Temple in Jerusalem
UN Acknowledges Temple Mount History United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave an interview with Israel Radio on Friday, January 27, in which he said, among other things, that it is “completely clear that the Temple that the Romans destroyed in Jerusalem was a Jewish temple.” The Secretary-General’s comments stand in stark contrast to an action taken in the United Nations about 4 months ago in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a resolution pushed by Palestinians that Jewish people have zero ties to the...
Read MoreLife vs. Death
Cleanness vs. Uncleanness in Leviticus According to the Introduction to Leviticus in the English Standard Version Study Bible, “Another interpretative issue is how one should understand various concepts such as uncleanness, cleanness, and holiness. Great debate accompanies this issue, for the simple reason that Leviticus often provides various laws concerning cleanness and uncleanness without giving an explicit rationale of why something or someone is clean or unclean (e.g., Chapter 12). “Traditionally, commentators have thought that the rationale behind these rules was to be...
Read MoreHanukkah-Christmas
This Christmas across the country there may be fewer Jewish people eating Chinese food and going to the movies because in 2016 Hanukkah and Christmas share the same weekend. The first night (Jewish holidays begin at sunset) of the Jewish festival of lights falls on Christmas Eve and the first day lands on Christmas. The full dates for Hanukkah 2016 are the evening of Dec. 24 to the evening of Jan. 1. Some families will surely retain some of the modern tradition of consuming Asian-American cuisine and a film, one born of having a day off when most other businesses are closed. But this time,...
Read MoreJewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah or in Hebrew ראש השנה, which literally means “head of the year,” is celebrated in 2016 from sundown on October 2 to nightfall on October 4. The Hebrew date for Rosh Hashanah is 1 Tishrei 5777. The holiday actually takes place on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. This is because Rosh Hashanah, one of four new years in the Jewish year, is considered the new year of people, animals and legal contracts. In the Jewish oral tradition, Rosh Hashanah marks the completion of the creation of the world. Rosh...
Read MoreBeverley visiting
For over 30 years His Branches has been encouraging and helping support a Canadian woman, Beverley Timgren, who has been a faithful and quiet witness to the love and resurrection power of Jesus in the Middle East for decades. Dr. Bill first met Beverley at a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem sponsored by the International Christian Embassy-Jerusalem (ICEJ) in 1982. She was in the process of being called as a dental hygienist to serve the people of war-torn South Lebanon at the very time we were discovering that the Lord wanted our ministry to be involved in the same area....
Read MorePassover 2016
The festival of Passover or Pesach, will begin on Friday as Jewish communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, in one of the important festivities in the Jewish calendar. According to the Book of Exodus in the Torah, Moses called for the Pharaoh to free the Israelites, warning that if he failed to do so, Egypt would be struck by terrible plagues – the last one of which would be the death of every Egyptian first-born male. The Pharaoh refused to do so, despite the onslaught of plagues of frogs, flies, the death of livestock and total darkness. To avoid the...
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