This year (2016), the Biblical date for Passover (The Feast of Unleavened Bread) will begin Saturday night April 23, 2016 at sunset until Saturday night April 30 at sunset.
When is Passover?
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Category Archives: Blog
Hebrew Voices #28 – The Renewed Sanhedrin
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, The Renewed Sanhedrin, Nehemia Gordon chats with Professor Hillel Weiss, official spokesperson for the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. Their conversation is recorded near David’s tomb—the strategic meeting place of this Sanhedrin. They begin with an historical overview of the Sanhedrin from each of their own perspectives as well as the perspectives of others.
Continue readingAviv Barley and the Gold Pandas
Shalom All Y'all,
With the Aviv Search now over, last night I finally got my first good night of sleep in a week! The intensity of the Aviv Search had me going on adrenalin, coffee and prayers. This year's Aviv Search has been a true cliffhanger. This morning I prayed about it and read over the "other" Aviv reports that are making their way around the internet. It was clear to me that we looked through the very fields where some have claimed to find Aviv. We even shared some of this process as we were doing it in the podcast Proclaiming a Hebrew Leap Year of Faith. I can understand how someone who already decided it was turning into a New Year before his very eyes based on the vineyards, goat utters, and other factors (or is that utter factors?) could climb up one of the hills in that area and be convinced that he is looking at fields of Aviv Barley. On Tuesday March 8 we spent at least 1.5 hours driving through the back roads of those fields with the aid of a new (and very costly) GPS app that provides near-military grade maps, basically the highest you can get without being on an active IDF combat mission. As much as I was expecting to find Aviv, especially based on the exterior appearance of the barley, it just wasn't Aviv yet. We returned to the same area on Thursday March 10, just to give the barley the maximum amount of time to turn Aviv before entering into a new Hebrew month. And it still was not Aviv. Continue reading
Support Team Study – Aviv Barley and the Spirit of Constantine
In this Support Team Study, Aviv Barley and the Spirit of Constantine, Bible Scholar Nehemia Gordon shows how the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD led to a change in the observance of the Biblical Calendar for both Jews and Christians. He also includes his educated guess as to when Passover will fall out this year based on the Aviv-New Moon calendar.
Continue readingAviv Barley in the Biblical Calendar
Biblical Leap Years
The Biblical year begins with the first New Moon after the barley in Israel reaches the stage in its ripeness called Aviv. The period between one year and the next is either 12 or 13 lunar months. Because of this, it is important to check the state of the Barley crops at the end of the 12th month. If the barley is Aviv at this time, then the following New Moon is Hodesh Ha-Aviv ("New Moon of the Aviv"). If the barley is still immature, we must wait another month and then check the barley again at the end of the 13th month. Continue reading
Hebrew Voices #19 – Holy City Soccer
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Holy City Soccer, Nehemia Gordon attends a “football match” between Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Beitar Jerusalem. Between the cheers of goals and shots on net, Gordon chats with Ari Louis, an Israeli sports blogger. Louis starts off explaining about the teams, their strategies, and soccer fans in Israel, but the conversation quickly turned spiritual.
Continue readingHebrew Voices #8 – Prophets, Priests, and Preachers
In this episode of Hebrew Voices #8 – Prophets, Priests, and Preachers, Nehemia continues a conversation with Anthony Garcia on the bank of the Jordan River. Garcia reads verses from the New Testament about the baptism of Yeshua, which is believed to have taken place a few feet away from where this episode was recorded. Verses in the Tanakh possibly related to Yeshua's baptism are discussed and we learn about Adoptionists—early followers of Yeshua who considered his baptism a turning point in his life and ministry. Gordon discusses the forbidden altar built along the Jordan by two and half tribes, and how an echo of the nine and half tribes’ displeasure (“What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?”) can still be heard today. In closing, Gordon declares the words of Scripture to be a testimony that those joined to the God of Israel do have a portion with his people and with his Torah.
Continue readingHebrew Voices #7 – Orthodox Jew Who Sights the New Moon
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Orthodox Jew Who Sights the New Moon, Nehemia Gordon delves deep into Rosh Chodesh with Dr. Roy Hoffman, founder of the Israeli New Moon Society. From Moses, to Hillel the Younger, to Maimonides, Hoffman explains Orthodox perspectives related to sightings of the new moon. Hoffman also introduces LunaCal, a free software application he developed to calculate when and where the new moon is most lightly to be visible.
Continue readingSupport Team Study – King Josiah and the Oral Law
In this Support Team Study, King Josiah and the Oral Law, Bible Scholar Nehemia Gordon shares about his early encounters with the Oral Law and how the story of King Josiah convinced him that there was only one true Torah given by the One True God. The photo at the top of this page is of the High Place at Arad, reassembled stone-by-stone at the Israel Museum. The High Place featured two altars, believed to have been dedicated to the deity and his wife, referred to in Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions as "Yehovah and His Asherah." The standing stone at the back may have represented the Israelite deity Himself. This idol was smooth, without any image of a man or beast, in accordance with Deuteronomy 4:15-18. Nevertheless, it was in direct violation of the prohibition to set up a matzevah, a [sacred] pillar, in Deuteronomy 16:22. Archaeologists discovered the two altars and the standing stone ripped from their original places, presumably by King Josiah when he destroyed the High Place around the year 621 BCE. After the time of Josiah, the Priests of the High Places, continued to practice their ancient rituals among the people, turning every meal into an illicit sacrifice and every table into a forbidden altar.
Continue readingYom Teruah 2015
Nehemia talks with Dev Arndt-Daniel about the upcoming new moon sighting of Yom Teruah on September 14, 2015. Will the moon be visible making Yom Teruah begin that evening or will it begin the following evening? They also talk about Nehemia's new podcast series "Hebrew Voices."
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