Picking-Up Where We Left Off 

What I want to do this week is to pick-up from where we left off from the last installment of this series within a series which was entitled: “You Are Called a Jew” and move on through verses 19 through 24 in this installment. 

And the title for this week’s post is: “Blaspheming the Name of God.” Still part of this “A Question of One’s Jewishness” series.

 A Challenging Title 

Now, I’m sure that the title “Blaspheming the Name of God” will get the attention of a small number of discerning or rather discriminating folks of Faith who are sensitive to the whole concept of blasphemy. 

I also suspect that most folks who come across this title will bypass or overlook it because it’s not tantalizing—provocative or controversial enough for them. Most folks don’t care to know anything about the subject of blaspheming the Name of our Elohim simply because they feel it’s an act or action that is below them. That is, they are not going to find themselves in a blasphemous state. Or worse, they suspect they’ve may have committed blasphemy at some point in their lives and they simply don’t want to come to terms with the ramification of their having committed such a transgression.

 An Important Topic

Regardless, blaspheming (otherwise referred to as shaming, polluting, defiling, profaning) the Name of Yah is an important subject that we must not shy away from. And it is here in our focus passage of Romans 2:19-24 that Shaul lays the blame for the Goyim’s blaspheming of the Name at the feet of his rhetorical religious figure.

 Not So Much About What We Call Him 

I will tell you right now before we get too much further along into our discussion here today, that Blasphemy of the Name of YHVH is NOT the same as Blasphemy of or against the Holy Spirit. Contextually speaking, they are two different felonies altogether, although the commission of either carries with it severe, even dire consequences.

 Two Separate Transgressions

Scripture affirms that despite the deadly consequences that Father has often attached to these transgressions, He will forgive the one, who for whatever reason blasphemes His Name, if they repent and seek His forgiveness (Matthew 12:31-32).

On the other hand, Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (otherwise known as the “Unpardonable Sin”),” according to our Master, if committed, will never be forgiven, regardless the reason one commits it (Matthew12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29; Luke 12:10). 

Now, because I don’t want to get off-track from our focus topic and passage, we won’t tackle this very hard to take in subject of the Unpardonable Sin. We will tackle it in another installment of this program, Abba willing.

 Our Plan of Attack

 So today we will define exactly what it means to blaspheme or pollute the Name of Yehovah; the consequences for committing such a transgression; and what needs to be done to correct all incidents of this critical sin. 

But before we tackle this particular concern about blaspheming the Name, let’s work our way up to our focus verse of 2:24 by examining verses 19 through 23 first.

 Looking Back

I would ask you to recall from our last installment that much of our discussion centered around our examination of the character of Shaul’s rhetorical religious figure.  (And if you’ve not taken the opportunity to read or listen to that post, I humbly invite you to do so.) The rhetorical figure Shaul was describing in his diatribe was the “religious Jew.” And we saw Shaul begin his literary sketch of the “religious Jew,” who took great pride and comfort, not in his covenant relationship with Yehovah, but in his Jewishness: his heritage; his culture; his biology and such.

 Serious Spiritual Deficiencies

And we didn’t need to go too much deeper into the chapter to realize that in Shaul’s mind, his rhetorical, religious figure was in severe spiritual trouble, especially when we contextually factor into his literary sketch of this figure, Shaul’s earlier assertion that a judgment would be levied upon those who reject the Ways of the Almighty (2:12). Those who claimed Torah but did not walk in Torah would be judged within the framework of Torah, while those who knew nothing of Torah would be judged outside the framework of Torah; namely by the testimony of Yah’s creation. 

So with that, let’s continue our examination of Shaul’s religious figure, beginning with verses 19 and 20.

 Paul Confronts Religious Conceitedness 

“And [you religious Jew] are confident (Greek of “peitho” which means to be confident or persuaded) that thou thyself art a guide (Greek of “hodegos” which means a leader of the way; a teacher of the ignorant and inexperienced) of the blind (Greek of “tuphlos” which means of the mentally blind), a light of them which are in darkness (Greek for “skotos” which is a metaphor); an instructor of the foolish (Greek of “aphron” which means those without intelligence and who act rashly), a teacher of babes (Greek for “nepios” which means the untaught and unskilled), which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law (that is, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth).”

It should not be too difficult to recognize here that this religious figure is conceited. To be conceited is to be excessively proud of oneself to the point of being vain. Otherwise described in scripture as being wise in one’s own eyes (Pro. 3:7).

 The Dangers of Being Conceited

Throughout scripture we are warned of the dangers of being conceited. We are told that conceit has the potential of bringing one to destruction (Prov. 26:12; Isa. 5:21; Rom. 1:22; 12:16; 1 Cor. 8:1-2). The prophet Isaiah declared:

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes (I.e., conceited)” (Isa. 5:21; NKJV).

 Conceit Leads to Spiritual Darkness

Master taught that conceitedness leads to spiritual darkness in one’s life. Consequently, spiritual darkness creates a great spiritual tripping or falling hazard (Mat. 6:23; 15:14). Therefore, it stands to reason that conceit can cause one to be blind to their sins. And blindness to our sins creates a separation between us and Yah (Joh. 9:40-41). 

Clearly this is a primary concern the apostle had as it related to such religious figures as described in our focus passage. And sadly, our Faith Community is not lacking her share of conceited persons: each of them primed for a great fall if they do not turn from conceited ways.

 Accumulation of Knowledge Puffs One Up

You know, there’s something about the accumulation of knowledge–be it general knowledge or Torah knowledge–that causes, as the apostle describes, one to become puffed up, or in our modern western parlance: full of themselves; feeling as though they’ve arrived (1 Cor. 8:1). 

There is nothing wrong with being knowledgeable, especially knowledgeable of the Ways of Yah. But that knowledge is problematic when it causes us to take our eyes off the originator of that knowledge and put it on ourselves; when that knowledge becomes the thing that we take pride in and rest our eternal destiny on. For the only thing we should take pride in is our Elohim-our relationship with Elohim. That knowledge that we strive to accumulate and then hoard to ourselves is useless if it’s not properly put to the work of the gospel and promoting the Kingdom of Yah.

 The Religious Jew as a Light and Teacher

Shaul brings up the issue of the religious Jew believing that by virtue of his Jewishness that he is the light and teacher to the blind world. And these are indeed interesting topics that I want to discuss. But we will for now save them for a future installment of this program, Abba willing. 

Moving on to 2:21-22

“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest (the Greek is bdelusso which means to turn oneself away from on account of the stench or metaphorically to detest) idols, does thou commit sacrilege (that is, do you rob temples-speaking of the looting of pagan temple riches)?”

 The Hypocrisy of the Religious One

The central theme or issue of concern here that should be evident to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear is that of “hypocrisy.” Shaul’s rhetorical figure appears to be, in addition to being conceited, a flaming hypocrite. 

Our Master confronted the conceitedness and hypocrisy that was common among the religious Jews of His day:

Matthew 7:3-5–“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?“

Matthew 23:3-4–“All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe (that being of Torah), that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”

Shaul earlier in this letter also confronted these conditions when he wrote:

“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same things” (Rom. 2:1).

 Robbing Pagan Temples

Now, Shaul’s reference to “committing sacrilege” is best translated in our modern parlance as “robbing temples.” And the temples in question here are pagan temples, not the Mishkan (or Temple) in Yerushalayim. 

Turns out that despite Torah’s prohibition against Yah’s set-apart people having anything to do with the idolatry and paganistic practices by their neighbors (such as recorded in Deuteronomy 7:25-26), it was not uncommon for certain Jews to steal articles from pagan temples. And these common thieves, if you will, would either adorn their homes with these expensive items, or simply sell them for personal financial gain. This is otherwise known as “Jewish plundering of pagan temples.” And it goes without saying that such acts not only violated Yah’s prohibition against stealing, but also against self-defilement: for one who handles pagan-related objects would by default be made impure or polluted and not eligible for worship.

 The Contrary Nature of the Religious Jew 

So, what we should start to see emerge from our reading of the apostle’s literary description of the religious Jew here is the bottom line or gist to what his diatribe was meant to convey. In effect, Shaul purposed to confront some of his kinsmen’s contrary behavior (but not necessarily against any specific Roman Messianic Jews): their conceitedness; their hypocrisy; their contrariness of heart; their intentional transgressions against Yah’s Torah. For these individuals in particular fail to practice that which they, by calling themselves Jews or Yisra’el or children of Avraham, would be expected to do. And connecting this understanding back to our earlier discussions on this chapter of Romans, such religious personalities, just like the unconverted gentile, were subject to judgment (2:12,16). And because these proudly proclaim they are the keepers and teachers of Torah, they will face judgment within the framework of Torah. In fact, the very thing–Torah–which they customarily use to condemn the gentile will ultimately be the thing that will condemn them. 

Again, this is general rhetoric against Jewish disobedience and sin–better, against all religious disobedience and sin that the apostle is framing here. This is not an indictment against all Jews nor against his Roman Messianic Jewish readers.

Our Focus Passage

And finally, we get to the crux of our focus passage 2:23-24, which reads:

“You who make your boast in the Law, do you dishonor (the Greek being “atimazo” which means to treat with insult in word, deed or even thought) God through breaking the Law? For the Name of Yah is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written” (cf. Eze. 16:27; 36:22 Isa. 52:5)

 Father’s Reputation Is Everything

Father’s reputation means everything to Him. And when His people decide to act a fool and openly transgress His Torah while proudly proclaiming to be one of His, well they grossly dishonor Him. And that dishonoring of Yah leads, most painfully, into “blasphemy of the Name of Yah among the Gentiles (verse 24).” The Gentiles blaspheme Yah on account of Yah’s wayward people’s evident contrariness. The Jew of Shaul’s day made a spectacle of themselves as a result of their blatant disobedience in the sight of the Gentile nation peoples of the world. And their spectacle led to those very Gentile nations blaspheming Yah’s Name.

Malachi 1:6–“A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is My honor? If I am your master, where is My respect? YHVH who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of My Name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your Name” (NET)?

The primary Tanakh passage that I feel best supports our focus passage is Ezekiel 36, beginning with verse 17:

“Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior and their deeds. In My sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period. So I poured My anger on them because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it. I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them. But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned My holy Name. It was said of them, ‘These are the people of YHVH, yet they have departed from His land.’ I was concerned for My holy reputation which the House of Israel profaned among the nations where they went” (17-21; NET).

 Blasphemy of the Name is a Transgression of Torah

To blaspheme or profane the Name (that is the Name by which we call our Elohim and everything having to do with the Person-the character-authority-glory-presence of the Creator) of YHVH is a transgression of Torah.

Leviticus 19:12–“You shall not swear by My Name falsely, and so profane the Name of your Elohim: I am YHVH” (ESV).

Leviticus 24:16–“Whoever blasphemes the Name of YHVH shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death” (ESV).

 A Personal Example

Thinking back to my days as an officer in the U.S. Navy: if one were to commit certain crimes or behave in a certain way and just so happened to get caught, tried and convicted of those crimes or misdeeds, he or she stood to lose his/her commission, benefits and retirement on account of behavior that was “unbecoming of an officer of the U.S. Military.” You see, the military officer corps is supposed to represent or image the finest ideals and values of each branch of service. And when an officer acts in a manner contrary to those values and ideals, they bring dishonor to that branch of service. So, in order to ensure that those established ideals and values are reinforced, the leadership of the branch of service that is in question, will charge the offending officer with the crime of “behavior unbecoming of an officer” of whichever branch of service is involved. And because of that charge, the officer pretty much loses everything he or she worked for up to that point in their career.

 Shaming and Dishonoring the Name

This is, in a sense, what we’re talking about when we’re talking about shaming, polluting, dishonoring and blaspheming the Name of YHVH? That is, Yah’s elect bringing shame and dishonor to the Name of YHVH; sullying the reputation of our Elohim before the nation peoples of the world which has the potential of enticing the unbelieving world to also blaspheme His Name.

 The Church Triumphant is Guilty of Blaspheming the Name

The Church Triumphant has done a fine job polluting the Name of Yah and causing the world at large to blaspheme Yah’s holy and righteous Name. And they’ve done so as a result of their failure to uphold and live in accordance with the tenets, ideals and values of the true Faith once delivered. For they fail to teach their people to obey Yah’s Word and to walk in covenant with the Eternal. They instead encourage their people to walk in accordance with the ways and traditions of their religion and organizations, which ideally suits the desires and preferences of their members. And to add insult to injury, these have a tendency of behaving just like their counterparts in the world. Shaul describes these as “having a form of Godliness, but [they-by their contrary living] deny its power…” (2 Tim. 3:5). 

This, of course, happens while the leaders of these organizations, along with their members, proudly claim the Name of YHVH as their own. Consequently, the secular world sees and recognizes the church’s hypocrisy and contrariness and mocks and blasphemes the Name of YHVH. 

Folks, I get that the vast majority of members of the Church Triumphant are generally not of Yah’s elect-His set-apart, covenant walking people. But the fact of the matter is that these have general possession and  knowledge of Yah’s set-apart Word. And thus, they have no excuse for not walking in accordance with Yah’s Way of Life. 

The Apostle Peter expounded upon the consequences of Yah’s so-called elect dishonoring, shaming and blaspheming His Name in his 2^nd Epistle:

“And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers (and by extension, because of the example of the contrary, hypocritical, errant Jew and Messianic or even Christian), the Way of Truth will be slandered (or better, blasphemed, reviled, or even treated with contempt)” (2 Pet. 2:2).

 Our Ancient Cousins Caused the Gentiles to Blaspheme His Name

In the days of the Hebrew Prophets, Yisra’el’s sins led to the nation’s exile and captivity. Going into exile and captivity, the nation’s reputation preceded them. Their Gentile captors and or conquerors knew they claimed themselves to be YHVH’s chosen people. However, those same captors and conquerors knew the Hebrews to be hypocrites and inconsistent in their profession and living out their faith. This naturally led to these belligerent nations openly mocking and dishonoring YHVH–effectively blaspheming His authority, holiness and sovereignty. 

What Do We Really Mean by Blaspheming the Name of God?

So, what’s the real deal when it comes to one blaspheming, defiling, polluting or profaning the Name of YHVH? I think we can all agree that none of us wants to be guilty of such a transgression.

First and foremost, blaspheming or profaning Yah’s Name, in the context of our focus passage, does not necessarily refer to a mispronunciation or misappropriation of that name or title of which we call Him or refer to Him by: Either in one’s prayers, teachings, worship, exhortations or even general conversation. I will concede, however, that any misappropriation or irreverent references to the Name(s) that we refer to Father by, be it intentional or unintentional, is certainly not a wise thing to do. For Abba has declared He will not be mocked in any way, shape or form (Gal. 6:7).

Putting Blasphemy Into Proper Perspective

It seems that a lot of folks who are partial to the Sacred Names movement or similar denominations within the Hebrew Roots Faith, tend to use passages such as our focus passage to teach and promote the erroneous doctrine(s) that anyone who dares not pronounce the Name of Abba as they declare it to be, are guilty of blaspheming or profaning the Name of Yah. 

We will, however, quickly see that blaspheming, profaning, polluting the Name of Yah goes well beyond the realm of pronunciation or articulation of Abba’s Name.

 Blaspheming the Name Delves into the Improper Worship of YHVH

In Malachi 1:11-2:7, we find that Yisra’el failed to worship YHVH as He’d prescribed in His Torah. Malachi described to his readers that the Hebrews had engaged in “deceptive worship” of Yah. In other words, the Hebrews half-heartedly went through the motions of worship as prescribed in Torah, often cutting corners in their sacrifices to Yah. Furthermore, they were being hypocritical in their Faith walk: declaring to the world that they were righteous children of Yah, when in fact they were willfully transgressing Yah’s Torah at every turn. They were essentially engaging in spiritual adultery.

 YHVH Knows the Truth

 Unfortunately for them, the Eternal saw through their shenanigans. And thus, YHVH informed his cheating wife, Yisra’el, that His favor would be removed from them and ultimately passed on to the Goyim, otherwise referred to by the Hebrews as the heathen nations. Malachi prophesied that the Goyim would someday turn to YHVH as their Elohim (Mal. 1:11; Psm. 113:3; Isa. 45:6).

 Father Charges His People

Therefore, Father charged His people with profaning His Holy and Righteous Name. And one of the ways Father describes how Yisra’el profaned or blasphemed His Name was in her sacrificing animals that did not meet Torah’s exacting standards (Mal. 1:12-14; cf. Eze. 36:21-23).

 When we, who are supposed to be His chosen ones, willfully violate YHVH’s instructions that we vowed to keep, we insult Him and show contempt towards Him. It is a form of blaspheming or profaning His Holy Name.

What’s In a Name?

So, what do we mean by His Holy Name? Well, we talked about this earlier: His Name includes His authority; His sovereignty; His presence; His character; His glory; his wisdom; His holiness and righteousness; His Person or His Being.

 We find in the case of the Prophet Amos that profaning the Name of Yah by His people is not limited to their violating the Torah of sacrifices unto YHVH. Amos described the profanation of Yah’s Name as resulting from the mistreatment of the poor and destitute of the Land and gross sexual misconduct (2:7). 

So, we clearly see from these two examples that those who willfully behave contrary to Yah’s Torah bring shame to Yah’s Name. These effectively blaspheme the Name of YHVH. And Yah does not appreciate that at all.

 Torah-Teachers are Most Responsible

Of note are so-called Torah-teachers who willfully violate Yah’s Torah. These will be judged harshly by the very Torah they demand their students obey. 

The Levitical Priests were responsible for guarding and proclaiming Yah’s Name. In fact, Father viewed their worship of Him, when done according to His instructions, was a clear and brilliant manifestation of His Name being upheld, proclaimed and reverenced in the sight of the nation peoples of the world.

 The Levitical Priests of Malachi’s Day

So, we find that in Malachi’s day, that the priests miserably failed to uphold, proclaim and reverence Abba’s Name as they were specially commissioned to do. Given the contemptible nature of the peoples’ behavior and worship, they were scattered among the nations: booted out of the Land. And as a direct result their blaspheming the Name of Yah, the Holy, spiritual Name of the Creator of the Universe was desecrated and disgraced (I.e., profaned) by the nations that they were banished to.

 Abba Does Not Tolerate Disrespect

And Torah reveals that YHVH does not tolerate such gross disrespect, especially from His chosen ones (Lev. 22). And thus Yisra’el reaped what they’d sown by their contempt and irreverence of their Elohim’s Name. 

We find in each example where Yah’s people have profaned His Name, they demonstrated a disregard for the essential elements of purity, holiness and righteousness. Thus, when Yah’s people begin to disregard these essential elements in their worship of Yah or even in their day-to-day Faith walk, complete transgression of Torah and shaming of His Name is an inevitability.

 Righteousness-Holiness-Purity

Thus, righteousness, holiness and purity must be the basis upon which every Netzari’s relationship with the Almighty rests (Lev. 20:7; Psm. 24:4; Mat. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2.22; 1 Pet. 1:15-16). And this applies not only to our day-to-day behavior, but also to every aspect of our worship of Him. 

When a child of the Most High mistreats or holds the things of YHVH in contempt, he/she profanes Yah’s Name before the unbelieving world. And of course, we’ve see this being played out numerous times in denominational Christianity.

 A Recent Revelation

Just recently, revelation of the alleged years’ long corruption of a very prominent Christian apologist and teacher was made known to the world. And the details of this individual’s alleged corrupt ways, apparently now public record, not only brought shame upon his ministry and the many devoted workers of that ministry, but more so, it brought shame to the sacredness and purity that is supposed to be associated with the Christian Faith. Thus, the world has, through the revelation of this man’s corruption, found another excuse to hold the Name of YHVH in contempt. (It should be mentioned that this individual died prior to the details of his corruption being made public.) 

And thus, the Christian world is having to work through this hellacious stigma on several levels. But in the small number of posts that I’ve seen addressing this situation, the expressed concerns were for the reputation of this man’s organization and the well-being of the family. Indeed, these concerns are understandable. But the real concern that this organization needs to have is its role in blaspheming–its profaning the Name of YHVH to the unconverted of this world.

And what makes these matters worse, of course, is when the unbelieving world feels at even greater liberty to utter blasphemous—disrespectful—shameful words against the Creator of the Universe in response to His peoples’ acts of contempt towards and disrespect of their Elohim.

 Judgment is Coming

Is there no wonder why the Apostle Yochanan (John) wrote of a coming Great Tribulation that will overwhelm the nation-peoples of this world? I cannot help but think that a great deal of the tribulation that will be wrought upon the unredeemed population of this world will be in recompense for their widespread transgressing, profanation or blaspheming of Yah’s Name. 

Yah will not be disrespected nor His Name profaned, especially before the unredeemed:

“But I wrought for My Name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt” (Eze. 20:9).

 The Penalty for Blaspheming His Name

Any and all blasphemy of Yah’s Name will ultimately result in the offenders’ shame (ref. Nah. 3:5-6; Isa. 47:3; Jer. 13:27; Mal. 2:3). Yah is emphatic about this. Shaul warns:

“Be NOT deceived; Yah is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).

And those who claim to belong to YHVH and are brazen enough to pollute His Name before the heathen, like Yah did with Yisra’el, those blasphemers will lose any protection and well-being that would come to them by virtue of their set-apart status:

“Nevertheless, I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my Name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth” (Eze. 20:22).

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 How Do We Avoid Blaspheming the Name of Yah?

Now, the opposite of defaming, profaning, blaspheming, shaming or polluting the Holy and Righteousness Name of Yah is to sanctify, glorify or proclaim it. And the way we sanctify, glorify and proclaim Yah’s Name is to do exactly the opposite of what people do to profane His Name. We keep His Ways and obey His instructions; we revere Him and magnify Him in every aspect of our lives. We don’t do, say or think of that which runs contrary to His holiness and righteousness, such that any who come into our circle of influence might use as an opportunity to doubt Yah; to scoff at Yah; to deny His sovereignty; to diminish Him in the eyes of others who may be seeking after Him. 

By our profession of Faith and our agreeing to walk in covenant with the Creator of the Universe, we carry within our being Yah’s holy and righteous Name. Anything we do that transgresses His Ways and our elect status, especially in the sight of the unredeemed of this world, blasphemes/profanes His Name.

 Personal Confession

I’ve personally had to repent and seek Abba’s forgiveness for this transgression a few times in My life. For I have been convicted a few times during my time walking in this Faith of ours that I did not represent Yah nor our Faith before those who I interacted with at some level or another. I’m talking neighbors, friends, family and co-workers. I am not proud of those times when I failed to uplift, glorify, magnify the Name of Yah before others; to imitate our Master Yeshua, but instead showed forth to them a less than flattering testimony. But the good news is that Yah’s Ruach (His Spirit) convicted me, and I have made things right with my Redeemer in this respect. Praise Yah.

 Call to Action

So, let’s make a very conscious effort to honor, sanctify and glorify the Name of YHVH in every area of our lives and not give opportunity to the enemy to blaspheme the Name of our loving, awesome and great Elohim. He alone deserves all the glory, honor and praise we can muster.

Praise Him! Shalom-shalom.