Congregation Shema Yisrael

Author: Rachmiel Frydland
Format: Paperback, 146 pages
Publisher: Messianic Pub. Co; 3rd edition (July 7, 2002)
ISBN-10: 0917842030
ISBN-13: 978-0917842030

“Rachmiel Frydland was raised in an orthodox Jewish home in a village in Poland. At age nine he began the study of the Talmud. Later he enrolled in a Rabbinical Yeshiva in Warsaw with the goal of becoming a Rabbi. Puzzled by the identity of the Messiah in Daniel 9:24-26, he accepted Yeshua as Messiah. By God’s grace he survived the great persecution of World War II, living on the edge of death under Nazi rule. Mr. Frydland was truly a humble scholar and teacher who lived to proclaim the Messiahship of Yeshua in many countries and languages. He shared his knowledge of rabbinics and Yeshua in books, articles and messages.”

Based on the portion of the author’s biography quoted above, I find it difficult to decide what is more interesting; the book or the author. In my experiences with what some call the “Messianic Judaism” (or “Hebrew Roots” or “One Law”) movement over the past decade, most of the Jews I’ve met who have been involved, haven’t been raised in a ethnic or religious Jewish home. Most have only one Jewish parent and most only “connected” with their Judaism later in life. Most came to the Messianic movement by way of the Evangelical Church. It’s something of a rarity (at least from my perspective) for a Messianic Jew to come from a completely Jewish context and lived Jewish experience. Also, while the Messianic movement has picked up quite a bit of steam in the past ten to twenty years or so, Mr. Frydland discovered Yeshua as the Messiah long, long before it was “popular”.

I suppose “popular” is a poor choice of words on my part. I can imagine that any Jewish people reading this review, who are secular or traditionally religious (i.e. not “Messianic”), may find Mr. Frydland’s conclusions and lifestyle at least uncomfortable, if not downright offensive. Usually the suggestion that Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled all the requirements as “Yeshua Ben Yosef”, the “Suffering Servant” Messiah (and will one day return as “Yeshua Ben David”, the “Conquering King”) are rebuffed, and the Messianic movement is cast as a “Jews for Jesus” wolf in sheep’s clothing. From a traditional Jewish perspective, a Jew becoming Messianic is viewed less, as an acceptance of the Messiah, and more as a conversion to Christianity, and an abandonment of Judaism.

Mr. Frydland’s biography and life’s work speaks for itself, in terms of his Jewishness, his heart for God, and his zeal for scholarship. While many Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregations and organizations suffer from a lack of “Jewish” education and Talmud understanding, this cannot be said for Frydland. I won’t go over all of his qualifications here. You can click the link I posted at the beginning of this paragraph and read them for yourself. He wasn’t lead to his conclusions by the Church, or “lead to Christ” by a Gentile believer. Frydland, though honest study, hard work, and God’s grace, came to understand who his Messiah is by the proofs offered in the Tanakh (Old Testament) alone.

I love the structure of the book. It’s a very short book at just under 150 pages. Each chapter, if you can use that word, is just a few pages long. Despite the obvious intelligence and knowledge possessed by the author, it’s a very easy book to read. That said, it doesn’t come across as a “pop text” written for the gullible and easily swayed. The information contained within its pages is easily accessible, yet solid as a brick and straight as an arrow.

With the Torah as the starting point, Frydland offers a step-by-step journey of discovery, using history, genealogy, the Bible, and the Talmud, to take the reader along the path of evidence that shows us Messiah. Most “Messianic” books are written for Gentiles to introduce them (us…me) to Messiah and Torah, and this is a worthy goal. Frydland takes the road less traveled, and provides the ancient Rabbinic point of view (which is distinguished from modern Rabbinic opinion).

I mentioned something about starting at the beginning earlier. Each chapter builds on the foundation of Genesis in tracing the lineage of the Messiah. We go from Eve, to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, and on, as each verse and each promise, constructs an image of the Messiah. This image is completely Jewish and with the turning of each page, gains clearer focus, until we can see the goal precisely with our own eyes, as witnesses of the promises of God fulfilled.

I am a very linear thinker, so I both appreciated the construction of Frydland’s chapters, and was slightly tossed off course when he introduced the concept of Messiah as Priest, right in between Judah and Jesse. I agree that the chapter is necessary in this book, but I wouldn’t have put it right were it was. Of course, exactly how the book is today wasn’t really up to the author. Sadly, Frydland passed away some years ago, and his friend Elliot Klayman took up the task of turning Frydland’s notes and writings into this book, which as of 2002, has been published in its third edition. The slight structural detour I mentioned aside, Frydland successfully establishes his point, bit by bit, and constructs the identity of Yeshua, as an architect might build a tower.

This book may not be what the non-Jewish Messianic or Christian reader might expect. It doesn’t tell you how to live a “Torah-observant” lifestyle. It doesn’t address keeping kosher. It doesn’t argue for a Saturday vs. Sunday Shabbat. On the one hand, these issues are of great concern for the Gentile who has entered the Messianic realm, and is discovering that the Law wasn’t replaced by Grace. On the other hand, for someone who was born in a Jewish home, raised by Jewish parents, worshipped in a traditional synagogue, became a rabbinic student, and suffered through the Holocaust, those issues are not questions, but rather, living life. Frydland has only one goal in his book; to establish the identity of the Messiah, as the Yeshua written of in the Renewed Covenant documents (New Testament) based solely on the Tanakh and Talmud.

For Gentile readers, this book offers a very different look at the Messiah of the Jews. Often we are told about the Jewishness of Yeshua as Messiah, but this book shows us each link in the chain from a perspective we are not frequently offered. Messianics finally have a text upon which they can base their witness for Yeshua as fully Jewish and fully Messiah, yet accessible to Jew and Gentile alike. Christians, who see Jesus from a Church perspective, will experience the Jewishness of the Savior for the first time, and perhaps begin a journey of their own to a deeper understanding of the object of their faith.

For the Jewish reader (who is not Messianic), this book will either be illuminating or annoying. In order to be illuminating, you will find it necessary to put aside everything you know, or believe you know, and just read from one page to the next. Follow the path of scripture and the logic of the arguments. I can’t promise you’ll agree with Frydland by the last page, but you’ll at least understand how other Jews can. For those Jewish readers who are upset or offended by the review I’ve written, I can only say I mean no insult. I don’t have a Jewish life experience to draw from, so I can’t see through your eyes. I can only suggest you spend a little time trying to see through the eyes of Rachmiel Frydland. From where I’m standing, the view is astonishing.