The companion book to Living Springs daily planner is titled Counting The Days! This book contains much more detailed teaching than what is in the front of the calendar itself. It also has a full year example of the planner in the back, making it a totally self contained work for anyone interested in learning the Biblical/Jewish calendar no matter if you want or don't want an actual planner for daily use. The reason you will see the term "Biblical/Jewish" used many times to describe the planner is because there is a difference. Counting The Days covers valuable information about how the Biblical calendar God gave to the children of Israel was set up, and why. It also explains the reason there is a Jewish calendar that differs somewhat, and goes over those differences so one can understand what God put in place as well as what Jews observe now.

Beyond all that, Counting The Days contains teaching on each specific feast: their historical meaning, what they prophesy, which ones have been fulfilled, why they come when they do, and more. Now to be clear, it is not possible to cover all there is to know about the feasts and how they are observed in one book, at least not one small enough to carry around in a suitcase. There is also the truth that covering the way Jews, from different historical experiences, observe these feasts today just might be impossible. That aside, the truth we did not want the bulk of information that can be given about each feast to interrupt the initial learning of the calendar and the feasts is why other books/booklets are, Lord willing, a growing part of this project, and more information about each of those can be found below.

To read an excerpt of Counting The Days click here. To see more pictures of the book, which are also larger than the one(s) on this page, along with further technical details about the book, you can visit the Institute's Resource Shop and click on the picture of the book there. If you would like, you can e-mail or write to us at any time to order this book, but visiting the Resource Shop is also the best way to order your free copy of Counting The Days!

Below you will find the basic teaching for each feast covered on the calendar. As mentioned above, it is part of the goals for this project to produce an individual book/booklet for each of them. However, there may also be a page on this website that gives greater information. Thus, the writing for each feast below should tell if a book/booklet for that particular feast is available, and if there is a page on this site for more information - the title of the feast should be a link to that page.

Pesach (Passover) is the first feast of the year. It is to be held on the fourteenth day of the first month. It remembers Israel's deliverance from Egypt which happened after the last plague. That plague was the death angel who struck the first born of every house in Egypt which did not have the blood of the Passover sacrifice on the door-posts. The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed the afternoon of the fourteenth and eaten with bitter herbs through that night. No bone of the lamb's body was to be broken. Nothing of the Passover lamb was to be left until the morning of the fifteenth, or it was to be destroyed by fire. (Ex. 12) This feast foreshadowed the sacrifice of The Messiah. Jesus was crucified the same afternoon the Passover lamb was being sacrificed at the temple, (John 19:14-30) and His body was quickly buried because the Sabbath would start at sunset. (John 19:31-42)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, more teaching is available by clicking on the title of the feast above, and a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Hag HaMatzot (The Feast of Unleavened Bread) is a seven day feast. It starts on the fifteenth and ends on the twenty-first of the first month. It remembers the hasty exodus the children of Israel took out of Egypt. They would have no time to allow their bread to rise and be kneaded in the normal way. They would have to eat unleavened bread (Matzot) as they left Egypt for a path which would lead to the promised land. The first day and the seventh day of this feast is a Sabbath. (Ex. 12:15-20) The purging of the house and refraining from eating anything with leaven for the duration of this feast represents the purity of Christ, (I Cor. 5:6-8) and the fact we too must turn aside from the pleasures of this world if we are going to walk the path which leads to the promise of eternal life. (Matt. 7:13-14)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Bikkurim (Firstfruits) The Law says this feast shall be the day following the Sabbath, referring to the first day of Unleavened Bread. (Lev. 23:11) This means Firstfruits coincides with the second day of Unleavened Bread which is the sixteenth of the first month. This feast is also tied to the commandment that all first born belong to God, and shows us this applies even to plants. (Ex. 13:1-12) On this day, Israel was to bring the very first sheaths of the harvest to the temple and present them to God. Nothing of the new harvest was to be eaten until this was done. (Lev. 23:9-14) Its historical significance is that the children of Israel began to live off the land of Canaan the day before this feast, and it was on the Feast of Firstfruits that the manna God had fed Israel all the days they spent in the wilderness, ceased! (Josh. 5:10-12) Sadly, many Christians do not know this; but this feast is the true celebration of The Messiah's resurrection. Jesus died on Passover, and rose on the third day to become the Firstfruits among many! (I Cor. 15:19-23)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) This feast is not given a date. Instead, it is directly connected to Firstfruits. Starting from the day of Firstfruits, you must count seven representative Sabbaths. In other words, seven sets of seven days. This makes up forty-nine days. The day after that is Shavuot. "Shavuot" is a Hebrew word which means "weeks," and the days counting up to Shavuot are called "The Counting of the Omer." The way you count up to Shavuot is also why so many know this feast as Pentecost. "Pentecost" is the Greek word for fifty, and Shavuot is fifty days from Firstfruits. Shavuot is in recognition of the giving of the Law to the nation of Israel; (Ex. 19-20) and in Israel, this was a time of bringing in and celebrating the harvest God had provided. However, God promised that some day He would write the Law upon their hearts! (Jer. 31:31-34) The fulfillment of Shavuot would come with the pouring out of The Holy Ghost; and many souls were added to the church on that day. (John 14:16-17, Acts 2) The reason it is connected to Firstfruits so directly is that The Holy Ghost did not come to speak of Himself, but to remind us of all Jesus had taught. (John 14:25-26, 16:12-15)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Rosh Ha-Shana (Feast of Trumpets) is held on the first day of the seventh month. It is a day of blowing trumpets. Moses was ordered to make two silver trumpets which would be used to assemble the congregation of Israel to the door of the tabernacle. (Num. 10:1-10) In ancient times, trumpets were sounded for many reasons. Sometimes it was to celebrate a joyous occasion - such as a wedding. Sometimes, it was to warn of a coming invasion; and sometimes, it was to announce the coming of a great king! Today, this feast is called Rosh Ha-Shana which means "Head of the Year," because this day is the modern Jewish new year. In many ways, this is very appropriate, because this feast foreshadows the Second Coming of The Messiah to this earth, which will truly be a new beginning for Israel and all the world. When this feast is fulfilled, all will realize Jesus is truly The Messiah and King! The Bible records Jesus will return with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. (I Thes. 4:16-18) This event will mean different things to different people around the world, depending on how they feel about The Messiah. For those who are against Him, these trumpets will be an alarm; but for those who have believed on Him, these trumpets are a sound of joy. However, no matter how you feel, to all it will be the announcement of the returning King, Who is King of Kings and Lord of all, and He will gather His own unto Himself!

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is held on the tenth day of the seventh month. For Israel, this is the most solemn day of all the year. It was on this day - and only on this day - that the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of the sacrifice, before the Mercy Seat, to make an atonement for himself as the High Priest and for the children of Israel as a nation. (Lev. 16) This day is a foreshadowing of the Day of Judgment when both small and great, rich and poor will stand before God and be judged according to their works. On this day, God will separate all those who have desired Him from those who have turned away. Only those whose names have not been blotted out of The Lamb's Book Of Life will be welcomed into the Kingdom. Which means, only those Jesus has chosen to present to His Father, and make an atonement for, will enter into eternal life! (Mat. 25:31-34, Rev. 3:5, 20:7-15)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) is a seven day feast plus one, which technically makes it an eight day feast. However, it is good to understand the last day is a bit separate in its meaning. This feast starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and ends on the twenty-first, but there is a call for a solemn assembly on the twenty-second. During this feast, Israel was commanded to leave their dwellings and live for seven days in three-sided booths made of tree branches. The first day of this feast is a Sabbath unto The Lord, and the day after it ends (the eighth day) there is to be a solemn assembly. This day is also a Sabbath. (Lev. 23:36) This feast remembers the life Israel lived for many years as they traveled through the wilderness to the promised land. This is the only feast in which Israel is commanded to rejoice! (Lev. 23:40) It celebrates the reality of the promise that those who have trusted in God will someday, "...ever be with the Lord." I Thessalonians 4:17 We will finally tabernacle with The God Who created us. This is why Jesus said He went to prepare a place for us, that where He is there we may be also! (John 14:1-3) When Jesus returns to this earth, He will reign for more than a thousand years; and during that time, the Bible tells us all the nations of the earth will come up to Jerusalem to hold the Feast of Tabernacles. Those nations which do not come up will not receive the blessings of God. (Zech. 14:16-19)

The solemn assembly held the day after the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles is the end of the God commanded feast days for the year. However, we should consider two other Jewish feasts which, due to history, appear on their calendar. These two feasts may not have been given directly in the Law, but they too mark prophesied historic events and/or truths.

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Purim is a two day feast held on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the Jewish month preceding Biblical New Year. Purim means "lots," as in casting lots. It remembers the story told in the Book of Esther, which took place during the reign of the Medes and Persians, where an evil man named Haman had received permission from the king to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. (Esth. 3:1-11) However, God had already placed Esther in the queen's position. Esther risked her life by revealing to the king she was a Jew and asking for the life of her people to be spared. The king not only spared the life of the Jews, but in doing so, gave them the chance to destroy those who hated them! This incident proved God was still with His people, and would not allow them to be destroyed.

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication) is an eight day feast beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Kislev. This feast recalls a great Jewish victory during the Greek era, which was prophesied in the Book of Daniel. (Dan. 11:29-45) The Greek ruler attempted to make it illegal for anyone to follow God's Law. The temple of God in Jerusalem was desecrated. Swine flesh was burned on the altar, and a statue of Zeus was set up. Even some Jews agreed the Laws of God should be a thing of the past, but those who loved God stood up and chose to fight rather than disobey God's Law. Eventually, they retook Jerusalem and the temple. They cleansed the temple, and rededicated it to God. The problem was that as they relit the temple lamp (called a Menorah), they only had enough oil for one day, and it would take several days to make more of this special oil. However, the sign that God was truly with them came as that one day's supply of oil lasted the eight days it took to make more! Hanukkah remembers the Jewish victory, but it is a celebration of the miracle of the oil. As Jesus walked this earth, John records He came to the temple on "...the feast of dedication," (John 10:22-28) and Jesus even prophesies that the temple and the Jewish nation would once again suffer in the latter days - referring to Daniel's prophecy again. (Matt. 24:1-22, Dan. 12) Sadly, the temple was destroyed not many years after Christ by the Romans in 70 A.D., and many Jewish people were removed to other lands. Today, Hanukkah can be celebrated with a little more expectation, as we have witnessed the rebirth of the nation of Israel and the continual return of her people. We now await the day the temple will once again be rebuilt and the Temple Mount rededicated to God! (Jer. 33:14-18, Zech. 14:20-21)

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, more teaching is available by clicking on the title of the feast above, and a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha-Shoah) is the day set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust, and was established in 1959 as an official observance in the state of Israel. The Holocaust is a very important event in history to remember, not only because it was the largest most well organized genocide the world has seen, but because it was a direct attempt to wipe from the face of the earth the chosen nation God committed His oracles to. In the Holocaust we clearly see man's desire to dispose of the things of God in this world. While the deeper horrors of the Holocaust were not widely known until after it was over, the general fact thousands upon thousands of Jews were being exterminated, took place in full view of world leaders!

This makes the Holocaust an astonishing event as we see none of the nations of the world acted to stop it. It would only be the truth that much of the world eventually came to a desire to stop the advance of the Nazis regime that the Holocaust would come to an end as a part of the overall collapse of that regime. By then, the lives of over six million Jews, along with many others, had been taken. As believers in The One True God this should be something we are never willing to accept happening to any group of people, much less God's chosen nation. As the world once stood back and did nothing, Holocaust Remembrance Day gives us a time to build determination in our hearts and minds that we will educate future generations about how and why such an event can come about, and literally stand with God's chosen nation in saying, Never Again!

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, more teaching is available by clicking on the title of the feast above, and a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Israel's Independence Day (Yom Ha-Atzma'ut) is the observance of the largest single event prophesied as something that would take place before the return of The Messiah. That event is, of course, the establishment of the modern state of Israel! Israel's Independence Day is also preceded by Yom Hazikaron, which is a memorial day for Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. All this has direct ties to the Holocaust, as in May of 1945, Nazi Germany collapsed, and the death camps which were carrying out the Holocaust ceased to operate, but several hundred thousand Jewish survivors were unable or, for obvious reasons, unwilling to return to what they had considered their home countries.

Still, the world resisted allowing the Jews to return to the land God promised Abraham they were to possess! However, in November of 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to divide what they called "Palestine" into two states, one for the Jewish people and one for the Arabs. Jews would celebrate in the streets, but the Arabs rejected the plan. While the world for the most part stood back and did nothing once again, the Jews fought to defend the land of Israel and its people, both Jewish and Arab, from the neighboring states which attacked them. The Jews won the War for Independence, and on May 14, of 1948, the State of Israel was declared along with unrestricted Jewish immigration into it!

For many centuries, Jews have been persecuted in foreign lands, but now when this kind of persecution takes place, more and more the land of Israel is the destination of choice. God is rebuilding the nation of Israel as the Jews are once again returning to their land in great numbers. This is what makes Israel's Independence Day an exciting event to recognize!

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about this feast can be found on our Subjects Page.

Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) celebrates the reunification of the city of Jerusalem, which took place in 1967. On May 12, 1968, the Israeli government proclaimed the twenty-eighth of Iyar (which is the day June 7 corresponded to on the Jewish calendar in 1967) "Yom Yerushalayim," and on March 23, 1998, a law was passed making it a national holiday in Israel!

Jerusalem is important because as God brought His chosen nation out of Egypt to the promised land, He said He would one day pick a spot in the land to place His name. (Deut. 12:9-14) During the time of David we see God appointing that place, and it would be the city of Salem (Jerusalem), which is adjacent to the mount where God had told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. By the time of King David, this city was still held by Jebusites, but David would take it from them. (II Sam. 5:1-10) By God's direction, David's son Solomon would build a beautiful temple there to replace the tabernacle.

Sadly, the city would not continue to be administered with purity as future kings of the nation would fail to do as they were instructed by God. This would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the city would lay in ruin during the absence of the Israelites. (II Chron. 36:14-21) However, this left the door open for the Jews to rebuild the city and temple as they returned from captivity. Jerusalem and the nation would see many hard days between then and the coming of The Messiah. It would also be in more jeopardy than many realized by the time Jesus came, as not many decades after Jesus left this world the city and temple were again lost in the year 70 A.D. Jews being unwelcome in the city became a reality, and Jerusalem would remain out of their control for many generations after this!

Jerusalem was often fought back and forth over by religious powers through the centuries leading up to the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. This is why Jerusalem was not officially made a part of the section of land designated as being given to the Jews or Arabs according to the UN's partition plan. Instead, Jerusalem was to be designated an international city/area. However, by the end of Israel's war for independence Israel controlled the western half, and Jordan claimed the eastern half as part of their annexing the entire West Bank.

Just about two decades after Israel's independence, Arab states surrounding Israel once again brought war against the nation. As these forces poised for an all-out assault, Israel launched a preemptive attack, and just six days after it had begun, the war known to history as the Six-Day War was over! Israel had defeated three Arab military forces and proved they could defend their interests in the region. However, the most important thing to come of the war was due to Israel's concern over Jerusalem's vulnerability. While Israel had no plans to take any territories controlled by Jordan, it became clear the IDF would have to take control of the Old City of East Jerusalem as attacks on western Jerusalem intensified. On June 7th the IDF accomplished this goal, and the Israeli commander ordered his troops to dig in and hold it.

If any city ever belonged in Jewish hands it was/is Jerusalem, and this is why it has continued to be a major factor throughout Jewish and world history. With the city now reunited under the control of God's chosen nation, we celebrate Jerusalem Day. This day is certainly a day for us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but it is also a particularly good time to stop and consider all that has come to pass concerning what Jesus said would happen before He returns. Israel is a nation once again; the Jews are returning to their land in great numbers every year; and Jerusalem is, once again, in the hands of the Jews!

The book/booklet for this feast is not yet available. However, a list of any other articles that talk about Jerusalem can be found on our Subjects Page.

We know your time is extremely valuable, and that is the very reason we are producing an educational product such as the daily planner. I want to thank all of you just for taking the time to read this information. We appreciate you taking part in this ministry, and pray you will continue to grow daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!