I've been reading The Talmud for Beginners: Volume I Prayer by Rabbi Judith Z Abrams. One of the reviews for this book calls it a "good intro to the spiritual side of the talmud" and I can see a number of compelling themes, even for the Gentile believer, as I read through this text. One of the topics that attracted my attention is how the Gemara considers that Jewish men have a different and larger set of obligations to the Torah than Jewish women. Here's part of Rabbi Abrams' commentary:
This sugya deals with a different kind of interference that prevents one from reciting the Shema with the required intention. In the rabbis' view, being a woman interfered with one's ability to relate to God. They assumed that a woman was responsible for the demanding, and time-consuming, tasks of raising children and managing a household and therefore could not be held responsible for performing positive, time-bound commandments...The purpose of this blog post is not to draw attention to the Talmudic differences between how Jewish men and women are bound to Torah obligations, but to illustrate how the sages considered that different roles and duties in Judaism affected the how different groups of Jews were obligated or not obligated to observe various commandments or mitzvot. Since I consider myself a voice in defense of Gentiles within the Messianic movement, I want to try and extend the allusion to Gentile Torah participation, including if or how Gentiles are obligated to the mitzvot. Here's more of what Rabbi Abrams has to say about a Jewish woman's obligations to the mitzvot and the exceptions to those obligations:
There are many exceptions to the rule of this system. Women are, in fact, obligated to perform some positive commandments, such as lighting the candles on Hannukah. Women are not forbidden to perform positive time-bound commandments; they are simply not obligated to do most of them...They may perform these mitzvot voluntarily if they wish to do so.I know that both Rabbi Abrams and the Talmudic sages were not considering Gentiles and particularly Gentile Messianics (Christians) in their writings. However, there is a natural extention to their opinions when you consider the debate within the Messianic movement regarding Gentile obligation or lack of obligation to the entire body of mitzvot. Traditional or non-Messianic Judaism believes that Gentiles (whether Christian or otherwise) are obligated by God to obey only the Seven Noahide Laws. While these seven laws may expand into numerous (perhaps hundreds of) subsets of laws, it is a much smaller list of the mitzvot than what Jews (Messianic or not) believe they are obligated to by the God who gave the Torah at Sinai.
Because women are not obligated to do these mitzvot, the rabbis ruled that women cannot have the same intention and sense of responsibility regarding the mitzvot as men do...
What adds a wrinkle to the traditional Jewish viewpoint of Gentiles and the Noahide Laws is the fact that Messianic Jews, because they acknowledge Yeshua (Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah, must recognize that in some manner or fashion, Gentiles are allowed a greater access to God when they (we...I) accept the sovereignty of Yeshua over our lives. When we Gentiles become disciples of the Master (Matthew 28:18-20) and receive the Spirit of God in the same way as the Messianic Jews (Acts 10:44-48) our status, identity, and obligations relative to God, the Messiah, and the Bible are changed. The question is, what has changed and now much has it changed?
Many One Law groups bristle at the thought that Gentiles in the Messianic movement have a different (that is, lesser) set of obligations to the Torah than Jews, but at least as we see from the Talmudic viewpoint of Jewish men vs. Jewish women, there is sufficient precedence to believe (extending Talmudic opinion into the Messianic world) that Messianic Jews and Gentiles could operate under different Torah obligations. Of course, that brings up the issue of whether we can consider the rulings of the sages binding on Gentiles and Gentile Messianics typically don't acknowledge Talmudic authority. The Talmud as applied to Messianic Jews has been the topic of a recent Messiah Journal article I reviewed called Talmud on Trial (which amazingly enough, elicited absolutely no comments from the various interested parties...or "usual suspects") and I highly recommend that Gentile Messianics read the article to gain some illumination in this area.
Of course, even within Judaism, the idea of "allowed but not obligated", at least as it's applied to Jewish women, is not without its critics as Rabbi Abrams points out:
Some critics of this system contend that it is sexist and designed to exclude women from public religious life. Some traditional thinkers answer that this system was devised to help women by lessening the claims made on their already overcommitted time; the "mommy track" for mitzvot, as it were. They also contend that raising children is so spiritually elevating that women have less need of prayer.Do Messianic Jews make assumptions about Gentile roles that are no longer true due to the fact that we've been grafted into the community by the blood of Yeshua and are now co-heirs? But I digress.
Both groups of thinkers make valid points. There is no denying that the rabbis simply did not consider women full participants in Jewish religious life. In part, this is because they made assumptions about women's roles that no longer hold true...On the other hand, raising children is spiritually elevating...
The focus on this blog does not allow me to completely outline Rabbi Abrams' observations on the differences in roles of Jewish men and women relative to the mitzvot, but you can see that agreement, even within Judaism, isn't universal on this point. Perhaps we can reasonably extend this to say that universal agreement within Messianic Judaism regarding the roles Jews and Gentiles have in terms of the mitzvot doesn't have to exist, either.
A recent comment on one of my other blog posts, The Unequal Yoke figures into the matter as well:
Instead, MJ's refocusing on serving the needs of the Jewish people will naturally do the work of sifting those who do not belong and are best served and can serve elsewhere, and those non-Jews who are truly and selflessly committed to Jewish people [specifically]...Here Gene seems to be suggesting that the only valid reason for a Gentile to have a presence in a Messianic Jewish congregation is to service the needs of the Jewish people, rather than having any individual role in terms of worshiping and serving God. I'm not opposed to supporting Israel and in fact, I'm very much in favor of doing so, but do we not also have a role in directly having a relationship with the Jewish Messiah? Is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob not our God, too?
Rabbi Abrams has a similar comment to make in terms of how women are viewed in Judaism:
In our foregoing text, women are clearly seen as enablers, not as persons who perform mitzvot in their own right. Women are rewarded for enabling their children and husbands to study Torah, not for studying Torah themselves. However, the more women study Torah, the more genuinely committed they will be to sharing it with those they love. Helping someone else to study Torah without studying it oneself is like trying to enthusiastically urge them to eat something you've never tasted. Your exhortations may be effective, but they will be even more effective, and more sincere expressions of your love, if you know the sweetness your loved ones are about to enjoy.I'm not automatically advocating that all Gentiles in the Messianic movement try their hardest to imitate a Jewish lifestyle at every single level, but one of the things that attracts Gentile believers to Hebraic worship and study is the beauty of that lifestyle. If we Gentiles are charged with supporting Jewish involvement in being Messianic and in allying ourselves with Israel as God's special chosen nation, can we not also have an individual and unique connection and worship of God in our own Gentile lives?
All that said, we Gentile Messianics must also give serious consideration to the intention of God and the teachings of the Messiah that were placed specifically upon the Gentile disciple, starting at Matthew 28. I've blogged extensively on the Matthew 28 mandate and how it is applied to Gentiles and have come up with a body of conclusions regarding Gentiles and the Torah. I'm finally getting the opportunity to turn those blog posts into a 15-part class that's available both to people in my local community and to anyone with Internet access who expresses an interest. I'm hoping this class with get both Jews and Gentiles in the Messianic movement to start questioning their assumptions (as I've been questioning mine) and to perhaps realize that none of us really "know it all".
Worship is pursuing the right questions, not in always pumping out "the right answers" like a scriptural slot machine.
That, Detective, is the right question. Program terminated.
Dr Alfred Lanning
I, Robot (2004)
12 comments:
"Do Messianic Jews make assumptions about Gentile roles that are no longer true due to the fact that we've been grafted into the community by the blood of Yeshua and are now co-heirs? But I digress."
If Messianic Jews make such assumptions regarding Gentile co-heirs, it's because they are based on Apostles and elders' own views regarding the matter as outlined in Acts 15 (and other NT books). Many scholars have noted that views expressed in NT regarding the Gentile obligation to Jewish lifestyle didn't appear to diverge much from the G-d-fearer formula of the times (I believe that FFOZ's Lancaster came to a similar conclusion in one of their issues).
In other words, Gentiles who were G-d-fearers remained such, but were also given the grace to share in the Good News of Israel alongside Israel - that is that the redeemer of Israel has come and G-d's Kingdom is at hand and righteous Gentiles are citizens in it (something that Judaism always taught and still does). Part of the miracles of Messiah is that Gentiles were also to become part of the mystical Body of Messiah, while still remaining in the original state thy were called when in came to Torah (1 Corinthians 7:18). They were to remain Gentiles not in name only, but also by responsibilities AND no less importantly(!) the freedoms that entailed. Thus, supportive of that view that Gentiles in Messiah are G-d-fearers in Messiah, most Jewish dietary, ritual, and holy day observances, including sabbath, remained expressly as non-obligatory for non-Jewish disciples of Messiah (e.g. Acts 15 and Colossians 2:16).
Good morning Gene. Hope you had a good weekend.
It's interesting that out of the entire blog post, you focused on that one, little sentence. But I digress.
Thus, supportive of that view that Gentiles in Messiah are G-d-fearers in Messiah, most Jewish dietary, ritual, and holy day observances, including sabbath, remained expressly as non-obligatory for non-Jewish disciples of Messiah (e.g. Acts 15 and Colossians 2:16).
If you read my conclusions to what (at this stage in my understanding) I believe Yeshua taught Gentiles to obey (based on his teachings in Matthew and invoking the Matthew 28:18-20 mandate), you'll see that none of those conclusions suggest Gentiles start wearing tzitzit or laying teffilin. You also saw in this blog post that I was establishing that there's at least the possibility that there could be different Torah obligations for Jews and Gentiles based on the Talmudic rulings of the Sages for Jewish men and women relative to Torah observance.
On the other hand, you'll see in my previous conclusions a lot of what I believe Yeshua taught required behavioral changes of the Gentile disciples which are based on the Torah principles Yeshua taught his Jewish disciples.
I have to disagree that Shabbat observance is "off the table" for Gentile disciples based on what Yeshua taught. While the Shabbat does have specifically Jewish applications relative to remembering the Exodus, it has another application regarding acknowledging God as the Creator. The Shabbat also pre-dates Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (not to mention Moses) by quite a bit, so I don't believe a Shabbat rest is only for the Jews.
Also, the Gentile God-fearers in the time of Peter and Paul would have found the Shabbat unavoidable. First of all, if they worshiped in synagogues, they had to show up on Shabbat. Also, if they had any sort of minimal fellowship with the Jews, keeping Shabbat would have been a natural time for that fellowship to occur (since at that time, Jews wouldn't visit Gentiles in their homes nor would the Gentiles be allowed to visit Jewish homes).
I also disagree that Gentiles remained God fearers after coming to faith in Yeshua. To say so has to deny that Gentiles also received the Holy Spirit as recorded (for example) in Acts 10:44-48. Gentiles, when they became disciples and received the Spirit, became more than God fearers who, after all, were not covenant members and could not expect to benefit from the salvation of the Jews. If I remain a God fearer with no Spirit in me, then my worship of Yeshua is in vain.
This doesn't mean I claim equal obligation to the Torah with the Jews (necessarily...but I'm still exploring that), but it does mean that I'm not an outsider as far as being a sheep of the Messiah goes (John 10:14-16). Yeshua intended for people like me to belong in his sheep pen and he called his Jewish and Gentile sheep "one flock".
If some Jews in the movement want to hold Gentiles at arms length, that's certainly their choice and I won't force myself upon them, but I can't read that behavior into Yeshua's "one flock" comment. If white (Jewish) sheep and black (Gentile) sheep are in one flock with one shepherd, all listening to one voice, do the white and black sheep stand alongside each other in two separate groups, or to they mill about in the pen with each other?
Interesting metaphor.
"It's interesting that out of the entire blog post, you focused on that one, little sentence. But I digress."
James, one has to start somewhere, you made very many points and my time is limited:)
"Jews wouldn't visit Gentiles in their homes nor would the Gentiles be allowed to visit Jewish homes"
The first part had to do with ritual purity and not Gentile worth as human beings, as Gentiles may have a dead body or some other defiling thing, or idols in their homes. It was not mandated in the Bible, but was simply a tradition at the time (not today!). However, I've never heard that Gentiles were not allowed to visit Jewish homes. Jews invite their Gentiles friends over for Shabbat.
"If some Jews in the movement want to hold Gentiles at arms length..."
I think that MJs only want to hold at arms length those who are disrespectful of their neighbors' boundary marks(Deuteronomy 19:14). If you are respectful, considerate and loving, who can turn such a nice person away?
"I can't read that behavior into Yeshua's "one flock" comment."
Me neither. However, we must be thinking about different things.
"...do the white and black sheep stand alongside each other in two separate groups, or to they mill about in the pen with each other?"
I think it's BOTH. We stand in separate (or rather, district) groups (Israel and the nations) AND we also "mill about" with each other. It's not either or.
ME: "...do the white and black sheep stand alongside each other in two separate groups, or to they mill about in the pen with each other?"
Gene: I think it's BOTH. We stand in separate (or rather, district) groups (Israel and the nations) AND we also "mill about" with each other. It's not either or.
I think that's true of you, but I'm not sure that Messianic Judaism as a whole accepts your particular viewpoint. The relationship between Gentiles and Jews in the Messianic movement relative to boundaries and borders is like national security. The more security is in place, the less access there is across the boundary.
ME: "Jews wouldn't visit Gentiles in their homes nor would the Gentiles be allowed to visit Jewish homes"
Gene: The first part had to do with ritual purity and not Gentile worth as human beings, as Gentiles may have a dead body or some other defiling thing, or idols in their homes. It was not mandated in the Bible, but was simply a tradition at the time (not today!). However, I've never heard that Gentiles were not allowed to visit Jewish homes. Jews invite their Gentiles friends over for Shabbat.
As I recall, Peter's vision in Acts 10 was God trying to help Peter understand that just entering a Gentile's home didn't result in ritual purity. Just off the top of my head, I can't recall an example in the Gospels of a Gentile entering a Jew's home. We have examples of this in the Epistles, but that's post-Yeshua's death, resurrection, and ascension and post Paul's vision on the road to Damascus, so it would have been necessary for Jews to enter into Gentile homes and buildings in order to fulfill the mandate to "make disciples of all nations". Prior to that, it might have been a little dicey for a Jew to invite a Gentile into his home, perhaps because even the presence of a Gentile in such close proximity could render a Jew ritualistically impure.
Of course, that particular restriction doesn't exist today.
As I recall, Peter's vision in Acts 10 was God trying to help Peter understand that just entering a Gentile's home didn't result in ritual purity.
Darn! I meant to say that "God was trying to help Peter understanding wouldn't result in a lack of ritual impurity". Sorry about that.
"I think that's true of you, but I'm not sure that Messianic Judaism as a whole accepts your particular viewpoint. "
I think that the American MJ world in general is a lot more welcoming of Gentiles than you seem to think, James. Especially the leadership, who can ill afford to alienate the base that puts most of the food on their tables and goes out of the way to accommodate them (even at expense of alienating the Jews and pushing them towards mainstream synagogues to live out their Judaism). If anything, I am MORE critical than the majority of MJ (who themselves are a small minority, really) of the widespread wannabism and willy-nilly violations of Jewish identity boundaries across the movement.
Shalom uvracha James,
"Remember that you were at that time separate from Moshiach, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the Covenants of promise, having no hope and without G-d in the world. But now in Yeshua HaMashiach you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Moshiach" - Eph.2:12-13
I understand there are some obvious different roles in Torah that it being Priest, Men, Women, and Children...but besides that i don't see different Instructions for His people. I remember the children of Israel (the Hebrews) and a mixed multitude left out of Egypt together before excepting Torah on Mt.Sinai. I believe that Acts 15 is only a starting point for Gentiles, so that can learn with fear and trembling!
Greetings rey,
I am intending on writing a blog in the near future about what "Torah observance" really is and do we, as Messianics, actually do it. I addressed part of the issue on my congregation's blog but there are other details that tend to get left out of these kinds of conversations.
I hope you'll stick around and be able to read it when I write the blog post (not sure when I'll do that since I just posted something else here today, but it's on my mind and my heart). I'd appreciate your feedback.
James,
I read your blog and your posts all the time, they are very thought provoking, they touch a very important subject.
May HaShem continue to bless you and guide you in His perfect will!
Thanks, rey.
James,
This Talmudic idea Abrams brings out of focusing in on intention vs outward performance might prove to be really helpful in discussion about Jewish and Gentile observance of the Torah.
What do you think of applying Abram's / the Talmud's statement to Gentiles, i.e. "[Gentiles] cannot have the same intention and sense of responsibility regarding the mitzvot as [Jews] do..."?
What I notice about this statement is that it takes the "can't" out of the realm of the prohibitive ("hey, you can't / may not / shouldn't do that") and into the realm of what is even possible.
Perhaps by affirming that there's something unique/important that transpires when a Jewish person performs a mitzvah, we can find a way to honor Jewishness without feeling threatened by Gentile performance of the mitzvot...
Hi Yahnatan.
I've been pondering related questions in the comments section of my "cows" blog. I admit I don't have any answers, but these thoughts lay the groundwork for (at least in my opinion) understanding something about the difference between a Jewish Messianic and a Gentile Messianic relative to lifestyle and religious practice.
Of course, it gets a little dicey. Abrams doesn't always seem to agree with Sages in terms of their view that women have a different and built-in responsibility to the mitzvot because of their roles as wives and mothers (and since she's a Rabbi, one could anticipate her objection). She also notes in her book that certain women of wealth, who could hire housekeepers and nannies, were not held under the same restrictions as far as time-limited mitzvot (saying the Shema morning and night, for example), since hiring help freed up their time.
She said that women weren't expressly forbidden from the same mitzvot observance as men, but were rather "freed" from it so the observance didn't become a burden. That rather echos the Acts 15 letter and discussion relative to the Gentiles.
In other words, it sounds like, "You don't have to take all of the Torah on board so you are spared the burden, but it's not forbidden, either."
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