Listen to audio files of Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's
powerful message about G-d warning signs at Ground Zero in NYC:
In seven files of about 10 minutes or 4MB mp3 files each:
1st mp3 audio file, 2nd mp3 audio file, 3rd mp3 audio file,
4th mp3 audio file, 5th mp3 audio file, 6th mp3 audio file, 7th mp3 audio file
(Rabbi Blank's notes on this and other talks are below)
Rabbi Blank's notes on selected morning sessions
Mark Greenberg, Historic revivals and what we can learn from them
We’re going to talk about what revival is, revival in Tanakh, then in Gentile body.
Webster’s definitions:
1) return or recall or recovery to life from death or apparent death
2) return or recall from a state of languor as a revival of spirits
• Revival brings kadosh, a holy shock to apathy or carelessness
3) return or recall from a state of neglect
• Revival recalls what was forgotten, associated with reformation of doctrine and preaching
4) renewed and more serious act of attention to God.
• Revival accomplishes what no man could do in his own strength; it creates spiritual momentum
5) Renewing in mind, to , quicken, comfort, refresh with joy
In Acts 2, people heard Galileans praising God in their own language, then Shimon Kefa preached to them from Joel.
Acts 10:40. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.”
• Revival is God interrupting our lives, with a shock, to bring us alive.
• Revival may shake a group of person, a congregation, a city, and eventually, the whole world.
• Revival is periodic, evangelism constant, both bringing people to the Lord.
• Revival energizes God’s people, but it is not always welcome. There is a cost.
• It changes self-indulgence to self-denial.
• It comes when people are earnestly seeking it in prayer and are willing to pay the price.
• Hebrew chayah, to make alive, quicken, revive, make whole.
• Habbakuk uses it when he cries out on behalf of his people.
• Charles Finney defined revival as nothing more and nothing less as a new beginning of obedience to the word of God.
Genesis 35:1-15
• God turned Yaakov’s heart and gives him a new name.
• Yaakov gets rid of the idols, then sets up an altar to worship God.
2 Chronicles15: “The Spirit of God came upon Azariah… 2 “The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. 4 But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.”
8 “When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.”
• Joash in 2 Kings 11-12, under Zerubabbel in Ezra 6, etc.
• They occur in a day of deep moral darkness and national depression
• They began in the heart of one servant of God walking in holiness who became the agent anointed to energize the nation back to faith and obedience.
• Each revival rested upon the word of God, the result of preaching Torah and Tanakh with power.
• They also resulted a return to the God of Israel.
• Each resulted in the tearing down and destruction of idols wherever they existed.
• In each revival there was a recorded separation form sin, a complete teshuvah.
• They returned to blood sacrifices, remember atonement.
• People experienced gladness and joy.
• Each revival was followed by national prosperity. God blessed them.
Revival in Brit Chadashah— Revival is mentioned five times
• Romans 11 – “what will there acceptance be like but life from the dead.”
Revivals in history
• Great awakening occurred prior to birth of America. This nation was born out of revival because founding fathers knew what freedom in the Lord was first
• In 1730’s, leaders of churches in England and colonies felt frustration
• Then the great awakening broke out in colonies and back in England
• What can we learn from their experience? Prayer, prayer, prayer.
• They set up networks of prayer, fast day services, 100 years prayer.
• Revivals have strong leaders: Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, 24 years old when he began preaching in a tour of 45 churches in Massachusetts and Connecticut. His farewell audience was 20,000 people in Boston. On one occasion Whitefield was late, but when he had barely speaking preaching a minute, people were moved to tears, there was sighing and groaning.
• Revival is sustained by preaching of reformed doctrines in a new and powerful way.
• Revivalists preach a non-traditional times and places. Whitefield preached in prison, ships, inns.
• Revivalists believe there is a new work in music. Old time hymns were new fruit of revival.
• Revival brings about opposition. “That congregation isn’t of God. Why are you doing that stuff?”
o John Wesley had rocks thrown at him.
o When Whitefield was preaching, some would climb up on trees and urinate.
• Even the accounts of revival help spread revival.
• Revivalists understood that revival brings about a significant presence of the Holy Spirit.
o Edwards called it a visible presence of power or commotion.
o When revival breaks out, your true state and relationship with God is exposed to you.
• Revival moves people to concern for the poor, since we have been shown mercy.
• My purpose is that we would be stirred up for the revival of our Jewish people, not to be afraid of it but to welcome it.
Stephen Galiley, Messianic Jewish identity through the Biblical festivals
• We see the festivals as beautiful and holy, though Christian churches tend to see them as useless appendages, and may cause deviations if you pay too much attention to them, you might find yourselves “under the law.”
• Why the biblical festivals to begin with?
• Deut 6. Shema Yisrael, the commandments, then He reminds us where we came from.
• The schedule that God gave us was given to deal with a problem: how do you take a people and cause them coalesce as a community, so that they are not a mass of people but a community?
• Corollary: how do you take people who have a tendency to be forgetful and make them remember?
• Sometimes gifts are not the ones that you think you need.
• God had a people who came from slavery and had to teach them how to live in freedom.
• So we get people who don’t know how to rest or make space for God in their lives.
• The first feast mentioned in Leviticus 23 is Shabbat.
• The hardest thing to getting involved in Messianic Judaism is setting apart Shabbat.
• Shabbat is supposed to have a sacred assembly, a day of rest, no commerce.
• Have you noticed how difficult it is to make space for the Lord in your lives?
• There is a need to unplug from everything else around us and seek Hashem.
• The command, “don’t work” is not legalism but a gift of time lingering with Him.
• A lot of people who go to church, go in the morning, then run full board the rest of the day.
• The seventh day has an anointing that is special because God ordained it so.
In Deut 16: the three pilgrimage feasts, when all Israel would come to the place the Lord would choose – first Shiloh and ultimately Jerusalem.
• You know what binds us together as a people:?
• “You were to remember that you were slaves in Egypt.”
• So we are a people who have compassion on those who are still in slavery.
• A mixed multitude came out with them.
• Those who were a mixed multitude did not remain separate, but integrated with Israel. Thus if they lived with Benjamin, within a couple of generations they became Benjamites.
• What about the multitude of goyim who join our congregations, and remain?
• What God was doing with the feasts was building compassion in us that would bind us together as a people who heart beat is for compassion and justice.
“For seven weeks count off the days.” Shavuot is an interesting feast.
• Once there was a poker game where the Rabbis and Church fathers had to divide the pot.
• The Church fathers said, we want Jesus, and the Rabbis said, fine you can have him.
• And the Rabbis said, we want Torah, and the Church fathers said, fine, take it.
• And they took the word of God and tore it up so they could each take what they wanted.
• Shavuot is a feast of the word of God and a feast of the Spirit of God, a feast of integration.
• You can’t be a people of the Word without the Spirit, and you can’t be a people of the Spirit without the Word.
• Upstate New York pilgrimage for Shavuot in Utica, devotion to both Word and Spirit.
Sukkot is a festival of joy, the great feast that caps it all.
• This is who we are, this is where we are going; this is the heart of our spirituality.
• We need to be a people who work hard to bring in the harvest, and then rejoice.
• “Messianic Judaism is God’s endgame.”
What’s held in Messianic Judaism is what’s held in the word of God.
• There is a growing hunger for restoration in the church. And they will turn to you, from all kinds of different traditions, who will experience this hunger and look for a way to satisfy it.
David Rosenberg, Messianic Jewish understanding of the Book of Hebrews
• Many Christian theologians summarize Hebrews as the superiority of the New Covenant replacing the old. It does sounds that way, with its emphasis on “better, better, better.”
• David argues for a progressive revelation, analogous to upgrades adding new features
• People tend to think of covenants in a linear way, each covenant given at a point in time, and implicitly each covenant supplanting the previous one
• David argues for looking at it as rings of a tree. When you cut across the trunk, you see the rings, and the inner rings are part of the whole tree. So God talks about New Covenant as growing out of the stump.
• So God gives a covenant to Noah. He doesn’t throw it out, but expands on it when he makes a further promise to Avram.
• The Book of Hebrews has a lot to do with eschatology, so it’s crucial to understand how it handles time.
• Let’s go back to the beginning.
• There is a difference between Creation and the culmination of all things: HaSatan was there, and had already fallen to the earth, but he won’t be there at the end. Also the sun, moon and stars were there, a temporary provision. But in the end, there will be no need sun, moon and stars. There will be eternity, one day that never ends, and no darkness.
• “By calling this covenant "new", he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and ageing will soon disappear.”
• The center of Hebrews is chapter 8. Everything flows around this chapter, in circles.
• This section quotes Jeremiah 31, all about the new covenant, the longest single quotation from the Tanakh in the New Testament, and it quotes it twice.
• It’s only better if each generation improves on the good news that the previous one received.
• That’s why implied when God appears to Jacob in a dream and says, “I am the God of your fathers Abraham and Isaac.” And the silence is awesome. Then Jacob takes up his place.
• So better, better, better, doesn’t mean that each generation replaces what came before but receive more revelation and promises adding to what came before, all leading up to the fulfillment.
• Even when Yeshua rose from the dead, the revelation wasn’t done. God isn’t finished yet.
• The writer of Hebrews isn’t saying something brand new, but saying it afresh.
• There were people who think that God has failed, thinking his coming was imminent, that they fell away.
• The book of Hebrews speaks to the current remnant not to despair because it is so small.
• We can forget that 30 years ago there were no Messianic Jewish congregations.
• We need to remember, we’re listening in the best time in the history of the earth!
• We haven’t finished yet. The kingdom is here and yet it is coming, to which Abraham was looking forward.
• Theologians call it the already and the not yet.
• Progressive revelation has been going on since the beginning. For example, God revealed his name to Moses. How could Abraham not have known that? How can our people complain that they hadn’t heard the name Yeshua before?
• It was difficult times. The kingdom wasn’t coming visibly.
• The brilliance of the book of Hebrews—maybe it’s good that we don’t know he wrote it, it’s the best Greek in the entire New Testament, this guy was brilliant, this guy understood Rabbinic structure, making it incredibly Jewish in its structure.
• Hebrews answers questions that Sadducees have, that Pharisees have, that Essenes have, he’s speaking to the whole Jewish world of his time.
• The central idea of Hebrews is that there is a Rabbinic case for the Messiah bringing a new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:
• 14 ‘I’s” in this chapter, all but one are in the name of Hashem, speaking of what he has done and what he will do. Seven times it says, “says the Lord.”
Habakkuk 2:3, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
• When is the kingdom coming, Lord? It’s none of your business, the Father knows, it’s coming.
• For 400 years, they were keeping the bones of Joseph so that take them back to the land.
• Think about what it was like for the generations in slavery, why have children? But if we don’t have children, who will carry the bones of Joseph out?
• The generation of Hebrews was up against the most authoritarian and brutal empire the world had known, that Hitler and his thugs later idolized.
• The writer of Hebrews keeps saying, in the end, God wins.
• What do you do when you are fighting Rome? Be faithful, the vision waits an appointed time.
• Just because we’re the minority doesn’t mean that we don’t win.
Hebrews 8:23 “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
• The word “obsolete” is terrible because it implies it’s already finished.
• Why not? Because it isn’t finished yet!
• So we cannot rip out three quarters of the Bible.
• As for red letter bibles, how come “Let us make man in our image” in red?
• The only one running of the time is the devil. Why? Because God isn’t finished yet.
• The new is being made.
• The old is obsolete is when all is fulfilled. When does that happen?
• The biblical answer: “Behold I make all things new.” When we see the new heavens and the new earth. I’m looking for the same thing that Abraham was looking for, the city whose builder is God, the new Jerusalem descending from heaven.
• That’s when time ends.
• The end of all things is when time ends.
• Hebrews looks forward to this eschaton, the end of all things.
• The rebirth of Israel on the ashes of the holocaust bring the fulfillment of the end into new focus.
• Luther said, if the Jews come back to the land, I’ll convert to Judaism.
If these events had happened before the reformation, we might remember Rabbi Martin Luther!
• Dr. John Fischer called it the renewed covenant, since it was made with the same covenant people of Judah and Israel, the audience of the book of Hebrews.
• The process of passing away can be compared to the scientific description of entropy.
• So heaven and earth are passing away, gradually.
• Time is a closed system. The Sun will eventually burn out.
• The only way out is to be with God in eternity.
• “This present world” refers to everything in the Creation until this planet rolls up like a scroll.
• Until this planet is done, he’s not finished yet.
• So when Yeshua says, not one jot or tittle will pass away until all things are fulfilled.
• Some say it was finished when he said “it is finished” on the cross.
• But it’s not finished yet? He finished the work of redemption, but he isn’t finished yet.
• Already, not yet.
• When did Yeshua inaugurate the New Covenant? At the Passover, when he held up the cup of redemption, the cup of the New Covenant. What was he talking about. Jeremiah 31. Who is sitting with him? Were they all from the same tribe? They represent the diversity of Israel and Judah. Yeshua is making a covenant with the present remnant of Israel and Judah.
• So he makes a covenant. So it’s finished. No it’s not.
• This is why we don’t call it the “last supper.”
• Yeshua didn’t even finish the Seder was at? He didn’t drink the fourth cup. Instead he said wouldn’t drink the fourth cup until the end, the fulfillment of all things.
• What you’re going to find out when you study the Psalms in the book of Hebrews is its structure.
• Psalm 110: he sat down at the right hand of the Father. He restored all things.
• God’s vision is that heaven and earth will be one.
• His blood on earth doesn’t help us. The Temple built by made won’t save us. The blood has to go up to the altar in heaven.
• When Stephen is being martyred, Yeshua is standing at the right hand of the Father. The first standing ovation was for the first martyr in his name.
• The writer of Hebrews frames the structure of his argument with double references to Psalm 110:1, 4 and Psalm 2:7.
• What is better? Yeshua is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the milestone of all that God has done.
• The writer of Hebrews is not talking about the superiority of Christianity.
• He’s talking about the superiority of Yeshua, sacrifice and high priest of the living God.
• Hebrews writes to the remnant. Five warnings to those who might apostacize. Don’t profane the blood of Yeshua. Don’t sell your birthright for a bowl of soup.
David Levine, Reaching the Jewish People
• David talks about the use of technology, such as his blog on the Orange Revolution
• Millions of people of blogging today, providing eye-witness information and understanding
• Within a few days, hundreds of people were contacting David about his blog
• http://davidlevine.typepad.com
• If we want to read people who are different from us, we have to act differently.
• Starting point: who am I called to reach?
• David prayed, “O God, give me all the Jews of Budapest.”
• God said to him, “No. I am only give you the Jews you know and care for.”
• He calls each person by name.
• David began to change his orientation because of this revelation.
• If God did give us everyone, we would be overwhelmed, and spoil everything.
• There are a ways you can reach people one at a time.
• It’s also possible to work with a group of people and still know who they are.
• Aleph is a way of working with a group of people.
• Steward Winograd: David calls this process a pipeline of growth.
• Aleph is a 12-14 week program of evangelism, step-by-step leading Jewish people to salvation.
• After Aleph is a Beth discipleship program to get them firmly established
• Both Aleph and Beth uses a team concept.
• Leslie Schneier: Alpha is a program of meals discussing predetermined issues. In the former Soviet Union, they switched from the Greek to the Jewish first letter, Messianizing terms.
• It’s over food, sitting around the table, prebelievers mix with believers, expressing their opinions.
• Rachel Wolf: interested in the Out of the Box approach, not a separation between salvation and discipleship. We treat people as if they are growing in the Lord, whether or not they have made a profession. The Lord didn’t say, “get people saved,” he said “make disciples.” People can pray even before they are believers. Jewish people aren’t asking, “How can I be saved?” What questions are they thinking about?
• Jeff Forman: his orientation for years has been bold and out on the streets, pamphlets, concerts. He understood friendship evangelism, but he had no mechanism to make that work. Aleph requires a shift of thinking, because with aleph comes pre-evangelism, developing a relationship, knowing people by names. Aleph provides a dinner club atmosphere, with lighting, Jewish music, humor, discussion, getting more intense, climaxing with a day away.
• Janet Forman: we saw the presence of the Holy Spirit come in unusual ways, people receiving Him without necessarily understanding what they were receiving. Increased people operating at a different, higher level of ministry. There is a cost, more meetings (once a week for discussion, once a week for prayer). New believers helped with second Aleph, and grew.
• Stewart: no pain, no gain, small sacrifice, small results.
• David Schneier: took home groups which didn’t have a pulse any more and made them into teams
• Stewart: true biblical disciple is someone who is participating in growing and gathering fruit
• Jim Appel: many people participating, felt fulfilled. They invited 25 people, 13 make to through, all these were people they had strong relationships with. Pre-evangelism is finding out needs, meeting those needs, people will come because their needs are met, the rest will be easy.
• The box that we are in is usually the meeting place that we hold our services.
• Our existing ministry activities are not enough to reach all the people we want to reach.
• We are wasting effort trying to get people to come someplace they aren’t interested in coming to.
• Think about congregations as amoebas, able to change their form so they can engulf something.
• When you are willing to stop worshiping your forms and structures, and adapt to the people, you will find you can be more effective.
• Steve Weiler has used conference calls so that people at a distance can participate.
• If you think those people aren’t committed, if they were they would come in; that’s an old way of thinking.
Jan Rosenberg
• When God says now it’s not just now.
• People aren’t satisfied with what they have experienced; there is something still dry.
• We believe that a part of this is being able to share the truth of Yeshua through Jewish eyes.
• When that happens, there is a whole new scope that opens up for people.
• People say, “We have to get away from Greek thinking.” “We need new wine in new wineskins.”
• Jan says, “Do you really know deep the rabbit hole goes?”
• So much that has been handed down to us is tradition. Jews aren’t the only ones with traditions.
• There are responsibilities that we have when it comes to understanding the streams of God.
• God doesn’t want us to make up things that seem like the power of God.
• He wants us to move with the flow of now that will keep flowing for generations.
Isaiah 43:18, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past [or: brooding on times gone by]. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
• The streams are not just to refresh us, but to make a way for others, the generations that follow.
• God wants to bring about something new that keeps expanding.
There is a responsibility.
Eph 4:12, “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Messiah may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah.
• There is an empowerment that is waiting to be released when we walk in unity with one another.
• When Yeshua prayed that we may be one, it wasn’t that we all get along.
• The Rabbis teach that every Jew would keep Shabbat just once, Messiah would come.
• There is such a thing, but it’s not just Shabbat.
• When people come together, not necessarily all of them, but a critical mass, God will move.
• Unity requires a willingness to let some things go when you think about your neighbor.
Eph 4:22, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”
• Keep being renewed, in salvation, in wholeness.
1 Corinthians 2:4. “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"”
Jonathan Cahn, The Harbinger
Theme of this conference is the set time has come
• The watchman, when he sees the enemy coming, blows the shofar as an alarm.
• When Jonathan spoke at the northeast regional, a theme that was repeated was
“I have placed watchmen on your walls.”
• God placed us at the gateway of the nations, looking across from ground zero.
• A few months later, Paul Wilbur came out with an album, The Watchman.
Prophecy in Ezekiel 33: 2 "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
Only two countries have been founded upon God: Israel and America.
• Where more is given, more is required, greater accountability.
• America, like Israel, has departed from God, exporting pornography, abortion, etc.
• God gave Israel a lull, giving them a grace period to return, before bringing the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
• Refusing to respond to the first judgment leads to further judgment and chastisement.
• The Lord warns before he moves, he tries to call his people back. There was nothing left then to bring devastation upon the land, and ultimate judgment came.
Eight harbingers (omens, warnings, signs of something to come) found in Isaiah 9:10
"The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig-trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars."
First harbinger—the bricks have fallen
Second harbinger—but we will build stronger
Third harbinger—we will build bigger and better (arrogance in their hearts)
Fourth harbinger—with hewn stones, cut and quarried out of the mountains
Fifth harbinger—the spirit of defiance
Sixth harbinger—the sycamore tree, cut down by the Assyrians
Seventh harbinger—the strong cedars of Lebanon
Eight harbinger—the vow of the words themselves, “We will… be stronger yet.”\
11 But the LORD has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them and has spurred their enemies on.
What does all this have to do with this?
September 11—was it a warning, has God given us a sign? The answer is yes.
• As with Israel, it was an initial invasion, as a wakeup call.
• God was using the initial invasion as a warning to his nation.
• Is this the beginning of judgment or God calling us to something higher?
• Ground zero was filled with twisted steel and glass and something else: bricks.
• Soon after the fall, there was a call to rebuild. “A new icon will rise—the freedom tower.”
• The leaders of America vowed to build the freedom tower bigger and better.
• Donald Trump came to the site saying we should have the WTC bigger and better.
• The cut stones—on July 4, 2004, an object was lowered by crane, with the leaders of city watching, was a cut, quarried stone. They were laying a 20 ton stone hewn from the Adirondack Mt . The mayor said, by laying this stone, we are sending a message around the world.
• The commentaries go on and on about the spirit of defiance. On the day they laid the cornerstone, Governor Patacki, we the heir of the revolutionary spirit of defiance lay this cornerstone.
• The bible only records the sycamore street as a sign of judgment. On 9/11, a steel beam from the tower struck down a sycamore tree, and was found at ground zero. People made a display of this tree, as if to draw attention to it. A sculptor was instructed to make a cast, and he did so in bronze, and to display it on Wall Street. Now there will be a symbol of a sycamore street on Wall Street.
• Now the cedar tree was grown in Lebanon. The Hebrew word means a strong, firm tree. The cedar of Lebanon is classified as a conifer tree, has needle-like tree, it’s a pine tree. Well, two years after 9/11, a strange site was seen on ground zero. A crane lowered to the placed where the sycamore tree was struck down. The object lowered was an evergreen tree, a pine tree, a sister tree to the cedar of Lebanon, where the sycamore had grown.
• That would be enough, but there is actually more.
• Both trees were laid by cranes—the tree of freedom and the tree of hope.
• A clergyman came and said, “We are gathered here on hallowed ground…. a witness of the divine within each of us.” The press carried the story, not realizing they were echoing the words of Isaiah.
• Finally, the vow of arrogance. John Edwards were speaking in Washington on 9/11 at a prayer breakfast: “Good morning. Today on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s will…. And then he quoted Isaiah 9:10! He quoted it as if it were a word of encouragement to rebuild, not realizing that it was a scripture of judgment, and based his whole speech on it!
• The leaders make a vow. In the wake of destruction, on September 12, the nation looked at the damage and its first response was given by the head of the U.S. Congress, Tom Daschle, in a joint resolution of condemnation. It quoted Isaiah 9:10! Again, he quotes it as if it were a call to rebuild, not knowing that on that very day the sycamore tree would be found in the ruins.
• Daschle also alluded to the beginning of the nation.
• America was born in 1789, when its constitution was instituted, congress and the first President.
• On that day, Washington’s inaugural speech included a warning that God’s blessing would be removed if the government did not remain faithful to God.
• The next day, Washington and the cabinet went to a chapel to pray for two hours, to commit America to God’s hand.
• In ancient Israel, judgment came to the place of dedication, the Temple.
• Where is America’s ground of consecration? The first inauguration took place in NYC. It was there the warning of judgment took place in NYC, in lower Manhattan.
• After he gave his warning, Washington brought his cabinet to a little chapel, at the corner of the plot of ground known as Ground Zero. It is the mystery place of America’s history. The terrorists had no idea they were touching the place where God’s protection was prayed for. The spiritual birthplace of the nation is Ground Zero.
• America’s seal, the eagle with the arrows, was keep from the beginning of American history, was taken to this place, at ground zero.
• It remains in this chapel, which is still there.
• The sycamore, where did it stand? It grew in the backyard of the chapel.
• Washington’s prayer was fulfilled—they called it a miracle—the chapel was untouched.
• You know what you believed protected it? It was the sycamore tree. The steel beam going through the sky would have hit the chapel, but the sycamore tree protected it—so that the warning would be preserved.
Here is when commentaries say about the pattern of judgment:
• The nation departs from God. Then comes initial judgment. Then comes defiance. Then comes a warning of a second, greater judgment.
• The ultimate purpose of judgment is to call the nation back. The purpose is not to destroy, but to save. Revival often comes when the coming of judgment.
• God cannot bless America unless America blesses God.
• 9/11 is a shadow of a greater judgment. The shorter awakening is a shadow of a greater awakening.
• The revival of NY does not come in easy times, but when God brings shaking.
Jonathan reminds us of the intercessory prayer that took place two years before the northeast regional at the Statue of Liberty, when the video camera caught the image of a plane coming across the city, as it intersects with the northern tower of the WTC. That intercessory prayer meeting took place on 9/11, two years before the attack. There was also a second sign: a vision of a shofar, which is a sign of revival at the place of judgment.
• Now must come the ingathering back, from the gates, Israel must come home, the church must come home. Now the gospel must come home as the children of Israel must come home to Zion.
• We are standing at the gates of something new. We must receive it as harbingers, not as the tail but as the head. We are the closing act of what it is to come.
We have a call to be watchmen on the walls. And the word of the Lord was, I will hold you accountable if you do not proclaim salvation to the people, with the sound of the shofar.
We are called now in the end times to be vigilant as watchmen. We don’t forever to repent, we don’t have forever to respond to the holy calling to preach the gospel. We do not have forever, it is time to be vigilant, it is time to lift up our voices, and not be held back by fear or compromise. It is time to wake up and proclaim the message, to take up the ancient mantle. The time is short, it is time to draw near to the Lord as never before, to proclaim the message to the Jew first and also the gentile, to be all our sold out for Him. I have set you as watchmen on the walls. Go through, go through the gates. Remove the stones. Make his path straight. For our light has come, and the glory of the Lord will shine upon us.
Frank Lowinger, The Cradle of Christian Contempt
• It’s common to think that Christianity it Jewish
• There is, however, a problem that transcends the terminology that we use
• If there were a Christianity that were based on the person of Jesus and a life-changing commitment to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the King of the Jews, this claim might be reasonable.
• But the 17 centuries of denial of Jewish background and the rejection of the Jewish people belies this claim.
• Christian theology has rejected the Jewish people, asserting that the church is the “new Israel.”
• But what is Christianity without its biblically Jewish foundation?
Romans 9-11 is not merely an excursis; Sha’ul is not waxing nostalgic; it is core to his theology
• Yet Christian theology and its statements of faith never mention that its followers are grafted into Israel; instead it emphasizes the replacement of Israel.
Replacement theology is a grievous error—it is the cradle of Christian contempt.
• What is it? The erroneous belief that the church has replaced Israel.
• Derek Prince’s book Prophetic Destiny cites 77 uses of the word Israel, of which 76 refer exclusively to the historic people of Israel. There is one mention of the “Israel of God” which has been the basis of replacement theology, a very weak basis since it doesn’t really make this claim.
• Replacement theology makes God out to be a liar, claiming that his promises to Israel are withdrawn.
Replacement theology is made palatable by the subjective use of allegory.
• The allegorical method obscures the meaning of the literal text, spiritualizing away the straightforward meaning of text in context.
• Origen (3rd century) made allegory the only way of interpreting the text, replacing the norm al meaning of allegorizes that he just made up.
• Replacement theology conveniently leaves the curses of Israel while appropriating all the promises to the church.
• Replacement theology is a bias in many translations and commentaries.
• For example, many Christian commentaries note the judgments of the prophets applying to the Jews but claim the promises of the prophets, such as Jeremiah 31, for the church.
• Origen describes anyone who doesn’t accept his allegorical interpretation as “disgraceful Jews” who wish to follow a literal interpretation.
• Origen’s methods were elevated to prominence by Eusebius in the 4th century
• Eusebius firmly believed there was new Israel that replaced the Jews, that there was no place for the Jews in the plan of God, and no plan of restoration.
• Constantine is viewed as the first Christian emperor.
For many centuries believers had endured persecution from Rome.
• The church was eager to accept an end to persecution.
• Constantine is still revered in church history.
• Constantine convened the council of Nicea. Thus we have the merger of church and state, the beginning of Christianity as a state religion.
• This political shift brought about a theological shift. Eusebius saw the emperor as the image of God, the interpreter of the Logos. Eusebius saw in Nicea the image of a messianic banquet. The church and the empire appeared to merge with one another; the empire was the kingdom of God.
• But this view required a complete unmooring of the church from its Jewish foundations. The council changed the calendar, breaking once and for all with the biblical cycle of festivals, decreeing that it was expedient to celebrate Easter should be observed by all at the same date, and it would “be unworthy to follow the customs of the Jews, … having nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”
• No wonder the dark ages were dark! Replacement theology along with the merger of church and state is reflected in the art and culture of Christian Europe.
For 17 centuries, Christianity was defined in opposition to the Jews.
Some may feel uneasy with this indictment.
• It is well and fine that there some pastors that preach love for Israel.
• I do not want to call into question the sincerity of some pastors or their faith.
• I want to know: how do they show love for Israel?
• Is their compassion holding Israel like other people groups?
• Or do they understand what Yeshua said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” Do they understand God’s personal involvement with the calling and destiny of the Jewish people?
• There is a lot of interest in Israel in evangelical circles. Frank has been there.
• The only time Israel is ever brought is along the lines of end-time prophecy.
• End-time prophecy is OK, but there is more to God’s covenants with Israel
• There is more to his relationship with Israel than Jews left behind when the church is raptured.
• See The God of Israel and Christian Theology, R. Kendall Soulen, Fortress Press.
Orthodox Rabbi Michael Wyschgorod writes: “The problem of supercessionism turns on its ability to recognize Israel’s election. The acid test is how it treats baptized Jews. Does it expect Jews to jettison their calling and identity as Jews or encourage them to fulfill their destiny?”
If Christians understood the role of Jews in the plan of world redemption, would there any shortage of financial support for Messianic Jewish ministry?
When we look at churches, we see forms that lack firm connection.
• Churches emulate the forms of music, dance, even the flag of Israel. But there is very little support for Messianic Jewish ministry. Do they understand the promise of life from the dead when the Jews accept the Messiah? Do they think that by adopting the forms they are raising the fallen tabernacle of David? But the forms aren’t the fallen tabernacle of David, Messiah Yeshua, the King who will reign on earth in Jerusalem, is.
• My prayer for the body of Messiah is not an enlarged vision to go to all Israel, not just a remnant.
• Messianic Jews are part of Israel as a remnant.
A major reason for the onset of replacement theology rests in the pride of man and jealousy.
• I hear people saying, “Are you saying that Israel is still God’s chosen people? God is no respecter of persons? We are all a kingdom of priests.”
• These arguments have at their core a spirit of jealousy.
• There are hundreds of scriptures that affirm the chosenness of Israel.
• Some respond, but Israel is not righteous, they had their chance, they don’t deserve it.
• True enough, but the issue is not Israel’s righteousness, but God’s choice.
• God does not choose us because we are righteous, but he commits Himself to bring forth righteousness in those he has chosen.
• The same argument applies to the church.
• It was God’s sovereign choice to call Israel to be his people. He chose Isaac not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau, Levi from the tribes, Aaron as his high priest, not because any of these deserved.
• Korah in jealousy rose up in rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
• He and his followers did not understand the meaning of God’s choice.
• Many times in history Jews have wished were not God’s chosen. Oy, couldn’t he choose somebody else?
• Nevertheless, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.
• Everyone’s calling is unique and important, Jew and Gentile alike. Let us each accept the calling God has on us.
Jeff Bernstein, Jewish evangelism
We have a mandate, yet most messianic Jewish congregations are not doing much evangelism.
• If you are in a messianic Jewish congregation, you need to become an expert in Jewish evangelism. You can speak effectively to the majority of Jewish people out there.
• The needs of our people in America are mostly spiritual, not physical. There is no assurance of eternal life, even though the Amidah affirms it. There is a great need here, very clear at funerals.
When Jeff visits Jews in New York, he does not announce he is a Messianic Jew (if he did, he would just be ushered out of the neighborhood), he just speaks the words of Yeshua. That attracts them. The “red letter” words ;-) are powerful.
• We need to have boldness and stop apologizing. There is a difference between apologetics, which means defending the faith, having an answer to questions, and apologizing like wimps.
To those of you who are not Jewish: both Jews and Gentiles are one in Messiah. But there is no need to pretend to be Jews, especially not Orthodox Jews. You can provoke the Jew to jealousy, by proclaiming love, acknowledging the heritage that you have received from the Jew.
• There are campaigns, with bursts of excitement, but what need to take place are not a program but a lifestyle. We are sent ones, emissaries. Sharing our faith is part of God’s calling, especially if you are part of a Messianic Jewish congregation.
• We need to get out there and bring the message to them, to the market place. We need to pray about how to bring the message to them, as Yeshua did.
• Yeshua saw a man named Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s booth. He found a man name Zaccheus, a wealthy chief tax collector, and invited himself to his house.
• We have a full gospel businessmen’s breakfast; what about a full torah businessmen’s breakfast?
• Get the Christian businessmen to be part of it; they have Jewish associates.
• Talk about topics that will be of interest to them.
• Let’s believe big, let’s believe for the movers and shakers, for Jewish doctors and lawyers.
• Though outwardly it may not seem they are very needy, inwardly you would be surprised.
• Baby boomers are dealing with sicknesses in their parents, problems with children, etc.
• Relationships are the key, build relationship with Jews, hang out with them, spend more time with Jewish unbelievers than with people who are already believers.
Pray for new strategies for communicating the gospel to Jews.
Jeff proposes three bridges.
• People in NYC ask, what do you do for a living? In Israel, they ask, how much do you make?
• If Jeff were to answer, I am a Messianic Jew or a Jew who believers that Yeshua is Messiah, Jews usually think, Oh you’re a Jew for Jesus, or you’re with a cult. It’s not very effective.
• Instead Jeff answers: I am part of an organization that is involved in building bridges. The first bridge we are trying to build is between Jews and Christians. We’re trying to help Christians understand that everything they have comes from us. They worship our God, they read our book, and everything they have comes from Israel. Every Jew I share this with says, that’s sounds good; one guy says, do you need any help? Jeff answers: send me your resume and I’ll see.
• A second bridge: We’re trying to bridge that spans back for two thousand years. We feel that our authorities make a colossal mistake against Jewish law when they rejected and put on trial this person names Yeshua. The trial was illegal and against Jewish requirements and we want to restore the integrity of Torah. We’re calling for a mistrial. Many Jews respond with their sense of justice. Not only that, but this decision was made for you.
• A third bridge: We want to build a bridge between the truth about God and those who have lost faith or don’t know what they believe any more because they have had their fill of religious hypocrisy. We try to help them see that God hates hypocrisy even more than they do. God is not interested in religious externals but in a loving relationship with people.
• These bridges bring Jews over to our side.
We need to enlist the help of the wider body of messiah; in humility we need to send emissaries to local churches to encourage them to help us bring the message to our people.
• Christians have a veil when they read Romans 1:16 and Romans 11:11, if they read it at all.
• When Christians get an understanding of what they owe to the Jews, it is a revelation.
• Pray for ways to “evangelize” the church, coming to the church in a spirit of humility, as servants, seeking co-laborers.
• The olive tree is not Christianity; it is the faith of our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets and apostles, all Jews, and the root is Yeshua.
• We need to help them to change the paradigm with which they view themselves. Jews are not converting to Christianity (there is no such language in the Bible), rather they have been grafted into a Jewish tree.
• Most Jews come to faith through the witness of a Gentile.
• A woman stood up and shared about how her husband, a successful businessman, witnesses to Jewish colleagues over dinner. She witnesses to Gentiles (who need to learn about Jewish roots) or Jews by giving away her break (the recipe is from a Jewish cookbook).
• You’re all in fulltime ministry, whether you are a businessperson or a cook or a retiree.
• There is a time to share the good news. Friendship evangelism means looking actively for the right time to share the good news. Once you have established a relationship, then ask for 20 minutes to present the good news (in a Jewish way).
We have to communicate our faith in a Jewish way.
Some practical issues in communication: Yeshua made people sit down before he preached.
• You need to make people sit down.
• Jeff’s father fought with him tooth and nail every time he presented the good news.
• Jeff asked him to be quiet for 20 minutes, so he could present the message without it becoming an argument, which is fruitless. Can I explain this to you?
• Be equipped and anointed, pray for words of wisdom and knowledge, for gifts of healing.
• Proverbs 21:22, “A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.”
• Most people are lost, they haven’t met with someone who has spiritual authority and love. They were astonished at the authority of Yeshua’s teaching; you also have this authority and teaching.
• Use the feasts of Israel to proclaim the gospel.
• Study Michael Brown’s three volume Answers to Jewish Objections.
• Study to show ourselves approved. Study these books and you will know far more than most Jewish people. Make an investment.
• Jewish people know that fasting won’t bring forgiveness.
• Jeff’s web site: www.gatesofzion.net
Romans 15:26. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
• The apostle argues that the gentiles owe a debt to the Jews. It was through the Jewish believers that the good news came to them. Salvation is from the Jew. There is still a debt. The greatest way for Gentiles to repay this debt is to meet the needs of Jews.
• The Joseph project and Friend Ships is a practical application of this principle in Israel.
• More than physical poverty, the Jews are in spiritual poverty.
• Begin to establish solid relationships in your area, present this truth to them and urge them to partner with them in reaching Jews with the good news. They have Jewish friends but don’t know how to share the good news with them. Then offer to help them. Those who bless Israel will be blessed.
• The story of Ruth and Naomi can help people see this principle: Naomi represents the Jew, Ruth the Gentile. Ruth said “your God shall be my God.” But she said more than that. She also said, “Your people shall be my people.” That level of identification is the heart that is the glory of Ruth and of every Gentiles who shares her heart of love for Israel. The ultimate love is to invest oneself in sharing the good news with those in spiritual poverty, bringing them hope as Ruth brought hope to Naomi.
• Christians can help us with pre-evangelism that is a necessary precursor to forming relationships leading to aleph groups.
• Passover in our homes can be an effective outreach, which Gentiles can do.
• To be effective in evangelism, you need to spend time with the Lord. There should be something different about us. Why, because we have the Holy Spirit.
• When a Jew says, “I don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah,” ask him, “Can you explain to me why you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah.” A pointed question can get thinking more openly.
• Speak about Yeshua in Jewish terms, as our Messiah, as our cohen. We’re trying to bring the authentic message of the apostles in the first century to Jews living today.
• Something else to say in the midst of a conversation about the good news is to say, “I bet there is something going on inside you is like a battle.” This is often true because when the Holy Spirit starts to bring conviction, the flesh and the devil begins to resist. And the other person will often agrees, which will lead into a deeper dialog.
• Yom Kippur and everything that it means is the gospel message. See Hebrews.
• Passover and everything that it means is the gospel message. God wants to set you free from bondage, from the things that are holding down, the shackles of this world system. God wants to deliver you and take you out of your Egypt and into the Promised Land he has prepared for you.
• Tell them about the bronze serpent, which is, by the way, the symbol of the American Medical Association. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent and the people of Israel looked up to the serpent to be rescued from death, so when you look up to the man who became like a serpent, becoming a curse for you, you will be set free. Show them the gospel according to Numbers, about how a man who is hung on a tree is a curse.
• What do you say when a Jew says, I have no problem with Yeshua, but Paul… If you understand the Spirit in which Paul wrote, you will understand that he upheld the Torah. There are spiritual truths that are only revealed by the Holy Spirit. Reaching observant Jews as opposed to a secular Jew is a different ball game.
• Go to a synagogue. Otherwise you are missing the reality of “to the Jew I became a Jew.” Be well-read. Read Jewish newspapers, understand what’s going in Israel and other Jewish issues. Sometimes you need to begin with the news of the day and let the Lord lead your conversation into the deeper things of Messiah.
Hylan Slobodkin, Passion for God
• You can be passionate for many things, such as boating or fishing or even God, but passion for God is different
• Reads from Mike Bickle’s Passion for Jesus
• Passion for God is an extravagant, intimate love and friendship”
• Ps 61:1, From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
• Ps 63:1, O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
• Ps 42:1, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
• Passion for God is not learned, so it can be taught. It comes by spending time with God.
• We worship what we value the most. Is God the most valuable person in your life?
• Lord, you are more costly than God, more beautiful than diamonds…
• Yeshua said, “Blessed are those who hunger and third for righteousness, for he shall be satisfied.”
• Prov 8:17, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
• In John 7:37-38, Yeshua said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
• Yeshua is the one who satisfies our deepest yearning, the hunger of those starved for spiritual life.
• We need a revelation of who God is and his love for us.
• Daniel was a man who was sold out for God, fasting and interceding with God for three weeks.
• Hylan describes his first vision of the Lord on the cross, twenty or thirty feet high, and as he looked up, a drop of blood fell on his head, and he flinched, then another drop, then another drop. And in an instant, Hylan knew that he died for me.
• A revelation of God’s holiness always shines a spotlight on our own condition. So the prophet Isaiah cried in 6:5, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
• The transforming power of holiness makes us hate the sin we committed. So Hylan, who lied and was sarcastic when he was young, now hates these sins so much he calls others on it.
• We‘re drawn to people with extraordinary gifts, the artist, the pianist, the baseball player.
• God draws us to him with his perfect holiness and perfect love.
• When you are drawn to him, you desire to know him more.
• Philippians 3:8,10: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Messiah Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Messiah… I want to know Messiah and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…”
• Understanding God’s deep acceptance for you is the best motivation for spiritual growth.
• Eph 3:17. “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love.” Because loving God with all your heart and soul is the greatest motivation for spiritual growth.
• 1 Jo 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does— comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.”
• Why do we love the world, when it is passing away? Why are we so busy that we cannot spend time to be with intimate with God?
• Marta was distracted by preparations, but Miriam chose the better part, sitting at his feet.
• When Miriam pours nard on his feet, Judas objects at the expense.
• What have you lavished on Yeshua? If it’s a sacrifice, it has to cost you something.
• What at your expense have you sacrificed to the Lord?
• Many people respect Yeshua, yet how many deeply love him?
• If you do, somebody will say, you’re wasting yourself or your time on Yeshua.
• Marta prepared a feast, but Miriam prepared a treasure that prepared him for his death.
• She wasted her fortune on him, laying up a treasure in heaven.
Reaching the next generation, a panel of youth leaders
What do you think is the most important thing for parents to know or do with regard to passing Messianic Judaism to the next generation?
• You have to live it and be involved so they understand how important it is to them.
• Involvement in ministry and your local congregation is important. Be genuine, live it out, especially in the moments when only your children see your own devotion to the Lord.
• Respect your youth as an individual to make their own decisions and help them.
How “in your face” should you be with your youth?
• It’s important to have one-on-one relationships and encourage them to have other one-on-one relationships in the congregation. Really love them. Help them to learn who they are and learn how to love you and others, then you won’t have to win them over.
• Hope (Chernoff) Edelstein remembers that her parents gave their children both sides, the love and consistently and also the warning that might be going to hell, they weren’t “there” yet, encouraging them to pray and have a relationship with the Lord. Don’t take it for granted, ask them, are you sure you are saved? You’d rather be safe than sorry.
• Teenagers are looking for authenticity. Be willing to step even if it’s uncomfortable, to be real.
What do you think is the best way to reach Jewish young people who don’t know the Lord?
• Matt Rosenberg: This generation of Jews doesn’t react so strongly or get offended by the person of Yeshua. Actually, if it’s more difficult because they say, “If that works for you, OK, but it’s not for me.” So the best way is to reach kids is through other kids. Focus on the youth we have and teach them to reach their generation.
• Work with youth to give them a passion for other people, praying for other people.
• Periodically do something unexpected, such as a random overhead.
• What do you think is the single greatest impediment to serving the Lord.
• Distractions: TV, music, computer games, so many fun things that occupy their time, it’s hard for young people to develop passion for the Lord.
• Hypocrisy: they see right through it, when we don’t live what we say.
• The world’s attitude of do what you want to do, making it difficult to make sacrifices.
How do you integrate generations?
• Our traditions and Scripture—Scripture first. Matt hated liturgy as a kid, but it has become a great love in his life. Repetition is part of Jewish life. There are things above philosophy and generational thinking.
• Ministering together, doing projects together, oneg, outreaches, acknowledging they are part of us
• We also have to get involved in the things they do, and at times join in. Matt’s congregation is going to let youth to rap some of the liturgy.
• What if you don’t have a youth ministry? Adult mentors, connect with church youth with a passion, the YMJA, connect with youth in other Messianic congregation, really pray that God will give them you someone to lead the youth.
Shmuel Wolkenfeld, Covenant Bearers: the menorah of Judaism, mkmcnamara@sgcglobal.net
• Daniel Cohn-Sherbok: “These people are Jews and belong in the menorah of Judaism. If only the rest of us had their zeal without their Jesus.” But it’s a package deal.
• Jews are a covenant people: not religious affiliations based on beliefs or theology
• Communities based on practices and history.
• 42% of world’s Jewish population is Ashkenazi, speaking Yiddish (Old German in Hebrew)
• 37% are Sephardic, of Spanish ancestry, speaking Ladino (Old Spanish in Hebrew characters)
• 16% Mizrakhi, non-Spanish—Arab Jews, Moroccan Jews, spoke Judeo-Arabic
• Maybe 10 languages done in Hebrew characters, such as Persian
• Jewish people have been collecting culture for nearly 4000 years
• That’s why we have to study so hard. ;-)
• Mizrakhi are lumped together with Sephardic Jews today.
• Sephardim have a celebration of bringing the hametz back into the home; have a tolerant continuum “observant” to “non-observant” unlike Ashkenazi groups at odds with each other
• Practice variants of European Ashkenazi Orthodox with own melodies and liturgy and foods
• Nusakh Sepharad is not liturgy of the Sephardim but of Hasidim; Nusakh Sephardim is liturgy of the Sephardim
• Until late 1700’s was mostly uniform; term “orthodoxy” not used until about 1795, in response to defections from Judaism with the enlightenment
• Samson Raphael Hirsch, who advocated secular education, was first to use the term orthodox
• In a sense, it’s misleading, since the orthodox are less concerned about doctrine than practice (so some talk about orthopraxis)
• In 1819, Eleh Divray Habrit paper refuted claim that organ music and vernacular are halakhically acceptable
• When Moses Mendelsohn translated the Torah in German, rabbinic authorities banned it.
• Premises of orthodoxy: divine inspiration of the totality of the historical Jewish religion, written and oral, as codified in the Shulkhan Arukh (the set or ordered table—the chicken soup of the soul). Dogma is less significant than submission to authority of halakha.
• Adjusting to the spirit of the times incompatible, since revealed will of G-d is unchangeable.
• Agudas Israel formed in 1912 to separate Orthodox from the politics of Israel.
• Mizrachi connect land of Israel to the people of Israel (especially the settlers).
• Neturei Karta refused to recognize authority of secular state which betrayed Torah, militantly.
• In United States, 1898: Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; Joseph Soloveichik organizes Yeshiva University, dialectical tension covenantal community and society of change
• Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook: religious value to secular movements and science
• Orthodox have no central authority, no Sanhedrin, diverse halakhah. (The Sanhedrin recently formed in Israel has not been widely acknowledged as having authority. It’s a proto-Sanhedrin.)
• So the Orthodox say, “Ask your Rabbi.” Judging he will judge, teaching he will teach. Local Rabbi makes halakhic decisions for his community.
• Soloveitchik says that hereafter and resurrection can be deduced but not described in detail; theology and eschatology gets little attention; they are mostly interested in how to live, how to practice halakhah.
• Lifestyle: kashrut, Shabbat, prayer 3 times a day, holidays
• 425,000 in U.S., mostly northeast, Chicago, Los Angeles, Florida, Toronto, Montreal
• What’s enamoring to a few about the Orthodoxy is its lifestyle, an ordered life
• May the romance of our life with Yeshua grow strong that our people would not be drawn away
Karaites (from Kara from to read) were founded by Anan ben David in Babylonia in 700’s.
• He decided that additional writings were not inspired
• Practices included total separation from Gentiles, immersion before entering synagogue, rejection of prohibition of eating milk and meat together, hanukhah.
• Countered by Saadia Gaon in 900’s and Maimonides in 1100’s, otherwise they might have been a major force
• They spread to Asia Minor, Spain, Russia, Lithuania
• Nazis categorized them as non-Jews, tended to be received better by Christians than Orthodox
• Isaac Troki wrote an anti-Messianic classic called Khizuk Emunah in 1500’s. There is a refutation. A lot of its arguments are against Christianity but Messianic Jewish belief.
• Today 12,000 in Israel, mostly near Ramleh, have their own religious courts, don’t intermarry; about 1500 in USA
Haredim (“tremblers”—Jewish Quakers?) are ultra-Orthodox (not same as Hasidim)
• Were involved in religious awakening in 1700’s, preserving dress of that era, full beard, earlocks, black caftans, black fur hat, shreimels on Shabbat, woman modest with head covering or wig
• 120,000 in USA, 270,000 in Israel
• Ultra-orthodox speak Yiddish, no vehicular traffic on Shabbat allowed in segregated neighborhood, separation of sexes, arranged marriages, mikveh, minimized intimacy, exempt from IDF but do other civil service
Hasidim (“pious” from hesed) follow a rebbe who interprets God for them
• Mitnagdeem (“opposers”) are opposers to Hasidim
• Started by Rabbi Isrfael ben Eliezer, 1700-1760, also called Baal Shem Tov (master of the Good name)
• Besht healer, predict the future, sincerity and simplicity, emphasized prayer from the heart
• Devekut: communion with God, omnipresence bordering on pantheism, prayer with ecstacy
• Spread to western Europe, US in 1880’s
• Elimelech of Lehinsk, came up wide of Tsaddik mediator between G-d and common people, but was opposed by Mitnagdeem R. Elijah the Gaon of Vilna, who banned haredim as non-Jews
Emancipation as a consequence of the enlightenment, releasing Jews from ghettos in Europe
• In 1740’s Jews could be citizens of British colonies if 7 years in colonies
• But Jewish inferiority in U.S because of being non-Protestant
• 1787 Virginia Statue of Religious Liberty declared: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the United States.”
• End of ghetto led to massive defections from Judaism
Reform, initiated y Israel Jacobson in Berlin, 1815, then Hamburg Temple
• No intention of breaking with ideas
• Abraham Geiger took a critical view of scripture (Scripture not divine)
West London synagogue took a quasi-Karaite position
• What we call Reform in America is called Liberal Judaism in Britain more radical
• American Reform articulated by 1885 Pittsburg Platform, no longer consider themselves a nation, Mosaic law is foreign to our days, obstruction to spiritual elevation
• Columbus platform in 1938 acknowledged that easy optimism of 1800’s was shattered, returns to Torah both written and oral, restores and enshrines Israel’s consciousness of place of Israel as Jewish homeland
Conservative Judaism is a reaction to Reform, also known as “Historical Judaism”
• Changes in Judaism in light of Biblical and rabbinic precedent
• Devotion to Hebrew language, kashrut (at least nominally) and Shabbat, Isaac Leeser in early 1800’s, but not separation of sexes and other halakhic practices
• In 1880, all but 12 of 200 US synagogues were Reform, announced that kashrut was relative
Reconstructionist:L R. Mordecai Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein in 1920-40’s
• Variant of John Dewey’s naturalism in religious temrs: G-d is the sum of all natural powers that lead to self-fulfillment
• Halakhah is not law but folkways, non-binding custgoms, Hebrew prayer, Torah study, affirm Zionism
Jewish Renewal Movement, Reb Zalman 1960’s
• Mystically inflected, radically egalitarian, liturgically inventive, neo-Chasidic, in Catskills
• First to use feminine language to describe G-d
• Substitute sound of breath for YHVH, call everyone “reb”, some think of it as Judaism lite
May Messianic Judaism be known as a flame on the Menorah with the passion and zeal of God that we find in the Messiah Yeshua.
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