In the year 1944 a group of ragged Jewish prisoners gathered for yet another very tiring work assignment in concentration camp Auschwitz. Jews were starved, tortured and murdered everywhere. The least expression of Jewish faith was strictly prohibited, reasons for execution by Nazi guards. But on that Rosh HaShanah, a group of courageous Jews managed...
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Space to think The month of Niesan 5779 is the month in which we celebrate Passover and remove chamets from our homes in advance. Chamets, sourdough, is spiritually the symbol of our puffiness and sins: all things that keep us from a healthy, reconciled relationship with the Eternal. Passover teaches us that there is no...
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By Janneke Spruyt-den Boer 5774 years ago, God created the heavens and the earth on Rosh Hashanah. Exactly what happened is still largely to me a mystery, but I understand that `the Firstborn” (= Messiah Yeshua) had a significant share in here. “Bereshit bara Elohim et haSjamajiem ve-et haArets”, the first sentence of the Tanakh, namely...
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by Elze Erwteman The time of preparation for Passover has come again. A time of reflection and calibrate our faith. The rabbis describe the midwives in the days of Israel in Egypt in an interesting and engaging way. They explain the text and give us an fresh interpretation, “the king of Egypt summoned the midwives...
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Bibian Mentel is the winner of two gold medals for snowboarding in the Olympics. A strong woman, operated nine times for cancer. She had to miss her leg, and underwent seventy-two times radiotherapy. Her mother said to her; if she put a dark face, “I’d rather see your sunny face”. This was not a remark...
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According to Jewish tradition, there are several levels of insight into the story of Hanukkah. There is the first level, of religious freedom and the people as a unity with the Torah as a law book. Never in the history of Israel had the oppression, attack and devastation been so bad. Not among the Assyrians...
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The Greek emperor Antiochus IV (215-164 BCE) forced the Greek religion oppressively upon Israel. This meant: kosher slaughter was forbidden, circumcision of the Jewish baby boys was forbidden, and observing Shabbat was forbidden. Exactly those matters which are still forbidden with aversion and disapproval by some political and spiritual leaders in Holland toward Jews, among...
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Hanukkah and the Messiah These days we again celebrate Hanukkah and thus commemorate the courageous struggle of the Maccabees against the regime of Syrian-Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes. This ruler wanted the Hellenistic culture to impose on the inhabitants of the land of Judaea, and forbade all commands that Adonai had commanded, and vice versa: The...
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Heavenly present In a short, intensivce course of 50 days Israel got prepared in order to receive a heavenly present. Those 50 days started with the exodus from Egypt. A literally killing life of slavery and the ten great kicks (plagues) with which the Lord delivered Israel made a heavy impression, both on us and...
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Purim, Feast of Victory by Cisca Mudde The book of Esther is read around the world during the celebration of Purim in the synagogues. Often, there is also a Purim spiel carried out by members of the communities in which the battle is depicted that took place in Persia at that time. Often there will...
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