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Weekly Bracha 35

Cuddly teddy bear blog readers, fine as you are, this week’s bracha covers 2 weeks of notables in the Messianic blogosphere. I was gone fishin’ last week, you see, and had little time for this bracha business. But this week I am back with great geek vengeance.

Enjoy the totally redundant double blessing of the double bracha of tri-une Messianic, Jewish, Christian blogs + news + wondrous bits of kosher neverneverland!

New Messianic Blogs

First, I must announce 3 (count ‘em!) new Messianic blogs. Or 2 new ones, and one that’s a year old but new to me:

  • Gemara Thoughts – Jeremiah Michael has started a new blog on Talmud. Here’s to hoping it fairs better than his first attempt at blogging. :-)
  • Daily Minyan – Everyone’s favorite fearsome Messianic comment battle-daemon starts his own blog, and has some great content to start things off. Check out Sacrifices For Sin in the Messianic Kingdom for a taste of the goodness.
  • Truth Ceeker – A Messianic gentile “criticizes the Bible critics”, addressing the biblical minimalists and liberal scholars who reduce the Jewish and Christian scriptures to little more than myths. Much needed, in my opinion.

News Items

Two big news items about the Messianic movement in the Israeli media. Both quite favorable, praise God! Seeing several articles like this in the past year or two, I cautiously submit that things appear to be changing for the better.

  • Jesus lives on in Jerusalem40287_422589809794_740464794_4679306_2997718_nRabbi Levi Brackman writes on the thousands of followers of Yeshua in Israel, how they’re lawful, Zionists, serving in the IDF, honor the traditions, generally respect Judaism, and yet are persecuted by the haredi in Israel. He ends the article memorably,

    For a community living under the perpetual wrath of the haredim, who for the most part alienate and discriminate against them, Messianic Jews remain inexplicably optimistic. Perhaps it is because they still follow in the footsteps of that Galilee-born Jew who wandered into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, the one who believed in turning the other cheek.

  • The Messianic Movement –  ShowImage.ashxChief Rabbi of Efrat writes an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, encouraging dialog between Christians and Jews, and comments on the persecution of Messianic Jews in Israel. While he clearly opposes evangelism of Jews, his words are nonetheless a welcomed change from the bitter, I’m-plugging-my-ears, you’re-an-idolator ugliness we’re often greeted with.
  • New Zealand Kosher Ban – Dov Bear comments on the pending ban on kosher-slaughtered beef in New Zealand. He likens it to outlawing of…slavery? Yikes. Amusing read, at least. I love the totally non-politically correct statement: Stop taking everything so personally, you big stupid babies. Oh, Lord, I cannot count the times I could have used that statement on my not-so-fine blog readers.
  • When Scum Calls You Scum – Surprise! Finnish Amnesty International head Frank Johanson calls Israel a scum state. Then, when forced to apologize, he says, “When I said scum, I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” :-D
  • National Geographic Dead Sea Scrolls Documentary – Aaron Eby points us to a new documentary on the DSS. It’s also free to watch on YouTube. Go check it out!
  • Let us not forget the crazy politicking world we live in, me fine bloggies:

    obama-cartoon

Blogs

  • You Who Are With Us Today – Did you know the New Testament records Jews and gentiles worshiping together? This is the New Testament model, folks.
  • Thoughts on the Afterlife – Another deep post on death and the afterlife. Is there ultimate justice? This directly addresses some agnostic arguments I’ve heard from friends:
    Belief in an afterlife does not mean this life is merely an audition for the main event, but a continuation of what was started here. It is the realization of what is only hoped for in this plane of existence. Religion did not invent the notion of an afterlife as an enhancement for its followers. It reminds people that because there is an afterlife, our lives matter and the way we live our lives have meaning. It is not a superstition, but a reminder that actions matter, and the way we treat others matter. Without a belief in an afterlife, all there is, is meaninglessness, and it leaves one with the question, “why bother?”
  • Is All Life Really Sacred? – Ha. Dr. Schiffman, in his usual frank writing style, articulates why it is morally acceptable to kill animals for food and why human life is more sacred than that of any other animal’s.
  • The Wolf Will Dwell With the Lamb – Dan Benzvi argues against conversion as an original element of our faith, arguing it is a later invention, one never mentioned in the entire Tenakh.

J-BOM (Jewish Book of the Month club)

Video blogs:

  • John McKee gives a status report of the epistles study and his plans for tackling Titus next.

    Take your time to enjoy the double bracha! Eat it down and be thankful! I command it!

    And have a good week, fine Kineti blog readers.

    12 comments:

    1. Thanks for the plug Judah! It should be noted my other blog is still running, it just seems like when I started it I also happened to get caught up in a ton of stuff. More post coming soon...some time...in the future.

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    2. Lovely bracha!

      I am pleasantly surprised by Gene's blog. I really like it. I even tried not to.

      Good one Gene!

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    3. Wow! You work fast and stay up late. Thanks for linking to my latest personal blog.

      Also, I saw the commentary in the JPost and was frankly amazed. Even the comments section didn't drag Messianics through the mud.

      Oh yeah, and I'm already following one of the new blogs: Daily Minyan. That guy Gene isn't a half-bad fellow. ;-) (In case you missed it, I was joking, Gene...you're alright).

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    4. @Jeremiah, my pleasure. I hope both blogs can take off, I really enjoyed the blogs on the apostles. Talmud is not my cup of tea, but I'll be reading anyways. Worth mentioning again, IMHO the best way to get a blog off the ground is to keep throwing haymakers and have a consistent posting schedule (even if it's once a month or less). You've started both blogs off in an excellent flurry of posts. Now it's just a matter of endurance. Good luck!

      @Joe, me too, I am pleasantly surprised by Gene's blog. In my new podcast, I mentioned both Gene and Dan have surprisingly positive blogs for the most part.

      @James, Oh yeah, this bracha took about 2 hours to stitch together, finished around midnite. I keep my nose to the plow, boy! ;-)

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    5. Judah,

      Thanks for the mention.

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    6. I guess Dr. Schiffman is not aware that the Sages eqate Gentiles to animals. I guess we can eat Gentiles now....

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    7. I guess we can eat Gentiles now....

      But I don't have split hooves and I don't chew my cud. Pretty sure I'm treif. Don't eat me...please. ;-)

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    8. "I guess Dr. Schiffman is not aware that the Sages eqate Gentiles to animals."

      Dan, are you talking about Yeshua referring to the Syrophoenician woman / Gentiles as "dogs" episode, or Peter's dream of various unclean animals which turned out to me an euphemism for "Gentiles"? Or, is it about Yeshua's talking about Gentiles when talking about "sheep" from another sheep pen?

      Our sages equated idolaters to animals (as does the Bible, BTW), but they always expressed great respect and admiration for righteous Gentiles who love G-d. James has a very nice post on his congregational blog on this very subject: http://shema-yisrael.org/blogspot/2009/10/what-does-the-talmud-say-about-gentiles/

      But you already knew all that, Dan - right?

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    9. Check my blog Gene. New entry. i bet you will find it very interesting?

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    10. From Dan's blog: "I let you fine blog readers (as Judah says on his blog) ponder this for a while, as I continue to dig and bring you evidence that those modern rabbis in Israel are only standing of the shoulders of the old Sages when it comes to discriminating against Goyim. "

      This is truly sick - a Jew trying to dig up as much dirt as he can on his own ancestors and sages and Jewish leaders of old, to smear their memory and to make them make look as horrible as possible. I bet you've used or are going to use a bunch of antisemitic sites and their misquotes to dig up the cr*p on how much Jews hate Gentiles. Please post links to WHERE you found your supporting materials with every quote you make, otherwise I'll just ignore them. Thank you.

      Dan, better yet - if the Sages hated Gentiles so much as you claim, please tell me how many "goyim" were murdered by these sages, by the students of these sages, or as a result of any of these sages of their teaching? How many Gentiles starved because of these teachings. How many were mass murdered? How many lost their jobs? After you done counting the results of these supposed teachings, let's then count how many Jews were killed as a result of Gentiles' teachings against Jews. Just so that we have a proper comparison.

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    11. Can't rebut the quotes I made so far? I wonder why?

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    Appending "You might like" to each post.