Month: July 2018

A Biblical “necklace” – what’s about?

To make a necklace (harizah), a midrash says you must first know how to pierce a hole in a pearl, then how to use the proper thread in order to string together the pearls to one necklace. The aim of making a necklace, harizah, is to manifest the divine origin of the Torah and to stress the unity of the Tenakh, (the unity of Revelation), the project of God. The pearls are found in the Torah, the Prophets (Neviim), and the Writings (Khetuvim). These pearls make present that the project of God is not ended. P.T.Hagigah 2,77b Making a necklace reveals the divine origin of the whole of Scripture (Torah, Prophets, and Holy Writings), their unity, and their permanent relevance. My Father, Abuyah , was one of the great personalities of Jerusalem. When the day arrived for my circumcision, he invited all the great personalities of Jerusalem and installed them in a house.As for Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, he placed them in another house. When the guests had finished eating and drinking, they started …

“I myself will go with you”

Readings of the Bible: Psalm 139 Exodus 33-12-23 Luke 5:1-11 We are celebrating this solemn profession of Sr Wafaa on the eve of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This gives our celebration even greater solemnity, as it sets it within the context of the Church. The step that you are taking today, Wafaa, confirming your original commitment made some years ago, giving it a definitive character, is not for yourself alone, but for the benefit of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, and ultimately for the benefit of the Universal Church.

An egyptian sister’s final vows

Sr. Wafaa Shehata NDS grew up in the village of El Berba in the diocese of Minya in Upper Egypt. During the time when Sr. Juliana and Sr. Darlene lived in Berba, she was the first young women finding her way to the congregation of “Notre Dame de Sion”. After her novitiate in Egypt accompanied by Sr. Juliana and her first vows in celebrated in her home village, she came the Jerusalem and stays with the St. Mary’s community in Ecce Homo. Here she works in the guesthouse and also is in contact with the arab speaking Christian communities. On Thursday June 28th she celebrated her commitment to final vows in the Basilica of Ecce Homo.