Letters from Jerusalem
November 17, 2021
“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” PSALM 46:10 (written by the sons of Korah)
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
Greetings dear sisters and brothers, in The Name of The Sovereign King, Lord, Designer and Creator and Sustainer of all that is and was and will be. May we be small in our own eyes, considering that we are but dust here for such a short time…how WONDERFUL that He should reveal Himself to the likes of us! Oh, may we fulfill His purposes and glorify His Name…being found of Him at peace gazing upon Him. May He be glorified and may you be encouraged.
I have not written since Sukkot and here it is, nearly Chanukkah! My creeping pace can not keep up with the world that is running. Daily I purpose to write and daily time seems to run faster. So many of you whom I love dearly are experiencing devastating - horrific crisis’…so many to pray for…so many to beg for; yet HE IS SOVEREIGN! And HE is our GOD! How simply we must walk in this truth, and we all know that…the test of DOING that in the midst of fiery trials is upon so many.
I looked at our very local weather station (a nice weather geek who has a weather station a short way from here, so his reports are appropriate for our apartment) and he had written this summery: “Rain season: Till now this is the worst opening rain season in decades. Without any change on the horizon. It could turn upside down later on, though. There is a chance of rain approaching from November 16th” Today (of course this is no longer the ‘today’ that I am writing and the 16th has passed with no rain as yet) the air is loaded with dust blotting out the sun and the dry wind blows…but it is Shabbat and I do wish that you could all experience the peace and quiet of an Israeli (Jerusalem) Shabbat. And…speaking about the weather…a bit further on in the week from when I began to write, another natural event caught my eye in our local news:
“Scorpion swarm in Egypt kills 3, injures hundreds - Attacks occur in mountainous areas of Aswan as thundershowers and subsequent flooding of nearby Nile wash away scorpions and snakes, causing them to seek shelter in higher elevations”
This particularly caught my attention because a dear sister and I have been looking at the signs of judgment in the more subtle ways…we are all aware of the worldwide changes in weather patterns, but we had been reflecting on the fact that right at the beginning, in Gen. 1:28, The Word says:
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God gave dominion to man over the animals…not as cruel masters but simply in the divine order of things: and that is the point…the DIVINE ORDER of things. God has not gotten weak nor lost control. Nor do I believe that the leaders or circumstances are all so powerful to overrule HIS ORDER… but it seems to me that The Master Designer and Ruler has taken His restraining Hand off of His creation, and the resulting disorder is evident.
What does all of that mean to each of us individually and corporately as His body? After all, there really is NOT much that ‘we’ can control…aside from our own response.
We have a dear sister who has been living with us. It is such a comfort to be ‘body together’…family. She is a long term volunteer and we get to PRAY together! Yay!! She said to me the other day ‘I saw Superbus’ running in town. I didn’t know that they had lines in the Jerusalem.’ Having lived here for 27 years now, I KNOW that EGGED… our strangely named national bus line… is sort of a legend here in Jerusalem. The ‘Dan’ bus line runs in other areas of the country, but ‘EGGED’? (a name that we romantically put up in lights in our hearts) The FIRST Israeli bus company? The one that has endured both the scars of war and bloodshed and the anger of passengers squished together?? The one that used to boast ankle deep sunflower seed shells scattered all over the floors? We (collectively) LOVE Egged! We know our drivers…the good, the bad and the ugly. We each have fond collections of little punchy cards that bore the personalized punch hole of each individual driver. We continued to collect our ‘hofshi hodshis’ (monthly passes) and commented on the changing colors and prices. Egged is FAMILY. ‘Superbus’ is a late comer to the system and has been an intercity bus line for a number of years now. If we want to go to Eilat or Galilee from Jerusalem…we take a Superbus. THEY DO NOT RUN IN JERUSALEM! They wouldn’t DARE! Until now. When she told me that she had seen this bus I went on a search, thinking that she CAN’T be right …but…THERE IT WAS! Boldly going where it shouldn’t be! I checked out the ‘tachanat autobus’ (bus stop shelter) and there…sure enough… was a poster boldly and unashamedly announcing that SUPERBUS would be starting new Jerusalem routes! ENOUGH CHANGE ALREADY! I went to google! “superbus instead of egged in Jerusalem” I typed into the search line. Plain as day and without emotion, was my answer. ‘Our city has ‘found the answer to solve our congestion problems and superbus will be replacing BELOVED EGGED on most routes in the city by 2023 beginning THIS MONTH!’ I waddled and bounced my way up to the driver on the way home (that is because the buses swerve and bounce and rock…it can be a challenge moving from one spot to another). I asked him: ‘What is this with superbus?’ He was unromantic and straightforward ‘They are taking over. Gone. Kaput.’ I looked at him ‘NO! WE LOVE EGGED!’ he shrugged. ‘Will you still be driving for superbus then?’ He smirked. ‘Nope. I’m Egged.’
My brother in law is a Rabbi (they do not know HIM yet) and he lived here back in the 1960s. He was up north on a kibbutz when Israel was attacked, and eventually he moved to America, having become shell shocked. When we made Aliyah, he warned me that Israel literally changes its face every 7 years and he was completely accurate.
My husband had to undergo another cerebral angiogram (this one was diagnostic to see how the stent was doing) about a week ago, so the entire preparatory procedure was repeated…the bureaucracy, the hospital stay for the two of us…and navigating the changes that took place since he did this procedure 6 months ago. I made a fruitless trip to the hospital to pay the bill beforehand and was extremely tired coming back home. Due to the fatigue, I actually got on the wrong bus! Instead of coming up the mountain and continuing straight into the city, the bus took a right at Moshav Ora and the first stop was quite a distance from the main road. Now, I KNEW this area really quite well and it shouldn’t have been a problem getting back to the main road, however the amount of construction going on rendered the area unrecognizable to me and I wasn’t even sure which direction to walk. Oh how FAITHFUL The Lord is! How WONDERFUL are His ways! My flesh wanted to grumble and, well…honestly cry, but I prayed and my spirit was FILLED with praise and joy! The walk was on flat ground so it spared my painful knees and the night air was invigorating. I began to sing. Jerusalem is in the midst of networking the city, constructing more light rail tracks, so by the time I got to the place where I should have known whether to turn right or left to catch the bus, I was lost again. A soldier came by just at that point and directed me to the nearest bus stop. Had I walked in the OTHER direction (as I was inclined to) I would have had nearly another 3.5km. before there was a break in the construction, allowing for a bus stop. It was all together chalked up as a joy! My husband came through this third procedure, thankfully, well and has started back to work today again.
It seems that The Lord has opened a new area for me to walk. I told you that we have been blessed with some household help from bituach leumi, (our system of ‘social security) in the form of being able to hire someone to help for 10 hours a week. We were blessed to have a young sister in The Lord who is now in the army, and before she went into army, she found another young pre-army believer who is now helping. He mainly does the shopping, hauls the agala (shopping cart) up our 23 steps, and helps with some cleaning or other errands; this is a tremendous help for me. But beyond that, I have been touched by these two and their hunger to know Him and to talk about Him and to ask questions and to listen…and to pray! What a gift to be able to be around young believers! Here in Israel, as you know, there are NOT many believers and this is, for the most part, the first generation of ‘second generation’ believers; children of believers, raised in the fellowship of believers. I am learning that they suffer from the same malady that many in the west suffer from, and it is a malady that I don’t deeply understand. Having met Him Whom I did not believe in, Face to face, and having my entire life changed, turned upside down, shaken out and set in order…I do not know what it is like to be ‘raised’ to know Him and ‘taught’ believe Him. It seemed to me that that SHOULD have been a wonderful blessing…but I did not understand the challenges. Indeed, I am sure that I have made so many mistakes trying to raise my beloved children to know Him personally and intimately and I still do not know the answers…but I can pray. I find that as I have shared with these two young ones and prayed with and for them that they are like precious flowers, longing for their own roots in Him…it seems to me a wonderful privilege to spend time with them and bear witness to His faithfulness. I surprises me and humbles me to see the amount of respect and attention they give to the things that I share with them. I wonder at this and take it as a privilege and a great responsibility.
When we made Aliyah, I experienced something (many things, ofcourse, but this one particularly) that I totally did not expect. I FELT my roots being PULLED OUT of America and planted into the soil of my new/ancient home. It was an agonizing experience…not so much emotionally…but I physically felt it, if that makes any sense. The Lord made it VERY clear to me that THIS was now my home and to this day I can not explain the ‘feeling’ of being transplanted. I realized that ‘transplanting’ is an action done to a plant or tree. It is not something that the plant can do for itself. A seed may fall somewhere else, but a tree does not pull itself up by the roots and plant itself elsewhere. Now I sense the urgency of The Lord again loosening the roots and telling my heart that I am not to be rooted in this earth, but in the soil of His kingdom.
I apologize for this letter (written in many stages) being so disjointed. Perhaps it does reflect how I see life around me just now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have written until I had something of substance to write…but I missed you.
May you be encouraged and blessed in The Lord today. May you be filled with the wonder of HIM…and may He keep you in perfect peace. I send you my love,
Your sister here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe I’m nuts, but here’s a small thing that helps me to shake the cobwebs out of my head and spirit.
How about looking at Psalm 119:165 in a huge number of translations (most of which I am not familiar with)?
PSALM 119:165
KJ21 Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall cause them to fall.
ASV Great peace have they that love thy law; And they have no occasion of stumbling.
AMP Those who love Your law have great peace; Nothing makes them stumble.
AMPC Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.
BRG Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
CSB Abundant peace belongs to those who love your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.
CEB The people who love your Instruction enjoy peace—and lots of it. There’s no stumbling for them!
CJB Those who love your Torah have great peace; nothing makes them stumble.
CEV You give peace of mind to all who love your Law. Nothing can make them fall.
DARBY Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing doth stumble them.
ERV Those who love your teachings will find true peace. Nothing can make them fall.
EHV Great peace belongs to those who love your law, and nothing is a stumbling block for them.
ESV Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
ESVUK Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
EXB Those who love your ·teachings [instructions; laws] will find ·true peace [or much prosperity], and nothing will ·defeat them [make them stumble].
GNV There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings. Nothing can make those people stumble.
GNT Those who love your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall.
HCSB Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.
ICB Those who love your teachings will find true peace. Nothing will defeat them.
ISV Great peace belongs to those who love your instruction, and nothing makes them stumble.
JUB Those who love thy law have great peace, and nothing shall cause them to stumble.
KJV Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
AKJV Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
LEB Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling.
TLB Those who love your laws have great peace of heart and mind and do not stumble.
MSG I’ve been slandered unmercifully by the politicians, but my awe at your words keeps me stable. I’m ecstatic over what you say, like one who strikes it rich. I hate lies—can’t stand them!— but I love what you have revealed. Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right. For those who love what you reveal, everything fits— no stumbling around in the dark for them. I wait expectantly for your salvation; God, I do what you tell me. My soul guards and keeps all your instructions— oh, how much I love them! I follow your directions, abide by your counsel; my life’s an open book before you. * * *
MEV Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing shall cause them to stumble.
NOG There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings. Nothing can make those people stumble.
NABRE Lovers of your law have much peace; for them there is no stumbling block.
NASB Those who love Your Law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NASB1995 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NCB Those who love your law have great peace; they encounter no stumbling blocks.
NCV Those who love your teachings will find true peace, and nothing will defeat them.
NET Those who love your law are completely secure; nothing causes them to stumble.
NIRV Those who love your law enjoy great peace. Nothing can make them trip and fall.
NIV Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
NIVUK Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
NKJV Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NLV Those who love Your Law have great peace, and nothing will cause them to be hurt in their spirit.
NLT Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.
NRSV Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVA Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVACE Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVCE Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
OJB Great shalom have they which love Thy torah; nothing shall cause them to stumble.
TPT There is such a great peace and well-being that comes to the lovers of your Word, and they will never be offended.
RSV Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
RSVCE Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
TLV Great peace have they who love Your Torah, and nothing causes them to stumble.
VOICE Those who love Your law have an abundance of peace, and nothing along their paths can cause them to stumble.
WEB Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.
WYC Much peace is to them that love thy law; and no cause of stumbling is to them. (There is much peace for those who love thy Law; and they have no reason to slip, or to stumble.)
YLT Abundant peace have those loving Thy law, And they have no stumbling-block.
“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” PSALM 46:10 (written by the sons of Korah)
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
Greetings dear sisters and brothers, in The Name of The Sovereign King, Lord, Designer and Creator and Sustainer of all that is and was and will be. May we be small in our own eyes, considering that we are but dust here for such a short time…how WONDERFUL that He should reveal Himself to the likes of us! Oh, may we fulfill His purposes and glorify His Name…being found of Him at peace gazing upon Him. May He be glorified and may you be encouraged.
I have not written since Sukkot and here it is, nearly Chanukkah! My creeping pace can not keep up with the world that is running. Daily I purpose to write and daily time seems to run faster. So many of you whom I love dearly are experiencing devastating - horrific crisis’…so many to pray for…so many to beg for; yet HE IS SOVEREIGN! And HE is our GOD! How simply we must walk in this truth, and we all know that…the test of DOING that in the midst of fiery trials is upon so many.
I looked at our very local weather station (a nice weather geek who has a weather station a short way from here, so his reports are appropriate for our apartment) and he had written this summery: “Rain season: Till now this is the worst opening rain season in decades. Without any change on the horizon. It could turn upside down later on, though. There is a chance of rain approaching from November 16th” Today (of course this is no longer the ‘today’ that I am writing and the 16th has passed with no rain as yet) the air is loaded with dust blotting out the sun and the dry wind blows…but it is Shabbat and I do wish that you could all experience the peace and quiet of an Israeli (Jerusalem) Shabbat. And…speaking about the weather…a bit further on in the week from when I began to write, another natural event caught my eye in our local news:
“Scorpion swarm in Egypt kills 3, injures hundreds - Attacks occur in mountainous areas of Aswan as thundershowers and subsequent flooding of nearby Nile wash away scorpions and snakes, causing them to seek shelter in higher elevations”
This particularly caught my attention because a dear sister and I have been looking at the signs of judgment in the more subtle ways…we are all aware of the worldwide changes in weather patterns, but we had been reflecting on the fact that right at the beginning, in Gen. 1:28, The Word says:
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God gave dominion to man over the animals…not as cruel masters but simply in the divine order of things: and that is the point…the DIVINE ORDER of things. God has not gotten weak nor lost control. Nor do I believe that the leaders or circumstances are all so powerful to overrule HIS ORDER… but it seems to me that The Master Designer and Ruler has taken His restraining Hand off of His creation, and the resulting disorder is evident.
What does all of that mean to each of us individually and corporately as His body? After all, there really is NOT much that ‘we’ can control…aside from our own response.
We have a dear sister who has been living with us. It is such a comfort to be ‘body together’…family. She is a long term volunteer and we get to PRAY together! Yay!! She said to me the other day ‘I saw Superbus’ running in town. I didn’t know that they had lines in the Jerusalem.’ Having lived here for 27 years now, I KNOW that EGGED… our strangely named national bus line… is sort of a legend here in Jerusalem. The ‘Dan’ bus line runs in other areas of the country, but ‘EGGED’? (a name that we romantically put up in lights in our hearts) The FIRST Israeli bus company? The one that has endured both the scars of war and bloodshed and the anger of passengers squished together?? The one that used to boast ankle deep sunflower seed shells scattered all over the floors? We (collectively) LOVE Egged! We know our drivers…the good, the bad and the ugly. We each have fond collections of little punchy cards that bore the personalized punch hole of each individual driver. We continued to collect our ‘hofshi hodshis’ (monthly passes) and commented on the changing colors and prices. Egged is FAMILY. ‘Superbus’ is a late comer to the system and has been an intercity bus line for a number of years now. If we want to go to Eilat or Galilee from Jerusalem…we take a Superbus. THEY DO NOT RUN IN JERUSALEM! They wouldn’t DARE! Until now. When she told me that she had seen this bus I went on a search, thinking that she CAN’T be right …but…THERE IT WAS! Boldly going where it shouldn’t be! I checked out the ‘tachanat autobus’ (bus stop shelter) and there…sure enough… was a poster boldly and unashamedly announcing that SUPERBUS would be starting new Jerusalem routes! ENOUGH CHANGE ALREADY! I went to google! “superbus instead of egged in Jerusalem” I typed into the search line. Plain as day and without emotion, was my answer. ‘Our city has ‘found the answer to solve our congestion problems and superbus will be replacing BELOVED EGGED on most routes in the city by 2023 beginning THIS MONTH!’ I waddled and bounced my way up to the driver on the way home (that is because the buses swerve and bounce and rock…it can be a challenge moving from one spot to another). I asked him: ‘What is this with superbus?’ He was unromantic and straightforward ‘They are taking over. Gone. Kaput.’ I looked at him ‘NO! WE LOVE EGGED!’ he shrugged. ‘Will you still be driving for superbus then?’ He smirked. ‘Nope. I’m Egged.’
My brother in law is a Rabbi (they do not know HIM yet) and he lived here back in the 1960s. He was up north on a kibbutz when Israel was attacked, and eventually he moved to America, having become shell shocked. When we made Aliyah, he warned me that Israel literally changes its face every 7 years and he was completely accurate.
My husband had to undergo another cerebral angiogram (this one was diagnostic to see how the stent was doing) about a week ago, so the entire preparatory procedure was repeated…the bureaucracy, the hospital stay for the two of us…and navigating the changes that took place since he did this procedure 6 months ago. I made a fruitless trip to the hospital to pay the bill beforehand and was extremely tired coming back home. Due to the fatigue, I actually got on the wrong bus! Instead of coming up the mountain and continuing straight into the city, the bus took a right at Moshav Ora and the first stop was quite a distance from the main road. Now, I KNEW this area really quite well and it shouldn’t have been a problem getting back to the main road, however the amount of construction going on rendered the area unrecognizable to me and I wasn’t even sure which direction to walk. Oh how FAITHFUL The Lord is! How WONDERFUL are His ways! My flesh wanted to grumble and, well…honestly cry, but I prayed and my spirit was FILLED with praise and joy! The walk was on flat ground so it spared my painful knees and the night air was invigorating. I began to sing. Jerusalem is in the midst of networking the city, constructing more light rail tracks, so by the time I got to the place where I should have known whether to turn right or left to catch the bus, I was lost again. A soldier came by just at that point and directed me to the nearest bus stop. Had I walked in the OTHER direction (as I was inclined to) I would have had nearly another 3.5km. before there was a break in the construction, allowing for a bus stop. It was all together chalked up as a joy! My husband came through this third procedure, thankfully, well and has started back to work today again.
It seems that The Lord has opened a new area for me to walk. I told you that we have been blessed with some household help from bituach leumi, (our system of ‘social security) in the form of being able to hire someone to help for 10 hours a week. We were blessed to have a young sister in The Lord who is now in the army, and before she went into army, she found another young pre-army believer who is now helping. He mainly does the shopping, hauls the agala (shopping cart) up our 23 steps, and helps with some cleaning or other errands; this is a tremendous help for me. But beyond that, I have been touched by these two and their hunger to know Him and to talk about Him and to ask questions and to listen…and to pray! What a gift to be able to be around young believers! Here in Israel, as you know, there are NOT many believers and this is, for the most part, the first generation of ‘second generation’ believers; children of believers, raised in the fellowship of believers. I am learning that they suffer from the same malady that many in the west suffer from, and it is a malady that I don’t deeply understand. Having met Him Whom I did not believe in, Face to face, and having my entire life changed, turned upside down, shaken out and set in order…I do not know what it is like to be ‘raised’ to know Him and ‘taught’ believe Him. It seemed to me that that SHOULD have been a wonderful blessing…but I did not understand the challenges. Indeed, I am sure that I have made so many mistakes trying to raise my beloved children to know Him personally and intimately and I still do not know the answers…but I can pray. I find that as I have shared with these two young ones and prayed with and for them that they are like precious flowers, longing for their own roots in Him…it seems to me a wonderful privilege to spend time with them and bear witness to His faithfulness. I surprises me and humbles me to see the amount of respect and attention they give to the things that I share with them. I wonder at this and take it as a privilege and a great responsibility.
When we made Aliyah, I experienced something (many things, ofcourse, but this one particularly) that I totally did not expect. I FELT my roots being PULLED OUT of America and planted into the soil of my new/ancient home. It was an agonizing experience…not so much emotionally…but I physically felt it, if that makes any sense. The Lord made it VERY clear to me that THIS was now my home and to this day I can not explain the ‘feeling’ of being transplanted. I realized that ‘transplanting’ is an action done to a plant or tree. It is not something that the plant can do for itself. A seed may fall somewhere else, but a tree does not pull itself up by the roots and plant itself elsewhere. Now I sense the urgency of The Lord again loosening the roots and telling my heart that I am not to be rooted in this earth, but in the soil of His kingdom.
I apologize for this letter (written in many stages) being so disjointed. Perhaps it does reflect how I see life around me just now. Perhaps I shouldn’t have written until I had something of substance to write…but I missed you.
May you be encouraged and blessed in The Lord today. May you be filled with the wonder of HIM…and may He keep you in perfect peace. I send you my love,
Your sister here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe I’m nuts, but here’s a small thing that helps me to shake the cobwebs out of my head and spirit.
How about looking at Psalm 119:165 in a huge number of translations (most of which I am not familiar with)?
PSALM 119:165
KJ21 Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall cause them to fall.
ASV Great peace have they that love thy law; And they have no occasion of stumbling.
AMP Those who love Your law have great peace; Nothing makes them stumble.
AMPC Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.
BRG Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
CSB Abundant peace belongs to those who love your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.
CEB The people who love your Instruction enjoy peace—and lots of it. There’s no stumbling for them!
CJB Those who love your Torah have great peace; nothing makes them stumble.
CEV You give peace of mind to all who love your Law. Nothing can make them fall.
DARBY Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing doth stumble them.
ERV Those who love your teachings will find true peace. Nothing can make them fall.
EHV Great peace belongs to those who love your law, and nothing is a stumbling block for them.
ESV Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
ESVUK Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
EXB Those who love your ·teachings [instructions; laws] will find ·true peace [or much prosperity], and nothing will ·defeat them [make them stumble].
GNV There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings. Nothing can make those people stumble.
GNT Those who love your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall.
HCSB Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.
ICB Those who love your teachings will find true peace. Nothing will defeat them.
ISV Great peace belongs to those who love your instruction, and nothing makes them stumble.
JUB Those who love thy law have great peace, and nothing shall cause them to stumble.
KJV Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
AKJV Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
LEB Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling.
TLB Those who love your laws have great peace of heart and mind and do not stumble.
MSG I’ve been slandered unmercifully by the politicians, but my awe at your words keeps me stable. I’m ecstatic over what you say, like one who strikes it rich. I hate lies—can’t stand them!— but I love what you have revealed. Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right. For those who love what you reveal, everything fits— no stumbling around in the dark for them. I wait expectantly for your salvation; God, I do what you tell me. My soul guards and keeps all your instructions— oh, how much I love them! I follow your directions, abide by your counsel; my life’s an open book before you. * * *
MEV Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing shall cause them to stumble.
NOG There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings. Nothing can make those people stumble.
NABRE Lovers of your law have much peace; for them there is no stumbling block.
NASB Those who love Your Law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NASB1995 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NCB Those who love your law have great peace; they encounter no stumbling blocks.
NCV Those who love your teachings will find true peace, and nothing will defeat them.
NET Those who love your law are completely secure; nothing causes them to stumble.
NIRV Those who love your law enjoy great peace. Nothing can make them trip and fall.
NIV Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
NIVUK Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
NKJV Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
NLV Those who love Your Law have great peace, and nothing will cause them to be hurt in their spirit.
NLT Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.
NRSV Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVA Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVACE Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
NRSVCE Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
OJB Great shalom have they which love Thy torah; nothing shall cause them to stumble.
TPT There is such a great peace and well-being that comes to the lovers of your Word, and they will never be offended.
RSV Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
RSVCE Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
TLV Great peace have they who love Your Torah, and nothing causes them to stumble.
VOICE Those who love Your law have an abundance of peace, and nothing along their paths can cause them to stumble.
WEB Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.
WYC Much peace is to them that love thy law; and no cause of stumbling is to them. (There is much peace for those who love thy Law; and they have no reason to slip, or to stumble.)
YLT Abundant peace have those loving Thy law, And they have no stumbling-block.
September 25, 2021
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
“Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore…” Deuteronomy 28:47…
“Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ ” Leviticus 23:39-43
Joyful blessings, greetings with Joy from Jerusalem. May The Lord, The One Who truly IS The Alef and The Tav…The Beginning and The End…The Creator…The Way…The Path…The Door…The Rock…our Shelter…in HIM may you be blessed and encouraged and may HE be glorified and blessed.
I did not expect to write again so soon, but I was sitting in my sukkah and I was remembering sukkots past.
A dear sister had written to me that she was grasping more of the meaning of the hagim and she spoke about the command to REJOICE and that just got me thinking back to a sukkot during the last intifada. It is hard to realize sometimes how much time has passed since then.
It had been a particularly bloody and painful period in our history, and being car-less in Jerusalem and going to work and schools with buses blowing up in front of and behind us was … a difficult …VERY difficult, experience. We lived on Bialik street at the time and our sukkah was made under our clothes line. I would drape palm branches and leafy boughs on the clothes line and place rugs and a low table and chairs underneath. I surrounded it with decorated cloth and we would sit under it with the trees swaying overhead and read the scriptures and, yes, I spent a LOT of time thinking about the command, and thanking God for it and wondering at the amazing picture that it all was: Here we were…at war…and often locked behind barred doors when suddenly the nation comes to a standstill and says a collective ‘WAIT!’. We go outside and build flimsy booths in which we are COMMANDED to REJOICE BEFORE THE LORD OUR GOD FOR SEVEN DAYS! Was part of your family…loved ones…just blown up? REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! Had your eyes been witnessing hard things? REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! Were we without ANY assurance concerning tomorrow? Go outside under the stars…sit in a flimsy booth…eat the sweet and the fat…and REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! It changes your perspective for sure. I thought about the children of Israel’s failure to REJOICE IN THEIR GOD as they left Egypt and how it finally brought about the judgment to wander for 40 years and to die off in the wilderness: They LOOKED in the WRONG direction! They gazed at the problems (REAL problems…REAL hurts) and NOT at The Solution.
Sukkot, for me, is a dividing line. I CHOOSE to take the simple path in Him. I will take His provision and not my reasonings. I will trust His path more than what my senses feed me.
“Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions? If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.” Song of Songs 1:7-8
And…bear with me please? I have learned another lesson, for me simple and yet profound, that reinforces so much of the way that He has led me these gathering years. My little canary, Hillel, just died…during Sukkot.
When we had to move from Bialyk (where the trees were full of singing birds) to this apartment (because the landlord was selling the Bialyk apartment and this one on the main street was all that we could find) my heart experienced no small struggle. We moved in January. A couple of weeks later, I came home from work on my birthday and clearly heard a bird chirping. I called to E to hurry…there was a bird trapped in the apartment (I definitely felt ‘trapped’ in this apartment too!) and we had to find it and let it out before it was hurt. After searching rather frantically, E gently said: ‘Birds fly up…why don’t you look up?’…and there…above my head, was a new cage with a red canary who took one look at me and burst into the most beautiful song that I had ever heard from a bird; loud and clear he sang as my heart soared and I burst into tears having received perhaps the best birthday gift that I have ever gotten. Hillel’s song was truly amazing…and constant. He had a strong spirit that I recognized from several other animals whom God has allowed me to walk along side…His critters. I learned many lessons from Him…not the least being from when he began to have strokes. Did you know that birds can have strokes? I didn’t…it’s rare but they can. He did and they twisted and contorted his tiny body…BUT NEVER TOUCHED HIS SONG! I had to move him to a small box as he began sleeping ON HIS BACK! Now…birds do NOT sleep on their backs; they perch. They lay on their backs when they are dead…but Hillel laid on his back AND SANG! For about a year I watched him, held him…his tiny body lost its feathers, he had scabs…he was NOT a pretty site for sure. People would look at him startled ‘I think your bird is dead…’ more than one said: But he wasn’t. His body was broken but not his spirit AND HE SANG! HE KEPT SINGING.
Some people have health, a nice house, cars, happy families…some have not much health, nor earthly pleasures or even happy families…but I learned from Hillel that I can sing as long as I have breath within me and if I do not have breath to sing…my heart can rejoice before my LORD…in the sukkah… in whatever situation I am in. I may not know much…but I can know Him…and trust and obey Him. That was a personal ‘aside’ and I hope that it didn’t sound preachy…it was in my heart.
Sukkot sameach (Sukkot joy). May your heart rejoice in Him today…may we bring HIM GLORY FOR HE IS WORTHY!
Lovingly, your sister here.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
“Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore…” Deuteronomy 28:47…
“Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ ” Leviticus 23:39-43
Joyful blessings, greetings with Joy from Jerusalem. May The Lord, The One Who truly IS The Alef and The Tav…The Beginning and The End…The Creator…The Way…The Path…The Door…The Rock…our Shelter…in HIM may you be blessed and encouraged and may HE be glorified and blessed.
I did not expect to write again so soon, but I was sitting in my sukkah and I was remembering sukkots past.
A dear sister had written to me that she was grasping more of the meaning of the hagim and she spoke about the command to REJOICE and that just got me thinking back to a sukkot during the last intifada. It is hard to realize sometimes how much time has passed since then.
It had been a particularly bloody and painful period in our history, and being car-less in Jerusalem and going to work and schools with buses blowing up in front of and behind us was … a difficult …VERY difficult, experience. We lived on Bialik street at the time and our sukkah was made under our clothes line. I would drape palm branches and leafy boughs on the clothes line and place rugs and a low table and chairs underneath. I surrounded it with decorated cloth and we would sit under it with the trees swaying overhead and read the scriptures and, yes, I spent a LOT of time thinking about the command, and thanking God for it and wondering at the amazing picture that it all was: Here we were…at war…and often locked behind barred doors when suddenly the nation comes to a standstill and says a collective ‘WAIT!’. We go outside and build flimsy booths in which we are COMMANDED to REJOICE BEFORE THE LORD OUR GOD FOR SEVEN DAYS! Was part of your family…loved ones…just blown up? REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! Had your eyes been witnessing hard things? REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! Were we without ANY assurance concerning tomorrow? Go outside under the stars…sit in a flimsy booth…eat the sweet and the fat…and REJOICE IN YOUR LORD! It changes your perspective for sure. I thought about the children of Israel’s failure to REJOICE IN THEIR GOD as they left Egypt and how it finally brought about the judgment to wander for 40 years and to die off in the wilderness: They LOOKED in the WRONG direction! They gazed at the problems (REAL problems…REAL hurts) and NOT at The Solution.
Sukkot, for me, is a dividing line. I CHOOSE to take the simple path in Him. I will take His provision and not my reasonings. I will trust His path more than what my senses feed me.
“Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself By the flocks of your companions? If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents.” Song of Songs 1:7-8
And…bear with me please? I have learned another lesson, for me simple and yet profound, that reinforces so much of the way that He has led me these gathering years. My little canary, Hillel, just died…during Sukkot.
When we had to move from Bialyk (where the trees were full of singing birds) to this apartment (because the landlord was selling the Bialyk apartment and this one on the main street was all that we could find) my heart experienced no small struggle. We moved in January. A couple of weeks later, I came home from work on my birthday and clearly heard a bird chirping. I called to E to hurry…there was a bird trapped in the apartment (I definitely felt ‘trapped’ in this apartment too!) and we had to find it and let it out before it was hurt. After searching rather frantically, E gently said: ‘Birds fly up…why don’t you look up?’…and there…above my head, was a new cage with a red canary who took one look at me and burst into the most beautiful song that I had ever heard from a bird; loud and clear he sang as my heart soared and I burst into tears having received perhaps the best birthday gift that I have ever gotten. Hillel’s song was truly amazing…and constant. He had a strong spirit that I recognized from several other animals whom God has allowed me to walk along side…His critters. I learned many lessons from Him…not the least being from when he began to have strokes. Did you know that birds can have strokes? I didn’t…it’s rare but they can. He did and they twisted and contorted his tiny body…BUT NEVER TOUCHED HIS SONG! I had to move him to a small box as he began sleeping ON HIS BACK! Now…birds do NOT sleep on their backs; they perch. They lay on their backs when they are dead…but Hillel laid on his back AND SANG! For about a year I watched him, held him…his tiny body lost its feathers, he had scabs…he was NOT a pretty site for sure. People would look at him startled ‘I think your bird is dead…’ more than one said: But he wasn’t. His body was broken but not his spirit AND HE SANG! HE KEPT SINGING.
Some people have health, a nice house, cars, happy families…some have not much health, nor earthly pleasures or even happy families…but I learned from Hillel that I can sing as long as I have breath within me and if I do not have breath to sing…my heart can rejoice before my LORD…in the sukkah… in whatever situation I am in. I may not know much…but I can know Him…and trust and obey Him. That was a personal ‘aside’ and I hope that it didn’t sound preachy…it was in my heart.
Sukkot sameach (Sukkot joy). May your heart rejoice in Him today…may we bring HIM GLORY FOR HE IS WORTHY!
Lovingly, your sister here.
September 21, 2021
“What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord Now in the presence of all His people.” Psalm 116:12-14
Joyful and sober greetings dear sisters and brothers, in The Name of our Lord Yeshua. Blessing and honor and glory and worship unto Him to Whom all glory is due. May you be blessed and encouraged and strengthened by all that His Spirit has for you and may The Lord Alone be glorified.
It is Sukkot and we have been out in our ‘sukkah’ for last night’s meal and most of the day today.
For the first time in 27 years, I did not write on Yom Kippur. The very first letter that I wrote after making Aliyah, was on Yom Kippur 1994 and was hand written to 4 friends and photocopied. It was then that The Lord had impressed upon me: ‘What you see, write.’ But this year was different. For us it was different in a ‘Good way’, even as globally things are ‘different’ in so many ways that try the soul. Our newest Granddaughter was born on the 14th. (Thankfully before Yom Kippur. It’s a sad thing for a kid to have a birthday on Yom Kippur!) She was expected to be a Sukkot Baby so literally NOTHING was ‘ready’…but it was God’s time…the ‘moed’…the appointed time for her. She is beautiful and healthy and still has no name (only because even THAT was still unprepared) and I do thank the so many of you who have prayed! I was just getting ready to go to work last Tuesday morning when E rang at 5am and asked if Y could come and get me to stay with the girls as she was in labor. I grabbed my laptop so that I could work from their apartment and off I went. Before 10 the Baby was born! I brought the girls home to stay with us for Yom Kippur and THAT was a Yom Kippur different than any that I have ever had before.
I think about that Yom Kippur of 1994 when I was taken aback by the sudden stopping of EVERYTHING …no cars, no motors, no stores, nothing… until… the loud speakers on the nearby mosques began blaring their obviously hate filled speech and I was rapidly immersed into the battle of the spirits in an area that I had been but superficially familiar with before. I became intimately entwined with the ancient battle being fought in the Middle East. Welcome home! It was also that very first Yom Kippur that I began to UNDERSTAND the immensity of what Yeshua’s spilt Blood on the cross had done for me and the utter LOSTNESS of what it meant to have been given the law by The Holy God and to have His temple destroyed because of our own disobedience…meaning that the very form of sacrifice that HE HAD INSTUTITED for the sons of Jacob to be cleansed from sin…the way that HE made into His Presence…was GONE! The day of Atonement became for me a day of searching out HOW to pray for my people! HE Who had brought our family back ‘suddenly ‘and through paths impossible, had brought us back KNOWING the blessing of being forgiven and cleansed - to my people to whom the way was still hidden! So, my first Yom Kippur letter was written.
This year, for the first time, the letter WASN’T written, but instead I was looking at two of our 3 small Granddaughters as they tried to absorb the huge event that had taken place in their tiny lives…’Move over, here I come: sister #3!’: Lots of emotion expressing itself. But whether I fasted or not…whether I meditated in His Word or not…Yom Kippur came again to Jerusalem, to Israel and to the Jews around the world with the great question: IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE? Each greeting ended with ‘gmar chatima tova’ (may the signature be signed in your favor). You and I know that this is not a small question, but sometimes our confidence in our own atonement can make us less acutely aware of the agony that we felt when we knew that we were lost and could find no way to God…no hope. Rabbinic Judaism has many ways and explanations, but they don’t satisfy everyone who honestly faces the question. Hebrews 9:22 says that “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” So for me, back in 1994, Yom Kippur became a day of thanksgiving for The Precious Blood of The Lamb and a day of seeking the revelation for my brothers and sisters after the flesh…so I have written and encouraged others over these years.
Usually, this time of year Christians are pouring into the country, bringing blessing from the 4 corners of the earth to pray during the fall feasts and to partake in the Christian Feast of Tabernacles celebrations. Many of you have participated in these for years. It is no news to say that with covid these large international events have been cancelled or gone to an online platform. None the less…as Yom Kippur comes, so has Sukkot! A ‘moed’ is an ‘appointed time’, but it is specifically used in scripture as GOD’S appointed time. The word itself carries a great deal of weight. This morning in my regular reading I was in Daniel 8 and as I read again through this second vision of Daniel’s, I saw that he was told that it wasn’t for ‘now’ but was for the last days…the ‘appointed end’. I looked over to the Hebrew and it said "למעד קץ" (moed ketz) and I stopped and looked at that and it gave me such comfort. THE APPOINTED END TIME: The ‘end time’ is APPOINTED and no man can change that.
Our Granddaughter helped us decorate our merepesset (balcony) as a sukkah. It is NOT a ‘kosher sukkah’…there is a ‘ceiling’ over our merepesset…however God has blessed us with a TREE that gives us the covering through which we can see the stars and sky! He has been so good to us! We can no longer reach up and build a covering that extends both inside and out, so we accept this grace as the tree for our roof. My granddaughter and I went out hand and hand and picked branches off of leafy trees…myrtle and olive all sorts of flowering trees and rich looking green shrubs and we decorated the walls with those and colorful paper chains and even a bird that our oldest Granddaughter, who is now 16, made back when she was in gan here…although now they live elsewhere. It was a festive, joyful time and the table was set with fruit and blessing. My husband wanted a new experience, so he went with our son in law to the 4 species market where the ‘lulav’ is purchased. The 4 species in the lulav are myrtle, willow, palm and etrog fruit. I searched for an explanation as to where the ceremonial use of the lulav began since although the species are mentioned in Leviticus 23:40 in connection with the sukkah, they have evolved into the purchasing of these items to be held and ‘shaken’ in 6 directions each time one enters the sukkah, in the morning, in the evening, if you go to the wall or to the synagogue, each group has developed their own ceremonies however generally the reason is to sanctify and recognize God’s sovereign creation and rule over His creation in all directions…above and beneath, in front of us and behind us, to the left and to the right, He is there as we grasp these different fruits of His making, together in our hands, we are to recognize that all that He made in their varieties and smells come from Him and go to Him. As with much of the symbols and practices of Judaism, they are to point us to Him and to the Hugeness of Who He is and to compare that to our miniscule moment between dust and dust in which we live out our lives; also to give place to ‘the other’. Judaism is very much a ‘corporate body’ where individualism and individual ‘rights’ are NOT the central issue at all. In many ways, Judaism and the western idea of democracy with its individualism and individual ‘rights’ diverge. So, holding the 4 species of the lulav in hand and shaking them in all directions, the diversity of man becomes equal, with God above all…as we sit in the little flimsy sukka…the temporary dwelling…we look at the grandness of the sky above and remember that the body that we dwell in for such a short period is ALSO temporary…is also flimsy…BUT HE HAS GONE TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR US! Oh that my sisters and brothers after the flesh would also have this reassurance, for which He came. MAY IT BE SOON REALIZED! MAY THE VEIL FALL AWAY LIKE FISH SCALES THIS YEAR…THIS VERY DAY!
Thank you so much for your prayers for Israel, for your prayers for HIS WILL AND PURPOSES FOR HIS GLORY…and even for our little family. THANK YOU!
Chag Sameach – Joyful Holy days
Lovingly, your sis here.
“What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord Now in the presence of all His people.” Psalm 116:12-14
Joyful and sober greetings dear sisters and brothers, in The Name of our Lord Yeshua. Blessing and honor and glory and worship unto Him to Whom all glory is due. May you be blessed and encouraged and strengthened by all that His Spirit has for you and may The Lord Alone be glorified.
It is Sukkot and we have been out in our ‘sukkah’ for last night’s meal and most of the day today.
For the first time in 27 years, I did not write on Yom Kippur. The very first letter that I wrote after making Aliyah, was on Yom Kippur 1994 and was hand written to 4 friends and photocopied. It was then that The Lord had impressed upon me: ‘What you see, write.’ But this year was different. For us it was different in a ‘Good way’, even as globally things are ‘different’ in so many ways that try the soul. Our newest Granddaughter was born on the 14th. (Thankfully before Yom Kippur. It’s a sad thing for a kid to have a birthday on Yom Kippur!) She was expected to be a Sukkot Baby so literally NOTHING was ‘ready’…but it was God’s time…the ‘moed’…the appointed time for her. She is beautiful and healthy and still has no name (only because even THAT was still unprepared) and I do thank the so many of you who have prayed! I was just getting ready to go to work last Tuesday morning when E rang at 5am and asked if Y could come and get me to stay with the girls as she was in labor. I grabbed my laptop so that I could work from their apartment and off I went. Before 10 the Baby was born! I brought the girls home to stay with us for Yom Kippur and THAT was a Yom Kippur different than any that I have ever had before.
I think about that Yom Kippur of 1994 when I was taken aback by the sudden stopping of EVERYTHING …no cars, no motors, no stores, nothing… until… the loud speakers on the nearby mosques began blaring their obviously hate filled speech and I was rapidly immersed into the battle of the spirits in an area that I had been but superficially familiar with before. I became intimately entwined with the ancient battle being fought in the Middle East. Welcome home! It was also that very first Yom Kippur that I began to UNDERSTAND the immensity of what Yeshua’s spilt Blood on the cross had done for me and the utter LOSTNESS of what it meant to have been given the law by The Holy God and to have His temple destroyed because of our own disobedience…meaning that the very form of sacrifice that HE HAD INSTUTITED for the sons of Jacob to be cleansed from sin…the way that HE made into His Presence…was GONE! The day of Atonement became for me a day of searching out HOW to pray for my people! HE Who had brought our family back ‘suddenly ‘and through paths impossible, had brought us back KNOWING the blessing of being forgiven and cleansed - to my people to whom the way was still hidden! So, my first Yom Kippur letter was written.
This year, for the first time, the letter WASN’T written, but instead I was looking at two of our 3 small Granddaughters as they tried to absorb the huge event that had taken place in their tiny lives…’Move over, here I come: sister #3!’: Lots of emotion expressing itself. But whether I fasted or not…whether I meditated in His Word or not…Yom Kippur came again to Jerusalem, to Israel and to the Jews around the world with the great question: IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE? Each greeting ended with ‘gmar chatima tova’ (may the signature be signed in your favor). You and I know that this is not a small question, but sometimes our confidence in our own atonement can make us less acutely aware of the agony that we felt when we knew that we were lost and could find no way to God…no hope. Rabbinic Judaism has many ways and explanations, but they don’t satisfy everyone who honestly faces the question. Hebrews 9:22 says that “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” So for me, back in 1994, Yom Kippur became a day of thanksgiving for The Precious Blood of The Lamb and a day of seeking the revelation for my brothers and sisters after the flesh…so I have written and encouraged others over these years.
Usually, this time of year Christians are pouring into the country, bringing blessing from the 4 corners of the earth to pray during the fall feasts and to partake in the Christian Feast of Tabernacles celebrations. Many of you have participated in these for years. It is no news to say that with covid these large international events have been cancelled or gone to an online platform. None the less…as Yom Kippur comes, so has Sukkot! A ‘moed’ is an ‘appointed time’, but it is specifically used in scripture as GOD’S appointed time. The word itself carries a great deal of weight. This morning in my regular reading I was in Daniel 8 and as I read again through this second vision of Daniel’s, I saw that he was told that it wasn’t for ‘now’ but was for the last days…the ‘appointed end’. I looked over to the Hebrew and it said "למעד קץ" (moed ketz) and I stopped and looked at that and it gave me such comfort. THE APPOINTED END TIME: The ‘end time’ is APPOINTED and no man can change that.
Our Granddaughter helped us decorate our merepesset (balcony) as a sukkah. It is NOT a ‘kosher sukkah’…there is a ‘ceiling’ over our merepesset…however God has blessed us with a TREE that gives us the covering through which we can see the stars and sky! He has been so good to us! We can no longer reach up and build a covering that extends both inside and out, so we accept this grace as the tree for our roof. My granddaughter and I went out hand and hand and picked branches off of leafy trees…myrtle and olive all sorts of flowering trees and rich looking green shrubs and we decorated the walls with those and colorful paper chains and even a bird that our oldest Granddaughter, who is now 16, made back when she was in gan here…although now they live elsewhere. It was a festive, joyful time and the table was set with fruit and blessing. My husband wanted a new experience, so he went with our son in law to the 4 species market where the ‘lulav’ is purchased. The 4 species in the lulav are myrtle, willow, palm and etrog fruit. I searched for an explanation as to where the ceremonial use of the lulav began since although the species are mentioned in Leviticus 23:40 in connection with the sukkah, they have evolved into the purchasing of these items to be held and ‘shaken’ in 6 directions each time one enters the sukkah, in the morning, in the evening, if you go to the wall or to the synagogue, each group has developed their own ceremonies however generally the reason is to sanctify and recognize God’s sovereign creation and rule over His creation in all directions…above and beneath, in front of us and behind us, to the left and to the right, He is there as we grasp these different fruits of His making, together in our hands, we are to recognize that all that He made in their varieties and smells come from Him and go to Him. As with much of the symbols and practices of Judaism, they are to point us to Him and to the Hugeness of Who He is and to compare that to our miniscule moment between dust and dust in which we live out our lives; also to give place to ‘the other’. Judaism is very much a ‘corporate body’ where individualism and individual ‘rights’ are NOT the central issue at all. In many ways, Judaism and the western idea of democracy with its individualism and individual ‘rights’ diverge. So, holding the 4 species of the lulav in hand and shaking them in all directions, the diversity of man becomes equal, with God above all…as we sit in the little flimsy sukka…the temporary dwelling…we look at the grandness of the sky above and remember that the body that we dwell in for such a short period is ALSO temporary…is also flimsy…BUT HE HAS GONE TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR US! Oh that my sisters and brothers after the flesh would also have this reassurance, for which He came. MAY IT BE SOON REALIZED! MAY THE VEIL FALL AWAY LIKE FISH SCALES THIS YEAR…THIS VERY DAY!
Thank you so much for your prayers for Israel, for your prayers for HIS WILL AND PURPOSES FOR HIS GLORY…and even for our little family. THANK YOU!
Chag Sameach – Joyful Holy days
Lovingly, your sis here.
September 7, 2021
“Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre. Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival; this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph. I heard an unknown voice say “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah, Hear Me, My people, and I will warn you--
if you would only listen to Me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than Me, I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:1-10
Unto The King, Most High, Eternal; to Him Who has created and will faithfully oversee His workmanship until He rolls it up at the appointed time…to HIM BE THE GLORY AND THE HONOR AND THE PRAISE!
Greetings dear sisters and brothers in Yeshua. May you be blessed and encouraged and may He receive blessing and glory.
Here, Jerusalem time, it is late afternoon on the 1st day of Rosh h’shana (yes…we get 2) and I have FINALLY heard someone coming around blowing the shofar on our street corner…that joyful yet mournful…thrilling sound that CALLS to ‘pay attention! STOP AND HEAR!’
I am enclosing an excellently written article by a dear sister, that explains so well much of what I would like to say and have said in the past. Her explanation is fresh concerning what we, in modern times, celebrate as Rosh h’shana, or the head of the year…although the command is to blow the shofar and remember.
The evolution of the traditions surrounding Rosh h’shana or Yom h’teruah (day of the blowing of the shofar) are varied and well known. This, the first of the fall feasts, or the feasts of (the month of) Tishrai, is one of the feasts appointed by God. (G shares some of the scriptures) It is a full holy day with no public transportation nor open shops. Gifts are given and apples and honey are shared. There is a festive meal with a round, sweet challa and symbolic foods that have morphed with the generations and are colored with the various backgrounds from where different segments of the population migrated. The liturgical services are sung in the synagogues, around the tables, in the streets and at the Western Wall. I enjoyed listening to a rabbi say on the news the other night that the Sephardic (Eastern Jews) liturgy is full of joy, counting on the fact that God is a merciful and forgiving God Who will forgive our sins…while the Ashkenazi (western or European Jews) liturgy is chest beating ‘woe is me’ in style. I had not understood that before. As you can see there is much variety and elasticity with these traditions.
As I said in my last letter, the entire month leading up to these feasts is filled with preparations for repentance…a sort of breaking up of the hardened ground of the heart through prayer and searching scriptures. For the past month the synagogues and the Western wall have been filled with people through each night. Many believe that God’s Book of Life is opened on Rosh h’shana and sealed on Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement) 10 days later: whether you are written in The Book unto life or death, is ordained during these 10 days and sealed at the end of Yom Kippur. The ‘greeting addended during this time is ‘gmar khatima tova’ or ‘may you finish with a good seal’ Judgment is taken very seriously…it is a very tangible reality that is often passed over, or somehow ‘lighter’ in Western culture.
But (keeping this letter short) it is the sounding of the shofar that I would like to focus on right now. Revelation 1:10,11 says; “ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘ “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to…” Exodus 19:19 says “And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.” When Israel was learning how to proceed through the wilderness, they were instructed to listen for the sound of the trumpet which would announce the times to move, the order that they were to move. It also signals the approach of danger, a call to meet with leadership concerning God, a call to war …everything important was (and is…and will be) announced by the sounding of the trumpet.
This says to me that it is a call to LISTEN…and to RESPOND.
Perhaps you are different than I am…perhaps you are ahead of me or less rebellious by nature, but I have learned that I am WOEFULLY slow to listen…and slow to respond (without excuses). In His great mercy, God made for me a ‘moed’! An appointed time to remember the trumpets…remember their purposes…remember that they WILL CALL EACH OF US and that there will indeed be a ‘last trump’ …either collectively or individually…but ultimately collectively…it WILL sound. These days that we live in seem to be offering me a wonderful opportunity to FINE-TUNE my dull heart and REMEMBER that I am called to LISTEN for the trumpet sound…and RESPOND…NOT according to my emotions…but according to the instructions given. What a time to KNOW HIS WORD…the FULL counsel of His Word…not the bits and pieces that we favor. What an opportunity to be sequestered in with HIM and His unadulterated WORD!…not with social media and you tubes (and having said that I AM including a link to a wonderful you tube segment – I don’t mean to be a hypocrite, but this piece of history that I had never known about is precious and truly demonstrates what the shofar blast means…how MUCH it means…NOT as a ‘magic sound’ but as a commandment…a moed.)
Ok. Enough for today. Thank you so much for listening…for praying…for walking His path for His glory. May we be found in Him Alone…for His purposes and bearing fruit for His kingdom…being sign posts toward HIM!
Lovingly, your sister here
ECHOES OF A SHOFAR - please watch
SHARING A WORD FROM G:
“…At least I am getting it out to you before the "new moon" which is also the very important day of God called Yom Teruah or "Feast" of Trumpets. "Feast" really isn't a good translation/connotation of the Hebrew word "moed." Really, it is best to think of it as an appointed time, an appointment set by God.
Leviticus 23:1, 2 says:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts."
The word "feasts" is the word "moedim" in Hebrew. ALL of the moedim are God's, as He says in these verses. They are not the "Jewish" Feasts...they are God's Feasts. A moed is a set-apart time, an appointment, a set season, even a signal. God set them in place and commanded His people to keep/observe them for a reason.
The other word worth looking at in the verse above is "convocation" or "holy convocation." The Hebrew word is "miqra" and it means called out or rehearsal, and can also mean an assembly.
If you actually read Leviticus 23, you will see that the first of God's moedim that He lists is Shabbat/Sabbath. Then He follows with the 3 spring moedim (following the time of year in the Land of Israel), the moed that occurs midway between the spring and fall (Shavuot), and the 3 fall moedim.
The first of the 3 fall moedim begins tomorrow evening and lasts until Tuesday evening. It is Yom Teruah - the Sound of the Trumpets. (Rosh HaShanah - the New Year - is what it is celebrated as in modern times, but that is not what God commanded in His Word, so I won't really be talking much about Rosh HaShanah.)…
…Why do I keep these "moedim?" Because I am legalistic? Because I am delusional and think I am Jewish? Because I am trying to be super-spiritual? Trying to earn my salvation? No! No! No! and No!
I keep them because God said to keep them, and because I love Him.
I keep them even if I don't understand all that God has built into them and all that is behind them. After all, like the tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle, the moedim are shadows of God's provision of salvation, atonement, sanctification, justification... all that He has provided us to allow us to have relationship with Him through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah is shown in minute detail in His moedim. Yeshua/Jesus has fulfilled/will fulfill ALL of them COMPLETELY and ABSOLUTELY. They are annual rehearsals until the time comes for His people to live eternally with Him, face to face, with the KING of kings on His throne forever! He has provided the way for Himself to dwell in our midst. The more I keep the moedim, in my limited understanding and ability, the more my love for Him grows. It really is that simple.
And in a world as complicated and chaotic and uncertain and .... well, crazy... as our world is, my ROCK, my SALVATION, my TOWER, my PEACE, my COUNSELOR, my ETERNAL FATHER becomes so much more tangible and real and faithful and present when I rehearse what He has told me to rehearse to get ready for what is to come after this temporal world is done. When I am listening to a shofar or trumpet blast on Yom Teruah, when I am "afflicting my body" in fasting on Yom Kippur, when I am sitting in my flimsy Sukkah looking up at the stars during Sukkot, the cares of this world and the worries about money and the weariness of work and physical pains all fade away and I get a glimpse of what is to come. Now I am looking through a glass dimly, but then it will all be clear!
It is not a way out of reality. It IS reality. God's reality beyond what we know in this world.”
“Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre. Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival; this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph. I heard an unknown voice say “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah, Hear Me, My people, and I will warn you--
if you would only listen to Me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than Me, I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:1-10
Unto The King, Most High, Eternal; to Him Who has created and will faithfully oversee His workmanship until He rolls it up at the appointed time…to HIM BE THE GLORY AND THE HONOR AND THE PRAISE!
Greetings dear sisters and brothers in Yeshua. May you be blessed and encouraged and may He receive blessing and glory.
Here, Jerusalem time, it is late afternoon on the 1st day of Rosh h’shana (yes…we get 2) and I have FINALLY heard someone coming around blowing the shofar on our street corner…that joyful yet mournful…thrilling sound that CALLS to ‘pay attention! STOP AND HEAR!’
I am enclosing an excellently written article by a dear sister, that explains so well much of what I would like to say and have said in the past. Her explanation is fresh concerning what we, in modern times, celebrate as Rosh h’shana, or the head of the year…although the command is to blow the shofar and remember.
The evolution of the traditions surrounding Rosh h’shana or Yom h’teruah (day of the blowing of the shofar) are varied and well known. This, the first of the fall feasts, or the feasts of (the month of) Tishrai, is one of the feasts appointed by God. (G shares some of the scriptures) It is a full holy day with no public transportation nor open shops. Gifts are given and apples and honey are shared. There is a festive meal with a round, sweet challa and symbolic foods that have morphed with the generations and are colored with the various backgrounds from where different segments of the population migrated. The liturgical services are sung in the synagogues, around the tables, in the streets and at the Western Wall. I enjoyed listening to a rabbi say on the news the other night that the Sephardic (Eastern Jews) liturgy is full of joy, counting on the fact that God is a merciful and forgiving God Who will forgive our sins…while the Ashkenazi (western or European Jews) liturgy is chest beating ‘woe is me’ in style. I had not understood that before. As you can see there is much variety and elasticity with these traditions.
As I said in my last letter, the entire month leading up to these feasts is filled with preparations for repentance…a sort of breaking up of the hardened ground of the heart through prayer and searching scriptures. For the past month the synagogues and the Western wall have been filled with people through each night. Many believe that God’s Book of Life is opened on Rosh h’shana and sealed on Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement) 10 days later: whether you are written in The Book unto life or death, is ordained during these 10 days and sealed at the end of Yom Kippur. The ‘greeting addended during this time is ‘gmar khatima tova’ or ‘may you finish with a good seal’ Judgment is taken very seriously…it is a very tangible reality that is often passed over, or somehow ‘lighter’ in Western culture.
But (keeping this letter short) it is the sounding of the shofar that I would like to focus on right now. Revelation 1:10,11 says; “ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘ “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to…” Exodus 19:19 says “And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.” When Israel was learning how to proceed through the wilderness, they were instructed to listen for the sound of the trumpet which would announce the times to move, the order that they were to move. It also signals the approach of danger, a call to meet with leadership concerning God, a call to war …everything important was (and is…and will be) announced by the sounding of the trumpet.
This says to me that it is a call to LISTEN…and to RESPOND.
Perhaps you are different than I am…perhaps you are ahead of me or less rebellious by nature, but I have learned that I am WOEFULLY slow to listen…and slow to respond (without excuses). In His great mercy, God made for me a ‘moed’! An appointed time to remember the trumpets…remember their purposes…remember that they WILL CALL EACH OF US and that there will indeed be a ‘last trump’ …either collectively or individually…but ultimately collectively…it WILL sound. These days that we live in seem to be offering me a wonderful opportunity to FINE-TUNE my dull heart and REMEMBER that I am called to LISTEN for the trumpet sound…and RESPOND…NOT according to my emotions…but according to the instructions given. What a time to KNOW HIS WORD…the FULL counsel of His Word…not the bits and pieces that we favor. What an opportunity to be sequestered in with HIM and His unadulterated WORD!…not with social media and you tubes (and having said that I AM including a link to a wonderful you tube segment – I don’t mean to be a hypocrite, but this piece of history that I had never known about is precious and truly demonstrates what the shofar blast means…how MUCH it means…NOT as a ‘magic sound’ but as a commandment…a moed.)
Ok. Enough for today. Thank you so much for listening…for praying…for walking His path for His glory. May we be found in Him Alone…for His purposes and bearing fruit for His kingdom…being sign posts toward HIM!
Lovingly, your sister here
ECHOES OF A SHOFAR - please watch
SHARING A WORD FROM G:
“…At least I am getting it out to you before the "new moon" which is also the very important day of God called Yom Teruah or "Feast" of Trumpets. "Feast" really isn't a good translation/connotation of the Hebrew word "moed." Really, it is best to think of it as an appointed time, an appointment set by God.
Leviticus 23:1, 2 says:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts."
The word "feasts" is the word "moedim" in Hebrew. ALL of the moedim are God's, as He says in these verses. They are not the "Jewish" Feasts...they are God's Feasts. A moed is a set-apart time, an appointment, a set season, even a signal. God set them in place and commanded His people to keep/observe them for a reason.
The other word worth looking at in the verse above is "convocation" or "holy convocation." The Hebrew word is "miqra" and it means called out or rehearsal, and can also mean an assembly.
If you actually read Leviticus 23, you will see that the first of God's moedim that He lists is Shabbat/Sabbath. Then He follows with the 3 spring moedim (following the time of year in the Land of Israel), the moed that occurs midway between the spring and fall (Shavuot), and the 3 fall moedim.
The first of the 3 fall moedim begins tomorrow evening and lasts until Tuesday evening. It is Yom Teruah - the Sound of the Trumpets. (Rosh HaShanah - the New Year - is what it is celebrated as in modern times, but that is not what God commanded in His Word, so I won't really be talking much about Rosh HaShanah.)…
…Why do I keep these "moedim?" Because I am legalistic? Because I am delusional and think I am Jewish? Because I am trying to be super-spiritual? Trying to earn my salvation? No! No! No! and No!
I keep them because God said to keep them, and because I love Him.
I keep them even if I don't understand all that God has built into them and all that is behind them. After all, like the tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle, the moedim are shadows of God's provision of salvation, atonement, sanctification, justification... all that He has provided us to allow us to have relationship with Him through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah is shown in minute detail in His moedim. Yeshua/Jesus has fulfilled/will fulfill ALL of them COMPLETELY and ABSOLUTELY. They are annual rehearsals until the time comes for His people to live eternally with Him, face to face, with the KING of kings on His throne forever! He has provided the way for Himself to dwell in our midst. The more I keep the moedim, in my limited understanding and ability, the more my love for Him grows. It really is that simple.
And in a world as complicated and chaotic and uncertain and .... well, crazy... as our world is, my ROCK, my SALVATION, my TOWER, my PEACE, my COUNSELOR, my ETERNAL FATHER becomes so much more tangible and real and faithful and present when I rehearse what He has told me to rehearse to get ready for what is to come after this temporal world is done. When I am listening to a shofar or trumpet blast on Yom Teruah, when I am "afflicting my body" in fasting on Yom Kippur, when I am sitting in my flimsy Sukkah looking up at the stars during Sukkot, the cares of this world and the worries about money and the weariness of work and physical pains all fade away and I get a glimpse of what is to come. Now I am looking through a glass dimly, but then it will all be clear!
It is not a way out of reality. It IS reality. God's reality beyond what we know in this world.”