Things I became aware of while preparing for Passover 2010.

1. Behind the command to love the LORD GOD with all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my being, is the to keep and perform Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
   
2. The first example of becoming a Israelite(conversion) is in Exodus in the Commandments(Laws) regarding keeping the Passover Feast.
   
   
   
   1. The Law:
      
      
      
      1. (Genesis 17:10) This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. (17:11) And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.(King James Version) ;; (Genesis 17:10) Such shall be the covenant between ME and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.(17:11) You shall circumcise the flesh of the foreskin, and that shall be of the covenant between ME and YOU.(Jewish Publication Society 1999)
         
      2. (Exodus 12:43) And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: (12:44) But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.(KJV);;(Exodus 12:43)The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the LAW of the Passover offering: No Foreigner shall eat of it.(44) But any slave a man has bought may eat of it once he has been circumcised.(Jewish Publication Society 1999).
         
      3. (Exodus 12:48) If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the Passover to the LORD, all his males must be circumcised, then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall be a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. (KJV);;(Exodus 12:48) If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the Passover to the LORD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.(JPS 1999)
         
      4. (Exodus 12:49) There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.(KJV);;(Exodus 12:49) There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.(JPS 1999)
         
   2. I read this as a conversion process going back to Abraham and the making of the Covenant.
      
3. In the Commandments given prior to the Exodus, regarding Passover, is the Bind upon the Hand, and a symbol between the eyes.
   
   
   
   1. This understanding takes more explanation, and a couple of questions.
      
      
      
      1. The Law:
         
         
         
         1. (Exodus 13:9) And this shall server you as assign upon your hand and reminder on your forehead(between your eyes), in order that the Teaching of the LORD may be in your mouth --: that with a mighty hand the LORD freed you from Egypt. (KJV);;(Exodus 13:9) And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead –in order that the TEACHING of the LORD may be in your mouth –that with a mighty had the LORD freed you from Egypt. (JPS 1999)
            
         2. (Exodus 13:16) And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.(KJV);;(Exodus 13:16) And it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty hand the LORD freed us from Egypt.(JPS 1999)
            
         3. (Deuteronomy 6:8) And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.(KJV);;(Deuteronomy 6:8)Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on you forehead(between your eyes-JPS note d)(JPS 1999)
            
      2. What I have come to know about this is: Between your eyes is to KNOW or REMEMBER, Up on your hand is that this must control what you do, perform, act upon. (Isaiah 56) 2:Happy is the man who does this, the man who holds fast to it:Who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it. And stays his hand from doing evil.(JPS 1999) I will use the KJV now because I have it in digital form and I must Observe Passover very soon. (Isaiah 56:6) Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; (7)Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.(8)(Isaiah 56:8) The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. (KJV)
         

Shalom Shalom,
Yom Paesach
Yaakov