New twist on “Biblical Judaism”: Rabbinic Judaism vs. Modern Judaism
Most of us in the Messianic Jewish Movement have heard the claim coming from many in the Christian, Hebrew Christian and Hebrew Roots (which includes the so called “independent messianic”) camps that goes something like this: there once was such a thing as “Biblical Judaism”, that is a Judaism sans the burdensome Jewish traditions, one supposedly practiced by Yeshua himself and one restored today, naturally, by these modern day proponents. Their claim goes on to insist that at one point the rabbis came along, without authorization, without the Spirit of G-d in them and with ill motives, and supposedly have corrupted the “Biblical Judaism” and have turned into the “man-made” “Rabbinic Judaism” that the poor deceived Jews are practicing today. These folks see it as their duty to restore “Biblical Judaism” into the one they think the Master adhered to himself.
But just to show you that there’s truly nothing new under the sun, there’s now a new teachings that is going around, primarily among messianics who claim to be friendly to ‘Rabbinic Judaism”. Similar to the “Biblical vs. Rabbinic Judaism” teaching described above, this new twist on the old idea tries to create yet another dichotomy, this time between “Rabbinic Judaism” and “Modern Judaism”. These teachers insist that the “Modern Judaism”as practiced by devout modern Jews today is in fact a corrupted form of the original teachings and motives of the “Rabbinic Judaism” of the Sages (Talmudic Rabbis), and is deist, racist, anti-Messiah, anti-modern and close-minded. These folks see it as their goal to restore the true intent of “Rabbinic Judaism” – and of course, they too think that they practice the right sort of Judaism and can set the Jews straight.
You heard it here first, folks.
I don’t know, I met someone very odd this weekend that may be something you’ve not heard of.
Um…there was a written and oral Torah since the days Moses had his 40 day visit with God on the top of Sinai and arguably, even before (how did Noah know which animals to sacrifice after the flood subsided?). Sure, the interpretations and commentaries of the great Rabbis (Hillel, Rambam, Rashi, and so forth) wouldn’t be written until the Common Era, but “Biblical Judaism”, as I understand it at least, pretty much *is* “Rabbinic Judaism”.
I try to tell people that you can’t just “read” the Bible. By definition, the document *has* to be interpreted, which means someone has to do the interpreting.
“I don’t know, I met someone very odd this weekend that may be something you’ve not heard of.”
benicho, do share!
“Biblical Judaism”, as I understand it at least, pretty much *is* “Rabbinic Judaism”.
James, it’s very similar to how some people today insist that the “Israelites of the Bible” were the real stuff but the “Jews” of today are the impostors – this is just another way to delegitimize. And more to the point of my post, some messianic folks (whom I will not identify) today try do likewise to what they term “Modern Judaism” by contrasting it with the so called “original Rabbinic Judaism” that they supposedly admire.
I don’t know all of his views, but… he was Ethiopian Messianic Jew that believes all religions (Christianity and Judaism likewise) were worshiping the wrong Gd simply because he believes we use the incorrect name and are therefore accidentally praying to a demon, thus making us pagans. He said all Christians are believing in a false Messiah because they don’t use the correct name (he says Izazayah [sp?] is the actual correct name). On top of all that was a mess of supersessionism that I still don’t understand. Such as…the only true Jews are Africans, Ashkenazi Jews aren’t real Jews (I could tell he particularly didn’t like caucasians/whites), Rabbinic Judaism is evil, Talmud was satanic literature, etc. For everything he said it seemed very mainstream Christianity yet you could tell he wasn’t raised Christian. Maybe he had spoken to missionaries at some point, I don’t know.
I knew messianics were varied but sometimes I don’t understand how they reach these conclusions.
benicho, I’ve for sure heard of this before! This fellow is no “Ethiopian Messianic Jew” – he’s what’s called a “Black Hebrew” – that is he is a part of an antisemitic and racist Christian (if you can call it that) group composed of African Americans (not “Ethiopians” as one would find in Israel – although some claim that they are!) who view themselves as the “true Israelites”, while the”white Jews” are viewed as imposters.
You can read more about them here: http://www.religioustolerance.org/bhi.htm
It also sounds that he’s a “Sacred Namer” to boot.
There is really nothing new!
LOL those all seem to fit, one oddity was that he was actually Messianic, Shabbat observer, wore tzit tzit, etc. Not sure the extent of his observance, but yeah, I haven’t met anyone quite like him. I’ve seen the racist African American groups (like Rev. Wright) that claim lineage from Israel and all that but you’re right, he probably wasn’t Ethiopian, he was actually from Africa though.
He was definitely a Sacred Namer, definitely stressed that we believed in the wrong Gd and Messiah.
He also did not believe black Africans were descendants of Ham, which was telling of a lot things.
“You heard it here first, folks. ”
Nahh…FFOZ practice this form of “Judaism” for a few years now…….