Ohr Yeshua Messianic Synagogue
Sabbath
Our regular Shachrit (morning service) is every Shabbat (Saturday) @ 10am. This lasts till approximately 1pm. We break for lunch which we eat together at the synagogue and usually have a teaching till approximately 3pm.
Holidays
We celebrate all the High Holy Days on the days Scripture advocates usually at 10am. Yom HaKippurim (Day of Atonement) includes the evening and all day service as is the Jewish Tradition.
The Meaning of the Holy Days (Holidays)
The seventh day Sabbath is considered the most holy as it occurs every week. It is a time to cease from work and set aside the time to spend in worship of the Lord and spend time with family and friends. The Sabbath has always been what we call Saturday. The first day of the week was never called the Sabbath by any Scripture. The New Testament has numerous accounts of the Messiah Yeshua, the disciples and Apostles all keeping the Sabbath. (Leviticus 23:1-3)
Pesach (Passover, on the 14th of the month of Nisan called Aviv in Scripture) is a memorial of the Exodus from Egypt. (Leviticus 23:4-8) It was on the Passover Day that Yeshua was crucified. Which has been calculated to have been a Wednesday in today’s calendar and not a Friday thereby making it impossible for Yeshua to have been three days and three nights in the tomb. Yeshua is also called Lord of the Sabbath having risen on the Sabbath.
Unleavened Bread, follows immediately after Passover on the 15th of Nisan. This festival of unleavened bread lasts for seven days according to Scripture. Paul in his letter to the Corinthian congregation instructs the believers, primarily Gentiles, to celebrate the feast with unleavened bread.
Fifty days after the first day of unleavened bread having counted the Omer, (every day, Leviticus 23:15-16) a measure of grain probably barley we come to Shavuot, Pentecost, this is according to Jewish tradition when Moses received the terms of the covenant at Mt. Sinai usually called the Ten Commandments. Scripturally it is called the Ten Utterances. It is also the time albeit many centuries later that those waiting in the upper room according to Yeshua’s direction experience what is the Holy Spirit alighting on them and empowering the 120 to go forth with the Good News of the Messiah. Both the Torah received at Mt. Sinai and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is a fulfillment that the Lord promised in the Sinai Desert.
After the summer we come to the Fall Feasts starting with what has become known as Rosh HaShanah (Head or beginning of the Year) Scripturally it is called Yom Truah (the Day of Sounding the Trumpet, Leviticus 23:23-25) It is celebrated not with revelry but with somber understanding that it is now a period of G-d’s judgment, a time to confess sins to the Lord and if necessary to each other. A time of seeking forgiveness from those whom we have wronged and to go to those who may have something against us. As Yeshua said if your brother has something against you go to your brother and make it right.
Ten days after Rosh Hashanah we have the most solemn day in the Biblical calendar, Yom HaKippurim, The Day of Atonements (Leviticus 23:26-32) . Most people call it the Day of Atonement but scripturally it is in the plural. It is a period of at least 24 hours where one traditionally abstains from food, fluids, entertainment, and conjugal rights. It is a day of solemn assembly as a community not only seeking the Lord’s forgiveness for one’s on sins but it is a time on interceding for one’s fellow man and country.
Sukkot or Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:39-42) as it is called in English is the penultimate of the Torah based feasts. It is a time when temporary dwellings are constructed with branches usually of palm fronds as the roofing material. It is also instructed in scripture to Leviticus 23:40 to take choice fruit, which is a citron (similar to a lemon), palm frond (date palm), thick branches (Israeli myrtle) and river-willows. These are held together and a wave offering is made to the Lord. Sukkot according to the biblical calendar as per Jon Loose who has done extensive research puts the birth of Yeshua on the first day of Sukkot.
Finally we come to what in the minds of many is a very obscure holy day that is the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36ff) of convocation. It is not directly related to Sukkot for Sukkot is only seven days. However, if you take into account that Yeshua was born on the first day of Sukkot then his brit milah (circumcision into the Abrahamic Covenant) would occur on this eighth day. Could it be that G-d was telling us something important? If Yeshua was not made a covenant member through circumcision he would not have been eligible to be the Messiah.
We have non-Torah based holidays in scripture such as Purim which is a Jewish national holiday. (Esther 9:26-32)
We also have Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication, John 10:22) which is mentioned in the Gospel.
Not only are these Feasts or Special Days Scriptural but they point to our Messiah in every way!