In 1985, Jonathan Bernis was in his second year as Messianic Rabbi of Congregation Shema Yisrael in Rochester, New York. It was a lively congregation with Bible studies, outreach programs, and worship dance classes. Jonathan didn’t know it them, but an enormous window of opportunity was opening that would change the course of his life.

Since coming to know Yeshua as the prophesied Messiah, it was always Jonathan Bernis’ deep desire to introduce as many of his Jewish people to Yeshua as he could. As he began to hear that doors to the Gospel were opening in the Soviet Union, he felt the Holy Spirit directing him to an opportunity to minister to people whose decades of atheistic oppression had created a spiritual openness to God.

Humble Beginnings 

In 1990 he and a small group from the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) took a short ministry trip to Leningrad and Moscow, Russia to see if they could point some people to Yeshua:

Armed with several suitcases filled with Russian/Hebrew Bibles and hundreds of pieces of Messianic literature, we ventured behind the “Iron Curtain,” believing that the Lord would sovereignly lead and direct us.

They prayed for divine appointments, and God answered, including leading them to the Consular overseeing all immigrations to Israel. As they left the director’s office, they spoke with the lines of people waiting to inquire about moving to Israel. In just a few minutes they’d passed out all of the materials they had with them.

“It was an absolutely overwhelming experience for us to see so many Jewish people open to the Gospel,” Jonathan recalled.  “We spent a couple of hours just talking with people and sharing our faith. We spent the remainder of the day back at our hotel meeting with those that wanted to talk further.”

In the end, the group of Messianic Believers had come to the Soviet Union with 300 Bibles and 400 pieces of Messianic literature. In six days, they’d distributed all of it.

(Inviting people to the first HOIM festival in St. Petersburg, Russia 1993)

“We left for home exhausted but thankful to God for the privilege of being used,” Jonathan reported in his congregation’s newsletter. “God had shown Himself faithful, and somehow I knew that I would be returning.”

He was right. One month after getting home, the MJAA called. A man from Minsk, in Belarus, was asking for someone to teach him and a group of other Jewish Believers more about Messiah. Jonathan returned to Russia with another team from the MJAA, and several months later, helped this already existing group of Believers become a Messianic congregation. Jonathan continued making trips to Minsk to disciple the fledgling congregation.

On one trip home from Minsk, Jonathan was reading Matthew 24, and for the first time understood the term “nations” to mean ethnic groups rather than land masses. He wondered, Who is bringing the Gospel to the Jewish people?  He could think of only two people trying to reach the estimated three million Jewish people in the former Soviet Union. That’s when he heard God call him, saying, “Go to St. Petersburg and reach My people.”

Jonathan went. He hadn’t been to St. Petersburg (formerly called Leningrad) in two years and didn’t have a solid plan when he arrived. In his hotel room, as he sought the Lord, an idea began to form in his mind. What about organizing festivals of Jewish music and dance through which the Gospel could be presented?

He knew that both Jewish people and Russians enjoyed culture. The more he prayed and conferred with pastors in the city, they all soon realized it was God’s idea.

Over the next few days, Jonathan visited concert halls holding 400, 600, 800 people. Nothing seemed exactly right. Then one day, while traveling in a taxi with a pastor, he saw a massive white building. It was the largest in the city. The next day, he met with the director. The hall was spectacular, seating 4,000 people in beautiful, leather-lined chairs. “This is it!” his spirit jumped with enthusiasm. He booked the hall for three days in May 1993.

When opening day of the festival arrived, no one knew what to expect. Would there be 50 people or 500? The response was overwhelming. Each night, the hall was full to overflowing – and two-thirds of them were Jewish! They had to turn away several hundred people each night.

After each performance, Jonathan shared his 30-minute testimony. At the end, he gave a simple, low-key appeal for those who wanted to repent of their sins and give their heart to Messiah to come forward. “Rushing the stage, their arms uplifted and many eyes filled with tears, they poured down the aisle like a massive Exodus” Jonathan recounted.

More than 3,000 people responded to the altar calls of that first festival. Another 3,600 filled out cards requesting more information about Yeshua and Messianic Judaism. “Send me literature.” “I’d like someone to visit my home.” About 2,200 of them were Jewish. Never in the last 2,000 years had Jewish people responded like this to the Messiah.

Follow-up was necessary, of course, so every month thereafter, Jonathan traveled back to St. Petersburg to disciple new Believers. Within a relatively short period, a congregation was planted.

Jonathan began to pray for God to raise up a leader for Russia with a heart for the people and who saw the prophetic significance of what was going on among the Russian Jewish. Jonathan tells how God answered him:

“I’ve already raised up such a man,” He responded one day.

“Great, Lord! Who it is?”

“You,” the Lord replied. “I’ve chosen you.”

So, in 1993, Jonathan resigned from his position as senior rabbi of his congregation and moved to St. Petersburg.

  (Jonathan Bernis speaks to an overflow crowd in Moscow 1994)

God called Jonathan Bernis to an innovative form of outreach to share the Good News of Yeshua with Jewish people. Hear O’ Israel Ministries’ festivals celebrated Jewish culture, heritage, and history. In an oppressed region known for its persecution of Jewish people, a professionally produced, free event of this nature lifted the spirits of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people. The message that the Jewish Messiah had come and loved His people, the Jews, was good news indeed, and thousands responded each evening.

From 1993 through 2000, Hear O’ Israel Ministries (HOIM) conducted 13 festivals in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union, plus a four-city tour of Ukraine. They also ventured outside Eastern Europe to hold festivals in India and Buenos Aires, Argentina. During that time, nearly 450,000 people attended HOIM festivals. As the festivals became more known, they experienced opposition in advance of their coming to various regions. But that didn’t stop overflow crowds from attending, nor grasping the gift of a personal relationship with God through Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

 (Hear O' Israel Festival, Vijayawada, India 2000)

Jewish Voice Ministries still conducts Hear O’ Israel Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance around the world and continues to see thousands in attendance. These festivals are vibrant celebrations, filled with pageantry, color, and life using professional staging, sound, and lighting. Well-known Messianic Jewish singers and dancers from the US, Israel, and Europe entertain the audiences. Following each performance Jonathan shares his testimony and a clear, simple opportunity to respond to the message, and also to receive prayer for their needs.

Hundreds of volunteers from all over the world have participated in these festivals, serving in three primary areas: street outreach, intercessory prayer, and administration. Everyone works together in harmony. The Lord uses the various talents and abilities of each one to make these huge events a reality. (Hear O' Israel Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance today. Audience members join the festival team on the floor in celebration and dance.)

Find out how Jonathan Bernis’ Hear O’ Israel Ministries and Louis Kaplan’s Jewish Voice Broadcasts met, partnered, and merged – next month in May’s JVMI 50th Anniversary blog post.

Don’t’ miss Flashback Fridays on our Facebook page where you’ll see glimpses of our 50-year journey.

Discover the whole inspiring JVMI story with our beautiful, full-color coffee table book, Jewish Voice: A Look at 50 Years. Along with a fascinating narrative chronicling 50 years of ministry, this special edition includes biographies, stories, and reflections from television guests, partners, and staff as well as over 200 photographs. 

Join us on the Jewish Voice Blog each month in 2017 as we unfold the Jewish Voice story and piece together for you how two ministries with the same heart merged to become the Jewish Voice Ministries International you know today.

Previous JVMI 50th Anniversary blog posts: 

Meet Louis and Chira Kaplan

The Early Years – Jewish Voice Broadcasts

Jonathan Bernis

Passover is one of the most important Jewish holidays of the year. It is a time to remember what God has done in liberating the Jewish people – affirming, consecrating, and preserving them as His own people. Passover is a time for retelling the story of Passover and God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt. For Messianic Jews, it is also a time of remembering this holy day in Messiah Yeshua’s (Jesus’) death and resurrection. Identifying the symbolism and ways in which Passover points to Yeshua will infuse your Passover with rich meaning – whether you are Messianic Jew or Gentile.

Remembering 

“Why is this night different from all other nights?” a child asks during the Passover Seder.

An elder replies according to the Haggadah, a guide for conducting the Passover Seder. “Tonight is different because we remember that our people were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh, and our God brought us out with strength and the might of His hand,” he says. “If God had not brought us out, we would still be slaves.”

Jewish people remember the events of Passover:

• Slavery – Restricted by their captivity, the Jewish people were owned by Pharaoh, subject to his will and suffering deeply because of their slavery to him
• Miracles – God caused astounding, supernatural events to occur in the process of saving His people. These miracles exhibited the power of God as greater than that of Pharaoh, and they testified that He is the one true God.
• Sacrifice – The Passover lamb was sacrificed so that its blood, spread on the doorpost and lintel of each Jewish home, provided the covering required to escape the death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Because of the blood of the lamb, Jewish people in Egypt were saved from death.
• Delivered and Set Free – Given life in the face of death, the Hebrews were set free from their bondage to Egypt and were freed to walk out of the land that had mastered them for so long

Each of these aspects of Passover bears New Covenant meaning and parallel. Messianic Jews remember at Passover what Yeshua did for us through His death and resurrection that gave us freedom from a captivity to sin that is even more powerful than that of the Hebrews to Pharaoh.

• Slavery to Sin – We were slaves to sin, unable to please God or meet His standard of righteousness. We could not have fellowship with Him because of our sin.
• Ministry of Miracles – Yeshua did countless miracles during His ministry on earth. They testify that Yeshua has both the power and authority to defeat sin and deliver us from its reign over us.
• Sacrifice – Yeshua’s blood was brought into the heavenly Holy of Holies to make atonement for our sin once and for all. His death offered us His redemption. Through His shed blood, we have redemption from our sin. His life, given for us, brings us out of death and into life in Him.
• Freed to New Life – Given life in Messiah, we are set free from the bondage to sin and freed to walk in newness of life and fellowship with God (Romans 6:4). “If God had not brought us out, we would still be slaves.”

Retelling

Retelling is a big part of remembering. Retelling brings the details to the front of our mind, where we are able to marvel anew at what the Lord has done. During the Passover Seder, the story of Passover found in the book of Exodus is recounted.

The apostle Paul identified Yeshua as our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), and He is the fulfillment of the meaning of Passover. Retelling the account of Yeshua’s sacrificial death and resurrection highlights how Passover is a shadow of God’s ultimate plan of salvation for all humankind through Messiah Yeshua.

At Yeshua’s Last Supper, He declared that He had earnestly desired to eat that Passover meal with His disciples (Luke 22:15). Therefore, Messianic Jews often add the New Covenant practice of Communion during their Passover meal.

Here are some additional New Covenant Scripture readings to enhance how to celebrate Passover as a follower of Yeshua:

Revealing

One of the most exciting elements of the Passover Seder for Messianic Jews is the symbolism found in the Afikomen, a special piece of matzah broken during the Seder and hidden to be “revealed” later.

Jewish tradition includes placing three pieces of matzah into a matzah tosh, a cloth pouch containing three sections, one piece in each section. The matzah represents the “bread of affliction” which the Jewish people ate in the land of Egypt. For Messianic Jews, it’s hard not to also see a parallel between these three pieces of matzah and the three manifestations of the One God of the Bible – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

During the Seder, the second piece of unleavened bread is taken out of the matzah tosh and broken in two. Messianic Jews, as well as Gentile Believers, remember when Yeshua, the Son of God, broke bread declaring it His body given for us (Luke 22:14-23).

The largest piece of the broken matzah is called the Afikomen, and it gets hidden somewhere in the house for the children to search for later. The child who finds it brings it to the leader of the Seder, who then “redeems” it for a prize. This redemption reminds Messianic Jews that Yeshua has redeemed us and given us the gift of eternal life.

Further symbolism of the Afikomen is revealed by it being taken away for a time during the Seder and later reunited with the Passover table. This speaks to Messianic Jews of how Yeshua has gone away from us for a time here on earth with the promise to return (John 14:3). Yeshua will return for us one day, and we will know our final redemption. Until then, we lift Him up and celebrate Him as our Passover Lamb, the Messiah sent to deliver us from sin.

For daily Passover devotionals, visit these links: 

Yeshua, Our Passover Lamb – Passover Devotional 1

He Heard the Cry of Our Affliction – Passover Devotional 2

When I See the Blood – Passover Devotional 3

If God Had Not – Passover Devotional 5

Free Indeed – Passover Devotional 6

Freed to Serve A Good Master – Passover Devotional 7

Living Ready – Passover Devotional Day 8

Whether you favored Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in last year’s election, our responsibility remains the same as Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) AND supporters of a Jewish state: to pray for and seek productive relations between the two nations and to pray for those in leadership. I hope you’ll join me in praying for that in the weeks ahead. Here are some ways to pray:
 

1. Strengthened U.S.-Israel ties and productive relations between leaders in each country
    
2. World opinion and sympathy toward Israel to grow more favorable and fair, including in the United Nations
    
3. Healing to replace the division and strife experienced in so many countries
    
4. Building unity, first among the Body of Messiah and also throughout our nations
    
5. That we recognize and honor God as having ultimate dominion and authority
    
6. World leaders to humble themselves before God
    
7. God to draw the leaders of the world to faith in Yeshua
    
8. Righteous leaders who fear God and love truth
    
9. Leaders to rule with integrity, with God’s guidance

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How is Messianic Judaism Different than Christianity?

One of the most common questions we receive is, “What is the difference between Messianic Judaism and Christianity?” The key to better understanding the differences between Messianic Judaism and Christianity is to first understand the foundations of both religions as they spring from Judaism.

1. Jewish people are descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and acknowledge Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the patriarchs of Israel and the Jewish people. Historically, Jewish people have not acknowledged Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah promised to Israel.

2. Christians are typically non-Jews who have responded to Yeshua in faith to experience spiritual rebirth and reconciliation to God.

3. Messianic Jews are people of Jewish heritage who maintain their Jewish identity and acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah.

Differences between Messianic Jews and Christians:

Once you understand the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Messianic Judaism, you can begin to dive deeper into the similarities and differences between Messianic Jews and Christians. Here are a few of the major differences between the two.

Biblical text

Messianic Jews and Christians both embrace the entire Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as Spirit-inspired Holy Writ. However, many Messianic Jews continue to live by the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah, something most Christians do not do.

Sabbath

Messianic Jewish people observe the Sabbath, or Shabbat, during the traditional Jewish time starting before sunset on Friday evening until Saturday night. While there are several theories on when the Christian church deviated from the traditional Jewish day of Shabbat, Christians have been observing the Sabbath on Sundays since the second century.

Holidays

Christians observe holidays that are disconnected from the Bible, like Christmas and Easter Sunday. While Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus (Yeshua) and Easter Sunday celebrates His resurrection, the timing of these holidays historically corresponds with pagan holidays. Messianic Jewish people also observe the resurrection of Yeshua from the dead, believing His resurrection is evidence of His finished work in conquering sin and death for us. Messianic Jews generally celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection on the the first day of First Fruits, the first day of the week after the "weekly" Shabbat after Passover. Additionally, Messianic Jews observe the traditional Jewish holidays and feasts such as Purim, Chanukah, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), and the Feast of Booths (Sukkot).

Dietary Laws

Most Christians do not observe the biblical commandments regarding dietary practices. These include the avoidance of scavengers of land or sea, with the exception of mammals that both chew the cud and have cloven hooves, like sheep, goats, and deer. For many Messianic Jewish people, the basic biblical commandments found in the Torah are still observed. This observance enables Messianic Jewish people to maintain their God-given identities as Jews.

The Messiah and the Jewish People

While there are many similarities between Messianic Judaism, Christianity, and Judaism, Messianic Jewish people embrace their Jewish heritage, while believing that Yeshua is the Messiah, the promised Redeemer of Israel and all of mankind. If you’re interested in learning more about Messianic Jewish people or Jewish Voice Ministries, contact us or visit our about us page.

Have you ever been in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to be a part of something great? Maybe it was someone else who was there at just the right moment for you. They came to your rescue just when you needed it, saving the day, solving the problem, turning bad circumstances to good. At times like these, you know God is looking out for you and stepping in on your behalf. God intervenes for His people in both small and grand ways – sometimes really grand ways.

That’s how it was for the Jewish people among the Diaspora when Esther came along. An orphaned maiden, she lived with Mordecai, her cousin and adoptive guardian, at the time when King Ahasuerus ruled over the fifth-century B.C. Jewish people. The Jews were dispersed in a kingdom that stretched from Turkey into Eastern Europe and from Ethiopia into India.

Queen Vashti displeased the king, so he banished her from the throne and conscripted beautiful maidens from his kingdom to undergo twelve months of beautification. From them, the king would choose his next queen. Esther was among them and kept her Jewish heritage a secret. When the time came for the king to select his queen, he chose Esther. Still, she did not disclose her Jewishness.

Mordecai learned of a plot to kill the king and told Esther. Esther, in turn, informed the king in Mordecai’s name, thus saving the king’s life. The would-be murderers were hanged, and the incident was recorded in the kings’ Book of Chronicles.

After these events, the king promoted an official named Haman and commanded that everyone bow and pay homage to him. Mordecai refused because he could only bow before the one true God. Haman was enraged and set out to kill not just Mordecai but all the Jewish people in the kingdom. He convinced the king these people were a threat to his rule because of their undivided loyalty to God alone. King Ahasuerus gave Haman authority to “do with them as you please” (Esther 3:11), and Haman issued an irrevocable decree in the king’s name to kill all the Jews – young and old, men, women, and children – in one day.

When Mordecai learned of the coming slaughter, he sat at the king’s gate in sackcloth weeping and wailing. Esther sent word to find out what was troubling him. The servant relayed to Esther all that Mordecai had told him, including his appeal for Esther to go to the king and plead for her people.

Going before the king when not summoned meant death if the king did not extend his golden scepter to the one who dared such a thing, and Esther had not been summoned to the king for thirty days. When the servant relayed these words from Esther to Mordecai, Mordecai spoke a message that held warning, faith, and prophetic insight.

Mordecai warned: “Do not think in your soul that you will escape in the king’s household more than all the Jews” (Esther 4:13).

He trusted God, saying, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,” and warned again, “but you and your father’s house will perish” (Esther 4:14a).

Then, Mordecai conveyed a message that echoes through the ages with some of the most inspirational insight to anyone in a position of influence or power. He said, “Who knows whether you have attained royal status for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b).