MITZVAH ION - Angelfire

June 2005

The ultimate goal for us is that thechurch would embrace Romans 11:11:

AGAIN I ASK: DID THEY STUMBLE SO ASTO FALL BEYOND RECOVERY? NOT AT ALL!RATHER, BECAUSE OF THEIR TRANSGRES-

SION, SALVATION HAS COME TO THEGENTILES TO MAKE ISRAEL ENVIOUS. (NIV)

What a statement! And remember thiscomes from the apostle to the gentiles!If you think this through, the salvationof the Jewish people must be ofimmense importance if the very purposeof gentile salvation is for Jewish peopleto become jealous of them and want thissalvation for themselves! Of course Godloves all people and desires all to besaved but in the big picture the salvationof Israel is a key to world redemption!

The fact is that Romans 11:11 remainsto be fulfilled. The eyes of the churchhave somehow been blinded to thisvery clear mandate. It is almost as if aveil lies over the minds of Christians inmuch the same way as it lies over theminds of unbelieving Israel when theyread Moses and the prophets! I believethose of us who see are called toawaken the church to open her eyes. Agreat spiritual battle lies ahead!

YARON’S BARMITZVAH

The Bar Mitzvah of our son Yaron wasan event that will be long remembered.It was totally orchestrated by the Lord!Most people plan Bar Mitzvah celebra-tions a year or more in advance. Sincewe were transitioning from life inKazakhstan to life in New York City we

THE ULTIMATE GOAL

n my last newsletter I mentionedthe ultimate goal. Most MessianicJews realize that it is impossible for

the few of us to reach all of the Jewishpeople with the gospel. This is wherethe rest of the Body of Messiah needsto step up and be counted. There hasalways been a small number ofChristians who have had a heart for theJewish people and thankfully this num-ber is increasing. These saints realizethat the Messiah and all his first disci-ples were Jews and they have a heart-felt commitment to bless the peoplefrom whom their salvation came. Theirfaith is eternally tied to Israel and theirlove for the Jewish people has alwaysamazed me. Then there is the rest ofthe body. By far the majority ofChristians have practically nothing todo with Jewish people. They read allabout Israel and the Jewish peopledaily in their bibles but they sadly haveno connection at all with Jewish peopletoday. Many of them think that theJews were once God’s people butnowadays they as Christians have takentheir place. This is a result of replace-ment theology which has significantlyinfluenced Christendom. In this world-view the church replaces Israel. Simplyput, the blessings and promises ofIsrael now belong to the church and ofcourse the curses remain with unfaith-ful Israel. This replacement theologysomehow neglects the unfaithfulchurch but my focus now is not toaddress this great error but to ratherfocus on the biblical perspectiveChristians are indeed called to.

GATES OF ZIONGATES OF ZIONJune 2005

P.O. Box 55123

Phoenix, Arizona 85078-5123

As the Lord inspires, please send your gift to theGates of Zion. Please make checks out to

Gates of Zion and mail to our clearing house at:

Gates of ZionPO Box 55123

Phoenix, Arizona 85078-5123Thank-you for your generosity and faithfulness!

E-mail: [email protected]

Web site:www.gatesofzion.net

I

(please continue inside)

Jeff & JanetBernstein

“Yaron’s Bar Mitzvah”

saved. Like them, Stephen is among the first fruits ofmany Jews who are being added and will be added tothe Kingdom of God in New York City! Please keepStephen Frieder in your prayers.

BACK TO KAZAKHSTANBy the time you receive this newsletter our family willbe on our way to Kazakhstan. It has been almost twoyears since we have left Central Asia. The Lord has putit on our hearts to return to Almaty for about one monththis summer. We are trusting it will be a great time ofreunion and of mutual encouragement. I believe we willalso have a great opportunity to help strengthen andencourage our leadership network and the members ofour congregation. The political situation in Uzbekistanand Kyrgyzstan is somewhat unstable so we are notsure we will make it to those nations so they may cometo us. Please pray for a safe, fruitful and successful trip.

SUMMERTIME BLUES?During the summer months many tell me that giving tothe works of the Lord drops off sharply. I am guessingit is because many families are traveling, leaving theirhomes and normal routines. I am asking you, our part-ners, not to allow a decrease in giving to the Gates of

Zion this summer but to help bring in an increase! In theKingdom of God the harvest is as plentiful in the sum-mer as at other times. I would really like you to con-sider actually giving a little more these next two months!We trust the Lord for the plane fare and expenses forour trip to Kazakhstan which amounts to many thou-sands. Airfare alone to Kazakhstan for our family of fiveis over seven thousand dollars! Please prayerfully con-sider making a generous contribution to the Gates ofZion over and above your usual gift at this time. Maythe Lord return your investment a hundred fold!

We deeply appreciate all of you who have stood andcontinue to stand with us as together we put our handsto the plow and do our small part to help bring aboutthe salvation of the Jewish people in these last days.

Blessings, Shalom and Love,

Jeff and Janet Bernstein

YOUR CO-LABORERS SERVING YESHUA –A LIGHT TO BRING REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, AND THE

GLORY OF YOUR PEOPLE ISRAEL. (LUKE 2:32)

Specific Prayer Requests:

1 Please continue praying for our son Yaron. He willbe with believing youth in a great spiritual environ-ment in KC for three weeks in July before joining usin Kazakhstan. Pray he is impacted with the Love ofMessiah and for his safety in traveling on his own.

2 Pray for strength and inspiration for Jeff to completea book he is writing this summer on the importanceof the salvation of the Jewish people.

3 For a fruitful time in Kazakhstan this summer. Pleasekeep praying the Lord provides all the necessaryfunds for this trip.

4 For the seeds that were sown in New York City thispast year to grow into a great harvest of souls.

Jeff and Stephen

JEWISH BUSINESSMEN’SFELLOWSHIP

Our first Jewish businessmen’s fellowship got off to agreat start. There were seven Jewish businessmen pres-ent and all of them were excited and full of great ideas.We saw the need for an effective strategy so our meet-ings will draw the unbelieving Jewish businessmen weseek to reach. One of the topics we all agreed would berelevant is the one of ethics.

Our second meeting as the summer began was moreabout us getting to know one another better. The sug-gested name for our group is “Bread-breakers.” A whileback there was another group of Jewish men who werealso bread-breakers. The result of their bread breakingbegan to change the world!

ACTS 2: 46 SO CONTINUING DAILY WITH ONE ACCORD IN THETEMPLE, AND BREAKING BREAD FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, THEYATE THEIR FOOD WITH GLADNESS AND SIMPLICITY OF HEART,

47 PRAISING GOD AND HAVING FAVOR WITH ALL THEPEOPLE. AND THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH DAILY

THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED.

We believe that as we break bread with gladness ofheart that we also will find favor especially with theJewish people of New York City and that the Lord willalso add to our numbers! Please be praying for thebeginning of Bread-breakers!

JEFF THE IMMERSERThis Shavuot (Pentecost), I immersed (baptized) a newJewish believer Stephen Frieder in the Hudson River.Stephen did not realize that he asked me to immersehim on the day of Shavuot. It was on that day that thefirst three thousand new Jewish believers came to faithafter tongues of fire fell in the upper room. This was fol-lowed by Peter’s powerful message to the men of Israelwho were then cut to the heart, repented and were

Therefore I asked seven men to prepare a short fiveminute message that they would speak into Yaron’s life.My uncle Jerry who is the elder of our family spokeabout the importance of working hard. My oldest friendRobert Mazor (since I was 4!) spoke to Yaron about theimportance of friendship. A few of my Messianic Jewishrabbi friends spoke about godliness, intimacy with theLord and the importance of worship. Our friend Ericspoke to Yaron about the importance of setting goals.

Messianic Jewish rabbi Barry Feinman speaks intoYaron’s life about worshipping the Lord

Our guests saw that we were taking our son’s passageinto manhood seriously and that his Bar Mitzvah cele-bration was full of meaning and not just some bigextravagant party.

THE SERVICEThe actual synagogue service took place in a beautifuldownstairs room at the Manor. Yaron chanted the portion(parasha) for that day reading directly from the Torahscroll. He had spent the past few months studying withone of the rabbinical students who attends the Jewishtheological seminary at nearby Columbia University. Thepassage Yaron sang was from Leviticus 26:3-13. Afterchanting the passage he gave a short message on itsmeaning which I admittedly helped to write. Yaron wasable to truthfully say that in light of God’s command-ments that he surely falls way short and that he sees hisneed for atonement and forgiveness in Messiah Yeshua.

My friend Messianic rabbi David Rosenberg and his sonMatthew did a great job of chanting the Sabbath TorahService along with my dear friend, also a Messianic rabbiserving in Israel, Eitan Shishkoff, who led the service.

There were times during the service that my Jewish rel-atives were weeping. Many of them were greatly movedduring the entire evening. There was a genuine spirit oflove among us.

Yaron reading his Torah portion flanked by dadand rabbi Eitan.

My male family members chanting the blessing over thereading of the Torah before Yaron chanted his portion

It was a powerful and moving time when I and sevenof the Messianic Jewish rabbis who attended laid handson and prayed for Yaron at the end of the service. TheSpirit of God was present throughout the entire time.For many days afterward we received phone calls fromfamily and friends telling us that this was the best BarMitzvah service and celebration they had ever attended!

I and seven Messianic rabbis pray over Yaron

did not really have the time or frame of mind to planYaron’s Bar Mitzvah in the typical fashion. So as little asthree months before the event we still had no idea whereit would be! The Lord had put it on our heart years agothat our son’s Bar Mitzvah would be a powerful time toimpact our many Jewish family members and friendswith our faith in Yeshua. I am convinced there is nogreater way to express our faith in Messiah to our Jewishpeople than in the context of a Jewish celebration. Weknew Yaron’s Bar Mitzvah would be extraordinary buthow to pull it off was entirely in the hands of the Lord.

Our new Jewish believing friend Eric had an idea. Hebegan calling the very best catering halls in all of theNew York metro area. He began with the famousTavern on the Green in Central Park. His plan was tofind a cancellation. You see, these big caterers preparefood for many hundreds anyway and in the event of acancellation they will fill the vacancy at a much lowerprice to recoup whatever revenue they can. Eric’s nextcall was to the Manor, an exclusive enclave situated ina beautiful old mansion in nearby New Jersey completewith beautiful gardens, exquisite rooms and a five starcuisine. The Lord was with us. During the peak of thewedding season on Saturday evening, May 28th therewas a wedding cancellation! We immediately drove toWest Orange, N.J., and at a fraction of what the costwould normally be, we booked our event at the Manor!As the Manor is well known, family and friends alikewere in awe we were having our celebration there!

We invited about fifty of our not yet believing Jewishfamily members and friends and about 50 Jewish believ-ers and some of our close Christian friends. We strate-gically placed believers and not yet believers at thesame tables. At first my Jewish friends from Brooklynloudly protested, but in equally loud Brooklyn fashion Itold them, “Too bad, this is where you are sitting!”

A RIGHT OF PASSAGEThe Lord showed me that we should not have a typicalBar Mitzvah celebration. Today most of these celebrationshave almost nothing to do with God and in fact ungodlyreveling with sensuous music and dancing is the norm.The themes of these Bar Mitzvah celebrations are oftencentered on sports and once the actual synagogue servicehas ended there is little if any mention neither of God norof the deep meaning which surrounds the event.

Truthfully the Bar Mitzvah or Son of the Commandment isa rite of passage of a Jewish boy into manhood. Thereforethe celebration should rightfully be about this passage andfocus on the young man’s transition into his new positionas a responsible member in the community of faith. Jeff immersing Stephen in the Hudson

JEWISH BUSINESSMEN’SFELLOWSHIP

Our first Jewish businessmen’s fellowship got off to agreat start. There were seven Jewish businessmen pres-ent and all of them were excited and full of great ideas.We saw the need for an effective strategy so our meet-ings will draw the unbelieving Jewish businessmen weseek to reach. One of the topics we all agreed would berelevant is the one of ethics.

Our second meeting as the summer began was moreabout us getting to know one another better. The sug-gested name for our group is “Bread-breakers.” A whileback there was another group of Jewish men who werealso bread-breakers. The result of their bread breakingbegan to change the world!

ACTS 2: 46 SO CONTINUING DAILY WITH ONE ACCORD IN THETEMPLE, AND BREAKING BREAD FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE, THEYATE THEIR FOOD WITH GLADNESS AND SIMPLICITY OF HEART,

47 PRAISING GOD AND HAVING FAVOR WITH ALL THEPEOPLE. AND THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH DAILY

THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED.

We believe that as we break bread with gladness ofheart that we also will find favor especially with theJewish people of New York City and that the Lord willalso add to our numbers! Please be praying for thebeginning of Bread-breakers!

JEFF THE IMMERSERThis Shavuot (Pentecost), I immersed (baptized) a newJewish believer Stephen Frieder in the Hudson River.Stephen did not realize that he asked me to immersehim on the day of Shavuot. It was on that day that thefirst three thousand new Jewish believers came to faithafter tongues of fire fell in the upper room. This was fol-lowed by Peter’s powerful message to the men of Israelwho were then cut to the heart, repented and were

Therefore I asked seven men to prepare a short fiveminute message that they would speak into Yaron’s life.My uncle Jerry who is the elder of our family spokeabout the importance of working hard. My oldest friendRobert Mazor (since I was 4!) spoke to Yaron about theimportance of friendship. A few of my Messianic Jewishrabbi friends spoke about godliness, intimacy with theLord and the importance of worship. Our friend Ericspoke to Yaron about the importance of setting goals.

Messianic Jewish rabbi Barry Feinman speaks intoYaron’s life about worshipping the Lord

Our guests saw that we were taking our son’s passageinto manhood seriously and that his Bar Mitzvah cele-bration was full of meaning and not just some bigextravagant party.

THE SERVICEThe actual synagogue service took place in a beautifuldownstairs room at the Manor. Yaron chanted the portion(parasha) for that day reading directly from the Torahscroll. He had spent the past few months studying withone of the rabbinical students who attends the Jewishtheological seminary at nearby Columbia University. Thepassage Yaron sang was from Leviticus 26:3-13. Afterchanting the passage he gave a short message on itsmeaning which I admittedly helped to write. Yaron wasable to truthfully say that in light of God’s command-ments that he surely falls way short and that he sees hisneed for atonement and forgiveness in Messiah Yeshua.

My friend Messianic rabbi David Rosenberg and his sonMatthew did a great job of chanting the Sabbath TorahService along with my dear friend, also a Messianic rabbiserving in Israel, Eitan Shishkoff, who led the service.

There were times during the service that my Jewish rel-atives were weeping. Many of them were greatly movedduring the entire evening. There was a genuine spirit oflove among us.

Yaron reading his Torah portion flanked by dadand rabbi Eitan.

My male family members chanting the blessing over thereading of the Torah before Yaron chanted his portion

It was a powerful and moving time when I and sevenof the Messianic Jewish rabbis who attended laid handson and prayed for Yaron at the end of the service. TheSpirit of God was present throughout the entire time.For many days afterward we received phone calls fromfamily and friends telling us that this was the best BarMitzvah service and celebration they had ever attended!

I and seven Messianic rabbis pray over Yaron

did not really have the time or frame of mind to planYaron’s Bar Mitzvah in the typical fashion. So as little asthree months before the event we still had no idea whereit would be! The Lord had put it on our heart years agothat our son’s Bar Mitzvah would be a powerful time toimpact our many Jewish family members and friendswith our faith in Yeshua. I am convinced there is nogreater way to express our faith in Messiah to our Jewishpeople than in the context of a Jewish celebration. Weknew Yaron’s Bar Mitzvah would be extraordinary buthow to pull it off was entirely in the hands of the Lord.

Our new Jewish believing friend Eric had an idea. Hebegan calling the very best catering halls in all of theNew York metro area. He began with the famousTavern on the Green in Central Park. His plan was tofind a cancellation. You see, these big caterers preparefood for many hundreds anyway and in the event of acancellation they will fill the vacancy at a much lowerprice to recoup whatever revenue they can. Eric’s nextcall was to the Manor, an exclusive enclave situated ina beautiful old mansion in nearby New Jersey completewith beautiful gardens, exquisite rooms and a five starcuisine. The Lord was with us. During the peak of thewedding season on Saturday evening, May 28th therewas a wedding cancellation! We immediately drove toWest Orange, N.J., and at a fraction of what the costwould normally be, we booked our event at the Manor!As the Manor is well known, family and friends alikewere in awe we were having our celebration there!

We invited about fifty of our not yet believing Jewishfamily members and friends and about 50 Jewish believ-ers and some of our close Christian friends. We strate-gically placed believers and not yet believers at thesame tables. At first my Jewish friends from Brooklynloudly protested, but in equally loud Brooklyn fashion Itold them, “Too bad, this is where you are sitting!”

A RIGHT OF PASSAGEThe Lord showed me that we should not have a typicalBar Mitzvah celebration. Today most of these celebrationshave almost nothing to do with God and in fact ungodlyreveling with sensuous music and dancing is the norm.The themes of these Bar Mitzvah celebrations are oftencentered on sports and once the actual synagogue servicehas ended there is little if any mention neither of God norof the deep meaning which surrounds the event.

Truthfully the Bar Mitzvah or Son of the Commandment isa rite of passage of a Jewish boy into manhood. Thereforethe celebration should rightfully be about this passage andfocus on the young man’s transition into his new positionas a responsible member in the community of faith. Jeff immersing Stephen in the Hudson

June 2005

The ultimate goal for us is that thechurch would embrace Romans 11:11:

AGAIN I ASK: DID THEY STUMBLE SO ASTO FALL BEYOND RECOVERY? NOT AT ALL!RATHER, BECAUSE OF THEIR TRANSGRES-

SION, SALVATION HAS COME TO THEGENTILES TO MAKE ISRAEL ENVIOUS. (NIV)

What a statement! And remember thiscomes from the apostle to the gentiles!If you think this through, the salvationof the Jewish people must be ofimmense importance if the very purposeof gentile salvation is for Jewish peopleto become jealous of them and want thissalvation for themselves! Of course Godloves all people and desires all to besaved but in the big picture the salvationof Israel is a key to world redemption!

The fact is that Romans 11:11 remainsto be fulfilled. The eyes of the churchhave somehow been blinded to thisvery clear mandate. It is almost as if aveil lies over the minds of Christians inmuch the same way as it lies over theminds of unbelieving Israel when theyread Moses and the prophets! I believethose of us who see are called toawaken the church to open her eyes. Agreat spiritual battle lies ahead!

YARON’S BARMITZVAH

The Bar Mitzvah of our son Yaron wasan event that will be long remembered.It was totally orchestrated by the Lord!Most people plan Bar Mitzvah celebra-tions a year or more in advance. Sincewe were transitioning from life inKazakhstan to life in New York City we

THE ULTIMATE GOAL

n my last newsletter I mentionedthe ultimate goal. Most MessianicJews realize that it is impossible for

the few of us to reach all of the Jewishpeople with the gospel. This is wherethe rest of the Body of Messiah needsto step up and be counted. There hasalways been a small number ofChristians who have had a heart for theJewish people and thankfully this num-ber is increasing. These saints realizethat the Messiah and all his first disci-ples were Jews and they have a heart-felt commitment to bless the peoplefrom whom their salvation came. Theirfaith is eternally tied to Israel and theirlove for the Jewish people has alwaysamazed me. Then there is the rest ofthe body. By far the majority ofChristians have practically nothing todo with Jewish people. They read allabout Israel and the Jewish peopledaily in their bibles but they sadly haveno connection at all with Jewish peopletoday. Many of them think that theJews were once God’s people butnowadays they as Christians have takentheir place. This is a result of replace-ment theology which has significantlyinfluenced Christendom. In this world-view the church replaces Israel. Simplyput, the blessings and promises ofIsrael now belong to the church and ofcourse the curses remain with unfaith-ful Israel. This replacement theologysomehow neglects the unfaithfulchurch but my focus now is not toaddress this great error but to ratherfocus on the biblical perspectiveChristians are indeed called to.

GATES OF ZIONGATES OF ZIONJune 2005

P.O. Box 55123

Phoenix, Arizona 85078-5123

As the Lord inspires, please send your gift to theGates of Zion. Please make checks out to

Gates of Zion and mail to our clearing house at:

Gates of ZionPO Box 55123

Phoenix, Arizona 85078-5123Thank-you for your generosity and faithfulness!

E-mail: [email protected]

Web site:www.gatesofzion.net

I

(please continue inside)

Jeff & JanetBernstein

“Yaron’s Bar Mitzvah”

saved. Like them, Stephen is among the first fruits ofmany Jews who are being added and will be added tothe Kingdom of God in New York City! Please keepStephen Frieder in your prayers.

BACK TO KAZAKHSTANBy the time you receive this newsletter our family willbe on our way to Kazakhstan. It has been almost twoyears since we have left Central Asia. The Lord has putit on our hearts to return to Almaty for about one monththis summer. We are trusting it will be a great time ofreunion and of mutual encouragement. I believe we willalso have a great opportunity to help strengthen andencourage our leadership network and the members ofour congregation. The political situation in Uzbekistanand Kyrgyzstan is somewhat unstable so we are notsure we will make it to those nations so they may cometo us. Please pray for a safe, fruitful and successful trip.

SUMMERTIME BLUES?During the summer months many tell me that giving tothe works of the Lord drops off sharply. I am guessingit is because many families are traveling, leaving theirhomes and normal routines. I am asking you, our part-ners, not to allow a decrease in giving to the Gates of

Zion this summer but to help bring in an increase! In theKingdom of God the harvest is as plentiful in the sum-mer as at other times. I would really like you to con-sider actually giving a little more these next two months!We trust the Lord for the plane fare and expenses forour trip to Kazakhstan which amounts to many thou-sands. Airfare alone to Kazakhstan for our family of fiveis over seven thousand dollars! Please prayerfully con-sider making a generous contribution to the Gates ofZion over and above your usual gift at this time. Maythe Lord return your investment a hundred fold!

We deeply appreciate all of you who have stood andcontinue to stand with us as together we put our handsto the plow and do our small part to help bring aboutthe salvation of the Jewish people in these last days.

Blessings, Shalom and Love,

Jeff and Janet Bernstein

YOUR CO-LABORERS SERVING YESHUA –A LIGHT TO BRING REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, AND THE

GLORY OF YOUR PEOPLE ISRAEL. (LUKE 2:32)

Specific Prayer Requests:

1 Please continue praying for our son Yaron. He willbe with believing youth in a great spiritual environ-ment in KC for three weeks in July before joining usin Kazakhstan. Pray he is impacted with the Love ofMessiah and for his safety in traveling on his own.

2 Pray for strength and inspiration for Jeff to completea book he is writing this summer on the importanceof the salvation of the Jewish people.

3 For a fruitful time in Kazakhstan this summer. Pleasekeep praying the Lord provides all the necessaryfunds for this trip.

4 For the seeds that were sown in New York City thispast year to grow into a great harvest of souls.

Jeff and Stephen