Welcome back! Sorry we have been absent from our blogging and web maintenance for a bit, with Seniors in High School and others being promoted from Middle School to High School, these past couple months have been hectic and a bit stressful, as most parents can attest! This week we want to talk to you a bit about Studying your scriptures - this has been written in a more non-denominational format than other posts we put up, it is intended to be a guide for all the children of God, and the hope is that through diligent study of the Word, that each of us deepen our relationship with Him. Why Study? To be truly connected to the Divine is what all people desire. We must be able to understand, be given counsel, feel at peace, and cultivate a personal and real relationship with God—beyond acquaintance. For Christians, that is through the Holy Bible. For Christians who happen to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well, we additionally possess as a sacred and value...

 Shalom and Good Morning! I am blessed! Every day, we should begin our day thanking our Adonai that we are blessed by His great Love and Grace. Perhaps, even if we do not have time for a morning prayer, or forget the importance of saying Shema every single day - actually, most followers of Yeshua are lacking in their education on the importance or even understanding of what Shema is at all. Do you know about Shema? No? That is OK, I think that this explanation will help a little: Shema Yisrael (Shema Israel or Sh'ma Yisrael; Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl, "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: YHVH our God, YHVH is one" (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃), found in Deuteronomy 6:4. The first part can be translated as either "The LORD our God...

 This Article is re-blogged from myjewishlearning.com , the text is unaltered and we've done our best to maintain the integrity of the post, please Read the original at the preceding link and even sign up for their newsletter.  Jewish tradition teaches that music unlocks the door to divine connection. By   Joey Weisenberg Music usic is the most immaterial and ephemeral of all the art forms. We can’t see music, we can’t grasp it in our hands, but we can feel it working through us and the world. As such, music represents our connection to the divine, to each other, to everything. Music is a wordless prayer that opens up our imaginations to the divine source of all life. In the Hebrew numerological system known as  Gematria , the numerical value of the words for prayer,  tefillah , and song,  shirah , are identical. From this we can see that music is a form of prayer, and prayer is a form of music. They are like two legs of the spiritual throne, mutually suppo...