Spiritual Reflection, June 2022

Shavuot with Rabinowitz

Joseph Rabinowitz (1837-1899), the “Theodor Herzl of Jewish Christianity,” had a particular affinity with the Festival of Shavuot. While growing up in a Hasidic home, he would stay up all night studying Torah, following kabbalist Isaac Luria’s study program of excerpts from each of the 24 books of Tanakh, the 63 tractates of Mishnah, the 613 commandments and the Zohar, with opening and concluding prayers. Fortified with a plentiful supply of coffee and cigars, Rabinowitz maintained this practice throughout his early life.

At the time of Shavuot in 1882 Rabinowitz came to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem seeking the solution to the problems of his people. At the commencement of Shabbat he stood at the Wailing Wall where Jews were gathered for prayer. Seeing that they could not even pray without being exposed to harassment, he found it hard to imagine that his people could settle peacefully in Palestine. Then on the Mount of Olives, he realised that the key to his people’s plight, both in Russia and Palestine, was “Yeshua Achinu” (Jesus, our brother). Returning to his home in Kishinev, he formed the “Israelites of the New Covenant,” one of the first congregations of Jewish disciples of Jesus in modern times.

Rabinowitz’s death at the age of 62 was a result of his indefatigable zeal to share “Yeshua Achinu” with his people. He died on 17th May 1899 (Jewish year 5659), just two days after Shavuot that year (5659). Like King David, whose death according to Rabbinic tradition occurred on Shavuot (Hagigah 12a), Rabinowitz was also a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Like David, his passion for his people combined with his passion for God. Coming to know Yeshua as his brother and Messiah, he proclaimed Him as the Torah revealed not just on Sinai, but now in human form.

Richard Harvey