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Hello and Welcome to my web-site! Interested in Messianic Judaism? Beth Hillel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Florida led by Rabbi David Barsky. They state that they are Jews following the way that Judaism should be observed, based on Jesus. However, when you analyze Beth Hillel, it is clearly not Jewish, and has never been a Jewish organization! It has always been a Christian organization! I will demonstrate this, using information from their sites and other Christian sites to prove this. The Leadership David Barsky, the leader of Beth Hillel, refers to himself as a "rabbi." That is interesting, because if you look at the Beth Hillel site, he is clearly not a Jew, but a Christian leader! On the Beth Hillel site it states that: "Rabbi David walked away fro his business career to devote his life to serving Yeshua-- his Jewish Messiah-- in full-time ministry. He holds a BA from Trinity International University, a MA in Biblical Studies from South Florida Bible College, and a D. Min from South Florida Theological Seminary.Dr. Barsky is the former Dean of the School of Jewish Studies at South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary. "
Here is the link to the proof that he said this, the quotes are from the end of the first paragraph and the second paragraph:
Click Here So let's review, a B.A. from Trinity International University. Trinity International is a Christian University. Its mission is: "Trinity’s special mission is to do what the great Western universities have ceased to do—provide excellence in academics, as well as preparation for ministry and professions—all within the context of a Christian worldview and a Christian community." Christian worldview? Christian community? Definitely not a place a Jew would go for an education. Here is the link to the Trinity mission statement:
Click Here He also has a Master's and Doctorate of Ministry from South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminay, another Christian school, and is their former dean. The South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary's goal is to: "South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary (SFBC&TS) was founded to prepare dedicated men and women for service to the Lord by providing a quality Christian education. SFBC&TS provides a non-denominational theological education whereby the biblical standards of Christian faith and Christian life are established and maintained." Not exactly a Jewish organization, right? Would a real Jew attend this school? Would a real Jew become its dean? Of course not! As for the Doctorate of Ministry, South Florida's specific goal for that program is: "South Florida Theological Seminary is a recognized institution authorized to grant earned doctorate degrees in specific areas, such as pastoral, evangelistic, missiology, seminary teaching ministry, counseling, and Christian psychology."
Again, obviously this is not a place where a Jewish leader would attend. Here is the link to the proof, the quotes come from the first paragraph and the fourth paragraph:
Click Here Their Affiliation If you look at their site, you will notice that under "Affiliations", they provide links to "Top 100 Sites" and "Messianic Bureau", which are both links to the Messianic Bureau International. Here is the link so you can see this:
Click Here Messianic Bureau International, also known as MBI, is another group pretending to be Jewish. In reality, MBI is run by an ordained Pentecostal Christian minister by the name of David Hargis, who likes to lie about his heritage, such as claiming that his family is from the Ukraine when they are really from the United Kingdom. Reverend Hargis has founded his own Messianic congregation, called Melech HaMishkan, which I have reviewed. Here is the link to my review of Melech HaMishkan, proving that they are a Christian organization:
Click Here for Exploring Melech HaMishkan Where They Meet Since Beth Hillel is actually a Christian group and not a Jewish group, it should not come as a suprise that they meet a charismatic Christian church. If you look at the Beth Hillel site, you will see that the meet at "3801 CRYSTAL LAKE DRIVE". Here is the link to the evidence, the address is in the middle of the page under "Where We Meet": Click Here Now, who else is at this address? Why, Metro Life Christian Church! Click here for the proof, the church is listed under "Christian" in the middle of the Churchangel webpage: Click Here
Christian Listings Not suprisingly, Beth Hillel is listed on a number of Christian sites. Would a real Jewish group be listed on a Christian site? Of course not! South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary-under "links" Click Here The Good News, South Florida-located on calendar at the right, listed for Friday, under "Shabbat Service": Click Here For Ministry.com Click Here Holiday Errors Beth Hillel attempts to teach their members about the Jewish holidays. Unfortunately, they make a tremendous amount of errors in their teachings, something a real Jewish group would never do. In each case, I will give you the quote from their page, and explain how they are wrong.Shavuot Beth Hillel begins its errors on the holiday of Shavuot from the very beginning. They claim: "It occurs on the second day of Si’van (May or June) exactly fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. It means the Feast of "Weeks" because it commemorates the time when the Israelites stood at Mt. Sinai, seven weeks after they had fled Egypt. " Actually, Shavuot occurs on the sixth day of Sivan, not the second. It is called Feast of Weeks because of the counting of seven weeks until the holiday, from the second day of Passover. Shavuot is called Z'man Matan Torateinu in honor of receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Their erroneous quotes are from the second and third lines of the first paragraph. Here is the link to prove that they said this:
Click Here Passover Beth Hillel makes a number of errors on the Passover holiday. In the second paragraph they state "In biblical days, Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem for one day only. On this day, the exodus was remembered with the eating of the Paschal lamb. Passover was immediately followed by Hag ha Matzot – the Feast of Unleavened Bread-- which lasted for six additional days. Today, the term Passover encompasses both feasts. This is an interesting idea, Passover for one day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for six additional days. The only problem is that the Bible is clear that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are synonyms, not different holidays. The Bible is clear that in total the holiday lasts for 7 days. There is no such thing as a Biblical holiday that lasts for six days...not a single one. They also make an error in describing the Seder plate, stating that: "The Seder tray contains six compartments which hold the symbolic Passover foods:....6. Second Vegetable -- more bitter than Karpas (Radish)" So what is the error? Well, there are only five, not six items. The second vegetable is a complete fabrication by Beth Hillel. Moreover, they have a "Messianic Implications" section in which they try to falsely bring Jesus into the holiday. The idea that Jesus was the Passover sacrifice is a common claim by Messianic Jews, however, it is completely false. I have written an article on the topic, proving that Jesus could not be the Messiah, click on this link to go to the article:
Where is the Christ in the Passover? Besides being generally incorrect, they make a number of errors on how the Seder is conducted in the section, frequently overgeneralizing what occurs. They state: "Matza is striped --Yeshua was wounded with the stripes of a whip. Matza is not necessarily striped. It depends what you bake it on. Machine-made matza will often look striped. Hand-made matza almost never appears striped. Beth Hillel further claims "Matza [the afikomen] is wrapped in a linen cloth—Yeshua was wrapped in linen. Again, this is incorrect. When the Afikomen is hidden, it is usually wrapped, but it can be wrapped in any sort of substance, whether a paper towel, wool, cotton....there is no rule for this. Lastly, they claim: "Matza is found amidst great rejoicing and is bought back by the father for a price—After Yeshua’s resurrection, there was great rejoicing, He bought us back (redeemed us) for a price. Besides general disagreement with Christian philosophy that Beth Hillel is trying to push, the father paying for the afikomen is a limited tradition. Some Jewish families do this, some do not. It is not a law, but a tradition that ranges between households, and has no backing in any sort of religious rules. Here is the link to prove they stated these claims, the error on the holiday is in the 2nd paragraph, the error on the Seder plate is approximately the 6th paragraph, and the "Messianic Implications" errors are contained in the bullets at the end: Click Here
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions. An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here Countermissionary Counseling
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them:
Jews for Judaism Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Torah Atlanta
Outreach Judaism
Torah Life and Living Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism. Messiah Page Messiah Truth Jews for Judaism Outreach Judaism Counter Missionary Reference Torah Atlanta Messianic Verses in Tanach Kosher Judaism Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
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