Today we take you into the heart and soul of the Jewish faith.
This is Michael Brown. Welcome to the line of fire. As we stand side by side with you in the line of fire, on the front lines, infusing with faith and truth and courage, we want to see you stand strong, bear much fruit, not just survive.
It's our heart. It's our goal to partner with you, bringing the truth every single day so that you can thrive in God. A healthy church starts with a healthy you. Think of this, as health comes to the body of Christ in America, with that there can be change in the society around us. As health comes to the church, missions work around the world can be strengthened.
As health comes to the church, it helps provoke Israel to envy and salvation. So we are all part of this glorious plan of God. Let's do it together. If you're not getting my frontline newsletter, boy there's so much great content, so much good news in there, so much that is life-changing and impacting. Be sure that you're signing up to get it.
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So make sure you sign up for the newsletter. We've been going through a lot of scripture. We've been talking about Jewish roots of the faith, about Yeshua the Messiah and his mother Miriam, and his disciples Yaakov and Shimon and Yochanan and Matichahu and others. We've been talking about God's promises to Israel, and believers in Jesus can feel confident if God kept his promises to Israel. Despite Israel's sin, how much more will he keep his promises to his people in Jesus, Yeshua? We've talked about the significance of Israel's salvation, and there's so much more that we'll get into. How a Jewish Jerusalem will welcome the Messiah back.
But today we're going to shift gears. We've talked about church history. We've talked about some of the horrors of church history as Christian leaders persecuted Jewish people and gave them the choice of baptism or death. But today we're going to look at something very different. We're going to talk a little bit about Jewish faith.
Now I want to be as clear as I can. As a Jewish follower of Jesus Yeshua, as someone who has engaged in interaction and outreach with my Jewish people for over 52 years, this is obviously something of tremendous importance to me. But this is not just something of importance to me that I want to share with you. It's an insight that will help you.
It's an understanding that will help you. If you live in America, with most all of you listening now live in America, the the vast majority of American Jews are not religious Jews. They are more nominal than religious.
What does that mean? Maybe you were raised in a nominal Christian home. So you went to church occasionally. Not every Sunday.
Not religiously. You went to church occasionally. Maybe Christmas, Easter. Maybe for a baptism or for a wedding. And then maybe when you got to be you know 12, 13 you went through confirmation.
Something like that. Maybe this tradition you passed through. Or maybe you went regularly but you didn't live it out. You didn't read the Bible daily. You didn't pray daily. If I asked you simple questions about theology you couldn't answer.
So nominal. The vast majority of American Jews, as high as 90 percent, are not religious Jews. They are not traditional Jews, meaning they don't pray three times a day, set prayers for long periods of time. Meaning they don't strictly observe the Sabbath.
Meaning they don't strictly observe the dietary laws. It's mainly the high holy days that they'll be in synagogue. Maybe a bar mitzvah. Maybe a wedding.
Something like that. So certain times of the year they get more religious. But the vast majority of the year they're not living as traditional Jews. And in traditional Jews there's the whole range.
And I'll take a moment to explain this to you, okay? Orthodox Jews are those who are Sabbath observant, who observe the dietary laws, who pray three times daily. So they live in certain strict ways according to the Torah and Jewish tradition. And you have different sides of Orthodox. You have the ultra-Orthodox. So those would be, if you see the men, they've got beards, the black coats, the black hats.
They are super observant. And then you have the modern Orthodox. That's kind of to the left of it. Maybe the best known modern Orthodox Jew in America today is Ben Shapiro. So he has the yarmulke. He's a religious Jew. But he's not religious in an extreme way that the ultra-Orthodox would be, okay? And I don't mean extreme in a bad way.
I mean in that level of devotion. Then you have, on the other side on the left, Reform Jews, which is the largest number in America. So Reform Jews are not like Reformation Christians. We are Reformed in archaeology.
Reform means that they were reforming away from many of the traditions. And this began in Germany in the 1700s as Jews were kind of coming out of ghettos where they had lived and were having more liberties that they kind of got exposed to the larger world and thought we need to be more enlightened. We need to be more enlightened. You know, the idea that the Jews are the chosen people that can't eat certain foods, or that there's going to be a physical temple in Jerusalem one day with sacrifices, that's all outdated, outmoded. We still believe that being Jewish is important. And there's a calling on the Jewish people.
But, you know, we should be proponents of social justice and be a prophetic people in that way, you know, advocating for equality and things. But, you know, a lot of the antiquated traditions we should get rid of. So Reform Judaism swung pretty far to the left. And, of course, it's not strictly Sabbath observant and it's not keeping the dietary law. So the traditional rabbis looked at it as completely heretical. So there were Jews who said, we believe it's important to conserve the traditions.
We believe that's important. But we're more enlightened now. We can't believe the Bible literally the way we used to. We can't believe rabbinic literature as literally as we used to.
So we'll be more enlightened there and have more flexibility while we try to conserve the traditions. Those are called conservative Jews. So conservative Jews were technically in between Reform on the left and Orthodox on the right. I was raised in a conservative Jewish home. So conservative Jews would be a little bit more religious, a little bit more observant than a Reform Jew, but not hold to things with the same literal conviction that a traditional Jew would. So the second biggest number of Jews in America after Reform would be conservative. But it's not conservative the way you think of your conservative politically.
It just meant conserving the traditions. But conservative Judaism has lurched further and further to the left over the years as well. So conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism would recognize, for example, same-sex marriages. Reform Judaism was pioneer in ordaining gay rabbis and things like that, lesbian rabbis.
So you can see the dramatic shift there. Your average liberal Jew, so Reform, conservative, or just even more secular, your average liberal Jew does not know much about the contents of the Bible, does not know if they wouldn't be able to pray in Hebrew and understand what the Hebrew meant. I'm talking about in America. And if you're a Christian reading the Bible, you know a lot more about the Bible than your average American Jew does, because they're not religious. If you're talking to a traditional Jew, it's very, very different.
They're immersed in things and have a much better grasp of what they believe and why they believe it. But the point of the matter is, your average American Jew you talk to will not have the same perspective that a traditional Jew does. And although they may have some appreciation for Judaism and the beauty of Judaism, they're not really practicing it the way their ancestors would have over the centuries. So traditional Jews have added a lot of traditions and interpretations over the centuries themselves, but they would preserve more of the heart of the traditions, and some of them are beautiful. And I want to just speak to you from my heart now, and then just share with you some really fascinating traditions, not to get you interested in keeping the traditions.
No, that's not the goal at all. In fact, if as a follower of Jesus, you start getting caught up with Jewish tradition, you will largely get confused. I'm not talking about biblical Jewish insights and Jewish roots, but if you start just trying to follow the traditions of the rabbis and exalt those traditions, it will bring spiritual confusion to you, all right? But what breaks my heart is the traditional Jews I know, the rabbis I've interacted with for years, some of them I've become good friends with over the years, despite our deep differences. They're very, very sincere and very, very devoted. And they pray beautiful prayers out of the prayer book on a daily basis.
And we've interacted hours, hundreds, thousands of hours, if you combine them, and with great sincerity. One ultra-orthodox rabbi made an agreement with me. We came up with a prayer that we would pray for ourselves and each other. And the prayer was, God, give us the courage to follow you and your truth. So I would pray for myself and I would pray for my friend. And he would do the same for himself and for me. God, give us the courage to follow you and your truth, reverent leads, regardless of the consequences, whether by life or by death. And he said, I like that. He said, I'll do it beli neder, which means without making a vow that I'll do it every day.
But I want to pray that as well. When I read the Sedera, the Jewish prayer book, it's very different than the Talmud legal traditions, which can be very convoluted and dry discussions, like what's this even about? You know, this detailed legal discussion, like what's this, what's this about? How does this help me spiritually? You know, you can read the Talmud and wonder about, like, how does that relate?
And a traditional Jew would say, well, we're studying the law and its application and traditions surrounding it. But when I read the prayer book and the prayers that my people are praying on a daily basis, that's what tears at my heart. That's what touches me so deeply.
That's what's brought me to tears saying no people is so near and yet so far. And when we do our tours to Israel, and only as to the end of the Torah, that we're in Jerusalem and we're praying at the Kotel, the wall known as the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, but to Jews in Israel, just the Kotel, the wall. When we're praying there, I always tell the Torah group, listen, it's an amazing experience to be praying there and praying side by side with religious Jews. I said, but don't just have the exhilaration of the moment. Don't just say, well, we're in Jerusalem and we can say how ancient this is and it brings us back to Bible days and so on.
I said, that's wonderful. But also ask God for burden. Also ask God for burden because no people is so near and yet so far. No people is so near and yet so far. I'm taking a quick break.
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Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. Welcome back friends to the Line of Fire Broadcast as I'm teaching this whole month on Jewish roots of the faith and why Israel's salvation should matter. We're taking you into a little bit into Jewish beliefs today. My textbook, outside of scriptures, we've been quoting scripture throughout. My textbook is Our Hands or Stand with Blood, the tragic story of the church and the Jewish people.
I can say with assurance it will be one of the most eye-opening books you've ever read and maybe one of the most life-impacting books you've ever read to the point that 20 years from now you'll be able to tell me about the impact the book made on your life. We want to get it to everyone that we possibly can. We want every one of you to have this so you can read it, digest it, understand it. We deal with, we expose some of the bad reporting and bigotry. We talk about the anti-Semitism in the U.N. and document it over a 30-year period.
I mean the quotes here, when you see quotes from 30 years ago and then quotes today, you think this is unbelievable. So let's look at religious Jews, devoted Jews, not to exalt them because they still need Messiah, they still fall short, they still sin, but to try to give you an understanding of what moves and motivates traditional Jews. So Rabbi Akiva, one of the most famous sages in Jewish literature, died a martyr's death in year 135. He had wrongly thought that Bar Kochba, a Jewish general, was the Messiah and that he would lead a successful revolt against Rome, which he didn't. But when the Romans outlawed Torah teaching, Rabbi Akiva basically out in public taught the Torah. And when he was asked, why are you doing this?
Why don't you go into hiding? He basically said, look, the Torah is our life. And he gave this analogy of a fox walking by the side of the stream and there are fish in the stream and the fox is saying, you know, it'd be so much easier outside of the water, you know, to come out here. I'm not giving you this literally, you know, word for word. And the fish is like, hey, it's a lot safer in the river here in the stream than out there out of our element.
And sorry, Fox, we're not doing it. And Rabbi Akiva is like, the Torah is our life. To step back from it, to go into hiding is to get outside of our stream, so to say. So he continued to teach in public. He didn't stop while he was in prison. And then it's the day for his torture and death. So as the sadistic crowds looked down with glee, the executioner began to comb Akiva's 90-year-old flesh with iron comb, so literally ripping off his flesh with iron combs.
But Akiva's mind was on something else. The time had come to recite the Shema, so the daily time for the recitation of the Shema, which is in Deuteronomy 6, Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad, hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, or hero Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. He was trying to recite that. So he recited it and smiled. The Roman officer called out, old man, art thou a sorcerer, or dost thou mock at thy sufferings that thou smilest in the midst of thy pains?
Neither, replied Akiva. So this is as reported by tradition in the midst of this agonizing torture, 90 years old. But all my life, when I said the words, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might, I was saddened. So this is what follows Shema Yisrael, hero Israel, and then you shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. Those are the words that follow in Deuteronomy 6. He said, I was saddened, for I thought, when shall I be able to fulfill the command? I have loved God with all my heart and with all my possessions, that's with all my might, but how to love him with all my soul, meaning with all my life, was not assured me. Now that I am giving my life and that the hour for saying the Shema has come and my resolution remains firm, should I not laugh, as he spoke, his soul departed. So this began a tradition in Judaism to die as a martyr and recite the Shema, and according to the tradition, he hung on that word echad, one, until he died.
And then, you know, this dialogue takes place, this soul is expiring. The point is, you know, we can say, ah, the rabbis, pharisees, they're all hypocrites, and okay, there were hypocrites among them. Do you know any hypocritical church leaders? Any hypocritical church members?
And ever had any hypocrisy in your own life? Yeah, this goes in every religion. There are many who are deeply devoted.
It's not just outward appearance, and that's what breaks my heart more than anything. Not the mocker and the blasphemer and the, you know, the secular Jew that's supporting some radically butchered version of Judaism and really mocking the Scriptures. Yeah, I grieve for them, but what really grieves me, what really burdens me, is those that are so near. I've prayed at the wall, the Wailing Wall in Israel and Jerusalem many a time, side by side with ultra-orthodox Jews, and my heart breaks, oh God, open their heart. I prayed with some of them as they stand by the wall crying and weeping, some of them weeping for Messiah to come.
My heart's bursting, oh God, show them Messiah has come. Elchanan Wasserman, one of the greatest rabbis of Eastern Europe, he dies in 1941 at the hands of the Nazis. He and a number of leading Jewish scholars were studying the Talmud together in the ghetto in Kovno, Lithuania, on July 6, 1941, and suddenly a group of Lithuanian fascists broke through into the room, firing their rifles and accusing the rabbis of trying to organize a revolt. These crazed soldiers lined up the rabbis and began to march them to their death, when Rabbi Wasserman stopped and addressed those with him.
Here's what he said, it's a rabbi about to die. It appears that in heaven they view us as tzadikim, righteous men, worthy to atone with our lives for the people of Israel. There is a Jewish tradition that says the death of the righteous atones for the sins of the generation, meaning that the righteous person can take the weight of the guilty and level the balances, so if the guilty will repent, there can be atonement. You talk about a segue to the gospel, you talk about, yeah, this is ultimately what happens at the cross, isn't it? The perfectly righteous one dies for the sins of the whole world.
Exactly. It's a concept found in Judaism. Rabbi Wasserman says, it appears that in heaven they view us as tzadikim, righteous men, worthy to atone with our lives for the people of Israel. We must therefore immediately repent here and now, for the time is short, and the ninth, fourth, the place of execution is near. We must remember that we will in truth be those who sanctify God's name.
Let us therefore go with heads erect. Let us, God forbid, have no unworthy thought, which like unfit intention in the case of a sacrifice rendered it invalid. We are now about to fulfill the greatest commandment, that of sanctifying the name. The fire which will destroy us in the flame is the flame out of which the Jewish people will be rebuilt.
So this is the type of spiritual devotion that you find in traditional Jews gladly willing to die for the name and honor of God. And Rabbi Wasserman's teacher was a man named Yisrael Meir HaKohane, better known as the Chafetz Chaim from Psalm 34, those who love life. And he became famous for writing books on ethics in terms of the tongue, and not gossip and slander and things like that. So on one occasion, it's told, a Gentile peasant inadvertently left behind a small smoked fish which he had purchased in the Chafetz Chaim store. The Chafetz Chaim was deeply disturbed when he realized he would be unable to locate and identify the peasant who had purchased the fish. The very next market day, therefore the Chafetz Chaim distributed a free fish to every peasant who entered the store. He wanted to make sure a peasant paid him for a small fish and forgot to take it. And he had to make it right. That was his ethic, he had to make it right.
But he couldn't figure out who the peasant was, so every peasant that came through the door the next day, he gave him a free fish to say, hey, I want to make sure I got this right. This is the type of zeal for the law, for the Torah, for honoring God ethically, that you find as legendary among these traditional Jews. And that's the tragedy, but we still fall short, we still sin, we still need atonement, redemption. It's found only in the Messiah. That breaks my heart that my people don't know him, and it deepens my urgency to see them come to faith.
So pray with us and believe with us and stand with us for the salvation of the Jewish people. And make sure you get your copy of Our Hands Are Staying with Blood. It'll change your life as you read it. Go to thelineoffire.org and make sure when you're there, sign up for our frontline newsletter.
That will equip you every single month. This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the Word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click donate.
