The problem is...

Shomair Yisrael Congregation

 To see the video of this talk: 

https://www.youtube.com/live/dF5zvywRr3M?si=oAeBsNf52E7XrMbV&t=5474

Shabbat shalom to each of you both here in the congregation and online watching this morning. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to visit Knoxville and to spend time with you in worship and in the Word, so thank you to Rabbi Michael and his wife Jan both for hosting me for Shabbat dinner and in hospitality overnight, and for the invitation to be here; so, let’s get right into it.

This week’s parasha is Va’etchanan and I remember this sedra for several reasons, most notably my own failure and lying when I was in my early teenage years back in the 1960s. I was a ba’al k’riah, having successfully earned that in my Bar Mitzvah in 1964 and then helping with that ministry at our Orthodox shul in Kansas City for a couple of years. But as a young teenager, I had other considerations that captured my attention, especially in the fever heat of summer, and when it was my time to read, I was ill-prepared. After the Cohen’s reading with which I was successful, I pretended to have a sudden case of laryngitis and could not continue in any further public reading. What a scam! What a terrible action of pretention! And to this day, I feel badly about my lying. So, when I checked the calendar for this Shabbat and saw it was this parasha, I again felt that guilt and shame. Not a good place from which to start, but maybe what I share today will help us deal in a godly way with such feelings down the road.

As we ponder other calendar events, it’s a good time to think of that circle of life reality. For many of you, starting school is now in full swing. The summer ended (long before 21 September at the equinox) and fall began with kids going back to school and your rhythm of life got a new drum beat. For others of you, wearing an orange shirt and cheering the Volunteers on a Saturday afternoon adds to your rhythm and to your hopes and sometimes disappointments each weekend. Today in Knoxville you could be at the East Tennessee History Centre celebrating History Hootenanny or you could be at the Greater Smoky Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts learning NRA Basics of Shotgun Shooting. Events that matter make it onto our calendars including dentist appointments and anniversaries and so much more. I’m originally from Kansas City, so Chiefs football is part of my routine.

You might know that we Jews emphasize calendars with regularity. It’s part of our rhythm of life in religion. For instance, last Monday was Tisha B’av, the worst day ever in the Jewish memory and annual cycle. That’s the day we recall the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem, first the ruin of Solomon’s by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then the rebuilt one of Herod, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Tisha B’av marks the end of the three weeks, this sad and mournful period each summer in which we are to ponder the dark eras of our Jewish history. Did you do that? Does the memory of the destroyed Temple teach us?

Then today, this weekend is supposed to bring a change for our people. Today is Shabbat Nachamu, and Va’etchanan is always the parasha for such. Why? Nachamu means comfort, and after the pondering of our losses in the week just past, it’s good to be comforted by the Lord. So, we read the Haftorah portions the next 6 weeks in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish civil new year, we read comforting words from the prophet Isaiah. This week chapter 40, then next week we read Chapters 49 and 50, then 55, 51.12-52.12, 54, 60, 61 and 62. OK, this might sound somewhat selective, right? Let me reorder those readings. Chapters 40, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 60, 61,62. Did you hear that? One significant chapter is missing; we will get to that later in this talk. 

Now when we think about comfort in the losses of both temples and the sadnesses of our lives over history, and the need for comfort, there seems to be something missing for many of our people. You might know that 315 days ago some madmen flew, and others drove into the Land of Israel, across our Southern border, attacked and mauled, murdered and ruined the lives of over 1,200 Jews. 7 October was a day that most commentators continue to highlight as the ‘worst day for Jews worldwide since the Holocaust.’  There have been other very bad days for Jewish people since 1945, but nothing on such a grand stage as what Hamas did to our people that final day of Sukkot last year. 

OK, you think, it’s hard to come to terms with October 7. It’s hard to come to terms with antisemitism which globally is on the rise in a very clear and present dangerous way. Nazi marches taking place in Nashville, swastikas adorning Jewish cemeteries and brazen verbal and physical attacks of our people on university campuses will probably increase as college classes reopen soon. Nowhere seems to be safe; what are we to make of all this, and where, honestly, where is our Nachamu, our comfort?

For that I want us to consider the words of the Torah this morning. Those 122 verses I pretended not to be able to read that memorable day in 1966 are still in our books today. What is included may well hold the answer to my questions this morning. I believe the answer is in that text. 

Hear these words from Deuteronomy chapter 5, the repetition of the 10 words, the commandments. Yes, it includes thou shalt nots with which even most unbelievers are familiar. No stealing, no adultery, no murder. Got it. Is that how we gain comfort today? No, most folks miss it that the First commandment is not a prevention or one of those “Keep the Sabbath” or “Honor your parents” mandates. Nope, Commandment #1 is a call to faith. Listen, here it is.

1.   “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

That’s it. I am the Lord. I’m your God. I brought you out in the Exodus. The first of the 10 words, the Aseret hadivrot is not a command at all. It’s a recognition. It’s a statement of identity and relationship. It’s not the 2^nd which is ‘don’t have any idols or make any such… no other gods.’ No, the First of the 10 words is a proclamation and demands my response. 

No wonder the rabbis zoom in on this one in their summations of the 613. You know that the rabbis have counted 613 commandments they find in the Torah. No more than 90 of those can be fulfilled in our days, but still they counted 613. And like you and I, they want to get that down to a more manageable size, the Readers Digest version, if you will. So, they narrowed it down to the 13 of Maimonides. Or the 10 of the 2 tablets. But how about the 3 of Micah 6: what is good? Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. OK, that works, all the Torah is summed up in those three. How about 2? You will know the 2 that Yeshua used to summarize the 613. Love the Lord your God with everything you have and love your neighbour as yourself. Great. Can you get it down to 1? The rabbis agree that Habakkuk 2.4 is the great summary. The apostle Paul agreed with them. What does the prophet say there? And what Paul quotes at least two times? The “Just shall live by his faith.”^[1]

Of note, and not without surprise, the rabbis and Paul have different translations of that word ‘faith.’ 

וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ יִחְיֶֽה׃

Emunato. His faith. The rabbis translate that to his ‘faithfulness.’ Do you hear the nuance of difference there? One, faith has to do with our confidence in the Lord of life and our beliefs towards him. The other, faithfulness, has to do with our activities, our enterprise, our works, our duties, our mitzvot. 

The apostle Paul makes clear that it was Abraham’s faith that gave him right standing with the Lord. And that we stand only by our faith. He even said, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” The reality is that we all fall short of God’s standards and our hope is not in our faithfulness. Our hope is in the One who initiated our relationship, our covenant, our being members of his family, the Lord himself. No wonder, the First ‘commandment’ is “I am.” 

I love the 12 steps of AA and all the other 12 step programs out there. The first of those 12 recognizes our inability to change our stripes and admits that. Publicly. Or at least to ourselves. We admit that we are powerless to change, and that our lives are unmanageable. The 2^nd step is a recognition of the Power beyond us who can make that change, and the 3^rd of the opening waltz is a surrender, a turning our lives and “our will over to the care of God.” That three-step formula is how this works. It’s how AA or SA or NA or all those programs work. It’s how I work! It’s how true religion works. 

That’s what Paul came to understand. He had plenty of credentials, even as Rabbi Michael and I have from our youth as ordinary Jews, but like Paul, we came to realize our unmanageability, our recognition of the Lord Yeshua, and our surrender in faith to his lordship.  That’s the First Commandment. 

But now, in case you wonder about the Shema, which is also in today’s parasha, and confused about the word ‘echad’ there in chapter 6, verse 4 of Devarim, let me give you my additional understanding of that, and it’s the exact same as the Aseret hadivrot. 

In chapter 6 of Deuteronomy, we read this from verse 1. 

Deut. 6:1   “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, ² so that you and your son and your grandson might ^afear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, ^ball the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ “O Israel, you should listen and ¹be careful to do it, that ^ait may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Get it? God is saying, do you want good stuff to happen? Keep the mitzvot. OK. But don’t miss who is involved. Verse 1, the Lord your God told you. Verse 2, fear the Lord your God. Verse 3, the Lord, God of your fathers who promised. 

And just to make it very clear, verse 4 say, HEAR. Listen! Shema Yisrael! The Lord is our God. That’s the one I’m talking about. HIM. No other gods. No other philosophies or philosophers. I’m talking about THAT ONE. 

The passage continues, love him (verse 5), don’t forget him (verse 12), fear him (verse 13). Friends at Shomair Yisrael, today I’m telling you that our hope is not in our fulfillment of Torah’s 613 or even today’s 83. Our hope is not in our faithfulness. Our hope is in the Living God who calls us to remember him, to fear him, to love and honour him, and to share his love with one another. 

If you know yourself, and your own failures, whether in lying about what physical condition you have like I did that Shabbat morning 58 years ago or pretending to be some kind of holy Joe when deep down inside your sins are well known to you, if you know you, you will not stand on your faithfulness. You will admit your powerlessness to change. Your admission will include a recognition of THAT ONE, the Lord your God, and his capacity to make us his. And in one fell swoop, we will surrender and find eternal life. 

So, why am I speaking about all this today? It’s Shabbat Nachamu and we need real comfort, not only since 7 October, but throughout our days. And if we miss the First Step or the First commandment, we are destined to continue to miss the comfort that is sure to come.

I believe that we as a people suffered in the Holocaust due to our living godlessly in the 1930s in Europe. If you read the same Bible cover to cover that our people have read since Moses, you will hear Isaiah and Jeremiah, Joel and Hosea call us out. You will hear them decry our errors and our unwillingness to change. Moses predicted our falling away and every prophet in the Book did the same. 

And what will God do to her erring people? He will judge us. Why? To get us back on track. He built the system of righteousness, and he longs for us to live there. And if we don’t, he has no other recourse but to call other nations in to bring us to judgment so that we turn to him. 

The two temples were destroyed for our own sins. Solomon’s temple destroyed due to three things: idolatry, adultery and murder. The 2^nd Temple was destroyed due to ‘hatred without a cause.’ 

Modern Israel was formed in 1948, but even without a specific land mass, we were judged as a nation throughout our existence. Messianic Jewish leader Art Katz died 17 years ago and was a prophetic voice in our days. In his book “The Holocaust: where was God?” Art said that if God did not judge the Jews in Europe in the 1930s, that he “would have to apologize to the Jews of Jeremiah’s days.” 

Every one of our losses was due to our failures. Yes, other nations were involved, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the German republic, etc, and they were recompensed with punishment for their actions against our people. Still, don’t miss this, when we are met with a major catastrophe (that’s the translation of the word ‘shoah’ by the way), we must look up. We must search for God. Our hope is not in a treaty with our enemies. Our hope is not in the UN or the next election. Our hope as Jews is in the living God and anything less than that, is…well, less than that. It’s not hope at all. 

How do we experience that hope? By acknowledging our failures, our sins, our disregard of God and his plans, by admitting this triad: we cannot, he can, I surrender. 

And one more particular thing. Remember I mentioned the haftorahs and their apparent missing component this season? We tallied the readings as Isaiah 40, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54 and 60. What’s missing? Chapter 53! The very hope of the Jewish people is the Comforter of Israel. And he is depicted, announced, and showcased most clearly in the entire Tanach in the words of Isaiah chapter 53. 

“He grew up before Him like a tender shoot. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. He was pierced through for our transgressions, 

He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.

Friends here and online, if you are listening, really listening to my talk this morning, then you are hearing that God loves you enough to send troubles your way, so that you turn to him to repair your life, admit your failings and turn to the Only One who can save you. That’s Yeshua, the man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief. The punishment for our shalom fell on him and with his stripes we are healed. Healed of our misdoings and brought near through his sacrificial blood shed nearly 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. 

Let his plan find its way into your life. 

Turn to him and be saved.

Rabbi Mike, shalom to you and your wife, to your family and your family here at Shomair Yisrael. And to each of you, thanks for listening and being God’s people here today and throughout your days. Shabbat shalom.

 

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^[1] Rom. 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

 

Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

 

Gal. 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

 

Heb. 10:38   But MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH,

                  AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.

Down but not out

 Locked DOWN...but NOT locked OUT  

When I lived in New York City in the 1980s, some of our congregation would go to the Bowery to serve the poor and indigent. One of the realities we kept before the congregation was that although we were a messianic Jewish congregation, with prayers and songs in Hebrew, and with Jewish roots being clarified in all our teachings, the Bible says, “to the Jew first, and ALSO TO the Gentile.” (Romans 1.16) We didn’t want to forget anyone for whom Yeshua died.

The first committee we formed was the Missions Committee. The churches that grow are those where missions and evangelism are primary concerns. 

Maybe you have noticed this, too. And one of the missions we supported was down in the Bowery. Some of you reading this might remember the movie series named The Bowery Boys starring Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. (pictured) I grew up watching those sometimes at the cinema and sometimes when they replayed those old black-and-white movies on television. Always full of adventures and often misadventures, this was a lot of fun for me. 

By the time the 1980s rolled around the Bowery was not a place of fun and frolic. It was a place for down-and-outers. Drug addicts and hopeless folks seemed to find their way to that section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. One of our congregants helped me see that this was a place where we needed to care. He had actually come from that culture; he had been radically saved from that life, and he wanted to make sure the Gospel went to the Bowery. 

Why am I telling you about this foreign and far-away memory and activity? 

It’s about COVID-19. Our staff is reaching out to the Jewish people of Australia, by phone or email, or even personal visit during this lockdown time in Sydney. The number one reaction, after the traditional social convention of “I’m doing ok”, is “actually I’m a bit lonely or frustrated or …”  Real feelings of pain and suffering. 

Being down is a reality for many. Our own staff has had feelings of being down or frustrated or disappointed in this lockdown season. 

But being down does not mean being out. 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the co
ming of Titus; and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. (2 Corinthians 7.5-7)

God comforts the depressed. How does he do that? By the “coming of Titus” and also “by the comfort with which he was comforted in you.” The reality of depression can be overcome by the stronger reality of God’s personal comfort in the visit of Titus and by the fellowship he brought in reporting what God was doing among the people of Corinth. 

Dear friends, the pandemic is frustrating many of us. The lockdowns are real in many of our states and local government areas. The Prime Minister as well as each of the premiers and each health minister seem to be trying their best to solve a problem that launched in March 2020, without a user’s manual. 

I lost a dear friend back in the US in May, who a month earlier was a vibrant father of six. He was my mate for 40 years. He died from the disease, and I’m still feeling sad.

Our hope is seriously fixed on Yeshua. Our repair from any down-and-out feelings in this time is the fellowship and consolation we experience with one another. We can meet on Zoom or phone calls with other believers. As I write this, our church is not able to meet in person. And when we could, we couldn’t sing. 

Paul wrote the Corinthians “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” (2 Cor. 4.7-10)

Brothers and sisters, we are family and whether it’s Facebook or emails, Twitter or Instagram, when we can share God’s word with each other, when we report the real news that Messiah died for us and is giving us eternal life, those down feelings are replaced. We are not locked out of God's kingdom; we have paid entry! We are not destroyed. We are down, but not out. God comforts us. The life of Jesus will be manifest in our bodies. May God comfort each one of you. Shalom.

Farewell, Tattersall (a eulogy)

These words were delivered at the Thanksgiving / Celebration service after the internment of my friend and another Jewish believer. Maybe the comfort intended will matter to you as well.

Given by Bob Mendelsohn
Saturday 18 August 2018

Tattersall Le’Aupepe (on the left) is not with us tonight. But we are all here tonight because of him. We are either related to him or have had a relationship with one of his relatives or with him particularly. And the testimony I’ve heard and will continue to hear, and will say myself, is that because of Tatts, we are better. Our lives are better. Our joy is fuller. Our love increased. 

He had a way of making us think of better things. He had a way of filling our lives with higher thoughts. When we would meet up, or talk on the phone, when we saw each other in person, whenever I intersected with Tatts, my life improved. I was better off for that intersection. 

Why was that? What did he know? How did he get that way? 

My mind flashes on two fishing boats near the Sea of Galilee. These small fishing vessels were manned by some famous characters. Peter and John were among those fellows. 

The Gospels record, 

“And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 

And going on a little further, He saw James the sonof Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.” (Mark 1.16, 19)

"And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5.3-7)

It’s that ‘signaling’ to the colleagues that struck me the other day. Simon Peter, in the first boat, is all set to tell his new Bible teacher how to conduct the fishing expedition. We read that the folks in the other boat included John. What had they been doing? Washing and mending, that is, preparing their nets. They were background folks; not front-runners. They were taking care of business behind-the-scenes. For the day and the time when they were needed. 

And when that day came, and Yeshua needed them, and Simon needed them, James and John were right there, and their nets were there, readied and able to assist. 

That’s what I think of, when I think of Tatts. He loved to sing. He loved to garden. He loved to tell me about his kids. And their multiple adventures around the world. He was proud of them, and they were proud to be called his children. He was a net-mender; he was a behind-the-scenes man who didn’t mind coming forward when required. His humility gave him the pleasure of seeing others get notoriety. He was ready to be called on, to serve when required or asked. 

What motivated him? The love and servant ministry of his Messiah, Yeshua. Plain and simple, it was the Original Net-mender and Saviour of the world. Jesus. Tatts learned well in his youth, in his life overseas, and here as well, how to be a messianic man. Being Jewish was important to him. Being messianic was more important to him. Being a man who made God smile was most important.

Tattersall Le’Aupepe is not here tonight. He’s in the presence of the Messiah enjoying time with the saints triumphant. If Tatts were here with us, he would want you to know the Messiah yourself. He would ask if you had met Him-- if you knew the Lord. 

And maybe that’s the greatest testimony I can share with you. Yeshua said, “Let your light shine in such a way that men will see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.” Tatts would not want you, or me, to glorify him tonight. He would want us to glorify the Father in heaven. How do I know that? His light shown. 

Our words are our lights, and his light said that no matter the good things he did, no matter the praiseworthy activities in which he was found, the praise belonged to Jesus. 

No matter who you are, a teacher, a fisher, a mender… let’s do what we should, those ‘good works’ of ours, and also let our light shine in such a way that when people see our good works, they don’t glorify us, but they glorify the Father in heaven. Let your words match your works. Let your works match your words. Like Tatts, practice what you preach. And God will be well pleased. 

Farewell, Tattersall. 

Farewell, mate.

Thanks for being faithful to the end. 

Pondering God (Part 10)

10 May. Continuing our study of God. He is Comforter. A place to rest. I don’t have to live up to anything. I don’t have to think about anything. He welcomes me into his arms like a parent when the child scrapes his leg by falling outside. We run to Him for comfort. God knows how to comfort us and performs it for His pleasure. We benefit both ways. 

Isaiah said (quoting God) “comfort my people” (chapter 40.1) Nahum was the prophet whose name means “comfort.”

Yeshua said, “the Comforter, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things” ( John 14.26 ). The Greek word for comforter there is parakaleo which can also mean advocate or lawyer. Not that lawyers generally bring people comfort. But a helper. Called to help me. Little old me. 

Thanks be to God for His personal comfort to me. And to all who trust Him.