HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! (Exodus 12:1,2)

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

HAPPY NEW YEAR! “Hag Sameach HaShannah HaDashah”

 March 26th, 2020, is “New Year’s Day” in accordance to God’s Holy Writ. When we go to the Book of Exodus, in Chapter 12 it reads:

“ Now Adonai said to Moshe and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.” (Ex 12:1,2)

Well, if we put the Gregorian calendar onto the Jewish Calendar, today IS the first day of the month of Nissan. So, that is why this announcement is going out. So, “Happy New Year to all”.

But wait a minute you’re saying, what’s so “happy about it?” We are in the midst of a worldwide virus that is taking lives and getting people sick every day. This reminds me of the letter which General McAuliffe wrote to the American soldiers who were in Belgium fighting the Germans during WWII. This is part of his letter;

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

HEADQUARTERS 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION

Office of the Division Commander

 

24 December 1944

What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting — it’s cold, we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history.:

 

 

So, what can we say about this new Torah year? We must understand that all this has been permitted by our Heavenly Father, for a purpose. The exact purpose we don’t know, yet perhaps it is a “wake-up call” to those who have been distant from God, distant from their families. Now they are at home, including myself. We are away from our jobs, getting to sleep in late, listen to radio, watch TV, read God’s Word.

We must understand that this virus is one of “pestilences” that the WORD speaks of, perhaps we are not in the Great Tribulation, yet this is just the beginning. What can we do? Pray? Read God’s Word, meditate on His WORD? Yes, and we can read Psalm 46;

“Adonai is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change……”

And the Psalm goes on to list many changes, mountains falling into the sea, etc.. we might as well put COVID-19 in the list because it IS changing the biological condition of the human race on this planet. Yet, scripture tells us NOT to fear.

Many have died, yet death for a believer is the door that opens unto eternal life. Those of us who are alive and well. We must try and stay that way. Avoiding contact with others, washing and decontaminating our shoes (with Clorox and water) if we go outside, even for a walk, to get some sun and fresh air we should keep our distance from others

Make sure our bodies are getting vitamin supplements, like Zinc, Selenium, garlic oil, Vitamin E, B-12, drink a lot of water and natural herbal teas, fresh apple-juice and carrot juice. Just in case the virus might hit us, our bodies will be able to fight it off better.

Above all, try not to get discouraged, if you are reading this, it means you are still alive. This viral crisis can not last forever. Who knows, maybe extreme heat from the summer sun will kill it off. Here is something else.

Many people tend to make resolutions for the “New Year”. People tend to “promise” this and that and the other thing. Let’s NOT promise ANYTHING. Let us go into this new Biblical year with the words: “LORD, let me be better than last year, open my mind’s eye to learn more of your Torah, teach me your commandments, forgive my short-comings, and grant me understanding and wisdom to follow your WORD to the best of my ability….Amen”

 

. Ben Avraham