Torah and Messiah are inseparable

Very recently, I have become acutely aware of the lack of proper  understanding about the role and identity of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.

https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/6230008/jewish/Building-Jewish-Infrastructure-Everywhere.htm

From Sefaria

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלַ֗י הִנְנִ֤י מַפְרְךָ֙ וְהִרְבִּיתִ֔ךָ וּנְתַתִּ֖יךָ לִקְהַ֣ל עַמִּ֑ים וְנָ֨תַתִּ֜י אֶת־הָאָ֧רֶץ הַזֹּ֛את לְזַרְעֲךָ֥ אַחֲרֶ֖יךָ אֲחֻזַּ֥ת עוֹלָֽם׃

and said to me, ‘I will make you fertile and numerous, making of you a community of peoples; and I will assign this land to your offspring to come for an everlasting possession.’

Ibn Ezra/'s commentary:

[BEHOLD, I WILL MAKE THEE FRUITFUL.] According to Saadiah Gaon Jacob told Joseph: God appeared to me and told me, Behold I will make thee fruitful. However, following this promise I had no other children, and Rachel died. I now know that the Divine promise of Behold, I will make thee fruitful was said concerning your children. *Hence Ephraim and Manasseh…shall be mine (v. 5). This interpretation is totally unpalatable. What difference is there between Joseph’s children and Reuben’s children? Furthermore, Benjamin was born after this prophetic vision. I believe that Jacob told Joseph the following: “God appeared to me and told me that the land of Canaan will be an everlasting possession for my children. I now give you a first born’s share in this land. Therefore let Ephraim and Manasseh share in the land in the same manner as Reuben and Simeon, my two eldest sons (v. 5). However, any children that will be born to you in addition to Ephraim and Manasseh shall be called after the name of their just noted brothers, namely, they will receive their inheritance among them (v. 6). I take issue with the one who interprets And thy issue, that thou begettest after them (v. 6) as referring to the children of Machir the son of Manasseh who were born upon Joseph’s knees (Gen. 50:23). If his interpretation is correct, why does Scripture say, they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance (v. 6)? And what if one argues, but we do not find that Joseph had any other children after Manasseh and Ephraim? It is not convincing. It is quite possible that Joseph had additional children but they are not mentioned because they received their inheritance among their brothers. There are many other such instances in Scripture.

    

    Watching the above video and reading the quoted text, there are some things that jump out at me:

1. We do need to build Messianic Jewish synagogues and centres, even if Messiah is knocking at the door already! No one really knows exactly WHEN He will return, so we can't just mark time until then. The Hebrew language - the Language of Creation - is an action-based language, verbs forming the root of all other words. So God's people too, should be an action-based people.

    Should Messiah delay for another generation, say, and if we don't establish centres of learning and worship, the next generation will be just as scattered as we are today, and have been since the 4th or 5th Century when Messianic believers began to be severely sidelined, after simply attending Jewish synagogues for hundreds of years. When they were ousted from the synagogues, they had nowhere to go because they had no infrastructure. We have the opportunity now and we should make use of it as God supplies the means. They were either scattered or absorbed into the Gentile-only churches which sprang up and which took them further and further away from the Jewish roots of our faith, leading to the situation we have today.

2. The Scripture quoted above clearly states that ALL Joseph's children would have an inheritance alongside Ephraim & Manassheh - whether he actually had other children later I do not know for sure - but if not, why would Ya'aqov, who was a prophet, mention them?

    I understand Ya'aqov's words to mean that everyone who comes into the House of Israel through Yosef will be part of the family. Since we know that Yosef is a picture of the Messiah, his children represent us today, who were not born Jewish, but have been called near by God Himself.

    I studied at an online Messianic Jewish yeshiva for 3 and a half years, and when my time there was up, I began  the process of finding other good teachers who are teaching us the real deal, the stuff Yeshua Himself would have learned when He was on earth. But there is a problem.

    Very few of the Torah teachers - all Jewish - who I have found so far believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel. I have a very good foundation in Messianic Judaism thanks to URI, but I feel I cannot share videos of what I am learning, because if people just coming to the understanding of the Jewish roots of our faith, might read or watch a teaching and say: "Oh, but this Rabbi is Orthodox and doesn't believe in Yeshua. Has Penny converted to Judaism?"

    God forbid that I should by any means lead anyone away from Yeshua HaMashiach even just half a step!

    I wonder, though, if there is a way to share what I'm learning with other like-minded and like-hearted people... Hmm -  maybe through my Blog!

Layla tov!🌙🌟