Trader Joe's to be targeted by anti-Israel boycott

The JFGC has the scoop.

The boycott is set for June 20!

What is in a Name?

As our note at the top of the print newsletter "The Shmooze Letter" states, "‘Shmooze’ is Yiddish for chatting with a friend." That’s the official take, but there's a little more detail to be given. For some people, this word emblazoned on our masthead may seem foreign, and the tiny note explaining the meaning may not really help. So what about this word "shmooze"?

According to Leo Rosten, author of The Joys of Yiddish, the word means "a friendly ... prolonged, heart-to-heart talk." He states, "I have never encountered a word that conveys ‘heart-to-heart chit-chat’ as warmly as does shmooze." Well, that's a high goal we've set!

Yiddish is a Germanic language spoken by the Jewish people throughout Eastern Europe, and one of many languages of the Jewish people throughout the centuries. While Yiddish had been dying out as a spoken language, it is now seeing a minor resurgance. In any case, it has extended a pervasive influence on American English ("that bagel looks stale," "you’ve got quite a lot of chutzpah," "that bagel tastes even more stale than it looks").

Now, many words in Yiddish come from Hebrew, and the Hebrew origins of ‘shmooze’ turn out to be fairly relevant. It actually comes from the biblical word shmu’ot, meaning "things heard," or reports (see Dan 11:44). So in a very famous passage of Scripture we read "Who has believed our report (shmu’ateinu), and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed" (Isaiah 53:1). From the same root of that word we get the Shema, meaning "Hear" with the sense of heeding and obeying: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deut. 6:4). Through sharing our through our newsletter and blog, our hope is that the good news of from our great God to Israel will be hearable.

There is also a pun lurking in the background. Sam’s name in Hebrew is Shmu’el, which can be shortened to Shmu, and so, "Shmu’s letter"="Shmooze Letter." However, we are assured that this pun came to mind after the fact.

(Picture above: An example of Yiddish text, in this case John 1. Yiddish is traditionally written in Hebrew characters. To receive the Shmooze Letter in print for free please email your info to pat @ wordofmessiah.org)

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Tradition and Torah intermixed

The Mishnah tells us all about the four cups (Pesachim 99b). But how much farther back does the tradition go? We know that Yeshua’s seder meal used the red wine to refer to His blood (Luke 22:20 - Christians know this as the "eucharist"). We also know that the same was used centuries before the time of Yeshua (for example, see the Book of Jubilees and Philo). Yet, we also know it is not in the Torah. What does this tell us? Some may draw from this that authority be given to the notion of Torah Shebe Al Peh (Oral Torah). But for those of us who have come to know the Messiah, the Living Word, it shows that we have freedom to incorporate our traditions, even as Yeshua did. For us, Messiah the Passover Lamb is the center and illumination, not only of the Scriptures, but also of Jewish history.

From the "studio"

(that is, Miriam's office with blankets tacked up to absorb sound)

Recording and producing my mom's music has really given me an appreciation for the talent God has blessed her with. There will be an EP of five songs available shortly called Bo'u Nishtachaveh and this should anticipate a full length to come out later this Spring. Be on the lookout for tracks to preview here! - Matt

Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved

Update via Jerusalem Institute of Justice:

Exactly almost one year ago, on March 20, 2008, 15-year-old Ami Ortiz stayed home from school. It was Purim – a Jewish festival in which holiday baskets are sent to friends and acquaintances to commemorate the Jews’ thwarting of Haman’s evil plot as recorded in the book of Esther in the Bible. To Ami’s delight, someone left a holiday package on the Ortiz family’s doorstep. When young Ami opened the package, it exploded in his face, filled his body with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel and left him in critical condition. Ami’s father, David, is a pastor of a Messianic community in the town of Ariel. Apparently, this was not an attempt to injure a fifteen year old boy, but rather an attempt to murder a minister of the gospel in Israel.

A police investigation was opened after the bombing. However, the Israeli police have been extremely indifferent and apparently negligent in conducting the inquiry. The surveillance cameras which had been installed by the Ortiz family actually managed to film the person who delivered the package. They handed this recording over to the authorities; but to their dismay, no arrests have been made and the police have refused to return the tape to the Ortiz family. A year after the tape was confiscated by the police and after repeated refusals by the police to release their property, the family brought the matter to court. With Ami and his parents present, the judge ruled to return the tape to the Ortiz family.

Last May, a day after a revealing expose on the issue was aired on Israeli television (Channel 1, "Yoman Shishi"), police contacted the Ortiz family asking them to resend many important documents pertaining to the investigation – the original copies had been lost. This proves that nothing had been done until the issue was brought to the media, two months after the actual event. Distinguished lawyers and representatives of pro-Israeli organizations have tried to bring this case before government officials. Promises have been made, but with no satisfactory results. It is suspected that a number of high-ranking officials and fundamentalist Rabbis in Israel are attempting to engage in a serious cover-up of the true situation.

We are concerned that if this type of violence against Messianic believers in Israel goes unchecked by the prosecuting authorities, it can create a slippery slope of violence towards the community. Fliers, showing pictures of Messianic leaders and congregational members have been have been circulated in every major city and many smaller settlements in Israel. These fliers contain a message to the public to be aware of these missionaries who are trying to steal the souls of Jews, and who masquerade as Jews but are not Jews. Names and addresses have been published under the pictures, which is against the law. In Ariel, the fliers were posted in every bus stop from Tel Aviv to Ariel, a distance of 45 kilometers. We do not know if the perpetrators of the bombing in the Ortiz home were the ones who published these fliers, but at the very least, the fliers incited and helped them to identify the family and their address.

It has been said that the test of a true democracy is the way it treats its smallest minority. We believe that legal status of the Messianic Jewish community is just a micro-cosmos of a much broader issue; namely, the treatment of non-orthodox Jewish citizens by the government of Israel. All citizens of Israel should be entitled to full and equal protection by law. When this is not the case, the very legitimacy of our state as the only democracy in the Middle East could be called into question. This would not be beneficial for the State of Israel, especially with the current winds of anti-Semitism blowing across the international arena.

Re-sold to the highest bidder?

Sadly I could not find The Feasts of Israel for 45.00$. But, there was a Messianic Answer Book going for 40$ and up!

Why not buy new from us for less? Who knows, if this continues we may have to dramatically increase our prices, just to be charitable to our competition! ;)

By the way, from the bookstore you can also Messianic Wisdom new for half the price that some re-seller on Amazon wants. Who would have thought?



So the lesson is: please support the ministry that produces these fine books rather than get taken by re-sellers on Amazon! :)

Buy it direct

The following is taken from a three-way email conversation had today.

Sam, where can I purchase a copy of your book THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL ? Mine was' borrwed' & never returned!! It was my most favorite book !! I'm heartbroken!! -Mark
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Mark ... you can order it from the shopping cart at www.wordofmessiah.org

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Mark,

the copy I had was all blue & just said THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL on it. I found one on Amazon (used) but they want $45.00 for it!! They said it was out of print.--Wendy

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Rejoice! We've reprinted them and added to them under the name "Messiah in the Feasts of Israel" --and much less than Amazon!

Get them while they last! -Sam

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YAY!!!!! Thanks so much for all your help!!!!

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Yea, Yeshua!!!!

It's our privilege to serve you for His sake!

Sam on the King of the Jews

Sam Nadler recently spoke with commentator Gregg Jackson about being Jewish and believing in "you know who."