Karaite Korner Newsletter #488

Crocs are Too Comfortable, Wear Converse!

Earlier this week I posted a poem about Christmas by a self-described "S.O.B."
(Scripturally Observant Believer). Despite her self-designation, she is what
many people would call "Messianic". This raised quite a stir in certain circles,
especially because line 50 of the 62-line poem referred to: "The truth of
Yeshua, the one true Messiah." A few people wrote asking if this meant that I
was no longer a Karaite Jew and now believed in Jesus. One reader wrote me, "I
am really confused by this week's newsletter with this beautiful poem". Another
reader wrote to his own e-mail list:

"This man [Nehemia] use to be focused on living by the true words of the
Almighty… He now supports things out of the New Testament… He seems to also be
supporting christmas as well."

All I can say is: "LMAO" (google it). I mean how many times do I need to explain
that I am not a Messianic or Christian? Just because I see something of value
written by an S.O.B. does not make me one. I didn't say hang the poem up on your
wall and recite it as your daily creed. I said give it a read, you might just
learn something. It doesn't mean you have to agree with everything in it or even
that I agree with everything in it. Here is the poem for those who missed it:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150125792414008

This reminds me of an e-mail Keith and I received shortly after our book "A
Prayer to Our Father" was released. A man wrote to us incensed that, although he
agreed with 90% of the book, he regretted reading it because there were some
things he strongly disagreed with. I wrote back to him that if he wanted to read
a book that he agreed with 100%, he ought to write his own book. The idea that
you should not listen to anyone who doesn't agree with you on every point of
doctrine is quite alien to Jewish thinking. King Solomon taught:

"Plans are foiled for want of counsel, but they succeed through many advisers."
Proverbs 15:22

Solomon wasn't saying you have to agree with all the advice you receive or even
see eye to eye with all the advisors. On the contrary, he is saying you won't
learn anything new or accomplish anything great if you just surround yourself
with yes-men and people who are identical to you. The rabbis summed this up
succinctly with the teaching: "Who is a wise man? He who learns from every man."
(Ethics of Our Fathers 4:1). God gave us discernment to pick out the seed from
the chaff. Don't starve yourself because you are afraid of dealing with a little
chaff!

I guess I have a tendency to dwell on the negative. Most of the responses to the
poem were quite positive. A few days ago I was speaking with a Karaite Jewish
woman from Washington State (hi, Pat!) and she told me she actually found the
poem very comforting. She was estranged from some family members over her
beliefs and identified with most of the poem. She was also confident enough in
her own faith not to be threatened by the part she didn't agree with.

My point with sharing the poem was not to get people to embraced line 50 or even
to bash Christmas. I think there is something of value there even for Christians
who celebrate Christmas and I would venture to say even for atheists. The poem
is a powerful expression of the inner struggle between being faithful to your
own conscience and doing what is easy just because it is popular. It reminds me
of the commandment in the Torah:

"You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a
lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice;" Exodus
23:1

This commandment expresses the principle that you must do what you believe to be
right and moral even if it is unpopular. It would be so much easier to testify
according to the majority, but you must stand for the truth even if you are the
lone voice of reason.

While I am on the subject of things I don't entirely agree with, there is this
video on Youtube you NEED to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8MG9YtaZXg

The video is rife with Hebrew and Yiddish terminology, so this brief summary
should help those unfamiliar follow the main points. It features two cartoon
teddy bears discussing the finer points of the Oral Law. What makes it so
powerful is that it is both hilarious and profound at the same time. The video
starts off with a brown bear telling a pink bear a "vort", a "word" of Torah he
heard at his rabbi's house last Shabbat. The vort deals with the inconsistency
between what Esau asked for in Genesis 25:30 and what Jacob actually gave him in
verse 34. Esau asked for lentil soup but Jacob gave him both lentil soup and
bread. The reason for giving Esau the bread, according to the vort, is a dispute
in the Talmud as to which benediction to make when eating lentil soup. Does one
eat it for the liquid (she-hakol) or for the lentils (mezonot)? To avoid the
"problem", Jacob gave Esau bread so he would wash his hands and make the
benediction over the bread. The benediction over bread covers all food eaten at
the same meal as the bread, superseding the need to decide which benediction to
make over the lentil soup.

The pink bear finds the suggestion that Jacob knew about a dispute in the Talmud
ludicrous. The brown bear responds that the Avos (forefathers) knew and kept kol
ha-torah kulah (the whole Torah in its entirety) which naturally includes the
Talmud and all its disputes and discussions. The brown bear explains that Jacob
observed the [rabbinical] commandment of shaking a palm branch and citron on the
festival of Sukkot. He even fulfilled the commandment of "remembering" the
Amalekite attack on the Israelites in the desert, which took place hundreds of
years after his death. At one point in the discussion, the pink bear objects to
the original point of the vort:

"The commandment to wash one's hands before bread was instituted by the rabbis
centuries after the giving of the Torah as a safeguard against eating Terumah
[priestly gifts] while ritually impure. Why would Yaakov [Jacob] follow a
safeguard instituted by the rabbis?"

The brown bear responds: "The sages tell us that the Avos [forefathers] even
kept rabbinical commandments." [Say: "Takanot!"]

The discussion now turns to the rabbinical commandment to refrain from wearing
leather shoes on Tish'ah Be'Av, the rabbinical fast mourning the destruction of
the Temple:

Pink bear: "Did the Avos wear Crocs on Tish'ah Be'Av?"

Brown bear: "No, Rev Elyashiv said Crocs are too comfortable. He wore converse
[sneakers]." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosef_Shalom_Eliashiv)

The pink bear represents a modernistic YU (Yeshiva University) approach to the
Oral Law and rabbinical tradition. This approach, backed by "many rishonim"
[rabbis from the 11th-15th centuries], rejects the belief of the Talmudic rabbis
that the forefathers knew and kept the entire Torah. The brown bear represents
the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish view of the Oral Law that accepts all the statements
of the Talmudic rabbis as true and binding. Anything not in line with this
Ultra-Orthodox position is disregarded as "not part of our Mesorah [tradition]".

Pink bear: "Is it your Mesorah to pick only the most fantastical, irrational
sources from the vastness of Jewish tradition and call anything else Kefirah
[heresy]?"

Brown bear, turning to the camera and nodding: "Sounds about right."

Obviously the video is biased towards the YU position. A quick search on Youtube
will turn up many Ultra-Orthodox rebuttals, some of them eloquently presented by
a variety of cartoon characters. One even has the pink bear responding, now in
defense of the Ultra-Orthodox position and with a posh British accent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRwQig67Gps

Boy, is the 21st century going to be an interesting one! By the way, in case you
are wondering, my recommendation of the Vort Video does not mean that I now
embrace the YU-approach to the Oral Law. I am still a Karaite Jew despite line
50 of the 62-line Youtube video!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #489

The Fires of Carmel and Hannukah

As Jews around the world celebrate Hannukah, remembering fires that burned
thousands of years ago, a fire is raging in northern Israel, consuming the
forests of Mount Carmel. In the time of Elijah, a fire descended on these
mountains consuming the prophet's sacrifice that he offered in his challenge to
the prophets of Baal. The false prophets spent all day calling upon their god to
consume their sacrifices to no avail. When Elijah's sacrifice was consumed by a
fire from heaven the people knew that Baal was a false deity and they
proclaimed:

Yehovah hu ha-elohim! Yehovah hu ha-elohim!

"Yehovah, he is God! Yehovah, he is God!" 1Ki 18:39

A few days ago the worst fire in Israel's history began to sweep through the
mountains of Carmel. A tragedy happened last Thursday (Dec 2) when a bus full of
prison guards and police were caught in the flames on their way to evacuate
prisoners at the Damon prison. One of the miracles of the day took place when
Israeli cameraman Roni Sofer saved three of the trapped prison guards by driving
through a wall of fire. The rest, forty in total, perished in the flames.

The miracle of Hannukah was born in the flames of the Seleucid Greek persecution
of the Jews. This began three years before the first Hannukah when the Seleucid
Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes issued a series of decrees designed to
eradicate the Jewish faith. The first round of anti-Jewish decrees went into
force on the 3rd day of Tishrei in the year 168 BCE. These decrees are recorded
in a 1st century CE document called "The Scroll of Fasting" (Megillat Ta'anit)
which says:

"on the third of Tishrei... the evil Greek kingdom decreed eradication of Israel
saying to them, 'deny the Kingdom of heaven' and say 'we have no portion with
the God of Israel' and do not mention the name of the God of heaven on your
mouths." Megillat Ta'anit, Tishrei

These initial decrees were followed up with a prohibition against practicing
circumcision and observing the Sabbath. Three months later, on the 25th day of
Kislev, the Greeks re-dedicated the Jerusalem Temple as a sanctuary to the
sun-god Apollo, sacrificing pigs on the altar. This was the straw that broke the
camel's back and it led to a Jewish uprising. After three years of fighting, the
Maccabees liberated the Temple, tore down the defiled altar, and on the third
anniversary of its defilement dedicated a new one. To this day, the full name of
the holiday is Hannukat Ha-Mizbeach, Dedication of the Altar, in memory of this
event. The real miracle of Hannukah is the victory of a band of ill-equipped and
untrained farmers and priests defeating a world super-power that tried to force
them to eat pig, give up circumcision and the Sabbath, and forbade them to utter
the name of our heavenly Father Yehovah.

Three hundred years after that first Hannukah, the Roman emperor Hadrian
re-instituted the anti-Jewish decrees. One Jewish leader, Rabbi Hanina ben
Teradion, was burned in the Roman fires for violating these decrees. According
to the Talmud, he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and burned alive "because he
used to pronounce the name the way it is written" (Sabbath 17b-18a). This rabbi
was only one of thousands martyred by the Romans for publicly proclaiming the
name of our heavenly Father "Yehovah"!

Recently I was privileged to spend two hours on television proclaiming the holy
name of our heavenly Father as part of the launch of Keith Johnson's new book:
"His Hallowed Name Revealed Again". This two-hour interview was one of the most
exciting things I've ever done. As my Methodist friend Keith later put it:
"After ten minutes, the holy spirit just took over." Karaite interpretation:
"God wanted his name to be heard!" The television station told us they never had
such a powerful response and in only a few days they sold out of Keith's new
book and our earlier joint book "A Prayer to Our Father". For me, it wasn't
about selling books. It was about all those Jews and others who were burned in
the flames of persecution because they defied man-made decrees forbidding them
to speak God's holy name. As I look around Jerusalem at the Hannukah lamps
peaking out of windows and decorating doorways I remember all those who died in
centuries past in the fires of persecution in order to proclaim the name of our
heavenly Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. I am thankful that today,
despite social pressures and traditions, I am allowed to proclaim his name
without fear of death.

The two-hour television interview is available online at:
http://hishallowedname.com/2010/11/television-interview/

Hint: You can download the two-part interview by following the links below each
part and then clicking on "download this video" on the right-hand side. You'll
need to login to Vimeo (free registration) in order to do this. You can watch it
streaming without logging in or registering.

Now for a little more on Hannukah and its history. The festival of Hannukah is
not commanded in the Tanach but there is nothing inherently wrong with it as
long as you can separate fact from fiction. In Biblical terms, Hannukah would be
classified as a Yom Simchah, a day of joy. Numbers chapter 10 verse 10 talks
about blowing the silver trumpets "on your days of joy, on your appointed times,
and on your new moons". In modern times, the Jewish People observe a number of
days of joy such as Jerusalem Day in commemoration of the liberation of
Jerusalem in 1967 and Independence Day in memory of Israel surviving an invasion
by several Arab armies in 1948-1949. I celebrate these days of joy every year to
give honor to the miracles that our Creator bestowed upon us in these two
historic events.

Up until the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 CE the Jewish People
observed dozens of days of joy in honor of great events that took place in that
period. These days of joy are listed in the aforementioned 1st century document
Megillat Ta'anit, the Scroll of Fasting. The scroll consists of a list of dates
and associated events that were observed as national days of joy. The purpose of
the scroll was to instruct people when not to fast. Fasting is associated with
mourning and sadness and it would not be appropriate to fast on a day of joy.
The most important day of joy listed in Megillat Ta'anit was Nicanor Day which
commemorated the decisive battle between Judah the Maccabee and the Seleucid
Greek general Nicanor on the 13th of Adar in 161 BCE. When the Temple was
destroyed in the year 70 CE all of the days of joy were abolished with the sole
exception of the 8 days of Hannukah.

Today Hannukah is best known as a festival commemorating a miracle that
supposedly happened in 165 BCE when the Maccabees liberated the Temple from the
Seleucid Greeks. According to the well-known story, the victorious Maccabees
searched the Temple looking for olive oil to use in the Menorah, the candelabrum
that according to Exodus 27:20-21 must be lit every day. People had been killed
in the liberation of the Temple and therefore all its contents were deemed
ritually impure. The Maccabees desperately searched for a vial of oil with its
seal intact because the seal would shield it from ritual impurity of the dead.
This is in accordance with Numbers 19:15,

"And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean."

According to the story, the Maccabees only found a single vial of oil with the
seal intact and immediately lit the Menorah with this single dose of oil. Ritual
purification from the dead is a seven-day process (Numbers 19) so they could not
work on producing a new batch of pure oil until the eighth day. The miracle, we
are told, was that the single vial of oil burned for eight days instead of one,
giving the Maccabees time to prepare a new batch of pure oil.

The problem with this wonderful miracle is that it never happened. It is a pure
work of fiction invented after the Temple was destroyed. It is not mentioned in
a single source that pre-dates the Destruction of the Temple. To this day, the
full name of the holiday of Hannukah (Dedication) is Hannukat Ha-Mizbeach, which
means "Dedication of the Altar". After the Romans destroyed the altar in 70 CE,
the rabbis invented the miracle of the oil to give new significance to this
festival. As its name implies, the original significance of Hannukah was the
dedication of the altar in the year 165 BCE. The Seleucid Greeks had desecrated
the altar in the Temple by sacrificing a pig on it to the sun-god Apollo. They
did this on the 25th of Kislev in the year 168 BCE. After liberating the Temple
in 165 BCE, the Maccabbees tore down the defiled altar and built a new one. They
dedicated this new altar on the 25th of Kislev, three years to the day after it
was desecrated by the Greeks.

The historical events surrounding Hannukah are described in two historical works
called 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, written shortly after the events took place.
Both of these books describe the events in excruciating detail. Both books tell
the story of the liberation of the Temple but neither says a single word about
the alleged miracle of the oil. Instead they give three reasons for celebrating
Hannukah for eight days. The first reason was a miracle that repeated itself in
the days of Moses and Solomon, both times associated with eight days of
dedication. When Moses dedicated Aaron and his sons as priests in the desert the
ceremony lasted eight days. On the eighth and final day of the dedication, a
fire came out of heaven and consumed the sacrifices that Aaron and his sons
offered on the altar (Lev 9:1, 24). This miracle happened again when Solomon
dedicated his altar for eight days (2Chr 7:1, 9). The book of 2 Maccabees
explicitly mentions this as the reason for eight days of Hannukah.

The second reason for eight days was as a sort of "Second Sukkot". In Numbers 9
it says that if someone fails to partake of the Passover sacrifice in the First
Month they can observe a Second Passover in the Second Month. The Maccabees had
failed to observe Sukkot while they were fighting the Greeks. As soon as they
liberated the Temple, they followed the example of Numbers 9 and made up for
this with a Second Sukkot, as 2 Maccabees explains:

"And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the
feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths,
they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. " (10:6)

Of course, Sukkot is seven days with the Eighth of Assembly (Shemini Atzeret)
tacked on to the end, hence the eight days of Hannukah.

The book of 2 Maccabees gives a third, and rather bizarre reason, for the
festival of Hannukah. Apparently this festival existed in some form or another
going back to the time of Nehemiah when it was known as "The Feast of Fire". 2
Maccabees explains that when Nehemiah first offered sacrifices on his altar he
expected a fire to come down from heaven just as it had in the time of Moses and
Solomon. The same miracle also happened when David first offered sacrifices on
his altar (1Chr 21:26) and when Elijah rebuilt the altar on Mount Carmel in his
challenge to the priests of Baal (1Ki 18:38). Naturally when no fire
materialized, Nehemiah was extremely disappointed. There was a legend that the
priests of the 1st Temple hid the last burning embers of Solomon's altar in a
cave. Nehemiah sent priests to retrieve it but all they found after seventy
years was "thick liquid". They collected this thick oil and poured it on the
altar but nothing happened. Then suddenly it ignited as 2 Maccabees explains:

"When this was done and some time had passed and the sun, which had been clouded
over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled." (1:22).

What was the oil that spontaneous ignited when exposed to sun light? 2Maccabees
explains:

'Nehemiah and his associates called this "nephthar," which means purification,
but by most people it is called naphtha.' (1:36).

Naphtha was a well-known naturally occurring petroleum product but it did not
normally ignite when exposed to light. The combination of this oil spontaneously
igniting when exposed to sun light gave birth to the "The Feast of Fire".

Here's the really important thing. The two books of Maccabees give these three
reasons for Hannukah: 1) Moses and Solomon's eight-day dedications, 2) Second
Sukkot, and 3) Nehemiah's "Festival of Fire". Not a single word about the
miracle of oil burning for eight days! Josephus also talks about Hannukah and
refers to it as the "Festival of Lights" but says nothing about the miracle of
the oil burning for eight days. Instead he says:

"we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was,
because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the
name given to that festival." (Josephus, Antiquities 12:325)

If the Festival of Lights really had something to do with eight days of
miraculous oil, wouldn't Josephus say this? He obviously was unaware of this
reason for the festival. The story of the eight days of miraculous oil is also
missing from the Scroll of Fasting, that 1st century CE document that lists all
the days of joy of the Jews of that time. The first time this miracle is ever
mentioned is in the Babylonian Talmud (Sabbath 21b) in a section written over
three hundred years after the events.

If you choose to celebrate Hannukah, avoid the part that adds to God's Torah.
Specifically the blessing over the candles which thanks God for commanding us to
light the candles, something he never commanded. This is a violation of
Deuteronomy 4:2 which says:

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish
ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Yehovah your God which I
command you."

The same commandment is reiterated in Deuteronomy 12:32 (Hebrew 13:1) and a
third time in Proverbs 30:6,

"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

Also separate fact from fiction. Hannukah means "dedication". The full name of
the holiday is Channukat Hamizbeach, Dedication of the Altar. The Maccabees had
to rededicate the Temple altar that had been desecrated by the Seleucid Greeks.
They celebrated this dedication for 8 days in memory of the 8 days that both
Moses and Solomon celebrated. The alleged miracle of 8 days of oil was not
originally part of Hannukah. It is not mentioned in the two books of Maccabees
written shortly after the events. It was only made up after the altar was
destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, to give the holiday new purpose. The real
miracle of Hannukah is the victory of a band of ill-equipped and untrained
farmers and priests defeating a world super-power that had tried to force them
to eat pig and give up circumcision and the Sabbath. Don't forget all those who
were burned in the fires of persecution for living by the word of God and
proclaiming his holy name.

For something a little lighter, check out this classic Tom Lehrer ode to
Hannukah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSCmZU0eFJg

View this newsletter on Facebook for some bonus material:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/nehemia-gordon/the-fires-of-carmel-and-hannukah/17\
4444135913844
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nehemia-Gordon/371892568628

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #490

New Moon Report
December 2010
Tenth Biblical Month

On December 7, 2010 the new moon was sighted from Israel.

The new moon was first sighted from Jerusalem at 4:42pm by Devorah Gordon and
then shortly thereafter by Nehemia Gordon, Yoel Halevi, Miriam Fauth, Elana
Fauth, and Agnes Blanchard.

Photographs of the new moon sighted are posted at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nehemia-Gordon/371892568628

Rosh Chodesh Sameach!
Happy New Moon!

Karaite Korner Newsletter #491

The Messianic Alert Controversy

A few days ago I got a message on Facebook from an Orthodox Jewish woman who I
don't know. She is (or was) one of my Facebook "friends", but I have over 2,000
and don't know most of them personally. Her message was a warning sent out to me
and her 4,300+ other "friends" about a woman named Julia Ann. She was warning us
that we were "friends" with this Julia Ann who is a "Messianic" pretending to be
a Jew in order to convert real Jews to Christianity. I have to admit, I've
actually met a number of people like that, people who came to Israel and
pretended to be Jewish in order to "witness" to Jews. For example, a number of
years back a Kippah-clad bearded Christian man confided in me that he was
volunteering at a Yeshiva, hoping to befriend some of the students so he could
"witness" to them. I wish this was an isolated incident, but it's not. When I
got the "Messianic Alert" I decided to click on Julia Ann's Facebook profile to
see who she was. Right in her profile she said very candidly that she was "a
follower of Yeshua". It did not appear to me that she was trying to deceive
anyone and when I contacted her and asked her she vehemently denied the
accusations against her.
Now personally I don't care if Julia Ann wants to convert me. I'm confident
enough in my own faith not to worry about that. I wouldn't be able have any kind
of a true friendship with her if she approached me like that, but I wouldn't
care if she wanted to be one of my Facebook "friends". On the other hand, if she
had misrepresented herself, the "Messianic Alert" might have been justified. As
it is, this was a blatant act of cyber-bullying. If the Orthodox Jewish woman
didn't want to be Julia Ann's friend she should not have accepted her "friend
request". I think it's safe to assume she does not know all of her 4300+ friends
and indiscriminately accepts every friend request she gets (that's what I do, he
he). When she realized who she had inadvertently friended she could have just
un-friended Julia Ann. That would have been totally legitimate. Instead she
decided to go all Senator-Joe-McCarthy on poor Julia Ann and publicly condemn
her without justification. When I saw this attack, it reminded me of the words
of the Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller, who Keith Johnson and I quoted in our
book "A Prayer to Our Father" (http://APrayerToOurFather.com/). Niemoller
survived the Holocaust in the Dachau concentration camp. After the camp was
liberated, he made a famous statement about standing idly by while the Nazis
committed their atrocities:

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a
Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one
left to speak out for me."

Now I want to make it clear. I'm not comparing this Orthodox Jewish woman to the
Nazis. Heaven forbid! That would belittle the atrocities they perpetrated. Nor
is it my purpose to attack her and that's why I am not using her name. I am just
trying to be faithful to what the Torah teaches about speaking out against
injustice, whether big or small. This is in Leviticus 19:16,

"You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people. You shall not stand
by the blood of your neighbor. I am Yehovah."

The second half of the verse means it is forbidden to idly stand by and do
nothing while your neighbor's blood is being shed. This commandment is
juxtaposed in the same verse to the commandment not to go about as a talebearer
to teach us we must not stand idly by when someone is gossiping. In Hebrew
terms, shedding blood can be both literal and figurative. This is what Solomon
meant when he said,

"Life and death is in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21).

The Torah is commanding us not to idly stand by while our neighbor's blood is
being shed and that holds true whether it is literal blood or figurative blood.
If someone is going about as a talebearer, you must speak out because they are
figuratively shedding blood. The rabbis wisely summarized this with the teaching
that gossip harms three people: the gossiper, the subject of the gossip, and the
one who hears the gossip but does nothing to stop it.
I decided I was not going to idly stand by and I would speak out against this
injustice. I posted my protest in a Facebook note entitled "Question for
Messianics". I shared what happened and asked my Facebook "friends" to respond
to the accusations this woman made. I have to admit a selfish motivation in
posting this protest. I thought about Niemoller's words and wondered how long it
would be until this Orthodox Jewish woman sent out a "Karaite Alert" to her
4,300+ friends, accusing me of God-knows-what. It wouldn't be the first time. I
also thought about how I would feel receiving a "Jew Alert" with the usual
accusations attached (sorry to disappoint you conspiracy theorists, but we don't
control all the banks and we don't drink Christian blood!).
The level of response to my little Facebook note came as a surprise to me. There
has been an incredible outpouring of ideas and dialogue from Christians,
Messianics, Jews, at least one Muslim, and even something called "Ebionites".
Since posting the note earlier this week, there have been over 200 responses!
Some of them are even lengthy learned dissertations (check out Mark Biltz's
interesting response, it is well worth the read!). Whatever your background or
orientation, please come and join the conversation. You can read the note and
the responses at:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/nehemia-gordon/question-for-messianics/17628956906\
2634

If you want to post a response (which you are encouraged to do), Facebook
requires you to first subscribe to my "Author Page" by clicking on the "like"
button at the top of the main page located at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nehemia-Gordon/371892568628

You can read the note without logging into Facebook but need to be a member,
logged-in, and "like" my Author Page to post a response or comments.

I do ask those posting comments to be respectful of others no matter how
vehemently you may disagree with them. The Jewish method of study consists of a
process of respectful debate and discussion, exploring various ideas and
options, in order to crystallize an understanding of the principles and issues
in a text. Please do honor to this Hebrew spirit of study in your comments.

Shabbat Shalom!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

New Moon Report
January 2011
Eleventh Month

On Wednesday January 5, 2010 the new moon was sighted from Israel.

The moon was sighted by three observers from the Mount of Olives beginning at
17:13. The moon was also sighted by an observer from Samaria at 17:24 and
another observer from Aqaba, Jordan.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #493

Upcoming Aviv Search and Biblical Holidays

This year's Aviv Search will take place March 4th and 6th, the last two days of
the 12th Biblical Month. The examination of the barley throughout the Land of
Israel will determine whether the new biblical year will begin at sunset on
March 6 or sunset on April 4. Here are the possible dates for Chag HaMatzot
(Feast of Unleavened Bread) depending on whether or not the barley is Aviv by
the end of the 12th Biblical Month:

*If we find Aviv by March 6, Chag HaMatzot will be March 20 at sunset through
March 27 at sunset.

*If we don't find Aviv by March 6, Chag HaMatzot will be April 18 at sunset
through April 25 at sunset.

The potential dates of all the biblical holidays for the year and expected
sightings of new moons are posted here:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/holiday_dates.shtml

We need your help to carry out the Aviv Search. It is a costly undertaking.
Please support this work by sending a check to:
Makor Hebrew Foundation, POB 13, Mansfield TX 76063

You can also support the Aviv Search online by clicking on the "donate" button
at:
http://makorhebrew.org/donations.shtml

To learn more about Aviv Barley in the Bible please visit:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib.shtml

Many people have asked me to predict whether or not we will find Aviv by March
6. The real answer is that I don't know. March 6 is early in the solar year but
it is still possible. Israel has had little rain this year which could make the
barley become Aviv later rather than earlier. The bottom line is there are too
many factors to predict when the barley will ripen. It is largely dependent on
weather which no one can predict past next week let alone a month from now. We
will just have to "observe the Month of the Aviv" as Scripture commands (Dt
16:1).

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #494

New Moon Report
February 2011
Twelfth Biblical Month

On Friday February 4, 2011 we didn't see the moon from Jerusalem because of rain
and clouds. However it was 30 days since the last sighting and hence new moon
day by default (a lunar month can't be more than 30 days long).

Rosh Chodesh Sameach!
Happy New Moon Day!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #495

Reggie White Better-Than-The-Super-Bowl

This year while you're getting ready to watch the game, have a look at two great
ESPN shorts on Reggie White, the Football Hall-of-Famer who led the Greenbay
Packers to a Super Bowl victory in 1997. Before his untimely passing in 2004, he
had a spiritual experience that he described as better than winning the Super
Bowl. I was priveleged to have been a small of that experience. Have a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeLkX5gPnUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpakMirPKHM


Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #496

Egypt Crisis Threatens Israel's Electricity Supply

I stayed up late last night to watch Egyptian President Husni Mubarak's
resignation speech. He shocked the world by not stepping down, despite earlier
announcements by the Egyptian army that hinted he would. Ehud Yaari, one of the
foremost Arabic experts in Israel, gave a running translation of the live speech
on Israeli television. The whole country held its breath when Yaari stuttered in
the middle of his translation and then paused for an awkward moment of silence.
It sounded like the Egyptian president said he was going to stay in power, Yaari
explained, and only grant limited control to his vice-president and crony Omar
Suleiman. Yaari was sure he had misheard something or misunderstood. He did not.

Earlier in the day, Egypt cut off the regular flow of natural gas that it has
contracted to sell to Israel. This was only a few days after terrorists blew up
the main gas pipeline from Egypt to Jordan. Egyptian natural gas is vital for
Israel to produce electricity. If the gas supply is not restored soon, Israel
will have to use diesel fuel to run its turbines, jacking up the price of
electricity fourfold. In recent weeks this was described as the "nightmare
scenario" resulting from a Muslim Brotherhood takeover, a scenario that is now a
reality. As bad as this will be for Israel it will be much worse for the
strained Egyptian economy. It looks like the recent discovery of two massive
deep-water gas fields off the coast of Haifa could not have happened at a better
time. These gas fields have seemingly prophetic names: Leviathan and Tamar. The
Psalms mention, "Leviathan that you formed... to give them their food in due
season" (104:26-27). Deuteronomy says, "For Yehovah your God, brings you into a
good land... a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and
pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey. (8:7-8)" Most Hebrew language
experts explain that "honey" in the Hebrew Bible usually refers to the syrup
extracted from dates. The Hebrew word for "date" is Tamar! The two fields are
expected to start supplying natural gas to Israeli turbines by 2014 and will
make us energy independent for decades to come.

Speaking of barley (one of the seven blessings of Israel listed in the above
verse in Deuteronomy), the Aviv Barley Search is coming up in a few weeks on
March 4-6. Back in 2005 we found Aviv barley on March 8, so it is a real
possibility we will find it this year by March 6. This would put Chag HaMatzot
(Feast of Unleavened Bread) in late March, a month before the rabbinical
observance of the feast. Carrying out this annual search requires a great deal
of time and resources. I need your help to make this happen! Please consider
supporting this effort by sending a check to Makor Hebrew Foundation, POB 13,
Mansfield TX 76063 or click on the "donate" button at:
http://www.makorhebrew.org/donations.shtml

Nehemia Gordon
In the Land Flowing with Milk and Date-Honey

Karaite Korner Newsletter #497

Equinox Shmequinox

With the Aviv Search coming up in two weeks I've several e-mails asking me about
observing Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) before the Vernal Equinox. I
usually respond with, "Where does it say anything about the Vernal Equinox in
Scripture?" Last year I sent out a note entitled "Will the Real Equinox Please
Stand Up". Below is the note updated for 2011 along with some new info at the
end.

To learn more about how the ripening of the Aviv Barley affects the beginning of
the biblical year please see:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib.shtml

It's not too late to support the Aviv Search by sending a donation to:
Makor Hebrew Foundation, POB 13, Mansfield, TX 76063 or clicking on the donate
button at:
http://www.makorhebrew.org/donations.shtml
Our main expenses are related to travelling around Israel examining barley
fields, especially gas (nearly $7.50 a gallon in Israel), car rental, etc. Every
donation helps cover these expenses. Thank you for your support.

Now, Will the Real Equinox Please Stand Up, 2011 Update

Some people object that the true indicator for the beginning of the Biblical
year should not be the Aviv barley but the Vernal Equinox, the day which marks
the beginning of Spring. They base this on an anachronism in the rabbinical
interpretation of the biblical Hebrew word Tekufah ("circuit"). An anachronism
is erroneously placing something from a later time period into an earlier one.
For example, speaking about telephones in ancient Rome is an anachronism.
Interpreting the Biblical Hebrew word "Tekufah" as "equinox", a meaning it never
had in Tanakh times, is an anachronism. I won't go into too much detail here
about the word Tekufah as I have done so in the past. For more information on
this topic please see:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib_faq.shtml
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib_and_tekufah.shtml
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karaite_korner_news/message/220
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karaite_korner_news/message/124

Today I want to point out another anachronism in the application of the vernal
equinox by those who claim it has a role in the Biblical calendar. Specifically
I want to ask the question: If we are really required to use the vernal equinox
for the biblical calendar, then which equinox? The problem is that there was no
reliable way to calculate the timing of the Vernal Equinox in antiquity. Today
modern astronomers have worked out with a high degree of accuracy the exact
timing of the Vernal Equinox. The prerequisite for determining the true equinox
was discovering the exact length of the solar year. According to modern
astronomers a solar year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds and this year
the equinox falls out on March 20, 2011 11:21pm UTC. Easy, right? Not so fast.
The true value of the solar year was not known until modern times.

Fear not, say advocates of the equinox, Moses had secret astronomical knowledge
learned at the court of Pharaoh. This secret knowledge supposedly included the
exact calculation to work out the true timing of the Vernal Equinox. If Moses
had this secret knowledge it was unfortunately unknown to later Jews. The early
Rabbis mention the Vernal Equinox but they did not have a way of reliably
calculating it because they did not know the true length of the solar year.
There were actually two contradictory opinions about the length of the solar
year and both were wrong. According to Rabbi Samuel the solar year was 365 days
6 hours whereas Rabbi Ada reckoned the solar year to be 365 days 5 hours 55
minutes 25.4 seconds. The difference between these two values may sound trivial
but they result in the Vernal Equinox falling out on different days, neither of
which is the correct day! For example, this year the Equinox of Samuel falls out
on April 8, 2011 whereas the Equinox of Ada is March 28, 2011. The true Vernal
Equinox in Jerusalem time comes out to March 21, 2011 at 1:21am - 7 days before
the Equinox of Ada and 18 days before the Equinox of Samuel. Which one of these
three values did Moses supposedly use: the Equinox of Ada, the Equinox of
Samuel, or the true astronomical value only worked out in modern times? If this
knowledge was known to Moses then why was it unknown to every other ancient
civilization including the Jews? Did God really intend for us to wait for the
advent of modern astronomy to know the true timing of the biblical feasts? Or
did he set out a simple system that ancient Israelite farmers could easily
follow by looking at their crops as they grew in the fields? It seems to me this
is what the Creator was talking about when he said: "Observe the Month of the
Aviv" in Deuteronomy 16:1. No need for secret astronomical knowledge; just a
simple way to track the solar cycle relevant to an ancient farming society.

To make matters even more interesting, the Vernal Equinox is calculated today as
a moment in time not as a day. As already mentioned, this year the Vernal
Equinox will be March 21, 2011 at 1:21am Israel time. In the Hebrew reckoning,
the day begins at sunset and this is well after sunset presumably making March
20 at sunset until March 21 at sunset the day of the Vernal Equinox. But not so
fast with this either! The ancients defined the equinox as the day on which
daytime and nighttime were of equal length, as we can see from the following
quotation from the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachot 2c 1:1): "On both the Vernal
Equinox and Autumnal Equinox the day and the night are equal". So when would
that be for observers in the Land of Israel? Considering that they did not have
accurate clocks in ancient times, this would be no small feat to figure out,
which is why both Samuel and Ada got it wrong. If you look at TimeAndDate.com
for the day on which the daytime and nighttime are equal in Jerusalem you get a
surprising result: March 17! On March 17 there will be 12h 00m 41s of daytime
and 11h 59m 19s of nighttime. So is the "Biblical" equinox March 17 based on day
lengths in Jerusalem? Or March 21 based on modern astronomy? Or March 28 or
April 8 based on the ancient values of the year according to Samuel and Ada?
Check the Jerusalem day lengths in March 2011 for yourself:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=110&month=3&year=2011&obj\
=sun&afl=-11&day=1

The ancients could theoretically have used the falling of shadows over the
period of a year to figure out the timing of the equinox and then after a number
of years correlated this to the rising of the sun at a fixed point on the
horizon. This is what was presumably done at Stonehenge and similar sites.
However, this would not bring them the correct day based on the equal length of
days and night and the values of Samuel and Ada prove they did not use this
method for the calendar.

Now just for fun, let's look at the ancient Pharisee use of the equinox. The
rabbis believed in determining the beginning of the year based on three factors
of which the Aviv was considered the most important but not the only one. The
other two were the Vernal Equinox and the ripening of unspecified "fruits of the
trees" (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 11b). What the rabbis looked at when it
came to the equinox was that the 16th of Nissan would fall on or after the
Vernal Equinox. If it didn't, then they added a 13th month, Adar Bet (Rosh
Hashanah 21a). The problem is there are four different ways to calculate the
Vernal Equinox:

Equinox acc. to equal daytime and nighttime: March 17
Equinox of Ada: March 28
Equinox of Samuel: April 8
Equinox acc. to modern astronomy: March 21

If the Aviv is found on March 6, it would make the 16th of Nissan on March 22,
too early for Ada and Samuel but perfect timing based on modern astronomy and
the day with equal daytime and nighttime. The ancient Pharisees used the equinox
of Samuel for this purpose and this was later incorporated into the Hillel II
calendar. This is why the modern rabbinical calendar has a leap year this year,
based on the incorrect value that places the equinox on April 8.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #498

Aviv Shmaviv

At the end of this week and early next week we will be traveling around Israel
examining the barley to see if it has reached the stage of its ripening known in
Scripture as "Aviv". If the barley is Aviv, it will signify that according to
God's appointed times the new moon on Sunday March 6, 2011 will be the beginning
of the Hebrew year. If it is not Aviv, it will signify that the following new
moon on April 4, 2011 will be the beginning of the Hebrew year. This is in
accordance with Deuteronomy 16:1, "Observe the month of the Aviv and keep the
Passover to Yehovah your God..."

Find out more at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib.shtml

Whatever we find in the Aviv Search this weekend, honoring our Creator's
calendar should not be something that divides us. God's people are re-awakening
all around the world to his truth but not everyone is ready, willing, or able to
the same degree or at the same pace. God waited twenty-four years before
revealing to Abraham the commandment of circumcision. Don't be so quick to
circumcise your neighbor or condemn him for not being where you are in your walk
with God. Let God speak to him in his own time when he is ready.

Many people call for "unity" but what they really mean is "uniformity". They
claim unity is important to them but reject everyone who doesn't agree with
their understanding of Scripture. Unity can and must be achieved even when there
is a lack of uniformity. This requires a certain degree of spiritual maturity
and humility. It is only human that we get frustrated when others do not see
things our way. But we must be humble before the Almighty and ask him to lead us
on our walk with him. If those who walk alongside us in faith approach Yehovah
with the same humility then it is not for us to judge them. We should be united,
not divided, by our love of our heavenly Father and desire to live by His Word.

I got some real insight into unity last week when Keith Johnson and I were down
in Egypt. Unless you've been serving on a deep-water submarine or stuck in
Canada, then you know Egypt is a country still recovering from thirty years of
rule by a brutal dictator. Keith and I had the opportunity to sit down with
several Bedouin men in Nuweiba on the shore of the Red Sea, where the Israelites
crossed over from slavery into freedom. I asked them what they thought of the
overthrow of Mubarak. One young man was nostalgic about the fallen dictator
insisting that as bad as he was, at least there was "unity" under his rule. This
young Bedouin man has never known the basic freedoms many of us take for
granted. He was terrified by the "division" that now racks his country. I
realized that political tyranny creates unity at the cost of freedom just as
spiritual tyranny creates unity at the cost of truth and the individual's
relationship of faith with God.

Whatever we find in the Aviv Search, I urge all those who observe our Creator's
times to treat their fellow believers in God's word with love and respect and to
embrace them despite their differences.

"What does YHWH require of you? To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your Elohim?" (Micah 6:8).

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #499

No Aviv in Northern Negev

On Friday March 4, 2011 the barley in the northern Negev was nowhere near Aviv.
The northern Negev is one of the main locations the barley is known from
previous years to ripen earliest. The barley was mostly in the vegetative state
but we also found some barley that had just flowered (cotton-stage). We will
look again on Sunday March 6, however, the barley was nowhere near Aviv in that
area last week so it is unlikely we will find any Aviv there. We won't know for
sure until we look.

Shabbat Shalom!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #500

No Aviv Barley, New Moon of Thirteenth Month Sighted

On March 6, 2011 the barley we examined in the Judean Desert and Jordan Valley
was nowhere near Aviv. These are locations the barley is known from previous
years to ripen earliest. The barley was mostly in the vegetative state but we
also found large amounts of barley that had just flowered (cotton-stage). This
is consistent with our findings on Friday March 4, 2011 in the northern Negev.
The lack of Aviv barley means the new moon on April 4, 2011 will be the
beginning of the Hebrew year and Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will
begin at sunset on April 18, 2011.

The new moon of the Thirteenth Biblical Month was sighted on March 6, 2011. It
was first sighted from Kefar Eldad by Bruce Brill at 6:03pm and then from
Jerusalem at 6:11pm by David Cachicas followed shortly thereafter by Willie
Ondricek, Keith Johnson, Nehemia Gordon, Devorah Gordon, Daniella Cachicas, Yoel
Halevi, Pat Skewes, and Miri Burgin.

Pictures of the barley are posted on my Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/NehemiaGordon

A report has been going around that someone found "green ears" in the Negev. He
has posted four photos of green ears of WHEAT here:
http://yahwehstruth.net/galleries/abib11/index.htm
While these pictures of wheat obviously don't have any relevance for Aviv
barley, I can confirm that there are "green ears" of barley in Israel (see my
photos on Facebook). However, "green ears" are not the same thing as Aviv as I
explain at (and in the associated FAQ):
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib.shtml
There are green ears of barley in Israel but no Aviv barley.

My thanks to the following people for participating in the Aviv Search: Devorah
Gordon, Keith Johnson, Yoel Halevi, Yaron Laluz, Noam Moshe,  Asaf Cohen, Matan
Cohen, Almog Levi, Miri Burgin, Bruce Brill, Terry Telligman, Sarah Jaffee, Bob
Jaffee, Catherine Bodenstein, Margie Shearer, and Pat Skewes.

Chodesh Sameach!
Happy New Moon!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #501

Busting Down Spiritual Borders

A few weeks ago Keith Johnson and I were visiting a border region between the
State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We came across a sign
posted by the Israeli border patrol that said: "Stop! Border Ahead. Behave
according to orders." That sign reminded me that everything on the Israeli side
of the border and thousands of square miles on the Hashemite side were all part
of the Holy Land that God ordained for Israel as a perpetual inheritance. The
fact that men have set up these artificial borders to control where we can go
and who we can interact with doesn't change God's eternal promise to Israel. It
occurred to me that just as the Promised Land is divided up by man-made borders,
so too are those who love God. The spiritual border patrol wants us to obey
their orders and stay away from those who are supposed to be foreign to us.
Interacting with Keith Johnson and many others who are supposed to be
spiritually foreign has taught me that these man-made borders only serve to
limit God. If we can refrain from placing Our Heavenly Father in the boxes we
have created for him, we may be astonished at what he will do! Keith and I spoke
about busting borders in a 90-minute interview on Truth2U Radio, published
online at:

http://www.truth2u.org/2011/03/keith-johnson-nehemia-gordon-border-busters.html

In the radio interview, we also talked about the 6-minute video we filmed at the
Fortress of Elah. The famous David and Goliath incident in the Bible starts out
with the Israelites garrisoned on one hill and the Philistines on the opposite
hill, with the Valley of Elah between them. Every day for forty days Goliath
would walk out into the valley and taunt the Israelite army. Archaeologists
recently uncovered the Israelite fortress where Saul and his army took refuge
during these taunts. Keith and I went to the fortress to talk about the faith of
David, that simple shepherd boy who walked down into the valley to face the
giant. The video we filmed at the Fortress of Elah is available online at:

http://hishallowedname.com/2011/03/new-video-facing-your-giants-with-the-confide\
nce-of-david/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRKq_CnYH-M

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #502

Still No Aviv Yet

This morning (March 22, 2011) I examined barley in the Jordan Valley and it was
in the worm stage, still not Aviv yet. As we get later in the solar year, the
grain ripens quicker, so there should be plenty of Aviv barley by the end of the
month. As previously mentioned, Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will
begin April 18, 2011.

I've posted some pictures of this morning's not-yet-Aviv barley on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=293928&l=117d55c868&id=371892568628
(You can access this page even if you don't have a Facebook account!)

I also shot a video of the barley along with an interesting nearby wheat field:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H2bhZBG4Zg
The last 40 seconds of this 5-minute video are a must see!

My thanks to Yoel Halevi for participating in this followup Aviv Search.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #503

The Aramaic Letter Exposed

"When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a
temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, they... wrote a letter to Artaxerxes.
The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language... The king
sent this reply: ...issue an order to these men to stop work..." (Book of Ezra,
Chapter 4)

I recently spent two weeks traveling around Israel with Keith Johnson, the
Methodist pastor who co-authored with me A Prayer to Our Father on the Hebrew
origins of the Lord's Prayer. The original purpose of Keith's visit was to
prepare for a 12-part teaching series on Christian television
(http://www.glc.us.com/) entitled "Finding Common Ground in an Ancient Hebrew
Prayer." The day after Keith arrived in Jerusalem he received an ominous e-mail
from the general manager of the television satellite network informing him that
the planned filming was cancelled. She went on to say that if Keith wanted the
program to ever be reconsidered, his Jewish friend Nehemia Gordon—that's
me—would be required to participate in a televised debate with a Jewish convert
to Christianity. When Keith informed me of this I couldn't believe my ears. We
had gone from a Jew and Christian walking together on common ground, back to the
time of the Spanish Inquisition. In those dark centuries the Catholic Church
pressured Jews to engage in public disputations with their "converted peers."
The most infamous of these disputations took place in 1263 when the rabbinical
sage Nachmanides was forced to debate Pablo Christiani. This Jewish convert to
Christianity was notorious for convincing the French king to force the
unconverted Jews in his realm to wear the hated yellow star, a practice later
adopted by the Nazis. Nachmanides knew that nothing but hatred and persecution
ever resulted from these debates and he pleaded with King James I of Aragon to
release him from the disputation. Here I was nearly 750 years later and the
general manager of a Christian television network was giving me an ultimatum to
engage in a disputation with one of my "converted peers." It was surreal. I felt
like she might as well have asked me to wear a yellow star to make the picture
complete.

The morning after receiving the ultimatum, I returned from walking my dog to
find Keith sitting on the sofa with an astonished look on his face, the kind he
gets when something spiritual happens. He told me that when he woke up he heard
a voice saying "The book of Ezra, stopping the work." He then opened his Bible
to the 4th chapter of Ezra where he read about a letter sent by the enemies of
Israel to the king of Persia. In the letter they demanded that the king stop the
Jews from building the Jerusalem Temple, the place where God caused his name to
dwell forever (1 Kings 9:3; 2 Kings 21:7). What's unusual about this letter is
that it's one of only a handful of passages in the Tanakh written in Aramaic. At
the time Aramaic was the international language (like English today) and the
Book of Ezra quotes the Aramaic Letter word for word in its original language.
Keith told me he understood the significance of this when he checked his e-mail
a few minutes later. There was a follow-up from the manager of the Christian
television network with more details about her ultimatum. She explained that her
converted Jew was challenging the validity of the Aleppo Codex, the Leningrad
Codex, and Hebrew Matthew, claiming instead the "textual primacy" of his own
Aramaic version of the New Testament. Keith had referenced the first two of
these Hebrew manuscripts in a 12-part teaching series
(http://hishallowedname.com/) he had already done on the same television
network. Because of the converted Jew's challenge, Keith's first series on the
subject of God's holy name was now pulled from television after airing only
seven episodes. A modern "Aramaic Letter" had been sent and the work of honoring
God's holy name was stopped.

When Keith discussed with me the idea of debating the converted Aramaic Jew, I
knew the issue was not really the three Hebrew texts. The Aleppo Codex and the
Leningrad Codex are indisputably the most important manuscripts of the Tanakh or
"Old Testament." The Aleppo Codex is considered so important that it is the only
manuscript on display alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls at the "Shrine of the
Book," the section in Israel's national museum dedicated to the Tanakh. For its
part, the Leningrad Codex serves as the basis of the Hebrew Bible used in every
seminary and university in the world. As far as Hebrew Matthew is concerned,
Keith and I have never claimed it was the original word-for-word Hebrew gospel
written 2,000 years ago. In our book and interviews we explain that Hebrew
Matthew has gone through a long process of textual transmission. Its importance
is that, despite this long transmission, it is not a translation. We encourage
people to consider Hebrew Matthew as "another witness" along with Greek,
Aramaic, and others to the original words of Jesus, or "Yeshua" as he was known
2,000 years ago.

I knew what the ultimatum was really about from a Bible symposium Keith and I
participated in last year alongside the same converted Aramaic Jew. Before
agreeing to do the symposium, I made it clear I was happy to discuss textual
issues but was not interested in a modern-day "disputation" about matters of
faith. This was reiterated and agreed upon the night before the event. Despite
all this, the converted Aramaic Jew used his platform to inflame the Christian
and Messianic audience against me as a Jew who doesn't believe in Yeshua. I
wasn't entirely surprised. The day before the event I knew I was in for trouble
when I attended a Messianic Sabbath gathering of about 200 people. At one point
in the event someone read the traditional weekly Torah portion in English. They
then asked me to read the traditional portion from the Prophets in Hebrew. I was
honored to read the word of God in the presence of those who believe in him and
his perfect word, even if we disagree on some fundamental matters of faith. If
I'm not mistaken, the section they had me read was from 1 Kings. When I finished
reading in Hebrew, they asked the converted Aramaic Jew to read a section from
the New Testament in Aramaic—he was there promoting his new edition of the New
Testament which had the English and Aramaic on opposite pages. What followed
were two of the most painful minutes I've ever experienced. The converted
Aramaic Jew virtually broke his teeth on every letter, and after making it
through about two verses there were calls from the audience begging him to just
read it in English. He then read the English with perfect fluency. When I saw
how he struggled to read his own Aramaic text, the one printed in the Bible he
is supposed to have translated, I knew there would not be a serious discussion
of texts at the symposium the next day.

The low point of the symposium came when the converted Aramaic Jew pointed at me
and with spittle flying from his mouth warned the audience that Hebrew Matthew
is contrary to faith in Yeshua because it never calls their beloved savior
"Messiah." It was a powerful speech. In the Hollywood version, young women would
be fainting and grown men would be weeping. The only problem was that not a word
of it was true. Now let me stop here and remind everyone that I'm not Messianic
or Christian. I'm a Karaite Jew who believes Yeshua existed and had some
valuable things to say, but doesn't "believe in him" in the Christian sense.
Having said that, here are some of the passages in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew
where Yeshua is, in fact, identified as the Messiah: 1:16; 2:4; 16:16-17, 20;
23:10; 26:7, 68; 27:17, 22. Hebrew Matthew 27:17 is particularly interesting
because it has a form of the word Messiah in a place where it is missing from
the Greek. This Hebrew text of Matthew was discovered by Professor George Howard
of the University of Georgia and published back in 1987, when I was still in
high school. Anyone can get his Hebrew Gospel of Matthew from Amazon.com and
verify these verses for himself.

They say that those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I
have no intention of repeating history by debating a converted Jew, or any
Christian for that matter, on the validity of our respective faiths. The history
of such debates has never brought anything to the Jewish people but persecution
and suffering. Nachmanides himself was forced to flee Spain after he won the
disputation against Pablo Christiani. Beyond the historical sensitivities, I
don't feel it is my calling to convince Christians to abandon their beliefs or
to accept mine. I have found that one's core beliefs are a matter of personal
faith and relationship with God, not something that yields to hostile
argumentation and disputation.

After several e-mails back and forth between Keith and the general manager of
the Christian television network, she added one last, surprising, piece of
information. The real issue wasn't Hebrew Matthew, or the Aleppo Codex, or even
the Aramaic. The real issue was that "several trusted sources" had told her I
was secretly grabbing hold of believers and convincing them to give up their
faith in Yeshua. This is an old rumor that I referred to last year in my note
entitled "The Ass Speaks Out." What I didn't reveal back then was that the very
same converted Aramaic Jew was involved in that rumor. His exact role is still
unclear to me. However, it was in the context of that rumor I first heard
through intermediaries he was insisting that I engage him in a public
disputation. For the record, I was not then, nor have I been since, going around
trying to convince anyone to change his core beliefs in Yeshua or against
Yeshua. Since the rumor has resurfaced, I think it's time for the ass to speak
out again and tell the whole story I only alluded to the first time.

The seminal event behind the rumor was a meeting of three families in a
double-wide trailer in Central Texas. It was arranged by a friend of mine who
happens to be an ex-Christian who converted to Judaism. On one visit to Texas,
she asked me to join her and her husband in meeting two other families of
ex-Christians. Another friend of mine from the Dallas area who is a "Hebrew
roots believer" also attended the meeting. When we got there, everyone took
turns sharing their life stories. Each family had a different set of experiences
and I found the whole thing fascinating. At the same time, I was a little
uncomfortable for my "Hebrew roots believer" friend who was sitting there
quietly while the ex-Christians explained why they had stopped believing in
Yeshua. Towards the end of the session I decided to ask the question, "Did I
ever try to convince any of you to give up your faith in Yeshua?" The woman who
organized the meeting told everyone that back when she and her husband were
Christians, I had encouraged them to take their faith seriously and not drop a
lifetime of belief because of minor textual questions they were struggling with.
The second family said they had never communicated with me before but had been
encouraged in their Christian faith years earlier when reading my book The
Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus. The third family had not read any of my books
and didn't really know much about what I taught on the subject (shocking, I
know!). The father explained that he began to question his faith in Yeshua and
the New Testament after reading a book called Two Witnesses, written by an
ex-Worldwide Church of God member.

The next part of the story provides a real-life example of my approach to
matters of faith—and should help debunk the rumor that I go around trying to
convince people to abandon their belief in Yeshua. After the discussion in the
double-wide trailer, everyone descended on the potluck meal like locusts. I was
standing off to the side when a woman in her twenties walked up to me and
discreetly asked if I could help her. She told me she had some reservations
about giving up Yeshua and asked if I could help convince her that Yeshua was
not the Messiah. I told her this was something I could not do. I explained to
her that this is a matter of faith and personal belief that she needed to work
out for herself in fear and trembling, with prayer and study. I also suggested
that she speak to her pastor, rabbi, or priest. I don't regret anything I said,
and if I had to do it again I wouldn't change a thing.

The trouble began when the young woman with the doubts followed my advice and
spoke to a Messianic pastor. She told him about the meeting and he is the one
who started the rumor that I came to Texas to convince believers to give up
their faith in Yeshua. According to one version of the story that made its way
back to me, he or one of his people phoned a prominent Messianic teacher at two
in the morning. They reportedly told this Messianic teacher that I had a group
of believers in a room at that very moment and was going through the reasons why
they should give up their faith. They were hysterical and wanted to know what to
do about it.

I only heard about these rumors some time later. I was on tour when I got a call
from another prominent Messianic teacher. He asked me point blank if the rumors
were true. I told him they weren't, but if he really wanted to get to the truth
he should talk to the people who were in the double-wide trailer in Central
Texas. To my surprise, he actually went through with it and in the end the
Messianic pastor who started the rumor was forced to retract his story. Of
course, by then the rumor had taken on a life of its own. In some Messianic
circles I became a mythical figure, like the archvillain Keyser Soze in the
movie The Usual Suspects. The mere mention of my name made some Messianic
believers nervous. Fathers would tell their children that if they weren't good,
Nehemia Gordon would come in the middle of the night and snatch away their
faith. The fact that none of it was true didn't matter.

Now I need to stop here and say something to my fellow Jews. I know some of you
are saying to yourselves, "Nehemia! What's wrong with you! Why aren't you trying
to convince Christians to give up their faith in Jesus?" My cousin recently told
my mother she was worried I was becoming a Christian because I spent so much
time dialoguing with them. I want to allay her fears and those of my other
Jewish brothers and sisters: I am not becoming a Christian. As I've already
said, I simply don't feel I've been called to convince Christians to give up
their faith. If you look at the writings of the Jewish counter-missionary Rabbi
Tovia Singer and the Christian apologist Dr. Michael Brown, the arguments
haven't fundamentally changed in nearly 2,000 years. I don't think I would have
a great deal of original thought to contribute to this discussion. On the other
hand, I think there is so much more to be gained in our respective walks of
faith by focusing on what we have in common rather than on our differences. If
we can find a way to do this with some sound scholarship, who knows what we
could discover about ourselves and each other! The sky's the limit!

My father, an Orthodox rabbi, has a different take on it. When he read the last
chapter of A Prayer to Our Father, in which Keith Johnson and I call for more
Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue, he was not pleased. He said to me in his
deep bass voice, "We have our thing and they have their thing. Why do you want
dialogue? Just leave it alone." When I look back at the tragic history of
Jewish-Christian relations over the last 2,000 years I am convinced that a lack
of dialogue is decidedly unhealthy. On the flip side, people like Pablo
Christiani and his modern-day incarnation create division and hatred by throwing
fat on the fire. God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that those who bless
them would be blessed and those who curse them would be cursed (Genesis 12:3;
27:29). I believe the nations of the world have much to benefit by meeting Jews
on common ground in that they will be blessed for blessing the descendants of
Jacob. It also provides both of us an opportunity to learn about one another in
a way that lets us grow in our respective faiths.

I want to make it clear that this is not about Messianic Jews, converted Jews,
or whatever you want to call them. Throughout history, Messianics have often
suffered persecution alongside their Jewish brothers. They had the extra burden
of internal Jewish pressure for holding beliefs that were unpopular, to say the
least—something I can identify with as a Karaite Jew. I have nothing against
Messianic Jews and I count some of them among my closest friends. I can be
friends with them because we respectfully agree to disagree on our differences
and focus on what we have in common.

Another thing this is not about is Aramaic vs. Hebrew. I for one am convinced
that Aramaic has great value for the study of the New Testament and, indeed, for
the Tanakh as well. If nothing else, the various Aramaic versions shed light on
how the Bible was understood by Semitic-speaking groups in different periods. I
look at the Aramaic versions as witnesses, and the more witnesses the better. As
with anything, you need to swallow the wheat and spit out the chaff. This is
even true, believe it or not, of things that I say! (No, just kidding! You
should blindly accept all my words!)

I thought long and hard before deciding to expose what happened with the Aramaic
Letter. I've been attacked plenty of times in the past and usually grit my teeth
and bear it in silence. One of the things that convinced me to speak out this
time was something that happened while Keith and I were on the road from
Jerusalem to Jericho. We were talking about the Aramaic Letter and Keith
insisted it was time for me to write a second "Ass Speaks Out" note. I told him
he should write it and jokingly suggested he call it "The Black Ass Speaks Out."
He was not amused and glanced at me from the driver's seat with an annoyed look
on his face. And then his jaw dropped. He started yelling, "Look at the ass!
Look at the white ass!" I gave him a perplexed look of my own. Then my neck was
unexpectedly jerked to the side as Keith suddenly pulled the car off the road
and came to an abrupt stop. He told me he had just seen a white donkey running
along the roadside parallel to the car. I thought he was just being spiritual
until he got out and started looking for it. I followed him into the wilderness
and after a few minutes we found it. It was an Onager, more commonly known as
the "Wild Asian Ass." It had scruffy white hair that blended in perfectly with
the barren limestone hills of the Judean Desert. As I stared down the wild ass,
looking directly into its eyes, I knew what I had to do. When I later looked up
the phrase "wild ass" in the Bible I found the following verse:

"Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass?"
(Job 39:5)

Even though the Aramaic Letter has been sent, the work will not stop. The work
of building bridges and finding common ground will continue. The work of
empowering Jews and Christians by giving them access to the Hebrew sources of
their respective faiths will continue. The work of teaching, explaining, and
glorifying the name of the Father of Creation will continue. The wild ass has
been set free and no bonds will hold it back from doing the will of the Creator.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

An online version of this note with a picture of the wild ass we saw in the
desert and links to some of the things referenced is published at:
http://www.aprayertoourfather.com/aramaic-letter-exposed/

Karaite Korner Newsletter #504

The Man Behind the Ass

Earlier this week Keith Johnson and I did (another) 2-hour interview on "Truth 2
U" radio with Jono Vandor. We revealed the full story behind the "Aramaic
Letter" and shared about our adventures in post-Mubarak Egypt. I have to admit I
kind of went "off script" and divulged some things about myself I didn't plan on
sharing, making this a rare glimpse at the man behind the "ass" (or maybe that's
the "ass" behind the man?). The interview is available online at:
http://www.truth2u.org/2011/03/nehemia-gordon-keith-johnson-the-taunting-of-the-\
giants.html

I did another interview recently on "Red Letter Edition Live" with Don Harris.
This one had nothing to do with the Aramaic Letter. We talked about the concept
of 613 commandments, the Aviv barley, the definition of leaven, and why I shave
my beard (or rather why I'm allowed to, based on Scripture). That interview is
posted at:
http://www.thinkredink.tv/RLE/2011%20RLE%20Live%20Shows/2011%200326_Law%20In%20O\
rder%204.mp3

The original study on shaving is online at:
http://www.Karaite-Korner.org/shaving.shtml
By the way, this study has been up on my website for 10 years or more. You're
welcome to disagree with me but please first consider all the evidence.

Nehemia "Baldy" Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #505

Aviv Found in the Jordan Valley!

On Wednesday March 30, 2011 Aviv was found in the Jordan Valley at Tel Malkoach
south of Beth Shean. A search in the Northern Negev on Thursday March 31, 2011
only turned up cotton stage to worm stage barley but no Aviv. The Aviv in the
Jordan Valley is enough for the wave-sheaf to be brought during Chag HaMatzot
(Feast of Unleavened Bread) beginning April 18 at sunset. Pictures of the Aviv
barley in the Jordan Valley and the non-Aviv in the Northern Negev are posted
at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=293928&id=371892568628&l=117d55c868

Reports have been going around that Passover was supposed to be in mid-March and
30% of the wheat was already harvested by the end of March. I went down to the
Northern Negev to investigate this and found that there was not a single field
of harvest-ripe wheat. Many fields were cut for silage (cow-feed) before the
wheat was fully ripe. We spoke to a dairy-farmer overseeing the harvest of
unripe wheat. He explained that due to a drought the farmers expected low yields
of seed and decided to sell off the unripe empty-headed grain as cow-feed. A
video with the (admittedly obnoxious) title "Wheat Harvest in Israel. Oh,
Really?" showing these fields and a brief interview with the cow-dude is posted
at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hmku0d6bv8

My thanks to Israeli state-licensed tour guide Avinoam Marcus of
http://ComingHome.co.il for editing the video and accompanying me on the
followup Aviv Search to the Northern Negev. My thanks to Yoel Halevi for
accompanying me on the followup Aviv Search to the Jordan Valley.

We'll be looking for the new moon on Monday night at sunset.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #506

New Moon Report
April 2011
First Biblical Month

On Monday April 4, 2011 the new moon was sighted from Israel. The moon was first
sighted from Mount Hezekiah at 7:28 pm by Nehemia Gordon and at 7:29 pm by Yoel
Halevi. The moon was also sighted from Ashdod by Magdi Shamuel at 7:40 pm.

A photograph of the moon sighted from Mount Hezekiah in the Eilat Mountains is
posted at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=293928&id=371892568628&l=117d55c868

Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will begin April 18 at sunset.

Looks like I messed up the dates on my last newsletter about finding Aviv barley
on March 30 in the Jordan valley when it was in fact March 29. Thanks to
Botaniska Föreningen for catching this oversight. This doesn't change the
conclusions.

Shanah Tovah!
Happy New Year!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #507

The Lost Library Book

Keith Johnson has taught me that sometimes the "pastoral" thing to do is to let
your opponents speak. In this spirit, he has posted the "highlights" of an
interview with the self-proclaimed "instigator" behind the recent events that
led to the "Aramaic Letter". Keith has also added some pictures of documents
mentioned in the interview along with images that reflect his interpretation.
The highlights of the interview with the instigator are posted at:

http://vimeo.com/22128964

I believe this interview fully confirms everything I said in my note "The
Aramaic Letter Exposed". The full 95-minute uncut interview can be found at
http://truth2u.org/

The recent incident with the Aramaic Letter reminded me about an unreturned
library book that I took out from the Spertus College of Judaica in 1990. When I
was in high school I used to ditch class to go to the college's library in
downtown Chicago to read books about Jewish history and Biblical studies. One of
the books I came across mentioned a Jewish translation of the Tanakh preserved
by the Syriac Aramaic speaking church. I grew up reading Jewish Aramaic
translations of the Tanakh such as Onkelos and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. The
thought that a lost Jewish translation would be preserved by a Christian church
fascinated me. I searched through the library catalogue and discovered they had
a series of volumes containing the "Peshitta" translation of the Tanakh into
Syriac Aramaic. When I opened up the Peshitta Tanakh I was surprised to find it
written in an unfamiliar script. Jewish Aramaic is written in Hebrew script, but
this Christian version of the Old Testament was written in "Syriac" Aramaic.
Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic that in ancient times was spoken in the region of
Edessa, today in northern Syria and eastern Turkey. The Syriac script contained
the same twenty-two letters as Hebrew but was written in a cursive style that
looked like Arabic squiggles. I decided to take out a Syriac grammar from the
library and teach myself to read the script. It took me months but in the end I
was able to decipher the Syriac text. I remember going to visit a Syriac Aramaic
speaking church in Chicago to consult the priest about proper pronunciation.
This was the first time I ever spoke to a Christian priest in my life. I'd be
lying if I said this experience was a paragon of Jewish-Christian dialogue. The
priest remarked to me that I could read better than many of the teenagers in his
church; I was 16 at the time. He then added in a disappointed tone: "If only you
believed in Jesus!" He went on to tell me I needed to accept Jesus or burn in
hell forever and tried to shove his beliefs down my throat. It was a very
unpleasant experience and needless to say I never went back to that church. I
decided to check out the Syriac Aramaic Peshitta translation of the Old
Testament from the library and kept renewing it so I could practice reading the
exotic script on my own.

After graduating high school, I spent the summer of 1990 in California and when
I returned to Chicago I found out my mother had decided to make Aliyah (move to
Israel). In preparation for her move she sold her massive collection of books to
a used book store. She apparently didn't realize that among her thousands of
books were about a dozen of my library books including the Syriac Aramaic
Peshitta translation of the Tanakh. That used bookstore sure got a bang for its
buck buying my family's books in bulk. Also included in the sale were two
binders full of rare coins that I spent my childhood collecting. To this day I
get choked up remembering my precious Morgan dollars and Walking Liberty
half-dollars that were gone when I returned from the West Coast. In retrospect
the loss of the coins and the library books was well worth it as it resulted in
the Aliyah of my mother and two youngest sisters. I haven't thought about this
in years but last week I contacted the library and compensated them for the
library books I never returned.

A few years after my encounter with the Aramaic priest in Chicago, I was
studying at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There I learned about two
encounters that the Jews of the Middle Ages had with the Syriac Aramaic
translation of the Tanakh, encounters that went far better than my own. The
first is mentioned in a letter written by Timothy I, the Nestorian catholicos
(patriarch) of Baghdad (Seleucia), around the year 800. Timothy writes about an
Arab hunting dog that ten years earlier disappeared in the area of the Dead Sea.
When the dog's master went looking for his pooch he stumbled upon a cave full of
Hebrew scrolls. The Arab hunter informed the Jews of Jerusalem who came down in
droves to redeem their sacred writings. Timothy was in communication with these
Jews about the content of the ancient scrolls discovered in the caves. He was
interested in Old Testament quotations in the New Testament which seemed to
differ from his own Syriac Aramaic Old Testament. Timothy wanted to know whether
any of these quotations matched the Hebrew scrolls discovered in the cave.

This seemingly fanciful story is confirmed by a 10th century Karaite Jewish
historian named Jacob al-Kirkisani who mentions a Jewish sect called the "Cave
People". Kirkisani explains that they are called this because their writings
were discovered in a cave. A second confirmation comes from the Cairo Geniza, a
medieval repository of discarded Jewish writings. The Cairo Geniza contained two
key Second Temple period documents, the Damascus Covenant and the Wisdom of Ben
Sira. Both documents were believed to have been lost after the destruction of
the Temple but then suddenly re-appear in the Cairo Geniza a thousand years
later. Apparently they were rediscovered in the cave mentioned by Timothy I.
Timothy's exchange with his Jewish informants in Jerusalem is a rare example
from the Middle Ages of positive interfaith dialogue between Christians and
Jews, one based on mutual study and cooperation rather than antagonistic
disputations and argumentation.

A second example of Jewish contact with the Syriac Aramaic Tanakh comes from the
time of Hai Gaon who was the rabbinical leader of the large and important Jewish
community of Babylonia in the 11th century. Hai instructed one of his disciples
to contact the Nestorian catholicos and ask him about the Syriac Aramaic
translation of the word YANI in Psalms 141:5. This unusual word is of uncertain
meaning even today. The King James Version translates it as "(it) shall (not)
break (my head)" in the verse,

"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it
shall be excellent oil, which SHALL not BREAK my head... Psa. 141:5 [KJV]

The Jewish Publication Society translates the same word as "let (my head not)
refuse", a profoundly different translation from the King James. A survey of
other English versions turns up a variety of translations such as "let (it not)
anoint (my head)" (NRSV) and "let (it not) make fat (my head)" (Wycliffe). All
of these are educated guesses.

Hai Gaon understood that Aramaic is a sister language to Hebrew and hoped he
could learn something about this obscure word from the Syriac Aramaic
translation. Today this approach is called Comparative Semitic Linguistics. It's
based on the observation that all Semitic languages share common roots with
similar meanings. Any modern scientific lexicon of Biblical Hebrew should
contain a survey of the meaning of a given root in all the Semitic languages
including Aramaic, Arabic, Akkadian, Sabean, and Geez. Hai Gaon was a pioneer in
this field by consulting the Syriac Aramaic Tanakh and was revolutionary in
engaging in interfaith dialogue with the Aramaic-speaking church. Here too, this
interfaith dialogue was constructive and focused on learning from one another
rather than divisive disputations and argumentation.

The lesson of the lost library book is that some people are not spiritually
mature enough for constructive interfaith dialogue but we shouldn't let that
spoil it for the rest of us. My prayer is that God continues to grant me the
opportunities to follow the example of Timothy I and Hai Gaon in building
bridges and looking for common ground so I can learn from others who believe in
the one true God and his prophet Moses. Now if only I could find someone who can
read Syriac Aramaic!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #508

The Good News of Passover

Next week is the annual feast of Passover, which commemorates the Exodus of the
Children of Israel from Egypt. In the Tanakh, Passover refers specifically to
the sacrifice offered at the end of the 14th day of the First Biblical Month,
whereas the feast is referred to as Chag HaMatzot, Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Every Israelite was required to partake in the Passover sacrifice in order to
remain part of God's covenant-nation (Nu 9:7, 13). Eating of the Passover
sacrifice was also the means for non-Israelites to enter the covenant. The
Israelites left Egypt with a mixed multitude of people from numerous nations and
the 12th chapter of Exodus explains how these foreigners could become part of
the covenant-nation:

When a sojourner sojourns among you and does the Passover to Yehovah, circumcise
for him every male and then he will approach to do it and shall become as a
native-born of the land... There shall be one Torah for the native-born and for
the sojourner who sojourns among you."

The Torah is saying that by eating of the Passover sacrifice, the circumcised
Gentile becomes an Israelite. There is no legal distinction between the
native-born Israelite of the physical seed of Jacob and the sojourner who joins
the covenant-nation through the Passover sacrifice.

With the destruction of the Temple, most Jews believe that the duty of
sacrifice, including the Passover, must be fulfilled through prayer. This is a
lesson that appears in the 14th chapter of Hosea. This prophet lived in the
Kingdom of Israel at a time when it was at war with the Kingdom of Judah. The
Jerusalem Temple was in Judah leaving the inhabitants of Israel cut off from the
Temple and all legitimate sacrifice. In this context, the prophet teaches the
people a path to repentance which includes fulfilling the duty of sacrifices
through prayer:

Return, O Israel, to Yehovah your God for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
Take with you words and return to Yehovah, say to him: "Forgive all iniquity,
and receive goodness, and let us pay for the bulls with our lips. Assyria will
not save us, nor shall we ride upon horse; and we shall no longer call the work
of our hands 'our gods', because in you the orphan finds mercy." Hosea 14:2-4

The elements of repentance that the prophet Hosea lays down are:

1) Return to God, 2) Ask for forgiveness, 3) Do good in place of the bad you
have done, 4) ask God to accept prayer as a payment for sacrifice, 5) profess
God to be your only savior, not man or your own might, 6) deny false gods of
your own creation, and 7) proclaim God as the Father who acts mercifully even to
the fatherless. Ever since the destruction of the Temple, Jewish "sojourners"
have followed the teaching of Hosea and joined the covenant-nation by
participating in prayers at the Passover seder, the annual commemoration of the
sacrifice on the first night of Chag HaMatzot.

In modern times, becoming a Jewish sojourner has become not only a religious act
but also a political one. It entitles the "convert" to citizenship under the
Israeli "Law of Return". The secular State of Israel has stepped in and imposed
certain standards that every Jewish denomination must follow in their
conversions. The Karaite Jewish community is no exception. As a result,
modern-day conversion, unfortunately, has as much to do with Israeli
religion-politics as it does with being a true Israelite in the eyes of the
Creator as set down in his Torah. The running joke in Israel is that if Ruth the
Moabite turned up at the border she would not be recognized as a Jew.

Up until 2007, the Karaite Jewish community did not perform any conversions of
non-Jews. In July of that year I was privileged to be present at the first
formal conversion ceremony of this sort in recent memory at the Karaite Jewish
synagogue in Daly City, California. The conversion ceremony was carried out by
the "Karaite Jews of America" with the approval of the "Council of Sages", the
official Karaite Jewish institution recognized by the State of Israel. When the
idea of conversion was first presented to the "Council of Sages" they insisted
on certain standards beyond those imposed by the State. One of their biggest
issues was that Karaite conversion not be "evangelical". The Christian
evangelical spirit of going out and convincing people to change their beliefs is
alien to the Jewish experience of the last 1000+ years. In most parts of the
Diaspora, evangelizing to the Jewish faith was punishable by death at the hands
of the Gentiles. This made Jews gun-shy about spreading their faith and this is
still the general Jewish sentiment today. Whereas Christians consider it the
greatest piety to convince people to change their beliefs, in the Jewish world
this is considered a repugnant thing. The Jewish attitude is that our covenant
of faith with God is a closely-guarded treasure. If a non-Jew wants to share in
this treasure he must come of his own volition and internal conviction. In fact,
Jewish tradition teaches that when a Gentile comes and asks to convert he must
be refused three times. Only upon the fourth request is he allowed. We Jews are
not eager to share our spiritual gold.

While the Karaite Jewish conversion process does not observe this ritual
refusal, those who wish to convert are required to arrive at Karaite beliefs on
their own before being eligible. Going out and evangelizing those of other
faiths is strictly taboo. In the Christian and Muslim worlds "missionaries" are
considered heroes but in Jewish culture they are thought of as vampires who prey
upon unsuspecting and unwilling victims. While I can't say this is a biblical
attitude it certainly is a Jewish one that I am not immune to. Recently a friend
on Facebook said I was "as pious as a missionary" and I thought she was casting
the worst insult at me, until I realized that in her terminology this was meant
to be a profound complement.

The conversion ceremony in Daly City wasn't about missionizing or even making
people Karaites. The candidates had to be of Karaite faith and practice long
before being accepted into the year-long conversion process. The conversion
ceremony was about making them Jews in the formal sense, recognized by an
established Jewish community, and ultimately by the State of Israel. The Karaite
Jewish Bet Din (religious court) in Daly City didn't convert Christians or
Muslims or Buddhists to Judaism; they converted non-Jewish Karaites to (Karaite)
Judaism. The first man in line for the conversion ceremony was a dear friend who
had been living as a non-Jewish Karaite for nearly a decade. His formal
acceptance as a Karaite Jew was a monumental moment of prophetic significance
for me. I see it as a fulfillment of Isaiah 56 which speaks about the son of the
Gentile who joins himself to Yehovah becoming an integral part of Yehovah's
people. The end of that prophecy says:

Thus says Lord Yehovah, who gathers in the dispersed of Israel, I will gather
others unto those I have gathered.

I have lived this prophecy, having been gathered from a dark corner of the
Diaspora to the covenant-land that God gave my people. I've also seen those
"others", people all around the world, gathered to the God of Israel and his
covenant. Most of these "others" will never convert to Judaism but I still
believe they are a fulfillment of this prophecy, each through his own
relationship with the Creator of the universe.

Over the years I've met Jews of both the rabbinical and Karaite persuasions who
do feel called to convince people to embrace the Jewish faith. I'm not saying
there is anything wrong with this approach but it is the exception to the rule.
One such exception was an old Karaite man in Jerusalem named Mordechai
Alfandari. He once told me how Christian missionaries used to harass him on the
subway in New York when he was a boy. He spent a great deal of his energies over
the next 60 years engaged in Jewish apologetics. I consider Mordechai my mentor
as he is the one who opened my eyes to speaking the name of God, which
incidentally he pronounced Yihweh. When Mordechai passed away in 1999 I felt
like it was expected of me to follow in his footsteps as a counter-missionary
but my heart was never in it. The more time I spent speaking with Christians,
the more I found I had in common with them. It seemed to me to be a colossal
waste of time and energy arguing with them when there was so much we could learn
from one another. I realized you can always find differences with people if you
want to. God knows there are plenty of differences between me and other Jews and
even between me and other Karaites. I decided I would focus my energies on what
I have in common with people rather than the differences.

Today I don't see it as my job to convince anyone to accept my faith. I believe
God is the one who changes the hearts of men, not missionaries or preachers. I
see my role as empowering people with information so they can understand the
roots of their faith in its original language and context. I am convinced this
has value for Jews, Christians, and anyone else who professes the truth of the
one true God and his prophet Moses. I'm not sure Mordechai would be pleased with
what I am doing today, but I need to follow what I feel my heavenly Father has
called me to do. The good news is that a day is coming when the Messiah will sit
as the flesh and blood King of Israel, enabling all those who believe in the
covenant of the one true God to sit together at the same table and partake in
the literal Passover sacrifice. May it be soon in our days!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #509

Passover Studies

When you're done cleaning for Passover, pop over to the Karaite Korner website
where I have a study on the biblical meaning of leaven, the timing of Passover
vs. Unleavened Bread, a traditional Karaite Matzah recipe, and other useful
information:
http://karaite-korner.org/passover.shtml

A number of years back Meir Rekhavi posted this inspiring piece on the
significance of Passover:
http://rekhavi.karaitejudaism.org/passover.shtml

Also check out this great discussion by a Jerusalem-based chef on the biblical
understanding of leaven:
http://www.truth2u.org/2011/04/yoel-ben-shlomo-seor-chametz-matza-in-exodus-1215\
.html

Finally, if you've earned yourself a laugh scrubbing pots and pans then head
over to Youtube and check out my new video: "Georgia Cleans for Passover":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsHfELwM6u8

Enjoy!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #510

Counting the Omer

Today (Sunday April 24, 2011) is the morrow after the Shabbat during Chag
HaMatzot. The Torah commands that on this day the first omer (sheaf) of the
harvest be waved as an offering in the Temple. This offering marks the first day
of the 50-day count to Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), commonly known today as
"counting the omer". A convenient guide to counting the omer this year is posted
at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/omer.shtml

More information on the timing of the omer offering and the counting to Shavuot
is posted at:
http://www.karaite-korner.org/shavuot.shtml

I also posted some photos of the harvest-ripe barley this morning in a field
near Tekoa. This field had three varieties of barley, all of which ripened at
the same time. In the photos you can see that the two domesticated varieties
held up nicely despite the recent rain and heavy winds whereas the wild variety
shattered as soon as it became ripe. The photos are posted at (you don't need to
be a member of Facebook to view them):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150114380518629.293928.371892568\
628&l=117d55c868

Finally, Keith Johnson wrote a great article that appeared in the Easter issue
of the MTL Christian magazine. Check it out here:
http://www.mtlmagazine.com/mtlmagazine/inthisissue/inthisissue.php?id=43

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #511

New Moon Report
May 2011
Second Biblical Month

We looked for the moon on Wednesday May 4, 2011 from Israel. It should have been
visible under good viewing conditions but there were clouds across Israel and so
far no one has reported seeing it. Those who accept the principle of "potential
visibility" will be observing tonight as new moon since it would have been
visible if there had not been clouds. However, those who accept the principle of
raw 30-day visibility will observe new moon day tomorrow night.

If I receive further information I will send out a follow up report.

Pictures of tonight's horizon from Jerusalem are posted at:
https://www.facebook.com/NehemiaGordon

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #512

New Moon Report
May 2011
Second Biblical Month (correction)

Tonight (Wednesday May 4, 2011) was actually the 31st evening since the previous
sighting making it new moon day by default, even if we did not succeed in
sighting the moon. On the previous evening sighting would have been impossible
from Israel even under ideal conditions. That makes tonight the beginning of the
2nd biblical month. Sorry for the confusion.

Nehemia Gordon
Overtired in Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #513:

May-June Speaking Tour Breaks New Ground

Tonight I fly out of Israel for a month-long speaking tour all over the United
States. I start out this weekend in Bonners Ferry, Idaho then head over for
three events in Washington State. From there I fly across the US to Raleigh,
North Carolina and then back west to Pasadena California. Finally, I'll end the
tour with two venues in Missouri. All of the speaking events are FREE. The full
itinerary is posted online at:
http://www.aprayertoourfather.com/appearances/

In addition to racking up a whole lot of frequent flyer miles over the next
month I'll also be breaking new ground at the "One God Seminar" in Pasadena,
California on May 28-29. Over the years I've been invited to speak to diverse
groups of people from Charismatic Christians to Reform Jews and every imaginable
variation in between. On this speaking tour I'll be speaking to a group of folks
I had no idea existed: Christians who observe the Torah and believe Jesus is the
Messiah but do not believe he is God. If you're head is spinning trying to
process that, wait till you hear what they wanted me to talk about. They
originally asked me to do a presentation proving from the Hebrew that the
Messiah in the Tanach is not divine. I replied that this is a theological issue
and I try to focus on textual matters. In the course of our discussions another
topic was proposed that I was happy to speak about: the oneness of God in the
Hebrew Bible and specifically the significance of the plural ending of "Elohim",
the Hebrew word for God. I am excited that I get to stick to the biblical Hebrew
grammar and leave theology to the theologians. The light that the Hebrew
language can shed on this topic is sure to contain revelations for all! My
presentation will include a crash course in ancient Hebrew presented in a manner
that anyone can understand. Learn more about the conference at their website
here:
http://www.godward.org/Biblical%20Monotheism/biblical_monotheism%20index.htm

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Karaite Korner Newsletter #514

Little Old Lecture in Pasadena

This weekend I'll be speaking in Pasadena, California doing two sessions:

*Saturday May 28 2:45-4:00pm "The Plural Singularity of God in Hebrew Grammar"

*Sunday May 29 1:15-2:45pm "The Character of God in the Hebrew Version of the
Lord's Prayer"

The entire conference will stream live online at:
http://www.godward.org/

For more information please contact westby@....

In a previous message I mentioned that this was going to be a conference of
Christians who keep Torah and believe Jesus to be the Messiah but not God. It
turns out this only represents a segment of those participating. I'm excited the
group will be even more diverse than what I originally understood and am looking
forward to sharing the richness of the Hebrew language with them.

Nehemia Gordon
Charlotte, North Carolina

Karaite Korner Newsletter #515

Three Online Video Teachings

Some life-changing events over the past week have convinced me to change my
schedule and stay an extra week in the US. I'll be joining Michael Rood, Keith
Johnson, Arthur Bailey and Jimmie Black over Shavuot weekend June 10-12 for an
extravaganza of teaching, study, and celebration in Dallas, Texas. Find out how
to register for the event at:
http://michaelrood.tv/shavuot-2011


Check out my video testimony about the Shavuot teaching event on June 10-12:
http://youtu.be/02-gnl6Szqs

Keith and I spoke about the life-changing events that led to this decision in an
interview with Michael Rood that will be broadcast on the internet this Friday
night at 5pm Pacific (California) time and 8pm Eastern (New York) time. Along
with my two teaching events that will stream live on the internet on Saturday
and Sunday this makes for a Scripture-packed lineup this weekend.

The three online events are as follows in the Pacific (California) Time zone:

*Friday May 27 5:00-7:00pm Pacific Time - Interview with Michael Rood, Keith
Johnson and Nehemia Gordon http://michaelrood.tv/

*Saturday May 28 2:45-4:00pm Pacific Time - Nehemia on "The Plural Singularity
of God in Hebrew Grammar" http://godward.org/

*Sunday May 29 1:15-2:45pm Pacific Time - Nehemia on "The Character of God in
the Hebrew Version of the Lord's Prayer" http://godward.org/

The same three events in the Eastern Time zone (New York) are:

*Friday May 27 8:00-10:00pm Eastern Time - Interview with Michael Rood, Keith
Johnson and Nehemia Gordon http://michaelrood.tv/

*Saturday May 28 5:45-7:00pm Eastern Time - Nehemia on "The Plural Singularity
of God in Hebrew Grammar" http://godward.org/

*Sunday May 29 4:15-5:45pm Eastern Time - Nehemia on "The Character of God in
the Hebrew Version of the Lord's Prayer" http://godward.org/

Nehemia Gordon
Pasadena, California

Karaite Korner Newsletter #516

New Moon Report
June 2011
Third Biblical Month

On Friday June 3, 2011 the new moon was sighted from Israel. It was first
sighted from Jerusalem by Daniela Cachicas at 7:35pm followed by David Cachicas,
Yoel Halevi, Devorah Gordon, Rick Busenbark, Avi Frank, and Val Petroff. The
moon was also sighted from Poriya by Randy Boer at 7:53pm and from a different
location in Jerusalem by Miri Burgin at 7:54pm.

On a different note, the interview Keith Johnson and I did last week with
Michael Rood is now posted on Youtube at:
http://youtu.be/zmKBg5za34s

In this interview we talked about the revival that began in Smithfield, NC. I
can't wait to share the testimony of that life-changing experience on June 10-12
over Shavuot weekend in Dallas, Texas!!! For more details please visit:
http://michaelrood.tv/shavuot-2011

Rosh Chodesh Sameach!
Happy New Moon Day!

Nehemia Gordon
Independence, Missouri

Karaite Korner Newsletter #517

Shavuot in Dallas

Join me this weekend (June 10-12) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to experience
for yourself what is being called the "Smithfield Revival"! I will be sharing my
experiences at the Arlington Sheraton Hotel alongside Keith Johnson, Michael
Rood, Arthur Bailey, and Jimmie Black. Most of my events are free but there is a
registration fee for this one, so don't put off signing up for your tickets
here:
http://michaelrood.tv/shavuot-2011

Check out my short testimony about the life-changing events that took place a
few weeks ago in Smithfield, NC:
http://youtu.be/xB0uE3a-jLI

Nehemia Gordon
Deep in the heart of Texas