By Elze Erwteman A woman of valor: a woman of strength It is a Jewish tradition to read or sing at the beginning of Erev shabbat, Friday night Proverbs 31:10-31. Husbands sing it to their wives to honor them for making the house a home. For me this verse is a great tool for women...
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Cultural Zionism against anti-Semitism by Elze Erwteman The Simon Wiesenthal center recently offered ex-president Obama a copy of a letter signed by Adolf Hitler in 1919 and known as “The Hitler Letter”. In this he stated his hatred of the Jews and his plans for the total “removal of the Jews” from the face of...
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When we are going to sleep it is important that we have peace and quiet in our soul. The Jewish tradition has provided us with spiritual preparation in order to have a good and peaceful sleep. In some prayerbooks or sidduriem we find the following texts: 1.    First we should have free time of prayer....
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  In a group of families with teenagers we discussed two questions: Question 1: Besides the Messiah Yeshua we have also come to know the Torah in a new way. In what way has this influenced your daily life? Instead of celebrating the Sunday, we now celebrate Shabbat and the Biblical Feasts. This has provided...
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  1. Besides the Messiah Yeshua we have also come to know the Torah in a new way. In what way has this influenced your daily life? A huge influence! Positive, but not always easy. The women in the discussion group explain that it changes everything and everything happens in G’ds time. Like not participating...
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50 plus Intro: We came to know Messiah Yeshua  and also the Torah. Question 1: What was the impact from this in your daily life? This resulted for many of us in discovering and experiencing the topical value of the Torah. So they started to keep and observe the Sabbath and this led to more...
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  In a group of singles two questions were discussed: 1. What effect does keeping Torah have on your everyday life? Keeping Torah makes us more steadfast in our points of view and adds more structure to our lives. It provides a clear framework. It made us start celebrating the Shabbat. Celebrating Shabbat has been...
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  After slaughter all the blood has to be removed. This is very important. For us is blood a symbol of life and in the Torah is written that it is prohibited to eat this: “Therefore I have said to the Children of Israel: Any person from among you may not consume blood; and the...
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How it encouraged me to enjoy Sometimes I encounter difficulties enjoying things. My grandfather used to joke with me saying: “she cannot sit quietly in a chair for five minutes”. I am a busy person and I always feel I need to do something in order to feel satisfied and sometimes even to feel happy....
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  “Mommy, can I blow?”, Sarah asks, looking at me as sweetly as she can. Nain, kippa on his head, is already sitting next to Nathan, Nienke and Noah, who have all been helping me preparing everything we need for making Shabbat. Sarah blows…wide at first. Nathan and Nain can’t help laughing: it is such...
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