This blog post provides an overview of the traditions and elements that make a Bar/Bat Mitzvah such a special occasion. We explore how it marks the transition from childhood to adulthood, as well as signifies one’s profession of faith in their community. Learn more about how this celebration honors those participating, what to expect when attending, and meaningful aspects like L'Dor V' Dor and watching them read in Hebrew. Celebrate your faith with family and friends!

As believers, how are we to understand the place that the Sabbath plays - if any - in the life of the people of God? Should we be observing the Sabbath on Saturday, or replacing it with Sunday. That is our problem.

The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea both have stories to tell. They remind us that God is capable of restoring life to even the most desolate places. Even when we seem surrounded by death, He can bring us back to life and make our lives a source of blessing for others. Are you a conduit or a container for life? Which will you choose?

While Jewish people and international friends of Israel celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary as a reborn nation next May, the Palestinian people and others who oppose the Jewish State mourn that same event on May 15 with Nakba (“Catastrophe”) Day. And now, the U.N. has made it official, passing a resolution to institute Nakba Day.

I would say that the biggest decision he made was when, at age 53, this tough Jewish boy from Brooklyn put his faith and trust in Jesus (Yeshua) as his Jewish Messiah. It changed the whole trajectory of his life and the rest of our family as well, from generation to generation. So far, that’s four generations of the Davis family.

It’s also undeniable that the origins of the Christmas tree (or bringing evergreen branches into the home) are pagan through and through. This practice goes as far back as Egyptian worship of the sun god, Ra, as well as its connections to the pagan festival/ritual of Winter Solstice. The celebration with evergreen was in place because these were the “gods” of fertility and agriculture. Ritual with evergreens was part of imploring and appeasing them to bring about “fertility” and harvest in the spring.

It is no secret that the Jews have been persecuted throughout history. However, what is less well-known is why Jewish people do not believe in Jesus, despite the fact that he was himself a Jew. In this blog post, we will take a look at some of the historical barriers that have prevented the Jewish people from believing in Jesus, largely due to anti-Semitism and persecution at the hands of Christians.

Yes, we said Christians. Painfully, members of the Christian faith have often persecuted Jews the most, even though Christianity has its roots in Judaism.

What stands out is Jeremiah’s purpose of encouraging repentance and faith by showing God’s faithfulness to His promises to Israel in the form of both discipline and restoration. In Jeremiah 29:4-10, the Lord is speaking to the exiles who have gone into Babylonian captivity because of their disobedience, idolatry, and rejection of God’s commands.

Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is among the most sacred. You can find the command on how God told the Israelites to observe this day in Leviticus 16. This was the only day the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies.

Can you imagine how heavy the sense of sin and unworthiness must have been for him? To know that he was entering the presence of a holy God on behalf of an entire nation who had sinned? And yet, every year, without fail, he went in.

Rosh HaShanah is one of the biggest holidays on the Jewish calendar and is the start of the High Holy Days season. Synagogues are packed with Jewish people today, gathered to hear the blowing of the shofar and beginning 10 Days of Awe and repentance, hoping they will be inscribed in the Book of Life for one more year.

Christians have inherited this revised picture of Jesus, a non-Jewish Jesus. It's all that has ever been presented, from the flannel graphs to the Christian cartoons, and so we don't really question it.

We need to uncover the original and true representation because if we want to know, present, and represent Jesus properly, it’s vital that our picture of Him is accurate. It is not a matter of adding a layer of Jewish culture but of uncovering a truer picture of Jesus. And that accuracy comes with an understanding of the Jewish Jesus, who He was set in that culture and that time. The Jewishness of the gospel needs to be restored.

The assumption is always that when a Jew believes in Jesus, they are no longer Jewish. But this simply isn't the case. Faith in Jesus doesn't make someone any less Jewish. In fact, for many of us, our faith in Jesus has actually made us more Jewish.

But this misunderstanding, on both sides, is what has kept Christians from intentionally reaching out to Jewish people and what has kept Jews from understanding that Jesus is for them. The offer on the table for the Jewish people is that if you want to come to Jesus (the Jewish Messiah), you essentially have to switch teams, put on a new jersey, and go to the other clubhouse.