Havurah

Messianic Jews are a small, growing, and diverse community of believers in Jesus, living our faith in a world that fails to see us as either Jewish or Christian.

My church search was rough. I didn’t want to limit my faith. I wanted to be where the Bible was the center of the teaching, the people believed in a God who loved and cared for them. And I did not want to lose my Jewish identity.

Explain yourself! How should we talk about our faith as Messianic Jews? “What’s your religious background?” We’ve all been there – the awkward dinner party you are obliged to attend where you get drilled by a friendly guest. Or perhaps it’s in the middle seat, stuck...

You Just Found Out You’re Jewish – 3 Things You Need to Consider In an unexpected plot twist to your life, you just found out you are Jewish. You may or may not already realize that in the twenty-first century this has become quite common. For several reasons, more...

Jewish Identity in America: A History On July 11, 1883, 200 guests strolled into the luxurious banquet hall of the Highland House, atop Mt. Adams in downtown Cincinnati, towering above the Ohio River. An elegant orchestra played as lavishly dressed Jewish dignitaries...

What is interfaith? Does it describe Messianic Jewish life at all? Is an intermarried family automatically an interfaith family? Read about one mother’s experience, and her research and conclusions here.

How do you survive and thrive living far away from a Jewish cultural center, like my family does in Southern Indiana? In our town, there is a very small Jewish population, and we are the only Messianic Jews that I know of. But nurturing my own identity—and building up...

Jewish Identity: A Game of Hide and Seek A certain man walks into a Messianic congregation on Shabbat morning. He’s a total stranger, looks a little lost and, frankly, seems uninterested in what’s going on around him. The rest of us look askance at him, and, finally,...

Jews might be surprised to learn about some Hanukkah and Christmas customs that take place in countries other than their own. For example: In nineteenth-century Alsace (a region of France), two-tiered menorahs holding sixteen candles were used: one tier for the...

I don’t like to brag, but I did win first place for this recipe at a Hanukkah party held by the Chicagoland-area Messianic community. What won the judges over? “We loved the onions,” they said. Latkes are traditionally eaten with homemade applesauce or sour cream, but...

This article is adapted from the original which appeared in the Winter 2012 print edition of Havurah. We are republishing it in this Tisha B’Av season. Tisha B’Av memorializes tragedies that befell the Jewish people as a nation. It is also an appropriate season to...

What Jewish Young Adults Today Have in Common with Their Parents’ Generation, and Why They Are Just as Open to The Gospel by Arielle Randle “How do we reach Millennials?” This is an important question to raise at a time when many people are analyzing the spiritual...

Someone once perceptively said, “Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off.”

Each year 30,000–40,000 Israelis travel the world as a rite of passage. Many are uniquely open to considering the Messianic claims of Jesus.

Aaron Trank’s conclusions may surprise some. But what does the text itself say? There are in fact valid reasons to see applications of Isaiah 53 to Israel as well as to the Messiah. First, Isaiah often identifies the servant as Israel, yet in some way as apart...

Marc Chagall’s extensive repertoire of artwork, in which Jesus and the crucifixion is the central subject, assuredly begs the question: “What’s a nice Jewish boy like you doing painting a nice Jewish boy like him?” The artist’s...

If one were to give a hard and honest look at the heritage of Israel’s heroes, one would be forced to concede that it is not a triumphant past. Moses, at his apogee, came down from a holy mountain experience only to be “welcomed” by collective and...

Suffering is international and cross-cultural. It is something that unites all human beings, because we all experience it at one point or another. Therefore, suffering is not specifically Jewish—although in Jewish history there has been a great deal of suffering. My...

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be...

From Generation to Generation: A Tale of Two Kings
by Aaron Trank

Forty years ago the world of Jewish missions was altered forever. That was when Moishe Rosen incorporated Hineni Ministries in San Francisco and began reaching out to the Jewish community with the gospel under the slogan: "Jews for Jesus."

By now you may have heard about the full-length movie, The Sound of the Spirit, directed by Messianic Rabbi Michael Robert Wolf of Beth Messiah Congregation, Cincinnati, OH (www.bethmessiah.net). The film is an exploration of what happens when a bat-mitzvah age Messianic Jewish girl, having lost both parents, goes to live with non-believing Jewish relatives. Rivka, the protagonist, is played in a stunning performance by Anna Lasbury.

We can find examples of disunity among God’s people throughout the Bible. But the apostles’ experiences can be particularly relevant for us. The following examples speak of three kinds of disunity: The disunity that results from overzealous, prideful...

Death: How Do We Respond? As followers of Yeshua, we have assurance of being inscribed forever in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We don’t talk as much about death as we talk beyond it. Yet for many of us, death is often present in our thoughts. This year Jews...

For memorial comments or videos, please see the web links given below. Jhan Moskowitz, 1948–2012 Stan Telchin, 1924–2012 Holly Meyer, 1957–2011 Sveta Karpovetski, 1980—2012 Zecher tzaddik livrachah. The memory of the righteous will be a blessing. Proverbs...

The Latest Generation of Jewish Scholars Give Us Their Take on Jesus and Jewishness If you could go back a few centuries to a shtetl in Eastern Europe—or even to the early 1900s in the Lower East Side of New York City—and ask, Who do you think Jesus is?, you might...

It’s not just modern scholars who debate about Yeshua. Jews have always had opinions about Jesus. We recently discovered some discussions online on Moses’ own blog. January 19, 1235 B.C.E. Moses said … So yesterday God said to me, “I will raise...