My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 9

My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 9

This is part 9 of the 11 part series on the writer's journey back to Judaism. For the other parts, read this. My husband was on his own journey out of the wilderness. He was googling something odd about his family just for fun.  Most of his family were Polish, but some of them claimed to be Hispanic, not a usual mix:)  To his surprise, his family name showed up on a Sephardic Jewish name list. What? Could his family be Jewish too, we wondered with excitement? We ordered one of those new, fangl


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

CHapter 22y - Poured his soul to death

CHapter 22y - Poured his soul to death

Continued from Chapter 22x 53:12: “because he had poured out his soul to death” Many have poured out their soul to death “Because he has poured out (‘arah) his soul to death” is the reason the servant will be rewarded. This cannot refer to the Gospels’ Jesus if the phrase means to die willingly. Jesus “poured out his soul,” that is, died on the cross unwillingly, saying at the last moment: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). According to Matthew/Mark, hi


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 10

My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 10

This is part 10 of the 11 part series on the writer's journey back to Judaism. For the other parts, read this. The grand search had begun! My husband and I were on a Torah journey of discovery.  Who truly was the real Messiah?  We read books that compared the Torah verses and the NT.  Did they really agree as we had been taught and taught others? We had many obstacles to leaving the faith.  We had been taught, unlike others in mainstream Christianity, that “Yeshua,” and yes even Paul the “apos


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 11

My Journey Home to Judaism - Part 11

This is the last part of the 11 part series on the writer’s journey back to Judaism. For the other parts, read this. Home at last . . . I called up the closest full synagogue to me.  That was over two hours away and in another state!  I left a long message about how I was a Jew who wanted to come home and we waited.  Holding my breath at the sound of the phone ringing, my heart beat with extra fervency. It is was the rabbi of a local Chabad house on the line!  Yes, he would meet with us right


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

During the Messianic Age: Who will be resurrected?

During the Messianic Age: Who will be resurrected?

Within Jewish tradition, the resurrection of the dead is one of its core principles of faith. Maimonides, who is also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, or Rambam, composed the thirteen principles of Jewish faith. These thirteen principles are included in every Jewish prayer book, and are recited as a liturgical to this day. For example, the Amidah prayer recited thrice daily by traditional Jews includes a blessing praising God as the resurrector of the dead. The thirteenth principle is the beli


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Blood Atonement

Blood Atonement

Christians insist that blood sacrifice is a necessary prerequisite for the atonement of sin. These Christians believe that this is an open teaching of the Jewish Scriptures. Although there is no verse which explicitly says: “without blood there is no atonement” Christians still believe that the overall testimony of the Jewish Scriptures would lead one to this conclusion. Some Christians read Leviticus 17:11 as if it were to say that there is no atonement without blood. However; a closer reading


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Three Divine Echoes: Singularity, Plurality and Oneness

Three Divine Echoes: Singularity, Plurality and Oneness

Hear O Israel, the L‑rd our G‑d, the L‑rd is one (“echad”) Deuteronomy 6:4 We usually think of the cosmic struggle in terms of good versus evil. But according to the Kabbalists, good and evil are but spinoffs of unity and divisiveness. G‑d is the ultimate oneness, and everything G‑dly in our world bears the stamp of His unity. Evil, simply stated, is the distortion of this oneness by the veil of divisiveness in which G‑d shrouds His creation. Creation, as described in the teachings of Kabbala


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

On Purim Things Are Not As They Appear

On Purim Things Are Not As They Appear

This year we celebrate the festival of Purim on March 1st. The story is recounted in the biblical book of Esther and has lessons which are relevant today, several thousand years later.Purim recalls events which took place after the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem. In 586 BCE, the Babylonian empire ransacked the Temple, burnt it and the city of Jerusalem to the ground, and exiled the Jews who were not murdered.Seventy years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Babylonian empire wa


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz