Saturday 22 October 2016

Imitation Torah-Keeping

Why I say no-one keeps the Feast of Tabernacles anymore.

Illustration:

"The Uncle Toby's Super Series was a professional Iron Man circuit that ran every summer from 1989 to 2001. It was considered by many to be the pinnacle of Surf Lifesaving."

But the competition ceased to run, some years ago.

Now, we can still hold a beach event every summer if we want to. We can even call it Uncle Toby's if we want. But legally that wouldn't make it The Uncle Toby's Super Series.

Last week I met one of the famous, successful competitors of the old event - met him in person, in the flesh. Even if he would join my summer beach-events, that still wouldn't make it The Uncle Toby's Super Series - not legally, not officially, not really.

Same with the Torah Feasts. The Feasts were instituted through Moses - but it ceased to be possible to Observe the Feasts when the sacrificial system ended around AD70, because sacrifices had been a required part of the Feasts.

Now, someone can still have a feast around the same dates of the year if he wants to - but that doesn't make it the Torah Feast. What he's doing is really no more than just a cultural anniversary commemorating and mimicking some of the features of the ancient practice. And that might be okay if someone wants to do what he does - but it's not Torah.

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