Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, May 16, 2020
Shabbat Shalom,
ALL NIGHT TORAH STUDY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Rabbi Michael’s note: This virtual event is being put on by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. Their counting is a little different from our method of counting, (I explained the difference at the beginning of our counting) so their Shavuot is next Thursday night. I am endorsing this event, but there are some of the speakers with whom I have differences in theology. If you sign up and hear things being taught that cause you concern, please bring them to my attention. End RMN.
It’s traditional to stay up all night studying the Torah on Erev Shavuot, in celebration of the anniversary of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and the outpouring of the Ruach on the earliest followers of Yeshua in Jerusalem.
This year we’ll gather together across three continents (from our laptops and living rooms) to pray and study until the break of dawn, enjoying rich Torah learning and interactive discussion with the brightest minds in Messianic Judaism.
Don’t miss this impressive lineup of Messianic Jewish rabbis, scholars, and Torah teachers, teaching live from across North America, South America, and Israel!
The event will be FREE to everyone who pre-registers online. We’ll kick off at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific/2 AM Israel Time on May 28/29 with a KIDS ZOOM ROOM full of stories, songs, crafts, and silliness.
Check out the developing schedule, and register for free now:
Counting the Omer – Day 35
Here is the proper blessing to be said each day. This is how Jewish people fulfill the command to count.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav, Vitzivanu Al Sefirat Ha-Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about the counting of the Omer. Today is five weeks and no days of the counting of the Omer.
If someone you love and admire finds you beautiful (communicates acceptance that they love and admire you), that is affirming, encouraging, and heart warming. Yeshua does this repeatedly throughout the Song of Songs.
Song of Songs 1:8a If you yourself do not know, O most beautiful among women. v15 How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely! Your eyes are doves. The superlatives keep coming. Yeshua can’t say enough about the beauty, loveliness, and awesomeness of His bride. It’s personal from Him to us and from us to Him.
We tend to struggle believing that Yeshua sees through all the temporary darkness in us to the eternal completed perfection of beauty that He is creating within us. Because we can’t see our destiny as He sees it, we tend to find it hard to believe that the King of kings could really find us so beautiful, so lovely, so awe inspiring.
But when we do finally trust and believe Yeshua, then we are able to rest in His assessment. Consider this expression of from Psalm 118. First these 2 verses… Psalm 118:14 Adonai is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation (Yeshua). 15 Shouts of joy and victory are in the tents of the righteous:
Entering this rest awakens our souls to the eternal beauty of the “Capstone.” It then becomes “marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. 23 It is from Adonai: it is marvelous in our eyes! 24 This is the day that Adonai has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! 25 Hoshia-na! Please, Adonai, save now! We beseech You, Adonai, prosper us! 26 Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai— Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Adonai. We bless you from the House of Adonai.