Messianic Jewish Holidays and Celebrations

May 29, 2020

Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It was fifty days after God had delivered the Israelites from slavery to Egypt, calling them out to be a nation of His own. When He gave them His Law, He drew them deeper still into relationship with Him. The people of Israel received His Word and committed to following Him. As we receive God’s Word, we receive Him. Scripture tells us that the Word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12) and is infused with His Spirit (2 Timothy 3:1...

May 28, 2020

This Shavuot, may you enjoy time to reflect on the wonders in God's Word and the joy of His presence.

May 21, 2020

At the outset of a war, no one knows how long the fighting will last. The longest war in history persisted 781 years, between the Spanish Empire and the Moors. The shortest battle, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896, lasted a mere 38 minutes. Jerusalem Day commemorates the second shortest war in history, which arose between the enemies of Israel and the young Jewish country. It occurred from June 5 to June 11, 1967, and is aptly named the Six-Day War. Jerusalem Day, or Yom Yerushalayim, 2020 b...

May 08, 2020

The world finds itself in a unique and rare moment in history. Each region, country and community is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. While each community is experiencing the effects of coronavirus to different levels of severity, we all have one thing in common. We are in a season of waiting. We are all waiting to see what lies ahead on the other side of this crisis. HOW TO WAIT WITH HOPE-FILLED EXPECTATION Jewish Voice staff members Ezra Benjamin and Carly Berna speak with Rabbi Joshu...

March 09, 2020

Were you ever asked to do something that seemed more daunting than you could handle? Something for which you felt inadequate, unqualified, and frankly, terrified? And, in time, you realized this task was from God Himself? That’s what the young woman Esther faced. God had placed her in the position of queen of Persia, and then presented her with an opportunity to save her people from destruction. And it might have cost her life to try. A Jewish maiden Esther had come to the position of...

December 29, 2019

The word Chanukah means “dedication,” and the miracles the holiday celebrates center on the rededication of the Temple. The victory God won for the Maccabees brought a fresh start for Jewish worship. At last, they had their Temple back, and they could honor God as He had called them. As Believers, whose bodies are called temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20), we have the opportunity of renewed dedication every day. Each new dawn offers us the potential for starting over, drawing closer to Go...

December 28, 2019

As we look at Chanukah and its miracle of light, we can’t forget the remarkable fact that God uses us to shine His light to the world. He places His Spirit inside each one who puts their faith in Jesus as the Messiah. And His light in us reveals Him to those around us. When we love as the Bible commands us and serve selflessly as Jesus did, we display God’s goodness and point a hurting world to Him. New Covenant Scriptures call us to live by the power of God’s Spirit in us rather than from ou...

December 27, 2019

God’s instructions for building the Temple had included meticulous detail and beauty. The Temple was His holy dwelling place; it had to be pure. Its desecration at the hands of Antiochus’ regime was unbearable for God’s people. When they regained the Temple, they wanted to cleanse it and rededicate it as soon as possible. God performed the miracle of the oil, enabling the light to burn as they went about this most holy task. God works miracles in our hearts through the gift of new life and th...

December 26, 2019

Chanukah is about a miracle of light. One of the ways the Bible uses the word light is to represent knowledge. It’s a metaphor that is still used today: we are “enlightened” when we have knowledge and understanding but we’re “in the dark” when we don’t. In the Psalms, David refers to God’s Word as a lamp to light his way. A dark path conceals all kinds of dangers, but enter light, and we have information to guide our steps. With light, obstacles become visible and predators exposed. We see wh...

December 25, 2019

None of us deserves the salvation God grants to those who believe in Jesus, and we can’t earn it. We are marred by sins of long ago, let alone today, and we simply don’t measure up. Salvation is a pure gift of mercy and love offered by our holy God through Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). “We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way,” Isaiah 53:6 tells us. “So Adonai has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” That God would attribute our sin to Jesus and, in turn, count Yesh...