My Hevruta, My Friend

I promised to tell you about my experience with Peter, my “other” hevruta (the word refers both to learning in pairs and to your partner in that learning).

     Anna (my wife) met Peter and Linda soon after she arrived in the U.S. from her native Netherlands. Fast forward a few years and the four of us had become friends. But after Anna and I had our encounter with Yeshua, things became awkward and the two couples drifted apart. We had little contact for about thirty-five years. In the meanwhile, they’d moved to Austin for work purposes. Then Anna and I moved to Austin a few years ago for family reasons, and we began to get together.

     Of course, Peter and I had both changed over the years. The very thing that had distanced us all those years ago was now a point of common interest. Though Peter has characterized himself as an agnostic, my impression is that God and Peter are playing hide-and-seek.

Kavanah – Directing the Heart

I bring along a compass when I travel. If I pray¹ without a compass or some other way of being certain which way is east, I am not permitted to guess the way. If I am not certain which direction is east, I must opt 

for the backup plan: praying directly to my Father in Heaven.

Hevruta - Learning in Pairs

The hevruta is a traditional Jewish model of two learners studying a text together. It isn’t a teacher-student relationship but a truly collaborative effort of exploration, discussion, and a lot of creativity. Your study-partner is also called a hevruta and I have two of them here in Austin. One is a local rabbi and the other is an old friend who moved here years before I did.

Changing the Culture

Learning is integral to Messianic Jewish spirituality, but it does not stand alone. “The world stands on three things—Torah learning, prayer, and acts of loving-kindness" (Avot 1:2). These are the primary components of a Jewish spirituality that seeks the best possible world for all people. The New School does not advocate that we teeter the world on one pillar or try to balance it on two. We need all three—Torah learning, public and private prayer, and overflowing acts of kindness—to bring wholeness to our community and our world.

Learning as Worship

The concept of learning as worship may not be self-evident, but it’s opened up when we start by looking at worship itself.

The small group has journeyed toward the mountain—an old man, his thirty-something son, and two servants. It’s the third day of their journey and the old man hasn’t told the others what is on his mind, the horrific deed God had commanded him to carry out. Finally, the old man sees their destination on a far-off mountain. He stops and tells the servants to stay put while he and his son go and worship there. After that, they would return (Gen. 22:5)

I used to think that “we will worship” was an odd way for the old man to describe tying up his son and plunging his knife into him. The promise to return was also a mystery. I read somewhere that the old man believed that his son would be raised from the dead. By why call it worship? I didn’t get it until I dug deeper. Abraham knew what he was talking about. Slaying his son, his son’s willing sacrifice, was going to be their joint worship of God, the Holy One of Israel.

Jewish Learning as a Spiritual Practice

In order to begin describing the new Messianic Jewish learning, let me distinguish between learning and study. Study involves the acquisition and mastery of facts and their interconnections. Because followers of Yeshua (Jesus) are directed to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, our learning involves more than acquisition and mastery. It involves all four faculties—heart, mind, soul, and strength—and becomes for us a consuming act of love and worship. Learning is an embodied spiritual practice that enables us to cleave to God and one another.