Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Beginner's Guide To Torah Living: by Heidi Cooper
A Beginner's Guide To Torah Living: by Heidi Cooper
Guide to
Torah Living
By Heidi
Cooper
by Heidi Cooper
www.torahfamilyliving.com
First, I'd like to say thank you for finding us and joining our email
list. We are honored to be a part of your journey. Allow me to
introduce us. We are the Coopers. My husband Doug and I have been
married since 2000, and at the time of this writing we have seven
children. We also have Gramma living with us for a large part of each
year. We homeschool and operate a small family farm. My husband
flies a plane to pay the bills, and I spend my spare time writing about
Torah and homeschooling.
Speaking of Torah, we have been learning about and trying to
apply Torah since late 2006. We attended a Baptist church that
effectively kicked us out when we began teaching about Hebrew, feast
days, and Shabbat. We have much to learn, but we are so grateful that
YHVH showed us that all of Scripture still applies. His words are
eternal and we can count on Him. So that's us in a nutshell. By the
way, my name is Heidi, and I'm delighted to share with you what I
have learned about Torah living.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Here's an outline of what I plan to share.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Forgive those who miss taught you in the past.
I don't know where you are coming from, but if you are learning
about Torah now, it's likely that you were taught something wrong in
the past. Perhaps you were taught to keep Sunday holy, rather than
Saturday. Perhaps you were taught that the Old Testament was just for
the Jews. I would also imagine that you are feeling a bit of bitterness
towards those teachers.
I'll be blunt here. You've got to let it go. You've got to forgive. I
know what they are teaching is wrong. I've been there. But any
bitterness you hold in your heart will only destroy you. Don't cloud the
joy of new discoveries with the darkness of bitterness. Start your new
journey into truth with a clear conscience and a joyful heart. Yeshua
himself teaches us that we are to forgive others as we have been
forgiven.
It is also important to remember that the lies being taught have
been passed down for centuries. The person that miss taught you was
miss taught by somebody else. These lies have been taught for so long
that most people have lost the ability to recognize the truth. They need
our prayers, not our unforgiving attitudes.
It is also helpful to focus on the truths we were taught. I am
grateful that I was taught from a young age that I was created by a
loving God. I was taught to value life. I was taught that right and
wrong is absolute. I was taught to value the Scriptures as my guide for
www.torahfamilyliving.com
life. I was taught that there are consequences for my actions, either
good or bad. Focus on the truths that you were taught and build from
there.
Again, do not hold bitterness in your heart against past teachers.
Can you brag on yourself and your Torah observance if you harbor an
unforgiving spirit? Surely not. Take the time today to forgive those
who misled you, and purpose to keep that forgiving spirit in the future.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Realize you have much to learn.
I remember when I first realized that the Sabbath had not been
changed to Sunday. My sister and her husband had listened to a
teacher discuss topics like the seventh day Sabbath, and she and her
husband were trying to follow it. I thought she was insane. I even felt a
bit irate about it. My husband found the whole thing rather amusing at
the time, and challenged me to prove her wrong. I went in on our
computer to use our Bible study software. Ten minutes later, I
emerged, humbled as I realized that Sabbath had always been on the
seventh day and had never changed. That was an amazing moment for
me.
But how quickly our new found knowledge turns into arrogance.
We suddenly have all the answers and can correct everyone else. My
friends, this should not be. In the years we have been studying Torah,
we have realized over and over again how much we still don't know.
Our understanding has been carefully honed. We have realized that we
still had things wrong and needed deeper understanding. Just when
we thought we could be dogmatic on something, YHVH showed us
that we weren't quite right.
We must remember that our journey has been rather short. There
are many that have gone before us and have studied longer. There are
those that, due to a different life journey, understand truths that we do
www.torahfamilyliving.com
not. We must trust YHVH to give us the understanding we need when
we need it. We must be humble enough to learn from others and listen
to their perspective. Not everyone's perspective will turn out to be
right, and that includes ourselves. But we should be willing to learn
from others.
I do not advocate listening to anyone and everyone and taking
their word at face value. I do advocate being humble enough to realize
that we don't have it all figured out. Learning about Scripture and how
to obey YHVH takes time. We are told to build precept upon precept,
line upon line. YHVH gives us truth as we are ready, and we are in no
position to claim that we have it all now.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Learn from many others.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
free to move on. But be thankful that you had the opportunity to
listen, learn and evaluate their teaching. After careful study, you now
know why they aren't teaching truth and can defend that position with
Scripture. On the other hand, you will find those that are spot on with
Scripture. They will share insights that help you to grow and serve
your Master better. What a blessing! You may find that a certain
author is writing about a topic that meets your needs right now. Then,
in a few months, YHVH shows you another area where you need to
grow, and at the same time brings along someone teaching about that
topic.
Don't forget to learn from yourself. The days of being spoon fed
by someone else are long gone. You must be responsible for yourself.
My husband and I have gone through times where we had no one to
help us. We learned to study the Scriptures for ourselves. We learned
to pray for guidance and lean not on our own understanding. YHVH
will show us truth when we seek it. We'll talk about that a bit more
later.
Again, learn from many people. There is a danger in only
listening to one person. There is also danger in trusting one person
with our spiritual education. Spread out, evaluate carefully, and learn
to study for yourself.
Pro 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an
abundance of counselors there is safety.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Realize Torah living is lifelong.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
rather than looking over your shoulder at them.
Enjoy the journey! Torah observance in thankful service to your king
is a wonderful way to live!
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Become a student of the Word.
If you are like me, you spent most of your life learning under a
series of Sunday School teachers, pastors, authors, and Bible study
leaders. Now, you may suddenly be in a position where you are no
longer in a church or group setting. You don't have anyone preparing a
lesson to teach you every week. You may not even have a local group of
people that also believe in observing Torah. My husband Doug and I
have not had anyone locally beyond our immediate family until
recently. What do you do now?
Become a student of the Word. Now is the time to learn to study
Scripture for yourself. When I began to study Torah, I quickly realized
that even though I had read through the entire Bible, I was constantly
stumbling upon verses that I didn't recognize. I kept saying, “I don't
remember that being in there!” Obviously there were a lot of holes in
my spiritual education, and there probably are in yours as well. I
recommend that you start at the beginning and learn Torah, the first
five books of the Bible. The Jews have followed a Torah reading cycle
for centuries, and it is very helpful. You can find more info about the
Torah reading cycle at Hebrew 4 Christians. If you have children or
are brand new to the Torah portions, you might consider reading My
First Torah. This book covers every Torah portion in simple terms for
young children. It's an excellent way to get familiar with Torah. Each
www.torahfamilyliving.com
week, you will be reading approximately 4-6 chapters. Many people
provide studies on the Torah portions to help you get started. You will
also want to make use of some simple reference tools. E-sword is a
wonderful free software program that enables you to read several
translations, look up words, cross reference, and access others
resources like maps and cultural info.
Once you have begun to get a good grasp on each of the Torah
portions, it is a good idea to look at them from a different angle.
Studying the 613 commandments can be very helpful. This list was
compiled over time to show the actual commands in Torah as opposed
to just the time-line of events. It helps you to keep an action based
perspective of Torah, rather than simple fact collection.
Keep in mind that much of the information you will come across
on the internet and in books is based on tradition rather than
Scripture. It is important to be well grounded in what is actually found
in Scripture, so you will be able to sort out tradition and truth.
Keep learning and studying. Just like obeying Torah is a lifelong
journey, so is studying it.
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Always come back to application.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
As you study Scripture, enjoy learning the background of the
history and culture. Just be sure to apply Scripture to your life and
begin to act on it. That is an integral part of Torah living.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Meditate on Torah day and night.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Compare the rest of Scripture to Torah.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
you will better be able to compare other Scriptures to Torah.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Focus on the two greatest commandments.
“He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read
it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You
have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."” Luke 10:26-28
ESV
The two greatest commandments are to love YHVH, and love
your neighbor. Everything else in Scripture is an explanation and
elaboration on those two concepts. Even the ten commandments can
be divided into two groups: How to love YHVH, and how to love our
neighbor. If we keep our focus on these two ideas, we will do well. If
we don't, we will end up like the Pharisees that kept the letter of the
law, but failed miserably because they lost the love for each other.
For example, we can get so excited about keeping Shabbat. We
are very careful to never light a candle, and watch our family like a
hawk to make sure no one is violating the Sabbath. While we should
be careful to guard the Sabbath, we also need to remember that the
Sabbath is a divine appointment. It's our weekly time with our
Heavenly Father. Are we spending time with Him, learning to love
Him better? Are we showing love to our family on this special day? Or
has it simply become a list of dos and don'ts? We need to learn and
obey the commands, but always with the understanding that the
www.torahfamilyliving.com
commands are there to help us love our Creator better, and help us
love people better. If the commands become an end unto themselves,
they are not serving their purpose.
Focus on love first, then work out the details of the
commandments. Remember, if we don't have love, all our efforts are
simply vanity.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Relearn who our God really is.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
Don't forget to share the joy of what you are learning
with your children.
www.torahfamilyliving.com
morning or the evening or at lunch. You can have a special time of
teaching on Shabbat, either at home or with a group of other families.
You can redirect your children with Scripture when they make bad
choices and need discipline. The best approach would be to do all of
the above.
Torah Family Living is here to help you bring Torah right into
the center of your home. I hope you will spend some time exploring
around the site. Here are some links to get you started.