The Miracle at the Shabbos Table

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. -John 14:11-14

There will come a time, very soon, when we will be shown miracles so great, they will make the ten plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea appear as ordinary as nature itself.

So great, no mind can begin to fathom them; so powerful, they will transform the very fabric of our world, elevating it in a way that the wonders of the exodus never did.

For then, our eyes will be opened and granted the power to see the greatest of miracles: Those miracles that occur to us now, beneath our very noses, every day.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
Greater Miracles
Chabad.org

I don't know why, but I continue to be amazed at how the teachings of Jesus (Yeshua) parallel the Talmudic masters and even the modern Jewish sages. They are all painting the same picture and revealing the same vision. We are all looking for miracles and we are all looking to God to provide those miracles. Even with evidence of the hand of God all around us, we can still fail to see what He is doing in the world and in our lives.

I suppose this shouldn't surprise us. Face it. The world is a mess. You have problems. I have problems. The world has problems. Where is God? Just look at His holy nation; the one He established Himself. We have members of the Fogel family murdered in their sleep in their Itamar home by Palestinian terrorists. Hamas fired a rocket from Gaza at a school bus critically injuring a teenage boy who later died. Several young Jewish men were murdered by Palestinian police while worshiping at Joseph's tomb in Nablus. Where does it all end? Where are the miracles of God? Why isn't He saving His people?

Any Jew alive on the face of this planet today is a walking miracle. Our mere existence today is wondrous, plucked from the fire at the last moment again and again, with no natural explanation that will suffice. Each of us alive today is a child of martyrs and miracles.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
Walking Miracle
Chabad.org

The fact that there are Jews on earth today at all is a miracle. For thousands of years, the world has been trying to exterminate the Children of Israel, and it always seems like the Jewish people are on the verge of extinction. Yet we still have Jews among us. As much as the world hates Jews and hates Israel, the world needs the presence of the light of the world.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” -Isaiah 49:6

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the tzitzit of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” -Zechariah 8:23

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The Torah will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. -Micah 4:1-2

And lest you think that Israel has irredeemably failed God and that the Christians have taken over, here is Paul's commentary on the matter:

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.” -Romans 11:25-27

It's not just that Israel is part of God's plan. In many ways, Israel is the plan. The salvation of the rest of the world depends on the Jewish people. We Gentiles will turn to them in the last days and through the Jewish Messiah, we are all redeemed.

However, even the most far reaching cosmic plan can have very humble elements. God created the miracle of the nation of Israel and through his mercy, sustains each and every Jew. Yet we see that every individual has a part in that mission, even down to a single parent and how he or she raises their children.

Rav Shmuel Aharon Lider, shlit”a, learns a beautiful lesson from this. “We see from this that Shabbos is the time for us to sanctify and educate our children at the table. The best way to be mechanech and sanctify our children is through the zemiros that we sing and the divrei Torah that we say at the Shabbos table.”

Rav Shach, zt”l, had a neighbor - a simple baal habayis who was not too learned - whose sons grew to all be exceptional masmidim and great talmidei chachamim. Rav Shach himself lived and breathed Torah all the time, yet his neighbor’s children appeared to surpass his own in certain ways as far as Torah study was concerned.

Rav Shach himself commented on what seemed to him at the root of the distinction. “My neighbor spent a long time at the Shabbos table interacting with his children and singing zemiros. I, on the other hand, was always very engrossed in working through a difficult Rambam or some other intricate Torah argument. One should never underestimate the power of filling the children with a spirit of holiness through the simple singing of zemiros and speaking divrei Torah at their own level at the Shabbos table!"

Daf Yomi Digest
Stories off the Daf
The Power of the Shabbos Table
Menachos 50

Here we see a miracle. One does not have to be an exceptional Jewish Torah scholar or exalted sage or saint in order to raise children who are close to God. We can also extend the metaphor, so to speak, beyond Israel. We can apply what else we've learned in this short lesson and say that by the Gentiles attaching themselves (ourselves) to Israel through the Jewish Messiah, we can also share in the miracle of not only continuing in the world, but of being able to belong to God.

The Torah has gone forth from Zion and, as the Master sometimes said, "to those who have ears, let them hear".

Shabbat Shalom.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Book Review: How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?

I hope that the preceding studies will have communicated to readers something of the intriguing questions and hotly contested issues that justify and comprise the historical investigation of early devotion to Jesus. It may be somewhat unsettling for some Christians, at least initially, to explore the origins of Christian faith as a subject of historical inquiry. I trust, however, that Christians will see that a historical appreciation of the emergence of devotion to Jesus need not pose a challenge to continuing to revere Jesus as rightful recipient of devotion with God. Indeed, I hope that Christians will welcome any light that can be cast on the faith of their religious forebears from the earliest period of the Christian movement.

Larry W. Hurtado
How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?

The thing that struck me the most as I finished Hurtado's book, was that he never once said point blank, "Jesus is God". In fact, he didn't come to a definite conclusion one way or the other on the matter (barring the above-quoted statement). He simply presented his evidence, discussed why he disagreed with opposing views, and let the reader come to his or her own conclusions. I rather like that.

Hurtado is a scholarly writer but he did "tone down" the chapters of this book, allowing them to be a bit more accessible to the "average reader". The first four chapters were originally presentations he gave as part of the inaugural lectures in the Deichmann Annual Lecture Series at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel (2004). The last four chapters were taken from some of Hurtado's earlier published works. I wouldn't recommend this book for a little light reading before bedtime, but I do recommend it for someone who wants to investigate the history of early devotion to Jesus by his Jewish and Gentile disciples, particularly within the context of 1st century Jewish monotheism.

I very much appreciated Hurtado's attention to the environment, sociology, history, and theology of the Jewish people of 1st century "Roman Judea" and how it became possible for Jews to revere Jesus while not (apparently) violating the Shema (God is One). I also never concluded that Hurtado's evidence resulted in Jesus being co-equal to God in deity...exactly.

The book repeatedly makes use of the term "dinitarianism" (as opposed to "binitarianism", which would be two Gods; God the Father and God the Son) which generally means that God shared or more accurately, that God "delegated" some of His authority and divine nature to the Jewish Messiah, allowing high honors to be afforded Jesus, but only for the glory of God. Hurtado paints a picture of Jesus as a unique being with a position in the spiritual hierarchy unlike any other being. He is worthy of honor and glory, but only as it glorifies the Father. In other words, Jesus doesn't stand alone as an object of devotion and is only acknowledged in reverence as it relates to worshiping the One God.

The biggest problem for this book to solve was not how Gentile converts to the Messianic (early Christian) faith could worship Jesus as God and God (the Father) as God, but how Jews could bend, twist, or mutate ethical monotheism to allow Jesus to be granted "divine honors". The answer is that Jesus was seen as divine, but not actually "God" by the Jewish disciples. He was (and is) a unique entity who was granted a special status by God as Messiah. However, even Hurtado's mountain of evidence in an early occurrence (within the first 30 years of the ascension) of reverent honors being given to Jesus, does not result in the more modern understanding in God is God and Jesus is God too. Although Hurtado didn't say it outright, how we understand the divine nature of Jesus has indeed "mutated" from the original Jewish perspective that existed within Paul's lifetime. The viewpoint of the status of Jesus has changed from what the Jewish apostles saw and taught, to how subsequent generations of Gentile Christians chose to believe in and respond to Jesus. It is more than likely that the Greek pagan "understanding" that a man could be honored as a "god" became a large part of the development of what we now see as the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. It didn't originate, as such, from the first Jewish disciples.

Hurtado spent a great deal of time and effort factoring in Jewish perspectives of Jesus including a point Levertoff and the FFOZ/Vine of David commentary made about how the death of a great tzadik (righteous sage) could atone for the sins of many, including the nation of Israel (Hurtado, pg 21). However, Hurtado (pg 28) did miss that Jews can and do pray in the merit of (in the name of) a great Rebbe all the time, so that isn't an an iron-clad indication of "godhood" as such.

Hurtado did repeat, on a number of occasions (starting on pg 30), that although Jesus was the first sage or Prophet to be afforded a sort of devotion usually associated with God alone, he was not treated as co-equal to God or as another "person" of God or the "Godhead". In fact, the book states (pg 53) that Jesus continually subordinated himself to God the Father (which I consider that aspect of God referred to as Ayn Sof in Kabbalistic thought) and the words of the Master reflect this most clearly:

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." -John 5:19

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." -John 5:30

If Jesus made a point to subordinate himself to God and if that's how his early Jewish disciples came to understand him, then it would not violate Jewish monotheism to give honors to Jesus, just as God delegated honors to the Son, and not have it be the worship that is given to God alone. Humanity must exalt God and God only. God exalts the Messiah and gives him a special and unique divine status among all beings in existence. That seems to be the general message I get from reading Hurtado. It isn't the same message I get from Evangelical Christianity that God is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God (and as in other books I've reviewed that have addressed the Christ as deity issue, Hurtado barely mentions God's Spirit and never suggests that it is also God).

It's as if God "shared" something with Jesus that no other being possessed (pg 95). The closest analog we have is Moses, and when we understand that God elevated the name of the Messiah above every name, we see that the merit of Yeshua (Jesus) is the highest form of merit, not unlike (but superior to) praying to and approaching God in the merit of Moses or Abraham, or the patriarchs or the prophets.

Hurtado spends an entire chapter analyzing Philippians 2:6-11 as an ancient, honorific hymn acknowledging Jesus, which I wrote about last week. At that time, I drew a comparison between the Kabbalistic concept of Ayn Sof as "the Father" and the Shechinah (Divine Presence) as somehow being manifest as "the Son". If Judaism can see the Ayn Sof, the unobservable, unknowable, ultimate creative force that is God and the Shechinah as the physical, visible, touchable, "experience-able" manifestation of God in our world and not see those two concepts as "two God", then it may be possible to apply the same illustration to God and the Messiah and still have One God.

I'm not saying that Hurtado went this far in his presentation of early Jewish and Gentile devotion to Jesus, but for me, it's the logical extension of what Hurtado has written. Glory and honor is given only to God through the Messiah (pg 137), not for the sake of Jesus alone. That may well satisfy the Jewish requirement of monotheism and still give the ancient (and modern) Jewish disciples the ability to give honor to the Messiah's divine and unique status. The subsequent Gentile believers, not having a Jewish educational and experiential background, very likely "took it too far" (I'm extrapolating from Hurtado's writing now) as evidenced (one example) by the Johannine community being evicted from the synagogue for "blending" God the Father and God the Son (the Jewish Messiah). This probably (my opinion) is because the newly-minted Gentile Christians couldn't "get" how Jews saw God and the Messiah as closely related, but still different and separate. When a Jew says "God is One", then He's One". Subsequent Gentile Christian doctrine made it possible for the One to be two in the eyes of the Jewish Messianics, crossing the line, so to speak, between worshiping God and honoring the Messiah, and worshiping God and Jesus as "co-Gods".

Hurtado goes so far as to refer to Jesus as plenipotentiary, which paints a picture of Jesus as a "person" who has been delegated full authority and power by the source, as God's representative and "ambassador" but not creating Jesus literally as a God. It's like the President granting our nation's ambassador to a foreign country full powers and rights to negotiate a treaty. It doesn't make the ambassador the President, but it does give him/her complete authority to make a treaty as if the ambassador were the President. They are two separate people, each with their own status and position, but certain powers and rights are granted from one to the other.

This probably isn't what some of you wanted to hear, but it's what I get out of Hurtado's book as filtered through my beliefs and my personality. That's what a book review is.

Whatever you may think of my conclusions, I highly recommend Larry Hurtado's How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? if you want an honest, well considered (especially in his treatment of 1st century Judaism), and thoughtful perspective on how Jesus came to be granted divine honors and worship by his Jewish and Gentile disciples...and how that carries forward to those of us today who call ourselves disciples of the Master.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

The Diseased Messiah

Our Sages ask: “What is Mashiach’s name?” and reply “The leper of the House of Rebbi.” This is very difficult to understand. Mashiach will initiate the Redemption, and is associated with the pinnacle of life and vitality. How can his name be linked with leprosy (tzaraas), which is identified with death and exile?

-from Mashiach's Name
Commentary on Torah Portion Metzora; Leviticus 14:1-15:33
Chabad.org

He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
-Isaiah 53:3-4

Both Christianity and Judaism understand the above-quoted passage from the Prophet Isaiah to refer to the Messiah. The "suffering servant" aspect of Jesus is well integrated into Christian belief, but it presents something of a problem in Judaism, where the Messiah is seen as a conquering King and a "political" figure who will return self-rule of the totality of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people, and establish an era of peace for the entire world.

The Chabad commentary continues:

There is still a difficulty. Although the above passage explains why Mashiach must endure suffering, it does not show why that suffering is identified with Mashiach. Mashiach’s name who he is should be positive.

The First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ) commentary presents a very similar take on how this coming Shabbat's Torah portion applies to the Messiah. As you can see, they mirror the Chabad's understanding and cite the same sources:

And the rabbis say: "[The name of Messiah] is The Leper of the House of Study, as it is said, 'Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.'" -Sanhedrin 98b

If you've been reading my blog posts lately, you'll know I believe that we (non-Jewish disciples of the Jewish Messiah) can achieve a better understanding of the Master we serve, by trying to see him through the eyes of his original disciples and their descendants; the Jewish people. I am beginning to gather some significant insights into the Messiah by reading and probing Talmudic and Chasidic thoughts on the matter. I am even occasionally amazed on how well some of these teachings illustrate the life and teachings of Yeshua (Jesus).

But while Judaism, at least in some perspectives, expects two Messiahs and not one (one a suffering servant and the other a conquering King), Christians and Messianics can see the one person being both the "diseased" Messiah and the ruling Messiah.

He has already removed the barrier that separates man from the divine by bearing our sufferings, our diseases, and our wounds (which he did not deserve but he took upon himself because we did...and do). May he come soon and in our day to repair our broken world and to reign over us all in justice and mercy.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:9-11

Amen.

Update: Friday, April 8: For more, read The Leper Scholar by Joshua Brumbach.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Review: Love and the Messianic Age

Kabbalistic literature is, generally speaking, comparable to a large, sprawling city with many treacherous back-alleys, dangerous neighborhoods, and sudden, unexpected dead-ends. Even with a good map and a good sense for direction, the visitor is likely to find himself lost and confused and may easily stray into a bad part of town. Rather than trying to find your way through this maze-like metropolis on your own, we recommend you follow a reliable guide. Paul Philip Levertoff is just such a guide.

Boaz Michael from the Foreward to the
Love and the Messianic Age Commentary

I love this description of navigating the mystic Jewish writings. I feel as if, opening the pages to Paul Philip Levertoff's Love and the Messianic Age, that I'm an American tourist on his first visit to Constantinople. The year is 1923, and I've been suddenly diverted from my innocent vacation plans into adventure and intrigue, thrown in with Kasper Gutman and a collection of rogues, searching the back alleys of this ancient city for some clue as to the whereabouts of the Maltese Falcon.

While Dashell Hammett's famous detective novel wasn't published until 1930, Levertoff's short but impressive work originally became available in 1923 and now, thanks to First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ) and Vine of David, Levertoff's writing, insights, and expression of Jesus the Jewish Messiah, are accessible to us again.

Before continuing with this review, you might want to become briefly acquainted with Levertoff and how a young Chasidic Jew at the end of the 19th Century came to faith in Jesus, by reading my blog post, A Short Lesson from Feivel the Chasid. Levertoff's journey from an Orthodox Jewish student in Orsha, Belarus to an Anglican priest in Wales is fascinating and even amazing. Understanding his journey is the way to understand what he has to say to us.

As Boaz Michael writes in the Foreward to the book's commentary, mysticism isn't for everybody. I didn't think it was for me either, but I was getting "stuck" reading more Christian-oriented inspirational and scholarly works, as a way to find the Jewish Messiah. The vast collection of Gentile Christian commentary has made discovering the "original" Jesus difficult by largely dismissing a Hebraic understanding of the Jewish Messiah, his Jewish disciples, and his teachings as a Jewish Rabbi and Prophet. After briefly being introduced to Levertoff's book and the concept of Jewish mystic writings on Derek Leman's blog, Boaz Michael suggested that I read (and review) Levertoff's book and the accompanying commentary.

I did...and I was hooked.

If you follow my blog, you could probably guess this, as, over the past two weeks, I've posted about 9 or 10 separate "mini-reviews" of different concepts and lessons I've learned while reading Levertoff.

Since last summer, I've been challenging my faith and questioning my basic assumptions about who Jesus is and who I am in him. This investigation intensified at the beginning February when I ran headlong into my ambiguity about the deity of Jesus (is he or is he not literally God?). In reading various Christian texts including Bowman's and Komoszewski's Putting Jesus in His Place, I failed to discover sufficient evidence and information to convince me that the Orthodox Christian viewpoint on Christ's deity and the Trinity held water. Reading Levertoff, I think I've found out why.

He read the Gospels in German. Then he obtained a Hebrew version and reread them. Though he was in the midst of a Gentile, Christian city where Jesus was worshiped in churches and honored in every home, Feivel felt the Gospels belonged more to him and the Chasidic world than they did to the Gentiles who revered them. He found the Gospels to be thoroughly Jewish and conceptually similar to Chasidic Judaism. He wondered how Gentile Christians could hope to comprehend Yeshua (Jesus) and His words without the benefit of a classical Jewish education or experience with the esoteric works of the Chasidim.

Taken from Jorge Quinonez:
"Paul Philip Levertoff: Pioneering Hebrew-Christian Scholar and Leader"
Mishkan 37 (2002): 21-34
as quoted from Love and the Messianic Age

I think Levertoff is right. I don't believe it's really possible to understand what the Jewish Messiah is teaching by taking him out of his context. I think what impressed Levertoff about the Gospels should absolutely amaze us.

In 1887 a nine-year-old Chasidic Jew named Feivel Levertoff was trudging home from cheder (a Jewish day school) when a discarded scrap of paper caught his eye. It was printed with Hebrew text. Supposing it was a leaf from a prayer book or other sacred volume, Feivel picked it out of the snow.

He quickly read the piece of paper. It was a page from a book he had never read before. It told the story of a boy like himself - not much older either - whose parents found him in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, expounding the Scriptures and learning with the great sages of antiquity.

Jorge Quinonez continues this tale of young Feivel by telling us that he had found a Hebrew translation of Luke 2:45-47 and supposed it was part of the Jewish holy writings. Feivel was shocked when he later showed the paper to his father, and his father expressed anger, forbade Feivel from ever again reading "such things", and then watched his father crumple the paper and toss it into the stove.

This was just the beginning of Levertoff's fascination with the Gospels as Feivel (later he chose the name Paul Philip after his formal conversion to Christianity) secretly found opportunities to continue reading the teachings of "Rebbe Yeshua of Nazareth". What continued to draw Levertoff along this path (and what should draw us as well), is how the Gospels so seamlessly and thoroughly blended into the Chasidic Jewish mystic writings, teachings, and world view. Seen through the eyes of a teenager who had the benefit of a classical Jewish education and exposure to the esoteric works of the Chasidim, Feivel was puzzled at how Gentile Christianity could ever make heads or tails of Yeshua. By the time Levertoff was 17, he was a devoted Chasid (a "Chasid" is a disciple of a distinguished Rabbi or spiritual leader in a religious community) of the great Rebbe Yeshua.

What Levertoff created in writing Love and the Messianic Age some decades later, and what FFOZ/Vine of David has provided by creating their commentary on Levertoff, is a roadmap that allows us to see the territory of the teachings of Christ through the lens of the Zohar, the Tanya, and the realm of Chasidic Judaism.

Although the world sees Levertoff as a Jewish convert to Christianity, it is more accurate to describe him as a Chasidic disciple of the Jewish Messiah. Levertoff's Jewish understanding of Jesus as the greatest and most unique Prophet, Rabbi, and ultimately, as the Messiah and Son of God, never wavered throughout his lifetime, and by writing Love and the Messianic Age, he granted a larger audience the ability to see through his eyes. By republishing Levertoff's book and writing their own detailed commentary on Levertoff, FFOZ and Vine of David have allowed even generally non-mystic, non-Jewish people like me, the ability to navigate the strange roads Boaz Michael describes, and to finally understand the Lord and Savior of the world as I believe he truly is.

If you're reading my review from a traditional Christian context, you may be having problems understanding what resonates within me when I read Levertoff, but I have found in this book, the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle in the picture of Jesus. Each writer, each scholar, each believer, has a different way of seeing Jesus. Sometimes the differences are slight, but I've found some of those differences to be profound. I can't say as an absolute fact, that Levertoff's presentation of who Jesus is, and his understanding of what Jesus taught, is the only way or the best way to look at the identity, nature, and character of the Jewish Messiah, but it is the only perspective that has answered questions for me, that no other investigator has truly addressed. How does Christ's deity connect to the Shechinah? How does the Gospel of John line up with the writings in the Zohar? What is the match between the Christian concept of koinonia and achdut or "unity", the highest ideal in Chasidism?

It seems more than astounding that the world of Jewish mysticism and the world of the Gospels so completely map to one another. It's like wandering through a city where the streets have no names, and then finding a guide who tells you how it all makes sense.

You may be thinking that trying to grasp the meaning behind Jesus by using a Chasidic model is too far for you to go. However, there's actually nothing particularly difficult about reading Levertoff or the commentary. The sources being cited may be beyond your experiences (they were for me), but the interface provided by book and by the commentary, make what's being said and the attendant meaning very accessible. For me, beyond accessibility and meaning, I also found illumination.

This isn't the only way to look at and understand Jesus, and it may not be the one you would choose at first, but I highly recommend that you give it a try, especially if how you see the Jewish Messiah right now in your faith, seems a little bit stale or perhaps, is just a picture that hasn't challenged you for a very long time.

Who is Jesus really? What did he teach? Is it possible that what you have been taught; what you think you understand isn't the whole picture? If those are questions you have, I urge you to get a copy of Levertoff's book as well as the FFOZ/Vine of David commentary. Read them slowly. Carefully unfold the map. Discover how the ancient streets and byways of the Holy City begin to open up for you. Faith isn't a vacation; it's an adventure. Let Paul Philip Levertoff be your guide to discovery and treasure.

We're Here to Bring Mashiach

As a Jew, I believe that the coming of the Messiah does not depend on my belief that he will come, nor does it rest solely in God's hands. I believe it remains our task to bring the Messiah -- that he will arrive only when we are in a state of readiness to bring him, to welcome him, to appreciate him. Salvation must be earned. And thus it is what we do, as Jews, that will determine the time of the Messianic arrival.

from Bringing the Messiah - On Our Own Terms
by Rabbi Jerome Epstein
Published on September 1999
at The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism site

This isn't a message you'll hear preached from the pulpit of any Christian church. Christianity believes the second coming of Christ is an event fixed in time and known only to God, and there's nothing that anyone can do to make it come any sooner or to make it come any later. This isn't true from a Jewish perspective. Human beings are junior partners in God's creation and as such, we have an active role in the coming of the Mashiach.

Here's more from Rabbi Epstein:

The unique message of Jewish Messianism is that with courage, commitment, hope and effort, a corrupt world can be righted, a sick world can be healed. Messianism gave our ancestors a light in the darker times of our history. But Jewish Messianism also put responsibility into the hands of the people. We must not attach ourselves to a magical, mythical vision with unrealistic hopes that the Messiah will spontaneously appear and save us from our folly.

The last sentence apparently is Rabbi Epstein taking a shot at Christianity. If you read the full text of the article from which I'm quoting, you'll see that he's responding to an event sponsored by Southern Baptists in his community to encourage "Jews to convert to Christianity during the High Holy Days." Needless to say, he was not pleased.

Yet, in many ways, Christians and Jews are looking for the same thing. We're looking for God to hear our cry, to come and heal our broken world, and to come and live among His people. We are looking for the coming of the Messiah to bring justice and mercy into our midst, as He did with His people so many years ago:

When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle a cloud of the Lord rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys. -Exodus 40:33-38 (JPS Tanakh)

This coming Shabbat, I'm going to teach on the Divine among us, both as represented by the Divine Presence in the Mishkan and by the Messiah as he will return to us at the end of this age. But is there something we're supposed to do to prepare the world for his return?

God tests us each day by challenging us to help others use their potential to become the Messiah. That is our real contribution. If the potential Savior is sitting next to us, right now, how should we react? If we tell our children how much we appreciate them, perhaps their hidden skills will be revealed. If our friends sense the importance to us of their support, their contribution to others may grow. If we help our spouses remember what drew them to us, those qualities may reawaken. In short, if the potential Messiah is sitting next to us, our task is to help cultivate that potential. What we do makes a difference.

From a Jewish point of view, the Messiah could be anyone. In fact, it may not be apparent to the Messiah that he, in fact, is the Messiah before it is revealed to him. If we were to assume that anyone we know could be the Messiah, what would we do to encourage him and to bring him to a point where he will be ready to fix a damaged creation? This begs a further question. If we, indeed, have something to do with repairing the world and summoning the Messiah, are we not "little fixers" in our own right; are we not just a little bit "Messianic"?

I'm not suggesting that we necessarily have any power to override God's timetable as far as the Messiah's coming is concerned, but perhaps we are more a part of that timetable than we've previously imagined? What if our actions really do make a difference? What if feeding even one hungry person, encouraging even one discouraged child, or visiting even one lonely person in the hospital, are all intermingled threads in God's overarching tapestry to send the Messiah to us and to, on a cosmic scale, do what we are supposed to be doing all along as the Messiah's disciples?

We ask God to save us and to redeem His lost sheep. If we expect this from Him, how can we not do the same to those in need around us? Not only can we be the answer to someone's prayers to God, we, in our own small way, can be a small part of the Messiah, fixing our damaged world...one hurt at a time.

In this life we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Zionist

Zionism (ציונות, Tsiyonut) is the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. -Psalm 137:5-6

I'm not Jewish. While there is disagreement in Christian and Messianic circles regarding Gentiles in the Messianic age, I don't automatically believe I have a physical inheritance over even one square inch of the Land of Israel. I've never visited Israel, though I wish I could, and I may not be able to in this lifetime.

Yet, for the sake of God's will and His promises to the Children of Israel, starting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I fervently desire and support an Israel exclusively for the Jewish people.

The Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
And curse him that curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you."
-Genesis 12:1-3 (JPS Tanakh)

This ancient promise of God has never been revoked or abandoned, regardless of what some churches, occasionally some synagogues, and especially what the Palestinians say about it. Why am I up in arms this morning?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday night that in the future Palestinian state "there will be no Israeli presence."

While touring Ramallah, Abbas rejected the possibility that Israeli soldiers would remain stationed along the borders of the future Palestinian state or will be a part of an international force that will deploy there.

"We are prepared to move toward peace based on international resolutions, the Road Map and 1967 borders, but when a Palestinian state is established it will be empty of any Israeli presence," said the Palestinian leader.

"If a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital, we will object to the presence of even one Israeli in its territory. This is our position," he said.

Ynetnews.com article: Abbas: No Israeli presence in future state

Even while thousands celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem in a Palestinian controlled area of Israel, Abbas continues to hack away his own slices of Israel, including Jerusalem, the City of David, for an Arab people who have no right to override the promises of God.

You may think that it's poor manners on my part to "get political", particularly on December 25th and especially on Shabbat, but as we all know, or should know, there's a lot more at stake.

With the current American administration throwing Israel under a bus and supporting the demands of the Palestinians to carve up the borders of Israel like a Christmas goose, it looks like the safety and security of Jewish Israel and the unity of Jerusalem is experiencing its greatest danger since the modern state of Israel was founded.

But then, I remind myself of this:

In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of the LORD
our God for ever and ever.
-Micah 4:1-5

Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’
From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
what I have planned, that I will do.
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
you who are now far from my righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
my splendor to Israel.
-Isaiah 46:9-13

The Bible is replete with such promises of God to the Children of Israel and, as grim as many of the stories in the news may be, we must remember (yes, I must remember too) that events will become much worse before they get better and that God ultimately will fulfill His promises to the Jewish people and to the Land of Israel...and to the rest of us.

The Master said it this way:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” -Luke 13:34-35

I read a news story a few days ago which quoted Rabbanit Tzivya Eliyahu, widow of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi (Rishon LeTziyon) Mordechai Eliyahu regarding Christmas and the Shabbat falling on the same day this year:

Jewish observance of the Sabbath day is a known way to bring the Messiah, she said. It is written in the Talmud that if the Jews were to observe two Sabbath days in a row, “they would be redeemed immediately,” she noted.

Each individual can make a difference, she said, “When I asked the rabbi, he always said that even just one extra person keeping the Sabbath day could tip the scales in favor of everyone.”

At times like this, I find faith in unexpected sources:

Spock: "History is replete with turning points, Lieutenant. You must have faith."
Valeris: "Faith?"
Spock: "That the universe will unfold as it should."
Valeris: "But is that logical? Surely we must....."
Spock: "Logic, logic, and logic..... Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end."

The scene I just quoted was acted out between Leonard Nimoy and Kim Cattrall in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). It seems to say that, while each of us should fulfill our role in the affairs of humanity and God and act in accordance to those roles, it's God, in the end, who brings about His will and who fulfills His promises as He has stated.

Abbas can make whatever proclamations about the "future state of Palestine" he wants, but it is God who will have the final word in everything. It's our job not to lose faith and, in keeping our faith, we gain everything.

Afterword, December 26th: Read this haaretz.com story this morning called Deputy FM: 'The state of Facebook' is more real than Palestine. Seems to be relevant to the theme of this blog post.

Strange Paths

This, then, is the line of Jacob: At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him an ornamented tunic. And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him. Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more. He said to them, "Hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf" His brothers answered, "Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to rule over us?" And they hated him even more for his talk about his dreams. -Genesis 37:2-8

Have you ever wondered what Joseph's life would have been like if he was never kidnapped? What would Joseph have been like if he'd stayed warm, safe, and happy with "Daddy dearest"? What would have happened to Joseph if he'd never been an almost murder victim, a kidnap victim, a slave, and a prisoner in a foreign land? It's not hard to imagine.

Joseph would have grown up spoiled and selfish, thinking only of himself. Jacob seemed blind to the resentment that his other sons had toward Joseph due to a father's favoritism for the oldest son of his most beloved wife. Let's see how Joseph's life was altered by the events we know so well.

When Joseph came up to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ornamented tunic that he was wearing, and took him and cast him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to a meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels bearing gum, balm, and ladanum to be taken to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us not do away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed. When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt. -Genesis 37:23-28

For the first time in his life, Joseph was alone and without his father's protection. Jacob wasn't there and in fact, had no idea where to look for the missing Joseph (and Joseph couldn't know that his father would be told he was dead). Joseph was in the hands of foreign slavers taking him to a destination far from his home. Perhaps for the first time in his life, Joseph was completely out of control of what was happening to him. The Torah doesn't record these events, but was this the first time Joseph turned to God?

When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian, Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he stayed in the house of his Egyptian master. And when his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD lent success to everything he undertook, he took a liking to Joseph. He made him his personal attendant and put him in charge of his household, placing in his hands all that he owned. And from the time that the Egyptian put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed his house for Joseph's sake, so that the blessing of the LORD was upon everything that he owned, in the house and outside. He left all that he had in Joseph's hands and, with him there, he paid attention to nothing save the food that he ate... -Genesis 39:1-6

By the time Joseph enters into slavery in the house of Potiphar in Egypt, it's almost as if he's a different man. Gone is the selfish brat who always told tales on his brothers. He demonstrates such honesty, integrity, and competence, that an Egyptian Chamberlain turns over control of his entire household to a Hebrew. God blesses everything Joseph touches. For God to turn to Joseph, did Joseph first turn to God?

So Joseph's master had him put in prison, where the king's prisoners were confined. But even while he was there in prison, the LORD was with Joseph: He extended kindness to him and disposed the chief jailer favorably toward him. The chief jailer put in Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in that prison, and he was the one to carry out everything that was done there. The chief jailer did not supervise anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the LORD was with him, and whatever he did the LORD made successful. -Genesis 39:20-23

While life as a slave wasn't brutally difficult for Joseph, he was still a slave. Now things are worse. He's a prisoner and unlike the modern American court and prison systems, Joseph has absolutely no rights. He could be executed tomorrow, or die of old age in prison. But even here, God blesses him and Joseph continues to follow the strange path of his life that has been mapped out by the Creator.

The chief steward assigned Joseph to them, and he attended them. When they had been in custody for some time, both of them — the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison — dreamed in the same night, each his own dream and each dream with its own meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught. He asked Pharaoh's courtiers, who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you appear downcast today?" And they said to him, 'We had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them." So Joseph said to them, "Surely God can interpret! Tell me [your dreams]." -Genesis 40-4-8

While it may not seem important at the time, Joseph's ability to interpret dreams, God's gift to him, will be the key to the rest of Joseph's life, but years would pass before he realized this. In the meantime, he lived the life of a prisoner, never knowing which day would be his last.

"Accordingly, let Pharaoh find a man of discernment and wisdom, and set him over the land of Egypt. And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Pharaoh's authority as food to be stored in the cities. Let that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine." -Genesis 41:33-36

Standing before Pharaoh, Joseph could either finish interpreting his dream and then be sent back to prison, or he could act on his own behalf, perhaps for the first time since he entered the land of Egypt. But was this the selfish Joseph attempting to feather his own nest, or the act of a man who knew that by God's grace, he could save all of Egypt...and the world?

The plan pleased Pharaoh and all his courtiers. And Pharaoh said to his courtiers, "Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the spirit of God?" So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my court, and by your command shall all my people be directed; only with respect to the throne shall I be superior to you." Pharaoh further said to Joseph, "See, I put you in charge of all the land of Egypt." And removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph's hand; and he had him dressed in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command, and they cried before him, "Abrek!" Thus he placed him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh; yet without you, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh then gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him for a wife Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. Thus Joseph emerged in charge of the land of Egypt. — Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. — Leaving Pharaoh's presence, Joseph traveled through all the land of Egypt. -Genesis 41:37-46

From spoiled son to the ruler of the most powerful nation in the civilized world, second only to Pharaoh in less than 15 years. Yet in order to rise to greatness and to hold the fate of many nations in his hand, he had to give up a life of comfort and favor and be dragged through the mud, learning valuable lessons about himself and about God.

Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result — the survival of many people. And so, fear not. I will sustain you and your children." Thus he reassured them, speaking kindly to them. -Genesis 50:20-21

It's only now, after Jacob's death, do we really see if Joseph has changed. He could have his brothers killed now and take his revenge, but he spares them and remains faithful to God's purpose in his life. Here we see that the true test of Joseph isn't as a house slave or a prisoner, but as one of the most powerful men on earth. He could have turned his back on God and taken comfort in the power he wielded as Victory of Egypt, but he resisted temptation. His greatest struggle of faith wasn't in the face of extreme hardship, but when standing on the pinnacle of the world.

We only cry out to God in our pain and we often abandon Him after He rescues us. How many of us are like Joseph, who even in the ease of our lives, never forgets that we owe it all to God and not to our human efforts?

Gentiles, Torah, and the Moshiach

And while it's true that the Moshiach's primary task will be to bring the Jewish Nation closer to God, the Moshiach will also convince the entire world of the existence of God and the truth of the Torah.

Rabbi Hershel Brand from his book
On Eagles' Wings: Moshiach, Redemption, and the World to Come

I reviewed this book on my congregation's blog last October and by way of introduction, I said:

The book’s intent is to take all of the widely scattered references of the Moshiach throughout the Bible and all of Jewish authoritative literature, and gather them in one place for easy access to Jews who want a definitive Messianic guide. Rabbi Brand settled on writing this book as a fictional conversation between “Rabbi Cohen” and a student named “Daniel”, focused on answering Daniel’s questions about the Messiah. For those of us who lack a classic Jewish religious education, we experience a particular “stretch” at the sources “Rabbi Cohen” uses in his responses to Daniel’s queries, yet from a Jewish point of view, these are the only answers that make any sort of sense. Commentaries by Rambam and Ramchal, and quotes from the Gemara, Mishnah, and Zohar, are all perfectly expected within the context of this book. Christianity tends to dismiss these authorities as “just commentaries”, but the insights of the ancient Sages are the clarifying lens by which the Jewish people have been viewing the Torah for untold centuries.

This blog post is an extension of Gentiles and Torah which I posted yesterday and continues the assumptions I made in that article relative to MJ/BE and Orthodox Judaism. If MJ/BE very closely identifies and agrees with rabbinic Orthodox Judaism, then, with very few exceptions, it should accept the same belief structure as the Orthodox. For instance, if Orthodox Judaism accepts that in Messianic days, Gentiles will be brought to an understanding of Torah (whatever that understanding may be), the MJ/BE congregations should likely accept this idea as well. Here's what else Rabbi Hershel has to say about Gentiles, Torah, and the Moshiach via "Rabbi Cohen" and "Daniel":

Daniel: Even the gentiles? I mean, will there even be gentiles after the Moshiach arrives?

Rabbi Cohen: Of course. We mentioned once...that the Moshiach will destroy the enemies of the Jewish people, but those nations who are friendly to the Jews will still exist during the time of the Moshiach as before. Obviously they will accord great honor and respect to God’s true, chosen nation. And, like the Jewish nation, their primary occupation will be to understand and become closer to God.

"Rabbi Cohen" then goes on to quote the sources that support his statements to "Daniel":

And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a tribute to the Lord, with horses and with chariots, and with covered wagons and with mules and with joyous songs upon My holy mount, Jerusalem," says the Lord, "as the children of Israel bring the offering in a pure vessel to the house of the Lord. -Isaiah 66:20

So said the Lord of Hosts: In those days, when ten men of all the languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." -Zechariah 8:23

From the traditional Jewish viewpoint, learning to understand and come closer to God always involves Torah study, both the written and oral Law, so it seems reasonable to believe that, from an Orthodox (and thus MJ/BE) perspective, Gentiles will at least be studying those portions of Torah that have a direct bearing on the nations.

As I intimated in my previous blog post, what portions of Torah Judaism considers relevant to Gentiles extends beyond the Acts 15 letter and perhaps even beyond the Seven Noahide Laws. While conducting my online research for this blog, I came across a site called Wikinoah and a page on that site which asks Can Righteous Gentiles Study the Torah? The page starts out asking these questions:

It is said that Noachides are not allowed to study Gemarah, but what about Rashi Commentary on Torah? Is it recommended? I also want to know if a noachide is free to study all the midrashim? If Maimonides "The Guide for the Perplexed" is not considered a religious work but a philosophical book, is a noachide permitted to read from it although it seem to contain references to Gemarah? I also wonder about "Everyman's Talmud" by Abraham Cohen...is it wrong to read it.

The wiki site is dedicated to a population I have long suspected existed but never saw any evidence for: Gentiles who believe the Jewish paradigm of the "righteous Gentile" and who seek to adhere to the Noahide Laws. As a believer in Yeshua, I can see the efforts of these Gentiles as well-meaning though in error, but if you are a Gentile who completely accepts the rabbinic Jewish viewpoint about the nations and you want to have a place in the world to come, closer fellowship with the Jewish people, and to walk humbly with God, this would be a logical response. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a number of Gentiles who originally were involved in the OL and MJ movements "shot out the other side", so to speak, and either converted to rabbinic Judaism or became a Noahide.

Returning to the question quoted above, the answer is an unabashed yes, but with some possible qualifications:

So... exactly what can TOGs (Torah Observant Goy) study?

A more realistic example of what I'm talking about is, in fact, the question on what a TOG is allowed to study. There is discussion in the Talmud about this, but it appears to be divisive. One sage votes for the death penalty to Gentiles who study the Torah. (Seriously.) Another states that a Gentile who studies the Torah ‘is as a High Priest’.

The current view seems to be that Torah study for TOGs (which presumably would include appropriate portions of the Talmud, and the Rabbahs, etc.) is a blessing, not a sin. Yet others insist that TOGs are only allowed to study the portions of the Torah which directly apply to them: in particular, the first twelve chapters of Genesis or only that which directly applies to the Seven Noahide Laws. Still others argue that Gentiles should never be permitted to read the Torah, but instead rely solely on materials written by rabbinical authorities which specifically address the Noahide Commandments.

The latter opinions are the moral equivalent of someone wearing a kippah and tallit coming up to you and saying “You can't drink...” By this view one would not even be allowed to read the part of the Talmud which states you can't study it!

Without such study we have no way to determine what is legitimate teaching. Yet we must not merely take someone's word for it, because doing the wrong thing would be a Very Bad Thing. Ultimately it's my destiny at stake.

The article goes on (and since I previously posted a link to the relevant page, you can read all of its content), but it's important to point out that, from the Noahide point of view, there is no restriction on what a righteous Gentile can study. The only question is what parts of the Torah specifically apply to Gentiles, including the oral laws. If the Gentile doesn't study the entire body of content, how are they to know? The conclusion is that Gentiles are permitted to study the entire body of everything called "Torah" to both gain an understanding of the commands of God that apply to them (us) and also to gain a greater, general spiritual wisdom.

The only reasons a Gentile would not be permitted to study Torah, from the Noahide perspective, are these:

The restriction on Torah study is not that we shouldn't study it in the sense of reading it. It's that we should study Torah with a given purpose in mind, be it better understanding of the Seven Commandments or just to gain a better spiritual understanding. Studying the Torah with the intent of converting Jews to, say, christianity, is what the sage who suggested the death penalty had in mind.

TOGs shouldn't study as Jews are required to, because that is a special mitzvah between the Jews and Hashem; just as TOGs shouldn't wear tefillin or tallitot. Study for a purpose; don't study because you think you have to.

According to Rabbi Tzvi Freeman on AskMoses.com, the Lubavitcher Rebbes have even suggested a course of study for Noahides as follows:

What to learn:

1. The Bible with classic Jewish commentaries (including the talks of the Rebbe, which are specific to our day and age), excluding those parts dealing with commands specific to the Jewish people;
2. The thirteen principles of the faith from Maimonides;
3. The Book of Knowledge of Maimonides;
4. Laws dealing with property and personal damages, including slander, gossip, verbal abuse, verbal pledges, cruelty to animals;
5. The second book of Tanya (this was explicitly mentioned by the Rebbe), as well as selections from the first; and
6. Stories of Tzadikim.

Morning prayer (all these in translation):

1. Modeh Ani—optional
2. Study and meditation
3. Adon Olam—optional
4. Psalms of Praise (as in the siddur) — optional
5. Shema Yisrael — first paragraph (this was an instruction of Rav Azulai, father of the Birchei Yosef, to a Ben Noach in his time)
6. Psalm 100 — optional
7. Recitation of the Noahide Creed — optional

Why am I including all this and what does it have to do with Gentile Yeshua-believers associated with the Messianic movement? For one thing, it does establish that rabbinic Judaism permits a wider range of Torah study for righteous Gentiles than one might understand from some of the MJ/BE commentaries on the Messianic blogosphere. I don't necessarily say this should be the extent of our study and in fact, from what was previously mentioned, a Gentile can study any part of the Torah that a Jew can. The only question is what does and doesn't directly apply to the Gentile.

I should also probably note that, from a rabbinic Jewish point of view, no one who believes in Yeshua could be considered righteous because of the issue of Yeshua's deity (believing that a man is God) and the trinity (believing in three Gods instead of One God). That, I think, is one point where ML/BE and Orthodox Judaism must part company at some level. In fact, to the best of my understanding, only a minority of Messianic Jewish congregations join rabbinic Judaism in denying the deity of Yeshua (or the deity of the Messiah). Fortunately, as Messianic believers, we understand our righteousness this way:

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. -Romans 3:21-26

It's not our righteous we have to depend upon, because we have none of our own, but only through faith in the Messiah are we considered righteous before the Throne of God.

That said, let's "marry" the concept of a Gentile's righteousness through faith in Yeshua and what the Orthodox rabbis say about "righteous Gentiles" (and granted, it's a shotgun wedding, but it's just for illustration). As righteous Gentiles, we have full access to the study of Torah and even to a limited range of "Jewish practices" such as praying from the siddur and even saying a portion of the Shema. While MJ/BE may not have actively denied any of this, it is sometimes difficult to get an understanding that they'd be OK with this sort of behavior from a believing Gentile. Now, am I saying I believe that this is the limitation of behavior for a "Messianic Gentile"? That's the topic of the next blog post. In the meantime, feel free to make comments and suggestions.

Afterword: In reading this and considering the traditional Christian perspective, I can imagine all of my comments and arguments seem foolish. In Christianity all of my "issues" are moot. Christ nailed the Law to the cross with him and it died with him. There are no more barriers between humanity and God as long as a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Savior. It's just "me and Jesus" (I think there's a song by that title). I'm not blogging because I am doubting my relationship with the Messiah at this point, but for the sake of both gaining a greater understanding of my duties to God and to gain a better relationship with my brothers and sisters who maintain different viewpoints on these matters. As I said in the comment section of my previous blog post, the core of our service to God isn't complicated at all. If we believe, and we act out of that belief by loving God with all of our being and spirit and if we love our neighbors as ourselves (and these commandments should be familiar to everyone reading this blog) and produce good fruit and actions out of our faith, we are doing well.