Hebrew Holiday Dates 2019 + Printable

Sharing the dates for the Hebrew holidays for 2019! To be sure you make note of them, grab the printable with the dates and stick it on your fridge or in your planner. Get the dates put on your calendar and be intentional about taking off work and freeing yourself up during these times so you can take part in the set apart times that YHWH has for us. 

Once again, I am giving you two sets of dates. My aim is not to convince you of the correctness of one calendar over another but to encourage you to pick a set of dates and go with it for keeping the feasts. Work is allowed during certain days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. I have made note of where the no-work days land for your convenience.

Traditional calendar:

Remember, traditional dates start at sundown on the date listed and go until sundown the next day. For example Passover starts at sundown on April 19 and ends at sundown on the 20th. The traditional calendar always gives an extra day to Shavuot and Yom Teruah, though Scripture treats both as one-day holidays.

Passover - April 19
Feast of Matzah - April 20-27
First Fruits - April 20
Shavuot - June 8-10
Yom Teruah - September 29 - October 1
Yom Kippur - October 8
Sukkot - October 13-21

High holy days/no work days:

Passover - April 19-20 (this is not a no work day in and of itself, but since it lands on Shabbat is treated as such)
First day of Matzah Week - April 20-21
Last day of Matzah Week - April 26-27 (this is also the weekly Sabbath)
Shavuot - June 8-10
Yom Teruah - September 29 - October 1
Yom Kippur - October 8-9
First day of Sukkot - October 13-14
Last day of Sukkot - October 20-21

Click here to download the Hebrew Holidays Traditional Dates.

Torah to the Tribes calendar:

This calendar uses daylight to daylight dates. For example, Passover starts at daylight on April 3 and goes until daylight April 4.

Passover - April 3
Feast of Matzah - April 4-10
First Fruits - April 7
Shavuot - May 26
Yom Teruah - September 17
Yom Kippur - September 26
Sukkot - October 1-8

High holy days/no work days:

First Day of Matzah Week - April 4
Last Day of Matzah Week - April 10
Shavuot - May 26
Yom Teruah - September 17
Yom Kippur - September 26
First Day of Sukkot - October 1
Last Day of Sukkot - October 8

Click here to download the Hebrew Holidays Torah to the Tribe Dates.


Not sure which calendar to go by? The calendar debate can be confusing and there are other sets of dates besides the ones I am sharing. If you have a congregation or group to celebrate with I would personally adhere to what they are using, as getting to celebrate with a like minded group of believers is very special. Each calendar has pros and cons and we probably won't know with 100% certainty what the dates are for the festivals of YHWH until Yahusha returns. As always, pray about what YHWH would have you to do and be willing to adjust as your understanding grows.

Let's starting planning to keep the feasts this year!

Sabbath Prep and the Idol of Cleanliness

Can we talk about 'prep day' and this notion of 'getting ready for Sabbath'? 

When I first started observing the Sabbath, I think about 90% of the related internet content consisted of cleaning checklists. Long ones too: vacuum the floors, straighten up the house, take out the trash, wash the dishes, make the beds, set the table, clean the bathrooms. And don't forget about making a fancy dinner, and then tons of food for tomorrow, empty your inbox, bathe the kids, and plan a special activity. It's not surprising that much of the Hebrew community refers to Friday as prep day, because that's how long all of this takes.

There are a few problems with this system. Firstly, Scripture does not teach that this thorough cleaning is required of us for the Sabbath day. But also, keeping Sabbath is meant for all of YHWH's children, not just the retirees and the stay-at-home-mom families. When we (unintentionally or otherwise) present to others this enormous checklist of things to do before Shabbat we are telling them that if you can't juggle in this extra load of work then they can't keep the Sabbath day. That is a tragedy! When we make the Sabbath more about having a clean house than about relationship with YHWH, it becomes an idol. May he forgive us if we make having a prep day for Shabbat a requirement, because he didn't.

Friends, I know that none of you want to place a stumbling block before others or to make Sabbath keeping seem like a burden. But can you see how this pervasive mentality of Friday as a house cleaning day can be a hindrance to those that work or have other commitments before the Sabbath? I also know that many of you feel overwhelmed with getting ready for the Sabbath each week. And honestly when I would put my effort into those checklists it did not leave me with an attitude that loved the set apart day. Why are we clinging to this tradition of near impossible standards if it causes frustration and resentment with one of YHWH's commandments? What does that do to our relationship with him, or to our spirits?

Is it nice to have a clean home? Yes...but it's not a commandment, nor is it a prerequisite to having a day of rest. A clean house is nice but it should never come before our relationship with YHWH, and it shouldn't come at the cost of discouraging others from honoring the Sabbath. It really is both possible and permissible to have a day of rest, even if you don't have a day to dedicate to preparing for it. What if you just stopped to rest on the seventh day, even if the laundry wasn't done and the beds hadn't been made? What if we showed others that Shabbat keeping is doable even if you work full-time or juggle a hundred things each week?

Yes, keeping Shabbat calls for intention. But I think most of the time spent preparing should be working to keep ourselves free of other commitments on the Sabbath, not on having an immaculate house. There is no shame in eating simple foods like sandwiches, green salads, veggies with hummus, cheese and crackers, fruit, or other snack items that don't require prep work the day before. Don't forget that in Genesis 1, YHWH himself rests on the Sabbath day. Please note, he did not spend day six cleaning up his work from the rest of the week. He just rests. Give yourself and others permission to do the same. 

More on the Sabbath:
Why I'm Still Keeping the Sabbath
Tips for Resting on the Sabbath
Sabbath in the New Testament

Don't Let Me Stray - Psalm 119 Printable

 

Have you read through Psalm 119 recently? That passage is one of my favorites in Scripture, and if you haven't, I would for sure encourage you to give it a read. It is packed with encouragement to honor YHWH's instructions and I think we all benefit from those reminders.

"Don't let me stray from your commands." Can you hear the cry of the author who penned this? I love how their desire to serve and honor YHWH is expressed this way. You've told me what to do...don't let me wander away from that. I decided to make this into a printable so that we can all be reminded of that prayer for help.

Click here to download this printable from Psalm 119. It's free for your personal use.

Five Things Every Believer Should Know About Christmas

Here are five things every Believer should know about Christmas:

1. Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible. You can read the entirety of Scripture and you will not once come across 'Christmas.' Luke 2 and other places give some details of the birth of the Messiah, but without question this didn't happen on December 25 or even in December. You will not find the events of Christmas celebrations in Scripture, even by a different name (at least in a positive light). It just isn't there. Take a moment to consider the wisdom of basing a considerable block of your faith on something other than the word of God. What did the Messiah say about building your house on sand?

2. Many of its traditions are expressly prohibited by Scripture. This includes bringing a Christmas tree into your home to decorate (Jeremiah 10:2-4), the traditional Christmas ham (Leviticus 11:7), many nativity scenes (Exodus 20:4), and more. Does it make sense to try and worship YHWH by doing things he tells us not to? What does it say about us if we aren't willing to follow some basic instructions from him?

3. Scripture does not tell us to celebrate Christmas. Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to celebrate Christmas or even the Messiah's birthday. If this had been something the Creator wanted us to do, he would have told us! Yahusha had many chances to throw himself birthday parties, but we don't see that. The Disciples could have preached on celebrating Christmas, but they didn't. However, Leviticus 23 gives us the details on seven set apart times of YHWH that we are to observe, and we can see these honored by both the Messiah and the Disciples.

4. Christmas predates the birth of the Messiah by centuries. There is a reason so many cultures and faiths celebrate Christmas, because it's not a holiday that is rooted in Scripture. The December 25 Christmas holiday has a long history of honoring the sun god or other pagan gods around the time of the winter solstice. So no, this isn't something that started out as a nice little way to honor the Messiah's birthday. This is something that originated from faiths against the Living God. While YHWH certainly could choose to redeem it, according to Scripture that is not how he handles things of pagan origin. One such example would be 2 Kings 10:27, when rather than 'redeeming' a perfectly usable temple of ba'al for his own glory he had it made into a public toilet. Here is a good article on Christmas predating the Messiah.

5. The lies of Christmas undermine faith! In our culture, children are told stories of beings they don't see but who do nice things for them. Santa brings presents, the Easter bunny gives candy, and the tooth fairy leaves money under pillows. In time children are let down (Or devastated. These things can hurt.) with the truth...that these are just lies. How does that impact their faith in the Messiah, whom they also can't see, but supposedly loves them and will give them eternal life? I don't think we can emphasize enough how confusing and detrimental these lies are to faith. Even if your children know Santa isn't real, what are the implications for their faith when they find out Christmas isn't in the Bible? It's frustrating and confusing to realize that the Christian faith isn't based on following YHWH's commandments, and if we don't believe we should do as YHWH instructs in one area, why would we in another? 

Those are a few of the reasons why I decided to stop celebrating Christmas. 

More posts about Christmas:
Are Christmas Trees in the Bible?
Why I Stopped Celebrating Christmas as a Believer in Messiah
The Father Christmas Detail CS Lewis Had Wrong in the Chronicles of Narnia