Messianic Synagogue

The Messianic synagogue enacts many of the sacred rituals of Judaism, but the meaning of these rituals is enriched by the knowledge and the belief that Yeshua b. Yosef or Jesus is the promised Messiah. This means that the traditional rituals of Judaism such as the shabbat, the seder, the kiddush prayer, the bar- and bat-mitzvah, and other rituals are sacraments that "set apart" or sanctify time and express messianic faith-in order words, the Christian faith in Jesus. Jewish spirituality does not ordinarily consist of self-denial or of pietism, but does entail making distinctions-between right and wrong, true and false, of course, but also between the ritually pure and the impure, the clean and the unclean. Judaism is a religion of distinctions. The Kiddush, a prayer over wine which inaugurates shabbat (the Sabbath), marks the separation of the seventh day from the working days of the week. The kiddush prayer begins with a recitation from Genesis 1:3-12:3, followed by a benediction …