Halakhic Learning/Living

I have had the privilege of contributing to the Riverton Mussar program (see links list on the right) for quite some time now. As I was preparing for this coming week's piece a small portion of what I wrote felt like it needed to be unpacked a little more, in a different context. I felt that context would be here. Here is the paragraph I am referring to: "Halakha, in general, removes the veil between the spiritual and physical and reminds us that creation is good and that we are empowered to make it holy. Our daily lives do not become holy by us making them more “spiritual.” They become holy when we acknowledge God as Lord over them, in all their physicality and messiness. In this light we can see that the more we are diligent to bless/thank God (or the world around us) the more likely we are to engage the task at hand. May we all grow in our capacity to use every opportunity to bring holiness and goodness into the world." About a month ago I finished reading a translation of Rabbi Soloveitchik's, Halachic Man. I was challenged by it, but there were a few key points that struck me so very strongly. I will share just two of them here. 1. Soloveitchik suggests that "halachic man" sees a responsibility to experience (and respond to) God within the context of the details of life. Eternal life is found beginning with this life! There is no desire for some disembodied soul state. The goal lies in the Jew's capacity and responsibility to sanctification of the world he/she lives in. 2. The goal of halakha is the prophetic state! Soloveitchik defines this state (in part) as the awareness of the heavenly throne above you at all times. Through deep engagement with halakha in learning and practice, "halachic man" is able to move toward the perception of God and his holiness in a way akin to that of the prophets. I do not mean to oversimplify incredibly complex concepts. Soloveitchik presents a lot of crucial background and caveats so as to avoid confusion in what he is saying. One cannot fully understand these points unless one reads his book. Nevertheless, I feel comfortable asserting that these two points are congruent with values we see in the ketuvim sh'lichim (Apostolic Writings). The Kingdom is at hand, and we have a responsibility to draw it out in the here and now. Make no mistake about it: The mechanisms of halakhic thought/living contrast the pursuit of healing the sick and raising the dead. The real chidush (new idea) here is that in spite of the contrast, they have the same goal and root. Therefore deep halakhic engagement and pursuit of seeing the "Yeshua-natural" (I prefer this to "supernatural") are complimentary and should be equal pursuits of any Messianic Jewish community. So, where do we begin? I have to confess that, by and large, the Messianic Jewish community is lacking in its pursuit of halakhic thinking/living (I am including myself in this critique...I have a long way to go). Even among those Jewish Yeshua followers that engage Jewish life in the context of our people's developed tradition, it normally stops shy of transforming our largely non-halakhic culture. So, I suggest we begin where this way of thinking began, where our sages began: Learning. We need to develop learning cultures that transform the way we think and live. there is much more to do than this, but I want to do my part in promoting this. So... I am going to offer one small way for at least some of us to get started. Every new Jewish month, within the first week, I want to offer a halakha of the month. I will provide some background in the particular halakha and then we can all have a discussion about what it means, how to grow towards it, etc. Any takers?

Broken Torah

It took me a while to begin to understand why God would seem to not care at all that Moshe broke the tablets. I mean, He keeps Moshe out of the land for striking a rock instead of speaking to it! My first experience with Rav Hartman (from Eretz Yisrael) began to open my heart and my mind to the layers of what happened as those tablets shattered:

1. Moshe broke the Torah with the people. Whether intentionally or not, Moshe demonstrated a profound identification with the people breaking the Torah right before his eyes. He saw them breaking into pieces before him and so he broke the Torah in front of their eyes, in front of God's.

2. The Torah needed to broken to make a way for t'shuvah. By showing that the Torah could be broken and then set right, we also learned that we could be broken and then made right.

This, of course finds its ultimate conclusion in Yeshua, through whom breaking is the prerequisite for wholeness-a process in which we are invited to participate

This year, in reading Ki Tissa I discovered yet another layer: God cares more about our relationship with Him than our relationship to the written word. Don't get me wrong, I will still kiss every holy sefer that falls to the ground...I will still fast if I witness a Torah scroll fall (chas v'shalom). Nevertheless, God had not a single word of protest at Moshe's act. He simply told Moshe to write a new one. However, the people started worshiping a calf and He was ready to call the whole thing off! God loved those made in His image more than the stone bearing the imprint of his finger alone.

I wonder if that's still true. I wonder if God would care less seeing me throw a TaNaKh into a river rather than seeing me make a god of anything other than Him. I'm humbled to admit I'm more likely to do the latter than the former (in fact I have). I pray we all let the Torah written within us be put back together when it breaks, when we break.

It's Been a LONG Time

Hello All!

I apologize for the long hiatus from writing for this blog. I have been deeply involved in other things and needed to take a break. I'm ready to be back but want to start by bringing some things to your attention.

Most of why I haven't been blogging has been to my regular weekly contributing to the Riverton Mussar website (see right) and to the Set Table publication (also, see right), which I am also editor of. I will be continuing to work there so, please feel free to check those out. It is exciting to have the honor to add my voice to the many wonderful voices already present there.

I am very happy to announce my mentor, Rabbi Carl Kinbar, has begun a blog: The New Messianic Jewish Learning (also, see right). This is one of the most exciting new blogs beginning and I encourage everyone to check it out.

I look forward to adding some new material of my own over the next couple of days!

What should we be focusing on?

It seems to be rather obvious that everyone has his/her unique calling toward advancing those things which are crucially important for the Messianic Jewish movement:

Mussar
Jewish-Christian relations
Hebrew education
Creative thinking
Developing halakhic standards
Developing siddur material and music

All of this goes towards the ultimate goal of developing community that addresses the needs and goals of the MJ movement for itself and the world.

I am preparing a book revew of Rabbi Elie Kaunfer's Empowered Judaism which I will be presenting late next month. As a part of this review I will be touching on the applicability of Rabbi Kaunfer's model for the MJ movement. As I have been engaging in this project some questions have manifested:

How can the way we move forward respond to our particular needs as a community (as opposed to making us look like a particular, already-existing, form of 21st century Judaism)?

What does being an empowered Messianic Jew look like...what should we be focusing on?

I'm looking for some feedback from all of you on your answers to some of these questions :-)
I hope some of the feedback I receive here will help me develop a more diverse and responsive presentation.

In The Likeness of Men

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also, God highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Yeshua every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Messiah Yeshua is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5–11 (NASB)

On the surface, Paul is encouraging the Philippians to live a life of humility and total devotion to God. The reason given is Yeshua’s humility, though being worthy of exaltation. By the end, we find Yeshua bearing the Name of God. One might ask which of Yeshua’s attributes we are to admire most: his humility or his equality with God. The answer is both. Yeshua is the fullest expression of what it means to be in the image of God, an appellation given to Adam in Genesis. The revelation of his Divinity comes to pass through the perfection of his humanity. Because he is the perfect man, he is the Son of Man . . . The Son of God. What we find is that his humanity is perfected in his divinity. But this is not so that we would not aspire to be fully human, but rather he teaches us to be more fully human than we could ever be. By connecting to his humility, we tap into what can be mutual between us and God: the capacity for sacrificial love.

When we submit fully to God we are responding to the sacrificial love he bestowed upon us. His sacrificial love was fully realized in his death, burial, and resurrection yet it was activated by his very birth. God gave us the fullness of himself completely over to us in the form of a little baby. God gave us an opportunity to truly see his face in one another as we were given privilege to see his own face. What child is this? Who is this King of Glory? Our Messiah Yeshua, the risen One, the crucified One, the Word wrapped in flesh, the baby wrapped in poor cloth, the Light of the world!

Chodesh Tov-Tevet

Chodesh Tov everyone!

I pray your Hanukkah has been filled with light and gladness...We are entering the month of Tevet where am Yisrael have the task to carry the light of Hanukkah into the upcoming days. We will celebrate renewal once again in Sh'vat (stay tuned...)

In the meantime, there are lessons to carry from Hanukkah that we are given space to reflect on in the seemingly "empty" month of Tevet (apart from one minor fast day on the 10th).

1. Our particularity has universal implications

The Jewish people live as a reminder of a unique relationship with God, one that is constantly growing and bearing fruit. Without the Jewish people, we could not consider God as faithful or loving (heaven forbid!). any time a nation or ideology comes up to espouse universalism at the expence of particularity the root of all things good in this world is removed: Love. Love requires particularity. I do love all people, but I also love my family uniquely. I care for both and one group does not have intrinsic value over the other but my focus is on my family. Without the uniqueness of love, there is no God of the Bible. God loves creation. God loves humanity uniquely among creation. God loves those who draw near uniquely among all people. God loves the ekklesia uniquely among those who draw near. God loves the Jewish people uniquely. God loves Mashiach Yeshua as the embodiment of all, uniquely.

Let us all never forget this in a world in love with universalism that the love of the all can only be real when there is the ability and acceptance of unique love.


2. Assimilation will not save us

The Jewish people cannot become more "palatable" to the world by assimilating. It is only in being who we are, deeply and fully that we can hope to represent God in this world.

Let us carry this into Tevet. When our hanukkiot are no longer lit may we be living hanukkiot when the Hanukkah products are taken off the shelves, and the token ode to our people has been forgotten.

3. A little light goes a long way

It doesn't take much light to light up a dark room. It doesn't take large numbers to keep the Spirit of God and our people alive. As our brothers and sisters in the Church worldwide will remind us on the 18th of Tevet (this year) it only takes one birth to change the world!