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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by Cisca Mudde The Purim story seems so clear. The evil people are caught and tried, the good people are restored, end good all good. Is this just a fairy tale? No, quite not so! The question is: do we recognize the spirit of Purim in this present time? The Purim story has a reality...
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A sensitive heart, among other things, we develop by learning from our own mistakes and sufferings without being stuck in a victim role. That is a difficult process in a human life and we all have to do it bij ourselves. However, we need each other in this process so much in social groups e.g....
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Again the enemy points the arrows at the people of the Lord. Iran is on the ground in Syria, close to the border of the land of Israel. Again jihadists crawl through self-dug tunnels under the border towards Israel. Again and again cowardly “fighters” go for their G’d through the streets of Jerusalem, to stab...
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by Cisca Mudde The lost position of a woman and her recovery One shabbat Yeshua was teaching in a Jewish meeting place. A woman was there who had been crippled by an evil spirit for eighteen years. That spirit made her sick; she was completely bent over and couldn’t possibly straighten up. When Yeshua saw...
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In an article, “Golda’s notebook for the developing world ‘in” The Jerusalem Report “by Bernard Dichek, we read how Golda Meir during her first visit to Africa in 1961, she the leaders in Africa told that they were neglecting the economic potential of women. In 1961, following the visit to Africa by Golda,  the “Mount...
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Loyalty is rewarded  By Sonja Haisma On the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) we read in the synagogue, the book of Ruth. This young Moabite woman marries Mahlon, a Jewish man who moved away from his country with his family because of a famine. It is the period of the Judges, the 13th century BCE, not...
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By Cisca Mudde   Hellenism had a strong influence in the world during the time of Alexander the Great. Sexuality and the genders became more important and the new ideas of the Greek culture about the genders were the cause of negative remarks in speech and writings. This we find in Jewish and Christian literature.The...
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by Elze Erwteman This is the story of a wealthy Shunammite woman that appears in the life of the prophet Elisha in a time of great poverty.We read this story in 2 Kings 4 :8-37 of the woman who lives in Shunem. Her name is not mentioned once, and when this happens we can assume...
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During Shavuot the book of Ruth is read Ruth is the only woman who is called a: woman of valor. The only place where we find the more specific characteristics of a woman of valor is in Proverbs 31:10-31. This beautiful song is read or sang on erev Shabbat, that is Friday evening when the...
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