Congregation Shema Yisrael

Instructions To Prepare A Collection For The Messianic Jews In Jerusalem; Paul’s Plans To Visit The Corinthians; Instructions About Timothy; News About Apollos; Encouragement To Persevere; Instructions About Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus; Final Greetings; A Final Warning; A Final Prayer; A Final Expression Of Love; A Final Amen We’re at the end of Rabbi Paul’s […] Source

The name of this week’s parasha is Ki Tavo, which means “when you enter in” and covers Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8.  In chapter 26, Moses instructed the Israelis on honoring God with the first fruits of the harvest after they settled in the Promised Land, including a declaration of His mighty deeds in bringing them into the […] Source

Resurrection Will Happen; Our Future Bodies Are Different From Our Present Bodies; Not Everyone Will Die; Stand Firm And Serve The Lord We live in a fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion against God and is under a curse. One of the worst things about life in this world is death. […] Source

This week our parasha is Ki Teitzei, which means “When You Go”, and covers Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19.  Parasha Ki Teizei covers a large variety of topics and has 74 different commandments.  While we could go through all 72 commandments in the interest of time I would like to only discuss a small number of them. Weaving […] Source

This week Jerry Weinstein covered the Bible Study for Rabbi Glenn and taught on Spiritual Disciplines, focusing on the Spiritual Discipline of Celebration or Joy. Much of the study came from Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster and The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for ordinary people John Ortberg.  The notes from the study […] Source

There are many religions, many philosophies, many ideologies in the world, all competing for our allegiance. The Gospel is the greatest message of them all. While other messages are a mixture of truth and error, the Gospel message is completely true. Knowing the Good News and then being faithful to live according to the Good […] Source

“It isn’t fair.”  How many times have we heard people say this?  Fairness is a rather complicated concept, and often we don’t understand all the implications of our demands, but regardless we tend to argue our idea of ‘fairness’ anyway, don’t we? As adults, and especially as believers, we should recognize injustice when we see […] Source

The parasha for this Shabbat is entitled Re’eh, which means “See!”  It covers Deuteronomy 11:26 through 16:17. Moses makes it clear in chapter 11 that the real issue of drawing closer to God has to do with the heart of the individual. If Israel would serve Adonai in love and faithfulness, He would send the […] Source

This week Rabbi Glenn continued the study through the life of David by covering 1 Samuel 8-10. Source

Introduction: This morning we are continuing in our study of Rabbi Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth. The Corinthian church was in all kinds of disarray, and reading through the letter sometimes feels like having to have a tooth extracted. It seems long and drawn out, and painful. But these things were written […] Source

Today’s Parasha is entitled Re’eh, which means “see” and covers Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17. Parasha Re’eh continues Moses’ second sermon to the people. It begins with the famous statement, “See, this day I set before you a blessing and a curse”. Moses describes the blessings for obedience to the Lord’s commandments, which were given earlier in chapter […] Source

This week Jerry Weinstein covered the Bible Study for Rabbi Glenn.  He lead a special study on the idea of Tzedakah, Tithing, and Stewardship throughout Scripture. The notes from this study will be available later. Source

Shabbat Shalom.  This morning, Lord willing, we will be covering 1 Corinthians 14:1-25. I have entitled this message, The Art of Public Speaking, after one of my textbooks in college, because this section serves as an important lesson on how we should speak and teach in our services. However, before we begin this section of […] Source

This week’s Parasha is Eikev, which means “on the heel of.” In this Parasha Moses continues his final speeches to the Israelis before they enter the Promised Land. These instructions are more about obeying their God and are a warning. I think a good theme for this is the following: “If you have real faith, […] Source

This week Rabbi Glenn did a brief review, and then covered all of 1 Samuel 7.  He then previewed where the study will be going next week with chapter 8. Source

Shabbat Shalom.  Last week we continued our series through 1 Corinthians with a message on chapter 12 given by Rabbi Glenn.  Aptly titled, Nitroglycerine in the Hands of Toddlers, Rabbi Glenn pointed out how this chapter of 1 Corinthians has been misused and misunderstood by Messiah’s Community.  1 Corinthians 12 is not about cataloging all […] Source

The Torah portion for this Shabbat is called Va’etchanan, meaning “and I pleaded”. It covers Deuteronomy 3:23 through chapter 7:11. As the parasha opens, Moses pleads with Adonai to reconsider allowing him to cross over into the Land of Promise. God’s answer was a firm “No” but He did allow Moses to ascend Mt. Pisgah […] Source

This week Rabbi Glenn the events of 1 Samuel 4-5, and continued on to study all of chapter 6, through to 7:2. Source

Introduction If ever there was a chapter of the Bible that was frequently misunderstood, and that misunderstanding led to contention in Messiah’s Community, I’d say 1 Corinthians 12 is it. This chapter outlines the gifts of the Holy Spirit; misinterpreted and/or misapplied, it’s like theological nitroglycerine. Handle with care! Considering how much division there is […] Source

Our parasha passage for this week is entitled, D’varim, which means “words or matters,” i.e, something of consequence.  This passage covers Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22.  This comes from the Hebrew in Chapter 1:1:  Eleh ha d’varim, “these are the words.”  This last book of the Torah contains Moses’ overview of the history of their journey […] Source

This week Rabbi Glenn with some review and then studied 1 Samuel 4-5 in their entirety.  There was also a few minutes for Q/A as well. Source

Mary Poppins said: Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. And she was right. Receiving correction, like taking medicine, can be unpleasant. Commendation, however, is like sugar. When people are commended, they are more receptive to the one who is doing the commending. And they are more receptive to the other things […] Source

This week we have a double parasha with Matot and Masei which translates to “Tribes” and “Journeys” Respectively. Parasha Matot covers Numbers 30:2–32:42 and Masei covers Numbers 33:1-36:13, this is also the final parasha for the book of Numbers.  These parashas speak on the importance of vows and promises and teach us the importance of […] Source

This week Rabbi Glenn briefly reviewed his approach to the study and the events of 1 Samuel 1:1 – 2:24, then went on to study the rest of chapter two and all of chapter 3. The focus was on the dramatically different trajectories of Eli and his sons as contrasted with that of Samuel. They were headed quickly downward morally […] Source

The subject of today’s message is controversial – the role of men and women in Messiah’s Community, and how they are to conduct themselves. What are men allowed to do? What are women allowed to do? Is there anything they are not allowed to do? Must they cover their heads in a worship service? These […] Source