Tanach
Hebrew Keyword ÔAwon
Version
2.05 Part I
Twelve
Tribe Torah Institute ©
'Awon
-- hidden sin – a misunderstood keyword in the Torah?
Praised
be Yahweh whose worship is based on exploring truth!
""Cursed
be any person who strikes his neighbor in secret", and all the people will
respond: AMEN!" Deuteronomy 27:24
Alice
Miller in her book "For Your Own Good" established that Adolph Hitler
was severely physically abused over a long period of time by his father Alois,
and not at all protected by his mother. Her book is subtitled
"Hidden cruelty in child-rearing and the roots of violence."
Before continuing in this study, please read the entire chapter called
"Adolph Hitler's Childhood: from Hidden to Manifest
Horror." It is important to know why the Bible is so deeply
concerned with this word "hidden sin" and why our translations don't
do justice to this essence of the revelation of Yahweh.
If we
assume this connection to be only with Adolph Hitler we are making a grave
error. The SS itself was drawn from men and women from abusing
families! The plot only thickens with our knowledge of that which we
naturally want to avoid. This Torah keyword is so vital because this issue is
the basis for fascist theology and its political manifestations.
Amalek,
in the Torah, is not just a ruthless tribe which happened to attack the
Israelites. Amalek thrives on institutionalized abuse in order to create
a safe place for abuse to fester and to further its control of societies
established on the principles of Moses. The Torah is not prejudiced but
rather is trying to help both the lambs and the wolves towards salvation.
Amalek's goal is to destroy the Torah and all the universal values based on
Moses' revelation (see Exodus 17:8-13). Moses' goal and Jesus's goal is
to protect the children.
Also,
if you are not a professional in one of the healing arts and therefore not
familiar with the mechanisms of abuse, please consider purchasing the book
"Trying to Get some Dignity - Stories of Triumph over Childhood
Abuse" by Ginger Rhodes and Richard Rhodes and reading it in its entirety
before going to the Biblical verses. I want you to become convinced
beyond any doubt of the enormous depth and relevance of the Mosaic and Miriamic
revelation and their relationship to the Priestly cult (as you have studied in
the Introduction to Twelve Tribe Torah CDs).
In the
Holy Bible, first read the whole of Matthew chapter 18. This amazing
chapter is concerned with the innocence of children, the inherent humility of
being small and powerless, the warning to not harm these innocents in any way,
and the power of forgiveness/release/dismissal as regards even this most grave
sin.
Jesus
is in fact receiving the mantle from Moshe the great Prophet of Yahweh by
restating the essence of this relationship. He also received the mantle
from Elijah who is the last prophet to include the protection of the children
in his theology of Yahweh. In Exodus 34:1-9, the core prayer of Moshe:
"Oh Yahweh, Yahweh!" A God who is compassionate and gracious, slow
to anger, abundant in love and truth! Who stores lovingkindness even unto
thousands of generations, transforming hidden sin, transgression, and
unconscious sin! But who does not fully absolve! Who visits the
hidden sin of the parents onto the children onto the grandchildren, onto the
third generation and onto the fourth generation. Then Moshe made haste
and bowed down to the ground and made prostration of his entire body onto the
earth."
So
there we have this most amazing revelation, perhaps misunderstood by the rabbinic
teachers who omitted the second half of this verse in the synagogue
liturgy. Ignoring the second half of the verse is a direct cause for
forgetting the Name of Yahweh, for denial of child abuse, earth abuse and its
direct negative consequences on public health and moral integrity.
The
moral protection aspect, that is the "Notser," is in fact the root
word for the sect that Jesus was transmitting, namely the "Notserim"
- poorly transliterated as Nazareans. They are the "protectors"
and their original text, written 100 years according to R. H. Charles and James
Charlesworth, was in my humble opinion "The Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs." They may have written others but this is what we have
as an inheritance. The moral Torah is the superior Torah and it is based
on not denying the reality of child abuse and its pernicious effects on all of
society.
The key
to fully appreciating the Hebrew backdrop to Matthew 18 is found in Hosea
chapter 14.... I believe that it is the foundation text for Matthew chapter
18... all the elements in the Hebrew behind the Koine Greek are there:
turn/return, stumbling, 'Awon (the hidden secret sin), compassion on the
abandoned orphan child, and God's healing our rebelliousness, God loving us for
no justifiable reason, and derision of our reliance on power to save us, where
only Yahweh can save us. The sentence where CaSheL (stumble) and 'Awon
(hidden sin - also transliterated as "Avon") are combined is verse
14:2 - "Return, Oh Israel, for you have stumbled in your hidden
sin." "Stumbled" is a poor English translation for it
really means more like stumbling into a baited trap and not being able to get
loose without intervention.
I want
to offer that the Hebrew words, Shuv, meaning return or repent is based in the
process of transformation. It is a gift, grace from the Creator, enabled
by our prophets, mystics, priests and sages. There is room for all and in
the transformation of sin lies our very salvation. It takes work, truth
gazing, making changes, lifting others up along the way, giving praise to Yah
the hidden side of God. See Psalm 51 for the basics of this process of
Teshuvah.
As this
14th chapter of Hosea prophesizes the eventual downfall of Samaria-Israel, it
has a very serious tone as does Matthew 18. Therefore the word
"stumble" carries the most grave connotations of sinning, not the
casual tripping over oneself that the word may carry in English. The
Greek "skandalizei" carries that close correlation of both
"stumbling/ falling into scandal" and therefore was chosen carefully
by the Gospel writers.
And
here is the clincher.... the only Torah verse quoted in Matthew 18 is
Deuteronomy 19:15 where it explains that whether for hidden sins ('Awon is
specified here) or for subconscious sins (Het specified here too) however
committed, one must require two or three witnesses for prosecutorial
purposes.
In
Matthew 18:16 this then continues into the confirmation of the evidence of
"two or three witnesses." Deuteronomy 19:17 says that the
two or three witnesses stand must before Yahweh. The contexts change but
the message is similar. Jesus is teaching that we can effect good if we take
action and join together as harmonious disciples and that this will obviate the
grave consequences of revenge (by going beyond an "eye for an eye"
into the eternal justice of forgiveness).
Also in
Hosea chapter five, the key verse where stumbling is in the hidden sin ('Awon)
is verse 5, and it is preceded by verses 3 & 4 which both have an emphasis
on sexual sins! As anyone familiar with the prophet Hosea already knows,
his prophecy is a protest against any society that is lax in sexual license.
In the
Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:5, Yahweh is described as "a jealous God,
visiting the hidden sin ('Awon) of the parents on the children, even unto the
3rd or 4th generation for those who hate Me but doing loving deeds for
thousands of generations for those who love Me and who observe My
Mitzvot." Ezekiel (in chapter 18) challenges this approach of
Moses saying that it is impossible that God transmits the guilt of the sins of
the fathers on the children. What Ezekiel means is that the children
cannot be legally guilty when the parents sin. That is correct; but what
Moses means is that the children will be so deeply wounded by the sin of abuse
that they in turn will either harm themselves, others or their
relationships. We now know that Moses is more correct than Ezekiel in
this matter.
Again,
it is not the children's responsibility (that sense of the word
"guilt") that Moses is addressing but the real effects of the sin and
its consequences which are in fact transferred to the children. In
addition, when we abuse the earth, our children must face our neglect, our
hidden sin. Also the earth will be abused when we do not address the
hidden child abuse.
So in
the end analysis, perhaps the judgment will be that Moses is correct in that
sexual and physical and verbal abuse of children (and by extension of the
earth) is in fact transmitted to the next generations and that this consequence
is written into the moral laws of family and politics that Yahweh has created
on our Earth. Even for a child who is aware of the reality of, and
the effects of abuse, turning the curse into a blessing indeed takes three or
four generations of forgiveness and transformation.
Every
aware clergy deals with families trapped in the maelstrom of abuse and we know
how long it takes and how much effort it takes to effect healing and
salvation. Healing is what we can effect as therapists, friends,
clergy. Salvation is only from the Lord, from YHWH. Although our
society does the right thing with protecting children on the State governmental
level, it is just not enough. It is a core disease stemming from a lack
of faith in the Eternal Judge.
By the
way, also know that the Priestly laws in the Torah surrounding the proscription
of not eating fruits before their fullest maturity are in fact a ritualization
of the consciousness against the abuse of children. See Ezekiel 18:2
concerning the folk wisdom of the saying "the parents eat raw fruit and
the teeth of the children grind!" Sure, prosecutorial guilt is not
transferred, but Moses' view is that the effects of evil are in fact
transferable if it weren't for the forgiving, loving presence of Yahweh that
can lead to transformation.
The
first step to the process of forgiveness and transformation into salvation and
blessing is the awareness and acknowledgement of the enormity of the
consequences of 'Awon.
The
last section of Matthew 18 concerns the forgiving King who will take revenge on
those ungrateful for the gift of forgiveness and absolution - and this sounds
like a midrash on this verse which describes two faces of Yahweh, comparing the
wrath of the millstone punishment with the forgiving transformational
absolution of God.
The
next verse is so important in establishing that 'Awon is different from the
other nouns in Hebrew signifying sin or guilt, as it establishes that it is all
about "hidden sin." Check out Psalm 90:8 - "You (the Lord God)
have placed our 'Awons within Your view, our hidden matters in Your presence!"
This verse is found in a Psalm which is specifically attributed to Moses (who
brought us out of our "bondage to sinfulness and patterns ever
unchanging" through the Torah and through the loving God Yahweh who has
established the laws of family and nature = "Huqim").
At the
end of the Torah verses section of this article comes a suggested paradigm to
understand the "Theology of the Legacy of Abuse" and a suggested
reading list in order for the seeker of God's Word to fully understand the
ramifications based on our knowledge today, with many thanks to our
psychotherapeutic communities who have brought the light into darkness.
That is in a separate pdf file for easier downloading. To really get the
enormous impact of the Mosaic revelation, start to read those books to enter
into the daily consciousness of the transforming power of Yahweh.
Exodus
28:42,43 connects 'Awon, the hidden sin, with the flesh of nakedness.
Exodus
34:7 in Moses' great prayer of repentance, he states that Yahweh will forgive
our 'Awon (purposely committed sins in private) and our Het (sins committed
subconsciously). This is verse is the core of the most important
revelation in the history of religious inspiration. The verse starts off
with "Oh Yahweh, Yahweh!" A God who is compassionate and
gracious, slow to anger, abundant in love and truth! Who stores
lovingkindness even unto thousands of generations, transforming hidden sin,
transgression, and unconscious sin! But who does not fully absolve!
Who visits the hidden sin of the parents onto the children onto the
grandchildren, onto the third generation and onto the fourth generation.
Then Moshe made haste and bowed down to the ground and made prostration of his
entire body onto the earth.
Leviticus
5:1 'Awon is carried privately with no one else knowing about it.
Genesis
4:13 Cain's killing of his brother Abel in secret in the field where no one
else could see so that Cain exclaims "great is my 'Awon, too much to
bear"
Leviticus
16:21, 22 Priestly confession avails for hidden sins and is atoned
for by the Scapegoat (something fascists capitalize on when we don't confront).
Leviticus
18:25 "and the earth will become polluted, and I will visit her 'Awon
hidden sin on her, and she will vomit out her inhabitants" (one link
to "Earth Abuse")
In the
entire Leviticus chapter 20, which is about illicit sexual relationships, the
word 'Awon is repeated in verses 17 and 19.
In
Leviticus 26:39-43 it again stresses the intergenerational characteristic of
'Awon, the possibility of confession availing, the connection of the Earth,
that she will take back her Sabbaths.
Numbers
15:31 where it is explained that when sin is committed with "a high
hand" (i.e. in defiance of conscience) the very soul of the human being is
ripped away through the sin of 'Awon as one cannot keep ones word (for trust is
deeply torn)
Numbers
18:1 even the Sanctuary itself can contract the cumulative collective
hidden sins of the people and of the priests!!
1
Samuel 25:24 Scripture lauds the character of Abigail who takes
responsibility for any possible sin committed unknowingly.
Isaiah
1:4 Woe, oh sinning nation, a people heavily laden with 'Awon (hidden
sin) - and please note the connection in verse 1:9 to Sodom and 'Amorah!!
Isaiah
5:18 Woe to those who drag the guilt of 'Awon along with ropes of
duplicity, unconscious sin (Het), like the reins of a cart. And in verse
20, the ultimate cover-up strategy for those in denial of 'Awon - "Woe to
those who call evil good, and good, evil."
Isaiah
6:7 the prophet must first have his or her 'Awon removed, that is,
transformed!
Isaiah
13:11 here 'Awon is connected with humbling, that God will cause the
humbling that we don't ourselves cause through the consciousness of repentance
and forgiveness
Isaiah
22:14 In some circumstances, only death will atone for 'Awon guilt.
Isaian
26:21 it will take the intercession of Yahweh to uncover, reveal the sins
of 'Awon and the Earth takes up the guilt until it can be contained no longer
(one of the basic moral laws of our world and one of the major causes of Earth
Abuse!)
Isaiah
30:13 'Awon guilt can cause a sudden breach in our security
Isaiah
33:22-24 The four characteristics of Yahweh (Judge, Lawgiver, King,
Saviour) are distorted in our Constitution by the establishment of only three
branches of Government (this verse was in fact quoted by our Founding Fathers
to establish the Judiciary, Legislative, and Executive branches of
government). However, the fourth, the belief in God's salvationary power
was omitted, this is the branch executed by the citizenry, the practice of the
Word which inspired the Constitution and to keep all elected officials in line
with Holy Spirit. The last phrase in verse 24 talks about the ultimate
atonement of 'Awon guilt.
Isaiah
50:1 "Behold, you have been sold off for your hidden sins" - the
ultimate price for not dealing with accumulated 'Awon.
Isaiah
53:5 the heaviest part of the burden born by the Suffering Servant of Yahweh is
that "He is wounded by our hidden sin-guilt" - and in the next verse,
"Because we all strayed like lost sheep and each of us turned and went our
own way, therefore Yahweh inflicted Him with our Collective Hidden Sin"
-- and in verse 11, "and He suffers their hidden
sin-guilt." Please note the connection between this process
and the projection of collective hatred onto the Jewish and Christian peoples
by the fascists.
And
finally, I want to repeat the Great Prayer of Moses who first reveals this
conciousness, that simultaneously entering into transformative forgiveness and
simultaneously holding the awareness of our legacy is the ultimate essence of
Yahweh:
Exodus
34:1-9 (please go read it in its entirety) but here is the prayer -
"Yahweh, Yahweh, a compassionate and grace-filled God, long forebearing,
abundant in loving kindness and truth; preserving love for thousands of
generations, transforming (literally "lifting up") hidden sin and
trespass and unconscious sin; however, not completely absolving sin when
visiting the hidden sins of the parents on their children and children's
children unto the third or fourth generations." So Yahweh, our
Creator, gave us the basic rules of human moral dynamic consciousness through
Moshe Rabenu. Blessed be Yahweh's Name!
Additional
resources and comprehension:
To set
forth a "Theology of the Legacy of Abuse" paradigm, to begin to
understand the many active connections between these manifestations of abuse
requires thinking that comes out of realizing that all the following components
arise from the same source. Here follows an outline of the components
that together help us better define and fully understand the Legacy of Abuse
that we as a society inherit, are in turn victims of, create, and ultimately
have to address and atone:
physical
abuse,
violentization
(witnessing someone else physically or verbally abusing another victim),
wifebeating,
sexual
violence,
incest,
sexual
love between unequal partners,
pedophilia,
sadism-masochism,
fascism,
racism,
holocaust/genocide,
scapegoating,
disempowering,
submissioning,
humiliation,
shaming,
blaming,
intimidation,
bullying,
splitting,
projecting
unlawful
discrimination (against designated victim groups),
trauma
(as from war and other forms of violence, justified by law or not),
verbal
abuse (manifests also in the control and manipulation of relationships and in
devaluing the other),
emotional
abuse,
emotional
incest (sometimes also called "covert incest"),
addictions
(to alcohol, drugs, sex, money, power, and powerlessness)
self-abuse,
earth-abuse
seeking
out destructive relationships,
divorce,
relationship
abuse (includes teen dating issues),
abandonment,
homelessness,
emotional
illness,
chronic
illness patterns,
sexually
addictive behavior patterns (includes homosexuals acting out of an abusive
childhood),
pornography
(many forms of pornography are directly connected to abuse),
enabling
of abuse via denial, minimizing, apologetics, projecting, the spin, guilt
trips, propaganda, dramatic maneuvers, manipulation of reality, and political
distractions.
Below
is a bibliography of suggested books for further reading and studying. These
suggested books come from a range of wonderful people (psychotherapists,
teachers, leaders, friends, colleagues) from my larger community here in Austin
Texas who have over the years suggested one or more of these books as an
important source of information on various facets of abuse. Please add to
it and create your own list. My gratitude is deep for all those living in
the consciousness of triumph over abuse.
In the
long run, only conscious transformation, offered and nurtured by our sacred
traditions, will help us triumph over evil. Psychotherapy is not only a
secular science but also a religious consciousness. We secularists are
not better than our religious heritage but better because of our religious
heritage. This is because Moses did not give us the Ten
Commandments. He gave us the Ten Principles ('Aseret ha Devarim).
The principled life is the highest moral order of Yahweh's Will for us as a
nation of priests.
"For
Your Own Good" - Hidden Cruelty in Child-rearing and the Roots of
Violence" by Alice Miller.
"Why
they Kill" by Richard Rhodes
"Trying
to Get some Dignity -- Stories of Triumph over Childhood
Abuse" by Ginger Rhodes and Richard Rhodes.
"Women
and Madness" (the 2005 updated and revised edition) and "Woman's
Inhumanity to Woman" (2003 paperback edition) by Phyllis Chesler.
"The
Emotional Incest Syndrome" by Patricia Love.
"The
Verbally Abusive Relationship -- How to Recognize it and How to
Respond" by Patricia Evans.
"The
Courage to Heal - a Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse" by
Ellen Bass and Laura Davis.
"In
the Image of God - a Feminist Commentary on the Torah" by Judith
Antonelli.
"Silence
is Deadly -- Judaism Confronts Wifebeating" by Naomi Graetz.
"Ordeal"
by Linda Lovelace (New York: Berkley Books, 1981).
The
Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander : From Preschool to High School--How
Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence by Barbara Coloroso.
"Facing
the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest" by David R. Blumenthal.
"Sexual
Abuse in America: the Epidemic of the 21st Century", Robert Freeman Longo
and Gerald T. Blanchard, Safer Society Press, 1998.
"Ghosts
from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence" by Robin Karr-Morse &
Meredith S. Wiley.
"Come
Here" by Richard Berendzen
"The
Gift of Fear" by Gavin De Becker
"Conversations
With a Pedophile: In the Interest of our Children" by Amy
Hammel-Zabin.
"Identifying
Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of
the Offenders" by Carla Van Dam.
"Why
Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men" by Lundy
Bancroft.
Copyright
information:
Translations
of the above Tanach verses are all by Rabbi Monty Eliasov.
'Awon
-- hidden sin - a misunderstood keyword in the Torah?
©
The Twelve Tribe Torah Institute, Inc. Version 2.05
Permission
is given to freely distribute this list.
Whenever
reprinting or emailing, please include this copyright information.