The following is a letter I received from a Christian “friend” in Israel who has asked to remain unnamed. I thought some of you might be interested in some of the practical things that go into the preparations for Passover in Israel.
Shalom!!
Happy Holiday! “Hag Sameach” literally means ‘holiday happy’ in Hebrew.
Even though Pasach (Passover) doesn’t start until the Eve of March 30th, the main greeting here in Israel now is “Hag Sameach.” Today, as I was at the grocery store, I could see the shelves being emptied where the things with ‘leven’ used to be. They let the things sell out and will not buy anything with leven in it until after Pasach. So I could not buy my soy milk today; they are already out. Anyway, everyone is preparing, cleaning their homes (probably where ‘Spring Cleaning’ came from) and washing their cars. The price to wash your car is now 50 shekels instead of 40 shekels. $2.90 more because of the holiday. I found out when I washed my car today!
It’s an exciting time to be in Israel!
Also, Christians in the ‘Holy Land’ and from around the world will be celebrating Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. I took (a) picture on a Palm Sunday where people were celebrating by waving Palm branches and singing in their own languages as they walked the path Jesus (Yeshua) took as He rode the donkey into Jerusalem.
May our Lord bless you as you remember His love for you during this amazing season. “Hag Sameach” Hoping you have a blessed holiday!
Nisan, the first month on the Jewish calendar (according to the Torah), coincides with March-April on the civil calendar, which marks the beginning of the spring months. On the first day of Nisan, God instructed Moses, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months, the first of the month of the year” (Exodus 12:2).
This month we celebrate the 8-day holiday of Passover, from the 15th through the 22nd of Nisan. It commemorates the Jewish people’s miraculous redemption from slavery in Egypt, and the birth of the Jewish nation. We will not see a year change for the Hebrew calendar until September 10th 2018, 1 Tishrei 5779, the Rabbinical New Year.
In Israel everyone is preparing for the coming celebrations, it is during this time that the Jewish people are looking to God and remembering His blessings. He brought His people from slavery to their homeland, where He will be glorified. This is a wonderful time for us to be praying for the Jewish people to come to know His love for them and for us to seek His blessings in our own lives.
Shana Tovah (Have a Good Year)
My comment:
Some of you will be waving palm branches this Sunday as a reminder of our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Christians remember the resurrection on a daily basis but it is important to know about the last week of Jesus’ journey here on Earth. Each of the gospels spend quite an amount of time on it so it must be of great value.
All Christians should be praying for the peace of Israel. In the past five days:
A Muslim resident plowed into a group of soldiers, killing two and critically injuring two others.
A 32-year-old father of four who worked as a security guard at an excavation site in the Old City, succumbed to multiple stab wounds to his torso.
The IDF destroyed two terrorist tunnels leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Netanyahu said, “The time has come for the International Community to realize that the financial aid given to Hamas is being used underground.” The people continue to suffer in the Gaza Strip due to lack of medical aid, electricity and water, which their Government is expected to supply.
An Israeli man was injured after he accidentally entered a Palestinian Authority-controlled town near Beitar Illit south of Jerusalem. The man, who was driving on a motorcycle, took the wrong exit, and found himself in the Palestinian town. He was attacked by rock-throwing terrorists and suffered a head injury. IDF forces were dispatched to the scene and transported him to the hospital.
There are, of course, larger forces at work plotting the destruction of the tiny little nation that God has an everlasting covenant with. Jews continue to return to the land in spite of the dangers they face from surrounding nations.
It is amazing to watch.
One thing is clear; Israel will never be destroyed. It is one thing you can take to the bank. Uh..I’m not so sure about how secure that is these days though.
Chris Reimers
*English Haggadah Text with Instructional Guide
Posted by Chris 
Wings of the Wind 
“Timely if mayor Bergheim were to come up with an unreserved apology to the couple”
May 28, 2018Ken, Vebeke, and Family Reunited
Photo by Lisbeth Lund Andresen
(Click on photo to enlarge)
By Magne Storedal
• • •
The child protection case which is the main subject of the article – that of Ken Joar Olsen and Vibeke Morrissey and their daughter – has been described and discussed on several websites abroad and here. (See below)
This article originally appeared in Norwegian, on 25 May 2018, in Romerikes Blad HERE.
Translation: Marianne Haslev Skånland. All rights remain with the author Mr Storedal.
• • •
The resignation of CPS leader Arnfinn Heimstad on Wednesday augurs well for the process of developing a better Barnevern in the municipality of Lørenskog. The case which triggered his withdrawal – the child protection case against Ken Joar Olsen and Vibeke Morrissey – was deficient on very many levels. Romerikes Blad has in a series of articles given an account of the inadequate and criticisable casework in this CPS case.
The most criticisable aspect was the way the municipality went all the way in their employment of heavy means without attempting to help and support the parents when their daughter was taken into care on an emergency order in January 2015. In what followed, the municipality ignored information and suggestions from not less than eight experts who all found Ken and Vibeke to be competent parents. Parallel with the outcome in the Ken and Vibeke case, the courts have quashed three takings into care and returned the children to their parents. All after decisions made in Lørenskog. In sum these outcomes are so serious that it was natural for Heimstad to resign.
At the same time it is important to note that making heads roll in Lørenskog has never been the goal. Our primary aim has been to have the injustice to Ken and Vibeke’s daughter remedied, but also, of course, that against the parents. With the CPS and the municipality leadership being so restrictively against opening up for reconsideration and self-criticism, head municipal administrator Ragnar Christoffersen has taken matters in hand over the last weeks.
Necessary changes lie ahead. The Barnevern (CPS) case against Ken and Vibeke will face investigation internally and externally. At the same time, the case is before The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The case if far from over; a large sequel which must induce comprehensive learning and change in all of Barnevernet lies ahead. Irrespective of the outcome of such review, the municipality must urgently enter into a dialogue with all child expert personnel who had anything to do with Ken and Vibeke’s case. Between them they possess important proficiency and qualifications, urgently needed to be made use of by the municipality.
While Barnevernet is under fire in Lørenskog, another public service reaps well-deserved honour. Lørenskog’s low threshold ‘Preventive Psychological Health Service’ (Forebyggende psykisk helsetjeneste (FPH)), offering free and fast psychological help for Lørenskog’s citizens, has received the prize of the year for ‘innovation’ awarded by the Norwegian Society for Psychological Science. The service of FPH is monitored through research by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Added to the fact that the municipality has got this service up and running, it also works. People suffering from anxiety and depression have, according to the Institute of Public Health, obtained better life quality as soon as after 6 – 8 conversational sessions. With this expertise being present within the municipality, it is horrible that the two services did not cooperate in this concrete child protection case. Rather, according to FPH itself and the last two experts Anette Svendsen and Evelin Tjemsland, the CPS was active in Ken and Vibeke not getting necessary help after their daughter was taken into care. This is serious and must be checked up on thoroughly.
With the traumas in mind which Ken and Vibeke have gone through, it would probably have been timely if mayor Ragnhild Bergheim came up with an unreserved apology to the couple as well.
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My comment:
This is welcome and encouraging news in the struggle of families who have been devastated by the ungodly actions of the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (Barnevernet). I was not aware of this development and I would like to thank Professor Marianne Haslev Skånland for translating this article and sharing it with me. This is the first occasion involving a Norwegian CPS case, of which I’m aware, where the head of a CPS office has had to resign over the way several CPS cases have been handled by his office. Only God knows how many hundreds of parents in Norway have gotten the same type of treatment only to never have their children returned. This is certainly a step in the right direction but it is one case of so many that must be reviewed!
Here are a few of many articles published here and abroad about this family. To see all of the posts here, just type “Ken Olsen” into the search box on this blog.
“Ken Joar Olsen and his Aria – Norway”
“Ken Joar Olsen speaks at the demonstration against Barnevernet and human rights violations in Oslo 11 June 2016”
“Praise God! It appears that Aria has been returned to Ken and Vibeke!!”
“Ken Joar Olsen, My Good Friend, Speaks in Trondheim”
…
Romerikes Blad, is a Norwegian newspaper published in Lillestrøm, covering especially districts east of Oslo. The Norwegian title was “Forløsende om ordfører Bergheim kom med en uforbeholden unnskyldning til paret”.
Magne Storedal is the paper’s chief editor.
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