Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem
BOTANICAL GARDENS in JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on the southeastern edge of the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Nayot district. Publicly opened in 1985 is a center of botanical education and research with many special exhibitions and features encouraging visitors of all ages. The largest botanical garden in Israel, covering some 60 acres of land with over 6,000 plant species from around the world.
IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
“It Is Well With My Soul” written by Horatio G. Spafford & composed by Phillip Bliss 1873
This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford Family's life. Israel is going through a traumatic period in the lives of many, but we will sing again…
Enjoy the acoustics and song with praise at:
- The Bell Caves at Bet Gubrin with Dr George Gunn,
- The Shepherds’ Cave in Bet Sahur with Supt Randy Myers
- St Anne’s Church in Jerusalem with Pastor Randy Sheridan lead by Danae Sheridan with the Sheridan Group.
1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
o Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
6. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
HEROD THE GREAT 'BUILDER.'
The Herodium Guest Chamber
DAY OF ASCENSION
Thursday, May 8th, 2024 for the western Church
The Day of the Ascension is celebrated on the 40th day after Easter, and that is always a Thursday. The number forty occurs many times biblically, oftentimes associated with a number for completion and equated with the post-resurrection of Easter / Pascha Sunday "exaltation" of Jesus to the right hand of G-d.
Luke 24:51: Refers to the ascension when “…it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” occurring at Bethany on the east side of the Mount of Olives. But in Luke's’ Book of Acts 1:1-9 after telling the disciple to be a witness, it appears to be pointing to a beacon location to send messages on the top of the Mount of Olives where Jesus is then taken up from the disciples in their sight, a cloud hides him from view, and two men in white appear to tell them that he will return "in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." John 3:13 writes "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man."
Happy Ascension Day.
YOM HASHOAH VeLE’GVURAH - HOLOCAUST AND HEROISM REMEMBRANCE DAY
Sunday evening through Monday, June 6, 2024 / Nissan 27, 5784. The date being 6 days after Passover remembering the Warsaw Uprising which was inaugurated at Passover 1943 and a fight for freedom..
DESTRUCTION OF COMMUNITIES:
What we see occurring today is a reminded of what happened back then in the Holocaust of World War II. They tried to wipe us off the map and surface of the world, they destroyed our communities but could not destroy our soul or spirit. After so many years surviving terror again, the attempted genocide has been implemented, we will survive and build a better tomorrow without forgetting yesterday.
SATURDAY OF THE HOLY FIRE
Bethlehem Church of the Nativity
TO OUR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, HAVE A FULFILLED EASTER SON-DAY.
TEL DAN
The ancient city of Dan in northern Israel is first mentioned Biblically, “When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the three hundred and eighteen trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” (Genesis 14:14). Interesting to note that Abram (an Akkadian name meaning “exalted father” has not yet recognized G-d and changed his name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5), let alone have a great-grandson named Dan that became a tribe.
Following the Exodus and entering the Promised Land the Israelite Tribe of Dan was allotted the area near Jaffa by Joshua but, “When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to their families—these cities with their villages.” (Joshua 19:47-48). The rich lush springs at Laish were again re-captured by the Danites who came to Laish, “It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-Rehob. And they rebuilt the city, and dwelt in it. And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. (Judges 18:28-30).
The forbidden idol worship was again introduced by Jeroboam son of Nabat following the split of the kingdom after Solomon’s death and Reheboam ruled in the south, in Judea. Jeroboam set up a golden calf in Bethel and Dan appointing a new date for Tabernacles on the 15th day of the eighth month which is a month later than the Biblical instruction to stop people ascending to Jerusalem. (I Kings 12:28-33)
Let me take you once again to the
DAN RIVER
The Dan is the central tributary of 3 major spring sources to the Jordan River. The sources of the Dan are multiple springs emerging from Tel Dan along underground fault lines. The Dan River is joined by the Hatzbani River (aka Nahal Snir) that rises from two springs in Lebanon located northwest of Dan and the Hermon River located northeast (appearing at the foothills of Mount Hermon at Banias / Caesarea Philippi) at a point in northern Hula Valley of Upper Galilee in Israel to form the Jordan River. Could the name imply the ‘going down of Dan’ (Yored HaDan - Yarden – Jor-dan).
The river is so named after the Israelite city of Dan, which was captured by the Tribe of Dan. Dan originally being the seventh lot of Joshua’s division was given the territory around Jaffa but went from there and captured Canaanite ‘Leshem’ renaming it to Dan (Joshua 19:47-48). Again, the Tribe of Dan came to ‘Laish’ which is far from Sidon and called it Dan (Judges18:27-30). And so the site became known as Dan which infers that when Abram took three hundred and eighteen warriors to Dan (Genesis 14:14-15), the narration was written at a time that people understood where had the Tribe of Dan (Abraham’s grandson) settled.
Although the Dan River itself is only about 20 km (12 miles) long, its flow provides up to 238 million cubic meters of water annually to the Hulah Valley. Where the River Jordan flows from the north down to the south from Dan into the Dead Sea whose southern end is horizontally east of Beersheba.
Gethsemane and ancient Olive trees.
GETHSEMANE INTRODUCTION
Take a short walk through the Garden of Gethsemane with its ancient olive trees. The dew is still on the roses…
KNESSET MENORAH
Depicting a history of survival.
A monumental bronze seven branched Menorah (candelabrum) standing opposite the “Knesset” Israeli Parliament. The Menorah is a longstanding emblem still in common use today, that has only been used by the Jewish People and no one else as described in the vision of Zechariah 4:11, “Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand [Menorah]?”
Today the Menorah is the emblem on the seal of the State of Israel. This bronze Menorah was a gift from the British Parliament’s recognition of Israel in 1956 (year of the Sinai crises Suez Campaign). It is sculptured by Benno Elkan OBE, a Jewish German-born British sculptor (December 2, 1877 - January 10, 1960) with 29 relief bronze tableaux describing Judeo-historical events to the revival of the Jewish People and Statehood. Also inscribed with the tribes of Israel and the motto, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord.“ [Zechariah 4:6]
The term "Knesset" for the Israeli Parliament, is derived from the ancient Knesset HaGdola (Great Assembly) traditionally the assembly of 120 scribes (=10 men x 12 tribes), sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism approximately two centuries ending c.200 BCE. Unlike the ancient Knesset, a religious and completely unelected body, today the members are men and women are voted in representing religious and secular. The first modern Knesset was inaugurated at Tu b’Shvat (15th Shavat, the New Year for trees which was the 14th of February 1949),
