Category Archives: Parashat HaShavua – Torah Portion
A commentary on the weekly Torah Portion.
Living a Life of Prayer – Toldot
As many of you know, I host weekly Sabbath celebrations in my home in Jerusalem serving groups from around the world. This past Sabbath I hosted a lovely group of young people and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy our Sabbath celebration. As the evening came to a close, three or four of the participants came […]
Continue readingThe Cave & The Promise
For all of the evil that King Herod committed in the Holy Land, his building projects helped to preserve key biblical holy sites including the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Machpelah, the cave of the patriarchs in Hebron. There is a spiritual lesson to be gleaned in this week’s Torah Portion from the cave […]
Continue readingThe Faithful Watchman
Are you holding on to the promises of God’s word? Is there a promise which God has personally given you of which you are still waiting to see the fulfillment? Every one of us is waiting to see God’s word fulfilled in one way or another: whether it be in our individual lives, in the […]
Continue readingA Modern-Day Hebrew
What does it mean to be a Hebrew? Abraham established the standard of what it means to walk in faith with the living God. Christians and Jews alike whole-heartedly agree that the life of Abraham is a model of what it means to truly believe in God. We see evidence of this in the following […]
Continue readingOrphaned and Barren: Where is God in Our Pain?
Every once in a while we encounter events that interrupt our lives in a manner which causes frustration and makes us wonder why God allows these seemingly unnecessary situations. We expect events to go in a certain way but then something interrupts the norm and we are caused to evaluate the circumstances and find a […]
Continue readingCreation – An Attempt to Rewrite History
This week restarts the yearly reading through the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. According to Jewish tradition, immediately following the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles we once again begin reading from Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The foundations of life as we know it […]
Continue readingObtaining The Blessing – Vezot Habracha
The final Torah Portion of the yearly Jewish cycle of reading through the Torah is called “וזאת הברכה” – “ve’zot ha’bracha” – “And this is the blessing…” (Deut. 33:1). Since it is the final reading of the Torah, it is not read according to the regular Sabbath reading cycle, but rather, it is read on a […]
Continue readingYom Kippur & The Days of Awe
There is a period of ten days between Rosh HaShanah (The Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) which are called the “Days of Awe.” The Sabbath day which falls during this ten-day period is called “The Sabbath of Returning” or “The Sabbath of Repentance.” This year, “The Sabbath of Returning” will fall […]
Continue readingSukkot – The Reason For Our Joy!
The Feast of Sukkot is commonly known in English as “The Feast of Booths” or “Tabernacles.” The Hebrew word “סוכות” – “sukkot” is the plural form of the word “סוכה” – “sukkah,” which simply means a tabernacle, a booth, or a temporary shelter. The Feast of Sukkot is first and foremost a festival of rejoicing (Lev. 23:40 & Deut. 16:14-15). […]
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