OrthJBC - Hebrews - 8

8:1  Now the main point of what is being said is this: we have such a Kohen Gadol, who has taken his seat LIMIN HASHEM ("at the right hand of the kisse of the kavod in Shomayim"--Tehillim 110:1).

8:2  Our Kohen Gadol is mesharet baKodesh of the true Mishkan set up by Adoneinu and not any mere mortal.

8:3  For every Kohen Gadol receives his semicha in order to offer both minchot and zevakhim, from which it was necessary for this Kohen Gadol to have something also which he might offer.

8:4  If, therefore, he were on ha'aretz he would not be a kohen, als (since) there are kohanim who offer every korban according to the Torah;

8:5  however, the avodas kodesh ministry of these kohanim is service of a copy and shadow of the things in Shomayim, just as Moshe Rabbeinu was warned, when he was about to complete the Mishkan for "URE'EH" ("Now see to it"), Hashem says, "VA'ASEH BETAVNITAM ASHER ATAH MAREH BAHAR" ("that you will make it according to the pattern having been shown to you on the mountain"--Shemot 25:40).

8:6  But now our Kohen Gadol has attained a more fest (excellent) avodas kodesh ministry in as much as he is also the Melitz (Iyov 33:23; Yeshayah 43:27; Divrey haYomim Bais 32:31; Yeshayah 42:4; cf. Devarim 5:5, 22-31) of a more fest (excellent) Berit upon which more auspicious havtachot (promises) have been enacted. ORTHODOX JUDAISM'S BRIT CHADASHA IS MORE EXCELLENT THAN ANY OTHER

8:7  For if the Brit haRishonah had been without fault, it would not have been necessary to speak about a Brit haShniyah [Yirmeyah 31:30-33 (31-34)].

8:8  For, when Hashem finds fault with them, he says, "HINEH YAMIM BA'IM, NE'UM HASHEM, VKHARATI ES BEIS YISRAEL VES BEIS YEHUDAH BRIT CHADASHA" ("Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will establish with the Beis Yisroel and with the Beis Yehudah a Brit Chadasha")

8:9  "LO KHABRIT ASHER KARATI ES AVOTAM B'YOM HECHEZIKI BEYADAM L'HOTZIAM ME'ERETZ MITZRAYIM ASHER HEMMAH HEFERU ES BRITI V'ANOKHI BA'ALTI VAM, NE'UM HASHEM" ("Not like the Brit that I made with their forefathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; because they broke my Brit, though I was a husband to them")

8:10  "KI ZOT HABRIT ASHER EKHROT ES BEIS YISROEL ACHAREI HAYAMIM HAHEM, NE'UM HASHEM; NATATI ES TORATI BEKIRBAM V'AL LIBAM EKHTAVENNAH, V'HAYITI LAHEM LELOHIM V'HEMMAH YIH'YU LI LE'AM" ("Because this is the Brit which I will make with the Beis Yisroel after those days, says Hashem: putting my Torah into the mind of them and upon the levavot of them I will write it and I will be to them G-d and they will be to me a people").

8:11  "V'LO YELMEDU OD ISH ES RE'EHU V'ISH ES AKHIYU LEMOR, DE'U ES HASHEM; KI KHULAM YEDE'U OTI LEMIKTANNAM V'AD GEDOLAM" ("No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying `Have da'as of Hashem,` because they will all have da'as of me, from the least of them to the greatest.")

8:12  "KI ESLACH LA'AVONAM ULECHATATAM LO EZKAR OD" ("For I will forgive the wickedness of them and their sin I will remember no more."--Yirmeyah 31:30-33 [31-34]). A PROPHETIC FINGER IS POINTED TO THE AVODAS KODESH OF THE KEHUNAH AND THE KOHEN GADOL AND THE BEIS HAMIKDASH AND THE SINAI BRIT UNDER WHICH THESE HOLY THINGS AND SACRIFICES WERE ESTABLISHED. IT IS SAID THAT THIS BRIT HAS BEEN FULFILLED BY A BRIT "CHADASHA" IN REBBE, MELECH HAMOSHIACH, MEANING THAT THE YOM KIPPUR SACRIFICES OF THE KOHEN GADOL IN THE BEIS HAMIKDASH WERE FULFILLED IN REBBE, MELECH HAMOSHIACH NISAN 14-16, 30 C.E. (THESE WORDS WERE WRITTEN BEFORE 70 C.E. AND IN 70 C.E. THE YOM KIPPUR AVODAS KODESH OF THE KOHEN GADOL DID IN FACT DISAPPEAR, EXCEPT AS IT IS CONTINUED IN THE AVODAS KODESH OF REBBE, MELECH HAMOSHIACH IN SHOMAYIM.) THERE IS NO THOUGHT HERE THAT HASHEM IS FINISHED WITH HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE OR THAT THEIR ANCIENT BRIT IS NO LONGER IMPORTANT FOR THEIR RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND SUSTANENCE AS A PEOPLE OR THAT IT NO LONGER HAS SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE PRACTICE OF THEIR RELIGION OR THAT THEY CAN FORGET THE TORAH AND THE MITZVOT OF THE SINAI COVENANT; THE AUTHOR IS ONLY SHOWING THAT THE DOOR TO SALVATION IS THROUGH THE REBBE, MELECH HAMOSHIACH AND THAT JEWISH PEOPLE MUST NOT LEAVE HIM AND HIS BRIT CHADASHA OUT OF THE PRACTICE OF THEIR ANCIENT AND REVERED FAITH, WHICH HAS NOT CHANGED FROM ITS ESSENTIAL JEWISHNESS, THOUGH THERE HAS BEEN A "CHANGING OF THE GUARD" IN TERMS OF KOHANIM GEDOLIM. BUT THE JEWISH RELIGION HAS NOT BEEN CHANGED AND THE ONE G-D WHO IS WORSHIPED HAS NOT CHANGED AND THE SINAI COVENANT HAS NOT BEEN DISCARDED. THE SHLUCHIM OF THE BRIT CHADASHA STILL PRACTICED THEIR RELIGION IN TERMS OF THE SINAI COVENANT, BUT THEY LOOKED TO ANOTHER KOHEN GADOL FOR THE KAPPARAH OF THEIR REDEMPTION, AND IT WAS YEHOSHUA AND NOT CAIAPHA, AND THEY LOOKED TO WHAT HAPPENED NISAN 14-16 30 C.E. AND NOT YOM KIPPUR, OR RATHER THEY LOOKED TO THEIR KOHEN-MOSHIACH'S (TEHILLIM 110:4) ETERNAL YOM KIPPUR IN SHOMAYIM FOR THEIR SELICHA AND NOT TO THE YOM KIPPUR IN THE BEIS HAMIKDASH WHICH HAS DISAPPEARED

8:13  When Hashem uses the word "CHADASHA" he has thereby made the Brit haRishonah HaBrit HaYeshanah and a Brit thus made is near to disappearance.