This week, the Jerusalem Prayer List will deal with two events: 1) On the regular Shabbat on April 11th, the reading will be from the Torah portion called Tzav, which translates to English as "Command!" Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36. The prophets (Haftarah), Malachi 3:4-24. The New Testament, Matthew 17:9-13. 2. The first night of the Passover holiday is celebrated this year on April 12th; I shall include the Torah portion and the portion of reading Haftarah (from the prophets) t

This Torah portion is called Terumah, translated in English as "contribution" or "donation." The reading is from Exodus 25:1-27:19. The text deals with the contributions of the children of Israel to construct the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The text is fascinating and has some significant ramifications for us today. The reading from the prophets is from II Kings 11:17 - 12:17; Isaiah 66:1; Isaiah 66:23-24. The reading from the New Testament is from Matthew 17:22-27. A

By Joseph Shulam The readings in the last few Shabbats have been some of the most dramatic in the whole Torah. This Shabbat's reading is doubly drastic. There is the divine heavenly theatre, including the pyrotechnics, including fire and wind, and the people hearing God Himself speaking the 10 commandments from on top Mount Sinai, and the people below hear the voices and experience tongues of fire and Mount Sinai shaking…. On Shabbat, we will read from the Torah portion of

By Joseph Shulam This Shabbat's Torah portion, Beshalach, is one of the most significant narratives of the whole Torah. The reading from the Torah is from Exodus 13:17 – 17:16. From the Prophets, the reading is from Judges 4:4-5:31. We will read John 6:15 – 71 and 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 from the New Testament. In this reading are the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the Song of Moses. The reading from the prophets, the Hafta

By Joseph Shulam Last Shabbat in the synagogues around the world, the reading of Genesis ended with Jacob blessing the twelve tribes – his children! The beginning of the reading of the book of Exodus starts with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This Shabbat's reading now from the second book of the Bible, Exodus in Hebrew, is called Shemot – that is the "names." The first verse of Exodus starts with the following: "Now these are the names of the children of Israel w

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 02 November, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel We read the glorious story of God creating the world just a couple of weeks ago. He then set Adam and Eve in the Garden to the East of Eden after the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge and the horrible murder of a brother on brother. Six chapters later, we read one of the saddest narratives in the whole Bible. These are our readings on Shabbat, November 2nd, 2024. The name of th

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 20 September, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel First things first! I got mixed up a few days ago and wrote about the Torah portion for the following Shabbat. Well, I ask for your forgiveness! There is an advantage for you to spend a whole week pondering on next week's Torah Portion. So, Now I am writing the proper Torah portion for this Shabbat of September 21, 2024. This Shabbat, the reading is from a portion called Ki-Tavo. The

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 28 September, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel Here are the readings for this next Shabbat in all the synagogues (without the text from the New Testament reading—which is only read in messianic congregations). The Torah portion is a double portion - Nitzavim-Vayelech, from Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30. The reading from the Prophet's "Haftarah" will be from Isaiah 61:10-63:9. One reason this reading from Isaiah 61 is significant is th

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 13 September, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel // Mevaseret Zion Ki Tetze TORAH DEUTERONOMY 21:10-25:19 PROPHETS ISAIAH 54:1-10 GOSPEL MATTHEW 24:29-42 Reading the Torah differs significantly from reading any other part of the Bible. The Bible has many different types of literature. The Torah has a high percentage of legal (law) literature. It also contains historical literature, some poetry and songs, and prophetic material. The Tor

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 06 September, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel // Mevaseret Zion Deuteronomy is a unique book in the Torah and, in fact, in all the Bible. The book of Deuteronomy is the speech Moses gave on the shores of the Jordan River before the children of Israel crossed to the land of Canaan, which God promised as Israel's everlasting inheritance. Moses would then stay behind on the east side of the Jordan River and watch the children of Isra

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 30 August, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel // Mevaseret Zion Every week, we read the Torah portion and the text from the prophets, which usually corresponds thematically with the Torah portion and a section from the New Testament that has some connection or reference to the Torah reading of the same Shabbat. This next Shabbat is the last Shabbat of August 2024. The Torah portion in Hebrew is Re'eh (in English, a command "SEE!" "Wa

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 23 August, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel Our congregation in Jerusalem is Roeh Israel. The English translation of our congregation's name is Shepherd of Israel. Last Shabbat, When the time came to open the Torah cabinet and the Torah Scroll was taken out of the iron fireproof metal safe, my eye caught the difference between the two poles of the Torah Scroll handles. One side was thick and fat, and the other, the scroll around the

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 31 May, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel The Shabbat Torah portion for this week is the last one in the book of Leviticus. It is labeled Bechukotai – this Torah portion of Bechukotai means "In My Laws!" which means walking or living in my laws and is a critical Torah portion. It has the root ideas that weave through the rest of the Bible and contains the blessings and curses that God has promised Israel. Israel's history proves t

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 17 May, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel The Torah and Prophets and New Covenant reading this next Shabbat is from the following texts: Torah reading from the section called Emor (Say So!) Leviticus 21:1-24:23. Prophets (The Haftarah) is read from Ezekiel 44:15-31. From the Gospels, the reading from Matthew 26:59-66. Every week, I read the texts that will be read in every Synagogue worldwide on the following Shabbat (as in Isra

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 11 May, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel The reading of this Shabbat is, in my opinion, one of the most important texts in the Torah. Torah, we will be reading from Leviticus 19:1 – 20: 27, Prophets reading Amos 9:7-15, New Testament from 1 Peter 1:13-16, 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, and John 4:22. The reason is that this Torah portion (Parasha) teaches us how to be saints and how to be holy. The word Kedoshim means Holy or Sanc

The Jerusalem Prayer List – 4 May, 2024 by Joseph Shulam - From Jerusalem Israel The book of Leviticus is one of the books that is studied least in the Christian Churches. Yes, the book of Leviticus at first sight indeed gives the impression that it deals mainly with issues concerning the worship in the Temple (Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness). But it doesn’t! The book of Leviticus uses the priesthood and the sacrificial system as a platform to teach some of the most

The Jerusalem Prayer List – March 23, 2024 By Joseph Shulam - From Mount Juliet, Tennessee, USA The Torah portion that will be read in synagogues around the world is my Bar-Mitzvah reading. When I was 13, my father sent me to the neighborhood Rabbi to study for my Bar-Mitzvah. Bar-Mitzvah is the right of passage for any male child moving from being a child who is not responsible for himself. Still, his family, especially the father, is responsible for him in a whole new sphe

The Jerusalem Prayer List – December 21, 2023 by Joseph Shulam I am sending this a day early. Please review the prayer request section at the end of the email. (Barry Shulam) The last weeks of readings in the book of Genesis deal with the relationship between Joseph and his brothers. The story of Joseph is one of the longest sagas in the Hebrew Bible. Our Torah reading this Shabbat is Vayigash:The reading is from Genesis 44:18 – 47:27. Some of the most dramatic events i