Purim—the festival of Esther—is the most light-hearted of the Jewish holidays. Perhaps this is what led the sages of the Talmud to ask, “Where is there an allusion to Esther in the Torah?” (Chullin 139b). They answer with a reference to Deuteronomy 31:18, in which God warns Israel of exile to come: v’anochi haster asteer panai – “And I will hide, yes hide my face.” Asteer – “hide” – sounds like the name Esther. The term hester panim, to hide the face, describes the conditions of Israel’s long exile, conditions that dominate the story of Esther. Rashi wrote, “In the days of Esther there will be hester panim, hiding of the divine countenance.” Accordingly, there is no mention of God or the supernatural in the whole book of Esther.

We can think of Purim, therefore, as the festival of exile, a time when God seems hidden, a condition that continues even to this day. Purim's light-heartedness is displayed against the backdrop of persecution and threatened extermination. Believers in Messiah, however, might not think of themselves as being in exile. If Messiah is risen and present among us, how can say that God’s face is hidden?

Isaiah 53 provides a vital clue. Many ancient Jewish authorities see references to Messiah in this famous chapter, even though they do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of which it speaks.. Isaiah asks, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Ironically, the phrase “arm of the Lord” in Scripture normally describes the mighty acts of God that are undeniably real, both to God’s people and to his opponents. The phrase “arm of the Lord,” reminds us of Passover, which comes just a month after Purim, when God revealed himself openly both to Israel and to Egypt by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. “Arm of the Lord” is almost a synonym for revelation of the Lord, but Isaiah asks whether there is anyone to whom it has been revealed. We again confront hester panim, the hidden face of God.

The Gospel of Mark sounds this same theme. It opens with the declaration that this is “the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of God . . .” (1:1), and goes on to record the testimony of Yochanan the Immerser (1:7–8), and even a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with you” (1:11). Even the demons recognize that Yeshua is the Son of God (1:24, 3:11, 5:7), but Yeshua silences them and tells them not to make him known. Indeed, he repeatedly instructs those who experience his healing power to tell no one about it (1:44, 3:12, 5:43, 7:36, 8:26). He refuses the Pharisees’ request for a sign to prove that he is sent from God (8:11-12). When Yeshua visits his own hometown, the people ask, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom he has been given? What are these miracles worked through him? Isn’t he just the carpenter? the son of Miryam?” (6:2-3). Rather than recognizing him as Messiah the Son of God, they take offense at him. His own disciples, when Yeshua performs the great miracle of calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee, ask “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” (4:41).

Mark has announced who Yeshua is, but there remains something hidden about him, and he draws us, his readers, into the question, “Who can this be?” If we answer this question too quickly and with too much self-assurance, we may get it wrong. Yeshua does not seek to hide that he is Messiah, but he is challenges us with what kind of Messiah he will be. He turns the normal expectations of his day, and of ours as well, on their head. As we are reminded at Purim, things are not as they appear. Those who seem powerful and in control will be put in their place by outsiders, including a God who is hiding. Yeshua delays the announcement that he is Messiah because he does not want it to precede the understanding of what kind of Messiah he will be. The turning-point in Mark comes when Yeshua takes his disciples off to a retreat in the region of Caesarea Philippi, away from the bustle and high visibility of Galilee. On the way he raises the question himself:

“Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (8:27-30)

At last, the secret is revealed. Now Yeshua will teach his disciples about the suffering and crucifixion he must endure to fulfill God’s purposes. He will rise from the dead to reveal God’s salvation, but he must first endure betrayal and death. Furthermore, Yeshua reveals that even after his resurrection there will be continuing exile and persecution—the hidden face of God—until he returns. He concludes his description of this period of trial with these words:

Stay alert! Be on your guard! For you do not know when the time will come. It’s like a man who travels away from home, puts his servants in charge, each with his own task, and tells the doorkeeper to stay alert. So stay alert! for you don’t know when the owner of the house will come, whether it will be evening, midnight, cockcrow or morning!– you don’t want him to come suddenly and find you sleeping! And what I say to you, I say to everyone: stay alert!” (13:33-37)

Yeshua hides his Messianic identity to ensure that his followers understand what kind of Messiah he is. But he has another purpose in remaining hidden; to prepare them for the long period between his resurrection and his return in glory, when he will often seem hidden, and his followers may be tempted to lose hope and become complacent. Instead, Yeshua warns us to stay alert, to continue to believe, to serve him according to his instructions, and to look for his return.

Today the Messiah is hidden. . . . We live in hope of the coming of the Son of Man in his glory. Jesus’ teaching, his ultimate instructions to his disciples, are for this time, the time of absence, in which his disciples must watch and wait, and for which Christ gives them the wisdom needed. (Lustiger, The Promise, p. 42)

Of course, to believers Messiah is present through his spirit, by which he gives “the wisdom needed.” But the way of faithfulness to a hidden Messiah is different from what we might choose for ourselves. And it is certainly different from the way pointed out by the religious consumerism of our day. We cannot expect religious triumph at every turn, even though Messiah is with us. He warns us of the difficulty of the age in which we live, but instills confidence through the promise of his return.

The story of Esther reminds us of Isaiah’s question, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” And the holiday of Purim reminds us that it will be revealed to those who rely on him, despite the delays and disappointments of exile. In the same way Yeshua, who seems hidden to many, who fails to meet the expectations that this world sets in place, is the source of deliverance to Israel and the nations. Purim reminds us to remain faithful to Yeshua’s message and example during this time of hester panim, the hiding of God’s face.

RR

MiKetz—“At the end” of two years, Pharaoh has a dream, a two-fold dream that troubles him greatly. He searches for an interpreter, but none of the wise men of Egypt can help. Only then does the Chief Cupbearer remember an incident that occurred exactly two years earlier. He was in prison and a young Hebrew fellow-prisoner correctly interpreted a dream he had dreamt there, and a dream of the Chief Baker, who was imprisoned with him. Now he is sure that this Hebrew, whom we know of course as Joseph, can interpret Pharaoh’s troubling dream as well.

At this point, the Torah says of Joseph, “They brought him hastily,” or “rushed him” out of the prison to prepare to come before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:14). The Sforno comments on this phrase,

The Divine salvation always comes hastily, as it is written, “For my salvation is near to come” (Isaiah 56:1), and also, “Oh, that My people would hearken to me… I would soon subdue their enemies” (Psalm 81:14-15). And so it came to pass in the Egyptian bondage, as it says, “because they were thrust out of Egypt’ (Exodus 12:39), as our Sages have taught us (in the Passover Haggada), “Their dough had no time to rise, for the King of kings, the Almighty, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them.” And so it shall be in the future, as it is written, “And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple” (Malachi 3:1).

The Divine salvation always comes suddenly, but it most often comes after long years of bondage. Joseph is sold into slavery as a youth of seventeen, and is a grown man of thirty when he is finally brought before Pharaoh. Israel groans under Egyptian bondage for generations before Moses appears to bring deliverance. The exile leading up to the final deliverance has extended to multiple centuries and is only now in our day drawing to a close amid great suffering and difficulties.

The Divine salvation comes suddenly, but it comes after a time of longing, endurance, and prayer. The message to us is clear: we must never give up.

Today’s Messianic Jewish community needs to apply this truth. We are growing and maturing in many ways, but we know there is a divine purpose that we have not yet fulfilled. We long to see the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua multiplying among our people, and the next generation of Messianic Judaism thriving in numbers and strength. At times we may wonder if this vision will ever be fulfilled. But the Scriptures instruct us to persevere in this hope, and to look to God, for His deliverance comes swiftly and even unexpectedly.

Parashat MiKetz is usually read during the season of Chanukah, a time when we celebrate another act of Divine salvation. During Chanukah, we read from the prophecy of Zechariah, ending with the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” (4:6-7).

Zerubbabel is facing the impossible task of restoring the temple of Jerusalem and the Jewish presence in the land of Israel after years of exile in Babylon. Zechariah, perhaps like us, has a vision of restoration that seems far off in light of the realities around him. His message, however, is that salvation comes suddenly because it is not the product of human effort and preparation. Rather, it is an intervention from above that transcends our efforts and preparation. We have a vital part to play, just as Joseph remained alert and ready to serve throughout his years of bondage, Zerubbabel gave himself to the task of rebuilding, and the Maccabees took a stand for the Lord in difficult times. The real hope, however, is not in our accomplishments, but in God’s spirit, now freely given to us in Messiah Yeshua. Let us keep this hope alive on behalf of our congregations and our people this Chanukah season and beyond.

The Messianic Jewish community encompasses a wide range of theological perspectives, and cooperates with Christians representing an even wider range. We do not need to become embroiled in doctrinal controversies, but when a prominent Christian advocates a position that directly counters our vision and self-understanding as a community, we need to speak up. Such is the case with Pastor John Hagee’s new book “In Defense of Israel.”

Pastor Hagee, of course, is a key figure in today’s Christian Zionist movement, who has raised tens of millions of dollars for Israel and rallied many thousands of Christians in support of the Jewish state. As with other Christian Zionist and Jewish reconciliation efforts, Messianic Jews have been kept on the margins in Hagee’s efforts. From a practical perspective, this is understandable; if I as a visible Messianic leader were recognized at a Night to Honor Israel (Hagee’s signature event), many of the other Jews in attendance would be likely to walk out. I can accept this sort of marginalization because of the benefit of raising support for Israel, and bringing Christians and Jews together in cooperative efforts. Hagee’s book goes beyond this sort of pragmatic marginalizing of Messianic Jews, however, to theologically marginalize us in a way that demands a response. “In Defense of Israel” distorts the teaching of the Scriptures, attacks the foundation of today’s Messianic Jewish community, and weakens the very cause of Christian Zionism to which Hagee has lent such laudable efforts.

For the sake of brevity, I will focus on Hagee's claim that Jesus did not come to earth to be the Messiah, thus making it inevitable that the Jewish people would reject him as Messiah. Obviously such a claim completely contradicts our Messianic Jewish vision. It also suggests that Hagee’s avoidance of Messianic Jews is not just a tactical step to avoid offending other Jewish people. Rather, in reading Hagee’s book we discover that we do not fit into his doctrinal grid, which reflects an extreme form of dispensationalism. According to Hagee, we are mistaken in thinking that Jesus is Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, who came for our whole people. Apparently it would be acceptable from Hagee’s standpoint for us to get individually saved, but to maintain our connection with the Jewish world, and to propagate Yeshua among our people, counters his whole idiosyncratic understanding of Scripture.

Hagee writes, “If there is not one verse of Scripture in the New Testament that says Jesus came to be the Messiah … And if Jesus refused by his words or actions to claim the be the Messiah to the Jews, then how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?” (page 136; emphasis in the original). Even a cursory reading of the Gospels leaves one puzzled at how Hagee can claim that Jesus did not come to be Messiah, unless he has made the mistake of reading “Christ” as a different title than “Messiah.” Christ, of course, is based on the Greek for “the anointed one” (as even Hagee acknowledges on page 94), just as Messiah is based on the Hebrew for the same phrase. John explicitly equates the two terms in 1:41 and again in 4:25, but Hagee seems unaware of this connection.

The Gospel of Mark, generally considered to be the earliest of the gospel accounts, opens with the words “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (NRSV), which can also be translated, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah . . .” When Yeshua asks Peter who he thinks he is, Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” or in the NRSV, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Yeshua affirms this statement with the words, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven” (Matt. 16:16-17). Only after this, “he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah” (Matt. 16:20). Ironically, Hagee only touches on this crucial passage to make the claim that “Simon son of Jonah” does not refer to Simon’s father, but to the prophet Jonah. Like Jonah, Simon will be forced to go to the Gentiles with God’s message (page 138). In this passage and the others that Hagee cites, Jesus does not deny that he is Messiah, but chooses for various reasons to keep this fact hidden. John, the latest of the Gospel writers, concludes his account with the words, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NRSV).

Hagee defines the term Messiah in a way that seems to reflect the anti-Jewish stereotyping that he deplores. He says, “If Jesus wanted to be Messiah . . . to rally the support of the general public for the overthrow of mighty Rome, he would not go around the country saying, ‘Tell no one!’” (page 139). Hagee spends the next few pages showing how Jesus refused to be thought of as the one who would liberate Israel from the Romans, and concludes, “He refused to be their Messiah, choosing instead to be the Savior of the world” (page 143). In other words, in Hagee’s understanding, the Jews could only conceive of Messiah within a narrow context of national liberation through military-political victory. He seems to reserve Christ, on the other hand, for the loftier notion of universal salvation from sin. Thus, in trying to exempt the Jews from “blame” for rejecting Jesus, he misrepresents the Jewish messianic hope and denies any real role for Jesus-believing Jewish people today. If Jesus did not present himself as the Jewish Messiah, why should Jews today believe in him? But of course, the New Testament in many passages does present Jesus not only as the savior of the world, but very specifically as the Messiah of Israel. Hagee reminds one of Christian attempts throughout the ages to portray Jesus apart from his Jewish context, as someone entirely unique and distinct from any culture, and the Jewish Messianic hope as sadly mistaken.

To be fair, Hagee does imply that Jesus will indeed be the Jewish Messiah at his second coming. The Jews “don’t see Jesus for who Christians believe he is, but they will in the future” (page 7). He draws a parallel between Joseph’s revelation to his brothers in Egypt and Yeshua’s self-revelation at the end of the age: “When the Jewish people recognize Jesus for who he is-—when they actually see him—-‘they will mourn as one mourns for his only son’ (Zechariah 12:10).” In the meantime, in this present age, Hagee provides no basis for a Jewish response to Jesus, and certainly no basis for a communal movement for Yeshua among the Jewish people.

We can appreciate Hagee’s stance against Jewish corporate blame for rejecting Jesus, and against the anti-Semitism that has so often resulted from this blame. But there are, of course, ways to understand the Jewish communal leaders’ rejection of Jesus during his lifetime, and the gradual estrangement of the wider Jewish community over the following centuries without denying Jesus as Messiah. Paul speaks of the Jews who did accept Jesus as Messiah in his own day as a remnant within Israel that served as a reminder and anticipation of God’s unchanging purposes for the whole people (Romans 11:1-6, 16). Messianic Jews are living evidence that Jewish people can recognize Yeshua as Messiah today, and remain loyal members of the Jewish community and committed supporters of the state of Israel.

Hagee’s book also weakens the cause of Christian Zionism to which he has devoted so much of his life’s work. If his theology is so clearly aberrant on the Messiahship of Jesus, why should thinking Christians accept anything he says in support of the Jewish state? Indeed, the book includes a surprising number of factual errors, along with its careless handling of Scripture. For example, Hagee writes, “The Pharisees in the school of Hillel were as mad as hornets because Jesus would not endorse Shammai’s teaching on ‘divorce for every cause’” (page 129)—-a statement so fraught with errors that one can hardly respond. On a similar level, he says of Joseph and Jesus that, “Their names even come from the same Hebrew root word, Yeshua, which can be translated into English as Joshua, Joseph, or Jesus” (page 189).

“In Defense of Israel,” despite Hagee’s good intentions, succeeds in reinforcing the stereotype of Christian Zionism as a branch of far-right fundamentalism. The extreme interpretations that he advocates, however, are not necessary to build the case for support for Israel and the Jewish people. Christian Zionism does not need to diminish the position of Yeshua. There is no incompatibility between faith in Yeshua as Israel’s Messiah and loyalty to Israel and the Jewish people.

To teach that Jesus refused to be the Messiah for the Jews is ultimately anti-Jewish. Jesus becomes the savior of the world, but with no particular relationship to the Jewish people. If they want to respond to him as savior they have to leave Israel and its Messianic hope and become part of something universal. In contrast with this erroneous interpretation, when we declare Jesus to be the Messiah of Israel, we do not invalidate Israel or the Jewish people. Yes, Jews need to respond to Jesus as do all people, yet in this response we discover that he is distinctly Jewish, distinctly relevant to us, and very much part of the Jewish story.

75,000 elderly Holocaust survivors in Israel are living below the poverty line and struggling each day to obtain food, medication, and other necessities. Until recently, this group was largely forgotten, but now a coalition of ministries and agencies has formed to raise public awareness and provide immediate help. A key player in the coalition is Chevra International, with which the UMJC is linked through our affiliated organization Chevra USA, led by Dr. Michael Schiffman.

In Hadera, Michael Schiffman, Jamie Cowen, and I accompanied local representatives of the coalition as they met some new aid recipients. In the first apartment, one of the representatives reminded me of how much prayer and money and effort had gone out to help these people make aliyah. But now that they have made it to Israel, they have been forgotten. “We helped them get to Israel,” he said. “And now that they’re here we can’t abandon them.” The first couple made aliyah in 1997 and have been surviving on about 3000 shekels, or $750, a month for food, medicine, rent ($320 a month), and everything else. Recently the husband’s health has declined severely and his medicine is taking a larger and larger share of the budget. He sleeps on a child’s bed in the sitting room because they don’t have money for a larger bed. His wife, who is 80, has her arm in a sling because her husband recently fell and she hurt her arm trying to catch him. The social worker explained that their story is typical. The couple learned to get by on their minimal income until new challenges arrived, and now they just don’t have the reserves to meet them.

Later our group met a 97-year-old mother who is taking care of her 67-year-old son in a squalid apartment in nearby Givat Olga. Both are Holocaust survivors and barely surviving. Coalition volunteers work with municipalities and social workers throughout Israel to identify the most needy individuals and get resources to them. The coalition does not need buildings and offices, but keeps a low profile and channels funds directly where they are needed. In addition to the reduced overhead, this also means that Messianic Jews and other believers work directly with people who are not believers in Yeshua, letting their light in the public arena. Many Holocaust survivors are in Israel as a result of the miraculous aliyah from the former Soviet Union, mostly in the decade of the 90s. A smaller, but equally miraculous, aliyah took place earlier, as thousands of Jews left Ethiopia to come to the land of Israel. As with Eastern Europeans, their return from exile received tremendous support and publicity, and they have been neglected ever since. The UMJC is involved in this group as well, with the SMILE project, an effort we are launching to provide dental care resources to them. I met in the Haifa area with our contact, Avishalom Teklehaimanot, son-in-law of my old friend Eitan Shishkoff, and Fakado, another Ethiopian Jew who is working to provide health care and education to his people. As with the Holocaust survivors project, our goal is not to create some new program or facility, but to work with existing agencies (in this case a non-government non-profit organization) to provide help in the most efficient way possible. Again, this approach has the advantage of bringing together us, Messianic Jews in Israel, and Israelis from the wider community.

All of these efforts are acts of Tikkun Olam, world restoration, reflecting the power and compassion of Messiah himself. Russ

To help worthy Israelis like these, click on the DONATE icon above and email me at rebrez@umjc.org saying that your gift is designated to Israel.

 In 2003 the UMJC held our regular conference in Jerusalem for the first time, as part of a two-week tour of the Land. This was during the darkest days of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel, and our tour operator tells us that it was the largest single tour since the outbreak of the intifada a couple of years earlier. We brought 300 people from abroad and an equal number of Israeli believers joined us for the conference. Together we made history.

Within the believing community the conference made history in another way. Many other Messianic Jewish and Christian conferences have been held in Jerusalem, but the UMJC has a unique grass-roots approach, and ability to network with other groups. We hosted and organized the conferece, but gave the platform for speaking, teaching, and leading worship almost entirely over to Israelis. We came to Israel to honor the dynamic and growing body of Messiah there and to hear from them. Four years later, Israeli believers still tell us how much they appreciated this level of respect and cooperation.

 Our return to Israel in 2008 will be different from 2003 in some ways. For one thing, the situation in Israel has improved and tourism is doing well. But, we are still working closely with leadership in Israel to plan and promote this conference and tour. We will not come to Israel as tourists, but as part of the extended family, working side-by-side with our Israeli Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters to make this a powerful and high impact event. On Tuesday, Jamie Cowen and had an excellent meeting with our Israeli advisory committee. In  the photo below, you'll see from right to left David Lazarus (leader of Beit Immanuel, where we met), Eitan Shishkoff, Jamie Cowen, David Katz, Seth Ben Haim, Andrey Gelbet, and me. Dafna Sadan and Martha Stern are also on the committee, but unable to attend. The meeting was not just productive, but visionary, generating real excitement for the tour and conference, even as we sat around the table to discuss details.

One overall goal is to deepen this connection with the Messianic Jewish community in Israel. As we visit different cities, we will meet local leaders, artisans, small business people, musicians, and others. We will hear the story of places like Beit Immanuel, where we are standing (in the photo) in front of a tree planted by the first graduate of the agriculture school in Holon, not far from here, in the early days of the Jewish settlement. We'll hear first hand from Israeli leaders in the Galilee, in the Haifa area, and in the south, as well as in Jerusalem, and see some of the humanitarian projects in which the believing community is involved.

You need to be part of this historic visit that will go far beyond any tour to Israel, Jewish or Christian. We will not just visit the usual--and important --biblical and historic sites, but also places where we can connect on a personal level with fellow believers in Yeshua.

The conference will reflect the motto for our tour, "Come Home Again," as we honor our past and embrace our future. So, come and expand your vision for the future and help make history again!

Last evening, Jamie Cowen and I accompanied a van delivering food to families in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramat Eshkol and Pisgat Ze'ev, who were unable to get to the Netivyah ministry center. It was a mitzvah, of course, to help deliver these food bags to various houses, and it was also fun, as we wound through hilly neighborhoods filled with pedestrians in all the various costumes of Jerusalem, searching for the right address. This is a ministry the congregation has taken on at its own initiative, and it is gaining recognition in the area. Food is given out freely; no one is required to read a tract or listen to a sermon, but the name of Yeshua is certainly being enhanced on the streets of Jerusalem.

Earlier that day, Jamie visited a children's hospital near Tel Aviv. Here is his report:

As you may recall from our Chicago conference, Knesset Member Elhanan Glazer presented a need at a hospital school for disabled children. I had the opportunity to tour the school, meet the staff and observe some of the classes located at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, south of Tel Aviv. Most of the 80 students, ages 3-8, are afflicted with some form of cerebal palsy. Most, if not all, of them have full mental faculties--in fact, some are advanced.

The goal of the school is to assist the children and their families with various physical, speech and occupational therapies, including corrective surgeries, in order to normalize their lives as much as possible. The school actually transports the children back and forth to their homes throughout central Israel every day. At age 9 the children are transferred out of the school, and 80% of them are able to enter regular schools.

I attended some of the classes [we'll be posting photos shortly] including computer, gardening, and theraputic music classes. The children, all in different stages, were fully engaged with very enthusiastic teachers. The needs of the school are great. The government has agreed to finance the much needed building of a new school, but its far below the budget necessary to have a school integrated with a medical staff. In addition, the existing school will be razed where the new school will be erected. Hence, funding is needed to provide them an interim place. The administration was excited about our potential involvement in assisting these children and their families.

Jamie Cowen

Your support for the UMJC allows us to make connections like these and to do tzedakah (justice--giving charity) in Israel. You can contribute right here at our Donation page. Stay tuned for more details and photos coming soon.

RR

I spent Erev Shabbat with Victor and Julia Blum and the Russian-speaking Messianic congregation they have led for fourteen years in Jerusalem. The Blums gave their lives to Yeshua in 1991 and three months later made aliyah, at the beginning of the huge emigration from the Former Soviet Union that has brought over a million Russian-speaking Jews to Israel. Almost all of these people were raised in a completely secular way, cut off from Jewish tradition and from any concept of God as relevant to real life. Being in Israel does not address these issues automatically, but for increasing numbers the return to God in Messiah is also becoming a return to Jewish identity. On Friday night I shared my testimony: how amazed I was as a young man to discover that Yeshua was the Messiah and, soon after, that my Jewishness mattered to God. I spoke of the two rails that God laid down in my life, to create a track on which I've been traveling ever since; the rail of Yeshua as Lord and Messiah, and the rail of Jewish calling. I believe we can trace these two rails through the whole of Scripture, and on Erev Shabbat I summed them up in two statements that Paul made.

The first statement comes in Philippians 3:4-8:

"If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Messiah. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Messiah."

The second statement appears in a couple of different forms at about the same period of Paul's life as recorded in the Book of Acts. When Paul is arrested in Jerusalem and brought before the Jewish council, he says, "Men and brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. . .   Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!" (Acts 23:1, 6).

Despite this defense, Paul is arrested and eventually sent to Rome to be tried before Caesar. As the book of Acts ends, he is under house arrest in Rome, where he asks the local Jewish leaders to visit him. When they do, he says, "Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans" (Acts 28:17).

Note that Paul affirms the incomparable, undeniable encounter with Yeshua that changes everything and simultaneously:

1. Calls the non-Messianic Jewish leaders his brothers.
2. Claims that he has done nothing against the people of Israel.
3. Claims that he has done nothing against the traditions of his people: "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."

I concluded on Erev Shabbat that following Yeshua is a supreme biblical value, and being part of the life and destiny of the Jewish people is a supreme biblical value, and we can do both-indeed, we are called to do both, since these are the two rails which must form the true Messianic Jewish track.

The next morning, I prayed with a congregation here in Jerusalem that embodies this double track, Roeh Israel, part of Netivyah Ministries led by Joe Shulam. We prayed the traditional prayers along with dozens of other gatherings that same morning in Jerusalem, but unlike most we prayed in the name and spirit of Yeshua the Messiah. The final prayer, Alenu, ends with the words of Zechariah the prophet, "And it is said, ‘And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. And in that day it shall be that the Lord is one and his name one.'" These are words that we believe will come to pass through only through Yeshua.

In the next few days, I'll be visiting humanitarian projects and other grass-roots efforts of the Israeli Messianic community.

RR

Phone in to hear Jamie Cowen and me report on the latest developments in Israel next Sunday, October 21, at 5:00 Eastern time. 866.682.6100, toll free, or 201.499.0416, toll number (for international callers).

Friday October 12, 2007

I'm sitting on the balcony of my close friends David and Rittie Katz in Ramat Beit Shemesh on my first morning in Israel. Across a little valley sits a monastery named Beit Jamal, after Gamliel, the teacher of Paul and a major figure in early rabbinic literature. Local Christian tradition says that he became a believer in Jesus under Paul's influence and founded an early community, which actually would have been a Messianic Jewish community, in this area. To us such a possibility sounds natural enough, but in the context of Christian history, it sounds amazing and unlikely. A prominent rabbi coming to believe in Jesus and remaining a respected and influential community leader--never!

I arrived in Israel yesterday from New York City, where I attended a theological symposium that brought together about 75 men and women representing the whole range of what it means to express our faith in Yeshua as Jews—from handing out tracts on the street corner to praying from the traditional Jewish prayer book wearing tallit and tefillin (a prayer shawl and phylacteries). Within that diversity, all participants agreed on the statement, “We are Jews who believe in Yeshua and in God’s covenant with Israel, and as members of the Jewish community, are committed to the welfare of our people.” In other words, we were not just a collection of individual believers who happen to be Jewish, or of individual Jews who happen to be believers, but we are Jews who seek to be loyal both to Yeshua and to the Jewish people at the same time. Since these two loyalties have been at odds throughout most of their history, we are still working on how to pursue them both simultaneously, hence the occasional messiness of the Messianic Jewish world.

The symposium focused on the gospel and the Jewish people: What exactly does the Bible mean by the term “gospel” or “good news”? How does the gospel relate specifically to Jewish people, including those who have never had the opportunity to hear and respond to it? How do we best present the gospel to the Jewish people? A number of UMJC leaders spoke on these issues, as well as speakers connected with Chosen People Ministries, MJAA, Jews for Jesus, Zola Levitt ministries, Jewish Voice, etc., probably the widest range of Messianic Jews to ever get together and interact on this level. Our goal was not to reach consensus, but “to preserve the unity and secure the future of the Messianic Jewish movement and our common mission through respectful dialogue, without acrimony even in the face of critical disagreements.”

In this goal, we were clearly successful. What a blessing to come out of a session that included articulate position papers and impassioned debate, and sit down together around the table to break bread and share a meal. The old saying is, “two Jews; three opinions.” We’re learning to value the clash of opinions and realize that we gain as much from those with whom we disagree as from our own in-group. [Most of the papers will be available soon, and I’ll keep you posted.]

Here in Israel, the Messianic community is filled with impassioned and articulate souls who have plenty of disagreements, and it’s not hard to recognize how much we need each other anyway. One of the statements made at the New York symposium was that we agree on far more than we disagree on. Just agreeing that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah and that we can serve him as Jews makes us a distinct and unified sub-group within both the Christian and Jewish worlds. The body of Messiah in Israel has seen dramatic growth in recent years, yet it remains a tiny minority and one that holds together despite all the differences of perspective.

 Tonight I'm spending Erev Shabbat and speaking at Even Israel, a Russian-speaking Messianic congregation in Jerusalem, and looking forward to my first Shabbat in Israel since last spring.

  Now that I'm on my way home from Brazil, I have to let you know that the picture of palm trees on our website may be more stereotype than reality. I mean, I've seen plenty of palm trees in Brazil, and plenty of beautiful vistas. Indeed, the city where I spent the past week is Belo Horizonte-beautiful horizon, or beautiful sunset. But Belo Horizonte is home to over three million people, and all the traffic congestion, highway construction, high rise apartments, and urban jumble you'd expect in a big city. The Sao Paulo metro area is ten times that size, the third largest city in the world, where the palm trees are hard to spot among towering apartments and rambling, rundown neighborhoods.

Gilberto Branco, who leads the UMJC congregation in Sao Paulo, also teaches aerodynamics part-time to helicopter pilots. Sao Paulo has the second largest private helicopter fleet in the world, after New York City. New York, however, has just a few helipads in the city; Sao Paulo has over 200. Traffic here is so fierce that many business people own helicopters just to get around the city.

One stereotype of Brazil that has borne out, though, is the near-universal soccer addiction. Brazilians of all ages, incomes, and social groups love soccer. At the same time, soccer pros are not admired for their intellectual acumen. One famous soccer star spent six months in the US, and was interviewed upon his return. "It's a beautiful country," he said. "First world in every way. In the US, even three-year-old children speak English!" Another star was challenged by his fans because an opposing player outran him in a recent game. "That guy is an animal," he said. "To keep up with him I'd have to have two lungs!"

I spent my final afternoon with my brother and sister-in-law, and my sister-in-law's family. I told them I was in Brazil speaking on behalf of Jewish-Christian reconciliation, and teaching on the Scriptures. A couple of my younger relatives asked what exactly I did professionally, and I explained that I was director of a union of congregations. "Oh, you're important!" they said. I explained that I was a big fish in a small pond, and asked if they understood that saying. One said, "Yes, it means you're important, but you don't have anywhere to go." The other said, "It means you're not really important, but the other fish think you're important."

Those are accurate assessments of my importance, but my mission here has had real importance: To deepen our connection with a growing pro-Israel, pro-Jewish movement among Brazilian Christians, and to encourage and influence the emerging Messianic Jewish movement here. With God's help, I've addressed both goals, and Christian and Messianic Jewish leaders have both invited me back next year. We'll see how the Lord leads.

Many Christians here have a genuine love and enthusiasm for Israel, and we need to pray that this love deepens and matures into a major force that will reverse anti-Semitism and replacement theologies not only in Brazil, but throughout Latin America. Brazil sends out missionaries worldwide, especially to other Latin American countries, and they are beginning to include the pro-Israel message in their work. Let's pray that this trend increases in coming years, that the Brazilian church becomes a source of healing and Jewish-Christian reconciliation, and that its relationship with the Messianic Jewish community, particularly through the UMJC connection, expands and bears much fruit.

As for the Messianic Jewish movement, I'm proud of our UMJC member congregations in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. They are emerging congregations, but also model congregations in a number of ways; attracting new Jewish followers of Messiah, reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged, and relating in important ways with the Christian community.

On my final Shabbat in Belo Horizonte, I taught from the weekly Torah portion, Leviticus chapters 12 through 15. As I jokingly told the congregation, my sermon was on circumcision and leprosy, so it should be a popular one. My point, though, was to trace the eighth day as the day of new creation, following the six days of original creation capped by Shabbat, the seventh day. On the eighth day, a child enters the covenant of Abraham through circumcision (Lev. 12:1-3); on the eighth day, the leper who has been healed re-enters the camp of Israel (Lev. 14:10, 23); on the eighth day the priests, who went through a seven-day ritual of ordination, begin their service before the God of Israel (Lev. 9:1ff.), and on that day the Lord declared that he would appear before all Israel in the newly consecrated tabernacle served by a new priesthood (Lev. 9:4, 23).

The eighth day is a day of new creation in Torah, so it should not surprise us that Yeshua rose on the first day of the week, which is the eighth day, following Shabbat. The promise of new birth runs throughout Scripture, and it is something we can gladly proclaim, through the resurrected Messiah. This does not mean that the "old Creation" is of no worth until it is replaced by the new. Rather, the Creation is good and holy, and on its way to the completion of the eighth day, through the divine-human partnership that we call Tikkun Olam, repair of the world. Yeshua, of course, is the link between the human and the divine, and the key to the fulfillment of Tikkun Olam. It's a great encouragement to see this process going forward wherever I travel, especially within the Messianic Jewish community.

Shalom everyone,

Here's a message I brought several times in my travels in Brazil, that was received very well there. Enjoy!

Outsiders and Insiders

We often hear it said that the Jews rejected Jesus, but when Yeshua came to Jerusalem for his final Passover, he was welcomed to the city by multitudes of Jews.

On his way to the city Yeshua had sent two disciples to the nearby village of Bethpage, telling them that they'd find a donkey and her foal tied there, which they were to take. If anyone asked what they were doing, they were just to say, "The Lord has need of them," and they'd be allowed to go. The disciples went, found the donkeys, and brought them back to Yeshua so that he could ride into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the words of Zechariah the prophet: "Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

Yeshua was making clear what king he was. In contrast with the dominant values of the day, and with the expectations of many of the people, he did not come with pomp and power, but in humility. How did the people respond? We read in Matthew's account:

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." (Matt. 21:8-11)

Matthew uses the word multitude(s) three times in the this brief passage, and it will appear again later in his account, as he tells of an event that happened just a few days letter. Yeshua had entered the city on the 10^th day of the month of Nisan, four days before Passover. This was the day on which the Torah commanded every household of Israelites to select a lamb, a perfect and unblemished lamb, and to hold it until the eve of Passover, when it was to be sacrificed. Yeshua enters the city as the Passover lamb, and for four days undergoes repeated questioning by the various religious experts of the day, who can find no blemish in him. Still, the authorities decide that he is dangerous, charge him with blasphemy, and turn him over to the Romans for execution. The governor, Pontius Pilate, has a custom of releasing one prisoner in honor of Passover, and he asks the crowd to choose between Yeshua and a criminal named Barabbas.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, "Barabbas!"

Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Yeshuawho is called Messiah?" They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!" Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." (Matthew 27:20-25)

I have heard it preached more than once that the very same crowd that cried out to Yeshua, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" now, a few days later, cries out, "Crucify him!" The same people who met him at the gates of Jerusalem with palm branches and shouts of praise, now call for him to be cast out and killed. Thus, the preacher pictures the fickleness of the crowds and underscores the "Jews rejected Jesus" theme. The preacher may even read the final line-"His blood be on us and on our children"-as curse that has remained upon the Jewish people ever since.

A more careful reading, however, reveals that these are two different crowds-a crowd that gathers  outside the city and a different crowd within. There is an outside crowd and an inside crowd.

The outside crowd gathered in obedience to the Torah, which commands every man of Israel to appear before the Lord at three festivals each year, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (Ex. 23:17; 34:23; Deut. 16:16). By the first century, Jews were living throughout the Roman Empire and beyond and had grown far too numerous to all appear at once before the Lord. But at each festival pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem. The city swelled to three or four times its normal population, as Jewish travelers stayed in homes within and around the city, or camped on the hillsides surrounding Jerusalem. A later rabbi, Yehoshua ben Chananiah, said of Passover, "On that night they were redeemed, and on that night they will be redeemed," and the atmosphere was filled with rejoicing, excitement, and expectation. The custom at the festivals was to recite the Hallel Psalms, 113-118, including the very words the crowd cried out when Yeshua approached the city.

We can see the contrast between this outside crowd and those inside the city in Matthew's account: "And when He had come into Jerusalem [from outside], all the city [those inside] was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes [the outside crowd] said, "This is Yeshua, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee" (Matt. 21:10-11). It is from those inside the city that the Chief Priests and Pharisees will enlist a crowd to appear before Pilate a few days later.

There is an outside crowd and an inside crowd. Yeshua reaches out to outsiders-along with the few insiders who are open. He is never aghast at the outsiders or threatened by them. He ate and drank with sinners, and seemed enjoyed it (e.g. Mt. 9:10ff.; 11:19). We are uncomfortable around religious people, and make people uncomfortable around us. The more holy they, or we, are, the more uncomfortable others become. Yeshua met people, the ordinary Jewish people of his day and neighborhood, where they were, and so should we.

Consider the contrast between the outside crowd and the inside crowd. The outsiders are pilgrims, on a journey toward God. The insiders are gatekeepers, who imagine they have already arrived. The outsiders are aware of what is going on. Some critics (probably insiders) criticize the pilgrim crowd because they answer the question "who is this" concerning Yeshua saying he is "the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee," instead of saying he is Messiah. But they have already greeted him as the Son of David, and surely they are moving in the right direction by calling him a prophet. The insiders, on the other hand, let themselves be persuaded by the experts and miss Yeshua's identity altogether. Now, it's good to have experts among us, but we have to be alert that we don't let the religious experts and gatekeepers obscure what God may be doing in our midst. Finally, the outside crowd speaks words of welcome to Yeshua-"Baruch ha-ba, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." The inside crowd speaks words of condemnation.

We must ask ourselves, then, in which crowd are we? Are we pilgrims or gatekeepers-outsiders or insiders?

Insiders don't usually reach outsiders. If we act like we have arrived, like we have all the answers and are charged with guarding the gates of truth, we will never reach those outside. We become the very sort of religious types that made us uncomfortable not so long ago. One of the great snares in the spiritual journey is that we encounter with God, we are rescued from our rebellion and sin, and we forget where we came from. We enter the Kingdom of God, and then we're not so sure anyone should be allowed in. We leave the outside crowd of pilgrims to become gatekeepers.

Yeshua modeled the opposite. He could certainly claim to have arrive, to be the ultimate insider, but he continually reaches out in welcome to the outside crowd. He knows the heart of his people, their struggles, questions and fears. We often envision outreach as getting people to come to our services and events, but that is only part. We meet people wherever they may be, even if they never come through the doors of our synagogues.

The great irony of history is that the Yeshua-believers turned into insiders, gatekeepers, within a generation or two, and the rest of the Jewish people, including the gatekeepers of Yeshua's day, became the outsiders.

A hundred years after Yeshua's entry, the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed by Rome, and its Jewish population sent into exile. A few years later a church father, Justin Martyr, imagines himself discussing this tragedy with a Jew named Trypho:

For the circumcision according to the flesh, which is from Abraham, was given for a sign; that you may be sepa­rated from other nations, and from us; and that you alone may suffer that which you justly suffer, and that you may be desolate, and your cities burned with fire; and that strangers may eat your fruit in your presence and not one of you may go up to Jerusalem ... Accordingly, these things have happened to you in fairness and justice.

The follower of Yeshua is now the insider, the religious expert, speaking words of condemnation to the Jewish outsider. He inaugurated a pattern that would only intensify in the following centuries, so that the Jews became the ultimate outsiders in the Christian world. But Yeshua knows how to reach the outsider. I was a Jewish outsider and a counter-culture dropout, and Yeshua reached me, and thousands like me.

In the end, Messiah will bridge the outsider-insider gap altogether. At his final visit to Jerusalem, the crowd of pilgrims greeted Yeshua with the words, "Baruch Ha-ba bashem Adonai-Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," words of welcome in the Hebrew language even to this day. These words lifted up outside the gates of the city must someday arise from within the city walls.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'" (Matt. 23:37-39)

Even today hundreds and perhaps thousands of followers of Yeshua dwelling within Jerusalem are speaking those words of welcome. They are joined by additional thousands of Jewish followers of Yeshua, who stand within Jewish community and tradition to welcome him. And we are supported and strengthened by countless friends in the Christian world as well, welcoming Messiah back to his own people with us.

Let us be among the pilgrims who welcome Yeshua from outside, and from inside, into the heart of Jerusalem.

Last Shabbat I attended services at Congregation Beit Mashiach, Sao Paulo (see "Back Home . . . in Brazil"). The city has a significant Jewish community of 75-90,000 with numerous synagogues, associations, and a publishing house, which has just come out with a Portuguese Tanakh.

On Friday we traveled to Maringa to repeat the symposium "Por que Israel—Why Israel? Understanding Israel in the Light of Scripture." There seems to be deep support for Israel and the Jewish people among many Brazilian churches, and my goal is to encourage this support, help strengthen its doctrinal foundation, and ask these Christian friends to be sure to include the Messianic community in their prayers. Maringa, nicknamed Cidade Verde, the Green City, is a pleasant smaller city straddling the hills of Brazil’s coffee-growing country. On Shabbat morning I gave an introductory message on God’s eternal and unconditional love for Israel, as expressed in Jeremiah 31:3.

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Four aspects of intercession for arise that arise from thislove.

First, is agreement. God’s everlasting love for Israel leads him to long for reunion with his people. When we pray for Israel’s return, we pray in agreement with something that God is already passionate about. We don't have to persuade God of something new (as if we could!), but we agree with him about a restoration that he desires to see.

Then, identification. Since God’s love for Israel is everlasting, Jews who accept Yeshua are to remain within and among the people of Israel. I spoke about the Messianic Jewish community as an intercessory movement, which cannot fulfill its calling without strong identification with Jewish life, community, and tradition. To illustrate this, I showed them my tallit, which I try to put on every day for morning prayers. Why does the tzitzit, the fringe on the four corners, normally lack the thread of blue commanded in Numbers 15:38? Why are the stripes of my tallit black instead of blue, the color of royalty? I explained that these features serve to remind us of the loss of the temple and priesthood. They express mourning for the destruction of the temple, and longing for its restoration, so that every morning our prayers are framed in intercession for the restoration of Jerusalem and the Jewish people. I showed the congregation the compass that I carry when I travel, so that I can know which way is east, and pray in the direction of the holy place that will be renewed at the end of the age.

My point in all this was not to encourage the men to wear a tallit. This is a distinctly Jewish practice, but it has a message for all believers. When I wear the tallit and pray toward Jerusalem, I’m not praying alone, but I stand among my people every morning. I am complete in Messiah, yet I am not complete apart from the salvation of all Israel and my daily prayers are framed in this longing for Israel restored. In the same way, I told this congregation that they are complete in Messiah, but not really complete until the Lord fulfills his purposes for all Israel, and for all the nations, and sends Messiah to return and rule from Jerusalem.

We live in a day of self-centered spirituality. We think it’s all about us and our relationship with God. But a personal relationship with God, as essential as that is, is just a tiny part of a much wider purpose of God. It’s not about us, but about God’s love for Israel, and about the overflow of that love in Messiah to all nations. We are not complete until the divine reunion with Israel through Yeshua. I told my Brazilian friends that I am still in exile as long as my people are in exile. And, I said, the church is in exile too, and will not make it home apart from Israel.

I finished with two final aspects of intercession, struggle and hope. Because love for Israel is God’s passion, it draws tremendous spiritual opposition, which we see in the struggle for the land of Israel, and in the struggle for a Messianic remnant among the people of Israel. We need to pray—and I’ve been asking Brazilians wherever I travel to pray for us—but we pray in hope, because we know how the story ends. I concluded with Jeremiah 31:4-7, emphasizing the last verse:

For thus says the LORD:

“Sing with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the chief of the nations;

Proclaim, give praise, and say,

‘O LORD, save Your people,

The remnant of Israel!’” 

At the conclusion of the message, my host, Pastor Jonathan, called the people to pray in accord with Jeremiah’s instruction. He suggested that we face east and pray in the direction of Jerusalem. I grabbed my compass off the podium and pointed east. As we all turned toward the east and lifted our voices in prayer, I pictured our words flying over the green hills of southern Brazil, over the wide ocean beyond, and on toward Jerusalem. “O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel!”

I've noticed two pitfalls when traveling within a different culture and language.

The first is to forget that you are the one that doesn't know the language and culture, so that you think of the local people as the outsiders, and imagine that they know less in general than they really do. I suppose this is a mild form of colonialism, and one has to watch out for it when traveling.

The other pitfall--especially when traveling among fellow Yeshua-believers--is to idealize the local scene, and fill the gaps in your understanding of the language and culture with an imagined superiority, ascribing to the locals greater spiritual depth or humility, so that you give them some mysterious something that you lack.

I think I'm avoiding both pitfalls here in Brazil, but I am struck with the expressions of love for Israel among Christians here, which seems to arise straight out of love for God and his word. They are eager to welcome me as a Jewish brother in Messiah, and don't seem to put up theological and cultural barriers as readily as American Christians sometimes do.

Last night we wound through endless streets in a hilly, ramshackle neighborhood of Sao Paulo, to finally arrive at a crowded church in a converted warehouse, holding a "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem" night. The seating had been converted to round dinner tables, and they promised an authentic Jewish meal later in the evening--but first it was time to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The worship band went into a beautiful song on that verse, which turned into a call-and-response number. The singers led out, "Orai Orai Orai Orai" (pray, pray, pray, pray), and the congregation responded, "Pela Paz em Jerusalem" (for the peace of Jerusalem). Then "Orai Orai Orai Orai" and the response, "Por Seus Muros Tamben" (and for her walls as well). I was preparing to speak on the same subject, and felt that the sermon had already been delivered, received, and applied before I got up to speak. The people were eager for some more Scripture, but I kept it fairly brief, then we prayed, sang "Baruch Ha-ba" and sat down to our authentic Jewish meal by 10:00 pm sharp, which is pretty good time in Brazil. The meal was great too!

RR

My first weekend in Brazil was a whirlwind. I landed at about 8:00 Friday morning, got through immigration and customs and was met by the familiar face of Gilberto Branco, who leads our UMJC member congregation Beit Mashiach in Sao Paulo. Gilberto drove me through the expanse of Sao Paulo (population 18 million and counting) to a peaceful spot on the edge of the metro area named Vale da Bencao—Valley of Blessing. This is home to the ministry that sponsored my visit, and the conference where I spoke that night.

I recovered well enough from jet lag to bring a message to the four or five hundred participants in the 28th annual Symposium on Intercession for Israel, but still had to struggle through cultural differences and the challenges of translation. Communication improved through the next two days of the conference, so that after my final session I was mobbed by friendly Brazilians with digital cameras wanting to get their picture snapped with the visiting dignitary. I'm camera shy and non-photogenic, but my smiles were real, and now I grace about 400 computer and cell phone screens.

Far more important, I believe God’s purpose for this part of the trip is being fulfilled—to inspire and affirm a growing pro-Israel movement within the dynamic Brazilian Evangelical and Pentecostal communities.

The next morning when I attended services at Beit Mashiach, I felt I was back home as soon as I arrived. Beit Mashiach’s chazzan (cantor) is a Jew of Egyptian descent named Yaakov, who accepted Yeshua about three years ago. His father was chazzan in a Sephardic synagogue for many years, so Yaakov grew up with the traditional prayers and melodies. The congregation also sang songs in Hebrew from the Israeli Messianic Jewish community, which were easier for me to understand than the Portuguese at the services the night before. After the long flight and 24-hour immersion in Brazilian culture, I felt I was back home in the Jewish community, which speaks a universal language on Shabbat.

The second part of my mission in Brazil is to encourage the Messianic Jewish community there, represented by Beit Mashiach in Sao Paulo, and Congregacao Har Tzion in Belo Horizonte. I believe I got off to a good start, and I received as much encouragement as I gave. Beit Mashiach includes several new Jewish believers in Yeshua. One, a young doctor, came up to talk with me after my message. I had shared some of my own story, how I was an outsider to God's ways and my own people, and Yeshua found me and invited me back in. A generation later, this Brazilian Jew had much the same experience, and came to Beit Mashiach just a couple of years ago. Messiah is still on the move among his people, wherever they may be found.

I'll post another report in the next day or two, along with some photos if I can.

Russ

For much of April, I will be in Brazil, speaking at some Christian Pro-Israel conferences, and at two UMJC member congregations.

You may be surprised to learn that Brazil has a significant Jewish community estimated at 100,000 to 150,000 members. This gives Brazil the 10th largest Jewish population in the world, with centers in Sao Paulo, where our UMJC member congregation Beit Mashiach meets, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, where another UMJC member congregation, Har Tzion, meets.

Even if you were aware of these facts, you might be surprised to learn that the first synagogue established in the New World was in Brazil. And that the first European to set foot on Brazilian soil was a Jew--Gaspar da Gama. Da Gama had converted to Catholicism, probably under pressure, and arrived with the original Portuguese expedition. He was joined over the next century by many Jews exiled from Spain and Portugal, and fleeing the Inquisition. Many of these Jews became involved in the sugar industry and other aspects of the new economy. Some were able to maintain a few Jewish customs in the relative isolation of Brazil.

In 1630, the Dutch established a foothold in Northeastern Brazil, centered in the town of Recife. Under the relatively tolerant Dutch regime, some of the Jewish settlers returned to Judaism, and were joined by Jews arriving from the Netherlands. Together, in 1636, they founded the first synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, Kahal Zur Israel, Congregation Rock of Israel (which wouldn't be a bad name for a Messianic synagogue!).

The Portuguese recaptured this territory in 1654, restoring a repressive regime and the threat of the Inquisition. Many of Recife's Jews fled with the Dutch, and a small contingent of 23 men, women, and children made its way far to the north to the port city of New Amsterdam. The Dutch governor of the city, Peter Stuyvesant, wasn't fond of Jews in general, and intended to keep this group out of his colony. But he received instructions from his employer, the Dutch West India Company, to allow them to settle “so long as they do not become a burden to the company or the community.”

Ten years later New Amsterdam was captured by the British, who renamed it New York. There in New York, a Jewish refugee fr