Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, May 5, 2022
Shalom,
Counting the Omer – Day 12
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 one week and five days of the counting of the Omer.
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Yom HaAtzma’ut follows immediately on the heels of Yom HaZikaron. That’s right, Israel Independence Day beings as the sun sets on Israel Memorial Day. Such a contrast, as one of the saddest days ends, one of the most joyful days begins. But, this is the reality of Jewish history too. The Holocaust ended in 1945. Only 3 years later, Jewish Israel was born on May 14, 1948. https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/About/Pages/independence.aspx . Here is a link to the video captioned on the website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg2tb4YFIUQ
Isaiah 66:7 Before she was in labor, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. 9 “Will I bring the moment of birth, and not give delivery?” says Adonai. “Will I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God. 10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her all you who mourned over her.
Look where this appears in the book of Isaiah. In the last chapter. That is comparable to the last chapter of world history. The Scripture asks the question, “Can a nation be born in one day?” That’s exactly what happened seventy-four years ago! For thousands of years we prayed for a return to the land. God keeps His promises. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah agree….
Ezekiel 36:24 “‘For I will take you from the nations, gather you out of all the countries and bring you back to your own land.
Jeremiah 29:14 Then I will be found by you,” says Adonai, “and I will return you from exile, and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says Adonai, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you as captives into exile.”
But the promise is not yet complete….
Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them.
Jeremiah 31:30 “Behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 31 not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them.” it is a declaration of Adonai. 32 “But this is the
covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people.
The promises will be complete when all Israel receives Yeshua HaMashiach as both Savior and Lord. Zechariah 14:9 Adonai will then be King over all the earth. In that day Adonai will be Echad and His Name Echad.
Dayenu! That’s enough for today. With Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’ut so big, let’s pick back up with the series on the Sermon on the Mount tomorrow.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Thu 05-May-2022 4th of Iyyar, 5782 12th day of the Omer
Yom HaAtzma’ut (Israeli Independence Day)
Le 20:1-7 Isa 60 Job 6 (Mt 22:1-22) Ro 5
Week 19
Memory Verse: Psalm 139:1 For the music director: a psalm of David. Adonai, You searched me and know me. 2 Whenever I sit down or stand up, You know it. You discern my thinking from afar. 3 You observe my journeying and my resting and You are familiar with all my ways.
91 5/02 Monday: Psalm 119:129-176; 139
92 5/03 Tuesday: Psalm 148-150
93 5/04 Wednesday: 1 Kings 2
94 5/05 Thursday: 1 Kings 3; 6
95 5/06 Friday: 1 Kings 8; 9:1-9