The Talmud contains many references to righteous gentiles whose behaviour is held up as a model for all people. The example of Dama ben Netina is known to all Jewish children (Kidushin 31a): ‘They asked R. Eliezer how far one should go in honoring parents. He said to them: Go and see how one idol worshipper in Ashdod honored his father, and Dama ben Netina was his name. The sages wished to purchase gems from him for the Ephod [for a tremendous profit] … but the key [to the box containing the gems] was under his father’s pillow [while his father was sleeping] and he did not trouble his father [by waking him even though he gave up a tremendous profit].’ Dama was rewarded for his virtue the next year when a red heifer [required for the Temple service] was born in his flock. When he sold it to the sages he told them that he knew that they would pay any price he asked for it, but he asked only for the amount he had not earned the previous year when he refrained from waking his father.

Messianics and many traditional Christian churches support Israel and the Jewish people as chosen and established by God. We seek to “honor the root” of our faith in Yeshua (Jesus) by honoring Jews; the only people who worshipped the one true God, and kept His Shabbat and Holy Torah for thousands of years, while the rest of the world was immersed in idolatry.

While many Messianics particularly, feel a close connection to the Jewish people though the keeping of the Shabbat, the prayers, and many other Hebraic practices, we sometimes we don’t realize that the door swings both ways. What does the Talmud and other writings teach Jews about Gentiles?

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“Thinking outside the box is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking. This is sometimes called a process of lateral thought. The catchphrase, or cliché, has become widely used in business environments, especially by management consultants and executive coaches, and has spawned a number of advertising slogans.” -From Wikipedia

Generally, we’re told that “thinking outside the box” is a good thing, at least in a business paradigm, and probably in other endeavours, such as art, writing, and so forth. Conversely, people of faith are seen as “inside the box” by our secular counterparts, which isn’t considered desirable. We’re thought of as at least conservative, old-fashioned, bigoted, controlled, and down-right inflexible. People who operate with a secular humanist understanding tend to think of themselves as “outside the box”, progressive, advanced, and having the latest and most correct conceptualization of how the world and everything in it works. In fact, we all live inside a “box” or a conceptual understanding of what reality means, conservatives and progressives alike.

Oddly enough, we people of faith have a difficult time being able to understand the difference between being inside and outside the box, at least in terms of our own box. It would help though, if I more clearly defined my terms.

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For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me. -Matthew 25:35-36

For almost a year, Congregation Shema Yisrael has been collecting and delivering food and other items to the Idaho Foodbank in and around Boise, Idaho, in response to the command of Yeshua and of God to take care of the poor among us. I don’t write this to glorify our congregation, but rather to remind everyone who reads this blog that people don’t just get hungry around the holidays.

We are about to enter what most people in the U.S. call “the holiday season”. This is comprised of that period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, in the months of November and December. Billboards will go up, radio spots will be broadcast, and notices will be posted in many workplaces, asking that donations be made to the local foodbanks and homeless shelters. By January 1st, those pleas for the poor will disappear and the reminders will be gone. In fact, people get hungry 365 days a year, and usually several times a day. While many people will donate when they are reminded, they stop when the advertisements stop. Yet hunger is something people face every day all over the world.

At the beginning of October, our congregation delivered our latest food barrel to the Idaho Foodbank. We have also in the past, given clothing and other items to the Boise Rescue Mission. While these are worthwhile efforts, we can’t fulfill the needs of all the needy in our community and in the world alone. The next time you eat, remember those who are hungry because they have no food. The next time you put on a sweater or coat because you are cold, remember those who have no warm clothing. The next time you remember them, do something about it, wherever you live, and whoever you are.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. -James 2:14-17

James, the brother of Yeshua, is right in saying that faith without deeds is dead. If our hearts are warmed when we pray to Messiah and sing songs of praise to God, but we do not give of ourselves, even if our means our meager, to those who have less than we, what does our “faith” really mean?

To learn more about how we donate to the poor among us, visit the Congregation Shema Yisrael website. I pray that you will give, or continue to give. When we serve the least of the Master’s servants, we are serving him.

As believers in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), we long to respond to his words and to follow him wholeheartedly. We seek to do his will with all our hearts, and to walk in the path he has laid out before us. But if we truly intend to live our the life he would have us lead, what must we do?

If you love me, you will obey what I command. -John 14:15

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me…” -Mark 8:34

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the Torah, tested him with this question: “Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” -Matthew 22:34-40

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 28:19-20

I’ve written a number of articles in this blog on obedience and attempting to define what commandments Yeshua actually wants us to obey. When Yeshua directs his Jewish disciples to make disciples of all the non-Jewish nations, “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” the short definition of what Yeshua is telling his disciples to teach the Gentiles to obey is Torah. This is the commandment that the Messianic movement has taken up and attempted to live and to teach others. The downside of our Torah focus is that, in some cases, it can at least make us appear as if we’re legalistic. In fact, some of us end up becoming legalistic. Let me explain.

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Author: Hershel Brand
Format: Hardcover, 196 pages
Publisher: Targum Press (October 15, 2002)
ISBN-10: 1568712146
ISBN-13: 978-1568712147

“For millennia, the Jewish people have awaited Moshiach (Messiah). We have prayed for him and longed for his appearance. But how many of us know what part he will play in Jewish destiny, how to identify him, and what the messianic era will be like, or why we need Moshiach at all?” -from the back cover of On Eagles’ Wings

I asked to borrow this book from my wife because I thought it would give me some greater insights into the traditional and historic viewpoint of the Messiah by the Jewish people. I got exactly what I was looking for, but it may not be what you’re looking for, depending on who you are. This is a blog for a “Messianic Jewish” or “One Law” congregation, which means that most of the people who read my articles are non-Jews who identify themselves as either Christians or “Messianics” (and “Messianics” could be termed as “Christians who have a special interest in the Hebraic understanding of God’s Word”).

I admit, I started reading Rabbi Brand’s book with an eye on seeing the similarities between the Jewish Moshiach and the Christian Christ. I didn’t find very many, which may surprise those of you who see Yeshua/Jesus all across the pages of the Tanakh (Old Testament). It’s not that the prophesies Christianity identifies as pointing to Jesus as the Messiah aren’t there, but this is a book written by a Jewish Rabbi to a Jewish audience. It’s not targeting those of us who believe in Yeshua as both Lord and Messiah for all the world.

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And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. -Genesis 39:10-12

Here we see one of the Messianic figures of the Torah, Joseph, doing the right and honorable thing by God and by his (then) Master Potiphar, by resisting the temptation to have illicit sexual relations with Potiphar’s wife. I don’t think anyone who adheres to the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob or any person who claims Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah and Lord, would have a problem with how Joseph handled himself in this situation. Under enormous pressure to have sex with Potiphar’s wife (we’re never completely sure of her name) and although she repeatedly attempted to persuade him to go to bed with her, he continually resisted sin and eventually ran from it, rather than give in.

In the short run, this noteworthy behavior doesn’t seem to do Joseph much good. Potiphar’s wife, Joseph’s garment still in her hand, claims that Joseph tried to rape her and that only her screams drove him off. The master of the house apparently believes his wife and has Joseph imprisoned. Of course, in the long run, this minor sojourn in a “white collar prison” sets the final stage for Joseph’s ascension as a Master over his former masters, second only to Pharaoh the King, and to becoming the savior of the known, civilized world.

However, is it enough to flee from sin? Is it enough just to make sure that you, as an individual, don’t fall into the trap? Even if you escape a snare, what about those who don’t? This may be a circumstance that, on the surface, doesn’t have a clear cut answer. But consider Bava Basra 50:

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