Articles by Jeremiah Michael
Jeremiah Michael is pursuing a degree in rabbinic literature from a university in Israel. His desire is to bring a greater understanding of Jewish literature to Messianic Judaism. Jeremiah lives in Israel with his wife and children.
The Pedestrian God
Despite the rabbis’ general aversion to God taking on human form, several midrashic legends constitute a stream of incarnational thinking within the ocean of rabbinic theology. For example, in one midrash, God placed himself into the burning bush to literally feel his children’s pain in Egypt.
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13-min
The World to Come in Genesis
The Torah begins with a powerful revelation and deep implications about our existence: God created the universe. This means that there is purpose and meaning to life and creation. The rabbis pondered if there were any deeper implications to this revelation.
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10-min
Sukkot in the Messianic Era
The culmination of the fall holidays at Sukkot mirrors the final redemption when the LORD will shelter us in his presence, and all nations will worship him in his Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
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8-min
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz Tz”l
R' Steinsaltz’s desire to bring the Torah’s wisdom as represented in classic Jewish works such as the Midrash and Talmud to Jews who had assimilated into the wider secular culture around them was, much like our Master’s desire, a mission to bring the lost sheep of the house of Israel back into relationship with God.
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5-min
Comfort of God’s Salvation
The consolations build upon each other as we move from understanding our state of sin and its effect on our relationship with God to the final redemption in which the entire world will rejoice in God’s salvation.
12-min
Keep the Torah for God’s Sake
The person who engages the Torah for its own sake brings praise not to himself but for God. He brings healing to those around him by showing them that God’s ways are better and more life-giving than anything this world could offer.
5-min
Characteristics of a Disciple
Since we are disciples of Yeshua, our lives should be guided by the desire to imitate our Master’s character and live righteously as he did. Naturally, this should raise the question in all of us: Does my character live up to the high standard of what it means to be a disciple of our Master Yeshua?
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5-min
The Temporal and the Eternal
The themes of life and our interaction with material pleasure presented by Kohelet seem out of place for the joyous holiday of Sukkot. The opening segment of the book leads us to the conclusion that life is entirely pointless. How can we reconcile that with the commandment to celebrate with joy and gladness?
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6-min
The Compassionate Father
We are currently in a season of repentance. We, the collective whole of God’s people both Jew and Gentile, young and old, rich and poor, free and enslaved, are praying prayers of repentance from the Siddur that reflect our humble posture as we approach our just King during this time of corporate repentance.
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6-min
The Restoration of Zion
In a mere 148 years, the land of Israel has transformed from desolation into a living oasis. How did this change occur? What about the land gave it this amazing ability to change in such a miraculous manner? The settlers of Zion had a largely positive impact on Israel. They turned the desert green.
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7-min
Carry My Cross
The governments and religious groups that persecuted Christianity throughout the centuries did so under the satanic mission to make the name of Jesus void on the earth. Christians who suffered persecution under the hand of the evil one went to their deaths with the praise of God on their lips.
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4-min
Language Learning Adventure
Just a few months ago, after learning Greek from a fantastic resource, I decided that I needed to learn Babylonian Aramaic. I found what I thought would be a fabulous book to help me do just that: Introduction to the Grammar of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. But I did learn something!
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4-min
Five Ways to Guarantee that Yeshua Will Never Come Back
What is it about the end times that piques our curiosity so much? Why do we have such an infatuation with figuring out the exact date of the apocalypse? Perhaps it’s a subconscious knowledge that this present reality needs to be destroyed in order to give way to a better more complete reality.
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8-min
The Tzaddik at the Center
Just as the student’s love and trust of a Tzaddik is an expression of his love and devotion to God, likewise our relationship with Yeshua is a reflection of our relationship with God. Levertoff tells us elegantly that our love for God is rooted in our love for the Messiah.
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5-min
The New Torah of the Messianic Era
One of the most curious changes that will take place in the Messianic Era is the emergence of a New Torah. The rabbis teach that in the Messianic Era a New Torah will come from God and that our current Torah will be nothing compared to the New Torah of Messiah.
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4-min
