From: 	 heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: 	 Wednesday, November 19, 1997 11:21 PM
To: 	 Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: help with Jewish literature

To:            heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
From:           Dana Wilson
Subject:       help with Jewish literature

Greetings!

I'm a Gentile believer to whom God has given a great love for the Jewish
people, and I pray regularly that their eyes will be opened so that they can
understand the fullness of Messiah and come to know the joy of His yeshuah.
I have in the past read some books which claim that the ancient rabbis
taught that Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of the people, then be
concealed for two thousand years before returning in glory as a reigning
King.  What I want to know is this:  exactly where can such a discussion be
found within Jewish rabbinical literature?  In the Talmud or somewhere else?
If it is in the Talmud, how can I find it so that I may show it to people
who claim that this is a teaching that was only made up by the Gentile
Christian church?

Also, I have read with fascination the article you sent about Jewish views
concerning the Antichrist, but I'm afraid that I will not know where to turn
to look up those quotations even just for my own knowledge, not to mention
to point them out to someone else.  I do know a little bit about Jewish
literature, but I'm afraid that I'm woefully ignorant about how research an
issue from any Jewish source other than the Bible.  For example, if you told
me to look up Ezra chapter two, I'd know exactly where to turn, but Targum
Yonathan,    (Patai, 1979: 156)?  I haven't got a clue.  Is Targum Yonathan a particular
part of the Talmud (just like Ezra is a particular book of the Tanakh), or
is it an entirely different work?  What does 1979 mean:  is it the year of
publication of this edition, or is it a page number, chapter number, etc.?  

I've heard the terms Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, Midrash Rabba,
Targum, Kabbalah, post-Talmudic Midrash, etc, but I fail to recognize
exactly what each is, how it relates to others and what the main divisions
of each are.

So, please, will someone who is familiar with Jewish literature give me a
brief summary of the main works of rabbinical literature and how they are
divided, just as in Sunday school I learned that the Old Testament has 39
books and the New Testament has 27 books, each divided into chapters and
verses, etc.?  This will be a great blessing to me, because although I do
not believe in holding the extrabiblical material in the same regard as the
actual revealed word of God, the Scriptures, I do believe that studying
rabbinical teachings will give us great insight into exactly what ancient
Judaism taught, so that we can counter the myth that belief in Jesus is only
for Gentiles, and that the Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the blood
atonement, the two comings of Messiah, etc., were all made up by Gentiles.

The Lord bless you,

Dana
Shalom, everyone.
The Lord is coming soon!

Dana Wilson
Seoul, Korea 

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