The Queen of Heaven: Part 1

(2) He said: YHVH came from Sinai, and shone upon them from Seir; appeared from Mount Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-kodesh. Lightning flashing at them from Their right.

Rebbi Phineas in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: The Torah which He gave to Moses was white fire engraved in black fire; it is of fire quarried from fire, born from fire, given into the right hand of the Holy One, praise to Him, at it is said, From His right hand, the fiery law to them. The Torah which the Holy One, Praise to Him, gave to Moses, was white fire engraved in black fire. It was fire mixed with fire; hewn from fire, given from fire: That is what is written Deut33:2.: From His right hand, the fiery law to them.

אשדת (lit., “fire, Law”, or “fire of Law”) — i.e. the Law which had been written before Him from olden times in black fire upon white fire (Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 1).

...At first, it is amazing what is written: "A [new] Torah will go out from me" (Isaiah 51:4): Isn't it one of the thirteen principles that this Torah will never be exchanged nor will there be another Torah?
The matter is like this: We know that the letters of the Torah are like inner lights which come into visibility through a sequence of descent through the worlds. The white borders which surround the letters are like circumscribing light which isn't visible but rather hidden, like a circumscribing light.
From this it is understandable that even the white borders are also like letters, but they are hidden letters, higher (deeper) than the revealed letters.
And this is the reason why it is forbidden for the letters of a Torah scroll to touch each other, because by touching one obliterates and hides the quality of the white matter which is the hidden letters.... (Translation: Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)

(21) You shall not set up a sacred post—any kind of pole beside the altar of your God יהוה that you may make—

(7) The Israelites did what was offensive to YHVH; they ignored the YHVH their God and worshiped the Baalim and the Asheroth.

(1) YHVH said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

(3) I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name YHVH.

(23) Amon’s servants conspired against him; and they killed the king in his palace. (24) But the people of the land put to death all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his stead.

(8) Then the high priest Hilkiah said to the scribe Shaphan, “I have found a scroll of the Teaching in the House of YHVH.” And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, who read it. (9) The scribe Shaphan then went to the king and reported to the king: “Your servants have melted down the silver that was deposited in the House, and they have delivered it to the overseers of the work who are in charge at the House of YHVH.” (10) The scribe Shaphan also told the king, “The high priest Hilkiah has given me a scroll”; and Shaphan read it to the king. (11) When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Teaching, he tore his clothes.

(13) “Go, inquire of YHVH on my behalf, and on behalf of the people, and on behalf of all Judah, concerning the words of this scroll that has been found. For great indeed must be the YHVH's wrath that has been kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this scroll to do all that has been prescribed for us.”

(15) She responded: “Thus said the YHVH, the God of Israel: Say to the one who sent you to me: (16) Thus said the YHVH: I am going to bring disaster upon this place and its inhabitants, in accordance with all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah has read. (17) Because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods and provoked My anger with all their deeds, My wrath is kindled against this place and it shall not be quenched. (18) But say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the YHVH: Thus said the YHVH, the God of Israel: As for the words that you have heard— (19) because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before YHVH when you heard what I decreed against this place and its inhabitants—that it will become a desolation and a curse—and because you rent your clothes and wept before Me, I for My part have listened—declares YHVH. (20) Assuredly, I will gather you to your ancestors and you will be laid in your tomb in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.” So they brought back the reply to the king.

(4) Then the king ordered the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second rank, and the guards of the threshold to bring out of the Temple of YHVH all the objects made for Baal and Asherah and all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and he removed the ashes to Bethel. (5) He suppressed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to make offerings at the shrines in the towns of Judah and in the suburbs of Jerusalem, and those who made offerings to Baal, to the sun and moon and constellations—all the host of heaven. (6) He brought out the Asherah from the House of YHVH to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and burned it in the Kidron Valley; he beat it to dust and scattered its dust over the burial ground of the common people. (7) He tore down the cubicles of the sacred sex workersin the House of YHVH, at the place where the women wove coverings for Asherah.

(14) He shattered their pillars and cut down their Asherim and covered their sites with human bones.

(20) He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the shrines who were there, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

(24) Josiah also did away with the ghosts and the mediums, the teraphim/female sacred objects and the idols—all the detestable things that were to be seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. Thus he fulfilled the terms of the Teaching recorded in the scroll that the priest Hilkiah had found in the House of YHVH.

(15) Thereupon they answered Jeremiah—all the men who knew that their wives made offerings to other gods; all the women present, a large gathering; and all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt: (16) “We will not listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the name of YHVH. (17) On the contrary, we will do everything that we have vowedeto make offerings to the Queen of Heaven and to pour libations to her, as we used to do, we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty to eat, we were well-off, and suffered no misfortune. (18) But ever since we stopped making offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pouring libations to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and by famine. (19) And when we make offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pour libations to her, is it without our husbands’ approval that we have made kavanim/cakes in her likenes and poured libations to her?”

(6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

(6) Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth tree of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land. (7) YHVH appeared to Abram and said, “I will assign this land to your offspring.” And he built an altar there to YHVH who had appeared to him.

(18) And Abram moved his tent, and came to dwell at the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and he built an altar there to YHVH.

(1) YHVH appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinth treess of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot.

(33) [Abraham] planted a tamarisk tree at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of YHVH, the Everlasting God.

(3) So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He cut up the tree for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him.

(8) Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and was buried under the oak below Bethel; so it was named the Oak Tree of Weeping.

(4) Deborah, a fiery woman, was a prophet; she led Israel at that time. (5) She used to sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for decisions.

(23) The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Pact, and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds.

(16) God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.

(19) And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These your God YHVH allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven;

(3) turning to the worship of other gods and bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, something I never commanded—

(21) In that day, YHVH will punish the multitudes of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on earth. (22) They shall be gathered in a dungeon as captives are gathered; and shall be locked up in a prison. But after many days they shall be remembered. (23) Then the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun shall be abashed. For YHVH of Multitudes will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the Presence will be revealed to God’s elders.

(2) This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

(4) Blow the horn on the new moon,on the full moon for our feast day.

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It is also mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud that women have a custom not to perform work at the beginning of the month. In the chapter 44 from the teachings of Rabbi Eliezer, it is noted that women did not want to give their earrings to their husbands for the sin of the Golden Calf. Therefore, God rewarded them by allowing them to observe Rosh Chodesh more than men.
I heard from my brother, Rabbi Yitzhak, a reason for this practice: the festivals were established in connection to the patriarchs. Pesach corresponds to Abraham, as it is written (Genesis 18), "Prepare and make cakes." Shavuot corresponds to Isaac because the sounding of the shofar at the giving of the Torah was with the ram's horn of Isaac. Sukkot corresponds to Jacob, as it is written (Genesis 34), "And for his livestock, he made booths." The twelve heads of the months of the year are also called festivals, corresponding to the twelve tribes. When they sinned with the calf, these festivals were taken from them and given to their wives as a reminder that they were not part of that sin...
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