Hassidic Rabbis to Take Lord’s Supper on Passover
Thursday, April 21, 2016 | David Lazarus ISRAEL TODAY
Hassidic Rabbis will be taking part in the "Messiah’s Supper" this Passover.
On the last day of the week-long Jewish holiday, many in the Hasidic Orthodox community in Jerusalem will participate in what they are calling a Seudat Moshiach, the Messiah’s Supper.
In an event directly correlating to the Lord’s Supper recorded in the New Testament, Rabbi Amichaye Even-Israel told Israel Breaking News that this year, “The main goal of the Messiah’s Supper is to try and internalize the issue of the coming of the Messiah as real, not just a myth or a fairy tale. This is why we eat and drink while discussing this issue – to symbolize that it is real and could be digested.”
Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (I Cor. 11)
The Messiah’s Supper was instituted in the 18th century by the renowned Rabbi Baal Shem Tov (literally, Master of the Great Name). Shem Tov taught that eating the Lord’s Supper is a way to “translate intangible faith into tangible action.”
This is exactly what the Lord’s Supper means for Messianic Jews and Christians.
During the Orthodox Messiah’s Supper, the weekly portion comes from the Messianic prophecy in Chapter 11 of the Book of Isaiah: “There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
This well-known description of the Messiah tells of a time when _“the lion will lie down with the lamb,” _and there will be peace on earth. According to the Rabbis, the last day of the week long Passover holiday is to be a memorial of the redemption and the coming Messiah.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, a 19th century leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, explained the connection between the first and the last days of Passover:
“The first night of Pesach is our festival commemorating our redemption from Egypt by the Holy One, Blessed be He. It was the first redemption, carried out through Moses, our teacher, who was the first redeemer; it was the beginning. The last day of Pesach is our festival commemorating the final redemption, when the Holy One, Blessed be He, will redeem us from the last exile through our righteous Messiah, who is the final redeemer. The first day of Pesach is Moses’ festival; the last day of Passover is Messiah’s feast.”
The Apostle Paul says, “For the Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:7-8).
During the final day of the Passover holiday, as Hasidic Jews sit down to a Messianic Supper, they will sing songs, eat matzah (unleavened bread) and drink four cups of wine. During the Supper participants will focus their prayers on the arrival of the Jewish Messiah, the coming Kingdom of God, and the Final Redemption for all people.
Even so, may we all join together and cry out this Passover, “Come quickly, Lord, Messiah King Yeshua.”
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