Weekly Bracha 47

Salute, fine knowledge-thirsty Kineti reader! We have some tasty goodness in the bracha this week, as we highlight gems from the Messianic blogosphere, plus related items in the Jewish and Christian worlds.

• The Man Who Mocked the KGB – Chabad.org published a fascinating story on the brother of Messianic pioneer Paul Phillip Levertoff. A detailed, riveting read on his family’s survival through poverty, Soviet suppression of Judaism, Communist state-sanctioned atheism, and the Nazi invasion.

  Father had incredible courage to keep us out of school. According to Soviet law, every child was required to attend public school. Parents who disobeyed faced severe penalties, including arrest, imprisonment, and placement of their children in government orphanages. Faced by such a threat, many fine observant Jews felt they had no choice but to let their children attend school.
  The government schools gave compulsory lessons on Marxist ideology. Teachers indoctrinated their young students with atheism, teaching them that Comrade Stalin was their father, and the Communist Party their mother...

• Pagan Roots of Christianity – Messianic organization First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ) published “What About Paganism?”: materials that temper some of the pagan characterizations of Christian holidays. They receive a flurry of angry letters from Messianics who reject pagan parts of Christianity. And in this post, the president of FFOZ responds,

  It seems that a good deal of the Hebrew-Roots-of-Christianity movement justifies its existence based upon the perceived Pagan-Roots-of-Christianity. Now if someone comes along and reveals that some of those Pagan Roots of Christianity are actually based upon misinformation, junk-scholarship, and just plain deceitful sensationalism, that's going to be a problem. First order of business would be to start hurling condemnation at anyone who would dare to look at the question impartially and honestly.

• A Review of 'What About Paganism?' – Messianic blogger James Pyles offers an independent take on the apparently inflammatory materials.
• Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged – A review on a Christian book that points out the ugly fruit of Christian replacement theology, with about 60 comments between Jews, Christians, and Messianics following.
• Near Collision – Comparing Yeshua’s teachings to that of first-century rabbi Hillel.
• Empowering Jewish Identity In Yeshua – Follow Yeshua has often meant weakening Jewish identity, but Derek argues it can strengthen this identity.
• American Rabbinical Statement On Gentiles Renting Property In Israel – Israeli rabbis recently voted to oppose non-Jews renting land in Israel. Now, the American Rabbinic Council issued a statement opposing the Israel rabbis. I wonder, how do Messianics view gentiles renting land in Israel? 
• Mussar: Calmness – Messianic Rabbi Russ Resnik on the virtue of calmness in one’s life, with an example from the Tenakh.
• Intermarriage Stats on Jews in the US – Messianic Jewish author and intellectual David Rudolph summarizes some interesting demographics among Jews and Messianic Jews in the US.
• Reasons for the Season – A Messianic rabbi giving a teaching on Christmas to a church group? See what he has to say, it might surprise you.

Savor the tasty bracha morsels! May you have a shavua tov, my fine blog readers.