Simchat Torah! (Rejoicing in the Torah)

Today, Simchat Torah, marks the end of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings which are read in synagogues all over the world. On this day every year, the last portion of Deuteronomy is read along with the beginning verses of Genesis reminding us that Torah is a circle that never ends.  It is a time of great celebration, processions and dancing.

We were privileged last night to be a part of the rejoicing in Jerusalem.  Even with all the unrest and tension in Jerusalem right now, the mood was festive with lots of laughing and dancing. On the main stage, rabbis from the nations were introduced along with their newly-purchased Torah scrolls. Many rabbis make annual trips to Israel at this time to get their scrolls for the new cycle of Torah reading. The platform was packed with rabbis showing off their new scrolls for their synagogues!

Line dances and circle dances were taking place all around me. This one is great because it’s teenagers and twenty-somethings having a blast. It’s only 73 seconds long. Be sure and watch to the end because one guy has a fun time in the center of the circle!

As believers in Yeshua, we celebrate the Living Torah written on our hearts.  He is the Word of God sent by God to reveal God to the world.  We rejoice in the Truth of His Word. We rejoice, because He loved us enough to send Yeshua to the world so that we might know Him. And we can really know the Creator of the universe because of Yeshua’s sacrificial death on the cross.  That should make you want to dance a little jig!

All small children were on the shoulders of their fathers. The kids wave special flags for Simchat Torah. We even saw kids eating cotton candy!  What a fun night!

We rejoice in YOU, Lord!!!!  Pray that His chosen people will come to a revelation of Yeshua as the Living Torah written on their hearts.

Images of Sukkot

From the time Sukkot began last Friday night, I’ve been taking random pictures of the temporary booths that are in our neighborhood (Lev. 23:42-43). Each sukkah is different and unique to the builder. I love this time of year!

Sukkot on Ben Yehuda

Our neighbors downstairs were repairing their sukkah roof and I got this picture of the table inside it.

Taken from our living room window

Flowers from my hubby!

I just couldn’t end this post without showing you the flowers Gary got for me yesterday. These were at the little 24/7 convenience store close to our house. On Thursday and Friday, flowers are sold everywhere in Israel, because it’s very traditional to have cut flowers on a shabbat table.  Isn’t it amazing how flowers make you smile and brighten your day?!

When I grow up…..

When I grow up I want to be just like this precious lady.  She knows who she belongs to.  What peace!  She’s living for the eternal not the present.  That’s where I long to live.

“You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!”  Isa. 26:3-4

Dubai – A City I Would Love to Visit

Dubai is emerging as a financial hub and one of the most important cities in the Middle East. It is home to the world’s largest skyscraper surpassing the record by more than 477 feet. The reason for building at such a large scale was revealed in a TV interview with one of the chief architects of Dubai.  He said it was built to display the greatness of Islam.

Dubai, United Arabic Emirates

An artist's view of what the city will look like after buildings are completed

Pray that a move of God will begin in this city of great influence and spread like wildfire throughout the whole region.  He is on the move! There is a remnant of people there who love Him!

Chag Sameach Sukkot! (Happy Feast of Tabernacles)

Today is the first of seven days of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. The streets are abuzz with excitement. All week we’ve heard the sounds of hammering and skill saws as Jews from all walks of life build their sukkot (booths) in their courtyards.  This is the most joyous feast of the year and one of three annual pilgrimage feasts. (That’s a fancy word for an “everyone-go-up-to-Jerusalem” feast.) God has appointments with us, and today is one of those appointed times.  Two thousand years ago and earlier, on this very day, Jerusalem was jam-packed with people who had traveled many miles from their homes to fulfill the biblical laws for Sukkot.

In Deut. 16:13-15 God instructs His people to celebrate Sukkot in gratefulness for the harvest. Verse 15 says, “Seven days you are to keep the festival for Adonai your God…because Adonai your God will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!”  This feast is also to be a reminder of the 40 years that the Israelites lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness. (Lev.23:41-43)

One thing I’ve just learned recently is that King Solomon finished the new temple, ordered the Ark to be carried up from his father, David’s, tabernacle, and sacrificed over 100,000 oxen and sheep all during the Feast of Sukkot. (I Kings 8 and II Chron. 7)  When the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, they celebrated Sukkot in the newly rebuilt city of Jerusalem. (Ezra 3)

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.  The word “dwelt” comes from the word “sukkah”.  So we can say Yeshua “sukkah-ed” among us.  So Yeshua the Messiah, the glory of God Himself “sukkah-ed” now in flesh among Israel as He did in a cloud in the Tabernacle and Temple. Wow.  And is it any wonder that he was born in a stable, a shelter from the elements, which most likely had three sides and resembled a sukkah! I am of the opinion that this is the time of year in which Yeshua was born. Many signs point to this. Not the least of which every significant event in His life fell exactly on one of the biblical feasts. This is a special time for me personally to reflect on His birth, His humanity and all that He left at the right hand of His Father on the Throne.

And we will celebrate this feast in the 1000-year reign of Yeshua here in Jerusalem!  Zech. 14:16 says, “Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up every year to worship the king, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the festival of Sukkot.”  He will literally be tabernacle-ing with us in the flesh!  Thank you, Lord!  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”

I’ve included some pics of the sukkah we built at Succat Hallel and also of our worship celebration last night.  We had a blast!

Patti Ridings and Preston decorating the inside

We all crowded in to say the shabbat prayers!

Shabbat table under sukkah

Worshiping in the prayer room

Thank you, Abba, for your appointed feasts.  We celebrate your birth on this Sukkot with joy unspeakable!