Do you feel ledto show others the exciting, revealing, deep things we can know when we learn about the Jewish roots of our faith? This book will help you teach a great course on Messianic Judaism.
Click here to See Inside.
You will find this book easy to teachfrom. The Scriptures are given in full for you, usually in the Complete Jewish Bible version. The answers are given to each question along with occasional teacher's instructions and background information. The Student Books have only the Scripture references and no answers.
To reiterate, for this course there is a Student Book, a Teacher Book, and five small Answer Books, one for each unit of the course. The Answer books have the answers to all the questions in the Student Book plus other information covered. Each Answer Book also has a test at the end. The teacher can handout a unit's Answer Books when the class finishes that unit. The students can correct their own answers in their Student Book, and can take the test, writing their answers on a paper. Then the teacher can collect the Answer Books to re-use for the next class. That way, students cannot know the answers ahead of time. Discovering the answers with the class is much more meaningfull and exciting. (Rabbi Jim lets the students take the Answer Books home for open-book tests that must be done to pass the course. The students can then return the Answer Books for re-use for the next class.)
See the Student Book
See Inside the Student Book .
See the five small Student Answer books
May your classes be as livelyand heartwarming as Rabbi Jim's have been over the years. He teaches in an exciting way, letting the students discover the answers in their own Bibles from the Scripture references given. If they can’t see the answer right there in front of them due to past indoctrination, Rabbi Jim gently points it out to them. When they finally see it, gasping in amazement is often their response. May the Lord bless you and your students with many such moments of wonder.
Rabbi Jim describes this in his book, Yom Teruah, The Sounding Of The Shofar:
[There] are people who are so immersed
in the doctrines they’ve learned over the years that they don’t grasp
what they’re reading. I see this often when I’m teaching. In my
Messianic Judaism classes, I often teach through questions. We’ll have
a question. Then we’ll read a Scripture that answers that question. And
it amazes me. It absolutely amazes me how often many people will
read a Scripture, but not really see what it says. I’ll ask a question that
that Scripture answered. My whole point is that I’m trying to show
them that maybe something they’ve learned before is incorrect. Yet the
people will answer with how they learned it rather than with what we just
read. It’s like they didn’t even hear the actual words. It’s the Bible but
they didn’t even hear it! It just went in one ear and out the other. It’s like
all the doctrines that we’ve learned—all the previous teachings—block
us from hearing it!
And it so blesses me when somebody finally gets it and realizes,
“All I’ve got to do is look at what it says, and I’ll know how to answer
the question!” I have the privilege of witnessing that sometimes. But
before they get there oftentimes they will come out with great, eloquent
answers that they’ve heard great teachers teach, but it isn’t the answer
to the question which was answered by the verse right there! I have
to believe that this is what happens all the time when they read the
Bible, not just when they answer my questions. What that says to me
is that they’re not really getting it. They’re reading the Bible and it’s so familiar
and they’ve heard so many teachings on it that they don’t see what
it really says. They need to say, “Lord, help me look at what it really
says. Please speak to me about what You are saying here, so that I can
receive it.”
Rabbi Jim runs his Messianic Judaism class like a home group meeting, starting with everyone telling about their week and then singing a few songs together. He ends the lessons by asking for prayer requests and having the group pray together. Students love it and usually form strong bonds of friendship with each other that last long after the course if over. Running the class this way can cause the course to go on for six months or more, but people don't seem to mind. New people are joining the class all the time. Once they start, they don’t want to miss. Many have been known to take the course two or three times because they love it so much and feel they can glean so much more each time.
Listen to class sessions using this book!! (We apologize that some of the links to the recordings are broken. We are trying to remedy that.)
For this course, there is a Student Book, a Teacher Book, and five small Answer Books (one small Answer Book for each unit of the course). The Answer Books have the answers to all the questions in the Student Book plus some of the other information covered. Each Answer Book also has a test at the end. Rabbi Jim gives take-home, open-book tests that must be done to pass the course, but are very easy. No one who is trying fails his class. Rabbi Jim keeps the Answer books and gives them out one at a time only as the class finishes each unit.
This course is mostly written by Messianic Rabbi Jim Appel who has been teaching it at his synagogue in two-hour, Tuesday night sessions for nearly three decades. There are many astounding revelations and "Aha!" moments for the students. You and your students' attitude toward your Savior and His Word will never be the same after studying this material!
Jesus is Jewish. His heart language is Hebrew. His original, Hebrew Name is Yeshua. Most of the disciples and most of the first 8000 believers were Jewish. Apostle Paul (Rabbi Sha’ul) was Jewish. Therefore, learning more about Jewish thought and Biblical Jewish beliefs is not just an interesting, intellectual endeavor, it is vital to our growth in the Lord! It brings a depth and richness to our faith and to our understanding of Scripture which we cannot acquire any other way. After you learn these truths that up to now were hidden from you, you will wonder how you ever lived without this deep, meaningful part of your life before.
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About the authors
Rabbi Jim’s Jewish parents were atheists who taught him that organized religion deceived and oppressed people. His search for spiritual reality began in drugs and yoga, but ended with a dramatic encounter with the Messiah, Yeshua, in his bedroom in 1977.
Before becoming the Messianic Rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael in 1996, Jim worked for Xerox Corporation for 24 years as an optical engineer and manager. He has a master’s degree in physics and holds more than 45 patents in copier imaging systems and laser printing.
Rabbi Jim shepherds his flock with gentle, inviting, easy-to-understand, yet profound teachings—always with personal, spiritual application. He has been teaching this Messianic Judaism class every Tuesday evening for more than 16 years to whomever is interested. There are hundreds of people whose lives are now enriched because of it. Rabbi Jim and his wife, Diane, live in Rochester, NY. They have two grown children.
Jonathan Bernis is the well-known Messianic Rabbi who in 1993 started the amazing outreaches to Jewish people in Russia called “Hear O Israel, Festivals of Jewish Music and Dance” which have brought tens of thousands of people all around the world to Yeshua. Before that he founded Congregation Shema Yisrael. He can now be seen on his TV and online program, “Jewish Voice” out of Pheonix, Arizona.
David Levine succeeded Jonathan Bernis as Rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael. Later he helped plant many Messianic Congregations in Russia. He now leads Beth Israel Messianic Synagogue in Jacksonville, Florida.
Rabbi Jonathan Bernis first wrote and taught this as a weekend course. Then Rabbi David taught it for three years, re-working the curriculum. Since Rabbi Jim took it over in 1996, it has gradually grown into a much longer, weekly class.
Product Code: MESSTEACH
