WHAT DOES REPENTACE LOOK LIKE?

well we  survived the Day of Repentance Yom Kippur.
It really is something to see a city change so dramatically in 25 hours. For those who don't know what I am blogging about I shall briefly explain here but also post several links with more on this at the end of blog.
 Yom Kippur  is Hebrew for 'Day of Atonement', it is a biblical appointed time and in ancient days a very special sacrifice was preformed in the temple , with the priest going into the Holy of Holy's only this one time in the year.  the Holy of Holy's  was the room that held the 'Ark of the Covenant' this is where the tablets with the ten commandments and a few other things were kept. ( for our non biblical friends you may remember its this ARK that  was the focus in one of the Indiana jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark, ) any ways ......  this was the day the whole  nation  after repenting  atoned for their sins , with the special sacrifice but only during the time of the temple.  Confessing sins , forgiving  your brother, going and making right a wrong this is what the Jewish people have been doing since their new year (Rosh Hashana) called 'Ten days of Awe' leading up to this day. This day  is the very fabric that righteous living is made of , getting right with your brother and getting right with God .  Since there is no temple now it is even more important to the observant jew to get right with his brother , do charity and pray on this day. This Day  is so seeped with  past , present and future significance for Jews and Christians (and the world really)  that I do not really want to even say much more  here about it other than how we spent it here in' the apple of God's eye' .  


We really cant seem to stay away from the English!  They are like potatoes chips you really cant stop at one , we just want to eat them all up!

Friday we were all set to go to a service in the park but we were misinformed so guess what we did instead...... the English  all came over for 'Tea' and little sandwiches at our cottage. Just like home we had a erev  Shabbat dinner with friends!  We all went to The Great Synagogue  for service and again blown away with the singing of the prayers!  Standing room only and what was really nice was  the Rabi was asked to speak part of his message in English for those just learning Hebrew.  He talked about 40 years ago at 1:53pm how all the peoples in the services were shocked at being attacked by a coalition of Arab states( Egypt and Syria) . He reminded the peoples how brave their solders were with so little to fight with, and how so many lost their lives on both sides. He emphasized that other super power country's have  wars that go on for a long time but Israel's  war ended in 18 days  and he Gave glory to God for the victory .  He stressed that Israel is God's country and is watching over her and compared the mess  Syria and Egypt  are in today,  to how Israel has prospered in the last 40 years . He gave God the glory for this. then he switched back to Hebrew so I don't know what he said but he was pretty passionate about it!   You can learn more here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/israel-grinds-to-standstill-as-country-ushers-in-yom-kippur-jewish-day-of-atonement/article14310687/

EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY RESTS FROM WORK!
The coolest thing is to walk in the middle of the  streets with all the families dressed in white , absolutely no vehicles in transit, all traffic lights just on standby, as if winking at us saying its ok walk right though.

Saturday we rested and read the Torah (bible) portion , which happens to be Zoe and her twins birthday torah portion because they were bon on Yom Kippur 19 years ago . So either they are sinless or repenting take your pick ! lol 

 

 We went to the Kotel in the evening and of course ran into the English and the lovely Dutch couple so we had to get together and break our fast in the most amazing Armenian tavern.

walking home all of us  laughed and laughed at so many silly little jokes you think we had been friends for a life time. we ended the evening holding hands under a windmill  dancing around our lovely birthday girl singing  happy birthday!


until next time Shalom , and may you have a good year and your name be written in the book!

 3 interesting viewpoints on Yom Kippur click on link:

http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.co.il/2011/08/ten-days-of-awe-leading-up-to-yom.html

http://hebrewnationonline.com/blog/torah-teachers-round-table-torah-edition-yom-kippur/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torah2TheNations+%28Hebrew+Nation+Radio%29

http://www.ifcj.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=39816&news_iv_ctrl=1481&s_src=EN1&s_subsrc=EN21309XXEXXX