17 Tevet — Taking It To The Streets
In Judaism, this day commemorates the death of two prominent 18th century rabbis, who were also regarded as maggidim or “preachers.” A maggid, or preacher, is distinguished from a typical rabbi in that a rabbi’s audience tends to be scholars and students. A...
16 Tevet — Give Them Up!
It was on this day in 1947 that the ship called “29th of November,” filled with Jewish immigrants to the Holy Land, was turned away by the British. The reason it was denied entry was because it contained, at least in Britain’s view, “displaced persons” they considered...
15 Tevet — Blessed Are The Peacemakers
It was on this day in 1977 that Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to begin discussing peace between the two countries. This would eventually lead to what was called, “The Camp David Accords” of 1978. The terms of the...
14 Tevet — The Adversary Within
Have you ever uttered a prayer that goes something like this? “Father, forgive me of this - again.” If we’re honest, most of us have, at one time or the other, struggled off and on with something that keeps tripping us up. To that issue, the writer of Hebrews...
13 Tevet — Deliver Me From Esau
When we consider the lives of the Patriarchs and all the great things they did and compare them to our lives, it’s real easy to magnify our own flaws in the light of what they accomplished. Likewise it’s easy to forget some of their failures. For instance, it’s...
12 Tevet — God of All Nations
It was on this day that Ezekiel prophesied of the impending fall of Egypt into the hands of the Babylonians: In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh...
11 Tevet — Unity, Not Uniformity
It was on this day in the year 921 that the Jews of Egypt were made aware of a different calendar that had been adopted by a group of Jews in the land of Canaan. The Hebrew calendar, also known as the Hillel calendar, was initially instituted in a time when the...
10 Tevet — He Chastens Those He Loves
Jewish tradition believes that, on this day, Jeremiah purchased a field in the region of Benjamin and then prophesied: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and...
9 Tevet — The Repairer of the Breach
Tradition believes that it was on this day that Ezra the priest passed away. Ezra holds a very prominent place in Jewish history, regarded as being the restorer of the Torah after the Babylonian captivity. He came to prominence at a critical time in Jewish history...
8 Tevet — Who Will Say, “Restore”?
In Judaism, today is considered to be a fast day commemorating the completion of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scripture, otherwise called the Septuagint. The original purpose of the Septuagint was to meet the needs of those Greek speaking Jews who lived...
7 Tevet — My Redeemer Lives
Have you ever gone through a difficult time and wondered, “Is this a test or is this a consequence of something I did or didn’t do?” Most likely, we have all felt that same way at some point and sometimes have discovered that the answer we receive is, “Both.”...
6 Tevet — What Expresses Your Identity?
It was on this day in the year 1216 that, by order of Pope Innocent III, a special badge was to be worn by all Jews in Europe. This was the first time that this edict had been handed down in the Middle Ages, but it wasn’t a new thing. It was something used by the...