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Newsletter from Russ Resnik |
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January, 2006
Shalom friends,
As we step into the new year of 2006, I’d
like you to know about some upcoming events on the UMJC calendar. I hope you
can join us in some of them. This month, I’ll be representing the UMJC as part
of the third Road to Jerusalem conference, in Los Angeles on January 20–21.
This is a ministry “bringing peace and reconciliation to Jews and Gentiles in
Yeshua,” which understands that Messianic Jews are essential to the process.
Click on www.roadtojerusalem.org
for details.
March 17–19 is the date
for our East Coast Twenties Conference, Kabbetz HaEsrim, in Baltimore, MD. This
year’s event expands a successful Mid-Atlantic young adults conference
coordinated by the UMJC Twenties Committee, which seeks to “Connect, Educate,
and Empower” a whole new generation within the Messianic Jewish Community. Keep
watching this website for more details, including online registration.
April 12–20, Passover
April 13–June 2, UMJC Prayer Campaign
Passover begins on the evening of April 12 this year, which means that the
traditional countdown to Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost—Leviticus
23:15– 6) starts after sundown on April 13. As in recent years, the UMJC is
sponsoring a Prayer Campaign through these seven weeks, culminating in an
offering for Shavuot on June 1–2. This year, we will pray for strength and
fruitfulness for Messianic Jewish congregations worldwide and in Israel. As in
our highly successful 2003 campaign, half the offering will go to the Israeli
Messianic Jewish community, reflecting the command to offer two loaves to the
Lord at this festival.
May
25–28, Northeast Regional Conference
“Back to the Future: A Celebration of
Jewish Life” is the theme of this year’s UMJC Northeast regional conference, in
Sturbridge, MA. The conference opens with a Thursday evening musical
retrospective of Messianic Judaism by Stuart Dauermann, and continues the next
day with a panel on the future of Messianic Judaism, seminars, worship, and
study through Sunday morning. Click on the link right here at this website for
details and online registration.
June
1–2, Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks
This festival is the culmination of the UMJC Prayer Campaign, when we gather an
offering to share with Messianic congregations in Israel. More details coming
to this website. (Note: some Messianic congregations interpret Leviticus
23:15–17 to mean that the counting of the omer begins on the Sunday of Passover
week, so that Shavuot always falls on the seventh Sunday afterwards, or June
3–4. If you’re of this persuasion, you can join the UMJC Prayer Campaign April
15 through June 3.)
June
28–July 9, Israel 2006
This year’s tour is co-sponsored by the UMJC and Congregation Ruach Israel,
Boston. Contact Sue Nichol right away at sknichol@yahoo.com for a copy of the
itinerary. Your deposit needs to be in by February 1!
July
27–30, UMJC International Conference
Enable, Encourage, Energize! is our theme in Portsmouth, VA (the Virginia
Beach-Norfolk metro area). This year’s conference will emphasize practical
equipping, especially for leaders, staff, elders, shammashim, and ministry
leaders, but it’s open to all and relevant to anyone interested in Messianic
Judaism. Friday evening through Sunday afternoon will be an extended Shabbaton
of study, worship, and celebration in Yeshua.
Also
coming this summer:
—
Our annual Young Messianic Jewish Scholars Conference, co-
sponsored by the UMJC and Chosen People Ministries,
scheduled for the east coast this year.
— Messianic Jewish Theological Institute
classes in Southern
California, as detailed on this website.
In
all these activities, our goal is to strengthen and multiply congregations for
Yeshua within the house of Israel. Thank you for being part of this prophetic
restoration!
May
you have a joyous and fruitful 2006 in Messiah Yeshua.
Russ Resnik
Executive Director
Rabbi Resnik is available to
speak at your congregation.
Click here for details.
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UMJC Statement on Israel |
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Unanimously affirmed by the Delegates July
15, 2001:
The Union of Messianic Jewish
Congregations (UMJC) supports the existence of the Jewish homeland in Israel.
The UMJC supports the right of the nation of Israel to exist within safe and
secure borders, and the right of all Israelis to freely live and travel without
the threat of terrorism.
We affirm the historic connection between
the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, as well as God’s promise to give the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the Land of Israel as a permanent
inheritance. As the Torah states:
I will establish My covenant with you as
an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you. The
whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting
possession to you and to your descendants after you; and I will be their God.
(Genesis 17:7-8)
We further recognize that the birth of the
modern state of Israel in 1948 was foretold by the prophets:
Then the nations will know that I am the
Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before
their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all
the countries and bring you back into your own land. (Ezekiel 36:23-24)
In addition, the historical sufferings and
persecutions of the Jewish people, culminating in the recent Holocaust of World
War II, have shown the world that the Jewish people need and deserve their
ancient homeland as a safe haven.
The UMJC also affirms the current and
future aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) as a fulfillment of Scripture, as
it is written:
The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought..Israel
up out of Egypt’ but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought
Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where He
had banished them’. For I will restore them to the land I gave their fathers.
(Jeremiah 16:14-15)
The UMJC therefore supports the right of
Jewish people to immigrate to their historic homeland. In addition, the UMJC
encourages its congregations to work for the welfare of the state of Israel, to
pray for the Land and its safety , and to visit the Land, thereby expressing
support for the nation and its inhabitants. The Union further encourages its
congregations to pray for peace between Israel and her neighbors (Psalm 122:6).
Finally, the UMJC expresses solidarity
with the Messianic Jewish community in Israel, encouraging all congregations to
pray and work for its welfare. For , ...it is a land that the Lord your God
cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the
beginning of the year to its end (Deuteronomy 11:12).
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