Eucharist And Todah

[Crusader_4]

Can someone help me with the connection between the Eucharist and the Todah (i think i spelt that right) as well as the the actually term "Thanksgiving" in reference to the Eucharist has a connetion to the Todah...as well as where i could i find more information on the Todah from the Rabbis teaching that it would be an eternal sacrifice....anyone?

[MorphRC]

Eucharist = Thanksgiving. In Translation I think.

[StColette]

[quote]As the word itself says, in its Greek etymology, Eucharist is "thanksgiving"; in it the Son of God joins redeemed humanity to himself in a hymn of thanksgiving and praise. We recall that the Hebrew word "todah," translated as "praise," also means "thanksgiving." The sacrifice of praise was a sacrifice of thanksgiving (see Psalm 50[49]:14,23). In the Last Supper, when instituting the Eucharist, Jesus gave thanks to his Father (see Matthew 26:26-27 and parallels); this is the origin of the name of this sacrament.[/quote]

taken from

Eucharist: intimate communion of love

Pope John Paul II
General Audience
October 11, 2000

found at [url="http://www.stjo-milton.org/resources/euch-aud.htm"]http://www.stjo-milton.org/resources/euch-aud.htm[/url]

[MorphRC]

I remembered something correctly.

[Cure of Ars]

[quote]

Lexicon Results for towdah (Strong's 08426)

Outline of Biblical Usage
1) confession, praise, thanksgiving

a) give praise to God

b) thanksgiving in songs of liturgical worship, hymn of praise

c) thanksgiving choir or procession or line or company

d) thank-offering, sacrifice of thanksgiving

e) confession

Authorized Version (KJV) Translation Count — Total: 32
AV - thanksgiving 18, praise 6, thanks 3, thank offerings 3,
    confession 2; 32

[/quote]

[url="http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/strongs/1091973896-7606.html"]http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/str...73896-7606.html[/url]

To see bible verses that use the word Towdah go here;

[url="http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/t/1091974087-7670.html"]http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/wor...74087-7670.html[/url]

[Cure of Ars]

[quote]
[b]The Todah Sacrifice[/b]

The ancient Jews had a special ritual meal called the Todah (Hebrew: thanks) (pronounce: Taw-DAH). Although the Todah sacrificed an animal, it was greater than other animal sacrifices because it added the suffering of one's own life. David wrote, Ps 40:6,8 "Burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. … I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy law is within my heart." Again, David wrote, Ps 51:17 "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit." And again, Ps 69:30 "I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs." Isaiah spoke the words of God, Is 1:11 "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams." God called instead for a baptism: Is 1:16 "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from My eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good."

The seventy elders who went up with Moses to see God offered the Todah: Ex 24:11 "They beheld God, and ate and drank." Twelve centuries later, twelve apostles beheld God, and ate and drank as Jesus prepared to offer His Todah sacrifice: Lk 22:19 "He took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it…" From the beginning, Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity has been called Holy Eucharist (Greek: eucharistia, thanksgiving).

The ancient rabbis believed that when the Messiah would come all sacrifices except the Todah would cease, but the Todah would continue for all eternity. In 70 AD the Temple fell to earth and all of the bloody animal sacrifices stopped. Only the Todah remains, the eucharistia, the Final Sacrifice at which the last words spoken are Todah l'Adonai, "Thanks be to God." [/quote]

[url="http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/scrip/a6.html"]http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/scrip/a6.html[/url]

[MorphRC]

[url="http://www.catholicapologetics.net/apolo_111.htm"]The Holy Eucharist - by David Goldstein LL.D, 1943. A Jewish convert to Catholicism. Named a "Knight of St. Gregory" by Pope Pius XII in 1955.[/url]

Before explaining another division of the sevenfold sacramental system instituted by Christ, and taught by the Catholic Church, I want you to know that I am only touching upon some of the basic points of import in a study of the subject. The Sacraments are so profound, and their effect so deeply far-reaching, that hundreds of books have been written about each of them. Should you desire to make an exhaustive study of this interesting and profitable question, I would kindly suggest the English edition of the Summa Theologica, by St. Thomas of Aquin, and the articles on each specific topic in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
The sacrament that enthuses me every time I study it, and the knowledge of which is inexhaustible, is the Holy Eucharist, often called the Sacrament of Christ's Love. It is considered by the Church to be the greatest of all the sacraments, as in it Christ gives Himself to the faithful as the Bread of Life. The institution of it is further evidence that Christ claimed powers which abide in God alone.


Christ promised on many occasions before instituting this sacrament, in language unmistakably clear, that He would leave His Body and Blood as grace-producing food that would nourish the soul. Christ said (St. John's Gospel 6) to the Jews -

[i] "I am the Bread of Life."
"I am the living Bread, which came down from heaven."
"This is the Bread that has come down from heaven: not as your fathers ate manna and died. He who eats this Bread shall live forever."
"My flesh is food indeed: and My blood is drink indeed."
"As the loving Father hath sent Me, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats Me, the same also shall live because of Me."[/i]

The Jews, who understood exactly what Christ said, doubted, despite the fact that He had previously demonstrated His sovereignty over nature by taking five barley loaves and two fishes and multiplying them, so as to feed five thousand persons. They asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" The reply of Christ still further emphasized His divine power -

[i]"Amen, amen, I say to you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him."[/i]

It is important to know that this sacrament was instituted on the occasion when priestly functions were conferred upon the Disciples, in fact the Eucharist is part of it. It was during the Passover feast, called the Last Supper, because it was the last true Passover of the Old Law; it was the last meal that Christ had with His Disciples. It took place on the night before He was betrayed. This sacrament (which as a Sacrifice is to be dealt with under the heading of Holy Orders) was instituted thus,

[i]"Jesus took bread, and blessed and broke, and gave to His Disciples, and said, `Take and eat: this is My Body.' And taking a cup, He gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, `All of you drink of this: for it is My Blood of the new covenant (which took the place of the old covenant, foretold in Jer. 31:31), which is being shed (the completion of which was to take place next day upon the Cross) for many unto the forgiveness of sins...'" (interpolations mine; St. Matt 26).[/i]

After this inauguration of the Sacrament, Christ gave to the Disciples the power to do what He did, change the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, in these words, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (St. Luke 20:19). This power to transubstantiate (to change one substance into another), that is to do what Christ did at the Last Supper, which was given to the Disciples, who were the first bishops of Christ's Church, was continued in the succeeding bishops, and through them in the priests, ever since apostolic times.
Belief in this Great Sacrament is based upon belief in the incarnation, which is the assumption of a human nature by the Second Person of the Triune God. By the incarnation, Christ united Himself with human nature; in the Holy Eucharist, Christ entered into personal union with the faithful, individually. Catholics believe this spiritual soul-satisfying food to be the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ upon the authority of Christ as interpreted by His infallible Church. The record of it is in the paintings on the walls of the catacombs; in the New Testament; in an unbroken tradition that dates to the first century of the Christian era; and in the hearts of millions of lay Catholics, beginning with the three thousand Jews converted by St. Peter, who have received Holy Communion at the altar rail of the Catholic Church.
God has fed man miraculously in the past, and He continues to do so today. On the first occasion the physical man was fed on the manna which fell from the skies. With it over a million of the children of Israel were fed during the whole forty years of their journey through the wilderness (Exod. 16). On the second occasion, Christ Himself, having compassion on the hungry multitude, miraculously fed five thousand persons in the desert (St. Matt. 14:14). But necessary as is physical food, it has no eternal value, as has the Holy Eucharist, the spiritual food with which Christ has fed the souls of thousands of millions of persons of all races and nationalities since the Last Supper. Christ feeds, as He said, "not" with the food such "as your fathers ate the manna and died," but with His Body and Blood, with "the Bread that came down from heaven" (St. John 6:59).
The Eucharistic God abides in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church, and is exposed, at times, for the adoration of the faithful in a monstrance, a vessel containing the Host. Hence, when you see Catholic men reverentially removing their hats while passing Catholic churches, remember, please, that they are not saluting the building, as some of my Jewish friends believed. They do so to pay reverence to Christ Jesus, their Lord and God, who is present in the tabernacle of the Church building. The same reason prompts all Catholics to genuflect when they enter the Church, or go into their pews. Israel Zangwill, the noted Jewish novelist, was so deeply impressed with the reverence he witnessed, due to the love of Catholics for Christ in the Eucharist, that he said,

[i]"There are two torrents that amaze me, the one is Niagara, and the other the outpouring of reverent prayer falling perpetually in the Catholic Church. What, with Masses and the exposition of the Host, there is no day or moment of the day in which the praises of God are not being sung somewhere--in noble churches, in dim crypts and underground chapels, in cells and oratories. Niagara is indifferent to spectators, and so the everlasting stream of prayer. As steadfastly and unremittingly as God sustains the universe, so steadfastly and unremittingly is He acknowledged, the human antiphony answering the divine strophe" (Italian Fantasies).[/i]

The Mass; the reverence for the Host; receiving the Bread of Life in Communion; the genuflections; the reverential removal of hats when passing Catholic churches; the "everlasting stream of prayer" that Israel Zangwill saw coming from the hearts of Catholics in the most humble as well as "noble churches," are all based upon confidence in the actual presence of Christ in the Sacrament of His love. This Eucharistic Bread is unending evidence of the divinity of Christ; it causes the Catholic heart to sing out,

[i]"Sweet Sacrament, we adore:
O, Make us love Thee more and more." [/i]

[url="http://www.catholicapologetics.net/apolo_111.htm"]The Holy Eucharist - by David Goldstein LL.D, 1943. A Jewish convert to Catholicism. Named a "Knight of St. Gregory" by Pope Pius XII in 1955.[/url]

[Cure of Ars]

I would also look at this SCOTT HAHN: THE FOURTH CUP

[url="http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~vgg/rc/aplgtc/hahn/m4/4cp.html"]http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~vgg/rc/aplgtc/hahn/m4/4cp.html[/url]

I also found this which talks about the same subject on a orthodox forum;



[quote]In the Seder (Passover meal), there are four cups that represent the structure of the Passover: (1) the first cup is the blessing of the festival day, the kiddush cup; (2) the second cup of wine occurs at the beginning of the Passover service (just prior to the meal) itself, and involves the singing of psalm 113; (3) the third cup, the cup of blessing which involves the actual meal, the unleavened bread and so on; (4) before the fourth cup, they sing the great hil-el (“praise to God”) psalms: 114, 115, 116, 117 and 118; after these psalms, they drink the fourth cup, which for all practical purposes is the climax of the Passover.

The psalms sung before the fourth cup are [b]todah psalms[/b] (thanksgiving to God). In the Old Testament, there were several types of sacrifices: among others, the peace offering, the burnt offering, and the todah (or thanksgiving) offering. The todah offering consisted of bread and wine (more on that below). [/quote]

[url="http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:VVX0oirfowsJ:copticheritage.org/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t1958-sid996de3c977d6c29c5008bdc4fd544dac.phtml+rabbis+Messiah+Todah+sacrifice&hl=en"]http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:VVX0o...sacrifice&hl=en[/url]

[Crusader_4]

Hey thanks pham i will have to sort through all of this and digest it thanks everyone! MorphRC, St. Collette, and Cure of Ars, thanks!

[MorphRC]

yw

[Guest JeffCR07]

If you are still interested in the topic, please read Cardinal Ratzinger's [u]Spirit of the Liturgy[/u] in which he talks specifically of the relation between the Todah (most specifically as it regards the sacrifice of Melchizadek) and its fulfillment in the eucharist, which you will find in Chapters One and Two. His writing is deep, but if you can get through it, it is packed with information.

[MorphRC]

anything by JP2?

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='MorphRC' date='Aug 8 2004, 11:49 PM'] anything by JP2? [/quote]
stcolette provided info from one of JP2's general audiences

(see above)

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='Crusader_4' date='Aug 8 2004, 01:08 PM'] Hey thanks pham i will have to sort through all of this and digest it thanks everyone! MorphRC, St. Collette, and Cure of Ars, thanks! [/quote]
here is another excellent article:

[url="http://catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0124.html"][b]From Jewish Passover to Christian Eucharist: The Story of the Todah[/b][/url]

Scholars have often wondered how the practice of Christian Eucharist could have arisen from the Lord's Supper, which occurred in the context of the Jewish Passover. Since Passover occurs only once a year, how is it that the Christians got the notion that they could celebrate Jesus' sacrificial meal weekly, if not daily?

The answer is found in the ancient Israelite sacrifice called the todah.

While most people have heard of Old Testament sacrifices such as the holocaust offering or burnt offering, those who have heard of the todah sacrifice are as rare as lotto winners. Today's ignorance concerning the todah, however, should not imply that it was unimportant to the Jews. Far from it. The todah was one of the most significant sacrifices of the Jews.

Indeed, an old Rabbinic teaching says: "In the coming Messianic age all sacrifices will cease, but the thank offering [todah] will never cease."(1) What is it about this sacrifice that makes it stand alone in such a way that it would outlast all other sacrifices after the redemption of the Messiah?

A todah sacrifice would be offered by someone whose life had been delivered from great peril, such as disease or the sword. The redeemed person would show his gratitude to God by gathering his closest friends and family for a todah sacrificial meal. The lamb would be sacrificed in the Temple and the bread for the meal would be consecrated the moment the lamb was sacrificed. The bread and meat, along with wine, would constitute the elements of the sacred todah meal, which would be accompanied by prayers and songs of thanksgiving, such as Psalm 116.

What does the word "todah" mean? It is Hebrew for "thanksgiving," although it also connotes a confession of praise in addition to gratitude. For example, Leah gave thanks to God when she bore her fourth son, and so she named him yehudah — or Judah — which is the verbal form of todah — to give thanks.

There are many examples in the Old Testament of people offering todah — thanks — to God. Jonah, while in the belly of the whale, vows to offer up a todah sacrifice in the Temple if he is delivered (cf. Jon. 2:3-10). King Hezekiah offers up a todah hymn upon recovering from a life-threatening illness (cf. Is. 38). However, the best example of todah sacrifice and song is found in the life of King David.

[b]Temple Liturgy[/b]

After David had defeated the last Canaanite stronghold, he decided to bring the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem. The bringing of the ark to Jerusalem was the occasion of a great national todah festival. The sacrifices were "peace offerings," and the todah was the most important and common peace offering. All the elements of the todah were present. For example, David offered bread and wine along with the meat of the sacrifices (1 Chron. 16:3). Most importantly, David had the Levites lead the people in todah hymns, that is, psalms of thanksgiving (1 Chron. 16:8-36).

At this pivotal point in Israel's story, David not only changes the location of the ark, but he also transforms Israel's liturgy. At the todah celebration that brought the ark into Jerusalem, David gave the Levites a new mandate — their primary job was to "invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord" (1 Chron. 16:4). The Hebrew word for "invoke" is zakar, which literally means to remember — the noun form signifying "memorial" (zikkaron). One of the most important purposes of a todah meal was to remember the saving deeds of the Lord. Indeed, this is one of the functions of the todah psalms: to recount the mighty deeds of God (cf. Ps. 22:28).

We are also informed that "on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving [todah] be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brethren" (1 Chron. 16:7). The Levites were to give thanks and praise to God "continually" (1 Chron. 16:37, 40). This perpetual adoration was to characterize the Temple liturgy as a todah liturgy — a liturgy of thanksgiving.(2)

The Psalter made up the heart of the hymns and prayers of the Temple liturgy. In light of David's appointing the Levites to give perpetual thanks, we can see why "the thank offering constituted the cultic basis for the main bulk of the Psalms."(3) The todah psalms have a twofold structure. First, although they may begin with thanks and praise, the first half of the song is largely a lament, where the psalmist recounts how his life was in peril. Then the psalmist recounts how God graciously heard his plea and brought about deliverance from death. Thus the second part of the song, or at least its conclusion, is usually taken up with giving thanks and praise to God.(4) So the movement of the todah psalms is from plight to praise — a movement that reflects Israel's movement from enslavement to exodus — while also looking forward to the paschal mystery of Our Lord.

[b]Todah and Jesus[/b]

The importance of the todah as a backdrop for Jesus and the Last Supper comes into sharp focus when we realize that in Jesus' day the Greek word that would best translate the Hebrew todah was eucharistia, which also means "thanksgiving." From the earliest Christian sources we learn that the celebration of the Lord's meal, or what we call the Mass, was known by Christians as the Eucharist. After all, at the Last Supper Jesus took the bread and wine and gave "thanks" (eucharistia) over them (Luke 22:19).

The German biblical scholar Hartmut Gese claimed that the todah stands behind what Jesus did at the Last Supper. He goes so far as to argue that Jesus' giving thanks over the bread and wine came in the context of a todah sacrifice rather than a Passover meal. However, no other Scripture scholars have followed Gese's theory about the todah backdrop of Jesus' meal, because the evidence for the Passover in the Gospel narratives is overwhelming.

Here is where I would like to make an adjustment to Gese's theory. I think he is right to see the todah backdrop, but wrong to deny the larger Passover context. The solution to the seeming dilemma is actually quite easy. The Last Supper celebrated in the upper room is both a Passover and a todah meal. The Passover has all the same elements found in the todah: bread, wine, and sacrifice of a lamb, along with hymns and prayers. Indeed, the Hallel psalms (113-118), that were sung during the Passover meal were all todah psalms! The Exodus narrative itself has the basic contours of a todah hymn, with Israel in distress and lament calling out to the Lord (cf. Ex. 2:23-25), while the Lord in turn hears their cry and delivers them (cf. Ex. 6:5-7). The Passover has both the form and content of the todah, because it is a concrete example of a todah sacrifice.

Philo, a first-century Jew, describes the Passover as a festival of thanksgiving: "And this festival is instituted in remembrance of, and as giving thanks [eucharistia] for, their great migration which they made from Egypt."(5) Philo focuses here on two key reasons for the Passover: remembrance and thanksgiving (cf. Ex. 12:14, 13:3). Here again we must note how the Passover fits into the todah genre, for remembrance was one of the primary purposes of the todah. The Passover is Israel's corporate todah meal.

When Jesus takes the bread, breaks it, and declares thanksgiving (eucharistia), He is performing the key function of both the todah and Passover — giving thanks for deliverance. But here Jesus is not simply looking back at Israel's history of salvation, but forward to His death and Resurrection. In other words, Jesus is giving thanks to the Father for His love and for the new life to be granted in the Resurrection. Note that Jesus' words over the bread, His thanksgiving, is what the Christian tradition has focused upon — so that they could call every re-enactment of the Last Supper "Eucharist."

In the Eucharist, Christians give thanks for God's deliverance and remember how Jesus brought about the new exodus with His death and Resurrection. For Jesus had told them, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). This act of remembrance is what the todah is all about — recalling in gratitude God's saving deeds. This leads us to one of the key fruits of a todah — or Eucharistic — spirituality: A deep sense of thankfulness leads to worship. Worship flows from gratitude; cut off from gratitude the will to worship withers.

The todah teaches us to trust God with a grateful heart. By "remembering" Jesus' gift of Himself upon the Cross our love for God is rekindled. Such "remembrance," which is the purpose of todah, leads to deeper trust. As the psalmist says, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God" (Ps. 20:7). (6)


[b]ENDNOTES[/b]

[b]1. [/b]Taken from the Pesiqta as quoted in Hartmut Gese, Essays On Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1981), 133.
[b]2. [/b]The prayers for the morning and evening sacrifice were characterized by the todah thanksgiving (1 Chron. 16:40-41). See also Allan Bouley's discussion of how the prayers at the morning and evening sacrifices included thanksgiving formulas in From Freedom to Formula: the Evolution of the Eucharistic Prayer from Oral Improvisation to Written Texts (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1981), 7-13.
[b]3. [/b]Gese, 131.
[b]4. [/b]Some examples from the multitude of todah psalms are Psalms 16, 18, 21, 32, 65, 100, 107, 116, 124, 136.
[b]5. [/b]Philo, The Special Laws, II, 145. The Works of Philo, trans. by C.D. Young (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993), 582.
[b]6. [/b]I use here the KJV translation of Psalm 20:7, which is closer to the Hebrew in my judgment.

Edited August 10, 2004 by phatcatholic

[StColette]

awesome article Thanks phatcatholic