Shacharit begins with the words, "Ma tovu ohalekha Ya'aqov, mishkenotekha Yisra'el ." "How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel." This opening line of Birkat Hashachar is taken from Num 24:5 and has been interpreted by rabbis of the Talmud as a reference to the synagogue and the study hall.[1] Its placement at the opening of the morning blessings is meant to evoke and express our sense of love and gratitude for both. But how many Jewish people truly have these sentiments about their local synagogue and Judaism in general? The statistics are startling.

American Jewry is in a state of crisis. According to Elliot Abrams, we are facing a demographic disaster:

• Jews, who once comprised 3.7 percent of the U.S. population, have fallen to about 2 percent.

• One-third of all Americans of Jewish ancestry no longer report Judaism as their religion.

• Of all Jews who have married since 1985, the majority have married non-Jews, while the rate of conversion of the non-Jewish spouses is declining.

• Only 28 percent of the children of intermarried couples are raised as Jews.

• Demographers predict a drop of anywhere from one million to more than two million in the American Jewish population in the next two generations.²

To a great extent the state of Messianic Judaism mirrors what is going in the wider Jewish world. Many of our congregations are declining or at best growing very slowly. Our movement has a hard time maintaining the interest of our teens and often do not retain our college students and young professionals. The long-term vitality and success of any movement or religious community is dependent upon its ability to reach, retain and raise up a new generation of younger leaders. Therefore, we must ask the question, "What can be done to stem the tide of decline and revitalize Messianic Judaism?"

Creating and Communicating a Shared Vision and Mission

One of the primary things that young people are looking for is meaning and purpose in life. This was true of me when I was a teenager. A clear sense of purpose generates energy, excitement, and commitment. What is true of individuals is also true of movements. There is a multiplicity of competing visions that are vying to set the direction of Messianic Judaism. In part, this is due to the natural process of growth and maturation. Thus, the Messianic Jewish movement must clarify and refine its vision if we hope to impart meaning, purpose and spiritual vitality to young adults. As the proverb states, "Without vision the people perish."³

Making Talmidim

The first critical aspect of our mission and vision should be to make Messianic Jewish talmidim (disciples). This paradigm of making Jewish followers of Yeshua who demonstrate their fidelity to the God of Israel, Torah, and tradition is rooted biblically in the Torah and Brit Chadashah.

In Gen 12:5 we read, "Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the souls which they had made in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan." Traditionally, Christian scholars hold that "all the souls" mentioned in this verse refers to the slaves and servants that Abraham and Sarah acquired in Haran. This interpretation is implied by most Christian versions of the Bible, when they translate the Hebrew clause ve'et hannefesh asher ‘asu beHaran as "all the people they had acquired in Haran." However this is not the most literal translation of the words nefesh which literally means soul and 'asu which means to fashion or make. In fact, the verb ‘asu is used in the creation account alongside the word bara which means "to create." Thus, some scholars and theologians hold that the verb bara refers to things that God created ex nihilo ("out of nothing"), while 'asa refers to things that God fashioned out of already existing matter. In light of this, our Sages teach the following:

The Souls that they made in Haran (Gen 12:5): This refers to all those pagan men and women that Abraham and Sarah brought to faith in the God of Israel, which shows that he who brings a stranger near and causes him to become a worshipper of God is deemed as though he created him.⁴

Our father Abraham would bring people into his home, give them food and drink, befriend them, and thus attract them, and then bring them to faith and draw them under the wings of the Divine Presence. Hence you learn that a man who brings a single creature under the wings of the Divine Presence is accounted as if he had created him, shaped him, and articulated his parts.⁵

  Commenting upon these texts one Conservative rabbi writes,

It is my deepest conviction that the American Jewish synagogue's most important task is to train Jews to live Jewish lives.... The real task is to create Jewish souls. Like Abram, we are called-"lech lecha"-go and take responsibility for building a community. Like Abram, we are called-"lech lecha"-to bring people closer to God.⁶

Thus our primary goal like Abraham is not to save souls, but to make souls i.e., talmidim. Often we forget that discipleship is the fundamental and long-term aspect of kiruv . Is this not what Messiah Yeshua taught us when he said,

Go therefore and make talmidim of all the nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.⁷

If you look closely at the opening command of Messiah's mandate, you can see several verbal parallels between what God said to Abraham in parashat Lekh Lekha and what God says to us through Messiah. These parallels are not accidental. Rather they reveal that the Messiah's mandate to make talmidim is rooted in the divine mission God entrusted to Abraham and the Jewish people. Messiah Yeshua, like our father Abraham, regularly ate with all types of people, fed them, built relationships and showed great kindness in order to draw them near to the God.

Making More Committed Followers Of Yeshua

What type of talmidim are we supposed to make? We must remember the word qiruv comes from the verb qarav, which means to draw near. But, what are we supposed to be drawing people near to? As a Messianic community, we are responsible for drawing people closer to the God of Israel through Messiah Yeshua. As we help people to follow Yeshua, we are helping them connect with the God of our forbearers. But, cultivating Yeshua faith in our young people is not as easy as it sounds. Commenting on this issue Seth Klayman has said, "I feel that it is easier to raise a child with a strong Jewish identity than it is to raise a child who will become a follower Yeshua all of her/his days." Klayman's comment especially holds true for young people who are raised in strong Jewish homes and Messianic synagogues where they see their primary identity as Jews of the Messianic variety. When these teens encounter other young people in the wider Jewish community, it is often difficult for them to identify as Messianic, due to the negative connotations associated with Jews who believe in Jesus. This is clearly illustrated by an e-mail discussion I had with a teen on the topic of being a Messianic Jew:

Dear Lisa,

In your e-mail you write, "I have talked to some people who are experiencing the same thing and dislike similar things from Messianic Judaism...." It would be very helpful if you could share with me what some of these things are?

Jason

 

Hey Jason,

The thing that troubles me and several others most is really just the name "messianic" and when others hear it they will either reject us or say we are not really Jewish...so like I said before, we just say we are Jewish... although we wish we could say we are messianic...and because of this where we stand is really confusing to ourselves; that is the main thing that we discuss... for me personally, I wish I knew more Messianic Jewish teens and that in my synagogue the number or Jews will increase...there are a few and those are the ones I can relate to but there are a large amount of Gentiles and its kinda weird...I like them, and respect them and all, but I just wish there could be more Jews...do you know what I mean... thanks for understanding /hearing/listening and helping out ....

Lisa

If we have any hope of instilling a passion for Messiah in our young people like Lisa⁸, we must ensure that Yeshua does not play a peripheral role in our personal spiritual lives and the life of our community. We must find creative ways to incorporate, highlight and elevate Messiah Yeshua in our teaching, music, prayer and outreach.

Chabad has a lot to teach us in this regard. Before Chabad's emphasis on Messiah, the mainstream Jewish community did not really place much emphasis on this topic nor did it find it particularly relevant. I have personally been inspired by their commitment to educate Jews about Messiah and their desire to hasten his coming through Torah, prayer, and mitzvot. In many Chabad yeshivot and synagogues a short teaching is shared on the concept of Messiah after Shacharit and before studying Torah. Their messianic focus helps to inculcate a sense of love and devotion to God and a desire to reach the world for the sake of bringing the Messiah. The Messianic movement needs to display an even greater zeal for Messiah Yeshua, if we have any hope of reaching and retaining a new generation. It is only through instilling this sort of passion and commitment that people will make the necessary sacrifices to live for and serve Messiah Yeshua from within the Jewish community.

Practically speaking, there are several ways to so this. We must cultivate the mitzvah of tzipiti l'yeshua, daily hope and longing for the Messianic redemption.⁹ This should be expressed both in our prayers and derashot. We must also intentionally bring out the Messianic significance of the Torah, like many midrashic and chasidic texts do. By doing so, we will help our young people read the Tanakh messianically and encounter Yeshua, like the men on the road to Emmaus whose "hearts burned within them" as Messiah opened the Scriptures for them.¹⁰ We must also clearly demonstrate the transformative nature of faith in Yeshua and study of the Brit Chadashah.

Making Better Jews: Our Covenantal Obligation

As a Jewish Messianic community, we are also called to bring people closer to the Torah and the Jewish people. By so doing, we honor God, help the individual, and ensure the survival of our people by strengthening their bond to Torah and the Jewish people.

Many evangelical Christians have a burden to reach Jewish people for Messiah but have no understanding of how damaging it is to create a generic Christian out of a Jewish person. They have never been taught nor do they understand the spiritual, theological and missiological importance of developing Messianic Jewish disciples who are faithful to God's covenant with Israel. As a movement, we must be vigilant to guard against this mistake of making generic followers of Messiah. If we fail at helping make better Jews out of Jewish believers, we fail both our people and our Messiah. By promoting this sort of Messianic Judaism, we can help our Christian friends understand that an important part of our covenantal responsibility is to help develop Jewish souls, like our father Abraham. If we are truly concerned about the future of our people and their well-being, we will not neglect this task. As mentioned earlier, there is a crisis of monumental proportions in the Jewish community. Due to intermarriage and assimilation, there is a demographic disaster occurring in the Jewish community. More and more Jews are simply opting out of Judaism. Instead Jews have replaced Torah and faith in the God of Israel with such things as philanthropy, political activism, Zionism and fighting anti-Semitism.¹¹

This flight from normative Judaism, as Elliot Abrams correctly recognizes, is ultimately disastrous for American Jewry. All of the above are certainly important Jewish values, but when any of them become the locus of Jewish identity, it becomes virtually impossible to ensure that our children or grandchildren will remain committed Jews. None of them offer a compelling reason to make the necessary sacrifices that being a committed Jew entails. They lack the power and authority of the covenant that God made with our ancestors at Sinai, whereby we are called to fulfill our unique destiny as members of a holy nation and royal priesthood.¹² To the degree that commitment to Torah diminishes, assimilation and intermarriage increase.¹³

This view is supported by the National Jewish Population survey that was conducted in 1990.¹⁴ This study raised the question, "Will your Grandchildren be Jewish?" The results were shocking!

According to this study, Orthodox Judaism will become the dominant form of Judaism. Why? They will potentially be the largest numeric group of committed Jews left due their low rate of assimilation, high birthrate and commitment to Judaism. Thus, it seems clear that commitment to Torah is critical to the physical survival and spiritually vitality of the Jewish people. If the Messianic Jewish movement fails to place equal emphasis on both Torah and Yeshua, our young people will either assimilate into the church or re-integrate into the wider Jewish community apart from Yeshua faith. Both are harmful to the future of our movement and must be prevented. The importance of this is underscored by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregation's "Defining Messianic Judaism" statement:

Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congre-gation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.

Like the UMJC's statement, I see Torah and tradition, along with faith in Messiah Yeshua, as essential elements that enable us to fulfill our unique calling as Israel and help us to preserve our distinct national identity.¹⁵ Therefore, let us be diligent and intentional about making talmidim who are equally passionate and committed to Messiah Yeshua, Torah, and the Jewish people.

Making Mensches (Better People)

We are not called just to make devoted followers of Messiah and committed Jews; we are also called to make better people. Therefore, Messianic Jewish outreach and discipleship must be organic and holistic both in its theology and methodology. It must be organic in the sense that it is done as Jews, living in Jewish community, calling our people to return to God and Torah, through the Messiah Yeshua. It must be holistic in the sense that we proactively seek to transform people's entire life. We cannot just teach Bible, theology, and spiritual disciplines. We must act as spiritual mentors and life coaches who help provide them with the life skills necessary to become healthy, stable, and exemplary members of the community. In a broken and fragmented world this is critical. Many of our young adults and newly marrieds come from broken or dysfunctional homes and thus need more then good theology. They need to be taught basic communication, financial, and parenting skills. If we take a whole life approach to outreach and discipleship, we will be more likely to make life-long committed and mature Jews and followers of Messiah.

Ethical Nature Of Torah & Jewish Practice

Furthermore, if we want our young people to engage Torah and find it relevant, we must not simply encourage them to keep Torah because God commanded us, or even for the sake of Jewish continuity and identity alone. Rather, we must begin to stress the ethical, moral, and transformative aspects of Torah, halakhah, and the Brit Chadashah. According to the findings of the Conservative study of 1,000 Jewish college students, when asked the question, "There are many different ways of being Jewish.¹⁶ For you personally, how much, if at all does being Jewish involve?" Seventy-four percent answered that leading a moral and ethical life is what it means to them to be Jewish. In other words, the majority of the twenty-something's surveyed considered the moral and ethical aspects of Judaism highly important.

Some of our young people might not find the customary reasons for keeping traditional halakhah compelling. For some, it will be necessary to offer new reasons why the Torah is relevant.¹⁷ Take keeping kosher for example. The majority of Jews in the world today find the laws of kashrut archaic and meaningless. Some young people, however, are finding new meaning in this ancient commandment. These young people are more conscious about environmental issues and animal welfare. Thus, some Jews see kashrut as a way of minimizing the suffering of animals and see the price and availability of kosher meat as a practical way of helping to preserve our environment due to the amount of natural resources used in raising cattle. This is not only good for our health but also for the health of the environment. Our young people must be shown that Torah and halakhah are not only an integral aspect of covenantal fidelity and critical to fostering Jewish identity, but also ethically and morally transformative. In other words, keeping Torah must have redemptive value and thereby help to foster tikkun olam on a personal and global level.

Tikkun Olam: Making A Better World

Another key aspect of our divine mission is tikkun olam, which involves partnering with God in the healing, repairing and the redeeming of the world from the forces of sin and oppression. As we say in the Aleinu, "letaqqen ‘olam bemalchut Shaddai;" to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty." Shimon Shokek, Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism at Baltimore Hebrew College describes the process and purpose of tikkun olam as follows,

Tikkun is achieved by the daily study of Torah and by continual fulfillment of the mitzvot . When a man or women participates in Tikkun (Olam), their deeds not only mend the world below and the world above, but also heal their souls... However the exalted purpose of Tikkun resides in the mending of the disharmony of the world of God, which was damaged in the cosmological era. Hence, Tikkun is the human's and the world's recovery; it is the world's and the society's resurrection; it is the earthly and the heavenly renewal; and it is the conscious recognition that everything comes from the One and yearns to return to the One.¹⁸

Although the concept of tikkun olam is an integral part of kabbalistic thought, most Jews today, do not think of it in terms of mystically mending the universe through prayer and study. Rather in modern and more progressive forms of Judaism, such as the Jewish Renewal Movement, tikkun olam has become synonymous with social justice and humanitarian causes.

We must be very careful not to underestimate the importance of tikkun olam for the majority of Jews and young adults in particular. When a 1988 Los Angeles Times poll asked what is most essential to your Jewish identity only 17 percent said religious observance, but 59 percent said a commitment to social justice.¹⁹ This is further corroborated by the 2002 "Eight Up" study, in which 58 percent of the one thousand college students surveyed said that making the world a better place was very important to them and their identity as Jews.²⁰ If we want to be attractive, relevant and engaging to younger Jewish people and develop a better reputation in the Jewish world, we must find ways to more proactively participate in tikkun olam. Congregation Simchat Yisrael is a great example of this fact. Under the direction of Rabbi Tony Eaton and assistant to the rabbi Tom Esposito, the congregation has developed a social conscious that has translated into action. Simchat Yisrael has become the largest single contributor to the food bank of the Jewish Family Services in the greater New Haven area. As a result, the congregation's reputation has been elevated in the eyes of many in the wider Jewish community. This desire to be good citizens and make a difference in the world has even effected their teens. As Tom Esposito notes,

Our teen group is called L.A.U.N.C.H which is an acronym for Loving Action Unite "N" Chasdei Hashem. From the inception of our group we made the doing of mitzvahs an essential part of who we are. We believe in the process of Tikkun Olam and do all we can to take part in it....Our teens experience God through action. Nothing more demonstrates this than the humanitarian efforts they engaged in while they were in Israel this past summer. The L.A.U.N.C.H teens participated in the Esther's fast program through the UMJC, last March. Through their fasting they raised over $1,000... . While in Israel they took off one day of from their trip to help at Joseph's storehouse. There are very few teens that will save up for two years to go to Israel for the first time and then give up some of their trip to work. There were even some teens that were so zealous for the work we were doing, that they decided to make a public proclamation for Yeshua and were immersed in the Galilee. This is truly a sign of Tikkun Olam and it is through Tikkun Olam that our teens became more connected with the land and with our Jewish people.

The work of Rabbi Jamie Cowen and Tikvat Yisrael among Russian Jews in Richmond, Va., is another great example of the significance of social action. In fact, it was the work of Tikvat Yisrael that inspired Rabbi Eaton to develop their social action programs.

We must take tikkun olam seriously not only because of its popularity but primarily because it helps add meaning and purpose to our lives, by providing a tangible way to help this world. All of us are guilty of following in the footsteps of Adam and Eve by causing further harm to the world. But as Rebbe Nachman says, "If you believe that you can do damage then believe that you can help repair it!"²¹ As members of the covenant and agents of Messiah, we have a God-given responsibility and mandate to bring about healing and hope in this world through engaging in tikkun olam. This includes bringing about a repair through spiritual means such as prayer, Torah study and making talmidim of Messiah. It also includes our participation in social action, such as, helping the needy and oppressed, fighting against racism and discrimination and caring for the environment. As we wait for Messiah, let's not forget that we have a role to play in healing the world.

Some simple steps that can be taken to foster tikkun olam include starting social action committees and chavurot that specifically study biblical and Jewish texts that deal with this subject. It also entails supporting and encouraging our young people to create and participate in social justice programs, as well as humanitarian aid work.

Programmatic Elements Of Creating Committed Young Messianic Jewish Talmidim

We live in an extremely fast-paced, stressful, and consumer-orientated society. Increasingly, our young people face a plethora of choices competing for their time and attention. Therefore, we must realize that many of them will not stay involved unless we can create programs that interest them and meet their needs. The following are some key programs that should be created in order to help reach and retain our young people.

Youth Camps

Camps for youth and young adults are essential aspects in developing committed Jews. A recent study on Camp Ramah²² clearly indicated that camps are one of the most effective initiatives for fostering Jewish identity and commitment to Judaism. Overall, the Conservative Jewish report entitled "Research Findings on the Impact of Camp Ramah," found that "students who attended Ramah as campers were more observant of Jewish ritual life, more positive about Jewish identity, more inclined to date and marry Jews, and more active in Jewish life on campus." When they refined their study and focused on campers who returned to work as camp counselors the researchers found the impact of camp Ramah was even greater:

Synagogue Attendance: Forty percent of Ramah-trained counselors attended synagogue at least once a week, compared to only 5 percent of those with no Jewish camping experience.

Jewish Marriage: Over three-quarters (78 percent) of Ramah-trained counselors state that it is "very important" to marry a Jew, in contrast to just 52 percent of respondents overall and 39 percent of those with no Jewish camping experience.

Kashrut: Only 17 percent of students with no Jewish camping experience and 29 percent of students overall state that they observe Kashrut outside the home. The figure jumps to 71 percent for Ramah-trained counselors.

Jewish Education as a Career: Over one-third (40 percent) of Ramahtrained counselors state that they can see themselves becoming Jewish educators, nearly twice as many as the 22 percent of the overall Eight Up cohort and four times as many as the 10 percent of students with no Jewish camping experience.

Jewish Studies Courses: While in college, Ramah-trained counselors are twice as likely as students with no Jewish camping experience to take a Jewish studies courses - 63 percent compared to 31 percent.

Israel Advocacy on Campus: Ramah-trained counselors are almost three times as likely to be engaged in Israel advocacy on campus (42 percent) than are college students with no Jewish camping experience (15 percent).²³

 The findings speak for themselves. We desperately need to start a Messianic Jewish camping movement for our young people. All the empirical and anecdotal evidence confirm that camps are one of the most effective ways to make Jewish talmidim. Yachad, which Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan and I are in the process of establishing, hopes to make this a reality in the next several years.²⁴

Youth Groups

Youth groups are also foundational for fostering Yeshua faith and Jewish identity. Since Messianic youth will always be a minority among their friends, they desperately need to connect with other young people who can understand them and their struggles. They need a place where they can feel free to be themselves and not be judged for wrestling with questions of faith, identity and sexuality. Our youth must have safe havens were they can interact and connect with each other and other young people in the Messianic movement. Therefore, it also very important for synagogues to try and connect with other messianic youth groups in the area to do some joint events. This is imperative for it helps our young people feel that they are part of something much bigger than their smaller local synagogue.

Sending teens to regional and national events is another great way to help our young people connect with one another. This might even mean that congregations have to be proactive and entrepreneurial in raising funds to help subsidize the expense of their young people and college students' attendance at these events. Seth Klayman, who has grown up in the movement and has worked with the young people for many years, underscores the great importance of youth groups and conferences for the development of our young people:

Every congregation should have a youth group. If there are two youth, there should be a youth group. This begins to create a peer group outside of schools (which usually don't support Jewish identity or faith in Yeshua). If young people's primary friends are other Messianic Jews, we're building community from within. Conferences and camps should also not be underestimated in the impact that they have on a young person's growing up experience. There is something about getting a group of young people together for an extended period of time, away from their normal environment, and giving them an intensive Messianic Jewish experience. It creates memories for a lifetime.

Creating positive memories, experiences and friendships that last a lifetime are priceless. Even if our children are forced to depart from our ranks for a while due to college or for vocational reasons, there is greater chance they will return if they have warm memories and have forged strong life-long bonds with other Messianic Jews.

Israel Trips

Overall support for Israel is strong among Conservative Jewish high school and college students. In the "Eight Up" report, 66 percent of the students surveyed said that Israel is very important to them.²⁵ And almost none of them said that it was unimportant. This high level of support and increased pro-Zionism is in large part due to Israel trips, like Birthright Israel. Directly experiencing the land of Israel and meeting Israelis is probably the single greatest way to cultivate a commitment to Israel and strengthen Jewish identity. A rising number of young Jewish people are defining Jewish identity in terms of their relationship with Israel. Many of our own young adults have also made Israel, Modern Hebrew and making aliyah the locus of their Jewish identity. Therefore, it is essential that we send as many of our young people as possible to Israel during their formative high school and college years. By so doing, we will increase their solidarity with Israel, encourage aliyah, and strengthen their Jewish identity. Helping to connect them to Messianic Jewish youth in the land and finding ways for them to do humanitarian projects in Israel will also strengthen their ties to Messiah and Messianic Judaism.

Holocaust And Israel Education

A great way to help young people and our entire community fulfill its mission is to create programs geared toward Christian churches and youth groups that educate them about Israel and the Holocaust. Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism are steadily increasing on college campuses. Remembering the Holocaust, countering anti-Semitism and supporting Israel are among the primary concerns of young Jewish people. They are also at the core of their Jewish identity. As Messianic Jews, we are uniquely situated to help combat these issues in the local church and Christian schools. By training and equipping our young people to be involved in educating other young people, especially Christian youth, we can strengthen their Jewish identity, do something positive in the eyes of the Jewish community that they can feel proud of, and provide them with an opportunity to participate in tikkun olam.

Due to the current crisis among young people in the Jewish and Messianic community, now is the time to redouble our efforts by investing more heavily in programs and initiatives aimed at young people. This point is poignantly underscored by Avinoam Bar-Yosef, director general of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in Jerusalem, who in a recent Messianic Times interview, spoke with journalist Rebekah Kolber about current negative trends in the demography of the Jewish people:

Q:  Did you find anything interesting about Jewish identity and life in Diaspora?

A:  We found that all over the world, but even in Israel, there is an erosion of Jewish identity. Right now we have a generation being raised without a connection to the community or a sense of what being Jewish is all about. We think that this means there are significant opportunities to work with the younger generation of Jewish people both in terms of tikkun olam, and more importantly, in terms of the search for spiritual meaning that young people are craving.²⁶

The somewhat encouraging, yet sad news is that we are not the only ones struggling with our young adults. The only question that remains is "What are we going to help do about it?"

Using The Internet to Connect With And Disciple The Younger Generations

Religious educators across the Jewish and Christian traditions are unified in the conviction that one of the primary ways to ensure vibrant young adult participation in a religious movement is to afford them a significant experience of connection with the movement on both a regional and the national level. As we enter the 21^st century, these connections are often forged through the Internet. Thus, the Internet is an important tool that appeals to young adult interests and needs and is therefore a valuable tool in connecting them to the broader Messianic Jewish community.

Many seminaries, such as Fuller, are offering classes devoted to studying and pioneering new ways to build community and do outreach in cyberspace. We must utilize this vital tool if we are going to stay relevant and engage the next generation who spend a significant portion of their time on the Internet. According to eMarketer, teenagers and children account for 18.8 percent of all Internet users in the United States (more than 200 million), up from 18.3 percent in 2004. This number is expected to increase to 20.8 percent in 2008. The following statistics from an article on Edupage dated 15 November 1999 further emphasize the importance of the Internet and communicating with youth and young adults:

• A joint AOL and Roper Starch study of 500 children between the ages of 9 and 17 found that 63 percent of the youth surveyed would rather surf the Web than watch television, while 55 percent prefer being on the Web to being on the telephone.

• Children between 9 and 11 years old go online an average of three days per week, while those between 15 and 17 years old go online an average of five days per week.

• Two thirds of adults and children surveyed said they would prefer a computer with access to the Internet rather than a television or phone, if stranded on a desert island.

In terms of religious education and experience, 8 percent of adults and 12 percent of teenagers use the Internet for religious or spiritual experiences according to the Barna Update. This is further evidenced by the success of sites such as Beliefnet and Aish.com as well as the more than one thousand subscribers to the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) Torah list.

The Internet is not only a key tool for fostering education among youth and young adults but also for communication and connection. Email, instant messaging, threaded discussions, pod casts, and blogs are rapidly becoming the way people sustain relationships across the country. We have already begun to see the importance of these media in connecting with the geographically dispersed youth and young adults in the UMJC. The importance of the Internet is further corroborated by the research of Keysar and Kosmin, who found in their research on Jewish communication that: "Today's college students and young people in general search for information, friendships, and even spiritual activities online, using the World Wide Web. This is a high-tech generation that creates its own virtual community."²⁷ Recognizing these significant trends, we must begin to better utilize the Internet.

Music and Mysticism: Experiencing God

Music is one of the most powerful mediums of communication. Many movements have been birthed and revitalized through the use of music. All one has to do to confirm the veracity of this statement is to look at the role music played in the birth of modern Messianic Judaism. Music has and always will play a central role in the lives of young people. It influences every part of youth culture including styles of dress, speech, friendships, values, and worldviews. Therefore, if we want to reach the younger generation, we must create new music and worship styles that speak to the innermost core of their being and that helps them to experience God through Messiah Yeshua. Successful examples of this in the Jewish community include B'nai Jeshurun in New York City and the Friday Night Life service at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles.

More Jews than ever are also interested in Jewish mysticism. It has become so popular that even many famous non-Jews (and Jews) such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and Paris Hilton are involved with the Kabbalah Center. Madonna gave a reported 21 million dollars to help fund the establishment of a Kabbalah center, children's school and a hotel. People's interest in Jewish mysticism is in part a reaction and rejection of modernism's unbalanced emphasis on reason, science and the supernatural. But overall, Kabbalah's popularity primarily stems from people's natural desire to directly experience the divine (although others are seeking personal empowerment or spiritual power).

We however must provide a Messianic Jewish alternative. Although we cannot manufacture mystical experiences, we must provide a context where this can occur. Thus, Messianic music and worship should aim at fostering devekut (union) with God through Yeshua. For this to occur, we must first create a space where people expect to encounter God and the supernatural. Music and niggunim can and should play a key role. Niggunim are wordless melodies, which entered Jewish worship through Hasidism, and were made popular in mainstream Judaism by Sholmo Carlebach and the Jewish Renewal movement. Niggunim clearly have a mystical component that helps increase kavannah and heightens spiritual awareness and creates a state of spiritual arousal. Concerning the power of niggunim Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught:

It is good for a human being that he teaches himself how to give life to himself through a melody (Niggun), for a melody is something great and very very high, and it has the power of pulling up man's heart to God, may He be blessed....²⁸

We must help young people find that ancient Jewish melody that resides and resonates within them. They must discover and articulate the ancient niggunim into modern melodies. Music is key to fostering a spiritual connection to God, inspiring younger generations and creating a new Messianic Jewish youth movement.

Leadership That Empowers A New Generation

Movements, organizations and congregations all rise and fall based upon the quality of their leadership. If we are going to see significant growth and renewal in the Messianic Jewish movement, then our leadership must enfranchise our young adults and reflect their values. In some cases, this will require major paradigm shifts in the area of leadership. In particular, we need to empower our young men and women to serve in significant leadership roles. To accomplish this task, the first thing that needs to be done is to simply take the time to listen and learn from our young people. Based on personal experience, I am always amazed how much it means to the younger people that I am interested in listening and learning from them. This might sound simplistic but it is very important. By not doing so, our leaders could potentially build a movement that has no relevance for our young adults. Therefore, we must all ask ourselves the question, "Who are we building this movement for?" Is it not for future generations? If so, we must be visionary enough to build with two and three generations in mind and this means dialoging with and involving our young people.

Our movement must also move away from being predominately clergy led. We desperately need to empower lay people who posses important skills our rabbis lack. This is essential for the wellbeing of our rabbis, who are often overworked. By empowering our lay people, we give them a greater ownership of Messianic Judaism, provide an outlet for them to serve Messiah, free up our rabbis and increase our chance of success, as well as the level of professionalism in our movement. To make this a reality, we must take the time to get to know our young people and discover their interests, gifts, and abilities. Once this is known, we must mentor, train and give them significant opportunities to serve.

A few weeks before Passover, a number of religious Jews in Bergen Belsen requested flour to bake matzah. Their rebbe, fearing for his life, reluctantly approached the camp commandant for permission to bake matzah in honor of Passover. Their request was forwarded to Berlin for approval. Surprisingly, a few short days before Passover arrived, their request was granted. In haste, they feverishly built an oven and baked the matzah fearing the Germans might change their minds. Since they did not have enough for everyone, it was initially decided that the adult men in their group, would be given the privilege of fulfilling the mitzvah of eating matzah. One lone voice dissented arguing that the children should be given the mitzvah to eat, for when God freed them from their current slavery; it was going to be the children who would ensure the survival of Torah and the Jewish people. In the end, everyone agreed that nothing was more important than teaching the children that Torah/Jewish life must even be observed in the valley of shadow of death. At the end of the Seder, the rabbi kissed each child on the head and reassured them that Messiah was coming soon and therefore their freedom was close at hand. Today, those children who ate matzah made with tears are Torah leaders in America, England and Israel.²⁹

Our situation is certainly not as dire as that of our brothers and sisters in Bergen Belsen. But, our situation is dire. Let us bake the matzah for our children. As we await Messiah's return, let us make the sacrifices necessary to reach and raise up a new generation of young Messianic Jewish talmidim for Yeshua.

1. b . Sanh 105b .
2. Elliott Abrams, Faith or Fear (New York: Free Press, 1997), 1.
3. Prov 29:18.
4. Gen . Rab . 39:14.
5. Sifre Deut 32.
6. George Robinson, Essential Judaism (New York: Pocket Books, 2000), 521.7
7. Matt 28:19-20
8. Name changed for the purpose of anonymity.
9. An excellent example of this is Simon of whom Luke writes, "The same man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him (Luke 2:25-35).
10. Luke 23:32.
11. Abrams, Faith or Fear, 125-165.
12. Exod 19:6.
13. The primary problem is not intermarriage in and of itself but that only 28 percent of the children of intermarried couples are raised as Jews. This means that 72 percent of these children are brought up without a clear Jewish identity and a commitment to Jewish life (based on the 1990 Jewish Population Survey). This lack of connection to Jewish faith and culture is ultimately disastrous. We as Messianic Jews must be part of the solution and should thus seriously evaluate what is the locus of our identity as Jews.
14. Antony Gordon and Richard Horowitz, National Jewish Population Study (New York: 1990).
15. To be clear, this article is not advocating Torah and tradition in the Orthodox sense of the term for Messianic Jews.
16. Ariela Keysar and Barry Kosmin, "Eight Up: The College Years" (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary, 2004), 19-20.
17. Even though their view might significantly break with traditional halakhah we should still applaud them for engaging Jewish tradition and desiring to keep it. It is better for young people to take a more progressive view than be apathetic towards halakhah and Torah.
18. Shimon Shokek, Kabbalah and the Art of Being, (New York: Routledge, 2001), 140.
19. Abrams, Faith or Fear, 128.
20. Keysar and Kosmin, Eight Up, 20.
21. Rabbi Nachman, Tikkun Haklali (Jerusalem: Bresslover Research Institute, 1984), 8.
22. Camp Ramah is Conservative Judaism's summer camp movement. They have multiple campsites located throughout the United States, Canada and Israel. Campers usually stay for either four or eight weeks at Ramah camps and engage in both religious education and social activities.
23. All of the above statistics are taken from Ariela Keysar and Barry Kosmin, "Researching Findings on the Impact of Camp Ramah" (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary, 2004), 2-3.
24. The mission of the Yachad Network is to connect, nurture and equip youth and young adults to serve as a new generation of leaders within the Messianic Jewish movement through programmatic partnerships with congregations and organizations. For more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
25. Keysar and Kosmin, Eight Up, 12.
26. Rebekah Kolber, Messianic Jewish Times Article, Vol. 15 No. 5, 2005.
    
27. Keysar and Kosmin, Eight Up, 20.
28. Shokek, Kabbalah and the Art of Being, 143.
29. Adapted from Nosson Scherman, Path through the Ashes . (Brooklyn: Art Scroll, 1986), 33.

Jason Sobel, B.A., Moody Bible Institute, M.A., Southeastern College at Wake Forest, is an ordained UMJC rabbi who works as the associate director for under-40 initiatives for the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC). He is also is the co-founder of the Yachad Network, a youth and young adult network, dedicated to developing programs and resources that will reach, inspire, and equip a new generation of young adults to serve as Messianic leaders.