Ten Years Of Walking On Water - Even In Storms Like 9-11

"Revive Your work, O Lord, in the midst of the years." - Hab. 3:2

Was it not the year 2000 a few moments ago?

We all only get so many chunks of time ten years in length. On what have we "spent" the last decade as a community in Manhattan?Like the Zionist pioneers of the last century, we have ventured into a no-man's land between two megalithic religious conventions and established a "chomah v'migdal" kibbutz in the very capital of the Jewish world outside Israel. Why have we all done this, and why are we doing it still?

The passage we read often from Avot D'Rabbi Natan reminds us of the clear moment when "non-Messianic" Judaism was created by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, and for the first time, a Judaism without blood atonement of any kind was wrongly proffered to our bewildered and newly wandering People.

Two-Testament ("Messianic") Judaism - a Judaism locating atonement exactly in the place to which the Tanakh points after the destruction of the Temple (Dan. 9:24ff) is an idea that would remain only an idea unless someone lives it; and living it does not mean putting on t-shirts and handing out papers to people on their way to work, or taking Manhattan photo-ops and publishing them in newsletters to Christians for funds. It means establishing communities actually "not forsaking the synagoguing of yourselves (Jewish Believers) together, as is the habit of some." (Heb. 10:25) Some Jewish followers of Yeshua of Nazareth as Messiah did cease living congregational life as Messiah-following Jews: they melted into the ever-increasing mass of the non-Jewish faith world, and those populating Jewish faith turf for Messiah dwindled, even as the number of Jewish souls standing the ground of Eretz Yisrael faded in the wake of the Temple's destruction two millennia ago.

What have we all built together so far?

A Jewish Two-Testament community that worships so vibrantly within Hebrew and Jewish paradigms that when we go the The Wall in Jerusalem, we virtually lead the worship there!An independent presence in Manhattan having endured longer than any other such effort, no matter how well funded from the outside.A congregation reported in The Jerusalem Post, the Jerusalem Report, Yediot Achronot, and virtually every major news organ in the greater New York area at one time or another.

An assembly able to survive ...- The World Trade Center attack of 9-11- Direct, repeated threats of radical Muslim violence against our synagogue- And many other trials of patience, commitment, and loyalty to truth above all.We were here before, during, and after 9-11.We are here still.

We did not rush into Manhattan in 2001 for a few days, have some photos taken of us "ministering" before visible New York landmarks, and then run back to the countryside to publish the photos of us "ministering" to Manhattan in fundraising newsletters. We lived and ministered here: before, during, and after. Our presence in Manhattan was and is a matter of calling, not fiscal opportunity and image-creation.We did not come here to exploit The City - nor desert it in its darkest hours. We came here to love The City. We came here to be a testimony to The City. We came here to be part of The City.

It is said, when the King of England asked his Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, for proof of the existence of God, Disraeli is said to have answered, "Your Majesty, the Jews."The mere survival of the Jewish nation was, itself, so miraculous that Disraeli felt merely pointing the King's attention to the continued presence of the Jewish people in the world was sufficient to create faith in the existence of God as the Scriptures held Him forth.

We are here.

We have been in the Upper East Side of Manhattan since August 27th, 1993.

In three years, this synagogue will be twenty years old.

Twenty years - in Manhattan - where a room the size of our sanctuary rents for $25,000 per day and a two bedroom apartment costs over $1 million dollars. Where our larger Jewish community's entrenchment into ossified faith-structures is more profound than anywhere other than Jerusalem.The gait of a man walking on water is most likely far less impressive in its stability and balance than that of a man standing squarely on terra firma: but the stance of which of two such men affirms that the power of God enables his very presence where he stands? I doubt that Shimon Peter looked like Superman walking on the water of Kinneret toward His Messiah: but he was walking on water - and one does not need to walk on water easily to be miraculous in so doing: all one needs to do is do it – whether handily or with less than agile grace - and a miracle has occurred.

Rav Saul (Paul the Apostle) wrote, "We have this treasure (the Spirit of G-d and His truth) in earthen vessels that the excellency of power might be of God and not of us.(2Cor. 4:7) He also wrote of his congregation in Corinth (the New York of the ancient world), "We are not many, and we are not mighty" (1Cor. 1:26).

I write this last blog of the year 2009, of the decade 2000 to 2009 - to a synagogue walking on water.

I write to "the flock that stands" in season and out of season.

You are still here.

I write to the synagogue that survived the "9-11" and stayed in place. You are still here.

I write to congregants standing turf that must be stood, for no other reason than Jewish feet must occupy Two Testament Jewish faith soil for Two Testament Judaism to be more than just an interesting idea. You are still here.

I write to congregants with cancer repeatedly having beaten the odds and living on, and congregants with botched heart surgery whose hearts were miraculously healed afterwards by prayer in this shul. You are still here.

I write to kehilah families having surmounted the challenges to marriage and family cohesion. You are still here.

I write to single people having fought the battle of moral honor for long seasons. You are still here.

I write to children becoming young adults, facing the time to choose following truth or not.Y ou are still here.

I write to people overcoming financial challenges in the most financially challenging place on earth. You are still here.

I write to those who have sincerely ministered love and support - at times, even to insincere people who abused that love and trust for mere personal gain or motives. You are still here.

I write to the "virtual" synagogue accruing to Beth El - those people not living in New York, but writing in from all over the world and telling us they are gathering in small groups to listen to our Podcasts and feed on the vision embarking from here. You are now here - and we shall see what the future may bring.

I write to the Va'ad, Trustees, and Ministerial Staff of this synagogue, who serve "in season and out of season" to allow this vision of Testament Judaism to survive and thrive in Manhattan - and even begin to extend to Jerusalem. You are still here.

For what do we look, as we enter a new decade together?"Yad chazah, u'zroah netuyah."God's "mighty hand and outstretched arm.We are not a product and we have nothing to “sell.” We are offering something on God's behalf in a good a conscience and as correct a manner as possible. (1Cor. 1:12) We are a "kehilah kedoshah" - a holy community. We are here, we believe, by the direction of HaShem, and endure by His enablement. We "walk on water" in Manhattan solely because it is His pleasure we do so.

Our ambition?

George Washington's words engraved on the south side of the Washington Monument in Manhattan's Greenwich Village say it well: "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest may repair." Our goal is to "lift up a standard over the people." Faith genuine, accurate, honest, unaltered. Washington concluded, "The event is in the hands of God." We will not be event-makers, event-chasers, marketers, publicists, direct-mail merchants, MBA's, economists, photo-op specialists, or the like. We will - by the grace of God - seek to be the kind of people through whom The Almighty would wish to work when He lifts up His mighty hand and outstretched arm on behalf of our Jewish people here in Manhattan, in the greater New York area - Jerusalem - and wherever his unlimited resources are unleashed.

Where will we be in 2019? What will Beth El of Manhattan be then?

Heaven only knows. What I know for now is - I plan to meet you in the kehilah for Shabbat & Holiday Services, and midweek Torah & T’filah between now and then with all I can muster of heart, soul and mind, my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor.

The last ten years have seen us stand our ground here, establish a presence in Jerusalem, and come onto the radar of the entire Jewish world through its best-known media organs --- and all of it --- through no direct contrivance of our own. We are simply being who we are - and seeking, by the grace of God, to do what we are supposed to do. Where will the doing of God take us next?

I look forward to seeing how our journey together unfolds.

Happiest of New Years - and New Decades.

Your rabbi in all seasons,

Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen • Manhattan • 31 December 2009