Branch of Israel

There are some things that I have been learning since living here in Israel that I was not aware of before. Because they are so new to me, I have decided to let Wikipedia do the explaining this time. As most of you know, the month of April ended with Passover and it turns out that there is one holiday that Israeli's make a big deal out of. On the last day of Passover there is a celebration called Mimouna .  It is my understanding that it originally came from Morocco. Either way,  businesses close down and everyone enjoys this day with cookouts and get togethers.  I thought that I was the only one who got excited about getting to eat bread again after Passover, but here it is a common thing obviously.  Now we all know why they like to have this celebration.

The Passover season is finally upon us and we can celebrate one of most momentous feasts talked about in the Bible. It is also one of the more enjoyable holidays by both Jews and Christians alike. Even though the two groups differ only in one area, the Jews choose to keep it yearly (Lev. 23:4), whereas, the Christians go one time. Consider this feast as part of the cycle of blessings ( see Keeping the Feasts ) which should be kept yearly if we want to walk in them. As is with every tradition, things always get added to or taken away from. In the case of Passover it was added to quite a bit from its original inception. Let's look and see what happened.

Recently I was on my way to the Ministry of Interior to apply for Aliyah, after having been there a few times before. As I was going to transfer buses the Lord spoke to me saying “ meet Me at the wall. ” I said, “ Lord can’t you talk to me here? ” Considering He is omnipresent. "Why the wall?" I asked. All I heard was “ less distractions. ”

Generally when we think of a blessing we usually think of it as something that is a standard to say or to do. Like the Catholics bless with the signing of the cross over people so as to sanctify them, the Jewish people raise their hands spreading their fingers apart representing the Hebrew letter shin ( the first letter of the Hebrew word for Almighty ). Others believe that it is to be an exclamation like, "bless you brother/sister" , or "I am so blessed."  But does anyone really know what it means? This is the problem because we tend to use words in our vocabulary without checking them out. We hear our kids do it all the time. They use slang words because they want to be cool like their friends, but really have know clue what they are saying. The body of believers do it as well.

The book of Proverbs was written to be used as a wise set of rules that we should follow. That is why some of them were written as parables so that it would be easy for us to understand and remember. The Hebrew word for proverbs ( pronounced: mish-lay ) actually means to compare as a parable or a story. The root meaning behind this word is to rule or have dominion . This would be someone who compares, as a rule, to help keep one on the right path. Or as parents we have dominion, or authority, to help set our children straight based on the Word of God. As stated in Deuteronomy 6:7 (NAS), "You shall teach them [God's Word] diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."

According to Leviticus 23 we are to celebrate Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, on the 15th day of Tishri of the Jewish calendar. It is to be an 7-day celebration of great rejoicing, remembering the use of the huts that our ancestors might have lived in while in the wilderness for 40 years. Of course the huts we see today are flimsy and nowhere as sturdy as those back then. The roofs may be constructed from either bamboo sticks or palm branches, loosely arranged so that the sky can

Ten Days of Awe The first ten days in the 7 th month of Tishri are called the Ten days of Repentance , The Days of Awe, or the “High Holy Days." During these ten days, according to Jewish tradition, God opens up three books of our life: Those who are righteous during the year Those who are wicked Those who are in between If a person sincerely repents during these ten days then God will grant them forgiveness for another year. According to Maimonides we are constantly to regard our fate and destiny of the entire world as balanced between guilt and acquittal. So if we commit just one sin then we lean the scale towards fate and destruction. If we are to do one good deed then it leans towards salvation. – Sounds like works to me!