James Tabor is scheduled to be in New Orleans this weekend for academic meetings but has graciously agreed to spend Shabbat with us.

Dr. Tabor is a popular lecturer among academic as well as non-specialist audiences. He is frequently seen in the media and is a best-selling author.

I hope that you will be able to join us live at 10:30 A.M. CST on Saturday for this exciting class. If you can’t make it to Temple Sinai in person, please join by Internet;

service link

Wishing you all a peaceful Shabbat

The entire Torah community is now in the 7th month of the Biblical year – a time referred to by the First Century Jewish Historian Josephus as the “Sacred Month”. We begin this month with the sounding of the shofar (Ram’s Horn Trumpet), which is followed by Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and finally the seven day Festival of Booths (Succoth). For the last several years, Roots of Faith has held its Annual Bible Conference during the ancient Biblical Festival of Succoth (Booths).

I wanted to send this update to my entire mailing list today to update you all on the exciting upcoming Annual Conference and Campout to be held here in less than 2 weeks.

This year we are anticipating the largest turnout ever. So far, based upon registrations, it looks like we might have nearly 100 in attendance and many of these will be camping together for the entire week. It is not too late to sign up, but the sooner you do, the better it will be. We use this information to help us better plan. Click here to fill out our on-line registration.

We also have a site set up with information on the Festival and Camp site. I encourage you to check it out.

I am very pleased with the program for this year’s conference. I have uploaded the program as a pdf so that you can print a copy out on my Synagogue Without Walls site. Here is a list of the speakers and their topics.

James D. Tabor – The Five Fundamental Flaws of Christianity
Debbie Good – Healing and Restoration
Walter Oakley – Back to the Future & a Taste of Hebrew
Web Hulon – Moledet vs. Mishpakha – the Building Blocks of Yisrael
Joseph Good – The Ceremonies of Succoth & Pirket Avoth – the Beauty of Judaism in the Sayings of the Fathers
Ross Nichols – The Weightier Matters of the Torah – Torah Faith from the Inside Out
I will also lead a Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah) service

There will be plenty of time to share at the campsite each evening. There will be singing and dancing and much, much more! Some of the best times during these conferences are sitting around the fire and listening to the discussions that are carried on between newly made friends.

Whether you are able to join us or not, I would ask that you consider contributing to the costs of the conference. As always, we provide all teachings at no charge, but this year the costs are more than I can do alone. The campsite is beautiful, but does not have adequate facilities for the number of attendees. I had to rent portable showers and toilets to accommodate the crowd that we are expecting. This alone will cost nearly $2,000! I would greatly appreciate your help in making this a wonderful Festival for everyone in attendance. No amount is too small as I know that people all have different circumstances. I am only appealing to those who have the means to contribute without putting themselves in a tough place financially. If you would like to contribute and are able to do so, there are a couple of ways. One is to mail a check or money order to:

Roots of Faith
P.O. Box 695
Saint Francisville, La. 70775

or you can contribute on line here.

We will webcast the conference live from the Synagogue as we do all of our teachings. As we get closer I will send out a special update that includes all of the information on how to join in from afar via the Internet.

Please take the time to check our Synagogue Without Walls if you have not done so. This site is an attempt to create a social network – A place of meeting for anyone that believes in the one God of Israel and seeks to live according to the principles of the Hebrew Bible. It now has nearly 300 members from around the world. It is truly turning into an amazing place of learning and fellowship. There you can set up your own page where you can add photos and comments, you can publish on our forum, create your own blog entries, join one of our exciting and informative groups or set up one of your own (with my approval of course:). It is like the popular social networking sites My Space and Facebook, except it is geared towards and developed for people like you who are interested in better understanding and applying the Hebraic Faith in your own life.

I am very excited about meeting many of you face to face in the coming days!

As always, I appreciate your continued interest in Roots of Faith and the Synagogue Without Walls!

You shall live in booths for seven days….so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am YHWH – Leviticus 23

Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, YHWH of Hosts, and to keep the Festival of Booths – Zechariah 14

This wonderful Festival is a time of rejoicing; a time to reflect on God’s deliverances – past, present and future. Despite a hectic work schedule, surviving two hurricanes and the birth of my second grandson, I am pleased to finally send this update on our upcoming conference to be held in Saint Francisville, Louisiana. Last year we were much more organized, and I must take full responsibility for the lack of organization this year, but if you can get past that, I want to encourage you to come to Saint Francisville to spend this time with us. I am hopeful that some of you can make it for the entire Festival (October 14-22), or at the very least for the weekend conference (October 17-19).

This year we will have some incredible “formal lessons”, but my favorite part is always the time that we ALL spend together around the fire in the cool air talking about the Bible with like-minded people from all around the country. I look forward to meeting many new people as well as seeing some of my best friends.

I will publish a program of speakers as soon as I get topics from the speakers. Thus far, we have confirmation from the entire Arba4 team (http://www.arba4.com). ARBA4 is a web site that was organized to present multi-media teachings about the Bible, Judaism, Gentiles, Christianity, Non-Jews, Torah, Tanak, New Testament, Prophecy and Current Events. ARBA4.com currently features, Joseph & Debbie Good, Ross K Nichols and Dr. Walter Oakley. Their bios will be forthcoming in my next update.

Where to stay

Due partly to the storms and partly to other events in our small town, we were not able to secure a block of rooms at the one hotel in Saint Francisville at a special rate as we were able to do last year. I have heard from some that there are a few rooms available nonetheless. The hotel is a Quality Inn and the web site for the hotel is: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g40411-d77835-Reviews-Quality_Inn_St_Francis_on_the_Lake-Saint_Francisville_Louisiana.html

John Carlson also spoke with the folks at the Plantation Inn recently and confirmed reservations for the whole place for the week of Oct 14 thru Oct 21 (13 cottages, 14 rooms). Here is the website to check the facilities and to get rate info; http://www.historicplantationvillage.com/flash/index.html

And the phone number to call for reservations is; 225-658-8808

The name of the place is the (Asphodel) Historic Plantation Inn and the owner’s name is Dwain.

If you intend on coming and wish to stay at the Asphodel Plantation Inn, you need to make your reservations as soon as possible as availability will be limited. I would also encourage you to check hotels in the surrounding areas: Zachary – about 20 miles from the campsite and the synagogue and even Baton Rouge – 35 miles from the campsite and the synagogue.

Plan on Camping?

For those that plan to camp out, we have confirmed our reservation with The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana, Mary Ann Brown Preserve. This wonderful location is ideal for sleeping under the stars. Aside from the beautiful location, it is less than 7 miles from the Hotel and the synagogue. Perfect for those who wish to stay up late and study the Bible under the stars. There is no cost for camping. You will need to bring any camping supplies as this is a primitive site. If you do not own camping gear or are unable to pack it all on the trip, but want to camp out with us, let me know and we will work something out. Here is the link to the camp site:

http://www.where2guide.com/TouristTrail/outdoors/MBrownPreserve.html

You can check out last years Conference or sign up for Succoth 08 from my web site.

Another Option

This year we have one other option. Several people have written me and told me that for one reason or another they would not be able to attend. So I began to think about this. Here we are in 2008, living in a world of advanced technology. There is absolutely no reason that people have to be “here” to be a part of the festivities. Some cannot attend due to health reasons, and some simply do not have the funds to make the trip. I have made a point in calling Roots of Faith a synagogue without walls. We webcast our services and teachings live over the web every week (as do the other Arba4 teachers). Why wouldn’t we do the same with the Conference? Well, that is exactly what we intend to do!

I will be publishing a schedule of speakers and topics in plenty of time for you to set the time aside to listen to some great Bible Teaching and music. Don’t forget to register if you plan to attend and please send me a personal note if you plan to listen in and participate from your home. If you have not already done so, fill out the on-line registration to let us know that you will be with us so that we can work with you to make this a time of refreshing. http://rootsoffaith.org/succoth_registration_08.htm

Thanks for your patience and for your continued prayers and support as we strive to inspire people to live a more Biblically authentic lifestyle. Shalom from Saint Francisville, Ross Nichols

I recently attended the 65th Annual United Israel World Union Conference, held in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It was a wonderful and refreshing conference filled with exciting speakers and interesting people from literally all over.  Below I am attaching the program so that you can see some of what made this an incredible meeting.

The audio of my class from this conference is attached to this blog entry.  The Video is available on Arba4 at this link – http://arba4.com/category/roots-of-faith/rof-weekly-lesson.

 Ross, Simcha, Zach and James

65th Anniversary Annual Meeting
April 11-13, 2008
Doubletree Guest Suites/SouthPark
Charlotte, North Carolina
Friday, April 11th

5:00pm Welcome and Informal Gathering

7:00pm Welcoming Shabbat: Candle Lighting and Kiddush

7:30pm “65 and Counting: Why are We Here?”  
James Tabor

8:30pm Informal Discussion: Uniting Israel How and When? 
Steve Mathe
Sabbath, April 12th

9:30am “Machanaim: Two Camps”    
Ross Nichols

11:00am “Visualizing the Temple in Jerusalem”  
Joseph Good

Noon Break

2:30pm “Jeremiah’s Message for Today”   
James Tabor

4:00pm “The House of David in our Time”   
Susan Roth

Afternoon Break

7:00pm Screening of film “Quest for the Lost Tribes”

9:00pm  Havdalah
9:15pm Panel Discussion on the Lost Tribes Presiding:

James Tabor
Simcha Jacobovici
Joseph Good
John Hully
Ross Nichols
         

Sunday, April 13th

8:30-9:30am  UIWU 65th Annual Business Meeting 
Presiding: Ralph Buntyn

9:30am  “The Lost Tribes and their Role at Armageddon: A Prophetic Perspective”    
John Hully

11:00am   “Turning Over the Tables: New Thoughts on the Union of Judah and Ephraim”   
Hanoch Young

Lunch Break

3:30pm  Screening of “The Exodus Decoded” at the Jewish Community Center

6:30pm  “Separating History, Myth, and Legend” Director’s Discussion of the Film:
Simcha Jacobovici

9:00pm  After-Hours Music Fest at the Doubletree

http://arba4.com/category/roots-of-faith/rof-weekly-lesson

Shalom, Ross

For those that are interested, the 2nd of 4 classes on the “Return of Israel” in which I appear with Joe Good, has been published on the Universal Torah Network’s website. A link to the shows appears on my website. In these classes, Joe and I discuss this topic extensively.

As a side note, as we are able to recover from the technical difficulties we experienced recording the conference, more will be made available, including commentary from Ross Nichols, the faithful leader of RootsOfFaith.org. [staff]

In these two talks I attempt to lay out my vision for a revival of Torah Faith.

In the first class (HEAR), I begin with the Shema – the foundational confession of Biblical Faith.  As a special guest, my friend and brother John Carlson played his “Shema Song”.

In the second class I further develop the vision by speaking of what precisely we should DO.  I cover 9 passages from the book of Deuteronomy that mention things that we should DO with all of our heart and all of our soul.

Finally, I sum up the Torah “while standing on one foot”.

You will not want to miss this two part series.

Thanks for taking the time to listen.  Visit www.rootsoffaith.org and let us know what you think of the teaching.

Shalom, Ross