Thursday, August 20, 2009

Welcome!

Shalom and welcome to Bedikat haGetz!

In Jewish thought, the spark represents a connection to the divine. Sparks also signify the potential for light.

It has been said that within every Jewish soul there is a pintele yid, a hidden spark. A mystical Hassidic teaching even calls this 'the spark of the Mashiach.'

The purpose of this blog is to share 'sparks of light' which inspire me as I endeavor to study my Jewish heritage. I hope that by sharing these with you, I can fan the spark within your soul, inspiring you to greater devotion to God and His Messiah, the true light of the world.

The sages say that when Moshe saw the burning bush and turned aside to take a closer look, God was pleased and judged him worthy to reveal Himself to him. We who are followers of Yeshua have been instructed to 'test everything; hold fast to what is good.' I believe that the pages of Jewish tradition are rich with good. It is a heritage we will be blessed to receive--if, like Moshe, we are willing to turn aside to take a closer look.

But don't take my word for it...

12 comments:

Netzer Chosid said...

Yahnatan, welcome to the blog "olam". Glad to see you here. This seems to be a logical extension of our past conversations, and those of others no doubt. A gift to guide you as you travel: "Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina,'Whoever says something in the name of he who [originally] said it[is priviledged] to bring salvation to the world.'" (Megillah 15a) Hatzlocho!

Nezir Katan said...

Amen to that Yahnatan. However there is so much to this goodness and richness it is hard to know what to dip into- it is deep calling to deep. As a descendant of Rebbe Nachman of breslov of have in recent years been dipping into his wonderful insights-however there is so much that one could spend many lifetimes on just his teachings-but i guess we will have plenty of time for everything in the heavenly Yeshivot.

Yahnatan said...

Athol--great to meet you! I've been aware of the Association of Hebrew Catholics for several years, but you're the first Catholic Breslover Chasid I've met. Glad to make your acquaintance; keep posting, and I hope our paths cross sometime!

Jorge Quinonez said...

Hi Yahnatan,
I find your blog's mission statement interesting. FYI, if you really want to help MJ's rediscover their heritage, you should take a look at the stuff I've put online. I am interested in the Hebrew literary heritage of Jewish believers from before the Shoah. My site is

http://afii.org/jorge.htm

FFOZ is doing something with the stuff I've posted. Its the nucleus of their Vine of David project. There is so much that people have forgotten about. The Shoah divided an entire generation of Jewish believers in Yeshua. I can't imagine how many Messianic Jewish sages were murdered by the Nazis. After WWII, the entire movement had to literally start from scratch. Only a few of the previous generation survived in the UK or the Americas. Its a sad story.

Yahnatan said...

Jorge,

Many thanks for your comment, and for your huge contribution to bringing to light lost Messianic Jewish luminaries from a century ago. I have been familiar with your work for the past couple years. Keep an eye out for some upcoming promotion of Levertoff's work...

Best,
Yahnatan

Randi Waxman said...

Dear Yahnaton,
I'm flattered that you put my picture of Chanukah in Hebrew on your web page but you did not
1) ask me nor
2) give credit to the artist (myself).
Please do one or the other.
Thank you,
Randi Waxman
www.randisart.com

Yahnatan said...

Dear Randi,

You are right, and I am very much in the wrong. Please accept my apology along with the requested corrections.

Best,
Yahnatan

Randi Waxman said...

Thisis the email I just sent you:
Dear Yahnaton,
I would be happy to sell you the prints and would like to have links to my website. If you tell me where you want them shipped to I can tell you how much it would cost. I can make a link through Paypal too.

I didn't read through your website but I did read the words 'Messianic Jews' I learned from authentic Rabbis in Jerusalem and here, that a person is either Jewish or not. Since a person who is Jewish by definition believes in the 13 Principals of Faith as set by Maimomides, part of which state that the Mashiach (Messiah) will come, has yet to come (as evidenced by the fact that there are still wars, hunger, disease and hate between peoples, etc.) There is no belief in Judaism that the man, who was a Jewish guy (who went against the Rabbis of his time), called Jesus Christ was G-d, who also by definition, and it is easy for a Jew to believe, was not and is not man. I do not, so to speak want to 'aid and abet the "enemy"' if you are trying to take Jewish souls and teach them that Judaism says that JC and Judaism have somehow reconciled, and it's ok to believe in Jexus, as one would have to believe in G-d to be a Jew.
I am not me, an artist, just for money. Education is very important in my life and if you are teaching people things contrary to Torah true Judaism...
You should learn better or maybe we shouldn't do commerce...
I will now look at your blog more.
Randi Rochel

Randi Waxman said...

I still think you're off to believe Yoshga (as my Orthodox husband calls him) "can complete the work of moshiach". Maybe I'm wrong but I think the teaching is that Techias Hamasim, Resurrection of the Dead is for all Jews, they will be brought back as they were when they died, at whatever level of observance/reward that they reached. Why don't you join the ranks of Kiruv Rabbis that reach for Jewish people to learn more about their religion. Why do you have to mix it up so? I do believe that Hashem can do anything, even make people prophets, like I guess Yoshga was, but so were very many Jews, and nobody had to make a new religion around them.
Also, if people love Judaism like I think the people you think you are helping stay close to Yiddishkeit, but don't want to be full fledged Jews ('Orthodox'), they can be Noahides and fulfill the 7 Noahide Laws. But if they have Jewish mothers, at whatever level of practice, they are Jews, not having anything to do with Yoshga and his "teachings"

Randi Rochel

Randi Rochel said...

I haven't heard from you so I want to share these two websites that are very good: Naaleh.com
Koshertorah.com -- I call this rabbi jokingly to my husband, the 'Ranting Rabbi'. I also call him the 'Survival Guy Rabbi' because he reminds of The Survival Guy, the guy who does all those dangerous expeditions for TV.

. said...

Jonathan Lasko,
Did you receive the prints?>

Yahnatan said...

Yes, I did receive them! Thanks so much...