pot·pour·ri - by Jim & Linda

Potpourri

pot·pour·ri

   [poh-poo-ree, poh-poo-ree] 

–noun

1.

a mixture of dried petals of roses or other flowers with spices, kept in a jar for their fragrance.

2.

a musical medley.

3.

a collection of miscellaneous literary extracts.

4.

any mixture, especially of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.

Although this blog is a "mixed bag" of sorts, we hope is will also be a pleasant fragrance!  Here's a few miscellaneous pictures and tidbits of life in Israel..... Please remember to click on any picture to view it larger (then click the back arrow to go back to the blog).


Speaking of "bags", although milk is offered by the carton or jug, the most common way to buy it (and the cheapest) is by the BAG.  It has a little less than 1 quart of milk and costs about $1.75 per bag.

You then put the bag in the pitcher so it can be poured...

Here is one of the kitties we feed, she is looking for dinner 

for her 4 kittens and orange kitty friend.

This is a view of the Pools of Bethesda.  It is located in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City.  In the background you can see the Arab neighborhoods as well.

Arab markets just inside Damascus Gate.

Arab markets just outside Damascus Gate :)

"Sefer Torah" store - these are beautifully ornate and hold 

the scrolls of the Torah (Bible).

The sporting rivalries don't even end in Jerusalem - knitted 

kipas (head caps) for every fan...

View of a field in Bethlehem.

A minaret (tower attached to a mosque that announces the calls to prayer) in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is an Arab town, run by the Palestinian Authority. 

Yea! Domino's pizza!  For the first time in 20 years we live within the route to have pizza delivered to our home.  Thing is, 2 medium pizzas cost about $23 USD - with a coupon....so we'll stick with our homemade pita pizzas :)

There are scooters for almost every business you can think of in Jerusalem.  Domino's, UPS, postal mail, even the hospital has one.  They are the quickest way through traffic - they don't wait in line like the rest of the cars, but weave their way through the cars & buses, drive on sidewalks & pedetrian roads, and even the wrong way down a one way street.

We're sitting in the Coffee Bean on a Friday afternoon with some friends while the workers were "cleaning up" for Shabbat.  We thought we just might get washed away....

View from the Mount of Olives looking at the Southern end of the Old City - the Jewish Quarter, the south end of the Temple Mount, the Southern Excavations, and the Davidson Center - sloping down into the Kidron Valley.

Now this is a form of transportation we had not seen before! 

Makes me think of the golf carts people drive around in the States.

In the winter months (rainy months) we had giant snails - about the size of a golf ball!  When walking home in the dark, we had to watch where we were going so we wouldn't step on them,

they're not so fast to get out of the way...

We've also seen 2 very large porcupines since we've been here - one was just a few buildings from us,

and the other in the government buildings area....

So you've heard of the Appalachian Trail?  Well here's the Jerusalem Trail!  There are many pleasant places to go walking in Jerusalem - and all around Israel.  There are also many National Parks that offer hiking, with amazing views and adventures that probably wouldn't be allowed in the States....

A shepherd with his sheep.

Picture from a local hospital that Jim visited with some of our volunteers 

to pass out teddy bears and hugs.

There are several murals around the city on buildings.  The whole left side of this building is a mural.

Here's a different form of "artwork" along the road between Qumran and En-Gedi.

Dead Sea on right.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 

 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

An end to another beautiful day....

Funny how God shows little things to us along life's way that make us smile.  

We began writing this blog 2 days ago, but hadn't had time to finish and post it.   Earlier today, a new volunteer from France gave us a small gift she brought with her - a small packet of potpourri!! 

May our lives be a musical medley

 that is a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

Ahava Love Letter - "Hand To The Plow"

  

Ahava Love Letter

“Hand To The Plow”               "No one, having put his hand to the plow,                                   and looking back,          is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62 NKJV)

Dear family of friends,

Back in 1977, Paul Clark, a Christian songwriter and singer, came out with an album (before MP3 downloads and IPhones, in case you weren’t born then) entitled “Hand To The Plow.” The title song of the same name, if my memory serves me right from 24 years ago, was about his grandfather, a farmer in the Midwest. The song was about perseverance.

Persevering, according to the dictionary, means “to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.” Perseverance is a timely, and most needed, personal quality to possess. It allows us to get through to the finish line when others may have dropped out of the race, or quit plowing the field, in the meantime.

Growing up in Iowa back in the 60’s and 70’s meant one got to watch the massive green John Deere and big red International Harvester tractors out plowing the fields before and after the harvest. For the farmers, it consisted of long hours sitting on the lone seat, turning row after row of black dirt over, to plant the seed. After the summer growing period, they did it again, to prepare for the next season after it had borne its “fruit.” The reward had come at the end of the enduring time.

When one looks at the hand of the plower on the front of the pictured album cover, it is actually Paul Clark’s grandfather’s hands on the plow. Rugged and strong, they held to that instrument that would enable them to be persistent in the annual work that went into harvest preparation. Whether walking behind the mule or horses, as he did in his time, or sitting behind the front wheels of the tractor now, the farmer had to keep his eye on the end of the row, to make a straight line, one at a time, back and forth. His perseverance was necessary to accomplish the task, to reap the hopeful harvest after many months had passed.

In our walk with the Lord, we know we need to keep  “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…” (Heb. 12:2 NAS). Daily and persistently.

I commend those who have been running the marathon race, who have been plowing in the fields for what seems “forever”, and yet continue to courageously plow ahead for the reward of the harvest which will be realized. I commend the people of Israel, who stand as their small country faces the world opposed to them.

I applaud the parents, the teachers, the men and women safeguarding our liberties, and those daily persevering to the end, knowing that as they keep their hands to the plow their efforts will bring eternal accomplishments. When it is a tough go, they just keep on going.

As you put your hand to the plow today, remember that it is not in vain. That sacrifice and love you pour out today will have its just reward, whether seen now or not, for the Almighty One sees all. He is the rewarder for each of you who continue on the path He leads you on.

As once was a popular saying, “Keep on keeping on”, I hope you do so. Or even now, keep that plow in the dirt, and expect the good results in the years to come. We are walking together in this. Keep your hand to the plow! (Use superglue if you have too…)

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a charitable gift to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. Our website  http://www.loveforhispeople.com/ lists the opportunities available. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2011 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box 470035   Charlotte, NC 28247-0035      

E-mail: ahavaloveletters@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin  and  Love For His People       

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogger: http://loveforhispeople.blogspot.com/         YouTube: loveforhispeopleinc

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.  Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #28   Date: July 12, in the year of our Lord 2011    

The 2 Spies: Bits-and-Pieces

The 2 Spies: Bits-and-Pieces: "Israel is such a great place to live! Today we are going to share some 'bits-and-pieces' of what we see on a daily (or not so daily) basis...."

"A Time To Love & A Time To Hate" - Cathy Hargett

Cathy Hargett - Highway To Zion President/Founder

(Board Member - Love For His People)

Shalom, Shalom, Friends!

The Lord continues to impress on my heart the reality and the intensity of the battle that exists between the people filled with the Ruach ha Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) and the demonic hordes filled with satan’s darkness. 

I am sometimes shocked at how much I hate evil.   “…a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”  Ecc. 3:8 Yet, I am convinced by the Word of the Lord that hating evil is evidence that we belong to God. “Let those who love the Lord hate evil….”  Ps. 97:10 “Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against You?” Ps. 139:21 

I just did not understand how very intense this hatred would become as we see the Day approaching.  If you hate evil bad enough, you will war against it with all His power working in you.  The gauntlet has been thrown down.  The dividing lines are becoming cleaner and sharper. As we go through these end-times battles, we begin to recognize that the "everyday" struggles that we are facing are not simply aggravations of this life but true battles in the spirit realm where we will ultimately see the victory of Yeshua ha Mashiach.  

It gives me hope to embrace this truth and a sense of purpose in the trial.  He often teaches us through the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.  (Isa. 30:20)  I'm beginning to understand this and no longer am I surprised at the fiery trials and I am learning that He is teaching me to rejoice in this participation of His suffering (I Peter 4:12-13) and that endurance itself is his training/his discipline – not in a punitive sense, but in a learning sense.   “Regard your endurance as discipline; God is dealing with you as sons….” Heb. 12:7 CJB

I’m not saying I have it all figured out.  I am saying that I am learning, and I am quiet in my spirit as He teaches me about it. I realize just how “Other” He is.  He’s way up ahead now, as Brother Oswald Chambers mentions in one of his devotionals, and He seems strange at times because He is past finding out.  This Yeshua is also the Warrior King of heaven and we can’t understand the fullness of what this truly means to know that we, too, are in the epic battle of the end of the age.  

My eyes are straining to see what's next....sometimes I get a picture of myself standing in the middle of an intense storm with a barely visible line of troops coming across the horizon, and there is all kind of debris flying by and wind whipping my face so that I can barely keep my eyes open because of the sting of it.  The battle is raging and I can see that satan's hordes are approaching, yet I know and am convinced that the One called Faithful and True is equipping us for the end of these days.  The darkness is encroaching and there is no doubt about it.  

Yes, I hate evil.  I abhor it.  I am steely against it and becoming more strategic with my spiritual weaponry as I watch the enemy infiltrate loved ones, friends and family with his lying deceit and snares placed “just so” to entangle the unsuspecting. 

Yes, the battle is on.   The Holy Spirit Himself is teaching us, just as Yeshua promised – He is showing us these things that are to come – it is awesome in its intensity: "...But when the Spirit of Truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth - the whole, full truth.  For He will not speak His own message - on His own authority - but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father He will give the message that has been given to Him) and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come - that will happen in the future."  (John 16:13 Amplified Version)

It has taken me some years and many battles to understand that hating evil is His Word to us, remembering that we are not talking about focusing our anger on flesh and blood.  A compelling passage for me is this one in II Peter 2:7-8 about Lot - righteous people are tormented in their souls by this pervasive evil of the world, the flesh and the devil: "and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)...."  II Peter 2:7-8 NIV

Don’t you just “spiritually feel” this verse – knowing what it feels like to be tormented in your soul by what you see in the world around you?   This is how I so often feel these days as we look around at the continual decline of the morality of this world, the degrading acts of lawlessness, with people giving themselves over to the enemy with ever more degrading choices - and such were we before He rescued us and made us His own.  (II Cor. 6:11)

There is another twist to this truth of the righteous hating evil – and this you may or may not be prepared to hear – but evil hates you back.  If you are feeling this coming against you, rejoice that you are on the Lord’s side! If Yeshua, the Righteous One, the One we adore was hated, and we are His followers, it only makes sense to expect that same hatred the enemy has for Him to also come against us. 

Even as I write this, I realize that this whole subject may be too much for many who are still faint-hearted and not ready for such a challenge as hating and being hated!  I’m not so sure myself!  All I know is this – it is true.  There is a difference now, though, as I accept what the Holy Spirit is revealing. It no longer feels “personal”.  I simply know the life to which we are called….a life of absolute and total abandon, the life of a lover and the life of a warrior….fighting the good fight of faith.  Knowing Whose side we are on.  No compromise. 

Oh, God, help us live up to what we have already attained in You. Love God.  Hate evil.  His Light will appear and satan will be destroyed at the splendor of His coming.  (II Thes. 2:8) In the love of the One Called Faithful and True,Cathy

Cathy Hargett
Highway to Zion Ministries, Inc.

The 2 Spies: Wishing You Were Here With Us!

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Open Letter to Barack Obama - Op-Eds - Israel National News

Open Letter to Barack Obama - Op-Eds - Israel National News

Rabbi Jonathan Bernis Conference - Jewish Voice Ministries

Volunteers - Steve & Laurie Martin, Indira & Edgar Persad

Jewsih Voice Ministries' "A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days"

- Indian Land, SC June 18, 2011

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Israel & Angela Smith - worship leaders

of Jewish Voice Ministries

Jonathan Bernis - President, Jewish Voice Ministries

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Ahava Love Letter - "Wait"

Dear family of friends,

This wasn’t quite what I had imagined. Was this the way it was supposed to turn out? I hadn’t thought so.

Sitting out here, hot, dry and thirsty, watching these creatures wasn’t what I had envisioned the way it would turn out. What about all those words received earlier? Why the sudden change from glory to glum? Whatever happened to the spectacular events that I had determined would be the outcome? After all, wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be?

I sat on the rock. Pondering. Wondering. Asking “what if” over and over again.

Not even a lone bird broke one streak of the summer sun beating down on this forsaken bit of earth. Seemed like this was going to be it. Not at all what I had expected. Or planned for.

As these thoughts rambled over and over again through my head, they also drifted back to what was reality just a few years ago. Second in line to the top man. Ready to use all my training to lead as I knew things should be. Prepared for the hour when everything was right for that stepping out and “do it” moment.

But it didn’t happen that way. My heart saw one thing. My eyes told another. I did what I thought was in my heart to do, and now this.

Sometimes I wonder if this was what Moses thought while sitting there, watching sheep. There isn’t much a shepherd can do out in a desert. Can you imagine, sitting there some 10-12 hours a day, day in and day out, with not much other stimuli going on around you. They must have been long, lonely days. Plenty of time to think such thoughts.

He probably kept beating himself mentally, asking where did he miss it. How did it turn out this way? What was to be seemed that it would not ever become.

What was God saying in all this? What was the purpose now, if not to be the leader of his people, the one to deliver them from their troubles? Why had he blown it, so it appeared?

Desert times are separation times. When there is nothing else that can be done, or ones to turn to for answers, we are meant to wait it out and hope for the best. We are given the opportunity to put our faith and trust into Someone beyond ourselves, our own abilities, our own understanding. We are asked to wait.

Moses didn’t know the end result of his waiting. He couldn’t imagine what the Lord was doing in his heart and spirit during this seemingly wasted time. Forty years of wasted time it looked like. He didn’t see the end result.

But as they say, our time is not His time. I am glad His time is eternity. He knows the end after the beginning.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a charitable gift to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. Our website  http://www.loveforhispeople.com/ lists the opportunities available. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2011 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box 470035   Charlotte, NC 28247-0035      

E-mail: ahavaloveletters@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin  and  Love For His People       

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople and ahavaloveletter 

Blogger: http://loveforhispeople.blogspot.com/         YouTube: loveforhispeopleinc

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.  Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #27   Date: June 21, in the year of our Lord 2011    

"Believed (Emunah)" - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

אמונה Emunah (pronounced:  ee-moo-nah’)

One of the most quoted verses about Abraham is Genesis 15:6 – “Then he (Abraham) believed (emunah) the LORD, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness.”  The meaning of this key Scripture – that our salvation rests upon faith, apart from works – is one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian faith.  Indeed, Rabbi Sha’ul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) quoted this Scripture twice (Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6), and James, the brother of Yeshua, refers to it in his epistle as well (James 2:23). 

It is important to note, however, that the central word in this passage – “believed” – has a slightly different connotation in Hebrew than it does in English.  In English [and also in Greek (pistis)] the primary meaning of “believe” is:  “to concur with a factual statement, or to agree with the truth of an idea”.
In Hebrew, the word אמונה (emunah) does mean to believe, but it carries with it a much broader implication.  Let’s look at two Scriptures in the Tanakh which use the word “emunah”; Scriptures that illustrate the broader Hebrew meaning of this word.  In Exodus 17 we read that Moses was required to lift his hands to assure that Israel prevailed in the battle against the Amalekites.  The last sentence of verse 12 reads:  “Thus his hands were “steady” until the sun set.  The word “steady” in this passage of Scripture is the word “enumah”.
Likewise, the word אמונה is also used to describe one of God’s primary characteristics.  In Deuteronomy 7:9 it says:  “Therefore know that the LORD your God is God.  He is the “faithful” God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations…”.  Here again, the word translated “faithful” is “emunah”.

In my opinion, one of the greatest aspersions that the “Church” has cast upon the Name and the character of God, is the doctrine of Replacement Theology.  This doctrine, so rampant in the “Church” today, claims that since the majority of Jews have rejected Yeshua as the Messiah, therefore God has rejected them.  In replacing the Jews, God supposedly has transferred His covenant from Israel to the “Church”.  Although this doctrine is accepted and preached by the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the majority of Protestant denominations, it is totally contrary to the Scriptures in both the Tanakh and the Brit Chadeshah. 

For example, God speaks of His covenant with Israel three hundred and thirteen times in the Tanakh, and in sixteen of those instances He reminds Israel that His covenant is an “everlasting covenant”!  (My dictionary says “everlasting” means “continuing indefinitely; lasting forever”.)  Moreover, the Apostle Paul himself asks the rhetorical question, “Has God cast away His people?” and then answers emphatically, “Certainly not!”  (Romans 11:1).  Second Timothy 2:13 makes the same point – “Even if we are faithless, He is faithful.  He cannot deny Himself.” 

Finally, consider this -- If Replacement Theology is correct, then what gives the Christian Church the assurance that God will not “change His mind” once again and cast the “Church” aside as He supposedly did to Israel?  Indeed, the doctrine of Replacement Theology is such a smear on the integrity of the God of Israel, that in my mind it is tantamount to blasphemy of His Holy Name.

Of all the characteristics of God (mercy, lovingkindness, compassion, and the others) it is God’s “emunah” that, to me, stands out above the rest.  “Emunah”, in the Hebraic sense, is much more than agreement to a set of facts or circumstances; more than simply a mental assent to something.  It implies “steadfastness” and “faithfulness” toward the object of our belief.   This is how God acts toward us, and how He wants us to act toward Him and toward others.  As James points out in James 2:19 -- even Satan believes the truth about Yeshua.  But mere believing will not save him.  Satan believes, but he does not have emunah toward the LORD.

What God saw in Abraham, and what He is seeking in us, is not simple “belief”.  What He is seeking is אמונה.  He is looking for a steadfast faithfulness in us. It is a faithfulness that is not dependent upon the circumstances that confront us moment to moment, but rather a faithfulness which is grounded and anchored on the Rock of our Salvation – Yeshua HaMashiach – Jesus the Messiah. 
May אמונה be found in all of us – and may God “reckon it unto us as righteousness”.

Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

Asheville, North Carolina

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Shavu'ot - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

Shavu’ot

Let’s look at Leviticus 23:1-4. 

“And the LORD spoke unto Moses saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are My appointed feasts, the appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy assemblies.  These are My feasts…These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.”

Notice the emphasis:  These are the Feasts of the Lord.  These are not “Jewish Feasts”.  God says:  ‘These are My Feasts’. 

The NAS says “These are the Lord’s appointed Times” which is a very good translation, because the Hebrew word here is “mo’a’dim” which literally means “an appointed meeting” or “an appointment”.    I’m a physician.  My patients made appointments to see me.  When one makes an appointment with one’s doctor there are certain expectations?  First, one expects the doctor to be there and secondly, the doctor expects the patient to be there too.  Right?  Well, these mo’a’dim are like that.  Essentially God is saying:  “I’m making an appointment with you.  At these appointed times of the year I – God – am going to show up and I expect you to be there too.” 

I’m dating myself, I know, but I’m reminded of a line in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977).  Richard Dreyfus, in the movie, is constantly repeating:  “This is important.  This means something.”  My comment about these scriptures is this:  This is important.  This means something.  We Gentile Christians have been saying:  Oh, that’s Old Testament stuff; we don’t need to do that.  And that’s true:  we don’t “need” to.  God doesn’t love us any less.  But He has been faithfully showing up for His feasts for over three thousand years and we Gentiles are missing out on all the blessings and all the joy.  This is important.  This means something.  J

Of the Feasts of Lord, three are especially important:

1. Pesach (Passover);
2. Shavu’ot (Pentecost);
3. Succot (Tabernacles).
4. These three feasts are also called “Pilgrim Feasts”, because every able-bodied Jewish male was to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for these three feasts every year.

This past April we celebrated Passover and Resurrection Sunday.  Now we have entered the season of Shavu’ot or Pentecost.

   (Shavu’ot)

Shavu’ot comes from the Hebrew word Sheva which means Seven, and so Shavu’ot means weeks.  The full name is Hag Shavu’ot (the Festival of Weeks) and is the second great Feast of the Lord on the Jewish calendar. 

The LORD said to Moses, “From the day after Shabbat, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.  Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Shabbat, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.  On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work.  This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

Shavu’ot, therefore, is not tied to a particular calendar date as are Pesach and Sukkot, but rather occurs exactly 50 days after Pesach.  In English, we call the festival Pentecost, from the Greek word meaning “fifty days”.  One may ask, “Why do we need to count the days from Pesach to Shavu’ot?  Why didn’t God just say that the feast was on such and such a date as He did with Pesach, Sukkot, Yom Kippur and the others?”  The rabbis have several answers, but one of my favorites is this – God wanted us to always look back at Pesach – to reflect on the fact that He obtained our freedom from Egypt, and, through the Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection, He also redeemed us from the consequences of sin.  To fully and correctly celebrate Shavu’ot, therefore, we must always begin with Pesach!

 

Agriculturally, this holiday commemorates the time when the first fruits are harvested in Israel.  Specifically, these “first fruits” are the seven (“sheva”) species of Israel – as described in Deuteronomy 8:8 – wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, dates, and olives.  This time of harvest of the seven species occurs in Israel to this day as it has throughout antiquity.  As such, the holiday is also known as Hag HaBikkurim (the Festival of First Fruits). 

The Jewish rabbis and sages tell us that the Torah (the five books of Moses) was given from God to Moses on Mt. Sinai on Shavu’ot.  It’s interesting to note that the Jews emphasize that the Torah was given, on Shavu’ot rather than that the Israelites received the Torah on Shavu’ot.  The rabbis say that the Torah was given by God only one time.  However, every time we read the Word of God we are receiving it from God fresh and new.  I like that!

And, of course, Shavu’ot was when the Ruach HaKodesh was first poured out upon all the early Believers.  More on that in a moment.

Other Shavu’ot customs include the idea that Shavu’ot was the marriage between God and the Jewish people.  As a bride counts down the days until her wedding, so we (the Bride of Messiah) count down the days between Passover and Pentecost as we are united with God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Also, some Messianic Jewish Believers in Yeshua consider the tongues of fire that covered the heads of the disciples at Pentecost, was like a chuppah or wedding canopy that God Himself placed over the Believers who were first baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Another custom is the reading of the book of Ruth.  It was during the Spring harvest that Ruth was gleaning in the field of Boaz and met her “kinsman redeemer”.  Also, it was Ruth (a gentile) who identified herself with the Jewish people.  She said to her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi -- "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and I will live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”  God honored Ruth’s commitment to the Jews, and she became the grandmother of King David, and through David, an ancestor of our Messiah Yeshua.

Another Jewish tradition on Shavu’ot is to decorate the home and place of worship with greenery, and to eat dairy and sweets, to remind us that Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey.  My favorite is a cherry cheesecake!!

Finally, because the Torah was given on Shavu’ot, it is customary for the Jews to stay up all night studying the Torah, and then praying at dawn on the first morning of Shavu’ot.  To this very day the Jews continue to gather in the synagogues throughout the world for this ritual. 

In Yeshua’s day, if they were in Jerusalem, they gathered in the Temple, which was called “HaBy’eet” – The House, i.e., The House of the Lord.   In fact, today, in Israel, the Temple Mount, where the “Dome of the Rock” now sits, is still called in Hebrew -- Har HaBay’eet, “The Mountain of The House.”

You may recall that Yeshua Himself referred to The Temple in this way.  At age 12 when Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple, He asked – “Why did you look for Me?  Did you not know that I had to be in HaBy’eet Avi?” -- The House of My Father?  (Luke 2:49).

Let’s look at Acts 2:1-4.  Dr. Luke writes:  “And when the morning of Shavu’ot had fully come they [the disciples] were all together in one place.”  (Why were they all together?  What were they doing?  There is no question in my mind about it.  As was the custom then, and continues today, they were praying and they were studying Torah.)  “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”  (Acts 2:1-4).  How remarkable that both the Torah and the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) were given to men by God on exactly the same day – Shavu’ot!

There is a long standing tradition that this event occurred in the Upper Room, but is that what the Scriptures actually say?  Notice the words “the house”, and remember that Luke is writing primarily to Jewish Believers.  To the Jewish reader and to Jewish ears, The House (HaBy’eet) is always synonymous with The Temple.

I believe that Luke is telling us that the disciples had been up all night studying Torah in The Temple and then praying at dawn as was – and is – the Jewish custom to this day.  It was during these morning Temple prayers when the Holy Spirit fell.  Luke says that Jews from throughout the Diaspora were present when this happened and they were able to hear and understand the disciples – “We hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” (Acts 2:11)  This makes sense, because these other Jewish pilgrims were also in Jerusalem at “HaBy’eet” (The House) studying Torah through the night and praying together on the dawn of Shavu’ot.  What a morning that must have been!  I love it that Peter actually had to get up and explain to crowd that the disciples weren’t drunk! (vs.15)  It must have been a sight to see!

On this Festival of First Fruits – Shavu’ot -- may He who is the giver of every good and perfect gift grant to all of us a life full of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” -- the “Fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23).   Hag Semeach!  (Happy Holiday!)

Dr. Bill Duerfeldt

Asheville, N.C.

israel today Magazine

Netanyahu on Jerusalem Day: This city is ours!

Wednesday, June 01, 2011 | Ryan Jones

 

As Israel marked the 44th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel would never allow the city to be again divided. "Forty-four years ago, IDF soldiers realized the prophets' vision and returned Jerusalem to its proper place," Netanyahu said, referring to the liberation of the eastern half of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.

Speaking at Jerusalem's Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, which has long been at the forefront of religious Zionism, Netanyahu continued: "Jerusalem will never be divided. There's nothing more holy to us than Jerusalem, we'll protect Jerusalem, it's unity, and we'll build and develop it."

US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have been pushing hard to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks based on Arab demands that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders.

For its part, the Palestinian leadership insists it will never sign a peace deal with Israel that does not include the full surrender of the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount. But a Jerusalem Day poll revealed that a strong majority of Israelis remain firmly behind Netanyahu's policies, and do not agree to divide Jerusalem even as part of a comprehensive peace agreement.

Conducted by the Geocartography Knowledge Group on behalf of Israel's Channel One News, the survey showed that 66 percent of Israelis oppose handing over any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. A 23 percent minority said they would be willing to surrender Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, a compromise the Palestinian Authority has already rejected.

An even larger 73 percent majority opposed placing Jerusalem's holy sites under international control, a proposal that first came up during former US President Bill Clinton's oversight of the peace process.
Rather than talk about how to divide Jerusalem, 67 percent of Israelis want to simply get on with building up and developing the city as the capital of Israel.