Parshot Rosh Hashanah 1 & 2

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link

Leviticus {23:24} "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of Shabbat rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet (shofar) blasts.'" This passage is speaking about the Feast of Rosh Hashanah. It is on this Feast Day that the shofar is sounded. According to tradition a total of one hundred blasts of the shofar are to be heard by God's congregations as they celebrate this Feast. But the blowing is not an indiscriminate pattern and a purpose and meaning is applied to each sound. There are four different shofar sounds which we hear. Each one echoing a different aspect of the human condition, each one having a different meaning. The first sound is called TEKIAH. It is one short loud blast. The Tekiah sound was used to gather the Israelites together as they wandered through the wilderness. Essentially it was blown at two times: when things were very, very bad or when things were very, very good. Numbers {10:9} "When you go to war in your land against an adversary who is oppressing you, you are to sound an alarm with the trumpets (shofar) 10 Also on your days of rejoicing, and on your festivals and on the New Moon, you shall sound the trumpet (shofar)..." So, the sound of Tekiah has dual but opposite meanings: Gather for war, gather for celebration. Come together to confront our common enemy, come together to rejoice in the Lord. Join forces to face the challenges before us, join hands in gratitude and joy! Tekiah. is a call to community. Hebrews {10:25} "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." No man is an island, we cannot survive alone. Our adversary the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he shall devour and we must stand together against him. Next, is the sound called SHEVARIM. Shevarim is three woeful, mournful sounds of the Shofar. Shevarim itself means broken things, it gives voice to the brokenness of the world, it echoes the pain of our lives. Shevarim says, "Hear the hurt, respond to the pain!" Shevarim says, "Why is there so much hurt?" The third call is TERUAH. Teruah is a series of ten short blasts which represents an outcry, a call to listen and learn. It was used to break camp to call the Israelites out of their comfort zone; a call to stand up, listen, it's time to move on. The grand finale of our shofar calls is TEKIAH GEDOLAH. Tekiah Gedolah is the ultimate call, the summons to hope in the ultimate triumph of God and His Kingdom. It is a call for the future and the conclusion to history itself. It is the call Believers will hear when Yeshua returns to set up His Kingdom on earth. As you listen to the sound of the shofar, apply each sound to your life and listen for what it means to you.

Parshot Netzavim - Vayelech (You are Standing - He Went)

from Rabbi Jack… Bible link

Isaiah {6:10} "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." We are almost at the end of the month of Elul. Elul is the month of inspecting our lives. Specifically, so that our hearts will not be callous, nor our ears blocked, nor our eyes shut. It is a time of repentance and returning to Yeshua, our first love. Why is the month of Elul considered a time of returning to the Lord? Because the letters of Elul have been interpreted as an acronym. Its Hebrew letters, ""Aleph,"" ""Lamed,"" ""Vav,"" 'Lamed"" represent the words. ""Ani L'Dodi, V'Dodi Li."" This is taken from Song of Songs: {6:3} "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" Elul is a time of return, because although we know that God always watches over the earth and is always waiting for us to return to Him, there is something special about the month of Elul, which makes God more accessible, somewhat like the Shabbat. Isaiah {55:6} "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" When the children of Israel sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, they were in effect rejecting God. It was in response to this event that Moses broke the first Tablets on which God inscribed the Ten Commandments. At that point, God was furious and wanted to destroy all of Israel, but Moses ascended Mount Sinai again and pleaded with God to have mercy and to forgive Israel. God accepted Moses's pleas and had mercy and forgave them. This time, however, Moses had to add work to his faith, when God commanded him to make another set of Tablets, like the first. Jewish tradition believes that Moses reascended Mount Sinai on the 1st. day of Elul and as we know he remained there 40 days, which would bring him to the 10th. day of the month of Tishri, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is not a coincidence because during these 40 days Moses was pleading for God’s forgiveness. Since then this period has been remembered as a time of introspection and repentance. It is for this reason the month of Elul is special and appropriate for personal reflection, repentance and asking God for forgiveness. "Chet" is the Hebrew word for sin, it means failure in our relationship with God, literally missing God's mark. "Chet" causes us to move away from God. "Teshuvah,” however, is the antidote for sin, it means "Repentance," returning to God and to a Torah based life. The King is coming so we are to be aware of His forthcoming visit. That is what the month of Elul is set aside for – preparation, where we allow the Holy Spirit to engage in refining our spiritual lives to meet the standards that the Lord expects of us.