!!!!!!!Issue 28 Spring 2014

Did You Know?A total of 169,655 out of 8.7 million Israelis have the name Cohen, which is Hebrew for “priest.”

Jewish Civil War soldiers w i t h o u t i n g r e d i e n t s f o r charoset put a real brick on their seder plate..

In the mid 1930s, Maxwell House started giving out Haggadot to clarify that coffee beans are kosher for Passover, and thus prevent a dip in coffee sales. !Persian Jews distribute green onions during the song Dayenu and hit each other with the stalks when the ninth stanza begins. !Manischewitz alone sells more than 1.5 million jars of gefilte fish— that’s almost one jar for every 10 Jews in the world.

Advertisement

Arutz Sheva is Israel's award-winning news team for breaking news, analysis, Israeli politics, v ideo & audio . Top-notch English-speaking show hosts discuss politics, religion and world affairs from a Jewish perspective direct from Israel.

Is Passover Important? by Rabbi Steve Weiler

  Passover is an important Holy Day, not only for Jewish people, but for Christians as well.  Even Jews who are not “religious” usually celebrate Passover.  Along with Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, it is one of three Holy Days that seem to define our Judaism spiritually and culturally.   Passover seems to be most important because of its family observance.   Though I didn’t always enjoy our Passover seders when I was young, it still left an indelible impression on me.  It is one of the main Holy Days that has kept us together as a Jewish people. Spiritually, it strengthens us as we “remember” God’s faithfulness, His prophetic utterances, His power, His purpose and His love for us as a people.  Passover, through the Hagaddah, emphasizes that God has always

had a hand in saving His Jewish people. It is not a stretch to contemplate the fact that we as Jews exist because of God and His promises to us in the Tanach (Hebrew Scriptures). The argument could be made that many of our people

celebrate Passover for the wrong reasons. Some do it out of respect for their family or just because they feel it is a Jewish obligation.  I have always been of the opinion, that even when you do something right for the wrong reasons, it’s better than not doing it at all.   Have you ever stopped to think why Passover is also so important to

Messianic Jews and Christians, too? In Exodus 12, while our people were in Egypt, God required us to put blood of a perfect lamb over the doorpost of each Jewish home, in order to spare out firstborn from death.   Scriptures such as Exodus 12, Leviticus 17:11, and Isaiah 53 are part of our understanding as to why Yeshua’s blood was required for

US Jews Go to Bat for Israel (Arutz Sheva) American Jewish baseball players are going to bat for Israel and will play for “Team Israel” in the World Baseball Classic this summer. "This could be the mos t ce l eb ra t ed Israeli team since David met Goliath," said Chaim Katz, president of the Israel A s s o c i a t i o n o f Baseball said. Israel would not even get to first base if it has to rely on Israelis, but American Jewish players like Shawn Green and Gave Kapler are stepping up for Israel. The Israeli Baseball League made a valiant attempt to capture the hearts of Israelis, whose love of sports starts and ends with soccer and basketball and who quickly got bored trying to figure out the rules and objectives in baseball. The League folded after one year. Katz hopes Team Israel will revive the effort. Before major leaguers can play, teams must pass the qualifying round in September, leaving Israel to rely on minor leaguers. If Israel can win the round, it will be all set for the major leaguers to play in the big game in March. A loss would probably be the last strike for baseball in Israel.. n!

Oldest Holocaust Survivor Dies at 110 (LONDON - Jews News) A 110-year-old woman believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust and who endured the ordeal partly through her passion for music, died last month in London. Alice Herz-Sommer, who is said to have counted writer Franz Kafka among her family friends and is the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, was a Jewish pianist and musician from Prague in what is today the Czech Republic. In 1943, the Nazis sent her and her young son to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where tens of thousands of people lost their lives. Neither her husband Leopold nor her mother Sofie survived World War Two, but she and her son did. Herz-Sommer was born in Prague in 1903. She and her son Raphael were freed from Nazi captivity in 1945 when the Soviet Red Army liberated their camp, and emigrated to Israel before settling in Britain. Raphael, an accomplished cellist and conductor, died in 2001. A documentary film, “The Lady in Number 6,” covers Herz-Sommer’s life, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary at the Oscars. (Continued on back)

American Soldiers can wear Kippot (Arutz Sheva) The US Dept of Defense has eased its dress code with regard to religion. This means that Jewish military personnel are now allowed to wear a kippah (skullcap or yarmulke) as well as a beard, while on duty. The easing of restrictions also applies, of course to other religious groups such as Sikhs who wear turbans and never cut their hair. Still, the headgear must not create a disturbance or endangerment and must be approved by commanding officers in each individual case. n

(Is Passover Important? Continued) our redemption. This is also the basis for what Christians call “communion” or the Lord’s Supper.  And although there are more biblical reasons why Passover is important, the most amazing one to me is when the afikoman (middle matzah) (usually symbolic of the High Priest) is broken and hidden away in a cloth. It is then resurrected when a child finds it and redeems it for a price.  We can only then continue the Seder after all of us have shared a piece of the afikoman.  Can you see how in our Passover Seder, we prophetically are speaking of the death, resurrection, and return of Yeshua?  I am always in awe as to how God takes the Hebrew Scriptures and ties it so well with the New Covenant.  It should give us confidence that God also has a plan for our lives. God said to His Jewish people that they would be a blessing and a light to all nations.  That’s God’s plan.  Are you ready to accept it in your life?  The season of Passover is a good time to ponder God’s plan for your life. n

Israeli ice device destroys breast tumors (Israel21c) For the past year, a novel Israeli medical device has been changing the way American doctors remove fibro-adenoma tumors – benign breast lumps. Now an internationally renowned Japanese surgeon is testing IceSense3, made in Israel by IceCure Medical, to destroy small malignant tumors as well. During an ultrasound-guided procedure, the IceSense3 probe penetrates the tumor and destroys it by engulfing it with ice. Needing only local anesthetic, the cryoablation process takes five or 10 minutes in a doctor’s office and the patient can get up and leave afterward. No recovery period or post-care is necessary. This procedure is an exciting step towards moving treatment of small, early-stage breast cancer tumors from open surgery to a minimally invasive cryoablation .procedure. n

Shaksuka with Feta Cheese 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced 1 large red bell pepper, seeded, thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon sweet paprika 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste 1 (28-oz) can plum tomatoes in juice, chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt, more as needed 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, more as needed 5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/4 cups) 6 large eggs Chopped cilantro, for serving - Hot sauce , for serving (optional) 1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and bell

pepper. Cook gently until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add garlic and cook until tender, 1 to 2 minutes; stir in cumin, paprika and cayenne, and cook 1 minute. Pour in tomatoes and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; simmer until tomatoes have thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in crumbled feta.

3. Gently crack eggs into skillet over tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until eggs are just set, 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro & serve with hot sauce. n

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1014721/shakshuka-with-feta.html

Oldest Holocaust Survivor Dies (Continued) Herz-Sommer, who along with other musicians gave concerts in the concentration camp to keep up her spirits and those of people around her, said before she died that Beethoven was her religion and that music had saved her life and still saved her. She famously said she bore no grudges and saw her life as a wonderful gift.

An estimated 140,000 Jews were sent to Terezin and 33,430 died there. About 88,000 were moved on to Auschwitz and other death camps, where most of them were killed. Yet she remembered herself as "always laughing" during her time in Terezin, where the joy of making music kept them going.

"These concerts, the people are sitting there, old people, desolated and ill, and they came to the concerts and this music was for them our food. Music was our food. Through making music we were kept alive," she once recalled. In 1949, she left Czechoslovakia to join her twin sister Mizzi in Jerusalem. She taught at the Jerusalem Conservatory until 1986, when she moved to London. n

Facebook's Zuckerberg is America's #1 giver (The Jerusalem Post) Mark Zuckerberg, most famously recognized as co-founder and CEO of networking the site Facebook, came in first place as the United States biggest donor for the year of 2013. According to CNN, Zuckerberg and his wife donated almost one billion dollars worth of Facebook stock, about 18 million shares The enormous donation was made to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, making it one of the biggest foundations in the United States. Zuckerberg, also had a good 2013 financially, placing second on the Forbes list of biggest gainers behind also Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Zuckerberg’s fortune more than doubled in 2013, reaching nearly $26 billion, according to Forbes. The Jewish billionaire from New York (29) and his wife (28) top a list of 50 biggest donors in the US who together donated a total of 7.7 billion dollars to charity in 2013, four percent more than 2012 when Warren Buffett topped the list. Philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buffett surprisingly did not make the top of the list this year. Both been credited with inspiring other billionaires to become philanthropists. n

“Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.” — Sr. Winston Churchill

This free newsletter is published by Shoresh David in order to inform the Jewish community about things that matter. Shoresh David Messianic Synagogue - 4320 West Bay to Bay Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33629 - 813-831-5673 - www.shoreshdavid.org

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please call our office and we will remove your name.