Well, goy, definitely. Shabbes – not so much.

Several years ago I was reading in a book written by a man who had worked at a Jewish summer resort. He worked especially hard on Saturdays. He had a lot more to do on Saturdays. That’s where he’d first heard the term Shabbes goy, and he thought it an honor of sorts to be called that, particularly as he and the clientele shared quite a good relationship.

I think I picked up that idea from the author of that book. My own first long term employment was as low man on a two man totem pole in a delicatessen. $1.65 an hour. Four, or sometimes five hours a day. The owner of the place was not only a son of Abraham, but also a son of Aaron. But we stayed open on Shabbes. So a Shabbes goy I was not in fact. We also served ham sandwiches.

So why did I choose this as the title of my blog? Let me go back to the story.

I was a newly converted Christian, and all of nineteen years old, so I was driven to tell every one I met about Jesus! But also, having grown up in a largely Jewish neighborhood in the San Francisco area, I was pretty sure Mr. Aaron had already heard about Jesus. So what to do? It’s not that I felt a need to convert him (or anyone else), but I just had to share the wonderful jewel that I’d found.

So I asked him what he thought about the Messiah. I’ll never forget his answer. He said Messiah should have come 2,000 years ago, and he didn’t come when he was supposed to, so that’s that. End of discussion. I was a little taken aback by the thought (in my humble 19-yr. old estimation) that he got the first half of that right, but I had nothing cogent to say to the second half of his answer. Other than maybe, “did too!” But I didn’t say that. Besides, it was time for me to mop the floor.

Mr. Aaron was a good and generous man, if a bit crusty. We had a long and successful relationship – that is, until I found a full time job. Or actually until some time after that, but we lost touch.

I’m no longer nineteen, but I still have a few notions to share. And it doesn’t matter much to me if your notions and my notions don’t agree. Except that you’ll probably be wrong. Be sure to let me know if otherwise.

I’m not as driven to share my ideas as I once was, but there has been too much happening, too fast, in too many places around the world for me to stay part time any more. So no matter where you’ve placed Messiah on your daily calendar, or whether you think he’s fallen off the edge of the world, or never existed, or love him with all your heart and with all your soul and with everything you have, here’s my twenty cents’ worth (that’s two cents, with inflation) on God, the universe, Israel, USA, and, if you’re good, I’ll even throw in the kitchen sink.