Katnut d'Katnut

Rabbi Jacob Emden (1697-1776) son of Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi is an authority in Orthodox Judaism. He was a great opponent of Sabbateanism. At present there is a theological movement that is reevaluating St Paul and his writings from looking at his Jewish background. There are a number of new books seeing Paul in this new light as positive towards the Torah. Rabbi Emden was ahead of his time and really expresses his understanding well. If both Jews and Christians looked at Jesus, Paul and Torah from the perspective given by Rabbi Jacob Emden in this letter we could come to a greater appreciation of each others traditions and the place of Torah-observant Jewish believers in Yeshuah. This letter was written in 1757 to the Jewish Council of the Four Lands.

King Solomon and his Rod of Iron

The Hebrew word Barzel which means Iron is connected in some mysterious way with the Mystery of the Divine Heart. It is made up of the 4 Hebrew letters beit, resh, zayin and lamed. The mystics point out that the word Barzel can be read as 'Mystery of the Heart'. The middle two letters RZ is raz or raza which is mystery or secret in Aramaic and the remaining two letters LB make Leb or Lev which means Heart.