Yeshua, High Star

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

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

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,

He is speaking to the very creation that He spoke into being. "Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth." May I get out of my self-centeredness for a moment? It is not immediately obvious that the Lord is addressing me personally. He has a message for the entire universe, corporate and public. Why does he address the heavens and the earth? Because He created them, and can thus address them as He pleases (Gen 1:1)?

"Listen"--The verb there harkens back to a key passage in the Torah.

Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad (Deut. 6:4)
Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

Veahavta et Adonai Elohiecha bechol levavcha uvchol nafshecha uvchol meodechaAnd you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might (Deut 6:5).

He is addressing the heavens and the earth because that is whom He has left to address. All He has left is the universe, the sum total of finite being. Since Israel is not listening, perhaps Creation will listen in her stead. Just some thoughts.