Judaism Ancient and New

Remnant of Israel

At the present time, “there is a Remnant chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5).

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel (Romans 9:27), “If the number is as the sand of the sea, a remnant will repent and return and be saved” (my translation of Isaiah 10:22 cited by Saint Paul in Romans 9:27).

I was born Jewish. My parents and grandparents were each born Jewish. I have been asking, for more than seven decades, what is the meaning of the words “Jew,” “Jewish,” and “Judaism.” At best they are used ambiguously; there is practically no agreement. Everyone uses the words subjectively, or with an implied “cultural context”; I rarely see these words used in their ancient literal sense.

By examining these words — “Jew,” “Jewish,” “Judaism,” and “Israel” — in their original Hebrew context, I hope to offer a more objective and universal meaning drawn from the most radical (from the linguistic root) and original sense. (Note: By saying “original sense,” I include our understanding that the God of Israel is the originator of all language. In fact, the Jewish Messiah is the uncreated Word. The “original” radical sense of human language “originates” in the eternal Word.)

What are Jews permitted to eat?

The Jewish Bible describes the original humans’ disobedience to God’s Plan for human life. Specifically, our first parents disobeyed God by eating what God commanded them not to eat. The first commandment (the first time the word, “commandment,” is used) given by God to humans restricts, limits, what humans may eat. God gives humans freedom to eat anything growing on earth with one exception: in Genesis 2:16, God “commands” us not to eat the fruit of one tree. What is the consequence for eating from the forbidden tree? God says: “you will surely die.” The Hebrew, Genesis 2:17, says “you will die dying,” or “die dead.”

The one holy, acceptable, living, eternal Thanksgiving Sacrifice is truly the source and center and summit of our Faith. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, gives great emphasis to the central and fundamental importance of participating in this one Holy Sacrifice, the life-and-death importance of eating this Holy Sacrifice offered on the Altar.

Jesus repeats the unqualified necessity of eating this Bread-from-Heaven, the Flesh of the Word-made-flesh. “Unless you eat this,” Jesus insists, “you will not have life” (John 6:53).

From the beginning of creation to the end of time — and into eternal life — God instructs us what we must eat, and what we must not eat.

The serpent asks the woman, “Why did God command you not to eat of all the trees?” The woman replies that God has commanded the humans not to eat of the tree in the midst of the garden lest they die. The sneaky serpent then says, “You will not surely die [you will not die dying].” The serpent tells the woman a half truth. God says repeatedly, “If the sinner repents, he shall surely live and not die” (Ezekiel 18:28 and others).

God gives us food to eat, and explicitly tells us what we must eat and not eat. Our first parents sinned by eating what God commanded us not to eat.

Jesus says to His disciples, “I have food of which you do not know” (John 4:32). “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and finish the work He sent me to do” (John 4:34).

“I am the bread of life . . . the bread which comes down from heaven, that if any man eats of it, he may not die” (John 6:48–51) Jesus proclaims. “He who eats my flesh has everlasting life . . . for my flesh is food indeed . . . he that eats my flesh abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53–57).

Many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” (John 6:60) Jesus said to them, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Mary and Joseph truly “eat” the “words of spirit and life” (John 6:63). Mary and Joseph “eat” the “True Bread that comes down from Heaven” and become the first two human members of the Mystical Body of Christ; Mary and Joseph enter into Holy Communion, Sacred Union, with the Word-made-flesh.

The only Jewish Sacrifice in the Messianic Age

According to the ancient Jewish Rabbis, when the Messiah comes, the Todah (Thanksgiving) Sacrifice will be the only remaining Levitical Sacrifice (Pope Benedict XVI/Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Feast of Faith; Ignatius Press, English Edition 1986; “Postscript 2” pages 51–60)). The Todah Sacrifice is offered in thanksgiving for being saved from death, for literally being brought back from death to life.

The Todah Sacrifice, the Thanksgiving Sacrifice, is the one holy, eternal Jewish Sacrifice.

In the beginning with our first parents there was a remnant without guile; Cain murdered him and we remember Abel in the eternal Sacrifice. Abraham and Sarah believed God and we remember our Father Abraham in the eternal Holy Sacrifice.

In our rebellious youth, God gives us the Passover Lamb through Moses. After Moses died and Joshua (his Hebrew name is “Yeshua,” the same as “Jesus”) led the Israelites into the Promised Land, the Passover became the national Todah of Israel, offering “praise and thanksgiving” for being brought “from death to life, from slavery to freedom” (words used in our Passover Seder).

Melchisedek reveals the form and matter of the eternal Todah when he brings forth bread and wine — fruit of the earth and vine, work of human labor. We proclaim with Saint Paul, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed”; and we respond with all the hosts of heaven, “Therefore let us keep the Feast.” “Blessed are those who are called to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9).

In the fullness of time, God transforms the Passover Lamb and Manna from Heaven into the eternal Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (see Isaiah 53). The Todah (Thanksgiving) Psalms form the heart — the “center and summit” — of the Psalms and the Prophets. Together with the bread and wine, the work of human hands, the faithful offer themselves; with the bread and wine, we give our whole selves to serve the Lord.

The offering of the Todah Sacrifice includes the testimony, the telling of the offeror’s return from death. The telling, the “witness,” is the oral expression of “praise-and-thanksgiving,” and is a necessary component of the Sacrifice (see Ratzinger/Benedict, Feast of Faith, cited above). “It is right and just, O Lord, always and everywhere to give you thanks.” All the faithful participate — become co-offerors — by eating the bread and drinking the wine: this is the Todah Sacrifice.

Jesus died and rose from the dead and instructed the Apostles to offer the eternal Todah Sacrifice after they, in union with the Blessed Mother, were filled with Holy Spirit. Soon, they began using the Greek word, Eucharist (Eucharistia), in place of the Hebrew word, Todah.

They developed formulas for making present and celebrating this Eucharistic Sacrifice; gradually, they understood what Jesus had told them during the “eucharistic discourse.” Many years later, the “eucharistic discourse” was recorded in chapter six of the final gospel.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey in my mouth” (Psalm 119:103).

“Those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:4–5). “Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (I Peter 2:3).

Israel’s Promised Messiah is the Living Word of God (John 1:1ff):

For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:2)

The Word of God, the Eucharist, renews and strengthens the Holy Spirit in our hearts and souls. Every time I receive Holy Communion (every time I communicate), I ask the Holy Spirit to circumcise my heart, soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and to help me purify the thoughts and intentions of my heart.

Through Christ and the Sacraments established in the Church by His Ordained Apostles, we enter into the protected Garden, into a life of grace. God calls each one of us in this graced space to seek His Will and “serve the Lord” in all we do. His commandments are not burdensome: we must eat what He tells us to eat; and we must not eat what He tells us not to eat.

He tells us to “do this in remembrance of me,” to offer the one Holy Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, to give Him thanks and praise always and everywhere: to offer Todah.

“Jew” is an anglicized form of “Judah.” “Judah” comes from the same word as “Todah.” Judah is one who “offers praise and thanksgiving.” Jesus is the King of the Jews. He is the King of all who offer praise and thanksgiving to the God of Israel.

“David” is the Hebrew word for “Beloved.” The “beloved” disciple is the “David” disciple.

All the prophets proclaimed that the Promised One would come from the “House and Lineage” of David from the Tribe of Judah. Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Beloved Son of the Father from the Tribe of Judah who offers the one holy, acceptable, living, eternal, Todah Sacrifice on Calvary for our Salvation.

The Word became flesh to offer the one holy, eternal, Todah Sacrifice: Jesus ordains the Apostles to make present on the Altar this same Holy Sacrifice of Thanksgiving for being saved from dying dead. The final gospel ends with Jesus telling all His followers — through Peter — “Feed my sheep,” feed them the Living Word-made-flesh, the Todah/Eucharist.

Judaism is Communion – Communion is “eating together”

The most radical sense of “communion” expresses participation in a common meal, or “eating together.” I suggest that the first communal “communion” among God’s Chosen People was the Passover in Egypt and the Manna from Heaven eaten during the Exodus. The People of God eat what God instructs them to eat. This “eating together” includes confessing together that the bread and wine are gifts from God, “fruit of the earth” and “fruit of the vine.” This radical sense of Sacred Communion unites the eaters with one another, forming “com-unity”; and, also unites the human participants with their providential God, the creator of all food. In this radical sense, “communion” is eating together.

Historically, we profess that our one and only God and Creator of all has instructed His Chosen People to eat in very specific rituals, including but not only the Sabbath Meal and Passover Seder. Jesus, clearly and emphatically reveals the deeper significance of eating.

Yeshua and Ruach Elohim (the Holy Spirit of God) instruct God’s Chosen People in detail about what and how and when they should “eat together.”

Those who “eat together” according to the specific instructions of the Jewish Messiah are truly God’s Chosen People. Before the Incarnation, “Judah-ism” described a specific “communion” of God’s Chosen People. In the Incarnation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit gradually reveal the fullness of Holy Communion.

“Judah” and “Todah” express the same root/radical sense of “thank God” while emphasizing each aspect of our human vocation. “Judah” emphasizes “confession/testimony/witness,” recounting the “good things the Lord has done for us.” “Todah” emphasizes “offering sacrifice,” giving our “first-born” to God, giving to God all that I have and all that I am, loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving other humans in God’s Love.

“Judah” and “Todah” each express the eternal reality of Holy Communion, “Eating-Together-As-One,” in Him, with Him, and through Him.

You have been called into Communion/fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9). The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the Communion/sharing of the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not the Communion/partaking of the body of the Lord? Because the bread is one, we though many, are one body (1 Corinthians 10:16–17).

If I may be so bold as to paraphrase Pope Benedict’s general thesis in Jesus of Nazareth (Doubleday, 2007) by interpreting Pope Benedict’s statements on the words “Judah” and “Todah” in Feast of Faith (cited above): Jesus reveals the full meaning of Universal Jewish Communion. In the Holy Sacrifice, we pray: “You never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name” (Eucharistic Prayer 3).

The evangelist records the first part of the “Eucharistic discourse” in chapter six of the final gospel. In the Upper Room during the Sacred Family Meal, Jesus completes the “Eucharistic discourse” with details recorded in chapter 16: “An hour is coming when I will no longer speak in proverbs,” Jesus explains, “but I will show you plainly the Father” (John 16:25). His disciples say to Him, “Behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no proverb. Because of this we believe that you came from God” (John 16:29-30).

God the Father is the God of Israel, the God of Judaism; and we, who “believe that Jesus came from God” and confess that the Father sent Yeshua, are faithful Jews. We eat what God commands us to eat. We offer the eternal Todah Sacrifice in the Messianic Age.

Every day I thank God: I thank you Father, for you have adopted me into your Holy Jewish Family. Jesus is my Jewish Brother, Mary is my Jewish mother, and Joseph is my adopted Jewish father.

“I remain Jewish as did the Apostles”

The Chief Rabbi of the Synagogue in Rome during World War II was Israel Zolli. Before the war ended, in February 1945, Zolli was baptized and took the name “Eugenio” for his Baptismal name. When asked why he left the Synagogue for the Catholic Church, he simply testified that he did not leave the Synagogue, that he personally believed for many years that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah. In February 1945, before the War ended, he confessed that his conscience required him to testify publicly that the fullness of Judaism is in the Catholic Church. Most Jews in the world are scandalized! Many Catholics are scandalized! More details in Zolli’s spiritual autobiography, Before the Dawn, are now available from Ignatius Press.

Aron Lustiger was born in a Jewish family in Paris in 1926. He was baptized in 1940, ordained a Catholic priest in 1954, was ordained a bishop in 1979 and was made a cardinal by Saint John Paul II in 1983. He repeatedly testified that he remained Jewish. Most Jews in the world are scandalized! Many Catholics are scandalized! When he became archbishop of Paris, Lustiger said: “I was born Jewish and so I remain.” His epitaph, which he wrote himself in 2004 and can be seen in the crypt of Notre Dame Cathedral, says: “I was born Jewish . . . Having become Christian by faith and by Baptism, I remain Jewish as did the Apostles.”

Edith Stein was born in a Jewish family in 1891, was baptized in 1922, entered a Discalced Carmelite monastery in 1933 and took the religious name Teresia Benedicta a Cruce (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). In Baptism and in solemn vows as a true daughter of St. Teresa of Avila, she remains Jewish. She was gassed in Auschwitz in August 1942. Saint John Paul II beatified Edith Stein as a Christian martyr in 1987 and canonized her October 11 1998. Most Jews in the world are scandalized! Many Catholics are scandalized!

I was born Jewish in 1945 and Baptized in 1974. I confess with Eugenio Zolli, Cardinal Lustiger, Edith Stein, and countless others in the last 1900 years: “I was born Jewish . . . Having become Christian by faith and by Baptism, I remain Jewish as did the Apostles.” Many Jews and many Christians are scandalized by my profession of Faith.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet”

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one

who bears the Gospel, who proclaims Peace,

who bears the acceptable full Gospel, who proclaims Yeshua,

who says to Zion, “Your God [the God of Israel] is King.” (Isaiah 52:7; my translation)

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit gives us Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, these four “gospels” and no more. These four give us the fullness of Isaiah.

Luke’s “orderly account” gives us details about the Virgin of Nazareth from the Tribe of Judah and her close relations with her “cousins” from the Tribe of Levi. Quickly, we see that the Tribe of Levi must decrease and the Tribe of Judah must increase (John 3:30)!

In the final gospel, John (the eagle) soars above the earth, revealing the end in the beginning and the beginning in the end, the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 21:6; see also Anthony Esolen, In the Beginning Was the Word, Angelico Press; 2021; pages 7–9). The final gospel gives flesh to the Word of the Father proclaimed by Isaiah:

So shall my Word, my Beloved Son, be that goes forth from my mouth: He shall not return to me void, He shall accomplish whatever I please and do all for which I sent Him. (Isaiah 55:11; my devotional translation).

The Holy Spirit places Matthew first, beginning with the “Book of the Genesis of Yeshua Ha Meshiah Ben David Ben Avraham” (Matthew 1:1; my Hebrew-and-English translation). The Holy Spirit simplifies the Matthean genealogy into three basic periods of “recapitulation,” explicitly focusing on the Tribe of Judah: from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian Captivity, Babylonian Captivity to the Incarnation (Matthew 1:17). (On the full biblical sense of “recapitulation,” see Paul M. Quay, SJ, The Mystery Hidden for Ages in God, Peter Lang; 1995, 1997.)

Immediately and briefly, the Holy Spirit begins Matthew’s narrative in the “Book of Immanuel” in First Isaiah: “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22–23). Emphasizing again the primacy of the Tribe of Judah, God instructs Isaiah to take his son, Shear-Jashub, and proclaim to Ahaz, the weak and confused king of the Jews, the unique and definitive miracle/sign of the never-ending Messianic Age (Isaiah 7:3–16).

My baptismal name and patron saint is Mark, the untamed, undisciplined wild beast. Mark bluntly, hastily jumps (over the “Book of Immanuel” and First Isaiah) to: “The beginning of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1), “as it is written in [Second/Deutero] Isaiah the Prophet” (Mark 1:2) “A Voice” cries out, we read in Second Isaiah: “Prepare the Way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3 and Mark 1:3). Isaiah asks, “what shall I cry” (Isaiah 40:6), and the Father replies: “All flesh is grass. The grass withers and the flower fades. But My Word, my Beloved Son, stands forever” (Isaiah 40:6–8; my devotional translation).

Chapter six in the final gospel reminds us that “all flesh is grass” — simply declaring that “there was much grass in that place” (John 6:10). Privately, Jesus explains: “the flesh profits nothing, the Spirit gives life” (John 6:63). The Eucharist, Jesus’ Flesh, penetrates directly to our hearts (as I said above). The Eucharist includes the Holy Spirit and is life-giving: we become living members of the Mystical Body. Jesus and the Holy Spirit mysteriously nourish and strengthen us in the Eucharist, giving us supernatural grace to act with Jesus doing “the will of Him who sent me, and finish the work He sent me to do” (John 4:34).

Our first parents ate food they were commanded not to eat: they did not “do the will of God.” In the fullness of time, our new parents — the new mother and father of all living, Mary and Joseph — each do God’s will perfectly; Mary and then Joseph enter into Holy Communion with the Word-made-flesh.

The final gospel “fleshes” out the “bookends” marking Second Isaiah. Mark points us to the first “bookend” in Isaiah 40, “The Word of the Lord stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). The entire final gospel testifies to the fullness of Second Isaiah. The fourth gospel includes details of “the Word” going forth from the Father’s mouth, accomplishing all for which it was sent, and returning to the Father so that the Holy Spirit may be sent, endlessly, to those who offer the one, holy, eternal Todah Sacrifice.

The final gospel mystically brings us into the reality of Second Isaiah. We know that the “bud” from the “Root of Jesse,” in First Isaiah, “will be fruitful” someday (Isaiah 11:1; Jesse is the Father of David from the House and Lineage of Judah). But the “bud” is the Nazarene (in Hebrew: the “netzer”/bud from Netzer-eth/Nazareth), and we ask, “What good can come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

The “bud” (Isaiah 11:1) grows, in Nazareth, in “wisdom and age and grace with God and men” (Luke 2:52). At the River Jordan, the Nazarene (the “bud”) launches His “public ministry” when John the Baptist (the Voice in Second Isaiah) identifies the Suffering Servant of Second Isaiah: “The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29 and 36 identifying the Suffering Servant described in Isaiah 53). In the next chapter, Jesus (the Word, the “bud,” the Nazarene, the Lamb of God) changes water into wine and casts money changers out of the Temple explaining that His Mystical Body is the new Temple (see John 2:21). The Temple is Jewish.

To the Samaritan woman, Jesus explains: “We worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22).

God creates and grows His Human Family

God is.

God is eternal uncreated Community, Com-Unity, of Persons.

In the fullness of time in Nazareth of Galilee, God creates human life, His Human Family, the Chosen People, in the image and likeness of the only eternal uncreated Community of Persons.

In the fullness of time, God creates the never-ending Community, beginning with three persons: two human and one divine Person. This unending created Community of the People of God is called “Church” (see Matthew 16:16ff). In Nazareth, the Incarnation includes the first three members of the Church: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The Holy Family of Nazareth is God’s Family, the Church, the universal Jewish Family. In the beginning, God “begins” preparing this Holy Family; God continues “extending” this Holy Family through unique and extraordinary graces. He chooses Twelve and sends the Holy Spirit to guide the Twelve in establishing the common ordinary channels — the Sacraments — for being incorporated into His Holy Family. These common ordinary channels are open to every human and offer the easy, sure way to union with God. God never excludes unique and extraordinary channels for incorporation into His Human Family.

And “the Word became flesh” in the fullness of time. When He came into the world, He said, “a body you prepared for me” (Hebrews 10:5 citing Psalm 40(39):6).

Divine Revelation indicates how God “prepared a body” for the Incarnation. God assumes human nature in a married woman; the Word becomes flesh in a married woman.

Through the merits of His one holy Sacrifice on Calvary, God preserves His human mother free from any stain of sin: she is a pure immaculate virgin and remains untouched by any stain of sin. It bears repetition: God assumes human nature in a married woman. This unique pure immaculate virgin falls in love with Joseph and marries him. Betrothed means they are truly husband and wife; they are truly married before Mary becomes pregnant. (I believe the pious tradition that Joseph is also a virgin.)

More than pious tradition, I know as a consequence of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception that the true matrimonial union of Joseph and Mary is an immaculate and virginal union. Mary’s free will is never violated: she enters freely into sacred covenant matrimonial union with Joseph. This union of husband and wife remains virginal and immaculate: they are no longer two but one in matrimonial union.

Joseph and Mary are no longer two but one flesh in the true spiritual sense of Genesis 2:24 and John 6:63! In this immaculate covenant union of husband and wife, this Sacred Com-Union of two persons, Joseph and Mary mystically become one and remain distinct persons. This is a great mystery (Ephesians 5:31–32).

In this spiritual sense of Sacred Scripture, the betrothal and marriage union of Joseph and Mary forms the “body” prepared by God for the Incarnation (Hebrews 10:5 citing Psalm 40(39):6). And the Word became flesh in this immaculate union of husband and wife: God assumes human nature in a married woman. Together as one, Joseph and Mary give consent to the pregnancy: Mary first and directly, Joseph secondly through his union with Mary, together participate as human servants in the Mystery of the Incarnation.

In this extraordinary and unique state of grace, Mary and Joseph are included in the Incarnation. In his Apostolic Exhortation on Saint Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos), Saint John Paul II explains magisterial teaching on the role of Mary and Joseph in the Incarnation:

Inserted directly in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Family of Nazareth has its own special mystery. And in this mystery of the Incarnation, one finds true fatherhood. (Saint John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, August 15 1989; #21; also see #s 1, 5, 8, 31).

In the fullness of time in Nazareth of Galilee, God creates the fullness of His human Family. God’s Family is Jewish. Jesus is Jewish. Mary is Jewish. Joseph is Jewish. The Church is God’s Family extended, the fullness of Judaism.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, a blindness has happened in part of Israel until the fullness of the nations comes in; in this manner, the whole Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion.” (Romans 11:25–26, my translation)

In the Messianic Age, Yeshua will be King of Israel and reign from Zion. Jesus revealed His true identity to Nathaniel by saying, “Before Philip called you, I saw under the fig tree” (John 1:48). Nathaniel recognized the Promised Messiah of Israel and testified: “Teacher, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel” (John 1:49). Nathaniel is citing Zephaniah 3:15: “The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst” [has become one of us; He dwells among us, John 1:14].

God promises us that He is “the God of all the Families of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:1). Jesus says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will hear my voice. Then there will be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

Holy Communion is eating together and more; the one Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, the Mass mystically makes present, in God’s order, Calvary, the Last Supper, Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Holy Communion is our Sacred Family Meal; we eat together and enter together into the fullness of the Mystery of the Incarnation.

All of us who proclaim, with Nathaniel, “Rabbi, you are the King of the Israel” are members of the Israel of God (see Galatians 6:16). When the fullness of all nations come in, the Israel of God will be whole.

See previous essays by Mark Drogin here:

https://www.hprweb.com/author/mark-drogin/

Mark Drogin

droginmark@yahoo.com

214 886 8971