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Do you have a love language? If I were asked about mine, the answer would not be found among the five promoted by Gary Chapman (e.g., affirmation, quality time, physical touch, etc.). No offense to Mr. Chapman, but my true love language is Hebrew because this precious dialect has strengthened my relationship with God through a deeper understanding of His Word.

That’s not to say that relationships with people are not important; they most certainly are. Yet, relationships should not supersede the one with the Father, His Son, and Spirit. I have not lived that commandment out well, so I thank God for His grace and patience during, what seems to be, my turtle-paced sanctification (aka, transformation in becoming more like Christ).  Scripture teaches us that commitment to God as the highest priority often leads to blessings in other areas of our lives (Proverbs 3:9-10; Matthew 6:33).

I also don’t want to imply that the only way to strengthen our relationship with God is by understanding Hebrew. Mercy no. If that were the case, I’m in a gully-washer of trouble. Despite studying and taking Hebrew lessons, I know very little and have already forgotten much of what was learned. There is just something about the Hebrew language that strums the heartstrings.

Saying ‘shalom’, ‘Adonai’, ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Yeshua’ is like an exchange with heaven because God first spoke to His people in Hebrew. Perhaps part of the draw is the resurrection aspect. For nearly 2,000 years, Hebrew was a dead language following the dispersion of the Jewish people by the Assyrians (722 BC), Babylonians (586 BC) and Romans (70 AD), among others.  The revival of this extinct language in the 19^th and 20^th centuries resulted in a change of its use from the sacred language of Judaism to a spoken and written language for daily use. Now, it is the official language of the State of Israel and the primary language of over 9 million people.  That is extraordinary.

Original Hebrew was extremely compact because it was expensive to produce (i.e., kosher animal skins, special ink, scribes, etc.) so it was communicated in as few words as possible using root words with conjugated prefixes and suffixes. Can you hear School House Rock’s “Conjunction, junction, what’s your function” in the background?

Because words cannot be added to, or taken away from Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19), scribes placed markings under and above Hebrew letters, acting as vowels to guide pronunciation. Modern and Classical Hebrew have 22 letters, but the modern has a significantly larger vocabulary, attributed to the work of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the Father of Modern Hebrew. Eliezer made words for things that had no name in Hebrew. In fact, his life’s work (some say obsession) culminated in a 17-volume dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew.  Oh, and another cool thing, Hebrew is read from right to left.  Yep, you got it, from right to left.

Of all the fascinating facts we could discuss about the Hebrew language, it is the potential for deepening of faith where I’d like to dwell. Bushels of low-hanging succulent fruit can be gathered from even the smallest of glimpses into the original Biblical context. The language, culture, historical, geographical, and other contextual references are essential to its understanding. Most importantly, whether you know a lick of Hebrew or not, the Holy Spirit will reward your discipline and perseverance in the Word with understanding. That is a tested truth.

We are all students of the Bible and as students, we know the best place to start any subject is “In the beginning.” In a moment, we will row the boat back to the shore of Genesis 1:1, to share, what was for me, a faith-shaping lesson on the Bible’s first verse. I learned this from an amazing woman who was my Hebrew teacher and friend but needs to remain anonymous to protect her ministry in the Jewish mission field. This lesson, which will take two blog posts to tackle, not only reformed the way I approach God’s Word, but it also changed how I pick up and place down my Bible (with reverence to the Holy One, often with a kiss).  You’ve likely heard the saying that “BIBLE” stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  At its most elemental level, that is true. But the depth, sophistication and wisdom manifested by God in His inspired Word is anything but basic. Saddle up…here we go.

Some fundamentals about the Hebrew Bible (also called the Tanakh) will be helpful here. The word “TANAKH” is an acronym for Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim (TNK), which are its three main sections. The image below shows each section, its meaning, and the books contained within. Though the content is the same as the Old Testament, the order of the books in the Tanakh differ and are named by the first significant word of each book. Going back to the banks of Genesis, its name in the Tanakh is “Bereshit” (pronounced be-re-SHIYT) which means “In the Beginning.” Genesis comes from the translations to Latin, to Greek, to English.

Now a few tidbits about the Hebrew alphabet. The first letter is Aleph, and the second letter is Bet, which connects as Aleph-Bet…what we know as Alphabet. The last of the 22 letters in the Hebrew Aleph-Bet is Tav. Logic would dictate that the first letter God would use in His Word would be Aleph, right? That falls in line with ‘Alpha and Omega’ (Greek), ‘Aleph and Tav’ (Hebrew), or in English, ‘First and Last.’ Despite what may seem logical to us, the first letter of Genesis 1:1 is Bet, the 2^nd letter of the Aleph-Bet. God’s ways are always better and I’m excited to share an example of why.

Since Hebrew is read from right to left, each letter must be viewed that way as well. Check this out. Look at the 2^nd letter ‘Bet’, paying careful attention to its shape.  The back (right side) is closed, and the front (left side) is open as if pointing us forward. Past the ’bet’, meaning trying to go before it, before creation, is forbidden to us.  We cannot look past the beginning or look to eternity past because our limited minds would likely implode. We are finite beings and part of God’s creation which is to the left of eternity past, where God alone exists.  We are not to look ‘from everlasting,’ so ‘bet’ is the very first letter, forcing Hebrew readers to look from creation on.  Wow!

Digging just a bit deeper, the first 3 letters of the word ‘bereshit’ are ‘bet, resh, aleph’ and they combine to make the root word ‘Bara’ which means ‘to create.’ Not make. Create. Meaning, to bring into existence that which did not exist before, as only God can do. That is why the verb bereshit is paired with the subject, Elohim (God). In the beginning God created! The root word ‘bara’ is not paired with any other subject in the entire Hebrew Bible, because only Elohim can create what did not exist (although prideful people think they can).  All this from one letter, one word, in the Word. God is magnificent!

In the second part of this two-part series, we will unpack the rest of Genesis 1:1, looking at what God created and what that says about His nature. This learning was a little daunting for me the first time through. If you can commit the time to read through it a few more times, I pray that you will be blessed by the power, the presence, and the wisdom of Almighty God.  The Lord willing, we will wrap this up next week.  To Him be the Glory.

The Bible says a good name is better than riches (Proverbs 22:1) and precious ointment (Ecclesiastes 7:1). While this could be alluding to one’s reputation, there is also great importance in a name. Biblical names are packed full of symbolism with different meanings. Some examples are provided in the table below.

Symbolism	Name	Meaning	Scripture
Origin	Adam	Ground	Genesis 2:7
Purpose	Abraham	Father of many	Genesis 17:5
Characteristic	Isaac	Laughter	Genesis 21:1-7
Circumstance	Israel	Wrestles with God	Genesis 32:28
Honoring of God	Jonathan	Gift from God	1 Samuel 18:3-4

Depending on the Bible version, the name ‘Jesus’ is found in the New Testament between 983 (KJV) and 1273 (NIV) times. This is second only to the number of times “God” is used.  We know that there is power in His name but how well do we understand that the meaning of His name describes that power? Knowing the significance of the name provided by an angel to Joseph in a dream helps us to comprehend the authority of the One named (Matthew 1:20-24). We’ll get to that shortly .

Isn’t it fascinating that the name of Jesus is spoken by believers and nonbelievers alike?  Followers of Jesus speak His name in faith and conviction.  For both the lost and saved, His name is frequently used in vain. Taking His name in vain is taking God’s name in vain which is strictly forbidden (Third Commandment; Exodus 20:7) and a sin I confess to have committed. I looked up the various definitions of “vain” and it means ‘empty, idle, insincere, frivolous or lacking substance.’ These couldn’t be further from the truth of who Jesus is and how we should honor His name.

There is something so powerful in His name that even those among us who are spiritually dead as well as demons (Luke 8:26-28; ) call it out, albeit usually with blasphemous intent. Taking the Lord’s name in vain can occur in ways other than the strict definition of ‘empty or frivolous.’ Profanity is the form we are most familiar with. Profanities against God and Jesus are rampant in Hollywood productions. Yet, I’ve never heard the names of Allah, Brahman, or Buddha used in vain in movies or other forms of entertainment.  That certainly cannot be out of reverence, fear, or even respect. I believe it is because they are no threat to Satan since they are false deities. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God and is hated by the evil one with such vehemence that blasphemies of the Holy Trinity are commonplace. Whether intentional as part of regular conversation, used to punctuate a point, or by slip of tongue in a fit of anger, Exodus 20:7 conveys that “the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”  The power of the name of Jesus draws us to Him in love and obedience. There is also the unholy temptation to misuse it.

The Lord’s name can also be mistreated when making commitments (e.g., I swear to God). The Bible says that our word should be enough so let our ‘yes be yes’ and our ‘no be no’ (Matthew 5:37; James 5:12).  Furthermore, it seems that hypocrisy should be right up there with the other forms of misusing God’s name. As a follower of Christ, saying one thing and then doing another is an affront to God (see Luke 6:46; Romans 7:15-20; James 4:17).  As we read through the Holy Scriptures, praise God that they are filled with guidance and instructions for holy living.  Doubters that His Word is alive and active would be advised to prayerfully meditate on the powerful words of Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

A few of the many reasons people say the name ‘Jesus’ have been addressed, yet I can’t help but wonder what visually comes to mind when His name is used. There were no paintings or statues of Jesus that were made during His lifetime. Since then, however, the number of statues and paintings of the Lord are too many to count, in fact, He is the most painted figure in all Western art. Representations of Jesus are more about symbolism and meaning, rather than historical accuracy and likely are not accurate at all. So in my pondering (because I like to ponder), will Jesus look like the Suffering Servant described by the Prophet Isaiah – “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2)? Or will His appearance be that as described in the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:14-16), given to John on Patmos (e.g., white hair like wool or snow, eyes like a flame of fire, feet like brass as if refined in a furnace, countenance like the shining sun)?

Is it folly to give time and weight to such considerations? Given that we are often driven by our senses and emotions, it is understandable. Yet, the disciples who walked with the Lord during His earthly ministry (some of whom wrote books about Him) never provided any visual description of Jesus. Was this because graven images were forbidden (Exodus 20:4-6) or that we would likely focus too much on outside appearance (1 Samuel 16:7)? Conceivably, the message and the heart of Jesus, rather than His appearance, is where we ought to set our sights. Persuaded by this, let’s not dwell on speculation of His physical attributes, but rather redirect to the power of His name, which in turn, should compel us to humbly submit to His authority.

It may seem we traveled from Tennessee to Florida by way of Texas, so thank you for your patience. We have just one more little side trip to make before we get to the theme of this post…unpacking the name of Jesus.  Familiarity with the terms translation and transliteration will help in understanding changes from Hebrew to Greek and so on.  A translation conveys meaning, whereas a transliteration is a letter-to-letter switch (meaning that letters in one language are swapped for letters in another language that make the same or similar sounds). Keep these in mind as you read on.

OK…we are here at last. The name “Jesus” was a relatively common Jewish name through the beginning of the second century AD. When we read “Jesus of Nazareth” that is likely to distinguish Him from others with the same name. However, it would have been Yeshua in Hebrew which is a contracted (shortened) form of Yehoshua/Jehoshua. It is the same name as “Joshua.” Let that sink in for a minute and we’ll come back to it, but before we do, we are going to follow the ‘Name above all names’ (Philippians 2:9) to its current English version.

Yeshua (Hebrew) translated into Greek is Iesous which is Jesu in the Latin transliteration.  Finally, Jesu in the English transliteration, became Jesus.  To understand the meaning of the name “Jesus” we cannot look to the current English version; we must go back to its Hebrew origin, which brings us back to Joshua. Remember, that Yeshua (Yehoshua) is also Jehoshua or Joshua. It is believed that the name Joshua was never used in reference to Jesus in Bible translations to avoid confusion with Joshua of the Old Testament. 

The name Jesus or Joshua derives from its Hebrew roots meaning “the Lord is salvation or “Yahweh saves.”  Like Joshua from the Old Testament (who was a foreshadowing of our Lord), Jesus delivered His people from their bondage. But unlike the Joshua who led the Israelites into the promised land, Jesus offers salvation for all people, reconciling them to God and life eternal for those who call upon His name (Romans 10:13). Jesus shoulders this name not merely as an instrument of God’s saving grace. He embodied this salvation in His own person as Immanuel, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23).

Names have the power to communicate something significant. The name “Jesus/Yeshua” was given by the angel to Mary and Joseph because “He shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He wasn’t just another Joshua, He was the true Joshua who fulfilled the meaning of the name as no one else could. His name saves: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:.” (John 1:12).  We, who receive Jesus, are associated with His name and therefore with His person, deity, and work. We are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).  My hope is for us to prayerfully ask the Father to convert this knowledge into wisdom (James 1:5 & 3:7) so we can live our lives in a way that glorifies His name far above every other name (John 17:24). Amen? Amen!

“Authentic” was the theme of the recent April 2023 Women of Joy conference in Pigeon Forge, TN. Attendees were encouraged to be genuine women of God, living authentically through conduct and interaction with others… in other words, to “Shine our light” (Matthew 5:16).  To be authentic requires confidence and faith in God’s Word and the promises contained within. This means unshakeable belief in every verse, from Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning…” through to Revelation 22:21 – “The grace of our Lord…Amen.” A literal interpretation of the Bible indicates that it is understood by its “plain meaning” through its grammatical construction and historical context. Those who align with this hermeneutics (interpretation) approach are in good company.    

The inspired words of David, psalmist, and king, cry out the veracity and resiliency of the Word of God:

The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever (Psalm 12:6-7).

David sets a beautiful example for us. He knew that all creation is from the Lord, is the Lord’s, and exists to praise the Lord. How much more should we, the pinnacle of creation made in God’s image, worship and exalt His glory?  Satan wants that glory for himself and uses people, nations, wars and more subtle tactics, like pride, to stifle the truth. The prideful, viperous brood of Pharisees, threatened by the authority of Jesus, tried to stop the people from worshipping Him. When Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem to shouts of ‘hosanna’ on Palm Sunday, the Pharisees wanted Him to rebuke His followers. What a powerful response Jesus provided: 

“I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:40)

Jesus and His servant Paul have much to say about what defiles a person (see Mark 7:14-23; 2 Timothy 3:2-5).  The corruption and sinful pride of the Pharisees resulted in Jesus calling them sons of the Devil (John 8:44). Two millennia later, pride is still centerstage. The prideful desire to lord over our selves suppresses truth. What we are seeing today is precisely described by Paul in Romans chapter one. Godlessness abounds with perversion of, and rebellion against, all that God designed to be good. Pride deceives because it emanates from the Enemy of our souls whose natural language is that of lies and deception. Despite the powers and principalities best efforts to do so, praise God Almighty that the truth cannot be silenced. 

From the beginning of time to the resurrection of the crucified Messiah, to our current time and for all time, God’s sovereignty abounds.  History demonstrates that attempts to quell the truth result in its miraculous proliferation.  The Father’s perfect will and timing has allowed archeological discoveries, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hezekiah’s tunnel, a small golden bell from the hem of a temple priest, and countless others, to verify to the world the accuracy of His Word. The stones have indeed been crying out and there is no doubt that they have much more to declare.

Research on the Bible undeniably supports King David’s proclamations provided earlier from Psalm 12. The Institute for Creation Research supports that there is more evidence for the Bible’s authenticity (both Old and New Testaments) than there is for any other literature from ancient times. The earliest textual evidence of the New Testament was copied not long after the original. Astonishingly, other writings from antiquity (e.g., Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Aristotle’s Poetics, etc.) were copied 1000 years or more after the original.   

Scribes of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, (aka, the Old Testament) undertake a rigorously meticulous process to ensure there are no errors when producing copies of the text. In fact, the word ‘scribe’ in Hebrew is sofer, which means ‘to count.’ This is fitting given that every character is counted. If the count is off, then that manuscript is not considered to be a kosher copy and it is destroyed.  The Tanakh contains 79,847 words breaking down to 304,805 characters.  That takes accuracy to a whole new level!

When compared to manuscripts of other religions, the Bible is unmatched in its accuracy and legitimacy. The compilation of all 66 books results in perfect harmony in the message they convey.  What an extraordinary outcome given that there were 40 different authors over the course of 1,500 years. Such unity can only occur through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In comparison, the inspiration for Islam’s scripture, the Quran, came through one man (Muhammad) who could not read or write. He claimed the inspirations were given to him by the angel Gabriel.  The words were committed to memory by early Muslims and later recorded well after Muhammad’s death in 632 AD. Interesting that these teachings occurred approximately 600 years after the first advent of Jesus.  Also interesting, Jesus is mentioned many more times in the Quran than Muhammad. This is just one of many examples of how Satan copies and perverts the truth.

The New Testament, written in the first century AD has an estimated 25,000 early manuscripts (about 6000 of which contained only fragments). It is absolutely astounding that archeological explorations have produced over 24,000 manuscript copies or portions of the New Testament that still exist today. There are only two ancient partial copies of the Quran in existence, dated to be no earlier than 200 years after Muhammad died. One of the two copies has never been permitted to be studied and there are no released photographs, whereas the manuscripts of the Bible have been extensively researched and scrutinized.

Archeological evidence thunders the historicity and authenticity of the Bible. The rocks have indeed cried out, but the follower of Jesus Christ need only to search his or her heart to have confidence in the inerrant Word of God.  The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit fills us with truth, compelling us to read, study and memorize Scripture, while also sharing it with others. While at my first Women of Joy conference in 2010, one of the speakers strongly convicted my heart. Despite sitting towards the back of the large conference hall, she seemed to be looking right at me as she exhorted that God gives His best to us every day, all the time, without falter, without fail. He does not sleep; He does not slumber; He is always there for us.  Then she asked, “What do you do in return?”  More particularly she asked how we spend our ‘peak time’ of the day? Then the final blow came when she asked if our peak time was devoted to God?  Ouch!

My peak time has always been early mornings, trying to get things done around the house before going to work.  My husband often joked that I build barns and vacuum, all before 7:00 am.  Not anymore. From that pivotal day on, I placed my most productive time of the day on the altar, offering it to the Lord and asking for guidance in using that time to glorify Him. For 13 years now, my peak time is ‘Jesus time’ and it has changed my life in more ways than I can relate.

Jesus is the only truth and will fill the void in your heart like nothing else can.  So, I’ll ask the same of you as that speaker did of me over a decade ago: Will you devote your peak time, your ‘go’ time of the day to God?   Prayer and spending time in truths of the Bible is intimate time with ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6), our Messiah Jesus. The Spirit and the stones cry out that Jesus is unequivocally authentic. We can believe in Him and His Word without reservation. And as we do, take to heart the wise words of Mary spoken about Jesus to the servants at the wedding in Cana when the wine ran dry, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)  

In His love and mine.

Welcome to the inaugural post of a blog, titled “Romans 838,” and thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read it. Can you share it? If you are led to do so, then absolutely. This will be written with women in mind, but if it benefits others, then praise God.

I have been praying for this for a couple of years now. Hesitancy from past experiences (to be explained later in this post) prevented any action. It was not clear if starting a blog was a seed planted from God, from me, or heaven forbid, the tempter.  Discernment is like trying to catch a greased piglet. You think you have it…then you don’t, but eventually you finally get it.

Here is a little pearl I like to call the “It Principle” adapted from Gamaliel’s advice in Acts 5:39: If it, whatever ‘it’ is, is from God, ask Him to keep it before you; if it is from elsewhere, ask God to remove it, and He will, in His perfect and sovereign timing.

I’ve been privileged to study and learn about the Jewish roots of our Christian faith which has been a tremendous blessing, strengthening both faith and understanding. Our Messiah Jesus, Yeshua Hamashiach in Hebrew, is the Jewish Messiah, but man’s traditions have stripped that away over time. This is a byproduct of how much our Enemy hates what God loves.

Context changes everything. It is my prayer that context, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will lead you to fall even more deeply in love with Jesus then you already are. So I hope to share some of these teachings and maybe throw in a little Hebrew along the way. After all, it’s fun to use words with crazy pronunciations like “l’chaim” which means “to life.” We say “cheers”, our Jewish friends say “l’chaim” (using a strong guttural “hkeh” sound, as if bringing up a hairball). Their method of toasting is way better. 😊

Ok…getting back on track. Spending the weekend with Jesus and ten amazing, godly, and inspiring Women of Joy (WOJ) plus another 9,700+…resulted in a Monday morning with renewed vigor. Romans chapter 8 was part of our church’s recommended reading for the day. The last two verses of Romans 8 contain an unhidden treasure that shouts to be discovered, repeated, embraced, and lived out. Paul places a hard-core truth at this specific point in his letter like the crescendo of a great musical composition. It also marks the beginning of a big set of parenthesis for the next part of the letter (chapters 9-11) which exhorts that God has not abandoned the natural branches of the olive tree, the Jewish people, in favor of the Church. To the contrary, we are unnatural branches grafted in so how much more will the natural branches be grafted back in when they accept Jesus as their Messiah? We will explore this more in depth later on down the road.

While trying to commit these verses to memory on Monday morning, the name for this blog seemed to jump off the page and the truth that this promise proclaims gripped my heart. So it is time to step out in faith. What the Lord does with these writings is up to Him and regardless of the outcome, it cannot separate me from His love. Let that sink in sweet sisters. You are sealed and deeply loved, always and forever.  Love for you led our Messiah to the cross – loving hands placed His lifeless body in the tomb – and a Father’s love raised Him from the dead!  Amen and Hallelujah!  What the world tells you is irrelevant. “Too much of this, not enough of that.” Take these lies out with the trash girlfriend because here is the truth: The Father’s love through Christ Jesus is unshakeable.  I pray you are convinced of this amazing grace with comforting certainty. While you are taking the worldly trash out… take this scriptural truth to the bank! This is a heavenly investment with an unmatchable return.

So about that ‘past experiences’ thing. I must confess that I took something that was good and allowed it to become a sin. Some of you are familiar with a season of writing I experienced a handful of years ago.  I look back at that time in amazement, convinced (there’s that word again) that many of the words were not possible from my confuddled brain alone.  The writings and responses to them, sadly, superseded the One who the writings were about. What a brake-slammer of a revelation that was and it brought it all to a screeching halt. Writing could be an idol?  Yep, and as much as I enjoyed it, it had to be stripped away. The inspirations, the fountain of words altogether stopped and I mourned them like a dearly lost friend (aka, depression). And as some of you also know, life in the Colston household during this time and since has been a roller coaster ride in a hurricane. 

Thankfully, we have a patient and loving God who shapes and refines us for His (not our own) purpose. What I knew cerebrally has been unpackaged spiritually: the foundation for service must be love – for He loved us first. God’s love for us can never be earned and certainly is not deserved, but we are loved, nonetheless. We serve out of our love for Him, not because of what we will get out of it, not because of who will see it, but because obedience and submission to His Word, to “The Word,” is part of the fellowship God desires. Words are powerful and, like acts, if wielded through obedience to God’s will, can do great good. Simultaneously, hear the resounding gong of Paul’s inspired words (and I am paraphrasing here) that if what we do is not out of love, then what good can come from it? Lord willing, the posts will be once a week. I ask in the powerful name of Yeshua that this blog glorifies Him, encourages you, and continues to weave our hearts together as we run our race as dearly beloved daughters of the King.

Before signing off, here is a question to ponder:  When reading Romans 8:38-39, Are-YOU-convinced?  Sing a hallelujah if yes. If uncertain, repeat it until you memorize it and then repeat it some more until it grips and persuades your heart. When that happens, we will sing a hallelujah together! Until next time…Shalom.