Issues - Jews for Jesus

An Orthodox Jew's Unexpected Encounter by Sharon Sommer

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I was brought up in a modern Orthodox Jewish family. We went to synagogue every Shabbat and on every major Jewish holiday. My family kept kosher and I had twelve years of yeshiva education. I learned how to read and write Hebrew fluently and I learned many Jewish subjects, including the myriad of laws and customs. I learned that being Jewish was an honor and that I was one of the "Chosen People." We did not associate with people who were not Jewish. It was frowned upon to befriend anyone who wasn't Jewish because that person might want to convert you. It was forbidden to marry someone who wasn't Jewish. If you married out of the religion it was a shameful thing and if you converted it was as if you physically died to your family and community. I lived an isolated life away from the rest of the world. All of this left me with an uneasy feeling. When I started college and was among people of other cultures, races and religions for the first time, I realized that I was really not so...

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Added: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

What Are We Chosen For, Anyway?

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mordecai and I had agreed to meet in order to "exchange our points of view." But both of us knew what we really meant by that phrase: each of us was intent on changing the other one's mind. I wanted to tell him about my faith in Y'shua, and Mordecai wanted to tell me about the joys of living an Orthodox Jewish life. "Avi, Avi, Avi," Mordecai moaned. "I look at you, and I see such a tragedy. You're like a man who went searching for treasure. But instead of looking in your own back yard, you decided to dig in the gentiles' yards. Whatever you think you've found, it can't compare with the beauty of what you've left behind." He drew in a mournful breath, then let out a sigh. "Come back, Avi. You're one of God's chosen. Come back." "Mordecai," I began without trying to match his gravity. "You're right. We're chosen. But why are we chosen?" It seemed like Mordecai's profound sorrow suddenly evaporated into indifference, tinged perhaps with a little bit of annoyance at what I'd asked. "Who...

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Author: Avi Snyder
Added: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Jewish Humor... in the Bible?

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

"God writes a lot of good comedy. It's just that he has so many bad actors." -- Garrison Keillor The purpose of the Bible is not to entertain, but to instruct and so its subtle humor serves a purpose -- to show people what ought to be in comparison to what exists. Some examples of humor in the Bible include: Irony In the book of Numbers, the Israelites complained that manna was not sufficient and demanded meat. God's punishment was to give them meat until, "it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it" (Numbers 11:20). The book of Esther contains much humor and irony. The people who are "on top" at the beginning of the book end in not-so-fortunate circumstances. For instance, Haman and his sons were hanged on the gallows Haman had prepared for Mordecai. Conversely, a more humble woman becomes queen and hero. Sarcasm Consider God's comeback to Job's cries of frustration: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" (Job 38:4). Or, in other words, "When you...

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Added: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Funny or Frightening?

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman wrote the bestselling Yiddish with Dick and Jane and How to Raise a Jewish Dog. Now they are back with another comedic book. Only this one is not so funny. It's called How to Profit from the Coming Rapture: Getting Ahead When You're Left Behind. The fictional authors, created by Weiner and Davilman, are Steve and Evie Levy. The premise is that the Levys actually believe what the book of Revelation in the New Testament says about the end of the world. Revelation, as well as the Hebrew Scriptures (which the Levys also acknowledge) talks of a seven-year tribulation period that culminates in the return of the Messiah. The rapture is a term used by Christian scholars to describe the event in which believers in Jesus, both living and dead, are taken up in the air to meet him and to be with him forever. So why don't the fictional Levys, who have obviously done their Bible homework, acknowledge Jesus and make sure they are not "left behind"? "We can't. We're...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In The Little Shtetl Of Vaysechvoos

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Settling a legal dispute in the shtetl of Vaysechvoos is no easy thing. After all, the czar had made sure that Jews were prohibited from the civil court system, and that was probably a good thing, since what kind of justice would a Jew find in the czar's Russia? But disputes occurred, even in Vaysechvoos, and it was the rabbi who was designated to serve as the judge. The rabbi, of course, is looked upon as one imbued with traits of both wisdom and fairness, and so his decision is "the law." But what do you do when one of the parties in the dispute is the rabbi himself? And so it was in the story of the missing rabbi. It all started when the parent of one of the rabbi's young students arrived at the synagogue in the middle of the school day, only to find that while the students were busy at their tablets, there was no rabbi in sight. "Where is the rabbi?" asked Feivel the Tailor of his son. Heshie responded, "Papa, he is out feeding the chickens." "Does he do this every day?" "No Papa,...

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Added: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Answering to a Higher Authority: The Life and Legacy of Harold J. Berman

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Harold J. Berman, who taught law at Harvard for 37 years and at Emory University for two decades, said that he, like all children, started studying the subject at a very young age. "Belief in law comes from early childhood," he said. "A child says, 'It's my toy.' That's property law. A child says, 'You promised me.' That's contract law. A child says, 'He hit me first.' That's criminal law. A child says, 'Daddy said I could.' That's constitutional law."1 Berman died at age 89 in 2007, a short time after celebrating his 60th anniversary as a law professor. He pioneered the study of law and religion. He is best known for his book, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983), of which the American Political Science Review said, "This may be the most important book on law in our generation."2 As recently as 2005, Constitutional Commentary called Berman's book "the standard point of departure for work in the field."3 Berman said it took him 40 years to...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Is the Jewish Religion a Laughing Matter?

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Jewish comedians have gently poked fun at their own religion -- or their own doubts about the existence of God -- for a long time. In Woody Allen's movie, Broadway Danny Rose, Danny has the following conversation with his love interest, Tina: Tina: Who's got time for guilt? Danny: What are you talking about? Guilt is important. It's important to feel guilty. Otherwise, you're capable of terrible things. It's very important to be guilty. I'm guilty all the time, and I never did anything. My rabbi, Rabbi Perlstein, used to say we're all guilty in the eyes of God. Tina: You believe in God? Danny: No, but I'm guilty over it.1 These days, however, some influential Jewish comics are not only guilt free but are making a living off of their irreverent perspective. Comments like "Anyone who believes in God is meshugge" are intended to get a laugh. Okay, I'll name some of the comics I have in mind -- Bill Maher, Larry Charles and Larry David. They would not characterize themselves as...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Law and the Tablets

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

How do the interpreters of the law handle the Law these days? A recent case before the Supreme Court regarding free speech concerned a group named Summum, which wanted to post its "Seven Aphorisms" alongside a Ten Commandments monument in a public park in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Summum Bonum Amen Ra, born Claude Nowell, said he was visited by extraterrestrial beings, inspiring him to found the Church of Summum in 1975. The church, whose rites include sacramental nectar, pyramids and mummies, believes that Moses intended to deliver the Seven Aphorisms to the Hebrew people, but gave them the Ten Commandments instead! A sampling of the Seven Aphorisms reveals this "gem": "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." Summum's attorneys reasoned that its Seven Aphorisms are comparable and complementary to the Ten Commandments, so the city should display them in the park. Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, representing the city of Pleasant Grove,...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Softening of a Cynic

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Penn Jillette, the large, ponytailed half of the comedy/illusionist team, Penn & Teller, is another staunch cynic and an avowed atheist. The vanity plates on his car read ATHEIST. He frequently lambasts the Scriptures and those who believe in God on the television show he hosts for Showtime and in his video blog, "Penn Says." In a 2004 episode, he characterizes the Bible as "more fiction than fact" and says, "It sure isn't great literature. . . . There's no plot, no structure, there's a tremendous amount of filler, and the characters are painfully one-dimensional. Whatever you do, don't read the Bible for a moral code. It advocates prejudice, cruelty, superstition and murder."1 But five years later, there is some evident mellowing on Penn's part, at least toward one person who approached him after watching his live show in Las Vegas. The man told him how much he enjoyed Penn's show and his honesty. He then handed Penn a Bible and told him that he hoped he would believe the...

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Added: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A Not-so-Typical Holiday Story

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

As Shaun Buchhalter notes, being a Jewish Puerto Rican is probably more common in New York City than elsewhere. But that didn't make it any easier, especially during the December holidays. Born to a Jewish father and a Puerto Rican Catholic mother, 30-year-old Shaun grew up in what was then the very Jewish neighborhood of West Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. He and his immediate family, his paternal grandparents and his dad's brother all lived within a block of each other in three separate high-rise apartment buildings. Although Shaun's father was not religious, Shaun's grandmother, Rita, was. Grandma Rita was determined to see that Shaun had a good Jewish upbringing. "Despite my father marrying a non-Jewish girl," Shaun explains, "Grandma Rita was adamant that I would have a strong Jewish identity. At Hanukkah, she would give me a gift on all eight nights. Hanukkah was when I got my first Nintendo and my first bike -- from my grandmother." Shaun says his ...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A Transformed Celebration

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

As a child, I was always envious of my next-door neighbor who got to celebrate Christmas. Being Jewish, I had my own holiday, Hanukkah, but the gentile holiday seemed so much bigger, so much better. I did not consider the meaning of either day, only the outward trappings, and my festivity did not measure up. To console me, my parents stressed that our celebration lasted eight days, while my gentile friend had only one day. We lit candles and got presents every night and they only got presents once. Yet, this did not satisfy me. My family was poor, and our presents consisted of inexpensive things like crayons and coloring books. We did get one bigger present on the last day of Hanukkah, when the relatives got together for a party. But for me, the other seven presents hardly counted. On the other hand, my neighbor lived in a transformed house for what seemed like an entire month. She had tinsel and holly decorations and an absolutely indescribable tree decorated with...

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Author: Nancy Cochran
Added: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Resolving the December Dilemma

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

I don't know where I first heard the term "December dilemma," but it accurately describes a Jewish conundrum at this time of year. It refers to the cross-cultural tension that intermarried, specifically Jewish-Gentile couples and their children, experience at the winter holiday season. Many intermarried couples find these days particularly distressing. Familiar cultural symbols seem to scratch across the grain of a partner's ideal for celebrating the season. In North America the typical expectation is of good cheer, communal warmth and family joy. That would hold true whether entering into the Christmas spirit or Hanukkah remembrance. However, in the new Jewish family pattern, where multi-ethnic members are increasingly mixed into the family, the atmosphere can be uncomfortable. Emotions can get stirred up over how holidays should be observed, especially when more than one tradition is present in the home. If that is your experience, let me encourage you: It's not...

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Author: Tuvya Zaretsky
Added: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In the Little Shtetl of Vaysechvoos

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The people of Vaysechvoos were too poor to own pets, but they had a problem and to solve that problem, they welcomed a few stray cats into the shtetl. You see, a multitude of mice had taken up residence there. But the appearance of the cats had hordes of mice trembling and turning on their tiny heels to escape their natural enemies. Those that were slow or stupid became cat food and the felines soon grew plump and brazen. The townspeople were very happy to see the mouse population decline. The only problem was that the cats became plentiful and started acting like they owned the village and that they were simply tolerating the people who lived there. They knocked over bottles of cream, stole eggs from the chicken coops and kept the townspeople up all night long with their caterwauling. That is, except for one cat who is very important to this story. He even had a name, Shlomi. His eyes were green and his whiskers fanned out on his wise and welcoming face. Shlomi's fur...

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Added: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Is Proselytizing Bad for the Jews?

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The story is told of a man who emerges from the subway in a Jewish neighborhood. Amazed and
perplexed to see people running past him in apparent terror, he grabs one of them and asks, "What's
happening?" "Let me go," begs the other man, "there's a lion loose in the streets!" But the newcomer to the panic holds fast. "Tell me," he implores, "is this good or bad for us Jews?"...

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Author: Ruth Rosen
Added: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NEGATIVE SPACE: What is Missing in Today's Judaism

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

by Arielle Rothbard During the spring of my senior year of high school, my photography teacher invited our art class to a gallery. There were 50 pieces: all different sizes, shapes, colors and textures. Each had a subject and space around that subject. One 8"x10" shot grabbed my attention from where it hung a foot above eye level. The starkness of the snowy expanse covering 95% of the frame would normally bore most viewers, but the piece's redemptive strength was tucked away in the lower right-hand corner. Three miniscule men stood ice fishing. I glanced to the left, noticing the bright blue ribbon dangling alongside the photo. Apparently someone else liked it, too. Every art piece necessitates negative space. Gene Moore's window dressing boom in the 1950s at Tiffany's began with Moore de-cluttering the sparkling mass of jewelry, giving every piece its own display. Each piece could shine: the focal point of its own, spacious window. Revolutionary! ...

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Added: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Mark Greene: a copywriter's series of extraordinary events

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The concept of Jews believing in Jesus has penetrated the culture in part because Jews for Jesus and other Messianic Jewish groups have made some very public pronouncements of their belief. Jews for Jesus launched its work in the United Kingdom with a full-page ad in The Times (London) in December 1991, which proclaimed, "You don't have to be Jewish to celebrate Christmas . . . but it helps." The ad featured Richard Harvey, a Jewish believer in Jesus and the director of the new Jews for Jesus London branch. Reaction from the Jewish community was fast and furious. Letters to the editor, rebuttal letters, follow-up articles and columns in The Times followed for a period of more than two months! Dr. Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, said that the ad showed "disturbing insensitivity."i Neville Nagler, head of the Board of Deputies of British Jews at the time, called The Times decision to publish the ad "regrettable."ii Rabbi Raymond...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

That's Hot! Jews For Jesus In Popular Culture

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Why are there so many references to Jews for Jesus in Pop Culture?...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Yartzheit for the Cardinal

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Jean-Marie Lustiger walked nervously up to the dais to preside over his first mass. The church was packed and the silence palpable. Just as the young priest was about to speak, someone from the crowd yelled, "Get the Jews out!" Lustiger's reply broke the stunned silence, "All right, if the Jews must leave, that means the guy on the cross and his mother behind me will have to go as well!"...

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Author: Joshua Turnil
Added: Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ALEXANDRE GLASBERG

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Alexandre Glasberg was born to a Jewish family in the Ukraine in 1902. He and his brother, Vila, came to believe in Jesus and emigrated to France in the early 1930s. Alexandre attended seminary and was ordained a priest in 1938. In 1940 he began hiding political refugees from the Nazis. Glasberg also worked with Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE), the Jewish organization for the rescue of children, to save refugees from internment camps in France, most of whom were Jews. He personally falsified files to gain the release of hundreds of Jews, many of them children. The Nazis captured his brother, Vila, thinking he was Alexandre. In order to protect his brother, Vila did not deny it. The Nazis arrested, deported and murdered him. Alexandre evaded the Gestapo. After the war, he helped facilitate the emigration of Holocaust survivors to Mandatory Palestine (and later, to the State of Israel) and mass emigrations of Jews from Iraq, Morocco and Egypt. He died in France in 1981. Yad Vashem,...

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Added: Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

EDITH STEIN

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Edith Stein, the first Jew to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church, was born in Breslau, Germany, on Yom Kippur, 1891. Her father died when she was two and her mother, a devout Jew, raised her and her six siblings. Stein earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of G�ttingen. In 1921 she read the autobiography of Teresa of Avila, which drew her into a personal relationship with Jesus. Stein taught, wrote and lectured and was a leading voice in the Catholic Women's Movement in Germany. In 1933, when anti-Semitic laws made it impossible for Stein to continue, she entered the Carmelite Order in Cologne, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. After Kristallnacht (pogrom in Nazi Germany, November 9, 1938), the nuns sent Stein to a convent in the Netherlands, where her sister, Rosa, later joined her. When the Nazis began deporting Dutch Jews to the concentration camps, the Catholic Church protested. The Nazis...

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Added: Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

EUGENIO ZOLLI

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Born Israel Zoller in 1881, he was appointed chief rabbi of Trieste, Italy, in 1918. In the 1930s, he helped German Jews fleeing the Reich. As World War II broke out, he became Rome's chief rabbi. In September 1943 the Nazis demanded gold for the lives of the Jews of Rome. Zolli asked for and received a loan of gold from the Vatican. The Nazis reneged and, on October 16, 1943, began to round up the Jews for deportation to Auschwitz. Pope Pius XII interceded with the German ambassador and ordered the Roman clergy to shelter the Jews. The Nazis caught only about one thousand of the eight thousand Jews in Rome. Zolli, who had secretly studied the New Testament, had a vision of Jesus in the synagogue while presiding over the Yom Kippur service in October 1944. A few days later, he resigned his post. He was baptized in 1945 and took the name Eugenio in honor of Pope Pius (born Eugenio Pacelli). A controversial figure, Zolli died in...

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Added: Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

MAX JACOB

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Max Jacob, an important French poet of the early 20th century, was born to Jewish parents in 1876. Also a painter, he lived in extreme poverty. Jacob met Pablo Picasso in 1901. They shared a studio and later lived three doors from each other in Paris. Jacob had a vision of Jesus in 1909 in a landscape he had painted. He became a Catholic but struggled with homosexuality and heavy drinking. "He fervently believed in his new faith," said author Sydney Levy, "but it did not affect his personality or his art. . . . Christianity tolerated his presence in its midst with difficulty." In 1921 he moved to the small village of Saint-Beno�t-sur-Loire, where he remained until the Gestapo arrested him in February 1944. They took him to a holding camp in Drancy, where he grew gravely ill and died on March 5, 1944. Gabriel Aghion, who directed a movie about Jacob, holds Jacob's friends, especially Picasso, responsible for his death. "All of his friends . . . could...

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Added: Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A Seder To Remember

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I was excited to be on the West Coast and to see my older brother Steve. Dad had been there earlier when Steve found an apartment, and had returned to New York with the good news that my brother had found a place with a nice Jewish landlady who would "keep an eye on him." However, Steve told us that he'd begun going to Friday night Bible studies. That surprised me, but I expected he would explain more during my spring break visit. So when Steve greeted me at the airport, after saying hello, I immediately asked, "What is this about Friday nights and Bible studies?" He replied briefly that he believed the Messiah had come. Curiosity turned to cold fear. Had my brother gone meshuggah? "Oh . . . really Steve?" I asked. "Who do you think the Messiah is, anyway?" He responded "Jesus!" I was horrified! And here I was stuck -- on the West Coast, at Passover time with my non-traditional brother, only to discover that my brother's Jesus-believing friends were having a...

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Author: Rob Wertheim
Added: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Adding a few more questions to the mix this Passover

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The number four plays a significant role in Judaism. There are the four species of plants for Sukkot; four kingdoms in the book of Daniel; four Torah portions in the tefillin; four Matriarchs in the book of Genesis. At Passover, we find this number in abundance. In the course of the seder we have four sons, four cups of wine, four expressions of redemption (Exodus 6:6-7) and perhaps the most famous "four" of all -- the Ma Nishtana, known in English as the Four Questions...

...

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Author: Rich Robinson
Added: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Elijah Where Are You?

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

His silver goblet is filled to the brim
His place at the table is ready
We've thrown open the door to welcome him
Though his yearly absence is steady.
But still we wait
And still we hope
And wonder and hope a bit more
Till the youngest among us asks with a smile
Could it be that he's at the back door?...

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Added: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In the Little Shtetl of Vaysechvoos

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In Vaysechvoos, as for Jews everywhere, Pesach was a very special occasion. Each house was made spotless and bright. All chometz was removed and all the special Passover dishes and utensils were brought out. The families eagerly awaited the celebration with its lengthy and elaborate telling of the Exodus story. The youngest sons spent hours in practice, chanting the mah nishtana. The girls helped their mothers with preparations for the delicious Passover meal. So it was in each home in the shtetl of Vaysechvoos as Passover approached. Sholem, the son of Shimon the butcher, was walking home from cheder when he happened by one of his friends, Duvid, the son of Lazar the Boot Maker. Duvid was a few years older than Sholem. He was already working as an apprentice in the craft of boot making. "Sholem," Duvid asked quietly, "do you really believe that Eliahu Ha Navi could come this Passover to announce the coming of Messiah?" Sholem wondered if Duvid's question was...

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Author: Susan Perlman
Added: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The tiny, one-room house was dark and musty. Narrow sunbeams poked through the cracks around a small draped window, and near the bed a solitary wick flickered in a little bowl of oil. Ruchelah lay in her bed. She had been infirmed for years, barely able to move or sit up, much less stand or walk. She heard a rapping at the door -- two knocks, a pause, and then three quick taps. It was Leah, the rebbetzin. "Ruchelah, are you awake?" the elderly rebbetzin queried as she showed her head through the door. The sickly woman nodded. Leah came to see Ruchelah three times a day. She would come in, give Ruchelah a bowl of broth, adjust the pillows, and in the winter wrestle a log on to the hearth. "Your healer hasn't come yet?" Leah asked as she helped Ruchelah sit up and gave her a bowl of chicken soup. Ruchelah just smiled faintly. "You're still waiting for him?" Leah continued. Again, Ruchelah just smiled. "Go ahead, eat; it will...

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Author: Susan Perlman
Added: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Don't All Good People Go to Heaven?

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Many people do not believe in a literal heaven so for them, the question "Who goes there?" is moot. The late Dr. Louis Goldberg once told of the time that he went into the store of a Jewish proprietor:

He looked so depressed and dejected that I asked him what was wrong. He replied, "I have just attended the funeral of my favorite aunt." Softly I inquired, "And where is she now? Will you see her again?" "You know what we believe," he replied, "When a person dies, the body is placed in the ground, and this is all there is to it. . . . All that remains is the memory of the departed in the hearts of the living."

That man was not alone in his belief that death was the final curtain. Yet there are noted Jewish scholars and rabbis in all the main branches who do not dismiss belief in an afterlife. Orthodox Rabbi, Shraga Simmons, writes:

The afterlife is a fundamental of Jewish belief! The creation of man testifies to the eternal life of the soul. . . .

...

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Author: Matt Sieger
Added: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Questions

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A diagnosis. Stage 4 cancer. Anger and fear and hurt descend. Then the questions arise. Why me? And after I die? Is there a God? A heaven? A hell? A nothingness? Something else? How can I know? Good, bottom line, questions. Indiscreet, tactless queries all mortals need to ask. ...

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Author: Susan Perlman
Added: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

From an Evangelical Perch

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

American Evangelicals constantly debate among themselves what it means to be an Evangelical. The question has no easy answer. Rabbi Yehiel Poupko courageously treads on disputed territory, and he gets it mostly right. Poupko definitely gets this right: Central to the Evangelical understanding of reality is a deep sense that something is profoundly wrong with every member of the human race, that we each have a fundamental proclivity toward sinful self-love rather than toward loving God and our fellow human beings. This universal disease can only be cured by God's radical act of self-sacrificing love embodied in Jesus of Nazareth and by the transforming work of God's Holy Spirit. This divine rescue from sin's guilt and power must be received as a gift, which God offers freely. The theological narrative of rescue combines with individual narratives of transformed lives to form the fabric of Evangelical self-consciousness. This message of bad news and its accompanying...

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Author: David Neff
Added: Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Have you ever felt mystified by beliefs and actions of evangelical Christians?

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Perhaps you can relate to some of the following questions. The answers are not comprehensive, but we hope they will be helpful. (Compiled by Rebekah Harvey) I am so tired of hearing that I am going to hell if I don't believe in Jesus. How can evangelical Christians claim to love and respect Jews in one breath, then say that unless they believe like evangelicals do, they are going to hell? Don't they realize how intolerant and disrespectful that sounds? Many Jewish people do not believe in either heaven or hell, so it is not surprising if some misunderstand the beliefs and conclusions of those who do. The most common misunderstanding goes something like this: "If you think I'm going to hell unless I believe like you do, you must think you are good and the rest of us are bad. After all, bad people go to hell, and good people go to heaven." Or even more strongly: "You hate me." For evangelical Christians, humanity is not divided into good people who go to heaven and bad...

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Author: Rebekah Harvey
Added: Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

What Jews Should Know about Evangelical Christians

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

In this edition of ISSUES, we would like to offer a smorgasbord of material to help Jews who don't believe in Jesus better understand evangelicals who do. What do evangelicals actually believe and how does it affect their life choices? What are the underpinnings of their political, moral and theological convictions? Are evangelicals really the best friends of Israel? How can evangelicals say Jews are both chosen by God, and going to hell without Jesus in the same breath? Do they think that "converting" our people will make Jesus come to earth sooner? What about all the different Christian denominations -- what are their distinctives and where do evangelicals fit in? It's been estimated that more than 55 million Americans identify as evangelicals. We thought we'd use the pages of this publication to have a well-known evangelical (at least in evangelical circles) speak from his perspective. David Neff is the editor of Christianity Today, the leading U.S. magazine for evangelical...

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Added: Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

HITLER'S THEOLOGIANS: The Genesis of Genocide

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Did Hitler and his followers carry out a theology that is Christian at its roots?...

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Author: Stan Meyer
Added: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Why I, a German, Love the Jewish People

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Love often begins with a discovery. We discover someone to whom we feel deeply drawn and who then inspires our devotion. My love for my Jewish brothers and sisters started with a discovery. Discovery and an empty chair. The conference dining room was filled with the sound of hundreds of participants from around the world chatting in various languages, and I was one of several people searching for a vacant seat. I was relieved to finally spot one, and sank gratefully into it. As I set my tray down, a woman's voice greeted me warmly in German, "Now you should take your time to eat." I turned to my new neighbor, who watched me with two kind brown eyes. We started talking and I felt as though she had known me from childhood. She told me that she was writing books, and that one of them had been published in German. However, she did not disclose the subject of the book. She only said, "Kindele, you can order in any bookstore, my dear." When I returned home...

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Author: Irmhild Bärend
Added: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700

A look at one of the predictions of the Messiah's coming in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

Where the Messiah would be born. But as for you Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from You one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from everlasting. (Micah 5:1 in the Hebrew Scriptures; in most English translations it is Micah 5:2) This passage, written around 700 B.C., has been recognized by traditional Jewish sources to indicate that the Messiah would be from Bethlehem. See the references below: Targum Jonathan, probably put into writing after 70 A.D. paraphrases Micah's prophecy, "Out of thee Bethlehem shall Messiah go forth before me to exercise dominion over Israel;...he whose name was mentioned from before, from the days of creation." The Jerusalem Talmud (y. Ber.2.4*) comments, "... King Messiah is born...he is from the royal palace of Bethlehem." The Jerusalem Talmud (y. Ber.2.4*) comments, "... King Messiah is born...he is from the royal palace of Bethlehem." The Soncino...

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Added: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

Jews for Christmas : Paradox, Propaganda or Perhaps a Legitimate Choice?

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

It was September of 2006. Jews for Jesus had just finished their largest-ever effort to proclaim to the people of New York that Jesus is the Messiah. They'd written many new pamphlets to draw attention to their message, using various icons from popular culture as the theme. They distributed the pamphlets in public venues throughout July, and were surprised to find a lawsuit filed against them in September from, of all people, Jackie Mason, the subject of one the pamphlets. To so many he was like their own Zeyde with such a superb and canny ability to see what is so funny in what is so ordinary....

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Author: Moishe Rosen
Added: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

The Wrong Address?

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

I was raised in the Bronx and like many other Jewish boys who grew up there, I attended Talmud Torah daily from 3 to 6 P.M. There I learned Hebrew, Jewish history and Jewish culture, and I was taught the traditions and obligations of being a Jew. My father's tailor shop was located only two blocks away from my Hebrew school. Directly across the street from my father's shop was one of the largest churches I had ever seen. I passed by there every day as I walked to my father's shop after Hebrew school. Then at 7 P.M. my father and I went home together. One December as I was walking to my father's store, I was met with an unusual sight in front of the large church. I stopped dead in my tracks. There on the lawn stood three figures of turbaned men, each carrying a box. Nearby there were several life-sized toy animals (cows and goats). There was also a small shed, and in it, two more figures, obviously a mother and father, on either side of a little doll that lay in a...

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Author: Jhan Moskowitz
Added: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0800

The New Testament: Contradictory Or Consistent?

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Many Jewish people, when challenged to read the New Testament, simply dismiss the book as being unreliable and full of contradictions. They may or may not be able to discuss the alleged contradictions with someone who disagrees with them, but they hold to that position nevertheless. Does it really matter whether the New Testament is full of contradictions? What difference does it make for Jews, anyway? ...

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Author: Rich Robinson
Added: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0700

"Marcia, Jesus was a Jew; he came for the Jewish people. He came for you."

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Those words were spoken to my mother by my friend's mother when I was nine years old, and while they made a distinct impression on me, it wasn't until sixteen years later that I considered them in a personal way. I grew up in an upper middle-class, Conservative Jewish home in the suburbs of Kansas. I attended a Jewish grade school through the third grade, and went to Hebrew school twice a week until I became a Bat Mitzvah. My parents had different approaches to their Judaism: my mother's was rooted more in duty and obligation but my father's came straight from the heart. My father's mother was a very devout, Orthodox Jewish woman who instilled in me a sense of God's holiness and love. Everything my grandmother did was out of love for God. She would often tell me the secret to a happy and successful life is to love God and keep his commandments. My grandmother would say, "Allison, don't ever forget that you are Jewish, and that being Jewish is very special." It wasn't until I...

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Author: Allison Sack
Added: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

In the Little Shtetl of Vaysechvoos

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

It was a little too big for a babushka and a little too small for a waist sash. The dark brown, ancient pattern against the lighter background seemed like something the Turks might have designed. The repeated lines and angular letters looked, at first glance, like the heathenish language. Yet upon closer inspection, the word "Baruch" appeared to be woven into the pattern, again and again. The scarf commanded a certain respect from all of the villagers. They called it "the scarf of blessing." It was not like any other. The scarf was made of fine wool, and years of wear had given it a shine so that at first glance, one might mistake it for silk. But when the rains came, the smell was the smell of wool. Still, it was so soft and shiny, some wondered if perhaps it contained mixture. Of course, the rabbi proclaimed that a scarf of miracles certainly could not contain mixture! The people of Vaysechvoos rarely spoke of the blessed scarf, yet everyone in the shtetl was more than a...

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Added: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

A Jewish Psychiatrist's Views on the Meaning of Life

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

What's behind two prominent psychiatrists' opposing viewpoints on humanity's raison d'etre....

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Author: Irving S. Wiesner, M.D.
Added: Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

In the Little Shtetl of Vaysechvoos

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

It was evening in Vaysechvoos. Young Perchik stared and stared at the sky. The vastness of the black and white speckled blanket that stretched beyond his home was more than even his eleven-year-old imagination could comprehend. "Mama, Mama, what are stars?" asked Perchik as he burst into the kitchen where his mother was cleaning the dishes from the evening meal. Tired as she was, Chaikeh, the wife of Reb Meyer, never grew impatient with her son's insatiable curiosity. Indeed, his mind did not seem to need much rest. "You know what stars are, Perchik. They're the lights in the sky!" "But what are they Mama, and how did they get up there? And how high are they? What else is up above besides God? And if stars are lights, why are they so different from candles? Candlelight is yellow. Starlight is white or blue. If I put a candle way up in the sky, would the light change colors?" Chaikeh knew that she couldn't begin to be able to answer her son's questions, at least not before...

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Added: Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

Science and Faith

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

What some scientists have discovered... Robert Jastrow (self-proclaimed agnostic): "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."1 George Greenstein (astronomer): "As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency -- or, rather, Agency -- must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?"2 Tony Rothman (physicist): "When confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it's very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am...

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Added: Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

Untitled

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

We come into consciousness, we know not from where And we face eternity, we know not when or how We come into consciousness, and eventually consciousness ends... Or does it? No wonder we are so angry, frightened, confused and depressed Until we can figure out what it is all about Or can we? Why bother? Some would say, "Why bother" because it doesn't really make any difference Others would say, "Why bother" because they have tried and tried and still can't figure it out Some have a suspicion that there is an answer, but they don't really want to know what it is because they are afraid it might cramp their style, And still...

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Author: Irving S. Wiesner, M.D.
Added: Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0800

"When Worlds Collide!" 1 : Jews, Comics, and Alternate Universes

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

What is the link between the Jewish people, superheroes, and the world as we know it?...

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Author: Rich Robinson
Added: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

"When Worlds Collide!" 1 : Jews, Comics, and Alternate Universes [Longer Web-Only Version]

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

This is a longer, web-only version of the published article. The shorter, published version can be found here. Somewhere on the damp streets of Centrifugal City, a lone figure makes his way past dimly lit subway entrances and nearly-closed bars to a solitary newsstand at 27th and Park -- a place of no consequence except for the fact that he has frequented it for the past several, and very nondescript, decades of his life. Only this time, something is different. "What's this? Charley's newsstand -- gone! Could Charley have died so suddenly, and not even a word of warning? But what's this -- why, it looks like some kind of hole -- an entrance of some sort... The figure -- one Mr. Leviton Gold -- heads toward the strange opening. He can make out faint, ghostly images on the other side. Follow him as he stretches out first a hand, then an arm, and then, as the mystified often let their curiosity get the better of them, steps fully through the mysterious...

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Author: Rich Robinson
Added: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

What Leviton Gold Read: John 1:47-51

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

(Click for larger image in new window) Un az Yeshua hot gezen N'taneln kumen tzu im, hot er vegn im gezogt: ot iz an emeser ben Yisroel, in vemen s'iz nito kayn falshkayt. Zogt tzu im N'tanel: funvanen kenstu mich? Un Yeshua hot ge'entfert un tzu im gezogt: eyder Filipus hot dich gerufn, beys du bist noch geven unter dem faygnboym, hob ich dich gezen. Hot N'tanel im geentfert: Rebbe, du bist der ben-Elohim; du bist der melech fun Yisroel! Un Yeshua hot ge'entfert un tzu im gezogt: du gloybst, veyl ich hob dir gezogt, ich hob dich gezen unter dem faygnboym? Zen vestu zen gresere zakhn eyder di dozike. Un er hot tzu im gezogt: farvor, farvor, ich zog eych, ir vet zen dem himl ofen, un di m'lokhim fun Got aroyfgeyn un aropnidern oyfn dem...

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Added: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0800

In the Little Shtetl of Vaysechvoos: The Wise Tailor

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

The pogroms in the province were occurring with more frequency, and a friendly gentile let the villagers know that Vaysechvoos was on the list for one of these destructive "demonstrations." "What did we do to deserve such a thing?" cried Zlata the butcher's wife. Feivel the Tanner waved his arms heavenward and moaned, "It's not enough that You made us to be poor, now we have to endure a visit from the murderous Cossacks!" The people of Vaysechvoos were angry -- not at the Czar, not at the anti-Semitic poison being spread across their land -- they were angry with their God. Berish the Tailor was the only inhabitant of the little shtetl who seemed to be unaffected by this news of impending disaster. Berish was not angry. He wasn't even frightened. Now this could mean one of two things: either he knew something that the others didn't know, or he was a fool. The townspeople decided that Berish could not possibly know any more than anyone else. He was merely a tailor....

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Added: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

My Spiritual Journey

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

Until three years ago, I had never in my life been on national television. Nor had I been on radio but for a few small shows. But when my first political thriller, The Last Jihad, was published in November of 2002, suddenly I found myself interviewed on more than 160 radio and TV programs. Sean Hannity. Rush Limbaugh. Michael Reagan. Fox News. MSNBC. Almost overnight I had the opportunity to talk to more than 20 million people in less than 60 days. The media was intrigued. How could anyone have written a novel that opened with a plane hijacked by radical Islamic terrorists flying a kamikaze attack into an American city -- an attack that led to a war between the United States and Iraq over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction? How could I have begun the novel nine months before 9/11 -- and finished it before those events happened for real? How was this possible? Did I work for the CIA? Did I have some sort of inside information? To each host I would explain how, after...

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Author: Joel C. Rosenberg
Added: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800