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Insights With Rabbi Jeff| Zechariah 12
Zechariah 12 Zechariah 12 begins with the words, “Massa d’var Adonai al Yisrael,”. “Massa”, so frequently translated “burden”, can also mean something along the order of debt. It refers to the absolute passion of the Lord for the people and land of Israel. As is so apparent from Zechariah and all the prophets, indeed, all…
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Israel – Ominous news and incredible opportunities
by Jonathan Feldstein While Israel is a place from which good news is abundant, recent news has been somewhat ominous. A report this week indicated that the Palestinian Authority government is planning on resigning. This will create a vacuum that, based on abundant precedent, will leave anarchy or be filled by relative extremists. In all…
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INJUSTICE ON THE US SUPREME COURT
by Jonathan Feldstein My mother not only wanted me to be a lawyer, but she had me pegged as a US Supreme Court judge. Unfortunately, I never went to law school. I was thinking of this recently when I learned that three of the US Supreme Court judges with whom I have something in common,…
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Zechariah 11
Zechariah continues on much in the spirit of that which has been building in the text, which has been developing to this point. God’s people have been judged for rebellion, but, those nations charged with a disciplinary role have overreached their task and become abusers (Zechariah 1). God will now deal with the abusers while…
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US Supreme Court Israeli Passport Ruling
by D. Blackburn Recently, the United States Supreme Court ruled against a law put in place by Congress in 2002 permitting Jerusalem-born Israelis to list Israel as their place of birth on their American passports, a right currently allowed to all other Israelis. This turn of events is a blow to the efforts of Israeli…
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“If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem”
by D. Blackburn “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,” a phrase that is often uttered, and yet, the weight and meaning behind it are seldom understood. This verse, found in Psalm 137:5, was the lament of the Psalmists upon being taunted by their captors at the beginning of the Babylonian exile. This phrase has become…
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Special Edition: Understanding Israel’s Election
By: D. Blackburn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is losing steam as he continues to drop in the polls as Election Day nears. Yet, according to a recent analysis by American journal The Economist, he remains the frontrunner. How is this possible? The Parliamentary System The Parliamentary system of the Israeli Knesset is a mystery…
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To Everything There Is A Season
By: D. Blackburn To Everything There Is A Season “Racheli hayita hashemesh.” Racheli was the sun she said through her tears. It was Yom HaZikaron 2001, my first soldiers’ remembrance day living in Israel. As she spoke we stood in silence class by class, a sea of white shirts and black pants (the required uniform…
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ISIS – The Household Four Letter Word – Part I
by Jonathan Feldstein Unfortunately ISIS has become a four letter household word with which most westerners and Arabs are quite familiar. The past several months ISIS has been in the news for a variety of brutal acts including burning, beheading, crucifixion, and shooting to death of captives, and rape, slavery, and many other acts of…
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INSIGHTS WITH RABBI JEFF | ZECHARIAH 10, PART II
In the beginning of the 10th chapter, Adonai urges the people to again ask for what they need, as embodied in the rains. He contrasts asking Him with asking the idols and other false gods whom they had been worshipping for generations. Those gods, obviously, had no power, yet had received credit for what the…
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A Watchman To Watch Over The People