2.3.3 Internal Social-Structural Interaction

The conversion and personal history, described in the previous section, appeared to shape the culture and social-structure of the congregation that gathered around that person, who became a popular leader (5/97). Type ℷ (gimel) group members perceived and experienced Jesus and the New Testament as thoroughly Jewish, and not at all culturally Christian. Therefore, they had also no need and reason to adopt any visible Christian culture and tradition. Their concern is not directed to contradict the „spirit of Scripture”. A synagogal style enables type ℷ (gimel) believers to live out their faith in Jesus as Jews, as depicted in the New Testament, unrestricted by later and alien Christian conventions and interests.

Corresponding to the intellectual conversion of its leader and reservation towards Christian tradition, the type ℷ (gimel) group developed considerable academic efforts. Their own Yeshiva enables them to study the Scriptures and eventually to prepare for leadership tasks. The believers can at least use the learned in many other ways in the congregations and personal life. A thorough theological research project has to dig up long forgotten knowledge and insights about the Jewishness of Jesus, the New Testament and the first centuries' believers. In the contemporary context, these efforts are to help to restore the Jewish expression of faith in Jesus, in a way they think it was in the first century. International connections complete these tasks and maintain the link with the wider Messianic Jewish and Christian body.

In the congregations, the worship services and the personal piety follow Jewish-Orthodox patterns as laid down in the Siddur. Yet spirituality gets always related to the Old and the New Testament. Leaders and members consequently question the Halakah of the official rabbinate, the prescribed Jewish „way of life” (Donin 1972: 28). They measure it against a Jewish life style as they perceive the Bible prescribes it. They want to give the Old and the New Testament the final word in study, discussion and practice of life. This makes the type ℷ (gimel) synagogal congregation appear as inspired by the Protestant principle sola scriptura (Schmidt 1975: 288-289). Since the Reformation this principle served to question the Catholic and other churches that formally allow tradition to rule besides Scripture. Today in Israel it serves to question rabbinical, Catholic, and, since the movement came forth from there, ironically also Protestant tradition.

The other Protestant principles, sola fide and sola gratia, salvation alone by faith, alone by grace (Schmidt 1975: 272), get questioned because „a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (James 2:24, 5/97). Also the principle, scriptura scriptura interpretata, Scripture explains itself by Scripture (Schmidt 1975: 289), appears problematic. One cannot correctly understand Scripture if one reads it against a blank or un-Jewish background. Exactly this stripping of context stripped Scripture from its very Jewishness. The Bible is literature like any other literature that takes on its real meaning only against its historical background (Christensen 1979). They understand old and New Testament as genuine Jewish literature whose real meaning appears only against its historical Jewish background and context (Billerbeck 1922, Miskotte 1966). The common efforts of the believers to place the Biblical texts into the context of the Jewish history and literature of the biblical times impressed me. Besides the Bible, in meetings also Talmud, Midrash and other Jewish writings get critically studied and scanned, especially for obvious, hidden and possible references to Jesus (5/95, 5/96, 5/97).

Not visions and auditions guide the individual and the group, but careful, attentive and contextual study of the Bible. The Siddur, the Jewish prayer book, shapes private and collective prayer in the synagogue. Messianic Jews share this clinging to the Bible with most evangelical groups. The use of the Siddur they share with many Jews. Spontaneous prayer, though often practised, does not replace the established tefila, the formal prayers of Siddur. Speaking tefila mainly means listening to God, to correct alien, un-Jewish, images of thought (Hausdorff 1993: IX).

This is a very Jewish, a very traditional Jewish congregation. We believe that Jewish people, if they want to preach the Gospel, should be Jewish. Because of what is written in 1^st Corinthians 9, that to the Jew I became as a Jew, to those under the law I became as under the law, even though I am not under the law. The law is our identity as Jews and so we worship in a Jewish style. In an Orthodox rabbinical, synagogue style, but with Jesus in the middle, with Jesus as the centre piece of our praise and worship. We read the Thora, we dance with the Torah, but Jesus is in the middle, in the centre of our faith and in the centre of our worship (5/96).

The worship services follow a synagogal pattern, purposely set up so that any Orthodox Jewish visitor would not feel alienated or estranged. The service actively involves various men. These appear to have been asked in advance to perform tasks of honour, sharing visibly spiritual responsibility and power in the congregation. These tasks are (Donin 1980: 45-54):

1. the opening of the Ark;
2. taking out the Torah scroll and
3. carrying it, through the congregation to get kissed, to the Bimah, the lectern;
4. aliya, „going up” to speak a fitting blessing and read from the Torah, and finally,
5. returning the Scroll to the ark.

In contrast, in an ecclesiastic congregation the pastor can be the sole agent in a worship service. In a synagogal congregation these honours are granted to one ore more persons in special life situations:

6. Bar-Mitzwah, when a boy turns thirteen and becomes religiously mature,
7. naming a baby daughter,
8. a yahrzeit, the anniversary of a parent's death, and
9. a birthday, an anniversary, or when recovering from sickness, when one wants to recite a blessing.

Rules prescribe which occasion has priority over another (Donin 1980: 249-351). Torah is not simply read, but chanted. Readers get corrected eagerly by the congregation if they recognise mistakes in pronunciation or tone (13/96). The rituals and customs around the Torah reading can be regarded as an institutionalised sharing of ritual power and maintenance of organizational and social structure. It requires the leaders of the synagogue to be aware of the life stages and situations of their members, to advise and to prepare them for the ritual tasks. The tasks make Torah a property of everybody. Women do not participate in these honours (Sered 1992: 15-17).

Not all men wear a kippah, a skullcap, in the service, arguing that „the Bible does not demand it”. Less even wear a tallit, a prayer shawl. It happened that a man was called to „go up” to read from the Torah, but wore neither a kippah nor a prayer shawl. To avoid unnecessary embarrassment and controversy, especially with Orthodox visitors, the liturgist placed a kippah on the man's head before he started reading from Torah (28/97). So, everybody gets his way, and Orthodox tradition is honoured and questioned simultaneously.

The New Testament appears not to play a visibly dominant role in the service. It might not even be read. The argument for that is, that also in New Testament times, they preached the Gospel from the Torah and that no New Testament was yet available. Some take pride in the ability to preach Christ from the Torah, perceiving that most Christian theologians and pastors are unable to do so (16/96, 17/97). While the reading from the Pentateuch and from the Prophets is surrounded by prayers carefully prescribed in the Siddur, the reading from the New Testament appears almost profane. For the New Testament reading, American Messianic Jews have developed special surrounding formulas, called „B'rit Hadasha Blessings” (Fischer and Bronstein 1988: v, 96-99). I could not observe this practice in Israel.

The Torah portion that is read, usually follows the texts prescribed by tradition and rabbinate. A sermon following the Torah reading, towards the end of the service, can be short or long. Only those deliver it who have studied sufficiently and are accepted by the congregation to do so. They will not easily ask Christian guests to teach, which is more likely to happen in the ecclesiastical types, ℵ (aleph) and ℶ (beth). They expect Christians easily to confuse or embarrass Orthodox and Jewish guests.

The rite of the Priestly Blessing, birkat kohanim, also called nesiat kapayim, the lifting up of hands, already „was an integral part of the ancient Temple service” (Donin 1980: 133). It is still reserved for descendants of a priestly family. Also, in the service of a Messianic synagogue it is a special moment distinguished by a strong sense of awe. When their moment approaches, the 'Kohanim” (Cohen) go to stand in front of the ark and cover their head and their lifted hands with the prayer shawl. The congregation stands up and prepares to receive the blessing. They do not expect the blessing from the priests, but from the supernatural. One man layed his prayer shawl over his had to form with it a sort of canopy by upholding his left and right hand. His wife came to stand under it, while the priests turned to the congregation to speak:

May the Lord bless you and watch over you.
May the Lord cause his countenance to shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord bestow His favour upon you and grant you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26) (Donin 1980: 133).

What happened here, seemed experienced not only symbolic by the participants. They perceive the blessing as real, as happening from the supernatural to the humans that are present and open to receive. The priests only spoke the words of the blessing that God himself gave. In a sense this was the most awesome moment in the service. I wonder if it was so because it may come closest to the ancient temple service (Numbers 6:3).

At the end of the service, the leader „makes Kiddush”, speaks a ritual blessing over a cup of wine and maybe also hallah, bread. This opens already the Sabbatical meal that the congregation consumes after the service in the synagogue (Donin 1980: 322). For this meal members bring what they had prepared at home. Everybody takes what she or he likes, and what is available. The meal is a lively time, when they share news, sorrows and joys between individuals, families and groups. The meal has no formal end and the members and visitors leave as they please. The Sabbath service, the central communal occasion of the week, is over.

During the whole week on various evenings, at different locations home meetings take place, to study the bible, to receive a lecture from some leaders. Others meet to sing from the Siddur, to discuss portions of it and their meaning as related to Jesus. Also here, they serve often a meal or refreshment after the religious part. „In the Middle East you cannot hate those with whom you eat.” Uninformed Christians that would enter here might be puzzled and confused. Jews who would enter here can understand the meaning given to and derived from the Siddur. A leader in such meetings also may explain a passage from the Bible. He would ask someone to read a text portion from it. With a didactic question he would then start a conversation and move into a rabbinical and theological explanation that places the text within a Jewish and within a Christian context. The Christian context has no easy stand here, neither has the rabbinical. In another group, temporarily not the Bible, but selected Talmudic texts get studied. Texts that say at least something about Jesus from Nazareth that unfortunately the European church had censored from the Jewish books during the medieval period, but fortunately were preserved, for example in the Steinsalz Talmud.

For a guest it is a special honour to be invited to a Friday evening meal. Before sunset, at the appropriate time, the youngest daughter or the woman of the house lights the Sabbath candles with the according blessing (Donin 1980: 334-336). The meal begins when the man of the house recites Genesis 2:1-3, and speaks the blessing over a ritual cup of wine and two hallah, specially prepared Sabbath bread, and says grace for the meal (Donin 1980: 319-328). Fathers bless their children by laying hands on their heads, and speaking a special blessing, that God may make his boys as Ephraim and Menasseh, and his daughters like Sarah, Rebecca, Rahel and Leah. A recitation of the priestly blessing can follow (Donin 1977: 83-85). The meal is festive and rich, according to the joy of the Sabbath and wealth of the host. After the meal, the conversation of at least the men enters a discussion of spiritual matters. First I regarded that as incidentally. Then it dawned to me that it is a spontaneous, almost „natural” fulfilling of the Mosaic law and Rabbinical tradition. The Sabbath is the occasion to study Torah and to deal with spiritual matters.

Another special occasion for a guest is the Saturday evening meal. If it is dark already, it can be opened with the rite of Havdalah, the Prayer of Separation. If the youngest boy of the household is old enough to recite the blessings, he may do so. It involves lighting a specially braided candle, which produces a torch like flame. The boy says a blessing over a ritual cup of wine. The cup stands on a plate and gets filled until it flows over. All present sip from the cup. Little children dip a finger in the wine and lick it. Then they say a blessing over spices in a special box. All present smell their scent by holding the box under the nose, which shall comfort them over the parting of the Sabbath. The ritual ends when the torch-like flame gets forcefully extinguished in the wine that ran over the cup onto the plate. This appears like an act of force that expresses the unwillingness to depart from the Sabbath (Donin 1980: 328-334). After the ritual, again they serve a festive rich meal. The conversation is relaxed, and spiritual issues prevail.

At no occasion the fulfilling of rituals or religious duties appeared experienced as a burden or annoyance. Spontaneous prayers and modern songs expressed heartfelt emotions and wishes. Even the prescribed prayers and songs from the Siddur obviously are spoken by many with great Kavanah, that is, with extraordinary devotion (Donin 1980: 18-22). Some worshippers were motionless. Others rocked their bodies in the melody or rhythm of the prayers. Others closed their eyes, holding their faces upwards with an expression of concentration and joy or longing. Again others lifted up their hands as the old may have done. To me, the expressions on the faces were mostly beautiful, were they old or young, male or female, Middle Eastern, Russian or European. These were not „festive-less and dour” (Sobel 1974: 318) people who drily fulfil nasty commandments. These people obviously experienced deep joy and satisfaction in singing the Psalms and the prayers from the Siddur, in passing through the prescribed synagogal service.

If intellect and ratio have dominated the study rooms of type ℷ (gimel) groups, in their synagogal worship service strong emotions get released, channelled in the discipline of a rich, Jewish liturgy and tradition, „a remarkably rich pattern of life” (Weiner 1961: 144). Here are the place and the time to take delight in the God of Israel and to mourn about ones grievances. I could also not sense that they „performed” the services to impress their fellow believers or guests. It was as if individual believers „forgot” the presence of the others, as they felt themselves directly related to God. I do not think that they would have behaved differently in my absence. They simply were. I had seen much seriousness in Christian denominations and congregations of the non-charismatic ecclesiastical type. Now, I sensed a strong devotion that comprised simultaneous joy and seriousness, which impressed me considerably. This was all but an „overwhelming bleakness that makes its people a festival-less and dour community whose satisfactions cannot be communicated” (Sobel 1974: 318). What Sobel in the beginning of the seventies regarded as possible has materialised, since the movement obviously broke „loose from the straitjacket placed on it” (idem) by Christianity.

Type ℷ (gimel) congregations define differently what a congregation is than type ℵ (aleph) and ℶ (beth) congregations. For type ℷ (gimel) congregations an informal home Bible study group cannot be already a congregation. A synagogal service is impossible without a minyan, the presence of ten religiously mature men. Without such quorum they may neither perform certain rituals nor speak certain blessings (Donin 1972: 167, 1980: 15). A congregation requires official structure, leadership, elders who meet certain criteria as laid out in the New Testament.

Yet no all men who meet these criteria are willing to take on a responsible function. This again demands structural and organizational improvisation that makes even in the synagogal type ℷ (gimel) room for women to enter vital functions. Though they will not teach in the public, they may keep the books, give legal advice, study and contribute to writing and publishing on an academic level. They do not permit women to preach and to teach publicly, referring to 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:12 (5/97). Besides this, women fully participate in worship and congregational life and are not separated from men in some special women section in the synagogue. They do not sit on a separate balcony, behind a curtain or milk glass wall. Husband and wife, brother and sister, sit together. There s no fear of distraction by the other gender. Men do not fear that the female could contaminate the male. No man would spit here on a woman (Weiner 1954: 131). This may be an expression of a perceived new oneness and equality of value of the different genders in the Messiah (Galatians 3:28), who has even taken away the ancient temple wall that stood between men and women (Rienecker 1974: 1483), Jews and gentiles (Ephesians 2:14). Some women would wear something on their head, others not. Smaller children get taught in another room during the service. Occasional jokes release the tensions subordination causes. To find an appropriate husband can be a challenge to a woman, as he must be a believer and should preferably be a Jew. A few men had married Christian wives abroad, who have adopted then Orthodox lifestyles. A woman from a priestly family wishes to marry also a husband from a priestly family. Otherwise, she would spoil certain religious opportunities. Her children would not be regarded priestly and could not „perform the rite of the Priestly Blessing” (Donin 1980: 58-59).

Members come from all layers of Israel society, from varied professions and different national backgrounds. The university professor sits next to the offset printer, former Americans next to former Russians, the converted non-Jew next to Sabras, born Israelis. The housewife sits next to the film-maker, the intellectual next to the mentally disabled. Some were brought up as atheist, others as Orthodox Jew. As some people come from far to participate, car driving is not forbidden on Sabbaths, besides, „Moses would too, lived he today” (5/97).

One old man found his Messiah in Jesus while he was in a Nazi concentration camp. On the way to the camp a dead Orthodox lay on the side of the street. He appeared to hold a purse in his hand. In the camp the taken purse turned out to be a Hebrew New Testament instead. It became the only and very treasured book in the camp (13/96). One couple attended an Orthodox synagogue before they joined a type ℷ (gimel) congregation. There, a rabbi scolded and mocked about Jesus. The man of the couple publicly questioned the unverified attacks of the rabbi and „came up for Jesus'. They were excommunicated and treated with hostility.

One type ℷ (gimel) synagogal congregation had two elders and a few deacons. The two elders have prime responsibility for biblical teaching and counselling. They also maintain a wealth of external, international contacts. They are well known abroad. The deacons cover various practical aspects of the community. Especially for new immigrants, life is tough and surviving economically is hard. This poses a challenge to the congregation, even when foreign sponsors help to meet the needs. Otherwise, the congregation appears self-supporting and not financed from the outside. It is culturally considerably independent from Christian traditions and critical also towards the rabbinical tradition that it employs to express its faith in Jesus.

Type ℷ (gimel) congregations believe in a Messianic body consisting of Jews and gentiles, the latter mostly in churches. Yet they also want to express their faith in Jesus in a genuine Israeli Jewish way. Consequentially, they cannot really be fully independent of any of both. The resulting tension or frustration with both dependencies can find considerable aggressive verbal expression, especially against Christian denominationalism and domination. It is no surprise, if Christian missiology regards cultural independence of local groups the most difficult to achieve. At least, missions viewed it as more difficult than financial and personnel independence, which the congregation obviously has achieved. The beginnings of the congregation lay in the early seventies. In the following two decades it brought forth two other institutions to meet various interests and goals. These instruments among others also mirror relationship and interaction with a wider context.

Regarding the knowledge of the Scriptures and the leading of the congregation and its services, the congregation appears oriented towards specialists. While the leader has all educational and functional qualifications and appearances of a rabbi, except an official certificate, and gets treated as such, he is never called „rabbi” and does not want to be called so (5/97). Regarding the performance of the services and the meeting of the needs of the individuals and the collective, the congregation appears highly participatory. Many may express their emotions and views, and exercise their skills and knowledge for the benefit of the congregation and individuals.