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1 Tisha B Av: Why are Some Jews Mourning this Month? * by David Brickner, Executive Director If you have ever been to Israel (or looked at photographs for that matter), chances are you have seen the familiar view of Jerusalem from the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. There, glistening in the sun, is the golden Dome of the Rock, and just to the south sits the plainer looking El-Aksa Mosque. Both are recognized as Islamic holy sites. Both occupy a place upon the Temple Mount, Mount Moriah, the only truly holy site in all of Judaism. It was on Mount Moriah that Solomon built the First Temple some 3000 years ago. It was there that the Second Temple was rebuilt 2500 years ago. And there, this month, thousands of religious Jews mourn the Temple s destruction. According to tradition it was on Tisha B Av (Hebrew for the ninth day of the month of Av) that both first and second Temples were destroyed. (See chart on page four for more facts and customs regarding this day.) Why does the memory of these ancient edifices still grip Jewish hearts? Why does their loss rend so many with sorrow? Why does the hope of rebuilding the Temple stir such passion and kindle such hopes and dreams? The answers take us all the way back to the days of Abraham and Isaac Jews f r Jesus Genesis 22 records the Akedah, or the binding of Isaac, when the Lord commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son on a mountain in the land of Moriah. With his knife poised in mid air, we can only imagine the utter relief that rushed through Abraham when the Angel of the Lord stopped him. He joyfully sacrificed the ram that God had provided in place of his son, and declared, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided (Genesis 22:14). Both Jews and Christians recognize the place on which those events took place as the mountain of God, or Yahweh Yireh (Hebrew for the Lord will provide ). Centuries later, Moses envisioned the mountain of inheritance that same sacred place where Abraham s faith in God was tested and blessed as the ideal site for the sanctuary of God. There God would dwell in the midst of His people; there He would provide atonement for their sins, forgive them and make them holy. That atonement was to be secured through the blood of the animal sacrifices offered on the altar. Moses prayed prophetically for such a place: You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established (Exodus 15:17). Centuries passed before the answer to that prayer was realized. King David purchased the property on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and would have commenced building, but God appointed Solomon, David s son, to the task. Even as the Temple was being dedicated, God fulfilled Moses prophecy: (continued on page 2)

2 (continued from page 1) And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (1 Kings 8:10,11). What a powerful moment! There could be no doubt that God had come to dwell with His people; the Temple was now the center of Israel s worship and the anchor of her religious sensibility. That first Temple stood for nearly 400 years. But the Jewish people began to put their confidence in the Temple itself rather than the One who dwelt within it. It was as though they thought they had God s power harnessed within the confines of a mere building. Worse yet, they had turned to idols. God warned that judgment was coming, and in 586 B.C. that judgment came in the form of the Babylonian conquerors. The Temple of the Lord in all of its beauty was destroyed. Words cannot describe Israel s agony. Her insides were ripped out. Her sense of calling and purpose was rooted in that Temple and in the knowledge that God was in her midst. With no Temple, there was no assurance of God s presence or His provision of forgiveness for the nation. In 538 B.C., Zerubbabel and a host of Israelites returned to Jerusalem in accordance with the decree of King Cyrus of Persia. The book of Ezra recounts the building of the Second Temple, which took 23 years to complete. But the Second Temple hardly compared to the first. The returned exiles certainly hadn t the wealth of Israel s former kings for its construction. What is more, there seems to have been no Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place only emptiness, with nothing covering the now famous foundation stone. The very glory of God, so evident in the First Temple, seemed absent as well. Yet God had promised through the prophet Haggai, The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the LORD of hosts (Haggai 2:9). How would God fulfill that promise? Remember that Jesus not only taught in and around that Temple, but also made an astounding claim: Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.... But He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:19 21). By identifying Himself as the Temple, Jesus claimed to embody the very purpose of that Temple. In one brief, yet profound, statement, He pointed to Himself as the very presence of God that had once dwelled in the Temple. And at the same time, He identified Himself with the Temple sacrifice. What God had not required Abraham to do in sacrificing his son Isaac, God Himself did in sending His son Jesus to die on a cross. And when He rose from the dead after three days as promised, He proved that His sacrifice for sin was acceptable once and for all. This was God s plan all along. Animals could not take the punishment for the sins of the people. Yet those sacrifices pointed to a time when an innocent person, God s own Son, would willingly lay down His life as an atonement for sin. And so Jesus established peace, just as the prophet foretold. Jesus not only foretold His own death and resurrection, He also made an ominous prediction concerning the Second Temple. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Matthew 24:1,2). Titus and his Roman legions fulfilled that prediction as they marched into Jerusalem, destroyed the city and destroyed the Temple. This national tragedy pointed back to the words of Jesus of Nazareth. Thousands of Jews had already come to faith in Him. At the destruction of that Second Temple in A.D. 70, thousands more recognized that He had spoken truly. Yet the majority of Jewish people did not receive Jesus, and so it remains to this day. As Jewish people mourn the Temple s destruction this month, few (continued on page 3) TM WE EXIST TO MAKE THE MESSIAHSHIP OF JESUS AN UNAVOIDABLE ISSUE TO OUR JEWISH PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. JEWS F R JESUS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: 60 HAIGHT STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA jfj@jewsforjesus.org; HOME PAGE: jewsforjesus.org; ALSO WORKING IN: AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, CANADA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ISRAEL, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA,UKRAINE and THE UNITED KINGDOM EDITOR: RUTH ROSEN; ART DIRECTION: PAIGE SAUNDERS; DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION: DAVID YAPP; VOLUME 12:5768, AUGUST

3 Please pray for: the continued follow-up with more than 2,000 seekers from the first Behold Your God Israel Campaign; as well as the New York Summer Witnessing Campaign; that God will grant our staff favor to have many fruitful visits with those who indicated further interest the planning of our next Behold Your God Israel campaign God s provision of more staff and volunteers for the field a rekindling of compassion for the lost in all our staff worldwide salvation for Jim, in the Boston area grace and strength for Marc, a new Jewish believer in Las Vegas, and spiritual growth and strength for Laura and Simeon in Moscow (continued from page 2) realize they are mourning events that were prophesied. Even fewer realize that what could not be accomplished through the Temple was fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah. Moreover, the Temple is hardly a daily concern for most Jewish people today. Yet the hope of seeing it stand once more in Jerusalem has never been extinguished. Daily synagogue prayers have kept that hope alive. Be pleased, Lord our God, with Thy people Israel and with their prayer. Restore the worship of Thy most holy sanctuary. 1 This prayer has been on the lips of Jewish people for 2,000 years. May God honor that prayer, especially for many who are mourning this month, by revealing to them the One who is 3 greater than the Temple. May many more Jewish people welcome Jesus the Messiah into their hearts, that He might dwell within, and truly turn mourning to joy. 1. From the Amidah (Shemoneh Esreh) of the regular daily service. * Adapted from the book Future Hope by David Brickner.

4 Tisha B Av, The Saddest Day on the Jewish Calendar by Rich Robinson MEANING: The ninth (tisha) of the Jewish month of Av CORRESPONDING DATE IN 2008 GREGORIAN CALENDAR: August 10 (begins sundown, August 9) MEMORIALIZES: The destruction of the First and Second Temples in 586 B.C. and 70 A.D. which, according to Jewish tradition, occurred on this date. OTHER TRAGEDIES TRADITIONALLY ASSOCIATED WITH TISHA B AV: Unknown date: This is believed to be the day that God decreed that the generation that left Egypt could not enter the Promised Land. 135 A.D.: The town of Bethar, where the last holdouts from the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome resided, was captured. 136 A.D.: Jerusalem utterly destroyed by Rome 1492: Expulsion from Spain the last date for all Jews to leave the country 1914: World War I began, considered by some to be the start of events that ultimately led to the Holocaust 1942: first deportations from Warsaw to Treblinka concentration camp during the Holocaust CUSTOMS: Abstinence from: Food and drink Bathing, shaving, use of perfumes, aftershave, etc. Wearing leather shoes Marital relations Bible study except for mourning texts such as Lamentations or Job SYNAGOGUE RITUALS: Evening service (which begins the day): Book of Lamentations read Morning service: Reading of kinot, liturgical poetry concerning suffering, many of medieval origin; many Sephardim also read the Book of Job IN THE ARTS: In the Third Movement of Leonard Bernstein s Jeremiah Symphony, portions of Lamentations are sung to the synagogue melody traditionally used on Tisha B Av. Adolf Abraham Berman s oil painting Tisha B Av. ADDITIONAL ONLINE INFORMATION: Explanation on YouTube by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg CONNECTION TO MESSIAH: According to one tradition, the Messiah will be born on Tisha B Av as if to say that God s deliverance will turn a traditional day of mourning into a cause for rejoicing.

5 What the Destruction of the Temple Reveals In her article titled, Four Startling Facts About the Identity of the Messiah, author Susan Perlman* shows that, according to Jewish prophecy, the Messiah has already come. Following is an excerpt from her article, which appeared in ISSUES, Volume 13, number 2: Fact One: The Messiah s appearance was locked into a fixed time. Fact Two: That fixed time was while the Second Temple was still standing. Fact Three: The Messiah had to come from a specific lineage that was only verifiable through the Temple records. And the fourth startling fact is that the Messiah had to die a violent death. The details of these facts together present some of the strongest evidence that he has in fact already come. Commenting on the prophet Daniel, she observes, This prophet who lived during the time of our exile in Babylon received a vision that the Messiah would come 483 years after the command to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple:... that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. (Daniel 9:25) The clock on these 69 weeks (units of seven years) began ticking when Artaxerxes issued a decree to Nehemiah to rebuild the Temple and restore the holy city of Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2:1-8). While other decrees went forth, this was the only one that involved both the Temple and Jerusalem. History records this took place in Nisan JERUSALEM REBUILT From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto (March/April) of 444 B.C. (see chart below). That would mean the Messiah would appear by 33 A.D. History does not record anyone, other than Y shua (Jesus), who was from that time period and claimed to be the Messiah. This thought provoking article concludes, If Daniel is right and the Messiah came before the destruction of the Second Temple, that means our rabbis have been wrong for 2,000 years. SEVEN WEEKS AND THREESCORE AND TWO WEEKS 69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days (March5, 444 B.C. plus 173,880 days = March 30, 33 A.D.) Nehemiah 2: th Year of Artaxerxes Month of Nisan First day March 5, 444 B.C. Messiah s death (April 3, 33 A.D.) and resurrection: cut off after 69 weeks; city destroyed 70 A.D. March 30, 33 A.D. Luke 19:28-44 Triumphal Entry Zechariah (9:9) JERUSALEM DESTROYED Adapted from a chart prepared by Dr. Harold Hoehner for the book Future Hope by David Brickner, If you would like to read the full article, please go to: ISSUES is a bi-monthly publication we offer to Jewish people who are willing to hear why we believe that Jesus is the Messiah. While we cannot afford to mail ISSUES to our Christian friends, it is available to you via computer. To search our ISSUES archives, go to: Please send my Jewish friend a complimentary edition of ISSUES and the offer of a free subscription. You may may not mention my name. My name Street City State Zip * Susan Perlman is the first assistant to the executive director of Jews for Jesus; she is editor-in-chief of ISSUES, and oversees our multimedia outreach. IF YOU HAVE A JEWISH FRIEND WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN EXPLORING ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE, we will gladly offer him or her a free subscription to ISSUES. While we need your name for our own records (and offer the subscription on the basis that a friend thought you might be interested ), we will not disclose your name to your Jewish friend without your express permission. Simply fill out the form below and return it to: Jews for Jesus, 60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA My Jewish friend s name Street City State Zip You may use the enclosed envelope to return this coupon, or mail to:, 60 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA NL0808

6 by Avi Snyder, European Director Iremember the first time I ever handed out Jews for Jesus gospel literature. It was the summer of I d only been a believer for a few months, and Mitch Glaser, who led the Jews for Jesus work in Los Angeles at the time, regularly met with me for discipleship lessons. One day after our lesson together, he asked if I d like to accompany him as he handed out tracts. No, I said. Mitch smiled. Okay. But will you accompany me and hand out some tracts? Yes, I said. We headed to a corner in a part of Los Angeles called Westwood. Within moments, I found myself surrounded by an angry group of people. One particular woman took the lead. You re a disgrace, a disgrace, a disgrace, she cried, vocally pummeling me with every pronouncement of the word. Why are you here? Suddenly I blurted out, Because I love. For some reason, my words silenced her. She stared at me in bewilderment and disgust, pivoted, and left. To be honest, she wasn t the only one startled by my words. I was startled, too. My words didn t even make a complete sentence or thought. Because I love, I d said. Because I love what? Being there? Her? My people? The Lord? To this day, I can t explain exactly what I meant. That happened over 30 years ago. Today, I have the privilege of leading the work of Jews for Jesus in Europe and in the former USSR. When my wife Ruth and I moved to Ukraine in 1991, just as the Soviet Union was falling apart, friends asked, Why are you taking your family there? I told them, Because it s a perfect opportunity. These are the kinds of circumstances that cause people to look for help from the Lord. Now Above: Avi handing out gospel broadsides at the UCLA campus during his early ministry days Ruth and I live in Germany, and when people ask us, Why do you have a team of Jews for Jesus in Germany? I tell them, Four reasons, really. So that our Jewish people can hear the gospel and believe; so that Germans can hear the gospel from Jewish lips and believe; so that Germany can see Jews, proclaiming the gospel without shame or fear; and so that the world can see Jews and Germans, proclaiming the gospel together. 6 These are all good reasons. But sometimes I wish my immediate response today were more like the uncalculated answer of a younger man who answered without thinking, Because I love. Jesus loved. Everything He did, He did because He loves. And His commandment to minister, despite the difficulty or inconvenience, is His way of inviting us to take part in His love for others. When ministry wears upon me physically, emotionally and even spiritually, I think of how the Lord commanded a group of tired and hungry apostles to feed a group of over 5,000 people with a miraculous surplus that He produced from five loaves and two fish. Mark 6 reveals the Lord s motive. And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34). What kind of people were these sheep? Religious people? Secular people? Good people? Bad people? Apparently, as far as the Lord was concerned, they were lost and dying people. Jesus ministered to the people, and He instructed the apostles to minister to the people despite the lateness of the hour and the inconvenience of the task, because He understood the people s plight. They were perishing. That s why He felt compassion. How did the apostles feel about a task that had to have taken quite some time? We don t know. The Scripture doesn t say. We only know that they obeyed. (continued on page 7)

7 In times past, we have sometimes offered advice on witnessing by publishing a What do I say when they say? column. We ve also invited our readers to submit their questions in that form. As Moishe has mused over one reader s questions, he revised the format slightly in order to give a more meaningful answer. So, instead of What do I say... we ll look at What should I understand when my friend says... Question: What should I understand when my atheist friend says he s a Jew? Answer: Understand that, to your Jewish friend, being a Jew is a lot more than accepting a bundle of doctrines that describe belief. In fact, for most Jews, being Jewish has a more ethnic sense: it has to do with belonging to a certain people rather than believing in God. Rabbis explain that Judaism is a religion of deed rather than a religion of creed: Jewish people are taught that what you do is more important than what you believe. Question: What should I understand when my Gentile friend, who attends a synagogue, says he s a Jew? Answer: This Gentile friend could be under the same misapprehension as you might have been regarding your Jewish friend s announcement that he s an atheist. Your Gentile friend may think that being a Jew is a matter of declaring a set of beliefs. After all, one becomes a Christian by confessing Christ openly, so they may feel there is a Jewish equivalent by which they can identify. The fact of the matter is that most Jewish people would be suspicious of those who want to and think that they can be Jews just by saying so. Of course, people have a right to identify themselves in whatever terms they want. Still, when a person says they re a sofa, you d better not try to sit on them. They might take offense. Question: What should I understand when my friend, who was raised in a supposedly Christian family, says that she has converted to Judaism (Kabbalah)? Now she s very anti-christian. Answer: This is sad. You probably want to say what I would want to say: Wake up! Join reality! Or, No matter what you believe, Jesus is still the promised Messiah in fulfillment of the Old Testament and the New Testament. That s what I want to say to her. But she s already predisposed herself to reject that. Gentiles regularly convert to Judaism; they usually do it because of marriage. But some go through a search. I think that I might ask a leading question that would cause her to think: When did you discover Christianity to be untrue? I think that you ll find that there was a process that began with doubt, and that doubt was fed and strengthened by someone. Let me say that a Christian should always be kind. A Christian should always treat a person as though their profession is sincere. A Christian should understand that many people think that they have experienced Christ, and then turned away. But so far as I m concerned, once you ve tasted the goodness of God, it would be impossible to turn away and say that something else was true. (continued from page 6) We do know how an earlier servant of the Lord felt about being an instrument of God s compassion. Jonah was livid over the mercy that God chose to show the Ninevites. He preferred to die, rather than bear the disgrace of being used to bring deliverance to Israel s enemy. But God answered Jonah s rage by posing a question. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one-hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right and and their left and much livestock? God demanded of the prophet (Jonah 4:11). The book ends with the question left unanswered, almost as though it were addressed to each one of us, with God awaiting our response. Should I not have compassion? We Jews for Jesus bring the gospel to our people because we understand that without the Lord, our people are perishing like sheep without a shepherd. We have to let them know that the Good Shepherd has come. Perhaps the best answer to those who demand, Why are you here? is, after all, the simplest: Because I love. 7

8 Las Vegas (where we don t have a branch) via Los Angeles (where we do!) Tuvya Zaretsky reports, I met Marc in 2005, during our Behold Your God campaign in Las Vegas. He had questions about his girlfriend s faith. They later married and he has continued to search for the truth about Y shua. Early this year, he began attending a Lutheran Church and a near and new believers Bible class. He called me to ask a question so many Jewish people struggle with: the eternal place of those who do not receive Jesus. He told me he d asked the same question in his Bible study and when the teacher explained that apart from Jesus, people are eternally separated from God, he replied, That s hard for me to hear as a new believer. While it was my sad duty to concur with his Bible teacher, it was a joy to hear Marc describe himself as a believer. Do please keep him in prayer. Boston Bimini Cohen reports, I went to a local church to tell about how Christ is in the Passover. As I began to speak, I sensed a need to share briefly how Oded [her Jewish husband] and I came to faith. After the meeting, I went to the foyer and was happily surprised to see Jill, a Christian who came regularly to my intermarried wives prayer group a couple of years ago. Accompanying her was her unbelieving Jewish husband, Jim, who wanted to hear me speak! I was greatly encouraged to see that he is willing to meet Oded. Please pray for God s salvation upon Jim and that he will connect well with Oded. Oded Cohen reports, While on a ministry speaking tour in New Mexico, I met with some friends and together we went on a sortie (tract-passing expedition) in the town square of Santa Fe. I approached a man sitting on a bench and shared the gospel with him. He was very moved and desired to pray with me to receive Jesus as his Lord. Then he asked me to write my name and the date Bits from the BRANCHES on the tract I d given him so that he could keep it with his valuables to remember forever what God has done for him. Moscow Maxim Ammosov reports, Simeon and Laura are a well-educated, respectable, older Jewish couple, both with PhD degrees. They have been reading the Bible with me for a long time; in fact they prayed with me years ago to receive Jesus, but it has been difficult to see fruit from their faith. Recently when I visited them, Simeon was devastated. His closest friend had just passed away. Since they told me she prayed to receive Jesus shortly before she died, I started to tell them that their friend was now with Jesus, and she had no more pain, no more suffering and, moreover, Simeon and Laura would see her in heaven. It was obvious to me that Simeon did not accept and was not even listening to what I said. It seemed his faith was weak, but Laura was listening and so I was continuing, mostly for her sake, when suddenly Simeon said very loudly, I am listening. It was so unexpected, Laura and I asked what he meant. He replied, I heard in my ear an unknown, but very clear voice tell me, Simeon, please listen. So I answered. But what was it? I remembered the story of young Samuel, and I said, Simeon, God spoke to you. Simeon, who fears death, said, What did He want? Does He want to take me? No, Simeon, I think He wants you to listen and believe what I am saying, that your friend is with Him, no pain, no suffering, and you will see her again. He began to understand, but not completely. Then I read 1 Samuel, chapter 3 aloud. I watched as Simeon s eyes became clear. He believed! By the end of the visit, he was a different person. Instead of despair, he had shalom. Praise the Lord! Please pray for Simeon and Laura to grow in their faith. 8