DISCLAIMER: My view in all my articles do not always reflect tenets of Messianic Judaism, but are personally my own, through experience and evolving opinion. I’ve been associated with this movement for only 20 years of its 40+ year history, and can’t profess full knowledge, not only because I’ve never mastered Hebrew, but because I wasn’t raised Jewish (“hard-shelled” Southern Baptist). Jesus (Yeshua) quoted the Shemah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) as soon as he could talk, and he knew Torah because he embodied it, bringing forth its treasures — complete Love and Respect for our Creator and for all other Human Beings of Planet Earth.
Our most familiar Christian Bible was compiled and translated in 1611 by bishops and priests of the Church of England (Anglican or Episcopal religion), dedicating their work to their King, James I, successor to Elizabeth I, who was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots of the Stuart family. No one in our Bible was named James, but the authors chose every Jacob (Ya’akhov) in the New Testament (B’rit Hadashah) to be renamed James to honor their King.
Over these 19+ centuries most Christians feared and/or hated the Jews, inventing horror stories of their beliefs and rituals, occasionally slaughtering whole communities (i.e. Prague), but if one sincerely wants to know about Messianic Judaism, one must accept Judaism itself, with pride and unconditional love, for it was the religion of Christ Jesus (Messiah Yeshua). Since my first memories, I knew who Jesus was, but as I matured, I wanted to know who he really was, for as a Jew his rituals and holy days were not my own, and I found answers to my questions in Messianic Judaism.
Nearly every time the word “Law” is seen in the Bible, the translators changed the word from Torah, which can mean one of two things, a reference to the Ten Commandments or to the first five books of Tenakh, the Old Testament (TNK = T – Torah, N – Nevi’eem, the Prophets, and K – K’tuveem, the Songs). There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew except a – “alef” and y – “yud” but diacritical marks have been added through the years. Because of this, scholars are unsure of original pronunciations.
The Hebrew names of each book of Torah are its first words, those which begin Chapter 1, verse 1, renamed during the years after 324 AD when Constantine commissioned Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea, to compile the books which would become the New Testament. The first book of our Bible we call Genesis, the Beginning, which in Torah is B’resheet, “In the beginning.” The word Exodus means “a journey out” but the Hebrew Sh’mot translates “Here are the names.”
Leviticus, named for its 613 laws for Levites, those laws also represented in the number of knots on a Jewish taleet (prayer shawl), is Vayeekra, “HE called,” and Numbers, so named for the census that was taken of the members of the twelve tribes who would soon emerge from the desert into the Holy Land, is B’midbar, from the first words, “In the desert.” The fifth book of Torah is D’vareem, “These are the words,” and the Greek word Deuteronomy is highly appropriate, meaning “second law,” recognizing that Jewish covenant (any agreement) required two copies to be made. When Moses held the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, they were identical, two copies of the same Laws.
Hebrew words are written from right to left, down the page, and until about 800 years ago, chapters and verses of the Prophets and the Songs were unnumbered. Every Messianic Jewish synagogue should have a Torah scroll, usually kept in a cabinet we call the ark. The Torah is unnumbered, with no punctuation, but is held intact on the last page read, leaving it up to the reader to find where the new reading should begin. Torah is read in its entirety every year, everyone worldwide reading the same passages, and on Simkhat Torah, usually occurring in October, the scroll is ceremoniously rolled back to B’resheet, then paraded through the congregation.
Those of us in the modern Messianic Jewish movement celebrate or solemnize every Jewish tradition possible. There are feast days: Pesakh – the Passover, celebrating Divine extraction from Egyptian bondage; Shavuot – marking the giving of the Ten Commandments; Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles, which we honor by making tents (sukkahs), a festival of the Harvest, with good food, wine, song and dancing.
The solemn days from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur represent the Coming of Messiah to redeem G-D’s Children for Judgement. The New Year of the Jewish calendar (the year 5781 in 2020) is celebrated on Rosh HaShanah, although there are several other commemorations of a “new year” throughout the year, such as the New Year of Trees, Tu B’Shvat. Messianics celebrate numerous other festivals and days of prayer and fasting which honor past events, such as Tisha B’Av, a great day of mourning for many reasons.
One difference between Christians and Jews is that Catholics (and others) fast and sacrifice themselves in the weeks prior to Passover, while the 50 days after Passover, those between Pesakh and Shavuot, are days of fasting and personal sacrifice by both Jews and Messianic Jews. It should be noted that Shavuot is the Pentecost, the day Messiah’s Holy Spirit was given to the world, for after his Resurrection he spent 40 days on Earth, then his talmideem (disciples) sequestered for the remainder. It’s in Divine Promise that G-D’s Spirit was given to the world twice on the same day, Torah and Messiah, for correlations between the life of Jesus (Yeshua) and the feast days and solemn days celebrated by the Jews are endless, too numerous to be written in this essay.
THE NAMES OF G-D: Planet Earth’s Source of Life, Original Spark of LifeForce Energy’s Essence, Soul-Donor to Human Beings, is called many Names in all the world’s languages. In Hebrew texts, Lord G-D is Adonai Elohenu, a singular Presence, while Elohim refers to Them, in Whose Image we were created. When speaking of G-D, most Jews refer to HaShem (The Name), but El-Ah is the G-D of AvRaham, Abba (Father), and El Shaddai is the ONE Who is all-sufficient. Some Christians refer to G-D as Jehovah, but the Name I AM gave to Moses are the Hebrew letters, Y-H-V-H, Whose Name is too Holy for Human voice.