~ A Double Standard ~

         We hope you have found this first issue of Hebrew Roots edifying and stimulating. We would appreciate hearing from you so that we will know how to plan future issues. Our address is at the top of the page.

         If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving a sample issue of Hebrew Roots please send us their name and address. You may use the back of the Tape Order Form for this purpose. We will continue to build our subscription list as long as funds are available to produce and mail the newsletter. We hope to be able to produce six to eight editions per year. Since neither of us have previously done anything like this, we are not sure if that is a realistic goal. Only time will tell.

 

         “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
(II Tim. 2:15)

Tape Program

         In our initial mailing we asked each of you. who wished to subscribe, to indicate if you were interested in receiving tapes in addition to the newsletter. About seventy percent of those responding indicated a desire to receive tapes. This high response has caused us to commit to a tape program. However, we have decided to not just automatically mail out tapes to those who responded. The reason is twofold; first of all, if you are like us, you probably are receiving more tapes than you can possibly listen to. Second, is the expense of producing and mailing tapes. We do not wish to use funds, that could be going to reach additional people with our materials, for producing tapes that are not wanted. Therefore, we will be mentioning our newly recorded tapes in each issue of Hebrew Roots. If you wish to receive any or all of them please return the order form in the envelope provided.
         One person asked for a tape list. At this time we do not have a list of available tapes. It is our desire to begin fresh with a brand new tape series. All of the tapes that were previously produced were recorded in Sabbath services or at the Festivals. The quality varies and sometimes the material is only of local interest. It just seems better to make new tapes on those topics that are of sufficient importance. to redo. In this way, new material can be included and the topics can be generally updated. Hopefully, the end result will be a better tape series developed over a period of time.
         Later on it may become appropriate to do an automatic mailing of all tapes to those individuals so requesting. Please let us know your desires in this matter so that we can properly plan for the future.

“Love does not gloat over other people’s sins
but takes its delight in the truth.”
(I Cor. 13:6) JNT

Judaism Today is Not the Same
as Judaism in the First Century

         The early correspondence that we have received indicates that some of our readers do not have a good understanding of Judaism. This is not surprising. Judaism, like Christianity, has many facets. We cannot and must not categorize all of the approximately 18 million people in the world who call themselves Jews, into a single group called ‘The Jews’, any more than we can lump all people known to the world as Christians into a single group called The Christians’. The differences within each group are many.
         One major difference between Judaism and Christianity (other than the central issue of who is the Messiah) is that a Jew can be an atheist or agnostic and still be considered a Jew. This is not true of Christianity since Christianity is a religion while the Jews consider themselves to be a ‘people’. Thus we find, within Judaism, an even more wide divergence of belief and opinion than within Christianity. The Jewish people themselves disagree about what it is that makes someone Jewish. The Israeli Supreme Court was been required to take up this question on different occasions. Recently they have been asked to decide if Messianic Jews (Jews who have accepted Yeshua as the Messiah) are to be considered Jews and therefore eligible to become Israeli citizens. To date they have said no on this issue.
         Both Judaism and Christianity have undergone evolutionary change over the last two thousand years. However, the changes have been of far greater magnitude within Christianity than within Judaism. For example, the ‘Christian’ church abandoned the Sabbath, Holydays and other so called ‘Jewish’ practices while adopting various holidays and beliefs directly from paganism, dressing them up with ‘Christian’ meanings.
         Meanwhile the most profound changes within Judaism took place about two hundred years after the time of Yeshua, when the Jewish sages completed the Mishnah (Meesh’-nah). The Mishnah is considered to be the ‘Oral Torah’ (instructions handed down verbally from generation to generation), in other words, the traditions that have been passed down, beginning with Moshe (Moe’-shay = Moses) and added to by Ezra and all the intervening sages down to the second century C.E. (common era or A.D.). During the following few hundred years the sages added commentary to the Mishnah. This commentary is called the Gamarah (Gah-mah-rah’). Together the Mishnah and the Gamarah make up the Talmud (Tahl’ mood). It is the Talmud, along with the Scriptures (Old Testament), that are the basis for the religion of modern, orthodox, Judaism. This is commonly called “Rabbinic Judaism.”
         The Talmud contains every interpretation put forth by those ancient Rabbis. (In fact, there are actually two Talmud’s; the Jerusalem Talmud [c. 400 C.E.], compiled in Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the Babylonian Talmud [c. 500 CE.] written by the sages living in Babylon.)
         In the West, we like to get our information pure and unadulterated. We want the “plain truth,” something we can understand without having to think to much for ourselves. The Hebrew mind set is much different. They want to look at ideas and concepts from every possible angle, and to discuss and debate the various positions of a question. To them it is imperative to do this so that no stone is left unturned that may be hiding the “real truth” of a matter. This approach can wear the average Westerner out. The Jews are also very careful to record all of the opinions expressed on any given subject as long as it comes from one of their sages’. In Christianity this is not usually the case.
         A couple of years ago I was having a discussion with a Messianic Jewish man. In the course of our conversation he said to me; “You know what they say about the Jews, don’t you?” I replied; “People say a lot of things about the Jews, what do you have in mind?” His answer; “When you get two Jews together you have three opinions.”
         This little story tells us a lot about the Jewish mind set, and the fact that it is quite different from that of most Anglo-Saxons, or others of European descent. Westerners, especially Americans, want simple answers to complex questions. Easterners, especially Jews, like to look into the complexities of a matter for their answers.
         For Believers, the main problem with the Mishnah and the Talmud, is that many Orthodox Jews place the ‘Oral Torah’ on a higher spiritual plane than the Scriptures. Thus, if the Scriptures differ with oral tradition, the oral tradition prevails. Yeshua addressed this very fact when He said;
         “Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. ... But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
(Matt. 15:6,9)

         Does this mean that all oral tradition is to be discounted? That would be a typical Western reaction; if you find one thing wrong, throw out everything. May I suggest that if an oral tradition agrees with scripture it may be a good and useful tool to aid one in righteous living. However, if it contradicts scripture, then throw out that particular error but continue to learn from that which is good. You must do the same when you read modern books by any author, whether they be religious or secular. Just be sure that you make the Scriptures (both testaments) the basis for all of your doctrines and actions.
         There is much that can be learned from a study of the ancient Jewish writings. They contain a great deal of historical information about Israel and Judah, the various captivities, and the manner of worship in both the Temple and the early Synagogue, to name just a very few. If we really want to know what the world of Yeshua was like, we must peruse these writings. To be unwilling to do so, could be compared to a judge being unwilling to hear all the evidence of a case.
         By not studying Judaism of the first century, we leave ourselves open to a false concept of our Messiah, Yeshua. We have all been thoroughly indoctrinated by the Catholic and Protestant concepts of Jesus, just by growing up in our Western culture. Now, I believe, we need a good dose of first century Judaism in order to bring our focus back onto center. This is one of the goals of Hebrew Roots.

                  DEW

 

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee,
The LORD make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up His Countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
(Num. 6:24-26)

~ Shalom ~

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