Yeshua in the Torah

“Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he became invisible to them. They said to each other, ‘Didn’t our hearts burn inside us as he spoke to us on the road, opening up the Tanakh to us?’” (Luke 24:31-32)

On the road to Emmaus, two of Yeshua’s disciples walked. They were weary and hopeless, as Yeshua had died not long ago, and although there had been reports of an empty tomb, and of Yeshua rising from the dead, it wasn’t enough to make these disciples believe he had actually risen. It was not until after Yeshua personally encountered them that they believed.

Yeshua didn’t outright tell them he was alive though, instead he chose to teach them about himself from the Torah. As it says in Luke 25:27, “Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, he explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning himself.” Yeshua taught the disciples enough that when he left them, they could still believe he was alive without seeing him. That’s how it has to be for us. We have to be able to look at the Torah and see Yeshua inside it.

“For if you really believed Moshe, you would believe me; because it was about me that he wrote.” – John 5:46

It’s too bad that we couldn’t be there to listen to Yeshua on the road to Emmaus, as sometimes it’s hard to realize that Yeshua really is alive in the Torah. If only we could hear what he said! If only we could see the proof that he laid out! If only we could feel the fire he gave to the disciples, because then we would have no reason to doubt.

Because we weren’t there, we can only make do with what we have, and search for hidden treasures in the Torah that point towards Yeshua. If we look close enough, we’ll find them, just like it says in Hebrews 10:7, citing Psalms 40:7, “Then I said, ‘Look! In the scroll of the book it is written about me.”

Each week, a portion of the Torah is read by Jews all across the world. Each week, we’ll try to show glimpses of Yeshua throughout each Torah portion.

In Messianic Judaism, we prefer to use Jesus’s Hebrew name: Yeshua. The name “Jesus” is an anglicized version of the Greek transliteration of the name “Yeshua.” Jesus is not the pronunciation of his original name given at birth. “Yeshua” is more likely what his family and friends called him.

We also use “Messiah” instead of “Christ.” This is because of two reasons. The first is that “Christ” is really just a translated form of “Messiah”, and the second is that by using the word “messiah” we’re recognizing that “Messiah” is his title, not his name, and the word “messiah” means “anointed one” and connects him to his Jewish roots, as the Messianic concept was born in Judaism.

In addition to the Torah, Prophets, and the rest of the Bible, we will be drawing wisdom from the deep roots of rabbinic literature in order to find even more hidden messianic meanings throughout the Torah portions. By doing this, we’ll be able to find astonishing parallels between Yeshua and the rabbinic interpretation of Messiah. We’ll also be able to find new aspects of Yeshua that are unknown in Christianity.

We will learn about Yeshua through a Jewish perspective. The religion of Yeshua and his disciples is Judaism. Normative Judaism as we have it today doesn’t believe in Yeshua as the Messiah, but Messianic Judaism does. It’s a mix between traditional Judaism and faith in Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah.

We will learn more about Yeshua from the sages and teachers of Judaism, as they delve into the depths of Torah. There are a lot of teachings that share a common thread with our belief in Yeshua.

Here’s a list of the major rabbinic sources that we will reference:

As we learn, remember that we are learning not only for the sake of knowing and understanding, but also for the sake of practicing it. Take what you learn and implement it into your beliefs, actions, and day to day life.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah used to say, “One whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are numerous but whose roots are few, so that when the wind comes, it uproots it and overturns it, as it is said, “He shall be like a bush in the desert, which does not sense the coming of good. It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a barren land without inhabitant” (Jeremiah 17:6). But one whose deeds exceed his wisdom, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are few but roots are many, so that even if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, they cannot move it out of its place, as it is said, “He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream. It does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh. It has no care in a year of drought; it does not cease to yield fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).