The Happy Rabbi

Here is proof that I am happy all the time.  My daughter, Emma (7), wrote about me in her homework for this week.  "My Dad is happy all the time" and it is usually true except for the times it is not.  I am a big believer in the idea that meanings of name matter.  It comes from the traditions of the Bible in which children were named based on what happened during pregnancy, birth, or a prophecy concerning their future decisions and life.  

When my mom was pregnant with me, a woman in the church (before Messianic Judaism) they were attending came up to her, put her hands on my mom's belly, and said "This will be a happy child."  So my parents named me Matthew Asher.  Matthew means "God's gift" and Asher means "Happy".  So, together, my name means God's gift of happiness.  My normal disposition is happy.

I have many years of pictures with the same happy face and I am teaching the next generation the ways of the happy face.  I love being happy.  I have found that in the many circumstances of life there are all kinds of attempts to steal my happiness and joy.  There are critics that don't like what I do, how I dress, my love for comic books, my love for movies, my love for God, etc.  There is a whole spiritual realm that are the enemies of God that would love to see me depressed, sad, complaining and frustrated. There are some that say I shouldn't be so transparent and live my life so publicly. There are a variety opinions of how I should live my life.

So, here it is: I am happy! I can't help but be happy because of the grace and mercy of God on my life. I can't help but be happy because I have a beautiful wife, Laura, and God has given us three awesome kids.  I can't help but be happy because I don't deserve anything that I have in life; yet, God saw fit to give all of it to me. I can't help but be happy because I serve an amazing congregation, Beit Messiah, in a super awesome city, Seattle. I follow Yeshua (Jesus) and I am happy because He gave His life for me so that I could follow Him with all of my heart, soul and strength...and He deserves all credit, glory, and honor for anything good that I am or do!

Here is the new theme verse for my life:

1 Timothy 1:15-16

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners –of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Messiah Yeshua might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.”

I admit my goal is to not be like anyone who has come before me.  I admit that I like to break "rules" for what a rabbi is supposed to look and act like. I am quite comfortable and confident in my own skin. I like myself. I like the way God made me. I recognize that without Yeshua I would still be stuck in, and defined by, my sin. I am happy because Yeshua has set me free from the expectations of the world around me and wants me to live according to His expectations for me, which is to be awesome and bring Him glory.

Word to the wise: don't try to steal my happiness. It won't work. I'm the Happy Rabbi.

Are you happy? Are there people trying to steal your happiness? What do you do about it?

Messianic Music, Chanukkah & Unity in Seattle!

What an amazing time we had with Joel Chernoff in concert this past Saturday (Dec. 8th).  What a great way to start off the Festival of Chanukkah.  To be able to worship God together with our two sister congregations, Beit HaShofar and Beit Tikvah, in unity was amazing.

It was really a special time of worship before Adonai.  Rabbi Jason Forbes led us in Havdallah for the closing of Shabbat.  My family and I led the blessing for the first night of Chanukkah.  The music, of course, was outstanding thanks to Joel Chernoff.  Close to three hundred people came out; many of which danced in a great dance circle.  About twenty of our children had their own dance circle thanks to some outstanding women of God who jumped in and helped the kids!

The words that describe the event for me are "wonderful, exciting, amazing, and awesome."  Of course the entire point was to celebrate our Messiah Yeshua together in unity.  For Beit Messiah it was a no-brainer.  We belong to both the IAMCS and the UMJC.  Beit Tikvah is our sister congregation through the IAMCS and Beit HaShofar is our sister congregation through the UMJC.   This was not just about bringing together all/any  "Messianic" groups in Seattle.  This was about bringing three like-minded Messianic rabbis and their synagogues who are focused on the same purpose: sharing Yeshua with our Jewish people in Seattle in a Jewish way.  Our three congregations are different.  We do things differently.  And this is to our benefit.  We are not saying that any of us do Messianic Judaism "right"!  We are saying we are three expressions of what Messianic Judaism is!  And to come together to celebrate the end of Shabbat, the Festival of Chanukkah, and Messianic Judaism in Seattle was a joy!

Special thanks go out to Joel Chernoff, his music was the catalyst for this special night.  I also want to thank Dan Behrens who did a fantastic job with everything audio/visual.  Phil Baxter leading our offering team, Fred Savo leading greeters, Mechele Baird helping me take care of Joel, the people that helped at the merchandise table.  Thanks to Dave Petrie getting our Beit Messiah banner waaaaaaay up on the wall, Jennifer Benvenuti for leading all the dancers, Janelle Behrens and her team for setting up coffee and cookies.  Thanks to Maryanne Savo and P.K. White for being so detail oriented and making sure the event went smoothly, everyone who helped with set up and break down, North Seattle Alliance Church for their partnership and friendship.  Thanks to Rabbi Hylan Slobodkin and Rabbi Jason Forbes for their friendship and co-leading in this event. Thank you to the people from Beit Messiah, Beit HaShofar, and Beit Tikvah and so many other friends who came out and supported this outstanding effort of unity.

The end of the event was one of my favorite parts when Rabbi Hylan, Rabbi Jason and I stood on the stage together as representatives of our synagogues.  To close the event Rabbi Hylan led us in the Aaronic benediction.  Psalm 133:1 says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" And we did! And it was awesome!

If you have pictures from this event please send them to Rabbi@BeitMessiah.com so we can share them!

Don't Have An Easy Fast For Yom Kippur

As Yom Kippur begins this evening, one of the traditional greetings for Yom Kippur is “have an easy fast”.

Leviticus 16:29-31 says regarding Yom Kippur,

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work –whether native- born or an alien living among you– because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance."

Denying ourselves is not supposed to be easy. We don’t want an easy fast. We want to have a beneficial fast. We want a life changing fast. We want to understand better what it means to, as Isaiah 58:14 (Haftarah for Yom Kippur) says, “find your joy in The Lord”. We find it by denying ourselves our regular work. We find it by denying ourselves our regular food for 25 hours. We prepare ourselves to allow the atonement that God has freely given through Yeshua to settle in our hearts and minds. We want a life changing fast. We want to be made more in the likeness of our Messiah. We want, this year, to be forgiven. To know we are forgiven. To delight in The Lord, the God of our fathers and all He has done in the person of Yeshua!

Have a great, awesome, hard, painful, encouraging 25 hours of fasting. So that when we come through it, we can delight in our God together and sound the Shofar again at the closing service on Wednesday knowing that God was faithful to hear our prayers.

Click here for info and details on service for Yom Kippur & Sukkot @ Beit Messiah!

Click here to listen to my preaching series “Reconciled” for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

For more on Beit Messiah in Seattle go to www.ShalomSeattle.com

My Behind Before Me!

It's funny to see where you were born. Two weeks ago I did just that.  I went to the place of my birth for the first time since just about when I was born.  Ashland is a funky little town in southern Oregon surrounded by mountains and inhabited by hippies.  Yes, still.   It is a town known for Shakespeare but in my family it is known as Beth El.  Beth El is the place where our forefathers go, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is the place where Jacob commits his life to the Lord and God becomes Jacob's God and not just "The God of his fathers".

Thirty something years ago my parents were hippies.  They left New Jersey together and drove across the county in a nasty little van that they lived in until they could scrounge up enough to live in an apartment. They had my brother Jake in a hospital. But three years later (1979) they did it the "natural" way and decided to do a home birth.  Two weeks ago with my parents on the phone I walked up to the apartment where I was born and I knocked on the door. A skinny dude with a winter hat and a big beard came to the door.  I told him I was born in his apartment and he said in true Oregon hippie fashion, "Come on in man!" His wife came out of the kitchen with super long dreads and the apartment smelled like incense (maybe?!).  I felt like I was meeting my parents from thirty two years ago! It was surreal.  I went upstairs and looked at the little room where I came into existence and thought "man, this is crazy!"

I'm a New Yorker. Right now I am a New Yorker who lives in Seattle.  I love Seattle.  It's a funky, cool city and, yes, also still full of hippies.  Almost two years ago I was flying out to Seattle to find an apartment for my family.  I stopped in San Diego to attend a Bar Mitzvah and then San Francisco.  Flying from San Francisco to Seattle took me right over Crater Lake.  As I flew over I sensed the Lord saying to me "Welcome home, Matt." I tried to convince God that I am a New Yorker, which He knows, but I understood that for this time in my life I belong in the Northwest.  God has great things that He wants to do in me and through me here!

Back to Beth El (Ashland).  I have heard all of my life about Crater Lake, Lithia Park, the mountains, the Ashland Foursquare Church and Johnny Otto.  While in Maryland John and I had talked on the phone many times but I had never met him, as an adult.  I was excited to meet him and see all that I had heard about!

John is an awesome guy. He is 83 and has been serving the Lord for a long time. It's a funny thing to meet someone and hear yourself and your dad in his voice.  John is my Dad's spiritual father. If my dad is Timothy (from the Bible), John is Paul.  He taught my dad about the Lord; prayed with him in Lithia Park and encouraged him to follow the Lord with his whole life.  In those days neither of them had much money. My parents were in HUD housing and on food stamps.  They could hardly afford to have coffee together.  But they did. Met early. Prayed. Talked and trusted the Lord together.

I needed to see John and his wonderful wife, Becky.  I needed to see Ashland.  I needed to go backwards to understand my right now.  I needed to see, hear and touch where I started so I could better understand where I'm going.  As John, Becky and I walked in Lithia Park, John wanted me to see the places where he and my dad spent time praying.  One of the paths was grown over and we had to climb some rocks. John no longer walks very well but he was determined to get to the spot.  We got there and prayed and I had an opportunity to bless the man who taught my dad who taught me.  I am who I am because Johnny Otto took my dad under his wing and imparted everything he knew about the faithfulness of God to him.

Sometimes I find myself discouraged.  Sometimes ministry totally stresses me out. Sometimes I stress myself out.  Now, I think of my Beth El (Ashland) and am faced with the reality of the faithfulness of God.  In my family I am only a second generation follower of Yeshua.  If my children choose to walk with Yeshua, they will be third generation.  On my wife's side, her family has been walking with Yeshua for around 400 years.  Talk about God's faithfulness in bringing Laura and me together.  Of course as a Jew, my ancestors have walking with God for 5000 years.  There has been a lot of walking and I am grateful to God for both sides of my children's heritage.

So here in 2011, I discovered something I will take with me for the rest of my life.  The God of my fathers is awesome!  My journey has been awesome!  I love where I come from, where I am and where I am going.  I love that my passport says, "Ashland, OR." I love that the Lord has called this New Yorker to Seattle and I love that He is doing awesome things in me and through me.

Where has your journey taken you? 

Want more? listen to my sermon about this trip: Being RIGHTeous

7 weeks of Proof for the Messiah

Often the question is asked, "What is the proof that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah?" Often the answer from many Messianic Jews is something along the lines of "He fulfilled all the prophecies for the Messiah!" I agree with that answer. But, I also believe that there is better evidence that is more compelling for my people, Israel, and ultimately the whole world.

In an article on Aish.com for the Torah Portion Re'eh, Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt wrote an article called "Feats of Amazment."  He writes, "Judaism says: Use your mind. Don't judge by "miracles." Judge by evidence. In the primitive world, miracles impressed. Surely in the 21st century we should know better." What follows in this blog is "evidence" for the sake of my people and for the glory of the God of Israel. All of this is based on original research from my father, Rabbi David Rosenberg, of Shuvah Yisrael Messianic Synagogue in New York.

You can also listen to a recent sermon that I gave at Beit Messiah in Seattle called "Shattering Expectations."

Here is the evidence that Yeshua is the Messiah:

Torah & Haftarah Cycle

At Beit Messiah, we follow the weekly Torah and Haftarah cycles of reading, a traditional Jewish cycle of reading that is believed to date back to Ezra and Nehemiah. In one year we read B’reshit (Genesis) through D’varim (Deuteronomy) and then we start over in Genesis chapter 1 for a new year. The Haftarah cycle is made up of readings from the prophets and the writings of the Tanakh (Old Testament) that coincide with the Torah readings. For most of the year the reading of the Haftarah cycle seem random, meaning they are in no particular order and come from different books of the Tanakh. There is one seven-week period where the Haftarot are all from the same book and are almost in order. This seven-week period is known as the seven messages of Isaiah or the seven messages of consolation.

The Seven Messages of Isaiah

In this seven-week period (as I write we are in the 4th week) the Torah readings go through almost the whole book of Deuteronomy and the Haftarah readings are all from the Prophet Isaiah chapters 40-63. It is called the messages of consolation because after 39 chapters of judgment Isaiah seemingly changes his tune and preaches a message of returning to God and the blessings that will result for Israel for turning back. It is seven weeks during the year where the emphasis is on return and restoration. This makes sense because what always follows the seven message of Isaiah are the Fall High Holy days: Rosh Hashanna (call to repentance), Ten days of Awe (focus on repentance), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (celebration of all God has done for His people).

Luke and the seven weeks

There is no specific mention of "the seven message of Isaiah" in the Messianic Writings (New Testament). There is no specific mention of "the Torah and Haftarah cycle" in the Messianic Writings either. But, there are key word indicators and the quoting of the Tanakh that tell us (the readers) what time of year it is. In the Besora (Gospel) of Luke we find five indicators of this seven-week period. In Luke chapters 3-4 we read about Yeshua's immersion in the Jordan River by His cousin John, the recognition of Yeshua by God the Father from Heaven, Yeshua's 40 days in the wilderness with the Devil, and Yeshua coming to His hometown of Nazareth and reading from the prophet Isaiah in Synagogue. 

In these two chapters of Luke there are five scriptures quoted from the Tanakh (plus a Psalm quoted by the Devil): Isaiah 40:3-5, Deuteronomy 8:3, Deuteronomy 6:13-14, Deuteronomy 6:16 and Isaiah 61:1-2.

Luke 3 begins with John quoting Isaiah 40. In Luke 4 Yeshua reads from the scroll of Isaiah 61:1-2 in synagogue. These two quotes from Isaiah are from the Haftarah readings of week 1 and week 7 of the seven messages of Isaiah. The three quotes from Deuteronomy are Torah readings from week 1 and week 2 of the seven messages of Isaiah -- five scriptures all quoted from the same seven-7week period of the Torah and Haftarah cycle. Luke 4:2 tells us that Yeshua went into the wilderness for 40 days. Keep in mind that John and Yeshua did not have their own versions of Tanakh available for personal use. They, as observant Jews, knew what readings were coming and when they were coming. Meaning that even in the middle of the wilderness Yeshua had on His mind what every synagogue in the world was reading during those same weeks. 

You ask, "What does this prove?" For one thing, Yeshua's immersion is generally understood as the beginning of His public ministry and the beginning of revealing to the world that He was the Messiah. Just like a cohen (priest) in the Torah, Yeshua's ministry began at the age of 30 (Luke 3:23). So, Yeshua takes 40 + days to reveal to the Jewish world who He is and He uses the readings of the weekly Torah and Haftarah cycle to do just that: reveal to the whole world that He is the Messiah. It is a genius move on the part of God -- to move and work through the framework of Jewish tradition, the Torah and the prophets in order to reveal to His people what He is doing. Yeshua did not meet people's expectations of what the Messiah was believed to be in the first century. After all, God does like to shatter our expectations and do something more compelling and incredible than we could ever imagine.

9th of Av

All of this begins on the Jewish calendar on the 9th of Av. Isaiah 40 is already read the Shabbat (Sabbath) after the 9th of Av. John was quoting Isaiah 40 because it was the reading for the coming Shabbat. The 9th of Av is a fast day in Jewish tradition and is called "the fast of the fifth month" in the prophets. It is only logical that Yeshua would begin a 40 day fast on a traditional fast day on the Jewish calendar. It is also significant because of the judgment that John lays down while quoting Isaiah. He warns the Jewish leaders by saying, "Already the axe is at the root of the trees, ready to strike; every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in the fire!" (Luke 3:9). Well, if this takes place on the 9th of Av, right before the seven messages of Isaiah, then He is giving a warning for what will happen exactly 40 (always a number of judgment) years to the day that the second Temple is destroyed in 70 C.E. It is also interesting to note that what John is preaching is repentance and turning from sin. Repentance is the whole theme of the 7 messages of Isaiah and the month of Elul on the Jewish calendar which both precede the Fall High Holy days. 

The Devil

Why is Yeshua's first public act as the Messiah to deal with the Devil? Why not a miracle? Up until this point the Devil didn't know who he was dealing with. Yeshua, as His first act as Messiah, goes in the desert to deal publicly with His enemy. He is giving the Devil a warning shot. He is dealing the Devil his notice that he will be evicted from the premises. Yeshua is letting the principalities and powers of darkness in on God's plan to save creation. The only thing Yeshua has to say to the Devil in the wilderness comes from the first two Torah portions of the seven messages of Isaiah.

Nazareth

At the end of 40 days in the wilderness Yeshua goes home to Nazareth. The following Shabbat Yeshua goes to synagogue in Nazereth "as was His custom" (Luke 4:16). He is given an Aliyah to come and read from the Haftarah portion for that morning. The reading is from Nitzavim, the 7th week of Isaiah, and Yeshua reads Isaiah 61:1-2 and stops reading. Stop. If you look up Nitzavim you will notice that the reading listed begins in 61:10. Why is Yeshua reading verses 1-2? Keep in mind that Yeshua is reading from a scroll. He could not choose a scripture at random. He didn't pick one He liked. He read from the portion that the scroll was rolled to for that morning. After reading Yeshua says in Luke 4:21, “Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!” What?! In other words, Yeshua was saying, "I AM THE MESSIAH." He was saying, “I am the one who has come to ‘set the captives free, to recover sight for the blind...’". He was saying, "I am that guy!" Of course the people in Nazareth get angry and as they try to kill Yeshua, He disappears. 

The Messiah

In the infinite wisdom of the God of our Fathers, Adonai chose a seven-week period on the Jewish calendar to reveal who the Messiah was/is. There are many more details than I can share here but know this. There is compelling evidence and all of the evidence comes from Jewish context that is found all through the Messianic Writings. The Apostles were not founders of a new religion (Christianity) that worshiped another God (Jesus). They were Jews who found the Messiah that was promised to our Jewish people for the benefit of the whole world. What the Jewish leaders in the time of Yeshua could not see was what they refused to see: that Yeshua is the Messiah who came, died, rose from the dead, conquered death, ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit so that our eyes could be opened.

Look out for my next blog: Opening Your Eyes So The Power of God Can Work in You.