Month: March 2017

England

I will be teaching a full day seminar in the London area on Saturday, April 22. If you live in that area, you are most welcome to join us.

Subject: The place of Gentiles alongside Israel these days, and the way you can prepare yourselves for the coming events.

For more details contact Annette Powell: (01462) 622986 or (079)64201959/ (079)73811089 or by email at echadonenewman@live.co.uk

Finland

From April 28 to May 3 I will be teaching in various places in Finland (Turku, Tampere and possibly Helsinki). If you would like to attend, please contact Inkeri at inkeri.shira@yahoo.com or Liisa at liisa.kuusinen@dnainternet.net for more details.

Some of the subjects I will be covering there:

• Walking through the Tabernacle of Moses as a tool for discipleship and healing;
• What is God saying to us through our hardships and negative feelings and thoughts?
• What is the role of Gentiles on behalf of Israel these days?
• How can you best pray for Israel? What does she truly need right now?

USA

Israel

If you are planning, however, to visit Israel this coming year, here is something for you to consider. “Taglit HaMaayan” (Meaning: Discovery through HaMaayan congregation) is a new program, launched by my local congregation. We are a team of four, which includes my pastor and a tour guide. We are offering a special format that enables tourists to visit the land, and study the Bible on site from great Messianic teachers.

Teaching our first Taglit group, while touring
the village of Magdala in the north of Israel

Our next Taglit Hamaayan will start on May 25th, and will enable you to spend 9 days touring, training and celebrating God’s purposes and promises. You will also be joining my local congregation celebrating the Feast of Shavout (Pentecost). Come and discover Israel in a new and refreshing way!

For more information about this opportunity contact Sally at sallyhamaayan@gmail.com

This weekend we celebrated the feast of Purim, commemorating the deliverance our nation experienced during the exile (after the destruction of the first Temple). The story took place during the reign of the Persian empire and is described in the book of Esther.

This book provides an interesting example of the way the face of the Messiah is hidden from the Jewish people. The very name of the book testifies to this, as the meaning of the word Esther is derived from the Hebrew root STR. This same root translates elsewhere in the Bible as “hidden.” And indeed, this is the only book in the Bible that does not mention the name of God or the land of Israel. Some even call this book the “Hidden Faces Book.”

Its not a happenstance. The very essence of it is the hidden God. Though Esther was chosen to be queen, her relationship with king Ahasuerus is a picture of alienation. She didn’t even dare approach him without an invitation. And though she was chosen to be his wife, she never exposed her true identity to him.

The book describes a period in the history of Israel during which the Face of God has been hidden from his people. However, though He may not be mentioned by name, He is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes and directing the story to its good end, when “for the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor” (Est. 8:16).

The Old Testament itself clarifies the importance of this feast:

These days [Purim] should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews – nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants (Est. 9:28).

How interesting! This decree has not been pronounced upon any other feast in the Torah, not even Passover, which is considered the most important feast in the Jewish calendar. Why? The saying is that all the feasts the Torah commands indicate something that has already happened in Jewish history, while Purim hints to the complete redemption we still await on, redemption by the God whose identity, and even His name, are still hidden from us. The rabbis therefore decreed:

In the future, all of the holidays will be nullified… the days of Purim will never be nullified (Yalkut Shimoni, Proverbs, Remez 944).