Messianic Teachings From Nachamu Ami Messianic Synagogue

God gave specific instructions for the meeting place He desired His people to build. Very specific! So specific that many people gloss over or skip these “Tabernacle” chapters all together. Would God spend so much time explaining something that had no value? Of course not, but what is the value, especially today? Let’s find out together.

This week's Torah portion presents a bit of a problem. God had just brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt and released them from slavery to Pharaoh. Yet our current Torah portion opens with God giving them instructions on how to handle their slaves. How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposing concepts in the framework of God's goodness and mercy?

In parsha Yitro, Moses learns a valuable lessons about leadership and delegation from an unlikely source — his Midianite father-in-law, Jethro. But through this, Moses teaches us an even more important lesson about humility and how to become wise in this life.

Birthday For Trees - Part 2: Application by Shalom Macon - Messianic Jewish Teaching

Few people know that Judaism celebrates a new year for trees called Tu Bishvat. The next logical question many would ask is, “Why?!” It all starts with Torah, but there are many beautiful lessons we can glean from this special day. We’ll discuss them in this two-part teaching.

Last week was Moses' fear. This week, it’s his failure. But you might say, “Moses didn’t fail!” We can say that because we know the end of the story. But along the way, Moses clearly struggled and his persistence teaches lessons about what it takes to succeed when things don’t go our way.

Moses is the Torah’s great hero. His story begins this week in Parsha Shemot. But Moses’ hero journey does not seem to get off to a great start. Between arguing with God about why he can’t do it and then failing to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go, Moses seems destined for failure. He has some lessons to learn and some hard steps to take on the way to his status as hero. His journey though this is a lesson for us all in conquering fear and failure.

In this closing portion of Genesis, Joseph again demonstrates his extraordinary character in dealing with his brothers. It’s captured in just one line of Torah, but the lessons are life-changing as we consider our interactions each and every day and how we are all connected in the stories of our lives.

The Midrash connects Amos 9:13—"the plowman shall overtake the reaper"—with Judah's confrontation of Joseph at the beginning of this week's Torah portion. It sees this encounter as a foreshadowing of the World To Come with Judah representing the plowman and Joseph being the reaper. How does this work and what does it have to do with us? We'll find out together in this message on the Torah portion of Vayigash.

There's a Yiddish expression that says, "Man makes plans and God laughs." While that may not be entirely accurate, we often find that our plans don't always line up with what God has in mind. The straight path toward what we perceive as our goal often winds around the forest and climbs through valleys and over mountains before ever reaching sight of that goal. Joseph's life was the perfect example of life taking unexpected turns. But yet, through it all he was able to give God glory. How? We'll discuss in this message on the Torah portion of Mikeitz.

How could an unmarried woman who dresses up as a prostitute and seduces a man in order to get pregnant be thought of as acting righteously? The story of Tamar and Judah certainly raises some questions that we’ll consider in this message.

The Jacob and Esau conflict reaches its climax in Vayishlach. Why did Jacob cross the Jabbok ford? What’s up with the pugilistic angel? A unique consideration on Jacob’s wrestling match offers some incredible insight into our own daily struggles.

Situations arise in life that create a dilemma for us — "Should I stay or should I go?" In other words, do I sit still and wait on God to move or should I take an action to get things going? We know the story of “the deception” involving Jacob. But who was actually behind the decision to take action? Was it a good move? What if it hadn’t been done? Behind the answer to those questions is an application for our lives that we’ll uncover in this teaching.

From a surface reading of the story of Jacob and Esau, it really seems Esau got the short end of the stick by being cheated out of the double-portion entitled to the firstborn. But we never read about Jacob receiving this either. What he receives is given by God and it's far greater than material blessings. Join us as we unravel this complex story of brothers and birthrights.

In the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah, Abraham purchased a field and a burial curve for his beloved wife, Sarah. But in reality it was so much more. Abraham, the father of many, had an incredible eye for the future and for the generational mission he had been given. Shalom Macon is taking a lesson from Abraham in this. Learn all about it here.

Abraham is affectionately called Avraham Avinu, "Our Father Abraham." Paul says he is the father of "all who believe." Is this just a title or are there expectations that come along with being children of Abraham? Our Torah portion reveals a lot to help us answer this question.

Noah’s success in the mission of survival was a great success. But there was a second mission, revival. How did he do? Was Noah the hero that God was looking for? The Torah uses small clues to point to the answer.

It’s at the top of the list of favorite Bible stories — Noah’s Ark. It’s obvious that righteous Noah had a big job to do, a mission from God to build this boat and survive the flood. He was faithful to the task. But Noah had multiple missions and the Torah makes them pretty clear if we look carefully. This teaching explores the multiple missions of Noah and how well he succeeded in accomplishing them.

As the Torah cycle starts with Genesis, we once again marvel at the mystery and majesty of creation. One mystery is particularly unique. The text says, "Let us create man in our image." This teaching explores interpretations of this curious text, introduces a challenging new interpretation and reveals a profound shadow of the messiah.

After the High Holidays, we made some decisions and commitments to take action to become our better self. There’s always one challenge that rears its head as we move forward in this direction. The sages of Israel use the valuable illustration of the horse and rider to teach about it. In this message, Rabbi Eisner brings that idea home as the conclusion to this series.