JFK to San Francisco

Yehodah is a Hasidic Jew traveling from New York to San Francisco. He is returning from a sabatical at the 7 for 70. This group of devout Jews are the followers of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson or as he is called by his followers The Rebbe - "A Prophet in Our Time."

The mission statement of the 7 for 70 is, " Our job is ti increase in acts of goodness and kindness to prepare the world to greet Moshiach!", [The Rebbe 1991]

The way of preparation is to observe the Seven Noahide Commandments given by G-d through Moses at Mount Siniai.These include theseven Universal laws whih are
"The Way To True Peace"

1. Believe in G-d and renounce idolatry.
2. To honor the Almighty by not blaspheming.
3. To respect all human life and not commit murder.
4. To refrain fom immoral conduct: adultry, incest and homosexuality.
5. To respect the propery of others by not stealing.
6. To respect G-d's creatures and not partake of flesh from a living animal.
7. To foster justice by supporting honest courts of law

Yehodah told me these basic laws were given to Noah and then later placed in the code of the them commandments and given to Moses. The flight attendents were very accommodating to Yehodah. He had to store a carry on bag, a laptop, and a tall plant he carried as part of a Jewish riual of bringing a living thing back to his home from his place of worship, or in this case from his sabitical at 7 for 70 in New York.

During my time on the plane on this journey after we got to cruising altitude, I placed my Bible and Arguing With God [AWG] by Tim Donoho on my tray table. I found that this never failed to peak the curiosity of someone siting next to me.

Yehodah was no different; in fact,he had several study guides of his own on his tray table, so it wasn't long into the 3 hour flight that we got into a conversaion. We had taken off at 11:50 PM and were to arrive at JFK 5:30 AM EST. We had both planned to sleep the whole flight, but God had other plans.

We started out talking about what each was doing on this flight. Easy, I was on a simple journey to help others find a personal relationship with God. Yehodah told me that Jews - at least his sect- did not believe; nor had Jews ever practiced proselytization.

"Jews do not have a mandate from G-d to make others Jews." Yehodah explained.

I said,"Jesus taught His apostles to 'go and preach to all nations' and He was a Jew."

"Yes, you are right," Yehoudah replied, " But in my belief, Jesus was a Prophet gone astray." I was shocked by this. I wanted to know the real reason why the Jews had rejected Christ, and perhaps Yehoudah was finally going to satisfy my long search for the answer.

Yehoudah first assred me he had no intention to offend me. He was cautious and concerned that I may become prevoked over what he was about to tell me. I said a silent prayer and asked him to continue in the interest that we fully understand each others beliefs and thus could openly communicate.

He continued," You see, Christians belive all that Jesus taught, yet if you look at His work from the view of the sacred texts given to Moses you will see no menion, ever, of their being many gods." He picked up a small book which I could see was witen in Hewbrew, and continued. "Jesus was a prophet, we agee on that. He was given exraordinary powers by the Almighty, Do you agreee?"

"He performed great miracles and many wonders the like of which were too numerous to mention in the Gospels. He is the Son of God," I answered!

Yehoudah opened the book," And here is where we depart, my friend." His voice was soft and calm and kind. It was like a fathers voice as he explains the mystery of the world to his son whom he loves, and wishes to potect by arming him with right knowledge.

"Where we disagree," He continued, " is with Jesus the prophet making himself equal to G-d." He read a brif passage from his hebrew book explaining that by doing so, Jesus did two things wrong according to the Jews: First he made himself equal with
G-d which was blsphemy and breaks the second of the seven Universal laws. Next he preached of three gods[ as Yehoudah sees it]; adding the Holy Spirit. This breaks the first of the seven laws given to Noaha and Moses in that it is idolatry."

"I will have to look into that and give you an answer," I replied.

"There are many passages I remember in the Old Testiment [Talmud] telling of the coming of the Savior."

"Yes, but none that say he is G-d." Yehoudah replied.

"Ok then who was it who spoke with Abrham?" I said, " I am not a Bible scholar, but I do recall the story of Abram.

"You speak of Abrham, and I see you are reading the Psalms too," he said pointing to a sticky note hanging out of my Bible on the table. " Do you know much about these works?" I have to confess I was in over my head, so I decided no to argue or joust with Yehoudah. Instead I would listen, take notes and learn his view of sripture and pray for guidance. In other words, a small voice was saying listen and learn, and be patient.

"Do you mind," He said piking up my Bible?

He tuned to Psalms,and asked if I knew who wrote the Psalms. It so happened my Sunday morning Bible group the F.R.O.G.S are doing a study in Psalms.
"I know that many think David wrote them, but there were several contributers."

"Exactly," Yehoudah said.

He started to rattle off several. I told him I wanted to take notes. I got out my notebook.

"Did you know that Adam wrote Psalm 139?" he asked?

"No, I did not know that Adam had writen any of the Bible." I answered.

He leafed through my Bible and knew exctly where to go. " OK, let us ake a look," he said turning the pages in Psalms. " Psalm 110: Shem, Noaha's son; Psalm 89 Abram; 92-100; Moses; 88: Hayman; 77 Yedutum; 42 and 44-49: Sons of Korah; and 84-85-87: The Sons of Dathan and Abiram." he continued. "Theses sons were faithful to G-d, but their father worshipped Baal and they and the rest of their clan were swallowed up as the earth opened when Moses returned from Mount Sianai with the tablets he receied from G-d."

Having said all that, Yehoudah then flippd to Genesis in my Bible. " You also had questions about Abram.?" he said turning the pages.

"Earlier we you told me you were a Russian Jew who lived in Jerausalem and then migrated to America." I said. " I asked if you were concerned about the fighing in the Midle East and the fact that Iran now has missiles poined at Israel and has vowed to eradiacate all Jews."

"We believe in peace, and our law preaches peace, much the same the Muslims." He said.

"Well that was my point, The Muslims preach peace, but they are armed to the teeth and are forever threatening violnce." I said.

Just then Karen our Jet Blue flight attendent came up. "Looks like you two are going to talk all night would you like coffee or anything to drink?"

"Wonderful, Karen." I said. We both ordered coffee and Karen also brought some snacks. tJet Blue has the best service of any carrier I've been on.

"Let us look at the scripture." Yehoudah said turning again to Genesis."

"I have to say I am amazed you can get around so well in my Bible, Yehoudah."

"You have to remember the numbering format that was imposed universally by the Christian Council in the Midle Ages became the standard for all printed Bibles when Gutenberb printed the first mass edition. We use the same text, but you see we don't derive the same meaning from the same texts." He explaned.

"Here, look here, You are corect that Haggi and Ishmael were banished from Abrhams tibe. This was at the request of Sarah. Abram did this out of respet for is wife of nearly 100 years." Then he turned a few more pages.

"But look here in later capters and you will see that after Sara, Abram took another wife and fahered 12 sons by her. He gave these sons gifts and knowledge and sent them all to the East." He continued like it was a lesson. It was. Yehouah was reading from my Bible, and I was there taking notes.

"These sons, no doubt strongly influenced the many religions we see in the far East today. Certainly the gifts Abram gave were gifts of knowldge. He knew about natural medicine and accupunctureand and the like. These were spread to theFar East but lost to the West as Christianity spread to Europe and then the Americas." He explained.

"I alway thouht the Muslims were decendents of Ishmael and that is what caused the strife between Jew and Muslim." I said.

"Let us turn to another passage in Genesis." He said. "Look here in Chaper 25:1-7 and you will see that Isaac and Ishmael were united. In fact, they buried heir father Abraham togeter as is right for two brothere to do." He said.

"Again, I see that, but I will have to get back to you as to the signifiance of this." I said.

"Well my friend, you will see that when it comes to the tension between Christian, Jew and Muslim; Muslim and Jew are acutally more closely aligned than many Christians believe." He continued," We both believe that Jesus was a prophet who went astray and let the power that was given to him go to his head. We both believe that he tried to create a multiple god religion which is in opposition to the Koran and the Talmud. We both believe he declaired himself to be a god and opposed the Almighty. When you look at Jesus from our view you must see logically that he flies in the face of all previous Hebrew teachings." He handed by Bible back.

"Yehoudah, now I will tell you how I see it, and I too do not wish to offend your feelings." I then said jokingly," You know in America we always say that one should not discuss politics and reliion with a stranger." I smiled, and so did he.

"We are making the exception here, and I think that is a good thing because if we did not, we would just go on believing only what we were taught and never know what the other guy is thinking or what he was taught." I said.

"You have alredy said you don't believe in guiding others toward a belief that could prevent them from going to eternal damnation. In other words you explined to me why Jews do not believe in proselytizing others to Judiaism. Right?" I asked.

"Yes"

"And you said earlier, you believe we are in the end times and you are eagerly awaiting the coming of Moshiach or in Chistian terms the Messiah.

"Yes" He replied and added, "we are about in the year 5,700 and Moshiah will come prior to the year 6,000. So that means we have roughly 240 years remaining." Then he added, " That is why I am so excied about the Internet."

"You said earlier you were inolved in building the fiber optic network for the internet."

"Yes" I replied.

"Then don't you see, unknowingly, you have helped in bringing Moshiach to us." Yehoudah continued.

"Scripure tells us that all must know and have access to the word of the Almighty prior to his arrival. The internet has excellerated man's ability to gain this critical knowledge of Moshiach. I see the internet as having bugeoned across the world to aid us in the fulfillment of Scripture."

I interrupted, "I am helping in a small way to bring the message of the Messiah to all I meet. Jesus gave us that mandate. It is the 'Great Commission' to tell every one that the Messiah has already come, and He is God and that He does bring hope and Love and all the same things you wish for mankind."

Yehoudah did not become a Chrisian on that flight but we each learn a great deal from each other during those three hours of intense discussions. Yehoudah learned how strongly Chrisians are committed to fulfill and carry out Christ's Great Commission, and I learned to be better prepared and a stronger spokesperson for Christ in my life.

Day 29 of 20/30

I am writing this : Post journey.

I completed my journey and my All You Can Jet [AYCJ] pass expired on October 8Th.

This is an update of my last trip. I visited New York City to close out the ticket. I wanted to spend 1-2 days there because I had to go through Jet Blue's Terminal #5 at JFK many times throughout my 30 day journey. So I decided to go here one last time and actually visit the city and the people of New York.

I took an early AM flight out of Fort Lauderdale [FLL].
Flt #4 FLL-JFK 5:30 Am arriving JFK 8:44 AM.
Flt Deck: Wayne and Wes
Cabin Crew: Nancy, Al and Debbie.

As always for the past 30 days the flight was great,and the crew was perfect. Jet Blue has the most personable people in the air, and on the ground. I don't know what they do or how, but they run a really great airline at a great price, and I will fly them every chance I get.

Sitting across the aisle from me I met Maria. She told me her story about her father being forced from the Dominican Republic during the Allende years [1970's], and so the family moved to New York City. In fact, Maria was on the way to visit her brother who still lives there. Maria had noticed Tim Donohos book, and asked jokingly if I had an argument with God.
"No. Not I.: I said.
I added, "However, there are many people who for some reason or another feel they must argue with God over things in the world they do not like."

"Well, I guess that is me then," she said.
"Do you want to tell me about it, Maria?" I asked.

"Are you with a church or something?" she asked.

"I attend First Baptist in Fort Lauderdale." I replied.

"Every church I see is arguing with each other." Maria said. She was obviously not happy about this.

"I mean," she continued,"If all these churches are preaching about God, Why are they all arguing with each other. It makes no sense." She was opening up to what was bothering her about Christianity, and possible getting in the way of her own salvation.

"I guess it does seem that way sometimes, but a believer can know a church by the Spirit they feel within it." I said.
I added," First, though, one has to know their own spirit and establish a personal relationship with God."

"Have you done that, Maria," I asked?

"I was raised a Catholic, but even they are fighting with the Protestants and themselves." she said.

Maria was very frustrated. She had a Catholic background, but she was not aware of what a personal relationship with Christ meant.

We went over what it meant to have a personal relationship with God. I demonstrated how "Sin" can keep us from God and how Jesus Died on the cross and by doing so took on our sin to remove that barrier to God. She had never heard it explained this way. Maria was very happy to hear this, and she said she never knew it was so simple and uncomplicated. Like many people, God and the Bible seems so complex and far removed from our daily life. Yet when it is made clear and the barriers of ritual and theology no longer clutter our outlook, then God becomes more available to us. He is no longer a being who requires an interpreter to understand. He becomes a personality we can begin to see as someone we can talk and share our thoughts with.

Maria is now able to go directly to God with the issues of "Church" differences.

Also, we had a good discussion about the many arguments people use to stay away from God. I shared a copy of Tim's book with Maria. She was grateful, and only asked if it was available in Spanish. Maria could speak English quite well, but she had difficulty reading it. She told me with a smile, " I will get my daughter to read it to me,and that way she will get the message too.

New York City:

I was amazed to find the public transportation good and very reasonable. As a senior, a bus ticket was $1.10. I quickly found that one had to have about 10 pounds of quarters in their pocket. Exact change only and no paper money accepted.

At Jamaica Tpk. I was advised to purchase an all day pass for rail or bus [good for 24 hours] only $8.75. This was still a good value because I took at least 8 or nine bus and subway rides.

I took the E train to the Twin Towers. I got off and walked to Battery Park. I could have taken the bus, but it was a nice bright and windy sunny day. Besides with my Manhattan map I noticed this would take me past Wall Street and the Smithsonian.
Wow! I love to walk too.

Evey place was historical or famous. I thought of all the movies where I had seen all these places. I was a real "Rube" wondering the city wide-eyed and with my camera on all the time. Only the Japanese tourists were taking more photos than me.

I had a wonderful day there, but the pace is so fast and people are all running around getting to "somewhere" quickly. I don't think they have much time to communicate.

I thought I may have had a moment with a man who got on the train when I was traveling back "Uptown". He had battered milk carton and he made a grand announcement on entering the train. No one was listening. He shouted and pushed his way through the crowded subway. His message was that he was poor and everyone who did not give him money was a sinner destined for Hell. I asked him if he would like to discuss a salvation greater than a small donation. Without hesitation he scowled at me, saying, "Don't mess with my area boy" He was quite angry and I could see he had no intention of having me share Christ's message. I gave him some money as we slowed for the station. He got off and gave me a look of disdain.

A fellow passenger said, "see that sign over there?" I looked. It said "Dial 311 and we will send aid to the homeless. " It had some other instructions which basically said that giving "change" to the homeless will not "Change"their situation, but by calling 311 the city workers would come to the location and find the person and give them real help. The man who pointed this out acted like he had been through this ten thousand times. I still feel that if the person would listen for God's help it would be the best help he could get anywhere.

You can see the Photo Journal for other places I visited in NYC:

Times Square; Rockefeller Center; Empire State Building; Top of the Rock; Trump Tower; Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; Central Park, and the Stage Door Deli; and Stews Fruit stand near the Jamaican Restaurant on Stuphin Blvd. next to Jamaica Station.
I had a good and educational time in NYC. I would like to return, but next time I will nee a whole week to visit the museums and see some shows.

DAY 30 JFK to FLL 10/08/09
Flt 601 7:34 AM FLL 11:11 Arrive
Flt Deck: Rick and Steve
Cabin Crew: Wayne, Jimmy and Marcella

Nothing new to report. The flight and crew was great. I spoke with the pilot on exiting, He said he thinks the AYCJ was a great success and he thinks they will do it again. I hope he is correct. I will be the first in line to buy another ticket!!