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frequently asked questions

 

Are you “Jews for Jesus?”
What are your services?
What is Messianic Judaism?
Does Tikvat Yisrael follow the "Two House” doctrine?
How do I dress, or what do we wear?
I am not born Jewish, will I be comfortable in your service?
What is the difference between Messianic Jews and Hebrew Christians?
What is the difference between a Church and a Messianic Synagogue?
What is the “Heart of Ruth?”
Why do people say Messianic Judaism is Christianity?
What is Messianic Jewish Identity?
How do Gentile non-Jewish believers fit in?
Why do we dance in the service?
Why do we light candles?
Why do we raise our hands in worship?
Will I be attending a church or a synagogue service?
What is the meaning of the Hebrew used in the service?
I would like to know more about the services.
What foods can be permitted at a Messianic Synagogue?
What are the benefits of being part of the community?



 



Are you “Jews for Jesus?”

No, Tikvat Yisrael is not “Jews for Jesus.” “Jews for Jesus” is an evangelistic
organization. We are members of the Messianic Jewish Association of America
(MJAA), and the I.A.M.C.S. (International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues)

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Does Tikvat Yisrael follow the "Two House” doctrine?

No. Tikvat Yisrael considers this as a man-made doctrine. Read the full paper on this by clicking here.

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How do I dress, or what do we wear?

How would you dress to meet someone you consider important?
You are coming to worship G-d. Dress with this purpose in mind,
and you should feel comfortable.

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I am not born Jewish, will I be comfortable in your service?

Approximately 35% are Jewish and 65% are non-Jewish, but have the heart of Ruth.
Come and you will be blessed more than you can imagine.

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What is the difference between Messianic Jews and Hebrew Christians?

There are important similarities, yet differences, between “Hebrew
Christians," also known as "Jewish Christians" and Messianic Jews.

Hebrew Christians:

  • Hebrew Christians are Jewish people who identify themselves as Christians.
  • They are (mostly) members of Protestant and Catholic congregations.
    Usually, they are not so strict about observing Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), the Sabbath, or the Feasts.
  • They are generally assimilated culturally into the Christian mainstream, although they retain a strong sense of their Jewish identity.
  • They have a strong desire to pass on their Jewish identity to their children.

Messianic Jews:

  • Messianic Jews consider their primary identity to be "Jewish" and belief in Yeshua (Jesus) to be the logical conclusion of their "Jewishness."
  • They try to structure their worship according to Jewish norms.
  • They circumcise their sons.
  • They (mostly) abstain from non-kosher foods.
  • They observe the Sabbath and the Feasts.
  • Most do not use the label "Christian" to describe themselves.
  • They also have a strong desire to pass on their Jewish idenity and culture to their children.

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What is the “Heart of Ruth?”

Ruth 1:16, "But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."

Christians need to love the Jewish People as Ruth loved them.  Notice Ruth did not just love their God, she loved the people, and the Land.

Three-fold Covenant Relationship:
•          God of Israel
•          People of Israel
•          Land of Israel

You have to genuinely love the Jewish people and recognize their covenant.
Because God loves Israel…

Deuteronomy 4:37
Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,

Deuteronomy 10:15
Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

Hosea 3:1
The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

G-d reaches out to Israel with compassion and loving-kindness, He is not angry with the Jews. 

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

Deuteronomy 7:12
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.

While the purpose of a non-Jew in Messianic Judaism is to “provoke Jewish unbelievers to jealousy for faith in Messiah”; so it is the purpose of the Jew to be a light to Gentiles…

Isaiah 42:6-8  “I, ADONAI, called you righteously, I took hold of you by the hand, I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people, to be a light for the Goyim, so that you can open blind eyes, free the prisoners from confinement, those living in darkness from the dungeon. I am ADONAI; that is my name. I yield my glory to no one else, nor my praise to any idol.

This is why we don’t convert Gentiles; we don’t circumcise them. Acts 15 lays out the only requirements on Non-Jews…no blood, no sexual immorality, no meat from strangled animals and no idolatry….
We teach that the Torah was given to Israel the Jewish people, non-Jews may come along side of us just like Ruth, but we don’t require them to live a Jewish lifestyle because they have their own role and identity…

This is not dual covenant theology which teaches Jews keep Torah for salvation and non-Jews have Jesus.  M.J. teaches we both are saved by Yeshua’s blood, for salvation there is neither Jew nor Greek….

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Paul is not saying here that homosexuality is now permitted because of Jesus’ blood.  There is still a purpose for a man and a purpose for a woman, just as there is still a purpose for a Jew and a purpose for a Gentile,

However what he is saying here in Galatians is that for salvation purposes we are all the same in God’s eyes, we are equal before him and equally dependant on and saved by the same atonement provided by Messiah Yeshua.

Different roles, different callings, different purposes, but the same Lord is over us all.

We do not teach that Jews convert to Christianity and lose their Jewish identity. Likewise, we do not teach that non-Jews convert to Judaism and loose their non-Jewish identity either…

I Corinthians 7:18-20 "Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called."

This is why Jews stay Jewish, and non Jews stay non-Jews, anything else is a cult.

There are cults that try to convert Jews and destroy their identities, and likewise there are cults that teach Gentiles should be circumcised and live as Jews or call themselves Israelites from the 10 lost tribes, this is false teaching it is ludicrous – and we in M.J. wholeheartedly reject these teachings.
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Why do people say Messianic Judaism is Christianity?

It is because of Messianic Judaism’s belief in Yeshua (Jesus).
The “Messianic Judaism is Christianity” statement comes from the rabbical Judaism, and is because we believe in Yeshua (Jesus). This is understandable since the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust were done in the name of Jesus.

We follow the Sabbath, the Feasts, and the dietary instructions as written in scripture. Christianity, typically, does not.

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What is Messianic Jewish Identity?

Messianic Jews recognize that their existence is entirely due to God's intervention on behalf of His Jewish people. Messianic Judaism is part of the fulfillment of God's many Scriptural promises of eternal love and faithfulness to Israel.

The "Messianic Jewish identity" is wholly dependent on the person of Yeshua: God Himself come to earth to reconcile the Jewish people and all nations to Himself.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." - Isaiah 53:6

The foundation of Messianic Judaism, therefore, is each individual's personal relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Messiah Yeshua. In the Hebrew Law God clearly demands a blood sacrifice for the remittance of sins. Each Messianic Jew recognizes his or her own sinfulness and has accepted that Yeshua Himself provided this sacrifice.

Another important aspect of the Messianic Jewish movement is Jewish congregational worship. If Yeshua really is the Jewish Messiah of whom all the Jewish Law and Prophets spoke, then it is the most Jewish thing in the world to follow Him!

Should Jews really attempt to assimilate into churches and forego their Jewish identity when they choose to put their faith in the Jewish Messiah? Messianic Judaism answers, "No!"

As Yeshua Himself embraced His Jewishness, Messianic Jews seek to embrace theirs, by meeting in congregational communities with other Jewish believers and by maintaining a Biblically Jewish expression of their faith. Every congregation is different, but this expression often means worshiping in Hebrew, following Mosaic Law, dancing as King David did before the Lord, and keeping Biblical holidays such as Pesach, Sukkot, or Shavuot.

Also important is Messianic Judaism's ministry to both the Jewish community and the Christian body of believers. Messianic Jews are part of the larger Body of Messiah throughout the world, and Messianic Jews hope to help all believers in Yeshua to better understand the Jewish roots of their faith. Finally, Yeshua declared that no-one can comes to the Father - the God of Israel! - except through Him (John 14:6). Messianic Jews seek to share this way, this truth, and this life with their Jewish brothers and sisters.

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How do Gentile non-Jewish believers fit in?

First everyone must recognize that the Good News of Messiah was intented to go first to the Jew…however non-Jews also have a role to play…

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

What is then the role of non-Jews in a Messianic Jewish Synagogue?...

Romans 11: 11  “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy."

Non-Jews have a role and a purpose and their own identity in Messianic Judaism; and that is to provoke unbelieving Jews to faith in their own Messiah.  Non-Jews who love and support Israel and the Jewish people are a sweet fragrance to Jewish unbelievers, they are attracted to the “Heart of Ruth.”  Every non-Jewish person who is called to a Messianic Synagogue should develop the same “Heart of Ruth” devotion to Israel and the Jewish people.

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Why do we dance in the service?

Ps. 149:3: "Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre."
Ps. 150:4: "Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe."

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Why do we light candles?
In our congregation we are a mishpocha (family) and we light our Shabbat candles to usher in the Shabbat as a family.
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Why do we raise our hands in worship?
Ps. 63:4 "So I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy Name"
Ps. 134:2 "Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, And bless the Lord"
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Will I be attending a church or a synagogue service?
Tikvat Yisrael is a Messianic Jewish synagogue. The liturgy is in Hebrew and English. The songs in the praise and worship are both in Hebrew and English. The sermons are in English. Through the liturgy, the praise and worship, and the sermons we lift up the name of Yeshua (Jesus).

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