Simon Bar Kochba שמעון בר כוכבא

I realized that my comment on mispronouncing Kosiba might bring some curiosity about why I would be talking about someone named Kosiba at a church. I actually love the story because of its parallels with the story of Jesus. I use it often as a way to tell about Messianic expectation or to compare Kochba with Jesus. If my sources are accurate only Jesus and Bar Kochba are explicitly recognized as Messiah in the histories. Anyway, here is a link that tells his story:

Story of Simon Bar Kochba

Rabbi Singer

Recently my friend Art introduced me to Rabbi Tovia Singer, a Jewish "apologist" of sorts.  He does a lot work with how to deal with Christians who are trying to convert Jews and their friends to Christianity.  And boy does he do a good job.  He has some very good things to say.  Anyway, you can search for him on itunes but I actually found a website that has several lectures from several rabbis, including Singer, so check them out.  

Here is Rabbi Singer's Page

And here is the homepage

Enjoy.  

The Preacher & the Rabbi

One thing I noticed when I was at synagogue that has been rolling around the brain the past week: Their 'sermon' wasn't the climax of the Shabbat service. It wasn't like we often like to think about church, the music gets the heart softened and ready to hear "from God's word" and then all the drama, Scripture reading, etc. leads up to...the SERMON (dun dun dun). The sermon was there at Shabbat service, but it was just another part of the gathering. It wasn't long, only about 15-20 minutes out of the hour and a half service. As a result, it was a much more participatory service, where if you didn't engage, you felt left out.

On a similar note: the rabbi didn't present himself as "God's Man" as many preachers and pastors do today, and yet he is probably much more respected among his congregation than many preachers and pastors today. Maybe there's something to be learned there? It was very nice to have the rabbi identify the way he did with everyone else. He was there truly to shepherd and it showed.