Beginnings...

When God’s hand begins to stir the hearts of men and women, you can be sure that something is about to happen. In January of 1992, Jeff Lowenthal, Chairman of the Messianic Jewish Israel Fund, asked Dotti Solomon to take the voluntary position of Executive Director of the Messianic Jewish Israel Fund (MJIF).

The position would include organizing believers throughout the United States who have a heart for Israel and the Jewish people. Both Jewish and Christian Zionists were contacted, those who practice the Word of God and would commit to bless Jewish believers in Israel with prayer and financial support.

The goal of the MJIF was to strengthen the hands of our Israeli brothers and sisters who had been called to “be a light to the nations” [Acts 13:47-48], and minister the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus) to those who had not yet come to faith in the Messiah. In this way, those in the Diaspora (outside Israel) would be doing their part to promote revival among the Jewish people in Israel.

Accepting the position, Dotti knew in her heart that God was calling her to this vital ministry, and she strongly felt the need to begin “building a bridge” between those in the Diaspora and Jewish believers in Israel.

So began the work of the Messianic Jewish Israel Fund (MJIF), an autonomous humanitarian aid agency of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, the oldest and largest Messianic Jewish organization in the world.

The MJIF immediately began making annual trips to Israel to see, first hand, the severity of existing conditions and find where the greatest needs lie. The MJIF constantly works with leaders in the Land who help direct them to the most urgent situations. A quarterly newsletter is sent out to keep supporters up to date on the “happenings” in Israel.

Since 1992 the MJIF has distributed vital emergency funding to needy Jewish believers and Messianic works in Israel. Funds received by the MJIF go directly and exclusively to Jewish believers in the Land. Operational costs are conscientiously kept at a minimum, and no salaries are taken by anyone working with the MJIF.

We believe in the spiritual principle of “sowing and reaping.” We also believe there is no more fertile soil in which to sow our seed than that of Israel. . . and the Jewish believers there who are bringing the 'Good News" of Messiah Yeshua to God's people.

Guest Contributor:

     DID ALL THE JEWISH PEOPLE REJECT

                        THE MESSIAH?

 

By Rabbi Jeff Adler

 

Recently a Jewish man sent a question to a Messianic Jewish rabbi regarding the correlation between the Messianic Jewish Movement and the non-Jewish evangelical Christian church.

 

Contrary to what many have been led to believe, faith in Yeshua as the promised Messiah was first recognized by the Jewish people. There were at least a million Jewish people that acknowledged Him as the Messiah; the One sent to atone for the sins of the people. He fulfilled many prophecies from the T’nakh, such as rising from the grave, subsequently drawing large numbers of non-Jewish people to Himself (Isaiah 42 and 49).  As a matter of fact, the Messianic Movement is the only Jewish movement in history to attract Gentiles in mass. This is important in light of the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 that “. . . all the families of the earth would be blessed through him.”

 

There is also a prophetic promise in Jeremiah 31:31-40 that there would be a New Covenant (B’rit Haddashah), and more efficacious than the previous one. The terms and specifics of this New Covenant are recorded in what is generally termed the New Testament, written by Jewish authors and historically and archaeologically attested as accurate.

 

One example among many is the body of work by the great British archaeologist Sir William Ramsey. Ramsey was a skeptic in regard to the historicity of the New “Testament."  He decided to validate his skepticism by tracing Luke's account of the travels of Paul in Acts and attack its historicity."

For example, Luke refers to a figure named Galileo, serving as the Proconsul of Achaia. Critics had for centuries scoffed at Luke’s account, as there had never been a record found of the existence of Galileo, even more importantly the office of Proconsul. At Delphi, Ramsey discovered the “Galileo Inscription”, which specifically mentioned not only the office of Proconsul, but, that Galileo had served there in that office during Paul’s time. The senate had created that office with special powers to handle areas of insurrection. This pattern of reliability caused Ramsey to move from skeptic to believer.

 

Lastly, concerning the issue of non-Jewish expressions of the Messianic faith, the New Covenant teaches that the Gentiles are grafted into the Jewish olive tree, not the converse. Naturally, it makes sense that they would find means to express their faith in terms communicative with their own culture; however that does not change the history that many Jewish people of the day did, in fact, accept Him first!