Beth Israel Messianic Synagogue Blog

Important Prayer Meeting, March 7, 7-9pm

I want to invite all the members and regulars at Beth Israel to participate in a special prayer meeting on Wednesday evening, March 7, from 7-9 pm at the congregation.

This will be a time of consecrating ourselves to the Lord, freely offering ourselves in service to the Lord.

The Lord wants to take us individually, as families, and as a community to a higher level in our relationship with him, and in our ministry to him and his people.

If you are committed to the congregation, please adjust your schedule in order to participate. Cancel or reschedule anything which might conflict with this, so that you can personally be present for this holy time.

Please listen this week to my sermon, "Going to the Next Level" (Click below to listen)

from this past Saturday's service, in order to be prepared, along with the Saturday message from the previous week, "Strengthening a Willing Heart" (available at this Blog in a recent post).

Also, please dedicate Wednesday to fasting and prayer, so that you come ready.

See you Wednesday evening.

Rabbi David

Homeschoolers of Beth Israel (H.O.B.I.)

H.O.B.I. will be celebrating Succot this Thurday, October 12 at 10:00 a.m. If you are homeschooling your children, please join us at Suzanne Dexterhouse's home, 3638 Lumberjack Circle North, Jacksonville, FL 32223. For more information, call: 551-7106.

Sukkot Picnic

We will a special celebration of Sukkot on Saturday, October 7, at 10:30 with a congregational picnic.

The celebration will be at St Johns Grammar School, at 2353 State Route 13, south of Mandarin, in Switzerland, FL (St. Johns County).

For a map and directions, click here to see Google Map for Sukkot Picnic.

We will decorate the Sukkah, rejoice together, eat together (around 12:00), and play games.

Tickets are required (available at Beth Israel Messianic Congregation office: Call 904-731-9636).

Adults $2, Children $1, or families of any size $5.

Please bring a dessert for your family and to share!

For your comfort, please bring your own lawn chairs or a picnic blanket, and your own bottles of water.

In the event of bad weather, we will have an indoor picnic at the synagogue.

Elliot Rothpearl Funeral

Our beloved brother in Messiah, Elliot Rothpearl, passed away Sunday morning.

We will gather on Monday night at the Rothpearl home to say Mourner's Kaddish and to bring comfort. On Tuesday evening, from 6-8 pm there will be a gathering at Arlington Park Funeral Home on Lone Star Road just off Arlington Road north of the Arlington Expressway.
A memorial service will be Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.

Elliot will be buried in the Rothpearl family plot at Beth David in Belmont. At least one son (Jeremy) and grandson (Benjamin) will be coming here and will go to New York with Missy.

Monday focus for Prayer and Fasting

February 27, 2006

Topic: How can you actively participate in God’s restoration of the Jewish people—We will fast and pray this Monday for each of us to find our place of service in God’s plan to restore the Jewish people, and to make the Jewish people a holy nation of priests. God’s refining process helps us take this place of active ministry, because his refining removes the dross that would hinder us from actively serving God’s restoration of the Jewish people.

Here are some thoughts to help you pray in this direction:

1. Both Jews and non-Jews can have dross that keeps us from serving this vision. For instance, Jews may want to assimilate or disappear from sight in order to avoid rejection, persecution, or the difficulties of being Jewish. This can happen to Jews in every walk of life, including Jews who attend synagogues or churches. And non-Jews can have dross that keeps them from serving this vision. They may be afraid of interacting with Jewish people about spiritual issues. Or they can be afraid of rejection or neglect or not being cared for inside the congregation, because they are not Jewish. If any of these kinds of dross is rising up in you, you can take comfort that the Lord is working right now to refine you.

2. Remember our congregation is a spiritual community with a calling. We are called to participate in God’s restoration of the Jewish people. Everyone who is called to this—whether Jewish or non-Jewish—can find their place in the congregation. If God called you to this congregation, you will grow in your understanding of how your ministry will reflect our vision and calling.

3. Your service to the Lord touches every aspect of life. So you can carry out your ministry in every part of your life. Don’t limit God’s work and don’t limit yourself.

4. Open your heart to receive the congregational vision and calling deeply inside of your heart, soul and even your body. Actively open up the different parts of your person. If you see that some part of you is closed, be deliberate in opening yourself up.

Shalom,
Rabbi David

Monday focus for Prayer and Fasting

Monday focus for Prayer and Fasting
February 20, 2006

Topic: Finding our place of service— We will fast and pray this Monday for the raising up of leaders in the congregation, and for each person to find his or her place in life and service to the Lord. God’s refining process helps us find our place so we can enjoy life more, and have greater satisfaction and contentment through better service.

Here are some thoughts to help you pray in this direction:

1. God has prepared good works for you to do, since the foundation of the earth. Spend time with the Lord, and ask him to show you what you were made for. Take deeply into your heart what he shows you. Keep track of what the Lord shows you. God's instruction is worth recording and preserving.
2. Your service to the Lord touches every aspect of life, including family, work, school, your friends and neighbors. Different seasons have different demands on your time. Enjoy your season of life and service.
3. The Lord can speak to us in many ways. All of our physical senses have matching spiritual senses. We have God-given abilities to hear, see, think, feel, understand, imagine, and more. We train our senses to “hear from the Lord” by responding to the Lord when we know for sure he's revealed something to us. Blessed is the man who hears and does.

Shalom,
Rabbi David

Customs vs. Law in the Jewish World

Dear Friends,

Our recent Shabbat discussions about the celebration of Holidays can fit into a greater Jewish tradition: How to deal with customs vs. laws. You might enjoy reading the article below from the Jewish Encyclopedia, in order to see how Rabbinic Judaism processes such controversies. Happy reading!

Love,

Rabbi David

CUSTOM (Minhag)  (back to article)

By : Executive Committee of the Editorial Board.   Julius H. Greenstone   

An old and general usage, or a religious practise, not based on any particular Biblical passage, and which has, through the force of long observance, become as sacred and binding as laws instituted by the proper authorities."Custom always precedes law" (Soferim xiv. 18). This is true not only of the Talmudic laws prescribed by the Rabbis, but also of many Biblical institutions. Many statutes and commandments, civil, moral, and ecclesiastical, found on the pages of Scripture undoubtedly had their origin in the customs of the people, which, however, became modified and fixed by being inscribed on the sacred books. Some of the customs, as, for instance, circumcision, or the prohibition of eating blood or of eating the "sinew which shrank," may date back to patriarchal days; others, again, may have a later or perhaps a foreign origin.

In That Day, by David Levine

Copies of In That Day, written by Rabbi David Levine, are available in the Beth Israel Bookstore. Rabbi David will gladly sign your copy!

To order from Amazon.com, follow the link below:

Beth Israel Messianic Congregation

You can contact us at:

Beth Israel Messianic Congregation

8535 Baymeadows Rd, Suite 56

Jacksonville, FL 32256

Phone: 904-731-9636