"Brit-Am Now"-512
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:44:26 +0200
"Brit-Am Now"-512
Contents:
1. Early British Kingdoms
2. Pelagians
3. Religious Reconciliation?
4. Karaite Clarification
5. Need for Acceptance of Tradition?
6.. Did The Lubavitcher Rabbi Foresee the role of Avraham Feld? (Revised)
7. New and Revised Books. Book by Rabbi Avraham Feld
8. Roses
9. Appeal for Offerings and Book Purchases
1. Early British Kingdoms
A somewhat detailed but interesting history of the Early British Celtic Kingdoms:
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kingdoms/410.html
2. Pelagians
Pelagians were an early Christian "heresy" that originated in Britain.
Pelagius (c. a. 354-418)
Pelagius was Scotch, or Welsh, or Irish but most accounts
say Welsh. His name in Britain was "Morgan".
At one state the Pelagian belief was very important in Britain.
One of the doctrines of Pelagius was that: The (Mosaic Law) is as good a guide to heaven as the Gospel.
3. Religious Reconciliation?
Dear Yair
Regarding your sentence and reconciliation. "The Bible says that there must
be an authority to decide what to do when
how the Law is to be applied is uncertain.
The Bible also says that Legal Decisions reached by this authority must be
adhered to even if one does not agree with them"
I believe with you that reconciliation between Jews and Christians is of key
importance. None more so than between Orthodox Jews such as yourself and
committed Christians such as myself, who have discovered thanks to your
research that they are of Jewish descent. Many others between these
extremes probably wont bother to have the argument and have little interest
in resolving the issues. My question is this; if you wont join a religious
discussion how can we achieve the third "R" Reconciliation?
Answer:
Shalom,
We at Brit-Am will probably never engage directly in religious discussion though there may be a "religious" aspect
to everything about us.
The dialogue you wish for may well be needed very greatly but we are not the address for it.
You will not convert us and we have no wish to convert you.
Neither will we modify our own beliefs having already approached the edge of where we would wish to go.
What then do we mean by "Reconciliation"?
We mean recognition of Brit-Am Identity on the part of those who are identified by us as the Ten Tribes of Israel and Joseph along with a
realization of the truth of this identification by Judah.
We would expect an increased and intensified belief in the Bible to result from this
and a conscious drawing together of the two "sticks" when it is understood that we have a mutual destiny.
This is the will of the Almighty and this is what the Almighty wants
as we understand from Scripture.
You may say that much more than this is required and that may be so
but if so then other people will have to be found to meet the requirement.
We may be entering the first stage and those who believe in this process should support us
as well as they can.
Yair Davidiy is speaking for himself and feels that he is not qualified to conduct any such dialogue
and even if he was is not suited for it.
On the other hand Rabbi Avraham Feld is so qualified and probably would be prepared
if the necessary funding was to be earmarked for this purpose to make the needed interface available.
see items 6 and 7 below. The necessary project would require the doubling of the Brit-Am budget
and even then would involve just scraping by. We manage by virtue
of cumulative offerings that are somewhat irregular and enable us to get by.
Those however who feel we could do more without extra funding are mistaken.
4. Karaite Clarification
In "Brit-Am Now"-511
Item 1. Karaites
we said:
"b) Karaites on the Internet. These are a group of mainly young American Jews in Jerusalem
whose parents or grandparents were Orthodox Rabbinical Jews and who I understand
(if they are Jewish) have to get married in Rabbinical Courts since the Karaite community in Israel does not recognize them."
This remark may be considered a little "under the belt" and was in fact superfluous
since whether one agrees or disagrees with the Karaite position
should not necessarily be dependent on their social status or lack of it.
The statement may also have been inaccurate.
By "Karaites on the Internet" I was referring to a group I thought existed but may not do so.
Some time ago I was invited to speak to what I was told was a group of Karaites. The meeting place was
an apartment attached to the Karaite Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem and assumedly belonging
to the Karaite Congregation. 8 to 10 (?) people were present and I was asked not to refer to Rabbinical sources in my talk but
concentrate on Biblical passages. After the talk I received a check imprinted with an address containing the expression Karaites
or Karaite Community or something like that. We had not publicized the meeting
and the only people who knew about it as far as I knew were those inviting us.
I therefore assumed that I had been speaking before a group of Karaites.
I am now told that I was mistaken.
Nehemiah Gordon (who represents? "Karaites on the Internet"?) says he was offended by my remarks
and informs me that:
"Seeing as how you made a generalization based on
meeting me and perhaps 2-3 other Karaites (not
everyone at that meeting was Karaite) it is in fact an
individual attack against me and the 2-3 others."
Nehemiah also says that:
"I was married by a Karaite court
and sit on the Karaite Religious Council (most of
whose members are Karaites from Egypt)! "
I repeat the remark was superfluous and I did not mean to offend anyone.
On the other hand as far as I understand, apart from the case of Nehemiah, the remark itself was factually correct.
5. Need for Acceptance of Tradition?
The following note was received from somebody who is active
in Christian "Torah-Observant" circles and illustrates the confusion
that can result one no traditional authority is recognized. The writer wishes to remain anonymous:
"To begin with, I already have a new appreciation of the place of the Oral Law in the overall Torah commandments. Rabbi Feld makes sense. This is an area where Torah-observant Christians have much confusion and some are actually suspicious of the Oral Law traditions due to the possibility of human error creeping in. I'll give one example: among Torah-observant Christian communities, there is much confusion and dissent on calendar issues. It seems that each group has its own way of calculating the calendar and scheduling the High Days each year. This has led to considerable confusion as the Feast Days are held on different dates all over America by different observant groups. Some calculate the months (and Holy Days) by observed sightings of the lunar crescent and others go by calculated dates. However, some groups base their decision based on sightings of the lunar crescent in Jerusalem and others base their decisions on the visible sightings here in the USA. Others go by Karaite observations at a Karaite website. Others base their decisions on observing ears of the barley harvest. Good friends have been parted because of calendar differences. I was at a Feast of Tabernacles meeting two years ago where there was a general discussion of the various dating methods. To my surprise, I was only one of the few people there who observed the dates based on the Hillel system (with postponements) which are the dates set by Jewish authorities (correct me if I'm wrong on this). My understanding of the subject is that God gave the Jewish religious authorities the right to "sit in Moses' seat" and this authority includes the setting of the calendar dates and festival dates for the entire community. I freely admit that I am not a calendar expert so I rely on the dates as established by the Hillel dating methods. What is happening in the Torah-observant community here is an example of the confusion which occurs when everyone uses their own method. Even though each group is well-intentioned, chaos results when there is no recognized authority to set the dates."
6.. Did The Lubavitcher Rabbi Foresee the role of Avraham Feld? (Revised)
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)
www.us-israel.org%2Fjsource%2Fbiography%2Fschneerson.html
also known as the "Lubavitcher Rabbi" was the leading force behind the Chabad movement
that in some way or other has affected for the better most Jews of the world and very many of the
Gentiles especially those of North America.
Many consider the Rabbi to have been Divinely inspired and it cannot be denied that
the Rabbi had insights beyond the ken of ordinary mortals.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson met with Avraham Feld (co-founder of Brit-Am) and blessed him.
There was something in the blessing whose significance is only now becoming apparent.
When Avraham Feld was still a student at Yeshiva University he had acquired a reputation for
being able to get youth out of trouble in cases where few (if any) others were able to do so.
After received his qualification as a Rabbi, Avraham Feld continued his outreach activities.
Eventually he was approached by an official in the Chabad movement to handle an especially difficult and potentially dangerous case.
Prior to that Avraham had supplemented his Rabbinical studies with learning and various activities
in a Chabad framework.
Avraham agreed to undertake the proposed mission. Whilst the project was still in progress a meeting was arranged between
Avraham and the Rabbi of Lubavitch.
The Rabbi blessed Avraham that he should merit to bring the Jewish youth he was dealing with closer to the right path.
Avraham then requested a blessing that he should also merit to be able to reach out to the Gentiles he came
in contact with especially since he felt that many of them were of Israelite descent.
The Rabbi replied: "Of course they are".
The Rabbi then blessed Avraham that he should merit to have a good influence on Jews and on Gentiles of Israelite descent.
At the time Avraham assumed that the blessing pertained specifically to the particular task he was then dealing with.
Rabbi Avraham Feld now releases that the blessing included his present work with Brit-Am.
Avraham Feld at his meeting with the Rabbi of Lubavitch
http://britam.org/rabbifeldchabad.jpg
Rabbi Feld speaking at a later date
http://britam.org/avrahamfeldspeaking.jpg
7. New and Revised Books. Book by Rabbi Avraham Feld
Our book "Joseph. The Israelite Destiny of America" was been revised, improved, and expanded.
The new edition should be available some time this week.
In the previous edition there was an Appendix by Rabbi Avraham Feld on the Oral Law.
This Appendix has been taken out, expanded, and improved and should be published in book form.
The book will be named, "Little Sister. The Oral Explanation of Scripture".
We need funds to publish this work.
If you wish to make an offering for this project please do so.
8. Roses
Pictures of Roses from a Jewish Festival Prayer Book
from Worms, Germany, dated from ca.1280 CE
may be seen at
http://britam.org/rosesm2jpg.jpg
http://britam.org/rosesmachzor.jpg
The pictures depict the "lily of the valley"
in Hebrew the word translated as "lily" is shoshana
and more correctly means "rose".
It represents the Tribes of Israel
and its description is similar to that of the Tudor Rose
which is still one of the official symbols of Britain.
An article on the Tudor Rose and its significance
may be seen at:
http://britam.org/Roses.html
9. Appeal for Offerings and Book Purchases
Please make an extra effort to assist Brit-Am.
Your offerings and purchases enable us to work for our peoples and for you.
If you feel Brit-Am is on the right path help us to keep going by sending us an offering.
Also order Brit-Am publications. They are worth acquiring and reading and giving to others
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Brit-Am is on your side. Brit-Am represents you. Helping Brit-Am means doing good to yourselves and others.
"And I will bless them that bless you" (Genesis 12:15).
Spreading the Brit-Am message is our task.
We do this full time and God willing will continue to do so
as long as necessary.
Your purchases and offerings enable us to work for our peoples.
If possible please send us an offering along with an order for our
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"THE TRIBES. The Israelite Origins of Western Peoples" (3rd edition)
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"Origin. You too are from Israel! You too are the People"
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