What is obry?
In order to understand what OBRY is, we must first define what the Masorah is:
"the system of critical NOTES on an EXTERNAL form of the biblical text. The term is taken from Ezekiel 20:37 and means originally 'fetter.'" Fetter means "something that serves to restrict; a restraint." It is vitally important to understand just what the bible, particularly the Law & Prophets, is and is NOT saying. ALL so-called Old Testament texts are contained in within Hebrew manuscripts. But there is a problem: Hebrew is NOT the original language the authors used to write the various texts we find in the Old Testament. The claims that they were, comes with very subtle caveats that are NEVER addressed by scholars today. That is the absence paid to the middleman, or the Masorah and the accompanying look of the letter itself, or glyph.
A so-called celebrated Jew, Mar Ukba says this: "At first the Thora was given to Israel in Hebrew characters and in the sacred language, but in the time of Ezra they obtained it in the Assyrian [= square] characters and in the Aramaic language. At last, the sages chose the Assyrian [= square] characters and the sacred language for the Israelites and left the Hebrew characters and the Aramaic language for the idiots." But the claim that Ezra changed anything, is absurd and unfounded, and can be shown to be so simply by reading Ezra and Nehemiah for oneself. There is absolutely NO EVIDENCE they had a hand in changing anything! It's quite the opposite, in fact! Please see Ezra 9:2-4 and Nehemiah 13:23:25. Nehemiah was horrified that his people were whoring around and couldn't even speak their own language and mixed them, yet he's going to sit back and let Ezra change the character of the text? No. The claims about the OT texts made by Mar Ukba and the establishment, isn't holding water in light of attitude and deeds of Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, there is no evidence Ezra penned anything outside his own book and respective letters.
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The two principle Jewish publications, The Jewish Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Judaica both admit what we think is the original form, IS NOT and even show examples of what the text and glyph once looked like, even etching a boulder in what they claim is Hezekiah's tunnel with these original glyphs (attempting to give it authenticity)! The original form looked decidedly different and that MATTERS! People do not realize just how influential the Masorah been on our understanding of the Law & Prophets.
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The Masorah is thus: an interpolative system of COMMENTARY upon the Old Testament text consisting of MANY parts including, but not limited to these six main parts:
Unsubstantiated Claims
Arbitrary Demands
Contradictory Rules
Inconsistent Application of Definitions
Subject Dividing/Combining
Historical Disagreement
about the glyph, its function, look/sound, inception, and authenticity
swapping words/meanings of words, parts of speech being applied, & categorizations instituted
sometimes a mark means one thing & sometimes it means something else (one must ask the sages/Rabbis for understanding)
the same word often bearing MANY applied meanings and uses, (frequently quite different from each other) and entirely different words having the SAME meaning applied (homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms...ALL via the Masorah)
their "parashah" and "pericopes" are the precursor & roadmap to the chapters/verses of today: at times either cut longer phrases/ideas down (thus disrupting the original concepts expressed), or combining non-related ideas (creating new non original concepts)
they claim it took them CENTURIES to come to an agreeable, workable, Masoretic text
​Does any of this sound inspired?
At least by anything other than malicious motives? The above list has led to the obvious alteration of the original text of the Old Testament, and ALL our versions today are ENTIRELY SATURATED and WEIGHED DOWN by the Masorah (its rules, definitions, peculiar irregularities, lexicon, & ITS MIND). The Masorah is a story laid over ANOTHER STORY! And it must be asked: why is there any need for these additions to the pure text form?
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So, what is obry then? Well, it is the language system prior to the Masoretic creation. It IS the original text. It is the source language most often (partially incorrectly) called Hebrew.