Holidays

Purim 2018

February 7, 2018 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“Don’t think that you (Esther) alone will be saved out of all the Jews just because you are in the king’s palace. If you keep silent at this time…relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source… ‘Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.’”
The very famous verse from the book of Esther is a call also for us today. Are we going to be silent or rise up to the occasion to be used by God as an instrument for the salvation of Israel, both physically and spiritually, in prayer and supplication with faith and confidence in the God of Israel – who is Israel’s protector.

The beautiful Jewish virgin Hadassah, known by her Persian name Esther, was chosen by King Ahasuerus, out of all the beautiful virgins in the Persian Empire to be his queen. She obeyed her uncle Mordechai’s instruction not to reveal her Jewish heritage.

The king raised Haman the Agagite (descendant of Amalek) to a powerful position above all the other princes and ordered all who were at the king’s court to bow down to him. Mordecai the Jew, who sat at the king’s gate was the only one who refused to bow down to Haman and aroused his anger. When Haman learned that Mordecai was Jewish, he manipulated King Ahasuerus into ordering the genocide of the all the Jewish people throughout the empire.
Haman said to King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom, their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not worthy it for the king to let them remain…let a decree be written that they be destroyed…“(Esther 3:8-9)

The Pur (lot) was cast and fell on the thirteen of the month of Adar. In one day all the Jews were to be, according to the words of Haman’s decree, “killed, destroyed, and annihilated.” (Esther 3:13) It was done, a decree that could not be changed because “in the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.” (Esther 3:12c)

When Esther heard the terrible news of the decree to annihilate all the Jews in one day, Mordecai gave her two options; to remain silent and perish with the rest of the Jews, or to risk her life by going before the king, uninvited, to plead for her people’s deliverance.

Esther realized that the purpose she was chosen to be queen of Persia was for such a time as this, to be used by God for the salvation of His people. She decided to take a bold step of faith and go to the Higher Authority in prayer and fasting. She called for the entire Jewish community in the capital city of Shushan to stand with her in prayer and fasting for three days as she risked her life for the chance of saving her people. She was going to go unlawfully before the king, uninvited, and “if I perish, I perish.”

God always does what he said in His word He will do. Hundreds of years before the story of Esther, the Lord told Moses: “I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exodus 17:14.) King Saul disobeyed God and didn’t kill all the Amalekites, but spared the life of King Agag. Even though the prophet Samuel did kill him, apparently some of his family lived on. Haman was a descendant of Agag the Amalekite.

In a turn of events, the gallows Haman built in order to hang Mordecai was used to hang Haman after the king heard that he was the wicked one who ordered the killing of his beloved queen’s people. He promoted Mordecai to a high position and gave him the king’s signet ring to reverse the decree and save the lives of the Jews. God had turned the mourning of His people to ecstatic joy. Purim “should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.” (Esther 9:28)

At present, Israel is facing another Haman also from Persia, which is modern-day Iran. The Iranian regime has announced time and again that Israel will be wiped off the map of the Middle East. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned continually against the existential threat to Israel, posed by the possibility of a nuclear Iran.

The question today is the same one that Mordecai asked Esther. Will the believers choose to be silent while Israel is in danger? Or will they take a step of faith to come before the God of Israel in prayer and fasting for the salvation of Israel?

We know from the word of God that salvation will come to Israel. The question is what role will the body of Christ play? We ask you to stand with us in prayer and supplication, in the face of the evil and wickedness of Israel’s enemies once again. And “who knows whether you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?”

For a more complete story, go to: http://yeshuatami.com/the-story-of-purim/

The battle against anti-Semitism is fierce, the enemy is relentless, but victory belongs to the Lord. Please stand with us at this time of spiritual warfare as Israel is facing Iranian aggression. Pray for our leadership to have Godly wisdom and strength in facing of these attacks. Please stand with us in faith on the promises and word of God.

God’s Blessing of Israel

June 20, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

God, the creator of the universe, calls Himself “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. He is a covenant God, so His promises are in the context of His covenants. God’s covenants are not negotiated between equals (=) God and man, but are the type of agreement as sovereign to subject.

Psalm 105:6-11 is one of numerous references to this covenant, including the Land of promise:

“O seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance’.”

A map of the portions allotted to the tribes of Israel — *The Descendants of Israel Possessed the Promised Land.*

The promises and blessings to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) and their descendants are eternal and unconditional. God promised Abraham, “I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.” God also gave a promise to Ishmael, regarded as the father of the Arab people. However, that promise was for him to be a great nation in a different land. The land of Israel was promised exclusively to Abraham’s son Isaac.

God made it very clear that Isaac was the Son of the Promise:

“But God replied, No, but your wife Sarah will give birth to your son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his descendants. (Gen. 17:19)

Just as the Lord had said, a year later Sarah gave birth to Isaac. God told Abraham to send Ishmael away to Arabia (where he settled in Paran), and that He would make him a great nation also:

“God said to Abraham, “Do not be grievous because of the boy (Ishmael) and because of your slave woman…For from Isaac will your seed be called.”

The Land of Israel was not just a Divine promise; it was the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their wives, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, and their descendants – the people of Israel.

The Promises

To Abraham:

“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” God told Abram. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1)

“For all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever.” (Gen: 13:14-15)

“On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land…”‘ (Genesis 15:18).

To Isaac:

“And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.” (Gen. 26:2-3)

Isaac had twins by his wife Rebecca. God revealed to her while pregnant:

“The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your body. Two tribes that are now inside you will be separated. One nation will be stronger than the other. The older son will serve the younger one.’” (Genesis 25:23)

Esau crossed over the river Jordan to Edom, (today Jordan) and became a great nation there, but to Jacob God reaffirmed the promises He gave to Abraham and Isaac.

To Jacob:

“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.” (Gen. 35:12)

God is always faithful in His promises. God began His unique relationship with the people of Israel and the planning of their destiny with His covenant relationship with Abram. Later God changed the name to Abraham, meaning “father of many nations”. (Genesis 17:4)

As God had promised him:

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

God later passed these promises on to Abraham’s son Isaac, his grandson Jacob and then to Jacob’s 12 sons—from whom came the 12 tribes of Israel.

With the passage of time, God’s people did wrong in His sight and even broke the covenant.

“The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” (Isaiah 24:5)

However, because Israel is His firstborn of the nations, to whom he said: “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” His punishment and discipline of His beloved children would be temporary. He said in His word that foreigners would invade the land and Israel would be their slaves. Eventually, they would even be expelled from the land and be dispersed throughout the nations of the world, but at some point in time, their punishment would be over and He would bring them back to the land He promised to their forefathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob as an everlasting possession.

The Invaders Who Conquered the Land of Israel

*The enemy neighbors still surround Israel to this day.*

In 332 BCE the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered Israel, starting a long religious struggle that split the Jewish population into traditional religious Jews and Hellenized secular Jews.

In 165 BCE after the religious Maccabean Revolt, the independent Hasmonean Kingdom was established for a short period of time.

In 64 BCE the Romans conquered Israel, turning it into a Roman province. Although various empires ruled Israel and a variety of ethnicities lived in the land, the land of Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars of 66–136 CE.

In 70 CE Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus crushed the Jewish revolt and conquered Judea and Jerusalem. The Romans destroyed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and confiscated the Menorah and other Temple artifacts and brought them to Rome.

In 131 CE Emperor Hadrian named Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina and constructed a Temple of Jupiter on the former site of the Jewish temple. Jews were banned from Jerusalem and Roman Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina, from which derived “Palestine” in English (from then on it was called Palestine until Israel became a nation in 1948).

In 132–136 CE the Simon Bar-Kochba revolt was crushed by Romans Julius Severus and Emperor Hadrian. The Romans expelled most of the Jews from the area and replaced it with the Roman province of Palestine. This was the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora.

Byzantine Period (324–638 CE)

Early in the 4^th century, the Roman Empire was split and Constantinople (today Istanbul, Turkey) became the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Under the Byzantines, Christianity, dominated by the Greek Orthodox Church was the official religion. Judea was ruled by the Byzantine Empire and Jerusalem became a Christian city and Jews were banned from living there.

In 638 CE the Islamic Empire conquered Israel (Palestine).

In 691 CE the Muslims constructed the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, and in 705 CE they constructed the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Muslims established the Temple Mount as an Islamic holy site. The dome enshrined the Foundation Stone, the holiest site for Jews. Before Omar Abd al-Aziz died in 720 CE, he banned the Jews from worshipping on the Temple Mount.

In 1517 the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered Palestine along with Egypt, parts of Arabia, parts of N. Africa, and in 1534, Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) was added.

In 1917 the British conquered the area and ruled it under the British Mandate until 1948 when the Jewish State of Israel was established.

Under the foreign rulers, the land of Israel did not prosper. In 1264, after the Mongolians from the Crusaders conquered the land, most of the land was desolate, neglected and ravaged. Also in the 18^th century, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the land of Palestine was in a state of widespread neglect. By the end of the 18^th century, much of the land was owned by absentee landlords and leased to impoverished tenant farmers, and taxation was crippling. The land was plagued by swamps, sand and rocky places.

None of those foreign rulers stayed in the land to establish a nation. Arabs and Bedouin lived in the land. They lived in Palestine for about 1,300 years mainly as peasants but never became an independent nation in the land. This is in fulfillment of the prophecy in Leviticus 26:32:

“And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be desolate over there.”

The Lord fulfilled His Word and brought His people back from all corners of the world to the Land of Promise. In 1948 the state of Israel was established, and the land was called in the name He chose – Israel. It is prospering once more, according to His prophecy, and the desert is blooming. Today there are Jews in Israel from many countries of the world where they have been dispersed for over 2000 years. God is true to His word.

[Next: Read about Roman Rule in Israel]

Holocaust Memorial and Documentary about the Warsaw Ghetto

April 24, 2017 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Last evening Holocaust memorial ceremony, PM Netanyahu spoke about the lesson we have learned through the Shoah (Holocaust) and still face all the time, that in our world the weak have little chance to survive. “That we have to defend ourselves by ourselves. The ones who are planning to annihilate us will themselves be destroyed…It’s the only way to ensure our future and we have the ability to do it…I say it in the name of all the generations of Israelis who have and are building Israel, and in the name of Holocaust survivers here, together we have made this incredible CHANGE from a HELPLESS and DEFENSELESS people to a POWERFUL nation able to defend itself …in less than 70 years we are now one of the strongest nations in the world, and we continue to develop our military, intelligence and technological abilities…”

Today Israel is observing the memorial of the Holocaust. Here is a short clip from a documentary I am watching. My mother escaped from Warsaw Getto and all her family were killed there…

And here is a beautiful memorial ceremony:

From: FJC – Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS – FSU