Jewish prayer is an aid to developing a meritorious attitude and a commendable way of feeling. Therefore, Jews actively seek reasons to praise God's creation. There are Jewish prayers to be said when witnessing a falling star, when hearing the clap of thunder in the clouds, when seeing a rainbow, when noticing the first bud of spring on the branch of a tree, when placing a mezuzah (a decorative box containing portions of the most important Jewish prayer, the Shema) on a doorpost, when sitting in the sukkah at Sukkot, and even when seeing a very tall or extremely short person. Jewish prayers are usually recited in Hebrew. Yet, they can be recited in any vernacular or local language, whether it is English, Aramaic, French, Spanish, Arabic, or Russian. Jews believe that God understands no matter what language a person employs in prayer. Even silence is sometimes said to be an appropriate Jewish prayer language. The most important of all Jewish prayers is a prayer called the Shema. Strangely enough, the Shema is a prayer that speaks to the Jewish people, and not to God. Its verses instruct the Israelites what they have to do. Here is a part of the Shema prayer: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד Hear, O Israel, the Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One. Blessed be God's Name and glorious kingdom forever...
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A reader sent me in this question: Question: We just bought a sukkah for the first time in our lives and enjoyed the holiday. We go to temple every Saturday for services. Yet we still decorate for Halloween and go trick or treating {We are not kosher} My orthodox friends say this is hypocritical and I am giving my children a mixed message. I have ...
Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. ` Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath; no work can be performed on that day. The people of Israel traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spe ...
Yom Kippur,יום כיפור means "Day of expiation". It occurs on the tenth day of the month of Tishrei and puts an end to the "Ten Days of Awe" which are the days of repentance that start on the first day of the month of Tishrei, for Rosh Hashana. Each one is called on this special day ...
...In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a sabbath for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation. -Leviticus 16:24 (Note: when any Bible holiday falls any day, that day becomes Shabbat / Sabbath, even if it is Tuesday). Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah m ...
Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Shabbat-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Vayikra / Leviticus 23:24). The shofar is/was blown on the first of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish religious calendar. It is Yom Teruah, “th ...
When our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua HaMashiach was crucified the earth shook and the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. Surely this had significance, along with the strange miracles surrounding the temple after his death. During 200 years before 30 CE, when the high priest picked up one of the lots, again the selection was governed by chance ...
The first thing you might notice is that the Jewish calendar sometimes has an extra month. The years with an extra month are the Jewish calendar’s leap years. Regular years have anywhere from 353 to 355 days, while leap years have 383 to 385 days. Gregorian years have 365 days normally, and 366 days in a leap year. The reason leap years exis ...
This is a double parsha, made up of parshas Behar and Bechukotai. The seven aliyot of this week's reading are indicated by special aliyah markings within those two parshas in the Chumash. Parshiyot Behar and Bechukotai are power-packed doubleheaders, this one emphasizing the connection between the Jew and Eretz Yisrael. The lunisolar Hebrew calend ...
Weekly Sidra: Pesach (Passover) Torah Portion: Shemot / Exodus 12:21-12:51 Maftir: Bamidbar / Numbers 28:16-28:25 Haftorah: Yehoshua / Joshua 5:2-6:1 This week's portion is Chol HaMo'ed Pesach. The morning Torah reading of Shabbat Chol Ha-moed consists of selected portions from Parshas Ki Tisa. The conclusion of the kriah summa ...
Purim פורים is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman's plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther). According to the story, Haman cast lots to determine the day upon which to exterminate the Jews. Purim is ce ...
For many Christians that are supportive of Messianic Jews and the work of Messianic synagogues they support us as the “Jewish church”. The “Jewish church” being defined as a Jewish cultural form of Christian faith. This can be seen in Hispanic, Korean, Filipino, Arab and other culturally sensitive forms of Christianity. Using the wording o ...
Yom Kippur Summary Date: Tenth of Tishri. | Duration: One day. | Names: Together with Rosh Hashanah, it is known as Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe); Shabbat Shabbaton (Sabbath of Sabbaths). Source: "On the tenth day of this seventh month is a day of atonement. It shall be for you a [day of] holy assembly and you shall ...
Seven weeks after Passover, in accordance with the Torah (Vayikra 23:15-16, 21 and Devarim 16:20), the Jewish people celebrate the Festival of Weeks, or Hag HaShavuot. When the Har HaBayit (Temple) was still standing, Shavuot, along with Passover and Succoth, was one of the shalosh regalim (three pilgrim holidays) on which all Jewish male adults w ...
The Miracle of the Hekal (Temple) Menorah: One of the most important miracles that happen in the Beit HaMikdash after Yeshua left this earth was the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash went out, and would not shine. Every night for 40 years (over 12,500 nights in a row) the main lamp of the Hekal menorah went out of its own accord, no matter what attempt ...
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