Building bridges where history builds walls.
Should Messianic Jews spend any time working out the implications of Jewish identity? Recently I interacted with a reputable leader who indicated he considers this enterprise a waste of time, a kind of cultural navel-gazing, or perhaps an effort to win strokes from the wider Jewish world. In either case, he labeled it a wasteful […]
About thirty years ago I entered a period where I began making some major paradigm shifts, fundamental changes in perspective that gave rise to new questions and new answers involving who Jewish Yeshua believers are called to be, what we are called to do, and our spiritual resources and responsibilities. I am still discovering the […]
We at Interfaithfulness are change agents wherever the lives of Jews and Christians, people like you, intersect. We come together to explore the new relational possibilities made available when we consider the impact and implications of the More Jewish Jesus on religion and relationships. This of course opens up lots of issues. We are discovering […]
For Jews, the general term for wicked speech is Lashon Hora (literally, “evil tongue).” And as I said before, the Jewish tradition has researched this matter more deeply than any other culture. We have much to learn! What is Lashon Hora? Lashon Hora, is a term used broadly in Jewish life to indicate derogatory […]
He was the Chairman of the Board of a reputable agency engaged in commending Yeshua-faith to Jewish people. So maybe it wasn’t nice for me to hit him in the head with a two-by-four . . . metaphorically, that is. But that’s what I did. And here’s how it happened. We were chatting over a […]
(This article was written for a Christian magazine, and therefore a Christian audience. But whoever you are, see if this doesn’t sound an alarm that you want or need to hear). It is common, when speaking of fires, to rate them as one alarm, two alarm, three alarm, and so on. Each additional alarm indicates […]
Two Facebook notes. Two conflicting perspectives. One big issue bouncing around a religious landscape like a pinball flying off the flipper. The issue has to do with Torah obedience for Jews and non-Jews. One correspondent, Lynn, is a Jewish woman, a Yeshua believer, who is well socialized into the church world. Smart. Spiritually avid. And […]
The word is out that the new movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ, is another post-Jewish/post-Judaism portrayal of first century Yeshua-faith. It reminds me of The Passion of the Christ, a profoundly upsetting movie in which the apostolic band had no living connection to Judaism, and the Judaism of the movie was a dead, fruitless religion […]
There is an old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt.” Another phrase, attributed to Ben Franklin but perhaps based on a Yiddish original states, “Fish and houseguests stink after three days.” Yeshua put it this way: “a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” A group of social scientists […]
In Romans, chapters nine to eleven, Paul speaks of two “fullnesses,” “the fullness of the nations” (11:25) and “the fullness of Israel” (11:12). In verse 12 he says, “if their [Israel’s] transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!” In […]