Growing up as a Jewish kid in Montreal, I loved Christmas. Snowy winter lawns were bejeweled at night with twinkling trees. People got tipsy and were nice to each other. What could be bad about all that? And a baby nursed in a Bethlehem stable seemed like friendly ‘family content’. Secular Westerners love the tinsel […]
Category Archives: Torah
The Book of Judges describes Jewish history at that time as repeating cycles of forty years (Judges 3:11; 5:31; 8:28; 13:1). This newsletter considers some of the major seasons in the Messianic Jewish movement over the past 50 years. There is room for praise to God here, as well as opportunity for thoughtful consideration. What […]
Approximately 2,930 years ago, the ten tribes of Israel rebelled against David’s family and dynasty (1 Kings 12:1-19). Led by Jeroboam ben Nevat (1 Kings 11:26-40), a special forces commander, 84% of the Jewish people rejected YHVH’s chosen and anointed king. The Bible lets us in on the secrets of Jeroboam’s heart: Jeroboam said in […]
Today is the Day of Pentecost (Greek for ‘fiftieth’). The original Hebrew name is Shavuot (‘weeks’), referring to the waiting period between Passover and Pentecost – seven weeks of seven days each, culminating in the holiday on the fiftieth day (Leviticus 23:15-21). My Polish Jewish grandfather used to say, “A goat may have a beard, […]
Without question, the predominantly Gentile body of Messiah has much to learn from the Messianic Jewish movement. It is said that “a text without a context is a pretext.” The Jewish foundations of the Messianic faith are the fundamental floor on which the Christian world stands. To sidestep the existence of this floor leads to […]
I grew up in a Yiddish-speaking home in Montreal, Canada where I attended Yiddish and Hebrew day school, participated in Montreal’s Yiddish theater group and also performed in a Yiddish mandolin orchestra. My memories of the High Holidays (Rosh Hashoneh and Yom Kipper is how we pronounced them) included the traditional foods – apples dipped […]