From:    heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date:    Thu, 25 Dec 1997 03:52:21 +0000
Subject: Hanukkah Booklet On-Line !!

 

From:          "HaY'Did" <shalom@haydid.org>
Reply-to:      shalom@haydid.org
Organization:  HaY'Did Learning Center
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       Hanukkah Booklet On-Line!


Dear Mishpachah (family):

Happy Holidays! On our website we have the entire 158
pages of our book HANUKKAH: THE LIGHT IS MESSIAH. In it you will 
find stories, recipes, party ideas, how to light the candles, blessings, and
much more! Come to our site and copy the whole book off FREE! Its our
Hanukkah gift to you!

Another wonderful stop on our site is our "Teaching Articles" section.

We have included 5 new articles by Dr. Brad Young of Gospel Research
Foundation and a link to his new website at

http://www.gospelresearch.org/  

so you can learn more about his work. Be sure to bring your three ring 
binder to our site so you can copy off lots of FREE materials. We love 
sharing with you and do appreciate hearing from you.

Locally we start our Hanukkah parties tonight. Its been very exciting of
late as a Jewish believing doctor has found our little synagogue. He got
saved about 3 years ago in a Baptist Church, and was a friend of one of
our members. How excited he was when he discovered that our services
were within the setting of an Orthodox synagogue! We do the prayers in
Hebrew and then say them in English right afterwards. He loves the music
and the Hebrew folk dancing that we have incorporated into the service,
too. As a result he has been sharing sabbath with us and bringing other
Jewish friends of his to our sabbath dinners. Our group is growing and
soon we hope to have our siddur/prayer book ready to put on our site
where you can see what our services are like. He feels right at home
now, and is excited about worshipping HIS Jewish Messiah within the
framework that it was intended. 

Funny story: After about three visits to
our services, he asked, "So when do you give the altar call for
salvation?" I replied, "Are you saved?" He said, "Yes." I said, "So is
everyone else that is here. Was there an altar call in your old
synagogue?" He replied, "NO!" "Well, we don't need one. We believe in 
a non-coersive synagogue where people can come and just worship without
fear of being converted against their will. As we become friends with
people then we are open to discussions about Jesus/Yeshua as the
Messiah." And believe me, the discussions do insue! But in the meantime,
everyone is fellowshipping and excited about being together. Needless to
say, the Jews that are coming to visit us on sabbath feel comfortable
with us as we have learned how to cook, and fellowship within their
framework. NOW the discussions can begin. Baruch HaShem!

We are also working on the next edition of our magazine THE TREE OF LIFE
to go out in mid January to our membership. If you are NOT a member, now
is the time to consider joining. For your $15 membership support you
receive 4 issues of our magazine (cost $8 to produce), a membership
packet ($2 just for postage), and the other $5 per member helps keep us
online, and cover our other operating expenses. You  also receive
discounts on  books and materials that you may order and discounts at
some seminars.

Two dates to mark on your calendars: February 7 ---Oklahoma City
Conference with Randy Felton and Dr. Doug Wheeler. The information is
posted on Potter's Clay website at http://www.haydid.org/potter.htm If
you can come, please let Randy know as soon as possible. It is only a
one day meeting, but you will enjoy the day. Tom and I plan on being in
attendance with a table full of HaY'Did materials. 

April 3-5, 1998 will be a conference in Tulsa hosted by Dr. Brad Young.
Needless to say you don't want to miss this event either as there will
be an opportunity to hear the best scholars  and meet others of
like-mind. Check Brad's website at http://www.gospelresearch.org for 
more information as it becomes available. We will also keep the
newsgroup informed on this information as it becomes available. But if
you need to ask for time off from work for a conference, please do so! 

Now, I would like to share a Hanukkah Testimony that is an excerpt from
our book HANUKKAH: THE LIGHT IS MESSIAH:

Stories to Share
Big Shiny Chocolate Eyes
By Grammy Holeman

Several years ago when we made the decison to give up Christmas it was
culture shock all around. We always had the biggest Christmas tree that
we could afford, and one year when I worked for a local plant farm, we
had fifty-two poinsettias in the house! Talk about looking like the
perfect Christmas around here! The house was full of Christian friends
from church and we did it up right. Or did we?

One day as I was walking through the house I suddenly came upon the idea
that God was going to have priests and kings in The Kingdom, and that it
would be a Jewish kingdom---not a Kansas style kingdom. The real shocker
was when I realized that the priests and kings probably needed to know
something about the Jewish ways in order to enter His Temple. What would
the non-Jew have done? What would I have done? Could I just nonchalantly
walk through the gates, and cozy right up to the priests and ask, "What
are you doing? Can I watch?" So, I cried out very loud that day in my
living room, "God, if I'm reading this right, and I need to know
something about these Jewish things, could you please send a teacher by
to help me?" Within the week, I had found a teacher on television and
was off and discovering the rich biblical Hebraic heritage that I had
been robbed of all those years of pew sitting. ...And then, the changes
started coming! "Oivey!"

So, after we "pigged out on Christmas" that one year, I went on a soul
search. Over and over again I was seeing new things in the scripture.
What would Jesus and his disciples have celebrated and why? Did they do
Christmas? I went to the library and looked that one up, and was shocked
to find out that Christmas was considered pagan! Pagan? No one had ever
discussed "paganism" or "Hellenism" with me in church? So I was off and
tracking down the first century pagan practices. I wanted to sit at
Yeshua's Feet---not at some gnostic or saturn god's feet. Where was
Yeshua in Hanukkah? 

Then I started putting the pieces together, and our hearts changed
towards HIM. He was Yeshua HaMashiach---or Jesus the Messiah. We wanted
HIM to feel perfectly comfortable if HE should drop by our house, right?
Well, I didn't think a pagan tree in the corner would cause My Savior to
rejoice, do you? So, we didn't put one up. Our families felt slighted as
our house was not going to have the biggest and best Christmas tree, and
they sure weren't willing to listen to "Well, in John 10:22 we see Jesus
in the Temple at Hanukkah" routine. So, we decided to go to our
daughter's home out of state--in Texas.

The most precious thing in our lives is our grandchildren. We wanted to
share our findings with them. All grandparents agree that grandchildren
are much more fun than their kids ever were, right?Anyway, it's easier
to be the Hanukkah authority out of state---or at least it was in our
case. 

My husband and I arrived with the hanukkiah and simple gifts, and a
prayer that the son-in-law would go for it, too. The daughter is a real
student and had been into our Jewish roots studying as long as I had,
but the son-in-law was in the Navy and didn't have much of a Christian
upbringing in his past. But when we arrived, he shrugged and said,
"Let's give it a shot." Whew! That was a relief!

So the daughter, toddlers and Grammy all headed for the store to fill
the house with blue and white decorations, buy ingredients for latkes
and simple gifts. The scotch tape came out of the drawer and former
Christmas lights were now hung from pegs around the walls instead of a
tree. The grandson, age 4, and the granddaughter, age 3, had never seen
a Christmas tree, so that simplified everything. We didn't know any of
the traditional songs, so we invented them! We had found a music tape
which helped, but after years of "Here Comes Santa Claus" or "Away in
the Manger," it took some relearning on our part to get the toes
tapping. 

The first day of Hanukkah was also my granddaughter's birthday. I had
brought out the perfect dress for the perfect granddaughter and whisked
the grandkids off to the photo studio for the perfect picture. Daughter
is game, and the men are still hanging lights as we go out the door. 
When we got to the studio the photographer pulled down the typical
Christmas tree background, and we were face to face with "it" once
again. Daughter looked at me, and I looked at her, and said, "I will be
right back." I went home, grabbed the Hanukkiah (Menorah) and nine
candles and headed back to the studio where the kids had now
topsy-turvied the entire studio! Toys were everywhere, and the
photographer looked exasperated. 

So, I triumphantly pulled out the Hanukkiah. Daughter quickly grabbed
the kids and straightened the hairbows, trousers, and tie while the
photographer quickly asked which background did we want? We chose just a
plain blue one, and set the hanukkiah up in front of the kids.The
grandchildren smiled sweetly, and finally the photographer shot the
perfect Hanukkah picture. 

As we were finishing the session, I looked down at my granddaughter. I
thought that these eyes looked especially trusting today. Then it dawned
on me that her eyes were a particular color of brown---chocolate! Lori
looked at me with those big chocolate eyes and trusted me to tell her
the truth about Her God and her life, and not to lie to her.Yeshua was
Truth. We had made the decision to look deep into her eyes and tell her
that Yeshua wasn't born on December 25, and that a man in a red suit
named Santa Claus wasn't coming to her house. Her eyes would not see a
Christmas tree, or the big pile of presents either. But what she would
see and know, is that just as the Shammash candle shone brightly as the
servant to all the other candles in the menorah, that her Savior Yeshua
would shine forth each night of Hanukkah. And that He came to serve her
and her brother, and that HE would always be the light in their eyes.

Truth and the Torah would abound on Hanukkah from this house that year
and every year since. We would struggle many times through this holiday,
but somehow those chocolate eyes would know that Yeshua loved her, cared
for her, and died for her from the light of each Hanukkah candle. Was it
worth it? YES! As she walks into my office today singing songs from
Shalom Sesame Street about the dreidel, and asks me to dance with her, I
know that He will be reflected again in our home this year. The line
dance forms to the right, and let's celebrate with a one, and a two, and
a three....

The end...Happy Holidays! 
Tom and Cheryle Holeman
HaY'Did Learning Center
PO Box 804
Independence, KS 67301
1-316-331-7712 (credit card orders)
http://www.haydid.org 
shalom@haydid.org 

**********************************************************************

From:          David Penrose 
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       Chanukah Reading Guides

Eddie,

I am sorry for noting sooner, but I have published Chanukah Reading
Guides for each of the eight days.

The guides are simple. They contain the scripture readings both 
Torah/Haftorah for the appropriate days and the Blessings 
(English/Transliteration/Hebrew) to be recited. Each has its own cover
and is intended for copying. They are in PDF format and require Adobe
Acrobat Reader.

 http://www.bisman.com/shofar/intro.html 

David Penrose

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