The Two Paraklitas:
The Messiah
and
The Ruach HaKodesh
By
James Scott Trimm

Philo also describes the Word (Logos) not only as the “Son” of the “Father” but as a PARACLETE who is “perfect in all
virtue” and procures “forgiveness of sins” as well as a “supply of unlimited blessings”:

…the twelve stones arranged on the breast in four rows of three stones each, namely the logeum, being also an emblem of that reason (Logos, Word) which holds together and regulates the universe. For it was indispensable that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world, should have as a paraclete, his son, the being most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings;
(Life of Moses II, 133-134)

This Greek word (paraclete) is also a Hebrew and Aramaic word also appears in the Mishna:

He who does even a single religious duty
gets himself a single advocate (or comforter Hebrew: paraklita)
he who does even a single transgression
gets himself a single prosecutor.
(m.Avot 4:11a)

And in the Talmud it is used to refer to the sin offering::

R. Simeon said: For what purpose does a sin-offering come? —
[You ask,] ‘for what purpose does a sin-offering come?’
Surely in order to make atonement! —
Rather, [the question is:]
Why does it come before the burnt-offering?
[Because it is] like an intercessor (paraklita) who enters
[to appease the King]: When the intercessor (paraklita)
has appeased [him], the gift follows.
(b.Zev. 7b)

The Jewish Dictionary states:

The sin-offering is like the paraclete before God; it intercedes for man and is followed by another offering, a “thank offering for the pardon obtained” (Sifra, Meora’, iii. 3; Tos. Parah i. 1). The two daily burnt offerings are called “the
two paracletes” (Yer. Ber. iv. 7b),
(Jewish Dictionary pp. 514-515)

Now Yochanan, who identifies the Messiah as the Word (logos) in Jn. 1:1-3, 14 and Rev. 19:13 also says of Messiah:

1 My sons, I write these [things] to you, that you do not sin: and if someone should sin, we have an advocate (Paraklita) with the Father, Yeshua the Messiah, the just [One].
2 For He is the propitiation for our sins, and not on behalf of ours only, but also on behalf of [the sins of] the whole world.
(1st Yochanan (John) 2:1)

The Scriptures also refer to the Ruach HaKodesh as a Paraklita:

And I will ask of My Father, and He will give you another comforter (Paraklita) that will be with you forever:
(Yochanan 14:16 HRV)

But the comforter (Paraklita), the Ruach HaKodesh, whom My Father will send in My Name, will teach you everything, and will remind you of that which I tell you.
(Yochanan 14:26 HRV)

But when the comforter (Paraklita) comes, whom I will send you from My Father–the Spirit of Truth who has proceeded from My Father–will testify concerning Me.
(Yochanan 15:26 HRV)

But I tell you the truth: it is profitable for you that I go: for if I do not go, the
Comforter (Paraklita) will not come to you. But when I go, I will send the Comforter (Paraklita) to you.
(Yochanan 16:7 HRV)

Paul describes the work of these two advocates in Romans Chapter 8:

26 Thus also, the Spirit aids our infirmity, for we do not know what is right to pray for. But the Spirit prays on our
behalf with groans that are not describable.
27 And He who searches the hearts, knows what is the thinking of the Spirit that prays on behalf of the Set-Apart-Ones, according to the will of Eloah.
28 But we know that those who love Eloah, He aids in everything for good–those whom He before determined to be called.
29 And from the first, He knew them, and marked them out, with the likeness of the
image of His Son: that He might be the firstborn of many brothers.
30 And those whom He before marked, He called, and those whom He called, He justified, and those whom He justified, He glorified.
31 What therefore shall we say concerning these things? If Eloah [is] for us, who [is] against us?
32 And if He did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for all of us, how will He not give to us everything with Him?
33 Who can accuse the chosen of Eloah? Eloah justifies.
34 Who condemns? The Messiah died and rose, and is at the right hand of Eloah and makes petition on our behalf.
(Rom. 8:26-34 HRV)

The coming of the Ruach HaKodesh is like the burnt offering which must be preceded by the coming of the Messiah which is like the sin offering. The Messiah makes petition on our behalf and the Ruach HaKodesh prays on our behalf.

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work, now is the time to step up to the plate, as we are in a budget shortfall.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

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Which Day is the Sabbath?
By
James Scott Trimm

Most Christians today profess that Sunday is the Sabbath. Others will say that the Sabbath has been done away with and replaced by Sunday “the Lord’s Day” as the day of worship for the “Church”(1). This belief has been widely accommodated even in the mainline of the Messianic Jewish movement. For example regarding Sunday worship Daniel Juster writes:

“…Sabbath is a day of crucial significance to Jewish identity.
The principle of weekly rest, worship and renewal is one
of universal significance. In this sense, the Sabbath
principle is a spiritual and humanitarian guide for all peoples.
Christians are free to incorporate this principle on Sunday
or other days. The seventh day Sabbath for Israel is
a special central sign of the Covenant between Israel and God.”
(Jewish Roots p. 195)

Even the First Fruits of Zion publication Take Hold says:

“There is nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday.
There is nothing biblically wrong with going to a place
of worship on a Sunday and becoming as much involved
as one desires…. It [the Sabbath] can be honored
fully, even if one worships on Sunday or any other
day of the week…. we suggest you inform your friends…
that you do not have a problem with worshiping on a
Sunday just as long as they do not insist that it be
called ‘the Sabbath.’”
(Take Hold by Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz pp. 239-240)

And David Stern writes in his Jewish New Testament Commentary:

“There are today all kinds of sects and denominations
that likewise create false guilt by non scriptural teaching–
for example… that observing one day rather than another
as a day of worship is a sin…”
(JNT Commentary p. 280)

Is it really true that the Sabbath is just a principle that gentile
Christians are free to incorporate on Sunday? Is it really only crucial
to Jewish identity? Is it really OK to make Sunday our day of
worship? Is it really unscriptural to teach that observing the seventh
day (Saturday) rather than Sunday as a day of worship is a sin? To
find the answer to this question, lets leave what all of these men have
said behind, and see what the Scriptures actually say about this issue.
Which day is the Sabbath? What day is our day of worship? Is it only
a principle? Is it only for Jews?

The Sabbath was Created

In speaking of the Sabbath Yeshua said:

And he said to them, The Sabbath was created
for a son of man, and not a son of man for the Sabbath.
Thus also, the Son of Man is the Adonai of the Sabbath.
(Mark 2:27-28)

Now there is a lot of information packed into this saying of Yeshua.
First of all Yeshua tells us that the Sabbath was “created”. When
Elohim created the universe, he did not just create space, but time as
well. The Sabbath was actually “created”. Now if we turn to
Colossians 1:16 we read:

And by him (Messiah) was created everything that
is in heaven and on earth, and all that is seen, and
all that is not seen…
(Col. 1:16)

Therefore the Sabbath was created by Messiah. Yeshua is Adonai of
the Sabbath because he created the Sabbath.

When did Messiah create the Sabbath? The answer is found in the
Torah:

And on the sixth day Elohim finished His work which
He made; and he rested on the seventh day from all His
work which he had made.
And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and set it apart;
because that in it He rested from His work which Elohim
in creating had made.
(Gen. 2:2-3)

Elohim finished his work on the sixth day, but he finished his creation
on the seventh day. Elohim created the Sabbath not by working, but
by resting. Notice that he blessed the seventh day and set it apart. Not just that seventh day, but every seventh day throughout time.

Don’t Tread on Me

The Seventh day was set apart from the time of creation. It was set
apart because it’s Creator was Adonai of the Sabbath and was
empowered as the Creator to make it set apart. What does it mean for something to be “set apart” (often translated “holy” or “sacred”)?
Well when YHWH addressed Moshe from the burning bush He told
Moshe “put off your shoes from off your feet, where the place you
stand is set apart ground.” (Ex. 3:5). This ground was set apart, it
belonged to YHWH not to man, it was to be treated with respect, it
was not to be trampled on. In the same way the Sabbath is set apart. It belongs to YHWH not to man, it is to be treated with respect and is not to be trampled on. As we read in Isaiah 58:13-14:

If you turn away your foot because of the Sabbath,
from pursuing your business on My set apart day;
and call the Sabbath a delight,
and the set apart of YHWH honorable;
and shall honor it, not doing your wonted ways,
nor pursuing your business, nor speaking thereof;
Then shall you delight yourself in YHWH,
and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and I will feed you with the heritage of Ya’akov your father;
for the mouth of YHWH has spoken it.
(Is. 58:13-14)

The Sabbath is set apart because it is His set apart day. It is not our
day to do with as we please. We must not trample on the Sabbath and
treat it as our own, it belongs to YHWH.

Who was Sabbath Made for?

Another important question is “who was the Sabbath made for?”.
Some have taught that the Sabbath was first given as part of the
Mosaic Covenant on Mount Sinai and is for the Jews only. Daniel
Juster alludes to this idea when he says:

“…Sabbath is a day of crucial significance to Jewish identity.
The principle of weekly rest, worship and renewal is one
of universal significance. In this sense, the Sabbath
principle is a spiritual and humanitarian guide for all peoples.
Christians are free to incorporate this principle on Sunday
or other days. The seventh day Sabbath for Israel is
a special central sign of the Covenant between Israel and God.”
(Jewish Roots p. 195)

But what does Messiah say? Who was the Sabbath made for? Why
did YHWH rest on the Sabbath… was He tired? Clearly He was not
tired as we read that He “faints not, neither is weary” (Is. 40:28). So
although he rested on the Shabbat from his work, this was to set the
example for us, he did not need to rest so he did not create the Sabbath for himself. Messiah said:

…The Sabbath was created
for a son of man, and not a son of man for the Sabbath.
Thus also, the Son of Man is the Adonai of the Sabbath.
(Mark 2:27-28)

The one who created the Sabbath tells us who he created the Sabbath
for. He did not create the Sabbath for the Jews only but he created the Sabbath for “a son of man” (all men). When the commandment to
keep the Sabbath was given at Sinai (Ex. 20:8) YHWH said
“Remember the Sabbath…” How could YHWH ask them to
remember something they had never heard of before? In fact the
children of Israel were already observing the Sabbath in Exodus 16
before the ten commandments were given in Exodus 20. The Sabbath
transcends the Mosaic Covenant.

However even if the Sabbath had been part of the Mosaic Covenant, it would not have meant that the Sabbath was only for Jews. The Torah says that “One Torah shall be to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you.” (Ex. 12:49). Yeshua sent his Jewish talmidim (disciples) out to “teach all the goyim (gentiles)…
and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt.
28:19-20).

The Sabbath was not created simply for “the Jews” but for all
mankind. Thus when there was a debate over whether gentiles needed to be circumcised to be saved, the Jerusalem assembly commented:

For Moshe, from the first generations, had proclaimers
in every city in the synagogues, who read him on every
Sabbath.
(Acts 15:21)

They assumed that gentile believers would be going to synagogue and hearing “Moses” (the Torah; the Five Books of Moses) read every
Sabbath.

The Sabbath was created and set apart for all mankind at the time of
creation. It was therefore kept by such as Adam, Enoch, Noah and
Avraham.

Who Done It?

So if the Sabbath was created and set apart by Messiah at the time of
creation, who changed the day of worship to Sunday?

Many people have been misled into believing that Constantine was
responsible for the corruption and Gentilization of Christianity and
moving the day of worship to Sunday.

On 7 March 321, Constantine I did in fact decree that Sunday was to
be observed as the Roman day of rest saying:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people
residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the
country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and
lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that
another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting;
lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the
bounty of heaven should be lost.

While Constantine certainly added to the apostasy of early
Christianity, he was not the first. It was in fact Ignatius of
Antioch who rebelled against the Jerusalem Council, usurped their
authority, seceded from Judaism, declared the Torah to have been
abolished, replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday worship and founded a new, non-Jewish religion which he named “Christianity”.

Paul said to the Ephesians on his last visit to them:

Watch, therefore, over your nefeshot
and over the flock which the Ruach HaKodesh
has appointed you overseers [bishops]
that you feed the assembly of Messiah,
which he purchased by his blood.
I know that after I am gone
fierce wolves will enter in among you
without mercy upon the flock.
And also from among you there will rise up men speaking
perverse things, so that they might turn away the talmidim
to follow after them.
(Acts 20:28-30)

Paul seems to indicate that after his death leaders would begin to
rise up from the overseers [Bishops] in his stead that would draw
people to follow themselves and draw them away from Torah. In fact
Paul died in 66 C.E. and the first overseer (Bishop) of Antioch to
take office after his death was Ignatius in 98 C.E.. Ignatius
fulfilled Paul’s words precisely. After taking the office of Bishop
over Antioch Ignatius sent out a series of epistles to other
assemblies. His letters to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallianns,
Romans, Philadelphians and Smyrnaeans as well as a personal letter
to Polycarp overseer of Smyrnaea have survived to us.

The Ancient Nazarene Historian and commentator Hegesippus (c. 180  CE) writes of the time immediately following the death of Shim’on, who succeeded Ya’akov HaTzadik as Nasi of the Nazarene Sanhedrin and who died in 98 CE:

Up to that period (98 CE) the Assembly had remained like a
virgin pure and uncorrupted: for, if there were any persons who
were disposed to tamper with the wholesome rule of the
proclaiming of salvation, they still lurked in some dark place of
concealment or other. But, when the sacred band of Emissaries
had in various ways closed their lives, and that generation of
men to whom it had been vouchsafed to listen to the inspired
Wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then did the
confederacy of godless error take its rise through the treachery
of false teachers, who, seeing that none of the emissaries any
longer survived, at length attempted with bare and uplifted
head to oppose the proclaiming of the truth by proclaiming
“knowledge falsely so called.”
(Hegesippus the Nazarene; c. 185 CE; quoted by Eusebius in
Eccl. Hist. 3:32)

Hegisippus indicates the apostasy began the very same year that
Ignatious became bishop of Antioch!

Up until the time of Ignatius, matters of dispute that arose at
Antioch were ultimately referred to the Jerusalem Council (as in
Acts 14:26-15:2). Ignatius usurped the authority of the Jerusalem
council, declaring himself as the local bishop as the ultimate
authority over the assembly of which he was bishop, and likewise
declaring the same as true of all other bishops and their local
assemblies. Ignatius writes:

…being subject to your bishop…
…run together according to the will of God.
Jesus… is sent by the will of the Father;
As the bishops… are by the will of Jesus Christ.
(Eph. 1:9, 11)

…your bishop…I think you happy who are so joined to him,
as the church is to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is to the
Father… Let us take heed therefore, that we not set ourselves
against the bishop, that we may be subject to God….
We ought to look upon the bishop, even as we would
upon the Lord himself.
(Eph. 2:1-4)

…obey your bishop…
(Mag. 1:7)

Your bishop presiding in the place of God…
…be you united to your bishop…
(Mag. 2:5, 7)

…he… that does anything without the bishop…
is not pure in his conscience…
(Tral. 2:5)

…Do nothing without the bishop.
(Phil. 2:14)

See that you all follow your bishop,
As Jesus Christ, the Father…
(Smy. 3:1)

By exalting the power of the office of bishop (overseer) and
demanding the absolute authority of the bishop over the assembly,
Ignatius was actually making a power grab by thus taking absolute
authority over the assembly at Antioch and encouraging other Gentile  overseers to follow suit.

Moreover Ignatius drew men away from Torah and declared the Torah to have been abolished, not only at Antioch but at other Gentile assemblies to which he wrote:

Be not deceived with strange doctrines;
nor with old fables which are unprofitable.
For if we still continue to live according to the Jewish Law,
we do confess ourselves not to have received grace…
(Mag. 3:1)

But if any one shall preach the Jewish law unto you,
hearken not unto him…
(Phil. 2:6)

It is also Ignatius who first replaces the Seventh Day Sabbath with
Sunday worship, writing:

…no longer observing sabbaths, but keeping the Lord’s day
in which also our life is sprung up by him, and through
his death…
(Magnesians 3:3)

Having seceded from the authority of Jerusalem, declared the Torah
abolished and replacing the Sabbath with Sunday, Ignatius had created a new religion. Ignatius coins a new term, never before used, for this new religion which he calls “Christianity” and which he makes
clear is new and distict religion from Judaism. He writes:

let us learn to live according to the rules of Christianity,
for whosoever is called by any other name
besides this, he is not of God….

It is absurd to name Jesus Christ, and to Judaize.
For the Christian religion did not embrace the Jewish.
But the Jewish the Christian…
(Mag. 3:8, 11)

By the end of the first century Ignatius of Antioch had fulfilled
Paul’s warning. He seceded from Judaism and founded a new religion
which he called “Christianity”. A religion which rejected the
Torah, and replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday Worship.

Wasn’t Yeshua Raised on Sunday?

The reason most Christians give for observing Sunday as the day of
worship is that Sunday is the day that Messiah was raised from the
Dead. The well known Dispensationalist Theologian F.F. Bruce in
answering the question “Why do Christians observe Sunday… instead of Saturday?” writes:

… we need not look for a reason for that when we
consider that our Lord’s resurrection took place
on that day.
(Answers to Questions; F. F. Bruce; p. 242)

Now some Sabbatarians have argued that the resurrection was not on Sunday but on Saturday, but that is not really the point. Sabbath
keepers are guilty of having allowed Sunday keepers to change the
subject. The question is not “which day was Messiah resurrected?”
because there is not one word in the Scriptures about observing that
day as the day of worship in place of the Sabbath. The only question
before us is “which day is the Sabbath?” and does man have authority
to make another day set apart and transplant the day of worship to that other day?

Is Sunday Worship Mentioned in the “New Testament”?

Absolutely not. Sabbath is repeatedly represented as the day of
worship (Acts 13:14-15, 42-44; 15:21; 16:12-15; 18:1-14). However
there are three texts which Sunday keepers have cited to support
Sunday keeping. F. F. Bruce cites Acts 20:7; 1Cor. 16:2 and Rev. 1:10
as supposed examples of Sunday keeping in the “New Testament”.
Let us examine each of these:

Acts 20:7 “And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled
to break bread, Paul spoke with them because the next day he was
ready to depart, And he continued to speak until the middle of the
night.”

In fact this meeting cannot refer to a Sunday morning “church service”
because it says “he continued to speak until the middle of the night”
(20:7). Certainly we are not to believe that Paul was so long winded
as to have spoken for well over twelve hours! Clearly this was an
evening meeting. This is also evidence in the next verse which states
“there were many lamps burning in the upper room in which they were assembled” (20:8). Jewish days run from evening to evening (Gen. 1:5-31; Lev. 23:27, 32). (Thus the Sabbth runs from sundown Friday until sundown Saturdy). An evening meeting on the “first day of the week” by Jewish reckoning would be what we call Saturday night. In fact Jews have always and still do gather on Saturday night for a service called Havdalah. Havdalah is a service held to mark the end of the Sabbath and initiate the beginning of the week.

Paul had been resting on the Sabbath and was prepared to leave at
daybreak (i.e. “the next day”). This usage of the phrase “the next day”
or “tomorrow” to refer to daybreak rather than the next calendar day is common in ancient Jewish usage (Gen. 19:34 for example).

1Corinthians 16:2 On every first of the week, each man from you in
his home, let him lay aside and keep that which he is able, lest when I
should come then collections will occur.

This is another passage which F. F. Bruce (and other Sunday Keepers)
cite as a supposed “Sunday Worship” service. However there is
nothing in 1Cor. 16:2 to indicate a Sunday meeting is involved. In fact
the Aramaic text of 1Cor. 16:2 says plainly htybb “in his home”.

Unfortunately the Greek translator rendered this with par eautw “by
himself” or “at home”. Many English translations from the Greek
have omitted this phrase entirely. Surprisingly F. F. Bruce, who cites
this passage as support for Sunday worship, admits in his commentary that this was not taking place in a Sunday assembly at all. He writes about this verse:

Nor were the individual sums to be taken to church
and handed over to the community treasurer: each
member is to put something aside par’ heauto,
‘at home’, and store it up there.
(1 and 2 Corinthians; F. F. Bruce; p. 158)

In one book Bruce cites 1Cor. 16:2 as evidence of a Sunday Church
service, then in his own commentary to the same verse he admits that
this passage takes place in individual homes and that the “sums” (more likely it was food) were never even “taken to church”.

This passage is simply telling us that on the first day of each week, the Corinthians were to start out their work week by setting aside
whatever food they are able to so that no collection would need to be
made at the last minute when Paul arrived.

Revelation 1:10 And I was in the spirit on the first [day] of the week…

The Aramaic has “first [day] of the week”. The Greek translator
rendered this “the Lord’s Day”. There is no worship service involved
in this passage. The event took place at the time of the firstfruits
offering, which always occurs on the day after a Sabbath during
Passover (Lev. 23:9-14) it begins the counting of seven seeks (forty
nine days) until Shavuot (Pentecost) (Lev. 23:15-22). The Book of
Revelation is filled with firstfruits and Passover imagery (the lamb, the firstborn etc.). After telling is this was the first day of the week, the text tells us that Yochanan sees seven menorah’s of gold (1:12) (each menorah has seven branches 7×7=49). These were representing the 49 days counted from the firstfruits offering on the first day of the week during Passover, until Shavuot.

What Would Yeshua Do?

A common T-shirt in Christian circles today says WWJD “What
Would Jesus Do?” The implication is that we should act as Yeshua
acted. As the Scripture says:

He who says, I am in him, ought to conduct himself
according to his conduct.
(1Jn. 2:6)

So how did Yeshua conduct himself regarding the day of worship?
The Scriptures tell us:

And he entered the Synagogue, on the day of
the Sabbath, as he was accustomed.
(Luke 4:16)

Paul himself followed this adage himself saying “Be you followers of
me, even as I also am of Messiah” (1Cor. 11:1) thus we also read of
Paul that he was also accustomed to going to Synagogue on the
Sabbath (Acts 17:1-2).

The ball is now in your court. I heve faithfully presented the Scriptures to you. Is it really true that the Sabbath is just a principle that gentile Christians are free to incorporate on Sunday? Is it really only crucial to Jewish identity? Is it really OK to make Sunday your day of worship? Is it unscriptural to teach that observing Sunday rather than the seventh day (Saturday) as a day of worship is a sin? You now know that that the answer to all of these questions is “no”. The Sabbath was created for you. Will you conduct yourself according to his conduct?

(1) For a scriptural understanding of the word “Church” see the  “What do you Mean… ‘Church’?”

We need your help today! We need to raise at least $395 by the end of the day today (11/20/24) to cover bills pending in our account tonight.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

Now is time to step up to the plate!

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

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The Story of Rabbi Shlomo Meir Ben Moshe
By
James Scott Trimm

Rabbi Shlomo Meir Ben Moshe (Salomon Meir Ben Moses) was an eminent rabbi of the seventeenth  century.  He was born at Casal in the duchy of Montserrat, in the year 1606. He was named Shlomo (Salomon) in memory of his grandfather, and Meir, which signifies “illuminating”, from the Torah reading from the day of his birtyh, which was the account of the birth of Moshe (Moses), whose entrance into the world tradition declares to have been distinguished by a supernatural light, which illuminated all his father’s house on that occasion.

When he was just thirteen year of age young Shlomo began to compose discourses in the Hebrew language; and he prosecuted his studies in the Talmud and Zohar for many years with such success, that he at length attained the reputation of one of the most learned Jews of that age.

Wherever he traveled, his lectures in the synagogues were heard with admiration; and the Jews at Jerusalem honored him with the title of “rabbi”, and frequently sent him to collect the eleemosynary contributions, which they are in the habit of receiving from their brethren in other countries of Asia, Africa, and Europe.

In 1665, at the age of fifty nine, Rabbi Shlomo came to the conclusion that Yeshua was in fact, the Messiah.  The previously respected Rabbi soon found himself outcast from his Jewish brothers.  And finding no Nazarene Jewish community in the 17th century, he saw no other option to become a Christian.

One of Rabbi Shlomo’s longtime friends had been a Jeweler named David Jouaillier.  Jouaillier was so upset when he heard that Rabbi Moshe had embraced Yeshua as Messiah, that he publicly declared that he wished to have Rabbi Moshe’s heart, that he might broil it upon the coals, and then throw it to be devoured by the dogs.

One day Jouaillier accidentally ran into his former friend at the home of a common friend who was a Christian.  Rabbi Shlomo inquired whether it was true that his old friend had uttered this savage wish. David acknowledged he had, and declared his persuasion, that, if their circumstances had been reversed, Rabbi Shlomo would have said the same. Shlomo asked his old friend if he would repeat this wish if Shlomo could prove that Yeshua was the Messiah.  “By no means.” said David, “but how will you prove that faith to be true?”

Rabbi Moshe told his old friend that he could show him that Yeshua is the Messiah in the very first word of the Torah.

David said that if Shlomo could do this, he would accept Yeshua as the Messiah immediately.

Rabbi Shlomo cautioned his friend to consider carefully that to which he was committing himself, but David was firm in his commitment.

Rabbi Shlomo began his exposition by pointing out that the first word of the Torah בראשית  (bereshit) remarked that this word, literally translated, signifies In the beginning of, leaving an ellipsis, which some have supplied by inserting all, and others by repeating the second word in the text; as, In the beginning of all things, or In the beginning of the  creation, Elohim created. This elliptical form of expression was used by Elohim, not for want of other words, but from design, to indicate some hidden mystery.

Divide the word into two, and you have בר אשית Bar ashith, I will appoint, set up, or place the Son. The word (בר) Bar has a twofold meaning : it also signifies grain, or bread, in allusion to the bread of the Passover, and to the words of Yeshua who said, ” I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.” There is great beauty in designating the Son by a term applicable also to bread, in preference to other words signifying only a Son; and there is likewise a striking propriety in the appellation here given to grain, which has been distinguished by three names adapted to the three different states in which men have been found:

Grain is also called דגן DAGAN which symbolizes that before the fall, man was to subsist on the produce of the tree of paradise, made into bread, and called דגן, which can also be translated, “of the garden.”

Wheat grain is also called חטא CHITTA which also means “sin” symbolizing the period from the fall of man to the coming of Messiah.

Finally grain is also called בר BAR which also means “son” symbolizing that since the coming of the Messiah, the bread symbolizes the incarnate Son of Yah ; according to the declaration of Yeshua, “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.”

David was delighted with the mystery being unfolded by Rabbi Shlomo.

Rabbi Shlomo then began to show his old friend a number of messages imbedded in the first word of the Torah, which he extracted via Notarikon (a Kabbalistic method by which a Hebrew word is taken to be an acronym, or by which an acronym is conversely made from a phrase.

The Rabbis have themselves found messages imbedded in the word  בראשית.  For example:

בראש’ת ראה אלוהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה
“In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would receive the Torah”

Among messages Rabbi Moshe showed his friend:

“The Son, the Spirit, the Father, they are three, a perfect unity”
בן רוח אב שלושתם יחד תמים

“You shall worship My first-born, My first, whose name is Yeshua”
בכורי ראשוני אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו

“When the master shall come whose name is Yeshua, you shall worship”
בבוא רבן אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו

Rabbi Moshe showed his old friend many more proofs.  David was overcome  by the mysteries being unfolded by his old friend, and professed that Yeshua was in fact the Messiah.

(Source:

MODERN JUDAISM: OR, A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE OPINIONS, TRADITIONS, RITES, AND CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS IN MODERN TIMES: BY JOHN ALLEN. SECOND EDITION : REVISED AND CORRECTED. PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE : AND SOLD BY L. B. SEELEY AND SONS, FLEET STREET, LONDON. 1830. Pages 93-94
Link to PDF

His source is Giulio Bartolocci (1 April 1613 – 19 October 1687) from volume 4 of his Bibliotheca Rabbinica pages 526-536 Bibliotheca magna rabbinica de scriptoribus et scriptis hebraicis, which appeared in four volumes in 1675, 1678 (dedicated to Pope Innocent XI), 1683, and 1694 (edited posthumously by his pupil Carlo Imbonati).

We must raise at least $1,036 by the end of the day today, or our account will go into the negative and start a chain reaction of returned items and fees!

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work, now is the time to step up to the plate, as we are in a budget shortfall.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

Now is time to step up to the plate!

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org or by Zelle or Go Fund Me.

Click HERE to donate

The Story of Rabbi Tzvi Nassi
By
James Scott Trimm

Rabbi Tzvi Nassi (Hirsch Prinz) was born in Breslau, Silesia, on August 11th, 1800, he was the son of a rabbi and the youngest of six children.  He was left an orphan at the age of fourteen and followed in his father’s footsteps as a Rabbi.   In 1824 he published Predigten fur fromme Israeliten (“Sermons for Pious Israelites”).

In these early years Rabbi Nassi came to the conclusion that Yeshua was in fact the Jewish Messiah of Judaism and when he was about twenty-five years of age he began to introduce his congregations to readings from the New Testament.  Rabbi Nassi had hoped to establish within the Jewish community, a synagogue of Jewish believers in Yeshua as the Messiah.  Instead he was outcast from the Jewish community, alleged to have lost his mind.   (In recent years anti-missionaries have claimed there is no evidence that Nassi had ever been a rabbi, saying that claim was a recent invention of Messianic Jews, but in fact the obituary published shortly after his death records his past as a rabbi.)

Having failed to restore a community of believers in Yeshua as Messiah within Judaism, Rabbi Nassi ultimately joined a Christian church and entered the ministry, under the name Christian William Henry Pauli.  Despite this, Nassi never truly left his Jewishness behind and continued to immerse himself in his studies of the Targums, the Talumds, Midrashim, Sefer Yetzirah, the Bahir, the Zohar and Rabbinic commentaries.

Later he came to England, he was for some time a student in the University of Cambridge, and enjoyed the friendship of the late Rev. Charles Simeon. While at Cambridge he received an invitation from friends in Oxford. This he accepted, and on arriving at the latter University, he was appointed Lecturer in Hebrew. This post he held for thirteen years. Many of the undergraduates also attended his private classes for the study of the Hebrew language. At this time he published a Hebrew Grammar “Analecta Hebraica,” which became well known and much used by Hebrew students.

In 1863 Rabbi Nassi created quite a stir when he published his monumental work, “The Great Mystery or How Can Three Be One?” which uses the Zohar and other Rabbinic sources to explore the truth of the deity of Messiah and the Three Pillars of the Godhead from a purely Jewish perspective.  The title is taken from the following passage in the Zohar:

How can they (the three) be One?
Are they Truely One because we call them One?
How Three can be One can only be known
through the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
(Zohar 2:43)

A book which came to be passed around and studied secretly by Orthodox Jews for generations.

I was first exposed to Rabbi Nassi’s amazing treatise around 1988, at a time when I was struggling myself with the very issues discussed in the little book.   At the time I was studying under my mentor, Rabbi Moyal, an Orthodox Rabbi from Israel, who had himself become a believer in Messiah. He gave me a copy of this little book which had been reprinted in Israel in 1970 and 1974. I was amazed at what I learned in such a short booklet.

In May 1874 Rabbi Nassi retired to Luton, in Bedfordshire, where he died on the 4th of May.  He was the author of several works :  “Sermons for Pious Israelites”; “The Great Mystery,” and a translation of the Aramaic Targum of Isaiah.  During his last illness he we was reported to be overheard having conversations with “my Savior,” as he called Yeshua, as though he were visibly present to him, and by his side.   His last words were “My Savior is nigh.”

While the Gentile Christian world came to know him as Reverend Christian William Henry Pauli, I will always remember him as Rabbi Tzvi Nassi.

We need your help today! Donations this month have been very low and we must raise at least $600 by the end of the day toomorrow, or our account will plunge into the negative and start a cascade of returned items and fees!

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work, now is the time to step up to the plate, as we are in a budget shortfall.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

Now is time to step up to the plate!

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org

Or click HERE to donate

The Amazing Story of Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein
(From an account written over 90 years ago)

Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein was an Orthodox Rabbi in the 19th century who came to the conclusion that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah of Judaism.  He he refused to become a “Christian,” he never left Judaism, claiming instead that he had found “true Judaism” and continued for twenty years as Rabbi of an Orthodox Synagogue where he taught from the so-called “New Testament” and proclaimed Yeshua as the Messiah of Judaism. 

He was not yet 20 when he became a Rabbi, and after officiating for several years in different communities in northern Hungary, Isaac Lichtenstein finally settled as District Rabbi in Tapio Szele, where he remained for nearly 40 years, laboring ceaselessly and unselfishly for the good of his people.

Early in his career a Jewish teacher in the communal school of his district casually showed him a German Bible. Turning the leaves, his eye fell on the name “Jesu Christi.” He became furiously angry and sharply reproved the teacher for having such a thing in his possession. Taking the book, he flung it across the room in a rage; it fell behind others on a shelf where, dusty and forgotten, it lay some thirty-odd years.

About that time a fierce wave of anti-Semitism broke out in Hungary, culminating in the now historic “Tisza Eslar affair”. In that picturesque little Hungarian town, situated on the Theiss, 12 Jews and a Jewess were thrown into prison, accused of having killed a Christian girl in order to use her blood for ritual purposes — the most tragic part of the case being that a little Jewish boy, who had been kept some time from his parents by the police commissary, was prevailed on by threats and cruelties to appear as the chief witness against his own father (the synagogue sexton) and recite a concocted, false tale of the supposed murdered girl.

As in every other case in which this diabolical charge was ever brought against the Jews, the blood accusation in Tisza Eslar was ultimately demonstrated to be false and baseless. It remains to the glory of true religion that a number of prominent men who were believers in Jesus, notably Dr. Franz Delitzsch, a Biblical scholar and Professor at Leipzig University, rose to the occasion not only to defend the Jews, but also to tear the mask from all who by their acts scandalized Messiah in the eyes of Jewry.

The mental state of Rabbi Lichtenstein at this time is best revealed in his Judenspiegel (Jewish Mirror):

” ‘Often have they oppressed me from my youth, may Israel say’ (Psalm 129). No long explanation is needed to show that in these few words the Psalmist sums up the bitter experiences and sorrows which we, at least of the older generation, have suffered from our youth up at the hands of the Christian populations surrounding us.

“Mockery, scorn, blows, and all manner of humiliation, have been our portion even at the hands of Christian children. I remember still the stones which were thrown at us as we left the synagogue, and how, when bathing in the river, and powerless to prevent, we saw them cast our clothing, with laughter and insult, into the water.

“Once with sorrow and weeping, I saw my father felled to the ground without the least hesitation by a nobleman, so-called, because he had not quickly enough made room for him on a narrow path. But these sad experiences are known well enough to need no dwelling on; and would to God that such persecution of the Jews by the Christians were altogether a thing of the forgotten past!

“As impressions of early life take a deep hold, and as in my riper years I still had no cause to modify these impressions, it is no wonder that I came to think that Yeshua Himself was the plague and curse of the Jews — the origin and promoter of our sorrows and persecutions.

“In this conviction I grew to years of manhood, and still cherishing it I became old. I knew no difference between true and merely nominal Christianity; of the fountainhead of Christianity itself I knew nothing. Strangely enough it was the horrible Tisza Eslar blood accusation which first drew me to read the New Testament. This trail brought from their lurking-places all our enemies, and once again, as in olden times, the cry re-echoed, ‘Death to the Jew!’ The frenzy was excessive, and among the ringleaders were many who misused the name of Messiah and His doctrine as a cloak to cover their abominable doings.

“These wicked practices of men wearing the name of Jesus only to further their evil designs aroused the indignation of some true Christians, who, with pen on fire and warning voices, denounced the lying rage of the anti-Semites. In articles written by the latter in defense of the Jews, I often met with passages where Yeshua was spoken of as He Who brings joy to man, the Prince of peace, and the Redeemer; and His Gospel was extolled as a message of love and life to all people. I was surprised and scarcely trusted my eyes when I espied in a hidden corner the New Testament  which some 30 years before I had in vexation taken from a Jewish teacher, and I began to turn over its leaves and read. How can I express the impression which I then received? “Not the half had been told me of the greatness, power and glory of this Book, formerly a sealed book to me. All seemed so new, arid yet it did me good, like the sight of an old friend who has laid aside his dusty, travel-worn garments, and appears in in festive attire, like a bridegroom in wedding robes, or a bride adorned with her jewels.” For two or three years Rabbi Lichtenstein kept these convictions locked in his own breast. He began, however, in his synagogue to preach strange and new doctrines which both interested and astonished his hearers. At last he could contain himself no longer. Preaching one Sabbath from Yeshua’s parable of the whited sepulcher, he openly avowed that his subject was taken from the New Testament and spoke of Yeshua as the true Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel. Ultimately he embodied his ideas in three publications appearing in rapid succession which created a tremendous sensation among the Jews, not only in Hungary, but throughout the continent of Europe. And no wonder; for here was an old and respected Rabbi, still in office, calling upon his people in burning words to align themselves under the banner of Yeshua of Nazareth, and to hail Him as their true Messiah and King.

As was inevitable, no sooner did official Jewry realize the significance of Rabbi Lichtenstein’s position and writings than a storm of persecution broke loose upon him. From the Jewish pulpit and in the Press anathemas were hurled at his head, and he who but a few weeks before was classed among the noblest leaders and teachers was now described as a disgrace and reproach to his nation — all because he dared pronounce the name of Yeshua.

The falsehood was spread that he had sold himself to the missionaries. Some even asserted that he had never written the pamphlets himself, but had only been bribed to affix his   name to them. He was cited to appear before the assembled rabbinate in Budapest. On entering the hall he was greeted with the cry, “Retract! Retract!”

“Gentlemen,” said the Rabbi, “I shall most willingly retract if you convince me I am wrong.”

Chief Rabbi Kohn proposed a compromise. Rabbi Lichtenstein might believe whatever he liked in his heart, if he would only refrain from preaching about Yeshua. As to those dreadful pamphlets which he had already written, the mischief could be undone by a very simple process. The Synod of Rabbis would draw up a document to the effect that the Rabbi wrote what he did in a fit of temporary insanity and all that would be required of him would be to add his name to this statement. Rabbi Lichtenstein answered calmly but indignantly that this was a strange proposal to make to him seeing that he had only just come into his right mind. Then they demanded that he should resign his position and be formally baptized to indicate that he was leaving the Jewish people, but he replied that he had no intention of joining the state approved church. He had found in the New Testament the true Judaism, and would remain as before with his congregation, and preach it in the synagogue.

He did so, and this in spite of many persecutions and reproaches which were heaped upon him. From his official place as District Rabbi he continued to teach and to preach from the New Testament. This was a touching testimony to the strong attachment of his own community, which alone had the power to make request for his dismissal, Judaism being a state religion in Hungary. As a matter of fact much pressure was brought to bear upon them, and some members of the congregation and the relatives of his wife were completely ruined by loss of trade; but still they clung to him.

By this time Rabbi Lichtenstein and his writings had become widely known, and different church and missionary organizations sought his services. The Papacy soon learned of the existence and significance of the man, and a special emissary from the Pope visited Tapio Szele with tempting offers if he would but enter the service of Rome. To all he had but one reply: “I will remain among my own nation, I love Messiah, I believe in the New Testament; but I am not drawn to join Christianity. Just as the prophet Jeremiah, after the destruction of Jerusalem, in spite of the generous offers of Nebuchadnezzar and the captain of his host, chose rather to remain and lament among the ruins of the holy city, and with the despised remnant of his brethren, so will I remain among my own brethren, as a watchman from within and to plead with them to behold in Yeshua the true glory of Israel.”

At last, however, after losing his all in the endeavor to save some of the members of his congregation from ruin, and with his health much impaired by the many trials and sorrows which fell to his lot in consequence of his bold stand for the truth, he voluntarily resigned his office as District Rabbi. He settled in Budapest, where he found ample scope for his talents, but the opposition to him was relentless. He was shadowed and even physically attacked on the street. His barber was bribed to disfigure his beautiful beard. His landlord kept a close watch on everyone who visited him ‘and reported to the rabbinical authorities. But as a stream stemmed in its course forces for itself new channels, so he was continually interviewed and drawn into discussion by Jews from every walk of life.

“Wisdom cries without and causes her voice to be heard in the street,” he wrote to his friend, David Baron, a Hebrew Christian Scholar. “Doctors, professors and officials, as also educated ladies, come to my house. Many families of position also visit us who condemn the harsh conduct of the rabbinate here in relation to me. Many foreigners also visit me. I have often very grave, important discussions with Talmudists and Rabbis from a long distance, who wish to bring me to a compromise; and it is worthy to note that many who had formerly no knowledge of the New Testament, and stared blankly and incredulously at me when I quoted its sublime doctrines, have afterwards begged to possess one.”

In a letter to his son, a doctor, Rabbi Lichtenstein wrote “From every line in the New Testament, from every word, the Jewish spirit streamed forth light, life, power, endurance, faith, hope, love, charity, limitless and indestructible faith in God.”

For over twenty years it was given to Rabbi Lichtenstein to witness in many parts of Europe to the truth as he saw it in Messiah. At last the storms of controversy, of misunderstanding and antagonism, began to tell on him. His spirit, however, remained undaunted. About this time he wrote: “Dear Jewish brethren, I have been young, and now am old. I have attained the age of 80 years, which the Psalmist speaks of as the utmost period of human life on earth. When others of my age are reaping with joy the fruit of their labors, I am alone, almost forsaken, because I have lifted up my voice in warning, ‘0 Israel, turn to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take these words and turn thee to the Lord thy God.’ ‘Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way.’

“I, an honored Rabbi for the space of 40 years, am now, in my old age, treated by my friends as one possessed by an evil spirit, and by my enemies as an outcast. I am become a butt of mockers who point the finger at me. But while I live I will stand on my watchtower, though I may stand there all alone. I will listen to the words of God, and look for the time when He will return to Zion in mercy, and Israel shall fill the world with his joyous cry, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest””

Quite unexpectedly he was taken ill and lingered only a short while. As he realized that his end was approaching, in the presence of his wife and the nurse, he said:

“Give my warmest thanks and greetings, to my brethren and friends; goodnight, my children; goodnight, my enemies, you can injure me no more. We have one God and one Father of all who are called children in heaven and on earth, and one Messiah who gave up His life on the cursed tree for the salvation of men. Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

On the morning of Friday, October 16, 1909, at the age of 85, Rabbi Lichtenstein entered into the presence of his Lord.

Donations have been low, and bills are coming due! We need your help today!

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work, now is the time to step up to the plate, as we are in a budget shortfall.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

Now is time to step up to the plate!

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org

Or click HERE to donate

The Story of Rabbe Yehiel Tzvi Lichtenstein-Herschensohn
By
James Scott Trimm

Rabbe Yehiel Tzvi Lichtenstein-Herschensohn must not be confused with Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein (another 19th Century Rabbi to accept Yeshua as Messiah in a Torah Observant Jewish context).

Rebbe Yehiel Tzvi Lichtenstein-Herschensohn was a 19th Century a Hasidic Jewish Rabbi who came to the conclusion that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah of Judaism.  His attempt to restore a Torah Observant community of believers in Yeshua as Messiah failed, hoever he wrote many books elucidating the so-called New Testament from a Jewish perspective.  His small group of students refered to him as “Rebbe”.

In 1831, Lichtenstein was born into a hasidic Jewish family living in Iasi, Romania, the capital city of Moldavia. In his later yeshiva years, when he was nineteen years old, Lichtenstein began to secretly study a New Testament which he had come across.

In studying this book He was amazed that these writings had many similarities with the Talmuds, Midrashim, Zohars and other Rabbinic and Hasidic literature with which he was studying in the yeshiva.  Lichtenstein concluded that the so-called “New Testament” was the missing piece of the puzzle. He saw it as a thoroughly Jewish book, and understood Yeshua to be the Jewish Messiah of Judaism. As Lichtenstein studied the so-called “New Testament”, he determined that Christianity had deeply misunderstood its teachings. It was clear to him that Yeshua and his original followers had all been a Torah observant sect of Judaism.

After five years of study, Lichtenstein and his chavurah of fellow Orthodox Jews, went down to a river and immersed themselves into the Messiah Yeshua. Lichtenstein dreamed of a restoration of a community this original sect of Judaism that were Yeshua’s original followers.

Lichtenstein spent his early years as an traveling rabbi among the shtetls of Bessarabia. He was known among the hasidim as a miracle-worker.  However, knowing the Talmud’s advice concerning relying upon miracles:

“One should never put himself in a dangerous situation and say,
‘A miracle will save me.’ Perhaps the miracle will not come.
And even if a miracle occurs, one’s merits are reduced.” 
(b.Shabbat 32a)

Lichtenstein had a wife and family to support and felt he should not rely on miracles, so he settled down in the mundane career of a merchant. Unfortunately his wife died within a few years of their marriage.  Though he had decided to make his living as a merchant, his passion was for the Torah.

Lichtenstein desired to demonstrate the intrinsic Jewish nature of Yeshua and his teachings. He wrote a commentary on the books of the prophets that brought together the mystical concepts of hasidic Judaism with the teachings of the so-called “New Testament”.

The result was the Limudei haNeviim (The Teachings of the Prophets) (Never yet translated into English). He self published it in 1868, however its Hasidic Jewish approach made it unappealing to the Jewish Christian mission societies.  Christian Jewish missionaries did not share Lichtenstein’s love for actual Judaism. They had no interest for a Jew who accepted Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah of Judaism and who continued to practice Hasidic Judaism.

Nevertheless, in the early 1870s, Lichtenstein did engage in short lived attempts to work with Jewish missionary organizations, but all of these were short lived failures, as Lichstein was like a round peg being pushed into a square hole.

At about that time, The Karite Isaac Troki’s antimissionary work Hizzuk Emunah (Faith Strengthened) was circulating widely.  Oddly enough this Karaite book had become the textbook that rabbis were studying in oreder to refute the claim that Yeshua was the Messiah.

Lichtenstein was surprised by how weak Troki’s arguments really were and so he wrote a response to them titled Chizzuk Emunah Emet (True Faith Strengthened) and published it in 1879. (Unfortunately, no copies are known to have survived.)

Lichtenstein went on to write several other books including Sheva Hochmot (The Seven Wisdoms), a collection of sayings from the Talmud; Toledot Yeshua (The Generations of Yeshua), a biography of Yeshua countering the Toldot Yeshu (an ancient Rabbinic hostile parody on the Life of Yeshua); and Megale Sod (The Secret Scroll), a commentary explaining difficult passages.

In the 1880s, Lichtenstein took a faculty position with the Institutum Judaicum in Leipzig, Germany where he taught courses on New Testament, Talmud, Rashi and the prophets.  He also taught a class using Troki’s Faith Strengthened as the textbook, responding to objections to the Messiahship of Yeshua.

Lichtenstein’s talmidim (students) referred to him as “the Rebbe” a term used for the leader of a Hasidic school.  While teaching at the institute, he wrote a Hebrew commentary on the New Testament intended as a companion to Franz Delitzsch’s Hebrew translation of the New Testament in which he expouns on many passages from the so-called “New Testament” in light of the Rabbinic literature (this has also never yet been translated into English).  He died Feb. 12 1912.

A great restoration is taking place today, and I want to invite all of you to be part of it. Congregations and home groups are meeting all over the world, in places like Belgium, Australia, Brazil etc. If you have a Nazarene Congregation or home study please let us know, so we can all be connected.

The NazareneSpace Social Network is also great place to stay connected!

Is this work worthy of your support? What other ministry provides this kind of teaching?

This is no time to bask serenely in an attitude of apathy, but we need to stir up the fires of enthusiasm for teaching the truth to the world. I am convinced that Elohim will bless us abundantly if we do. Elohim will soon be opening the doors of opportunity as never before, I hope that each of us (and all of us together) will advance through those doors with all of the energy and confidence YHWH can give His people. This is the time to act.

Donations are low and bills are coming due! We need your help today!

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work, now is the time to step up to the plate, as we are in a budget shortfall.

Do not expect that the established religious denominations are going to be reformed and accomplish this paradigm shift. They are to set in their ways to be of any use to Elohim. To the contrary the established religious leaders are the single greatest deterrent to the promotion of the truth today.

We cannot do this work alone, but if we work together we can accomplish so much. So don’t forget to support this work with your contributions, tithes and offerings.

You make this work possible. Please help us bring the message of Torah and Messiah to a lost world and create Scripture study materials for believers.

Now is time to step up to the plate!

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org

Or click HERE to donate

Many of you may have known me to refer to my old friend, mentor and teacher Rabbi Moyal, an Orthodox Israeli Rabbi who had become a believer in Messiah. Over thirty years ago I had the good fortune to study Hebrew, Aramaic, and Talmudic studies under Rabbi Moyal one on one. – James Scott Trimm

Testimony of Rabbi Moyal
By
Rabbi Armand Daniel (“Danny”) Moyal

Rabbi Armand Daniel (“Danny”) Moyal was an Orthodox Israeli Rabbi
who came to the conclusion that Yeshua was
the Jewish Messiah of Judaism, by studying
the Talmud, Midrash and Zohar.  

I was born in Morocco to a very, very Orthodox Jewish family. My father was one of the famous rabbis there, and all our lives revolved around Orthodox Judaism learning the Torah (the Law). When I was a year old my father past away. And in our family there were eleven children, and my mother, of course, found it very hard to make a living for eleven children. Therefore, she had to disperse us to different families. I was moved to another family where the man was a rabbi as well. He basically adopted me until the age of three. But then he died.

I then moved to another family, also rabbis, and there again I started to learn in the Yeshiva (a seminary for the training of Orthodox rabbis) until the age of eight. And at the age of eight I had only finished learning one book of the Tanak.

Then they moved me into another town in Morocco called Meknes. There they had a yeshiva which was a Torah school for orphans. And there, since I was a very good scholar, even though I was young of age, they moved me on to learn Talmud, which is a more advanced class than Torah class. Then that family decided to immigrate to Israel and I had to find another family.

All this time I really felt that I did not have my own family. It wasn’t an easy life for me as a child. That is the reason why I really turned into the Tanak. Day and night I learned the Tenach. One day a Zionist group came to Morocco. They started taking youths, orphans, and gathering them together to take them to Israel.

When I arrived in Israel I immediately went back to study at the Yeshiva in Bene-berak. Bene-berak is a very, very religious sector like Jerusalem. They have very well known Torah schools. There I learned until the age of 17 1/2 when I joined the Israeli Army.

When I finished the Army I studied at home for awhile in order to take my Rabbinical exams. When I finished they let me work. My first job was as a slaughterer — in the Jewish faith you have to slaughter in a kosher manner. It wasn’t easy. Then we moved to a town called Nahariya, which is in the northern part of Israel.

This is the town where the “kitushias” (very large bombs) fall every day from Lebanon. And the army sergent there gave me an apartment because I had no parents. Of course, in Nahariya I had nothing to do.

So I worked for the Rabbinate in Nahariya. Besides working as a slaughterer, I was also teaching Torah in the Yeshiva. Then I asked to be a Congregational Rabbi, and it was very difficult because Northern Israel has sort of an “apartheid” (strict racial segregation and discrimination) between Jews that came from Europe and Jews that came from Eastern countries. And of course you know, when you have these wars between these two factions, the Jews which they call Ashkenazi Jews and those called the Safardi Jews.

There was no love between them. And today, as a Believer, I know how wonderful it is to come to faith in Yeshua because the first thing I encountered was love.

Let me tell you how I received Yeshua as Messiah. I suffered a lot of persecutions in Israel and in Morocco from Christendom. They used to persecute us as Jews. Many times I wondered in my self, how come these Christians that persecute me all week long come on Sundays and worship the Jew. I couldn’t work this one out. And yet I wanted to know where this name came about. Who is this “Yeshua”?

In the war of Yom Kippur, (this was when it actually started in Israel, 1973 five Arab countries attacked Israel by surprise. It was Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) when Israel and everybody was in the synagogue. I was, that day, a “cantor” in one of the synagogues. A “cantor” is a singer that sings the Torah and all the prayers.

While I was praying, all of the sudden, we heard sirens, big noises, traffic. You cannot find a car in Israel… everything is dead. But, all of the sudden, you saw buses running, public buses, everybody there was going to his unit. I managed to get to the Golan Heights at 5 p.m. I was one of the crew in a tank. I was the tank driver.

That night between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. the Syrians managed to take quite a bit of the Northern part of Israel.

It was very difficult to get to either side because there were a lot of mines on the road. We attacked that very night – a counter attack, and the next morning was an absolute miracle. There were eight in my tank. While the fighting was going on and we were advancing, one of the soldiers said, “Look how many dead and wounded we have, lets pray.” I said to him, “There is no time to pray now, we have to advance. We have no time.” But he said, “I don’t care. We will stop everything and pray.” That was the first time I heard someone praying in the name of Yeshua. That soldier was a Jew, and he prayed in the name of Yeshua! The bombs are falling all around us and he is standing very proudly and praying. At that time I couldn’t figure where he got the strength to pray, nor the time… the bombs were flying around us!! And I said to him, “Why are you praying in Yeshua, who is Yeshua? Do you want to bring more problems upon us?”

This particular day was a very hot day, not a bit of wind, no air to breathe. Soldiers, who are experts in finding these mines and defusing them, were busy doing their job around us and when we finished praying, the only way I can describe it… Elohim sent, all of the sudden, a strong wind which blew away all of the sand and even little stones and we didn’t have to look for mines because the mines were on the surface. Not that I got a shock, I thought when I saw this, “I am going crazy.” At this particular stage I wasn’t sure… “am I dreaming? Is it true?” But we carried on with the war.  After a few days of fighting we forgot… I forgot at least about the praying that we did. After the days of fighting there was almost like a cease fire between Syria and Israel. That is about the first time I realized we were just about surrounded and we saw death in front of our eyes, and this soldier would say, “let’s pray again.” I said, “Why do you want to pray now? They started the war again, the bombs are flying like rain.”

In the mean time we got an order from the officers to go towards Mt. Harmon, which is the biggest mountain in Israel, but this soldier radioed back and said, “I’m terribly sorry… I don’t hear anything… I’m busy praying.” … And he kept on praying. Then we went into the tank, and as we drove about a half a kilometer we could see from a distance like a flare… a bomb coming towards our tank. Then we heard the explosion. The tank was almost disintegrated. There were eight of us, five were killed. I was badly wounded and spent nine months in the hospital.

This soldier who had prayed walked out as if nothing had happened. This remained in my mind while in the hospital. He came to visit me frequently, and yet I just couldn’t believe what he said to me. I was too engrossed and busy in believing what I was taught for so many years. The feeling that I had – that if I prayed in the name of Yeshua, or even mentioned that name, I would be a traitor to my faith and my people. But nevertheless believers in Yeshua would never leave me alone. I must have had the face for it. They just wouldn’t leave me alone. They came to witness to me all the time, every time different people.

Eventually there was a very nice family from England that were living in Nahariya that we became friends with. All of the sudden, I found myself searching in my Tanak. I started looking at Isaiah 53, Jeremiah, Ezekiel… But I still couldn’t understand on whom and of whom these particular chapters were talking about, because the name Yeshua specifically wasn’t written in there. But I gave these people the benefit of a doubt. I said, “Maybe they are right and maybe we are wrong.” Then I found myself in a chase, a chase for the truth.

In my own Scriptures; I went to the yeshiva; to libraries; and all different places, digging out books and trying to find out who this Yeshua is. Eventually I realized that this is not enough, the Scriptures, I wanted to read from historians of the ancient times, what they had to write about Yeshua. I prayed to Elohim, “If Yeshua is alive, show me yourself in the Scriptures.” Elohim showed me the way. He lit up the Scriptures to me, and I found Yeshua in them… And not only in the written Scriptures but in the Talmud and Midrashim which are very, very old books.

After accepting Yeshua in my heart, and getting to know him better, and after receiving his kingdom, I can only tell you I have learned that I knew nothing until I met HIM.

Addenda: The testimony of Rabbi Moyal’s wife Rebbetzin Shula Moyal, as she related it to me.

My husband was being very secretive, he was going out in the evenings and being secretive about were he was going. I feared he was having an affair, so I followed him from a distance, and discovered he was going to meetings with a group of “Messianic” Jews. I was shocked! I could not believe my husband, and Orthodox Rabbi, was some kind of Christian! Upon discovering this, I decided to ask the Beit Din (Rabbinical Court) to compel my husband for a divorce. (In Orthodox Judaism, a wife cannot initiate a divorce, but she can ask the Beit Din to compel he husband for one.)

The day came that we were to appear before the Beit Din. I was cutting up some vegetables in our kitchen. We lived in a home in Nahariyya that looked out onto the Mediterranean Sea, and I had a view of the sea through my kitchen window. I could swear I could see the image of a man, standing out on the water. I was sure it must be some kind of illusion. Later, when I went into my room to get ready to appear to the Beit Din, the same man appeared to me, and it was Yeshua! He told me that my husband was right, and that I must not seek a divorce from him. I went to my husband and told him what had happened, that I would not be seeking the divorce, and that I wanted to learn more about this Yeshua.

(Rabbi Moyal and his wife remained married until her death around 2009)

Coming to America

Having concluded that Yeshua is the Messiah, Rabbi Moyal began sharing this information with other Rabbis he knew. They were less than receptive, and he and his family were persecuted.

A Messianic Jewish ministry with a strong tie to an interdenominational charismatic Bible college in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area, reached out to Rabbi Moyal and offered to send himself and his family to their school in Texas, provide them with on campus housing, “educate” him and credential him, so that he could serve as a Messianic Jewish leader. All was well, at first. But the school soon realized that they really did not want Rabbi Moyal at their school, they only had thought that they did.

So the school waited for Passover and then raided his family’s on campus housing on the evening of Passover, during their seder, knowing that they would have wine on campus. The campus security interrupted their seder and escorted them off campus, abandoning them on the evening of Passover in a strange country.

Rabbi Moyal called a Christian friend he had made, who took them in for the night, and set them up for help (and exploitation) by a Christian evangelist. This Christian evangelist used Rabbi Moyal for fundraising, claiming Moyal would be their “ambassador to Israel” and this lasted a few months until the evangelist found that well had been exploited to depletion.

Rabbi Moyal did not really want to be a dancing bear, and he never considered himself a Christian, so he spend the rest of his days living very quietly.

I had the privilege of studying under Rabbi Moyal in the late 1980’s, and I learned a great deal from him, especially in regards to how Yeshua can be seen as the Messiah in the Talmuds. Midrashim and Zohar.

Once (about 35 years ago) Rabbi Moyal took me to an Orthodox Synagogue in Texas, where ha had been canting (they obviously did not know he was a believer in Yeshua). As he was introducing me around to people, there were some where he would then whisper in each of our ears, that this person is a believer in Messiah. It was very interesting that there was a secret network of believers in Messiah in this orthodox synagogue.

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A great restoration is taking place today, and I want to invite all of you to be part of it. Congregations and home groups are meeting all over the world, in places like Belgium, Australia, Brazil etc. If you have a Nazarene Congregation or home study please let us know, so we can all be connected.

The NazareneSpace Social Network is also great place to stay connected!

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This is no time to bask serenely in an attitude of apathy, but we need to stir up the fires of enthusiasm for teaching the truth to the world. I am convinced that Elohim will bless us abundantly if we do. Elohim will soon be opening the doors of opportunity as never before, I hope that each of us (and all of us together) will advance through those doors with all of the energy and confidence YHWH can give His people. This is the time to act.

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