I just wanted to officially welcome Jeremiah Michael (FFOZ staff & son of Boaz Michael) to the Messianic blogosphere. He’s got his own blog now, called Gemara Thoughts. He’s got some great thoughts going, especially by way of defending traditional Jewish understanding of the Scriptures and comparing that the teachings of Yeshua and the Apostles. Be sure to stop in and say hi when you can.
One exciting thing about the conference was the re-release of Paul Philip Levertoff’s Love and the Messianic Age, a chasidic-orthodox insight into the message of the Gospel in relation to a chasidic frame of reference, drawing from some of the deepest of mystical texts within Judaism. It was released in hardback (a first for FFOZ) under a new publishing arm of FFOZ called Vine of David (which I will have to discuss at a later date). It is a small book, but packed with a lot of punch. Therefore, they simultaneously released a study guide (which is actually larger than the book) in which Daniel Lancaster and others break down concepts that appear within the text and try to guide the uninitiated reader into a working knowledge of the principles Levertoff uses to explain his discourse. Unless you are extremely familiar with rabbinic works (especially chasidic ones), I suggest you acquire the book and study guide as a set. Lord willing, I hope to publish a full review of the text in the days ahead.
This is a recent video from Toby Janicky of FFOZ. This is teaching #8 in a series called “Mishlei Musings.” (“Mishlei” is the Hebrew name for the book of Proverbs.) This episode is called “The Fruit of Humility.” It would have really helped me if I had watched this before we went into Passover, per my last post.
Rambam/Maimonides
Recently, Daniel Lancaster posted a great article on how the rejection of Yeshua/Jesus in large by the Jewish community can be compared in some ways to the same rejection Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 12th century Spain, known for his monumental codification of Jewish Law, and 13 Foundational Principles of the Jewish Faith) written by Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein. It’s too good not to share. You can read up on it here: http://tinyurl.com/c6yafm
