Today we are just four days away from what is considered, in Judaism, to be the holiest day of the year. Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement marks the culmination of a 40-day period of Teshuvah, or repentance. On Yom Kippur atonement was made for the sins of the nation and the individual. The […]
It was on this day, that tradition says that the son of Jacob, Naphtali, was born. Naphtali’s birth came about as a result of one of the most infamous sibling rivalries in all of Scripture, that between Leah and Rachel. These two sisters had been contending with one another for the affection of the same […]
In the Gospel of John, we are given the account of the sickness, eventual death and subsequent resurrection of Lazarus. One of the more interesting features in this particular story is Christ’s delay in going to him followed with this statement in John 11:4: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of […]
It was on this day that Gedaliah ben Ahikam, governor of Judah after the destruction of the First Temple, was assassinated by other Jews at Mizpah (2 Kings 25:22-25). To commemorate this assassination and the dispersal of the Jewish remnant still left in the land of Judea, a fast day was initiated. There is a […]
Today is considered by Judaism to be the second day of Yom Teruah (a.k.a. Rosh Hashanah or “head of the year.”). And so, on this day, the story of the akedah or “the binding” of Isaac, found in Genesis 22:9-10, is read in the synagogue. “Then they came to the place of which God had […]
On the Hebrew calendar, today is known as Yom Teruah (a.k.a. Rosh Hashana) or the Feast of Trumpets. According to tradition, there are several key events in history that happened on this day. For starters, tradition says that the creation of Adam and Eve occurred on this day. It’s also believed, according to some interpretations, […]
Today is the last day in the month of Elul and it was on this day that tradition believes God created the sea creatures and fowls of the air. The Bible says: So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every […]
Today, the 28th day of Elul marks the commemoration of the fourth day of creation. According to Scripture, here’s what happened on the fourth day: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for […]
Today is considered to be the commemoration of the third day of Creation. According to the Scripture, here’s what happened on the third day: Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” and it was so. And God called the dry land […]
Judaism believes it was on this day, the 25th of Elul, that Creation began. This belief is based on another tradition which assigns the day that Adam was created on as the first day of Tishri, also known as Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets). The Bible tells us that Adam was created on the […]
It was on this day, in 520 B.C., that Zerubbabel and the people of Judea began to clear the Temple site in preparation of the construction of the Second Temple. We can read about this in the book of Haggai: “So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of […]
There’s an old saying, attributed to George Santayana, that says: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” During the month of Elul we are reminded of this truth, because the month of Elul is the time of year that we are called upon to acknowledge our past and repent of […]
