Are you living in Michigan and interested in Messianic Judaism? Sh'ma Yisrael and its leader Rabbi Daniel Kayes Thomson is one of the better known congregations, located in Traverse City/Kalkaska, Michigan. However, you may be surprised to find that Sh'ma Yisrael is not a Jewish organization, but a Christian group. I will prove this, using information from their web-site and other Christian sites. All information will be referenced, so you can see it with your own eyes. Leader...and a Fraud Daniel Kayes Thompson is the leader of Sh'ma Yisrael. He also enjoys mirepresenting himself on his site. On his biography, he claims: "He is currently furthering his rabbinic studies both in the United States and in Israel under the supervision of the Chief Orthodox Ashkenazic Rabbinate of Israel and G-d willing, will be earning a worldwide recognized Yora Yora S'micha from a Jerusalem based Yeshiva. The wording on the S'micha Certification (in Hebrew) translates:
"Rabbi Daniel Kayes Thomson has learned and reviewed the laws of "issur ve'heter", the laws of melicha, basar vechalav, taruvos, the Tur, Bais Yosef, Shulchan Aruch, with the commentaries in order to know what is permitted and what is forbidden."
"He has a mastery of understanding speaks directly to the point of the halacha with a clear succinct manner."
"His fear of sin precedes his wisdom and his midos are yashar and upstanding."
"Therefore it is fitting to rely on him and crown him with Semichas Chachamin: Yora Yora with all it's implications."
"This Semicha will continue with a blessing for his success in learning and disseminating the Torah Kedosha and that his name should be counted with the great leaders of our generation."
"This Semicha is recognized worldwide and the holder of it officially bears the title of Rabbi."
"Approved by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and signed by the Rabbanim of the Chief Rabbinate and others."
Here is the link that shows he says this. This quote starts from the 4th paragraph following the bulleted points at the top of the page:
Click Here Wow...it sounds like he is on the cusp of earning a real rabbinical degree, accepted by all of Judaism. Well, sometimes things are too good to be true. Based on where he lives, the type of degree he claimed he is earning and the location of the yeshiva, there is only one yeshiva that he is likely to be attending. It is called the Shulchan Aruch Learning Project, and to study to become a rabbi through their yeshiva, you need to follow all the Jewish laws from an Orthodox perspective, plus have a letter from your Orthodox rabbi stating that you are legitimate. Obviously, no leader in the Messianic movement actually follows Orthodox Judaism, nor are they going to receive a letter from an Orthodox rabbi saying that they are legitimate. With this in mind, I e-mailed the Shulchan Aruch Learning Project, to see if he infiltrated their organization. Their response to me was as follows: "Thank you for your notice...........this Fellow is a fraud and has just copied excerpts from our site and put it on his website.........when we wrote him..the email bounched back...
We'll bli-neder look into prosecuting him, that is assuming we can find him..
The Shulchan Aruch Coordinating Team"
So, it is clear that Daniel Thomson is a liar and a fraud. He is not studying for a real rabbinical degree. He is a cut-and-paste thief, who lies to try to appear legitimate. All real Jewish rabbis are already ordained (you cannot call yourself a rabbi without rabbinic ordination), and certainly have no need to lie about their education. But, Thomson is not a real Jewish leader, but a fraud trying to spread Christiniaty. I copied the letter on to a word document so you can see the letter for your own eyes. The top part is their response, the bottom is my original letter:
Click Here p> So, what is Daniel Thomson's response? Thomson has seen my site, and insisted that in fact he has been taking courses through the Shulchan Aruch project, working on his rabbinical degree. Here is the link to Thomson's response (Editor's note: For the sake of brevity, I am just including his responses regarding this issue, and not other issues that Thomson brought up about my site):
Click Here I have to admit...I was confused, so I e-mailed the Shulchan Aruch program again, just to check if there was a mistake. Could Thomson have been correct and an error was made in their response? No! The rabbi from Shulchan Aruch was quite clear that Thomson was never registered for classes through their organization and that the Shulchan Aruch project has not heard from him in many years. Here are links both to the letter they sent to me on the issue and a letter sent to Thomson:
Click Here for Letter to Me
Click Here for Letter to Thomson Again, we have evidence that Thomson is being less than honest about his education! Christian Seal of Approval On the Sh'ma Yisrael site, Thomson discusses the popularity of his tapes with Christian leaders. In his "Tape Subscription Service" section, he states: "Many Christian leaders also receive Rabbi Thomson's weekly teachings. (Some of these teachers are themselves on Christian radio, and pass these insights on to their listening audiences.)"
Has anyone ever heard a real Jewish leader bragging that Christians leaders are interested in their work? Of course not, only a Christian leader would care. In fact, he doesn't even mention Jewish leaders in the paragraph. But, it gets worse. Interestingly, in the section following it, he claims that Jewish and Christian leaders are complementing work. Yet, the only names he actually gives are the names of Christian pastors from all over Michigan. Not a single Jewish leader's name. Not one. Being that he already lied about his education, I think it is not shocking that he claims that both Jewish and Christian leaders enjoy him, yet the only people he talks about are Christians. Why? Because not a single legitimate Jewish leader would be interested in his work. Realistically, would a real Jewish leader bulk up his page with praise from Christians, and nothing from Jews? Of course not, only a Christian leader would! Here is the link to the information, the "Tape Subscription Service" is approximately 1/3 down the page, the Christian praise of his work follows that section.
Click Here Basic Error Sh'ma Yisrael makes a basic error on its webpage that a real Jewish group would never make. If you look on its main site, about half-way down, you will notice a scroll on the left-hand side that has in Hebrew the beginning of the Sh'ma prayer. To the right, you will notice that they have the English translation of this prayer underneath the picture of Daniel and Nava Thomson. Here is the link so you can see it:
Click Here So what is the major, basic error? You will notice that in the translation, Sh'ma Yisrael writes "G-d" and "L-rd." The reason why one does this, rather than writing the name of The Creator fully, is to avoid accidentally taking G-d's name in vain and doing something disrepectful, like printing out the page with G-d's name and throwing the page out. The only catch is, they left the Hebrew, the original language of the Bible, in complete form. A real Jewish group would know that writing G-d's name is a much bigger deal in Hebrew. In fact, in many languages they do not take out a letter or replace a letter (which is another common practice) when writing G-d's name, unless it is in Hebrew. A real Jewish group would be far more considered about the Hebrew than the English. As for Sh'ma Yisrael....they left the Hebrew in full form, including the most holy name of G-d found in the Bible, which in English roughly translates to Y-H-V-H. A real Jewish group would never make this error, but a Christian group would!
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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