jewish


Messianic groups fly under Valley's Radar

Messianic groups fly under Valley's Radar

BETH SHAPIRO Staff Writer, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix http://www.jewishaz.com/issues... While driving along Valley streets, you might do a double take when you notice a sidewalk sign advertising Shabbat services on Saturday mornings at congregations called Beth Simchat Hamashiach, Baruch HaShem or Beth Yachad. The names may sound authentically Jewish, but if you listen closely, you will hear a different tune. They are members of the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Sy


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Do you have to be Jewish to be OK with God?

Do you have to be Jewish to be OK with God?

Do you have to be Jewish to be OK with God?  Here is a look at some Jewish sources: The righteous of all nations will have a share in the world of eternal bliss. (rosette Sanhedrin, X111:2) if a pagan prays and evokes God's name, Amen must be said (Jerusalem, Berachoth 8). Antonius once asked Rabbi Judah the prince, "Will I have a share in the world to come?" To which the later answered "Yes." But is it not written (Obadiah 1:8): "Nothing will remain in the house of Esau?"   "True,' Rabbi Jud


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

The Testimony of Scripture - an in-depth look by Rabbi Blumenthal

The Testimony of Scripture - an in-depth look by Rabbi Blumenthal

The Testimony of Scripture by Rabbi Yisroel C. Blumenthal INTRODUCTION Sola scriptura - Solely scripture. Scripture alone and nothing else. This is the rallying cry of Protestant Christianity. Protestant Christianity accepts no divine message other than the one that they believe to be recorded in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Consequently, Protestant Christianity rejects any component of the national Jewish tradition that is not recorded in the books of scripture. Earlier in this wor


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

What are the criteria that Judaism has established  about the messiah?

What are the criteria that Judaism has established about the messiah?

The Jewish tradition of "The Messiah" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Messiah" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah". First of all, he must be Jewish - "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

What are some of the fundamental changes that the true Messiah will bring about when he comes?

What are some of the fundamental changes that the true Messiah will bring about when he comes?

What are some of the fundamental changes that the true Messiah will bring about when he comes? Answer: TheMessiah will not be a savior who comes to rescue individuals solely from sin. He will be the leading representative of the Jewish people in all respects and will fulfill his mission during his lifetime (no second advent is needed). It is he who will complete the ingathering of the Jewish exiles and who will bring about a world at peace where "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Sheina's Story: An Academic Search for the Truth

Sheina's Story: An Academic Search for the Truth

My story begins on the other side of the world in Australia where I was born. Both sides of my family immigrated there in the mid to late 1800s. My childhood was spent in a Christian home. I did not know that I had a Jewish heritage until I was around age 13, at which time my mother told me of her family background and that she was Jewish. (She had embraced Christianity when she married my father.) For years it didn't impact my life greatly because I had no real understanding of what it meant to


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Lisa Cohen's Story: Surviving Mormon Love

Lisa Cohen's Story: Surviving Mormon Love

Daniel and I met in my first year of college. He was smart, sensitive, good-looking and shy. We lived on the same floor of our dormitory and spent all our time together. We fell in love. It was bound to happen, we had so much in common…. well, except for one thing: he was Mormon and I am Jewish. I was raised in a mostly secular Jewish home. My brother and I attended Hebrew school at a Reform synagogue and my family attended services once a year at the High Holidays. However, after I became a Ba


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz

Alex's Story

Alex's Story

My parents and I immigrated to the United States from the former USSR. We were raised as atheists but I did receive some training in Judaism by attending the local Jewish community center, and a Jewish summer camp. These really didn't do too much for me. I knew that I was Jewish, but I didn't know what that meant. At age eighteen, while attending college, I started asking myself questions like, "What makes me a Jew? Is it that I was born to Jewish parents? Do I need to live a Jewish life?" I de


Zalman Kravitz

Zalman Kravitz