Email and Yad HaShmona (The Hand of the Eight)

Hey all,

Well, just so you know, my lack of emails stems from a slow and very used computer. Please forgive me, but this month will be a tough one to RESPOND to your emails. I will definitely read all of them, so keep them coming!

Currently I am living on a Christian moshav (settlement) near Jerusalem (and if you know your Bibles, right next to Kiriath Jearim [Baalah of Judah]) called Yad HaShmona. It's great because for my 8 hours of work a day (washing dishes, carpentry, preparing salads, breads, serving people, housekeeping) I get to use all their facilities for free, plus I get to eat all I want;-)

This week we celebrated Rosh HaShana (The Head of the Year; or New Year's Day in the Jewish Calendar). Part of the reading this week was from Gen 21:1-34 and I Sam 1-2:10. One of the questions posed to me on my May tour in Israel was: Why did G-d ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? I now ask you the same question. So as not to tempt you to cheat, the answer (if I'm reminded) will come in a later blog. (Hint: there's a key word that occurs in both texts that would be significant in the life of a child. What happened after that event in both stories?)

OK, have a great weekend! Shana Tova (שנה תובה) (Good Year!)

Shalom,

Geoff

Jesus' Birth

Hey all,

Well, I listened to a speaker last night named Neil and the one thing that stuck out the most was his study on the birth of Jesus. I'll try to make it fast, but I encourage you all to check it out!

- Luke 1:5 - Zechariah belonging to Abijah.
- I Chronicles 24:10 - When Abijah's line served in the Temple; this would place Zechariah at the Temple close to the end of June for our calendars. (You'd have to compare our calendar to a Jewish calendar; I thought I'd save you the trouble;-)
- Luke 1:26, 36 - add 6 months and you MAY (it's of course not conclusive) get the end of December for Jesus' conception. I like to think it's December 25;-) OR, I also like even better the 25th of Kislev, which is Chanukkah for an Orthodox Jew (even before Jesus' day!). For those who don't know, Chanukkah is the Feast of Lights when, during the Maccabean days, there was only enough oil for the Temple menorah to last one night. Instead, it lasted 8 nights. Nice for the Light of the World to be conceived on the Feast of Lights don't you think;-)
- 9 months later - late September or early October (if my math serves me correctly). At any rate, in the Jewish calendar, Jesus would have been born VERY close to (if not on, which would be something G-d just might do;-) Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). This is one of the 3 Jewish feasts when pilgrims would come to Jerusalem. Notice the wording in John 1:14. (I took the liberty of looking up the Greek word for you; it's from skenoo - hard to spell in English - and means "to tabernacle" or "to set up one's tabernacle". "The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us....") Perhaps Jesus was born on Sukkot in late September or early October.

I don't know, you may not care. I think it's pretty fun. Have a great weekend!

Shalom,

Geoff

P.S. Ray VanderLaan talks about this as well.

Salt Sea and Galilee (That rhymes, can you see;-)

Hey everyone,

Well, my test is over for my first level ("Aleph" or "A") and for all who are worried, I think I passed with flying colors;-) Now, I've just have to practice...a TON!!!

I shall spend the next month at a Christian moshav ("settlement") volunteering 8 hours a day where I get to do everything for free - not a bad trade off in my opinion. I HOPE (that doesn't mean I will) to read through the Harry Potter's and perhaps take up a little piano. We'll see how that turns out;-)

Tonight, I'm listening to a guy speak on the Fall feasts. I'm excited about this because I hear he's a really good speaker, and it's in my apartment - so he better represent well:-) No, I look forward to it.

So, this weekend I'm off to the Salt Sea (it's NOT called the Dead Sea here), Masada, and Qumran. After that, we plan to go up to Caesarea Philippi, Gamla, Susita, and Mt. Arbel.

Thank you all for reading these blogs!

Shalom,

Geoff

Bibles and Rocks

Hey all,

Some fun things this weekend. First, you should all know that I got in 3 hours of basketball yesterday!!! Yeah, it was awesome, and yeah, I am sore:-)

Today I learned some cool things:
1) When G-d gave the Israelites water from the rock, a tradition developed that said the rock followed them while they were in the wilderness. (Now, some of you have already heard this, but for the benefit of those who haven't....) Before you throw this tradition out as crazy, know that someone very important in the New Testament agreed with that tradition. Don't believe me? Then check out I Corinthians 10:4. I know it blows your mind, but Paul himself seems to ascribe to that tradition.

2) Sacrifices were still important after Jesus' death. I know, I know. BUT, check out Acts 21:17-32. Saul or Paul not only joined but he PAID for the purification. Now, check out Numbers 6:13-20. Multiply that by 4 and you've got a WHOLE lot of sacrifices Paul himself paid for, which incidently comes out to a whole lot of money (a Biblical shekel is 11.5 grams - free, no charge;-). If you look at Numbers closely, you can see that these served as sin offerings and burnt offerings, as well as a...hair offering. Nazirite vows were much more frequent than they are today.

3) There are 6000-7000 languages in the world today. 2000 of these have a Gospel account. Less than a 1000 have the whole NT, and only 420 (I think) have the whole Bible. Considering how much importance Paul places on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible; see Romans 15:4, and I Cor 10:6), who wants to be a translator!?! Also remember that Jesus' Bible was the Hebrew Bible. Don't get me wrong, I think the Gospel accounts and the whole NT are vital, but I also would argue that you can't have the NT without the Hebrew Bible. Otherwise, one doesn't know what Jesus or Paul are talking about! What Bible did they use!?!

Well, I hope you enjoyed these fun little things. I'm still digging...which reminds me;-) The Greek text says 10s of 1000s, not 1000s in Acts 21:20. OK, I'm done;-) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Shalom,

Geoff

Harry Potter and FREEDOM

Hey everyone,

Well, I finished the 6th instalment of the Harry Potter series, so anyone who would like to talk about it, PLEASE email me! As for this week, it went well. We went to the zoo Tuesday and today watched a movie - gotta put that money somewhere, you know;-) It was good though - both the zoo and the movie. The guys in my dorm plan L-rd-willing to watch "My Fair Lady" tonight. (They asked me to pick out some classics - because I LOVE old movies - and I saw this one at a friend's house, so I thought we could watch it.)

As for this weekend, I plan to do a lot of catching up and studying for the final exam (yeah right). OK, I may play some more basketball and walk around the Old City. Life's rough I know, but someone has to enjoy these things;-)

As for a thought, Tom (who went on the tour in May with me) forwarded me an article dealing with last week's parasha and something within really caught my eye. The concept is freedom, and as Christians we need to spend every moment as if a freed slave. (I know, we're slaves to Christ, but ponder this thought for a moment.) We live hectic and often depressing lives. Can you imagine living every moment as if you just gained your freedom from namelessness, monotony, and oppression. Think of the joy you would find in each moment and the compassion you would feel towards others, knowing them to be "enslaved". It overwhelms my soul to ponder the Israelites finally crossing the Sea of Reeds suddenly realizing that they are now free! No wonder Miriam busted out a song (which I believe is some very, VERY old Hebrew.) I don't know, that thought just inspired me to be more like Jesus this week; it may do the same for you;-)

Have a great weekend!

Shalom,

Geoff

Basketball for Jesus and Teva Sandals

Hey all,

Well, this weekend was great! Besides all the walking I did (Hezekiah's Tunnel just gets better and better - it's cooler [temperature-wise] in the tunnel than outside;-), I was also able to bust out some basketball, and that felt EXTREMELY good!

Some small things I learned this weekend:

1) Teva Sandals - it's not TIva. It's TAYva, and it means "nature". Why do I bring it up? Because those sandals are made in Israel;-)

2) This week's parasha reading (some of you may not know what this is; scroll down to the bottom of this entry to see) contains the most commandments in the Torah for one single section - 72 I think. One of the Rabbis (I think either Rashi or Rambam [Maiaminedes (sp?) to you and me]) said this is the most important parasha in the Torah because it has the most commandments.

3) "Honor your father and your mother" is the first commandment with a promise; sound familiar? What's the 2nd and only other one? (Answer at the bottom of the entry.)

It's hard to believe but I only have two more weeks of ulpan (language school) left. Then, all of October is open to me for volunteering at a Christian moshav (literally "settlement") where I'll be doing different things in the community. I'm excited about it.

Shalom,

Geoff

*Parasha - a small section of the Torah read each week by all observant Jews. They divided the Torah (1st 5 books of the Bible) into approx. 3-4 chapters a piece to be read throughout the year. This is actually really cool to do when you think about it, and I highly recommend it. Imagine all Christians reading the same scriptures every week and discussing them on Sundays! Powerful if you ask me!

You should know that the Torah is considered the most important part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). The rest (Writings and Prophets) is considered somewhat as a commentary - still VERY MUCH canon, but not quite as important as Torah. Yes, some things in the Scriptures are more important than others, but it should ALL be read and studied!

*Answer: Deuteronomy 22:6-7. The Rabbis OBVIOUSLY picked up on the connection between this and Deut 5:16; why are these the only two with a promise? Does this give us any insight into what Paul was saying in Galatians 6:1-3? I don't know, but I'd love to hear your insights;-)

Thoughts

I'm thinking it may get boring for you all hearing what I'm doing and not what I'm learning or with what I am wrestling. So, here are a few thoughts....

1) It struck me the other day that I am 23 years old, living in Israel, read my Bible, pray every day, and grow, grow, grow (fun song), but how much more growth can take place!?! Jesus, depending on the dates of his ministry - in 1-3 years changed the world. I'm not Jesus, but I should definitely aspire to be like Him. I bless G-d that I have had so many opportunities, but sometimes the verse "To him who has much, much will be demanded; and he who has little, even what he has will be taken from him" scares the living daylights out of me. There is so much more I could be doing with my time (instead of eating popcorn and watching a movie;-) The more I learn here, the more I realize I don't know. A common reality for me - but I'm finding it even more vivid here in Israel.

2) Community is important. Growing up in a close-nit family (at least from my perspective) gave me little need to go outside the home bounds to find relationships. Being away from everything familiar (I knew one person before I came, and I didn't even know her that well), provides such tremendous opportunities to build relationships with others. But it doesn't come easy. I have to work hard, and it's no picnic. This is something I shall definitely strive to perfom better as time goes on.

3) Things I'm learning that you might find interesting.... There's a school here who thinks the Gospel writers copied/used a Hebrew text when composing their respective books (a possible form of the "Q" document - though there are many possibilities out there). Though I find this most intriguing, important, and perhaps (though I haven't decided yet) vital, the fact is, G-d through the Church gave us a Greek New Testament. No matter how many Hebraisms are behind the Greek text, and no matter how much it helps us know what Jesus actually meant, G-d gave us Greek. This is a broad statement on what I'm learning. In the future, I'll give you some fun info, like what Jesus probably meant when He said things like: "Whoever does not HATE his father, mother, wife, kids..." or "If the house is deserving, let your peace rest on it..." or "Turn the other cheek..." and the list continues.

Wow, that was a long ramble.

Shalom,

Geoff

P.S. What did Jesus mean when He said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."?

Oral Exam and Gerald Schroeder

Hey all!

An eventful week, but in many ways not eventful. The test results for the oral exam turned out well:-) I just finished another written test a few hours ago. It's amazing to think that I'm almost done with my first ulpan - just 5 more to go! ;-)

I went to a pizza talk (a place to eat free pizza and hear interesting talks), and we listened to a guy named Gerald Schroeder who talked about physics and creation/big bang. Most interesting - especially if you're interested in physics...which I'm not really:-)

As for the weekend, tonight is popcorn and a movie. Tomorrow is (once again!) Hezekiah's Tunnel and the shuk (market). And Saturday is a Messianic Service (with Joe Schulam). I continue to learn, and believe it or not, I'm finding my time here VERY enjoyable and always adventurous. (I mean, I can walk anywhere in Jerusalem in about 2-3 hours and see almost anything I want! - for free or at least really, REALLY cheap!) Besides that, Bethlehem is only a 5-8 mile walk where I live!

Have a great weekend!

Shalom,

Geoff

Oral Exam

Today marked the first oral exam we had. It went ok, but it's much easier to talk Hebrew in class with friends than it is to speak Hebrew with teachers straight on. Plus, there's that whole pressure thing about grades...yeah. It went ok; but more than anything, I'm glad it's over;-)

As for the written tests, they're much easier and I'm doing well (in case you were concerned;-)

Shalom,

Geoff

Hezekiah's Tunnel...in the Dark!

Shalom,

Well, Friday was a busy day. I met a guy named John-Michael (3rd of 8 Kids!) at 8:30am and went walked through the Old City to David's City. I saw there the Israeli tour guide that goes on RVL's trips; he was guiding a family through the dessert and Jerusalem before they met up with the rest of the group in Galilee Sunday (today). Anyway, what made this trek fun was that we walked Hezekiah's Tunnel in the dark. Yes, it was spooky at times, but very cool (both literally and figuratively).

Friday evening I walked to the Great Synagogue (in case you're wondering, I covered quite a few miles in my walkings Friday;-) It was ok. The Singer did a FANTASTIC job reading the prayer book. He had one of the best voices I have ever heard - and let me assure you that I have heard quite a few! I think he flirted with high "A's" and perhaps even high "C's" several times. His voice was angelic - tov meod (very good)!

It was a great weekend!

Shalom,

Geoff

Joe Shulam and a Messianic Community

Hey everyone,

Well, I spent last night and Saturday morning at Joe Shulam's and absolutely loved it! For one, it's all in Hebrew (but they have a translator as well - several). For another, it's great to feel welcomed in a place even though most people don't know us from...whomever. I also would like to say that I think it's absolutely amazing to have all age groups as well as several languages (2-3 different translators were going at it) going at the same time! Baruch HaShem! Anyway, that's it for now.

Shalom,

Geoff

Shabbat Meal

Friday night I went to the Cotel (Western Wall). One of the things that I've wanted to do in Israel since I found out about it is eat dinner on Shabbat with a Jewish family. That dream came true Friday night as myself and two friends observed hundreds of Jews flock to the Cotel to pray. While we were there we were invited to come to a Shabbat meal. (You must understand that Shabbat is a holiday; no one works. It's really a very beautiful thing that we have lost in our Western culture and in Christendom. It's beautiful to know that all over Israel (and the world) good observant Jews are sitting at home with their spouses and children talking and enjoying one another's company. No pressing matters converge on the conversations; everyone is safe at home with one another.)

The meal consisted of several courses: sweet fish and chala (sweet bread); soup; chicken; then dessert. Joice and coke (soda for you others) was available to drink. We ate and talked for a short while. I met a guy formerly from Dallas. Then a guy spoke about the importance of keeping Shabbat (hey, if it's good enough for G-d, then it's good enough for us - he didn't say that, but that's what I'm saying;-). The head of the dinner spoke about keeping the commandments in Israel, and how easy it is to forget the blessings of fulfilling a mitzva (commandment) when simply living in the land of Israel. I know that we in Christianity look at Torah/nomos (law) in a different way than Jews do - at least, most of us. To us, it is binding and restrictive. To a Jew the Torah is beautiful and opens people to true freedom. What was that Jesus said? "If you love me, you will obey what I command." I'm telling you, these Jews love G-d with everything they have!

Then they opened it up to anyone who would like to say something (in Hebrew or English) - basically teach. The offer was to young and old, men and women. Oh, you should know that the women served while probably 75-100 men sat down to eat. I know, it's not my favorite either for you ladies; I thought the women should have joined us at the table, too. Anyway, it was a great evening, and as always, I consider it such a blessing to be here in Jerusalem to witness this kind of thing.

Shalom (and sorry for the length),

Geoff

Hurricane Katrina

I heard in class today that the death count has reached over 10,000, but I'm having a tough time deciphering the news on-line. No matter how many have died, the entire disaster gives me a numb feeling, and I hope to find out more about the incident as time moves on. Funny isn't? Time continues; days come and go. We eat; we sleep. The sun rises and it sets. Things like this help put life in a proper perspective, and sadly reveal how messed up the human race really is....

May the shalom of Yeshua be with you all.

Geoff

Mid-term and Hebrew Placement

Hey everyone,

Wow, you really don't realize how much has happened in a week until you stop to reflect. New Orleans, oh boy. I'm really sorry to hear about that one....

Last Tuesday I took the Biblical Hebrew Placement Exam. It was really straightforward; translate the passage and then locate or parse all the verbs (which means tell all you know about them - person, gender, number, what kind it is...all that). The passages weren't too hard, but I had read through none of them in Hebrew: Sodom and Gomorrah (first 5-6 verses), David when he hears about Saul and Jonathan's death (5-6 verses), psalm of David when he weeps for Absalom (7 verses and harder), and then the last one I think was something in Deuteronomy (5-6 verses). They got progressively harder, and I hope the graders have mercy on the test-taker;-)

I also finished my Hebrew mid-term a few hours ago. Dude! I need to study more than an hour next time;-)

As for the weekend, I plan on going to the Cotel (Western Wall) and also attending a Messianic service with Joe Schulam's congregation. (I know, it's not his, but G-d's:-)

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while.

Shalom,

Geoff