It's the most wonderful time of the year.... (to steal a phrase from a stupid song... ?)

It's been an exceptional week on the homestead... tis the time of planting and sprouting. Greenhouse planted and seeds started, finishing garden prep. Fruit trees coming in and next year's firewood already harvested!

Shabbat Shalom brothers and sisters! We pray you enjoy a peaceful and restful Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom to All Torah Observant Brothers & Sisters.
#shabbatshalom

Does anyone have some scriptural passages regarding the establishment of the head of year?

Humans were created to be an interface between heaven and earth. We have a purpose and it's not all about us. Unfortunately, Adam's sin in the Garden broke our connections to both heaven and earth. Now we fight daily with both just to survive.

Coincidentally, the horns on the bronze altar of the Tabernacle are material metaphors for power, authority, and connection to heaven. In some sense that we will probably never fully comprehend, they were functional, not merely decorative. The blood of the sin offering is placed on the horns (heaven) and base (earth) of the altar, temporarily fixing our connection to both.

(Pagan altars in Canaan also featured horns on the corners. Understand from this that something isn't sinful or pagan just because pagans do it.)

Leviticus 9

A strong theme from #shemini, #leviticus 9:1-11:47:

Lev 8:1-36 {s} Consecration of the tabernacle and priesthood
Lev 9:1-10:7 {p} Offerings on the 8th day / Nadab, Abihu consumed

Lev 8:1-36 is not part of this week’s parashah, but it is part of the strong theme which concludes with Lev 9:1-10:7. As I was meditating on how these two paragraphs are connected, and why God considers Lev 8:1-36 and Lev 9:1-10:7 facets of the same topic, I realized that just as the ceremony consecrated Aaron and his sons into the priesthood, so the fire that went out from YHVH, consuming Nadab and Abihu, consecrated the priesthood. It eliminated the dross from the sons of Aaron. Nadab and Abihu did not sufficiently regard the holiness of YHVH whom they were serving.
The end result was, the fear of YHVH, the beginning of wisdom, came upon the Aaronic priesthood, which preserved both YHVH’s instructions as He gave them, and the lives of the priests.