Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Shalom,
Whew! What a holiday season. Do you think the Lord packed them all into 22 days on purpose? I do. God does everything with purpose and nothing without purpose.
Celebrating the fall holidays is like riding a roller-coaster. Yom Teruah has a mix of messages. The sound of the Shofar is both alarming and exciting. It alarms us to wake up to the changes God has planned for the earth. At the same time, we know judgment day is a short 10 days into the future. Then there is Yom Kippur itself. It is a day of fasting with prayers of petition for God’s mercy. Then after we break the fast with communion, we immediately transition into celebration over the freedom of deliverance.
This sets us up for the commanded celebration of Sukkot. God doesn’t mince words. Leviticus 23:41a You are to celebrate it as a festival to Adonai for seven days in the year. Doesn’t sound optional, does it? The Hebrew word translated as “celebrate” is “Chagag” meaning a pilgrimage feast. This holiday celebration was revived in the days of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8:17 The entire assembly who had returned from the captivity made sukkot and dwelt in the sukkot. Since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day Bnei-Yisrael had not done so—and the joy was very great.
Tuesday night at 7PM (this RR is for Wednesday, but distributed widely at 6PM on Tuesday night – when the Hebrew day, Yom Revi’i [we know it as Wednesday] begins) we finish the fall holidays with Simchat Torah (rejoicing in the Torah). We parade the Torah, making many circuits around the synagogue. Then we finish reading Deuteronomy, roll it back to the beginning of Genesis, and start reading again.
And that’s a wrap. We wrap up the fall feast of 5782 and begin looking forward to the Spring feasts that begin with Pesach on Friday night, April 15th. Please save the date. It’s been on God’s calendar since the 13th century BC.
Maybe I’ll get my energy back and start writing in earnest again tomorrow.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Wed 29 Sep 2021 23rd of Tishrei, 5782 Simchat Torah
De 33:13-34:12 Ge 1:1-2:3 Nu 29:35-30:1 Jos 1 Ps 1 Mt 1 (Jas 1)
Week 40
Memory Verse: Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands. 25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, since He Himself gives to everyone life and breath and all things.
196 9/27 Monday: Acts 15-16
197 9/28 Tuesday: Galatians 1-3
198 9/29 Wednesday: Galatians 4-6
199 9/30 Thursday: Acts 17-18:17
200 10/1 Friday: 1 Thessalonians 1-2