(by Rabbi Eh'bed Baw'naw)
When people find out I don't eat meat with dairy, I see many in the Hebrew Roots Movement, act like Christians do when they see a person pursuing Torah not eating bacon. The thing I often hear is “you are following traditions of men”, and they become increasingly hostile towards my personal choice. It's not like I am pushing it on anyone other than myself, and I especially do not push it on ger toshav or ivrim, in fact I only allow the discussion many times to be given to a person in the higher levels of ger tzaddikim or higher in their conversion. But it always bothers me that too many treat this commandment like it is sin. But then again, there are SEVERAL Torah laws the Hebrew Roots Movement doesn't keep, such as the laws of nidah for example. But lets focus on בשר בחלב‎ basar bechalav.

The Torah makes note of this commandment several times the first time in Exodus 23:19 the second time in Exodus 34:26 and finally Deuteronomy 14:21. If you read it in the English it seems like only a physical act that has nothing to do with dietary or with anything that would affect the Nashama (soul) yet the “English Primist” could not be further from the truth in this respect.

Within the verses the word גדי or g'di is used. This word is first used on the book of Bereishis in the plural form. But we have question as to what this word means. The reason we have question is because this word was not carried over in mishnaic and tanni'im times so the complete meaning of the word is lost. The sages and Rashi say that the word is not just goats or calves but domesticated, kosher animals. There has been a long standing debate on whether or not the chicken is kosher or not, and the sages reluctantly included this to as well mean chicken as well.

The word בישול Bishul is also included in the verse that not only means boiling but literally cooking, as meaning for consumption together with the g'di. And considering the conciseness is that g'di means domesticated animal. The domesticated animals were for......consumption.

These verses also also contain the word Kil'ayim (which means mixture or confusion) which is the same word used when mixing wool with linen (another commandment the Hebrew Roots Movement doesn't keep).

Now what about the famous verses in Bereishis (Genesis) in Bereishis 18:8? Chabad.org explains it as such:

“A careful look at the verse shows that Abraham did not actually dine with his guests. Rather, he served the butter, milk, and meat to people whom he believed to be traveling gentiles (there were no other Jews back then), and were obviously under no dietary obligations. Abraham saw no reason that his personal stringencies should diminish the enjoyment of his guests. What about the angels? How could they eat non-kosher? According to one opinion, the angels didn't eat at all; they merely appeared to be eating, out of respect for their host. There is, however, a Midrash which contends that this was no show of etiquette; the angels actually ate meat and milk together. Years later, whenMoses was about to be given the Torah, the angels protested, saying that mortal man does not deserve G d's greatest treasure, the Torah. Moses, in typical Jewish fashion, answered a question with questions of his own, and asked the angels (among other things), "You knew the Torah. Did this stop you from indulging in a mixture of milk and meat at Abraham's place?" The angels had no reply, and the rest is history.”

Now I would say Chabad is partly right but not entirely. The thing that struck me years ago after learning the process of a kosher kill and also the way they would cook in those days. I realized that by the time the cakes were made (Notice Avraham told his wife to make the cakes before he started on the meat) Avraham would have just been finishing the slaughter and taking out the organs and preparing the meat to be cooked. There is no way possible that they were served together at the same time. It is impossible, especially considering that Avraham was 99 years old at the time and also just had his circumcision 3 days earlier, so imagine how long it took him to carry out the task, even lifting the animals or dragging them after they were killed would have caused immense pain that would be unbearable, so of course he would have been slowed down. This is why the sages say, if you have meat and cheese you must eat one 1 to three hours before or after the other, that variable was calculated in terms of the time it would have taken for Avraham to have them completed. Also....at that time, cakes were an appetizer and did not go with the meal. It is only in modern times the two would be served together or the cakes being served immediately after the meal as a desert or treat.

The Talmud makes note the reason G-d gave this commandment is because the Egyptians would do this practice of cooking meat with cheese as a fertility practice so their gods would bless their women with fertility. Also the practice is just cruel, the Rambam makes note that it is like taking the eggs of a chicken while the mother looks on. Does not the Scripture say we are to stay away from the hedonistic ways of the savages and nations? Does not Paul say to not even allow the appearance of evil to be manifest in our lives?

Now does this mean that every person reading this should stop eating meat with cheese? I'm not saying that. But when a person says that our tradition in terms of this is a “tradition of men”, it is obvious the person doesn't know what they are talking about nor should they guilt someone for fulfilling the mitzvos. Now on the same token however, I didn't stop eating meat and cheese together until about 2 years ago. I believe as my jewish brethren do that observance is an ongoing thing, a person starts by not eating anything with blood or anything strangled or sacrificed to idols (if we wanna get technical that would include meat and cheese together), then we move onto kosher animals after we learn to do the first for the sake of Hashem, and then later on after we have mastered that then we move on to a more strict kosher. As you all know I am not a one torah advocate. I do not expect a person in the first few years of their walk to fulfill the mitzvos of not eating meat with cheese together. That is something that comes later because it is more challenging than you may think. But then it becomes a way of life and it is becomes a lot easier. You even learn without thinking that with certain meals in which you have coffee, sometimes you do use milk or ½ n ½ and sometimes you doing, it depends upon your meal. If you have for instance oatmeal it is permissible to have dairy in your coffee. If you have turkey sausage then no it isn't and you learn that balance over time. 

But you may say, ok I understand this was a pagan practice done in Egypt, but what should it means for me?  What is the mussar in fulfillment of this mitzvos?  The sages make note, as does Yeshua of how the basar and the neshama work in a marriage to one another.  The physical combines with the soul of a person.  The two mirror one another.  It is a sign of our separation (as are the rest of the commandments) from the ways of the world and our separation from Egypt.  For this is also something that is alluded to all over scripture of starting out with milk and moving on to the meat of the Word of G-d.  There is so many remez'im in this mitzvos I could not begin to list them. 

(by Rabbi Eh'bed Baw'naw)
The rumor going around is that I (Rabbi Eh'bed Baw'naw) doesn't think Torah is required for gentiles. This blanket statement only has a small element of truth in it, and it seems confusing to those in the western mindset. For does not Hashem say “I shall have one Torah and one people?” Absolutely! The question is then “Oh so you think the Torah is only for the Jews?”. Did I say that? No, you see how such individuals are very linear thinking. Let me explain the Jewish position of the Notzri:

A child starts school, math is a major requirement of every level of education, no matter if it is in the United States or in Uganda or Germany or Israel or Russia or China. Everyone must know math right? Now lets us math as a metaphor for Torah observance. A child at 4 years old goes to school, they first learn 1+1=2, the child needs to see this to make sense of it. So the teacher says “if I have one apple (and she puts an apple on the table) and then I put another apple with it (puts it on the table) how many apples do I have?” the class then shouts “two, two apples”. The teacher then says “good job class”. The children have mastered addition and subtraction after a few years, they have practiced it, they have learned it, they got it down. Around second or third grade they learn multiplication and they spend a few years mastering that, then there is middle school or jr high school math, then high school math, then college math and then masters classes etc. There is always a higher level of math to be learned and how it is applied.

The issue is, in recent years, there has been this movement known as “One Torah” often times this is taught by individuals who are so used to the greek style of theology that mirrors the slogan of the early 1990s Nike commercials “Just Do It”. Essentially, One Torah theology does not allow for an elevation of observance and it does not teach the concept of doing Torah for the sake of Hashem, it is instead the ideal of “Just do this so I don't smack you”. The ideal is to essentially start out at 8th grade math but do not do not go past 8th grade math. So we can see why Judaism has never adopted a One Torah theology and the great harm it can do. Because One Torah theology is incompatible with the basic premises within the Torah, Ketuvim, Nevi'im and Brit Chadasha. We can look at the Scripture and see an elevation of observance being taught as we progress. We even see this in the Brit Chadasha when Rav Sha'u; advocated for circumcision for some and not for others. We must also remember the model of observance of Avraham Avinu. We see a man who started out as a goy (heathen) then a ger toshav aka Bn'ei Noach (one who starts striving for observance) (Acts 15), then an Ivri (Hebrew) then a Ger HaTzaddik (Righteous Gentile) then the Torah calls him Yehudi (a Jew) after his circumcision at the age of 99. This is the path for the believer, but it is rejected by the One Torah fringe groups.

For the verse that precedes Exodus 12:49 “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” which they build their doctrine on is “If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.” (Exodus 12:48). So what is the “one law” that Hashem commands? It is that the uncircumcised may not eat of the Pesach. But when taken out of the context of the surrounding passages the “One Torah” theologian then says that G-d requires the same thing from every person in terms of level of observance whether you are in your first year of your walk or the 70th year of your walk. There are also further problems if verse 48 didn't exist. For instance, you would have millions of dead type 1 diabetics on Yom Kippur for the feat of not going to hell. Your would have millions of deaf and mute individuals unable to vocally recite the Shema in the morning and afternoon. You would have millions of doctors in sin for saving lives on the Shabbos. You would have disabled people in sin because of certain mitzvos they are unable to keep because of their own physical or mental restrictions. This is the very reason we have hazel and halacha.

For a newborn baby who just came out of his mother's womb isn't told, “ok move out of the house and get a job and a place of your own”. The child has to first learn to open it's eyes, it has to learn to hold it's head up on it's own, it takes time for certain muscles and motor functions and verbal skills to form until that child can do anything on it's own. The new believer is in the same place in the spiritual sense as the new born baby is in the physical sense.

Given the fact, that I don't believe in throwing the baby in a pool without protection from drowning, I have been told “I was told you don't believe Torah is for gentiles”. First Fruits of Zion has been accused of the same thing as have many others such as Dan Juster and several others. And this is the way conversion has happened for millennia all through Judaism. This is a foreign concept to Christians who have found out that Messiah Yeshua was a Torah teaching and Torah observant Jew. Because their minds are still very linear, they think that they need to immediately start to fulfill all of the mitzvos from the beginning and buy a “Torah Kit” essentially with the kippa and the tallis and the tzitzit and look the part. What happens then? They defile the Torah because they have ran before they could walk and they defile the mitzvos. Because they become haughty, arrogant, puffed up, full of pride and self righteousness and they put down anyone who disagrees with them on the smallest of points because they are so rocky in their own faith that their own ideology becomes a golden calf. The reason for this, is because of the fact they have not marinated in the mitzvos one at a time to learn how to fulfill them for the sake of Hashem. For the ultimate goal is to become Baali HaTorah (a master of the commandments), and do we master them all at once? Heaven forbid.. Just like the pieces that put together a car, a person who has mastered the electrical components of a car, does not mean he knows everything there is to know to build a gas tank. If he tries, he may put together the gas tank but it will not be up to the standard of the individual who knows the dimensions and materials and who has the molds for the best kind of gas tank.

During the days of Yeshua, the Torah cycle wasn't on the one year cycle like it is today. Now don't ask me where you can find the three year readings that were done during that time and in what order because that history is lost. So unlike today where we have personal Bibles, the talmidim tried every way possible to memorize all they could when they were in the schul. To help each individual learn the commandments the rabbis would immerse the people in each mitzvos and help them connect to each commandment from Hashem. At the same time, they lived in the Biblical times, so much of this way something they were easily accessible to in terms of knowledge, despite having personal Bibles. So as we see from Acts 15, when Paul mentions learning certain commandments (which actually include all 7 of the laws of Ger Toshav or Noahide Laws because the other three laws were initiated into secular law and the other 4 Paul mentions) and after they have mastered them, they can then go into the schul and learn the rest of the Torah (which was on a three year torah cycle). So we see that application of the Torah during the days of Paul even, required at least 4 years possible 8 years because of the fact it was important for each person to learn to do the Torah for the sake of Hashem.

This model also aligns with that of rabbinical halacha, where a person masters the written Torah at the age of 7, at the age of 13 he masters the Mishna, at the age of 16 the Gemera etc. We see this same practice was done and initiated in the Guf HaMashyach. So it is rather obvious that even those in the New Testament didn't follow “One Law” Theology.

Because of the overwhelming evidence, of Paul talking against One Torah Theology that the school of Shammai was trying to push on the Guf HaMashyach trying to get them circumcised the second they wanted to learn the commandments, which you see all through his letters (these were the “Jews” he took issue with that he makes note of often). As well as the cited evidences in the Torah and other places as well as the rabbincial texts, one must conclude that the One Torah Theologian falls into one of a few categories. Either A) He has no scholarship whatsoever, B) He has a little scholarship but he is lazy in discipleship and wants everyone at the same place so it is easier to teach them but it causes a lot of problems obvious, C) He is simply intellectually dishonest, D) it is easier for the One Torah Theologian to sell his wares if he tries to get them on this path of “you start here and end here....this is all you ever need to know and don't expect to grow”, or E) He is trying to start a cult where he can limit a person's observance to better identify the person who is under him as his and only his. 

If One Torah Theology had ANY Biblical backing then there would be set perimeters of how observant a person has to be and at one point they should stop studying and when they should stop applying more in their life. These perimeters are the very definition of “lukewarm”, because if you have a cup of hot coffee on your desk and it stays on the desk and you don't drink it.....what happens to that cup of coffee? It will not get freezing cold and turn to ice, and it will not remain hot, it will instead go to room temperature. The only way this will change is if action is taken and the coffee is reheated or put in the freezer.

So in conclusion, One Torah Theologians are nothing more than individuals who prey upon those who are over-zealous (and zealousness is a good thing) for mainly financial gain, and by the time they have your money with their fraudulent institutes...the money is paid, they have it, so it doesn't matter to them when you finally find out that what they teach is 150% unbiblical. This is what has made the ephramite identity movement so financially successful for several years, because it is mainly a big marketing ploy with a bunch of former pastors, with no rabbinic training leading the charge, and they live very well off of these ploys. Then they demonize people like myself, and First Fruits of Zion saying “well they don't believe that Gentiles should keep Torah”. This is an utter lie and has no basis in truth, instead there are several graduating levels like there is in academic models. This is why my conversion classes I teach take several years and it is not just a “here's the books bye bye” kind of thing, this is also why organizations like First Fruits of Zion have various levels in their “Torah Club” mailers. So the next time you hear that “Rabbi Eh'bed Baw'naw doesn't believe that Torah is for Gentiles”, just tell him, “actually that is not true, he believes in applying Torah for the sake of Hashem and doing it responsibly”.

(by Rabbi Eh'bed Baw'naw)
Though the Tanach, the Mishna, the Gemera, the Tanya, and the Zohar all pay witness to only one person in all of history as being Messiah, Judaism has said several individuals are the foretold Messiah ben Yoseph or Messiah ben David. The list includes Simon of Peraea, Athronges, Menahem ben Judah, Simon bar Kokhba, Moses of Crete, Ishak ben Ya'kub Obadiah Abu, David Alroy, Nissim ben Abraham, Moses Botarel of Cisneros, Asher Lammlein, David Reubeni, Sabbatai Zevi, Jacob Querido, Miguel Cardoso, Lobele Prossnitz, Jacob Joseph Frank, and Menachem Mendle Schneerson.

Yet only one has fulfilled any of the Messianic prophecies in Judaism. Including the prophecies of Micah 5:2, Genesis 3:15, Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 11:10, Genesis 18:18, Genesis 49:10, Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:19, Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Isaiah 9:6, Zechariah 12:10-11, Psalm 72:10, Daniel 9:24-27, Isaiah 35:5-7, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 53:10-11, Isaiah 59:16-20, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 16:10, Psalm 110:1, Psalm 110:4, Isaiah 59:16, Isaiah 9:506, Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 49:1-8, Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 40:3, Isaiah 9:1-2, Isaiah 53:3, Daniel 9:24-26, Isaiah 53:8, Isiah 53:5, Isaiah 53:12, Psalm 34:20-21, Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, Isaiah 61:1-2, Isaiah 6:9-10, Isaiah 49:6, Psalm 110:4, Amos 8:9-10 and many many more found below the surface and recorded in Torah She Be'al Peh (Oral Torah). This Messiah is Yeshua of Nazareth.

Yet at the same time, the followers of bar Kokhba, and most notably Scheerson are considered “fully Jewish” by all sects of Judaism and Chabad still maintains that Scheerson, is indeed Messiah and will rise again in a resurrection that they have waited 21 years to happen.

Talmudic tractates including, Avodah Zara 3b and 9a, as well as Baba Batrah 15b and 75b, Baba Mitzea 33a, Barachot 4b, 6a, 7a, 12a, 17b, 20b, 28b, 32b, 34b, 34b, 57a, 57b, and 63a, Chagigah 14a, Cholin 44 and 60b, Hagigah 14b and 15a, Kidushin 72b, Megilah 3a, Minchot 3a, Moed Katan 28b, Nedarim 22b, Nidah 30b, Pesachim 54a, Sanhedrin 98a, 31a, 91b, 93b, 94a, 96b, and 99a Shabbat 30a, 88b, 118a, 119b, 127b, 139b, 151b, Sotah 26a, Sukkah 26a, 28a and 52a, Tannit 30b, and Yoma 72b all speak of Yeshua of Nazareth as being Messiah and the way these prophecies are to be fulfilled. Scheerson....fulfilled none of these prophecies.

Schneerson is even disqualified at birth, because he was born April 18th 1902 in the Black Sea port of Nikolaev in the Russian empire. Yet, Micah 5:1-2, and all the Jewish commentary in the Mishna and Gemera, all the sages agree that Messiah would have to be born in Bethlehem because of Micah 5. So at the moment of birth even, Schneerson is disqualified as Messiah. Yet, Chabad said that Schneerson could not be replaced as the Lubavitcher Rebbe because he is Messiah and he shall return and he is still considered their Rebbe.

The thing I find fascinating about this are the unequal weights and measures when it comes to who is allowed to be considered Jewish and who is not in the orthodox circles. The reform sects in modern day Judaism allow lesbian rabbis, conservative judaism pushes for “gay rights”, many in these sects don't even keep the kosher laws of the written or oral torah yet they are considered authentically jewish.

It is also interesting that in the early 1st Century till the 4th Century the Notzri Jews were considered authentically Jewish, the Jewish leaders had no issue whatsoever with the Notzri's position on Yeshua being the Messiah. What they did take issue with is when around 300AD the Notzri voted against the rest of Judaism to not go to war, then the Notzri were expelled from the Jewish society, not because of the belief of Yeshua being the Messiah but rather because we refused to go to war at that time. This is when the prayer known as the Bikat HaMinim was added to the Shemoneh Esrei as the 12th prayer. It is the prayer against the “heretics” who are the Notzri. This is why in the schul we do not recite this particular prayer of the Shemoneh Esrei. We see further evidence of this history as well in the book of Acts, where we see the Guf HaMachiach convening in the Beit Shoftim and engaging in Midrash with the other sects and passing halacha. In today's time, this would not happen, because after 300AD the Notzri were refereed to as heretics. Many, who do not know the history, in today's culture see the issue of us not being accepted in the orthodox world being because of our belief in Yeshua. In the modern times this is true yes, but it is because of a growing animosity within Judaism that has snowballed over time, from the times of Constantine's sword and the crusades, to the Spanish Inquisition, and the Holocaust, Christians have given the orthodox world good reason to push back when someone proclaims Yeshua as Messiah. It also doesn't help the emergence of Anti-Semitism through conspiracy theory that is within the Hebrew Roots Movement as well as Christianity in various degrees. This is where we are at in history at this point.

Now it is also important that we do not take away from the accomplishments of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he had accomplished great things in his life, he preached a very similar message to that of Messiah Yeshua which was a message of G'milut Chasidim, he helped many unfortunate people all over the world by pushing the mitzvos of tzedakah. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, no one can dismiss the fact that he was indeed a tzaddik. There is no question about that. In fact his theology was so amazingly parallel to the theology of the Notzri that if you read his books “From Exile to Redemption Volumes 1 & 2” it reads exactly like Iggaret Rominin (The letter to the Romans by R' Sha'ul), modern Hasidicism from the time of the Baal Shem Tov and his grandson Rebbe Nachman is in many ways like a rebirth of the Notzri considering the theologies are so amazingly similar it is unreal, to the point I would dare say that Notzri Judaism is the original Hasidic Judaism.

Now based on the history of Judaism, and the many supposed “messiahs” that have come through the ages that we listed at the beginning of this article it seems rather hypocritical for Chabad to maintain that Schneerson is the Messiah of the Jews, yet not fulfilling the prophecies in the written and oral torah, yet the Notzri are considered the heretics and are considered not to be Jewish in modern times because we maintain the belief that Yeshua is our Melech and Mashiach. So I would lend this charge to Chabad.....you strip your Jewish title and use equal weights and measures, refer to yourselves as goyim or gerim and we will do the same. Lets see to which side the scale tips. Will Chabad ever do this? Of course they won't. But if they want to say the Notzri or Messianics are not Jewish because we believe in Yeshua then I would have to say that Chabad is even less Jewish because their Messiah didn't fulfill ANY of the prophecies foretold in the written and oral torah.