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B'reisheet - Genesis
Started by LovingNeighbor at 05-28-2006 10:35 AM. Topic has 3 replies.
  
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 05-28-2006, 10:35 AM
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LovingNeighbor
 
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Toldot Parasha Dec 3rd 2005 Thoughts, Studies, and Comments
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The goal of this section is to get everybody's studies, thoughts, and opinions on anything in the weeks parasha. This includes, word studies, thoughts on verses, history, related subjects, and anything that may help us to understand this Torah Portion. Even if it's just an observation on the smallest part, it can help others who may not have seen it that way. The goal is then as we visit the parasha (Torah Portion) each year we will create a collection of studies and thoughts on this portion and everyone will benefit by having a broader view of the portion. Shalom!
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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05-28-2006, 10:59 AM
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LovingNeighbor
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Toldot Parasha Dec 3rd 2005 Message Lovingneighbor
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Those Who Will Fear!
Amo 3:8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? YHWH GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
When Yahushua speaks won't his disciples fear the authority by which he speaks? In this weeks parasha we see two stories, one of Jacob who desires the birthright of Eaus his brother who puts little value on it due to the temporary pleasures of the world. This reminds me of the words of the master when he says those who will save their life will lose it. Esau sold his birthright because he was hungry. Hunger here represents the temporary satisfaction of sustaining his life at the moment. Jacob was more than eager to purchase such a treasure by giving up his temporary sustanance (his food) for the birthright of his brother.
Gen 25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
This is like keeping Torah. Many may see it as a waste of time. Not seeing how it is necessary, or how they should give up pleasures in the moment to keep an antiquated law. They have made up their mind that God doesn't even care if they buy on the sabbath or even what day they should keep a sabbath if any. The temporary pleasure and sustainment brought by the paycheck that feeds them is more important than the sign and birthright of keeping the sabbath that as the scriptures say is a sign showing you are YHWH's people and he is your God. They claim God doesn't care, but it is them that don't care because they do not fear God.
Mal 1:6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith YHWH of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
It wasn't until afterward that Esau wanted his birthright back, after the momentary pleasure of sustaining his life he then also wanted his birthright. In a sense he threw it away for the moment of pleasure (sin) and after having his pleasure wanted to also have the reward of his birthright. As firstborn son he should have rather gone hungry and known that he would receive double portions in the due time. It should have comforted him to bring honor to his position but as we do the same when we sin we forsake our great inheritance to be called the sons of YHWH. Then afterwards we want to still be accepted and even in good position. This just isn't the case.
The very fact we have been given the Torah and have the chance to respond to it is our birthright. We must not forsake it through acts of sin. The Blessings that come along with Torah keeping will even be stripped away from us as we forsake our right to be holy. Jacob later receives that blessings also and he who was under him as Messiah said will be over him, and him who was over his brother will be under. The model here is that those who will Fear YHWH and keep his commandments shall be blessed and though Esau was in fact the firstborn and was blessed it was considerably less than that of Jacob.
The second part of this parasha mirrors this concept as YHWH said in Mal 1:8
Mal 1:8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith YHWH of hosts.
These sacrifices are like commandment keeping. Shall we offer the lame (half hearted or less than best commandment keeping) and expect it to be accepted. YHWH expects us to be perfect as Messiah said and did. He was perfect by the way he kept the law and therefore an acceptable sacrifice. Everyone was living Torah but they were not perfect in the way they carried out the commandments. This is the heart of these verses in Malachi.
Mal 1:14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto YHWH a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith YHWH of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
The problem Yahshuah may have had with the Pharisees was not that they were not keeping the Torah but the way they corrupted it and made it lame. Therefore as YHWH hates the new moons and feasts mixed with lawlessness they become a lame offering and not acceptable.
Isa 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot bare with; it is lawlessness, even the solemn meeting.
All this points back to two main points you can throw away your birthright by sinning and getting caught up in the moment, and also it does you no good to keep Torah if you are changing or misinterpreting them. You must Fear YHWH therefore claiming your birthright as his son and identifying him as your father, and then do exactly as he instructs you to the best of your ability. Offering up the best sacrifice (commandment keeping) you have to offer.
Mat 22:37 Yahushua said unto him, Thou shalt love YHWH thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Lovingneighbor 12-3-05
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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11-28-2006, 11:02 AM
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LovingNeighbor
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Toldot Parasha Message 2006 Lovingneighbor
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Take Hold
For Parasha Toldot
By Lovingneighbor 11-25-2006
This weeks Parasha is in the book of Genesis also called B'reisheet, and is called Toldot which means 'Generations'. In this weeks parasha:
- Yitzchak prays because Rivka is barren and she conceives twins
- One baby was hairy and his name was Esav and the other grabbed his heel and his name was Ya'akov
- Esav became a hunter and Ya'akov dwelled in tents
- Esav sold his birthright to Ya'akov for a bowl of food when he was really hungry
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak and told him not to go to Egypt because of the famine but that He would bless him
- Yitzchak dwelt in Gerar and told the men of that place Rivka was his sister
- Avimelech saw them playing together and knew she was his wife
- Avimelech asks Yitzchak why he said she was his sister
- Avimelech tells all the men not to touch them or they will be killed
- Yitzchak became great and Avimelech asked them to leave
- Yitzchak dug again the wells of his father that the Pelishtim had filled with dirt
- The Herdsman of Gerar fought with Yitzchak over the wells he dug and Yitzchak kept digging wells until they stopped fighting with him
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak in Be'er-Sheva and said He will bless him for Avraham's sake
- Avimelech, Achuzzat, and Pichol went to Yitzchak and asked him to make a covenant with him that he wouldn't harm them
- They made a feast and a covenant then they left and Yitzchak dug a well and called it Sheva
- When Yitzchak was old and almost blind he told Yishma'el to go and hunt venison for him so he could eat and bless him
- Rivka heard it and told Ya'akov to get 2 goats and she would make meat so Yitzchak could bless Ya'akov
- Ya'akov said my brother is hairy and when my father feels me he will know I am a deciever
- Rivka put Esavs clothes on Ya'akov and goat's skins on his hands and his neck
- Ya'akov went to his father and Yitzchak asked how he found the meat so fast
- Yitzchak asked him to come near so he could feel him to see if he was hairy
- Yitzchak asked again if he was Esav and Ya'akov said yes
- Yitzchak asked for a kiss so he could smell his clothes to see if it was Esav
- So Yitzchak blessed Ya'akov with Esav's blessing
- Esav brought meat to Yitzchak but he said another already came and he ate and blessed him
- Esav cried out because Ya'akov took his birthright and now his blessing also
- Yitzchak told Esav he made Ya'akov lord over his brethren and they would be his servants
- Esav begged for some kind of a blessing and Yitzchak blessed him
- Esav was going to kill Ya'akov after their father's death and mourning so Rivka planned on sending Ya'akov away
- Yitzchak tells Ya'akov not to take a wife from the daughters of Chet but to go to Padan'aram and take a wife
- Yitzchak leaves to Padan'aram and Esav takes a wife of Yishma'el's daughters
- Haftarah YHWH relates the two sons Yisra'el and Esav and how he loves Yisra'el and Esav has not pleased him
My new understanding on the story of Esav and Ya'akov is Esav is the firstborn who is the literal Torah and Ya'akov is the later which is the spiritual Torah and he is said going to be greater than the first born and yet the firstborn paves the way for the second. But I could never make it seem right that Ya'akov came in dressed as Esav to get the blessing. Finnaly YHWH revealed to me I believe the answer. Ya'akov though he has the birthright of Esav being the promise to enter into the kingdom, but until he put on the garments or righteousness of Esav the literal Torah to clothe the spirit of Torah he would not recieve the blessing of actually entering in. This is why just because he had the right like Christians to enter the kingdom they had to be established just like their Jewish brothers. They looked on the Jews and said you keep the commandments but you totally missed the goal of them the messiah and the spirit, so they say basically you have the first witness(Literal Torah) but missed the second witness(Messiah), we have the second witness(Messiah) and he is greater than the first witness. Yet they also only have the one witness. They then have the birthright(promise to enter into the kingdom and to dwell with Elohim) that those who follow the Torah have, yet they lacked the blessing of their father because they did not put on the Garments of their brother. See the issue was that if he was to say that he was to receive the birthright then he must also fulfill the responsibilities that come with it. You do not receive the blessings of the firstborn just because you are the firstborn because if you disobey your father you will not be blessed though you be a firstborn, Yet if you are to be better than the firstborn who sold his birthright away because he placed no value on it and don't also please your father you also shall not be blessed. The birthright is like the spirit of the Torah, that the firstborn didn't value, like the golden calf they valued earthly things , made of gold to show high value, yet they didn't care if it had any spirit within because they didn't value the spirit. The ones who then value the spirit should also do the things of the earth that the spirit commands. This is the concept of the inside of the cup being clean then the outside shall be clean. The term shall be implies that if you have the spirit of Elohim or value the spirit of Elohim you will also clean the outside. You will put on the garments of Esav(doing of literal Torah) and you shall receive the blessing and be established as greater than the firstborn. So if you keep the spirit of Torah and the letter of Torah you will be blessed. But if you don't exceed the righteousness of the pharisees you will not enter in. But weren't the pharisees like Esav. didn't the devalue Messiah and the spirit f Torah he was teaching. Didn't they love the things of the literal Torah or the earth. they loved the things of the field(world) literal Torah that is that on the outside and Ya'akov loved the things within tents, inside the house. It's inside the house and outside the house. Yet Ya'akov was willing to put on the garments and assume the role of Esav or the literal Torah and add it to the spiritual Torah to receive the blessing, be greater than, and set an example of to rule over the first. In many ways I see this similar to Messiah who though he was spiritual he clothed himself in the garments of Esav (the world) and showed that with the flesh and the spirit he was greater than the flesh alone represented by Satan or Esav. And by keeping the letter and spirit of the law he was greater than the letter or spirit alone. There are two messages here, one for the jew and one for the Christian, both are the same. get established in Both if you want the blessing. like a mairrage it is when the two become one that new life and the promise of true life comes. Both forsake the birthright if they do not have both. the birthright without the blessing is nothing. And the letter without the spirit is nothing, The spirit without the letter is a tree without fruit. How many times does he come? 2 and if you don't receive him both times you have rejected him. He is the Torah and so there will be 2 comings of the Torah. He was the living Torah so he was both the letter and spirit. We must take hold like Yitzchak who prayed continually until Rivka concieved. 20 years she went before concieving. Ya'akov took hold of both the birthright and the blessing until he came into the fullness of Messiah and the fullness of Torah. Not satisfied with just one part but wanting to be established as the firstborn of his father. So also must we not stop at the literal keeping of Torah nor be satisfied in the belief in Messiah alone but must live the teachings of Messiah in our lives and bring life to the commandments of Elohim. We must have both witnesses to have Messiah living in us and bearing fruit in our lives.This is the message for our generations.
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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11-17-2007, 8:16 AM
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LovingNeighbor
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Toldot Parasha 2007-8 Message Lovingneighbor
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Hidden in the Field
For Parasha Toldot
By Lovingneighbor 11-10-2007
This weeks Parasha is in the book of Genesis also called B'reisheet, and is called Toldot which means 'Generations'. In this weeks parasha:
- Yitzchak prays because Rivka is barren and she conceives twins
- One baby was hairy and his name was Esav and the other grabbed his heel and his name was Ya'akov
- Esav became a hunter and Ya'akov dwelled in tents
- Esav sold his birthright to Ya'akov for a bowl of food when he was really hungry
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak and told him not to go to Egypt because of the famine but that He would bless him
- Yitzchak dwelt in Gerar and told the men of that place Rivka was his sister
- Avimelech saw them playing together and knew she was his wife
- Avimelech asks Yitzchak why he said she was his sister
- Avimelech tells all the men not to touch them or they will be killed
- Yitzchak became great and Avimelech asked them to leave
- Yitzchak dug again the wells of his father that the Pelishtim had filled with dirt
- The Herdsman of Gerar fought with Yitzchak over the wells he dug and Yitzchak kept digging wells until they stopped fighting with him
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak in Be'er-Sheva and said He will bless him for Avraham's sake
- Avimelech, Achuzzat, and Pichol went to Yitzchak and asked him to make a covenant with him that he wouldn't harm them
- They made a feast and a covenant then they left and Yitzchak dug a well and called it Sheva
- When Yitzchak was old and almost blind he told Yishma'el to go and hunt venison for him so he could eat and bless him
- Rivka heard it and told Ya'akov to get 2 goats and she would make meat so Yitzchak could bless Ya'akov
- Ya'akov said my brother is hairy and when my father feels me he will know I am a deciever
- Rivka put Esavs clothes on Ya'akov and goat's skins on his hands and his neck
- Ya'akov went to his father and Yitzchak asked how he found the meat so fast
- Yitzchak asked him to come near so he could feel him to see if he was hairy
- Yitzchak asked again if he was Esav and Ya'akov said yes
- Yitzchak asked for a kiss so he could smell his clothes to see if it was Esav
- So Yitzchak blessed Ya'akov with Esav's blessing
- Esav brought meat to Yitzchak but he said another already came and he ate and blessed him
- Esav cried out because Ya'akov took his birthright and now his blessing also
- Yitzchak told Esav he made Ya'akov lord over his brethren and they would be his servants
- Esav begged for some kind of a blessing and Yitzchak blessed him
- Esav was going to kill Ya'akov after their father's death and mourning so Rivka planned on sending Ya'akov away
- Yitzchak tells Ya'akov not to take a wife from the daughters of Chet but to go to Padan'aram and take a wife
- Yitzchak leaves to Padan'aram and Esav takes a wife of Yishma'el's daughters
- Haftarah YHWH compares the two sons Yisra'el and Esav and how he loves Yisra'el and Esav has not pleased him
In this weeks portion we see alot of things that on the surface seem to be wrong and yet they end up being good. Two great examples of this are Yitzchak taking after his father by saying his wife is his sister, and Ya'akov pretending to be is brother. In bth situations the end result was a blessing. Now on the surface these things seem like deception. But as the scriptures also say
Pro 25:2 It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
So hidden things are not always bad and all hidden things are not deception. What we see is that in the world things are hidden from us in many cases for our own good. Avraham and Yitzchak were afraid they would be harmed by the people of the land if they really knew them. Moshe was also concealed and when revealed the people would have killed him but YHWH would not allow it. Yahushua was concealed to many and once they figured out he was the Mashiach many of the people wanted to kill him. The concept of being hidden in the field makes me think of the verse.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto Elohim who gave it.
In the scripture we see that we are made from the earth and to it we shall return but there are two parts. He formed man fromt he earth and then breathed life into him. As the verse above states when we die the opposite happens. So one could say that Elohim hid His spirit in the earth or field. I beleive it is our job to then seek after it. I believe it will be revealed in due season but not too soon or else the evil ones would come after it to destroy it. This goes to the parable of the wheat and the tares. We see that they are to remain hidden together in the field because his servants don't know which are which. This also applies to scattered Yisra'el being hidden in the field or world. This is not just a punishment but also a protection in my opinion. With the advent of DNA and retina scanning and all the ID's it seems that there is an underlying pattern of the world wanting to know who is who.
There are even many who are running around getting DNA tests to know if they are Jewish. We can see what has happened to the Jews who are not hidden and people foolishly put their blood out to be put in a database somewhere. I think Avraham and Yitzchak feared something similar. As long as Yisra'el is hidden they are tolerated. But once they identify themselves as one who serves Elohim the battle begins just as it did with Pharaoh. Just like a pearl hidden int he unclean oyster, given time until it is plucked out, so is Elohim's people in my opinion. Just like circumcision where the man's private part is revealed after a particular time. I think these all are patterns telling us of a coming revelation. The outside will be taken away and reveal the inside. Who are the son's of man, and who are the son's of Elohim. We even see this pattern with Mashiach and Ya'akov who was the younger but then was clothed like his brother and tested by his father and then received the blessing. Mashiach also was clothed in the flesh and tested, observed by Hs Father and all things being the same had both the outward works of the brother but better yet was better on the inside also. Funny the description of Esav and Ya'akov in verse:
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
It says Esav was a cunning hunter and Ya'akov as the text was a plain man, dwelling in tents. This is a poor translation. The word for plain is tawm and means perfect or complete. It is the same word used to describe Job or Iyov. So we see one is a hunter and the other was perfect or it also means pious, dwelling inside. One is an outside man, one is an inside man. One is fleshly as in his name which described him as hairy and red the word Esav means rough. So rough and red is just like a description of the earth. So we see this picture of an earthly man and an spiritual man. The birthright and blessing go to the spiritual man who for a time is dressed up and becomes rough like his brother.
Pro 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
This is an interesting verse because the bloodthirsty reminds me of the cunning hunter and the word here for upright is one of th few other uses of the word used to describe Ya'akov. It is the word tawm translated most as perfect or complete. The first word is eesh, then dawm literally man of blood, here they translate as bloodthirsty. Compare to Esav being called edom meaning red and but edom is spelled aleph dalet mem and blood dawm is spelled dalet mem. Aleph also means strength or leader, so one could see the connection of Edom or Esav as the leader of blood or earthly men. As the scripture states in my opinion over and over again this is a model of the earthly vs. the spiritual as Paul many times eludes to.
Let's relook at the above verse now with one additional understanding. When we saw Elohim making man there is one more piece of the puzzle we need.
Gen 2:7 And YHWH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
It looks like the first level is the flesh, then the spirit and once they are combined the person is a living soul as it says. So lets see if all three of these things can be applied to the verse in Proverbs
Pro 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
It could be understood that the fleshly men hate the spiritual but the just or straight will seek his soul. This oposition of the two is seen in the New testament
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
We even see this battle with Elohim in the Beginning
Gen 6:3 And YHWH said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Now I believe there is a double meaning for the last part of the verse in proverbs if not triple. The first is the Just will seek the spiritual which in my opinion represents Yahushua who in Revelations is called the true witness. This can be understood as the second witness that according to Torah establishes the truth. So it could mean that the just will seek the spirit of Torah and also implies they will not stop with just one witness but will seek after the second. The just being justified. As it says not the hearers of the law (first witness) but the doers of the law shall be justified (the second witness, those who live in it, life being the description of the spirit). The Spirit of Torah is Mashiach and is also what I believe Paul was talking about when comparing the earthly and spiritual law. The funny thing is even in what he is saying it is plain to see their are two torahs or better yet two witnesses of one torah. The second meaning is that the man of blood or earthly man will hate the spiritual , but the just man will seek his soul meaning the combining of the two. In this picture we see why Ya'akov put on the clothing of his brother. He became fleshly but was righteous in the flesh because he was spiritual inside. See the man in Genesis was not just called a soul but a living soul, which by reflexive thought means one may have a soul and it not be a living soul.
Here it is not one or the other, but a progression, the flesh profits nothing by itself without the spirit. But to have a living soul you need both. It starts with the flesh as paul said the letter of the law brings us to Mashiach the spirit of the law. Then in my opinion we are circumcised and the flesh is removed to reveal the spirit within.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
We can see how Ya'akov models Yahushua think of this next verse in accordance to Ya'akov
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Mashiach Yahushua has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Here we see the reason Mashiach had to be clothed is the flesh ie Ya'akov clothed as his brother who represented the flesh, not to walk like him but to walk after the spiritual man that Ya'akov represents. Thus he recieves the blessing. It just comes down to whether you will walk after the ways of the world or the ways of Elohim. Will you as a just man seek after your soul and be established in the law by keeping the letter and spirit. Will you dwell within th spirit of torah and be perfect or just be a hearer of the word and not a doer. This verse in Galatians sums it up. The blessing comes not from the literal word of Elohim that is earthly, but the word planted in your spirit.
Gal 6:8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
So where is the blessing? It's hidden in the field. Within the flesh is the spirit within the Torah is the spirit, and in it is life and we must purchase and own our own flesh, We must control and be owner of our own flesh to own the treasure within the field. Shalom!
Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man has found, he hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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LoveOfTorah.com... » Weekly Torah Po... » B'reisheet - Ge... » Toldot Parasha Dec 3rd 2005 Thoughts, Studies, and Comments
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