CONGREGATION MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO

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A Messianic Jewish Newsletter for the sake of רבינו ישוע מלך המשיח אדונינו Rabbeinu Yeshua Melech HaMashiach Adoneinu!

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Why is the month of Elul considered a time of return to our first love and not also all the other month's of the year? Because the name itself "Elul," has been interpreted as a acronym. Its Hebrew letters "aleph," "lamed," "vav," "lamed" represent the sentence "Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li." "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." (Shir HaShirim / Song of Songs 6:3).

Elul is a time of Teshuvah. Although we know that G-d always watches over the earth and is always waiting for His people to repent, there's something special about Elul, which makes G-d more accessible, somewhat like the Shabbat.

Jewish tradition believes that Moshe re-ascended Mount Sinai on the 1st day of Elul, remaining there for 40 days. This would have brought him to the 10th day of the month Tishrei which is Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Was not Moshe on the mountain pleading for God's mercy and forgiveness? It is for this reason the month of Elul is special and appropriate for a person's reflection and repentance.

"Chet" is the Hebrew word for sin, "Teshuvah" however is the antidote for sin. Elul is the Hebrew month that is set aside for the preparation of our hearts. During the month of Elul we engage in refining our spiritual lives to meet the standards the L-rd expects of us.

Remember now, this is the Talmudic, Orthodox Jewish view that I have given so far. Have you noticed how seriously they take sin and repentance?

For Messianic Jews the month of Elul is a picture, a shadow, not of things to come but of things that are here. The month of Elul is special because we are living it out right now. Above I explained the Orthodox Jewish, spiritual significance of the month of Elul. It is to them the month of preparation for the "Day of Judgement," Rosh Hashanah. But everything I described; reflection, evaluation, understanding, introspection, return and repentance is a picture of the age we are living in right now, the age just prior to the calling away of believers and the coming judgement upon the earth. We are living in the age of Elul, the time of preparation. This is our time believers. It is our time to call upon the world to repent and "Teshuvah," to their first love - Yeshua. This is our time to warn the world of its impending "Day of Judgement," a day that seems to be drawing closer and closer.

It is our responsibility to present the Gospel to everyone and anyone we can. By evangelising non-Jews, we can increase the possibility of Jewish people coming to know their true Messiah. Non-Jews after all are called to "...provoke Israel to jealousy." (Romim / Romans 11:11). The tragedy today is that very little in gentile Christianity is of the quality to provoke Israel to anything, let alone jealousy. This is not the case with Messianic Judaism. As Messianic believers both Jewish and non-Jewish we have taken on the mantel of G-d's Torah, we have become, as stated in the book of Acts "...zealous of the Law." (Acts 21:20). Our witness is a powerful witness and Satan would like nothing more than to silence it. The establishment of Jews for Judaism, anti missionaries, are proof of that.

Thousands are being deceived and mislead by unbiblical messages every day. We should be ashamed of ourselves every time a cult member rings our door bell, or we see two clean cut boys on bicycles working a neighbourhood. They're more zealous for a lie, than most of us are for the truth. We have no excuse, it's the age of Elul, the age of the "Great Commission.

" Mark 16:15. "And he (Yeshua) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Jack (Yaacov) Farber