Yeshua and Jewish Tradition
Maybe Not What You Thought!

For 40 years, I had heard that Jewish tradition was bad.  Passages where Yeshua seemingly condemned ‘tradition’ were frequently used in various sermons.  Passages like -

^NKJ Mark 7:9 - “… All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”

or –

^NKJ Matt. 15:6 – “… you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”

Because of these passages, many Christian denominations have taken as stance against ‘traditions’ - except of course – if they are their own traditions.

Many, if not most Christian denominations have a ‘tradition’ of meeting on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening.  A case could be made that the Sunday meetings are not tradition (because of their belief that Sunday replaced Sabbath), but an assembly on Wednesday evening is nowhere mentioned in scripture unless that Wednesday happens to be one of Yah’s ‘moedim’ (Hebrew for ‘appointed times’).

Before we founded this fellowship, the church my wife and I attended had a tradition in regards to their weekly ‘service’.  The tradition was to have three songs, a 15 minutes ‘sermonette’, another song, then a one-hour sermon.  Because our church was just one among hundreds of other like-minded congregations, you could visit any congregation in the country – or even maybe the world – and still find the same ‘traditional’ format.

We also had a tradition (though most members did not know it was such) of observing the biblical festivals based on what was called 'God's Sacred Calendar', only to find out later that it was the 'traditional' Hillel calendar created in the mid 4th century CE.

Even the Ami Yisrael Fellowship has a service that for all practical purposes is a ‘tradition’.  What we do here is not defined in the scriptures, and we continue to follow (for lack of a better option) the Hillel calendar.

Even families have traditions.  For many years it was my family’s tradition to have our children and grandchildren over to our place on their birthdays for a family dinner.  Based on recent family history, It appears that it may be our tradition to make a family trip to Wisconsin every summer as well.

So, tradition is not bad.  In fact, Paul encouraged the congregations he visited to follow HIS traditions.  For example, Paul told the Corinthians to -

^NKJ 1 Cor. 11:1-2 - Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.  ² Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

To the believers in Thessalonica, he said –

^NKJ 2 Thess. 2:13-15 - … we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴ to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

Later in that same letter he said -

^NKJ 2 Thess. 3:5-6 - Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.  ⁶ But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.

The Greek word translated ‘tradition’ in those passages is ‘paradosis (3862) which basically means ‘that which is delivered’.  It comes from the root word ‘paradidomi’ (3860) which means ‘to deliver into the hands’.   We see that word in Mark’s account of Yeshua’s discussion with the Pharisees –

^NKJ Mark 7:13 - "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down (Gr. ‘paradidomi). And many such things you do."

So traditions are simply something that is handed down – usually from one generation to another.

By the way, ‘paradidomi’ is also the Greek word from which we get the word ‘betray’ or ‘betrayed’.  Handing someone over to another is not the same as ‘betraying’ that person.  Many of the modern translations have made that correction.

With what we’ve seen so far, it is hard to make a case against ALL Jewish tradition.  So why was Yeshua seemingly against the ‘traditions’ of the Pharisees?  The answer is quite simple – He was not against all traditions; He was only against traditions that were contrary to Torah.  For example -

^NKJ Matt. 15:1-6 - Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ² "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."  ³ He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  ⁴ "For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother'; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  ⁵ "But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"--  ⁶ `then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

Notice that Yeshua – at least in this instance – did not address their tradition of washing their hands before a meal.  Instead, He addressed a different tradition that was in direct conflict with the Torah’s instruction to take care of your aged parents. That tradition was called ‘corban’, which was a mis-application of the laws pertaining to the dedication of property to support the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple).  We find it in Yah’s commandments pertaining to offerings made by a vow –

^NKJ Lev. 27:14-15 -  `And when a man dedicates his house to be holy to the LORD, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.  <sup>15</sup> `If he who dedicated it wants to redeem his house, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

‘Corban’ comes from the Hebrew word ‘qarav’ ( קָרַב - 7126) which means to ‘draw near’.  It is almost always translated ‘offering’. What this passage is saying is that a person can dedicate some of his property to the use of the Tabernacle.  For instance, if a man has a field he does not use, he can turn it over to the priests who can then use it. 

In the later part of the 1^st century BCE, a tradition was established that allowed a person to dedicate his property to the Temple but retain the right to use it as needed. That was not the intent of the Torah instruction.  In the Torah instruction, the person who dedicated the property lost the use of the property, but was allowed to redeem it by adding 20% to its value.  By allowing a person to continue to use the property by calling it ‘corban’, the person could legally consider himself ‘broke’, but still have use of the property.  Thus if his parents needed financial aid, he could tell them he had nothing to give them and be off the hook.  Yeshua was criticizing them for using ‘corban’ as an excuse not to follow the clear commands to -

^NKJ Exodus 20:12 - "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

Which means to ‘treat them with honor’.  And that –

^NKJ Exodus 21:17 -  he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

The word ‘curse’ in that scripture means to ‘count as nothing’.

Another case where Yeshua condemns their tradition was when they made the tradition equal to His commandments -

^NKJ Mark 7:5-9 - Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"  ⁶ He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.  ⁷ And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines (mitzveh) the commandments of men.' 

This in itself was a violation of the Torah because the Torah clearly states that –

^NKJ Deut. 12:32 - "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Unfortunately, many churches that teach that Jewish tradition is bad, will at the same time consider their own man-made laws and traditions to be equal to Torah.  For instance, various churches teach that …

• using musical instruments in worship is wrong
• dancing (either secular or in worship) is not appropriate
• the use of makeup or tobacco is a sin
• gambling or alcohol use is a sin
• 60-70’s era top 40 music is bad … including ‘disco’

Since the Torah in no way prohibits any of these activities, then for a church to classify them as ‘sin’ does in fact commit a sin by making them equal to the Torah. 

When you step back and take an honest look at tradition, you will find that we are all guilty of establishing our own traditions – and that’s OK – as long as we do not impose your own traditions on others.

But what about the observance of ‘Jewish’ traditions? Since Yeshua was against ‘some’ Jewish traditions, should we avoid all Jewish tradition?  The answer us an emphatic NO!  Why?  Because Yeshua and His disciples kept a number of Jewish traditions themselves – and you probably do too!

Jewish Traditions Kept by Yeshua:

Yeshua and His disciples kept a number ‘Jewish’ traditions – traditions that are not mandated in the Torah. Though some of those traditions were in conjunction with or facilitated the keeping of the commandments, they are nevertheless ‘traditions’.  So let’s take a look at some of them – all of which can be found in the New Testament.

Based on these examples, it is pretty clear that Yeshua did not have a problem with all of the Jewish traditions. He only had problems with the traditions that were in opposition to the Torah and were imposed on the people as if they were Torah 22. An example of one that was in opposition to the Torah was the prohibition of Jews eating at the table with a Gentile (Matt. 9:10; Gal. 2:11-14), a Jewish tradition which Peter apparently continued to follow until his encounter with Cornelius23.

^NKJ Acts 10:28 - Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Many of the traditions found in the NT came about as an effort to prevent assimilation of the Jews back into the Greek culture.  After the days of Alexander, the Great, the Jews had a problem with assimilation as the younger people tended to mix more readily with their ‘Greek’ friends.  The Maccabean war was an effort to drive Hellenism out of Judea, but it was not 100% effective.  In fact, because so many Jews had adopted the Greek (Hellenistic) culture, the Septuagint – a Greek translation of the known scriptures up to that time, was written and subsequently came to be the predominate text of the NT writers24.

Other traditions, such as the ‘Sabbath day’s journey’ (Act 1:12), were ways to keep the Jews in check and promote attendance at the synagogue.  In fact, the entire rabbinical system came about as a result of the Jewish people losing site of the Torah as did the northern tribes -

^NKJ Hos. 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

The entire system was created to provide schools for the children, and a perpetual source of teachers (rabbis) who could teach the Torah.  As mentioned earlier, Yeshua used this system to raise up disciples.  He expected His disciples to do the same, but with the one caveat – they were not to come up with their own interpretation of scripture, they were only to use His interpretation (Matt. 23:8-10).

Though many focus on the Jewish tradition of ritual hand washing (Matt. 15:2, Mark 7:1), the Pharisees came up with it as a result of the original intent YHVH had for Israel which was that they were to become a kingdom of priests25.  Since only the Levites came forward on God’s behalf at the ‘golden calf’ incident, the priesthood was transferred to the tribe of Levi.  Nevertheless, the Pharisees taught that in the home, the father is in fact – a priest, and thus were to maintain some of the requirements given to the Levitical priesthood26.  If they had kept their belief to themselves and did not attempt to impose it on others, it would have probably been OK.

It's clear that Yeshua, the disciples, and the apostles continued to follow many of the Jewish traditions of their day. Thus we can conclude that tradition is not necessarily bad – even if it’s Jewish tradition.  In fact, without a good understanding of Jewish traditions, we could not understand the calling Yeshua left for us when He told His disciples to -

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  ²⁰ "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

^NKJ Matt. 28:19-20

Shalom Aleichem