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Yahrzeit of Dr. Paul Philip Levertoff

משנכנס אב, ממעטין בשמחה.

"When Av begins, we decrease our joy." -- b.Taanit 29b.

Rosh Chodesh Av (the first day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar) marks the beginning an intensified period of mourning as we draw closer to the date that the Temple was destroyed.

Rosh Chodesh Av, which begins this year on Sunday evening, July 11, is also the yahrzeit of Dr. Paul Philip Levertoff, a pioneer in the Messianic Jewish movement.

Feivel the Chasid

Excerpt from Love and the Messianic Age:

In 1887 a nine-year-old Chasidic Jew named Feivel Levertoff was trudging home from the cheder (a Jewish day school) when a discarded scrap of paper caught his eye. It was printed with Hebrew text. Supposing it was a leaf from a prayer book or other sacred volume, Feivel picked it out of the snow.

He quickly read the piece of paper. It was a page from a book he had never read before. It told the story of a boy like himself--not much older either--whose parents found him in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, expounding the Scriptures and learning with the great sages of antiquity.

When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. (Luke 2:45-47, NASB).

True to his prestigious family ancestry, nine-year-old Feivel was already showing signs of becoming a great scholar when he found the scrap from the Gospel of Luke. That explains why he was so intrigued by the mysterious page from the forbidden book.

Some time later Feivel unwittingly came across another Gospel passage--this time from the book of John. Because of John's rich, mystical content, Feivel assumed the text was a Chasidic discourse. When he realized that he had actually been reading the Gospel of John, his curiosity about Christianity and its forbidden books was heightened.

After bar mitzvah at the age of thirteen, Feivel began his formal education at the prestigious Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania, where he excelled in his studies and graduated early. He was well on his way to becoming a celebrated rabbi.

He continued his learning at a university in the Prussian city of Königsberg. It was there, at the age of seventeen, that he encountered the Gospels again. Outside of his community and far from home, this time he determined to read them through.

The writings led him to a profound and shaking conclusion: Yeshua of Nazareth had indeed been the promised Messiah. From then on, Feivel was the devoted Chasid of Rebbe Yeshua from Nazareth.

For Messianic Judaism of our own day, Feivel Paul Philip Levertoff is a hero of the previous generation, a trailblazer and luminary ahead of his time. The Lord did indeed grant him understanding, knowledge, and wisdom to be an example to his generation, an example to our generation and to the generations that will come after us. Services in Messianic Jewish congregations today are similar to those Levertoff conducted a generation ago. From the time he first came to Messiah to the end of his life, Levertoff understood that the faith practiced by Yeshua and his followers was Judaism. Though he lived in a Christian world, he did not abandon his convictions about Judaism, his Chasidic roots, or his steadfast belief that the Gospels and Apostolic Writings belonged to Judaism.

An Israelite in Whom There Is No Guile

In the last years of Dr. Levertoff's life, he took a position as the honorary chaplain of the old "Leper Chapel" church in Ilford, England. By spring of 1954, his health was failing, but Levertoff received permission from his doctor to attempt leading the Good Friday and Resurrection services. In Anglican tradition, a Good Friday prayer service and series of teachings is conducted from noon until 3:00 PM called the "Three Hours," commemorating our Master's last three hours on the cross.

Dr. Levertoff led the teaching and liturgy through the first two hours, but just as he was beginning his sermon of the third hour which remembers our Master's death, Levertoff paused in mid-sentence, hesitated, and said, "I am sorry, I must stop for a moment." He slowly descended from the pulpit and sat in the pew below. In the startled silence, everyone in the congregation sank to their knees to pray for their beloved teacher. Dr. Levertoff made a second attempt, but again lost his strength. His congregation gathered in the courtyard to console him and speak words of encouragement as he was escorted from the chapel and into a waiting taxi with his wife.

Dr. Levertoff was hospitalized and eventually released to convalesce at his home in Ilford under the care of his wife Beatrice. As word of his illness spread, concerned Jewish and Christian friends from all over the world began to visit. The Levertoff home received a constant flow of Jews, Gentiles, Christians, and otherwise. His wife Beatrice described her husband's last days:

His thoughts were constantly with heavenly things, the things of earth became of no moment. In delirium he spoke only of spiritual things, of God, of his desire to express adequately his love for God. To everyone who came to see him he soon turned every talk to such matters. At such moments he would rally to such an extent that, even to the last, those who visited him could hardly grasp the frail hold he now had on earthly life. (Church and the Jews, 180, Autumn 1954)

Despite volumes of prayer, his health did not improve, and he suffered for three months. Shortly before his death, he rose from his bed and danced a Chasidic dance. Mrs. Levertoff described his death:

On the 31st of July, in the very early hours, saying to me his last words, which here "Good-bye," he left me to go with glad relief from pain, into the waiting outstretched arms of the Lord he so loved so utterly ... All trace of pain left, and he smiled, serene and sure in a way that convinced all who looked on him that he was not just at peace, resting from his pain, but had attained his heart's desire--to magnify Him as he really would wish ... His great learning was all forgotten in his goodness, his loving-kindness, his wise, good heart. (Church and the Jews, 180, Autumn 1954)

His tombstone says, "An Israelite in whom there is no guile."

The Meaning of Yahrzeit

Yahrzeit (יאָרצײַט) is a Yiddish word of German origin that means "time of year." It is a term for the anniversary of a person's death. Family members commemorate the yahrzeit of their loved ones by lighting a twenty-four-hour candle and reciting the Kaddish prayer:

May [God's] name be magnified and sanctified in the world that he created as he willed. May he cause his kingdom to reign, and may he cause his deliverance to sprout forth, and may he bring near his messiah during your lives, and during your days, and during the lives of the entire house of Israel, quickly and soon. Now say, Amen.

May his great name be blessed forever and for all eternity. May the name of the Holy One, blessed is he, be blessed, acclaimed, glorified, lifted up, upraised, honored, elevated and praised far above every blessing or song, acclamation or comforting word that is said in the world. Now say, Amen. May there be abundant peace from heaven, and good life for us and for all Israel. Now say, Amen. May the one who makes peace in His heights make peace in his compassion for us and for all Israel. Now say, Amen.

Students, especially in Chasidic circles, often commemorate the yahrzeit of their teacher by gathering together to study his works or to study Torah in honor of his memory. This can often be a celebratory occasion, rather than sorrowful one.

May the memory of Dr. Paul Philip Levertoff, a luminary of the Messianic Jewish movement, serve as a blessing.