Community on Columbia

We’re celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles on Saturday, October 12!

The Hebrew word for Tabernacles is “sukkah” which originally meant “woven” and applied to the branches woven together to make simple shelters. Israel was commanded to dwell in booths like this for seven days. The booth reflects the fragility, precariousness and impermanence of life in this world.

The Talmud relates that in the end of days, “all the nations of the world will express a desire to repent, and God will judge them through the commandment of building a sukkah… He will give this single commandment to the entire world to fulfill.” (Babylonian Talmud, Avoda Zara 3)

Jesus used the feast as a venue to announce Himself as the Light of the World, and as the Living Water necessary for salvation.

See the Notes on Tabernacles here

More Notes on the Feast of Tabernacles can be found here

Since next week we will be feasting and partying on Tabernacles, we will study about it this week to get ready.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a festival of light and joy. The spiritual meaning of the feast is expressed in a number of types – the booth, the ethrog and lulav, the lighting of the lamps, the water-and-wine-pouring ceremony, wearing of white garments, the 7-day Jewish wedding and the final eighth-day meal. Jesus fulfilled all these pictures (See John 7:37-38, 8:12).

Memo on the Feast of Tabernacles

More Notes on the Feast of Tabernacles

Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is the climax of the ten days of awe and is
considered to be the most important day for the Jews in the liturgical year. The fast, which we will observe Sept. 28-29, coincided with the sin offering offered for all Israel and the Kol Nidrei, the absolution of vows. Twin goats were chosen by lot, one for sacrifice and the other for release, bearing away the people’s guilt into the wilderness. It was the one time of the year that the high priest entered into the Temple’s Holy of Holies and spoke the Tetragrammaton, the secret name of God.

Jesus fulfilled this ritual:
Hebrews 9:12 – “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Memo on Yom Kippur

Notes on the Kol Nidre

See Also Notes on Leviticus 16

Also called the “Feast of Trumpets,” Rosh Hashanah marks the creation of the world and of the new year. Scholars have pinpointed this as the likely time of year when Christ was born; and it represents the new birth of believers, too. The feast begins the 10-day period called The Days of Awe, a time of self-reflection and repentance, ending with Yom Kippur.

Memo about Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah as a ‘Memorial’

… and some additional notes here