"The deeds of fathers are a sign for the sons" is an ancient rabbinic saying, relating primarily to the educational responsibility of the parents to set a good example for their children. This proverb also holds a deeper meaning when it becomes one of the many guidelines for the Jewish sages in their attempt to learn important principles of God’s kingdom from biblical stories. In this context the deeds of the fathers become shadows of future events that will occur in the history of their sons, the people of Israel.

Rabbinic exegesis gives special attention to the hints found in the ancient texts about the salvation of Israel, presuming that the secret of redemption is the main theme hidden between the lines and that once we put together the huge jigsaw puzzle of biblical sources in the right way we can expose this secret. In this way biblical figures emerge from the frame of their local stories and become part of the big picture of the Redeemer. For example, it is very common for our sages to draw parallel lines between the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt and that of the salvation to come and to see Moses as a pre-figure of the Messiah. Not only Moses, but also all the actors that perform on the Old Testament stage take part in the show. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Samson, King David, and King Solomon, to mention just a handful of prominent figures, all become "aspects" of the Messiah. This means that not only their character, but also the events of their lives become an allegory of sorts, a shadow of things that will come to light as Messianic history unfolds.

It is extremely important for New Testament readers to be aware of this very Jewish tendency to excavate treasures of knowledge and to search for deep insights in the Holy Scriptures in this manner, sometimes at the expense of the straightforward meaning of the text. To those who are remote from this way of thinking, it may seem anything from adventurous to suspicious and dangerous. Yet the fact is that the authors of the New Testament were highly trained in the same school of thought and interpretation as their contemporaries and drew their spiritual water from the same wells that fed the Jewish Messianic idea. It is therefore a matter of great interest for us to explore the lives and deeds of the Fathers (and Mothers) of our faith in order to grant us a wider and deeper view of the New Testament’s concept of salvation. Abraham, whose picture graces the cover of this issue, is a perfect illustration of the meeting point between the redemption story in the Old and New Testaments, being truly "the father of all those who believe."

Besides the Messianic themes found in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, a careful exegesis from a more literary perspective can also reveal many important lessons for our own lives, as we learn from both the positive and negative examples of our ancestors in the faith. This issue of TFZ has chosen to examine some lesser-known or rarely studied aspects of certain biblical figures, in what at first glance, may seem to be an eclectic collection of characters and approaches. Yet we hope that these stories will give our readers strength and encouragement to hold fast to our faith and to strive to apply the important principles we learn from them to our own lives. May you be blessed with a summer of peace.

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Restoring the Lost Heritage - First International Conference on the B'nei Anussim

The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions began in the 15th Century and continued until the mid-1800s, as hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism and then were later tortured and executed for continuing to practice Judaism in secret. In light of the upcoming Restoring the Lost Heritage Conference sponsored by Netivyah, (see page 26 for details), this volume contains a variety of articles on the B’nei Anussim, the descendants of the Jews who were forcibly converted, also known more pejoratively as “marranos,” “conversos,” or “New Christians”. Here we prefer the Hebrew term “Anussim,” “those who were forced or compelled” to describe these, our unfortunate brethren.

As one reads through these pages weighted with suffering, one may well wonder why it is necessary to dredge through the depths of Jewish history when we have plenty of tragedies happening today in our world. Let us be very clear then about what our goals are and are not for why we are reliving this pain. First of all, there is great value in honoring the memory and the lives of the martyrs of history, and understanding how the mixture of militant religion and politics brought about their victimization is imperative if we wish to prevent anything like it from happening again. We also hope with this magazine to clarify some common misunderstandings about the Inquisition and to put it in its proper political-socio-religious-historical context for our readers. We have no desire to pity ourselves or to cast blame on the descendants of our ancestors’ persecutors, but we pray somehow to redeem part of the hidden suffering of the Anussim by bringing the truth of their persecution to light and honoring their attempts to remain faithful to the God of Israel.

We are well aware that since most of our readers are Protestants or Messianic Jews that there is a tendency to blame the Inquisition on “those Catholics” and to therefore try to absolve ourselves and our ancestors of responsibility. The truth of the matter is, however, that if any of us as believers had lived in the 15th Century in Spain, we too would probably have been one of the Church members who persecuted its Jewish flock. The Reformation had not even occurred yet, and none of us, no matter what we tell ourselves, would have been “an earlier Martin Luther and reformed the Church all by ourselves.” Additionally, even the Messianic Jews of today cannot ignore the truth that back in those days it was the Jews who believed in Jesus who became the worst persecutors of the Anussim. Some of the most hated foes of Judaism from the Inquisition period were themselves Jews who had converted to the Church.

With these truths in mind then, we must all unite together as Catholics, Protestants, and Messianic Jews to repent before God for our ancestors’ sins and to beg Him to send his renewed blessing and restoration on the House of Israel and the Church. There are many simple sociological or political lessons we could learn from the Inquisition, such as understanding why traditional Jews so greatly fear missionaries and Messianic Jews, why American Jews fear the Christian Religious Right, the dangers of mixing politics with religion, or how it is that in a war between Christians and Muslims, Jews always lose more than any other party, but we have greater goals here than simply illuminating a few ideas such as these. Rather we desire to unite our forces to repent now and to do everything we can to save the descendants of the Anussim, who after centuries of retaining their Jewish identities in secret are now beginning to forget it altogether with the advent of technology and globalization. This is the last generation in which it will be possible to redeem the B’nei Anussim, and it is our great hope that soon Israel will open its arms and its doors to these, our long lost but not forgotten, brothers.

This volume contains articles on different aspects of the Inquisition, its victims, and their descendants all over the world in the past and up until today. Although this tragic period of Jewish history is not a happy one to remember, we believe it is important for both our Jewish and non-Jewish readers to understand. Their suffering calls out from the darkness of history and begs us to lighten the load of their descendants while there is still time to restore them to the House of Israel.

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Summer is traditionally a time of tragedy for the Jewish people, a season when "the hands of Esau are strengthened" and able to victimize many of God's chosen people. Jewish sources tell us of many terrible events that happened during the period known as the Three Weeks, which go from the 17th day of Tamuz to the 9th of Av (this year from June 29th to July 20th). These 3 weeks are observed as a period of semi-mourning and culminate with 9 Av (Tisha b'Av), which is observed as a total 24 hour fast day. Tradition teaches that on this day the Israelites rebelled against God ands refused to enter the promised land, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed, and 2 tragic endings to the Bar Kochba Revolt of the Jewish people against the Romans occurred. 9 Av in 1190 saw the massacre of the entire Jewish community of York, England. Additionally, one of the most awful events that happened on this day was when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all the Jews from Spain in 1492. More than 200,000 Jews were expelled from the land of their birth and scattered all over the world as refugees without property or civil rights of any kind. Many of them subsequently perished from hunger, exposure, and persecution, while those who remained were forced to convert to Christianity and live in terror of the Inquisition. World War I also began on this day in 1914, and on the 9 of Av in 1942, the Nazis began the mass deportation of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to the death camps. Creative modern minds have found many more tragedies associated with this day, but this is a long enough list to give anyone an idea of the horror and sadness of this day in Jewish history.

קרא עוד...

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Much of the world has often viewed Judaism unfavorably for being a sectarian "national" religion, indifferent, if not hostile, to the rest of humanity. While it is a sad truth that the long and bitter years of exile have indeed raised some bad Jewish feelings towards the Gentiles, these are far from reflecting the inherent attitude of Judaism to the place that the Gentiles have in the Kingdom of God. The Jewish New Testament writers, being very concerned about the salvation of the Gentiles, express ideas that were well rooted in Jewish tradition, not only in thought, but also in practice. During the Second Temple period, seventy bulls were sacrificed daily in the Temple in Jerusalem for the forgiveness of the sins of seventy nations, a symbolic number representing the Gentile kingdoms of the earth.
This universality of redemption is visible in both the spring holidays of Passover and Pentecost, which are the central themes of this TFZ. It contains several articles on the universal lessons of Passover, with two articles focusing on particular portions from the Passover Haggadah, (the book that is read out loud at the Seder every year), one that delves into the spiritual applications of Passover cleaning, and a tasty recipe for Shavuot cheesecake that is even kosher for Passover, as well as an article on Pentecost in Acts 2. Both of these holidays have very important applications for Jews and Christians. The Exodus, the journey from bondage to liberty, has especially become a universal ethos that inspired billions of God-seeking souls and people who sought freedom and justice worldwide.

קרא עוד...

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"Return for I have redeemed you" (Isaiah 44:22) contains an important principle for understanding the concept of redemption. The redeeming act, immanent in God's merciful character, is only a starting point, not the finishing point, of the history of redemption. We still need to return even after having been redeemed. "O Israel, return unto the Lord your God" (Hosea 14:2). The word "unto" is the Hebrew "ad" (עד) which has the sense of “until,” meaning there is a way to go in order to get there. This applies both to the redeemed individual and the redeemed collective.

Followers of Yeshua, while being very much aware of the importance of “the Body of Messiah” as a collective unity, still often see their own personal salvation as the main story. Yet the Prophets’ vision of redemption for the Jewish people is most clearly a collective/ national one (Based on Ezek. 36, and it does not preclude individual salvation). Paul’s burning desire is for all Israel to be saved (Rom. 11:26). This verse is not a burst of wishful thinking, but a confirmation of what he knows: the promise of the restoration of Israel. The Prophets envisioned Israel’s return to God and return to the homeland as parallel events. The physical restoration and creation of the state of Israel was only “the beginning of redemption,” the first necessary step for spiritual rebirth rather than the final goal.

קרא עוד...

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Common to all creatures, man and beast alike, eating and drinking are mere matters of material survival. One would not think there could be anything spiritual about something that dogs do, too. Yet one of many mind-blowing Biblical verses reveals quite the opposite: "And they saw God, and did eat and drink" (Exodus 24:11). This verse refers to Moses and the priests and seventy elders who ascended Mount Sinai. One might think that it is odd that these men occupied themselves with this "lowly physical act" on the occasion of seeing God, instead of falling on their knees in prayer and praise or being knocked out flat in amazement and awe. This episode is one striking expression of the unity of God and man, the meeting point of the earthly and the Divine. In fact, the invitation to dine at the Lord's Table demands that everything in the life of man ought to be sanctified, even those "fleshly" acts. Although we do the same things that animals do, we do not do them in the same way because we have seen God. A cat will protect its dish of food from its hungry brother in a bold and unashamed- even unconscious- demonstration of selfishness. Humans would probably behave the same way if it was not for the knowledge of God, the creator and provider for all flesh, who advocates caring and sharing and not exaggerating the pleasure of the flesh.

קרא עוד...

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Although we know prophecy exists, it is a very challenging concept to understand because it is hard to define exactly what it is or how it works. Yet, abstract and obscure as it may be, we are not completely in the dark. The Bible is not only the source of our limited knowledge about prophecy, but first and foremost, it is the fruit of prophecy. One thing we know for certain, therefore, is that prophecy is the channel through which the Divine and the Eternal communicates with earthly mortals.

We usually associate prophecy with the foretelling of future events. This aspect indeed represents a considerable part of the Biblical prophetic literature, but the revelation of the future is not a goal in and of itself. Unlike the ancient practices of future telling, which the Bible explicitly forbids, the prophets’ vision of the future has an ethical or moral goal as its primary focus. Their prophecies go hand in hand with God’s guidance, (which is actually a very fitting translation for the word "Torah"), and with the demand put before mankind "Lataken olam bemalchut Shaddai," to mend the world in the Almighty’s Kingdom. The late Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz once made the following sharp observation about the nature of prophecy: “The prophets did not foresee what will be," he said "but what ought to be.” This statement does not mean that prophecy was merely some kind of wishful thinking, but rather to emphasize, (using Middle Eastern style rhetorical exaggeration), the primary purpose of prophecy. The prophets set before us a vision of a world in which mankind has a full awareness of God’s calling, in which true justice reigns, and in which there is no more human suffering. This vision of utopia is given not only to be a source of consolation and hope; it is also a blueprint for conducting a life of faith here and now. The liberty granted to the people of Israel on their exodus from slavery requires that we take responsibility for one another. Man's freedom of choice is the backbone of prophecy and of Jesus' call for repentance.

קרא עוד...

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For this New Year 5768 edition of Teaching from Zion, we have chosen the theme of Yeshua's parables. A great deal of Yeshua's teaching, especially in Matthew and Luke, takes the form of parables, so it is important that we understand these stories if we want to understand His central messages about His Messianic mission and the Kingdom of God. In this magazine edition, we will address both the "why" and the "how" of this beautiful literary form as well as examining some specific parables very closely to see how their historical and cultural Jewish context can help us unravel some confusion and find deeper levels of meaning within them.

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