Education

Coming soon…

Life Cycle

The Scriptures zealously enjoin Jewish national practices as responsibilities upon Jews who come to faith in Yeshua as Messiah. The first-century Shalikhim (Apostles) are portrayed to us in Scripture as deeply committed Messianic Jewish adherers to the three-part inventory of Jewish faith life described by them in Acts 21:18-25: bringing sons into the covenant of Abraham, observing Torah in a manner spiritually sound, and clinging to the customs of our Jewish nation that are Scriptural and spiritually healthy.

Jewish life-cycle events — from weekly Shabbat services and Jewish holidays through to personal events like b’rit milah and b’nai mitzvah ceremonies — form the national distinctives of Israel to which Scripture so adamantly advises Messianic Jews to cling (Jeremiah 31:35-37, Matt. 5:17-19, Acts 21:18-24), and which enable Jewish continuity.

In a world in which self-identifying Jews are disappearing at an alarming rate, Messianic Judaism considers fomenting the sacred stewardship of Jewish identity an extremely important arena of effort and ministry.

Podcast

Visit or Subscribe To Beth El’s Podcast on iTunes

The Beth El of Manhattan Podcast is our congregation’s way of sharing our synagogue’s study and worship life with its local members and attendees who wish to review Rabbi Bruce’s sermons and teachings after they are given, and with others who may desire the kind of teaching Beth El provides. Our podcasts are FREE – but of course, anyone finding them nourishing is welcome to donate to Beth El to support its work. Enjoy!

[Teachings are copyrighted to Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen or the particular visiting teacher recorded, with all international all rights reserved to the teacher except for individual downloading and personal usage.]

Congregational Theology Seminar

by Rabbi Cohen
Overview
CLASS 1
I. INTRODUCTION – Membership: Believing, Belonging, Behaving
II. BIBLIOLOGY
CLASS 2
III.DOCTRINES
CLASS 3
III.DOCTRINES CONT.
CLASS 4
IV. SPIRITUAL WARFARE
CLASS 5
V. DESTINATION
CLASS 6
VI. INTO MEMBERSHIP

We Are NOT Jews for Jesus!

FAQ: “How Are You Different from Jews for Jesus?”

Firstly, “Jews for Jesus” is the trademark name of an organization based in San Francisco, California. It is a Christian evangelical organization founded in 1973 by a Jewish-born Baptist minister named Moishe Rosen.

Asking a Jewish believer in Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, “Are you a “Jew for Jesus””? is like asking someone in the photo-copying industry, “Are you a Xerox™?”

Jews for Jesus is simply one organization’s name. “Messianic Judaism” is the nomenclature for an entire world-wide movement of Jewish people not represented by any one organization. There are dozens of organizations within its sphere.

Secondly, Jews for Jesus primarily functions through literature and street-evangelism campaigns conducted either by visiting teams or permanent stations located throughout the United States and the world. Their staff is composed of workers they call missionaries in the classic Christian model of evangelism: missionaries do mission work in a mission field, seeking to convert their target-population to Christianity. Jews for Jesus functions this way, seeking to convert Jewish people to Christianity; Most of the Jewish people whom they meet, they refer to Christian churches for the furtherance of their faith lives.

Messianic Judaism primarily functions as a synagogual movement of Jewish people who believe that faith in Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth as the Messiah should not be expressed in a departure from synagogual Judaism, Jewish life, biblically-sound Jewish religious practice, or Jewish culture (Acts 21:18-25, Jeremiah 31:35-37).

Messianic Jews express their faith in Messianic synagogues, which are New Testament houses of Jewish worship, committed in varying degrees, according to their understanding of New Testament instruction, to the three pillars of Jewish life: 1. circumcision of sons, 2. observance of the Torah, and 3. the customs of our Jewish forefathers (Acts 21:18-25, Jeremiah 31:35-37). Central to “Messianic Jewish”, as compared to “Hebrew Christian”, spiritual practice is the synagogue, and the Jewish cultural identity it upholds.

For a detailed position paper on this point of doctrine see Why Messianic Judaism: A Position Paper by Rabbi Bruce Cohen.

NOTE: This position paper is written by Rabbi Bruce Cohen of Congregation Beth El of Manahattan, a Messianic Jewish Synagogue. He is solely responsible for its content, and does not represent this paper as being the views of any particular organization.