The Truth About Moshiach

The Missionary Vaccine

2009-08-13T17:50:00.004-04:00

In Israel and the United States, missionary attempts on Jews are reaching a fever-pitch. Evangelical Christians are using every technique they possess, including converting the elderly in nursing homes, in order to lure Jews to the Cross. Scandalously, missionaries are preparing to inaugurate a new Christian Russian-language TV network will be inaugurated next month in Israel. This station is aimed at the Russian Jewish public, many of whom are painfully ignorant of their Jewish heritage following decades of Soviet oppression, as well as content aimed at children.

Incredibly, many young Jews are tragically falling for this Messianic deception, trading their heritage for a pot of lentils. Why is it that unprecedented numbers of Jews are crossing a line that their grandparents would have never dared to cross, whereas in previous generations, despite oppression and force, few Jews accepted the Christian faith? Even under the harshest conditions, which could almost complete disappear upon baptism, most Jews clung tightly to their faith. Forced conversionist sermons, decreed by the Church to be held in synagogues on shabbat, had little effect on Jews. What went wrong?

The answer is simple: today's generation of Jews prefers a strong, passionate Christianity to a watered-down, diluted Judaism. Most Jews have no exposure to authentic Jewish practice and belief, and have at best memories of bubbeh and zaideh, or resentment at being forced to attend afternoon school or "temple". An entire generation of Jews has grown up simply having no idea what Judaism is- and they have no idea what Judaism is not. To understand why the "Judaism" of the "temple rabbis" has no appeal to young people, one need only read this interview. The empty, vapid cultural Judaism has nothing to offer, complete with all its trappings of "bar mitzvah", trying to be accepted, and "Christmukkah".

It is essential to comprehend what Judaism is not before learning what it is. Judaism is not a culture, and eating gefilte fish or watching Fiddler on the Roof will not keep Jews Jewish. Cultural Judaism is a dead-end which leads to the travesties of trying to incorporate Jewish rituals at mixed-marriages, or of lighting the Chanukiyah next to the Christmas tree. Judaism is not secular Israeli nationalism, and Jews unfounded in Jewish concepts and ideals will find it increasingly difficult to accept the idea of a Jewish state. Not rooted in Jewish thought, many young Jews in the Diaspora are becoming uncomfortable with the Zionist dream. The secularization of Judaism, through "culture" as well as Zionism unfounded in Torah, is a goat-path to nowhere, a nihilistic road to assimilation and intermarriage. The millions of Jews who gave up their lives throughout history screaming the Shemah did not die for kugel or knishes.

Judaism is a covenant with G-d, established when G-d appeared before the entire nation of Israel at Sinai and presented them with His Torah. It has been, and continues to be, the way of life for the religious Jew. It is an all-encompassing system that pertains to all aspects of life, infusing them with G-dliness and holiness. When a Jew is committed to his G-d and his Torah, missionary arguments with fall on deaf ears. A Jew has no need for an intermediary between him and G-d because he knows that by keeping the mitzvot, he creates a personal relationship with G-d. He has no need for foreign waters from impure wells because he drink from the Torah, the source of living waters. Only by returning to the faith of our forefathers will our children be immune to conversion attempts.

To any Jew who is considering converting to the Messianic religious, I ask you: say Shemah, lay tefillin, keep kosher and observe Shabbat. Learn Torah with a rabbi or a study-partner. Immerse yourselves in the healing waters of the Torah and drink deeply from it. Experience true Jewish spirituality. This is the best and most sure vaccine against missionaries.

Problems with Jesus's Zionists

2009-05-01T11:41:00.003-04:00

The Jerusalem Post describes Aryeh Bar-David as what would seem like a typical religious Zionist.

Like most religious Zionists, Aryeh Bar-David sees the hand of God in the establishment of the Jewish state and the Jewish people's repeated victories against its enemies. Yom Ha'atzmaut has religious meaning as a tangible sign that God is fulfilling his biblical promises to the Jewish people. "God's intervention in the course of history is so clear that, for me, it is absurd that people think we are just another secular democratic country," said Bar-David, who met me on Remembrance Day outside the Old City's Damascus Gate.

"This," said Bar-David, gesturing toward the outer wall of the Old City, "is the manifestation of God's prophecies as stated in Ezekiel, Jeremiah and other places in the Bible," referring to the victory in the Six Day War which gave Israel control of east Jerusalem, including the Old City.

Also similar to many religious Zionists, Bar-David, a veteran of four wars, is convinced that his religious faith helped him cope with life-and-death situations in combat. Under Ariel Sharon, he took part in some of the bloodiest battles for control of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War. As platoon sergeant, Bar-David was forced to take over command when the platoon commander was killed in an ambush. "No matter how dangerous things got, I never feared anything. In a way I had a longing to be in heaven, closer to God. So I was not ever scared by the prospect of dying."

But, unlike most Jewish religious Zionists - who see the establishment of the state as a precursor to the yet-to be-revealed messiah - Bar-David has a radically different eschatology. That's because Bar-David is a Messianic Jew.

The Jerusalem Post falls into the same fallacious logic which Messianic and missionaries use. They argue that since they use Hebrew, support Israel, practice and incorporate Jewish ritual and traditions and were born of Jewish mothers, therefore, their faith is Jewish. The article goes on to mention that there are 200-300 Messianics serving in the IDF, how they love and support Israel and how 2000 Messianics showed up in Geneva to protest the Durban II conference.

It bears repeating over and over and over again that the essence of Judaism is not keeping kosher or lighting Chanukkah candles, or even love of Israel. The outward trappings are only reflections of the inner meaning. The essence of Judaism is predicated on the Absolute Oneness of G-d. On Mount Sinai, as millions of the Children of Israel stood ready to receive the Torah, HaShem said clearly to them: "I am the L-rd your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." By taking us out of Egypt, G-d claimed our eternal allegiance. This is the definition of true Judaism as opposed to idolatry. Idolatry is not necessarily praying to sticks and stones or building images of the divine. Idolatry, and spiritual adultery, is worshipping anything other than the G-d who took us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, anything other than the deity than revealed Himself to us at Sinai. G-d instructed the Jewish people with absolute clarity as to what was appropriate form of worship and what was not. Certainly, the name of Jesus was never mentioned. He was not at Sinai, and is therefore not worth worshipping. G-d warns us to remember well, and to take to heart, the mass revelation at Sinai. "And you shall watch yourselves very well, for you did not see any image on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. Lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves a graven image, the representation of any form, the likeness of male or female..." (Devarim 4:15-16)

The power and strength of this admonition stood by the Jewish people during their long centuries of exile. The clever and thoughtful arguments of Pope or bishops, neither Crusading swords or the racks of the Inquisitions, could sway the Jew. Despite any attempt to convince him otherwise, the Jew knew that only HaShem, the G-d of Israel, and not Jesus, or Allah, or Buddha, or Zeus or Krishna, gave him the Torah at Sinai, and only He deserved worship. The concept of a Jew accepting a human being as divine, as the son of G-d, and of adoring him, is so absurd and so repugnant to the essence of Judaism. While it may be possible for a less than perfect Jew to ignore some commandments while keeping others, nothing can erase the sin of idolatry. By serving in the IDF, or laying tefillin, an apostate Jew only makes his service all the more abhorrent. In the times of the First Temple, many Israelites for Baal or Astarte served in the army. Many of them were loyal citizens who loved their country. Yet this could not make up for turning from the G-d of Israel.

On Wednesday, it was Yom HaAtzmaut, the celebration of the 61st anniversary of Israel's independence. Complete independence means more than no longer being under foreign rule or sovereignty. Jewish independence is much more significant than no longer being controlled by the British. The true and ultimate independence that we hope for is a spiritual independence, of being independent and free from foreign and gentile influences. We hope that the Jewish nation in Israel will not be subject to strange philosophies, beliefs and cults. Being subject to repeated proselytization attempts within our own country is a form of enslavement. That there are people serving in the army of G-d, the Israel Defense Force, identifying with a foreign faith and trying to woo Jews to it shows how our independence is far from perfect.

May we merit the Final Redemption speedily in our days, and a complete independence, from all our foes, both physical and spiritual.

Attacking the Weak

2009-03-18T15:29:00.002-04:00

In their quest for Jewish souls, missionaries will stop at nothing. There is no limit to the deception and trickery that they will use in order to convert ignorant and alienated Jews from Judaism.

(IsraelNN.com) A Jewish outreach organization has called on mainstream booksellers, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon, to remove a Christian missionary version of the traditional Passover Hagaddah from the Judaism sections of online and conventional bookstores.

Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of Outreach Judaism, warned, "Despite the innocent-sounding title 'Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need to Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner,' the guide quickly departs from the traditional holiday message once it is opened."

Jewish families seeking to celebrate the ancient exodus of the Jewish People from Egyptian slavery find once they open the package that they are encouraged to express their faith in the Christian deity, "Yeshua the Messiah."

Outreach Judaism has started a petition demanding that Amazon reclassify this Hagaddah accurately as Christian, rather than Jewish. Passover is one of the most fundamental celebrations of the Jewish faith, a holiday which even the most assimilated Jews still celebrate or commemorate. To use the celebration of Jewish nationhood, liberation and renewal to woo Jews away from their faith is beyond disgusting.

In a similar story, Jewish religious groups turned down a sizable donation from missionary sources:

(IsraelNN.com) Two Jewish religious groups turned down a missionary donation of thousands of dollars – and received the same sum from a Venezuelan philanthropist instead.

The story began several months ago, when a group of families from Disengagement-destroyed Netzarim - formerly of northern Gush Katif - received a donation of 21,502 shekels, worth some $6,000 at the time. The families had reason to believe that their benefactors had ulterior motives, and upon further investigation, found that the money came from a missionary organization.

They asked Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in the Old City of Jerusalem, for his opinion, and he recommended that they not use the money. He said they should send the full sum to the anti-missionary Yad L’Achim organization, where it would be used in the fight against those who try to convert Jews to any form of Christianity or belief in Jesus.

However, Yad L’Achim, too, did not wish to use the money, by express instruction of organization founder and chairman Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz. “This, despite the various dispensations that can be found for situations like this, and despite the dwindling contributions in recent months,” said sources in Yad L’Achim.

Following the publication of this story earlier this month, at least one person, a Jew from Venezuela, was particularly moved by the groups’ self-sacrifice – and decided to donate the identical sum.

The unidentified philanthropist called the central Yad L’Achim office in Bnei Brak one day last week, and asked to speak to Rabbi Lifshitz “The moment I heard about the large donation that the people of Netzarim sent you because they didn’t want to use missionary money," the caller said, "and how you also refused to use it, despite the difficult financial situation everyone is going through – I was very moved. I could not remain apathetic, and I would like to give you a donation in the same sum.”

'Accepting Money From Missionaries Strengthens Them'
Rabbi Lifshitz said afterwards, “This very emotional donation proves the words of our holy Torah, ‘Is G-d’s hand too short [to provide]?’ Anyone with eyes can see clearly that G-d finds the way to help whoever needs, without having to rely on non-kosher sources… The very acceptance of money from missionary organizations strengthens them, Heaven forbid.”

It was not reported if the donor made a similar offer to Netzarim.

Netzarim Families Continue Farming
Some 45 uprooted families of Netzarim are currently living in the Halutza Sands town of Yevul, southeast of Gaza. Many of them are engaged in the same type of organic agriculture in which they worked in Gush Katif, raising organic lettuce, peppers, and more.

Together with another 35 families who have since joined them, they are planning to move to Bnei Netzarim, a community whose construction has just begun. They hope that the first families will be able to begin moving to their new homes, some five kilometers to the south, within a year.

May we all have the courage and strength to reject those who wish to turn us away from Judaism. May HaShem foil the plans of the enemies of His people and of His Torah.

The Right to Smash Idols

2009-02-26T09:16:00.002-05:00

Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz for JewishIsrael

"Do not bow down to their gods and do not serve them. Do not follow their practices. You must tear them down and you must utterly shatter their monuments." (Parashat Mishpatim 23:24)

The above was from last week’s Torah portion. G-d with His infinite sense of humor handed that one down to a people who don’t have much of a hankering for violently pulverizing pagan ideas, altars and places of worship.

How does one reduce idols to mere dust in a civil society, in a modern Jewish state?

Ideally, we Jews should counter idolatry by using our intellect to enable compassionate and just laws which are both considerate of human dignity and in keeping with Jewish tradition. But with Western democracies cramming the mantras of tolerance, political correctness, and freedom of religious expression down our Israeli gullets, we sometimes find ourselves preserving and protecting that which we were commanded to uproot. What’s a Jew to do?

Well, there’s always humor… and it’s been a funny week.

Headlines reported that the results of a survey on Israeli attitudes toward Christianity indicate a sharp division between religious and secular Jews on topics ranging from missionary activity, to accepting funds from evangelical sources, to visiting churches. Despite the sharp divide, both secular and religious Israelis did find some common ground, as only 50% of Israeli Jews agreed that Jerusalem was central to the Christian faith; and 75% believe the state should not allow Christian groups to buy land to build new churches in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile secular Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit of Kadima saw fit to set up a special committee to discuss amending Israel's Law of Return. Sheetrit feels the law has been abused by non-Jews with no connection to Judaism as a way to obtain Israeli citizenship. "In a few years Israel will no longer be the state of the Jews, and I do not want that," Sheetrit said.

But by far the most bizarre interfaith clash of this past week was over a skit, broadcast on Israeli Channel 10, which the Vatican claimed had "ridiculed -- with blasphemous words and images -- the Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary."

C’mon Mr. Pope, Lior Shlein is just a secular Jewish entertainer - it’s not like he is one of your devout and disciplined Catholic bishops. Israel should be the place where Jews can express themselves fully as Jews; and a late night Hebrew program televised on a private channel in Israel should surely be a safe haven for satirists - and out of the sights and clutches of the “Holy See”.

A virgin birthing a deity who can walk on water is – for the Jew – absurd to the point of being hysterically funny. For the Jew, there is simply nothing reverent about it.

Besides, satire by nature is irreverent, and it’s a given that unconventional artists and entertainers are prone to going over-the-top and dabbling in the tactless, tasteless and insulting. Monty Python, Mel Brooks and Mr. Bean have all pushed the religious humor envelope to the outer limits. Alternatively, politically conservative comedienne Jackie Mason took his rants in defense of Christmas, Christianity and Mel Gibson to the brink, too ( but drew the line in the form of a law suit when Jews for Jesus put out a broadside entitled: "Jackie Mason… A Jew for Jesus?!”)

Were Shlein’s antics heresy? Were they tanamount to “denying Christianity” as Palestinian-Arab-Catholic and Israeli Arab newspaper CEO, Zohir Andreus, claims? Well, Mr. Andreus, we have a dilemma because to acknowledge Christian belief is to deny Judaism.

What is sacred for the devout Christian is oft-times blasphemous for the Jew. Even the currently in-vogue fascination many Christians are having with “messianic hebraic roots” movements and Jewish rituals cannot mask, nor bridge, the very fundamental differences between faiths.

If we adhere to the philosophy of the late and very great Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, then it seems the secular Mr. Shlein did us all a favor with his “blasphemy”. Rav Kook found a holy spark in Jewish heretics and atheists. In their denial of a Creator, they refuse to ascribe form to G-d or define His attributes and character in limited human terms. The heretic does not fall into the trap of creating a false image. This attitude intellectually and spiritually challenges the religious community and compels it to strive for a more profound knowledge and perception of G-d. The Pope should thank Lior Shlein for expanding his horizons, and for giving him the opportunity to grow beyond the confines and imagery of the Sistine Chapel.

We have to remember that it was the patriarch Abraham who, according to Jewish (and Islamic) tradition used common sense and a sense of humor when, as a young boy, he smashed all of his father’s idols except for one, and when asked what transpired replied, “The idols all got into a fight and the biggest idol won." At the time, little Avram must have appeared as a very disrespectful and rebellious blasphemer.

They just don’t make Jewish leaders like they used to. I bristled as Ehud Olmert submitted to Vatican demands and confessed and repented with a public apology, It is so in character for our outgoing Prime Minister to take his final bow facing Rome.

These are dark times and disputes with the Vatican and other Christian denominations over property rights, rights to proselytize, and the right to freedom of Christian expression, appear to be on the increase. Christian influence is growing in Israel exponentially and we Jews had better find our voice and assert our rights to laugh, legislate, smash idols, and bloodlessly slaughter sacred cows.

Cross-posted from Shiloh Musings

He's in there?

2009-01-14T21:27:00.004-05:00

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." -John 5:39

When Christians read the Bible, they see Jesus in every verse and every portion. In their minds, Jesus is literally bouncing off every page. They make the claim that Jesus's messiah-hood and divinity is apparent from a cursory reading of Scripture and that if a person would only honestly examine the texts, they could not possibly deny his truth.

A favorite missionary claim is that the early Christians were Jewish, proof of the compatibility of the two faiths. Yet their very own argument works against them. If the Scriptures clearly and unequivocally point to Jesus's coming, one would expect that the people who would be the first to recognize him would be the very people who spent their lives studying the Torah. It would make sense that the Sanhedrin, the great rabbis and leaders of the people would have recognized Jesus's coming, clearly foretold in the Torah. One could imagine, if the Gospel tale is to be believed, Jesus coming before the Sanhedrin and arguing that he was divine, sent by G-d to redeem the world. The rabbis, who should have known from the Torah about such a person, refuted and rejected all of Jesus's arguments and reasoning. Obviously, the idea of a human saviour-god, son of a virgin and the divine, dying for the sins of humanity was not a Jewish concept based on the Torah, but rather a pagan one. While the learned men did not accept Jesus, his disciples were tradesmen, common folk and Torah students. Peter and John were Galilean fishermen, while Paul was a Roman tax collector. Mary Magdelene was a prostitute- certainly not a paragon of Torah scholarship and learning. Far from having the Scriptures clearly testify of Jesus, those who were familiar with the Scriptures were the first to reject him!

Similarly, one would expect that missionaries would have the most ease persuading Jews who have studied in yeshiva. Coming out of the synagogue and beit midrash, with a holy book tucked under their arms, they should be easy prey for the missionary sharing "the good news". It is then quite odd that missionaries rarely are sent to Crown Heights, to Monsey, Meah Shearim, Bnei Brak or Hebron. They would have little luck there as Jews well-versed in their faith and Torah are insusceptible to Christian missionizing. On the contrary, missionaries often concentrate their efforts on college students alienated from their Jewish heritage, lonely seniors, new Russian or Ethiopian olim, segments of the Jewish population that do not possess a strong Jewish heritage. A quick glance at testimonies on missionary sites such as 'Jews for Jesus' and the like show that most were raised in homes devoid of Jewish spirituality and whose only Jewish connection was gefilte fish and matzoh balls. That is why the Christian Bible places great emphasis on faith, rather than knowledge. This is because belief in Jesus cannot stand up to a true Jewish examination, based on traditional Jewish teaching and practice.

The classic Christian response to this is that Jews have been blinded by Satan. If the Devil had not caused them not to see, they would quickly accept the Cross. The Pope recently restored mass prayers calling for "the veil of blindness" to be "lifted" from the "eyes of the perfidious Jews". This arrogant and condescending claim ignores the many arguments and oppositions that Jews have with Christian theology. The Jewish rejection of Jesus as the messiah is based on study of the requirements of the messiah, which Jesus did not fulfill. The Torah records that in the End of Days, it will be the gentile nations, and not the Jews, who have been mistaken.

"O LORD, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge, in the day of affliction, unto Thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: 'Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, vanity and things wherein there is no profit.' Shall a man make unto himself gods, and they are no gods?" (Jeremiah 16:19)

"[In the Messianic Era] nations shall walk at thy [the Jewish people's] light, and kings at the brightness of thy rising." (Isaiah 60:3)

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." (Isaiah 42:6-7)

May we merit speedily the day in which all mankind will recognize that HaShem is One and His Name is One. Amen!

Liar, Lunatic or Lord?

2009-01-13T16:03:00.004-05:00

A Christian polemicist once argued famously that Jesus was either "a liar, a lunatic or lord". This circular argument has been repeated endlessly by missionaries in their obsessive drive to convert Jews. As such, it is necessary to take a look at who Jesus actually was, and who he most certainly was not.

1) Was Jesus a Prophet?

The Christian Bible refers to Jesus as a prophet (Matt. 14:5, John 4:44). However, from a Jewish perspective, this claim is problematic. Therefore, it is necessary to compare Jesus's claims with the qualifications set down by a prophet in the Torah, contained in Deuteronomy 13 and 18.

According to these sources, a prophet is a man sent by G-d to bring revelations. if a prophet predicts something that does not come to pass, or commands something contrary to the Torah, he is considered a false prophet and must be put to death. It is hard to square the idea that Jesus was a prophet with the claim that he was G-d, since that would make G-d His own prophet. We must examine whether all of Jesus' prophecies came true. Jesus prophesied that he would return during the generation and lifetime of his disciples.

"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." (Mark 13:30)

"Truly, I say to you, there are some standing among you here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in the Kingdom." (Matt. 16:28, 24:38)

Jesus's disciples most assuredly see the second coming in their lifetime. Therefore, Jesus was a false prophet.

The final verses of the Torah testify that Moses was the greatest and most authoritative of the prophets. It is a cardinal Jewish principle that never will a prophet arise who will be greatest than Moses and be able to cancel that which he commanded in the Torah. The Torah tells us how to recognize false prophets:

Deuteronomy 13:1 The entire word that I command you, that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it. [2] If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, [3] and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!; [4] do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. [5] HASHEM, your G-d, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. [6] And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against HASHEM, your G-d Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery to make you stray from the path on which HASHEM, you G-d, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst. (Artscroll)

Just about everything that Jesus and Paul preached violated this clause. Paul opposed and condemned ritual observance of the Torah. Jesus dealt with many laws with a curious ambiguity. In Mark 7:18, Jesus declared all foods to be "clean", thus violating the laws of kashrut. Jesus limited or opposed divorce and remarriage in Matt. 19:9 and Mark 10:3-4, although this is permissible by the Torah. We see that Jesus tried to change the Torah, although no one has the authority to "add or subtract" to G-d's perfect Laws.

More importantly, it must be remembered that any prophet succeeding Moses must preach a message keeping in line with that of Moses.

FACT: No Jew prayed to Jesus prior to two thousand years ago.

FACT: Jews would have been unfamiliar with the concept of G-d in human form.

FACT: Jesus was, in essence, something that the Jews had not known.

FACT: Deuteronomy 13 specifically warns us that G-d will grant the power of miracles to people who would lead us astray from Judaism.

FACT: Deuteronomy 13 specifically says that Jews must not worship anything they had not previously known, no matter how many miracles the prophet performs, or how many events he predicts correctly.

This brings us to our next point, which will determine if Jesus's message was idolatrous.

2) Was Jesus divine?

Christianity teaches that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. That is contradictory to G-d's explicit statement that He is not a man.

"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent..." (Numbers 23:19)

"And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.'" (I Samuel 15:29)

"..for I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not come in fury." (Hosea 11:9)

If Jesus is a deity, then G-d is not alone because Jesus is a discrete physical being. The Torah and the prophets are filled with statements hat G-d is alone and that there is no other. Claiming that G-d has a physical form and is a Triune being is contradictory to the teachings and spirit of the Torah.

"You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that God is the Supreme Being, and there is none other besides Him!" (Deuteronomy 4:35)

"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other!" (Deuteronomy 4:39)

"To whom then will you liken Me, that I should be his equal?" says the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:25)

"I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images!" (Isaiah 42:8)

"To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?" (Isaiah 46:5)

"Remember the first things of old, that I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me." (Isaiah 46:9)

Isaiah 11:3 states that the Messiah will fear G-d. Logically, G-d cannot fear Himself. As such, it is illogical to claim that Jesus was G-d. It is important to note that Judaism never considered the Messiah divine but rather a very righteous human being. The early Christian made no claims about the divinity of Jesus. Jesus was actually elected divine at the Nicean Council in 325 CE, by former pagans who worshipped various saviour demigods similar to Jesus.

3) Was Jesus perfect?

Christian claim that Jesus was a perfect being, yet a careful review of the Christian Bible reveals a far from perfect view of him. One incidence where Jesus sinned was the incident recorded in Matthew 21:18-19 in which Jesus destroyed a fruit tree which did not bear fruits. Mark informs us that it was not in the fruit-bearing season. This is in direct violation of the Torah's commandment of bal tashchit, prohibiting even the destruction of enemy fruit trees in times of war (Deut.20:19) If Jesus was "the son of god", certainly he could have caused the tree to blossom rather than vindictively destroying it. (Interestingly, the Talmud describes a story where Rabbi Yossi's son wanted to feed his workers and the fig tree had no fruit. Rabbi Yossi cried out and the fig tree produced fruit.)

Jesus also sinned when he ordered his disciple to violate the commandments to honour ones parents and to promptly bury the dead. "And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him." (Matt.8:21-23) By ordering his disciple not to bury his parents, Jesus violated the Ten Commandments and was guilty of a major sin under Jewish law.

Despite being portrayed as a "prince of peace", Jesus was actually quite harsh to those who opposed him and certainly did not practice what he preached. Jesus taught other to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:38-39) yet when he was struck by the officers, he answered them back (John 18:22-23).

Instead of forgiveness and tolerance, Jesus cursed those who opposed him. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." (John 15:6) In Luke 19:27, Jesus commanded that his disciples bring his Jewish enemies before him and slaughter them before him, a role that the Church was all to happy to play throughout history. Similarly, Jesus cursed the cities that did not believe in him (Matt.11:20-24).

The Jewish people revere our holy and righteous sages, who rose to unparalleled levels of holiness and sanctity. One such individual was Rabbi Akivah, who was martyred around the time when Jesus supposedly lived. The Romans punished him for teaching Torah and skinned him alive with a hot metal comb.

According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus' last words on the cross were a complaint: "My G-d, my G-d, why have you forsaken me?". In contrast, Rabbi Akivah's last words were the Shemah, in which he proclaimed G-d's Unity and Oneness. Arguably, Jesus, who was supposedly the son of G-d, did not measure up to the exaltedness of Rabbi Akivah.

4) Was Jesus the messiah?

The Jewish tradition of "The Messiah" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Messiah" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah".

First of all, he must be Jewish - "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

He must be a member of the tribe of Judah - "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

To be a member of the tribe of Judah, the person must have a biological father who is a member of the tribe of Judah.

He must be a direct male descendant of King David and King Solomon, his son - "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

The genealogy of the New Testament is inconsistent. While it gives two accounts of the genealogy of Joseph, it states clearly that he is not the biological father of Jesus. One of the genealogies is through Nathan and not Solomon altogether!

He must gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

Are all Jews living in Israel? Have all Jews EVER lived in Israel since the time of Jesus?

He must rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

At last check, there is NO Temple in Jerusalem. And worse, it was shortly after Jesus died that the Temple was DESTROYED! Just the opposite of this prophecy!

He will rule at a time of world-wide peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

Have you seen a newspaper lately? Are we living in a state of complete world peace? Has there ever been peace since the time of Jesus?

He will rule at a time when the Jewish people will observe G-d's commandments - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

The Torah is the Jewish guide to life, and its commandments are the ones referred to here. Do all Jews observe all the commandments? Christianity, in fact, often discourages observance of the commandments in Torah, in complete opposition to this prophecy.

He will rule at a time when all people will come to acknowledge and serve one G-d - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)

There are still millions if not billions of people in the world today who adhere to paganistic and polytheistic religions. It is clear that we have not yet seen this period of human history unfold.

All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." A careful analysis of these criteria shows us that to date, no one has fulfilled every condition.

Jesus is illegitimate on all counts. He did not possess the proper genealogy to be eligible for the throne of Israel, nor did he fulfill ANY of the basic requirements of the messiah. There is no more reason to believe that he was the messiah than Shimon Bar Kochba, Shabbtai Tzvi or my uncle!

In summary, the response to the missionary question of "who was Jesus" is "who cares?" The Torah commands us to venerate G-d and G-d alone. It is immaterial to a Jew who Jesus, Muhammad or Hare Krishna was. Their worship must be avoided at all cost.

Always a Jew

2009-01-09T14:42:00.002-05:00

Inside every Jew is a spark of G-dliness, a pintele yid, a Jewish soul that yearns to reconnect with HaShem. Even the most distant Jew longs to come back to his people. The Jewish spark cannot be erased or destroyed but is eternal. Even if a Jew, G-d forbid, gets baptized, moves to India and lives in an ashram or joins a cult, he remains a Jew.

May HaShem merit that every single lost Jew return home.

Not Afraid to be Unique

2008-12-22T19:19:00.001-05:00

Peled said that Israelis want to celebrate Christmas because they do not want to feel culturally isolated from the rest of the world.

"Celebrating only Hanukka set us apart, makes us different. People don't want to feel that way. They want to be part of world," she said.

With these words, Tamir Peled, has signed the death warrant of the Jewish people. Explaining the increasing visibility of Christmas decorations in certain places in Israel, Peled says that many Israelis don't want to be different. They feel that Chanukkah sets them apart, something that they are uncomfortable with. This desire to fit in, to be alike the nations, is the slow end of the Jews.

The Greeks were one of the most tolerant and universal-minded peoples in the ancient world. It is doubtful that they oppressed or persecuted any other people besides the Jews. How did a people known for its openness and love of philosophy come to commit so many atrocities against the Jews? It is hard to understand how the people that gave the world democracy, Plato and Aristotle, were the same ones as those who murdered Chana's 7 sons before her eyes for not bowing to an idol, or martyred the saintly Rabbi Eliezer for refusing to eat pork.

Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic successors wanted to unite the world under Greek culture and philosophy. The ancient pagans were the ultimate in relativism as they syncretized gods and beliefs with great ease. The Greeks adopted the gods of the nations that they conquered and in return gave them their Pantheon. The only people who refused to do this were the Jews. The Jews insisted on circumcising themselves, alone of all the ancients, did not eat the same food as non-Jews and did not share in any of their customs. The Greeks were outraged when they discovered that the Jewish Temple contained no idol or statue. They forbade the circumcision, the mark of the covenant between the Jews and G-d. They decreed that anyone caught studying Torah, the divine laws, observing the Shabbat, the holy day, or keeping kosher was to be put to death. They outlawed the Sanhedrin's proclamation of the New Month, the obligation which gave the Jewish people mastery over time.

The Greeks did not wish to eradicate the Jews physically, nor did they wish to destroy them. Rather, the Greeks wanted to put an end to the Torah, G-d's laws which set the Jewish people apart. They desecrated the Temple, and erected a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies. They built giant sports arenas and theaters in Jerusalem and the countryside to try and entice the Jews into the Greek culture. In fact, many of the rich and elite became known as Hellenizers because of their affinity for the Greek culture. The Greeks polluted all of the oil in the Temple, reserved for kindling the Golden Menorah, symbolic of their desire to stamp out the Torah and its light.

Oil characterized the Jewish people because just as oil does not mix with other liquids, so too do the Jews not mix with other nations. Just as oil always rises to the top, Jews always rise above the mundaneness and triviality of the world, and above the attempts of those who wish to wipe them out. The prophet Bilaam called the Jews "a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." (Numbers 23:9) The essence of the Jewish people is to be separate, to be distinct and to be holy. The Uniqueness of the Divine is paralleled by the uniqueness of the Jewish people, G-d's chosen vessel through which to reveal His Oneness and Majesty. G-d chose the nation of Israel to bring consciousness of G-d to the entire world, and to spread the light of Torah.

Many Jews unfortunately do not want to be alone. They hate their Jewishness, their choseness and distinct-ness with a passion. Deep down, they are afraid of being unique. These Jews want desperately to be accepted. Little do they realize that it is their Jewish destiny to be different. Our Father Avraham was called the 'Ivri' because he stood on one ever, side, while the entire world stood on the other. In a society that worshipped the forces of nature and paid homage to tyrants, Avraham had the courage to stand apart.

Our Sages tell us that Israel was redeemed from Egypt by virtue of the fact that they retained their identity. The Jews did not change their Hebrew names, adapt their dress to meet Egyptian fashion and spoke only their Hebrew tongue. Throughout the ages, the Jews resisted assimilation and were therefore able to outlast any other nation.

When Jews wish to become like the other nations, it is the beginning of the end. As G-d says: "If you sever yourselves from the other peoples, then you belong to me; but if not, then you belong to Nebuchadnezzar and his fellows." (Midrash, Sifra 93d) In the United States, Judaism is disappearing rapidly in a Silent Holocaust of assimilation, with a 50% assimilation rate. According to research, non-Orthodox Jewry will be largely extinct within the span of 3 generations if the current trend prevails. In Israel, the absurd political situation is a symptom of people of little faith desiring to be accepted by the world. The Israeli government and a large segment of the population are willing to sacrifice land, retreat, withdraw and compromise, all to be accepted by a world that stood silently as European Jewry chocked and burnt in the gas chambers and ovens. Such a government of lemmings is leading the nation of Israel back into the ghettos of exile.

The Jewish nation did not survive 2000 years of exile in order to simply be a cultural club. We are told that G-d created the world for the sake of Israel. In order for G-d's Truth to be revealed to the world, He needs a chosen people dwelling in a holy land living by divine laws. Our ancestors rose up against the Greeks so that they should be able to keep the Torah freely, and not be overwhelmed by Greek cultural influence. "Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He; before Me there was no God formed, neither shall any be after Me." (Isaiah 43:10) That is our mission, our calling. Tamir Peled's words, which echo those of the Hellenizers before him, are a death sentence to the Jewish nation.

This Chanukkah, let us discover what makes us unique and may we spread the light of Torah around the world. May G-d illuminate the darkness that clouds of lives, speedily in our days.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Don't Let the Light Go Out

2008-12-17T22:15:00.001-05:00

Don't let the light go out. This light has seen mighty empires comes and go. It saw the Greece rise up and conquer world, only to fade away. This light saw the Roman empire grown and collapse. It saw mighty rulers, fearless generals and mighty warriors disappear, without a trace. Yet the light remains.

Don't let the light go out. This light overcame the forces of Hellenism and hedonism. It shone through the darkness of immorality and vanity. It gave guidance and meaning to thousands of generations of Jews who resisted assimilation, who refused to forsake their Torah and their G-d. This light illuminated the secularism that blinded many and sought to lead the Jewish people astray. Philosophies, ideologies and 'isms' are relegated to the dustbin of history, yet the light remains.

Don't let the light go out. It was tended and nurtured lovingly by Jews throughout the ages, often at the risk of their lives. It was protected and treasured despite pain, despite poverty, despite hardship and persecution. Downtrodden, humiliated and weak, the light gave us strength. When there was no hope, the light promised us a better future.

Don't let the light go out. It shone brightly in Morocco and Poland, in Baghdad and Paris. It illuminated the streets of Minsk and Pinsk, Istanbul and Fez, Shanghai and Rome. Our enemies could not extinguish it. Withstanding the cross and the crescent, crusaders and mujahadeen, the light still burns. Under the windows of popes and kings, emperors and sultans, shas and dukes, the light proclaimed that we were still here.

Don't let the light go out. It was lit hidden in cellars, for fear of the Inquisitors racks. It was lit in ghettos and camps, in the shadow of the gas chambers and crematorium. It was lit in the freezing gulag's, the punishment for wishing to return home. It burnt long after Crusaders and Almohads, revolutionaries and fascists, Nazis and Communists, disappeared from the earth and will burn long after the suicide bomber, "holy warrior" and jihadist terrorist. For the miracles performed for us in those days, in this time.

Don't let the light go out. The light that was kindled at the rededication of the Second Temple, and will be kindled at the dedication of the Third Temple, may it be soon. The light that has returned home after two thousands years of exile, the light that blossoms in its holy land. The light that was shot out in Mumbai, massacred on the streets on Jerusalem, in pizzerias and cafes, synagogues and study halls. The light that is threatened by assimilation and ignorance. The light that has seen history, yet still shines. Don't let the light go out.

Chag Chanukkah Sameach!

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Paganism and Christmas

2008-12-15T19:44:00.003-05:00

In the West, no holiday is as beloved as Christmas. As soon as Thanksgiving in the United States is over, malls, newspapers, radio and TV are inundated with Christmas decorations. Red and green, Christmas lights, Santa surrounded with his elves. The mad holiday rush begins as the clock ticks down to the "holy night".

In today's age of cultural equivalence, holidays are often shorn of their meanings. However, I feel that it is important to understand the significance of the symbols associated with the holiday. To many Christians, Christmas represents the birth of their saviour and is the most important day on the calendar for them. Church attendance is highest on Christmas (and Easter). To those seeking a way to get closer to G-d, it is necessary to learn about the pagan roots of Christmas.

Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December, not due to any particular historical event, but rather because it was the day when the ancient pagans worshipped the rebirth of the sun. On the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice, the Romans would commemorate the advent of their saviour demigod, Mithras. Born to a virgin in a cave, Mithras brought eternal life to his followers. As an inscription on a Mithraic temple in Rome said: "Thou hast saved the many through the shedding of the eternal blood". The Catholic Church, in the 4th century, wanted to eclipse the pagan festivities of Mithras by establishing the day as the birth of their own saviour man-god. In order to introduce Christianity to the pagan world, Church leaders felt it necessary to celebrate Christmas on the winter solstice. The day of the sun's rebirth easily and smoothly became the day of the son's birth. (Christmas' pagan roots were well known. The early colonists opposed the celebration of Christmas in America. It was even banned by colonial law in Massachusetts.) To make pagans feel more comfortable in their new faith, many pagan elements were incorporated into early Christianity.

The Christmas tree originated in ancient Germanic history. Germanic tribes lit trees (Tannenbaum) and celebrated the feast of light (Lichtfest) around the shortest day of the year, December 21. During the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, the people decorated their homes with evergreen clippings and hung metals and decorations from trees in honour of their god, Bacchus.

Christians, G-d specifically commands against this pagan practice:

Jeremiah 10:2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Mistletoe and holy were used by the Druids to announce the coming of winter. In Scandinavian countries, mistletoe represented peace and harmony. It was associated with the goddess of love, Frigga, which is the origin of kissing beneath the mistletoe. The early church even banned the use of mistletoe because of its pagan connotations.

As a Christian site says:

"December 25th was celebrated by the Pagan sun-worshippers of Mithraism as the "birthday of the invincible sun," because on that day the sun began its return to the northern skies "the winter solstice." And so, the sun and the Son, have become a deliberate Pagan mix. Tammuz, the Babylonian Pagan sun deity, was also the first counterfeit savior… December 25th was also the date of the Pagan Brumalia (winter) festival in Rome. It was preceded by the Saturnalia festival Dec. 17-24 - in honor of the Roman god Saturn, as a period of unrestrained merriment in celebration of the winter solstice. The Saturnalia and Brumalia festivals were so popular among the heathen and so deeply entrenched in their customs, that rather than attempt to reform the Pagan populous the Roman Church, the Emperor Constantine, chose instead to absorb their festivities into the Constantine Roman Catholic Church."

There are those Evangelical and Messianic Christians who seek to rehabilitate Christmas of its pagan origins and instead celebrate the birth of Jesus on Sukkot. What they do not understand is that besides the blatant pagan symbols of the Christmas tree and elves, the very concept of a man becoming god and dying for the sins of humanity is contrary to the Torah. Such a belief is pagan to the core and the ancient world was full of similar saviour gods such as Mithras, Osiris, Dionysus and Attis. These beliefs are contrary to G-d's Torah and are idolatrous. G-d repeatedly says that He is not a man (Numbers 23:19, Hosea 11:9, I Samuel 15:29), that human sacrifice is abominable before Him and that no one can die for another's sins.

To all of my gentile readers, instead of placing your trust in meaninglessness and vanity, return to the Almighty Source. Pagan idols and manmade saviours are empty and have no power. Rid yourselves of idolatrous rites and beliefs and commit yourselves to the 7 Noahide Laws. Why worship the "son of man", emptiness and futility, when you can worship G-d Himself? Should you not observe the 7 Laws of the Sons of Noah, incumbent upon all Gentiles, whom G-d has created and loves, and wishes to get closer to?

To all of my readers, Jews and non-Jews, I wish a very happy holiday season. May the light of Torah overcome and destroy all the impurities of idolatry and may we illuminate the darkness that plagues our world, speedily in our days.

Chutzpah and Heaven

2008-11-10T21:00:00.004-05:00

The head of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants has announced that he is called off talks with the Mormon Church over posthumous baptisms performed by the sect for Holocaust victims. Survivors are upset that names of Holocaust victims have been added to a list of baptisms- including thousands lifted from Yizkor books of Jews massacred at Berdichev in Ukraine. Over 380 000 Holocaust victims, including Ann Frank, have already been baptized by the Mormon Church.

The Mormons believe that by baptizing the dead, they give them an opportunity to go to heaven. It is anti-semitic in the extreme to suppose that the murdered victims of the Holocaust need any help from a 150-year old cult in getting to heaven. However, such a belief is not unique to the Mormon Church. Many Evangelical missionary movements which target Jews threaten eternal hellfire and brimstone if Jews do not accept Jesus.

Before Adolph Eichmann, may his name be accursed, was to be executed, Israel permitted him to meet with a Christian minister. After he was executed, reporters asked the minister whether or not Eichmann had accept Jesus. The minister explained that having accepted Jesus, Eichmann would surely be forgiven of all of his sins and go to heaven. And as for the poor Jewish boy gassed at Auschwitz, disbelieving in his "saviour", hell would surely be his eternal reward. According to this perverted belief system, the evil architect of the Final Solution would be welcomed at the Pearly Gates simply for accepting Jesus while the 6 million victims of the Holocaust would be condemned to hell for being Jews.

This story goes to show the perverseness of exclusivity on heaven. For a cult less than two centuries old to presuppose that it has the key to the eternal salvation of the martyrs of the Holocaust is the ultimate in chutzpah. Even more than that, for anyone to claim that his is the only path to heaven and salvation invites hatred, persecution and intolerance. Such a belief only propagates the reasoning behind burning Jews at the stake, and other such atrocities, in order to "save their souls". Surely, the inquisitors and Church officials reasoned, that whatever they did to the Jews was nothing in comparison with eternal salvation. They believed that they were saving them from a far worse fate.

So let's get this straight, for every single Christian or any other cultist who is concerned about my soul: Jews don't need you to be saved!. For a Jew to be saved, he must observe G-d's commandments, follow the Torah and serve HaShem with his entire heart and soul. G-d gave us 613 commandments with which to perfect and refine ourselves so that we may enjoy the World to Come. No cult or sect can offer us anything of value in terms of salvation. As for non-Jews, the sacrifice of Jesus is worthless as well. G-d demands of non-Jews that they renounced man-made idolatry, worship HaShem and lead moral lives. No man can atone for another. Only by keeping G-d's Torah, the 613 mitzvot for Jews and the 7 mitzvot for non-Jews, can we be holy in HaShem's eyes.

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 90a) teaches that " all of Israel has a share in the World to Come, as it says: 'And your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. They are the branch of My planting, My Handiwork, in which to take pride.'" (Isaiah 60:21) So just a head's-up to anyone who wants to save us: we Jews don't need any help in that department.

Halloween: Treif or Treat?

2008-10-26T18:56:00.001-04:00

It's that time of the year again. The Jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, goblins and ghouls gave it away. My least favourite goyish holiday is here again. Halloween is celebrated in Anglo-Saxon countries worldwide and is considered a national holiday. Many Jews unfortunately participate in the Halloween festivities: trick-or-treating, decorating the house and dressing up. So is Halloween kosher?

While many Jews today prefer to focus on the universal aspect of Judaism, tikkun olam, morality, ethics, etc., Judaism demands that Jews remain a separate people. God tells Moses to teach the people:

"I am the Lord, your God. Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan to where I am bringing you. Do not follow their customs (be-hukotehem lo teileichu)" (Leviticus 18:1-3, cf. also, 20:23).

Deuteronomy suggests that this prohibition is intended to prevent idolatry:

"Take heed to yourself lest you be trapped by following them, after they are destroyed from before you; and lest you inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?' that I may also do likewise" (Deuteronomy 12:30).

While many halakhic authorities understand these injunctions to be limited to the customs of the Canaanites and Egyptians, the Rambam understands it to be a prohibition of following any non-Jewish rite or ritual. The Torah is warning us against adopting chukat hagoy, gentile customs which will lead us to assimilate. He writes:

"We do not walk after the ways of the idolaters. We do not assimilate ourselves to them; not in our clothing and not in other things like this, as it says, 'do not walk after the ways of the gentiles' (Leviticus 20:23)…Rather, a Jew should be distinct from them and recognizable through one's clothing and one's other actions, just as one is distinct from them in one's thoughts and characteristics" (Laws concerning Idolatry, 11:1).

Halloween, although today it is mostly devoid of religious significance, has pagan and Christian roots. The philosophy behind the festival is idolatrous and antithetical to the Jewish worldview. According to Wikipedia:

"Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them."

The Catholic Church celebrates Halloween as All Saint's Day and special services are held in churches worldwide. Why would any Jew celebrate a holiday even remotely connected to the Roman Catholic Church? Historically, many pogroms occurred on Halloween. Jews would be kidnapped, murdered or brutalized as part of the celebration, since Jews were associated with evil, the devil and witches.

The pagan worldview in which Halloween took root is completely contrary to Judaism's teachings. There are no ghosts and goblins, heavenly families, satanic adversaries or demons. There is only Him, the One and Only. Halloween, or Samhain, was a worship of nature and the spirits which rules it. Judaism, however, is insistent that all of nature is subservient to Him.

In short, there is nothing kosher about Halloween. It originates in pagan adoration of nature and was eventually appropriated by the Church as a day to celebrate all of their saints, many of whom were virulent anti-semites. In Eastern Europe, Halloween was a time when pogroms usually broke out. Jews weren't able to celebrate the holiday because they were hiding in cellars for their lives. Tainted with paganism, christianity and a bloody history of anti-semitism, Halloween is treif, treif, treif. This year, Halloween falls on erev shabbos, which makes it all the more unkosher. Instead of dressing up to commemorate pagan worship of nature, Jews should celebrate the day which is testimony to G-d's Creation. Ditch the ghosts and pumpkins and switch them for shabbos candles and kiddush.

I certainly won't be answering my door. But if you want to wish me a good shabbos, I'll be ready for your knock.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Chag Sameach!

2008-10-13T16:39:00.001-04:00

Wishing all of Am Yisrael, and the entire world, a chag sameach and may our simchah be completed by the arrival of Eliyahu Hanavi and Moshiach Tzidekeneinu.

Remember who you are

2008-10-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

On the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, 'Jews for Jesus' is getting more and more aggressive in the drive to convert Jews to Christianity. According to internal memos from the proselytizing organization, missionaries are being directed to the Northern town of Qiryat Shemona. The memo goes on to boast that the missionaries "handed out 21,700 gospel tracts" and "have contact information of 995 Jewish people who told us that they want to know more about Jesus." 'Jews for Jesus' has about 2000 missionaries active in Israel. Just days ago, a radio ad by 'Jews for Jesus' in the Northern Galilee was blasted from the radio after protests. Irate listeners found that the message was far too aggressive in its call for Jews to accept Christianity.

'Jews for Jesus' is but one of close to a thousand missionary groups active in Israel. In the coming weeks, tens of thousands of Christian missionaries are expected to descend on Jerusalem for the annual Feast of Tabernacles Parade. The ICEJ, organizers of this mega-missionary event, claim that "the word of G-d (read 'Jesus') is preached nightly and is central to the evening meetings." Christians are entering a fever pitch, trying to get as many Jews as possible to become Christian. Sadly, many Jews who are unaffiliated, secular or have little knowledge of Judaism are succeptible to their tactics. These Messianic groups often claim that they represent authentic Judaism, albeit one that believes in Jesus as messiah. They believe themselves to be restoring the true message of the Torah.

This week's parsha of Haazinu tells us how to recognize authentic Judaism and to be able to spot out pseudo-Judaism. With many groups and individuals around the world passing off a fake, corrupted false Judaism as the real deal, this message is essential. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee." (Deut. 32:7) If a Jew is confused as to what is kosher and what is treif, he need only go back to his roots, to his traditions, to his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. He must ask himself, "did my great-grandfather worship like this?" The Torah is clear about what happens when the Jews stray from the path of their ancestors. "They roused Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations did they provoke Him. They sacrificed unto demons, no-gods, gods that they knew not, new gods that came up of late, which your fathers dreaded not." (Deut. 32:16-17) Clearly, the Torah places emphasis on the fact that the Jews went after new gods which were recently invented. This is critical today. When confronted by missionaries who preach that Jews must believe in Jesus or be condemned to an eternity of hellfire, every Jew must take the Torah's warning to heart. Would his great-grandfather with his long beard and black hat sitting in a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement recognize his faith? His grandfather in the mellahs of Morocco? His ancestors in the judeiriahs of Spain? Would any of them recognize Jesus or feel comfortable at a Messianic service? Every Jew must answer back that Jesus and the Christian theology is 'a new god that came up of late, which our fathers dreaded not'. If a Messianic were to stand in a room with a Rambam, a Rashi, a Rabbi Akivah, a Baal Shem Tov, a Vilna Gaon, a Ramban, or even a Moshe Rabeinu, he would not fit in. They would not see any resemblance between their Judaism and the counterfeit junk hawked by the apostate.

The Kol Nidrei prayer on Yom Kippur night awakens within every Jew the desire to come home to HaShem, to do teshuva and to be faithful to what they really are. It gained special significance during the time of the Spanish Inquisition when Jews were forced on pain of death to take vows and abandon Judaism. Kol Nidrei became their way of renouncing any vows they were forced to take by the Church. The knew at heart that they were Jews.

When the American forces reached the Buchenwald death camp, they opened the gates of the camp wide and liberated the inmates. The prisoners left the camp and dispersed, each going his own way. Reb Leizer of Czen-sto-chow was one of the freed inmates. At the gate he paused. "Where? Where should I go?" He knew that most everyone in his family had been murdered. They came with him to the camp, and he saw them led to the crematoria.

Only one hope remained. As all of the people of the town were being herded together for shipment to the death camp, he was able to smuggle his little son Yossele out of the ghetto and into the "Aryan" section of town. "Who knows?" said Reb Leizer to himself, "Perhaps the child is still alive, still alive." He would go looking for him. But how, where?

Reb Leizer went back to Czen-sto-chow. He wandered about the streets and the marketplaces, and every time he saw a boy about Yossele's age, he would stop and look at him closely. Perhaps this was his son. He began asking guardedly, "Did anybody know the Leizer family, or what happened to them?" People told him that the family had left the town in the death trains, everyone except the little boy, whom someone took to the monastery. Which monastery? No one knew. "If my son is alive," decided Reb Leizer, "I will save him."

He went from one monastery to the next, inquiring about his son. The monks denied ever seeing him. No Jewish child, they claimed, had ever crossed the threshold of a monastery. Reb Leizer knew they were lying, but what could he do? He went and bought an organ. Among the tunes he put into it was the melody of Kol Nidre. Reb Leizer strapped the organ to his back and began making the rounds of the streets and yards from village to village, from one monastery to the next. Wherever he saw children playing, he would set the organ down on its legs and begin turning the handle. Immediately he would be surrounded by children. As the children stood listening, he would watch their faces closely – particularly when the organ ground out the tune of Kol Nidre.

Did any child's face change or show some emotion – fear, perhaps, or sadness and longing? Whenever he saw a child stir as the Kol Nidre melody was played, he knew that child was Jewish. As all the other children scattered, he would follow this child, talk to him, and tell him that the war was over and he could go back to his own people. Though unable to find Yossele, history records that he was able to save scores of Jewish children and restore them to their faith, with possibly the most moving tune of our faith.

Reb Leizer took his organ and buried it in the ruins of a destroyed synagogue and he went to Israel. People from that district of Poland say that at times they hear the tunes of a hand organ coming out of the earth, and among the tunes is the melody of Kol Nidre.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, I pray that HaShem merit that the beautiful and moving melody of Kol Nidrei stir the heart of every single Jew to return to his Father in Heaven. Before we begin the Kol Nidrei service, we say that by the permission of the Heavenly and earthly courts, it is permissible to pray with sinners and transgressors. On Yom Kippur, all Jews are welcome before HaShem. We must remember who we really are and not let any dastardly peddler of false beliefs lead us astray. May every single lost Jewish child return home. Gmar chatima tovah.

Onward Christian Missionaries

2008-10-05T17:52:00.002-04:00

Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz

In the mad pre-Rosh Hashanah rush, I neglected to send out a missionary update. So below is the last update on evangelical missionary activity for the year 5768 - and it's a long one.

Let's hope that this New Year brings shorter and sweeter news, as we make progress in our efforts to upset the designs of those who are determined to take the Jewish people away from
their faith.

With the U'netaneh Tokef prayer being such an integral part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur service, we might as well begin in Germany where more than 800 years ago the martyred Rabbi Amnon of Mainz left us a very painful and eternal lesson on an interfaith friendship gone awry.

The WEA issues the 2008 Berlin
Declaration: a decree to convert European Jewry:

YNET reports that the World Evangelical Alliance ended their conference in Berlin with a statement calling for the mass conversion of Jews (in the spirit of friendship, of course)

The statement issued by the WEA Theological Commission entitled "The Berlin Declaration on the Uniqueness of Christ and Jewish Evangelism in Europe Today" was developed by a
task force at a consultation in Berlin, Germany which took place on August 18-22, 2008.

The ADL was quick to denounce the World Evangelical Alliance for targeting European Jews for conversion. It was not unlike Foxman's statement issued at the end of March which censured the very same WEA for launching a campaign targeting Jews for conversion via full page ads in the New York Times and other major papers.

The WEA is no fringe group. It " is a network of churches in 128 nations that have each formed an evangelical alliance and over 100 international organizations joining together to give a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 420 million evangelical Christians."
And it enjoys the endorsement of some heavy hitters among so-called "Christian Zionists". As you may recall CUFI regional director and publisher Stephen Strang was among the endorsers of that WEA statement, as was radio-show host Janet Parshall - who was instrumental in
launching and establishing the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus.

[It should be noted that the "prophetic" Parshall withdrew from the Caucus as she sensed a
time when Israel would soon essentially say, "We'll take your aid, your
support and your tourist dollars, but we won't take your Jesus."]
Damn straight, Janet !

Ironically it was Abe Foxman of the ADL who played a role in preventing Israel from passing badly needed anti-missionary legislation back in 1998. Something about "the
bill's implications on civil liberties and religious freedom in Israel"..
What goes around comes around, Abe.

Messianic Jews Promote Ethiopian Aliya:

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Messianic Jewish missionaries from the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) are busy convincing 50,000-70,000 Ethiopian Christians from far-flung villages in Ethiopia that they are really Jewish believers in Jesus and entitled to aliyah.

The following are excerpts from the article:

"Operation Tikva is contravening the Israeli government's attempts over
the last year to wind down official aliya operations in Ethiopia, and the
project is being viewed in Jerusalem with alarm."

...."These people are clearly not Jewish and they are working in areas
where none of the people are Jews either; everything they are telling these
people are lies," said Rabbi Menachem Waldman, a member of the Public
Council for Ethiopian Jews, which has successfully persuaded the Israeli
government to continue checking the eligibility for immigration of a further
3,000 Falash Mura (Ethiopian Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity
more than a century ago) from the same region of Ethiopia...

Aveje Manhanei, who runs an Israeli-based Web community dedicated to
preserving the traditions and culture of Ethiopian Jewry, told the Post, "If
Israel does not put a stop to this activity as soon as possible then there
will eventually be another 75 million Ethiopians demanding to make aliya."

Kidnapping the Kotel:

Missionaries continue their "love affair" with Jewish symbols with the
intent of drawing Jews closer. Well here's one kotel we Jews won't
be kissing.

Every Home for Christ located in Colorado Springs, will be spending $2.3 million on a replica of the Western Wall which will be housed in the Jericho Center for Global Evangelism - a
missionary training center

The replica will fill 2,500 square feet of an 8,000-square-foot, 300-seat auditorium. About 50 tons of stone will be used to construct the mini two-story wall and auditorium. Stones will be cut from an ancient mine outside of Jerusalem. The wall will be free and open to the public 24 hours
a day. The hope is to have Christians and Jews praying together.

1 Million Christians to Claim Inheritance of Eretz Yisrael.

.if Joel Bell gets his way. The Israeli citizen and Christian missionary (how did he make aliyah?)
who sends out Hannukah greetings praising Jesus, has unveiled ambitious building designs in Israel, as well as plans to bring 1,000,000 Christians on aliyah. Joel figures that the time has come for Christians to claim their eternal inheritance to Israel - and he's got Likud
cooperation.

Joel, knows how to put a slick presentation together for his Christian brethren, and WORLDWIDE BIBLICAL ZIONISTS "actively develop opportunities through partnership for your participation here in Israel. Investments, jobs, housing, education, military training, community, and tools you'll need to make Israel your home. "

Joel Bell has his eyes set on Judea and Shomron, and he will be
bringing a large group to Israel in November to seek out opportunities - so
heads up, Jews.

IDF Officers "hook-up"with Southern Baptist Missionaries:

According to a series of letters sent to 11,000 Christian clergy, Southern Baptist Pastor Jim Vineyard "hooked up" with 80 IDF officers at a "War College" in France in late September. Vineyard stayed at the same hotel with "these 80 Hebrews to study primarily, the Normandy Invasion".

One of the sponsors of the program is Colonel J. Tyler Ryberg, USMC (Retired). Ryberg is the Director of the missionary agency and local church ministry of Faith Baptist Church, Belleville, IL , where his mission is to "evangelize and disciple military men and women around the world through Worldwide Military Baptist Missions".

In all fairness, Colonel Ryberg has a wealth of battle experience and appears to have great admiration for Pastor Vineyard and his efforts. But he is first and foremost a missionary with a vision for U.S. military men and women " to be saved, baptized, discipled and serving the Lord Jesus Christ." So one wonders why our IDF officers need this kind of program which appears to have been - to a large extent - coordinated and sponsored by Baptist pastors like Vineyard and Ryberg.

According to one of Vineyard's letters, packages were distributed to the IDF officers. "when we put that package of books and DVDs into their hands. They would ask, "For Me?" Then they would walk away amazed."According to the letter, most of the material was related to the
subject matter at hand (the Normandy Invasion). But you gotta wonder.

The State Department has an Orthodox Jewish Problem:

The International Religious Freedom Report of 2008 was recently released, and the State Department leveled some unwarranted charges against the Jews. Seems we've been persecuting the church here in Israel and denying Christians their right to pretend to be Jews.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the State Depatment "put blame for the "tensions" on "certain Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities."

But except in one case, the report, which noted numerous incidents of discrimination or violence against Christian or Messianic Jewish communities or individuals, failed to prove that the perpetrators were Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox.

The biased and shoddy State Department reporting seemed to rely heavily on the spin given by CBN (the Christian Broadcasting Network) and the ACLJ (The American Center for Law and Justice) - both Pat Robertson productions. As expected they covered items like the Ariel Purim explosion ("bombing"), the Narkiss Church fire ("arson"), and the incineration of missionary materials ("bible burnings"). Of course Pastor/Lawyer Calev Myer's Jerusalem Institute of Justice was one of the messianic sources which the State Department used in their hatchet job.

Pat Boone "sings" at Eckstein's anniversary Bash

Pat Roberston was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for support of Israel at Yechiel Eckstein's 25th anniversary banquet for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ).

As already pointed out, Robertson's institutions like CBN and ACLJ are giving Israel a messianic migraine. But it was Pat Boone who MC'd the Eckstein event, and Pat "sang" about his hopes for the Jews onChicago's news station WBBM 780. You can hear that clip here or just read it:

".one of the early leaders of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, 74-year-old singer Pat Boone, who is Christian but says, with a smile, that he represents the Messianic branch of Judaism.

"The time will come when Jews themselves will say, 'What do you know? The messiah has been here all this time.' So that's what we believe, and we long for. Not that we try to force it on anybody. And we understand why they don't see that yet. Maybe some never will."

The Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported that Eckstein's organization (IFCJ) gave $10,000 in 2007 to an evangelical group in Jerusalem that proselytizes Israeli Jews. " That organization would be Kings of Kings Assemblies in Jerusalem.

"King of Kings Community is called to be a compelling, Messiah-centered, Spirit-empowered, disciple-making community that reveals the true face of Yeshua (Jesus) to Israel and to the nations. "

Yep. That sounds pretty missionary to me.

Is There a Rabbi in the House?

While Rabbi Eckstein may have distributed funds to missionaries, it appears that Rabbi Riskin has accepted missionary related funds.

A CUFI sponsored event at the Harvest Training Center - a missionary organization - raised $12,600 for Rabbi Riskin's Ohr Torah Loving Kindness Fund in Efrat.

The Calvary Tabernacle Harvest Training Center of Cranford New Jersey is affiliated with Dugit Messianic Outreach Center in Tel Aviv ( a very active missionary organization)

ICEJ Crowns Jesus as the Lion King and Ruler of Jerusalem:

Once again the annual ICEJ (International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem) Feast of the Tabernacles pilgrimage will soon descend upon Jerusalem. As you may recall, last year the Chief Rabbinate proscribed Jewish participation in the Feast events, as well the Jerusalem March due to a missionary presence and activity. As I pointed out in a recent report, the rabbinic decision was more than vindicated.

The Lion of Judah is the theme of this year's Feast and this is what Chuck King has this to say about this year's feast:

From the tribe of Judah came King David, and from the House of David the true "Lion King" - Jesus - appeared. Jesus' identity as the triumphal Lion of Judah is revealed in Revelation 5, where He is described as the only one worthy to open Heaven's scroll.

This year's Feast of Tabernacles celebration raises a banner bearing the symbol of the Lion of Judah. By lifting up His tribal ensign, we proclaim in this 60th year anniversary of Israel's national rebirth, that the coming Lion of the Tribe of Judah will soon establish His rightful inheritance and establish His throne to rule over His city and the nations.

The lion of Jesus theme is prominently featured throughout the week long pilgrimage with events proclaiming THE INHERITANCE OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, THE ROAR OF THE LION OF JUDAH, THE LION OF JUDAH AS JUDGE, THE TRIUMPHANT LION OF JUDAH, etc.

Some people will simply dismiss this as a Christian event about Christian beliefs. But as Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, we do have the following issues:
a) The event - the largest tourist event of the year in Israel - is fully endorsed by the government of a Jewish state.
b) the Prime Minister as well as Knesset members and "rabbis" and Jewish/Israeli diplomats and dignitaries attend the events of Feast pilgrimage and/or give it their blessing.
c) A Jewish convention center that enjoys a kashrut certificate hosts the pilgrimage
d) there is a heavy messianic and missionary presence at the Feast (it is essentially an evangelical/missionary event)
e) The Jerusalem March will certainly feature large banners of the Lion of Judah - symbolic of their Jesus, and Jewish bystanders and participants will inadvertently be paying homage to and acknowledging the Christian participants and their symbols (this may pose a serious halachic issue)

Honestly I haven't been so disgusted since Jerusalem's emblem of the lion of Judah was morphed into two lions mating to promote a gay pride parade in the streets of Jerusalem .

So if I could be so bold as to momentarily reclaim the Lion King from the Christian Embassy, and borrow a line from Walt Disney..

"Remember who you are"

As we Jews stand before Hashem during these awesome days, we should try and remember just who we are and where we are standing.

And I think we can and should restore the symbol of the lion of Judah to its proper place by politely, but firmly, telling the Christian Embassy where they can put their jesus.

Shana Tova and G'mar Chatima Tova.

Cross-posted from Shiloh Musings

Having Your Jesus and Eating it Too

2008-10-04T21:53:00.005-04:00

Tallis, tfillin, shabbos, Torah classes, sukkot, Jewish stars, Hebrew... must be Jewish. A newcomer to a Messianic congregation, upon seeing the Jewish symbols and paraphernalia, often concludes that this is the real deal, that this is authentic Judaism. When called out on the contradictions between Judaism and Christianity, Messianics will quickly point to the fact that they keep the mitzvot. Indignant at being called a Christian, they reply that they keep kosher, that they keep shabbat, light shabbos candles, etc.

The Messianic movement emerged 30-40 years ago, as sort of a half-way house for Jews into Evangelical Christianity. Frustrated at the low level of Jewish conversion to Christianity, fundamentalist Christians sought a way to make Christianity more palatable to Jews. Well-aware of the bloody history of Judeo-Christian relations and the deep distrust many Jews feel towards Christians, Evangelicals tried to find a way to make their Christianity feel less "Christian". The crucifix, long associated with persecution and oppression, had to go, as did " Jesus Christ", pastor, altar, Sunday morning mass and all of the goyish accoutrement often associated with church. In its place came Jewish stars, a newly Hebrew "Yeshua HaMoshiach", rabbis, and shabbos morning services. Dressing up their church- I mean synagogue- with Jewish symbols, the Hebrew-Christian movement set out to teach Jews of the "Jewish Jesus". No longer was he a WASP or a Catholic priest, but a good yiddishe bochur, a nice Jewish boy who went to shul, kept the Torah and was 100% kosher. Certainly no Jew could refuse such a messiah.

The result of this emerging Messianic movement was a Christianity that gave up none of its fundamental theology that set it apart from Judaism, but that used Jewish symbols and rituals. Messianics don't keep Christmas as they feel that it is a pagan holiday, yet they still believe in a virgin birth which they celebrate on Shavuot. The same goes for Easter; despite not celebrating what they see as pagan, they still believe that a demigod dying for their sins, and commemorate this event during Pesach. This was a win-win situation for Evangelical Christian: they didn't have to give up on any of their fundamental beliefs and were able to, at the same time, take part in Jewish rituals and observances. What resulted was a primitive form of Christianity that hid itself behind Jewish labels.

The first commandment that the nation of Israel heard directly from G-d's mouth at Sinai was "You shall have no other gods before Me". Only from this fundamental basis can all other commandments proceed. The essence of Judaism is that there is One G-d, One and Indivisible, and none besides Him. Without this, there is no Judaism.

A careful examination of Messianic groups reveals that they fail on this cardinal principle, making any claims of authentic Jewish expression irrelevant.

Jews for Jesus, an organization aiming at converting Jews to Christianity while at the same day observing the mitzvot, states the following as its central tenets: "We believe in one sovereign God, existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, unbounded in power and measureless in love; that God is the source of all creation and that through the immediate exercise of His power all things came into being... We believe that Jesus the Messiah was eternally pre-existent and is co-equal with God the Father; that He took on Himself the nature of man through the virgin birth so that He possesses both divine and human natures." Whether or not they keep shabbat matters little. At heart, the theology of Jews for Jesus is identical to the theology of Baptists and Evangelical Christians.

Sid Roth's Messianic Vision's statements of faith reveal a theology more at place at a Baptist revival meeting, than in a synagogue or yeshiva. Same thing for the Chosen People Ministry, whose beliefs are at odds with Jewish beliefs. All Messianic organizations, while pretending to be authentically Jewish, are hostile to traditional and authentic Jewish theology. Simply wrapping a cross in a tallis does not make it Jewish. If something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is reasonable to assume that it is a duck. Messianic groups, while preaching adherence to the Torah, fail on the cardinal test of theology. In that realm, they are purely Christian groups, masquerading around with Jewish objects. One can dunk the New Testament in a mikveh and put a hechsher on it, but in the end, if it Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour, it ain't Jewish.

It is important to discuss Christian misuse of Jewish symbols. By keeping kosher, putting on tfillin and saying the Shmah all the while believing in Jesus, one does not endear themselves to G-d. Quite the opposite. G-d demands as a basis that we remember we should have no other gods before Him, and that besides Him there is no other. Anything else is spiritual adultery. Bowing before Jesus, praising him and calling him divine is adultery with HaShem. "I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another. Neither My praise to graven images!" (Isaiah 42:8) G-d does not share His glory with anybody, certainly not Jesus. Keeping the mitzvot while worshipping idols only angers G-d. It can be compared to a wife who suspects that her husband is cheating on her and to placate her, he gives her jewelry, a car and other fancy gifts. Coming home with another woman's scent on his clothes, his diamond bracelets are meaningless. They only make the wife angrier at her husband's betrayal. Similarly, if someone lights shabbat candles in Jesus honour, G-d is infuriated at the desecration. It matters little if a person keep the entire 613 commandments scrupulously; he is cheating on the G-d of Israel who shares His with no one, and has no equal.

As Yom Kippur approaches, we must all do a cheshbon nefesh, a spiritual accounting and realize where we have come short. It is incumbent upon each and every person to do teshuva and to return to the One who created them. The first step is realizing who the Creator is and who He isn't - and He certainly is no man. "To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?" (Isaiah 46:5) "I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no god but Me, no savior except Me!" (Hosea 13:4)

To my readers, I wish you all a gmar chatima tovah.

Teshuva

2008-09-23T20:53:00.003-04:00

This past motzaei shabbat (Saturday night), Ashkenazi Jews began reciting Selichot, special penitential prayers. Sephardic Jews have been reciting Selichot since the beginning of the month of Elul. The Selichot prayers beg G-d to have mercy on His people, to forgive us our sins, and to let us do complete teshuva. They are focused on the Thirteen Divine Attributes of Mercy which G-d revealed to Moses after the Sin of the Golden Calf. They beseech G-d's compassion that He may overlook our sins and to forgive us.

From the beginning of Elul, through Rosh HaShana and the Ten Days of Teshuva, until Yom Kippur, each Jew goes through an intense period of soul-searching. This period of the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) is devoted to doing teshuva, repentance. The Rambam writes in his Hilchot Teshuva (2:6) that "repentance and outcry [in prayer] are always proper, but between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur they are especially proper and are answered immediately, as it is written (Isaiah 55:6): 'Seek G-d when He is found, called upon Him when He is near.'"

When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, various offerings were sacrificed to G-d. There were special offerings for each day and festival. An elaborate sacrificial system existed. On Yom Kippur, the Torah commands for the following offering: "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be a holy gathering to you; and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. [28] And you shall do no work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your G-d." (Leviticus 23:27) However, the essence of the atonement was not the sacrifice itself, but the 'affliction of our souls' ie. fasting and repentance. When G-d decided to overturn His decree against the people of Ninveh, the Torah records that G-d saw their repentance and how they changed their actions. The essence is not in the physical act of fasting, crying, slaughtering an animal but rather in repenting from our sins, confessing our deeds and turning from them.

For close to 2000 years, the Jewish people have been bereft of a Temple in which to offer sacrifices to HaShem. What do we do? Are we cut off from repenting for lack of a Temple? The Prophet Hosea (14:3) revealed to the People of Israel take G-d accepts our prayers in the place of animal sacrifice. "Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips." G-d does not desire animal sacrifice but rather sincere teshuva.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to God, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God. For He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

"And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14).

"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has practiced he shall live...When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:21- 22,27,30).

"By loving kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for..." (Proverbs 16:6).

"If you return to God you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent...then you will delight in God..." (Job 22:23-27).

May G-d inscribe all of Am Yisrael in the book of Life, Happiness, Prosperity, Success, and Plenty. May Hashem accepts all our teshuva and cast away our sins. May 5769 be the year of the Complete and Final Redemption, amen.

Callers try to convert Rabbi Singer

2008-09-18T22:03:00.002-04:00

In a powerful 2 hour radio show, Rabbi Singer refutes the claims of Christian missionaries. Click here and here to hear this amazing segment. Provocative callers try to get Rabbi Singer to exchange his Magen David for the Cross.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner on accepting Xian money

2008-09-14T16:35:00.005-04:00

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, chief rabbi of Beit El and founder of yeshivat Ateret Kohanim, answer questions regarding accepting Christian donations.

Question: I don’t understand why the Rabbis have forbidden accepting money from Christian institutions such as the Christian “Friendship Fund”. After all, that’s a Christian organization that loves Israel and I don’t feel like the money I received influences me the least bit in the direction of Christianity.

Answer: First of all, I am puzzled by your great enthusiasm about living off the money of others. Have you suddenly become a beggar, what in Yiddish is called a “schnorrer”? Even to be a schnorrer from Jewish money is a shame, but to be one from non-Jewish money is already a disgrace, a profanation of G-d’s name.

Observe what our sages wrote: “Those who eat ‘something else’ are disqualified as witnesses” (Sanhedrin 26b). Generally speaking, in the Talmud ‘something else’ [davar acher] connotes pork. Here, however, Tosafot proves that it should not be interpreted that way (s.v. “Ochlei”). Rather, Rashi explains that here it is referring to “People who accept charity from non-Jews, this being a profanation of G-d’s name for the same of monetary gain. Such people are classed as ‘rasha dechamas’ – avaricious evildoers.”

If we were a poor country it would be one thing. I would yet understand this enthusiasm. I wouldn’t justify one’s being an “avaricious evildoer”, but I would understand it. Yet we are a wealthy country, amongst the wealthiest on earth, and all of this money is a tiny percentage of the national budget. And for the sake of this you degrade yourself? Shame on you! And the worst is that it is non-Jewish money.

Let me explain. The Evangelical Protestant missionary institutions try to infiltrate anywhere they can by whatever means possible. Now they have found the golden pathway – financial support. The sums they contribute are for them nothing. They just make a big impression on us and arouse our craving for more. In the United States there are fifty million Fundamentalists. If every one of them contributes ten dollars every year, you’ve got half a billion dollars right there, which looks like an enormous sum.

Financial support is their present method of slowly infiltrating us. It doesn’t happen all at once. Not everyone who accepts their money immediately becomes a Christian. Yet their influence involves a seepage process that can spread over years. Those people are very patient and gradually they make inroads.

When a simple Jew hears the word “Christianity”, he is filled with abhorrence. He immediately thinks of the blood of millions of Jews tortured to death by the Christians. He recalls the Inquisition. He remembers everything. Therefore, he will never want to listen to them.

Faced with that, what do we find in the internal memos of those organizations that hunt souls? “We have to break down the barriers between ourselves and the Jews. We have to rehabilitate their trust, which has been totally destroyed. We have to operate slowly and patiently. We have to show that we are friendly, and who is more friendly than He that distributes money to those who crave money?!”

They use data to infiltrate every community. For example, in order to penetrate the Charedim they dress up like Charedim and keep tabs on their poor. If someone falls ill or passes away, they come to visit, help out, provide money, offer an encouraging word – without a single word about Christianity, obviously. They come again and again until a connection is formed. They talk from the heart. When they see that the time is ripe, they say, seemingly as a side comment, “Certainly Christianity is something bad, but Yeshu the Christian was all-in-all a good person.” In the first stage, that one sentence is enough. Later on comes another sentence, and then another sentence, via the slow-seepage approach.

In one place, a missionary dressed as a Lubavitcher gave some Chabad women a series of lectures on Tanach [the Bible] in a style that was totally Chabad. The series went on for two years without one word about Christianity, until one day he mentioned that “That Man” wasn’t so bad.

Everywhere there are missionaries sporting knitted yarmulkes. The missionary’s son learns in a yeshiva high school, and he is a little missionary. His daughter studies at a girls’ Torah high school, and she is as well. They’re all very nice. They don’t give themselves away. The main thing is to slowly build a connection, to foster trust.

That is their approach. We know them and we know exactly how they operate. There’s a story about a man who picked up a hitchhiker, an officer, a lieutenant colonel, with a knitted yarmulke, who lived in Gush Katif. Certainly, all the elements of a fine person. They conversed at length, yet that same lieutenant colonel let slip a comment about “That Man”. Since the driver was personally involved in combating missionaries, he immediately sensed who this was and he reported it to the army. The army investigated and threw him out, because they don’t want missionaries there. The officer turned to the Supreme Court, but lost in court. The army has enough headaches without that.

That’s their secret. They wait until we say, “All in all, the Christians are fine people. They give us money. We doff our hats!” That’s how they break down the barriers. Some time later, we say, “Maybe we’ll meet with them. Maybe we’ll talk with them.”

Dear friend, you are no expert in the strategies employed by the Christians. Were the donor an individual Christian, there would be room to deliberate from a halachic standpoint on whether one could accept his gift. At the same time, it is no great honor to be a schnorrer, as noted above. If, however, the donor is a Christian organization, then under no circumstances is one allowed to accept even one cent!

It’s true that if you, as a private individual, accept their gift, one can hope that you won’t be influenced towards Christianity. Yet we are talking about the public agenda of the Jewish nation, that it is forbidden for us to develop a dependency on them.

Here is a terrible case in point. Unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of Christian missionaries working in Israel. Already a number of times a new Knesset law has been recommended: “One is not allowed to persuade someone to convert. Jews cannot persuade Christians or Muslims, Christians cannot persuade Jews or Muslims, etc.” Yet this law fails every time, because those same Christian organizations that support Eretz Yisrael and distribute funds to the settlements and to the poor threatened, “If you enact this law we will cease our financial support. We will also consider ceasing our political support.” Money demands something in exchange. It ensnares you.

Don’t mistakenly say, “They’re Christians, not missionaries.” Every Evangelist Protestant is a missionary, even if he hides it. Also, we haven’t learned Greek, so we don’t realize that the word “evangelist” means “missionary”. At all the pro-Israel Christian marches and demonstrations, the Christian Lovers of Israel walk hand-in-hand with the missionaries. It turns out that because of the money that you receive, Jews become Christians! For the missionaries, hundreds of millions are a pittance, but to us it looks like a lot. To refuse to accept millions is a temptation that you can, indeed withstand. Yet once you start to accept it, it’s hard to stop.

About twenty-six years ago, such a Christian approached me, declaring that he greatly loved my yeshiva, because we were building the Temple. I told him that we’re not building the Temple. “But you want to build it, right?” “Certainly we long to build it,” I replied. “And what are you doing on that score?” he asked. I answered, “We learn Torah and strive to improve our character.” “Great! Very good!” he said. “We are fifty million fundamentalist Christians in the U.S.A. Every one of them will give one dollar a year, and you will have fifty million dollars a year, and that will be our contribution towards building the Temple.”

And what did I answer to his generous offer? “No!”

Since, then, I reckon that I have lost out on a billion three hundred million dollars. No big deal. Small change.

There’s a settlement in Judea and Samaria that received a million dollars from them. Now, in that settlement there’s a Christian worship service in their Town Council building! A prayer service of Christian missionaries and Jews for J. – right there in the Town Council building! Nowhere is it written that the one was in exchange for the other, but that is precisely the result. Let’s not be naïve.

How fortunate you are, through G-d’s grace, to have been born in Eretz Yisrael, such that you don’t know what Christians are, how they operate and how sophisticated they are. You should bone up on your history.

By the way, there are two other types of Christians. First, there are liberal Protestants. They are against the State of Israel, because we, allegedly, committed an injustice against the Arabs. Second, there are Catholics, who presently are not engaged in missionizing. Yet, they, too are against the State of Israel, because they think that they are the true Israel, and it was they who were supposed to have established the State.

Yet presently we are talking about the Fundamentalist Protestants who love the State of Israel and who are associated with the missionaries. The common denominator is that we suffer fusillades from all of them, and not just today but throughout history.

Let us be strong and courageous. Let us not accept from them even a penny. Let us not run awry after their dollar crusade.

We Let Them In

2008-09-11T21:39:00.002-04:00

US Evangelicals have a nasty habit of sticking their shtick where it just doesn't belong. They've used their influence to "persuade" Israel's lawmakers not to ban missionizing. They've descended on the Jews of Israel like vultures, ready to pounce on every Jew who will give them a moment of their time. Billions of dollars are spent every year to denigrate and mock Judaism and get Jews to convert.

If a person brings a dangerous animal into their house and it bits them, who is to blame? Certainly a rabid dog or wolf cannot be held responsible for acting in a way that is dictated by their nature. The person who brought this danger in is at fault for negligence. Similarly, US Evangelicals can't really be held guilty for seeking to convert Jews. Their bible speaks of the "Great Commission" in which they are ordered to "go baptize all the nations" into their faith. Evangelicals define their religion by evangelizing and "spreading the good word". Those who must be held accountable for this grievous sin of shmad, spiritual apostasy and destruction, are those Jews who brought the Evangelicals into our homes. Churches and baptisms popping up all over Israel are simply the price of courting "a Judeo-Christian alliance". In many ways, armies of missionaries and tens of thousands of missionary pamphlets and Christian bibles are our just reward. We have courted a hornet and now it has stung us.

So desperate for friends, Israeli politicians, religious and secular alike, have flirted with Evangelicals. In 2004, Minister of Tourism, Benny Ellon, gave Pat Robertson an award for "saving Israel from bankruptcy". Later that year, Robertson used his endorsement by Ellon to advocate Messianic "Judaism" (Christianity) at the ICEJ Feast of the Tabernacles. John Hagee's own CUFI (Christians United for Israel) which Israeli politicians believe to be so fundamental in providing support for Israel, is guilt of proselytization as well. Every single Christian leader whom Israel has depended on or considered a friend has supported and advanced the proliferation of missionary activity in Israel.

Nobody is more guilty than the rabbis and their followers of the Religious Zionist group. They have welcomed Evangelicals with open arms. Their claim is "we are comfortable in our faith and have no reason to fear from Evangelicals. We know who we are and we don't have to worry about becoming Christian." How very now for them. And how very callous. They seem to have forgotten that despite the fact that they have a good knowledge of Torah and Jewish spirituality, many Jews tragically do not. Ironically, in Israel today, many Jews have no idea of what Judaism entails, are unfamiliar with the traditions and customs and are completely lost in Judaism. The rabbis who invited the Evangelicals are are guilty of violating the Torah prohibition of not placing a stumbling-block before the blind. They will certainly no convert but there are no such assurances for the secular and disenfranchised Jews in Israel. Missionaries have already reaped their devastating harvest of Jewish souls among the poor and less-fortunate, new Russian and Ethiopian immigrants and the elderly and troubled teens. The Torah repeatedly warns us "you shall exterminate evil from your midst." We are forbidden to tolerate idolatry among us for fear that it will lead many Jews astray. The Torah sets down guidelines for the destruction of an entire city that turns to idol worship, an ir nidachat. Such a city cannot be allowed to continue to exist in Israel. If a center of avodah zarah is allowed to fester, it will attract many Jews. How these rabbis have forgotten these teachings!

Many "rabbis" and leaders are men of little faith. When they put their trust in flesh-and-blood Christians, even at the cost of their souls, they show contempt for HaShem and His Torah. G-d says to us: Do not fear, My servant Jacob. We have nothing to fear as HaShem is with us. By placing our trust on the wobbly reed of Evangelicals, we are pushing away the Redemption. The great "Judeo-Christian alliance" has brought us nothing but bitterness, apostasy and spiritual destruction. We have been so desensitized to idolatry that we do not regard Messianic "Judaism" as exactly what it is: foreign worship. The sight of Christians dancing around wearing talleisim and praising J*sus, freely mixing Judaism and Christianity, does not affect us anymore. Business as usual. The Talmud Yerushalmi tells us the following teaching: Rabbi Acha says in the name of Rabbi Huna: In the End of Days, the evil Esau will don his tallis and go sit among the righteous in Gan Eden, and G-d will drag him out of there." There is no need to wait for the End of Days. Let's give G-d a hand and drag Esau out there ourselves.

Grasping at Flags and Straws

2008-09-10T21:41:00.001-04:00

Ellen does it again! Check out her latest post on the US elections and Am Yisrael again being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Our Two-Pronged War

2008-09-08T20:31:00.002-04:00

Its open season on Jews in Paris. Saturday, as they were walking home from Mincha prayers, three counselors of the Bnei Akivah youth group were brutally attacked by a gang of Muslims. The counselors were walking when they had chestnuts thrown at them. When they protested, anti-semitic slurs were hurled. 10-12 gang members then joined in and beat them with brass knuckles.

This was the second attack near the Bnei Akivah branch in two months. In June, another 17 year-old Jew wearing a kippah was beaten up by a Muslim gang. And a few months ago, a neighbourhood store was caught selling shirts that read, in German and Polish, "Jews forbidden in the parks". Anti-semitic attacks are very common in France. The radical Muslim population is growing exponentially, veiled women from head-to-toe are a very common sight, and mosques are popping up all over the place. The same pattern is repeating itself in the UK, in Germany and all over Europe. This Islamic fundamentalist Jew-hatred combined with "the new-anti-semitism" of the anti-Zionist Left is lethal to Europe's remaining Jews. Many Jews no longer feel comfortable enough to wear kippot in public or to identify themselves as Jews. Entire communities are under siege as going to synagogue literally becomes an ordeal amidst intense security, guards and routine checks. Synagogues, monuments and Holocaust memorials are routinely vandalized. A few weeks ago, a video was placed on YouTube (and subsequently banned) showing a group of Greek students in Rhodes urinating on a Holocaust memorial with violent rock and anti-semitic lyrics in the background. The Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin was defaced for the tenth or so time.

Europe's tragic history is repeating itself. It feels eerily like 1938 for Europe as attacks on Jews reach a fever pitch. Not only are Jews violently attacked by Muslim anti-semites but the Jewish State is regularly demonized, delegitimized and condemned. The writing is on the walls for the Jews of Europe as Muslim sonei yisrael as well as Leftist anti-semites work tirelessly to make Jewish lives miserable. The Jews of Europe face an existential threat as the radical Muslim influence is growing. In mosques all over Europe (and the world), Jews are dehumanized, compared to insects and diseases and threatened with extermination. Millions of young Muslims are indoctrinated with Jew-hatred and the terrible fruits of this preaching are being reaped in Europe, as well as against Israel. Esau soneh et Yaakov. Once again, the Jewish nation finds itself in dire straights as the world sits silently by and allows anti-semitism to take hold and grow.

We Jews are in between a rock and a hard place. As Yishmael plans to destroy our bodies, Esau deceives us into giving up our souls. The World Evangelical Alliance, "Israel's best friends", have restated their goal to convert the Jewish nation to Christianity. Coming from the city in which the Final Solution of 6 million Jews was orchestrated, the Berlin Declaration calls for the evangelization of the Jews of Europe. "Everyone needs to hear this message including the Jewish people. Proclamation to Israel was Jesus’ priority. It also reflects the apostles’ practice of going to the Jew first. Nothing has occurred since Jesus came that changes the need for Israel and the nations. "

It is astonishing that hundreds of years after the public disputation at the order of the Church in which Jews were threatened with expulsion, death or forced conversion, Jews are again called upon to defend the validity and integrity of their faith. The Jews of Europe, when not being beaten up by anti-semitic mobs, will be swamped with pamphlets and missionaries urging them to convert. The Berlin Declaration in essence says that Judaism has no value and offers no salvation. The Jew who follows authentic Judaism is worthless and is condemned to the fires of hell unless he becomes a Christian. Jews are forced to explain themselves to Christians and to stand up for their faith. Evangelicals claim to be motivate by love for the Jewish people but in reality, they only reject anti-semitism as a means to further their hold on the Jewish soul. Hardly no strings attached! A real love for the Jewish people would be accompanied by a respect for Judaism's validity and choseneness, and the recognition of the legitimacy of Jewish tradition and belief. To issue this declaration of apostasy from the Nazi capital in which Hitler's henchmen orchestrated and planned the annihilation of the Jewish people is the height of insensitivity and callousness. By teaching that Judaism is incomplete and misguided, Evangelicals offer a surefire recipe of hatred and mistrust for the Jewish people.

With barely 15 million Jews in the world today, growing anti-semitism in Europe and North America, an existential threat against the State of Israel, rampant assimilation in the United States and an obsessive drive by Evangelicals to convert Jews, the Jewish future is difficult. We are caught between those who wish to kill us physically, to rob us of life, and those who wish to destroy our unique spiritual heritage by baptizing us. Whether by gas chambers and pogroms or by missionizing and assimilation, the ultimate goal is the same: the eradication of the Jewish people from the face of the Earth. We must take heart G-d's promise in the Torah that the seed of Abraham shall never cease to be a nation. The end chapter has been written. All that remains for us to decide is how many of us will make it to the finish line. The Jewish nation will outlive all of its tormenters and oppressors, the assimilationists and peddlers of foreign faiths. G-d will surely vindicate His people.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Liar Exposed

2008-09-04T22:44:00.008-04:00

Many Christian believe that whoever does not accept J*sus will "burn in hell" for all of eternity. To this extent, they are willing to do almost anything to win converts to their faith and thus "save souls". Paul, a founding father of the church and one of the most successful missionaries to have ever lived, admitted to employing deception in order to attract people to his new religion. He confessed to using lies and fraud to win converts:

- Corinthians 9:20-22: To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law -- though not being myself under the law -- that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law -- not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ -- that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.

- Romans 3:7: If through my lies God’s truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

- Philippians 1:18: In every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Jesus is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Some of his followers have taken a page from Paul's play book. A new and frightening phenomenon which has infiltrated many Jewish institutions are "Jewish-Christians", a group which worships J*sus and accepts all of the basic tenets of Christianity but incorporates many Jewish rituals in order to mislead Jews. They claim that they are "completed Jews", insulting the millions of Jews who remain faithful to the religion of their fathers. They give J*sus Jewish garbs, dress him up as a Chassidic Rebbe and imagine him to be a Gadol. These wicked heretics call their churches "synagogues" and their leaders "rabbis". According to them, the New Testament- I mean Brit HaChadasha- is just as Jewish as gefilte fish. Messianics throw around Hebrew and Yiddish terms, copy Jewish practices and pretend to be Jews in order to persuade the ignorant to give up Judaism. They prey on the unaffiliated, often Torah-ignorant college students or the elderly, and the weak, new olim and the poor. "To the Jews, I became a Jew, in order to win Jews". While condemning the Oral Law as the work of man, they freely misappropriate rabbinic literature in support of their idolatrous creed despite the fact that none of the codifiers of the Law believed in J*sus for even a second. They know no shame in their wicked obsession with destroying through missionizing and distributing pamphlets, what could not be destroyed through auto-da-fes and death camps.

Enter "Daniel". As we all recall, he was an normal Orthodox, mitzvah observant, Torah-keeping Jew married to a Jewess for Jesus (red flag). He surrounded himself with Christian friends, even accepting gifts from missionaries, under the guise of a halacha-bound Jew. He would constantly promote Judeo-Christian dialogue and friendship. Even his arguments against Christianity were half-hearted and conciliatory. He would have us believe that he suddenly had a revelation and realized the truth of J*sus. This set off a warning in my mind as Orthodox Jews who have even the tiniest knowledge of Torah do not suddenly become Christians (or "completed Jews"). What prompted this epiphany? He never let us know. Silence was our answer.

Last year, I go into a debate with a Messianic missionary by the screen name of Big Daddy Jew. He claimed to have lived in Teveriah (where Daniel planned to make aliyah to). A few months ago, he suddenly disappeared. I had a feeling that Daniel, Yehudi01 and BDJ might be one and the same. I traced their IP addresses with their e-mails to the same city in California, having identical IP addresses. I recall that whenever BDJ showed up, Daniel would be very apologetic. It seems that our Daniel is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He is certainly no Orthodox Jew but was a secret missionary all along. He probably is not even a Jew to begin with, but a skilled Christian missionary who learned the basics of Judaism and passes himself off as a Jew.

On a site linked to his blog, Daniel shows his true colours. He writes:

Daniel // Mar 28, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Being trained as a missionary, I always felt that peoples souls were at stake. Specially meeting secular Jews that have little interest in the things of G-d. Once I learned more about Judaism I realized that lack of engagement has much to do with persecution as well as lack of understanding of G-d’s character and purposes. I feel that many people have nowhere to go to, where G-d’s principles are clearly communicated. The many religious groups out there are more interested in numbers than true change in people’s hearts and the Message of Moshiach and Hashem is hidden in a huge pile of garbage that is fed to people.

Religious Jew? Sudden epiphany? Bah! It seems like we've been had all along. Far from being a religious Jew, Daniel has been playing us for fools. He has been sowing doubt in our hearts as to the veracity of the Torah and persuading us to accept his false deity. Now he wants us to believe that his eyes were opened to "the truth of c*rist" while this was his plan all along.

In the early centuries of the Common Era, the Jews of Judea were beset by many heretical sects such as the Sadducees, Essenes, Boethusians and early Christians, groups which tried to lead Jews astray with their corrupt doctrines. The great Sage Rabban Gamliel instituted the 19th blessing of the Amidah prayer at Yavneh. This prayer against minim curses the sectarians and asks G-d to protect His nation from the scourge of this cancer. "Let there be no hope for slanderers, and let all wickedness perish in an instant. May all your enemies quickly be cut down, and may you soon in our day uproot, crush, cast down and humble the dominion of arrogance. Blessed are you, Oh L-rd, who smashes enemies and humbles the arrogant." So dangerous are these heretics that the Torah admonishes us to "exterminate evil from our midsts".

The Torah says in Devarim, chapter 13:

7. If your brother, the son of your mother, tempts you in secret or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your embrace, or your friend, who is as your own soul saying, "Let us go and worship other gods, which neither you, nor your forefathers have known."

8. Of the gods of the peoples around you, [whether] near to you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth;

9. You shall not desire him, and you shall not hearken to him; neither shall you pity him, have mercy upon him, nor shield him.

10. But you shall surely kill him, your hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

11. And you shall stone him with stones so that he dies, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

12. And all Israel shall listen and fear, and they shall no longer do any evil such as this in your midst.

Daniel, consider yourself virtually executed for the capital crime of leading Jews into idolatry. You are a choteh u'machti, a sinner who leads others to sin, and as such the gates of teshuvah are closed to you. The Torah orders us to remove the abominations from among us so you are no longer welcome here or at any Torah-observant site. You lied to us, pretended to be something that you are not, all with the hope of getting us to forsake our faith and accept your idolatrous beliefs. You should be ashamed of yourself. You are now a persona non grata here for your despicable acts. "Daniel", know that despite your best attempts, the Jewish people will survive from now until eternity while you and your wicked missionary friends will be relegated to the ashes. The Jewish people must be whole-hearted with HaShem their G-d. We cannot allow spiritual enemies like you to steal our souls and lead us into idolatry. HaShem will repay you a thousand-fold for your evil to His people.

May all the humanity reject their man-made idols and accept the ultimate Kingship of HaShem, speedily in our days. May the King, King of Kings, send us the day when He will be One and His name One. May He crush the wicked and lift up the pride of His beloved people. Amen, amen, amen!

The King is in the Field!

2008-08-30T21:54:00.001-04:00

The shofar blast after prayers tomorrow will herald the opening of the heavenly gates of mercy. The sharp call of the shofar arouses us to put away whatever things have been distracting us from HaShem and to return to Him. We are awakened to rise from our spiritual slumber. We begin the 40 day period of soul-searching and self-improvement which culminates in Yom Kippur. During these yamim noraim we must take an honest look at our conduct in the past year, examine our failings and seek to raise ourselves up.

During the yamim hanoraim, the King is in the field. During the rest of the year, the King sits in His palace and only His servants, ministers and courtiers have access to the inner sanctum. It is extremely difficult to get an audience with the King. But with the blast of the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the King will leave His palace to sit in the field. During this time, all of the King's subjects can go before Him, petition to Him, speak to Him and have their requests granted. Here's how Chassidic master Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), describes the month of Elul - the month that precedes the divine coronation on Rosh Hashanah:

"It is like a king who, before he enters the city, the people of the city go out to greet him in the field. There, everyone who so desires is permitted to meet him; he receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to them all. And when he goes to the city, they follow him there. Later, however, after he enters his royal palace, none can enter into his presence except by appointment, and only special people and select individuals. So, too, by analogy, the month of Elul is when we meet G-d in the field..."

(Likkutei Torah, Re'ei 32b; see also Likkutei Sichot, vol II p. 632 ff.)

The astrological sign of Elul is Virgo, the Virgin. Elul is an acronym for Ani leDodi ve'Dodi Li', I am for my Beloved as my Beloved is to me. In this month, we are reunited with our Beloved, HaShem. He is accessible to every single one of us. The gates of mercy are opened and HaShem has compassion on each one of us. Whatever sins have cut us off from Him throughout the year are forgotten and we once again become pure and sinless.

We add Psalm 27 to the end of our morning and evening services.

1. By David. The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life-whom shall I dread? 2. When evildoers approached me to devour my flesh, my oppressors and my foes, they stumbled and fell. 3. If an army were to beleaguer me, my heart would not fear; if war were to arise against me, in this I trust 1 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I seek: that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord, and to visit His Sanctuary. 5. For He will hide me in His tabernacle on a day of adversity; He will conceal me in the hidden places of His tent; He will lift me upon a rock. 6. And then my head will be raised above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of jubilation; I will sing and chant to the Lord. 7. Lord, hear my voice as I call; be gracious to me and answer me. 8. In Your behalf my heart says, "Seek My countenance"; Your countenance, Lord, I seek. 9. Do not conceal Your countenance from me; do not cast aside Your servant in wrath. You have been my help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, God of my deliverance. 10. Though my father and mother have forsaken me, the Lord has taken me in. 11. Lord, teach me Your way and lead me in the path of righteousness, because of my watchful enemies. 12. Do not give me over to the will of my oppressors, for there have risen against me false witnesses, and they speak evil. 13. [They would have crushed me] had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14. Hope in the Lord, be strong and let your heart be valiant, and hope in the Lord.

Ketivah v'chatima tovah. May we all be written and inscribed in the Book of Life.

Cross-posted from the For Zion's Sake

The Prince of Darkness Exposed

2008-08-27T20:56:00.003-04:00

Since the beginning of time, mankind has grappled universally with theodicy, the question of why bad things happen to good people. To solve this dilemma, the philosophers of idolatry reasoned that there must be two gods, a good god and an evil god. This dualism held that the good god was the god of light, life and kindness and was thwarted by the evil god who ruled death and darkness. This dualism, evident in the Persian Zoroastrian faith, held that the god of good was locked in a cosmic struggle against his evil adversary. When Christianity spread and many pagans came into the faith, aspects of this dualism was absorbed. Christianity holds that G-d created mankind sinful and weak, in an evil world so corrupt and full of sin that man cannot be good in G-d's sight on his own. Man is not free to choose good over evil but rather needs the sacrifice of Jesus to atone for him. This doctrine holds that G-d is the author of righteousness and perfection and never created evil. Evil is the domain of Satan, who was created by G-d as a good angel yet rebelled against Him and fights Him constantly. Satan is the embodiment of evil, the Adversary and Prince of Darkness who rules the Underworld and the souls of those who do not gain salvation.

Such a theology is completely absent in Judaism. According to the Torah, a man cannot gain salvation through the sacrifice of another but rather through choosing virtue over vice, good over evil. Deuteronomy 30:15 states, "See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil." G-d created free will that man should be able to choose good over evil. G-d bids us to choose life, yet gave us the ability to sin and to do wrong. It is in this context that G-d created the evil inclination, or the yezter harah. Also known as HaSatan (Satan), the yetzer was created by G-d to tempt us and distract us from His service. Satan was created by G-d to serve a specific purpose, of leading people astray that they should overcome it and come closer to G-d, and is His loyal servant. Satan has no power independent of G-d and does not contradict or fight against Him.

In Isaiah 45:7, the prophet describes God's creation plan when he reports that,

I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.

Good and evil, harsh and cruel are in the hands of G-d and G-d alone. The translators of the Christian New International Version (NIV) Bible recognized that this verse is contradictory to the Church's teachings and translated the Hebrew word 'rah' (evil) as disaster. This is meant to make the point less easily understood. It is not just hurricanes or disease that G-d creates, but sin and immorality were created by Him so that we should reject them and gain salvation. Satan can be compared to a court prosecutor. He has an unpleasant job but rather than being wicked himself, he wants the good of the court system.

Satan is one of many malachim mentionned in the Bible. The Hebrew word for angel, malach, means messenger, and that is precisely what Satan is. Never once in the entire Torah is there an example of an angel rebelling against G-d or refusing to carry out His commands, especially not Satan. That Satan is not an enemy of G-d is shown many times over in the Torah. When the snake (representing mankind's evil inclination) was punished by G-d, never once did it object to its sentence. Nowhere is this more evident than in the book of Job. In the first chapter of Job, Satan appears with other angels before God and argues that Job's righteousness would quickly disappear upon torment and loss. Satan then requests from God the chance to test Job's virtue. The Almighty grants this request, but He meticulously outlines for Satan what he may and may not do when putting Job to the test. Satan obediently follows G-d's commands. Job is immediately put to the test and, by the third chapter, begins to struggle. He questions his Maker as to why he was created and, in a moment of despair, wishes aloud that he had perished in his mother's womb. Still, by the end of this unparalleled biblical narrative, Job's virtue prevails over Satan's unyielding torment. Satan had to be given G-d's permission before beginning his persecution of Job.

To state that there exists some sort of Adversary, a god of evil, independent of HaShem is to flirt with idolatry and pagan ideas. There is no power besides G-d. This argument cuts to the heart of Christianity. Mankind need not be condemned to sin and punishment. Rather, G-d gave us the ability for personal triumph over evil. By keeping the Torah, man receives salvation from G-d. As our great sage Maimonides taught: "One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world is destroyed." A person cannot rely on the sacrifice of others as it has no effect on his atonement. Only by rejecting evil in favour of G-d's path can a person achieve righteousness. Choose life.

The Disputation at the Dave Glover Show

2008-08-21T18:10:00.002-04:00

Watch a debate between Jhan Moskowitz, head of Jews for J, and Rabbi Tovia Singer, founder of Outreach Judaism. Let the truth prevail. Notice how Moskowitz constantly quotes out of context and interrupts Rabbi Singer. No wonder Jews have been beating Christians in debate for over two thousand years.

Visit Rabbi Singer's site Outreach Judaism.

Ha'Mevin Yavin --- Where to start

2008-08-20T20:48:00.002-04:00

I am an amateur compared to the great counter-missionaries out there, protecting the Jewish people from spiritual assimilation. For anyone interested in knowing why Jews correctly reject Jesus, here are some good essays.

An answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons.

An answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow.

An answer from Ohr Somayach.

An answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer.

I would ask anyone who wishes to continue this debate to please read and digest these materials so as to provide a basis on which to speak. The only thing stopping you is fear.

Ikar #3- G-d has no physical form

2008-08-20T20:08:00.002-04:00

"I believe with perfect faith that G-d does not have a body and that physical concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him at all."

The third fundamental principle of Judaism is that G-d is non-corporeal. G-d has no form or image. G-d is completely beyond time and space, unfettered by the dimensions which He has created. Since G-d is by definition limitless, He cannot have a physical body which is by nature limited. It is similar to the conundrum if G-d could create a rock which He could not lift. The traditional answer is that such a rock could not be created since G-d cannot be restricted. A paradox? Certainly. Just as paradoxical as saying that G-d cannot have a corporeal form as this would be a limit on Him.

Besides philosophical ruminations, the Torah states emphatically that at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people saw no form. The entire nation, men, women and children, millions who left Egypt, all had G-d manifest Himself to them at Sinai. As the Sages said, a maidservant at the Sea (and by extension at Sinai) saw more of G-d than Ezekiel saw in his heavenly vision. And yet, at this ultimate moment, G-d had no form or image. "And the LORD spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a voice... Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves--for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire-- lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female." (Deut. 4:12,15-16) The fear that the nation of Israel would mistakenly assume that since G-d interacted with His world, that He would have a physical body, was ever-present. To prevent this, the Torah warned the Jewish nation sternly that we should not deal corruptly and believe that G-d has a form.

Christianity holds that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine at the same time. In other words, they hold that G-d was incarnated in the flesh as a man (chas v'shalom). Of course, logic and plain reading skills have never been Christianity's strong spot. As the Torah says, G-d was not a man. "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent." (Num. 23:19) In case anybody missed that verse, the Torah repeats it. "And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.'" (I Sam. 15:29) Of course, this shoots Christianity's claims down so expect missionaries to squirm and wiggle this verse into something that it isn't. Did you miss that? Well here it is again. "I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not come in fury." (Hosea 11:9) Hmm... that must mean that G-d is really a first century Jewish preacher. No quite. In Psalm 146:3, we are directed not to put our hope in the "son of man." Interestingly, Jesus is called the "son of man" throughout the Christian Bible. For instance, Jesus calls himself the "son of man" at the Last Supper in Matthew 26:24. He calls himself the "son of man" in many other places, such as in Luke 6:5, when he also declares himself to be a god. Clearly, this does not match G-d's statements in the Jewish Bible that G-d is not a human.

Christians love to point to Genesis 18 as proof that G-d made Himself manifest in the flesh. This obviously misses the point of the story. Leave it to Christians to insert Jesus where he doesn't belong. Of course, a Jew who was raise in Jewish tradition would understand the Torah properly. But certainly goyyim know the Torah better than us. But I digress...

א וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יְהוָה, בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא; וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב פֶּתַח-הָאֹהֶל, כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם.
1 And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

What was G-d doing appearing to Abraham? Abraham had circumcised himself 3 days prior at age 99, an obviously painful experience. Here we learn the important of visiting the sick. In the next verse, we see that Abraham saw three men appearing on the horizon. Note that G-d was there prior to the appearance of them. Therefore, G-d could not have been one of the men.

ב וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים, נִצָּבִים עָלָיו; וַיַּרְא, וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ, אָרְצָה.
2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth

Our Sages learn from here that it is more important to greet guests and to provide them with good hospitality than to be in the presence of G-d. Abraham, the epitome of Jewish hospitality, ran to greet the three men, angels in disguise that G-d had sent to him. Keep in mind that G-d was already there visiting the sick Abraham before the men appeared. If a person still believes that G-d was one of the men, then the valuable lesson was completely lost.

ג וַיֹּאמַר: אֲדֹנָי, אִם-נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ--אַל-נָא תַעֲבֹר, מֵעַל עַבְדֶּךָ.
3 and said: 'My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.

Messianics/ Christians love to point out the use of the word "my lord". Too bad that their Hebrew sucks. When G-d is refered to in the Torah by the word "my lord", it is written as the Tetragramatton, G-d's 4 letter name, and pronounced as ADONAI. Here, the word ADONAI is spelled out, making it clear that is referring to somebody other than G-d. Here, Abraham is politely addressing the angels as his lords. It is wrong to assume that Abraham was addressing the men as G-d as we have already stated that G-d was there prior to their arrival. There is further evidence that the word "lords/ ADONAI" can be used to refer to creatures other than G-d. In Genesis 19:1 we read that Lot is visited by two of these three angels, and in verse 19:2 he addresses the angels, saying: "Behold now, my lords..."

The controversy is cleared up when we reach verse 22.

כב וַיִּפְנוּ מִשָּׁם הָאֲנָשִׁים, וַיֵּלְכוּ סְדֹמָה; וְאַבְרָהָם--עוֹדֶנּוּ עֹמֵד, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה.
22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

Even when the men had left, Abraham was still standing before G-d, whom he had temporaily left to serve his guests.

Missionaries point out that three men came to Abraham and only two visited Lot. In the demented thinking of Christianity, this means that one man had to be G-d. This again misses the point. G-d created many spiritual beings, angels, each with a purpose. No angel is ever assigned to more than one task. In Genesis 18, we had three angels, but they did not have the same job. The first angel's job was to inform Abraham of Sarah's impending pregnancy, while the other two angels' jobs had to do with Lot, Sodom and Gemorrah. After the first angel had informed Abraham of the pregnancy, the angel was done with the job. Hence, only two angels visited with Lot. So, we see that the third man/angel was not G-d, but an angel, who did not go to visit Lot in Genesis 19 because that was not G-d's purpose for the angel.

Judge For Yourself

2008-08-20T13:57:00.003-04:00

Let's get to the basics. An excellent resource for those who wish to understand or refute missionary claims and the truth of Judaism is Jews for Judaism. I present their article as it is essential for those who wish to comprehend the truth.

Judge for yourself: Did Jesus fulfill ALL these criteria?

The Jewish tradition of "The Messiah" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Messiah" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah".

First of all, he must be Jewish - "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

He must be a member of the tribe of Judah - "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

To be a member of the tribe of Judah, the person must have a biological father who is a member of the tribe of Judah.

He must be a direct male descendant of King David and King Solomon, his son - "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

The genealogy of the New Testament is inconsistent. While it gives two accounts of the genealogy of Joseph, it states clearly that he is not the biological father of Jesus. One of the genealogies is through Nathan and not Solomon altogether!

He must gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

Are all Jews living in Israel? Have all Jews EVER lived in Israel since the time of Jesus?

He must rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

At last check, there is NO Temple in Jerusalem. And worse, it was shortly after Jesus died that the Temple was DESTROYED! Just the opposite of this prophecy!

He will rule at a time of world-wide peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

Have you seen a newspaper lately? Are we living in a state of complete world peace? Has there ever been peace since the time of Jesus?

He will rule at a time when the Jewish people will observe G-d's commandments - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

The Torah is the Jewish guide to life, and its commandments are the ones referred to here. Do all Jews observe all the commandments? Christianity, in fact, often discourages observance of the commandments in Torah, in complete opposition to this prophecy.

He will rule at a time when all people will come to acknowledge and serve one G-d - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)

There are still millions if not billions of people in the world today who adhere to paganistic and polytheistic religions. It is clear that we have not yet seen this period of human history unfold.

All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." A careful analysis of these criteria shows us that to date, no one has fulfilled every condition.

Certainly NOT Jesus.

Keep Out!

2008-08-13T20:25:00.004-04:00

"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple unto the LORD, the God of Israel; then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' houses, and said unto them: 'Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.' But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them: 'Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.'"(Ezra 4:1-3)

When the Jews returned from their 70 year long Babylonian captivity, they decided that the first aspect in the redemption of Zion was the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans, descendants of the nations brought in by the Assyrian king to replace the exiled Ten Tribes, offered the new olim help in rebuilding the Holy Temple. Zerubbabel, the leader of the returnees, knowing that the Samaritans were idol-worshippers, refused to let them participate in the rebuilding. Although it would have been easier to allow them to help, Zerubabbel knew that idolatrous elements could not be allowed to help build the Holy Temple.

Today, in many Christian Fundamentalist communities, a frightening new movement is arising. Many Fundamentalists Christians seek to be "grafted in" to the Jewish people. Donning tallis and kippot, they claim to be heirs to the spiritual blessings of Avraham Avinu by accepting JC. They quote the words of their bible, Romans 4, as promising them the inheritance of Avraham. "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring... He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed." Therefore, they are the beneficiaries of G-d's promise of the Land of Israel to Abraham's descendants, the people of Israel. These groups, sometimes known as Efraimites, believe that it is their duty to assist in the return of Israel to its land and in its redemption. By doing so, they will hasten the return of their messiah (of course, all Jews who do not accept him as their saviour will burn in hell for all of eternity). They contribute billions of dollars to building settlements in Israel and provide Israel with a lot of support.

By calling themselves Efraimites, they believe that G-d will reunite them with the house of Judah ie. the Jews. This is yet another attempt by Fundamentalist Christians to merge Judaism and Christianity into one faith. To this extent, these Christians worship in what they call 'synagogue' and imitate Jewish faith and practice. More disturbing than their stealing Jewish rituals is their belief in reclaiming parts of the Land of Israel. Efraimite movements such as the Messianic Israel Alliance declare their goal as "the reunion and full restoration of the two houses: This is the hope that burns in the hearts of those of Messianic Israel..." Christian Zionist is their tool to gain control of parts of the Land. There are currently about 15 000 "faithful" (Messianic) Jews living in Israel and there is an army of missionaries trained to steal Jewish souls prowling the country. These Efraimite groups have called for Christians to make aliyah.

This new movement should scare every self-respecting Jew. By wishing to "graft themselves into the House of Israel", they seek to erode and destroy the unique spiritual heritage of Judaism. G-d chose the Jewish people out of all nations and called upong us to be separate, distinct and different. Chrisitans ("Efraimites") living in Israel would severely de-Judaize the land, robbing it of its distinct Jewish heritage and faith. It would exacerbate Jewish assimilation into the nations and effectively end peacefully what the enemies of the Jewish people have sought to end by auto-da-fés, pogroms and gas chambers. Just as Zerubbabel and the Jews who returned from Babylonia had the courage to tell the Samaritans that they had no share in the Land and the Temple, we must be firm in saying to all Christians that the Land of Israel is the inheritance of every single Jew, and only Jews. We must spurn their gifts and say loud and clear that they have no place in our land and their soul-stealing will not be tolerated.

Only in spiritual isolation, planted in the Land of Israel, can true salvation sprout and we merit the fulfillment of the prophecy "And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a twig shall grow forth out of his roots... for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.." Amen, speedily in our days!

I'm Off

2008-07-07T12:53:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm leaving tonight to Israel. I'll be there for a month and then I'll be in Paris for a week. I may have Internet access so I'll try to post. Bye!

Levelling the Playing Field -- #4 -- Xerox deity

2008-07-01T15:11:00.006-04:00

His disciples gathered in the middle of the winter, on the darkest day of the year, on December 25th, to celebrate the birth of the Son of G-d. Their deity had been sent to earth in human form to die for the sins of mankind and to redeem the world. He was known as "Savior," "Son of God," "Redeemer," and "Lamb of God." His followers ate a sacred meal of wine and bread, which symbolized his flesh and blood, celebrating the arrival into the world of this saviour-god in a cave, born of a virgin mother. The priests, clad in white, lit candles and sang his praises. They told his faithful how the saviour had travelled far and wide with his 12 disciples as a teacher and illuminator of men. He was buried in a cave and rose from the dead. The walls of his temple were inscribed with the words: "And thou hast saved us by shedding the eternal blood." The divinity? Mithras.

Christianity can hardly call itself original. In fact, it is but another pagan faith. As Christianity developped, it incorporated many of the pagan myths of the surrounding peoples. Many aspects of Jesus' life appear to have been preceded in pagan mythologies of their own gods. The Mediterranean, in the time of early Christianity, was full of diverse creeds and beliefs. Roughly speaking the ancients' gods:

- Were born on or very near our Christmas Day
- Were born of a Virgin-Mother
- Were born in a Cave or Underground Chamber
- Led a life of toil for Mankind
- Were called by the names of Light-bringer, Healer, Mediator, Savior, Deliverer
- Were however vanquished by the Powers of Darkness
- And descended into Hell or the Underworld
- Rose again from the dead, and became the pioneers of mankind to the Heavenly world
- Founded Communions of Saints, and Churches into which disciples were received by Baptism
- Were commemorated by Eucharistic meals

Christianity's legends were so similar to that of other pagan saviour-gods that Christian apologist Justin Martyr (1 Apologia, 66, 4) denounced the devils for sending a divinity like Jesus- yet preceding him. When Christianity was new and just beginning to spread its "Good Word", Mithraism was already an ancient faith. Originating in Persia, Mithras was worshipped as G-d's Messenger of Truth and long revered in by Zoroastrians and Hindus. His cult eventually spread to Rome where it was destroyed by fanatical Christians.

Another god that died and was resurrected to redeem humanity was Attis, a pagan godman originating in ancient Turkey. Attis was born of the Virgin Nana on December 25th. He was both the Father and the Divine Son. Attis' worshipers at a sacramental meal of bread and wine. The wine represented the God's blood; the bread became the body of the savoir. They were baptized in this way: a bull was placed over a grating, the devotee stood under the grating. The bull was stabbed with a consecrated spear. "It's hot reeking blood poured in torrents through the apertures and was received with devout eagerness by the worshiper...who had been born again to eternal life and had washed away his sins in the blood of the bull." Attis's adherents, who received eternal life and remission of sin for his sacrifice, called him the "Good Sheppard," the "Most High God," the "Only Begotten Son" and "Savior." Pagans and Christians had frequent disputes as to the overlaps of their two saviour-deities. The Pagans argued that their god had come first and was therefore the original. The Christians admitted that Jesus came after but that Attis was a Satanic immitation.

Long before any Roman king supposedly plotted to do away with any messianic upstarts, the god-king Osiris had been betrayed and murdered by his cruel brother Seth. The Discovery of Osiris [Inventio Osiridis] was the great autumn festival of the religion. It celebrated the death of the God on October 28th, and His resurrection on November 3rd. On the first day of the festival the faithful, dressed in black, chanted laments, beat their breasts and cried out with grief as they joined Isis (the wife of Osiris) in mourning the death of the G-d. His followers took comfort in the fact that Osiris' sacrifice allowed his to ascend to heaven where he would judge the dead. "The keys of hell and the guarantee of salvation were in the hands of the goddess, and the initiation ceremony itself a kind of voluntary death and salvation through divine grace." [Apuleius, Metamorphosis, Book 11, 21] "Be of good cheer, O initiates, for the god is saved, and we shall have salvation for our woes." [Firmicus Maternus, The Error of Pagan Religions, 22.1]

While the individual details of each deity differ, the basic concept is the same. A god consorts with a mortal woman who bears a demigod. This demigod attracts to him many followers and spreads the good news and truth throughout the land. At a certain point, this god is either killed or betrayed, and dies for the sins of the world. His followers bury him and yet they find his tomb empty, symbolizing his triumph over death. This event is commemorated every year and he is worshipped in mystery cults and rituals. The same goes for Christianity. The heretical Jews who began the Christian offshoot could not fathom G-d as Infinite and Completely Beyond the World. They decided to create G-d in their own image and instead of placing Him, Unknowable, in heaven, He took the form of a human being and descended to earth. When they shared this idea with the pagans, they quickly accepted it as it was familiar to them. All of their gods had human forms. Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki; the Savior Dionysus was born of the virgin Semele. Buddha too was born of a virgin, as were the Egyptian Horus and Osiris. The old Teutonic goddess Hertha was a virgin impregnated by the heavenly Spirit and bore a son. Scandinavian Frigga was impregnated by the All-Father Odin and bore Balder, the healer and savior of mankind.

Christianity is both a good and original faith--- except everything good about it is plagiarized from Judaism and everything original is bad. Worship of Jesus is idolatry in that it reduces G-d to a human being, gives Him a form and places limits on the Limitless One.

Closer than you think

2008-06-27T12:07:00.004-04:00

When the modern movement of evangelizing to the Jews began, Christians realized that the bloody history of Judeo-Christian relationships presented a problem. Suffering through two millenia of harsh Christian persecution culminating in the devastating Holocaust, whose seeds of hatred were planted by the Church, Christian missionizing evoked a knee-jerk reaction in Jews. Christians realized that in order to get to Jewish souls, they would need to abandon their ancient anti-semtism in favour of support and love for the Jewish people. They figured (erroneously) that the only thing separating Jews from 'the truth of christ' was the hatred and violence that the Church preached against them. In order to counteract this tragic past, Christians eschewed their anti-semtism and declared that those who perpetrated those cruel acts were not 'real Christians'. Christians declared themselves to be Israel's greatest supporters, to love the Jewish people and to whole-heartedly support G-d's chosen. In their zeal for all things Jewish, Christian congregations took Hebrew names, draped themselves in talleisim and began to hold Shabbat morning services. They decorated their homes and churches with Jewish symbols, with menorahs and Israeli flags, all the while reassuring us of their unfailing love for the Jewish people.

For all their philo-semitism, we have been lulled into complacency. In our ever-present desire to be loved and embraced, we have forgotten that we have been down this path before. Christian support and funds does not come free but rather at the cost of the harvest of Jewish souls, of missionizing in the Holy Land, of Messianics defaming Jews on national television, and of Evangelicals exerting pressure on Israeli policies. Conversions to Christianity has reached epidemic proportions with armies of missionaries with billions of dollars at their disposal dedicated to baptizing the Jewish nation. This frenzied attempt to wean us off of our Jewish faith has provoked a very harsh reaction from Jews committed to Judaism. In response, we have seen our 'Christian friends' turn on us quite quickly.

Has this pattern been repeated before? According to the Christian bible, Jesus came originally to the Jews to preach to them his new doctrine of salvation. He travelled through the countryside spreading the 'Good Word' of his coming. Judea in that time was teeming with messianic pretenders and lunatic prophets announcing new divine commands, and the Jews rejected Jesus. Whatever arguments and proofs that he presented of his divinity, the greatest Jewish thinkers of the time refuted him and refused to accept the blasphemous idea that man could be G-d. In his fury at being rejected by his own people to whom he preached based on their own scriptures, Jesus condemned them to destruction. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matthew 23:37-38) Jesus cursed the Jewish people and marked Jerusalem for destruction. The man who taught to turn the other cheek was quick in rebuking those who would not listen to him. When it became apparent to Jesus that the Jews would not receive his message, he began to teach that the Jews had been replaced by G-d and that his message should be directed at the Gentiles (Acts 13:45-51). So much evil was directed at the Jews because of this misguided belief that the Church replaced them as G-d's chosen.

This same story was repeated numerous times. When Martin Luther began his Reformation against the Catholic Church, he originally condemned anti-semtism in the hopes that the Jews would join his new sect. For decades he lovingly and patiently reached out to the Jewish people in his area with the Gospel. In 1523, Luther accused Catholics of being unfair to Jews in treating them “as if they were dogs”. Luther was outraged and declared that such mistreatment made it even more difficult for Jews to convert to christ. Luther wrote: “I would request and advise that one deal gently with the Jews … if we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them, not by Papal Law, but by the Law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us, hear our Christian teaching and witness our Christian life. If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either”. After 15 years of refusal to join the Reformation and forsake their faith, Luther lost his patience. He wrote a pamphlet, 'On the Jews and their Lies' in which he recommended an eight-step plan to deal with the Jewish Problem.
"First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. ..."
"Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. ..."
"Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. ..."
"Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. ..."
"Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. ..."
"Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them. ... Such money should now be used in ... the following [way]... Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed [a certain amount]..."
"Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow... For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants."
"If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews' blasphemy and not share in their guilt, we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country" and "we must drive them out like mad dogs." So hateful was Martin Luther, it can be said that he was the first to conceive of the Final Solution. The Nazis distributed his works to justify their anti-semtism. On the night of Martin Luther's birthday, November 9-10, 1938, 191 synagogues throughout Germany were set on fire, and 76 were completely destroyed; 815 Jewish-owned shops were demolished, 29 warehouses and 171 homes were set on fire or likewise destroyed. On that night, which has become infamously known as Kristallnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass"), more than 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, and 36 Jews were murdered. German Protestants claimed that the attack in honour of his birthday.

We are repeating history. When Christians realize that despite all of their support and money, we are not rushing to the altar and the cross, they will turn on us. For all their talk of 'loving us unconditionally', they will turn, and fiercely. Witness the anti-semitic rhetoric spewing from Pat Robertson's mouth in response to the attack on an Ariel pastor's son by an unknown assailant. Christian support for Israel is but another tactic in the millenia long struggle to get the Jews to accept Christianity. Little do they know that deep theological reasons prevent us from becoming Christians, and not just anti-semitism. Their philo-semitic policies will change quickly and there will be no more 'Christian United for Israel' rallies. Just like Martin Luther and the Christian god himself, Christians will soon be turned off from helping Jews when their missionary efforts are to no avail. While many Christians may be genuine and sincere in their support, it is important to know that love of the Jews and vicious anti-semtism are more closely related than we realize.

Leveling the Playing Field -- # 3 - Messianic Misappropriation

2008-06-25T18:24:00.003-04:00

For all this talk of Jesus being 'the Messiah', there is a lot of confusion as to what 'messiah' actually means. Literally, 'messiah' is Greek for 'moshiach', meaning 'annointed one'. In order to have any sort of debate with Christian proselytizers, it is necessary to clarify what Judaism believes about the messiah. It would make sense to assume that since the Jews are the first ones to introduce the concept of moshiach to the world, that they would have better knowledge of it than the descendants of pagans.

What is the moshiach? The Jewish tradition of "The Moshiach" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Moshiach" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah". The criteria are:

- He must be Jewish- "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

- He must be a member of the tribe of Judah- "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

- He must be a descendant of King David and King Solomon- "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

- He will redeem the Jewish people and ingather the exiles -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

- He will rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, in Jerusalem- "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

- He will bring world peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

- He will bring the Jewish people back to perfect observance of the Torah - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

- He will spread the rule of G-d and belief in Him around the world, to all peoples - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)
All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

Judge for yourself: Has any man fulfilled all of these requirements? Keep in mind that the Torah says that the Moshiach will accomplish his task in one try. The Moshiach "shall not fail nor be crushed, till he have set the right in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his teaching" (Isaiah 42:4).

When will Moshiach Tzidkeinu (the Righteous Moshiach) appear? "Today, if you hearken unto His voice!" (Psalm 95:7). He can come today or tomorrow, and every righteous act, mitzvah or good deed accomplished brings his coming closer. Isaiah (60:22) says about G-d, "in its appointed time, I will hasten it". The Rabbis asked how could it be possible for HaShem to hasten the coming of the Moshiach, since he would no longer appear in his appointed time. They resolved this difficulty by saying that if Israel does teshuva and the world is worthy, the Moshiach will come via signs and wonders, miracles and great things, immediately, and if we are not worthy, he will come in his appointed time, through natural means.

How will we recognize the Moshiach? The Rambam in his Hilchot Melachim (11:4) writes:

If a king will arise from the House of David, who, like David his ancestor, delves deeply into the study of the Torah and engages in the mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G‑d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach.

If he succeeds in the above, defeats all the nations around him, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach.[3]

He will perfect the entire world, [motivating all the nations] to serve G‑d together, as it is written (Zephaniah 3:9), "For I shall then make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G‑d and serve Him with one purpose."

What will life be like? Again, we turn to the Rambam's Hilchot Melachim (12:4-5)

The Sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic Era in order that [the Jewish people] rule over the entire world, nor in order that they have dominion over the gentiles, nor that they be exalted by them, nor in order that they eat, drink and celebrate. Rather, their aspiration was that [the Jewish people] be free [to involve themselves] in the Torah and its wisdom, without anyone to oppress or disturb them, and thus be found worthy of life in the World to Come, as we explained in Laws of Repentance (9:2).

In that Era there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance and all the delicacies will be as freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G‑d. The Jews will therefore be great sages and know the hidden matters, and will attain an understanding of their Creator to the [full] extent of mortal potential; as it is written (Isaiah 11:9), "For the world will be filled with the knowledge of G‑d as the waters cover the ocean bed."

May HaShem send His righteous Moshiach speedily in our days. Amen, ken yehi ratzon

Leveling the Playing Field- # 2: Spiritual Death

2008-06-21T23:48:00.006-04:00

Potential converts are often told that accepting Jesus is their only chance to avoid burning in hell for all of eternity. Belief in Jesus is saviour is a 'get out of hell free' card. Missionaries love to claim that Jews have 'nothing to lose and everything to gain' by accepting Jesus as their saviour.

To this, it is necessary to respond that if Jesus is not a deity, worshipping him as G-d constitutes idolatry. The punishment of an idolater is spiritual death, and being cut off forever from G-d in the World to Come, karet. "But the soul that sinneth high-handedly, whether he be home-born or a stranger, the same blasphemeth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken His commandment; that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him." (Num. 15:30-31). Idolatry is one of the the three cardinal sins which a Jew must give his life before committing. Indeed, throughout the ages, Jews have prefered death than baptism. During the Crusades, tens of communities were destroyed and thousands of Jews were massacred, yet only a few individuals accepted Christianity. Most sang the Shemah, the Jewish testament to G-d's Unity, before being slaughtered.

G-d lay our eternal allegiance after rescuing us from the Egyptian bondage. At Sinai, He told us that we should have no other gods before Him ie. as intercessors between Him and us. There is no need for an intermediary to reach HaShem; He saved us Himself and wants a personal and direct relationship with all of us. "And I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt, and gods beside Me you should not know, and there is no savior but Me" (Hosea 13:4). This applies equally to Jews who accept false saviour-gods, thinking that this will lead them closer to G-d. G-d explained at Sinai exactly how He should be worshipped. Any deviance from what G-d commanded us at Sinai is idolatry. G-d told us specifically that "G-d is not a man, that He should lie" (Numbers 23:19) This same concept is repeated in I Samuel 15:29. G-d has no form or image and in non-corporeal. He is unbound by time and space, completely limitless and therefore cannot be restricted by physical shapes. This was the sin of the Jews who worshipped the Golden Calf. They believed that Moses had died and they desired a god to serve as an intermediary between them and HaShem. "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves--for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire-- lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female." (Deut. 4:15-16) Any attempt to give G-d a physical image places limits on Him, the Unbound and Limitless One.

A Jew is meant to bear witness to the Unity of G-d. "Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He; before Me there was no god formed, neither shall any be after Me." (Isaiah 43:10) Twice a day, in the morning and evening, and then again before he goes to sleep, a Jew recites the Shemah and testifies that HaShem is One. These words are contained in the tefillin which he dons every weekday, and engraved on the mezuzot on his doorpost. These are the very last words that a Jew should say before he leaves this world. When a Jew accepts Christianity, he loses his exalted status and commits idolatry, invoking the sin of karet. Far from gaining G-d's grace, by believing in Jesus as a divinity, a Jew loses all of his share in the World to Come and is eternally cut off from G-d.

"Return, O Israel, unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity." (Hosea 14:1)

Levelling the Playing Field - Part # 1: The Uniqueness of Israel's Revelation

2008-06-17T21:17:00.005-04:00

Missionaries resort to a number of deceptive arguments to which many ignorant Jews have no retort. Therefore, it is necessary that every Jew familiarize himself with certain key points if he wishes to combat misssionaries. It is essential that he learn how to frame the debate and level the theological playing field, so to speak, in order to provide solid ground for the Judaism's answer. The most important thing to lay down is the superiority of Judaism's revelations and claims verses the flimsy ones of Christianity.

Judaism began with an Earth-shaking event, literally. It is an event which there is no parallel in any of the thousands of religion, beliefs or mythologies that exist. On the morning of the 6 of Sivan in the 2448th year since Creation, G-d Himself descended on Mount Sinai and revealed Himself before over 3 million Jewish men, women and children, and all of the souls of future Jewish generations, to present to them the awesome gift of the Torah. 'You might inquire about times long past, from the day that God created man on earth, and from one end of heaven to the other: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fires as you have heard and survived?' (Deut. 4:32-33) No other belief system begins with a national revelation, before millions of people. The simple reason is that it is impossible to make this sort of event up. If somebody had come along at a later date and tried to introduce the Jews to this story, they would have never accepted this made-up part of their collective history. Either they would have experienced it themselves or their ancestors would have past stories about the event down to them. Its impossible to convince somebody that G-d spoke to their parents, grandparents and the entire nation, and yet they've never heard about this before. From this most awesome of event, comes the basis of Judaism.

Maimonides writes:

Israel did not believe in Moses, our teacher, on account of the miracles he performed. For when one's faith is based on miracles, doubt remains in the mind that these miracles may have been done through the occult and witchcraft...

What then were the grounds of believing him? The revelation on Sinai which we saw with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, not having to depend on the testimony of others... (Mishna Torah - Foundations of Torah 8:1)

This momentous national revelation helps explain why Jews remained faithful to their faith during the thousands of years of harsh exile. G-d commanded them that His Torah was eternal and that nothing could be added or subtracted to it. The Torah that we have today is the exact Torah, to the letter, that we received at Sinai. the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us: "Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes. The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (with the Tablets). If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would "testify" against him. (Likewise, if he had access to the scroll in the Ark and tried to falsify it, the distributed copies would "testify" against him.)" All newly written Torah scrolls were proof-checked against the Torah contained in the Holy Ark. To eliminate any chance of human error, Jewish law enumerates 20 ways that can invalidate a Torah. If even a single letter is mispelled, the entire Torah is disqualified! There are entire books written on how to pronounce every word of the Torah. During the exile, Jews were dispersed in far-flung places such as Poland, Morroco, Australia and Iran. After 1948, when thousands of Torah scrolls were brought to Israel, they were all cross-checked. Out of the 304,805 letters of the Torah, only 9 letters were in variation in the Yemenite Torahs since the Yemenite community was isolated from mainstream Judaism. These 9 letters have absolutely no effect on the meaning of the text.

There is a famous story in the Talmud (Eruvin 13a):

When Rabbi Meir came to Rabbi Yishmael to learn Torah, he was asked:

"What is your profession, my son?"

"I am a scribe," was the reply.

He said to me: "My son, be careful with your work, for it is the work of Heaven. Should you perhaps omit one letter or add one letter -- it could result that you destroy the entire world

Rebbe Meir remarked: "Needless to say, I do not err by omitting or adding (letters)... but I am even concerned for a fly -- lest it come and alight upon the right-hand corner of a dalet and erase it, thereby rendering it a reish.

In contrast, Christianity's claims are based on the flimsy writings of individuals. If the Christian Bible is to be taken at face value, Jesus performed miracles before his disciples or a few villagers. (Even his public miracles in no way compare to the millions at Sinai.) Paul had his ephiphany alone on a road to Damascus. Christianity has no national revelation! However, even acceping the stories of the Christian Bible is generous. There is an acknowledged consensus among Christian academics that the Gospels were not written by eye witnesses but rather were pseudonymously attributed to Jesus's disciples, and the Paul's epistles make no mention of Jesus's life and ministry. Following the death of Jesus (whose very historicity is problematic), hundreds of Gospels detailing his life were written, of which the Church chose but a few. In his book, Answering Christianity's Most Puzzling Questions, Christian apologist Richard Sisson states: "In fact, after the death of Jesus a whole flood of books that claimed to be inspired appeared.... Disputes over which ones were true were so intense that the debate continued for centuries. Finally in the fourth century a group of church leaders called a council and took a vote. The 66 books that comprised our cherished Bible were declared to be Scripture by a vote of 568 to 563." The Catholic Encyclopedia records that it was the decision of Church father St. Irenaeus to name the Gospels as they are known today. Many events recorded in the Gospels contradict historical facts or Jewish law, proving its falsehood. In fact, Jesus divinity was only established by a vote in the 4th century CE at the Council of Nicea!

In contrast to the Torah's perfect preservation, there exist about 30 000 variations in the text of the Christian Bible.

(From Simple To Remember)
First, the Christian Bible is about 1,700 years younger than the Torah. Second, the Christians haven't gone through nearly as much exile and dislocation as the Jews. Third, Christianity has always had a central authority (the Vatican) to ensure the accuracy of their text.

What are the results? The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book written to prove the validity of the New Testament, says: " A study of 150 Greek [manuscripts] of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings... It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the New Testament in which the [manuscript] is wholly uniform."

Other scholars report there are some 200,000 variants in the existing manuscripts of the New Testament, representing about 400 variant readings which cause doubt about textual meaning; 50 of these are of great significance.

The Torah has nine spelling variants -- with absolutely no effect on the meaning of the words. The Christian Bible has over 200,000 variants and in 400 instances the variants change the meaning of the text.

When comparing the national revelation that is the basis of Judaism and the unbroken transmission of the Torah until today with the historical inaccuracies of Christianity's founding, couples with its ahistorical and forged holy books and immense variations, with the original text unrecognizable, why would anybody trust in Christianity's claims? They are shaky and weak, while the revelation at Sinai is emet v'yatsiv, true and certain. Any Jew who is flirting with Christianity must realize that he is trading in the certainty of G-d's Torah for a man-made sham.

"[Moses told the Israelites]: 'Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld. Do not remove this memory from your heart all the days of your life. Teach your children and your children's children about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horev [Mount Sinai]...

God spoke to you from the midst of the fire, you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.'" (Deut.4:9-13) Never forget that awesome day when we all saw G-d!

If you like what you see...

2008-06-12T16:06:00.003-04:00

Then JBlog Me. Help spread the message and fight for the truth. Tell me what you think.

Ramming Your Jesus Down Our Throats

2008-06-11T20:35:00.000-04:00

The "persecuted" Church in Israel plays the victim shamelessly in order to advance its spiritual assault on the Jewish faith. When a church suffered slighty damage after some of the wiring caught fire, the eternal victims were quick to blame "Jewish extremists". After a bomb injured the son of a pastor who had been fatwaed by the Mufti of Jerusalem, these same "victims" accused, without a shred of evidence, Orthodox Jews as plotting to kill Christians, although Fatah later took credit for the blast. Israel today is in the midst of a life and death struggle for its Jewish soul, with 3000 years of history and tradition on one side and billions of dollars in Christian aid on the other. Christian spiritual warriors have committed themselves to baptizing the Jewish nation, whether we like it or not.

Jews for Jesus's mission stated goal is "to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide." It has committed itself to forcing itself onto the Jewish people (an unavoidable issue) and imposing their religion on us. Jews for Jesus has just begun a multi-billion dollar 5 year campaign including bus and billboard advertisements, dedicated to spreading Christianity in Israel. This campaign is so repugnant and offensive to Jews that the bus and billboard compagnies, when notified by counter-missionary groups of the contents of the advertisements, promptly removed them. In short, Jews have no interest in Christianity or Jesus. It simply ain't kosher. A few weeks ago, a drove of missionaries descended uninvited and unwanted on the religious city of Or Yehuda and handed out New Testaments to the particularly vulnerable Ethiopian community. When the spiritual crusaders left, the inhabitants found themselves in possession of heretical and insulting material which they needed to dispose of. The mayor of the town collected this garbage (since it was unwanted) and got rid of it by burning it in a synagogue parking lot. Christians spun this incident out of proportion, describing it as if Jews had led a pogrom through the streets, confiscated Christian Bibles and set them on fire amid great dancing and celebration. They miss the crucial fact that the people of the town had no interest in Christianity, were given material that it contrary to their faith, and resolved to get rid of it the best way possible to ensure that no Jew would be endangered by their contents.

Christians like to cry that the church suffers "harassment" by Orthodox Jews. US foreign policy forbids Israel from outlawing missionary activities. They claim that this would violate their religious "freedom". They fail to notice, however, the nature of Christian harassment. To a Jew, nothing is more offensive than an attempt to steal his soul. When we left the exile behind, we also left behind Christianity and all other foreign belief-systems. Why should a Jew living in the Jewish country be subjected to attempt by foreigners to get him to change his faith? If a missionary attempt is unsolicited and he keeps on pounding the Jew with verse after verse trying to prove that Jesus is messiah, then this is harassment. Subjecting Jews to seeing advertisement in all major newspapers, media and one the road that proclaim the Gospel is harassment. The message of missionaries is clear: Judaism is worthless and Jews are condemned to eternal hellfire unless they accept the saving graces of Jesus Christ. Thanks but no thanks. For two thousand years, the universal concensus of Jews has been that belief in Jesus is not compatible with the Torah. There is no reason for a Jew living in the Jewish state to have to endure Christians trying to baptize him.

Freedom of religion is the freedom to believe whatever you would like, but not to behave however you please. Religious freedom does not permit polygamy, for example. Israel has not said that people are not entitled to believe in Jesus. It has stated, at certain times, that people are not free to persuade others to accept Jesus. While this may sound undemocratic to American Christians and a violation of their rights, it is a right that they do not have. Israel's character is Jewish and anyone who goes there needs to respect that. Freedom of religion ceases when it infrines of someone else's right not to be harassed. The rights of Christians to spread the Gospel in Israel must be limited in order to protect the right of the Jewish citizens of Israel not to have to subjected to conversion attempts. The missionaries are not citizens but come from afar with the only intention of tearing us from our faiths. There is no reason why we should let that happen in our own state.

Beyond Chutzpah: Missionary Shamelessness

2008-06-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

Paul, the founder of the early Christian church, confessed to employing deceptive techniques to gain converts to his new faith. "If through my lies G-d’s truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?" (Romans 3:7) Paul's spiritual successors have learnt well from his example. In their zeal for destroying the Jewish faith and nation, missionaries have stooped to the most deceptive and dishonest tactics. While they are a fifth-column determined to convert us, they portray themselves shamelessly as victims of "Orthodox persecution". They feel no guilt at publically accusing the Jewish people of blood libel on international television without a shred of evidence. Of course, intellectual dishonesty is nothing new to Christianity.

A recent bomb attack on the son of a Messianic pastor prompted calls of condemnation on Orthodox Jews. Without any proof, Pat Robertson has denounced Orthodox Jews on his television station for complicity in this attack. This is despite the fact that the Mufti of Jerusalem issued a fatwa against this pastor for converting Muslims and that Fatah took credit for this attack. None of this has stopped the slander directed at the Jewish people. On the other hand, there are numerous cases of missionary abuse and assault on those who try to stop them. Eddie Beckford, head of the Messianic cult in Arab, was caught on video brutally assaulting a counter-missionary activist. Meanwhile, in all of Yad L'Achim's, a major counter-missionary organization, 50 years of activism, not one of its members has been convicted of violence. By playing the victim, they are able to gain sympathy and support to their evil cause.

Missionaries recently entered the mostly religious town of Or Yehuda and distributed missionary pamphlets, specifically targetting the Ethiopian community which is particularly succeptible to Messianic propaganda. Having found themselves in possession of idolatrous and undesirable material, they resolved to dispose of it in the most appropriate fashion. The mayor of Or Yehuda, along with several yeshiva students, went across town collecting these pamphlets and burnt them in a synagogye parking lot. The head of the Israeli branch of the cult which distributed these Christian Bible, Victor Kalisher, the son of Holocaust survivors, stooped so low as to abuse the memory of the Holocaust to support converting Jews. "As Jews we were raised and taught that were books are burned, worse things can happen. That's what I think when I see the pictures of what happened in Or Yehuda. What worries me is that nobody has stood up against this." Messianic activists compared the burning to medieval burnings of the Talmud or the Nazi destruction of Jewish books. By painting themselves as suffering from Jewish "Nazis", they hope to gain public support. These Messianics fail to realize one key difference. The Nazis, or the Christians during the Middle Ages, forcibly confiscated Jewish holy books and burnt them. In Or Yehuda, Jews were subjected to material that is considered higly offensive and had no way to get rid of it. According to Jewish law, anything associated with idolatry must be destroyed. Therefore, the only halachic solution would be to destroy the pamphlets. Yet the missionaries could not make this distinction. They gladly spit on the memory of the 6 million martyred Jews in their crusade to finish off the task of eliminating the Jewish people.

These missionaries have no shame and will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. They spend billions of dollars every year in order to gain influence and convert Jews. Evangelical leaders exert tremendous pressure on the Israeli government to strike down laws prohibiting missionizing and aid Messianics in furthering their agenda in Israel. They have slandered traditional Jews, desecrated the memory of the Holocaust, preyed on the vulnerable and even attacked counter-missionary activists. They are certainly enemies of the Jewish people and must be treated as such. In this day and age, when we are quick to accept "Zionism" as a common building ground, we must carefully re-examine our relationships with spiritual thieves.

Israel: G-d's Suffering Servant

2008-05-30T12:20:00.000-04:00

The Jews are responsible for first introducing G-d to the world. Since the covenant at Sinai, the Jewish people have tried to fulfill their divine task of spreading monotheism and ethics to the world. Along with this mission of perfecting the world comes deadly hatred and anti-semitism. Jewish history, through the Crusades and Inquisitions, pogroms and massacres, Holocausts and Intifadas, is a long trail of blood and death. That is the price of being HaShem's Servant.

13 Behold, My servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. The Torah refers to Israel often as G-d's servant. See Isa. 41:8-9; 44:1-2; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3, for example. "Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen." Israel was charged to serve G-d and reveal Him to the world. (According to the Christian understanding, Jesus, the subject of this passage, is G-d. How can G-d be His own servant?)

14 According as many were appalled at thee--so marred was his visage unlike that of a man, and his form unlike that of the sons of men-- 15 So shall he startle many nations, kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they perceive. 1 'Who would have believed our report? Imagine the amazements of the nations when the very nation which was persectued and tormented is lifted to the highest of heights in the Messianic era? The nation that was long associated with death and weakness, with gas chambers and ovens, will return to its former glory and splendour, as those who oppressed it are downtrodden. Micah 7:12-17 records the astonishment of the nations at Israel's reversal of fortunes. "'As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things.' The nations shall see and be put to shame for all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places; they shall come with fear unto the LORD our God, and shall be afraid because of Thee."

And to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? HaShem's "arm" refers to physical salvation from our foes. Israel was redeemed from Egypt with a mighty hand and an outsretched arm. G-d will redeem us again in the same manner.

2 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. 3 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. When one considers how the world stood silently while tens of thousands of Jews were butchered every single day during the Holocaust, it is easy to realize that the nation of Israel "was despised and we [the nations] esteemed him not." The world has always been apathetic at best to Jewish suffering, and actively seeking our destruction at worst. This verse cannot be reconciled with the New Testament account of Jesus, a man who was supposedly "praised by all" (Lk. 4:14-15) and followed by multitudes (Matt. 4:25), who would later acclaim him as a prophet upon his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:9-11). Even as he was taken to be crucified, a multitude bemoaned his fate (Lk. 23:27). Jesus had to be taken by stealth, as the rulers feared "a riot of the people" (Mk. 14:1-2).

4 Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Israel's adversities are frequently likened to sickness - see, e.g., Isa. 1:5-6; Jer. 10:19; Jer 30:12. Jer. 30:17 - of God's servant Israel (30:10), it is said by the nations, "It is Zion; no one cares for her." The nations have always been quick to write off the Jews as done, finished, destroyed.

5 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.
The Chosen People has suffered because of the wickedness and cruelty ie. transgressions and iniquities, of the nations of the world, because they sought to crush them. If only they knew how much spiritual good Israel has done for the world! Note that it is "because of transgressions", not FOR our transgressions. This certianly does not refer to the Messiah who "shall not fail nor be crushed till he has set the right in the earth" (Isa. 42:4).

6 All we like sheep did go astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, though he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth. Israel is a sheep among 70 wolves. King David describes Israel as "sheep to be slaughtered" in the midst of the unfaithful gentile nations (44:22,11).

Jesus certainly did "open his mouth" to his accusers and protested. Any claims tothe contrary are absolutely false. See Matt. 27:46, Jn. 18:23, 36-37.

8 From dominion and judgement he was taken away,and with his generation who did reason? Which position of judgement and dominion did Jesus ever hold? Did he ever sit on the Sanhedrin or rule as king of Israel? Jesus never had any rights to rulership or judgement, at least not on the "first coming." See, e.g., Jn. 3:17; Jn. 8:15; Jn. 12:47; Jn. 18:36.

for he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. 9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; See Ez. 37:11-14, wherein Israelis described as "cut off" and God promises to open its "graves" and bring Israel back into its own land. Other examples of figurative deaths include Ex. 10:17; 2 Sam. 9:8; 2 Sam. 16:9. "For the transgressions of my people" makes it clear that the Prophet is speaking of a collective entity rather than an individual.

although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.' See Matt. 21:12; Mk. 11:15-16; Lk. 19:45; Lk. 19:27; Matt. 10:34 and Lk. 12:51; then judge for yourself whether this passage is truly consistent with the New Testament account of Jesus.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to crush him by disease; to see if his soul would offer itself in restitution, that he might see his seed, prolong his days, and that the purpose of the LORD might prosper by his hand: The Hebrew word "seed" (zerah) always means physical descendants. Did Jesus have any? Moreover, Jesus died young and did not "prolong his days". And if Jesus is G-d and therefore eternal, then how can G-d's days be prolonged?

11 Of the travail of his soul he shall see to the full, with his knowledge the righteous one, my Servant, will cause many to be just and their iniquities he did bear. The Jewish people will lead the nations in the observance of the 7 Universal Noahide Laws and perfect the world in the kingdom of the Almighty. They will fulfill their task to be a light unto the nations ((Deut. 4:5-8; Zech. 8:23)

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty; because he bared his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. If Jesus is G-d, then how can he be rewarded? Does it not make sense that the nation that was persecuted and tormented for G-d sake- and despite all that, remained faithfu and brought righteousness to its many enemiesl (Ps. 44)- to be rewarded as Isaiah 52 and 54 explain in greater detail?

"Proof"-Texts Revealed

2008-05-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

Christian claims about 300 Messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus are a load of hooey (I'm using a more polite word than the more appropriate one that rhymes with 'hit'). I can say with absolute conviction that there is not one prophecy in the entire Tanach that refers specifically to Jesus. Every single Christian proof-text is either mistranslated, taken out of context, misappropriated or completely invented. I will examine each of these various techniques with a "proof-text".

Mistranslations:

According to Christians, Isaiah 7:14 clearly states that a virgin shall give birth to a son, and they claim that this obviously refer to their virgin-born god, Jesus.
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (KJV)

This interpretation, however, is fatally flawed. The translators of the King James Version (accidentally?) mistranslated the verse. The correct reading should be:

"Therefore the L-rd Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and you [or, she] shall call his name Immanuel."

The Hebrew word that refers to the woman giving birth in this passage is 'ha-almah', which means the young woman, and not 'ha-betulah' which means the virgin. The word 'ha-almah' always refers to a young woman, with no mention of her sexual status.

Proverbs 30:18-19 – "There are three things which are too wonderful for me, indeed, four which I know not; The way of a vulture in the sky; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a [virile] man [(gever)] with a young woman [(bealmah)]."

The only time that "… the way of a [virile] man with a young woman ..." does not leave a trace (i.e., a broken hymen) is if the hymen of the (almah) were already not intact.

Song of Songs 1:3 – "Your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is oil poured out, therefore maidens [alamot)] love you."

The (alamot), young women, loved King Solomon! Don't imagine that their love was simply platonic.

Song of Songs 6:8 – "There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens [ (va’alamot)] without number."

60 wives, 80 concubines, and countless (alamot) were listed as being among King Solomon’s lovers.

Let's look at this passage in context. Isaiah prophesized this at the time that the House of Judah was facing a serious military crisis. In 732 BCE, the armies of Pekach, king of Israel, and Retsin, king of Aram, were besieging Jerusalem. Isaiah records that the House of David and King Ahaz were gripped with fear. G-d sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that divine protection was at hand – G-d would protect him and his kingdom and that their deliverance was assured, and these two hostile armies would fail in their attempt to subjugate Jerusalem. Ahaz asked for a sign from G-d to prove this. The 'ot' or sign which he was given has nothing to do with the mother's virginal status but that the war between the kingdoms would be over before this child (whose imminent birth was foretold in Isaiah 7:14) reaches the age of maturity (“… he knows to reject bad and choose good …”). The pronoun 'ha-almah', meaning the maiden, indicates that the woman was a well-known. It of course refers to King Ahaz's wife. The word 'Behold' in the prophecy teaches us that this prophecy was to come to pass shortly, and not seven-and-a-half centuries in the future. It would hardly be reassuring to King Ahaz that Jesus would be born 750 years later.

Out of context:

Zechariah 13:6- "And [one] shall say unto him, What [are] these wounds in thine hands? then he shall answer, [Those] with which I was wounded [in] the house of my friends." (KJV)

This one must be about Jesus! Jesus had wounds on his hands from his crucifixion and he received them from being betrayed by his friend, Judas. If Christians insist that this verse speaks of Jesus, then who am I to argue with them? Let's look at the passage in context.

Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. [2] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. [3] And it shall come to pass, [that] when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. [4] And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: [5] But he shall say, I [am] no prophet, I [am] an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. [6] And [one] shall say unto him, What [are] these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, [Those] with which I was wounded [in] the house of my friends. (KJV)

Now you understand why I have no problem applying this verse to Jesus. In context, it is clear that the one whose hands are pierced is being punished as a false prophet. Look at how deceptively Christians simply ignored the context and claimed it to prove their god. This is not singular mistake- this is the basis of Christianity!

Misappropriating a non-Messianic prophecy:

Psalms 22:16- "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." (KJV)

If we understand this verse from a Christian perspective, the only person in history who ever had their hands and feet pierced was obviously... you guesses it: Jesus H. Christ! One mistake made is that during crucifixion, the hands and feet were not pierced, but the ankles and wrists. More importantly, this is a monumental mistranslation. What you see for the word "pierced" is translated from the Hebrew "ka'ari," which means "like a lion." This word is used again in that very same Psalm:

Psalm 22:21- "Save me from the lion's mouth (ka'ari): for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns." (KJV)

I wonder why Christians would choose to translate 'ka'ari' once as 'pierced' and then later in the same Psalm as 'lion'. It is also odd that 'ka'ari' is translated as 'lion' everywhere else in the KJV. It must be an honest mistake.

The proper translation would be: For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet." King David wrote this Psalm describing how his enemies have surrounded him and are attempting to destroy him. (Jewish tradition teaches that this Psalm is written prophetically referring to the time of Esther and Mordechai.) It is a prayer describing David's suffering and pain, and not a Messianic prophecy.

Complete Fabrication:

"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." (Matt. 2:23)

This prophecy is nowhere to be found in any of the books of the Prophets or in the entire Torah. Symbolic of Christianity itself, this "prophecy" is a bunch on nothing spun out of the cloth.

Based on all of this, I have a challenge for every single intellectually honest Christian. I ask them to present me with one verse that refers specifically to Jesus and that is not taken out of context, mistranslated or invented. Up for the challenge?

Why Messianic "Judaism" is anti-semitic

2008-05-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

Christianity has certainly produced the most virulent and bitter form of anti-semitism, laying the seeds for the deadly Nazi hatred. After WWII, most Christian denominations repudiated all forms of anti-semitism. Gone are the days when Christian saints denounced the Jews as "slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, adversaries of G-d, men who show contempt for the Law, foes of grace, enemies of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the Devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men whose minds are in darkness, leaven of the Pharisees, assembly of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners, and haters of righteousness.” Mainstream Catholic and Protestant sects no longer seek to convert Jews and have accepted that Judaism represents a legitimate path to spirituality and salvation. While there has been some controversy about the Vatican's decision to return to a medieval prayer text calling for G-d to lift the blindness of the eyes of the Jews, one would be hardpressed to find Catholic priests donning Jewish garb in an attempt to "witness" to them. Despite all of this, there remains one major Christian denomination that, at the same time as claiming to be Israel' greatest friend, is doing it a great deal of harm.

Messianic and Evangelical Christianity claims in theory to recognize the unique relationship that the Jewish people have with G-d while in practice teaching that Judaism is worthless unless Jews accept christ ie. become Christians. They have the audacity to reject three millenia of Jewish law, tradition and teaching and claim their own version of pseudo-Judaism as authentic. Messianics keep shabbat, kashrut, wear talleisim and kippot in an attempt to misguide Jews, even though they believe that only faith in christ can bring salvation. They in essence hold Judaism to be of no value and completely illegitimate. Even though Judaism today is at its core the same Judaism practiced by Moses, Joshua, David and Jeremiah, they mock it as "the teaching of men", call the rabbis "a brood of vipers" and "Pharisees" and repeat many of the classic anti-Jewish lies about us being blinded by Satan. In short, they may claim to love Jews but without a doubt have nothing but hatred and contempt for Judaism. They reject Jewish teachings and requirements and have set up their own standards for what is Judaism, although 99% of Jews for the past two thousand years have decided that faith in Jesus is not Jewish. Messianic and Evangelical Christianity disdainfully rejects Judaism as empty, idiosyncratic and law-based. Basically, it sees nothing of value in it and with a wave of their arrogant hands, dismisses the world's most ancient religious ideology.

There are literally billions of non-Christians in this world. Millions of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists have never had the chance to be "saved". There are millions of lapsed Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans as well as "heathen" J's Witnesses and Mormons in the US, in the Evangelical's backyards. Nonetheless, they choose to direct billions of dollars and tons of effort every year to converting Jews. 63 years after seven out of every ten Jews in Europe went up in flames, there are nary 14 million of us. Every year, thousands of unaffiliated Jews cross lines that their grandparents and ancestor would have prefered to die for rather than cross, and accept Christianity. In fact, 25% of American Jews are identified with some form of Christianity. This, coupled with an enormous assimilation and intermarriage rate, is one of the chief reasons why American Jewry is predicted to be extinct by the end of this century. Messianic and Evangelical Christianity has as an ultimate goal the destruction of Judaism and the elimination of the Jewish people through assimilation. That makes every single missionary pamphlet, "christ in the Passover" seminar or Christians United for Israel rally, a deadly weapon working towards our demise. The billions of dollars of Christian aid and support in Israel have reaped their deadly effects. Over a hundred Messianic congregations sadly fill up their pews in Israel. Christian lawyers now push for the rights of apostate Jews to make aliyah. Christian televangelists publically accused Jews of blood libel without a shred of evidence. All of this is in an attempt to dillute the Jewish nature and character of Israel, and to gain a foothold in the Land to be used during Armageddon, when the unrepentant Jews will be thrown into Hell. Christian pressure prevents Israel from passing a sane anti-missionary bill.

Evangelical Christians pose as Israel's greatest friend but they sow spiritual destruction on Jews. They hate and ridicule Judaism and teach that it is worthless unless Jews throw it away and accept Christianity. Because of their repeated attempts at converting us, the Jewish people is shrinking. It is time to say loud and clear to our Christian "friends" that any support of Israel comes with the condition of respect for our Jewish faith.

Praying for Israel or Preying on Israel?

2008-05-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him: 'Up, make us a god who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.'

2 And Aaron said unto them: 'Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.'

3 And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: 'This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'

These same words that the wicked Erev Rav declared in when they built Israel a false god and provoked them into worshipping it are being repeated once again. Israel is now the target of a mega-proselytizing blitz, the Behold Your G-d campaign by Jews for Jesus. This 5 year campaign will invade Israel with bus and billboard banners, newspaper advertisements and a full-time army of missionaries. In our own homeland, we are having Jesus rammed down our throat!

The problem is not really with Christians as they are only fulfilling their religious obligations to 'save our souls'. The real tragedy is that Jews do not have the courage to ban this type of religious harassment and end this threat to Jewish souls. A legal opinion prepared by the Justice Ministry decided that a bill to ban missionary activity in Israel would 'undermine religious freedom of expression'. To this, the head of counter-missionary organization, Yad L'achim, Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, argues:

"Just as the Knesset saw fit to draft laws against the enemies of our people in areas related to the well-being, security and future of the Jewish people in the state of Israel, so too lawmakers must draft legislation against the enemies of our people, the missionaries, who want to destroy the remnant and memory of the Jewish people and convert them to Christianity."

...
"There is no doubt that if the security forces came upon people who incited to violence against the state, they would use the law to act against them and not be concerned about impinging on their freedom of expression. In our view, this must be the attitude missionaries who seek the spiritual destruction of Jews and thus to harm the soul of the Jewish nation."

...

The sin of shemad is so severe that we are commanded to give up our lives rather than to transgress it. How is it possible, then, to allow the continuation of shemad, when previous generation would fast at hearing news of a Jew who had converted, and here they are converting thousand of Jews and no one says a word."

Israel receives millions of dollars every year from various Evangelical organizations. Evangelicals claim that they simply want to 'bless' Israel and that their gifts come with no strings attached. It is time that Israel learns that there is no such thing as a free lunch! This friendship and funds comes at the cost of Jews converting to Christianity in the Jewish state.

All is not lost, however. While the government has sold out to Christian money, there remains good and pure Jews committed to defending our people from these parasites. After missionaries distributed their poisonous leaflets in the predominantly religious town of Or Yehuda, the mayor, Uzi Aharon, drove around town and asked on loudspeaker for people to turn over the material to yeshiva students. Hundreds of these 'New' Testaments were then burnt in a lot next to a local synagogue. "And you shall exterminate evil from your midst"! Thank G-d for Jews like these who are zealous for Torah and Am Yisrael!

Please, say no to all false gods.

"Shemah Yisrael, HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem Echad"!

Jewish Passion

2008-05-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

The tired old canard states that Judaism is a religion of law while Christianity is a religion of love. According to this way of thinking, Judaism concentrates on the trivial points of ritual observance whose curse Christians have been freed from by Jesus fulfilling the law. Christians achieve grace through the sacrifice of Jesus while Jews spent their lives aimlessly trying to follow an impossible system of obligations and commandments in which there is no spirituality. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The second a Jew wakes up in the morning, he says the Modeh Ani, thanking G-d for returning his soul to him. He then washes his hands, wiping away the impurity of near-death. Before he can eat anything, he must don his tallit and tefillin and pray shacharit. The Jew unfolds his prayer shawl and wraps himself around it, saying the blessing over it. He then proceeds to tie the leather straps of the tefillin around his arm, with the box next to his heart. He places the head tefillin like a crown and praises G-d's name. As he wraps the tefillin around his fingers like a ring, forming one of G-d's names, he says the verse: "And I will bethroth you to Me forever, and I will bethroth you to Me in justice and righteousness, and kindness and mercy, and I will bethroth you to Me in faith, and you shall know HaShem." With this simple action every single morning, a Jew connects himself to his G-d and reaches the most sublime heights of spirituality. Through a simple leather strap and a box containing a few parchments, a Jew is able to please G-d, to fulfill His Will and to bring a level of perfection into the world. What a priviledge! What an opportunity!

Judaism is a very action-oriented religion. G-d is not found in rigid dogmas or in ancient philosophies. Truth does not exist on forsaken shores, lofty mountains, dark oceans or in lone monasteries. Quite the opposite. "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Deut. 30:11-14) Spirituality is found in the wool fringes tied to the corner of our garments, in candles lit in honour of the Shabbat, in a kind word, in a blessing, in a chapter of Torah studied. Even the most simple Jew can connect to G-d through countless mitzvot during the day. Kashrut is the Jewish way of achieving spirituality through eating. Shabbat is the Jewish way of making the mundane work week spiritual.

The Christian claim that through the intercession of Jesus, they are able to approach G-d, falls remarkably short. At Mount Sinai, G-d told the entire nation of Israel that they are to have no other gods before Him, as intermediaries between Him and them. There is nothing that stands between a Jew, and truly all of Creation, and HaShem. There is no need for an intercessor as G-d is directly approachable by every single person, each in his own way. By keeping the mitzvot of the Torah with passion and dedication, a Jew comes close to G-d. The idea that ritual observance is devoid of passion is absolutely ludicrous. It is precisely by doing something concrete as opposed to believing in the abstract that a person can achieve a genuine connection with G-d. Missionaries frequently ask their prey if they have a personal relationship with G-d, because in their minds such a relationship is impossible without Jesus. That is patently absurd. Jews have been engaging in a meaningful connection with HaShem for three millenia through His Torah. It is the channel for spirituality in this world.

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD; let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout for joy unto Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods." Throw away all intercessors or obstacles between you and G-d. He wants to get to know you personally, and for you to get to know Him. He is waiting. There is no other.

Please Come Home

2008-04-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday morning, I will be leaving for a very emotional two week trip to Poland and Israel. As I reflect upon the terrible fires that engulfed our nation 60 years ago, it brings tears to my eyes to consider that we are in the midst of a very dangerous spiritual genocide. Consider that in the United States, there is a 50% intermarriage rate, with rampant assimilation and Torah-ignorance, with ritual observance at an all time low. Approximately 600 000 American Jews identity with some form of Christianity. Imagine, the descendants of good, strong Russian Jews from the Pale of Settlement who resisted the Czar's armies with all their might, getting baptized. Jewish children accepting Jesus! Sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob going to church, praying to the Virgin, to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. What a tragedy! In Israel, many, following their service in the army, search out spirituality in India and move to ashrams. The travesty of Jews in Israel, the world capital of spirituality, forced to drink impure water from foreign wells of avodah zara in the far-flung East!

My Jewish brothers, lost sons and daughters of Israel, I plead with you to return home. Judaism is one of the world's most ancient faiths, which has outlasted nations, empires and ideologies. Whether you have found your true calling as a monk in Tibet, accepted the sweetness of Allah's deen, worship Jesus christ as your Lord and Saviour or are just lost amidst the aggressive secularism of today's soceity, please do not abandon your heritage. For you to be alive today as a Jew is the greatest of miracles. Do not accomplish yourself what so many tyrants, dictators and despots have tried to do to the Jewish people. Israel stands for Yesh Shishim Ribot Otiot La'Torah- there are 600 000 letters in the Torah. There is one letter for every Jew. Just as a Torah scroll in invalidated if even one letter is missing, our nation is defficient as long as one Jew is away from home. I love you with all my heart and I plead with you to reconsider your Jewish identity, to reconnect with your past and to strengthen your Judaism.

There is a story of, following the terrible Nazi Shoah, that R. Yosef Kahaneman zt'l, the Ponevezhe Rav began looking for Jewish children who had survived the war. It was known that some of the children had ended up in churches and were being raised as Christians. The church denied vigorously such a phenomenon. R. Kahaneman took it upon himself to travel Europe and search in monasteries and convents. When he got there, he would recite out loud: "Shemah Yisrael, HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem echad"- Hear O Israel, HaShem is our G-d, HaShem is One. Immediately, the Jewish children would raise their hands and cry out 'mama, mama'. They had come home. Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the Shemah. They are engraved upon your hearts and souls. We have been burnt by scorching fire, drowned in cruel waters, starved, beaten and oppressed but we have never forgotten the Shemah. No matter how far you've strayed, you can always come back. Do not turn your back on your people.

May HaShem merit that all the lost Jewish children return home.

I Am Amazed

2008-04-24T18:09:00.000-04:00

It is common knowledge that it is those who differ from the norm who are called upon to explain themselves rather than the opposite. That means that if everybody is standing in a line, the person who leaves the line must explain why he did so, rather than those who are in line explain why they are there. In that sense, the onus falls on Christians to explain their faith to us and set out why Jesus was the messiah, as opposed to the Jewish people having to defend themselves against their accusations. On what right did Christians create a new standard for messiahood, virtually ignoring the requirements set down by the Prophets of Israel? It is not the Jew who keeps the time-hallowed traditions and ways of his ancestors whose faith must be on trial, but it is the upstart apostate who must demonstrate to us why he has chosen to reject the ancient path.

On the Shabbat of August 4th, 1263, the Ramban (Nachmanides) was summoned by the Spanish King James to a great disputation at Barcelon between him and the apostate and traitor Paoli Christiani. The subject was the Jews' refusal to accept Christianity. After a few introductody statements, the Ramban arose and spoke clearly and forcefully: "I am amazed. The words said in our presence to convince us that the Nazarene is the Messiah, were said by the Nazarene himself when he brought this same message to our ancestors and tried to persuade them. They refuted him to his face with a perfect and strong rejection despite the fact that it was he who spoke, who knew and could argue his claim that he is divine, in accordance to your opinion, better than you can today. Now, if our ancestors who saw him and knew him did not heed him, how then can we believe and heed the voice of the king, whose only knowledge of the matter stems merely from the hearsay of distant reporters who heard it from people who neither knew him nor were his countrymen as our ancestors knew him and witnessed his life." This, calmly and honestly, is the crux of the matter. Jesus, if he existed as a historical figure as portrayed in the Gospels, certainly presented himself before the Sanhedrin and the greatest of the Sages of the day and argued for his divinity. Jesus was certainly able to argue more passionately and logically for his divinity and messiahood that anybody else can today, and yet they refuted him to his face. In fact, the Jews were so apathetic about him that they found it unecessary to even preserve one Hebrew manuscript of the Gospel as part of the Tanach. They had recognized the falsity of his claim, that the law of Moses was eternal and that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was no pitiful man.

The Jewish conception of G-d is not based upon philosophical reasoning or anceitn dogma. Rather, our knowledge of G-d comes from the mass revelation at Sinai, from our true and goodly prophets and from G-d's mouth Himself. At Sinai, the Jewish people heard G-d proclaim that there is no other besides Him. They were commanded to preserve the memory of that awesome moment and to teach it to their children. "To you it was demonstrated in order that you know that the Lord is the G-d, there is none beside Him." G-d instructed us how to worship Him, and anything which G-d did not tell us to worship in simple terms is idolatry. G-d identified the idols by saying “that which I have not commanded” or “those which you do not know.” Therefore, any deity which G-d has no commanded us to worship or which did not appear to us at Sinai is idolatry. Since no one would argue that Jesus took the Jews out of Egypt, and his name does not appear once in the entire Torah, then by what right does any Jew have to accord him the right of divinity?

The Jewish method of worship has been determined by G-d since Sinai and there is no reason to alter it. When Jesus came before the greatest and most knowledgeable of Sages to preach his new philosophy, they quickly refuted his arguments and prevented him from leading Israel astray. The Jews quickly forgot about this whole event. The early Christian writer Justin quoted a Jew named Trypho as saying: "Ye follow an empty rumour and make a christ for yourself. If he [Jesus] was born and lived somewhere, he is entirely unknown." The Jews responded apahtetically to but another messianic pretender and heretical religious offshoot. Now, if the Jews of Jesus' day saw him face to face, heard his reasoning and arguments from his very mouth, and still knew that he was not the messiah, then why should anybody accept him today when the only thing that is known about Jesus is mere hearsay passed down and distorted through the centuries? What right does a Jew have to disobey and go contrary to the generations of rabbis and sages, indeed the masses of the Jewish people, who were adamant that Jesus was not the messiah but a sinner and a heretic? Why should he break the chain of generations? Is he greater than Rashi and the Rambam, the Ramban and the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov among the thousands of great Jewish leaders?

Recognizing the Differences

2008-04-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

Many people are under the mistaken impression that the only issue separating Judaism and Christianity is the identity of the moshiach. This is a falsehood. Whether the moshiach will be the Lubavitcher Rebbe, John, Bob, Yankel or Ariel, Judaism will remain the same. A host of things separate Judaism from Christianity, namely the nature of G-d, sin and repentance, Original Sin, the nature of the Scriptures, the eternity of the commandments, etc. Since one of the most prevalent Messianic claim is that Christianity is "complete Judaism", I will attempt to briefly highlight the doctrines on which we differ in an attempt to show Judaism and Christianity are not spiritually compatible. Although we share a great deal in terms of culture and values, there is little in common theologically.

NATURE OF G-D

Christianity believes that G-d exists as in three distinct entities, as part of a triune godhead. The Christian perception of G-d is of three persons or entities, distinct, co-equal and co-eternal, which for the G-dly being.

At the Nicea council in 325 CE, Jesus was voted G-d. At this council, the Nicene creed was established. It sets out Christian belief on the nature of G-d:

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
...
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
..."

In opposition to this, Judaism teaches radical monotheism, that G-d is absolutely One. "I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no god... Is there a god besides Me? There is no rock; I do not know any" (Isaiah 44:6). G-d is an absolute unity, and not a compound unity in the sense of a car which is composed of many individual parts. He is the One and Only divine being. "I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God." (Isaiah 45:5) According to Judaism, G-d has no shape or form, is the One and Only, a complete unity, and is eternal and unchanging. The Jewish understanding of G-d was formed through revelation at Mount Sinai and prophecy as opposed to a vote, as was the case in Nicea.

SIN AND FORGIVENESS

Christianity holds that man is born sinful due to the Fall of Adam, and is therefore doomed. As such, his only hope for salvation is to accept Jesus as his saviour, and that his blood should atone for him. Jesus's death at the cross represents the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world, and anybody who accepts him is granted instant forgiveness. This belief is based on one out of context verse: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11) However, blood sacrifices could only atone for accidental sins, and had to be accompanied by confession and repentance. There were other means of atonement in the Holy Temple, such as the incense offering. And today, in the absence of the sacrifical system, we need only confess our sins and do teshuva to be forgiven. Hosea first asked how we can atone for our sins without sacrifices. In the Jewish Scriptures, G-d told Hosea to tell the Israelites that while they were in exile, to, “return, Israel, unto your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. TAKE WORDS WITH YOU and return to God; say to Him, ‘May You forgive all iniquity and accept good intentions, and let our lips substitute for bulls’” (14:2-3). According to Hosea, God’s demand was not sacrifice and ritual but a piety and spirituality that expressed itself in love and loyalty. God and Israel’s love relationship is that of husband and wife.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to God, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God. For He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

"And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14).

"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has practiced he shall live...When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:21- 22,27,30).

"By loving kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for..." (Proverbs 16:6).

"If you return to God you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent...then you will delight in God..." (Job 22:23-27).

SATAN AND EVIL

Christianity asserts that a fallen angel, Satan, has free will to act against G-d and fights against Him in a cosmic battle. Satan is the source of evil and sin in the world. Such a belief is idolatry because it believes that there is a power independent of G-d. Judaism believes that the angels were created by G-d and have no free will to oppose Him. G-d gave mankind a dual inclinatation, the yetzer hatov and the yetzer harah, the good and evil inclinations, and that man has the free will to choose in between these. Some Christian denominations believe in predetermination which totally contradicts these.

G-D'S SALVATION PLAN

Christianity believes that faith in Jesus, as opposed to good works, is essential. G-d judges the world according to faith in Jesus. This belief, however, is extremely weak as not one verse in the entire Torah mentions belief in the moshiach ben David as a prerequisite for salvation. Judaism asserts that by following G-d's Torah, the 613 mitzvot for Jews and the 7 for non-Jews, a person is saved.

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances; then thou shalt live and multiply, and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest in to possess it. But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I declare unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish; ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; to love the LORD thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him; for that is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deut. 30:15-20).

Christianity also views the Torah as a burden or a curse, which was fulfilled and completed by Jesus. Judaism sees the Torah's laws as eternal and unchanging and that they represent G-d's guide and moral compass for us to live more meaningful spiritual lives.

This was just a brief outline of some of the key points in which the two faiths differ. It is important to be able to set barriers between the two religions as the opposite is precisely what Messianic groups attempt to do. Remember that just as Christianity and Mormonism have a lot in common, and yet are very different faiths, so are Christianity and Judaism. One cannot be a Jew and a Christian at the same time.

The Problem: Spiritual Terrorism

2008-04-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

Shabbat morning services are packed. The chazzan leads the prayers with beautiful traditional Jewish melodies. The congregation, centered around the bimah, listens attentively as the rabbi delivers an enlightening d'var Torah. Everybody is invited for a congregational kiddush following servies in the social hall on the lower level. Sounds like a regular synagogue, eh? Well, this ain't your zaide's shul. No, here the object of adoration is Jesus of Nazareth, er... I mean Yeshua. You'll find no crosses or crucifixes on the walls, nor will you learn about the New Testament. But you will get treated to a lesson from the Brit Chadash, learn about the adventures of the Rav Shaul and the other Talmidim. You have found yourself in a "completed" synagogue.

Since the inception of Christianity, the conversion of Jews has essential. After 2000 years of failure with such techniques as Crusades, Inquisitions and pogroms, the Christian world has found a new method: Messianic "Judaism". Under this guise, hundreds of congregations have sprung up mixing Jewish and Christian rituals, holding 'Christ in the Passover' seders, 'High Holiday' services and pro-Israel events. Their language is deception. In their attempt to ensnare Jews, they call their leaders 'rabbis', although they often are ordained ministers, drop Hebrew or Yiddish phrases, dress up in Jewish clothes and ritual objects, and promise newcomers that they can be Jewish and believe in 'Yeshua' at the same time. They pretend to be Jewish, replace Christian terms with Hebrew ones, such as 'completed' insteand of 'converted', 'immersed in a mikveh' instead of 'baptised', 'moshiach' instead of 'Christ', while their core theology remains identical to Baptist and Fundamentalist Christian belief. Evangelical organization have donated a billion dollars in the last decade to these organizations.

A few weeks ago, the World Evangelical Congress took out a full page add in the New York Times affirming that "the most loving and Scriptural expression of our friendship toward Jewish people, and to anyone we call friend, is to forthrightly share the love of G-d in the person of Jesus Christ." Over the past 25 years, over 275 000 Jews worldwide have been converted by these deceptive missioniaries. Hundreds of Messianic congregations exist, and there are currently over 900 organizations dedicated to converting Jews in North America alone. Missionaries have founded Messianic 'Jewish' schools, with Messianic 'yeshivot' to train their own 'rabbis'. Christian support for Israel has also lead to missionizing in the Holy Land. Sadly, over a hundred Messianic congregations fill up their pews in Israel and hundreds of cults operate all over the country. Evangelical groups have consistently blocked anti-missionary legislation. Conversions and missionizing has reached endemic proportions with 15 000 Jewish souls in Israel now ensnared in these groups. Religious leaders have deemed this situation to be one of shmad, spiritual destruction of the worst sort. Preying on the weak and ignorant, Russian and Ethiopian immigrants, elderly Holocaust survivors and non-committed youth have fallen victim to their efforts.

These aggressive tactics and their tragic results have made this website necessary. It bears saying that I bear no hostility towards Christians and I respect American Christians for the amazing moral contributions that they have made to society. However, the incessant attacks and proselityzing cannot be ignored. In former times, whenever a rabbi or Jewish community would hear of a Jew leaving the faith of his ancestors, they would fast. In today's era of shmad, we can do no less. This is a new threat, a form of spiritual terrorism, dedicated to getting Jews to forsake Judaism. Whether it is through Inquisitions and Auschwitzes, or 'Christ in the Passover' seders and missionizing, the ultimate goal is the same- the eradication of the Jewish people through assimilation. This site is dedicated to combatting these spiritual terrorists, exposing these wolves in sheeps' clothing, clearing up the mountain of lies, mistranslations and out of context quotations that form their theology and, G-d willing, bringing back lost Jews to Judaism.

"It is time to act on HaShem's behalf, they have made void Your Torah" (Psalms 119:126)