Hör zu, wenn Batya die Schönheit von Paraschat Jitro in Exodus 18,1-20,23 aufschlüsselt. Dieser Abschnitt der Tora spricht Bände über Gottes Liebe zu seinem Volk, das Wunder des Exodus und wie wir die zehn Gebote erhalten haben. Als Torastudentin und Jeschua-Nachfolgerin bietet Batyas Perspektive neue Einblicke in unsere Verheißungen mit Gott und wie wir mit schwierigen Entscheidungen umgehen können.

Parashat Yitro - Bible Teaching with Batya Segal

Wollt ihr Israel segnen, etwas im Leben der Menschen bewirken und euch an Gottes Plan zur Wiederherstellung des Landes Israel beteiligen?

Dieser Abschnitt der Tora spricht Bände über Gottes Liebe zu seinem Volk, das Wunder des Exodus und wie wir die zehn Gebote erhalten haben.

Woher haben wir die Zehn Gebote? | Aktuelles | Vision für Israel

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.

This year, Passover falls on the eve of March 27th. It is the one Old Testament feast that perhaps most particularly points to Yeshua. This is the feast of Redemption and we celebrate it for 7 days. Yeshua is our redemption. He redeemed us out of a life of bondage to sin and brought us into freedom in Him. It was also the evening of Passover that Yeshua had His last supper, the Passover Seder, with His disciples and that was the night He was betrayed.

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” - Luke 22:14 – 16

On the very first Passover, God commanded the children of Israel:

“This day is to be a memorial for you. You are to keep it as a feast to Adonai. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance. For seven days you are to eat matzot, but on the first day you must remove hametz from your houses...” - Exodus 12:14-15a

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord...

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  - Exodus 14:10, 13 – 14

On the morning of Passover eve, all the leavened food items are burned in a ceremony called “Bi’ur Chametz.” Leavened food (chametz) is considered a corrupting influence—a hidden uncleanness that manipulates purer elements and sin. Spiritual leaven is like an evil impulse within us that corrupts and sours our soul. We must put it away from us and sanctify ourselves.

Get rid of the old chametz, so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old chametz, the chametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth. - 1 Cor. 5:7-8

The Seder is the centerpiece of any Passover experience. A Seder is a festive meal that takes place on the first night of the holiday. Family and friends join together to celebrate. The word Seder means “order,” and the Passover seder has 15 separate steps in its traditional order. During the Seder, we read the Passover Haggadah, which guides us through those steps.

A blessing is recited over wine in honor of the holiday. When the seder falls on a Friday night, this version of the Kiddush is recited for Passover and Shabbat. When the seder falls on a Saturday night, as it does this year, we continue with a special version of Havdalah. The wine is then drunk. A second cup is then poured (but not yet drunk).

Participants wash their hands without a blessing in preparation for eating the Karpas.

A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten to remind us of the tears that the people of Israel shed when they were slaves in Egypt.

The middle of the three matzot on the table is broken into two pieces. The smaller part is returned to the pile, the larger one is set aside for the afikoman, wrapped in a cloth napkin, and hidden until later in the Seder (see below).

A retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Pesach. This begins with the youngest person asking The Four Questions, a set of questions about the proceedings designed to encourage participation in the seder.

Participants wash their hands again, this time with a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzah.

HaMotzi is the blessing over the bread at the beginning of the meal. Since it's Passover, this blessing is recited over the matzah.

A blessing specific to matzah is recited, and a bit of matzah is eaten. 

A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish mixed with grated beets; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This is a reminder of the bitterness of life as slaves.

The maror that fills the koreich sandwich is dipped into Charoset, a paste made of dates, nuts, and wine—whose consistency is reminiscent of the clay our ancestors used in Egypt to manufacture bricks.

A festive meal is eaten. There is no particular requirement regarding what to eat at this meal (except, of course, that chametz cannot be eaten). Often, the meal begins by eating a hard-boiled egg, which is a symbol of mourning, in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The piece of matzah set aside earlier is eaten as “dessert,” the last food of the meal. Different families have different traditions relating to the afikoman. Most commonly, the adults hide it and the children have to look for it. The child who finds it gets a prize or monetary gift. Some families have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back.

The third and fourth cups of wine are poured, and Birkat HaMazon (Grace) is recited.

The standard group of psalms that make up a full Hallel is recited at this point. A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.

A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, we may celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem (i.e., that the Messiah will come within the next year). The closing may be followed by various traditional songs, hymns, and stories. Friends, in these unprecedented times, let us remember that nothing we face is too big for God. While we celebrate this Passover, and soon the resurrection of our Lord, let us throw out the old leaven of doubt and fear—and replace it with the “new lump” of joyful faith in God. 

“So you are to observe the Feast of Matzot, for on this very same day have I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you are to observe this day throughout your generations as an eternal ordinance.” 

Pessach – Eine Feier der Freiheit | Vision für Israel

The name of this festival is actually its date: “Tu” is a pronunciation of the Hebrew letters tet and vav, whose numerical value is the number 15. And Shvat is the name of the month. So essentially "Tu Bishvat" means the 15th of Shvat. It’s also known as Rosh Hashana La’ilanot, the new year of the trees.

"He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

At its start, Tu Bishvat was not a Jewish festival. Rather, it marked an important date for Jewish farmers in ancient times. The Torah states:

“When you enter the land [of Israel] and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.” - Leviticus 19:23

The fruit of the fourth year was to be offered to the priests in the Temple as a gift of gratitude for the bounty of the land, and the fifth-year fruit–and all subsequent fruit–was finally for the farmer. This law, however, raised the question of how farmers were to mark the “birthday” of a tree. The Rabbis, therefore, established the 15th of the month of Shvat as a general “birthday” for all trees, regardless of when they were actually planted.

Fruit trees were awarded a special status in the Torah because of their importance in sustaining life and as a symbol of God’s divine favor. Even during times of war, God warns the Israelites:

“When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees… Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed.” - Deuteronomy 20:19-20

At a later time, the Rabbis of the Talmud established four “new years” throughout the Jewish calendar–Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year for the calendar date; a new year for establishing the reign of kings; a new year for tithing animals of Jewish farmers to be given to the Temple; and finally, Tu Bishvat, the new year for the trees (Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1). The Rabbis discussed why this date was chosen; saying that Tu Bishvat falls after mid-winter (usually in February), they concluded that the majority of the annual rainfall has usually already fallen by this time in the land of Israel, thus yielding a healthy, water-logged soil in which to plant new trees (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 14a).

According to Deuteronomy 8:8, there are five fruits and two grains associated with Israel as a “land of wheat and barley, of vines [grapes], figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees, and [date] honey.” Jews also give a prominent place to almonds in Tu Bishvat, since the almond trees were believed to be the first of all trees in Israel to blossom. Carob, also known as St. John’s bread, became another popular fruit to eat on Tu Bishvat since it could survive the long trip from Israel to Jewish communities in Europe.

When Jewish pioneers began returning to the land of Israel in the late 19th century, Tu Bishvat became an opportunity for these ardent agrarians to celebrate the bounty of a restored ecology in Israel. In ancient times, the land of Israel was once fertile and well forested. Over centuries of repeated conquests, destructions, and desertification, Israel was denuded of trees. 

The early Zionists seized upon Tu Bishvat as an opportunity to celebrate their tree-planting efforts to restore the ecology of ancient Israel and as a symbol of renewed growth and flowering of the Jewish people returning to their ancestral homeland.

Tu Bishvat has become a symbol of both a Zionist attachment to the land of Israel as well as an example of Jewish sensitivity to the environment. 

Early Jewish settlers to Israel began planting new trees not only to restore the ecology of ancient Israel but as a symbol of renewed growth of the Jewish people returning to their ancestral homeland. 

Many American and European Jews observe Tu Bishvat by contributing money to the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organization devoted to reforesting Israel (the purchase of trees in JNF forests is also customary to commemorate a celebration such as a Bar or Bat-Mitzvah).

In modern times, Tu Bishvat continues to be an opportunity for planting trees — in Israel and elsewhere, wherever Jews live. Many parents donate to the JNF every year on Tu Bishvat in honor of their children.

Tu Bishvat, or the “birthday” of all fruit trees, is a minor festival seemingly tailor-made for today’s Jewish environmentalists. In fact, there is an ancient midrash (rabbinic teaching) that states:

“When God led Adam around the Garden of Eden, God said, ‘Look at My works. See how beautiful they are, how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil or destroy My world–for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you’.” - (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)


 Text credit:
 www.myjewishlearning.com

Are you willing to bless Israel, make a difference in the lives of people, and partner with God's plan for restoration of the land of Israel?

Was ist Tu-Bischwat?  | Vision für Israel

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. 

The word Hanukkah means dedication. It’s an 8-day holiday that commemorates the rededication of the second temple after a small group of Jewish warriors (Maccabees) defeated the Greeks who were trying to secularize the Jewish faith. This year Hanukkah begins at sundown on Thursday, December 10.

The Hebrew word Hanukkah is related to Khannach (dedicated, train, discipline) and Khanan (Grace, favor, pardon). Another name for this holiday is the Festival of Lights.

The story of Hanukkah starts way back in 333BC, when Alexander the Great stormed through Syria, Egypt, and Babylonia (modern-day Iran/Iraq). 

Everywhere he conquered he demanded that the people give up their gods and worship the Greek pantheon of gods (Zeus, Venus, Apollo, and other gods). He made them speak Greek and learn Greek culture and law as well. 

When he marched into Jerusalem, he demanded that a golden statue be built in the temple honoring him. The High priest was shrewd and said, “we can’t do that, but we’ll have all of our firstborn sons take the name Alexander—they’ll be a living memorial of your greatness!” Sounded good to Alexander and that led to about 100 years of relative peace in the region.

But all that changed in the year 168 BC.

One of Alexander’s successors, Antiochus Epiphanes became king of Syria. He was an eccentric, cruel, and tyrannical dictator. He sought to eradicate the Jewish religion and establish Greek polytheism instead.

The observance of all Jewish laws, including Sabbath, circumcision, and the study of the Torah, were forbidden under penalty of death. He plundered the city of Jerusalem, took 10,000 captives, stripped the temple of its treasures, and built a pagan altar on the great altar of Burnt Sacrifices.

On the 25th of Kislev (Antiochus’ birthday), a sacrifice was brought on this altar for the first time. He required a swine to be offered in the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and every village. This was the ultimate blasphemy against God because swine are unclean according to the Law of Moses.



In the village of Modi’in, an aged priest named Mattathias lived with his 5 sons. He started a revolt against Antiochus, which grew into a full-scale uprising of rebels. Soon after, Mattathias died and left the leadership to his son Judah Maccabee (Maccabee means hammer). 

Under his brilliant leadership, what began as a guerrilla war turned into a full-scale military engagement in which the smaller Jewish forces managed to defeat the much more powerful Syrian armies, and they succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the Greek Empire.

On the 3rd anniversary of the desecration of the Temple, on the 25th of Kislev, 164 B.C., the Temple worship was reestablished. The altar and all the vessels used in the earlier sacrilege were destroyed and replaced with new ones, and the Temple was rededicated. It is this rededication that is still celebrated among the Jews to this day as Hanukkah.



In later tradition, it has been told that at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left to light the Menorah in the temple. That oil was supposed to last only for one day, but it would take eight days to make new oil. A miracle happened and the oil lasted for eight days.

This story is actually only recorded in later Rabbinical writings.

Nevertheless, the fact that a force so few in number could defeat the armies of the Syrian-Greeks cannot be overlooked. And the fact that the Temple was restored and rededicated is also a testimony to the power of God and His love for His people.



It is quite interesting to see that the holiday of Hanukkah is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. The book of Maccabees (in which the story of Hanukkah is recorded) never made it into the Bible. The only place in the Bible that mentions Hanukkah is the New Testament.



Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the Temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ tell us plainly”. Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.” - John 10:22-25

There are a few traditions that the Jewish people in Israel and all over the world do to observe the holiday:


1. Lighting the Hanukkiah every evening for 8 days 

2. Eating food fried in oil to commemorate the miracle of the jar of oil

3. Giving gifts or money or chocolate gelt to children

The Hanukkiah symbolizes the Menorah (golden lampstand) that stood in the temple. It was one of the furnishings that God commanded Moses to place in the Tabernacle and was preserved throughout the years in the Temples. 

It is clear according to the Torah's instructions that the Menorah was to have the form of a stylized plant, like a small tree that has a trunk and branches bearing flowers and almonds. If so, we must ask the question: How could it be that the Torah commanded us to make a Menorah in the form of a tree, to be placed in the sanctuary of the Tabernacle, while elsewhere the Torah cautions, "You shall not set up a sacred post – any kind of pole [or tree] beside the altar of the Lord your God that you may make" (Deut. 16:21)?

Here is one possible explanation: In the book of Genesis (chapter 2:9) it talks about the two trees in the Garden of Eden. One is the tree of knowledge and the second is the tree of life. Perhaps the tree of life is a representation of the eternal life we get through faith in Yeshua. Yeshua is also the Light of the World, which is reflected through the light of the Menorah. 

Another reflection of Yeshua in the Hanukkiah is that it has nine branches, of which one is higher than the rest (shamash, servant) and is used to light the other candles. Yeshua is like the Shamash. He is exalted, but He is also a servant, and He gives the light in our lives and to the world.

As we think about what this Festival of Lights means to us as God’s people, we think of the testimony of those who stood up to secularism, to the defamation of their faith and said “No. No compromise! This altar belongs to the Lord--not to you!” The people who know their God will be strong and do exploits! That’s a pretty powerful message for us and the world we live in! 

You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 

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Woher haben wir die Zehn Gebote?

Dienstag, 1. Februar 2022

Das Wunder des Exodus

Wollt ihr Israel segnen, etwas im Leben der Menschen bewirken und euch an Gottes Plan zur Wiederherstellung des Landes Israel beteiligen?

Aktuelle Berichte dazu

Pessach – Eine Feier der Freiheit

Freitag, 19. März 2021

Was ist Tu-Bischwat?

Freitag, 22. Januar 2021

Was ist Chanukka?

Donnerstag, 10. Dezember 2020

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