The Jewish observance of Tisha b’Av (translated “9th day of [the month of] Av”) falls this year on August 13-14. Marked by fasting, prayer and Scripture readings, Tisha b’Av is considered the saddest day of the year. This is because on precisely Av 9, devastating calamities have befallen the…...
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Spiritual Growth
Israel Independance and Lag b’Omer Holidays – May 2016
Surprising Mathematical Evidence in Scripture that Israel’s Re-gathering is From God? Check these prophecies! May 14 marked Israel’s 68th birthday as a sovereign, regathered Jewish state. Yet a growing number of Christian naysayers view Israeli statehood an unjust, strictly human endeavor. They do not attribute her existence to the…...
WHY COUNT THE OMER FROM PASSOVER TO THE FEAST OF WEEKS (SHAVUOT)?
Yeshua’s post-Resurrection appearances and personal, revelatory teachings all took place during the Counting of the Omer. We can still anticipate, by grace, fresh revelation of God in this special, 50 day count. God commanded ancient Israel to count the omer, or measured sheaves of harvest, for each of the…...
PASSOVER THEN AND NOW: Strange Parallels
The back story to Passover is a mysterious one. Yet it seems strangely, even portentously relevant today. Exodus 1 recounts that after Jacob and his sons died in Egypt, the Israelites “became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.” (v.7) The rabbis teach the ancient Hebrews…...
From Biblical to Gregorian Calendars: Holy to Happy New Year – or Both?
There’s nothing quite like spending New Year’s Eve and Day in Israel. Offices, shops, schools and even the streets teem with business as usual. Knowing the world’s secular year changes by a digit each January 1, Israeli society nevertheless revolves more around the Biblical than Gregorian calendar. It’s unusually…...