Does Faith in Yeshua-Jesus Steal the Jewish Soul?
There are teachings in Judaism today that are aimed at keeping Jewish people away from faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah. The teachings say that when a person comes to faith in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus they “lose their Jewish soul.”
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With regard to the Jewish soul, according to Chabad (an orthodox sect of Judaism), Jewish sages have said this about the human soul: “She” is called by five names: Nefesh (soul), Ruach (spirit), Neshamah (breath), Chayah (life) and Yechidah singularity).
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The Hasidic masters explain that the soul’s five names actually describe five levels, or dimensions of the soul. Hasidic is a term relating to or denoting Hasidism, a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academicism of rabbinical Judaism. These are the same people that teach that when a Jewish person comes to faith in Yeshua/Jesus that they “lose their Jewish soul.” Let’s continue our look at their definitions of the “soul” to try and understand their logic.
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Nefesh is the soul as the engine of physical life.
Ruach is the emotional self and personality.
Neshamah is the intellectual self.
Chayah is the supra-rational self, the seat of will, desire, commitment and faith.
Yechidah connotes the essence of the soul – its unity with its source, the singular essence of God.
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They believe that the essence of the soul of man is literally a part of God above – a piece of God in us, so to speak. They go on to speak of two distinct ‘souls’ that vitalize the human being: an animal soul and a godly soul. The animal soul is driven by the quest for self-preservation and self-enhancement; in this, it resembles the soul and self of all other creations. But, they say we also possess a godly soul – a soul driven by the desire to reconnect with its Source. They believe the divine essence of the human soul is what sets the human being above and apart from all other creations, even the angels. The angel may be more spiritual, but the human being is more godly, they teach.
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So the question is, based on their definition of the human soul, how is it that a Jewish person loses their soul by believing in Yeshua/Jesus as the Jewish Messiah?
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From what we’ve seen many Jewish people are completely secular and completely influenced by the world around them and secular humanism. They may have no interest in anything about God, or Judaism. When those same people come to faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah of Israel they repent from sinful activities and begin to study the Tanakh (the Jewish Scriptures). They then draw near to God in an intimate relationship. Ultimately they begin to esteem the Jewish holy days found in Scripture as life giving and applicable to their lives. After coming to faith in Yeshua-Jesus as Messiah the same Jewish people that were once alienated from God and the truth of their own Scriptures begin to live their lives in adherence to the Commandments found in Scripture, living a lifestyle of Torah study, prayer and mitzvot (good deeds).
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Their faith, like that of Abraham rests in and looks to the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for direction and fulfillment of everything related to their lives.
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And yet when they want to share Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah and the source of their experience of life giving truth, they are accused of stealing Jewish souls.
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Has the engine of their physical life been removed? Has their emotional self and personality been robbed? What about their intellectual selves? Have they stopped thinking? When they set themselves to follow Yeshua and become His disciples with the seat of their will, desire and a deep commitment and faith in God, how is it that their Jewish souls have been stolen?
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The answer is plain and simple. They’re not. In fact, at the heart of God’s will for the Jewish People is His desire for them to be a light to the world of His existence, majesty and plans. When a Jewish Person comes to faith in Yeshua-Jesus as the Messiah of Israel they come into alignment with God’s instructions and prophecies as found in the Tanakh (the Holy Jewish Scriptures a.k.a. Old Testament).
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The Hasidic belief that Jewish People lose their souls when coming to faith in Jesus goes against their own teachings of what the human soul is. There’s no logic to their arguments based on their own definitions of the human soul.
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Sadly, their arguments and beliefs stem from their own erroneous beliefs of who Yeshua-Jesus was. He was not the leader of the Catholic church. He was not a foreign god. He was not an idol and therefore anathema in God’s sight. He was not a mere man claiming to be the Messiah in order to lead people away from God.
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That being said, let’s pray for the eyes of the Jewish people to be open to the truth and for the pulling down of the strongholds of anti-messiah and the religious spirit that keeps the veil over their eyes and hearts, robbing them from the knowledge of the truth and the joy and freedom that comes from an intimate relationship with God as Father – that only comes via faith in Yeshua-Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.
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Faith in Him does not steal Jewish souls; it restores them.
