Unite & STRENGTHEN
Jewish congregations that honor Yeshua the Messiah of Israel
Jewish congregations that honor Yeshua the Messiah of Israel
Mark your calendars and make plans to join us for our annual Summer Family Conference centered on the theme, For a Strong Future/לעתיד חזק.
We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Yaakov Ariel for a workshop and special erev Shabbat interview. Dr. Ariel is professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research has focused on: Messianic groups; Interfaith relations; Christian attitudes towards Jews, Zionism and Israel; history of missions to the Jews; to name a few.
Other schedule highlights include a workshop led by Dr. Jennifer Rosner, a Klezmer music workshop led by Rabbi Dr. Rich Nichol, a master class led by Kyle and Rachel Orth, and Saturday evening concert by Misha Goetz.
Together we have raised over $200,000 to disburse to Messianic Jewish efforts in Israel responding to the current crisis. Your continued support, along with continued prayer, is essential! Prayer points include:
Release of all those held captive
Swift and decisive victory over Hamas
Protection for civilians on both sides
Reversal of rising antisemitism around the world
Tzur Yisrael, Rock of Israel, arise to the help of Israel, and deliver as you promised Judah and Israel.
Tzav is our reminder to continue to practice sacrificial worship in our lives today. How do we do this? Let’s take a moment to reflect on two questions. First, what is considered a sacrifice today? And second, where is the altar?
Each of us was given a name shortly after birth and, for most of us, we are still called by that name. When I hear my name, it commands my attention. It identifies me. It also means that the person who has called me knows my name.
Is there a lesson that can be gleaned by observing the relationship between the Flintstones and the Jetsons? I think there is, and I believe it to be profound.
God created a home for us in His creation of the universe. God has created a home for us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Messiah. May we create a home for Him in this world, by not only learning His precepts and understanding their application, but by embracing the very essence of His Holy Torah.
Moses is likened to a “friend”—specifically, a friend of God. Yeshua is on record promising “friendship” to believers who abide (John 15:14). Then, immediately afterwards, He reiterates the point, saying: “I have called you friends” (15:15). It’s hard to overstate the significance: the relationship with God that believers in Yeshua enjoy is akin to Moses’.
The breastplate bearing the names of the tribes of Israel, each in its place, reminds us also to embrace our God-given place and not to compare ourselves with the other servants; neither to seek a better position than theirs, nor to grovel in our lowliness. Instead, we’re to serve within the space God has prepared for us, and prepared us for.
The voice of God to Moses, and by extension to the assembly of Israel, came by way of an organized and intentional religious space. It was not random or haphazard. It was not spontaneous or unconstrained. God’s voice came within an organized space and time.
At the conclusion of last week’s parasha, Israel is given immortality with its designation as a “Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation” (Exod 19:6). Mishpatim, literally “ordinances,” on the other hand, is often thought of as a law book pronouncing mundane rules that deal with a plethora of subjects.
Moses on the mountain, Isaiah caught up into the throne room of God; these accounts fuel our imagination of God as high and lofty, untouchable, unapproachable. In contrast is a wonderful little line nestled within the opening verses of Parashat Yitro: “And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.”
There comes a time when God’s people need to battle. At such times, while some prefer to remain spectators, and others to be support personnel behind the lines, some will engage in the thick of things, believing themselves called to give their all in a time of transition, opportunity, or threat.
During this time of trial for Israel, leaders in the UMJC are showing solidarity by visiting in person. Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey Seif and his wife, Barri Cae, recently returned from Israel, as did UMJC Rabbi Michael Kashdan. Jeff Seif’s brief report is followed by a longer account by Rabbi Kashdan.
As representatives of the global Messianic Jewish movement and in solidarity with the greater Jewish community, we affirm our standing with Israel in defense of our homeland. Our hearts are broken to see this present evil perpetrated against Israel. The current war against Israel has united the people of Israel and we stand united with them.
Jews and their allies from across America converged at the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, November 14, to make a three-fold statement: support for Israel in its war against Hamas, a demand for immediate release of all hostages, and opposition to the dramatic rise in antisemitism.
Amid mounting opposition to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, and a sharp rise in antisemitic activity in the US and beyond, major Jewish organizations are calling for a “March for Israel” on Tuesday, November 14.
A federal jury on August 2 voted to sentence Robert Bowers to death for killing 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In June, the jury found Bowers, 50, guilty of dozens of federal hate crimes in a trial held at the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania.
Sandra Sheskin Brotman entered into her eternal rest peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Monday, May 29, 2023. Sandra, a matriarch in the Messianic Jewish movement, was full of life, passionate about her faith, and rarely missed an opportunity to share the love of Yeshua with others.
US Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt cited the Haggadah in a recent interview to explain why increased engagement with antisemitism won’t necessarily lead to a decrease in attacks: “The authors of the Passover Haggadah, one of our oldest texts, recognized hundreds of years ago that ‘in every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us,’ which is why historians talk about antisemitism as the oldest hatred.”
Chaim Urbach passed away on March 10 after a long struggle with declining health. He was born and raised in Israel, where he came to know Yeshua early in life under the influence of his parents, Eliezer and Sara. The family immigrated to North America in 1964, and eventually settled in Denver, where he met and married his beloved Joy, and devoted himself to Messianic Jewish ministry as an esteemed leader and mentor.
On Erev Shabbat, February 10, near the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, Yaakov Paley, a 6-year-old boy and Shlomo Laderman, a young man who was married only two months ago were killed and several others have been wounded in a car-ramming terror attack.
Mark Greenberg departed to be with Yeshua Friday night, January 13, after a brave, two-year struggle with vascular disease. He was the rabbi of Shalom Rome, a UMJC-affiliated congregation in Rome, Georgia, from 2016 until the Covid pandemic and his condition led to his medical retirement in 2020. Mark was also a cofounder of the Tree of Life Bible Society along with his wife, Daniah.