Passover and the Layers of Remembrance
By Shelley Neese On the evening of March 27th, Passover begins. Last year, I remember thinking how horrible it was that Israel’s first lockdown for coronavirus had to take place on the most festive night on the Jewish holy calendar. Normally, throughout the Seder meal...
What Do the New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Tell Us?
By Shelley Neese By now you have probably heard that March 17th the Israel Antiquities Authority made a stunning announcement that they had discovered dozens of small Dead Sea Scroll fragments. These small pieces of parchment are the first inked scrolls to be found in...
COVID-19 and Biblical Archaeology
By Shelley Neese The Coronavirus has been unkind. Many have experienced loss—whether it is an actual death of a loved one, a business going bankrupt, harsh quarantines, or a high school senior who will miss graduation. Here is one more hurting sector you can add to...
Communal worship, individual worship, and family worship
By Shelley Neese When I lived in Arizona from 2011 to 2014, I had a Messianic pastor who led an evangelical congregation. He was raised as a religious Jew and came to know Jesus as the Messiah right before his Bar Mitzvah. He was kicked out of his home when he told...
Christian Media Summit 2019, Jerusalem
By Shelley Neese The first week in November, I had the privilege of attending the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem. Sponsored by Israel’s Government Press Office, this event has been going on annually for the last 3 years. The goal of the summit is to spread...
Teaching the Holocaust
By Shelley Neese My 13-year-old son came home one day from school and told me that he was working on a research project for his English class. They were studying the Holocaust. The class had read the Diary of Anne Frank in the format of a play with each student taking...
Sukkot and Deuteronomy 32
By Shelley Neese We are in the middle of the High Holidays on the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have come and gone and Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, begins this Sunday night on October 13th. According to Jewish tradition, on the...
The Holy Calendar
By Shelley Neese During the Hebrew people’s sojourn in Egypt, God transformed a gaggle of former slaves into a kingdom of priests. He evolved a confused post-traumatic community into a cohesive light to all the nations. Before the Hebrews even entered the promised...
Israel’s Elections in a Nutshell
By Shelley Neese---- If you have been trying to keep up with Israel’s election results for the last few days, you are probably wondering when in the world we will know for certain the identity of Israel’s next Prime Minister. Though the elections happened on the 17th,...
The Christians of Israel
By Shelley Neese Visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and you are bound to notice a short ladder resting on a second story window ledge. You can also see it in century old photographs and art in the exact same position it is today. On the surface the...