Shabbat A Time Of Joy

One thing that strikes me about Jewish life is the observance of Shabbat, the commanded day of rest, the 7th day of the week.  Now, I know that all Jewish people are not religious.  Not all Jews hold to the Tanakh.  But for those who do, I respect the degree of earnest devoted to preparation for the Sabbath, as well as, the level of commitment to keep it as a day of physical, emotional, and psychological rest. 

For those that observe Shabbat, it is a day when all striving cease and one is at peace with the Creator and His creation.  It is a day in which one guards him/herself from those things that seek to destroy the joy  experienced in fellowship with the Maker of all things. 

This past week, The Day of Remembrance preceded Shabbat by 2 days.  On Shabbat, just 2 short days later, there was no mention of it.  Why?  Because Shabbat is a day to rejoice.  It is a weekly holy day (holiday), where you enjoy all the good things that HaShem has provided.  It is a day to give honor and glory to the Creator.  That is what matters.  HaShem has given us 24 hours, once a week, where he commands us to rest in Him.  On Shabbat, we also rest from our grief.  If we allow ourselves to soak in His presence the grief we carry is replaced by joy. 

Judaism holds to the sacredness of life.  Life is never sacrificed for the sake of mitvot.  Life comes first.  Therefore, caring for a seriously ill friend or family member becomes an act of kindness.  It is putting into practice Leviticus 19:18, "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

Yom Hasho'ah / 27 Nisan / April 19th




Lest They Forget / Murray Stein / Dallas Holocaust Museum

 “I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name [Yad Vashem] that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 56:5)

This week the United States commemorates The Holocaust.  This week in many  public and private arenas-- civic, governmental, military, schools, universities, churches and synagogues, we will be reminded of the systematic mass genocide of six million Jews (one million children, 2 million women, 3 million men) by the Nazi government in Germany during World War II as their "Final Solution" in making the world ready for the "perfect Aryan race."  If you include the mass murder of other people groups, including people with disabilities, the number increases to 11 million, some say 17 million.  

Yom Hasho'ah in Israel occurs on the 27th day of the month of Nisan.  It is an official day of mourning.  All television broadcasting is dedicated to the remembrance of the millions that were murdered.  Banks and schools are closed, as are movie theaters.  Throughout the country people light 6 candles to represent the 6 million Jews that were slaughtered.  A long siren is sounded at a specified time (11 AM) throughout the country and every one stops what they are doing, stands, and observes 2 minutes of silence.   A special ceremony, that includes Holocaust survivors, is conducted by Israel's President in the holocaust museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem. 

Yesterday, some of us at Sar Shalom accompanied Rabbi Mark to the Holocaust Museum in Dallas.  Reminders of the Holocaust for me have always been heart breaking.  This time it was no different.  Hatred, as exemplified by the Holocaust boggles the mind.  It is incomprehensible.

The pictures we saw at the museum did not tell the whole story and for good reason.  The exhibit is open to the general public and this includes children.  Photographs of the atrocities are difficult for adults to handle, much less children. 

Photos taken by American and Allied Forces when the concentration camps were liberated, while not displayed at the museum, paint a horrifying picture.  They are too gruesome to post.  All of these horrors were going on in peoples "back yard" so to speak.   Here is a picture of Eisenhower inspecting one part of the Ohdruf concentration camp. 

General Dwight D. Eisenhower / Ohrdruf concentration camp on April 12, 1945.

"During the camp inspections with his top commanders Eisenhower said that the atrocities were “beyond the American mind to comprehend.” He ordered that every citizen of the town of Gotha personally tour the camp and, after having done so, the mayor and his wife went home and hanged themselves. Later on Ike wrote to Mamie, “I never dreamed that such cruelty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.” He cabled General Marshall to suggest that he come to Germany and see these camps for himself. He encouraged Marshall to bring Congressmen and journalists with him. It would be many months before the world would know the full scope of the Holocaust — many months before they knew that the Nazi murder apparatus that was being discovered at Buchenwald and dozens of other death camps had slaughtered millions of innocent people.

General Eisenhower understood that many people would be unable to comprehend the full scope of this horror. He also understood that any human deeds that were so utterly evil might eventually be challenged or even denied as being literally unbelievable. For these reasons he ordered that all the civilian news media and military combat camera units be required to visit the camps and record their observations in print, pictures and film. As he explained to General Marshall, “I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”

His prediction proved correct. When some groups, even today, attempt to deny that the Holocaust ever happened they must confront the massive official record, including both written evidence and thousands of pictures, that Eisenhower ordered to be assembled when he saw what the Nazis had done." http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/stories/death-camps.html    




Yad Vashem / Jerusalem / Wikepedia



Hall of Names / Yad Vashem / Jerusalem / Wikepedia

Sadly, today we have the same hatred generated against Jews.  Few of us speak up, if at all, against this hatred.  And I am reminded of the statement by Martin Niemoller, a Protestant minister that had originally supported Hitler's rise to power.  The statement has many variants as poetry.  This is one of them:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pesach (Passover) Celebration 14 Nisan 5772 (April 6, 2012)

I have to say that my first Passover Seder Celebration(s) were meaningful, and joyful.  More so by the fact that my family was able to offer a sacrifice of praise to HaShem.  We celebrated the gift of eternal life through Yeshua the Messiah in spite of life's testing.
I know I haven't shared this with you on this blog, but my beautiful, eighteen month old, grand daughter has special needs.  She was born with Spina Bifida.  Spina Bifida is one of the most common birth defects in the world.  It affects all races and all people groups.  While the medical community in the US boasts that the incidence of Spina Bifida has decreased dramatically since the push for pregnant women to take folic acid began in 1992, I am of the opinion that the incidence has decreased because of the high abortion rate.  

I need to add that after the diagnosis of Spina Bifida was made in utero,  my daughter was encouraged, until 24 weeks gestational age, to abort my grand daughter.  She was "forced" to hear every possible negative scenario that could possibly play itself out in my grand daughter's life at every prenatal appointment.  The suffering my daughter and my son-in-law were experiencing was compounded by the insensitivity of some in the medical community. 

This suffering was overshadowed by the joy of receiving her into the world.  She is beautiful in every way.  We know that she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  We know she is very intelligent and she is capable in a special way. 

The joy of having her in our lives these past 18 months has not been without testing.  The first year of her life included a fractured femur, diagnosed at 2 days of birth.  No one could explain how that happened.  Then there was a two week intensive care stay close to her first birthday that sent the entire family into a tail spin.  We saw HaShem work in miraculous ways on her behalf during those two weeks. 

Now you may be asking what does any of this have to do with Pesach 2012.  Well, my daughter on that day received disturbing news from the baby's urologist that the baby's kidneys were in danger.  She was told that the baby now has kidney reflux.   In order to reverse and prevent any further kidney damage my daughter would have to start a rigid regimen of non stop care, and new medications were added to her existing medication regimen.

With such bad news weighing on our hearts we weren't sure if we were going to attend the festive Passover Seder at Sar Shalom or the Seder at Bethel Fellowship the next day.  Such was the heaviness we were feeling.

My daughter prayed and faith rose up within her.  In her heart she knew, "this had come to pass, and not to stay."  Quickly we prepared to attend the Seder.  In less than an hour we were all ready.

Sar Shalom had a full to capacity banquet prepared for the night.  At the banquet hall, each table setting had a Seder Plate with the traditional items on it:

Maror and Chazeret — Bitter herbs, horseradish is symbolic of the bitterness and harshness of slavery. 

Charoset— A sweet, brown mixture of chopped nuts, chopped apples, red wine or honey, representing the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt  for building storehouses.

Karpas— A vegetable like parsley that gets dipped in salt water.  The salt water represents the tears that are shed by those in slavery. 

Z'roa—A roasted lamb or goat shank bone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the sacrificial lamb.

Beitzah — A hard-boiled egg, symbolic of the festival sacrifice that was offered in the Temple, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.  It now represents the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The seventh symbolic item on the Seder table is a plate of three whole matzot. 

Rabbi Mark lead in the telling of the Passover (Pesach Haggadah).  As he told the Passover story and as we ate of the elements on the Seder plate we remembered the bitterness of the life in slavery to sin.  We remembered the many tears we had shed and the heavy burden of sins we had carried.  BUT then, we rejoiced over the gift of redemption and the new life we received through Messiah Yeshua.  We ate and we celebrated.  With my cell phone I tried to capture a bit of the celebration. 

The next day, as we partook of the beautiful Passover Seder at Bethel Fellowship, we were blessed yet again.  Great worship, delicious food, and a family setting, made this Passover Seder a wonderful experience.  My family received yet again a double portion of HaShem's love.  We  sang, danced, and rejoiced at His Salvation.

 

Does this mean that we are without trouble.  Of course not.  We will never be without trouble or testing.  But we know that we have reason to rejoice.  Despite our circumstances, we have hope.  My first Passover Seder(s) will be remembered by our rejoicing in the miracle of His Salvation in spite of difficulties.  When we are weak, yet He is strong.  That, my friend, is definitely one thing I want to share with my precious grand daughter when she gets old enough to understand. 

Tornadoes in North Texas

In the midst of heavy duty kitchen cleaning to prepare for Passover, my brother sends me a text message that there are tornadoes touching down in Dallas/Fort Worth .  Tornadoes are new to me.  Being from the North East I get a bit anxious when I hear the word Tornado.  Now my daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughter were in Dallas for a medical appointment. I became a little worried when I did not get an answer from them when I sent a text.


Here is a photo taken by clockworklemon of a tornado in Forney, Texas on April 4th and posted on wonderground.com

I stopped what I was doing, and began to pray.  After that, I gathered up a couple of flashlights, a radio, a couple of candles (scented of course), and prepared the bathroom in case I needed to take shelter there.  You've seen the raw footage-- pretty scary. What did they say, take a twin size mattress in the tub with you?  All I have is a queen and I can't pick that one up. 

So I waited.  During the wait, I vacumed draws, and cabinets, swept and mopped, rearranged pots and pans, cleaned out the toaster oven.  I did this at a furious pace.  You know that I was so thankful when the sirens stopped and the National Weather Service cancelled the tornado warning for my area. 

The tornadoes left behind severe destruction, and injuries, but I believe all the prayers that went up on April 4 were answered.  No deaths have been reported so far. 

Please keep all those whose lives have been affected by the tornadoes in your prayers.  There is much healing and restoration that needs to take place. 

Oh, my family was safe.  They had tried to call me, but the calls were being dropped.  I was overjoyed to see them walk through the door.  And my kitchen, not much leaven there.