Shavua Tov! This coming week's Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, which means "Sarah's life."

This week's Torah portion is filled with gems, so I hardly know where to start. First, we see the deep love that Abraham and Isaac had for their wife and mother. We also see the wonderful story of provision and guidance as Abraham's servant finds a wife for Isaac.

But the Haftarah portion brings out something I never really gave much thought to before. Abraham purchased a piece of real estate in Canaan because he had faith that his descendants would one day inherit all of the land.

He knew he was getting old. He knew he wouldn't see all of YHWH's promises fulfilled first hand.

Yet he acted in faith, purchasing a burial place for Sarah. In those times, you only buried your loved ones in your ancestral homeland. In other words, he was proclaiming to everyone that his homeland was no longer in the East, where his father and brothers lived.

No, his "homeland" was in the Promised Land!

Most of us live outside the land of Israel, too. We get pretty settled here in our countries, and we get wrapped up in politics, in worries for the future, and in patriotism. Yet when we placed our faith in Yeshua, we became citizens of Israel and children of Abraham.

How can we act in faith toward our promised futures? Even if we might not live long enough to see the promises fulfilled (and yet I hope we do!), how can we encourage our children to live as "strangers and exiles" of their current homes and as "heirs of the promise"?

A link you may enjoy:
https://exodustoisrael.com/the-jerusalem-debate/

When Lot prepared a meal for his angelic guests (Genesis 19:3), he baked the bread himself. Compare this to Abraham who organized the meal, but had Sarah bake the bread. Lot's family doesn't appear to play any role in hosting their guests. This is another sign that Lot had lost control of his family, probably because he took up residence in Sodom. You can't put a handful of good apples into a basket full of rotten apples and expect them to transform the rotten ones. Lot couldn't depend on his wife for anything good and, although she was responsible for her own sins, he was the one who set her up to fall by putting her into a circumstance that she was not strong enough to handle.
#patriarchy #marriage #parenting #leadership #genesis #vayeira

The word YAHUDAH is the doorway to the actual sound.  Another name seen in Scripture shares the last two letters, UAU-HAY:

Adam's wife's name!  (see the Hebrew interlinear for this name at Gen/Bereshith 3:20).

HETH-UAU-HAY  = KUAH  (K+UAH)

Her name has the same ending two letters as the Name YAHUAH  (UAU+HAY, UAH).

Below, in tan lettering, is shown the palaeo-Hebrew script, which is the way the Name of YAHUAH looked as He wrote His personal Name in the stone tablets at Sinai with his own finger.  It is read from right-to-left.  The letters are YOD, HAY, UAU, HAY.   Our letter, "W" is a new letter, and is really what it is called:  a "double-U"  (UU).  There's actually no letter in Hebrew that matches it better than our letter, "U"  - there's not a letter W in Hebrew, but you'll see it rendered "waw" and "uau".   At the bottom, you see the Name of YAHUSHA, which is the real Name which most people have been taught is "JESUS".   In the center is the word "YAHUDAH", which serves as a litmus test for how to really pronounce the Name -- it contains all four letters of the Name, but has the letter "DALET" (D) inserted just before the last letter.   (The letter called "waw" is better described as "uau"): "Whenever I said, Let me not mention Him, nor speak in His Name again, it was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones.   And I became weary of holding it back, and was helpless."   YIRMEYAHU 20:9

The word YAHUDAH is the doorway to the actual sound.  The Hebrew script above is the "autograph", the personal inscription of the Name which Yahuah used at Sinai.   "Modern" Hebrew letters are really Babylonian letters, brought back with the Yahudim after their captivity of 70 years.  The written language of the Creator, especially how He wrote His own Name with His finger, should be a subject of interest for those who claim to belong to Him.

We are called to be a part of God's remnant, to fellowship with Him, as Abraham did at Mamre.

October 23, 2021
TORAH PORTION: "AND HE APPEARED"
PARASHAH: “VAYERA”
Genesis 18:1-22:24
HAFTORAH PORTION
2 Kings 4:1-37
BRIT HADASHAH PORTION
Luke 1:26-38, 24:36-53

Image courtesy of https://m5.paperblog.com/i/151..../1511700/sunday-devo

Blessed are You Adonai Elohim, for You give us grace to defeat evil and to resist temptation. In times of trouble You are our Strength and our Support. You bring us to eternal life. Blessed are You Yahuah, You are one. Adonai, bless all Your people who are struggling with temptation. Guide Your Church that it may lead others to do Your will and to live in love and peace with all. Help us to make others aware of the deep spiritual things within our world; that they are all called to work for You. Help us to do Your will and so live in Your Kingdom. We pray for all those who suffer through sin, violence, crime and war. We pray for all people and nations that are divided against each other through ancient wrongs and through greed. We pray for all who are sorely tempted to do wrong. Adonai, show us all the peace we should give and the peace we should forgo. We ask Your blessing upon our homes, our families, our friends and our loved ones. We pray for all who are suffering from broken homes and broken relationships, we pray for those who are rejected by their families and we pray for those who feel they have been betrayed in love. Bless all who work to bring reconciliation and new hope to separated people. We give thanks for all who share in healing and the restoring of well-being to all who suffer. We pray for all who are in pain or distress at this time. We ask Your blessing upon all who are separated from loved ones through illness or disability and all who cannot longer cope on their own. We give thanks for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. We rejoice in the fellowship of all saints and the faithful who are in Your Kingdom. We ask Your blessing on all our loved ones, friends and family that are travelling or those who we do not see or talk to often. May each of them seek Your guidance in all they do. We pray and ask this in the mighty and powerful Name of Yeshua Moshiach, amein.

We had a great deal of difficulty determining our Feast dates this year. To avoid any hurt feelings we landed on celebrating Sukkot this year in October...in fact we are in the middle of it as we speak.
The weather took a harsh turn last night, and since we hold service in our home, we transformed the garage into a temporary place of worship.

We had a great deal of difficulty determining our Feast dates this year. To avoid any hurt feelings we landed on celebrating Sukkot this year in October...in fact we are in the middle of it as we speak.
The weather took a harsh turn last night, and since we hold service in our home, we transformed the garage into a temporary place of worship.

We had a great deal of difficulty determining our Feast dates this year. To avoid any hurt feelings we landed on celebrating Sukkot this year in October...in fact we are in the middle of it as we speak.
The weather took a harsh turn last night, and since we hold service in our home, we transformed the garage into a temporary place of worship.

We had a great deal of difficulty determining our Feast dates this year. To avoid any hurt feelings we landed on celebrating Sukkot this year in October...in fact we are in the middle of it as we speak.
The weather took a harsh turn last night, and since we hold service in our home, we transformed the garage into a temporary place of worship.