עברית
Why, if
according to New Testament verses Luke 20:20 and Hebrews 10:16 we now live since the death of
Jesus in the area of the New Covenant, we don't see the description of it according to the Thora and prophets
(Jer.
31:33-36 and 32:37-41 and further Ezek. 36:26-28 hand Deut. 30:2-8) fulfilled?
The Thora is not kept by all the people of Israel and from that time they
didn't live in the land of Israel without to be uprooted.We didn't see it in
the past 2000
years)
This
question bothered me from beginning 2004. Existing Christian and Messianic theologies
which I believed
didn't give me the truthful answer.
A letter to
Christian and Messianic believers who want to
serve God according to His truth.
B’’H
Shalom to you
all, Christian and Messianic believers who want to serve God according to His truth.
Greetings
from Susya, Eretz Israel,.
As several of
you know I, as a pastor of the Messianic Shalom Congregation in Dordrecht,
Holland, in a process of some years stepped out of Christianity and finally
became a part of the Jewish people, August 2006. Before making Aliyah we
moved from Dordrecht, Holland to Antwerp to join the Jewish community over
there during the time we
needed
to prepare for Aliyah. Now we have made Aliyah in
order to observe the instructions of Torah to settle in Eretz Israel to
perform the mitswes over here. The step out of Christianity and Messianic
world into Judaism did
not separate me from God, as some predicted, but brought me more close to Him
than ever before. To serve God by observing His eternal instructions of Torah
brings man more and more close to Him, the living God of Israel. The joy it
gave me to accept the yoke of Torah on me is difficult to describe. We taste
and see that God is good (Ps 34:9 “O
taste and see that the LORD is good; happy is the man that taketh refuge in
Him”).
He helps us and is with us in where we go and what we do (Ps 139).
The reason I
write you this letter is that you all say to believe in the truth of the Torah
/ Tenach (the in Christianity so called ‘Old Testament’) and the most of you,
just as I did till some time ago, sincerely believe that Christianity or the
so called 'Messianic Judaism' is the
only true religion, the only true way to serve God, instead of Judaism, and that it would be the best and only
right thing for a
Jew as for anyone to accept Jesus as savior as condition for their salvation.
Further you probably believe that a Jew goes to hell for eternal damnation if
he does not accept Jesus as the promised Messiah. That is what I also believed
many years till I realized that Christianity and the whole of so called ‘New Testament’ has an definite
opposite message than the Tenach (Old Testament), the message of the Tenach
for all generations.
I tell you some of my story. Although I have Jewish
ancestors, I am raised as a Protestant Christian (although with a great love
for Israel because the people of Israel ‘are beloved for the fathers’ sakes’).
Some 37 years I have been a Christian. From my 25th year a definite
devote (so called ‘born again’) Christian. At this my 25th I
realized that I was not created to only please myself in the first place but
to please God in the first place. I become a very devoted Christian, as I
believed that Christianity (and
'Messianic
Judaism') was the ultimate truth (that was what my parents
taught me),
with a deep longing to live according to the God given truth. Among other
reasons, because of the many differences I saw between denominations of
Christian churches, I kept searching for the truth and for the denomination
with the truth. Than, as a result of this longing to live according to the
truth and according to the instructions of God, I stepped out of Christianity
and last August we have been accepted by the Beit Din of Tel Aviv to be a part
of the Jewish people after we accepted the Heavenly yoke of Torah upon
ourselves and we expressed our wish to live according to the Torah and
halacha. I reconnected me with the Jewish people. The path which my Jewish
ancestors left. I now will explain how it came and why I became Jewish. I believe it
is important for you to know as I assume that you really want to live and act
according to the God given truth. and you want to understand why Judaism has
difficulty with Christian and Messianic doctrines.
Since 1988 I
visit Israel at a regular basis. From December 2000, I, as pastor of a
Messianic congregation (which I was pastor of since 1998) in Holland however
decide to make encouragement trips to Israel together with groups (as a
‘guide’) of Dutch and Belgium Christians who also wanted to do this. It was at
the beginning of the second Intifada and that we realized that, based at the
Tenach, it is very important to bless and comfort the people of Israel
especially in for them difficult times. At first we mostly visited Messianic
congregations and further secular areas. Than from 2002 we also visited
orthodox Jewish settlements in Yesha. The reason that we wanted to visit these
settlements was that the people of these settlements suffered most from
attacks at that time. The suffered from the Arabs and suffered from the
leftist media which kind of blackmailed the settlers as ‘extremist colonists’.
Further I already clearly realized that these people more than anyone else
fulfilled the prophecies which talk about the restoration of the land of
Israel and the instructions to settle and cultivate the land. We saw them
settle and cultivate areas which God returned to the Jewish people in 1967. We
saw further destroyed cities rebuild and vineyards planted again in the hills
of Shomron (Jeremiah 31:5 Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains
of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall have the use thereof., Amos
9:14 And I will turn the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build
the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink
the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.).
Than it was
some 2 years ago that, after several of these visits to Orthodox Jewish
settlements in the Yesha area, that I became more and more surprised, yes
actually astonished by the fact that I, in these settlements and with the
people I met, experienced more of the presence (shechina) of God and the love
for and obedience to God and care for fellow man than in the Messianic
congregations I visited and the Messianic congregation which I was pastor of.
How could this be possible? I was certainly convinced that the presence of God
in this way only could be there amidst people who accepted Jesus as their
savior. But in these religious settlements they for sure didn’t accept Jesus.
They clearly did not believe in him as Messiah. I asked God many times why. I
asked Him to make it clear to me.
First I
further left the fact as it was and I kept visiting these settlements more and
more to encourage these people just because of the fact that they very helped
to fulfill the prophecies of the Tenach about the land of Israel. Yes, as I
said, it impressed me very much to see that the old destroyed cities in
Shomron were rebuild and that vineyards were planted again and that the fruits
of it were enjoyed and that the people again feared God and kept Torah and
mitswes. From within it gave me an enormous joy to see this.
Meanwhile
from within me there was an urge to find more about the fact that the presence
of God could be experienced so much in an environment where people didn’t
accept Jesus as their savior and Messiah and tried to find the reason behind
it, as I still had a deep longing to know the truth more and more and to live
according to the truth. At that time of course I always said, that I believed
that Jesus was the Messiah because I could read so in the Tenach.
Than at a
certain trip I visited Susya, a settlement near Hevron, where I met a yeshiva
teacher and visited Negohot, also a settlement close to Hevron, were I met a
teacher Jewish philosophy. What hit me very much with them from the first
minute I met them was their love for God to do what he and the longing to live
according to His will totally. I felt very much connected with them from the
first minute. It was recognition from inside me. When I told them about my
love for God (as a Christian) and the instructions of God (the Torah) they
were honest enough to tell me that when you believe that Jesus is God, that
according to Torah, you are an idle worshipper (as God is One and not a man)
and that Christianity is a false religion as it takes Jews from observing
Torah etc. etc.. I was very shocked about it but felt in my heart to speak
with them about it more.
From than
during the next trip some 2 months later, and during the following trips we
made to Israel, we together studied many, many scriptures of the Torah and
Tenach. Scriptures about the message of the Torah for today, scriptures about
the Messiah, scriptures about Eretz Israel, scriptures about the people of
Israel, scriptures about the Temple to come, scriptures about idle worship and
scriptures about the gentiles. Very open, united in a longing to live
according to the God given truth we together with each of them. We studied the
Tenach and also we sang together the Psalms of David and other magnificent
songs. The readiness to listen made that we could study together expecting
that the living God of Israel would guide us.
Than we,
after that close look at the Torah and Tenach, I more and more realized that
the message of it is total different than what Christianity tells about it and
of the contents of the in Christianity so called ‘New Testament’. Now I see
that before I used the Tenach verses in a systematic theological way. That
means that I read it from e certain point of view. In my case from the point
of view that Jesus is the Messiah as was promised to the Jewish people. From
that point of view I read the Tenach in a way that it would fit into my point
of view without to take in account the meaning of these verses in the context
of it and the context of all of the Torah and Tenach. Verses which didn’t fit
in my view I simply didn’t use or study. And of course I also used a Christian
translation of the Tenach which is far from correct in translation of some
‘messianic’ verses..
From than I
also realized more and more that the Christian ‘New Testament’ is a total
contradiction of the Torah and Tenach. The message of the New Testament is
totally different than the message (for all ages) of the Torah and Tenach. For
that reason I stepped out of Christianity and became Jewish. This decision was
and is not based upon a certain feeling or emotion, a wish to be a part of the
Jewish people or because of the fact that I have Jewish ancestors or as a
result that a Orthodox lay hands on me and so became demonized (as a pastor
suggested) or (as some others say) to flee something (yes I hear ridiculous
stories about me). It was and is based at clear facts combined with a deep
longing to live according to the instructions of God.
Lets have a
look at the message of the Torah and Tenach to clarify what I mean. The
message contains following:
-
HaShem, the
God of Israel is God and is One. He is not a man.
Deut 6:4 “HEAR,
O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”,
1 Sam 15:19 “God
is not a man”.
He is one, no trinity.
-
The Torah is
given to man to show its love for God.
Deut.6:5,6 ”You shall love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your recourses. And these matters that I command you
today shall be upon your heart”, Deut. 10:12, 13 “And now, Israel, what doth
the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all
His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart
and with all thy soul; to keep for thy good the commandments of the LORD, and
His statutes, which I command thee this day?” Deut.11:13-16 “And it shall come
to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I
command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all
your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land
in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in
thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass in thy fields for
thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest
your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship
them”, Tehillim 112:1 “Hallelujah. Happy is the man that feareth the LORD,
that delighteth greatly in His commandments.” Psalms 119:1-4 “Happy are they
that are upright in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Happy are they
that keep His testimonies, that seek Him with the whole heart. Yea, they do no
unrighteousness; they walk in His ways. Thou hast ordained Thy precepts, that
we should observe them diligently.”
-
The Torah is
eternal. It is meant to be kept eternal.
Deut 4:40 “And thou shalt keep His statutes, and His commandments, which I
command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children
after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which the
LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.”. Deut. 12:28 “Observe and hear all
these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy
children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in
the eyes of the LORD thy God.” Mal 3:19-24 “For, behold, the day cometh, it
burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall
be stubble; and the day that cometh shall set them ablaze, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch….. Remember ye the law
of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even
statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the
coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. And he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers; lest I come and smite the land with utter destruction.” 1 Chron.16:17
“to Israel for an everlasting covenant”. There is no reference that the Torah
would disappear, lose its validity or mend to be temporal. The Torah is
good (for man) and is without mistakes. Psalms 19:8-12 “The law of the
LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making
wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD
is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, they are
righteous altogether; More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much
fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is Thy
servant warned; in keeping of them there is great reward.”.
-
By observing
Torah man come close to God.
Lev. 26: 3,4,12 “If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do
them; then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield
her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
….
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My
people”. When the Israel observes Torah God can dwell among His people. There
is no other way.
-
The Torah is
given to (/in presence of) 600.000 man as an eternal guideline to live as
God-fearing men.
It was not given to a single person. The people of Israel said. (Ex 19:8) “All
that the LORD hath spoken we will do”
The observance of Torah makes them Gods covenant people for ever.
-
Never listen
to a prophet who tell you to abandon observance of Torah.
In case you would listen to him it is actually ‘idle worship’. (Deut. 13).
-
A prophet,
who tells to neglect the Torah instructions, is not send by God. He is a false
prophet.
Even we he does miracles (to prove that he is right). God ‘allow’ these people
to act to ‘test’ the people of Israel whether they really love God in their
faithfulness to keep Torah. Anyway such prophet should be killed. (only The
Sanhedrin/Beit Din has the authority to decide about such a decree). Deut.
13:2-5 “If
there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams—and he give
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he
spoke unto thee—saying: ‘Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not
known, and let us serve them’; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God putteth you to
proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul. After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye
fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken,
and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.”
-
To observe
Torah is not something impossible for man. Man has the (cap)ability to listen
to God and to obey His instructions, the Torah.
Deut. 30:11-14 “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is
not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that
thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us,
and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that
thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us,
and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very nigh unto
thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Every man
can decide (and is welcome) to observe Torah if he wishes. Isaiah 56:1-7
“Thus saith the LORD: Keep ye justice, and do righteousness; for My salvation
is near to come, and My favour to be revealed. Happy is the man that doeth
this, and the son of man that holdeth fast by it: that keepeth the sabbath
from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the
alien, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying: ‘The LORD will
surely separate me from His people’; …..Also the aliens, that join themselves
to the LORD, to minister unto Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His
servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth
fast by My covenant: Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them
joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall
be acceptable upon Mine altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples”.
-
Man has been
created good and is good. He has a good inclination and a bad inclination. He
has a free will and the power to refrain from bad things and to do good things.
Also after the by Christianity so called ‘sin fall’ (the original sin of
Adam). Gen 4:7 “Surely, if you improve yourself, you will be forgiven. But
if you do not improve yourself, sin rests at the door. Its desire is towards
you, yet you can conquer it” Of course is it possible that some one can
suffer because of the sins of someone else but in matter of responsibility
every one himself is responsible for his own deeds. For example: We are not
responsible for the sins of Adam. Further there is no man who never sins. Ecc.
7:20 “For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and
sinneth not.” (neither the Messiah). A righteous person is someone who does ‘teshoeva’.
Prov.24:16 “For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again”.
-
God forgives
the sins after ‘teshoeva’ (because of the ‘teshoeva’).
Deut. 30:2,3a “and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and hearken to
His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy
children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that then the LORD thy
God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee” further Jona
3:10, 4: 2b “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did
it not….for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and compassionate, long-
suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repentest Thee of the evil.” and again
the verse mentioned above Gen 4:7 “Surely, if you improve yourself, you
will be forgiven. But if you do not improve yourself, sin rests at the
door. Its desire is towards you, yet you can conquer it”
-
The people of
Israel is, and for ever remains, Gods special people with whom he has an
eternal covenant (as promised to Avraham).
Deut. 32:9 “For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of His
inheritance”, Psalms 135:4 “For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto Himself,
and
Israel for
His own treasure”.
Isa 54:6-10 “For the LORD hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in
spirit; and a wife of youth, can she be rejected? saith thy God. For a small
moment have I forsaken thee; but with great compassion will I gather thee. In
a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will I have compassion on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this
is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth
with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be
removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall My covenant
of peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath compassion on thee.” Jer.
31:35,36 “Thus saith the LORD, Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the
ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up
the sea, that the waves thereof roar, the LORD of hosts is His name: If these
ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also
shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.” Psalms 33:11,12 The
counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all
generations. Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD; the people whom He
hath chosen for His own inheritance”. The Torah /Tenach doesn’t speak
about a ‘new chosen people’ (a spiritual Israel / ‘one new man’) with
the same or better covenants relation with God than the people of Israel
instead the people of Israel. The prophet Isaiah (chapter 56) clearly
describes how man can join the Gods chosen people (and show his love for God);
to join the people of Israel and to serve God by observing the Torah
instructions. Isaiah 14:1 “For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and
will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the stranger shall
join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.” Israel
remains Gods chosen people through who He speaks. Isaiah 59:21 “And as for Me,
this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee,
and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,
saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”
-
God give a
eternal sign of His covenant; Brit Mila / circumcision. It is an eternal
institution for the people of Israel.
Than God will be their God and will give them Eretz Israel as eternal
heritage. Gen. 17:7-13 “And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee
and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ And
God said unto Abraham: ‘And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou,
and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. This is My covenant,
which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male
among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of
your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. And
he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male
throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with
money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house,
and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My
covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Ezek. 44:9
“Thus saith the Lord GOD: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and
uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, even any alien that
is among the children of Israel.”, Isaiah 52:1 “Awake, awake, put on thy
strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the
unclean.”. Further also observance of Shabbat is an eternal sign and
institution. Ex. 31:16,17 “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel
for ever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh
day He ceased from work and rested.”, Lev.23:2,3 “Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them: The appointed seasons of the LORD, which ye shall
proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons.
Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn
rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of work; it is a Sabbath unto
the LORD in all your dwellings.”
-
The land of
Israel, Eretz Israel, for ever is the God chosen place, His dwelling place.
Psalms 78:68, 69 “But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved.
And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He hath
founded for ever.”, Ps 132:14 “‘This is My resting-place for ever; here
will I dwell; for I have desired it.”, Deut 12:5 “But unto the place which
the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there,
even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come”, Lev.
25:38 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt,
to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.”
-
Moshe already
foresaw that the people of Israel would neglect observance of the Torah
instructions and not listen to God. But also that it only will temporal.
The people of Israel will return to the land and to God did he foresee as the
prophets did. They will not be replaced by another group (such as ‘the one new
man’ or spiritual Israel) of people as Gods covenant people. The people of
Israel did break the covenant. God didn’t. God will remember His promise to
Avraham. Lev. 26:42 “then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My
covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I
will remember the land.”, Deut. 4:31 “for the LORD thy God is a merciful God;
He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy
fathers which He swore unto them”. Deut. 32:43b “and doth make expiation for
the land of His people.”
-
The Beit
HaMikdash, the Temple will (again) be build as a place for God in which He
‘dwells’ amongst the people of Israel.
The Beit HaMikdash is necessary for God to ‘dwell’ among His people in the way
He promised. Deut. 12:5, Lev. 26:12 “And I will walk among you, and will be
your God, and ye shall be My people”. Ezek. 43: 3-8 “And the appearance of
the vision which I saw was like the vision that I saw when I came to destroy
the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar;
and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the
way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. And a spirit took me up,
and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled
the house. And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood
by me. And He said unto me: ‘Son of man, this is the place of My throne, and
the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the
children of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile
My holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their harlotry, and by the
carcasses of their kings in their high places; in their setting of their
threshold by My threshold, and their door-post beside My door-post, and there
was but the wall between Me and them; and they have defiled My holy name by
their abominations which they have committed; wherefore I have consumed them
in Mine anger”. This is talking about the Temple to be build.
-
The in the
Torah mention offerings shall be preformed again in that Temple as instructed.
Mal. 3:4 “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant
unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years”. Jer.
33:14-22 “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good
word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the
house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause a shoot of
righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby she shall be called, the LORD
is our righteousness. For thus saith the LORD: There shall not be cut off unto
David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall
there be cut off unto the priests the Levites a man before Me to offer
burnt-offerings, and to burn meal-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying: Thus saith the LORD: If
ye can break My covenant with the day, and My covenant with the night, so that
there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also My covenant
be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon
his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers. As the host of
heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I
multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me”
-
The Messiah,
who is promised will teach the people of Israel to observe the Torah
instructions again
(not to nullify the Torah instructions). He is a man and a king as David and
Shlomo were. He also will have sons. He will bring back the Jews (who still
live in the Diaspora) to Eretz Israel forever. Than there will be peace all
over the world. Ezek 34:23,24 “And I will
set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David;
he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be
their God, and My servant David prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.”…
37:24,25 “And My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall
have one shepherd; they shall also walk in Mine ordinances, and observe
My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have
given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell
therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever;
and David My servant shall be their prince for ever”….See also some other
verses mentioning the Messiah: 45:22 “And upon that day shall the prince
prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for
a sin-offering.”…., 46:16 “Thus saith the Lord GOD: If the prince give a
gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to
his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.” Jer. 23:5-8 “Behold, the
days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot,
and he shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely;
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our
righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say: ‘As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt’; but: ‘As the LORD liveth, that brought up and that
led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the
countries whither I had driven them’; and they shall dwell in their own
land.”, Isa. 11:6-12 “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the
bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the
asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk’s den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be
full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an
ensign of the peoples, unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting-place
shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will
set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, that
shall remain from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the
sea. And He will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the
dispersed of Israel, and gather together the scattered of Judah from the four
corners of the earth.”, Mic. 4:1-3 “THE WORD of the LORD that came to Micah
the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, ye peoples, all of you;
Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; and let the Lord GOD be witness
against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth
out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the
earth.”.
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The message
of all the prophets for all ages is: Keep the instructions of Torah or return
to God by observing again the Torah instruction to love God and to obey Him.
It are heavenly instructions for all generations of Israel.
Ezek. 36:23-28 “And I will sanctify My great name, which hath been profaned
among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the
nations shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be
sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the
nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your
own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean;
from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart
of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell
in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will
be your God”
-
The essence
of the in the Tenach mentioned ‘New Covenant’ is that one time all of Israel
will keep Torah out of and with all His heart.
The Bible, by the way speaks about a new Covenant and not about a new Torah. At that time of course all of the people of Israel will again live in Eretz
Israel. Gods Name will be sanctified when the people while living in Israel
will keep Torah and mitswes. Than the Temple will be rebuild and all other
prophecies which aren’t fulfilled yet will be fulfilled.
In one
shortcut the message of Torah is: HaShem, the God of Israel is God and is One,
Love HaShem with all your heart, with all your might by observing the God
given Torah instructions. The Torah is eternal and will not be removed or
replaced by God. Watch out for people who say to neglect the Torah
instructions.
Deut 6:4-9 “HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. And thou shalt
love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy
heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a
sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And
thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.”
The message
is clear. It is for all ages.
The
message of the so called ‘New Testament’ and of Christianity now
after a development of 2000 years on contrary is as follows.
-
It is not
necessary to keep Torah anymore now Jesus has died for the sins of everyone.
Jesus (as son of God) has the power to declare it null of valid.
Faith in Jesus makes observance of Torah absolutely unnecessary.
Yes observance of the Torah now makes you legalistic. Observance of Torah
keeps you far away and separated from the grace of God. This important
Christian doctrine is contrary to the contents of the eternal message for all
generations of the Torah and Tenach. (God in) the Torah even warns not to
listen to persons who say that observance of Torah is not necessary. Deut
13:2-5 “If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of
dreams—and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof he spoke unto thee—saying: ‘Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them’; thou shalt not hearken unto the
words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God
putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul. After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and
Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice
shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.”. With
this in mind this important doctrine should be denied from its beginning and
makes Christianity already idle worship. To disconnect a Jew from Torah
observance actually is spiritual murder. Jesus indeed was the end of
law. Not that he had the power or authority to cancel, to change or to
amend the Torah, but it is obvious that when people by force or free will,
accepted Jesus as their savior, they didn’t observe Torah anymore. Instead
of being saved they actually were spiritually killed as they were disconnected
from their covenants relation with God and many Jewish souls got lost within
the gentiles till today. Nowadays Jesus still is the end of law. Some of
the so called Messianic Jews say that they are ‘Torah-observant’ but also for
them Jesus actually is the end of the law as they take many of the mitswes for
granted. They for example don’t intend or don’t think it is necessary to keep
all of the Shabbat, ‘family purity’, or feast/fast mitswes or kashrut
instructions. From outside they look very Jewish but inside they don’t
intend to take the yoke of Torah as whole. For the gentiles with Jesus maybe
‘light
shineth in darkness’,
for the Jews however a dark period began. In the last 2000 years, the
followers of Jesus have been the most terrible
persecutors
of the Jewish
besides the fact that many many Jews who converted to Christianity spiritual
were muredered as I explaned earlier. ‘The tree has a terrible fruit’. In
Matth. 12:33 is written “the
tree is known by his fruit”
-
Than the two main Christian doctrines: The first: Only through
faith in Jesus you come close to God, (in stead of by listening to God
to observe His instructions, the Torah). Also this is not true according to
the eternal instructions of Torah and the words of the prophets. No mention in
Torah / Tenach that this change would be effected. The Torah and Tenach
clearly speak about the fact that only through observing Gods institutes
someone can come close to God. Psalms 24:3-6 ”Who shall ascend into the
mountain of the LORD? and who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath
clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not taken My name in vain, and hath
not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of them
that seek after Him, that seek Thy face, even Jacob“
-
The second: There is only salvation through faith in Jesus
because Jesus paid for the sins of everyone. Again this is not
so according to the eternal instructions of Torah and the words of the
prophets. There is no verse in the Torah and which says that this would happen
and that the people of Israel should believe such a doctrine (as condition to
be saved from hell).
-
It is not
possible to keep the instructions of Torah
according to Christian theology. Not true according to the eternal
instructions of Torah and the words of the prophets. God made man with the (cap)ability
to keep the Torah instructions. Also after the so called ‘sin fall’. Gen 4:7b
“Surely, if you improve yourself, you will be forgiven. But if you do not
improve yourself, sin rests at the door. Its desire is towards you, yet you
can conquer it” As I mentioned before God says in the Torah that it is not
difficult. Deut. 30:11-14 “For this commandment which I command thee this
day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in
heaven, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring
it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond
the sea, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring
it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very
nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” The
explanation Paul (in Romans 10:6,7) gives about this verse is absolute
nonsense when you read the context of these verses in the Torah.
-
Kashrut rules
aren’t valid or necessary anymore
so teaches Christianity in general. Not according to the eternal instructions
of Torah and the words of the prophets. Even the so called ‘New Testament’
doesn’t say so. In this the Christian church even doesn’t observe the New
Testament (Acts 15 doesn’t speak about the Jews not to keep kashrut. It only
speaks about the gentiles). Anyway, the instructions of Torah are eternal so
also the kashrut instructions are eternal. Further the prophet Isaiah writes
about it regarding the future; 66:16, 17 “For by fire will the LORD contend,
and by His sword with all flesh; and the slain of the LORD shall be many. They
that sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go unto the gardens,
behind one in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the detestable thing, and
the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.”
-
The Temple
(Beit HaMikdash) will not be rebuild
according to Christianity as the offerings are not necessary anymore because
of the death of Jesus. The believers in Jesus, they say (mentioning Jesus’
words), are the new spiritual
Temple
in who God dwell in stead of the Temple. Not according to the eternal
instructions of Torah and the words of the prophets. The instructions in Torah
to build a sanctuary in Jerusalem and to bring offerings over there are still
valid. The Jewish people still has this task. Also the prophets, especially
Ezekiel very clear speak about the rebuilding of the Temple and the offerings
which will be performed.
-
Observance of
Shabbat is not necessary anymore and as day of worship it now is replaced by
the Sunday.
Not according to the eternal instructions of Torah and the words of the
prophets. Actually the Sunday as day of rest and of convocation was instituted
by Emperor Constantine. Although many messianic congregations in Israel meet
at Shabbat far most believers of Jewish origin do not keep the instructions of
Shabbat anymore (as result of their Christian faith). In this the Church still
respects the institution of a Roman emperor and the Roman Catholic Church
system more than the instructions of God. In the Torah is written that the
Shabbat instructions are eternal instructions. Ex. 31:16,17 “Wherefore the
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a
sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and
rested.”,
-
Brit Mila has
been replaced by baptism or ‘sprinkling’
(of babies) as new sign of the covenant between God and His chosen people or
as a sign to enter the covenant with God is the general belief in
Christianity. Although some Christians of Jewish origin still do perform Brit
Mila, they only do it to give Jews the impression to that they still are
Jewish (as Christian believers). Not for reason that they believe that it is
important or necessary to circumcise their boys. They believe according to the
Christian doctrines that circumcision is not necessary anymore and only is
something ‘nostalgic’. Not according to the eternal instructions of Torah and
the words of the prophets. It is written that it is an eternal institution not
to be broken. As I also mentioned before, here the references. Gen. 17:7-13
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee
throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ And God said unto Abraham:
‘And as for thee, thou shalt keep My covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee
throughout their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep,
between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be
circumcised. And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and
it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. And he that is eight
days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your
generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any
foreigner, that is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that
is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be
in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Ezek. 44:9 “Thus saith the
Lord GOD: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall
enter into My sanctuary, even any alien that is among the children of
Israel.”,
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The biblical
feasts with their instructions don’t need to be kept anymore.
Now there are new feasts; Christmas and Easter. Not according to the eternal
instructions of Torah and the words of the prophets. Christmas is a Christian
version of the idle worship Midwinter feast (also the Christmas tree comes
from pagan origin). Easter is the Christian version of the feast of Ishtar (as
the name clearly shows also the eggs with Easter come from that feast). A
Roman emperor instituted these feast as a replacement for the pagan feasts of
the Roman empire at these same dates and as a mean to diverse the Church from
Judaism. The eternal instructions of Torah however clearly tells to quit with
all pagan costumes (Ex 23:24 “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve
them, nor do after their doings; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and
break in pieces their pillars”) and to observe the Torah instructions
(regarding the feasts) of God eternally. Lev 23. These are Gods appointed
times and Gods instructions. To celebrate Pesach and not to eat or have
leavened bread for 7 days, to observe the Shabbat days of the feasts, to live
in a succa for seven days, not to eat and drink at Yom Kippur etc etc. Next to
most gentile Christians, most of the Jews who became Christian doesn’t observe
these days and instructions. Or in case they celebrate them they don’t see it
as a problem to break the rules as ‘Jesus died for the sins they do’.
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The death of
and the salvation by the Messiah has to be remembered by the Holy Supper with
bread and wine.
Not such a thing is written or foretold in the Torah and Tenach. History tells
such is a pagan rite to remember the idle Mithras. By the way part of the
unconfirmed history of Jesus is the same as that of Mitras; the birth from a
virgin, death, resurrection and the fact that he was taken up to heaven from
which they both are expected to come again to judge the world. So the Holy
Supper actually is an idle rite (and does have its roots in the Shabbat
Kiddush as Emperor Constantine quit with everything ‘Jewish’ in the Church and
introduced pagan rites instead. For example Christmas (with the Christmas
tree), Easter (with the Ishtar eggs) and communion what actually was the rite
for remembering Mithras. Torah and Tenach very clear say to quit with
everything with a pagan origin. Read for example in the book Jeremiah what he
writes about the three rite (2-5) “ thus saith the LORD: Learn not the way of
the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are
dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for it is but a
tree which one cutteth out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman
with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are like a pillar in a garden
of cucumbers, and speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.
Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do
good.”
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The Messiah
is a part of the God unity.
That also is a Christian doctrine which they call ‘trinity’. Not
such a thing is written in the Torah and Tenach. To believe such a thing
actually already is idle worship. Emperor Constantine was it who officially
declared Jesus as God and still far most of the Christians still believe and
respect this Roman Catholic doctrine instead of the instructions of God.
-
Tithes and
offerings for the Temple and the cohaniem (priests) are now to be given to
(Christian) churches and their pastors.
These are their means of income. There is no instruction in Torah / Tenach
about such a change of meaning. It only is a kind of replacement theology.
The
Temple
remains the Temple (even when it now still not is rebuild). Cohaniem remain
cohaniem, Israel remains Israel, Jerusalem remains Jerusalem
etc. etc. Mal. 3:10-12 is not meant for the Christian churches (Bring ye the
whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and try
Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be more than
sufficiency. And I will rebuke the devourer for your good, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of your land; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before
the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you
happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts) but for
the Jewish people. Next to that in Israel ‘Messianic (Christian)
congregations also gladly receive gifts given by Christians who want to ‘bless
Israel’.
They see themselves as the part of Israel which obey God and so entitled to
receive the blessing meant for ‘Am Israel’ The Christians think they bless
Israel by this, but actually they finance a system which spiritually kills
Jews. They withhold a Jew to connect himself to the Torah instructions to
observe them and/or they disconnect Jews from their roots, from their covenant
with God by encouraging them not to observe Torah. These Messianic (Christian)
churches tell the Jews that it is not necessary to observe Torah (anymore) as
a God fearing Jew. They tell the Jews that obedience to God means that they
accept Jesus as their savior. Nothing more. So these Christian(s) churches
not really bless
Israel by the
gifts they give to these Messianic (Christian) churches. And the ‘Messianic’
congregations and churches are not entitled to accept gifts which are meant to
bless Israel by it.
-
Further
Christianity actually believes that the blessings for Israel now are meant for
the believers in Jesus. When a Jew doesn’t believe in Jesus the blessings are
not meant for him.
They easily use verses, meant for the people of the Torah, for themselves.
Sometimes to confirm a status or message, sometimes to claim a blessing from
God. A known verse in this, which Christianity use for their followers, is Isa
54:17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their due reward from Me, saith the
LORD.”. According to Christian theology these servants of the Lord now are the
‘reborn believers in Jesus’. Anyhow it is nothing more than replacement
theology which is not based at the Torah and Tenach.
-
By faith in
Jesus you become a part of Israel
so
states Paul in his Ephesians letter (2:12,!3). Not according to Torah and
Tenach. The prophet Isaiah very clear states how to become a part of the
people of
Israel
(Isaiah 56); by joining them to obey Gods instructions, to observe Torah.
Then (when the Temple will be rebuild again) the offerings of them will be
pleasant for God. “Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them
joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall
be acceptable upon Mine altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
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The New
Covenant has been reinforced by Jesus when he died at the cross
is what all Christians believe. This is not according to Gods instructions in
Torah and Tenach. According to that the ‘New Covenant’ will be reality when
‘clal’
Israel will
return to God to observe Gods instructions, the Torah.
Deut. 30:1-8 “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt
bethink thyself among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven
thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and hearken to His voice
according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul; that then the LORD thy God will turn thy
captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from
all the peoples, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine
that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the
LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee. And the LORD thy
God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it; and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And
the LORD thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love
the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest
live. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and
on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and
hearken to the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I command
thee this day.” Quit strange that the signs of the New Covenant (that
‘clal’
Israel again
keeps Torah and mitswes as a nation in the land of Israel forever) still after
2000 years are not visible.
The more strange that almost no Christian questions themselves why. Even more
strange is that Jews who become Christian also does investigate this and just
accept Christian doctrines. The fact that the people of Israel now return to
their eternal heritage clearly shows that the Torah and Tenach instructions
still are valid and trustworthy. As will the New Covenant be reality when
‘clal’ Israel will do ‘teshuva’.
The eternal
instructions of Torah tell us that there will be real revival when the people
of Israel turn to God by observing the Torah instructions
(instead of believing in Jesus as savior). Jews got lost in Christianity
either by force or by lack of knowledge of the Torah and Tenach. Also nowadays
I haven’t seen a Torah scholar who accepted the Christian doctrines for truth
and applicable instead of the eternal Torah instructions.
Yes many
fairy tales and ‘gossip’ stories has been told in the Christian world (about
Judaism);
fairy tales about hundreds of Orthodox-Jewish rabbis who secretly have convert
to Christianity. They now would ‘hide’ their conviction and identity openly
because of the fear for persecution. Then there are the stories within the
Christian world that the Talmud has been written for the only purpose to deny
Jesus as Messiah. Stories, that only because of hatred, the Orthodox Jew
doesn’t accept Jesus as Messiah (while they in their hearts know that Jesus
would be the Messiah). Stories that because of that they are demonized and
filled with bad spirits so that the cannot serve God anymore no matter how
much the live according to the Torah. Stories that many Jews recent converted
to Christianity (I only have seen that a lot of Russian ‘Olim’ with Christian
connections from childhood or background and/or a lack of Torah knowledge did
convert). Further stories that the Jewish people on purpose neglect Isaiah 53
out of fear that Jews would become Christian and that even Isaiah 53 has been
removed from the weekly Haftarah readings in the synagogues for the same
purpose and stories that Jews have been amended verses from Tenach also for
the same reason. Many, many stories like that. Now I have seen that these
are fairy tales or stories to blackmail the Jewish people. Stories that
the Kabala are demonic teachings and stories that the Zohar is a demonic book.
Stories that the Magen David has a demonic origin and that, because of the use
of the star in the national flag all the people of Israel are under a ‘demonic
cover’. Stories that the nowadays Jews not the descendants of Avraham Avinu
are but actually converted Khazars (who would not deserve the blessings for
‘Am Israel’). Throughout history there has been one story after another (such
as that the Jews drink blood of children with Pesach) to blackmail
Orthodox-Judaism and the Jewish people. This attitude of the Christian church
created the possibility of the holocaust. Martin Luther, the prominent
reformer wrote several articles which Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. It
is a miracle that throughout this dark history there always has been Jewish
people who loved God with all their heart and soul and who kept observing Gods
Torah instructions. Yes it is magnificent to see that nowadays Jews, whose
ancestors suffered very much in the past, again decide to serve the living God
of Israel out of love with all their hearts and souls, observing the eternal
God given instructions of Torah.
Whatever the
Christian world does in persuading people to accept Jesus as savior, it
wouldn’t bring the revival the Christians are waiting for.
Still after 2000 years it didn’t happen and it never will happen in that way.
For Jews when they accept Christianity and refrain from observing Torah they
are not getting closer to God than they only become more distant from God.
Worldwide revival only will happen, as it is written in the eternal God given
instructions, when ‘clal’ Israel returns back to God in observing the God
given Torah instructions. Deut 30:1-10 “And it shall come to pass, when all
these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set
before thee, and thou shalt bethink thyself among all the nations, whither the
LORD thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and
hearken to His voice according to all that I command thee this
day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;
that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon
thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither the LORD
thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine that are dispersed be in the
uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and
from thence will He fetch thee. And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the
land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do
thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the LORD thy God will
circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the LORD thy
God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee,
that persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and hearken to the voice of the
LORD, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day. And the LORD
thy God will make thee over-abundant in all the work of thy hand, in the fruit
of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for
good; for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over
thy fathers; if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep
His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law;
if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.”
It is wonderful to see Jewish souls returning from the ‘galut’ to their
people. It cannot be stopped. The Shofar sounds (Isa 27:13). The living God of
Israel brings His people back to Eretz Israel and back to Torah. Ezek 36.
You can and
should act according to the God given truth as I do: By turning away from
doctrines and behavior (neglecting Torah instructions) which are not from God
and returning to the truth of God, to love Him and (as a Jew) to obey His
eternal instructions, the Torah (as a non-Jew to observe the Noachic laws) and
to bring all the lost Jewish souls back under the wings of the living God of
Israel in observing His instructions, the Torah. This will bring an instant
revival. May this time be soon.
Ary'el Tsion, Susya, Eretz Israel
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Brochure about
Giyur
In Israel the organization ITIM provides at request a free
brochure about the Giyur procedure (procedure to become Jewish). You can
order it through their website.
www.itim.org.il
To order the brochure (klick) and
follow the link. If you don't succeed, don't hesitate to send us an
e-mail
send us an e-mail (klick). We will help you to order.
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Some more of a story.
How I stepped out of Christianity
I grew up in an orthodox-protestant family,
believing in G'd.
Till my 25th year I more or less did what I wanted to do myself without caring
about G'ds instructions. Than I turned back to G'd (all my life I realised the
existance of G'd) but I really didn't change a lot of my bad habits.
Very soon I
realised that faith in G’d or my messiah, without change of lifestyle was
nothing. Only after changing my lifestyle (stopped to do sinful acts) I felt
the presence of G’d. Now I start to search more and more to know what HaShem
would like me to do. I started to do an intensive Bible study (together with
other friends). Because of that we realised that much things the church
taught
me,
were not
truth. Among others: replacement theology. After many discussions
witch church representatives we were excommunicated. Than
we
started the Shalom Congregation (1998) as a way to serve HaShem (in
our
Christian views).
Soon
we
introduced the celebration of the Biblical Feasts as mentioned in Vayikra 23
as at that moment I realized that for anti-semitic reasons they were replaced
for the Christian holidays with pagan orgin. In my hart I felt the
conformation to do it.
Searching to
do HaShems will, I discovered that the Shabbath
still was the day of rest which HaShem instituted (before I believed that G'd
changed it into Sunday). In my heart the conviction
grew to celebrate Shabbat. Than in June 2000
we decided to change our weekly
meeting from Sunday to Shabbat as a way to acknowledge that the Shabbat still
was an institution of HaShem.
In my heart
there was a
very strong was the conviction that this was the
right direction to go. Than
after a time we realized that the Thora
never was replaced by G’d for something else. In our opinion even the New
Testament showed that the Thora was still the applicable instructions of
HaShem. So then I started to study Thora and it gave me more and more a lot of
joy.
In Decembers
2000
we organised a solidarity trip to Israel because of the 2nd
Intifada. I would like to encourage the people of Israel and took several
people with me. During this trip and also the following trips we mainly spoke
with so called ‘Messianic’ Jews and secular Jews.
In the next
period for one or other reason
I more and more experienced difficulties inside
me singing about Jesus. I also mentioned that in my personal prayers I didn’t
mention Jesus anymore at all. First it worried me. I thought it was maybe
because I had less passion to live for HaShem. But then I start to read the
Bible about worshipping and I realised that the Scriptures only speak about
worshipping HaShem and even the New Testament only spoke about worshipping
‘the Father’. After I spoke about it
with the others who
surprisingly had the same feeling we decided not to
sing songs about Jesus anymore. And really we felt relieved.
Then during
our solidarity trips to Israel we start to visit settlements to encourage the
people as they were living in dangerous areas
and they were fulfilling biblical prophecies (Am 9:14 And I will turn the
captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and
inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they
shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. and Jer 31:5 Again shalt
thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant,
and shall have the use thereof.). From the first moment some
things hit me.
In the
religious settlements I very much felt the presence of HaShem that in contrary
with settlements which were not religious and also (and that really shocked
me) than within the communities of the “Messianic Jews’.
Most of
these ‘Messianic
Jews’ also doesn’t dare to live in Yesha.
And every
time I visited the settlements, I met G’d fearing people with faith. Faith to
live in these dangerous G’d promised areas. Actually I started more and more
to feel much more home in the settlements than in the other secular and
Christian places. But then the questions rose with me. How is it possible that
I feel the presence of HaShem and that I see the obedience to HaShem with
people who don’t believe in Jesus. These questions more and more came in my
mind.
In December
2003 we visited Sussya. Again the same experience as usual. We felt very much
the presence of HaShem with the people we met. I almost could cry, so
connected I felt with the people we met. The next trip (February 2004) I
decided (I was with my wife and first son) to visit Sussya again, my wife
remained at the hotel. In Sussya I met Ishai, who I met the last time too. I
told him that I felt very much connected with him and all the G’d fearing
settlers. Then he said to me. Then there is a difficulty. If you think that
Jesus is G’d and Messiah than there can not be a connection basically. When
you say that Jesus is G’d than you
actually
are a idle
worshipper. I really was shocked.
Although I was shocked
there was something in my hart that he could be right. Anyway the fact that he
thought like did didn't effect the presence of HaShem with him. In contrary I
experienced it also at this very moment very strong. That was most
significant.
When I came
home I couldn’t think about something else. I knew I had to think about it. At
sites I start to search why Orthodox-Jews doesn’t believe that Jesus is the
Messiah. On one hand with fear, at the other hand there was something that
makes me happy.
I start to read the Tenach to find out how it
was possible that these Jews could be connected with HaShem so much while they
don't accept Jesus as Messiah. Then I read some scriptures through which I
understand that to believe in a certain person as Messiah is not the condition
to be connected with HaShem. To be connected with HaShem you need to do
Teshuva, listen to HaShem, observe His commantments. Actually nowhere in the
Tenach I found a scripture that acceptance of the Messiah as
saviour (to
believe that he died to reconcile for our sins) would be the condition to be
forgiven. The Scriptures I read were: Deut. 30 (2 and
shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and hearken to His voice according to all
that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul; 3 that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and
have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the
peoples, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4 If any of thine that
are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD
thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee. 5 And the LORD thy
God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it; and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to
love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live. 7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine
enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee. 8 And thou shalt
return and hearken to the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which
I command thee this day.), Deut. 4
(29 But from thence ye will seek the LORD thy God; and thou shalt find Him, if
thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 In thy
distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou
wilt return to the LORD thy God, and hearken unto His voice; 31 for the LORD
thy God is a merciful God; He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor
forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them.),
Ezekiel 18 (20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die; the
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father with him, neither shall the
father bear the iniquity of the son with him; the righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
him. 21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and
keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely
live, he shall not die. 22 None of his transgressions that he hath committed
shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness that he hath done he
shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
the Lord GOD; and not rather that he should return from his ways, and live? 24
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth
iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man
doeth, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be
remembered; for his trespass that he trespassed, and for his sin that he hath
sinned, for them shall he die. 25 Yet ye say: The way of the Lord is not
equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is not equal? is it not
your ways that are unequal? 26 When the righteous man turneth away from his
righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therefor; for his
iniquity that he hath done shall he die. 27 Again, when the wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is
lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 28 Because he considereth, and
turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall
surely live, he shall not die.),
Ezekiel
33 (8 When I say unto the wicked: O wicked man, thou
shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way;
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy
hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and
he turn not from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast
delivered thy soul. 10 Therefore, O thou son of man, say unto the house of
Israel: Thus ye speak, saying: Our transgressions and our sins are upon us,
and we pine away in them; how then can we live? 11 Say unto them: As I live,
saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that
the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;
for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 12 And thou, son of man, say unto the
children of thy people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver
him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked,
he shall not stumble thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness;
neither shall he that is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he
sinneth. 13 When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he
trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds
shall be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, for it shall
he die. 14 Again, when I say unto the wicked: Thou shalt surely die; if he
turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 if the wicked
restore the pledge, give back that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the
statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not
die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be remembered against
him; he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.),
Isaiah 55 (6 Seek ye the LORD while He may be found,
call ye upon Him while He is near; 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
man of iniquity his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and He will
have compassion upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.).
So now I realised that these people who observe Thora live in connection with
HaShem and that because of that I experienced the presence of HaShem with
them. I start to have questions about the Christian way of thinking about
salvation.
Than with
next
Pesach I had an other solidarity trip. I decided to
go to Ishai again to ask his explanation from Tenach about forgiveness of
sins, new covenant etc. etc.. We also decided to go to Negohot. For one or
another reason I would like to visit that settlement (I don’t know why).
Beforehand I had contacted the settlement and Nechemia Krakover, spokesman of
the settlement invited us to come to visit. While visiting him I felt this was
a very special meeting, but I didn’t understand why. Of course, also over
there
I sensed very strong the presence of HaShem. We told him that we had questions
about Christianity and Christian thinking.
Than some
more visits followed in which we asked many theological questions. The answers
for me
they gave (Ishai from Sussya and Nechemia from Negohot) were sometimes
very straight but afterwards it was for me the thing I was looking for,
especially the way of Jewish thinking. I felt more and more coming home. This
is my destiny. To be in Israel
and
observing Thora. My Jewish ancestors made a
mistake by stepping out of Judaism. Now I have the change to make a
correction. Actually to do teshuva. I
am
thankful
to HaShem he brought me in connection with these people, I thank Nechemia and Ishai to be honest
with me to tell the truth.
This honesty for me was filled with love for HaShem. No condemnation but
respect, sensitivity and love towards us. At the beginning
it was really
shocking for me. But the truth is
the truth and when someone searchs for the truth he will find it.
You don't need to be
fearful to question the thruth. It will remain the truth.
I experience
as there is a Shofar blowing to come back to Thora and Eretz Israel. I want to
come. I want to observe Thora and halacha. With G’ds help, I will succeed.
Now I see,
I’m not the only one. Much people have the same questions. I meet other people
with Jewish ancestors who would like to come back to Judaism too. BARUCH HASHEM
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WHAT DUTCH EVANGELICAL BROADCAST-STATION EO DOESN'T WANT TO BROADCAST.....
In 1999, the Dutch
Evangelical Broadcast-station EO asked me to tell my live-story in their TV
program, called: "The Change". They asked me because some years earlier I
made a radical spiritual move; from the New-Age-world into a believer in
Jesus Christ.
My life changed completely
after the broadcast of the program "The Change"; I became a "Rising Star" in
the Evangelical/Christian world of Holland. I have to be honest to stay that
all the media-attention on TV and in all kinds of magazines flattered me,
although my biggest aim was to bring people in contact with Jesus and the
Heavenly Father. I wanted that broken people learned to know G’d and His
Love, and to become a blessing for others. I, myself encountered painful and
traumatic experiences in my childhood.
When I was a small baby,
my father became ill because off an untreatable meningitis, which ruined his
brains. Although he was a very soft and kind man, sometimes he became
completely out of his mind and he could, for instance, break pieces of a
wooden table with his bare hands. My mother had to run our farm and raised 3
young children almost by herself, because my father was bedridden and unable
to help on the farm.
On an early summer
morning, July 1973, when I was 5 years old, I found my father dead in a
ditch near our farm. From that day on, my soul turned in to an adult and my
naivety was gone for ever. I stayed always "different than the others"....
My mum was physically and
mentally broken and wasn't always able to care for us, children. That meant
that regularly, I had to move to family or acquaintances. During the summer
vacation of 1978,on the age of 10, I stayed with relatives and was very
frightened and the loneliness was hardly unbearable. I began to talk with
G'd, just spontaneously, out of my heart. I didn't know G'd personally at
all. I didn't even know that one could talk to Him or that He existed
anyway. At home, I was raised Protestant. I went to the "School with the
Bible",, said before diner my traditional prayer, and also I was used to say
a bedtime prayer. Until today I don't know why I started to talk to the
Heavenly Father, but I told Him my heartache and grieve. On that very
moment, I felt an enormous twinkle through my body. Like a warm, soothing
hand it touched my whole being. It was so comforting, a tranquillity was
taken over. A G'd experience......
I was able to sleep quiet,
He was watching over me. G'd showed Himself to me as the I AM, even
for (half) orphans and widows... From that time on, I was certain that G'd
really is alive! This experience helped me through my difficult teenager
years; always knowing that G'd is there if I needed Him.
But on the age of 18, I
felt very depressed; everything around me seemed completely dark, with no
bright future before me. I placed myself for a big choice: Either I make an
end on this 'bloody mass’, or ,as a last remedy, I will try to make an
appointment with a psycho/nature-therapist which I knew vaguely in my area.
I was able to come
immediately.... This therapist introduced me into a completely new world,
called: New-Age. She was talking about unselfishness, Divine Love, Jesus,
reincarnation, good and bad, consciousness and awakening. Dressed-up in her
beautiful white clothes, surrounded by precious stones and minerals, she
looked like an angel straight ahead from heaven. And I consumed her words
like sweet red wine and cried thousand tears. At last, there was somebody
who finally understood me, somebody who knew G'ds infinitive love. Although,
that is what I thought at that time.....
I followed lost of
therapies, courses, read books etc in order to become enlightened. But after
a couple of years, I find out that I was trapped in a fall. I had to define
that I hadn't received freedom or enlightment, but in return found myself
dependent on therapies and elusive philosophies. Nothing was fulfilling my
life like G'ds Presence had done. I was still searching for THE TRUTH.
When I was 26 years old,
married and the proud mother of 3 children, my husband and I still jointed
the church of our childhood: The Reformed Church. The Christian/Protestant
faith started to play a bigger role in our lives. We were holding some
position in that church and we also gain more and more Christian friends,
who where influencing our spiritual lives as well.
One day I read the words
of Joshua 24v.15:"....CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE...”.
These words came in to me like thunder and lightening, I was convinced in my
heart that I had to choose radically: either I stay in the New-Age world or
I had to surrender to the faith of my fathers.
And I choose...
I quitted with all the
persons and stuff of my New-Age -period, and instead became a dedicated
follower of Jesus (whom I thought was G'd) After 9 months, G'd spoke to the
heart of my husband Ger, and Ger also became a Christian-believer.
Not long afterwards, we
were no longer welcome in our Reformed Church, because of our active
(evangelical) dedication to G'd. We went to the Baptist Church on Texel and
to the Berea-congregation in Den Helder. My husband and I, we wanted to be
baptised in the sea. After all, we are real habitants of an island, and
there is no better water than living, streaming water, isn't it? All this
happened just in the period that the Dutch Evangelical Broadcast Station had
approached me for the program "The Change".
The producer got very
excited by hearing our intention to be baptised in the sea with 5 other
persons. He wanted it on the camera and it became a hot item in the "show'.
Later on, the Berea-congregation became our spiritual home and we became
some leaders of a home-group on our island Texel. Berea was a community
which, as they say, want to investigate the truth and all things in
Scripture, and they believe the whole Bible (old and new testament) and want
to live according to the first Christians.
It was also a warm, young
congregation with a lot of outreach activities, emotions, prophets and
prophecies. They performed in this community some kind off
exorcism-treatment. I had to endure some heavy liberation sessions in order
to unload me from occult and demoniacal influences from my past history and
New-Age interfering. I was raped (physically and spiritually) and not aware
of it anymore, so they told me... Now and then, I lived very nervously
because I lived with the fear that the devil always was trying to catch me,
as he got the opportunity. All this exorsist-"treatment" came out to be the
invention of a rotten anti-Jewish mind, of an “prophet" named Ken Thornberg,
a big anti-Semite.
Ger
and I met a man named Bert Woudwijk, a pastor of the messianic Shalom
Congregation in Dordrecht, Holland. With him, we
could share our love for Israel, the Jews and Jewry. In 1987,my husband and
I travelled through Europe for a while ,and we volunteered also in Israel,
the land of our well-known Biblical stories. We have been raised very
pro-Israel and when I was an adolescent, I almost read every book about the
Shoa, the persecution of the Jews, went to the Anne Frank house etc. I felt
very connected to the Jewish people and even became a vegetarian after
reading "For those I've loved', the biography of the Polish Jew and
Holocaust survivor Martin Gray.
In 2001, we were invited
by Naomi and Sasson, the couple we worked for in Moshav Ramot, Galilee, to
celebrate the Pesach time with them, that year. At that time, during the
second Intifada, almost every hour there were terrorist attacks all over the
country. Nearly everybody in our neighbourhood said that we were crazy to go
to Israel. But El Al brought us to Eretz anyway. We had the privilege to
celebrate the Seder eve in Kibbutz Beth Ha 'Emek, together with 350 Jews
from all over the world. And it was marvellous!
Back in Holland, we
deepened ourselves in the roots and backgrounds of our Christian faith,
although the leaders of the Berea congregation were not happy with our
searching. But we were followers of Jesus, who had been a Jew also, wasn’t
he? We investigated the scriptures and found out that, for example, the
Biblical feasts and times never had been abolished. Even more they even are
eternal to be celebrated!!
And what about eating
kosher food, the Shabbat? All kinds of cases we never learned or heard of in
Christianity. We couldn't find a base in the Bible for such a thing as the
Easter, or the Sunday or Christmas. No, these "feast" were rooted in
paganism and anti-Jewish ideas. The Christian feasts and the weekly Sunday
services seemed to us almost blasphemous.
At home ,we started to
celebrate the Biblical Feasts together with Jewish guests or people who were
interested .Off course not perfectly halachically , we did it with sincere
hearts.
In that period, I had a
miscarriage and it happened so that I was wearing a necklace with the Star
of David on it. The leaders of Berea made a connection between one and
another, and told me that it was possible that my miscarriage was a result
of the Magen David. The Star of David was an occult mark, so they told me.
Immediately, the bookstore of Berea was checked preciously on Magen David’s.
Every book or cd with the star on it was thrown out. The founder of Berea,
reverend Van der Brink, believed in a spiritual Israel, and was a preacher
of the replacement-theology. According to his opinion the Jews were a human
race and such a thing as rituals was not done. Because Jesus has fulfilled
the law, and because of that the New Covenant is now working, rituals were
not necessary for G'ds free children (Christians). Rituals were rigid, so
they said. We choose to leave the Berea congregation.
We spoke with the leaders
and without serious reproaches, we did split up. No hard feelings... Until
now, I am very grateful for that.
Our contact with Bert and
his Shalom Congregation became closer, and regularly we joined him to Israel
during the encouragement trips which he had organized. It is doubtful who
was more encouraged that time: the Jews or we...
Every time when we went to
the Kotel, I was very touched and was thinking of the words of King
Solomon,1 Kings 8 v41;
"Moreover concerning a
stranger, that is not of Thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country
for Thy name's sake;
...when he shall come
and pray toward this house;
Hear Thou in heaven Thy
dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee
for:
That all people of the
earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel;
And that they may know
that this house, which I have builded, is called by Thy name.
Then hear Thou in
heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause."
For us the "strangers”,
King Solomon was pleading himself. We, who had the privilege to enter
Israel, something that even Moses never tasted.
Bert came on a regularly
base to our island, to lead the bible-studies. We, at the other hand,
travelled twice a month to Dordrecht to join the Shabbat meetings, a three
hour drive. It was an enervating time of eating together, singing, dancing,
smiling and crying together. But because of our intensive Thora studies and
contacts in Israel with the so called "settlers’ and rabbi’s, we learned
other (Jewish) insights about the New Covenant, the Messiah, and even about
Jesus himself! And it was in a shock!
For a little while I had a
critical question on my mind: I was wondering why there are two different
family trees mentioned in the New Testament. I didn't dare to ask somebody
this question because I was convinced that everything what was written in
the Bible, was ordained by G'd Himself. I was afraid of my own doubts, but I
couldn't get the case out of my mind. With a thumping heart and with shaky
knees, I started to check the internet.
The first thing I found
was an article called: "Why don't the Jews recognize the New Testament?",
from Eliyahu Silver. Silver explains why the Christian principles are false
according to the Thora. Silver, a Jew and a narrative Hebrew speaker, quoted
all kind of biblical texts and proves why Jesus isn't G'd, isn't the Messiah
etc.
I was astonished, and
fearing that again I was fallen in the hands of the devil, who tried to
mislead me. If Silver spoke the truth than I was loosing all my fundamentals
of faith, everything I lived for. I should loose everybody and wouldn't dare
to face my Christian friends anymore! I studied anyway and checked texts
like:
"Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our G'D is One!”. Deuteronomy 6:4
So if G’d is One, He can't
be 2 or 3(trinity).
"I am the LORD; and
there is none else”. Isaiah 45:18
Or this one:
"Before ME there was
no G'd formed, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE AFTER ME.
I, even I, am the LORD;
and beside me there is no Saviour." Isaiah
43:10-11
"And there is no G'd
else beside me; a just G'd and a Saviour; there is none beside ME.
Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all ends of the earth: for I AM G'D, and
there IS NONE BESIDE ME.” Isaiah 45:21-22
"Yet I am the LORD Thy
G'D from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but ME:
For there is NO SAVIOUR
BESIDE ME." Hosea 13:4
Finally, I had to admit
that I had to accept that this was the Truth which was not to
compromise.
The Truth, which I always
had asked for from the Lord was now given to me in a way I hardly could
understand, and, properly speaking, also found difficult to accept.
The Dutch singer Marco
Borsato sings in one of his songs:" An hour ago
Everything seems so safe and clear
But now it
turned in to a big lie
And a house of cards."
And a house of cards it
was.... We lost everything. We lost all our friends, we received threatening
letters. People wrote us that we were children of the devil and that hell
was our final destiny. For the Jews there was still hope left, but for us,
who once where believers in Christ and now bartered away their heritage,
mercy was never possible anymore, a one person cried out to me. Our children
had to endure anti-Semitic terms of abuse and one "fine” day we discovered a
swastika in our front door. For Bert, his wife Ilona and family it was even
much tougher .After all, he was the (ex) pastor and had to endure much more
tribulations. The Shalom Congregation fell apart, even as our home-group.
When Bert and Ilona did Giyur (and became Ary’el and Shlomit) we had the
privilege to be there at their choupa (wedding),in the Old City of
Jerusalem, David’s city, August 2006.
Ary’el and Shlomit moved
to Antwerp to join the local Jewish community. A year later they made Aliyah
and moved to Israel, Susya in August 2007.
But the story is to be
continued...
Although the situation is
difficult, G’d always makes rivers in the dessert. In the Morning Prayer we
read:"...He who makes all things that I need."
It enriches our lives by
focusing on Judaism and to live a Jewish lifestyle (as good as it gets)
We are learning with an
orthodox-.Jewish couple on Texel, we have also connections with the Dutch
Jewish community.
G'd gave us also new
friends and our hope is to become Jewish one day.
And who knows, Be'Ezrat
HaShem, we will settle one day in the "Promised Land".
We trust on the promise
from Isaiah 56:
"Neither let the son of
the stranger that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD
hath utterly separated me from his people....
Also the sons of the
stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the
name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Shabbat
from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to
my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer....: for Mine
house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."
The relationship with my
own family is much better now, even as the social intercourse with
'non-believers'.
When I was a Christian, I
marked people as saved or not-saved and wanted to convert the
non-saved out of fear that he should have been lost for ever. That
was a heavy load on my shoulders and a big responsibility.
Baruch HaShem, this all
lays now in the past. Because Judaism is not a very outreach religion, I
feel freer to have relations based on equivalence. One thing stays crystal
clear: for us no other god, guru or religion. With Ruth we declare: Your
G'd is my G'd, and your people are my people."
A few weeks ago, the Dutch
Broadcast Station EO requested me if I wanted to perform in a new program.
In this program, Andries Knevel interviews several persons, who also told
their story in "The Change", 10 years ago.
During a walk, he talks
with them about what had happened in their lives, the last decade. My
reaction wasn't very enthusiastic, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to do
it. I told my story with hesitation, and told the screening lady that we are
living Jewish etc.
The lady was quiet exited,
and saw it all before her very own eyes: Immy who was preparing the Shabbat
meal, kneading the challot, with the kosher dough on her hands.
A beautiful shot in a
beautiful program.
When she asked me what
Jesus means to me now, I had to tell her that I don't believe that he was
crucified for my sins, that I don't believe he is god or the expected
messiah .
The lady wanted me for the
cameras anyway, but first she had to talk with her superiors. A couple of
days later, she called me back and was very sad to tell me that the 'party
was over'. The TV-bosses didn't want to show a story where Jesus wasn't the
big hero; they had to satisfy their members. It seems that the time is not
yet right for SUCH A "CHANGE"....
Shalom and May you be
blessed,
Immy
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Johan and Ronel Brink
from South Africa tell why they want to become Jewish
Sometimes we want to write
but our fingers can not find the words on the keyboard that are bubbling in
our soul. I am convinced that me and my families journey is not unique and
that you are hearing similar stories all the time, but still I find it
difficult to share our rediscovering of the ancient paths over a period of
more than ten years. Sharing everything is not possible because there are
incidents and experiences I have forgotten over time so I will just try and
share what I believe to be the most important.
Both Johan (my husband) and I was brought up in a Christian home, mine a lot
less religious than his and got married in a Christian church. I battled in
church and always thought I had a bit of a problem with authority because of
all my questions with answers that made no sense to me. At one stage I made
an agreement with Johan not to go to church with him any longer although he
was serving as a deacon in our church. I felt I was doing a bigger sin going
with such a critical attitude, than not going at all. I was always searching
for Truth, knowing there is a Creator, praying to Him and even receiving
guidens from Him in decisions I had to make.
In 1994 I decided to live closer to G_d, knowing that my live must have a
purpose and feeling an urgency to discover it. I wanted to do Christian
tradition with the right attitude and knowledge and not just because of
habits. In 1998 while putting up our Christmas tree I suddenly wondered why
we put up a Christmas tree, and after discovering the shocking truth I ask
Johan if I could burn the tree because I believed it to be a pagan idol. He
just laughed and said I could burn the tree but he was never buying a new
tree. The Christmas tree was never very important to him. I did not want to
keep Christmas any longer and this made things very difficult with friend
and family. Still young and not having a lot of wisdom I also did not always
act in a very appropriate manner with other peoples feelings, looking back
today and knowing what I know today I would have handled things a bit more
sensitively. I truly thought everybody would react the same way when they
heard these terrible truths of pagan traditions and believes that creped
into the church. But they did not.
The next few years and my church life were horrible. On my own and a
personal level my relationship with the Almighty was incredible. I dealt
with so many childhood problems caused by living in an abusive home, made
peace with so many issues with rejection and molestation but I could not get
to terms with the rebellion I experienced in church. I remember one morning
after not going to church a few weeks and yet again feeling so guilty, I
just cried through the whole service. Afterwards the pastor came to me and
asks me why I was so “touched” by the service. I could just look at him,
feeling like such a hypocrite knowing that I just never fitted.
In 2005 out of pure frustration I thought perhaps if I fasted I will be able
to sort out all this terrible feelings I was experiencing. On April the 8 I
started eating according to the food laws in Leviticus and for the next six
months I ate no fat and nothing that was forbidden in scripture. I resigned
my position after two months as a Regional manager and now not just friends
and family thought I was loosing it but my husband was also getting very
worried. I can not share all the scriptures and dreams and even a vision I
received in this time because it is just too much, but at the end of the
fast I new that I had to keep Sabbath and that I wanted with all my hart to
be part of Israel, the covenant nation of Hashem. I did not know this was
actually the Jewish people, I thought the Jewish people were lost, because
they did not receive Jesus Christ as there Messiah.
I was in for a big surprise, in more ways than one. My husband for the first
time in his life started reading the scriptures and not just listening to
what the pastor says. Initially to proof me wrong, but discovering even more
amazing truths. We left the church and joined up with a group that believed
the same as we did, that we had to obey Torah and that there was just one
covenant, that the covenant was never changed. We started keeping the feast,
eating kosher. I took the children out of the state school because of the
curriculum, and started with home school. But again we were experiencing
problems, Johan was very concerned that there were lots of little splinter
groups rediscovering ancient paths but that every group thought there
interpretation of scripture was correct. He was very concern about unity.
We started slaughtering our own meat, and Johan made a study about the
blood. He suddenly became very concerned about the blood-issue. He
questioned that the Tenach states over and over that you should not eat
blood but then the New Testament states that Jesus says this is my blood
drink it. He also felt uncomfortable about Jesus cursing the fig tree
because the Torah states that you should not cut down a fruit tree…and more
and more things was starting to pop up with no answers.
In January 2009 we went to Israel because we had an intense longing to go
and live in the land and wanted to look into the possibility to do this. We
met a Rabbi in Jerusalem and I could not believe that this man, who did not
believe in Jesus, and said so openly, did not seem very “lost” to me. Every
question Johan and I had he answered and it was just so wonderful because it
made sense and was just so clear. Johan and I went to the holocaust – museum
on our last day and yes what can I say …there before my eyes I recognise for
the first time the covenant people of Hashem, the Jewish nation and with all
my hart and every fibre of my being I wanted to become part of who they are
and what they represent.
We came home in March and joined a synagogue. It was very difficult, we
still thought Jesus was the Messiah but was too afraid that we would be
asked to leave if we admitted it. The first three times we went I cried so
much when they took out the Torah I thought I would never stop. Looking at
the people I thought we would never ever be accepted, never be good enough,
never have suffered enough and totally unable to talk to anybody about what
we were experiencing. We met other converts, who ask us if we had sorted out
the truth about Jesus…I was in shock what truth…and yes yet another lie had
to be uncovered. With Yom Kippur Johan could stand in front of Hashem the
first time confessing our biggest idol and golden calf, Jesus Christ, BARUCH
HASHEM. We have been accepted on the conversion program but with all our
hearts want to come and live in the land to learn and heal. I have seen your
info on the internet on a site from people in Holland and want to get more
info on the possibility to come and learn for a period in a Jewish
settlement.
Be blessed,
Johan and Ronel Brink from South Africa
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The Laws Relating to Converts
bron:
http://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/shiur.asp?id=5381
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
Written by the rabbi
1. Judaism's Positive
Approach to Converts
2. Relating to Converts
3. The Conversion
4. How Much Must the Convert
Learn Before Conversion?
5. The Essence of the
Conversion
6. Conversion in Practice
7. Accepting the Commandments
8. Defining the Acceptance of
the Commandments.
Judaism's Positive Approach
to Converts
The laws relating to Jewish
converts are amongst the most astounding laws in the Torah. Despite all of the
criticism directed at the Jewish people on the grounds that Judaism is racist,
the Torah teaches us that any non-Jew who truly and earnestly seeks to join
the Jewish people may do so.
The wretched Germans ruled
out the possibility of allowing non-Germans to join their shallow race. Even
Jews who had assimilated and converted to Christianity were viewed as Jewish
in the eyes of the racist Nazis. This, however, is not the way pf Judaism.
Rather, any non-Jew who wishes to join us may do so according to Jewish law.
It is true that we are
"racists," but we are racists in the positive sense of the word. We feel an
obligation to rectify creation, as R' Menashe of Iliya would say, "So long as
even a single worm in the crevice of a stone is discomforted, the redemption
has not arrived." As Jews, our most natural desire is that all people be
blessed with happiness, and we are forever working to better the world.
The horrid Nazi racists, on
the other hand, who considered themselves "the chosen people," understood
chosenness in an impure and negative sense. They believed that they deserve
the best of everything and that everybody must serve them and work for them.
We Jews, however, are inherently compassionate. We even show compassion to our
adversaries.
Therefore, if a German or an
Arab should seek to join the Jewish people, even if he is the son of a fierce
antisemite, we shall accept him and love him like any other Jew. Moreover, we
shall love him even more than other Jews, in keeping with the commandment to
"love the convert, for you too were strangers in the land of Egypt
(Deuteronomy 10:19)."
Relating to Converts
After a person converts to
Judaism he is like any other Jew. In fact, one must be more sensitive to his
feelings than those of other Jews. This is because of the extreme difficulties
that a convert faces. After all, it is not easy to leave one's people and
one's home in order to join a wise nation with an ancient culture and rich
tradition which is not so easily absorbed even after many years of study. This
extreme transition calls for great inner strength, and even the slightest
insult can undermine a convert's confidence and cause him great despair.
This explains why the Torah
takes such a firm stand on this issue, ruling that whoever grieves the convert
transgresses three prohibitions (Baba Metzia 59b). Firstly, it is written "Do
not grieve one another" (Leviticus 25:17), and this applies to all Jews,
including the convert. In addition, the Torah adds two more prohibitions
against grieving the convert: "You shall not wrong a stranger, nor oppress
him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:20) and, "If a
stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. But the
stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you
shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am
the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34).
In a positive sense as well,
we are twice commanded to love the convert (Rambam, Hilchot Deot 6:4).
Firstly, we must love the convert like any other Jew, as it is written, "Love
your fellow as yourself " (Leviticus 19:18). And again, regarding the convert
in particular, it is written, "Love the stranger, for you were strangers in
the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19).
And what could be more
fitting and correct than to show the convert added affection, for of his own
volition did he leave his people and his homeland in order to join the nation
of Israel. The Almighty Himself loves the convert, as it is written, "He loves
the convert to give him food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10:18). May we all
merit to love and embrace the convert, to accept him warmly and by so doing to
unveil the incredible uniqueness of the Jewish people.
The Conversion
Jewish law's attitude to
conversion appears, at first glance, to be one of double standards. On the one
hand, there is enormous respect and love for the convert who has left his
people and his country in order to join the Jewish people; on the other hand,
there is an attempt to dissuade him from converting.
But the truth of the matter
is that Jewish law's attitude to the convert is completely positive. The only
reason that Judaism seeks to dissuade the convert is in order to see if he
sincerely wishes to join the Jewish people, or if this is just a passing
desire which will disappear in a few years.
And therefore Shulchan Aruch
rules (Yoreh Deah 268:2) that when a non-Jew comes before a rabbi and requests
to convert, the rabbi must say to him: "Why do you want to convert? Don't you
realize how much the Jewish people suffers in this world? Are you not aware
that anti-Semites persecute us and try to destroy us? Why, it was only a few
decades ago that the terrible Holocaust took place, and before that there were
countless pogroms. Even today there is much antisemitism in the world, and
many Muslims wish to do away with us. And all of this is because we are
Jewish. So why do you want to join our suffering nation? If you desire to
attain a higher level of righteousness and morality, you should be aware that
a non-Jew too can be righteous and can even reach a level of divine
inspiration." If at this point the non-Jew changes his mind about converting
there is no need to continue with the conversion process.
However, if he says, "Despite
this I desire to join you; my only concern is that I may not be worthy," he is
immediately accepted, and the second stage of the conversion process begins.
He is taught the fundamentals of Jewish faith, the prohibition against
idolatry, and a number of other laws. Then he is told, "You should know that
so long as you are not Jewish it is permissible for you to labor on the
Sabbath and to eat pork or other non-kosher animals. When you convert,
however, all of these things become forbidden, and if you violate the Torah
you will be punished." If he agrees and accepts this upon himself, he is
converted.
How Much Must the Convert
Learn Before Conversion?
One important question is,
how many laws must the convert be taught before he is asked if he is ready to
accept upon himself the commandments of the Torah? Another question is, should
he be told in detail the Torah punishments applying to one who violates the
commandments?
It is clear to all that there
is no need to teach him the entire Torah. It is sufficient to teach him some
of its foundations, and if he accepts them, it is already possible to convert
him. This is what is written in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 268:2):
"He is taught some of the
minor commandments and some of the major commandments, and he is taught some
of the punishments for violating the commandments," but, "we do not overburden
him and we are not overly strict with him."
Siftei Kohen, one of the
important commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch, explains (268:4):
"Even with regard to these
few punishments, he should not be informed of all the fine details of the
punishments, rather, he should be informed in a general manner: 'Before you
reached this level, if you ate "chelev" (animal fats prohibited by Torah law)
you would not be deserving of "karet" (excision, premature death), and if you
desecrated the Sabbath you would not be deserving of "skilah" (stoning to
death); now, when you eat chelev, etc.,' He need not be taught all of the fine
details and stringencies involved in the prohibition of chelev and Sabbath."
The reason for this is that
even if he is sincere, if he is suddenly confronted with all of the
stringencies and fine details, he will recoil and change his mind about
converting.
The Essence of the Conversion
The essence of converting to
Judaism is to accept upon oneself the yoke of the Torah and the commandments
before a rabbinic court. However, as we have learned, it is not necessary to
teach a convert before conversion all of the details of the Torah and its
commandments. Rather, he is taught the fundamentals, and if he demonstrates a
willingness to accept the Yoke of the Torah, he is converted immediately, and
thereafter continues to study and to grow as a Jew.
This practice has its source
in a number of Talmudic anecdotes (Shabbat 31a):
Once, a non-Jew came before
Shammai the Elder and said to him, "I wish to convert, but I will only do so
on the condition that you teach me the entire Torah on one foot." Shammai
pushed him away, reasoning that it is impossible to teach a person the entire
Torah on one foot. But the same individual came before Hillel the Elder, and
Hillel agreed to convert him, saying, "That which is undesirable to you, do
not do to your fellow. This is the entire Torah, the rest is all commentary."
In other words, the idea that
a person should not do to others that which he himself finds undesirable is
the central idea of the Torah, and everything else is an expansion upon this
idea, and in order to understand this you must continue studying.
On another occasion a non-Jew
came before Shammai the Elder and asked, "How many Torahs do you have?" "Two,"
answered Shammai, "One that is written, and another which is oral." The
non-Jew said, "I can accept the written one, but I cannot accept the oral one.
Convert me on the condition that you teach me only the written Torah." Shammai
scolded him and sent him away. He went to Hillel, and Hillel converted him.
Hillel started teaching him and finally convinced him to believe in the Oral
Torah.
On one more occasion, there
was a non-Jew who heard about the clothing of the High Priest, and he became
filled with the desire to become Jewish. He came before Shammai the Elder and
said, "I would like you to convert me on the condition that I be able to wear
the clothes of the High Priest." Shammai the Elder immediately pushed him
away, for it is well known that a convert cannot become a High Priest, and
hence is not allowed to wear the clothing of High Priest. The same person came
approached Hillel and said to him, "I would like you to convert me on the
condition that I be able to wear the clothes of the High Priest," and Hillel
accepted him and converted him.
Yet the law says that if a
non-Jew is not ready to accept upon himself all of the commandments, it is
forbidden to convert him. How, then, did Hillel convert this non-Jew who only
agreed to fulfill the written Torah? And How did Hillel accept the person who
wished to convert on the condition that he be allowed to wear the clothes of
the High Priest? After all, is it not forbidden for any non-Kohen, including a
convert, to wear the clothes of the High Priest?
Hillel, in his great wisdom,
understood that these non-Jews had pure and good intentions, and only lacked
the ability to express themselves in a fitting manner. He was certain that
when it came down to it, they would continue to learn Torah and fulfill all of
the commandments (Tosafot, Yevamot 109b, s.v. "Rah"). From here we learn that
it is unnecessary to learn all of the Torah's laws before converting; it is
sufficient that the rabbinic court reach the conclusion that the convert
earnestly intends to join the Jewish people and accept upon himself the Yoke
of the Torah (Beit Yosef 268, end).
The sages teach (Shabbat 31a)
that years later these three converts happen to be together in one place, and
they said, "In his strictness, Shammai sought to drive us out of the world; in
his humility, Hillel brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence."
However, this is a very
difficult decision for the rabbinic court to reach. If, on the one hand, the
prospective convert is sincere in his intention to keep the commandments but
the rabbinic court suspects him of being insincere, the court causes great
damage to both the Jewish people and the convert, and is punished for this.
(This was the case, for example, when our forefathers refused to accept Timna.
She eventually distanced herself greatly from the Jewish people, marrying
Elifaz and giving birth to Amalek, who grieved the Jewish people greatly.)
On the other hand, if the
rabbinic court accepts somebody who does not intend to keep the commandments,
they will cause great damage to the Jewish people, and in this regard the
sages say (Yevamot 109b): "Evil will come upon those who accept [insincere]
converts," and "[Insincere] converts are as burdensome to Israel as a sore"
(ibid., Tosafot).
Conversion in Practice
Two matters must be clarified
by the rabbinic court before it can accept a convert: 1) Does the convert
earnestly intend to join the Jewish people, or does he harbor ulterior
motives? 2) Is the convert indeed ready to accept upon himself the Yoke of the
Torah and its commandments?
When it is clear to the
rabbinic court that the answer to these two questions is affirmative, the main
part of the conversion process is complete, and the rabbinic court proceeds to
carry out the practical aspects of the conversion. Just as the Jewish people
entered a covenant with the Almighty via three acts - circumcision, ritual
immersion, and sacrifice - so must the non-Jew who seeks to join us enter the
covenant of the Jewish people via circumcision, ritual immersion, and
sacrifice.
Because today the Holy Temple
does not exist, and it is therefore impossible to offer sacrifices, Jewish law
rules that it is possible to convert without offering a sacrifice. However,
regarding circumcision and ritual immersion there is no change, and one who
has not carried out these two acts is not a convert.
The Sridei Esh was asked what
the law is in a case where, because of medical reasons, the prospective
convert is unable to be circumcised. Is it possible to accept him as a convert
or not? He answers that because the non-Jew cannot be circumcised it is
impossible to accept him as a convert. And he adds that Rabbi Kook concurred
with him on this ruling.
This, of course, applies to
men. Yet regarding a woman, when the rabbinic court becomes convinced that she
wishes to accept upon herself the Torah and the commandments, she need only
immerse in a mikveh (ritual bath).
Accepting the Commandments
No other people in the world
possess an institution resembling Jewish conversion. Some countries give right
of citizenship to foreign immigrants, and this parallels the concept of a "ger
toshav" in Jewish law. A ger toshav is a non-Jew who is permitted to live in
the land of Israel on the condition that he keep the Seven Noachide Laws. He
must also recognize our exclusive right the Land of Israel together with all
of the authority derived from this right.
An institution like Jewish
conversion, however, does not exist in any people or nation. An Italian who
immigrates to America remains Italian. This, however, is not the case
regarding Jewish conversion. A convert to Judaism becomes Jewish in all
respects - not only as far as citizen rights are concerned but also as far as
absolute national belonging.
Therefore, the foremost
condition of conversion is that the convert accept upon himself the Torah. It
is possible to say that the Torah of Israel is essentially an expression of
the national character of the Jewish people. The spirit of the Torah and the
spirit of the nation are one. Therefore, it is unthinkable that a person
convert without embracing the Torah. Just as the Jewish people became a nation
by accepting the Torah at Mount Sinai, so must one who wishes to join the
Jewish people accept upon himself the Torah as an individual before a rabbinic
court.
Therefore, from a legal point
of view, the rabbinic court's main consideration is whether or not the
prospective convert is indeed ready to accept the Torah and its commandments.
And so long as the rabbinic court is uncertain about the veracity of the
convert's intentions, it is unable to convert him. However, if after the
rabbinic court becomes convinced that the convert's intentions are pure and
goes ahead and converts him, the convert begins to neglect the Torah, he
nonetheless continues to be considered Jewish. Just as a Jew who does not yet
observe all of the commandments of the Torah is nonetheless considered Jewish,
so a convert who subsequently neglects the Torah remains Jewish.
Defining the Acceptance of
the Commandments.
We have learned that it is
impossible to accept a convert so long as he is unwilling to accept the Yoke
of the Torah and its commandments. However, there is no need to teach him all
of the complexities of the law, because even a convert whose intentions are
pure is liable to recoil and reverse his intentions if he hears at once all of
the details of the Torah and its commandments.
Rather, we teach him the
essentials, beginning with commandments relating Jewish faith, and,
conversely, the prohibition against of idolatry. Thereafter, we move on
commandments which tell us how to behave toward others, and then we teach him
the fundamental laws relating to the Sabbath, family purity, and kosher diet.
What if the convert is
prepared in principle to accept upon himself the Yoke of the Torah and its
commandments, but he believes that from time to time he will have to
transgress some of the commandments?
Strictly speaking, it is
clear that there is no dispensation for desecrating the Sabbath, even
occasionally; neither is it permissible even in difficult conditions to eat
forbidden foods. Nonetheless, the imminent R' Chaim Ozer Grodinski, ("The
Achiezer") holds that it is possible to convert such a person. This is because
we relate to the acceptance of commandments in principle. In principle, the
convert has agreed to take upon himself observance of the commandments, and it
is only on occasion that he believes he will transgress.
Although there are important
authorities who disagree with this opinion, in practice, many follow the
ruling of Rabbi Grodinski, and if it is clear to the rabbinic court that the
convert accepts the commandments in principle, it is possible to convert him.
However, conversion by a
reform or conservative Jew is no conversion at all because the convert does
not accept all of the commandments in principle.
To other
english pages
הכומר שהתגייר
-
סיפור מדהים
עוד בהיותו כומר אוונגליסטי שעמד בראש כנסיה גדולה בהולנד,
גילה ברט וודגוויק משיכה בלתי מוסברת לעם היהודי.
11/09/07
משפחה
/
דוד דמן
עוד
בהיותו כומר אוונגליסטי שעמד בראש כנסיה גדולה בהולנד, גילה ברט וודגוויק משיכה
בלתי מוסברת לעם היהודי. בכנסיה שלו, כאשר למד עם אנשיו תנך, הם עשו סדר פסח,
ישבו בסוכה, קבעו לימוד חומש עם רשי ואפילו שרו בצוותא שירים של מרדכי בן-
דוד... ה'בעיה' נוצרה כאשר לא מצאו בתנך שום רמז ל'חג המולד', והתחילו לפקפק
באמיתות הנצרות. מכאן, דרכו של האיש העקשן השואף לאמת הייתה סלולה- ליהדות.דבר
בחזותו השקטה של האיש היושב מולי אינו מסגיר את עברו, או את הסערה שהתחוללה
בקרבו במשך שנים.
עיניו
הכחולות בולטות על רקע תווי פניו הצנומים,
זיפי זקן מעטרים את סנטרו,
כיפה שחורה גדולה מכסה את ראשו ורק ההולנדית שבפיו מעידה את מוצאו.
בבוקר יום ראשון סגרירי באנטוורפן,
אנו מסבים בסלון ביתו.
בעצם,
קשה לכנות את החדר סלון.
מדובר במרתף קטן שכור,
השוכן מתחת לבית רחב ידיים באזור היהודי של אנטוורפן.
בחדר הצר,
במטרים הספורים,
מתגוררת כל משפחת ציון,
האבא אריאל,
עקרת הבית שלומית,
והילדים,
מנחם וישיב לוי.
שם,
מעיר אריאל ציון כבדרך אגב,
היה לנו בית יפה,
גדול ומרווח.
אבל הוא כבר מזמן לא
'שם'.
הוא
נמצא בעולם אחר,
בגן העדן הפרטי שלו.
סוף סוף הגיע אל המנוחה ואל הנחלה.במהלך
השעתיים הבאות ננהל מאבק נסתר,
שבמהלכו הוא ירצה לשכוח את עברו,
ואילו אני דווקא אחטט בו שוב ושוב.
גם כשאבקש ממנו תמונות ומסמכים מן העבר,
לא יהיה לו מה לתת.
את הכל הוא השמיד.
סיפורו המדהים והבלתי שגרתי של ר'
אריאל ציון,
מתחיל בסיפורו של ברט וודווייק ההולנדי.
וודוויק היה כומר נוצרי פופולארי שעמד בראש כנסייה נוצרית גדולה,
ואילו אריאל הוא יהודי מאמין,
בעל אמונה לוהטת,
ונשמה יהודית יוקדת.
לפני כן,
כשהייתי
'שם',
מעולם לא הרגשתי בבית,
מספר ר'
אריאל.
חשתי מין סוג של חסר פנימי.
גם כשכולם מסביבי רקדו והתהוללו,
אני התהלכתי בתחושת ריקנות.
חשבתי כל הזמן,
בשביל מה אני חי בעולם הזה?
ידעתי שאני חי בשביל הקדוש ברוך הוא,
אבל לא הצלחתי לתרגם את זה לדרך חיים.
ידעתי שאני צריך להיות דתי יותר,
ובזמנו להיות דתי יותר היה להיות נוצרי טוב יותר.
אריאל ציון נולד ברוטרדם,
עיר נמל הולנדית,
למשפחה פרוט-סטנטית
אדוקה.
היינו נוצרים,
אבל תמיד היה לנו קשר חם לעם היהודי.
תמכנו מאוד בישראל.
אני זוכר את הדאגה הרבה של סבא בזמן מלחמת יום הכיפורים.
חשתי קשר עז לארץ ישראל,
ואספתי תמונות ופרסומים על אודותיה.
קהילת
'שלום'
הנוצרית וודווייק לא הסתפק בחינוך הנוצרי שקיבל,
ופנה לחפש תשובות על השאלות ועל הספקות שהתחילו להתעורר בקרבו.
בהיותו כריזמטי,
התאספה סביבו חבורת צעירים שגם הם לא היו שלמים עם דרכם הנוצרית.
באופן כללי,
היה להם רצון עז לשוב לדת,
הוא אומר.
הם הפסיקו להתהולל,
והתחילו להתעמק בשאלות של דת ואמונה.
בשלב ראשון התחילו ללמוד תנך בצוותא.
עם הלימוד והמחקר התגברו השאלות והספקות,
ובמאי
1998
החליטו להכריז על הקמת כנסייה אוונגליסטית נפרדת. (אוונגליזם
הוא זרם מודרני בנצרות,
ונחשב למתון יותר מהזרם הקתולי הקשוח.
האוונגליסטים,
בניגוד לקתולים,
אוהבים את ישראל ותומכים בה.)
הקבוצה מנתה מאות אנשים,
וודווייק הפך למנהיגם.
לקהילה הם העניקו שם עברי: 'שלום'.
הכנסייה החדשה שהקומה בעיר דורדרכט בלטה בתמיכתה הבלתי מסויגת בישראל.
חבריה הגיעו לארץ כדי לחלק זרי פרחים ומתנות לנפגעי טרור פלסטיני,
ואף ארגנו טיסות לארץ.
במהלך האינתיפאדה יזמו אנשי הקהילה מכתב תמיכה באריאל שרון,
ראש הממשלה דאז,
שאותו כתבו
25
ראשי כנסיות בהולנד,
ומכתב מחאה לראש ממשלת הולנד,
על אי תמיכתו המספקת בישראל.
הבסיס לכנסייה היה התנך.
חברי הקהילה למדו אותו וניסו להבין את הדת הנוצרית לפיו-
ניסיון שלא ממש צלח.
השאלות שלנו רק הלכו והתרבו,
במקביל ללימודי התנך,
מספר ציון.
ניסינו ליישם מה שכתוב בתנך,
וזה חייב אותנו להתייחס ברצינות למועדים היהודיים.
למשל,
כשקראנו בתנך על כך שחייבים להקים סוכות בחג הסוכות,
קראנו לאספה מיוחדת,
ובה החלטנו שהיות שאנחנו מחויבים לתנך,
אין לנו ברירה אלא לקיים מצווה זו.
אז הקמנו סוכות.
כשהגענו לחודש ניסן,
ובתנך הרי כתוב שחייבים לשמור על מצוות החג,
החלטנו שאנחנו עורכים סדר פסח.
לא ידענו בדיוק מה לעשות,
ונעזרנו בהוראות הסדר שמצאנו בתקשורת המקוונת.
היה זה מידע שהגיע מיהודים משומדים,
יהודים שהתנצרו,
אך נהגו לשמור על סממנים יהודים,
ובכלל זה ערכו סדר פסח.
מיותר לומר שבסדר שלהם הם השתילו מסרים נוצריים מובהקים,
והחליפו שמות של אישים יהודים בנוצרים,
להבדיל.
אבל זה מה שהיה לנו באותו רגע.
לא
הכרנו את הדבר האמיתי.
לא ידענו בכלל שקיים משהו אחר.
ואז הגענו לחג המולד,
החגא הנוצרי הידוע.
התחלנו לשאול את עצמנו:
רגע,
איפה זה כתוב בתנך?
איפה כתוב בכלל שצריך לחגוג את החג הזה?
התחלנו לפקפק גם בחגא של ימי ראשון,
במקום יום המנוחה המצוין במפורש בתנך,
השבת.
כך התגלגלנו מספק אחד למשנהו,
עד שכבר התחלנו לפקפק בקול רם באמיתות הנצרות כולה.
החבורה לא נעצרה בשמירת השבת והחגים.
ברגע שהחלטנו שהתורה נכונה ואמתית,
התחלנו ללמוד אותה בעיון.
למדנו בצוותא חומש עם פירוש רשי,
שרנו שירים עבריים כמו
'אתה
תקום', 'ייבנה
המקדש'
ושירים של מרדכי בן דוד.
זה כבר היה בשלב מאוחר יותר.
בברית
יחד כך,
כשרגל אחת פה והאחרת שם,
ובדרך שאינה ברורה לאיש,
התנהלה הכנסייה המוזרה הזאת,
עד שבכל רחבי המדינה יצא שמעה של הכנסייה הנוצרית שחבריה שומרים בקפידה על
שבתות וחגים יהודיים.
נציגי הקהילה הוזמנו להרצות את משנתם בפני כנסיות אחרות ובכינוסים תיאולוגיים
שונים.
איך הגיבו הקולגות מהכנסיות האחרות?
התגובות היו מעורבות.
חלק עודדו אותנו,
אבל חלק כעסו מאוד.
הם טענו שאף שהחגים היהודיים מופיעים בתנך,
הרי שאותו האיש הורה לבטלם ולהחליפם בחגאות הנוצריים.
גם את השאלות שהתעוררו בו לא שמר הכומר בליבו.
להיכן שהיה מגיע,
היה מעלה אותן ודורש תשובות ברורות.
בכל כינוס נוצרי מזדמן היה מבקש לדעת מפני מה הפנו הנוצרים עורף לתנך.
פעם
כשהייתי בארץ,
מספר ר'
אריאל,
הוזמנתי להרצות בכנסייה של מומרים בתל אביב ובטבריה,
וגם שם הצגתי את השאלה שהציקה לי: 'הרי
בברית החדשה כתוב שהתורה היא אמת,
ואתם חייבים לשמור אותה,
אז למה אתם מפנים לה עורף?,
ומה הייתה התגובה שלהם?
הם זרקו אותי מכל המדרגות.
במקום לענות לעניין,
הם בחרו להחרים אותי.
את הצעד השערורייתי הבא עשה ברט שכשנולד לו בנו הבכור.
הוא החליט שאם הוא מאמין למה שכתוב בתורה,
הוא חייב למול את בנו.
סיפרת
את זה למישהו?
לא סיפרתי לאיש.
פחדתי שיצחקו עליי.
בשקט חיפשתי מוהל,
ומצאתי מוהל יהודי ליברלי שביצע את הברית.
הברית לבן גררה בעקבותיה ברית נוספת-
לו עצמו.
קראתי בתנך שאחרת אני לא אוכל להיכנס לבית המקדש,
הוא מסביר.
למרות ארבע הכוסות,
הסוכה ושמירת השבת-
לאורך כל אותה תקופה נותר ברט וודווייק נוצרי אדוק.
המנהגים היהודיים שהנהיג בקהילתו לא הפכו אותו ליהודי מאמין.
עם הזמן החלו להתגנב לליבו ספקות גדולים.
עדיין הלכתי לכנסייה כל יום.
כראש הכנסייה ערכתי את כל הטקסים,
אבל לא הייתי שלם עם עצמי.
התמודדתי עם הרהורי
'כפירה'
מובהקים בנצרות.
הקרב
הקשה ביותר התנהל בתוכי בשאלה:
האם להמשיך ולהפיץ את בשורת הנצרות,
אף שכבר איני מאמין בה?
במקביל,
הבחנתי שלרבים מהחברים רגשות מעורבים כלפי הנצרות.
לאחר דיונים ארוכים וסוערים קיבלנו את ההחלטה המשמעותית בתולדות הכנסייה שלנו:
אנחנו לא מזכירים יותר את שמו של אותו האיש.
אנחנו מדברים מעתה רק על השם,
בורא העולם.
עבורנו,
יש אלוקים אחד ויחיד בעולם.
עד לפני כמה שנים החלטה כזאת נחשבה להזויה לחלוטין.
ווודווייק היה נוצרי אדוק,
מכובד ומפורסם,
שעשה נפשות רבות לנצרות.
המהפך שעבר עליו היה אפוא קיצוני ביותר.
ניצוץ
יהודי באותן שנים שבהן התייסר בשאלות על אודות דרכו הנוצרית,
נתקל וודווייק בגילוי מסעיר.
בן משפחתו שערך תחקיר מעמיק על שורשי המשפחה,
גילה שסב המשפחה,
לפני מאה שנה,
היה יהודי כשר בשם שלמה לוי.
שלמה לוי הגיע מספרד או מפורטוגל,
והתיישב במחוז פריסלנד שבצפון הולנד,
שם הפך לאחד מראשי הלוחמים נגד הכובשים הצרפתיים.
האיש התנצר,
ונשא גויה.
הגילוי הזה,
מספר ציון,
גרם לי להבין מהיכן נובעים הרהורי ה'כפירה'
שלי.
התחלתי להבין בעצם נמצא במקום הלא נכון,
ושאני חייב לחזור לדרך אבותיי בהקדם האפשרי.
לאחר מעשה הבנתי שדלק בי ניצוץ יהודי.
כחבר בקהילה אוהדת ישראל,
ביקר הכומר פעמים רבות בארץ.
באחד מביקוריו פגש יהודים דתיים.
הרגשתי טוב בחברתם,
משחזר ר'
אריאל.
פתאום הרגשתי קרבת אלוקים גדולה,
הרבה יותר ממה שהרגשתי בחברה הנוצרית ביקור משמעותי נוסף היה ביישוב סוסיא,
שם פגש בן ישיבה והתחבר עימו.
הם שוחחו רבות בענייני דת,
וודווייק חש שהוא מחבב את הצעיר הזה.
הוא נפגש עם אנשים דתיים נוספים,
והדברים ששמע מהם הביאו אותו לרצון להתגייר.
לפני
ההחלטה הסופית עוד הייתה לו שורה של אי הבנות בתנך.
החלטתי שאם אני מקבל תשובות על השאלות האלה,
אין לי ברירה אלא להתגייר.
לעזוב את הכל,
את החיים הנוחים,
את חיי החברה והמשפחה השלווים,
ולהקריב אותם על מזבח האמת היחידה שלי.
כבר אז ידעתי שעליתי על דרך שאין ממנה חזרה.
והתשובות
הגיעו?
ודאי.
הן הגיעו אלי בדואל,
והיו כמים קרים על נפש עייפה.
זהו זה,
אמרתי לעצמי.
אני מתגייר.
עליי לשוב לדת אבותיי,
לדתו היהודית של סבי שלמה לוי,
האיש שמכל צאצאיו לא נשאר אף יהודי אחד.
אני,
החלטתי,
אשיב עטרה ליושנה.
האנשים
בכנסייה שלך ידעו על ההחלטה?
בהתחלה לא,
אף שידעו שאני מחפש את דרכי.
אבל לא חיכיתי זמן רב.
שיגרתי מכתב אישי לכל חברי הקהילה,
שבו הודעתי להם על החלטתי.
ציינתי במפורש את כל הספקות שהתעוררו בי בקשר לאמיתות הדת הנוצרית.
כתבתי גם שלדעתי,
היה אותו האיש מסיח ומדיח,
שעל פי התנך,
בספר דברים,
הוא חייב מיתה,
ולכן הוא הומת.
דברים כאלו מפי אדם שנחשב עד לאותו רגע לנוצרי מאמין ולמטיף כריזמטי מפורסם,
היו בגדר רעידת אדמה בקהילה הנוצרית בהולנד כולה.
המכתב הופץ עד מהרה גם בקרב חוגים מחוץ לכנסייה,
והפך לשיחת היום.
וודווייק
היה אישיות מפורסמת בקרב הקהילה האוונגליסטית הגדולה בהולנד,
וצעדו עורר תדהמה רבה ומורת רוח בקרב רבים מבניה.
ואילו וודווייק עצמו חש שלם עם החלטתו.
הוא הרגיש שעול גדול ירד מכתפיו.
אבל גם היה לו קשה.
קשה מאוד.
הפיצו עליי דברים רעים.
אמרו עליי הכל.
וזה כאב.
חברים ותיקים וטובים זנחו אותי.
היה לי חבר מילדות שעזב אותי ברגע שנודע לו על החלטתי להתגייר.
הוא אמר לי לפני שנפרד ממני:
'אתה
הולך לגיהנום,
ואני לא רוצה להכיר אותך יותר.
ידעת לקראת מה אתה הולך?
ידעתי שיהיה לי קשה,
אבל לא שיערתי עד כמה.
תמיד התעודדתי מהמחשבה שהעם היהודי סבל כל כך הרבה בכל שנות קיומו,
בגלל יהדותו,
והנה,
גם אני שהצטרפתי אל העם הזה עובר את מנת הייסורים שלי.
ידעתי שאני צועד בדרכו של האלוקים,
והייתי מאושר.
אפילו שאיבדתי את מקור פרנסתי ואת מרבית ידידיי-
הכל היה שווה.
היו הרהורי חרטה?
אף לא לרגע.
'מסוכן'
לדו-
קיום חרטות לא היו,
אבל היו קשיים.
הבית שבו התגורר ברט וודווייק נלקח ממנו,
והוא עבר להתגורר בתנאים איומים,
בדירת חדר ליד משפחת אשתו,
כשהוא מחוסר כל.
השלב הבא היה ההכרזה הרשמית על פירוק הכנסייה שבראשה עמד.
הרבנים שאתם עמד בקשר הציעו לו להתנתק כלילי מהעבר הנוצרי שלו,
ולזנוח את פעילותו בכנסייה.
חברי הקהילה העריכו את החלטתו של וודווייק,
אך לא לכולם היה האומץ להצטרף אליו.
מתי מעט החלו בתהליכי גיור,
שעדיין נמשכים,
והשאר החליטו להישאר בסטטוס של
'בני
נח'
ולשמור את שבע המצוות.
הרבנים
גם הסבירו לברט שאי אפשר לגייר את כולם בבת אחת,
אלא כל אחד מהם חייב לעבור תהליך גיור אישי.
גם היום מנסה ציון לסייע לאותם אנשים שעדיין מתנדנדים בין שני העולמות,
ומתקשים לבצע את המעבר.
לעומת החברים שעודדו אותו,
ראשי כנסיות וקולגות לשעבר שיגרו אליו מסרים מאיימים.
הם המטירו על ראשו את כל העונשים שבעולם-
מהגהנום וד לכף הקלע-
על שהעז לחצות את הקווים,
ועוד להשמיץ את מנהיגם בפומבי.
אמרו עליי שאני מסוכן לדו קיום הדתי במדינה,
אומר ר'
אריאל,
משועשע.
עד היום הוא ממשיך לקבל מכתבים ודואלים בעלי תוכן פוגע מחברים לשעבר.
גם ביום הראיון ל'משפחה'
קיבל ציון דואל מכומר הולנדי.
אתה חסר הצלה,
ואתה אבוד לעולמי עד,
כתב הכומר דה יונג.
אלו שכן גילו הבנה ואפילו הערכה נסתרת היו בני המשפחה הקרובה.
באותם ימים,
באו השורשים היהודיים של משפחתי לידי ביטוי.
מצד אחד הם דאגו לי,
וחששו מהעתיד שמצפה לי,
ומהצד האחר הם העניקו לי הסכמה שבשתיקה.
כשהודעתי להם על הצעד שלי,
הם אמרו לי:
'אריאל,
זה טוב בשבילך'.
אחותי אפילו אמרה שהיא מקנאה בי.
אחי הגדול ביקר אותי כדי לשמוע על החלטתי ממקור ראשון.
כשהגיע,
שאל אותי: 'זה
נכון שאתה מתכוון להתגייר?'
כשעניתי בחיוב הוא רק רצה לדעת מה הייתה הסיבה
'אתה
יודע למה?'
אמרתי לו,
'בגלל
סיבה אחת פשוטה:
משום שאבות אבותיי היו יהודים,
והצאצאים שלהם עשו טעות כשהתנתקו מהיהדות והתערבו בגויים.
היום אני,
הנכד שלהם,
מתקן את הטעות הזאת'.
אחי הקשיב בתשומת לב,
הרהר קצת ואמר: 'אתה
יודע מה,
ברט?
אני מבין את הטיעון שלך.
אני אפילו מזדהה איתו'.
ואז הוסיף משפט שריגש אותי: 'ברט,
לראשונה בחיי אני מזהה בהתנהגותך שלווה אמיתית.
ממשפחתה של האישה הייתה התמיכה אף גדולה יותר.
לא רק תמיכה,
אלא שהחותן והחותנת החליטו להצטרף אל בתם וחתנם,
והחלו לעת זקנתם בתהליכי גיור.
הם אנשים מבוגרים,
והתהליך איננו יכול להתבצע במהירות,
מבהיר ר'
אריאל.
רגע
סוחט דמעות כאשר החליט וודווייק להתגייר,
הוא לא ממש ידע מה עליו לעשות.
בתחילה יצר קשר עם רב רפורמי שאותו הכיר.
עד מהרה הבחין שמדובר בהצגה חלולה שאין בה מאומה,
ופנה לקהילה החרדית של אמסטרדם,
אך שם הובהר לו כי הם אינם עוסקים בגיורים.
בצר לו פנה וודווייק לחבריו בארץ.
אלו הפנו אותו אל הרב ברוך הרניק,
רמ בישיבת יבנה באנטוורפן.
בינו לבין הרב הרניק נוצר קשר הדוק,
שנמשך עד עצם היום הזה.
מספר חודשים לפני הגיור החל המיועד להתגייר מגיע לשבתות לאנטוורפן,
ושם היה לומד יהדות מפיו של הרב הרניק.
אין לי מילים להגדיר את האמונה המופלאה של האיש הזה,
אומר הרב הרניק ל'משפחה'.
הוא היה מודע לכל הקשיים שניצבים מולו.
ישבתי
איתו שעות על גבי שעות ושכנעתי אותו לא לעשות את הצעד הזה.
הצעתי לו להמשיך בדרכו הנוכחית,
לשמור על שבע מצוות בני נח וזהו.
אבל את אריאל לא עניין שום תחליף אחר.
הוא רצה להיות יהודי אמיתי וגאה.
אמרתי לו:
בשביל מה אתה צריך את זה?
בניך יסבלו מאנטישמיות,
או יתפוצצו חו באוטובוסים.
תיארתי לו את כל הקשיים שהוא עתיד לעבור,
חברתית ומשפחתית,
בתור גר.
גם בית הדין הציע לו ברגע האחרון לחזור בו,
ולהישאר גוי כשר שמקיים שבע מצוות בני נח.
אבל אריאל לא רצה לשמוע.
הוא כל הזמן אמר:
'אלוקים
הוא שהביא אותי עד הלום,
והוא שיוביל אותי הלאה.
הרב הרניק ליווה את משפחת ציון בכל שלב משלבי הגיור.
הוא הושיט להם יד תומכת ברגעים הקשים.
אחד מהם היה כאשר במהלך ההכנה לגיור,
חלה אבי רעייתו בסרטן קשה.
החברים הנוצרים שמחו לאידם.
הם טענו שהם נענשים על כך שהפנו עורף לנצרות.
הם
באו אליי עם הסיפור,
אומר הרב הרניק,
ואני עודדתי אותם.
אמרתי להם שאי אפשר לחשב חשבונו של עולם,
ושהם צריכים לצעוד הלאה בדרך שהם בחרו,
בלי שום קשר לכך.
הפלא הגדול התרחש,
כאשר למרות הסיכויים הקלושים שהעניקו לו הרופאים,
החלים חותנו לחלוטין מהמחלה.
ר'
אריאל ציון ורעייתו הגיעו לארץ ישראל,
התגיירו על פי ההלכה,
ונישאו שוב כדת משה וישראל בטקס מרגש בעיר העתיקה בירושלים,
במקום המשקיף על הכותל המערבי.
גם במעמד הגיור עצמו,
בבית הדין בתל-
אביב,
השתתף הרב הרניק.
זה היה מעמד מרגש מאוד,
הוא אומר.
הרגע שבו הכריז אריאל
'שמע
ישראל ד'
אלוקינו ד'
אחד',
וקיבל עליו לשמור את התורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה,
היה רגע סוחט דמעות.
אריאל עצמו נשבר באמצע ונחנק מבכי.
בית הדין הקשה עליו ועל משפחתו מאוד.
הדיינים שאלו אותם שאלות קשות ומסובכות,
ועל כולן הם ענו בבהירות שהדהימה את דייני ההרכב.
משישה עשר זוגות שעמדו באותו יום לפני הדיינים,
הם היו היחידים שהתקבלו.
כשנשאל לשם היהודי שבו בחר,
ענה-
אריאל ציון.
למה בחרת דווקא את שם זה?
כי אני רוצה לקום כארי לעבודת השם,
ואריאל רומז גם על בית המקדש,
הקרוב כל כך לליבי.
מעמד הגירות עצמו הותיר בו רשמים עזים.
הדיינים התפעלו מאוד מהידיעות שלנו ומהנכונות שלנו,
אף שהשאלות שלהם היו קשות מאוד,
הוא אומר.
מאזין לאברהם אבינו
- כששב
הביתה להולנד,
הבין שבתור יהודי לא יוכל להמשיך לחיות במקום שאין בו יהודים.
הרגשתי כמו בגלות,
הוא מסביר את החלטתו להגר לאנטוורפן,
לתקופה של שנה.
וכך נותר ראש הכנסייה המכובד לשעבר בלי מקור פרנסה.
באין ברירה נאלץ ללמוד את מקצוע הבנקאות כדי למצוא עבודה.
לאחר חיפושים מייגעים מצא ציון עבודה בבנק להשקעות ברוטרדם.
מאז,
כל יום הוא עולה על הרכבת באנטוורפן ונוסע לרוטרדם לעבודה.
המשכורת
אינה גבוהה,
וההוצאות מרובות,
אך אריאל-
כמו יהודי מאמין-
אינו מתלונן,
במיוחד שגם במקום העבודה האירה לו ההשגחה פנים.
התברר לו שמנהל הבנק הוא צאצא למשפחה של יהודים אנוסים המגלה הבנה לצרכים
המיוחדים שלו כיהודי חרדי,
ומתיר לו לעזוב מוקדם יותר בימי שישי ובערבי חג.
זה לא קל,
הוא מודה.
אך לא לאורך זמן.
באוגוסט
של שנה זו יארוז ציון את שארית מיטלטליו,
ייפרד מהמרתף הדחוס ובעזרת השם יעבור לגור באחד מהיישובים בארץ.
בארץ הוא מתכנן למצוא עבודה בתחום הבנקאות,
אך חולם בד בבד על עבודה באחד מן הארגונים שפועלים נגד המיסיון.
מי כמוני מכיר את התנועה המיסיונרית מבפנים,
הוא אומר.
אני מכיר את סגנון המחשבה שלהם,
את כל הטריקים ואת כל הטיעונים שהם מגייסים לצדקת דרכם.
אני חושב שאני מסוגל להתמודד אתם יפה.
אם אצליח למנוע רק מיהודי אחד להשתמד,
הכל היה שווה.
בינתיים הוא אינו מבטל אף רגע אחד.
בערבים,
לאחר יום עבודה מפרך,
ובימי ראשון,
הוא לומד עם חברותות,
ומנסה להשלים את הפער.
מצבו הכלכלי אינו מזהיר,
העתיד עדיין לוט בערפל,
אך אריאל הוא המאושר באדם.
בשבת האחרונה,
מספר הרב הרניק,
הוא סיפר את סיפורו האישי לבחורי הישיבה במשך שעות ארוכות,
עד לחצות,
הם ישבו ובלעו כל מילה בשקיקה.
למחרת פנה אליי אחד הבחורים ואמר לי נרגש כולו: 'הרגשתי
ממש שאני מאזין לאברהם אבינו.
