None.

The primary purpose of JerusalemCouncil.org is to provide a central place with which to discuss Messianic halakha for every Messianic believer in the world. The Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) appears to be a closed-door organizational child of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), and as such, the MJRC has adopted MJAA's viewpoint concerning believers from the nations. MJAA promotes a form of Jewish conversion for gentiles apart from faith in Messiah Yeshua, and the MJRC exists to promote such halakha; which in the opinion of many of those here at JerusalemCouncil.org, runs contrary to scripture. We identify believers in Yeshua from the nations as Jews, adopted into the family of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob; and we view them as former gentiles - they are converts from the nations that in all respects deserve to be treated as fully equal covenant members with all Jews, and likewise circumcision is seen not as a completion of their conversion, but as a completion of their obligation as Jews to the Torah. In addition to their human parents, their father, like ours, is HaShem (Deut 32:6), and their mother, like ours, is the Torah (Prov 1:8), of whom we owe honor (Deut 5:16). According to the Torah it is wrong to oppress a convert, and according to the Talmud it is wrong to even remind a convert of their gentile past.

The Jerusalem Council is open to all, and the majority of its founding members subscribe to a view that the Torah is for new believers from the nations as well as for those native-born to Israel.

By no means does the Jerusalem Council site seek to force itself as the authority on Messianic halakha. If it ever becomes an authority, it only would be so by the weight of the input of the global messianic community invested in it, and then only because the global Messianic community as whole subscribes to it. This however, is its primary vision: to appoint leaders from the Messianic community to serve on the Beit Din with which matters concerning the issues that divide us, including halakha, can be set as the standard for all believers in Yeshua. The process for appointing such leadership is certainly open for debate, and we invite you to participate in the discussion here.

The fact that a central place is needed to discuss Messianic halakha openly, allowing for the presentation of all relevant viewpoints, is undisputed as a need in the current Messianic movement.

The halakha section currently listed here on JerusalemCouncil.org details only orthodox Messianic halakha as it is generally accepted within the global Messianic community, but by no means is publication exclusive to just orthodox Messianic Judaism. The halakha published at JerusalemCouncil.or will certainly differ from the halakha published at ourrabbis.org, as halakha published here will be developed more and more by others volunteering to catalog orthodox Messianic halakha. The halakha section as it currently stands is set up to publish already-accepted standards in Messianic communities so as to provide topics for discussion on the Jerusalem Council forum.

It is the goal of the development of the halakha section to detail precisely why certain halakha is accepted by preserving the argumentation for or against a matter, with a link to the precise discussion on the Jerusalem Council Discussion Board. This allows for readers to go directly to the discussion concerning the topic, so as to present any arguments that may not have yet been heard which may overturn a published halakha. The point is, the argument for and against is preserved so that the inquirer to the halakha section can go to the discussion, and decide for themselves.

Unity, we believe, begins with open, patient, merciful discussion, and is solidified with sound scholarship documenting the truth of a matter. We would certainly love your input, as well as the input of anyone else you know would be willing to contribute to this vision.