We want to have honest conversations with open-minded Jewish people about issues that deeply affect our people and how these issues relate to Jesus.
We realize these are not static issues, but part of ongoing conversations our people have been having for thousands of years. We want to hear your voice too. <a href="/contact">Send us an email</a> or <a class="contact-link" href="#">chat with us live</a>!
<a href="/subscribe" class="blue-button">Subscribe to ISSUES ›</a>

Issues

Jewish people have always been dreamers. From the time of Joseph, who earned his living as a dream interpreter in Pharaoh's court, to the realization of our dreams for a homeland in 1948, we've dared to believe in things that seemed inconceivable. But what would you do if you suddenly found out that everything around you—your family, friends, your house—was all a fabrication? Furthermore, let's say you were given a choice between knowing that it was all a facade or remaining unaware. Which would you choose?
Such is the dilemma posed to Neo, a gifted computer hacker, at the beginning of the popular film The Matrix. Neo has always had a strange feeling that there was something not quite right about the world. He is in search of truth but afraid of its consequences.
When he finds the answers he's looking for, it's only the beginning of the story.
The Matrix may appear to be simply a well-done science fiction film, but it contains some compelling parallels and themes for us to consider. It questions what we know as reality, and puts to us a choice: to accept that what we see around us at face value, or to explore life's bigger, scarier questions, such as…
<h3>What is the Matrix?</h3>
Through a series of circumstances, Neo is taken to meet Morpheus, an inscrutable character, who tells him:
<blockquote>
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere.…It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
</blockquote>
Morpheus holds out his hands; one contains a blue pill and the other a red. He tells Neo that if he takes the red pill, the truth will be revealed. If he takes the blue, then he'll return to his normal life, believing whatever he chooses.
Neo is asked to accept that there is such a thing as absolute truth. He, like many of us finds this hard to acknowledge, particularly because the truth is often not what he/we would like it to be. Modern-day Judaism reflects this; everything from atheism to Buddhism (except belief in Jesus) is permissible within the spectrum of Judaism so long as nobody steps on anyone's toes. Even though Judaism itself is rooted in absolutes, including belief in one God and in an absolute moral code, or law, many Jewish people in today's pluralistic culture relegate that foundation to the past, preferring to pronounce it as obsolete rather than right or wrong.
We see Neo hesitate, and then choose the red pill. And this is how he finds out that malevolent machines have enslaved humanity and that all he knows to be valid is actually the product of a virtual reality programmed into everyone's brain so they won't realize that they are being used for fuel.
An incredible plot? Certainly. And yet the idea that the world is not as it seems is nothing new. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that everything we see, touch, hear and smell is not ultimate reality. In fact, there is a greater, supernatural reality that is for the most part unseen. The Prophets spoke the words of God: My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts." As Shakespeare wrote, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." The Matrix portrays millions of people living out their lives with no clue that they are being deceived.
Yet people bear some complicity in their own state. The machines are emblematic of man's hubris (pride); Morpheus states,
<blockquote>
…at some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI [artificial intelligence]…a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines.…Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
</blockquote>
The Bible tells us that since the time of Adam and Eve, our first ancestors, people have striven to assume control of their surroundings rather than acknowledging God's sovereignty. We have put our trust in our intelligence, our abilities and our strength, often to our own peril.
Neo has always felt that he was in control of his life. Finding out the opposite is so unfathomable and painful that he asks if he can return to the Matrix. Morpheus says no, and then asks, "But if you could, would you really want to?"
This question highlights a conflict we all have on some level. The universality of this conflict is perhaps why the movie is so popular—it brings into focus choices all of us have to make.
<h3>Reality vs. Illusion</h3>
Neo struggles to free his mind from what he now knows is a lie. He resists because the illusion was much more pleasant. In the Matrix, life was pretty good; he had a good job, a comfortable apartment and plenty of amusement. In what he is beginning to comprehend as the "real" world, things are bleak: humanity is enslaved, few people know what he knows and the comforts and conveniences he previously enjoyed have been traded for a battle against the machines.
The truth is often less pleasant than fiction. Many will take illusion any way they can get it—from getting lost in a fantasy film world to taking drugs—anything to avoid dealing with life's difficult realities.
Cypher, another character in The Matrix, embodies this dilemma between choosing truth or illusion. He's been a member of Morpheus' crew for quite some time, but he's grown tired of the struggle against the machines, tired of the dreary circumstances, tired of listening to Morpheus.
So Cypher conspires with "agents" of the Matrix, who promise to put Cypher back into the dream world in exchange for Morpheus' capture. Cypher's betrayal is revealed in a dramatic scene that takes place inside the Matrix. He sits in a fancy restaurant in front of a thick, perfectly cooked steak with two agents, who ask him:
<blockquote>
Agent Smith: Do we have a deal…?
Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.
</blockquote>
Morpheus is the one who originally freed Cypher from the illusion of the Matrix, but Cypher would rather trade that freedom for the lie.
Let's face it: the truth and what we'd like to be truth aren't always the same thing. Can we really blame Cypher for wanting illusion, when the truth was obviously more unpleasant? Can we really fault people for wanting to feel like Cypher—in control of their own world?
The answer is no, we can't blame anyone for wanting to be the captain of their own ship—not if there isn't a better option. We all may as well live in delusion…unless there's a greater hope to be had, and so we come to another conflict in The Matrix.
<h3>Hope vs. Doubt</h3>
Cypher chose to give up on the idea that anything was going to change. But he had two good reasons to be optimistic. We just observed that the first, his belief in the resistance movement, died out. But his second reason to hope was right in front of him; he just didn't have the faith to believe in the person of prophecy.
At the beginning of the film, when Morpheus first frees Neo, he tells him:
<blockquote>
When the Matrix was first built there was a man born inside that had the ability to change what he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us and taught us the truth: as long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free. When he died, the Oracle prophesied his return and envisioned that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, an end to the war and freedom for our people. That is why there are those of us that have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix, looking for him…I believe the search is over.
</blockquote>
Morpheus' belief in "the One" as Neo is called is similar to the Jewish belief in a Messiah, the "Anointed One" who will come and redeem the world. Today, many people explain away the concept of Messiah; they say that instead we are hoping for a messianic "age," an era of peace, not a person. Others have stopped expecting the Messiah altogether. Cypher mirrors this skepticism. Even though Morpheus is convinced that Neo is the One, doubting Cypher even tries to kill Neo to prove that he's not:
<blockquote>
Cypher: How can he be the One if he's dead?
</blockquote>
Cypher's attempt to kill Neo is thwarted. However, later in the movie, Neo does die. But then he wakes up and is even stronger, faster and more powerful than he was before. After his resurrection, Neo and the entire crew are even more convinced than ever that he is the One. Interestingly, it actually takes Neo's death and resurrection to prove his "One-ness."
Does this sound like someone else who came to our world, who also died and rose again? When Yeshua (Jesus) died, many of his followers felt hopeless, but when he rose again from the dead, Scriptures and history tell us that they believed in him even more fervently. And 2,000 years later, there are still millions who believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of whom our prophets wrote.
The prophets predicted that the Messiah, the Anointed One, would suffer and die as a sacrifice for all of our wrongdoing (Isaiah 53), and that he would come again to usher in a new age of true and lasting peace. That's why many ultra-orthodox Jews still await the resurrection of the deceased Rebbe Schneerson, whom they believe is Messiah. But those who believe in Jesus know that he has already been resurrected and so they are waiting for the day of his return when he will fulfill these words:
<blockquote>
"Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the LORD. "And many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you." (Zechariah 2:10-11)
</blockquote>
It's interesting that in The Matrix, the last refuge humanity has is a place called "Zion":
<blockquote>
Tank: If the war was over tomorrow, Zion is where the party would be.
Neo: It's a city?
Tank: The last human city. The only place we have left.…Live long enough you might even see it. This is a very exciting time.
</blockquote>
Every person who has been plucked out of the false realism of the Matrix has to decide if he or she is going to hope and believe that the Oracle was right, that the One and Zion are real and that he or she is going to align himself or herself with that reality. The alternative is to do nothing and let humanity perish in their dream world.
<h3>The Choice: Knowing The Path vs. Walking The Path</h3>
How does this apply to us? Virginia Woolf wrote, "Life is a dream…'tis waking that kills us." Many of us are living in a kind of matrix, a matrix that tells us that we are in control of our own lives, or a matrix that tells us that some things just cannot be true for us as Jews, such as the idea that Yeshua is the Messiah.
It's not easy to question our assumptions. Take for example someone like Steve. Steve is Jewish and he has a hunch that Jesus is the Messiah. But he knows that accepting this will affect many of his relationships. His family has raised him not to believe in Jesus. His community has taught him that if there is a Messiah, it certainly isn't Jesus. For Steve to admit that he has found the truth, implies that everyone else in his sphere should be informed by him of this truth. So Steve is hesitant to move further toward faith in Yeshua. But deep down he knows that truth is truth, whether he believes it or not.
There is so much we don't know, but we do know that God has not left us in the Matrix alone. The book of Ecclesiastes says that God has, "…set eternity in the hearts of [people]; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
God has a plan and a purpose for creation that one day will be brought to pass. We can choose to follow him, even though it may involve uncomfortable realizations, or we can continue to ignore that feeling inside us that tells us there is an answer out there that we haven't considered, an answer that will open up a whole new world.
Toward the end of The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo, "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." The difference is belief. God has sent us the One who can save us if we will only trust in him.
So, which pill will you take?

Taking the Red Pill: Beyond the Matrix to Real Life

<div class="big-table"><label class="toggle" for="toggle"></label><input id="toggle" type="checkbox" />
<div class="big-table-container">
<table class="clean-table even-rows table table-striped" style="min-width: 900px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th style="background: #1295d8; color: #fff;" width="200">Attribute</th>
<th style="background: #1295d8; color: #fff;">Angel of the Lord</th>
<th style="background: #1295d8; color: #fff;">Yeshua</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Is seen as God</th>
<td valign="top">Genesis 16:10,13 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."…Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees;" for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?"</td>
<td valign="top">
John 20:28 Thomas answered and said to [Jesus], "My Lord and my God!"
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…"
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Speaks as if he is God</th>
<td valign="top">Judges 2:1-2 Now the angel of the LORD …said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done?"</td>
<td valign="top">John 10:30 "I and the Father are one."</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Yet is separate from God and obedient to him</th>
<td valign="top">1 Chronicles 21:27 "The LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath."</td>
<td valign="top">
John 8:38 "I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence…"
Note: Even though Jesus spoke with the authority of God, he was still obedient to God. This is seen in the prayer he utters in the garden of Gethsemane, and in his obedience as he died on a cross.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Is sent from the Father</th>
<td valign="top">Judges 13:9 God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field…</td>
<td valign="top">
John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "…for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Speaks with all the authority of God, gives commands</th>
<td valign="top">Judges 13:12-14 Manoah said, "Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?" So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said. "She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded."</td>
<td valign="top">
Matthew 7:28, 29 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 8:27 The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Forgives sin</th>
<td valign="top">Zechariah 3:3,4 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes."</td>
<td valign="top">Matthew 9:2 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "…son, your sins are forgiven."</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Acts as judge and avenger of Israel</th>
<td valign="top">
Joshua 5:13,14 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he …looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"
Note: Though the text does not specifically call this mysterious man the angel of the Lord, the passage closely parallels Exodus 3 and the following verse.
1 Chronicles 21:16 Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.
</td>
<td valign="top">Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war…and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Accepts Worship</th>
<td valign="top">Judges 6:19-21 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.</td>
<td valign="top">Matthew 28:5-95 The angel [not the angel of the Lord but a different angel] said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Comforts</th>
<td valign="top">1 Kings 19:3-8 And he (Elijah) was afraid and arose and ran for his life …he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and …said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat." Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you." So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.</td>
<td valign="top">Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Uses "I AM" to refer to himself</th>
<td valign="top">Exodus 3:14 God [called the angel of the Lord in this passage] said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM;" and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"</td>
<td valign="top">John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."Makes special promises</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="middle">Makes special promises</th>
<td valign="top">Genesis 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."</td>
<td valign="top">John 14:1-3 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>

Similarities Between the Angel of the Lord and Yeshua

In Our Own Image: Human Cloning

Some survivors do not tell their kids anything. They just don't. Some survivors tell their kids everything. When I was a little boy, I crawled into my father's lap and asked, What is that number on your arm?" He didn't flinch, he told me he was in the concentration camps. He grew up outside of Lodz, Poland, and spent four and a half years in several work camps as well as Auschwitz. He did not explain in detail what he had been through, but he told me more as I got older. I asked him if he went to school, and he said that Jewish kids didn't get to go to high school. He told me that when he was growing up in Poland the week of Passover was terrible; his family never left the house. If they did, the priest would come out of the church with a big cross and kids would throw rocks and call them "Christ-killers."
<h6>Because my parents were Holocaust survivors, I grew up with a keen understanding that I was Jewish.</h6>
My mother's name is Lilly, and she grew up in Maramush, which is between Hungary and Romania. She was in the camps for almost two years. Because my parents were Holocaust survivors, I grew up with a keen understanding of the fact that I was Jewish. There was never a time in my life when I did not recognize the great price our people paid for our existence.
When I got sick as a child I remember feeling a moral obligation to get better. Both my mother and father made me feel guilty if I got sick. I had to be strong and live to defeat the Nazis' intentions. Knowing the pain and suffering my parents endured meant that I could not complain about incidental problems. When I came home one day and said, "There is nothing to eat, let's go out," my father said to me sternly, "There is bread, there is a meal!" How can you tell a man who was so malnourished that eating a full meal would have killed him when he was liberated, that there is not enough food?
I constantly lived with a sense that the Holocaust could happen again. I'd visit someone's apartment or house and immediately I'd look under the stairs and think that would be a good place to hide. Most kids don't think like that. There was also an "us and them" mentality. My father was a very joyous, loving man. But he had a terrible hatred of Germans. He worked through this later in his life, but when I was younger he'd say, "Don't turn your back on a German, they'll stab you in the back." I was raised in a pluralistic American society, and this was contrary to the values taught at school and in my somewhat liberal home. Clashes were inevitable.
I remember once I came home and told my family I was dating a German girl. Now, she wasn't German; she was American. Maybe one of her distant relatives a hundred years ago was German. But she wasn't Jewish, and it was like I had brought an SS guard into the house. My father's family was one of the most important things in his life, and so he wanted to protect us as much as he could.
<h6>My father really celebrated the fact that he was alive. When I asked him his birthday, he told me his age from the date he was liberated from the camp.</h6>
My father really celebrated the fact that he was alive. When I asked him his birthday, he told me his age from the date he was liberated from the camp. He said he felt like he was brought back from the dead, or re-born. I learned to appreciate life from him.
But there was a bad side to being a child of a survivor. Despite his loving nature, my father had a horrendous temper. I remember the intense fury my father would unleash. Only later did I begin to understand that his flood of rage was a result of constantly having to suppress his emotions while he was in the camps.
I felt sad for my father. I felt he was ripped off, that his youth was stolen, that his faith was stolen. I found it remarkable that he was able to survive and to love and to laugh again. It's a great story to the strength of the human spirit, but I still feel like the Nazis robbed him.
In 1967 I went to Israel to work on a kibbutz. One day, someone on the kibbutz found me and said, "There's a police officer to see you." Of course, I was apprehensive. The police officer walked over to me, and started crying and hugging and kissing me. In broken Hebrew, he told me his name was Kozak. When the Nazis invaded Poland, they hung Kozak's sister, my father's first wife. My father had never told me he was married before. He never told me the Nazis hung his first wife.
I decided to visit Kozak in his home in Haifa. I was standing on the street with him and his family, when suddenly an old Jewish man came running down the street, and he said, "Is this Moishe's son?" Kozak smiled and said yes. And the man just fell upon me and he kissed me and he started telling me how much my father meant to him. I learned that because my father was a tailor, he had access to certain things like potatoes from the camp chef. He made sure people were fed. This man said my father saved his life, and the lives of many others.
<h6>That was a very telling moment, to discover that my father was a hero.</h6>
That was a very telling moment, to discover for certain that my father was a hero. When I asked my father why he never told me these stories, he said he didn't feel as though he was keeping it from me, it just never came up.
The Holocaust has shaped much of my thinking and my worldview. I think the idea of humanism died fifty years ago; humanity can no longer believe that we are evolving into a better people. Germany was the pinnacle of humanism, and yet it brought us to Treblinka. If ever there was a doubt regarding the sinful human nature, it was resolved by the Nazis. We can have no more illusions of progress. Humanity is so steeped in its own sin that it was unable to resist even the most blatant of evil.
The person who has suffered through this kind of evil wants to understand how God can allow such suffering. There is a point at which you come to believe that you are allowed to go through the consequences of life, whatever they may be, because there is a greater good that is going to happen. I say that with great reservation. I can't apologize for God; I can't give the correct theological answer to the question of pain, not to the one who has gone through it. It's not that God was powerless. It wasn't that God wasn't able and it wasn't that he didn't care. It's just that somehow, in God's mysterious ways, something good will come of this. I guess I just wait.
When I became a believer in Jesus, I came to my father with a Yiddish New Testament. I opened it up to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I wanted my father to meet the real Jesus, not the one that's portrayed as a tank rolling into his neighborhood or the one who turned the gas on his parents, but the Jesus that talks about love.
The most perfect demonstration of God's love throughout all of history is the offering of the Messiah. So my father read the story, and for the most part he accepted that Jesus was a Jew and that there was good reason for me to be drawn to him. Then he got to the place where it says, "…forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us." He closed the book and said, "I can't do this, I can't." He looked at me and said, "I would rather go to hell, knowing I could take the Nazis with me, than forgive them." I said, "Dad, they still win that way." He said, "I can't."
<h6>Forgiveness is not absolution, forgiveness is letting go of the hate.</h6>
I once was asked by someone to extend forgiveness to the Nazis for what they did. You can't imagine what that did to me. So much of my identity was wrapped up in the consequences I had suffered because my parents were survivors. I sat down and prayed and said, "God, you really have to help me." I came to a place that my father couldn't come to. Forgiveness is not absolution, forgiveness is letting go of the hate. I don't think my father was ever able to do that. The Holocaust did that. For many of us, it ripped off the ability to forgive. And that's the worst thing.

Jhan Moskowitz, Son of Max and Lilly Moskowitz

My father, Fred, was born in Germany in 1925. The son of a baker, he lived in a village of 2,000 people. The town had very few Jews, ten families to be exact. As a young boy, my father had to look among the non-Jews for playmates.
<h3>School Days</h3>
By the time my father was eight, the Aryan philosophy of Hitler was gaining acceptance by most Germans. His best friends did not want to play with him anymore. His parents, who were prospering in the bakery business, held to the illusion that Hitler would lose his popularity and that things would get better once again for the Jews. Instead they got worse.
My dad's family finally decided to leave Germany for America. However, wanting to leave and getting out of the country were two different things. Because of immigration quotas, they needed to apply to the Consulate for clearance. They were number 48,878 on the list of families waiting to leave Germany.
Meanwhile, on July 2, 1938, my father became bar mitzvah. He was the last Jewish boy in his district to have the ceremony. Four months later came Kristallnacht. His synagogue, along with hundreds of others, was destroyed. Six days later the Jewish children were expelled from the schools. At the same time, Jewish males 13 years and older were being conscripted for "labor camps." My father, small for his age, was overlooked. Before long, entire Jewish families were being deported to the death camps. Yet, for some mysterious reason, his family was spared. Their immigration number came up, and in May of 1941 they left what had become Hitler's Germany and traveled to America.
My father learned the English language quickly and, after having been in the States only two years, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He took part in the invasion of Europe on D-Day. He fought his way through France and across the Rhine River, ironically, into his native Germany, where he was captured by the Germans! My father overheard the Nazis say they planned to shoot their captives, yet for some reason they changed their minds and took my father to a prisoner of war camp. The conditions were terrible, but he managed to survive. The Allies eventually liberated the POWs, and my father was rescued from Hitler once again.
Knowing what my father had been through caused me to be doubtful of Christians, since I held Christianity responsible for the Holocaust. That was until I read the Scriptures and came to realize that humanity is sinful and that those who used Jesus' name to further their cause of anti-Semitism were following their own evil instincts, not the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught people to love one another, and the fact that Jesus was a Jew further confirms that Christians who seriously follow Jesus' teachings should love Jewish people.
My brother Steve was the first one in our family to become a believer in Jesus. My father was extremely upset about Steve's newfound faith, so much so that when I, too, became a believer in Jesus, I was afraid to tell him. But on September 29, 1975 my father became convinced that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures. That night he actually saw a vision of Jesus standing in his bedroom doorway. I believe he needed something that extraordinary to overcome his years of narrow escapes from harrowing experiences. My father once remarked that he escaped from Hitler as a refugee, and then he was liberated as a prisoner of war, but he was never truly free until Messiah came into his life.

Rob Wertheim, Son of Fred Wertheim

Why does the Messiah tarry? When will He come?" These were questions which continually agitated the young Rabbi's mind. [Rabbi Leopold Cohn] According to Talmudical reckoning the Messiah should long since have come; yet, there was the exile, still the bitterest fact of Jewish life, to be accounted for. Can it be the coming of the Messiah has passed and the promise has not been fulfilled? Sorely perplexed, the rabbi decided to begin a study of the original predictions of<a href="/publications/newsletter/newsletter-sep-2011/overview-of-the-major-prophets-how-well-do-you-know-the-jewish-bible/"> the Prophets</a>, but the mere contemplation of the act filled him with fear, for according to the teaching of the Rabbis, "Cursed are the bones of him who calculates the time of the end." And so it was that with trembling hands, expecting at any moment to be struck by a bolt from heaven, but with an eagerness irresistible, he opened <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v05-n01/the-messianic-time-table-according-to-daniel-the-prophet/">the book of the prophet Daniel</a> and began to read.<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a>
Today some might wonder, why so much angst over the Messiah? After all, we have managed thus far without him. Do we really need a Messiah? Perhaps the longing seems to express a childlike hope in a hero on whom most of our people have long since given up. For many, the Messiah seems like little more than an ancient Jewish version of Santa or Superman. But don't miss the deeper emotion this "sorely perplexed" young rabbi felt. His cold fear was simply stated in the sentence, "Can it be the coming of the Messiah has passed and the promise has not been fulfilled?"
What else would drive the young man to push past his fears of the curse the rabbis had laid upon whomever would dare to calculate the timing of such things? Perhaps a greater fear of not knowing, of always wondering if God had made a promise—and broken it. For if the <a href="/publications/havurah/havurah-v08-n04/about-torah-observance/">Holy Writings</a> indeed predicted that the Anointed One would come within certain time parameters, and if he had not come, what other conclusion could one reach? A Messiah who never comes is maybe not such a big deal. But a God who spells out his promises in great detail and is then framed by those very details as a promise-breaker, is frightening, if not tragic, whether or not a person is religious.
The God who is described in the Jewish Bible is by definition all-knowing, all-powerful, just, good and deserving of trust. But what if God is not all these things? What if God is real but a liar and a fraud? It would take a brave person to explore such a shocking possibility. And that is exactly what Rabbi Leopold Cohn was willing to do more than 100 years ago.
Cohn was not the only one who realized the implications of a prophecy as exact as Daniel 9. Another young Jew, Rachmiel Frydland, grappled with the meaning of the passage and the ramifications of the timetable. Frydland, well versed in <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v01-n03/the-talmud-and-the-gospels/">Talmud</a> and Mishnah, also recognized that it would take some courage to study it:
<blockquote>
The Jewish people rarely study the Book of Daniel because many rabbinic Jews were misled attempting to interpret Daniel's cryptic "times." Some were led so far astray that they came to believe in false messiahs, and therefore talmudic Jews frowned on students who studied Daniel with a view of finding out the time of the Messiah. However, religious Jews knew that this book revealed more about Messiah than any other book.<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a>
</blockquote>
Frydland, like Cohn, overcame his fears and uncertainties and looked into the interpretation of this mysterious passage. What did the two men discover?
Fact One: the Messiah's appearance was locked into a fixed time
Fact Two: that fixed time was while the Second Temple was still standing
Fact Three: the Messiah had to come from a<a href="/publications/issues/issues-v05-n06/the-genealogy-of-the-messiah/"> specific lineage</a> that was only verifiable through the Temple records
And the fourth startling fact is that the <a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-the-suffering-servant">Messiah had to die a violent death</a>. The details of these facts together present some of the strongest evidence that he has in fact already come.
<h3>Fact One: The Messiah's appearance was locked into a fixed time.</h3>
Ever hear the parental refrain, "You'll get your answer when the Messiah comes"? And to the response, "When will the Messiah come, Dad?" the answer is, "Who knows?"
But we can know the answer, in detail. It is in the book of Daniel. This prophet who lived during the time of our exile in Babylon <a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-come-according-to-a-timetable/">received a vision that the Messiah would come</a> 483 years after the command to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple:
<blockquote>
…that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. (Daniel 9:25)
</blockquote>
The "clock" on these 69 "weeks" (units of seven years) began ticking when Artaxerxes issued a decree to Nehemiah to rebuild the Temple and restore the holy city of Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2:1-8). While other decrees went forth, this was the only one that involved both the Temple and Jerusalem. History records this took place in Nisan (March/April) of 444 B.C.E. That would mean the <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v23-n02/when-jesus-was-actually-born/">Messiah would appear by 33 C.E.</a> History does not record anyone, other than Yeshua (Jesus), who was from that time period and claimed to be the Messiah.
<h3>Fact Two: The Second Temple would still be standing when Messiah came.</h3>
Daniel predicted that after the appearance of Messiah, "…the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary"(v.26). We know that occurred when Titus' Roman legions marched on Jerusalem in 70 C.E., destroying both the city and the Temple. The Talmud teaches that at that time people believed that the Messiah had already come. But His appearance was concealed from the Jews until they were rendered more worthy of His appearance.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a>
Other passages support the understanding that Messiah would come while the Temple was still standing. For example, the rabbis recognized that Psalm 118 would be sung to the Messiah when he arrived.<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a>
<blockquote>
Hoshienu—Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord [italics mine]. (vv. 25,26)
</blockquote>
The only way that they could bless the Messiah from the house of the Lord was if the Temple was still standing!
Haggai, who was in Jerusalem as the Second Temple was being built, made the messianic prediction that the "glory of this last temple is to be greater than that of the first" (2:9).<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a> And Malachi confirmed it: "Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his Temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come" (3:1). Twelfth century Jewish scholar, Rabbi David Kimchi, referred to the Malachi verse, saying, "The Lord, the angel of the covenant, is the Messiah."<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a>
According to Daniel, the Temple would not only be standing at Messiah's appearance, but it would then soon be destroyed. That Temple, the Second Temple which was originally built by Ezra and beautified by Herod, was where <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v22-n07/is-jesus-a-rabbi/">Yeshua did most of his teaching</a> and made startling claims for himself. The New Testament records the painful words of Jesus to those who spoke of how beautiful the Temple looked after its refurbishing under Herod: "These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.<a href="#_edn7" name="_ednref7">7</a> Was Jesus pointing to Daniel's prophecy being fulfilled? Less than 40 years later the destruction of the Temple was so thorough that, to this day, the exact location of the sanctuary is unknown.
<h3>Fact Three: The Messiah's lineage could only be identifiable while the temple stood.</h3>
The coming of the Messiah had another time constraint: it was connected to his descent from the tribe of Judah. Genesis 49:10, a well-recognized messianic prophecy,<a href="#_edn8" name="_ednref8">8</a> indicated that Judah was to retain its identity until Shiloh (one of the names for the Messiah) was to come.
<blockquote>
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; [emphasis mine] and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. (Genesis 49:10)
</blockquote>
According to the book of Ezra (1:5-8), Judah's position was maintained throughout the 70 years' captivity in Babylon. It was also intact back in the Land, until the Romans made the kingdom of Judah a Roman province.<a href="#_edn9" name="_ednref9">9</a> At that time the Sanhedrin was stripped of its authority and, according to Josephus, they [the members of the Sanhedrin] "covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming, 'Woe unto us, for the sceptre has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come.'"<a href="#_edn10" name="_ednref10">10</a> While there was a provincial government in place, about 50 years later (in 70 c.e.) that too ended.
Not only was the Messiah to be from the lineage of Judah, but more specifically from the house of David: "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations."<a href="#_edn11" name="_ednref11">11</a> This messianic prophecy clearly refers to<a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-a-descendant-of-david/"> a descendent of David</a>. Proof of such lineage was destroyed when the Temple was sacked. And while we do not have the Temple records, we do have the record of Yeshua's family tree in the accounts of his life by both Luke and Matthew. They both identify that he is from the house of David. We don't know anyone else who lived at that time and claimed to be the Messiah, who is descended from the tribe of Judah and the house of David, apart from Yeshua.
<h3>Fact Four: The Messiah was to be "cut off."</h3>
The Daniel prophecy (v.26) says that after the seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, the Messiah would be cut off, but not for himself. This phrase "cut off" meant to be killed or die a violent death. Some of the Talmudic rabbis understood this: "In Daniel is delivered to us the end [the time of His appearance and death—Rabbi Jarchi] of the Messiah."<a href="#_edn12" name="_ednref12">12</a>
The idea that the Messiah would die was not new to Judaism. Isaiah wrote of <a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-the-passover-lamb/">one who would suffer and die for the sins of the people</a>: "…For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken."<a href="#_edn13" name="_ednref13">13</a>Psalm 22 graphically portrays death by crucifixion, a method of execution not known to the psalmist writing 1000 years before Yeshua was crucified.
Could it have happened just as Daniel so carefully predicted? Counting 483 years after Artaxerxes' decree would bring us to 33 c.e. The Temple was destroyed in 70 c.e. That leaves a window of 37 years in which the Messiah from the tribe of Judah and the house of David could come. Not only that, but he was to die a violent death at that time.
<h3>Postscript on the Rabbi</h3>
After studying these Scriptures, <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v12-n06/jesus-as-messiah-in-the-gospels/">Rabbi Cohn was brave enough to open up a copy of the New Testament in Hebrew</a>. He started at the beginning in Matthew and began reading the genealogy of Jesus: "This is the book of the generation of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham."<a href="#_edn14" name="_ednref14">14</a> He read for some 13 hours and later wrote down his reflections:
<blockquote>
I could at last see that the Messiah's name was Yeshua, that he was born in Bethlehem of Judah, that he had lived in Jerusalem and communicated with my people, and that he came just at the time predicted in the prophecy of Daniel.<a href="#_edn15" name="_ednref15">15</a>
</blockquote>
Cohn's conflict was not over at that point. Like most Jews, <a href="/answers/why-do-most-jews-not-believe-in-jesus/">the idea of believing in the same Messiah that the gentiles worshiped was very unsettling</a>. But he went back into the Hebrew Scriptures, reading the Isaiah 53 passage about the Messiah who was to die for his people. Then as he began to pray, he accidentally dropped the Bible he was holding and it fell open to the third chapter of Malachi, which begins with the prophecy of the angel of the covenant who comes to the Temple. The first verse ends with the words, "Behold he has already come, saith the Lord of Hosts."<a href="#_edn16" name="_ednref16">16</a>
The rabbi could no longer deny that Yeshua (Jesus) was that one who had already come. He met all the criteria in Daniel's prophecy. He met all the criteria in the Isaiah 53 prophecy and in Malachi as well. Cohn's search was over.
<h3>Some Final Questions</h3>
God promised the Jewish people a Messiah. And he gave us a precise way of computing the time of Messiah's coming. Why are so many reluctant to find out where those computations lead? Are we more comfortable with ambiguity? Think about it. If Daniel is right and the Messiah came before the destruction of the Second Temple, that means that our rabbis have been wrong for 2000 years. If Daniel is right and the Messiah came before 70 c.e., that means we have to admit that Messiah has already come. And if he's already come, then we will have to deal with him as the one who has come. That leaves very little wiggle room—an uneasy state of being for most of us.
Maybe that's why some might choose to be agnostics. Maybe that's why some might not want <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v12-n04/evidence-for-gods-existence/">to know that God exists</a>, because such knowledge would make a claim on their lives. Could that be why many people are satisfied to allow <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v22-n08/spiritual-but-not-religious/">the notion of God to remain a vague feeling</a> until such time as they see a need for him?
However, our vague feelings about God do not mean that God is a vague being. What if he really has communicated to us in very specific ways? Leopold Cohn and Rachmiel Frydland believed God did communicate specifically. They ventured to follow the biblical clues to their logical conclusion. And once they did, they couldn't turn back. How many are brave enough today to consider such choices?
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1. </a>Dr. Henry Einspruch, When Jews Face Christ
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2. </a>Rachmiel Frydland, When Being Jewish Was a Crime (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1978) p.72.
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3. </a>John Ankerberg, The Case For Jesus The Messiah, c.1989 Chattanooga, as cited in Franz Delitzsch and Paton Gloag, The Messiahship of Christ, Part Two, p.226.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4. </a>Risto Santala, The Messiah in the Old Testament In Light of Rabbinical Writings (Jerusalem: Keren Ahvah Meshihit, 1992), p.103.
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5. </a>Haggai 2:6 is applied to the Messiah in Deb. R. 1 (ed. Warsh. P. 4b, line 15 from the top) according to Alfred Edersheim, List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in Rabbinic Writings (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976) p.735.
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6. </a>Santala, p.102,103.
<a href="#_ednref7" name="_edn7">7. </a>Luke 21:6
<a href="#_ednref8" name="_edn8">8. </a>Ber. R. 98, ed. Warsh. P.174b; Sanhedrin 98b
<a href="#_ednref9" name="_edn9">9. </a>Josephus' Antiquities 17, chapter 13:1-5.
<a href="#_ednref10" name="_edn10">10. </a>Ibid.
<a href="#_ednref11" name="_edn11">11. </a>Psalm 89:3,4
<a href="#_ednref12" name="_edn12">12. </a>Ibid. Ankerberg, p.226.
<a href="#_ednref13" name="_edn13">13. </a>Isaiah 53:8
<a href="#_ednref14" name="_edn14">14. </a>Matthew 1:1
<a href="#_ednref15" name="_edn15">15. </a>ISSUES, What One Rabbi Discovered, vol. 5:1.
<a href="#_ednref16" name="_edn16">16. </a>Ibid p.8. Cohn read the Hebrew to say "Behold he has already come," a possible rendering of the Hebrew which is usually translated in the present tense.

Four Startling Facts About the Identity of the Messiah

Earlier this year the Jewish world was shocked when the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), meeting in Pittsburgh, called for the increased use of kippot (skullcaps), tallitot (prayer shawls), mikvah (ritual bathing i.e., baptism), observance of the dietary laws and the use of more Hebrew in worship liturgy.
What made this particularly shocking" was that the CCAR is the rabbinical arm of the Reform branch of Judaism in the United States. Reform Jews, in the past, boasted of their freedom from such trappings. To them, these were the elements of "superstition" as practiced by their less sophisticated Orthodox Jewish cousins. Dr. Israel Zoberman, the founding rabbi of Reform Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia attributes this about face to "the yearning for spirituality in the midst of assimilation in an Age of Reason.…"<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a>
This yearning is not confined to Reform Jews. Throughout the Jewish community, one can see a retreat from modernism in the search of new spirituality within Judaism.
What is the meaning of this elusive term, "spirituality" and is it any different from other kinds of spirituality?
The dictionary takes us in several directions:
<blockquote>
Spiritual:
<ul>
	<li>of the spirit or the soul, often in a religious or moral aspect, as distinguished from the body</li>
	<li>of, from, or concerned with the intellect, or what is often thought of as the better or higher part of the mind</li>
	<li>characterized by the ascendancy of the spirit; showing much refinement of thought and feeling</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
None of these definitions seems to encompass what Rabbi Zoberman has in mind. The new Reform list of things to do, wear and eat seems to speak more of pietism. Jewish spirituality, according to Zoberman, is essentially proactive. It requires study and adherence to certain prescribed procedures. It is a lifestyle—a mode of daily living—more than a journey.
What has characterized the whole Western world during the last generation of the twentieth century is "spirituality." The term is kept deliberately vague so that it can mean whatever we want it to mean or whatever our "guides" tell us it means.
Alcoholics Anonymous, and all the twelve-step programs that have followed, agree to a definition that has a direct bearing on their understanding of spirituality:
<blockquote>
[We] came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. [We] made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand him.<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a>
</blockquote>
Twelve-step devotees confess to a higher power according to whatever one believes or disbelieves. One AA zealot actually carried a crystal doorknob in his briefcase as the higher power to which he could confess his shortcomings.
Even agnostics have some concept of spirituality. Dr. John Brodsky of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, speaking from a perspective derived from the Society of Humanistic Judaism, cites a definition of spirituality:
<blockquote>
Spirituality is a rewarding emotional state of being, provoked by the intimation of an all-pervasive natural order, combined with an inability to completely decipher this order. Possessed of limited abilities and partial knowledge, the spiritual self recognizes a need to act morally in the interests of all sentient beings.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a>
</blockquote>
Nevertheless, Brodsky himself rejects this definition by saying,
<blockquote>
Spirituality is a bogus word. Ever since the Enlightenment, when the "spirits" became so transparent as to appear non-existent, imprecise thinkers, fearful that reason might be put in the service of evil, have clung to the concept of spirituality like so many drowning but hopeful angels clinging to a bit of heavenly driftwood.<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a>
</blockquote>
Brodsky's argument against spirituality as a sentiment, a false hope, is understandable. But suppose there is such a thing as a spirit or the spirit which transcends all of human behavior?
<h3>The Spirit</h3>
Within the human psyche there seems to be a yearning for this intangible something more—and to meet that need, believing has become a goal in itself. The ability to believe is carefully cultivated, but according to New Age thought, belief need not find an object. One can be "spiritual" without believing in God. The social effect is the same as having people who love to be in love yet do not seek any permanent relationship, just love. That kind of loving can lead to a rich fantasy life, promiscuity, or both. Just believing is similar. It stokes the imagination and evokes sentiments but does not necessarily find its anchor in ultimate reality.
This search for spirituality—the apprehension of an ultimate reality outside of ourselves—is not limited to Jews. Virtually all world religions are on a quest for a spirituality that they define differently from the others. Not only that, secularists have their own definition for spirituality. We all have friends who look for the spiritual meaning of life in horoscopes, tarot readings, channeling and/or the consultation of harmonic crystals.
One can't help but wonder about the quality of the quest of the many who are seeking spirituality. Some want to know the future, to be able to control the future or to avoid the consequences of what is ahead. Basically, such people are not so much seeking to know the Almighty as a spirit, or to understand his spiritual nature, as they are looking to acquire and utilize the power of whatever is spiritual and powerful.
<h3>Four Paths to Spirituality</h3>
Modern day traditional Judaism differs from the Hebrew Scriptures on how one is to achieve spirituality. The religion created by the rabbis out of the biblical elements contains several routes to the contemporary Jewish "nirvana." Here are four of the most recognizable paths:
<h3>Law keeping and mitzvot</h3>
The path of spirituality in which one follows the Law and does mitzvot (good deeds) is similar to Islam. The Law keeper is not merely trying to keep out of trouble, but sees himself or herself on a path that eventually will lead to some deeper encounter with the divine. Such a person expects to come to the realization of the meaning of life through obedience. Godliness is ascribed to those who diligently keep the Law, at least as many of the 613 precepts as is possible to keep in a post-Temple age. The path to spirituality is also achieved by the person who faithfully performs mitzvot. One of the greatest of these good deeds is to provide for the institutions of learning and the well-being of the religious teachers so that the individual can learn how to properly keep the Law.
<h3>Learning or study, particularly of the Jewish religion</h3>
Learning as a spiritual exercise is not the mere acquisition, appropriation or assimilation of facts. Judaism teaches that it is impossible to comprehend the Almighty, but there is the hope that through study one will catch a glimpse of him or at least gain the wisdom to come to some sort of spiritual realization. Even more, there is the hope that one will receive spiritual insights through study and learning. Rabbinism hints that there are profound truths which are "sod" or hidden. Somehow coming to these truths is like discovering clues along the way of a treasure hunt. The treasure is a higher truth. This outlook makes Jewish spirituality take on an aspect of gnosticism where we end up believing that there are ways to attain higher and higher levels of secret knowledge not known or decipherable by the masses.
Learning can also have its mystical aspects. Jewish folklore is replete with stories of miracle-working rabbis, who were able to perform supernatural acts after they discovered a great spiritual truth. For example, there is a legend that describes Jesus as a sorcerer who learned how to fly. However, a learned rabbi discovered a piece of parchment which he inserted into one of his own veins. This parchment (stories differ at this point) either had the pronunciation guide to the Ineffable Name or some great truth. With this parchment, the righteous rabbi was able to fly higher than Jesus and bring him down.<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a>
In that story, the Jewish view of learning is that certain knowledge leads to gaining magical powers. Some notions of what is spiritual are not all that different from believing in magic. There is a more common view that learning brings spiritual empowerment. Learning is seen as a way of strengthening the soul.
Yet it is not as supposed. A first century Jew, Saul of Tarsus, noted with irony that "they are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7).
<h3>Mysticism</h3>
Mysticism, as expressed through Kaballah and the writings of the Zohar, seeks spiritual meanings through symbols, similes, metaphors and otherwise disjunctive numbers. It ascribes great significance to vague signs. Omens are given concrete interpretations. It is as if the Almighty and his angels were sending secret signals if only one knew where to look. The purpose of pursuing significance in trivia such as astrology and ouija boards is that the seeker wants to become a seer. He or she wants to be able to interpret the mysteries of the world and believes that there are clues to that end.
Then there is the mystique of Gamatria or numerology. The bumbler of numbers hopes to arrange them into a sequence with profound meaning. Those who practice numerology (more recently with a computer and under the banner of the Bible code movement) are not unlike fortune tellers or those casting tarot cards. They find deep meanings in shallow coincidences. Unfortunately, like Law keeping, good deeds and study, Jewish mysticism has as its underlying, unspoken purpose, the seeker's ability to gain some control over his or her destiny.
<h3>The collective sense of identity within one's community</h3>
Judaism is concerned with the individual, yet the orientation of our spiritual forms is most definitely communal. Rabbi Daniel Gordis, dean of the Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies and vice-president of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, points out that,
<blockquote>
Jewish tradition takes numerous steps to argue that communal life is the critical issue for Jews. That is why certain parts of the service, including the mourner's Kaddish, may be recited only if a minyan is present. That is why the Viddui (Yom Kippur Confession) is written in the plural.<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a>
</blockquote>
One might wonder how the collective identity could be spiritual. The Bible contains the idea that the highest form of spirituality is to commune with God. One notion, thought but rarely uttered in the Jewish community, is that there is a "pintele" or small bit of the divine in every Jew. Such thinking leads to the surmise that if all Jews were of one heart and mind, such collective divinity within us would lead us to the Truth.
<h3>Spirituality as Power—but whose Power?</h3>
In the quest for spirituality, all false religions share at least one aspect in common: the practitioner is basically seeking power. This is in opposition to the biblical revelation, where seekers are to give themselves to the God who is all-powerful.
This difference is seen in the Hebrew Scriptures, as the concept of "fear of the Lord." It not only refers to the regard one should have for the Almighty, but also to an awareness and sense of his presence. The God of the Bible is the One with whom Moses was not afraid to disagree and with whom Jacob was not afraid to wrestle. In these divine encounters, both were not only aware of God, but were even more aware of themselves.
Thus Moses says, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10). Moses seems to realize that God could choose to heal his stammer, but God tells him that instead, his brother Aaron, whom he has not seen for 40 years, will be his mouthpiece.
In wrestling with the angel, our father Jacob senses that his life will be changed for the better—transformed—if he can but get the divine wrestler to "bless him" (Genesis 32:26). Jacob holds on fiercely until he gets what he wants.
In modern Judaism, it would be hard to conceive of a God who would be so transcendent that Moses would not talk back and that Jacob would not dare grab hold. Spirituality, in the biblical sense, leads to holiness and understanding that God is wholly other and yet God is not only transcendent but imminent. God is both majestic as well as close in and personal. He is above and beyond, yet here and now.
<h3>Spirituality and God's Spirit</h3>
The religion of the Hebrew Scriptures is one of the few that recognizes that the things of the Spirit are not that much different from the things that concern us. We should not think in terms of the corporeal versus the Spirit or the tangible versus the ethereal. The two are very much related; righteousness in the Spirit leads to sanctification in the body.
The best advice to those seeking spirituality within a biblical context comes from the Almighty himself when he says, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). We are not to seek spirituality per se, but we are to seek to "know the Lord."
One would think that the basic place to look for such Jewish knowledge of the Lord would be in the Scriptures. In the second verse of B'reshit (Genesis), we are introduced to the Holy Spirit (Ruach Hakodesh). It is this Ruach Hakodesh who gives us the strength to do the mitzvot that God would have us do.<a href="#_edn7" name="_ednref7">7</a> This includes not just the routine good deeds but even epochal events.
For example, the strength of Samson was not in his long hair but in the Holy Spirit. His long hair was merely the sign of his dedication.<a href="#_edn8" name="_ednref8">8</a> When it comes to knowledge, this same Holy Spirit who strengthened Samson is our teacher and guide.
<blockquote>
You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst (Nehemiah 9:20).
</blockquote>
The psalmist prayed, "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness" (Psalm 143:10).
God does not make us spiritual persons with spiritual powers; rather he offers to fill us with his Holy Spirit who then can empower us to follow his Law and do good deeds. Through the Holy Spirit we are guided into all truth and, furthermore, are sealed into a loving community.
We should not be seeking "spirituality" but openness to God's Holy Spirit.
<h3>Spirituality—a Messianic Jewish Perspective</h3>
While biblical faith provides the possibility of more contemplation and meditation than other world religions, it also provides something more concrete. Followed to its conclusion, it provides a knowledge of and a relationship with God. That is true spirituality which enables us to relate to the everyday tasks of life.
Many of those who seek the nebulous spirituality of this age, hope to gain from it power to discern matters and prevail over the human situation. On the other hand, Jesus' teachings expose the powerlessness of the individual which is remedied by belief in an all-powerful God.
Some of us Jews who have come to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel began our journey by seeking spirituality. There were those who said of Jesus that his teachings were spiritual and that hearing them made them feel spiritual. Yet that merely showed him as a wise, wonder-working rabbi. It did not answer the deepest question of the human heart: the ontological issue, or simply put, "what is the nature of being?".
The focus of all human spirituality is based on the transition point where life as we know it terminates. At that juncture of life and death, the question of the ultimate nature and goal of life confronts us. It's all explained in the Scriptures. If we are to know the meaning of life, we need to focus on the Giver of life as shown in all of Scripture.
We need to focus not only on Jesus' life, but on Jesus' death. We must focus on the questions of why he died 2,000 years ago, the manner of his death and the spiritual meaning of his death.
Jesus' death at Calvary turned the world upside down as seen through a lens. Yet instead of death ending his life, it began a life for all who are refracted through that lens. Not only that, but because of the spiritual nature of the universe, Jesus was able to bound back from death, not as a disembodied spirit, but as a re-embodied person. This is more commonly called the resurrection of Jesus.
In the biblical religion, spirituality comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit proceeds from being redeemed through the sacrifice and resurrection of Messiah. In symbolism, the Jewish sacrificial system taught us the meaning of exchange or substitutionary atonement—shed blood of a sacrifice on the holy altar for the sins of the people. In Jesus' death, we find life. In his resurrection, we are renewed.
But best yet is the promise of the Holy Spirit to believers in Yeshua. When a person comes to know Yeshua they don't seek spirituality but they seek to allow this Spirit, the Ruach Hakodesh, to be operative within them. The Holy Spirit is available to all who are ready to be guided by God's truth.
<blockquote>
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me; for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16: 13,14).
</blockquote>
<h4>Endnotes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1.</a> Zoberman, Israel, National Jewish Post and Opinion, June 9, 1999, p. 16
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2.</a> Alcoholics Anonymous statement of belief, Steps 2 and 3
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3.</a> Personal correspondence between Moise Rosen and John Brodsky; July 1999
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4.</a> Ibid
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5.</a> This is from the widely told story of Yoske Ponderik, circa 1400
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6.</a> Gordis, Daniel, Does the World Need the Jews?, Scribner, NY, 1997, p. 200
<a href="#_ednref7" name="_edn7">7.</a> Good deeds, or literally, "commandment"
<a href="#_ednref8" name="_edn8">8.</a> Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14"

Jewish Spirituality and the Holy Spirit

Jesus as Messiah in the Gospels

Kabbalah" means "received teachings" or simply "traditions" and is derived from the Hebrew "kabel" which means "to receive." It originally applied only to the Oral Law "received" after the destruction of the Second Temple, in the form of the Talmud. However, in the twelfth century the term "kabbalah" was also used to denote various mystical teachings that began to be "received" by the Jewish communities of that day. This second set of "received" teachings is the Kabbalah proper. Though it was fully developed in the Middle Ages, the first seeds of a mystical trend began to emerge in the talmudic literature, written well after the destruction of the Second Temple—from 150 A.D. to 600 A.D.
<h3>The Hekhalot Literature</h3>
The earliest mystical texts of Judaism are contained in the Hekhalot (heavenly places) literature which are collections of fragmentary midrashim—rabbinic writings of the Talmudic period. They center on mystical interpretations of certain biblical passages.
For example, while commenting on the chariot described in Ezekiel 1, Ishmael ben Elijah<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a> describes his ecstatic ascent into the heavenly places where he beholds the divine chariot, the heavenly places and the throne on which God is seated as well as his visions of the divine palaces and his personal experience of the Divine presence. The Hekhalot literature sets the scene for further "heavenly exploration."
<h3>Sepher Yetzirah</h3>
Another important mystical text, developed between the third and six centuries a.d. is the Sepher Yetzirah or the "Book of Creation." This canonical text for the later kabbalistic movement sought to explain the workings and the origin of the universe. It described the sefirot or "emanations," the ten so-called "manifestations of God." Knowledge of these mysteries was thought to confer magical powers on the initiated.
<h3>Neoplatonism and Gnosticism</h3>
Sepher Yetzirah was influenced heavily by neoplatonsim, a late Greek philosophical school that combined elements of Plato with Oriental belief systems. Plato believed that our physical world is not the primary place of existence. He posited a "higher" world where the true forms exist. Our world is, he thought, only a mirror of the true world "above." Sefer Yetzirah placed these ideas into a Jewish framework. The work was back-dated and its authorship ascribed (in typical Kabbalistic fashion) to an authoritative Jewish figure, in this case Abraham.
Gnosticism, another mystical trend of the time also influenced the Kabbalists. Gershon Sholem, one of the great modern scholars in the development of the Kabbalah defines gnosticism as "the possession of knowledge that cannot be obtained by ordinary intellectual means; the possession of a secret doctrine concerning the order of the celestial worlds and the means that provide access to it."<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a>
Gnosticism puffed-up the place of the individual and emphasized that he or she must gain secret knowledge and develop personal power in order to discover the road to self-enlightenment. Although the Kabbalah never removed its adherents from the community-at-large, as other gnostic sects did, Kabbalists latched onto the personal-experiential appeal of gnosticism and grafted the idea into the Jewish context.
And so it can be seen that "from the Talmudic period forward, Jews cultivated profoundly rich and highly diverse forms of mysticism."<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a> With the rise of Islam and the consequent persecutions of the Jews, the religious center of the Jewish people shifted from Babylon to locations in Europe, specifically to Italy, Germany, Spain and France.
It was in twelfth and thirteenth century France and Spain that the Kabbalah finally came into its definitive expression. In his article on kabbalistic texts, scholar Lawrence Fine defines the term "Kabbalah" as "a specific historical movement which originated in the second half of the twelfth century in that area of southern France known as Provence, and in northern Spain in the thirteenth century."<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a>
<h3>The Bahir</h3>
It was the appearance of The Book Bahir at that time, that signaled the first classical statement of kabbalistic beliefs and ideology.
"The Book Bahir, whose few pages seem to contain so much that is pertinent to the mystery of the origin of the Kabbalah, has the form of a midrash, namely, a collection of sayings or very brief homiletical expositions of biblical verses."<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a> The title "Bahir" means "bright" and is taken from Job 37:21 which is the first biblical text cited. The authorship of The Bahir was attributed to Rabbi Nehunya ben ha-Kanah, a talmudic sage of the first century.<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a>
The Bahir caused division within the Jewish community of France, with some hailing it as a brilliant text from times of yore, whilst others, like Meir ben Simon, a contemporary of the early French Kabbalists, decrying the book as heretical.<a href="#_edn7" name="_ednref7">7</a> The adherents to the Kabbalistic movement in France and Spain wrote, some two-hundred years after the publication of The Book Bahir that towards the middle of the thirteenth century the prophet Elijah appeared in visions to some of the leading men of Provence and that he had inspired them to write The Bahir. The historical evidence strongly suggests that the book was written in France during this time.
The Bahir soon became another canonical text for further kabbalistic studies and was accepted by many as being a work of much earlier date. The "Kabbalah" or received mystical traditions, were being penned, back-dated and received simultaneously! In fact, the precise move that had been made by the rabbis of the Talmud in order to validate their work as hailing from Mt. Sinai, was now repeated by the Kabbalists of France in order to authenticate their "new-found" teachings as given by the venerated rabbis of the Talmud. These men, who were grappling to reformulate Judaism after the destruction of the Temple, are construed by the Kabbalists as mystical genies who promulgated the mystical secrets of Judaism. Lawrence Fine remarks that The Bahir represent[s] the "emergence of a striking set of Gnostic motifs within the heart of rabbinic Judaism."<a href="#_edn8" name="_ednref8">8</a>
<h3>The Zohar</h3>
The Zohar (Book of Splendor) appeared on the kabbalistic scene around 1250 a.d. Lawrence Fine describes how Moses de Leon "began circulating manuscripts which he had written, but which he claimed were ancient midrashim 'interpretations of biblical texts.'" Moses pretended merely to be copying from a manuscript which, he argued, "had originated in the circle of the second-century Palestinian rabbi, Shimon bar Yohai, but had only recently found its way into Spain. In all likelihood, de Leon opted to write in this pseudepigraphic way out of the conviction that a work of antiquity would be more readily considered to be authoritative truth."<a href="#_edn9" name="_ednref9">9</a>
History has it that one Isaac ben Shmuel, who later became a leading 14th century Kabbalist, arrived in Spain after fleeing Mamluk's attack on the land of Israel. In his diary (Sefer Ha Yamim) we read that he was amazed to hear about the newly "discovered" manuscript of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai.
"The book had supposedly been written in Israel, but Isaac was from Israel and had never heard of it!"<a href="#_edn10" name="_ednref10">10</a> Isaac's diary informs us that he went to see Moses de Leon at his home, only to learn that he had died. His widow greeted Isaac at the door and in response to his request to see the original parchment of Shimon Bar Yohai, she informed him that the document had never existed but that the Zohar had been written solely out of her husband's head.
However, the effort to back-date a kabbalistic text again succeeded. Despite early warnings regarding the errors of the Zohar the book soon became acknowledged as the mystical revelations of the great sage Shimon bar Yohai. In the text, Shimon is pictured in various settings discoursing with his pupils at every opportunity on the great matters of mystical inquiry. The language of the text is Aramaic, "contrived, replete with medieval usages, in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and ideas."<a href="#_edn11" name="_ednref11">11</a> "Behind the veil of the Aramaic, the Hebrew of the medieval era can be clearly detected."<a href="#_edn12" name="_ednref12">12</a> The only Aramaic which Moses de Leon knew was that which he had learned from his talmudic studies. And so it was that one of the most important books of the Kabbalah came into being.
<h3>The Safed Period</h3>
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 caused a rupture in the Jewish world. The defeat of the Mamluks and the conquest of the land of Israel by the Ottomans afforded the Jewish refugees from Europe an unexpected safe-haven in the Holy Land itself.
No longer under hostile Islamic dominion, a new center of Jewish learning sprang up. Safed was a thriving agricultural and commercial town situated in the Galilean hills about 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Not only that, Safed was the burial place of a number of rabbis of the Talmudic period. In fact, a little outside the town lay the resting place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, the supposed author of the Book of Splendor-the Zohar.
It was in Safed that the Zohar gained its kabbalistic preeminence. From there Moses Cordovero would compose his lengthy commentaries on what had become the central kabbalistic text. It was also from Safed that Rabbi Isaac Luria would develop his "redemptive" brand of kabbalistic philosophy. The climate of political upheaval and the massive forced removals of the Jewish people had given rise to speculation that the world was in the midst of the "birth-pangs" of the Messiah. Luria was hard-pressed to explain the terrible state of exile that characterized the Jewish people. He expanded the kabbalistic doctrine of the exile of the Shechinah (or Divine Presence) into a mystical theology of redemption and promoted a rationale for the performance of good deeds which was designed to hasten and even produce the coming of the Messiah.
<h3>Lurianic</h3>
Kabbalah would ultimately give rise to Sabbatianism, the messianic movement of the seventeenth century that proclaimed Shabbetai Zevi as King Messiah and in so doing, led Jewry into despondency for decades. Lurianic Kabbalah would also, through the popular mystical Chassidic movement, exert a strong influence on the future thinking of Judaism. Modern Judaism and its raison d'être is heavily grounded in the Lurianic notion that the Jewish people exist in order to prepare the world for the arrival of the Messiah.
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1. </a>A third generation talmudist, lived roughly between 120-200 A.D.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2. </a>Origins of the Kabbalah; Gershon Scholem, Jewish Publ. Society, 1987, p.22
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3. </a>Back to the Sources; ed. Barry W. Holtz, Simon and Shuster, New York, 1984, p.307
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4. </a>Back to the Sources; p.308
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5. </a>Origins, p.49
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6. </a>Ibid, p.39
<a href="#_ednref7" name="_edn7">7. </a>The Bahir suggested the possibility of the transmigration or reincarnation of souls, a doctrine foreign to biblical Judaism itself, which teaches the resurrection of the dead.
<a href="#_ednref8" name="_edn8">8. </a>Back to the Sources; p.308
<a href="#_ednref9" name="_edn9">9. </a>Ibid., p.310
<a href="#_ednref10" name="_edn10">10. </a>Zohar, Book of Enlightenment; Daniel Chanan Matt; Paulist Press, Toronto,1983, p.3
<a href="#_ednref11" name="_edn11">11. </a>Back to the Sources; p.313
<a href="#_ednref12" name="_edn12">12. </a>The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (7th Edition), Ed. Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder, 1992, p.999

A History of the Kabbalah

They didn't intend to start a new religion. They had made a discovery. As far as they were concerned, it was the discovery of a lifetime and they were excited. The way they explained it showed that they had been on a Jewish quest, seeking a Jewish goal.
Pinchas, or Philip, expressed it well to his brother Nathaniel when he told of this discovery, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—<a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-called-a-nazarene/">Jesus of Nazareth</a>, son of Joseph.
<h3>Something good from Nazareth?</h3>
In response, Nathaniel quipped, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
And Philip seriously replied, "Come and see."
But even before that, Andrew had told his brother Simon about the same discovery. He said, "We have found the Moshiach," which is translated "the Christ."
Here we see two different Jews, each speaking his understanding of the same person. That person was Israel's promised Messiah.
But exactly what did Pinchas mean when he said, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law…wrote"? Where in Torah did Moses mention the Messiah? While it wouldn't be disputed that many, if not all, of the prophets talked about Israel's coming deliverer, one's thoughts do not readily go to Moses.
<h3>A deliverer</h3>
Yes, Moses did speak of a <a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-a-prophet-like-moses/">deliverer to come</a>. Tucked into the midst of the summary of the Law in the eighteenth chapter of Devarim (Deuteronomy), talking about the punishment of false prophets, Moses made a remarkable prophecy:
<blockquote>
"The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like unto me from the midst, of your brethren. Him you shall hear."
</blockquote>
What did Moshe Rabeynu mean when he said, "like unto me"? Did this mean that the Prophet who would come would be an older man? (Moses was eighty years old when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt.) Did it mean that the Prophet would be hot-tempered and impatient? (Certainly Moses was that way.) Did it mean that the Prophet would be trained in the ways of Egyptian royalty? The answer to all of the above is "No." The text describes how that Prophet would be like Moses, as it recalls the experience of a nation that has been memorialized and burned into our consciousness.
<blockquote>
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'"And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good.
'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
'And it shall be [that] whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require [it] of him." (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
</blockquote>
How have Jewish commentators interpreted that prophecy? Most contemporary commentators believe that Joshua and other prophets fulfilled the Scripture. However, this was not always the case. The late Rachmiel Frydland, in his book, What the Rabbis Know About the Messiah, pointed out: "Rabbi Levi Ben Gershon (RALBAG), of the fourteenth century, identified the Prophet as Messiah." He went on to give RALBAG's commentary:
<blockquote>
'A Prophet from the midst of thee.' In fact, the Messiah is such a Prophet as it is stated in the Midrash of the verse, 'Behold my Servant shall prosper' (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/52/13">Isaiah 52:13</a>).…Moses, by the miracles which he wrought, brought a single nation to the worship of God, but the Messiah will draw all peoples to the worship of God.<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a>
</blockquote>
The Midrashic passage that RALBAG cites, referring to Messiah as Prophet, states:
<blockquote>
It is written, 'Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, He shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high' (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/52/13">Isaiah 52:13</a>). It means, He shall be more exalted than Abraham of whom it is written, 'I lift up my hand' (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/genesis/14/22">Genesis 14:22</a>). He shall be more extolled than Moses of whom it is said, 'As a nursing father beareth the nursing child' (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/numbers/11/12">Numbers 11:12</a>). 'And shall be very high'—that is, Messiah shall be higher than the ministering angels.<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a>
</blockquote>
Whether or not one accepts the premise that the Deuteronomy passage predicts the Messiah, what can we know about the similarities between Moses and the Prophet who was to be like him?
<h3>Fear and trembling</h3>
That "likeness" points to a time, a place and an event. The context of <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/deuteronomy/18">Deuteronomy 18</a> demonstrates that Israel as a nation did not want to confront or be confronted by God. It was a fearful time of thunder, lightning, storms and earthquakes as the whole nation was gathered in the desert. The dark mountain of Sinai seemed to be the center of the storm and seismic activity. The people of Israel were frightened and rightly so, because they sensed that they were encountering something holy and awesome.
That word, "awesome," can hardly contain the meaning and depth of their fear. They knew that they were being summoned to meet their Creator, possibly "panim l' panim" (face to face). They were terrified, for they knew from the Patriarchs that no one could look upon God's face and live. Yet here was the Almighty, the King of the ages, coming to confront them. They trembled in one accord, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God. Don't let me see this great fire anymore lest I die."
Never was the nation so unified in their desire. Never was a nation so fearful. The fear of the Lord abounded in every heart. Every person knew that he or she was unclean before the Almighty, so they spoke as one, asking that Moses be their intercessor—their go-between, their intermediary. Whatever God had for them could be told to Moses, who in turn would tell the people God's message as he had done before in the events leading up to their redemption. And God did speak to Moses, confiding in him that what the people had asked was good.
<h3>A mediator</h3>
Then the Almighty also confirmed the words Moses had spoken about the Prophet who would be the speaker of God's word and the intermediary between God and his people. But the king of heaven added something about this intermediary when he said, "And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him."
So it seems on that most serious day in Israel's history, it was decided that an intercessor should speak for God to the people, and everything the intercessor would speak or require would be God's word and God's requirement. God's word and will would be transmitted through that very special intercessor. Thus, the primary way that the Prophet (Messiah) was to be "like Moses" was in the role of go-between or intermediary.
In Bible days, every priest was an intermediary or intercessor who made representation to God on behalf of the people. The priest would bring the petitions and offerings of repentance of Israel and stand in the Holy Place on behalf of the people.
The prophets were also intercessors who spoke to the people on behalf of God. They mediated God's word and often called the nation back to a relationship with the Almighty asking and exhorting the people to turn from sin and return to the covenant relationship.
Kings like David and Solomon were also like Moses in that they led and administered the Law to the whole nation. Because a king is a judge in peace and a commander in war, Israel's kings acted in God's stead to mediate God's will and hence were intercessors acting on God's behalf.
<h3>Sin bearer</h3>
The word Messiah, or Moshiach, means "anointed." Prophets, priests and kings were all anointed to show their consecration. Moses, in a sense, fulfilled all three functions at the same time.
But there was one way in which the Prophet to come, the Messiah, would most resemble Moses. The Moshiach Yeshua resembles Moses the most in that Moses offered himself to die for the sins of the people.
For all of the things that are praiseworthy about Moses' life, one episode is often overlooked. Perhaps the rabbis commented less on this section because of the embarrassment of Israel's idolatry which preceded the following passage:
<blockquote>
"Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.' Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, 'Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.' And the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book." (Exodus 32:30-33)
</blockquote>
In order that Israel might be saved from the wrath of God, Moses stood ready to offer his own life—to take the punishment of the people's sins on himself if God could find no other way to forgive them. He asked God that his life be an expiation for the sins of the people. As a priest he could have made grandiose offerings—thousands of lambs or bulls—but instead he simply offered his own life.
<h3>Shepherds and sheep</h3>
We need to remember that forty years of Moses' life were spent as a shepherd in those same mountains and deserts of Midian. In leading the people, he showed the mindset and attitudes of a good shepherd. The job description of a "good shepherd" calls for the kind of serious commitment in which one must be willing to give his own life for the sheep. Yeshua explained this most succinctly as recorded in the New Testament book of John:
<blockquote>
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, [he who is] not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My [sheep], and am known by My own."As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." (John 10:10-15)
</blockquote>
The truly good shepherd puts the welfare of the flock above his own.
When Philip told his brother Nathaniel, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph" he recognized that Moshe Rabeynu and Moshiach Yeshua were alike. But he probably did not realize until later the full implications of what he was saying.
We see that Yeshua was a prophet like Moses, only better. Moses died, but the B'rit Chadasha (New Testament) tells us that Moshiach Yeshua is alive forever to make intercession for us. Yeshua is the one who can lead us out of the Egypt of everyday life. He can break the shackles of the bondage of sin. On life's journey to the promised land (heaven), he can be our guide and provider, and though his provision will not be manna and quail, there will be bread from heaven to feed our souls and restore our spirits.
There is one big difference between Yeshua and Moses: Moses led the people to the promised land, but he wasn't allowed to enter himself. That was because wise and good though Moses was, even he had sinned. Moshiach Yeshua, on the other hand, is the perfect mediator because he was innocent, without sin, and took our deserved punishment upon himself. He is waiting in heaven for all those who put their trust in him. When we see Yeshua there, certainly Moshe Rabeynu will be there too, because he was the one who knew and foretold his coming and trusted in him.
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1.</a> What the Rabbis Know About The Messiah by Rachmiel Frydland, (Cincinatti, OH: Messianic Publishing Company, Messianic Literature Outreach, 1991) page 22
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2.</a> See Midrash Tanhuma, (Israel: KTAV Publishing Company, 1989) pp. 166-67

A Prophet Like Unto Moses

A Look at the Trinity From a Messianic Jewish Perspective

<div class="big-table">
<label class="toggle" for="toggle"></label><input type="checkbox" id="toggle">
<div class="big-table-container">
<table class="clean-table even-rows table table-striped" style="min-width: 1200px !important;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff" width="175px"> </th>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff">Theravada Buddhism</th>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff">Mahayana Buddhism</th>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff">Hinduism</th>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff">Traditional Judaism</th>
<th style="background:#1295d8;color:#fff">The Gospel</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Meaning of birth</th>
<td>We are reborn from a previous life until we reach nirvana (extinction of all desire and release from suffering). The cycle of death and rebirth is called samsara.</td>
<td>We are reborn from a previous life until we reach nirvana (extinction of all desire and release from suffering). The cycle of death and rebirth is called samsara.</td>
<td>We are reborn from a previous life until we realize our “oneness” with Brahman. The cycle of death and rebirth is called samsara.</td>
<td>We are made in the image of God and come into the world with the capacity to opt for good or evil.</td>
<td>We are made in God’s image but come into the world inclined to sin because of the sin of Adam. Redemption is needed.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Way to Truth</th>
<td>Follow the teachings of Buddha, e.g., the Four Truths and the Eightfold Path. The written Scripture, the Tripitaka (“three baskets”), includes the teachings of Buddha.</td>
<td>Through the study of scriptural texts running to more than five thousand volumes.</td>
<td>Spiritual disciplines like yoga enable one to achieve the enlightenment and truth needed. Suffering and samsara result from ignorance of self-truth. Vedas are scriptures that hold final authority.</td>
<td>Bible (Hebrew Scriptures). Oral Law provides the authoritative interpretation for knowing how to live. Truth is seen in deeds more than in creed, although a cardinal tenet of belief is the Unity of God.</td>
<td>Bible (Old and New Testaments) as divinely revealed. It is final arbiter, although various creeds give expression to its teaching. Yeshua is the ultimate embodiment of truth.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Goal of spirituality</th>
<td>Deliverance from samsara through reaching nirvana.</td>
<td>Deliverance from samsara through reaching nirvana is not to be sought for the individual alone.</td>
<td>Deliverance from cycle of death and rebirth and realizing “oneness” with Brahman.</td>
<td>To know God. To serve God and others.</td>
<td>To know God. To serve God and others.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Way to spirituality</th>
<td>Practice of some disciplines leads to nirvana. No personal God. One can achieve deliverance from samsara and become a Buddhist saint. But this deliverance is only for the few who can attain it.</td>
<td>Seeking personal deliverance and assisting in others’ salvation. Ideal follower is a bodhisattva, one who forsakes his own salvation to aid others. Salvation is not merited, open to all.</td>
<td>Practice of spiritual disciplines such as yoga delivers one from the cycle of death and rebirth by helping one to realize his or her “oneness” with Brahman. Many incarnations and deities may be worshipped.</td>
<td>Observance of mitzvot, study of Torah and other holy books leads to blessing in life. Prayer, repentance, and the need to perform the mitzvot with the proper intention or kavannah are also important.</td>
<td>Faith in Yeshua as God’s requisite for atonement and salvation. Continued spiritual growth and blessing come through living a life of service and love.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Meaning of death</th>
<td>Leads to rebirth from which we can be delivered by reaching nirvana. Rebirth is not by chance but is based on the universal law of cause and effect (karma).</td>
<td>Differs from Theravada Buddhism in accepting the existence of the individual soul, in which case rebirth is also called transmigration.</td>
<td>Leads to rebirth of the soul, or transmigration, from which we can be delivered by realizing our “oneness” with Brahman or ultimate reality.</td>
<td>Cessation of bodily life and entrance into the “world to come” or some other place.</td>
<td>Cessation of bodily life and entrance into either heaven or hell.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Afterlife</th>
<td>Until nirvana is reached, after life is rebirth. Nirvana itself is neither continued existence of the soul nor annihilation.</td>
<td>On the way to nirvana, the individual soul may pass through a variety of heavens and hells.</td>
<td>Afterlife is rebirth until deliverance is achieved. Then one merges into Brahman, the All.</td>
<td>Many beliefs, including bodily resurrection. Few teach of a heaven and hell. Generally, Torah obedience leads to life in the world to come.</td>
<td>Bodily resurrection after death and judgment. Heaven and hell are eternal destinies to which all people go based on choices made in this life.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

Comparison Chart: Buddhism, Hinduism, Traditional Judaism, and the Gospel

<h3>A quiet controversy continues.</h3>
While there is not much noise it moves with staccato fury as rabbis confront one another over the question, 'Should Jews seek converts from among gentiles?" One leading proponent of proselytizing said,
<blockquote>
This is my central thesis: that Judaism from its very beginnings was a missionary religion; that our Tanakh and subsequent rabbinic literature underscored the compelling need for such conversionary activity—indeed, the prophets made Israel's mission a clarion call; and that it was only when our enemies instituted severe and often lethal restrictions against us that our conversionary zeal waned. But such restrictions no longer inhibit us. Why not resume our traditional vocation of being champions of Judaism?<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a>
</blockquote>
<h3>Judaism. A missionizing religion???</h3>
Everyone knows that Judaism doesn't seek converts. On the contrary, gentiles who want to become Jewish are discouraged with warnings of a demanding life and of being part of a despised people. According to the rabbinical formula, they must be turned away three times to guard against an impulsive decision to convert. If they continue, then they are instructed in Torah, and if they persist still, they are "baptized" in a mikveh. The conversion requires them to renounce their former religion, regard themselves as being of the lineage of Abraham, view their birth family as aliens or "strangers" and, for male converts, undergo circumcision. It is only those gentiles who insist and persist that are allowed to become Jews. At least, that was the way it was earlier in this century. Yet, Israel had a mandate to missionize gentiles in times past.
<h3>In Bible Times</h3>
The Book of Genesis describes the intention of the Almighty: that Israel bring the message of the One True and Only God to the nations. In God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the LORD told the patriarch, "and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a> Not only did the Bible portray Abraham as a missionary, but his descendants also received a missionary mandate.
The rabbinic writers agree. R. Hunia in the midrash on Genesis 12:5 comments,
<blockquote>
Abraham converted the men and Sarah the women. Jacob too made converts: Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, 'Put away the strange gods that are among you.…And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a>
</blockquote>
The commentary goes on to demonstrate that Isaac was a missionary as well. This theme of seeking converts and impressing the gentiles runs through the whole of the Hebrew Scripture.
<blockquote>
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.…" 
(Exod. 19:5-6)
</blockquote>
Being a treasured possession is not a passive role. God has a mission for his special people. He assigns the Jewish people to fill the role of priests. In other words, the Jewish people are to serve as intercessors for the nations, mediating at the altar on their behalf.
To serve in this way requires Israel to be a holy people. To be holy means to be set apart and dedicated to the service of God.
<blockquote>
The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 
(Deut. 28:9)
</blockquote>
The prophetic writings amplify this missionary task. In the book of Isaiah, God promises to make Israel "a light for the Gentiles."<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a> This is also seen in passages of Joel, Micah, Jeremiah and the Psalms.
Have we always been eager to perform the task? The call of Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh is a case of a reluctant Jewish missionary. Nevertheless, Jonah was reminded by besetting circumstances that God had commissioned him. Even though he took a circuitous route to obedience, he still preached repentance to the Assyrians and subsequently saw gentiles come to faith in the God of Israel.
Noted historians and scholars tell us that missionary policies extended well past the biblical era. They trace strong missionary activity on the part of the Jewish community throughout the Second Temple period and beyond, and the Latin and Greek literature substantiate it. The Idumeans, Moabites and Itureans converted in 140 B.C.E. In the later Second Temple period, Josephus cite numerous Jewish converts in Antioch. According to twentieth-century Jewish historian, Salo Baron, as much as 10 percent of the population of ancient Rome was composed of Jews, many of whom were converts.
<h3>Missionizing in Judaism</h3>
Proselytizing wasn't merely an occasional event in Jewish history. It was the standard way that Jews related to the gentile community, and the efforts were intense and organized.
<blockquote>
As the Jewish center of learning and population shifted to Babylonia, the evidence of intense proselytization continues. The Geonim actually set quotas. We note that Rabbis Judah and Joseph…and Rav Ashi…chided the people for not bringing in sufficient converts.<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a>
</blockquote>
Missionizing that began in Torah times did not end with the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Even in those pockets of paganism surrounded by Christian or Islamic nations, there was unencumbered proselytization. Among the pagan converts were the Khazars in the Caucuses (eighth century) and the Aksunite Kingdom of Ethiopia from whom emerged the Falashas.
Proselytizing continued throughout the Crusades almost up to the Reformation:
<blockquote>
"The six centuries following the conversion of Constantine saw some dramatic evidences of the spread of Judaism…The mass conversion of Arabs to Judaism in southern Arabia under Dhu Nowas;…From the Christian side,…the efforts to ban relations between Jews and Christians as finally formulated by the Fourth Lateran Council [1215], and the constant concerns of the Church about Judaizing point in this direction."<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a>
There is additional documentation that Jewish proselytism continued well into the Middle Ages. The response of the German Tosafists, which was written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, include the mention of about twenty proselytes to Judaism.<a href="#_edn7" name="_ednref7">7</a>
</blockquote>
<h3>Why Did Missionary Activity Stop?</h3>
There were many impediments and obstacles to Jews seeking proselytes, including external pressures. At best, Jews lived in gentile communities at the suffrage of the people and rulers. The Jewish way of life was one of anxiously watching events in the dominant culture, ready to leave as soon as the tenuous welcome was withdrawn.
The Roman Empire seemed to favor the Jewish people over other conquered people; however, that tolerance was always precarious. The Roman leaders realized that Jewish people had a loyalty to their own identity that was far stronger than any allegiance to Rome. They also realized that a convert to Judaism was not merely voicing a change in his or her religious opinion:
<blockquote>
The Romans knew that conversion to Judaism meant adherence not merely to a religion but also to a political state; hence, once Judaea was annexed, conversion had dangerous political overtones the Romans could hardly tolerate.…"<a href="#_edn8" name="_ednref8">8</a>
</blockquote>
Roman intolerance took two forms, the first of which was simply to expel Jewish people from certain provinces. However the Romans rethought that strategy, inasmuch as they did not necessarily wish to lose the benefits that Jewish people normally bring to society. Rather than expulsion, a more workable strategy was to prohibit Jews from making converts.
The first specific ban on proselytizing was by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 198/199 C.E. Severus gave no reason for the edict, and the ban was not effective. Jewish missionary endeavors were specifically banned when Rome adopted Christianity as the official state religion. In 329, a law was passed that Christians who joined the "nefarious sect" were to suffer the same "deserved" punishment as those responsible for the conversion. The punishment was not spelled out, but apparently left to the discretion of individual judges.
Constantius II was more specific in meting out punishment. In edicts beginning in 339, Jewish men were prohibited from marrying non-Jewish women. In 353 Constantius specified that all Christians who converted to Judaism would have all their property confiscated. Thirty years later, Gratian made it illegal to bequeath anything to converts to Judaism. In 388 it became a crime punishable by death for Christian men to marry Jewish women.
Several of the early church leaders seemed determined to prevent the spread of Judaism. Though they could not pass laws, their anti-Jewish propaganda was used to justify ill treatment of Jews and presumably of Jewish proselytes. The vitriolic anti-Jewish diatribes of some of the early church fathers might well have been, in part, a reaction to the success that Judaism enjoyed in making converts of people who formerly professed to be Christians.
The rise of Islam in the seventh century added other obstacles to the missionizing efforts of Jews. In 624 Mohammed began his persecution of the Arabian Jews. By 628, the death sentence was decreed for those Jews who accepted a Moslem convert to Judaism. Moslems who converted on their own would have their earthly possessions confiscated.
The Jewish religion did not respond immediately to these measures; however, centuries of suffering and persecution took their toll. Proselytizing was "dangerous." It was not something done by a Jew who wanted to survive. And the Jewish people are survivors.
Once our leadership saw the high cost of proselytizing, we began to acquire a nonproselytizing stance. We started boasting that we do not proselytize and it became part of our identity. Today we see the internalization of the once external prohibitions in a comment like this:
<blockquote>
But just because Jews actively proselytized long ago does not mean it is correct to do so now. The times are obviously different, and—hopefully—religious "etiquette" also is different.<a href="#_edn9" name="_ednref9">9</a>
</blockquote>
Is it really a matter of religious etiquette or concern for Christians who might abandon their roots? The underlying supposition is that if we don't missionize gentiles, they won't missionize us. The converse of that supposition is that if we invite gentiles to become Jews, we will be inviting either (1) their anger and a backlash of anti-Semitism or (2) their enthusiasm as we enter a playing field of proselytizing on which they have the bigger team.
Either way, there is the idea that if Jews do not proselytize, others won't either. And if they try, they can be shamed by a cry of "Unfair! You are doing something we would never do to you!"
But why would anyone think that non-Jews would follow the example of Jews in not proselytizing? More likely they would conclude that Jews simply didn't have anything to offer. Rabbi Schindler advocates that after centuries of barely missionizing and persuading ourselves that it is un-Jewish to seek converts, we need to focus once again on reaching out.
Schindler rightly asserts that the external pressures of persecution doesn't exist in our pluralistic society. Yet those who oppose this view seem unwilling to invest in outreach. Why?
Perhaps some of us stopped caring about what God wants for others, reducing religion to a matter of human preference.
Have we accepted a "to each his own" mentality? Could it be that the real reason Jewish people resist being proselytizers is that we stopped thinking about what God wants for us and for others?
The original Jewish missionaries were prophets who knew they were sent by God and that their fate was in God's hands. Whether or not their message brought earthly retribution, keeping silent was not a real option; it was a rebellion. They feared (in the biblical sense), trusted and loved God. They simply cared far too much to be silent.
Some, like the prophet Jonah, might have preferred to be insulated from the outer world. He had no reason, humanly speaking, to care what the people of Nineveh knew or believed about God. But apparently, God cared. And if Jonah had cared a little bit more about God, he would been motivated by God's concern for Nineveh. Jonah, the lapsed prophet, needed a nudge to get back on track.
Elijah, one of the greatest prophets, also had moments of uncertainty when he felt that all he had to show for his efforts was persecution. He, too, was a lapsed prophet who needed a nudge from God.
Is it possible that we have become a nation of lapsed prophets who need to get reacquainted with God in order to get back on track?
If we could know that God truly cares for all people and has a very specific plan for world reconciliation in which we have a key role, how could we possibly advocate that everyone mind their own spiritual business? Wouldn't it be logical for us to want to reach out?
<h3>Jewish Proselytizing Isn't PC</h3>
We live in a society in which it is politically correct to embrace the notion that there are many right paths to truth, including the truth about God. It is politically incorrect to believe in the uniqueness of one path over the others, for that is not only considered disrespectful but also harmful to the unity we all strive to attain. One's rightness must be viewed as purely subjective. "Certain things are right for me, and other things are right for you."
The above is a tentative view of what is right, good and real, and it doesn't allow for any strong conviction or belief. Any assertion that there is one right, one good, one truth or one way offends public sensibilities. Hence any form of proselytizing is deemed unacceptable. Yet Christians who say that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life maintain that they are not arrogant because this true faith did not originate with them but with God who is the God of the Jews.
It is a definite belief in God as revealed in the Scriptures and the conviction that he has certain expectations for us that compels Christians and others to missionize. Unless a Jew believes that the words of Scripture are true and relevant, attempts to missionize would be nothing more than an exercise in ethnocentricity.
If the biblical mandate to be God's treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy people is not true, we have no reason to maintain our identity as Jews. Why do we need the nation Israel? Why do we fear intermarriage and assimilation? And why do we allow ourselves to be so persecuted by persevering in our Jewishness?
The God of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekkah, Jacob, Rachel and Joseph is! There are Jews who believe with perfect faith that God's plan for our people continues to be in effect. These Jews see the biblical promises not as being limited to us but as applicable for the whole world.
If our portion in life is to be a holy people set apart for God's use, a royal priesthood, a light to the nations, how dare we insulate ourselves? If we were created to be a candle in the hand of the Holy One, then our destiny is to pierce the darkness with the flame of his everlasting light. To turn from that destiny is not merely a matter of disobedience—it is a denial of who we are.
As Jews, we can be the most cause-oriented people in the world. We can fight harder for human rights, dig in deeper to try to end world hunger, concern ourselves with our exploited environment and work more passionately for world peace. But unless we see that there is a God who cares even more than we do about these things, we have little more to offer the world than our good intentions and efforts, which simply will never be enough.
Only when we perceive that God's plan of reconciliation for the planet begins with our reconciliation to him, do we understand we have a mission. By cleaving to him and serving him, we have a real hope of accomplishing that mission.
Editor's note: Moishe Rosen and Ruth Rosen contributed to this article.
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1.</a> Schindler, Alexander, "Rabbi Schindler Defends His Plan for Proselytizing," Northern California Jewish Bulletin, 5 November 1993
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2.</a> Genesis 12:1-3
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3.</a> Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, Ch. XXXIV, 4. p.771.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4.</a> Isaiah 42:6
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5.</a> Perelmutter, Hayim Goren, "Judaism's Missionary Tradition." Sh'ma, January 1994, p. 6.
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6.</a> Ibid.
<a href="#_ednref7" name="_edn7">7.</a> Feldman, Louis H., Jews and Gentiles in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Louis H. Feldman, p.413.
<a href="#_ednref8" name="_edn8">8.</a> Ibid., p. 385.
<a href="#_ednref9" name="_edn9">9.</a> Editorial. Baltimore Jewish Times, 29 October 1993.

When Jews Were Proselytizers

The identity of the mother of Immanuel in <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/7/14">Isaiah 7:14</a> has been a subject of debate over the centuries: Was the prophet Isaiah speaking of a virgin conceiving or not? The Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, linking Jesus' conception to the sign the prophet Isaiah had given centuries earlier. Those who believe the gospel account regard Isaiah 7:14 as <a href="/answers/top-40-most-helpful-messianic-prophecies">a messianic passage fulfilled by Jesus</a>. Others disagree. Did the prophet intend that word to mean virgin" or merely "young maiden"? Are Christian interpreters reading too much into this verse? Zhava Glaser presents the case for you to decide for yourself:
The word almah is rare—usually translated as "maiden" it appears only seven times in the Hebrew Scriptures, three<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a> of these in the plural and four<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a> in the singular.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a> Some say the word almah is merely the feminine of elem, or "young man."<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a>
In the few verses where almah appears, the word clearly denotes a young woman who is not married but is of marriageable age. Although almah does not implicitly denote virginity, it is never used in the Scriptures to describe a "young, presently married woman." It is important to remember that in the Bible, a young Jewish woman of marriageable age was presumed to be chaste.
The prophet could have chosen a different word had he wanted to describe <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v05-n06/the-genealogy-of-the-messiah">Immanuel's mother</a> as a virgin. Betulah is a more common way to refer to a woman who has never been with a man (both in biblical and modern Hebrew).
<h3>Two Types of Virgins</h3>
In the <a href="/answers/what-are-some-passages-in-the-hebrew-bible-that-talk-about-the-messiah/">Hebrew Scriptures</a>, there are two types of betulot—the true virgin, and the "betrothed virgin" (betulah m'orashah). In <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/deuteronomy/22">Deuteronomy 22</a>, a betrothed virgin is referred to as a man's "wife" (ishah). The state of betrothal was just as serious and sacred as the married state<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a> and the difference between the two appears, in some instances, to be a mere formality. The word betulah, commonly understood as virgin, is still not precise.
Joel 1:8 presents another example of the word betulah in a context which does not convey the usual meaning of virginity: "Mourn like a virgin (betulah) in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth."
Some commentators say this refers to a betrothed virgin, thus making the lamentation all the more poignant because the marriage had never been consummated. The use of ba'al (husband) in this verse, however, seems to imply the opposite. The word ba'al is never used in the Jewish Scriptures of the betrothed state, but only of a married man.
Therefore, even if the prophet Isaiah had used the word betulah, it could have been argued that he did not intend to say that this woman had never had sexual relations with a man.
A look at the Septuagint translation of almah by Semitics scholar Dr. Cyrus Gordon, provides additional insight on the matter:
<blockquote>
The commonly held view that "virgin" is Christian, whereas "young woman" is Jewish is not quite true. The fact is that the Septuagint, which is the Jewish translation made in pre-Christian Alexandria, takes almah to mean "virgin" here. Accordingly, the New Testament follows Jewish interpretation in <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/7/14">Isaiah 7:14</a>. Therefore, the New Testament rendering of almah as "virgin" for Isaiah 7:14 rests on the older Jewish interpretation, which in turn is now borne out for precisely this annunciation formula by a text that is not only pre-Isaianic but is pre-Mosaic in the form that we now have it on a clay tablet.<a href="#endnote6">6</a>
</blockquote>
Jewish and Christian scholars would be hard pressed to deny that the Greek term parthenos and the Hebrew term almah may have been used interchangeably by those Jewish communities that adopted the Septuagint.
On the other hand, J. Gresham Machen, who has done a definitive study on this passage, asserts that the translation in the Septuagint of the Hebrew word almah as parthenos cannot be used to show a Jewish doctrine of the virgin birth, for one also finds the word parthenos used in the Septuagint to translate the word na'arah, which merely means "young girl."
<h3>A Credible Account</h3>
For Machen, the very fact that the passage does not have a history of Jewish messianic interpretation and the very unlikelihood of this passage being interpreted messianically makes <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v10-n05/is-the-new-testament-jewish">the New Testament</a> account all the more credible. In other words, <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v12-n06/jesus-as-messiah-in-the-gospels">the gospel writer, Matthew,</a> was not trying to fit Jesus' life into a traditional mold, but rather turned to Scripture to explain what had taken place in the event of the virgin birth.
One cannot assert that the prophet was speaking of a virgin technically on the basis of the word almah. Nor can a serious student lightly dismiss the word as having no possible reference to a miraculous conception. 

<h4>Endnotes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1. </a><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/psalm/68/25">Psalm 68:25</a> (Hebrew, v. 26), <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/song-of-solomon/1/3">Song of Solomon 1:3</a>, <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/song-of-solomon/6/8">Song of Solomon 6:8</a>.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2. </a><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/genesis/24/43">Genesis 24:43</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/exodus/2/8">Exodus 2:8</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/7/14">Isaiah 7:14</a>; <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/proverbs/30/19">Proverbs 30:19</a>.
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3. </a>For a thorough study of these passages, see Young, Edward J., The Immanuel Prophecy: Isaiah 7:14-16 (Second Article). The Westminster Theological Journal, 16:23-50 (November 1953), p. 171-177.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4. </a>LaSor, William Sanford, n.d., Isaiah 7:14—"Young Woman" or "Virgin," Unpublished manuscript, Fuller Theological Seminary, p. 5-6.
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5. </a>Young, p. 33.
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6. </a>Gordon, Cyrus H., Almah in Isaiah 7:14, The Journal of Bible &amp; Religion, Vol. 21 (April 1953), p. 106.

Almah: Virgin or Young Maiden?

Gus was a nice guy. But he was also a pest.  As a telecommunications engineer I could not have asked for a better co-worker. Gus was proficient and always in a good mood. As a Jew, however, I would have preferred that he talk about almost anything else while working by my side. He was always telling me that Yeshua (Jesus) was the real Messiah!
For months we carried on a friendly debate. At lunch we would analyze current Israeli politics. While writing specifications, we would tangle with some ancient prophecies. Then, before going home, he liked to pose an intellectual challenge for me to ponder, usually about the Messiah, often as difficult to comprehend as electricity is to see.
I'll have to admit that Gus did his homework and made his points. I was soon able to see that Yeshua was someone I needed to consider seriously as a great man, a brilliant teacher and maybe even a prophet. Gus actually had me reading the New Testament. But there remained a grinding question that is a major roadblock for every Jew:
<h3>How can the Messiah be both human and divine?</h3>
That cut against the grain of all the teaching I had ever received in Hebrew school and synagogue. It was utterly beyond my natural understanding. But, to my consternation, that fact didn't cause Gus to waver one bit. Like an electric circuit, he kept all of his arguments flowing. And he knew just when to shut off the flow of new ideas and let me reflect and respond.
One day I quizzed Gus, hoping to discover a flaw in his biblical specifications. My friend read from the New Testament where Yeshua says, I and the Father are one."<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a> He quoted Yeshua telling a crowd, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.…I tell you the truth…before Abraham was born, I am!"<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a> He noted that Yeshua called himself divine, yet lived in a body of flesh and blood.
Yeshua's words could not have been clearer, but there still seemed to be a missing loop in the logic. As an engineer I could make an attempt to explain how electricity flows. But just as there is a mysterious element to electricity, it seemed to me that there was an even more unexplainable, even mystical dimension to the Messiah's twin natures. Frankly, to my Jewish mind it seemed impossible.
Gus paused, then slowly spoke words I have never forgotten: "If you truly want to know who the real Messiah is, then you must read the New Testament record. Take note of what Yeshua did for the people of Israel of his day and what he said to them. I will not say anything more because I don't want to argue this point. I believe that Yeshua himself will speak to your heart."
<h3>The Human Side of Yeshua</h3>
Usually I could put aside Gus' challenges until I wanted to face them. This one could not wait. Leafing through the New Testament I found that the Messiah not only called himself divine, but he more often referred to himself as the "Son of Man." He was clearly claiming to be human.
The label "Son of Man" could have been an attempt to identify with Ezekiel the prophet, I thought. Perhaps Yeshua wanted to empathize with our needs, our hurts and our victories, I reasoned.
However, I knew the answer wasn't that pragmatic. It was more elusive, like defining electricity. So I decided to research what Jewish religious leaders of that day had said about who the Messiah really is.
I started with the exile of Jewish people to Babylon, which was a judgment for trafficking with idols. After that, our leaders wanted to protect the people from ever again demeaning the holiness of God by the sin of idolatry—a good idea, I concurred. To achieve this they developed a systematic de-anthropomorphization of God (removing any human way of describing God); they emphasized God's total otherness.
Yet I seemed to remember the prophets speaking of God in warm human terms. I checked and, sure enough, I found phrases such as "His eyes are upon us," "His hand helps us," "His feet lead us," "His finger points to His revelation."
What had happened to these attributes that clearly connected God with man? Maybe this de-anthropomorphization wasn't such a good idea after all. Even basic words defining God were altered:
<ul>
	<li>Memra, or the word, refers to any part of God's being. Mouth, for example, is changed to memra.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a></li>
	<li>Presence refers to the "face" of God;<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a> "to see the King" is to see the glory of the shekinah.<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a> Instead of "the LORD of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion," the reference is to his shekinah dwelling on Mount Zion.<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a></li>
	<li>"The LORD who sees" becomes "it was seen before Him."</li>
	<li>"The kingdom of God" is replaced with "the kingdom of heaven."</li>
	<li>Instead of referring to God directly, the word "power" is employed.</li>
</ul>
By the first century, this de-anthropomorphisizing vocabulary created a sense of division between God and man. While Jewish people certainly considered God as a person, the emphasis on his holiness was shifted to mean God was far away, wholly other. Using this line of thinking, if a boundary line is drawn, God appears above the line while humankind appears below it. This boundary establishes a great gulf whereby a human cannot become God and God cannot become human. No wonder it was so difficult for so many Jews of that day, and today, to accept the Messiah as both human and divine!
This could explain why, when Yeshua began his public speaking, he was very careful about the way he referred to himself. He did not initially claim to be both human and divine, most likely because people would have considered that an affront against the fixed line between man and God. A person could have been stoned for such an infraction. That could be why Matthew, Mark and Luke, writing in the New Testament, identify Yeshua as the "Son of Man" while never attempting to hide his true identity. Yeshua was initially careful with his words. But this proves nothing except that he was an intelligent, sensitive man.
<h3>Yeshua As a Great Teacher</h3>
I know that if I were alive then, I would have wanted to hear Yeshua speak, because it was well known that he attracted large crowds. What was it that drew so many people?
The evangelist Mark observed: "The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law." (Mark 1:22 NIV) The common style of the religious leaders of that day was first to compare what previous or contemporary rabbis had taught, then answer with a distillation of what the best minds had to say about the subject. Yeshua spoke on his own authority. He would preface his teaching with the words, "You have heard it said,…but I say to you.…" Other leaders would not dare include their own thoughts, perceptions and insights.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua declared, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27,28 NIV) By this point, I could understand why Yeshua would want to be seen as human. And I knew he was either arrogant or a great teacher. I had opted for the latter. But this alone still proved nothing more than the fact that he was a brilliant man, perhaps a genius. Maybe he was a messenger from God. But to call him divine seemed to be reaching too far. I still couldn't see electricity or how anyone could cross the barrier between humanity and divinity.
There certainly was something different about this Yeshua. But did he actually meet the needs of the people? I asked, rerouting the question my friend Gus had launched. Or did he simply teach in a profound manner and perform acts that gained the attention of the curious? He certainly knew how to be in touch with and alleviate the pain we so often experience.
I read where he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. …I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28,29 NIV) I was beginning to like this man Yeshua. He seemed to genuinely care for my people. But caring and offering kind words don't prove that you are divine.
That is when my heart began to pound. It was as if someone had flipped the switch to connect one of the circuits I had designed. Before me as plain as a blueprint, I could see that Yeshua was more than a mere man.
<h3>The Deeds of Yeshua</h3>
Yeshua not only provided rest for the weary, but he met the physical and spiritual needs of the people as well. He not only comforted with human empathy, but he touched those around him in a super-human way that made him at least a prophet:
He healed people (Matthew 8:1-17 NIV). A surgeon can operate to mend parts of the body, but Yeshua completely healed the leper; the servant of the Roman centurion; the mother-in-law of Peter; and many other people who were suffering from various illnesses. He healed as Isaiah the prophet declared the Messiah would heal: "…he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows." (Isaiah 53:4 NIV) He had command over nature. (Matthew 8:23-27 NIV) Once, when Yeshua and the disciples were crossing the Yam Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) on route to Tiberias, a violent windstorm came up. The disciples were bailing water at a furious rate, and the prospect of completing the journey was dismal. Yeshua was awakened by his disciples who pleaded that he do something because they feared they would die in the storm. Yeshua listeneed, then rebuked them for their lack of faith. He stood up, faced the winds and waves, and spoke to them. Everything instantly became calm!
While I could reason as to how Yeshua could be a healer, his control over the winds and waves places him into a different category, at least a super-man if not deity. The disciples themselves were amazed, and asked themselves, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!?"
He had control over the unseen world. (Matthew 8:28-34 NIV) When the disciples arrived at the east side of the lake, they encountered two violent, demon-possessed men. The demons who controlled the men had no difficulty in recognizing Yeshua. They addressed him as the Son of God. When he cast the demons out of the two men, restoring the men to their right minds, Yeshua demonstrated his mastery of the unseen world. Yeshua forgave sin. (Matthew 9:1-8 NIV) Yeshua and his disciples came to Tiberias. There he addressed a great crowd of people, so large that it was nearly impossible for anyone to get close to him. Four men came to the site, carrying a paralytic man on a mat. Because they could not get through the crowd, they climbed onto the roof, removed some tiles and lowered the paralytic man down through the hole into the house.
When Yeshua saw the sick man, instead of first saying the words that would heal him, he pronounced: "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2 NIV) Some of the religious leaders present were shocked by Yeshua's audacity. Sensing the thoughts of these leaders, Yeshua challenged them by comparing the authority to heal with the authority to forgive sins.
Yeshua then instructed the paralytic man to stand up, pick up his mat and go home. (Matthew 9:6 NIV) The man did just that!
Yeshua had control over life. (Matthew 9:18-19, 23-36 NIV) When the daughter of a synagogue leader became seriously ill, the leader summoned Yeshua. Yeshua and his disciples went to visit the girl, but when they arrived they were told she had already died. Yeshua, however, told the mourners who had gathered, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." (Matthew 9:24 NIV) The people laughed at him, but he did not reply. Instead, he took aside the father and mother, along with his disciples Peter, James and John. They went into the inner room where the dead body of the girl was lying. He took hold of the girl's hand and instructed her to get up. She arose; she was alive!
I have to admit that I was more than uneasy when I read this account. I protested! Only God has control over life and death. When the tenth and last plague struck the Egyptians, God prepared his people, telling them to put the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their homes as a sign to the Angel of Death to spare that household's firstborn child. The Egyptians, who had no such warning, suffered the loss of their eldest sons. By raising the young girl to life, Yeshua exhibited the same power over life and death.
If Yeshua truly had control over disease, the wind and waves, demons and life itself, then he had to have a divine nature. A super-man might be able to do a few of these things, but not all of them. And surely, a super-man could not forgive sin.
I could see how Yeshua could have been a compassionate human. And I could now accept his divinity. But like trying to explain why you can talk on a telephone line half way around the world, I still could not complete the circuit that would make Yeshua both divine and human.
<h3>The Divine Connection</h3>
At Gat Shemen (Gethsemane), a very human Yeshua was apprehended by temple guards and Roman troops. He was brought before the Sanhedrin where, eventually, the high priest challenged his identity. "Tell us if you are the Christ," he prodded. "[Tell us if you are] the Son of God." (Matthew 26:63 NIV) Yeshua had no real difficulty in affirming the first inquiry. Even a minority of the rabbis accepted his messiahship.
The test came with the second question: Are you really the Son of God? This, I thought, will reveal the true motivation behind his acts. For his answer, Yeshua paraphrased Daniel 7:13 NIV, applying it to himself: "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:24 NIV)
What was Yeshua saying? Was he out of his mind? He had declared the unthinkable. Yeshua, as the Son of Man, had crossed the barrier between God and man. He had completed the circuit. He said he would sit at the right hand of the Mighty One, or God!
<h3>Who Is Yeshua?</h3>
The high priest tore his own clothes, indicating he did not believe the claim. In my Jewish mind, I could almost do the same. Then, as I sat in my study contemplating what Yeshua had done for my people and what he had said, I too made the connection. It was not a supernatural revelation. Only later would I learn that people at several churches had been praying for me. No, I just sat there examining who Yeshua was and what he had done.
Matthew's account of the life of Yeshua so clearly portrayed how the people of Israel tested much of what Yeshua said and did. They looked at his words and his deeds. Many decided that the only way Yeshua could have said what he said and performed the miracles he performed was through a special manifestation of God.
Who is the real Messiah? He was more than a great man, more than a brilliant teacher and more than a prophet. He is the One who could heal people, forgive them of their sins and have control over life itself. Because of his twin natures, he is the only one who has the power to change humans.
Paul once declared, "…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV) Yeshua is the One who offers us life: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10 NIV) He also declared he is the One who can give us peace: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27 NIV)
Furthermore, it is only through Yeshua that we can enter into God's presence: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NIV) Still a Mystery!
I could not walk away from the challenge to examine the claims of Yeshua. How could I say he was or was not the Messiah unless I looked at the record? What was the final switch that caused me to accept Yeshua as both human and divine? Just as I still struggle to explain the flow of electricity, so I would struggle to answer. To my finite mind, how anyone can be human and divine is still a mystery. But it is no longer a roadblock. For Yeshua has proven to be both.
I leave with you the same challenge my co-worker Gus left with me many years ago. If you really want to know who Yeshua is, don't just accept someone else's conclusion. Read the New Testament. See what Yeshua did for the Jewish people. Examine the mystery of his human nature and his divine nature. See if Yeshua will speak directly to you as he did to me. That is the real mystery.
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1. </a>The Holy Bible, New International Version, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1978. John 10:30.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2. </a>Ibid., John 8:56,58.
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3. </a>J.F. Stenning, The Targum of Isaiah, London, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949. Isaiah 1:20.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4. </a>New International Version, Numbers 6:25,26.
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5. </a>Stenning, Isaiah 6:5.
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6. </a>Stenning, Isaiah 8:18.

Is the Messiah Divine?

<h3>What the Prophet Said</h3>
<h4>8th Century B.C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
Who would have believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground; he had no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him, nor beauty that we should delight in him. He was despised, and forsaken of men, a man of pains, and acquainted with disease, and as one from whom men hide their face: he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded because of our transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, though he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was takeen away, and with his generation who did reason? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
(Isaiah 53)
</blockquote>
<h3>What the Rabbis Said</h3>
<h4>2nd Century C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
Behold my servant. Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase, and be exceeding strong: as the house of Israel looked to him through many days, because their countenance was darkened among the peopled, and their complexion beyond the sons of men.
(Targum Jonathan)
</blockquote>
<h4>500 C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
The Messiah–what is his name?…The rabbis say, the leprous one; those of the house of Rabbi say, the sick one, as it is said, “Surely he hath borne our sickness.”
(Sanhedrin 98b) 
(The Babylonian Talmud)
</blockquote>
<h4>6th Century C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
He is speaking of King Messiah: “Come hither” draw near to the throne “and dip thy morsel in the vinegar,” this refers to the chastisements, as it is said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.”
(Ruth 2:14 commentary from The Midrash Rabbah)
</blockquote>
<h4>Date Uncertain</h4>
<blockquote>
Our righteous anointed is departed from us: horror hath seized us, and we have none to justify us. He hath borne the yoke of our iniquities and our transgression, and is wounded because of our transgression. He beareth our sins on his shoulder, that he may find pardon for our iniquities. We shall be healed by his wound, at the time that the Eternal will create Him [the Messiah] as a new creature.
(Eleazar ha Kalir, from the Machsor)
</blockquote>
<h4>1270 – 1300 C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
In the hour in which they tell the Messiah about the sufferings of Israel in exile, and about the sinful among them who seek not the knowledge of their Master, the Messiah lifts up his voice and weeps over the sinful among them. This is what is written: He was wounded because of our transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). Those souls then return to their places. In the Garden of Eden there is a Hall which is called the Hall of the Sons of Illness. The Messiah enters that Hall and summons all the disease and all the pains and all the suffering of Israel that they should come upon him, and all of them come upon him.
(The Zohar 2:212a)
</blockquote>
<h4>1350 C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
This passage, the commentators explain, speaks of the captivity of Israel, although the singular number is used in it throughout. Others have supposed it to mean the just in the present world, who are crushed and oppressed now…but these, too, for the same reason, by altering the number, distort the verses from the natural meaning. And then it seems to me that…having forsaken the knowledge of our teachers, and inclined “after the stubbornness of their own hearts,” and of their own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of King Messiah.
(Rabbi Moshe Kohen Iben Crispin of Cordova, Spain in response to Rashi’s interpretation of Isaiah 53)
</blockquote>
<h4>16th Century C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
I may remark, then, that our Rabbis of blessed memory with one voice accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet [Isaiah] is speaking of the King Messiah.
(The writings of Rabbi Moshe Alsheikh of Safed)
</blockquote>
<h4>1818 C.E.</h4>
<blockquote>
According to the opinion of Rashi and Ibn Ezra, it relates to Israel at the end of their captivity. But if so, what can be the meaning of the passage, “He was wounded for our transgressions”? Who was wounded? Who are the transgressors? Who carried out the sickness and bare the pain? The fact is that it refers to the King Messiah.
(From the commentary of Jewish educator Herz Homberg)
</blockquote>

What the Prophet Said, What the Rabbis Said

I was born in New York City in 1901 and brought up in the Jewish faith. By faith, I mean that I believed in God, having heard many Bible stories from my father who read to us and taught us Jewish history. And yet, when I asked Papa the many questions which children are likely to ask about God, I found that our faith was in the Jewish people and in the general belief that there was a God. Religion, as such, had little place in my family's life.
I married Sydney, a good Jewish man, and we raised our family of five after the pattern of our own upbringing. We sent our children to Hebrew School and taught them to believe in God, but that was the extent of our religious concern.
The way I ultimately found a more personal faith in God was marked by illness and sorrow.
It began in 1938, when we moved from New York to California. I became acquainted with a Jewish woman who gave me a book entitled The Nazarene, by Scholem Ash. The author's forceful narrative aroused within me a strong, yet undefined impression that Jesus must have been more than a prophet of old. His words and his deeds were so authoritative; they seemed to come from God himself. Like a tiny seed buried deep within the ground, that thought remained hidden in the depths of my mind.
In 1941, World War II broke out and my eldest son enlisted. I was not to see him again for two years, when I was seriously ill with angina attacks. George was given leave to come home for a brief visit. That was the last time I saw him alive.
It was during my illness that I began to have strange dreams. In them, I was chased by a giant armed with a sickle. I ran over hills and mountains trying to escape him, until there was no place left to run. Suddenly, the sky opened, a beautiful blue and pink sky. In the midst of it, there stood a man clothed in a white robe with a beard as white as his robe. I can still recall how he stood with his arms outstretched saying, I will save you." I ran into those arms and the giant disappeared.
In my waking hours, I reasoned that the man in white must be my grandfather. After all, I thought, he was such a good, kind and loving man; he surely would be in heaven.
The dream repeated itself night after night. I became worried and nervous. I finally consulted a doctor out of fear that I might be losing my mind. He prescribed medication to relax me. I also inquired of a Christian friend, "What could this dream mean?" She replied, "You have described Jesus and your dream is showing how Jesus saves those who believe him."
I listened to her words but they seemed to be meant for someone else. How strange to think a Jew could believe in Jesus. It should not have affected me, and yet I was unsettled.
Back in New York, when something troubled us, we would go to the synagogue, make a donation and ask the rabbi to say a prayer. In Sunland, California there was no synagogue and no rabbi. Instead, I consulted an elderly Jewish woman, hoping she could provide the spiritual guidance for which my heart yearned. She gave me a Hebrew and English prayer book, some kindly assurances and a bit of advice: "Forget about the dreams," she said.
I prayed morning and night, but remained restless as the question haunted me: "Why should I dream of Jesus?"
In another dream that I had during that period, I was asked to identify some boys who had been killed. After seeing the last one, I said, "No, that's not my son." Then my dream switched to a scene of sailors all smartly dressed and lined up in a neat row. I thought perhaps I was about to see a military wedding. Then there were flowers and marble—and a crypt.
I wondered at the vividness of this dream and why I should remember such distinct details of the physical surroundings involved.
By this time, I had recovered from the angina and returned to work. One day a sudden chill swept over me and the feeling was so strange that I had to stop singing. (I always liked to sing while working.) The girls around me, having been cheered by my voice, asked why I had stopped. I had no answer.
When the commander of the Coast Guard came to our door, I knew what the chill and the dream had meant. Our son George had been killed.
I learned that many of the details of my dream matched the circumstances of our son's death, including what he was wearing when he was killed and where the accident occurred. The sailors I had dreamed of lined up at the all-too-real cemetery for the final salute to George.
George was temporarily interred at Hollywood cemetery in a crypt which was nothing like what I had seen in my dream. But when I was shown a picture of the building which was to be constructed after the war, I saw that George would ultimately be brought to the place I had seen in my dream—before it had been built.
Since everything in this second dream had come to pass, I was anxious to find out what my first dream, with the threatening giant and the man in white meant. I felt certain it had spiritual significance, so I started to search the Scriptures.
I read what some call the "Old" Testament. I did not know that there was such a thing as a "New" Testament.
People started coming to my door inviting me to Bible studies.
We moved, and still I met people who spoke to me of the Bible. One kind woman to whom I shall always be grateful introduced me to the rest of the Bible, which spoke not only of the prophets, but of their fulfillment. I began to read the Bible daily.
One Saturday, I attended the Wilshire Temple in Los Angeles with a friend. As the rabbi read from the Book of Isaiah, my eyes fell upon the fourteenth verse of the seventh chapter: "…Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel." I whispered to my friend, "Doesn't this mean Jesus?" Shocked, she replied,
"Sh! Don't speak of Jesus here."
Upon returning home I took my Bible and began to search the Scriptures anew. Passage after passage seemed to say to me: "This refers to Jesus."
We moved back to Sunland where my Christian friend invited me to hear her pastor teach. I asked him to tell me the difference between a Gentile and a Christian, which I had always considered synonymous. His explanation helped me to understand the difference between a cultural upbringing and a faith-based decision.
I discovered that not all Gentiles were Christians. Still, all the Christians I knew were Gentiles, and I could not imagine a Jewish believer in Jesus. Nor did I really understand what Christians believed—until I met Mike Friedman.
Mike was invited to speak about how and why he was a believer in Yeshua (Jesus). Here was a Jewish man, telling about Jesus as the Messiah who is our atonement, our Kapporah. I felt as if he were speaking directly to me. This was familiar—this I could understand! And I knew it was what I had been waiting for. I knew I could trust my life to Jesus.
Mike and I prayed together and the heaviness I had carried was lifted from my heart. I experienced a joy and a peace of mind that I had never known.
My husband found his Messiah, Jesus, in March of 1955, about two years after I had. Then followed the happiest days of our life together.
Sidney has gone on to be with the One who gave his life for us. I am now 88 years young and have written this for those I cannot tell in person.
Yes, I can still recall those outstretched arms from my dream, but it no longer mystifies me. I know with certainty that Jesus, the Messiah, has opened the heavens for me and for any Jew or Gentile who will trust him.

The Man in the White Robe

<h3>Fruit Harvest in Ancient Israel</h3>
When summer is gone, the final harvest is ready. Nimble fingers separate grapes from the vines. Some of the harvest is laid out for the sun to sweeten into delicious dried fruit: raisins. Huge quantities of grapes are crushed and their juice is stored in large earthen vats until the proper time for it to be poured into wineskins to complete the fermentation process. All look forward to the abundance of wine, which King David said gladdens the heart. (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/psalm/104/15">Psalm 104:15</a>)
Each of the family joins in collecting the fruit of the land, the fruit God has provided for his people. Children scramble to fill oversized baskets with figs and dates which will be molded into cakes for a sweet confection to be used in the months ahead. Some dates will be made into a sweet syrup, date honey.
The apple fragrance sets mouths to watering and telltale stains from bright red pomegranates are evidence that some have sampled the fruit to "taste and see that the LORD is good." (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/psalm/34/8">Psalm 34:8</a>)
Then it is time to harvest the olives. The lush dark green olive trees on the terraced hillsides are black with the ripe fruit. Everyone joins in the exhausting but exhilarating work, stripping the trees of their fruit. Copious volumes of olives are collected and then crushed under the massive rolling stone of the olive press to extract the precious oil for cooking or fuel for the oil lamps or for anointing. The oil will also provide the base for soap as well as for unguent, a healing ointment to spread over one's wounds.
The harvest event spurs the people to rejoice and meditate on God's provision for his people, as they observe the biblical Feast of Booths, or "Hag Sukkot," in this joyous setting.
The festival is explained in Leviticus 23:33-35, 39-43:
<blockquote>
The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.…after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest.On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'"
</blockquote>
The book of Numbers, chapter 29, provides a more detailed description of the sacrifices and burnt offerings made during Sukkot. On the first day (in addition to the regular Temple offerings) thirteen bullocks were sacrificed, along with two rams, fourteen male lambs and a goat for a sin offering. The number of bullocks diminished by one each day until a total of 70 had been sacrificed by the seventh day. On the eighth day only one bullock was sacrificed.
According to the Midrash on <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/psalm/109/4">Psalm 109 verse 4</a>, the seventy bullocks were for the seventy nations thought to make up the world, while the single bullock on the eighth day was said to be for Israel<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a> There is no actual Biblical basis for the interpretation<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a> but it is an interesting speculation and it hints at the ancient rabbis' understanding that <a href="/answers/why-did-jesus-need-to-die-for-our-sins">God desired to provide atonement not only for Israel, but for all peoples</a>. This sacrifice was not superficial to the harvest festival; it was the central feature.
<h3>What are the central elements of the feast?</h3>
Sukkot occurs after the harvest has been completed and before the beginning of the new agricultural year. It includes the well-deserved rest from one's labor and sincere rejoicing in what God has done in providing for his people.
Jews are also called upon to remember God's providential care over us after we were redeemed from bondage in Egypt. Jews are to remember his provision for us during the forty years of wilderness wandering. That is why God commanded Israel to observe the festival by leaving our permanent dwellings to live in the more fragile, temporary booths, or "sukkot."
God instituted Sukkot as a reminder that dependence upon him was not something that ended when the Promised Land was reached. Thus, even after a good harvest, we need to remember year after year the temporal nature of this life and the fact that we must ultimately rely on God to provide for us.
In the midst of this great celebration of God's provision, this feast of rejoicing in the abundance of God's goodness, this <a href="/publications/newsletter/newsletter-aug-2009/sabbath-rest-highlights-in-the-old-and-new-testament">time of rest from one's labors</a>, a specified multitude of sacrifices were offered to atone for sin. This focus on atonement and forgiveness was a reminder of reliance upon God to provide for our spiritual, as well as physical, well-being.<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a>
During the days of the Second Temple, traditions were added to embellish the Feast of Sukkot. The myrtle, willow and palm branches used for the construction of the booths<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a> were bound together to form the "lulav," a symbol of thanksgiving and praise to God. The lulav is held in the right hand and is waved before God on each of the seven days of Sukkot, excepting the Sabbath. The "etrog," or citron, a lemon-like fruit, is held in the left hand. While the etrog is not mentioned in the Bible, our rabbis consider it the "choice fruit from the trees" mentioned in <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/leviticus/23/40">Leviticus 23:40</a>.
<h3>The priests of the Temple performed three main daily rites during the feast.</h3>
Just before dawn each day, they proceeded to the east gate out of the Temple area. As the sun appeared they turned away from it and faced to the west, toward the Temple. Then they announced: "Our fathers when they were in this place turned their faces toward the east, and they worshiped the sun toward the east; but as for us, our eyes are turned toward the LORD."
The second rite was performed at night. Four huge menorahs were set up to illuminate the entire Temple area. In actuality they were so large that each of the stems formed a torch. The wicks were made from the worn out linen garments of the priests. As smaller torches were carried to light the procession, the people danced and played harps, lyres, cymbals and lutes. The Levites chanted the Psalms of Ascent (120-134); one psalm on each of the fifteen steps leading from the court of the Israelites to the court of the women. Imagine what a glorious scene it must have been, with the majesty of the procession and the golden stone walls of the Temple bathed in the glow of the torch-lit night!
The third daily ceremony was the rite of the water libation. On the first morning of Sukkot a procession of priests went down to the pool of Siloam to bring up to the Temple a golden container of water sufficient to last throughout the seven days of the feast. The water was brought up with great ceremony. <a href="/blog/ram-or-lamb">The shofar was blown</a> and the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the feast waved their lulavs as the priests carried the water around the altar. The great Hallel (Psalms 113-118) were recited. Then the priest on duty poured out the contents of two silver bowls: one held water and the other held wine. This was an act of prayer and an expression of dependence upon God to pour out his blessing of rain upon the earth.
On the last or "great" day of the feast, the water libation rite reached its climax. The priests circled the altar seven times and then poured out the water with great pomp and ceremony. This was Hoshana Rabbah, the great "HOSHIANA," (which translated is "save now").
<h3>Sukkot in the New Covenant</h3>
We find a significant mention of Hoshana Rabbah in the New Covenant book of John chapter seven verses 37-52. It was on this day, the last and greatest day of the feast (possibly just as the water was being poured out), that Yeshua stood up and boldly proclaimed to the celebrants, "If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:38)
Imagine the uproar his statement must have caused! The priest had just poured out the water libation as an appeal to <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v12-n04/evidence-for-gods-existence">the Creator God</a> to provide water for the people, and Yeshua (Jesus), as if to answer the prayer, tells the people to come to him for water. What a radical statement and shocker to the crowd.
<a href="/answers/dont-christians-believe-in-three-gods">Jesus was claiming to be none other than the Creator himself</a>! Some recognized his authority and plainly said, "He is the Messiah." (v. 41) Others were absolutely incensed. Some wanted to seize him and have him stoned for blasphemy, that is, claiming to be God. Yet we read that the Temple guards were unable to lay a hand on him. When the Pharisees and chief priests questioned the guards as to why they could not arrest him, they simply responded, "No one ever spoke the way this man does." (v. 46) The Temple guards were transfixed by his word. <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v14-n02/the-claims-of-jesus">They were unable to act against Yeshua when faced with his obvious authority.</a>
The Pharisees responded to those guards as would many people today. "You mean he has deceived you also?" they asked. It was inconceivable to some religious leaders that Yeshua's claims could be true and therefore they themselves could be wrong. Pride prevented them from questioning their own supposed wisdom. The fact that they didn't believe became a settled matter once and for all. They reasoned that since they didn't believe it, it couldn't possibly be true. They held themselves up as the proprietors of truth, the only authoritative interpreters of the Torah. The masses, they decided, were ignorant and deceived; they knew nothing of the Law.
Does this sound at all familiar? Isn't it really the essence of unbelief? When the issue of Jesus is raised, how often it is still said, "I am too well educated and too intelligent to believe such nonsense. It's for people who are weak and need a crutch, whereas I'm very secure in my unbelief. Besides, if it were true, wouldn't the rabbis, who know a lot more about religion, have discovered it?"
Some Pharisaic leaders said,
<blockquote>
The prophet, the Messiah, cannot come from Galilee." Yet, in their blindness, they themselves fulfilled a prophecy which had been written hundreds of years earlier. We find it recorded in the eighth chapter of the book of Isaiah. Shortly before he predicted that a great light would come from Galilee, Isaiah said: "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. (Isaiah 8:12-14)
</blockquote>
Isaiah then proceeded to speak of Galilee, the despised portion of the land of Israel given to Zebulun and Naphtali. The region was located on the main trade route connecting the great powers of Assyria and Babylon with Egypt and North Africa. It therefore became known by the derogatory appellation of "Galilee of the Goyim" because of the pagan corruption which had resulted from contact with these foreigners. And yet, this despised town of Galilee would be honored one day because, said the prophet Isaiah, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." (Isaiah 9:2)
<a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-the-great-light">A light would come</a>, a light so bright that it would outshine even the glorious illumination of the Temple at Sukkot. Isaiah spoke of the enlarging of the nation and the increase of joy—the joy of the harvest, because "A child is born, to us a son given,…And he will be called Pele Yo-etz, El Gibbor, Avi Ad, Sar Shalom (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace)." (<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah/9/6">Isaiah 9:6</a>) His rule, we are told, will expand and cover the whole earth and will never cease. He will bring the great harvest of the nations.<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a>
It is no coincidence that Yeshua chose this occasion of Hoshana Rabbah, the last and greatest day of Sukkot to make the declaration that "If a man is thirsty let him come to me to drink." (John 7:38) Yeshua proclaimed himself to be the Great Provider, <a href="/jewish-resources/messianic-prophecy/the-messiah-would-be-our-kinsman-redeemer">the Redeemer of Israel</a> who led the people through the wilderness. He is the great light shining in the darkness, and his body is the great Temple which was raised up after being destroyed as the final sin offering. He provided the final and greatest atonement for his people Israel and for all nations. 
Facsimile of 18th century walnut plaque carved with the words "dew" and "rain" to remind people to pray.
<a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/psalm/118">Psalm 118</a>, part of the great "Hallel" which is chanted during this feast, says, "the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." (v. 22) As the bright light shone from despised Galilee, so the rejected Messiah became the capstone of a new temple.
Messiah promised "living water" for all who believe. What is living water? It is cool, fresh spring water. In the land of Israel water is especially precious, and in Jesus' time there were three main ways of obtaining it. You could build a cistern to collect the rain, but if there was not enough rain, as was often the case, you couldn't fill it and the water soon became stale. Or you could dig a well, which was more reliable. However, the most prized source of water was a spring. Spring water was the sweetest and best water of all. It bubbled up from the recesses of the earth and continued to flow even when other streams were dried up.
This is the water Jesus promised, the best water, real spiritual satisfaction. This is the Shekinah promise to those who believe.
Most people have not tasted this living water. Like some of the Pharisees and priests of Yeshua's day, people are still wise in their own eyes. But the truly wise can<a href="/publications/issues/issues-v21-n10/the-israelites-blew-it-and-so-do-we"> learn a lesson from the wilderness wandering of ancient Israel.</a> Of all those 20 or more years old who came out of Egypt only two entered the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb. This is an example of the axiom "truth has never been determined by a majority vote." Neither has truth been determined by virtue of the stature of those who believe it. So, how is truth determined?
God is the source of truth and he does promise to reveal himself to those who truly want to know.
<blockquote>
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
</blockquote>
Yeshua makes some strong claims about himself. He says to come to him and he will provide living water to all who thirst. He says that our sincere searching will bring us to him. Are his assertions true? This coming Sukkot, find out for yourself.
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1. </a> See Philip Goodman, The Sukkot and Simchat Torah Anthology, p.43.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2. </a><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/zechariah14/16-19">Zechariah 14:16-19</a>, however, does explicitly give a universal interpretation to Sukkot!
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3. </a>Note the recurrence of the number seven in the context of the sacrifices. Seven is the key number in the establishment of God's covenantal relationship with His people. Se also Glaser, Mitch and Zhava, The Fall Feasts of Israel, p. 163 and The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 4, pp. 294-295.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4. </a><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/nehemiah/8/15">See Nehemiah 8:15</a>
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5. </a><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/isaiah-8-11--9-7">See Isaiah 8:11-9:7</a>.

Sukkot: A Promise of Living Water

<blockquote>
"Between God and man stands no one—not God-man, not angel, not advocate. Nor is intercession or intervention required. As nothing comes between soul and body, father and child, potter and vessel, so nothing separates man from God, soul of his soul, his Father and Fashioner."<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1">1</a>
</blockquote>
Most people have little difficulty accepting a need for a mediator in their daily routine. In civic government, local officials represent their constituency to the higher governing authorities. In law, attorneys take the role of advocate. Tax accountants, marriage counselors and others act as "go-betweens" and most people accept their role. Then why is it so difficult to accept the need for a mediator in our relationship with God? Jewish-Christian scholar, Jacob Jocz, sums up the contemporary outlook:
<blockquote>
"Man occupies a position in the Jewish view which makes mediation not only superfluous but unbearable. It is an intrusion which violates man's rights and injures his dignity. Righteousness, to Judaism, cannot be imputed, it must be attained…Man is able to stand by himself; herein lies his dignity."<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2">2</a>
</blockquote>
Modern Judaism teaches that the need for a mediator is "unbearable" and "an intrusion," for we are taught to relate to God in terms of how we see ourselves. According to the rabbis, we are given a soul at birth which is pure and holy, and though we possess an inclination towards both good and evil,<a href="#_edn3" name="_ednref3">3</a> the inclination to do good is stronger than the tendency towards evil. The modern Jewish view emphasizes that we are made in God's image," and therefore are essentially good. Judaism is an optimistic and positive religion. We are led to believe that the drama of everyday life is played out against this backdrop of hope. And if that is so, we have the potential to make noble and lofty ideals a reality.
Still, we are painfully aware of human tragedies and wrongs which people commit against one another. To deny the existence of this dark side" of the human experience would be to deny the pain which, impressed upon the collective Jewish soul, has served to bind us together.
According to the Scriptures, God has made us in his image, but part of this "image" includes the aability to choose:
<blockquote>
"…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live…" (Deut. 30:19)
</blockquote>
Dr. J. H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of Britain in the early part of this century, comments on this text: "Jewish ethics is rooted in the doctrine of human responsibility, that is, freedom of the will." Hertz went on to say that "in the moral universe, man ever remains his own master."<a href="#_edn4" name="_ednref4">4</a> The giving of the Commandments presupposes that we have the ability to choose to follow them.
The ability to choose places the yoke of moral and ethical responsibility upon us. We are accountable to God and to each other for our decisions. We are not programmed robots designed by an impersonal Creator to helplessly act out a destiny that is not of our choosing. Sometimes our choices are wrong, but according to contemporary Jewish thought, evil is not inevitable, but merely an obstacle which we have the power to overcome.
<blockquote>
"Mediation implies the inadequacy of the human effort to reach out Godwards. Judaism is founded on the premise that man is capable by virtue of his moral effort of approaching God. Hence, God's coming to man's aid not only becomes superfluous, but actually interferes with the progress of human development."<a href="#_edn5" name="_ednref5">5</a>
</blockquote>
The rabbis teach we can overcome our "evil inclination"; we can struggle up the steep hill of morality, ascending ever nearer to God. Why would we need a mediator if indeed we are self-sufficient, moral beings? The need for a mediator implies that human efforts are not adequate, that somehow there is a gap between God and humanity that we cannot bridge ourselves. This is precisely the issue to which many take offense.
Modern Judaism also finds the idea of a mediator "unacceptable" because it is regarded as a Christian concept. In light of tragic injustices which the Jewish people have endured at the hands of those who called themselves "Christians," the desire to remain separate from them is not surprising. Much has been written to explain differences between Judaism and Christianity, so that there would be no misunderstanding as to which camp one belonged.
Rabbis assert: "Christians might feel a need for a mediator, but Jews do not." That means that belief in any kind of intermediary figure is decidedly "un-Jewish," and aligns one with the "other side." Most rabbis believe our survival depends upon separation, therefore any merging of culture or faith means assimilation and loss of Jewish identity.
This decision to remain distinct from Christianity and to take exception to the messianic faith has become a determining factor in what will or will not be accepted as truth. To be Christian is to be un-Jewish is axiomatic. After the time of the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the focus on reconciliation with God was blurred.<a href="#_edn6" name="_ednref6">6</a> In the days when the Temple stood, atonement was granted on the basis of repentance and God's acceptance of a substitute, the sacrifice of an innocent animal. Man's good deeds were since made central to forgiveness but only after the rabbis declared sacrifices unnecessary. The need for a mediator was first trivialized, then neglected and finally abandoned as though the original Jewish religion didn't teach it.
The Hebrew Scriptures reveal how mediators were central to the Jewish religion from the very beginning. God established his covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, calling the new nation a "kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6). This was an honor as well as a grave responsibility. The Jewish people, by our faithfulness in keeping the commandments, were to "mediate" between God and the gentile nations. We were to reflect the reality of a living God to the rest of the world so that they, too, might know him.
Did our people respond with a jubilant celebration to this revolutionary new relationship?
<blockquote>
"When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.'" 
(Exodus 20:18,19)
</blockquote>
When the people stood in the presence of God, they did not tell Moses, "We don't need a 'go-between,' we can handle this ourselves, thank you very much!" The people implored Moses to go in their stead; they were terrified at the prospect of going "directly to God!" Imagine hearing the boom of thunder claps! Imagine seeing the spectacular display of light and smoke upon Mount Sinai! Imagine realizing that you might be confronted by the Being you presumed existed but never hoped to encounter—the One who demands moral perfection. Many people quiver in the presence of a celebrity. How much greater the awe one must feel in the presence of the Creator!
Even the great prophet Moses, who interceded for the nation when God thought to destroy them, was not allowed to experience God's unbounded splendor.
<blockquote>
"And the LORD said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence…' 'But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.'" 
(Exodus 33:19,20)
</blockquote>
If our Scriptures are true, then anyone who would see God face to face would die! But just as God protected the nation through Moses, God protected Moses, covering him with his own hand (Exodus 33:22). Why would Moses and the people need "protection" from God? Hadn't he chosen them, redeemed them and loved them? The prophet Isaiah's dramatic encounter with the living God shows why.
Isaiah had a vision of God seated on a throne surrounded by angelic beings singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). But the music of the heavens was more than a song, it was a supernatural symphony which filled the Temple. "The doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke" (Isaiah 6:4). As the nation of Israel trembled et the foot of Mount Sinai, Isaiah trembled before the same God who had spoken to Moses. One might think that Isaiah had good reason to be pleased and excited—the King of the Universe wanted to have an audience with him. But what was his reaction?
<blockquote>
"'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'" 
(Isaiah 6:5)
</blockquote>
Isaiah knew that in the presence of a holy God, he was "unholy." The contrast between God's righteousness and Isaiah's frailty was stark.…
He must have felt like someone who had dressed in a dimly lit room and entered the morning sunlight, only to find spots and stains that before were invisible. The closer he'd get to the source of light, the more apparent the blotches and blemishes would become. Of course, the stains were there all the time; he just couldn't see them when he was in the dark.
The reactions of Moses, the nation of Israel and Isaiah seem almost un-Jewish in light of modern theology. Instead of self-sufficiency, our ancestors felt fear and inadequacy. Instead of pride, they experienced humility and awe. They saw who God is, holy and righteous, and they cried out for mercy. When Moses, Isaiah or any human beings have come truly close to God, the Source of light, they could not but be overwhelmed by their own frailties. And just as God sent Moses to protect the people from their fear, he sent an angel with a live coal to touch Isaiah's lips and cleanse him from sin.
The angel said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). It was God who took the initiative in bringing about Isaiah's reconciliation. In an act of grace and compassion, God provided the means for forgiveness and restoration. Like Isaiah, we are responsible for our actions and choices, but we are also responsible to relate to God on his terms.
The concept of our inadequacy before God undercuts all sense of human dignity, if, as Jocz explains, mediatorship is viewed by Jewish people as "an intrusion which violates man's rights and injures his dignity."
But is that what a mediator really does? Human dignity comes from being created in God's image. If believing that we need a mediator to restore that image undercuts our dignity, then saying that we don't undercuts God's very existence, for it requires that he compromise his character and his standards. If we do not need a mediator, one of two things must be true. The first, that God is not who he says he is, "…because I, the LORD, am holy" (Leviticus 20:26). If that is true, Moses, Isaiah and all the people of Israel were foolish and superstitious to tremble in his presence. But, by insisting that God be less than God, we deny that which gives us not only dignity, but also purpose and hope. The second possibility is that God is holy, but a mediator is not necessary because no relationship is desired.
God's holiness has not been compromised, but neither have his compassion and patience. God is interested in a relationship, even if we are not! He used Moses, the prophets, priests and sacrifices to intercede on behalf of the people and to reconcile the people to himself. He chose the Jewish people to represent him to the other nations of the world. And according to his promises, God gave us the ultimate mediator,
<blockquote>
"…because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." 
(Isaiah 53:12)
</blockquote>
Yeshua (Jesus) embodies the reach of God across the abyss of human weakness. Untainted by sin, he represents to us God's holiness to man, and reflects our human experience to God.
<blockquote>
"For thhere is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua, who gave himself as a ransom for all…" 
(1 Timothy 2:5,6)
</blockquote>
<h4>End Notes</h4>
<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">1.</a> Steinberg, Milton, Basic Judaism, Harvest Book, Harcourt, Brace &amp; World, Inc., NY, 1947, p. 57-58.
<a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2">2.</a> Jocz, Jakob, The Jewish People and Jesus Christ, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1979, p. 280.
<a href="#_ednref3" name="_edn3">3.</a> The commonly used rabbinic terms are "yetzer ha-toy" and "yetzer ha-ra." The rabbis believe that we control the balance between these two opposing forces.
<a href="#_ednref4" name="_edn4">4.</a> Hertz, Dr. Joseph H., The Authorized Daily Prayer Book, 1975, p. 882.
<a href="#_ednref5" name="_edn5">5.</a> Jocz, p. 278.
<a href="#_ednref6" name="_edn6">6.</a> For more information on the sacrificial system and modern Jewish thought, see ISSUES, Volume 5:7, <a href="/publications/issues/issues-v05-n07/whatever-happened-to-the-substitute-atonement-of-the-torah/">"Whatever Happened to the Substitute Atonement of the Torah?"</a>