Category Archives: UMJC

Greater Messianic Community Asks That Everyone Please Change Their Last Name to Adler

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Murca – The greater Messianic community has issued a statement sent to all Messianic congregations in America asking that everyone who identifies as Messianic please change their last name to Adler. Representatives from all major Messianic organizations came together this week to discuss the future of Messianic Judaism and how we can greater impact the world. A decision was made that we need to be set apart from everyone else and the best way to do that is to unite with a common last name so that everyone knows we are together. A study put out by the MJAA and the UMJC has shown that the most common last name in Messianic Judaism is Adler; more Messianics either already have the last name, Adler, or are related to someone who does. Choosing Adler as the common last name means less people will have to change their name.

“Yeah I’m part of the Adler clan, but not everyone realizes that, because my last name is Walters,” stated Messianic community member Joshua Isaac Walters. “It’s really hard to go to a Messianic conference and pull the ‘Do you know who I am?’ card when my last name isn’t even recognized as being Messianic. And my Father-in-law is a Messianic Rabbi, but he has a different last name entirely. It’s just hard, sometimes, to be taken seriously in this movement when you’re not a Chernoff or a Rosenberg or an Adler. I agree with this decision 100%.”

While not a requirement to be Messianic, going through life with the same last name as all your Messianic mishpocha will certainly make things easier. And as Yeshua said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have the same last name.” Or something like that.

 

 

***Rabbi Jeff Adler suffered a heart attack this past May and is working hard to recover. Please consider donating to help him with his medical bills and expenses gofundme.com/rabbijeff

True Life: I’m a Conference Junkie

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Conferences are a common occurrence in the Messianic movement and a great way to connect with other Messianics around the world, but what if you scheduled your entire life around them? On this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people who are struggling to balance real life while attending as many Messianic conferences as they can.

Stephanie Escalante, “21,” from Tampa, FL admits she is a conference junkie, but sees nothing wrong with it. She has attended everything from Messiah Conference to the UMJC international and 20s conferences to ARCH Leadership summit to AMF and everything in between. She even started a Twitter account dedicated to conference crushes. She is so addicted to attending conferences that The Messianic Meow wrote an article about her planning a fake conference and then she actually started planning it. “Even though I’m only ’21,’ I’ve been to enough conferences to know how to plan one. I don’t need help from anyone. I’ve got this. It’s my conference now.”

Amy Liantonio, 30, from Philadelphia, PA says she once went to three conferences in a month, all at the Rosen Plaza Hotel. She has made it her life’s goal to attend every conference at The Rosen, which could be as many as six per year. She is helping Stephanie plan the fake conference.

Vlad Horol, 27, from Chicago, IL considers himself now to be a recovering conference junkie. “I love conferences so much, that I became the UMJC Young Adult Liaison (YAL) as an excuse to attend conferences,” stated Horol. “But I’m married now and my wife, Rachel, told me it was unnecessary for me to attend so many conferences. As part of the recovery process, I stepped down as the YAL earlier this year and will try to limit my conferencing to two conferences per year.” “He’s fine,” Rachel chimed in. “Two conferences per year is more than enough. He’s just going to stick to our photography business, Yofi Photography, and he’ll be fine.”

There’s more to life than attending a conference every other month. If you or a friend spend all your time and money on Messianic conferences, please do not be afraid to ask for emotional support. The Messianic Meow is here for you.

UPDATE: We’ve just received word from AMF that they are not actually a conference, therefore Stephanie Escalante’s conference resume cannot include AMF.

Sesame Workshop to Begin Production on New Messianic Jewish Version of Sesame Street “Tahini Street”

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New York City, NY – Sesame Workshop announced this week it will begin production on its 40th co-production, which will be a Messianic Jewish incarnation called Tahini Street. Tahini Street will draw influence from both its Israeli and American Jewish counterparts, Rechov SumSum and Shalom Sesame, as well as American Messianic Jewish culture. Favorite characters appearing in the show will include Elmo, Moishe Oofnik, and Kippi Ben Kippod, as well as newcomer native Chicagoan Muppets Goldie and Shlomo, and humans, such as Azee the Clown and The Great Benafuchi. Topics covered on the show will include eating, laughing, matchmaking, and conferencing. Special guests that have signed on to appear so far are Joel Chernoff, Stuart Dauermann, Jonathan Cahn, and Susan Perlman.

Some Hebrew lessons will be included, however they will only be transliterated into English, rather than shown with the characters of the Alef-Bet, and will be taught using a flannelgraph. Messianic dancing will also be demonstrated on the show and performed to classic songs such as “Rubber Ducky Lai Lai Lai” and “C is for Challah.” Proper shofar etiquette will be stressed throughout the season, in addition to lessons on what it means to have a Jewish heart and why it’s okay for gentiles to attend and fully participate in a Messianic congregation.

Tahini Street will be available as an app for both iPad/iPhone and Android, so children can watch during screen time. The show will be funded as a joint effort between MJAA, UMJC, JFJ, CPM, JVMI, TLV, and The Messianic Times. Please consider donating to one of these fine organizations to keep Tahini Street in production.

UMJC Announces New “Mystery Shopping” Program for Congregations

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Los Angeles, CA – The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations announced this week it would be rolling out a new mystery shopping program, of sorts. Restaurants and retailers utilize secret shoppers to help them figure out how their service rates, and now Messianic congregations across the country will be following suit.

In 2010 The UMJC launched The Kehilah 2020 Initiative, or K20 for short. K20’s main goal is to have a thriving Messianic congregation in every city in America that has a heavy Jewish population, by the year 2020. “We’re more than halfway to the deadline and we still have a long way to go,” said UMJC Representative, Abe Melman. “Having secret shoppers visiting different congregations and reporting back to us on the pros and cons of the Shabbat services will help us figure out why some congregations are growing and why some aren’t. If we can pinpoint a formula for a successful congregation, we can make sure the future congregations we plant and current congregations that need help use that formula.”

The new mystery shopping program will begin early 2017 and will reimburse travel and hotel expenses up to 500 miles away from your home congregation. To apply to become a mystery shopper for The UMJC please visit kehilah2020.org or umjc.org

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If you are interested in finding a Messianic congregation near you, visit http://iamcs.org/congregations or http://congregations.umjc.org. These lists are not exhaustive, however. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please feel free to private message me, leave a comment here, or e-mail me at messianicmeow@gmail.com and I will do my best to help you locate a local congregation.

Messianic Musicians Come Together to Record Song to Raise Funds for Repeated Droughts in Israel

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Murca – Nearly every recording artist in the Messianic movement has come together, in the style of live aid, to record a song to raise funds for the repeated droughts in Israel. In America, we pray for rain to stop, but in Israel they pray for it to start; perspective. The song “It Shall Rain Over All the Earth” was recorded over the course of two months and is expected to be released between Sukkot and Passover, when God causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall.

The cavalcade of Messianic stars includes the following artists: Corry Bell, Ted Pearce, Joel Chernoff, Paul Wilbur, Marty Goetz, Jamie H. of MIQEDEM, Shai Sol, Deborah Kline-Iatorno, Jeremiah & Hannah Zaretsky, Alumni from ‘Yeladim for Yeshua’ and ‘You Gotta Jump,’ former members of The Liberated Wailing Wall, former members of Blue Mosaic, The Havdalah Spice Girls (Beckah Shae, Sharon Wilbur, Misha Goetz, Elisha Chernoff, and Rebecca Rudolf), Nate Benjamin, Roman & Alaina, Jonathan Settel, Rabbi Jan Rosenberg, Matt Gliebe and Kimi Moore Padrick (NAVI), Isaac Faraco (How to Fly), Joshua Aaron, Dr Greg Silverman, Eric & Joanne Kragenbrink, Judah & Jennifer Morrison, Barry & Batya Segal, Kaily Teeter, and Margaret Alexander. There will also be a special rap verse by Hazakim, Jeremiah Kaufman, and Aviad Cohen.

The new single will be available on iTunes, mjaa.org, umjc.org, jewsforjesus.org, and jewishvoice.org for $10 and 100% of proceeds will go towards helping make it rain in Israel. The group calls themselves “It’s Raining Mensches” and hopes to be able to perform together at AMF 2.0.

UMJC, MJAA Create Joint Facebook Account to Show Everyone How Much They Love Each Other

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Los Angeles, CA/Springfield, PA – The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and The Messianic Jewish Alliance of America have joined forces for a second time, this time on Facebook. The two largest governing bodies in Messianic Judaism AKA “rival gangs” have decided to turn over a new leaf and become one. The UMJC and MJAA have created a joint Facebook account under the name “UMJC-MJAA Yeshua.”

“We’ve each deleted our respective accounts and created this new one,” stated UMJC-MJAA Yeshua, via Facebook chat. “We just love each other so much and the best way to show that to the world is to just share a Facebook account. We all know only those who are secure in their relationships share a Facebook account, and, boy are we secure in this relationship! Plus, we have so many mutual friends and shared interests, it just makes sense; we both love Ted Pearce, we both love food, and we even share some of the same Rabbis. It’s actually kind of a waste of space to have separate accounts at this point. We’re no longer individual organizations, but now we’re one and the same. And we do plan to have some fun with this as well. You’ll never know which one of us you’re getting when you Facebook message us! Who am I—-UMJC or MJAA? Do I want to study Torah or pray in tongues? Do I want to smoke a cigar or eat some ice cream? Do I want to be in a band that shares a name with a farm animal or do I want to save a country in Africa? You’ll never know!”

The UMJC and MJAA ask that their loyal fans now only communicate with them through this joint Facebook account in order to promote unity. If you make donations to either organization, please forward your credit card info to the new account in order to continue donating.