ShomreiBrit

My Dad

2008-09-19T16:19:00.000-05:00

A First Century Messianic Grace After Meals

2008-07-08T21:40:00.004-05:00

The Didache' is a document from first century Messianic antiquity and is perhaps the earliest writing of the church. The Didache' provides conclusive evidence of a simpler, less institutional church, and may contain authentic apostolic instruction which perhaps should be read alongside the New Testament for those who wish to understand Christian origins.

Chapter 10 of this document contains a prayer for after the Lord's Supper. I am duplicating this below. Let me suggest that it might be appropriately used in our assemblies as a Messianic form of Grace After Meals.

And after being filled, thus give thanks: We thank you, Holy Father, for your Holy Name which you have made to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you have made known to us by your child, Yeshua. Yours be the glory forever.

You, O Almighty Sovreign, did create all things for your Name's sake, and gave men food and drink to enjoy, that they might give thanks unto you; but to us you did graciously give spiritual food and drink and life eternal, through your child.

Before all things we give thanks to you for that you are mighty. Yours is the glory forever.

Remember, O Lord, your church to deliver her from all evil and to perfect her in your love; and gather her together from the four winds, her that is sanctified unto your kingdom which you did prepare for her. For yours is the power and the glory forever.

Let grace come, and this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any is holy let him come; if any is not, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen. But suffer the prophets to give thanks as pleases them.

Shomrei Brit Dissolving

2008-05-29T22:13:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago we announced in our service that Shomrei Brit would be ceasing services. Since that time some of the folks associated with Shomrei Brit have been in discussions regarding the various options and issues.

Today I am able to finalize that Shomrei Brit will indeed cease services effective immediately. Some folks will be meeting to talk about alternative worship options.

This Sabbath, May 31, a meeting will be held at Roger Norman's home to discuss those issues. Roger's contact information is:

Roger Norman
3204 Sweetbriar Ln
Ft. Worth, Tx 76109
(817)923-0648

The meeting will begin at 10:30 AM. Please bring a covered dish for lunch after the meeting.

No Services This Sabbath

2008-05-23T06:18:00.001-05:00

Reminder.... there will be no services this Sabbath at Shomrei Brit.

Up to 700 arrests estimated in Postville raid

2008-05-12T13:35:00.002-05:00

This Agriprocessors plant is the source of the horrific "kosher" slaughter videos you have seen here.

Earlier this morning, a helicopter hovered over the scene, and a number of agents formed a perimeter around the Agriprocessors facility. Vehicles from ICE and at least eight cars and vans from the Iowa State Patrol were at the plant. There were also reports of two moving vans at the scene, along with an ambulance and two black Chevrolet Suburbans.

Postville, on the border of Allamakee and Clayton counties, is a community of more than 2,500 people that includes natives of German and Norwegian heritage and newcomers who include Hasidic Jews from New York, plus immigrants from Mexico, Russian, Ukraine and many other countries.

The Agriprocessors plant, known as the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, is northeast Iowa’s largest employer.

About 200 Hasidic Jews arrived in Postville in 1987, when butcher Aaron Rubashkin of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood reopened a defunct meat-packing plant with his two sons, Sholom and Heshy, just outside the city limits. Business boomed at the plant, reviving the depressed economy while pitting the newcomers against the predominately Lutheran community.

Reminder...

2008-04-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

No Services this Shabbat.

Change of Plans for Tomorrow...

2008-04-21T16:30:00.001-05:00

We'll need to change plans for Tuesday - Gabriel has a fever. I *think* it's an ear infection, but on the off chance that it's not, we don't want to expose everyone.

The McDaniels have opened their home for the Feast Day @ 2:00pm.

~The Brown's

Here is a map to the McDaniels:

View Larger Map

1st Day of Unleavened Bread

2008-04-19T21:42:00.001-05:00

Just so we get this straight...

Come join together to celebrate the 1st Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Tuesday, 4/22) - Matzah Day - as our boys have named it.

1:00pm @ the Brown's - covered dish

View Larger Map

Three Questions.... Three Answers....

2008-04-18T16:35:00.003-05:00

Who are you? (I am Yisrael.)

Where are you coming from? (I am coming from Mitzrayim.)

Where are you going? (I am going to Yerushalayim.)

Who are you?

I'm Yisrael. I'm a God-wrestler. I'm someone who wrestles with the holy, with the Source of All Being, with my understanding of ultimate reality, and I expect God to wrestle back. I dance with God. I waltz with Torah. I stay up all night grappling with angels, and even if I come away limping, I know I come away blessed. I'm a wandering Aramean, and I'm wearing my traveling shoes. I'm a child of the house of Israel, and my community and I -- and anyone else who hears freedom's call -- are walking into the wilderness together.

Where are you coming from?

I'm coming from Mitzrayim. From the narrow place. From slavery. From constriction. From the birth canal. I'm coming from hard labor. I'm coming from the surfeit of sweetness that lulls me into forgetting the world's imperfections. I've been settling for what hurts, too fearful to risk something new. I'm coming from suffering and isolation. I'm coming from addiction to my work, addiction to success, addiction to separation. I'm coming from "if I stopped working, I'm not even sure who I'd be."

Where are you going?

I'm going to Yerushalayim. I'm going to Ir Shalem, the city of wholeness. I'm going to Ir Shalom, the city of peace. I'm going where talking to God is a local call. I'm heading toward my best imaginings of community and connection. I'm clicking my ruby slippers with fervent kavanah and moving toward the meaning of home. Maybe I'm going to a place; maybe I'm going to a state of mind. Maybe it's an asymptotic progression toward something that can't be reached. Maybe it's the journey that defines me.

Run that by me again?

I am Yisrael. I am coming from Mitzrayim. And the moon is almost full: tomorrow night we're packing our bags. Grabbing the flatbread. And setting out. It's time to go.

(shamelessly plagiarized from Velveteen Rabbi)

The Four Questions

2008-04-17T23:47:00.001-05:00

The Last Seder In The Warsaw Ghetto

2008-04-17T23:30:00.002-05:00

Japanese Passover Tip

2008-04-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

Seriously.... (or not)

2008-04-16T23:24:00.001-05:00

Women & Passover

2008-04-16T23:13:00.001-05:00

Passover - Festival of Liberation

2008-04-16T23:04:00.002-05:00

Counting Down.... (not intended to be a theological statement)

2008-04-16T22:46:00.002-05:00

Re-Visioning Worship II

2008-04-16T22:22:00.002-05:00

Well, we've been in our new format for two whole weeks. How's it going?

I've tried to talk to each of you. I may have missed a couple, but I'm working on visiting with everyone before Sabbath. I have a couple of things that I'd like to present for your prayerful consideration. First, I have felt and I have heard from some of you that we are having a tendency to come together and share in such a way that maybe it feels a little more like a chat session and a little less like a worship time. And I don't really think that we would intentionally want that. I actually think this is related to the second item I'd like to bring up. And that is in our new format we all have a responsibility to bring our offering of praise. And if we leave our offering of praise at home, then our time together isn't as full as it could be.

So, let's stretch ourselves a little and try to not come empty handed. One person told me that they were spiritually dry this past Sabbath and they just didn't have anything to give. And there will be times when that is the case for each of us. At those times I hope that the thirsty can just come and drink. But for that to happen the rest of us have to be ready and willing to draw water from the well.

Re-Visioning Worship

2008-03-30T21:00:00.003-05:00

Well, it was an interesting Sabbath, no question about it. I don't know how it all happened, but we had a very substantive discussion about how our worship time should go. Here's the consensus as I remember it. (If I get something wrong, someone please correct me.)

1) We'll have no more apparent division between presenter and congregation. Everyone is responsible to bring edification to the body. This may be a prayer, a song, a word or something else.

2) We'll work with a new emphasis on participatory structures. There will be no more rows of chairs. Seating plans will be focused on joining us rather than separating us.

3) Intergenerational participation is also expected. As I think back on our meeting, I am a little unclear as to the direction this might take. I'd like to see Drinda, Allison, Kendra, and Angie work on this during the week. Anyone else with a burden for kids is welcome to participate.

4) We'll worship with a new emphasis on edification. We are making a conscious decision to defuse dogmatism, conflict and appearances of exclusive knowledge. The group will together to insist on an edifying atmosphere. We will request that disputations be taken elsewhere for resolution.

5) We will worship with a new readiness of the Spirit working within our group, consistent with Biblical guidelines.

6) We will have one Sabbath each month with no planned services. We didn't discuss which weekend that should be. I'm going to propose the 4th weekend of each month as that weekend. If anybody has a better idea, please speak up.

Our new week has started of with spiritual challenges. I believe we can expect this to be a process that challenges us all. We'll have to work with these ideas to bring them to maturity. But every journey begins with one step.

Lake Mineral Wells with the Brown Family

2008-03-23T12:49:00.002-05:00

The Brown Family is going to spend next Sunday (March 30^th) at Lake Mineral Wells State Park (weather permitting). We plan on hiking and a picnic lunch, staying from about 10am – 3pm or so J. Mineral Wells has lots of trails and beautiful scenery (I think the trails are less rugged than the ones at Dinosaur Valley, for those who went there). Park fees can be found on here. We’d love for you to come and spend the day with us seeing YHWH’s beautiful creation and enjoying each other’s company. Please let us know if you plan to come!

~The Brown’s

817-473-4980 home

817-889-1835 Brian

817-889-1836 Kendra

Abib Not Found! 13 Months This Year

2008-03-07T07:10:00.002-06:00

Karaite Korner Newsletter #321

After an intense search throughout the Land of Israel it is clear that the barley is not yet Aviv and the new moon expected on Saturday night March 8 (from Israel) will begin the 13th biblical month. More details will follow.

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Did You Think I Was Done With The Beef Issue?

2008-02-26T21:34:00.001-06:00

View The Video Here

Update On The Recent Meat Scandal

2008-02-22T07:08:00.002-06:00

Folks, here are some excerpts from recent articles bringing it right here, home to us. First, check out the scope of what is going on as it relates to the food on your plate:

More than a third of the 143 million pounds of California beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs, with at least 20 million pounds consumed, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.
About 50 million pounds of the meat went to schools, said Eric Steiner, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service's special nutrition programs.
The plant produces about a fifth of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs, said Bill Sessions, associate deputy administrator for livestock and seed Programs with USDA's agriculture marketing service.

Now, let's just think about what these statements mean to us. First, on average, every fifth bite of beef your child eats from the school cafeteria comes from this plant. Second, if 50 million pounds went into the school lunch program, where did the other 93 million pounds go? How about McDonalds, Jack In The Box, Burger King, Taco Bell?

Then there's this:

Texas school districts that have been storing recalled beef were told Thursday by the Texas agriculture commissioner to dispose of it.
The districts have shelved more than 765,000 pounds of recalled beef as part of the nation's largest beef recall, Commissioner Todd Staples said.
Tarrant County school districts -- including Azle, Castleberry, Everman, Keller, Mansfield, Grapevine-Colleyville and Birdville -- were affected by Sunday's recall.

Close enough to home for you?

And finally:

Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis.
The ranks of inspectors are so thin that slaughterhouse workers often figure out when "surprise" visits are about to take place, and make sure they are on their best behavior.
USDA numbers show anywhere between 10 and 12 percent of inspector and veterinarian positions at poultry, beef and pork slaughterhouses nationwide were vacant between October 2006 and September 2007. In some regions, including Colorado and Texas, a major beef-producing state, the rate hovered around 15 percent. In New York, vacancy rates hit nearly 22 percent last July.

Felicia Nestor, a policy analyst with Washington-based Food and Water Watch, said the food supply may be at risk.
"I have talked to so many inspectors who used to work for the industry, and part of the training is how to get around the inspection. They've got walkies-talkies to alert each other to where the inspector is, they double-team the inspector," she said.
At two packing houses in Nebraska, veterinarians monitor up to 700 head of cattle at a time for signs of illness - just enough to make sure all the cows are standing, said one veteran inspector who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.
The inspector has worked for 15 years as an inspector at two plants in Lexington and Grand Island, Neb. One-quarter of the inspection positions at one of his plants have been vacant now for two years, he said.

Really, is this a system you can trust?

Potential New Moon Siting Dates For 2008

2008-02-11T19:08:00.000-06:00

Year	Month	Day	Weekday	Lag (Min) MC6	Ill (%) MC6	Potential Visbility	Hebrew Month (if Aviv is found by March 8)	Hebrew Month (if Aviv is NOT found by March 8)
2008	2	8	Friday	86	2.59	Yes
2008	3	8	Saturday	57	1.23	Yes	1^st	13^th
2008	4	7	Monday	106	3.51	Yes	2^nd	1^st
2008	5	6	Tuesday	90	2.31	Yes	3^rd	2^nd
2008	6	4	Wednesday	68	1.36	Yes	4^th	3^rd
2008	7	4	Friday	83	3.72	Yes	5^th	4^th
2008	8	2	Saturday	44	2.13	Yes	6^th	5^th
2008	9	1	Monday	44	4.02	Yes	7^th	6^th
2008	9	30	Tuesday	20	1.96	Pending Sighting	8^th	7^th
2008	10	30	Thursday	37	2.78	Pending Sighting	9^th	8^th
2008	11	29	Saturday	70	3.33	Yes	10^th	9^th
2008	12	28	Sunday	47	1.1	Pending Sighting	11^th	10^th
2009	1	27	Tuesday	68	1.61	Yes	12^th	11^th
2009	2	26	Thursday	88	2.76	Yes	13^th	12^th
2009	3	27	Friday	60	1.36	Yes		13^th
2009	4	26	Sunday	107	3.36	Yes

A Meditation For The Sabbath

2008-02-09T08:23:00.000-06:00

This is long, but since we are forgoing services today you might want to dwell here (remember that this article was written in 1999)...

3/8/99

Voice in the wilderness

Simcha Pearlmutter does not tilt at windmills anymore.
For 35 years this diminutive man rankled the establishment, but as mightily as it huffed and puffed, he did not blow away.
It is amazing how much fuss one man can generate, especially if you meet him in his environment. He is a city unto himself, the entire population -- together with his wife -- of the tiniest community in the country.
Ir Ovot (pop.: 2) has fewer residents than there are highway signs leading to it. They could have left him alone to evaporate in this godforsaken place in the Arava desert, and very possibly he might never have been heard from.
The tempest he weathered was unrelenting for 30 of those years, involving just about the entire national force: the immigration authorities, religious establishment, Lands Administration, the courts, the water company, Bezeq, not to mention pretty much everyone living in the region.
It started even before he and Rahel got there: it started in Miami, when they applied to make aliya. Simcha Pearlmutter was deemed a menace to the Jewish State because he believed in the prophecies. He believed in the Messiah, in resurrection. He believed -- they claimed -- in Jesus Christ. And there is no room in this country, not even in the uninhabited desert, for people like that.
Simcha flicks away the controversy like a pesky fly. The Messiah, he now says, could be called David or Bob or anything. Yet he used to attribute a specific name, and that name was Yeshua, and that is what earned him the Mark of Cain.
That, and the murmurs that he was practising bigamy; but that, too, he dismisses, pointing out that if he was, he would have been jailed.
For a long time he was not registered as a Jew, the settlement he founded was not recognized, the water he thirsted for was not provided, and, and, and...
Everything changed, in one sudden moment, five years ago.

HE IS a man of immense magnetic allure, but tender, emotional. You want to lean over and hug him.
He is 64. His face is wonderfully craggy with deep furrows of pain and character; his eyes, sky-blue but red-rimmed. He's built like a fire hydrant, compact and muscular; he wears a kipa, trim beard, and a few strands of peyot.
"I am the example of the perfect failure in Israel," Simcha says.
His success would be measured by how many lives he has touched, by how much his hardy struggles have spread inspiration.
But he has failed, he says, if you judge him by what he has created. There were numerous ventures that flourished for a while: farming, a trucking company, a toy factory, a health spa. His ultimate vision was to create a haven for Russian immigrants. But all that remains -- the legacy of his 35 years in the desert -- is a house where two people live, and next to it, a tiny green patch surrounding the four graves of Ir Ovot cemetery.
He goes there, blows a shofar, weeps, and waits. He waits for that tattered stranger to come over the nearby Mountains of Edom -- the Messiah, who will raise the dead.
Resurrection was always a foundation of his beliefs. Now, he says, it's an obsession, his only reason for living. "The phone rang, and Rahel answered. It was Ari, and he said, 'Mom, I'm at the bus stop. Everything is ok.' Then he said, 'I have to leave now, here comes the bus. I love you. I'll call you later.'
"Those were his last words."
It was 5 years ago, in Hadera. Bus bombing. Five dead. Ari Pearlmutter was not yet 20.
Simcha's voice chokes.
"You begin to wonder, where was God?
"I didn't question whether I believed in God. I just didn't know if I liked him anymore. It's even worse. That's a crisis, when you know He's there, and you say 'I'm not denying You, I just don't want anything more to do with You.' "
And so, alone in the wilderness, he waits.
"I get up every morning, at three, and I run five kilometers, and I look at the Mountains of Edom. Oh, it's so beautiful, you can't imagine! Then I can say with certainty, 'I lift up my eyes unto the mountains from whence my help will come.' I keep running, and I recite, 'My help will come from Hashem,' and I scream it in my mind. God said the Mashiach is coming from over these mountains! I know, I know, that one morning...."
He has already witnessed the fulfilment of prophecies. "Out of the Arava, water will leap up from the ground": he once worked for Mekorot, digging water wells, and yea, the water leaped up. Simcha reels off scriptural sound bytes with ease. "In the Talmud it says, 'in the days of the Mashiach the water will flow freely as it did in Ovot.' " Today, it does.
"Prophecies are written about the ancient cities: when the time is ripe for the coming of the Mashiach, those cities will be uncovered. Like Tamar, a city built by King Solomon 3,500 years ago." And here's where it gets eerie. Simcha rambles on about a sense that he couldn't shake, about hearing voices from the ground where he is so rooted. "I knew I was standing on some rich Jewish history, right under my feet." He shrugs and smiles. "So Simcha has a vision; big deal."
Then, he takes you over the hillock, and you look, and it's all there, a huge excavated site, a city. As many as 150 people swarmed over the site, they dug for four years, and lo, Tamar is now uncovered.
Alongside is a breathtaking tree, grizzled and contorted, thrusting off in all directions. It is a jujube, 2,000 years old, still alive, still flowering. Simcha chuckles and, it seems provokingly, he mentions that the tree is also known as "Christ's thorn."

ALL THIS prophecy-come-true is nice, but Ari is still dead.
"God has a way of being silent which is very irritating. There are so many people who come here and say, 'Oh, I spoke to God and He said, and I said...' y'know, I wish I had this hotline. I scream gevalt, and the line is busy."
Simcha relates to God in a personal manner reminiscent of Tevye in “Fiddler.”
"I had some pretty brutal monologues with God, but somewhere along the line, if you believe in God, you have to make peace with Him."
A vein bulges on Simcha's temple. He turns terse. "Still, I will not take what happened to Ari as final."
When the paratrooper Pearlmutter died, the world war against his father ended. With a deep sigh, Simcha explains. "When you pay a heavy price, suddenly, you gain respect. Attitudes toward me changed. I'm living on Ari's credentials now, I'm ashamed to say. I should still be helping him, he shouldn't have given his life to help me."
All opposition to Simcha ended.
It was ironic at times. After all those legal haggles he had with Mekorot, the water company, Simcha requested a water source be reopened. "I expected all kinds of trouble, but the head of Mekorot came and said Simcha, I will do anything I can to help."
The Torah names this place Ovot, and Simcha added the "Ir" -- city -- in anticipation of what it would become. It has not, but once a year, on Remembrance Day, a city it is: people heartened by Simcha, moved by Ari's death, or tantalized by the dream of resurrection, arrive at the tiny military cemetery on a solemn pilgrimage. "There are ... thousands ... of people who pour into this place, from all over the country. Because here, there is concrete hope. And people say to me, 'don't ever give up, don't ever stop.' "
They come to this place, where there is no more wind to tilt against, just voices that maybe they hear, maybe they don't. And they drink Simcha's water, and they silently walk over to where Ari rests.
Ari would have been 25 tomorrow.

UPDATE: Simcha died four months later. He now waits on the other side.

Below is the video testimony of Simcha Pearlmutter.

No Services This Sabbath

2008-02-07T19:31:00.000-06:00

I'm exhausted and I need to rest. There will be no services at Shomrei Brit this Sabbath, 2/9.