Without trying to put anyone in a box, most people who believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah fall into one of two categories - either they are "Christians" or they are "Messianics".  Both terms have their shortcomings.  Most Christians believe that Jesus came to change all or part of God's law.  Messianics, while holding on to certain aspects of God's law, tend to incorporate customs that give them a "Jewish" identity.  In addition, Messianic Judaism supports somewhat of a wall between those with Jewish and those with non-Jewish heritage.  Hebraic, on the other hand, implies a return to the time when ancient Israel (including all Israelites, both Jewish and non-Jewish) under Joshua's leadership, crossed over the Jordan and began to implement God's way as their way of life.  Most people in the Hebraic "awakening" believe that God does not change, and thus God's way does not change. Therefore, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus brought forgiveness of sin, but did not change any of His Father's laws.

Probably not.  But most people (including the Jewish people) don't really understand the term "Jew".  The Jews do not represent all Israel, for they are simply a subset of Israel.  Jacob (whose name was changed to "Israel") had 12 sons, the fourth being Judah, the father of the Jewish people.  The other sons were Israelites, but not Jews.  Contrary to what many believe, Abraham was not a Jew; he was a 'Hebrew'. The same holds true for many of the patriarchs of the Bible including Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and Samuel - all of whom descended from Jacob, but not through Jacob's son Judah. We believe we are probably physical descendents of Jacob and thus descendants of Abraham, but even if not, Paul explains that if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29).

Absolutely!  There is only one way to salvation and that is through Jesus the Messiah. But unfortunately, "Jesus" has been mischaracterized down through the centuries as a man who came to abolish His Father's instructions.  We therefore choose to call Him by his Hebrew name - "Yeshua" which means "salvation".  Yeshua shows throughout the gospels that He did not come to destroy the law (Torah), but to restore it to it's proper position as a guide to the people of God.

When the angel told Joseph to name the baby in Mary's womb "Jesus" (Matt. 1:21), he said to do so because the baby would eventually "save His people from their sins".  In other words, He was to become a "saviour" and His name was to reflect His purpose.  But "Jesus" does not mean "save", because like many English names - it is just a name.  Being that "Jesus" was a Hebrew child, He would have been given a Hebrew name, and the way to say "save" in Hebrew is with the word "yesha" (Strong's 3467). "Yeshua" is its Aramaic derivitive. See our article - "Yeshua to Jesus".

The first five books of the Jewish and Christian Bibles in commonly referred to as the Torah.  They are the foundational teachings of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and thus serve as the words of life for the people of God.  They are often referred to as "the Law", but the Hebrew word 'torah' actually means "direction" and "instruction" and comes from a root word that means "to hit the mark". Yeshua (Jesus) often refers to the Torah as part of the text that teaches about Himself (Luke 24:44).  Some believers consider the entire Old Testament to be Torah, and many in the Jewish community erroneously  include all or part of their "Oral Law" as Torah.

Sometime before the birth of Yeshua, the Jewish sages divided the Torah (five books of Moses) into portions that would be read every Sabbath, with the intent that the entire Torah would be read in the congregation once every year.  The purpose was to keep the instructions of God in front of the people all the times.  After the Babylonian exile, certain portions of the Prophets was added to the weekly readings. We know this practice was continued even in Yeshua's day and beyond. As Paul and Barnabus were making their way through Asia Minor, they visited a synagogue on the Sabbath where they were asked to speak "after the reading of the Law and the Prophets" (Acts 13:15; 27). Yeshua appears to have participated in the weekly Torah readings as well (Luke 4:17).

From the creation, God established the seventh day as His 'set apart' day.  He alone made it 'Holy', and only He can change it.  But God said that He never changes (Malachi 3:6), so the seventh day Sabbath remains.  Throughout the Bible we see that the people of God observed the seventh day Sabbath for it is a sign God's people (Exodus 31:13).  It was the custom of Yeshua and it continued to be the custom of the apostles after His death and resurrection. (Luke 4:16, Acts 17:2).  If you claim to be a follower of Yeshua (Jesus), you should do as He did and 'keep the Sabbath'!

Though we are blessed to have wonderful translations of the Bible, a lot is lost in translation.  For instance, the Hebrew word "torah" essentially means "to hit the mark", but unfortunately, the translators use the word "law" which implies a list of "does and don'ts" instead of its intended meaning which is "the instructions to help you reach the goal".  Such holds true for many Hebrew words.  Unlike English, Hebrew names carry with them an intended meaning, such as "Levi" which means "to join" and "Yehoshua" (Joshua) which means "Yah is Salvation".  We believe a person develops a closer understanding of the text by using as much Hebrew as possible.

There are a number of beliefs about how a person should determine the New Moon and the beginning of the Biblical months. We choose to use the traditional Jewish calender because it has proven effective in keeping the Jewish people together for nearly 2000 years. Since the Bible is relatively void of instruction concerning the determnation of the new month, most New Moon determinations are based, at least in part, on tradition.  If we're going to follow tradition, why not follow a proven and effective tradition?

Yes.  Children are included in practically every aspect of our Sabbath fellowship meetings.  The are encouraged to take their turn reading the Torah Portion, commenting during the interactive session, and in offering up prayer.  They participate in the worship dance, and often give special dance presentations.  In past years the fellowship has had separate children's classes, but now believes it's better to keep the children with their parents throughout the entire service.

Our weekly fellowship begins with a 90 minute sit down reading and discussion of certain portions of the Torah (five books of Moses, the prophets, and the Apostolic Scriptures ... the 'New Testament').  This is followed by a 45 minute break, then a "traditional" service which includes song and dance, prayers and blessings, a recap of the day's Torah reading, and a short teaching.  We do not have any type of altar call nor do we collect offerings.  Dress is nice-casual.

Rejoicing through dance as an expression of praise to God was quite prevalent in the Bible; Miriam danced after God defeated the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20), David danced when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14), and in the Millennial Kingdom of God, young men and old will dance (Jeremiah 31:13).  A study of the Hebrew word for festival (chagag) in Leviticus 23, would reveal that one of the ways God expects his people to rejoice during the festivals is through dance.  The fall festival of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) is one of the major festivals (Heb. - chag) in the Bible, picturing the 1000 year millennial kingdom.  It is pictured by the weekly Sabbath, thus it would seem appropriate to dance in praise to God on Shabbat.  The Bible is silent in opposition to appropriate dance . . . thus we choose to dance.  For more information, go to https://season-of-our-joy.com/Dance.html.  You may also want to read an extensive article on this subject by clicking here.

Oneg Shabbat, or simply "oneg" is a time of fellowship that takes place on the weekly Sabbath.  In Messianic circles it usually refers to a meal that's eaten together as a group. The Hebrew word 'oneg' actually means 'delight' as in "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight (an oneg)". On most weeks, our fellowship has a somewhat shortened "oneg" (only 30 minutes long,  and the food is limited to finger foods and snacks), but on the 1st Sabbath of each month, we have a full meal.

When Abraham came to the land of Canaan, he dwelt in tents.  So did his son Isaac as well as Isaac's son Jacob.  In fact, the early Hebrews all lived in tents until they arrived in Egypt and eventually moved into houses.  But that was not God's plan.  It was His intent to for them to remember they were sojourners - living in a land that was not their own until they would eventually 'cross over' and take possesion of the Promised Land.  Our logo symbolizes a bedoin's tent, possibly like that of Abraham.  It reminds us that even though we live in America - a land of milk and honey - we are still exiles living in a land that is not our own.  We long for the time when we too can 'cross over' into the Promised Land - the Kingdom of God on Earth.