Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, August 5, 2022
(Early) Shabbat Shalom,
A special word about Tisha B’Av… Tomorrow (Shabbat) is Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av). However; because it falls on a Saturday, the fast and other memorializations of the day on which both Temples were destroyed, will be held on Sunday, the 10th of Av. Not all fasts are created equal. Each has its own Halacha (customs surrounding the celebration or memorialization). The sweetness of Shabbat is considered more sacred than the solemnity of Tisha B’Av, which is why we will observe it the next day.
A Tribute To David Chansky
David Chansky was my first Messianic Rabbi. In 1982 I walked into his Yom Kippur morning service as a non-Yeshua-believer. Now, almost exactly 40 years later he died of health complications last Friday. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/roswell-ga/david-chansky-10867600
Rabbi Trail: Dave grew up in Roxbury, MA, a suburb of Boston, the same Jewish neighborhood in which my own father grew up. (My dad was 8 years older than Dave.) While I doubt they knew each other growing up, my father may have worked for Dave’s father while in high school. Dave’s dad was a kosher butcher on Blue Hill Avenue and my own dad worked for one or more kosher butchers on the same street. End RT.
Right after I met Dave we were playing Jewish geography. We discovered that he used to pray for my grandfather. My grandfather was a pharmacist who owned Sher Drugs on Quincy Square in Milton, MA. Dave was a customer there and would pray for Sam Weiner 30 years before Sam’s grandson (me) walked into Dave’s synagogue in Virginia. You never know how God is going to answer prayer.
Rabbi Trail: Only Jewish people can play Jewish geography. You compare where you were Bar Mitzvahed and what characters you knew from each synagogue. Every Jewish community has its characters. The only way you know them is to be part of the community. (BTW – the same is true of our Shomair community.) End RT.
Dave was always patient, loving and kind to everyone. In our 10 years together, he taught me everything he knew about the kingdom of God. I put those lessons into practice in forming the culture of Shomair Yisrael.
Rabbi Trail: Dave founded Messianic Congregation Ohev Yisrael in Northern Virginia around 1979. We chose the name “Shomair Yisrael” in 1997 in part because we wanted to have the same last name (Yisrael). It is a testimony to our connectedness. End RT.
Dave and I both moved our families to Israel in late 1992, but within a few years, we had both left Israel. I ended up in Knoxville while Dave settled in Atlanta. We stayed in touch over the years, usually 3 or 4 times a year. On many occasions I was able to thank him for pouring himself into my life.
And that’s my point in writing all of this. Don’t miss the opportunity to express appreciation for those who have helped you along the road of life. Someday it will be too late. Tell them while you can.
The greatest thing Dave taught me wasn’t concerning theology (although there was plenty of that), nor was it how to move in the gifts of the Spirit (although there was plenty of that too). Dave taught me how to love people. People are not perfect, and if we wait for them to be perfect (or even more perfect), we’ll be waiting and not loving.
Shomair is a place where people are accepted, as they are. We expect people to grow (mature), but we don’t wait for that. We just love people. John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Please note that this is part of the Upper Room Discourse we are currently studying. I’ll publish part 5 on Monday.
Anyway, thanks for letting me tell you about one of my best friends ever. He was a blessing to many, but especially to me and my family. He wasn’t perfect, but neither was Peter (nor are any of us). Yet, Yeshua loves His disciples unto the end, and He is our perfect example.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri 05-Aug-2022 8th of Av, 5782
De 2:31-3:14 Eze 34 1 Ch 8 (Jn 1:24-51) 1 Tim 1
Week 32
Memory Verse: Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
156 8/1 Monday: Matthew 3-4
157 8/2 Tuesday: Matthew 5
158 8/3 Wednesday: Matthew 6
159 8/4 Thursday: Matthew 7
160 8/5 Friday: Matthew 8