The Honey Farm and the Hasidic Rabbi
Some twenty years ago while on business in a rural area, we passed a honey farm. It was about 4:45 in the afternoon. The owner said he was closing in fifteen minutes. We got into a nice conversation, having learned that we attended the same university years before.
Ten minutes into the conversation, an orthodox Jewish man and his wife walked onto the farm. I could not tell from his clothes if he was Orthodox or Hasidic. He looked at me. There I was in short sleeves and slacks. Normally Hasidic men do not speak with women (other than those in their families), let alone one that is not “appropriately” dressed in a long skirt/dress and long sleeves. Summoning the courage to speak with him, I asked: “Are you Orthodox or Hasidic?”. He said, “Hasidic.” I told him that my ancestors were Hasidic and mentioned the family name. He said, “I just completed the artistic genealogy of that family name!” “But, beside being an artist, I am also a rabbi”, he added.
Sensing I was in a “divine appointment” with a Hasidic rabbi in the middle of nowhere, I asked what he thought about Messiah.
“Messiah will come in on a white donkey,” he said firmly. He then added, “But, we do not know when He will come.”
Tears came to my eyes. The rabbi thought I was in need of his counsel. I was overcome with emotion because I saw how my steps had been directed in the middle of nowhere to this rabbi, who under normal circumstances, might never have had the chance to hear about the love of God through Messiah Yeshua.
Through my tears I said, “Rabbi, Messiah has come. His name is Yeshua.” I then offered the English translation (Jesus), so he did not think I was speaking about a Messiah named “Joshua”. (Please note that the names Joshua, Hosea and Isaiah all come from the same Hebrew root, and have the meaning “salvation” or “Yah saves”. Incidentally, when I was growing up, I thought Jesus was his first name, Christ was his last name, and Mr. and Mrs. Christ had a son, Jesus. ”Christ” is actually the anglicized form of the Greek “Christos”, which means “anointed one”. This is translated from the Hebrew word for Messiah, “Mashiach”. In another post I will discuss how Yeshua of Nazareth was so far removed from his Jewish roots after the first century, that many Jewish people could not recognize or embrace Him as one of their own.)
The rabbi was a little taken aback, but was not hostile. I asked him, “How would you recognize the Messiah when He came?” Are you aware that there are many prophetic clues in the Hebrew Scriptures that identify Messiah. For instance, the Hebrew prophet, Micah, (who prophesied in the 700s BC (BCE))(chapter 5 verse 1 (Hebrew Bible; vs. 2 in other translations)) states the where of Messiah’s birth: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days (literally, ‘eternity’–Hebrew word is “Olam”). The ruler of Israel, was said to be from eternity, and yet was to come out of Bethlehem. It’s common knowledge that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem. The Hebrew prophet, Daniel, (chapter 9 verses 24 -27) states the when of Messiah’s coming: Messiah will be cut off, and then the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed. (summary) The city is Jerusalem; the sanctuary is the Temple. Both were destroyed in 70 AD (CE) by the Roman Titus. Messiah thus had to be “cut off” before 70 AD (CE). Yeshua was “cut off” in 33 AD (CE).
Back to the story…We spoke for a half hour. I was able to distill down the main difference between a Messianic Jewish believer in Yeshua, and a Hasid or Orthodox Jew who did not acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah. “Basically,” I said, “it breaks down to two things:”
- I KNOW I have the blood atonement (I know my sins are forgiven and on Yom Kippur every year I don’t have to hope that God forgives me for I have been forgiven completely and forever when I trusted Messiah’s atoning work on my behalf when he was led like a lamb to the slaughter 2000 years ago and died for me, “the Just for the unjust to bring me to God.”)
- I also KNOW I have the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of God, living in me. This gift of the Holy Spirit was imparted when thirty five years ago I came into a personal relationship with Yeshua as my Savior and Messiah.
While acknowledging our differences, he then shared what had happened earlier that day: “My wife took a nap in the afternoon. About a quarter to five she awakened and insisted we go to the honey farm. For sixteen years, every summer, we stay at a (Hasidic) camp next door to this farm. In all those years, we have never been to this farm before!” I replied, “I know that happened because the G-d of Israel loves you and wanted you to hear about Messiah.” He answered, “Maybe it was to bring you back to Judaism.” I said, “On the contrary, I know whom I believe…I didn’t find a religion but a person.”
Seven years later I searched and located him. I sent him one of my Prophetic Regathering of Israel lithographs and a Jeremiah 31 print (these can be seen in our gallery on this site). The latter print contains the words, “Behold, days come saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which, my covenant, they broke. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law within them, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 Jewish Publication Society translation.) Clearly, the basis of “knowing” the LORD is to have the problem of personal sin dealt with. The basis of forgiveness is through faith in the atonement provided through the death of Messiah Yeshua.
He responded by sending me a six page letter filled with hostility. Most of it was not against me personally, but directed against the New Testament and people who believe in that book. This is not hard to understand. Please note that the Hasidic Jews have suffered greatly over the past few centuries, with whole populations wiped out in Europe during pogroms and the Holocaust. Clearly this rabbi grouped the perpetrators of the crimes against our people, who claimed to be “Christians”, with the New Testament. He never read that Yeshua wept over the Jewish people, as did Rav Shaul (also known as the Apostle Paul) who said “I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the Temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.” (Romans 9:1-3)
Readers, I share the same grief. Pray for the Jewish people, and all people everywhere, to find peace and healing through Messiah.
Tags: atonement, Bethlehem, divine appointment, eternity, Hasidic, Hebrew Scriptures, Hosea, Isaiah, Israelites, Jeremiah, Jesus, Joshua, Mashiach, Messiah, Micah, Orthodox Jew, Rabbi, Romans, Ruach HaKodesh, savior, Spirit of God, Temple, Yeshua
February 27th, 2009 at 5:05 am
When someone is hostile, I feel God is at work, much more than when someone is apathetic. Perhaps the rabbi has needed a safe place to express & dialog about his pain. The Psalms provide a good example of this, with David holding nothing back, & yet in the end turning to God in trust & praise. May your gift & remembrance of him cause him to feel the Hound of Heaven hot on his trail, & to know that He pursues from love.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:41 am
What you said in three sentences shows much insight.
For those who never heard of the “Hound of Heaven,” it was a lengthy, yet famous poem by Francis Thompson. I love the first few lines, “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears, from those strong Feet that followed, followed after.” I do believe that it is the love that God has for each of us that motivates us to pursue us and draw us to Himself. I love how it says in the Hebrew Scriptures that He draws us with “cords of love”. Sometimes those ‘cords’ hurt a bit! I am so glad He follows us…it’s amazing that after the “light of the glorious Gospel” shines in our hearts, that we realize how foolish we were to flee the One who alone is Love, and Life, and Hope, and Peace.
As for the rabbi’s hostility, yes, hostility is often better than someone’s anemic thinking and apathetic responses to spiritual matters. If people knew the true consequences of unbelief, eternal separation from a Holy and Loving God, they wouldn’t be apathetic. I believe the rabbi’s hostility was not so much to the truth about Yeshua being the Messiah, but to the agonizing history that the Jewish people have lived through, much of it precipitated by Gentiles who claimed to be “Christians”. Many of these spewed and did hatred, and committed unspeakable crimes, thinking they were “helping the cause of Christ!” Unfortunately early “church fathers” and Martin Luther were guilty of rhetoric that was beyond hateful to the Jewish people. They obviously never read that Messiah Yeshua wept over Jerusalem, that St. Paul, himself a rabbi, wished that he could be accursed and separated from Messiah, for the sake of Israel finding their Messiah!
Thanks, again, for writing.
November 23rd, 2011 at 8:25 pm
You mention in the story that “Jesus” has become unrecognizable and that Jews cannot embrace him. The reason for this is that Jesus was a Torah observant Jew, keeping the mitzvot and traditions and so did his orignial Jewish followers (Acts 15, Acts 21). Non-Jews were not required to keep the 613 mitzvot or the traditions but rather to keep the four laws outlined in Acts 15,21). The problem is that all of the admonitions that gentiles are not required to keep the entire law got transferred to Jews! If you, as a Jew do not keep the mitzot and tradtions than you are contrary to the intentions of Jesus and his followers the ones you claim to follow. It is when this error is corrected that Jews like the gentleman in the story may actually be able to listen to what you have to say in regards to the Messiah