Grafted in to Israel

Parsha #42 : Mattot - Tribes
[In regular years read with Parsha #43, in leap years (as this year), read separately]
Torah: B’Midbar (Exodus) 30:2-32:42
Haftarah: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 1:1-2:3
B’rit Chadashah: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:33-37
[In case I haven't mentioned before, there is no agreed-upon, Messianic-movement-wide B'rit Chadashah reading to go with each parsha, but this selection is the suggested reading from the Complete Jewish Bible by David Stern.]

Topics covered in this Parsha:

- Oaths made to Adonai
- War with Midian
- Spoils taken
- Reuben & Gad

Oaths made to Adonai

The first section covers the making of vows or oaths (binding promises), and sets out when an oath is binding upon a person.  It seems to be talking specifically about an oath of service to Adonai.

We tend to be very casual generally about our speech today, and often say we’ll do things without considering whether or not we’ll make good on our word, but the scriptures make it clear that our words are not to be made lightly, and are to be taken seriously, and that we are responsible to keep our word.

It is interesting to note that in some cases, the vows of women are not binding on them, for example when the father of an unmarried woman does not approve, or the husband of a married woman, these vows are allowed to be broken, but if a husband waits to state his disapproval, the sin of not keeping the vow falls on him.  The vows of a widowed or divorced woman, however, stand (this is an indication that only widowed and divorced women, and not single women are viewed as independent agents in scripture).

I’m not sure what kind of vows we might make today which would fall into this category (though churches which require a Covenant commitment, like the Salvation Army, or the Jesus Army for example might qualify?) but I suspect that, as Torah-observers, we ought generally to become more careful with our words and speech that we have been previously.

War with Midian

At the beginning of this section, the LORD tells Moses that this war with Midian is his final task, and then ‘you will be gathered to your people”.

A thousand men from every tribe are called up to war, with Pinchas at the head of the Army with the shofar trumpet.

Spoils taken

The five kings of Midian are killed along with the men of Midian, married women and children, while virgins are taken along with the booty as part of the spoils of war.  A friend suggested that these women being taken as non-free wives or concubines (piligesh) is actually an act of mercy - they are allowed a month to mourn their home and family, and then have a new chance for life with a husband and children; and this period of mourning in a way corresponds to the cleansing and purifying of the material booty so that it can be brought into the Kadosh community of Israel [this mourning period is not mentioned in this passage, I will need to find the reference for this], but I have to say I have terrible trouble ratifying this whole concept of righteous war, and killing civilians, let alone children, with my worldview.

At the end of this section, it is confirmed that not a single soldier of Israel has been killed, which indicates Divine protection and approval of the War.

Reuben & Gad

Finally, the tribes of Reuben & Gad elect to stay on the far side of the Jorden river, rather than going on into the land beyond the Jordan to claim their inheritance, and it is agreed that, provided they come along with the rest of the tribes to fight with the inhabitants, they may do this.  So before they do this, they build fortress cities for their women and children to wait in while the go in to the land to fight.

This is another difficult parsha that I’m still mulling over without making any conclusions about.

A deeply divisive topic of discussion has arisen over the last few months, and sprung up on several different Messianic networks: Polygamy.

I had assumed up until recently that although polygamy (specifically polygyny) was scriptural, it was rather allowed as a concession and that as New Covenant believers, we should not ‘give occasion to the flesh’ in this way.  However, since the topic has caused so much confusion, damage and division, I have started to study the matter more deeply.  I am still in the process of studying, but my intermediate conclusion is that firstly, polygyny is permitted (even to leaders, despite the apparent words of Paul), and in some situations actually commanded.  We need to be very careful about calling the kadosh Torah commands anything but kadosh.  But for now I will set this matter aside (and hope to address it properly at a later date), and move on to the subject of division, discipline and cutting off fellowship.

I visited the Shekinah Life Network (a pseudo-messianic internet network which promotes the Noahide Laws rather than Torah) this evening to resign my membership, to find that I had been banned, and my letter expressing concern over their attitude and actions against those they disagree with forwarded to the entire network, along with their commentary, with the express intention of ‘exposing’ me as a person who supports polygamy.

I am cut to the heart that fellow believers would respond in such a manner. If I, by my beliefs, am in sin, do you believe it is right to cut me off from fellowship without any discussion or persuasion? Do you think a wrong belief (as opposed to action) on this matter is to be equated with the matter in I Corinthians 5?

Polygamy is not really the issue here. If I have misapprehended Torah on this matter, I am willing to be corrected. (I continue to study the topic, and in the meantime, I am happy to agree to disagree on the matter.)

What really concerns me is certain people’s (not just Shekinah Life, but several others’) manner of dealing with people they oppose. There has been an awful lot of public name-calling and mud-slinging. This is not the scriptural way. Firstly a matter of disagreement where one party believes the other to be in sin should be brought directly back to the offending party. If the offender did not repent, then the matter is to be brought before an elder, and if the offender still did not repent, then and then only should the matter be presented  before the congregation, but always with a view to restoration, the removal of fellowship being the very last resort. This feels much less like discipline and much more like fleshly anger.

I regret very deeply the division this matter has caused within the Messianic movement.

Let me leave you with this thought. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”.

If those who promote and support polygamy are wrong, those who oppose it should be praying for restoration. (And likewise those who believe it is scriptural and justified and commanded in Torah should be praying for the restoration of those who fail to see that).

Let’s be very careful about judging each others’ hearts, condemning each other and prounouncing each other corrupt. The evil one is having a field day here. Let’s not play into his hands.

Shalom,

Shoshana

We’ve just returned from visiting friends at the Twelve Tribes Messianic Community at Stentwood farm in Devon.

The Twelve Tribes are an interesting organisation, with beliefs along similar lines to the Messianic faith, and having an emphasis on giving everything up to live together with a common purse along the lines of Acts 2:44, and they celebrate the Feasts and refer to ‘Yahshua’ rather than the ‘J’ word, and Yahweh rather than ‘G-d’. For these two reasons they are often accused by mainstream Christianity of being a ‘cult’.

Our experience with the Twelve Tribes has been wonderful - they are the most friendly, loving and serving people you are ever likely to meet. Their lifestyle, living together on farms and having a life of prayer and praise together (they have 2 daily services to represent the Ner Tamid), is very appealling.

One thing which struck me on this visit, though, is that they have not as anorganisation fully embraced Torah: they lit candles during daylight on shabbat, and used gas fire to cook during daylight on shabbat. I have also heard that, during Pesach, they continue baking sourdough bread.

I think that this is a consequence largely of separating themselves from the rest of the believing Messianic community (like so many groups before them, they believe themselves to be “the only ones”). A look at their literature (especially the leaflet entitled “black box” detailling the history of Christianity / The Church, makes it easy to understand their view that all other groups are totally corrupt.

We remain good friends with the folks at Stentwood Farm (and I would be interested to visit their other communities), and continue to pray for them.  As a model for living out the faith, I think theirs is unparallelled, and highly recommend people to consider the idea of community living.

I include here a comprehensive list of links, good and bad, relating to the Twelve Tribes Messianic Communities to give a balanced overview ( I think we can safely discount the articles which suggest they are cult because they are legalistic and observe Old Testament practices though.):

Apologetics Index
“cult expert” research on TT
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/t29.html

Common Loaf
TT Bakery in the UK
http://www.commonloaf.co.uk/

FACT Net (anti-cult group)
Twelve Tribes Forum
http://factnet.org/vbforum/login.php?do=lostpw

Hippie-crit
another TT official website
http://www.hippiecrit.org/

Intentional Communities directory
listing for Twelve Tribes in the USA
http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=5932

Ithacans opposed to the Twelve Tribes Cult
anti-TT blog
http://iottc.blogspot.com/

NEIRR pages on Twelve Tribes
New England Institute for Religious Research
http://neirr.org/mcconclu.html

Outway House
A kind of ‘half-way house’ organisation to support people who have left TT
http://www.outwayhouse.org/

Rick Ross’ pages on Twelve Tribes
Institute for the study of destructive cults
http://www.rickross.com/groups/tribes.html

Steven Alan Hassan’s Freedom of Mind Center
overview of the TT by a “cult expert”
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/t/tribes/

The black box - TT view on church history
another official TT website
http://www.theblackboxspeaks.org/

Twelve Tribes
official website
http://www.twelvetribes.com/

Twelve Tribes Ex Website
Research by a former member
http://www.twelvetribes-ex.org/

University of Virginia Religious Movements Project
Archived Profile on the Twelve Tribes
http://web.archive.org/web/20060829151659/religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/tribes.html

Wikipedia article
online encyclopedia (purportedly neutral)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Tribes_(New_religious_movement)

Yoneq and the Twelve Tribes
anti-TT blog
http://yattt.blogspot.com/

My prayer for the Twelve Tribes is that they will come to the light of truth in Torah and become more and more integrated with the rest of the believing Messianic community, and that they would make teshuvah with regard to their somewhat arrogant claim of being the only exclusive true Israel (and / or church), the only ones who possess the Ruach. I think that the danger for them, if they do not do this, is that their Menorah (respresenting the Ruach ha Kodesh) will be removed from them, leaving behind only an empty and lifeless legalism.

Torah: Numbers 25:10-30:1
Haftarah: I Kings 18:46-19:21
B’rit Chadashah: John 2:13-22

I read through this parsha several times without understanding until I stumbled across a remarkable expository teaching here: http://www.hearoisrael.org/uploads/Pin_has_2005.pdf which goes into detail of the meanings of the words used in the parsha. Most remarkable to me was the meaning of the name Pinchas, being Pei-Nechas - image of the brass (serpent), referring back to last week’s episode of the brass serpent being raised up in the desert - in effect, another picture of Messiah.

I must admit to really struggling with the idea that Pinchas is lauded and rewarded for what essentially appears to be a ‘murder’. I’m slightly relieved at the thought that the Midianite woman might possibly be merely a metaphor, symbolic of false religion, but in the event that the whole episode is to be taken literally, what is it that makes Pinchas’ action righteous?

What was it that Zimri (the Israelite) and Kozbi (the Midianite woman) were doing that was so wrong to deserve being killed that way? Well clearly, it was something very serious - the fact that Zimri was a Prince of the tribe of Shimon, and that she was a Princess of Midian, suggests that this may have been a political alliance, a marriage which was specifically forbidden “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.” Exodus 23:32, and the fact that the word used for tent is ‘kubah’ (bed-chamber) rather than ‘ohel’ (tent) suggests that the two were intent on sealing their covenant, or consumating a marriage.

I noted from Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr (RaYbash)’s commentary that Pinchas was declared ‘zealous’, the Hebrew word being ‘Chassid’.  This I found also to be a revolutionary idea: the word ‘chassid’ is usually translated as ‘kind’, or also ‘pious’.  You will no doubt be familiar with the Orthodox Jewish sect the ‘Chassidim’ who are considered very ‘pious’ (or in Yiddish, ‘frum’.)  I had previously considered the central idea of piety as being kindness (the book of James / Jakob talks about true religion being represented by those who visit and take care of widows and orphans and those in prison, for example), but it had never occurred to me before that the flip-side of kindness is actually zeal!

This idea in turn leads me to think about the passage in Isaiah (59:17-21) which parallel’s Rav Sh’aul / Paul’s spiritual armour of Ephesians 6:10-18, which also mentions serveral items which Paul’s list left off, including a ‘cloak of zeal’.  It’s difficult to know how this ‘cloak of zeal’ can or should be applied in the life of a New Covenant believer, but the B’rit Chadashah portion listed is of course the episode where Yeshua (Baruch Hu) cleanses the Temple and turns over the tables of the money-makers in his righteous anger.  Who has that kind of zeal today?  Well let’s be encouraged by the Haftarah portion, which sees Eliyahu (Elijah) dejected and forlorn, telling YHWH how zealous he has been and believing he is alone in all this, but this is YHWH’s reply: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

The other thing which seems strange is that Pinchas is rewarded with , with a ‘Covenant of Peace’, whereas his action seems so ‘warlike’, but again looking at the Hebrew, ‘Shalom’ peace is not just the absence of war, not a peace at any price, it’s a wholeness, a righteous peace, perfection and rest which comes at the end of work. Shalom peace can’t be attained through sitting back and letting be. It requires action, and can only be true shalom within the safe boundaries of Torah. Once you step outside of Torah, you forfeit some of your shalom.  Pinchas’ action, though horrible to our western eyes, was actually restorative, bringing Israel back into the safety of Torah.

Shabbat shalom!

Torah: Num 19:1-22:1, 22:2-25:9;
Haftarah: Judges 11:1-33; Micah 5:6-6:8;
B’rit Chadashah: Hebrews 9:11-28; John 3:10-21; Rom 11:25-32

[Apologies, I'm a bit all over the place, and got confused - I think this is one parsha split into two? or two read together?]

Episodes in this portion include:
- The ordinances of the red heiffer, and the waters of cleansing
- Water from the rock
- Edom denies Israel passage
- Death of Aaron
- Battle with Arad
- The bronze snake
- Battle with Sihon and Og
- Balaam and his donkey
- Balaam’s oracles
- Israel’s ‘harlotry’ with the Moabite baal of Peor

The most famous sections of this portion are of course ‘Balaam and his donkey’, and ‘the snake lifted up in the desert’.

The thing which strikes me about this parsha is how much battling Israel had to do so early on - the decision not to go into the land at the outset didn’t just result in 40 years of peaceful wandering, I rather imagined that they didn’t have to do any fighting until they took Jericho when they were ready to go into the land, but on the contrary, the wanderings took place through hostile territory, and would prove to be long and arduous. If only they had trusted and obeyed at the outset, how much suffering they would have saved themselves! That seems to be a picture lesson for us as believers. I have to constantly remind my children that their lives will be so much easier if only they learn to obey.

On the other topics, I suppose this portion gives me more questions than answers - what is the significance of the snake lifted up in the desert? If it is somehow meant to represent Messiah Yeshua, why is the sybolism a snake which is usually used to represent the evil one?

What is the significance of the red heiffer? What is its connection with the third temple to come? In A. L. Jacobs’ funny and irreverant book “The Year of Living Biblically”, he came across American farmers who are trying to breed a red heiffer for the coming temple. Does the red heiffer also somehow represent Messiah? will the birth of the perfect and spotless red heiffer herald the return of Moshiach?

On curses and blessings, how much power or significance do they have? Does it depend on who makes them? who believes them? What about all the constant cursing upon Israel made at the present time by the surrounding countries who hate her so much? Wouldn’t it be amazing if YHVH would prevent curses from coming out and make those people bless Israel?

I just want to copy some of the blessings Balaam pronounced, and may these be our prayers for Israel today:

“How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!”

“Arise, Balak, and listen: hear me, son of Zippor. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speakand then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed it, and I cannot change it.

No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, the shout of the King is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims’ .”

“How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!

Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters. Water will flow from their buckets, their seed will have abundant water. Their king will be greater than Agag, their kingdom will be exalted. God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces, with their arrows they pierce them. Like a lion they crouch and lie down, like a lioness - who dares to rouse them! May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!”

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy7, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”

This last section is clearly messianic prophecy, and again I wonder at the fact that the symbolism used is a ’star’, which so often is used as part of idolatrous religion (Ishtar, for example, and the pentacle) but as with so many things in scripture and religion, the false is a corrupted image of the pure and true - not quite a mirror image, but having enough apparent truth to deceive and mislead, to take our eyes off the real thing.

“Let us fix our eyes on Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith.”

Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha #38 - Korach (Korah)

Torah - Numbers 16:1-18:32 (B’Midbar)
Haftarah - I Samuel 11:14-12:22 (Shmuel alef)
suggested B’rit Chadashah - II Timothy 2:8-21, Jude 1-25 (Yehudah)

I am going to be away on holiday from erev shabbat this week, and won’t have a chance to post at the weekend, so I thought I would do so now while I have a moment.

This Parsha contains the story of Korah’s rebellion and the punishment (Korah and all who followed him were swallowed up by the earth!), the plague that follows the murmurings (read moanings) of the people. The budding of Aaron’s rod, and finally the setting out of the provisions made for the priests (cohanim) and levites.

Some links to midrashim on Parsha Korach:
http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/0007/000715_b.html
http://www.umjc.net/content/view/392/44/
http://www.britahmmessianic.org/archive/korach.html
Hebrew word study on Aaron’s ‘rod’
http://www.messianictrust.org.uk/parashiyot/korah-5.htm

I haven’t really had a chance to think very deeply on this parsha, so I have no comments at this stage, but I will come back and edit the post with additional thoughts when I return. (”D.V.”)

I have finally got round to carving out some time to devote to my Torah Study group for women on HisSpace.  We are starting in the middle of the year, but I think it’s worth starting here.  I’m using the popular one-year schedule to begin with.  We’ll see how that goes, and if it’s too much, we may switch to the triennial schedule later.  So, without further ado, here are my notes and thoughts on today’s parsha.

Parsha # 37 Shelach Lekha - Send on your Behalf

Torah - Numbers 14:1 - 15:41
Haftarah - Joshua 2:1-24
B’rit Chadasha - Hebrews 3:7-19

This portion starts with a man being selected from each of the 12 tribes to go into Canaan to spy out the land. It’s a familiar story: they go and they come back with reports that the land was ‘flowing with milk and honey’,

fruit so good and heavy it needed to be carried by 2 men (13:23), and yet despite the voices of Joshua and Caleb that the LORD was on their side, the people listened to the 10 spies who were too fearful to go into the land because the people were too strong.

This is one of the remarkable occasions when the LORD threatens to destroy the people, and Moses has to negotiate on their behalf and the LORD relents from His anger. Nevertheless, Israel is punished with one year in the Wilderness for every day that the spies were in Canaan, and the 10 spies who brought the ‘evil report’ die by the plague.

When the people hear the verdict, they are remorseful but rather than learning the lesson of obedience, they decide to go up into the land to fight the Amalekites in their own strength and are of course defeated.

The next section is all about sacrifices, from 15:1-31.  The verse which caught my eye was 15:31 - it’s one thing to sin out of ignorance, “But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.”  That verse has serious and scary implications!  I’ve sat under years of teaching to the effect that, as Christians, we can’t help ourselves, and we’ll never completely stop sinning ‘this side of heaven’, but it doesn’t matter because we’re ‘covered’.  Well, yes, but we’re not meant to use Yeshua’s blood as some kind of holy life insurance! Certainly we stumble, but we should be doing everything in our power to obey the mitzvot, with the empowering and enabling of the Ruach haKodesh. If not, we are reproaching the LORD! (I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty convicted right now!)

In the next section, from 15:32-36 the implication of sinning despite knowing the mitzvah is played out  for real - a man is caught ‘red-handed’ gathering sticks for firewood on the sabbath, and is stoned to death.  I had previously thought that the phrase ‘cut off from among his people’ merely meant being put out of the congregation, but it would appear that it’s actually a euphemism for being executed. Again, harsh! But our perspective as 21st century westerners is probably not in line with the LORD’s perspective on the seriousness of sin.  Clearly, it’s a really big deal!  I will admit that I don’t find this easy to accept - it’s problematic on many levels, and I am very glad that I’m living int he 21st century West! But it does drive home the point that what may seem to us a trivial matter is one of the sins considered worthy of death. I don’t honestly understand just why it is so serious, but clearly the way we treat the sabbath is representative of how much we respect the LORD.

Finally, Israel is given a help to remember the mitzvot - a visual reminder: the tzitzit - fringes to go on the corners of the garments “that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them”.   I can tell you from experience, that this really does work! It’s kind of like a little external conscience - you catch sight of them, and they say “no, stay away from that chocolate!” (well, that’s just one of my own personal challenges! but the principle is the same for whatever your temptations may be.)  I have in the past cut mine short, or stopped wearing them, or been embarassed by them in the light of Yeshua’s words at Matthew 23:5, but the point there really is the fact that wearing tzitit doesn’t make you holy! They’re a reminder to you that you are already holy (set apart) and to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

Shavua tov!

Here we go again… I received the most bizarre and out-of-the-blue e-mail, headed “I don’t know what to do with our friendship” which I copy below with my replies. I’m quite shocked to be accused of being worldy and lukewarm. To be honest, my struggles (and all of us have them) have nothing to do with either “worldliness” or “lukewarmness”! I’m wondering what exactly it was about my playlist which offended? It’s mostly classical music.:

[FROM MY FRIEND TO ME:]

Hi, not quite sure what to do with our friendship

I respect that you are Messianic, but I sensed that
your abit of a dabbler with worldly stuff including
our first email

Now you are on a few of my Ning networks and
to tell you the truth your playlist is abit worldly
for me. I will do nothing for now

I could give you code to put my messianic playlist
on your ning profiles.

If things dont change I’ll have to remove you

Sorry for saying

Shalom
[Name withheld]

You should read Rev 3:14-21

[MY REPLY:]

Dear [name]

You must make your own judgements. Certainly you must judge for yourself between right and wrong.

But to be honest, for you to judge my *heart* as being lukewarm and worldy is way off.

It always saddems me to discover the same kind of judgementalism in the messianic movement as I left behind in christianity,rather I would expect and hope for support and encouragement and thankfully that seems to be the norm on the Torah path, but I sensed from you very early that you were in need of healing.

Perhaps you should read Matthew 7 and I Corinthians 10:12.

Shalom
Shoshana

p.s. if and when you are ready to make teshuvah I will be there and ready to support and encourage you.

[MY FRIEND'S REPLY TO ME:]

I am sorry it is plain and simple that your playlist is worldly
none of those songs will not be hinted on being sungin the
KINGDOM. If you think so you are fooling yourself

I can not link to your playlist.

Just face up to reality

I dont want an argurment here its just reality

My original stance stands
If nothing changes Ill have to remove you

Shalom
[Name withheld]

I cant wait I have to remove you
your in complete denial

and I cant link to your playlist
anyfurther. I gave you suggestions
but you just turned this into an
argument

I will you well
Shalom
[Name Withheld]

[AND MY FINAL REPLY]

Dear [Name]

You are mistaken my friend. There was no argument from my side.
Feel free to remove me as a friend from all networks, that is your perogative.

But read Matthew 7, I Corinthians 10:12 and Romans 14:4 again. Mercy rejoices over judgement. HaShem alone is my judge. The kingdom is more that music and computer networks.

I pray only that your eyes will be opened and you will make teshuvah before it is too late.

As I said, if and when you are ready, I will be here to support and encourage you, and not judge you.

Shalom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m surprised, shocked, and a little confused…………….

and having just re-read the whole thing, this is what really makes me laugh:

” I could give you code to put my messianic playlist
on your ning profiles.”

Give me a break! I would be annoyed, If it wasn’t so laughable and ridiculous. How do you deal with people like this? It makes me sad and angry, because this person knows virtually nothing about me - he’s judging me on my music but he knows nothing of my real life. And for all he knows I could be a brand new believer, new to the Hebrew roots, fragile and delicate and all it would take to destroy my faith could be a little rejection - it has happened so many times to so many people I know. Let’s be a little bit more merciful, kind, gentle and understanding of each other and our weaknesses! And let’s restore each other gently where necessary.

I seem to have amassed another huge pile of books on my bed-side table for reading, and I thought you might be interested in the titles:

This is my private reading

- The Excellent Wife - Martha Pearce
- The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach: Bible-based Homeschooling - Robin Sampson
- Hidden Art  (Also published as The Hidden Art of Homemaking) - Edith Schaeffer
- Betrayed - Stan Telchin
- Off the Derech: Why Observant Jews Leave Judaism (and What We Can Do About It) - Faranak Margolese
- Mackerel at Midnight: Growing up Jewish on the Shetland Isles - Ethel G. Hofman (autobiography)
- Lucca - Jens Grondahl (Fiction)

I’ve also just picked up a pile of books for the occassional Study group I go to:

- The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity - Hyam Maccoby
- Paul and Hellenism - Hyam Maccoby
- The Sacred Executioner - Hyam Maccoby
- Judaism in the First Century - Hyam Maccoby
- Interpreting Difficult Texts - Williamson & Allen
- The Gospels & Rabbinic Judaism - Hilton & Marshall

The lady who runs the group has invited a Jewish acquaintance from her contact with the Synagogue to talk to us about the Jewish perspective on Jesus, and he has agreed (I think it’s rather brave on both sides!) and the above is his preliminary list of recommended reading.

As and when I manage to digest all of this, I’ll report back with reviews.

I have a terrible tendency to pick new books up and read only a couple of chapters in before I pick up another book! So with such a big pile, I’m going to have to exercise some discipline and get to bed early to get down to some study!

I would like to introduce you to a new network I’ve started on Ning Networks, called ‘Messianic Keepers at Home’,

http://messianickah.ning.com/

“The Messianic Keepers at Home network is a place to encourage Messianic women in their roles as wives, mothers and homemakers.

“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of [YHWH] be not blasphemed.”
Titus 2:3-5

Wherever you are on the Messianic spectrum, from Jewish Christian through to Nazarene Israelite or Torah-observant Followers of Yeshua, this is a place to learn and teach in the spirit of Titus 2.

Christian and Jewish women are also welcome provided they are not opposed to the Messianic faith.

Not a place to debate theology or scripture, except in love and where it can bless, encourage and edify.

Please behave in a spirit of Chesed (kindness, or ‘grace’), love and gentleness at all times. Lashon hara (unpleasant speech in any form) is not acceptable.”

There are groups and forums for every conceivable craft and area of womanhood, plus you can blog, add photos, music and videos.

I started the Messianic Keepers at Home Network because of a perceived need for the ministry of Titus2 women - older women willing to teach the younger, and younger women willing to learn.  I pray that it will be a great blessing.

Please join, and invite your friends.