It’s Not Your Meat
This past summer in my capacity as Northeast Regional Director of the UMJC Iwas visiting Camp Ohr L’Dor, a Messianic Jewish teen camp about an hour north ofNew York City. While speaking to a group of teen girls that had just returned from a camping and canoeing trip I inquired how they enjoyed the food…
Read MoreA Response to “It’s Not Your Meat”: Dr. John Fischer
In the interest of complete disclosure, and for the sake of transparency, I have to admit at the very outset of this response paper that I am deeply troubled about Paul Saal’s paper. I have a serious difficulty with it and with its argument, and because of this I am uncertain as to how to…
Read MoreTears at the Table, A Response to It’s Not Your Meat: Jason Forbes
I would like to thank the Hashivenu Forum for affording me the opportunity to respond to Rabbi Saal’s paper. I appreciate his willingness to tackle a subject that is rarely discussed in our circles. Though my time to respond and contemplate this issue has been relatively short, my hope is that the discussions here will…
Read MoreMatthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
A Summary Matthew Scully’s Dominion is a 400 page appeal to our reason and conscience in behalf of the millions of animals who suffer unnecessarily at human hands. Scully describes what few of us will ever see – the pain and misery of animals in factory farms, slaughterhouses, and laboratories; in oceans where whales are…
Read MoreMessianic Jewish Community: Standing and Serving as a Priestly Remnant
Hashivenu Forum 2011 To build community of any sort in the 21st century Western world is a formidable task. The building of Messianic Jewish community involves additional challenges, but also unique resources and opportunities. We must perceive the distinctive character of Messianic Jewish community if we are to face the challenges, draw upon the resources,…
Read MoreJourney Paper: Dr. Vered Hillel
I want to tell you the story of how I went from being a good conservative Evangelical Christian girl to a Conservative Jewish Believer in Yeshua. I praise HaShem for the journey he has led me on for the past 60 years—the good ones and the bad ones, as together they make me the person…
Read MoreMy Journey: Rabbi Jerry Feldman
I want to thank Hashivenu for this assignment. What an unexpected delight and in reality a daunting task. Likewise, this is one tough house to play! After all, in my book you all are the best of the best! This has required me to dig deeply into memories of life gone by, long forgotten or…
Read MoreFrom the Editor – Issue 26
Kesher 26 treats a number of controversial issues and contexts and reflects many voices. As stated in a previous Kesher editorial, “our journal functions as a forum … to periodically explore our identity as a Messianic Jewish community. Although a diversity of voices express Messianic Jewish identity, our story is still developing and continues to…
Read MoreDoes Messianic Judaism Have a Part in Rebuilding the Temple?
Introduction Hashem’s wilderness Tabernacle (Mishkan) and later Temple (Mikdash) feature prominently in the Tanakh, and by all accounts the Temple remained a focal point of Yeshua’s concern throughout his ministry. Yet Yeshua prophesied the Temple’s ruin (Luke 21:6), and its destruction a generation later in CE 70 has been taken by supersessionists to signify the…
Read MoreThe Identity of Jewish Yeshua-Disciples in the State of Israel According to their Written Declarations of Faith
This article focuses on on-line theological texts published on internet web sites belonging to various Messianic congregations and organizations active in Israel. All the texts form part of a “statement of belief,” “article of faith” or “vision,” the majority being composed in Hebrew, with some in English. These “declarative documents” express an explicit spiritual-ideological identity…
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