Teaching Team
Yartzeit of Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein
Rabbi Isaac (Ignatz) Lichtenstein, z”l, was born into an Orthodox home in Hungary in 1824. He was an ordained rabbi by the age of twenty and went on to become the district rabbi for the Hungarian city of Taiposzele. His first encounter with the gospel was when one of his students had shown him a copy of the Apostolic Writings. Angry at the student for possessing such a book, he tossed it across the room where it landed behind a pile of books.
Several years later during a blood-libel against the Jews, Lichtenstein was sorting through some books when he found the copy he tossed away years ago. Deciding to find out the truth about the Jesus in whose name many persecutions began, Lichtenstein decided to read the Apostles for himself. To his surprise, instead of finding hatred and anti-semitism, he found love, forgiveness, “life, salvation, resurrection,[and] heavenly treasure.”
He began to use the Master’s Torah teachings and parables in his own Sabbath sermons. After two years of teaching from the Master’s own lessons, Lichtenstein openly declared to his congregation the identity of the Messiah. This led to his appearance before the Chief Rabbi of Budapest where Lichtenstein was asked to step down from his position of rabbi and be formerly baptized into Christianity. Refusing to join any church, Lichtenstein (by Hungarian law) could not be removed from his position of district rabbi. He eventually stepped down in 1892 due to health related issues.
Upon his death bed, he uttered the very words of his Master and Messiah, “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” He passed away on 21 Tishrei 5669 / October 16, 1908. This year (2007) the yartzeit occurs on October 3, 2007.
Lichtenstein left this world on Hoshanah Rabbah, the great day of the festival of Sukkot (see John 7:37-44). It is on this day, according to Chassidic thought, that the soul experiences freedom. Lichtenstein’s soul left this world with the freedom that was granted him through the pages of the Apostles that brought forth “light, life, power, endurance, faith, hope, love, charity, limitless and indestructible faith in God.”
For more on Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein see issue #84 (Shemot 5765/2005) of messiah magazine.
Yartzeit observances include the following: Recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish (only if the person reciting it has both parents deceased for it is not fitting for one whose parents are still living to recite a mourner’s prayer); lighting a yartzeit candle (when a yartzeit occurs on a high Sabbath or weekly Sabbath, the candle should be lit before one lights the festival or Sabbath candles—this is not an issue for the yartzeit of Lichtenstein; no blessing is said when lighting a yartzeit candle); giving extra charity; and devoting oneself to extra Torah learning on this day (this can be any work of literature that helps one in his service of the Holy One).
(Credit: Brian R. Volunteer/ Researcher)
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Visitor Feedback:
In honor of his yartzeit, here is a prayer that Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein wrote to open an address he gave at a conference on Jewish missions in 1895:
Almighty Heavenly Father, Eheyeh asher Eheyeh, Sovereign Ruler of past, present and future; we bless You for our past, and thank You, that in Your inscrutable wisdom, You have chosen us out of all peoples of the earth, to give us knowledge of the truth, and to make us witnesses of Your Covenant of everlasting life. Our present is dark, gloomy and desolate; but we trust Your word, O Father, that to all eternity You will not forsake Your people Israel, and we hasten forward full of hope to a glorious future, for You have sent Your heralds in the Name of Your beloved Son, Yeshua the Messiah, to comfort the mourning Daughter of Zion.
Turn us again to Yourself, O Eternal, renew our days as in the former years.
Amen.
Thanks to Jorge Qinonez for the text.
D. Thomas Lancaster | October 3, 2007 9:45 AM
Thank you for these testimonies! They are beautiful and it is so encouraging and a great blessing to have this resource to show to friends and family.
In Messiah,
Suzanne Utts
suzanne utts | October 6, 2007 12:29 AM