Charlie Kirk, a very vocal advocate of conservative values on university campuses, was shot and killed on September 10, 2025. The name of his organization—Turning Point USA—summed up the mission statement. He believed in traditional marriage, home, family, country, and all of these beliefs were based on his strong Christian faith in God. He avidly argued against abortion as a form of birth control. He stood with Israel against the growing radical Islamist propaganda prevalent on university campuses. Amid all the things said about him, I recently heard that he honored Shabbat—or a semblance of Shabbat on Friday nights to Saturday nights.
Whenever this practice among non-Jewish people is questioned, I ask: Who was the first keeper of Shabbat? The answer is: HaShem—Who established Shabbat when He rested on the seventh day of Creation. This established Shabbat as a day of rest of ALL CREATION. We acknowledge this with our kiddush blessing over the wine each Shabbat. Although this consciousness seemingly went out of the world as Israel receded into exile, the Torah never ceases to be true.
In Deuteronomy 27:2-3 Moses tells the elders of Israel that after they cross the Jordan, they are to set up great stones and coat them with plaster. On these stones they are to inscribe the words of Torah. This would be reminiscent of the tablets of the Torah—the Ten Commandments—inscribed with the finger of God. Talmud tractate Sota 35 says the Torah was inscribed on these stones in the seventy languages of the Nations. This is another proof text that the Ten Commandments were intended for all people of the earth. And that includes the commandment to keep Shabbat.
Among the Prophets’ promises of Redemption, Isaiah specifically addresses this idea of Torah’s inclusion of the people of the Nations in chapter 56.
1Thus said Hashem: Observe Justice and perform righteousness, for My salvation is soon to come and My righteousness to be revealed. 2Praiseworthy is the man who does this and person who grasps it tightly: who guards the Shabbat against desecrating it and guards his hand against doing evil.
Over and over the idea of justice and righteousness are spoken of when referencing the laws pertinent to all Mankind: He has told you, O man, what is good! What does HaShem require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?—Micah 6:8. This is true of the expectation of Israel and all the Nations.
While the English translation of this incredible chapter is quite powerful, there are secrets in the Hebrew words that are not adequately conveyed in the vernacular. These words convey additional explanation to this well-known prophecy of the time of Redemption.
Verse 2 gets more specific as to the focus of this prophecy. The “man who does this” is anosh (אֱנוֹש). In modern Hebrew this is the term used for “people”—anoshim. They are nothing special, just ordinary people. The first time the word is seen in Torah text, it is the name of Adam’s grandson—Enosh[1]—the son of Adam’s son, Seth. The significant thing about his time in history, is that in his time “to call in the Name of HaShem became profaned.”[2] This was another fall of Mankind’s consciousness, for idolatry was born into the world with the idea of calling on the sun, moon, and stars—something closer to nature, more profane. In this way, people were worshipping the servants of the King rather than the King Himself. In doing so, the consciousness of Man became more mundane or ordinary.
However, the verse goes on to talk about a person who desires Shabbat and the covenant of God. Here, the word for “person” is ben-Adam (בֶן־אָדָם), indicating an elevation in spiritual status, as he desires the things of God—that his desires will be transformed into God’s desires (verse 4).[3] By the way, the word for “Man” in Micah 6:8, quoted above, is also Adam (אָדָם). What does a desire for Shabbat indicate in a person? First, it is an emulation of the things of God, for Hashem was the first keeper of Shabbat. Like Adam, this person takes his instruction on how to be in the world from the example of his Creator. The word used for “rest” on Shabbat is “nefash,” which is a form of the word “nefesh,” literally translated: “Soul.” The life force is in the “nefesh,” not only of human beings, but of all creatures—great or small, including the earth herself. Even a blade of grass, a flower, an insect, an amoeba, has “nefesh.” All of Creation rested with the Creator on Shabbat. The commandment to guard the Shabbat reveals that, like Adam, we are to guard the “nefesh” of all Creature. That is why Israel was instructed that even their animals were not to be worked on Shabbat, and therefore, certainly “the stranger” (ger), the non-Jewish person among them, would be included in this rest. The kiddush—the blessing over the wine—at the Shabbat second meal, iterates:
Be mindful of Shabbat, to make it holy. You should labor for six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is Shabbat for the Lord your God. You may not do any manner of work—neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female worker, nor your cattle, nor the stranger (ger) who dwells among you. Because it was in six days that the Lord Made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that they contain, and He rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed Shabbat and made it holy.— Exodus 20:10-11; Deuteronomy 5:14.
Torah, kept by Israel in the Land of Israel, was meant to be a microcosmic model of the ultimate Divine intention for all Children of Adam throughout the world. In fact, Torah is the instruction for the fulfillment of the initial edict to Adam to dominate the earth—to watch over the earth and care for it and its creatures—and was intended for all his descendants, as well. The use of the term “ben-Adam” reveals not only that truly guarding Shabbat transforms and elevates a person, but also that this is, indeed, what God desires for the people of the world—all children of Adam.
3Let not the foreigner, who has joined himself to HaShem, speak, saying, “HaShem will utterly separate me from His people”; and let not the barren one say, “Behold I am a shriveled tree.” 4For thus said HaShem to the barren ones who observe My Shabbats and choose what I desire, and grasp My covenant tightly: 5In My house and within My walls I will give them a place of honor and renown, which is better than sons and daughters; eternal renown will I give them, which will never be terminated.
The “foreigner” is called “ben hanachar” (הַבֶן־הַנֵכָר), which means “child of the foreigner.” This connotes an alien person, someone from a distant land, someone “other.” However, it is not talking about someone who is “strange” or “foreign” in a negative sense. It is simply someone who is not part of the nation of Israel. However, this person does not have to feel excluded from the promises of Israel. Isaiah is making it very clear that if this person so chooses, he can cleave to the covenant, for the Torah was given for all people of the earth.
The reference to the “barren one”—(הַסָרִיס) “hasaris,” is translated “the eunuch.” A huge debate in today’s society is over homosexuality and transgenderism. Someone accused Charlie Kirk of saying these people were “abominations.” It is very important to avoid misunderstanding the distinction between the person and the act, which the Torah does condemn as abominably sinful. There is no law against two people of the same sex loving each other; it is the specific act that is forbidden. Further, this law of the Torah does not pertain to women. The wording in Leviticus 18:22 is: “You [a man] shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, it [the act] is an abomination.” Again, it is the act—not the person—that Torah called “abomination.” A person who feels these compulsions and yet chooses abstinence, obeying HaShem’s Will over his own, will essentially be a self-made eunuch—saris (סָרִיס). As we have seen in today’s society, many of these people do desire marriage and children. However, there is no alternative for the traditional family structure HaShem ordained with Adam and Eve. Isaiah is recognizing this emotionally painful reality for these people and the sacrifice this requires of their lives. This would surely require a strong soul. Far from being rejected and cast out, they are promised a place of honor in HaShem’s house—for their choosing His Law over their own desires.
6And the foreigners who join themselves to HaShem to serve Him and to love the Name of HaShem to become servants unto Him, all who guard the Shabbat against desecration, and grasp My covenant tightly — 7I will bring them to My holy mountain, and I will gladden them in My house of prayer; their elevation-offerings and the feast-offerings will find favor on My Altar, for My House will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
As above, in verse 3, “the foreigners who join themselves to HaShem to serve Him and to love the Name of HaShem.…” are called “bnei hanachar” (בְנֵי־הַנֵכָר), which is “children of the foreigner.” They are not “ger”—the “stranger in the gate.” They are foreigners, people of distant Nations, but not idolators.
The important ideas that are repeated many times in this text are: loving the Name of HaShem, guarding the Shabbat, and grasping tightly to His covenant. All of this comes from a deep desire to KNOW HaShem, and this is the challenge, the true nature and purpose of the human soul—the Adamic nefesh! When we think of the people of the Nations guarding or keeping or honoring Shabbat, we have to ask ourselves: Who was the first keeper of Shabbat? This would not even have been a question for Adam. It would have been obvious from the example of the Creator. Grasping tightly to His covenant has to do with desiring to do His will. This is the very ancient covenant with Adam, with Noah, with Shem and Eber, with Abraham and Israel’s forefathers, with the whole Nation of Israel at Sinai in the giving of the Torah, and then back around to all the Children of Adam. Even when history told the most disheartening, brutal stories, this very ancient covenant was never negated nor replaced. Rather, Heaven waited…for all Mankind to again be ADAM.
8The word of my Lord, HaShem/Elohim, Who gathers in the dispersed of Israel: I shall gather to him even more than those already gathered to him.
Each divine Name holds unique characteristics and is used with definitive purpose in scriptures. Whenever Names are used together there is a combination and interplay of energies. The last verse uses the Divine Name: Lord, Hashem/Elohim—Adonai and YHVH (pronounced Elohim). Joining these two Names invokes the powerful energy of the upper and lower Mothers: Binah and Malchut, Leah and Rachel, Understanding and Kingdom. Binah is the judgement to discern one thing from another, vital in the process of Creation. Malchut is the place into which all the energy of Heaven flows and pools, where Heaven descends to meet earth. The joining of Binah and Malchut is true, perfect unity, where the flow from Heaven sustains all creatures of earth. This is the purpose of the Temple in the world, and this is the purpose of the prayers of all Mankind in the House of Prayer for all peoples.
[1] Genesis 5:6.
[2] Genesis 4:26.
[3] Hebrew terms in the Tanach text, connote the idea of levels of human spiritual consciousness: 1) Ben-Adam; 2) Ish/Isha; 3) Anosh; 4) and even a lower category: Behemah (beast), one whose soul consciousness is so physically-oriented it is equivalent to an animal. The deeper meaning does not translate adequately into the vernacular. These terms are very telling when discussing the words of the Torah and the Prophets concerning various people in the world.
Healing Well of Miriam 
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