So what will be our next unit? I will have some suggestions, as will you. Let's process them together and see what comes to the fore.
Assume the unit will be ten weeks long,
Two ideas from me to start things off:
- We could dedicate ourselves to recrafting how the Shacharit service is done, not by eliminating the liturgy, but by spreading the readings out the various people, by altering how we use music and how much we use, etc. The advantages of such a project are two: First, in revising the service, we will become deeply familiar with its structure and the interplay and relative importance of its elements
- We could do a study on David Stern's remarkable, prophetic book, Messianic Jewish Manifesto as a means of developing a six week course on Messianic Judaism using it as a text. That course would be taught at Ahavat Zion or at the Stern Center.
- We could work together on my book, "I Am The Door: Yeshua and Jewish LIfe--Entrance Not Exit." I would work on one chapter each week and the class would read, review, critique and improve it. At the end we would have a book for publishing.
Do tell!
Rabbi Stuart
17 comments:
Rabbi,
My first choice is either recrafting the Shacharit service or reading and commenting on your book. I can't decide. My second choice would be reading the Manifesto.
I also am interested in a unit on thinking halachically. Or a unit on thinking Jewishly in general. Are blueberry bagels "goyish"? How do various foods/practices/ beliefs get tagged as "Jewish" and others as "goyish"? In this vein, how can we as Yeshua believers get Yeshua belief to be seen as Jewish, not goyish?
Debbie,
Thanks for your contribution, the only one so far. Let's get the others in here and get some interaction going!
Stuart
Hello Rabbi and everyone. I'm so glad the blog is back and running again.
I have been very blessed by the Shacharit service, and am less inclined to tamper with it, since I don't really think of it as broken and in need of fixing. Tweek it if you wish though. My only suggestion on the matter would be this: whatever is done, keep it in line with how things are done in the Jewish community.
The idea of reading David Stern's book is enough to grab my curiousity, but I have to ask... Messianic Judaism has evolved so much in so short a time. Are we still at that place? Or are we now past it? I would rather see us read Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism.
However, the REAL carrot you have dangled in front of us is the offer to allow us to help you with your book. How can I pass up an opportunity like that? My vote is here.
Other issues I think might good for the class:
* I would like to begin studying the Talmud again. I have purchased a copy. However, I think it is a much better form of study to read and discuss with others. Any chance of this?
* I am fascinated with the MJ Rabbinical Council -- I consider this to be an absolutely enormous watershed in the Messianic movement. It will change EVERYTHING. I would like to learn more about it, and how it can be of help to us. For example, if we have a question, we first bring it to you, Rabbi. But if that does not solve it, do we take it to the council? There are so many questions I have which are NOT dealt with in the standards, and it's very hard to be patient!
* It is not uncommon for little discussions to be held during the oneg regarding problems individuals in the congregation are having with the churches and Christianity (myself included). And it tends to be kind of embarassed conversations because no one wants to be seen as having doubts or being anti-Christian, etc. It would be really helpful to have some kind of forum where people could feel free to ask hard questions and not feel afraid of getting thumped.
What say you?
Grace,
Characteristically intelligent and clear writing. Bravo. I think your input is marvelous. But before I wade in with opinions on it, we need for others of our number to log in and post some comments as well. I will be sending out an e-mail to that effect tonite. If and as others get involved, we will be able to move this process forward.
Stuart
I like the idea of involving the community in the service more deeply. I am familiar ( by proxy) with some Synagogues in which the Rabbi is present, but is not always the leader of the service. I really like the service now, but I am excited to see it change (p.s. I like the way we kind of faced each other and then turned to the Ark together the last service I went to.)
My only concern is that I just don’t know if we are the right group to facilitate or seem like we are leading the change. We are already the group that has special dinners, and secret inside jokes…I don’t want to see division in community as if we were viewed as upper echelon that make the rules and policies…etc.
The idea of getting to be a part of the book is very enticing. Yes, I want to know more about it. The title itself is drawing me in, and I hope to AT LEAST read it.
So here is my 2¢ (for those that remember, that is a cent symbol)
I started the class with the idea that I would be observing if not being a part of on some level, of the requirements for an adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah. In this, I thought for certain that would be the concept of the prayers, Hebrew, requirements, all of these things in context of the MJC.
So, my hope still continues to be in that vein. I would like to learn more of the prayer, to make them a part of the study. To learn more of the Hebrew and the meanings of the words and text. Maybe I am wrong in thinking that there is a concrete curriculum for young students as they grow towards their bar/bat mitzvah. But I would like some part of our class to follow something close to it.
No matter what the decision, I am pleased. I am a better person ( or at least a changed one) today from what I have learned so for; and now know people that I could not imagine having not known.
Rabbi:
Can we still use this blog to ask you questions about things you talked about in class or during shul?
Would you rather I email you?
p4@November 8, 2007
Shalom Rabbi,
This is Marsha.
1. My suggestion for the next module for our class is to study and apply the Ethics of the Fathers from the Pirke Avot. How the Ethics of the Fathers and the Ethics of Jeshua underscore each other and how they come from the same source.
2. Within the next 3 or 4 modules I would like the Bar/Batmitzva class to have a course on Principles and Proverbs. This course of study would equip us to have incite to situations so that we could make the right decision to handle them in a timely manner.
3 I am very concerned about the portrayal in Chbristian films of Judaism and Jewish leaders in the days of Yeshua.
Was Jesus a threat to the positions of the priests,pharisees and other Jewish leaders? So many Christian films seem to be antisemitic because they protray the priests and other Jewish leaders as villains, following Jesus around hoping to prove him wrong. What is the Messianic point of view on the above presentation of ancient Jewish leaders in Christian films?
2. My next question is about divorce in Judaism.
Does Judaism allow divorce for any reason?
It is true what they say that divorce hurts the children. Actually it is the parents' fighting that hurts the children the most, especially, when the parents know how to use each other's weaknesses as an issue.
I was an adult when my parents got divorced. My two younger sisters lived at home and experienced the fighting between my parents.
I felt very sad when my parents'marriage broke up.
Shalom Rabbi,
This is Richard.
1. I suggest that the next module should be the principles and practice of hermeneutics. The Scriptures is God's specific revelation about Himself and standards for human character and behavior. It is the authority for halacha, cannon law and Protestant standards of behavior and attitude.
2. A module on hermeneutics would equip us to determine whether or not an interpretation of a passage of Scripture, doctrine, theological system, a binding religous decision issued by a bet din from synagogue, a pastor and/or a board of elders in a Protestant/fundamentalist church or a Catholic priest and/or his religious bodies.
November 8,2007
Shalom Rabbi and Everyone Else in the Bar/Bat Mitavah Class,
1. Everyone's comments and suggestions for the direction of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah class.
2. For AZS and the UMJC to effective in their outreach to the Jewish Community and bring out Tikkun Olam to society, our modules should proceed in an orderly fashion.
To begin with, we must be grounded in the Scriptures. Intial modules on hermeneutics and apologetics would equipus to practice and rely on God's word.
The next module should be "Talmud for Dummies". We should learn the following: how the Mishna developed from the Scriptures, how the Gemara developed from the Mishna, how the rabbis derived their legal decisions.
We should have a module on the Midrashim.
We need module(s) on the armor of God, spiritual warfare and discerning spirtis.
We definitely need a module on evangelism. We can learn from each other how God has led each of us to reach others in the Jewish community in a loving, respectful, sometimes humorous, firm manner.
Most important we need to pray for God's guidance for the direction and classes for the Bar/Mitzvah class.
Richard,
You cracked me up with "Talmud for Dummies." The more I think about it, the more I think that of all my suggestions, this was the most important. What kind of synagogue doesn't have a class in Talmud?
Hello everyone!
I definitely like what Richard said when he said "we should be grounded in Scripture". I have heard that at least at one time Jewish boys had learned the Tanach by the time they were five. It would be great to be as smart as a five year old!
I also want to study the Talmud. However, I still like two of the rabbi's suggestions best: recrafting the Shacharit service and reading his book. Maybe we could even find a way to do both on alternate weeks or something. In the short term, since he has a deadline to meet and the book will be important for MJ I think it would be a mitzvah for us to help him finish it.
i feel like tevye, with a your right, your right, kind of dilemna.
all seem like worthy ideas.
i think that it would be good to do the study on messianic jewish manifesto for both us and for those who will learn from the class stemming from it. though we have come so far since 1988 when he wrote this book, we are just now living out many things that this visionary book spoke about.
it is like the rabbi's phrase that you can't depart from where you haven't been. i think MJM represents where we have been and where we are going.
It will also be great for our class to play a role in crafting one of the early classes at the Stern Center.
Alrighty folks. I've been thinking about this for over a week now. I still would like to see a class in Talmud.
HOWEVER, what Tyler said hit home -- the class is ideally supposed to cover all those things which prepare a Jew for their bar/batmitzvah. What happens at such an event? You read from Torah IN HEBREW. Who among us can do that?
I realize we all need to take responsibility for learning Hebrew on our own. Yet at the same time, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm trying REALLY hard to learn this stuff and its doggone hard.
RAbbi, you mentioned that someone was coming from the U of SA that would help those of us with Hebrew who wanted it. That's fantastic. But I have no idea if you are talking about 2 lessons or 10. Can you somehow organize things so that our learning Hebrew and being able to fully participate in the liturgy becomes a major componant of this particular semester?
I agree with Sean that there are many good ideas here.
I too, like Tyler, am hoping to make up for lost time and pursue all of the detailed rigors associated with a Bar Mitzvah.
A close second is Sean's recommendation of digging into where we have come to be cognizant of the "why" prior to deliberating on the "where" and "how" we might change things. This can become an ad hoc, subjective process without a bigger vision we may not yet possess.
So, in typical Jewish fashion I advocate for looking backwards to move forward. :D
Sababa!
jc
December 27, 2007
Shalom Stuart,
This is Richard and Marsha.
I suggest that the class works together with you on your book,
"I Am the Door; Yeshua and Jewish Life-Entrance Not Exit."
In the next module, the class will be learining to do the liturgy. Why shouldn't the class incorportate learning the liturgy with working together with you on your book? What was the liturgy that Yehsua and the first century disciples performed? What are the similarities and differences between the Jewish liturgy in the first century CE and the late 20th and early 21st centuries CE? How much has the liturgy changed between the first and 21 centuries?
What does the liturgy teach us about Ha Shem's holiness? What impact should the liturgy have on our ethics and morality?
Does the liturgy have any theological and eschatological meaining and purpose?
Richard and Marsha Hoffman
January 31, 2008
Shalom Rabbi,
This is Marsha. I have been using the Stone Edition of the prayer book when I pray in the morining and evening.
Do you have any books that I can borrow that would help me with my personal prayer life.
Thank you.
January 31, 2008
Shalom Rabbi,
When will you begin teaching the next module of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class?
Richard
January 31, 2008
I do not understand some of the ruling in Parshah 18: Mishpatim.
Exodus 21:4 "But if a master gave him, i.e. a Hebrew slave a wife, and she boe him sons or daughters, then the wife and her children will belong to her master, and he will leave by himself."
a. Why was the Hebrew master allowed to keep the man's wife and children when the Hebrew slave obtained his freedom? The Hebrew master's retention of his former slave's wife and children would break up his family.
Exodus 21:7 "If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to go free like thye men slaves?"
a. Why did the Torah permit a man to sell his daughter and not his son as a slave?
b.Why didn't the young woman have the same right to become free as her mail counterparts?
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