Kineti L'Tziyon

Weekly Bracha #5

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:07:00 +0000

Holy belated blog post, Batman! I usually post the weekly bracha each weekend. This week’s post is 2 days late.

Seeing it’s late, I considered skipping this week’s bracha, but there are several excellent posts this past week, and I just had to shine the light on them.

So, here we are, this [past] week in the Messianic, Jewish, and Christian blogosphere:

Who is Saved? – This gem is of particular interest. It asks a question that has a profound impact on theologies we take for granted:

In mainstream Christianity, the idea of being “saved” means that a person is rescued from slavery to their sins and from the consequences of sin, which is death, and is free to worship the Son of God and have everlasting life. To attain salvation as a free gift, all a person needs to do is accept “Jesus as Lord” and in fact, there is no other way for any human being to be saved but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

This is something of a thorny issue when applied to the Jewish people, since Christianity has Judaism at its root and in fact, the Torah, Prophets, and the Writings (collectively known as the Tanakh in Judaism and the Old Testament in Christianity) make up fully two-thirds of the Christian Bible. For many, many reasons, too numerous to mention in this article, Jews have felt that accepting Jesus as the Messiah was the same as betraying God and entering the practice of polytheism (three “gods” instead of the One). If Christianity is so specifically exclusive regarding non-Christians, putting the shoe on the other foot, how does Judaism view the spiritual state of everyone who is not Jewish?
Whose Rabbis? – Uh oh. Ready yourselves for a good ol’ fashioned internet smackdown.

A Jewish Christian’s critical look at the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) inspires a huge internet fight in the comments: 100 comments at the time of this writing! In the comments, the blog authors, several Christians, and several Messianic bloggers including Seth from JudeoXian, myself, influential Messianic Jewish rabbi Stuart Dauermann, and others debate and argue everything from whether having rabbis is good for the Messianic movement, to whether the Torah has any relevance. Even the popular Messianic blogger Derek Leman is lambasted in the blog post, though Derek refused to participate in the debate. (Probably a wise decision.) Come one, come all, for a rare sight: I actually defended Derek Leman, Rabbi Dauermann, and the MJRC on this one.
Christmas and the Virgin Birth – Honored Messianic teacher Daniel Lancaster discusses the virgin birth of Yeshua, Christianity’s exaggeration of this event, and the significance of Yeshua being born of a virgin.
Nachman’s Messiah and Yeshua of Nazareth – Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the 18th century rabbi and founder of the Breslov Hasidic Jewish dynasty, had his own ideas about Messiah, and as it turns out, they’re not so different from the reality of Yeshua’s life.
A Note on the Canon – A previous post from the JudeoXian bloggers sparked a discussion on the canonicity of the New Testament. Here, Seth talks about the Church Fathers and the Messianic movement’s traditionally-negative view of them.
Haggadah for the Birth of Messiah – Derek Leman has put together a haggadah for the birth of Yeshua in time for Christmas. Yes, it’s unlikely Messiah was actually born on December 25th (indeed, only a minority of scholars, mostly Christian, would assert this position), but nonetheless, this work has practical application for Messianics that celebrate Christmas.

While I don’t celebrate Christmas with my family, my wife’s family does, and we celebrate with them for family unity’s sake. Thus, I can appreciate practical materials like this. Kudos to Derek for the time & effort he invested into this work.
Stuff Christian Culture Likes – A merry heart does good like a medicine, right? I hope you’re not easily offended: this blog pokes fun at Christian culture, something many Messianics embrace. Here’s a sample:

With the passing of Oral Roberts, so dies a tiny piece of televangical history which played such a part in creating the manifold Christian culture we all enjoy today.

At least Oral Roberts University is still going strong, and with it the delicious irony of earnest Christian parents sending their kids to a college with the word "oral" in the name.
Jewish Exorcism Record Discovered – Jewish Journal discusses the recently-discovered, 1000 year old Hebrew exorcism texts that describe a ceremony to expel dybbuk – evil spirits – from a Jewish widow named Qamar Bat Rahma.
Chanukah Hate Hijinx – The IsraellyCool blog documents some minor anti-Jewish incidents that arose over the 8 days of Hanukkah.
Tzedakah, Righteousness – Faith-based Works blogger digs to find the deeper meaning behind justice and righteousness.
12 Days of Jesus Junk – Run a religious blog or website? HealYourChurchWebsite offers a list of the “Fast Five” things to remember when building your page. A good number of religious websites and blogs would do well to listen to this wise techie wisdom.

Podcasts
Yeshua as Messiah – Derek Leman talks about Jewish and Christians perspectives of the Messiah and how Yeshua fits into all this.

Video blogs
Acts 15 Midstudy Thoughts – Messianic apologist John McKee has been doing a multi-month study on the Acts 15 ruling on whether gentiles should keep the Torah. Here, John breaks from his podcast study and discusses his thoughts on the text so far:

The Greatest Commandments, Part 9

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:07:00 +0000

This is part of a series of posts that studies each of the commandments in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Jewish and Christian bibles), then maps them in a massive visual hierarchy that details their interconnected nature.

Have a look at:

This week we’ll be mapping commandments found in Deuteronomy 13, all of which pertain to idolatry. This will be a bigger chunk to bite off than normal, as we’ll be discussing and mapping 12 commandments in all.

No Inciting Cities To Idolatry

If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not known), then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

-Deuteronomy 13:12-15

This commandment isn’t spelled out explicitly in the text, but is inferred from the context, and rightfully so. Maimonides extracts the commandment: “don’t incite a city in the land to idolatry”.

Last week we introduced a new datum for each of the commandments: CanBeCarriedOutOnlyInIsrael. This comes in handy this week, as some of this week’s commandments are meant to be carried out only in Israel.

This commandment is no exemption, predicated on occurring in “one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in”, i.e. an Israelite town.

I have derived this commandment from the “no enticing others to worship idols” commandment, which is discussed below:

Burn the Idolatrous City

Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God.

-Deuteronomy 13:16a (13:17 in Jewish bibles)

Another commandment that could be carried out only in Israel (and indeed, I can’t think of a time in history where this has actually been carried out!), is the commandment to burn the idolatrous city, along with all its plunder, as an offering to the Lord.

I find the “offering to the Lord” part curious. We typically think, in our modern understanding, that offerings to the Lord are usually pleasant things: sacrifice of praise. Offering of thanks-giving. Or even, a pleasing incense from the altar on which a ram or other animal was offered.

Here, we have something which opposes that idea: a whole town, and all the plunder in it, as an offering to God. Not exactly a pleasing incense! This changes my own personal thinking on the concept of sacrifices and offerings.

We deem this commandment as deriving from the above “no inciting a city to idolatry”:

No Rebuilding the Idolatrous City

It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.

-Deuteronomy 13:16b (13:17 in Jewish bibles)

After the city and its plunder is burnt as offering to God, the city is never to be rebuilt!

Quite the instruction. I wonder if either this commandment and its associated commandments have ever been carried out.

I imagine this is one of those “limit commandments” – if things get really bad (entire cities worshipping idols), drastic measures are in order. This commandment, I imagine, is to stand as a warning for future generations: things got so bad, the whole city had to be destroyed, and here are the ash heaps.

I still wonder – has it ever got this bad? And if so, was this measure really carried out? I’d be surprised if it were.

We deem this commandment deriving from the “burn the idolatrous city” commandment:

No Benefiting From Destroyed Idolatrous City

None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

-Deuteronomy 13:17 (13:18 in Jewish bibles)

We’re still not done with this “things have gone down the crapper, and whole cities are worshipping idols” bit:

A whole city was lead astray into idol worship.
We burned the city.
Burned the plunder.
Never rebuilt the city.

…and now, we cannot take anything from the city as our own. All of it must be burned entirely.

Footnotes to this commandment suggest the Hebrew term of “destroying completely” here refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD. This suggests again the whole city going up as an offering to God.

Thus, we deem this commandment deriving from the “burn idolatrous city” commandment:

No Enticing Others to Worship Idols

Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

-Deuteronomy 13:11 (13:12 in Jewish bibles)

The ancestor commandment of all the above commandments is this: “no enticing others to worship idols”.

This commandment isn’t spelled out exactly in the text, but it’s apparent from all the explicit commandments that leading others to idolatry has dire results.

We derive this commandment from “no worshipping idols”:

No Loving Idolators

Do not yield to him [the idolator] or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.

-Deuteronomy 13:8 (13:9 in Jewish bibles)

Maimonides derives 5 commandments from this verse. The first commandment is to “refrain from loving the idolator”.

Not to love the idolator is a debatable interpretation, as it’s not explicitly spelled out in the text or the context, but I can see how it could be interpreted that way, so I’ve stuck with the wise sage’s wisdom here.

I’ve derived this commandment from the “no idols” general commandment, which has now seen numerous child commandments:

No Yielding To Idolators

The second commandment derived from Deut. 13:8 is to not yield to idolators.

This is my personal interpretation, which differs from Maimonides’ interpretation. His interpretation goes,

“Do not cease from hating the idolator.”

-Maimonides’ interpretation of Deut. 13:8

I find this interpretation to be questionable, and quite the stretch on words.

First, there is no mention of hating the idolator. It might be construed that way, but it is debatable. Is “not loving” the same as “hating”? It’s my personal opinion that there is something in between loving and hating.

Second, to not cease hating him as an additional requirement of this commandment is yet more of a stretch; there isn’t anything about prolonging your non-love, or even your hate, of the idolator from the surrounding texts.

Thus, this is one of those rare times I’ve had to default to my own interpretation. I’ve deemed this commandment as deriving from the above “do not love the idolator”:

No Pitying Idolators

The third commandment pulled from Deuteronomy 13:8 is another explicit explanation of what it means to not love the idolator: don’t show him pity.

Once again, I’ve departed from Maimonides’ interpretation:

Do not refrain from incriminating the idolator.

-Maimonides’ interpretation of Deut. 13:8

I’m unsure where Maimonides gets this from in verse 8. One could argue earlier passages might suggest not withholding evidence against idolators, but even that is a stretch. Perhaps Maimonides’ took the sentence “do not have pity on him” and took it to mean, “before a religious court”. It’s possible. I’m not convinced.

In any case, I’ve instead extracted this commandment from the text directly, which specifically states not to have pity on him, which may encompass Maimonides’ more specific interpretation. I deem this commandment deriving from the root “do not love the idolator” commandment:

No Saving Idolators

The fourth commandment derived from Deuteronomy 13:8 is “no saving idolators”. I agree with Maimonides’ interpretation, as it’s spelled out quite clearly in the text: “do not spare him”.

I deem this deriving from the root “no loving the idolator” as well:

No Defending Idolators

The fifth and final commandment derived from Deut. 13:8 is not to defend the idolator.

I suspect “no defending” and “no saving/sparing” the idolator commandments is what drove Maimonides’ to imagine a judicial hearing of sorts, where, after a “thorough investigation” of the idolatry charges (Deut. 13:14), the instigators are brought before the religious court, and if found guilty, executed.

Thus, I can see why he interpreted other commandments using judicial language: “do not refrain from incriminating the idolator”, and “do not say anything in the idolator’s defense”.

I deem this deriving from the above “no saving the idolator” commandment, with the “no loving the idolator” as its grandparent:

No Idolatrous Prophesying

…and…

No Listening to the Idolatrous Prophet

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4

These 2 related commandments are extracted from the opening verses in Deuteronomy 13.

All of chapter 13 is a result of failing to heed these first words of warning against the false prophet, who then sways your loved ones, who then sway an entire city.

I derived these commandments like so:

Closing Thoughts

All of Deuteronomy 13 might be told as a story of letting in a little leaven into the assembly of Israel, with a disastrous end for those involved.

Chronologically, it might be described like this:

Don’t listen to that miracle worker who’s leading you to worship other gods. (verses 1-5)
Failure to comply? Oh no! Now your loved ones will be swayed. Don’t listen to them. (verses 6-11)
Failure to comply? Oh no! Now there’s rumors of idolatry in your entire city. (verses 12-13)
Thoroughly Investigate the rumors. (verse 14)
Oh no! They’re true. Destroy the whole town: the people and livestock by sword, the town and all plunder by fire. (verses 14-17)
Then God will turn from anger, show his mercy on you, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers. (verses 17-18)

This is a worst-case scenario, with multiple failures to nip-in-the-bud the seeds of idolatry in Israel.

Many people in today’s pacifist, “love/tolerate everybody” culture will find these punishment laws repugnant.

And even many Christians may find these laws to be in opposition to the rather ambiguous “law of Christ”, as if Christ has laws that counters God’s Law.

I heard MJTI rabbi Stuart Dauermann use an analogy to describe these laws in the Torah:

Much of the harsh language in Torah is what I term “limit language,” where God sets hard limits on Israel’s behavior. However, laws must be interpreted and enforced, and as a rule, the community of Israel found strict, on-the-face interpretations of such passages to be morally repugnant and therefore found ways to not enforce the laws according to the plain reading.

It is like a parent who tells his teen age son, “I am giving you the keys to the car. But if you crack it up, I’ll strangle you.”

-Messianic Jewish rabbi Stuart Dauermann

I like that explanation. I’m opened to others.

One other curious bit was that stoning the idolatrous prophet, and killing the idolatrous citizens by sword, is not listed as an explicit commandment by Maimonides. Perhaps we’ll encounter these commandments later on.

The Big Picture

Behold! In all its glory, the current snapshot of the Greatest Commandments project:

(Click for full size)

Beautiful! This thing is coming together quite nicely.

Nerd Notes

I’ve modified the source code so that the 2 golden commandments will be generated with, well, a gold background. :-)

I’m looking for ways to display the additional data we store with each commandment: how should we display commandments that can be kept only in Israel? How should we distinguish commandments with not kept by Christians, Messianics, or Orthodox Jews?

I’m thinking either colors or different shapes to distinguish such commandments. We’ll see.

Here are the stats for the commandments so far:

50 commandments have been mapped. Hooray! We’ve reached the half-century mark.
The project is 8% completed.
10% have alternate readings.
18% are from Exodus.
30% are from Leviticus.
4% are from Numbers.
48% are from Deuteronomy.
96% can be carried out in modern times.
10% can be carried out only in Israel.
38% are positive commandments.
62% are negative commandments.
74% are observed by Christians:
- 38% obeyed, 26% attempted, 10% recognized.
92% are observed by Messianics:
- 54% obeyed, 30% attempted, 8% recognized.
94% are observed by Orthodox Jews:
- 56% obeyed, 30% attempted, 8% recognized.
The average commandment length is 139 characters, just inside a twoosh!
The average summary length is 28 characters.

Thanks for reading thus far, fine blog readers. I hope you are enjoying the Greatest Commandments Project! Special props always to Nate Tuggy for his help with the project.

Have a good shabbat.

Weekly Bracha #4 – Hanukkah Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:37:00 +0000

News flash: The pagans have lost. The God of Israel emerged triumphantly victorious. (Again!) Israel came out alive, despite the intentions of mad-man emperors.

Even though the enemy tried to assimilate us. Dominate us. Force us into the ways of the world. Shove paganism down our throats. Make us abandon the God’s Law. Make us abandon our faith in the God of Israel. Even though the enemy conquered Israel. Desecrated the Temple. Killed thousands of us…

…despite all this, God won. The living God, the only one that actually exists and preserves His people, won.

The enemy is dead, his empire crumbled, his descendants cut off and forgotten.

Through God’s hand, and the actions of a small but zealous band of Israelites, Israel was reclaimed, the Temple was purified and rededicated to the God of Israel, and it was decreed that every year, for 8 days, all of Israel should remember God’s great acts of salvation for His people.

That’s what the Feast of Hanukkah (Hebrew for “dedication”) is all about. You might also know Hanukkah as the “Festival of Lights”.

~200 years after these events, Messiah himself honored Hanukkah by going to the rededicated Temple, where he revealed himself as Messiah, and being one with God:

It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

-John 10

Hanukkah starts tonight (Friday, December 11th, 2009) and lasts for 8 days.

Here are a handful of Hanukkah-related posts from the Messianic blogosphere.

Yeshua, the Light of the World, in the Festival of Lights – Messianic Jewish psalmist Marty Goetz writes how Yeshua, the light of the world, kept Hanukkah, and how this Hanukkah we are to rededicate ourselves, our temples, to the service of the Lord.
Hanukkah and the Disciples of Yeshua – First Fruits of Zion has released a free e-book that reads easy and demonstrates why the celebration of Hanukkah is relevant and important for all believers. I particularly enjoyed their “5 reasons to keep Hanukkah”:
1. Hanukkah is in the Gospels, and Yeshua went to the Temple for Hanukkah. If Hanukkah was important to Yeshua, it ought to be important to us, his disciples.
2. Hanukkah is a story of religious persecution. A story of standing up for faith in God. Yeshua tells us we can expect persecution, but He also tells us that we must stand firm in our faith. If that’s what the story of Hanukkah is about, shouldn’t it matter to us?
3. Hanukkah is the festival of the light of the world. It celebrates the relighting of the menorah lamp that burned in God’s Holy Temple. In rabbinic terminology, the menorah was called the “light of the world.” Yeshua said, “I am the Light of the world,” and another time He told His disciples, “You are the light of the world.” If Hanukkah is the Festival of the Light of the World, shouldn’t it matter to us?
4. Yeshua talked about Hanukkah. He warned His disciples that the things that happened in the story of Hanukkah would happen again (Mark 13:13–16, Matthew 24:15–18). To understand what He was saying, His disciples had to know the story of Hanukkah. If Yeshua talked about the story of Hanukkah, and His disciples knew the story, shouldn’t it matter to us?
5. Hanukkah commemorates the dedication of God’s Temple. Hanukkah means “dedication.” It is a remembrance of when the Jews rededicated God’s Holy Temple to serve only the Lord. The Apostolic Scriptures tell us that we are God’s Temple. If Hanukkah is a festival about the dedication of God’s Temple, and we are God’s Temple, shouldn’t it matter to us?
The Hanukkah Story, Messianic Judaism style – Messianic rabbi Derek Leman sees Hanukkah in light of Yeshua as the redeemer of Israel.
A bissel of Hanukkah How-To’s and Inspiration, Messianic Judaism style - “There are so many people who do not know how to properly celebrate Hanukkah. I will include a few links here to help you.”
Hanukkah and the Prophet Daniel, Part 1 and Part 2 – The book of Daniel foretells the events that happened during the first Hanukkah, and perhaps shadows events to come at the end of days.
Why We Should Celebrate Hanukkah – Messianic apologist John McKee writes why Messianics – both Jew and gentile – ought to celebrate the Feast of Dedication. Does Hanukkah pass the test of Scripture? Did Jesus really celebrate it? Did the miracle of Menorah oil lasting 8 days really happen? McKee also touches on whether Messianic families ought to celebrate Christmas with Christian family.
The Impact of the Maccabees on First Century Judaism – An interesting look at the historical context of the Hanukkah events and its impact on the Judaism of Messiah’s day.
The Festival of Dedication – The Yinon blog looks at Hanukkah’s aspects of redemption, hope, salvation, and covenant faithfulness.

Video blogs
Messianics Handling the December Holidays – John McKee talks frankly about some of the difficulties for Messianics during the holidays of Jewish Hanukkah & Christian Christmas. I can relate to this!

Audio
John 10 Scripture reading – Jewish Christian Aviad Cohen has posted a Scripture reading of John 10, where Yeshua identifies himself as Messiah and son of God during Hanukkah:
Hanukkah Song – A beautiful song for Hanukkah by Messianic psalmist Marty Goetz:

Happy Hanukkah, fine blog readers! And shabbat shalom.

Roman & Alaina – Sounds of Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Roman La’Voy and his wife Alaina Wood debut their new Messianic music album, Sounds of Prayer

I’m a bit of a Messianic music aficionado. Over the years I’ve amassed a wide variety of Messianic tunes – from pioneers like Lamb and Israel’s Hope, to modern psalms by Marty Goetz and Steve McConnell, to contemporary worship by Sharon Wilbur – Messianic music has blessed me, lifted me up, encouraged me. I love worshiping to Messianic music, playing these songs on the guitar, singing on shabbat. Music is the lubricant that lets the heart speak freely to God, and I think Messianic music has left a great legacy in that regard.

Needless to say, when I heard Roman La’Voy had put out a new Messianic music album, I was thrilled. Roman and his wife Alaina Wood have worked together to release their first album, entitled Sounds of Prayer.

Some of you may remember Roman from the group Meha Shamayim, which had a number of beautiful songs for Messiah. I’m happy to say, this new album does not disappoint: in my opinion, the quality exceeds Meha Shamayim’s previous work. After listening to this album for the past two weeks, I had to write a review here to spread the word – I think you fine blog readers are going to love it.

One of my favorites from this album is a tune entitled Bless G-d, posted with permission:

Roman & Alaina – Bless G-d:

That song is really indicative of the whole album: acoustic, folksy, intimate, God-honoring, rooted in Jewish expression.

The only thing missing from the above song would be Alaina’s sweet voice, which graces most of the songs on the album.

Here’s a quick run down of each song:

Hashem Open My Lips

A simple and short song comprised only of the phrase from Psalm 51:

“Hashem, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”
Light and fanciful with prominent acoustic guitar, it’s a good opening tune – nothing fancy, just a simple praise song to start the praises flowing.
I Believe

Interesting song that, I think, is based off Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Jewish Faith. In particular, principles #12 and #13:

I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await His coming every day.

I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen.
These form the basis for this song that looks forward to the coming of Messiah.

I like how this songs pronounces blessing on Yeshua: “blessed be his name, and exalted be his remembrance, forever and forever and ever”.
Oseh Shalom

A beautiful guitar intro was reminiscent of older Meha Shamayim songs. Here, Roman and Alaina sing the melody of the old familiar Jewish prayer, putting it to a new tune.
Deeper

Roman took a risk with this song – and it pays off. I think this is the most unorthodox (no pun intended) Messianic song I’ve ever heard: between chorus melodies sung by Alaina, Roman takes the fore and spins some verses in faster tempo, in an almost hip-hop like fashion.

It’s hard to describe; if you’ve ever heard artists like Matt Kearney where he stops singing and kind of sings to the beat, but not necessarily the tune, that’s what Roman does here. I’d almost describe it as a cross between chanting, singing, and scatting.

The only instrument accompanying the singing and Kearney-like spinning is an acoustic guitar. I think that is the only weakness in this song; when Roman’s spinning the verses in faster tempo, it’s hard to mentally follow the beat with only an acoustic guitar leading.

Overall, this is a song of particular interest. I applaud Roman for taking a chance with this one and doing something unorthodox. I hope he continues to do songs like this in the future.
Alice and the Last Hour

There are very few story-telling songs in Messianic music genre. I think it’s foreign to a lot of religious people, we’re so accustomed to psalms or Scripture or prayer as songs, anything else seems foreign. Undeterred, Roman tells the story of the fictitious Alice, “the righteous secretary for the school who journeyed up the mountains to feed the hungry few”, mixing in what I believe are quotes from 1st John in the New Testament.

Upbeat, unmistakably folksy. Roman’s signature harmonica playing shines through between verses. It works out well, and is one of my favorites from the album.
Teach Me To Overcome

Perhaps the best song on the album. In this catchy folk song, reminiscent of older spiritual hymns and American folk music, the singer invites God to “teach me to overcome” after each problem raised: anger issues, past holding you down, future looking bleak, despair, wandering through life – after each of life’s problems, the singer pleads, “teach me to overcome”.

The chorus repeats between verses,

Oh Lord teach me, teach me,
May it be your divine decree
That I overcome, oh Lord if you’re willing,
Teach me to overcome

Great song, and my personal favorite.
Ma Gadlu

A sweet and soft rendition of the liturgical prayer sung primarily by Alaina. All Hebrew, followed by soothing melodies sung by both Roman and Alaina.
Mashiach Intervene

Uplifting song that asks God to raise our souls, “that we may observe all your mitzvot in the zeal and the spirit of our king”.

Alaina sings most of the song, with Roman chiming in when the two pray, “Oh mashiach, mashiach, intervene! Oh mashiach, mashiach, return!”

Excellent song. May work in a congregational setting to boot.
Modeh Ani

Another that reminded me of Meha Shamayim: peaceful, blessing God, with a touch of a jazz sound, this song features Roman and Alaina singing, with Roman ending in a reading from what I believe is a traditional prayer based on Proverbs.
Birth of the King

This song is where the album gets its title. Telling of the birth of Yeshua, this song is quiet and contemplative, intimate. My only complaint is it is too short, with no real chorus/verse arrangement.
Enter Into Shabbat

Beautiful, peaceful song! One of the best on the album. The song paints the scene of a family on shabbat night, sharing a sabbath meal with friends, chanting prayers and singing shabbat songs.

Alaina’s sweet voice shines through in this song. These kind of peaceful, blissful songs are tailored-made for her. Sweet and calming as Alaina invites “Enter in, enter into shabbat”.

It’s accompanied by Roman’s background vocals, acoustic guitar and mandolin, and if I’m not mistaken, Leonardo Bella from Meha Shamayim also makes an appearance through background vocals, which adds a nice finishing touch to this gem.
Bless G-d

The album ends gracefully with an encouragement from Roman in this acoustic hymn to “Bless G-d”: before opening your eyes in the morning, bless Him for health, for lifting your hands. Bless His name, bless God in prayer, bless Him with every breath, bless Him through binding tefillin, bless Him when praying the Sh’ma.

The lyrics are beautiful and sung with full meaning and earnestness. It adds layer upon layer of blessing, proclaiming God as the master of all, the one who chose us from every people and tongue, deeming God the trustworthy rock of Israel.

Hidden in all these blessings is a gem where Roman likens Yeshua to the Torah: In the first few verses, the singer blesses God for “the Torah he gave, the truth, the life, the way”, and at the end of the song, Roman looks ahead to future glory when “God will be one, and so will his name”, and completes the blessing with “Bless G-d for Yeshua he gave, long live the truth, the life, the way, bless G-d”.

Fittingly, Roman returns us to the beginning when he asks of the Lord, amidst all the blessings, “Open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise”.

Final Thoughts

Excellent album. Roman and Alaina have put together something magnificent for our King.

It’s unmistakably folksy; while that may not fill every cup of tea, I encourage you fine blog readers to try it: as a Messianic music aficionado, it’s one of the best Messianic music albums I’ve heard in some time. It will bless you, lift you up, encourage you. Personally, I get a sense of peace listening to this album.

If I could nitpick, my only complaint would be that the album was too short. A few of the songs were less than 2 minutes, so it’s a short listen.

Roman & Alaina have set a great example for future Messianic artists: rather than boxing into a preconceived idea of what Messianic music should sound like, Roman and Alaina made their own unique sound according to their background, exalted God in every song, and honored Jewish faith. I think this stands as a great example for Messianic Judaism.

I hope Roman and Alaina will continue making music to bless Messianics for years to come. And I hope you fine blog readers will return the favor and bless and support them by purchasing Sounds of Prayer. (It’s only a measly $10 – that’s less than you spend on coffee and fast food every week. Go buy it now for yourself, or as a Hanukkah gift.)

Thanks to Roman and Alaina for making this album, and to you fine blog readers for reading through this overly-long review.

Weekly Bracha #3

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:25:00 +0000

This week in Messianic, Jewish, and Christian blogosphere:

What is the New Covenant? – Messianic apologist John McKee has written an in-depth work that asks, and answers, the question, “what is new covenant faith”? Bookmark this one: it is a well-researched, 40-page treatise on the the new covenant and our faith in Yeshua the Messiah.
Should Intermarried Families Celebrate Christmas? - Put on your flame suite. Messianic rabbi Derek Leman shakes things up when he asks this question, and even more so when announces a new personal project: … wait for it … a Christmas Haggadah. Well, kind of. It’s a Haggadah for Yeshua’s Birth. In time for Christmas. Oiy.
More on Christmas and the Haggadah – In a follow-up to the above post, Derek Leman responds to criticisms, and suggests that some of the ‘paganoid’ criticisms of Christmas by Messianics are erroneous. He then explains both some positives and negatives about the Christian holiday, and why he would create a Haggadah on Yeshua’s birth.
Ask the Expert: Hanukkah Bush – MyJewishLearning tries to help a reader to resist the Christmas-ization of Hanukkah, and resist assimilation and learning the ways of the nations, specifically by avoiding a Hanukkah Bush, and preventing Hanukkah as being viewed as the “Jewish Christmas”.
Applying God’s Law – Nate Long discusses the predicament of a man who’s son is in a public school that is teaching the children to build totem poles. The man is uneasy about this due to commandments in God’s law against idolatry. Good discussion of a relevant issue in western culture.
Is There a Utopia Outside of Christ? – Christian apologetic Hank Hanegraaff shows how all Utopian experiments have failed – the Great Society, Marxism, fascism, our modern attempts in the US and in Europe at socialism, and even many modern new age religious movements – all promise security, peace, meaning, yet all have failed. (While this post is a month old, it’s new to me, and I think some of you fine blog readers will enjoy it.)
Israeli Messianic Jews persecuted through car fire-bombings – Eliav Levin, leader of a small Messianic Jewish congregation in Beit She’an, reports his community is under serious violent attacks: the cars of congregational members are being systematically burned, and their landlords are being pressured to revoke contracts with their Messianic tenants.

The Jerusalem Post reports 2 suspects have been arrested in response to the bombings, praise God.
Chabad Messianism Alive and Well – The Yinon blog documents the on-going Chabad Meshichist charade: some members of the Chabad sect of Orthodox Judaism believe the late honored Rebbe Menachem Schneerson to be the promised Messiah, and even ascribing divine qualities to this rabbi of Crown Heights, New York! (Unsurpisingly, these followers of a yet-another-false messiah are allowed in Israel, and are still considered Jews, meanwhile Messianic Jews are persecuted with violence and harassment.)
Stop the Spread of the Swedish Blood Libel – Honest Reporting documents the recent erroneous Swedish blood libel against Jews, in which the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet accused Israel of harvesting organs from dead Palestinians. The story has since been thoroughly debunked, but Palestinian, anti-Israel, and racist groups and media have picked up the story and regurgitate it as a matter-of-fact.

Podcasts

Yeshua as Teacher – Messianic rabbi Derek Leman discusses who Yeshua was in his current time, avoiding common anachronistic interpretations that paint him as something familiar to our modern culture.
Acts 15, part 4: John McKee continues his deep, scholarly look at the controversial apostolic ruling in Acts 15 on gentiles, Torah, and salvation.

Shabbat shalom, fine blog readers!

Is the New Testament reliable?

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:01:00 +0000

As Messianics, we sit perched between the religions of Judaism and Christianity.

We love Judaism because we know it to be the religion of Israel, God’s people, which produced the patriarchs, the Torah, the prophets, the apostles, and Messiah himself. Israel has been used by God to bring light to the world. In a sentence, Israel = God’s vehicle for all things righteous. If it weren’t for Israel, the gentile world’s religion would be little more than foolhardy men bowing to sexually-exaggerated figurines. I love Judaism, even with the painful acts of a few who shame it.

At the same time, we love Christianity. Yes, even with all its warts. It embraced Messiah when the leadership of Judaism has largely rejected him. That counts for something. Even with its ugly parts, its misrepresentation of Messiah, its past persecution of Jews, and all the violence and wars it has produced in the name of Christ, the Church has nonetheless produced men of God that led otherwise-lost gentiles to Messiah and the God of Israel. People that love God and love Israel and live righteous lives. That doesn’t get talked about much in anti-Christian circles.

Sitting between Christianity and Judaism produces for us much anguish. We are constantly pulled in either direction to be authentic: either real Jews, whom we are told cannot hold Yeshua as Messiah, or real Christians, throwing off that Jewish nonsense, after all, we are not under the law, and are free in Christ Jesus.

Christian draw

I was sitting around a table playing cards with some Christian friends awhile back. I was asked, “You don’t really believe in that Jewish stuff, right? Messy-uhnic you call it?”

I’ve been told “you’re preaching another Jesus!” and “Jesus fulfilled the law. Jesus freed us from that. Why are you living under it?” Or my favorite, “You believe in Jesus and you still follow those traditions?” (cue sad trombone)

The allure of Christianity is strong. Even more so around the holidays of Christmas and Easter. Can’t we be part of the larger Church? Can’t we fit in for once? With a family of mixed Christians and Messianics, Jews and gentiles, this draw is even stronger still.

Judaism’s draw

The flip side is the draw towards Judaism.

The pull is strong: I can be more authentic, more real, as a Jew if I follow standard Judaism. Maybe I’ll just keep my hope in Messiah to myself, and I’ll fit in better with greater Judaism.

It doesn’t help that some Messianic groups have an inferiority complex, one that doesn’t see this Messianic movement as legitimate until the greater Jewish world gives us the A-OK. (Hint: barring extraordinary supernatural events, it’ll never happen.)

And when one inundates himself in the rabbis of Judaism, in the Talmud, the siddur, in the Zohar, in the people and Scriptures of Israel, and he lives a righteous life as Judaism would see it, he might sympathize with the arguments of Judaism against Christianity. After all, Christianity has historically misrepresented Messiah.

And with the arguments against Christianity comes arguments against Christ, whom we know in more authentic view as Yeshua the Messiah of Israel.

A critical view of the New Testament

One such argument against Messiah-faith is that the New Testament is not reliable, and is merely the result of hundreds of redactions built atop the exaggerated imaginations of Jesus’ followers centuries later.

It’s hard to believe, but some Messianics sympathize with this view, or at least part of it.

For example, a few years ago, a prominent Messianic teacher claimed the New Testament book of Hebrews contained factual errors regarding the Tabernacle, and thus was not inspired by God, and ought not be considered part of the canon.

And before that, there was talk among several Messianic leaders regarding Paul’s letters to the gentiles, which comprise a significant slice of the New Testament. Maybe they’re not Scripture, they said, since they seemingly contain rants against God’s Law. Maybe they’re not inspired by God. Maybe they’re just the ramblings of an ex-Jew who hated his former religion. Maybe they shouldn’t be in the canon, some argued.

I’ve even heard some question the gospels and Acts, as they contain different retellings of the stories of Messiah:

In Acts, Yehuda of Kerioth (“Judas Iscariot”) is killed by falling headlong in a field, but in Matthew, Judas hangs himself.
In another instance, Paul describes himself as escaping the commander of the army of Aretas in Damascus, but Acts records Paul escaping a mob of angry Jews.
And more famously, the genealogy of Messiah as recorded in in Matthew 1 is different than the genealogy of Messiah as recorded in Luke 3.

These points, and others, are regularly raised by counter-missionaries in an effort to discredit the New Testament and disprove the messiahship of Yeshua.

Some Jewish followers of Messiah sympathize: maybe the original Hebrew texts of the New Testament don’t contain these corruptions. Maybe some of the early Church Fathers, many of whom were anti-Semitic, edited the New Testament to be damning to the Jews, they say. Maybe the New Testament should be viewed more as we view the Talmud: extra-biblical writings that contain some truth, but are not Scripture like the Tenakh (that is, what Christians call the Old Testament).

Setting the record straight

It should first be noted that many difficulties in the New Testament can be harmonized with explanation.

For example, it is possible to be hanged from a cliff and still fall headlong into a field through botched hanging. And the commander in Damascus may have tried to capture Paul because the angry mob demanded it. And some of the inconsistencies between genealogies can be explained through telescoping, a practice that the Tenakh itself uses.

However, rather than harmonizing through speculative explanation, I want to highlight empirical faults in the arguments against the New Testament, and from that, you can draw your own conclusions.

Interpretation double standards

When counter-missionaries bring up inconsistencies in the New Testament, invariably they are confounded when I show them that the same textual difficulties exist in the Tenakh. For example,

In one book of the prophets, a genealogy of priests is given which differs from genealogies given earlier in the Tenakh, paralleling the Luke/Matthew genealogical difference.
In another instance, Samuel records Satan tempting David, while Chronicles records it was God who tempted David.
And in another humorous instance, one of apparent scribal exaggeration, the Masoretic text (MT), upon which modern Jewish bibles are based, records the Philistine warrior Goliath at about 6 cubits (9 feet) tall – a giant by any measure! But the Septuagint puts Goliath at 5 cubits, about 7.5 feet tall. Yet more surprisingly, the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predate the MT by several centuries, put Goliath at a mere 4 cubits – a mere 6.5 feet tall – not such a giant after all! And even the first century Jewish historian Josephus attests to Goliath not being much of a (ahem) goliath.
The stories of Noah and Job are suspiciously similar to ancient Mesopotamian tales that predate the Torah.

These are just a few from a sea of many inconsistencies and difficulties in the Tenakh. For every difficulty in the New Testament, I can give 10 in the Tenakh.

One may argue, “But Judah, these inconsistencies can be explained…” and I will respond, “Yes, and the same for the New Testament!”

Church father double standards

Some Messianics raise concerns that anti-Jewish Church fathers edited and compiled the canon, inserting their own theologies into the text.

However, these same people will often quote early Church Fathers to support their critical view of the New Testament. For example, they might say, “The early Church Father Eusebius records that the early Nazarenes used only the Tenakh and the original Hebrew text of Matthew as their Scripture.”

Notice the double-standard: “I believe the Church Fathers when they say X. And I have a critical view of the New Testament because the Church Fathers likely edited it.”

Quick to believe Church Fathers when it proves my point, quick to dismiss the Church Fathers when it disproves my point. That’s a double standard.

Yes, it is likely the Nazarenes had a canon different than other believers in Messiah, but this argument fails in two areas: it doesn’t account for the varying beliefs in the Nazarene, Ebionite, and other early “Christian” movements; these groups disagreed with other groups and even within themselves as to what was considered canon. And secondly, it most certainly does not mean that Nazarenes rejected Acts, Luke, Paul’s epistles, or other apostolic writings. It is possible, even probable, they were unaware of some of these writings.

After all, information did not flow freely then as it does now, this was in the very early days of God picking for himself a people from the nations.

Self-defeating arguments

Counter-missionaries, and indeed some of Messiah’s followers who sympathize with them, use arguments like this one:

“The New Testament records Jesus doing X. And yet Christians don’t do this today – big problem! Now I’ll go on to discredit the New Testament...”

2 concrete examples that come to mind are:

“Jesus told his disciples to keep the Law and the Prophets, which is what Jews are doing. But you Christians have turned him into a god, and invented your own anti-Jewish bible.”
“Jesus said that, to be saved, you have to keep the commandments. That’s what Jews are already doing. But you Christians have this nonsense about believing in Jesus to be saved, coming from your Greek-translated, highly-redacted New Testament!”

Notice the self-defeating arguments here: “Jesus said X [as recorded in the New Testament], and Christians aren’t doing this because they have a corrupted/inauthentic/redacted New Testament.”

To all of Messiah’s followers, I will say this: if the New Testament is not a basic, reliable text of Messiah’s words and deeds, then how is it that you belong to Messiah? You found Messiah through these texts, and now you seek to discredit this text? How soon before you forget about those missing original Hebrew texts, and just discard the New Testament altogether?

This is the road to abandoning hope in Messiah. Counter-missionaries know this, and is why they are repeating this lie that the New Testament is an inauthentic and unreliable document.

Dispelling Myths

Here are some faulty assertions made by those with a critical view of the New Testament:

It was composed centuries after the actual events.
No one who witnessed the events actually wrote a New Testament book.
It was highly redacted by Church Fathers.
Paul was an agent of Rome, and corrupter of the original teachings of the rabbi Jesus.
The New Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and all we have today is corrupted Greek and Syriac manuscripts.

I will to address these concerns below.

Composition

While what became the modern canon formed later on, many of the books of the New Testament were actually written in the first century, immediately following the Messianic events that transpired.

For example, some Biblical scholars put the gospel of Luke at around 40 AD, only 4-8 years after Messiah’s death. One bit of evidence in support of this view is how Luke’s gospel is addressed to “Most Excellent Theophilus”:

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

-Luke 1

Some scholars suggest the “most excellent Theophilus” mentioned here may refer to Theophilus ben Ananus, the High Priest of Israel between 37 and 41 AD. Even among scholars who hold a later dating of Luke put his gospel well within the 1st century.

The other gospels are also 1st century material: Matthew around the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, Mark between 70-90 AD, and John between 90-100 AD. Mark has the unique trait of being found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, with a fragment of Mark 6 having been found at the Qumran caves.

As for Paul’s writings in the New Testament, scholars believe he lived between 5-67 AD, making him a contemporary of and witness to Yeshua as Messiah and all the events recorded in Acts and the gospels.

Edits?

Are there redactions to the New Testament? Yes, certainly.

For example, the famous Lord’s Prayer reads differently in earlier manuscripts, with the additional stanza,

“…for thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power, forever and ever, amein.”

… not appearing in Luke’s gospel, nor does it appear in earlier manuscripts of Matthew. (There is a way to harmonize this, such as it being included as doxology for congregational worship, but we digress…)

But while the New Testament certainly contains redactions, one must also concede that there are redactions in the Tenakh as well.

For example, while many religious Jews favor the conservative view that Moses wrote the entire Torah, this has virtually zero academic support. Even the most conservative Biblical scholars believe only in basic Mosaic authorship, allowing for later edits by Joshua, Ezra, and others. After all, do we really believe Moses would have written the self-contradicting statement, “Moses was the most humble man on earth”? And he certainly didn’t write about his own death and the events that transpired afterwards!

It should be noted that many scholars favor a very liberal, secular view of the Torah, the JEDPR (Jahwist, Elohist, Deteronomist, Priestly, Redactor/Harmonizer) view, which suggests the Torah is little more than a collection of independent fables of ancient Israel, with centuries of redactions and harmonizing edits years later, before the Torah reached its final form 400CE. (I do not hold this view! But Jews and Christians should be aware of it, lest it catch you surprised on the History Channel. )

But the Torah is only the tip of the iceberg. The modern Jewish bible contains edits, concatenations, and truncations in Daniel, Esther, several of the prophets, and even the historical books. And those are just the ones we know about.

Paul – corrupter of Christianity?

One founding father of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, once wrote,

Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.

-Thomas Jefferson

Despite this theory falling out of fashion in modern times, still many Jews today look at Paul as a corrupter of Jesus’ real teachings. Paul, they say, started a new anti-law, anti-Judaism religion, whereas Jesus was interested in being a good rabbi of Judaism and nothing more, and certainly not the messiah.

Some Messianics sympathize with this, but for different reasons. They see ugly statements about the “works of the law” coming from Paul’s letters, and some then suggest, maybe Paul wasn’t really inspired, and shouldn’t be included in the canon.

Our response to this is, where is the proof that Paul is this ugly corrupter of Messiah’s teachings? A handful of statements from Galatians that seem to contradict Messiah can be, and have, sufficiently explained through proper understanding of the gentile culture and era to which it was addressed.

Extraordinary accusations require extraordinary proof – and the only thing offered are self-defeating arguments that use the New Testament to disprove the New Testament.

Waiting for the Hebrew New Testament

Some Messianics have a critical view of the New Testament because, they say, we only have corrupted Greek manuscripts, and that the original Hebrew is lost. They discard our current manuscripts as redacted Greek, holding out hope for the sexy Hebrew/Aramaic originals to make their appearance.

These are extraordinary charges. My question is, where are the Hebrew texts? And where is evidence that there were originally Hebrew texts to begin with?

The best evidence we have is a quote from a Church father that suggests Matthew was originally written in Hebrew.

All other evidence reports are more speculation than evidence.

So while certainly Matthew and perhaps a few other books may have been Hebrew originally, there is zero academic support for the idea that all the New Testament was written in Hebrew. It is quite plausible that Luke, the epistles, and others were written in Greek. A vast majority of scholars agree.

And even for the parts that were originally Hebrew, I ask, what makes you think the Greek manuscripts are so terrible so as to discard them? I suggest that this bias against Greek texts likely stems from the “all things Greek are evil” fundamentalist mindset that some Messianics seem to have, probably borrowed from a Judaic backlash against Hellenism. We must mature out of that.

Conclusions

If we are to believe that redactions make a text completely unreliable, then we must not only throw out the New Testament, but also the Torah and numerous books in the Tenakh.
Many biblical difficulties can be explained; they just aren’t black and white simplistic like we want them to be.
There are more difficulties in the Tenakh than the New Testament.
Counter-missionary arguments against the New Testament are often uneducated and contain a double-standard. If we apply the same critical view to the Tenakh as they apply to the New Testament, we’d all be atheists.
You can’t have your cake & eat it too. Having a critical view of the New Testament, then quoting the New Testament to support your critical view, is self-defeating. Ditto for quoting early Church fathers.
The New Testament is largely a first-century work by men who knew, or knew of, Yeshua, in his generation and the next.
As far as we know, the New Testament was written largely in Greek.
Theologically, Paul and Yeshua were buddies.

A final word

Some years ago, I personally struggled with the idea that anti-Jewish Church fathers compiled what became the New Testament. It really shook my faith to the point I actually considered agnosticism: the belief that we cannot really know whether there is a God.

Perhaps to stop me in my tracks, God gave me peace in this area. Through prayer I heard, “What is here today is by My hand.”

At first, I wanted to ask what that means, exactly. “Even the edits, oh Lord?” would have been a near-comical reply, but it’s what I wanted to ask.

But a peace settled in. Through all the redactions, the compilers of the canon, even with some of them having less-than-good intentions, the harmonizers… it doesn’t matter. God totally used them, like tools. And what we have today is here by His hand.

I know that’s not scientific proof. And I know it’s not intellectually stimulating. But it’s enough for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:36:00 +0000

Thursday is the national day of Thanksgiving in the United States.

Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the US Civil War, made this feast – which goes back to the days of the Puritan settlers of America – a national holiday with the following proclamation in 1863:

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Preach it, Honest Abe!

A few bountiful blessings from the Messianic blogosphere to go along with your extended Thanksgiving weekend:

Thankgiving video blog from John McKee of Outreach Israel Ministries:
Judeoxian leaves a short note mentioning the Jewish and Christian roots of Thanksgiving, how both groups celebrate the holiday, and how it was the English Puritans settlers that are credited with early thanksgiving inspired from the Biblical fall feast of Sukkot.
Mark Huey writes a frank post on thankfulness, shares some background on Thanksgiving, and a recent personal experience surrounding the holiday.
King David “blogs” about his giving of thanks to the Lord.
A psalm of thanks giving: Israel’s Hope – Oh Give Thanks:

Happy Thanksgiving to all you fine blog readers in the US! Enjoy the tryptophan sleep high!

The Greatest Commandments, Part 8

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

This is part of a series of posts that studies each of the commandments in the Torah (law), then maps them in a massive visual hierarchy that details their interconnected nature.

Have a look at:

This week we’ll be mapping commandments 27-31, which deal with various forms of idolatry.

No Worshipping Idols

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6

Exodus 20 is a listing of the 10 commandments, yet Maimonides extracts several additional commandments from the famous 10. Here is such an example, where, in addition to the commandment not to turn to idols, Maimonides extracts another commandment: “do not worship idols in the manner they are worshiped.”

I’ve derived this commandment from parent “no idols” commandment:

No Bowing To Idols

You shall not bow down to them…

Exodus 20:5a

Connected to the above commandment is yet another commandment derived from the famous 10 commandments: no bowing to idols.

I struggled a bit trying to figure out where to place this commandment. Initially, I considered deriving this commandment from the “no idols” commandment. However, I after asking the question “Is bowing to an idol a form of worship?” I decided that this is related to the above commandment: no bowing to idols is an explicit form of worshipping idols. I’ve derived it as such:

No Making Gods For Yourself

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

-Exodus 20:4

Another commandment extracted from the 10 commandments is the explicit “no making gods for yourself”.

I deem this commandment deriving from the “no idols” commandment:

No Making Gods For Others

Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.

-Leviticus 19:4

Maimonides jumps out of the Decalogue for a moment, presumably to find a sister commandment of the above “no making gods for yourself”. He finds such a commandment, although his interpretation is arguable.

He does so in Lev. 19:4, which has already been classified as the “no idols” commandment. The latter half of this verse is where he pulls this additional commandment: “…or make gods of cast metal for yourselves.”

It is arguable that “for yourselves” doesn’t mean “for others”, but rather, “for self, each of you”. Thus, Exodus 20:4 “don’t make idols for yourself” would simply be a reiteration of Leviticus 19:4.

Maimonides takes a different route: he declares these separate, distinct commandments: Ex. 20 is “no making idols for self”, Lev. 19 is “no making idols for others”.

While I think support for such interpretation is weak at best, I’ve given the respected rabbi the benefit of the doubt on this one, and created a distinct commandment for “no making idols for others.”

I deem this deriving from the “no idols” commandment:

No Making Gods For Decoration

Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.

-Exodus 20:23 (20:20 in Hebrew bibles)

The last commandment for today is yet another commandment extracted from the 10 commandments: no gods made from silver or gold.

Maimonides interprets this as “no gods for decorative purposes”, and once again, one may argue against this. I can see one alternative interpretation: “Making gods of valuable materials is also idolatry.” Maybe the difference between these interpretations is negligible.

Initially, I considered deriving this commandment from “no other gods” commandment. After all, the commandment text itself does not mention idols, but rather, gods. However, the text certainly implies idols – fashioned gods of gold and silver – and Maimonides deemed this an commandment on idolatry, so I’ve derived it as such:

Conclusions

Idolatry is a widely-covered topic in the Torah, with 40 some commandments attributed to it – 7% of all commandments are regarding idolatry.

And in the apostolic Scriptures, it is also considered of utmost importance: when discussing Torah and gentiles-turning-to-God, the apostles ruled:

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

-Acts 15

Despite the weightiness of idolatry in Moses’ day, and even in Messiah’s day, today these commandments seem next-to-useless, as most of western culture does not fashion or worship idols.

However, if one understands idolatry in the larger sense, the western culture is filled with idolatry. In the apostolic Scriptures, we read:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

-Colossians 3

And again it’s written:

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and of God.

-Ephesians 5

Here, Paul equates sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed with idolatry. Now, those are things that are rampant in western culture, perhaps more than any other place in the world.

Another way to say it is, the western world is more idolatrous than any place on earth, despite not fashioning or worshipping hand-made idols.

Now that’s saying something of our downward-spiraling culture. And with that, we see these commandments on idolatry are still very much relevant for us in modern times.

The Big Picture

Behold, in all its glory, the current snapshot of our work:

(Click to enlarge)

Here are the stats on the commandments so far:

38 commandments have been mapped.
The project is 6% completed.
34% have alternate readings.
23% are from Exodus.
39% are from Leviticus.
5% are from Numbers.
31% are from Deuteronomy.
94% can be carried out in modern times.
5% can be carried out only in Israel.
47% are positive commandments.
52% are negative commandments.
73% are observed by Christians:

Of which, 44% obeyed, 15% attempted, 13% recognized.

92% are observed by Messianics:

Of which, 65% obeyed, 18% attempted, 7% recognized.

92% are observed by Jews:

Of which, 68% obeyed, 15% attempted, 7% recognized.

The average commandment length is 134 characters.
The average summary length is 27 characters.

Nerd Notes

Kineti reader Nathan Tuggy has done some marvelous work with the commandments open source project. By changing the commandments from ellipses to rounded rectangles, and by introducing word wrapping, he’s cut down on the size of diagram by almost half.

Previously commandment diagrams were over 5000 pixels in width – that’s a huge picture! And with his change they are skimmed down to just over 3000 pixels. Great job, Nate!

A few other notable changes: Coding Wizard Tuggy suggested that some of the data we stored with each commandment was too general. In particular, whether Christians, Jews, and Messianics observed a particular commandment was too general, too broad a question to answer with a simple “yes” or “no”.

To remedy this, he introduced the CommandmentObedience answer type, with 4 possible values:

None – the commandment is not observed.
Recognized – the commandment is recognized publically as binding, but not widely practiced.
Attempted – most in the group attempt to perform this commandment, with varying success.
Obeyed – the commandment is both acknowledged and widely obeyed.

This allows for more nuances in answers to questions like “do Christians follow X commandment?” These answers are still very general, but this is at least an improvement over simple “yes” and “no” answers.

And finally, I introduced additional data to store with every commandment: CanBeCarriedOutOnlyInIsrael.

I intend to use this for the handful of commandments that require the observer to live in the land of Israel in order to carry out.

Thanks for reading this far, fine blog readers. Enjoy!

Weekly Bracha #2

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:10:00 +0000

This week in Messianic, Jewish, and Christian blogs.

Ruach Renewal in Jewish Space – UMJC head Russ Resnik writes candidly about his long-held desire for a renewed presence of God’s spirit in the Messianic movement.
A Wilderness Tryst – A deep dive into the biblical book of Hosea, the prophetic return of both houses of Israel, and it’s implications today.
Palestinians to unilaterally declare a Palestinian State on 1967 borders – Aussie Dave covers the story, as PA leadership plan to bring the issue to a vote before the UN.
Chanting the New Testament in Hebrew – Judeoxian highlights the news that a Hebrew New Testament with cantillation marks for traditional Hebrew chanting has been posted to Vine of David. This obscure work was originally published in 1866 by the London Jews Society.
Hidden Person of the Heart – Boaz Michael laments the modern culture’s immodesty and lack of discretion, and encourages Messiah’s followers to heed the words of Proverbs, Peter, and Isaiah.
Introduction to Acts, Part II podcast – Messianic apologist John McKee continues his series on the apostle’s ruling in Acts 15 on gentiles, Torah observance, and salvation.
It is incumbent to await the coming of Moshiach every single day – Sean Emslie shows how we can center on Yeshua and his return and while still building a mature Messianic Judaism.
Israelites from India and China return to Israel – A group of Chinese Israelites from a 1000+ year old Kaifeng community who have retained their identity as Israelites return home to Israel. Additionally, a group from the B’nei Menashe community of India, believed to be descendants of the biblical tribe of Manasseh, also return to live in Israel after centuries of dispersion. CBN News has the video:

Anti-missionary groups are panicking – the Rosh Pina blog highlights a strategic legal victory for Israeli Messianics – the approved kosher status of a bakery cannot be overturned because its owner is a Messianic Jew. The anti-missionary response is one of damage control, as they scramble to influence Knesset members to reverse this ruling.
Be cautious who you listen to video blog – John McKee warns against taking in just any old teaching, as many Messianics are too uncritical, unquestioning when it comes to teachings in the Messianic movement. He gives Scriptural support for this critical nature, and rebukes the notion that you can simply “go to these Messianic conferences, load up your plate at the smorgasbord, eat the meat and spit out the bones”.
Why we didn’t talk to Channel 4 – HonestReporting responds to Britain’s Channel 4 documentary that demonizes the pro-Israeli influence in the British government. “A few readers are asking why we chose not to grant Channel 4's request to interview HR's managing editor, Simon Plosker. It's a fair question … The aggressive nature of the initial email Plosker received from C4 was a big factor. So was the premise of the documentary, which already seemed to take for granted the existence of an "Israel lobby" in the UK. The email, which basically wanted Plosker to justify HonestReporting's work, reeked of hatchet job.”
Come Back! – Messianic Jewish psalmist and pianist Marty Goetz calls for a comeback – for the United States, for Israel, for Messiah. “Our nation needs a comeback, doesn't it? The economy, the national mood, the 'salt of the earth' American people, desperately need to come back from some serious doldrums. I've been around many years; things are as bad as I've seen them in many years. There is a 'come back' of which we all can be certain; the coming back to earth of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel and Lord of all. The low murmur of a lone survivor won't bring him back. Rather it will be the cry of His kinsmen, Israel: ‘Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai---Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!’ He promised...and it will be. Look it up, and look up!”
Bible Codes, the good and the bad – United Israel looks at some proofs for – and against – the idea that there exists hidden statements and prophecies encoded in the Hebrew Torah.
Messianic Judaism: corruption or crowning achievement? – The Judeoxian blog asks why both sides in Jewish-Christian relations often look down on Messianic Judaism, and shows how Messianic Judaism is really a crowning achievement of Jewish-Christian relations.

Shabbat shalom, fine blog readers!

Tip for you fine blog readers

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:32:00 +0000

How did you get to this blog - did you type http://judahgabriel.blogspot.com into your address bar?

If you did, you’re doing it wrong.

I know many of you fine blog readers are not technologically inclined – most religious people are behind the curve – so let me show you a little tech secret that will save you lots of time and energy.

Thanks to a cool technology called real simple syndication (RSS), you don’t have to visit this blog, or any other blog, to read it. That means you don’t have to type in the address of every blog you read.

Isn’t that a nice idea?

Let me show you how to do it. All you have to do is 4 simple steps, and you’re all set for easy blog reading forever:

Go to Google Reader. Create an account if you don’t have one yet.
Click the “Add Subscription” button:
Type in the blog you want to subscribe to:
Click the Add button.

Congratulations, you’ve subscribed to the RSS feed for this blog! What’s so great about that, you ask?

Behold, the magic:

Notice it shows me I have 1 unread blog post on the Kineti blog. Clicking that shows me the new blog post right there in the reading pane!

The old way of doing it sucked: you had to visit 10 different sites to read the 10 blogs you follow. The new way rocks: from now on, go to google.com/reader, and all the blogs you follow will show up there automatically. Beautiful, easy, fast.

Not only does it save you time, but it also lets you read more blogs – currently I subscribe to over 130 blogs. No way I could do this without the aid of Google Reader; this technique lets you follow more blogs without wasting time.

And it’s not just for blogs: this works for news sites like CNN, retailers like Amazon best-sellers, even your Facebook friends feed. In fact, anywhere you see the RSS feed icon is a sure bet:

See that icon? It means “this site works in RSS readers like Google Reader”.

Enjoy your new and improved blog reading experience, fine blog readers. We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

p.s. If you’re really feeling adventurous, try out the free RSS Bandit app. It’s a desktop app, like Outlook or iTunes, that runs on your computer and notifies you when new blog posts show up. With this technique, you don’t even need to open your web browser – just launch RSS Bandit and read blogs from the comfort of your desktop.

Weekly Bracha #1

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:05:00 +0000

I go through many Messianic, Jewish, and Christian blogs and podcasts. Every week, there’s a few gems that are deserving of a greater audience. To shine the light on these gems, I’m starting a weekly series of posts called the Weekly Bracha (Hebrew: blessing, bounty). Enjoy!

Acts 15 study podcast, part 1 – The topic of gentiles and their relationship to Torah has been the subject of much controversy in the Messianic movement as late. John McKee gives it a dose of his usual intellectual, scholarly study as he dissects the apostles’ ruling on gentiles and Torah in Acts 15.
Israel and Messiah’s Return – Is God done with Israel? Are Israel the failed people of God? Messianic rabbi Derek Leman underlines Israel’s centrality in Messiah’s return and the age to come.
Whose Mashiach is it anyway? – Rosh Pina blogger Yeze shows a video of ~~anti-missionary~~ Judaism-shaming group Yad L’achim harassing an Israeli Messianic congregation by infiltrating their services and starting a riot. The authors then ask, “Why aren’t the anti-missionaries opposing Chabad messianists missionaries?” That is, Chabad Orthodox Jewish groups that proselytize Jews to believe that the late United States rabbi Schneersohn is the messiah with divine qualities.
Jerusalem Post ignoring Ami Ortiz case – Now that virtually all of Israel – secular, Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox – have condemned the murderous acts of anti-missionary Jack Teitel, Israeli media outlets have been omitting Messianic Jews as one of Teitel’s victims. The Ortiz family says,
Now many news sources and especially the Jerusalem Post to name one, are omitting our case completely and saying only that the attacks were against homosexuals, and left-wing people.
The family urges us to pray, and also to email editors@jpost.com and ask them to tell the truth and not forget Ami Ortiz’s case. (Update: The Jerusalem Post has heard us, and have edited one of their articles in response.)
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Daniel Zion – First Fruits of Zion remembers the 20th anniversary of the death of chief rabbi of Bulgaria who saved an untold number of Bulgarian Jews from the the Nazis, while holding faith in the Messiah Yeshua. “Rabbi Daniel Zion's story is a testimony to us all. He lived a 100 percent Torah lifestyle, and he was a 100 percent follower of the Messiah Yeshua. He did not compromise faith for money, nor did he succumb to the pressures of the chief rabbinate to deny Yeshua. He chose the difficult path, not acquiescing his beliefs in order to fit into the norm. May we learn from his tremendous example.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is heckled – Giving a speech at the General Assembly of Jewish Federations, some hecklers interrupt the speech and heckle the Prime Minister of Israel. Aussie Dave has the video, which includes Netanyahu’s humorous response: “I have to say, I was received at the United Nations better than here.”
Acts 15 from a Christian perspective: Professor of religious studies and authority on the New Testament Scot McKnight discusses Acts 15 from a Christian perspective.
What should Christians do with Jehova’s Witnesses? – Those too-well-dressed door-to-door religious salesman – McKnight asks, how do you deal with them?
Kristallnacht – The Yinon blog remembers the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when German and Austrian rioters stormed and destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues, all with government approval.
Aventures with the Apostles: Thaddeus – Jeremiah Michael shows some surprising information from the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus: annointing and baptizing Hebrews, Greeks, Syrians and Armenians, instructing them to heed to the apostles words and observe the law of Moses.

Shabbat shalom!

A new Messianic blog with great potential

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

After much goading by yours truly, Jeremiah Michael is blogging: All Things Apostolic

Welcome to my blog, this blog called ‘All things Apostolic’ is about the Apostles, but more than that, it’s a place where I will, God willing, jot down my studies and thoughts on all things Apostolic, Torah, Jewish, and Christian. I hope you enjoy it!

Jeremiah is a fine young mind, studious and well-grounded in Messiah. Having followed many of his postings and musings on Facebook, and having met him in person, I can vouch for Jeremiah’s love for Messiah, Judaism and Christianity. Now that his writings have broken free of the walled garden that is Facebook, I think you all will find his writings to reflect a wisdom beyond his years.

Oh, did I mention his dad runs prominent Messianic organization First Fruits of Zion? That means Jeremiah gets to leech off the great minds and historical books and materials hoarded by that organization, all the more benefit for you fine blog readers.

He’s put out a flurry of posts to begin:

Words of Eternal Life – Interesting comparison likening Rabbi Tarphon’s words in Midrash Sifre with Peter’s words to Yeshua in John.
Adventures with the Apostles: Thaddeus – I really liked this one. Jeremiah highlights the intriguing story of Thaddeus, as recorded in the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus:

Thaddeus went to Abgarus; and having found him in health, he gave him an account of the incarnation of Christ, and baptized him, with his entire house. And having instructed great multitudes, both of Hebrews and Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians, he baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having anointed them with the holy perfume; and he communicated to them of the undefiled mysteries of the sacred body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered to them to keep and observe the law of Moses, and to give close heed to the things spoken by the Apostles in Jerusalem. For year by year they came together to the Passover, and again he imparted to the Holy Spirit.
Select Poetry from Denise Levertov – poetry from Denise Levertov, daughter of Hasidic follower of Messiah, early Messianic Jewish pioneer P.P. Levertov:
As a devout Christian my father took delight
And pride in being (like Christ and the Apostles) a Jew.
It was Hasidic lore, his heritage,
He drew on to know
The Holy Spirit as Shekinah.
Yeshua is not a messiah – While some suggest there is a messiah type in every generation, Jeremiah argues for the ultimate Messiahship of Yeshua.

Great start! Welcome, Jeremiah, to the blogosphere! Go send some traffic his way, fine blog readers.

The Greatest Commandments, Part 7

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:01:00 +0000

This is part of a series of posts that studies each of the commandments in the Torah (law), then maps them in a massive visual hierarchy that details their interconnected nature.

Have a look at:

That said, let’s kick this week off with a big commandment:

No Slandering

Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

-Leviticus 19:16, part a

We may think of slandering as defaming a person in public, or speaking ill of a person, but Judaism has traditionally seen this commandment as something different: lashon hara (literally “evil tongue”).

Lashon hara is said to be different than defamation. While defamation may be summarized as speaking falsehood about a person in order to dirty their name, by contrast, lashon hara is said to be speaking a negative truth about someone with an evil intent. Defamation, lies, and exaggerations are considered even worse, and fall under a separate category.

Much could be said about the serious nature of lashon hara: rabbis claim Israel was punished in the wilderness due to lashon hara. Solomon devoted much of the the Book of Proverbs underlining the serious nature of evil speech:

He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.

To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.

…just to name a few blurbs from Israel’s Wise Man.

Even the psalmist joins in, claiming only those who refrain from evil speech may enter God’s holy place,

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
       Who may live on your holy hill?

He whose walk is blameless
       and who does what is righteous,
       who speaks the truth from his heart

and has no slander on his tongue,
       who does his neighbor no wrong
       and casts no slur on his fellowman

And numerous times, this psalmist cries out for shelter from evil speech:

How great is your goodness,
       which you have stored up for those who fear you,
       which you bestow in the sight of men
       on those who take refuge in you.

In the shelter of your presence you hide them
       from the intrigues of men;
       in your dwelling you keep them safe
       from accusing tongues.

It cannot be understated how important this commandment was to the patriarchs of the faith. One wonders what full, unseen ramifications this has in our modern culture, with its unrestrained lashon hara against public figures, celebrities, friends, and even family members.

Kineti reader and Greatest Commandments Project contributor Nathan Tuggy has mapped this commandment as deriving from “no hating your brother” commandment. I agree with him:

No Revenge and No Grudges

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

-Leviticus 19:18

The commandment preceding the golden “love your neighbor” commandment is to refrain from seeking revenge, and from bearing a grudge, against one of your people.

This highlights again the question “does this apply to everyone, or just Jews?”

Last week we saw how Maimonides interpreted “no hating your brother” commandment as “no hating other Jews”. It is certainly an arguable point, as brother implies kinship and blood relation. Even the “love your neighbor” commandment here is preceded with “one of your people” indicating that, yes, this commandment was intended to apply to Israelites alone.

Thus, the importance of the question “Who is an Israelite?” comes to the fore. As a firm believer in the restoration of the two houses of Israel, and also as someone who sees gentiles in Messiah as being grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, brought near to the the covenants with Israel, made first-class citizens of the commonwealth of Israel, I say this commandment applies to Jews and gentiles. When Messiah restated this commandment to love your neighbor, I argue he intended for future generations of his gentiles followers to honor and obey this commandment just as Israel was to obey it.

Messiah reiterated this commandment to love one another. And I believe that applies to all of us, Jew or gentile, who call him Master and Lord. Not only this commandment, but each of the commandments in the Torah applying to the whole assembly of Israel.

We deem both of these commandments as deriving from the “no hating your brother” commandment:

No Oppressing the Weak

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

Exodus 22:22 (22:21 in Jewish Bibles)

Though the text explicitly cites widows and orphans, Maimonides summarizes this commandment as the more general “do not oppress the weak”.

I think he does well in this generalization, as the spirit of the commandment could arguably be applied to numerous groups: the sick, injured, mentally ill, children, etc. Don’t take advantage of them! Common sense, and I think religious people today do well to this end, barring the occasional religious scam artists.

We deem this commandment as deriving directly from the golden “love your neighbor as yourself” commandment. In time, I suspect this commandment will have numerous child commandments deriving from it, as the Torah contains several pertaining to widows and orphans (and arguably, by extension, the weak):

No Idolatry

Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.

-Leviticus 19:4

This simple commandment to refrain from idolatry, specifically, gods fashioned by human hands, is arguably less relevant today, as most in our modern culture do not worship gods made with human hands.

However, even in the first century during Messiah’s time and the lifetime of his disciples, idolatry was a huge issue among gentiles in Messiah, so much that, in Acts 15, the apostles ruled this matter was of utmost importance in terms of salvation:

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

-Apostles’ ruling in Acts 15 on gentiles, Torah, and salvation

But today, idolatry and food sacrificed to idols is a non-issue. Of course, some may argue we have idols in different forms: anything that takes precedence over God is an idol: television, internet, entertainment, money, and so on. And indeed, there are some statements from the Apostolic Scriptures that indicate idolatry is more than just worship of hand-made gods, and thus this commandment is still relevant to today’s culture.

This commandment is a reiteration - and more explicit form – of the 2nd commandment: to have no other gods before the LORD. I’ve derived it as such:

Remember God’s Commandments Through Tassels

You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

-Numbers 15:39

Interesting commandment. First of all, a little context: what “tassels” are being spoken of here? From the preceding verse:

Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.

-The preceding verse, Numbers 15:38

This is quite the surprising verse to most Christians, and I think this idea of tassels, or fringes, on your garment is an idea very foreign or even silly to our modern world. I mean, why would God require us to wear a particular fragment of clothing?

The commandment makes clear the purpose is to cause us to remember all God’s commandments and turn away from evil. Clothing may have been chosen because it’s part of every day life, continually with you. I’m betting some of you fine blog readers have comments on this.

Alternate Interpretation

With this tassels commandment, I’ve diverged, again, from Maimonides’ interpretation. (Sorry, Rambam!) The way he interprets this commandment is via the negative “do not follow the lusts of your heart”. While that is certainly a part of this commandment, I dissented from this summary because the preceding and following verses indicate the commandment is given for the sake of remembering all God’s commandments. Turning from lusts is the side-effect.

Fringe Controversies

This commandment is one that some Biblical scholars deem a sign commandment. That is, a commandment given as a sign between God and the Jews, and thus, gentiles have no part in this commandment.

It’s very tempting to say this, given virtually all Christians and many Messianics do not keep this commandment about fringes. It is very convenient to say, “this commandment is special, and doesn’t apply to all God’s people.” Heck, personally I have trouble keeping this commandment daily, and tend to only wear the fringes on shabbat and the holy days.

However, as a matter of consistency, one must concede that this commandment contains no special treatment in the text, and its categorization as a sign commandment is superficial. The most one can say is, it is addressed to the Israelites. But to stay honest, we must also conceded commandments like “do not hate your brother” and “love your neighbor as yourself” are addressed to Israelites as well, at least implicitly, and indeed, the rabbis of Judaism have traditionally interpreted it this way, and the text also implies it through terms like “brother” and “neighbor”.

So where does that leave us? It brings us back to the question of whether gentiles-in-Messiah are Israelites. I am convinced that yes, gentiles in Messiah are grafted into Israel, citizens of the commonwealth of Israel, and thus are part of God’s people and ought to keep as much of the commandments as they are able, and that includes this commandment to remember the all God’s commandments through fringes, so that we might not stray.

…But Messianics do not keep it?

Sadly, yes, Messianics by and large do not keep this. Although a number of Jewish Messianics observe this commandment, it is by no means unanimous; in fact, I can think of several Jewish UMJC leaders that don’t keep this.

And due to the discouragement and controversy around Messiah’s gentiles keeping this commandment, very few Messianic gentiles honor this commandment for fear of offending Jewish Messianics.

This is the first commandment we’ve mapped where observant Judaism keeps this commandment, but largely Messianic Judaism does not: most Messianics do not remember God’s commandments via tassels on the garments, as God commanded us to. And I think it’s a shame.

Because of its focus and purpose on remembering God’s commandments, I deem this commandment deriving from “keep all God’s commandments”:

Conclusion

Some interesting commandments this week – and lots of controversy surrounding some of these commandments. Humans make things more complicated – and controversial – than they really are. Fortunately, I made this post so long, though, that I bet only a few will comment on the controversial matters. Neener neener neener.

For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the stats on the commandments we’ve mapped so far:

33 commandments have been mapped.
The project is 5.4% complete.
24% of the commandments have alternate text readings.
15% are from Exodus.
42% are from Leviticus.
6% are from Numbers.
36% are from Deuteronomy.
93% can be carried out in modern times.
54% are positive commandments.
46% are negative commandments.
66% are observed by Christians.
87% are observed by Messianics.
90% are observed by Jews.
The average commandment length is 128 characters.
The average summary length is 27 characters.

And finally, many thanks to Kineti reader Nathan Tuggy who’s really helped bring some order and consistency to this project. I expected next to zero contribution, and he’s totally commandeering this project now. He’s contributed to the mapping of the commandments, fixed my buggy code, offered insights to improvement, boatloads of good coming from him. Thumbs up, Nate.

The Big Picture

Behold, in all it’s glory, the current snapshot of our work.

(Click to enlarge)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s installment, fine Kineti blog readers!

To Jeremiah M and Aaron H

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:49:00 +0000

I know both of you guys read the Kineti blog, and that both of your little noggins are filled with zooming theological musings that need a permanent home on the intarwebs. A blog is the answer.

Just make sure it doesn’t look like this.

WELCOME TO MY BLAGHZ! :-) :) :-D :| :( :( ;) :c) (:

it is the besit internetz site on the whoel wided world!!!!1111oneoneeleven

Animated .GIFs are teh evilz. And so is scrolling marquee text. And the <blink> tag. Now go have a good weekend, and find yourself a blog.

Tasty Falafel

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Some amusing tweets coming in today from IDF soldier Joshua, who is spending some off-time in the US:

11:00am: Off to ‘Life in Hell: A Journalist’s Account of Life in Gaza with Mohammed Omer’ at the Palestine Center in DC.
12:00pm: At the Palestine Center in DC to hear from Mohammed Omer.
1:00pm: Just got free falafel! Go Palestine!
1:30pm:
1:45pm: It’s hard to be a Zionist when they serve falafel!
2:00pm: Almost got lynched at the Palestine Center. At least I got free falafel.
3:00pm: Apparently they didn’t like my question regarding the Goldstone report accusing Hamas of war crimes.
3:00pm: I was booed and people started to scream at me.

Hey, at least he got some free, tasty falafel out of it.

Justice For Ami Ortiz

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Last week we covered the triumphant case of Israeli Messianic Jewish teen Ami Ortiz, documenting that an arrest had been made in his case, and more importantly, a great number of secular, Orthodox, and Ultra Orthodox Jews across Israel came to support the Ortiz family, condemning the shameful actions of whomever carried this out.

Today, the news is exploding all over the web and the Israeli media that Ya'acov Teitel, an Ultra Orthodox Jewish, right-wing settler has confessed to the attempted murder of the Ortiz family, as well as a long list of bombings and shootings carried out over the past several years. Details have emerged indicating he tried to murder the Ortiz family for their belief that Yeshua is the Messiah.

In one article, the Jerusalem Post documents:

He [Teitel] confessed to planting a bomb on March 20, 2008 at the entrance to the Ortiz family home in Ariel, who he believed were messianic Jews and were trying to convert Jews to Christianity.

Was Teitel an anti-missionary, as many suspected?

Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz cites a note left by Teitel at one his crime scenes that confirms his anti-missionary stance, where he accuses the state of Israel of “supporting Christian missionaries whose sole aim is to make us convert from our religion”.

Teitel is also responsible for carrying out violent attacks against and attempted murder of Arabs, homosexuals, and a college professor over the last several years.

Rightfully, Ami’s parents, David and Leah Ortiz, are calling for justice. But are they angry at the Orthodox Jewish community that produced this man who nearly killed their son? A Jerusalem Post article explains,

The Ortiz family said that they do not hold the Orthodox community to blame for the bombing, and that they understand it is only a very small minority in the community who would carry out such an attack.

When the family found out that the alleged attacker was a Jew, "it really hurt," Ami said, "because it's like your own brother has done something like this to you."

Praise God they are not holding bitterness towards the Orthodox community over this. I think that stands as a great witness for Messiah. Please pray for Ami as he has undergone great pain, both physically and mentally.

Last week, we showed how God has taken this terrible event – the attempted murder and critical injury of a young Messianic Jewish boy – and turned it into something great, something used for God’s glory, as religious and secular Jews across Israel acknowledge the evil carried out, and sympathized with and showed support for the Messianic family. As Leah Ortiz stated,

We can testify that the nation as a whole condemns this man's actions. We have received telephone calls and communications from Israelis throughout this past year and a half, from every town, city, and village in Israel. They have been secular, orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews, and the message has been the same - shock, grief and anger over the incident, and the need to let us know that they condemn this vicious act.

And now, things are only becoming more visible; even the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a statement condemning the act,

They do not represent the majority of the nation. They are a small and marginal group, but we have already seen the strength and damage of one murderer. We must continue to condemn the use of violence and to use all legal power against any attempt at violence.

Indeed, these vigilante anti-missionaries are a small and marginal group that do not represent Jews, Judaism, or Israel. Praise God! And may God continue to turn their violence into instruments of his glory. And may he continue to turn their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, just as God is softening the hearts of many Israelis, many now who no longer look down on Israel’s Messianic Jews as cult members, but rather as fellow Jews and Israeli citizens.

With the murder suspect arrested and his confession signed, what comes next for the Ortiz family? What is the final word?

Ami said he is not sure if he will be able to serve in the IDF, because the battery of operations he has undergone may render his physical profile too low. If given the choice, the youth said he would volunteer for combat service, just like his father did.

Ami had difficulty thinking of what he would say to his attacker if he faced him, saying it's too hard to say. However, his mother, Leah, said, "I would tell him, you didn't get what you wanted, we won, in the end we won."

Amein!

Hat tip to the Rosh Pina blog for their excellent coverage in documenting and exposing anti-missionary abuses.

The Triumphant Case of Ami Ortiz

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Hat tip to Rosh Pina for the heads up on the Ortiz case.

I’m a few days late to the chase, but – praise God – there is new good news in the case of Ami Ortiz, the 15 year old Messianic Israeli who was nearly killed in a bomb sent to his family’s house.

15 year old Israeli Messianic before and after the bombing.

The good news in the case: A suspect has been arrested, and the police may have a confession from the suspect. I’ll let Ami’s mother Leah tell the story:

We have incredible news and answer to prayer. A suspect has been arrested in our case! Actually he was arrested about 2 weeks ago, but there has been a continuing gag order placed on the story. Therefore we cannot tell you all the details because we don't have them yet. To be noted that we didn't hear the news from the police, but from our lawyer and media sources, and today the American Embassy called us to tell us that there was an arrest! We are dual American and Israeli citizens, and I thanked them for having the consideration to inform us.

Concerning the suspect, we only know that he is an Orthodox Jew, originally from the U.S. He was living in a settlement in our area, is married, the father of four children, and is now being held by the secret services because the case is wider than we expected. We know that weapons and explosive material were found in his home, and that there is a lot of hard evidence against him. We also know that there are those in Ariel who are under intense investigation as well, but we're not sure if any other arrests have been made. We also know that his lawyer went before the judge to ask for the suspect to be released on bail, and he was refused because of the amount of evidence against him in his file. We expect that the gag order will be lifted maybe on Wednesday or Thursday, and then we will know more details and the press will be all over the story for a few days.

GREAT RELIEF

Our family has experienced great relief. We are happy that we don't have to look over our shoulder, we don't have to check our car before we get into it, and we can open our front door with more confidence. Before this we knew there was a murderer roaming free, perhaps standing in line with us in the post office, or continuing to keep surveillance on our house. We also feel sorrow for the suspect who has so ruined his life, the lives of his family, and has brought a bad name on the people of Israel. We can testify that the nation as a whole condemns this man's actions. We have received telephone calls and communications from Israelis throughout this past year and a half, from every town, city, and village in Israel. They have been secular, orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews, and the message has been the same - shock, grief and anger over the incident, and the need to let us know that they condemn this vicious act. They all blessed Ami with wishes for a full recovery, and hopes that he would succeed in life and fulfil his dreams.

PRAY FOR WISDOM

Please pray for us as the media interviews begin, both domestic and international, for wisdom and for the name of Yeshua to be lifted up. Please pray for Ami, as he goes back to the moment and shares it publically. He took the news very coolly. I don't think he wants to let his heart get involved in any way, which I understand. Right now he is with all the 11th graders in his school in the northern Negev, in a pre-army type of experience called in Hebrew the "gadna" which means "youth battalions". It's kind of a light basic training simulation with many lectures from the army about what they can expect, and what their possibilities are.
Psalm 27:1-6 sums it all up-

The LORD is my light and my salvation-
whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,

when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;

at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

Thank you for standing with us as you have helped us to pray this through, and for continuing to be with us in prayer.

In the Messiah,
Leah

This is huge news.

First, it confirms the suspicion of anti-missionary vigilante violence carried out by ultra-Orthodox Shamer groups like Yad L’achim.

Second, vindication! The police were initially sitting on their hands, dismissing this as a accidental firecracker accident (!), and the media chimed in with agreement, excusing the violence by claiming Messianic Jews are part of a cult. For example, here’s an original article from the left-leaning, secular Haaretz newspaper that all but excused the bombing:

Police are investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket. Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecracker used during Purim celebrations.

The Parents of the victim are members of the Messianic Jews movement, which the police classify as a cult. The boy's father is considered to be one of the movement's leaders.

After previous attempts to harm the family, a security camera was installed at the family's home. The police were checking the footage to see whether the explosion was documented by the cameras. The police emphasized that there was no proof to support the theory that the explosion was deliberate and malicious.

Fine blog readers, notice the non-sequitur arguments used here: “This cult family has been targeted by attacks before. Therefore, it’s probably a firecracker accident.” (What kind of journalism and police detective work is this?!)

And the article failed to mention that the family’s security cameras caught a man in Orthodox Jewish garb dropping off the bomb at the family home. Yet the police, and apparently the author of this Haaretz article, cite no proof of malicious intent.

This highlights the extreme anti-Messianic bias witnessed in the Israeli media: Messianics are portrayed as a cult, violence against us is denied or excused, and finally dismissed. No one wants to be on the side of the ugly Messianics.

A great goodness has come out of this!

Things are changing. With the Jerusalem Institute of Justice standing up in court on behalf of persecuted Messianics, and the Israeli courts cracking down on evil vigilante ~~anti-missionary~~ Shamer groups, we’ve seen a turn in the Israeli media, with a few lone voices speaking up for the plight of Messianic Jews, praise God.

Additionally, many Jews in the Israeli Orthodox community are distancing themselves from these shameful anti-missionary groups. The Ami Ortiz family reports that when Ami was hospitalized after the bombing, many from the surrounding Orthodox Jewish communities came to visit Ami, and denounced and apologized for whomever carried out this bombing.

In word, the Orthodox communities were denouncing vigilante anti-missionary groups, whether knowingly or not. Praise God!

As Leah Ortiz put it,

We can testify that the nation as a whole condemns this man's actions. We have received telephone calls and communications from Israelis throughout this past year and a half, from every town, city, and village in Israel. They have been secular, orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews, and the message has been the same - shock, grief and anger over the incident, and the need to let us know that they condemn this vicious act.

Praise God that secular, Orthodox, and Ultra Orthodox Jews have all condemned this shameful act! I believe God has his hand on this situation: a terrible tragedy – the attempted murder of a family because of their belief in Messiah – has been turned into a great witness, changing the hearts of many. Praise God!

Look out, anti-missionaries, God is at work. When Messiah comes, I hope he finds you loving his flock, instead of persecuting it. And even should you continue persecuting us in your stubbornness, God is going to use it for his glory, just as he has in the triumphant case of Ami Ortiz.

The Greatest Commandments, Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done work on our commandments hierarchy project. This week, we we’ll be mapping commandments related to brotherhood. And at the end of this post, a little bonus for all you fine blog readers: some interesting stats tallied from the biblical commandments we’ve mapped thus far.

But first, a recap: What is the Greatest Commandments Project?

Imagine all the commandments in the law arranged in a visual tree, where each commandment hangs on another. For example, “love the sojourner” is a branch hanging on the “love your neighbor as yourself” commandment.

This is what we’ve done, and you can see our work here.

The project is inspired by Messiah’s words:

“Hear, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one; love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.All the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

That’s what the Greatest Commandments Hierarchy project is all about. Read past commandments mappings, or have a peek at the latest snapshot of our work! If you’re technically inclined, you can even contribute to the project through the open source Greatest Commandments software project.

With that covered, let’s begin!

No destroying objects associated with God’s name

These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.

-Deuteronomy 12:4

Commandment #8 (the bolded part above) is an interesting one, where the Christian translations and interpretations is different than Judaism’s.

Many Christian interpretations: “Do not worship as they [the pagans] worship.”

Many Jewish interpretations: “Do not do so [wipe out the name, the places of worship] unto the Lord.”

Looking at different translations, and looking at the surrounding texts, I find the Jewish interpretation correct. With the literal text of, “You shall not do so unto the LORD your God”, the preceding statement of “wipe out the name of false gods”, and the following statement of “seek the place where God puts his name among you”, I’m thinking this is more about honoring God’s name.

Accepting the traditional Jewish interpretation, I deem this commandment deriving from the “Do not profane God’s name” commandment:

No Hating Others

Do not hate your brother in your heart.

-Leviticus 19:17 (part 1)

Like the issue with “love the convert”, Judaism traditionally interprets this commandment as a Jew-specific commandment. In fact, Maimonides summarizes this commandment as “Do not hate other Jews”.

This argument can be made: “brother” and “neighbor” would most likely be other Israelites, as the Torah was given to Israel.

On the other hand, it may also be argued that neighbor could mean even the sojourner. Indeed, we read last week the commandment “be kind to the sojourner among you”. Additionally, the text does not explicitly specify this commandment as applying only to Israelites.

And finally, Messiah himself mentions this commandment while amplifying it:

I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brotherwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' [Aramaic term of contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin.

-Matthew 5:22

I would argue that Messiah’s words here (and by extension, the commandment not to hate your brother), are applicable to all God’s people, including those gentiles brought near through Messiah.

So I break with the traditional Jewish interpretation here and summarize this commandment as the general “Don’t hate others”, rather than the limited “Don’t hate other Jews”.

I deem this commandment as deriving from the golden “Love your neighbor as yourself” commandment:

Reprove the sinner

Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

-Leviticus 19:17 (part 2)

The next sentence after “do not hate your brother” commandment in Leviticus 19:17, is the commandment to rebuke your [guilty] neighbor, rather than share in his guilt.

Maimonides’ interpretation of “reprove the sinner” seems correct to me, as the text implies that the neighbor to be rebuked is guilty, and that you must reprove, rather than hate him, so that you don’t share in his guilt.

Given the locality of these commandments in the text, and their inter-related nature, I deem this commandment as deriving from “no hating others” commandment:

No embarrassing others

But wait, we’re not done with Leviticus 19:17. Maimonides extracts yet another commandment from this same verse: “no embarrassing others”.

Here is the whole verse again, this time in literal translation:

You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.

-Leviticus 19:17

Where does “no embarrassing others” come from?

An educated guess might be “do not bear sin because of him”. I would argue against Maimonides here, honestly; I just don’t see this interpretation as legitimate, not bearing sin here seems to be part of the “don’t hate your brother” commandment, not a new commandment about embarrassing others. If you fine blog readers have any thoughts, I’d like to hear them.

Like the previous commandment, I deem this related to not hating your brother:

Closing thoughts: Maimonides’ double standard?

Today we mapped 3 commandments from Leviticus 19:17:

Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

-Leviticus 19:17

Now note how Maimonides splits this verse into 3 commandments:

Do not hate other Jews.
Rebuke the sinner.
Don’t embarrass others.

Maimonides sees 3 parties here: Jews, sinners, and others. Yet the text mentions neither Jews nor sinners nor others.

Why does Maimonides feel “do not hate your brother” applies only to Jews, but “embarrassing others” and “rebuking others” are not limited in this way? A consistent interpretation would seem to be “Do not hate other Jews, rebuke sinning Jews, and don’t embarrass other Jews.” Instead, Maimonides interprets each of these as pertaining to different groups. Is it a double-standard, or just a matter of interpretation? You fine blog readers have any thoughts?

The Big Picture

Behold! In all its glory, the current snapshot of the commandments hierarchy project:

(Click for full size)

Beautiful!

Note that Kineti reader and project contributor Nathan Tuggy has modified the source code to spit out “can’t be carried out today” commandments as red. Thanks, Nathan! Click the picture to see our 2 mapped commandments that cannot be carried out today: both of them are related to the Levitical priesthood and the tabernacle offerings.

Nerd Notes

I’ve modified the Commandments Hierarchy generator program to output some interesting stats about the commandments mapped thus far:

Some statistics to tingle your nerdly id

27 commandments have been mapped thus far.
11% of them are from Exodus.
41% of them are from Leviticus.
4% of them are from Numbers.
44% of them are from Deuteronomy.
93% of them can be carried out in modern times.
63% are positive commandments.
37% are negative commandments.
63% are observed by Christians.
89% are observed by Messianics.
89% are observed by Jews.
The average commandment length is 123 characters.
The average summary length is 27 characters.

Interesting stats indeed! Looking forward to seeing how these stats evolve as we progress into more commandments.

There it is, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of the Greatest Commandments Project. Enjoy your shabbat!

Haaretz article on persecution of Messianics

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

In most cases the people hurt are Israelis, country citizens for all matters: they perform military service; educate their children on their country’s values and Zionism and send them to regular schools; celebrate the nation's holidays and observe its commemorative dates, work for a living, usually in free professions, and pay taxes. They love the country,
swear to their loyalty and devotion, become emotional with the raising of the flag and the singing of the anthem, and still feel like a persecuted minority.

About 20 communities of Messianic Jews are active around the country, and the number of their members is estimated at several thousands. They believe in G_d and consider themselves as Jews, refer to the Bible and the New Testament as their holy scriptures, are convinced that Jesus is the messiah and don't understand how it's any of the country authorities' business.

Haaretz, a prominent Israeli newspaper, recently posted an article about the plight of Messianic Jews in Israel, and their persecution by ~~anti-missionary~~ Shamer groups like Yad L’Achim.

The Jerusalem Institute for Justice has posted an English translation of the article (PDF).

Here’s a snippet from the article:

Barbara Ludwig, a 33 year old Jewish student at a Hebrew university, was on the verge of being deported from the country, after her student visa was refused. In the hearing conducted about a year ago in the Court for Illegal Aliens, before her deportation, she was asked about her lifestyle and beliefs:

The court: I want to know once and for all – what is the religion of truth, Judaism or Christianity?

Ludwig: in my opinion the truth is G_d, and not Judaism or Christianity.

The court: is Christianity idolatry?

Ludwig: there are elements of idolatry in Christianity.

The court: and who are you in this story – a Jew, a Christian, or something in between?

Ludwig: in my eyes I am a Jew. I live as a Jew and handle the responsibility involved in it.

The court: what is the weekly Torah portion?

Ludwig: since we're past Passover, it's either "Ahrey Mot" or "Kedoshim". But what does that have to do with my student visa?

Hat tip to Rosh Pina.

Messianic Judaism: A purpose that angered many

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:07:00 +0000

There has been renewed focus, as of late, to make Messianic Judaism more Jewish.

Some have well intentions: being true to our Jewish nature and tradition, bringing more Jews into Messianic Judaism. Giving a place for Judaism to continue.

Others have foolish intentions: “We must be an authentic, recognizable Judaism!”, they say. “Only then will we be recognized in the Jewish world and move into the Jewish space!”

And yet others have used this as an opportunity to distance Messianic Judaism from independent Messianics, Torah-for-Christians folks, two houses of Israel advocates, gentiles called out from the Church, gentiles interested in returning to Hebraic roots of Jesus faith, and other followers of Messiah they deem undesirable.

(Talk about a load of negative, exclusionist religion!)

I’ve made it no secret: I think some of our leaders have an inferiority complex that ultimately hurts Messianic Judaism more than it helps. We’re a Jewish movement by our own right: we follow the only authentic Jewish Messiah. We don’t need others’ approval or recognition to feel secure about our faith and identity. Nor do we need to be a movement that shuns gentiles, or that lets gentiles operate only peripherally.

What is our purpose?

Rabbi Joshua from the Yinon blog asks, “What is our purpose?”

His answer is: “Messianic Judaism’s primary goal has been to be a home and way of life for Jewish followers of Yeshua.”

I see things differently. Yes, of course Messianic Judaism is for Jews returning to Messiah – but it’s more than that.

God has done something huge, folks. He has sparked a Jewish return to Messiah, and a gentile reformation. A spiritual awakening among both Israel and the nations. Simultaneously. It’s happened in the last 40 years, and continues to this day. The result is Messianic Judaism.

It is undeniable: go to any Messianic congregation – why are there so many gentiles? Why are they worshipping with Jews? Why are they keeping God’s commandments? Why are they loving Israel? Why do they love the Jewish people? Why are gentiles called to learn and practice and teach the Scriptures of Israel?

It’s from God, folks. Yes, the Torah-for-Christians people. Yes, the two houses of Israel people. Yes, the young gentile man drawn to Messianic Judaism and the Jewish people. Yes, that gentile overflowing with joy in worshipping among Jews – it’s all from God.

Messianic Judaism is furthering the work of the Reformation. And it’s God’s doing. God’s bringing his people – both Jews and gentiles – into maturity. Reforming our old ways and bringing us to fresh truth of Messiah, and holiness through his commandments. That’s God’s doing.

It’s that huge.

This view angers many! In fact, there are probably a few commenters already furiously typing away at long, angry replies, laden with insults and accusations and slander.

It doesn’t matter, they’re irrelevant. God is at work.

I’m not the only one who sees things this way. John McKee of Outreach Israel Ministries writes in Is God’s Purpose Bigger?,

[T]he Messianic movement is really designed to complete the work of the Reformation, bring all of Israel together, and see a unique faith community of Jewish and non-Jewish Believers emerge.

Many people honestly do throw their hands up in the air and ask, “What happened to the love and grace of Yeshua? What happened to the work of the Holy Spirit? Where is God really leading us?”

We are certainly not being led to a place by God where there are two sub-peoples of God: Messianic Jews and evangelical Christians.

The unity that all of God’s people are to have—either Jewish or non-Jewish—is to be a testimony of the greater redemption to come. We have the capability to be a faith community that is a real force of holiness and righteousness. Many more than just Jews and Christians are to ultimately be affected.

The latter half of John’s statement reminds me of a song written by Messianic pioneer Joel Chernoff:

Jew and Gentile one in Messiah

Help us, Father, to love one another

With humble hearts, forgiving each other

Heal our wounds, bind us together,

That the world might believe

What is our purpose? Our purpose is the restoration of Israel.

All the gentiles in the Messianic movement? They’re not a by-product. They’re not a side-effect. They’re not something to be embarrassed about. They’re not something to be shunned. They are here because God brought them, just as he brought Jews to Yeshua, so God is bringing gentiles to holiness through his commandments.

Praise God for doing this awesome act! Thanks to God he’s moving today among both Jews and gentiles. As the psalmist wrote,

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Messianic Judaism has an inferiority complex

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Remember that awkward nerd girl at school? You know, the one who tried to hang out with the cool cheerleaders? The cool kids would always pick on her. They’d say nasty things to her. They’d make fun of her when everyone’s watching.

Even so, the nerd still vied for their approval. She’d brush her hair. She’d lose the thick glasses. Change the way she dressed. She even stopped hanging around her nerd friends. Her nerd friends were saddened by all this.

Despite all these supposed improvements, the cheerleaders still mocked her and made her a public spectacle.

I think Messianic Judaism is that nerd. There's a great inferiority complex in Messianic Judaism. Some of its leaders are trying very hard to make it fit in with greater Judaism, even to the point of alienating its own gentile friends and abandoning the New Testament model of joint, equal fellowship of Jews and gentiles.

Oh, hello, fellow Jew. I’m a Jew, too; a Messianic one. We’re a legitimate form of Judaism. Honest! Now, excuse me while I ~~put away my nerd glasses~~ sweep our gentiles members and all their crazy theologies under the rug. Just nevermind them!

Hey, look at me, I’m reciting the Sh’ma! Are we cool now?

What makes the situation worse is, the Judaic world will never accept Messianic Judaism as a legitimate form of Judaism. Only deluded optimists believe otherwise.

No matter how much liturgy we chant, no matter how much tradition we embrace, no matter how great the wall we build to separate us from our “undesirable” gentiles, as long as Yeshua is Messiah and Lord of Messianic Judaism, we will be shunned and downplayed and isolated and delegitimized by greater Judaism.

Let me say it again: Messianic Judaism will never be a legitimate form of Judaism as long as Yeshua is Lord.

It is very painful to watch as certain leaders divide and build more walls and distance itself from its friends in an ever-futile attempt to legitimize itself in the eyes of greater Judaism. Like the nerd girl trying to fit in with the cheerleader crowd, it’s all in vain. Messianic Judaism won’t fit in unless it denies Yeshua as King. It is painful to watch our faith strive in vain for approval in the eyes of men.

I don’t want the nerd girl to become a cheerleader. She’s too caught up trying to fit in with the cool crowd to notice who her real friends are. We can only hope and pray she realizes this as she gets older.

Check out my hidden stash!

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:17:00 +0000

A few folks have recently asked me for my Messianic music chord sheets compiled over the years.

This is the stuff that is quite the labor of love: learn to play a song on the guitar, write it out with paper & pencil for trial and error, practice it on the guitar until perfect, type it all up in digital form, keep it organized, all that work.

Well, dear blog readers, you may now eat freely of the fruit of my labor:

Judah’s amazing, wonderful, flashy Messianic music guitar chords

[cue monarchal trumpets]

Now technically speaking, not all the songs listed there are Messianic. There are chords for some old Christian favorites like Petra’s Take Me In, or I Exalt Thee, or Evangelical songs like Robin Mark’s Days of Elijah.

And there are chords to some traditional, non-Messianic Jewish songs, like Am Yisrael Chai, as well as chords for a few songs from various Jewish artists like Yosef Karduner and Shlomo Carlebach, and others.

I guess such is the life of a Messianic: savoring the good from both Christian and Jewish worlds.

But a vast majority of the music chords you find here is authentic Messianic: from classics like Lamb’s Yerushalayim Descending and Israel’s Hope – Oh Give Thanks, all the way to fresh stuff from Joel Chernoff, Meha Shamayim, Avner & Rachel Boskey, Paul Wilbur, Steve McConnell, and many others.

Nerd Notes

As it stands, the chords are mostly in .doc, .docx .rtf, and .pdf formats. That means you need Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office to open the documents. I’m considering migrating to plain old HTML files in the future. We’ll see.

Also, I’m still trying to transfer all of my chord sheets from paper to digital; not everything’s up there yet. As I progress in going all-digital, I’ll continually be updating the Messianic music guitar chords page with the new bits.

Enjoy!

Judaism’s Alien Conversion Program

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Sounds like something straight out of X-Files! [cue haunting X-Files theme song]

I was sitting down to make a new installment of the Greatest Commandments hierarchy project this week, reviewing the commandments added by Kineti reader Nathan Tuggy.

(Nathan, by the way, is a rockstar programmer.)

I sat down and reviewed commandment #14:

And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

-Deuteronomy 10:19 (10:20 in Hebrew bibles)

Now, before I tell you how Judaism interprets this commandment, answer to youself, “what does this mean?” Yep. Go for a Joe Shmo’s simpleton interpretation for a moment.

Really. Answer it. Then scroll down.

…

Did you answer it? Good.

Now here’s a prevailing interpretation of this commandment in Judaism:

“Be kind to the convert.”

Yep. Maimonides and other great and respected sages of Judaism claims this commandment means “be kind to the convert”.

Hrmmm.

If “alien” (or “sojourner” in some texts) is to mean “convert”, a literal reading would go like this:

And you are to love those who are [converts], for you yourselves were [converts] in Egypt.

It becomes a non-sequitur.

I know it is popular in Messianic Judaism to respect mainstream Judaism as an “essential point of reference”, and I am really hesitant to buck mainstream interpretation in favor of Joe Shmo’s plain English interpretation, but after having read some commentary and investigating several different translations, I think this is one of those times where Judaism’s traditional interpretation might just have it wrong here.

Maybe I’m missing something. Any comments from you fine blog readers?

The Time of Our Rejoicing

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Sukkot has come – halleluyah!

Sukkot, also called the Feast of Booths of Feast of Tabernacles, is called the “time of our rejoicing”, and rightfully so: it is a time for us to look forward to its fulfillment in Messiah, when God tabernacles – dwells – with His people. The last chapter in the Bible paints the awesome picture:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

The prophet Zechariah prophesies that, in the coming Messianic Age, all nations – even the crazy gentiles – will be ~~divinely invited~~ mandated (ahem) to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with Messiah King:

Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.

The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

What’s more, a number of scholars have suggested that the Feast of Tabernacles is when Messiah was born, thus explaining the large crowds and that there were no rooms available when Yeshua was born.

And how fitting that would be, yeah? Immanuel (“God with us”) being born on the Feast of Tabernacles, when God will dwell with us.

Happy Feast of Sukkot! It’s a week-long feast, with rest commanded for the first and last days of the feast. Later this week, as part of our commandment hierarchy mapping project, we’ll blog about Sukkot-specific commandments.

As a little Sukkot gift to you, fine blog readers, please enjoy the following Messianic music from Steve McConnell, where he puts a traditional Jewish sukkot prayer to a joyful praise song:

Proverb of Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Judah Gabriel Himango) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Rash language cuts and maims,
   but there is healing in the words of the wise.

Truth lasts;
   lies are here today, gone tomorrow.

Evil scheming distorts the schemer;
   peace-planning brings joy to the planner.

My son and I read Proverbs together before his bedtime. I ran into the above proverb the other night. I’m not big on inspirational snippets, but hey, there are times when you need a word of encouragement.

So preach it, King Solomon. :-)

Kineti L'Tziyon

Weekly Bracha #5

Podcasts

Video blogs

The Greatest Commandments, Part 9

No Inciting Cities To Idolatry

Burn the Idolatrous City

No Rebuilding the Idolatrous City

No Benefiting From Destroyed Idolatrous City

No Enticing Others to Worship Idols

No Loving Idolators

No Yielding To Idolators

No Pitying Idolators

No Saving Idolators

No Defending Idolators

No Idolatrous Prophesying

No Listening to the Idolatrous Prophet

Closing Thoughts

The Big Picture

Nerd Notes

Weekly Bracha #4 – Hanukkah Edition

Video blogs

Audio

Roman & Alaina – Sounds of Prayer

Final Thoughts

Weekly Bracha #3

Podcasts

Is the New Testament reliable?

Christian draw

Judaism’s draw

A critical view of the New Testament

Setting the record straight

Interpretation double standards

Church father double standards

Self-defeating arguments

Dispelling Myths

Composition

Edits?

Paul – corrupter of Christianity?

Waiting for the Hebrew New Testament

Conclusions

A final word

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Greatest Commandments, Part 8

No Worshipping Idols

No Bowing To Idols

No Making Gods For Yourself

No Making Gods For Others

No Making Gods For Decoration

Conclusions

Nerd Notes

Weekly Bracha #2

Tip for you fine blog readers

Weekly Bracha #1

A new Messianic blog with great potential

The Greatest Commandments, Part 7

No Slandering

No Revenge and No Grudges

No Oppressing the Weak

No Idolatry

Remember God’s Commandments Through Tassels

Alternate Interpretation

Fringe Controversies

…But Messianics do not keep it?

Conclusion

The Big Picture

To Jeremiah M and Aaron H

Tasty Falafel

Justice For Ami Ortiz

The Triumphant Case of Ami Ortiz

15 year old Israeli Messianic before and after the bombing.

A great goodness has come out of this!

The Greatest Commandments, Part 6

No destroying objects associated with God’s name

No Hating Others

Reprove the sinner

No embarrassing others

Closing thoughts: Maimonides’ double standard?

The Big Picture

Nerd Notes