What is Studying Torah?

Introducing the Author –

Hi, my name is Jim Behnke.

I am what is referred to as a “Jew by choice“. My journey to Judaism was stretched over several years. It was not a quick decision, but being raised in an environment that has taught you a particular path of belief, and having walked in that path most of your life, it is hard to break away from it, even when everything on the new path makes total sense to you and it all adds up. Over time I became comfortable with the new understanding of the Holy Scriptures from the original text that I was learning; asking questions, and diving in so my curiosity could be satisfied. As I grew in my Jewish walk the time seemed right to take the step. I signed up for the course, “Introduction to Judaism” twice, once in Pikesville, MD, and again in Tempe AZ. After successfully completing the course, and several meetings with the Rabbi, we felt I was ready to meet before the Bet Din¹. Obviously, I entered the meeting a little nervous, but they made me comfortable and it went well. My circumcision was confirmed, and the Mikva² was scheduled. I don’t think words can accurately describe my Mikvah experience. Not only was I a Jew in my heart, but now I was a part of the Jewish community, walking hand in hand and arm in arm with my Jewish brothers and sisters, I felt complete!

I was born and raised in a Evangelistic Christian home, we were in church whenever the doors were open. My parents were very involved in church activities. At a young age I felt that God was calling me to be a Pastor, thus I set out to attend a Bible College after graduation, within the framework of the denomination we were affiliated with. One of my required classes was “Old Testament Survey”. One day after attending class, I had a question for the professor, pertaining to the commandments. My question was, “why do we follow some commandments and not others?”, and “Who made the decision about which ones we follow, and which ones we don’t?” His answer was, “Just accept it, that’s the way it is”. His response, was very frustrating, to the point that I didn’t open my Bible to study again for several years. At the end of that school year I left Bible College and transferred to a liberal arts college and on to a period of time in the military.

Looking back I can see where this was the beginning of my questioning Christianity, and searching for the truth. My search would be slow, but it would be thorough. I would attend church, wherever I was stationed in the military, but with limited involvement.

I met my wife to be, during my last year of military service. We both had been previously married, and took this commitment we were entering into very seriously. It was an instant family for me, as she was what I called, “a package deal”. I not only gained a wife, but two precious daughters. A year later we had a baby boy.

Being blessed with a wife and family, we jointly wanted to bring them up in a Christian home and with Christian values. So we were very involved in “the church” wherever we lived. A very good friend of mine, who was a retired Messianic Rabbi, introduced me to “Messianic Judaism”, during a church home group meeting. He used the approach that Christianity has its roots in Judaism, and so by learning about our Jewish roots will help us understand the Bible better. I was all in …. this may help me find answers to my questions from my college days, that continued to haunt me. He and his wife became very close friends with my wife and myself. Because of his extensive teaching we decided to leave the traditional church and join a Messianic Jewish fellowship in the local area.

We had left the traditional church, but Messianic Judaism wasn’t really different than the traditional church, only names and labels were different. The beliefs were the same, even the service was basically the same, just some minor differences. One time in a church service we were singing the song, “O to like thee”, wile singing I had a “revelation” in my mind. I thought, “do I really mean that”, my answer was; “yes I do”. My next thought was, what does it mean, to be like him? To begin with, he (Jesus) was a Jew, not a christian. Did he start a new religion called Christianity? Was that his objective? After all these questions went through my mind, I went on a quest to find answers for me. They actually caused me to ask more questions.

I started to question everything about Christianity to where people shied away from me because, that was all I wanted to talk about. As I gained answers to my questions, and I investigated Judaism more, it became more an more obvious to me that my answers lied in the Jewish Bible and not in Christendom. A dear relative of mine and I were having a discussion about the Bible. His objective was to point out to me that I am going down the wrong path in my religious walk. I expressed to him that I was open to having a discussion, but I do not desire to allow it to lead into an argument. We agreed. I expressed, “so we have a common denominator, can we agree that the base or foundation of the Bible is the Torah?” He would not agree to that statement. He believed that the New Testament was the foundation. I countered with the fact that without the Torah there would not be a New Testament. The Torah establishes the fact that there is a God, and He created all things. He still would not budge from his position. We had a friendly discussion, but that was all that it could be, without a common base. I was saddened by our conversation.

I heard a Rabbi refer to “the Christian Bible” one time meaning the New Testament only. I didn’t relate to his statement because I felt that the Christian Bible consisted of both the Old and New Testaments. However based on what my relative said, I then realized that the Rabbi was correct. The Christian Bible is the New Testament and for many Christians it has precedence over the Old Testament. In other words, If the reader reads a passage in a letter from the New Testament and it is contradictory to a passage in the Old Testament the New Testament has precedence.

It is my desire that as you read the topics in this Blog you will be motivated to investigate further looking for your answers to the questions that you are searching. I found my answers in the Jewish Bible, the Tanach.

Several of the blog articles are comparing what the author writes in the New Testament either referencing a verse or quoting one in the Old Testament. The question becomes, “is the author of the New Testament letter giving the reader an accurate understanding of the Old Testament reference”? Is the Old Testament reference in context to what is written before and after, or did the New Testament author take it our of context to fit a point to be made? Many of the Blog articles are to present the differences between the two Bibles. I also point out some translation errors in the Christian Old Testament.

Jim Behnke