Rosh Hashanah the Biblical New Years – Commonly known as the Jewish New Year. In Biblical times, the dates of festivals were determined by a lunar calendar. Hebrew months begin with the sighting of the new moon. Because Rosh Hashanah starts on the first of Tishri – the only holiday that falls on the first day of the month – not all Jewish communities could be alerted in time. Even residents in Jerusalem could miss the start of Rosh Hashanah if clouds covered the night sky or witnesses arrived too late. That's why the one-day celebration was extended a second day to give all Jews a chance to participate. Rosh Hashanah usually falls between mid-September to early October. According to Jewish tradition, the destiny of mankind is recorded by God in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah. Those who repent of sins are granted a happy and good year. God seals judgment 10 days later on Yom Kippur. Prophetically, the holiday – also referred to as the Feast of Trumpets – points to the catching away of Yeshua's bride. The apostle Paul seems to be imparting this revelation to the church at Corinth: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." When Yeshua says in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day or hour of His return, it is a signal to believers that His return will fall on Rosh Hashanah. It is the only Biblical feast with an undetermined start time because of the new-moon sighting. “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your Word; Law; Torah” (Psalm 119:37, NIV) "And he (King Of Babylon-representing an Anti-Torah spirit) will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times (Feast Days) and in law(Torah); and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time." (as in 1000, 2000 and a half a thousand= 3500yrs.) Daniel 7:25 (NASB) "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the Trumpet Of God. And the dead in Messiah will rise first" 1Thessalonians 4:16 Ok so let’s look at the calendar. WWJD? Jesus/Yeshua is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever! Right? In the book of John we read that ‘in the beginning’ was the D’var/Word and the D’var was with God and the D’var was God. The Word is Yeshua/ Jesus. It goes on to say that this D’var Word who is God dwelled among us and we beheld His Glory… Interesting, Huh? If Jesus is LORD of all, then it was Jesus/Yeshua who gave Moshe the Torah on Mt. Sinai. And if this is correct then we must conclude that He/Yeshua being God will never cast a shadow from his turning. That is to say that Jesus doesn’t change his mind. God is not a man that He should lie. His commands were given to us the children of Israel (Romans 11) as a sign of His love for us. In the last days there will be many lying signs and wonders, so great that if it were possible, even the elect (the remnant) would be deceived. Acts 17:11 The feast days are also intimate revelations of His will for us to come to the Bridal chambers and of His coming. If you won’t show up for His feast days, how do you expect to meet Him in the Heavens? Ezekiel 44 states, “23 "'They (the Children of God) are to teach my people the difference between holy and common and enable them to distinguish between clean and unclean. 24 They are to be judges in controversies, and they are to render decisions in keeping with my rulings. At all my designated festivals they are to keep my laws and regulations, and they are to keep my shabbats holy. This is what we are supposed to do. On the contrary look at what Ezekiel describes is happening in Chapter 22: 25 There is a conspiracy of prophets in it like a roaring lion tearing up the prey; they have devoured people, seized wealth and valuables, and widowed many in it. 26 Her cohanim have done violence to my Torah, profaned my holy things, made no difference between the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves. We have been foreigners to the Torah of God. It is a Love Covenant between God and his people. Jesus states in Matthew 5:17-19; ‘Do not think that I came to do away with the Torah or the Prophets. Rather I came to (cause them to come to life) fulfill them. Not one stroke of the pen (caph) or the smallest letter (yod) will disappear from the Torah until all heaven and earth pass away. Verily I say unto you whosoever breaks the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be least in the kingdom of Heaven, but whosoever keeps my commands (i.e. Feast Days) and teaches others to do so will be great in the Kingdom to Come/ Heaven (Malchut Shamayim)!!!! Rosh Hashana- the festival of Trumpets is the call to prepare yourself for the judgement/deliverance of the King. It is the Betrothal phase and the ‘elope’ so to speak. It represents when the Bride groom would come to escort His bride to the place that He has prepared for her. (“I go away to prepare a place for you, so that when I return, where I am you may also be”). 10 days after Rosh Hashanah is the Wedding Phase called Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur also referred to as the Day of Atonement or as I like to refer to it as the Day of At-One-Ment with your God is your ‘wedding day’ with Yeshua/Jesus. Do you love your Lord, Jesus/Yeshua? Do you love Him enough to show up when He says or do you have your own ideas of when the party should begin? Take a look at the story of Esther and Vashti. In Esther chapter 1- We see that interestingly enough the king(who represents Yeshua) beckons the queen (who represents the bride of Christ) to come to the party. We read that this occurs on the 7th day of the banquet. This alludes to the 7000 year millennial reign of the King. We happen to be in the 7th day according to biblical creation. God created for 6 days and on the 7th day He rested-Shabbat! In verse 11The servants are called to bring the queen to the king wearing the the royal crown which He gave to her (alluding to the crown of Salvation) which for us is found in the Incarnate Word or the Living Torah who is Jesus/Yeshua). Yeshua wants to show all of Heaven and earth your beauty. After all He formed you in His own hand for His glory, to become to Him a helpmate in the Kingdom of God. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come to the Feast days that the King had ordered. All of Creation ignores the MOEDIM (appointments) which he had sent through his officers (prophets). This enragesd the king - his anger blazed inside him. So to not entirely unlike the King of Persia, our God’s wrath and fury are kindled within when we refuse to adapt to His ways. God wishes to bless you all. Jeremiah 29:11 states that He/God knows the plans that He has for you to do good things for you and to cause you to prosper… Come to His Feast Days, Observe the Sabbath and keep it set apart/Holy. Circumcise your hearts Oh Jerusalem and come before your God. This is the ‘good news’ of the gospels. It has always been God’s plan to give you opportunity to come before the LORD our God just as Esther the obedient wife of the King came before him and beseeched him for mercy. Mercy was given to Esther just as it can be had for you. The Lord your God has gone to the grave for us and has arisen alive. He did this in order to fulfill a law that states if a man (Jesus/Yeshua) wishes to stay married to an unfaithful bride (you and I) He must be able to die and come back to life. With mere mortal man it is impossible to make this unequally yoked union work… but with God all things are possible. It is taught that God doesn’t believe in divorce and this is the only place you have a right to apply that concept. You and I alone are the unfaithful and Jesus chose to remain married to us. Let’s gather this Rosh Hashana and show the world how much we love the Lord Jesus, and how aware we are of the mercy that has befallen us. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Romans 3:23 Let us enter into the Holy of Holies with confidence this week and enter into a New Year. Hebrews 10:19 Coming before the Lord in repentance making ‘teshuvah’ is an act of trust and faith. Ezekiel states that the LORD our God would place His Spirit in us and move us to desire to know HIS ways. Your name has indeed already been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life but will you show you Adonai Elohim that you trust Him and that we believe in His ways rather than in the ways of man. WWJD? Come and Join us this Wednesday evening. It is the Erev Rosh Hashana the evening and the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets. We will be eating Apples and Honey to bring in a sweet new year for all of God’s children! We are expecting a move of the hearts of men and women in our community to draw near to the culture and customs of Jesus Christ/ Yeshua. Would you like a “do-over” for the year? This is our chance to come before the Lord our God/ Yeshua-Jesus and begin a new life. This is the chance we all should be looking forward to each and every year. As the Children of Israel (Romans 11) I believe that we should rejoice at coming to the feast days. After all, it is these festivals that remind us of the promises given to us in the Covenant. The New Testament is not a ‘new’ covenant it is the same covenant that God made with our fathers. The same one our fathers broke and so will we. But we have license to claim our rights and inheritance to the commonwealth of Israel, if we love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength. The Maher family wishes you and your families a Shana Tova – a year of good health, happiness and serenity. May our prayers be answered and may our leaders be endowed with wisdom and integrity. May we merit a year of peace and security for the State of Israel, good tidings for the Jewish people and may all good people throughout the world be blessed.

Do not be discouraged at the future but rather be encouraged about your future. The L-rd our God and Savior Yeshua has not nor will not forsake you. However we should be troubled at the pessimism found within the “resurrected body of so-called believers”. We must begin to rejoice in our identity as Judeos por Yeshua. Dancing and eating is not a sin but we don’t rejoice as the bride at her wedding. It is like we are the cynical bride who says , “I do, but I bet we don’t make it.” I feel sad for Yeshua that His bride has allowed her vision to be stolen by the milk man and the mail man named Lucifer and Satan. Our Creator, Owner and Savior is good, just, mighty and trustworthy. We have scales upon our eyes. The scales of pessimism are as sin in our eyes. We must celebrate our salvation as in Simchat Torah. The Word, The Torah, The Lord Jesus, the Incarnate Word, Salvation, are all contained within the Spirit of the Redeemer Who is the Ha Torah. I watched the Holocaust videos and saw an entire group of people being exterminated because they choose to live for Hashem. Why can’t we also be half as fervent about our culture as those beautiful people were. We must get involved and teach our children leadership and vision. WE have had our inheritance stolen for so long and we also have forsaken the identity for so long that we are unwilling to receive restoration without reservations. Our guilt and years of training in the art of self flagellation has crippled our ability to walk out the restoration, salvation and deliverance that we teach is in Yeshua. Be strong! Do not be discouraged, you are such an encouragement to those who are watching. Those outside the camp are looking for hope and miracles. But if we sing a dirge and weep and gnash our teeth we won’t be able to sell ourselves umbrellas in the rain. We are the hope of nations and looking upon our raggedy Ann selves the future seems bleak at times. We must breath in the Ruach and be made strong. Lead we shall, I want to see young children fervent for Torah happy to grow Payot and wear tzitzit and the like.

SMILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your Father Loves You! The Story in the Torah says we win! Remember???

Rejection of His Own

Recently with the growth that the Lord has provoked in our lives we have seen certain folks that we would normally think of as dear friends act like we were leppers.
This is troubling to say the least, however it is not fatal... for us anyway.
Rejection comes in many flavors but most painfully from the ones you love.
Since answering the calling of the Lord Jesus: Yeshua Ha Moshiach and listening to the Spirit that Adonai placed with in me, I have seen my "family and friends" reject the move of G-d as though it were a plague.
Ezekiel the Prophet states that the Kol Voice of Hashem came to him and spoke this;
that Hashem would place His Spirit with in us and that He would move us to desire to know His spirit. Yeshua/Jesus said that a man cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven lest he be "born again".
What direction would the Spirit of Adonai move us? Toward or away from the Hebrew roots of our faith. Would the Spirit of G-d desire us to move away from the Jewish People or to move toward them with love and admiration. To move toward our brethren and to unite the family of Elohim throught the Spirit of Christ Jesus/ Yeshua Ha Moshiach.
To be "born again" means to be made new and to allow yourself to be taught. For what child is born with attitude that prevents them from learning. On the contrary, the innocent and pure heart is an easel for us to paint upon. We defile the innocent mind through de-sensitization and blatant assaults on the virtue of our young.
But what about us?
Can we trust again?
can we be born again so that we not only trust but are willing to learn the attributes and the character of Jesus Christ/ Yeshua the Messiah?
The other day my wife and friend were walking down the street in our little town when they were passed by an old friend. This was someone we spend much time around a long time ago. They too are "Christians" but i guess they must think that we are different "Christians" and not the same caliber as they are. Subsequently the driver ignore the two ladies and drove on past as though they never saw. Very well.
Later the same day, the driver and her husband were driving through town and it was made quite plain that they both saw my wife and children in the car we have had for some time and chose to look forward as though they were tremedously busy.
Does the Church of Jesus Christ see others that don't attent their congregation as less than whole, as less saved? WWJD?
Ask yourself what would the early church in Corinth or Galatia do?
Did Peter and Paul only go to the Synagogue or did they go and love on the ones who weren't in the temple?
The answer is they reached out and met the people where they were.
This last weeks Parsha states in the Chumash that Yitro/Jethro has 7 different names.
No he didn't have split personalities but it should be noted that under certain circumstances or in different territories he may have been know by different names.
Likewise Yeshua/Jesus may be referred to by different pronunciations yet the scriptures state that you will know them by their fruit and by their walk.
WWJD?
How did he teach? Was it with arrogance?
Of course not!
So why does the body of so called "Christians" beat each other up so often?
Isn't this the same reason that Yeshua took the blessing of the
Torah and gave it to the Multitudes? Ie: the lost 10 tribes?
The Religious Jews would not share the blessings of the Torah with those whom they saw as dirty ritualisticly unclean. This was the old addage, "don't cast your pearls amongst the swine."
With that attitude they held tightly to the greatest gift that had been given to them freely.
Freely I give it unto you, freely you shall give it away.
So now we see the same false piety in the church of today looking down on others because they don't belong to our congregation or den0mination. how are we different?
If indeed we are saved by the blood of Christ through faith then aren't the Jews who held tighlty to the Torah just as saved as the christians who are now holding firmly and tightly to the deliverence that was given them?
We are to walk out the lifestyle and characteristics of Yeshua so that the love of the Spirit is seen and witnessed in us.
What message are we sending in our daily walk?

If you love me, you would keep my commands and do them.
You don't have to do a thing, however if the HOLY Spirit really dwelled in us would'nt it be leading us toward yearning to do Torah out of our freedoms?
Pray about it and ask the LORD what He would have you to do.
I love you and pray that you see that legalism will do nothing for you. Legalism also comes in many different forms such as the form that tells you, "you can't study the Torah because that's legalism".
Matthew 5:17 on says Jesus told the disciples, "Do not think that I came to do away with the Torah and the prophets, but rather I came to fulfill (make fuller, completely clear and understandable) it. truly i say unto you that not the least letter or stroke of the pen will be abollished from the Torah till all heaven and earth pass away.
Shalom, and Rejoice!
He Came to Deliver not Condemn.

Look what I got the honor of doing.
This Torah scroll was found somewhere along the railroad tracks near Auschwitz.
It is estimated to be 200 years old or maybe more. The family that it belonged to most likely knew their fate but rather than to see the Word of God wind up in the hands of the Germans only to be defiled and destroyed they opted to throw it out of the train.
This scroll went from Germany to France and later came to America. It wound up in San Antonio by way of Oklahoma.


I have been invited to partake in the service again this Friday (erev Shabbat; Shabbat Evening).
Baruch Hashem has a great Cantor and Worship team, not to mention a fantastic Rabbi/Pastor/Teacher Roi Garcia, who is very Good.
We have been attending there for the last Year!
What a tremendous blessing.
As many of you may know already know, that we have begun a Messianic congregation in Lockhart where we live with the hope and vision of restoring the love of God’s Teaching and Instruction. Our Congregation is called Beit Tikveh U'Nesim (House of Hope and Miracles) and is located at 401 N. Commerce in Historic Lockhart, Texas.
We meet on Shabbat at 3pm.
We have been under the tutaledge of Rabbi Ralph Messer of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash (The Joy of Torah, House of Study) for over 4 years. Rabbi Ralph and Mrs. Messer have been a great inspiration for Annette; my wife and I.
The LORD has surrounded us with great teachers of His Word.
Matthew 5:17 tells us that anyone who abolishes the Law; breaking one of the least of the commandments and teaches other to do the same will be called "least in the kingdom", however, great in the kingdom will be the one who practices the commands of and teaches the Word/Torah. I believe that as the prophets prophecy, (paraphrase) “in the last days He would send the Spirit of Ellijah, and return the hearts of the children back to their fathers and the hearts of the Fathers back to their children.” Malachi 4: 4-6
WE are soooo there. Without the return of the love of the Torah/Word we will never see the return of the Messiah.
It is time to seek the face of Adonai Elohim our God; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. There is but One/Echad God.
As John Chapter 1 states that the Word/Torah was with God, and the Word/Torah was God and that the Word/Torah became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
He has indeed planted His eternal life with our midst.

I am so blessed! Whood’a thunk?

Those that believe in the coming of the Messiah are permitted to reach out and touch the Word/ representative of Yeshua/Jesus as a sign of their belief in the Salvation of the Messiah.
The Torah is made up of Lamb skins hence the term “Lamb’s Book of Life”
The Torah is written in Hebrew as it has been since the beginning of history and the Hebrew letters look like Chromosomes.
There are 22 Chromosomes in the human body and 22 letters in the Hebrew alefbet. It is also fitting that the letters and the chromosomes look strikingly similar.




In Psalms 22 the prophet prophecies of the Jesus’ crucifixion.
How great is our God?



So is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life/ The Etz Chaim? Yes!
Maybe We just don’t know it or we behave like we don’t know it.
Yeshua is the author of life, the author of creation and the author of the Torah.
I love Yeshua/Jesus and I love what He has written.
It guides us all on how to behave as human beings verses the beasts of the field.
Jeremiah and Hebrews but state that the LORD wrote His Law upon our hearts and upon our minds.
That He shall be our God and we shall be His people.
The prophet Ezekiel states that the LORD our God will put His spirit in us and move us to desire to know His ways.

Shalom, and may that Ruach HaChodesh/Holy Spirit move in you today and forever.

Pastor Donald J. Maher
Beit Tikveh U'Nesim
House of Hope and Miracles
401 N. Commerce Street
Lockahrt, Texas 78644