New Testament From Jewish Point of View - A Temple Israel Long Beach Zoom Class

Below is a summary written by Dan of what went on.  (Jo Ann was still in Australia when we studied.) I Thessalonians chapter 5: We appreciate all who participated today! The fifth and final chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians contained the famous phrase “A thief in the night”, describing the sudden nature of the anticipated events at the end of days.  Steve stated a view that the Messiah will come when we deserve it. Karen stated her belief that things will decline until Messiah comes. I think we have the possibilities covered.  “Are we not all children of Abraham?” is what Steve quoted a Roman Catholic priest saying when the priest was asked as to why he was present at the gathering celebrating the completion of a Torah scroll. Dan said he thinks that statement is literally true. Who knows? Obviously, this led to the question “why was Moses denied the opportunity to enter the Promised Land?” Those who doubt the assertion that this question obviously arise...

Jo Ann has been so busy that summaries of two weeks of study are included in this post. Both summaries are written by Dan. Monday, June 5, 2023 (Jo Ann, Dan, Karen, Steve, Karen, Jay, Jessica, Robin, and Merrill attended) In our reading we came writings like the many other letters from Paul. There was a passage that particularly caught our attention in these chapters: chapter 2 verses 14-16. This particular passage blaming “the Jews” :”the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets…they displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so they may be saved…”. I believe some of us rightly pointed out that this could not mean all Jews since both Jesus and Paul were Jews. However, Jew haters are oblivious to any such nuance. As history unfortunately bears out. Next week we come across a topic of great interest today: “the Rapture”. Monday, June 12, 2023 We were glad to have the company of Steve, Karen, Robin, Dave, Merrill, Dan and Ode...

We had a good group even though it was a holiday.  Dan, Jo Ann, Merrill, Robin, Ruth, Karen, Dave, Jay, Odette, and Steve attended. Below is a summary, written by Dan, on what we studied and discussed: “ Great turnout! Thank you for coming! Colossians chapter 4 - a lot of greetings. Jo Ann asked why the frequent use of “brother” or “sister”? A common Christian greeting, less common among Jewish people. See Proverbs 18:24 - “a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. Someone brought up the term “Messianic Rabbi” - don’t Rabbis have to go to rabbinic school? “Messianic Rabbi” seems to harken to the past when a person who could read and write was sometimes called a “rabbi”, since today rabbis indeed do need to go to rabbinic school.  An interesting mention was made that cantors traditionally were “invested” instead of being “ordained”. I understand that now both rabbis and cantors are ordained.  Getting back to the text of Colossians 4, we agreed that our conduct reflects n...