1. Acknowledgement
2. The first stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Awakening
3. The second stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Ascendancy
4. Hearing the Calling
5. Living up to the Name
6. Fulfilling the Purpose
7. The Way: The Ahavah HaDerech of the Spirit
8. The third and final stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Consummation

Acknowledgement:

In the very first of each day, at the beginning of our day we pray, “I give you thanks for…” (מודה אני-modeh ani):

.מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקיים, שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה, רבה אמונתך

Modeh anee lefanecha melech chai vekayam, she-he-chezarta bee nishmatee b’chemla, raba emunatecha.

This is the privilege of acknowledgment, when what comes first in the order of the day is we give the first fruits (פְרִי שְׂפָתַיִם-peri sefatim, fruit of lips) offering of thanks and praise to the heavenly Father. It is this offering of our acknowledgement to the Father of Lights (Avi HaMe’orot)—our thanksgiving and praise—that precedes everything else.

First is our offering of thanks and praise, then we seek understanding.

The first fruits of our praise to our Father in heaven is our Nisan (1^st, the time of the budding of the day; i.e. the first of the day). We begin our days by humbling ourselves and exalting our Father who dwells in heaven, who is the Holy One. Our personal Exodus begins with the forsaking of our Self lives (leaving Egypt, the “Cult of Me”) and our running after the Most High Who made us and immeasurably blessed us by adopting us to be “His children.”

The first stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Awakening:

When we arise in the morning with praise and thanksgiving on our lips, the heavenly Father graciously restores our soul.

In the morning with praise and thanksgiving on our lips, the heavenly Father graciously restores our soul (nephesh, neshamah) within us. This He does in order that we might experience what our wise grandmother (הסבתא שלנו חכמה מאוד) royally called: “the first day of the rest of our life.” The ultimate day of awakening in full prophetic view here is the resurrection from the dead, the awakening to the new day to come that is a never-ending day (for a never-ending people):

Just as our heavenly Father revives us daily from the depths of our sleep, so will He one day revive us from the sleep of death.

Then as our blessed grandmother Marta (מרתה) taught us, “death for us will be no more” (מָוֶת-mavet, death will no longer exist for us). At that time the understanding-sight of our heart(s) will be opened wide within our soul(s) and mind(s) so that we may fully see the glorious light of our heavenly Father’s Presence. Then we will know Him (פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים-Face to face) as we are “already known.” The Modeh Ani (women say modah ani) is rightfully so one of the first blessings a Jewish child is taught. The Blessing of the Day

(“מודה אני לפניך… שהחזרת בי נשמתי“) expresses gratitude to the Almighty for the new day of life that He has graciously gifted to us (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23):

חַֽסְדֵי ה’ כִּי לֹא־תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא־כָלוּ רַחֲמָֽיו׃ חֲדָשִׁים לַבְּקָרִים רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ׃

Adonai’s lovingkindnesses ( ה’חַֽסְדֵי) indeed never cease,
For His compassions (רַחֲמָֽיו) never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great (רַבָּה) is Your faithfulness (אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ).

The second stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Ascendancy:

Following our Firstfruits offerings of thanksgiving and our chanting the Psalms of Praise (pesukei dezimrah), we then recite the Shema (שמע ישראל) and its benedictions. These are the privileged prayers of meditation, and understanding:

“Hear, O Israel,” the first phrase of the Shema, means we shall do all three things: we shall hear, understand, and obey Adonai Avinu.

Israel is a compound family name. “El” is a word that means great “force,” “might,” and “power.” When the word is acknowledged properly it should evoke the Presence of the Holy One whose creative force, power, and majesty made the heavens and the earth and Who reigns supreme as the King of the Universe. In addition to the great power our heavenly Father exercises, He also possesses “All-Authority.”

This leads us to the meaning of the second word included in the personal family name, Israel (Yisra’El), the word “Sar.” At the root of Sar is the positive meaning of “struggle,” and “struggling.” It is a positive Hebrew term because the inevitable outcome of the struggle is one of “overcoming.” Due to this positive meaning the term Sar and Sarah came to mean “Prince” and “Princess.” Hence the family name Israel conveys at least three relational claims upon both the Almighty, who is the Head of our (national and international) family, and ourselves (Yisra’el):  first, the calling and our hearing the calling; second, the assignment of our royal name and our living up to the Name; and third, the purpose of our calling and our fulfillment of it.

Hearing the Calling:

The naming of and calling together (assembly) of the family is anchored in the unbreakable and irreversible force, power, might, and authority of the King of the Universe. He created us by His Word that created the heavens and the earth. Therefore, similarly, it is ‘He’ Who possesses All-Authority and Who is All-Powerful, Whose Word cannot be broken. He is the One that has called us to be in this family that is “His” family. We are His special possession. His treasure. This truth is indisputable. And this truth cannot be broken.

Living up to the Name:

This family is given a royal name because it is a Royal Family.

The Family of Israel is a royal nation, a national family of priests and kings. This name is given not just because of Israel’s unique adopted relationship with the Creator…This is a Royal Family of priests and kings because of the “struggle” that the children of Israel have been enlisted into. This struggle involves a series of long hard-fought battles that must be won. And it has already been written in the prophets that the obstacles and tests that are put in Israel’s way cannot and will not prevail. We shall overcome.

We shall overcome because the inevitability of our success does not rest upon our own power and authority.

We shall overcome because the virtue of our cause solely rests upon the infallible shoulders of the One Who possesses Unlimited Power and Authority. It is our Father in heaven (Avinu Shebashamayim) Who has made the heavens and the earth, Who has called us into being and has predestined us to prevail. This truth is indisputable. This truth cannot be broken.

Fulfilling the Purpose:

The high-born purpose of this Royal Family is clearly conveyed in the meaning of the two Hebrew words “El” and “Sar.”

The union (echad) that co-exists in the meaning of the name Israel speaks of the covenant relationship between two parties: the first party being the Holy One, Who is our Father in heaven and the other being His Prince who lives here on earth. It is in this Union that the purpose of Israel is revealed. The royal purpose of Israel is to establish the heavenly “Rule of Elohim” upon the earth. Elohim is the “common” name of the Creator Who is the Sovereign Ruler over all humanity, Gentile as well as Jew.

The “personal” name of Adonai (YHVH) is the covenant name that has been given to Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the “who, what, when, where, and how” answer as to “why” the children of Israel are the special possession, the treasure, the Sar and Sarah of the nations and peoples of the world. This is the struggle that Israel must engage in:

We are called by the Spirit to establish the Rule of Avinu Shebashamayim (our heavenly Father) upon the earth.

This is the calling of Israel. This we know without a shadow of a doubt because the inevitability of our success does not rest upon our own limited power and authority. The virtue of our cause solely rests upon the Infallible One. The All-Powerful One created Israel. Israel did not create itself. Israel did not create itself any more than the universe created itself.

Avinu Shebashamayim spoke and the universe came into existence. It was He who ordained our special purpose.

It was He Who made Israel exist as a people here on earth. Israel shall prevail. Israel cannot fail. He Who has called us will complete the work He has begun. It is He who has called us into being. It is He Who has made us His family. His special possession. His treasure. Therefore, we are convinced that His Kingdom will come! His will, will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. This truth is indisputable! And this truth can never be broken:

כי לך הממלכה והגבורה והתפארת לעולמי עולמים. אמן. פ

“For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the majesty, forever, and ever. Amen.”

The Way: The Ahavah HaDerech of the Spirit:

Through meditating on this Divine calling the emotions are awakened, and the (אַהֲבָה-Ahavah) Love of the Holy One is aroused within all our heart and soul. This is the Iyar (2^nd also ziv, the light or glow) of our day.

It is the time of loves ascendancy.

It is the time of our counting of the Omer—the time of the extended day—when the past, present, and future anticipated challenges of our life become as nothing to us. So our life’s trials, sufferings, and tests are as nothing to us in comparison to the fullness of Joy (simcha), the happiness (ashrei) that is ours, when we are consciously caught up into His Presence and we behold His magnificent beauty: The beauty of the King of Glory, the beauty of The Beloved!

The third stage of the Exodus is the time of Loves Consummation:

The awakening of and yearning for Union between ourselves and our Beloved is more than just a process of losing our own self to gain the Presence of the Holy One. It is more than forsaking self-consciousness (bittul bi-metziut), so that we might embrace the consciousness of the Most High. The loss of self and the gain of the Presence of the Beloved is the culmination of our awakened love.

It is the consummation of our ascended love.

This end point of the sojourn from humility to glorification, from slavery to royalty, is where the temporal state ends and the eternal state begins. This is where the Spirit and the body are made perfectly one:

.שמע ישראל, ה’ אלוהינו ה’ אחד

“Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.”

So may Israel become perfectly one (echad-a unity of the Spirit) with the Father, even as the Messiah and the Father are one. This Unity of Israel with the Spirit (Adonai Eloheinu) is what we are celebrating in the month of Sivan (3^rd the “time,” the “season”). Sivan is the time and season of loves consummation. The month of Sivan is the time when a remnant of believing Israel (120 Hebrew souls) first received the Living Torah that cones down from heaven to us in the gift of the Father, the gift of the permanent Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit.

Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 13 >>