Christmas in Israel, 2012

Christmas in Israel is different in so many ways, mostly because it isn’t different from any other day in Israel.  Few people get the day off,  few people go to any sort of religious service and I don’t think anybody leaves out cookies for or dresses up as Santa.  And although Christmas is almost like every other day in Israel, this Christmas is a day I will never forget.  This Christmas my wife Judith and I met someone truly amazing.

Many Messianics try to live according to the law of Moses.  Most Messianics understand that the law given to Moses is a bit different than the law the Orthodox Rabbis follow today and many Messianics make an attempt to follow the law as they believe God meant it to be.  Some Messianic believers follow Rabbinical traditions where they don't believe it contradicts Torah.  The particular gentlemen I met today, Levi, has made an attempt to study the scriptures and religion is such depth, that his intellectual insights are truly astounding.  I can honestly say that I believe there is no person presently on the face of this earth that comes closer to following the law of Moses, as it was originally given to Moses, than this man Levi does.  Through this man’s insight into God’s laws, I was given insight into God’s grace.  

I understand many Jewish believers struggle to find their identity in Yeshua, just as many non-Jewish believers who find themselves in Messianic congregations, struggle to find their identity as they try to come along side their Jewish brothers.  I was in a unique situation, where I married a Jewish believer from Israel.  Secular Israeli believers do not seem to struggle as much with their Jewish identity as American Jewish believers do.  Secular Israelis have already come to terms with who they are as Jews outside of Rabbinic Judaism.  Still, Judith, upon going to the States, choose to attend a Messianic congregation as it was more comfortable for her than most churches, even though it was a little too traditional for her tastes.  

When I met Judith, I began attending the same congregation with her and I struggled to find my place in this community.  Although I didn’t dive into the scriptures to study the law and torah at that time, I did find myself following many Jewish traditions as I understood them.  Some of my christian friends thought this was problematic while others made their best efforts to understand.  

As Messianic believers, we have both the old covenant and new covenant scriptures. If you have read any of my previous blog posts, you have been privileged to get a small glimpse into the inner workings of my mind as I have tried to reconcile Christianity, Messianic Judaism, grace and law.  Lately, I have been seeing my identity as a Messianic believer the way most Israelis see their identity as Jews apart from Rabbinic law.  Perhaps I am just a product of my environment, distancing myself from Orthodox Rabbinical Judaism as secular Israelis do.  But today I saw a man following the law of Moses to the best of his ability, a man who had argued the law and the scriptures with the Rabbis in this country and has had to deal with a lot of trouble here because of it.  Nobody likes when you prove them wrong, especially a Rabbi who holds their own opinion above God.  Yet, in all his wisdom and intellectual capabilities, Levi still falls short of God’s perfection.    

In Galatians 3:10, Paul wrote:

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

Judith and I choose to keep kosher because we feel called to do so, not because we feel that it makes us any more saved. We do not keep the Jewish holidays to earn our salvation, or to earn God’s love and acceptance.  We are not trying to be more righteous by keeping the Shabbat as we understand it.  If I find that someone unknowingly put bacon in a dish they served me, I do not get upset or drop to my knees asking God’s forgiveness.  I carry on as usual because I know all my sins have been forgiven.  This does not mean I don’t try to live a righteous life, but I don’t “rely on the works of the law” for my salvation.  It’s a concept christianity refers to as grace.  

If there is only one thing you get from this blog, let it be this: You are a child of God.  God loves you. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is no sin you can commit that Yeshua didn't die for. Whether or not you keep kosher, keep the Shabbat or celebrate Jewish holidays, that is between you and God.  Either way, all your sins have already been paid for, he loves you, and accepts you for who you are. You are like the pearl of great value in Matthew 13:46, God has sold everything to purchase you, just as you are. 

Yom Teruah, Rosh HaShanah

The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire.’”
-Leviticus 23:23-25

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing the Jewish Autumn Holy Days. In order to keep these posts from getting too long I am starting with basic information about the holy days. If you feel I left out anything important about Rosh HaShanah (Yom Teruah), please feel free to add more information in the comments section.

The Feasts of Trumpets, Yom Teruah (יום תרועה, day of horn blowing), has come to be the civil New Year in Judaism and is commonly called Rosh HaShanah (ראש השנה, literally head of the year). Yom Teruah is the first day of the month of Tishrei on the Jewish calendar. The religious New Year starts in the month of Nissan in the Modern Jewish calendar. The modern Jewish calendar uses the Babylonian names of months, most likely from the time of exile in Babylon. The biblical name of the first month is Aviv, the Hebrew word for the Spring season. Although first month signifies the beginning of the year, some Rabbinic scholars believe the months are numbered in the Torah according to the Exodus from Egypt. So the first month means the first month in which the Israelites left Egypt. Therefore, Passover is celebrated in the first month.

Scholars have several theories on why there are two New Years in Judaism. The Mishnah actually states there are four New Years in Judaism and I will include an excerpt from MyJewishLearning.com (I have no connection to this website, nor am I making any recommendation pro or con regarding this site) at the bottom of this post for those that are interested. This article is focused on Rosh HaShanah.

One theory is that the Feast of Trumpets fell in line with the agricultural New Year of the region. Evidence for this is given in Exodus 23:16 and 34:22, as it refers to the Feast of Sukkot (סוכות‎  Tabernacles) or The Feast of the Ingathering at “the end of the year” and at “the turn of the year” respectively. Therefore, it is believed this time of year was always considered to be the time when a year changed and Aviv was only called the first month as it was the first month the Israelites left Egypt.  Perhaps the turn of the year was moved from the end of Sukkot  (toward the later half of the month) to the first day of the month, which happened to be Yom Teruah, for the convenience of calendars.

Another theory is that the New Year was changed to the first day of the seventh month when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon. Just as Passover was the First month when they returned from their exile in Egypt, in books of Ezra and Nehemiah we read they returned from their exile in Babylon in the seventh month. Thus there were two New Years to mark the two returns from exile. The Babylonian calendar gave significance to this day as the beginning of the second half of the year.

The only other theory that made any sense to me was that the Israelites may have changed the New Year from the Spring to the Autumn in order to separate themselves from the idolatrous practices of their neighbors.

Biblical References

The two main biblical verses for Yom Teruah are Leviticus 23:23-25 (above) and Number 29:1-6 (below):

“On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.”

The biblical celebration of this holy day is very simple, as stated in Leviticus; On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire.’

Traditional Observances

The New Year celebration in traditional Judaism is a more solemn occasion than typical New Year celebrations in other cultures. A shofar (שופר‎ horn) is blown, unless Rosh HaShanah falls on Shabbat. Rabbinic law forbids blowing a shofar on Shabbat, although there is no direct commandment against it in the bible. According to rabbinic law, a shofar is preferably made from the horn of a ram, although the most common long ones are made from the horn of a kudu (species of antelope). Rabbinic law states any Bovidae animal with a horn is acceptable except for cows.

It is traditional to eat sweet foods such as apples dipped in honey and pomegranates, to symbolize a sweet year. Round challahs are severed to symbolize the circle of a year and in some cultures the head of a fish is served to symbolize the head of the year.

Greetings include, “Shanah Tovah” (שנה טובה), meaning “good year” or “L’Shanah Tovah Tikotevu” (לשנה טובה תכתבו), “to the good year may you [plural] be written [in the book of life]” as well as other more complex Hebrew greetings I have yet to attempt. Although it has become common in Jewish communities in the United States to say “L’Shanah Tovah,” meaning “to good year... ” this phrase is incomplete and sounds even stranger to a Hebrew speaker than its translation may sound to you.

Judgement Day, Days of Awe, Tashlikh

The Talmud refers to Rosh HaShanah as “the day of judgement,” where God will discern between the righteous, the wicked and those in between. The righteous are immediately written into the Book of Life, the wicked are expelled from the Book of Life, and those in between are given the ten days until Yom Kippur, called the “Days of Awe,” to reflect on their year and get right with God. In the greeting above, when you say to someone, “may you be written [in the book of life],” the interpreted meaning is that you want the recipient to be counted among the righteous and be immediately written in the Book of Life.

Tashlikh is a ceremony in Judaism where rocks are cast into a natural body of flowing water to represent the casting off of sin.

As I said, this post is meant to be informative regarding the biblical, cultural and rabbinic background of Rosh HaShanah. In order to keep this post from getting too long, I will save my commentary for a later post.

Excerpt from MyJewishLearning.com on four Jewish new years:

The Mishnah, a compilation of rabbinic discussions that was codified around 200 CE, lists a grand total of four new years in each Jewish year (Tractate Rosh Hashana 1:1). The first is the New Year of Kings at the beginning of Nisan. It was as of this date that the regnal years of Jewish rulers were to be reckoned. In addition, this day also serves as the New Year of Festivals. Hence, many books on the Jewish holidays begin their discussions with Passover, the first festival of the year according to this reckoning. The second is the New Year for the tithing of cattle at the beginning of Elul, the sixth month (although, the Mishnah records, Rabbis Elazar and Simeon date this to the beginning of Tishrei). The third is the civil New Year at the beginning of Tishrei, which eventually also became the religiously observed New Year. This New Year also serves as the New Year of Sabbath and Jubilee years, as well as of planting and of vegetables. The fourth is the New Year of Trees at the beginning of Shevat, the eleventh month, although the tradition of the House of Hillel eventually became predominant, which began this new year on the 15th day of the month and gave us the minor holiday of Tu Bishvat (the fifteenth day of Shevat).

Keeping Kosher?

“The man who eats everything must not look down upon him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does.”  Romans 14:3 (NIV)

The verse above actually deals with those who ate “only vegetables,” most likely a self-inflicted restriction based on Daniel chapter one, where Daniel does not eat of the kings food but only eats vegetables.  Of course, our reading of Daniel, in a Jewish context, tells us that Daniel most likely did not eat of the king’s food because it wasn’t kosher.  Even the meat obtained from kosher animals was most likely not kosher, as these animals were not slaughtered in a way that would have been considered kosher.  So we need to keep in mind that when Paul is talking about the weak in faith, he is referring to people who only eat vegetables, not to those who keep kosher.  

However, the spirit of the verse above remains the same, meaning, let’s not judge one another by the food we eat or chose not to eat.  As a believer in Yeshua living in Israel, I have friends who keep strict kosher diets per the rabbinut with separate utensils for meat and dairy, and friends who will eat bacon cheeseburgers.  Each is living according to what God has or has not put on their heart.

As I wrote last week in my post Why David Loved the Law, the law is meant to show justice, mercy and faithfulness. It is meant to make us holy, separating us from the ways of the other nations and to help us seek the Lord. It is not meant to be a burden to us. If God calls you to separate yourself by keeping kosher, then keep kosher.  If he doesn’t call you to keep kosher, and you see no compelling argument to do so, then don’t. It is between you and God and we must not condemn one another for our decisions.  What follows here is purely for intellectual discussion.

I mentioned last week that Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean animals, even before the law was given to Moses. If there is no difference, why would God make a distinction? Is the distinction for eating or just for making sacrifices? Of course, you may be asking why we are having this discussion?  Didn’t Yeshua declare all foods to be clean in Mark 7?  And if not, surely Peters dream in Acts 10 shows us that we are to eat everything, right?  

First, let’s read Mark 7. I suggest you read the full story from verse 1 to verse 23 to make your own decision.  Here, I’m just going to quote verse 5 (NIV):  So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?” This story is talking about the Pharisees tradition of ritually cleaning their hands, not about the food they were eating. However, if you’ve read the whole story as I suggested, we cannot dismiss what is written in verses 14 to 22, which I will summarize by quoting the NIV translation of verse 15: “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

Much like the story of Hezekiah’s Passover festival last week, Yeshua puts an emphasis on a man’s heart above being ceremonially clean. God healed the participants at the feast whom didn’t make themselves ceremonially clean beforehand, but had set their hearts on seeking God.

In verse 19 (NIV), Mark adds in parentheses; “in saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’” According to the commentary in my NIV Study Bible, Yeshua has declared all food clean at this point in time (just as Mark wrote with those exact words), and references Peter’s dream in Acts 10:9-16, but there are some issues with this “declaration.” I am not a Greek scholar, but David H. Steran writes in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, the original Greek does not include the word “declare” but instead uses a dangling participial clause, reading literally, “cleansing all the foods” (David H. Stern. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1999.) which gives a little more leeway in how it could be interpreted. Some messianic believers argue, if we look at this in a Jewish context, pork and shellfish would not have been considered food, since the Torah prohibited them. Therefore, in this statement Yeshua is only removing the responsibility of having to clean their hands and their food as opposed to making non-kosher food kosher. Additionally, if Yeshua had indeed declared all foods to be clean while with the disciples, why would Peter need a dream to tell him that all foods were clean?  After all, Peter says in Acts10:14, “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” I think Yeshua might have said something to Peter in the three years of his ministry about burdening himself if Yeshua thought there was a problem.

Let’s take a look at Peter’s vision.  Again, I would suggest that you read the entire chapter of Acts 10 so that you know the full context.  For the sake of space, I am only including verses 11-20 that tell us Peter’s dream:

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.  It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.  Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.  They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.  So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Although many people believe this to be a clear indication that we are to eat everything, we see in verse 17, Peter himself is not so clear about the meaning. Then three men come to the door, and the Spirit says to him, do not hesitate to go with them. Why would Peter hesitate to go with them?  Because they wanted to take Peter to Cornelius’ house, an unclean gentile, which was prohibited by Jewish custom. But Peter goes. Why? This is what Peter says to the Gentile crowd gathered at Cornelius’ house in Acts 10:28:

He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”

We see that Peter has determined the meaning of his dream is that he should not call gentiles impure or unclean, because God has called those gentiles clean. So, if Peter interprets his dream this way, why do we interpret it to mean something else?

We can argue that our bodies are Temples, and just as many of us use this argument against smoking, we could apply the same argument to the health benefits of keeping kosher. However, this is exactly what the Pharisees were doing in Mark when they required the washing of hands before eating. They were cleansing their hands just as a priest would cleanse himself before making a sacrifice, and Yeshua spoke against this practice.

Don’t worry if you are unclear as to my position on whether or not we should keep kosher. To be honest, I don’t have all the answers, just more questions. I do not agree with those that say the New Covenant scriptures clearly indicate we are not to keep kosher anymore, for the reasons I noted above. I also do not agree with those that say we all must keep kosher, because of Mark 7:15 and a number of other similar verses.

There are some dietary laws that I believe the New Covenant is clear about. In Acts 15 the Jewish believers write a letter to the non-Jewish believers. Verse 29 (NIV) reads; “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

Abstain from food sacrificed to idols. Not very popular these days.

Avoid blood. That one is pretty clear.

Abstain from the meat of strangled animals. This refers to Exodus 22:31 (NIV); “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.”  Basically, only eat an animal that was killed for the purpose of eating it.

Other than that, you have to make the decision for yourself. Just make sure in deciding for yourself, you do not let your decision cause you to break the most important commands. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV)

Why David Loved the Law

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

- Psalm 19:7-11

When I left off last month I wrote about how Paul viewed the law as a Pharisee. This week I would like to look at how David viewed the law. The Psalms are filled with David’s love for the law and his desire to obey the Lord. But in Acts 15:10 Peter calls the law “a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear.” Did the law change from the time of David to the time of Acts?

Although many Orthodox will tell you it is a joy to follow the law, and I believe for many who do so it can be, but I do not believe that David is talking about the law in the same form that Peter is.

Did you ever play whisper down the lane?  We used to play it in elementary school.  The teacher would line up all the kids in the class.  The first kid would whisper a message to the second kid and the second kid would try to repeat the same message to the third kid.  Then the third to the fourth and so on down the line until we got to the last kid who would then share the message with the class to see how close it was to the original message.  Needless to say, the message always seemed to be completely different from what the original message was.  Who knows how many times it was misunderstood, rephrased or deliberately changed along the way.  

The Rabbis tell us there were two forms of the law.  The written law which Moses wrote down, and the oral law which Moses passed on to the judges.  The Rabbis tell us this law was passed on to the prophets in time of the kings and during the exile.  Upon the return of the Hebrews to Israel it was passed along by the scribes, which started the schools of the Pharisees in order to preserve the law and keep it from being broken so it would never be lost.  After the destruction of the second temple the Rabbis began writing down the oral in the Mishnah.  For more on this you can read my post entitled Judges, Pharisees and Rabbinut.

The point is, I think something happened while passing along the oral law. Something seems to have changed, just like the message changes in whisper down the lane. 

Part I - History

We know sin existed in the world even before Moses, from the time of Adam and Eve. In Genesis chapter 2 we read the first command God gave Adam.  Verses 16 to 17 (NIV) read; “And the Lord God commanded man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’”  In Genesis 3 we read the story of the fall of man, how Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We read in Genesis 3:22 (NIV) that God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.”

In Genesis chapter 4 we read how Cain kills Abel out of jealousy. He knows this is wrong even though Moses had not yet been given the commandments.  In Genesis chapter 6 we read the earth was corrupt and God decides to destroy the people with a flood, sparing only Noah and his family, for “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God (from Genesis 6:9 NIV).” We know that God is fair and just, and would not destroy most of the people on earth if He didn’t feel they should know the difference between right and wrong.

In Genesis Chapter 7:2 (NIV), there is something I find very interesting.  God tells Noah; “Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate.”  Even before the law of Moses, God had distinguished between clean and unclean animals and Noah knew the difference.  God did not need to specify.

If we read the length of time the early people in the bible lived as literal, meaning, Adam actually lived 930 years, and Methuselah actually lived to be 969 (the longest human life recorded in the bible), then Adam would have died 126 years before Noah was born and Adam’s son Seth would have died 14 years before Noah was born.  However, many of Adam’s early descendants would have known both Adam and Noah, such as Adam’s grandson Enosh, Adam’s great-grandson Kenan, Kenan’s son Mahalalel and grandson Jared, and of course Noah’s grandfather Methuselah, who likely died in the flood, and even Noah’s own father Lamech all knew both Adam and Noah.  Although Noah missed out on the first 1,056 years of the world, he knew people who had at least second hand knowledge. Not exactly whisper down the lane, but still the world had been corrupted.  

It seems Noah had at least an occasional conversation with the Creator Himself, although these conversations may have been limited to the flood, the ark and other various preparations involving the destruction of most of the world.  But let’s say in these conversations, God confirmed with Noah what He expected of a righteous man. Noah lived 350 years after the flood and was alive when Abraham was born, but died before Isaac was born.  Shem who lived to be 500, would have lived just long enough to live through God’s judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah, less than 400 years after the flood, although Noah and Shem presumably lived far to the East of Canaan.  

The Israelites lived in Goshen 430 years before the Exodus and it seems that they had heard stories about the God of their forefathers, but their faith was intermittent.  As we saw from Sodom and Gomorrah, 400 years is more than enough time to forget.  400 seconds is usually enough time to forget something in my household.  Within a few months of the plagues in Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea, with enough food and water to satisfy 600,000 men and their families, the Israelites still turned to a golden calf.  Perhaps this is why God decided to have Moses write the law down.    

We are told in 1 Kings 6:1, that Solomon began to build the First Temple 480 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.  According to 2 Samuel 5:4 and 1 Chronicles 29:27, David was 30 years old when he became king and was king over Israel for 40 years.  So David began his reign as king about 436 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt.

After Solomon's reign, which totaled 40 years, the kingdom split into two, Israel and Judah.  Israel had 19 kings after Solomon, and lasted almost 250 years before Hoshea, the last king of Israel, was defeated by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria.  We are told in 2 Kings 17:7-23 that Israel was exiled because of they had turned from the Lord.  

Judah had 19 kings and one queen after Solomon, and lasted close to 400 years before Zedekiah, last king of Judah, was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. In 2 Chronicles 36:11-19 we read how the Lord’s wrath was aroused against his people because they had become unfaithful to him and followed the detestable practices of the nations.

Part 2 - Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’

"You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

- Matthew 23:16-26

When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem 70 years after they were defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, there became a new emphasis in Judaism on following the law of Moses, so that the Lord would not forsake his people again. Scribes, whose school of thought would develop into the Pharisees, began to study the law and the prophets.  But for all their study, they must have missed something, because 590 years after they began constructing the Second Temple, it was destroyed again. Either that, or something happened along the way in passing down the "oral law" just as the message is inevitably changed while playing whisper down the lane. In reading the Matthew 23, I get the sense that Yeshua was disgusted by the way the Pharisees perverted the law and focused on the things that were unimportant, while neglecting the things that were important. As Yeshua put it, cleaning the outside of the cup while neglecting what was on the inside.

Going back to David, we read in 1 Samuel 18 how King Saul becomes jealous of David and he begins to plot to kill him.  In 1 Samuel 20, during the New Moon Festival, Saul is looking for David so that Saul can kill David, but David’s seat is empty. In verse 26 we read that Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely, he is unclean.”  

In contrast, we read in Acts 10 how Cornelius sends men for Peter, and how God gives Peter a vision before the men arrive.  Peter goes to Cornelius’ house and finds a large gathering of people there. In verses 28-29, Peter says to them, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection.”

The Pharisees taught that being unclean was forbidden. You could not do anything that would make you unclean. Yet, when Saul sees that David hasn’t shown up for the New Moon festival, Saul thinks David has done something to make himself unclean, then thinks no more of it. Saul is jealous of David, who he sees as his political rival. Right now, America is in the middle of a presidential election. Do you think if either one of the candidates thought the other might have done something that was seen as “forbidden” in our society, that they would just casually dismiss it and think nothing of it. Yet, this is what Saul does.

In 2 Chronicles chapters 29 to 32 we read about the reign of King Hezekiah.  2 Chronicles 29:2 reads; “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.” Hezekiah ruled after King Ahaz, who had shut the doors of the temple and set up altars on every street corner.  In the first month of Hezekiah’s reign, he reopened the Temple doors, told the priests to consecrate themselves and remove the defilement from the sanctuary. He presented sin offerings to atone for all Israel.

In Chapter 30 Hezekiah invited all of Israel to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel.  We are told a very large crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem and that there was great joy, for there had not been anything like it since the days of Solomon. In 2 Chronicles 30:18-20 we read; “Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.’

Hezekiah was king. He could have forced these people who were unclean to purify themselves or to leave, yet he understood what was more important, that these people who had not known the ways of the Lord had set their hearts on seeking God. And God healed them.

That’s the law that David loved. A law that looks at a man's heart before it looks at his appearance. A law with justice, mercy and faithfulness.

Coming to faith - The story of an Orthodox Jew

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Romans 10:1-3 (NIV)

Earlier this week, my wife and I were reading the testimony of an Orthodox Jew who came to faith.  Or to be more correct, my wife was translating a testimony for me while I stared blankly at the computer screen.  I have included an English Translation of the testimony below and the link to the original testimony is here:

מי אתה?

As I was reading this testimony, I felt this man gave a clear example of how Jewish people view Christianity.  Christianity is a serious threat to Rabbinic Judaism.  Yeshua spoke against the teachings of the Pharisees, which are the same teachings the Rabbis teach today.

The Rabbis teach Jews about the antiemetic Church.  They teach them all the things the church did in the name of Jesus, in the name of the cross.  They teach how the New Covenant scriptures are the poison that teaches Christians to hate Jews and forbid them from reading them.  If you have time, here is a great article from the Jerusalem Post about how the New Covenant Scriptures were sent to all the members of the Knesset:

Missionaries in the Knesset?

Recently, I have been sharing with you a lot of information about the history between Christians and Jews.  I am not sharing it to make Christians feel guilty, but so that you can understand what is being taught to religious Jews.  I am trying to help you see the Jewish roots in the scriptures, not to change how you live, but so that you can show Jewish people their Messiah in the scriptures written by their people.  Perspective makes all the difference in the world. 

Here is the testimony: 
 

Who are you?
(posted with permission from http://www.oneforisrael.org/)

My name is Yaron. I have been married for 11 years with 3 children. I was born into a religious family; "knitted skullcaps [kippot, yarmulkes or yamakas]", but religion did not fit me at a young age.  I remember myself as a child in primary school, muttering prayers without any conviction.  When I muttered them, too often I never really said them, but it was enough to convey the appropriate amount of devotion to please the teachers.

At that time I knew only the less beautiful portrayals of God and religion. I grew up learning more about the vengeful and punitive, and less about the "merciful God." There was a lot of hypocrisy around me which was very disturbing.  The term "appearance" (it is forbidden to do certain actions which in themselves are not sin, but appear as if they sin, while other actions that are sinful are allowed) was for me the embodiment of the established religious hypocrisy.  It bothered me that there was too much irrelevance in many of the mitzvot, such as: What is the connection between the prohibition of work on Saturday and electrical lighting?  You drag yourself up and down four flights of stairs instead of using the elevator.

Another issue that bothered me was the prayers in the synagogue. How are you going to talk with God and mean every word I say, if half of what I'm saying I do not understand, and the other half I'm not fast enough to complete because the Cantor is in such a hurry to go home.  I'm still on the "Shema" and he has already finished the "Eighteen [Blessings]."

I mustered the courage at age 17 or so, and I confessed to my father that I did not want to have his religious life.  I also left the yeshiva to go to a secular school. My father took it hard and wouldn't talk to me for a year and a half, from twelfth grade, until joining the Army and not much after that. My mom did not take it as hard as my father and she continued to speak with me.  The only thing my father would say to me was "the food is ready,” and other basic things, but he never talked to me.  It was a period of lawlessness for me.  I would go to a restaurant specifically to eat pork and other unclean food.

The turnaround happened at the end of the basic training.  After the induction ceremony, my father approached me and asked to make an agreement.  He said, in light of the situation, that he understands that I am an adult, so he gets my decision regarding the secular life. The agreement was simple: "As long as you are at home - you obey the custom of the house; you wear a skullcap on your head, you do not turn the light on during the Sabbath and you eat only kosher food at home.  Out of the house, you do what you want."  After this we became best friends and the agreement lasted until I was 25 years old, until my wedding.

Genesis 2:24 reads, "… so he left his father and mother, to cleave to his wife, and they become one flesh."  This made me the head of a family and as such I received the authority to act as an "adult."  But the truth is, in the last decade I felt this lack of faith and spirituality.  I looked for it in the arts and all sorts of Eastern religions – New Age.  I even returned to the religion of my father (for real this time) for a few months in late 2008.  I had a great feeling of safety under God and felt His warmth, but again those things from my childhood bothered me.  The Cantor in the synagogue again hurried through the prayers and I quickly looked around and wondered how all the other men thought they could "really talk to God” in their prayers.

It's like what is important to God is to "check off" this morning’s prayers, not whether you prayed from the depths of your soul or had a deep talk with God.  I'm sure I am aggravating an entire religious community who do pray with sincerity, but I can only speak from my own 30 years of experience.

I first learned about Jesus, almost against my will, during my undergraduate studies.  I am studying for a BA in history.  About six months ago I took a course on the "History of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages."  By the way, this is a dark time period, in religious terms, for Orthodox Judaism.  But the point is, the first thing I had to do was read the New Testament, since you can’t learn about the Catholic Church without knowing the basic concepts of New Testament Christianity.  Lo and behold, my ignorance was lifted, I learned, to my great surprise, that the New Testament was written by the Jewish disciples, about a Jew named Jesus and the events that happened in the Jewish community in Israel.

I must here stop a moment and interrupt my train of thought, to admire the elaborate mechanism of self-preservation that has been instilled in us by the rabbinic tradition for over 2000 years.  Rabbis have no problem reading the Koran, but the New Testament is an abomination.  It is a book we should not touch, let alone read.  It is taboo in the religious community, and rightly so.  “Do not read the New Testament!  This book is dangerous!  You may find the knowledge (you may insert your religious faith here) doesn’t want you to know!”  Who knows, maybe the people will start to believe that the rabbis hid their obvious concerns from you, that the Messiah has already arrived, and no one bothered to tell you.

I realized that Jesus preached right up against all the things that had troubled me about religion from when I was a teenager.  “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:1-2

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:16

I still hide my faith underground, leading a double life.  My wife does not know about my faith (although at any given moment there is at least one "new covenant" book in every room in the house, and a lot of Christian literature on the tables.)  I’m not going to bring up the conversation and tell her: "You see, I wanted to tell you that ...", I'm waiting for a question, for the door to open for me to tell her.  At least one of my brothers already knows, but it really does not interest him.  It would be difficult for my parents.

I have had lots and theological debates with my dad recently.  He even agrees with me that there are things that do not make sense (like not being able to use an elevator on Shabbat) but he said he was already used to living like that and he’s not going to change.  My grandmother also told me this, but they do not know that my opinion was not merely secular, but came from somewhere else – from something better.  The guys at work know and it does not bother them.

Jesus sacrificed himself for me, and for you.  He took my sins (which are many) and now, I am saved.  I believe as he taught us.  It's not easy.  Jesus sets before us a much higher standard than that set by the rabbis for themselves.  But this is a subject for another time.