Yeshuim

Why we are called "Yeshuim"?

Reb Benzi, Rosh Kehilah

Kehilath HaDerekh

Congregation Of The Way

Manhattan, NY

7 September 2007 / 24 Elul 5767

What is the history and basis of this designation?

Lets examine this term:

The high court of Israel in July 2007 called us (the followers or believers in Yeshu / Yeshua / Jesus) "Yeshuim" Click to read.

The term Yeshuim is actually used a lot earlier to describe Christians.

In the student bible dictionary on page 60, it explains that the first "Christians" were called such by pagans as a derogatory label.

All titles that are used to describe a person who believes such in many cases are made by outsiders in some cases, and accepted by insiders in some situations. For example, most Jews believe that Messianics are simply Christians pretending to be Jews, people of questionable Jewish background, or non-Jews trying to mix Judaism and Christianity.

In some anti-missionary circles the term Meshichim is used as a put down term of Messianic Jews as well as those Chasidic Jews in Chabad who believe that Rabbi Schneerson is the Messiah. No matter what term we use, those who disagree with us are cursing all believers publicly and privately, not based on what we call ourselves, but on who we believe the Messiah is. Besides, there are some who may be sitting around coming up with nasty acronyms for the term Messianic Jew.

The following are some of the issues concerning this particle title. Let’s look at the opinions of Jewish scholars:

· The idea of Yeshu being a curse, without the Ayin, is one that comes from the Toldot Yeshu, which some believe to be a parody from the middle ages in Europe. Scholars debate the details of the origin of this text, but many believe it was based on a version of Matthew. This text is not widely known amongst most Jews today, and the dates of when it was penned are in question.

· Many Jews call Yeshua "Yeshu" simply because they believe that is what his name was, not because they are trying to curse him. Also, we believe that most Jews have a misunderstanding of his mission, character, and teachings to begin with so we simply pray for our fellow Jews and non-Jews concerning these things.

· Some Jews not believing in Messiah Yeshua say Yeshu, and not Yeshua in order to not completely say his name because in Judaism one is not supposed to mention the names of pagan deities. The thinking is that if some people believe Yeshua to be G-d, one should not say his complete name thus they leave out the Ayin.

· In the Hebrew DuTillet text of Matthew (mid-1500's) Yeshua's name is spelled Yod-Shin-Vav, pronounced also as Yeshu, without an Ayin. It is interesting to note that in the Munster text his name is spelled Yod-Hey-Vav-Shin-Ayin.

· Also, Aramaic speaking Assyrian Christians and Nestorians don't pronounce the Ayin, thus they say Yeshu. The reason, according to Aramaic scholar Dr. George Lamsa, is that many Eastern Aramaic speakers lost the pronunciation of the Ayin several thousand years ago.

· A Persian Jewish source recently pointed out that the Hebrew translations of the Igeret Teman i.e. Letter to the Yemenites uses the same terms "Yeshu" & "Yeshuim". Rabbi Moses Maimomadies (Rambam) [1135-1204 CE] wrote this letter originally in Judeo-Arabic to convince the Jews of Yemen to stay away from Messianic types since so many false messiahs had risen up there. He mentioned the falsehoods of people he called "Yeshuim" (Christians) and Yishmaelim (Muslims). This has always been understood to mean Christians since during the time of Rambam there were no open Jewish believers.

· Dr. George Lamsa (translated the Aramaic New Testament "Peshitta" into English) talks about Yeshu in his commentary Gospel Light within the first few pages. Click to read the Peshitta.

· Dr. David Stern in his Jewish Commentary to the New Testament talks about the Yeshu issue. It is on pages 4 and 5 of the Matthew commentary. As Dr. David Stern mentions: Yosef Vaktor reinterprets Yeshu as (transliteration of Hebrew) Yeshu - Yitgadal sh'mo umalkhuto This means "May his name and his kingdom be magnified".

This issue is a lot more complicated than one may be led to believe at a cursory glance at some opinions. This especially true when you look at the various viewpoints and expressions of Believers in Yeshua as the Messiah. You have:

· Messianic Jews of different philosophies (Orthodox, Traditional, Conservative, Reform, or non traditional.)
· Orthodox or Traditional Believers
· Hebrew Christians
· Sacred Namers who believe that they know G-d's true name
· The Netzarim in Ra'anana, Israel

Some of these groups agree on things like terminology and such, and some of them have completely different theologies. Some of them use terminology that the other groups would never use, and some of them bad-mouth the other group for what they do and don't do. As an example the Syrian Christians preserved the Peshitta (Aramaic New Testament) and thus I learn from their scholarship in this area. In another case there are those Messianic Jewish believers who use text like the DuTillet Hebrew Matthew or the Munster Hebrew Matthew texts, so we can learn from them also. All of these use different terminology and though we don't all agree on everything, we are nonetheless all connected in who we believe Messiah is, not in the titles we go by. Nevertheless, as followers of Yeshua the Messiah we are indeed Yeshuim!

Also, see: Wikipedia/Yeshu

This article was prepared with research, information, and help from advanced Jewish scholars in Israel.

Shalom in Messiah Yeshua,

Reb Benzi

BenZion Brian David BenIser HaLevi Sherry
Rosh Kehilah (leader/head of the congregation)

Kehilath HaDerekh (Congregation of The Way)
Manhattan, New York

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, humility, and self-control.

Nothing in the Torah stands against

such things." - Saul of Tarsus