Netzarim Judaism

What is Netzarim Judaism?

A Very Brief History

Modern Judaism is very different from Biblical Judaism. There was a lot of change during the Second Temple period and that change quickly accelerated after 70 CE. In particular, with the fall of the Temple, there was no longer a system for sacrifices and the need for the priestly caste ended while the Pharisee’s approach and beliefs became the dominant form of thought – culminating in the written Talmud and it’s eclipse of the Bible. Modern Judaism reflects a Pharisaic approach to Judaism, it is very legalistic, and is a product of two millennia of Rabbinical development based on the writings and legal decisions contained within the Talmud. However, prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE (3830), there were a number of different approaches to Judaism including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and probably more. This also does not include the various different approaches between Judaism that existed between the kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judea in the south.

During what is erroneously refereed to as the intertestamental period, those last few hundred or so years of the Second Temple period, when Hellenistic Judaism really held sway, messianic zeal was at an all time high, with quite a few people claiming to be the new Jewish messiah. There were radical and itinerant Jewish teachers traveling throughout Israel and the diaspora. We were facing the crisis of Roman occupation combined with the internal strife of the Sanhedrin, battles between the Sadducees who controlled the Temple and the Priestly class, and the Pharisees who were becoming the people’s party. New beliefs were being introduced into Judaism, or at least codified into popular teaching, and there were constant debates over what was, or was not, authentic Judaism. Though to be fair, we Jews being a rather contentious people on the whole, those debates continue to this day.

However, there have always been Jews who disagreed with the Talmudic approach to Judaism, Jews who rejected the Pharisees and their innovation of the ‘oral law’ These Jews have taken different names and forms over the centuries. Today we often refer to these Jews as Karaite or Qara’ite Jews. While the Qaraite movement really solidified itself as seperate from Talmudic Judaism in the 7th to 8th centuries, its roots lie with the Sadducees and Benei Sedeq of the the 2nd Temple Period. Out of the Karaite movement grew the Netzarim movement. Netzarim Judaism is very much a contemporary form of Karaite Judaism.

Netzarim Jews believe that the spirit of the Law, how we approach Torah and embrace mitzvot, is far more important than abiding by the literal letter of the Law. These teachings really weren’t anything new to the Jewish people. Most of the prophets, in one way or another, repeated the same message – repent and do better, give up those things that are harmful, be a good person, love your neighbor, etc. Because of this approach, we believe that individual conscience, informed by a knowledge of Torah, should be the ultimate decisor in our ethical lives, as opposed to the legalistic approach of Rabbinical Judaism. Hence, Netzarim Jewish Halacha is first built upon the binding words of Torah, inspired by our great Prophets, and the writing of Jewish scholars and teachers, but in the end, how we live and follow the Jewish Tradition is ultimately up to the individual Jew.

The core of our teaching is found in the idea that the individual Jew should exercise compassion, kindness, humility, and justice, in their daily lives. We believe that Jews should strive to embody the light of Torah, that it would be revealed through our example. This is what it means to be a light to the world and why Jews are considered a chosen people, not out of a sense of entitlement, or of some misbegotten sense of being special, but because we voluntarily took upon ourselves the yoke of responsibility – what used to be called the “Kingdom of God” is simply the idea that we can create a better world; a Kingdom that all have a right to be included in. These teachings are often lost in the cloud of legalism that our forefathers often fell into.

Torah

One of the biggest mistakes we have made over the past two thousand plus years is believing the idea that Torah is somehow a closed corpus. That there is nothing new. This idea comes from both a reaction to the writings of the Christians and to the writing of the Talmud, but is rooted in the misbegotten notion that Torah was revealed by God to Moses and the Prophets as a complete text. But there is no reason to think that God no longer speaks to His people, rather we have stopped listening. We should do what we can and listen to the voice of God in the words and messages of all of our people, this is the whole point of authentic Jewish spirituality. We can find inspiration in all of the writings of Judaism (even the Talmud), particularly the writings of the great Hasidim of the past few hundred years. Or the amazing commentators and philosophers of the medieval period. The truth is that we do not know how accurate our Torah is today compared to what was originally revealed on Sinai and later. How much of Torah is actually what the great lawgiver Moses wrote, how much was added later, how much was politically motivated and written for the purpose of justifying things we did or wanted to do? How much is an accurate portrayal of what the Prophets wrote? How accurate are the histories and messages? But if we let the voice of God, in all of the manifest ways He speaks to us, be a guiding light, if we learn to listen again – Torah begins to shine in ways that are almost unimaginable.

Halakhah

God gave the Torah to Israel and within the Torah are all of the mitzvah that we might find binding. This is not something that any Jew would argue with, regardless of their tradition or background. For rabbinical Judaism though, the oral law, as codified in the Talmud, supplants the Torah and is the primary source of Halakha for the past fifteen-hundred years and through the Talmudic Halakhah many of the Biblical mitzvah have changed, been expanded upon, or made much more difficult to follow. However, Netzarim Jews reject the oral law as binding, finding that most of it is innovation and there is no evidence that it should carry the same weight as Torah. Therefore we would state that the legal arguments of the Talmud are not binding upon us and should only be considered a supplemental text for consideration. We strive to understand the Torah from a standpoint of interpreting it in the most obvious (p’shat) meaning and derive our practice of halakhah from the basis. We do not believe that the knowledgeable Jew needs to go to a Rabbi to solve halakhic questions, unless they are unfamiliar with the Torah or a particular subject; in which case, it becomes the responsibility of the rabbi to teach Torah and allow said person to come to their own conclusions. There is nothing wrong with consulting Talmud, with considering any Jewish writing, ancient or contemporary, but they are not authoritative.

Modern Practice

From all outward appearances, the day to day life of a Netzarim Jew differs little from that of most any other Jew. For those of us who are stricter we offer formal prayer several times a day, make blessings over our actions and food, keep kosher, keep Shabbat, observe the Holy Days, and so on. Our prayers may differ in many ways, but many are also very similar if not the same. Our method of keeping kosher is simpler, but still similar at the basic level. There are some variations in what we consider restricted behavior for Shabbat, but it’s still kept.

For holidays we usually keep to one day celebrations (inside and outside of Israel). We ask men and women to cover their heads in synagogue and to wear tallit. Outside of the synagogue some of us wear a kippah, most don’t. Unlike some Karaites, we usually do light candles for Shabbat. Our prayer services are generally shorter than what most people are used to. There are no Torah prohibitions against women as teachers and we encourage both women and men to consider rabbinical training. Wearing tefillin is not common, but for those who wish to, they may. Wearing the tallit katan is even less common though still a choice. We do believe the tzitzit should include the blue thread. Most of us do put up mezuzot, or small plaques with the ten commandments, but it isn’t a requirement.