Famine the esoteric underpinnings avot 5;11

http://www.shechem.org/torah/avot.html   verse 12
12. At four periods pestilence increases: In the fourth year and the seventh year and in the year after the seventh year, and at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles every year.


"In the fourth year"--because of neglect of the Poorman's Tithe in the third year (Deuteronomy 14:28-30).



"In the seventh year"--because of neglect of the Poorman's Tithe in the sixth year.



"In the year after the seventh year"--because of transgressing the Torahs of the seventh year produce.



"At the end of the Feast of Tabernacles every year"--because of robbing the poor of the harvest gifts that are their due.

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The frequency of famine is reflected in the fact that of the seven calamities said in the Mishnah to afflict the world because of sin, three are famines of various degrees of intensity: the "famine of drought," which does not affect the whole population, the "famine of panic," which affects all, and the "famine of utter destruction" (Avot 5:8). The traditional triad of major catastrophes consists of "pestilence, sword, and famine" (cf. Jer. 14:12; 21:7, 9; 24:10; Ezek. 6:11, etc.; compare the Hashkivenu and the Avinu Malkenu prayers). The fact that, given a choice of one of these three, David chose pestilence suggests that it was the least of them (II Sam. 24:14f.). Lamentations gives a preference in the scale of suffering to famine over the sword (4:9). This would indicate that famine was the greatest evil of all: it is in fact difficult to envisage the terrible suffering endured through famine in ancient times. The grim picture, given by R. Johanan, imaginative though it is, of the consequences of the seven-year famine predicted by *Elisha (II Kings 8:1) – that in the fourth year people would be reduced to eating unclean animals, in the fifth reptiles and insects, in the sixth their children, and in the seventh their own flesh (Ta'an. 5a) – is probably not so exaggerated as may appear. Both during the famine caused by the siege of Samaria by *Ben-Hadad and of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the eating of human flesh is mentioned (II Kings 6:29; Lam. 2:20–31; 4:10).

Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria (669–27) claims that the Babylonians under siege by him ate their children. Similarly, Assyrian treaties threaten potential violators that they will bereduced to eating their children. Josephus mentions the eating of children in Jerusalem during the Roman War (Wars 6:201–13, cf. I Bar. 2:2ff.). A pathetic story is told of one of the wealthiest women of Jerusalem picking out grain from animal dung after the Roman War (Git. 56a). There are at least three historical references to famine caused by the observance of the Sabbatical year, one during the siege of Jerusalem by the forces of Antiochus IV (Ant. 12:378 = I Macc. 6:49–54), one in the war of Herod against Antigonus (ibid., 14:476) and one during Herod's reign (ibid., 15:7 – see also *Shemittah). The Midrash (Ruth Rabbah 1:4) enumerates ten famines which visited the world. It includes only seven of those mentioned in the Bible as due to drought, and makes up the complement by one ascribed to the time of Adam, one to the time of Lamech and a spiritual famine for lack of God's word (Amos 8:11, usually taken as eschatological). This midrashic passage also differentiates between the famine of Elijah which was a sporadic "famine of drought" and that of Elisha which was one "of [economic] panic."

One of the three things "which the Holy One, blessed be He, proclaims in person" (Ber. 55a), famine was regarded as the direct result of transgressions. This is, of course, specifically mentioned in the Bible where the rule is that famine and drought are either threatened (Lev. 26:19f., 26; Deut. 11:17; 28:23; I Kings 17:1; Zech. 14:17) or suffered for sins. Amos (4:6ff.) interprets occurrences of these calamities as prods to repentance – warning notices of God's wrath aimed to bring the people to contrition and thus avert final destruction. The tendency of the rabbis was to make famine the punishment for specific transgressions – the failure to give the tithes and other dues from one's produce, as a kind of quid pro quo (Avot 5:8; Shab. 32b; for the contrary promise of abundance as a reward for bringing tithes – cf. Mal. 3:10–11). As a result, fasting and supplicatory prayers and fasts were instituted (see *Fasting and *Ta'anit – for biblical examples cf. Jer. 14:12 and Joel 2:14–15 for famine caused through pestilence) and the prayers of both pious individuals and people possessing special virtues were regarded as effective in bringing the drought to an end (BM 85b; TJ, Ta'an. 1:2, 65b). The rabbis permitted emigration from Ereẓ Israel in the case of famine, but only when it reached serious proportions (BB 91b; Gen. R. 25 end). Basing themselves on Genesis 41:50 the rabbis (Taan. 11a) forbade procreation during the years of famine.


Avot 5;11
11. Seven kinds of


punishment come into the world for seven important transgressions. If some give their tithes (27) and others

do not, a dearth ensues from drought and some suffer hunger while others are full. If they all determine to give

no tithes, a dearth ensures from tumult (28) and drought. If they further resolve not to give the dough−cake

(29), an exterminating dearth ensures. Pestilence comes into the world to fulfil those death penalties

threatened in the Torah, the execution of which, however, is within the function of a human tribunal (30), and

for the violation of the law regarding the fruits of the seventh year (31). The sword (32) comes into the world

for the delay of justice, and for the perversion of justice, and on account of the offence of those who interpret

the Torah, not according to its true sense (33). Noxious beasts come into the world for vain swearing (34), and

for the profanation of the Divine Name (35). Captivity comes into the world on account of idolatry,

immortality, bloodshed, and the neglect of the year of rest for the soil (31). 12. At four periods pestilence

grows apace: in the fourth year, in the seventh, at the conclusion of the seventh year, and at the conclusion of

the Feast of Tabernacles in each year: in the fourth year, for default of giving the tithe to the poor in the third

year (36); in the seventh year, for default of giving the title to the poor in the sixth year (37); at the conclusion

of the seventh year, for the violation of the law regarding the fruits of the seventh year (31), and at the

conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles in each year, for robbing the poor of the grants legally assigned to them

Pirke Avot, Traditional Text

CHAPTER V

Jesus rejects the unripe grapes-THE CHART OF THE TANNAIM

Inefficacy of the fence around torah -excluded those intended to be included in the world to come and torah.The fences or new wine were not divinely mandated and went beyond the authority of the sages to create these fences.

"When the “new wine of the fence around the Torah” was imposed on Israel, the Great Assembly pushed “the old commandment” from the beginning of time forward in time a bit to Mt. Sinai, missing the point of Yahweh’s revelation in history altogether. They fenced the cosmic and historic events of Yahweh’s revelation out, fencing Him in along with the Torah, concealing Him from the people of God, hiding his Name. "




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In effect, Yeshua (Jesus) told the Pharisees and their scribes that He and his disciples preferred “the old wine” in “the old wineskin” that is divine wine to their “new wine” in their “new wineskin” that is conceived, enacted and enforced by man.




In a remarkable play on the learned Pharisees and scribes, Yeshua (Jesus) used Jewish oral tradition to drive his point about the inefficacy of the “fence” around the Torah supported by oral tradition.



Observe the wise saying or oral tradition received and preserved in the later teachings of Rabbi ben Judah, a saying already known to Yeshua (Jesus) and the Pharisees in his audience:





Rabbi Jose b. Judah (a man) of Kefar Ha-Babli   (Issi ha Babli) said: He who

learns from the young, unto what is he [to be] compared? Unto

one who eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat. And

he who learns from the old, unto what is he [to be] compared?

Unto one who eats ripe grapes and drinks old wine.

(Mishnah, ‘Avoth 4:20)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issi_ben_Judah#cite_note-1
Issi ben Judah (Hebrew: איסי בן יהודה‎, "Issi ben Yehuda", also known as Issi Ha-babli, lit. "Babylonian Issi"), was a Tanna of the latter part of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd century. He made Aliyah from Hutzal, Babylon, to the Land of Israel, and thus was also nicknamed "Issi Ha-Babli" or "Jose the man of Hutzal". He was a disciple of Eleazar ben Shammua.




He is known for his positive rabbinical opinion on "You shall rise in the presence of the aged" (Leviticus 19:32), that in other rabbinical sages opinions is said only of an elderly Talmid Chacham, and in his opinion is said of any aged.



His opinions regarding culpability for sabbath transgressions and regarding anyone's right to eat from another's vinyard were recorded in the so-called Meggilat Setarim (Scroll of Hidden Things). However, in both cases his opinion is rejected by the Rabbis.[1]
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10554-megillat-setarim
Bava Metzia 92a; Shabbat 6b, 96b
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From oral tradition the Pharisees and their scribes understood that Yeshua (Jesus) was saying that his disciples were those “who eat ripe grapes and drink old wine.” They had chosen what was “good”—the best. In Hebrew the word for “good” is tov and has the sense of being complete, finished, enough, done.

What did this say of them, but that they ate “unripe grapes” and drank wine of “unripe grapes.” The new was inferior to the old and in bad taste to the finest palate.




In both parables the Pharisees and their scribes were seen as the advocates of “the new cloth” and “the new wine” of “unripe grapes.”



How so? The last of the two parables is clearest for it explains the first parable as well. What, then, is the obvious application of the old wine since it was the better of the two choices, according to Yeshua (Jesus)?



Like the new cloth, the new wine was counter productive and destructive, rending apart the old wineskin. The old wineskin of Torah did not need the new wine of traditional law poured into it. New wine was suitable only for new wineskins. Meanwhile, the new wine that redefined Torah observance was destroying the old wineskin of Torah and should be emptied out.



The Pharisees and scribes, with great skill, had redefined Torah observance as obedience to the oral tradition of laws passed down by the Great Assembly and enforced by the Sanhedrin.



Under present conditions, reflected in the state of affairs of the Jewish state, the people of Israel were torn by the internal pressure of the new wine poured into their old wineskin and could not sustain it forever.



What was the old wine but the revelation of Yahweh in history as the Living Torah from the beginning, including but not exclusive to the giving of the written Torah at Mt. Sinai. He anticipated the written Torah from the beginning and was the fullness of it in flesh. The Torah from the beginning was the Messiah Yeshua with his eternal commandment to love God and love one another, the sum of the Torah’s commandments.



In 1 John 2:7, among other places, one of Yeshua’s apostles, namely John, taught the same thing. He taught that the old commandment, i.e., “the old wine,” as Yeshua termed it, was presented to the world “from the beginning.” In his careful wording, John pushes past the giving of the written commandments at Mt. Sinai and well past the Noachide laws, to the beginning of creation by using the Hebrew word bereishith (“in-beginning-of”). Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) is the Torah from the beginning and the fullness of it at the end.



The word bereishith is the first word of the Hebrew Bible.



This is what John wrote:





Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had in-beginning-of [bereishith] [i.e., Yahweh’s revelation as the Word in Genesis 1].



What is “the old commandment”? John answers it in the following verses 9-11—to live or walk in “the Light of the world” from creation, namely, Yeshua (Jesus). To do so, you must receive Him as the light and reflect Him as the light of the world through loving others and, thereby, loving God.



John does not violate ancient Hebrew understandings of Scripture at all, but endorses them. He does not abolish Torah but explains it as revealed fully in the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).



When the “new wine of the fence around the Torah” was imposed on Israel, the Great Assembly pushed “the old commandment” from the beginning of time forward in time a bit to Mt. Sinai, missing the point of Yahweh’s revelation in history altogether. They fenced the cosmic and historic events of Yahweh’s revelation out, fencing Him in along with the Torah, concealing Him from the people of God, hiding his Name.



This new wine that “fenced” the Torah was self-destructive for the chosen people of Yahweh. Let it belong elsewhere in new wineskins, but not among the chosen people Israel as a new wine of Torah observance according to traditional law.

THE CHART OF THE TANNAIM Tannaim



Last Generation of Zugot Era Hillel the Elder ·Shammai ·Bnei Bathyra ·Menahem ·Akabia ben Mahalalel ·Hananiah b. Hezekiah b. Garon



First Generation Gamaliel I, the Elder ·Shimon ben Gamliel (I) ·Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen ·Johanan ben Zakai ·Jonathan ben Uzziel ·Baba ben Buta ·Hanina Ben Dosa ·Hanina Segan ha-Kohanim ·Abba Saul ben Batnit ·Admon ·Dosa ben Harkinas ·Judah ben Bathyra ·Eliezer ben Jacob I ·Nahum the Mede



Second Generation

(Destruction of the Second Temple and thereafter) Gamaliel II ·Joshua ben Hananiah ·Eliezer ben Hurcanus ·Eleazar ben Arach ·Nehunya ben HaKanah ·Nahum of Gimzo ·Abba Hilkiah ·Rabbi Zadok



Third Generation

Akiva ben Joseph ·Tarfon ·Judah ben Bava ·Rabbi Ishmael ·Eleazar ben Azariah ·Jose the Galilean ·Eliezer ben Jose ·Haninah ben Teradion ·Johanan ben Baroka ·Simon ben Zoma ·Simeon ben Azzai ·Onkelos ·Hanina ben Antigonus ·Hanina ben Hakinai ·Yochanan ben Nuri ·Eleazar Chisma ·Elisha ben Abuyah ·Rabbi Ilai I ·Eleazar of Modi'im ·Halafta ·Haninah ben Ahi R. Joshua ·Abtolemus ·Jose ben Kisma ·Jeshbab the Scribe ·Aquila of Sinope ·Johanan ben Torta ·Eleazar ben Judah of Bartota ·Matteya ben Heresh ·Hanan the Egyptian ·Simeon the Yemenite



Fourth Generation

Shimon ben Gamaliel (II) ·Judah bar Ilai ·Jose ben Halafta ·Rabbi Jonathan ·Rabbi Meir (and wife Bruriah) ·Simeon bar Yochai ·Eleazar ben Shammua ·Rabbi Nehemiah ·Rabbi Nathan ·Joshua ben Karha ·Abba Saul ·Yochanan HaSandlar ·Phinehas ben Jair ·Simeon Shezuri



Fifth Generation

Judah I ·Huna Kamma ·Jose b. Judah ·Ishmael ben Jose ·Eleazar b. Simeon ·Simeon ben Eleazar ·Eleazar ha-Kappar ·Symmachus ben Joseph ·Issi ben Judah ·Bar Kappara ·Jose ben Zimra ·Levi ben Sisi ·Rabbi Bana'ah ·Simeon b. Menasya ·Yadua the Babylonian ·Joshua ben Levi