outside the sphere of Islam. The prohibition of usury or charging interest on any lending is described in the literature of every Islamic school of jurisprudence. In justification of the prohibition Ali (1988, 141a) quotes
Qur’an 2:275 `Those who swallow interest will not (be a-ble to) stand (in resur¬rection) except as standeth one whom Satan hath confounded with his touch.’
In ending, as an Ordained Rabbi-Cohen, whose been in ministry for over 20+ years, what I don’t get is how religious institutions, such as the Christian Evangelical Community, can sit up here and act like Socialism & Communism is the arch-boogeyman to humanity, and then go to Church every week & help finance and propagate a religious social system that is exactly a socialist religious structure. The Pastor is the Sovereign Authority, everyone pays tithes for the upkeep, maintenance & functions of the Ministry, which includes helping those who are members in need. The Church goes and establishes church-owned banks, businesses, charities, hospitals, missions, and other investments as well as provides jobs for the members, the Pastor delegates the religious authorities and leadership to function in each department and all are accountable to him, just as with Moses. That’s as socialist as you can get. Having All things in Common is as socialist as you can get. Most middle and upper-class American conservatives live in communities run by HOA’s. That is literally a socialist structure. Even Trump Mar-a-Lago resort is run by an HOA that is socialist in nature. And yet, in their blindness, they can’t even see their own roles in perpetuating a biblical system that they so often hate to see their own country function and operate under, and then have the nerve to wonder why the United States has a recession every 7yrs, why we have homeless people engulfing entire town, why people are losing their homes even if they are only a few years away from paying it off and have already paid twice the original dollar amount via interest. Yeah blame it on socialist policies, but the truth is, it’s capitalist policies that are doing this.
I could see if America’s “Foreign Policy” was Capitalist, while its domestic social policies were rooted in biblical socialism, we’d be more blessed by Elah & we wouldn’t be in almost 30 Trillion dollars worth of debt or worse yet over 80 Trillion dollars in total National Debt. No typo!!
click here to verify:
US DEBT CLOCK
We have a system of usury against our own government that has made us literally the poorest country on the planet based on “capital”. How ass-backward is that?
The next revolution must be against all of this, and the religious leaders of Judaism, Islam & Christianity must take the lead to overthrow the money lenders & banks who are exploiting their own people.
We need to implement a new model of society that has more effective leadership at the local level, below the level of the city/town. We need districts to become “Villages” with councils, elders of wisdom & skill who can implement policies related to economic prosperity, local security, village ethics, moral, civil & monetary accountability & judicial matters to handle matters of disputes within the village gates, A policy that supports the well being for all, and ensure all the basic needs of everyone(All things in common) are met, and no one is left behind & a policy where jobs, healthy food, clean water, non-humiliating shelter & clothing are basic human rights(comprised of only those in that particular village, backed by the larger police force & gov’t when needed & authorized by the local elders), along with a council for cooperation & larger alliances between villages for the sake of who? WE THE PEOPLE!! Yes, we should have deputized community watchmen.
Also implementing the 1% Debit/Credit transaction tax would literally pay off the National Debt and give the US a surplus that could then be given to the American people in a matter of months not years!! (See my article on the 1% tax here-
Guaranteed that if this was implemented upon biblical principles it would change the total dynamics of Western civilization and we’d have a global model that all could pattern themselves after, with beautiful results that would invoke a divine capital of blessings that causes this Nation to prosper like it never thought it could prosper before, minus the plutocrats & plus more innovative people who use technology & the advances in medicine to help humanity rather than enslave humanity.
If you be of the Torah, Koran or the Gospels, then you can’t be engaging in Usury against your own people, lest you bring a curse upon yourselves and your people & lest you be a brood of vipers.
Let all hear the Prophetic words of the Rabbi-Cohen
Isaiah 8:20 To the Torah and to the witness! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because they have no Light.”
Shalom,
Dr. Rabbi-Cohen Shalomim Y. HaLahawi
Mizrahi-Ethiopian Jewish Int’l Rabbinical Council.
#Conservative #BiblicalSocialist #MAGA