Passover Cleaning Tips and Method

“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭16:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Shalom, All!

After an extended break, I’m back with some notes on how I attack and accomplish the daunting task of cleaning for Passover. I hope this will be timely for some of you, educational for all my daughters and daughters-in-law, and entertaining for the rest!

I am feeling smug because in previous years, when I had an enormous home and an abundance of little ones, I would begin cleaning around the end of January, and then obsessively worry about hamantashen crumbs when it came time to throw a Purim bash. (Parties were always—of course—held at the most cavernous dwelling, which belonged in times past to yours, truly.) This year, although we did host a big party, I also managed to delay all my cleaning until after Purim, and looking at the widely strewn crumbs, I have definitely saved myself some work! Hooray!!

So… I realize that the Scripture quoted above says to take the leavening out of the house “on the first day,” but our houses tend to be more cluttered these days than a one day job can handle. At least, my house does! I love to use this season as an opportunity to get my house really clean, all at once—at least once a year.

That said, there are years when you have terrible morning sickness, a baby is recently born, your family is in the process of moving, or there is illness going on. You know the years I mean, ladies! During those years, it can be helpful to only go after the actual, visible leavening, and rely on the prayer right before Passover, that says something like “any chametz I have not seen or cleaned out, I declare to be ownerless, like the dust of the earth…” In these years, do what you can and take your shalom without guilt.

Also, there is a whole discussion of what constitutes leavening, which I am not going to get into. I am similarly NOT going to focus on the spiritual applications of Passover cleaning. As you do the physical cleaning, there are lessons you will learn, if you allow yourself to notice them. Maybe if I feel philosophical, I will share my personal lessons here, at some point, but today is not that day.

So… to start on Passover cleaning, look at how many weeks you have left until the big Seder night, and leave the week just ahead of it for kitchen and dining room cleaning. From there, divide your house into zones, according to how many weeks you have left. For example, between Purim and Passover, there are 4 weeks. Leaving the kitchen and dining room for the last week, that gives me three weeks to attack the rest of the house. This year, our first week of cleaning went to the basement (where the playroom, Lego room and guest rooms are) and the bathrooms. It helps to start in the areas that are least trafficked with food. Next week, we will hit bedrooms and closets, and the week after that will be for our entryway, closet and living areas on the main floor.

It really helps to have a sign or two to remind people “no leavening beyond this point,”—or as my 6 year old daughter put it this year, “Levening is not Elawd,” so there is a visual reminder in place for those who might otherwise wander absentmindedly with food in hand. (I imagine what would REALLY help is training your kids a long time ago, not to take food beyond the kitchen and dining area, but ya know, that’s just not where we are, in our family!)

After you have your house divided by zone, it helps to set small daily goals, and write them down. I plan to do the cleaning over 4 days of the week, Sundays through Wednesdays this year. That way, I give myself an extra day to complete anything that we didn’t get to, on the weekly list, and there’s breathing room for shopping, cooking regular meals, do laundry and so forth. (Admittedly, I schedule easy meals for this time of year, too.)

In my first week of cleaning, we started slow and easy. The first day, we just rounded up all the obvious leavening in the kitchen cupboards and put it in our big “leavening box,” to be eaten up before the feast starts. Some folks call this “the feast of chametz.” My kids have permission and encouragement to reach into this box for a snack, this month. Graham crackers, bread for toast, crackers, pita chips, etc. are all available. Once eaten, they will likely not be replaced.

The next day, we did one half of the basement, the day after that, we did the other half, and our last day this week went to bathrooms. We didn’t quite finish the four bathrooms yet, so are thankful already for the extra day of scheduled grace that tomorrow gives, to finish the last one, and the floor in the second to last.

We clean each room or area from the top down, and towards the door, starting with cobwebs and moving down so the floors are last, and moving everything that doesn’t belong gradually toward the exit. It’s not rocket science. We have our reusable grocery bag full of cleaning supplies, and a stack of cleaning rags and the vacuum cleaner, so that we don’t have to waste time running from room to room. I also have a bag or bin for trash, and a basket for items that belong elsewhere in the house, so nobody essential has an excuse to leave the designated area. The basket is useful for occupying little messengers, as well, who are too small to do much of the big cleaning. “Here, run this upstairs for me! Thank you for your help!”

Random tips:

1. Don’t forget to schedule one day for cleaning the car(s) out!

2. Don’t forget, at the tail end, to take the vacuum cleaner bag full of crumbs to the big garbage, to go out!

3. We also usually bag up our toaster and take it to the garage for the week, to get it and it’s perma-crumbs out of our dwelling space.

Hope this helps! How did we do? What have I forgotten, or what tips can you add? I’m always interested in learning more!

I have always loved how Passover cleaning helps us relate to the slavery of Egypt and the freedom of the exodus. Lessons abound! May your Passover cleaning season be blessed with anticipation, and lead you into a holiday filled with joy!

Homeschool Fun Days!

Shalom, shalom!
We just returned a couple of weeks ago from our Israel harvest trip, and have hit the ground running as soon as Sukkot wrapped up, to get as much homeschooling in as possible before the next inevitable derailment. Be it in the form of guests, illness, or birthday season, it always comes. The freedom to adjust to life is one of our favorite things about homeschooling, and we have hit a quiet stretch right now (just when most are coming into their busy season, ours is nicely winding down!), so we are plugging away.

We have been very happy with our curriculum choice this year – homeschoolingtorah.com. The Elliotts have done a fantastic job of pulling scripture into each subject, and it takes quite a load off of me, doing the planning end of it. And so much freedom to cover what we need and leave what we don’t. What a blessing!

We have been covering our official school subjects Sunday through Thursday this year, leaving Fridays open for Shabbat prep. We have been doing some FUN stuff on Thursdays and some of my homeschooling readers might want to pick up this baton and run with it.

Basically, Thursdays are theme days. So far, we have done “Crazy Day” and “Backwards Day,” just to build anticipation and enthusiasm into our windup to Shabbat. Schools celebrate these kinds of things, mostly during “Spirit Week” around homecoming time. I came across a list online that was talking about finding ways other than sugar to reward kids, and this idea sparked for me. Theme week was my favorite part of the 6 months I went to actual school (kind of like kids who claim their favorite subject is recess), so I figure there is no reason homeschoolers can’t get in on this.

This kid gets into everything!

Very fashionable!

Gotta love the clip-on tie – especially on a t-shirt!

As it turns out, these days are SO much MORE fun for homeschoolers!!! (Since we are all family, everyone is comfortable and not trying to impress anyone, so we are free to participate with abandon – though at least one of us is still camera-shy!)

Fleeing the camera, with a swish of black cape!

For Crazy Day*, we all dressed up in clashing and/or crazy outfits. We had plaid with tie-dye and stripes, sequined hats, clip-on ties, and face paint. We played Musical Freeze for PE, and read some crazy stories. Our other advantage over school format is that we were able to incorporate thematic elements with our food. For Crazy Day, my daughter who was on breakfast duty put blue food coloring into our dutch baby oven pancakes. 🙂

blue pancakes – Crazy!

Chez Blue, herself!

For Backwards Day, we wore our shirts and sweaters backwards, started our school subject list at the bottom and worked our way up, ran our relay course in reverse (Daddy put the kibosh on running it backwards), and ate our meals in the opposite order – breakfast was dessert, lunch was dinner, and dinner was breakfast! We also found some funny backwards jokes to read out loud.

We are all getting into it (even our 4yo who MUST wear matching jammies eventually joined in), and looking forward to future Thursdays this year. I have heard suggestions for Medieval Day, Viking Day, Farmer Day, Pirate Day, Hat Day, Pajama Day, Stuffed Animal Day… You get the picture – the sky’s the limit! (Did I hear someone say Astronaut Day?)

To close this post, I want to give one more shout out to homeschoolingtorah.com. Thanks for freeing up my brain space to think about the fun stuff!!! 😀

Blessings to all!

*Disclaimer: Yes, I realize that many of us can claim “EVERY day is Crazy Day at MY house!” But making it official frees you up to enjoy it. Every little incident throughout the day made me smile and say “well, THIS fits right in with our theme!”

Guest Post: Afraid of Food?

In looking back at my life over the past several years, I have now come to realize that I have been held in bondage to the fear of food. I know that to many this may sound silly, weird or like some kind of super-spiritual madness. But to those who are willing to read my “note,” I ask that you bear with me and read on; I do have a purpose in sharing this, and I’m pretty sure I’m not “off my rocker.”

For numbers of years, I have been afraid of eating highly-processed foods, foods prepared in an improper way, pasteurized or denatured foods, foods with man-made garbage in them, and the like, all under the guise of “conviction.” It was about a week ago that I realized the fear that had gripped me – the bondage I was in, and the dues I’ve been paying for in my surrender to it. The moment my eyes were opened was the point at which God spoke through me to respond to my father on the subject of eating kosher. He asked me if we had a problem with eating half a pizza, with the other half having pork on it. I said to him: “We’re not afraid of eating pork; we eat kosher because we fear and love God.” I sometimes feel like I open my mouth to talk to someone and God starts speaking through me. It’s as though I stop in my own mind and listen to what’s coming out and think, “oh. . . that’s true, that’s good, I never thought of it that way.” And in speaking to my father. I found one of those moments.

In the week that followed, I believe that God spoke to my heart saying such things as these: Don’t deceive yourself any longer into believing that you eat “healthy” because you fear and love me. Don’t believe the lie that you are protecting yourself from “destroying God’s temple, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit” (your body) by eating healthy. You eat the way you do not to honor and glorify the Lord, and not because it’s right or good, but because you are afraid of what will happen if you don’t. You have said that you eat healthy because you are “convicted” to honor the Lord by taking care of the gift God gave you in the body you have. Who convicts you? Are you compelled by love, or driven by fear? Is it not that which comes out of your mouth and not what goes in that makes you unclean?

“When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” – Mark 7:14-16

How do you then justify your biting unkindness toward others who come between you and your fear? In whom have you put your trust – in God or food? In God or herbs and naturopathy? In God or man? If man has said that a certain food will kill you and you avoid it at all costs, are you not putting more trust in man than in God – for who alone numbers your days? Or are you afraid that you will not have quality of life? Is God not good? Is He not just? Is He not the blessed controller of all things? Has God not promised to work all things toward your good? Has God not promised to care for and protect you? And though there will be troubles, will God not deliver you from every one of them? And is God’s love and peace not better than life? How much time do you spend learning about and preparing food? How much money do you spend on that which fades? Are you storing up your treasures in heaven or on earth?

Lay down your sacrifices and cease your idolatry of self. Work no longer to stay the hand of an angry god who threatens you with death, disease and affliction unless you bring your sacrifices. Worship the Lord, the Lord only.

I have responded to the Lord with “YES, I want to worship you alone! And I am SO, SO sorry, Lord for my waywardness and idolatry; please change my heart.” I was amazed to find out after sharing with my husband that he had long believed I’d been deceived and duped into self-idolatry with regard to food. He had been praying for me, and trusting in God to save. It is very humbling for me to confess this to you all, but I feel compelled to share for a couple of reasons. First, our God is SO AMAZING. He is not like the god I once served who is without compassion and whose only motivation is fear. The Lord is patient, gracious, gentle, kind, good, merciful and full of everlasting love (to start with). I stand in awe of the fact that He is faithful even when I am not. And though to you the words (above) that I felt God speak to my heart may sound harsh, to my ears they were gentle and full of compassion. His words were true and to the point, convicting but not defeating. For in fact, godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to life and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. The second reason I am sharing this with you is in the hope that if any of my dear friends are suffering under this same deception, I might encourage you through my own experience that you might recover yourself from the snare of the devil. I am not writing this to point a finger. I’ll leave the job of convicting up to God. I do, however, want to encourage you to seek God and ask Him if you’ve made an idol in your heart, so that you might repent and be free. Now, for those of you who may still be wondering, no I don’t believe it is the good or right thing to (purposefully) be unhealthy and dishonor God with our bodies. The kicker to the lies and deceptions of our enemy is that they are mixed with the truth. The truth, I believe, is that it is a good and right thing to honor and glorify God with all that we are, think, say and do – including the way that we eat. In fact, God has told us how to eat to glorify Him (i.e. eating “kosher,” but of course, man always wants to add to or subtract from the words of God). It is also written that man was not made for food, food was made for man. Food ought not to control us, we ought to be in control of food, without love or fear. Perhaps the question we ought to train ourselves to ask in order that we might guard against idolatry is: “do I glorify God in what I am doing?” For if we were created to bring glory to God, to love Him, to fear Him, and to enjoy His love – then all that we do should bring forth that very fruit. So I ask myself, “is my eating bringing glory to God – or does the glory fall elsewhere?” The only one worthy of our love and fear is the Lord. So the question is, are we sacrificing ourselves to another, and is there something or someone we love or fear more than or along side of God? If so, let us repent, for the rewards of freedom are great!

Grace and peace be with you my friends!

Jen

I really appreciate what Jen shares here, and I just want to say that I was also living in fear of food for many years. My family was bound up with food allergies, and when the Father graciously started opening my eyes, I was in the grocery store, and I went down the aisle with the Holy Spirit looking over my shoulder, pointing out that I was afraid of that and that, and that . . . Then more scriptures spoke to me about this.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons . . . and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. – I Timothy 4:1-3

It is really amazing how many in believing communities these days have food allergies, and troubles with gluten. I have even seen a communion table in a church with labels for gluten-free communion wafers. The question I can’t get out of my mind is, “If Yeshua called himself ‘the Bread of Life,’ then isn’t bread not only good for us, but as essential to our long-term physical well being as He Himself is to our spiritual life?

Another thought to consider, along the lines of Jen’s note: anything you give up because you are afraid of it becomes a sacrifice on the altar of fear, in your life.

On to cleaning for Pesach! (Conversely, it must be good for us to go without chametz for one week a year, right? I wonder how many gluten problems might be cleared up by following this commandment . . . )

Blessings and Shalom to you all!

The Sin of Moses

Now, to sober things up a bit – or at least humble them up for me! I got a new insight today, on how the sin of Moses has crept into my life.

I’ve always wondered what, exactly, the sin of Moses was – you know, the one for which he was punished by not being allowed in to the Promised Land? Well, I’ve been struggling for awhile with knowing how to positively motivate my children. I’m ashamed to say I’ve resorted to guilting them way too often. Instead of encouraging and building up like the wise woman I want to be, I become a foolish woman, tearing down my house with my own hands. (Proverbs 14:1)

As I was praying today, asking for freedom from this tendency, the voice of Moses rang in my head, as he cried out, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10) My heart sank into repentance almost immediately, as I recognized the tone all too well. He is pushing guilt on the people, when they are asking for his help. Many times, when overwhelmed by all that is being asked of me by my large brood, I am prone to lash out instead of simply praying for patience and answering the requests in order of their immediacy.

The hardest thing, of course, is seeing the ugly fruit come out in my children’s interactions with each other. I hope and pray that we can all shake off the rotten fruit, and that I am able to be a better example to them from here on out. My hope is that we WILL be free, because this answer came directly in response to my prayer, and I asked for help in the right place – from the one who came to set captives free!

(I’m not saying this is ALL Moses was being punished for in this instance, but the L-rd has definitely used it to get my attention today. I also did look at the Rabbinic sources, and found out that this factor is one of the main 5 theories on the identification of Moses’ sin. (Thanks, Rambam!)

I have repented to my Father and my family, and pray for His help to keep this idea before me when temptation comes. And yes, it is also important to forgive myself and move on. If Moses, the meekest man on earth, was subject to this sin, I shouldn’t be surprised that it comes knocking at my door.

It is humbling to post this. It’s not something to be proud of, but I hope this can help someone else who might have the same tendency or temptation.

While writing this, the following song came on (available here: Psalms of Ascent CD), as a lovely underscore.

Psalm 130

New King James Version (NKJV)

Waiting for the Redemption of the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

130 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
² Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.

³ If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning—
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
⁸ And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

Hallelujah!

Shabbat and Commerce

Today, I’d like to address a common blind spot regarding Shabbat, among those from church backgrounds who would like to live a more Torah-observant lifestyle. Many who grew up in Christian churches see nothing wrong with going out to eat and then stopping off at Costco or Target as soon as the church service lets out on Sunday. It seems normal and acceptable, and it pretty much is – for Sunday. Some of us may hear tales from the old days about how stores and businesses used to close on Sunday, or maybe know of a few more “backward” (usually conservative) communities or just occasional businesses still follow this practice today. To most, this probably seems quaint, at this point in history, in the U.S..

But once you have been convicted by Torah and the Ruach (Spirit) that you need to keep Shabbat on Saturday, you can get into trouble, unthinkingly applying this practice to Shabbat, as well.

Though not explicitly stated in Torah, it is made abundantly clear in the book of Nehemiah that buying and selling are not to be normal activities on Shabbat:

15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. ¹⁶ Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

²¹ Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. ²² And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy! – Nehemiah 13:15-22

We see in this passage that commerce has to do with profaning the day. When we think of “profane” in common understanding, we think of something dirty, or filthy talk – profanity. What it really means, in this sense, is “common.” We have six other days in which we do common things – including working for a living, and spending our earnings. Shabbat is to be unlike the other, common days. In the Havdalah blessings, we bless G-d, “who separates the holy from the profane” (or “mundane”, depending on your translation.) The Torah does say we are to keep the Sabbath holy, and I believe the Nehemiah passage sheds light on how that was understood by the Torah’s original audience.
Shabbat is to be a day of resting – not only from our normal work, but also from acquiring material things. It is a day to be content with what we already have – and thank the One who has blessed us with so much. And more than that – we should aspire to avoid talking about business, or planning shopping trips, or engaging in any more of the workday materialism than absolutely necessary. Setting these as goals will add more Shalom to your Shabbat, without doubt. Just keep telling yourself, “I can do that another day,” and move on.

This commerce avoidance is a discipline, undoubtedly. When my family started to try keeping Shabbat when I was a teen, we didn’t figure it out for awhile. But the Father was faithful and patient with us, and gave us a few lessons we could look back on as markers along the path. The first, we refer to as “Sabbath Jam.” My mom unthinkingly bought two or three flats of strawberries from the local berry stand on a Saturday morning in June. The berries then took top priority, as we went to work cleaning and hulling them all, to turn into our yearly jam supply. We realized our mistake when we were still up to our elbows in strawberries. We were up late in the night, dealing with all the berries, which would have spoiled if we had left them for later. As it was, the jam we made never set, so every time we ate the extremely runny jam for the rest of the year, we were reminded to avoid the common (buying berries and making jam for future consumption) on the holy Shabbat.

Another time, after we were better informed, we went into a store to get some necessary/emergency supplies on Shabbat, and I saw a beautiful shirt I just had to have. It was on sale, and away from our usual shopping locations, so after debating with myself, I decided to buy it while I was there anyway. It wasn’t working, right? And it was so simple – just reaching into my purse for some cash, and it was mine. Well . . . when I got it home, it was still beautiful, but it was sewn wrong. The buttons didn’t line up with the buttonholes, so it never looked right when I wore it. Yes, I could have gone to work and moved all the buttons, but I decided to leave it that way, and keep it as a reminder not to go clothes shopping on Shabbat.
Another problem that engaging in commerce raises is that of paying someone else who IS working, and thereby contributing to their breaking of the holy day that was instituted at Creation (Genesis 2:3). Even if they aren’t convicted that they need to keep this day sacred, if you know better, yet you are contributing to what you know to be their sin, are you accountable?

Just some things to think about, Obviously, this discussion can (and has) gone on for thousands of years, regarding where to draw your family’s lines, what constitutes “emergency spending,” etc.. And this is only one aspect of Sabbath-keeping.

If you are interested in further discussion and examination, I found a couple of neat articles on the topic. The first is really fun, the second is more scholarly, with some great points.

Saturday Without My Wallet

How to Observe a Biblical Sabbath

As always, I welcome discussion and questions.

Thanks for reading, and Shavua Tov!

THOUGHTS ON UNITY or “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”

It takes lots of strands to make a big, beautiful challah loaf. I like to think of the body of believers as each being a strand that contributes to the beauty of the loaf.

Having just come from a marvelous Shavuot celebration that lasted all through Memorial Day weekend, which included believers at all different levels of background and observance – everyone from what I would call “straight” church through to Orthodox Jewish secret believers, thoughts of unity are much on my heart. Praying through this, I believe they are much on our Father’s heart as well.

YESHUA’S PRAYER

Have you noticed that Yeshua’s prayer for his disciples, recorded in John 17 is all about unity? In context, this prayer is spoken immediately before He goes to the garden of Gethsemane, where his betrayal takes place. This is a crucial moment, leading up to the climax of history, and what is on the mind of the Messiah? Unity. Our unity. In part, as He is praying for His talmidim (students/disciples), He speaks these words:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-25)

Earlier in the same teaching, He instructs His followers, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

One of my friends remarked that this instruction and prayer give the effect of a father who is about to leave the room, speaking to his children: “OK, I’m going away for a little while. Please don’t kill each other while I’m gone.” As a mother of seven, this reading makes sense to me. Yeshua, looking down through history, knew what our greatest challenge would be: getting along with each other.

DISPUTES BETWEEN BROTHERS

Or maybe we’re more like monkey bread . . . with nuts!

Looking through the Bible, this is hardly surprising. Start with Cain and Abel, and go from there. Moses was wearing himself to a frazzle, settling disputes between the children of Israel, when his father-in-law saw what was going on and counseled him to put 70 elders in place to help relieve him of the necessity of paying attention to the smaller disputes. The children of Israel needed to have 70 more authorities put in place to help them settle things!

This wise provision indicates to me that we are to EXPECT disputes to arise in this life. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known“ (I Cor. 13:12). In this world, where our understanding is darkened, we should expect to have some differences with people, including other believers, and we should make provision for resolution of these disputes. Notice that many, if not all of the letters in the Apostolic portion of the Bible seem to have been written at least partially to settle disputes that had already arisen in the believing community.

There are so many examples of division between those who are supposed to be loving brothers in Scripture that I don’t need to go into all of them here. I pray that the Father will bring to your eyes and mind the ones relevant for each reader.

To lighten this up a bit, here’s an old but pertinent joke:

A man is rescued after many years on a desert island.

As he stands on the deck of the rescuing vessel, the captain says to him, “I thought you were stranded alone. How come I can see three huts on the beach?”

“Well,” replies the castaway, “that one there is my house and
that one there is where I go to church.”

“And the third one?” asks the skipper.

“Oh, that’s the church I DON’T go to.”

CLUB VS. FAMILY

This may come as a surprise, but after being so long in the Messianic community (24 years, this Shavuot!), I have noticed that those who have grown up in the traditional Christian community are generally less tolerant of each other than those from Jewish backgrounds, whether believers in Yeshua or not. Maybe it’s just that they’ve had so much longer to internalize the lessons of Moses and the elders than we have. Whatever the cause, I think we can learn some things here, from our older brothers and sisters in the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It’s not that they don’t disagree with each other (most of you probably know the saying, “where you have two Jews, you have three opinions”), but they are more likely to have mastered the skill of “agreeing to disagree.”

I have heard the different perspectives explained as a difference between a “club mentality” versus a “family mentality.” Jewish people, in general, no matter what their level of observance, view each other as family members. They might roll their eyes at the loudly declared opinion of their obnoxious Uncle Joe, but they don’t tend to decide that he’s too obnoxious to remain in the family. See this video for a prime example:

Those with Church backgrounds are more prone to view their body as an exclusive one, and pick and choose who gets invited to join up, and even then, keep bickering with those who make it past the initiation, building offense upon offense and taking things personally that aren’t meant that way, getting defensive and causing “church splits.”

To anyone with a basic understanding of Church history, it’s hardly surprising to see this effect at work in the body. While there have only been three major branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform) that make room for huge differences of opinion within themselves, the history of the church is like a gigantic, 2000 year old oak tree with all the big limbs splitting, branching off each other, and forming tiny little independent twigs and even splinters. In one town in Georgia, I counted 22 different BAPTIST Churches – and I’m sure each one has its own reason that it’s got a “corner on the truth”! In my observation, this kind of division in the body is one of the main reasons that people give up and leave fellowship altogether. I have a real hard time understanding the point behind “church planting” in the US. Is that really what we need – MORE varieties of church for people to choose from?

BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

Several scriptures came to mind, as I meditated on this issue, and all deserve consideration. They are all related, but I’m going to tackle them one at a time.

1.) Though Peter’s vision is usually called in as evidence in arguments about kosher/non-kosher requirements, I would like to reference it here because the whole point of the vision, given directly by the voice of G-d, is “what G-d has cleansed, you must not call common” (Acts 10:15). As Peter interpreted his vision, he said “G-d has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28b). Peter had a huge discrepancy in practice from those he was called to minister to, but G-d Himself instructed him to not regard these things as a barrier between men and interfering with fellowship.

2.) “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5). I have noticed many times that when some issue disturbs me in someone else, if I pray about it, the issue is usually something I need to address in my own walk. His principles hold true! Isn’t He good to have given us this insight? “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (I Cor. 11:31).

3.) “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). It is amazing how many judgments and divisions are made over outward appearances! We tend to get so caught up in setting up our “club” around things like headcoverings, tzitzit, etc., and only surrounding ourselves with people who look just like ourselves, that we miss a great deal of fellowship with others who don’t have the same convictions in those areas. It is good to have discussions and find out the stories behind these choices that believers make. These are good things, but our motivation to take them on should not be “fitting in.” If you are curious about people’s choices, please ask them about them, and don’t presume they are doing something to be “holier than thou” (even though that is occasionally the case, it usually isn’t). Ask, and prepare to have your understanding expanded by someone else’s journey! I have talked to my children about how one of the enemy’s favorite lies is that we all have to look alike. G-d made each of us with a different role to play, and when we are busy trying to be like each other, our individual lights are dimmed. We get so focused on comparing ourselves to each other that our focus gets off of where it should be – following Him as He has called us to do.

4.) “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for G-d has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for G-d is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:3-4) All of Romans 14 is marvelously on-point for this argument, though I won’t quote the whole thing, as I’m sure you each have a copy and will be good Bereans and give it a read. It talks about not judging each other over which feast days we observe, as well as what we eat. None of these things are what some would call “salvation issues.” “The kingdom of G-d is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). I urge you to give this chapter a read, if you are experiencing unity troubles in your fellowship!

5.) “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of G-d” (Matthew 5:9). Think about it – what is the role of a peacemaker? Usually, the peacemaker is the one that talks to both sides involved in a dispute and helps each of them to understand the other side’s perspective. I don’t know about you, but when I see one of my children peacemaking between their siblings, it makes me so happy and proud that I want to shower the peacemaker with blessings. I am thrilled to call that one “my child”!! (On a side note, Isn’t the L-rd good to give us examples we can relate to? I love that!)

WHAT I’M NOT SAYING

Yes, we are warned against wolves in the flock: “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember” (Acts 20:29-31a). This does not mean that we cast “wolf accusations” against everyone who is not on the exact same page as ourselves. Think about the characteristics of wolves. Wolves enter not by the gate (“he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” John 10:1) – they don’t respect the authority that is in place, or ask permission from the shepherd to teach, but go around the edges of the flock, preying on the weak or immature believers. So we should be on our guard against those who use these wolfish tactics, even if they are dressed as sheep.

Also, I am not saying that we have to include all believers in our general area in every meeting we have. The Father puts some in place to walk on the road together, while others need to camp out in the oasis for a while or take time to stop and tie their shoes, or whatever. Some of us are incompatible as traveling companions, but that doesn’t mean we can’t respect one another. Give Uncle Joe the space to be Uncle Joe. You don’t need to meet him head on, unless you are being obviously called to confront him or warn him of danger – and you usually aren’t.

I am also not saying that we shouldn’t disagree with each other. This is where “iron sharpening iron” comes in. As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend (Proverbs 27:17). But the goal of discussions and debate should not necessarily be to ultimately convince the other to adopt your own opinion. It should be to consider new ways of thinking about a given topic and thereby refine our spirits with another perspective. There is a reason G-d created us with two eyes. If we open both of them, we gain a more complete understanding of what we are looking at. The goal is not to subject each other to increasing levels of “initiation” and grilling.

SO, WHAT ARE WE CALLED TO DO?

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). As long as we are judging ourselves, rather than each other, we can’t forget to take a look at this incriminating piece of evidence. We all fail at this standard by doing unloving things toward others on a daily basis, as far as I can tell. I know I do.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the L-RD your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” If we never pick another commandment to try to follow, these are enough. For me, the loving G-d part is easy. He is perfect and holy. Our neighbors, on the other hand, are the challenge. They are imperfect, as we are. This is what grace is for. We should also understand, though, that since “all the law and prophets hang on these two,” if we start trying to keep the various laws and instructions in Torah, we will notice that they will teach us what love and grace look like. As long as we focus on internal alignment of our hearts with the commandments, they will tend to drive us toward love and grace, not away from them. The commandments are there to teach us how to love each other, and are chosen as the path of those who love G-d.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Stir each other towards what? LOVE AND GOOD WORKS!! Let me exhort you: both are important! And neither is accomplished by aligning ourselves on teams against each other. Come on, we can do this, people! Stir each other up, but don’t take offense if someone else doesn’t follow your example or do what you encouraged, or even love someone as you would have them do! Encourage them, stir them up, then LET GO!

“He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).
“He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” (Hebrews 7:25b).

(For additional perspective, see also Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12 for discussion on members of the body having different functions, strengths and weaknesses, and also I Corinthians 13 for what love looks like!)

In the spirit of this post, please feel free to discuss or disagree, below! 😉

Our Christmas Journey

I wrote this post last year, before setting up my blog, but a friend who originally read it on facebook recently requested I dig it up and repost. As it is appropriate for this time of year, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share it here, as well. I enjoyed reviewing it myself, and hope you find it thought-provoking!

Once upon a time, our family went “all-out” for Christmas. We shopped for presents for months; we baked goodies and passed them out to friends and neighbors; we all donned our Santa hats (even the baby) to shop for our Christmas tree, and decked it with colorful lights and festive ornaments. We wrote letters to Santa, and left them on the table with cookies and eggnog. We even thoughtfully left a carrot outside for Rudolph. My husband and I stayed up long into the night on Christmas Eve, wrapping presents and drinking eggnog while we watched the “Scrooge” movie. He had the job of assembling the big Santa presents for the kids, and I made big bows for all the packages. Christmas morning, we were awakened by excited children and would all trot downstairs together to open stockings and to see what else Santa had left. After our traditional breakfast of Baked French Toast, we would gather around the tree to read the Christmas story from Luke 2 in the Bible and would reflect momentarily on how Jesus was the “reason for the season,” and tell our children that it was His birthday we were celebrating. Then we would pass out the presents. Each child had a heap near their spot – carefully counted so that we would each have the same number of things to open, which is important when you open the gifts one at a time, and take turns around the room, as we always did. Later in the day, we would go to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for a glorious feast and more presents would be exchanged. I’m sure you know. You’ve probably done similar things yourself all your life.

But in our house one year, things started to change. It started when we watched our children opening the gifts we had so thoughtfully chosen to delight them. Instead of the typical movie-child reactions of surprise and gratitude we were expecting, we saw the ugliness of greed on their faces as each of them would finish opening one gift, immediately set it aside, and turn to the remainder of their mountainous pile, asking “What’s next for ME?” Amid the wrapping-paper carnage, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “Something’s wrong, here.” We started to wonder what kinds of seeds we were planting.

And then there were the questions. Questions about Santa – “How can he fit down the chimney?” “How can the reindeer fly?” “How can he get to every house around the world in one night?” You know the questions. You asked them yourself, as a child. We dutifully passed on the same answer our parents had given us: “It’s Christmas magic!”

But there, we had a problem. You see, our family believes in the Bible. We believe every word is literally true. Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matt. 5:18) And we read aloud from the Bible with some regularity. When we came to Deuteronomy 18, we found our problem:

“When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” (Deut. 18:9-14)

So, since we’re trying to do things as scripturally as possible, and are teaching our children the way to live to please the Lord, we asked ourselves, “Why are we lying to them about a non-existent ‘magic man’?” Oh, and why are we telling them Santa “sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”? Hmm. Doesn’t that make Santa omnipotent? Like God? And the children are supposed to behave in a way that pleases Santa, so he will give them good things – after we let him enter our house un-resisted in the middle of the night. And if we set out our little “sacrifice” of cookies and eggnog he’ll be pleased, and give them what they want (not to mention that he gets the credit for the thoughtful gifts that WE chose and paid for!). Is it just us, or does that sound a bit like idolatry? I hope you see our problem – lying, magic, AND a false god. It really bugged us.

So, Santa got the ax. We managed to disabuse our children of the Santa notion in the car one night, as we drove across a bridge – literally and symbolically. We confessed and apologized to our children for lying. They were rather stunned, of course – more because their parents had lied than anything else. Mostly, though, our parents, who think of Santa as a harmless game, were upset that the kids weren’t “believers” any more. Later, we realized we had just made ourselves the “bad guys” in every Christmas movie on the planet. But if we want them to believe us when we tell them about God and what He has done for us, what else could we do?

So we asked ourselves, “what about the other Christmas traditions?” and looked into them, too. Sure enough, all pagan. I won’t go into them here. If you’re interested, there’s an abundance of information at your fingertips. Just google “origin” and any Christmas tradition you’d care to name – they’re all on the list – yule log, mistletoe, evergreen boughs, and tree included.

And then we noticed a passage in Jeremiah:

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. (Jeremiah 10: 1-4)

And my husband pointed out that every time we went to retrieve a gift from under that tree, we had to bow or kneel before it. What happened to “learn not the way of the heathen”?

Apparently, what happened was that back in history, the Catholic church, in their zeal to make converts, adopted a whole bunch of practices from the people they were “converting” to make it easier for those people to become Christians. The new converts would be able to continue celebrating as they always had, but their God now had a new name – Jesus.

But why were those things still hanging on? Wouldn’t the converts have gradually given up their pagan ways as they realized Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life? And it WAS still His birthday, wasn’t it?

Well, no. Let’s change the subject and talk about Halloween for a moment. Many Christians have realized, over the last 20 years or so, that Halloween is basically a celebration of evil and the occult, and have pulled back from their observance of it. But so that their kids could still dress up in cute costumes and enjoy candy like their neighbors, Christian parents have begun offering Halloween alternatives such as church harvest parties, also held on Halloween night, so they can still have the fun without the scary, bad parts.

Christmas started out sort of the same way. There are actually several pagan festivals that took place on the date that we know as December 25. Among the gods associated with that day are the Roman Saturn, Babylonian Tammuz, and Persian Mithras. It was known as the “birthday of the unconquered sun,” and was an occasion for revelry and debauchery. We noticed in scripture that the word “Christmas” doesn’t appear anywhere, nor does the Bible instruct us to celebrate Jesus’ birth. We learned how early believers showed no concern for celebrating the birth of the Messiah until around the 3^rd century, when there were several possible dates being considered – scattered throughout the year. When it came down to it, in the 4^th century, Rome decided to celebrate Jesus’ birthday on the same day as these other pagan festivals.

So it’s as if, hundreds of years from now, Christians believed that “Harvest” was a Christian holiday, and imbued it with meanings it didn’t originally have, because it was originally just a substitute holiday for Halloween. We even found out that Christmas-keeping was actually illegal in the American Colonies until the 1850s! That’s why the whole movement to “keep the ‘Christ’ in Christmas” is such a head-scratcher to those who know the background.

In the Bible, we learn that God is really big on making distinctions. He separates things with regularity – light from darkness, clean from unclean, Israel from the nations. He sets things apart to be called “holy” – people (the tribe of Levi), things (the instruments of the tabernacle), places (Mt. Zion), and times (His holy days). He tells His people to “Be holy, as I am holy.” He tells us to come out from among the peoples of the earth and “be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:17).

The other day, we passed by a house that had a huge jumble of blow-up characters on the lawn, including a nativity scene surrounded by Santa, Frosty, Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. Are we really reducing the Messiah of the world to the status of a fictional character and making him compete for the children’s attention to that extent? As my daughter asked, “Mom, can we just call the holiday ‘Chrismush’?”

Though we were uncomfortable with all of this, we still weren’t ready to totally walk away from our childhood traditions, so we decided to pack up the Christmas decorations and leave them in the attic for one year, just to see how we did, and if our conviction on these things would lighten. We would still go out to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for dinner, just for the fun of joining in on the traditional get-together. We thought we might be able to just do it as a family tradition, without religious connotations.

What we found was that there was way too much awkwardness in trying to do things halfway. We would tell people we would come to the celebration, but not to get us any gifts. So, there we would be sitting, as we watched others open their gifts to each other, our kids eating their hearts out as the colorful packages beckoned from beneath the tree. Oh, and the family hadn’t been able to resist getting us “a little something,” since they were doing presents anyway. But we had no gifts for any of them, which made us look cheap and uncaring, and they felt funny doing things in front of us that they knew we had consciously chosen to avoid. We realized with sinking hearts that this was not working out. What were we supposed to do? Just do the Christmas shopping anyway, so we would have something to give our hosts? And then, if we’re doing that, why weren’t we giving anything to our children? That would put us right back in the whole frenzy. Sorry, but Christmas IS largely about the gifts.

We know from the Bible that God wants us to use discernment, and judge things by the fruits they bear.

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matt. 7: 17-20)

When we stepped back a bit and observed, the things we saw as the fruits of Christmas in our family were Greed, Materialism, Perfectionism, and Drivenness – and a whole lot of Nostalgia – none of which are among the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

Something else we noticed was that when we pulled back from Christmas, the other holidays got a LOT more attention. We had been participating in celebrating the holy days laid out by God in Leviticus 23 for many years at that point, but hadn’t noticed that we weren’t giving them the attention they deserved as something the Father had actually put in scripture as part of His everlasting covenant.

Because we observe these holidays and steer clear of Christmas, some friends and family have thought we have turned away from our Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew), and are trying to be Jewish. Nothing could be further from the truth! We strive to follow his example in all areas of our lives, which includes celebrating the holidays that were His family traditions, growing up – Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Did you know that Jesus even celebrated Hanukkah? (“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” – John 10:22) Christmas isn’t on the list. But we found that if Christmas is still on OUR possibility list, it will always be the King of Holidays, because that’s the way we were raised, and because it takes so much preparation time and attention to do it “right.” When Christmas went away, we did sooo much better at planning and preparing for these festivals, it was amazing!

So, we liked many things about the choice to abandon Christmas – less stress, more focus on the Lord and lessons from Him. It felt like cutting out a lot of clutter from the attic. We just breathed easier, and watched the frenzy around us with peace in our hearts, though the feeling that family was hurt by our absence, and was celebrating without us was (and is) difficult.

The final scripture we read that made us cross the point of no return was the one about Nadab and Abihu, in Leviticus 10. They were priests in the Tabernacle who offered “strange fire,” before the Lord and were struck dead on the spot. What was “strange” about the fire they offered? Only that God had not commanded it. They were offering it to Him, but it was their own idea, and not coming from obedience. As Keith Green put it, “To Obey is Better than Sacrifice.” We have come to see Christmas as strange fire. We are uncomfortable offering something different than what He has asked us for. It would be like sending your son to bring you a screwdriver, and having him decide to bring you a cup of coffee instead. A cup of coffee is nice, but it doesn’t do the job you need done. God has tools he has laid out for us to use, and unless we use the right ones, we aren’t getting the full benefit of what He wants to teach us as we practice using them.

We found that a celebration of Jesus’ birth fits much better with a holiday he would have observed – the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot. It is an eight-day celebration where we build a temporary dwelling and celebrate the theme of God dwelling with us, as well as appreciating the temporary nature of this life. So when many people are starting their Christmas shopping, you can find us sitting outside in our beautifully decorated sukkah, eating special treats, enjoying fellowship with family and friends (yes, there are others who share our convictions!), and learning the lessons God has for us that are inherent in the things He has actually commanded us to do. We are amazed at what we learn through simple obedience!

His holy days are so rich and stunning and amazing that contrasting them with Christmas reminds me of the time there was a lightning storm on the Fourth of July one year. We were watching the fireworks until the lightning started up. The lightning was sooo much bigger and more amazing than anything man could have designed. The fireworks looked utterly puny and silly next to the flashes that lit up the entire sky!

So, this Christmas Eve, we’ll have a cozy fire, flickering candlelight, the scent of spices and fresh baking in the air, and music, games and great conversation around a richly decked table, but it will be in celebration of Erev Shabbat, a Holy Day Jesus would have observed on a weekly basis.

2011 update: For the record, Erev Shabbat does NOT coincide with Christmas Eve this year, but the 8 days of Hanukkah (another feast Jesus DID celebrate – See John 10:22) will overlap. We are taking advantage of the long weekend this year, and planning a getaway with friends, as we all celebrate Hanukkah together. Chag Sameach!

New for 2013: See https://fruitfulvinewife.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/christmas-journey-update/ !

 

Passover Thoughts about the Sahara

just a fraction of the sprawling Sahara

First off, you need to know that I believe that every word of the Bible, in its original language, is literally, figuratively, symbolically, and scientifically true.

If you don’t accept that premise, you’re going to have a hard time reading what I write, and will probably be inclined to mock it.  You should probably find something else to read about now.

I have personally seen too much evidence of the mind of our Creator at work in the Hebrew scriptures to believe anything else, and one of my favorite pastimes is looking for evidence of His hand in the world around me.  I find it everywhere, but most particularly at work in the land, people and language of Israel.

OK – so here comes my first crazy thought.

(You do realize that if you have a crazy thought and you google it and come up with NOTHING, that you are pretty much obligated to blog, in order to add it to the vast universe of crazy thoughts on the internet, right? Just so we’re clear!)

I woke up this past Sunday morning with the thought, “What if the plagues G-d poured out on Egypt in the book of Exodus were the cause of the Sahara Desert?”  I wasn’t even quite awake when the thought occurred, and it jolted me out of my drowsiness to ask, “Wait – WHAT?!?”

(Our family has been celebrating Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread this past week.  We hosted a Seder for 58 people, and I wrote our own Haggadah to go with it the week before – in between cleaning spurts to get all the crumbs of out of my castle.  So the plagues have been rolling through my brain.)

So, I of course grabbed my laptop to do a little research:  Sahara Desert, Northern Africa = the size of the entire US!

Apparently, scientists agree (now, there’s a head-scratcher!) that the Sahara Desert began about 4,000 years ago.  There is an abundance of evidence that says it wasn’t always a wasteland – that there are dry riverbeds and fossils of lush vegetation, as well as human art work and the remains of cities beneath the sand.

What historians can’t agree on is the exact time frame of the Exodus of the nation of Israel from Egypt – but 4,000 years ago is definitely “in the zone,” for my purposes at 6am on a Sunday.

I dug further.

It turns out that the two factors required for the process of desertification (previously useful land becoming desert) are:

1.) death of plant life, and

2.) strong winds, which loosen topsoil unanchored by plant roots.

That got me REALLY thinking.

Hail and locusts killed the plants.

Strong winds occurred – for a night and a day – to bring the locusts into Egypt (from the east), and also to take them out of Egypt (from the west, driving them into the sea).

Then an incredibly strong east wind blew all night – strong enough to part the Red Sea!

I’m thinking it sounds like a viable theory.

So there’s my first crazy thought.  Do with it what you will . . .

Shalom, Shalom

So this is my first post . . . hopefully I’ll be better at updating than my sister-in-law, who never got further than this – so far! I’m beginning this blog because I have had some interesting thoughts occur on Torah-related topics.  I googled all of them and came up with NOTHING – so apparently, these are new thoughts that haven’t yet occurred to any blogger or journalist in this day and age, so I thought I’d put them out there to see what others think, and to give others something to find when they google their revelations!

Allow me to introduce myself – to a point.  I am Rivkah, a 2nd-generation homeschooling, Torah-observant mom to 6 beautiful children under 13.  I hardly have time for this, except occasionally in the middle of the night.  I am a “fruitful vine wife” to my husband Ya’akov, and we are nearing our 13th anniversary!  I am blessed to be his bride and the momma to our children.  I am trying to love the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and have experienced His miraculous healing power.  I love Israel, and the Hebrew language, and am looking forward to the complete restoration of the whole land and people of Israel, as anticipated by the prophets and apostles throughout the scriptures!

Of course, there’s a lot more to me, but that’s a good view of my core.

I hope you enjoy my blog – and I hope I do, too! 🙂

Oh, and I hope you all had a Happy Passover!