The Ass Speaks Out
ngordon4
“Ass - a long-eared, slow, patient, sure-footed domesticated mammal,
Equus asinus, related to the horse, used chiefly as a beast of
burden.” (Dictionary.com)
It’s been several months since the publication of my book “A Prayer to
Our Father”, which I wrote together with Keith E. Johnson, a Christian
pastor from North Carolina. This book explores the Hebrew origins of
what is commonly known as the “Lord’s Prayer”. Many of my Jewish
brothers and sisters have expressed great concern over the book. Some
have even speculated that I have secretly converted to Christianity
and am leading others into the Christian faith. Some of my Christian
friends have joined in this speculation thinking that perhaps there is
a “surprise ending” to the book in which I proclaim my faith in Jesus.
On the flip side, some Messianics are spreading the false rumor that I
allegedly hold secret meetings during my speaking tours in which I try
to convince “believers” to abandon their faith. I hate to disappoint
the rumormongers but none of these is true. I have not converted to
Christianity nor do I attempt to convince anyone to change their
faith. I suppose the reason for these false speculations is that some
people have a hard time understanding why a Jew who does not believe
in Jesus would write a book on his teachings unless he has a secret
agenda. I thought I explained this rather well in my books but I guess
not everyone reads my books. Or perhaps I am not as eloquent as I like
to think. So I am writing this to try and set the record straight.
Let me start with my views on Jesus of Nazareth, or as he was known
2000 years ago, “Yeshua”. Over the past few years I have gained a
great respect for his teachings, but I have not embraced the Christian
faith nor have I become a “Messianic Jew.” I clearly state this in all
of my presentations in order to avoid any possible confusion. I am, as
I have been for over twenty years, a Karaite Jew, which means I
believe the Tanakh (“Old Testament”) to be the perfect word of God. As
a Karaite Jew, I await the coming of an anointed King (in Hebrew:
“Messiah”) who will be a direct descendant of King David. I have no
idea what his name will be and therefore I do not rule out the
possibility that his name will be “Yeshua”. Many Jews, and Karaites in
particular, may vehemently disagree with me on this last point. All I
can say is that when the anointed descendant of David reigns as a
flesh and blood king over Israel, as promised in the Scriptures, we
will all know his name as an accomplished fact.
So why do I have what one of my sisters – a devout Orthodox Jew –
refers to as an “unhealthy interest in Jesus”? It started many years
ago, when I came out of Rabbinical Judaism and began researching all
of the world’s religions. I was particularly interested in ancient
Judaism in all of its forms and this naturally included the teaching
ministry of Yeshua of Nazareth. My interest in this subject is not as
unusual as my sister might think. Over the past century, Jewish
scholars have increasingly carried out research to uncover the Hebrew
background and context of the New Testament. One of the greatest of
these scholars was Professor David Flusser, himself an Orthodox Jew,
who taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I was trained in the
study of ancient Jewish texts at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
where I earned my Masters Degree in Biblical Studies and I view my own
research on the teachings of Yeshua as part of this scholarly
tradition.
To give this research some context, a number of years ago I was
privileged to have worked with the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were
written by an ancient Jewish movement called the Essenes. While I
believe the Dead Sea Scrolls contain great value, at no time did I
ever become an Essene. Furthermore, as a textual scholar researching
the scrolls it was not my role to convince anyone whether or not to
believe in Essene Judaism. My role as a scholar was to attempt to
understand what these ancient documents meant in their original
linguistic, historical, and cultural context. This is how I see my
role in exploring the Hebrew background of the New Testament. It is
not my role as a textual scholar to lead anyone into the Christian
faith. Nor is it my role to lead anyone out of the Christian faith.
These are issues of personal faith and belief that are beyond the
scope of my research. My role as a textual scholar is to understand
what Yeshua taught in the linguistic, historical, and cultural context
in which he preached. For those who believe in Yeshua I would think
this should be of great importance. But it should also be important
for non-Christians, as Yeshua was indisputably a pivotal figure in
world history who profoundly influenced the development of Western
civilization.
In addition to my interest in all forms of ancient Judaism, there is
another reason I think it is important for me to share the results of
this research, especially with Christians. It relates to an experience
I had many years ago in Jerusalem. Living in the Holy City, I meet all
kinds of interesting people. One such gentleman was an American
tourist who described himself as a “Messianic Gentile”. I had heard of
“Messianic Jews” before but did not know what a Messianic Gentile was.
He explained that he believed Yeshua to be the Messiah and wanted to
live as Yeshua lived. He told me that as a Jew, Yeshua refrained from
eating pork and went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Although he had
no Jewish ancestry that he knew of, he too wanted to live as Yeshua
had lived, refraining from pork and going to a synagogue on the
Sabbath. At the time I had never met anyone quite like this and was
very intrigued. We ended up spending many long hours discussing our
respective beliefs and practices. One day he was telling me about the
prayers in his congregation back in America and he proudly announced
that in his Messianic synagogue they recited the Amidah. When I heard
this I was shocked because I knew something he obviously did not know.
The Amidah is the standard prayer of Rabbinical Judaism and I grew up
as an Orthodox Jew praying this prayer three times a day. The Amidah
is also known as the “Eighteen Benedictions” but today actually
contains 19 benedictions. The 19th benediction, which my friend
obviously did not know about, is called the Birkat HaMinim which means
“the Blessing of the Heretics”. Despite its name, it is actually a
curse of the so-called “heretics”. Historical sources, most notably
the Talmud, inform us that this 19th benediction was added to the
Amidah around the year 90 CE in order to prevent those Jews who
accepted Yeshua as the Messiah from participating in synagogue
services. At the time, the Rabbis did not have the authority to
prevent Yeshua’s Jewish followers from attending the synagogues but
they reasoned these people would stop coming if a public curse was
proclaimed upon them during every prayer service. When this “Messianic
Gentile” told me his congregation recited the Amidah during their
services I thought surely he meant the Amidah without the Birkat
HaMinim. So I asked him to show me his Messianic prayer book and I
quickly flipped to the section containing the Amidah. To my horror I
found that it indeed contained the Birkat HaMinim. It had been
translated in a very clever way to obscure its meaning, but there it
was in black and white in both Hebrew and English. I was heartbroken
at the thought of an entire group of devout people, who were searching
in their own way for Scriptural truth, proclaiming a public curse upon
themselves because they did not understand the historical context of
their own faith. They wanted to live as Yeshua lived but ended up
reciting a prayer created to curse those who believed in Yeshua. I
realized then and there that the Almighty had blessed me with an
understanding of ancient languages and ancient Jewish texts and I was
morally obligated to share that information with anyone who needed it,
even if I disagreed with them on important matters of faith.
As a Jew, it is not all that strange for me to interact with people
that I disagree with on matters of faith. This is part of the
pluralism inherent in Jewish culture in general. There is an old
saying that “if you ask two Jews you get three opinions.” This
witticism is based on a fundamental principle in Rabbinical Judaism
that there are seventy true meanings to every single word in
Scripture. The result of this doctrine is that multiple opinions can
be tolerated, even when they are diametrically opposed. This approach
has imbued Jews with a relatively pluralistic attitude towards matters
of belief, especially when these beliefs do not result in any
practical expression of ritual observance. This is in sharp contrast
to the Christian tradition of breaking fellowship, and indeed in
earlier centuries of burning people at the stake, over the subtlest of
doctrinal nuances.
As a Karaite, I do not agree with the Rabbinical principle that there
are seventy true meanings to everything in Scripture. I believe there
is only one true interpretation. However, with the Temple in ruins and
the People of Israel in a state of Exile we do not necessarily know
what that one true interpretation is. This necessitates a pragmatic
pluralism which in some ways is even more tolerant than Rabbinical
Judaism. Karaite Jews believe we must do our best to discover the
truth but also humble ourselves before God and admit that we can never
know for sure “until a priest with Urim and Thummim should
appear” (Ezra 2:63). This humility means not judging our brothers for
disagreeing on matters of faith, and even on matters of ritual
observance, as long as they do their best to discover the Scriptural
truth. I am not saying every Jew, nor even every Karaite, always lives
up to these ideals but they are nevertheless values deeply rooted in
Jewish culture.
Considering that there are, according to the World Christian
Encyclopedia, over 33,000 denominations, I would have thought
Christians to be even more tolerant to differences of faith and
practice than Jews. To be sure, this may be true for many Christians.
However, I did not realize how alien this pluralistic approach was to
some Christians until last year when I was on a speaking tour in the
USA. After one of my presentations a man walked up to me and thanked
me for the information I had shared. He told me that he had been told
by his congregation leader not come to my presentation. The
congregation leader had warned him that as someone who does not
believe in Jesus I was not “anointed” to speak the truth. The man
objected to his congregation leader: “If God could use Balaam’s ass to
speak the truth then surely he could use Nehemia”.
I suppose most Jews would be deeply offended at being compared to a
female donkey but I was more disturbed by the arrogance of this man’s
congregation leader. I was raised with the tradition of the Rabbis who
taught: “Who is a wise man? He who learns from every man.” (Ethics of
the Fathers 4:1). Karaite Jews wholeheartedly embrace this principle,
often quoting the words of the 12th century Rabbinical sage Maimonides
(Rambam): “Accept the truth from whoever speaks it.” When Maimonides
said this he was referring to the mathematical and astronomical
knowledge he learned from ancient Greeks sources. He did not dismiss
or ignore this knowledge even though it came from pagans because the
knowledge was true in its own right. It is important to note that this
was not simply “secular” knowledge to Maimonides; it had practical
application to the observance of certain biblical commandments.
The original disciples of Yeshua and their heirs understood that truth
had value regardless of its source. Evidence of this can be found in
the Book of Acts, which quotes the words Gamaliel, a leading Pharisee
of the 1st century. Although Gamaliel was not a believer in Yeshua,
the Book of Acts considered what he said to be valuable and true in
its own right. The notion that a Christian today would categorically
deem what Jews have to say as worthless and untrustworthy because of
our different beliefs is the zenith of arrogance. I am reminded of the
words of Paul of Tarsus (admittedly a Jew) who warned the Gentiles:
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive
shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive
tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that
it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.”
Romans 11:17-18
I suspect Paul was talking about something that was already happening
in his own time: Gentiles were embracing the faith in Yeshua and
boasting that they were better than the Jews who did not share their
new belief, even though these Jews were the “root” of their faith.
As if this arrogance were not bad enough, shortly after being compared
to Balaam’s ass, the specter of anti-Semitism reared its ugly head. I
had been invited to speak at a Christian conference when the organizer
received a dire warning from a local Christian pastor. The pastor
proclaimed that as a “non-believing Jew” I was operating under the
control of the “spirit of Antichrist”. When I heard this I thought the
pastor meant it metaphorically, but it turns out he meant there was a
literal demonic spirit that was influencing my every move. He
explained that it was nothing against me personally but all “non-
believing Jews” are under the spirit of Antichrist. Boasting against
the root is one thing, but this amounts to cursing the root.
Some of my fellow Jews reading this are probably thinking: “So why
bother, Nehemia! Let the goyim languish in their ignorance.” My answer
is that there are countless Christians out there who want to
understand their faith in its original historical, cultural, and
linguistic context. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew who spoke Hebrew and
lived as a Jew among Jews. It just so happens that God has blessed me
with a knowledge of ancient Judaism and ancient Hebrew and I feel
compelled to share this information with those with those who need it,
even if I disagree with them on important matters of faith. The Torah
teaches us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves which means to
treat others as we ourselves want to be treated. I know that if I
lacked vital knowledge I would want someone who had this knowledge to
share it with me. I must, therefore, share the knowledge I have with
those who need it. I am not saying I know everything or that I have
all the answers. But if God could use a donkey to speak to Balaam
perhaps he is using me for some purpose that is beyond my
comprehension. I pray that like Balaam’s ass this is a burden I can
continue to bear.
Nehemia Gordon
In Salem, Oregon