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What Hath God Wrought?On May 24, 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse dispatched the first telegraphic message over an experimental line from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. The message, taken from the Bible, Numbers 23:23 and recorded on a paper tape, had been suggested to Morse by Annie Ellsworth, the young daughter of a friend.

The Lord Is God 32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and...

Pentecost is the only Feast day which was looked upon by Jewish teachers as a “mystery” Feast, a Feast which was identified with a time of Gentile redemption. In fact, we shall see that the apostle Paul uses terminology pointing to the Feast of Pentecost and to the Offering at Pentecost in regards to the future resurrection of the Church. We also discover that this is the only Feast on Israel’s liturgical calendar which could typify the Rapture of the Church and at the very same time not be subject to the error of “date setting” in terms of its...

Ivanka Trump has been quiet on Twitter the past few days while observing the Jewish holiday Shavuot. On Thursday, she broke her silence, sending out messages of support for her LGBTQ friends. "Logging back on after Shavuot, wishing everyone a joyful #Pride2017," Ivanka wrote in the first tweet. "This month we celebrate and honor the #LGBTQ community." "I am proud to support my LGBTQ friends," Ivanka shared in the second, "and the LGBTQ Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy." The shout-out to gay rights backfired. Many slammed her for tweeting about Pride Month hours after...

Are you a Kisser or a Cleaver? Exploring the literal, poetic, and mystical interpretations of the Book of Ruth. This is part one (with links contained within to subsequent classes) of an incredible series about the Book of Ruth, it's classical teachings, and messages for the future. On the night of the up-coming Jewish Holiday of Shavuot, many Jewish congregations read the Book of Ruth? Give a listen and learn the incredible depth of the story.

The Rolling Stones were taking the stage in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, and were extremely excited to perform in Israel for the very first time. Ahead of the milestone show they decided to travel to Jerusalem where they visited the Western Wall. While Keith Richards skipped the outing, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were all photographed at the holy spot, also known as the Kotel or Wailing Wall. Mick, 70, was paying his respects at the sacred site, and was spotted placing a hand on the Wall after following the lead of two men in kippah. Ronnie, who...

"Draw Me; We Will Run After You" In the Song of Songs (1:4), there is a verse, "Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers." The Kabbalists see these three phrases as references to the three stages of the departure from Egypt. "Draw me" is the Exodus. "We will run after you" is the counting of the omer. "The king has brought me into his chambers" is the giving of the Torah. "Draw me" is passive -- it refers to the Israelites being taken out by G-d. Also it is singular. Whereas "We...

The Shavuot holiday in Kochav Yaakov turned tense when Arabs entered the settlement late Saturday night – causing warning sirens to sound. The town, where parents and children alike were out in synagogues to study in honor of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, found itself rushing to find children, shutter windows, and bar its doors as the IDF responded to the threat. Ilan Malachi told Arutz Sheva about the tension that gripped the Binyamin region community. "We call the emergency squad, and a friend said that apparently there is Arabs had infiltrated into the community. It was...

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One recent 9th District poll was taken June 8th during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Shavuis/Shaveis). The Orthodox Jews in the southern part of Weiner's district were not picking up the phone to answer calls the evening before or during that day of the holiday. As is, most polls use land line phones and call people who are at home during the day or early evening, i.e., a population skewed toward the unemployed on government assistance.

Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem~Shavuot 5770~ The First Fruits The Book of Ruth Chapter Two Ruth Gleans in Boaz' Field 1. Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." 3. So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she...

Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem~Shavuot 5770~ The First Fruits The Book of Ruth Ruth 1 Naomi Widowed 1. Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 2. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab...

It’s 5:00 a.m on Shavuot morning and I’m having trouble finding an empty seat at any shul in Jerusalem’s Old City. Every synagogue is already packed as I make the mistake of lingering a few minutes too long at the Kotel amongst the tens of thousands who have made their way there after a night of learning. The atmosphere is light, almost light-headed you could say from lack of sleep, as young and old congratulate each other for making it through the night. Only the young yeshiva boys puffing away on cigarettes spoil the atmosphere. Small groups of secular Israelis...

Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem~Shavuot 5770~The First Fruits Although there are some questions as to when on the Lunar Calendar Shavuot should be celebrated,The Holiday is being observed in Israel Today and Tomorrow.It celebrates the Spring Harvest, The First Fruits,But Most Importantly, the Giving of the Torah , Thus the beginning of the Jewish Nation.The Following Scripture is the Essential Prayer, Heart and Soul Of The Jewish Faith.It is Prayed daily, bound onto the head and arm, attached to the doorframes, and whispered as last words.It Affirms The Faith in One True God.Please Read this Scripture in the...

It being traditional to read the book of Ruth for Shavuot, I thought I'd post some commentary for my fellow disciples of Yeshua. The book of Ruth is, on the surface, a simple little romance story set in the backdrop of the time of the Judges. Actually, that’s only true in the minds of modern students since the idea of romantic love is a Medievil invention born of tales of chivalry, but that’s another issue. In truth, Ruth from its inception was intended as a story of redemption, one based in a very Jewish sense of love. And woven into...

Shavuot is a Feast that is de-emphasized in the traditional Jewish community (due to two thousand years of being forbidden to own farmland) and largely misunderstood in Christendom. Yet it is one of the three pilgrimage Feasts, in which all the men of Israel were commanded to present themselves before the Holy One. It turns out that the meaning of this Feast is easy to apprehend as long as we look at it first through the lens of the Exodus from Egypt. In the third month after Israel’s departure from Egypt, we arrived at Mt. Sinai (Exo. 19:1). Three days...

If you ever go to the Jaffa flea market in the afternoon, you will be treated to a unique experience. At a designated moment, the peddlers stop hawking their wares, the shoppers stop inspecting the merchandise heaped in piles on the sidewalks and all gather for an open-air mincha (afternoon prayers) session. I love this marketplace prayer. It has a special grace. I always prefer to pray with working-people who stop in the middle of their toil to praise G-d than to recite the prayers in the synagogue. When the Torah becomes our national way of life, a culture that...

Shavuos, the sixth and seventh of Sivan, separates us from everyone else. On this Yom Tov we stood at the foot of Har Sinai and heard the voice of Hashem. We were lifted above all mankind for eternity. With the giving of the Torah, the Jewish nation was born. It was at Har Sinai that we became the Bnei Yisroel. And what does that mean? The Gemara in Maseches Pesachim (68b) teaches that “Chetzyo LaHashem vechetzyo lochem,” half of the Yom Tov of Shavuos is dedicated to the service of Hashem and the other half is for our own benefit....

Our world is host to a mind-boggling number of religions and sects. Each has its unique approach, so that there remains little that men of the cloth agree upon. Nonetheless, there is one fact that all Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a total of over 3.5 billion people – acknowledge: the historic fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish People on Mount Sinai. Considering that the followers of these three religions constitute more than half of the world's population, this point of agreement is amazing. In addition, we find that, to one degree or another, all...

Tonight begins the Jewish Holiday of Shavuot the anniversary of when God Gave us the Ten Commandments. Along with Passover and Sukkot, Shavout is one of the three major Jewish festivals. In biblical times, Jews used to leave their homes and travel to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple during the three festivals to make special offerings to God. There is an Old Story about a religious school Gan (kindergarten) teacher talking to her students about Shavuot. "OK Class, who knows why we celebrate Shavout?" "OOOH, OOOH I know," said little Karen, "Shavout is when we light candles and celebrate the...