Membership
Do I have to be Jewish to join your co-op?
This group is composed of Messianic believers. You do not have to be Messianic or Jewish to become a member of this homeschool co-op, but you do need to agree to respect our Articles of Faith. Many of our members come to us when they begin to realize the Hebraic roots of their Christian faith, and they desire to learn more and educate their children about them.
Do I have to attend Baruch HaShem Messianic Congregation to join your co-op?
No. You are welcome to visit or attend Baruch HaShem, but attendance at Baruch HaShem or any other Messianic congregation is not a requirement for joining our co-op.
How old does my child have to be to attend your co-op?
Our co-op is only open to families that are actively engaged in home education.
For families with only one child: Your child must be at least 4 years old as of September 30th of the current school year. Families who don’t meet this qualification are still welcome to join our support group (which is different from attending co-op classes).
For families with with multiple children: Children younger than 4 years old are acceptable if an older child is also attending the co-op.
I can’t attend the co-op, can I still attend the field trips and parties?
Yes! You can choose to be part of the support group without being involved in the co-op. As a support group member, you may participate in field trips, park days, moms monthly mentoring meetings, and biblical feast parties!
Attendance
Do I have to attend with my child, or can I drop him/her off?
Dropping off children is not acceptable. A child’s parent must stay at MOEDIM Co-op for the entire duration of the co-op.
Do I have to help in some capacity, or can just stay with my child and help them?
A parent from each family is expected to participate in some way. We prefer that first year members not take on a head teaching role, but are allowed to assist or co-teach each hour. A parent may choose to co-teach or assist in a class of their choosing, depending on where help is most needed.
Do I have to attend all the classes, or can I pick and choose?
Break hours for adults will be evaluated once we get a count for the number of members we have teaching, co-teaching and assisting. Parents are not allow to leave the premises without their children. Since we are a volunteer organization, we depend on all families to help us run. In the past when we allowed families to pick and choose classes, we found that those who were in only a few classes never really got to build relationships with the others and we had holes in our volunteer slots, so we are now a full day program.
My child has already taken one of the classes you offer, can they have a study hall that class instead?
Yes, as long as we have an empty classroom that is available and there is an adult that can remain with them during this time.
Beliefs
Do you celebrate Christmas and Easter?
We do not celebrate most of the traditional holidays that Christians often do, but we do celebrate the birth and death of Yeshua (Jesus) as they coincide with the appointed times (biblical feasts) in a way that gives glory to our Messiah. If you celebrate these traditional holidays, you are still welcome, but please be aware that there may be some discussion about the roots of these traditions.
If you haven’t celebrated the biblical feasts, you’re in for a treat!
We do celebrate the minor festivals, too, including Hanukkah and Purim. Although they are not commanded feast days, they do honor God and many feel they are prophetic pictures of the future.
We look forward to celebrating with you as we give glory to God!
What does “Biblically kosher” mean?
Biblically kosher means following the dietary laws in the Bible. These can be found in Leviticus 11. Foods brought to co-op do not need to be “certified” kosher, as long as they meet the guidelines in Lev 11.
Why do you follow the dietary laws of the Bible?
In a conversation a questioned was asked, “When was eating something ever a sin?” As soon as the words were spoken, the answer was clear-the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a sin! God told them not to. Even if we think something looks and tastes good, it doesn’t mean we should eat it!
Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.”
Leviticus 11 clearly stipulates what is and isn’t for food. Some might want to find health reasons for not eating pork, shellfish, or any other un-kosher animal. However, we should obey God not only for health reasons, but because He said so.
Interestingly, Noah, who lived before Moses, knew which animals were clean and unclean when taking animals into the Ark. Some who think the law has been done away with may want to argue Peter’s vision in Acts 10 for no longer eating kosher; however, the interpretation was clearly referring to Gentiles coming to the Lord and not food. One should also note that whenever the word “food” is used in Scripture, the underlying Hebraic understanding is that unclean meat would never be considered as “food”, just as we do not consider cats or dogs food in the American society today.
There is a spiritual application as well as the physical. If we cannot control our physical appetite, how can we have self-control with other appetites? We are to guard our senses (what we watch, what we listen to, what we think and say, etc.) and are not consume anything and everything in the world. The same goes for doctrine. We need to make sure we are following God’s laws and not the traditions of men that nullify the Lord’s commandments, which is what Yeshua was getting onto the Pharisees for in Mark 7.
I thought the Law was done away with. Why do you still keep the Laws in the Old Testament?
God has always wanted us to love him will all our heart and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 6:5-6, Deuteronomy 10:12-13
God scattered the children of Israel among the nations of the earth because they were forsaking his covenant and breaking his commandments. Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 4:27, Deuteronomy 28:64, Deuteronomy 30:3, Nehemiah 1:8, Jeremiah 9:16, Ezekiel 36:19
But He promised them he would bring them back to their land and that He would give them a new heart and covenant. What was the result of the new covenant? A new heart that would keep his commandments! Read Ezekiel 36:16-38, Jeremiah 31:31-37
Keeping the law has nothing to do with salvation, it is to keep us holy (set apart) unto God. When we fall short (Romans 3:23), Yeshua is our atoning sacrifice, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Hebrews 10:4
Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17 20, that He did not come to abolish the law, that Heaven and Earth (the two witnesses in Deu. 30:19) would pass away before the law ever does, and that whoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches other to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom. He then said if we love Him, we will keep His commandments John 14:15.
By stating that the law is done away with, Christians make Yeshua out to be a false prophet to his own people, the Jews. How? Read Deuteronomy 13:1-5:
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.”
Reading the Book of Acts you see that the disciples were still keeping the law and the Apostle Paul was falsely accused of teaching against the law of Moses, Acts 21:17-25.
In Romans 3:31 Paul says, “ Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
We do not keep the commandments of God for salvation! We keep the commandments of God as a demonstration of our love for Him because of our salvation.
Some may think that the law is only for the Jewish people and that Gentiles only have to keep the commandments found in Acts 15, but those were the minimum for fellowship, meaning they had to stop pagan practices. They would learn the rest of God’s commandments as they heard the law of Moses read in the synagogues on Shabbat, (Acts 15:21).You can’t expect a new believer to change all at once.
The Scriptures constantly state that there is only one law for the native Israelite and the stranger. Leviticus 24:22, “You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the LORD your God.” (also see Exodus 12:49, Leviticus 18:26, Numbers 15:15-16) Remember we are grafted into Israel and now one in Messiah. (Romans 11)
What law will Yeshua reign by during the millennium? Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2 (are word for word here):
“Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
MOEDIM Home School Co-op 