Hitbodedut (Hebrew: התבודדות) refers to an unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of prayer and meditation taught by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. The goal of hitbodedut is to establish a close, personal relationship with God and a clearer understanding of one’s personal motives and goals.

Reb Nachman of Breslov, a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and founder of Breslover Chasidut, breathed new life into Judaism by combining the mystical elements of Chasidut with in-depth Torah scholarship.

In addition to regular (prayer) davening from the Siddur, Reb Nachman frequently recited extemporaneous prayers. In fact, he taught his Chasidim (his followers) that they should spend at least one hour alone each day, talking aloud to God in his or her own words, as if “talking to a good friend.” This practice was to be in addition to the prayers of the Siddur. Breslover Chasidim still follow this practice today, which is known as hitbodedut (literally, “to make oneself be in solitude”). Rebbe Nachman taught that the best place to do hitbodedut was in a field or forest, among the natural works of HaShem’s creation. The hours spent in secluded prayer, according to Reb Nachman, were one of the primary ways to build a relationship with God.

Hitbodedut is performed in one’s mother tongue, in contrast to most other Jewish prayers that are recited in Hebrew. Rebbe Nachman did not intend for hitbodedut to take the place of the three daily prescribed Jewish services, but to supplement them. He recommended that his followers engage in hitbodedut for at least one hour each day.

Within our prayer lives, we need communal and personal forms of prayer, the structure of the Siddur, as well as hitbodedut. For they all draw us closer to HaShem. And yet, there is something special about our personal prayer times — alone, secluded, without distraction.

This type of prayer, which Rebbe Nachman referred to as hitbodedut was also practiced and encouraged by our own “rebbi.” Yeshua himself would often go off into seclusion to pray. We see this many times throughout the Besorot hatovot (Good News).

Although Maran Yeshua exemplifies the pattern of formal communal worship within the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) and synagogues, he also teaches us:

But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. For your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. — Mattityahu / Matthew 6:6

We want Mashiach Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3-la7-qr6A

(Mattityahu/Matthew 14:22-24) “Immediately he had the talmidim get in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away. After he sent the crowds away, He went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night came on, and He was there alone. But by this time, the boat was several miles away from the shore, battling a rough sea and a head wind.”

Here we see the beginning of one of the most popular events within the Bible believing world, which is when our Messiah and Rabbi Yeshua walks on the water and meets His talmidim in the middle of the lake. The thought of this alone is mind-blowing because we, who don’t even compare to Yeshua in terms of Emuna, just sink as soon as our feet touch the water.

The passage above “a rough sea and a head wind” is often translated as a massive storm. We, as messianic believers all face storms in our every-day lives, sometimes they are small and sometimes they are larger. All storms are in one way or another a test of Emuna and God only sends storms or tests of Emuna that we can handle at one time. (1 Corinthians 10:13) “No temptation has seized you beyond what normal people experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation He will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.” Yeshua allowed His talmidim to go ahead of Him because it was a test for them of their Emuna to refine and increase it, and for later documentation, for us now to study and increase our Torah wisdom. For the talmidim, their storm was an actual storm with rain, and raging wind with waves. While in a boat, especially a small fishing boat this would cause any ordinary person to tremble and fear that they will tip over and sink. Our every-day storms could range from multiple different situations from financial, to family, to career, and so on. However, just like with the talmidim and as Rabbi Shaul teaches, God will only bring us to a situation which we can endure and which has a way out.  

(Mattityahu/Matthew 14:25-26) “Around four o’clock in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the lake! When the talmidim saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said and screamed with fear.” As messianic believers, we need to remember the vital passage in 1 Corinthians 10:13 when a storms comes our way. We need to have seek the same Emuna as Yeshua to be able to not only endure the storm on the boat, but to walk on the waters through the raging storm, and know that God is in control. The talmidim however show us that we gain no profit from freaking out or over reacting to the situation and as we see in the later passages, it will actually make things a lot worse. We need to internalize this concept deep within our souls, and understand the authority of the name of our Messiah and Rabbi Yeshua. In our daily lives, when we call out to the Father as helpless children, stranded in the oceans of this present world in the middle of life’s many storms, we need to always call out to Him in the merit/name of our Messiah, our Rabbi Yeshua, which literally means salvation! By this name alone, we will be saved and delivered from all of life’s storms and be counted worthy to the gift of eternal life.

(Mattityahu/Matthew 14:27) “But at once Yeshua spoke to them. “Courage,” he said, “it is I. Stop being afraid.” In our storms we all face, Yeshua put it as simple as possible for both us and His talmidim in the boat; have courage. The dictionary defines courage as followed; “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.” With the Ruach HaKodesh within us, we are able to face all situations in life, just like King David when he faced Goliath and King Y’hoshafat along with the people with Y’hudah when they were confronted with a sea of enemies. We all need to be still and rejoice and praise God in even the most brutal storms and unlike the talmidim in the boat, we will be filled with courage and recognize our salvation approaching us in the near distance and shout joyfully in praise and worship to the Almighty God if Israel.

(Mattityahu/Matthew 14:28-33) “Then Kefa called to Him, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come!” he said. So Kefa got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Yeshua. But when he saw the wind, he became afraid; and as he began to sink, he yelled, “Teacher! Save me!” Yeshua immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “Such little trust! Why did you doubt?” As they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. The men in the boat fell down before him and exclaimed, “You are really God’s son!”

Here we see an example of lack of trust and how it affects our Emuna; Kefa (Peter) is seen here calling out to Yeshua once he begins to recognize Him and still he has a little doubt when he says "Teacher, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The key word here is “if” which shows Kefa’s lack of trust at the moment, even when witnessing this miraculous event, if his Emuna was more solid he would have said “Teacher, I know it’s you, I’m coming to meet you.” The result of Kefa’s lack of trust in God when walking towards Yeshua was that he began to sink, with us in our everyday lives in our storms we face, we also have sinking moments. When we doubt the power of God and do not trust God in our storms, then we rely on ourselves or in other worldly elements such as money as a source of salvation, however, Our Rabbi Yeshua teaches us that we cannot serve God and money, so money alone as a source of personal salvation is completely insane, especially in our current markets where the dollar could crash at any moment and then it’s all as good as toilet paper. We all, just like Kefa however have moments when we are sinking in the storms our situations, like if we allow anger or pride to swallow us up and bring us to humiliation, or if we allow a beautiful marriage which many people pray for to have just sink like a rock over vain issues. However, we serve an awesome God and even if we are up to our necks in the water sinking, if we call out to our Father in the merit of the name of our Messiah Yeshua, He will save us by His mighty hand and bring us to deliverance and salvation because Our Father will see the blood of Yeshua over the door posts of our hearts in faith.

 (Mattityahu/Matthew 14:34-36) “Having made the crossing, they landed at Ginosar. When the people of the place recognized Him, they sent word throughout the neighbourhood and brought Him everyone who was ill. They begged Him that the sick people might only touch they tzitzit on His robe, and all who touched were healed.”  Here we see the complete opposite of what happened in the boat with the talmidim. The talmidim witnessed one of the most amazing miracles throughout the entire bible and they still doubted and sank when they should have been overflowing with Emuna. The people of Ginosar, just like the talmidim saw Him from a distance just walking normally on land and they were filled with Emuna and they sent word to the entire community were suffering through their own personal storms, which in this case were illnesses, which we all face or are currently dealing with at this very second in time. Because of their Emuna, the people of Ginosar were all healed just by touching the tzitzit of Yeshua’s robe. This is the Emuna we all need to have in order to be delivered from our storms, whether they are physical storms like the talmidim in the boat, or illnesses like the people of Ginosar. Even though our Messiah has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven to the right hand of God and we cannot physically see Him today.

Yeshua gave us a very inspiring teaching on Emuna after His resurrection. (Yochanan/John 20:27-29) “Then He said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!” T’oma answered Him, “My Teacher and my Judge!” Yeshua said to him, “Have you trusted because you have seen me? How blessed are those who do not see, but trust anyway!”

We need to always trust God and always seek our Father with our needs in the merit of the name of Yeshua, who lived a perfect and inspiring Torah centered life because He is the living Torah, we need to trust in the name of Yeshua in all of our prayers to our Father in heaven and we will be even more blessed than those who saw and witnessed the miracles of Yeshua before His ascension into Heaven.

I hope, and I pray that all those who are able to read this put their trust into the one and true God of Israel, and His anointed one, our Messiah, our Rabbi, our Salvation, Yeshua. No matter what storm you may be in, whether it is financial/career, family/marriage, or even sickness, put your trust into the one who we cannot right now see, and recognize the one true salvation just like the people of Ginosar and receive divine healing from the hands of God, in the merit of the name of Yeshua, trust in Him and receive your miracle today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SJFz2ptPHc

My Italian Jewish surname (last name)… could it be Jewish? Researching Italian Surnames for Possible Jewish Roots

Have you wondered if you have Jewish ancestors? Does your family history include stories of Jewish heritage or Jewish traditions? Some experts state that as much as 50% of the populations of Calabria and Sicily (the most Southern regions of Italy) were Jewish before the Inquisition. During the Inquisition, some of these families moved north in Italy and then east into Greece and Islamic countries to pursue their religion without fear of death. Some were already inter-married with Catholic families and were blending into that society and not openly practicing the Jewish religion so they didn’t need to move. Some were converted to Christianity as adults to stay in their towns and keep their lives.

There is a Jewish congregation in Salonika (Greece) dating to the Inquisition, so that now most of them aren’t even aware of their Italian roots! Rabbi Barbara (see below) has traced her family as it traveled around the Mediterranean and eventually settled in Calabria.

Some of these traveling families returned to Italy after the Inquisition, some didn’t. Knowing that among the emigrants to the US, the Italians were the most likely to return to their homeland, I suspect the same applies to these people.

Here’s an alphabetical list of Jewish surnames (last names) who had lived in Italy.

A lot of them don’t sound to be Italian but they’ve maintained their original foreign writing even if established in Italy: Also a few of them are also used by Christian families and hence it’s impossible to know which is their religion just by their name.

Italy has a very important role in Jewish history and genealogy: it is located centrally on the Mediterranean sea and serves as an important crossroad and an intersection between North and South, East and West, Sephardic and Ashkenazi culture. If your ancestors came from Europe, there are many possibilities that a branch of your family went throuh Italy. In Italy there is not a central collection of records for genealogical purposes, but there are numerous places in which administrative, civil, religious, and military records are stored.

Here you’ll find information and resources on the places where most Jews lived: Ancona, Livorno, Roma, Venezia, Sicily and others.

A

Aadith, Abadì, Abeles, Abenaim, Abeniacar, Abib, Abigdor, Aboaf, Abramson, Abravanel, Abulaffi, Abulaffia, Acco, Acher, Adagnia, Aderca, Ades, Adler, Aelion, Aghib, Ahrens, Ajar, Alatri, Alba, Albahari, Albaum, Albert, Albina, Albini, Alcalai, Alfaquain, Algranati, Alhaique, Allalouf, Allan Civita, Alrnagià, Almansi, Almansi Macchioro, Almeda, Alphandery, Alpron, Alt, Altarass, Altaress, Altberger, Alter, Alticheh, Amar, Ameriglio, Amati, Ambonetti, Ambron, Amì, Amman, Amy, Anau, Ancona, Andrè, Angel, Angeli, Angelini, Anguillara, Anticoli, Ara, Arbib, Archivolti, Arditti, Arditi, Ariani, Arias, Ariccia, Ariete, Arieti, Arnstein, Artom, Aruch, Ascarelli, Ascer, Aschenazi, Ascher, Ascoli, Ascoli Marchetti, Assajcas, Asseo, Astein, Asti, Astrologo, Attal, Attias, Aub, Avigdor, Auerbach, Awerbach, Azankot, Azavei, Azavey, Azria, Azriel, Azzaria.

B

Badalassi Orvieto, Baer, Bachi, Backschmiedt, Bagdalli, Bahorjudà, Baiona, Bak, Balachovsky, Ball, Ballanti, Balog, Banon, Banti, Baquis, Baracchi, Barchi, Barmè Mazloun, Baroccio, Barroccio, Baruch, Barzilai, Barzillon, Basevi, Basilea, Basola, Bassan, Behor, Bassani, Bassano, Bassi, Batò, Battino, Bauer, Beck, Bedarida, Bedussa, Beer, Behar, Beilinson, Belaise, Belforte, Belgrado, Belimbau, Belleli, Bellom, Belmonte, Bemporad, Benadì, Benaim, Benamozegh, Benarayo, Benedetti, Beniacar, Beniamin, Benigno, Benoliel, Bensillun, Bensussan, Benusiglio, Benveniste, Benvenisti, Benzimrà, Benzouan, Berahà, Berer, Bergmann, Bergholz, Bermann, Bernardoni, Berni, Bernheimer, Bernsteir, Bertel, Beruchel, Besso, Betrich, Betti, Bettinelli, Bettmann, Biach, Bianchini, Bienenfeld, Bigiavi, Bigio, Biks, Bingen, Bischof (vescovo!), Bises, Bisi Mantovani, Bisogni, Bisson, Bivak, Blanes, Blaskopf, Blau, Blitz, Bloch, Blotzek, Blum, Blumberg, Blumenthal, Boaz, Bobek, Boccara, Boffi, Boghen, Boehm, Bolaffi, Bolaffio, Bollag, Bolle, Bologna, Bolosca, Baustein, Bonaventura, Bondì, Bonfiglioli, Bonomie, Bonucci, Boralevi, Borgetti, Borghi, Borlenghi, Borseti, Bows, Bracci, Brandenburg, Brandes, Brandi, Braeuer, Braun, Brauner, Braunschweig, Braunstein, Bravermann, Brecher, Breiner, Breinin, Bresner, Brill, Brisi, Brociner, Brok, Brod, Brodanka, Brunner, Buchbinder, Buchsbaum, Bueno, Bunzel.

C

Cabibbe, Cademann, Cadorini, Caffaz, Cagli, Caimi, Caimmi, Caivano, Calabi, Calabresi, Calderoni, Calef, Caleff, Calfoa, Calimani, Calò, Calvo, Camaioli, Camerini, Camerino, Camhi, Camis, Camis de Fonseca, Cammeo, Campagnano, Campos, Canarutto, Cannaruto, Cantoni, Capato, Capua, Carasso, Carrara, Carcsson, Cardoso, Carijo, Carlì, Carmi, Carmona, Caro, Carpanetti, Carpi, Carsen, Caruba, Casanova, Cases, Cases Pellegrini, Cascinelli, Cassin, Cassuto, Castelbolognesi, Castelletti, Castelli, Castelfranchi, Castelfranco, Castelnuovo Tedesco, Castiglioni, Castro, Cattelani, Cava, Cave Bondì, Cavaglieri, Cavaglione, Cavalieri, Caviglia, Cendraissousa, Cervetti, Cesana, Cevidalli, Clerido, Clava, Clerle, Cludnevitz, Chajes, Chapira, Chimichì, Ciaroff, Cingoli, Citone, Citone in Alvarenga, Citoni, Cividalli, Civita, Coen, Coen Cantarini, Coen Gialli, Coenca, Cogoi, Cohen, Coifmann, Colasanti, Colia, Colombo, Colonna, Colorni, Confino, Conforte, Conforti, Confort, Conigliani, Consarelli, Consigli, Consiglio, Consolo, Contini, Corcos, Cori, Corinaldi, Coscas Majon, Costa, Costantini, Cotton, Covo, Cramer, Cratz, Crema, Cremisi, Creo, Croccolo, Curiat, Curiel, Cusin, Cutti, Cuzzeri, Cuzzi, Czachi, Czatzkis, Czimmer.

D

Dadone, Da Fano, D’Agata, Daldon, Dalla Torre, D’Ancona, Daniel, Danitti, Dann, Da Zara, De Abravanel, De Alvarez, De Angelis, Deangelis, De Benedetti, De Castro, De Cori, De Farro, De Frigessy, De Funel, De Leon, Della Riccia, Dell’Ariccia, Della Rocca, Della Seta, Della Torre, Della Volta, Dello Strologo, Del Mar, Del Monte, Del Sole, De Luisa, Del Valle, Del Valle de Paz, Del Vecchio, Demajo, De Medina, De Montel, De Nola, Depace, Depangher, De Paz, De Rossi, De Semo, De Sousa, Dessau, Deutsch, Diamant, Diaz, Di Capua, Di Castro, Di Cave, Dickmann, Di Cori, Diena, Dienstfertig, Di Gioacchino, Di Laudadio, Dina, Di Nepi, Dinkelspiel, Di Nola, Di Porto, Di Segni, D’ltalia, Di Tivoli, Ditz, Di Veroli, Dolfo, Donati, Donner, Doerfles, Dorn, Dowek, Dragoner, Dresner, Dreyfus, Drucker, Dubinsky, Durante, Duranti, D’Urbino.

E

Eckert, Edward, Eibenschuetz, Effendi, Efrati, Ehrenfeld, Ehrenfreund, Ehrenteil, Ehrlich, Eisenstaedter, Elfer, Elia, Elias, Eliazon, Eliezer, Elseo, Eltbogen, Emdin, Eminente, Engel, Enriquez, Eppinger, Epstein, Erber, Ergas, Errera, Esdra, Esquenasi, Essinger, Ettlinger, Evangelisti.

F

Falcini Servi, Falco, Faldini, Faldino, Falk, Fano, Faraggi, Farber, Farchi, Fargion, Farinelli, Farkas, Fasano, Fassel, Fasulo, Fatucci, Fein, Feiner, Feistmann, Felberbaum, Felici, Fellner, Fernandes, Ferrarese, Ferro, Ferusciany, Fiandra, Fiano, Fieder, Fifer, Fink, Finkelstein, Finker, Finzi, Fiorentino, Fimberg, Fischbein, Fischer, Fischl, Fischmann, Fiz, Flack, Flaschel, Fleisher, Fleischner, Foà, Fodor, Foligno, Fonseca, Fontanella, Forlì, Formiggini, Fornari, Forti, Franchetti, Franco, Frank, Frankental, Frankl, Franzes, Frascati, Frassinetti, Freiberger, Freisinger, Frenkel, Fresco, Freund, Fried, Friedenthal, Friedlaender, Friedmann, Fries, Frizzi, Frischmann, Fruchter, Fuà, Fubini, Fuchs, Funaro, Fuerst.

G

Gabbai, Gabriel, Gaensler Frankenstein, Gaggio, Gori, Galinidi, Galletti, Galli, Gallichi, Gallico, Galligo, Gandus, Gani, Garda, Garsen, Garza, Gasperini, Gattegno, Gattinara, Gazes, Geddes, Geller, Gemelli, Genazzani, Gentili, Gentilli, Gentilomo, Gerold, Gerstel, Gerstenfeld, Gesess, Gerschanovitz, Ghersfeld, Ghiron, Ghissin, Giaconi, Giavol, Ginzburg, Giovanelli, Giroux, Giuili, Giuli, Glanz, Glass, Glattstein, Glicenstein, Glueck, Godell, Goetz, Goetzel, Goldbacher, Goldberg, Goldberger, Goldenberg, Goldfinger, Goldfrucht, Goldmann, Goldring, Goldschmiedt, Goldstein, Goldstaub, Golembiovski, Gomel, Gondelmann, Goudstikker, Graf, Granichstaedten, Grassetti, Grassini, Graziani, Greco, Greco-Siglina, Grego, Greiger, Gronich, Gruen, Gruenbaum, Gruenberg, Gruenland, Gruener, Gruenfeld, Gruenwald, Gruss, Guagnacchi, Guetta, Gugenheim, Guggenheim, Guglielmi, Gurewitsch, Guttierez, Guttmann.

H

Haardt, Haas, Haber, Hackl, Hagmann, Hahn, Haim, Haimovici, Haimovitsch, Hajek, Hajon, Hakin, Haliffi, Hamburger, Harmer, Hanania, Hanau, Handler, Hanemann Toff, Hanen, Harrari, Hasdà, Hassan, Hassid, Hasson, Haussmann, Hasan, Heilbrunn, Heimann, Heinhorn, Heischmann, Heitler, Helfer, Heller, Hensel, Hepner, Herbatschek, Herbert, Herlitzka, Hersch, Herschmann, Herzer, Hirschfeld, Hirsch, Herzog (duca), Hochwald, Hodara, Holberg, Hollaender, Hollinger, Honig, Hoenisberg, Horitzky Orsini, Horn, Horniker, Horovici, Horvat, Huesca, Hupperi.

I

Ichainer, Illes, Isciaki, Ismalun, Israel, Israeli, Issel, Issmann, Italia.

J

Jacchia, Jacobson, Jacur, Jaffe, Jahni, Janowitz, Janni, Jarach, Jarè, Jenda, Jenina, Jenna, Jenni, Jesi, Jesurum, Jessulam, Job, Joffe, Johanan, Jolles, Jones, Jona, Jos, Joseph, Josz, Joung, Jules, Just.

K

Kabiglio, Kach, Kagnaff, Kahn, Kajon, Kalk, Kalmus, Kaminka, Kaptan, Kasman, Kastner, Katz, Kauffrnann, Kaula, Keller, Kern, Kessler, Kirsch, Kirschen, Kitt, Klauber, Klein, Kleinzeller, Klippel, Klugmann, Koch, Kohn, Kohner, Kolb, Koltzinsky, Koenigsberger, Konti, Konrad, Koerber, Korn, Kornell, Kornfeld, Koschiltzki, Kostoris, Krassner, Kraus, Krauterkraft, Krebs, Kreh, Kreilsheim, Kremer, Kron, Kries, Krikunetz, Kron, Kropf, Kruskah, Krzentowski, Kuehn.

L

Lacis, Lackenbacher, Lacomba, Laden, Lager, Laide, Lakin, Lamberg, Lampronti, Landesmann Laudi, Landau, Langbank, Lanternari, Lanzana, Lapajowker, Lappert, Lascar, Lassejower, Laz, Latis, Lattes, Latzer, Lavagno, Leblis, Lehrecht, Lecerf, Lechner, Lenner, Lee, Leipziger, Lekner, Lenghi, Lennox, Leone, Leoni, Leonino, Leonzini, Leperer, Lerner, Lessmann, Levi, Levi Bianchini, Levibran, Levi-Cases Momigliano, Levi de Veali, Levi Minzi, Levi Montalcini, Levin, Levis Levitsch, Lewish, Levy, Lewy, Lichetnstadt, Lichtenstein, Lieblein, Liehmann, Limentani, Lindemer, Linder, Lipschuetz, Liscia, Liuzzi, Livoli, Lob, Locascio-Goldschmiedt, Lodeserto, Loeb, Loeffler, Loevy, Loewy, Loisada, Lolli, Lombroso, Lopes, Lopez, Lopez-Rabello, Lorant, Loria, Loschitz, Loethe, Loevinson, Loew, Loewental, Loewenthal, Loewinson, Loewy, Luft, Luftschuetz, Luisada, Lumbroso, Luria, Lusena, Lust, Lustig, Lutomirsky, Luttinger, Luzzatti, Luzzatto.

M

Macchioro, Macerata, Maendl, Maestri, Maestro, Magrini, Mahlberg, Maimann, Maino, Maionica, Maissa, Majò, Malvano, Manara, Manasse, Mandel, Mandelberg, Mandler, Mandula, Mangold, Mann, Mannheimer, Marach, Marcaria, Marcheria, Marcus, Margulies, Mariani, Marino, Marini, Mariotti, Maroni, Marradi, Marsiglio, Massa, Massarani, Massarek, Massiah, Matalon, Mattatia, Mattersdorfer, Mautner, Mayer, Mazzola, Mazoleni, Medina, Medvedieff, Medoro, Meinster, Melgrano, Melli, Menasci, Mendel, Mendes, Menz, Merkl, Mesha, Mestre, Michelis, Michelstaedter, Mieli, Migliau, Milano, Milla, Millul, Minerbi, Mingardi, Mires, Misan, Misan-Saia, Misano, Misul, Misrahi, Modena, Modiano, Modigliani, Modigliano, Modona, Moeller, Moisé, Molco, Molnar, Momigliani, Momigliano, Mondolfi, Mondolfo, Mondovì, Monferini, Monreale, Monselise, Monselles, Montag, Montagnana, Montalcini, Montalcino, Montalti, Montebarozzi, Montecorboli, Montefiore, Montefiori, Montel, Montiglia, Morais, Moravia, Mordo, Mordoh, Morel, Morelli, Morello, Moreno, Moreschi, Moresco, Moretti, Morgenstern, Mori, Moroni, Morpurgo, Mortara, Mortera, Morway, Moscato, Moscé, Moskowitz, Moully, Mrad Esses, Mosseri, Muggia, Mugnai, Muehlstein, Muia, Muelberg, Mueller, Musacchi, Musatti, Mussafia, Mustacchi.

N

Naar, Nacamù, Nacamulli, Nacmias, Nacson, Nador, Najschitz, Nahmias, Nahon, Nahum, Naim, Namen, Namer, Nathan, Navara, Navarra, Navarro, Negrini, Neiger Nepi, Neppi, Neri, Neppi Modona, Neris, Netter, Neumann, Nibal Raimondi, Nigris, Nissim, Nizza, Nordlinger, Norlenghi, Norsa, Norzi, Nossal, Nunes, Nunes Franco, Nunes Vais, Nuernberg, Nussbaum.

O

Oberdorfer, Oblath, Ocvirk, O’Hara, Ohlsen, Olivieri, Olivetti, Olper, Olschki, Oppenheim, Oreffice, Orefice, Orefici, Ortona, Orvieto, Oser, Osimo, Osmo, Osta, Oesterreicher, Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi Boccara, Ottolenghi di Vallepiana, Ovazza.

P

Pace, Pacifici, Padoa, Padova, Padovani, Padovano, Paggi, Panerai, Panzieri, Paoli, Paper, Pardo, Pardo – Roques, Parente, Parenzo, Passigli, Pattin, Pavia, Pavoncello, Pegna, Perez, Perlmutter, Permutti, Perpetui, Perugia, Pesaro, Pesaro Maurogonato, Pescarolo, Philipson, Piattelli, Piazza, Picard, Picciacci, Picciaccio, Pick, Pieboni, Piesen, Pignero, Piha, Pincherle, Pinto, Piperno, Pines, Pirani, Pirola, Pisa, Pisanty, Pisetzky, Pisinger, Pitigliani, Pitteri, Plankenstein, Plaskis, Platzek, Plaschier, Poggetto, Poggibonsi, Poggiolini, Polacco, Poliakoff, Politi, Politzer, Pollak, Pomeranz, Pontecorboli, Pontecorvo, Pontremoli, Popper, Porges, Porta, Portaleon, Portaleone, Portnoff, Porto, Post, Pozinak, Prato, Pregel, Pressburger, Priester, Procaccia, Prohatzka, Provenzal, Pugliese, Puritz, Puttermann, Putti.

Q

Quercioli.

R

Rabà, Rabbeno, Rabelio, Rabinovici, Racah, Radau, Raffael, Raffaelli, Rahamin, Ram, Randegger, Rappaport, Rath, Ravà, Ravà Longhi, Ravenna, Ravicz, Reah, Recanati, Reder, Redzinsky, Reeson, Reggio, Reghini, Reich, Reichenback, Reichmann, Reinach, Reiner, Reinert, Reinhardt, Reinisch, Reis, Reiser, Reis, Reissner, Remondini, Renier, Resignani, Restani, Reuben, Revan, Revere, Revici, Riboni, Richetti, Richtmann, Riedler, Rieger, Rieti, Rietti, Rignano, Riftin, Rimini, Rocca, Roccas, Rodriguez, Roganti, Rogers, Roumann, Romanelli, Romani, Romanin, Romanin Jacur, Romano, Romoli, Roques, Rosel, Rosen, Rosenberg, Rosenfeld, Rosenholz, Rosenstein, Rosenthal, Rosenzweig, Rosselli, Rossi, Rotbart, Roth, Rouff, Rouzel, Rovighi, Rubert, Rubinstein, Rudoi, Russi.

S

Sabatello, Sabbadini, Sacerdote, Sacerdoti, Sacerdotti, Sacerdotti di Carobbio, Sachs, Sacuto, Sadok, Sadun, Saadun, Saffaro, Sagà, Saiegli, Salem, Salmon, Salmona, Salmoni, Salom, Salonicchio, Saltiel, Salto, Salus, Samaia, Sambulovich, Samuele, Sancò, Sanguinetti, Sanguski, Santillana, Saporta, Saralvo, Sarasson, Saraval, Saravalle, Sarfatti, Sariette, Sarsowski, Sasson, Savani, Saxel, Scazzocchio, Scandiani, Scaramella, Scarpa, Schjowitz, Schalmon, Schamasch, Schapira, Schaerf, Schick, Schiffer, Schiller, Schischa, Schlesinger, Schloss, Schmitz, Schmoltz, Schmukler, Schnur, Schoen, Schoenfeld, Schoenhaut, Schoenheit, Schoenstein, Schor, Schostal, Schotte, Schreiber, Schreider, Schultz, Schunnach, Schuessler, Schuetz, Schwarz, Schwarzkopf, Schweiger, Schwob, Sciaky, Scitrug, Sciunnach, Sdraffa, Sed, Sefardi, Segal, Segrè, Seidel, Seidmann, Seif, Semak, Semania, Semo, Senigaglia, Senigallia, Sepilli, Serena, Sereni, Sereno, Sergi, Sermoneta, Serravalle, Serrera, Servadio, Servi, Sessa, Sessi, Sestieri, Sforni, Sermann, Siccoli Bondì, Siebzehner, Sierra, Silbermann, Silva, Sivera, Sinai, Singer, Sitri, Slvaja, Smolensky, Smolesco, Soarez, Soliani, Soavi, Somenzi, Sommer, Sommermann, Sonne, Sonnenberger, Sonnino, Sorani, Sorbi, Soria, Sornaga, Sorraga, Soschino, Spagnoletto, Spagnolo, Specos, Spiegel, Spierer, Spitilli, Spitz, Spitzer, Spizzichino, Sprinzeles, Sraffa, Stein, Steindler, Steiner, Steinhardt, Stern, Steinhaus, Sternberg, Sternfeld, Sternschuss, Stettner, Stipanowitsch, Stock, Straaten, Stransky, Strossberg, Stucovitz, Stuetzel, Suarez, Subak, Subert, Sullam, Sulmona, Sun, Supino, Susani, Susin, Suess, Suessland, Sviadoschitz, Szabados, Szamatolsky, Szeynberg, Szirmay.

T

Tabet, Tagger, Tagiuri, Tagliacozzo, Tailor, Tajar, Tannenbaum, Taenzer, Taubert, Taussig, Tazartes, Tedeschi, Tedesco, Teglio, Teichner, Temin, Terni, Terracina, Terracini, Tesoro, Teubal, Tewich, Thuretzky, Tiano, Tivoli, Toaff, Todeschini, Todesc, Todros, Toledano, Tolentino, Tolosa, Torres, Toscano, Toschi, Tramer, Treulich, Treves, Treves de’ Bonfili, Trevi, Trevis, Trieste, Trietsch, Trionfo, Turba, Tuerk, Turra.

U

Udine, Ullmann, Umano, Ungar, Urbini, Urbino, Urovitz, Usigli, Usiglio, Uziel, Uzielli.

V

Valabrega, Valch, Valensin, Valenti, Valentin, Valenzin, Valobra, Valmarano, Valmarin, Varadi, Varios, Varsano, Velicogna, Venezia, Veneziani, Veneziano, Ventura, Vercelli, Veroli, Verona, Verreano, Vigdorcik, Vigevani, Vigevano, Vilcher, Visser, Vita, Vitta, Vitale, Vitalevi, Vitali, Viterbi, Viterbo, Vitta Zelmann, Vivante, Vivanti, Vovante, Vogel, Vogelmann, Vogler, Voghera, Volli, Volterra, Vretermann, Vucenovich.

W

Wachsmann, Walch, Wallfisch, Waschitz, Wassermam, Wax, Wehli, Weichsel, Weiger, Weil, Weiller, Weil-Schott, Weinstein, Weisberg, Weischel, Weishut, Weiss, Weiss Dodi, Weisser, Weissmann, Weizmann, Weleminsky, Welisch, Werblowsky, Wernikoff, Wilhelm, Windspach, Winternitz, Wohl, Wolf, Wolfler, Wolff, Wolfsohn, Wollemborg, Wollner, Wolner, Wortmann.

Z

Zabban, Zaccaria, Zaccuti, Zacun, Zacutti, Zagdun, Zalai, Zalman-Finzi, Zamatto, Zamorani, Zanotti, Zarfati, Zargani, Zarzovsky, Zebolun, Zeller, Zelman, Zemanek, Zevi, Zibell, Zibren, Ziffer, Zipper, Zitrin, Zmigrod, Zoller, Zuccari, Zuckermann, Zurk, Zweig, Zwillinger.

Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua got up and followed him, as did his talmidim. {9:20} Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the tzitziyot of his garment; {9:21} for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.”

When we study the Good News of Redemption accounts of Mattityahu, Mark, and Luke, we find some very interesting verses concerning the fringes. In Hebrew, we say tzitziyot. Specifically, these verses are Mattityahu 9:20; 14:36a, Mark 6:56; and Luke 8:44. Without a shadow of a doubt, they demonstrate that Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua definitely was a Torah-observant Jewish man who kept the Torah commandment to wear tzitziyot in the four corners of his garment as instructed in the Torah in Bemidbar 15:37-41.

But what is the purpose of wearing tzitziyot? The purpose is to help remember the mitzvot of HaShem and to perform them. HaShem has given many object lessons to His children so that they (also we) would remember and keep His instructions and another one concerns the wrapping of tefillin. The reason for this mitzva is for shamar v’zachar (remembering, keeping, and observing) His instructions for our lives, that is, the Torah. 

The Greek word phylakterion has been transliterated into English as the word "phylactery" and literally means a protecting charm or amulet. (remember that Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua spoke Aramaic every day, thus He never thought of them as such) Through this unfortunate transliteration, the important spiritual meaning contained in the commandment and even in the word itself is lost. In Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua’s time, phylacteries were not regarded as amulets or “lucky charms”. The Hebrew word is tefillin which is the plural of the word tefillah.  The meaning of tefillah is diametrically opposed to amulet or lucky charm. Tefillah means prayer. The word phylactery does not even appear in the Tanach.

Tefillin consist of the two small leather boxes or batim, boxes that house small slips of parchment. The parchment slips are inscribed with the Scripture passages in Shemot 13:1-10, 11-16, Devarim 6:4-9, and Devarim 11:13-21. All components of tefillin are made from kosher materials. The central theme of wearing tefillin is the act of binding. The tefillin bind you not only physically but also spiritually. We, with our western mindset and culture, conjure up all kinds of negative “feelings” when we hear the word bind. Somehow we associate it with bondage. Yet when we read the Scripture references above in connection with tefillin they are associated with remembering, keeping, and observing HaShem’s instructions. Who would dare to consider that to be bondage? No one is 100% sure how the tefillin were worn in Yeshua’s day except to say that the same two parts that are worn today were in existence 2000 years ago. The two components of tefillin are called shel yad, which is worn on the arm and fingers and shel rosh worn on the head.

Archeological discoveries have confirmed this as fact. Today, just as in Yeshua’s day, the tefillin are strapped on the forehead and the arm. The shel yad, consists of one compartment containing a parchment on which all four Torah passages or parshiyot are written; the shel rosh is divided into four compartments each of which contains a parchment with one of the four Torah passages written on it. When you gaze upon them, as you would also upon the mezuzah and the tzitziyot, you are quickened to remember the words of the Torah for your life. The tefillin also serve as a memorial – a remembrance of the exodus from Mitzrayim. The remembrance also of the mitzvot of HaShem. The tefillin are a sign of where we have been, that is, Miztrayim or bondage and where we are going, that is, Malchut HaShem or the Kingdom of Heaven. The tefillin are especially a sign of our recognition of HaShem even by their very construction. The Hebrew letters shin, dalet, and yod are evident through the wrapping of the straps around the fingers and across the palm of the hand and the knots in the straps.

The letter shin is also engraved upon the outside of the batim. The three Hebrew letter shin, dalet, and yod spell the word Shaddai which means HaShem provides, the one who is all-sufficient and sustains His people with spiritual nourishment. The literal meaning of Shaddai is the “many breasted one” implying a feminine side of HaShem that nourishes His children as a nursing mother breastfeeds her baby. The theme of binding is carried out by reciting the verses of Hoshea 2:21-22 while winding the strap around the fingers. “And I will betroth you to me forever. Yes I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in compassion. And I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you will know HaShem”. These verses consummate the binding in a betrothal between man and HaShem. This is a marriage ceremony of sorts each time the tefillin is worn.

2000 years ago, the wearing of tefillin was and is viewed as a fulfillment of the Torah mitzvah or commandment. Although the word tefillin is not found in the Tanach, the Talmud has interpreted the instruction literally and so the words of HaShem are literally bound around our arm (close to our heart) and are literally frontlets between our eyes (close to our minds).  In all probability, tzitziyot and tefillin were part of ordinary dress of the Israelites in Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua’s day and even earlier.  The custom of wrapping tefillin during weekday morning prayers as is practiced today, is a relatively modern custom (BUT IS AMAZING). 2000 years ago, they were worn most likely all day only being removed for work or when entering a place that was deemed ritually unclean. Archeological evidence of tefillin fragments dating back to the 1st century was unearthed in the Judean Desert in caves near the Dead Sea. The most dramatic find was a shel rosh approximately 2000 years old with 3 of the 4 original parchment slips still folded and securely ties in their original compartments. Announcement of this discovery was published by Israeli archeologist Yigael Yadin in "Tefillin from Qumran". 1969. The size of the shel rosh, or frontlet was so small and inconspicuous that it hardly would have been noticed. The bayit or box found at Qumran is rectangular and approximately ½” by ¾”. It was very inconspicuous to say the least. Is this what Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua was criticizing when we read the account in Mattityahu?

In Mattityahu 23:5, we read that Yeshua criticized those men who enlarged their batim or boxes and widened the straps that were securing them. Note that he never condemned them or criticized them for simply wearing tefillin. On the other hand, he was indeed criticizing them for enlarging their tefillin to appear to be a level above the rest spiritually yet were acting hypocritically. In all probability, Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua himself was wearing tefillin as he most certainly was wearing tzitziyot in the four corners of his outer garment, the tallit. These were not customs or traditions but rather acts of obedience to HaShem’s commandments in the Torah. There is no evidence to think that Yeshua condemned the wearing of tefillin. On the other hand, he supported the Halacha that interpreted the Scriptures literally concerning the fact that they are indeed to be “a sign upon your hand and as frontlets between your eyes”.

Please view video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8859Y6VDE

The great Torah commentator and philosopher, Don Yitzchak Abarbanel (1437-1508), who wrote three lengthy works about the Scriptural prophecies and our Sages; sayings concerning Mashiach and the Geula, writes in Yeshuot Meshicho (Jerusalem, 5753, p.104) that it is possible that Mashiach will be taken from this world and brought into the heavenly; Garden of Eden; continuing: You should not find it difficult [to understand] that the King Mashiach will be among those who arise in the Resurrection, quoting the above Talmudic passage (Sanhedrin 98b) as proof that this can be so. Here we see the same three stages of revelation, concealment and revelation.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 11:3) says that the future Redeemer will be revealed, then concealed, then revealed again. This is quoted by Rabbeinu Bachayei and by the Chasam Sofer on the Torah (both at end of Parshas Shmot). The latter writes: This is a great test that the Redeemer is concealed [Moshe] . . . and so it will be at the time of our righteous Mashiach [that] he will be concealed after [his] revelation, as mentioned in the Midrash.

So it is with our Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua HaMashiach whom came once to do the role of the Mashiach ben Yosef (the Suffering Servant, son of Yosef), and was hidden, soon to come back to us, bringing the final redemption, in the clouds of heaven as Melech Mashiach, Mashiach ben David (King Messiah, the son of David)

So in the Good News of Mashiach (NT) we read the account of His death (Yeshayahu / Isaiah 53.8), Resurrection and ascension to the heavens till the times of Mashiach are fulfilled (Yemot HaMashiach). Mattityahu: 27:50 Yeshua cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Then He resurrected: Mattityahu 28:6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come; see the place where the lord (adon) was lying. Then His coming Mattityahu: 1:9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 1:10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing, 1:11 who also said, "You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Yeshua, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky."

Mashiach’s full revelation will be soon over due!

Mashiach’s first coming is long overdue if He has not come, as described first by the Prophet Daniel 9:25-27, According to Daniel His first coming needs to be accomplished before the Beit Mikdash (Temple)  was to be destroyed! And this is why the sages wrote: “All the appointed times for the Redemption have passed.” (Sanhedrin 97b). Rav Shila says;  "… all we need is to do teshuva (repent) and Mashiach comes, for all the predestined dates for the redemption have already passed." (Sanhedrin 97b).

"The school of Elijah taught: The world is to be for six thousand years; two thousand without Torah “Y’mot Tohu”; two thousand years with Torah “Y’mot Torah” and two thousand with Mashiach “Y’mot HaMashiach” (days of Mashiach) (Midrash Rabbah Gen 98:3) So the question is, if we missed the coming of the Mashiach, could it be that we do not see Him, since we have not accepted it who he was / is?  Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua fulfilled the words of Daniel 9:26, and Yeshayahu 52:7-53:12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVVvanKcTs

חבל משיח  “Chevlei Mashiach” means the “Birthpangs of the Messiah.” Messianic Judaism (All Judaism is by theory Messianic) teaches that the arrival of Mashiach is accompanied by birth pangs. This is also sometimes referred to as the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble.”

Jewish writings often refer to the birthpangs of Mashiach – Chevlei Mashiach. These birthpangs are the corporate suffering of the Jewish people and of the Messiah who sits at the right hand of the Father and cries with us until the time of the final redemption comes. Only our Father in heaven knows the time and hour of Mashiach’s coming. We are now at the conclusion of the Galut (exile). We have been through the labors of beirurim – (sifting) and refining with all their attendant trials. Moreover, we have been through some of the "birthpangs of Mashiach," those awesome events that have taken place in our generation (Israel as Nation, Jerusalem as its capital, Sanhedrin established, the war in Iraq, etc). It is now clear and obvious that we are standing at the threshold of the Redemption. Like Yosef and His brothers, Maran Rabbeinu Yeshua HaMashiach has been kept hidden from His brethren until the appointed time. Our holy Rabbi has been made king in a Gentile world that has changed his name, identity and appearance. Yet like Yosef, all this will have been for the purpose of a great redemption. But now the day has come when he must remove, as Yosef did, his Gentile clothes and reveal Himself to those who, for a long time, have not recognized him. For two thousand years, He has watched his Jewish brothers suffer, dispersed among the nations without a leader or king. Their suffering has been his own. Surely, in this last generation the birthpangs of Messiah and His people have been the greatest. Yet in the darkest of hours there is hope, for just as birth is preceded  and accompanied by birthpangs, the Sages tell us that there are likewise ‘pangs of Mashiach’ in the generation in which the Son of David will appear. And just as birthpangs hamper a birth, the greatest outcry in that generation will come when the obstacles are most numerous. 

The account of Yosef and his brothers has much to teach us regarding the relationship between Maran Yeshua and the Jewish people. It also speaks of that great event when, as Rav Shaul (Paul says), "All Israel will be saved." (Romim / Romans 11:26) See also: All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is stated: "And your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. [They are] the branch of My planting, the work of My hands in which to take pride."

"Then Yosef could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, ‘Have everyone leave my presence!’ So there was no-one with Yosef when he made himself known to his brothers." When Maran Yeshua HaMashiach returns to reveal himself to his brothers and fight their enemies with them, the Scripture tells us that he too will be alone: “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no-one was with me… For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of redemption was come. I looked, but there was no-one to help, I was appalled that no-one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.” (Yeshayahu / Isaiah 63:3-6) What a terrible day that will be, when the Messiah will have to stand and fight for his people and land–alone. After the Holocaust, nations swore that they would not let it happen again. Yet this very day, the nations of the world are conspiring against Israel and supporting her enemies. How close we are to that "day of vengeance". Not only that, but the Besorah HaTova HaGeula says that when the "time of the Gentiles" is over, then He will reaveal himself to all Israel. (Uri / Luke 21:24) We are close! 

Today we recognize that non-Jews have gentilized our holy Rabbi Yeshua so much, giving him non-Hebrew names and clothing him with garments of false doctrine that have made him unrecognizable to his brethren. Often throughout history, the Jewish people have cried out for the Messiah, but the time had not yet come fully (thousand of Jewish people believe today). Like Yosef, Maran Yeshua himself will remove his non-Hebrew attire and tell them who He is.

Yosef did not say to his brothers, "I am Zaphenath-Paneah;" he said, "I am Yosef!" This will take place very soon!   Restoration is soon to come to Israel. Israel will finally fulfill her destiny as the “Or LaGoyim” "light to the nations." Great weeping will arise out of deep joy and healing. The birthpangs of the Messiah will then be over, and what is soon to come will be as "life from the dead!" A Nation will be reborn and Yeshua, Mashiach Ben David will be revealed.

The Jewish Temple will be rebuilt on Mount Zion and Temple Worship will be reestablished, the word of HaShem will come out of Zion, from the mouth of our holy Messiah. May it happen soon in our days!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37Mp6mhs3A

When we are called by the father to receive the gift of faith, in the redemptive work of our Rabbi Yeshua the Messiah (His death and resurrection), upon acceptance we are instantly a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation- the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new!”. So what exactly is a new creation? God gives us some very insightful lessons from the Torah and the Good News scriptures that paint a picture to deepen our understanding of what it means. In the book of Bereshit / Geneses there is a picture God gives us of the process of creation, which can be used to show us our life with and without Yeshua as our Messiah.

Without our Rabbi Yeshua in our life, we are separated from God and His Torah (teachings) as well as His love, which Rabbi Shaul teaches that we are nothing without it. So what does it mean to be nothing? (Bereshit / Geneses 1:2) “The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep”. The dictionary defines the word void as; empty, useless, vain, and gives us synonyms to the word such as; fruitless, and meaningless. Do these definitions look familiar? If we look back into our previous studies about love and our life as a believer, there is a definite connection to be considered. Without love, we are not truly united with the Messiah and living in darkness , and no better than a non-believer, because even Yeshua said (Mattityahu / Matthew 7:21) “Not everyone who says to me ‘Mori (teacher), Mori!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in Heaven wants”. So what does our father in heaven want? To follow the commandments of course and Yeshua even simplified it so we can never forget, (Mattityahu / Matthew 22:36-40) “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” He told them, “’ You are to love HaShem your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your strength.” This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. And a second is similar to it, ‘You are love your neighbour as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot”. Our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua clearly shows us the way to true Emuna and it’s deeply rooted with a foundation of love towards God and our neighbours. Please understand however that this does not annul or cancel out the other commandments, it just shows us how essential love is in the fulfillment of mitzvot in our relationship with God and with our neighbours.

As believers in Yeshua, we don’t desire what is darkness because it separates us from the presence of God and makes us false witnesses of the light of the Messiah in us. The light of Yeshua is what sustains us as believers, (Yochanan / John 1:4-5) “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it”. Yeshua is the light from the beginning of creation; (Bereshit / Geneses 1:3)   “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from darkness”. As we can see from the scripture (Yochanan / John 1:2) “He was in the beginning with God”. Another insightful scripture to further our understanding is (Yochanan / John 8:12) “Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life”.

Yeshua gives us another teaching about the light in our lives; (Mattityahu / Matthew 5:14-17) “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lamp stand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven”. The essence of the light are the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.”  All these elements are of the light and part of us a new creations, we are not to conceal our light with a bowl of arrogance which means an offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride, but rather we are to be humble and child like because we are Gods children and radiate the world with the fullness of the Torah, Gods love. So each time we put on our Tzitzis and look at the cords of blue in remembrance of the commandments of Torah, remember first the love which the Torah represents so that the commandments will be truly fulfilled and our light will cast away all darkness and bare the fruits of the Spirit.  

With the light of our Rabbi, Maran Yeshua in our lives, we change from a dark, void and empty existence, to a beautiful garden of love and Emuna as a new creation and part of the glorious Kingdom of God. In this world of darkness and confusion that we are in, Yeshua has made our paths straight with the true revelation of Torah written on our hearts and the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide us. As God said in (Yechezk’el / Ezekiel 36:26-27) “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit inside of you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit inside of you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them”.

Baruch Atah HaShem, Elohenu Melech ha olam, asher kid’shanu bid’varo, v’natan lanu et Yeshua M’she’chay’nu, v’tzi’vanu l’ki’ot or la olam.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by your Word, given us Yeshua our Messiah and has commanded us to be a light to the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_NpxFDEWjw

I strongly recommend that you research a fascinating and tragic period of Jewish history that stretched for more than three hundred years yet is little known.

The story of the Anusim, the Secret Jews, is a valuable and significant, yet rarely discovered, Jewish event that, in its world range, the numbers of Jews killed or affected by it for centuries can be called the longest genocide in world history.

I refer to the fate of the Spanish and Portugese Jews at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition.

The campaign of the Catholic Church to eliminate the Jews went beyond the borders of Spain and Portugal. The plague of Ant-isemitism swept through north Africa, across the Atlantic to South and Central America, and to the Caribbean in pursuit of the Jews.

Under threat of deportation, torture, and death by being burnt alive at the stake many Jews adopted an overt Christian image while covertly maintaining their Jewish rituals and prayers.

I attended “The Worldwide Awakening of the Descendents of the Secret Jews: Conference . This major conference marked the launch of a new international institute for the study of Anusim (the Secret Jews) at the Netanya Academic College.

Gloria Mound, an impressive English lady who has just moved to Netanya to be close to the college, has researched this subject for decades compiling an impressive two thousand five hundred books and over five thousands documents and files that record a cruel oppression of the Jews that outstrips in time and range anything seen in human history. Her archives will be a precious addition to the research centre but, as one important speakers at the conference pointed out, research is insufficient if it is not linked to practical application. This should apply to the Anusim who should be encouraged to openly adopt their heritage to the extent of making Aliyah to Israel. Early research reveals a startling statistic that as many as six million Portugese were descended from Anusim (Secret Jews).

Even today many thousands of Spanish speakers on three continents are fearful or wary of announcing their Jewish heritage. Others are not aware that they have Jewish blood in their veins as this part of their history has been kept from them for generations out of fear, and out of shame.

The Spanish Government is loath to open its official archives to researchers of this horrendous period in Spanish history. The Vatican, similarly, keep documents and records secreted away in the Vatican vaults.

Increasingly, though, Anusim people are making their way to Israel to fulfill a new life that had been forbidden for hundreds of years to their family. And here lies another problem. Israeli authorities do not know how to receive these people. Are they truly Jewish and welcome in the Jewish state under the Law of Return? Or are they, as they publicly claimed, really Catholics?  The feeling at the conference was that Israel should welcome these people home with open arms. They have suffered centuries of persecution for holding secretly to their faith and it should not be down to local politicians or bureaucrats to question the ambition of these people to come and live as free Jews in a state of their own.

I knew about the Spanish Inquisition but never fully appreciated the scope and size of the persecution of the Jews. I read a book tantilisingly called “The Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean” when I was on vacation that opened my eyes to this episode of history. Now this conference revealed more amazing stories and detail.

Please research this rich and dramatic story and be prepared to be moved by the human tragedies, tales of ingenuity, and learn about a period of Jewish history long forgotten but slowly being discovered. The effect of its telling will affect Israel, the Jewish people, and Christian conscience.

The View from Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5AsREe7TEQ

Honoring the Sabbath day, known as Shabbat in Hebrew, is considered the most important observance in Judaism.

The order to celebrate Shabbat originates in the ten commandments handed down to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The fourth commandment (Exodus 20: 8-11; Deuteronomy 5: 14-15), translated from Hebrew, reads “Remember [observe] the Sabbath day and keep it holy”.

For Jewish people, the celebration of Shabbat honors God for creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh day. Jews around the World celebrate the day of rest and relaxation in many ways, each according to how they interpret their religion.

Shabbat commences at sunset on Friday evening and ends on Saturday at night (after 3 stars are visible with the naked eye). The duration of Shabbat should be around 25 hours, and according to the Torah, Motzeh – the end of Shabbat – begins when there are three stars in the sky.

Much of the celebration around Shabbat involves dining. A lot of care and thought goes into planning and preparing not only the Shabbat meal but also the table that it will be served on.

Since Shabbat is the day of rest, preparations for begin for it towards the middle of the week, with the mother of the home usually involved in planning the menu, and if there will be a large number of guests for Shabbat, who will be preparing what to eat. Once that issue has been settled, the mother of the family will devote whatever time is needed to prepare the family home so that there is no need to cook or clean on Shabbat.

As the onset of Shabbat approaches, the mother of the family will light two candles which remain lit for the entire 25 hours of Shabbat. The Torah instructs that should any candle extinguish them for any reason, it cannot be relit. The reason for lighting candles on Shabbat is to create an atmosphere of “peace in the home” as the Torah scribes hoped that the extra lights would prevent the strife and contention of praying and eating in the dark could cause.

The role of lighting the Shabbat candles goes to the mother of the family. She will place them in a set of candlesticks, usually made from silver, and whilst lighting them will whisper a prayer for her family whilst waving her arms in a manner that is designed to beckon the Shabbat into her home.

In recent years, since the advent of electricity, electric lights are switched on before Shabbat and remain lit for the duration. The timer switch has made keeping the home lit less of a financial burden, with lights being switched on and off without the need to press a switch, which is forbidden under Jewish law during Shabbat. Despite all this progress, the tradition of having lit two candles at the Shabbat Table remains as strong as ever.

The Shabbat meal is undoubtedly the family gathering of the week. Because it is forbidden to travel on Shabbat, families tended to live in close proximity to one another as well as to their synagogue. This meant that families and friends could walk to each other houses as well as to and from the synagogue. Whether by accident or design, this fact meant that the Shabbat meal invariably signaled a fairly massive gathering of family members and friends, ready to sit down to pray, sing and enjoy a good meal together.

After returning from Synagogue the family positions themselves around the table, which is usually long and narrow. Before the meal can be served, Kiddush is recited, and wine sipped from a special Kiddush cup. At one time, the quality of wine served at the Shabbat table was very low level. However, in recent years, with the revival of interest in wine making in Israel, many fine kosher wines are now available, making the mitzvah if drinking wine at the Shabbat table a much more pleasant experience.

Another centerpiece of the table will be the traditional Challah bread served on Shabbat. The Challah bread, usually bedecked in a velvet or satin cover represents the manna that fell from heavens as the Jews wandered the deserts after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. According to Torah, Manna did not fall on Shabbat instead the Jews received a double portion on Fridays to tide them over. Challot can be readily recognized by their traditional braided style.

After the Shabbat meal has been served and enjoyed, the family will enjoy signing a series of traditional songs that celebrate the Shabbat. The hearty singing can continue for hours will signal the end of the evening. Family and friends who live nearby will set off for home, and guests who have come from out of walking distance will settle down to pass the night.

Shabbat morning begins with a visit to Synagogue for prayers followed by another Kiddush. Before lunch, weather permitting, families usually take a stroll around their neighborhood, stopping to chat with friends and acquaintances, before wending their way home for Lunch.

Although it is never mentioned in the Torah, Shabbat has become synonymous with serving Cholent for lunch. There are many variations of the dish, which is standard in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi kitchens. Hamin (חמין) (pronounced ḥamin), the Sephardi version of cholent popular also in Israel, derives from the Hebrew word חם – "hot", as it is always served fresh off the stove, oven, or slow cooker. In order to fully observe the rules of Shabbat, over the centuries it became tradition to prepare a kind of stew that could be cooked in advance, and retain its taste for almost a whole day. The Cholent is cooked in a large metal pot which is brought to boil on Friday before Shabbat. It is then kept warm on special hotplate or electric stove until it can be served at lunchtime.

Whilst Shabbat was meant to be a day of rest, reflection and prayer, as is the case with most of the Jewish festivals, it has also developed to become a celebration of family togetherness and enjoying good food, good wine and good company.

Lighting Candles

Candles should be lit no later than 18 minutes before sundown. For the precise time when Shabbat begins in your area, consult the list of candle lighting times provided by any Jewish calendar.

At least two candles should be lit, representing the dual commandments to remember and to keep the sabbath. The candles are lit by the woman of the household. After lighting, she waves her hands over the candles, welcoming in the sabbath. Then she covers her eyes, so as not to see the candles before reciting the blessing, and recites the blessing below. The hands are then removed from the eyes, and she looks at the candles, completing the mitzvah of lighting the candles.

If you believe in Maran Yeshua then you should keep the Shabbat. If Maran Yeshua is your Rabbi, do what he did.

Today I am writing on the 19 January 2012 or 24th of the Hebrew month Tevet (which means Ark), in five days we will enter into the month of Shevat (This Shabbat we bless the new Hebrew month of Shevat). The name Shevat relates to the Hebrew word shevet meaning "staff" that is associated with the concept of authority and kingship as it is written, "The shevet will not depart from Yehudah (Judah)." The most perfect expression of this concept will be in the Era of the Redemption, with the assumption of sovereignty by Mashiach. And thus on the verse, "And a shevet will arise in Israel," the Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben-Maimon) comments, "This refers to the King Mashiach."

The word shevet also means "branch" or "shoot." In this context, there is also a connection to Mashiach, for on the verse "A shoot will emerge from the stem of Yishai" which begins a renown prophecy concerning Mashiach’s coming, the Metzudat David / "The Bulwark of David", writen by David ben Solomon ibn (Abi) Zimra also known as Radbaz (רדב"ז) comments "a shevet will emerge… the King Mashiach."

"A shoot shall come forth from the stem of Yishai, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of HaShem shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of HaShem "(Yeshayahu  / Isaiah 11:1-2).

The connection between Shevat and the essential revelations of the Era of the Redemption is also apparent from the fact that it is the eleventh month of the Hebrew calendar. All existence is structured in a pattern of ten and eleven alludes to that which transcends the natural order of things.

Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yosef, thirteenth century author of the classic Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Small Book of Commandments), explains that belief in the coming of The Messiah is a corollary to the belief in G-d itself. For it states in the first of the Ten Commandments: "I am HaShem, your G-d, who took you out of the land of Egypt…" Jewish commentators point out that this is actually the commandment to believe in G-d; and that He is the G-d who took us out of Egypt. Furthermore, this belief in G-d is more than just belief. For it is based on historical experience. The whole Jewish people themselves witnessed the miracles of the exodus from Egypt. We know that He exists because we ourselves were redeemed by Him. Not just an abstract deism (religious philosophy or mantra); the Hebrew Scriptures teaches that the G-d of Israel acts in the arena of history. We know Him as the ultimate Redeemer.

The faith in the coming of the Messiah is the codification of the human capacity for hope. It is the affirmation that history is neither an open-ended spiral of human suffering, nor will it terminate in universal self-destruction (like people called it, "end of the world"); rather that it will culminate in the spiritual and material redemption of the people of Israel and those who choose to join us (negating any other god, or religious system) through our Jewish Messiah. We are enjoined to await the imminent arrival of the Messiah. By anticipating his coming every day, we build up that messianic hope. By asking G-d in our prayers to bring the messianic era, the Messiah, peace for Israel, etc… we strengthen ourselves, both in our belief in G-d and in His redemptive power, both of which are really one.

"A Goel / Redeemer shall come to Zion and to those of Jacob who repent from willfull sin," the words of HaShem. "And as for Me, this is My covenant with them," said HaShem, "My spirit that is upon you and My words that I have placed in your mouth shall not be withdrawn from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring," said HaShem, "From this moment and forever." (Yeshayahu 59:20-21)

Only after Israel recognizes her Goel will her people be fully re-gathered (Yeshayahu  60:4, 9), will Jerusalem be made “a praise in all the earth” (Yeshayahu 62), will Israel be honoured by the nations (Isaiah 60:5, 10-16) and will she know the peace for which she yearns (Yeshayahu 60:18). Oh how we long for that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SCjUPtAzhk

(Shaar HaYichud, the Holy Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch) “Nonetheless, to bring these emotions out into revelation in a separate matter, such as to shed light upon a certain case according to this concept and reasoning, and to [actually] cause the judgment on this matter to lean either to kindness or sternness, specifically requires a man of Tvunah. [It is specifically a man of Tvunah] who can bring out insight and light, from the emotional [sefirot] of Binah. The meaning of “a man of Tvunah” is that he has a thorough grasp of the essential comprehension. Because of this, the comprehension spreads forth in him, to do and to shed light upon many completely separate matters. He is even capable of bringing the depth of Binah itself into revelation, as explained above. This will suffice those of understanding.”

As stated in the previous article, Maran Yeshua is our “man of Tvunah”, the one who radiates the most pure understanding (Binah) of Torah revelation and is worthy to be Melech HaMachiach and light of the world.

(Yochanan/John 8:12) “Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life”.

The purpose of the man of Tvunah is to bring to light everything that has been hidden and is not fully understood, both on earth and in heaven. Our man of Tvunah is able to comprehend and bring to revelation all that is light which was separated from darkness at the beginning of creation as we see in the 1st chapter of Bereshit/Genesis.

(Bereshit/Geneses 1:3) “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good and God divided the light from darkness”.

Maran Yeshua our Rabbi and soon coming King was and is the light created in the beginning by God as was documented by Yochanan.

(Yochanan/John 1:2) “He was with God in the beginning”

The concept of the Mashiach being in the beginning with God is not a new one; there are various rabbinic sources which document the Mashiach in the beginning of creation.

(Babylonian Talmud, Pes. 54a; B. Ned. 39a) “It was taught: Seven things were created before the world was created, and these are they: the Torah, Repentance, the Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah… The name of the Messiah, as it is said: May his name endure forever, may his name blossom before the sun (Psa. 72:17).”

(Genesis Rabbah 1:4) “Six things preceded the creation of the world. Some of them were [actually] created, and some of them [merely] arose in the thought [of God] to be created. The Torah and the Throne of Glory were created… The Fathers, Israel, the Temple and the name of the Messiah arose in the thought to be created…”

(Pesiqta Rabbati (152a, Greater Chapter), edit. by M. Friedmann, p. 152b) “You find that at the beginning of the creation of the world King Messiah was born [and] that he emerged in the thought [of God] even before the world was created…”

These are just a few sources which show us how deeply rooted the writings of the good news of redemption are in Judaism and that Maran Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, who is the man of Tvunah/light of the world.

(Yochanan/John 1:4-5) “In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.”

The current world system we live in is one of darkness and confusion, where people are lawless and rebels without a cause (olam hasheker / world of lies). There is a spiritual darkness and evil flooding the world just as in the days of Noach. However, the good news is that the light of the world has been revealed to us, who brings true Binah/ understanding to those who believe through the Ruach HaKodesh. The light of Maran Yeshua shines in all the true believers like a candle stand on a hilltop and it is our source of life which God created in the beginning and endures forever.

(Yochanan/John 1:9) “This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world.”

Both in this current world, and in the world to come, the light of Maran Yeshua will be the governing force which has been given authority as King by Hashem. Throughout all the ages, the man of Tvunah, Maran Yeshua will radiate His Binah to all who have ears to hear and eyes to see in a language and context all will understand so that all, both rich and poor will possess the Kingdom within and inherit the World to Come.

Within the book of Yesha’yahu/Isaiah we are given a glimpse of the Mashiach and His role in the world upon His glorious return to rule the world in the Messianic Era.

(Yesha’yahu/Isaiah 42: 1-4) “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon him, he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the dimly burning wick shall he not quench; he shall make the right to go forth according to the truth. He shall not fail nor be crushed, till he has set the right in the earth; and in his law the isles will put their hope.”

As anyone who has lived in the current world system knows, there is not a soul in power today who possesses the Binah and Tvunah to rule or bring any kind of justice to the world or the problems we all face. The only solution to our global issues is the man of Tvunah, Maran Yeshua Melech HaMachiach whom Hashem has chosen from the beginning of creation to be the anointed King.

(Yochanan/John 1:32-33) “Then Yochanan gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remained on him. I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh.”

We see here that Maran Yeshua is the chosen one whom Hashem has put His Spirit upon like a dove out of heaven, the Spirit descended and remained upon Him as a sign He was the chosen one who would come as HaMachiach Ben-Yoseph and Ben-David.

No ordinary man is capable of setting the right in the earth and ruling according to truth, only a man of Tvunah with the Spirit of God upon Him who is able to comprehend the inner depths or deep waters of the Torah and bring them to light and spread it to the farthest isles of the earth whom have put their hope in Him, we can gain a deeper understanding of this from the works of Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch.

(Shaar HaYichud, the Holy Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch) “[This comes about] because [the concept] is grasped very well in the vessel of the comprehension of Binah. Therefore, [through this], it spreads forth to bring it into many matters, which are separate from the essential comprehension [of the concept itself]. [One
who is capable of] this is called “a man of Tvunah”, as in [the verse], “Deep waters… a man of Tvunah shall draw them out”. The “deep waters” represent the aspect of the depths of Binah which remain concealed in the essential self. It is specifically the “man of Tvunah” who draws it out and brings it forth from its concealment, to bring it to spread forth in many different manners, in order to quench the thirst of the recipients. This is analogous to one who draws out deep waters to quench the thirst of the sheep. We may clearly observe that when the reasoning of an intellectual concept is too deep to be retained in the comprehension of man, this is called “deep waters”, which is the aspect of the depth of the comprehension (omek hamoosag/ המושג עומק ), from which the length and width come, as previously explained. It is specifically one who possesses the power of Tvunah who can “draw it out”. In other words, he brings to light the aspect of the hidden depth of the concept, until it may be retained within the comprehension of man, as if it was not deep at all. Just as [in the analogy of] one who draws the deep waters [out of the depths of the well], he brings the depth [itself] close. According to the above, we must say that the power of Tvunah is a power which spreads forth from the power of Binah, to bring its depth into revelation below to the recipients.”

As we see from the portion from Shaar HaYichud/The Gate of Unity, we gain a deeper understanding of the man of Tvunah, Maran Yeshua. In order to rule the world as the chosen anointed king by Hashem, a servant of Hashem is needed who will rule with perfect justice and understanding of the Torah so that He will spread the power of Binah to all the people of the world. The most inner depths of Torah is the only way to true and lasting peace in this world and to make all thing right in this corrupted world, only Maran Yeshua Melech HaMachiach is able to draw up Binah from the farthest depths and by the power of Tvunah, spread the power of Binah to the farthest isles of the earth, just as prophesied in Yesha’yahu (Isaiah).

The day of the coming of Melech HaMachiach is very soon, we should hope and pray for this everyday so that we can all have a world of peace and justice ruled by the anointed of Hashem, upholding the Torah and its wisdom, drawing up Binah/understanding beyond our current comprehension. As for today, we should shine the light within us now to all those around us, and although we are not perfect and sin from time to time, we should not let that discourage us from going forward and letting our light shine because our Father in Heaven always loves us.

R. Shim’on ben Laqish explained: "and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water (Gen. 1:2) – in this the spirit of King Messiah, as it is written, And the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him (Isa. 11:2). By what merit will it [the spirit of the Messiah] come?… By the merit of repentance."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDPfFQtbU

The Torah: Never Changing but Always Refreshing. (RAMBAM 13 Principals of Faith – Principal Nine, Lesson Eight Excerpt; Page 269)

The Spiritual identity of the Torah appears, at first glance, to present us with two contradictory themes. On the one hand, we are taught that the Torah is static: “This Torah of Moshe will never be revoked and no other Torah will ever be given by G-d.”

But there is also a principal that, spiritually speaking, the Torah is given anew every day. Consequently, when we make the blessing on the giving of the Torah we use the present tense, “Blessed are You, O G-d, who gives the Torah,” to stress that Sinai is an ongoing process. Therefore, Torah demands that we always grow in our personal spirituality, so as to keep apace with the constantly expanding spiritual revelations that are occurring. These two elements to the Torah provide us with two different thrusts in our observance of the commandments. But nevertheless, “it must be new in your eyes everyday” (Rashi to Devarim 26:16), our observance should not be dry and static, but inspired and charged with the knowledge that the Torah was just given today anew. (Based on Sichas Shabbos Parshas Shemini 5747, par. 44)

This teaching from the RAMBAM 13 Principals of faith regarding the eternal relevance of the Torah gives us a very deep understanding of the Torah in our lives today. Many who have read the Torah whether secular Jew or Christian, may see it as irrelevant for us today in our modern 21st century society. However this is not true at all because God intended the Torah to be just at relevant to the children of Israel at Sinai as it is to us today. We are blessed to have the Blessed and Holy Torah in our possession, both written on our hearts as believers in our Master Yeshua and within our Bibles in our homes.

Anciently, access to the Torah for the general public was during public readings at the Synagogues because they were written on scrolls, just like how we have also today in our Synagogues across the world. For us today to have the Torah in our homes, whether the Chumash in an Orthodox Jewish home or the King James Bible in a Christian home, we are very blessed to be in the period of time when God said: (Havakuk/Habakkuk 2:14) “For the earth will be as full of the knowledge of HaShem’s glory as waters covering the sea.” Rashi said (Rashi to Devarim 26:16) “it must be new in your eyes everyday”, Torah means instruction/teaching and God embedded within it instructions for all of us on how to live our everyday lives. Every day we face different situations, some good and some bad, but no matter what the case is, we can be assured that there is an instruction within the Torah regarding the matter and even if we have read the same verse 10,000 times, on the 10,001 time it will have a completely new and profound meaning for us and shine a new light on a former darkened area of life.

We need to pray daily for God to open our eyes to the instructions within His Torah because just as Rabbi Shaul said (2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living.” At the time of Paul, the only Scriptures available were the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, ect.). If at the time of Paul, the Torah was still relevant and the same as given to Moshe at Sinai then it confirms that it is good for us today as believers in our Master Yeshua because as we have learned from the lesson excerpt above, there will never be another Torah given and the one we have will never be changed.

In the above teaching it was said “Torah demands that we always grow in our personal spirituality, so as to keep apace with the constantly expanding spiritual revelations that are occurring.” Every day we grow a little more in faith and deepen our personal relationship with God, remember these are not mindless and vain acts of religion to satisfy an empty void in our lives, but rather it is a relationship with our Heavenly and Eternal Father who hears our every word and is more than willing to answer His children’s prayers and guide them through this corrupted world we live in today. As it is said, constant expanding spiritual revelations are always occurring and we cannot become deaf to the voice of God speaking to our hearts revealing the Holy Torah written on it, we need to study Torah, we need to eat and drink Torah. We need to live Torah because our Messiah and Master Yeshua is the living embodiment of the Torah and the Torah is just as alive as our Messiah is today, living eternally and returning soon to establish the Kingdom of the God of Israel on earth, proclaiming this very same Torah to the four corners of the earth from Jerusalem.

Once again, we need to pray every day for God to open our hearts, minds, eyes and ears to His Torah, for us, the Torah needs to be new and fresh in our hearts every day, with new insights and deeper revelations of our Messiah Yeshua and how we are to live Godly lives in His footsteps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoUnyeYhwXQ

Messianic Jewish Emuna: Tevunah – תבונה

“Now, it is known that in Binah itself there are two levels; Binah and Tevunah. The matter of Tevunah is the aspect of the spreading forth of the light of Binah. (Shaar HaYichud, the Holy Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch)

The concept of Tevunah (תבונה ) is an essential element in the life of a believer of Maran Yeshua because it is the only way to spread the good news of redemption throughout the world. The term Binah (בינה ) means understanding or insight, which is obviously in reference to the understanding of Torah and Mashiach. Maran Yeshua gave us a very deep teaching regarding light and how we are to handle this sacred spiritual element.

(Mattityahu/Matthew 5:14-17) “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lamp stand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven”.

Maran Yeshua has given us the earliest known teaching of Tevunah that is so simple that even a child can understand. True understanding of the Torah as interpreted by Mashiach, Maran Yeshua can clearly be seen in the fruits of the spirit in the writings of Rabbi Shaul.

(Galatians 5:22) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.”

We as believers in the good news of redemption through our Rabbi Maran Yeshua must internalize this concept of Tevunah and the Binah (understanding) behind it so that we may be true witnesses to the world and spread the light of Maran Yeshua, which is the life of men to the entire world.

(Shaar HaYichud, the Holy Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch) “[This comes about] because [the concept] is grasped very well in the vessel of the comprehension of Binah. Therefore, [through this], it spreads forth to bring it into many matters, which are separate from the essential comprehension [of the concept itself]. [One who is capable of] this is called “a man of Tevunah”, as in [the verse], (Proverbs 20:5) “Deep waters… a man of Tevunah shall draw them out”. The “deep waters” represent the aspect of the depths of Binah which remain concealed in the essential self. It is specifically the “man of Tevunah” who draws it out and brings it forth from its concealment, to bring it to spread forth in many different manners, in order to quench the thirst of the recipients.”

(Mattityahu/Matthew 17:2) “As they watched, he began to change form – his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light.”

Maran Yeshua is our man of Tevunah because it is only through Him that we have true revelation of the Torah. We as believers must seek true Binah Torah (Torah understanding) without any doctrinal boundaries which will only cover the light on the hill with a bowl. The depths of Binah Torah are endless and through our man of Tevunah whose face shines like the sun, we too can have this Binah and Tevunah that will shine throughout the world as true Jewish believers in Maran Yeshua.

All of us who are heavily burdened with the worries of this world can find comfort with the light yoke of Mashiach which satisfies the spiritual thirst we all have and search endlessly for. We, as believers in Maran Yeshua, with the Ruach HaKodesh inside of us and part of the body of Mashiach, also must draw up these deep waters of Binah Torah (Torah understanding), and quench the thirst of the spiritually thirsty lost sheep in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qDZdTAiFxc

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

Now, when one reads the verse above in English, it sounds very straightforward.  However, if you read the same verse in Hebrew (the original language of Torah) you get so much more.  Let us look at the same verse in Hebrew.

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.

It is important to remember that Hebrew, unlike English, is read right to left.  Now, let us transliterate the verse into English.  Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another.  The verse above would be transliterated as follows, reading from right to left:

Bereshit Barah Elohim, et hashamayim v’et haaretz.  That is how an English person can understand the Hebrew pronunciation on this verse.  Now let us literally translate the verse into English from the Hebrew.  I will use brackets below each word.

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.

(the earth) (and et), (the heavens) (et), (the judge) (created out of nothing) , (In the beginning)

Unique Language

Biblical Hebrew, also known as "Lashon Kodesh" (The Holy Tongue) is a unique language. It is the only language whose letters communicate meaning independent of the words they form.

In most languages letters don’t have independent value. They don’t communicate any meaning. A letter is a symbol that indicates a sound (much like a musical note) and is only valuable when paired with other letters to form a word. Even then, it is the word that communicates meaning, not the letters.

In English, for example, the letters E-A-R of "ear" have no intrinsic meaning. They mean nothing when they stand alone, and still mean nothing when they stand together. There is nothing about ear, the word or the thing it describes, that is connected to the shape or name of the letters E, A or R. Similarly, no one will say that an "era" is somehow connected to an "ear" simply because they share the same letters.

Breaking Down the Verse

In studying the actual translation above we can see that verse offers so much more than the simple English above.  The verb used for create is Barah.  This is the verb used for God alone because it means to create something from nothing.  There is another verb (ליצור ) which means to create from something. 

We also see that the word used for God is Elohim which means the judge.  There are many attributes within Elohim and judgement is one of them.  Judgement is not negative in this case.  It simply means that God had to use judgement in order to create the universe.  How big would the planets be? How much light would the sun and moon give off? Etc.

What is Et?

Notice there is a Hebrew word (repeated twice) which isn’t translated. The word Et. Et is a Biblical Hebrew word that has no translation. To be sure, the word is not meaningless, and while it cannot be translated, it is interpreted. The Talmud is replete with respective explanations for the numerous Et’s that appear throughout the Torah.  In Hebrew Et is spelled Alef Tav (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet). The Et in this verse was explained by the Magid of Mezritch as follows:

Breishit – In the beginning
Bara Elokim – G-d created
Et – Alef through Tav

In the beginning G-d created the Hebrew Alef Bet.

Letters of Creation

You see, the Hebrew Alef Bet are not just letters; they are the Elementary Particles, or DNA of existence. They represent forms of Divine energy. Fuse a number of metaphysical elementary particles (aka Hebrew Letters) in a specific manner, and you will have heaven, fuse a few others in a different manner, you will have earth.

So God says "Let there be light", i.e. may the energies/letters of Alef, Vav, and Reish fuse into (the word) Or (light). They do. As a result we have light.

Thus the Psalmist says "Forever, O Lord, your word stands in the heavens." Your word O Lord, "Let there be a firmament" is the persistent Raison d’être of the vast skies. As the Mishnah says, "with ten utterances God created the world." (Ethics of the Fathers 5:1)   The utterances themselves are the building blocks of creation. They are not just what called creation into being; they are the being called creation.

3D Letters

And thus for thousands of years Hebrew was studied not only as a language of words (grammar, spelling etc), but a as a science of letters. Since the letters themselves are descriptions of energies we must understand what each letter tells us about the energy it symbolizes. These secrets can be found in the meaning of its shape and name, its numerical/mathematical value, and based on what other alphabetical elementary particles it groups with.

There is much to say and many words have been recorded to explain the letters. Following is a series of short essays providing brief insight into three dimensions of each letter: its name, shape and numerical value.

In Summary, it is all of these elements which make Hebrew not only the Holy Language, but also the Language of the Soul.

The Jewish history of the Jews of Arabia

The Arabia Peninsula lying between the mainlands of Africa and Asia. It is separated from Africa on the south by the Red Sea and on the north by the Sinaitic peninsula and the strip of land which in modern times has been cut through for the Suez canal. On the south and southeast its shores are washed by the Indian Ocean, which has been constantly receding and allowing more of the land to emerge. On the east it is separated from Persia by the Persian Gulf, and on the north is bounded by the Syrian desert, which is but a continuation of the great desert lying in the heart of Arabia itself. This desert is relieved by a number of oases, on which grow palms and tamarisks in abundance, providing food and shade for the Bedouins. Arabia has no rivers, but is artificially irrigated. The land outside the desert is very fertile, especially on the western side; it is known on this account as Arabia Felix. Arabia has an average width of 600 miles and alength of about 1,200. Egress from the country is possible by the two land routes to the east and west; the eastern road leads into Babylonia and thence northward into Syria, the western into Egypt and thence southward, or directly north along the coast plain, which at some places furnishes an entrance into the interior of Palestine.

The first mention of Jews in the areas of modern-day Saudi Arabia dates back, by some accounts, to the time of the First Temple. Immigration to the Arabian Peninsula began in earnest in the 2nd century CE, and by the 6th and 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, mostly in and around Medina, in part because of the embrace of Judaism by such leaders as Dhu Nuwas (who was very aggressive about converting his subjects to Judaism, and who persecuted Christians in his kingdom as a reaction to Christian persecution of Jews) and Abu Karib Asad.

The History of the Arabia Peninsula:

• Arabia
• Religion
• The Jews of Arabia
• The North
• The South
• Mohammed
• Mohammed and the Jews
• Mohammed’s Jewish Adversaries in Medina
• Mohammed’s Conquest of the Jews
• Influences on Mohammed

Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in the year 570.

The world at that time had its physical centre somewhat around the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean sea. There for many hundreds of years the two great ‘world’ empires of Rome and Persia had confronted each other in a state of perpetual warfare, punctuated by brief periods of peace.

Our world was ready for change in the seventh century as conflict everywhere had undermined the old-established patterns of society.

The surviving Byzantine Eastern half of the Roman Empire, ruled from the splendid city of Constantinople, still controlled a broad swathe of territory in the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. Remember that the coast of North Africa then was not arid as it is today, but covered with trees and very fertile.

The Jews helped the Persians in their conquest of Jerusalem in 614. The Byzantines exacted their revenge when they recaptured Jerusalem in 629. But the Persian and Byzantine empires were now in a state of utter exhaustion and impoverishment.

Arabia

The vast and mostly arid peninsula of Arabia adjacent to both the Roman and the Persian empires.

By the time of Mohammed, the merchants of Mecca controlled much of the transit trade between East and West. They bought goods off the ships at Aden and then transported them along caravan routes for sale in Egypt, Syria and Persia. The proceeds were used to buy manufactured goods, which were then brought back to Mecca and sold at the trade fairs.

Religion

The rudimentary and barely developed pagan worship of the Arabs was centred on the three hundred and sixty idols which surrounded the shrine of the Ka’aba in Mecca, to which the Bedouins flocked in annual pilgrimage. The Ka’aba housed a black stone sacred to all Arabs – which was most probably a meteorite that had once fallen flaming from the skies.

Some Arabs had developed an admiration for the more developed religions of the Jews and Christians.

This feeling manifested itself in signs of spiritual discontent such as the rejection of idol worship by a small number of seekers after the one God, who practised a religion of their own. There were also converts to both Judaism and Christianity in the settled populations of the desert oasis and in the deep South.

The Jews of Arabia

Before the coming of Mohammed, the Jews of Arabia, were few in number, and I have found only two references to them in Jewish sources. All we know of them comes from Arab historians, and from the Qur’an itself.

The North

I Will start on the Jews of the North.

Before Islam, they dominated many of the main oasis in the West of Arabia and had also settled in the present-day Gulf States – Bahrain in particular. There was even a tiny Jewish community with its own cemetery in Mecca. Curiously enough, Naim Dangoor told me that a Saudi Arabian father of many children from the Gulf area visited him with his family, about 8 years ago to ask for help in emigrating to Israel. He claimed to be one of a large group of Muslims of Jewish origin who had always maintained a separate identity, praying together and marrying only amongst themselves. Naim believed the story and contacted the Israeli Embassy on the man’s behalf – but without success.

Arab historians mention some 20 Jewish tribes, including two tribes of Kohanim. The Jews spoke Arabic, were organised into clans and tribes just like the Arabs, and seem to have fully assimilated the values and customs of desert society.

A contingent of 500 Jewish soldiers was supplied by Herod to accompany the Roman expedition set to conquer the Yemen in 25 BCE. It paused for a time at a place said in the Talmud to contain Jews. We may legitimately ask ourselves whether the Jewish soldiers were sent to act as links between the Roman armies and the Jews of Arabia.

Arab sources maintain that the Jews of Medina were survivors of the Jewish revolt against Rome.

Another theory is that the Jewish date-growers – and the cultivation of dates was the most common occupation – might have come from the Jordan valley as refugees from Christian Byzantine persecution.

Another obvious source of immigrants was, of course, Babylonians.

The Jews were engaged in agriculture, not trade which was exclusively in the hands of the Arabs.

According to Arab legends, Jews introduced the date palm and the honey bee into Arabia. Also, advanced irrigation and other new agricultural crafts.

The Jews appear to have been educated. It was their ability to read and write that made Bible stories and Midrashim generally familiar to the pagan Arabs – and those were the seeds from which Islam developed.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Jews also familiarised the Arabs with the belief in the coming of the Messiah.

The South

Many legends refer to early Jewish settlement in Himyar, present-day Yemen.

The first is that Jews accompanied the Queen of Sheba when she returned from her visit to King Solomon.

Arab historians claim that very large numbers of Jews – the figure of 80,000 is mentioned – arrived after the destruction of the First Temple, to join others already established there.

There is a story that Ezra the scribe cursed the Jews of Yemen for ignoring his call to return to Israel and help rebuild the Temple. In retaliation from then on, they refused to name their sons Ezra.

Arab legend ascribes the conversion to Judaism of the king and people of Himyar to two Jewish Rabbis from the oasis of Medina who cured the kind of a terrible illness on an expedition to the North of Arabia. The king was so impressed by the Rabbis that he and his generals converted to Judaism on the spot. He then took the Rabbis back with them to Himyar where they also converted part of the population – presumably members of the court and leading families. Himyar fell to the Christian Ethiopians in the year 525.

Persia sent an expedition to expel the Ethiopians and take control for itself. The Jews prospered for a time under Persian rule and maintained contact with their brethren in Babylon. But the economy of Himyar was in steep decline during this period, partly because of the warfare, and partly because of a catastrophic failure of the great dam that controlled its irrigation system.

Mohamed

Mohammed was born in Mecca in the year 570, at a time when guardianship of the Ka’aba and successful international trade had greatly enriched its ruling clans. We are told that the Meccans were swollen with pride and their society was an unhappy one, differing from that of other Arabs because of its rivalries, greed, and great disparity between rich and poor.

Mohammed came from one of the poorer and least influential of the ruling families of Mecca. Orphaned at an early age, he had a reputation for honesty and reliability.

Mohammed had already accompanied his uncle on trading missions to Syria, where he had come into contact with Christian monks and with Jews, when he was asked to lead a similar expedition himself on behalf of the wealthy widow Khadijah. This was successful; and he accepted Khadijah’s proposal of marriage on his return to Mecca. The marriage was a happy one. Khadijah bore him six children; and Mohammed took no other wife or concubine until after her death.

Thus freed from financial anxiety for the first time, Mohammed was able to devote himself increasingly to spiritual concerns. He made his own family live frugally, distributed much of his money to the poor, and was conspicuously kind to slaves.

He used to retire alone to an isolated mountain cave for days at a time in order to meditate and pray.

Mohammed received his first revelation in the year 610, when he was forty years old. An angel appeared to him in his cave and commanded ‘Iqra’ – recite! When Mohammed demurred, the angel ‘overwhelmed me in his embrace until I reached the limits of my endurance.’ Then the angel proclaimed what was to become the first verse or sura of the Qur’an:

‘Recite in the name of your Lord, the Creator, who created man from clots of blood.’

At first Mohammed doubted his own sanity. It was only three years later, when other revelations began to follow in quick succession, that he recovered his self-confidence and commenced his mission to the Arabs as the ‘Messenger of God.’

The revelations, transmitted by the angel Gabriel to Mohammed when in a state of trance, were taken down in writing by his followers as he repeated them later. They were collected together after Mohammed’s death, to form the Qur’an.

The message of the Qur’an is similar in essence to much Jewish and Christian teaching.

There is no God but Allah, the all-powerful Creator, and Mohammed is his Messenger.

There will be a Day of Judgement.

There is an afterlife in which the good will be rewarded and the wicked will burn in hell.

Life is to be lived according to divine law, with prayer and fasting, the giving of alms and the supporting of widows and orphans.

Mohammed had some success with the young and the poor, but he was ridiculed by the leaders of Meccan society.

The fact that he could not work miracles was held against him. His prayer ritual of repeated prostrations was alien to their proud Bedouin spirit; and the required total allegiance to the new community of Islam cut right across traditional tribal loyalties.

More important, Mohammed’s teaching that their idol-worshipping ancestors were burning in hell, outraged the Arabs, who had always venerated their forefathers.

Above all, the concept of only one God, and the resulting rejection of idols, seemed almost to have been designed to ruin the cult of the Ka’aba, the basis of Meccan prosperity. It would, quite simply, have been disastrous for business.

Mohammed made some converts to Islam among pilgrims who visited Mecca on the haj. A group from Medina, a desert oasis some two hundred and fifty miles away, secretly invited Mohammed and his followers to join them there to become their judge in disputes between their tribes.

So, in the year 622, Mohammed and seventy of his followers fled from Mecca to Medina. And that is counted as year one of the Muslim calendar.

Medina was occupied by three Jewish tribes and two pagan tribes who had once forced their way into the oasis; each tribe lived in its own fortified village. Mohammed was soon accepted as leader by the pagans and concluded a treaty with the Jews.

Unlike the Meccans, the pagans of Medina – who had long lived alongside Jews – were not shocked by the demotion of their gods to mere spirits under the new order. It did not affect their livelihood, and they were thrilled by the presence in their midst of the Prophet for the Arabs, with his revelations in their own tongue. There was a rapid tide of conversions to Islam; and Arab historians praise the Jews for preparing the ground for the favourable reception of the Prophet’s message.

Mohammed and the Jews

As a fellow monotheist, Mohammed looked to the Jews as his natural allies; and he no doubt hoped they would accept him as their long-awaited Messiah. Some Jews did so at once and I quote an Arab historian’s account of the first Jewish convert to Islam.

Many other Jews converted to Islam later and I am obliged to Naim Dangoor for his account of the Jewish ruler of Afghanistan visiting Mohammed at the peak of his power and accepting Islam.

The leading Afghan tribes, you may remember, still claim with pride to be descended from King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin – as again confirmed by Naim Dangoor’s account of the meeting of Eliezer Kedourie and King of Afghanistan in 1925, and also by official guidebooks of the country.

In a deliberate attempt to reconcile the Jews and gain their acceptance, Mohammed promptly adopted the Aramaic name ‘Medinta’ used by the Jews (‘al-Madinat’ in Arabic) in place of Yathrib, the old name of the oasis.

His followers were directed to face towards Jerusalem in prayer and to recite three daily prayer services and special Friday evening prayers in imitation of the Jews.

Ablutions and forms of worship were modelled on Jewish patterns. It seems that the Muslims had misunderstood the solemn Jewish fast of Kippur to be a celebration of victory over Pharaoh, for they too adopted the same day to celebrate their own successes.

Mohammed repeatedly compared himself to Moses and clearly regarded himself as his successor. According to the Qur’an:

‘Before this book there was Moses’s book…. and this book confirms it in the Arabic language.’

And again, in response to taunts arising from the Jewish origin of one of his wives, Mohammed proudly declared:

‘Aaron was my father and Moses my uncle.’

Above all, the Qur’an itself is full of Jewish elements.

Mohammed’s Jews Adversaries in Medina

It is clear that Mohammed knew the Torah only from hearsay and that he was much confused by imperfect knowledge of scripture and rabbinic legend.

"The Messenger was a proud man who could not tolerate public ridicule; and so, only eighteen months after his arrival in Medina, he began to order the assassination of Arab poets who had satirised him and also of certain Jews who had opposed him in one way or another.

His attitude to the Jews also changed radically. Mohammed demonstrated his displeasure with the Jews as a whole and his growing self-confidence and his independence of them by adopting measures designed to steer his followers firmly against Jewish practices."

Mohammed’s Conquest of the Jews

Mohammed next moved to eliminate the three Jewish tribes of Medina, by then considered a threat to the Muslim community in its struggle against its pagan enemies in Mecca.

One by one he accused them of treachery, of having broken their treaty with him by conspiring with his pagan enemies in Mecca. As already mentioned, the Jews were also accused of making common cause with the waverers within the ranks of the Muslims of Medina.

Curiously enough, the Jewish tribes made no attempt to defend one another against the common foe when pretexts were found to attack and besiege each of their villages in turn. They were eliminated one by one.

The first tribe was called on to accept Islam. When its members refused, a pretext was found to besiege its village. The Jews were expelled on condition to leave most of their possessions behind.

The following year saw the expulsion of the second tribe, accused of planning to kill the Prophet by dropping a rock on his head as he rested under a wall outside its village. Mohammed, who received divine warning of the plot, returned home unharmed before anything happened.

The second tribe, being in a less vulnerable position managed to depart carrying all their possessions with them. Muslims were ordered to turn towards Mecca in prayer and no longer towards Jerusalem – now with five daily prayer services instead of the Jewish three.

All traces of the Sabbath were eliminated when Friday was declared a day of public prayer on which work was allowed. The month-long fast of Ramadan was instituted in place of Kippur. The extra month instituted by the pagan Arabs long before Mohammed to reconcile the lunar year with the solar year, as practised by the Jews, was abolished. Since then the Muslim year has consisted of 12 lunar months, with no correction at all for the solar year.

In a complete change of emphasis, Mohammed began to lay far greater stress on Abraham, whom he claimed as the first Muslim, than on Moses.

Influences on the Mohammed

Though respecting Christians – Christian monks in particular, and accepting Jesus as a major prophet, Mohammed vehemently rejected the notion that Jesus was the Son of God a well as all idea of the Trinity. The Qur’an itself is full of unmistakably Jewish elements – Bible stories and midrashimin particular.

However, a major puzzle remains. Although Moses is mentioned over one hundred times and Jesus only twice in the Meccan period of the Qur’an, Mohammed’s often repeated dread of the Day of Judgement and hellfire is certainly more akin to Christian monasticism than to rabbinic Judaism.

Mohammed died of natural causes in the year 632, leaving the whole of Arabia united under the rule of Islam.

By definition, Mohammed – as Messenger of God and the last of the Prophets, was irreplaceable. Yet, a new leader had to be found at once if his achievements were not to be squandered.

The Arabs found it very difficult to elect a successor and bitter struggles between rival clans resulted in the violent death in office of three out of the first four Khalifs. One of them, and this is significant, was killed by a revolt led by a Jewish convert to Islam.

Those early controversies persisted; and it was the refusal of some to accept the legitimacy of any but a descendant of the murdered Khalif ‘Ali (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) that created the Shi’a movement, which permanently split Islam.

Welded together by Islam, their poverty and their greed, the half-starved Bedouin nomads erupted from Arabia with extraordinary vigour. The Byzantine Empire was humbled and the Persian Empire totally destroyed during their first twenty years of warfare.

By 732, one hundred years after the death of Mohammed, the Arab Empire stretched from the Atlantic in the West to modern Pakistan in the East. At one stage, the vanguard reached a point in France only two hundred and fifty miles from Dover before falling back into Spain. Progress was slower after that, with Sardinia, Sicily and parts of Southern Italy gradually added to the Islamic world.

Many hundreds of years later, of course, the Muslim world expanded again to include the Balkans in Europe – though Spain was lost to the Christians, much of the Northern half of the African continent, the whole of Northern India and parts of South East Asia, such as Indonesia. In retrospect, it is not difficult to find convincing reasons for the astonishing success of the comparatively small body of Bedouin tribesmen in defeating the armies of two mighty empires and then going on to conquer much of the civilised world.

There can be no doubt that Mohammed himself had the rare ability to inspire unlimited devotion in most of those who met him in Arabia.

Also the essential simplicity and egalitarianism of Islam suited the mentality of the Arabs, already discontented with their primitive form of paganism and aspiring to a nobler expression of their religious yearnings. The new creed of Islam, combined with the old fighting traditions of the Bedouin tribes, provided the Arabs with the self-confidence they needed to challenge the rest of the world.

Once the invasions started, belief in the one God who had chosen the Arabs and rewarded them with success after success became inspirational. Fighting, Arab-style, seemed to be the way of God as the Bedouin warriors used the deserts like seas – appearing suddenly from nowhere and, whenever necessary, retreating back where none could follow.

Looked at in another way, the Arab conquest was a classic invasion of the world’s settled lands by semi-starved nomads, seeking bread and booty – but this time, spurred on by the powerful missionary zeal of Islam.

It should not be forgotten that the Arabs exploded into a world exhausted by twenty-six years of constant warfare, a world whose inhabitants longed for peace and stability and had come to believe that great changes were inevitable. Christian heretics and Jews in the Byzantine Empire, to whom almost any change must have seemed for the better, welcomed the Arabs with open arms. The Christians and Jews of the Persian Empire too, weary of civil and religious strife, also willingly accepted the prospect of change.

Another important factor in the overwhelming success of the Arabs was the generosity of their surrender terms. For most pagans, the choice of Islam or the sword was not onerous; they too could join the ranks of the conquerors by simply declaring: ‘There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his Messenger.’ Also, it soon became widely known that Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians would not be harmed by the triumphant Muslims so long as they submitted to the new order by paying the poll tax, which often amounted to no more than the tax demanded by the former regimes.

The result was that, in time, almost all the defeated nations aspired to the name ‘Arab’. Though strict social barriers between Arabian and non-Arabian Muslims were erected in the first century following the conquest, those dissolved and merit alone became the key to advancement for Muslims in the expanding empire.

According to surviving records, Jews helped the Arabs in many places. From Syria to Spain, they opened city gates to the besieging armies; and in Spain, they often garrisoned the captured cities to enable the Muslims to sweep on to further conquests.

In 658, Gaon Yizhak of Pumbeditha, at the head of 90,000 Jews, was reported to have welcomed Khalif ‘Ali into Firuz-Shapur. The Exilarch Bustanay was even awarded one of the Persian King’s daughters by the grateful Arabs – and as another daughter was given to Husain, grandson of the Prophet, that was no mean gift.

The conquests of Islam united both halves of the Jewish people under a single political and cultural system. Arabic became the universal language, replacing the Aramaic, Persian, Greek and Latin they had previously spoken.

Jews, accustomed to adversity, found their change of masters an improvement. They survived the hardship brought about by the conquest and were eventually able to participate in the creation of the new Arabic civilisation that followed.

Islam, claiming to be God’s last and perfect revelation to mankind, extended limited toleration to members of the older monotheistic faiths on condition they submitted humbly to its rule. In contrast, the only choice open to polytheists was Islam or the sword – though the less wasteful alternative of slavery was often substituted for the sword.

The Qur’an frequently refers to Jews and Christians, who had received earlier revelations from God but had then distorted and corrupted them.

Though some of its suras (verses) mention Jews and Christians in friendly terms and are quoted in support of Islam’s tolerant attitude to fellow monotheists, others display very different sentiments. The Qur’an it must be remembered, came to Mohammed in stages throughout the many years of his ministry – from the time he was a persecuted outcast to that of his final role as the undisputed master of all Arabia.

Non-believers, though protected by Islam, were generally despised because of their wilful persistence in refusing to accept the words of God recorded in the Qur’an. However, unlike Jews in Christian Europe, they were neither hated nor demonised.

Mainstream (Sunni) Islam and Judaism have more in common with each other than with Christianity. First and foremost, they both share the basic concept of the absolute unity of God. Though Muslims accept Jesus as a major prophet, they strenuously deny that he was the Son of God. In the words of the Qur’an:

‘…Allah is one, Allah the eternal. He begets not and is not begotten. Nor is there anyone like him’.

Abraham is accepted as the first man to have received God’s revelations: and most other Jewish patriarchs and prophets are also revered by Islam.

Both religions are based on divinely given books. The Qur’an like the Torah, is the unchanging word of God; and every letter of its text is holy. Sunni Muslims go even further and believe that the Qur’an is eternal and untreated – as is the view of the Torah held by some Jewish mystics.

Muslim forms of worship are far closer to those of the Synagogue than the Church. Neither Islam nor Judaism employs priests with supernatural powers to serve at symbolic alters of sacrifice. Indeed, Jewish Rabbis and Sunni Alem receive similar training and perform much the same function. Other concepts such as the sanctity of Jerusalem, forbidden and permitted foods, and many others, appear to have come directly from Judaism.

The equivalent position of law in Islam and Judaism may not be a coincidence, for Islamic law first developed in Iraq, home to the great academies of Jewish learning. In both faiths, holy law governs every aspect of human activity and its very study is an act of worship. Both distinguish between ‘written’ and ‘oral’ law in much the same way; and in the development of ‘oral’ law, the mufti’s fatwa serves the same purpose as the Rabbi’s responsa (an authoritative statement of the law on an obscure or disputed point).

Another common feature of the two systems is that neither was imposed by the state or by a central ecclesiastical authority – as was the canon law of the Church – but was developed by the deliberations of independent scholars.

Condensed from a recent lecture at the Montefiore Hall, London. by Lucien Gubbay. This Article is split into ten sections :