Ben Volman’s 2023 drash on Parashat Ki Tavo, entitled "When the Way Seems Uncertain" won the Canadian national 2024 Word Award for best Digital [online] Inspirational Devotional.
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Greetings Union Friends,
I recently passed the one-year marker as the Union’s Executive Director. Upon this first anniversary, I was asked what it was like leading the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations in the first year. Though well-intended, I thought it was a poor question for a few reasons—not least of which being that I am not the leader.
The Union is delegate-led. Delegates outline policies that are managed by the Executive Committee, which the Executive Director is a part of. The Executive Director works with the Executive Committee, under the president, at the behest of the delegates. In theory and in practice we all work for you.
Greetings UMJC Friends:
There’s so much happening in the Union, I’m prompted to think people would be better served by a newspaper than a letter—but a letter it is, with a video.
I am sure that first and foremost on our hearts is our beloved Israel. We are all heartbroken over the recent recovery of six more murdered hostages, and continue to pray for true peace to be reached very soon for the sake of all those impacted. Thank you for your practical support these many months.
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This year’s spectacular Summer Conference is behind us—and what a conference it was. Unfortunately for me, I was holed up in the hotel with COVID—an affliction that raised its head, spread rapidly, and impacted others. I’m sorry I missed so much of it. Rabbi Jude Caracelo reported that we needed to bring out extra chairs to accommodate the crowd on Saturday morning. I loved hearing that and am sure others were pleased to see it.
This year’s conference saw a 25% increase over the previous year’s. The uptick follows a trend.
I write to you from England, where I am slaving away with further studies. My attention is simultaneously state-side, as foremost in my thinking, labors, and prayers is the upcoming Union Summer Family Conference next month.
We're so looking forward gathering as a community; seeing old friends and making new connections, hearing from our many gifted teachers, and enjoying downtime together.
I just returned from Israel with my wife, Barri. We went to provide aid and share joy. Despite the mood there, we did our best to stay upbeat. At times though, Barri couldn’t help but be a bit “catty” (see the photo taken in an Israeli hospital’s underground emergency room).
We all know we are living in a rather upside-down world, evidenced, in part, by the assault on Jewish personhood and statehood being perpetrated from Gaza and reflected on our college campuses. While we were in Israel, time and time again Israelis lamented the lack of support and the uptick in antisemitism on our college campuses. I know that you are concerned by it, too.
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This year’s Passover-related, “Happy Holiday” greetings were eclipsed by the realization we’re living in particularly dark and unhappy times. It’s not enough that Israel was thrown on its heels in October 2023. To add further insult to the egregious injury, support for Hamas and cascading antisemitism is on full display at some of our nation’s best universities—rendering them unsafe for Jews. It all leaves me with a sour feeling.
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During this time of trial for Israel, leaders in the UMJC are showing solidarity by visiting in person. Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey Seif and his wife, Barri Cae, recently returned from Israel, as did UMJC Rabbi Michael Kashdan. Jeff Seif’s brief report is followed by a longer account by Rabbi Kashdan.
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As representatives of the global Messianic Jewish movement and in solidarity with the greater Jewish community, we affirm our standing with Israel in defense of our homeland. Our hearts are broken to see this present evil perpetrated against Israel. The current war against Israel has united the people of Israel and we stand united with them.
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Jews and their allies from across America converged at the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, November 14, to make a three-fold statement: support for Israel in its war against Hamas, a demand for immediate release of all hostages, and opposition to the dramatic rise in antisemitism.
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Amid mounting opposition to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, and a sharp rise in antisemitic activity in the US and beyond, major Jewish organizations are calling for a “March for Israel” on Tuesday, November 14.
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A federal jury on August 2 voted to sentence Robert Bowers to death for killing 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In June, the jury found Bowers, 50, guilty of dozens of federal hate crimes in a trial held at the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania.
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Sandra Sheskin Brotman entered into her eternal rest peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Monday, May 29, 2023. Sandra, a matriarch in the Messianic Jewish movement, was full of life, passionate about her faith, and rarely missed an opportunity to share the love of Yeshua with others.
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US Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt cited the Haggadah in a recent interview to explain why increased engagement with antisemitism won’t necessarily lead to a decrease in attacks: “The authors of the Passover Haggadah, one of our oldest texts, recognized hundreds of years ago that ‘in every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us,’ which is why historians talk about antisemitism as the oldest hatred.”
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Chaim Urbach passed away on March 10 after a long struggle with declining health. He was born and raised in Israel, where he came to know Yeshua early in life under the influence of his parents, Eliezer and Sara. The family immigrated to North America in 1964, and eventually settled in Denver, where he met and married his beloved Joy, and devoted himself to Messianic Jewish ministry as an esteemed leader and mentor.
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On Erev Shabbat, February 10, near the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, Yaakov Paley, a 6-year-old boy and Shlomo Laderman, a young man who was married only two months ago were killed and several others have been wounded in a car-ramming terror attack.
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Mark Greenberg departed to be with Yeshua Friday night, January 13, after a brave, two-year struggle with vascular disease. He was the rabbi of Shalom Rome, a UMJC-affiliated congregation in Rome, Georgia, from 2016 until the Covid pandemic and his condition led to his medical retirement in 2020. Mark was also a cofounder of the Tree of Life Bible Society along with his wife, Daniah.
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"Silence is complicity. We must not remain silent. And I made no bones about it from the very beginning: I will not be silent. America will not be silent." President Joe Biden made these remarks in a speech before guests assembled in the White House's Entrance Hall for a Hanukkah holiday reception on December 19.
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to take aim at former President Donald Trump on November 29 over his decision to host Ye (Kanye West) and white supremacist Nick Fuentes for dinner last week at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
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David Stern economist, surfer, bodybuilder, messianic author, professor and theologian “retired” from his indefatigable service to our Messiah Yeshua on Shabbat in Jerusalem. David was a chief architect of the modern Messianic Jewish movement, and his pervasive presence can be seen through an abundance of citations to his works, his teachings, and his lectures.
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