Congregation Chaim b' Derech

10/13/2025

Last night I won a jar of holy cacao hazelnut spread from Hebron in a Bible trivia game at a sukkot gathering. Last month, the gov’t of Hebron, Israel sent us a jar of Hebron’s famous wildflower honey as a thank you for our congregational support. So, today I bought some Phillo dough, and butter, and started layering all that with chopped pecans. Which, after baking I soaked in the honey. YUM! I can’t wait to share with everyone at shemini atzerat services! Linda helped make them, and Ann, the trooper, did the clean up!

10/11/2024

May you be inscribed and sealed in the Lamb’s book of life for a good year!

10/11/2024

Shalom everyone! Randy and I have been watching and considering the weather for Yom Kippur. It will be in the mid-nineties on Shabbat, which is a dangerous combination meeting outside and fasting from water and food. So…after consulting with the hosts, we have decided for The good of everyone to push our start time back to 4:00, to miss most of the heat of the day. We do nt want anyone passing out from the heat. Also, Ray has gotten a porta cool from his job to help mitigate the heat a bit. We want to afflict our souls, but we certainly don’t want to kill anyone! Looking forward to seeing everyone on Shabbat!

09/23/2024

We have some wonderful plans for the High Holy days! In Dardanelle,Ar. However, because they will be held in a private setting, we ask that you CALL for details. Leave you name and number and we will call you back. If not with us, we hope you have made plans for this most anointed time!!!
(479)967-LIFE (5433)

08/31/2024

I have begun a personal verse mapping study of the words of Yeshua. Todays verse was Matthew 5:16 “in that same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This statement is the last in what is known as the sermon on the Mount. It is a discourse given to the “am ha-Aretz”. The uneducated people of the land. These people where the workhorses of Israel. With little time for education or personal pursuits. Working hard to support their families. And yet throughout this discourse he says they are “blessed” through the description of the beatitudes as they are commonly known. This was likely a message very dear to these roughened hard workers who were so looked down on by the educated elite of the time in Jerusalem. With that new perspective on the crowd that sat on the hillside and listened, this message resonates in a completely different way, I think. This statement about “works” seems to be contradicted by one recorded shortly afterward by Matthew in 6:1 “take care not do your good works before men, to be seen by them, or you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” But in the two preceding verses to this statement, he is speaking about ‘tax collectors’ and ‘gentiles’ who are in the habit of excluding others and who are doing things to be seen as ‘good’ in front of other people. The am-Haaretz likely derived great comfort from todays passage. They worked hard just to subsist and take care of their families. It seems he is saying that their “good works” (virtuous toil, valuable deeds, beautiful labors). Are seen by Yah and point to Him. Their diligence in focusing on the needs of their brethren and families is seen as valuable, needed, even godly. Understanding the context of these words can bring great comfort to those of us who feel we can “never get ahead” or are just barely making it. Most of this crowd probably felt the same. Farmers, fishermen, shepherds, mothers, fathers who toiled ceaselessly from sunup to sundown. These were the ones that the elite could not survive without, (they were the ones who literally put the food on the tables of Jerusalem) yet were scorned by the very same as ‘drudge workers’ of little value to the educated elite.Proverbs 8:32 reminds us: “ blessed are those who keep my words.” We can all do that, no matter our walk of life, level of education, or situation.

07/14/2024

Wow! We went out to lunch and a limb broke and fell from one of our grandfather trees. When I say a limb, I mean something the size of a twenty year old tree! It missed the end of the house by mere inches, and the power line into the house. So, other than cutting it up, no big deal. Except, it came down at the end of the house I was working in all morning, in the room that, if it had been off by a few inches, it would have flattened the house, and me. Randy discovered it 4 hours later when he walked the dog. His truck had hidden it from our view when we pulled in from lunch. Another thing it missed. Yah is good!

06/12/2024

Such a great Shavuot! And so glad to be together! Still praying to find a home from the congregation, but in the meantime, the park will do! Thanks for sharing photos Jonny!

06/07/2024

06/03/2024

Please RSVP to phone listed below or [email protected] so we can be sure to have enough to grill!

05/18/2024

Torah portion emor: Lev. 21:1-24::23

21:6- “ They (the priesthood) shall be holy into their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.”

The passage then goes on in minute detail regarding how the priests shall remain and be holy and set apart from the people.

Rabbi Max Weiman had some interesting things to say about this: “All Jews, Kohen or not, have responsibilities that define our holiness. (This holiness actually from our perspective should apply to ALL BELIEVERS though there are some things that apply only to priests. -my addition) On the secular stage, the world holds us to a higher standard. They don’t complain when our enemies purposely kill civilians, but complain loud and clear when Israel accidentally kills a civilian. We don’t like it when they hold us to a higher standard, and in secular terms this is obviously unfair. But from the perspective of Torah, we do want to keep to a higher standard of morality than the rest of the nations. We are all called to sanctify God”s name, and not to profane or desecrate it (Lev. 22:3). Most people are uncomfortable with being held to a higher standard. We prefer to be judged like everyone else. But that doesn’t help connect the universe with its Creator. When we behave in a way that expresses our devotion to God, and acceptance of His Torah’s precepts, we are directly binding God and the universe together. You can blend into the woodwork of history and leave no mark on humanity, or you can stand for something, and be a symbol of the Almighty. That is the purpose of creation.”

Adding a few thoughts of my own, for what it’s worth: if we call ourselves followers of Yah, and our behavior does not reflect this, we certainly profane His name, no matter what name you are comfortable using. The world watches closely those who identify as “His” and they lie in wait waiting for us to stumble so they can point fingers and say ”there! I knew it! Hypocrite! The name you choose to call Him matters less than the behavior you present to the world in His name. Leviticus calls us to holiness, in His name, be you a priest or not.

05/14/2024

Shalom friends! What a month. Pesach, Seders, unleavened bread, moving….. I don’t know about you but I am exhausted.

Please note that Chiam B Derech no longer meets at 1303 Russell road. Instead we have put our belongings in storage and are waiting on the Most High Yah to reveal to us our next resting place as we follow the pillar of fire that leads us.

Please keep us in prayer as we seek the Father’s perfect will for our congregational family. And, CALL to find out where we may be meeting on Shabbat before coming to Russellville. Our phone number remains the same: (479)967-LIFE.

05/07/2024

The Most High never tells us to do anything, unless He also tells us HOW. This weeks Torah portion is Lev. 19-20. In chapter 19:2 He emphatically states: “YOU shall be holy! for I am holy!” Wow! What a tall order to be holy like Yah Himself. But what does that mean? He never leaves us to wonder. In fact, in this chapter He clearly defines what it means to be holy. So let’s look-
1. Respect Yah and your parents. Vs 3
2. Keep the sabbath. Vs 3
3. Don’t worship/make Idols. vs 4
4. Bring free will offerings. And eat them before the third day. Vs. 5-6
5. Leave some of your crop/garden for the poor to gather. Vs. 9-10
6. Don’t steal, lie, be false. Vs. 11
7. Do not profane Yah’s name. Vs. 12
8. Don’t defraud/rob your neighbor, or make your employees wait for their wages. Vs. 13
9. Do not mock/hurt/harm the handicapped. Vs. 14
10. Be an honest judge. Vs. 15
11. Gossip is akin to murder. Vs. 16
12. Correct someone gently and with love. Vs 17
13. Don’t bear a grudge. Vs 18
14. Love your neighbor as yourself. Vs 18
15. Don’t mingle seed of plants or animals for reproduction. Vs 19
16. Don’t wear linen and wool intermingled. Vs 19
17. Don’t treat a servant as if they have no rights. Vs 19-22
18. Do not eat of a newly planted tree for 3 years. Give the fruit to Yah in the 4th year. And the fruit is yours in the 5th year. Vs23-25
19. Do not eat blood. Vs. 26
20. Don’t cut the corners of your head/beard. Vs27
21. Don’t cut/tattoo your flesh (for the dead) vs 28
22. Do not pr******te your child. vs. 29
23. Keep the sabbath ( repeat of number 2, maybe it’s important??) respect Yah’s sanctuary. Vs. 30
24. Do not look for omens or tell fortunes. Vs. 30
25. Do not consult mediums or necromancers. Vs. 31
26. Show respect to your elders. Vs. 32
27. Fear Yah (repeat of number one, important maybe??)
28. Don’t vex a stranger, in fact “love him as yourself”. Wait! Compare to number 14- so we must love EVERYONE, not just those like us! Vs. 34
29. Use honest measures. Vs 35-36
30. Observe all my statutes and judgements and DO THEM! Vs37

Most of these will not only make you holy, according to the passage, but also make you a darn good human being and neighbor. Some might seem odd, but they do “set us apart” which is what “holy”means.
Interestingly, Yah states throughout this passage “ani Y/H/V/H”. (I am the Lord) not just once but FIFTEEN times! Y/H/V/H is a synecdoche (an abbreviation that means much more than the surface text). It can mean “I am/will be what I am”. Meaning He is timeless and all powerful. The number fifteen is also very interesting. It is the Biblical number of ”rest”. Perhaps Yah is telling us that if we live by these thirty principles that He defines in chapter 19 as holiness, we will have the rest we have craved our whole lives.