Month: December 2012


  • Wouldn’t it be interesting if this – twelfth day of Hanukkah – were it?
    Wouldn’t it be the perfect timing… just before the fake ‘holi’day,
    And just after the real one?  So that He could have proof -
    … evidence of those who obeyed and were true to Him…
    And those who were not, and are deceived?

    Personally, I would have no problem with it.  Of course the Winter Solstice point is now passed (6:11am this morning), and the Mayan calendar is reset, but I‘m watching thru Shabbat… you know me.

    The thing is… and I know I have said this before… I have been watching for NINE years, now.  I have seen things I never thought I would see.  I have checked off markers in scripture as we have crossed them, been shown things I had no idea were so, and… well, I’m at Revelation 7:9.  That’s where I am.  And that’s what I‘m watching for, next.  So this period before X-mess?  It’s a likely time, IMHO.  Especially if we’re on the SMS (which… I don’t know), and that indicates a deadline of December 31st.

    I don’t care.  I don’t care what people think of me.  I will cling to my beliefs, I will watch and wait and pay attention and seek Him in all of it, and today - all day long – is a huge possibility.  So… here we are.  And I will never stop praying for His return.  I fully intend to be like that woman in Luke 18:1-8 who pestered and pestered and pestered the man until he finally did as she asked, just to get her to shut up.  ((And the actual moral of the story is that we SHOULD pester the hell out of Yehovah with our petitions, so that He might do the same.))  That’s my goal.  Today, and all days.

  • Tomorrow is 12/21/2012

    Being that tomorrow is a really big day, I thought I would post a couple of things about what’s supposed to happen, what won’t happen, and what I hope will happen!

    First, tomorrow is Shabbat!!


    ((Thought I should post it now, cuz I’m not posting it tomorrow.))

    Next, tomorrow is Winter Solstice.  It’s the longest day of the year for the entire globe.  It’s one of those days that mattered to people who paid attention to the heavens, astrologists and earth watchers.  We *are* celebrating… I found these really kewl fingerpaint suns (that are amazing NOT disastrously messy!) that we’re going to do, and I plan to have a burn-barrel bonfire, if we should be here.


    And of course there’s the HUGE hype.  As you all have likely heard by now, we’re told that all the planets are going to line up on 21/21. 

    Is this true?  No.  Take a look at this picture, it’s the planets on 12/21, and as you can see, they’re NOT all lined up.

    Also, we’re told the earth is going to cross the galactic plane (the ‘line’ of the Milky Way) for the first time in… millions of years.  Since I’m a young-Earth person, I don’t believe the Milky Way has existed for millions of years, but the idea of us crossing that plane was interesting to me.  So I looked into it:

    http://earthsky.org/…earth-pass-through-galactic-plane-in-2012

    No, Earth will not pass through the galactic plane in 2012, contrary to what you might have heard. Earth won’t be physically passing through the plane of the Milky Way galaxyfor another 30 million years.  However, Earth will cross the galactic equator in 2012. As seen from the sun, the Earth does this every year – twice. 

    The galactic plane is the actual mid-plane or center line of our galaxy’s huge spinning disk of stars. We are not located on the exact mid-plane of the galaxy. It’s this exact mid-plane people are speaking about when they speak of crossing something.

    The galactic equator is an imaginary great circle that divides the equally imaginary celestial sphere into two equal halves. The celestial sphere is – of course – a fiction. It’s the same fiction that so confounded the early stargazers, that, as seen from Earth, we appear to reside in the center of a great globe of stars. In modern times, the fiction of the geocentric view of the universe enables astronomers to use a workable coordinate system for mapping the sky. It’s handy, but it’s not reality.

    • As seen from the sun, the Earth crosses the galactic equator twice a year, every year. Nothing special here. Keep moving.
    • As seen from Earth, the sun crosses the galactic equator twice a year, every year. Keep moving.
    • As seen from Earth, the moon crosses the galactic equator two (sometimes three) times a month.

      Are you seeing the pattern here? All of this crossing of the galactic equator is just part of the heavens’ normal motion, really Earth’s normal motion as projected on our sky’s dome as we travel around the sun.

    There’s been much hoopla about the winter solstice sun aligning with galactic plane on December 21, 2012. You, however, now know the reality that, as seen from Earth, the sun crosses the galactic equator twice a year. And the galactic equator on our sky’s imaginary astronomical coordinate system more or less corresponds with the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. So, in this sense, the sun crosses the plane of the Milky Way twice a year (as seen from Earth)

    Now, I know this is a lot, but I can’t leave out Tomer Devorah’s article… because it is SO good.  Ironically, Tomer Devorah has closed her blog completely, as of three days ago.  Why?  I don’t know.  It’s kind of spooky, IMO, but whatevs.  Anyhow, so here is what she wrote (edited for space):

    http://palmtreeofdeborah…2012/12/the-2012-phenomenon.html

    Modern man has made a big mistake. He thinks that ancient man was a primitive and that mankind has been evolving upwards ever since. Not true. And this erroneous conclusion leads to serious misunderstandings.

    The Jewish tradition – the true tradition – tells us that the first man had all knowledge and existed at an exalted level before his fall and exile from Gan Eden. He was able to look into every animate and inanimate thing and call it by a name which perfectly expressed its inner essence. He was more a being of light than a being of flesh at that time, but his breaking of the Creator’s commandment not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil caused him to fall from that exalted state and lose many of his spiritual abilities.

    Even so, he knew what he knew and he passed his knowledge down. Because people lived such long lives, Noah actually lived at the same time as Adam HaRishon’s grandson. And then Avraham Avinu lived at the same time as Noah’s son Shem. And, of course, Avraham Avinu was still alive when Ya’aqov Avinu was a young man. As you can see, the information did not have to pass through very many people to come down to the heads of the tribes of Israel by oral tradition.

    The generation that built the Tower of Bavel was so technologically advanced that had Hashem not confused the languages, there was nothing they could not have achieved. Our tradition tells us further that at the same time the languages were confused, the land mass of the world was broken into continents and separated by the oceans.

    Science has always confirmed this, but insisted that it was a process that took millions of years. But, today, they admit it could have happened in a matter of days. (The rabbis say that the more science learns, the more it proves Torah and that the closer we get to Mashiach, the less contradiction there will be between the two.) This also explains how pyramids of similar design, astronomically aligned and constructed in a manner which still cannot be duplicated, can be found on every continent.

    …Now, we come to the Mayan calendar whose authenticity and accuracy are not in dispute. The only thing that is in dispute is the meaning of the date 21.12.2012 for mankind. Among the oral traditions of many Indian tribes like the Maya and the Hopi, it marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another cycle….

    The generations have not been getting smarter and more powerful. Just the opposite! The generations are going down, getting weaker and losing valuable information along the way. It seems that only those with an oral tradition passed down from father to son and teacher to student are even vaguely aware of where we have come from and where we are all going. As the Maya have said, they are not expecting the end of the world, but a transition to a higher state of being.

    This is, in fact, our own expectation. We’re on our way back to Eden – to recover the former state of the first man of this cycle of creation in which we’ve been living for 5773 years. And according to our prophets, we will attain it during what we call the Messianic Era, which is scheduled to occur before the year 6000 and according to some sources, before the years 5786 or 5790 when the resurrection of the dead will begin.

    The only thing we know for sure about the Mayan date 21.12.2012, and which has been confirmed by scientists who knew nothing of it until the last few years, is that the earth will complete a precessional cycle which takes 26,000 years. At this same time, the sun and the earth will be in precise alignment with the black hole at the center of the galaxy. No one knows for sure what effect this might have, if anything discernible, but it is possible that the increase in radiation could cause our sun to emit a super flare. It’s possible that the approaching event has been causing the sun to gradually heat up and consequently, heat up the planets as well and this could account for what people have been referring to as global warming and its effects on the weather. There is a portion of the scientific community that says that the warming is not confined to earth and that the sun is the cause rather than carbon emissions.  Take a look at this:

    Over the next few months the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy will set about consuming a vast cloud of interstellar dust and gas – somewhat prosaically known as G2 – that has strayed too close to the singularity’s event horizon.


    It promises to be quite a show as all the material that doesn’t get sucked into oblivion will be swept up, swirled around in a gigantic catherine wheel, heated, stretched, shredded and finally fired out again in a dazzling display of gravitational power. Not something astronomers get to see every day according to Dr Karen Masters from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at Portsmouth University.


    “The black hole at the centre of our galaxy is normally quite quiet, docile even, but as this cloud begins to fall in the material is going to get very, very hot and it’s going to start emitting all sorts of radiation. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen but we know it’s going to be spectacular….” (Source: BBC News)

    The Jewish tradition states clearly that there will be changes in the celestial bodies at the end of the age before we transition from the world-as-we-know-it-now to the Messianic Era.  Will it start on 21.12.2012?  Will it culminate on 21.12.2012?  Or will the date pass inconspicuously?  We don’t have much longer to wait and find out.

    And as a footnote, Shirat Devorah [as opposed to Tomer Devorah] posted this video of a Mayan leader explaining what will happen tomorrow.  It also talks about this radiation mentioned in Tomer Devorah’s article.  And typically if a video is more than ten minutes, I pass on it, but this one I couldn’t.  I’ll tell ya… the first twelve minutes are KEY to the video – if you watch nothing else, watch until minute twelve.  It’s true – about the Hadron Collider, the Chilean and Japanese quakes throwing off the earth’s axis, about the shift of our planet, about the sinkholes since 2010… it’s all true.  He does a fantastic job explaining what the Mayans built those pyramids for (to diffuse the energy/radiation that is gonna hit us), and how the scientists are planning to do the exact opposite – they want to collect that energy/radiation, boost it, and redirect it in order to hit the planet with it.

    The middle of the video is silliness about peace and a level of consciousness and mental ascension, but at minute 24 it picks back up and mentions some amazing things, again… like that it’s not just 12/21/2012 – it’s a THREE day event, with earthquakes, darkness, and ‘ascension’.  What happened when Yeshua died?  Earthquakes, darkness, and ‘ascensions’.  What do I suspect will happen at the rapture?  Earthquake, darkness, and our ascensions to meet Him in the air.  I find it SO interesting!!  Worth the watch:

    I just found all of this highly interesting… and you know I have to share!

  • Israel Today – The Game Afoot

    FoxNews:

    …Jonathan Schanzer, a former counter-terrorism analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, said the real agenda behind Israel’s assault last month on Hamas’ munitions stockpiles and smuggling tunnels was not simply to end the daily barrage of relatively primitive rockets that have become part of daily life in Israel. The real mission was to eliminate as many as 100 Iranian-built Fajr5 missiles – with the power to reach Tel Aviv – that had been sneaked into Gaza through Egypt. The Obama administration knew in advance of the operation and agreed that the missiles, built in a Sudanese factory, had to be neutralized to protect millions of Israeli citizens who were now within range of the deadly Iranian weapons, according to Schanzer.
    “The U.S. was fully aware of what was going to come in Gaza,” Schanzer, now vice president of research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told FoxNews.com. “They said nothing for the first few days of the operation; there was dead silence from [Obama].”

    …Israel’s elimination of senior Hamas figure Ahmad Jabari as he drove in broad daylight in Gaza also fits into Schanzer’s narrative.“Ahmad Jabari, along with another major Hamas figure, Mahmoud al Mabhouhk, [who was assassinated in Dubai in 2010], was a key part of the procurement network for the Fajr missiles and there is little doubt that Israel was keen to take out the man responsible,” Schanzer explained.

    …The suggestion of American knowledge and approval of the alleged Israeli attack in Sudan and the subsequent offensive in Gaza, undermines the theory that Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were not on speaking terms after the elections, in which Netanyahu expressed support for Mitt Romney. The grave threat posed by the Fajr5 rockets may have been enough for both leaders to agree that something had to be done – and fast.

    …“I think that Washington and the international media have been so lazy in their coverage of this conflict in terms of identifying what actually happened,” Schanzer said. “Both the Israeli intelligence community and Israeli officials referred to the presence of Fajr5 missiles in the hands of Hamas as ‘game changing rockets,’ a change that very nearly produced Israel’s own Cuban missile crisis.” 

    aNNa’S NoTe:  They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.  This picture is from October, BEFORE the Fajr missiles, before the mention of sarin (chemical gas) was mentioned in the news.  How close are we?

    From Soul Mazal:

    Assad is just about done, as America is threatening invasion [warships are off the coast] due to the threat of chemical weapons being launched on the Syrian people. This has major implications if Syria goes down. What will be of Iran’s proxy war tactics? America in an Iraq 2.0 position, right next door to Israel [Jerusalem anyone?]. Lebanon and Jordan are feeling it from Syria, etc. etc

    If America goes in there, it is a very big deal indeed; Let it be known as well that Syria is quasi-holy land, as it was conquered by King David, and is directly affiliated with Eretz Yisrael…and in regards to the End of Days, Damascus will cease to be a city.

    aNNa’S NoTe:  It struck me, as I was reading this… Messiah said that when Israel is ‘surrounded on all sides’, the end would be near.  With battleships off the coast, bombs coming in from Egypt, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and threats from Iran…?  It just hit me.  Israel *IS* surrounded on all sides.  Right now.

    LATimes:

    Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated Wednesday that Washington is as concerned about Syria’s chemical weapons falling into the hands of Syrian rebels as it is about the possibility that Syrian President Bashar Assad may decide to deploy them.  …Clinton told reporters at the end of two days of NATO ministerial meetings in Brussels. “We have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line and those responsible would be held to account.”
    Rebels have been making substantial territorial gains in Syria and have overrun a number of Syrian military bases, capturing supplies of conventional weapons. U.S. officials have indicated that Syria’s chemical weapons stocks remain secure, but officials and experts have voiced concern that insurgents could seize facilities where chemical agents are stored.
    Western and Israeli officials are believed to be closely monitoring known Syrian chemical weapons depots. An unanswered question is whether signs of a rebel approach on a chemical facility would trigger an international response to prevent toxic weaponry from falling into the hands of insurgent militias.
    …The prospect of a chemical attack via ballistic missiles is one reason NATO this week agreed to Turkey’s request that Patriot anti-missile batteries be deployed at points along Turkey’s more than 500-mile border with Syria. Turkish news reports Wednesday quoted Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying that Syria possesses about 700 missiles and that the government in Ankara knows exactly where they are.

    aNNa’S NoTe:  As you all know, I believe we are SO close… I’m just waiting for it to happen.  It’s come to the time.  We’re there.  And I think we’re ready, Lord.

  • Free Basic Math Lapbook

    Why can’t anything be easy?  I prefer for someone ELSE to have it, so I can print it, so that I can assemble it and go without having to assemble what needs to then be assembled.  There I go.  Being all cranky, again.  Nevermind the blonde…

    I had printed math sheets.  They’re not efficient.  A lapbook is needed.  I know this.  It’s more concise, useful, comprehensive, and… there is – of course – no such free animal.  ((Le Sigh!!))  I did find a kewl lapbook one mom did (LINK), but when I clicked on her links to get the various pieces, they didn’t take me to stuff I could use (and some were completely defunct).  Hate that.  So I have to re-do it to lead me (and you) to the right places.  I love her for finding stuff for me, though.  You’re wonderful!  One half step of help is better than nuttin!!

    Now… before we get started, I have to admit something:  I lived in England for a portion of my formative years.  When I learned measurement?  I learned the Metric System.  Upon returning to the US, I found out how stupid our country is in regards to measurement – of time, weight, distance… everything.  We’re so idiotic.  And to this day, I prefer (and use) the Metric System.  I’ll show you why:

    The United States is the only system that isn’t logical, has HUGE jumps in measurement, does everything out of order, and doesn’t use whole numbers for anything.  It… drives me crazy, to this day.  I learned it the right way:  10 millimeters in a centimeter, 10 centimeters in a decimeter, 10 decimeter, 10 decimeters in a meter.  Then I came to the states, where there are 12 inches (nothing smaller?!?!?!) in a foot, three feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile… what the heck?!  That is SO. WACK!!!  I hate it.  Look at the way we write dates – smallest increment of time to biggest?  NO… we’re stupid, we write it all wonky.  Having said, I teach my kids both, but we use Metric.  Which is no big, because we educate using MEP math, which is British and uses metric, anyhow.

    But I had to qualify that, before I give you my lapbook.  Because it does have ‘King Hector Died Spacey Drinking Chocolate Milk’ in it, and I know a bunch of moms are going to go, “WHAT?!?!”  And that’s maybe something you an just leave out of your book.

    Also… I’ve been informed that my lapbooks are not suitable for children.  By a woman who PINNED said lapbooks to her Pinterest Homeschool board… please don’t ask, I’m still laughing, myself.  So I thought I’d add the disclosure that there is nothing religiously controversial or questionable in this particular lapbook.  I don’t think.  Unless you think the Metric System is of the devil.

    Anyhow… without further ado –

    Mathematics Lapbook Cover Graphic
    http://mathtnotes.webs.com/22346.jpg

    Money, Shapes, and Order Words – (all on one sheet!)
    http://www.teachingheart.net/mini_office_page1.pdf

    Number Line (I printed all 4 on one sheet, twice)
    http://www.abcteach.com/free/n/numberline_0to20.pdf

    Addition/Subtraction/Multiplication/Division Booklet
    (I printed all four on one page)
    http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/…math%20charts.pdf

    Now… for the next group of links, I’m giving them all separately, because you might want to size them to your liking, or create a doc and print out just one of each for yourself via Word.  But if you want my .doc version of them (with the sizes I use), skip this list below and go straight to the download button.

    Place Values (I did them sized at six per page)
    http://www.math-aids.com/images/place-value-chart-no-decimal.jpg

    Decimals
    http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/QQ/database/QQ.09.07/h/glenwood1.1.gif

    Tally Table (made it into a ‘What is a Tally’ folder)
    http://www.zoomschool.com/math/tally/tallytable2.GIF

    Muliplication Chart
    http://www.classroomjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/multiplication-chart.gif

    Metric vs. Standard
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ba…600/metricvsstandard.jpg

    Decimal Chart
    http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/image-files/ari075.jpg

    Conversion Chart
    http://www.aveprime.cz/soubory/2008-09-19-14-52-54.jpg

    Measurements (baking)
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5k0XkgtwnY0/TqwUFsaoH_I/AAAAAAAAAn8/ZGbXHey0JwM/s640/Measurement+Chart.jpg

    Fraction Pie (made them small and put them in a paper pocket)
    http://www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/fractionpiepieces.html

    And of course here is our finished product:

    And as always, click to enlarge.
    Hope this is of use to you!!

  • Happy Hanukkah!
    Day Eight -  The Grand Finale

    A Yud Tes Kislev and Chanukah Drama
    By: Rabbi YY Jacobson, reposted by Shirat Devorah
    ((and edited and commented upon by yours truly, of course))
    It is a fascinating story: Judah has three sons, Er, Onan and Shalah. His oldest son, Er, married a woman named Tamar, but died prematurely, without children. His bereft father, Judah, suggested to his second son, Onan: “Consort with your brother’s wife and enter into levirate marriage with her, and establish offspring for your brother.”  …So Judah suggested to his second son Onan to marry his brother’s widow and perpetuate the legacy of the deceased brother.
    Now, Judah’s second son also died prematurely without having any children. Judah refused to allow her to marry his third son, Shalah. Which put her in an impossible situation: she could not go out and marry anyone else, because she was bound to Shalah, but her father in law would not allow her to marry Shalah.

    …Thus, following the death of both of Tamar’s husbands, she went and lured her father-in-law, Judah, into a relationship with her which impregnated her. As a guarantee that he would pay her for the relationship, Judah gave Tamar his seal, cord (2) and staff. “Some three months passed,” the Torah relates (3), “and Judah was told, ‘your daughter-in-law Tamar has committed harlotry, and moreover, she has become pregnant by harlotry.’” “Take her out and have her burned,” said Judah.
    “When she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, ‘I am pregnant by the man who is the owner of these articles. Identify, I beg you, these objects. Who is the owner of this seal, this cord and this staff?’ “Judah immediately recognized them, and he said, ‘She is right; it is from me [that she has conceived]. She did it because I did not give her to my son Shelah.’”
    It is axiomatic among all of the Jewish biblical commentators that the stories in the Torah are not just tales relating ancient Jewish history. They also reflect spiritual timeless experiences that take place continually within the human soul. In his commentary on the book of Genesis, Nachmanides wrote: “The Torah discusses the physical reality, but it alludes to the world of the spirit (4).”
    What follows, therefore, in this week’s essay, is …the story as symbolic of the inner spiritual life of the Jew. …Judah, or Yehudah, containing within it the four letters of the name of Hashem, symbolizes G-d. Tamar, on the other hand, is the Hebrew name for a palm tree, and represents the Jewish people and their bond with G-d (5).  Why? The Talmud explains (6), that “just as the palm tree has but one ‘heart,’ so too do the Jewish people have only a single heart, devoted completely to their Father in heaven.”  (The heart of the date palm is its sap. Unlike the saps of other trees, like the olive or almond tree, the sap of the palm is found only in its trunk, but not in its branches or leaves.  This is the meaning behind the Talmudic statement that the palm tree possesses only a single “heart” (7)).
    The intimate union between Tamar and Judah – the Jew and G-d – occurs during the sacred days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  During those days, G-d, or Judah, exposes Himself to His people, evoking within them a yearning to transcend their ego and self-centered cravings and to become one with G-d.  But then, some time passes, and the spiritual inspiration of the High Holy days wears off. Judah is informed that “Tamar, your Kallah (8), has committed harlotry, and moreover, she has become pregnant by harlotry.” The news arrives to G-d that His bride has betrayed Him, substituting him with another partner.
    Is this not the story of so many of us? At one point during our lives we are inspired to transcend our selfish identity and connect to the deeper Divine rhythm of life. Yet, the cunning lore of numerous other gods captivates our imaginations and ambitions and dulls our vision. We substituted the G-d of truth and transcendence with the ego-god, the power-god, the money-god, the temptation-god, the addiction-god, the manipulation-god and the god of self-indulgence.
    What is even sadder for Judah is the news that “Tamar” is so estranged that she became pregnant by harlotry. This symbolizes the stage in life when the Jew rejects the G-d of his forefathers permanently and decides to build his future with superficial sources of gratification.  “Take her out and have her burned,” says Judah. The purpose of the Jew is to serve as the spiritual compass of human civilization, to bear witness to the truth of the One G-d, the moral conscious of the world.
    …Rabbi Isaac Luryah wrote that “the judgment that began on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is completed some three months later, during the days of Chanukah.” That’s why it is at this period of time – three months after the intimate union between Judah and Tamar – that Judah (the metaphor for G-d) is “informed” regarding the spiritual status of Tamar (the Jewish people) and the verdict is issued that Tamar has no future.
    …The Jew sends word to G-d, saying, “I am pregnant by the man who is the owner of these articles!” The information you received that I abandoned you, is a blatant lie! If I have gone astray here and there, it is merely a superficial, temporary phase. Gaze into the deeper layers of my identity and you will discover that I belong to You, that my intimacy is shared only with You, G-d.
    “Identify, I beg you, these objects. Who is the owner of this seal, cord and staff?” For during the festival of Chanukah – when the judgment of Rosh Hashanah is finalized — the Jew kindles each night a wick, or a cord, soaked in oil, commemorating the event of the Jews discovering a sealed single cruse of oil after the Greeks had plundered the holy Temple in Jerusalem (9).  The Jew further points to the staff in his arm (10). In order to preserve his faith, he was forced time and time again – for 2000 years – to take the wandering staff in his arm, abandon his home, wealth and security, and seek out new territory where he could continue to live as a Jew.  …Our loyalty and commitment remain eternally to the owner of the “seal” and “cord” of the Chanukah flames; our deepest intimacy is reserved to the owner of the “staff” of Jewish wandering.
    …When G-d observes the burning flames of the Chanukah menorah, He immediately recognizes that indeed, His people have never left Him. True, the Jew does fall prey at times to the dominating external forces of a materialistic and immoral world, yet this enslavement is skin deep. Probe the layers of his or her soul and you will discover an infinite wellspring of spirituality and love.
    “If the Jew has, in fact, gone astray here and there, it is my fault,” G-d says, not his. “Because I did not give Tamar to my son Shelah.”  Shelah is the Biblical term used to describe Moshiach (11),the leader who will usher in the final redemption. G-d says that for two millennia I have kept the Jewish nation in a dark and horrific exile where they have been subjected to horrendous pain and savage suffering. Blood, tears and death have been their tragic fate for twenty centuries, as they prayed, each day and every moment, for world redemption. But redemption has not come.

    aNNa’S NoTe:  How does the story end?  Judah accepts that what she did was not harlotry – He was, indeed, the kinsman redeemer next in line.  As for us?  We have the seal – insignia – of Yehovah, and likewise, we have been given that which He opened in the SEAL judgments.  We have the cord of Mosiach – the crimson cord seen in Jericho, saving the spies… the crimson cord wrapped around the neck of the scapegoat, saving us from sin – Messiah’s blood is our cord, and eschtologically speaking, I’ve written about the ‘cord of Mosiach’ before (also provided by Devorah!)- it is the promise of His deliverance via the rapture, saving us from the wrath that is to come.  He is our Kinsman-redeemer.

    If this teaching is true (and it sets right in my heart), then Hanukkah *is* the ‘grand finale’ of the fall feasts… the time when He says, ‘It is because I haven’t sent Messiah’.  And then He saves us.  What a story!

  • Happy Hanukkah!
    DAY SEVEN -- Shabbat Shalom!

    I normally don’t post much of anything on Shabbat, but I read something this month that took my breath away… about Hanukkah in the Old Testament.  Wait, you say, Hanukkah isn’t IN the Old Testament!  That’s what I always believed, too – that the only reference was in the New Testament, when Messiah Yeshua was in the temple for the Feast, and declared Himself (ironically!) the ‘Light of the World’.

    But it’s true – Hanukkah IS in the Old Testament… and would you believe it’s RIGHT in my beloved Leviticus 23?  I kid you not.  Turn to Leviticus 23, and take a look:

    Lev 23:1-2 ……. Intro to the Feasts.
    Lev 23:3-4 ……. The Sabbath, our weekly Feast.
    Lev 23:5 ………. Feast #1: Pesach/Passover
    Lev 23:6-8 ……. Feast #2: Unleavened Bread
    Lev 23:9-14 …… Feast #3: Firstfruits
    Lev 23:15-22 …. Feast #4: Shavuot/Pentecost
    Lev 23:23-25 …. Feast #5: Rosh Ha’Shana/Feast of Trumpets
    Lev 23:26-32 …. Feast #6: Yom Kippur/Judgment Day/Day of Atonement
    Lev 23:33-44 …. Feast #7: Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles

    And that’s the end of the chapter.  Except… it isn’t.  Whoever put in the chapter/verse designations SUPPOSEDLY did so splitting things up where there were subject changes.  This is NOT the case with Leviticus 23.  Someone split off at the wrong place.  Because what’s next?

    And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel, that the bring unto thee pure oil – olive beaten – for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.  Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statue forever in your generations.  He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually.  Leviticus 24:1-4

    Did you see that?!  Lamps burning continually during a ‘Feast of Lights’.  It happens ‘in the congregation’ – before the people, and like Genesis 1, it specifies that ‘all day’ means evening unto the morning.  More, it says that this is to be done ‘forever in your generations’, just like the other feasts.

    This should NOT have been separated from the others, because it is another feast commandment… to celebrate Hanukkah!!  And what’s amazing?  The Hebrews didn’t have our chapter/verse designations, so the command to celebrate Hanukkah wasn’t ‘cut away’ from the collection of feasts for them… which is WHY we find Messiah celebrating it (called ‘Feast of Dedication’) in the temple.  It’s something christians did – taking a feast out of the grouping!  The Jews have ALWAYS celebrated it – even before Antiochus Epiphanes – because they knew Torah pre-destined it!

    Hanukkah *IS* in the Old Testament, right where it belongs!  I’m still trying to figure out if Leviticus 24:5-9 is a reference to Purim or not… but that’s irrelevant.  The point is, Hanukkah is there!  And we’re commanded by Yehovah to celebrate it for ALL generations.  Y’don’t see that about X-mess, now do ya?

    ((Anna is GEEKED!!!))

    May it make the day extra special and bright!!

  • Happy Hanukkah
    DAY SIX -  Hanukkah & the Tree – a 2010 post

    Some of my friends have been posting about how they are having trouble with Hanukkah and Christ-Mass, and how they aren’t sure how to ‘make it work’.   I thought I should probably address this, since it comes up time and again, and I keep writing about it in people’s comment sections, anyhow.  Wouldn’t it be nice to get a fresh perspective on it?  And frankly, I want to primarily focus on the Tree.

    Most of the Messianic believers I know of don’t quite know what to do with the tree.  It’s THE biggest bone of contention.  Because it’s easy to throw out Santa, Rudolph and the gang – they’re not real, anyhow.  It’s easy to throw out the yule log, since most people don’t have one, anyhow.  And debunking CHRIST as the reason of the season is super simple – scripture is clear that Messiah fulfilled the feasts, and those (along with records in the prophets/gospels) are clear that Messiah was conceived during Hanukkah, and was born the first of Sukkot, and was circumsized on the 8th day of Sukkot.  Not to mention a Mass is the calling down of Jee-zus from heaven to bodily enter the bread/wine and be re-sacrificed again… a blatant slap in scripture’s face.  We won’t go further with that today, because we’ve covered all that before, and it’s all easily dismissable.

    The main problem seems to be the tree.  Everyone has a tree.  Everyone loves the tree – the way they can collect special things from their children and friends/family to hang on it.  The way it makes the ‘season bright’.  Not to mention sentimental value – everyone has memories of their parent’s/grandparent’s trees.  It’s hard to let go.  But warring with these things is the fear of doing something ‘wrong’ and pissing off Yehovah.  We want to be obedient, and we want to ‘separate’ from the ‘evil’ that corrupts Truth.  I totally get that.

    “Do not learn the ways of the goyim (gentile nations-pagan)
    …For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut
    a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
    …They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it will not totter.” Jeremiah 10: 2-5
    This would be the verse that has everyone freaking out about having a tree in your house.  Because the Bible says that EVIL people cut trees down and ‘deck it’ with silver and gold… so that means we shouldn’t do it.  It’s cut and dried… okay, figuratively.  (wink!)  The problem here is… well, legalism.  Oh, that fun word!

    Let’s back up a moment, and look at something a little different: a golden calf.  Remember when Moses was up a mountain getting the tablets of the law from Yehovah, and Aaron got a crazy idea to melt the gold into the shape of a cow and let the people worship it?  Well, that’s not the only time this happened.  After Solomon died, the Lord split Israel in two – 10 tribes going with Jereboam and 2 going with Solomon’s son Reheboam.  Well, because the temple was in Reheboam’s land, and Jereboam was afraid letting his peeps go up to it might result in them not coming back (rather, siding with Reheboam), he forged two MORE golden calves… and really pissed Yehovah off.  Now… does this mean that cows are evil, and we should not drink milk/eat beef/own cows?  Of course not.  Cows – in spite of the idolatry – were actually the highest sacrifice the Lord set up for us (until Messiah).  Likewise, does it mean we shouldn’t forge anything out of gold?  Of course not.  The problem was in trying to draw power/wisdom from another source via worship/elevation.

    And next let’s look at astronomy.  Astronomy, you ask?  Yes.  See, the Lord created the stars, set them in their places, and arranged them so as to be signs in the heavens that declared His glory. If you read the last couple chapters of Genesis, you find Abraham actually describing the 12 tribes in such a way as to define the constellations in the sky.  But then Ha’Satan came along and corrupted the star arrangements to be ‘Zodiac’.  This practice of divining from the stars to tell the future or predict things is wrong and evil, because it’s a way of circumventing HaShem and seeking power/wisdom from another source. Does this make the stars ‘evil’, or their arrangements evil?  Heavens, no!  In fact, the Lord actually uses those star sequences and makes signs for us in the heavens, even today!  But christians go CrAzY if you’re into astronomy, because they cannot separate astronomy (the study of the stars) from astrology (the spiritual divination from the stars).  So they throw aside something wonderful out of fear and turn it into a legalistic thing.

    Likewise with the tree.  HaShem (The Lord) created the trees of the earth, in their many varieties, to show forth His glory (such as the dogwood’s salvation message, and the evergreen’s message of eternal/undying love of the Father). Satan came along and distorted the meaning of the evergreen, making it the symbol of Ishtar/Isis/Ashtoreth, and made it a central item in their worship. (Ashtoreth ‘groves/poles’ in scripture – I’m sure you’ve heard of them). The wrong in it was seeking power/wisdom from another source. Does this make the evergreen ‘evil’? Heavens, no! In fact, in His OWN plan, HaShem hung His own Son on a tree/pole, as the final payment for our sins.

    I have asked every year for Yehovah to direct me as to whether or not to get rid of/not put up our tree, and every year He has not set me against it. I suspect the reason is because it’s not about the tree at all.  It’s about Truth, and where we set our hearts.  He wants us to practice HIS celebrations, and I am completely for that.  He wants us to abolish all unTruth, and I’m all about that, too.  And He wants us to worship/elevate ONLY Him.  The way we have trees, I don’t see how that interferes with worshipping only Him.

    You may have noticed not once have I called it a ‘Christmas’ tree – but rather just ‘the tree’.  At our house, we call it Etz Chaim – the Tree of Life.  It’s evergreen, a symbol of Yehovah’s ever-constant love, mercy, and justice.  It’s got white lights, because Messiah is the light of the world.  We have white garland, like snow – as He washes us white as snow. ((We also put snowflakes on our tree to that effect.))  The top is a lit star, as Messiah is the bright morning star, and a star led the wise men to the babe three years after His birth (and the end of December is 3 months after Sukkot/His birth.).  Our core bulbs are red, as the shed blood of Messiah that was hung on a tree.  We do not worship it, but use it as a reminder of our Lord and King.


    Rom 14:14-18
    I know, and am persuaded by the Messiah Yeshua,
    that there is nothing unclean of itself:
    but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
    But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat,
    now walkest thou not charitably.
    Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
    Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
    For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
    but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
    For he that in these things serveth Christ
    is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

    Did you catch that?  We are not to hurt the faith of those who don’t understand by forcing them to do it OUR way, even if OUR way is better/closer to Truth than theirs… that’s called legalism, and it’s a detriment to Truth.  The kingdom of God has nothing to do with trees or stars, but peace and joy and righteousness.  By attacking the things that aren’t really ‘wrong/unclean’ is to give people grief and hurt your own testimony.  Further down in the same passage:

    And he that doubted is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:
    for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

    It is SIN to force someone into legalism, because it’s not faith-based.  That’s the key, here – it’s about who you put your faith in.  If it’s Jee-zus who was born on Christ-Mass, THAT’S where the problem is.  Not whether or not you have a tree.  The tree is like the stars and the calf… just the object the Lord created, that belongs to Him.  The question is, do we serve Him, or look for something to serve in the stars/calf/tree?  Would that not also make the menorah a potential ‘evil’ thing – since it could as easily be considered something to be ‘worshipped’?  Of course not – we don’t worship a menorah any more than we worship a tree.  And herein is the danger:


    Romans 16:17
    Now I beseech you, brethren,
    mark them which cause divisions and offenses
    contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
    and avoid them.

    Ooh, ouch.  So in other words, people who are causing divisions and offenses with those of a weaker faith by demanding them to follow legalistic practices are to be not only marked, but avoided.  Of course this is AFTER showing those doing it what they are doing, and praying that they might come away from that behavior.

    So for the record, there is NOTHING wrong with having a tree in your home, if you keep that tree as a rememberance of Adonai’s love, justice, and mercy and worship only Him.  And it is actually WRONG to preach ‘no-tree-ism’ to people who do not understand the Truth of who Yehovah/Yeshua are… it causes them to stumble.  What we need to be doing is showing them how He is the author and creator of ALL things, and ALL things belong to Him, and what He truly wants from us is faith in Him and His Son, and the provision they make for us.

  • Happy Hanukkah!

    DAY FIVE – Messiah in Hanukkah

     The Messiah in Hanukkah, from BiblicalHolidays.com

    And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  And [Yeshua] walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.  Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto Him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.  [Yeshua] answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.  But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.     John 10:22-30

    The law did not require Jews to be at the Temple in Jerusalem, as this was not one of the pilgrimage festivals. Every one observed it in his own place, not as a holy time. [Yeshua] was there that He might improve those eight days of holiday for good purposes.

    [Yeshua] walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch when the Sadduciens asked him “How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ tell us.” They pretended to want to know the truth, as if they were ready to embrace it; but it was not their intention. [Yeshua] answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:25-27). He had told them, and they believed not; why then should they be told again, merely to gratify their curiosity?

    Miracles

    Hanukkah’s theme is of a miracle. During Hanukkah [Yeshua] spoke of His miracles: If I do not the works of my Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him (John 10:37-38). [Yeshua] wanted the people of His day to see His miracles and believe in Him as a result. His miracles point to His divine and messianic identity. In this way Yeshua personifies the message of Hanukkah: God actively involved in the affairs of His people. Hanukkah reminds us that God is a God of miracles, not just of concept and religious ideals. He has broken through into human history and continues to do so today. All of us who know Yeshua can speak of God’s working in our lives (Gilman 1995).

    [Yeshua] is the Light of the World

    [Yeshua] preached three sermons in which He declared Himself the “light of the world,” and all three could have been during Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. (It is not clear from the text when this incident happened, but it was some time between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah); both of these celebrations focused on light).
    Then [Yeshua] said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake [Yeshua], and departed, and did hide Himself from them (John 12:35-36).

    Just before [Yeshua] announced that He was the Light of the world, [Yeshua] had shone upon the conscience of those who accused the adulteress. Read the story in John Chapter 8. John also records [Yeshua] healing a blind man (9:1-12) at about the same time (8:12 and 9:5) that [Yeshua] declared himself to be the Light of the world. When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing (John 9:5-7).

    End Times

    The story of Hanukkah can be compared with end-time happenings described in the books of Revelation and Daniel. Antiochus is a type of the antichrist. Just as happened under the rule of Antiochus, Daniel prophesied in Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

    The same powers promoted by Antiochus are in the world today. Worldwide immorality, and idolatry are the norm. We must come out and be separate. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. The deceiver stands waiting to devour in this present culture (2 Cor. 6:16-17).

    Was [Yeshua] Conceived on Hanukkah?

    Many believe that our Messiah, the “light of the world,” was conceived on the festival of lights—Hanukkah. The Bible does not specifically say the date of [Yeshua]‘s birth. It was not during the winter months because the sheep were in the pasture (Luke 2:8). A study of the time of the conception of John the Baptist reveals he was conceived about Sivan 30, the eleventh week (Luke 1:8-13, 24). Adding forty weeks, for a normal pregnancy reveals that John the Baptist was born on or about Passover (Nisan 14). Six months after John’s conception, Mary conceived [Yeshua] (Luke 1:26-33); therefore [Yeshua] would have been conceived six months after Sivan 30 in the month of Kislev—Hanukkah. Was the “light of the world,” conceived on the festival of lights? Starting at Hanukah, which begins on Kislev 25 and continues for eight days, and counting through the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, one arrives at the approximate time of the birth of [Yeshua] at the Festival of Tabernacles.

    Yeshua… our One Light!!

  • I’m Thankful For:

    • My friend Ali’s surprise.  On the Third Day/Fourth Night of Hanukkah, a package came in the mail.  Ali sent our family FIVE Hanukkah gifts… one for each child to open (don’t know if she planned it that way or not).  And somehow she timed it so that there’d be one gift per night to get us thru the rest of Hanukkah.  A Hanukkah miracle!!
    • ANOTHER (and this is huge) Hanukkah miracle… I don’t vaccinate my kids, so I need the chicken pox.  I don’t believe in injecting my children with chemicals to substitute what Yehovah set up… and then RE-inject them again, and then add on new injections for Shingles (that only have a 50% success rate, anyhow)… I just think that’s chemical warfare on a child, and wrong.  We choose to do it the old-fashioned way.  But finding the chicken pox?  Near to impossible.  I’ve tried Yahoo! groups, e-lists, FB groups… I’ve seen people willing to drive two states to get them.  They’re HARD to find… but – well, I found them!  Tuesday we took a LONG drive and spent the morning playing with pox-covered children (ELEVEN children, together!).  The hope is that some kid, some how, will get some thing.  We didn’t lick suckers or anything that nasty, just played together and gave hugs when we left.  But I’m crossing my fingers!!  The timing would be perfect, because Lydia is twelve, and we don’t want to wait any longer than that.
    • ANOTHER Hanukkah miracle – since talking about adding on to the house, we realized we need to move the chicken coop.  And if we do, we need to make the boy goat pen bigger when we move them – they’re in mud, because they don’t have enough room.  So I found REALLY cheap chain link fence panels (long ones – SIXTEEN footers!), so we went a-Craigslisting a few nights ago out to Saugatuck to get them.  Thing is, I’d taken my wallet (with the cash) out of my purse four days before – to pay Excavator Brian for re-grading our driveway – and it got thrown in the spare bathtub (don’t ask… I just glanced and saw it there and thought, “Hrm?” but didn’t pick it up at the time).  I went to the Lowell Showboat Santa Nite, to Otsego for portraits & shopping, and to Byron Center… all without my wallet.  Even forgot it wasn’t with me – I keep my credit card separate, and use that for $$.  But Craigslisting, you need cash.  So anyhow, as we were leaving to get the fence panels?   Somehow the wallet ended up ON TOP OF my purse!  I asked if anyone had put it on my purse, but they said they didn’t.  A Hanukkah miracle!!
    • We had a funeral visitation this week, too (we’ve been BUSY!!)… and it was for Brian’s side.  We decided to go at the earliest time… and so we got there at 2pm (when the doors opened), and left at 2:45 (when the kids had had enough of being there, playing with great grandma/grandpa).  The grateful part?  Brian’s mom showed at 3pm.  Yehovah got us out, just in time!  (((beams a smile)))
    • Gift Suggestions.  Every year, great-grandma calls and wants to know EXACTLY what to get the kids.  I mean, you have to know what it is, the brand name, the size, the price, and the store it’s found at.  You can’t just say, “Lydia could use some new white socks”… it has to be the Hanes Sportspack in size 5 for $4.29 at Target on Aisle 15.  I’m not kidding.  So I’ve designated Brian as the one to deal with that, because… I can’t think that way.  If I say, “Ethan would like any boy-ish stickers for his scrapbook – just anything kewl”, that’s as far as I take it.  But THIS year, I got ideas, and amazingly I knew exactly what/when/how much/where… and it wasn’t a big production.  TOO kewl!!
    • I’m grateful for being rescued from my weight loss thing.  I know that’s NOT what you were expecting – you want to know how much weight I lost, right?  Well, I bought a new scale, cuz ours sucked.  And the new scale registers TEN POUNDS HEAVIER than the old one.  So my weight loss records, my data at MyFitnessPal?  All of it is bogus.  And I thought, “Wait, I’m busting hiney just to find out that I’m back where I started?  That SUCKS!!”  And you can’t adjust stuff.  It doesn’t WORK that way.  So forget it.  I don’t care.  I’m screwed.  And it’s the holidays, and I’m NOT going thru all of that again.  We’ll regroup after New Years.  But as for making my goal?  Yeah, THAT’S not gonna happen.  So I’m now free to buy a carton of eggnog, and I’m happy about it!  Fry-nite isn’t a national issue.  And gelt chocolate isn’t evil, anymore!  LoL!!! 
    • I’m grateful for a fantastic adventure to Lowell.  There was ice carving, and live reindeer, and warming fires, and horse-drawn carriages, and strolling carolers, and roasted chestnuts and hot toddy and Santa visits on the Showboat, and cookies and cocoa, and twinkling lights… we had a good time.  I might post pictures, later… after my Hanukkah posts are done.
    • ((((sneaking in a Grateful in the middle of my Hanukkah blitz!))))
    • Baby Owen turned THREE, and potty trained, at the same time.  Have I mentioned it here?  I’ve had a really humorous (hour by hour) thing going at FB about how our potty training has gone.  It’s been NINE days since he’s wet in the night, and in those nine days, he had four accidents (two the first day, one each of the next two days).  So we’ve been almost a week with NO accidents, night or day.  He’s not even bare-bottomed… he won’t wet pull-ups, so we’ve got him fully dressed!!  I’ve never had such an easy trainer.  He didn’t even balk at going on a public potty (on the way home from pox party).  I’m just stunned at how smoothly it’s gone.  He did poop on my foot Day #2 (NEVER had that happen, before!!), but it was his first bowel event outside of a diaper, and he decided NEVER to miss with that, again, so we’re good, now!
    • Getting the three drywall areas cleared out and ready for Drywall Bob to come.  He’s supposed to be here early next week.  We shall see.  But Excavator Brian came last… Tuesday?  The kids were ALL shades of excited, with the big dump truck full of gravel and the CAT excavator driving back and forth in front of the house…!!
    • Did I mention we have been BUSY!?!?!?!
    • FINALLY finding something that works on my uber-sensitive skin for acne care.  I’ve been experimenting, because after ditching the pregnant/nursing scene, my hormones needed some major straightening out, and my face was a MESS.  I tried vinegar, cleansing pads, alcohol, just soap/water, aspirin washes… but I’m finally having success with baking soda scrub and lemon juice as the astrigent.  This week is the first niddah I’ve had where I didn’t have some volcanic eruption on my chin.  SO nice…!!!!!
    • Side Work.  X-mess is always a busy time for Brian’s trade… he’ll work thru the ‘holly-daze’ pretty heavy, and the side work is coming in, too.  That’s nice for us!  And he’s got the heater up and piped out and the electrical MOSTLY run… we’re having a electrician tech come out and make sure he did it right (so we don’t burn up the barn or short out anything) tonight.  But it’s nicer for Brian to have it warm(er) in the barn, too!
    • Pictures turned out GREAT this year.  Wait until you see!!!  The girl was new and didn’t know enough poses for five children, but we’re old hat at this – twelve years’ experience.  So we helped out, and they really are cute.  Now I just have to put together framed arrangements for the families…
    • Okay, so I’m a pretty happy, grateful gal right about now.  And I wish blessings for you, too!

    The Hanukkah post will be up at 11:11am!!


  • Happy Hanukkah!

    DAY FOUR - Hanukkah Happenings


    I literally can’t keep up with everything I’ve learned  in regards to Hanukkah.  I’ve been trying to learn about it for years, now, and this is the first year when… well, the revelations are just astounding and back-to-back and so incredibly meaty!!  So I thought I’d better put them down, here, so you can read them!

    Chanukoh means rededication, or renewal. But renewal is the Eternal quality of the Infinitely Merciful G-d Who constantly renews – the world, you, me, everything … from nothing. The most we can do is to rededicate and thus touch on the essence of renewal. The closer we draw near to G-d, the more we become part of the G-dly process of renewal, the more we become part of that Essence that is constant rebirth, of self and soul.  In lighting the Menorah, our custom is to light a new light each night, and then go backwards, till we light the first light we lit on the very first night. This is how to build in our spiritual service of G-d: always adding but always going back strengthening the old foundations, making sure the foundations are firm and then building further.



    http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-candle.html
    “With the lighting of the fourth candle, light and darkness are now evenly divided. Until now we were overwhelmed in darkness, but with each night’s added candle the light has grown.”
    …The miracle with the oil is the only element of the Hanukah events that we commemorate to this very day. We have no custom or ritual commemorating a miraculous triumph [of the Jews over the Syrian/Greek regime]. What we do have is the kindling of a menorah for eight days, commemorating the fact that the oil in the Temple menorah lasted for eight days. How are we to understand this?
    The answer allows us to appreciate the essential ingredient that has defined 4,000 years of Jewish history. The military victory was extraordinary; yet it didn’t last.  …Two hundred and ten years after Hanukah, in 70 CE, the Temple was destroyed, this time by the Romans. Jerusalem was plundered, Israel was decimated and the Jewish people exiled. It was the beginning of a period of Jewish powerlessness, dispersion and persecution which had lasted almost two millennia.
    …the political and military victory of Hanukah did not last. What lasted was the spiritual miracle — the faith which, like the oil, was inextinguishable. Strength that is founded on military power alone is temporary. It may endure for long periods of time, but ultimately, its might will wane and it will be defeated by another power. …Yet what makes Hanukah a vibrant and heart-stirring holiday thousands of years later across the globe is the story of a little cruse of oil that would not cease to cast its brightness even in the darkest of nights and among the mightiest of winds.

    http://havolim.blogspot.com/2011/12/drush-for-shabbos-chanuka.html
    On Chanukkah, …the Haftara [traditional reading] is…(Zechariah 2:14- 4:7).  Rashi explains the relation of the Haftara to Chanukkah is the verse “and I saw, behold a golden menorah”  …This is chidush, because it seems that the haftara of Zechariah is completely irrelevant to the idea of Chanukkah and it was chosen because of the mere simple mention of the Menora.  Also, why would Chazal not have chosen… Zechariah, Chapter 9, which says “and I will awaken your sons, Zion, over your sons, Yavan,”  which directly addresses the central concept of Chanukkah, the victory over the Greeks.  In fact, according to Rashi and others this latter prophecy in Chapter 9 was specifically said regarding the victory …over Antiochus!  Does a mere mention of the word “menorah” in an irrelevant context outweigh a direct reference to the victory of Antiochus?

    Our Haftara lists many attributes of the menorah in the vision.

    And the angel who spoke with me returned, and he awakened me as a man who wakes up from his sleep.  And he said to me, “What do you see?”  And I said, “I saw, and behold there was a candelabrum all of gold, with its oil-bowl on top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; seven tubes each to the lamps that were on top of it.  And there were two olive trees near it; one on the right of the bowl, and one on its left. So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”

    Zechariah did not understand what he was being shown, and the angel explained not with might, not with force, only with my spirit, so says Hashem, the lord of hosts.

    …This prophecy in Zechariah was said in the second year of the reign of Darius.  This was the time during which they began building the second Beis Hamikdash, as explained in the book of Chaggai. The entire book of Chaggai involves a number of prophecies that were said during four months of Darius’ second year, and their message is to encourage and stimulate the building of the mikdash. The last prophecy in the book of Chaggai is the following:

    Pay attention now, from this day and before-from the twenty-fourth [day] of the ninth [month]- from the day that the Temple of the Lord was founded, pay attention.  The seed is still in the granary, and the grapevines, the fig trees, the pomegranate trees, and the olive trees have not yet borne [fruit]-from this day I will bless.”

    And the word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying:  Say to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying: I am shaking up the heaven and the earth.  And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms, and I will destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. And I will overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall come down, each one by the sword of his brother.
    On that day, says the Lord of Hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, My servant; says the Lord, and I will make you as a signet; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of Hosts

    The prophet emphasizes three times “pay attention” to this day.  The”day” is the twenty fourth of Kislev, …From that day and on, from the foundation day, blessing will come to the people of Ha’Shem.

    With this he answers the question of the Beis Yoseph that there seems to be no miracle to commemorate on the twenty fifth, since there was enough oil for one day.  He says that the holiday on the twenty fifth is not for the miracle of the oil but rather to remember the day the second temple had been begun.  …then the lighting of the menora must have been on the eve of the twenty sixth!  The answer is, as explained, that the twenty fifth had ancient significance as the day the [men of the great assembly] laid the foundation of the Bayis Sheini (Second Temple), as was well known to Chazal when they instituted these days of commemoration.

    The prophecy of the candles of Zechariah …promises that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and secure, and then the prophet sees Yehoshua the Kohen dressed in filthy clothes, filthied by sin.  The Satan finds an opening to accuse.  Despite this, Hashem removes the sin and dresses him in clean priestly clothing.  No mention is made of repentance at all.  …Although the Kohen Gadol, and the People he represents, are sullied with sin, still and all, by grace and kindness, and not by merit, Hashem, in a manner of speaking, disregards the sins and removes the sin of the land on that day.

    Rashi explains that the menorah had a large basin atop it, and each of the seven lamps had seven small pipes that brought oil from the basin to the lamps.  Next to the menorah were two olive trees, and the olives fell from the tree by themselves and pressed themselves, and the oil ran into the basin and from there to the menorah. and the lamps. In other words, the Menorah described here is not just the Menorah that stood in the Mikdash.  This is a Menorah that lights itself.  What is the import of this vision?  How is it connected to the vision of Yehoshua and his dirty clothing?  How does it lead to the passuk “not with strength and not with force…?”  Perhaps we can say that the prophet was saying that while normally, the mitzva of lighting the Menorah is given over to the Jewish People, and it is they that are required to plant olive trees, to harvest, to press, to light, but the Menorah of the Second Bayis was a Menorah that lit itself without human involvement.

    …here, in these exceptional circumstances, a Mikdash was built in which Hashem Himself lights the Menorah, because Klal Yisrael is not able or worthy to do so. According to this, the passuk should be read thus:  If only we would have merited, the Mikdash would have been built with the strength and force of Klal Yisrael, in other words, with our spiritual merit.  But, the prophet tells us,  …rather B’ruchi, with My Spirit- by My will, exclusively and specifically with divine initiative, in that the status of Klal Yisrael does not in any way justify doing so.

    …What Zechariah saw in a vision, they saw in reality- a menorah that lit of its own accord!  This is exactly the nevua’h of Zechariah!  …According to this, the prophecy of the candles of Zecharya is directly on point to the miracle of Chanukkah, …It is the knowledge that even when we don’t deserve Hashra’as HaShechina, Hashem goes beyond din and provides grace to Klal Yisrael at a level far beyond what they deserve… In brief, the miracle of the oil showed us that we needed a divine gift, that we were not yet zocheh to accomplish kedusha on our own.  …This infusion of kedusha was a great chesed, because we we so desperately fallen that we were inexorably advancing toward the brink of a cliff and totally incapable of saving ourselves without an infusion of Kedusha.

    And for fun… you HAVE to see this.  We just busted up laughing.  It’s Hanukkah, done to music/dancing/costumes from the 50′s, 60′s, 70′s, 80′s, 90′s, 00′s, and our decade.  VERY funny!!

    Oh, and don’t forget to watch for
    12:12:12 today… it’s 12/12/12!
    what is the significance of this?