What is a Messianic Jewish Synagogue?

Kehilah Portland is the first Messianic Jewish Synagogue in Maine. As such, with something new, many will not be familiar with a Messianic congregation, unless they have lived in a community where one already exists, or by today's advanced technology have connected with a congregation online.

In its simplest form, A Messianic Jewish Synagogue is a place of meeting, just like a Jewish Synagogue that is orthodox, conservative or reform. It is a place where the Jewish community come together. It is also:

• beit tefilah, a house of prayer

• beit midrash, a house of study

• beit hallel, a house of praise

As a congregation, we meet on Shabbat, just as any other synagogue in any other part of the world would do. We recite the Sh'ma every Shabbat, just as any other synagogue would. We include selected pieces of liturgy, just as you would hear in any other synagogue. We study the weekly parshah just as any other synagogue.

So, what makes us diffferent from any other synagogue?

We recognize that Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus) is the promised Messiah of Israel and that the New Covenant is a covenant made with the Jewish people, as promised through the prophet Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah):

"Here, the days are coming," says Adonai, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says Adonai. "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says Adonai: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know Adonai'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more." Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31 - 34

The congregation of a Messianic synagogue will comprise both Jewish believer and non-Jewish believer, who in harmony recognize the Jewishness of Adonai's redemptive message found through our Messiah. As such, they have recognized that they have been grafted into the olive tree that is Israel and all the promises associated with the covenants that Adonai made with Israel.

"However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead! Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you \emdash a wild olive were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Romans 11:13 - 19

As such, the promises of Adonai are irrevocable, hence when you ask, what about the naturual branches, Sha'ul (Paul) responds:

"True but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won't spare you! So take a good look at God's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God's kindness toward you provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree! For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness; and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the Tanakh says, "Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya`akov and this will be my covenant with them, . . . when I take away their sins." With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs' sake, for God's free gifts and his calling are irrevocable." Romans 11:20 - 29

As we grow into a larger congregation and more people are willing to share their talents and gifts with the congregation we will add more Davidic worship in the form of dance and live worship music.

You are encouraged to come and be part of our congregation. If you have a heart for Israel and the Jewish people, if you have a desire to know more about Torah, if you have a desire to worship the God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov and His fulfilled promises through Yeshua...you are welcome.

If you are searching for Adonai's truth about Messiah and are looking for answers, you too are welcome. For in Messiah, there is a place for everyone who comes be believe and follow Him...

"For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!" Romans 11:15