12.28.2025 54 Days to Israel

54 DAYS!!

I often say I am in the wrong line of work.  I would love to be a travel writer, and share with the world all of the amazing places out there, and get paid for doing it.  So I’m going to play pretend with my little blog here, and I thank you for reading. 

Waiting for a trip is a kind of sweet agony.  It is one of the best and worst parts of going on a trip.  It’s not waking me up nights – yet, though trips often do as they draw near, and this one will be a long one.  Three weeks is a long time – longer than I’ve ever been away from home.  I have concerns about that – how will I manage my life so far away?  What if something terrible happens?  Am I nuts!?!   Yet I am committed to my purpose.

Ah this time, I am going to Israel for a purpose – to chase the Barley. 

Barley?  Why barley?

Barley is very important in the Bible.  It’s mentioned about 35 times throughout the Bible. It grows naturally all over Israel, like grass grows in Oregon.  The Bible tells us that the ripeness of the barley in the spring is what indicates New Years Day for us.    

The month of “Aviv” or “Abib” is the month the Israelites left Egypt, the month they first kept the Passover – the month they have always kept the Passover, and the month they entered the land after 40 years of wandering.  

Exodus 12:1-2 says, “And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt), saying, “This month is the beginning of months for you, it is the first month of the year for you."  

The word “Aviv” literally means fresh young ears of barley.  So, the first month of the year is the month where the barley is aviv – or ripe. 

Spring in Israel is in February/March.  This spring, a group of about 15 of us will be traveling to Israel together to find the barley, to decide if it’s ripe (aviv) and to learn about this important life cycle in real life.  It’s important because it is, technically, how we’re supposed to count the rest of the Biblical year; it’s how we know what days our holidays will fall on. 

The agriculture of “the land” is very important in the Bible, and the agricultural calendar of Israel aligns with the feasts.  The cycle of produce in the land is in sequence with the Biblical feasts laid out in the Bible.  There are some teachers, like Rebecca Biederman (In Search of Ancient Paths) and Devorah Gordon (Devorah's Date Tree) that are teaching this agricultural synchronicity. 

Of course, in our modern society we all live by the Gregorian calendar, which pays no attention to agriculture, and it has strange wrongly numbered months – and some of the months and days are named after “foreign” gods, so these Biblical days have no meaning in the modern calendar.  Among those who keep the Biblical feasts most follow the Jews example and keep the Hillel calendar.  It’s easier to keep and to plan ahead, and it’s what everyone else is doing, so it’s easier to go along. 

I also know that different groups and people have different ways of marking the beginning of the Biblical year. Among Hebrews, the controversy rages.  I know there many other calendars out there and the followers of those calendars all think they are right.  I’m not really wanting to debate who is right or wrong.  I am not trying to make anyone else wrong.  I do firmly believe these things are written in the Bible for a reason.  They are not just intellectual exercises or symbols - they were once practical day-to-day measures. 

At some point in human history, the people in Israel didn’t have fancy calendars of foreign gods, or extra-Biblical books, or expert lectures on the matter, or the internet.  They simply had the Torah, they had the moon and the barley, and stripped away from all of man’s traditions, this is what it says; that the aviv (ripe) barley is the beginning of months for us all. 

I am going to Israel to understand this life cycle better.  I want to see the beginning of months first-hand. I want to touch the barley and smell it – I want to walk among the waving stalks and pinch the grains between my fingers.   I want to pluck it like Yeshua did and eat it straight from the stalk as he and his disciples did.  I will try to imagine the way it must have looked to the first Israelites, after those many years in the desert. I want to understand the Bible on a much deeper and more intimate level and through that understanding, hopefully understand my god a little bit more. 

I am also super excited by the companions I will be allowed to travel with.  I have been a part of the Sighted Moon family since 2020, though I have listened to and read the teachings of Joseph Dumond for decades.  I was lacking a Sabbath keeping congregation at the time, and with the lockdowns, I turned to the internet and found a Zoom.  Over the past almost six years, I’ve become a part of this group, and I’ve made friends.  I share my praise and worship, and I regularly read the weekly prayers.  I recall praying to be allowed to be part of this group of people going to Israel to find the barley, and that if the Father would like for me to do so, He would make it possible.  I’m nearly as excited about my answered prayers as I am about the trip itself.  Whenever I see the Father’s hand directly in my life, I am super excited. 

I covet your prayers for shalom (peace) as I travel.  I am often asked if I am frightened or concerned about traveling into such a volatile place.  Of course I am concerned.  I would be foolish to pretend that we are not in the times we are in, or that my safety might be at risk.  However, I am not afraid.  The Bible commands us not to be afraid over and over.  The only thing we are to fear is YHVH.  If he is against me, it doesn’t matter where I go – I am doomed.  If He is for me, all is well. So to that end, I ask you to keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

I am also doing something else I’ve never done before.  I have attached my payment information to my blog at the top.  If you feel lead to do so, I could use the support.  I can also receive funds via Facebook Messenger.  

Please keep an eye on this space for future updates.  I will post at least a few times about my thoughts leading up to my trip, as well as expounding on the barley and it’s meaning in the Bible. Click the "subscribe" button to get updates!