Yom Teruah – AKA Feast of Trumpets

Leviticus 23 lists God’s feasts – not the Jews’ feasts, God’s feasts. (Lev 23:2) We just celebrated Yom Teruah. Scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about what to do on this day, but we are always excited to celebrate.

 The Spring feasts are remembrance of past events, but the Fall feasts have not yet been fulfilled. So, we can only make an educated guess as to the meaning. Some of the scriptures about Yom Teruah are:

Lev 23:23-25

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing (teruah) of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’”

Num 29:1-6

‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing (teruah) the trumpets.² You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. ³ Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, ⁴ and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; ⁵ also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; ⁶ besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

There is a lot of detail about the offerings to be made, but since there is no temple at this time, we can’t do those. Other than that, we know we are to rest, and to make a teruah - alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy.

So, that's what we make sure to do. We rest - my hubby doesn't go to work, we don't do chores or housework. And, we make a teruah.

We make a teruah with trumpets and shouting and other noise makers.

We make a teruah for quite a while.

This year a friend was just arriving as we started our teruah in the back yard. She said she could hear us loud and clear down the street, so we must have been doing a good job.

Oh, and we dance.

So, if you're thinking about celebrating the Feasts, just do it. Don't worry about doing it wrong. Just take a step of faith and enjoy!

Get the Leaven Out

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (Exodus 12:14-15)

Today, we began preparations to have leavening out by Passover.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I don’t spend a lot of time cleaning. I like to plan in advance so we don’t have a lot of waste when it comes time to remove the leaven. I start by going through all of our cupboards and pulling out any items that have leavening in them.  I set them on the counter in a crate so everyone can be reminded that they need to be eaten by Passover.  This is the crate I set out today. We have a particularly large amount of goodies because we just went camping last weekend, so we have lots of leftovers.

Then, I go through the refrigerators and freezers. I make a list of leavened items that are in there. When preparing food, I refer to the list to get rid of these items by Passover.  This year, I happen to have a whole, unopened bag of yeast from Costco. Hmmm. Poor planning there. Oh well.

In the meantime, I minimize the leavened products that I buy. We can go through 2 loaves of bread in a couple of days, so I will buy bread up until a few days before. But, I won’t buy bread crumbs (or yeast) or anything that would take weeks or months to use.

Right before our Passover celebration, we throw out anything left in the crate and anything left on the list. I don’t store my leavening at someone else’s home or hang it on the other side of my fence and take it back after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I throw it away. I get rid of it. I remove it from my life. And, I try to plan it so that I’m not being wasteful. Financially, we have lived in plenty and we have lived in want. But, we have never had difficulty replacing the leavening that we need after the Feast of Unleavened Bread is over. 

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor 5:6-8)

A question I always have to ask is, “what is leaven”?  The answer is not so clear cut in today’s world. In Bible times, they made a sourdough type bread. They would save a bit of their leavened dough to use as leavening for the next batch they made.  They didn’t have instant yeast (So, they wouldn’t have to throw away a whole Costco sized bag.) or baking powder. 

So, what do I actually need to get rid of? I don’t get rid of flour or grain. I have no problem keeping rice or pasta. They don’t puff up. They swell up with the water they are cooked in. I had actually never even heard of getting rid of that for Unleavened Bread until the last several years. I used to get rid of cream of tartar (church rules), but since that does not leaven on it’s own, I don’t get rid of it anymore. I will make and eat angel food cake. That is just air whipped into eggs. If you leave it on the counter unbaked for long enough, the air bubbles will deflate. True leaven will puff up when left alone on the counter. So, I have wondered for years if I should get rid of baking soda and baking powder. I’m not sure that is a true leavening. If I make a cake batter and let it sit on the counter, the “leavening” action will dissipate. So, again, this is not a true leaven. For now, I still get rid of baking soda and powder and foods made with it. So far, I have erred on the side of caution for this one.

So, I get rid of leavening agents – yeast, baking powder, baking soda – and any products made with those leavening agents. That’s pretty simple. Whatever you decide to get rid of, read the labels of the foods you have in your home. You would be surprised how many products contain leavening. Stuffed pasta usually contains bread crumbs. Grape Nuts, though hard as a rock, contain yeast. (At least they did 20 something years ago when we sat down to eat it for breakfast during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.) Don’t forget any candy you have with cookies in it, like Twix, Kit Kat or Ferrer Rocher. (When you buy a big box of this as Passover treat, you will need to eat it beforehand when your kids read the ingredients. Ask me how I know.)

Removing leaven is an object lesson, and a great one, at that. Leaven pictures sin. We want to get it out of our life – completely. We don’t want to tuck it away just to bring it back in later. We don’t want to hold onto it because it might cause financial hardship. It’s everywhere. Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes it’s well hidden.

We have found that when I stay home, I find it easy to avoid leaven. (Although, no matter how hard I try, I always find some leavened product or child's leftovers that I didn't get rid of.) We don’t have it in our house, so, I would have to make an effort to eat it. As my husband goes out in the world to earn a living, he has a much harder time remembering. It’s everywhere, and the world doesn’t think twice about partaking. When he goes to his supplier to get materials for a job, there are donuts sitting out. When I didn’t send breakfast and lunch with him, it was way too easy to stop and get a bagel or a sandwich without even thinking about it. Just a reminder that when we surround ourselves with righteousness it is easy to live in obedience, but, when we are in the world, we have to be on guard because it is always a battle.

So, when God asks us to remove the leavening from our home, it’s not a hardship. It’s a lesson. It is many lessons. Every year there is something new to be learned. And, we have the added bonus of having a clean pantry.

No Spring Cleaning

It’s Passover season! I mean, seriously Passover season. Not Passover is in 3 months season. But, Passover is really close season. HalleluYah! The new moon has come and we have less than 2 weeks. Passover has been on our mind for a couple of months. But, now we’re in the serious preparation phase. 

Since I’ve been blessed to celebrate Yah’s appointed times all my life, this will be my 49^th Passover. We have been rehearsing this for a long time now.  And, over the years, we have done many different things. There were many years where we spent hours and days cleaning our house - Spring cleaning to remove the leaven.  It was a tradition of the church we grew up in. People even cleaned their windows and such preparing for Passover. Other than the natural yeast that is in the air, I’m not sure how much leaven I will find on the windows. I've even cleaned out my linen closets in preparation, but I’m pretty sure no one eats in the linen closet. At least I've never found any leaven in there.

So, we searched the scriptures for instruction on Passover preparation. There isn't a lot of instruction on preparing. Exodus 12:15 says: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.” It doesn't say “you shall begin cleaning your house for weeks in advance to make sure every last crumb of leaven has been removed.” It doesn't say, “Clean all your walls and windows so the naturally occurring yeast from the air is disposed of.” Especially since it will come right back.

I've learned a couple of things about preparing for Passover. One is that, no matter how much I clean, I always forget something. It might be that rogue chunk of someone’s leftover toast that was hidden behind the school room organizer. Or it might be that box of leavened something or other that I somehow overlooked and it is right in front of my face. It might be that thing that you never would have guessed in a million years was leavened. I mean, Grape Nuts are way too rock hard to be leavened, right? Wrong. Or, it might be that we forgot to empty the vacuum cleaner bag. Or, maybe the bag of yeast in the freezer.

So, we use a different technique now. A couple of weeks before Passover, I go through our food and set aside leavened foods. I make a list of leavened foods that are in the refrigerator and freezer so we can make sure to use them, or throw them away when the time comes. Then, that’s it, until a day or two before Passover. At that point, we make sure every room has been swept. We don’t really eat much food upstairs, so this can be done a couple of days ahead of time. Then, the day of Passover, we make sure the downstairs floors, especially the kitchen/dining area are swept well. And, just before Passover, we throw away our leavened food. That’s it. Passover cleaning in a nutshell. That means the weeks before Passover I can focus on spiritual things instead of being distracted by physical things. 

Musings on the Sabbath

I’ve kept the Sabbath all my life. And, I’ve done many different things while keeping the Sabbath. I’ve followed man made rules and I’ve ignored manmade rules. I’ve bought and not bought. I’ve gone swimming on a hot day and not gone swimming. I’ve gone for hikes and not gone for hikes. I’ve used the computer and not used the computer. I’ve done homework and not done homework. I’ve gone out with friends and not gone out with friends.  I’ve watched movies and not watched movies.  I’ve made it special and not made it special. I’ve put my whole heart into it and I’ve made it mundane. I’ve washed dishes and I’ve used paper plates. . I’ve set aside extra time for God and I’ve not set aside extra time for God.

There are so many grey areas when it comes to keeping the Sabbath.  God didn’t give us a long list of do’s and don’ts. He didn’t specify every little thing we should or shouldn’t do. Basically, what He told us to do is not work – you and your entire household. (Ex 20:8-11)

So, the main thing that I, and we as a family, have always done is not work on the Sabbath.  When we interview(ed) for a job, we say we don’t work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Because of that, we might not get the job. But, if that’s the case, then it’s not the job for us. When contractors ask Jim to work on Saturday, he declines. The kids’ chore charts are noticeably blank on the Sabbath – except for grooming themselves and feeding the pets.

There aren’t very many things we can DO that are a sign between us and God. He says in Exodus 31:13, 17 and Ezekiel 20:19-20 – “they will be a sign between Me and you”. I find that pretty exciting!  I can follow His laws and keep His Sabbath.  And, the Sabbath is specified in addition to statutes, judgments and laws. I see that as significant. If there is something that is a sign between me and Him, I want to do it!! I want to give it my all.

I don’t always accomplish this perfectly, or even as well as I’d like to. I’ve had times when it would be more convenient to keep working as the sun set. I’ve had times when I haven’t finished my chores or my work. I’ve had times when I didn’t get all the cleaning done or when I didn’t pay that bill I meant to pay.

I’ve had times when the dust on top of that eye-level cupboard top in the kitchen or the bay window is screaming out to me after sunset. But, when I ignore it, I know the dust will still be waiting for me after Sabbath is over, the laundry will wait patiently, anything that needs to be done will still be waiting. And, that’s OK.

Understand, that even though there are times when I might be inconvenienced or I might want to do something else, I LOVE the Sabbath. We LOVE the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not a burden. We look forward to it all week. The little kids count down the days. We enjoy setting aside that time.

If we make it a point to set aside the time God has put in His calendar for us, we will be blessed. Simple as that. He doesn’t ask much of us. Just as the kids know that Daddy will be home for the Sabbath, I know that my Abba will be ready to meet with me as I set the Sabbath day apart and obey Him. We stop our work as He commanded. We dance, sing, pray, study, worship, laugh, eat, enjoy.  We delight in His Sabbath (Isaiah 58:13). We make it a set apart time – a restful time, a holy time, a kadosh time, a peaceful time.

Shabbat shalom!

Yom Teruah

Last week, we celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Yom Teruah. It was an awesome celebration.

The Bible doesn’t say a lot about the Feast of Trumpets. 

Lev 23:23-25

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'"

From this we know it’s a day of rest or a Sabbath.  We also see that we are supposed to blow trumpets and meet together with other believers (holy convocation).

Num 29:1-6

'And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. 3 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

Here, we see a little more detail on the offerings to be made on that day.  Really, God doesn’t give us a whole lot more detail.  Each of the holy days have prophetic meaning.  Some of those have already been fulfilled.  Many people have ideas of what the day represents. But, the fall holy days have not yet been fulfilled, so we get to look forward to the day that God reveals their meaning.

We are so blessed to meet with God on these appointed times that He has set aside for us.  So, taking the information that we have, we joyfully celebrated Yom Teruah.

We enjoyed a festive meal with about 50 people.  After the meal, we made a teruah.  Lev 23:24 says it is a “memorial blowing of trumpets”. The word translated as “blowing of trumpets” is teruah. The definition of teruah is clamor, i.e. acclamation of joy or a battle-cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarm. So, in our backyard we did just that.  We made a lot of noise – with shofars, voices, noise makers, etc.  And we made a noise for quite some time.  It was awesome J

We have no temple in which to offer sacrifices.  But, we can bring a sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15) So, that was what we did for the rest of the evening.  We sang praises and danced and rejoiced in Him.  

It was such a blessed evening. And, I am so thankful to have wonderful people to celebrate with.

Praise Him in the Dance

Ps 150:4-6
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance ;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!

Ps 149:3
Let them praise His name with the dance ;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

Eccl 3:4
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance

Jer 31:13
"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance ,
And the young men and the old, together;
For I will turn their mourning to joy,
Will comfort them,
And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

Ps 30:11
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing ;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness

2 Sam 6:14
Then David danced  before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.

God’s Appointed Times

Sometimes I just can’t get over the incredible blessings of meeting God when He says to meet Him. In Leviticus 23, he tells us the dates on the calendar that He has set aside to meet with us.  How cool is that?!  The Creator of the universe has set aside specific dates to meet with us and focus on His plan for our lives!

The appointments for the year begin this week.  We have been counting down for months – anticipating and preparing for Passover.  This is a great opportunity to share the plan of salvation with our children.  After all, this is the holy day when God specifically talks about teaching your children why you do what you do. (Exodus 13:8, 14-15)  The children are a central part of the Passover celebration.  In order for them to ask questions, as God expects, they have to be involved in it and taught what God has done for His people.

During our service, we sacrifice a stuffed lamb (which we chose on the 10^th day as they did in Exodus 12:3).  Then we brush the (strawberry) blood on the doorpost. We discuss who in the room is a firstborn and how they would have been protected from the death angel because of the blood of the lamb.

We review the Passover in Exodus and how it foreshadows what Yeshua (Jesus), our Passover lamb did for us - a reminder that we are all saved by the blood of the Lamb. We also take the bread (Mark 14:22), representing Yeshua’s body, and wine (Matt 26:27-28), representing His blood. We follow his example of washing one another’s feet. (John 13:1-7)  After we have reviewed the more somber remembrance of his crucifixion, we celebrate with dancing and singing in thanks the sacrifice he has made for us. And, to top it all off, we finish up with physical food – a Feast!

As if that isn’t blessing enough, the next day is a commanded assembly.  So, we have the honor of meeting with family and friends for fellowship, and, of course more worship and dance. After Bible study, we stuff ourselves physically and spiritually. We share in a potluck meal and, once again, study God’s word together, late into the night.  And, this particular year, the first holy day led right into the weekly Sabbath.  So, we had a double Sabbath! We got to enjoy one more round of worship, Bible study and fellowship.  Our cup runneth over.  HalleluYah!

As instructed in Leviticus 23:15, on the day after the Sabbath, we offer the wave sheaf offering.  This pictures Yeshua’s resurrection and His ascension up to our Father in Heaven.  This day isn’t a Sabbath or a holy day, but the wave sheaf is a commanded offering.  The Bible doesn’t give us much detail on what to do, so we do our best with the information we have.    

What an awesome week we have had!  For a couple of days we are back to normal life.  Well, normal other than constantly baking unleavened almond bread to keep up with the demand. J Lev 23:6 commands us to eat unleavened bread.  We remove the leavening, which pictures sin, and fill ourselves with unleavened bread, picturing our sinless savior.  When the prescribed 7 days are finished, we get to enjoy the last Day of Unleavened Bread with friends and family, spending time in dancing, worship and study of His Word, once again.  With so much meaning built into the days that God set aside to meet with us, we have no desire to worship Him with manmade celebrations.  They just don’t measure up to the celebrations that He created just for us.

Passover Preparations Begin

Today, I finally got around to removing all the leavened products from the pantry.  I put them in a crate so we see them and make sure to eat them before Passover.  Of course, the crate is pathetically sparse this year.

The last couple years, due to budget cuts and wanting to improve our health, we have bought very little prepared food.  So, all we have is some crackers (which can easily be eaten in no time in this house), some baking soda/powder and three candy bars from Daddy’s candy stash.  The candy bars were consumed by the kids before I even sat down to write this blog post J

I also have a list of foods that are in the refrigerator and freezer.  That way I don’t forget about it and we can make sure to eat that food, too.  If we don’t get around to using it, I can remember to throw it away and not find it in the back of the freezer halfway through the Days of Unleavened Bread. But, even that list only has about 5 things on it. 

Tonight is new moon.  So, only 2 more weeks until Passover!! So, it’s also time to start thinking about the 10 plague adventure J

The First Feast

There is something special about each of God’s feasts.  These are appointed times that the Creator of the Universe set aside to meet with us!  I mean, what could be better than that?  He gives us special days once a year, which are awesome.

He even gives us an appointment every week – His Sabbath.  And, I want to point out that this is not the “Jews Sabbath” as so many like to call it.  This is His day.  He very clearly says “these are My feasts”.

The Sabbath is always a blessing.  But, once in a while, a Sabbath is extra special.  Recently we had such a Sabbath.  We began with Sabbath dinner and praise & worship with visiting friends.  The next morning, we had more praise & worship, along with dancing, in the morning.  Then we had our fellowship with more praise & worship and dancing and time in the Word and eating and fellowshipping with friends.   The teaching even continued on into the first day of the week; although, not quite past midnight as it was in the early church. (Acts 20:7) What a day!  We were completely filled spiritually.

As the Sabbath came to a close, we were discussing how it was like a feast day.  And, we were reminded that this is the first feast listed in Leviticus 23.  No wonder God asks us to set aside that day for Him.  It’s because He loves us so and wants to bless us.  

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.  'Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.  ~ Lev 23:1-3

Passover is Coming!

I came to the realization this week that we have less than 2 months until Passover.  What an exciting thought!  When Sukkot was over, the 6 months before Passover seemed like it would take forever. But, we’re already down to 2 months and I know we have lots of preparations for our appointed time with the Creator of the Universe. How awesome is it that He wants to meet with us?! I wouldn't think of missing an appointment He has marked on his calendar to spend time with me. (Lev 23:4-5)  So, the preparations begin. 

Spiritually – I have so much to think about.  It has been a difficult year spiritually and emotionally.  I have spent many hours wondering if I am living out what God has given me in a way that glorifies Him.  The end of our family letter from 2011 says it well:

“I pray that God gives us the strength to endure the trials ahead, the wisdom to guide the children he has blessed us with, the peace to know that He is in control and the comfort we need when we feel like we’re out of control. And, most of all, I pray that He is glorified by the life we live as we follow Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength.”

But, that hasn’t been an easy thing this year.  Sometimes, it’s very clear how we should live to glorify Him.  And sometimes it takes much prayer and listening to God.  There were weeks on end when the only way I could stay sane was to spend hours in the Bible each day.  And, when I see how much I have had to lean on Him, I see why trials strengthen us.  I only pray that I am glorifying Him through it all and I will glorify Him in the future.

Physically – Time to clean up the house. Just like we clean up our spiritual house, we need to clean our physical house.  I no longer spend hours on end scrubbing and cleaning, because I don’t like the physical cleaning to overshadow the spiritual cleaning. But, I do prepare in advance to start running out of leavening and leavened items.  As I start to think about that, I don’t want to buy cases of anything leavened that we don’t use often.  

Two weeks or so before Passover I pull our leavened products out of the pantry and put them in a crate so we can make sure to eat them. And, I make note of the leavened items in the refrigerator and freezer so we can remember to eat them, and also if they haven’t been eaten, we don't forget to throw them away when the busy-ness of the day arrives. A couple of days before Passover, we will start sweeping the house thoroughly.  The day of Passover, we will get rid of any leavening/leavened products that we still have.

I need to start thinking about when we will start the 10 Plague Adventure (Click on the label “Passover” on the list on the right, if you’re interested in that.) because that is actually next month. Fun, fun!  And, of course, we need to think about our Passover service and the delicious meal to follow! Can’t wait!

Expectations and Echad

Life is full of expectations.  Sometimes expectations aren’t very high, such as when we expect our son to take out the trash.  But, other times, expectations are built up for something for weeks, even months.  Then, when those expectations aren’t met, we meet with disappointment.  And, we have to make a choice of how we will respond to that disappointment.

So, our major disappointment this year is connected with our Sukkot celebration.  We anticipate this for weeks and months.  A time to praise and worship Yah and spend time with Him and people we love.  A time for fellowship and dancing and singing and learning.  And, initially, all those expectations were fulfilled.  But, very soon after Sukkot started, sickness hit the camp and started working its way quickly through.  People were down and out with a stomach bug.  First 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and very quickly dozens. 

So, now many people are confined to their tents and feeling miserable.  One of the first thoughts is, “I’m going home.”  After all, who wants to be sick in a tent – oh spoiled people that we are.  I will admit, when I had 3 kids with this bug coming out both ends, we did pack up and go to a hotel for the night (poor hotel maid).  And, when I and my littlest one were sick, I was tempted to go back to said hotel.  But the thought of going home was never really a serious thought.  After all, who wants to end Sukkot this way?  Do I really want to pack up camp and drive home 4 hours with sick kids? Then we would be home and everyone else would still be here praising and worshipping and celebrating .

So, we have chosen to stay here and see what God has in store for us; to worship Him in spite of the trials and family members succumbing to illness one by one.  But I think the real test is in our attitude.  How do I choose to respond to this disappointment?  Apparently God has something else in store for us than we had originally planned.  Even though our plans were made in obedience and we thought they were so right and so good, He had other plans.  

As I sat here in our tent tonight, listening to the praise and worship and celebration going on in the main tent.  I was disappointed. I won’t pretend I wasn’t.  I so wanted to be there praising and worshipping with everyone.  So, I did sing the songs, but I knew I was missing out on some awesome dancing.  However. going into a tent full of people when I know I’m sick isn’t loving my brother. So, I get a chance to spend some quiet time thinking about the blessings of being here in spite of the hardship. 

Of course, the illness, as minor as it is, isn’t too serious.  That’s one blessing.  Everyone seems to be getting over it rather quickly.  As I spend time on my own, I have more time to contemplate what He’s done for me – as long as I’m not wallowing in my own self pity. 

We are still fulfilling the theme of Sukkot – “Echad: that we may be one”.  We are helping each other through this.  Everyone shares what health remedies they have.  Some get food for others.  As one leaves for the market, they check who else needs anything. The kitchen makes special food for the sick. Cleaning crews 30 strong go through camp disinfecting all the surfaces they can.  And, while they’re cleaning, others are dancing in worship.  So we are battling it physically and spiritually.   

We’re all still here, together, worshipping Him as best we can under the circumstances. We won’t give in to the enemy.  He wants to ruin our Echad.  But, we won’t let him.  We have God on our side and we won’t miss our appointed time with Him.  

Summary of our Family Traditions

Someone on one of our email lists asked about family traditions.  This is what I shared:

Our favorite family traditions all revolve around God’s feasts listed in Leviticus 23.  We find so much joy and fulfillment in celebrating the days that God has set aside to meet with us.  Each one is truly a treasure.  And, as each day finishes, we look forward to the next with great anticipation.  Right now we are in the midst of the fall holy day season.  We recently celebrated the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.  Now, on this Sabbath, we are anticipating Sukkot!!

Our celebrations always include lots of praise & worship and circle dancing.  And, we enjoy learning from one another as we study God’s word.  Food is always present at our celebrations – except on the Day of Atonement, which is a day of fasting. 

We are thankful for the weekly Sabbath (Lev 23:3), which the kids usually start asking about on Sunday.  Only 6 more days!! The Sabbath begins on Friday night with a special meal, then dancing and singing and dh blesses each of the children.  The next morning we enjoy family time before we host a home fellowship, which includes more dancing, singing, teaching and food.  Just as we spend extra time with our heavenly Father on Shabbat, our little ones get to spend extra time with their earthly father because he doesn’t work on Shabbat.  So, he is home to spend time with them.

Each year we celebrate the annual Feasts listed in Leviticus 23. The first is Passover and our year begins with a great celebration! This observance begins with a more solemn tone as we remember that Yeshua (Christ) died for our sins.  And, it ends with a celebration of our salvation because Yeshua died for our sins.  And, we finish up the celebration with lots of food.  J  This begins the week of unleavened bread.  We have put all leaven out of our house and we eat unleavened bread every day.  This is a reminder of how difficult it is to remove all the sin from our lives.  God gives great object lessons.  We see that if we spend more time at home (come out of this world) then it is easier to avoid the sin (leaven) because we have removed it from our home.  But, if we spend much time away from home (in the world) it is easier to sin without thinking about it (remembering just after we eat that piece of bread).  And, since we are commanded to eat unleavened bread during this time, we can see that when we put sin (leavening) out of our lives, we need to replace it with righteousness (Yeshua - unleavened bread) so that spot doesn’t get filled back up with sin.

Then we continue through the Feast of the Pentecost – remembering the day when the early church first received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).  And, after a short break, we come to the Autumn Feasts.  The Feast of Trumpets (or Yom Teruah) is the first of these celebrations.  We aren’t sure yet what the fulfillment is of the Autumn Feasts.   But, we enjoy celebrating and doing just as the Bible says.  On Yom Teruah we make a loud noise.  On Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), we fast and realize how weak we really are and how much we need Him.  Then, the season finishes up with Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).  Eight days of living in tents.  Celebrating God and Yeshua and what they have done for us as we live with other believers for eight days.  We leave the outside world and enjoy a tiny taste of the Kingdom. 

After Sukkot, there are about 6 months until Passover.  During this long break, we are thankful for the weekly Sabbath to consistently return our focus to Him.

If you’re interested in more details of how we celebrate these days, see specific posts on my blog.

Sukkot - A Time of Refreshment

Acts 3:19

Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

Sukkot is a glorious example of finding a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. It’s hard to explain how incredibly blessed we were in so many ways as we celebrated Sukkot together. We had times of corporate worship, praise, dancing and study of the Word. And, in between those group gatherings, we could always find somewhere in the camp where someone was enjoying praise, worship, dance, fellowship, study of the Word and, sometimes, just plain old relaxation and recreation. Funny how the main thing He tells us to do during Sukkot is to rejoice. We definitely did plenty of that!

We enjoyed living together in unity as family. We rolled out of bed and stepped out of the tent and we were with 150 of our closest family members. We brushed our teeth at the same sink. We got by with 2 showers, 3 toilets and 4 port-a-potties. (That, in itself, is amazing!) We shared our meals, taking turns cooking for the whole family and serving one another.

Everyone was free to share their gifts – serving, teaching, singing, dancing, facilitating, organizing, etc. Bring a gift and share it with others. There was such joy in the camp as we freely served one another.

The camp was not without trials and discomforts. We had extreme heat, swarms of flies, bugs of various kinds, spraying of nearby crops, illness, etc. But even in the midst of this, we rejoiced and praised Yahweh. We didn’t let the discomforts get us down (as a general rule). Many of us felt these were a way of Yahweh testing our attitude. Hopefully we passed that test J

It truly felt like a rehearsal for living in Yahweh’s Kingdom. To dwell in unity with so many other believers was wonderful. Relationships were renewed. Healing took place in more ways than one. We could safely leave valuables lying around the camp, whether it was cameras or computers or phones, just as comfortably as we would do that at home. When others were in need financially, physically, emotionally or spiritually, others were ready to give whatever was necessary to help them.

It’s hard to describe the joy and contentment felt as we celebrated this appointment with Yahweh together with so many others. It creates a bond that can only be formed by God’s Spirit. I’m thinking that’s one of the blessings Yahweh had in mind when He invited us to share in this appointed time with Him. (Lev 23:33-43) Our obedience to His call paid off a thousand fold, as it always does.

Why We Strive to Be Torah Observant

Someone on one of my email lists asked this question:

Could you please explain to me why you think it is necessary to observe Old Testament laws in light of the New Covenant and New Testament Scriptures?

This is my response:

It’s a hard thing to explain. I don’t believe keeping the law is necessary for salvation. That is because the only thing necessary for salvation is to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior.

As a result of loving and accepting Jesus as my Savior and loving my Father and Creator, I choose to obey them to the best of my ability.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10

If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

We choose to walk as He walked. We choose to do what Jesus did. Jesus did not look for an excuse to disobey His Father. He was obedient and followed the law and commandments. Jesus did not celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other pagan holiday disguised as a Christian one. He kept the days that His Father commanded us to keep throughout our generations. (Leviticus 23 shows us that these are God’s feasts, not the Jews’ feasts.) I can’t figure out why I would want to use some replacement holiday instead of celebrating the joyous feasts that God has blessed us with.

We just celebrated Yom Teruah yesterday (Lev 23:23-25) – a day that God has not yet fulfilled the meaning of. It was such a joyous day. We worshipped and praised together with dance and song and musical instruments (Psalm 150). We ate yummy food together. We made a loud noise as we are commanded to do. (The kids loved it. They could yell and blow trumpets over and over again without us stopping them, because God commanded us to make a loud noise. :) We’re not quite sure why that is commanded. But someday God will show us and, in the meantime, we just walk in obedience.

And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain . Zech 14:17

People kept the appointed times in the past. We will be expected to keep them in the future. There is no place in the Bible that says we should no longer keep the appointed times that God commanded us to keep throughout our generations (that means ‘forever’, people!). So, why would I not keep them now? Again, I prefer to keep God’s days than counterfeit days. They are an incredible blessing to our family and we anticipate them for months before they arrive

God asks us to not to worship Him the way the pagans worship their God. Yet people use pagan holidays disguised as Christian holidays to worship Him all the time. I would not be pleased if my husband came to me and said, “I am so excited to celebrate your birthday. But, I have decided to celebrate it on my ex-girlfriend’s birthday. It seems like a good day and we always had some really good traditions for her birthday celebration. So, I will take those traditions and use them to honor you and show I love you.” I most certainly would NOT feel loved or honored by that. Christmas is the same thing. The day was originally used to worship the pagan God Nimrod. That is easily found in any encyclopedia. Because of that, we choose not to celebrate Christmas or Easter. (And, because nowhere in the Bible are we told to celebrate Jesus’ birth. It doesn’t even tell us when He was born. If God wanted us to celebrate Jesus’ birth, He would have told us when it was and asked us to celebrate it.)

I am always learning and growing by honoring Him the way He has asked me to in His Word. I don’t have any need or desire to add extra days that He hasn’t requested. We choose to honor Him the way He has asked us to honor Him.

We choose to follow all of the 10 commandments simply because He asked us to. We don’t leave any out for the sake of convenience or for any other reason. We strive to follow all of them, including the Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday as He commanded us) because He made it for us. And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28 God made the Sabbath for us! It is His gift to us! Why would I not accept a gift from God!? I think that would be crazy!!!

We choose to follow the laws of clean and unclean meats because God put them in His Word for us. He knows how He made us and He knows how he made those animals. As a result, He knows what is best for us to eat. Research shows that the meats Our Creator has labeled as unclean are unhealthy for us to eat. It’s not surprising to me that He knew that before men did J

I follow other laws in the Bible that people don’t typically follow. I don’t need to go into details. Suffice it to say, I obey Him because I love Him. Simple as that.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t follow any of these laws perfectly – not by a long shot! I fall short every single day, just like everyone else. As a result of falling short, which is ‘sin’, plain and simple, I need the sacrifice of my Savior. So, His sacrifice is very important to me. Without it, I would suffer eternal death, but because He is my Savior, I can live with Him forever. HalleluYah!!

Missi who, along with her family, is excitedly looking forward to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - 8 glorious days of celebrating His millennial rule!!! HalleluYah!