To be read or listened to close Sukkot 5784 (Tishrei 21-22, 5784 / October 6-7th 2023) and to open Simchat Torah 5784 (Tishrei 23, 5784 / October 8th 2023) -

https://sagespeaks.blog/2023/10/19/cycles-of-seven-rhythms-of-rest-seven-days-simchat-torah-pt-1/

Simchat Torah (Re-joicing in the Torah) (2)

To be read or listened to from the end of the Autumn equinox of 2023, and the eve of Yom Kippur 5784. - https://sagespeaks.blog/2023/09/24/ten-days-of-teshuvah-a-time-to-turn-pt-2/

The Image of a Pivot (2)

To be read or listened to during the month of Elul in approach to the Day of Atonement (Tishrei 10, 5784 / 25th September 2023) - https://wordpress.com/post/sagespeaks.blog/774

Journey to the Seventh (1)

D'Evils (2)

Stories of Undue Suffering (3)

Lamentations & Job (4)

Despair & Hope (5)

Holes in your Hands (6)

To be read or listened to from the conclusion of Av 9 - 10 5783 (27 - 28th July 2023)

To be read to conclude Av 9-10, 5782 (6th - 7th August 2022)

On the Hebrew calendar, Av 9 is a date that is annually marked and consistently observed as solemn time. Time where Jews fast and mourn as a community to commemorate the tragedies which surround this date.

Most notably, the commemoration focuses on the destruction of the First & Second Temples, the static structures of God's House constructed through human hands.

However, the consistency has only one exception which occurs only when Av 9 falls on the weekly day of rest, the Seventh day: the Sabbath day. This day of the the week is one which is ordained and appointed by God as holy and sacred time in the Books of Genesis (Chapter 2), Exodus (Chapters 16, 20 & 31) and Leviticus (Chapter 23). When this coincidence occurs between the day to feast and the day to fast, it behooves the Jewish community for the former to precede the latter. In other words, it is deemed right and proper to postpone the day dedicated to fast and mourn the memory of the Temple (Tisha B'Av) to the next day, the first day of the week: the Sunday. This move is done to prevent a clash of meaning, intention and significance between each day.

However, despite this move, the day dedicated to feast (the Sabbath) that directly precedes Tisha B'Av is solemnly celebrated as Shabbat Chazon (Sabbath of Vision) inspired by Isaiah's vision of the Temple's destruction due to Israel's sin (Chapter 1).

One way to read this re-arrangement in the eyes of the Jewish community is that the celebration of the Sabbath day takes precedent over Tisha B'Av despite the unfortunate events associated with it.

A possible alternative way to read this re-arrangement in the eyes of the Christian community would be an interpretation that gives the very reason why we can celebrate in the midst of misfortune: God's promise of redemption and the joy of His salvation. ... (Cont. https://wordpress.com/post/sagespeaks.blog/589) 

To be read between the last evening of Elul 5781 and the tenth evening of Tishrei 5782

On the Hebrew calendar the last evening of Elul is marked as Erev Rosh Hashanah, the eve of Rosh Hashanah ('Head of the Year'), and, as such, marks both a communal and personal turning point in time. A communal point in time where there is a collective turn away from a total Ten Weeks of affliction and consolation towards a total Ten Days of awe and repentance (Teshuvah); a personal point in time where there is an individual turn towards a changed chapter and away from the pages of the past. In essence, these Ten Days are an appointed time where all are called to acknowledge and act in accord with the end of one season and the approach of another.

As emphasised by the author of Ecclesiastes,

These Ten Days of Teshuvah is the time to turn. This turn is our chance to change. And, this change answers God's call.

As emphasised by the author of Leviticus,

The appointed time of sabbath-rest on the first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) is appointed by God as Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets, and, over time has come to be acknowledged by Israel as Rosh Hashanah, 'Head of the Year'. A time in the year where every day in the preceding month of Elul anticipates this memorial through the daily act of blowing the shofar (ram's horn). In essence, the entire sixth month in the Hebrew calendar acts as a procession for the seventh and, as such, this procession makes way for the King of Creation through sacrifice and the sound of trumpets. [...]

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sagespeaks.blog/2021/09/12/ten-days-of-teshuvah-a-time-to-turn/

To be read forty days and forty nights past the Pentecost of 2021, from Tammuz 16-17 5781 via http://sagespeaks.blog/2021/06/26/passover-to-pentecost-a-sojourn-to-the-fiftieth-day-pt-2/

From the very beginning, from our very genesis, God's quest as Creator has been with the point and purpose of our being liberated away from the negative and aimed towards the positive. A quest where we move away from pure darkness and aim towards light; from complete chaos and towards order; from something pointless towards something with purpose.

According to the book of Genesis, God encounters the empty, chaotic and formless waters; He faces the darkness of the deep abyss  - the negative. But despite this, God speaks life in the form of light in counter to complete darkness; day-by-day, God speaks truth in order to divide and yet achieve a delicate balance for the universe. A balance between darkness and light on the first day; between the lower and the upper worlds on the second and between the celestial signs (Moon, Stars and Sun) on the fourth. [...]

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://sagespeaks.blog/2021/05/16/passover-to-pentecost-a-sojourn-from-first-fruits-pt-1/

To be read from the eve of Shavu'ot 2021 (Sivan 5, 5781 / May 16, 2021):

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu, Melekh ha'olam, asher kideshanu beh-mitzvohtav, veh-tzivanu al-sefirah ha'omer.

Blessed are you LORD, our God, King of the world (universe), who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us on the counting of the Omer.

According to Rabbinic Judaism, today is the 49th day, that is, the 7th exact week of Counting the Omer (Sefirat Ha'Omer). As such, today is the brink and brim of the Omer count, that is, the penultimate to Pentecost (Hebrew: Shavu'ot).

And as today sinks into tomorrow, this day will become the 50th day, that is, 7 full (complete) weeks of Counting the Omer. And as such, tomorrow will be one step above the product of 7 days x 7 weeks of counting; this day will become the fiftieth from First-Fruits (Bikkurim), that is, the day of Pentecost (Fifty) itself.

These are the seven days and seven weeks of Counting the Omer (Sefirat Ha'Omer).

To begin the process of counting these seven days and seven weeks is the Day of First-Fruits (Yom HaBikkurim), otherwise known as the Feast of the First-Fruits (Chag HaBikkurim). On this day in biblical history, the children of Israel were instructed to bring a sheaf of their first-fruits - a bundle of barley - after they arrived and settled in the land God had previously promised and later led them to after the Exodus from Egypt. This offering to God used the first-fruits of the Promised Land to initiate the process of counting up to the 50th day, known as either the day of Shavu'ot (Weeks) in Hebrew or the day of Pentēkostḗ (Fiftieth) in Greek. 

(Continue reading via blog post: http://sagespeaks.blog/2021/05/16/passover-to-pentecost-a-sojourn-from-first-fruits-pt-1/) 

*(Alt. title: Matzah & Manna: the Meat of Moshiach)*

To be read from the eighth day of Passover & Unleavened Bread and the last day of Holy Week (Nissan 22, 5781 / April 4th 2021): https://wordpress.com/post/sagespeaks.blog/364

"Although opposed as two different traditions of faith, the weeklong festivals of Passover & Unleavened Bread (Pesach & Matzot) - for Judaism - and Holy Week - for Christianity - coincide and concur in a unique way this year: As the sun sets and rests on the seventh day of Passover & Unleavened Bread this year (Pesach Shabbat), the sun similarly ceases on the Saturday of Holy Week; and, as the sun rises on the eighth day of Unleavened Bread, it similarly resurrects on Sunday in tune with the risen Christ, the perpetual Passover Lamb and unleavened Bread of life. In a word, the festive and redemptive meat of the Messiah.

"All who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." - Revelation 13:8 (NKJV) (emphasis mine)

"[Jesus answered] '... the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.'

[...]

For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." - John 6: 51-55 (NKJV) (emphasis mine)

On the other end of biblical history, it was written:

" 'These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.' " - Leviticus 23:4-6 (NKJV) (emphasis mine)

Although the feasts of Passover & Unleavened Bread are written as two separate feasts here in Leviticus, they are treated differently in the book of Deuteronomy. In this book they are treated as one.

" ' Observe the month of Abib [Spring/Nissan], and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib [Spring/Nissan] the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

[...]

but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.

[...]

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it.' " - Deuteronomy 16:1-8 (NKJV) (emphasis mine) [...]"

*(Alt title: Shabbat & Pesach: Moedim with Elohim)*

To be read from the twilight between two festivals (Nissan 14, 5781 / 27-28th March 2021): https://wordpress.com/post/sagespeaks.blog/308

"As the sun has set with the evening and has risen with the morning, the weekly Sabbath (Shabbat) has been celebrated; and, as the night falls on the day, the annual Passover (Pesach) will begin.

The Sabbath is the Hebrew holy day occurring once every week, from the start to the finish of every seventh day. The Sabbath day starts from sunset of the sixth until dusk of the seventh, or from the twilight of the former to the nightfall of the latter.

In Jewish tradition, the seventh day, Saturday, is dedicated to commemorate, emulate and celebrate God’s original six-day act of creation, sanctified and sealed with cessation on the seventh.

As the Creator, God seeks to share this seal of sanctification with His creation on the seventh day of each week; as well as the day itself, God similarly sanctifies creation, His creatures and His covenant partners. And when God’s covenant partners choose to imitate God’s six-day creative act they also participate in His creative rhythm: the rhythm of creating for six and ceasing on the seventh; a harmonic series of six working days marked off with a sign of solemn rest on the seventh. [...]"