Sid: Well my guest is red hot for the Messiah, that’s an understatement for Dr. Michael Brown. As far as I’m concerned he is the most outstanding Messianic Jewish scholar on the face of the map today. He was handpicked by God for this assignment; when he became a Jewish believer in Jesus as a young man he had such an encounter with the Lord just like I did, that no one could talk him out of his faith even his Rabbi. But his rabbi really floored him one day when he challenged him on “Young man do you speak Hebrew?” Tell me about that Mike.
Michael: Yeah the Rabbi and I became friends he was the new Rabbi of the Conservative Synagogue where I’d been Bar Mitzvahed. So I’m sixteen years old, seventeen years old I’m reading the Bible day and night. I’m praying and he’s fresh out of seminary he’s about ten or eleven years older than me and he challenges me “Look, you don’t know Hebrew, how can you talk to us how can you explain; it would be like a kid who knows 2 + 2 = 4 is going to lecture a Physics Professor, or someone like calculus
Sid: He’s finished, he’s become a Rabbi, who are you?
Michael: Right, he learned it from his father, who learned it from his father even though he was conservative and wasn’t really Orthodox, his upbringing was more Orthodox so I told him well, in the meantime I’ve got the Strong Concordance and in the back of the Strong’s Concordance there’s a Hebrew dictionary. I remember what he said to me, “Meantime, shmeen time, if you can’t read the Hebrew it doesn’t mean anything. And then he brings me to meet Ultra Orthodox Rabbis in Brooklyn. Now I’m a believer at this point about a year and a half, I’ve read the Bible the King James through cover to cover about five times, I’ve been memorizing twenty verses a day for at least six months so I’ve got about 4,000 verses memorized; I’ve got the Bible down cold.
Sid: And you know you’ve experientially come to know Jesus, you know Him.
Michael: He’s transformed me, I was shooting Heroin, I was living in rebellion, I was lost. The Lord turned my life around there is undeniable that He sought me out, that He convicted me and He got hold of me and He turned me around. Somebody asked me the other day when I got off drugs did I go through rehab? I said, “No, it was basically instant, God got hold of me and I was set free and that was basically that.” So I knew that and I had a wonderful fellowship with the Lord; I would meet with Him and I would pray, and when I would be in His presence the joy, it was undeniable, not just what He did, but who He was in my life.
Sid: So what did you do with this challenge?
Michael: Well, the Rabbis, these Ultra Orthodox Rabbis they take out their Hebrew Bible, now remember they’ve been reading this since they were little kids and their pointing letter for letter because the little Hebrew I learned when I was Bar Mitzvahed I had forgotten. So they’re pointing letter for letter like they said, “Were not lying to you, I felt like a little kindergartner; I letter by letter I thought I’ve got to learn this so. When I started college and Sid to be honest I only went to college in those days to honor my parents, to honor my father in particular because they wanted me to go and I still had my hippy mentality “Who needs college and all that.” So I said, “Of course I’ll honor you, I’ll go” I go to college and I thought I should start taking Hebrew, but they had modern Hebrew, I didn’t want to speak Hebrew I wanted to read Biblical Hebrew and they’re pretty different. So I got a Biblical Hebrew Grammar, a Rabbi recommended it and I taught myself Biblical Hebrew and I thought, “You know, I’m really interested in studying this some more so when I was in college I said, “I should learn Arab because that’s like a sister language. But the New Testament was written in Greek, I should work on that, but Latin is also an important language. But you know when you do academic studying you need to learn German and but Yiddish that’s like our family language and my Dad spoke Yiddish before he spoke English so I ended up taking six languages at the same time in college which wasn’t the smartest thing. But I went on the NYU I did my Masters and PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. Ultimately worked with about twelve thirteen different languages at different levels of proficiency.
Sid: I have to believe your knowledge of Hebrew because of all these side languages that you mastered some dozen or so that you speak, read or write put you in a class beyond most Rabbis even.
Michael: You see the Rabbis would be massively fluent in the Hebrew literature in the related Aramaic literature and the Talmud, massively fluent within the walls of their tradition. In other words if their scientific study of the text if there’s a better way to read Biblical Hebrew there’s a larger science to it. So by learning the surrounding languages and culture really enables you to do it and yeah I love to study, I love to study to this day I don’t work it Babylonian today as I used to but I still love the study.
Sid: Did you get that Babylonian?
Michael: Yeah.
Sid: Babylonian, ha it sounds like Babel to me.
Michael: Yeah, well these are amazing languages to study and it’s exciting and all of that, but the fact of the matter is I want it to, it was personnel integrity I knew what God had done in my life.
Sid: Okay here’s my question to you, the same the Rabbi had for you. Yes you had an experience with Jesus; a Rabbi would call it an emotional experience. Yes, you found a lot of scriptures that look like Jesus is the Messiah. But you don’t know Hebrew. Now after having studied Hebrew, studying eleven other Semitic languages, memorizing most of the Old Testament, I might add in Hebrew. Is there anything that causes you to doubt that Jesus is the only way to God, the only Messiah of Israel, the only Messiah of the world?
Michael: Nothing, nothing, zero, nothing the more I’ve studied the more I’ve loved God with all my heart and mind. The more I’ve studies Sid the surer and surer I’ve become. God is my witness, any debate that I’ve ever done, any challenge I’ve ever had from Rabbi for years and decades I never, ever, ever worry for a split second that anything is going to be raised that would cause me to question one iota of my faith. It’s not just a matter of He changed my life; it’s a matter of He is the One who is spoken of. I haven’t memorized quite that much of scripture but I’ve been in it over and over and over and over and taking all the challenges and I’ve no question. I have less question about Jesus the Yeshua being the Messiah than I even question I’m sitting here in the room with you; it is the very bedrock and foundation of my life based on truth of scripture Sid.
Sid: Okay, let’s go to the debate, this was a debate between one of the most outstanding Orthodox Jewish Rabbis’ in America, many people even consider him America’s Rabbi. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Dr. Michael Brown a top, top Messianic Jewish scholar if not the top in the world. And we’re going to ask him what well, you’ll hear my question.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Dr. Michael Brown Debate excerpt:
Sid: This is one of the perhaps most important questions I’m going to ask this evening and I’ll stop with Rabbi Boteach. In the Jewish community, and I was raised in a traditional Jewish family the Rabbi is highly revered, he is our source of understanding of Judaism. What is the authority of the Rabbis’, where do the Rabbis’ get there authority to be in such a place, honored place before the Jewish Community?
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: First of all I guess you don’t pray at my Synagogue. It’s high reverence, God willing hopefully. Well, Judaism, thank you at least someone chuckled at that. Judaism is a religion of learning. Torah means instruction, it doesn’t even really mean law, it means instruction. Torah from the word ho-rah to instruct, to guide. Because we believe that God gives us His law, the Torah to help us guide our lives and the Rabbis are looked up to because they are the people who study the Torah.
Sid: Mike, I wasn’t satisfied with his answer, where do the Rabbi’s get their authority over the Jewish Community?
Michael: Basically this would be the concept that’s really we’re seeking to convey. When you have a law based religion, and you believe that God wants you to live your life according to every detail of what He’s given in the Torah. Then the Torah teachers are the ones that are going to want to have the authority because you have to go to them, what does this text mean, how am I to live this out? And there’s a text in Deuteronomy 17 which is basically been misapplied in the rabbinic tradition. The text in Deuteronomy 17 says that “if you have some legal dispute, let’s say that it’s an issue of bloodshed or something so you go to the court, the highest court in your area, it could be the Levitical priest, the judges whoever’s there and you share the case and whatever their verdict is you have to obey you can’t violate it. They say you go left you go left, go right whatever the verdict is you have to obey what they say.” Well it’s the court system, well basically that authority from Deuteronomy 17 has now been given to the Rabbis, so if the Rabbis say go left you go left, if the Rabbi say go right you go right. If the Rabbi’s say Jesus is the Messiah, he’s the Messiah. If the Rabbis say he’s not the Messiah He’s not the Messiah. The Text has nothing to do with the Rabbis, nor was that authority ever given to man.
Sid: Well, even beyond that in the Talmudic writings they basically say the only voice of God on earth, this is the way I understand it you correct me, the only real voice of God on earth is the majority of the Rabbis.
Michael: Right basically they would say the spirit that was on the prophets is now on the Rabbis, and you’ve got to be pragmatic Sid, the Supreme Court comes to a five forward decision that’s the law.
Sid: So if a voice from heaven says go right and the majority of the rabbis say go left what happens?
Michael: The Torah is no longer in heaven; the Torah has been given to us to work out.
Sid: So there can’t be a voice from heaven?
Michael: It would get over ruled. Now here’s what I believe Sid.
Sid: Oy Vey, which loosely means Oy Vey.
Michael: What I believe though is it’s easier to say the voice would be overruled until the voice actually speaks.
Sid: Okay, so the way I look at it Mike, the Rabbis do not have authority over the Jewish people from heaven. The Rabbis do not have authority over the Jewish people, period! Correct me if I’m wrong.
Michael: Here’s how I look at it, they have been caretakers, they have been shepherds, they have been fine people that have wanted to guard Israel, the Jewish people and keep them in what they believe is the Jewish calling, to be obedient to Torah and tradition.
Sid: That’s good by the way that’s preserved our people in a sense.
Michael: Right and I appreciate that, however, when there’s a conflict between what the Rabbis say and what the scripture says, when there’s a conflict of what the Rabbis say and what the Holy Spirit is saying, when there’s a conflict between what the Rabbis are saying and what the Messiah is saying, it is incumbent that every Jew respectfully say to the Rabbis, “I respect you but I obey God and His word,” period.
Sid: Doesn’t it bother you what this wonderful friendship you’ve established with this rabbi that if he were to die in the state he is right now he would not go to heaven. Does that brother you?
Michael: Of course it bothers me deeply.
Sid: Well, I don’t get it, if there was a one percent chance that what we’re saying is true, it’s everything, it’s all of eternity. How can he and others be so blind?
Michael: Well, they look at church history; they see a great misrepresentation of Jesus.
Sid: Oh, I’ll tell you what we got to pick up here on tomorrows broadcast.
