Messianic Synagogue

Messianic Jews observe the liturgical calendar of the Torah rather than the Christian year. In some instances, they add a Christological tone to the traditional Jewish meaning of these observances. One of the characteristics shared by all the congregations of the Messianic Jewish movement is a high view of Scripture and a consequent determination to order congregational life according to what was in the 1970s often called biblical kashrut and is now more simply designated Torah. Therefore, Messianic Jews share a virtually universal adherence to the Jewish liturgical calendar that is mandated in the Torah itself. This approach differs significantly from the older Hebrew Christian philosophy, which taught that, having been set free from the "burden" of the law by the Messiah, it would be wrong to practice the liturgical year whose very existence derives from that law. The Hebrew Christian practice had been to mention at a Sunday service that, during the following week, a Jewish holiday…