Maybe all you know about Chanukah is that it occurs in December, Jewish people light candles and they receive gifts for eight days. But what’s behind these details of observance is both miraculous and inspiring.
As I recently shared with you, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz announced late last week that he was unable to form a coalition government. Gantz’s announcement informing President Reuven Rivlin that he had failed came four hours prior to his midnight deadline.
Joseph had lost his sight to mature cataracts. In fact, it’d been years since he’d been stripped of his vision. And now he lived in darkness. Joseph could rarely leave home. But when he heard about our Jewish Voice Medical Outreach, he suddenly felt a spark of hope.
We know we should be thankful, but why does it seem so hard to make it a habit? What if we took a new look at God’s commands to be thankful? -What about you; how do you practice gratitude?
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is deceitful above all things ” The New King James goes on to say it is “desperately wicked” while the Tree of Life Version calls it “incurable
The booths of Sukkot offer us symbols of the fragility and transient nature of life Tents are temporary, and so are our earthly lives This physical world is the only one we’ve known, and though we accept that we’ll someday leave it, life-in-the-moment on planet Earth can feel rather sure
Remembering Israel’s wilderness days reminds us of how God’s presence dwelled with them during their decades-long wandering As they roamed the desert, they did so by the guidance of God’s presence represented to them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night
The booths that we build today for Sukkot represent the tents that God had the Israelites live in during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. Their tents protected them from the elements and serve as reminders of God’s divine protection of us today.
God instructs us at Sukkot to remember that He made the Israelites live in tents in the wilderness. Their wandering experience was more complicated than merely living in temporary housing as they traveled. The barren desert offered no food or water for them.
They bless God for their waking in the morning and again at night for Him seeing them through the day And, they have a day set aside to intentionally celebrate God’s Word Simchat Torah (SIM-khat TOR-ah) means “Joy of the Torah
