Tag Archives: Israelite

New Week Inspiration 💕🌞 . . . Hug O’ War

* Hug O’ War I will not play at tug o’ war.I’d rather play at hug o’ war,Where everyone hugs. Instead of tugs,Where everyone giggles And rolls on the rug…

New Week Inspiration 💕🌞 . . . Hug O’ War

In times we hearing so much of wars, or having news stations even losing attention for some other wars, we better should remind others not to protest violently but calling for peace in a peaceful manner.

Let us better hug all around us, being Muslim, Palestinian, Jew or Israelite, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist.

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Thoughts on Passover

The traditional Passover Seder Haggadah is not just for Jews—it will move spiritual progressives both secular and religious.

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Thoughts on Passover by Shari Motro

How does one leave home in peace?

Read metaphorically, the Exodus story—which Jews will retell during the upcoming Passover holiday—offers some clues to answering this most universal of questions.

Moses is born a Hebrew slave, but he is raised in Pharaoh’s palace. The setup is an exaggerated version of something familiar to many—to anyone who has wondered whether some cosmic accident landed her with the wrong family; anyone who has felt uncomfortable about the privileges she accrued by virtue of her birth; anyone who at some point experienced her parents as oppressive or narrow. Egypt, in Hebrew, means “narrow place.”

Moses’ initial reaction is the classic teenage rebellion—it’s rash, it’s risky, and it gets him into deep trouble. After witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses kills the Egyptian, buries him in the sand, and runs. He tries to disappear, to start over. In Midian, Moses marries a local and has a son who he names Gershom, Stranger (“For I was a stranger in a strange land,” he says).

But running away doesn’t work. At some point, those of us who leave unfinished business behind are called to return. For Moses, the call starts as a fire, a fire that burns but doesn’t consume. The burning bush is a fire that can be neither put out nor ignored.

Miniature ofrom Folio 8r of the Syriac Bible o...

Miniature ofrom Folio 8r of the Syriac Bible of Paris shows Moses before Pharaoh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Moses goes home to face the conflict he ran from. His task is to negotiate, to mediate between the slaves and Pharaoh, both of whom symbolize aspects of every human soul. He will eventually leave again, but in a different way. Leaving home in peace requires acknowledging the naysaying voice within. Moses can’t leave Egypt for good until his ability to dream his own future overwhelms his fear, until he stands before Pharaoh and speaks his truth.

Yes, I killed the Egyptian.

Yes, I’ve turned my back on you. Look, I’m not you. I’m a different person.

Yes, I want to leave.

Will you let me go?

Pharaoh says no, as parents do. Sometimes parents say no even when they know that eventually they will relent, that everybody will be better off when they do. Nevertheless, some inexplicable force compels them to dig in their heels, to wield their power while they still have it.

Of course, Pharaoh is an extreme example. This is the point of archetypal myths: they use extremes to illustrate lessons that apply to us all. Pharaoh symbolizes attachment—the eminently human tendency to resist change. The plagues are the suffering that results from attachment. Each plague is a message from Pharaoh’s higher self, like a body that keeps getting sick until you listen to it.

For Moses, the message of the plagues may be this: Your blossoming into your most radiant self is not the true cause of suffering—Pharaoh’s suffering, your own suffering, anybody’s. The cause of suffering is resistance.

After the tenth and most devastating plague—the death of the firstborn—Pharaoh finally relents, and the Israelites leave “in haste.” They leave so quickly they can’t wait for their bread to rise; this is why we eat unleavened bread on Passover. What’s the message here?

When the force holding you back finally relents—go. GO. Don’t be scared; don’t feel guilty; don’t hang around saying long goodbyes. It’s time.

And if Pharaoh follows at your heels and drowns in the pursuit, don’t rejoice. According to one interpretation, this is what God said to the angels who sang as the Egyptian chariots were swallowed by the sea:

“Don’t rejoice, for they are my creatures too.”

And yet, the texts are also filled with the opposite, with joy.

Anyone who has succeeded in breaking free knows this tension well. Our glee is tinged with something else, with the sinking recognition that our naysayers’ grief is our grief. And… surviving requires not allowing ourselves to drown in their tears. Surviving is rejoicing despite their pain.

Somehow, on the other side of it all, there is a place where all is forgiven, where the narrowness of our birth canal—every trauma, every grief—becomes a source of love and gratitude, where zero-sum gives way to abundance, where Pharaoh and Moses are one.

I’ve seen only glimpses of this place. For me, this is the Promised Land.

– by Shari Motro

Shari Motro is a professor of law at the University of Richmond.

From the Sikkum Special Seder Messages for Passover

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Preceding posts:

Commemorating the escape from slavery

The Evolution Of Passover–Past To Present

Passover and Liberation Theology

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Additional reading:

  1. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
  2. Moving around looking for a homeland
  3. 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
  4. The Song of The Lamb #7 Revelation 15
  5. Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
  6. Emotional pain and emotional deadness
  7. Meaning of life 
  8. Suffering
  9. Offer in our suffering
  10. God helper and deliverer
  11. God’s instruction about joy and suffering
  12. God’s promises to us in our suffering
  13. Suffering – through the apparent silence of God
  14. Suffering continues
  15. Suffering leading to joy
  16. Surprised by time in joys & sufferings
  17. 1 -15 Nisan
  18. Day of remembrance coming near
  19. Another way looking at a language #4 Ancient times
  20. Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him
  21. The Advent of the saviour to Roman oppression
  22. Seven days of Passover
  23. On the first day for matzah
  24. A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
  25. Children ate the OT passover so why not NT bread and wine?
  26. High Holidays not only for Israel
  27. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
  28. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
  29. 14-15 Nisan and Easter

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  • The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep (acquiescere9.wordpress.com) > The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped SheepUltimately, the Torah tells us, God commanded the Israelites to take a lamb or a kid for each household. They were to hold it for four days, from the tenth until the fourteenth of the first month, and slaughter it on the fourteenth. This was done in Egypt, despite the Egyptians’ religious beliefs. To this day Jews commemorate this event, calling the Sabbath preceding Passover Shabbat Hagadol
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    Torah Parshat Va’eira Exodus 6:2-9:3
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    Parshah Yitro Exodus 18:1-20:23
  • This Passover 2012, Remember (Again!) – It’s Not Your Religion That Matters, But Your Humanity (nobodysview.wordpress.com)
    A drop of wine is spilled with each recitation in memory of those who suffered in Egypt…not the Jews, but the Egyptians.I guess it’s a solemn reminder that when blood of any kind is spilled, we all lose a little something.  Then, it is important to remember that when there are those in bondage around the world, we ourselves (no matter our religion) are in some way in bondage.
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    It’s 5773, but the Message of Passover 2013 Is Still as Strong as Ever
    There were wanderings, new beginnings, divisions, and some heartache, but in the end, the destination was reached.
  • Preparing for Passover: Six Ways to Prepare (coffeeshoprabbi.com)
    Traditionally, Jews spend the month after Purim preparing for Passover. A lot of the holiday is in the preparation: the seder and the week that follows are the fruit of what we’ve put in the month before. I thought it might be helpful to look at the various ways we prepare for Passover.  If this is your first year observing Passover, don’t try to do everything at once. Choose one or two, and get all that you can out of them.
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    Passover is the festival of telling the story about “deliverance from Egypt.” If you are truly to experience deliverance, it helps to notice from what you need deliverance. Spend some time, between now and Passover, thinking about your own personal Egypt(s). The name for Egypt in Hebrew is “Mitzrayim,” which also means “a narrow place, a tight spot.” Questions to ask myself: Where in my life am I stuck? To what am I a slave? In what parts of my life am I Pharaoh? Do I depend on the slavery of others? What would freedom look like, in any of these cases? What would freedom cost? What is freedom worth?
  • Who Would You Rather Listen To? (spinningrabbi.com)
    One of those valuable lessons of this remembering, is this – G-d freed the Jews so that they were no longer physical slaves, yet they were still slaves.  Now they were their own Pharaoh and the slavery was of the self-imposed spiritual and emotional variety.  Once physically free, it was up to them to free themselves spiritually and emotionally.This lesson applies to all people who are blessed to live in freedom today.  This means that the only one who can free you now, is you.  It’s up to you to free yourself from your personal Egypt.
  • Christian Bale as Moses in ‘Exodus’: First Look (PHOTO) (news.moviefone.com)
    Empire has our first look at Ridley Scott’s “Exodus,” and judging by the impressive construction going on behind Christian Bale‘s Moses, this Biblical tale should be epic indeed.The film follows the story of Moses, abandoned as a baby and adopted by Egyptian royalty, only to hear the voice of God as he grows older and ultimately lead the Israelite slaves into the promised land. In this image, Moses witnesses the suffering of his people at the hands of the Pharaoh.
  • Pharaoh’s Overthrow (brakeman1.com)
    There were six hundred thousand men, besides women and children.  God caused a pillar of cloud to go before them in the daytime, to show them the way they were to take, and at night He led them by a pillar of fire.After the children of Israel had left Egypt, Pharaoh, though his kingdom had been nearly destroyed for his disobedience to God, was angry with himself for having let them go.  So he gathered together a great army, and pursued them to where they were encamped, in the wilderness by the Red Sea.
  • The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep (menashedovid1.wordpress.com)> The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep
    the Torah tells us, God commanded the Israelites to take a lamb or a kid for each household. They were to hold it for four days, from the tenth until the fourteenth of the first month, and slaughter it on the fourteenth. This was done in Egypt, despite the Egyptians’ religious beliefs. To this day Jews commemorate this event, calling the Sabbath preceding Passover Shabbat Hagadol…
  • Passover Primer (boiseweekly.com)
    If you’ve walked through a Treasure Valley Albertson’s recently, you’ve probably noticed a table piled high with unfamiliar items–boxes of Streit’s Potato Pancakes, giant packages of Yehuda Passover Matzos, bottles of Kedem Sparkling Concord Grape Juice and murky jars of Mrs. Adler’s Gefilte Fish filled with bobbing, grayish lumps.
  • Now Faith Is (faithrises.com)
    Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
  • Max, Hannah and some frogs: Kids’ books bring new friends (jta.org)
    Frolicking frogs and magical matzah balls are featured in this season’s crop of new Passover books for children that are sure to engage, inform, entertain and inspire.David Adler, author of the hugely popular early reader “Cam Jansen” series, offers “The Story of Passover.” Adler is highly acclaimed for his straightforward narrative style in non-fiction books, including dozens on Jewish holidays.David A. Adler in "The Story of Passover" provides little-known answers to some intriguing questions. (Courtesy Holiday House)He says he likes to appeal to readers of any Jewish background, whether from traditional, observant Jewish families or those who are interested in learning about Passover.

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Filed under Being and Feeling, History, Religious affairs

Commemorating the escape from slavery

In this day and age many like to play god, and often think they are able to do so. Lots of people do want to be in the ‘beams’ shining bright. They want to be in the centre of the ‘spotlight’ and love the attention. But at one point the attention becomes too much. Lots of people then loose control over their emotions.

twitter y macworld

twitter y macworld (Photo credit: juque)

To cope with all those little agonies today people have found Twitter as their outrage machine, where this medium will make its little idols, through its perpetual series of distractions, puffery and self-indulgence.

Twitter allows us to be like Gods, worshipped by our followers with retweets and personal messages. And then we do battle with other Gods. {Twitter, Outrage, and Jesus}

Lots of people think they do not need to seek healing, for we have these weapons in 140 characters.

If there is the hope of winning, we will continue to place hashtags. {Twitter, Outrage, and Jesus}

A 13th century book illustration produced in B...

A 13th century book illustration produced in Baghdad by al-Wasiti showing a slave-market in the town of Zabid in Yemen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the mean time they all have become enslaved by their little technological attributes like smartphones, tablets, i-pads, laptops and all sorts of brands computers, televisions and so much more.
They also have become the new slaves of this age, having to work with more than one in the household to survive. And the bosses do know they need that work to survive and use it to their advantage, not to pay to much, but just enough to keep the workers quiet.

What would be the difference with the slaves from old times?

The coming week millions of believers in the Divine Creator shall celebrate an historic moment when the People of God were liberated from slavery. First they were liberated from the oppression of the Egyptians. A later liberation was even to become more important for all those who still had to be born. It would be the liberation of something which catches us all. In the past and in the future it was and is something which has conquered the people always. But now there would have come an end to it. But people shall have to make choices to be part of the winners. It would not be a game of poker, or an other game of cards, gambling or trying your luck on the lottery game. It would become a matter of choosing the right way to go in your life at your own responsibility.

Jews and several Christians shall be celebrating next Monday and Tuesday the incredible offer the Divine Creator gave to the world. Many probably would wonder why they will tell again old stories to their children, for the so ‘many-est’ time in their life.
Even in far away countries where it all happened, parents shall remind their children of that special occasion, we all should remember.

Also at the Youth Group at Hillside Church they may get Corbin’s grandmother, Ruth Dudlay, coming to tell them stories about the Underground Railway with special Underground Railway quilts, actual slave irons, and other historical relics from the time of slavery in a place close to them, North America. They shall hear those old stories because they are important to know their past but also to know their future.

Those stories can be told in many ways, but they should not only give entertainment. They should get us to think about certain matters, perhaps hidden behind the words of that story. Stories are also told in many ways to help us remember them.

The coming week many people in the world shall look at the liberation from slavery remembered in the ritual of the Passover feast. The coming weekend and following days many shall take time to remember and to recall those old stories. We also should take up those ancient books like the Bible and read about those important moments in history of humankind.

By reading and studying those old stories we can get to understand more about our human way of living and get to see who we are. Where we came from and where we are headed.

It is significant that the ancient stories of the Israelite slavery were cherished by the North American African slaves. Because of these ancient stories, slaves over 3,000 years later had hope that like the Israelite slaves they would be liberated by God! It was reading the stories in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus that caused William Wilberforce to petition the British Empire (and its colonies of Canada) to abolish slavery. {Why tell old stories?}

The story of Exodus describes an enslaved oppressed people rising up from captivity and escaping through the desert to return to their nomadic ancestors burial lands in Canaan. If you believe this story, the Exodus is one of the most significant moments of history without parallel. Slavery has been a part of human civilization for time untold and continues to be practiced today. Throughout history many slave revolts have occurred, however they usually end with all of the revolting being killed (for instance Spartacus and his slave rebellion against Rome). That the tribe of Hebrew slaves were able to leave Egypt, the most powerful empire in the world, and survive wandering through the desert is a powerful story that has inspired many oppressed peoples throughout history. {Why tell old stories?}

Friday-night, this coming Sabbath, the Haftorah read shall refer to a day in the future which will be “great” – the day of the re-establishment of God’s Kingdom on this earth, as described in Malachi 3-4.

Mal 4:5-6 NHEBYSE  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of YHWH comes.  (6)  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

The world should know that before the Day of Jehovah God, shall be there the world shall have receive the opportunity to choose for better things. We shall not be able to escape therefore the third World War, which shall be coming and be terrible, but we shall either be gone before or when still alive, shall be able to cope with it because we shall be prepared.

In the above verse the prophet speaks of the day of redemption in the future. Passover, which represents the day of redemption of antiquity, serves as the model for the future redemption of the children of Israel.

This Shabbat in Egypt was different from all other previous Shabbatot. This time, man joined God in His holy day. Ironically, the mode of observance was not “resting” as we think of it in the context of today’s Shabbat. Historically, the Shabbat before Pesach was the day when the children of Israel were commanded to take to themselves a lamb, a symbolic action that stood in opposition to the lamb-worshiping Egyptians. {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

The Sages note that by taking the lamb the Jews observed Shabbat in Egypt as never before. This was their first Shabbat as a people, a moment of passage in the national sense: They had reached the age of majority, became adult (“gedolim”), with responsibilities. This was Shabbat “HaGadol”. The most basic teaching of Shabbat is the acknowledgement that God created the world in six days. By taking the lamb the Jews rejected idolatry and accepted God. This was not merely an action which took place on the tenth of Nissan. This was a watershed of Jewish history. Now the Jews joined God in a Shabbat.  {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

All those who believe in the Creator God could better sometimes listen to those who are still in the old tradition of Hebrew teachings. then they should know and understand that it is perhaps because people always went in against the wishes of the Most High, that the better things did not yet come up to them. we should remember that God was very clear on which days had to be celebrated and to which Laws we should keep. But how many thought they could bring better laws into the world than the Maker His Laws? How many did not think they could make a better world than the world the Maker of the Universe had in His mind?

Our sages teach us that if all of Israel fully observe just two Shabbatot the Messiah would appear. {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

Interestingly, according to the mainstream Jewish approach the world was created in Nissan, which means that the Shabbat which takes place around the 10th of the month was the second Shabbat in the history of the world. Had those two Shabbatot been kept properly the world would have been redeemed back then. {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

In particular, the two Shabbatot which must be observed are Shabbat Hagadol and Shabbt Shuva. Each of these Shabbatot have a special power to them: One falls between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, it is a Shabbat which teaches man how to return to God. The other Shabbat is the first Shabbat observed in Egypt, the one we are about to celebrate. It is a Shabbat which contains within it the secret of redemption. {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

If man could master these two Shabbatot, the Messiah would quickly arrive. Would that it would be this year. {Weekly Torah Commentary — Acharei Mot April 11, 2014}

Observing the Sabbath-closing havdalah ritual ...

Observing the Sabbath-closing havdalah ritual in 14th-century Spain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These days we should come to prepare to celebrate the Festival of our Redemption, past and future. We should take some time to examine our relationships and make sure that we have no ‘unfinished business’ in that area. Now has come the time that we should consider which relation we would like to have with others around us. In case we have something done wrong we should come to the point that we ourselves take courage to go up to that person and admit we were wrong. These coming days we should look at all those old stories where we have seen that even people of God could do something wrong but ask forgiveness, and that it was given to them. We are also in need to ask forgiveness for some offence or have to forgive others for their offences against us. Now has come the time to our doorstep that we do have to do it from the heart. If we need to forgive someone else, likewise let’s forgive freely as God forgives us.

Now is also the time we do have to remember that Nazarene Jew who had no fault but was killed. He was willing to give his body as a lamb for God, as a payment for the sins of all people in this world.

Next Monday night we should come together and be feeling united with many people all over the world. We should also let others know that all over the world people will be looking forward to this gathering. We could always invite others too to gather with us to celebrate Passover – the holiday that commemorates the Jewish people’s escape from slavery in Egypt. And Christians can look for some extra dimension to that feast. We should not mourn for the death of Jeshua (Jesus Christ), but should be pleased that he on the night before he was given over to the Romans, took his closest friends with him in an upper room in Jerusalem to present them with symbols, which were a sign of the New Covenant, our new connection with Jehovah God, the Father of Christ Jesus, Who is also our Father and Who is welcoming us all again, if we are willing to come up to Him.

The world should get to know the meaning of these special days and has to come to understand the meaning of the symbols of Passover which all point to the ministry, death and resurrection of that humble Nazarene man Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb.

On the 14th day of the month of Nissan Jesus was crucified, or sacrificed. On the very same afternoon that the Passover lambs were being killed as a sacrifice, Jesus – the Lamb of God- was being sacrificed for all of us. Just like the blood on the doorposts of the Hebrews caused God’s judgement to pass over them, so the blood of Christ causes God’s judgement to pass over us. Christ provided atonement, as well as redemption for us upon the wooden stake. To receive this forgiveness of our sins we must put our faith in this Nazarene man, who is the Christos or Christ, the Messiah for which many may be still waiting. But he has already come, has fulfilled the wish of his Father and sealed the New Covenant with his own blood.

For seven or eight days (depending on where you live), families and friends come together for festive seder meals packed with ritual foods and a few dietary restrictions (for instance, no leavened grains). We all could feel united with them and show the outer-world the connection those people from all sorts of tribes, cultures or countries may share with each other. they all are united under the blessings of the One and Only True God.

It is under His Wings that we shall be able to come closer to each other and will be able find peace in unity.

English: Festive Seder table with wine, matza ...

Festive Seder table with wine, matza and Seder plate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We look forward to be able to find many at the meetings held on Monday night. On the 14th of April 2014, it shall also be from sundown the moment to remember what Jesus has done. Therefore a “Memorial Meal” shall bring many Christians together all over the world, keeping “Christian communion”. Also known by many as “the Lord’s supper” we shall gather to pray and remember all the difficulties this world received, but also all the goodness which has come over it. We shall read the old stories of the exodus and of the last days of Christ Jesus. Together we shall celebrate our Passover remembrance of the body and blood of Christ. His body being broken for us and his blood being shed upon the wooden stake for our salvation. The Passover lambs had to be without blemish in order to be sacrificed for sin. Christ was the only man without blemish (sin) so he became our Passover lamb. Christ is the second Adam, the man of flesh and blood and bones. He could be tempted and sin, like any other man, but he did not. He was the only person who managed to keep to the Laws of his Father, the Only One God, Whose Name he made known and asked us to be made known all over the world. Being without fault he was the perfect offer humankind give to its Maker. Giving his life for many he succeeded to become the only one who could purchase our salvation and become the mediator between God and man. In him we can trust, like we can trust his Father, our heavenly Father, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah God.

Let us wish each other:

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach!!! (A blessed Passover)

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Additional literature:

  1. 1 -15 Nisan
  2. Day of remembrance coming near
  3. Another way looking at a language #4 Ancient times
  4. Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him
  5. The Advent of the saviour to Roman oppression
  6. Seven days of Passover
  7. On the first day for matzah
  8. A Great Gift commemorated
  9. Jesus memorial
  10. Observance of a day to Remember
  11. A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
  12. In what way were sacrifices “shadows”?
  13. What does ‘atonement’ mean?
  14. Why did Jesus say he wouldn’t drink wine again until the kingdom when he ate and drank other things? (Mark 14:25)
  15. Children ate the OT passover so why not NT bread and wine?
  16. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
  17. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
  18. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
  19. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
  20. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
  21. 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
  22. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
  23. High Holidays not only for Israel
  24. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
  25. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
  26. The Song of The Lamb #7 Revelation 15
  27. Servant of his Father
  28. For the Will of Him who is greater than Jesus
  29. A Messiah to die
  30. Anointing of Christ as Prophetic Rehearsal of the Burial rites
  31. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
  32. How many souls did the death of Jesus pay for?
  33. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
  34. Why 20 Nations Are Defending the Crucifix in Europe
  35. Impaled until death overtook him
  36. Misleading Pictures
  37. A time for everything
  38. 2013 Lifestyle, religiously and spiritualy
  39. Fixing our attention
  40. Control your destiny or somebody else will
  41. Allowed to heal
  42. A secret to be revealed
  43. Your Sins Are Forgiven
  44. Slave for people and God
  45. Liberation in Christ
  46. Not bounded by labels but liberated in Christ
  47. Holidays, holy days and traditions
  48. A Holy week in remembrance of the Blood of life
  49. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
  50. Bread and Wine
  51. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
  52. The son of David and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread
  53. Deliverance and establishment of a theocracy
  54. Focus on outward appearances
  55. Fraternal week-end at Easter in Paris
  • How religion has been used to promote slavery (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
    what did the founders of the three great Western religions do? Did they have slaves and did they condemn the practice? Or were they, at least on this issue, squarely men of their times?
  • The people asked for a king: Selling ourselves (spiritharvestblog.com)
    God did not create man to dominate other men. Humans were created as sovereign beings with direct access to his and her Creator. We were created to be sovereign leaders of ourselves, partners in marriage, examples of right living to our children and upright representatives in our communities. We were created to live with the knowledge and understanding that God is our King, our Lord, our True Sovereign Leader. He occupies a throne no man can usurp.

    Until we attempted to take the throne for ourselves, or alternatively, put someone else upon the throne to rule us. No man can usurp our authority, but we can certainly surrender it.

  • God’s Law; Your slaves (soipost.wordpress.com)
    The social laws of the Pentateuch were not designed for the modern world,
    They were clearly designed for a different kind of world, a mainly agricultural society.
    But since they were published in the name of the Biblical God, they can still throw light on his nature and intentions.
    Which gives us a new reason for reading this collection even if the laws themselves have been superseded.
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    Some scholars try to reconcile Leviticus with the other laws by suggesting that “Hebrew” was a wider social or ethnic category than “Israelite”.
    But since the word “brother” is also used to describe Hebrews, it is probably better to see the injunctions of Leviticus as representing an ideal which wasn’t always attained.
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    What can these laws tell us about the God who endorses them?

    They deal with the state of slavery as something which exists, but their purpose is to regulate the treatment of slaves and impose restraints on the power that is exercised over them.
    This God is apparently unwilling to allow slave-owners the kind of absolute control which would have been available to them in most other slave-holding societies of the time.
    The owner cannot hold one of his own people in slavery for longer than a limited period.
    There are laws to prevent the treatment of slaves from descending into brutality, and laws to rein in the exploitation of female slaves.
    Since most of the Israelite slaves would have been debt-slaves, all this can be seen as one aspect of care for the poor.
    It points to the same concern for the weak and vulnerable that can be seen in many other Israelite laws.

    In fact the general tenor of these laws is unfriendly to the very existence of slavery, at least among the brethren.

  • Passover Primer (boiseweekly.com)
    Passover, a Jewish holiday celebrated for seven or eight days (depending on the branch of Judaism) that starts on the full moon in April, is a great opportunity to sink your teeth into Jewish history and culinary traditions. Why? Because each item consumed during the Passover seder–a ritual feast that’s hosted on the first night of Passover, this year Monday, April 14–is filled with thousands of years of meaning.
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    In addition to matzah, the Passover seder features six symbolic items displayed on a special seder plate. While some of these foods are eaten during the reading of the Haggadah–a guide outlining the order of the seder and explaining the significance of the meal–others are there for ceremonial purposes.
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    “What better way to entice people to really think about something than food?” said Lifshitz. “Food is intergenerational dialogue, which is what the Passover seder is about; it’s about a discussion.”
  • Christ our Passover Lamb (daysofdaniel.wordpress.com)
    The week of Passover or Pesach will begin at sunset Monday, April 14, and ends at nightfall Tuesday, April 22. The Passover is a Hebrew commemoration of when the death angel passed over the homes of the Israelites that placed blood on their doorposts. The Lord struck the firstborn of Egypt dead in response to Pharaohs decree but spared the firstborn of the Israelites who marked their homes with blood. The Hebrews were instructed by the Lord to eat the Passover meal, as well as to celebrate this holy week throughout their generations. It is also known as the week of unleavened bread, because the Hebrews were instructed to eat bread made without leaven (yeast).
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    All of the events that occurred at that time, as well as the symbols of Passover all point to the ministry, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb.
  • One man’s mission to end modern slavery (jewishjournal.com)
    Cohen, a Los Angeles native with a dude-esque Southern California surfer dialect, has been a full-time investigator since 2000, identifying victims of human trafficking — often, young girls in the global sex trade — and gathering the evidence and money required to free them.
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    When discussing more recent experiences, he didn’t revel in the details of his operations. And he shied away from discussing any of his recent stings in the United States.

    He wanted, rather, to discuss Judaism, the Torah, Passover, and why he meditates and prays immediately before his operations, most of which begin with a simple interview of a trafficking victim. Cohen poses as a customer who wants the girl’s services, meets her at a hotel and simply speaks to her, gains her trust, and, usually after a few meetings, gets her and others on the record, providing evidence that the authorities demand

  • Shabbat HaGadol (layacrust.wordpress.com)
    The Shabbat right before Pesach is called Shabbat HaGadol- The Great Sabbath. One interpretation is that “Moshiach”- the Messiah- will come on Passover, so this is the  Great Shabbat, the one before that great redemption.

    Another idea is that the days leading up to the Exodus from Egypt were days of unusual and overwhelming preparation for the Israelites. Those preparations  not only affected sacrifices and food but defined faith and self identification. That concept holds true today. Those who choose to prepare for Pesach and change their diet and behaviours for an entire week are declaring their faith in the God of Israel and defining themselves as Jews.

  • Scripture Oppression in the Bible Part 1 (human2o.wordpress.com)
    As we interpret the bible in “Modern” times, many questions arise. Why has the world’s highest selling book,”the holy bible”, been used to justify oppression, of a specific group of people? Fear, political, and economic power, are the three main reasons to oppress people. Society uses fear to condemn, what is not understood, by controlling through opression keeping one subordinate. The majority, or the group in power uses scripture to maintain status, and build their retention of power. Humans sometimes use fear as a scapegoat for lack of their acountabilities. The word scapegoat originates from biblical days of atonement. Priests performed a ritual, in which the sins of people were symbolically placed on goats. The goats were then driven into the wilderness, along with the sins, and impurities of the people (Paul J Harpers Bible Dictionary). Its funny to see that people believed a goat running into wilderness, took accountability for their wrong actions, giving them instant forgiveness, with no apology, or correction.
    In less than 300 years, in the United States alone, there are four major examples of how scripture has been used to oppress particular social groups. Oppression of African Americans, and Jews, through slavery are seen throughout the bible. Oppression of women, and now LGBTQ(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) have all been supported by scripture in the bible.
    There are over 500 translations of the bible. Every translation changes ” the words of god”, as they are mass produced over time. If a person is not smart enough, by reading the “holy bible” , they will follow the “will of god”, and become a slave.
  • Slaves In Egypt? (brianrushwriter.wordpress.com)
    The religion of ancient Israel was not anything that properly deserved to be called Judaism. It was a tribal cult in which the Hebrew God, Adonai or JHVH, was one deity among many in the world, not a universal deity as the Jewish God is today. This God was easy for them to abandon, as the diatribes of the prophets in the Bible show that they frequently did. Moreover, this God was not something to be worshiped in spirit wherever one found oneself; rather, he had a location, and that location was Palestine, especially Jerusalem, more especially the Temple. How can we worship the God of our fathers in a foreign land? the captive Hebrews cried.
  • Passover: Touching Liberation (jewishjournal.com)

    As we were developing the cover story for this year’s Passover issue —“Are we e-slaves?”— I couldn’t help thinking about a little girl in Israel, Amit, who suffers from a neurodevelopmental disorder called Rett syndrome.

    According to academic literature, Rett syndrome is characterized by “normal early growth and development followed by a slowing of development, loss of purposeful use of the hands, distinctive hand movements, slowed brain and head growth, problems with walking, seizures and intellectual disability.”

  • Happy Passover! (jewishvoice.wordpress.com)
    History repeats itself . . .
    First there were the Israelites in Bible times, who were saved from sudden slaughter when they obeyed God by putting blood on the lintels and doorposts of their home. The Angel of Death passed over, and the Hebrew children lived to tell their great story of God’s faithfulness.
    Happy Passover! (jewishvoice.wordpress.com)
    we as people of faith can celebrate being saved from certain death when we apply the blood of Yeshua our Messiah to our lives and repent of those sins that kept us in our own personal bondage.To help you celebrate this wonderful occasion, we have put together some Passover resources so that you can be educated and inspired by the beauty of this holy feast.
  • Tears of the Anointed (beautyfromchaos.wordpress.com)
    Yudah hated the Romans. None of us were particularly happy about their presence, but we put up with them and by and large they didn’t bother us too much. Yudah wanted an armed uprising, and thought that Yeshua was the way to achieve it; he wouldn’t let it go, however many times Yeshua patiently explained to him that that wasn’t what his teaching was about.
  • The Unanticipated Passover Seder (ghostriverstudios.wordpress.com)
    If there are aspects of the Passover seder from which all people can learn, how much more so is this true for believers in Messiah? After all, our Master Yeshua chose the wine and the matzah of a Passover Seder to represent his body and blood.
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    The Unanticipated Passover Seder
    I cannot be considered as one of the members of humanity who marched out of Egypt and left behind my slavery, and certainly I cannot project myself into the masses who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and personally received the Torah from Hashem, as does every person who is Jewish.
  • The Unanticipated Passover Seder (mymorningmeditations.com)
    our Master Yeshua chose the wine and the matzah of a Passover Seder to represent his body and blood. More than just learning about and celebrating the concept of freedom from oppression and exile, for disciples of Messiah, the seder celebrates Yeshua’s atoning death and resurrection while remaining firmly grounded and centered on God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt.
  • PesachI imagine that the death of Jesus was still sad in heaven even though they knew the whole plan. Suffering is sorrowful. I don’t really know what was happening while Jesus was dead so I won’t try to guess here.
  • “Christ Is Our Passover Lamb” / The Message of the High Sabbath beginning the eve of March 25, 2013 (owprince.wordpress.com)
    Remarkably, the celebration of Easter, one of the most holy of Christian holidays, cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. In 1949 the Encyclopedia Britannica in its article on Easter stated the following regarding this day: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers.”
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    If you find the word Easter in your Bible, it’s actually a mistranslation that is noted in your Bible’s margin. Most recent translations of the Bible make the correction. The correct translations use the word Passoverinstead of Easter.
  • Jesus Christ, Our Passover (fredswolfe.wordpress.com)
    Jesus was dead in the grave with no consciousness for 3 full days and 3 full nights = 72 hours. There is no way in Hell to fit 3 full days and 3 full nights between Sunset Friday and Sunrise Sunday. Therefore, there is no such thing as Good Friday! Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb,was sacrificed for us and was buried on a Wednesday around sunset beginning the 1st night (Thursday). At dawn Thursday began the first day. At sunset Thurs. began the 2nd night of Friday, then Friday day; thenFri at sunset began the 3rd night, Saturday; then Saturday at sunset completed the 3 days and 3 nights. Sunset Sat. began Sunday night:Jn 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.KJV
  • Passover: A Time To Remember (jacksonandrew.com)
    I am thankful that today, we can celebrate this feast without the sacrifice of a life for our sins, as Christ, our Passover Lamb, has once and for all, become the substitute… and with Him, God is well pleased. Don’t forget to remember or you are doomed to return to what once enslaved you.
  • G-dfearers Participation In Shabbat, And Pesach According To Toby Janicki (paradoxparables.justparadox.com)
    Gentile believers have been brought near to the commonwealth of Israel. Although this does not make Gentile Christians into Jews, they share in the spiritual heritage of the nation of Israel.
  • This Week’s Torah Portion – VAYIKRA (And He Called)(terri0729.wordpress.com)
    God made Nisan the first month of the year because it was the month in which
    the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt.
    So too, may we remember our freedom from the slavery of sin and death through
    Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.
  • The High Holy Days for Atonement – 2012 A.D. (moshebarabraham2013.wordpress.com)
    As we prepare for The High Holy Days of Midian, Israel, and Ishmael, we seek Atonement through Fasting and Prayer as handed down to us from our Ancestors under The Covenant of Abraham (COA), Ibrahiym.
  • The LORD Jesus Christ- Our Passover (zionsgate.wordpress.com)
    Pesach (PAY-sahk) means to ‘pass over’.  The Passover meal, seder (SAY der), celebrates this historic event.
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    The LORD’s supper is a remembrance of his sacrifice as the perfect Passover Lamb and the fulfillment of the new covenant between GOD and man (Luke 22:20; 1st Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 2:11-13).  Prophecy of this sacrifice is found in Psalm 22.  The Hebrew prophet Isaiah also spoke of the sufferings and sacrifice of the Messiah, and how that sacrifice would be the ultimate atonement for the sins of GOD’s people (Isaiah 53).
  • The Mystery of the Passover Wine Revealed: The Yayin HaMeshumar….Yeshua said, “I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the mind of man. (Gospel of Thomas 17) (guapotg.wordpress.com)
    The phrase “wine that has been kept” in the Hebrew is Yayin HaMeshumar “wine of keeping”. The tradition of the Yayin HaMeshumar runs deep in traditional Judaism. It is the wine that will be served at the Messianic Feast when the Messiah re-establishes the Kingdom of Israel on earth.
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    Not only is the Yayin HaMeshumar the blood of the Messiah, but it is more. It is the “mystery” of which the blood of Messiah is only part:
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    next time you partake of the cup of redemption in the Passover sader, realize that this cup is symbolic of the Yayin HeMeshumar, the wine that has been kept from the six days in the beginning, the blood of the lamb slain from the foundation which has been hidden and separated and prepared for those who love him.
  • Passover and the Feast of Unleaven Bread (ourcommunityatfbcdc.wordpress.com)
    The Passover meal is eaten on the first day. God commanded that Israel keep this feast perpetually.
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    God offers us redemption through the atoning action of Jesus Christ, God’s son who came to the earth, and suffered and died for the sins of the world. He became the Paschal lamb. Under this judgment of sin and ultimate eternal death, God freely offers to all who will believe and accept His provision for us, forgiveness of our sins and life eternal.
  • The Passover Type and Its Anti-type (compasschurchamman.wordpress.com)
    The Old Testament (Exodus 34:18, 25) distinguishes the festivals by using the terms “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and “Passover Feast”. The New Testament (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:1) refers to both of these as “the Passover” and the “Feast of the Unleavened Bread. These festivals were held in immediate sequence. Passover was celebrated at twilight of the 14th day of the month (Exodus 12:6) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the seven days following, namely, the 15th to the 21st (Exodus 12:15; Leviticus 23:5f.; Numbers 28:16ff; 2 Chronicles 35:1, 17).
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    The timing of Jesus’ death in the Passover season and the conviction that his death was the atoning death of “blood poured out for many” (Mark 14:24) assisted linking his atoning death to the Passover sacrifice. As the Israelite was delivered from the bondage of Egypt through the blood of the Passover lamb, so the Christian is saved from sin through the sacrifice of Christ; but Paul further adds that continual victory over the sins of the world means a continual observing of the Feast of Redemption.
  • Exodus, The Red Sea, and New Testament Baptism (thelifechurchofdesplaines.wordpress.com)
  • Echoing Passover in This Worship (tbolto.wordpress.com)
    The word “Seder” simply means “Order.” Everything is done in a careful order in keeping with God’s instructions in the Old Testament or Torah, as it is known by Jewish people, and with traditions that have been added to keep alive the memory of the original Passover people.
  • The Crossing of the Red Sea- A Picture of the Process of Salvation…..Just as the Egyptians followed the Hebrews into the Red Sea but the Hebrews alone emerged alive, when we enter into the death burial and resurrection of Messiah as symbolized by water im (guapotg.wordpress.com)
    When someone asks “are you saved”? the natural question is “saved from what?” “Saved” is a verb that begs for a direct object. Yet many who ask you “are you saved” cannot actually tell you what they mean.
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