It was on this day in the year 109 B.C. that King John Hyrcanus destroyed the city of Samaria, the capital of the Samaritans. Eventually, this day became a national holiday in Judea. However, the ancient sect of Samaritans has survived to this very day. For centuries, they were considered as an internal threat to […]
When traveling in the Middle East, certain things become very clear very quickly. One of those things is the value of water. It’s badly needed. It’s scarce and, consequently, a very valuable commodity. The value of water is accentuated by the fact that, in Israel, water was needed for a person to immerse himself in […]
According to tradition, it was on this day in 164 B. C., that the stones of the sacred altar were defiled by the Greeks and removed from the Temple. When it comes to God’s house, anything that has been deemed holy is not to be contaminated with those things that are considered to be common […]
It was on this day in 1917 that the British Army captured Gaza from the Turkish Empire as they advanced toward Jerusalem and beyond. The area that we now know as Israel is part of a region called the Levant, which stretches from the fertile regions of Mesopotamia, through Syria and Israel and down to […]
As God’s people, we are called to be holy which is also understood to be “set apart,” or in Hebrew, Kadosh, holy. “For I am the Lord your God. You shall, therefore, consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). You “shall be holy” seems to indicate that there is […]
“But as many, as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13) All of us want to be considered […]
Today we want to recall the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman in John’s gospel. On that day and in that culture, this conversation would have been borderline scandalous. But there are some very interesting things in that conversation that all believers need to take to heart. “But the hour is coming, and now […]
There is a principle in Scripture that is reinforced repeatedly throughout the Bible which conveys this message: without suffering, there is no glory. Of course, everybody wants glory, but few are willing to embrace the suffering that precedes it. Yet, Messiah made it very clear, on many occasions and in many different ways, that this […]
According to many traditions, on this day the flood of Noah began. We read about it in Genesis 7:11, 13: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of […]
It was on this day in 1949 that the Aliyah known as “Magic Carpet,” immigration of thousands of Yemenite Jews to Israel, began. During this operation, some 49,000 Yemenite Jews were airlifted to Israel aboard British and American transport flights. The official Hebrew name of this operation was Kanfei Nesharim, or “On the Wings of […]
It was on this day in 1938 that the Nazi pogrom, later known as Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass,” took place throughout Germany and Austria. This event was precipitated by the murder of a German Embassy official in Paris at the hands of a Polish-born Jew. Looking at the severity and extensiveness of […]
It was on this day in 1917 that the British government gave final approval to the adoption of the Balfour Declaration. This was a document that declared British support for those Jews who were trying to establish a Jewish homeland in the Holy Land. It was written by the UK’s Foreign Minister, Arthur James Balfour. […]
