Feste ebraiche

  • Elul: The Penitential Season

    Jews blowing the shofar in the synagogue on the month of ElulAccording to an ancient collection of legends (Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer-The Teachings of Rabbi Eliezer), the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul marks the beginning of an especially solemn period of forty days that concludes with Yom Kippur.

  • How Jesus Perfected the Passover Seder

    Jesus at the Last SupperWhen Jesus distributed the matzo to the disciples saying, “This is My Body,” He perfected and updated the Biblical commandment to eat matzo on the Seder night, so that the commandment to eat matzo we received at Mt. Sinai would teach us how to respond to G-d as He revealed Himself through the Incarnation and the Cross.

  • Purim and Lent: Haman Hung, Christ Crucified

    Jews celebrating PurimPurim is a day of ecstatic rejoicing, which the Jews celebrate as both a sign of G-d’s enduring love and a promise of their final salvation. There’s nothing in the holiday that contradicts Christian faith, except for one thing: it usually falls out smack in the middle of Lent.

  • Rosh Hashanah and the New Year Feasts of Israel

    Apples and honey are traditionally eaten for Rosh HashanahThe period preceding the Jewish New Year is marked by special penitential prayers, recited before the regular morning prayers, and the blowing of the ram's horn (shofar in Hebrew) after the morning prayer service...

  • Sabbath

    Shabbat Table

    There is a stillness where perspective lies, where life and love are tapped, and ancient scrolls unrolled. See, the herald flame proclaims anew the healing safety of this day, and bids the Chosen learn.

  • The Feast of Hanukkah

    HanukkahHanukkah commemorates the 164 BCE rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the Seleucid Kingdom, under Antiochus IV - and the re-establishment of religious freedom for the Jewish people after a period of harsh repression.

  • The Feasts of Israel

    Jewish FeastsMany Christians do not realize that the seven feasts which God commanded in Leviticus 23 are still observed by their Jewish neighbors. The feasts, as given to Israel, have a multi-faceted significance. First, there was the seasonal aspect of each holiday, involving agricultural activities in the land; then the feasts were to be a memorial of God's dealings with the people of Israel; and, finally, there may be prophetic symbolism. Many Christians see parallel in God's dealings with Israel and with the Church.

  • The Feasts of Israel: Foreshadowing the Messiah

    The Jewish FeastsThe Feasts of Israel commemorate God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and his care for them during the Exodus. Yet the feasts also foreshadow God's salvation plan for humanity in Christ. This essay examines the significance of these feasts for the Jewish people as well as their messianic and typological fulfillment in Christ.

  • The Jewish Holidays, Holy Week & the Ascension

    Rosh HashanahThe four holidays of this coming holiday season correspond to the events of Holy Week and the Ascension. They are a figure of the great salvific events which mark the last days of Jesus’ human presence in this world.  The Christian Jew participates in those saving events, and immerses himself in the Christian mysteries of salvation as he celebrates the Jewish holidays.

  • Tisha b'Av and the God who Suffers

    Romans carrying away the menorah from the TempleThis coming Saturday night begins the fast of Tisha b'av on which we mourn the destruction of both the first and second Temples. According to the midrash, the messiah was born on Tisha b’av, when the first Temple, the Temple of Solomon, was destroyed. Something happened when the Temple was destroyed that kicked off the final redemption.

  • Why the Catholic Jew Rejoices on Passover

    Passover Why should the Jew who has been saved by Jesus celebrate his redemption from Egypt? What meaning could the statement in the Haggadah that we should regard ourselves as having participated personally in the Exodus, possibly have for him?  What can the redemption from Egypt give him that he has not already received through the Cross?  

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Ultimi Articoli

André Villeneuve - 19 Novembre 2023

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have responded to the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel and ensuing war in Gaza with posture of moral equivalence, suggesting that both parties in the conflict share equal blame and equivalent moral responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Intellectually, this is an easy path to take. But...

André Villeneuve - 04 Ottobre 2023

The mystery of Christ’s sacrifice--our Paschal Lamb--is at the heart of the Christian faith. But the biblical notion of sacrifice is obscure to most people today. What does Christ’s sacrifice really mean? And how do the sacraments—especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist—manifest the Lord’s sacrifice? The sacrifices of the Old Testament help us to gain...

André Villeneuve - 29 Settembre 2023

I like to say that studying Judaism made me Catholic. Many years ago, I was a zealous, anti-Catholic evangelical Christian living in Jerusalem and active in the Messianic Jewish movement. Messianic believers are eager to rediscover the Jewish Jesus and the Jewish practices of the Early Church before it became tainted and compromised—so they say—with...

André Villeneuve - 25 Marzo 2022

Franciscan University and Azusa Pacific University Reveal two radically different models of Christian higher education: while one is solidly rooted in the Bible and Christian tradition; the other is increasingly influenced by radical progressive ideas and in danger of losing its Christian identity.

André Villeneuve - 17 Luglio 2021

The doctrine of original sin is an essential component of the Christian faith. If catechists don’t explain well the nature, effect, and consequences of original sin, they will find it very difficult not only to address the major moral issues of our day, but also to effectively communicate the Gospel.

André Villeneuve - 25 Aprile 2021

Although the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life,” many Catholics are unfamiliar with its rich Old Testament and Jewish background. In this article, we will look at four aspects of this background: the king-priest Melchizedek, the Passover, the manna, and the bread of the Presence.