To Jewish people -the rabbis commentaries carry as much weight as the Torah?

[nanny]

I think I need a book or a website devoted to this topic. It seems impossible to talk to a Jewish person about what the old testament says because of "what the rabbis teach" ...even though anyone knows 2 rabbis=3 opinions...but when i say lets just disregard what they say, its taken like some kind of blasphemy and has actually ended a couple of conversations,they are also taught that hell= sheol= some kind of cleansing purgatory- type place that people pass through and that the old testament is not literal. If anyone could help here with a recomendation-thank you.

[iSong6:3]

Bless your heart for the souls of the Jewish people, nanny.

Paul said the Gentiles' salvation was to provoke the Jews to jealousy. I know of so many testimonies of Jewish believers who say what won them over was the love the believer had for them and the sense the Gentile person had *something* that the Jewish person didn't.

Imo, here's one excellent resource to learn and get advice on how to witness to the Jewish people: http://www.jewsforjesus.org They have a blog where you can ask questions, they have training in Jewish evangelism and books with lots of information, they have Manhattan and Brooklyn offices also, what a mission field NY is.

[nanny]

Thank you ! The website looks great! I stopped reading thier stuff a long time ago. Don't know why now. Anyway I found a book- The Real Kosher Jesus- and I thought maybe I could get your opinion before I bought it? If you have one.

[iSong6:3]

I haven't read the book but Dr Brown is also an excellent resource for taking the Truth of Messiah Yeshua to the Jewish people.

If you read the book I'd be interested in your thoughts on it.

[iSong6:3]

Oops, btw, the opinions of the rabbis and sages in the Talmud and outside the Talmud for that matter are at least of equal importance to them as the Torah.

There's the tradition of the Oral Law in Judaism, that not all of what God told Moses was recorded in Scripture and that it was passed down orally. It opens up the idea that extra-Biblical things can carry the same weight as the written Torah. As you say, you get two Jews and three opinions but they look to their rabbis to interpret what the Bible means even if the rabbis have opposite opinions.

[Sparkles]

I recently learned that once a jewish person follows a rabbi they take his teaching word for word and do not deviate from it at all. If they quote their rabbi they use his exact words they trust him 100%.

[nanny]

Just got it, just started it, AWESOME information! So far Dr. Brown is addressing the anti-semetic roots of the church and also giving scholarly references to Jewish research into Jesus.