Monday, December 19, 2011

Happy Chanukah! Light the First Candle Tonight!

Here's a good overview from Chabad (Source):

Chanukah in a Nutshell

With a Medley of Chanukah Links

Chanukah -- the eight-day festival of light that begins on the eve of the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev -- celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality.

More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G-d.

When they sought to light the Temple's menorah (the seven branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. At the heart of the festival is the nightly menorah (candelabrum) lighting: a single flame on the first night, two on the second evening, and so on till the eighth night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled.

On Chanukah we also add the Hallel and Al HaNissim in our daily prayers to offer praise and thanksgiving to G-d for "delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few... the wicked into the hands of the righteous."

Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil -- latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (doughnuts); playing with the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, "a great miracle happened there"); and the giving of Chanukah gelt, gifts of money, to children.

Click here for the complete story of Chanukah, and here for a comprehensive "How To" guide for the observances and customs of Chanukah.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Revelation 7:3-9: The 144,000 Israelites, the Great Multitude and More

Welcome to Thus Say the Prophets!

The Revelation of Navi Y'shua HaMoshiach:
A Study in Authentic Messianic Judaism and Biblical Prophecy
By Rabbi Yochanan Levine � 9.16.09 (last update: 12.17.2011)

Revelation 7:4-16
To Watch, Hear or Read this at jewToo.org Go HERE

Go to the index page for: The Revelation of Y'shua HaMoshiach

Video Version:

We pray to HaShem, the Holy One of Israel, to fill our hearts with wisdom and understanding as we continue this study into the Revelation of our chief rabbi, Navi Y'shua haMoshiach.

Revelation 7:4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every house of the children of Israel:

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Saudi Woman Beheaded for 'Witchcraft'

Saudi Woman Beheaded for 'Witchcraft'

U.S. Pagans (and all other non-Muslims) beware! Islam is making major inroads within the USA!

Source: ABC News

A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practicing "witchcraft and sorcery," according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, at least the second such execution for sorcery this year.

The woman, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, was executed in the northern Saudi province of al-Jawf on Monday.

A source close to the Saudi religious police told Arab newspaper al Hayat that authorities who searched Nassar's home found a book about witchcraft, 35 veils and glass bottles full of "an unknown liquid used for sorcery" among her possessions. According to reports, authorities said Nassar claimed to be a healer and would sell a veil and three bottles for 1500 riyals, or about $400.

According to the ministry, Nassar's death sentence was upheld by an appeals court and the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council.

Philip Luther, the interim direct of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program, condemned Nassar's killing, calling it "deeply shocking."

"The charges of 'witchcraft and sorcery' are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling," Luther said.

Luther said that a charge of sorcery is often used by the Saudi government as a smokescreen under which they punish people for exercising freedom of speech.

Nassar was not the first person to be executed for alleged witchcraft by the Saudi government this year. In September, a Sudanese man was publicly decapitated with a sword in the city of Medina after he was found guilty of the same crime.

According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far in 2011, more than three times as many as in 2010. The human rights group condemned the kingdom's reliance on capital punishment.

"Where the death penalty is used, under international law it should only be applied to the most serious crimes," Luther said.

The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Just for fun: Oy Holy Night!

This is very funny. I hope you enjoy:

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

What Matters Most: Senate Bill 1867 and the Iranian War

With this video we are changing the way we share our online material. The internet connection here (DigitalPath.net) seems to get worse every day and so we will no longer be attempting live, streaming broadcasts. Instead we will offer video presentations and post them to our sites so they are available before or at the normal time. Here's the first of these videos:

"What Matters Most" is slated to be online by 5:30 PM Pacific time each Thursday. It is posted to our website: http://templebethhashem.org/beliefs.html


What Matters Most: Senate Bill 1867 and the Iranian War