The Jerusalem Council

The Jerusalem Council Beit Din is a fully functioning orthodox Jewish rabbinical court that aims to be the first of many that it hopes will be reproduced worldwide. It currently exists to provide accountability during the implementation of the Jerusalem Council vision, however it’s goal is to grow beyond this.

There exists a great need within Messianic Judaism to provide disciples of Yeshua ben Yoseph shel Netzaret with certified orthodox Jewish conversion, as well as for the recognition of such converts by the global body of believers.  Currently such converts have no where to go, except to hide or forsake their discipleship when they go to an orthodox beit din that disqualifies such candidates who recognize Yeshua as the Messiah.

In addition to the above need, there exists a great need for the building up of qualified leaders in Messianic Judaism with recognized orthodox smicha. Such smicha should not be given lightly and should meet or exceed current rabbinic qualifications so that believing communities and leaders are not found to be without a solid defense for their identity and responsibilities to Torah. If such a leader is found to be lacking, education then should be freely offered to the leader who so chooses to serve HaShem as a rabbi, and such discipleship should be encouraged among all believers.

The Jerusalem Council Beit Din recognizes that meeting these needs is fundamental to the success of any orthodox Jewish community of believers, and hopes that those with the requisite qualifications will answer the call of HaShem and that of Torah to help be an instrument in His hand to “restore our judges as in earliest times and our counselors as at first.”

The current Jerusalem Council Beit Din is composed of the following volunteer dayanim:

In addition to providing accountability to the Jerusalem Council vision, the Jerusalem Council Beit Din also assists in providing answers to questions raised by anyone who seeks a more informed and authoritative answer based on Jewish law.  The following issues have been brought before the Jerusalem Council Beit Din for comment, and the results have been published for your review: