If you have done any research trying to understand the Hebrew roots of your faith, you have no doubt run into information on tzitzits.
Most everyone focuses on the commandment in Numbers 15:37-40 as a way of reminding themselves and others of the commandments, or mitzvot of our God.
Certainly, this is central, but lately Abba has placed His grace on me in another way as He reveals a secondary aspect of blessing from simple obedience. What blessings? Let me share!!
My story very quickly… While my family and I rejected christmas and easter about three years ago because we could no longer stomach the pagan syncretism, and took up the Feasts of Yahweh as scripture teaches with much blessing, it was not until around June of 2012 that He began to deal with me in other areas of simple obedience and the freedom that comes with it. We picked up Sabbath and kosher, but tassels? C’mon!! I’m a combat vet, Airborne Ranger, (insert Neanderthal jokes here…) wannabe tough guy.
Anyway, someone at the little fellowship we joined gave me a mini tallit (since I spend most days in a suit and tie) and I began wearing it to weekly Shabbat, but not other times. I did not feel convicted on this particular commandment. One Wednesday morning about a month later, I got up and dressed for work. As I was headed for the door I heard, not quite audibly, “go put on the tallit.”
“But, Lord, what will they think?”
“Go put on the tallit!”
“Seriously? I mean, that is not a major command, is it?”
“Go put on the tallit!” I was shaken to the point that I was more afraid of walking out the door without it than I was of what others would think. It was time to obey this commandment.
Only once since then have I mistakenly left my property without my tallit and I felt naked the whole time. I could not wait to get back home!! That was about four months ago.
With that background, here is the way Abba has been honoring and blessing me in this walk in the last month.
Certainly, I have fielded way more questions in the last five months about what I believe and why as a result of wearing tallis. In fact, I have had the opportunity to witness to my faith and my Messiah more times than I think I had in the previous five or eight years. Curiosity really opens doors.
Those aren’t what I am referring to, though no doubt, they are blessings.
Twice in the last month I have met total strangers, pastors in both circumstances, who recognized my tallis and stopped me to relate their own walk as Abba has led them to begin keeping the Feasts of Yahweh, change their diet and observe weekly Shabbat. What a blessings! And, if I had not been obedient to wear the tallis, we would have been ships passing in the night with no recognition beyond our shared calling to ministry.
That’s when it hit me, Numbers 15:40 says that one of the purposes is to ‘be kadosh (set apart/holy) to your God.’ BINGO!! When I thought I’d be different because I was wearing them, I didn’t understand I am supposed to look different! This is just one outward sign of an inward sanctification. Just as importantly, the tallis functions as a sign that brings together those of like mind, like the ‘fish’ sign in the first century.
Besides encouraging these brothers, I was encouraged as a result of them recognizing and seeking me out based on one of the signs we are given in scripture. Blessings follow obedience.
If you are coming into this walk on the ancient paths and are not yet ready to wear tzitzits, be encouraged. Pray about it and let Abba lead. Just know, when you do, He WILL show you additional blessings and favor, even if you do get a few snide remarks or odd looks!!
Shalom, Pete
Aside: I borrowed the pic above from Hands of Valor. They have beautiful, very reasonably priced, handcrafted tallits that meet the commandment … a thread of blue. Aside from that, like my personally made mini-tallits, they enjoy the broad range of colors our Creator made for us!! Check them out!
11:3 Restoration 
Awesome! I brought this topic up with my husband a few nights ago.
We are a bit discouraged, though! The leader of our messianic congregation gave a harsh (and false, in my opinion) sermon on the Hebrew Roots movement. He basically said it’s “a doctrine of devils” and that non-Jews shouldn’t be doing Jewish things. He doesn’t understand that these are biblical things, not Jewish things. He really looks down on Gentiles eating kosher, wearing tzitzit, etc. We’ve been going there for a year & I didn’t know he felt this way until 2 days ago :s I also found out that it is the congregation’s policy that Gentiles NOT wear tzitzit, kippahs, etc because it will confuse people. Oy!
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Hmmm… There is division in the Hebraic community, just like denominations and Abba is going to have to heal that. I pray for unity DAILY!
I think, as Gentile believers who are grafted in, we wind up in the crossfire between some long standing and powerful forces. The christian churches do not want people coming to Torah as it reveals their own antisemitic bias going back nearly 2000 years. Judiasm has deep disdain for christians and intense cultural pride. Get people crossing either line and the mix is volatile with Messianic Jews often claiming Torah and mitzvot for themselves when Scripture clearly teaches it is the Way of Yahweh for all of His children.
The result can be dicey when leadership takes a side, instead of walking in grace and allowing Abba and the WORD to lead. Nowhere in Scripture are any of the Mitzvot in Torah given exclusively to the Jews, nor is there any mandate for grafted in believers to ‘keep out.’
I choose to walk as Yeshua walked (1 John 2:6). He was a Sabbath keeping, kosher eating, feast observing tassel wearing Jew. The only part I am not and cannot be is ‘Jew.’ My response to misguided leadership is love, grace and some hard questions, because they do not have a leg to stand on Scripturally. If they resort to tradition, then you know to get out!
I think my number is on my reGathering account. Give me a call. If not, drop me a note over there and I’ll pass it to you.
I’ll be praying for you. Hold your head up. You are grafted in as a child of the King! Do not let someone else define who or Whose you are!
Shalom.
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We’ve been praying about starting a home fellowship (and a home! We’re staying with a relative right now), maybe this is a sign.
I got your number from the regathering site just now, thank you! I don’t use my real name online (I had a cyberstalker & threats a few years ago) but it’s Leilani so you’ll know when I call 🙂
Unity is in my prayers all the time. It seems that many people are bent on division. All believes should walk in their Messiah’s footsteps. I know they say they do but they obviously don’t.
I can’t find any scripture where our Father came down to a Gentile & gave him/her a different set of instructions. Nor can anyone find Yeshua giving a different set of instructions to Gentiles.
Thanks for the prayers!
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Wear my beard and tzitziot with pride-a godly pride 8) !, I’ve got some excellent teaching pdfs on the jew/gentile dialectic at play within messianic judaism, email me via the site and I’ll send them to you. My mentor/teacher is a jewish believer in Yeshua who wears a biblical beard, tzitziot but does not wear a kipa (no biblical mandate). He has an interesting time in Bnei Brak where he lives!!The key to reframing our faith in a biblical way is to understand that their are perversion in both camps, messianic judaism and christianity, and as we seek to follow Torah without the man made hedges and pagan add ons, our walks become more “peculiar” to the institutional paradigms. I share your experience of blessing through obedience..i wrote around this a while ago on my blog..check it out I’d love both of your feedback…
http://theseedofabrahamuk.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/the-value-of-mitzvot-action-reaps-character-breaking-down-the-wall-of-separation/
B’Shem Yeshua from the UK.
Kalev.
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Bro!!
Last night I was wracking my brain to remember where I had seen an article about ‘why I left Messianic Judaism’ or some similar title, then I remembered it was on or through your site. Wound up on a yellow page… Any ideas? Was part of some links that led to a book or teachings of one of your mentors.
I can’t find your email, or not sure where to look. You ever look at http://www.theregathering.com? Look me up as well as other mishpa in your area…
Going to read the article now.
Shalom.
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