Branch of Israel

During the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot (Pentecost) , Jewish people would do what is called the counting of the omer. Which was used for helping them to determine when it was exactly 50 days after Passover. An omer is a measure of grain, which was brought into the temple on the second day of Passover as an offering. Then it was to be counted for seven weeks. On the 50th day, they would bring in the offering of the first fruit into the temple. They would use the grain as a way of measuring the seven weeks until Shavuot. For them it was a joyous time because they were looking forward to what was up and coming. Think of this in the same manner as a child does before their birthday.

Chanukah was not always celebrated in the way that we know it today with its giving of gifts and all of its lights. In fact, it was believed that the rabbi’s did not want to celebrate something that was commemorating a military victory. This thought eventually changed sometime well into the Talmudic times during the 5th century. At first, the giving of gifts were nothing more than gelt ( Yiddish for money ). It was not until the Jewish people got closer with the Christians that the giving of money became the giving of gifts learned from their Christmas holiday.

This festival is a very unique one because it is generally known as the Jewish New Year or the Feast of Trumpets. It is also the only holiday that falls on the first day of the 7th month ( Tishri ) celebrated along with the monthly festival of Rosh Chodesh ( head of the month, also known as celebration of the new moon ). In Leviticus 23:24 in the NKJV it states:

The month of Av is the 5th month in the Biblical calendar, and falls either in the 11th or 12th month* of the civil calendar. It is not a month that most Jewish people look forward to because so many bad things have happened to them, especially on the the 9th day. This is a Biblical event, but rather one of the minor holidays instituted by the Rabbi's. Tisha b’Av ( Hebrew for 9th of Av ) mainly commemorates the destruction of the two temples. The first being Solomon’s which was destroyed in 586 BC, and the second in 70 AD. The mourning over this actually starts 3 weeks earlier on the 17th day of Tammuz because this is when battering rams broke through the wall of the first temple before being fully destroyed. During this three-week period there are to be no weddings, haircuts including shaving, nor is music to be played. It is also customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine, except on the Sabbath. On the 9th of Av the fasting becomes more intense with no eating or ...

The next Jewish holiday this calendar year is Purim and it is considered a minor holiday. It is a very festive time for kids of all ages to enjoy. The entire book of Esther ( Hadassah in Hebrew meaning myrtle, but her Persian name is Esther-derived after the goddess Ishtar where the name Easter comes from ) is read from a scroll known in Hebrew as megillah ( a small scroll of parchment ). As the story is read, every mention of the name of Haman people start booing and making noises with groggers or anything else just to drown out his name. The reason for this comes from Exodus 17:14 where it reads: “ …I will utterly blot out the remembrance of the Amalek from under heaven. ” Haman’s descendants were believed to be of the Amalekites. The Story In the story Haman cast his pur, or lot, to determine on which day the Jewish massacre was to take place. This is where we get the name Purim ( Esther 9:18-28 ) because it is the plural form of pur meaning lots . The festival occurs o...

Like the farmer who has a yearly cycle of sowing and reaping, the same is true with the biblical feasts that God has set into place. In Leviticus 23 it clearly lays out for us the 7 feasts that the Lord wants us to continually celebrate. According to verses 14, 21, 30 and 41 the Lord mentions that these feasts are to be kept throughout all generations. Not only does he tell us to keep it ongoing, but he also tells us when he wants us to celebrate it. There are 4 words that the Lord uses when talking about these times in reference to the feasts: Appointed ( Mo-ahd ) Convocations or gatherings ( Mik-rah ) Feast or festival ( Chag ) Holy ( Ko-desh ) Mo-ahd: an appointment or a meeting at a set time. Yet however, its root meaning is to repeat. In other words, it is a meeting that is to be repeated every time that appointment comes up at a set time. Mik-rah: a calling together for a meeting as an assembly. The root meaning is to call together for an event or a reading s...

On Friday nights we celebrate Shabbat ( Sabbath ) with a group of people. We always open our meetings with the lighting of the candles and then communion. After this we might worship, or we might talk a little about something that God has shown one of us. We have even had meetings that were just discussions about different scriptures. Whatever we do we never try to put God in a box, and He always shows up faithfully every time. Keeping the feasts brings blessings. We have a man in our meetings that has his own business. When he kept all of the feasts his business was doing quite well, but once he stopped so did his customers. After he and I met he realized what had happened and came to our weekly meeting. The following week was the the busiest week he had not seen in a long time. He now is excited about celebrating all of the feasts because he knows the difference between keeping them and not keeping them. We want to do what the Word of God states rather than keeping tradition. ...