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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 5/30/2022

A Modern Mikveh 

Even though it was Memorial Day, we decided to run the class as usual.  It was a bit difficult since both Jo Ann and Dan were on the road after a wedding that took place in Texas and Karen was also on the road.  It was a small (but great) group due to the holiday:  Karen, Odette, Dave, Norky and Jo Ann and Dan (sort of) attended.  

Unfortunately, Jo Ann kept getting kicked out of the Zoom room, but because she made Karen, Odette, and Dave co-hosts, the meeting did go on!

We read Chapters 6, 7, 8 in 2nd Corinthians.  

I’m not sure too much of what was discussed since I couldn’t hear, but the movie and book Unorthodox came up when there was a discussion about being cleaned from sins on Yom Kippur but also orthodox Jewish women need that cleaning monthly at the Mikveh.

We did discuss Mikvehs and I was surprised no one except me had actually visited and seen one.  I also told everyone that women go to Mikvehs discreetly and there are men’s Mikvehs too where dishes are washed.

Here’s a link to a review Jo Ann wrote on the Netflix series Unorthodox.

There was some discussion on who Titus was.  He was a friend of Paul’s.

Now…please…please…add to this summary since Jo Ann really missed most of it due to a very bad cell-internet signal on the road.  I’m glad I could make everyone co-hosts so you all could study!


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Monday, May 23, 2022

Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - May 23, 2022

It was a fun and interesting discussion and time of study as usual.  Jo Ann’s longtime friend Jessica joined us via the phone since she does not have Zoom and Norky also joined us for the full hour.  In addition to Jessica and Norky attending, Jo Ann, Dan, Odette, Karen, Dave, Robin, and Merrill attended. 

We began with our tradition of Dan leading us in “Give Us That Old Time Religion.”

Below is a summary Dan wrote about our time together: 

NT from Jewish Point of View Monday May, 23, 2022

We covered II Corinthians, chapters 4-5

Much of the discussion today centered on the question Merrill asked: What does Judaism teach about judgement and the life to come?

Karen spoke of the fact that life on earth is temporary, which set the tone for our following discussion. Odette said there are parallels between this passage and the current parsha in Leviticus. The parsha in Leviticus speaks about the year of jubilee with its concept of redemption. Jo Ann added that Rabbi Moskowitz has said that we do not know what is to come after death.

In II Corinthians 5, verse 10, Paul spoke of the judgement seat of Christ, that all must be judged “for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad”. This seems to be at odds with the concept of redemption/forgiveness by grace alone found in the book of Romans. Dave shared that in Judaism there are different sorts of sins, sins against God, sins against other people, and murder. He said that we must ask God for forgiveness for sins against God, for example, eating a pork chop. For sins against other people we must first ask forgiveness from the other people. If they decline to forgive, then God can forgive. Dave understood that murder is without forgiveness because it is impossible to ask forgiveness from the dead.

Odette spoke of the “unburdening of conscience” that asking for forgiveness brings, and of forgiveness requested on Yom Kippur. Merrill told of the AA teaching of “making amends”, which involved asking forgiveness for things done when a person was drunk or under the influence of other drugs. Jo Ann expressed hope for the future for her family’s reconciliation, and shared about the reconciliation that happened with a friend named Frank.

Our last bit concerned the difficulty of the Christian concept of there being only one way to God’s forgiveness, especially in light of the Holocaust. Can someone like Hitler be forgiven? What of the “unbelieving” Jews slain during the Holocaust, are they doomed for eternity while the ones who killed them were eligible for forgiveness? The questions remain.

Replies, corrections and additions are welcomed.



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Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 5/15/2022

Moses’s Shining Face

It seems like our time together each Monday just gets more and more fun!  Jo Ann, Dan, Odette, Karen, Dave, Jenny, and Merrill attended.  At the very end of our time Norky joined us.  We missed Robin and David who both had conflicts that morning.

We studied 2 Corinthians chapters two and three.

Before we began when we got to visit with one another from 9:30 to 9:45 am, we learned that almost everyone in the group has a lot of “stuff” going on in their lives, so after we sang our traditional opening song at 9;45 of “Give Me That Old Time Religion,” we decided we’d sing and do the Misheberach prayer, the Jewish prayer for healing, after we studied and discussed Chapter 2.

Somehow Chapter 2 of 2nd Corinthians brought up Facebook relationships since it seemed that Paul was writing about forgiveness and getting along.  There was perhaps some shunning going on…..Dan mentioned that Unfriending or blocking on Facebook really hurts.  Jo Ann shared about a friend that “unfriended” her on Facebook since Jo Ann did not like her posts often enough!  Karen talked about people she forgives but may not interact temporarily for her own emotional well being.

After we took a short break and sang the Jewish prayer for healing (which Odette pointed out can not only be for physical healing but for emotional and even healing of relationships), we went on to Chapter 2.  Jo Ann shared about how she constantly played the Misheberach prayer in her husband Dan’s ICU hospital room when Dan was near death in September of 2005.  Merrill, who has had so many near death and health issues, believes our Misheberach prayers have worked!  His doctor says he is a true miracle!  Jo Ann also shared how much she likes the song from The Prince of Egypt that says “There Can Be Miracles When You Believe.”

Merrill read the beginning of chapter 3 and then we spent quite a bit of time discussing Moses’ radiant and shining face since Paul talked about that.  Jenny read the grey box that talked about Moses’s radiant face. The word “Midrashically” came up, so we talked about what the Midrash is.  The Midrash is like additions to Torah stories that add and explain.  Jo Ann pulled out two of  her Little Midrash Says volumes and read an example of why Rebekah encouraged Jacob to pretend he was Esau to fool Isaac into blessing him instead of Isaac.  She also read the section about Moses covering his radiant face. The Midrash says Moses wore a mask for the rest of his life since the people were not supposed to see God’s radiance unless he spoke to the people, thus there was a veil-mask keeping them from totally interacting with God.



We also learned that the Pentateuch are the five books of the Torah which are read in order each Shabbat.  Paul talked about that the reading of the “Old Covenant,” the Torah only, was like keeping this veil-mask over the eyes of those who do not accept Christ.

At the very end of our time together, when Norky joined us, we got to visit with her and get to know her a bit.   She, like many of us in the group, agree there is one God and creator and learning about the multiple ways to follow God and learn about God is so important.  

Below is a link to a blog post I wrote about the song “There Can Be Miracles When You Believe.”  I’ve also posted the YouTube video of the song below.

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Monday, May 9, 2022

Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 5/9/2022


What a fun time we had together today!  Jo Ann, Dan, Karen, Odette, Robin, Dave, Merrill, Lori Ann, and Jenny attended.  It was the first time we had Lori and Jenny with us and it was delightful to have them join us.  (I am not sure, but Lydia may have logged in briefly.)

After Dan led us in our opening song which is now a tradition of “Give Me That Old Time Religion” where we added a verse “If it was good enough for the Hebrew children…,” we read the introduction to 2nd Corinthians from the Jewish Annotated New Testament and then read the first chapter of 2nd Corinthians.  

We came to the conclusion that Paul seemed to be in a time of confusion when he wrote this letter.  Was he confident as a leader?  He was very certain about his Jewish roots though although there seemed to be disagreements on whether one had to be a Jew in order to believe in the new religion Paul was spreading the news about.  Was this the beginning of denominational differences?

We learned that this letter was also from Timothy who was Paul’s “sidekick” assistant.  

We also found both the introduction to the chapter hard to understand and it was also hard to understand chapter one.  

There was confusion on what Paul was talking about.  We discussed the use of the word consolation and we talked about things that “console us” and comfort us.  Paul seems to contradict himself by bragging and criticizing others for bragging. (I think Robin pointed that out.)

Jo Ann compared her interpretation to what we read in both the introduction to 2nd Corinthians and to the first chapter of 2nd Corinthians to the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”  In other words, do readers read this chapter and section and pretend they know what is discussed figuring that everyone else understands it?  How would a pastor teach a congregation after reading chapter one?

We talked about the used on the world “consolation” in this chapter which got us to discuss that God is a consoling God to all who believe in God.  For those who believe in God, God comforts and is also compassionate.  Lori read something from last Saturday’s morning 5/7/22 Shabbat service at Temple Israel that talks about prayer.  That led us to talk about how hearing hymns and prayers can console one’s soul no matter what he or she believes.  Merrill talked about how much he enjoys hymns for that reason.  Jo Ann shared that the late Chuck Smith had traditional hymns sung on Sunday morning instead of modern Jesus movement songs sang with guitar accompaniment that appealed to the young hippies.  Chuck Smith believed hymns brought comfort to his congregation.  

We discussed what it might be like to have met Paul.  Was he easy to approach?  We did come to the conclusion that Jesus was probably easy to approach, but we weren’t sure about Paul.  We discussed that approachable rabbis probably vary and the same might be so regarding pastors.

At the end of our time together, we got to know Lori and Jenny a bit better.  Lori called herself a “recovering Catholic” who is on her way to converting to the Jewish faith.  Jenny is a friend of someone who works at Temple Israel and she has heard how great our classes and programs are.  She attends a women’s study through Greg Laurie’s Harvest ministry.  

Again, if anything is not included in this summary, please add to this summary in the comment section.

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    Tuesday, May 3, 2022

    Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - 5/2/2022

    As usual we had such a fun time together!  Jo Ann, Dan, Odette, Karen, Robin, Dave, and Merrill attended. David could not join us since he needed to take his wife to the doctor.  

    Before we began studying, we began to talk to Odette about laundry, so Jo Ann shared photos from a blog post she wrote called Washers and Dryers Can Be a Blessing From God.

    Dan led us in our usual “Give Us That Old Time Religion” intro…

    Once we got started we studied 1st Corinthians 16.  Below is the summary that Dan wrote that summarizes what we studied:

    NT from a Jewish perspective May 2, 2022

    We discussed the 16th and final chapter of the book of I Corinthians. The chapter begins with Paul directing the Corinthians to set aside money so he can take their offering to Jerusalem for the needs of the Christians there. What caught the attention of Robin and the rest of us as well was a statement in verses 21-22:

    I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!

    Put together with the request for money to be put aside in the beginning of the chapter made it sound like he was saying one had to put money aside or be “cursed”. It seemed strange after all the talk of love in previous chapters. 

    After finishing discussion above we read the essay: “Paul and Judaism”. There were 3 sections, “Paul against Judaism”, “Paul and Judaism” and “Paul Within Judaism”. A traditional view of Paul in Christianity is that Paul was against Judaism which matched the mood of Christians in later times. A modern revision in “Paul and Judaism” tries to find Paul endorsing a “dual covenant”, meaning Torah for Jews, Jesus for gentiles. “Paul Within Judaism” indicates that the evidence suggests that Paul didn’t believe in a dual covenant.

    From Jo Ann:

    Odette gave us a very amusing summary of her visit to a messianic congregation!  Jo Ann stated that messianic congregations vary.  We talked about how church denominations vary too.

    We decided just to continue moving forward and will begin 2nd Corinthians next week.  

    Again, please add anything that is missing to this summary.

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