by haRold Smith
from Jerusalem, Israel
Occasionally, I am asked, "Why do you use the name Y'shua instead of Jesus?"
I call Him Yeshua for a simple reason - it is His Name. That was the Hebrew name given to Him by His Father when He was conceived in Mary's Hebrew womb, the same as when your parents gave you the name you go by. Most of us forget that it was not by coincidence Yeshua was born a Jew, a Hebrew descended from the tribe of Judah, which proceeded out of the loins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - all Hebrews. Yeshua grew up to become a Jewish Rabbi - steeped in the custom and culture of His People and observant of the ordinances of Moses. This is Who He was - this is Who He remains today (Hebrews 13:8). For the first 70 years after His death and Resurrection, believers were considered to be a sect of Judaism. The label "Christian" was not commonly used until the second century and was actually first used as a derogatory term. The early followers were simply called "believers in the Way of Yeshua" - which is what I prefer to be known as, just a believer after His Way.
The name "Jesus" is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name Yeshua. All the books of the New Testament were originally written by Jewish believers in Hebrew. In fact, the whole of the New Testament is a translation from Hebrew into Greek and, from the Greek, into English. The New Testament is a Jewish book - by Jews, mostly about Jews, and for Jews as well as for Gentiles. The pillars of the "Christian" faith: atonement, salvation, immersion (baptism), the new covenant and the very concept of a Messiah are all Jewish in their origin. The New Testament is built upon and completes the Hebrew Scriptures. There has been a systematic effort through the centuries, for both political and propaganda reasons, to remove this Jewish influence from the writings, mostly propelled by the edicts of the Roman emperor, Constantine, in the third century (from which was born the Roman Catholic Church) and then capitalized on thereafter, most notably by the English King James and the council from which we now have our most popular, current translation of the scriptures. This is not theology, folks - these are hard facts found in history books.
But, beyond the measure of culpability in deliberate omissions, reworks and additions resulting from anti-Jewish theological bias (for example, in Romans 10:4 the Messiah is "the goal at which the Torah aims," not "the end of the law") there is a lack of understanding of the ways in which the Hebrew mind views the world that, unless you come from this Jewish culture, escapes most of us.
For instance, John 20:3-9
describes Peter entering the tomb where Y'shua had been laid after His ordeal on the cross. In this passage is noted the "napkin, which was around His head, not lying with the linen clothes." That verse, translated strictly from the Greek, is correct. What is lost in transliteration, however, is that the "napkin" described there is really a Jewish "tallit" which was why it was laying neatly folded, separate from the other clothes. Not having a Hebrew background would make it difficult understanding what was actually meant behind these Hebrew words.
When every Jewish boy turns 13 years of age, he becomes a bar mitzvah (literally - son of the commandment) and is obligated to begin to observe the commandments of Moses. At that time, he is given a tallit that he takes with him everywhere he goes for the rest of his life for use in his morning prayer. It is what is draped "around" or, more precisely, over the head during prayer and, traditionally, that same tallit is placed over the head of one who has died as they lie in their grave or tomb. That garment has fringes or strings on the corners called "lights" and, when not being used, is to be folded in a certain manner so that the lights all hang together from the same corner.
What is notable about this same event as described in Luke 24:12, has Peter "wondering in himself at that which was come to pass." Peter was not yet fully aware of all that was happening, but since he saw the tallit was properly folded and away from the rest of the clothes, he knew for certain the Romans had not taken His Master because no Roman soldier would have known what a tallit was, let alone how to properly fold one, as Y'shua would have. When He arose from the dead, while still in the tomb, Y'shua removed the tallit from off his head, neatly folded it and laid it separately from the rest of His clothing - as He had done every day of His life from the time He was a boy, probably without thinking much about it because it had become second nature to him, a matter of habit.
What is significant about this one word, "napkin", is how it illustrates the lack of understanding a Greek mindset possesses when looking at scripture - and when looking at who He is in Truth. Y'shua was and remains Jewish. He never distanced Himself from His People - not even in death. Think on this - there is not, nor has there ever been, another race of people on the planet upon whom God has declared, "These are My People." Romans 11 tells us that it is WE, the Gentiles, who have been grafted INTO the Jewish root - not the other way around. It is BECAUSE of the Jewish THROUGH whom the Promise came, enabling us all to come into the Presence of the Father today.
The same goes for the Name of the Father. When Moses asked of the Father, "who do I say sent me", the Lord replied, "tell them I AM sent you."
(Exodus 3:13-14).
I AM in the original Hebrew language is YHWH (there are no vowels in Hebrew, only consonants) or YHVH, depending on whose translation you use into English. If you and I were introduced for the first time and I told you my name was haRold, you wouldn't think of calling me "Butch" would you? Why do we approach Him that way? It is because we have been taught otherwise, believed otherwise and the bane of any religion is, like any other propaganda, if it is repeated often enough, it soon becomes accepted as truth. I choose to approach the Father on His Terms, by Who He says He Is and in His Truth. In
John 17:3.
Y'shua says that "this is eternal life, to know Him and the One Whom He has sent." Is it REALLY on our heart to want to know who He is?
Is it necessary, then, to practice Judaism? The ritualistic aspects of what has come to be accepted as Judaism. is just another "ism", another religion as far as I am concerned, that has been hijacked by the edicts of men and no different from countless others that falls under the heading of "Christianity." Is there Truth at the root of Judaism I can learn from that will help me in my understanding of Who He is? Absolutely - after all, these ordinances came from Elohim Himself. This is not about right and wrong. There is a wealth of treasure we can learn from His People, if we choose to remove the blinders from our eyes and seek Him in Truth. But, in the larger sense, what Y'shua's Life was about (as I read it) was a transcendence of the shackles of religious ritual of all kinds to be able to come into the Presence of the Father clean and undefiled - in the Truth of Who He Is.
Consequently, I just embrace Him, but with the recognition of from where He came and of whom I am in Him. Because of Y'shua and with my embrace of His Life, I have been reborn into the Spirit of the Father (the very same Father that fathered Him) and scripture says that, because of that rebirth, the same DNA courses through my body as that of my Brother, Y'shua - flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone (Ephesians 5:30). Hence, I am Jewish and, by virtue of such birth, am recognized by the Sovereign of Sovereigns as a citizen of the Commonwealth of Israel. (Ephesians2).
Through the centuries, there have been many attempts to separate one from the other, Christian from the Jew - I choose to embrace the inheritance I receive of them both
(1Corinthians 12:13).
When a branch of one tree is grafted into another, you will always be able to see externally where that grafting took place, but once the bandages are lifted from the tree, as far as the tree is concerned, there is no difference between the new branch and the others. That new branch draws it's life from the root of the original tree into which it has been grafted - the same sap flows through it as does all the rest of the natural branches. What Christianity has tried to do through the ages, however, is to rob the tree of its fruit and then destroy the root, not comprehending it is from the root that we derive our sustenance.
These People remain His People. They are my brothers because they have the same spark of Light (DNA) coursing through their veins as do I. Are they perfect? No, but neither am I and neither are those in my natural family - yet, I do not discard any of them. Neither has He discarded His People and neither should we.
God is in the process of creating of us both One New Man that will transcend both, where there will no longer be Jew nor Gentile. This is why I live here in the Land, to be a participant in God's process of creation - to learn from them, to help them in their struggle, if necessary to die with them and to present to those who have a heart to see, the Way of Y'shua by the life I lead.
| "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.' " Romans 11:25-27 |