May your heart overflow with praise as you reflect on God’s goodness and His great love for you.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise – dwell on these things. —Philippians 4:8
A blessed holiday to you!
In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua.
―1 Thessalonians 5:18
It is with sadness that we report the passing of Dorothy (Dotti) Solomon, a beloved member of the Jewish Voice Ministries International Board of Directors.
Dotti was a dedicated leader, servant and an inspiration in Messianic Jewish ministry. She served two elected terms as the only female president of the 102-year-old Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA). For two decades, she was Executive Director of the Messianic Jewish Israel Fund (MJIF).
Dotti and her husband, Robert, co-founded the first Messianic Jewish synagogue in the Southeast United States, Congregation Beth Hallel in Roswell, Georgia. Her commitment to the Jewish people and Messianic movement was further evidenced by her faithful service on the boards of several organizations in addition to JVMI, including Jewish Believers & Friends, Yachad Ministries, MJAA, and the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (FIRM).
“It has been a privilege to know and serve with such a dynamic, faithful woman of God,” said Jonathan Bernis, president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries. “We will greatly miss Dotti and extend to her family our prayers for God’s comfort and peace.”
For example, when the Council of Nicea met in the 4th century, participants determined Yeshua’s death and resurrection would be celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar rather than the Jewish one. This effectively separated these pivotal events from the biblical holiday of Passover, which deepened the wedge that had grown between followers of the Messiah and the Jewish roots of their faith.
But God never ordained that separation. Yeshua died on Passover and rose on Firstfruits. That is an intentional and meaningful part of the redemption story that God tells throughout Scripture.
This is just one of many concerns that inspired the quest for a Bible translation to restore the scriptural links to the Jewish roots of our faith. A team of Messianic Jews launched a project that brought together some of the brightest biblical scholars – both Jewish and Gentile – to create the Messianic Jewish Family Bible and the Tree of Life Version (TLV).
The Tree of Life Version speaks with a “Jewish-friendly voice – a voice mirroring the Bible authors themselves – to recover the authentic context of the Bible,” according to the TLV Bible Society. Most Bible translations don’t reveal the Jewish consistency across the entire Word of God. The Messianic Jewish Family Bible recovers this set-aside continuity.
Not long after the Messianic Jewish Family Bible was published, the TLV was invited to join SIL International’s Translator’s Workplace. (SIL is a Christian organization, formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics.) The Translator’s Workplace is an impressive collection of reference materials chosen to aid the work of Bible translators. It provides cross-references of every Bible translation in every known language for accurately translating the original biblical manuscripts into a new language. Now, that library also includes the Tree of Life Version.
To effectively reach Semitic cultures with God’s Word, they reached out requesting the TLV be added to the Translator’s Workplace. Semitic culture is much different than
Western thought – even the best translators have a difficult time finding the right wording or phrasing to bring over the true meaning without paraphrasing (TLV Blog).
The invitation from Translator’s Workplace is a significant honor to the team who created the TLV and Messianic Jewish Family Bible. Its presence within the reference library will be extremely beneficial to translators in gaining a better understanding of how to translate the Scriptures into new languages while considering the original Jewish context.
Restoring
The Messianic Jewish Family Bible revives the Jewish essence of the Holy Scriptures by restoring eight important aspects:
· The Jewish name of the Messiah, Yeshua
· Reverence for the four-letter unspoken name of God
· Clarity between the Creator and creation in the text – returning capitalized pronouns for God
· Hebrew terminology that most translations overlook
· Key names within the biblical text to a more Hebraic expression that reconnects Messiah to His Jewish family
· The earlier work of translators by providing new terms for words whose meanings have become altered by language changes over the centuries
· The Jewish culture of Yeshua’s day through art and documented biblical holiday observance
Clarifying
The Messianic Jewish Family Bible also clears up four points of confusion common in other translations, such as terminology referring to:
· People who are not born Jewish
· The “synagogue” and “church”
· The “Jews” of the New Covenant
· The “law”
Meaningful Features
The Messianic Jewish Family Bible includes a variety of additional features to inspire Messianic Jews and other Believers and help them grow in their faith. These include:
· Weekly Torah Readings
· 83 Messianic Jewish illustrations
· Insightful introductions to each book
· Shabbat Family Prayers
· Hebrew Word Glossary
· Messianic Prophecy Footnotes
· Headings to reveal story topics
· Original Maps
The Messianic Jewish Family Bible is an exceptional tool for studying God’s Word and sharing our faith as Messianic Jews. For Gentile Believers, it opens the invaluable Jewish context of the Bible that, sadly, has been lost in most modern translations.
If you died tomorrow, who would determine how your estate would be divided?
According to a recent survey, 60 percent of Americans die without a Last Will and Testament – and that ultimately means that the government will decide how to divide their estates.
Don’t let this happen to your family.
To ensure that your wishes are carried out, it is essential that you make them known and document them legally – in a Last Will and Testament, or Trust.
Jewish Voice Ministries has recently teamed with Financial Planning Ministry* to offer each of our valued Partners the creation of a Last Will and Testament, at no charge to you.
There is no obligation. It’s our complimentary gift to you and your family, because we appreciate your faithful partnership in sharing the Gospel and care about your peace of mind.
For more information, call 1-855-550-1455 today and we’ll send your certificate entitling you to completion of your complimentary professional will or trust.
*Available in the US only.
Giving Tuesday is one day set aside for charitable giving to worthy causes. In a way, it is a partner to Thanksgiving, bookending the shopping frenzy.
This Giving Tuesday, we want to remind you what your gift will accomplish when you give to Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI).
Jewish Voice Medical Outreaches help communities of Jewish people in Africa who endure poverty, lack of access to basic medical care and safe drinking water, and sometimes open persecution. Medical professionals provide no-cost medical care while other Outreach Partners distribute water purifiers and teach patients how to use them to help prevent disease.
Those visiting the Clinics also have an opportunity to talk with trained volunteers who offer compassionate prayer and spiritual care. On average, 10,000 Jewish people and their neighbors are served at each week-long Jewish Voice Medical Clinic. The impact is tremendous and, when you give to Jewish Voice, you’re an integral part of it all.
Through your gift to Jewish Voice:
You bring a sigh of relief to an anxious mom as her child receives care for a life-threatening illness.
You put a smile on the face of a patient with cataracts when the bandage is removed and he realizes he can see again.
You give hope for a life without chronic illness caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene practices.
You help turn a community’s attitude toward its Jewish members from hatred, superstition and persecution to seeing them as a source of blessing.
You share the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus) with people who don’t yet know Him, and help them understand that He is their long-awaited Messiah.
Each Jewish Voice Medical Outreach touches thousands of individual lives. When you give to Jewish Voice, you share in the hope and healing, and you are delivering the Good News.
Giving Tuesday – don’t let the day go by without making a significant difference to those who need it most.
