THE MYSTERIOUS OBITUARIES OF ELUL

A few years ago, I encountered a Jewish medical doctor who told a most intriguing story.  He said that in his many travels, he would often occupy himself with reading the local obituary notices of whatever city he was currently traversing.  Over a 20-year period of tracking these death announcements, he observed a mysterious, yet altogether traceable thread of predictability surrounding these occurrences. 

In the weeks preceding the Biblical observance of Yom Kippur, there is a striking increase in the number of obituaries published.  This also coincides with the month of Elul on the Hebrew calendar.  My own husband, a Messianic Rabbi, passed away half-way through the Month of Elul in 2010.  During the days following the death of a loved one, Jewish families participate in a ritual prayer, remembrance and time of rest called "Sitting Shiva." This tradition helps to heal the grieving process.

If the increase in deaths during Elul is true, it could be tied into an incumbent piece of what the Book of Ecclesiastes calls "....an appointed time to die." (Eccl. 3:2) While there is no empirical evidence that such a phenomenon visits the Planet every August, tradition needs no such proof for the avid believer.

HOUSE OF JUDAH - PHOENIX, AZ 1998



Yom Kippur is the Day of the "Covering" when Torah observers prepare for and participate in traditions to ensure their sins are "covered" and to have their names recorded in the Book of Life for another year.  It is believed that those who die preceding this event, were not recorded in the "Book" during the previous Yom Kippur.

FOR THE MESSIANIC BELIEVER, our belief is in the finished work of Passover and First Fruits.  Our names are written in the "Lamb's Book of Life," once for all time. 

WERE YOU CREATED OR WERE YOU MADE? YES!



Discovering our Hebrew Roots



Today's Hebrew lesson is on the creation of the Virtuous Woman.  Like everyone else on Planet Earth, you are "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," according to the Psalm 139:14.  But what makes you so special and so different from all the other 7 billion inhabitants of our glorious planet? 

In the Hebrew language of Genesis, the creation story  makes quite a distinction within the six steps of our emerging existence.  The distinction is this:  When the Hebrew word Bawrah is used as in Genesis 1:1 "...God created the Heavens and the Earth," it literally means that the Universe was shaped out of nothing that existed before.  Imagine!  It just came into being.  But when the word is Asah is used as in Genesis 1:7 "...God made the firmament..." - the firmament was formed and sculpted out of already existing materials.  So, mankind was formed from the dust of the Earth--Asah, already existing materials.  But when God breathed the breath of life into that form, that breath or His Spirit was Bawrah -- just as it was in Genesis 1:1.  It was wholly new, not like anything that ever existed before.  Singular; Unique; One-of-a-Kind.  And for every child formed in the womb, this is still true.

So, while we are "made" by our parents from their already existing DNA, the life force within us--that breath from God--is "created" in us, the first of its kind....Bawrah.  And that is why you are like no one else who is, was, or ever will be in the future.

The Virtuous Woman is Fearfully and Wonderfully Created and Made (Bawrah and Asah)!

IMPART THE BLESSING

Baruch ata Adonai

SHABBAT SHALOM!  That is, Rest and Peace to you.  It is the Eve of the Sabbath for Jewish and Messianic Christian households around the world.  As women of faith, we are to be about our Father’s business, watching over the welfare of our families and our homesteads. 

The Virtuous Woman watches over the ways of her household.”  Proverbs 31:27

The very first thing to do--the most important thing--the action that will change the entire vibrational frequency of your home--is to bless it!  The Blessing is the heart and soul of Shabbat.  A woman lights the candles because it was foretold that "a woman would bring forth the Light of the World." Bless your rooms and your spaces; your doorposts and lintels; your windows and portals.  Bless the beds that are slept in and the table at which you break bread together as a family.  Bless your coming in and your going out.  Bless your husband and bless your children.  This authority is the Gift the Father has given and it can rock your world!  The power of the blessing cannot be overstated. Remember, "The Power of is life and death is in the tongue, and we shall eat of the fruit of whichever we choose to impart." ~ Proverbs 18:21   

Listen to the Teaching on the Shabbat Blessing with Janet McBride from the House of Judah, 1998:

Visit me at and request the complete Shabbat Blessing in Hebrew:  www.womanscents.com