The Shmooze Blogger

Man Alive on Ynet

2008-05-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Video performance new Man Alive song. Kills.

A month old, but this may be new for you too.

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3511412,00.html

Don't know whether to laugh or cry

2008-05-02T09:12:00.001-07:00

Messianic alert threatens Bible quiz
04/29/2008
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/108308.html

An Israeli anti-missionary group warned that a messianic Jew could win the international youth Bible quiz in Jerusalem.

Yad L'Ahim, a group of fervently Orthodox Jews who combat missionaries in Israel, said Tuesday that a 17-year-old Jerusalem girl who is among four contestants in next week's Independence Day quiz belongs to a secret Christian sect.
The daily newspaper Yediot Achronot identified the girl, but Yad L'Ahim's claims about her religious affiliations could not immediately be confirmed.
Yad L'Ahim's chairman, Rabbi Shlomo Dov Lipschitz, called for religious Jews to boycott the quiz if the girl is not disqualified.

"Missionaries will be greatly encouraged by the fact that a member of their messianic Christian community has a chance of being the world champion and will exploit this, God forbid, to increase their efforts to convert people in Israel and the Diaspora," he told the newspaper.

The Education Ministry, which oversees the quiz, said it had looked into the complaint about the contestant and decided not to act because she is considered Jewish.

The girl's father, whose first name was not given, told Yediot, "If anyone tries to hurt my daughter, I believe that God will pay them back."

(hattip: ziporah weiss)

Kentucky Legislature Honors Ami Ortiz

2008-04-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

You can find this on the Kentucky Legislature site here.

A RESOLUTION adjourning the 2008 Session of the Kentucky House of Representatives in honor of Ami Ortiz, a world-class example of how one teen and his family have demonstrated God's love and forgiveness in the face of murderous religious persecution.

WHEREAS, at 2:30 p.m. On Thursday, March 20, 2008, a 15 year-old Ami Ortiz, the son of a well-known pastor in Ariel, Israel, miraculously escaped death when he opened a traditional "Happy Purim" gift loaded with explosives and delivered to his home by terrorists intending to frighten members of the tiny Messianic community into fleeing their homes, city, and nation; and

WHEREAS, a March 23 Jerusalem Post article reported that Ami's "neck had an eight-inch gash like someone slit his throat. He has a ruptured lung. Doctors had to operate on his tongue. He has second-degree burns to his chest and arms, and there is no flesh on the thighs." The article further disclosed that doctors amputated two of Ami's toes and are working to prevent the loss of his arms and legs and to remove fragments of nails, bolts, screws, and metal shards from his entire body, including his right eye; and

WHEREAS, prior to the murderous bombing of his home, Ami Ortiz, the youngest of David and Leah Ortiz's six children, had also endured, along with other family members, years of harassment and intimidation associated with anti-missionary efforts to frighten the family by throwing a Molotov cocktail at the family's car, vandalizing their property, demonstrations, threats, and distribution of hurtful flyers and "wanted" posters plastered around their town with the personal information about the Ortiz family; and

WHEREAS, Pastor Ortiz's ministry to both Arab and Jewish believers resulted in death threats from the Hamas terrorist organization in the mid-1990's for preaching the Gospel to Palestinian Muslims; and

WHEREAS, the Ortiz family has also received similar threats from certain ultra-Orthodox Jews, some of whom have been involved in anti-missionary efforts to outlaw the free expression of Messianic faith in Israel; and

WHEREAS, the latest attempt to murder the Ortiz family marks an escalation of physical attacks on Messianic Jews in Israel, following the fire-bombing of a Messianic house of prayer in Jerusalem several months ago, and the ongoing attacks in Arad; and

WHEREAS, prior to the bombing of the Ortiz home, the Messianic community complained that Israel's media have often under-reported, downplayed, or reframed the significance of deadly attacks on Jewish believers; and

WHEREAS, the evening following the attack on the Ortiz family, Israel's Channel 10 news unwittingly justified such attacks with the statement, "Where there are missionaries there will be anti-missionaries;" and

WHEREAS, a recent article on Ami Ortiz in the March 25 issue of The Jerusalem Post quotes Howard Bass, head of a Messianic congregation in Beersheba as saying there has been "very little sympathy for our plight. We get the feeling that nobody in Israel is willing to take a strong stand against violent, anti-missionary activity;" and

WHEREAS, just before Christmas in 2005, Bass' congregation was attacked by hundreds of demonstrators who received the backing of the local rabbinic leadership, the Post said. Another Messianic believer, Edwin Beckford, is under house arrest. Last Fall, arsonists set fire to Jerusalem's Narkis Street Baptist Church, which sustained minor damage; and

WHEREAS, the government of Israel's history of reluctance to aggressively prosecute anti-missionary terrorists who have attacked Messianic Jews and their congregations in Beersheba and Arad with the same zeal that Israel prosecutes other terrorists dehumanizes a religious minority and emboldens terrorists to believe that Messianic Jews are fair game; and

WHEREAS, the police and courts in Israel may soon face pressure by certain ultra-orthodox religious politicians in Israel's Knesset and government ministries to "go easy" on the perpetrators of this attempted murder of the Ortiz family because some of these politicians believe missionaries to be at fault for being a "severe provocation;" and

WHEREAS, in the face of death, Ami Ortiz called upon the Messiah Yeshua, and has continued to set the right example for all believers by embracing the words of Yeshua: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;"

NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Section 1. The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky hereby adjourns the 2008 Session of the Kentucky House of Representatives in honor of Ami Ortiz and his family for demonstrating the love and forgiveness of God in the face of murderous religious persecution.
Section 2. The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall send copies of this Resolution to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 3 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Jerusalem 91950; Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, Knesset, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91950; Mayor Ron Nachman, Ariel Municipality, Ariel City Hall, Ariel, Israel 40700; and Ambasador Sallai Meridor, 3514 International Drive N.W., Washington, DC 20008.

Is Chrsitianity Jewish?

2008-04-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sam Nadler featured on show by Michael Brown on the Jewishness of Christianity.

Miriam Nadler on Everyday Woman

2008-04-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

Miriam Nadler
explains the modern day relevance of Passover.

Simone Weil and Jewish Estrangement

2008-04-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

A film about Simone Weil is touring the South and coming to the Light Factory in Charlotte April 15 (next Tuesday). Who is Simone Weil? The film's promo identifies her as “one of the most compelling and contradictory spiritual thinkers of our times. A pacifist who fought in the Spanish Civil War, a former Marxist who discovered the value in religion, a Jew and a Christian who refused to be baptized.” From the parts of the interview with the filmmaker I listened to, the filmmaker who came to filmmaking through 'philosophy' was drawn to do a film on Weil because her 'outsider approach' to mystical Christianity produced a 'spirituality' that resonated with the 'practical' something-about-post-Marxist and liberalist thus-and-so... I admit that I got little lost as it got beyond my level. But I did find out that you pronounce her Simone Weil's last name "vey" (as in "oy-vey"), because that's how they roll in France.

Here is an overview on Weil's life by Jillian Becker. I found this much more insightful than the snippets or the interviews. In the part I am quoting from, the context is that the WWII Vichy regime in France had just denied her a teaching position because she was Jewish:

Rejection on the grounds that she was Jewish could not have come to her as a bolt from the blue, but as a bolt it struck her. She winced under it, smarted from its unfairness. Yet in the light of her temperament, her history, and her idealism, might one not fairly ask: why did she not see this hardship as a gift? Was this not her opportunity to come out strong? She who had for so long thought of herself as the champion of the oppressed, the comforter of the afflicted, who felt only for them and not for herself and desired so ardently to share in ther lot, to bear their anguish with them, was now almost inescapably one of them. She had the words to protest; she had the courage to endure; she had the intellect to perceive, analyze, understand, clarify the issue; and she had the will, a positive ardor, to suffer in the cause of suffering humanity. Compassion was her calling. So what might be expected of her now? At the very least, perhaps just to start with, she could publish a denunciation of the Vichy government and its craven collaboration with the Nazis in their policy of persecution and genocide. Had not the Jews a claim, at least as great as any other oppressed people if not at this moment greater, on those who routinely published protests against oppression and injustice? Now, would-be saint and martyr, now is your hour!

She did not seize it. She wrote to the government, and, yes, it was a letter of protest. She reasoned with them sharply against what she felt to be an injustice—one inflicted on Professor Simone Weil personally. Not one word did she say about the evil of anti-Semitism, not one word on behalf of the Jews who were being stripped of all they possessed, torn from their families, deported, imprisoned, starved, enslaved, tortured, and massacred. The letter was entirely and exclusively a complaint that the authorities had classed her as a Jew. She argued that to call her Jewish was an unfounded, unreasonable allegation.

I do not know the definition of the word, “Jew”; that subject was not included in my education. The Statute, it is true, defines a Jew as “a person who has three or more Jewish grandparents.” But this simply carries the difficulty two generations back. Does this word designate a religion? I have never been in a synagogue, and have never witnessed a Jewish ceremony. As for my grandparents—I remember that my paternal grandmother used to go to the synagogue, and I think I have heard that my paternal grandfather did likewise. On the other hand, I know definitely that both my maternal grandparents were free-thinkers. Thus if it is a matter of religion, it would appear that I have only two Jewish grandparents, and so am not a Jew according to the Statute. But perhaps the word designates a race? In that case, I have no reason to believe that I have any link, maternal or paternal, to the people who inhabited Palestine two thousand years ago… . I myself, who profess no religion and never have, have certainly inherited nothing from the Jewish religion… . I would say that if there were a religious tradition which I regard as my patrimony, it is the Catholic tradition. In short, mine is the Christian, French, Greek tradition. The Hebraic tradition is alien to me, and no Statute can make it otherwise.

Therein lies the problem: How could an encounter with the real, historical Yeshua not just stem from but even reinforce a total alienation from one’s Jewish identity? It seems to me that the tired “Jew/Christian” dichotomy by which the promo got my attention doesn‘t really give a contradiction at all. Rather, the contradiction lies in her refusal to recognize her own Jewishness, under the spell, not of the faith reflected by the Scriptures, but of a self-abasing Gnosticism.

Did she manifest or express some vital aspect of twentieth-century Zeitgeist that continues to haunt us? I think she did....she was, “at least by temperament,” a Cathar—Weil herself had declared that her religious beliefs were closest to these medieval dualistic heretics.

To her, as to them, the human soul was a moral battlefield where good and evil were locked in a time-long conflict. Like Gnostic thinkers, such as the Marcionites of the second century, she denounced the god of the Jews as a lesser and evil god, and sought to be reunited in spirit with the true but absent God, the God who is goodness itself, the Platonic ideal or essence of goodness.

Becker concludes, "If ... Simone Weil epitomizes the moral ideals of our time, then we are morally adrift in an era of darkness."

Pollard's Complexity

2008-01-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

by Matt Nadler

This article appeared in the Messianic Times under a different title.

To some, he was simply a loyal patriot caught in a political crossfire. To others, he was a bumbling and perhaps compromised idealist. Still others considered him a lying traitor. Regardless of one’s opinion, Jonathan Pollard has now been languishing in American prisons for over 20 years, with no end in sight. His charge was one count of passing classified information to Israel, an American ally. Now MK Zevulun Orlev wants to initiate a debate in the Israeli Knesset over Israel’s failures to get Pollard released.

Jonathan Jay Pollard (b. 1954) grew up a musical child prodigy in an affluent American Jewish family. From a young age he had a love for Israel, instilled by tradition, and affirmed by the Israel’s victory in the Six Day War. He studied philosophy and history at Stanford, and later law at Notre Dame. His dream, however, was to find a way to work for Israel - so much so he was known even to tell tales to his schoolmates that he already did work for Israel.

After Pollard was rejected for a job with the Mossad (Israeli Intelligence), he eventually landed a low-level position in the United States Intelligence, as part of their Naval Investigative Services, in the Anti-Terrorist Alert Center (ATAC). In the course of his work, Pollard came into information, incidental to his job, which he thought Israel should know, but wasn’t being told - for example, plans for an Iraqi weapons facility. A meeting with an Israeli government contact through mutual friend turned out to be his opportunity to spy, and during this time he eventually passed on many thousands of classified documents onto his handlers in the Israeli government.
Biographers of Pollard, like Wolf Blitzer (who wrote Territory of Lies), note that he was bound to get caught, but he expected in such an eventuality that he would be protected by Israel. When that day came in 1985, he did what his Israeli contacts had told him to do, speeding off with his wife to find asylum at the Israeli embassy in Washington. To their shock, they were forcefully turned away. He pled guilty as part of a plea bargain, with the assumption of leniency. The prosecutor recommended a life sentence, in violation of the plea bargain, and far over the median 2-4 years for those convicted of the same charge. His wife also served three years on the count of aiding him, being released on parole in March of 1990.

What happened? John Loftus, in his fascinating book The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People, speculated on the reasons behind his harsh sentence. On America’s part, there was indignation, and hence a desire to never see it happen again. Then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger wrote that it was difficult “to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by the defendant in view of the breadth, the critical importance to the United States and the high sensitivity of the information he sold to Israel” - this written in a brief the judge had read before deciding Pollard’s sentence. Many also suggest that Pollard’s defense team simply did not do its job. On the part of Israel, who did not come to Pollard’s aid, there was understandably much embarrassment that Pollard had been caught spying for them. The Mossad, who refused to hire him for any position because they considered him a “loose cannon,” “simply washed its hands and walked away.” Loftus even wrote that in the view of his sources, “Pollard screwed up their relationships with American intelligence and they hate him. The last thing the Mossad wants is for Pollard to be paroled, immigrate to Israel” - from which he has now received citizenship - “and write a book exposing even more American secrets.”

The situation is undoubtedly complex. Many have made the point that it is incorrect to consider Pollard a traitor, since by definition treason is must be aid given to enemies, not allies. The information Pollard delivered to Israel - including PLO headquarters in Tunisia, Syrian chemical warfare facilities, and Soviet Arms shipments - is undoubtedly important to a degree that is not always possible to ascertain from the outside. But one must also consider the plausible damage that his espionage caused to American security interests. Though the information itself was passed to an American ally - one who was entitled by a prior agreement to have information vital to its interests - it is impossible to know to what degree Pollard’s espionage may have compromised sources for American reconnaissance in countries not friendly to Israel.
Still, after 22 years, how long is long enough? Rabbi Russ Resnik, head of the UMJC, pointed out that while “there is much we do not know about this case,” nevertheless “it seems clear that Pollard has been imprisoned long enough and should be released.” “The Messianic Jewish community,” Rabbi Resnik noted, “should be concerned over the treatment that Jonathan Pollard has received, especially his disproportionate sentence and the Israeli government's lack of support for his release.” In light of the recent development with MK Orlev initiative, he affirmed that it was “appropriate for the Knesset to investigate the reasons for that lack of support.”

Review: Remnant Eleven - s/t

2007-09-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

A guitar plays its simple descending melody within a restless rumble of bass, drums, and warm keys, setting the stage for what is to come. Within a minute, we are seamlessly transported into the Jamaican dub of “By the Rivers of Babylon,” the Messianic sound-world envisioned by Remnant Eleven.

Indeed, it seems the unlikely culture of Jamaica has inspired much recent ‘Jewish music’ (cf. Matisyahu, Moshav). So is reggae and dub threatening to replace the more traditional templates of Eastern European folk, and, I don’t know, 'what have you' (by 'what have you' I mean 'Bar Mitzvah disco')? Is all the reverb soaking and rock-steady a passing craze or is it a welcome sea change? And, does it matter? Not really - it does not matter.

Remnant Eleven's bio says that they make “Messianic fusion.” In a sense, I suppose all Messianic music, if not all Jewish music, began as a kind of “fusion,” from Lamb in the early 70’s to today. However, in the case of this band – a group local to Philadelphia and members of Beth Yeshua congregation – the point of the label is that their excellence and energy make genre boundaries mostly irrelevant.

Anyway, back to the disc. “By the Rivers of Babylon” (which in an earlier recording was the single “Psalm 137,” which you can download here), brings out R11's collective musicality, led by Juan Argueta and Christopher Holden’s vocals. The following “B’yamim” suggests disco-funk, Carlos Santana, and even Shlomo Carlebach. The urgency comes through as they cry out in Hebrew and English: “again to be heard in Jerusalem/the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the Bride/these are the days and now is the time.” That track almost seems to end too quickly, at less than three minutes.

A touch of the Caribbean-via-Matisyahu sound system then comes back raw on “Silver and Gold,” which in the bridge deftly climbs towards a wholly different movement, as if to reach the heights of a Mute Math (or we could say, for our elder's sake, the Police) except in a Middle Eastern motif, all revealing the soul of a band that wants to praise HaShem. “Poor Rebellious Soul” mines soul-jazz territories (and many other lands) for all their worth, suggesting something of the band’s native Philadelphia, as Christopher Holden’s crisp tenor comes correct in worship of Adonai. “Hava Nasurf,” which I imagine could have started as a joke, turns out to be pure gold: a surprising and almost flawlessly executed instrumental version of Hava Nagila, arranged by keyboardist Jason Rich. The track offers much to enjoy between Argueta and Holden’s guitars, Rich’s ecstatic organ, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Salkind’s accordion (and bass, which I’m guessing he didn’t play at the same time), and Sam Shooster’s frenetic drumming – this is what one finds all through the CD. Segueing into the second half of the CD is the dynamic jazz-rock of “Beit,” culling some of its lyrics from Psalms. “Wine Cellar” gracefully matches Solomonic poetry to a felt blues not completely unlike that of John Mayer. Finally, closing out is the quite decent return of reggae with “Not Be Moved” and the jam blues of “Zeal.”

Overall, the sound has something of a live feel, with slight bumps on the twisty paths taken by the songs. This just adds character; in fact, practically every track here is proof of just what a remarkably strong debut this is. Indeed, as they continue to grow, focusing their energies and their song craft, they may be used by God to influence a whole generation for His glory. This seems to be in line with their vision: “We are all the sons of the promise, like the stars in the sky/ And though we’re scattered to so many nations/ God will raise us up high…”
Click here to buy from CD Baby:

(The writer of this review would like to mention that he has never met the dudes in the band, though he is hoping for lots of free t-shirts and stuff)

Meshichim and Nozrim

2007-03-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Israeli believers in this news clip stress that they are lo nozrim – which I had to translate somewhat imprecisely as "not Christians." The concern might arise with some Bible believers, and indeed has, that they are trying to hide or mask their true identity in Yeshua. In biblical terms, are they denying of themselves the New Covenant concept christianous (also translated in English as "Christians” or in the singluar, “Christian,” found in Acts 11:26 and 1 Pet. 4:16)? The concern is understandable, and so I must clarify that they are not denying that. Why do I say that?

It might help to understand that in contemporary Hebrew translations of Acts 11:26 and 1 Pet. 4:16 (for example, in Delitzch (DHNT) and the Modern Hebrew New Testament (MHNT)), the greek word christianous is translated as meshichim, i.e. "Messianics." It is not translated nozrim. So from the Hebrew it could read like this, "and the disciples were first called Messianics in Antioch," and "if one suffers as a Messianic." And really, “Meshichi” gets closer to what Bible believers mean by "Christian" than nozrim does, even though the word “nozrim” is used more often in Israel. By using the better as opposed to the more easily recognized Hebrew term, the Israeli believers are embracing the biblical terminology and concepts, so as to boldly testify about Yeshua in an authentically biblical way.

I was surprised when I looked in my pocket Hebrew-English dictionary under the word "Gentile," where the second Hebrew word for it, just after "goy," is "nozri" (singular of nozrim, pronounce the 'z' like the 'z' in 'pizza'). In other words, to a modern Hebrew speaker, saying “nozri” can basically be another way of saying "Gentile." Now, we should drop any prejudices we might have about the word "Gentile"; the fact is that God loves the Gentiles (the nations) and has blessed them through the Jewish Messiah (Gen 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Luke 2:32; Acts 11:18; 13:46; Rom. 11:13). Moreover, the Gentiles, together with the Jewish people, are essential to the body of Christ from a biblical perspective, as part of the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:11-22). But the point that this shows is that the word nozri stands for a foreign religion, which faith in Yeshua was never meant to be for a Jewish perspective (Luke 1:54-55, John 4:22). Indeed, one cannot even have the commonwealth of Israel (to be including the Gentiles), if you were to take Israel out of the picture. So the believers there choose to explicitly express that they are a part of the biblically Jewish, Israeli-born faith in the Messiah of Israel. (This is something that all believers, Jew and Gentile, should see as an imperative to express - Rom 1:16; 11:11).

The Hebrew phrase yehudim meshichim - Messianic Jews - has been around in the land as long as Israel, and even before the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. But the term was unknown to most Israelis until recently, only because Jewish believers in Jesus have been few in number there. Naturally, all these terminology issues (just like the symbolism of putting up the mezuza, and not a crucifix) fascinate the media in Israel, because it shows that this group simply cannot fit into a preconceived box. Thus, the media focused on that aspect of the interviews and footage.

So, to summarize:

--The term for believers in Yeshua found in Israeli Bibles is usually Meshichim.

--Believers usually reject the term Nozrim, because, while it may be the most common term for "Christian," it also evokes a non-Jewish religious institution that has nothing to do with the Messiah or people of Israel.

--Deriving from the biblical terminology, in general they call themselves Yehudim Meshichim, in parallel to Jewish believers worldwide who call themselves 'Messianic Jews'.

Now, I don't mean to imply that semantics is or should be a 'really big deal' for believers in Israel. However, it was a 'big deal' for the media there, because the different terms/symbols was intriguing in itself, and likewise it can be for Gentile believers outside Israel, because of the attachment to the label "Christian."

R. Deri on Messianic Jews: "the spiritual danger that threatens us today more than ever"

2007-03-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

I received the following from Howard Bass, a pastor in Beersheva, who wisely urges that the following be made known:

This case is not against Israel or against the Jewish people. It is not to be used in any way to foment or promote anti-Israel or anti-Jewish actions or reactions. It is already known through the Scriptures that Israel is presently opposed to the good news of God, so we are not out to make them an enemy. Nor is our legal action intended to be used by any other minority or religious groups in Israel to encourage or affirm anti-Israel/Jewish sentiment. For the sake of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, Israel and her people are beloved by God the Father for His honor and glory, and for the honor and glory of His Son.

I share Howard's concern and sentiment, and hope that nothing more needs to be said on that.

THE RABBINATE AGAINST "THE MESSIANICS"
22 Feb 07, Sheva Magazine, translated from Hebrew

The Chief Rabbinic Council for Israel decided in its meeting last Monday (20 February) to establish a special committee for "War Against the Mission Throughout the Country."

The initiator of the matter, the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva and a member of the Council, the Rabbi Yehuda Deri, notes that he, [along with] Rabbi Simcha Ha-Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot, and Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, the Chief Rabbi of Ra'anana and former Chairman of the Shas movement and Minister of the Interior, will work on the matter, within the framework of the Committee, by holding meetings with Members of Parliament (Knesset), acting to change the law regarding missionary work, cooperating with rabbis in the battle of this matter, and working with the police in enforcing the existing law, which forbids changing [of one's] religion. Rabbi Deri noted in the meeting of the Council that activities of the sect "the Messianic Jews," in Beer Sheva in particular and in the country generally, is "the spiritual danger that threatens us today more than ever", and presented different instances of activities of members of the sect throughout the country, in which he emphasized the fact that the Chief Rabbinate has not yet expressed its opinion on the matter. Among other things, the Rabbi told about the baptism of 15 Jews on one Sabbath (Saturday) about two months ago at [an Exhibition Hall] in Tel Aviv.

The Chief Rabbinic Council discussed the issue of the filing of another lawsuit in the Magistrate's Court in Beer Sheva against Rabbi Deri by persons of the sect, this time for [financial] compensation, for offenses against activities of "the Messianic Jews" during a mass demonstration led by the Rabbi about one year ago in which there was violence. Rabbi Deri reported at that time to Sheva [newspaper] that a few hotheads arrived at the demonstration site before him and engaged in violent acts, which were stopped immediately by him. The Rabbi is certain that the lawsuit is "a stepping up and an opening of a frontline war, which is intended only to frighten him and to restrict his steps in his uncompromising battle unprecedented in its scope against the sect's activities."

By the way, Rabbi Deri mentions with praise the success of his latest initiative to enforce the decision of the local rabbinate, according to which about 300 restaurants in the city that enjoy the supervision of the rabbinate will use only worm-free vegetables, except for cabbage. In his words, "Not one of the business owners had to give up his kosher license in the follow-up to apply the decision, which is an increase of ten degrees in the field of food acceptability. Other cities in the country can only be jealous of this outstanding precedent."

Yeshua, High Star

2007-02-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

News segment on Messianic Jews and their situation in Israel. The outlet is as mainstream Israeli as it gets, yet the treatment was informative and reasonably sympathetic.

*********

YESHUA HIGH STAR
(Yeshua Kochav Elyon)

Opening song lyrics: "With all my heart I will praise you…"

Mom: Who wants to pray?

Girl: I will.

Mom: Good.

Girl: Our Father, Who is in heaven,
Thank you for this wonderful day that you have given us.
Thank you for the rain that came down from heaven.
Bless all the people that are traveling by car, that nothing should happen to them,
In the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Amen.

Family: Amen.

The Ronen family begins dinner in their home in moshav (settlement) Yad HaShmona.
They are Israelis, sons of Israelis, properly Jews according to the halakha (Jewish law),
that believe in Yeshu – Yeshua, as they strictly call him.

Ayelet Ronen: It is a contradiction until one starts to check …I also was brought up in it, but somehow expanded in faith. And what we believe so much is this: that Yeshua is Jewish, from our own, He is Israeli. This was settled for me – settled for me well – and I understood that this is a living and true thing.

Like the Ronen family, residents of the moshav Yad HaShmona believe in Yeshu. They call themselves hayehudim hameshichim ("the Messianic Jews"). They stressed again and again that they are not nozrim ("Christians").

Ayelet: There isn't any connection to the Christian establishment (memsad hanozrim). We are Jews in every sense. We are Israelis. This is as sure as can be. What is more, we also have no connection to our religious establishment in the land.

Daniel Ronen: "Nozri"("Christian") puts you at once in a religious box that I don't belong in. I belong to a faith in Yeshua the Messiah.

In the spirit of these words, in Yad Shmonah there are no Christian symbols – not in the private homes, nor in the prayer house.

--Hi, Tzuri

--Alon

--Shall we enter the house?

--Please.

But, as in the house belonging to the settlement secretary, Tzuriel bar David, so also in the other houses, obvious Jewish symbols especially stand out.

--What catches my eye…

Tzuri: Yes?

--…is that you have a mezuza.

Tzuri: Correct. In the end, it is perhaps difficult to understand, but from our point of view we are Jews in every sense. This is correct that we … among our people, there are some that dismiss this completely. But I - all of my foundation is the Tanakh, all of my foundation is God, and the prophecies, and the words. This is what I am striving for. This is what I believe. And I have no – how do you say… contradiction with these things, also with these symbols.

--As learned, all the things that are dealt with in the Tanakh…for example, brit milah, applies to you as well.

Tzuri: Of course. Of course.

--And your children – you have a son, correct?

Tzuri: Correct.

--So he is also circumcised, I am guessing.

Tzuri: Correct.

--So wait a sec, how did this happen? What, you called a mohel?

Tzuri: Yeah.

--Really?

Tzuri: Yeah.

--And the mohel, this wasn't any problem for him?

Tzuri: He took a lot of money, but no, it wasn't a problem…

[laughter]

(family sings, "I will bless the Lord at all times…")

The Messianic Jews at once treat the Tanakh and the New Covenant as holy, and above all they believe that Yeshu is the Son of God and Messiah.

("…always I will praise him with my mouth")

For decades, congregations like these have been realized in many places in Israel, usually in secrecy, sometimes even concealment.

The environment often finds it difficult to digest them. Even the friends in school cause hostility.

Achinoam Ronen: Every time that they would pass by us, they would say to us, "Ya Nozrim!" and all sorts of things like these…

Ariel: But since we are not exactly Nozrim, they continually can come upon us, call us "sons of whores" – this name is the threatening curse in our case.

Yonaton Bar-David: I remember from spring that a company from the towns here, someone came out that was talking with me, and asked me if I believed in "Yeshu." I said, "no." But then after this I persuaded myself – I said to him: "I don't believe in Yeshu; I believe in Yeshua."

Ayelet encountered in her time additional requests. .

Ayelet: This was exactly the period of the first Gulf War, and I was in an officer's course for the last summoning, fifth officer's class, exactly as the summoning of the final stage. Correct, they took me from the field security course for trusting in the truth. And I was terribly hurt, because my father and all my aunts and uncles are officers in the IDF, and we fought in the wars, and suddenly a thing like this happens.

Since then, the establishment, in the foundation of the establishment, changed its stand.

(pointing to photo) Tzuriel: This is in fact Yonaton's reserve training…and, I don't know…this is a troop…

Yonaton: Yes, my troop…

Tzuriel: If you consider the people here from the moshav, our family, everyone: they are all combat soldiers, if not reconnaissance. So everyone always will try to give what he can get where he can. And also you examined from Tanakh itself and our writings, the New Covenant and everything. We are required to be faithful to the state, and to serve her.

Tzuri serves in a special unit; Yonaton is a deputy commander of a paratrooper division. The two of them participated in the most difficult combat in the second Lebanon war.

But of course, this does not all convince groups of Haredim that fight them in a war of annihilation.

Man: This way they pass small children to Christianity! They give them pretty clothes, and bread, and food, and after this say to them: "Come, bow down to Yoshke, the bastard!"

This is the commonality that Gur Chassidim in Arad organized against the local congregation.

Man: Here Rebecca Prei came from a Haredi family, they kidnapped her, made her Christian…
2nd man: They kidnap children and change them to Christianity. Stay far away from them!

But when the faith blazes, there isn't anything that will stop the phenomenon. In the latest years there is rumored growth about the numbers of congregations of the Messianic Jews. They speak of at least about 15 congregations in Jerusalem alone. Even in this region, bordering the haredi neighborhood, several congregations of Messianic Jews are active.

Leader: Come, I will ask you again: who came…ready to praise the Lord?

(song: "My eyes see your salvation, the banner of your people Israel, my eyes see your salvation, Yeshua!")

This congregation "Shemen Sason," one active in the center of Jerusalem, in contrast to all the other congregations that face them, agreed to be exposed on film. This congregation has grown in two years from 60 believers to about 200. Many of the new members are youth, children of the land, a part of them from traditional homes.

--Your mother's family do not know…grandfather and grandmother? Are they in contact with you or…

Dana: Grandmother, yes, despite it being very very hard for her. My grandfather does not know.

--He does not know.

Dana: My mom does not want him to know.

Yaron: My mom said to me: "Maybe do not try to stand out in the pictures" and so on, "They know me; they know who I am." (smiling wide)

The perplexity of the parents is not considered to be against the faith, which blazes on its own.

Person praying: – Lord, we thank you that you are a great God.

Person 2: Amen.

Person 1: That you are a living God and true God, Lord.

person 3: You are so beautiful, my beloved, most wonderful. We love you so much, Lord,

Person 1: Amen.

Praise is a central foundation in the place of the Meshichim. Everyone prays as he feels or does not feel. There is no prayer text required.

We request from you Lord, that you give wisdom and not partiality, that you will give to our leaders wisdom. Fill the sea of Galilee, we ask.

(singing: in morning and in evening, in joy and in sadness, I will praise you Lord continually...)

It is important for them not to be accused of "missionary activity," but it is also important that their truth is made known.

Tzuri: I say, if I know this, and I believe in this, why don't other people at least hear about this, in order to be competent to choose? The choice is theirs. I am not… my responsibility is that they hear.

(praise song)

They want us to know that their faith makes them fit for this land, that there isn't a contradiction according to their faith between the New Covenant and the Tanakh; to the contrary, that it is possible to pray to Yeshu (Yeshua, in their tongue), and in parallel, to receive the Shabbat as they have received her in millions of Jewish homes, in the wide spaces of the world.

(Song: Shalom Aleichem)

Writer: Shlomo Raz

Daniel Pipes at UC-Irvine

2007-02-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

The following presentation by Daniel Pipes is worth watching for two reasons. First, it gives excellent insight into the topic of Israel's threatened existence. Second, the events of the talk itself manage to illustrate how those threats are supported in the university.

Here is the 54 minute talk, from beginning to end. The disruption begins at 15:09, and the talk resumes at 17:25.

This shorter video gives a different perspective of the night. First, there is 5:42 minutes of Pipes, then the disruption, and then the videotaper follows the disrupters outside as they continue. At 12:00, we hear the leader say, "it's just a matter of time before the State of Israel will be wiped off the face of the map," in response to which the crowd - which as Pipes noted was "self-exiled, standing in the dark and the cold" - yells "Allahu akhbar."
Meanwhile, those who remained in the auditorium chanted "Am Yisrael Chai." Most definitely.

Reviews of Misquoting Jesus

2007-01-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

Last year to now is like 1920 to 1950. Still this book is popular, and as it occurred to me that I meant to send a friend these links, I might as well share them with the world.

Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus is meant to be an lay introduction to textual criticism, and it was quite popular. It also suffers from bias. This is not at all surprising to me. I took his Introduction to New Testament while at UNC-Chapel Hill. Even to a freshman like myself, it was obvious how opinions were being shaped by the bias of a professor.

Daniel Wallace is an accomplished scholar in the areas that Ehrman wrote on. As I read it a month or so ago in a journal, I thought, it would be cool if this was on the internet. So it is.

While we are at it, here is one by another well-renowned scholar and UNC alum and blogger Ben Witherington. Enjoy.

Something to think about.

2006-08-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

There is an ethical problem at the root of our philosophical difficulties; for men are most anxious to find truth, but very reluctant to accept it. We do not like to be cornered by evidence, and even when truth is there, in its impersonal and commanding objectivity, our greatest difficulty remains; it is for me to bow to it in spite of the fact that it is not exclusively mine, for you to accept it thought it cannot be exclusively yours. In short, finding out truth is not so hard; what is hard is not to run away from truth once we have found it. When it is not "yes but", our "yes" is often enough a "yes, and"; it applies much less to what we have just been told than to what we are about to say. The greatest among philosophers are those who do not flinch in the presence of truth, but welcome it with the simple words: yes, Amen.
-- Etienne Gilson, Historian of Philosophy

In the above quote, I think that one could easily replace "theological" or "political" (etc.) for "philosophical."

Oh, and, we're back online with blogs.

Holiday teachings

2005-10-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

I thought I would reinagurate our blogging with some fall feast links. Learn why sacrifices don't come cheap here. Be encouraged for the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles. And while we are at it, Happy New Year!

Ten Questions about Messianic Identity

2005-06-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

I often recieve questions about my identity. Here are some.

1. What is a Messianic Jew?

A Messianic Jew is a Jew who believes that Jesus (henceforth Yeshua) is the Messiah.

2. Is that like a Christian?

Um...I guess it would be *like* that, yes.

3. So you're not Jewish anymore.

That's a declarative sentence. What shall I do now.

4. Oops. So how are you still Jewish, then?

Because belief in Yeshua does not remove Jewish identity, and we happen to think its the most Jewish thing you can do. He is the Jewish Messiah.

5. How do other Jews who don't believe in this Yeshua feel about you guys?

For the most part, not so well. The Orthodox consider us 'meshumdim', or traitors, and many more think we have abandoned the true Jewish faith, deceptively dressing up Christianity as a valid Jewish option, whereas they argue that its anything but. Some more 'liberal' Jews are willing to tolerate us, some even engaging in dialogue. But that's more an exception to the rule.

6. Aren't they right? About you being traitors and decievers and all that?

No. We have been rejected by the mainstream Jewish community, to be certain. Also, it is true that they do *feel* betrayed by us. But the feelings of the majority do not determine truth. We serve in the Israeli army (for those who live in Israel), celebrate the Jewish feasts, circumcise our sons, and want to see our children grow up Jewish.

7. Yeah, but they will be fake Jews.

You're doing it again.

8. Right. Sorry. Won't they just be fake Jews?

No. For Messianics, if your mother or father is Jewish, you're a real Jew (Orthodox and Conservative Jews go by the mother only; Messianics and Reform go by either parent). You can hide, pretend it isn't there, but it won't change the facts. Belief in Jesus doesn't alter it either.

9. You are just equivocating on the word "Jew," right? Everytime we ask, we mean religiously, and when you answer you go by ethnicity. Isn't that illogical?

There might have been equivocation, so let's fix that now. Ethnically, a Jew is defined according to the above. Religiously, there is a debate. Messianics think that Yeshua's claims to be the Messiah actually correspond to the facts--for Jews and everyone else. Jews who don't believe in 'that man' obviously differ on this point. So the question is whether what the New Covenant (also called the New Testament) says about Yeshua is true. If it is, Messianic Jews are Jewish religiously. If it isn't, then they aren't. But, ethnically, they would be Jewish in either case.

So, in the end, it is those who would say that Messianic Jews somehow *can't* be Jewish who are confusing you. Either they mean we cannot be Jewish religiously (and so avoid the real issue behind the claim, which is whether or not Yeshua actually is the Messiah), or they mean we are no longer Jewish ethnically (in which case their claim is wrong).

10. What's your problem? Why do you waste your time trying to say you're Jewish?

Because its a fact, and we seek to speak the truth. Moreover, we find what the Bible says about God's love and promises toward the Jewish people to be compelling. Therefore, it is part of an authentic testimony for Jewish believers to maintain their identity in Yeshua.

Messianic Jews persecuted in Israel

2005-06-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

The following article appeared in the largest Hebrew newspaper in Israel, Yediot Acharonot. Translated by Maoz Israel with permission.

Caleb Myers (see interview below) is representing our case in Jerusalem (whereas we were unjustly harrased for our faith by the Ministry of Interior--in my case, deported; in my father's case, attempted and official deportation, though he was let in a day later.) We praise God for this article--illustrating the unique difficulties of Jewish democracy trying to understand its religious identity. Click here.

Is jury duty an absolute?

2005-05-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

I had jury duty, and got called for a real trial. Assault with a deadly weapon, two counts. One isn’t allowed to “weigh” the evidence of the case until after the trial is over. So during the downtime, we the jury make conversation.

About what, you may ask? Favorite TV shows are an important component, and that can maintain interest for a few minutes. Someone had the idea to go around and say what we did for a living. Real estate agents, bouncers, construction workers, homemakers. After things became more familial, it came out that I was writing a paper on absolute truth. This was because there was a lull in the conversation, and I said,

“So I am writing this paper on absolute truth, and its really interesting to me how the courts depend on the concept…” or something equivalent in psychotic expectations to communally philosophize.

One man bit, “what is absolute truth?”

I responded, quoting another, “Absolute truth is what is true for all persons, places, and times.”

Our bouncer leaned back in his chair and mused, “well, that doesn’t exist at my house.”

Fighting the urge to quibble, I only replied, “but might it exist nonetheless?” And things moved on to the current state of the home-buying market.

Full-on epistemological relativism--the belief that differing determinations of the truth of a proposition cannot be arbitrated between two or more standards, leading to a proposition that can only be "true-for-you"--is too easy a target. I do not want merely to bring up the classic charges of self-refutation (undermines the very notion of rightness) and incoherence (since some beliefs are necessarily false) Both charges have led to convictions since Plato, and are there on record when needed. So let's just clarify its reasonable alternative.

There really is only one *reasonable* alternative, and it’s rather vast. Yet, we so often find ourselves, both as ordinary humans and as ivory-tower drive shafts, between two grossly unreflective and practically brainwashed options, neither of which see the vast middle where all we rightfully belong. In this case, it is between full-on relativism and “vulgar” absolutism, as some of the technicians called it. I define “vulgar” absolutism as an embracing of fact-certainty, dogmatism, incorrigibility, or some other unlikable quality that drives people away to a paint-by-numbers critique of a non-existent worldview. While both are unedible to the soul's palette, when faced with the Nazi/Communist-either/or, even the thinking person might go with the path of least popular resistance--its all relative.

Absolutism, as I see it (in its “graded” or non-vulgar sense), is really a call to inquiry. All it requires is an object of inquiry, that is, something about which to inquire. If there is something there (and not just in there, in your head), then that’s a very good start. We have something to talk about. We can ask questions like “what is it?” and “how did we know that?” We may revise our answers later, for a variety of good reasons. We may even revise our reasons, and the criteria for what counts as reasons.

Regarding the object, we still face several immediate problems, clear to even a lugnut like myself. For example, how is it that the object itself is seen, when it is seen through subjective concepts, perspectives, thoughts, and so on?

But that’s really the point. They are problems. Fun problems. As problems, they are difficult and maybe even interesting for an absolutist. But for someone who has accepted an full-on relativism, an easy and unconvincing answer has already been put forth. We don’t have any real public object. In the words of Plato's well-intentioned student who recieved needed correction, "knowledge is perception." You will just think whatever you happen to think (as coddled by thoughts, concepts, frameworks, and worlds-within-worlds-within-worlds-within-worlds). The relativist disputes the existence of public criteria for evaluating the truth of statements that can be made about the object. The absolutist doesn’t dispute that, because to dispute that is to render the possibility of disputation meaningless.

So, can we talk? Is there really something to talk about? We have reached a verdict, your honor.

listening and not listening

2005-05-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

I was looking today at Isaiah 1:2, in the context of the first two chapters.

Is. 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth;
For the LORD speaks,