Are the practices of modern times Messianic Jews and Judaism different that those of the Orthodox Jews? Also why is it different to kiss the Shema (Mezzuzah) or the Torah or an icon or the Cross?
Why do Jewish Temples have "symbols" then?
http://www.mazaltovpages.com/HTM_jewelry/jewelry.htm
http://www.mazaltovpages.com/HTM_rosh-hashanah/artscroll_rscards.htm
God bless,
Philothei
Thanks for bringing this up...
I'll make a couple of corrections, in humilty, just to try to help.
Jews don't kiss the Shema, we pray the Shema. It's the name of a prayer. "Shema" is the first word in the prayer "Hear oh Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One" when prayed in Hebrew.
We kiss the Mezuzah, the Torah, our Tallit (prayer shawl), and other things. We have on an individual level more ritual than any Christian, except perhaps a Priest in an Orthodox liturgy. For example, at Pesach, we have over three hours of
ritual to get through, touching on such things as which way to lean when we eat, how quickly to eat certain courses, what questions are asked and so forth. We also have many, many customs about a myriad of other things.
Also, when one reads the Talmud regarding the Temple services, there is so much ritual and artwork in the place that the mind is both boggled and fascinated. What's more, there is found a huge amount of things the priests did in the Temple that is still done by priests from the Apostolic traditions to this day.
Furthermore, the modern-day "Messianic" Jews are not necessarily Jews. They are largely Gentiles who want to be like the Jews. True converted Jews have never elected those modern Protestant-ized denominations to speak for us and although there are Jews within those congregations, a lot of us are involved in Apostolic Christianity- for the obvious reasons that ancient Christianity is more like Temple era Judaism than a pentecostal church with lots of Jewish symbols.
This link is typical of what orthodox Jews think of the Messianic movement.
And yes, there is found embossed carvings in a synagogue- the most obvious one is found on the Torah scroll. Often, the breastplate of the scroll is an embossed depiction of a scroll and perhaps you would find a metal crown or pomegranates on top of the scroll (which would be strictly forbidden according to the scriptures if we interpreted the Bible like the fundies).
However, there are some things that Orthodox Christians can do to help us Jews enter the church. They are, namely:
a) Speak out against the anti-semitism found in the writings of great and godly men like St John Chrysostom or certain modern Patriarchs and so many others that bring their nationalist prejudices into their teachings. Anti-semitism is a road to disaster, according to the Bible.
b) Let us keep our traditions, our Sabbath, our Feasts, kosher and prayers when we enter the Church. These things were never intended to be salvific in and of themselves, but rather, they are our customs and covenant signs and like all prayers and religious customs, if done in faith they contribute to our theosis. Jews should be both loyal servants of Christ in the Church but also devout witnesses to other Jews. Remember- even St Paul circumcised St Timothy after the Jerusalem Council had decreed it unecessary for gentiles and St Paul even kept up other Jewish customs and laws too. If Orthodox Christians can keep their culture, so can we. If there are Greek, Russian, Latin, Romanian, Serbian or other valid liturgical and cultural witnesses in the Faith then why not a Hebrew one again? This is a dream for many of us. Our history in salvation is the oldest in the world- this should be respected and rediscovered- within the Church.
Anyway- just my two cents. Hope this helps.
