Showing posts with label torah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torah. Show all posts

Monday 6 March 2017

Lent, 40 days, meditation and repentance

English: Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Ch...
Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For several Christians Lent, East and West, begins with a supposition. They may feel they are broken beings in need of forgiveness. Whether it’s the eponymous ashes of ash Wednesday or the forsaking of meat, dairy, and everything else worth eating practised by others, the Lenten Season for them is intended to enjoin repentance among them. But repentance is something which has to come from deep in the heart. And repentance presupposes a need for forgiveness, for healing; in a word, it presupposes brokenness.

People want to go inward, to the very core of the cells of their body, where the complexity is so great, so unequalled, that their human brains are incapable of understanding that, either. For 40 days some people try to find time to think about life. They also want to go for transcendence. It starts with a recognition that we are whatever else we are – eternal beings. There is something that is about us that goes beyond the material world. That we’re more than just the sum of our bodies.  Originally the Catholic Church had installed lent for that reason.

With 6 & 7Adar, last weekend, we may remember Moses having written down the Law, or Torah. It is that Mosaic Law that should have to think about. That Law is what we should have to think about.

Naked we are all born,without having done faults. Naked we shall die having done many faults probably. The price of those wrongdoings or sins is death. No other payment shall be required. Once we die we shall deteriorate and the decay shall bring us to become dust.

The Bible is also clear, that man has to make it whilst he lives. Once he dies it is too late to change anything or to make other choices. God's Word the Bible shows mankind which way to choose. In the Word of God, the Bible we can find the Law or Torah, plus guidance and answers to many questions.

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Find to read:
  1. Adar 6, Matan Torah remembering the giving of Torah
  2. Adar 7 Moshe’s review of the Torah contained in the Book of Deuteronomy
  3. Statutes given unto us 
  4. God-breathed prophetic words written torah and the mitzvot to teach us
  5. Mishmash of a legal code but importance of mitzvah or commandments
  6. Written by inspiration of God for our admonition, to whom it shall be imputed if they believe
  7. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
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Wednesday 25 March 2015

Healthy life can be found in sacred books





Life is dependent on the air around us, and the quality of life is dependent on the quality of air. In an atmosphere of Torah and mitzvot there is healthy life. The first general step in healing is to purify the atmosphere, and is effected through the letters of Torah. When speaking words of Torah while in the store or walking in the street or riding the subway, one purifies the air...

- Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch


Wednesday 15 October 2014

Why Sabbaths or Sabbath plural "shabbatot"

Martin Rozestraten had a personal chat with Uriel ben-Mordechai from Jerusalem
He is a Hebrew linguist and Bible teacher
This is his answer why there is spoken about sabbath in plurial form.

tee mee'ah tohn sabbah'tohne -- the first of the shabbatot. Why "first"? Why plural "shabbatot"? Verse 6 provides the answer. Sha'ul apparently was in Philippi for Pesach. Just after Pesach, he traveled to Troas, a journey of about 400 km. It took him less than 5 days to complete the journey. There are 7 shabbatot between Pesach and Shavu'ot, that the Torah commands us to count off, during this period. That year, Pesach probably fell on a Shabbat or Sunday. Less than 5 days later, he arrived in Troas, and on the first of those 7 Shabbatot after Pesach, he met with brothers in Troas and shared a meal with them, and later taught them until after midnight.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews

File:Thoerl Pfarrkirche St Andrae Passion 15 Auferstehung 08022013 276.jpg

Those who believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, should accept that at first he was dead. When he would not have died, his standing up from his position in the grave would not be so spectacular or so important for humankind.

God can not die because He is an eternal spirit, which mean He did not have a beginning, no mother where He came from, and has no end, shall never die.

Some centuries ago God His Voice came down from heaven and said about the Nazarene man Jesus, who was been baptised by his nephew John the Baptist: "This is my beloved son."

And having been immersed, יהושע (Jehsua) went up immediately from the water, and see, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of Elohim descending like a dove and coming upon Him, and see, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did delight.”
(Matthew 3:16-17 The Scriptures 1998+)
“See, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My being did delight. I shall put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall declare right-ruling to the nations. “He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets. “A crushed reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench, till He brings forth right-ruling forever.1 Footnote: 1This is according to the Shem-Tob Hebrew text. However, this passage is a quote from Isa. 42:1-3 where it reads right-ruling unto truth. “And the nations shall trust in His Name.”
(Matthew 12:18-21 The Scriptures 1998+)
We should trust in the name of Jesus, the son of man and son of David, who said he could do nothing without his Father, who is greater than him.

But  יהושע {Jeshua}answered them, “My Father works until now, and I work.” Because of this, then, the Yehudwere seeking all the more to kill Him, ‘because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He also called Elohim His own Father, making Himself equal with Elohim.’ Therefore יהושע {Jeshua} responded and said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is able to do none at all by Himself, but only that which He sees the Father doing, because whatever He does, the Son also likewise does. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself does. And greater works than these He is going to show Him, in order that you marvel. “For as the Father raises the dead and makes alive, even so the Son makes alive whom He wishes. “For the Father judges no one, but has given all the judgment to the Son, that all should value the Son even as they value the Father. He who does not value the Son does not value the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me possesses everlasting life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Elohim. And those having heard shall live. “For as the Father possesses life in Himself, so He gave also to the Son to possess life in Himself, and He has given Him authority also to do judgment, because He is the Son of Aḏam.
(John 5:17-27 The Scriptures 1998+)
Wherever you may live, whichever language you may speak and in which culture you were brought up shall determine how you shall  pronounce the name of that Nazarene man יהושע :  Jeshua, Jehushua, Issoua,  Issou, Jesus (in different tongues with different sounds), Jezus, Chesu, Isi, etc..

What is most important, though we know that the name "Jesus" comes from "Hail Zeus" and was not the proper name of the Messiah, though we still use it know because it is the most common known form to indicate that man who is called son of God who is the promised Messiah.

This Messiah bit is very important. Accepting that the Nazarene, born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of David, is the promised Saviour, the Christos (Christus) or Christ.

When Jesus was alive he gave already the task to go out and preach in his name. After his death, he was resurrected by God and was some time again with his disciples.
And the eleven taught ones went away into Galil, to the mountain which  יהושע {Jeshua} had appointed for them. And when they saw Him, they bowed to Him, but some doubted. And יהושע {Jeshua} came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit, teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Am
(Matthew 28:16-20 The Scriptures 1998+)
Those who would like to follow יהושע {Jeshua}and share his love with each other should feel as brethren and sisters. They should get to know the teachings of Jeshua or Jesus Christ and keep to them.

Getting to know those teachings comprehends also getting to know the Torah or the Law of God, because to Jesus this Law was sanctified. Also for us this Law should be set-apart or holy. the Word of God should be what we want to follow like Jesus followed the Word of God and did not want to do something different than the Will of God.

When you follow the Messiah or you then a Messianic?  a Messianic Jew or a Messianic Christian?

Are you following  main Christianism? Are we following main Christianism?

Brethren and sisters in Christ do want to 'be in Christ'; Carry the armour of Christ. They do not want to accept the Holy Trinity and other dogmatic teachings of many Christian denominations.

It may look like those small groups of fraternal Christians do want to reform the traditional teachings. (?)

The Christadelphians dare to challenge the idea’s of their present reality in light of the ancient paths. For we are to restore the ancient paths. We are truly seeking a restoration of the ancient paths. We are not truly intending to Reform “Christianity” or “Catholicism.”

In case our goal would be Reformation we will fail by remaining connected to those institutions that refuse to change or jeopardize their mission, message or money trail. To see the Restoration of the Kingdom of David and help usher in the Millenial Kingdom, we must Repair the breach, Rebuild that which is fallen, and Restore that which is lost. Our goal should be to keep Covenant Fidelity. That way we may usher in the Messianic Redemption.

As such some may consider us as "messianic people" and we should say that we believe strongly in the messianic message and the return of Christ  to install the Kingdom of God. Our eyes are directed to that return of Christ, in which we have put our hopes.

Mankind wants freedom from oppression  Our goal should be liberation with respect and co-operation with willing parties. We must engage in healthy and academic dialogue but never to the demise of doctrine or tenant of this intended revolution. Christadelphians do not love doctrinal teachings. We are liberated by Christ, so we should not look for boundaries by people in this world today.

We must not make doctrines out of our frustration with the reality of this world which loves traditions or out of pressure from these institutions. We should not close our eyes for them or do if they do not exist any more. No, they are a everyday reality, which we have to consider. All the gentiles we have to try to reach, and we better do that in a language they understand. But that does not mean that we may not try to open their eyes for other languages and other traditions. By showing how we understand the world and understand the Words in the Holy Scriptures, we can get them also to learn new names, terms and let them see what is really written in the Bible and what the Will of God is.

We have to embrace that we are all together different, but also that our mission is different. There mission is the simple message of salvation, the entry point of the discussion. We seek to teach the full journey into discipleship under the Messiah Christ Jesus (Jeshua) as well as the study of sacred text in a scholarly fashion.

We seek unity in identity and fellowship with like-minded believers who accept Jesus for what he is. We also want to follow those things the Jew Jesus thought were important to do, had to and have to be done.

Those living in a country where we have contacts with many Jews, like in Belgium and Holland, should open their arm to them and dare to use the words Jesus spoke and the Jews today still use as well. Having several nationalities with different languages we should be prepared to offer the Bible in their language and use words which are commonly understood by many of them.
For that reason it is also often better not to translate names of persons and places into your own language but use the name of the person or the place how he or she is really called.

In Belgium we do have to encounter so many languages that sometimes we prefer to use the most common name for the different languages, which may mean that we do not use the English word, because out of English their are many more languages spoken by our brethren and sisters. In our country we do have to come to consensus and try to use also names which can be understood by those we do want to reach, no Christians and the many Muslims (25% of the population). Offering writings which names which are also familiar for them can bring them to know more about those persons and to see them in a different light than their own traditional Islamic teachings.

When we use the Islamic names or the Jewish names that does not mean we are Muslim or Jew, but we cannot detract from the roots many of our inhabitants have. Language is a means to communicate and we should try to communicate with as much people as possible, bringing over the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

As lovers of Jesus and lovers of God, we should be lovers of all those around us, no matter from which origin they may be, or whatever language they may speak. We have to go to them and reach them in a language they might understand and could be able to learn to talk about the same things with others.

We should make room for the process in love, or charity and grace.

Is there is an expression of faith in the Jewish Mashiach or Messiah, unconnected to Jewish expression, do we endorse it or allow it? Of course we allow it, we can’t stop it. We should seek to set up our own revolution in uniqueness and covenant fidelity while engaging the realities in our lives in ministries.

We should avoid the ostrich with its head in the ground mindsets. We should watch the News with bible in hand as the saying goes. We are living in this world, so we can not avoid being elements in this world who have to take in consideration what happens.

To others we may let them see we are ordinary citizens, people like 'you and me'. People who have their ups and downs, but who are willing to help each other to make the best of this life in the world we do have to live in.

As long as Jesus did not return we should take care of all around us so that they can come to get to know Jesus the Messiah and his Father, the Only One God, Jehovah the Elohim.

The Jews are the chosen people by God. They shall inherit the Land of God. By the death of Christ all people from all sorts, cultures, countries, became partakers of the Grace and can become partakers of the promise made to Abraham, looking forward to the Kingdom of God.

That we all make sure that we shall be able to enter that small gate, as brethren and sisters in Christ.

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Read also:

Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture

Thursday 21 March 2013

A start for learning the Hebrew language

shalom = שלום

דוגמא לגופן "פרנק-ריהל" הגופן ששימש ...
דוגמא לגופן "פרנק-ריהל" הגופן ששימש לדוגמא: Frank-Ruehl, של קולמוס. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



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For those who would like to read the Torah and siddurs (prayer books) in Hebrew or compare the Hebrew text with the translation in their language, they shall have to learn the language. Perhaps a place to start with > jewfaq
Ten letters in less than ten minutes! See the first ten letters of the Hebrew alphabet, learn how they are pronounced in synagogues in the northeastern U.S., and see an example of the letter in a useful Hebrew word.
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Friday 25 January 2013

Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees

If the did not celebrate it Wednesday evening and Thursday, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of u B’Shevat, Tu Bishvat, or Tu B’Shvat (15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat) tonight.And people wondered why we should celebrate the holiday of the tree.almond blossom

The almond trees in Israel begin to shake blossoms out along their branches.
Across the globe this month Jewish communities are celebrating the holiday of Tu B’Shvat.  Many choose to commemorate the “New Year of The Trees” by planting pine trees in Israel.  Tu B’Shvat is a day that deals directly with the social inequality of our food system.  It’s a holiday that can inspire us to think about the free Gifts Jehovah God provides for humanity and it gives us the chance to think about His blessings and how we should use those blessings. This year you perhaps could also think about building community food security.


Savyon from the land of Israel
Savyon from the land of Israel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When we look around us we can see very beautiful things in nature, though many do not notice them any more.God has created the plants and given the task to the people to name them and to take care of them. God promised that all the plants would be for the good of people and would offer food for men and animal. And normally all of the seed bearing trees would bring forth fruits free for all people. Though people made it that humans had to pay for it.

"And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food." (Beréshith - Genesis - Book of the Beginning 1:29 The Scriptures 1998+)

Also in Europe and North America the inhabitants can look forward to the new time coming soon. In Belgium from tomorrow Saturday the temperatures will rise, but we can notice already the sap in thee shrubs begining once again to flow through it.  The trees are ready to bring out green knobs and to let the Voice of the Most High sound through their branches. If you look carefully around you you will see heralding
the New Year for trees. The melting snow shall provide moisture for the trees and the sap will bring forth fruit in the spring. It is the day to pray for a beautiful esrog. The custom for Jews is to eat fruits in order to be able to say the blessings on the fruits on this day. הדר עץ פרי, a fruit of splendor, is gematria העץ פרי ברא, [Blessed are you Hashem] who created the fruit of the tree (they both equal 659). Have in mind to ask Elohim Hashem Jehovah for a gorgeous esrog when saying this blessing.

In the Mishnah, where Tu B’Shvat is found, the purpose of the holiday is to make a single day in which our produce is taxed and given to the community. It’s based from a single line of Torah: “At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall lay it up inside your gates; And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied.“ (Debarim - Deuteronomy 14:28).

The Torah also says that "man is a tree in the field."We should come forth from good seed and bring forth good fruits.When we bring none, not enough or no good fruits we would be of no use.

God has plated the seed in Abraham to make Him a people. And God His Wishes shall always come true. So out of Aḇraham shall come forth the fruit of a blessed people because יהוה {Jehovah}appeared to him  and said, “I am the Elohim of your father Aḇraham. Do not fear, for I am with you, and shall bless you and increase your seed for My servant Aḇraham’s sake.”.(Beréshith - Genesis - Book of the Beginning 26: 23-24)
The Creator told His chosen people how He was to be called and that His Name and Works should be known all over the world. Those Works we can still see every day, because Jehovah God did not end Creating.


In the Land of Israel, several people are already happily celebrating Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees. School children sing songs praising the Land of Israel and thanking Hashem for its fruits. Bus loads of students and families go on field trips throughout the country, and saplings are planted with great joy and spirit. And a festive meal of thanksgiving, highlighted by a cornucopia of fruits of the Land, will grace our tables on Shabbat.

  writes about this special day and looks at Eretz Yisrael. According to him without Israel the Torah is a shrunken, truncated, mini-version of the complete Torah of Eretz Yisrael. Two-thirds of the Mishna deals with laws that can only be performed in Israel. Without Eretz Yisrael, God Himself is reduced to a second-string diety, seemingly not strong enough to keep His Chosen People in the Land He gave them, for there is no greater desecration of the Name of God than when the Jewish People are scattered in exile amongst the goyim (Ezekiel, 36:20). Without Eretz Yisrael, there is no prophecy, no Beit HaMikdash, and the Divine Presence doesn’t appear in the world.

Kaliv Hasidim celebrating Tu B'Shvat in Jerusalem.
Kaliv Hasidim celebrating Tu B'Shvat in Jerusalem.
Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The hunger in our cities resonates because everywhere we can see more poverty. We do not have to go far away form our own dinner-table to see the food crisis which is also a spiritual crisis. On this Tu B’Shvat, let’s reinvigorate the holiday’s original purpose, by doing our part to make hunger relief healthier, more respectful and more in line with our shared values.
Those who are fortunate to have an abundance of produce year-round could perhaps take time to think of those in need and provide for them.
Tu B’Shvat is an opportunity to more closely examine hunger and how to respond most effectively to ensure that hungry people have access to nutritious, healthy foods.

Read:

What’s the Point of Celebrating Tu B’Shvat in Exile?

Celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees

 
Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables (Photo credit: nutrilover)


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Wednesday 2 November 2011

Kerstmis, Katholicisme en heidense feesten

Op   stond een artikel waar men het ook over de Christelijke feestdagen heeft en de Thora.

Wij gaan niet akkord met alles wat in het artikel staat maar willen het u wel even voorleggen als stof tot nadenken:

Christian holidays are based on the sun/son god Ra which is the secret reason Christians switched to a calendar based on sun cycle, Chri-smass (callout.sun). Sun-Day celebrates the Sun/son god Ra/Yhwh. It also explains the meaning of the words Vatican beti.can = my-house.here and Catho.lic = This-sect.for-me. Together Jews and Christians worship the mysterious Yhwh a.k.a Tho & Ra. Hanukah called the “Holiday of Light”, like Christmas celebrates the “god of Light” (light = Or) the god Ra.

Lees verder:

A Newly Developed Language Decoder Reveals the Torah is the Lost Book of Thoth Who is Hebrew God Yhwh-Elohim

In his upcoming book the Keys to the library, Joe Lanyadoo reveals a new decoder that offers a new understanding of the Torah, the origin of language and the origin of the human race. Using the decoder reveals that all religious writings tell the same story and were written by the same deity. The Tho-Ra was given to Moses 3500 years ago by its author Yhwh, E.l.h.i.m אֱלֹהִים who is none other than the Egyptian Moon god Thoth, the god of all knowledge and all writing who Lanyadoo claims wrote all religious myths.


> Torah is the Lost Book of Thoth

Hebrew, Aramaic and Bibletranslation

Every academic year we do like to swap Bibletranslation to keep our minds alert to what is written and meant in the Holy Scriptures.

Most of us do not speak Hebrew or even do not know to speak or read the language. Having no knowledge of the language in which most of the Books of the Bible are written does not make it easy to come to the full understanding of those Hebrew words.

We do have to depend on translations which can be very strict in their translation or take a lot of freedom to translate what is written with a few words but gives a whole (long) meaning. Having no vowels or "the" "a" or "an" at certain places can create a certain confusion.


The Hebrew language  (/ˈhbr/) (עִבְרִית, Ivrit, About this sound Hebrew pronunciation ) is a Semitic language of the Northern Central (also called Northwestern) group or Afroasiatic language family, closely related to Phoenician and Moabite, with which it is often placed by scholars in a Canaanite subgroup.
Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such as the Samaritans. Most of the Samaritans went to use modern Hebrew or Arabic as their vernacular.

Spoken in ancient times in Palestine, Hebrew was sup­planted by the western dialect of Aramaic which Jeshua (Jesus) also spoke, during the 3rd century BCE; the language con­tinued to be used as a liturgical and literary language, however. It was revived as a spoken language in the 19th and 20th centuries CE and is the official language of Israel.

The history of the Hebrew language is usually divided into three major periods:
 1.Biblical Hebrew is often looked at as a dialetic form of Classical Hebrew The Biblical Hebrew according to scholars flourished around the 6th century BCE, around the time of the Babylonian exile. Classical Hebrew was used until c. 3rd century BCE, in which most of the core of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) or Old Testament is written. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon HaKodesh (לשון הקודש), "The Holy Language", since ancient times.
 2. Mishnaic or rabbinic Hebrew, the language of the Mishna (a collection of Jewish traditions), written c. CE 200 (this form of Hebrew was never used among the people as a spoken language);
 and 3. Modern Hebrew, derived from the word "ʕibri" (plural "ʕibrim") one of several names for the Jewish people, the language of Israel in modern times.

In the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit (יהודית) because Judah (Yәhuda) was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation, late 8th century BCE (Isaiah 36, 2 Kings 18). In Isaiah 19:18, it is also called the "Language of Canaan" (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן).

Scholars generally agree that the oldest form of He­brew is that of some of the Old Testament po­ems, especially the "Song of Deborah" in chapter 5 of Judges. The sources of borrowed words first appearing during this period include the other Canaanite languages, as well as Akkadian and Aramaic. Hebrew also con­tains a small number of Sumerian words borrowed from an Akkadian source. Few traces of dialects exist in Biblical Hebrew, but scholars believe this to be the result of Masoretic editing of the text. In addition to the Old Tes­tament, a small number of inscriptions in He­brew of the biblical period are extant; the earliest of these is a short inscription in Phoenician characters dating from the 9th century BC. During the early Mishnaic period, some of the guttural consonants of Biblical Hebrew were combined or confused with one another, and many words, among them a number of adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, were borrowed from Aramaic. Hebrew also borrowed a number of Greek, Latin, and Persian words. Use of the language declined from the 9th century until the 18th century. Modern Hebrew, based on the biblical lan­guage, contains many innovations designed to meet modern needs; it is the only colloquial speech based on a written language. The pronunciation is a modification of that used by Jhe Sefardic (Hispano-Portuguese) Jews rather than that of the Ashkenazic (East European) Jews. The old guttural consonants are' not clearly distinguished or are lost, except by Oriental Jews. The syntax is based on that of the Mishna. Characteristic of Hebrew of all stages is the use of word roots consisting of three consonants, to which vowels are added to derive words of different parts of speech and meaning. The language is written from right to left in a Semitic script of 22 letters.

Hebrew alphabet, either of two distinct Semitic alphabets-the Early Hebrew and the Classical, or Square, Hebrew. Early Hebrew was the alphabet used by the Jewish nation in the period before the Babylonian Exile -i.e., prior to the 6th century BCE - although some inscriptions in this alphabet may be of a later date.

Several hundred inscriptions exist. As is usual in early alphabets, Early Hebrew exists in a variety of local variants and also shows development over time; the oldest example of Early Hebrew writing, the Gezer Calendar, dates from the 10th century BCE, and the writing used varies little from the earliest North Semitic alphabets. The Early Hebrew alphabet, like the modern Hebrew variety, had 22 letters, with only consonants represented, and was written from right to left; but the early alphabet is more closely related in letter form to the Phoenician than to the modern Hebrew. Its only surviving descendant is the Samaritan alphabet, still used by a few hundred Samaritan Jews.

Between the 6th and 2nd centuries BCE, Classi­cal, or Square, Hebrew gradually displaced the Aramaic alphabet, which had replaced Early Hebrew in Palestine. Square Hebrew became established in the 2nd-1st centuries BCE and developed into the modern Hebrew al­phabet over the next 1,500 years. It was ap­parently derived from the Aramaic alphabet rather than from Early Hebrew but was nonetheless strongly influenced by the Early Hebrew script.

Classical Hebrew showed three distinct forms by the 10th century CE: Square Hebrew, a formal or book hand; rabbinical or "Rashi-writing," employed by medieval Jewish scholars; and various local cur­sive scripts, of which the Polish-German type became the modern cursive form.

Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, corresponding to the Hellenistic and Roman Periods before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and represented by the Qumran Scrolls that form most (but not all) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Commonly abbreviated as DSS Hebrew, also called Qumran Hebrew. The Imperial Aramaic script of the earlier scrolls in the 3rd century BCE evolved into the Hebrew square script of the later scrolls in the 1st century CE, also known as ketav Ashuri (Assyrian script), still in use today.

The son of Myriam (Mary/Maria) and Joseph (Josef/Jozef) from the tribe of Daniel, also known as Jeshua, Jesus Christ the Messiah, spoke the Aramaic language which also belongs to the Semitic languages of the Northern Central or Northwestern group or to the Afroasiatic language phylum.The name of the language is based on the name of Aram,  an ancient region in central Syria.(Oxford English dictionary, http://oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/10127)

During its 3,000-year written history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE) The difficulty with this language is that Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties which are sometimes called as dialects, though they are quite distinct languages. Therefore, there is no one singular Aramaic language.

In the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, it gradually supplanted Akkadian as the lingua franca of the Near East and later became the official language of the Persian Empire. Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jews; portions of the Old Testament books of Dan­iel and Ezra are written in Aramaic, as are the Babylonian and, Jerusalem Talmuds.

Jesus and the Apostles also spoke this language. Its period of greatest influence extended from c. 300 BC until c. AD 650; it was supplanted by Arabic.

In the early Christian era, Aramaic divided into East and West varieties. West Aramaic dialects include Nabataean (formerly spoken in parts of Arabia), Palmyrene (spoken in Palmyra, which was northeast of Damascus), Palestinian-Christian, and Judeo-Aramaic. West Aramaic is still spoken in a small number of villages in Lebanon. East Aramaic includes Syriac, Mandaean, Eastern Neo-Assyrian, and the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud.

One of the most important of these is Syriac, which was the language of an extensive literature between the 3rd and 7th centuries. Mandaean was the dialect of a Gnostic sect centred in lower Mesopotamia. East Aramaic is still spoken by a few small groups of Jacobite and Nestorian Christians in the Middle East.

Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing Christian, Jewish and Mandean ethnic groups of West Asia. (Heinrichs 1990: xi–xv; Beyer 1986: 53.)
Today we can find it by the Assyrians (also known as Chaldo-Assyrians) in the form of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.

File:Syriac Sert book script.jpg


Looking into those ancient languages we do want to follow their way of thinking, understanding how the thoughts are blended into words and phrases full of verbatim and proverbs which we do have to try to see and understand in the light of the way of thinking at that time.

To give a simple example, a few weeks ago when somebody said he was "mad about his apartment" the American listener thought he had become crazy or out of mind because of his apartment. Though the speaker meant just the opposite, namely that he was in love with his apartment. He did not detest it in such a way that he became insane of it, but he came into the clouds living there. (Not meaning that he really went up into the clouds, high in sky.) I use this simple example in the hope everyone can understand how we have to follow the way of saying and have to be careful not to take a proverb literally. Because that happens a lot today when folks read the Bible. As Bible readers we have to transpose ourselves in the time when it was written and how the people thought at that time.

Further we have to take into account how we are going to or how Bible-translators did  translate the The Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי‎‎, Alephbet 'Ivri).

By using the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, it has to be taken into account how it is spoken out and how one word is written against an other. Best it can be compared to other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic.

There have been two script forms in use. The original old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script, which has its alphabet adapted from the Phoenician alphabet and became distinctive from it by the 8th century BCE. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels.
The Aramaic alphabet is historically significant, since virtually all modern Middle Eastern writing systems use a script that can be traced back to it, as well as numerous Altaic writing systems of Central and East Asia. This is primarily due to the widespread usage of the Aramaic language as both a lingua franca and the official language of the Neo-Assyrian, and its successor, the Achaemenid Empire. Among the scripts in modern use, the Hebrew alphabet bears the closest relation to the Imperial Aramaic script of the 5th century BCE, with an identical letter inventory and, for the most part, nearly identical letter shapes.
Aramaic alphabet, major writing system in the Near East in the latter half of the 1st mil­lennium BC. Derived from the North Semitic script, the Aramaic alphabet was developed in the 10th and 9th centuries BC and rose into prominence after the conquest of the Aramaean states by Assyria in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. The Aramaic language and script were used as a lingua franca over all of the Near East, and documents and inscriptions in the Aramaic alphabet have been found in Greece, Afghanistan, India, northern Arabia, and Egypt. The oldest inscription in Aramaic script yet discovered dates from approximately 850 BC.
The Aramaic alphabet is a writing system of 22 letters, all indicating consonants, and it is written from right to left. It is ancestral to Square Hebrew and the modern Hebrew al­phabet, the Nabataean and modern Arabic scripts, the Palmyrene alphabet, and the Syriac, as well as hundreds of other writing sys­tems used at some time in Asia east of Syria. Aramaic also has been influential in the devel­opment of such alphabets as the Georgian, Armenian, and Glagolitic.
Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist. There is also a cursive Hebrew script, which has also varied over time and place.

When we want to use names of persons and places we should carefully look how they are written and spoken. When we transfer certain letters into our language into a consonant we should do that for all the words the same way. In English translations we can often find irregularities in that. For example do we not find Yona, but Jonah, Joshua, and Jeruzalem for Yerusalem, but for Yeshua they write Jesus and for Yahuhwah they suddenly go from three syllables to two syllable and write for the Yod an Ypsolom giving God the Name Yahweh instead of the better translation, keeping to the three original syllables, Jehovah and speaking it better not as Americans with an "Dzee" but with an "Yea".

This year we shall become more confronted with those Aramaic names and also will see that in the original writings of the Scriptures they used different words for slightly different things. In such a way we shall wonder if we not better take those different meanings also in our language as different words so that we clearly shall be able to see if there is been spoken off of a direct pupil of Jeshua (Jesus),  or one of the many disciples or the special pupils or sent ones (Shlichim) or one of the seventy.

By checking if the Beth, Daleth, Gimel Heth, Kaf, Qof and the vowels tërë and bireq are translated into the other languages we shall see where there was no consistency and which one we better should follow.

We do know that within a Hebrew name the aleph represents a smooth breathing, and for practical purposes may be considerd a 'silent' letter, but because it gives a softer sound than without putting the 'h' on top of it we do prefer to use the 'h' as well in Dutch, though the Language Commision gives it without an 'h'. The Governemental Dutch language regulation, by the Dutch Language Union and the Spellingraad (Spelling Committee and Dutch Spelling Council) indicate that we should write Jehova in Dutch for the Hebrew Name of God, but there we prefer to use the International used form of Jehovah to have uniformity on our websites in the different languages (and giving more possibilities to have it spoken out as in Hebrew with the soft h-ending. )


For this article is made use of the Encyclopaedia Britannica where you can find more:

Encyclopaedia Britannica Macropaedia: Major re/. 1:621 b ·alphabetical order antiquity 1:619d . Semitic calligraphy development 3:662b . signs and English equivalent, table 3 8:594 . vowel indication methods 19: 1038c; table 1035 . Yiddish adaptation 8:26c

 alphabet origins and standardization 1:621 b; table 620 . alphabet and English equivalent, table 3 8:594 'alphabetical order antiquity 1:619d ·English vocabulary borrowings 6:879a ·Hamito-Semitic languages map 8:590 ·Israel's revival of common language 9: 105ge ·Jewish liturgical use and status 10:297c . Karaite impetus to 9th-century studies 10:318f ·medieval belief in aboriginality 10:643h ·naming patterns 12: 818f ·origins, development, and literary use 10: 196d 'preservation and educational respect 6: 322f 'punctuation and pointing since 800s 15:276g 'relationships, writing, and phonology 8:592d passim to 595c . sacral status as biblical language 7:60h 'U.S. parochial education curriculum 6:42ge ·Yiddish formative influences 8:25h
 
See also Syriac language. 'ancient spread and influence 17:942g +
 Major re/. 1:619h . calligraphy style and development 3:662b ·Iranian varieties and adaptations 9:456d . origins, spread, and influence 17:942g ·vowel indication methods 19: 1038c; table 1035

RELATED ENTRIES in the Ready Reference and Index: Armenian alphabet; Brahml; Georgian alphabets; Greek alphabet; Hebrew alphabet; Kharo~!l; Klik Turki alphabet; Nabataean alphabet; Pahlavi alphabet; Palmyric alphabet; Samaritan alphabet; Syriac alphabet