Hebrew Voices #45 – Heavenly Father’s Day (Rebroadcast)

In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Heavenly Father’s Day, Nehemia Gordon shares how he found himself at the top of a Colorado mountain, proclaiming a controversial Jewish prayer in memory of his father. You are invited to watch the video (with closed captions) or listen to the podcast. This episode is dedicated to earthly fathers everywhere, and our Heavenly Father above.

When I was eight days old, at the ceremony of my entering into the covenant of Abraham, my father named me “Nehemia Sholom.” Although my father is now gone, I am planning on celebrating this Father’s Day by honoring my heavenly Father Yehovah, who also called me by name. The prophet Isaiah promises us:

“And now, thus says Yehovah, your Creator, Jacob, your Maker, Oh Israel, 'Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you; I called you by name. You are mine.'” Isaiah 43:1

I believe anyone who enters into covenant with Yehovah is called by name. Please join me this Father’s Day in honoring our heavenly Father. I know Father’s Day isn’t a “real” holiday. It’s not commanded in the Bible. But most of the world, set this day aside to honor their earthly fathers who named them. I think it would be great if we could also remember to focus on our heavenly Father who called us by name into His holy covenant.

I look forward to reading your comments!


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Hebrew Voices #45 - Heavenly Father's Day

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: The last time I was up on this stage at one of Michael’s events, was a very difficult time in my life. I had just spent several days in Chicago where my father lived his entire life, and my father was dying.

His final wish, as he was dying, was to spend his last days and weeks in Israel, surrounded by his family. And I had to make a decision; would I continue to go on a speaking tour along with Keith, which included a Michael event? Or would I go and be with my father in Jerusalem? And my father had my four sisters and my mother, but I thought, “Maybe I should do that.” In fact, Michael called me up and said, “Look Nehemia, if you wanna cancel, no problem. You have my full support. Go ahead, you don’t have to come to this event. I won’t hold it against you. In fact, I’m encouraging you to do that.”

And one night, Keith and I did an event in Pennsylvania, and I’ll never forget this. He walks into my room, kind of saunters into my room, the way he does. And he says, “Nehemia, it’s come to Jesus time.” And I said, “Excuse me? Did I hear you right? What? We had this agreement, I don’t try to convert you, and you don’t try to convert me. It’s come to Jesus time after 10 years? What? Are you serious?”

And he said, “No, no, no. This is a figure of speech. This is an expression that means it’s time for a serious discussion.” “Okay, you had me worried there.” And what’s the serious discussion? He says to me, “Nehemia, you need to cancel the tour to go back to Jerusalem. I will fly with you to Jerusalem, to be with your father, so that you are with him in the last weeks.”

And we were actually traveling around, doing a tour, speaking about the name of the Father of Creation. And what really set this whole thing in motion was the research we did together on what your people call “The Lord’s Prayer,” on the prayer, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.” In the second phrase of that prayer, Jesus, or as He was known 2,000 years ago, Yeshua, taught the Jewish multitudes to pray the words, literally in Hebrew, “May Your name be sanctified.” He was teaching people to sanctify the Name. And as I was researching this originally with Keith, we realized, this is an important message in the Hebrew Bible. This is common ground for Jew and Christian. It’s a central theme of your Bible, and my Bible, both where they overlap, and where they don’t. And I decided, “I needed to go on the road with him, to speak about this important message.”

And the “come to Jesus time” discussion was, “Nehemia, you’ve got to put that aside. Don’t do this. I’ll go back with you to be with your father.” And I looked him in the eyes and I said, “Keith, this is not a game. For me, this isn’t about selling books, and it’s not a game. This is serious stuff.” For me, this was serious. And I opened up this verse in the Book of Nehemiah, and it talks about how the Jews came back from Babylon after 70 years of exile. And Ezra came, and he read for them the Torah for the first time. They had never heard these words of the Torah. They knew there was such a thing, but they didn’t know what the contents were. They’d never read the Torah.

And when they heard the Torah read to them, they were upset. They were sad. They were mourning. And why were they so upset? Because they realized, “We haven’t been keeping this. We haven’t been living by this.” And there are curses in this book, if we don’t live by this, that will be upon us. And we have this covenant with our Creator, with our Heavenly Father. We need to be doing these things, these things that He taught us.

And here’s what Nehemiah says to them, my namesake, in verse 9. It says, “Today is a holy day to Yehovah, your God. Do not mourn and do not cry.” That’s what it literally says, “…for the people were crying when they heard the words of the Torah. And he said to them, ‘Go, eat fat foods and drink sweet things, and send portions to those who don’t have.’” That’s biblical gift giving. It’s not giving presents to your friends. It’s giving portions to those who don’t have. “For today is holy to our Lord, and do not be sad, for the joy of Yehovah is your strength.”

I turned to Keith after I read this verse and I said, “It’s a holy time for us to go and speak to people about the Name of our Lord. This is a time of holiness. Afterwards, I’ll mourn, but now we need to do this thing.”

And we continued to travel, and we traveled around for a number of weeks. At a certain point, I made this speech to Keith during the “Jesus time.” And at a certain point, it was one of those push comes to shove moments. You know, those were words, bold words, that I said when my father was sick. And I didn’t know, he could have lived for another six months. I genuinely didn’t know. He could have lived for another 16 years. He had an uncle who was hit by a car at the age of 103, crossing the street by himself. So, there’s longevity in this family. He was sick and dying. I didn’t know how long it would take him to die, and I was praying that he would live to be 120.

Well, we were speaking a few weeks later in Colorado Springs. And over there in Colorado Springs, I was up on stage. And when I was done, I went off the stage and handed it over to Keith. And I pulled out my cellphone and there was a text message there from my sister. And the text message said, “Dad is dying.” And she explained that the family had been called into the hospital in the middle of the night in Israel, and this was it. This was the end.

So, I went outside and I called my mother, and she told me to say goodbye to my father. She was gonna put me on the speakerphone. And I said to him, “I love you.” And I said, “I will see you in Olam Haba,” in the world to come. And I said, “Baruch dayan haemet,” which is a statement in Hebrew that Jews say when they hear horrible news. It means, “Blessed is the true judge.” And that’s in the spirit of Job, who when he heard the bad news that his 10 children died, his wife said to him, “Curse God. Look what He’s done to you. Curse His name.” And Job responded, he said, “Yihi shem Yehovah mivorach.” “May the Name of Yehovah be blessed.” He gives, and He takes away. And he said, “We will not receive just the good from Yehovah, we will also receive the bad.” We’ll receive the situations where we go out against Goliath and we slay him, and we’re victorious, but we’ll also receive the Elazars, who go out and slay the elephant, and the elephant falls on us and kills us. Yihi shem Yehovah mivorach. May the Name of Yehovah be blessed.

Well, I went back to the hotel that night in Colorado Springs, and I called up my mother, who was grieving over my father. But there was one thing on her mind. She had a request for me. Her request was, “Are you going to say the Kaddish for your father?” If you don’t know what the Kaddish is, it’s this prayer that Jews says when their parents die. This is the central duty a Jew has towards his parents, saying the Kaddish. And one of the things I’d been taught about the Kaddish is, if you say it for your parents, it will elevate their souls into a higher spiritual realm. And me being a Karaite, trying to be purely scriptural, and this being this Rabbinical tradition about saying Kaddish to raise the souls of your parents, I said, “That sounds to me like superstition. That sounds to me like a base superstition. That’s not consistent with the word of God.”

In Ezekiel, he talks about how the fathers won’t be punished for the sins of the sons, and the sons won’t be punished for the sins of the fathers. And the opposite is true. The father won’t be blessed because of the righteousness of the son, and vice versa. Each human being is judged according to his own actions, not according to the actions of another. It’s Ezekiel 18 and 33. And I remember, I discussed this years ago with my father. I said, “Kaddish, I can’t say that for you. I know it hurts you, but I can’t do it, because the Kaddish is about this superstition. It’s not consistent with scripture.” And he was very hurt by that, but he accepted it. But now was a “come to Jesus moment.” My father was actually dead, and my mother had one request, to say the Kaddish, and I had to make a decision.

So, I went to Keith, and I tell him this situation with the Kaddish. And he says, “Nehemia, I know we talked about the Kaddish when we did the “Lord’s Prayer” book, but I don’t remember what that was. That was like four or five years ago. Remind what Kaddish is,” and we talked about a lot of things. And I recited it for him, and he’s looking at me with that look he has. And he says, “You’re kidding.” And I say, “Why am I kidding? What did I just say? I don’t know even know.”

And I think about the words I just translated for him, because the Kaddish had represented this superstition to me. But when I actually recited the words, I realized, “This is exactly what we’ve been doing.” Kaddish means “sanctification,” and it’s a prayer of sanctifying The Name, the Great Name of God. And this is exactly what we’d been doing, traveling around the world, sanctifying the name of God.

The prayer says, “May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified, in the world that He created as He willed.” So, it’s speaking about His will being done, in the world He created, and about His great Name being sanctified. “May He give reign to His kingship in your lifetimes and in your days, and in the lifetime of the entire family of Israel, swiftly and soon.” And then, for each phrase here, for each sentence, the congregation responds, “Amen.”

And then it says, “Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, mighty, upraised, and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, beyond any blessing and song, praise, and consolation that are uttered in the world. May there be abundant peace from Heaven and life upon us, and upon all Israel. He who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace upon us, and upon all Israel.”

And so, I realized that it was really like Hanukkah for me. Hanukkah had represented these man-made laws, rules and regulations, the blessing and the lighting of the Hanukkah lamps. But when I actually got down to what Hanukkah originally meant, what it was really about, it wasn’t about that. It had been hijacked into meaning that. And I decided I was going to do the same thing here, and look at what Kaddish really means. Rather than standing by my principles and telling my mother, “Too bad, your son’s not gonna to say Kaddish for his deceased father,” I’m going to see, is this something inherently pagan? Or is there something here that can be salvaged?

I looked at the history, and guess what I found out. The words of the Kaddish are a verse in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 38:23. It says, “Vehitgaldalti vehitkadishti venodati le’eiynei goyim rabim veyadu ki ani Yehovah,” which is usually translated, “And I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known to the eyes of many nations…” Say, “Many nations.”

Audience: Many nations.

Nehemia: …and they will know that I am Yehovah.” And this could legitimately be translated as, “And I will be magnified, and I will be sanctified, and I will be made known to the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Yehovah.” And that’s how the Rabbis understood it. And they said, “OK, we’ve got to go out and sanctify the name of our Heavenly Father, the name of The Creator.” And this is where the Kaddish comes from. And originally, where the Kaddish came from is, Rabbis, when they would give sermons and teach Torah, at the end of the sermon, they would say a prayer in accordance with this verse, the Kaddish prayer, to sanctify the name of the Creator, to proclaim His will in the universe, to proclaim the coming of His future kingdom, and peace on earth. This is how it was originally done.

And as time progressed, what happened is, when a great Rabbi would die, or a great teacher of Torah would die, his son, in order to show that he was continuing the legacy of teaching the Torah, going out and teaching the Name to the world, seven days after the funeral, at the end of the period of mourning, he would teach a Torah sermon, and he would end it with the Kaddish. And that’s where we get the mourner’s Kaddish from. And when I read that, I couldn’t believe it. I said, “I was gonna not do the Kaddish? This is exactly what I need to do, is the Kaddish.” I feel like, in a sense, even though my father and I disagreed on many things, I feel that in a sense, that I am continuing his legacy.

Audience Member: Yes.

Nehemia: Let me tell you a really quick story about my father. One of the first things my father ever taught me, and I was probably about three years old, sitting on his knee in our living room on Shabbat. And he would say to me in his deep voice, “Nehemia Shalom.” He always called me “Nehemia Shalom.” Shalom is my middle name. He would say, “Nehemia Shalom, how old was Avraham Avinu when he came to know his God?” “Avraham Avinu” is “Abraham our Father.” And I would respond with the answer he taught me, word for word. “The Rambam says he was 40, and the Ravad said he was 3.”

This was a debate between these two 12th-century Rabbinical philosophers. And I think most people hearing that answer, that one Rabbi says he was 40, and the other said he was 3… And I probably didn’t even know who Abraham was, I was 3 years old myself. And I’m reciting these words my father taught me, about a debate between 12th century Rabbis. I think most people hearing that would say, “Don’t confuse the kid, just give him the answer.” But my father taught me something far more important than the answer. For my first Torah lesson, he taught me that it’s okay to have different understandings of the word of God. As long as we’re united in our love of the Creator of the Universe, it’s okay if you think Abraham was 40, and it’s okay if you think he was 3. That’s fine, as long as you respect one another, and love one another. There’s no problem even knowing both answers. What’s important is that you love the Creator of the Universe, and want to live by His word. That’s what he taught me. And that was a profound lesson, more important than how old Abraham was when he came to know his Creator.

Well, the next morning, Keith and I woke up, and Keith was intent on taking me to Pikes Peak, which he calls “his mountain.” My mountain is Mount Sinai, his is Pikes Peak. He has a whole story about that, I won’t go into it now. We’re going up Pikes Peak on something called the “cog train.” And as we’re going up the mountain, I realized, my father, at that very moment, is being buried in Jerusalem. At that very moment we’re going up the mountain, is the funeral. And I say to Keith, “I’ve got to say the Kaddish up on that mountain. But there’s one problem; I need 10 people to say, ‘Amen.’” That’s the Kaddish. You say it, to sanctify the Name before the eyes of the many nations. You have to have 10 people responding, “Amen.” And of course, in Rabbinical tradition, it’s 10 Jewish males. And so, Keith said, “Okay, I’m number one, but who are the other nine gonna be?”

So, I get to the top of the mountain, and everyone’s rushing about, because we only have like 20, 30 minutes on top of the mountain, and then the train goes back down. And if you’re not on the train, the conductor told us, “What do you call someone who arrives one minute late for the train? A hiker.” So, everyone’s rushing around, buying trinkets. And it’s four degrees below zero outside, so no one’s actually going to the peak of the mountain they spent over an hour to get to. They’re all running around the gift shop. And I walk up to people, and I say to them, random strangers that I don’t know, I say, “My father has died last night, and he’s being buried right now in Jerusalem. Would you come outside, and say this prayer, to honor the memory of my father and sanctify the name of God? And all you’ve gotta do is say, ‘Amen.’ It’s this Hebrew prayer.” And not everybody said yes, but I was able to scrape together 10 people, actually 11. And they came out, and we said this prayer on top of the mountain. Can I ask you to stand up and say this prayer with me? And all you have to do is say “Amen” to sanctify the Name of the Creator of the Universe. It’s a short prayer, we’ll do it real quick. When I say “Amen,” just repeat “Amen.”

Yitkadal veyitdkadash shemei raba, Amen.

Audience: Amen.

Nehemia: Ve’alma yivrah keru’tei veamlikh malkhutei, vakhayekhol veyomekhol vehayei lekhol beit Yisroel, be’agala uzman kariv, veimru Amen.

Audience: Amen.

Nehemia: Yehei shemei raba mevorakh le’olam le’olmei almaya. Yitbarakh veyishtabakh veyitpa’ar veyitromam veyitnaseh veyitadal veyitalei veyitalal shemei dekudsha, bereihu. Le’eilah bimkhol birkhata veshirata, ushbakhatam venekhmata damiram ve’alma veimru Amen.

Audience: Amen.

Nehemia: Yehei shlama raba min shemaya vekhayim aleynu ve’al kol Yisroel, ve’imru Amen.

Audience: Amen.

Nehemia: Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu ya’aseh shalom aleynu ve’al kol Yisrael, ve’imru Amen.

Audience: Amen.

You have been listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

We hope the above transcript has proven to be a helpful resource in your study. While much effort has been taken to provide you with this transcript, it should be noted that the text has not been reviewed by the speakers and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. If you would like to support our efforts to transcribe the teachings on NehemiasWall.com, please visit our support page. All donations are tax-deductible (501c3) and help us empower people around the world with the Hebrew sources of their faith!


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  • Jennifer sparkman says:

    Shalom, Just wanted to thank you Nehemiah for teaching the truth with proof! For walking in yahs path and teaching us so much in the Torah thank you !

  • Rebekah says:

    Blessings Nehemia!
    Been listening to your teaching for years love your passionate yet gentle perspective.

    THIS episode was so special. My in laws both passed just b4 2020 and Heaven is nearer than b4. Thank you for both sharing your heart and wisdom. Especially expanding our understanding of unity between Jew and gentile.

  • Marilyn says:

    I’m so glad those people went to hear you recite the Kadish for your father on Pikes Peak – it shows the best side of humanity, how we should always support each other, it was very touching to watch.

  • Ana says:

    The whole thing just brought tears to my eyes. Blessings forever always.

  • Martha Paris says:

    Shalom, I listened to Nehemia’s kadesh for his father and the meaning of this prayer and was so touched and renewed my spirit. Love to all and may the Father give you His Shalom.

  • Lynell Eaddy says:

    Amen and amen.

  • Gaylene Donehue says:

    Nehemiah your father taught you a very important lesson and I Loved the way you honored both your earthy father and your heavenly FATHER. Hope to meet you in Israel…..

  • Carl and Bonnie Metzger says:

    Oh nehemiah, this is so Beautiful and so very touching. I’m grateful to have heard this Kadish prayer and your lovely explanation. Truly enjoy and appreciate the discussions which you, Keith and Jonah share. Abba bless you All, abundantly.

  • Anne Henry says:

    Thanks for explaining kadish. I too thought it was some form of superstition with no place in a believers prayer life. But it glorifies GOD our creator and we need more prayers like it.

  • Beautiful Nehemia – Amen!

  • Gavriella Snyder (Yochanan's wife) says:

    Thank you and bless you. Never stop. The nations need you! Vihi Shem YeHoVaH mivorach!!

  • Jeffrey Manresa says:

    My dad is 84 and has developed dementia. I can not be near him because it makes him emotionally unstable. My grandmother is 92 and getting ready to pass. She rsised 7 kids and helped raise 7 grandchildren and several great grandchildren. Thank you for sharing this. No matter how strong our faith, it is painful when our loved ones depart from us physically. Your bravery gives me courage to endure this time. Thank you.

    • Elissa says:

      What a dreadfully hard time to go through… I lost my grandmother last year and it was a dreadful time for my family. I can’t imagine the stress and grief associated with experiencing this combination of circumstances. May Yehovah strengthen you according to his word and comfort you with his unfailing love in this time and hereafter

    • Paul Onovoh says:

      Nehemia! You’re a blessed man! Shalom Aleichem!

  • Rocky says:

    I think this is perhaps the most Heart felt presentation I’ve ever heard from you.

    May YHVH bless you & yours.

  • Danny says:

    In our own efforts to better our parents, many times we get rid of so many things we did not understood, and later we has to turn and pick them back, with much pain. Shalom, Nehemiah. For many of us such is the road to searching for and knowing Yah.

  • Colorado Mom says:

    I was in the audience in Colorado Springs the day your father died Nehemiah… This is the first time I’ve watched this video, but not the last. I’ve learned a great lesson, and I owe both you and Keith an apology for what I and my husband were thinking that day.

    We had traveled over 100 miles to listen to you again (the first time in Albuquerque NM). Now I know why you seemed distant and not really into the day. I also have a greater understanding of the deep bond between you and Keith. You are brothers, doing the work you were born to do.

    Now I know that I need to go in prayer to ask forgiveness for feeling slighted the day your dad died. I wish I could speak with you both…. for so many reasons.

    For now I pray for blessings for you both and the work you do. I ask Our Father to forgive my thinking. I judged you both, and that is my sin.

    Baruch Dayan Hasmet…. He has given me great understanding.

  • Seydel says:

    This is not the first time I have watched this…. I saw the video when Micheal Rood originally posted it but it makes it no less powerful seeing it again. I took a moment alone in my living room to glorify Our Fathers Name. Thank you for sharing the words of the prayer so I could meditate on the words (since I don’t know Hebrew) I was so blessed by it. May Yehovah bless you Nehemiah and continue to use you in powerful ways.

  • Ron Shaw says:

    I agree with your article and it should be done in honoring YeHOVAH