Developing Halacha – Creating Messianic Judaism for the Future

One of the fruits of the discussions among Messianic rabbis over the issue of Messianic Jewish conversion is seeking to answer the question:

If we are converting non-Jews, what are we converting them to?

The answer to this question is: to Judaism, has led to further questions over the issue of what standards of practice these converts will be called to live and what Messianic Judaism’s halacha will be.

This is an exciting fruit of the Messianic Jewish conversion development process that there is actual discussion and development of a Messianic Jewish halacha and this is an important part of the further maturation of our movement as a Judaism.

This is a vital step in our development to be the Judaism for Yeshua in the 21st century and beyond!

The Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (http://www.ourrabbis.org) has made the huge step of working out the bounds of Messianic Judaism life via their Standards of Observance which is a document detailing the development of communal Torah values for Messianic Judaism.

You can read more on the development of Messianic Jewish Halacha and download a copy of the Standards at:

http://ourrabbis.org/main/halakhah-mainmenu-26/introduction-mainmenu-27/sources-mainmenu-28

Why Messianic Judaism — The UMJC Statement Reviewed

As we look to answer the question “why  Messianic Judaism?”,  I thought it would be good to look at be UMJC’s statement, defining messianic Judaism, this being a formalized statement that was crafted by respected leaders in the UMJC and affirmed by the membership. The statement gives us a brief but a good jumping off point to  define the why of messianic Judaism and help us start defining the purpose of   Messianic Judaism.

Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.

In the Summer of 2002, at the annual conference of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations the delegates approved the above statement that was written by Dr. Mark Kinzer and Dr. Daniel Juster. In a bold step that came with controversy then and continues today (and maybe for years to come) the UMJC’s leadership decided that as we seek to build a Messianic Judaism for the future that most basic to this process is a self-definition. There are hundreds if not thousands of definitions of what Messianic Judaism is or should be and as one of the larger mainstream voices in the mix, the UMJC put forward the task for a statement to be written and tapped two of the tested and respected thinkers of our movement to write a basic statement on what Messianic Judaism is or more appropriately what it should be. With the various voices out there putting forward misguided and outright anti-Biblical “Messianic Judaism” or “Messianic Movements”, like the Ephraimites and others, it is of great need for there to be a reasoned voice to step forward and say “This is what a true mature Messianic Judaism is” and our task is to make the statement a reality.

My first take on the basic statement is that if you are truly seeking to live in Messianic Judaism how can one find problem with above. Yet there are those who critique it. I say if you can’t deal with a Messianic Judaism made up of Jews (and Judaism-respectful non-Jews) that is firmly grounded in Jewish space, reflecting a desire for Torah living and seeking to honor Yeshua within an identifiable Judaism then there is an option (actually tens of thousands) for you to live as a follower of Yeshua and this is your local Church. Messianic Judaism is a Judaism, if you can’t deal with living within Jewish space then Messianic Judaism may not be the place for you.

Now to a little commentary:

Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings

The Messianic Jewish congregation and congregation-like groupings make for the great distinctive that we offer as a movement. Messianic congregations are living breathing Jewish faith centers that are in the midst of the Jewish community wherein our righteous Messiah is glorified within Jewish space where the Torah is honored and the G-d of Israel is worshipped. In contrast to the “missions model” that involves standing on street corners with tracts, the messianic congregation allows for both the message of Yeshua to be made known to the not-yet-Messianic Jews and even more it is an ongoing Jewish community that is part and parcel of the lives of those who attend. It is the messianic congregation that is the key vehicle for making our Messiah credibly known in the Jewish world. For the congregation-like groupings, I think that these are vitally important to play a role in extending the Messianic Jewish presence throughout our world. I think that we need to supplement our mostly regional Messianic congregations with home groups and chavurot and seek to build these congregation-like groupings into future Messianic congregations.

committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah

This phrase sets out the two vital parts of what being a Messianic Judaism is and that is to understand that our identity is tied to a union of a life living within Torah faithfulness with faith trust in Yeshua, our righteous Messiah. Without the Torah, we may be a Messianic movement of which the Church is a Messianic movement. Without a faith trust in Yeshua as our Messiah, we may be another Judaism and then we would just be an independent movement of Jews. But as we should be we are Messianic Judaism, a Judaism that embraces covenantal responsibility and commitment to Yeshua. To unite our Torah and our Messiah as who we are is the only way we can truly live out a true Messianic Judaism.

expressed in tradition

This may be the most controversial part of the basic statement, the affirmation of Jewish tradition’s role in who we are to be a Messianic Judaism. We must understand that there is not a vacuum of Jewish life from 70 CE to today. Messianic Judaism may have some connection to the Judaism of the early Yeshua believers in that we serve the same Messiah and also like them we are familiar with the teachings of their communities as expressed in the Brit Chadasha, but we are not in all reality a reviving of 1st century Messianic Judaism, we are building a Messianic Judaism within the context of Judaism as it has developed over the last two thousand years. This being said, we need to look at how Jewish people have done Judaism and are doing Judaism today as we build a Messianic Judaism for the future.

renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant

As the basic statement concludes we come to the role that the Brit Chadasha (New Covenant/New Testament) plays in our movement. Along with the development of Jewish life over the last two thousand years we also have the reflections and guidance of the Brit Chadashah to guide us and to inform our creation of a mature Messianic Judaism. So then we have both the Rabbinical sages and the New Covenant writers to inform us in our living out our lives within a Yeshua honoring, Torah living life within Jewish space. We in essence can build with multiple sources something that is both old, renewed and new all at the same time.

So then we are now seven years since the ratification of this statement.

Where are we in the process of making it a reality?

What have you done to make it a reality?

What are you going to do to make it a reality?

So now to our task, may we one day be living within a Messianic Judaism that will reflect this vision and this calling.

May G-d grant us the workers to make it happen and may each of us to do what is needed as we seek to build a mature Messianic Judaism.

21st Century Messianic Judaism – Beyond just lox and bagels.

Who are these Jewish people that G-d is still working through?
Who are these Jewish people whom G-d has not rejected and will someday restore?
Who are these Jewish people who are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs
and for whom Paul longed to see their salvation?    

Dr. Kinzer has helped me to see that they are people whose identity has been preserved, not by lox and bagels, but by a religion—Judaism. 

- Derek Leman 

 

 

In the above words from his paper, Judaism and New Testament Faith: Evaluating Mark Kinzer’s Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism, Derek Leman lays out an important item for us to consider and embrace as we seek to build a Messianic Judaism for the future.

Namely, that the Jewish People are here today and we have the ability to build a Messianic Judaism because of the divinely guided work of preserving the Jewish people brought about by G-d through Rabbinic Judaism.

At the bleak time after the destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE, specifically the work in Yavneh beginning in 90 CE, the choice to keep Judaism alive and the continuing existence of the Jewish People was hanging in the balance. It was by the vehicle of the post-Temple Judaism developed by the Pharisees and later developed fuller by the Rabbis, including Yochanan ben Zakkai and others. This Judaism is the way of living Jewish life and following G-d’s Torah that has kept the Jewish People these 1900 plus years as a dsitinct people and living testimony to the G-d of Israel.

More than bagels, lox, gefilte fish, Yiddish or any other cultural, custom or folkway the Jewish People are here today and we can even discuss building a Messianic Judaism because of the Rabbis who gave us modern Rabbinic Judaism and the Torah faithful Jews of the past (and present) that have held/hold to this G-d ordained life, walking Torah and living Torah.

Sadly much of the Missions culture and the remaining Hebrew Christians, espouse that Rabbinic Judaism is a “dead religion” or “false religion” and they see that “Messianic Judaism”, is just a name for a Jewish cultural style of Evangelical Christianity. The “Messianic Jewish movement” or “Messianic Judaism” that they espouse is more of bagels and lox than Torah and traditional Jewish living.

A true Messianic Judaism that I am calling for is to be a vital, living Torah faithful Judaism for Yeshua, not just Sabbatarian Baptist Churches with Jewish pastors. Messianic Judaism must be a part of 21st century Jewish life and a recognizable part of the modern Jewish world.

This is a call to move beyond a Jewish cultural form of Christianity and to become a Yeshua infused part of modern Judaism.

May G-d grant us the strength for this holy task!

Embracing Conversion, Embracing Judaism

Embracing Judaism is the title of a book on converting to Judaism, one of the many books for potential converts to Judaism to read as they contemplate or prepare for conversion.

This post will seek to ask us are we ready to embrace Judaism?

Are we ready to fully see Messianic Judaism as a Judaism?

or are we content just to use the name without embracing all that this name implies.

For building a mature Messianic Judaism we need to embrace Judaism as our identity core or our “genus” as Dr. Mark Kinzer so aptly put in his booklet, The Nature of Messianic Judaism, with Messianic being our “species”. I avoided biology in high school and college but what I know of biology the genus is the main grouping with the species being a grouping or kind of the genus. For those more familiar with the arts rather than the sciences, Dr. Kinzer was clearly putting forward that Messianic Judaism in it’s authentic and mature form is a Judaism with Messianic being the type. Messianic is the adjective describing the noun Judaism.

An important and I will say a vital step in our maturation is the move toward establishing a rite of passage for the acceptance of a Judaism life for non-Jews, more commonly known in the larger Jewish world as conversion.

A Messianic Jewish conversion program is a clear acceptance of our place as a Judaism and the embracing of our identity as more than just a Jewish contextualized form of Christianity but as we truly need to be a Judaism, grounded in Jewish space that honors the Torah, respects Jewish tradition and glorifies Yeshua. This is a step that we must take if we are going to fully embrace our place as a Judaism and to fully accept our place in the destiny of the Jewish people within a recognizable Judaism.

For the detractors this is not a matter of seeking the approval of the Jewish community but to fully embrace the identity that G-d has given to the Jewish people to live as a Jewish community and like Judaism throughout it’s history to allow for those non-Jews with a sincere calling and drawing to cast their lot with the Jewish people to have that opportunity. It is one thing to each Shavuot to read from and study the Book of Ruth, which is Jewish custom and laud Ruth the “good Moabite” who joined with the people of Israel and grandmother of King David who said some of the most powerful words in the Bible:

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your G-d, my G-d”. (Ruth 1:16 NASB)

But if this is where we leave the convert to Judaism to a revered person in the past are we not therefore not fully accepting our place as a Judaism and even worse as a “Judaism” unlike any other that does not allow the committed non-Jew to fully join with the Jewish people and embrace Judaism as their own.

If we are intent on building a Messianic Judaism for the future first off we must embrace our identity as a Judaism and an important part of this identity embracing is the accepting of a rite of passage/Messianic Jewish conversion process for the few non-Jews in our midst who like Ruth share a deep calling to fully accepting Jewish life and having their commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people recognized by the Messianic Judaism community under the guidance and oversight of respected Messianic rabbis.

This is something that we must do if we seek to build a mature Messianic Judaism for the future!

http://www.towardblog.com

Embracing Judaism, Are We Ready?

Embracing Judaism is the title of a book on converting to Judaism, one of the many books for potential converts to Judaism to read as they contemplate or prepare for conversion.

This post will seek to ask us are we ready to embrace Judaism?

Are we ready to fully see Messianic Judaism as a Judaism?

or are we content just to use the name without embracing all that this name implies.

For building a mature Messianic Judaism we need to embrace Judaism as our identity core or as Dr. Mark Kinzer so aptly put in his booklet, The Nature of Messianic Judaism our “genus”, with Messianic being the “species”. I avoided biology in high school and college but what I know of biology the genus is the main grouping with the species being a grouping or kind of the genus. For those more familiar with the arts rather than the sciences, Dr. Kinzer was clearly putting forward that Messianic Judaism in it’s authentic and mature form is a Judaism with Messianic being the type. Messianic is the adjective describing the noun Judaism.

An important and I will say a vital step in our maturation is the move toward establishing a rite of passage for the acceptance of a Judaism life for non-Jews, more commonly known in the larger Jewish world as conversion.

A Messianic Jewish conversion program is a clear acceptance of our place as a Judaism and the embracing of our identity as more than just a Jewish contextualized form of Christianity but as we truly need to be a Judaism, grounded in Jewish space that honors the Torah, respects Jewish tradition and glorifies Yeshua. This is a step that we must take if we are going to fully embrace our place as a Judaism and to fully accept our place in the destiny of the Jewish people within a recognizable Judaism.

For the detractors this is not a matter of seeking the approval of the Jewish community but to fully embrace the identity that G-d has given to the Jewish people to live as a Jewish community and like Judaism throughout it’s history to allow for those non-Jews with a sincere calling and drawing to cast their lot with the Jewish people to have that opportunity. It is one thing to each Shavuot to read from and study the Book of Ruth, which is Jewish custom and laud Ruth the “good Moabite” who joined with the people of Israel and grandmother of King David who said some of the most powerful words in the Bible:

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your G-d, my G-d”. (Ruth 1:16 NASB)

But if this is where we leave the convert to Judaism to a revered person in the past are we not therefore not fully accepting our place as a Judaism and even worse as a “Judaism” unlike any other that does not allow the committed non-Jew to fully join with the Jewish people and embrace Judaism as their own.

If we are intent on building a Messianic Judaism for the future first off we must embrace our identity as a Judaism and an important part of this identity embracing is the accepting of a rite of passage/Messianic Jewish conversion process for the few non-Jews in our midst who like Ruth share a deep calling to fully accepting Jewish life and having their commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people recognized by the Messianic Judaism community under the guidance and oversight of respected Messianic rabbis.

This is something that we must do if we seek to build a mature Messianic Judaism for the future!

Defining Messianic Judaism: Beyond Lox and Bagels

Who are these Jewish people that G-d is still working through?
Who are these Jewish people whom G-d has not rejected and will someday restore?
Who are these Jewish people who are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs
and for whom Paul longed to see their salvation?

Dr. Kinzer has helped me to see that they are people whose identity has been preserved, not by lox and bagels, but by a religion—Judaism.

Derek Leman quoted on Rabbenu

In the above words from his paper, Judaism and New Testament Faith: Evaluating Mark Kinzer’s Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism, Derek Leman lays out an important item for us to consider and embrace as we seek to build a Messianic Judaism for the future.

Namely, that the Jewish People are here today and we have the ability to build a Messianic Judaism because of the divinely guided work of preserving the Jewish people brought about by G-d through Rabbinic Judaism.

At the bleak time after the destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE, specifically the work in Yavneh beginning in 90 CE, the choice to keep Judaism alive and the continuing existence of the Jewish People was hanging in the balance. It was by the vehicle of the post-Temple Judaism developed by the Pharisees and later developed fuller by the Rabbis, including Yochanan ben Zakkai and others. This Judaism is the way of living Jewish life and following G-d’s Torah that has kept the Jewish People these 1900 plus years as a dsitinct people and living testimony to the G-d of Israel.

More than bagels, lox, gefilte fish, Yiddish or any other cultural, custom or folkway the Jewish People are here today and we can even discuss building a Messianic Judaism because of the Rabbis who gave us modern Rabbinic Judaism and the Torah faithful Jews of the past (and present) that have held/hold to this G-d ordained life, walking Torah and living Torah.

Sadly much of the Missions culture and the remaining Hebrew Christians, espouse that Rabbinic Judaism is a “dead religion” or “false religion” and they see that “Messianic Judaism”, is just a name for a Jewish cultural style of Evangelical Christianity. The “Messianic Jewish movement” or “Messianic Judaism” that they espouse is more of bagels and lox than Torah and traditional Jewish living.

A true Messianic Judaism that I am calling for is to be a vital, living Torah faithful Judaism for Yeshua, not just Sabbatarian Baptist Churches with Jewish pastors. Messianic Judaism must be a part of 21st century Jewish life and a recognizable part of the modern Jewish world.

This is a call to move beyond a Jewish cultural form of Christianity and to become a Yeshua infused part of modern Judaism.

May G-d grant us the strength for this holy task!

On Conversion – Embracing Judaism

Embracing Judaism is the title of a book on converting to Judaism, one of the many books for potential converts to Judaism to read as they contemplate or prepare for conversion.

This post will seek to ask us are we ready to embrace Judaism?

Are we ready to fully see Messianic Judaism as a Judaism?

or are we content just to use the name without embracing all that this name implies.

For building a mature Messianic Judaism we need to embrace Judaism as our identity core or as Dr. Mark Kinzer so aptly put in his booklet, The Nature of Messianic Judaism our “genus”, with Messianic being the “species”. I avoided biology in high school and college but what I know of biology the genus is the main grouping with the species being a grouping or kind of the genus. For those more familiar with the arts rather than the sciences, Dr. Kinzer was clearly putting forward that Messianic Judaism in it’s authentic and mature form is a Judaism with Messianic being the type. Messianic is the adjective describing the noun Judaism.

An important and I will say a vital step in our maturation is the move toward establishing a rite of passage for the acceptance of a Judaism life for non-Jews, more commonly known in the larger Jewish world as conversion.

A Messianic Jewish conversion program is a clear acceptance of our place as a Judaism and the embracing of our identity as more than just a Jewish contextualized form of Christianity but as we truly need to be a Judaism, grounded in Jewish space that honors the Torah, respects Jewish tradition and glorifies Yeshua. This is a step that we must take if we are going to fully embrace our place as a Judaism and to fully accept our place in the destiny of the Jewish people within a recognizable Judaism.

For the detractors this is not just a matter of seeking the approval of the Jewish community but as a full embrace of the identity that G-d has given to the Jewish people to live as a Jewish community and like Judaism throughout it’s history to allow for those non-Jews with a sincere calling and drawing to cast their lot with the Jewish people to have that opportunity. It is one thing to each Shavuot to read from and study the Book of Ruth, which is Jewish custom and laud Ruth the “good Moabite” who joined with the people of Israel and grandmother of King David who said some of the most powerful words in the Bible:

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your G-d, my G-d”. (Ruth 1:16 NASB)

But if this is where we leave the convert to Judaism to a revered person in the past are we not therefore not fully accepting our place as a Judaism and even worse as a “Judaism” unlike any other that does not allow the committed non-Jew to fully join with the Jewish people and embrace Judaism as their own.

If we are intent on building a Messianic Judaism for the future first off we must embrace our identity as a Judaism and an important part of this identity embracing is the accepting of a rite of passage/Messianic Jewish conversion process for the few non-Jews in our midst who like Ruth share a deep calling to fully accepting Jewish life and having their commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people recognized by the Messianic Judaism community under the guidance and oversight of respected Messianic rabbis.

This is something that we must do if we seek to build a mature Messianic Judaism for the future!