Friday 18th November. I love the rain, it cleanses the air, the city, the soul and gives life to the earth. I imagine the tiny seeds and bulbs hiding in the cracked arid earth suddenly springing into life, preparing to burst forth in the spring. (more…)
Lance Lambert… We come now to a brief survey of the history of this period, dwelling particularly upon the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Macabees. Zerubbabel was the last of the royal princes of the House of David to take any office. The actual Throne of David became vacant when King Zedekiah was taken into exile in 586BC; there was no rightful, legal king or prince in Israel until Christ was born. (more…)
by Lance Lambert ..During the Exile, God’s people were forever cured of idolatry. With the Temple destroyed, sacrifice ended, the Priesthood scattered, Jerusalem razed, the people deported, a new form of worship and fellowship grew up. We do not know how or when exactly the Synagogue started but somehow during the Exile, God’s children began gathering together for the reading and exposition of Scripture, and for worship and prayer. “Synagogue” is a Greek word meaning “a gathering of people,” a congregation” (Hebrew Knesset.) it is used 56 times in the N.T. (more…)
By Lance Lambert..The Party of the Essenes grew up at the same time as the Pharisees and Sadducees, emerging from the Chasidim in the 2nd Cent BC. They arose probably because they could not accept the political settlement after Antiochus IV Epiphanes, which gave the high priesthood and governorship to the Hasmoneans. They withdrew therefore from public life as a “righteous remnant,” a “people prepared for the Lord.” (more…)
By Lance Lambert.. The Pharisees were a party on the extreme right wing, which grew up after the return from Babylon. They felt the need, in the light of the tremendous inroads of Hellenism, to protect the pure and true faith. Originally they were known as “The Chasidim” – The Pious. This broke into two wings – the small nationalistic political party called “The Zealots”[1] and the much larger, more popular party of the Pharisees probably a nickname,[2] but best understood as “Puritans.” (more…)
To hate the Jews is to hate the God of the Jews. This emerges clearly from the psalmist’s loud lament to Heaven, out of the depths of the misery of the Jewish people: “O God, do You not see it all? (more…)
Manfred Gerstenfeld… Out of the total Dutch population of 16 million, Jews represent about two in every thousand. Jews often play a symbolic role in Dutch society which exceeds their actual importance. One facet of this is their image as absolute victims. Second, the Jewish community has on various occasions been used by Dutch authorities as instruments in achieving political goals. (more…)
A brief historical overview (from the book why Israel?)…God made a promise to Israel, and Isaiah called on Israel – and on us as well! - to hold God to His promise: (more…)
By Jeff Heinrich…Honor thy mother. That’s the motto Angela Polgar has tried to live by all her life – a life that began in a death camp. The place was Auschwitz-Birkenau, in southern Poland. Her parents, Hungarian Jews, arrived there on a Nazi transport on May 25, 1944. (more…)
He wanders Amazon jungles, travels to Chinese villages, searches Spain for Marranos, and sees India’s Bnei Menashe as his life’s mission. Michael Freund has an obsession: Discovering remote Jews. (more…)
