Weekly Bracha 9

Apologies for late weekly bracha. I had company this weekend, and I was invested in watching my favorite team lose in the playoffs.

But enough about football, how about some tasty bracha bits? This week in the Messianic, Jewish, and Christian blogosphere:

• Sanhedrin Rabbi: Don’t discriminate against Yeshua-worshippers because of Lubavitch! – The Sanhedrin’s emissary to the Noahides, Michael Bar-Ron, states on a now-defunct website,
  
  

  Because certain members of the Lubavitch community hold that the late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, z’’l, was/is the messiah, the Sanhedrin “may” decide not to discriminate against those who hold Y’shua/Jesus to also be “an anointed one.” [Emphasis mine] 
  
  Although believing in Jesus as a prophet, messiah, or tzadik is contrary to Jewish tradition and highly improper; such beliefs do not preclude the believer from becoming a kosher returnee to the Covenant of Abraham and the Israelite nation, according to Jewish law.
  
  The absolute qualification is that no shi’tuf (association with the Deity) be made with Y’shua/Jesus, and that no prayers be directed to him, even as an intermediary. Any Sadiq, a righteous man, be he Israelite or Gentile, must only have the most direct, unmediated, personal relationship with HaShem (G-d).

  There you have it, folks, all you have to do is deny Yeshua is Lord and you may gain acceptance among some religious leaders of Judaism. Just as I predicted.
  
  
• Eating at the Master’s Table – While Yeshua is often viewed as the atoning, sacrificed Passover lamb, the author argues that is more about faith and obedience than sacrifice and atonement.
  
  
• Love the Shrimper, Hate the Shrimp? – This amusing post shows a gay rights group’s satirical campaign, “God Hates Shrimp”. The campaign is a play off of conservative Christian groups that reject the homosexual activism, highlighting a Christian double-standard: rejecting homosexuality, but eating unclean foods.
  
  
  
• Rabbi Lazer Brody on Haiti – Last week’s post of Pat Robertson on Haiti generated a good debate in the comments. In those comments, thrice I was told to read Lazer Brody’s thoughts on the matter. An interesting read.
  
  
• Schneerson “almost a supernatural being” – The head of the Sanhedrin, Adin Steinsaltz, compares the late Lubavitcher Rebbe of Crown Heights, New York, to Elijah the prophet, ascribing divine qualities to him. 
  
  It’s no secret some Lubavitchers believe Schneerson to be the divine Messiah, omnipresent, and a spiritual force through whom we can direct our prayer. In other words, they’re false-Christ-ians, failed-Messiah-anics.
  
  In some ways, this is liberating for Messianics and Christians who have long argued for the divine status of Messiah within the context of the Tenakh. On the other hand, this is disturbing because so many are being led into foolishness, following yet another false messiah.
  
  
• Rabbi Steinsaltz on Martin Luther King, Jr. – Jonathan Lasko goes to hear the same Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, head of the reformed Sanhedrin, speak on Martin Luther King, Jr. He has some interesting words to say, and suggest King’s quotes come almost entirely from the Tenakh, rather than the New Testament.
  
  
• Debate about One Law – 2 weeks ago, your beloved weekly bracha pointed you to Nate Long’s post on One Law. Since that time, a big debate, mostly respectful, has been bubbling in the comments. Worth a read.

Podcasts

• Jerusalem Council and the Messianic Movement – This is huge, folks. Months of study and engagement have culminated in this podcast, and Messianic apologist McKee looks at the modern Messianic movement’s application of the Acts 15 resolution, where we’ve erred, and where we’re headed.
  
  McKee, almost exclusively objective by habit, for once takes editorial license and goes after what he sees are the problems with the bilateral ecclesiology adhered to by many Messianic groups, particularly MJTI, UMJC, and friends, describing it as essentially another form of dispensationalism.
  
  I’ll be blogging later this week about this issue.
  
  
  
  
  
• God and the Tragedy in Haiti – Hebrew Christian Dr. Michael Brown discusses whether the Haitian disaster is judgment, or just a manifestation of natural events. Brown deals with an open mind towards both sides.

Hope you all had a good weekend, my fine blog readers. Hope you fared better than my ill-fated Vikings!