6) HOW DO MESSIANIC JEWISH CONGREGATIONS
MEET THE NEEDS OF JEWISH PEOPLE? 15
" How shall a Jew be enabled to maintain his heritage of Shabbat and feast while holding to the capstone of revelation in Yeshua How shall a Jew enable his children to grow up with a sense of heritage, to be Bar Mitzvah arid maintain an ongoing involvement in the Jewish community? The Synagogue will not open its door to train his children and the majority of local churches will not provide for this. How then? The answer is clearly congregational, for achieving this individually or through a monthly fellowship may be inadequate or too difficult to sustain for the average person."
The Jewish people are called by God to be a distinct and enduring people (Jeremiah 81:35-36). It is important, therefore, for Messianic Jews to maintain their Jewish identity and pass this heritage on to their next generation. Messianic Jewish congregations help to accomplish this in the following ways:
Rabbi/Elder
Messianic Jewish congregations provide a leadership base that is able to impart vision, knowledge, wisdom, discernment and counsel to the members of the community in regard to biblical faith and Jewish lifestyle.
Calendar
Messianic Jewish congregations follow an annual cycle of events referred to in the Scriptures as "the appointed festivals of the Lord" (Leviticus 23). These include Friday night and/or Saturday worship services, Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) assemblies, Passover seders, as well as the celebrations of Matzot (Unleavened Breads), Bikkurim (First Fruits), Shavuot (Weeks), Yom Teruah (Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Atonement), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). Secondarily, Purim (Lots), Hannukah (Dedication) and other traditional commemorations are also observed.
Diet
Messianic Jewish congregations encourage the eating of biblically kosher foods.
Dress
Messianic Jewish congregations provide an environment where men can wear the kippa (head covering), tallit (prayer shawl), tsitsit (fringes) and tefillin (phylacteries). Women sometimes also wear appropriate head coverings.
Symbols
Messianic Jewish congregations appreciate Jewish objects and symbols that serve as reminders of the Scriptures and Jewish identity. These include Torah scrolls, kiddush cups, seven-branched menorahs, etc.
Music
Messianic Jewish congregations use Jewish forms of music in their services and celebrations. They also have a love for Israeli folk and Chassidic styles of dance.
Siddur
Messianic Jewish congregations incorporate into their services selected elements of the Siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book.
Community
Messianic Jewish congregations are actively involved in the local Jewish community. They encourage their members to visit other synagogues, attend seminars on Jewish issues, and join charitable Jewish organizations.
Hebrew
Messianic Jewish congregations in the diaspora encourage learning Hebrew as a second language. Their members are encouraged to attend Hebrew classes, converse with fluent speakers and learn Hebrew liturgy.
Israel
Messianic Jewish congregations view Israel as a Jewish homeland. Members often support the nation financially, Join annual tours, and consider making aliyah (returning to the land).
Circumcision
Messianic Jewish congregations promote the biblical practice of brit milah (covenant circumcision) for Jewish children.
Children
Messianic Jewish congregations provide children with instruction in the Scriptures, and on the meaning and importance of living a biblical Jewish lifestyle.16 Often, this education leads to Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah (a ceremony of passage).
Adult Education
Messianic Jewish congregations seek to provide their members with continuing adult education in all areas of biblical and traditional Jewish studies.
Marriage
Messianic Jewish congregations provide an environment for single people to meet one another and find prospective marriage partners.17 They offer marriage counseling that deals with the various aspects of the biblical covenant, and of maintaining a biblical Jewish household. Also, Messianic Jewish congregations celebrate traditional Jewish weddings, and provide couples with a caring community in which they can begin their married lives together.
Proselyte
Messianic Jewish congregations provide a community context in which proselytes can be covenentally received into the nation of Israel.18
Death
Messianic Jewish congregations appreciate and practice the traditional/biblical Jewish approach to burial and mourning.
7) HOW DO MESSIANIC JEWISH CONGREGATIONS DEAL WITH TRADITIONAL JUDAISM'S VIEW OF YESHUA?
The truth concerning the miracle-working rabbi from Nazareth
has never been clearly presented to the Jewish people.19
Messianic Jewish congregations believe that Yeshua was 100% faithful to biblical Judaism and the Jewish people.20 That notwithstanding, many in the traditional Jewish community see him differently and contend that Yeshua's teachings were contrary to Jewish faith and practice.21 Most proponents of this view do not arrive at this conclusion through research, but rather through a prejudice created by 1900 years of Christian anti-Semitism. This characterization of Yeshua is rarely questioned in the Jewish community due to a stigma placed on the study of his life and teachings by rabbinic authorities.22
Messianic Jewish congregations seek to correct this mistaken view of Yeshua through education by encouraging research into primary sources such as the New Testament, and secondary background sources including the writings of Josephus, non-canonical books, Aramaic targums, early rabbinic literature and archaeological findings such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Contemporary works on the historical Jesus and the Messiah's place in Judaism are additional valuable sources. Messianic Jewish congregations are confident that history supports their perspective, and that those who research Yeshua's life and teachings will ultimately reach the same conclusion.
9) WHY DO GENTILES JOIN MESSIANIC
JEWISH CONGREGATIONS?
How does today's Christian learn to think and approach life as Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets did, and as Jesus, Paul and the apostles did? This knowledge comes only by uncovering the overarching mind-set that the writers of Scripture reflect. We must enter their world and become conversant with their culture.26
A special characteristic of Messianic Jewish congregations throughout the world is the significant number of members who are Gentiles. These members share in all of their Jewish brothers' spiritual blessings (Romans 15:27) and, as well, are full participants in every aspect of Messianic Jewish congregational life (Ephesians 2:19). If this seems strange, consider that the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament were both written by Jews, the early heroes of the Christian faith were all Jews, and most significant of all, the Messiah, Yeshua, was a Jew. By living with Jews and living like Jews27 these Gentile members return to the historical and spiritual Jewish roots of their New Covenant faith. Finally, by joining Messianic Jewish congregations, they are able to bless the people whom God used to first bless them.28
And here is what I really think you are looking for Chel
10) WHAT DO MEMBERS OF MESSIANIC
JEWISH CONGREGATIONS BELIEVE?
Messianic Jews are avid biblical literalists and believe In a "normal" interpretation of the Bible. That is, the words of the biblical text Just as they stand, must be regarded as the correct and sufficient sense of the passage unless the context demands another interpretation.29
God and Creation
There is only one living God, the God30 of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the Creator of heaven and earth (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Yeshua is the Messiah
Yeshua is Israel's promised Messiah and Redeemer of the entire human race.
By His life, death and resurrection, He fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) relating to the Messiah's first coming. Yeshua, the Divine Word made flesh, is the fullest revelation of God to man
(Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Luke 24:44; Colossians 2:9).
Man's Relationship With God
God made man in His own image and endowed him with a longing for intimate fellowship with his Creator (Genesis 9:6; Psalms).
Man's Fall Into Sin
Man's disobedience to God's revealed will caused a separation between man and God (Genesis 2:17; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 5:12).
The Messiah, Our Substitute
The only provision God made for fully reconciling man to Himself was through the atoning work of Yeshua, Who died as the sacrifice for our disobedience and rose again, manifesting His victory over sin and death (Romans 5:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:6-11).
The Bible, God's Word
The Bible, consisting of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, is God's Word to man. It is the only reliable and authoritative guide to faith and conduct (Matthew 5:18; 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16).
The Message of Reconciliation
All who repent from sin and accept God's message of salvation in Yeshua the Messiah are born of the Holy Spirit. Faith in Yeshua as the Mediator of the New Covenant restores us as children of God (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:12; Hebrews 2:11-17; 1 John 3:1).
The New Covenant Congregation
Those who are of the Spirit of God become members of the worldwide congregation of God, the Body of the Messiah. This one spiritual fellowship includes both Jews and Gentiles as equal members of this one body
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27; Ephesians 2:1f-13, 18-22).
Gifts and Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The work and presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer brings forth the fruit of righteousness. The Holy Spirit also manifests His gifts, power, and authority in the local body of believers, enabling them to become a Spirit-filled community of love and service (1 Corinthians 12; Galatians 5:22).
God's Law in the Bible
God gave the practices of the Torah (Law) for moral instruction and as a body of cultural-national practice which would point forward to the Messiah's work. The Torah is valid as a reflection of God's righteous standards and as a means of preserving Israel as a distinct nation. Fulfillment of the Torah by the work of Yeshua does not imply its abrogation. Righteousness with God, however, is solely by grace through faith (Matthew 5:17-19; Acts 15, 21; Romans 3:21-22, 31; 7:12).
The Nation of Israel
The nation of Israel is chosen by God to be a channel of blessing to all the nations on earth. The return of the Jewish people to the land is in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The day will come when Israel as a nation will call on the Messiah Yeshua. Then Yeshua will come again to establish His worldwide rule from Jerusalem31 and the word of the Lord will go forth from Zion, as all nations come to gaze on Him with Joy (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11 60, 62; Matthew 23:39; 24:14; Romans 11) 32